It certainly has been a while, but here's the next chapter, my fellow mermaid fans!

Enjoy!

Urchin soon made his way inside of Atlantica swimming up close the Royal Palace. He searched all around trying to find any form of food, but he couldn't find any. Then Urchin heard the sound of laughter causing him to hide immediately so no one would see him. He peered out of his hiding place and saw a certain female re-headed mermaid and a yellow and blue fish swimming just outside the Royal Treasure Vault laughing while playing a rousing game of tag.

"Gotcha!" giggled Ariel as she tapped Flounder by the back of his fin. "You're it!"

"Hey!" Flounder laughed. "I'm gonna get you, Ariel!"

Ariel then swam around the other side of the vault hiding from view. This gave Flounder an idea. He quickly hid behind one of the decorating spikes on the roof as Ariel came back. She looked around trying to see where Flounder went to, but she couldn't find him. Finally, Flounder came out from his hiding place and tapped Ariel by her tail fin.

"Tag! You're it!" he laughed as he swam away.

"Pretty sneaky, Flounder," laughed Ariel as she swam after him in hot pursuit.

Urchin watched as Ariel and Flounder continued the play feeling somewhat jealous of the two, wishing that he could play with them too. He swam a little closer as he continued to watch the two having fun. Then as Flounder and Ariel circled the vault again, Flounder looked in front of him in time to see a cross Sebastian standing on top of one of the spikes. He tried to stop himself, but it was too late as he bumped straight into him knocking him off. Luckily, Ariel managed to catch Sebastian just before he fell. As she placed him back on the spike, Sebastian spoke sternly to her.

"Ariel, you're going ta be late for de Neptune Ball! De food is laid out, de guests are arriving, and you're out here playing tag around de king's treasure vault!"

"Oh, alright, Sebastian," sighed Ariel. "Just one more tag." She then mischievously smirked as she gave him a light tap on his head. "You're it."

Then she and Flounder swam away leaving Sebastian very cross.

"I am most certainly not it!" he snapped. "And no such foolishness at de Neptune Ball!"

Urchin who was still not too far away had heard everything that Sebastian had said about the Neptune Ball and saw this as an opportunity. The Neptune Ball was the perfect place to steal food. There was bound to be plenty of food from him to take, and if he could get his hands on some, that would make the Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp very happy. That and it would also fill up his hungry belly. He then swam off as he began making his plan.

Back in the human world, Garret was fast asleep snoring away. He was looking forward to getting a good night's sleep and waking up to another ordinary day. However, Garret would soon learn that his hopes for that alone would be dashed. For he heard a familiar sound of singing which after a few minutes woke him up.

"Come on, Lucy... Just a few more minutes," he sleepily mumbled as he sat up in his bed. "I know I have a school day, but I still got time..."

He then realized what the sound was and grew more awake.

"The mirror!" he gasped.

He flung the covers off of his body and quickly and quietly made his way up to the attic. He soon came into the room where the mirror was and peered inside. The mirror was emitting the same singing voice as before, and the teal colored gem was flashing on and off brightly.

"What the heck? It's never done that before," Garret said to himself. "I wonder why it's doing that? Maybe something is going on in Atlantica or something?"

As the teal continued to flash and sing, Garret made sure that the attic door was closed behind him. Then he shut the door behind him as he entered the room.

"I'm surprised that no one's heard this thing yet," Garret said. "Either I come from a family of deep sleepers, or I'm practically the only one who can hear it. In any case, so much for another normal night of sleep. Well, since I was planning to head back anyway, I might as well go now."

He took off his shirt and set it aside as he walked up towards the mirror. He was just about to enter it, but then he remembered back to when he

"Alright mister or rather miss mirror, you want me to head over there, right? Well, I'm ready if you are. Take me to Atlantica alread-"

The teal gem suddenly began to glow as the surface of the mirror once again turned into water. A rope of water shot out from it and began circling Garret going faster and faster until Garret was encased in a dome and with a jump, Garret went inside of the mirror entering the world of Atlantica once again.

Soon enough, Garret emerged and was back in Atlantica after passing through the portal. He looked around instinctively thinking that he was back in the Royal Treasury, but to his surprise, he wasn't. Instead, Garret found himself in a different location entirely. He was in a room that had an open roof with a strange stone formation with seven mirrors, seven seats, and decorated with seashells and seaweed. He soon was quick to realize where he was.

"Oh man, I must be in some dressing room," he said to himself. "And I'm willing to bet it's Ariel and her sisters. What a cliche," He then sighed. "If this is the mirror's way of a joke, I'm not amused. In any case, I better get out of here before anyone sees me."

He then started to swim out of the room when he heard a voice.

"Garret? Is that you?"

The merboy immediately froze stopping dead in his tracks as he slowly looked behind him. There floating beside the mirror was Attina, Ariel's eldest sister.

"H-Hey there!" Garret spoke nervously. "You're Attina, correct? How you doing?"

Attina crossed her arms and stared sternly at Garret. "Don't avoid the question. What are you doing here? You do realize that this is our dressing room, right?"

"Uh... well," said Garret. "I-I knew that. W-Well I mean I didn't know that, but I uh..."

