Author's Note: I never said before how I chose which characters to put in the group of Strange Visitors, so I'll do that now. (This is going to require me to talk a lot about Disney Princesses: Extermination. But there won't be major spoilers.) Not counting Ariel, I wanted there to only be five of them because I didn't want Raya and Namaari to have to share the spotlight with too many other characters. Raya and Namaari are supposed to be the main characters here with the strange visitors being second to them. (In theory anyway.) I knew I wanted to put Phillip and Merida in another fic because that couple started in DPE and I felt like we didn't get enough post get together content from those two. Rapunzel is my second favorite Disney Princess and I kind of see her and Eugene as a package deal, so they both went in. I wanted to do more with Cinderella because she was in DPE, but, without spoiling anything, she ended up not have as big a role in that story. My favorite Disney Princess is actually Elsa, but she's not in this story. Why is that, you might ask. For a long time, I've actually considered doing a spinoff of DPE which would be about Elsa and Jack Frost. So I decided to do this story without Elsa so that we wouldn't have a case of too much Elsa, not enough everyone else.
Also, let's talk about my decision to make Ariel the villain in Raya and the Strange Visitors. In DPE, Ariel was . . . I want to describe her as ominous. Ariel was a character that I wanted to include in another story because of the way I wrote her in DPE. At the same time, I wasn't sure about giving her one of the few spots in team Strange Visitors. (Remember that I wanted there to only be five.) And there was also the fact that the trident makes her so powerful that she could have overshadowed Raya. But the idea of making her the villain basically solved all my problems AND it fit with the dragon's water theme.
Cinderella made a boat big enough for all the strange visitors and enchanted it to travel very quickly. Fortunately, they wouldn't have to go far.
Cinderella slowed the boat down as soon as she noticed what was happening. The water was somehow congealing and hardening without freezing. The hardening water eventually wrapped itself around the boat, not letting it travel any further. Not all of the water hardened, however. Most of the surface had solidified, but there were still holes here and there through which a person could easily dive into the liquid water below.
Rapunzel reached her hand out of the boat and gave the hardened water a few knocks, curious as to what had done this.
"An interesting trick, isn't it?" said out a familiar voice. "These dragons are such fascinating creatures." Everyone finally saw Ariel as she was climbing down off the back of a dragon.
"Ariel!" shouted a few of the strange visitors. They would have wondered why Ariel had been ridding a dragon when they just saw dragons attacking people, but they were too busy being happy to find their friend. One by one the strange visitors exited the boat and stepped onto the hardened water, finding it could easily support their weight. Ariel too stepped onto the hardened water to meet them.
Rapunzel ran with open arms and plans to hug her. "Ariel! We were so worried about you! Come h- WHAT happened to your eyes?!" Rapunzel pulled her hands in, dismissing the possibility of a hug and backed away a few steps.
"Yeah, if you don't mind us askin, why are your eyes the same as the dragons' eyes?" Merida questioned.
"Oh that," Ariel said as if it were no big deal. "My red eyes are a sign of my new power. The dragons have them because they're under my command now."
"Uuuuhhhh, what?" Eugene said, confused.
"Those were my dragons you were fighting earlier. But don't, worry, I know you didn't know any better than to beat them all up. How could you have known they were mine?"
The strange visitors looked around at each other, each one of them being on edge about Ariel's behavior. "What exactly do you need these dragons for?" Phillip asked cautiously.
"For the most glorious reasons," Ariel sighed. "I'm going to use them to claim this entire world in the name of New Atlantica! These foolish people of Kumandra will finally have proper leadership, true civilization, and complete unity. Won't that be fun?!"
Everyone stared at Ariel with confusion, astonishment, and dread. No one knew what to say. What does one say when their friend they've known for years suddenly turns into a maniac bent on world domination. "Ha . . . ha, ha," Rapunzel said awkwardly. "Good one, Ariel. Funny joke. Please tell us you're joking, please."
"This is no joke," Ariel clarified. "I know it might sound crazy when you don't understand, but I've found someone; a spirit named Kahn who has shown me how necessary my goals really are."
And with that, everything finally made sense. It was still frightening, but at least it made sense.
"Oooooooh, uuuuuuh, where is this spirit, exactly?" Merida asked nervously.
"I have him in here," Ariel explained, pointing to her mind.
"That makes sense. Uh, Rapunzel, I think I see a scar on Ariel's forehead," Merida lied.
At first, Rapunzel just gave Merida a confused look, not seeing any such scar.
Merida elaborated, "Maybe you should wrap your hair around her noggin and give her a healing spell."
"Right! I see that same scar," Rapunzel lied, catching onto Merida's plan.
"There's nothing wrong with my forehead; I've checked. What are you up to?" Ariel asked as if she had caught them preparing a surprise birthday party.
Kahn told Ariel, "They think our queen's new wisdom is an illness they can heal away."
"Are you trying to stop me?" Ariel asked, her trident beginning to glow.
"We're trying to help you," Cinderella explained. "You're not yourself."
