Hello my lovely readers over at fan fiction dot net. I think its time to revisit a few characters, but first let me respond to your wonderful reviews which I am thankful for! :)
Trimaxion: You're welcome. :) I love that feeling when I see an update like that, and I hope this story gets better with each chapter. And crab melts are pretty good, but I recommend one with real crab meat with super gooey cheese. (Maybe I'll get a chance to go into detail about eating one in this fic :D)
Anatolison: Heh heh. Thanks. I hope you didn't have to wait too long for this one. :)
cefmlp: I hope I can make you proud. :)
Glowworm56: I haven't read all the books (I read the first five in elementary school and skimmed through the others recently), but finding out about the spouses was pretty neat and I wanted to include them in this story due to the potential. I love it when gay relationships are presented as normal instead of a huge deal in stories because it makes it feel like its a normal everyday thing, which I imagine some would want.
Stuff like snot and toilets help get into the Pilkey humor :)
The white stuff is actually this weird white stuff that you can find on beaches or on the coastline. I used to see a lot of them on one trip when I was a kid, which is what inspired that scene. And yeah, the old guy is a nod to the 'fathoms below' song. Actually my observations of Triton's mood being linked to the sea is what inspired me to do the same for Krupp... and I kid you not, this link was supposed to be in the original version of 'fathoms below!'
We might see the white thing again, but it's innocent, I promise.
You'll find out in this chapter what they did to wreck the meeting ;)
Well... Melvin is part of the kingdom under the ocean, so... we will find out.
Now then... lets see what life is like for George and Harold and just how bad this king under the ocean really is (except I think we both know how that might turn out).
Chapter 2-The mershark king
As they headed back to the castle, the merboys (plus one dolphin) had to pass the area where their school was tucked away and was made of a series of grottos and caves. As they did, they caught sight of something that made them both stop and hide for a moment.
"This is the fifth time this year!" A merman loudly grumbled as he tried to scrub off a mural of starfish picking at their nonexistent nose upon a flat rock wall. "Who keeps doing this?!"
"That took us like an hour to make!" Harold grumbled to George. "And that was the last of the colored algae I had on hand."
"Come on, let's go before he catches us." George grabbed Harold by the hand and lead him back to the castle, with Serenity following close behind.
The whole kingdom looked beautiful from a distance, but it also looked barren when you were close enough. There was little color besides the neutral tones of the ocean and its floor, beyond carefully placed coral and plant life. There were little to no objects made by hand–no statues, no murals, no sculptures–yes one could see a pot or two, but there was nothing creative or exciting looking round here. It just all seemed too orderly, like all the structures were identical to each other. If you heard a bit of music playing or someone singing, the music would quickly stop before you could get close enough to figure out who it was. Most of the life came from those who lived in the kingdom as they went about their way, but most of their conversations were not entertaining to overhear for the two merboys. Some merfolk even fell silent when the two passed by, for they knew that they were children who lived in the castle and could talk about whatever they saw to the king.
If only those people knew that George and Harold held little to no loyalty to the king. Instead they regarded them, as well as those who lived within the walls of the castle, as individuals to keep their walls up against at all times. The boys themselves didn't like the suspicious looks a few merfolk gave them as they made their way to the castle.
The castle under the ocean would have once looked beautiful and would have given its people a sense of security, but within the last few years it seemed to become an imposing fortress instead. The parts that looked like shells with long spines made the structure look dangerous, towers that spiraled up to the point that it looked like they could pierce the top of the ocean made one feel too small, and the visible wings seemed to stretch on for miles, even if it didn't seem to be the case. Even if the outer appearance seemed neat and orderly, you could find places where some sort of rusty brown and red looking stuff was trying to creep up at the bottom edges, no matter how hard one could try to get rid of it. There was also little to no plant life on the outside to liven the place up a bit for those visiting or passing by. Those who were the most uneasy avoided going inside it, while those who worked or lived within its walls had accepted it as a recurring thing in their lives and got over it.
"Well, this is it." Harold sighed as he turned to Serenity. "See you later." He patted the dolphin's side and he and George watched as Serenity swam off to look for her mother.
Now it just so happened that both George's parents and Harold's mother worked within the castle, which meant they were among the very few children who lived there in a separate wing. Normally any child would be thrilled at the idea of living in a castle, but not for the boys when they knew that the walls had eyes and ears and that the king slept within a good few yards from their own rooms.
"Almost there, almost there." Harold frantically muttered as he and George swam through the great halls of twisted columns and high raised ceilings. "If we're lucky, the meeting is over and they won't catch us."
Unfortunately Harold's wish was to be denied as they heard talking within the throne room. Both boys came to a complete stop before they could be within full view of the opening to the room and they ducked behind one of the two columns on each side of the opening.
"Isn't that Melvin's parents?" George whispered as he and Harold peered over the column to take a look.
There was quite a few merfolk in the throne room–among them included a female merdolphin and a male merorca who happened to be George's father and Harold's mother. Near a magnificent throne were the kingdom's two leading scientists and they were presenting some sort of issue to the one who sat on the throne.
"Lately the waters of the ocean have been clear." Dr. Sneedly (a merman who was half octopus) began as the person on the throne began to slowly drum his fingers against one of the armrests. "Pollution has been pretty low over the last decade."
