Chapter 9: Setting Things Right
"What's taking that boat so long?" Maggie moaned. "I'm already getting tired of waiting to leave this miserable excuse for a human world."
"Hang on, I think I see something coming," Milo carefully faced the foggy sea when he thought that his eyes caught some sort of huge ship. "That must be the boat."
"Well it's about time," Jim said, relieved to finally sit up after all those long minutes of waiting around.
The banished characters decided to wave in any way they could to get the ships attention. Sailing out of the grey fog, the ships appearance was that of a 17th century pirate ship, but more in the shape of a ghost ship. The characters felt a bit edgy and nervous as they stared at the torn billows above. Not only that, but it appeared that some mysterious black hooded stranger was in charge of the wheel. Was this a good idea to begin with in the first place? The silence and loneliness of these docks was dreadful enough to endure, even after their banishment. In fact, it seemed that it might have been a wise choice to go back and make friends with the other Disney characters. Then again, no one would believe them about the incident at the office, not even Mickey. All that would be waiting for them back there was more rejection and finger pointing. That set the banished five off thinking about staying away from humans and wanting to avoid the disappointed expressions of all the Disney characters once they find out what happened. Each of them settled in their minds what sort of other banished characters from long ago would be waiting for them at the Island of Forgotten Dreams. Perhaps once the banished five arrive, they'd be welcomed more respectfully than on the day of their birth. Perhaps this was also for the best.
"All aboard," the cloaked man murmured in a dark tone. "To the Island of Forgotten Dreams we shall go."
The Forgotten Five turned back to stare at the land in lonely spirits. This was it for them. Never again would any of them have to deal with ridiculous accusations and venomous attitudes from ungrateful humans who hate on them for the wrong reasons, when all the characters did was do as the artists and directors wanted them to do. Nobody understood how bad it was for the Forgotten Five to be living under the shadow of complete and utter failure.
"Come on you guys," Jim spoke, breaking the silence. "We can't keep the captain waiting. There's nothing for us here anyway."
In lower spirits, the five turned their backs to the land and trudged toward the ship, disheartened. Kenai still carried the sleeping Koda in his arms as he walked on.
What the Forgotten Five didn't know was that Minnie Mouse had already been riding in a yellow taxi cab, due to her having the feeling of where the five would be located at. She was proven correct as soon as she spotted the five preparing to leave in an enormous ship for a nonstop voyage to the Island of Forgotten Dreams, never to return to the human world again. Anxiety filled Minnie the moment after she hopped out of the taxi and hurried down to the docks as fast as she could go.
"Wait, don't go!" she shouted. "Don't get on that boat!"
Surprised by the familiar sweet voice, the banished five turned around and saw Minnie Mouse running straight toward them hysterically. What could she possibly want from them anyway when all they did was let Mickey down with their failure?
"Hey Minnie, come to wish us bon voyage before we leave?" Kuzco asked. "That would be a nice thing."
"WHAT?! No, that's not why I'm here!" Minnie shouted in outrage. "I've come all this way to stop you all from making a big mistake!"
"Oh really, and what mistake would that be?" Mrs. Calloway stared at Minnie with a displeased frown. "It's bad enough we're different from everyone else. We're only doing those humans a favor."
"You're doing the villains a favor," Minnie said, shaking her head. "Don't you understand that?"
Maggie laughed, unconvinced by these words and sick of being lied to by everyone. Then she spoke angrily. "Oh now we're doing the villains a favor, are we? Well let me tell you something sweetheart, we're done dealing with humans. So how do you think going back there to save the day is going to make any of us more acceptable? It's all because of Michael Eisner's handling of us that we are not loved by anybody. And if any of those stupid heads over at the studio had cared for us in the first place, we wouldn't be here ready to leave for good. And another thing, does this look hero material to you?" she held out her right front leg for Minnie to examine her hoof. "Who are we kidding? We're not heroes. We're nobodies. So long!"
Maggie turned to march toward the ship with the other two following behind. Never did she bother to look back and allow Minnie to see the bitter unshed tears attempting to come out of her stinging eyes. Jim, Milo, Kuzco, and Kenai followed her lead, not wanting to keep the boatman waiting any longer. Even they would rather not return to a life where people treated them as if their movies served no purpose but to be ignored.
"You're not nobodies!" Minnie cried. "Please just listen to me. Mickey Mouse is in terrible danger."
That was when the toons stopped in their tracks and turned slowly to face Minnie, except the cows that just stood still with Maggie's right front hoof on the rail.
