Aquatic Kingdom Hearts Land of Giants

by Skywarp865 AKA Sideways865

It's a brand new adventure for the Bearers of Destiny. Ariel is having sister troubles just in time for old enemies to start a new plan to acquire the Three Hearts of the sea using an army from the past. Eric, Ariel, and their friends have to not only stop a genocide from happening, but also keep their secrets safe, explore a new land, and mend a sisterly bond before it's too late.

5. Chapter 5 Fun Times and New Heights

Sorry for the wait again and thank you for your patience. One of my co-workers was in a car accident and I had to help cover the extra shifts. She's doing a lot better now though and she didn't suffer any permanent damage to her body. I want to thank Stone-Man85 again for all his help with ideas and certain parts and hope he and all my readers enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 5: Fun Times and to New Heights

Asapin Residence at 11am

As Arista followed Eric and Kida to the fair, others were preparing for the festival, namely those living at the Asapin home/boat which sat in the harbor as always.

Guest Room

At the moment, Frey's cousin Lilo was arranging the photographs she had taken on her trip to China with the others. Among the pictures were shots of battles, friends just hanging out, shots of others just resting, a few embarrassing shots, and some of couples together or kissing. She then picked up the last photo she took on the trip. "This has to be my best and favorite photo I've ever taken," Lilo said as she looked at the picture. The picture was of the group along with others all standing before the palace in Atlantis after it had returned to the surface at long last.

In the photograph were three rows of people. In the first row was Eric and Ariel in the center with her hugging Eric's arm, Sebastian on her right shoulder, and Dax sitting on Eric's left shoulder. Behind Eric was Milo with Suki holding his right and Akuda on Milo's left with this hands behind his back. To the left of Eric was Frey with Iago on his right shoulder, Kida holding Frey's right hand, Obby sitting on his hind legs in front of Kida, Wally standing behind them with Lilo and Stitch sitting on his shoulders, and Orpet and Genie floating above them as he gave Frey a rabbit antenna ears just as the picture was taken. Next to Frey was Mr. Whitmore along with his employees consisting of Audrey, Helga, Sweet, Vinney, Cookie, Miss Packard with two Atlantean men kissing her on different sides of her cheeks, and Mole running from angry Atlantean woman from his French phrase. To the right of Ariel was Mulan with Mushu sitting Mulan's shoulder, Shang standing next to Mulan with his helmet off, along with Yao, Ling, Chien Po, and the other Chinese soldiers standing in attention. Finally at the end was Seifer, Olette who had her eyes closed with a nervous expression on her face, and Ralph standing behind them.

Lilo looked at the picture fondly as she remembered all the fun memories that came from the trip, 'This is one summer vacation that I'll never ever forget,' she thought happily as she placed the photo in the center of her collection. 'Adventures, battles, magical entities, magic armies, no one will ever believe all this back in Kokaua Town,' she thought to herself, only for her excitement to turn into sadness as she realized something, 'Oh right, Summer is almost over. I'll have to head back soon.'

At first, Lilo thought her vacation would be boring and that she would rather be back in her hometown in Hawaii, but this turned out be the best summer vacation ever, and soon it would end with her going back home for school. 'There's no way anyone back home would believe me anyway,'

Lilo thought to herself in disappointment due to her lack of popularity back home, 'Even if Stitch is there with me, I promised the others I would-' Her train of thought came to a crash when she realized what she thought. 'Wait, can Stitch even come home with me or does he have to stay here with the others,' she asked in horror at leaving one of the best things for her this summer. Her first real friend who understood her, played with her unlike the kids back home, and listened to her.

"Ten minutes till take off!"

The thought of dread of being away from her best friend for a year was broken again by Frey's voice telling them when it would be time to go. "Uh Thanks cous, be down in a minute," Lilo said before grabbing her camera, and running for the door.

Bathroom

After calling the others, Frey was facing the mirror as he brushed his teeth, and reflecting on all that happened in China and Agrabah. 'I can't believe summer's almost over already. It feels like yesterday Eric and I were just surfing our days away,' he thought as he remembered how things were before. He and Eric were surfing and swimming for the school team. They would have friendly rivalry with Seifer's group, Eric would be dreaming of the sea and his dream girl, and Frey himself would repeat his usually routine of dating a girl for a while before dumping her to hide his pain of his mother deserting her family. But the last few months had changed so much thanks to one small school party, Eric was engaged to a mermaid princess, they had fought undead pirates, discovered and rose a lost civilization, journeyed across distant lands, made new friends, and Frey was now dating Kida, the first girl he actually had true feelings for. For the first time, he felt happy actually going to see a girl he knew he wasn't going to let go of, and who wouldn't abandon him.

"What do I have to do to get it through that head of yours that I am not going anywhere! Not without you at least," Kida's words echoed in Frey's head as the words that finally made him realize what was right in front of his all the time.

'Before this whole adventure, I wasn't sure what my worth was to her but now,' he thought to himself as he spat out his toothpaste, and looked in the mirror again, "I finally know what I mean to her and how much she means to me." He chuckled at the good feeling that he finally has a girlfriend he didn't want to dump. "So this is what Eric feels like when he's with Ariel," he said as he left the bathroom for the front door, "It's a good feeling that I won't be forgetting anytime soon."

Living Room

Stitch was in the living room seeing what else is on the TV since he only used it once. In the room was Orpet sitting next to Stitch seeing what had changed over the centuries since he was in the Cave of Wonders. One channel showed a short man in a yellow and black striped prison uniform losing his temper after seeing the one that put him there in the first place.

"Lucky Luke," he yells before foaming at the mouth and his head turning red as an apple from rage, "LUCKY LUKE!"

Stitch looked at it like it was the oddest thing he'd ever seen. "Naga," he said as he changed the channel with the remote.

The channel changed to one of a futuristic red car with jet engines on the side of it with a black cat's face on them. "I'll get you next Gadget! Next time," a gravely and sinister voice is heard as the jet flies forward. Then a cat screeching is heard, as if the cat is agreeing with it's master.

Stitch snickered at how evil the villain sounded along with the cat. "Ahahahahahahaha! RaaaaaaAAAAaaaarrrrh," he said as he gave his best impersonation of the cat's meow. Orpet, if he had a face would look shocked at something so big flying on it's own.

He changed the channel again. This time it showed a middle aged woman walking into a hotel room to find her job partner barely conscious in their hotel room. "Mulder," she asked out of concern for him.

"Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks," the man known as Mulder says clearly still out of it, "Shaft! Can ya dig it?" The woman looks at Mulder with disbelief written on her face as the man continues. "They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother- shut your mouth! Talkin' 'bout Shaft."

Suddenly the scene changes to Mulder's office as he hears his partner's side of the story of what happened while on their assignment. "I did not," he says clearly not believing that he actually said something so ridiculous.

Stitch tilts his head to the side and looks at the screen not understanding it due to just seeing that part and not understanding the joke at all. "Peh," he says while changing the channel.

This time it changed to something that amazes him. He gains a huge excited grin, "OOOOOOOOH Hickaja gobala," he says as he rushes around the room causing a ruckus. Orpet sat there watching Stitch run around the room before the he was grabbed by Stitch and pulled in against his will.

Frey walks into the room after hearing the noise, "What is going on in here," he says as he enters the room despite knowing it's Stitch up to something, "As if I have to ask." He looks around to see the TV on, a lamp shade missing from the lamp, and the sound of wrestling behind the TV. Frey looked around at all this confused as ever, "What is that furry little-" asks before a voice gets his attention.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!"

Frey looks at the TV showing an anthropomorphic blue bull in a red suit order a goat in a stripped gangster suit shoot at something in the smoke but misses.

"I am the chill that runs up your spine," says a voice in the air but the location can't be found, as if the voice is all around them like an echo in the air. "I...," the gangsters look above to see the voice come from an anthropomorphic duck in a purple trench coat, a purple cape, a large purple hat, a blue turtleneck underneath the jacket, and a purple mask around his eyes. "am DARKWING DUCK!"

Suddenly in front of the TV, Stitch comes jumping out wearing the lampshade upside down and poor Orpet around his neck like a cape striking a heroic pose similar to the duck.

Frey just looks at Stitch's makeshift costume with a look mix of smug and confusion on his face as he just stares at him unable to find the right words. Frey is snapped out of it by a flash from a camera. He turns around to see Lilo with her camera taking a picture of the Atlantean experiment dressed as a superhero.

"Now that looks cool Stitch," Lilo said as the picture slid out from the disposable camera as Stitch buffed his chest out and smiled in a heroic pose, "Although I don't think Orpet is liking it," she said pointing out Orpet's top half hanging down as he held head in an annoyed way.

Stitch just exhaled in defeat at this, "Neeee mah," he said as he undid Orpet from legs from his neck, and took the lampshade off. Orpet flew over to the couch while Stitch jumped down and walked over.

"All right that does kinda cool aside from standing on the TV," Frey admitted as he didn't want his father finding out the TV broke when he returned, "Now come on or we're going to be late meeting up with Eric and the others for the festival."

"You mean late meeting up with Kida," Lilo said with a mischievous smile on her face. Stitch caught on to what she was getting into a joined in as they both started to make kissing sounds and acting all lovey dovey before laughing.

Frey shot them both a playfully annoyed smile and glare at their playful interpretation of him and Kida's new relationship, "Yeah and she and I will be sneaking off to do that when you're playing games," he said in a joking way to his niece and his fluffy friend before joining in their laughter. "By the way," Frey said after he stopped laughing, "Has anyone seen Iago? It's been quiet all morning and I thought for sure-"

"WHAT KIND OF SCREW LOOSE TOWN IS THIS!?"

As if on cue, Iago flew in through an open window and he was not happy. "I flown all over town and there's not so much as an underground gambling ring here," Iago yelled out in pain as this favorite means of finding treasure was missing, "What gives Asapin," he asked Frey in anger as he flew onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, unfortunately gambling is considered a major pirate magnet to Lord Beckett so he banned it from Port Royal. It's part of his way keeping the populace safe from piracy," Frey explained to Iago why, "The only gambling allowed are lotto and scratch tickets in Port Royal."

"RRRRRGGGHH! Treasure is much easier to swipe," Iago said as he knew the complications of that method of gambling, "Less legal issues and waiting for the big prizes from the bank. Beckett must have a stash of gold from pirates though, right?"

"He probably does," Frey said as the group headed for the door, "But no one knows where he keeps it. Not even my dad. There are actually rumors that Mr. Mercer uses any gold they confiscate from pirates to bait others into being captured."

"That's... Actually not a bad idea, until the pirates get wise to it," Iago admitted seeing the logic behind it, "Back on the subject though, what kind of town doesn't have gambling at night?! That's like a fruit salad without the fruit in it! What's a bird supposed to do all night," he continued to yell as he's number one means of entertainment at night was gone.

"Fly around ranting that Port Royal isn't Agrabah," Frey sighed, as Iago flew over to him, and perched on the top of the chair he was leaning on.

"YOU SAID THERE WAS GONNA BE A WHOLE LOT OF TREASURE HUNTIN' WHENEVER AN ADVENTURE POPS ITS HEAD AROUND," Iago nearly screamed his lungs out.

"Yeah. But whenever a crazy situation calls for us to take on an adventure," Frey explained. "This is downtime for us, to enjoy the Summer Fest before the school semester starts."

Iago then leaned in, almost pleading, "But there's still a chance that we could have an adventure in, with lots of treasure, I wager, right? Right?" Frey was silent a moment, irking Iago, until he finally blew, "RIGHT?!"

