Ariel walked through the castle rooms, looking for the seashell she had found by the shore this morning. It was beautiful & shiny, a deep shade of purple that reminded her of her old seashells. But, as usual, she had left it somewhere before she had the chance to put it with the rest of her collection.

As she walked into her & Eric's bedroom, she took a minute to go outside and stand on the balcony. Opening the double glass doors, a gust of wind entered the room, sending her fiery hair back behind her shoulders as the curtains flapped around.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, smelling the familiar scent of seawater from the ocean below. She stepped out and leaned on the railing, overlooking the beautiful beach below. She noticed someone standing in the sand alone, someone Ariel had never seen before.

"Oh, I, uh, didn't see you there!' Kronk says nervously as he quickly shoves something behind his back. "I, uh, hope you don't mind me, uh, stopping by." Kronk shifts nervously in the sand, trying to decide whether it is safer to run or stay talking.

Ariel giggled, "That's alright, it's a free beach." She smiled and leaned forward a bit, squinting her eyes. "Say, what do you have behind your back?" she shouted down curiously.

"Oh, uh, you know it's kind of a funny story… it's not really anything important- certainly not anything that could be used to kill Kuzco in the near future! Hahahaha!" Kronk starts shifting slowly to the right where in the distance a small boat anchored near what appears to be a purple campsite.

She jumped slightly, eyes widening at the mention of the word "kill." "Oh.. Uh, okay," she said nervously. But she forced a smile.

And then she noticed the boat. "Can you give me a minute?" she called down to the man. Then quickly, she turned from the balcony, going back into her room. As soon as she was out of the man's view, she started running, quickly trying to get outside.

"Okay!" Kronk shouted after her. "I'll be here!"

"What are you gonna do, just stand there as she goes and probably gets the guards?!" Devil Kronk says as he appears.

"He got himself into this mess, he needs to stay and finish this conversation!" Angel Kronk says, appearing opposite the devil.

"Alright listen here Kronk: I've got three reasons why you should just walk away-"

"I think we've already been through this," Kronk says. "So, just go away, or leave me to think, or however I get rid of you."

"That'll work," they both say as they disappear. Kronk decides to wait patiently for Ariel to reappear.

Ariel inhaled sharply as she ran towards the beach to where the man was, cautious and hesitant. For all she knew, whatever he was hiding behind him could be dangerous, maybe even meant to sabotage the kingdom. She slowed to a walk when she approached him, folding her hands together.

"So…" she started, biting her lip anxiously. She tilted her head to the side. "Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, it's just a small bag of sea shells. Yzma asked me to collect them for her newest scheme to get rid of Kuzco and become Empress!" Kronk says, holding out the sack. He felt bad that he scared the Princess. It was apparent, also, that he had said far too much, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to share the truth to calm down Ariel. "I had to collect quite a few because she wasn't very specific about which ones she wanted… I've had to camp out to get so many!"

"Get rid of Kuzco?" Ariel asked innocently. She didn't know who this "Kuzco" was, but she wasn't sure if what Kronk and.. What was her name? Iz-ma? Well, she didn't know if that was the best idea.

She looked carefully at the seashells. "Those are lovely," she remarked, then added, "Well why do you want to get rid of 'Kuzco?'" Perhaps the man didn't even realize what he was doing.

"Well, you see Kuzco is the Emperor and I work for Yzma and Yzma works for Kuzco as the emperor's advisor. Well, used to work I should say. So Yzma is really mad that she got fired and so she wants to get rid of Kuzco so she can be the Empress, but to do that she need to make some potions or poisons or something so she needed some of these shells. Which I got for her. Which is why I'm here." Kronk says. "I don't really care either way. I already screwed up her plans by saving him from falling down a waterfall and trying to attack her when she asked me to kill them with a knife, but she is very persuasive and working for her pays the bills. I hope it'll get me that big thumbs-up from Papi." Kronk drifts into a slightly worried state.

"So you're.. You're trying to kill him?!" she exclaimed. Maybe it wasn't entirely the man's fault, but Ariel was certainly going to try to persuade him to stop.

"So the person you work for is called Iz-ma, but what's yours?" she asked, plastering a smile on her face and holding her hands behind her back.

"My name is Kronk. Yzma was really mad at Kuzco. I don't really think killing Kuzco is the best idea either, but it is very hard to try and convince her otherwise…" Kronk replied. "She practically raised him and he's kind of a jerk. Most people in the kingdom didn't even miss him the first time we tried to kill him and succeeded in getting him out of the way for a few days."

"Mmm, I see," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She thought for a moment, and noticed the large ship docking behind him, a little farther off.

"I'm guessing that's her, then?" she asked, lifting an arm to point at the ship, the wind blowing her hair and dress around.

"Um, I actually don't recognize… Oh! That must be Emperor Kuzco's ship! My ship got a hole in it and I sent word back to the Palace that I was stuck! Yzma must have sent it! I don't know if she's on it though." Kronk answers. The large ship is red and yellow, the colors of Kuzco. The head of the ship has a small replica of him as well. a smaller boat that can be sent to shore is lowered and start heading toward the shore. "I suppose I should go see what they want. Hopefully they can get me back."

