CHAPTER 9
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THE SEA WITCH



Sebastian led the boys and Marina far away from the kingdom of Atlantica.  The sea was becoming darker and more gloomy the further they went.  There were smoke vents in the darkening areas that lead to an undersea graveyard of all sea creatures and even humans who have drowned.
"I don't like this!" Flounder shivered behind Goofy's shell.
"We all don't like this," said Sebastian on Marina's shoulder.  "Oh dis is all me fault.  I should've kept my big mouth shut."
"We all felt that Triton was bound to find out sooner or later," Marina told him.
"But not like dis.  I didn't mean to tell."
"Oh, don't be so down, Sebastian," said Goofy.  "Accidents happen."
"But if only I was quiet like you, Flounder," Sebastian sighed.  "No one suspected a t'ing with your words."
"Can we shkip the tea party for later?!" Donald shouted.  "We've got company!"
Rising out of the sea floor slithered a group of Nightmares in the shape of towering spiked kelp but with snake-like heads with no eyes.
"Gross!  Polyps!" Marina held out her sword.  
Donald demanded, "Shebashtian!  Flounder!  When there'sh a clearing, keep going and get Ariel out!!"
Sebastian tried not to panic as he leaped off Marina's shoulder and onto Flounder's back.  
"Marina!  You go with them!" Donald added.
"What?!  No way!  I'm fighting these guys off!"
"But they need protection and sho doesh Ariel!  Go help them!"
"Go ahead, Marina," Goofy turned over to have his shield ready on his back.  "We'll back you up and join you later!"
"Hurry!" called Sebastian.  "Ursula's lair is straight ahead!"
Flounder and Marina quickly zig-zagged pass all the polyp Nightmares avoiding their spikes and snapping fangs.  It wasn't an easy task, but with Donald and Goofy fighting them off as a distraction, they made it out.  
"That was a close one!" Sebastian panted.
"Yes, but now were out of the frying pan and heading for the fire," said Marina as they spotted the lair up ahead.  It made her stop swimming, "Great Caesar's Ghost!  What is that?!"
"Ursula's home," Flounder shivered.
The whole place was the skeleton of a giant sea monster and the doorway was the opened jaws of the dead beast.  Just seeing this monstrosity of a home and the erie glow coming from the inside made the three of them too scared to go any further.
That was until they heard Donald's voice shouting, "Well, don't jusht shtand there!  Hurry!!"
Marina gulped heavily until she saw the light inside the lair change colors for a few seconds.  
"Ariel!" she gasped.
"C'mon!" Sebastian swam ahead.
Flounder and Marina held their breath as they followed him to the mouth of the lair.  Once they came to the fangs of the monster skeleton, Marina came to another sudden stop.  Her sword faded out of her hand.
"Oh no!!" she tried not to raise her voice.  She looked at the distance between herself and Donald and Goofy.  "Crud!  Too far!"
"What?  What's wrong?" Flounder asked.
"I can't bring my sword out when I'm this far from Donald and Goofy!  And Donald forgot about it!  Remind me to deal with him later!"
"C'mon!!" Sebastian growled.  "We'll get along without it!  Let's just get Ariel out of there!"
"Easier said than done," Flounder shivered.
The three of them entered the mouth of the lair.  When they came into the throat, Marina and Flounder stopped behind Sebastian after seeing something squirming on the floor.  It was a garden of smaller, slimier polyps that were staring at them in fear.
"Oh gross!!"  Marina quickly wrapped her arms around Flounder, "This is disgusting!  I want out of this!"
"Me too!" Flounder held on to her.
"Will you two be quiet!?" Sebastian whispered loudly.  "Get over here!"
Marina closed her eyes tightly with Flounder still in her arms as she inched her way over to the corner of the throat hallway.  She couldn't stop cringing at the sound of the polyps below squirming.  Along the way, she and Flounder also heard the voice of an older woman with a bit of a baritone.
"Now listen to me because this is most important.  Anytime before the sun will set on the third day, you've got to let your little lover boy prince to fall in love with you and give you a kiss.  But not just any ordinary kiss.  I mean the kiss of true love!"
Marina, Flounder, and Sebastian peeked around the corner and saw Ariel listening to wicked Sea Witch Ursula.  She was a corpulent cecaelia with the body of a black octopus from the chest down.  Around her neck was a string holding a golden nautilus shell.  Her hair was short and white and her face had a sly smile along with a noticeable mole on the right side of her chin.
"And if he kiss you. . . you will remain human forever and ever.  However, there is a difficult part, my angelfish. . . if he doesn't kiss you. . . you will turn back into a mermaid and. . . your body and soul will be turned over to the realm of the Nightmares."
"NO!!" Marina screamed.  
Immediately, Ursula's pet moray eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, came to them and wrapped themselves around Sebastian and Flounder.  Marina jumped into the room wanting to grab Ariel out of there, but Ursula simply raised her hand and made a large Nightmare polyp grow out of the floor and quickly coil around Marina.  She was completely detained and gagged from the slimy Nightmare beast.  No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't get out.
"Marina!" Ariel gasped.
Ursula held her chin and made her look away, "Don't heed to her, my dear.  She and her friends lied to you.  Remember?"
Ariel calmed down.
"Now then. . . do we have a deal?"
Ariel answered, "So. . . if Eric doesn't kiss me. . . I'll be turned over to the Nightmares."
"Correct, my dear.  The Mistress of Evil shall be your owner."
"But. . . if Eric does kiss me and I become human. . . I'll never be with my family again."
"Oh, that's right. . . but at least you'll have your man.  Life has always been full of tough choices.  Eh, lawyers.  Don't you just love them?"  Ursula chuckled.  "Oh, I almost forgot about the payment.  After all, if you want to cross a bridge, you've got to pay the toll."
"But I don't have anything," said Ariel.
"Oh, tut tut tut.  I'm not asking for much," she came face to face with Ariel.  "All I want is. . . your voice."
"My voice?"
"You got it, sweetie.  No more talking, singing, zip."
"But--"
"Oh, you don't have to talk to dear ol' princey.  You've got your looks, pretty face, and hey, there's always body language," Ursula laughed as she started to throw a bunch of stuff into her cauldron.  She tossed in so many nameless objects and sea critters with a new puff of smoke coming out of the cauldron after each throw.  Then the last ingredient was added.  It was a human tongue!
The whole room lit up from another explosion in the cauldron.  Marina tried her hardest to scream behind the Nightmare gag to call out to Donald and Goofy, but it was no use.  She even tried again and again to have her sword appear in her grip, but she was still too far from Donald and Goofy.  She kept struggling as Ursula came back to Ariel with a glowing contract.
"Now, my dear, all you have to do now is sign this and the deal is done.  Just your name, one voice, and we're on a roll."  She held up a pen made from the skeleton of a needlefish, "So, what shall it be?"
Ariel paused to look away and think it over.  She looked at Flounder and Sebastian as they were still detain by Flotsam and Jetsam.  Both of them shook their heads to her.  She looked up at Marina.  She did the same thing.
Ariel grunted, looked at the contract, and grabbed the pen.  She made the decision with her heart no matter how hard it was.  With her eyes closed tightly, she signed her name to the scroll.
Marina screamed to the top of her voice behind the slimy polyp as the contract disappeared in Ursula's hand.
"One contract. . . one deal for you, Maleficent," Ursula smiled.  Then she came to the cauldron, waved her hands over her potion, and spoke these words.

