Ball of Nothing

The Rainbow Fish introduced itself as a kind of God. "I used to be the Marine Goddess of Beauty. All the fishermen used to pray to me for a beautiful wife. The merfolks used to come to me for love advice, and I was extremely adored."

Zero listened to the Rainbow Fish brag about its glorious history. This Rainbow Fish had quite the attitude and was rather haughty. The doctor could understand a little about why the single-scaled fish had no friends. However, he chose to withhold his opinions for now and simply listen.

"With scales the colour of the rainbow, many sea creatures of the deep were attracted to me. For marine animals, light is a very sacred thing meant to be respected, worshipped and revered. It was only natural for them to be envious of my colourful scales. I can understand why everyone disliked me after a while. However, I was so lonely with nobody to talk to. Hence, I asked the Goddess of the Sea, Sedna, for advice."

Ah, now things were making sense. Sedna must have told the Rainbow Fish something along the lines of practising kindness and offering generosity. The Rainbow Fish must have misunderstood it, resulting in losing his beautiful scales.

"Alas, even after giving them my lovely scales, I was still left with no friends. In fact, they scorned me for being ugly and mocked me for my foolishness. Now, nobody talks to me, knows me or recognises me. The fishermen stop coming. The merfolks no longer seek me out. I'm all alone in these deep dark waters. Ah, woe is me! How can such a beautiful creature like me suffer such a tragic fate?"

Yupp, there it was—the drama queen and the self-absorbed personality that nobody liked. Zero didn't really want to deal with this massive scaleless pain in the neck, but he didn't have much to do around here. Listening to the big fish complaining might be a good way to kill time, so Zero stayed.

"What about that one scale?" Zero asked. "Why didn't you give that to anyone?"

The question made the Rainbow Fish pause. It made the drama fish silent and turned away from Zero, swimming back to its comfortable spot to sulk. Zero didn't pressure him. Instead, he took this chance to swim around and examine the last scale on this fish's body.

From a distance, the scale sparkled. However, up close, Zero could see that it wasn't a perfect scale. The huge scale had a blemish in the middle and was discoloured. In other words, it was imperfect. Even the world's greatest beauties had physical flaws when scrutinised.

"I don't want to talk about it," the Rainbow Fish declared in a very tired voice, unbefitting of his arrogant image from earlier. Zero finally understood the Marine Goddess of Beauty a little better. That haughty character from before was simply an act to make up for all the insecurities they had inside of them.

"You know, I think that this one scale is all you need."

Those words made the Rainbow Fish pause. "What?"

Zero's opinion was unlike everyone else's. Shouldn't this human be mocking him now after he learned about the blemish and discoloured scale? All his life, the Rainbow Fish hated this one scale. However, this one scale was all he had left in the end. No matter how beautiful he was on the outside, he was just an ugly fish without his beautiful coat of Rainbow Scales. The other 'friends' he had realised this and left him as they should. The Rainbow Fish understood. If it was him, he probably wouldn't want to be friends with such a superficial fish either.

"I think this scale suits you the best. It has the colour of your eye and the sparkle of your personality. It's perfect!"

The different opinion made the Rainbow Fish tear up. "You really think so?"

Zero nodded. It wasn't a lie. He might be saying it to comfort the Rainbow Fish, but it definitely wasn't a lie.

"Thank you," the Rainbow Fish sniffed. "For saying the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"No problem!" Zero smiled. "It's what real friends do."

Friends... How many years had it been since the Rainbow Fish last thought of that term favourably? The people who claimed to be his best chums ran away as soon as they received his scale, even when they knew each other for centuries. Not a single one stood by his side in his darkest times. Yet, a complete stranger was mesmerised by the scale he thought would be the shame of his life. How ironic!

Sedna wasn't wrong. It might take a little longer than the Rainbow Fish expected, but after giving his beautiful Rainbow Scales away, he finally made his first true friend.

The Rainbow Fish looked at his last scale and back at Zero. Maybe, just maybe, he could entrust this scale to someone who would treasure it.

Zero didn't expect the Rainbow Fish to pluck its last scale and hand it to him with his two large fins. "This is the last of my Rainbow Scales. Thank you for saying such kind words. As a token of our friendship, please accept this! It might not be perfect, but it is all I have."

Zero appraised the scale and noticed how it was a natural marine compass. What a lucky find!

"Thank you. I will treasure it. However, I cannot allow you to give this to me without giving something in return. This is the silk from the world's best weaver. I hope you will accept this. We can fashion some very amazing clothes for you to become the most fashionable fish in the sea!"

Surprised but happy, the Rainbow Fish accepted. Zero placed an emergency order with Jynx to customise the most fashionable clothes for the Rainbow Fish. With no questions asked, the order was completed in under a day.

The next day, Zero appeared with the flowing gown that swirled as the Rainbow Fish swam. It looked magical underwater and glowed according to the dim sunlight, reflecting it over a few hundred meters.

"This is beautiful!" the Rainbow Fish smiled. "Thank you, good friend."

Zero agreed. "Indeed. I hope you'd be the happiest fish in this sea instead of the most beautiful now. Our meeting was brief, but I'll always be rooting for you!"

With a wave of his fin, the Rainbow Fish and Zero parted. With the Rainbow Fish's last scale added into the Marrissa's navigation system, the crew was finally ready to depart to check out the second route.

"Full steam ahead!"