Chapter 32: Moment of Realization
Meanwhile, at the Atlantica Memorial Museum, Briar and the others continue to play keep away with Jade and Azul. Suddenly, a bright flash of light appears
Jack notices and asks, "What was that flash?"
"Hm...?" Ace replies, confused.
He then notices something different about Deuce, and says, "Hey! Deuce, your sea anemone's gone!"
Deuce looks and touches his head.
He says in surprise, "Whoa! You're right!"
Grim touches his head and says, "So's mine!"
And turns to Ace, "Yours too, Ace!"
He happily cheers, "Sweet! Leona and Ruggie pulled through!"
"That means the plan worked," Jasper says.
Hearing that Jade stops and asks, "Wait. Come again?"
"What's goin' on here?" Floyd asks.
Grim smirks and says, "We cut a deal with Leona an' Ruggie to get them in on our plan."
"Say what?" Floyd says, confused. "The guy's basically a sea lion, sleepin' his days away. He'd never lift a finger to help you guys."
Then Jade says, "I was under the impression he had no interest in creating disputes with his fellow housewarden, Azul. How did you bend him to your will?"
"You can thank Briar for that," Tanzanite says.
Trinket nods her head in reply.
"See, Briar made this offer…" Grim adds.
Then explains, "If Leona helped us take back Ramshackle Dorm, we'd leave his room tomorrow without a fuss. But if he didn't help, we'd keep raisin' a racket outside his room all night, every night. Then we gave him a…'live demo,' I'll call it, to show how annoying it'd be. We basically yowled our lungs out until daybreak, and now we're super sleep-deprived."
"Whoa…" Jade and Floyd are actually surprised by it.
"No wonder you were so hoarse this morning, Grim," Deuce says.
"Yeah. Grim screamed so loud that he ended up coughing a bit," Sereia says.
Briar snickers, "Yeah. We made Leona so mad, and he didn't like the fact that we might end up becoming his permanent roommates."
Jasper and Tanzanite even snicker in reply.
Then Floyd says, ""That sounds less like a deal and more like a threat to me."
"You know what they say: one bad turn deserves another," Jack says.
"My wind magic's back, too. It's time to turn the tables here!" Ace says, and brings out his Magepen.
Deuce then brings out his magepen and casts his magic, "I summon thee, cauldron!"
And with that, a cauldron appears.
Deuce is very pleased "...Sweet, it worked!"
However Grim says, sounding upset, "Myaaah! I can't even tell if I got my fire magic back or not in all this water! That ain't fair!
"Somehow I think we'll manage without your parlor tricks," Ace says.
"It's best we let the others handle this," Briar says.
Jade then turns to Floyd, "We'd best be getting back, Floyd. If the anemones are gone from their heads…"
"Yeah, I got a real bad feelin' about this," Floyd says.
Hearing what the twins say, has Briar concerned.
Before they can start swimming back, Deuce stops them, "Not so fast. Where do you think you're going now that we're finally in fighting shape?"
"Where's the fun in turning tail now? Stick around and play with us," Ace says.
Annoyed, Floyd says, "You small-fry pipsqueaks... I'll have you cryin' before you know it."
"Floyd, ignore them!" Jade says, Floyd swims over to fight them.
Then says, "Ugh. Too late."
Floyd swims toward them and is ready to attack. But before they have the chance, Ace and Deuce perform their magic at Floyd. Ace uses his wind magic as Deuce casts a cauldron to appear and land at Floyd.
Floyd grows frustrated, "Nnngh, for cryin' out loud! These guys are getting on my nerves!"
Jade swims to Floyd and says, "We need to go, Floyd. I don't think we have the luxury of toying with them any longer."
Annoyed, Floyd says, "Tch... Fine. Let's move."
And with that, Floyd and Jade swim away.
Grim calls out, "Yesss! They're headin' for the hills! Er, do they have hills underwater? Whatever."
We'd better get back to school ourselves. Let's shove this photo in Azul's face and spoon-feed him the bitter taste of defeat!" Jack says.
"Then let's hurry," Jasper says.
And with that, the group swim to get to the Mirror Chamber, and confront Azul about the photo.
