The next day, the final day, I was already up and at 'em as I tried to rehearse what I wanted to say to Ariel about her final day on land. "Okay, where do I start…? 'Hey, Ariel, it's the last day, and we only have one chance at this, so make it count!' Ugh, too east. 'Ariel, I know our last attempt didn't work out yesterday, but at least we'll give it a go.' No, no, no! Not good enough!"

I groaned as I couldn't think of words full of encouragement. But just then, I looked up to see the wedding ship sailing out to the open sea and saw Ariel and the others at the dock, looking so…miserable? Sad?

Anyway, I swam up to see what was going on with everybody. "Hey, what's with all the long faces, all the sad, doom, and gloom?"

"Ariel's been crying for a long time," Flounder replied.

"Huh? What for?"

Sebastian told me how it happened – Ariel saw Eric in the arms of a dark-haired woman who wore a golden shell necklace and claimed to be Eric's mysterious savior, Vanessa. And what's worse? They were about to get married this afternoon!?

I looked at Ariel, who was heartbroken, crying, and burying her head in her arms and knees. "Ariel, I know I don't have any words to say about all of this, but it was fun while it lasted. And it would've lasted any longer if I was there for you, and I'm sorry."

Ariel looked at me with a surprised look on her face.

"I know you're really gonna miss this place," I continued. "I know you've been told many times to stay away from the surface world to be safe, but what if they're wrong? Maybe you could have a life here. All I did was teach you how to be human, and it worked…or at least I thought it did in the montage. But then, I realized that I want you to be yourself." Then, I look at Ariel straight in the eyes. "Do you understand how much your dad loves you? Do you know how important you are to him or how special you are? I know it's a tough choice for you to be human forever and leave Atlantica. Walking away from everything you care about under the sea…is too much. I know you don't want to turn back, but you can't stay. As long as Ursula gets what she wants, it'll endanger everyone – on both land and sea. I know you can't have that, but I just want you to know that these last two days on land have been the best two days of your life."

Ariel gently rubbed her hand on my blue-tang fish head as she smiled.

Just then, a voice suddenly appeared. "Ariel! Ariel!"

We all turned to see Scuttle, exhausted, as he flew over to us on the docks. "Ariel. I was flying. And - of course, I was flying - and I saw that the watch - the witch - was watching a mirror, and she was singing with a stolen set of pipes!" Then, he grabbed Sebastian and shook him. "Do you hear what I'm tellin' you? The prince is marrying the sea witch in disguise!"

"Ursula!" I exclaimed in surprise while the others gasped. "You mean to tell us that sea witch is already on that wedding ship, like, right now?"

"Have I ever been wrong?" Scuttle asked. "I mean when it's important!"

"What are we gonna do?" Flounder asked in worry.

"What are we gonna do!?" I repeated. "We're going to have a score to settle with that rhinestone sea witch. That's what we're gonna do!" I then turned to Ariel. "Don't you all get it, kid? This was all a plan to get even with your pops. Ursula was using you as bait to get to Triton all this time, and we didn't notice. I didn't notice. But still, we got nothing to lose."

Encouraged by my words, Ariel dove off the dock and landed in the water while Sebastian clipped a rope that held the barrels, sending them into the water.

"Ariel, grab on to that," Sebastian said. "Flounder, Joshua, get her to that boat as fast as your fins can carry you!"

"We'll try," I replied. "What about you?"

"I've gotta get to the sea king. He must know about this."

"What about me?" Scuttle asked. "What about ME?"

Sebastian turned to Scuttle. "You find a way to stall that wedding!" He then dove into the water to go get King Triton.

"Stall the wedding?" Scuttle repeated in confusion for a moment and instantly had an idea. He assembled all the sea animals to follow the wedding ship. "Move it, let's go. We got an emergency here!"

"Operation: Wedding Crashers is underway!" I exclaimed as Flounder and I pulled Ariel on a barrel toward the ship.

As soon as we made it to the wedding ship, Ariel climbed up to the side of the boat to see the wedding being turned into a free-for-all as every bluebird, seal, starfish, and dolphin attacked Ursula in her Vanessa form. In all the struggle and chaos, Max joined in as he bit Ursula's rear backside, letting her let go of Scuttle and send her golden seashell necklace high into the air.

