The royal family assembled a team to head to Castilon. They needed people who were great swimmers, so naturally Master Fisto and his horse Grassi were included in their team.
All the humans and horses on the team who couldn't breathe underwater wore special pearls that would allow them to transform into merfolk and sea ponies so they could breathe underwater and seek wherever Junk Foodie was hiding his victim.
However, for this mission, the little girls were all told to stay behind for this mission.
"Why can't we come too?" Gabby whined.
"You remember from our lessons," said Garrett. "Kelpies find children the most appetizing, especially younger ones."
"All four of you, stay put." Anakin said. "I mean it, Gabriella. Stowing away is the worst possible thing you can do for this mission."
"But we wanna help." Goldie said.
"You can." Qui-Gon said. He knew exactly how the girls could help. "You can be in charge of alerting the Senate of this escaped convict so Junk Foodie cannot capture more victims."
That did sound like an important job. So, the little girls were happy to take the job. Well, almost all of them.
Carmine searched desperately for any sign of the kelpie prepping to drown another victim or heading to his hideout. Junk Foodie could be fattening up his best friend to be his next meal right now, and he had no idea where he was.
Master Fisto had been to Castilon before and was familiar with the waters, so he led the team through the waters.
"How are we gonna know when we've found them?" Carmine asked worriedly.
"We find those ocean volcanoes, this Junk Foodie character cannot be too far." Kit said.
"If anything happens to Sanjay… I don't think I'll ever forgive myself."
"Don't worry, Carmine. We'll find him, and the other victims too."
"You don't get it! Before we met and before I got with Caroline, Sanjay was the closest thing I had to a brother back in high school."
Whenever Carmine spoke of his high school days, he spoke highly of his old roommate Sanjay, who became his best friend almost instantly, and they loved each other like brothers. Throughout high school, Sanjay and Carmine supported each other in their musical dreams. Carmine was the best dancer and could play more instruments very well, but Sanjay was the best drummer Carmine had ever seen, and the former had dreams of being in a rock and roll band despite his classical symphonic upbringing. By now, the Red Hot T's were probably worried sick about their drummer, especially Phoebe.
"He was always there to rescue me," said Carmine. "Maybe now, this is my turn to rescue him."
The water started to get a little warm after a while.
"Does anyone else feel warm in this water?" Kara said.
"It wasn't me!" Wrecker said too quickly.
"That's not what's making the water warm." Kit said, and he pointed to something ahead. "It's that."
The others looked to where there were a plethora of volcanoes beneath the sea. They were huge! But to make matters worse, they were bubbling, the grounds and waters surrounding them started to shake, and the water started to get even warmer!
"They're heating up." Hunter said. "Those volcanoes are gonna blow any minute!"
"And to Junk Foodie," said Kara. "That means it's time to cook dinner."
Junk Foodie saw the waters steaming outside the caves. He licked his mouth as he turned back to his plumped up victims.
"Pots good and hot, my tasty morsels." Junk Foodie sneered, sniffing the cocooned victims as he tried to decide which one to cook first. "Now, how to sort through each of you. Appetizers, dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow."
"How about dinner in the prison cafeteria tonight?" said a new voice.
That voice turned out to belong to Anakin, who ignited his lightsaber.
"Surrender now, Junk Foodie." Kara said. "You've been caught."
But the kelpie smirked and said, "That's what you think."
Suddenly, big strands of kelp started to appear from out of nowhere, and they stuck to the royals and the batch. It turned out Junk Foodie wasn't alone. There were three other kelpie escapees and they were all in on Junk Foodie's plan to gather a large supply of food. And they cocooned the rescue team like sushi, but Kit and Qui-Gon's twins all ignited their lightsabers and threatened the kelpies with them until Junk Foodie lassoed their legs and tripped all three of them, making them drop their weapons and giving the other kelpies time to tie them up.
The Jedi all struggled in the seaweed, but it only seemed to get stronger as they tried.
Junk Foodie just laughed at them and said, "It's no use. You're just added morsels to the menu. But… You're looking a little scrawny."
That offended Anakin.
"I'll have you know, I've been taking pilates since I was twelve." Anakin said; he did not like being called scrawny.
"I'd say that deserves a sweet reward, in that case."
Junk Foodie got out a little something. A fresh triple chocolate brownie filled with pralines and topped with chocolate creamy frosting. It looked and smelled so tantalizing. Anakin could not resist chocolate, and Junk Foodie knew he had him when Anakin licked his mouth at the sight of the confectionary concoction as it was fanned around his nose.
"It's all yours if you take a nice big bite."
Anakin shook his head and had to muster up a lot of strength not to take a bite of the brownie because he knew that Junk Foodie was just trying to fatten him up like he'd done to many others. So, he just spit into Junk Foodie's eye, making the kelpie whinny and drop the brownie.