Frey then shrugged, "Yeah. I mean, it's likely it'll happen in about a week. Which is since I got dragged into this crazy life, should happen."

Iago sighed, "Oh thank you." But then he went wide eye at the time, and whined, "A WEEK!? I WANT IT NOW!"
Frey sighed, as he shrugged, "Well, look at it this way: at least you've got another week to prepare in case it's a dangerous adventure."
"DANGER?!" Iago freaked out, obviously not much of an adventure due to not wanting to endanger himself, "No! Danger big allergy for bird! BIRD WILL DIE IF HE'S IN DANGER!"

Everyone just laughed as Orpet flew them to the festival due to the streets still a mess from the previous night's sewer explosion.

Outside of Port Royal

Carnival at 12:30 PM

On the outside of town, stood the Summer Festival as sounds of fun and laughter along with different tasty smells filled the air. There were all kinds of stands serving different foods, tents where games were being held, displays for different performers putting on magic acts or performing great feats, and even a few rides such as a ferris wheel near the outside of the Fairgrounds. All in all, it was the kind of festival that anyone would want to be at before the summer ended, and school restarted.

Eric, Kida, and Max stood outside taking in the view of the festival with excitement. Even though Eric had lived in Port Royal all his life along with this being Kida's first summer in town, they were amazed by the sight before them. Max on the other hand was wagging his tail and barking happily at all the people.

"Wow," Eric said as he took in the sight of the festival, "I know that Frey told me this was always a bash, but I didn't know Port Royal was able to party like this. Even after Beckett became the governor." After Cutler Beckett was appointed the Governor of Port Royal, he set up the new rules in order to protect the citizens from piracy. However most of the laws were questionable at best such as a curfew at 11pm, different fees sailors had to pay if they weren't part of the company, and guards all around town make sure everyone was following the rules.

"Indeed," Kida nodded in agreement as she took in the festival, "Everyone here is filled with as much happiness and excitement as Atlantis was when it rose from the sea," she finished as she took it all in. 'I can not wait to show Suki, uncle, and the others in Atlantis all that the surface world has,' she thought to herself. She then looked around for her other friends. "Eric," she started to ask as she looked at him, "Do you think the others might have gone in a head of us?"

Eric checked his watch for the time, "No. we all agreed to meet here now so maybe they are still on their way here," he answered as he remembered calling everyone, and agreeing to meet at the entrance of the festival the night before. "They should be here any-"

"Speak of the devil..."

Kida and Eric turned to the side to see the source of the voice to see Frey's group walking towards them minus Orpet who had flown back in the air for a bird's eye view of the festival. "And he shall appear. Now where's the gold stuff," Iago asked in anticipation in the hope of treasure and he rubbed his wings together, "There's bound to be lots of ways to make money at a festival like this."

"It is nice to see you too Iago along with Lilo and Stitch," Kida said as she approached the group, including Frey who was smiling to see his best friend and girlfriend as he waved at them. As soon as she saw Frey's face, Kida gained a smile of her own, "Hello Frey."

"Umm, hi Kida," Frey said trying his best to hide a blush on his face as he scratched the side of his face, "You're looking nice today," he said clearly nervous as he could feel his heart in his throat. 'What's wrong with me? I've never been nervous around a girl before,' he thought to himself while trying to remain cool in front of Kida.

"Thank you," Kida said as she gained a small blush of her own, "I am ready to see what activities Port Royal gets into when celebrating. Perhaps they have hunting competitions similar to Atlantis," Kida said as she missed out on seeing a lot of Port Royal before the group went to China.

"Umm, no the festival doesn't have events like that," Frey admitted, "But there's tons to do aside from that. Like different kinds of games, food, rides, and performances."

"Get a room you two. Sheesh," Iago said looking up and had his wings crossed feeling Frey and Kida's affections for one another even if they weren't acting on them. Stitch and Lilo on the other hand were still play kissing and teasing the two behind their backs.

Eric looked at his best friend with a surprised expression from Frey's new behavior. 'Wow. I never thought Frey would-'

"ERIC! EVERYONE!"

Eric and the others turned to see a smiling Ariel run towards them with Sebastian hanging onto her hair for dear life. 'Of all things for a krab to get, land sickness is the last one I thought possible,' Sebastian thought to himself while his face was turning a gross shade of green.

Ariel was waving to the others as she ran up, pulling someone behind her as she did. Though whoever it was seemed a bit reluctant. Once she got up to them, the figure stood behind Ariel, wearing a long purple skirt that ended at the middle of her lower right leg, and was hiked up by a slit on her upper left thigh. She had a black belt around her waist with another one connected to it dangling on the right. She wore black high thigh boots, which was evident as her left leg was nearly covered up by her boot and black stockings. She also wore a black and purple hoodie which covered her face, and black fingerless gloves.

Ariel smiled as Eric walked up to her, hugging her, "Glad you made it." But pulled away, as he saw the hooded figure, "Is this who you brought along?"

Ariel nodded, "I figured since we all needed a little R and R, my friend here needed it more than ever since she was cooped up in her home."

Frey leaned in between the two, almost daring to kiss the said girl, as he smirked, "So who's the hottie, Ariel? Anyone we know?" As usual, Frey was turning on the old Pheromone charm, much to Kida's annoyance and jealousy.

The figure sighed, as she slowly pulled her hood back, and replied, "Well…" and revealed it to be none other than… Olette, as she arched an eyebrow at the tanned blonde, "… What do you think?"

A huge pause broke out, until Frey went from charming to downright freaked out, as he backed away, making a crucifix out of his index fingers, freaking out, "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It's her! That crazy mermaid witch that nearly got all of us back in China! Back! Back unholy demon of the deep!"

Everyone aside from Eric seemed to go on the defensive, not forgetting the last time they fought against her. Although she did manage to help them back in Shangri La, there was still the wariness of how much she hated humans. And it wasn't until when Ariel told them about the woman Gothel that they had gained a better understanding of her hatred on how the woman betrayed and butchered her. Still… it was better to be safe than sorry at this point in their lives.

"Ugh, that only works on vampires, genius. I'm no lamprey either." Olette rolled her eyes back, "See, Ariel? I figured this was what was gonna happen. Your friends getting all defensive and Frey being all looney on it."

Though Ariel stopped her as she made a friendly plea on her friend's behalf, "Come on, guys. Give her a chance. I really think she needs this."

Eric, being the better person in understanding, walked up and asked, "Wait, so you two talked about going to the Summerfest?"

The two blinked and looked to one another, as they both said, "Well…"

Flashback

The previous day

Olette's Home

10 am

After everyone at the Thatch Household agreed to attend the Summer Festival the next day, Ariel left in excitement as she had a great idea along with Sebastian who was desperately hanging on to Ariel to stay on. At the moment, the Mermaid Princess and the nervous Royal Court Composer were outside of the home Olette used when she first transferred to Port Royal High.

"Ariel, are you sure you want to do this," Sebastian asked her, "What if she's getting ready for another scheme or she doesn't want to be bothered?" Even though Olette no longer served Ursula, the group aside from Ariel and Eric were still having a hard time accepting Olette after all that happened.

"Oh relax Sebastian," Ariel said as she approached the door, "Olette is different now. If she stays with all of us, we can show her a better way of life than just hatred and revenge." After learning of Olette's past, Ariel knew that all Olette needed were friends that could help Olette replace her pain with comfort, and happiness.

"But what makes you thinks she's even here," Sebastian asked Ariel just as they arrived at the door, "For all we know she could be somewhere else doing who knows what," he finished as Ariel knocked on the door. Sometime during the celebration of Atlantis rising, Olette had snuck off into the sea, and no one knew where she went off to.

Suddenly, the house slightly shook as dust fell off the sides of the house, and the muffled sound of an explosion was heard inside the house. This caught the two by surprise as they backed away from the explosion.

"Olette? Are you okay in there," Ariel yelled out to make sure her friend was all right, only for there to not be a reply.

"Aw well," Sebastian said while trying to think of anything to get away, "We tried. Let's go-" He stops when the door opens up to reveal Olette with a displeased expression, messy hair as if she just woke up, and covered in smoke marks as if she was caught in the some kind of blast.

Ariel and Sebastian look surprised by this while Olette continues to shoot them an annoyed glare, "Olette, hi. Are you all right," Ariel asked as she tried to break the awkward silence, "We heard an explosion and-"

Olette held up a hand telling Ariel to stop, walked out while leading Ariel away, snapped her finger, and the doorway shined for a quick second as Olette walked back over to the door.

"Olette? What are you doing," Ariel began to ask as Olette continued to head for the door.

"Never conjure where you live," Olette said as she opened the door to reveal the doorway had changed as she led Ariel and Sebastian in. As Olette looked around the doorway for any signs of trouble, Ariel and Sebastian took in their new surroundings.

The room appeared to be similar to Ursula's home in the Leviathan except it seemed more like a teenager's room. There were shelves filled with different kinds of books, some for spells, and others for reference. There were a few open cupboards filled with different items originating from the land and the ocean in glass jars and beakers. On a table nearby as a scientific lab set up with different beakers for testing serums, creating potions, and studying samples. In the center was a large pot currently filled with a blue liquid and a large stirring stick sitting on the side waiting to be used. Finally and to Sebastian's horror, there was a table similar to Tia Dalma's covered in crab bones as if they were tossed on the table. Something that Ariel noticed though was that it looked like there was some kind of blast that caused scorch marks to appear on the floor and papers scattered all over the place. Finally, there was an opening on the side of the room filled with ocean making the room smell like sea air. It was in fact an emergency exit into the sea via underground caverns for mermaids and those that could hold their breath long enough to get there. Olette had found it when she first arrived and made it in case she needed to escape from Eric's group while she was under Ursula's command.

'Who knew that Olette was hiding this before,' Ariel thought to herself as she looked around more in curiosity. In truth, she kinda felt she was back in her treasure trove if she gather spell ingredients rather than human items. She turns around when she hears Olette closed the door after ensuring whatever she was looking for wasn't there and looked at her guests again. "Olette, are you okay," Ariel asked her as Olette walked over to her, "After I knocked on the door, Sebastian and I heard an explosion and we thought something had happened."

"Oh that," Olette said as she remembered what happened. After she left Atlantis, she began to move her things to her new home in Port Royal before Ursula found out what she was doing, or where she was going. After settling in while making sure no one had followed her, she began to notice that Ursula had been quiet since losing her chance at controlling the Mandarin's forces. So she attempted to see the future using the crab bones technique but found nothing aside from Ariel's visit and reason. So Olette attempted to use a powerful spell to see what dangers were on the horizon. However just as she was about to add the final ingredient, Ariel knocking on the door caused her to lose her focus, put too much of the ingredient, and caused the spell to explode in her face. "It's fine," Olette started to say before turning around with a weak smile, "It was just... breakfast," Olette lied as she didn't want Ariel nosing in her business after finally getting home.

'She's obviously lying,' Ariel and Sebastian thought as they could see past Olette's lie.

'Breakfast... Really,' Olette asked herself how she could come up with such a weak lie. She cleared her throat, "Well it's... Nice to see you Ariel and Sebastian," Olette said while trying to sound nice about it for real instead of lying like before, "So how did you know I was here," she asked Ariel as Olette was very cautious about letting anyone see her here.