The shell shattered to pieces, releasing a yellow mist of Ariel's voice right into her throat while Eric snapped out of his odd trance.

"Ariel?" Eric asked as he looked at Ariel in surprise.

"Eric!" Ariel exclaimed.

"You…you can talk!" Eric said as he ran toward Ariel. "You're the one."

"Eric, get away from her!" Ursula shouted, still in her Vanessa form.

"It was you all the time!" Eric said to Ariel with a smile.

"Eric, I wanted to tell you," Ariel replied.

"Eric, NO!" Ursula shouted in anger.

But before Ariel and Eric could touch lips, the sun went down, and Ariel turned back into a mermaid while Ursula turned back into her sea witch self.

"You're too late!" Ursula cackled as she grabbed Ariel and dragged her back to the sea, where Flotsam and Jetsam were swimming behind their master.

"HEY!" I shouted as I stood before Ursula, glaring at her.

"Well, look who decided to join the party," Ursula grinned.

"You… You've got some nerve showing up on land in disguise and trying to cheat your way out of Ariel's deal with you with that smug look on your face. Well, how you look now and have won your victory doesn't matter because you'll pay once Triton is done with you!"

"Oh, I'm just warming up, honey," Ursula chuckled. "Besides, it's not the poor little princess I'm after. I have a much bigger fish to—"

Just then, another voice appeared. "Ursula, stop!"

Ursula and I turned to see King Triton pointing his trident at the sea witch with Sebastian at his side.

"Why, King Triton!" Ursula chuckled. "How are you?"

"Let her go!" King Triton demanded.

"Not a chance, Triton! She's mine now!" Ursula said as she quickly showed Triton the contract Ariel signed. "We made a deal."

"Daddy, I'm sorry!" Ariel yelled while Flotsam and Jetsam held her prisoner. "I didn't mean to! I didn't know!"

King Triton tried to destroy the contract with his trident, but it remained intact.

Ursula laughed. "You see? The contract's legal. Binding and completely unbreakable, even for you!"

"Okay, now you're REALLY ticking me off!" I yelled. "Stop gloating about binding contracts and give Ariel back!"

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, dearie," Ursula said, swimming around Triton and me with a sly smile. "I always was a girl with an eye for a bargain. The daughter of the great sea king is a very precious commodity."

Suddenly, the contract dissolved into a golden swirl of light and circled around Ariel in a cyclone, and then she began to change.

I watched in shock, then I turned to Ursula. "Hey, you! What did you do to her!?"

"Oh, did Ariel forgot to tell you? If she didn't get her kiss, she'd be turned back into a mermaid, and she would belong to me! Shocking, isn't it?"

I turned to Ariel in shock once more as Ursula continued. "But I might be willing to make an exchange…for someone even better."

It was apparent that Ursula was referring to Triton as I said, "You can't be serious!"

"I've never been more serious," Ursula grinned as she held the contract to Triton. "Now, do we have a deal?"

King Triton slowly turned away as he pointed his trident at the contract – this time, he replaced Ariel's name with his own!

"It's done, then!" Ursula declared. Then, the golden swirl around Ariel dissolved and went to Triton while she laughed.

Ariel, turning back to normal, looked on in horror. "No! Oh, no!"

And just like that, Triton was turned into a little, miserable, wormlike polyp with sad eyes.

"Your Majesty…," Sebastian cried.

"Daddy…?" Ariel said in shock.

Ursula picked up Triton's crown and put it on, along with the trident, as she cackled with joy. "At last! It's mine!" Then, she pointed the trident at all of us. "Who's the mighty ruler of the seas now!?"

"Okay, okay, enough with the gloating!" I said to Ursula. "You got what you wanted, acting all high and mighty suddenly. Now, back off!"

"Don't be a fool, you little brats!" Ursula angrily replied as she pointed the trident at me and Ariel.

"Fool? Who are you calling a fool!? You weren't gonna let Ariel keep her legs! You gave your word!"

"Forget it, big boy!" Ursula snared. "Did you really think I've suffered all these years wasting away to practically nothing, banished and exiled, just to play fair!? The Trident is mine, and I'll take that piece of the Wishing Star."

"Just keep talking. I'm gonna shut that arrogant mou—" I paused momentarily at what Ursula said in that last sentence. "Wait a minute, how did you know about the Wishing Star?!"