Junk Foodie glared at Anakin with an angry snort.
Wrecker, meanwhile, tried to use his strength to break out of the kelp, but even Qui-Gon was struggling to escape the kelp because of how tightly it was placed around him; he could barely even breathe.
"Ingrate," said Junk Foodie. "I'll deal with you, lot later. Right now, I got kids to cook."
Junk Foodie and the other kelpies began moving some of the plumped up kids into shark cages by one of them taking on the form of a giant squid to pick them up easier. The kids were all screaming for help desperately, none of them able to fight back themselves because of everything they were fed, taking most of their strength and energy. The rescue team had to think fast!
Luckily, Grassi had an idea. Junk Foodie didn't know she was a sea pony, whose diet consisted primarily of kelp. And Grassi hadn't gotten to eat lunch before leaving on this mission so…
Grassi started munching on Kit's restraints since he was closest.
Wrecker also managed to get one of his hands free and started to pull the kelp off himself, and he decided to go after Junk Foodie himself.
"Wrecker!" Garrett exclaimed. "Don't touch his-"
But Wrecker tackled Junk Foodie from behind and…
"Back."
Of course, Wrecker got stuck.
"Uh… I think you have something sticky on your back." Wrecker said awkwardly.
"I'm a kelpie, not a riding horse." Junk Foodie said.
And Junk Foodie started to hiss and look like he was literally falling apart, or rather like he was shedding his entire outer body like a snake shedding its skin.
Junk Foodie shook himself now that Wrecker was off, leaving the latter in a pile of old kelpie skin.
"Eww!" Omega and Boba bot grimaced in disgust.
Wrecker was pretty disgusted too, but before Junk Foodie and his minions could react, the rescue team was free, and this time they split up to take care of the kelpies one by one. However, the one who'd placed the kids in the cage set out to go and boil the first batch alive.
"The kids!" Boba exclaimed.
The other kelpie took the cage to the boiling sea, and dropped it, the kids screaming as they were about to be boiled alive. Quickly, Qui-Gon and Kara used the Force to stop the cage before it hit the water and bring it back to dry land. Fortunately, they had Anakin grow a bunch of apple trees before arriving, and they proceeded to give a slice to each kid.
"Everyone eat your apple slices," said Kara. "It'll make you healthy again."
So, the kids did as the princess said and ate their apples.
Meanwhile, the others quickly fought the kelpies as hard as they could. There was only one way to capture a kelpie, and that was the same way fisherman and shrimp boats caught their targets: a big net. But they only had one net, so they had to get all the kelpies in one place to capture all of them.
Qui-Gon and Kara helped Anakin give apple slices to all the victims to help them turn back to normal, while the others fought the kelpies, who kept transforming into other creatures to fight back.
Grassi chewed on more kelp cocoons to free more of the victims, while Carmine made his way to the cage where Sanjay and the three chefs were held.
"Don't worry, everyone. You'll be out of here in a jiff." Carmine ignited his lightsaber and used it to destroy the lock and free the prisoners.
Sanjay exhaled with relief when the kelp was taken off his mouth.
"Oh, thank God. That stuff tastes awful."
"You never did like seafood," chuckled Carmine, hugging his best friend.
But the kelpies were still adamant, and Junk Foodie decided to try one last thing. He shifted into a giant sea dragon, then he grabbed Boba and held him upside down with his mouth and threatened to throw him into the boiling hot sea.
"All of you lower your weapons, or he gets boiled."
"Someone help me!" Boba screamed.
Everyone immediately lowered their weapons, but although Junk Foodie didn't drop Boba into the water, he did throw Boba up to catch him in his mouth!
But before Boba could get swallowed, something hit the kelpie in the throat, which not only pushed him back and into a coughing fit, but it sent Boba falling toward the water, but luckily Master Fisto used the Force to catch him and bring him to safety.
"Are you alright?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Thanks, Grandpa." Boba breathed.
But, to everyone's surprise, Junk Foodie was groaning in pain and seemed to be running from… nothing?
"I'm being attacked!" Junk Foodie exclaimed.
This spooked the other kelpies, especially when they all felt something scratch their sides, and a sudden gust of wind blew in their manes, purple clouds filling the air as whatever it was continued to attack the kelpies.
While the kelpies were distracted, the Batch took the chance to get all the victims out as quickly as they could. Anakin fed as many people as he could some apples to help cure them, while Carmine called the authorities.
Junk Foodie and his minions continued to run and screech and panic as they continued to be attacked by an enemy they couldn't see.
"Wait a minute," said Carmine. "An attacker no one can see?"
Carmine knew only one person who fit that description who also knew about the mission. It was then that the kelpies were cornered in one spot, and the net was finally deployed, capturing the kelpies and restraining them to the ground. That was also when their attacker finally revealed herself.
"That's what you get for trying to eat my cousin." Lamenta huffed.
