At a seaside town, a car drove through the streets. The front bore a small dent, and some scratches to the paintwork, but inside, it carried three young women, all in their early twenties. These three had been part of a group that had saved the world a few years prior. And now, thanks to one, they were here for a short break, one that had come as a surprise to the other two.

"Well girls! Here we are!" Selphie  announced as she parked.

"The beach? I wish you'd told us. I didn't pack any swimwear..." Quistis frowned.

"Well, of course. I said I wanted us to have a surprise girls-only vacation and if I said to pack swimwear it'd be no surprise at all, would it?" Selphie argued.

"I just wish I'd drove... You're a maniac, Selphie." Rinoa muttered.

"Hey! That monster came out of nowhere! Besides, it barely made a dent..."

"You aimed for it!"

"Girls... I think we should stop arguing. Selphie, do you have a plan here?"

The brunette SeeD in the yellow dress nodded.

"Sure, Quisty. We buy new swimsuits."

Rinoa sighed.

"And I bet this is going on SeeD expenses, meaning Squall moans at me for letting you do it..."

Selphie shook her head.

"Nope. I'll pay. I've got plenty of cash. Let's just say Zell lost a bet and leave it at that."

Quistis groaned.

"Oh no...  Zell's insufferable when he loses cash bets."

"Don't worry, the cash was better than the forfeit. Though it would have been funny to see him run around in a female SeeD uniform for a week..."

The other women glared at Selphie.

"Your definition of funny reads a lot like my definition of horror, Selphie." Rinoa proclaimed.

Selphie shrugged, and got out of the car.

"So, girls... What kind of swimsuit do we want? I bet I know!"

"No bets!" Quistis shouted automatically.

"Yeah, Selphie, we don't bet."

"Aw..."

***

They soon found a store selling swimwear. It wasn't very large, with only one changing cubicle and had no customers just now.. The only worker there greeted them politely, making the usual shop offers of assistance. Selphie watched her friends walk right over to the very kinds of costumes she predicted

'Rinoa will look at anything blue, and Quistis will chase the most conservative thing she can find... And to think that a body-shy woman like her uses a whip and has her own fanclub!' Selphie mused.

Rinoa currently was eyeing a couple of different patterns of the same shade of blue, while Qustis pretended to look at something other that the black one-piece she'd obviously picked out automatically.  Selphie decided to pick her own, spotting a nice red setup with a tube-top style.

She examined them, noting that most of the range of swimsuits on sale had small patterns in the material, barely visible normally, but kind of like a watermark. She guessed they were all by the same manufacturer, since all the patterns were identical - A sort of fish tail motif.

"Do any of you ladies need assistance?" The shop worker asked.

"We're fine, thank you." Quistis declined.

"Well, feel free to use the changing cubicle to try anything you like." The worker said.

"I'm just going to try this one." Selphie said. She knew she was going to buy it, but she still wanted to try it.

As Selphie occupied the cubicle, Rinoa decided.

"Yeah, this one I think."

Quistis looked at it. It was a fairly standard type of bikini top, but with false tie-string bows to make it look like a string type.

"Looks good, Rinoa."

The raven-haired woman nodded agreement.

"Say, what are you going for, Quistis?"

The blonde Instructor pretended to look at a somewhat risqué swimsuit.

"Hm.... I think I'll go for something simpler." She said, taking the black one-piece from the rack.

Rinoa rolled her eyes, having saw this coming as much as Selphie did.  Speaking of Selphie, their energetic comrade was done changing.

"Ta da!" She announced. She struck a few poses.

"I dunno, Selphie, the top seems like it might come loose easily...." Qusitis noted.

"Nah. It's got a nifty little trick in it, there's like little strings woven under the fabric that make it kind of stick onto the skin a little better. No idea how it holds in water but it keeps the top in place."

"That type of tube-top should stay firm in the water. If it comes loose bring it back for a refund." The worker interjected.

"Huh, that's a nice deal. Anyway, who's up next?"

"Selphie, aren't you going to get dressed again?"

