I am so sorry for taking this so long. I was making more chapters for this chapter, and I lost track of time. 

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The next morning, with the adults woke up early again to prepare breakfast, Alberto woke up first, hoping he beat either Luca or Giulia, but Giulia jumped down from the upper bunkbed, and ran out of the door as she wanted to be the first to come out of the room. Alberto gave chase at her. Luca then opened the door while rubbing his eyes, yawning from just woken up. He then felt his two friends racing against each other towards the stairs. Luca was energized upon seeing his friends as he ran after them as well.

Luca and Giulia took the stairs while Alberto slid down the staircase.

"Almost time for breakfast," Lorenzo declared while putting the plates on the table, but the three ran straight towards the door, "Where are you three going?"

"To Mariposa's. We have practice today," Alberto answered.

"Practice for what?" Daniela asked.

"The singing contest. We forgot to tell you that we're helping her win the contest this year since she lost all those years that she tried to win," Luca explained.

"But, Luca, you don't sing," his mother reminded.

"I don't have to. I'll play the drums," the young sea monster said.

"I play the guitar," the red-haired girl stated

"Me too," the taller young sea monster added.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Massimo had some doubts about this plan, especially with Giulia since she never participated in a singing competition before. She did play a guitar, only for fun.

"Si, Papa. I mean, how hard competing in a singing contest could that be?" Giulia chuckled.

Just then, the clock chimed, revealing it was 7am

"Well, that's our time!" Luca declared as he, Alberto, and Giulia took their breakfast to go, and ran out of the door, "We'll see you later!"

"Hey, don't forget to bring an umbrella! It rained last night!" Daniela warned, remembering she heard rain last night, and there were still droplets of water dripping everywhere.

"We don't need it!" Alberto shouted, confident that he and Luca won't get wet, and it was a sunny day today.

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Walking to Mariposa's house took 11 minutes of walking, but glad they were asking for directions since some people knew about the Paruparo family.

The three made it, just outside the big wall fence in front of the house, and they were about to head towards the gate.

"I can't wait to sign up for the singing contest with Mariposa today," Giulia said excitedly.

"If we work hard to help her parents today, we might have enough money for that entry fee, like back home," Luca recalled.

"Let's just be careful about getting wet," Alberto reminded.

When Giulia opened the gate for them, they quietly stepped in, and slowly closed the gate.

Unbeknownst to them, Twist and Daru, the two cats from last night, hopped from the roof, and landed on a tree branch above the three children, shaking the leaves, making the droplets that came from the rain last night to drip down.

When Giulia was in front of the down, and Luca and Alberto were behind her, she was about to knock on the door, "Okay, guys, now we... Ah!" She turned around, and screamed in terror.

"Whoa, what's wrong, sorella? It's like you've seen a ghost!" Alberto chuckled.

Giulia took out a mirror from her pocket, and showed her two friends' reflection.

"Aah!" The two boys yelled when they themselves in their sea monster forms with the mirror.

"The raindrops aren't dried yet!" Alberto exclaimed.

Just then, Mariposa kicked her bedroom window open, and played the guitar aggressively and loudly to wake up all of siblings and cousin in the house

Luca, Alberto, and Giulia were startled as they saw Mariposa playing her guitar with her eyes closed. They quickly ran to escape before Mariposa opened her eyes to see Luca and Alberto as sea monsters. Giulia was pushing them towards the gate, but the gate opened from the front with Andres and Isabel coming in, talking to each other.

The three halted as they noticed Mariposa's parents didn't glance at them when they came in as it was an opportunity to hide behind a tree. When they were hiding, Luca and Alberto shook themselves to shake the water off of them while Giulia used her hat to wipe Luca's face, and a towel to wipe Alberto's face. When the two were now dry, they changed back to their human forms, only the three to be noticed by the family's family cats, who were glaring and growling at them

When Mariposa finished her music, she opened her eyes, and put her guitar down. She looked down, and noticed her three new friends, "Oh. There you guys are! You're early!"

Luca, Alberto, and Giulia came out of hiding behind the tree, and waved with their nervous smiles.

"Buongiorno," Luca greeted nervously.

"All right, mga bata. You want that entry fee for the contest, you have to work hard to earn it. Our children had done this before," Andres declared as he looked up to Mariposa at her window, "Mariposa, go help your nanay at the palengke."

"Got it!" Mariposa nodded before running out of her room, ran down the stairs, and burst out from the door. She escorted her mother out of the gate, heading to the marketplace.

When he was now alone with his middle child's new friends, Andres then turned to them, "You three are coming with me today."