Garret desperately tried to come up with an excuse as to why he was there, but Attina still stared sternly at him as she raised her brow.

"Shoot! I can't tell Attina that I just suddenly popped out of a magic hole which leads to another world!" he mentally cried. "I gotta think of something and fast!

Luckily, Garret immediately thought up an excuse, and he thought it up quick.

"OK. You win," Garret sighed. "I didn't know that this was the dressing room. I kind of got lost while I was trying to find my room. The whole palace is so big; it's practically a maze. One minute, I was swimming through the halls and the next thing I knew, I ended up here. So... sorry and please don't be mad."

Attina stared at Garret. Garret was sure that Attina would be mad and didn't know what would happen, but to his surprise, Attina's face softened as she giggled a little.

"Seriously? You got lost, Garret?" she asked. "Any other person would say that you were lying, but you don't seem to be the type of person to lie. So I suppose I'll believe you."

"You do?" Garret gasped.

Attina nodded. "But I'd be a little more careful next time you get lost," she said. "You were lucky that it was just me in here. If it was all of us well, I'll leave that to your imagination."

Garret knew what Attina meant, and the thought alone made him his cheeks flush bright red with embarrassment. Attina then laughed.

"You should see your face," she said. "You look so cute when you're embarrassed."

"Wh-Whatever! I'm not cute!" Garret huffily replied looking away. "Flattery will get you nowhere, y'know!"

"Phew. At least Attina bought it," Garret thought. "That was way too close for comfort."

"So... where is everybody?" he asked. "It seems kinda quiet around here."

"That's because everyone's over at the Neptune Ball," said Attina. "You didn't know about it?"

"It's news to me," replied Garret. "But I'm guessing everyone was too busy getting ready for it to tell me anything."

"You're telling me," said Attina rolling their eyes. "Say, since I'm about to head over there myself, why don't we go together?"

"Sure. Might as well," said Garret. "I'm not big on parties, but since everyone's over there, I might as well go there too."

"Then let's go," smiled Attina.

Attina and Garret soon arrived at the lower levels of the palaces where the Neptune Ball was taking place. There was an octopus that was playing a beautiful melody in the style of Jamaican music with large shells that severed as drums, a piece of coral with seaweed that looked like a guitar, a pair of drums, and a large fish with big teeth severing as a xylophone. As the octopus continued to play, Garret could also see that Sebastian was conducting the octopus smiling with pride. There were also several different couples of sea creatures dancing along from the smallest jellyfish to the biggest tropical fish. There was even a couple of merpeople dancing as well. As Attina and Garret entered, Garret couldn't help but feel impressed.

"Wow. These guys sure know how to party," Garret thought to himself.

The two eventually made their way to the back of the party where King Triton sat on his throne watching the party with Ariel and Flounder beside him.

"Ah. Garret. So you there you are, young man," smiled King Triton. "Where have you been?"

Garret was about to speak, but Attina quickly cut him off. "He got a bit lost, Daddy," she said. "I found him wandering in the halls, so I helped him out."

Garret looked at Attina a bit puzzled, while King Triton hummed in understanding.

"So I see," he said. "Well then, it's nice to have you with us, Garret. And thank you for helping him, Attina."

Attina then bowed politely to her father and swam off to join the party, but not before looking back at Garret and giving him a quick wink. Ariel then swam up to him. She was now wearing a wreath of sea flowers around her neck and a flower crown on her head.

"There you are, Garret! I've been looking everywhere for you," said Ariel. "Did you really get lost in the palace?"

"Yeah. I did," Garret lied. "I still would be lost if it wasn't for Attina, but here I am." He then looked back towards the dancing fish and merpeople as the music played. "I'll say this much; I've never seen a ball like this one before. It certainly is unique."

"Yeah. Most of the balls Daddy hosts are like this," said Ariel with a hint of boredom. "The music's nice and stuff, but it's pretty boring."

"Really? Because I think it looks kind of fun," said Garret. "I'm especially fond of the music Crabby's got playing. I'd love to dance along if I wasn't so bad at dancing."

Ariel's face then lit up as she swam to her father whispering something in his ear. King Triton looked at her and nodded.

"Of course. By all means," he said.

Ariel then swam to Garret taking him by the hand and pulling him along into the dance floor much to his surprise.

"A-Ariel! What are you doing?!" Garret asked.

"What do you think? We're gonna dance!" Ariel said brightly.

"B-But I don't know how to dance!" protested Garret. "I mean I can swim just fine with this tail of mine, but how do you expect me to-"

"Don't worry. I'll teach you how," smiled Ariel. "Besides, you picked up on swimming pretty quick; you'll pick up on dancing in no time."

She didn't stop until she and Garret were right in the middle of the dance floor. Ariel then began to dance in time with the music twirling around and shaking her tail fin. Garret just stood there frozen unsure of what to do. Ariel then took his hands and began spinning around while holding them.

"Just let the music flow through you and let your body do the rest," she said. "Let go and have fun!"

