Hey, everyone, I'm back with another multi-chapter fic! I know I keep procrastinating on the older ones, but hopefully this'll be short and sweet in comparison to those ones, especially since it's kinda like a parody/retelling. Ah, well. Hope you enjoy and be sure to R&R!
Ah, what a beautiful day for a concert.
Indeed it was. The underwater kingdom of Atlantica couldn't have looked more thrilled to finally hear King Triton's seventh and youngest daughter Ariel perform before them. All neighboring kingdoms were invited to attend that day, one royal family in attendance being the Strifes, a particular favorite of the King's.
Unfortunately, the King and Queen of the kingdom were unable to attend due to other important matters to attend to, but nonetheless, their children had come anyway. The oldest was Cloud, a fine, yet introverted gentleman. Followed by him were the youngest: twins Ventus and Roxas, both rather lean young men and blonde hair and blue eyes. The middle child, Sora, had already gotten acquainted with the king's daughters, and was presumably with them.
"Why'd we have to come?" Ventus whined to Cloud.
"It's not like this is the first concert in Ariel's name!" Roxas added.
"Yes, but our families are on good terms with one another." Cloud scolded the two, "We should not try to ruin this relationship between our kingdoms. It has lasted for generations, and many more to come, we hope. You got that?"
"Yes, Cloud," the twins sighed.
"Good.
"And here come the Strife children!" came an announcer; a small seahorse that was orange in color. The three were met with admiring stares from the merfolk, and this continued until they had gotten in the concert hall, and made their way to one of the higher areas.
"Your Highness." Cloud bowed as he suddenly found the King. He then shifted his head in the twins' direction, as they got the message and bowed as well.
"Cloud," King Triton returned the greeting, "Roxas. Ventus." He then looked around, as if looking for someone else, "Are your parents elsewhere?"
"They have stayed behind to attend to some rather important matters, Your Highness. I hope you don't mind."
"Of course not," Triton said sincerely, "And is Sora with them as well?"
"No, Your Highness. Sora is off bonding with your daughters. Your youngest, to be exact."
"Oh, he's found his way to Ariel, has he?"
"It would appear so."
King Triton smiled, "Well, he should be with you now. Ariel is expected to perform in a few minutes."
"Of course, King Triton. Should I go an collect him?" Cloud asked.
The King nodded, "Please do." And with that he swam off to his own seat.
Cloud turned back to Ventus and Roxas, "I will just be gone for a moment. Stay there!"
"Where else are we supposed to go?" Roxas huffed, "It's not like we know where we're going."
"Whatever." Cloud sighed dismissively as he made his way.
"Sebastian, does this look a little off?"
It was sure hard to deal with teenagers.
Sebastian had been so nervous for the concert, and in all honesty, still was. He'd been preparing for this concert for years, only for Ariel so go off and do something or other, or for her to just rebut and run away for a while. Why, she'd never even attend any of the rehearsals! If he wasn't as sure Ariel had the most beautiful voice all of the daughters, Sebastian would've been infuriated. The King had been oh so patient through all of this (despite of course when he would be angered by Ariel's insolence), allowing Sebastian to have another concert in order to finally hear what he had worked so hard for.
"No, it's look fine, sweetie!" he said to Alana, who was fussing around with a crown on her head.
"Hey, Sebastian, do I go before or after Attina?" Adella asked, with Attina next to her.
"After."
"Told you." Attina smirked, causing her sister to frown.
"OK, OK, everyone! Places, places!" Sebastian ordered, as the mermaids stopped what they were doing and came together before him. They looked around the room and seemed to be giggling at something, but the crab paid no attention to it, "Everyone in de kingdom has come to see what you can do, OK? So let's give 'em the best ye got, mon!"
As he started to move backwards, Sebastian eventually came in contact with flesh. He turned around, startled, finding out to have bumped into Cloud's chest.
"Hey there Sebastian." The teen greeted.
"What're you doin' here?" Sebastian asked demandingly, "We're not ready for de show yet!"
