Life NEVER was Normal.
Disclaimer: Life NEVER was Normal is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the second season of the previous story Life DEFINATELY not Normal, after the first season Life FAR from Normal and after the Epilogue of, "The Betrayal of Light", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.
Author's Note: Here's Episode 10(after having to redo the last episode three times), so get ready! Oh, and a few more Final Fantasy characters make their appearences here today, while this is based on another Disney episode.
I don't own anything here.
EP 10: No Laughing Matter.
Wondering around in a very creepy looking place, Mickey nervously gazed around his surroundings while trying to figure out where he was or how he got here. Once thing was certain, he needed to find a way out. It looked like the hallways leading towards dungeons in the medieval times...or the dark ages.
"W-Where am I?" Mickey shakily asked, aloud. He slowly turned around and began to slowly walk backwards, becoming more and more scared by the second. But as he was slowly stepping into the much darker part of the hallway where no torches were lit, behind him, two pupil-less bright evil yellow eyes and an evil smiling mouth suddenly appeared in the darkness.
Mickey froze at the sound of a monsterous chuckle and felt his blood becoming icy cold and frozen, his eyes widened as he stopped where he was. Shivering, he slowly turned around and his scream was blocked off when the black monster instantly launged forward and the last thing he saw was it's black-sharp-toothed mouth engulfing him...
"Students, wake up!"
Mickey, and a few others who'd fallen asleep in science-history class, cried out as they were woken up by the sound of Professor Von Drake who looked really annoyed. Mickey, Lea, Ven, Donald, Goofy, Myde and even Vanitas all yawned while everyone else shook their heads to snap out of their boredom. Or in Melody's case, her giggles.
"No sleeping in Class." Von Drake scolded, tapping his stick against his palm.
"Sorry, Professor." Mickey shrugged. While he was relieved that what he just saw had been a creepy dream, he was so bored and tired from the long-winded explaination and learning of the previous Professors...And he couldn't remember much since this class was always the most boring one of the Academy.
When Melody giggled at the reaction, Von Drake turned his attention to her and scolded again, "No laughing in Class, either."
"Sorry, Professor." Melody sighed while shrugging.
"Now, back to Professor Duckstein." Von Drake nodded, and while he turned his attention back to the board with pictures of the late famous professors, while unaware that a beetle flew through the opened window and landed on top of his head, and Timon, stalking it in an attempt to eat it, crepted up to it hungrily.
And the students in class didn't say anything and tried not to laugh, now fully awake while Minnie softly gasped.
"He was once partners with Einstien himself. So please, students. Follow the example." Von Drake continued, still unaware and turned around to face the students, and Timon having climbed onto his head slowly, almost catching his prey.
They couldn't help it. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Ven, Melody, Vanitas, Selphie and Myde bursted out laughing along with other students. Von Drake just slumped, only to cry out in alarm when Timon pounced and failed to catch the beetle who flew away, causing the meerkat to accidently shove Von Drake onto the floor before giving chase to the insect across the desk, while the teacher tried to get him out, crashing things while the students watched, laughing the preformance.
Soon after Timon yelled out to the Beetle, "Come back here, dinner!" and leaped out of the window, which Von Drake slammed shut, he turned back to the laughing students who couldn't help themselves.
"Hoo, boy. What's the use?" Von Drake slumped in defeat, and, noticing that it was almost lunch time, declared, "Class dismissed."
"Sweet!" Lea grinned, immediately standing along with his friends. "I'm starved."
"Well, that was an amusing class." Vanitas remarked with a smirk as he walked out of class with everyone else.
"Ooh, food, being lazy. Kids, these days." Von Drake shook his head. "When are any of you going to be more serious?" He called out, before packing things up for a break himself.
Later in the afternoon once all the classes were dismissed for the day, a very short person at the height of a child, or possibly about Mickey, Donald, Minnie and Daisy's height, a Tarutaru and a female at that in black and gray clothing, with blonde hair bone up in loose pigtails, was walking across Radiant Park, passing Jecht who had decided to relax and was snickering at the comic book he brought with him.
"Hey, whatcha' doin'?" He called up to the passing Tarutaru, who, didn't seem to be in a good mood.
"Always the way to start a day." She began, annoyed. "One thing good or bad happens after another, but what is the most irritating of all, I hate laughter!" She stormed off, angrily.
Jecht raised an eyebrow, before shrugging and muttered to himself, "Geez, one crybaby woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
The Tarutaru rolled her eyes, but froze when she heard the most dreadful sound of all; laughter. She turned to see and groaned in dismay, it was coming from Melody, Minnie, Ven, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Yuna, Tidus, Mickey and even Lea who went hiding in the bushes, while Isa joined them, looking annoyed.
"Ah, hide and seek is for little kids." Isa groaned, before Lea pulled him into the bushes to hide during the game.
"I know, but it's Sebastian's favorite game." Melody whispered, trying to keep her voice down despite wanting to laugh.
"Yeah, because we have to be quiet and he doesn't." Sora whispered cheekily, and the others nodded in agreement.
The Tarutaru rolled her eyes, before hearing another voice, noticing to her right and saw...a red human-speaking crab counting with his eyes covered? He was the seeker?