"Danger, what do you mean in danger?" Milo asked.
"I mean Mickey is over there with the other heroes battling against the villains even as we speak," Minnie replied. "He stood up for you after he found out what Michael did. And so did the other characters. Are you still gonna leave, after what I told you? Don't you even care that Maleficent is about to overpower the heroes?"
Jim was stunned. "Wait a minute, Maleficent? Who's she?"
The Forgotten Five were never told of Maleficent, due to their lack and refusal of attending fun events at the House of Mouse. Not even the coworkers at the studio cared enough to tell them about her.
"She's the mistress of all evil," Minnie replied. "And she's the one who set you all up to attack Michael by filling your heads with lies about yourselves. She has a way of weakening people by lying to break their spirits. Even your own enemies are in league with her."
"What?!" Maggie finally glanced over her shoulder.
"That's right. All your enemies are helping Maleficent to try and overthrow Mickey. Don't you understand that this is what the villains want you to do? If you quit and leave, the villains win. Not only that, but I bet your own families are already wondering where you are at this moment. And what about those other fans of yours?"
That was when the banished five suddenly had their eyes widened in realization to what Minnie said.
"You may think that no one loves you, but that's not true," Minnie choked. "If it's not too hard to ask, can you all find it in yourselves to put aside your bad feelings against Michael just this once and do what's right…for Mickey?"
The characters' eyes shied away to the ground in shame and doubt. How could they take another chance in a world that treated them differently? Surely the more popular heroes could stand a better chance against the villains then they ever could. Then again, what were they doing here anyway?
Back at the Magic Kingdom
"Give up yet Mickey!" Maleficent taunted.
"Never!" Mickey replied stubbornly, who was now lying with his head faced on the cement ground. The mouse breathed deeply from exhaustion while fighting to regain his balance. Even he himself couldn't understand how the evil sorceress wasn't going down already like she should have been the last time he battled with her. Still he refused to go down easily.
"But Mickey, we can't stop her!" Goofy cried, defending Mickey with Donald at his side. "She's too powerful!"
"I don't know how much longer we can hold her off!" Donald added, keeping a firm grip on his wizard staff. "Even the heroes have their own problems with their enemies!"
"Keep trying, we can't give up now!" Mickey said with determination. "Remember what we're fighting for?"
"What a stubborn mouse you are Mickey!" Maleficent said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "If that is your decision, I suppose I'll have to finish you off the easy way!"
With one wave of her right arm, Maleficent had used a swift spell to throw Donald and Goofy aside in order to keep this battle between her and Mickey. And to keep anyone from interfering, she used her dark magic to create an invisible barrier around them. Mickey's two pals stared helplessly as they watched their troubled friend possibly in danger of being defeated without any backup.
By this time, most of the heroes and heroines were losing their strength in fighting off the villains. Captain Hook now had his long sword pointed at Peter Pan's throat after successfully knocking the dagger out of his hand at the end of the duel. The pirates managed to imprison Tinker Bell in a lantern to prevent her from helping Peter any further. Then Hook whispered "there's no such thing as fairies" to weaken her powers as her glow started flickering and fading. Then he ordered the pirates to take Pan back to his ship along with the Lost Boys, Wendy, John, and Michael as their prisoners.
Jafar had somehow successfully trapped Jasmine inside a giant hourglass with the sand spilling slowly onto her from the hole of the upper chamber. Despite feeling a bit worn out from fighting, Aladdin lunged out at the vizier with his sword in the air, hoping to strike at him. But out of luck, he missed the moment before Jafar vanished and reappeared behind to knock him out with his snake staff. Genie had been unable to help out since Jafar had him trapped inside an enchanted crystal ball that could only be broken if someone crashed it to the ground.
"Sorry Al," Genie said sadly as he stared helplessly. "I gave everything my best shot."
The battle between the heroes and villains was apparently getting hectic and nearly out of hand. With the remaining heroes and heroines such as Mulan, Tarzan, Hercules, Merlin, canine and feline characters, Beast, Quasimodo, John Smith, Simba, and Stitch, they and their sidekicks were able to hold off Shan Yu, Clayton, Hades, the Titans, Madame Mim, Sykes, and Frollo off as long as possible. But with the other enemies that have not yet fallen, who knows how long they would be able to keep it up.
