"Hmm, let's see" Sofia said as she studied the map. She lay on the back of a humpback whale, who had been more than happy to give her a ride. "South to Two Circles Pass...then, uh, north to...no, no, um, east...to, uh, hmm…" she really should have paid more attention to her father's lessons.
The whale she was riding on passed over a bed of seaweed. The seaweed tickled the whale's underside and caused the whale to sneeze, which sent Sofia flying off as she had been laying on blowhole of the whale. She landed on a chuck on flat ice and the map broke in front of her. "My map. It's ruined" Sofia said picking up the pieces sadly. "Now how am I gonna find my way to Altea?" she asked sadly.
"Help! Someone, please!" Sofia turned and saw a female penguin holding onto something over the cliff's edge. "Help! Oh! Oh, hold on, sweetie! We'll save you!" the penguin yelled again. Down below a baby penguin was stuck on a floating circle of ice, a shark circling around. "Help! Mama! Hurry!" the baby penguin yelled again in fear of the shark.
"I can't reach her!" another penguin yelled. A group of penguin had created a chain ladder by holding onto each others ankles to try and reach the penguin. However, they couldn't reach her. "Oh! Oh! Somebody help us!" the mother penguin yelled again in desperation.
Splashing directed Sofia's attention over the peak of an ice and was met with the sight of two sea creatures. A purple penguin with black feet and a golden beak. With him was a purple walrus with black spots. "Mightier than a hurricane!" the penguin announced as he landed on a circle of ice, the walrus landing on the same circle and ended up launching the penguin. "Braver than a killer whale!" the penguin said before being launched up and grabbing onto an icicle.
The icicle broke off and the penguin crashed through the thin ice, creating a hole in the ice. The seal looked on in concern, a smile appeared on his face as the penguin popped up again, broken icicle in his fins. "Faster than a moray eel!" the penguin announced as he climbed out of the hole. "It's the fearless adventurers…" the penguin started to say "slash-explorers" the seal added.
The two bounded over to the penguins, who were still trying to get the baby penguin. "Titanic Sal and his trusty sidekick Janka!" the penguin, now known as Sal announced. "Oh, no" one of the penguins groaned "not them" another one groaned. It was clear to Sofia that the two were not very well liked around here.
Sal climbed on top of Janka and the walrus started to climb down the chain of penguins. "This is it, Janka. Redemption" Sal announced with a smile on his face. "No, not the walrus" a penguin moaned Janks continued to climb down, adding to the weight. "Excuse me" Janka said as he climbed down the line "ow!" one of the penguins cried out as Janka stepped on his face. "Oh is that your face?" Janka asked softly.
Finally the two reached the end of the chain, the penguins struggling to keep hold of each other. Janka and Sal were making the chain heavier, the mother penguin at the top struggled to hold on to the whole chain. "We're finally gonna be heroes for real" Sal replied with a smile as Janka grabbed his ankles and lowered him down to the baby penguin. "Yeah. They're not gonna laugh at us anymore" the walrus replied.
"This is too easy" Sal said as Janka started to rock back and forth for Sal to try and grab the baby penguin. "And a-one, and a-two...and a shark…" Sal's eyes widened when he caught sight of the shark circling around. "Shark!" he and Janka cried out at the same time. The two started panicking and climbing up the chain. The baby penguin huffed and glared at the two. "Goin' up! Goin' up! Goin' up! Goin' up!" Sal yelled as they climbed.
The mother became overwhelmed with the jumping of the climbing, plus the weight. She ended up letting go of the penguins and falling on her back. "Goin' down" Janka said as the chain ladder of penguins fell down and landed on the same circle he baby penguin was on. Janks fell on top of the penguins and the weight on one side, ended up launching the baby penguin and landing in her mother's arms.
With the weight of Janks, the ice started to tilt down on the side the group was on. Janka and Sal poke their head down into the water and screamed when they saw the shark swimming towards them. They jumped back and landed on the upper side of the ice. The action caused all the penguins to land in Janka's arms, just as the shark jumped out of the water and onto the ice.
The action caused the group to launch up to the cliff and become half buried in the underside. "Well, that wasn't so bad" Sal said, though his voice was muffled. Suddenly, the cliff because of the added weight, cracked and came crashing down. The cliff crashed into the water and ended up landing on the shark.
