"Ariel?" Sora called out. He and his friends had been looking for Ariel since leaving her grotto. But so far, they had seen no sign of her. No head nor fin, nothing. "Ariel, where are you?" Ruby called as well. She couldn't have gotten that far, even if they had lingered in her grotto for a while. Yet the fact they hadn't found her yet was disconcerting. "Ariel!?"
"Will you two keep it down?! We don't know if the Heartless are still around! What if they hear you!?" Weiss whispered sharply. Yang let out a sigh and rolled her eyes at her teammate's understandable, yet unhelpful attitude at the situation. "Jeez, Weiss. Why do you have to be such a wet blanket when we're trying to find a friend? It's just like when Blake ran away." "Yang!" Weiss sharply shushed her blonde teammate, hoping that Blake didn't hear that. But sure enough, the sharp ears of the frowning faunus most definitely picked it up as she turned toward Weiss and asked, "Oh was she?" The flustered Weiss sputtered briefly under Blake's scrutinizing gaze. "I-I was upset! And besides, I told you I had time to think about what happened back then! P-Plus this isn't the same situation at all, Yang!"
"Guys, this isn't the time. Wherever she is, we need to find her and apologize." Ruby interjected sharply. "Ruby's right. Heartless or no Heartless, we need to find Ariel. If something happens to her, Triton will be even more furious." Jaune agreed, REALLY not wanting to suffer through another lecture from the Sea King. NOBODY wanted to go through that again. "But where could she be?" Goofy asked, looking under...a little rock. "Well not there obviously, you big palooka." Donald said, slapping Goofy's shell...which only ended up hurting HIM more than it did Goofy.
"Maybe she went back to the palace?" Nora said, earning a dry look from Ren. "After what her father did, that doesn't seem likely, Nora." he said, making Nora a bit bashful. "Still...I think it would at least be worth a look." Pyrrha suggested.
They all swam to the palace. Inside, Ariel was leading Ursula to the throne room where Ursula followed closely at the side. The trident floated behind the throne on a small pedestal and as Ariel took it she floated to Ursula.
"Ariel?" the voice of Triton said as he entered the throne room from one side of the open archways. After he had time to cool off he had been thinking about his behavior, the man felt overcome with guilt. "I think I may have been a little-"
His words stopped short and eyes widened in shock when he saw who was beside his daughter. The sea witch chuckled wickedly, waving her fingers to the King. "Long time, no see, Triton."
"Ursula!" Triton bellowed in growing anger. "What are you doing here?! You were banished from the palace!"
Ariel was a little uncomfortable while watching the two of them bicker and Ursula grinned more wickedly. "Your daughter invited me." she said before snatching the Trident from Ariel and laughing maniacally.
Triton blanched with shock, looking toward the throne where he normally rested the Trident, realizing what the sea witch's scheme was. "Give that back, you witch!" Triton shouted furiously, before charging at her with the ferocity of a hunting orca.
Ursula narrowed her eyes, aiming the trident's prongs at him when giving an amused tone as she said, "Not a chance." A bolt of lightning sent Triton reeling back and hitting his throne as he yelled in pain, slumping weakly into the seat.
"Daddy!" The moment she saw her father struck, Ariel was heartbroken and swam to his side with every ounce of speed she could muster.
Though he was still alive, Triton was in great pain to the point he could barely move or keep his eyes open as he weakly turned his head to his daughter. Ursula laughed maniacally, basking in her victory. "The trident is mine at last! And I couldn't have done it without your help, my dear."
Those gracious words were laced with wicked intent. Ariel felt terrible as she stayed by her injured father's side. She couldn't believe Ursula was doing this after the promise she made to help her get to other worlds. "Ursula, no! I didn't want this!" Ariel pleaded sorrowfully. She was upset with her father for what he did, but the last thing she wanted was for him to be hurt.
"Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders?" Ursula asked mockingly, driving Ariel's guilt even deeper. She knew precisely which buttons to push to get Ariel to do what she wanted. And now, thanks to her frustration toward her father, and the wide-eyed, innocent desire to see other worlds, Ariel had given Ursula the very thing that would help her conquer Atlantica. And speaking of other worlds. "Oh, yes. We had a deal, didn't we?" she said, grinning maliciously at the horrified Ariel and weakened Triton. "Time for a little journey...To the dark world of the Heartless!" she proclaimed, raising the trident high.
But just as the mighty weapon began to illuminate with power, Flotsam and Jetsam swam up to their mistress to inform her, "We cannot find the Keyhole." "They Keyhole is not here." "What?!" Ursula yelled out angrily. All the time she'd spent watching Ariel, the boy with the Keyblade, and his nosy companions, all the carefully planned manipulations of Triton's daughter, and the Keyblade wasn't in the palace. She was practically steaming with fury.
