Soon enough, Cherry was woken up by her mother who looked as warm and friendly as always in contrast to her dark and gloomy daughter.
"Morning, Mom." Cherry moaned.
"Oh, Cherry, you must be so excited to go on vacation with your friends," Michelle smiled. "I know I'm excited for a vacation, your father and I were able to win a romantic cruise."
"That's nice." Cherry yawned.
"You don't sound very excited." Michelle pouted.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Cherry replied. "I'm just tired."
"Late night of dream training?" Michelle guessed.
"Mm-hmm..." Cherry nodded before she was packing all wrong due to the lack of sleep.
"Uh, let me get that, sweetie." Michelle smiled.
Cherry soon saw what she was doing and agreed.
Michelle smiled as she then helped her daughter. "How about we drive you to your friends and you can nap on the way?" she then suggested. "Would you like that?"
There was then light snoring heard and Michelle looked to see Cherry fell asleep in the middle of the floor.
"I'll take that as a yes." Michelle said.
Soon enough, Bud drove his truck while Michelle sat next to him and Cherry fell asleep in the back-seat, and where she deserved the rest.
"Cherry, we're here." Michelle smiled.
Cherry kept sleeping.
"Cherry? Cherry!" Bud called out.
"Sure, Princess Luna; I'll sprinkle the corn." Cherry smiled sleepily.
Bud and Michelle sighed before honking the horn.
Cherry shot up in the air. "WAKE UP, NEWBIES!"
"About time." Bud smirked.
Cherry soon came out with her bags and waved to her parents after they hugged her goodbye.
"We'll send some pictures from Jamaica." Michelle smiled.
"And I'll send back pictures." Cherry said.
"Be good..." Bud replied.
"Yes, Daddy..." Cherry said before picking up her stuff and leaving.
Bud and Michelle waved before driving off while Cherry went to meet the others to Lagoona's family spot.
"Hope I'm not late." She said.
Cleo, not surprisingly, had servants to help her carry her stuff.
"No surprise with that." Cherry said.
A couple of ghosts scared the servants which made them accidentally drop Cleo's luggage and crash into each other.
"Oh, no," Lagoona frowned. "I'm sorry, mate."
"It's okay; I think they're all right." Cherry said.
"Oh, it's no biggie," Cleo smirked. "I 'borrowed' that stuff from my big sister, Nefera."
"You did?" Cherry asked.
Lagoona rolled her eyes to that, but smiled.
Cherry made it to the bottom with the others before yawning again. "This must've been how Fievel felt during that Night Monster fiasco..." She muttered to herself. "I feel like I haven't slept in days."
"Isn't this going to be fun?" Frankie asked Cherry.
"Sure, lots of fun..." Cherry yawned with a sleepy smile. "Are we there yet, Clawdeen?"
"Just right this way." Clawdeen smiled as she led the way with a torch.
"That's good." Cherry yawned.
Clawdeen then took them to the end and there was a magnificent ship shown almost like a cruise which wowed the other girls.
"Here we go..." Cherry gave a small smile and they then boarded the ship, and once on it, they sailed out into the ocean waters.
The sun was bright and shining, but Cherry didn't mind it for once, probably because of the vacation endorphins.
"Ah... This is the life, huh, ghouls?" Draculaura smiled.
"Sure is." Cherry said.
"Best Spring Break ever." Abbey even agreed.
"Even though I'm used to the royal treatment, this is truly something special." Cleo said before sipping her drink.
"You said it." Cherry said.
"Nice to see you haven't gotten sick of the sea, Cherry, I hear you usually do on trips like this." Abbey smiled.
"I was trying to ignore that, thank you, Abbey." Cherry moaned to the Abominable Snowgirl.
"Oops, sorry." Abbey said.
"Incoming!" Cherry cried out, coming to the edge to hurl while Lagoona and Gil were together.
"You're gonna love the Great Barrier Reef, Gil," Lagoona smiled to her boyfriend. "It's the most beautiful place in the world~"
Gil seemed to still be anxious. "I just wish it wasn't so full of sea creatures..." he muttered to himself.
"Gil, you're startin' to sound like your parents." Lagoona told him before imitating his prejudice family of her own while Gil was nervous and scared of going into the ocean.