"Then maybe I shouldn't be!" The trident glowed brighter as Ariel's countenance intensified.
"Ariel, you have to stop this and come home!" Rapunzel pleaded. "Your people need you. Your husband is worried."
Ariel's eyes flickered. "Eric," she whispered, realizing how little she had been thinking about him.
Seeing how effective the mention of her husband was, Rapunzel continued, "Eric wouldn't want you to force these people to follow you. Do the right thing for him, please."
Kahn told her, "You husband will be proud of you when he sees your utopia!"
"Will he?" Ariel asked uncertainly.
"Surely, your Eric will be captivated by the expansion of your kingdom. He will appreciate the good you have done for the people of Kumandra."
Deep down, Ariel knew that wasn't true.
Trying a different tactic, Kahn said, "Don't listen to these pretend friends! They mean to confuse our queen! Hear their thoughts and know that they deceive you!"
Ariel listened. But what she heard was not their thoughts; just lies that Kahn disguised as their thoughts. "She's so stupid. We're not going to help her; we're going to kill her and take Kumandra for ourselves." "I can't believe I pretend to be her friend." "Why are we even talking to her? We should just put an arrow in her and be done with it." "Once Ariel is dead, nothing will stop us from destroying Kumandra."
Ariel's eyes stayed red as she looked at them hatefully, believing Kahn's lies. Ariel pointed her glowing trident at Cinderella. Rapunzel was just quick enough to tackle Cinderella out of the way of a beam shot from the trident. Eugene tried to rush Ariel, but she dove into a hole in the hardened water, flushing the trident and changing into a mermaid as she went. Within seconds, Ariel popped up out of a different hole, transforming back into a human and shot another beam, this time hitting the hardened water near the group's feet. Merida was the closest to the beam's impact point, but she was fortunately also close to another hole. Merida dove into the water and the impact point exploded, chunks of hardened water bursting next to her. Ariel dove back into the water, changing back into a mermaid and swam toward Merida with her trident extended.
Merida drew her sword and deflected the incoming trident. Ariel swam down, grabbing Merida's leg and pulled her further away from the surface. Ariel could have stayed submerged all day, but Merida was running out of oxygen.
Thankfully, a series of sparks shot into the water and wrapped around Merida, pulling her back toward the surface despite Ariel's attempt to keep a hold of her leg. Eventually, Ariel let go, not wanting to go back with her. Merida gasped for breath when her head sprang out of the water. Merida quickly scrambled back onto the hardened surface with Phillip's help. It wasn't long before some of the hardened water exploded right next to them, knocking them down. Explosion after explosion erupted around the group as Ariel shot up at them randomly. Chunks of hardened water shot into the sky and threatened to land of them.
"Everyone, get over here!" Rapunzel shouted, standing next to Phillip and Merida who were lying motionless. Once everyone was near, Rapunzel willed her hair to wrap around them, forming a sphere to keep them all safe. They heard and felt additional explosions and even chunks of hardened water collide with the sphere. Once the chaos stopped, Rapunzel unraveled the sphere and looked around for Ariel.
Ariel popped out of another hole in the water and pointed her trident at the group. Cinderella used a spell to gather chunks of hardened water and turned them into a boulder which she magically threw in Ariel's direction. When Ariel shot a beam of light, it was absorbed by the boulder which kept moving her way and the explosion almost hit Ariel herself. A piece of the boulder flew by Ariel, just barely missing her.
Cinderella pointed her wand at more chunks as she stared Ariel down, daring her to try that again. Instead, Ariel beckoned for them to come closer. Eugene and Rapunzel charged at her and attack with their sword and frying pan. Cinderella stayed back, knowing she wasn't good with close range combat and thinking someone should stay near Phillip and Merida who were still unable to stand.
They were lucky that Cinderella stayed behind, because a dragon emerged from the water and set his sights on Phillip and Merida. He lifted his head and parted his jaws, but Cinderella stepped in front them and shouted the magic words, "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!"
Dust splashed against the dragon's face and he recoiled. Within seconds, the red glow drained from the dragon's eyes and he ceased to be hostile. The dragon gave Cinderella a look of confusion mixed with gratitude. "It worked," Cinderella breathed. She turned her head to look at Ariel who had seen what she did. Cinderella wondered if she could do the same for her.
Kahn shouted at Ariel, "Our queen is in danger, our queen must escape!"
A second dragon sprang out of the forest and Ariel quickly climbed onto her back. As the dragon ran, Ariel sang, reestablishing her control over the dragon that Cinderella had previously freed. Cinderella shot her spells at the dragon, trying to free him again, but he kept bobbing and weaving to avoid each spell. The dragons were too fast for them to keep up with and they knew it. When Ariel escaped with the dragons, they didn't bother to chase after her.
The group was left to wallow in their dire situation. Their friend had been turned into a tyrant and they lost a perfectly good chance to stop her. Rapunzel used her healing incantation on Phillip and Merida. The first thing Merida said when she regained consciousness was, "We need to apologize to Raya and Namaari, don't we?"
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. Please follow and review.