Book 3 - The Merchant from the Depths: Chapter 26; A Morning Blueprint

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 26; A Morning Blueprint".

It's much later that night as Yuu had once again fallen asleep and has an out of body experience as she feels herself getting dragged over to Ramshackle dorm once again and to that same mirror.

The mirror starts to ripple and glow as it fully pulls her into and into another dream sequence.

It shows a river lake with the moon high in the sky making the perfect romantic lighting. Yuu says "A romantic evening?" as a rowboat with two people pulls into view. It looks like the boy, or Eric, with the butler and the same mermaid girl from before but this time with legs are on the boat. Eric states "You know, I feel really bad not knowing your name." Just then, two pelicans, a turtle and a crab are seen, the crab is standing on the turtle head as he shouts "Ariel! Her name is Ariel!" Eric hears and tells her "Well, that's kinda pretty. Okay, Ariel." The two then start to lean in for a kiss but suddenly their boat is overturned as the two ugly eels with Ursula show up, swimming away from the boat or rather their crime scene. It then falls deep into the water where it is pitch black except for some bubbles as Ursula is heard saying "Oh, she's better than I thought. Well, it's time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles!" It then switches to a different area underwater as a new merman is seen. He has a crown, long flowy white hair and beard as he holds a triton in his hands. He shouts "Ursula, stop! Let her go!" Ursula is then seen holding out a contract scroll to what is most likely the king as her two eels henchmen hold Ariel back from swimming over to him. Ursula shouts "Not a chance, Triton! She's mine now! But I might be willing to make an exchange…" Her voice trails off for a second before saying "...for something even better." Her contract seems to glow for a second as she asks the man or rather Trition "Now, King Triton, do we have a deal?"

As the dream fades out into a black void as a voice said "She wanted to steal everything from the start." in an almost heartbroken tone.

Just then Yuu slowly blinks her eyes open and sits up thinking 'Is it just me, or are these dreams kind of…linked to reality?' She then puts a hand to her head and thinks about all she saw before whispering out "These seem awfully realistic… Almost like it wasn't a dream at all…"

Just then Leona yawns and makes some morning waking up sounds.

Yuu tells him "Today's the big day." He then looks over to her, slightly confused about the noise as he asks "Huh…? What, you're up already? You sure are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Meanwhile, because of you, I'm sleep-deprived…"

He then clicks his tongue before telling her "I guess today IS the third day of the agreement. Just remember that come sundown, I'm kicking you guys out, no matter how this goes down. Have your things packed and ready to go."

…

Time until Azul's contract expires: One day

…

It then shows the courtyard as all the first-years were talking or rather Yuu and kinda Grim tell them about what they realized last night.

The other three are all in shared shocked silence.

Jack is the first to speak as he asks "Are you serious right now?" Yuu nods as she tells them "Yep! We're paying the Atlantica Memorial Museum a visit today too!"

They're still not fully filled in on the plan as Ace shouts whoa at her four times, before shouting "I thought we agreed that nabbing the photo under the sea was a no-go because the Leech brothers would stop us!" Deuce also isn't sure of this as he tells her "This plan seems reckless, even by my standards…"

But Grim three 'tsks' of disapproval in a row before telling them "Okay, kiddos listen up and I'll go over the plan…" before he has to stop as he coughs and hacks.

Ace asks "You okay there? Got a furball or somethin'?" Grim shouts "No! I'm still gettin' over all the yowling I did last night."

He properly clears his throat as he tells them "Anyway, back on topic. Here's how this is gonna go…"

The plan is once again not heard as it does another small time skip to where everyone but the Ramshackle duo are shouting "WHAAAAAT?!"

Ace shouts "Dude, are you serious?! This is crazy bold!" Meanwhile Deuce seems more onboard as he punches his hand and tells her "Wow, Yuu. I always knew you were gutsy, but this is a fresh reminder."

But Jack is the voice of reason as he asks "Will this really go the way you hope, though?"

Deuce both reminds and tells Jack "We've exhausted all our leads and we have one day to go. Yuu's idea is all we've got. Not even a whole day, either. We've only got until sunset."

Ace is now fully on-board as well as he states "I guess anything beats sitting on our thumbs waiting around for sundown."

Jack looks at the others and sees their determined faces before nodding and telling them "All right. Fine. Stressin' over what-ifs won't get us anywhere."

He then smiles as he compliments Yuu "I gotta say, Yuu– nothing stops you once you put your mind to something."

Ace playfully elbows Yuu as he says "Sometimes our friend here is a tad TOO daring, but what's life without a little spice?"

Ace then fistpumps the air as he shouts "Okay, guys! Let's roll!" Grim also fistpumps the air as he cheerily shouts "Time to get ourselves a photo from the Atlantica Memorial Museum!"

The screen then fades to black as "To be continued" plays before fully turning off.