Here's the next chapter, you guys! Hope you like it!
(Oh, and just to clarify on the ages of the KH guys, Sora is 16, the twins are 15 and Cloud is 18. So technically speaking, given the time period TLM is set in, they are all around the age in which they can get married (I base this on Ariel herself being 16, as she got married at the end of the movie, so...))
Scuttle was a simple-minded bird, just fiddling with a telescope while perched up in his nest atop a pile of debris on an extremely small and excluded piece of land. Various human things were scattered around the ground, most likely since there was nowhere to put anything. The seagull suddenly heard a noise from the water, and turned in its direction as he put the (wrong side of the) telescope to his eye and looked through it.
"Merfolks be approachin'!" Scuttle mused to himself as he saw distant figures of Sora and Ariel, along with Flounder floating close to them. But as he lowered the telescope from his eye, he found that he was face to face with Sora, who giggled with Ariel in response to seeing the seagull up to his usual antics, "You guys are sure fast, you know!"
"Heya, Scuttle!" Ariel greeted as she took off her bag and placed it on the surface in front of her, "Look what we found!"
Scuttle flew straight to perch himself in front of the mermaid as he took out the artifact from the bag and examined it, "It looks like you've found yourself something really special!" he cried with excitement on his face.
"Why, what is it?" Sora asked, hyper-actively.
"Why, it's a dinglehopper!" The seagull explained, as he brought the artifact…erm, dinglehopper...to the top of his head and started twirling it amongst his feathers.
"What's it do?" Flounder asked, as he skeptically watched Scuttle twist the dinglehopper.
"Humans use these little babies…" Scuttle paused as he took out the dinglehopper, causing his hair to puff upward in response, "…to straighten their hair out!"
"Really?" Sora asked, with doubt. Underwater, they had brushes for that specific purpose. Why wouldn't a human think to do that as well? Huh, maybe they just liked to approach things differently.
"They sure do!" Scuttle said as he pushed his beak against Sora's nose, to indicate how serious he was. He then quickly pulled back and continued, "And you've got yourself a shiny one, too! Must've been a real find down there!"
"You have NO idea…" Sora hummed as he turned to Ariel, who gave him a chuckle in response and stuck her tongue out playfully.
"Yeah!" Flounder chimed in, "There was this shark, and-and Sora managed to stop it by-"
"C'mon Flounder, we don't need to bore Scuttle with that story…" Sora brushed off, but still kept a prideful expression plastered on his face.
"Oh, no, go ahead!" Scuttle said as he moved his wing to encourage the fish to continue, "It's all music to my ears!"
"Music…?" Ariel suddenly asked aloud, as her concert finally hit her on the head, "Oh, my gosh, the concert, I'm gonna so late-and oh, Daddy's gonna kill me!" The mermaid then gave Scuttle a quick appreciative wave, "Thank you Scuttle, for your help! Goodbye!" She quickly grabbed her dinglehopper and shoved it in her bag, before placing it around her and diving back underwater, with Sora and Flounder close behind.
"Anytime, sweetie!" The seagull cried after her, but she was long gone.
Back underwater, Sora turned to the mermaid with a sly grin, "You know, I did tell you before…"
Ariel could only huff in response as she sped up. Oh, how she hoped the concert hadn't started yet!
"Hey, Ariel, wait up!"
Unbeknownst to the three, they were being watched by someone. Only, this someone wasn't there, per-say, but rather had their henchmen spying on them for her. Both mermen had a glowing yellow eye; the redheaded one in the left eye, and the brunette in the right eye. This in turn formed an image for their mistress back at her evil lair.
"That's it. Hurry home princess…" her deep, emasculating, yet feminine voice boomed from where she lay in the cave. She then pondered for a few moments, and smirked, "Axel, Terra, dears, do keep an eye on them both for me. I think I have another diversion in stall for them..."
"It's not with another Heartless, is it, Ursula?" Terra asked, "Because they managed to fool the Aquatank."
