"What the-?" Coraline tried to lean over the side of the boat, trying to see better, but then thought better of it. "What is that?"

"It looks like it's helping us!" Luz cheered. She had turned away from the attacking enemies, but it didn't really matter, because they were staring at the creature, too.

"It's Miss Kipo, probably," Six told them. "Didn't she say she could help?"

"Kipo?" Coraline repeated, frowning. "But how...?"

"It probably doesn't matter," Six sighed, loudly. "Has everyone here forgotten that we're in a battle?"

As if just remembering that himself, the leader siren's head snapped back towards them. He looked furious. "Hey! You tricked us!"

"We tricked you?!" Coraline yelled back incredulously. "Is that what you think? We just got lucky! You're just upset that you don't have an easy win anymore!"

The siren's face twisted up into a snarl (and honestly it looked like some rotten skin fell off as he did), but he still looked worried. But when he ducked into the water and then came back up, he suddenly looked triumphant. Coraline blinked. Whatever he had been checking under the water, it made him very, very happy.

"Oh, believe me, this "win" will still be easy," he told them, and gave a nod to the merpeople by the boat. When Luz hit them with the shadow, it knocked them back, but not far enough. Luckily, they had be surprised by the sudden appearance of the tentacles, and hadn't come closer, but after a look from their leader, they were advancing once again.

Coraline looked around, at the tentacles, but they looked like they were busy. It wouldn't save them this time. Coraline turned back to Luz.

"Uh... do you think you can stop them?" she asked, uncertain. Luz nodded grimly.

"I have an... idea?"

"Oh, great."

The merpeople got closer and closer (Coraline grimaced at the awful, wafting smell that came from them), and as Luz didn't move, Coraline got more and more worried.

"Luz...?"

"Don't worry!"

Coraline glanced at the figures. In front of them, there were three. On each side, one. Behind them, another two. Unfortunately, Luz was only looking in front of them intently. Coraline didn't even think she saw the shark-like fin approaching them.

"Hey, Luz!"

"I got it all under control!"

At this point, the merpeople were right in front of them, and they reached their fingers up, latching them onto the sides of the boat. Coraline was certain she saw white bone peeking out through the green and black flesh.

She panicked. Both she and Luz moved at the same time. Luz took a piece of the shadow she was holding, slashing down on one of the merpeople's fingers, cutting them off like a knife. It was definitely impressive, but somehow, Coraline doubted it was what Luz meant to do. Meanwhile, Coraline took her fist, slamming down on another merpeople's fingers. There was a huge CRACK! And the attacker's fingers snapped. On the other side of them, the shark Coraline had been worrying about rose up from the water and took the down the last of the attackers. Neither of them got a good luck at it before it had once again disappeared, down into the depths. Luz stared at it, but, honestly, Coraline had bigger problems.

"Ew, gross!" Coraline cried as she clutched her hand. Now it was covered in disgusting muck and grime like she'd just spent time rubbing her hands in jelly. What the heck? "Ugh, this is disgusting!"

Luz didn't respond, and Coraline tried to wipe off the gunk on the side of the boat, but she immediately stopped when a sharp pain cut through her hand. She lifted it with a cry, and then scowled at the sliver in the side of her hand. "Oh, great."

Suddenly, the boat rocked, and both Coraline and Luz fell to the bottom of the boat.

"You forgot about the rest of them," Six hissed at them, and though she was still perched precariously on the side of the boat as if she wasn't worried about anything, but she still looked a little tense. As Luz and Coraline stared up at her, she glared at them. "Well? Stop them!"

"Why can't you?" Coraline grumbled, but she didn't press it as she scrambled up. It was more difficult than it had been before. The boat was tilting, the fingers latched on the boat as they pulled. They were trying to tip it over, and the horror of that realization made Coraline pause.

Not Luz, though. She jumped up again, almost desperately, and used the shadows to push the attackers away. Or at least she tried to, but what she ended up doing was cutting all three mermaids heads from their bodies. The boat rocked back violently, and Luz fell back, her hands flying to her mouth in horror.

"Oh... oh no..." Her eyes were wide as she stared at the pieces of the merpeople floating in the water. "I-I didn't mean to-!"

