(this is from when Asri was younger, and this is also when Asri first meets Alberto)

"Asri, you little trouble maker, where'd you go off to now?!" Daniela yelled. 

Asri giggled quietly as she peeked out from behind the rock she was hiding behind. She waited until her mother's back was turned before she flicked her tail, quickly swimming away through the sea grass. 

Daniela saw the grass moving as the young sea monster swam away and sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. 

"Ay ye ye, Asri. What am I going to do with you?" she said to herself. 

Asri laughed and giggled as she swam through her sea monster village, relishing her temporary freedom as she swam along past the other villagers. She made sure to take a quick stop to say high to them before continuing on her way. 

Though she stopped when she reached the outskirts of her village. Asri looked up at the water as the sun shimmered through it. 

The sand underneath her sloped upward, leading out of the water. Asri looked at it for a few seconds before she slowly moved her tail, the motion pushing her upwards towards the surface.

Asri stopped just a couple inches from the surface water, her hesitance taking over for a minute. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her, and Asri took a deep breath before continuing. 

She closed her eyes as her head broke the surface before peeking them open. Asri's eyes flew open as she took in what was in front of her. 

It was a town. And in the distance, she could see land monsters walking around. 

Some were hanging around, some were walking, and smaller land monsters looked like they were playing around with a round object. Asri was broken out of her trance when she heard something splash behind her, making her whirl around. 

She turned in time to catch the end of a purple tail disappearing under the water. 

"H-hey! Wait up!" Asri called. 

She took a look back at the town behind her before she dived into the water, heading in the direction she had seen the tail disappear in. She swiftly moved her tail from side to side, quickly swimming after the mysterious creature. 

She saw something disappear behind a rock, and going after it, she arrived in a sandy clearing. After taking a quick look around, she spotted a purple octopus quickly swimming away. 

"Oh, it, was just you" Asri said quietly as she watched the octopus swim away in disappointment. 

She looked down at the sand and lightly brushed her tail against it, thinking, blissfully unaware of the bright green eyes that watched her from the shelter of the rocks. Asri was about to turn around to head home when a large shadow passed by overhead. 

She paused and looked up, her eyes widening at the sight of the boat and the net it dragged along behind it. Asri quickly flicked her tail to get out of the fishing net's way, but her movement was spotted by the humans on the boat. 

Asri watched, slowly backing away as the humans shuffled around. Suddenly, one of them picked up a long stick with a sharp pointy thing at one end. 

Harpoons. 

Asri quickly swam out of the way as the sharp part came down at her, fear and terror sharpening her senses. She began to swim away from the boat quickly, but then one of the humans threw the harpoon. 

The sharp object went into the water like a missile, and quickly came in contact with Asri's tail, who let out a cry of pain as the force of the harpoon forced her to the sea floor. Asri let out an 'oof!' as the rest of her body hit the sea bed. 

She soon regained her senses, and looked up to see the boat leaving, heading towards the town she had seen. Asri let out a small sigh that was full of relief. 

She even momentarily forgot about the harpoon, but was quickly reminded of it when she tried to swim, the result being sharp pain quickly spreading through her tail. Asri let out a yelp and looked back. 

The harpoon had gone through her tail, and was now keeping it pinned to the ocean floor while the blood running from the wound colored the water around her tail. Asri let out a sigh and looked forward at the ground, only to be met with another shadow. 

She looked up to see a purple sea monster. He was slightly bigger than her, and looked like he was a couple years older than her too. 

"Um, hello" Asri greeted hesitantly. 

The purple sea monster gave a small wave. 

"Hey" he said. 

He glanced at the harpoon that kept Asri's tail pinned. 

"Need some help?" he asked, looking at her.

"Please" Asri replied as she pushed herself off the sea floor, but kept her tail bent a bit. 

The purple sea monster swam behind her, and Asri watched as he grabbed the harpoon. The sudden movement made her quietly hiss with pain, and the sea monster looked up at her. 

"This is going to hurt, so, prepare yourself" he warned. 

Asri nodded and clenched her jaw. The sea monster waited for a second before giving a harsh tug on the harpoon. 

"Ow!" Asri cried as she quickly swam away a bit before holding her injured and bleeding tail. 

"I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn't think it would be that bad!" she said as the other sea monster came over with some strips of seaweed. 

"So no, 'thanks for saving me', 'thanks for helping me', nothing?" he asked as he grabbed her tail and pulled it towards himself. 

"Huh, quite the cocky one, aren't you?" Asri replied. 

The purple sea monster huffed a bit with amusement before he began to tie the seaweed strips around her wounded tail. He had a seaweed bandage on his arm too. 

Asri wondered what happened to him to get that. 

"What happened to your arm?" she asked, nodding her head towards the bandaged area. 

The male sea monster took a quick look at it before shrugging. 

"Eh, just, got into a fight, that's all" he replied. 

He finished the seaweed bandages while he was talking. 

"There. Good as new. Try swimming around" he said. 

Asri took a look at the wrapped up area before flicking her tail. It hurt a bit to move, but she was able to swim. And the bandages didn't come off. 

The sea monster looked quite proud of himself. 

"Well, thanks. I, uh, I never caught your name" Asri said when she came back. 

"Oh, the name's Alberto. Alberto Scorfano. And you are...?" The sea monster replied before motioning a hand towards her. 

"Oh, I'm Asri. Asri Paguro. And thanks again" Asri said. 

Alberto gave an awkward smile before rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Also, uh, sorry if I scared you earlier" he said. 

Asri gave him a confused look. 

"I uh, saw you staring at that human town and was about to say hi when I remembered I had something to do" Alberto explained. 

"Oh! So that was your tail that I saw earlier" Asri said with a light smile as she put her hands on her hips. 

"Yeah, it was me" Alberto admitted. 

He smiled a bit, then swam forward to catch Asri's wrist when she started to turn away. 

"Hey, wait, um, do you think we could meet up here, to, hang out?" he asked. 

Asri smiled. 

"Sure. See you around, Alberto Scorfano" she said before pulling herself free and swimming away..