"But we detected something along the coastline and found traces of a chemical we can't identify." Lady Sneedly joined in as she held up a vial that held some sort of brownish black liquid that floated on top of the water that was also within the vial. "And whatever it is, its highly flammable."
"Which also means that it could be poisonous." Her husband added. "If not through ingestion, then through its fumes."
"And we have a theory or two that we would like to test out, but we need permission to go up to the surface world. We can let you go into the lab if you need further proof, but if more of this appears in the ocean, it could be trouble." Lady Sneedly lowered the vial as all eyes cautiously glanced to the one who sat on the throne. Even George and Harold looked at him as they waited to hear his response.
Upon the throne was a rather large mershark, whose lower half bore a few faint scars and whose upper half seemed to be that of a large and overweight man, whose deep scowl and slightly furrowed brow made him look far older than his actual age. His adornments included well crafted and designed bracers upon his arms, a sash of dark blue and green that was worn diagonally across his body (and which barely did little to cover his massive frame or the faint but still visible stretch marks around his stomach) and included the kingdom's symbol on a bronze medal above his heart, along with a well crafted necklace of shark teeth. There was no crown, but he had only a small amount of wild looking dark hair on top of his head–the hair was obviously fake, but no one knew just how it stayed on underwater and none dared asked him.
This was the king under the ocean. Formally addressed as 'Your Majesty,' informally so as Krupp–his last name–but only few were ever able to get away with calling him by his first name. Though the amount of respect most people had towards him was low enough that they wouldn't have used his first name to begin with.
Finally he spoke with a voice that was both rough and harsh. "Uh, no–if everything was dying then maybe I'd consider it." He denied the two. "If you want to do your tests, that's ok," He waved in a dismissive way. "But I don't see any reason to let you go up."
"But what if this is dangerous?!" A merwoman asked. "I mean humans have thrown toxic materials into the ocean before–"
"If no one is dying then I don't see any reason to let them go up!" Krupp snapped at the woman and barred a very sharp and painful looking set of pointed teeth at her, and she nervously shrank back. "Now I don't want to argue about it, I'm done for the day!"
Krupp sank back in the throne and took a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Does any one else have a complaint to make about–" He stopped when he noticed that there were two young eavesdroppers peering out by the edge of the entrance.
Both George and Harold pulled back and hid behind the column. "He saw us!" George gulped as Harold clutched his chest.
Upon realizing who the two eavesdroppers were, Krupp felt an increasing tension within himself as well as his anger about ready to rise up. "Everyone except Beard and Hutchins can leave." He forced himself to say as he tried to get himself to calm down as best as he could. Almost immediately everyone hurried out of there as fast as they could, while those like the Sneedlys only calmly left the room. As soon as everyone left, Krupp's gaze turned towards the blonde merdolphin and the merorca with the mustache. He wasn't sure if their brats were still listening, but he almost hoped for it since they needed a little reminder about something.
"So," Krupp tried to force a grin that was scary and not friendly, thanks to those sharp teeth of his that were on display. "You both remember why the meeting had to be extended, right?"
George's father and Harold's mother exchanged a nervous look. "Yes," Harold's mother cringed. "Yes we do."
-Flashback to earlier/sometime during chapter one-
It was another update about finances and economy, and the merwoman who was doing the talking was using a voice that was soothing, but the amount of details she included would make it easy for one to fall asleep under that combination. Even Krupp was trying his hardest to stay alert, yet he was already finding his mind drifting elsewhere.
"And so, if we were to take fifty percent of the income, then we could–"
And then somehow a squid (that had been kept in a large seashell that had been tied up and that had small crabs attacking the rope until it broke) fell down and ended up getting half of the ocean king's head stuck in its large mouth.
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!" All eyes glanced up in shock to see Krupp shooting out of the throne and failing his arms around for a second as a couple of the squid's tentacles got caught around in his arms. Because his eyes had been 'covered up,' Krupp was now temporary blinded as he yelled out "WHAT IS GOING ON, WHAT IS ON ME?!" He then gabbed onto the squid and pulled at it as hard as he could, but the terrified squid held on for dear life as the mershark was swimming around the room like an enraged creature. Some were horrified and others were trying really hard not to laugh as Krupp frantically swam and flailed around the room as if he were being possessed or performing a wild dance without any proper rhythm or grace.
"Here I got it!" A merman tried to swim up to grab onto Krupp, but he was knocked aside by the king's powerful tail.
"GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" Krupp pulled at the squid as he swam behind the throne. Finally he pulled so hard that the squid went shooting off and crashed into a pillar–the force causing it to spit out the toupee that it accidentally took with it, which shot right into the face of its enraged owner.
At that moment, there was a terrifying yell of anger that seemed to rattle the throne room and it put everyone on edge.
-Meanwhile-
"Come on, come on!" A fisherman growled as he tried to reel in a fish from his boat, despite the fact that the ocean began to get rocky. "Come to daddy, big guy! I've been out here all day!"
Without warning, the water made a huge wave that forced the boat up and then crashed down, sending the fisherman flying out with a yell and landing into the ocean several feet away while his fishing pole fell elsewhere into the water and was lost to him for all time.
-Now back to the present-
George and Harold snickered to themselves. "I really wish I saw that!" Harold admitted. However things were not as amusing in the throne room and they stopped when Krupp continued to talk to their respective parents.