"I see, I see," Ariel said, thinking as she stared at the ship with a puzzled look. She looked back at Kronk, relaxing her expression. "Would you mind if I join you? Perhaps they have something for the kingdom." She grinned and noticed small silhouettes of people getting off the ship.

"Okay. Just, uh, follow me." Kronk says, leading the way towards the ship and the small boat headed towards shore. As they near the purple camp, it is apparent that the large man knows how to camp and survive in the wilderness. Everything is set up perfectly, and it shows that he has been out here with nothing for quite a while.

Ariel followed Kronk quietly, observant and ready to flee if needed. She avoided eye contact with the people getting off the ship, only watching their feet from the corner of her eye.

In a calm, quiet tone, she said, "So you, um, you know these people, then?"

"Well, not personally," He answered. "I've only seen them around the palace and in the market sometimes. I see them enough to recognize their faces and give them a wave, but beyond that…"

Ariel simply nodded, looking around at everyone, the last of the ship's passengers finally stepping on land. "So, what are they all here for, then?" she asked. Were these people part of Yzma's plan, too?

"I'm not sure," Kronk replied. "The only people I know who are part of her plan are her and me…. I don't know what all these people are here for; probably collecting goods for the Emperor to decorate his pool house, Kuzcotopia, with."

Ariel said nothing, suddenly becoming a bit uneasy. She didn't remember a request by any other ruler to "collect goods" from their kingdom.

"Kronk, where is Yzma?" she asked.

"Well that's weird… She should have come with these people, but I don't see her…" Kronk answered, a little uneasy himself. It was extremely peculiar that Yzma would have gotten this many people to come to get him and not come herself so that they didn't take advantage of Kronk's tendency to reveal plans.

Now Ariel certainly was nervous. Her partner-in-crime didn't even know where she was? This Yzma sounded like nothing but trouble.

Ariel turned from Kronk and headed up the plank of the ship, calling out, "Hello? Is there a Yzma here?"

Kronk decided to follow Ariel onto the ship. He wasn't sure why she was so interested in talking to Yzma, Yzma would certainly not be very nice to the poor girl who was not mean to Kronk. "I'm telling you, I don't think she's here. The first thing she would have done upon docking is rush off screaming for me to make sure I did as I was told. And as I probably forgot something or she forgot to tell me something or I did something wrong, she would probably yell at me and tell me how stupid I am…" Kronk said, looking a little downtrodden, yet relieved that what he spoke of was not what happened as of present.

Turning to face him again, Ariel asked, "Well then, why do you work for her?" She crossed her arms. "From what I understand, she's not a very nice person, both to you and in general. Why do you want to help her then?" Then, in a more empathetic voice, "I don't think you really want to kill this 'Kuzco,' right?"

"Well, no not really…." Kronk thought for a time before continuing. "Yzma can be really kind, she's just hard to get close to- there's a wall there. Plus the job pays much better than a chef. Assistant to the Emperor's adviser, or ex-adviser I should say pay really well. Kuzco's not really nice either. In fact, he's almost much meaner than Yzma."

"Is that so?" Ariel raised an eyebrow. "But Kronk," she then added gently, "if you don't want to kill Kuzco, then I don't think you should be going along with this."

Although the Kuzco he was talking about wasn't here, all the people suddenly arriving from his kingdom were making the former mermaid nervous. She and Eric certainly didn't invite them.

"Well, you see I have to do what Yzma tells me if I want to keep my job… and I need the job because it pays well and I need the money so I can get a big house on the hill and the big thumbs-up from Papi." Kronk explained.

Speaking gently, Ariel replied, "I'm sure you could find work somewhere else, don't you think?" She took a deep breath and sighed before continuing. "But the least I can tell you is that whatever you need to.." she paused, "harm Kuzco, you won't be able to find it here."

"Well I really only needed to gather some shells from this side of the world that Yzma can add to her potions. I also collected a bunch for myself to make in to necklaces! They're just so pretty and would work perfectly!" Kronk said, excited about the necklaces. "Yeah, you don't have to worry though! Her plans never seem to work out. I mean, last time she tried she ended up turning him into a llama! Granted, I was the one who mixed up the poisons… but still!"

Despite all that was happening, Ariel found some relief in his words. After a brief pause, she shrugged and glanced down at the shells in Kronk's hands. "Is that all you need, then?" she asked, examining shells before looking back up at him quizzically.

"Yup! That was all I needed!" Kronk said with a grin. "Thank you so much for accompanying me to the boats! We should really meet up again another time!" Kronk shook her hand and boarded the boat. As they got ready to cast off, Kronk shot Ariel a brilliant smile and waved as the boat started off. He looked down for a few seconds and then he threw with all his might something to Ariel. It landed on the beach in front of her. In that short amount of time, Kronk had made her a shell necklace.

Ariel smiled in return, replying cheerfully, "You're welcome!" She was about to add in a good luck but decided it would be best not to say anything. Hopefully, he and "Iz-ma" wouldn't get Kuzco like a fish on a hook.

When he boarded his ship, Ariel lifted a hand and waved, then stopped when he saw her throw her something shiny. Walking over to where the object had fell in the sand, Ariel grinned when she discovered it was a necklace made from one of Kronk's shells, similar to the magical necklace that she had around her neck. She stood back up and waved again at the kind man as the ship began to head back to Kuzco's Empire. Ariel could only hope the emperor would stay safe.