This story is based on actual items and plans for Animal Kingdom. However, the little conspiracy theory is purely fiction…as far as I know…anyway, the disclaimer. Ahem…I do not own anything by Disney, not even a stock share. I found out about these plans by researching it at many different sites, and I know every inch of the parks, but I have no real affiliation with Disney (well, until I become an Imagineer there, that is).

The strange smell was the main thing that had brought Alison back to the conscious world. Her nose was unable to tell what exactly it was; it seemed like a mixture of sulfur and burning tires. But after the smell had brought her back, three more characteristics of wherever she was snapped her into full consciousness: she was lying on some sort of slimy cold cobblestone floor, and it was pitch black. As in, so black she couldn't see her hand when it was inches from her face. And finally, something was poking her head. She jolted and scrambled up to her feet.

"It's weird," someone giggled. "Does it talk? I want to hear it talk."

"So it's not Sebastian?" someone else asked. "I was so sure it was him. This thing smells like him."

"Where are you?" Alison asked, backing up slowly until she hit a wall. "Show yourself. Turn on the light or something."

"It talks like us!" the first voice squealed in pleasure. Something perched on her shoulder and grabbed her hair. Alison yelped and thrashed about to get whatever it was off.

"Hey, don't do that! You're hitting me," the second voice snapped as something perched on her again. Alison reached a shaky hand to feel whatever it was on her. A furry round thing…with claws…and leathery strips…wings?

"A bat?" she asked, not believing her own sense of touch.

"Well, what did you think I was?" the voice said annoyingly.

"It's funny!" the first voice kept repeating in its mirth. "This thing is funny! Can we keep it?" Alison screamed and hit the bat off of her shoulder. Then, she began to run, not caring that she couldn't see a thing. Every time she hit a wall, she would just continue on in another direction, blind and terrified and confused at the same time, which doesn't add up to a very good combination. Finally, she saw a small light at the edge of a tunnel, which she ran to with so much joy she almost burst into tears.

"Thank you god," she whispered shakily as she reached the corner. "Thank you God, thank you Allah, thank you Vishnu, thank-" As she turned the corner, her words were frightened away. A ten ton animal, which was the source of the burning smell and seemed very, very angry that someone had come into its eyesight, stood glaring at her and snorting sparks.

"No…" she whispered frighteningly. "That's impossible. Those…a dragon…t-those don't exist!" In response to her disbelief, the dragon roared into her ear and glared at her with its fiery-red eyes. Alison screamed again and sprinted in the other direction, the dragon close behind. Through all the twists and turns, she managed to find a corner in the wall and crouched inside, letting the dragon heave past her and continue to chasing no one.

"You idiot!" Someone yelled at her. "You can't get that close to that thing! Someone like you is the one who's supposed to get the sword?" It took her a second to realize the voice was in her head.

"I've been drugged," she said flatly. "That's the only explanation. Someone kidnapped me on the way to the locker room, stuffed some chloroform in my nose, and this is some sort of weird unconscious dream."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Believe what you want, as long as you get the sword during that time. Got it? Get the sword!"

"What sword? Oh god," she said in dismay, "I'm talking to the fake voice in my head. I've become a schizophrenic." Suddenly, the light began to come back. Alison froze as the dragon lumbered back the other way, stopping in front of her space and glaring at her again. "Um…" Alison said sweetly. "Hi, drug-induced nightmare dragon. Listen, can you do me a favor and not kill me? Cause, since this is a dream, if I die here, I'm gonna die in real life. So, if you'll just let me by, I'll find a nice quiet place away from you to wait out the end of the dream." The dragon's reply was another deafening roar, throwing hot saliva all over her face and shoulders. Alison shrieked and fell to the ground, frozen stiff from the fear. The dragon began to force its snout into the hole in the wall, but before it got to her it stopped and turned around, roaring at a green streak slashing at its tail.

"I thought that I had heard someone in here," the streak shouted over the dragon's bellowing. "Get out of here, quickly. Go back the way you came, where this monstrosity was lying down!" Alison felt herself get up and run, even though she couldn't remember ever commanding her legs to move. Somehow she remembered the way out, and quickly got to a set of large wooden doors far away from the helpful streak and the enormous fanciful predator. She ran at the door with full force and pushed it open; stepping into a world that she, at first, didn't believe was really there.She had found herself staring at a grassy hill that sloped gently down and morphed into a dense forest. To her left, the grass had yellowed from the intense heat of a savanna plain, which faded about three miles out to a sandy desert. Her right beheld a thick mist. From behind the mist, a tall mountain range peeked out on the horizon. It was like looking at a small version of almost all of the world's environments smashed together.