The baby penguin poked her head out the snow and spotted her mother right away. "Mama!" she exclaimed, her mother then hugged her as the other penguins, plus Sal and Janka, popped out of the snow. "Another plan perfectly executed" Sal said with a smile towards Janka. "What did you think you were doing?" the two cringed as the mother penguin yelled at them.
"We were just trying to be heroes" Janka replied shyly and avoiding her glares. "You call abandoning my baby heroic?" the mother snapped with a glare. "You two boys almost got us all killed" she exclaimed as the other penguins nodded in agreement. "Oh, yeah, some fearless heroes" one of the penguins exclaimed as Sal and Janka lowered their heads.
"More like zeroes!" another replied, the group started laughing at the two as they walked away sadly. "Go ahead. Laugh your stinkin' tuxedos off. We'll show you... someday" Sal said as the laughter faded as they walked to the water's edge. Sal kicked a rock into the water and not even a few seconds later Sofia popped out of the water.
"Excuse me" Sofia said startling the two. Sal jumped back and landed in Janka's arms, the walrus curling into a ball. Sofia gave a soft smile towards the two "You don't have to be scared of me. I won't hurt you" she said with a wave of her hand. Sal crawled out from Jank's arms and glared at the princess "Scared? Who said anything about bein' scared? Don't you know an evasive maneuver when you see one?" Sofia giggled.
"Hi, I'm Sofia, but you can call me Sofie" Sofia said with a smile. "This here's Sal, and I'm Janka" Janks said bounding over to the princess. Sal jumped off and glared at the walrus "Excuse me, Mr. I-Spill-My-Guts-To-Total-Strangers" Sal said grabbing the walruses cheeks and turned his attention to an angry penguin. "You just blew our cover!" Sal yelled angrily, "I was just trying to be friendly" Janka protested softly.
"Uh, guys, I really need to get going so if you could just tell me…" Sofia said as she started to slowly back away from the two. "See? Now she's gonna leave, and it's all your fault" Janka said with a frown. Sal's eyes widened "My fault? She's-She's-She's…" Sal said as he tried to come up with a reason. "Guys?" Sofia said trying to get their attention. The two continued to argue however.
"She's probably allergic to blubber" Sal had finally come up with a reason, he poked Janka's purple skin with a proud smile. "Oh, yeah?" Jamka asked pressing their noses together. "Well, maybe she doesn't like birds that can't fly!" Sal gasped and his eyes went wide. "Guys" Sofia called out once again, they ignored her however. "Well, you can't fly either" Sal pointed out with a smile.
"And you walk funny" Janka said again, he continued to press an argument that didn't need to be pressed. Sofia sighed and laid her head down on the ice. "Oh, yeah? Well…" Sal started to say, there was a moment of silence before Sal came up with a reason. Though he ended up repeating the same reason as he did earlier. "You can't fly either!" the two glared daggers at each other. "Guys!" Sofia yelled louder this time.
The two turned to her and blinked a few times. "Do either of you know how to get to Altea? I don't have much time" she said, this grabbed the attention of the pair. "Why do you want to go to Altea?" Janka asked softly. "I have to get something that was stolen from a friend" Sofia explained as she backed away from the edge.
"If I don't, I'll turn back into…" as Sofia explained, she pulled her tail out of the water and stared at it sadly. "A what? Turn back into a what?" Janka asked in curiosity. "A human" Sofia said softly and closed her eyes. Sal and Janka gasped before Sal calmed down and glared at the mermaid. "I knew there was something un-fishy about you" Sal said as Sofia lowered her tail back into the water.
"Tough break, sister. Drop us a line. Let us know how it all turns out" before Sal could walk past Janka, the walrus placed a paw on his head and turned the penguin around. "We'll take you" Janka said with a smile. Sofia's eyes widened "you will?" she asked with excitement. "We will?" Sal asked his friend in annoyance. "She's a damsel in distress. It's our big chance" Janka said through his teeth as he lifted his paw off the others head.
Sal turned to Sofia who had wide excited eyes, her hands placed together with her fingers crossed. On top of that, she was biting her lower lip, trying to hide her smile. Sla sighed "hoo-boy. I can't believe I'm doin' this. Somebody stop me" he said as he walked to the edge of the ice. "All right, then, we're in" Janka smiled and jumped in the water "on to Altea!" Sal yelled and they all dove down into the water.