Meanwhile on the outside of the gates, nobody was aware of Minnie secretly leading the banished five back to the Magic Kingdom as the group crossed the highway safely, but not before being followed by almost hundreds of young people either asking for the characters' autographs or to have a picture with them. By the excited and cheerful looks of these people, they appeared to be fans of the fives' movies. Wondering how these fans ever saw her and the banished five coming, Minnie reckoned that the battle inside the park must have awakened them all the way from their houses, hotel and apartment rooms. Although Minnie was glad of these fans' approval and appreciation for the five, she knew that there was not enough time for picture taking and autographs.
"Sorry everybody, but we're in a hurry to save our kingdom!" Minnie shouted politely to the shouting crowds from behind. "You'll have to wait till later! There's no time."
"What, not even for a close snapshot of my dazzling smile?" Kuzco joked as he used his usual emperor smile to please the ladies. "You wonderful ladies are more than welcome to take my picture." The next thing that happened were lights flashing and snapshots clicking which only lasted for five seconds until Jim grabbed hold of Kuzco's left wrist.
"Come on Kuzco, stop fooling around," he scolded. "There'll be plenty of time for this after we defeat our nemeses."
"Aw I was just starting to love this moment of gratitude," Kuzco moaned while Jim still kept pulling him along. But he still had to admit to himself that he needed to put a stop to whatever scheme Yzma was doing to both his kingdom and his friends.
The crowd of fans followed the group as if they were an idolized gang of famous singers, screaming for their names, autographs, and pictures, despite listening to Minnie's words. The shouts and praises ringing among the fives' ears almost brought tears of joy to their eyes when they finally realized what important matters they would have missed out on if they got on that boat and never returned. Minnie was right. There were people that did care about them after all. What joy would the five have gotten from on the Island of Forgotten Dreams? All that would have been waiting for them was more misery, disappointment, sadness, and all other negative feelings from the cries and sorrows of other banished toons. What good was that?
"In here," Minnie pointed to a hidden door behind the park walls. "Quickly, we don't have much time."
The five dashed hastily in the alleyway and quickly entered after her before the crowd caught up to them. It didn't take too long for them to find their way back inside the park where the group was able to witness the epic battle between the heroes and villains. By the looks of it, things were still growing from bad to worst for the heroes fighting for too long and on the verge of unexplainably losing their strength. The cows winced at the sight of Jafar in the form of a giant cobra snap at the heels of Aladdin, refusing to give in when Jasmine, Genie, and all his friends were in peril.
"This wasn't my idea of returning to face this many dangerous enemies with all their magic and mayhem," Grace whimpered fearfully. "We're sure to get creamed in seconds."
"Yeah, I mean how are we even supposed to get by without being seen or getting killed?" Kuzco questioned.
"Simple, return to your worlds and gather as much allies as you all can," Minnie affirmed. "It would do no good getting involved in this battle without them. Plus, you're the only ones who can stop your own enemies."
"What about Mickey?" Jim asked. "He must know we're here."
"Leave that to me," she replied, smiling. "Now hurry and don't let anything stop you."
The five agreed to this and watched as Minnie left to try and get to her husband, still fighting Maleficent. There was no doubt that the mouse and his friends were possibly in this battle because of them. And they were thinking of leaving while their friends' lives were in danger?
"So it seems Mickey did this for us, didn't he?" Kenai asked. "What were we thinking?"
Before anyone else could answer, a familiar shout brought their attention over to the outside of the front opening gates. The same crowd had followed them all the way here and were watching the battle screaming and shouting for the five to give the villains what they got. Watching them from afar, the five could suddenly feel their broken spirits being repaired by the feelings of love, care, and total appreciation; something they hadn't felt ever since the start to save this dear company. Standing up courageously, the five now knew what they needed to do.
"Come on guys, this is no time to get emotional," Milo piped up. "We gotta go gather all our friends."
"Right," Jim agreed.
Soon all the rest of their sad feelings left them as the five avoided getting spotted from the villains by jumping and hiding from bush to building while making their way to Main Street and to catch the train back to Toon Town. None of them even cared how hard this battle might be anymore; not even the cows. They were ready to fight and help the mouse that started it all.
AN: Sorry for the long update. I had writers' block. I'm not even sure if I did such a good job with this chapter. I know it's not much, but this update is to show that I still don't plan on leaving this story in the dust anytime soon, no matter how much trouble I have with how the battle should end. I'm still having some complications, but feel free to give me some tips and suggestions in reviews. I strongly hope that the next chapter I write will be better. I'll try my hardest to make it more believable.