"Ariel!" Ursula turned at the sound of the youthful, worried voice of the red haired huntress. And sure enough, leading the way was the boy with the key. "Why, we have company." she said, her face shifting into a grin. "I'm afraid you're a little late, handsome. Hmhmhmhm." With that taunt which was...mildly disturbing for Sora, Ursula engulfed herself in a cloud of ink. When it cleared as Sora and his friends neared her, Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam were nowhere to be seen.
The group skidded to a halt, angry that they'd just missed Ursula. "Well at least we know for sure that the Heartless are here because of her and not Sora." Jaune said, showing that he too was bitter about Triton's accusation. Sora would be lying if he said he wasn't relieved, but at the same time "We have bigger things to worry about, Jaune." Blake said, being of the same mind as Sora as she nodded toward the injured monarch.
Ariel turned toward her weakened father, guilt and remorse brimming in her eyes. "Daddy..." Triton weakly looked back at her, straining to say, "The trident...we must get it back." He was weak, but at the very least, he seemed like he would be alright. There was no time to waste. "Come on, let's go!" Sora said to the group, earning a unanimous nod. They had to stop Ursula before she let the Heartless destroy this world.
Just as they all turned to swim, Ariel rapidly swam up in front of them. "Wait! I'm going with you," she said insistently. "But Ariel, it's going to be very dangerous." Pyrrha said, but Ariel refused to sit idle and do nothing. Especially after everything that happened because of her. "My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"
The guilt was plain to see on her face. Everyone understood Ariel wanting to make up for her mistakes. In the end, despite the clear danger, they agreed and welcomed her with smiles and nods. Sebastian swam up to them with all the strength he could, sounding just as determined to make Ursula pay for what she did to the King. "That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel."
"Me too!" Flounder said with the same courageous tone as he swam up to his best friend. "Flounder, no. This might be too dangerous for you," Ariel said with a shake of her head. "Stay here and watch over my father."
Despite not wanting to leave his best friend at the sea witch's mercy, Flounder knew somebody needed to make sure Triton wasn't alone while he was injured. In the end, he nodded to Ariel and swam to the King, who called out with just enough strength for Sora to hear. "Keybearer. Ursula is likely at her lair, far from Atlantica's borders in the deepest, darkest depths. If so, she should have a magic cauldron. Being the wielder of the key, you can also use magic. Try using your spells to mix with hers. It could cause an imbalance that would give you an advantage." he said, almost out of breath.
Sebastian emerged from behind the throne, recognizing the directions the king gave their otherworldly guests. "I know where that is. I'll lead you all to it." he said as he hopped on Donald's shoulder. With a firm nod, the group departed from the palace with all haste. It was time for a witch hunt.
Upon reaching the outskirts, the group found themselves accosted by a new Heartless. A large brown shaded one like an angler fish because of its large, round shape and the curled in antenna with a bright yellow glow. The Heartless emblem was on its belly. It charged at them with great speed despite its size and due to being underwater. Everyone scattered though Goofy and Donald yelped at being tackled over. Once he regained himself, Donald made sure Sebastian was still safely on him and looked to the large enemy. "Why, you overgrown guppy!" he shouted before shooting a fireball at its side.
The rest of the group managed to avoid the attack, and immediately readied themselves to fight back. The bulbous angler fish-like Heartless stumbled from Donald's fire attack, leaving it open for the group to converge upon it. However, they hadn't noticed three groups of the spear wielding Heartless were clinging to its bulbous body. And just as they were about to strike at their big foe, the spear wielding ones detached from its belly, surrounding their more bulbous kin as if defending it. The advance of the three groups was halted as they were forced to fight against them first.
Ariel managed to swiftly weave out of the way, swimming as agilely as her tail could move her, leaving the one attacking her open for Goofy to intercept and smash. Jaune and Pyrrha used their shields to their advantage against the spears, letting Ren and Nora move in to strike their own trio. Team RWBY went to work on their own trio as well. As they all began to group up, Sora smirked confidently, seeing an opportunity for some group damage. "Thunder!" he yelled out, zapping every Heartless in range of the bolts that struck through the water before him, damaging the spear wielding Heartless.
However, he did not yet realize he made a grave mistake. For the instant the electrical bolt hit the angler-like Heartless, the lure-like antennae on its head suddenly began to glow yellow. The Heartless began to tremble and shake, as if ready to unleash something. In the midst of the fighting, Ariel was the only one who noticed what was happening. "Everyone, look out!" She was unfortunately the only one able to get away from it in time, as suddenly, the round bodied angler fish unleashed a burst of electrical energy that washed over all parties. Everyone else was thrown back and injured by the burst, yet the other Heartless shockingly seemed not only unharmed, but revitalized, as they suddenly began to fight back against the group with renewed vigor!