The girl in the bikini shrugged, and picked up a pair of sandals in her size.

"Nah. I'll just put my clothes in my bag."

Quistis gawked.

"It's the seaside, Quisty! There are people out there on the beach wearing even less!" Selphie protested.

"Fine, I'll take the cubicle." Rinoa said, rushing past.

Selphie meanwhile paid for her wares, also adding a pair of shades to her look.. Quistis sighed, envious of how easily Selphie could dare to wear something like that...

Rinoa was soon done, and seemed to want to emulate Selphie.

"I like this. I think I'll wear it too."

"Go Rinoa!" Selphie cheered.

Quistis went in next, and emerged in her one-piece, which thanks to sharing the same technology as the other swimsuits, felt a little tighter once on than she'd hoped for.

"Hmm... Prudish, but shows the curves..." Selphie said as she emerged.

"Okay, so it'll do. Now, I'm going to get dressed again and pay..."

"Oh no, no, no Quisty. Me and Rinoa voted for this. You have to buy sandals and walk in your swimsuit today. "

"I don't remember voting for..."

"Shut up! You did!" Selphie hissed. Rinoa shrugged.

"Yeah, fine. We voted. Two to one, Quistis."

The blonde groaned.

"Okay... but I'm taking this too." She said, grabbing a sarong. It was a dark blue material, going down to knee length, though cut so that most of one leg would be partly exposed. However, it did help Quistis feel less shy about herself.

The other women approved, though.

"Hey, looks good. Leaves more to the imagination... And given that you're the only one of us here who can take advantage of any attention you'd get..." Selphie began.

Quistis glowered, and Selphie was silent.

"Thank you for your purchases! Remember our money-back guarantee!" The worker said.

"Thanks. Oh, do you know of anything fun tonight? Like a show?"

The woman worker grinned, and produced a leaflet.

"There's a stage show starting at seven tonight. It's a variety show: Comedians, Singers, a Magician and hypnotist act. The entrance isn't fixed, it's just donation. Oh, and my sister does the magic act." She said, giving the leaflet to Selphie.

"Looks fun. I guess we could go..." Rinoa noted, idly knowing that the "Magician" was more properly an illusionist.

Real magic was something that Rinoa knew most civilians would never see, and only a few people in the world had real access to. Sorceresses such as her, of course, and then those who could junction a Guardian Force and use para-magic. There were not too many of the latter and even fewer of the former. Two, in fact - Her and Edea.

Still, even as a sorceress, and even with two friends who could shoot fireballs had they not left their GFs back in Garden, she had a feeling illusion-magic would still be fun. Less risky than the real thing too given that it would be just a trick.

The trio bid farewell and left the shop, Quistis already feeling a little nervous.

"So... Now, we go get some snacks, sunscreen, and towels and stuff..." Selphie said gleefully.

Quistis froze.

"...You never brought any of that stuff?!"

"It was meant to be a..."

"Surprise, yeah, we get it. But snacks wouldn't have caused us to guess it right away you know." Rinoa added.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, to the Supermarket!"

Quistis swore she was going to strangle her friend...

***

Of course, it wasn't just a Supermarket trip. Selphie had to sign in the booking at the hotel too. This meant it was a full half hour dressed for the beach before even going near it, and then Selphie wanted lunch. Luckily, she picked a snack stall at the beach and they just sat on a bench, but Quistis was puzzled.

"...Why did we buy snacks there when we were just going to buy something else for lunch here?"

"Snacks are snacks. This is lunch. Snacks are all the time, lunch is now." Selphie explained, between bites of her hot dog.

"So, Quistis, seen anything interesting looking at you?" Rinoa asked.

The blonde sighed. Sometimes her friends were a little too much with this whole "find a boyfriend" thing. Was it really that wrong to want to have a career first? Besides, Quistis was alarmed most of those looking at her had been other women.

"Hey, now. It's no good asking here. Ask when she's on the beach and there's more for her to check out!" Selphie grinned, then conspiratorially yet not at all covertly leaned over to not-whisper in Rinoa's ear.

