December 2, 1955.
President Mbuka crouched under the table and watched the giant, colorless, impossibly thin, cat-like monster hiss at fleeing tourists and throw furnishings about the lobby of the Superhero Clubhouse.
The beast was a story and a half tall, still well below the height of the room's skylights. It alternated between standing so shakily that it appeared its own weight would pull it over and showing enough strength to heft a trophy case into the air and throw it.
Mbuka glanced over at his tour guide, a young man whose nametag read "Terry." Terry was crouching under the same table at the other end of it. Terry had just said something that Mbuka thought sounded so incredible, he had to ask to make sure he had heard it right.
"You say they expected this?" Mbuka asked.
"Well, to some extent," Terry replied. "The superheroes say there is a magic spell making Walt's earliest cartoon characters come to life, then compelling them to live out the cartoons in the order people first saw them. They're looking for a way to break the spell that won't kill' the living cartoons already created."
"And this giant cat was in a Disney cartoon?"
"Again, not exactly. It was clear that the next cartoon due for re-enactment was When the Cat's Away,' but no one knew how the cartoon would be manifested. That cartoon, you see, was the only one ever made where Mickey and Minnie were portrayed as being mouse-sized instead of human-sized. Some of the Guardians thought Mickey and Minnie might shrink, but instead, the cartoon's antagonist, Cat Nipp, has grown. The living cartoons have been under a sort of house arrest here at the Clubhouse for weeks, with Cat Nipp being so rowdy he's needed to be restrained several times. His restraints weren't tough enough for his current size, obviously. Nor could the Guardians have predicted this would happen when they were all away from Disneyland City."
"Yes, that was most unfortunate. Lucky that I came with my own protection." With that, Mbuka went back to watching the battle unfold.
The Phantom had given up trying to punch his opponent, as it would only wobbly madly and then come at him again. The Phantom ducked as the oversized Cat Nipp swung its fist down at him. He waited until the fist cleared him, then jumped onto it and gripped Cat's arm tight. His weight threw the giant cat off-balance and it teetered as its paw hit the ground under the Phantom's heels. The Phantom scampered up the creature's arm and clambered onto its shoulders. He threw his weight down on the back of Cat's head. Cat bent over like a sapling, then collapsed as its legs flew out from under it. It bucked and tried to toss the Phantom off its back. The Phantom tried his best to pin the beast, but it felt like wrestling a giant rubber floor mat.
"Are you all right, Mr. President?" The Phantom called out.
"I am fine, Ghost Who Walks!" President Mbuka called back.
"Perfect," the Phantom said, "now only if – oof!"
Cat Nipp had turned its arms backwards and flailed its fists at the
Phantom. He rolled off the creature's back to evade the beating he had begun to take.
"Stupid!" The Phantom self-admonished. "I should have realized it could bend any which way. It doesn't even feel like it even has bones!"
Cat Nipp used its paws to push itself back into a standing position. It growled and hissed, but was quickly tried out by the cry of Sheena as she returned to the scene with bundles of cable in her hands. Trailing behind her, Mickey and Minnie Mouse carried loops of rope. As Cat turned to face these returning adversaries, Sheena finished slipping the cable into a lasso and began to swing the cable over her head, in wider circles as she moved farther into the room. Cat would have met her halfway, but the Phantom kicked it in the back of the leg and made the giant cat wobble until it nearly fell over. Sheena let her lasso fly and snagged one of Cat's outstretched paws. The Phantom gave Cat's other calf a swift kick as Sheena, Mickey, and Minnie tugged on her lasso with all their might – and Cat Nipp came tumbling to the floor. Mickey and Minnie took the rope they carried, scampered up onto Cat's back and tried to bind it, but their thick fingers fumbled clumsily with the rope.
"Here, my little friends," Sheena said patiently to the two living cartoons. "Let me help you with that."
"Be careful," the Phantom warned. "It's not anatomically correct, so you can't tie it like a person or an animal."
"Oh, I'll be thorough," Sheena responded, and set to work.
With that, the Phantom walked over and helped President Mbuka out from under his hiding place. "It doesn't appear it had any intention of hurting you," the Phantom told Mbuka. "It was more like a violent outburst or temper tantrum."
"Yes, Ghost Who Walks," Mbuka said. "Terry here has been very kind in explaining the situation to me."
Terry crawled out from under the table on his own. "I was only too glad to help, Mr. President," Terry said.
"As much as I was inspired by these two great heroes," Mbuka said to
Terry, "I was also impressed by your coolness in the face of danger, especially from one so young."
"Well, I've never come close to an adventure like this before,"
Terry said, "but I've seen Dynamic Man leap over my head, talked to
Scotty Thunder about wishes coming true, and watched the Guardians storm the Injustice Society of Evil's base hidden right here in
Disneyland City. When there's superheroes around, you just come to
expect the unexpected."