The next day, Ariel and Flounder were waiting outside of Garret's room. The doctor had been called, and Garret was undergoing treatment in his room. It had taken quite a bit of time, Ariel and Flounder felt a little impatient, and also a little bit worried. Soon enough, the doctor came out of the room.
"So how is he, Doc?" asked Flounder. "Is Garret, OK?"
"He's doing fine," smiled the doctor. "However, according to what you've told me, he bruised his nose. Because of that, I had to give him a form of treatment to heal it."
"Where's Garret then?" asked Ariel.
"Well, he's in his room, but... he's refusing to come out," said the doctor. "He's a bit... embarrassed about the treatment I've given him."
Ariel then looked behind the octopus and then called out to Garret. "Garret? Are you hiding in there? If you are, please come out."
"No way! I'm not coming out!" Garret called back. "I feel silly!"
"Come on. It can't be that bad," Ariel spoke. "Besides, if we're going to find that merboy, we'll need your help."
"Besides, the treatment the doctor gave you can't be that bad," said Flounder.
"You say that, but once you see me, you'll laugh!" Garret spoke.
"It can't be that bad, Garret. Besides, we're your friends. We wouldn't laugh over something like that," said Ariel. "I promise we won't, so, please come out."
There was a brief pause, then Garret sighed. "Oh, OK, but you better not laugh," he spoke. "I don't want to hear a single giggle, OK?"
"Promise," reassured Ariel.
"Cross our hearts," added Flounder.
Garret then came out from behind the doctor, his face in a sour and embarrassed frown. He looked pretty much the same, except for one small detail. He was now wearing a black starfish on top of his nose. Flounder then swam up to him, taking a closer look at it.
"Whoa. That looks kind of cool," the tropical fish said. "It makes you look like a superhero or something."
"Well, I guess I'll take that as a compliment," Garret sighed, cheering up a bit. "At least it's better than being laughed at."
"Excuse me, sir, but why does he have to wear that on his face?" Ariel asked the octopus.
"Well, the starfish on his face to keep the swelling down and so his nose can heal," explained the doctor. "The starfish has a medicine that will help reduce the swelling."
"But how long do I have to wear this thing?" Garret asked, pointing to his face.
"I'd keep it on for about a couple days," said the doctor. "So make sure that you keep that on you, and try not to touch it either. You might still feel a little tender."
"I will. Thank you, Doctor," said Garret.
And the doctor then went away.
Garret looked at himself in a mirror in his room. He still felt a little silly, but he also felt a little angry for the reason why he now looked like this.
"Just you wait, once I get my hands on that little merman from the other night, he's going to be sorry!" Garret seethed.
"Take it easy, Garret," soothed Ariel. "There's no need to be so angry."
"But aren't you mad, Ariel?" asked Garret. "I mean that guy not only crashed your Ball, but he also took all of that food!"
"I know, but there had to have been a good reason for him to do what he did," said Ariel. "Until then, let's go to the reef and see if we can find some clues as to where that merboy could have gone to."
And the three friends swam off to begin their search.
Meanwhile, King Triton was sitting in his throne with Sebastian going about their usual routine, handling their royal duties. They were still thinking about what had happened the other night.
"I wonder if Ariel and her friends are still searching for that boy," King Triton wondered. "Sebastian, do you have any idea?"
"Well, your majesty," said Sebastian. "Last time I checked, it would seem that dat Garret boy's bruised his nose, so he's seeing da doctor, but if knowing Ariel, she's going ta drag him with her to look for that lad soon after he's treated."
King Triton hummed stroking his beard in thought. "I'd like to check on those kids, but if I do, Ariel would just think that I'm..."
"Meddling, again," finished Sebastion, understanding. "Then, if may I suggest, your majesty, you could probably send someone to do that said meddling."
"Yes, you're right, Sebastian," King Triton murmured in agreement. Then he pointed to the red crab. "You do the meddling."
The red crab was surprised by this turnaround, but he didn't want to go against his king.
"Yes, your majesty," Sebastian said, with a hint of reluctance as he went on his way.
On the outskirts of Atlantica, Ariel, Garret, and Flounder were looking around the area to see if there was any hint or clue of where Urchin had gone. So far, they weren't able to find anything, seeing nothing but the colorful fishes and the reefs as they swam. Then Ariel spotted something on the seafloor below, and swam over to investigate. Lying on the ground, was a piece of the food that was stolen from the night, a seaweed bun to be exact.
"Garret. Flounder. Look at this," called Ariel.
Garret and Flounder then swam over as Ariel showed them the bun.
"No doubt about it," said Garret. "That was from the Neptune ball the other night."
Flounder then took notice of another piece of food, this time it was a cupcake, "Here's another one," he said, pointing with his fin.
"That merboy must have had a hole in his sack when he took the food last night," said Ariel. "I bet if we follow it, it'll lead us straight to him."
"Then let's follow it," said Garret. "If it is a trail, we better hurry, otherwise we'll lose it to some hungry sea creatures."
The three then followed the trail of food until they found themselves just outside of Urchin's Cave. They then saw that the trail ended just outside of the cave.
