Mermando and Wendy hung their heads miserably as Gideon pulled them along.
"Oh poor little merpeople." Gideon mocked. "It's not you two I'm after, I have a much bigger fish to-"
"Gideon stop!" Nereido ordered, pointing his trident at him.
Yup, Soos had reached Nereido in time and was able to explain the situation to him on the way to the rescue. Nereido was shocked about what Mermando did, but didn't have time to think about it. He had to get his son away from that evil sorcerer.
He wasn't the only one there either, Dan had come as well. He was there when Soos showed up and no way was he going to let an evil sorcerer take his daughter away from him.
"Why King Nereido." Gideon chuckled. "How are you?"
"Let them go." Nereido said with a cold tone.
"You'd better." Dan punched a fist into a hand.
"Not a chance bubs, they're mine now!" Gideon snapped, showing Nereido and Dan the contract. "We made a deal."
Bud and Robbie had showed up, and Bud kept Mermando captive while Robbie got a hold of Wendy.
"Let me go you slimy little-!" Wendy snapped.
"Oh no, you're not escaping me this time." Robbie grinned lustfully. "You are mine now."
Wendy's blood turned cold. She realized that Robbie was working for Gideon...meaning she had been tricked.
"Papa I'm sorry!" Mermando cried desperately. "I-I didn't mean to!"
Furious, Nereido tried to destroy the contract with his trident. It didn't work. Gideon laughed triumphantly.
"You see? The contract is legal, binding and completely unbreakable." He gloated. "Even for you. Of course I was always was a guy with an eye for a bargain...problem though. This bargain won't include Wendy. I promised her to a friend of mine and I don't break my promises."
Dan glared murderously at Robbie, who just smirked triumphantly. The only way Wendy would be free of him now is if he were to be killed by someone outside Wendy's or Mermando's family. He knew that Dan or Nereido would probably try to kill him, so he asked Gideon to make sure that he would be immune to that. Of course there was no way they were going to let Nereido or Dan know about the loophole.
"Anyway, the son of the Sea King is a very precious commodity." Gideon continued as the contract swum to Mermando and swirled around him. "But I might be willing to exchange for someone even better."
The swirl started to shrink Mermando but didn't go all the way. It paused as Gideon continued. A burst of magic from the swirl then connected Robbie and Wendy like a glowing rope, ensuring that Wendy would have to stay within a few feet of him and also ensuring that Robbie would not be able to be killed by her family or Mermando's family.
Meanwhile, Dipper and Mabel went out in a lifeboat with a couple harpoons nearby.
"What are you two doing?" Queen Pines called after them worriedly.
"Mom I lost him once, and I am not going to lose him again!" Mabel retorted.
"And I'm not losing Wendy either!" Dipper agreed.
Back under the ocean, Nereido knew what Gideon was talking about and Dan was furious that he couldn't do the same thing for his daughter. Well not entirely the same thing, after all...you know.
"So, do we have a deal?" Gideon grinned.
Nereido reluctantly replaced Mermando's signature with his own. He too wished he could've replaced Wendy's signature, but it wasn't possible.
"Ha! It's done then!" Gideon grinned trimphantly.
The magic swirl restored Mermando to his rightful height, left him, and swirled around Nereido instead.
"No..." Mermando said, horrified. "No..."
Nereido shrunk all the way down into a polyp.
"Your majesty..." Soos said sympathetically.
"Oh old friend..." Dan shook his head empathetically.
"Papa?" Mermando was close to tears.
Luckily, the glow of the magic alerted Mabel and Dipper to their whereabouts. After taking a huge breath each, they dove in with their harpoons.
Gideon picked up Nereido's crown and trident.
"At last...it's mine..." Gideon grinned.
He laughed as Mermando kneeled down to his polyp-dad. Sadness turned into anger.
"You...you...you monster!" Mermando snapped, trying to chokehold Gideon.
Gideon threw him off so that he was now lying against a rock.
"Don't fool with me you little brat!" Gideon snapped, aiming the trident at Mermando. "Contract or no contract I'll-!"
A harpoon scratched his arm. Shocked, Gideon turned around and saw a furious Mabel glaring at him.
"Mabel?" Mermando was both impressed and worried.
"Why you little troll!" Gideon growled.
"Mabel look out!" Mermando called.
"After her!" Gideon ordered Bud.
Bud swam after Mabel, who tried to swim back to the surface.
And where was Dipper? Well around this point he had found Robbie and Wendy, and was also shocked upon seeing that Wendy was bound to Robbie through magic. Since Robbie looked unarmed Dipper set his harpoon aside so that he could save it for later. He then swam over to Robbie and Wendy.
"Dipper?" Wendy beamed, impressed that he was willing to go this far to get her back.
"You know him-?" Robbie frowned, and became even more furious upon seeing Wendy smile at him. "You love him...no! You're supposed to love me!"
Robbie picked up a sharp rock and charged towards Dipper. Dipper dodged and punched Robbie in the face. He then grabbed Robbie's wrists so that Robbie couldn't use the rock against him. However he forgot about the tail, because Robbie was able to push Dipper off and make him lose his grip. He then sliced Dipper across the chest with the rock, causing a lot of blood to come out.
"NO!" Wendy cried, seeing Dipper double-over with pain.
"Ha!" Robbie scoffed. "Some 'prince charming'. You see? I am the guy for you." He added as he swam back to Wendy and looked at her lecherously.
"No..." Wendy sobbed.
Suddenly, a harpoon impaled Robbie in the back and came out through his chest! Robbie gasped with pain and shock and turned around: Dipper was still alive, and was also glaring at him.
"How did..." Robbie said weakly, dying.
The magic connecting him to Wendy faded in and out.
"No..." Robbie gasped, trying to fight off his death.
