The Barbie Adventure VII: Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia

the crystal cove/Nori

"Hey, Fungus," one of the fungi said to the other. "Is it just me or is something... fishy around here?"

"Haha, fishy!" the other laughed. "Very funny!" 

"Yeah," Nalu rolled his eyes, tied up with seaweed, the fungi on either side of him as they sat at the top of the Crystal Cove. "Hilarious."

"Enough!" 

The trio looked to see a fungus approaching them, only he was wearing purple instead of green. 

"You won't get away with this, fungus!" Nalu sneered. 

"No, no, no," the fungus shook his head. "These buffoons are fungus. I am Fungus Maximus. Max if you prefer."

Nalu started picking at his seaweed binds again.

"Fungus? Fungus!"

Max scrambled to pick up a small metal circle, and Laverna's face appeared on the screen. 

"There you are," she said through the mirror screen. "Do you have the prince?"

"We do," Max replied. "And I noticed how to make sure he'll take us to the immunity berry. Then all you have to do is eat it."

"And I'll be invulnerable to all magic," Laverna sighed dreamily. "Past, present, and future. No more exile here in the Bog of the Hinterlands. My sister, the Enchantress, will be powerless over me!"

"Oooooh," Max replied. "Over us."

"Us?" Laverna wrinkled her nose in confusion for a second. "Oh, of course over us. Bring me the berry, and then you'll rule by my side."

"I will, Your Deviousness!" Max exclaimed. "And might I say--"

"Bring me the berry now!" Laverna ordered before clicking off. 

"Forget it, Fungus," Nalu hissed. "I'll never take you to the immunity berry."

"Ah, I love it when captives are difficult," Max said. "Makes my job so much easier."

He pulled out a sleek black vial and undid the cap, letting a single drop of the green liquid inside hit the water. Nalu and the two fungi watched as green bubbles appeared, creeping and spreading across the water's surface.

"Eew!" one fungus plugged his nose. 

"Ewe, indeed," Max agreed. "Just one drop chokes every bit of air from water, killing everything insight. Makes you rethink taking me to the berry. No?"

Nalu watched as the green poison kept spreading down to the next level of the cove, creeping closer to the ocean and all of Mermaidia just ahead. 

"You'd only give the berry to Laverna," he argued. 

"Ohho, very astute," Max nodded. "Whoopsie. Look at that."

He pointed to the poison, spreading faster. 

"I couldn't help you even if I wanted to," Nalu pointed out. "Last I looked, fungi don't have gills."

Max thought about it for a second. 

"I wonder," he smirked. "How long would it take this poison here in the Crystal Cove to taint all of Mermaidia? Five minutes? Ten? Certainly not enough time to warn anyone. Oh, ah, or save them. Oh, well. We won't be long enough now. The last pool should overflow in ten... nine... eight... seven..."

The two fungi held a large rock over a tiny stream connecting the cove to the ocean. 

Nalu felt his forehead bead with sweat.