"...97, 98, 99, 100!" Sebastian, who came to check on Melody again and, having heard that the children were going to play hide and seek, decided to join in, finished counting and called out excitedly, "Ready or not, here I come, man!" and hurriedly began searching for those who were hiding.
Mickey and the others snickered while trying not to get Sebastian's attention, much to the dismay of the Tarutaru.
"Hide and seek? The game is wasteful and weak." She shook her head, while hiding behind a rock to live in her misery.
The crab in the meantion was cheekily trying to find the others all over the Park, until he noticed...blonde hair sticking out from behind a rock and, not realising it was not who he thought it was, grinned as he muttered, "I see you, Tidus."
The group, who saw their friend approached whoever was behind the rock that was not Tidus, gazed while sharing a worried glance. This was not gonna end well. Sebastian victoriously grabbed the hair with his claw, which made Tarutaru yelp before she spun around and glared at the shocked crab who realised was not Tidus, but an angry short human(at least he thought it was a human) glare at him.
Screaming girlishly, Sebastian sped away as fast as he could, only to accidently knock into Mushu who just passing by to Ven, and the two of them ended up being rolled cannon-ball style down the small hill, and then accidently hit Iago who was just about to enjoy a bird bath, but screamed as he saw too late and was joined by the other two. Mickey and the others left their hiding place to follow their three friends while laughing at the situation. Goofy and Genie arrived just in time to see Sebastian, Iago and Mushu crash into and somehow got stuck in a child's beach ball, rolling away into the opposite direction, bouncing out of control, yelping and crying out.
"Hey, what game are you fellers playing?" Goofy called out, as he and almost the rest of the group hurried after the stuck trio, laughing away. Melody was laughing hysterically.
"I'd better go h-help them. I'll be back, Min'." Mickey told his girlfriend while laughing, hurrying to catch up to the others.
Minnie tried and failed to cover her laughter with her hands, saying, "Sebastian, Mushu and Iago look funny like that." giggling uncontrollably again, as the Tarutaru approached, not impressed.
"This noise I cannot bear to hear, it's very annoyinng and greusome, young dear." She told Minnie who tried to control herself when she saw the newcommer.
"W-what is?" Minnie asked.
"Laughter and giggles, high-pitched chitter and moving wiggles!" The Tarutaru grunted angrily, storming up to Minnie who now nervously backed away at the angry stranger.
"Uh...Well, everybody laughs, because they think something is...funny." The student shrugged, only to continue to back away until she accidently fell into the sandpit.
"Funny, you say? If it's me you are laughing at, then you just ruined my day! I shall make you regret this, child. Because your laughter will go wild!" The Tarutaru declared, pulling out a staff with a white orb which glowed under her command. As she continued, white mist appeared from it and then surrounded Minnie who shut her eyes and cried out. "The Earthquakes will tremor, and the ground will shimmer, and it will be your own fault!"
"Minnie!" Mickey, who had heard Minnie's cry, hurried and saw what just happened and made it to his girlfriend too late, as while Minnie was fine and shook away the white mist after the Tarutaru finished chanting. He then glared at the apparent small witch and demanded, "Alright, you! What'd you do to Minnie!?"
"Teaching her a lesson is all, now she will feel awful." The Tarutaru shrugged, not sorry.
"Uh..." Minnie blinked, only to laugh again when Sebastian, Mushu and Iago, still stuck to the ball, bounced by her and Mickey, as did the rest of the group. But as soon as she did, there was a rumbling sound which made her and Mickey stop instantly.
To their horror and shock, as though coming from a chain of reaction, the entire ground shook and the area rocked, and Mickey pulled Minnie protectively in his arms, as a couple of trees were knocked down onto the ground. Genie, turning himself into a see-through ball, had the rest of the group inside him and they were bouncing away while they cried out in alarm just as the quakes stopped and everything settled down.
Realising that everytime now she laughed, the Earthquake would happen, Minnie turned to the Tarutaru in shock, "W-Why would you do such a horrible thing to me?"
"No one laughs at me, not a single tee-hee-hee." The Tarutaru replied, walking off.
"Gosh." Mickey muttered.
"Mickey! Minnie! Are you guys alright?" Ven called out from somewhere.
"Yeah! Over here, Ven." Mickey called out in return.
Minnie, worried over the spell, grasped her boyfriend by the shoulders and muttered fearfully, "Mickey! We have to warn the others not to make me laugh."
"Now, don't you worry, Minnie. I'm sure Genie will be able turn ya back to normal." Mickey told her assuringly.
"That would only spread the spell." The Tarutaru pointed out warningly, as she suddenly reappeared to the duo who backed away in fright, continuing, "It will ruin the world, if you tell. Do not laugh, or giggle, or smile. The ha-ha. And it won't wear off, either. Ta-ta!" and as she spread magic all over herself, the Tarutaru instantly disappeared, leaving Mickey and Minnie on their own, with the warning.
The two shared a worried glance. If they couldn't tell their friends about this, how can they break the curse?
"Whoa, talk about a Earthquake." Lea spoke, as he and the others, out of the Genie ball and not having heard or realised what just happened, approached. Sebastian, Mushu and Iago were still stuck onto the now deflated ball. "Where'd it even come from?"
"Well, uh...good question." Mickey replied, struggling to hide the awkwardness and avoiding in revealing the truth. "I mean, Radiant City never had an Earthquake before, right?"