"At least they're dead," Six said flatly. "Relax. When they lifted the boat, they created more shadow than you thought, and you panicked. It's fine."

Luz buried her face in her hands. "I..."

As Luz trailed off, Six only shook her head, looking over to the side, towards the side. Coraline followed her eyes, also looking that way. Realize both hit them at the same time, but it was too late.

Before anyone could say anything, the sea around them exploded, hands reaching up and grasping their limbs before they could move. Luz startled, and tried to reach down to grasp her shadow knife again, but the merpeople snapped forward before she could. Luz cried out, and a red slash appeared on the back of her head.

"Oh, great," Six sighed. They were even holding her down, and she didn't look happy about it.

Coraline tried to wiggle out of their grasp, but despite their slimy, horrible hands, they held her tight.

"Where'd the squid go?" Coraline growled, frustrated. The siren leader barked out a laugh.

"Do you really think that thing could have stopped us for long?" he sneered. "That... 'squid' is at the bottom of the sea now! Idiots... tell me, what exactly do you plan to do now?"

"Uh..." Coraline glanced around, struggling, but what could she really do if she got free? Luz wasn't moving anything except her fingers, which she was flexing open and closed, but every moment seemed to cause her pain. She couldn't concentrate with that.

Well, there was one other option, though Coraline couldn't count on it too much. She glared at Six, who was glaring at the water, but otherwise, looked calm. If she noticed Coraline's glare, she didn't acknowledge it at all, and eventually, Coraline rolled her eyes, looking back at the siren.

"Um..." her mind was going blank. If there was a hypothetical winning strategy that would save them all and end the battle, it didn't make itself known. The siren grinned smugly.

"What. A. Shame." he laughed, and Coraline flushed. "Ah well. You killed more of my people than I thought you would, so congratulations for that, I suppose. You've run out of tricks, and now, we'll take your lives."

Coraline opened her mouth to say something snappy, but as the merpeople started dragging the three of them off the boat and into the water. They started lowering them down, and as Coraline sunk down to her shoulders, her eyes widened. What the... were they really going to die here?!

"Wait!"

Coraline nearly breathed a sigh of relief, but no, it was too early for this. Instead, she jerked her head around, trying to find the newcomer. It was a female voice, just as beautiful the man's voice, but when Coraline looked around, it was just another rotting corpse, completely undiscernible from the siren leader, much like most of the merpeople. Coraline hoped they wouldn't get any closer, because they'd be impossible to tell apart.

As if on cue, the new siren moved forwards, up to the siren leader. The rotting flesh of his face moved around until he looked somewhat displeased.

"What is it?" he called out to her as she hurried over through the water. "As you can see, we're busy with the-."

"You have to let them go," the new siren said firmly, and the leader spluttered, drawing back.

"I'm sorry-?"

"Have you not looked under the water?" the newcomer hissed at him, and he seemed to blink. Or perhaps, more meat fell off his face. He seemed to scowl at her, before ducking under the water. When he emerged again, he looked worried, but he still glared at the newcomer.

"S-So what?" he asked her, and it sounded like he was trying to keep his voice down. Stil, the three at the boat heard loud and clear, even the merpeople holding them down were glancing around uncertainly. "Just because that thing is big doesn't mean it's harmful. Are you really that worried?"

"It isn't just me," the newcome told him, voice low and dangerous, and even though the leader was clearly trying to act tough, he shied away. "This is a direct message from the Palace itself! Or do you not recognize me?"

"I..." the leader tilted his head, mouth curling in a snarl. He really did seem to recognize her, but not her authority, based on the way he said: "Just give me the message from the Palace. Exactly. I don't want to hear your version of it-."

"Whatever creature is down there, it's incredibly powerful!" the newcomer, a messenger, or something like that, probably told him. "Every time it moves, it creates its own currents, and it's messing up current lanes, buildings, and destroying everything around it in a thirty-mile radius on the bottom of the ocean. The Palace has reason to believe that whatever the hell is happening up here is connected at that creature, so whatever you're doing, moron, cut it out!"