"To be honest, I didn't know," Ariel admitted a little embarrassed at her lack of detective skills, "I want ask you something and this was the only place I could think of to start looking for you. I was wondering if you wanted to-"

"Go to the Summer Festival with you," Olette finished Ariel sentence as she knew from the crab bones from earlier. Olette turned away as she began to clean up around her spell room, "I have so much to do here. Besides, festivals aren't really my thing," Olette said hiding the fact that she thought the others weren't ready to accept her after all she did before during their journey.

"Oh come on Olette," Ariel said as she began to help clean up as well, "It'll be fun. Plus school starts up again next week. We need to enjoy what little summer vacation we have left."

"I don't do fun Ariel," Olette said as she put the sheets back on the table, "At least your kind of fun. Not for a very long time," she finished as she continued to pick up sheets of paper off the floor.

Ariel knew that Olette was still troubled by her past, but she wasn't going to give up either. "Than this is the perfect way help you have fun again," Ariel argued as she walked in front of Olette, "Come on Olette, please," Ariel asked her like a little kid asking their older sibling to have fun with them, "You won't be sorry."

Olette sighed at Ariel's stubbornness, "Look Ariel, I just-" Olette stopped her sentence when she saw Ariel give her a depressed expression that would make even the strongest soul break. 'Oh gosh that face. She's like a sad puppy fish,' Olette thought as she felt the effects of Ariel's sad face.

"She got me with those eyes too," Sebastian said as he sat on Ariel's shoulder as he remembered how that look on Ariel's face stopped him from telling the king about her deal.

"Well- I," Olette started to think of an excuse, but Ariel's sad face was too strong to resist. Finally Olette sighed in defeat, "What time is the festival at," the dark mermaid asked in defeat.

Present

The two finally answered, "Something like that/I had nothing better to do with my time anyway," they said while hiding what really happened. Ariel than walked forward with her usually optimistic smile, "Come on everyone, I admit things became rough between us in before and during China but that's all behind us now," Ariel said while trying to stand up for Olette before the others, "Olette could've left us to our fate in Shangri La but she chose to save us."

Eric walked over to Ariel's side, "Ariel's right. I mean sure Olette did some questionable things but if Ariel believes in her, That's enough for me," he finished while showing his support to Ariel and Olette. This earned him a smile from Ariel and a kiss on the cheek from her making him blush in surprise.

Soon the others were laughing aside from Olette who simply stared in silence. 'He's going that far to trust me, after all the things I did before just because of Ariel believes in me... How foolish and yet admirable,' Olette thought to herself as she watched the group of friends simply have fun, 'These humans aren't so bad... I guess.' She then felt a strange feeling, the kind one gets when being watched by someone as she began to look around without revealing she was on to whoever it was. 'Someone's watching... Could it be her again,' Olette began to think of possible candidates of who would be following them.

"Sorry about before with the whole witch thing."

Olette's train of thought came to a halt as she noticed Frey in front of her apologizing. "Whatever. Personally I'm surprised you'd even talk to me. By the way, is this the only time soldiers aren't standing guard somewhere because I don't see any at all here," Olette asked as she noticed that there wasn't a single Port Royal soldier around when usually no one could go a day without seeing one.

"It's because they're all preoccupied at the moment."

The others turned to see Seifer standing by the entrance along with his arms crossed and Fuu on his left and Rei on the right. "Mr. Mercer called all the soldiers in for an emergency meeting after whatever happened last night," Seifer said with his usual filled with authority as Port Royal's self appointed protector.

"So Seifer's making sure the festival goes without a hitch until they get back, y'know," Rai said as she pumped his fist up with a toothy grin.

"Guard duty," Rei said in her natural tone while maintaining her usual expression.

"That explains the lack of guards around the fair," Frey said completely unfazed by Seifer's authority, "Here I thought they were all on lunch break," he joked earning a small laugh from Lilo and Stitch.

"Laugh all you want Asapin, but I plan to make sure no one tries anything while the army is away," Seifer answered before turning his glare at Olette, "Especially while she's here."

Olette didn't say anything but she turned her head away not meeting Seifer's gaze. 'Why did he have to be here of all places,' she thought to herself, not in anger, but in guilt for what she did before to him.

"You are aware she may be waiting to cause trouble again like before right Thatch," Seifer asked Eric without revealing what she really did to Fuu and Rei.

"Olette isn't like that anymore Seifer," Ariel said in defense of Olette, "She helped us before and I believe coming up with schemes is the last thing on her mind now that she's one of us."

"I'm one hundred percent with Ariel on this one," Eric answered unfazed by Seifer's words, "Besides, you learned about her past, Seifer. I would have thought that you of all people would have known what that can do or twist a person to do."

Seifer looked at Kida and Frey for their input. "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," Frey answered while Kida nodded in agreement.

Olette's eyes open wide from surprise at this turn of events. After all she did to them, all the troubles, dangers, and problems she caused the group, they were willing to stand by her, and accept her into their circle. 'After all that happened before, how can they trust me so easily,' she asked herself as the confusion went through her mind and her heart felt warm from the acceptance.

"Well... As long as she doesn't start any trouble than we're cool," Seifer said satisfied with the group's answer, "But I'll be watching," he finished as he pointed to his eyes with his two fingers and pointed them at Olette saying he's watching her. Then he turned around and entered the fair to patrol the grounds for trouble.

"He's keeping an eye on all of you, y'know," Rai said before going to catch up with Seifer.

"Under watch," Fuu simply said before joining them leaving the group outside the fairgrounds.

"EEEESHH! Is he on guard mode 24/7 or what," Iago asked after having to keep quiet due to Fuu and Rai not knowing about what went on in China, "I knew pigeons back in Agrabah that knew how to have more fun than him."

"Olette, don't let Seifer put you down," Ariel said as she turned to face her friend in the hopes of convincing her not to go home after Seifer's warning, "You shouldn't let him ruin your day-"

"It's okay. I deserved a lot more than simply a warning after all the things I did to him in China," Olette admitted as she knew that Seifer had every right to hold a grudge after controlling him to fight Eric and put the world in danger. "To be honest, I thought he would attack me on sight like before," she admitted after remembering how he had her at his mercy when he broke free of her control, "But I'm glad he didn't, I would've won after all," she finished as she laughed to herself before stopping as she saw the others give her a confused look on their faces, including Ariel. "Heh heh... That was a joke," she admitted at her attempt at humor.

"Oh heh heh... yeah," Frey admitted as he and the others weakly laughed at her dark joke, "Kinda weak, but you're trying so that's a start."

"Thanks," Olette said sarcastically.

"Trying is always the first step to success."

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice to see Ralph and a disguised Wally walking towards them from the forest and Obby running towards Kida as happy as Max would be to see Eric. "At least that's what you all taught me," Ralph finished as he walked over while carrying a bag behind his back.

"Obby," Kida happily said as she got on her knees and patted her pet and friend, "Oh I missed you so much. Were you a good boy when you were helping Ralph," she asked him as he happily barked.

"OOOOhhhhh yeeeaaah," Wally said in his usually techno voice as he answered Kida's question as he had been with Ralph yesterday and this morning.

"Thank you both," Kida said as she continued to pet her lava dog, "It was getting very hard to find rocks that Obby liked around Port Royal. Were you able to find what you need for your new home Ralph," Kida asked as she knew Ralph was working on a new home in the forest close to Port Royal. He wanted to make a fresh start elsewhere but felt he was more comfortable in the forest rather than the city. So when he and Wally went looking for materials to make a place to stay, Kida asked them if they could take Obby with them to see if there were any rocks he liked to eat. That way Kida and the others didn't have to keep going back to Atlantis for rocks or looking for a volcano.

"Yep. When we were digging for an area for storage, we found tones of rocks, and the little guy loved them all," Ralph explained as he put the bag down revealing it to be filled with the rocks he found for Obby based on the sound on the clicking sound they made, "I even brought all the stones we dug up for Obby." Obby turned around at the sound of the rocks in the bag and made jump at them with a open mouth intending to eat them. Only for Ralph to lift the bag back up and Obby to miss it.

"Thanks again you two," Kida said appreciating their help.

"Are you sure you want to live in the forest," Eric asked Ralph, "You're still welcome to stay at my home with Wally."

"Thanks, but I still prefer the woods," Ralph answered, "But I do appreciate you and everyone bringing me with you back here. It would've been impossible to get a boat back home on my own." Due to Ralph's reputation and appearance, most of the townsfolk from China shunned him making it hard for him to receive help. If it wasn't for meeting Olette, Ariel, and the others, he might've been alone in the woods for the rest of his life.

"Okay, but know you're always welcome at Thatch Manor," Eric said earning a nod from Ralph.

"Enough of the bonding people! We're burning daylight here," Iago squawked as they had been talking for a while now.

"Iago has a point," Frey said as he walked in front of everyone, "We're halfway through the day and haven't even gone into the festival yet. Aside from Lilo and myself, this is everyone's first festival so let's make it one to remember," Frey said as he shot his fist in the air.

"YEAH," everyone yelled out aside from Olette who was still a little reluctant to hang out.

"Let us give the best goodbye to Summer that we can," Kida added not quite understanding the meaning behind the surface term of bidding Summer goodbye.

'What an odd bunch-,' Olette thought to herself before she was pulled by Ariel who also was pulling Eric, "WHOOAA!"

"Come on you two! We're missing on all the fun," Ariel said with excitement in her voice and eyes as she pulled the smiling Eric and startled Olette.

'Hmmm... Maybe that's why they can all get along. Their bond is what gives them their strength,' Olette thought to herself, 'Perhaps that's why the Mandarin lost to them, why Ursula keeps losing, and why I lost to them.'

As the others see Ariel drag Eric and a confused Olette through the entrance of the fairground, Kida grabbed Frey's arm, "Well you heard her everyone," Kida said with excitement in her voice, "Let us celebrate!" She and Frey with Iago hanging on for dear life followed after Ariel while the others. Unaware that they were being followed by someone who was watching them the whole time from the forest.

Fairgrounds Games

12:45 pm

After the group entered the fair, they split up into two groups, and divided the money among themselves, and split up. Lilo, Wally, Ralph, and Stitch went in one direction while Eric, Ariel, Sebastian, Frey, Kida, Iago, and a reluctant Olette went in the other.

Ralph's group moved through the crowds of people looking at the different games to play. Although Ralph, Wally, and Stitch were being stared at due to their unique features. While Ralph felt uncomfortable with the eyes staring at him, it felt different than before in his hometown. The people there shot him angry glares and turned their back from him whenever he walked through town. This time they simply stole glances from him as he was new in town. He felt no anger or hatred from them though.

'Okay Ralph, this is a new start for you. New faces, new home, and new opportunities,' he thought to himself, 'Keep your cool, don't break anything, and the people won't be staring at you anymore.' Although keeping his cool wasn't easy as he could hear some people whispering as who he was, why he was so tall, and that he must be an angry fellow.

"Oh my gosh look at that awesome stuffed monster!"

Ralph was snapped out of his train of thought by the sound of Lilo's voice as she stood on the side of a game. Hanging on the side of the game was a large stuffed monster doll. It was purple and looked like a dragon with wings or hind legs. Except this doll had seven heads with each head having the same design consisting of a serpentine neck, a large mouth filled with white fangs, orange eyes with slit pupils, and spikes lining the top of each head all the way down their necks. It had two hands with four fingers with a sharp claw on each finger and a long tail with the same spike as the neck going from the tail's tip to the necks.

Lilo was staring at it with stars in her eyes, "It's so weird and awesome, I'm gonna die," she exclaimed in excitement.

Stitch however simply turned his head at it, "Naga et schmalla," Stitch said with some jealousy in his voice.

