Yay new section! Out time in Eel-ectric City is coming to a close, but not without a bang! And members of Eric Enthusiasts, I hope you enjoy it!
P.S. There is some mild (very mild) violence in this section. I just wanted to forewarn everyone just so that no one gets offended!
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About an hour (and a few sea-tinis) later, everyone was still having a great time at Poseidon’s.
Ariel, Andrina, and Adella were right on the edge of the dance floor, where they had been for the last few minutes. Their dates had called it quits for the games a while ago, but the girls were still going for it despite their lack of partners.
Now, earlier in the night, the girls would have been in front of the crowd, as close to the music as they could possibly be. But, after their escapade on stage and Caspian’s rather embarrassing rendition of “Tiny Bubbles”, the girls had decided that the best place to be was as far away from the stage as possible. Thus, they were dancing in the back corner, near the ramp to the seating area and keeping a low but fun-filled profile.
This was unfortunate if only because it made it easier for Pearl to find the girls as soon as she looked out over the lowered dance floor.
“Hey, girls, hey!”
All three princesses turned at the same time and, along with their reflexes, they shared the same look of shock and anxiety.
“Pearl,” said Ariel, trying to mask her emotions with a nervous giggle. “I forgot you’d be here.”
“Oh Ariel,” Pearl started, nonchalantly, “how you possibly forget about me, the One-Mermaid Par-tay? Woohoo!”
“Yeah, Ariel, how could that have slipped your mind?” Andrina asked dryly.
“You couldn’t have thought that I was going to let you come home without having a night out on the town with me,” Pearl said, giving Ariel a playful shove.
Andrina and Adella were behind their sister, no longer dancing, just awkwardly floating and watching the conversation; Adella looking like she wanted to just swim out of the building and Andrina staring at Pearl with one eyebrow raised, amazed that she had enough brain cells to form whole sentences.
“Of course not,” Ariel answered as she looked around to see if Eric was anywhere near. She always seemed to need to know exactly where Eric was any time Pearl was in the vicinity. Ariel looked to their table that was a mere two feet above them. Alana, River, and Finn were the only ones there, but only Alana could see her. Alana smiled but when she saw Pearl, it turned into a playful grimace. She gave Ariel a hang in there smile which Ariel attempted to return.
“I bet on land they don’t know how to party like we do, do they Ariel?” Pearl asked dancing to the music and pulling Ariel back to their conversation. “I mean, how do they even dance with those stick looking things anyway?”
“They dance, it’s just different” Ariel answered, mustering patience.
Pearl snorted into laughter. At the sound Andrina rolled her eyes. “I’d love to see that! Humans trying to dance on those sticks…!”
“They’re called legs, Pearl,” Ariel corrected with noticeably less patience.
“That’s right, you would know, wouldn’t you? Our little human expert.” At that Adella sighed heavily and Andrina crossed her arms. “Tell me, Ariel what do they do for fun up there? Or do they even know what fun is?”
“There’s plenty of fun up there, Pearl,” Ariel answered, honestly trying to convince her. “We just have it differently, that’s all.”
“Oh! It’s ‘we’ now, huh, Ariel? Sounds like you’re just blending right in. Didn’t take you too long to forget about home, huh?”
Ariel’s patience evaporated. Andrina stiffened as Adella bit her lip. Pearl, completely oblivious, was still just dancing.
“I haven’t forgotten anything, Pearl” Ariel answered, hurt but determined.
“I was just kidding, Ariel, gosh!” she said with another playful shove. Andrina looked like she was going to tackle her. Of course, Pearl hadn’t been kidding. But she was testing the waters. And they were just right.
The song that had been playing came to an end and a new one started. It was a popular song and everyone in the club had dropped everything to dance to it. That is everyone except Pearl, Ariel, Adella, and Andrina.
Adella had just put her hand on Ariel’s shoulder when Pearl turned around towards the ramp that led down to the dance floor. Ariel had turned to Adella’s reassuring smile, but it turned into complete shock right before her eyes. When Adella’s hand shot to her mouth, Ariel turned around to see the Big Barracuda and his Orange Roughies swim right up behind Pearl.
