Chapter Text
"Which one is Sharpe's?" Lilo wondered out loud, looking up at the armada. She couldn't see anything distinguishing the leader from the rest of the fleet. Lana was unsure as well. Their plan to distract Sharpe by attacking from inside his boat obviously wouldn't work if they boarded the wrong one.
"Who cares? They all need to go!" Solak replied, firing a current into the hull of the closest ship. Other merfolk followed suit, the barrage of water rapidly creating cracks in the metal. Lilo liked the strategy. One vessel wouldn't be able to hold up very long against an entire army.
Lana prepared to launch a current of her own when something caught her attention. A swarm of figures wearing black dive suits began flowing out of the other ships, easily rivaling Mira's army in number. As they approached, a blanket of bullets rained down on the merfolk. Some were able to dodge or get a shield up, but others weren't so lucky, dropping motionless to the sea floor as blood leaked from their bodies.
"Their soldiers are inbound!" Mira yelled as the first targeted ship collapsed and began to sink. Lana pulled Lilo closer, casting a bubble shield around them both. It seemed the ships themselves weren't going to be the main threat. A wave of merfolk led by Solak started attacking the next hull, while a group led by Mira attempted to protect them. A few of Mira's merfolk fired currents at the divers, breaking up their formation and momentarily halting the spray of bullets. Others conjured coral weapons to fight at close range, but Lilo immediately knew that was a bad idea.
"They have guns! Stick with magic! Don't use swords and spears!" Lilo yelled, shutting her eyes as another row of merfolk met their end before her warning could be heard. Sharpe's army had the technological advantage, and as of right now, the merfolk were vastly unprepared for their firepower. Bullets were too fast and accurate.
Although she was safe in the bubble, Lana was frozen with horror as she watched her fellow merfolk get slaughtered, the scene in front of her a billion times worse than any story she had heard as a child. While the merfolk army got the occasional kill, the casualty count was still strongly in favor of the humans. Lana needed to think of something, or they wouldn't last much longer.
"Mother! Body paralysis!" Lana screamed, wincing as bullets bounced off her shield.
"You heard Lana!" Mira shouted to her unit. They pointed their webbed hands at the divers, who instantly stopped moving as the microscopic currents invaded their ears and assaulted their vestibular systems. Lilo stared in amazement at the new development. It was like somebody had paused a movie. Now she understood why Lana didn't want to practice this spell on her back at the house.
The humans floated helplessly as the merfolk moved in. Some merciful ones slit the diver's throat or stabbed them in the heart for a quick death. Others who wanted more suffering decided to cut the oxygen supply of the dive suit and use currents to push the men into the deep, where they would surely drown. Word started to spread among the merfolk about the updated attack plan. It not only gave them an opening to go on the offensive, but it simultaneously acted as a defensive measure as well.
Lana's quick thinking had turned the tide of battle.
"I think I figured out which boat is Sharpe's. Get on my back," Lana instructed Lilo while she removed the bubble shield. Without fins or a dive suit, Lilo didn't have the speed necessary to keep up with Lana on her own. The thought of being a human backpack on a mermaid, in any other situation, would have made Lilo smile. As she wrapped her arms around Lana's neck, and her legs around Lana's waist, Mira swam over to confront the pair.
"Going on that ship is suicide. I won't let you," she said defiantly, creating a coral sword. "I'll stop you by force if I must." She raised her weapon to show that she wasn't bluffing, but Lana was ready.
"I've made up my mind, mother!" Lana asserted, quickly pointing her hands at Mira. Lilo gasped as she gazed at the frozen commander wielding her sword in mid wind-up. Even while paralyzed, the fiery intensity in Mira's eyes couldn't be extinguished.
Once Lana was sure that the spell had worked, she remembered one last thing she needed to do. "For protection until you can move again," she added, placing Mira in a bubble shield. Before Lilo could say anything about what she had just witnessed, Lana surged toward one of the ships, weaving her way around several skirmishes jam-packed with whizzing bullets and various merfolk spells.
Suddenly, an explosion sent shockwaves rippling through the water. Lilo flinched and squeezed Lana harder as the energy from the blast almost shook her off. Feeling Lilo's heart jackhammering into her back, Lana stopped so Lilo could have time to recover from the unexpected event. After a few calming breaths, Lilo loosened her grip when the source of the sound was located.
"Well, it looks like Jumba got one," Lilo remarked, watching a boat split in half and dip beneath the surface. Lana nodded. The merfolk had also taken down another, bringing the total sunk to three. However, there were still plenty more.
"What makes you think you found Sharpe's ship?" Lilo asked once Lana resumed swimming.
"It was the only one that didn't send out any soldiers," Lana reasoned. "I read in the base's library that high ranking officers in the military rarely travel with those going on the front line." She knew that fact alone didn't guarantee anything, but it was enough to make a guess. Lilo was astonished that Lana had noticed that detail amid the chaos.
As Lana approached the dive room entrance on the hull, Lilo took one last look around: merfolk getting pelted with bullets, divers being frozen then executed, Lana's mother still contained in the shield. Some of the merfolk turned their attention to the surviving humans who were on the ships when they sank. They were sitting ducks, not having dive suits or guns to fend off their awaited fate. The blood of both species polluted the once vibrant, pristine ocean. It was truly war.
"The person responsible is right above us," Lilo said softly, sliding off of Lana. "Let's make sure he never does this again." Taking Lana's hand, she activated the door to the dive room like she'd done many times before. But this time, it felt more ominous. The hatch groaning open resembled the jaws of a terrifying creature, and the pair were about to willingly go into the belly of the beast. Swimming up the tunnel, Lilo prayed that Stitch, Nani, and David had somehow figured out which ship they chose. Once the girls had made it inside, Lilo pressed some buttons on a wall-mounted control pad to complete the onboarding process.
Lana swallowed a gold pill before too much of the water drained from the room, transforming her back into a human. Surprisingly, two sets of black training uniforms were folded inside of an air-tight plastic bag in the corner. Kid sized. Lana shuddered at the memories the uniforms unearthed, like when she had been forced to break Lilo's arm. Nevertheless, she had no choice but to put it on. She didn't have any other clothes. Lilo also changed, as dry clothes were more comfortable.
"Two sets of clothes in our size…that's too much of a coincidence for me," Lilo started, but her train of thought was swiftly disrupted when she observed Lana's newly pale face glistening with sweat, not seawater.
"Lilo…" Lana moaned, doubling over and grabbing her stomach. "I…I don't feel so good…" Falling to her hands and knees, she vomited on the dive room floor. Now that she and Lilo were out of harm's way, the reality of the situation had hit her like a truck. The screams of the fallen, the overwhelming scent of blood, it all added to the guilt that none of this would be happening if she had just stayed in the kingdom. How many parents, children, siblings, had lost their lives today because of her? And not just on the merfolk side. It was too much to think about.
Lilo rubbed Lana's back in comfort when the crackle of an intercom filled the room. Helping a still woozy Lana to her feet, Sharpe's menacing voice delivered a message that sent a shiver down both of their spines:
"Welcome aboard, agents. We are going to have so. Much. Fun!"