A/N: So people liked my "Beauty and the Beast" story, so I decided to do another Disney Renessaince film. This one isn't as well-liked, I know, especially by the women, I know. Yes, the main character gives it all up for a guy. Yes, she lets the guy beat the villain. But she saves his life twice, and she's praised for being independently-minded, and so, she will be played by one of my favourite TD women!
Story: Princess Bridgette, the youngest of seven mermaids, is curious about the humans above her underwater world. She doesn't mean to be careless with her life underneath the waves, but her curiosity gets the better with her, and after saving the life of a prince, her wish to learn more, and even to experience humanity, is sealed. But her exiled and evil mother is watching, and determined to overthrow the kingdom and take back the queenship from Bridgette's stepmother. And her youngest daughter, who hardly remembers her, could be the key...
Oh, and this will have modern changes, too. So don't complain about cars, cellphones, shellphones, iPads...
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Total Drama. Nor do I own the story, or Disney's version of The Little Mermaid. How I wish I did!
A few months ago, down by a beach, there was a castle, ruled by a benevolent king. His kingdom was small, but liberal, where most everyone was open, friendly, and got along most of the time. However, the king was concerned about his son. Prince Geoff was popular among the people, since he was handsome, friendly and relaxed, but his eighteenth birthday was coming up, which meant that he would become eligible to the throne. But he had to be married before he could take on kingship, and although he'd met many women in the kingdom who would be well-suited to the place of queen, he'd never found one he'd felt a connection with.
"I know there's a girl out there for me." he would say when he was talking with some of the other men his age who asked why. "I just haven't found her yet."
Geoff spent most of his time out on ships with his friends, having a good time. And in his opinion, having a good time was what life was for.
On the ocean floor, there was a kingdom of merpeople, very unlike the one above the waves. It was ruled by the sadistic King Chris McLean, who unknowingly isolated many of the people in his power. It wasn't that he was heartless, but he had very few shreds of goodness in him, to the point of banishing his one-time queen and marrying the beautiful Courtney fifteen years later. She was only twenty, a month older than the oldest of his seven daughters, but Chris considered her more of a status symbol than a true wife.
Oh, yes, his daughters. Some of the nicest parts of Chris' personality came out because of his daughters, although he wasn't around much, and the girls all addressed him by name. His seven were, from eldest to youngest:
Heather, who acted superior because of being the eldest.
Dakota, who was much sweeter, but followed Heather's lead unless she felt like she was being too mean.
Eva, who was moody and quiet, but violent when she was pushed.
Gwen, who was well-liked by all her sisters except Heather, but mostly quiet and preferred to be on her own.
Izzy, who was energetic and often a bit psychotic, having many tall tales that no one believed.
Sierra, who was Izzy's partner in crime and also the closest to Chris.
And finally, there was the youngest, sixteen-year-old Bridgette, a free spirit with a friendly nature and a singing voice that made Chris push her into many talent shows in the ocean kingdom. And that was where the story begins.
It wasn't a talent show, this time. It was a concert that Chris had decided, that all the kingdom was forced to attend, featuring Courtney as conductor and the seven girls performing. Up to that point, Bridgette was confined to talent shows for young girls, but at sixteen, she could finally sing professionally.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Chris muttered to his wife. "Especially Bridgette."
"If she could remember to show up to rehearse." Courtney muttered bitterly. Bridgette never meant to forget rehearsals, but she never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and she was never in the same place long enough to be reminded where she needed to be.
The concert began, with the six older girls beginning the concert with their introductions. And then they went to introduce... "Our sister, Bri-"
But there was no one in the right place.
Courtney gasped, and left her place to check it was true. "That girl better have a good excuse." she muttered. She liked Bridgette, but not enough to let her rule-breaking go too far.
Meanwhile, the blonde mermaid was completely unaware of the concert she'd ruined. But there was a shipwreck she'd been told about, and her curiosity led her right there. She glanced back. "DJ, are you coming?"
Her best friend, a muscly dark-skinned merman with a dark green tail and a surprisingly cowardly nature for such a strong man, joined her. "Sorry, Bridge. I'm just...are you sure you want to do this?" He hadn't remembered the concert, either, but he was always the voice of caution when Bridgette got her more adventurous ideas.
"I have to know what's in there!" Bridgette whispered excitedly. "You don't have to come with me, if you don't want to."
"No way am I not coming!" DJ said firmly. "If you get in trouble, who's gonna get you out of it?"
"If you don't take risks, you'll never get to do anything!" Bridgette said reasonably, as she spotted the shipwreck in the distance. "Tell you what. I'll go in. You could keep guard and watch out for sharks."
Bridgette pushed herself through one of the portholes, but at the mention of sharks, DJ had gone pale and followed her.
The shipwreck wasn't too interesting, at first, but then Bridgette caught sight of something shiny. "It's like a trident, with four prongs instead of three." she said, narrowing her eyes at it.
"But what is it?" DJ asked.
Bridgette shrugged. "I'll ask Lindsay." Lindsay was a dim-witted but sweet natured seagull. Mermaids could talk to sea creatures, and it seemed that seagulls counted, so Bridgette often went to Lindsay for questions about the human world, so different to her own.
"Bridge," DJ said shakily, "Did you mean it, when you thought sharks might be around here?"
Bridgette pretended not to hear, because she had no idea how to eliminate DJ's fears, and she was starting to feel irritated at his fears and didn't want to show it. She found another object – a strange wooden carving with a hole in both ends, and that's when DJ saw something in the window of the shipwreck.
"Bridgette, behind you!" he screamed.
And it broke through.
"SHARK!" DJ screamed. Bridgette immediately became serious, grabbed DJ's hand, and prayed that her sky blue fins wouldn't fail her at that moment.
"To the surface!" Bridgette gasped out finally, as the shark got distracted. "Maybe we can find Lindsay."
Luckily, Lindsay was hanging out on a rock by the shore, so she was easy to find. "Bridge!" She exclaimed, rubbing her head against the mermaid's arm, the seagull's version of a hug. She turned to DJ. "Lovely to see you again, TJ!" she said, getting his name wrong as usual.
"DJ, Linds." DJ corrected her patiently.
"Lindsay, we found some really weird things in that shipwreck." Bridgette said, bringing them out. Lindsay inspected the four-pronged trident first.
"Ooh, pretty!" she exclaimed. "This is very rare. I think it's used to comb hair. It's called a...um, a hairhopper."
Bridgette took Lindsay's word at it, and then said "And the other thing?"
"Oh, that's a..." Lindsay paused. "I can't remember. Let me think...I know it's commonly used. It's some kind of musical instrument. A...trumpetter!"
"Music?" An expression of horror appeared on Bridgette's face. "Oh no, the concert was today, wasn't it? Chris is gonna kill me! I had a solo!"
"And me!" DJ said. "I was supposed to be watching – when he knows I was with you the whole time..."
"I'll take responsibility. You don't need to be involved." Bridgette assured him, then looked up at Lindsay. "Gotta go, I'm really sorry. Thanks, Linds!"
"Come back soon!" Lindsay called as the merpeople dived back underwater.
So that's the first chapter. I hope you think it's OK – I feel as if I have to make Bridgette a bit OOC because she is much less careless than Ariel ever was. I hope I've got DJ down all right, though. And I know it's a bit weird, having Courtney as the girls' stepmother when I made Chris their father. Look at it this way – he wants her for status over sex. And on that point, have any idea who the girls' real mother is?