Author Notes - So... Super Princess Mermaids, huh? It's strange to think that the show has reached the point of getting spin-offs now. My thoughts on the matter are mixed, to say the least. On one hand, it's nice that the franchise is still chugging along. Hopefully, that means the fanbase won't die any time soon. On the other, I really don't like that this spin-off is apparently not going to include Oona or the boy Guppies. Cutting the cast in half like that, to me at least, feels like removing a large part of what made the OG show so good.

But we're not here to talk about a spin-off! We're here to talk about the next chapter of 'Back Together Again'!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - FOR MR GROUPER

'What do you mean, you can't call a helicopter?!'

Molly, a very stressed Molly at that, was shouting at her agent through the phone. She had barely even woken up and looked like a total mess. That didn't stop her from trying to fix up her mistakes first thing in the morning.

'I'm sorry, Ms Andersfin,' Her agent said, sounding like he was drinking coffee. 'But the driver is out visiting her sister today. You picked a poor time to ask for her services.'

'I can't wait another day!' Molly said. 'I need that helicopter, and I need it now!'

'There are other ways to get to Bubbletucky, you know.'

'Yes, I know that. But I need to get there as soon as possible. It's important!'

Molly wasn't exactly an angel when it came to her agent, but shouting at him like this was still highly unusual. You wouldn't know that from his reaction, though. He just reclined in his chair and continued sipping his hot drink.

'Truth be told,' He said. 'I fail to see why you'd want to go to Bubbletucky anyway, let alone so urgently. It's just a dinky, backwards little town. What would a big name star like you want with that pathetic little place anyway?'

'That dinky town was my birthplace, you idiot!' Molly yelled. 'As in, I was literally born and grew up there? Besides, I have very important business there that I have to attend to right now. Which is why I need transportation, and I need it now!'

Her agent let out an exasperated sigh that he didn't even try to hide. Molly was so tempted to yell at him not to give her that sass, but she managed to reign it in. She took a deep breath, calmed down, and continued.

'I really mean it,' She said. 'Long story short, I made a mistake. A big one. And in order to fix it, I gotta get to Bubbletucky. By tonight at the latest.'

Her agent was silent for a long while.

'I can call up a taxi and have it drop you off by the ferry,' He said. 'And arrange for another to take you to Bubbletucky. It's the best I can do in such short notice.'

Molly groaned. 'Alright. Fine. I'll take it. It's better than nothing.'

She hung up the phone without saying 'goodbye' first. Nothing her agent wasn't used to. With the call over, the phone screen showed the picture of a promotional poster that had been posted all over her socials almost as soon as she woke up. She read the words on it again and again.

The Bubble Guppies are coming back together after about thirty years! Tonight, only in Bubbletucky!

The Guppies couldn't score Town Hall. Unsurprisingly, calling the mayor late at night and telling her that you wanted to use the hall the very next day didn't yield good results. No amount of 'but we are the Bubble Guppies!' was able to magically free up the space. But that was okay. The outdoor stage, normally reserved for plays, was totally free that day and it was easy to get the 'okay' on it.

'Alright everyone!' Zooli said to the rest of the team. 'We better get that stage set up by tonight. Everyone's counting on us!'

'You heard her!' Brianna said. 'Let's get to work!'

You might think that after so long, the Guppies had totally forgotten how to even set up a stage. And you'd be… half right. They were surprised to find that much of it came naturally, no doubt from all the times they had done it as children. But, of course, a skill that went unused for so long was bound to atrophy at least a little.

'Uh, guys!' Oona said, peeking through a box. 'I think I lost the cymbal on the drumset!'

Gil groaned. 'Are you serious? I need to be able to play that tonight!'

'I-I need some help,' Nonny said. 'I don't remember how to plug these speakers in.'

'The cables are colour-coded!' Goby said.

A terrible clatter made everyone jump. They all turned to the sound, and saw Deema face-down on the stage floor. There were wind instruments scattered everywhere in front of her. Turns out that she had tripped over a microphone stand that Mia had been dragging across the floor.

'Oops,' Mia said. 'Sorry!'

Mia had no plans to join the band during the performance, but she wanted to help them set it up nonetheless. There were a few arguments to be had. Deema and Gil couldn't decide where the keyboard should've gone, and Oona got a bit huffy with Zooli for accidentally whacking her in the head with the end of a guitar. Not to mention how close Brianna came to tripping into, and thus breaking, one of the drums.

But, somehow, they all managed to make the stage look halfway presentable. Brianna looked up the image she had saved from the old 'We Totally Rock' music video and held it up to compare. The old photo was certainly more organised. Perhaps because they had Mr Grouper back then. The old fish was there in the photo, standing off the side with his headset on. Perhaps that's what's missing, Brianna thought. She let out a forlorn sigh.

'You okay, Bri?' Zooli asked.