"I noticed that, after hearing Minnie laugh, the Earthquake just happened. Might be because of bad timing?" Melody shrugged, puzzled.
Mickey and Minnie both jolted in shock, before the latter whispered softly to the former, "Mickey. We have to be very careful what we tell them, otherwise you'll be the only one not having the spell."
Seeing no alternative, Mickey then almost awkwardly lead the children to the direction of the school, saying, "Say, uh, it's gettin' late. Why don't we head of home?"
"Aw, but it's not even five o'clock yet." Sora whined.
"I heard it's gonna rain." Mickey lied, trying to hide the fact that he was lying.
"On a sunny day? I see no cloud in the sky." Isa skeptically said.
"Well, the weather can change. Besides, don't we have homework to do?"
"Homework?" Almost everyone else exclaimed, shocked at what Mickey just said.
Lea blinked, pointing out, "I thought we were gonna ditch that today for tomorrow."
"Well, the sooner we get it done, the better." Minnie pointed out, pushing Melody and Ven towards the direction of the school. "Maybe we should start right now. Besides, it is important." while almost laughing before instantly stopping herself, remembering that she was under the spell.
"Well, I guess...?" Ven muttered, confused and growing worried. It wasn't like both Mickey and Minnie to suddenly suggest this.
"What's gotten into them?" Genie muttered, puzzled.
"Well, after the Earthquake, wouldn't you be suddenly shaken and not admit it too?" Mushu, finally getting himself and Sebastian off and freed, pointed out.
"In case you haven't noticed, Earthquakes are NO laughing matter." Iago pointed out, annoyed.
Despite the concerns, the group agreed to head back to the Academy.
A week later, and things had gotten quite awkward. Minnie hasn't laughed since the spell and still she and Mickey did not reveal what happened, which was making everyone at the Academy worried-even Vanitas and Iago-and on top of that, Mickey had that nightmare he had at class during the week for the second time and the worries for his girlfriend didn't help, so he didn't get any sleep.
"I'm telling you. Minnie hasn't laughed for a week, and I have no clue what's wrong with her." Daisy told the headmasters, as she and all of her friends save for Mickey and Minnie were here along with most of the teachers.
"And Mickey looks like he hasn't gotten any sleep either." Donald added.
Speaking of the two mice, Mickey and Minnie entered the large office, looking solem and slightly glum.
"Y-You wanted to see us, Headmasters?" Mickey hesitatedly asked.
"Yes, Mickey." Eraqus began, saying a bit awkwardly and worriedly, "Your friends and teachers have informed us that you and Minnie haven't been...happy lately."
Still trying not to reveal the truth, Mickey instead awkwardly said, "Well, sure. Of course we're happy. Right, Minnie?"
"O-oh yes. Very happy." Minnie muttered.
"They are not definitely not happy." Von Drake pointed out, approaching the two students. "They even haven't laughed at the late professors. Watch; name this scientist!" He held out the picture of Duckstien.
Mickey and Minnie tried not to laugh, and instead, the former forced himself to stay while trying to remembered, "Professor Sully Quon Duckstien."
"Aha!" Von Drake grinned, before pulling Timon and Pumbaa out from nowhere and snapped his fingers, "Boys?"
Shrugging, Timon begins juggling sticks and dishes, while Pumbaa gestures toward him and grins. Not getting a reaction, Timon threw away the items before he and Pumbaa linked arms and dance, grinning tensely, and both Mickey and Minnie both tried to stop themselves from laughing at the ridiculous scene. The former two then started breakdancing. Almost everyone else watched, some of them sharing bewildered glances, and Donald and Iago facepalmed themselves in annoyance.
Once Timon and Pumbaa were finished, Von Drake, annoyed as he told Eraqus, Xehanort and Ansem, "You see, headmasters? Not even a giggle."
"Hmm...perhaps you both should see Dr. Rai for a medical check up." Ansem suggested.
"Aw, there's nothin' to worry about, sir." Mickey shrugged, sombering again.
"That's right. Mickey and I are...just trying to be more serious." Minnie replied, repeating what Von Drake, who gasped and gulped in shock, had said a week earlier. With that, both Mickey and Minnie bowed their respects before leaving.
"Thanks a lot, Professor." Lea grumbled to the science teacher.
"You never should've told them to be serious, Von Drake." Serah scolded at her fellow teacher, folding her arms together in disappointment, along with her sister and almost everyone else. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Well, I..." Von Drake trailed off, unable to think of an excuse.
"No sense of humor or being serious is my job description." Squall spoke up, shaking his head. "That sort of thing is not Mickey or Minnie's style, and I should know, because laughing is their nature.'
"Indeed. It is important to be serious, but one should not lose their personality in doing so." Xehanort nodded in agreement.
"There's gotta be a way to cheer them up and get them back to normal." Melody said, thoughtfully. "I'm worried."
"Well, it's not like we can just bring in a circus or anything." Lann shrugged and pointed out, lamely.
"We can't bring a circus into the school! You know that." Reynn pointed out to her brother.
The moment the twins said this, though, Ven and the others shared glances. An idea formed into their heads.
"Hmm..." Ven thought deepily, before turning to their magical friend, "Genie?"
"Say no more, Ven. I know just the trick." Genie said, grinning.