"You know, if I could, I'd easily fire the both of you." Krupp growled at Harold's mother and Geroge's father as he leaned towards them. "I want to do it because your kids have been nothing but troublesome since I first saw them together... but I can't because its not legal or regarded as 'ethical.'" He rolled his eyes and made finger quotations before he glared at the two. "So if you don't want me to start punishing them, I expect you to actually do your job as parents and do it yourselves!" He snapped. "They should be your problems, not mine!"
"See, he's going to get you eventually."
Both George and Harold turned around and cringed when they saw a young merboy with a smug smirk and a condescending look in his eyes. "Now you're at the point where you're putting your families in hot water as well as yourselves." Melvin Sneedly told them.
"Go away Melvin!" George snapped.
"Yeah, this doesn't have to do with you!" Harold growled.
"Oh, but since my parents also work for the king, I have every right to be here too." Melvin grinned. "The only difference is that my family gets the lab all to themselves while you have to live in a wing with everyone else. Which also means that I'll also eventually be there to see what happens when he finally gets you. You honestly don't think you can keep the pranks and who-knows-what-up forever, do you?" Melvin gave them a knowing look.
"Go away!" Both merboys hissed.
Melvin shrugged. "See you at school tomorrow." He then swam off and the boys finally glanced around the pillar to see their parents come out and neither one looked happy.
"Oh!" Harold's mother was startled at the sight of her son before she calmed down. "Come on." She grabbed Harold's shoulder and made to lead her son away, while George's father did the same. Yet both boys glanced into the throne room one last time and ended up locking eyes with Krupp, whose scowl seemed to deepen at the sight of them, and it seemed as if this made him look even more older than usual. They didn't need to be up close to see the fury in his dark eyes and he didn't need to be up close to see the nonchalance in their eyes either.
Krupp could not stand the two boys and he knew very well that the feeling was mutual through their pranks. It didn't faze him in the slightest that a child could hate him that much–or that a child would be terrified of him–but the fact that the boys never gave up their pranks and acted so disobedient and unrepentant drove the mershark insane. He already had so much to deal with! All these two did was make his life much harder than it needed to be!
He didn't like children to begin with but he held a special hatred towards the merboys.
"I'm getting sick of those two and their stupid antics!" Krupp growled and threw his hands in the air when he could no longer see the two or their parents. "I can't believe I ever let their parents work for me! That was the dumbest mistake of my life!" He snarled as he tried to think. He had a strong feeling that there was much more to the boys than just the pranking and he wanted to end it before it became a problem. He wanted to have a reason to get them to stop or–even better–finally break their rebellious spirits. He knew all too well that the power of denial could be effective when done properly–after all, he had his own fair share throughout his life. And if he had to suffer for it, then he saw no reason why someone else didn't have to pay for making him even more miserable than he needed to be.
"What is the one thing that could get those two to finally stop?" He wondered as he gripped his hands together. "To finally break their spirits for good?"
Later when it was night time and the lighting from the orbs illuminated the rooms, George and Harold sat in the small area where Harold's family lived and they sat around a rock to try to put a puzzle of carefully carved gem stones back together. There were far too many pieces in the puzzle, though Harold's little sister of about six years sat by her brother and occasionally offered up a piece to the boys to help them progress.
"You boys really need to stop this." The two looked up to see their respective parents. Both George's father and mother were side by side–the later wearing a string of pearls around her neck as well as in her hair–and Harold's mother was on her own without the husband who left their family a few years back. "We don't want something bad to happen to both of you." It was George's mother who spoke. "And I know you don't like the king, but–"
"He deserves it." Harold gave the puzzle a small scowl as he placed an arm around his sister. "He's against any form of art and creativity, he wants us to think the surface world is bad–"
"He won't even let you sing to guide humans home anymore." George looked up at his mother. "Don't you miss that?"
"It's like he's against anything fun!" Harold added. "All he does is come up with rules! He hates kids and he's not even nice to you guys! It's like he doesn't know what it was like to be a kid! Like he literally can't be nice to anyone!"
"Name one good thing he's ever done!"
Harold's mother sighed as she went over to sit beside Harold. "We aren't fond of how he is running the kingdom." She admitted. "And yes, he doesn't seem like a nice person, but being in charge is not an easy job and he had a very strict upbringing as a child in order to be prepared for that responsibility. It really doesn't help if you have to make it harder for him through your pranks."
"It's not going to change my mind about Krupp." Harold firmly told her. "I mean why does he even hate the surface world so much?"
Harold's mother had a strange look in her eyes. "There was a time when... well I suppose when he was as curious about the human world like the rest of us." The boys scoffed at the impossibility of this idea as Harold's mother continued. "And he did have a temper, but it was never as bad as it is nowadays. He was more patient and compassionate to others... happy even." She smiled at a memory from long ago. "In fact I'm very sure you would have liked him if..." She paused and frowned. "But one day he changed and ordered all contact with the human world to cease and made it illegal for us to go up to the surface. It was as if something happened and he hardened his heart against everyone and everything."
"Gabby's dad says Krupp had his heart cut out." All eyes turned in shock at Heidi as she looked at her mother as if this was an honest fact. "He wanted to be meaner, so he took it out and locked it away."