"Oh come on Stitch, you're the greatest and the fluffiest of them all," Lilo said showing she wasn't replacing him, "But that stuffed dragon looks so freaky!"

Ralph just looked at Lilo and Stitch as they reminded him of the kids back home who would play until they saw him, having the same happy faces. He walked over to the front of the stand in hopes of buying the toy for Lilo.

In front of him was a large stand in the shape of an oval comet complete with craters. Outside it were four seats each with a pop gun attached to the table for the players to use. Inside the stand were four layers of displays showing aliens, stars, planets, and other things usually found in outer space. All around the outer rim were smaller prizes of all shapes and sizes and a display used to show the results of the game. In the middle of the back was a flying saucer with an alien face attached to a planet. On the top of the attraction were the words 'SPACE KILLER' in red with light bulbs all over the front.

To the side in the stand was a young male adult with curly red hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a carnival hat with stripes, a blue sweater under a red t-shirt with a frowny face on the side usually seen on text messages, blue jeans, and red shoes.

"Uh excuse me sir. How much for seven headed dragon toy," Ralph asked the vendor who was currently reading a magazine and drinking from a cup.

The vendor chuckled at this as he looked up, "Well... It's not for sale. But all you gotta do, is knock down that little spaceship in the middle," he explained while pointing out the spaceship in the center.

"Hm, sounds easy enough," Ralph said as he put the money down for Lilo and Stitch to play.

Just as Lilo was about to climb up, she saw that Stitch was about to pull out his guns but was stopped by Lilo. "Stitch, you remember what Frey and the others said."

"Nyah nyah," Stitch said disappointed as let go of the guns and the two climbed on to play the game which the Vendor didn't care as he thought it was just a costume.

As soon as the two were ready, the vendor pushed the button, and the game started up. All the display of aliens began to move up and down while the bigger one moved faster and all around to make it harder to hit. Lilo and Stitch began to fire randomly. Stitch normally would've been able to hit it with his own guns, but using the toy gun was tricky as he never used regular surface guns before. The corks when flying missing each of the aliens until finally the game ended with a loud buzzer sound and the words 'YOU LOSE' in red pass by the digital display above.

Stitch moaned at the loss along with Lilo looked disappointed, "I close my eyes for one second and missed it."

Ralph pulled out another dollar, "Last one. Eric said we have to make these last the whole day," Ralph said not wanting to use too much of Eric's money. The vendor accepted it and started the game again as the sounds and movement took came back.

"Thanks," Lilo said to both before blasting again. She and Stitch took aim trying to hit their target alien in the center. Flying corks filled the area as they attempted to hit it. Finally, Lilo and Stitch were able to hit the target at the same time.

"We hit it, we hit it," Lilo exclaimed excitedly as she knew she and Stitch had won, "Did you see that? We hit it!"

However her hopes her dashed as the same familiar lose sound was heard above them. This lead to Lilo sighing sadly as she knew what that meant. Stitch and Ralph reacted differently though as Ralph had seen them both hit the alien ship.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What was that," Ralph asked the Vendor, "She hit that. Wally and I saw her hit it."

The Vendor was flipping through a stack of dollar bills before turning his attention to Ralph. "Hey, buddy, let me explain something to you," the Vendor says with a smarmy smile on his face. "You see that little tin spaceship? You see how it's not knocked over? Do you know what that means, professor," he asked as he gets in Ralph's face. "It means you DON'T GET THE HYDRA! Somebody's got a frowny face. Boo! Better luck next time," he finished as he took note of Ralph's angry glare. What they didn't know was that the Vendor had set the grand prize alien up so that no one could knock it over even if they managed to hit it with a steel pole.

Ralph was not taking that well as he could feel his blood begin to boil. 'Okay, now I'm angry and not that calm angry where one is assertive, I'm aggressive angry to the point of knocking down that ship myself!' Before Ralph could respond, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Wally shaking his head now and pointing at himself saying he'll take care of this. If anyone could see, Wally's optics had a glare of their own for making Lilo look sad at being cheated by the Vendor.

"Okay... Myyy Turrrn," Wally said allowing Ralph to get the message. He nodded as he handed the Vendor another dollar bill who took it gladly. Wally walked away until he was about a yard away. He lifted his right arm up as the fingers of his right hand retracted in and his hand began to hum with energy becoming louder and louder. A blue light began to shine as the Vendor took this as a sign to move out of the way. After a few seconds of charging, a powerful bolt of blue lightning shot out of Wally's hand, vaporizing the grand prize alien, and leaving a huge hole in the game stand.

Wally returned his hand to normal before making a triumphant pose, "Knnnnocked ooooovveeerrrrr," he said in his wirrey voice.

The Vendor however wasn't feeling as happy as he was left stunned and covered in smoke at how his cheating ways had come back to bite him in the worst way, having to use the money he swindled to repair his stand. Ralph took the hydra prize they had earned and handed it to Lilo as the group left the stand.

"It's so AWESOME," Lilo exclaimed as she shook the toy that was larger than her in her hands, "Thanks you too and that was awesome Wally! You blew up the whole thing," she exclaimed in excitement at what Wally did, "Let's go destroy another game," she finished as she and Stitch went in search of one.

Ralph stood there smiling, "Not quite what I had in mind," he told Wally, "But thanks. I think I might not have left anything for that guy to fix," Ralph admitted as they caught up with Lilo and Stitch.

"Youuuuuu're weeeellllcommmmeee," Wally answered.

High Striker

"Come one, come all! Test your strength and try to win our grand prize!"

Further down was a Test Your Strength game with different signs at each height showing the level of prize each height represented. The sides of the game had flashing yellow lights going all the way up and a big light bulb meant to flash when the bell was rung on the top. The game was being announced by another teenager wearing the same attire as the Space Killer game vendor but wearing a different colored shirt without the emoticon. This vendor had short brown hair and blue eyes.

Ralph's group looked at the game and prizes that were for the winners. "I don't know. I think I might break this one by accident," Ralph admitted as he knew that he might overdue to due to his immense strength, even to the point of the whole thing falling over.

"It's okay Ralph," Lilo said as she looked at it, "I don't really see anything good there. Nothing weird like this guy here," she said lifting the stuffed hydra up. "How about you Wally," she asked the robot who shook his head no at the question. "What about you Stitch-" she asked before noticing Stitch was missing. She looked around for him, "Where did he go," she asked as the others looked for him.

"What is this thing?!"

They looked in the direction of the voice to see the Vendor looking down at Stitch who had his eyes locked on the game.

"Some kind of freaky dog or something," the second Vendor in shock as everyone looked at him.

Lilo ran up to him before things became worse, "That's Stitch," Lilo said as she arrived, "He's my dog."

The second Vendor looked unconvinced as he and the crowd looked at him. "You sure about that," the Vendor asked.

"He's the freakiest dog I've ever seen," another person said.

"Maybe he's a new species," a woman said.

"He's a Chinese Koala Dog," Ralph said catching up to the Hawaiian girl and her pet while going with the cover story Frey mentioned before, "Very rare and intelligent."

"Still looks freaky to me," one person said as he left along with others.

Ralph knew how painful words could be from his life in China. He looked at Stitch who was unfazed as he continued to stare at something. "Is your dog going to keep staring or what," the second Vendor asked feeling freaked out by Stitch.

"I think he wants to play," Lilo said as she looked at her best friend and pet, "Am I right Stitch," she asked him who responded by nodding his head.

Suddenly a roar of laughter filled the air like before, only this laughter wasn't from the fun of the festival. Rather from the people around Ralph and his group.

"HIM?! A DOG PANDA THING PLAYING THIS GAME!"

"THAT'S RICH! THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE HEARD ALL YEAR!"

"WHAT'S HE GONNA DO?! SIT ON IT AND TAKE A WIZZ ON IT!?"

The laughing continued, especially from the Vendor, "Okay... I'll humor you little girl! If you're little doggy can get to get halfway to the third level of the game," he said as he pointed to the lower middle part of the tower, "He can pick any prize he wants."

"LIKE THAT'S GONNA HAPPEN!"

"HE'D PROBABLY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE A HAMMER!"

"IT'S NOT EVEN WORTH THE MONEY TO SEE THAT!"

Everyone including the Vendor continued to laugh their heads off. The Vendor stopped though when he saw the money for the event in front of him in Ralph's palm. "I'll take that bet," Ralph said confidentially.

The Vendor just snicked as he took the money, "It's your loss," he said as he placed it in his pocket, and pulled out a small hammer for Stitch. "This ought to be good," he said as he backed towards the crowd who were taking their cell phones out to record it. 'Especially since the back is rigged to prevent anyone from anyone winning the grand prize,' he thought in victory for he had attached a weight in the back of the weight that made it even heavier making it only reach level three or just below four.

"Show them what you can do Stitch," Lilo yelled out as fluffy blue creature took the hammer, and approached the game.

Stitch put the hammer down, spat in his hands, rubbed them together, and picked the hammer back up. Stitch lifted the hammer over his head, waited a minute, and slammed it down with all his might. The platform shot the weight up as it went up at lightning speed, hit the bell so loudly it could've been mistaken for a church bell, and shot the bell and weight up into the air like a model rocket.

All the citizens who laughed their heads off stood there with bugged out eyes at the outcome. Including the Vendor who was the most shocked. 'He- he- broke it, easily. He'll ask for the sports car in the back,' the Vendor realized as he remembered that was the grand prize to behind the game.

"Way to go Stitch," Lilo exclaimed while Wally and Ralph clapped for their little blue friend.

Stitch put the hammer down and stood triumphant at his victory for a moment before walking over to the prize selection. While everyone thought he was going to go for the Green Chevrolet Camaro in the back, instead he went for the bin of stuffed animals. After a second, Stitch pulled out a green stuffed turtle that was twice his size and had a baby turtle on it's back. Stitch looked at the Vendor who was still in shock, "Thank youuu," Stitch said as he joined his friends who waved goodbye and the four left with their new prize.

"Good choice Stitch," Lilo said as they looked for something else to do at the fair.

The Vendor however processed what just happened, "Did that dog just speak," he asked dumbfounded at what he heard Stitch say.

"That dog just spoke," a citizen said equally shocked. Just as the bell and weight from the game landed on the car smashing the front window.

Back with Ralph's group, they continued to look for something else to do. "Boy this festival is more fun than I thought it would be," Ralph admitted as they walked down the path. Wally nodded in agreement, true he couldn't grab any treasures without it looking like stealing, but he was happy with the others.

"Yeah! This is the best one for me," Lilo said agreeing with them as the group continued to walk through the festival as she hugged her new stuffed Hydra. She looked at Stitch, "How about you Stitch," she asked her friend. She saw him holding his new stuffed turtle while trying to walk with it. She would see his head nod in agreement if not for the turtle.

"Ralph! Lilo! Wally! Stitch!"

The group turned around to the sound of their names to see Eric, Ariel, and the others ran up to them. "Are you all alright? We heard the was some kind of explosion," Ariel asked them hoping they were safe.

"Please tell me that Stitch had nothing to do with it," Frey asked, "I'm still hearing the complaints from the damages he caused in China in my dreams. Where is he anyway," Frey asked looking for Stitch as he could only see a green turtle on it's hind flippers. However a familiar growl made Frey and the others realize that Stitch was holding the turtle. "Oh there he is," Frey said.

"We're okay and Stitch didn't cause the explosion," Lilo said earning a sigh of relief from the others aside from Olette for they're safety, "Wally did it."

