After a few minutes, a crowd had started to form to watch the race. I was thinking of how I would be able to beat a mermaid in a swimming competition when May swam up in front of me with something in her hands. She held out a small purple ball and smiled. "Hey Dedrin! I noticed that back in the seaweed I fell into in the cave earlier there were these fruits! I believe that these are the kind that can turn anyone into a mermaid! If you're going to win this race you'll need a tail." I took it from her with a confused look on my face. "What's with all these conveniently placed plants with magical properties?"
Azul overheard our conversation and became angry. "Hey! You can't do that! That's cheating!" Raymond then turned to Azul and rested a hand on his hip. "Think about it, Azul. If he stays a human then the race will be over in seconds. Let me ask you, would you be more impressed if a human beat you in swimming, or if a human who lost their legs for a tail that they have no idea how to operate beat you?"
Azul hesitated. "Fine. I guess that would be more impressive. Might as well give the crowd more of a show." I looked at the fruit and thought about it for a second. 'Become a mermaid huh? Might as well.' I then popped the fruit in my mouth and I suddenly started to glow. I felt weird as my body's anatomy shifted, and everyone near me covered their eyes from how bright it was. I had to close my eyes as well, and after a moment the light disappeared.
I opened my eyes when the light completely vanished, and soon realized that everybody was staring at me wide-eyed. "What?" I then looked down and my eyes widened as well to see that my lower half was a long shark tail. It was dark gray in color and covered in black designs that matched the tattoos on my back. I looked behind me to see that I also had shark fins and gills under my arms.
My clothes and armor were gone as well, and I saw them sinking to the ground slowly. May snapped out of her frozen spell as she noticed them and quickly swam down to catch each piece along with my sword. I was pleased that she did that without me telling her to. 'I guess she knows by now how important they are to me.' Once she swam back up she had trouble trying not to stare at me again, and I swear that I saw a hint of blush in her cheeks. "Wow! Your tail is gorgeous! It goes so well with your deep red hair!"
Azul shook his head a little to stop himself from staring as well. "I've seen better. Come on, we don't have all day." He swam to where we were going to race, but I was still very interested in my tail. It felt so weird to not have legs anymore and I was getting used to the feeling.
I became confused all of a sudden and started looking at my tail from different angles. May noticed and gave me a curious look. "What's wrong? Are you looking for something?" I nodded as I continued to look down. "Yeah, my dick. Where the hell did it go?" May's face became entirely red and Raymond rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Uhhh... You see those two flaps below your abdomen...?" I turned to him shocked. "I get TWO?!" He avoided eye contact with me as he answered. "Well, you are a shark after all..." May had a squeaky voice as she spoke next. "Can we change the subject, please?!"
I shrugged and attempted to start swimming, and found it so much easier to move my tail side to side rather than forward and back like all the other mermaids did. Once I started moving my tail the comfortable way, I immediately shot up at extreme speed. "Whoa!"
I stopped myself before I reached the surface and smirked as I turned to swim down again. "It's fast!" Once I reached the place I was before, I struggled trying to stop again, and flipped in a circle next to May. Azul put his hand on his hip with annoyance behind his eyes. "You're lucky that you got such a powerful tail. However, there's no chance you'll be able to learn to use it correctly in the next few seconds. Even if you did, you still wouldn't be as fast as me."
I held my smirk towards him as I moved upright. "We'll see about that." I then swam next to him and we both faced forward as another merman with a black and white striped tail swam in front of us, excitedly. "I was made for this! Okay! I want a fair race here! You are to swim all the way to the end of the lake, and the first one back wins." As he explained the rules further, I looked around to see that quite a large crowd had come to watch and were cheering on either side of the raceway.
May was cheering for me as well, and I was curious as to just how fast Azul could go to attract such an audience. The merman in front of us finished explaining the rules and then moved to the side of us as he started to count down. "Three, two, one, GO!" As soon as he said go Azul zoomed forward so fast that I barely saw him. The shock caused a second delay, and I started to swim after him as fast as I could.
The cheering of the crowd became louder, and I couldn't believe how far ahead Azul was compared to me. I was already going so fast that if a rock wall appeared a hundred feet in front of me I would be screwed. I could barely see Azul from how far he was from me, but he didn't seem to be getting farther away. I pushed my tail harder and my speed started to increase. 'I am getting that pearl no matter what!' I went even faster and started gaining on Azul.
By now the crowd had disappeared, and we were swimming out in open water. The end of the lake where the water moved into a river was drawing near, and we both moved through the tall rocks and forests of seaweed swiftly. At first, I was angry because I was sure to lose, but after a while of swimming and cutting through the water as quickly as a knife I started to feel amazing.
I was so fast and my tail moved like I had done this a million times before. I felt so light and energized from moving my body through the water and breathing through both my gills and nose made me feel like I wasn't working out at all. I couldn't help but smile and before I knew it I was catching up to Azul. I was surprised at how fast I was after I started enjoying it, and the look on Azul's face once he noticed me swim up next to him was priceless.
His face was full of shock and he swam faster with a look of anger as he turned his head forward again. "I don't know how you caught up to me but you are not winning this race! Let's see how fast you turn around, newbie!"
I realized that the turning point was ahead and Azul reached it first. He turned around without even slowing down and was already on his way back. He turned his head again with a smirk, but it immediately disappeared once he realized that I was right next to him swimming on my back with my hands behind my head in a relaxed position. "Sorry, what were you saying?"