'I'm fine,' Brianna replied. 'Just… Just thinking about how Mr Grouper isn't around to see this.'

Zooli frowned. 'Yeah. To think that if we just got around to doing this a few years earlier, he could have…' She took a deep breath. 'No. This isn't the time for what ifs. What's done is done and there's nothing we can do to change it, so let's not worry about it. You know what time it is for?'

Brianna knew exactly what Zooli was setting up. It brought a little smile to her face.

'It's time for Bubble Guppies!' She said.

'No, no, no,' Deema said, shaking her hand. 'You're saying it wrong. I think you mean… it's tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime for Bubble Guppies!'

Brianna gasped. 'You still do that raspy voice thing so well, even now!'

'Actually,' Gil said. 'It is not time for Bubble Guppies. The big performance isn't until tonight. In the meantime, we oughta practise to make sure that we don't sound like hot crap when we perform. Unless you guys like sounding like a drunk high school band.'

'Hey!' Oona said. 'We will not sound like a drunk high school band. Watch me!'

She picked up the tambourine off the floor (where Gil had dropped it), and was about to start playing. It didn't take long, however, before Brianna snatched that tambourine out of her hand and put a pair of drumming sticks in its place.

'Actually,' Brianna said. 'Though you played the tambourine for the big 'We Totally Rock' concert, the instrument you played the most was the drums! So I think you oughta try that out instead.'

Oona shrugged. 'Well, you haven't been wrong yet.'

She sat down at the drum set and smacked the stick against one of the drums just once. That was all it took for the magic to come flying back to her. In seconds, she was drumming out a killer tune with hardly any visible effort at all. Of course, it was actually taking her every bit of effort she had to keep the tune going.

'WOOOOO!' Deema cheered. 'You go, girl!'

'Look at this!' Oona said. 'I'm a drumming qu-!'

She was about to slam the stick down on the cymbals in order to emphasise her point, only to realise that she hadn't found them yet.

'Oh,' She said. 'Uh, can someone-?'

Deema interrupted her by making the best imitation of a cymbal noise she could manage. Being the talented actress that she was, she pulled it off almost flawlessly.

'Nice!' Oona said. 'That's perfect.'

'And it's going to be awkward as hell if it happens during the show itself,' Gil said. 'I'll go find them. Surely it won't take me that long.'

He went to look for the cymbals while everyone else practised their instruments. With multiple Guppies playing a different tune all at once, it didn't exactly sound great. But even in the disharmony, Brianna could make out each note being played halfway decent. Notes that only improved with every second.

She watched all the Guppies practising and could barely contain her excitement. The Guppies were performing again. In front of her. Because of her. And she got to witness the whole thing live! No other Bubble Guppies fan could say they had an experience quite like this. To bide some time while she waited for the big performance that night, she sat down on a stool and whipped out her phone. She passed the time by doing her favourite activity - looking through all those old Bubble Guppies videos. At least, that was her plan. It was only about three videos in when Mr Grouper appeared on the screen. He was smiling, surrounded by the students he considered his family.

She paused the video and sighed. It seemed that no matter how she looked at it, the knowledge that Mr Grouper hadn't lived to see this day would always hurt. Because there was no good way to spin it. It was a tragedy, through and through. Nothing could be said to change the solemn fact that Mr Grouper was not around to see his students come back together.

Nonny was passing by to help Gil look for the cymbals when he saw Brianna sitting by herself, staring sadly at her phone.

'Are you okay, Brianna?' He asked.

It took Brianna a moment to realise that she was being asked a question.

'Oh? Yeah, I'm okay,' She replied.

Nonny assumed that she didn't want to talk more and began to swim away. But a question popped into Brianna's head, and she couldn't let it go unasked.

'Did you get a video from Mr Grouper?' She asked. 'Before he, well, you know…'

That stopped Nonny in his tracks.

'Yes,' He said. 'I'm all but certain that we all got one. He told me that he didn't mind me being quiet and hesitant. How he always liked to push me out of my comfort zone to try new experiences, but never pushed me too hard because he recognised how far he could go. How he didn't care about how 'different' I was to most of his other students, and how he had tried his best to make sure I wasn't left behind because of it. I must admit… I cried after I watched it. I visited his house first thing the next day.'

'So you got a Mr Grouper video too, huh,' Oona said.

Oona had her head deep in a box, not bothering to look up as she talked to Nonny or Brianna. She continued to search through the box even as she talked.

'I'm not too surprised, really,' Oona said. 'Mr Grouper really freaking cared about us, so it makes sense that he'd bother to make a damn video for every single one of us. Mine said all the stuff you'd expect. He talked about how sweet I was and that I should never lose that. That kind of stuff. I'm a bit more surprised to hear that you dropped by his place, though. Cos I did the same thing. I just had to wait until it was the school holidays, so I would've arrived about a month later. He said he had about a year left in him, but I was still scared I wouldn't make it there in time. Luckily, I did.' She beamed. 'Found them!'

