Cherry Meets the Little Mermaid

chapter 3

They managed to get away from the shark as Ariel led them to a friend of hers.

"So, who is this Scuttle guy then?" Darla asked.

"Yeah, who is he?" Atticus asked.

"He knows all about the surface world." Ariel said to them.

Darla and Atticus looked to each other and stopped as the others swam ahead.

"She doesn't know we're humans?" Darla asked her adoptive brother.

"Does she not remember?" Atticus asked.

Darla shrugged herself.

"Come on, slowpokes!" Ariel called for them.

Atticus and Darla then swam after the others.

There was a seagull on a tiny island who was on the dry land and sitting around peacefully.

"Scuttle!" Ariel called out.

The seagull got nervous at his name being called, but held his binoculars the other way and saw the group far away from him. "Whoa! Mermaids off the port bow! Ariel, how ya doin', kid?" he then put them down to see Ariel was right in front of him with the others. "Whoa... What a swim..."

"Okay, I think Ariel might need a memory check." Darla whispered to Atticus.

"I agree." Atticus whispered back.

"Scuttle, look what we've found." Ariel put her bag next to the bird.

"Yeah, you should've been there," Urchin added. "We went to a sunken ship!"

"Yeah and it was really creepy." Flounder added.

"Human stuff, huh?" Scuttle took a look at the bag and took out the fork. "Let's see."

"Atticus says that's a 'dinglehopper'." Ariel told the seagull.

"And he's right, that must mean he's either seen these close up or he's part human." Scuttle said.

This caused for Ariel to remember the day Atticus, Darla, and their family had first arrived in Atlantica.

"Uncle Patrick's human, isn't he?" Ariel asked.

"Yes, don't you remember?" Darla replied. "I'm a mermaid too because Mama Emily let me have some magic so I could come to Atlantica with you after I got adopted by them."

"Of course I remember, I don't know how I could have forgotten." Ariel said.

Darla rolled her eyes.

"So, what does a dinglehopper do, Scuttle?" Urchin asked the seagull.

"Humans used these little babies to straighten their hair out," Scuttle explained while demonstrating by twisting his feathers on top of his head, making it spiky. "See? Just give it a little twirl here and yank there and... Viola! You got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over!"

"Sure, let's go with that." Darla said.

"A dinglehopper..." Ariel held the fork in content.

"What about that one?" Flounder gestured to the pipe.

"Oh, man!" Scuttle grew excited. "This I haven't seen in years! This is wonderful! It's ailed, a banded, bulbous snarfblatt."

"Ooooh..." Ariel, Flounder, and Urchin said, amazed.

"Yeah, or as humans call it a pipe where, um, humans use it for, uh, entertainment." Atticus lied.

"Thank you for reminding me, my boy!" Scuttle said to Atticus. "Now, Ariel, Urchin, you see... The snarfblat dates back to prehistorical times, when humans used to sit around, and stare at each other all day. Got very boring. So, they invented the snarfblat to make fine music... Allow me." he then started to blow into the pipe and seaweed popped out of the end.