AN: This is one's much shorter but sue me. I could always go back and edit it later.

Urchin was glad to have Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian as true blue friends. Then that small group grew including Simon the sea monster and the Evil Manta's son, Little E as he likes to be called nowadays.

Simon in spite of his giant size and feared species, had wanted friends more than anything else in the whole world. After meeting Ariel and helping save the day when he visited Atlantica, he now had more true friends he had ever dreamed.

Little E hadn't entirely understood the value of friendship, until he found an outlet for his creativity in school thanks to Ariel, then he was introduced to others he could speak and befriend on an individual level.

The unusual trio been away from Atlantica for almost an entire year, on a road trip both for a just boy's vacation and to create more liaisons for a small business they hoped to set up one day in the near future. They were just returning when they'd run into a pack of underwater beetle drones.

Fortunately for the three friends, they were in a rocky canyon when it happened. Using each other's skills, they started a rock slide that took out the majority of the horde, while the rest were demolished by the trio.

"Trouble that my Pop's not responsible for? He's probably losing his touch." Little E remarked.

"Ya know? I never heard of him using these crazy things." Simon comments, holding up one broken piece and looking it over in confusion.

"Wait a minute, I've only seen these things briefly on the surface before," Urchin suddenly piped up. "And they work for a creature WAY worse than the Evil Manta!"

"But they were headed for Atlantica!" Little E noticed, his eyes yellow widening.

There was only one being they knew of that fit the description.

He and the other two exchanged horrified looks.

"Then they're in danger – we gotta save them!" cried Urchin.

In the distance, they saw a flash of gold. Triton must've used the trident. But once they got to Atlantica… what they saw felt like something out of some half-crazed nightmare. Ariel caught in some transparent skull prison in the claws of both the sea and the surface world's worst enemy: Aku.

The sea king demanded the release of his daughter without success, willing to do anything for his daughter, he leaves the trident in front of the infamous Deliverer of Darkness. However, when asked about his part of the deal, the demon shows his true intentions, exclaiming that he "changed his mind" and that Ariel would remain his prisoner for as long as he desired.

In the ensuing panic of the denizens, Gabriella the deaf-mute mermaid and Ollie, quickly fill the trio in on what happens they pointed to the captured human warriors who were freed by a desperate Aquata.

There, Ariel's other sister and the friends devised a plan. They had to get the trident AND Ariel back. The human arrivals were surprised to see them but the group motioned for silence and that they had a plan.

"Now what? We can't get that close without that thing seeing us." Arista worried.

Urchin pulled some strands of kelp and seaweed. "Hang on, I'm getting a brainstorm over here."

He, Arista, and Little E pulled and tied them together into a sling just long enough for two individuals. The plan was for Urchin and Little E to be flung at the skull with Simon's aid, and send it to the ground to free Ariel.

The sea monster caught on to what they were thinking. "All aboard!"

Both Simon and Arista nodded once. They knew what to do.

Next, Urchin and Little E got on the extended seaweed, which Simon then swung like a sling which propelled both boys towards the skull containing Ariel. And with a strength like Simon's, it was enough to shove it towards one direction away from Aku.

"Got it!" Little E cheered the moment the skull hit the seafloor, letting the two humans to free Ariel with their swords.

Simon tackled and grappled with the fiend, allowing Arista enough time to snatch the trident. He was flung away into a pile of rocks. The sea monster was alive save for possibly a couple of bumps and a broken arm. "Ow, that's gonna leave a mark."

Urchin and Little E swam to aid Sebastian and Ariel's sisters.

At a crucial point, Jack and Triton attacked Aku at the same time and banished him from Atlantica.

Now years later… This time Ariel was in a different sort of trouble. She and her beloved hero of the surface world were desperate need of help.

And they more than determined to free them both from the Demonic tyrant that held them prisoner.

The samurai warrior had helped Ariel, countless from both the surface world and from under the sea, now it was their turn to aid him.