Chapter 71: Adventures In Babysitting
A few weeks later, Nebula was helping Rad lay out some toys and games at Gertie's house. "Thanks again for helping me out babe" he said once they were finished. "No problem! And thank you for letting me help you babysit. Carla rescheduled our brunch and since we're off today, I had nothing else to do" she said as she sat on the couch. Rad then sat down and he put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head. They enjoyed the silence until the sound of many footsteps were heard and three thousand children ran down the stairs and hugged Rad. "Thanks again for babysitting on such short notice" Gertie said as she grabbed her coat. "No problem! Thanks again for letting Nebula help me out" he said and Gertie nodded. "Be good!" she called to her kids before she left.
The kids were wide light green spider with six arms, two legs, four eyes, and a small nose. They were wearing blue jumpsuits with a little pink heart on the chest area, and a small black and pink colored propeller hat on their head. "They are all so adorable! I can't believe that you babysit all of them" Nebula cooed. "Thanks! Okay everyone! Time to get started on out workouts! Let's see how much you guys have improved" Rad said to the kids. They then went to different equipment that was spread around the room and Rad nodded as he observes their progress. "Everyone is going great!" he praised. Nebula gawked in awe at him as he went to each of the children and praised them while he was giving them advice of their work out. After Rad got them all cooled off after their work out, Nebula tapped on his shoulder. "How about we do snack time and then some games?" she suggested. "I dunno kids, do you want to have snack time then play all sorts of fun games?" Rad asked rhetorically and the kids began to cheer. They then gave all of the kids their snacks and while Rad watched over them, he even made Nebula laugh when he started to levitate some of the kids and juggle them. Nebula set up all of the games and when she was done, she gave Rad a thumbs up. He gave her a thumbs up and he whistled to get the kid's attention. "Alright everyone! Time for games! Now you need to split into groups. One group gets to to Marshmallows and pretzel sticks building, another gets to go bowling with plastic bottles, another gets to go indoor camping with a treasure hunt included, another can play with silly dough, and the rest get to paint" he announced. The kids happily split up into groups and Rad watched over one half of the groups and Nebula watched the other half. After a few hours, the kids rotated activities and once they all got to do all the activities, Rad wrangled them up for a their nap time. "Okay everyone, settle down. Time for a nap! We're gonna tell you a story so get comfy!" Rad announced. Nebula snuggled up next to him and he blushed as he put an arm around her shoulders.
"This is the story of the awesome merman. Once upon a time, there lived an awesome merman who was the son of the muscular sea king. The sea king had to raise the sea prince on his own. The sea prince enjoyed to train with the royal guards to get even stronger. One day while he was swimming around an obstacle course that was made of coral and his two friend, a fish and a crab, interrupted him. 'Hey guys' the merman greeted. 'Hey! Are you ready to go explore?' the fish asked. 'You know it!' the merman replied. He then followed his friends to an abandoned ship and when they were done exploring, the sea prince gazed up at the sky that was shown through the water. 'Hey guys, do you ever wish that my dad never forbade everyone from going to the surface world' he asked. 'Dude! If we go up there then we will get captured by humans! You know that! Besides, life down here is way better. What? Did you seriously expect me to sing some song about why staying here under the sea is a good idea? Well I'm not. I'm too cool for that' his crab friend said. That night, the merman lay in his bed restless as the thoughts of the surface came flooding into his mind. The castle was quiet and he began to for a plan to visit the surface" Rad began and all of the children snuggled into their covers.
