Ariel and Flounder continued to swim while Ariel holding on to Garret as she swam through Atlantica. As they swam along, Garret couldn't help but admire the town and its people as he passed by. There were various merpeople and other creatures going about their daily routines either opening their stands or greeting one another. As they swam by, some of the merpeople and the creatures gave a friendly greeting by waving hello. Ariel and Flounder greeted them back while Garret gave a small wave.

Soon enough, they made it close to the outskirts of the kingdom and Garret was welcomed to a beautiful sight. In front of his eyes, was a beautiful corral reef. Everywhere he looked, he could see various different beautiful colors of the reefs and various different colors of fish. It like something from a documentary he saw on TV, only this was real and he was seeing with his very own eyes.

"Whoa..." he gasped. "This place... it's..."

"I know. Pretty beautiful isn't it?" smiled Ariel. "Me and Flounder always come play here all the time."

"Yup. It's one of the best places we go to play," said Flounder. "It has lots of places to swim and it's the perfect place where no one can bother us."

"And the perfect place for you to learn how to swim," added Ariel.

Soon enough, they made it to the bottom of the reef close to the ocean floor. Ariel then let go of Garret's hand while he sat on a rock.

"This place should be perfect," said Ariel. "You ready to learn how to swim Garret?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Garret. "I'm ready for your instructions teacher."

"Alright then," said Ariel. "Let's begin. Now... how do I explain this?"

Ariel tapped her chin trying to figure out a way to teach Garret how to swim, then she had an idea.

"Well to start things off, you have to move like a dolphin," she said.

"Move like a dolphin?" puzzled Garret.

"Yes. When I was little, that's how Daddy taught me how to swim," explained Ariel. "He taught me how dolphins and merpeople are somewhat similar when it comes to things like this. Only we merpeople learned a little slower than dolphins. Anyway, he told me to try and do what they do."

"And what did the dolphins do to help you swim?" asked Garret.

"They moved their tails," said Ariel doing so as a demonstration. "They moved their tails up and down and they moved around in the water. So, all you need to do is to focus on moving your tail."

"It's kinda like how I swim," said Flounder. "Only I swim in a different way."

"Moving my tail huh?" said Garret thoughtfully as he looked at his own tail. "Is it really that simple?"

"Just do what I do," said Ariel. "Use your tail to swim upwards."

Ariel then swam upwards as a means of another demonstration. Garret watched Ariel carefully and watched how her tail moved. Then he pushed himself off of his rock used his tail to swim like Ariel did. He left a little awkward in doing it and he was a tad slower than Ariel was, but he slowly swam upwards until he was next to Ariel.

"Way to go!" said Flounder.

"Hey. That wasn't so hard," said Garret. "Although I wasn't as fast as Ariel was."

"Don't worry. It takes practice," reassured Ariel. "You just have to keep on trying. Pretty soon, you'll be swimming as fast as me in no time. Now then, let focus on a few other things about swimming."

For the next hour or so, with Ariel and Flounder as his instructors, Garret began to learn how to use his tail to swim. It turned to be a little more complicated than he thought. He had to focus on using his tail to not only control his speed, but to also help him turn. It took a little bit to get him to normal speed, but Garret was a fast learner and he stared to get better and better with Ariel and Flounder helping him every step of the way. Eventually Garret managed to swim using his tail at a pretty normal speed.

"Wow! You're a pretty fast learner!" said Ariel. "You soaked it in like a sponge!"

"Well, I had a pretty great teacher," chuckled Garret. "Besides, it wasn't that hard once I started getting the hang of it."

"Now you won't have to worry about Ariel pulling you along anymore," said Flounder. "You can swim on your own now."

"Yeah. Look at me go!" said Garret as he pumped his tail and fins and took off swimming. "Yahoo!"

"Wait a minute!" said Ariel worriedly. "You should take it easy Garret! If you're not careful, you could bump into something!"

But Garret was far too excited to listen. He kept on swimming as fast as his fins could carry him. He shot through the water zipping past reefs. Then came trouble. A school of fish was swimming right in the path in front of him. When he saw this, he immediately tried to stop, but he was going so fast that he couldn't stop.

"Look out!" cried Ariel.

But it was too late. Garret swam right into the school of fish making him see nothing but bright colors flashing by him. Then before Garret had a chance to react, he shot straight into a hole in the reef and with a crash and stuff, Garret ended up stuck in the hole. Garret wiggled around and tried to get free, but he was stuck tight.

"Oh man," he groaned. "I'm stuck."

Ariel and Flounder then swam up to him.

"Are you OK?" asked Flounder.

"I'm fine," said Garret. "But... I guess you could say... I got myself into a hole."

