The elderly people were walking out of their bus and the teenagers went over to them.
"Hello." Estelle greeted.
"Oh, hello, dear..." an old woman smiled. "You're so beautiful, how old are you?"
"I'm thirteen now." Estelle smiled.
"Really?" The old woman smiled back. "Then you must get your beauty from your mother."
Estelle smiled bashfully. "Well, Mom is the prettiest next to Aunt Darla."
Eloise nodded in agreement.
"And who is this strapping, strong, young man?" The old woman smiled as she saw Lee next to Estelle.
"This is Lee, he's my boyfriend." Estelle smiled.
Lee blushed to that. "You probably know my Aunt Lisa." he then said to the woman.
"Oh, yes, she's quite a worker." The old woman smiled.
"I'm her nephew from SouthDale." Lee said.
"Oh, you're Leonardo..." the old woman then recognized. "You seem taller than I expected."
"That's me and I prefer to be called Lee." Lee said.
"Oh, all right, Lee..." the old woman smiled. "Such a charming young man you are."
"And these are my brothers and cousins," Estelle then introduced. "Melody, Eloise, Felicity, Akito, and Vincent."
"Hello." Akito, Vincent, Eloise, and Melody greeted.
"Oh, it's so nice to see young people helping us old folks around." the old woman beamed brightly.
"It's better than doing nothing." Vincent said.
"Oh, how thoughtful." the old woman smiled.
Vincent sighed. "I hope there's some artwork..."
"You're so artsy fartsy." Akito teased.
"Ooh, an artist?" The old woman smiled.
"Uh, yes ma'am," Vincent smiled bashfully. "I'm a painter."
"It's all he ever does." Akito smirked.
"At least I don't exercise and lift weights and train everyday." Vincent smirked.
"Hey, at least I'm exercising..." Akito defended with a pout as he flexed his arm.
"We could use a strong young man to help us walk again." The old woman said.
"I'm up for it!" Akito beamed as he then wore a whistle like a gym coach. "I've always wanted to be a coach."
"But first, could you help me out of this chair?" The old woman asked.
"Oh, sure, ma'am." Akito went to help her.
Lisa smiled at her nephew and his friends for helping out. They soon helped the elderly women inside. Lisa smiled as she went inside with them. The Pokémon even decided to help. Ditto came onto Eloise's shoulder while reaching up to her hair clip which was in the shape of a bow like from when she was six.
"Oh, thank you, dears." One of the elderly ladies said.
The Pokemon smiled back, even Vaporeon.
"What delightful creatures you have." A second elderly woman smiled.
"Yeah, they're the best," Melody smiled.
"Especially Teddy, he's so loyal." Estelle beamed to her Ursaring.
"Such a cute name for such a strong bear." The second elderly woman said.
Teddy smiled to the woman as they helped her. Lisa led the teenagers inside and told them all about the place and what to do or expect until she would pick up Sosuke from school. Akito soon had a quick vision and where he shook his head as he had a disappointed look on his face.
"What's up, Akito?" Felicity asked.
"Someone is going to be sneaking out of school with a certain fish." Akito whispered.
"Why do I feel like Ponyo's just not a regular goldfish?" Lee asked himself.
After a few minutes, they heard Sosuke's laughter, only, it was quiet.
"Did you guys hear that?" Akito asked.
"Yeah, sounds like a certain someone is here who is supposed to be in school." Estelle said.
"Sosuke!" Lee sharply called out before going to his younger cousin.
Sosuke was filling the bucket with more water and once it was full, Ponyo squirted water in his face.
"Sosuke, why aren't you in school?" Lee scolded his little cousin.
"I'm sorry; I panicked." Sosuke panicked.
"Come on, let's go back to school before you get in trouble." Lee helped him up.
"No! I'll already get in trouble because Ponyo squirted Kumiko in the face because she said that Ponyo was ugly." Sosuke told him.
"Sosuke..." Lee sighed to his cousin.
"Oh, that is Sosuke..." one old woman smiled once she saw the young boy. "I haven't lost my mind yet."
"You might as well come on over." Lee said.
Sosuke smiled as he then carried the very full water bucket.
"Uh, let me get that..." Lee decided to take it since it was very heavy.
"No, thanks, Lee," Sosuke smiled. "I can handle it."
Lee wasn't a little unsure as Sosuke took the bucket.
"Hello," Sosuke smiled to the old ladies in their wheelchairs. "Are you ready to see my big surprise?"
"They're ready." Estelle said.
"I'll show you, but you have to guess what color it is." Sosuke told the old ladies.
The old ladies guessed until they guessed that she was red.
"That's right, how'd you all know that?" Sosuke replied as he looked down to Ponyo.
Vaporeon looked up to Melody. "Can I eat his goldfish?"