"He silently and carefully swam through the halls and he was careful to avoid the dozens of guards. He was finally able to leave the castle without being noticed. He then quickly swam up and stuck his head above the water. He gazed in awe at the beautiful blue sky and white fluffy clouds that he saw. He then smiled widely when he saw land nearby. He quickly swam over and he heard the sound of singing. He followed the singing to see a beautiful girl with long blue hair in a dress walking along the shore. He quickly hid behind a large rock so he would not be spotted as he watched the beautiful mystery girl. He saw her lift up her dress a bit to reveal a pair of beautiful legs. She began to sing a bit louder as she danced in the shallow water. 'She doesn't seem like she would harm me or anyone for that matter. I better go examine her more just in case' he said to himself as he unknowingly swam closer to the girl. The girl stopped her dancing and singing as she heard the sound of someone in the water. 'Who's there?' she called and the merman moved his upper body to make it look like he was a normal human swimming in the water. 'Oh! my goodness, you scared me! I don't believe that I've seen you around. Are you new here?' she asked sweetly. The merman nodded and the girl sat down in the sand and introduced herself. Whenever she would ask him something, he would either nod or shake his head. 'You're not much of a talker are you?' she asked and the merman shrugged. They then heard someone calling the girl's name and the girl sighed. 'I better go. It is quite late. it was really nice meting you. Will I ever see you again?' she asked. The sea prince nodded and drew an 'X' in the sand. 'Here? Tomorrow night?' she asked and he nodded his head. 'Alright, I'll sea you then. Enjoy your swim' she said and she laughed a little at the small joke she made, and even though the merman did not know what her joke was, he silently laughed. She then bade him goodnight and he watched her go up a set of nearby stairs. When he saw that she was not looking, he swam back under the water and swam back to the castle. Once he was in his room, he quietly cheered and when he finally fell asleep, he dreamed of the beautiful girl. The weeks past and every night the merman would meet up with the girl and she would tell him stories about lands that she had visited and what she did that day and she still did not know that he was a merman. One night, the sea king caught his son sneaking out of the palace and the sea king waited in his son's room until the merman returned. When he confronted him about him sneaking out, the sea prince told his father that he was training and he was always so happy because of his progress. The sea king nodded and bade him goodnight before he left the room. The next day, the sea king confronted the sea prince's friends if they knew what the sea prince was really doing at night. They did not know so he ordered them to follow him that night. To their surprise, they caught him swimming off in the middle of the day and they noticed that the sea king also noticed him leaving. They immediately followed their friend and when they reached the surface, they saw the girl kneeling on a large rock that overlooked the ocean. Their friend and the girl noticed them as the crab climbed onto a nearby rock. 'Are these your friends?' the girl asked. The merman nodded and the girl introduced herself. The fish was happy to meet her but the crab was very skeptical. She then swam under the water and pulled the sea prince down. 'What the heck Enid?" he asked. Before she could respond, they heard the sea king swimming towards them with some of the royal guards. 'So this is where you've been disappearing off to all these nights' he roared. 'Father! I can explain!' the merman said. The sea king held up an hand and he looked up at the girl playing with the fish friend. 'But dad, she would never hurt me!' the merman argued. 'No buts! I forbid you from ever seeing her again!' the sea king roared and with a snap of his fingers, two of the guards took a hold of the sea prince and they were dragging him away. "And to make sure that you never see her again" the sea king said as he held up his mighty trident. The sea prince gasped as he knew what his father was going to do. The prince was able to get free of the guards and he tackled his father to prevent him from harming the girl. When the sea king got his son off of him, he raised his hand and with a might slap across his face, the sea prince was sent flying. 'This is for your own good' he said. "Ko! Get her out of here!' the sea prince called to his fish friend. The fish nodded and with one mighty splash, the girl got drenched in water. She then excused herself and she ran off. The sea king rose above the water and he roared when he saw that they girl was gone. The sea king then dragged the sea prince back to the castle and he locked him in his room. The sea prince sat on his bed as he thought of how he would never get to see the girl again. That night, his friends swam into his room. 'We were trying to warn you' the crab said carefully as she put a claw on his shoulder. 'I didn't even get to say goodbye' the sea prince said sadly. 'You may not get to, but we could' the fish said and the merman and crab looked at him. 'Enid and I could visit her. Enid can go into her home and get her to come to the ocean' Ko said and the sea prince shook his head. 'I don't want you guys to get in trouble because of me' he said. 'Besides, she won't understand us. Humans don't speak or understand our language' he said sadly as he swam to his bar covered window. 'Thanks anyway you guys' he said and he knocked on the door and the guards escorted the fish and crab out of the room. The next morning, the sea king dragged the sea prince out of his room to the throne room where a line of mermaids were waiting. 