"Oh, please. I've been watching you for a while, dearie. And with its magic, I would've made Triton wriggle like a worm on a hook. Until you came along."

"That wouldn't be very sporting of you, would it?"

"You underestimated me, boy! Contract or no contract, I'll blast you to—"

Suddenly, Ursula cried out in pain as a harpoon hit her in the arm. She, Ariel, and I looked up to see Eric underwater. "Why, you little fool!"

"Eric!" Ariel yelled. "Eric, look out!"

"After him!" Ursula ordered Flotsam and Jetsam to chase Eric, who was about to swim upward to the surface. The two eels pulled him back into the water once the prince made it to his boat to breathe.

But Sebastian and Flounder stopped Flotsam and Jetsam by pinching their tails and whacking their heads.

"Say goodbye to your sweetheart," Ursula said to Ariel as the sea witch pointed the trident at Eric. But Ariel grabbed and pulled Ursula's hair, causing her to throw off her aim.

The trident's ray blast zapped Flotsam and Jetsam instead, and just like that, the eels were blown to bits.

"Babies!" Ursula cried. "My poor little poopsies!"

"Hah! What's the matter, sea witch?" I taunted. "You're really freaking out. What happened to all that confidence?"

But that's when Ursula became enraged. Her eyes turned red, and a plume of ink and smoke circled around her. Becoming crazed with anger, Ursula grew bigger and bigger until she burst through the surface like a volcano and loomed over Ariel and Eric.

"You pitiful, insignificant fools!" Ursula said as she created giant waves and a vast whirlpool. "Now I am the ruler of all the ocean! The waves obey my every whim. The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!"

Waving the trident like a musical conductor, Ursula even called upon an epic, mighty storm. In contrast, the towering waves pulled Ariel and Eric away from each other. I soon watched as Ariel clung to a rock. At the same time, Eric swam toward and climbed on board the ship's wreckage, but Ursula still somehow managed to spot Ariel and zapped the rock with the trident.

Ariel landed on the bottom of the whirlpool just as Ursula was about to prepare the final blow while laughing. "So much for true love!"

At that moment, Eric turned the ship's wheel, heading straight toward the sea witch as its sharp mast pierced through her large belly.

"AAAARRRGHHHH!" Ursula screamed in pain. Lightning engulfed her disintegrating body within seconds as the sea witch slowly sank into the sea and disappeared forever.

Moments later, Ursula's glowing remains trickled down to her domain, where they dusted the polyps in her garden. The shriveled creatures magically transformed into merpeople, and the freed souls swam away. The sea witch's spells were broken.

Only one soul remained – King Triton's.

Now that Ursula no longer wielded the trident, it sunk underwater and gently touched the one remaining polyp. The sea king emerged, restored to power, as he picked up his trident proudly with a smile.

After the waters calmed from that long, crazy night and the sun lit up the blue sky, everything seemed to return to normal. As thanks for the help and some apologies in order, Triton gave me back the piece of the Wishing Star Ursula took from me.

But that wasn't the only concern.

We were at a nearby shore where Ariel was sitting on a rock, sadly gazing at the unconscious Eric lying on the sand.

Triton turned to me and Sebastian. "She really does love him, doesn't he, Sebastian?"

"Ariel did try to tell you," I replied.

"Well," Sebastian began. "It's like I always say, Your Majesty. Children got to be free to lead their own lives."

I looked at Sebastian, unamused. "I don't recall you saying anything like that."

Sebastian giggled and shrugged.

King Triton sighed. "Then I guess there's just one problem left."

"And what's that, Your Majesty?" Sebastian asked.

"How much I'm going to miss her."

My jaw dropped in surprise as King Triton raised his trident, sending a glowing mist that drifted toward Ariel. It engulfed her, and within moments, she became human again – only this time, for good.

Ariel looked down at her legs, then smiled back at her dad. I, too, watched as Ariel emerged from the ocean and into Eric's embrace.

Just then, as I was about to head out with the piece of the Wishing Star, it began to disappear out of my fin.

"What happened to-?" I asked in surprise, but I began disappearing as well.

Ariel's story may be over, but mine is still continuing.

"Where am I now?" I asked when I reappeared in front of an enormous, dark, forbidding castle surrounded by mist. Behind me was a metallic gate that led outside the castle and into the misty forest.

I just landed in the world of Beauty and the Beast.