"Oh, no, let's not bother with that crap!" Axel smirked, "Why not just ambush them!"
"Don't stray away from the plot!" Ursula commanded, "They'll just fight their way out of that. Oh no, that's not how's we going to do things…"
"So, we're just gonna wait it out?" Axel asked skeptically, "Why?"
"A woman requires a moment or two to think," Ursula smirked to herself (not like their was anyone else where she was to smirk towards), "And we'll give the mermaid that chance, and soon she'll be coming to me. After all, she may be the key to Triton's undoing…"
"Perhaps we aren't too late!" Sora reassured the mermaid princess as they made their way in the concert hall through a back exit, "Who knows, maybe everyone will be patient this time!"
"I doubt it…" Flounder mused, "King Triton has one heck of a temper…"
"Nah, I'm sure he'll be fine!" Ariel waved off as she saw her sisters' empty vanities. They must've finished, then! Oh, sweet Posiden! "Uh, guys…?"
"Yes?" Sora swam over, "Did you find anyone?"
"Well, no, but I'm guessing everyone's packed up."
Sora's heart began to beat rapidly in shock. Oh, if Cloud were here, he'd surely-
"Well, well, well!" A voice said from behind.
"Look who we found!" Another voice, which sounded almost similar, added.
Phew, it's not Cloud.
"Roxas? Ven?" Sora turned around to see his twin brothers staring at them with satisfaction, "What're you doing here?"
"Well, we excused ourselves from the palace by saying we'd search for you in the marketplace…" Ven began.
"But then Cloud insisted he'd best come along because he seriously wanted to tell you off…" Roxas was interrupted by Sora, who punched in the shoulder, "And so he started chasing after us, but we've left tracks around the kingdom so hopefully he shouldn't find us for a long while."
"Doesn't sound like a good plan," Sora said doubtfully.
"Oh, relax, Sora, it'll soon bore him searching!" Roxas winked at them,
"Yeah," Ventus nodded, "He probably thinks we've gone back to the palace anyway!"
"How'd Daddy take the news?" Ariel asked.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" a deeper voice asked. A merman figure revealed itself from behind one of the walls, revealing himself to be Cloud. Sora and the twins looked at him with fright as Ariel and Flounder simply stared on cautiously, "Come on, Ariel, let's get you back to your father. He really needs to have a word with you." Cloud then sharply turned towards the two boys, "And as for you three…I'll deal with you as well!"
"You aren't the boss of us!" Ventus retorted.
"I am when it's just the four of us."
Sora was about to object, but came to realize that his brother was indeed right, and so retracted his thoughts. The twins were the first to swim with Cloud, with Ariel, Sora and Flounder following suit.
"Oh, Daddy's gonna be so mad…" Ariel whispered to Sora.
"What ever will I do with you, Ariel?"
The King was indeed furious. Triton sat at his throne with his trident firmly planted in his right hand. It swished swiftly with every gesture he made, and as they seemed to get faster, the prongs were looking ever so menacing. Sebastian was also around, perched on one of the arms of the throne. The Strifes were also allowed to stay around as they watched a family friend of their yell at his daughter, but of course, they were used to this kind of thing; not only from their frequent visits to the kingdom, but also because their parents also yelled at them a lot for causing trouble.
"Look, Daddy, please, I didn't mean to forget, I-" Ariel attempted to excuse herself, only to be cut off by her father.
"The entire kingdom, Ariel!" Triton boomed, "The entire kingdom was let down, and the entire celebration was in shambles due to your careless behavior!"
"Careless and reckless behavior!" Sebastian added with as much anger he could conjure, and swam closer to Ariel, "Dat concert was gonna showcase my distinguished career, but now it's all ruined! Now, I'm the laughing stock of the kingdom thanks to you!"
"Hey, cool it Sebastian…" Sora objected as he swam to Ariel's side, appearing to challenge the crustacean, "It wasn't her fault, OK?"