"Oh okay- SAY WHAT NOW," Frey exclaimed at the culprit being Wally and not Stitch with all his hidden weapons.

"Yep. Even helped won me this," Lilo said showing her new hydra stuffed animal, "Isn't it cute? Not Stitch cute but a close second," she asked hoping they would agree.

Ariel and Olette simply looked dumbfounded at the toy Lilo said was cute as they tried to find the right words.

"Your tastes frighten me sometimes, kid," Olette finally said only to receive a look of disappointed from Lilo, "I like that," Olette finished with a smile earning a toothy smile from Lilo.

Soon the others explained what happened as the others took the story in. "I see. Sounds like you had a run in with the Feddermen Twins," Frey said, "Those two use different games to scam people out of their money each year," Frey explained, "However Mr. Mercer was never able to bust them for it."

"Why not? If everyone knows they're behind it, shouldn't it be easy to bring them in," Ariel asked confused at why such as simple job would always fail.

Frey closed his eyes as he folded his arms as if he was in deep thought, "It's just a rumor... But I heard it had something to do with the men Mr. Mercer sent always coming back in their underwear."

This led to a silence among them as they took that reply in, even Olette who always kept her cool raised an eyebrow at that. 'Either those two are that good at swindling people or humans are that gullible,' she thought to herself.

"Well enough about that," Ariel finally said wanting to change the subject, "Come on, we're losing daylight, and there's still lot's of things to do," she said and the group was on it's way, unaware that they were still being followed.

Later On

1:30 pm

As the group continued, they enjoyed more what the fair had to offer. One such example was one where an artist who painted a picture to music that no one could recognize. To many it looked like abstract art, but as soon as the music ended, the artist flipped the picture around to reveal a portrait of Elvis Presley. Next they saw a ventriloquist where the person pulled out different puppets in each act which consisted of a grumpy elderly man who complained a lot, a skeleton with an accent, and a purple monkey wearing one sneaker. All in all, the group was having the time of their lives.

Later on, the group arrived at an area where a huge crowd had gathered in excitement. Thinking it was another event, they all gathered to see what it was.

In the center of a large number of people, there was a large stand with a large TV screen held up by a black stand in the center of the tent. Standing on the platform was a man dressed in a carnival outfit complete with red and white striped blazer with a matching bow tie, a white dress shirt, a white hat with red and blue horizontal stripes, black dress pants, and black dress shows. In his hand he held a megaphone that he was about to use.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS! COME ONE COME AND SEE WHO WILL BE OUR FIRST PLAYERS FOR DANCE OFF," he said getting the attention of everyone at the festival as a neon sign with the words "Dance Off" were flashing above the TV screen.

While everyone in the crowd was looking excited, Ariel, Kida, Wally, and Ralph had confused looks on their face at this event. Olette on the other hand had her arms crossed as she was not impressed by the flashing lights. "Frey, what is this dance off that the stripped man is talking about," Kida asked as she was confused by the title, "And where are they dancing off to?"

"Nowhere. It's just the title of the game," Frey said as he began to explain to everyone. "Two people are called from the crowd to play a versus game match where they press the buttons matching the symbols on the screen at the right time. The better your time, the more points your score. It's called Dance Off because it's played with music in the background and your dancing to it. Whoever has the best score after the song wins a prize," Frey finished explaining.

"Oh, so it is like a combat simulation without the use of weapons," Kida said as she compared it to her combat training back in Atlantis, "Have you ever participated in this training simulation," Kida asked.

"Well once but I lost," Frey answered with a smile.

"To me," Lilo said with a confident smile as she remembered the time she went with Frey and they were both called up to play and she won. Only Frey let her win that time to be a good cousin as she was much younger.

"I see. Perhaps you can give Frey a chance for a rematch," Eric said as he remembered Frey mentioning his loss a few years ago.

"If we're lucky. Ever since last year, they've been choosing the players at random due to fights for the position and people getting hurt on their way to the stage," Frey explained as there had been some cases of people fighting for the spot and getting hurt.

"So how do they pick players than," Olette asked seeming a bit curious about it now, "It's not like they can just use spotlights since we're outside and it's the middle of the day. Not to mention there was no need for tickets so they can't just draw them."

Before Frey could answer, the man with the megaphone spoke out again. "NOW IT'S TIME TO PICK OUR PLAYERS," he yelled out as the screen behind him changed to different people in the crowd. Above the television was a security camera used to view everyone and help decide who would play. Suddenly the screen began to change pictures at random and at a speed that made it look like a blue.

"Well... I supposed that's better than just pointing at a random person," Olette admitted as the screen continued to change pictures, 'As long as I'm not picked. There's no way a game where you dance can be fun,' Olette thought to herself.

Suddenly the screen began to slow down as different pictures of people were shown. Finally the screen stopped and began to flash at a picture of Eric with Ariel on his left and Olette on his right showing they had been chosen. This however led to the three to have surprised expressions.

"WELL EVERYONE THIS IS A NEW ONE! IT LOOKS LIKE THIS WILL BE A GAME TO REMEMBER," the announcer said going along with this turn of events, "A DANCE OFF BETWEEN THESE TWO LOVELY LADIES AND WE HAVE THE PERFECT PRIZE FOR THEM TO PLAY FOR!"

"Ooooh, this sounds fun," Ariel said with stars in her eyes, "Come on Olette, let's give this a try!"

"No thanks, I'll pass," Olette said not wanting to play as she waved her right hand showing she had no interest in playing, "Just let someone else take my place."

"Don't be like that Olette," Ariel said with a smile, "You have to be more flexible. It took a lot to bring you here today. You won't regret it," Ariel said with a sly smile.

"Ehh she's probably just scared of losing in front of everyone," Iago said thinking his words would entice her into playing. This however earned him a playful glare from her.

"Nice try Iago but I'm not going to fall for one of my favorite tricks," Olette said showing she wasn't going to tricked into playing by having her ego damaged, "There is nothing that will make me go up there and-"

"HERE'S THE PERFECT PRIZE FOR THESE TWO FRIENDS. THE GIRL WHO WINS GETS AN ALL DAY PASS TO THE TUNNEL OF LOVE TO TAKE THE LUCKY BOY BETWEEN THE TWO COMPETITORS," the announcer announced showing the pass in his right hand as the crowd cheered.

The prize however earned a confused expression from Ariel and a few newcomers to Port Royal. "The Tunnel of Love? What's that," Ariel asked Eric as she had never heard of such a ride.

Eric however was blushing, "Well... It's a ride for couples but I've never been in one," Eric said since in all the time he was with Ariel, they had never gone to a fair.

"Leave the explanation to an expert," Frey said confidentially as he was an expert on couples related topics, "The Tunnel of Love is the perfect place for a dating couple to have some time alone and enjoy a lovely atmosphere for the two of them."

"It's basically just a slow ride like a Lazy River ride for relaxing," Lilo said with a bored expression on her face, "Totally dullsville."

"I don't know," Ariel admitted as she thought she didn't need a ride to for her and Eric to have romantic moments together, "Maybe they should pick someone else-"

"In that case," Olette's voice sounded as she grabbed Eric's arm and put it between her breasts much to Eric's embarrassment and Ariel's shock, "If I win against Ariel at the game, will you go with me on the ride," she asked Eric with a pleading smile on her face hoping his answer would be yes.

Eric however was caught off guard and was trying to find the right words, "What- But- I'm already- Dating Ariel- And-"

"Oh I'm sure she won't mind," Olette said as she got closer to Eric's face, "After all, I'm sure she can be flexible about sharing you," she said as she looked at Ariel, "Right Ariel," she asked with a smile while using Ariel's own words against her.

"Why you," Ariel said as she could feel the jealousy flow through her as shown by the glare she was shooting at Olette and her hair rising and going crazy as if her anger was bringing it to life. Even Sebastian who was on her shoulder was a feeling the fear as he slowly moved away the best he could. "All right Olette, you're on," she said while pointing at her, "Whoever wins gets to go with Eric in the Tunnel of Love!"

The others looked surprised at this new side to Ariel, not that they could blame her, but it was unexpected. Especially Eric, but at the same time, he found himself happy that she wasn't going to give up on him just as he wouldn't give up on her. Although the pressure from the girls he was stuck in the middle of prevented him from showing it.

Olette snicked as she let go of Eric's arm, "Heh, you're own," Olette said confidentally.

"DO YOU FEEL IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN?! YOU CAN FEEL THE COMPETITIVE SPIRIT BETWEEN THESE TWO FRIENDS," the Announcer said as he used the girls' bet to spread excitement through the crowd. They all cheered as they made a path for Ariel and Olette as they made their way up to the platform. Ariel was so focused that she didn't notice Sebastian jump off of her shoulder and land on Eric's shoulder.

"You ready for this," Olette asked Ariel as they were now halfway to the platform.

"Ready when you are, Rihanna," Ariel shoot back, only to receive a stone cold glare from Olette showing she was not amused. "Oh, come on. You must have heard of her. She's a huge star and great dancer, right," Ariel explained as she had seen her on television once or twice before. However Olette's expression did not change. "Have you ever laughed since moving here," Ariel asked wondering if Olette had simply chosen to shut off her emotions when she betrayed Ursula.

"Wait and see," Olette answered.

As soon as the girls arrived, the announcer explained the same rules as Frey. The girls got into position with Olette on the left and Ariel on the right. They both stood on matching dance pads with in the shape of a circle cut into four pieces and each having a different symbol on them

"LET'S GET READY TO DANCE," the Announcer said as the TV screen became a game screen a split screen, four identical symbols on the top of the screen, a number one on the left, a number two on the right, and a number three in the center of the screen. Suddenly the three turned into a two revealing it to be a countdown as the music started to play. Finally the one in the center became the word 'DANCE' and matching symbols began to rise from the bottom of the screen to the top.

Little Ways from Dance Off

As soon as the game started, one person had left the crowd, and went unnoticed by anyone as she walked further and further away from the game. It was Priscilla Allen, Port Royal High's most popular student, and head cheerleader. At first she was the most popular student at school with no competition, but that changed when Ariel arrived, and got the attention of all the boys there. Soon they were even in popularity but Priscilla planned to changed that by adding Ariel to her inner circle. However this ended in failure as she made fun of Ariel's belief in merfolk like Eric putting her at odds with the secret mermaid girl. Things only became harder for her when Kida Nekada enrolled into the school and joined Ariel's circle of friends. Olette Yuehama joining their class didn't help either and seeing her with Ariel made Priscilla realize that they were friends as well.

'This can't be happening! Every time she goes away on some trip, Ariel comes back with even more friends in her circle,' Priscilla thought in dread, 'If this keeps up, I'll lose all my popularity for sure! I may even lose my spot on the cheerleaders squad!'

She felt great dread and jealous for Ariel and her friends after they had started to take away her attention at school. She practically had it all the boys aside from Eric all over her and she was the talk of the school. The one that most boys would give a leg just to have lunch with her. But now the boys were talking about Ariel just as much, maybe even more. 'There must be something I can do to regain my popularity at school. Just some way,' she thought to herself as if hoping someone would answer her plea.

"You have a serious problem, don't you?"

Priscilla was snapped out of her train of thought as she looked in the direction of the voice. She saw an elderly woman dressed standing outside a purple tent with a small flap opening. She was dressed in a black silk dress that went down to her feet and a silver rim around her collarbone area. Over her dress was a transparent purple sash that covered the upper part of her dress down to her knees with a symbol of a wave of water in silver on the bottom, extra fabric with silver linings around her shoulders while hanging down her arms, a belt in the form of a large silver star with a smaller ones around the belt with red gems in the center. She wore a dark blue hood with a silver lining around the outer rim, silver symbols of the ocean all over it, held in place around her head by a red gem, and had a fabric mouth mask revealing only her eyes and forehead.