Now it’s pretty hard to miss someone as massive as the Big Barracuda and his henchmen plough through a crowd of merpeople. From her seat, Alana had seen the Big B push past people on his way to the dance floor.
“Guys,” she said frantically. “The Big Barracuda and the Orange Roughies just swam in and they look like their heading for my sisters!”
Finn and River leaned over the tables to see the aforementioned goons swim up to Pearl, Ariel, Andrina, and Adella.
“Alana,” Finn began calmly, “go and find Eric, Sheldon, and Waverly. Tell them what’s going on and bring them back as quick as you can. River, you and I are going to round up everyone else. I think we’ll be leaving soon.”
“Yeah,” River agreed as he and Finn and Alana swam off in opposite directions.
“Hey there mer-babes!” the Barracuda said, jauntily. “Hey there little red,” he said, lifting up Ariel’s chin, “long time no see. Been busy crashing some human’s ride like you crashed my champion sea chariot?”
“You crashed your own chariot,” Andrina answered sternly. “And then she and our father saved your life, remember?”
“Hey, hey, we could have saved ourselves just fine, mermaid!” he answered as the Roughies nodded fervently.
“Sure,” Andrina said, narrowing her gaze.
“So Big B,” Pearl started, “you know where Ariel’s been?”
Ariel shot a glance at Pearl, who was looking straight at her.
“Oh, yeah. The little princess got tired of her tail and decided to go cruisin’ for humans on the beach. Wavy move mermaid, or can I even call you a ‘mermaid’ anymore?” He and the Roughies laughed.
“Ariel,” Adella cautioned her sister. Ariel’s body had completely stiffened and Adella was really worried about what was about to happen, and rightfully so. Ariel was completely done with this situation: Pearl obnoxiously barging in on their night and the Big Barracuda “coincidentally” showing up at the same time. Pearl had hit a new low with this one. Ariel’s patience was all used up and Adella knew it.
“Yeah, all of Atlantica was talkin’ about it. What, are you too good for us merguys?” the Barracuda asked Ariel as his Roughies snickered.
“No,” Ariel answered evenly. “I just don’t like any guy who smells like he’s been stuck in a whale’s blow hole for three days.”
Adella covered her mouth with her hands as Andrina laughed uncontrollably. Pearl just smirked and raised an eyebrow.
The Barracuda was beside himself and the Orange Roughies grimaced at his growing rage. Ariel started to swim past them towards the sea way that led up to the upper part of the club. But, as she did, the Barracuda’s right hand locked onto her arm.
“Hey, you codfish, let go of my sister,” Andrina said as Adella held her back.
“You know little mermaid, nobody talks to the Big Barracuda like that unless they got something to back it up,” he said, menacingly glaring at Ariel, who just fixed her gaze and didn’t move. “And it looks like you’re at a loss.”
“Look again.”
The Barracuda, the Roughies, Pearl, Ariel, Andrina, and Adella turned toward the voice at the bottom of the ramp to the dance floor. Eric, with a look of death, was braced in front of Waverly and Sheldon who were both staring at the Big Barracuda beneath their brows. Alana was floating on the steps behind them. Ariel also noticed that Finn and Aquata were looking down from the tables with Arista, Rip, River, Attina and Caspian behind them.
With the driving music behind them, it was a surreal situation. Everyone else in the club was moving, dancing feverishly to a pulsating beat. The entire club was completely oblivious to the tension in the back of the room. And the song’s upbeat melody was in complete contrast to the buckling anxiety they all felt.
“And just who in the ocean are you?” the Big Barracuda asked furiously.
Pearl quickly swam up to him. “Actually Big B that is Ariel’s human. He’s visiting for their dad’s coronation celebration.”
“Oh, really?” he asked, letting go of Ariel. “What’s your problem, human?”