Luca whimpered nervously.

"Which gun should I use?! Huh? Huh?" Alberto asked excitedly as he was about to run inside the room to get the guns he noticed from last night.

"Whoa!" But Andres blocked Alberto with his arm to stop him from retrieving the guns, "There are no guns needed... and I'm not allowed kids your age to use any guns at all."

Alberto groaned as Giulia secretly snickered for her adoptive brother not getting what he wanted.

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With that, Andres took Luca, Alberto, and Giulia to go fishing in Manila Bay with the boys wearing gloves and boots, just in case they got wet. Andres also took Daru with him for another small companion. Andres used his red jeepney to get to the fishing port with the three Italian kids. The three were secretly in panic now that they were surrounded by water. Giulia wasn't so afraid, but she was only worried for Luca and Alberto, and that's why she has to keep an eye on them, or they'll get into so much trouble if they get wet.

"Like the Manila Bay?" Andres chuckled, feeling positive this morning, "Sometimes the waters here are famous, probably either they were good for fishing or maybe everybody loves to swim here."

The three children nodded and grinned nervously, agreeing with the veteran. A small splash from the water caused a tiny drop to jump on Luca's arm, almost showing his blue scales. Luca quickly dried it off before Andres noticed it.

Andres then took out a green fine fishing net from a small kit, and the more he pulled it out, the more it revealed the size of it. It was bigger than a blanket.

"Okay, mga bata, just throw one part of the net here, and hold the other one," Andres demonstrated by throwing the net into the water, leaving one side of it as the three followed.

While waiting for the fishes to trap in the net, Luca glanced at the tuxedo cat, who was growling at him. Luca wanted to tell his friends about it, but when he looked back at the cat, he was gone. The boy yelped, figuring the cat might make a sneak attack. But when he turned around, Daru was behind Luca, and attacked his face.

Alberto and Giulia gasped as the girl grabbed the kitten, and her brother helped her pull it away from Luca.

"Hey, no playing there, okay? You're scaring the fishes!" Andres warned as he didn't notice what was happening. He was too focused on fixing the net in hopes for the fishes to trap.

When Alberto and Giulia successfully removed the cat from Luca's face, Giulia pulled the cat too hard, she accidentally threw it into the water. The three gasped to see the poor kitty go thrown into the bay. They even feared that they would be in so much trouble if Andres finds out about his cat.

When Daru made it back on the boat safely, all soaking wet, he growled sharply at Luca who came closer to him. The boy then shoved a small fish into the cat's mouth, and the three hoped that would calm the cat down. Daru accepted the fish, and ate it.

While waiting for the fish, Giulia couldn't help but notice Andres' uniform, and by the looks of it, even the color, he might've fought in a war or more than two wars.

"So... you fought in World War II?" she asked.

Andres didn't expect a tourist to question him. He liked to share his war stories with anyone, "Oh yes! You see, when I was 22 years old, my first mission as a soldier was fighting in the battlefield with the Japanese soldiers. Some of my comrades got killed, but some of us survived," He then glanced around him before leaning closely at the trio, "Can you keep a secret when I told just a small story in my war days?" When the Underdogs nodded quietly and curiously, Andres then continued his story, "A dangerous explosive missile was about to hit my close comrades, but I stood in front of them so I could protect from that missile, and I got hit."

"Wow!" Alberto exclaimed, "What's a missile?"

"Were you killed?" Luca asked.

"Sadly, yes... but I survived," Andres answered as the three sighed in relief, "Never felt so alive, but I was so close... to death. The doctors treated me, but I would never forget how I was almost killed back then."

"Wow, bellissimo! You're like a hero now," Giulia commented.

The veteran scoffed, "Well, everybody knew me by that, but I never took it for granted. After the war, I went home to marry the love of my life, and we have children together, all 9 of them," he sighed happily, "And when we have our youngest, I decided to retire so I can be with my family forever."

Alberto sniffed, almost crying at that part, "That was... so beautiful!"

But it's been a while since they threw the net into the water. Andres pulled the net up, and showed that the net was still empty, "I guess there are no fish today."

"It might be because this area was kinda dark and shallow," Luca said while Andres was listening.

"Fishes love to be in areas with a lot of sunshine because the light helps them find food easily," Alberto explained as he stood up, "So it might be better if we go further, and a deeper part of the bay," he pointed to the farther part of Manila Bay.

Andres whistled nervously, "Hoo! I never made my boat that far before."

"You'll never know until you try," Giulia smiled.

Andres realized he has no choice. He needed his catch to help the family. Guess he had to listen to the three kids who became friends with one of his children.