'Look, what happened yesterday was for your own good. If anything, it showed me that you are finally ready to get married! These lovely ladies are here and ready to marry you' the sea king said. The sea prince listened as the girls each told him why he should choose her. 'Are we done here now?' the prince asked. 'not until you choose a wife' the sea king said. 'I wanted-' the sea prince was then cut off by the sea king. 'I told you that you are forbidden from seeing her!' the sea king thundered. The sea price huffed and he swam off. That night, the sea king had a large gargantuan coconut crab find the girl and bring her to the shore. She happily followed and when she heard splashing, she ran and she was shocked to see the sea king pointing his trident at her. Before he could blast her with his trident, a large net was thrown over him and the large crab scuttled back into the water to go get help. 'Raoul? What do you think you're doing? Release him now!' the girl ordered the make that just into the sea king's line of sight. Raoul yelled to a hidden boat and the sea king was lifted up into the air. He began to flail to get free but he was then taken onto the boat. The girl kept telling Raoul to release the merman but the man only shoved the girl to the ground. 'Don't tell me what to do! I am your fiancé and as my wife to be, you are to listen to me and do what I say!' he roared. He then walked onto the boat and the girl silently sneaked on board. She spotted the sea king still flailing in the net. She quickly hid from the guards behind a nearby pole and she took off one of her shoes and broke the heel. This got the attention of the men guarding the sea king and she thew her heel as far as she could without being spotted. The men then ran after the noise and the girl began to try and figure out how the controls work. 'Hey. Listen, I know that you don't like me. you made that very clear the other night and earlier but now you need trust me. I'm going to set you free and when you reach the water, you need to swim away as fast as you can. Okay?' she asked. The sea king could not believe that she was willing to help him when she knew that he did not like or trust her. He nodded and when she pulled on the lever, he was lowered into the water. He then heard shouting on the boat and he saw Raoul with other men restraining her and dragging her away while Raoul yelled at her. A part of him wanted to go onto the boat to help her. 'But humans are all evil. Aren't they? If they are, then why did that girl help me? She did never harm my son so maybe she isn't that bad' he thought to himself. Before he could get onto the boat, the sea prince came out of the water with an army of birds, crabs, lobsters, seals, starfish, and any other sea creature that could help. The sea prince immediately launched himself onto the boat and he and his army began to attack the men. Since the men were busy fighting them, they forgot all about the girl and she was able to get free and help the merman and the sea creatures trap the men in the large net. Once they were captured, the girl cried as she hugged the sea prince. When she was telling him how worried she was when he didn't show up, the sea king felt his heart melt as he thought about the love that he had for his wife before she passed away due to garbage in the ocean. The sea prince looked over at Raoul when he heard him yelling at the girl and telling the merman to get away from his soon to be wife. The girl way the sea prince's look of hurt and she put her hands on his shoulders. 'It is-or should I say was an arranged marriage. I never loved him' she said. When the sea prince looked away from her out of hurt, she gently put a hand on his cheek and had him look at her. 'You're the one that I love' she confessed. The sea prince smiled and the two happily kissed. 'I'll take that as an I love you too' she said and the sea king rose out of the water and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. He then pointed his trident at her legs, then at the sea prince's tail, and then at the ocean. She then realized what he was offering her and with one last look at the sea king she nodded. 'But first, there is something that I need to do' she said. The girl then steered the boat back to the shore and she ran into a large castle. She then came back out and she stood in the water. 'Okay, I'm ready' she said and with a wave of his magic wand-I mean trident, the girl's legs were turned into a beautiful blue mermaid tail. The sea prince took her hand with one hand and he placed the other on her cheek as he softly kissed her. He then told her his name and as he helped her swim, he explained that the reason why he never spoke to her whenever they met was because if he did, she would not understand him and he did not want her knowing that he was a merman. 'So what did you need to do back on land?' he asked. 'I called off Raoul and I's engagement and I left my sister in charge of the kingdom' she said. 'Wait! You're a princess?' he asked and she nodded. 'And now you're going to be a sea princess' he stated. 'Wait! You're a prince?' she asked and he nodded. The two then lived happily ever after. The End" After Rad finished the story, he noticed that everyone was asleep.
He smiled softly and as he scooped a sleeping Nebula in his arms, Gertie quietly came into the home and handed Rad his money. He thanked her and he then laid Nebula in the back seat of his van, put a seat belt on her and drove back to his home. When he got there, he laid Nebula on his hammock bed and kissed her head. He then turned off the light and left the room.
Let me know if you guys would want a full version of the story that Rad told