Cherry soon stopped throwing up and came back up, looking to them. "Well, believe it or not, Atticus used to be scared of the ocean."
"When?" Frankie asked.
"When we were very young..." Cherry said as she remembered the old days. "We were on a field trip, and-"
Flashback to a young Cherry and Atticus...
It was a warm and sunny day, so the orphanage caretaker thought it would be good to surprise some of the kids with a trip to the beach, and where it was going to be fun for the kids.
"Kids, get ready, we're going to the beach today!" The caretaker announced.
Almost everyone cheered to that announcement.
"Wahoo!" One of the boys cheered. "This is the best!"
Atticus shivered nervously.
Soon enough, the bus drove to the beach and the kids all ran out and went to either build sandcastles, bury each other in the sand, or go for a swim. Cherry decided to find seashells. Atticus was seen staying away from the ocean.
"What's with you?" Cherry asked Atticus.
"I-I just don't want to go in the water." Atticus said.
Cherry narrowed her eyes. "You look so hot... Why don't you soak?"
"Well, um, why aren't you swimming?" Atticus smirked.
Cherry opened her mouth, but then stopped before thinking of something. "Because these shells are calling my name."
"Whatever you say." Atticus said.
"Ah, go for a swim." Cherry replied, pushing him into the water.
Atticus yelped and waded in the water which made him have a panic attack, and where it got worse as the ocean dragged him in as a wave hit.
"Oops..." Cherry winced nervously.
Atticus screamed before being pulled under the water since he didn't know how to swim.
"I did not know about that." Cherry said.
"Cherry, did you push Atticus in the water?" The caretaker asked Cherry.
"No... He fell in..." Cherry replied. "Now, someone please save him."
The caretaker had a scolding look to Cherry before she soon swam into the water. Atticus soon blacked out under the water until he was saved by the orphanage caretaker, and looked surprised as dolphins helped. The dolphins chirped as they helped Atticus back to shore, almost as if they trusted him an knew him somehow. Atticus soon lay on the ground, he wasn't breathing just yet. The caretaker soon started to recite mouth-to-mouth CPR.
Within moments, Atticus coughed up water and his eyes fluttered open.
"Did you die?" Cherry asked.
"I thought I did." Atticus said.
"Oh, Atticus, if you don't like to go swimming, why did you go?" The caretaker frowned.
"I didn't," Atticus said before glaring behind him. "Someone pushed me."
"Uh, yeah, how dare they?!" Cherry glared innocently.
Atticus simply rolled his eyes.
"Atticus, it was the most amazing thing," The orphanage caretaker told the boy who had drowned. "These dolphins saved you."
"They did?" Atticus smiled.
"Yes, I wish I could prove it to you, but yes..." The orphanage caretaker replied. "It was odd, you think they'd known you or something."
End of Flashback
"Not sure if the dolphin thing really happened, but whatever..." Cherry shrugged.
"So, when did he stop having that fear?" Draculaura asked.
"Oh, yeah," Cherry replied. "One summer, he went on vacation with his family."
"Nice." Frankie said.
"Anyway, Gil, what are you so afraid of?" Cherry asked.
"Everything," Gil sulked. "There's all sorts of scary fish, and monsters that would just love to get their freshwater flippers on a guy like me. Plus, the normies have looted it so much, that you can't even see three feet down. Who knows what lies beneath?"
"Good point." Cherry said.
"But that doesn't mean you should judge it before you see it." Lagoona told her boyfriend.
Gil looked over and then pointed to a lump in the water. "What's that?"
"It's an island chain, mate." Lagoona rolled her eyes before the island seemed to move.
"Then why is it moving?" Cherry asked.
"Oh, no!" Lagoona gasped. "Someone released a Kraken!"
"Wait, what?!" Cherry panicked.
Gil felt scared as the Kraken raised its tentacle.
"I'm getting out of here!" Cherry yelped as she ran off from the tentacle.
"And go where?" Cleo asked.
"Anywhere but here!" Cherry cried out only to get caught. "Why?!"
Gil fainted from the Kraken before more tentacles raised up and smashed the boat.
"Yikes!" Cherry yelped.
Everyone seemed to black out.