Mickey and Minnie had retreated to the latter's bedroom, still glum over the fact that they still haven't figured out how to solve the current problem, but were still stuck.
"Oh, Mickey. How am I ever going to do anything if I can't laugh anymore?" Minnie asked, dismayed and wanting to cry.
"We'll figure something out, Min'. I promise, if we have to, we'll find that girl who made this mess in the first place, even if it's the last thing I'll ever do." Mickey promised, holding his girlfriend close.
All of the sudden, the entire room was magically transformed, and Mickey and Minnie were suddenly sitting in theatre chairs, turned towards the door that somehow turned into a circus room. A spot light was shown, and Iago, dressed as a ringmaster, stood there, while behind the door, Ven, Lea, Isa, Terra, Aqua, Melody, Donald, Goofy, Mushu, Sebastian and Daisy watched on.
"Presenting the Baffling Genieoso!" Iago presented, gesturing at a bigger spotlight, which had Genie dressed up as a circus-moden day-magican.
"Behold! The ever amazing linking rings! One ring! Two rings! One more ring and we've got a circus." Genie presented, magically manifesting golden rings, while Iago, and Donald facepalmed in dismay at this preformance. This wasn't gonna work. "Three rings, quick. Answer it before they hang up! Four rings, five rings!"
He slid the rings from one arm to another before tossing them into the air...only for the rings to capture him accidently. Mickey and Minnie giggled once, which resulted in Minnie's vase to break and she quickly covered her mouth to stop herself and Mickey cleared his throat and pretended to not pay attention by whistle.
Seeing that this didn't work, Genie, annoyed, grumbled, "Okay, forget the rings." before freeing himself and tried another trick as a box magically appeared and fake woman in a red dress appeared. "Let's see some real fake magic!"
When the fake woman closed the box lid and trapping herself inside, Genie continued while pulling out a saw, "The eternally puzzling sawing a woman in half trick." then began to saw the box. This, the duo find terrifying and hugged each other, freaking out and Minnie hiding her face in Mickey's chest, while Mickey's eyes shut in fear.
The girls outside of the room gasped before looking away, while the boys hugged each other and shivered and shut their eyes, all of them shaking. When the sawing noise stopped, everyone risked to take a peek. The box was still closed. Genie then opened the box from sideways and cringed and grimiced in horror and disgust that this trick didn't work out the way he wanted. "Ew."
Quickly closing it before anyone else could see this failure, Genie chuckled nervously before erasing the box(and the fake woman) from existance with a giant pencil and rubber, saying, "No problem. Everything under control. Let's just pretend we didn't try that one, all right?"
Mickey and Minnie both shared a still slightly disturbed look about that trick. Judging from what happened, that had been a little too real. Good thing they didn't see what happened in the inside of it. That wasn't funny.
Genie cringed again, before trying another trick, "The always nominally interesting disappearing milk trick!" as he then poured a full jug of milk into a rolled up newspaper before unrolling it to demostrate this magic...only for the milk to fall out onto the floor. Cringing, he groaned in dismay.
Minnie giggled again, which made the room rumble a bit again before she quickly stopped herself and Mickey stopped himself from laugh as well, crining that he knew that their friends were trying to cheer them up, which wasn't working as trying to keep the spell a secret was getting harder and harder now. Instead, they shared a glance and he pretended to shrug and be clueless.
"You're too kind." Genie said, sarcastically. "Thank you."
"Maybe we should go somewhere else." Mickey whispered to Minnie who nodded.
Iago, begining to panick, announced while deciding that this act was over, "Uh, and now the amazing Ventus and his twirling flower books!"
His cue, Ven stepped in, juggling books of flowers, which were only two. Mickey and Minnie, wanting to laugh, instead struggled not to and looked away, twiddling their thumbs and pretending to not be interested, much to the shock of their friends.
Screaming, Iago flew up to Ven and muttered in a sing-song tone, "Ven, we're in trouble here."
"Oh! D'at does it! I won't stand for it!" Sebastian yelled out, storming into the room, with the others following him a moment or two later, causing Ven to yelp in surprise and fumble before losing his balance and accidently dropped the books, right into both Iago and Sebastian who layed nearly flat.
Melody couldn't help it despite that this was meant to be cheering Mickey and Minnie up. She laughed at what just happened, followed by Donald, Daisy, Lea, Aqua, Terra, Mushu, and even the sheepish Ven and smirking Isa and especially Goofy.
"See, c'mon!" Genie laughed.
Briefly forgetting it and feeling better, Mickey and Minnie couldn't help it and joined in the laughter while the annoyed Iago and laughing Sebastian, despite having been briefly squashed, pulled themselves free from the books. But as they laughed, the spell hit again and the Earthquake happened.
Far stronger now. It hit the entire City, causing everyone to run around screaming for shelter as the quake appeared without warning. Mickey and the others stopped laughing and were shocked at what was going on.
"Genie!" Ven cried out.
Genie nodded and quickly poofed himself and the group out of the room before it caved in.
The Earthquake was powerful, as buildings began to crumble all around the Academy as parts of the school itself was crumbling away and if it didn't stop soon, the entire city was gone. Everyone keep screaming and running fear while those who had to find shelter could only brace themselves and hope for the best, while Genie had teleported himself and the group to the fieldgrounds of the Academy. Finally, after several tensed minutes, it finally stopped.