"Besides, if they think she's hot now, what about once she takes a swim to cool off?"

"You two are idiots." Quistis grumbled as the pair giggled.

Eventually, they hit the beach itself, and to Selphie's dismay no one else wanted to swim.

"Selphie, we just ate." Rinoa tried.

"Oh come on, cramps after swimming is a myth..."

"It's not that. I just don't like to swim after a meal at all."

"Yeah yeah. You two can join me when you stop being hydrophobic." Selphie huffed.

"...What? Isn't hydrophobia rabies?" Rinoa frowned.

"It is, the usual term is Aquaphobia." Quistis, SeeD Instructor, said.

"Gha! You two are driving me nuts! I need that swim to cool off!"

Selphie dashed away. Quistis grinned.

"Now she knows how I feel..."

Quistis kept an eye on Selphie just in case though, noting that her red swimwear seemed to be drawing a few eyes towards her. Quistis had no problem with this: Less people staring at her.

***

'Wimps...' Selphie thought to herself as she waded into the surf. She found herself floating after a few moments, and looked down at her bikini.

'Okay... Let's see how well you stay on in the water!'

She sank down, feet touching the bottom, and propelled herself up. It wasn't that high a jump as it could have been given that the sand absorbed much of the energy she put into the bounce, but her dolphin leap attracted some attention as she did hurl herself a good few meters forward and slide into the sea.

She surfaced, noting the bikini hadn't shifted at all.

'Nice! Now for extreme testing...'

Selphie then began her swim in earnest, trying a variety of strokes intended to maximise the amount of water pressure hitting her. She had largely learned endurance swimming as a SeeD, but had also learned some of the swimming styles not strictly so useful for the kinds of swimming she needed to theoretically do in her day job.

As a result she was able to go through the water faster than most people short of professional swimmers. Besides, some of that swimming training had been carried out in uniform. If a soaking blazer and skirt didn't slow her down in the water, being in just a bikini was like a turbo-boost.

Of course, even a ball of energy with military style training tired out eventually, and found herself relaxing in the water with a backstroke.

'Much more relaxing in the surf than the sand... Just floating here...' She felt a little sleepy... But she wasn't going to fall asleep. That would have been crazy.

She flipped over and swam back to shore, heading back to a bemused looking Quistis.

"What? Something on my face?"

"No... You just swam really weird out there for the last five minutes. You put your legs together and kicked like a dolphin.

"...Yeah, weird joke, Quisty. Anyway, you two actually going to swim or not?"

Rinoa shrugged.

"Nah. I was never one for swimming."

Quistis also declined.

"Bah. You both suck."

Selphie dropped down on the sand.

"So... Any guys try to hit on Quistis?"

"Nope, none. Hundreds asking if we knew the hottie in the red bikini out swimming, but I told them your boyfriend was a sniper and, well, they lost all interest..." Quistis teased.

"Especially when I said he might be hiding somewhere on those cliffs over there." Rinoa added.

"...You still both suck. Anyway, if you two landlubbers won't get wet, I guess we can head for the shops to get some new clothes for that show tonight?"

Rinoa shrugged.

"Sure. I didn't bring anything fancy anyway."

"Clothes, then dinner, then a show. Better than sitting on a beach with two idiots trying to hook me up with a surfer bum..." Quistis voiced approval.

"You still suck."

***

The new clothes were not too complex. Selphie had gone for a yellow dress, only different from her normal one in that it had shoulders and a looser skirt, while Rinoa had went for a blue denim skirt, and a similarly blue t-shirt. Quistis had resisted efforts by the other two to go for a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt.

"But it covers you up too much!" Selphie whined.

"Leaves more to the imagination" Quistis taunted, echoing Selphie's claims about her swimsuit.

"Well, we have clothes, now what. Dinner?" Rinoa interjected.

"Hm... It's only about half five. Maybe... Oh, I know! A  necklace!" Selphie said, spotting some jewellery.

"A bit much for just a show..."