"A very serious problem indeed," the woman said in a sly tone of voice.

"Ugh look lady," Priscilla said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice, "I've seen this fortune telling routine dozens of times and there's no way some make believe ability used to scam people is going to work on me. Goodbye," she responded as she walked away as if she never heard the woman's voice.

"Not even if I say I know that you want to regain the popularity that was stolen from you, Miss Allen?"

Priscilla stopped dead in her tracks as the woman the woman not only knew what was bugging her, but also she knew her name. She turned around and looked at the woman who smile was hidden under her vial, "How do you know my name," Priscilla asked curious but also defensively.

The woman merely stepped aside and held her arm to the door for the teenage girl to enter, "Come inside and I'll show you. Free of charge as well. Anything for the true teen queen of Port Royal High," she answered while revealing she wasn't going to ask for anything in return.

Priscilla still was reluctant to enter as she didn't believe in any sort of magic or fairy tale stories, but at the same time, the offer for help to regain what she had lost was quite tempting. 'Oh come on. What've I got to lose? It's not like she can really do what she's saying,' she thought as she walked towards the tent. "All right, I'll humor you if it makes you feel better about your talents," she answered in a high and mighty tone of voice while trying to hide the slight traces of fear she had.

She entered the Fortune Teller's tent and took in her surroundings. Inside the lights were barely on with only skull shaped candles illuminating the darkness. All around the tent were different desks covered by different pieces cloth and filled with books of different sizes. All around the room were wooden masks modeled after sea life showing looks of intimidation. The largest one resembling a purple fish with green eyes, two spikes coming out of it's forehead, an overbite with four teeth on the lower jaw, and two on the upper jaw shown by it's mouth gaping open. In the middle of the room was a table with a lightish pink tablecloth, two fancy chairs with matching pink pads on them, and a crystal ball in the center of the table.

Priscilla was looking a little nervous as the fortune teller walked over to her table offered Priscilla a seat, "Have a seat and put your mind at ease," the woman said enticing Priscilla further. She walked forward while trying to ignore the masks that seem to be staring at her. Priscilla sat down as the fortune teller walked over to her chair as Priscilla's chair moved her to the table on it's own as if it was willed there by the Fortune Teller.

"Nice trick," a skeptic Priscilla said with sarcasm in her voice, "Probably using motors right? I've seen it before when my friends tried the other fortune tellers during the other festivals. Which were done better than this by the way."

The Fortune Teller simply snickered at Priscilla's words, "You're quite the confident one aren't you? It's amazing how easily Miss Namba was able to take the attention of the school boys before you could do anything about it."

The Fortune Teller's words struck a cord in Priscilla, as if she was tracing her hunger on the teenager's big red button. "Okay so you know about my problems with Ariel. Let me guess, you saw it in your crystal ball," she asked as she folder her arms as she remained on the defensive.

"I know a great deal about your little problem, but not from my crystal ball," the Fortune Teller answered as she pulled out a deck of tarot cards, "It's thanks to the cards." In her hands the deck of cards went flying into the air all together as if they were in an invisible tube but were dancing as well. They went all around the woman before she picked out three without them stopping as they piled themselves back to the side. "I believe these three are yours," she says as she lays them flat on the table.

The Fortune Teller flips the first card which shows a princess in a castle adored by the crowd as she waves at her subjects, "This card reveals that you were once praised by everyone in school, boys were captivated by your beauty, girls wanted to be friends with you to be noticed, and you were the words of everyone. Priscilla looked at the card as she saw herself in place of the princess waving at the citizens. "However," the Fortune Teller places the card down and reveals the second card showing a peasant girl dressed in rags but natural beautiful gaining the praise the princess once had from the kingdom. "Your followers were captivated by a mysterious new student who appeared like magic," the Teller explained without even looking at the card, "Soon their admiration and eyes turned on her instead of you while the name they spoke changed to the girl instead of you."

Priscilla gained a glare as she looked at the card as she saw the picture of the peasant girl resemble Ariel with everyone cheering. "Soon more girls with her beauty and mysterious air joined her," the Teller continues as she flips the card to reveal two more girls appearing next to the first one. In Priscilla's eyes, they changed to resemble Kida and Olette feeding the fire of the jealousy within her.

"Finally," the Fortune Teller placed the second card down, picked up the final card, and revealed it to Priscilla, "The final card reveals that soon all of your classmates will see them and leave you behind if events go unchanged," she explains as it shows the girls treated as royalty before flipping the card around showing the fate of the princess. All alone in the castle that has become dark and dreary and the once famed princess forgotten by the citizens.

Priscilla expression shows she's clearly angered by her words, 'It's like she has a window into my soul,' she thought as that what was she didn't want to happen, lost in the crowd, and unnoticed by the students. She calmed herself down as she looked at the Fortune Teller, "I suppose this is the part where you tell me how I can change this," asks as her desire for popularity was slowly clouding her judgment.

"Yes... My cards reveal events of the past, present, and future that are unchanged. But I can see other futures as well," The Fortune Teller answered as she waved her hands around the crystal ball as smoke began to swirl all around the inside, "I see one future where you take your rightful place above all the people and the three unworthy girls forced to cater to your beck and call."

Priscilla looks inside the ball as the fog fades to reveal an image of Priscilla being praised by the students again as Ariel, Kida and Olette carry her and her things around in rags and barefoot before Priscilla's eyes. Her eyes shine in excitement at this before she snaps out of it, "Yeah right! As much as I like the look of that, I just want my popularity back, not personal servants," she answered as she stood up from her chair. "I was right, this is all a big hoax lady," she continued as she walked out of the tent, "Better luck next time finding more gullible folks," she finishes as she leaves the tent feeling as though she had just avoided a big mistake. Unaware that the Fortune Teller was smiling under her mask as if she was the one that succeeded.

Back at Dance Off

After Priscilla left, the mermaid girls were doing their best to play the game by stepping on the button matching the symbol that was closest to the top of the screen as they could. The crowd watched in silence as the song played and the girls played as they focused on their scores. As the girls were still new to the game, they weren't doing so well as they were getting low ratings.

'I can't believe people actually like this game,' Olette thought to herself as she kept trying to keep up with the rhythm, 'Still... Let's see just how good Ariel is with her land legs outside of bending,' Olette thought as she had always tested Ariel's mermaid and bending skills, but not how well adapted Ariel was to having legs.

'This is harder than I thought,' Ariel thought as she kept trying to keep up with the rhythm as well. Even though she was able to use her legs just as well as her tail, timing her movements with a game she was playing for the first time was trickier than she thought. 'But there's no way I'm going to lose Eric to Olette,' she thought in determination. Even though she danced before with Eric at different parties, this was the first time she was dancing in such a unique way.

However soon the girls' began to pick up on the rhythm of the game symbols and when to press them for the best score as their scores began to rise. At first Ariel was in the lead thanks to her better experience with legs as her ratings went from bad to just below excellent.

Olette looked to see this and felt a sense of determination, 'Oh it's on now Princess,' she thought to herself as she wasn't going to give up. She suddenly forgot about the bet and the crowd watching her. The only thing on Olette's mind was not losing to Ariel as her score began to catch up with Ariel's. Soon the two were now neck and neck as they both kept getting Excellent scores. They were now dancing at the same speed mimicking each other, as if they were mirror images, or each other's shadows.

The crowd was awestruck at how even the game had become, even the announcer was stunned as they all starred. Eric's group was equally surprised, even Eric as he kept his eyes on Ariel dancing. The way she moved, her hair moving with her movements, and her smiling expression as she seemed to have forgotten the bet, and was having fun. "Wow," Eric whispered to himself as he saw his future wife dancing.

He then felt a nudge from his side as he looked at Frey, "Bet you wish you were dancing with her up there," his best friend said. Eric smiled and nodded at the idea of dancing with Ariel again.

Elsewhere in the crowd were Seifer's group who were watching the event as well due to wanting to avoid a repeat of last year. At the moment, Rai was looking stunned at what he saw.

"Oh Man," Rai said as watched them dance, "I never knew that dancing could be so competitive, y'know."

"Neck and neck," Rai responded as she watched the girls dance while noting at how evenly matched they are.

Seifer simply kept quiet as she watched them, namely Olette as she moved with the song's beat all while keeping her hair from revealing her scars. 'She's different... From before in China,' Seifer thought to himself as he kept his eyes on her out of caution.

"Ready to give up yet," Olette asked as she continued to dance.

"Never," Ariel said confidentially, "I was just about to ask you the same thing." This earned a snicker from Olette as they continued despite their legs starting to hurt a little from dancing so much and hard.

Soon the song was about to end and the girls didn't seem to be tired. Their scores continued to rise as they kept dancing. What no one noticed though was the game system playing it was starting to overheat and overload from the intensity of the dance and scores.

"Umm is the game suppose to do that," Ralph asked Frey as he could see smoke rising from it.

Frey looked at the game system releasing a stream of smoke that was going unnoticed by the others due to their focus being on the players. "Uh oh," Frey said to himself as he had a pretty good idea as to what was about to happen.

Finally the song reached it's final verse and just as the girls jumped and slammed on the final buttons, the TV screen and game system exploded in their faces filling the area with black smoke. As soon as it cleared, the crowd looked to see who won, only to see Ariel, Olette, and the Announcer without his hat with messed up hair, and smoke marks on them and in their hair.

The crowd was left silent for a moment from what had happened, before they bellowed in excitement at how this had been the most evenly matched Dance Off game they had seen at the festival. Eric's group however were still taking in a few details.

"So... Who won," Ralph asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"I... I think it was a draw," Kida answered as she stared at the scene as if she had watched a major battle practice in Atlantis, "Although everyone else does not seem to care who won."

"Does this mean Eric has to take them both on the Tunnel of Love ride," Iago asked out loud.

"BEST TWO OUT OF THREE," Lilo cried out as Stitch shouted gibberish in agreement as the crowd cheers.

Girl's Bathroom

1:50pm

After making sure everyone was all right, Ariel and Olette were in the girls' room cleaning up after the explosion. "I have to say that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Olette said as she used waterbending to wet her hair and remove the dirt, "It's a shame the neither of us knew who won in the end with our scores blowing up." Ariel on the other hand remained silent as she washed her hair the same way.

"Although the bigger loss was the pass to the Tunnel of Love burning in the explosion," Olette said as she leaned on the sink waiting for Ariel, "All that dancing and leg work all the prize was burnt to a crisp," Olette continued remembering how the announcer was caught in the blast that burnt the pass to the ride to cinders, "Aww well, easy come easy go. Besides we had a lot of fun playing," she continued as she turned her head to look at Ariel with a smile on her face, "Right?"

Ariel was silent for a moment before she turned to face Olette while her face was hidden by her red hair, "I'm really glad you enjoyed that and I'm really glad we became friends," Ariel started to say as if it was something important, "But know this, I'm not giving Eric up to you," she said as she lifted her head to reveal a determined look on her face.

Olette looked surprised by this as a silent moment went by for the girls as tension filled the air. Finally, Olette's cheeks puffed up as she attempted to hold something in, until she burst out laughing much to Ariel's surprise. It was the kind of laughter that wasn't filled with satisfaction or malice, but actually joy one would hear at a comedy club. "I'm- hahaha- I'm sorry! Hahahaha! I just- hahaha- I only said that to get riled up for the game," Olette explained while trying to hold back her laughter but more kept slipping out.