Hearts pounding feverously, and with the duo now remembering too late, Minnie, with Mickey behind her, hurried over to see the damage and gasped in horror. Debries laid here and there, and many people, students, teachers and everyone else in the city were jittering and wondering how it happened. Ven and the others caught up with Mickey and Minnie, shocked and worried if there were any people injured.
"Whoa, seriously! Where the hell did that come from?" Reno asked as he, Rude, Zack and Cloud looked around, shocked.
"It just...came without warning." Cloud shook his head, dismayed. "We didn't even hear anything about this coming in the news."
"Or that being anywhere else, for that matter." Zack muttered in agreement.
"At this rate, one more quake, and the entire city's gonna really collaspe." Reno muttered, worriedly.
Minnie's heart ached. This was all her fault.
Seeing this, Mickey closed his eyes and made a decision. "Oh, that's settles it." He then took hold of Minnie's hands and pulled her up, leading her to a quieter area, "C'mon, Minnie."
"Mickey? Minnie? Where are you going?" Aqua asked, she and the others hurrying to catch up to the duo who paused.
"Well...we uh..." Mickey began, awkwardly.
"We just need to be alone..." Minnie finished.
"Yeah, just the two of us." Mickey quickly added.
"Can't you be alone with us?" Donald asked.
Mickey shook his head, "No. Minnie and I gotta go away. We have something very serious to think about."
"Okay, this whole being serious thing is getting too much. What's going on?" Terra demanded.
"Just trust us, okay?" Mickey pleaded, hurryingly leading Minnie out of the Academy and made sure the others didn't follow them and was relieved that Genie didn't stop them with his magic.
"No way...they're really going...without us." Ven whispered, shocked and dismayed.
"Well, we tried." Iago shrugged, beginning to walk off, only to be held back when Mushu grabbed him by the tail-feathers.
"I think we should follow them." Lea suggested, brows furrowing suspiciously. "There's somethin' they're not telling us."
"You're right. Let's go find out." Isa nodded in agreement.
With this in mind, the group, except for the annoyed Iago, all hurried to secretly follow Mickey and Minnie who, to their surprise, were leaving Radiant City behind, as, unknown to their friends right now, were heading to find the one who was the cause of the spell Minnie was now stuck with.
Going through the forests and fields outside of the city, Mickey had asked around for any signs of the Tarutaru while descripting what she looked like and he was met with negative answers. Still, he and Minnie kept looking, and Ven and the others still followed, wondering what Mickey was trying to describe.
Finally, finding a uncharted temple ruins and nervously venturing inside the place that no one has discovered, but found multiple giant carverns large enough to fit a giant, which most were all thankfully lit up by torches and the small residence inside didn't seem fazed about outsiders, Mickey and Minnie stood before a spirit of a giant wizard with long double white beard, floating and holding a wooden staff.
"Thy only Tarutaru thus seek is Black Mage Shantotto." The Spirit responded, and when Mickey and Minnie perked up hopefully, the Spirit instructed the two young students towards the pathway to their right, "Walk to thy top level and take thy left."
"Thank you, sir." Mickey replied, he and Minnie giving the ghost a farewell before heading towards the very direction.
Unaware that Ven and the others had heard everything that Spirit had said and now it made sense on why Mickey and Minnie hesitated on saying anything.
"Oh, man. This is more serious than ever, guys." Mushu shivered, terrified.
"Yeah." Ven nodded.
"Just one question." Lea spoke up, "Who's Shantotto?"
"I don't know." Genie shrugged.
"Me neither." Iago shook his head.
Mushu shuddered, explaining, "I've heard of her and her kind. Shantotto, the Black Mage, who can cast terrible magic spells on you and only she can break it."
"Sounds like the Blowfish under the sea." Sebastian groaned, before he and the others hurried to continue following Mickey and Minnie.
While Mickey and Minnie nervously looked around the place after arriving, they yelped in fright when they discovered a skeletion of a giant and the former gulped nervously while the latter muttered, "Oh my goodness." before they continued on searching for Shantotto.
Along the way, Ven and the others were still behind their two friends, and when they ventured to one tunnel to find them, Iago and Mushu accidently into another and were now, to their dismay, lost.
"Oh, that's just great. Now we're stuck together and there are black mages all over the place." Mushu groaned.
"I'm more worried about the Black Mage part then the stuck together part." Iago admitted as he flew while Mushu walked.
"That's the part you should be worried about, man. Because you never knew where or when they'd cast a spell on you." Mushu pointed out as they walked through the doorway of another tunnel.
Unaware that they were being watched to two other Tarutaru; one was a male with dark skin and white mustche, blue robe and black staff. His companion, another female, had pale skin, black hair, red robe and brown staff.
"Ohohohoho! New commers. Well, well, well." The male, calling himself Teledji, chuckled evilly, gazing down at the small dragon and parrot.
"I was thinking of what would happen if you turn a dragon into a bear. Hahahaha!" The female, calling herself Adeledji, thought evilly with a smirk.
Teledji, liking the idea, waved his staff as blue mist formed before it spread around Mushu and magically turned him into a large red furry bear, walking behind Iago who was still unaware but suddenly felt the feathers on the back of his neck prickle, sensing that something wasn't right.
"What kind of magic do they use?" Iago squeaked.