"Nah, look. They're just souvenir necklaces. Little fish with the town's name on them, see?"  

Rinoa looked over at them.

"I guess... Well, I'll get one. No use looking for anything for Squall. If it's not a Gunblade he doesn't care."

Selphie looked thoughful.

"Hm... So, we need to get gunblade-patterned underwear for your birthday..."

"Ha ha."

***

The show billing had the singers up first. Not exactly chart-toppers, they mostly did cover versions, though Rinoa was thankful at the lack of Eyes on Me amongst the songs covered due to a dislike of most cover versions of her mother's song, as was Quistis. The blonde, however, just hadn't cared much for the song at all before.

Selphie however was disappointed, as it meant her friends were not tortured by the music. The hour and a half went past.

The comedy act started after an intermission, the singers leaving the stage after another slightly mangled cover song, but still getting polite applause. The comedians however, were not that good in the views of the three girls. The rest of the audience tittered and chuckled, and the occasional full laugh occurred, but the trio never got into the mood.

"Just so many terrible puns..." Rinoa groaned.

Some made no sense. Others were just lame. Such gems as "What did you call Adel's supply of the nineteenth letter of the alphabet? Source er S" or the ever witty "How do mermaids give birth? Sea section". She'd heard funnier attempts from Zell and his jokes were all rubbish knock knock gags.

Eventually, the show moved onto the magic, and it improved somewhat.  The Magician resembled the shop worker slightly, not a shock given they were sisters. She wore a corset and top hat, plus brown stockings.

The first fifteen minutes or so were the simple parlour tricks type of magic, but with a few small twists.

A volunteer from the audience had smirked to see the wrong card guessed, for example. The Magician looked at the Glacial Eye card in confusion.

"Oh, my apologies, sir, I misread that..." The Magician said. The card burst into flames, provoking gasps from some of the audience. Where it had been though, the card was still there. Only now, it was a Bite Bug as the volunteer had guessed.

Some other tricks were interesting. Another volunteer had guessed the weight of a jar of sand. The same jar was then guessed on again, and it grew heavier. The scales were shown to measure correctly, various weights added and displaying the right numbers. The sand itself, the Magician claimed, grew heavier and heavier, until it would eventually grow so heavy all the weight would flow out and the jar would float off.

"Well, there's no actual magic here... "Rinoa noted.

"Yeah. I think it's a remote control for the scales. And maybe a wire for the jar floating." Selphie voiced her theories.

"Could be."

The Magician tellingly had a slight swerve waving her hand over the top of the jar, so Selphie seemed to be correct on one point.

"Okay. Now, I need two volunteers from the audience to be my assistants..."

"Hey, let's go for it!" Selphie grinned.

"Count me out." Quistis said.

"Rinoa? Come on, don't be a coward like Quisty. We can go see how the magic works."

Rinoa shrugged.

"I guess."

The pair raised their hands.

"Ah, two lovely ladies volunteering? Excellent. Don't worry about anything complex... training is provided..." The Magician grinned, a watch dropping and dangling from her hand.

Selphie and Rinoa got on stage, and introduced themselves. They left out their occupations, and Rinoa did not advertise she was a sorceress, but other than that it was all standard fare.

"Well, ladies. I see you had a friend with you. I'm going to need to ask her permission now for something... Madam, do you object to me training your friends to be my perfect assistants in under a minute?"

Quistis shrugged.

"Be my guest."

She wondered if this magic trick could be applied to her students...

"Very well. Selphie, you'll be trained first. Watch this watch..." The Magician said, swinging it back and forth.

"Are you feeling sleepy?"

"Not really." Selphie shrugged.

"Good. The watch was useless, I was hypnotising Rinoa." The Magician grinned.

Selphie was surprised to see this was true. Rinoa stood, spacing out, and swaying slightly.

"Anyway. Rinoa, my assistant. Your friend seems tense. Perhaps she needs a hug to lighten up?"

"Yes..." Rinoa said, and Selphie was given the hug as ordered. The audience applauded as Selphie went into a trance just from the hug.

