A/N DISCLAIMER: Plantty doesn't own Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, but she does own Cali and friends :)

The idea is purely from my head. Please tell me what you think!

There is a legend behind my existence.

A hundred years ago, all seven mermaid princesses were captured by an evil sea demon, a witch with a long and secret grudge against mermaids. She thought she had them captured once and for all, until one day, they escaped.

Using the power of the pearls, the princesses-who were complete strangers- sang of a legend that had been passed down from generation to generation. With the help of the sea goddess, they broke out of the witch's dimension together, leaving a frail sea witch with only a fraction of her original power.

The witch, infuriated by the princesses' bold move, searched for decades to find a way to get revenge in her old and brittle body. She tore through spellbook after spellbook, searching high and low for anything that might work.

Fifty years after the defeat of the sea witch, an antiques dealer on Earth took a walk on the beach. She was reading a seemingly ancient book, a book filled to the brim with myths and spells from times long past. She had kissed her husband and son goodbye that morning, promising she would be back that night for a special dinner.

The woman never came home.

Pleased with her finding on the human shore, the sea witch brewed a potion in large black cauldron.

She murmured a few magic words, and every mermaid in all the seas doubled over in pain.

"MWAHAHAHA!" the witch cackled in delight. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

She watched in delight as the mermaids in every kingdom fell unconcious from the pain. All over the world, mermaids in hiding fell to the ground simultaneously, without a trace of life within them.

As the witch's powers began to quickly fade, the mermaids underwater began to slowly awaken. And the moment the witch took her last breath, they awoke.

Legend has it that every mermaid who died that day had revealed they were a mermaid to a human. The bubbles came shortly after.

The witch's spell, her only plan for revenge, had backfired.

The sea goddess realized what was wrong instantly. Instead of a killing curse, something had gone wrong.

Every mermaid who confessed their true identity to a human turned to bubbles in an instant, and vanished forever.

She knew that something had to be done. She decreed that whenever there was a time of great crisis in the seas, a new kind of mermaid would be born. A Duchess. They would rule the lesser seas and gulfs, coming to the aid of the princesses. Her powers would be immense, those not solely of a mermaid, but also a human. She could swim with a tail when she wished. The rest of the time, she would be human. Her singing would be as powerful as three of the princesses, and twice as beautiful.

If all seven princesses fell, the balance would be completely on the Duchess's shoulders.

But there was one final wish the goddess requested.

There would only be one Duchess. Ever.

This confused some. How were they to know when the time for the Duchess was needed? How would they summon her powers if they didn't know if she was needed?

The goddess only smiled. "Wait for her," she whispered as she faded into the moonlight, "And she will come."


They always tell me how special I am, how wonderful it must be to be truly unique. I don't think that's true. It's not to say I don't love my tail or anything, but knowing that you were born because the world was going to fall out of balance... That's something different altogether.

Sometimes I lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. It's white, with little grey specks mixed into it. I don't like this new ceiling very much. I prefered the one I had back home. It was baby blue, but I could never really tell if it was actually that or if it was white. It will always be a mystery.

Japan feels so huge. The culture is so different here. I feel like even though I'm just a regular high schooler, I can't fit in. That's what I think about when I lie on my bed. I think about my life. The good moments, and the bad. What I could have done. What I should have said. What I would have done, if only things went a slightly different way.

I'm sorry. You probably think I'm a really deep person now. Well, maybe I am. But that's I don't think that's neccesarily a bad thing. I'm smart, and got straight A's back in America, my home country. My friends were all complete weirdos, and I loved them with all of my heart.

Maybe things will be different here. My family just moved here because of my mom's work. She's a doctor, and has always wanted to visit Japan. Now, a major hospital nearby needs her help for an undisclosed project that could, theoretically, last for years. Not wanting to separate her life from my dad's and mine, we picked up out cozy little Connecticutian life and moved across the globe to Japan.

Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. Hi! I'm Cali Joshton, and I just moved to Japan from the United States. I'm in high school and am starting at one near my new house tomorrow. My Japanese is decent, I can get along just fine. And for reasons I'm not allowed to discuss, I'm going to be wearing the boy's uniform. It's not as if I really want to talk about it, either. Strange.

I sighed and swung my legs over the side of my bed. I stood up and walked out of my room, walking down the short hallway to get downstairs. It really is a very short hallway.

My dad was clicking away at his computer, as usual. He's a writer, and can work at home. I think right now he's working on a novel. I think it's really cool.

"Hey dad," I said as I walked past him and into the kitchen.

"Hi Cali," he replied. "Everything ready for your first day of school tomorrow?"

"Mmhm," I said, taking a bite out of an apple I had grabbed. "I can't wait. Maybe I'll make a friend or two."

I could practically hear my dad's smile. Before, I wasn't very social. I just didn't care. But when I moved to Japan, I vowed to show everyone my true personality, and I plan to keep that promise.

"I'm going to take a walk," I told him, slipping on my grey converse. "I'll be home in a little bit."

"Have fun, Cal!" My dad called joyfully from the living room behind me. Rolling my eyes, I closed the front door behind me and walked out into the fresh air.

I pulled out my cell and checked the time. "Five-thirty. I should probably be back by six or six thirty for dinner, so that gives me a half hour. I hope that's long enough to do some exploring," I muttered to myself as I walked out the front gate, throwing my apple core in the trash as I went.

I dashed down the road towards the beach as fast as I could. I had already been down to the beach a couple of times, and couldn't help but memorize the route. Smiling at myself, I ran faster and was at the beach in no time.

To my surprise, there were already people there. Usually, this beach is deserted, but a brown-haired boy was out in the water surfing and a blonde-haired girl was watching her.

"Shoot," I muttered as I slipped past. Yesterday, I found a little cove that was completely selected from the main beach by a tower of rocks. I supposed I should just go there.

My dirty blonde pigtails waved in the wind as I tiptoe-dashed behind the pair of strangers. Thank goodness neither of them noticed. I would be toast if it had happened otherwise. Satisfied in my sneaking, I slipped through a gap in the rocks and ran out into the cove. I threw my phone and shoes behind a rock, knowing they wouldn't get wet anyways but being safe with my precious electrical device and shoes. Well, not precious shoes. I still didn't want them to get damaged though. Me and my converse had been through a LOT of situations together.

Ready to see what lay before me in my adventures, I walked to the very edge of the rocks and whispered one word.


My two legs warped into a fish's tail in an instant as I took a deep breath and jumped into the icy cold sea. Feeling the water around me comforted me, and after swimming around for a minute, I just had to smirk.

"Get ready world. Cali, the Duchess of the Hudson Bay, is back."