This unnamed story is a tribute to my Dear Nezu-Chan, who has returned to me in a physical form of a toy.
FYI, I don't own Kelly Clarkson's song, "My Life Would Suck Without You".
Part 1: The Little Girl Meets English Mouse
Her first memories were nothing but warm enclosures of flesh and orange walls. The curled up form of her felt like a long, endless dream. One day, her eyes opened up to the first thing she saw: a hand to her right, flexing itself in front of a large white netted barrier that surrounded her bed.
The rest of her first six years of life were filled with wonder and mental development as her parents worked hard to raise her. With her mother having to become legally blind since her birth, most of the girl's early learning memories came from watching whatever was on the television set. The father wanted his first born to be exposed to the cartoon shows that he, himself had fancied as a young boy. From Betty Boop to Popeye, the father would pop in many VHS tapes to educate the girl. She would even laugh alongside her father whenever they'd watch Looney Tunes together. The mother, however, wanted her daughter to watch the young children's programs on the PBS station. Or the occasional Peanuts cartoon show tapes that the new parents kept with their collection.
As a toddler, the girl held no sense of time when she spent discovering all the different shows she saw on that marvelous screen. Aside from orange cat cartoons and Inspector Gadget that had been broadcasted on Nickelodeon during the 80's before her birth, one cartoon show seemed to fancy the child's interest above anything else during that time. The girl was born on August 4th, 1988. Records of 80's cartoon shows had only been shown to her by old VHS tapes which held commercials from the stations that had been advertising them. Growing up in the early 90's hardly seemed to matter to her, as the first Disney Interactive computer games had also been popular in the family household.
During her love for Disney cartoon movies and a Tom and Jerry musical movie, the girl had developed a passion for singing. She loved to sing all the cute, lonely songs that all the heroines she knew would sing to themselves about their troubles in the movies. Sadly, the truth behind her interests was all just a distraction for her to forget about a favorite of hers that she had to abandon. Out of all of the toys her parents had managed to give to her that matched all the wonderful characters she loved on T.V., there was one special animal character that never joined her plush doll kingdom.
His name was Danger Mouse. The white, monocular mouse came from a British cartoon series that had been older than the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book of the 80's. The girl's father had a VHS tape that contained a few episodes of Danger Mouse's adventures from the Nickelodeon channel. Although the funny looking hamster in the blue suit, who always accompanied the animal agent seemed comical to the girl, she only wanted a toy version of The One Eyed Wonder to herself. No one else from his world would do but him.
Her love for the tall, bipedal mouse came and went in her thoughts from time to time. But as more time passed on, the girl decided that she could wait for a Danger Mouse doll no longer. She eventually, against her heart's desires, moved on from him. After her departure from her spiritual relationship, the girl's future had been destined to face many hardships and social experiences that would transform her innocent shell forever.
Part 2: The Road to Otaku
More than two decades of life helped the little girl mature into a young adult of her late 20's. Enough college education on Psychology had taught her to understand more about how her high functioning autistic brain responds the way it does to many sounds. The young woman was quite fond of the teachings of Classical Conditioning upon an individual. This important lesson was crucial to her sense of self, because she had developed something similar to it at such a young age.
Since the summer before her eleventh birthday, the Pokemon craze had expanded her world into a bright new era of fantasy. Western pop bands became mixed with Japanese pop songs during her high school years. With each new generation of Pokemon video games, the girl began nicknaming her beloved virtual children out of the fictional characters from her current cartoon shows. Her world kept growing bigger and bigger with every new pop culture media genre she came into contact with. Star Wars; The Matrix; Aliens; Ghostbusters; Star Trek; Terminator, and other famous movies wouldn't have penetrated the girl's curiosity if it hadn't been for a 2003 incarnation of the Ninja Turtle, Michelangelo.