"Good... Now, separate, and stand next to each other."

The pair obeyed.

"Now then, girls. I'm transmitting your instructions from my subconcious to yours. All you need to do, to be my assistants for the rest of the night. And now, I will use my powers to change you into the assistants uniforms behind this screen... I'll even make the colours more like your clothes you have just now."

The Magician picked up a paper screen, setting it up before the entranced pair. The lighting from behind made the pair into mere silhouettes. The magician then hung up two pink bunny-girl costumes in front of the screen, roughly layered over the shadows behind.

"I must warn those who are nervous, this trick involves some flashing lights and loud noises..." The Magician grinned.

Quistis grinned too, readying a camera for blackmail material...

With a thunderclap, the stage lighting blinked on and off. The shadows of Selphie and Rinoa shimmered, and vanished, as did the bunny costumes. The magician frowned as the event ended, and looked around the screen.

"Whoops... Slight mishap, folks. Seems I changed them into the uniforms quite literally..."

The screen was moved, and the two bunny girl costumes lay there, with no sign of the pair. One was yellow, one was blue.

"I'd ask for more volunteers maybe, but those two seemed like good sports so I'll just fix that..."

With a puff of smoke, one costume vanished, and then the next. The cloud cleared, and the pair now stood there, but Rinoa was in yellow, and Selphie in blue. Both wore stockings of the same colour as their main costumes, ears, and a white fluffy cottontail.

"Drat... wrong again..."

The audience laughed, and then the show really began as the Magician fixed the colours with another puff of smoke.

"Now... When you awaken from the trance, you will both be the perfect assistants... You will smile at all times, and obey all instructions until I release you from the spell. And...Wake!"

***

Quistis filmed it all, intent on teasing her friends about this.

Rinoa and Selphie were both sawn in half, and the Magician swapped their legs. Sure enough, opening the box, the bottom halves of their costumes had switched colours. They were left like that through the next few tricks.

Various other tricks swapped them around. Two cabinets split into four boxes were used for a mismatched girl trick, that left Rinoa's head on Selphie's body and vice versa. The end result of the trick was one head on the wrong torso, with the right legs, or so it seemed.

The fully assembled cabinets were then used to make Selphie into a mannequin, and Rinoa into another Selphie before that second Selphie became a mannequin too, and the original became a normal Rinoa. Normal, except that she was then made a mannequin without closing the door, just another puff of smoke. their heads and then pelvises were swapped back, but not the pattern of their corsets.

There were sword tricks, Selphie apparently now able to swallow a sword, while Rinoa seemed immune to having been stuffed in a small box and stabbed through many times. Selphie went back in a cabinet, and Rinoa pulled a bikini from a hat, in a similar mismatched pattern as Selphie's corset.

It was placed on the ground, and a puff of smoke saw Selphie appear, in the bikini, which now sported the cottontail from the bunny costume. Rinoa had vanished at the same time, to the faux confusion of the magician, only to emerge from the cabinet a few moments later in a bikini similarly to Selphie.

The Magician put herself in a bikini with a puff of smoke, and a water tank was revealed behind a curtain. An Aquarian illusion was performed, both Selphie and Rinoa sealed into the tank, and covered. The lights dimmed, the cover was removed, and the magician swam inside, the two assistants bone-dry on top, releasing the soaking Magician. The trio stayed in bikinis through the other illusions.

The end of the show neared though, and all throughout, they had kept smiling. Quistis had no idea how most of the tricks had actually been performed. There were obvious cover moments, but the actual swaps seemed like they had been impossible to pull off sometimes, unless Rinoa and Selphie had been doing more than just playing along and really were entranced. She doubted they had really known where trapdoors and the like had been.

"Well, folks, my assistants have been great. How about they get a round of applause?"

They did so.

"Now... How about I break their trance? Oh, but first, I need to fix their clothes..."

In two puffs of smoke, Selphie and Rinoa were back in their normal clothing, but still wore the bunny ears.