"Oh, no, I just came by to get Sora…"
"Sora?" Attina repeated, "We haven't seen him around here." The other sisters also shook their heads.
"But isn't he with Ariel?" Cloud asked.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Ariel either…"
"Neither have we," Aquata nodded along with the others, except for Sebastian, who looked absolutely petrified.
"Ariel's not here?!" The crab asked worryingly, almost fuming, "But the show-and we've only got-"
"She's probably just out and about again," Arista shrugged, "No doubt she brought that Sora boy along with her."
"Do you have ANY idea where they might be, then?" Cloud asked, his own concerns rising.
"Not a clue, no," Andrina shook her head.
"Dis is terrible!" Sebastian wallowed, "No concert! Again!"
"I guess I'll give the King the news." Cloud sighed as he made his way to the King, gulping.
"WHAT?!" King Triton fumed as he clenched his Trident firmly.
"Dat's right Your Majesty," Sebastian, who'd insisted on joining Cloud, said, "Ariel's n-not here…and we don't know what…"
"And Sora's probably with her…" Cloud added, though it perhaps added little to the table.
"Why, she KNEW how important this was!" Triton began, "And yet she STILL thinks it's nothing more than a joke, as she still just goes off somewhere else!"
"Should we go find her, Your Majesty?" Cloud asked.
"And what'll we do about de concert!?" Sebastian asked frantically.
The King pondered this, and eventually came to his conclusion: "No, no. Ariel will come back soon enough. Let's just proceed with the performance and have the others make up for her absence,"
"But Your Majest-"
"THAT'S AN ORDER!" the King yelled at the crustacean, who swam away in fear.
"Are you alright, Your Highness."
"Not particularly," King Triton scowled, "I just don't know what I'll do with her one of these days…"
"Ariel, we really shouldn't be here…"
"C'mon, Sora! Don't be such a guppy!"
Sora shivered where he swam as he made his way to Ariel, who was approaching a sunken ship in hopes of finding something from the human world. Of course, she had to explore on the day of the concert; the one especially put together in her honor. But, then again, Ariel wasn't one to exactly wish to follow her father's orders, and Sora could understand where her heart was. Plus, Sora was initially all in favor of exploring in the first place…he was just getting really, really scared.
"A-Ariel?" Flounder, their friend, gasped out as followed closely behind Sora, tucked away behind a few of the teen's spikes, "Can we leave now?"
"No." Ariel brushed off as she came close to a porthole; their way into the ship, "We've only just got here, silly!"
She easily swam through the porthole, and Sora also made his way through. However, Flounder was not as lucky, as the fish was too obtuse to fit through.
"Guys!" he called out, just as they nearly swam further into the ship, "A little help?"
"Sure thing!" Sora swam back over and took ahold of Flounder's fins, pulling him in with all his strength. The porthole eventually gave way and released the fish, sending them both back slightly.
"Come on, guys! There must be something here!" Ariel said aloud to them as she swam around, looking at every nook and cranny.
Sora went about the ship in a similar manner, but sighed, as he saw Flounder firmly clasped to his hips, shivering away. He looked into the fish's blue eyes and saw he was still fearful of the place. He would have done something about it, but he simply huffed and continued his quest to discover. It wasn't like he was hurting him or anything.
"This looks interesting." Sora mused to Ariel, as he spotted a sliver object floating in a corner. This was nothing like he ever saw before! It has four sharp ends, similar to the King's trident, and was glowing in the otherwise dull area it was in.
"Let's have a look!" Ariel got excited as she swam over to the object. She picked it up and gave it a careful examination. It did look interesting. "It's so shiny…"
"It sure is…" Flounder nodded as he let go of Sora and gingerly approached the artifact.
"What do you think it is?" Sora asked, swimming close to get a better look.
Ariel shrugged, "Haven't a clue." She then placed it in the pink bag strewn across her chest, "Let's show this to Scuttle."