While this disturbed George and Harold, they let out a couple of snickers. "I could totally see that happening!" George grinned at Heidi, who grinned back. "I bet he keeps it locked up under his bed by whatever he uses to keep that toupee on!"
"George!" George's mother shot her son a warning look.
"It's not going to change my mind either!" George responded back. "I'd have to see it in order to believe it!"
George's mother glanced to the puzzle on the rock. "George, people are like a puzzle." She started in a quiet voice. "You will only see a small amount at first and you may or may not like it, but it takes time until you can get a complete picture. You have to really look to see how the pieces fit and that can also take careful thought and effort. Krupp may seem like a bad person, but you need to try to look closer to see how his pieces fit and what his picture will be like."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Harold groaned.
"What George's mother is suggesting is that there may be a reason the king is the way he is." Harold's mother told him. "In fact I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least some good still hidden inside him."
Both boys (plus Heidi) pondered over this, but it was so hard to imagine any good inside Krupp and they couldn't see him as anything but the cruel hearted tyrant they knew for as long as they could remember.
"Could you tell us more about the surface?" George then turned to his dad. "I mean since you went up there? And not just popping up for a look, but actually going on land?"
The adults looked a little nervous, but then George's dad smiled as he recalled the surface world. "Well, you needed a special bracelet in order to turn into a human–the change is painful–" he grimaced as he recalled the pain "–and it took a long time to learn how to walk upon land, but it was worth it." He closed his eyes. "We would go up to the surface kingdom and it was like entering a completely new world. So many different customs, so many unique buildings, contraptions designed to provide fun, and so much to take in that it was almost overwhelming. The problem was that the power of the bracelets could only last up to three days, so you couldn't be up there forever unless you knew how to use them correctly."
"What happened to the bracelets?" Heidi asked.
"They were destroyed." George's dad frowned. "To keep us from going up there and to avoid temptation." The boys scowled as they realized who was responsible for that.
"I'd like to hear more about the surface world!" Heidi grew excited.
George's father laughed and he began to recount tales of something called a 'boardwalk' and all the attractions upon it, and the children all eagerly absorbed the information up. Both George and Harold quickly realized that this boardwalk had to be the place advertised on the flyer they found because George's father mentioned a wheel that sounded identical to the one on the picture. They both took what they learned and mentally filed it away for future projects, just as they had done with George's father's other stories.
"And for some odd reason, humans feel the need to wear a rather strange garment under their clothing, even if it wasn't going to be out on display." George's father chuckled. "Some odd white thing and it was too short to be pants... what was it called again... under... underpants?" He struggled to recall the word.
The boys had no idea why, but the very word 'underpants' sounded extremely funny and they cracked a laugh at this. "Underpants?!" George laughed and he laughed even harder when he heard him say the word.
"Underpants!" Harold doubled over laughing after he also said the word, which made George laugh to the point that he felt himself ready to cry.
"Yes, it was pretty funny." George's father chuckled.
Both families were unaware that a mechanical octopus was recording the whole thing and it eventually swam away when the stories were over.
Somewhere hidden on the coastline near the ocean was a seemingly abandoned research facility that was partly submerged in water. It was so well hidden and so hard to reach that you would have to look down the cliff it was against in order to see it, and the walls of earth that surrounded it made it hard to spot it from the ocean.
Yet it had actually been occupied for some time and was redesigned to have corridors built into the walls of earth to make it easy to watch the ocean. Within the building was a collection of technology that only a well paid scientist could have access to and most of it was already a few decades ahead of its time, like the various cameras built into robots disguised as animals of both land and sea. Their maker was observing the footage of a family of merfolk as well as footage taken of the surface king's children and both of which were projected into screens.
"Ugh, stupid little brats." The short man who looked like a small devil thanks to the way his white hair stood up on opposing ends snarled in annoyance. "Finding disgusting or ridiculous things to be funny."
"Are you still looking at footage at this hour?"
The small man turned around to see his assistant, who had a bored look on his face. "Professor, I really doubt your quest for revenge is going to go anywhere if you keep spying on them."
"Shut up Louis, I know what I am doing!" The professor pointed an accusing finger at the young man. "I think I'm close to figuring out how to execute my plans! Or do I need to remind you why I'm doing this?!"
The young man sighed since he heard this tale ever since he started working for this bizarre man with the odd accent. He was under the belief that the professor hired him because he wanted someone vent to more than for the need to have help.
"Two kingdoms used to live in harmony!" The professor spread his hands out. "Each one dependent on the other for various reasons! And I worked for both of them at various points of my life! First it was for the king under the ocean, and I had access to all sorts of materials and supplies that few could only dream of having on hand!" He pointed a finger at the monitor that showed the merfolk.
"Oh yeah, how did you accomplish that if you were underwater?" Louis briefly snapped out of his thoughts.
"The lab was designed like a submarine, Louis." The professor deadpanned. "And I didn't trust being turned into one of them with their special charms. Though I would have liked getting a mermaid kiss from one of the hotties." He had a wide grin at the thought of this before he continued. "I could conduct experiments and build things that could benefit both races! I used a secret name so that I couldn't be found by my rivals and I was left in peace! I even did the king a special favor for him at one point and got a free lab rat out of it, and how am I thanked?!" He then leapt up and yelled
"HE KICKED ME OUT WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WORD OF RECOMMENDATION!" He snarled and huffed. "Apparently that back stabbing fat sack of lard wanted to cease all connections to the human world and he wanted nothing to do with my creations! He said that they were too dangerous and too much of a bad influence for his people! All that work went to waste and it was all thanks to him!"