"...Close enough. And now, that trance... I think the two of them should congratulate each other. Go on, girls. Give each other a little celebratory kiss!"

The pair, still smiling, leaned towards each other and kissed, to the amusement of the audience. The pair blinked, and then broke from their trance. Both looked very surprised...

Quistis smirked, holding her camera.

***

"So the hypnotism part was real?" Quistis asked, as the pair met with her to leave.

"I think so. I last remembered Rinoa hugging me on the stage." Selphie shrugged.

"Hm. I bet that means you never saw how the tricks were done?"

"We probably did, but forgot. I guess that's one way to make the illusions work." Rinoa replied.

"Say, Quistis... What sort of stuff did we do?" Selphie worried.

Quistis waved her camera.

"Oh... Nothing much... I'll show you if you brought a laptop. And I might even delete some of the pictures rather than mailing them off to the boys..."

The pair gaped in horror at the cruelty of the Blonde.

"But first I think we should get a drink. And you two are paying for the first few rounds..."

***

Quistis was thankful for the separate rooms. It meant she could hide the copies of the pictures she had put onto a memory card far easier. She also didn't have to deal with a slightly tipsy Selphie thinking Rinoa still had her bottom, or Rinoa's habit of singing songs she made up on the spot.

Still, it had been an amusing day. And she looked forward to Selphie's hangover... And Rinoa's. The other two couldn't handle booze at all, whereas Quistis could. Of course, the other two drunk were trouble, so when Selphie had first tried to check that the drapes still matched the curtains and that she hadn't wound up with Rinoa's bottom half, Quistis knew it was time to get them to the hotel.

There was the sound of a door closing in the next room. Rinoa's room. But the rooms had their own bathrooms...

Checking into the hallway, she saw Selphie and Rinoa heading outside in their nightwear. Quistis frowned. What were those two up to? She quickly pulled on some clothes and followed.

The two walked through deserted streets, wearing their sandals and pyjamas in Selphie's case, sandals and just underwear in Rinoa's.

Quistis was not about to challenge them until she knew where they were going. And that wasn't long in becoming clear.

The pair walked out onto the beach. A late-night swim? As drunk as they were?

"Hey! You two! What are you doing?" She shouted.

They kept going. Quistis growled. Why had she even suggested these two idiots and alcohol combining...

She ran up behind them, grabbing their shoulders. They halted. Quistis noted now both also wore the fish-tail necklaces.

"All right, explain."

Then she noticed... They seemed to be asleep. Sleepwalking? Both at once?

"What the hell..."

"Ah, I can answer that." A new voice said. Quistis span around. The Magician stood there, the shop worker behind her.

"Is this something to do with the stage show?!"

The shop worker nodded.

"Well, Rinoa is, yes. Selphie, though, she was ready a lot earlier. And I'm glad you followed. I was worried that things might not work out so well."

"What do you mean?"

Quistis wished she had a weapon.

"Well... You don't seem to be as under as the other two, and we wanted all three of you."

Quistis was about to ask for more clarification of exactly what was going on, when she heard Rinoa and Selphie move behind her. She span to grab their shoulders again, only to feel herself freeze in place as they walked away.

"What... I can't move!"

"Yes. The hypnotic suggestions have meant you won't resist at least. We can take you under properly, but to do so, we have to explain what we're doing." The shop worker said, walking around her paralysed form.

Meanwhile, Selphie and Rinoa kept walking, and were disrobing. The Magician followed, collecting their clothing into a bag, and then the two paused at the edge of the waves, now completely naked. The Magician placed the bag on dry sand, and undressed herself while her sister paced around Quistis. The blonde had found her eyes, still mobile, trying to track the woman as she walked...

'She's walking around me to try and entrance me! She mentioned hypnosis!' Quistis realised. She tried to focus on the group at the shore, not the walking woman.

"Well, by now, you'll wonder who we are. Quite simply, we're what you humans would call Mermaids. But we're not quite like the legends. We're not half-fish humanoids. We're merely a seperate evolutionary chain. The humanoid form has many advantages, on dry land, or under the waves. We don't know if the creator made one of us first or together, or if in the creator's wisdom we were once the same but separated. However, recent changes to our way of life make us think the latter may be the case. Certainly, we are a related species." The woman said, from behind the paralysed blonde.