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At the streets, Mariposa skated as fast as she could towards the beach of Pasay as people walking by moved aside for the young girl to skate freely.

"Magandang umaga, Mariposa!"

"Magandang umaga!" Mariposa greeted them back as she drifted to stop herself from skating to fast towards the water. She pulled out her wallet from her pocket of her hoodie, and counted the money she earned from the market with her mother and youngest sister, "Yes! I have enough money for..." She looked ahead, and gasped, "Diyos ko."

She noticed her father with her friends coming back from fishing, and caught a bunch of fishes. Luca and Alberto tossed a big one on top of the pile before joining Andres and Giulia, and Mariposa approached them.

"Your friends did a lot of help today," Andres told his daughter, "They were good listeners too."

Mariposa giggled, "Magaling!"

When Andres gave extra money to her daughter, Mariposa led her new friends back on the street, and she waved at an upcoming tricycle for a ride to the signing booth of the singing competition.

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When they arrived at another part of the city called barangay, which took just few minutes of travelling, Mariposa paid for the driver, and Luca, Alberto, and Giulia followed her to the sign-up booth, just across the street

A Filipino woman, around her early 30s, made the announcement for the upcoming singing competition, "Maligayang pagdating, mga kasama! Today, you're here to sign up for another year's greatest singing competition in the whole Philippines!"

"Who's that?" Luca asked as the four kids were watching from behind the crowd of contestants.

"That's Pilita Corrales. She's one of the famous singers in the Philippines. She's always one of the judges of this singing contest every year. She is also dubbed as 'Asia's Queen of Songs'," Mariposa explained, then sighed with boredom, "This is gonna take forever."

"You will be sharing your beautiful talent, the pleasant sound of your voices, and your love for music," Pilita continued.

"Get on with it already!" Mariposa shouted impatiently.

"There's the excitement of a young contestant over there!" Pilita chuckled, "To win this year's singing contest, same rule every year, you should have high points on performance, clean voice, stage-presence, and if duet or band, that includes participation for each member and teamwork. And the most important rule of all is having fun with your bandmates and be true to yourselves."

"Pfft! This is gonna be hard..." Alberto sputtered, "To lose! We're going to win!"

Mariposa smiled, "I love your confidence right there, bug guy! But don't forget, we're going to have to go through..."

Just then, the same boy with two of his friends that bullied Luca, Alberto, and Giulia from yesterday got through the crowd, and declared while holding a rolled newspaper, "Defending Champion coming through."

Mariposa murmured angrily, "Paolo."

When he reached the counter, Paolo handed down the money to sign up from the competition... again.

"Aren't you tired of keep winning, Paolo?" Pilita inquired.

"Binibining Corrales, I never get tired of winning," Paolo chuckled while walking off, "You all better save your money, mga bata. I'm going to win this singing contest again, making it 6-time defending champion," He then moved backward when he noticed Mariposa slumped with the Underdogs behind her and laughed, "Oh, no. I don't believe it. Mariposa, you teamed up with these foreigners?!"

"Ignore him," Mariposa said, telling the trio to stand down, even if both Alberto and Giulia wanted to pounce at the bully.

"Oh, I wish for you that you could," Paolo exhaled from his laugh, "I'm afraid your friends still need to pay the out-of-country freak tax... Yolando!"

Yolando knew what Paolo wanted as he pulled Mariposa's hood down, covering her face and distracting her, while he snatched the money from her hand, and gave it to Paolo.

"Hey! Paolo! You have to give it back!" Mariposa demanded.

"I don't have to do anything. I'm the best singer in the whole Philippines because I kept winning. And my life is amazing, everyone loves me," Paolo said confidentially.

"They don't love you. They're afraid of you," The Filipino girl pointed.

"Raise your hand if you love me," The bully told a crowd of kids and teenagers around his age. They were too afraid to hesitate as they raised their hands, "See? Everyone. Even you," he lightly hammered the rolled paper on Alberto's face.

"Okay, that's it! Come on, guys!" Alberto exclaimed angrily as he wanted to attack Paolo.

"Hey! The tough Italian wants to fight," Paolo mocked without taking a chance to fight.

"Alberto, Per favore," Giulia held Alberto back, preventing him from starting a fight.

"Silenzio Bruno, Giulia. Remember, this is for helping Mariposa win the contest," Alberto reminded.

"Stop," Paolo snickered, "You're going to 'help' Mariposa win? You're just wasting your time coming here just to help her. I'm still gonna win this contest."

"Paolo, you're just afraid we're gonna beat you!" Mariposa snapped.