"Good idea." Scuttle was one of their friends who had contact with the surface world (in fact, he was the ONLY friend they had in contact with the human world) as he was a bird. A seagull, to be exact. Nonetheless, he seemed to have a knack at knowing the things humans possessed. Why, just last week, they'd found a funnily-shaped object, and he'd told them it was something called a "snarfblatt", used by humans to play music.
"Hmm…wonder what else we could find," Ariel pondered, and went on exploring.
"But Ariel," Flounder whined in defense, "We've found something already. Couldn't we just-" There was a sudden loud creak, causing the fish to shy away from continuing.
"Uh, yeah…Ariel…" Sora agreed, "To be honest I wouldn't mind going back now. I mean, it's not like I'm scared or anything, but I am scared of what might happen if we're late to the-" But her was also interrupted by another creak, sending chills down his spine as well, and Flounder cowering inside of Ariel's hair.
"What was that?" Ariel asked as a third creak was heard. She then shooed Flounder out of her hair, and shrugged once the creak had ceased, "Eh, it was probably just something moving about. Nothing to be afraid of." She swam over to a nearby chest, in hopes of finding something else.
Flounder stayed put as Sora shrugged in his direction and proceeded to follow the mermaid. Suddenly, Flounder began to notice a large shadow eclipsing him. But the fish still stayed in place, fearful he'd surely die if he dared move, "Ariel…S-Sora…"
Ariel sighed, exasperatedly, "Flounder, for the last time, there's nothing-" But as she turned around she saw a large colored fish swimming just behind Flounder. It had glowing yellow, and a matching light spiralling above its head, similar to an anglerfish, "Oh, holy-"
"It's an Aquatank! We've gotta move!" Sora exclaimed as the three swam as far away from the Aquatank as possible. It was hot on their tails, only a few inches away. However, the mermaid, merman, and fish managed to gain the upper hand once they had turned a corner within the ship, as the large glowing fish failed to notice, hitting the wall in front of it. It persevered, though, and chased after them again.
The journey around this side of the boat was quite a hassle, for there was spikes poking out of most of the walls. The trio swiftly managed to make their way through without any injuries, but Ariel was then halted as she caught herself on one of the spikes. She used all her strength to push herself away, and in doing so her bag remained on the spike. She stayed there, contemplating on whether or not to grab it.
"Ariel, no!" Sora hissed as he turned around, squealing as he saw the Aquatank getting closer.
Ariel ignored him, deciding to retrieve the bag. After all, it would make this wild chase worth it. Luckily, she made it just before the Aquatank could catch her in its teeth.
"We need to seriously get out of here!" Sora cried, as they approached a porthole. Remembering what happened before, Sora shoved Flounder to the front, and pushed him through the small exit, with Ariel in turn assisting him in doing so. Soon, the mermaid and merman made their way through and started to swim away from the boat. However, the Aquatank had managed to break though the ship, and, angered, swam towards them at an alarmingly fast speed.
"It's catching up to us!" Ariel cried as they continued to swim upward.
Sora then caught sight of a sunken anchor below, with a fairly large hole in the top. Probably about the size of the Aquatank. "Not for long!" And with that, Sora descended towards the anchor, "Hey, bad boy! Follow this!" He gave the large fish a taunting wave of his fins, and began to swim faster.
"Sora, what…" Ariel asked, before silencing herself. No way she was going to have the shark come back and eat them all.
"I got it!" Sora shouted back, and swam through the hole. The Aquatank, being simple-minded, proceeded to do the same, only to be stuck there once half of it got through. It squirmed, hoping to come loose, but to no avail.
"That was pretty cool, Sora," Ariel congratulated as she and Flounder swam to him.
"Weren't nothin'!" Sora smiled.
"Say, why don't we go see Scuttle now?" Flounder suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Ariel agreed, as she swam upward again, with Sora following her.
Flounder looked back at the Aquatank and blew a raspberry at it. In response, the Aquatank snarled and snapped its jaw just inches away. Flounder retracted his tongue and swam away to join the others.