"Scary ones." Mushu answered, feeling the difference and stopped short and gulped as he realised that he'd been changed, and not for the good.
Iago slowly turned around and screamed as he saw what happened to his friend. "AAAHH! You're weren't kidding, pal! You're not gonna eat me, are ya?"
The second he said this, Adeledji had her turn and magically turned Iago into an large red Ogre, much to Mushu's horrror.
"AAAH! Not if you don't eat me!" Mushu responded, only to suddenly feelt himself get more strange and grow bigger...into a troll, which made Iago scream again. "What am I now?" The former dragon asked, before shaking his head and quickly said, "Ah! No, don't tell me!"
Unaware to the two of them, the two Tarutarus laughed evilly, enjoying themselves before Teledji decided to take the next step and casted the spell on Iago again, this time turning him into...a giant with a large nose that resembled to his beak, in medieval clothes and almost reaching the ceiling of the carven.
"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Mushu screamed hysterically, quivering like mad in horror.
"What? What're you looking at me like that?" Iago asked, dumbfounded and wondering why Mushu looked smaller this time, though he was half aware that he felt strange...again.
Mushu cringed, muttering, "Man, you really don't wanna know."
The two Tarutarus laughed even harder at the scene before them, before deciding to make things much more interesting for them and devastating for their victums. Together they casted and combined their magic onto both Mushu and Iago who closed their eyes shut and braced themselves.
"What are we now? I'm too scared to look." Iago whimpered, covering his eyes.
As the two friends did, hesitatedly, to their relief, not only they were back to their original size, but they seemed to have returned to normal.
"I think we're okay." Mushu muttered, as he and Iago sighed in relief. Deciding that they needed to find their friends, the two continued onward...only for Iago to be asking, in Mushu's voice, "So, uh, how do you feel?"
"Well, my arms are ichy..." Mushu replied, in Iago's voice. Gulping in shock and realization, he looked at his hands, eyes widening in horror as he repeated, "ARMS!?"
It became clear to both of them as they screamed in horror and dismay. They had swapped bodies!
"Iago? Mushu?" Ven's voice called out, as he and everyone else, finally having noticed the two said friends were absent, finally caught up with them from another tunnel, with the teenager asking, "What's wrong!?"
"We've been swapped!" Mushu replied, while stuck in Iago's body.
"...Mushu?" Terra asked, dumbfounded at the sudden voice swap.
"Yeah, it's him...in MY body!" Iago grunted to get to the point, while stuck in Mushu's body.
Aqua blinked, shocked, "Iago?"
"Uh...okay, so they ended up swapping bodies...how?" Lea asked, shocked and slightly terrified.
Genie shook his head, saying, "Oooh! It's the Tarutarus! There's more than just one!"
"What're we gonna do?" Goofy asked, worriedly. "How can we turn them back to normal?"
"I can turn them back to normal in a jiffy!" Genie suggested, only for Iago to leap up and shut the magical being's mouth shut.
"Oh no! There is no way you're gonna be doin' that, pal!" Iago grunted, pointing out, "The last time you did that, Al' and Jafar Jr ended up having a worse crisis! I don't wanna end up sharing a body with dragon-boy! It's bad enough that I'm stuck in his body!"
"Okay, okay. Calm down, everybody." Daisy spoke up, getting everyone's attentions. "The best thing to do in this situation is to stay cool, calm and collective and not panic."
"She's right. If so, the only way to reverse this is...ask a Tarutaru." Melody shrugged in agreement.
An awkward silence.
"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Iago and Mushu screamed hysterically, causing their friends to wince while covering their ears at the scream, while the two Tarutarus laughed hysterically in glee at the scene before them.
Deeper in the temple, Shantotto walked on her own, still glum. Her usual stroll was rudely interrupted when she was slightly surprised but very annoyed to see the two mice lovers she met back in Radiant City a week earlier; the girl named Minnie whom she casted the spell on, and the boy named Mickey. The two students seemed annoyed and livid.
"Aha! There you are!" Mickey declared, glaring at Shantotto who shook her head.
"Hmph!" Shantotto pouted, before turning as she responded a farewell, "Go away, and good day, I say."
"Nuh-uh! I'm not leaving until you take your stupid spell off of my Minnie!" Mickey argued, stubbornly.
"And I am not leaving until you do so either!" Minnie added, angrily.
"So you can laugh and giggle again? I would rather not." Shantotto shook her head.
The two teenage mice still followed the Tarutaru while Mickey sighed, "Look. Are you gonna help us or not?"
"Why would I do it? And if not, what are you going to do about it?" Shantotto questione challengingly.
Before Mickey could answer, Minnie told the Tarutaru, getting upset, "I can't laugh, I can't have fun, I can't do anything! You ruined my life! And there's only one thing do to about it."
Mickey gulped, realising what his girlfriend, who can sometimes be scary and this was definitely one of those times, had in mind, as he muttered scaredly, "Uh, oh."
A moment of pause.
"Laugh about it." Minnie finished, and before Mickey or Shantotto stop her, she began laughing...evilly and on purpose. This once again caused the Earthquake to trigger and the entire temple began shaking.
"H-help! Help!" Adeledji cried out, terrified as the Earthquake threatened to destroy the temple.