"No." Melody said.
Vaporeon pouted. Sosuke then walked over to show Ponyo to the two old ladies.
"She's so cute." The female Kirlia smiled.
"She looks delicious." Vaporeon said.
"Vaporeon!" Melody whispered loudly with a glare to her Pokemon.
"Her name is Ponyo," Sosuke told the old ladies. "She swims and can do magic!"
"She can?" The two old ladies and most of the group and Pokémon asked.
"Yeah, I had a cut on my thumb and it healed because she licked it." Sosuke explained with a smile.
This wowed the Pokemon and old ladies.
"Maybe she could use some magic to fix my old broken hip." One of the old ladies smiled.
"I bet that fish could get me out of this wheelchair." The other old woman added in.
"I don't know if she could do all that licking." Estelle said.
"I have to agree with Estelle here." Sosuke replied.
Another old woman came by in her wheelchair. "Oh, let me have a look in your pail."
"Yes, Toki-san." Sosuke said as he brought Ponyo over to her.
The woman looked into the bucket before letting out a terrified scream. "It has a real face on it! Oh, put it back in the ocean, don't you realize it'll cause a tsunami?!"
"It's just a fish." Vincent folded his arms.
"Yeah." Vaporeon added.
Melody held her Pokemon back so he wouldn't eat Ponyo.
"This fish is the sea monster responsible for the tsunamis!" Toki told the others.
Ponyo then glared to the woman and squirted water in her face.
"Ponyo!" Estelle scolded.
"Tsunami, tsunami, it's here!" Toki cried out. "Sosuke, throw her back in the ocean where she belongs!"
"It's just water." Akito said.
Lisa poked her head out, once she saw Toki in distress, she ran to the old woman. Lee soon ran with Sosuke down to the water. Vaporeon eagerly followed. Melody followed her Pokémon to make sure he didn't eat Ponyo. Sosuke's name was being called out as he went with the bucket to put Ponyo back into the ocean where she belonged.
"That's Aunt Lisa." Lee recognized the voice.
"Sosuke!" Lisa called out. "Come back here and apologize!"
Sosuke hid so his mother wouldn't see him. Akito and Estelle and the others soon hid with him. Felicity put her finger to her mouth to shush the others while they hid from Lisa. Lisa soon went off to see if she could find Sosuke.
"No matter what, I'm going to protect you, I promise." Sosuke promised Ponyo.
"Sosuke," Ponyo smiled surprising them all that she could talk. "Sosuke."
Sosuke smiled back in delight that his fish was talking.
"Ponyo!" Ponyo then said her own name.
"I-I-Is she talking?" Estelle asked.
"Ponyo... Sosuke..." Sosuke smiled to the goldfish.
"Ponyo... Love... Sosuke!" Ponyo smiled back up to him and did back-flips in the water.
"This is amazing!" Eloise smiled. "Nothing could ruin this moment."
"Nothing except that," Vaporeon saw bubbles in the water. "Looks familiar."
"Something is coming up." Pupitar said.
Sosuke gasped as he grabbed the bucket and backed up as the water seemed to come alive.
"We've got to protect them all and Ponyo." Vapoeron said.
"Vaporeon, Aqua Tail!" Melody commanded her Pokemon.
Vapoeron's tail soon got surrounded by water and he soon attacked the bubble water-like creatures. The Kirlia twins soon attacked the bubble water-like creatures next with Psy Beams.
"Hang on, Sosuke!" Lee held onto his cousin securely.
"What's going on?!" Sosuke panicked.
"These water creatures are trying to come towards us for some reason." Estelle said as she used her mermaid powers to try and control the water creatures.
"Where's Ponyo?" Eloise frowned.
"Ponyo?" Sosuke looked around. "Ponyo!"
"Those water creatures must have somehow got her." Lee said.
"Ponyo!" Sosuke ran out to the water.
"Sosuke!" Lee cried out for his cousin.
"Is that boy crazy?!" Eloise yelped.
"Sosuke, get back here!" Lee called to his cousin.
"He must be going after Ponyo." Teddy said.
"SOSUKE!" Lee yelled out. "Oh, someone stop him."
"Lee, can't you swim?" Melody noticed how he seemed to avoid the water.
"Lee, you do know how to swim, right?" Felicity asked.
Lee seemed nervous.
"Come on, you're the biggest athlete in school!" Akito said to him.
"I... I'm not much of a swimmer..." Lee admitted.
"What do you mean?" Estelle asked. "Don't you know how to swim?"
"I... Not really..." Lee sighed as he admitted. "I can't swim... You all can?"
"I may not be as good as my cousins, but swimming is very important to us..." Felicity said.
Estelle came up closely to Lee. "What if I told you that just by getting in the water, you can swim better than you could ever dare to imagine?"