"Beluga, sevruga
Come winds of the Caspian Sea. . .
Larynxes, glacydis
Ad max laryngitis
La Voce to ME!"

A pair of hands made from smoke slithered out of the cauldron and started to reach for Ariel's throat.  Ariel began to sing her voice over to Ursula.
Marina panicked.  She wriggled crazily to break out from the polyp.  She finally managed to open her jaw and take the risk of biting the slimy Nightmare.  The gag around her face dissolved and she was free to scream.
"No!!  Ariel!!  No!!"
"Keep singing!!" Ursula roared.
Ariel continued.
"No!!  NO!!"
The hands held on to Ariel, reached down her throat, and slowly pulled out a glowing ball that was still singing her song.  Ursula licked her lips as she had the beautiful singing voice come into her nautilus shell.  
"Marina!  Ariel!!"  Donald and Goofy finally came into the lair.
"YES!!" Marina reached her hand down and had her sword appear in her hand.  She immediately sliced her way out of the polyps and raced toward Ariel.  However there was powerful force field that surround Ariel like a bubble.  When Marina hit against it, she was bounced back towards Flotsam and Jetsam.  The two eels quickly got out of the way and had Marina crash upon Sebastian and Flounder.
"Ariel!!" Marina screamed again.
With Ursula laughing maniacally and a power surge running up and down Ariel's body, Donald and Goofy tried to break their way up to either one of them, but both of them were bounced back to Marina.
"Ariel!!" Donald shrieked.
"What's happenin'?!" Goofy shouted.
Marina got up to try again to get Ariel out, but that was when a blinding light brightened the room.  Everyone but Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam winced from the pain that struck their eyes.  
Lightning was zapping everywhere.  Bubbles were blasting upward.  Ursula maniacal laughter cackled louder and echoed off the walls and nearly through the ocean.  One wouldn't be surprised if the whole Aquatic Nebula shivered from that laugh.
At last, there was a blasting wave in the room and the light disappeared.  Everyone looked and there was Ariel struggling to swim with her tail now replace with a pair of human legs.
"Ariel!!" Marina screamed.
"Hurry!" Sebastian gasped.  "She can't breathe!"
Marina, Donald, and Goofy hurried to Ariel and grabbed a hold of her waist and arms.  The second they saw a hole in the roof of the lair, they swam towards it with Flounder and Sebastian close behind.  The moment they were out still hearing Ursula laughing, they saw they still had a long way to go and get to the surface.  Even as they were swimming to their limit, they couldn't let Ariel drown.
Wanting to get there faster and stop hearing that laugh, Marina had a quick idea.
"At least this attack can be good for something.  Hang on boys!  We're going for a ride!"
She pointed her sword to the sea floor and called out, "COMET!!!"
And a brilliant light of stardust shot out of the blade making a strong recoil that made her and everyone else go shooting up to the surface.  It was only a few seconds when the sea was becoming brighter from the light of the sun rays.  The moment Marina saw the waves of the surface within a good distance, she pulled Ariel up and had her the very first to reached the destination.  
Marina and the boys released her and shot out of the water leaping ten feet in the air and slapping their bodies back down to the water.  The moment they let her go, Ariel popped out of the water with a large gulp of air.
"Ariel!" Marina rushed back to the teenager and held her head above the water after she watched her almost pass out.
Goofy held her left arm up on his shell to keep her surfaced, "We've got you, Ariel.  You'll be okay."
Donald surfaced with Sebastian and Flounder.  He sighed, "Phew, that wath a good move, Marina.  Good thinking."
"Ariel!  How is she?" Flounder asked.
"Let her catch her breath," said Sebastian.  "We've got to get her to the shore.  This distance in the sea is no place for a. . . . a. . . . ."
"A human," Marina finished him off as she looked back at Ariel's new beautiful legs.