Anime and manga dominated and strengthened the girl's confidence in her daily life. She couldn't explain why, but the animation style from Japan seemed to hold an unknown power to her that helped her act like a normal person. The more anime and manga she got into, the more she learned about the culture and language of Japan. Although she hadn't mastered her second favorite language completely, she did understand a few words and had been tutored on the different grammar symbols and vowel alphabet after high school. Her bedroom had also transformed into a lair of anime worship and merchandise. Pictures covered the red and yellow walls and white ceiling above her bed. Some toys and dolls were still in plastic bags since she had last painted her room two years ago.
Within her inner space, the young woman felt like a Queen in her own right to her favorite interests. If there was ever a calling card from other people that needed her presence, she would travel to the meeting place without question. However, her duties as another person in the real world didn't always make her feel happy about those responsibilities. Still, the girl carried her heavy burden wherever she traveled. Her mental state was always changing, depending upon an anime character that got too close to her heart.
During her travels among her fantasy worlds, the female otaku had encountered a lot of male characters who would eventually become suitors. Most of them held the same qualities that appealed to her entertainment: youth; hot tempered; cocky; goofy; comical; melodramatic; spazzy; conceited; and popular. The girl would never cheat on any of them, unless something new would pull her away from her current relationship. And every character she indulged upon would always remain special to her heart.
Because of the girl's choice in a guy's personality, she had stopped wearing feminine clothing and wore jeans, sneakers, and T-shirts all the time. If a type of clothing held an uncanny resemblance to a specific outfit that an anime character wore at the top of the girl's memory, she'd wear it in a heartbeat. There had been one male anime character that made the girl laugh and held the right qualities like so many others before him. However, the teenage girl had rejected any feelings of romance from the goofy, orange clad Leaf Ninja because his English speaking voice didn't sound so alluring to her ears. An Irish woman had been hired to voice Naruto, but unlike all the heavy anime critics the girl wouldn't diss voice actors because they were Gods in her eyes. There was also the fact that during Naruto's preteen years, he was much too young for her.
That didn't stop the girl from preying on a young golden haired, golden eyed boy with the most beautiful voice who captured the eyes and ears of many of his real life fans. It still took the girl longer to get into the Fullmetal Alchemist's worlds, and then explore all the other anime series that had been dubbed in Texas. The man who had done the young boy's voice was famously well known to role other male anime characters that had his female fans swooning before his talent. Like a naive child, the girl became drawn to his voice. Fortunately, the long termed exposure she had while lingering with the Ninja Turtles sometimes caused the girl to roll her eyes at the suave, charming male anime characters, who might subconsciously sweep her off her feet if she failed to keep her guard up.
Since her Yu-Gi-Oh! days, the teenage girl had always liked Goth music and bad ass Goth punk clothing on people. It always dwelled within her rock music as well as her anime shows that featured hard core, cool monsters. Even the occasional jewelry satisfied her pleasant desires. It wasn't once a year, that the toys in her room would see their owner dress up in black clothing and wear Gothic wristbands and chokers.
Yet despite her ravenous thirst for knowledge and pop culture, the growing woman was a realist with the respected belief that fantasy series should never be altered into madness and crack by the fans' activities and ideas. Unless the original creator and studio staff had designed crack manga for themselves to enjoy, she would never go along with the stupid minds of yaoi and parody fans.
As for her social life in the real world with other people, the girl was shy, quiet, and cautious. She lacked the courage of walking up to a complete stranger to start a conversation. Falling in love with a real man had never been a desire for her to master. The woman understood the consequences of an intimate activity with the opposite sex, so she avoided that thoughtful lifestyle all together. Plus, there were many scents of men that displeased her sometimes during her travels in the big city. The young woman was certainly no lesbian. But she could only remain asexual for so long. If there was ever a time at night that she could no longer hold back the sudden rush of lustful hormones, she would separate the dolls that she had slept with off the bed and hide under the covers until the feeling wore off.
Aside from her stubborn will, the girl also loved to write stories and fanfiction about the popular series that possessed her heart. If she got interested into something new, she would research the series thoroughly before writing an authentic piece of her imagination. The young woman had been currently possessed by a swimming anime series called Free! since February 2016. As the summer Olympics were about to take place after her 28th birthday, the woman had wrote dozens of small stories for the anime series, mostly because it inspired her about life in the real world from the characters' stages in their lives.