"Taming the tides
Swarming the seas
Beware barracudas
Drop to your knees"
Sal started doing kung fu poses in front of a confused fish, the fishes eyes widened as he spotted something behind the penguin. Sal turned and swam off as he came face to face with a barracuda.
"Defending our friends and anemones
As big as a whale "
Sal sang as he poked at Janka's stomach. "Hey!" Janka protested. "But with a much smaller tail" Sofia said as she pointed at Janka's tail.
"Facing the foe with our fearless flukes
Daring the dastards to put up their dukes
Great globs of gore
We'll storm the shore
And seek the unknown"
The trio's eyes widened as the volcano that sat on the island they were on started to erupt. "Then can we go home?" Janka asked as the island exploded and caused a tidal wave, the trio body-surfed the wave while Sal and Janka sang, smiles on their faces.
"Titanic Janka and Daring Sal
Adventurers slash explorers
Titanic Janka and Daring Sal
Adventurers slash explorers
Our gallant quest to do our best
And smile for our adorers"
Sofia smiled "we'll save the day" she sang with them, she couldn't help but join in.
"And make a splash
Titanic Janka and Daring Sal"
The wave folded over and the trio dove down to the seafloor. They landed on a sunken ship, Janka landing in the crows nest and Sal landing on the mast. "We'll clobber those crabs with their clammy claws" Sal said as he grabbed a small sword and battled against a crab. "We'll sever those sharks with their savage jaws" Janka said as he looked through a telescope. A small goldfish on the other side scared him and he fell back, the ship tilting backward as well.
"The battle is fierce" Sal said as he was still fighting the crabs. However, a chest took him away from the fight when it slid down the deck. "And mercifully brief" Janka pointed out as he held onto the pole as the ship fell down. The chest Sal was holding onto burst open and gold exploded out of the chest.
"The conquering heroes return as kings of the reef"
Sofia sand with a smile as treasures were everywhere. Sal and Janka ended up sitting at a table, gold cloths around their necks as napkins. Crowns on their head as though they were kings. A golden tablecloth landed on the table along with other dining utensils.
We'll dine with the best, dressed with a flair
Climb every mountain because it's there"
Sal grabbed Sofia's wrist and they swam through a coral reef which had formed a hoop. Janka however, had gotten stuck.
"Come on, follow me, we'll make history
To courage, to us"
Sofia swam back behind Janka and pushed the walrus out of the hoop. "The trident" Sofia pointed out as she reminded them of their mission. "Or bust!" Janka yelled as he bumped into Sal and they continued up to the surface.
The three ended up at a rock with a ship wheel stuck in between two rocks. Sal and Janka climbed the rock as the trio sang together.
"Titanic Janka and Daring Sal
Adventurers slash explorers
Titanic Janka and Daring Sal
Adventurers slash explorers"
"We'll save the day" Sal exclaimed with a determined look on his face. "And make a splash" Janka said with a smile. "Sofia!" Sofia said as she jumped into the water. "Sal!" Sal said next, following Sofia down into the water. "And Daring Janka" Janka said as he followed his friends into the water.
"All for three and three for one
Altea, here we come!"
Eventually, the three reached their destination. The palace of Altea in clear sight. "I knew it! It's real!" Sofia exclaimed with wide eyes "Altea" she gasped out with a smile.
From her lair, Cyrenna watched her floating image of the princess with a smile. "That's right, Princess, just a little further" Cyrenna turned to her manta rays. "Cloak, Dagger!" she said as the manta rays swam up. "Go make sure that no one interferes with her return, hmm?" by the tone of her voice, the manta rays knew she meant business.
The two nodded and swam out of the lair and towards Altea.
Meanwhile, on the palace grounds, Shiro and Slav had met up with Keith. "Have you heard anything Dad, I'd…" Keith turned his head and found a familiar face. "Hunk!" he exclaimed and ran up to the small orange and yellow fish. The fish go scared by his presence and swam off behind a rock. Keith caught a glimpse as the fish turned into a small merchild.
"Now what?" an annoyed voice called out as it swam out from behind the rock. The voice ended up being Hunk's. "Sorry about that" Keith said with a small smile. Hunk's eyes widened "Keith?" Hunk said with a smile "Hunk?" Keith said as he finally recognized the figure in front of him. Hunk swam forwards and knocked Keith to the ground in a hug. Hunk ended up turning into his fish form, which was now bigger than before.