Quistis tried not to listen but the information was vital.

"The two of us share similar... Your term is genes, I believe...,and thousands of years ago, we discovered that it was possible to use fragments of the being you call Hyne to manipulate our shapes to those of Humans, and vice-versa."

"Magic." Quistis said.

"A gift from the creator, we would say. But we misused the skills. We once tried to conquer the humans. The Creator was angered that the two species had warred, and as aggressors we were punished. Humans were to have no restrictions on and we were to be reliant on humans to survive. We require the assistance of human beings to breed."

'What is she saying.... Oh no...'

"You're taking us to be impregnated?" Quistis said in disgust.

The woman walked to the front, looking disgusted herself. Meanwhile, the nude trio were slowly entering the waters, blocked now by the woman.

"No. We don't impregnate humans. That's impossible. We are, and always have been, a single gender species. In human terms, we have always been female. We did not breed as you did until our failed attempt to destroy the humans. We rely on humans, as our people must go onto land in human form and mate with human males."

"So why do you need us?" Quistis demanded.

"Your genes. To ensure that our gene shifting technology works correctly, we need to have a broad array of genetic samples. We need to be aware of any future evolutionary outcomes of Humanity. Over the centuries we have noticed certain genetic predispositions become more widespread, and we have thus sought to ensure that our library is up to date. You three were chosen as you all exhibit signs of a connection to the gift from the creator - especially Rinoa. That makes your genes valuable for study into how humanity is evolving."

'The Sorceress power... Our use of magic...'

"Of course, the fact all three of you are attractive by human standards helps. Having our Breeder Infiltrators assume the forms of women like yourselves has been key to success in the past. "

"What exactly do you do?"

The shop worker moved out of the way.  The trio were now treading the water, and The Magician seemed to be embracing Selphie. They were kissing. As she released the embrace, Selphie fell backwards and floated. Rinoa was kissed too, and fell to float.

"Watch." The woman commanded.

Quistis had little choice. She saw as Rinoa and Selphie lay on their backs, floating in the waters. She could not make much out, but their feet and legs seemed strange. The Magician floated beside them. She leaned down, kissing Selphie on the lips, then Rinoa, and then, they sank.

A second later, two shapes leapt from the water. They had fish tails, but the human-like uppers were unmistakeable even by moonlight.

"You turned them into mermaids..."

"Yes. The genes of a human are easy to alter, but to alter our genes to a human is not so easy. If we alter a human gene, we can work it back from there, and then perform the same process on our own bodies to assume the form of the genes we take."

"And then you go on dry land and find a guy..."

The woman walked in front again, as The Magician revealed her own mermaid form. The trio in the water seemed to be now swimming around playfully.

"In a way. Our species that is not in infancy or late adulthood splits into three, Roughly half, each year, remain at home. Forty percent attempt to breed. The remainder, usually those who have already bred recently, harvest human genes so that the future Breeders have a wide variety. "

"And why not just harvest it with blood samples?"

The woman shook her head.

"As I said, we alter human genes to our own easier. By altering you to mermaids, we do not have to risk the sample of human genetic codes to accidents. We can take you offshore to our nearest city, and we can collect samples there with less risk."

The woman paused.

"I think that's everything. Oh, no. Once we have the samples you will be released and reverted, but we like our helpers to try and expand our genetic samples. You'll help us to pick out suitable targets. Maybe you saw a few of our earlier samples. They might have noted your attractive figures."

"Wait. How did you hypnotise Selphie and Rinoa?"

"Oh, easy. Selphie was the bikini pattern, and swimming in it. Rinoa, we got her with the necklace and put them both all the way under at the stage show. We only slightly hypnotised you with the pattern and the show, but it was enough to finish the job. "

The woman leaned in, and gave Quistis a kiss.