"You... were," Ariel asked a little dumbfounded by that as she took that in, not only Olette's reason, but the fact that she was laughing. When Olette asked Eric to the ride, Ariel thought her new friend had grown secret feelings for Eric after China. So she was quite shocked at that new development and know how to respond after her previous argument with Mulan.

"Besides," Olette said as she started to calm down, "Consider that payback for breakfast yesterday," she said as she chuckled a little bit.

Ariel continued to look surprised by Olette's word as she remembers yesterday when she asked Olette to join her for the festival. "Oh sorry about that and for accusing you," Ariel said a little ashamed.

"Forget it," Olette said as she smiled, "I may have done some questionable things, but I know better than to steal another girl's guy. Especially when they're already engaged." Olette headed for the door, "Come on, the others are waiting for us."

Ariel stood there surprised by Olette's words. It felt like how it was before betrayal at the start of the summer, "Sure," Ariel said as she followed after her friend.

As Olette left the doors to the bathroom, she suddenly felt the familiar feeling of being watched by someone. 'It must be Seifer again. He must be still be keeping an eye on me... No,' Olette thought when she started to feel something strange in the air. It felt like a sort of energy was in the air she felt during her time with Ursula, 'There's some kind of magic in the air... There's another spellcaster in town other than myself,' Olette thought as she kept her cool on the outside as she discreetly tried to see who it was.

"Olette? Are you okay? "

Ariel's questioning voice snapped Olette out of her search as she turned around to see Ariel, "Yeah I'm okay," Olette answered Ariel's question without showing any sign of lying.

"Okay, we better hurry back before they send out a search party," Ariel said as she started to head back, "Although I wonder why Sebastian has been so quiet. I thought he would be feeling sick after all the dancing we did."

"Actually he jumped onto Eric as we were heading for the stage," Olette responded. As the two girls walked back, Olette noticed the strange feeling of being watched hadn't left her. 'There's no doubt about it... Someone with magic in them is following us. But who and what are they after,' Olette thought to herself as she continued to walk. Knowing she couldn't risk leading whoever it was back to Eric's group in risk of their secret being exposed here, Olette was left with one choice. "Oh I think I left my purse in the bathroom," Olette exclaimed as she turned around, "You go on a head and I'll catch up with you," she told Ariel as she headed back.

"Oh okay, see you back with the others," Ariel said as she continued her way back. A few minutes later, she stopped outside an empty tent when something occurred to her. 'Wait a minute... Olette didn't come here with a purse,' Ariel thought as she turned around in the direction that Olette went in. Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands grab her hands, and pulled her into the tent. "Whoa," she said while being pulled in before regaining her balance, and getting into a waterbending position. "Who's there!? What do you want with me," Ariel demanded as she prepared to defend herself.

Ariel found herself in an empty tent filled with darkness with only a few spots of light from the hole openings in the tent. Despite looking empty, Ariel knew whoever pulled her in was still in the tent with her. "If this is some kind of prank than it's not funny," she said hoping for an answer.

"Ariel. Psst. Ariel. I need to talk to you for a moment."

Ariel walked over to a corner of the tent while staying defensive, as she wasn't amused by this, as she asked, "Okay, what's going on?"

Finally, the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing it to be Arista as she removes her hood, "Ariel, I am… your sister."

Ariel gasped at this, "No! it's impossi…" but blinked at that notion, and returned back to reality, "Oh, right. Sorry, Arista; you're right."

The older sister then got into Ariel's face, as she spoke up, "Than return with me. Join the Sea Side. Do not resist. It is your destiny."

Ariel arched an eyebrow, "Arista, did you watch Star Wars? Because that series is pretty addictive."

Arista arched an eyebrow, "Wha..." But shook her head, as she became serious, "I'm serious, Ariel. It's time to stop playing around this ridiculous nonsense, and to open your eyes. You're in terrible danger from-" Arista stops mid sentence as she notices Ariel looking down with wide eyes, "What? What is it," Arista asks as if she said something strange.

"I can't help it," Ariel said as she pointed at Arista's lower half, "You're all... leggy," she said as she wasn't expecting Arista to have legs of her own.

"Stop staring! Do you have any idea how awkward I feel being on these," Arista exclaimed as she instinctively moved her knees together at the mention of her new legs, "How do you stand being on these things for so long let along use them?"

"It took a little getting used to balancing but it became easy after that," Ariel said before she started to piece Arista being in the carnival, "Have you been following me all this time," she asked in an insulated tone of voice.

Arista stopped freaking out about her legs as she looked at her sister, "Well I wasn't going to originally but I'm glad I did because I found out the truth about this fair," she said as she showed concern for Ariel, "This fair is a trap and I've seen the proof."

Earlier

While Ariel and Olette were playing their game, a certain hooded person was hiding in the shadows of the festival. It was Arista still wearing her hood up to hide her face from the public view, especially from Ariel's view. She had followed Eric and Kida all the way from their beach house without being noticed while struggling to use her legs. 'Where did she go? I take my eyes off her for one second and she disappears on me- whoa,' she thought to herself in frustration before her legs shake again.

This day wasn't turning out at all as what she planned. Originally she would go to land, convince Ariel to come home until their sisters got back, and convince Ariel to stay with them. But now here she was, stuck on legs, surrounded by the fish eating humans everyone in the ocean fears, and she had no idea where her sister went off to.

'The sooner I find her and convince her to come home, the sooner I can stop using these things,' Arista thought to herself as she quietly made her way around the outside of the row of tents so that she would avoid being seen. She held the sides of the tent as she continued to look through the gaps between each one for her sister. However she wasn't having much luck as there were a large amount people in the crowd making Arista's mission like finding a pin in a haystack.

Throughout the day, she had seen the same events Ariel had seen, such as the Elvis portrait, the magic act, and the comedy show. Arista had to admit some of them were pretty good as they were things that weren't seen in the ocean. But she wasn't going to let herself fall prey to the wonders of the surface like with Ariel. 'I just need to stay focused on what I need to do and everything will-,' she thought until she saw something that made feel like she was going to hurl, "FLAPPIN' FLOTSAM!'

There at one of the stands that she could see through gaps was a stand with water tanks filled with different kinds of saltwater fish swimming around. There were even some in plastic bags being handed by vendor there to kids and different people.

'Oh my gosh! Those poor fish! They're being prepared to be eaten by these barbaric humans,' Arista thought in horror as she watched the fish and imagined the fear and pain they must be feeling. What she didn't know though was the stand was for selling fish to kids for an event later on. She couldn't look anymore as she turned her head away at the prelude of the horror story. 'Daddy was right! This place is horrible! WAIT,' her train of thought came to an end as she realized something horrible about all this, 'What if this is a trap for Ariel? That Thatch boy could've been playing nice until he could bring her here to sell her,' she thought in absolute fear for her sister as she imagined Ariel tied up in a fish tank with Eric selling her to the highest bidder.

Arista snapped out of her daydream and she clenched her fist to help direct her rage, 'I knew he was up to something! He's just like all other humans! Wait a minute,' she thought to herself as she started to have a new idea, "This is perfect, all I have to do is show her this, and she'll realize who that Thatch boy really is! She'll dump him just like that and come home without so much as an argument and everything will go back to normal," Arista thought as she saw the good fortune fall before her. 'Now all I have to do is find her-'

"BOOOOOMMMM!"

Arista was snapped out of her train of thought by an explosion that rung throughout the fairgrounds. She looked in the direction of the blast to see a thin line of smoke rise into the air. 'I bet I'll find her there,' she thought as she began to carefully made her way over, 'Soon I can say goodbye to these stupid things and hello to my wonderful tail again!'

End of Flashback

"After that I saw you head somewhere with your friend and waited in here hoping you would come back," Arista finished explaining without revealing the part about her sister's plans.

"You're being completely paranoid Arista," Ariel responded to what she was told, "Eric wouldn't do such a thing, especially not to her, or any of his friends." She knew in her heart that Eric would never do anything to hurt his friends and family. Especially not her.

"I know you care about him, but he's still a human," Arista defended as she used all the stories they were told when they were younger to back up claims, "He could've been pretending just for this day."

"I can't believe you would say that about him," Ariel almost yelled at her fiance being insulted in such away, "After all the good he's done for everyone, all the times he's risked his life saved me, and saving the world! How can you still think so ill of him. Plus he's a vegetarian. He's never eaten meat once in his life, especially fish."

"That maybe true," Arista admitted. She knew from all the stories of their adventures, Eric had proven himself to be an odd one by their standards for not eating fish, protecting the youngest daughter of their ruler, and saving the world time and time again. But Arista wasn't convinced, "He may not eat fish, but he could still be as deceitful as others, and just pretending," Arista argued back.

"If this is all you came here to say, then I'm not going to hear anymore of this," Ariel said as she could no longer stand hearing her future husband be insulted as she went to leave.

Arista however went to stop her, "Wait Ariel-"

Ariel turned around to face Arista, "Eric is nothing like what we were taught to think of humans! If you can't accept that, then there's nothing more to talk about," Ariel said as her anger grew more, "Besides, I don't need a babysitter. I thought I made that clear before!"

"It seems to me you still do if you ignoring the danger of what I found earlier," Arista said as her own anger was now growing, "Plus all daddy and the rest of us want is to keep you safe. Why does that make us wrong," Arista continued as she felt her sister was choosing a boy over her own family.

"It's because your version of safety is more like imprisonment! All daddy wants me to do is stay cooped up at home," Ariel argued as she didn't want to be stay in the palace after seeing so much of the surface world with her friends. It was through this that she learned to waterbend and not be a burden to Eric, "How can I learn to protect myself if I'm overprotected back in Atlantica," Ariel continued.

As the two girls continued to argue, another figure entered the tent from the darkened part of the area, and went unnoticed. The figure held a small and wet black pebble while the two girls continued to argue before throwing it at their feet without being noticed.

"So It's fine that your precious Eric lets you get caught up in danger almost every day while your family is in the wrong with not wanting you to get hurt or worse," Arista argued as both girl's anger grew more.

"That's not true! Eric and the others know I can defend myself," Ariel protested, "They trust me as I trust them!"

"More than your own family it seems," Arista argued as she had enough, "If that's how you feel than just stay here for all I care!"

"Fine I will," Ariel said as she and Arista were letting their anger control them now.

"Fine with me," Arista finished.

Suddenly, they're anger faded as they felt a rumbling below their feet.

"What's that? A surfacequake," Arista asked a little frightened.

"They're called Earthquakes but I don't knOOOOOOWWWW WHOOOAAAA," Ariel said before she and Arista screamed in shock as the ground below them exploded, and the next thing they saw was large amount of green.

Back with the Others

Soon everyone present aside from Ariel and Olette could feel the slight rumbling that spread throughout the fairgrounds, including out heroes who were still waiting for Ariel.

"Whhhhoooooaaaaa," Lilo exclaimed as she almost lost her balance from the sudden rumbling, "I forgot that the Caribbean has earthquakes," she said as she did her best to hold her drink and stuffed hydra.

"Leave it to Mother Nature to wait until the Summer Festival to dish out an earthquake," Frey said as he knew from experience that a powerful enough quake would end the three day celebration.

"I don't know. This isn't so bad," Ralph said as he and Wally seemed to be able to keep their balance easily. Possibly due to Ralph's strength and size weighing him down more along with Wally's balance systems.