"Idiot, that's not what the Palace said at all, is it?" the leader cried, and the merpeople seemed to sigh around them. This seemed like a common occurrence for them, but Coraline and Luz couldn't seem to take their eyes of it, like a soap opera was unfolding in front of them. "Why should I listen to you, anyway? You're always crying wolf!"

"The only reason I 'call wolf' is because there's actually a shark, jerk!" the messenger shot back. "The only reason I have to lie is because you're always doing stupid stuff like this! Also, I'm NOT lying, I'm telling the truth this time!"

The leader was practically shaking with rage at this point. "Saying stuff like that just makes it seems like you're lying even MORE, imbecile!"

"This is going to carry on forever," one of the merpeople holding Luz grumbled. Coraline noticed that they were holding Luz's hurt hand above the water. Sure, they were also the people who cut her hand, but that was pretty nice of them. "Er, Captain Sandy? Captain Ray? What should we do with these two?"

"Take their life!" the leader roared.

"No, don't!" the messenger cried.

"Don't you dare order my troops around!"

"I can do what I want! I'm higher ranked than you!"

Another one of the merpeople groaned. "You both are in completely different branches of the government, neither of you can be ranked against the other!"

"I'm the leader here!" the leader screamed, and there was a note of finality in his voice. "And you are my underlings! Drown the-!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an eagle swooped down, plucked the leader out of the water, and then hovered in the air with him in it's talons.

The leader stared down at the messenger dumbly. It took a couple seconds to react. Coraline and Luz stared to at him. Bits of green meat and water fell off of him and dropped into the water, but for once, that's not what the two were staring at. What they were really looking at was the... 'tail' under his waist. It didn't look like the average meraid tail. For one, it looked like it was one big fin, wider than it was long, and just like the rest of the siren, it looked decayed. When Coraline looked closely at it, she thought she saw limbs like feet and legs just barely sticking out of the fin.

"Uh..."

Unfortunately for him, the messenger only turned around, cupped her mouth, and shouted to the merpeople holding Coraline, Luz and Six.

"Hey! Your leader has been defeated, so you all listen to ME now!" the messenger yelled to them, and over the shouting from the leader, she relayed the rest of her orders. "Put them back in the boat. We have orders from The Palace to settle this peacefully!"

Unlike the leader, who was desperately fighting the eagle above him, the merpeople didn't seem to have any problem with the messenger's orders. They slid the three into the boat without complaint. The messenger quickly swum over to them.

"Alright, now, before that idiot get's free," she hissed. "What are you here for?"

Luz and Coraline glanced at each other, both eyes wide and disbelieving. After a second, Luz leaned forward to answer the question.

"Uh, it's just one thing, actually," Luz said. "A flower... we need it for a bouquet."

The messenger's eyes widened, and then narrowed. "A... flower... Surely you don't mean our Grave Flowers."

Coraline and Luz glanced at each other, both taken aback. A Grave Flower... what did that mean? The name made the two of them hesitated.

Six, however, didn't.

"That's the one," she told the messenger flatly. The messenger's frown deepened.

"I... do you know what those flowers mean to us?" the messenger asked, and both Coraline and Luz winced at her tone. "Those are important to us, there are the last gifts from our families-."

Luz and Coraline's eyes widened as the messenger cut herself off, glancing nervously at the water at something apparently scary enough to agree to... that.

The messenger let out a deep sigh. "No, we'll definitely do it. We have to, right? I'll be..." the messenger glanced at the leader uncertainly, before narrowing her eyes. "I'll be right back. Try to hold him until I'm back."

"I mean, you don't have to-!" Luz started, but Six cut her off with a look. Luz didn't look happy about it, but she kept quiet. They did need those flowers, after all.

Just as she said, they didn't have to wait long. Soon, the messenger what black with a small handful of flowers. Four of them. Coraline made the mistake of looking up at the leader, who looked horrified. Even the merpeople were looking somewhat disgusted.

"Don't tell me that's our... Sandy, what are you doing?!"

The messenger took a deep breath, and ignored the leader. "Here you go," she grumbled, sounding like she was painfully pushing out the words. "Now... release Ray. Please. And take your monster away."

Coraline reached forward and gathered up the flowers in her arms. As if on cue, the leader fell from the eagle's talons, and something else fell into their boat from the sky.