"And then there was the surface kingdom." The professor grew a scowl. "At least they had the courtesy to let me do my experiments and complete them! At least they didn't find them dangerous! And once I finished an invention that I knew would earn their eternal love and gratitude, what do they do?! THEY LAUGH AT ME THE MOMENT I GAVE THEM MY REAL NAME SO THAT IT COULD BE REMEMBERED FOR ALL TIME!" The man's face began to turn red as he slammed his foot onto the floor several times. "AND NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THE KING KICKED ME OUT! AGAIN!"
The man took a few breaths to get himself to calm down, while Louis could only stare and wonder if the old man needed some much needed medication. "Do you need medication today?" He tried to ask. "Any prescriptions or..." When the professor laughed without warning, he decided against it.
"Oh, but I got an idea!" The professor rubbed his hands together. "The way things have been in the last ten years... the storms that have been getting worse, the drills for oil out in the ocean that I secretly helped fund... the Royal Navy getting on edge... the very fact that shark-face's people are getting angry with him... what fun would it be if I were to somehow pit the kingdoms against each other?" He chuckled as he turned to the footage.
"Now I know that the surface king would do anything if something were to happen to the smiling snot-nosed children he adopted as his own." He looked at the smiling faces of Lisa and Billy. "But shark-face is too powerful for me to attack his kingdom head on, and he doesn't have anyone close to him for me to use against him... as far as I know of course." He quickly added before grinning at the screen of the oblivious merfolk–specifically at the young merdolphin and merorca. "But I know what makes him tick and if I can encourage a series of events to create the worst storm in living memory..." He let out a laugh.
"Oh lets just say I observed enough to know that there's still a few things hidden in the forbidden chambers of the castle to encourage a couple of rebels to take action." He chuckled as he turned to a nearby desk to place a rolled up piece of paper into a bottle and put the cork into the hole so that the paper could stay inside. "Pretty soon that notorious temper of Krupp's is going to become is fatal undoing." The professor gave the bottle a wide grin. "And all will regret what they've done to me!" He declared to the heavens and shook his fist up in the air.
If the reader was expecting school for merfolk to be any different than one for humans, then I am afraid to say that the only thing that is different is the subject matters and content. And just like in a human school, teachers not changing the way they taught to appeal to different learning methods, or at least not making the lessons more enjoyable, was a problem in the kingdom under the sea.
Both George and Harold–along with their classmates–were forced to listen to another dull lecture from their teacher about the dangers of the human world. Both boys were easily distracted, with George trying to plan out a story in his head while recalling everything he could remember about the valley of rock formations, and Harold was doodling a picture of his teacher, only she had tentacles on her head, along with those on the lower half of her body and she looked twice as scary. They both caught Melvin shooting them dirty looks on occasion for not paying attention, but neither one cared.
"But above all, if you ever see a human sinking down into the ocean, do not try to rescue them and especially do not kiss them!"
This finally caught the interests of the students. "Uh... why would we even want to kiss a human?" A merboy asked as he and a few others made a grossed out face at the idea.
Ms. Ribble was for once in agreement with the children as she continued on. "Because at your age you can grant a human up to an hour's worth of air, but that will give them enough time to be aware of us and try to seek us out." She sneered. "And don't even think about doing it to seek out some stupid fairy tale romance in your lives!" She snapped when she saw a few young mergirls have dreamy looks in their eyes. "You don't know what they want with you, so you can drop it!"
"Well there's not much of a point if we have to keep kissing them." A mergirl pointed out, to the increasing disgust of a handful of her classmates. "Mom said adults can grant up to six hours of air–"
"Swear to me that we'll do anything but that if we ever need to save a human." George hissed to Harold behind his hand as quietly as possible.
"I already want to vomit." Harold responded in agreement.
"Yes Janine?" Ms. Ribble asked when one mergirl raised her hand.
"What would happen if the king kissed a human?" Janine asked with very genuine curiosity in her eyes.
All eyes stared at her as if she was insane and grew a second head on top of her head, and even that risky question made George and Harold stunned at the very idea. Just the idea of it was impossible to imagine and yet someone did.
"I mean of course he wouldn't." Janine nervously laughed. "But if he the most powerful of us all, what would happen?"
Ms. Ribble had a not so pleasant look on her face. "The last time that ever happened with any known ruler, the total was up to three days of being able to breathe under the water. I can't imagine him ever doing that, so don't bother holding your breath." She told the kids who were starting to look more horrified than grossed out. "Now please never ask a stupid question like that again!" She snapped at the mergirl who dared ask the question.
"Why would anyone even want to kiss Krupp?" Harold whispered to George. "He'd bite their tongue off!"
"He's too cranky and mean for anyone to want to kiss him." George chuckled. "That's probably why he's never gone on a date."
"Yeah, the only person he'd ever like would have to be just as nasty as him!"
"Boys if you don't shut your traps, I'll make you put sea sponges in your mouths for the duration of tomorrow's class!" Ms. Ribble growled at the boys when she heard them talking. "I want to see you paying attention and taking notes!"