She held up the cymbals like they were a trophy. Gil was by her side straight away, taking the cymbals from her without even asking.

'Thanks,' He said, pausing for a moment. 'Hey, Mr Grouper sent me a video too. Said I was really brave. Molly and Deema each got one too.' He let out the tiniest chuckle. 'A lot of Molly's video was just Mr Grouper calling her out. But, uh, when we got those videos, Molly and I were still dating. So… we headed off to Mr Grouper's place ourselves as a group.'

'Alright,' Oona said. 'Nonny, Zooli, me, and now you three just said that we all visited Mr Grouper after we got those videos. Just at different times. Hey, Goby! Did you visit Mr Grouper after getting his video too?'

Goby was practising his guitar playing when he got the question. He didn't want to admit it, but he had been listening to the entire conversation and barely paid any attention to his own music playing.

'Of course I did,' He said. 'How couldn't I? I… I didn't even finish watching the video first. As soon as he said he only had a year left, I stopped everything and visited him as soon as I could. It took days before I had the guts to watch the whole thing. And, uh, it took a couple sessions to get through it.'

Despite the bittersweet atmosphere surrounding her, Brianna managed to smile. It was a small smile, yes, but it was no less genuine for it.

'I guess that's something,' Brianna said. 'You all got to see him before he… you know.'

'Yeah,' Deema said. 'There were a lot of tears involved. Like, a lot of tears. And surprisingly, I wasn't the only one shedding them for once! But you wanna know what really was amazing?'

'What?'

'Gil, you know what I'm talking about. You tell her.'

Gil gave her a look, but didn't say anything. He put the cymbals back where they should've been and took Brianna aside. Everyone else returned to practising (Oona was especially happy to have her cymbals back), but Gil took Brianna into a quieter corner of the stage.

'I bet you're wondering,' He said. 'How Molly was acting while she was over at Mr Grouper's place.'

'Oh yeah,' Brianna said. 'Not good, I take it?'

Gil chuckled. He actually chuckled. It hadn't been the first time Brianna had heard him laughing since meeting him, but it was still a rare sound. As rare as seeing Nonny smile.

'Would you believe me if I told you that she was on her best behaviour?' He asked.

'She was?' Brianna said. 'Just pretending that she hadn't changed, huh?'

'Nope. She wasn't pretending. Like I said, while most of Mr Grouper's video to her was love and praise, he spent a good amount of time calling her out on her behaviour. So she really did try her best to be good and nice while over at his place. Not once did I get the impression she was just faking it. And… and I think she felt some real remorse.'

'Oh…'

Brianna wasn't sure what else to say. She tried to imagine that same woman being on her best behaviour and genuinely trying to be good, but she just couldn't see it any other way. Even if that thought hurt her.

'You know,' Gil said. 'She was a bit of a jerk long before Mr Grouper died, but I swear… she got worse afterwards.'

'She did?' Brianna asked.

'Yeah. Our break-up wasn't too long after it. It seemed like after his death, her bad behaviour got worse. She wasn't that bad before. Mr Grouper's death must have affected her more than she wants to admit. It's possible, I guess. After all, Deema would insist for a year or two afterwards that I used to smile a lot more. I never bothered to think about it, but I wonder if she's right.'

Gil's expression hadn't shifted much over the past couple of days, which made any shift it did make all the more noticeable. Even the subtle ones. The way his eyebrows arched down just a little as he frowned told Brianna all she needed to know.

'Hey,' She said. 'It hurts. I know it does. But that's why we're organising this whole performance in the first place. We're not just putting on this show for the fun of it anymore. We're doing it for Mr Grouper. After all, it's what he would've wanted. Isn't it?'

Gil smiled. It was a bittersweet smile to be sure.

'Yeah,' He said. 'We're doing this for Mr Grouper. This is exactly what he would've wanted. I just wish he was still around to see us as a band again.'

'Hey now,' Brianna said. 'I don't think Mr Grouper would've liked to see us upset about his… his death. He'd want us to smile on! Right?'

Gil nodded. 'Yeah. Yeah, he would! Well, what are you doing just standing around? Help us get ready for the big performance!'

Author Notes - To say the least, I'm far more proud of how this story tackles the topic of death compared to the dreaded 'Thirty Years Later'. Writing the Guppies talking about Mr Grouper after his death certainly wasn't easy, but in a weird way, I enjoyed it. Seeing how the seven of them discuss him and his departure was genuinely fascinating. Especially with how Molly's arc plays out because of him.

(By the way, the new spin-off is totally disconnected to this story. I have no idea how to incorporate it in now that I'm this far into the story, so it just never happened.)