"Grab onto some grass!" Teledji hurriedly told his companion as he had done so already, which she responded by grabbing onto the grass on the ground that grew through the concrete floor.
Ven and the others held onto each other while hoping that no falling rocks would fall on top of them.
Falling rocks began to fall from the ceiling and Mickey hurriedly grabbed both Minnie and Shantotto before the trio ran to a safer part of the temple, and sighed in relief that the Earthquake finally stopped and they sighed in relief.
After a moment of pause...
"So, wanna have her laugh again?" Mickey asked to Shantotto, glaring. "That spell just ain't funny anymore."
"Ugh, alright, alright. Okay. I shall take the spell away." Shantotto groaned in defeat, before waving her staff and the white mist formed around Minnie, returning the latter to normal while the former grumbled, "Numbered of twice, being ordered by mice."
"Well, thank you very much." Minnie sighed in relief, before asking curiously, "But, why don't you like laughter?"
"Oh, it's other two Tarutarus, bullies, you might say, I have been always been told to do their way." Shantotto sighed, becoming depressed. "My magic is weaker out of three, and they make a fool out of me."
Mickey and Minnie shared a concerned and now sympathetic glance before turning back to the grumpy and sad Tarutaru. No wonder Shantotto didn't like laughter...because she didn't like being laughed at and this what has been happening to her, because of two other Tarutaru.
"Gosh...you mean you've been picked on because of magic?" Mickey asked, gently.
"They take a pleasure out of that. At this point, I may as well become a cat." Shantotto sighed.
"Oh, Shantotto, you poor thing." Minnie sighed.
"Aw, I wish I could help." Mickey sighed, giving Shantotto a comforting pat on the back.
"Mickey! Minnie!" All of the sudden, Goofy's voice called out, startling the trio.
Mickey, Minnie and Shantotto gazed up and were shocked to see Ven, Terra, Aqua, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Sebastian, Melody, Mushu and Iago heading straight towards them, and Genie seemed absent.
"Fellas? You followed us!?" Mickey exclaimed, shocked.
"Yes! And two Tarutarus switched them around!" Sebastian panted, while gesturing at Mushu and Iago who both nodded.
"You don't even the half of it!" Iago, in Mushu's body, exclaimed. "They attacked us without warning! First, Dragon-boy turned into a bear, then I turned into an Ogre, then he turned into a troll...and I turned into a giant, and then, EACH OTHER!" by this time, he was becoming hysterical.
Mushu, in Iago's body, rolled his eyes as he pointed out, "No, I'm a stupid parrot. And he...well...he's a guardian miniture dragon."
"And Genie's now fighting against the two Tarutarus, but we're not sure how much longer he'll take against them, since their power seems stronger than his!" Melody added, worriedly.
"That's terrible!" Mickey exclaimed, and Minnie didn't disagree.
Mushu nodded, before complaining, "Worse part is...my beak itches, and these wings aren't sharp enough to scratch them!"
Iago in response used his new nails to scratch the beak, and Mushu moaned in delight, before the latter thanked, "Thanks, man."
"So...this is Shantotto, right?" Ven asked, gazing at Shantotto.
"Indeed, and you are in need?" Shantotto replied.
"I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven."
Minnie, thinking about the situation, then had an idea and asked kindly to Shantotto, "Shantotto, if you don't mind, could you please use your magic to turn Iago and Mushu back to normal?"
"While it's not against the rule, you know my magic may as well drool." Shantotto shook her head.
"Well, it never hurts to give it a try." Mickey pointed out with a shrug.
"To tell...Oh, very well." Shantotto sighed in defeat, before waving her staff and the white mist covered Iago and Mushu who both shut their eyes while everyone else stepped back slightly.
When the two opened them again, confused, Mushu asked...in his own body, "Are you...you?"
Iago, realising that he was gazing at Mushu who was back as a dragon and not himself, smiled in relief.
Realising the same thing, Mushu realised happily, "Then I'm me again!"
"YES!" Iago cheered happily, as he and Mushu held each other's hands and spun around cheering.
"I'm so happy I'm not a parrot!" Mushu laughed.
"Me too, pal!" Iago laughed.
"Glad they're back to normal." Isa smirked.
Lea chuckled while placing his hands behind his head, "You got that right! It was totally weird to see them in each other's bodies. Just wish those two other Tarutaru could swap their own bodies with each other so they'd see what it's like and they'd get a taste of their own medicine."
"A young man who wishes for the impossible? I must admit, I find that tolorable." Shantotto thought at what the redhead just said.
"Aw, cheer up. Why are ya' such a grouch?" Mickey asked, smiling.
"I get almost really mad, when they act all really glad."
"Speaking of which..." Ven muttered, having heard as he and the others turned to both Mickey and Minnie, including Iago and Mushu who stopped cheering. To their surprise, Mickey and Minnie both laughed hysterically...and no Earthquakes happened. Their expressions turned to surprise, or in Donald's case, annoyance.
"Hey, what's so funny!? Not that I'm not glad you're back to normal, Minnie." Donald demanded.
"You just made funny faces." Minnie giggled.
The group shared glances and when they realised each other's expressions, they all joined in the laughter.
"But it's great to laugh." Minnie added, as Mickey hugged her happily.
"We're all glad you're okay too." Aqua said, happily as she and the rest of the group hugged the teenage mice.