"Hey!" Nora said as though offended, earning confused looks from her teammates before she darted after the Heartless. "That's my thing! You bunch of copycats!"
One was smashed in with the face of Magnhild's as another tried striking her from the side only to be blocked by the shaft of it. They tried pushing back against each other but that left a perfect chance for Ren to cut the Heartless through its back. Nodding at one another, they went for the rest of their own group.
Blake, with her Gambol Shroud in kusarigama form, pulled one of the divers towards Yang, who punched it through the gut once she was close enough and shot a bullet through, making it dissolve from the stomach and outward. "These divers are really screwing things up for us." Sora said, avoiding getting impaled by one of them then releasing a wave of ice at it from behind.
After sniping the same enemy Sora struck, Ruby smiled. "Hey, Screw Diver. I kinda like the sound of that. Jiminy should write that down!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Focus on the fight." Weiss interjected sharply as she rapidly jabbed and thrust at another of the newly dubbed 'Screw Divers'.
"I'm thinking we should call this one an Aqua Tank." Yang said added on, fists raised as she easily evaded the sluggish attack of the bulbous Heartless. "And I'M thinking you need to focus! STOP!" Donald said with the same level of irritation as Weiss as he swam passed her and used a stop spell on it. That was when Yang swam to it, relentlessly pummeling it like a punching bag with Ember Celica. The time ceasing magic soon wore off and the Aqua Tank jerked around before it broke apart and the heart it took being all that was left before it floated up then vanished.
"Hey, I'm plenty focused, Donald." Yang said with a shrug before smirking and winking to Donald. "I've got all my ducks in a row." Donald, in response to the most unamusing pun, turned toward Yang with an equally unamused frown on his face. "Really?"
Snickering cheekily, Yang gave a sharp one-two punch with Ember Celica to one of the Screw Divers, followed up by an attempt to kick, only to remember that she had a tail instead of legs. However, it worked out as she instead slammed her tail into the Heartless right in the jaw. She looked down at her bright, yellow scaled tail, rather impressed. "Huh. Feels like I'm using both at once. Cool!" she mused before backhanding a Screw Diver trying to get the drop on her in the face, leaving it open for Blake to hurl the blade of Gambol Shroud at it for the finish.
Weiss chose to use a more useful element on the newly dubbed Aqua Tank, striking at the Heartless angler with ice dust. The bulbous fish squirmed and struggled as suddenly, its tail and fins were encased in ice. Thus leaving the fish vulnerable for Goofy to dart in and smash through the ice, sending the Heartless reeling into a rock. Jaune and Pyrrha riposted the two Screw Divers giving them trouble, followed by Ren gracefully dodging out of the way of another before pelting it with gunfire til it burst with its comrades. And finally, just as Ruby was about to deal the finishing blow to the Aquatank, Nora beat her to the punch, her tail sparking with electricity and indignation. With a great yell, the irrepressible girl slammed her hammer right down on the dazed Aqua Tank, practically squishing it and bashing in the rock it was up against with one fell swoop as it burst. "THAT'S for plagiarism!" she said indignantly.
Just as they thought they were finished, a sole surviving Screw Diver suddenly swam toward Sora, polearm brandished. "Sora!" Donald quacked with alarm, but it was heading toward him too fast. Suddenly, a blur of red and green dashed into the Heartless, knocking it off balance. "Ariel!?" Sora exclaimed as the mermaid princess suddenly outstretched her hands and spun around like a corkscrew, practically drilling into the Heartless, staggering it, and destroying it within seconds.
"Whoa! How did you do that?!" Ruby said in amazement before grinning excitedly and immediately geeking out at Ruby's sudden technique. "The way you spun around was like some sort of...drilling bullet!"
Surprisingly, Ariel didn't feel the slightest bit dizzy in the wake of her unexpected maneuver. "I...I'm not sure. I just saw Sora in danger and wanted to help him, and then...I just did it."
Remembering how Donald, Goofy and Jaune became better at jumping high after Sora did something similar back in Monstro, Pyrrha thought about Ariel's words. Both moments involved Sora but also people who were friends to him in some way. There was also the fact it involved doing something physical on what could be considered superhuman... or in Ariel's case, supermermaid? Maybe it was a coincidence but she couldn't help shake the feeling it wasn't.
"Well at least they've been taken care of," Jaune said as they all regrouped. "Sebastian. Which way do we head now?"
The crustacean comrade appeared on Donald's shoulder and looked around before pointing his claw one way. "There. If we go towards an abyss at a drop off and a little past the ship graveyard, that is where Ursala's grotto will be." The group exchanged a firm nod, and followed Sebastian's guidance. They had wasted enough time dealing with the Heartless. They had to find Ursula before she found the Keyhole.