The first week of Olympic swimming occupied the woman's attention. But then, on the Thursday evening of August 11th…he came back.
Part 3: An Old Friend in a New Style
The young woman knew full well that she had never forgotten him. When she scrutinized the character design of Kakashi Hatake from Naruto, his hair and facial appearance in the first series reminded her of the anthropomorphic white mouse from her past. When she first decided to explore Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward's superior's military rank name had fired up the neurons in her hippocampus after hearing the title being addressed. And just a few weeks ago, the young woman discovered a reboot series of her old friend's show on Netflix and decided to ignore it, along with the classic series on the streaming site.
But because her father had put on the first episode of his 80's series on his new Apple TV device in the living room, in order to calm her down from a witness claimed funnel cloud outside in her neighborhood…that changed the course of her entire focus again.
Inside her Daydream Mind Dimension, the young woman stood on one side of a giant room, which looked more like an open grassy field on a clear day. Yet what stood out around the scenery were floating pictures of her favorite anime series, along with her plush dolls that were now in the form of a large live audience that surrounded her and the new arrival. She was facing her belated birthday present: the talking, soft plush doll of Danger Mouse from the 2015 reboot series. The Dimension's inner bubble had animated him to confront her as an innocent observer who had unwittingly trespassed into her territory.
The young woman knew that this Danger Mouse looked different than the one she grew up watching. His two strands of hair on the top of his head were both thicker and triangular than the two to three thin, little lines he used to have. His nose was wider…much wider than normal, and was bright red. His eye patch was larger, and in the shape of a rhombus where the bottom line was more flat than curvy. His right eye was shaped more like a circle than the usual elliptical one from the 90's. His cheekbone lines that used to show on the side of his face had now been moved as a lump on the bottom left corner of his eye. Lastly, his badge logo on his white shirt had the yellow letters, "DM" fit perfectly within the red background, and seemed more bold and straight than the old superhero graffiti style.
Those small details covered his physical appearance. But there was also something different about his personality state too. This Danger Mouse held a cocky, confident, egotistical side of himself in his expression, voice and attitude. The young woman had never seen a cartoon character furrow their eyebrow and smirk with conceited pride until she got into Pokemon and anime. No longer was this the humble, well mannered, and sometimes depressed mouse she used to know. Despite the fact that he had most of his memories from his previous series, this Danger Mouse seemed to be the embodiment of the usual male anime characters whom she usually fell for. The fact that he was more of a show off had made the woman think that the once highly intelligent mouse, who could speak 34 different languages fluently, would take those gifts of his for granted. And the deepness of his new voice reminded her of an old 1986 animated Disney movie, where a mouse version of Sherlock Holmes sounded similar to him.
The woman stood her ground as she waited for the white, smirking nezumi to make the first move. What she didn't anticipate was her main Edward Elric doll walking up to the playing field and touched Danger Mouse's left shoulder. Edward whispered something into her opponent's ear. She couldn't hear what he was saying. But a sudden pulse of psychic waves and the widening of DM's right eye convinced the woman that an extremely large chunk of personal Intel had been transferred to his attention.
A sly grin appeared on his face. "Interesting" he mused arrogantly. "Thank you, Edward. You've done well." As the blonde alchemist returned to the stands, the young woman could only assume the worst. Why would Edward want to share her deepest secrets with another rival of his? And how much of her memory files did he recover without her permission?
Danger Mouse returned his attention towards his owner and laughed. "Well, well, well. I never knew that you've had your eye on my past self for so long. Who would have imagined that you were waiting for me all this time?" A twinkle in his eye sparkled; the smugness on his face intensified. The young woman recoiled slightly, then transformed herself into a long, purple haired maiden with plum colored angel wings. But to her surprise, the shiro nezumi wasn't fazed by her use of power. "I see that you want to defend yourself from my unknown intentions in that beautiful form," he stated with a hint of admiration in his tone. "However, no matter how often you change your appearance before me in this realm of yours, you can never hide your true identity from me back in the real world."