"Oh please, you said that every year. Can you just tell a joke or something?" the bully requested.

"Okay...," The young Paruparo opened her mouth, and was ready to tell a joke, but she had nothing to say about it. She opened her mouth again, but nothing came out. She did it again, but nothing. She sighed and hung her head down in shame that she couldn't come up with an insulting joke at her bully.

"See? I know you'll never insult me. You're too nice for that. And nice kids finish last!" Paolo laughed as so did the rest of the contestants.

Mariposa was so ashamed with everyone laughing at her, except for her new friends. She still had her head lowered as she didn't want anyone to see her sad, because they'll see her as a weak person. But her lips started to wiggle, and tears formed in her eyes.

"Oh, she's gonna cry again!" Yolando pointed, noticing her eyes glisten.

"And the contest hasn't come yet." Crispin added as the three bullies laughed even more.

The Underdog trio witnessed the suffering that Mariposa had gone through today, and they couldn't help but feel bad for her. They thought they were having a bad time at Portorosso with Ercole torturing them, but Mariposa felt worse than theirs.

Giulia patted Mariposa's back to comfort her while Alberto gritted his teeth, wanting to throw a punch on Paolo for humiliating Mariposa in front of everyone.

Luca has the same feeling as he didn't like how Mariposa was treated by a bully as he stepped forward, and confronted Paolo, "Hey, I have a joke for you! You're a... goatfish."

Everyone stopped laughing as they were confused. They were unfamiliar with a goatfish, and didn't get the joke.

"Um... they're sorta mindless, and their screams made them bad singers," Luca continued.

Everyone gasped at the joke as the young contestants were quietly laughing at the joke.

Now Paolo was the one who felt humiliated in front of everyone by Luca's joke of calling him a goatfish. He glared at the other contestant, making them stop laughing in fear. He then turned to the three Italian kids, "Listen, mga bata, I don't like what you're planning during your stay here in Manila, but it seems like you want to challenge me, and I do like a good challenge," He then handed the money to them, which Alberto accepted by snatching it away from him, "Fine, you can have your money back for the sign-up, but I have to warn you, tourists, I will destroy you in this challenge, and you'll never see the lights of Italy or Philippines ever again," he smirked before walking off, and Crispin and Yolando following him, "It's gonna be some contest, huh? Battle of the bands! Sorry, no autographs today. You can put your hand down," he told the young boy before moving forward.

The four watched Paolo enjoying his pride until he was out of sight.

Mariposa sighed while wiping a tear from her face, "Thanks, guys, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, if you know someone who dealt with bullies before, they know how to handle one," Alberto smirked, giving the money to her.

Mariposa nodded as she turned, and approached the counter, putting it down to pay for the sign-up

"Mariposa Paruparo."

"Hi, Mariposa. Singing in solo again?" Pilita guessed.

"Not anymore. I have a band now!" Mariposa moved aside for her friends to sign-up as each of them said their names.

"Luca Paguro."

"Alberto Scorfano."

"Giulia Marcovaldo."

Their names sounded familiar for the famous singer, "Italians?"

"Yes, but we can still sing in English," Giulia said.

"Perpekto, and what's your band name?"

"Um... well, it's..." Mariposa didn't come up with the name of their band yet.

"Underdogs!" Luca exclaimed, making Alberto and Giulia stare at him, "I mean, that's the name of our team back home, right? So why not a band name too?"

After a quick glance from each other, Alberto, Giulia, and Mariposa nodded in agreement as Pilita wrote down the band's name.

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So, this is the new chapter, it has the same story is in the movie, but I made a little different.

Barangay is a small territorial and administrative district forming the most local level of government in the Philippines. In Pasay City, there are many of them, so the Paruparo family lived in one barangay, the Paguro and Marcovaldo's apartment was in another barangay, and the sign-up booth was in another different one.

I also put one of the oldest and famous Filipino singers in the fanfic named Pilita Corrales. Pilar Garrido Corrales (Also known as Pilita Corrales) is a Filipina pop singer-songwriter, actress, comedian and television presenter. She is dubbed as "Asia's Queen of Songs". Corrales was among the most successful Filipino musical artists in the 1960s.

In this chapter, Andres revealed that he fought during the World War II.

Translations;

Italian:
Si - Yes
Sorella - Sister
Bellissimo - beautiful
Per favore - Please

Filipino:
Magandang umaga – Good morning
Diyos ko – My God
Magaling - Great
Maligayang pagdating, mga kasama – Welcome, everyone
Mga bata - kids
Perpekto – perfect
Nanay - mother
Palengke – Marketplace