Carmine crossed his arms and scolded his daughter.
"Lamenta Valentine Jinn. Didn't your uncle Anakin tell you to stay behind?"
"Actually, he told Gabby to stay behind." Lamenta corrected. "I wanted to help."
"That's sweet of you, Lamb. But, we warned you it was dangerous."
Lamenta knew it was dangerous, but her honorary uncle/godfather was one of the victims, and she wanted to help out. Sure, the other kids let the Senate know to warn all the orphanages and homeless shelters, and Lamenta even managed to get a hold of the Red Hot T's to let them know their drummer was in danger. But she wanted to do more.
"Well, it looks like you definitely did something big," said Carmine. "But we're gonna have a serious talk about you stowing away."
The authorities soon arrived to take the kelpies back to jail and get the victims back where they came from. It looked like the apples were helping out a lot too, but Grassi ate way too much kelp too quickly and now she had a stomach ache.
"I don't think I want to see another strand of kelp for a while," groaned Grassi.
"I don't wanna see another cookie ever again." Wrecker said.
"There's a first," said Crosshair.
Citrus was glad to hear that the others made it out okay, and even gladder to learn the kelpies had been arrested.
"Hey, to celebrate the victory, Strawberry announced she just came up with a great new treat." Citrus said. "Don't worry, she says it's part of the healthy dessert menu."
"I still can't believe those even exist." Hunter said.
"Well, at least we know these kinds of desserts won't blow everyone up."
Sure enough, Strawberry did have a great new dessert that was made with healthy ingredients, but looked super yummy. They were little heart-shaped pies with oatmeal crusts filled with little berries drizzled with honey and coconut shavings, and they were topped with little flowers made out of kiwis.
"I call them Kelly Berry Tarts." Strawberry said.
The little pies definitely tasted yummy.
"These kiwi flowers are adorable," smiled Echo.
"They were Kelly's idea." Strawberry said.
"Who's Kelly?" Myra asked.
"Oh, that's right. Your parents haven't told you." Strawberry seemed to turn pinker than usual. "As of recently, I have… a boyfriend!"
Everyone congratulated Strawberry on her new boyfriend.
"What's he like?" Omega asked.
"Well, he's really sweet and kinda shy. But… he also lives by the beach, and we both love to make things. He mostly makes things out of driftwood, seashells, and other things he finds in the sand."
"So, he likes sand?" Anakin wasn't sure how to feel about Strawberry's boyfriend now.
"Yes, but he likes being on the land. We actually met at the beach when I was looking for fresh coconuts. Kelly loves coconuts."
"He sounds wonderful," said Padme. "Do you think you'll introduce us sometime?"
Strawberry heard someone enter the shop and smiled.
"Actually, I'll introduce you all today. Everyone… I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Kelly."
Except, everyone freaked out at first when they caught sight of Kelly.
Why, you may be wondering? Because Kelly.. Was a kelpie!
Well, Kelly actually looked different than Junk Foodie had, because unlike the other kelpies, Kelly had wings, and he was holding some pink beach roses in his mouth.
"You're dating a kelpie?" Carmine said, holding a chair as a shield.
"Oh…" Strawberry suddenly realized why everyone freaked out. "Sorry, Kelly. They're a little freaked out because they just fought some kelpie convicts."
Kelly tried to say something, but it was muffled by the bouquet in his mouth, so Strawberry took them and placed them in a vase, but not without nuzzling Kelly's muzzle in thanks.
"I said, I get this reaction a lot." Kelly said. "No big deal."
Strawberry reassured the others though that Kelly wasn't dangerous, for one thing, he was only half-kelpie.
"It's true. My dad's a pegasus, but my mother is a kelpie." Kelly said. "And I don't eat people. I'm a vegetarian."
"What about your mom?" Hunter said.
"She's a pescatarian."
"What's that?" Gabby asked.
"It means someone who doesn't eat any other kind of meat but seafood."
Kelly started to think maybe he should leave, but Strawberry insisted he stay and help himself to a Kelly Berry Tart.
"They look and smell sweet like you," smiled Kelly, nuzzling his marefriend again before taking a bite of a tart.
The others slowly calmed down a bit; Kelly seemed like a very nice kelpie, but they still weren't sure how to feel about it. But then again, they'd all reacted similarly when they first met Mariposa.
One thing they did know for sure though, four more convicts were brought back to jail, and Wrecker was definitely going to be a lot more careful how much he ate from now on, and so was Citrus. But only one thing regarding food hadn't changed.
"Anakin!" Padme scolded.
Anakin got berry juice all over his face and crumbs and coconut on his shirt.
"Oops." Anakin blushed.
Anakin was still a pretty messy eater.
Everyone laughed.
Short, I know. But I haven't had a lot of writing time. Gimme a break. But future stories will be much better.