The young maiden glared back at him with a strong sense of stubborn resistance. Just what was his game?
Suddenly, another telepathic pulse entered her brain. She had just picked up a devastating twist of news from the real world. The woman's Edward doll was the only toy who knew what would come next, and he quickly began to command the rest of her subjects to evacuate the bubble. Danger Mouse raised his brow in confusion as the young maiden hid her face while trembling. He didn't understand what could have changed her mood so quickly. But then he saw her eyes glowing red with anger, until someone grabbed his arm and began dragging him away from the spot.
As Edward led Danger Mouse to a large boulder, DM heard the maiden scream out in anguish, followed by a powerful shockwave of energy that nearly knocked him off his feet. Once he and the blonde alchemist took shelter behind their hiding place, flashes of light and loud explosions filled the land in the mind bubble. Edward explained to DM that his owner is upset over a certain upgrade on her iPhone that has now restricted her camera phone habits on Netflix. With that technical ability which had been used for nearly three years now out of her hands, the young woman was going on an aggressive rampage in her Daydream Dimension.
The experienced alchemist doll also mentioned to the white mouse that their owner is still quite attached to his older version. And if he couldn't transform back into what she was used to, then Edward himself might be unable to stop her from going into despair.
Part 4: A Gentleman's Touch is All She Needs
Rage. Heartache. Love. This was all that was driving her as she took out her frustration on her rocky landscape. Levitating up in the air and shooting hot white beams from the mark on her forehead wasn't enough to bring back the power she once possessed on her phone. As the young maiden let out another cry and started to fire up another round of her attacks, a loud voice caught her attention.
"Wendela! Stop now this instant!"
The rage blinded maiden turned to the source of the familiar British accent. But in doing so, her fully charged beam redirected itself at the surprised monocular mouse on the ground below her. The beam made a direct hit a few feet away from where DM stood, yet it was powerful enough to blast him into the air. He cried out from the explosion, and landed onto the rocky terrain before rolling several times to a halt on his stomach.
Seeing the white rodent covered in rusty dirt and scratches had snapped the young maiden out of her anger. She immediately flew down to her injured friend. "Danger Mouse!" When he grunted in pain, she hugged him close and started to cry. "Ohhhh, DM! I'm so sorry! Are you ok!?"
He coughed slightly while trying to slip out of her hold. "Steady, Wendela. Have you forgotten that I am British?"
She pouted at him, "I should skip over that fact because you transformed back into your old self for my sake."
DM narrowed his right eye at her. "I didn't have a choice. You had to be brought back to your senses. What Edward shared with me about you was important. I thought you were the type of individual who favored characters in toy forms, and how they sounded to you was greater than the still photographs from the latest technology."
The young maiden's expression clouded with guilt. "You know that much already, huh." She closed her eyes, but suddenly opened them when she felt herself being embraced into a comforting hug.
"There, there," he hushed kindly. "It's alright, Wendela. You're going to get through this obstacle. After all, you had survived the 90's without knowing me that well until recently. It must have been hard for you to not acquire me as a doll during your childhood. But you have grown much since then. And I have returned in a reboot series. Edward was kind enough to find an unlocked section of your memory files that he, himself had never seen before. And after scanning your early days, I can understand why you had taken a liking to me. I must confess myself…that I am now charmed to have known you in spirit."
The maiden gazed into DM's content expression. "Those weren't just my memories you absorbed," she breathed in realization. "My feelings are also inside of you."
He nodded at her. "Because of your love for me, I feel as if I had already known you since you were little. Whatever relationship you felt between us then…has now been transferred into a physical object that is finally yours to cherish. You could say that I have been lying dormant inside of the astral plane of your past."
She was awed by his astute analysis of his explanation for several moments before she quickly covered her mouth and giggled. "Oh, man! This situation reminds me of how a Grim Reaper examines the souls of the dead in Black Butler."