"But we gotta get back to Genie and get outta here and fast." Daisy pointed out.
"There's a problem with that, my dear." Shantotto pointed out, shrugging, and she actually sounded sad. "Only a Tarutaru to stop other Tarutaru to get you out of here."
"And if not?" Terra asked, skeptically.
"I don't make the rules, but with penalties intertwine, punishment for prisoners is eternal prison in the book mines." Shantotto sighed.
"Book-book mines?" Ven, Lea, Isa, Sebastian, Iago, Mushu, Donald and Goofy asked, hesitatedly.
"Well...you're a Tarutaru, aren't you?" Melody pointed out. "Maybe you can stop them."
"Trust me and my magic? How tragic." Shantotto groaned.
"But you're good! Okay, so what you did to Minnie wasn't nice, but it still worked. And you even turned Iago and Mushu back to normal, didn't you?" Ven pointed out.
"It was only luck, but my powers is as weak as a duck." Shantotto grumbled.
"Hey!" Donald grunted, feeling insulted only to be held back by Daisy.
"Okay, Genie's out there battling two Tarutarus who seem to like messing with everybody, and we get stuck with a Tarutaru who is such a sourpuss who whines a lot!" Iago groaned.
Isa rolled his eyes while pointing out to the bird, "Look who's talking."
Mickey, hearing this infold, suddenly realised something and turned to Shantotto and said, "I think I know what the problem is. From what I'm understandin', those two bullies like to mess with people and laugh alot. Laughtering and having fun is what makes everybody look on the bright side. Maybe that's why the other Tarutarus are really powerful. They enjoy using their magic!"
Everyone shared a surprised glance, while Shantotto, surprised as well, inquired in realization, "You mean, if I was happier, my magic will be zappier?"
Meanwhile, Genie, who had told his friends to go find Mickey and Minnie and have Shantotto to reverse the spell on Iago and Mushu, was still fighting Adeledji and Teledji who were grinning evilly as they seem to be over-powering Genie.
Finally, Genie was thrown back and crashed into the wall, crumbling into pieces, with his head still together as he glared at the two mean Tarutarus, "That's it! No more Mister Nice Genie!"
"Try to defeat us, if you like." Teledji cackled, aiming his wand at Genie. "Or you could surrender and take a hike."
Just then, the temple shook and the two Tarutarus nearly lost their balance and turned to see what was going on when the shaking stopped. Their eyes widened in horror as they and Genie gasped at the sight before them.
"What's that shake?" Teledji gasped.
"It's a Temple Snake!" Adeledji gasped, as a giant green snake slithered towards them.
"We're in for it! Run for it!" Teledji cried out, as he and his companion ran away while Genie, gulping and worried for his friends, pulled himself together and turned into a small lizard before hiding behind a rock.
To his confusion and relief, the snake payed him no mind, and instead forcused on the two Tarutarus who then stopped when they remembered their magic and turned to face the giant Snake who stood towering over them, roaring.
"Wait a moment, we're not in trouble. We have our magic to turn this snake into a tiny worm!" Adeledji pointed out.
The two Tarutarus then focused and used their magical powers to try and turn the snake into a worm. To their shock, as they attempted to try it again the second time before becoming exhausted and their magical core thinning, the snake remained the same and roared.
Realising that their magic was limited, both of them decided that there was only one thing left to do.
Adeledji then said, "Well, this is no fun. It's time to run." and run is what she and Teledji did, running away into the deepest parts of the temple.
Once they were gone, the snake began laughing hysterically until mist covered it's body, revealing, to Genie's confusion and surprise, Shantotto who was laughing hysterically. Holding her up were Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Melody, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Lea, Isa, Donald, Goofy, Iago, Mushu and Serbastian.
"Hahahahaha! I have never seen anyone run and twirl, since I was a Tarutaru little girl!" Shantotto laughed.
"Aw, I told ya it would work!" Mickey laughed.
"Ha ha! Did you see them run like that!?" Lea laughed, hysterically as he and everyone else untowered each other and stood on the ground, laughing, except for Genie who was both relieved and confused at what just happened until he realised how it happened. Especially since both Iago and Mushu were back to normal, and so was Minnie.
"Doesn't it feel good to laugh?" Minnie asked, as she and everyone else calmed down.
"I admit, absolutely." Shantotto smiled, before apologising, "Sorry I was grouchy."
"Ah, everybody can be in a bad mood and feel down, but laughter is the key of getting better." Lea smirked.
"He's right." Ven chuckled. "And if you need to get better, you know where to find us, if you like."
Shantotto smiled, "Me, becoming your friend? Now that I do not wish to end."
"I like her already." Genie muttered to the group.
So with Minnie, and of course Iago and Mushu back to normal, and the group's new friend Shantotto in a much better mood, she decided to remain in the temple for a little while longer before she would go out and explore the world, promising to visit Ven and the others at Radiant Academy soon, while the said group returned home and Genie and Shantotto restored Radiant City back to normal and fixed up.
Even so, they knew that more adventures, even if they didn't know what they would be, would be approaching them again in the near future.
To be Continued...
A/N: Shantotto, from Final Fantasy XI, I have to admit isn't too bad once you try and get to know her. I know that I made her a bit Oc, but I tried my best. In the meantime, see you in the next future chapter!