At first, Quistis was alarmed. And then, she felt... peaceful. Things slowed. Senses dulled. Her eyes were heavy, and her mind foggy. She melted in the kiss, and the feeling was wonderful...

The kiss was broken. Quistis was blank-eyed.

"And now we really finish..." The woman said, leading Quistis gently to the water. The blonde, and the shop worker, disrobed.

Quistis felt herself as if asleep, the woman leaning down to kiss her again. She drooped backwards, falling asleep even as the woman leaned down for the third kiss...

Moments later, the three playful mermaids were joined by two more, and soon, they swam off into the dark depths of the sea.


***

SeeD Nepta Osideon was feeling quite frustrated. She had been sent on a solo mission to check up on Instructor Trepe, SeeD Selphie Tilmitt, and Rinoa Heartily, the girlfriend of SeeD's commander. They had been meant to return from a vacation three days ago, and only a garbled answerphone message from them had been received.

Squall had thought it said the three were staying a few more days, but his attempts to call them met with failure. And Squall had no idea where they had been as such, just that Rinoa had mentioned a town. Nepta had no idea how to even start looking around a whole town herself... She'd never find them.

"Hey! Nepta!" A voice shouted.

"Oh. Hi, Selphie."

Of course, they could just find her.

Rinoa and Selphie walked up to the rookie.

"Oh no. Squall didn't send you to check up on us, did he? I thought the signal was breaking up when I left that answerphone message..." Rinoa asked.

Nepta nodded.

"Gaaah. Heavy." Selphie winced.

"Yeah. I was meant to be taking a week long break myself after graduating..." Nepta grumbled.

"Oh, yeah.... Hey, Nepta. Since it's my fault you got stuck chasing us, how about I try swing it with Squall to let you stay here? We can try get your friends sent down here as well..."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure. We screwed up. Should have made sure that Squall knew we were staying five more days." Selphie shrugged.

Nepta smiled, then the rookie frowned.

"Ah... But I didn't bring swimwear."

"Oh, we know a good shop. Don't let your friends bring theirs when they're coming. Trust me, it's more fun to buy a new one at the beach than bring an old one..." Rinoa said.

Nepta considered this.

"Okay, I guess that's fine. Is there much else to do?"

"Well, you and all your friends are eighteen, right? Then there's the bars..."

Nepta nodded.

"Well, I don't like to drink myself but Celes and Sara do... And Beatrix will drink if everyone else does."

"Whoa, we don't need to know who the designated driver will be, Nepta. Just if the bars are okay for them."

"Is there anything else?"

"There's a fun stage show..." A new voice said. Nepta turned to see Quistis.

"Ah, Instructor!"

The other two smiled. It had been no secret that the number of Trepies had been on the increase lately. And Nepta was just one of the surprisingly large number of fangirls the blonde had.

"Oh no, Quisty, don't tell her about the show..."

"Oh, I won't. I'll just warn her to make sure Celes and Sara volunteer... She and Beatrix will like the material..."

Nepta was puzzled.

"Um, I don't quite understand..."

"It's not important! Instructor Trepe is just a crazy person and I never wore a bunny-girl suit no matter what she says! And any pictures are fake!" Selphie cried, dragging Nepta away.

"Agh! Selphie! That's not how you cover things up! And there's no signal that direction, that's why the last message didn't work!"

As the other three left, Quistis smirked.

"Hmm... An attractive girl. Are her friends similar?" The Magician asked from behind her.

"Yes. All SeeDs." Quistis replied.

"Very good. You three are almost done here now. You've helped us collect many new samples. Our Breeder groups will have a wide variety of shapes... But I would like more with the gifts of the creator. This junctioning and para-magic intrigues us. We thought humans had no magic at all."

Quistis nodded

"It can be arranged. Word of mouth from us and the other group will soon spread..."

"Excellent. Thank you, Quistis. You've been most helpful..."

The Magician left, the mermaid woman busy with other possibles. Quistis simply went back to her vacation, pausing only to occasionally examine those she could send to her new friends...