Later that day, George and Harold stared at the rock wall that once had the mural they worked so hard together to make.
"Well... always next time." George tried to shrug it off before turning to a young merboy sitting in a large clam shell. "What do you think Tommy? Should we do a kraken, a ship-wreck, or something more adventurous?"
Tommy glanced from the wall to the boys. "It's your call." He told them before closing the lid of the shell over him as if he decided to be a pearl that day. Both George and Harold could only stare in confusion at the sight until a couple mergirls came towards them.
"Hey, uh, guys?" They turned to see an eight year old merchild and her six year old sister. "Could I–" She quickly looked around to make sure no one was around before she moved closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Could I barrow one of your comics for a day? My sister really likes them and she's still struggling with reading."
The eyes of both merboys lit up. "Of course!" George whispered in delight. "You know where to find us and what time, right?"
"Yup!" The mergirl grinned before turning to her sister to give her a thumbs up. "We look forward to it!"
"Later Keisha!" Harold waved to the older sister before waving to her little sister. "Later Kira!"
"Bye!" The little merchild gave the boys a shy smile before grabbing her sisters hand and they went off.
"That's the sixth time they came for a comic." Harold gave George and excited grin.
"I know, right?!" George grinned. "We totally can't get caught at this rate!" He then glanced to the rock wall again. "If we can sneak a few comics past everyone, then we can sneak past the eels!"
A few miles from the kingdom under the ocean was a valley of rock formations that went so far down that some of them vanished into the depths and you couldn't see the bottom of where the rocks met the sand. There were several holes and most of them were so small that only a child could be able to fit through them, yet this was not a place for a child to play, for eels as wide as the length of a child and several times as long lurked around this area in hopes of catching prey that was foolish enough to enter the area. Many stone signs had been placed around this area with warnings like 'GET BACK!' or 'TOO DANGEROUS!' or 'NOT SAFE FOR KIDS! EELS LIVE HERE' or 'SERIOUSLY I'M NOT JOKING GO BACK!' or 'OK, YOUR FUNERAL THEN.'
George and Harold glanced down at the edge to where they could look down into the ominous valley below. Serenity was close by, but she gave the valley a nervous glance as she was afraid of what lurked down there.
"Well, this is what adults get when kids like us are denied creative and more productive outlets." Harold began. "You'd think they'd learn that by now."
"Ok, if we act fast enough, we might not get caught." George told Harold as he took some kind of algae from a pouch in his bag. "We won't go too far down, we'll just go into the holes that they can't get into."
"I hope your right about that." Harold nervously nodded before pulling a flat stone out of his own bag. "Ready when you are."
George quickly smeared the algae onto the stone in Harold's hand and almost immediately a faint glow of green light illuminated the stone. As soon as he was done, he pulled out a similar stone from his bag and repeated the same gesture. "Don't lose it–it's really hard to find bioluminescent algae."
"Right." Harold nodded before turning to Serenity. "Go on and hide for a bit. When you see us come, you'll come after us." He told the dolphin, who nodded in understanding and swam away towards a patch of sea grass.
As soon as the two were done, the merboys quietly swam down into the forbidden depths. Both kept their eyes alert on the many holes in the formations, the pillars of rock that extended upwards, the moving shadows and the twisting figures ahead of them until it was safe and they were out of sight. With only stones smeared with bioluminescent algae to guide their way in the growing darkness, they entered the nearest holes of the rock formations. Both George and Harold were nervous about coming upon a giant eel, but they were determined to make it out alive.
The time spent down in the darkness of the gaps was nerve wracking for both merboys. They not only had to keep a constant eye out for danger with only the illuminated stones to guide them, but they had to pause before each turn or choice in direction to make sure that there were not any eels hanging around. They also had to make sure that they stayed close enough to hear each other and they used the rest of the bioluminescent algae to make marks in the tunnels so that they knew how to get back outside–especially if there was a direct escape back out.
Time gradually ticked by, and neither merboy found anything interesting, nor did they encounter an eel. There was no treasure of any sort in the tunnels, but there was always a faint sound from outside that kept them on the edge of their fins. Even their hearts were pounding out of a nervous fear that they could be swallowed up at any moment, but their burning curiosity kept them going.
"Hey George, I think we should leave soon." Harold nervously began when he heard a strange sound that sounded a little too loud for his liking. "Some of these tunnels are too narrow for my liking."
Meanwhile, George had aimed his stone at many directions as he glanced around the tunnel to see if he could find something out of the ordinary. He was about to respond back to Harold when something caught his eye and he aimed the light down at a red object that was stuck in the sand. He titled his head in confusion at it before carefully grabbing it, along with all the sand he also caught in his hand. He shook the sand out of his hand, but held onto the object and maneuvered it within his fingers so that he could see what he found.
It was a red ring with a white and red spiral upon the top. It did not look like something that came from the ocean, but it was not made of a metal, nor did it have a precious stone embedded in it. It looked like something George could have easily fit onto his finger, but there was something odd about holding it–it was like there was a faint warmth coming from it that gave him an odd sense of comfort that was somehow familiar and not quite.
"Hey Harold! You'll never guess what I found down here!" George then yelled to his friend without taking his eyes off the ring.
"What did you find, George?"