"Oh, I've missed you!" Hunk exclaimed as Keith stood himself back up. Keith smiled seeing Hunk had grown up the past 12 years. "Boy, you're sure not a guppy anymore" Keith said as he pulled gently on Hunk's fish fins. Hunk laughed and nodded "You can say that again" Hunk said as he changed back into his merman form.
"Over here! Throw it to me!" the merchildren exclaimed as they were tossing a shell back and forth to each other. One child ended up being bonked on the head by the shell while the others laughed "children, what did I say about playing "kick the clam" on the head?" a female voice called out as she appeared from behind the rock. "Sorry Mom" the kids called out at once.
"Shay?" Keith asked with a smile. Shay swam forward with a smile and grabbed her younger brother in a hug. "It's good to see you again Keith" she said with a smile. "And you as well, how have you been?" Shay released her brother from the hug and gestured to the group of merchildren "busy". Keith smiled as he put two and two together.
"You were back and you didn't tell me?" another female voice called out. Keith turned and found the voice was Pidge's, and beside her was Matt. "Relax Pidge, he's got a lot on his mind" Matt said with a knowing smile. "We're sorry about Sofie" Pidge said with a kind smile. "Guys, I really need your help" Keith said with pleading eyes. "Wild seahorses couldn't stop me" Hunk said with a determined smile.
"Well I'm not sure about wild seahorses" Pidge started to say. "We'll help you look for Sofie" Matt finished, the siblings sharing a determined smile. Hunk turned to Shay who had a smile on her face "I'll be back soon" he said as he kissed her cheek gently. "Take all the time you need" Shay responded with a smile. Hunk followed the group as they swam back to the palace, while the kids followed Shay back to their home.
If the group had waited a few seconds, they would have seen Sofia with Sal and Janka. As they continued to the palace, Sofia couldn't help but glance around in awe. "It's so beautiful" she gasped out as she flipped on her back to glance up. Sofia ended up bumping into someone and jumped back in surprise.
"Whoa!" the two exclaimed at the same time as the one she bumped into turned around. "Sorry, my…" Sofia started to say softly, the mermaid she bumped into spoke at the same time. "Sorry, my fault" she said with a smile. The mermaid had dark skin, black hair that was tied into a three section ponytail, and brown eyes. Her tail was green with lighter green fins, her top was green with seaweed crisscrossed in front and tied in the back. In her hair was a lime green flower. "Fault" Sofia finished softly as she felt her cheeks grow red, not just out of embarrassment.
"Hi" the girl spoke with a smile. Sofia closed her mouth, her mouth had gone dry, it was as if she was missing her tongue. "I don't think I've seen you around here. What's your name?" the girl asked "I'm, Sof...Sof.." Sofia said with a slight stutter. The girl waited patiently for her to finish her name. Sofia swallowed and spoke quietly "Sofie".
The girl smiled as two other merfolk swam up. One had pale skin, orange hair with a white headband, and teal eyes. Her tail was yellow with orange fins and her top was a matching yellow. The other was a boy who had pale skin, red hair, and light blue eyes. His tail was dark teal with light teal fins
"Hey guys, meet Sofie" the girl said with a smile. The two merfolk smiled and gave small waves. "Hi" the orange haired girl said "hey, you wanna hang out with us?" the boy asked. Sofia nodded eagerly, but before she could say yes, Sal swam up beside her. "All right, all right. Break it up. Break it up!" Sal said annoyed. The group backed away in surprise as Sal shooed them away "There's nothing to see here. Move along" Sal turned to Sofia and grabbed her wrist.
"Come on, Miss Popularity. We have a previous engagement. Remember?" Sal said as he dragged Sofia past the group and towards the palace. Sofia turned her head and found the group waving to her "maybe I'll catch you later" the girl called out. Sofia smiled and nodded with a wave of her hand.
"This is what happens when you bring a country fish to the big city" Sal said as they met up with Janka and continued on. "Was that a penguin?" the girl asked with a confused look on her face. Her friends laughed and the trio swam away.
The trio swam into the palace and towards the huge throne room. "Wow!" the trio whispered with wide eyes. "Nice crib" Janka commented as they swam behind a pillar to avoid being detected by some servants who were setting a table. "Come on. Follow me" Sofia whispered as she swam underneath the table, hidden by the long tablecloth.