Danger Mouse scowled irritably as his right eye twitched. "Urgh…Honestly, Wendela. I think I'll have to cut you off from that anime series for a while. I feel as if my nation's talent has been outdone by the intensity of America's vocal drama training."
She snickered playfully at him. "Why, Shiro Nezumi-San, I didn't know you had any feelings of insecurity towards other shows that I love."
He sighed. "Good Grief, Wendela. I'm not that jealous."
Part 5: The Trials of Danger Mouse
The young woman was in one of those empty moods of hers again. Recently, she was now caught up between her October anime watching schedule and other events that kept her busy. Whenever she had free time, but didn't know what to do, Danger Mouse would enter her mind bubble and try to entertain her.
Unfortunately for the double incarnated British Agent, his best jokes and old fashioned catch phrases failed to amuse his owner. He was simply shocked by her disapproval and unimpressed frown as she silently walked away from him in the mind bubble's meadow. DM's attempts to get her attention seemed outmatched by the splendor and drama of the anime world that had influenced the woman for so long. Not even his reboot form could have stood a chance against the facial expression art form of Japan. And every time he'd tell a joke, or said a phrase that rhymed, his owner would either say, "Heard it", or "Corny". Sometimes she would roll her eyes at him or tell the helpless White Wonder that he was embarrassing her in front of her Ninja Turtle action figure Raphael, whose spirit sometimes entered the bubble and appeared beside her.
Danger Mouse also lost points to the fact that Japan was way ahead of his country when it came to the capacity of anime series they created. That giant leap left him depressed. How could he compete with high class animation that was sometimes beyond his rating level? The perverted characters; the gore and oozing blood from hideous monsters that would leave his absent assistant traumatized and sick to his stomach; the Japanese music that was played more often than normal whenever the woman was outside her mind bubble.
However, there had been several occasions where DM had seen a vulnerable side of her. He didn't know much about her personal demons yet. But he recently discovered that she had suffered from anxiety and nervousness when it came with dealing with large crowds of people. Although she acted too tough to admit her problems and wouldn't complain comically while shaking in silence, DM couldn't help but feel fondness towards a feminine, tsundere version of Penfold. Once the anxiety had passed and the young woman would finally settle down a bit, Danger Mouse would revert back to his 80's form and dance the Tango to her. He had witnessed her become fascinated with his ability to dance since that episode where he lured a horde of Tribble like creatures to a spaceship by dancing in that style.
Being in his old form gave him an edge to reach out to her faster. She felt more content hearing his old voice in her mind bubble whenever she needed to be consoled by him. Still, it wasn't enough to get her attention while she was traveling in the real world. For two decades, his influence on her had been absent. And now, she had become a hyper vigilant creature whenever there were people around her. There had to be another way to calm her if she was unable to listen to music outside in urban areas. His owner was shy, but couldn't help feeling agitated while she lost most of her daydreaming abilities.
Part 6: The Clues to Her Past
She was playing hard to get with him again. DM knew the young woman was hiding something else about herself from him. But her tsundere nature prevented her from speaking on the weakness's matter lately. From what important information Edward had shared with him a few weeks ago, and some pictures that were hanging on her bedroom ceiling, the white mouse gathered a theoretical idea of a kind of noise that has triggered different stimulus responses of his owner's brain chemistry and social behavior. However, he couldn't confirm it to be a truthful conclusion unless the woman would willingly allow him inside her personal memories by touching her forehead. Since she had taken an interest in him again, DM had learned from the other doll characters that their owner had closed off any admittance about her fetish secret.
Sometimes she would divert the subject matter from him by acting playful and saying his famous catch phrase, "Good Grief" in Japanese. And even he couldn't deny how impressed he felt of her mimicking him in her own otaku way. He had learned that her habit of mimicry was one of the few signs of her strengthening the bond between him and her. She had even allowed him to review a fan fiction story that she had started working on after she had watched all of his episodes from the 1980's series.