"I think it's some sort of ring!" George put the ring into his bag. "Here let me–!" He looked up and felt his heart freeze when he saw a monstrous face glaring at him at the other end of the tunnel. Its beady white eyes seemed to glow in an eerie manner within what little darkness there was left in the tunnel and they were fixed on the young merorca with all the intention to make him his afternoon snack.
"SWIM AWAY!" George hollered as he quickly turned around and swam back to Harold while the eel immediately chased after him.
"GEORGE?!" Harold called out in panic. He turned around in time to see George zoom out of a tunnel and yelling "GO!" as he headed towards his best friend. Trusting George's word, Harold swam ahead and George quickly followed after him right as the eel popped out and went after them.
"GO, GO, GO, GO!" George yelled as the two swam as fast as they could–faster than they ever had in their entire lives–as the eel rushed towards them. Neither of them bothered to check the other tunnels they passed as they followed the trail of markings they left behind on the walls. Harold quickly scooped up some rocks as they passed by and he threw one at the eel point blank in the head, but it shook it off and let out an enraged shriek at its prey.
At one point another eel in a tunnel saw them rush by and just as it charged towards them, it slammed right into the side of the eel that had been after them. This stopped the already angry eel from going after the boys long enough for them to get further ahead, but it quickly got over the shock and resumed the chase.
"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Harold yelled as the tunnels started to look more familiar. Both he and George shot right out of the nearest hole and swam out, while behind them the eel slammed its head against the walls around the much too small hole.
Both George and Harold were not out of danger yet though. Two more eels caught sight of them and they glared at the merboys in a hungry manner, which was enough to make the two freeze for a moment.
"Great." George moaned sarcastically while Harold quickly eyed how some of the rock formations twisted and turned to make uneven arcs.
"I got an idea!" Harold grabbed George's hand and swam towards the formations. This caused the two eels to swim towards the two as fast as they could. Harold turned his head to see how close the eels were and paused when he got to the arcs. Just when the eels were close enough, he swam towards one of them, causing the nearest eel to follow the two around the series of arcs the boys went around. Harold kept the other eel in mind though and he made sure to lead that one through a wild chase around the arcs too until finally both eels collided against each other and the merdolphin quickly looked at his handiwork.
Both eels had gotten tangled up around the arcs and parts of their long bodies pressed together kept them from escaping. As much as they wiggled and writhed in anger, neither of them could break free.
George let out a pleased laugh of triumph as Harold smirked at his handiwork. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" George yelled as they both swam up as fast as they could from the valley of rock formations, while also making sure that there was no more danger that they needed to avoid.
("DANG IT STEVE, WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP?! YOU SAW WHAT THEY WERE DOING!") One of the eels that was tangled up roared at the other eel.
("WELL THAT'S YOUR FAULT ANDY, NOT MINE!") The other eels roared back as he tried to wiggle free from his trap.
("NOW I'M GOING TO GET A HEADACHE AND A SORE SIDE TOMORROW!") The eel that first went after the merboys roared at the other eel in the tunnel. ("THANKS A LOT, GREG!")
("WELL EXCUSE ME FOR NOT NOTICING YOU, HECTOR!") The eel that slammed into Hector sarcastically roared back.
Meanwhile, George and Harold laughed as they held onto Serenity and retreated to their secret grotto. As they did, George took his new treasure out of his bag and gave it a small smile. "How did something like you get all the way down there?" He asked it.
"What do you think it is?" George asked Harold as they stared at the ring in his hand within the sanctuary of their grotto. "It looks more like a toy than a piece of jewelry."
"I don't know, but I'm getting a weird feeling about it." Harold admitted. "Maybe it's an enchanted object? Like maybe there's a genie inside?"
George pondered this for a moment before putting the ring on and rubbed it like in the stories. The boys waited for a few moments, but nothing happened.
"I wish for a bunch of human comic books." George tried again. "Or for Krupp to change the laws in our kingdom so that we can have things be fun like they used to be."
Again they waited with a little more hope, but still nothing happened. George even waved his hand in case the ring was meant to cast a spell, but still nothing happened. "Abra Kadabra!" He chanted, but it didn't work.
"It's useless." George sighed in defeat as he took the ring off and set it aside by his comic books. "We went through all that danger for nothing."
"Its a nice color though." Harold admitted as he looked at the ring. "You don't see a shade of red that like very often." He turned back to George and placed his hand on his shoulder. "But hey, maybe next time we'll find something good. So what if we found an ordinary ring and nearly became lunch for those eels? We lived to tell the tale together and that's what matters more, right?"
George smiled and placed his hand over Harold's and grabbed it. "I'm so glad I have you for a best friend, Harold. The way you got us out of trouble was incredible and I don't think I would have come up with that on my own."
"Me too, George." Harold smiled. "I don't think I would get to experience any kind of adventure without someone like you. We get each other, we get in trouble together, and we'll always have one another. There's nothing in the world that could ever tear us apart."
"Remember the first prank we ever pulled?" George asked as his grin widened as he let go of Harold's hand. "When we filled the hall with sea urchins?"
"Yeah and everyone threw a fit!" Harold laughed. "Oh man, it was enough to get us sent to Krupp! I think that had to be the first time we both saw him!"
"Yeah, he just had the weirdest look on his face! He must have thought that we couldn't have gotten them all in there without getting poked too much! He had no idea what to do with us and just gave us both a warning and to not touch them ever again!"