Ariel couldn't help, but chuckle at Garret's little joke. "Well, I did try to warn you," she said. "Come on, we'll help you out. Flounder give me a hand would you?"

"Sure thing Ariel," said Flounder.

Then the two took a hold of Garret's tail and with a couple tugs, managed to pull Garret out of the hole.

"Thanks a lot you two," said Garret now feeling a little sheepish. "Sorry for getting myself into such a bind. I... kinda got carried away."

"It's OK," said Ariel. "Just make sure to slow down. You may have gotten the hang of how to you use your tail, but you're still a little green. Try not to go so fast until you get used to your tail."

"Alright teach," said Garret. "I will do as you say. So... what do we do now?"

"I have an idea," said Flounder. "How about we show Garret around town Ariel?"

"That sounds like a great idea Flounder," said Ariel. "We can show him around town and it'll be a great opportunity to give him a tour! What do you say Garret?"

"I say lead the way you guys," said Garret brightly. "I think I'd be great."

"Then let's go!" said Flounder excitedly.

And with that, the three swam back towards Atlantica to begin their tour. However, as they headed back towards Atlantica, unknown to them at the time, two pairs of eyes were keeping an eye on them. They belonged to a pair of sinister looking moray eels. They both were a blue-ish gray color and they also had strange off colored eyes, one side being yellow and the other side being white. As they kept a careful eye on the three, their yellow eyes began to glow brightly in the shadows of their hiding place.

In another darker part of the ocean, far away from Atlantica, there was a large skeleton of a creature who had been long dead for quite some time ago. Legend has it that it was once a terrifying creature called the Serpentine. The Serpentine was once used for gladiatorial entertainment by the Morays, but due to the creature going on a bloodthristy rampage, they were forced to put it down. Now it was the dwelling of someone who had long been banished from King Triton's kingdom long ago.

She had the appearance of a plump woman with lavender skin and white hair. She also was known as a cecaelia; a creature of the sea that was half human, half octopus with six black tentacles with violet suckers. She was known as the sea witch that most of everyone in the sea, Ursula. She was using the two moray eels which were her pets as her eyes and ears keeping an eye on Ariel, so she could come up with ways to overthrow King Triton and then become the ruler of the sea. As she gazed into her crystal ball bubble, she could see Ariel, Garret, and Flounder swimming along. Normally, she would take her chance and try to come up with a plan to cause trouble for Ariel, but this time she was quite interested in someone else. Particularly Garret.

"My, my. I wonder who could that young merman be with the princess?" she wondered to herself. "I must say, I do adore the colors on his tail. He must be a foreigner of some kind. Or maybe... he could be a potential enemy... that would make King Triton a bit miffed."

She put a finger to her chin thinking and smirking to herself.

"Alright then," she said after a few seconds. "Flotsam. Jetsam. Make sure you keep an eye on not only the princess, but that young lad with her as well. He could be of some use to me someday."

Flotsam and Jetsam smirked evilly acknowledging Ursula's orders as they disappeared into the shadows.

Ariel, Flounder, and Garret had arrived back at Atlantica. Ariel and Flounder first began their tour by showing Garret around the marketplace. There was lots more people and creatures than before, but that was all the more fun for them. Ariel and Flounder introduced Garret to some of the merfolk and some of the creatures that worked the stands. They even had Garret try some of their food which was mostly made from the things in the ocean. At first, Garret was a little worried due to most of the food being made of seaweed and other things, but it wasn't really half bad. It was just an acquired taste that we would have to get used to.

Next off, Ariel and Flound showed Garret to the Royal Treasure Vault. When he looked inside, Garret was amazed. They was shiny gold coins, sparkling pearls, shimmering seashells and many other valuable things. Ariel and Flounder never really cared about any of the treasures inside of the vault, but it was one of their favorite places to play whenever they had the time or chance.

After that, Ariel and Flounder showed Garret other parts of Atlantica. From the rooms where she and her sisters stayed to the city that surrounded the palace. There was even a large concert hall where she, her sisters, and even Sebastian performed. All the while, Garret was having a wonderful time on the tour throughout the tour. After the tour was done, the three friends decided to take a small break by riding on a large manta ray.

"Wow... this is so cool," said Garret. "I've never ridden on a giant manta ray before."

"Well consider this another first for you," smiled Ariel.

"Yeah. It's a great way to get around whenever you just wanna rest your fins," added Flounder.

"So how did you like the tour?" asked Ariel. "Did you have fun?"

"You know what? I did," said Garret. "I did had a lot of fun. I may have just got here in Atlantica, but this place is wonderful. It's got beautiful sights, nice people, heck there's even some talking fish and stuff. I could definitely get used to this place. Plus, I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this tail."

And just to prove it, Garret gave a few wags of his tail to show off making Ariel and Flounder giggle.