However, her ability to focus on her writing had greatly diminished during her mid twenties. The only way she could proceed in fictional brainstorming was when her environment was quiet. If people were home in her apartment, she would have to listen to background music soundtracks from her favorite anime series to block out any sound being made from outside her closed bedroom door. During the summer, she depended upon the hum of the air conditioners in a few of the apartment rooms so that she wouldn't become anxious of picking up the sound of an insect's wings rubbing themselves together while it flies nearby her hearing range.
Edward had recently told Danger Mouse that their owner got too attached to him a few years ago, and as a result of falling in love with his short tempered personality, the woman had lost her inner focus on daydreaming about his voice while she was around other people. The blonde alchemist doll further informed the Secret Agent mouse that the reason their owner had difficulty memorizing his voice at the peak of her daydreaming concentration after many days of not hearing him in various other anime series, was because a different voice from her earlier childhood was cancelling out the fresh perspective of how he sounded to her.
Unfortunately, Edward was forbidden to mention the cartoon character's name that nearly resembled his screaming tone, because of the curse mark that his owner had placed on him. Yet he was allowed to tell him the name of the voice actor who played the character in the early 90's. And that the man's voice had aged over the following decade later on in the woman's teen years.
DM later realized that the woman's habit of calling him either by "Shiro Nezumi" or "Kikensei no Nezumi-San" rather than his English name was because she was afraid and embarrassed of what other people might think of her likes and hobbies of the past or present. One particular clue DM had of the mysterious cartoon character who his owner had recast away was the new Japanese name she addressed him as "Yami Tsubasa Kamo". But unlike the heroic kamo from Disney that held a lifestyle completely opposite from one of his old adversaries who was the same species of animal, it was clear to Danger Mouse that the young woman wasn't ready to abandon him so soon. He learned from the Ninja Turtle action figures from atop her shelf that she had revisited that old cartoon series for the sake of the youngest turtle's obsession for super heroes and comic books. But as soon as Fullmetal Alchemist and Edward Elric came into her life in about a year between 2010 and 2011, she abandoned and became ashamed of it once more.
These threads from her perspective brain chemistry had linked the toys from the different worlds together, and gave DM a bigger picture of the woman's strengths and weaknesses. Without FMA or the other anime dubbed in Texas, the girl would never have settled down or accepted classical music. And she was well aware that getting too close to Edward had caused her to fall down in the autumn three years ago. But her hyper vigilance remained, regardless of her efforts to move on from him and his world. The main Edward doll was destined to stay by her side as a reminder of her possessed memories with him. And so that he could pose as the consultant for the next character that his owner chose to become attached to in the future.
Part 7: The Formation of a Plan
Danger Mouse had been intrigued with the young woman's excitement towards the main character in her favorite TV series getting into trouble with a foe or the law or by the hostile accusation from civilians. If her hero was kidnapped and bound in a certain way as a hostage, her past excitement was shown as love obsessed feminine rage. Now, she just got happy about the turning point of the story because she cared deeply for the character's well being. Maybe that was why she had been digging the old DM episode, where Danger Mouse had been brainwashed to obey everything Greenback said by the sound of his voice through one of his fiendish devices.
Sometimes DM wished he could turn his owner from her anime nerdish tomboy lifestyle into a more, sweet ladylike person. And he had better find a way to woo her soon; she had been eyeing rodent Pokemon recently. And was thinking about nicknaming one of them after his cowardly assistant in one of her new impending games. Danger Mouse knew that his plan couldn't involve anything too silly that might annoy his owner. She was already twitching her eyebrow in irritation to new episodes of his reboot series on last night. But she always seemed to enjoy his cocky, egoistic incarnation. Maybe he could use the temporary faze to his advantage….
Part 8: A Romantic Daydream
The young woman blinked in astonishment at the unexpected environment in her Mind Bubble. It looked like a dark night sky with a full red moon shining above the forest of Transylvania in the reboot Danger Mouse cartoon show. To make the situation even weirder, she noticed that she was wearing a Gothic, sexy countess dress that bared the colors black and red. The soft dirty ground that she had found herself standing upon started from the edge of the forest to a narrow road that led up a steep hill to a Medieval looking castle at the top. Dramatic lightning and thunder flashed in the sky above its turrets.