"Looks like we've found where our thief's hideaway is," said Garret. "The trail ends here."
"This also must be where he lives," observed Ariel. "
At that moment, there was the sound of three voices laughing, which, thanks to the cave, made their voices echo, making them ominous and intimidating, to Flounder at least.
"Well, we solved the mystery, and that sounds like one, big, happy, family," Flounder said quickly, feeling frightened. "Now, let's go home."
The blue-yellow tropical fish then turned on his fin about to swim away, but Ariel prevented him by simply grabbing him by the tail without even bothering to look.
"Come on, Flounder, don't bail out now!" Garret whispered harshly. "The thief is right there along with a few buddies, and we got him right where want him! I say we get busy and charge straight in and give them a beating!"
"Or we could just forget about this whole thing and go home," suggested Flounder. "You know, just in case they're too much for us to handle."
Then from inside the cave, the three saw three shadows crawling up the walls meaning that whoever was inside was about to come out. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Ariel immediately swam towards the entrance with Garret and Flounder close behind. Sure enough, Urchin swam outside along with Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp. Urchin then took notice of the food that was sitting just in front of the cave.
"Oh, looks like I dropped one," Urchin spoke as he bent down to pick it up.
When he did, he soon found himself staring face to face with Ariel and her friends, which surprised him, Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp.
"Uh-oh! It's the princess of the palace!" Urchin gasped.
"You must have been pretty hungry to steal all of that food from the other night," Ariel spoke, gently.
"Food? What food?" asked The Lobster Mobster. "We don't know nothing about no stolen food."
The Lobster Mobster then saw that Da Shrimp was eating a sandwich, which was, of course, the stolen food in question. He then bopped his subordinate smack on the head, knocking him to the floor, and hid the sandwich behind his back, pretending to be innocent.
Urchin then scowled at Ariel. "Yeah, I'm always hungry, but so what?" he said gruffly. "What would you know about being hungry? You're a princess! All you have to do is play tag around your father's treasure vault all day!"
The Lobster Mobster sensed trouble and smirked, feeling delighted.
"Hey! Back off, man!" Garret snapped, swimming in between the two. "At least she doesn't go around stealing food while crashing balls like you!"
Urchin then scowled back at Garret. "And who are you supposed to be, Star-face? Her boyfriend?"
Now Garret felt a little insulted. "Star-face?! Boyfriend?! Why, you little...!"
But Ariel immediately stopped Garret by pushing him away from Urchin, giving him a scolding look in her eyes, telling him to calm down. She then kindly spoke to Urchin. "Do you like to play tag?" she asked.
"Ah, playing tag is for little kids," scoffed Urchin.
"Yeah. We're into taking over things, see?" The Lobster Mobster added.
"Well, we're into playing tag," Ariel spoke, not paying attention to the lobster as she tapped Urchin by the bang of his hair. "You're it."
She then swam away, leaving everyone dumbfounded and confused. At that moment, a smile worked its way to Urchin's lips.
"Hey! That's not fair!" the merboy called, as he quickly swam after her.
As he did, Flounder not wanting to miss out on the fun join in on the fun too. Garret, at first, didn't want to play due to still feeling salty about Urchin, but he didn't want to be left behind with the Lobster Mobster and the Da Shrimp, so after giving them a quick stink eye, he followed after them too.
The Lobster Mobster watched them leave; his smirk turned into a frown, while Da Shrimp sighed wistfully.
"That looks like fun, Boss," the tiny shrimp said. Then he got an idea, and tapped the Lobster Mobster on the head.
"Tag! You're it!" Da Shrim said, playfully as he swam away.
However, The Lobster Mobster growled glaring at Da Shrimp, feeling irritated. Da Shrimp swam over wondering what was wrong, but when he was close enough, The Lobster Mobster took off his hat and began whacking Da Shrimp on the head.
"No! You're it, you're it, you're it!" he snapped.
As the two went about their banter, someone else had arrived in the area, having to have followed Ariel and the gang the whole time, and had overheard and saw everything. Sebastian, to be exact. And when he saw Urchin with the Lobster Mobster, he couldn't help but feel suspicious as well as worried.
"Da Lobster Mobster!, One of de most criminal crustaceans on da face and da bottom of the sea!" he gasped. "I've got to tell de king about dis!"
He then scampered away, heading back to Atlantica as fast as his crab legs would let him.
Meanwhile, Ariel, Urchin, and Flounder, had a lot of fun playing tag with each other, while Garret followed them from a distance. As he watched them play, Garret was still feeling a bit mistrusting about Urchin, and didn't understand why Ariel was trying to be so friendly with him even after everything that he did. However, he kept silent, wanting to see how it would pan out.
The kids continued to play their game of tag, until Urchin suddenly came to a stop. "Whoa! I've never seen anything like it!" he gasped.
Ariel and Flounder stopped, and she swam over and looked to where Urchin was looking. "Like what?" she asked.
"You know, it!" said Urchin, pointing.