"Just try not to run into any holes when you swim from now on," said Ariel.

"Hardy har," said Garret sarcastically, but he chuckled too. "I did look pretty silly back there huh?"

"I'll say," said Flounder.

Garret then lied on his back gazing towards the surface of the water from above him. He was happy that he had so much fun in this strange but beautiful world of the sea, but he couldn't help but think about his family back in his own world and that made him feel a little sad.

"I bet my family's probably worried sick about me," he said. "I hope they're OK."

Ariel could see that Garret was feeling a little homesick. "Hey. Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

Garret then realized that he was talking aloud and he quickly tried to shrug it off. "Oh! Yes. Sorry about that," he apologized. "I guess I was just thinking about some things."

"Are you thinking about your family?" asked Flounder. "And about how you got here?"

"More or less," replied Garret. "I'm thrilled about being in this place don't get me wrong, but I'm still wondering about how I got here in the first place and how I'm supposed to get home."

"Well... can you remember anything before you got to Atlantica?" asked Ariel.

Garret hummed remembering back to when he was at his own world. "The only thing that comes to mind was this mirror my Dad showed me," he said.

"A mirror?" puzzled Ariel and Flounder.

"Yeah. For some reason, the mirror was emitting a strange sound. Like someone singing," continued Garret. "I went over to see what the sound was and then I was sucked into it. The next thing I knew, I woke up and met you guys."

"How weird," said Flounder. "What kind of mirror does that?"

"I don't know, but it certainly was weird and the reason why I'm here," said Garret. "I just hope my family's not too worried about me. Especially my little sister Lucy."

"Don't worry Garret," said Ariel. "I'm sure we'll find a way to get you home."

"Yeah and until we find a way, you can stay with us until then," said Flounder. "I mean you're a friend of ours now."

Garret looked at Flounder a bit surprised. "A... a friend? You think I'm a friend?" he asked.

"Well of course, silly," said Ariel. "What else did you think you were?"

Garret stared at Ariel, then a tiny smile formed on his lips and felt a little less worried. "Thanks you two," he said. "It makes me feel a little less worried now."

Then they all heard a voice calling out to them.

"Ariel! It's time to come home!"

"That's Daddy," said Ariel. "He's probably calling us for dinner. Come on Garret, shall we?"

"Well I am a little hungry," said Garret. "Let's go."

"And you can come with us Flounder," said Ariel.

"Oh boy!" said Flounder. "It's been a while since I've stayed over."

And with that, Ariel, Garret, and Flounder all headed back to the palace. When they got to the palace, they found King Triton waiting for them.

"Hello Daddy," greeted Ariel.

"Yes. Hello your majesty," said Flounder.

"Hello you two," said King Triton. Then he saw Garret. "I see that a certain someone knows how to swim now," he said smiling.

"Yes your majesty," said Garret. "Thanks to Ariel, I've finally gotten the hang of how to use my tail."

"That's very good. Well done Ariel," said King Triton giving her daughter a pat on the shoulder. "Now then, what do you say we have our dinner with Garret being our honored guest?"

"Sounds great Daddy," said Ariel.

"And Garret, believe me when I say that you will find no better cuisine here," said King Triton to Garret. "It's the finest under the seven seas."

"Wow. Sounds pretty fancy," said Garret. "I look forward to it your majesty."

Then they swam off heading for the dining hall.

Meanwhile a great distance away from the Atlantica, a pod of killer whales was migrating across the sea. Among them was a small baby. It swam about happily as it traveled with his parents. The baby swam up to the surface and happily burst forth from the surface of the water letting out a happy squeal before diving back into the water. The other whales then joined it breaching above the surface of the water.

Then in the distance just behind them, there was a large ship. A man aboard that ship climbed to the top of the crow's nest and saw the whales.

"Killer whales!" he yelled. "Killer whales off the port bow!"

The crew immediately got two canons loaded with harpoons ready. They took aim and then fired them at the pod of killer whales. The harpoons shot right past the baby whale narrowly missing it along with his pod. No one was hurt, but all the whales were now in a state of panic. They darted around as fast as their fins could carry them. The baby tried to find his way back to his mom, but then he was hit by another whale sending him tumbling. When he regained himself, he swam through the bubbles trying to escape from the chaos as fast as he could feeling very confused and frightened. He made it out of the bubbles, but he didn't stop swimming until he made it to calmer waters.

When the baby thought that it was safe, it soon came to a stop trying to catch his breath. When it calmed down, it looked around trying to find out where he was and where his pod had gone. There was nothing, but the blue ocean all around him. He tried to call out to his mother and his pod hoping that they would find him, but the only thing the baby heard was his own wailing echoing throughout the water. It felt lost, alone, confused, and most of all scared that now he was all alone without his mom or his pod.