Chapter 29: Atlantica (The following world is based on "The Little Mermaid" 1989)
Sora woke up floating in the water. He felt the warm breeze of the beach on his face and looked around. This world looked indredibly similar to Destiny Islands, only it was not home. It was a new world entirely. Sora then remembered that he and his friends were sneezed out of Monstro and landed on this world. Sora then swam towards a small beach and looked around. Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be found, nor was the Gummi Ship. Sora felt fear creep up on his stomach. He's been with those two for a while now and with them missing, Sora felt helpless.
"Hello? Are you lost little boy?" asked a sweet voice. Sora turned around to see a young woman with brown hair.
"Who are you?" asked Sora as he tried not to show his tears.
"I'm Lady Vanessa, future ruler of the kingdom. You must be... lost I believe." said Vanessa.
"Your right. I am lost. I'm looking for two friends. And others. I have a lot of people to look for." said Sora.
"Then why don't you search under the sea? I hear the merfolk usually help people when ever they wish." said Vanessa.
"But... I'd drown if I go there." said Sora looking at the water. "And besides. Merpeople drown others down under."
"Nonsense. I will show you. Here, take this seaweed, eat it, and you will become a merman." said Vanessa.
"Me? A merman? That's crazy." said Sora.
"If you want to see your friends, you might as well take this leap of chance." said Vanessa.
"I don't know." replied Sora.
"Try it. Don't be afraid." said Vanessa soothingly as she stroke Sora's hair. She then began to sing and Sora felt like he was in a trance. Vanessa urged even more for Sora to eat the seaweed. Almost as if something else took over, Sora grabbed the Seaweed and ate it. And he fell to the ground. Vanessa began to laugh and pushed Sora into the water.
"The Seaweed won't turn you into a merman. It just puts you to sleep, and then you will drown!" laughed Vanessa. In that moment, she became a giant ugly woman with tentacles all over herself. It was the wicked Ursula the Sea Witch. As she was about to dive in to see the show, she spotted Sora floating in the water like a dead person.
"This won't do. I can't have you floating about like a dead whale carcass! I'll drag you down to the depths like in your bedtime stories!" exclaimed Ursula. Just then, a shield hit Ursula in the face and a giant sea turtle appeared, dragging Sora away from the giant woman.
"What's going on!" cried Ursula. Just then, another Octopus appeared, with a duck's body, and shot spells at the witch.
"No! I thought you fools were dead!" cried Ursula.
"It's going to take more than a rocket crash to put us cartoons down!" cried Donald Duck who was in some wierd octopus form. Goofy, who was a seaturle quickly pulled Donald.
"Quick! Sora's drowning!" he cried.
"Oh yeah. I forgot! Transformation!" cried Donald as right before their very eyes, Sora transformed into a merman. Sora woke up and looked at himself.
"The Seaweed worked! That's awesome! I can swim and... and... Donald and Goofy? Your here. And that giant woman... oh. I get it. Thanks Donald." said Sora.
"It didn't take that long to get you up to speed." said Donald.
"It won't matter! Soon I will take over Atlantica and the sea and all it's spoils will bow to my power!" cried Ursual as she disappeared into the dark depths.
"That was close. Thanks guys." said Sora.
"No problem kiddo." said Donald.
"What became of the gummi ship?" asked Sora.
"It dove into the water. Don't worry, it's got a special armor against water. Jiminy and the chipmunks are safe." said Goofy.
"Wow! This is amazing. I can breath under water! That is so cool!" cried Sora like a little kid swimming around happily.
"I know. I like the shell I have." said Goofy.
"I wonder who that old biddy was. Is she the villain of this world?" asked Donald.
"Could be. We met Hopper, Clayton and Jafar. And they were villains in their world." said Goofy.
"Why don't we explore this underwater kingdom and find out for ourselves if there are more people here." said Sora.
"Okay, but let's swim slowly. I bet the inhabitants of this world have never seen scrawny looking brats like you." said Donald.
"Scrawny? I have you know I used to do sit ups and push ups in gym class at school thank you very much!" said Sora.
As the two were arguing, Goofy noticed something that caught his eye. He saw two evil looking eels staring right back at them. Goofy felt chills down his spine or shell, and he decided to swim away.
Atlantica was a very beautiful place to behold! It had reefs that were full of color and life, fishes of all species swimming, minding their own buisness. And to top it all off, Sora understood what they were saying! This was very cool! He remembered when he was a little kid, he would swim for a long time near the water at the beach with his parents. His father used to tell him stories of merpeople, sea pirates that ate enchanted fruit, and about the deep dark depths.
This world took him back to Destiny Islands in one way or another. As they were passing by, Sora could hear a fish crying for help.
"Has anyone seen my son! Please! He's vanished! I need help!" cried a small clownfish that was very desperate. In that moment, he then bumps into another fish! A blue tang with beautiful yellow markings on her.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to." said the blue tang.
"Dory! Dory thank goodness! Nemo has gone missing! We got into an argument and... oh gosh." said the clown fish.
"Nemo? I saw him! He was by the coral reef!" cried Dory.
"Are you sure this time? Last time, you told me the same thing." said the clown fish.
"Hey, can we help out?" asked Sora as Donald and Goofy were right behind him.
"A merman! Thank goodness! Please, have you seen a small clown fish with a bad fin? He's my son, Nemo." said the clown fish.
"We just got here ourselves. But I did see two evil looking eels looking right at us." said Goofy.
"Eels? Oh on." said the clown fish.
"Oh no? What do you mean oh no? It should be oh yes. Like, Yes we found him!" cried Dory excitedly.
"No no. Those eels. I know them. They are Flotsam and Jetsam. They work for that old woman, Ursula." said the Clown Fish.
"Ursula? We just met her! Could she have taken your son?" asked Sora.
The clown fish looked up at Sora with a disturbed look. "I want to believe she didn't take him. But why would she? We are just common fish." said the clown fish.
"If it's one thing I do remember is that she is fond of sushi." said Dory.
"Not helping." replied the clown fish to his friend.
"We'll save your son. We have the power to stop her." said Donald.
"No! She's too powerful! She can turn merpeople into barnacles! You must talk to King Triton! He lives in that shiny coral castle! I think we need to get him involved." said the clown fish.
"A king? Cool! Let's go." said Sora.
"I'm Marlyn by the way. Sorry I didn't introduce myself." said Marlyn at last.
"Sora." replied Sora.
"Donald and Goofy. And you must be Dory right?" asked Donald.
"Dory? Whose Dory? Oh! I"m Dory! Laugh out loud! Hi Donnie. Geefy!" said Dory.
"Please excuse Dory. She get's a little excited and she has short term memory loss. But she's the best friend and neighbor I could ever ask for. She helped me find my son the first time." said Marlyn.
"Your son ran away from home before?" asked Goofy.
"Yeah. He's in school now, and I try to keep him out of trouble, but it's so hard to keep him away from so much." said Marlyn.
"I know what you mean. I was also overprotective of my son too." said Goofy.
Sora turned to Goofy in surprise. "You have a son? I didn't know that!" said Sora.
"I have two boys about your age back home Sora. One is Goofy Junior and the other... Max." said Goofy.
Sora finally understood why Goofy was so paternal to him over the past few days. "I hope I get to meet them. I bet they are as sweet as you." said Sora.
Goofy nodded cheerfully and Donald gave Goofy a stare. Goofy ignored Donald and smiled even more as the group swam over to King Triton's castle.