Garret then swam over feeling curious as to what Urchin was pointing at, looking in the direction where he was pointing, and could see nothing but strange rock formations, and some fish swimming around.
"I don't see anything either," he said. "Unless I'm blind or something."
"I'm telling you, I see something," insisted Urchin. "And I've never seen anything like it before in my life!"
"What? What, it?!" Ariel asked, now eagerly wanting to know.
Urchin then smiled as he gave Ariel a light poke on her head. "You're it!" he laughed, as he swam away.
Ariel, Garret, and Flounder were surprised at first. Then Ariel and Flounder laughed as Flounder zipped on ahead with Ariel chasing them in hot pursuit, resuming their game of tag. Even Garret couldn't help but smile, feeling a little impressed.
"The old boy who cried wolf strategy, huh? Not bad," Garret thought. "Sounds like something I could have come up with."
Garret then watched Urchin, Ariel, and Flounder swim around playing tag; he couldn't help but look particularly at Urchin. A moment ago, he appeared to be a mean boy that seemed bitter about being alone, but now just by seeing him smile, Garret was starting to understand that the merboy was just someone who was in the wrong crowd, just like the other kids he saw back at his school. And the more he thought about, he more empathic he felt towards him.
"Hey, Garret! Garret! You OK?"
Garret then looked up, snapping out of his thoughts to see Flounder right in front of his face. "Oh! I'm okay, Flounder. Just fine, sorry."
"Good. In that case..." Flounder spoke, giving Garret a light pat on his head. "You're it!"
He then swam away, leaving Garret a bit surprised. At first, he wasn't going to join in on the game, but then he thought that he could humor them just this once. After all, he deserved to have a little bit of fun too.
"You better watch out, Flounder!" he yelled, pumping his fins. "Because I'm going to get you back for tagging me!"
He shot towards Flounder, chasing him, making the fish yelp in surprise, but laugh as he swam away right past Urchin and Ariel. The two happy that Garret was joining in, got in on the fun, and four continued to enjoy their game till it was afternoon.
After a while, the four took a break, riding on top of a giant manta ray. Flounder and Ariel were looking towards the ground below admiring the view while Ariel sat with Urchin, while brushing her hair with her fingers. She still felt a bit curious about the boy and also wanted to talk some sense into him, so she decided to question him for answers.
"So, how did you get to be friends with that nasty lobster?" asked Ariel.
"I want to be somebody," replied Urchin. "He said that if I joined his mob, I was somebody."
"I think that everybody is somebody already," said Ariel. "Although, you were the somebody that wrecked the Neptune Ball."
Garret and Flounder couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation while pretending to look at the view.
"Ah, please. It wasn't that big a deal," scoffed Urchin as he lay on his back, sniggering. "Besides, those fish-heads of state, needed a little excitement anyway."
"But you should apologize to Daddy," Ariel scolded gently. "And you should stay away from that lobster. He's nothing but trouble."
Urchin then glared. "Apologize? If I'd do that, I'd have to be sorry," he said stubbornly. "Besides, the Lobster Mobster says, I did just great. He's my pal, see? He won't make me go crawling to the king like a baby!"
And Urchin swam away in a huff. As Ariel watched him leave, she couldn't help but get a little irritable too.
"Well, I'm not going to twist his fin," Ariel spoke, appearing not to care.
However, she couldn't help frown in worry as she looked back, watching as Urchin's body shrank smaller into the distance. Garret and Flounder noticed this, and the two went over to her.
"Ariel, why do you care so much about that Urchin guy?" asked Garret. "I mean, you know what he did, and yet you still want to try and befriend him. Why is that?"
"Well, he's not a bad person," said Ariel. "He's just a boy who wants friends. You saw the way he was when we started playing with him. He looked so happy."
"Yeah. Urchin doesn't seem to be a bad guy," said Flounder. "Even though he was kind of rude, but I wouldn't mind having him as a friend."
Garret then pondered. Then he nodded. "Yeah. As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree," he said. "But you saw how he acted; he's about as stubborn as stubborn can get. Not only that, but your father isn't exactly an easy guy to approach. I mean it's not like we can convince him to talk to Urchin into apologizing to him."
Ariel then gasped, having an idea. "Garret, you're a genius!" she cried. "I'll go to Daddy and get him and Urchin to meet. Maybe I can convince Daddy can forgive him!"
"Wait! Ariel! I didn't mean that!" Garret cried. "I was just saying that to be funny!"
But Ariel didn't listen. She had already swum off of the manta and was swimming for home leaving Flounder and Garret behind.
"Geez. Why the heck is that girl like this?" sighed Garret. "Well, I guess we're following her Flounder. Let's go."
"Why am I not surprised this would happen?" Flounder groaned in agreement. "Hopefully, the king isn't mad about last night."
And the two friends set off following Ariel back to Atlantica, feeling uneasy how things would play out.
However, as they did, they failed to notice something that was hiding amongst a forest of kelp. It was big, red, mean-looking crab and had a familiar blue hat on top of its head. Like them, he was eager to get to Atlantica as soon as possible, because he some business over at Atlantica. Unfinished business.