ENCOUNTER: Greenhorn (18)

"Get it! Get it!"

"Don't coral it towards me you idiot!"

"Well it's not exactly EASY to shepherd a BIRD now is it!?"

The aquarium work area was a panicked mess. Earlier that day, they had thought it would be a good idea to crack open one of the many windows they had and let in the sea breeze. It was nice for a while, until more then just the wind came in.

A seagull, most likely attracted by the smells of their human lunch and the mer's next meal, flew in through the window and had managed to eat some of their food as well as one of the fish intended for Mana and Yami.

Now Ishizu crouched behind a chair barking orders while Harry and Mahad both swung a broom and a mop in the air in attempts to herd the flustered sky vermin back out the window. Curious by the commotion above the water, Yami and Mana watched them in their struggles, each barking and chittering to eachother excitedly anytime the gull got close. A few times Mana even tried reaching up and grabbing it anytime it got close enough to the water, while Yami watched with predatory eyes locked on the possible prey item...

After about 5 minutes of embarrassing flailing and yelling, the seagull flew up into the rafters and hunkered down for the impending long haul.

"Son of a..." Harry hissed, lowering his broom and glaring daggers at the bird.

"No use for it now." Ishizu said, standing up from behind her safety chair. "Leave it be. The only way for it to escape is through the window anyways... It'll come down eventually."

Mahad nodded in agreement as Harry grimaced, muttering curses as he got back to work.

Mana whined, sinking beneath the water with a disappointed look on her face. Yami, Mahad noticed, lingered for a moment, eyeing the gull carefully before he reluctantly sunk beneath the water as well.

Mahad sighed and turned to head back to work, when there was a knock at the door.

"Yes?" He called out. A woman poked her head in, one of the girls at the front desk. "Mahad? There's someone here to see you."

He suspected he knew who it was, he asked anyway just to be sure. "Who?"

"A young Mr. Ishtar."

Ishizu perked up and Mahad nodded. "Ah yes, we're expecting him. Send him up please, thank you."

As she closed the door, Mahad walked over to his desk to some papers ready.

Ishizu's younger brother, Marik, had been asking about becoming an intern for a while now in e-mails. Ishizu assured that he was willing and able to handle the job and that it would be a welcomed extra pair of hands in their section. After a bit of convincing, Mahad had agreed to give it a shot. Today would be their first meeting.

The door creaked open and he turned to meet the hopeful new intern to be. A young, bleach blonde boy with sharp lavender eyes leaned in, glancing around the room in interest and surprised. "Hello Marik." Ishizu called out, getting up from her chair to greet her younger brother warmly. Mahad blinked in shock. Besides the tan skin and exotic form, the two looked almost NOTHING alike. One had jet black hair, the other had sheet pale spiky hair... Ishizu had gentle blue eyes and Marik had steely purple.


"Hi Ishizu!" Marik said, embracing his sister before pulling away and looking around. "This place is way cooler then you said it was."

"Really now?" Mahad said, walking over to meet the teen. Marik blinked and straightened up, turning to face him entirely. "U-uh... Hi. You're Mahad right?"


"I am. And you must be Marik. It's nice to meet you." With that, he stretched out his hand and shook with Marik. "Come in. I have a couple of questions for you before I can officially hire you as intern."

"Oh ya! Sure."

The two walked across the floor, heading towards the desks, their boot steps echoing in the room as they passed the water.

"So have you any experience in this field?"

"Uhm not quite. I've been doing a lot of study on the subject..."

"Have any pets?"

"Oh! I had a pet snake as a kid."

"Well that's a first..."

There was a light splash in the water, drawing their attention. The seagull had glided down from the rafters and onto the water in the main tank. "You have seagulls here?" Marik asked, turning to Mahad in surprise. "Oh no. " He replied, shaking his head. "We try to keep gulls out of this area. Unfortunately, this one found it's way in. From behind them, he could faintly here Harry cursing under his breath as he reached for his broom again. 

"Ah okay." Marik said, looking back in the water. "So how many mers are in the tank?"

"Two. One male and one female. Mana is the gold midian mermaid, you'll meet her soon enough. She's been here most of her life and is friendly with humans. The other one is-"

SPLASH

"SQUAACK-!"

Mahad and everyone else snapped their heads over to the main tank at the huge commotion, just in time to see a blur of black scales launch up out of the water right underneath the seagull. Mahad stared, time seemed to slow as claws grabbed at the gull's soft underbelly, gripping it with incredible force before gravity once again pulled both mer and bird back into the water with a second loud splash. The seagull's startled cries literally drowned out as it was dragged below into the deep of the tank. 

A few stray feathers floated up as the entire group stared at the water.

"What just happened!?" Harry cried, breaking the silence.

"Our seagull problem was solved. That's what happened." Ishizu replied calmly, despite her shocked expression.

"Well... Should we... Y'know... Do something?"

"Too late..." Mahad said, eyes still locked on the still rippling water. "That bird is gone..."

"Will it effect the vents?"

"Most likely not... We'll get suited up in a dive suit to go clean up the remains later..."

There was another long stretch of silence, before Ishizu and Harry turned back to their respective duties. Mahad turned to Marik, who was staring at the water, mouth agape.

"That," Mahad said in amusement. "was our rescue merman, Yami."

"Uhhh..."

Mahad chuckled and stepped closer to the bleach blonde. "Mers are fascinating creatures. They are very human like in many aspects, but we should always remember that they have animal instincts... Remember and respect that, and you might stay alive in their company."

"Whoa... Uhm..."

"So!" Mahad said, leaning back and clapping his hands together. "Still wanna work here? Even after that little display?"

Marik blinked and turned to Mahad, blinking the dumbstruck look from his steely purple eyes. "Oh... Ya. Yeah I'm ready!"

He had to admit, he didn't expect the sureness in his reply, but Mahad was pleased none the less.

"Alright then greenhorn, well get you the papers you need to sign and then we'll set you up with your first job." He said, returning to his route back to his desk.

Marik followed excitedly. "And what WILL my first job be, Mahad?"


"To get a pool skimmer and retrieve some of those... left over feathers in the water."


"Uuuuummmmm.... Okay."

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Achievement Get: Added Marik to the Aquarium Team



Stupid Bonus Content:
Yami: Yo Mana, look at the weird flying fish thing I caught for you!  
Mana: Oh Yami, flying feather fish are my favorite!  
Yami: I know.  
Mana:  

Ya this didn't happen... XD Also, they know what birds are. Lol.



DAG NABBIT I MADE MARIK'S HAIR TOO LONG!


We have a greenhorn on deck everyone! Sorry I made him seem kinda childish, that'll change hopefully once he get more comfortable and aquainted with everyone. ^^

Yeah, show them hunter'z skillz Yami!


Sorry this one is so short! This is more pf a filler until the next one.

The next installment is actually very important to the story and should hopefully be a good long read. ^^

I know Encounter isn't even a year old yet, but the amount of fans it's gained in this short time is amazing! Thanks for your support everyone!  


Yugioh (c) Kazuki Takahashi

Art/Mer Species/Mer Design/Story (c) Me! : D