He couldn't, the magic disappeared and he sunk to the ground, weighed down by the harpoon.
Wendy swam over to Dipper and hugged him before swimming him to the surface. She helped him onto the lifeboat.
"I thought you..." She almost sobbed.
"No..." Dipper winced. "It's just...the saltwater... It's making the wound feel worse than it should. Land creature thing. I'm not going to die, he didn't cut me deep enough thanks to my clothes. It looked worse than it is."
"Oh." Wendy said with relief.
"Wait, where's Mabel?" Dipper looked around worriedly.
Meanwhile, Bud had caught up with Mabel and was trying to pull her back down in an attempt to drown her. He didn't succeed, Soos had swum up to him and clamped down on his tail.
"OW!" Bud let go of Mabel, who made it back to the surface. "I'm really getting tired of you, you old grouch!"
"That's 'old crab' to you!" Soos retorted.
Bud grabbed Soos and started to choke him, but was stopped by Wendy who had dove back down to check on Mabel. Bud then punched Wendy, knocking her out, and swam back to bring Mabel back down. At that point Dipper was trying to help her back into the lifeboat.
"Sis! NO!" Dipper cried as Bud succeeded in pulling Mabel back underwater.
He wished he could dive down and help, but he wasn't exactly in the best condition. The saltwater was still stinging his wound.
Now Gideon had changed his mind: Mabel was too strong a fighter for him to force into marriage and he didn't want a hypnotized queen for his wife. So if he couldn't have her, then no one could.
"Say goodbye to your little sweetheart." Gideon sneered to Mermando as he prepared to kill Mabel with the trident.
Desperate, Mermando threw off Gideon's aim and made him kill Bud instead.
"Bud!" Gideon gasped. "My father..."
Mermando and Mabel took advantage of Gideon's momentary distraction and swam back to the surface. Wendy had woken up as well and also swam to the surface. She and Mermando helped Dipper help Mabel into the lifeboat.
After seeing the three of them escape, Gideon furiously used the trident to increase his size. Soos and Dan froze with fear as Gideon grew bigger than a whale...
"You two have got to get away from here." Wendy said to Dipper and Mabel.
"Sí, inmediatamente." Mermando agreed.
"No." Mabel shook her head determinedly.
"We're not leaving you." Dipper agreed.
Just then, Gideon's laughing evil head poked out of the water. Dipper, Mabel, Mermando, and Wendy looked at him with horror.
"I think we'd better leave him though..." Dipper said weakly.
"You pitiful insignificant little fools!" Gideon said.
"Look out!" Mabel cried.
All four of them dove out of the way before one of Gideon's tentacles could smash them. It did smash the lifeboat though.
"Now I am the ruler of all the ocean!" Gideon said as he created a storm. "The waves obey my every whim."
Dan and Soos had snapped out of their scared state by this point, and had also reached the surface to check on Mermando and Wendy. They couldn't see them in the storm, but unfortunately they could see Gideon. Who couldn't?
"You know, when I said that there was going to be a hurricane of a battle I didn't mean it this literally." Soos remarked awkwardly.
Dipper, Mabel, Mermando, and Wendy weren't having much luck either, a wave had separated them into two groups. Dipper didn't even have time to concentrate on his pain because he was too busy making sure that he and Mabel stayed afloat.
"Mabel!" Mermando cried.
"Dipper!" Wendy cried.
"The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!" Gideon declared as he caused a giant underwater spout.
The spout sucked up a bunch of shipwrecks, allowing Dipper and Mabel to grab the rope of one and climb onto it without Gideon knowing. It was a little hard keeping their balance on foot, so they stayed on their hands and knees.
"Now what?" Dipper gasped for air as he clutched his chest.
"You okay?" Mabel asked with concern.
"Yeah. Salt in an open wound you know?"
"Oh yeah...Dipper look!"
Dipper turned to where she was pointing and saw that the ship they entered had a very sharp point on the front.
"Great idea!" Dipper grinned, running to the helm; well, kinda stumbling really.
"Dipper wait, what are you doing?" Mabel asked, catching up to him after getting hit with a small wave.
"I'm going to save our true loves...not to mention the entire ocean." Dipper said as he grabbed the helm.
"No, get out of here I'll do it." Mabel shook her head.
"I'm not leaving you." Dipper said with meaning.
Mabel remembered the last time he said that. She smiled.
"I'm not leaving you either." She grabbed the helm with a hand. "I guess that only means one thing."
"Mystery twins?" Dipper smiled as he held out his fist.
"Mystery twins." Mabel bopped his fist with her free hand.
They then both held hands as they turned the helm together.
Now Mermando and Wendy by this point had grabbed a rock to keep the waves from moving them all around, but Gideon saw them and tried to kill them with the trident. They dove out of the way in time but ended up on the sea floor at the bottom of the waterspout. They were trapped, and Gideon knew it so he decided to have some fun. He tortured them with a few on-purpose misaims before moving in for the final kill.
"So much for true love!" He sneered.
Mermando and Wendy hugged each other and cringed.
Just then, Dipper and Mabel turned the ship at the right point and stabbed Gideon in the gut with the sharp end. He cried with pain and shock as electricity surged through his body. He started to sink, but he wasn't going to die without an attempt at killing Dipper and Mabel. He pulled the ship down with him with his tentacles, not knowing that Dipper and Mabel had already dove to safety earlier.
Mermando and Wendy were relieved, but also worried about their true loves. They also knew they had to get out of here, and fortunately Gideon's death caused the waterspout to start to disappear, making it easier for Mermando and Wendy to re-enter the ocean.
As for Soos and Dan, they watched with horror as they saw Gideon die.
Dipper and Mabel crawled onto shore and collapsed with exhaustion. Pain as well, if you're referring to Dipper.