"Whatever drug they used to knock me out, it sure is a trip," Alison said to herself. Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to shake. With a loud crash, the dragon burst from one of the high towers and sped off into the sky, howling in agony. Whoever the weird sword guy was, he seemed to have done a decent job hurting it.

"You there! You insolent fool, what on earth were you even doing in there!" the boy shouted from behind her as he passed through the wooden doorway. "You're just lucky I managed to hear your screaming, because otherwise-"

"Hey, don't blame this on me!" she said angrily. "I didn't ask to be kidnapped, stuffed in a trunk, and knocked out by some weird drug that put me in a castle with talking bats and a dragon!" She glared at him fiercely, as if daring him to challenge her and say that she in fact did want all of that. The poor boy, about Alison's age with short light-blond hair, green eyes, and an emerald green cloak which covered a leathery-brown traveler's outfit from medieval times, had no idea what to make of her. And not because her little speech confused him.

"Are you an elf?" he asked.

"A what?"

"No, you aren't an elf. You do not have their ears," he muttered, examining her. "And you are not a dwarf, or a sprite…but surely you can't be a four-legged beast, unless you are hiding two more legs in your trousers. Are you?" he asked. Alison could only stare. "Oh, I know!" he said triumphantly. "You are a hybrid of some sort, and you have a hidden tail!" He bent down to look for a bulge. She snapped out of her state of shock to knock him one good on the head.

"Could you BE any ruder?" she snapped. "What the heck were you born from in my subconscious, figment? Can't even recognize another human being-" He shot up from the ground where he had been knocked down to with wide eyes.

"A what?" he whispered slowly.

"A human, figment," she said again, becoming rather fond of the name she had picked out for him.

"A…a human," he said in what seemed to be amazement.

"Uh…yeah. Look, I'm just gonna go over there, crazy fig-" Before she could finish her sentence, she found herself being tackled to the grassy hill by the strange boy as he screamed, "A HUMAN!!!!"

"Get offa me!" she shouted, which was muffled due to the fact that her face was now in the dirt.

"You are really a human?! Honestly?! " he asked her gleefully, still holding onto her tightly.

"Of course I am!" she said in annoyance. This boy was getting on her nerves. He let go a little bit so she could get her face off of the ground and face him. His eyes were now shining.

"This is a miracle! A human! Well, where did you come from? How did you get here? Are there others?

"Um…yeah…"

"How many?"

"I think like, six billion or something."

"Six billion…" he murmured, sounding as if he was about to cry from joy. "Six BILLION other humans!" He began to laugh and picked Alison up, spinning her around.

"Sebastian, if you don't put that girl down soon, you'll squeeze the life out of her," an amused voice said from behind them. He set her down but kept staring at her like she was a goddess descended from the heavens, which was a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Lady, but I couldn't help but feel such joy over your appearance," he said, bowing slightly.

"Um…s'okay," she said in confusion, looking around for the person who told him to let her down. She wanted to mouth "Thank you" to him. "Where's the-"

"Down here, miss," the voice said. She looked down and saw a large dog staring at her.

"Great," she groaned. "First bats, now dogs."

"I'm a wolf, but that doesn't matter much," he chuckled. "So, a human. I can't say I didn't hope, but I didn't expect it at all."

"Wait, wait. Are you saying that I dreamed up all the crap in this mind maze and he's the only human I got out of it?" she asked.

"This isn't a mind maze," the wolf said. "It's The Kingdom."

"Yeah yeah, mind maze, The Kingdom, same difference. Just tell me what I have to do to wake up. This is sorta creeping me out."

"She think's this is false?" Sebastian asked Radone. He smiled briefly.

"I would guess she isn't used to hearing our kind speak wherever she came from. We will have to wait and be patient with her, but we will also have to keep an eye on her at all times so she doesn't do anything dangerous…like go into the mist." He directed his attention toward the forest. "Lady, if you'll follow us, we'll take you somewhere safe where you can learn why your presence is so shocking."