The confused maiden had no idea what was happening around her until she saw him again. Grinning from his right side in gloatful pride was the reboot form of her Danger Mouse doll, who was laying down comfortably atop a large round shaped horse carriage, which was colored and designed to look like a giant pumpkin. When his eye met hers and he smirked excitedly, as if he had won a fight, she couldn't help but dreadfully wonder what her fluffy nezumi was up to this time. She had a feeling DM was planning on taking her up to that cool, spooky castle in that Halloween Town carriage that he diabolically concocted to impress her.
DM jumped off the stem less pumpkin carriage in an acrobatic style, landed in front of her and greeted her graciously. He explained to her that Count Duckula was plotting to create a potion that would permanently turn himself into a gorgeous human in order to capture her heart and make her his vampiric bride. Danger Mouse had challenged Duckula to a duel in an attempt to keep his undead enemy from taking advantage of his owner's similar tastes of fashionable interests. But the Count would only accept the bet on one condition: Wendela, herself, had to accompany Danger Mouse to his castle, so that she could be the Guest of Honor to observe his victory over her British guardian. If DM refused Duckula's request, he would use a love potion on her to make her fall in love with his current animal form.
An impulsive small smile suddenly formed on the young maiden's lips. Regardless of the peril and the reluctance to marry another stupid duck, she was starting to enjoy this little scenario that Danger Mouse had created for her. Two male characters fighting for dominance to become a lady's mate excited her, where the old friend of hers found the decision to bring her along into his enemy's hideout abhorring…that was an actual bonus. Without a feeling of boredom in her, the maiden ordered DM to escort her to Duckula's castle and defeat that joke of a vampire.
Danger Mouse refused to let go of her hand throughout the entire ride up the hill. His suspicious game face glared daggers outside the carriage window. The higher they traveled upwards, the farther the treetops of the forest sank from their vantage point.
Finally, the skeleton horses stopped in front of their Master's ghoulish abode. The young maiden's heart fluttered as she witnessed the White Wonder constantly posing himself into a defensive fighting stance, in order to protect her from any threatening trap that Duckula might use on her. He kept her close to his side as they walked inside the castle's front gates. If there were any creepy servants who might have been ordered to escort the two of them to the Count's playing field, DM would warn them to back away from her or he'd use violence to make his point across.
They found Duckula in his castle's outdoor garden. Tombstones and a few trees surrounded the grassy terrain. The bright red full moon shone down upon an open spot. The Count smirked at them as he hovered above a large picnic blanket.
"Welcome, Danger Mouse," he greeted his opponent in mock politeness. Then he turned to the young maiden. "I'm happy to see that you love my romantic garden, my dear bride."
At first, DM didn't know what Duckula was talking about. But then his eye widened in horror when he saw his owner gasping excitedly as she marveled at the scenery with sparkling eyes. This was bad. The duel hadn't even started yet, and already DM was losing his hold on her heart by a simple Gothic dating gesture from the enemy. He had to find a way to snap her out of it. But what could he do to impress her back?
"Our wicked prize will remain here on this blanket, Danger Mouse," Duckula explained his terms to the white nezumi. The young maiden obediently sat on the gloomy plum colored picnic garment, and stared wondrously at the full red moon above her head. It was as if she was mesmerized by its beauty. But why? She looked like she had forgotten what was happening around her.
"Wendela!" DM called out to her. "Don't fall for the Count's Genjutsu! He's using your memories of Naruto to make you see Sharingan markings on the moon! It's not a Tsuki no Yomi reference! It's a trick!"
Duckula laughed. "She can't hear you, nor me. I've trapped her in that trance for a reason, you know."