Cherry was underwater and held her breath before she realized what she did once she saw her mermaid tail. "What am I doing?" she then hit her forehead with a laugh. "I'm a mermaid now," She swam up to shore and looked around. "Ghouls? Ghouls!"
"Over here, Cherry!" Frankie called back.
Cherry looked over and swam towards the others as the boat had been destroyed and they seemed to be on wooden boards with a sail almost like a ship since they were shipwrecked and Frankie carried a lantern, charging it with her neck bolts.
"What was that you were saying about the sea?" Gil deadpanned to his girlfriend. "Perfectly safe?"
"Well, at least it wasn't a shark." Cherry said.
A shark then suddenly appeared in the water. Cherry then slapped her hand to her mouth with wide eyes. Lagoona soon pet the shark to soothe it.
"Huh?" Cherry asked, being gobsmacked.
"You wanna come aboard, Cherry?" Clawdeen invited.
"I'm good with swimming." Cherry said.
"All right, if you say so." Clawdeen replied.
"Uh... Good thinking with that shark, Lagoona..." Cherry said nervously. "Shame that all sharks can't be like Kenny the Shark or Lenny from Shark Tale."
"I know, right?" Lagoona asked.
"I guess at least there's no Evil Manta." Cherry replied.
"And who is that?" Draculaura asked.
"I never met him, but Atticus told me to watch out for him if I ever go in the sea alone." Cherry shrugged.
"Did he give you a description?" Frankie asked.
"He said he was basically this humanoid manta ray with a cheesy mustache and had glowing eyes..." Cherry replied. "I think he had a cape too... And he has this creepy, evil, over the top laugh..."
Lagoona and Gil were soon heard with a gulp as they looked wide-eyed and where the shark from earlier even looked scared.
"That dude sounds really ugly," Cherry laughed as she didn't look behind her just yet. "I'd hate to be seen around him, whoever or wherever he is."
"He's evil, and where Atticus was right to warn you about him." Lagoona said.
"I bet... I can only imagine..." Cherry replied.
Someone then tapped her shoulder.
"What?" Cherry glared as she turned around and her eyes then widened nervously. "Yoink!"
"What's wrong, Cherry?" Frankie asked before she saw who Cherry saw. "Whoa!"
Cherry sunk slightly in the water, burying her face in the water while looking nervous.
"So, you're Atticus's friend..." Evil Manta said to Cherry. "Where is he then?"
Cherry poked her head out. "Not tellin' ya."
"Tell me or else your friends won't live to see another day." Evil Manta threatened.
"Heh... Did I say I wasn't telling you?" Cherry smiled nervously. "I meant to say not then, but I will now..."
"I knew it." Evil Manta smirked.
"He's in Rio..." Cherry replied.
"LIES!" Evil Manta yelled at her, blowing her hair back. "I was just there, and I only saw birds!"
"I don't know what to tell you, sir, he left for there last night..." Cherry shook slightly in the water. "Wait, did you say you saw two birds?"
"Did I stutter...?" Evil Manta narrowed his eyes at her.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Cherry smiled nervously. "Just making sure I heard you right."
"Now, tell me, where he is?!" Evil Manta glared.
"I don't know what to tell you, but he's in Rio, maybe you're not looking hard enough!" Cherry glared before she gasped and cupped her mouth once she realized she said that to Evil Manta of all people.
"I'll search every island if I have to." Evil Manta glared.
"Heh... Very well then..." Cherry smiled nervously. "Good luck... Tell him I said hi."
Evil Manta soon dove under.
"Phew!" Cherry breathed in relief. "I'm glad that's over."
Another ship seemed to be sailing in from the fog, looking grim and mysterious.
"Guys, I think I see another ship." Cherry told the others once she saw the other ship.
Everyone then tried to get the other ship's attention so that they could get some help.
"Help!" Cherry screamed.
The Monster High girls joined in, hoping the person in the ship would hear them. It took a few moments, but the ship then released fireworks.
"They see us!" Clawdeen told the others.
"Wahoo!" Cherry cheered.
They soon went over to the rescue ship right away. Cherry jumped into the water, splashing like when Ariel found Prince Eric's ship that night as she went to join them.