The three poked their heads out from under the cloth to see a merman swim into the throne room. "That must be him" Sofia whispered to the pair as the merman sat down on the throne. "He looks sad" she said as the merman pulled out a shell and stared at it sadly "he doesn't look like a thief" she added with a frown.
"They never do" Sal whispered as they continued to watch the merman. Sofia diverted her attention and her eyes widened "look! There it is!" she exclaimed, the other two followed her gaze to where the trident sat beside the throne. "A fork?" Sal said in disbelief "we're risking our tails for a fork?".
Shiro looked up to see servants preparing the room for what looked like a party. "We haven't time for this!"Shiro exclaimed as he got off the throne "I want every available merman searching!" Shiro swam towards the table and the trio quickly hid. "Find her!" Shiro yelled as he banged his fist on the table. "Find her!" he yelled again as he slapped the table away in anger.
Sal and Janka quickly swam back under the table as it landed back on its legs. Sofia swam up and hid behind a bush of underwater flowers. She peeked through as Shiro heard the table shaking from behind him.
"Janka, if-if this is the end…" Sal started to whisper "I just want you to know, pal, I'm sorry I said that thing about the blubber". Janka stopped shaking for a moment "Well, I'm sorry about the fish breath" the walrus replied with a small smile. "Yeah" Sal said with a smile before he realized what Janka had said. "You didn't say anything about that" Janka shook his head "but I was thinkin' it" the two went back to shaking, which continued to shake the table.
Shiro approached the table and was about to pull the tablecloth off when the fanfare went off and a messenger swam in. "King Shiro, your son has returned" he said with a bow. Shiro glanced back at the table before shaking his head and following the merman out of the throne room.
Sofia watched Shiro leave the throne room before swimming out of her hiding spot and towards the trident. Sal and Janka poked their heads out from under the table and glanced around to see if the coast was clear. "Ooh, that was close" Janka said as the two let out a sigh of relief. They turned their attention to Sofia. The princess stared at the trident, she wanted to help Cyrenna. However, there was that voice in the back of her mind that told her to leave the trident alone.
"Oh, sure, that's it. Take your time" Sal said as he laid on his back, Sofia turning towards him. "Let's all just linger here and die!" Sal yelled, his impatient attitude coming into effect. Sofia and Janka gave him surprised looks.
Janka turned his head towards the entrance when they heard the king's voice once more. "I'm sure she'll turn up soon" Shiro said softly. "He's coming back!" Janka said as he turned to Sofia with a look of desperation.
Sofia turned to the trident and started to pull it out of the stand. The trident glowed as Sofia pulled before it finally came loose. However, as a result, Sofia's necklace came off as well. "My necklace!" Sofia gasped as she went down to retrieve it. However, before she could, Janka grabbed her and the trio swam out of the palace, trident in hand.
"Ah, don't worry, Keith" Hunk started to say as he swam up beside his friend. "We'll find her" he encouraged, Pidge nodded in agreement as the group entered the throne room. Keith sighed and closed his eyes, he opened them and his eyes widened in surprise. "Dad, the trident!" Keith called out grabbing everyone's attention.
Where the trident should be, it was not there. Slav swam up to the stand and perched himself on it. "But that's not possible" he said in awe and turned to the king. "Nobody can remove the trident from the stand except you, sire. You or one of your descendants" Keith noticed something glittering on the ground and swam towards it.
Keith picked up the shining object and found it to be Sofia's necklace. "Sofie" Slav groaned and buried his face in his claws "who I was supposed to be watching" the crab said. "Go ahead, crack me open. Make a crab cake out of me, sire" Shiro sighed and shook his head before turning his attention to Keith. "But how could she have gotten here?" Keith asked as he turned to his father.
"Cyrenna. If she gets her hands on my trident…" Shiro said as he the puzzle pieces together. He turned to one of the guards "double the search parties! I want every creature in the ocean on patrol!" Shiro exclaimed. The guards nodded "yes sire!" they said as they exited the throne room.
Suddenly, shadows passed over the group(minus Shiro). They looked up and found two familiar white and black manta rays. They seemed to be in a hurry and following someone. "Wait a minute" Keith said as he ran through his memory. "I know those two" Keith led the group after the rays out of the palace.
Slav in the meantime had been blabbering on about how he was supposed to have been keeping an eye on Sofia. He had failed to notice that everyone had left the throne room and he was the only one in there now. Slav sighed and swam off to find Shiro.