Garret stared at Ariel then he let his body relax and listened to the music. His then tried moving his body to the music. It felt a little awkward at first, but his body eventually started to synch with the music and was now dancing along with Ariel. Everyone couldn't help but watch the two of them dance cheering and clapping. Garret and Ariel continued to dance having the time of their lives until the song was over. When it did, all of the fish and merpeople applauded praising them for their dancing. Ariel then bowed, and Garret followed suit blushing a little.

"You see? I told you, you could dance," Ariel said. "You did great!"

"Y-You think so?" asked Garret who was still feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I know so," smiled Ariel. "And so does everyone else. You should have more confidence in yourself."

"Yeah! You were awesome, Garret!" said Flounder who had just swum up to them. "I sure wish I could dance like that!"

A smile then slowly made its way to Garret's cheeks. "I guess you're right," he said. "But you guys are making me blush."

Ariel and Garret went back to King Triton who was smiling cheek to cheek under his beard. However, just as he was about to compliment the two, something caught his eye just outside of the ballroom. A certain young merboy was sneaking around just outside.

"Say, Ariel, Garret, what do you suppose that little fellow is up to?" he whispered to them pointing.

Ariel and Garret looked to where King Triton was pointing and saw Urchin too.

"I don't know. I've never seen him before," said Ariel. "Have you, Garret?"

Garret shook his head. "You got me."

Then as they looked towards some of the bystanders watching the ball, they saw Urchin's hand grab one out of a couple or sea slugs and whisked it away much to their surprise. Sensing that something was up, Garret turned to Ariel and Flounder.

"You two stay here. I'll see what that kid's up to."

He then swam away to investigate, but as he got outside, he was surprised to see that Urchin had mysteriously disappeared. He turned around wondering where Urchin went in time to see the sea slug he took shoot from seemingly out of nowhere and landed right at the tip of Sebastian's baton. Seeing the slug on it, Sebastian quickly shook it trying to get it off. In response and thinking that he wanted to go faster, the octopus sped up its playing, and the attendees began to dance faster too.

"Go away! Get off of dere!" complained Sebastian. "Go! Shoo!"

But the slug was so frightened that it refused to do so which is turn caused Sebastian to shake his baton harder, and that in turn caused the octopus to play faster, and that caused everyone to dance more quickly. As it continued, King Triton and Ariel couldn't help but find the situation a little funny. King Triton was so amused that he couldn't help but laugh and dance in time with the music. Garret then swam in trying to find Urchin as the wild dancing continued.

"This is getting nuts!" Garret cried as he dodged and dipped avoiding getting bumped.

Then he happened to look towards the spread of food. There he saw Urchin stuffing as much food as he could inside of his bag.

"So that's what he's up to!" Garret said. "Hey, you!"

He tried to swim over to Urchin to stop him, but every time he did, he was cut off by a pair of dancing sea creatures or merpeople cutting him off forcing him to swim out of the way. Sebastian shook harder and more violently, and the octopus, as well as the other sea creatures, went faster and faster until finally, something gave. The octopus practically exploded as he collapsed from exhaustion causing everyone to stop. His bag finally full of food, Urchin tied it up tightly and immediately took off leaving the ballroom.

"Hey! Get back here!" yelled Garret as he swam after him in hot pursuit.

"Garret, wait!" called Ariel.

But Garret had already swum outside vanishing from sight. Urchin then looked back and saw that Garret was chasing him, so he pumped up his fins and swam even faster.

"You're not getting away from me!" Garret cried as he too swam faster. "Give back that food, and you'll get off a lot easier!"

Urchin and Garret continued their chase until they got to the outskirts of the Atlanica. Garret put every ounce of muscle he had to try and catch up with Urchin. Seeing that he wasn't going to shake him off, Urchin then dug into his bag and threw some of the food at Garret. Garret ducked and avoided every piece thrown at him.

"Ha! If that's the best you got, then you-" Garret began to say, but then a piece food splattered him right in the face blinding him.

Garret wiped the food off in time to see a rock front him. He tried to stop, but it was too late as he slammed into the rock face first. He stayed there for a few minutes; then he fell flat on his back dazed and stunned. Urchin seeing that his pursuer would give him no more trouble, swam away. Ariel and Flounder soon caught up and saw Garret lying on the ground and came over to him.

"Garret! Are you okay?!" Ariel cried. "Say something!"

"Say, Ariel, you didn't tell me that you had a twin," Garret dizzily replied. "For some reason, I'm starting to see two of you."

"That's... not a good sign," said Flounder.

"Let's get him back to Atlantica," said Ariel. "He's gonna need the doctor."

"But what about that merboy?" asked Flounder. "Shouldn't we follow him?

Ariel shook her head. "We'll worry about him later," she said. "Right now, Garret's more important. Now, come on."

Ariel and Flounder then lifted Garret upright and then swam back to Atlantica.

Urchin soon made his way back to his place where the Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp were waiting for him. He then dumped out the food from his sack before him.

"Dinner is served, Boss," he said proudly. "I stole it from right out from under the king's nose."

The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp immediately dug in stuffing their faces full of food as did Urchin.

"Hey, nice going, kid," The, Lobster Mobster said between bites. "Keep up the good work, and I'll make something of you yet."

The three then laughed as they continued eating their fill enjoying themselves to the fullest.