“Well,” Eric answered evenly, “the way I see it, there’s a hulking moron threatening brute force on a group of girls. That’s a little misdirected don’t you think?”
The Barracuda feigned deep thought. “Yeah, yeah it is,” he said. “Here, let me ‘re-direct’ that for you.”
With seemingly no preparation at all, the Big Barracuda’s fist flew through the water and connected to the left side of Eric’s face.
In a fraction of a second, there were all kinds of reactions. Pearl made a wince through her smile, Alana and Attina looked away, Finn got up from his seat, Sheldon and Waverly went to Eric, and Ariel called his name.
The Big Barracuda and the Orange Roughies laughed over their victory. In fact, they laughed so hard that they didn’t see Eric straighten up, draw his left arm back, and fix its speed and velocity toward the Big Barracuda.
See, there were three things the Big Barracuda hadn’t realized when he punched Eric. First, that spending your formative years on ships and in questionable ports acclimates one to taking a hit (even one as ill placed as the Barracuda’s). Second, that messing with Ariel really, really,
really p***** Eric off. And third, that the former of the first two things makes one familiar with returning a hit in a way that will painfully stop any subsequent ones. These three things all came at the Big Barracuda in the form of Eric’s fist as it made contact with and shattered his nose.
Again, the reactions were varied. Andrina cheered, Arista was laughing, Waverly patted Eric on the back, Caspian and River applauded, and Ariel just beamed as Pearl swam to the Barracuda. Then, Sheldon, Waverly, and Eric swam over to the girls on the dance floor to make sure that they were alright.
The Barracuda, definitely dazed in the arms of his Roughies, was seeing tiny fish swim around his head. But after a few seconds, he was able to form a sentence, which was a little muffled after the restructuring of his nasal cavity: “Get ‘em!”
“Come on!” Waverly yelled, laughing as he started to push Adella through the crowd.
Ariel grabbed Eric’s hand (he was still scowling at the Barracuda) and swam with her sisters and the boys through the crowd of merpeople who were completely unaware of what had transpired due the entrancing quality of Sebastian’s music. And the Orange Roughies, dropping their leader (who was succumbing to unconsciousness) on the floor, straightened up and started after them.
Pearl, alone with the thwarted Barracuda, looked from the direction that everyone had swam off in and then at Big B’s unconscious body. She hadn’t counted on him losing to Ariel’s human, nor had she thought that their duel would be over in two measly punches. Realizing that her night and her fun were now thoroughly over, Pearl crossed her arms, pouted, and gave the Barracuda a good but completely futile kick in the fin.
Waverly, Alana, Andrina, Sheldon, Ariel, and Eric had gone through the crowd while Finn, Aquata, and the others swam over the dance floor to meet them on the opposite corner. Once they got there, it looked like they were trapped: There was nothing in the corner except for the edge of the stage and a coral statue of a mermaid next to it.
Ariel looked back to where they’d come from and then to the stage. With one flick of her tail she had hoisted herself over the edge of the stage.
“Sebastian! Sebastian!”
The little crab finally turned to see the red head. “Ariel do you want to help wit dis one too?” he asked over the music.
“No, Sebastian. We need to get out of here, now!”
“Why?”
“Them!” Ariel said, pointing behind her.
Sebastian swam up and saw the Orange Roughies pushing through the crowd. “Jumping jellyfish!”
“Exactly!”
“Rip,” Sebastian, yelled over the music. “Push on da mermaid’s shells!”
“What?”
“Just do it, boy!”
Rip looked hesitant. “I really don’t feel comfortable…”
“Rip!” Arista yelled.
That’s all it took. Rip did as he was told, and when he did, the wall on which the mermaid rested retracted and moved to the side, revealing the street just behind the Palace. In a flash, all fourteen mermaids and mermen were out of the club, followed by a little streak of red. By the time the Roughies had made it through, nothing but the polished coral of a buxom mermaid greeted them. Confused, they shrugged their shoulders and went back to check on their incapacitated leader.