"That had to be the only time he was ever impressed with us!" Both boys were doubling over and laughing.
"And that was when he used to just tell us off and told us to quit doing that!" George chuckled and then sighed. "Nowadays he just explodes at everything. It must be an old person thing." He guessed as his eyes drifted down until he frowned at something. "Hey when did that bottle get here?"
Harold also looked to see a glass bottle that somehow landed into the waters of the grotto without shattering against the rocks. It even seemed to contain an actual message inside it.
Harold grabbed it and was about to pull the cork that kept the message in the bottle out of its tight hold until he remembered something. "The comic for the sisters!" He set the bottle aside and grabbed one of the recent comics he and George made. "I can't believe we almost forgot about that!"
"Oh yeah!" George's eyes widened. "We can't keep our readers waiting!"
"This should be a good one!" Harold gave the comic a quick look before putting it into his bag and went back down into the water, with George following suit.
Had the two known that meeting the sisters that day would start a disastrous chain reaction, they would have avoided meeting them altogether. If they thought the ordeal with the eels was terrifying, then they were in for something much worse than anything they could have considered up to that point in their lives.
"Here." Harold handed the comic to Keisha while her sister waited beside her. "This one has selkies in it." Her informed her.
"Oh wow!" Keisha's eyes widened at the artwork on the front of the cover. "You're getting so much better at your drawings, Harold!" She showed the comic to Kira, who gave the two merboys a very happy smile. "I owe you big time." Keisha told them. "You guys are risking so much with making these and giving them to us!"
"Just making our classmates and friends happy is rewarding enough." George confessed. "As long as 'Bruce' doesn't find out and you don't come over to the 'jaws.'"
"Huh?" Kira looked at the older children in confusion. "Who is Bruce?"
"Remember the codewords?" Keisha whispered into her sister's ear. "That's the name for you-know-who and where he lives when these two lend us the comics."
"Oh." Kira realized and gulped; like most children, Kira was terrified of Krupp.
"Oh yeah, why did you guys take so long to get here?" Keisha asked. "Its not like you to be late for these meetings."
"Uh, well we were at the valley of rock formations where the giant eels were." George couldn't help but admit with a cocky smile.
"NO WAY!" Keisha gasped. "But our parents told us never to go there!"
"What was it like?" Kira asked with excitement. "Did you find anything good?"
"No." Harold lied (they didn't need to admit all their secrets to their friends). "But it was absolutely terrifying!"
"Was it terrifying enough to make you pee?!" Kira squealed and laughed. It was enough to make the other three laugh their heads off, though they were unaware that a classmate was listening to the whole thing and taking as many mental notes as he could.
Melvin grinned as he swam away. He decided that he wanted the two jokesters to suffer, so he had full intent to tell their parents about where they went that day. He also had information to save as a back up plan, but it was going to be for someone else.
I love it when I get a character down to the point that I can hear them in my head. :)
Even after all this time, I still don't know what kind of creature to make Melvin one half of, so I'm leaving it up to interpretation (I'm not super fond of him, so I have a hard time with picking the right kind of creature to suit his personality).
Oh yeah, the thing with all the necklaces? I'm keeping in mind that the default visual for most readers is Pilkey's art style and that stained glass of George and Harold not wearing shirts from the film made them look weird when they didn't have visible necks. So I had to give the characters something in their visual design to remedy this issue.
I have to admit that the idea of Krupp being the ruler over anything is horrifying, but I crack up when I mentally hear the words 'King Krupp' because that sounds like a name for a super easy boss for a Super Mario video game (or a candy bar... I could go for some Fun Dip right about now.) Anyway, yeah it should be obvious why I made Krupp a mershark (Specifically great white shark).
At this point I'm trying to keep a balance of how the characters act in the book vs. the film and the circumstances of certain scenes are probably going to decide which way the scale tips. Its a little more obvious with Poopypants, but with Krupp... well its going to be interesting because of how ridiculously childish he can get in both the books and the film. If you think like a character or know how the character will react, it helps with writing.
Yeah so... not much else has changed I suppose. Except for the eels of course.
Anyway, there's something I need to do really fast, so see you next time. (PS: If you hate cutscenes during author notes, you might want the Archive of Our Own version of this fic. This bit is exclusively for this site).
Piqua, Ohio (AKA CU canon universe)
A 20-something year old with blonde hair that went to her collar bone and had green eyes held onto a backpack and a map as she stared at the tall buildings around her.
"I can't believe I'd ever write a fan fiction for this, but my ten year old self is probably getting a kick out of it." She mused before turning to a passerby. "Hey which way is Jerome Horowitz Elementary School? I have a..." She paused. "Job interview." She lied.
"That way." They pointed before going off.
"Ok then." The fan fic writer grinned as she tightened her hold on the back pack. "I'm going to find the insanity before it finds me this time–no angry giant crabs or gods to deal with. I need to find my inevitable guest character–characters?–for my author's notes before he finds me, whether he wants it or not... well maybe one version of him would love it." She paused before letting out a deep chuckle. "But oh, do I have a thing or two to say to the other one." She took a deep breath. "Also, I'm probably going to need some Fun Dip in order to deal with this insanity."
And so HolyMaiden24 went off to find her guest character for her author's notes for this fan fic.
To be continued...