DM narrowed his eye at him. "You just want to bide your time to accomplish your fiendish plan and steal her from me." He positioned himself into another fighting stance. "I won't let you have her!" Jealous rage clouded his emotions and DM leapt into Attack Mode.
A battle of fisticuffs resulted in Count Duckula knocked out on the ground with dizzy swirls in his eyes. Satisfied with his victory, Danger Mouse refocused his attention on the hypnotized maiden. He sighed as he was fully aware of the one thing that would wake her up….
Part 9: Epilogue
"Ah-Zhiuw!"
The sound of a sudden sneeze snapped the young maiden from her dazed state and made her blink. She found herself sitting on the blanket, where she and DM first saw Duckula hovering above in his graveyard garden. But she couldn't remember anything else after that.
"Ah-Choo! Ah-AhChoo! Hii-Chh! Snff."
The sneezing fit that Danger Mouse was having in his reboot form caused a rush of warmth to the maiden's cheeks. She didn't know why he was having these allergic symptoms until she took another look at their surroundings. They were no longer on Count Duckula's castle grounds anymore, nor in the reboot Danger Mouse universe. In fact, the maiden was astonished to find themselves in a classic Pokemon episode wilderness scene. It was the Mysterious Garden, where Bulbasaur would gather to evolve into Ivysaur in the presence of the ruler of the open meadow: Venasaur.
Holographic projections of Bulbasaur and Ivysaur were singing around them. And the Venasaur on the tree stump was producing pollen from the flower on its back, making the large tree behind it blossom into red blooms.
"Ah…Ah…CHOO!" DM sneezed again as the sparkling white pollen floated throughout the meadow. "Snf. Ugh. A Bikachu id your closet said that you'd rebebber this place, Wede…la-HAH-CHOO!"
"Bless you," she said softly. "Danger Mouse, what happened to me when we-" Unfortunately, she was cut off as her white rodent knight inhaled deeply, his mouth slacking open while he raised a handkerchief to his snout.
"HAAH-CHOOOO!" His voice pitched into a high tone from his exploding breath. "Snf. Oh, Good Grief."
The young maiden shook off her confusion and smiled. She guessed that in the end, it didn't matter what happened during that little imaginary quest, or how DM knew about her Pokemon episode memories. What was important to her now was that she still loved Danger Mouse, regardless of his new voice and personality. And none of that could stop her from scooting closer to him and laying her head on his right shoulder. Or the song that started to play in the background….
"Guess this means you're sorry
You're standing at my door
Guess this means you take back all you said before
Like how much you wanted anyone but me
Said you'd never come back
But here we are again…
"Cause we belong together now, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me…and honestly,
My life (My life) would suck (would suck) without you…
"Maybe I was stupid for telling you goodbye
Maybe I was wrong for trying to pick a fight
I know that I got issues, but you're pretty messed up too
Either way I found out I'm nothing without you…"
While the chorus repeated itself after the second verse, Danger Mouse was starting to blush furiously from his owner's affectionate touch. And when she kissed his cheek, not only did his heart race faster than before...but he turned away to sneeze again. "Huh! Ex-chink!"
He yelped whe he saw a small splash of blood dribble from his nose. But the maiden just laughed at his ignorance of the sexual excitement from her anime worlds' experience. He flushed in embarrassment and dabbed at the mess with his handkerchief. However, the love filled longing in her eyes helped DM relax a little again. So he flashed his cocky, conceitedly confident grin at her, and received a playful body slamming hug. That's when the bridge verse of the song began….
"Being with you…is so dysfunctional…
I really shouldn't miss you,
But I can't let you go…Oh, yeah…"
Danger Mouse was happy to see his owner shed fresh tears of joy since she had unwrapped him on August 19th, around 4ish on a Friday afternoon. He would never forget that Love at First Sight look in her eyes. And after she had shared so much of herself with him, he made an oath to become whatever incarnated version of himself that she would be deeply is thinking about at whatever time of her current daydream status. There was no other long time fan that could ever come to his mind to title a music playlist: "My Old, Special Tomodachi" in his honor.
The End.
