Guppies Go Home: Part Three

Part Three:
The gates open to a gleaming metropolis; incredible architecture, huge buildings and diverse collection of people. Everyone proceeds to exit the tourbus.

"This is where I must leave you," Beau said, "Go to the city hall, your parents are waiting."

"Wow, take a look at all this, guys." Mr. Grouper began.

"Huh," said Deema, she rubs her finger across the sidewalk, but no dust comes up. "The man doesn't lie."

Mr. Grouper then tries to hail the group a taxi, but is unsuccessful. Goby then attempts, and a cab stops almost immediately. Mr. Grouper is the first to enter the car, but is stopped by the driver before he gets in.

"Hold it!" He said, "Your friends get in first."

He theorized the driver's insistence on the Guppies going in first was because he knew they were royalty, however, Mr. Grouper still had uneasy feelings. This theory was put to the test when the cab stopped in front of city hall, with no more people in front of it than normal.

"This is a big thing, isn't it?" Mr. Grouper began, "I mean, you guys are really important to the city and all, wouldn't they be pleased to see they're back?!"

As Mr. Grouper shouted, it seemed as though a shot had been fired, as if from a gun. Just then, a man dressed in a sharp suit with a blue arm band on one side and a blue "A" on the other, appeared out of no where.

Beyond them, a lobster is seen running, carrying large bags, being chased by two suited men. The man behind them quickly tried to get the groups attention again.

"Uh, don't mind that, I know it sounded like a gun but mind you, we haven't had any armed weapons in the public for ages, the sound normally scares outsiders off anyway. Allow me to introduce myself, Girardon Sebring II. I believe you have brought me my son?"

Gil approaches the man who does certainly looklike him. "Uh... here I am,... sir?"

"Oh, Girardon, you don't have to call me sir, heh heh -though everyone else does- ha ha ha! Now, the rest of your parents aren't here yet, they'll be on the other side of town by night, at the Congressional; go ahead for now, I'll take Girardon on to my office and show him around his new home." Gil manages to crack a smile.

"And I know how the cabbies are with directions, so I want to send you on with an escourt, my oldest nephew, Basco Rockfuhrd, 'Rocky.'" Out comes a boy not much older than any of the Guppies, but he is fairly large for his age of eight.

Deema leans over to Oona "Me thinks I'll like it here." Oon giggles.

"Hey guys, welcome to the City of Atlantis, I'm Rocky. You guys wanna go jet skiing? I know a great open wetland, heh, it's all wet down here, heh."

"HAHAHA!" Deema laughs and puts her arm around Basco, "I like this guy already. Now who's ready, let's go!"

''Now, it really has nothing to do with the story, but this next scene goes well with the song "Into the Wild" by LP. Try it out!''

While the other Guppies wizz around, Rocky and Molly are sitting on the hillside. "So, what's life like... on the outside? I've lived here all my life, don't ya know?" He asked.

"Uh... I'm not sure how to describe it. It's the only life I know, too." Molly said. "We go to school, grown ups go to work?"

"I realize you were placed wihin the commonwealth," Rocky began, "so our experiences would be further different. I, too, go to school, but the only work I know are the common folk, who work in the city, and the laborers. Is that what you mean?"

"I guess so." She replied.

"You know, we may have lived totally different lives so far, but we aren't so different afterall." He leans in close to Molly. "So, see ya round school then?"

"I'm only in preschool." She says indignently.

"I see..." Rocky looks away.

"Awkward!" Deema yells while riding by.

-

Meanwhile, Gil and Girardon II seem to be driving through an impoverished part of town.

"Driver!" Girardon said, "I told you not to drive through North Atlantis, the duke up here has no idea how to run a city."

"Terribly sorry, sir." The driver replies.

"I don't see how the King could've ever chosen him for the seat atop the City."

"Age before beauty."

"Ha ha ha! That's the stuff! Good one!"

Gil looks out to find houses with broken windows, garbage can fires with fish and snails huddled around them.

"What happened out here?" Gil asked

"Well, son," Girardon said, "Uh... some people can't find work... and they... well, it's up to us to help them."

"Well aren't we gonna stop and help them?"

"We help by making it easier for them to get work and make money. We work for the city. There's a difference between working for the city, and working in the city, don't you know."

Looking back out the window, the discomfort and suspision Gil had on the tourbus seemed to return. Just then something hit the car, it slowed down and finally stopped.

"Tires flat," the driver said to Girardon, who was still in the car. "Might've been this broken glass here in the road."

"Isn't there a spare underneath?" Girardon asked.

"There was still liquid in the bottle, it's trailing about fifty feet down the road." The driver replied. There, where the trail ended, a staggering lobster, ran into a nearby shack.

Girardon finally gets out of the car, surveying the accident. "Ugh, dammit. Learn to control your slums, Hiraman! ******..." He said, as if Gil was no wasn't there.

Now that feeling of uncertainty was all but certain. Something's going on.

End of Part Three