"I'd have to ask... How?" Lee asked.
Estelle then stood on her tiptoes and kissed his forehead. Lee's eyes widened and he blushed from the kiss.
Estelle then smiled once she stood flat on her feet. "Come on... You're about to experience mermaid magic."
"Um, okay?" Lee said, confused.
"Come on, guys, let's go in the water," Estelle told the others. "We need to save Ponyo."
Each of them soon got in the water, including Lee after he became hesitant a little.
"Come on, Lee..." Estelle urged.
Lee got nervous, but he came into the water with him and to his surprise, his legs glowed and he suddenly had a red tail fin. "What the?!" He soon saw that the others also had tail fins. "Uh, Estelle, is it me or is everyone a mermaid?" he then asked.
"It's not you, and the proper term for everyone is 'merperson', now come on, let's save your cousin's goldfish." Estelle took his hand.
"All right." Lee nodded in agreement.
Estelle took his hand.
Lee was nervous about this, but he trusted her so they could go save Ponyo for Sosuke, and where, to his surprise, he was able to swim with them. "ESTELLE!" he called out, then saw he could talk and breathe underwater. "I... I can breathe and talk underwater...?"
"Oh, brother..." Akito sighed.
"That's the upside of being a merperson." Estelle smiled.
Lee smiled back as he was now blessed to become a merman. "This is so cool!"
"Yes, yes, it's exciting, now let's get your cousin's fish back," Vincent said. "What's so special about Ponyo that that guy wants her anyway?!"
"Wait, I think it's because she's magic." Estelle said.
"Magic?" Akito and Vincent asked.
"Jinx!" Akito smirked to his brother then.
"Not now, kid." Vincent glared.
"That does make sense." Lee said.
"You do believe in magic, don't you, Lee?" Estelle smiled.
"I met you, didn't I?" Lee smiled back.
"True." Estelle smiled.
They all soon swam underwater together as merpeople.
"This reminds me of the one vacation we took with Sofia and her family and we met Princess Oona." Estelle giggled as she felt nostalgic to swim through the ocean like a little mermaid.
"That must have been a great vacation." Lee said.
They all continued to search underwater before it would be too late.
"I just hope Sosuke is okay," Lee sighed. "I promised Aunt Lisa I'd help take very good care of him while Uncle Kōichi is away."
"He must be heartbroken." Estelle frowned.
"I'm sure he is," Lee frowned back. "A boy Sosuke's age needs his father."
They continued to swim until they found the boy or the unusual goldfish who was more than she appeared to be. They kept searching, but couldn't find Ponyo. Sosuke pouted as they couldn't find Ponyo anywhere.
"SOSUKE!" Lisa cried out and ran toward her five-year-old son.
Lee soon carried Sosuke back to shore. Sosuke soon began to cry since they couldn't find Ponyo.
"It's okay, Aunt Lisa, I got him." Lee told his aunt as he carried his young cousin.
"Thank goodness." Lisa sighed.
Sosuke was still crying because he didn't think he would ever see Ponyo again. Estelle felt heartbroken to hear a little kid like Sosuke cry like he did. Many older people in wheelchairs came together as Lisa took over carrying Sosuke while he wailed.
Later on, they soon went out and got Sosuke ice cream. Sosuke sulked as he licked his ice cream.
"Listen, Sosuke, you know, this could be for the best," Lisa told her son. "You could try, but Ponyo is a fish. She wasn't meant to live in a bucket, the ocean is home to her. Anyway, let's get home, hopefully that spritzy weirdo is gone. Can I have a lick? Hurry, it's starting to melt!"
Sosuke held out his ice cream to his mother and she took a big lick out of it. Lee could tell that this look Sosuke had in his eyes.
"Dad's favorite, me too," Lisa smiled to Sosuke. "I'm really sorry, Sosuke... But Dad is finally coming home tonight. You can tell him all about Ponyo."
They were soon back at the house.
"Sure looks great." Estelle smiled.
"Thank you, dear." Lisa smiled back.
Lee helped his aunt with the groceries as they got out of the car. Sosuke walked away from the door with his bucket, still looking down about Ponyo. Melody could tell that Sosuke looked like he had lost someone he lost which was understandable. Lisa tried to tell her son about no ocean for a while, but he simply came to the backyard to put his bucket away and picked up his sailboat, looking out into the water. He then picked up his bucket and went further into the yard.
"Sosuke?" Lisa called. "Sosuke, time to come in now."
"Maybe if I lay out the pail, Ponyo will know where we live when she comes back." Sosuke suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea." Vincent said.
Lisa even smiled, it sounded like a lovely thing to do for Ponyo. Sosuke soon hung his bucket on the fence and walked off.