"Sora…" Cloud hissed, "Get back here…" The older teen's anger was only further stirred when he found that his brother wasn't listening. He stayed put, not daring to interfere himself as the twins watched on in shock and curiosity.
"Are you saying you're to blame for this?" Triton channeled his frustration to the young merman.
"Daddy…" Ariel huffed disapprovingly as she crossed her arms.
"No he's not!" Flounder, who had been cowering in Ariel's hair and only just emerged from it, countered, "There was this big shark thing, a-and then we…and then we just…and then…but then Sora stopped it and we were safe, but then this seagull came by, and said that this thing we had was something or other, and-"
"Seagull?" Triton stared off in the distance before meeting with Ariel's innocent blue eyes, "Oh, Ariel, you've been going up to see the surface, haven't you?" He asked, pointing his trident at her. He wouldn't dare do anything bad to her, but her was so incredibly angry at her, and also, it wasn't like it was that close to her anyway.
"Not that far! Nothing happened!" Ariel shrugged.
"Ariel, I keep telling you again and again," Triton began, "You could've been taken by one of those infernal humans that lurk around up above – those…those…barbarians!"
"They're not barbarians, Daddy!" Ariel countered, "And I will prove that to you!"
"You never will!" Triton firmly exclaimed, "As long as you live in my kingdom, you will follow my orders, young lady." He got up from his throne and approached his daughter, placing two fingers on his chin, "I do this because I love you. Do you think I want my youngest daughter swept away from me by some fish-eater?"
"To be fair, she's sixteen. Even as your youngest, she does deserve some freedom…" Sora weakly pointed out, only to be hushed by an angered stare of death coming from the king.
Ariel got her father's attention and turned to him in anger, "Daddy, if you'd just give them a chance-"
"Not another word about the human world, Ariel." Triton dismissed, "Is that clear?!" He looked on as his daughter swam out of the throne-room, breaking down into tears as she proceeded to make her exit.
"Ariel…" Sora followed Ariel's path, knowing that she needed some comfort, and Flounder also trailed along after the merman.
"Oh, my…" King Triton sighed as he sat back down on his throne, putting a hand to his head, "I always hate yelling at that child…do you think I was too hard on her?"
"Of course not, Your Majesty." Cloud shook his head, only for the twins to roll their eyes. Of course he'd say that… "You had every right to be mad."
"Teenagers," Sebastian mused in disgust, "They think they know everything…"
"Hey, there are teenagers in the room, you know!" Roxas objected, before Ventus kept him restrained.
"Why, if Ariel was my daughter, I'd show her who was in charge around here!" The crustacean rambled on, "None of dis human nonsense would be a thing, I tell ya, mon!"
"I suppose you're right, Sebastian." Triton nodded as the crab took the opportunity to grin in triumph. Of course he was right. Why wouldn't he be? "Ariel needs to be constantly supervised."
"She sure does, You Majesty!" Sebastian nodded.
"And you are just the crab to do it!" The crab found one of the King's fingers prodding at his shell, at which he recoiled at in discomfort.
Sebastian was left dumbfounded, at a loss for words, "Uh…what now, You Majesty?"
As Roxas and Ventus trying to hide their laughter, and Cloud simply hovering in place, King Triton smiled, "You heard me. You can supervise Ariel to make sure she stays away from the human world."
"Yes, Your Majesty…" Sebastian reluctantly complied. He was going to object, but he'd seen the King's anger twice today, so he'd rather not make him angry a third time. And with that, he made his way out of the throne-room, out to find Ariel.
"This I gotta see!" Ventus smirked as Roxas nodded. They exchanged glances with Cloud, who sighed and nodded his head. They then swam out to follow Sebastian, chattering away about what might happen even though the crab was only just in front of them.
Sebastian could have sworn he heard the King chuckling in the distance, huffing in response. Why'd he get stuck with the icky jobs?
So Axel and Terra serve as Ursula's trusty henchmen...wonder how that'll turn out...