Suddenly the vibrating became worse as everything shook violently. It was the point where a number of people fell to the ground, tents collapsed, items fell off stands. Even Ralph and Wally submitted to the power of the heavy quake as they lost their balance and fell. Everyone lost their balance as some fell to the found such as Lilo, Stitch, Eric, Max, Obby, and Olette. Frey managed to keep his balance but it became harder when Kida grabbed him out of instinct when she lost hers. Iago on the other hand was flapping in the air. "God I love being a bird," Iago yelled triumphantly at being able to avoid the tremors.

Before anyone could respond to Iago's triumphant cry, the sound of an explosion filled the air coming from the northern part of the fairgrounds and the vibration in the ground became stronger. "What was that," Frey asked as he and Kida landed on their knees from the quake, "Don't tell me pirates are attacking today of all days!"

"I don't know... But it came from the same direction that Ariel and Olette were heading," Eric said in alarm as looked in the direction of the sound as he started to get up to go.

"Go Eric! We will catch up to you when we can," Kida said knowing Eric would want to insure his friends' safety as much as Ariel's, "That and keep Max safe!"

"Thanks! I'll be back with Ariel and Olette as soon as I can," Eric exclaimed as he started to run to look for the girls while the others did their best to get through the quake. All the while Sebastian did his best to hold on to Eric's shoulder.

Soon Ralph followed after him, "Wait up, I'll give you a hand," Ralph said as he went to catch up with Eric to help.

"Iago! Do you see what caused the explosion," Frey asked the red bird only to not get a response, "Iago? What's wrong," Frey asked as he looked at the bird who was starring in shock at what was in his sights. "What could be so shocking that would leave you-" Frey asked as he looked in the same direction only to become just as shocked, "Ooooooohhhh CRUD!"

Back with Eric

After a few minutes of running while keeping their balance from the ground shaking, Eric and Ralph split up to look for Ariel and Olette.

The Seablade Bearer ran as fast as he could through the crowd on the ground from the quake, others running away in the opposite direction that Eric was running, and a mess of items that were falling all around him as he looked for the girls. "Ariel, Olette, ARIEL," he kept calling out for them in fear that they was hurt or worse, "WHERE ARE YOU ARIEL!?" After making another sharp turn he came to something that left him speechless as he stood there staring with his eyes wide open and his mouth gaping. Even Sebastian stared in awe at it.

Coming out of the tent entrance and all around it were huge roots spreading out and growing at an alarming rate. The roots Coming out of the top of the tent was an even larger than ones found on a tree and covered in leaves popping out. They spread further and further tearing the ground and anything else in the way. From the top of the tent was were skinner stalks rising higher into the air as they twisted around each other. The higher they rose, the thicker the stalks became, the more twisted they became, and the more leaves, and vines that grew out of the sides. To those who looked at it, it was the world's biggest beanstalk, and it was still rising into the air.

"Whhhooaa," Eric excitedly says at the sight before him as this was something he never thought was possible. A plant growing taller and taller than even the tallest tree he saw while exploring China and growing faster than scientifically possible.

"JUMPING JELLYFISH! That's BIG," Sebastian cried out as he saw something so tall, that it would even come out of the ocean. Sebastian looks at Eric awestruck before pinching him on the neck, "Stay focused mon! You got a job to do," the little crab reminding Eric while snapping him out of it.

"Thanks but oww," Eric said as he rubbed the side of his neck that was pinched, "You ever thought of having a manicurist look at those things," Eric joked before looking for Ariel again. "ARIEL," he yelled as he ran around the beanstalk and dodging the roots that continued to spread out, "WHERE ARE YOU ARIEL," he continued trying to yell loud enough over the sound of ground erupting and the beanstalk rising.

"-ric"

For a split second, Eric thought he heard a voice say his name, a voice that despite the sounds of destruction around him, he could always recognize no matter what. "ARIEL," he tries again to see if he'll get the same response.

"ERIC! HELP US!"

Eric looked around in to see the source until he found the source of Ariel's crying voice... In the portion of the beanstalk that was continuing to rise to the sky. "Oh no," he exclaimed at the danger Ariel was in as he did the only thing he could do in this situation. With a swipe of his right arm, he summoned the Seablade while jumping in the air, and became surrounded by a flash of blue light. When the light dyed down, he was in his Seablade Master Form complete with the Fist of Zeus gauntlet. In his new form, Eric shot into the air with small tornadoes of air making him go faster.

As Eric flew into the air, he looked over the beanstalk for Ariel, "ARIEL! I'M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU," he continued to yell out to try and find her.

"ERIC! OVER HERE!"

The sound of Ariel's voice led Eric's eyes to see the upper middle part of the beanstalk where he saw who he was looking for. At the moment, Ariel was tangled up in the vines of the beanstalk with her right arm, both legs, and right foot were held back preventing her from moving or even using her waterbending to free herself. The stalk she was tied to was one of the inner stalks that was surrounded by two others that were continuing to twist around as she was carried higher and higher as she struggled to free herself.

After finally locating his fiance, the transformed Eric flew to where Ariel was trapped as he called out for her, "ARIEL!"

Ariel looked to see Eric fly towards her as she looked in joy and relief at her savoir there once again as always. "ERIC! I knew you'd come," she shouted as she continued to fight her way out of the vines.

"I'd follow you anywhere," he said showing his dedication and love for her. He then attempted to pull the stalks in his way apart with his strength, but the stalks were too thick as they widened making it harder to pull them apart, and he was short on time due to his transformation only lasting ten minutes. Finally he reached out his free hand towards Ariel, "Take my hand, hurry! I don't know how much longer I can stay in my Master Form."

Ariel attempted to reach her own free arm out in attempt to touch Eric's hand so he could pull her out, "We also have to save Arista, she's on the other side of the beanstalk as well," Ariel yelled out as she continued to reach for Eric's hand despite the vines holding her back. Their fingers were apart by a mere inch, "I'm almost... there," Ariel said as she about to grab Eric's hand. Even Sebastian tried to help as he crawled across Eric's arm to his hand and attempted to reach Ariel's hand.

However a strange sound caught Ariel's attention as she looked up to see what it was. Above the two lovers heading towards Eric at a tremendous speed was a orb of purple energy.

Ariel looked in shock as it was heading for Eric, "Eric," she said as she turned her head to face him, "Look OUT!"

Eric looked to see the blast, but he was still holding the stalk with one hand while reaching for Ariel. Before he could defend himself, the energy hit him with a tremendous force that knocked him out of his transformation along with his time being up. This also caused him to lose his grip on the stalk and fall to the Earth below. "NOOOO! AARRRRIIIIEEELLLLL," Eric yelled out as he fell faster and faster.

"EEEERRRRIIIIICCCCCC," Ariel cried out through the sound of the beanstalk carrying her higher and higher into the air away from Eric.

Eric continued to fall faster and faster to Earth as he tried to recover from the energy blast before. He held Sebastian in his hands and clasped them hoping to keep the crab safe at the very least. He could feel the momentum on his back as it became stronger as he fell and the sound of Ariel's voice over the beanstalk growing and the wind in his ears. 'I can't move! What did that blast do to me,' he asked himself in frustration at failing Ariel as the gap between the ground and himself filled in more and more. 'I can't die now! I'm saving Ariel if it's the last thing I do!'

He shut his eyes expecting a great surge of pain, but instead he felt a sense of floating in the air, as if he was on a cloud resting in the sky. He opened his eyes to see the beanstalk was gone and the clouds no longer becoming smaller showing he had stopped falling. "I'm- I'm not dead? But how-" he turned his head to see a familiar orange pattern out of the corner of his eye making him smile, "Thanks Orpet. You're a lifesaver," Eric said to the flying carpet as it used his tassel like hands to say your welcome in his way.

Fortunately for Eric, Orpet had remained in the air watching the festival as he couldn't just go with the others without causing the folks of Port Royal to crowd around him, expose their secret, or attract the attention of Beckett's men. When he saw Eric falling from the beanstalk, Orpet shot towards him just in time to save him from being killed from the fall. "Wait Orpet. We're going the wrong way" Eric protested as he noticed they were going further down to the ground rather than up, "We have to go after Ariel, she and her sister are still trapped in the beanstalk," Eric started to pick himself up but still felt weakened as he could barely move.

Suddenly, everyone surrounded Eric looking down at him to make sure he was all right, including Olette who was found by Ralph were there, and Lilo and Stitch were sitting on Wally's shoulders. "Easy buddy," Frey said as he kept his friend from doing anything crazy, "We saw the whole thing and you took a serious blow."

"He is right. You have to rest and recover before doing anything else," Kida joined in agreeing with Frey.

"But- Ariel and- her sister are stuck on the beanstalk," Eric said as he tried to get up but his body was disagreeing with him, "I have to-"

"You need to rest. That blast isn't something you can shake off easily," Olette said as she looked Eric over, "The effects of the spell are only temporarily but are strong enough to knock out a full grown whale. You'll be no help to Ariel if you can't even move."

"You know this magic Olette," Ralph asked his friend, "Than does that mean you know a way to break it?"

"I'd hate to interrupt this meeting but this is a bad place to be discussing that topic."

Before Olette could answer, everyone looked in the direction of the voice to see Seifer walking towards them. "I just got the word from my friend in the army and they'll be here any minute along with Mr. Mercer," Seifer started to explain, "So if this oversized vegetable has anything to do with our after school activities, than this is the last place to be talking about it."

Frey thought about it for a moment and knew that Frey was right, "He's right and we all know writing reports about that is one of my weakest skills," Frey jokingly said while showing that he hated to be the one to do the explaining about their secret to Mr. Mercer, "Thanks for the heads up Seifer, we'll get back to when we have a plan. Come on everyone," Frey finished as he knew of the only safe place to be speaking of this.

"You won't have to because I'm coming with you," Seifer said as they started to leave fairgrounds but stopped when they heard him object, "I'm a part of this world now too and I intend to make sure you don't come up with anything crazy to save my town," he finished as he walked towards them.

"Oh wait a minu-" Frey started to object.

"He's right."

Everyone heard Olette's voice as they looked at her, "I got him dragged into this and now he has every right to our group therapy sessions," Olette said while trying to hide her concern with a cocky tone of voice, "Besides, unless you'd rather expand that circle to the army," she pointed behind her with her thump to the soldiers coming, "We'd better hurry."

Frey and the other soldiers saw the soldiers led by Mercer coming from the other side of the forest towards the beanstalk.

"Frey," Eric's voice got his friend's attention, "She's right."

Frey just groaned at this, "All right come on, but there this isn't a army drill so no marching," Frey joked at the idea of having to march all the way to their meeting place as the group started to head out.

"Wait, you haven't even said where we're going," Seifer called out as they failed to mention it as he caught up with them.

As the group made their way from the destroyed fairgrounds, Eric continued to lie on Orpet as he couldn't get up and looked up at the beanstalk that was beyond the clouds now. 'Stay safe Ariel, I'll be there as soon as I can. That's a promise.'

Chapter: New Adventure in a New Land; A Hero Makes his Debut

This one was a toughie due to all that was going on. I'm sorry that I can't cut this in half for those who don't like sitting down for long periods of time. The song playing during Dance Off is Crazee Boi by Sara Choi from Teen Titans vs Justice League. I wanted to post the lyrics, but Fanfic's policy wouldn't let me. Also for those wondering about the event mentioned with the fish in bags, that's going to be a surprise for the ending of the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.