Chapter 9: Night on Bald Mountain
The four arrived at the gates to Disney Town. They dismounted the horse.
Where there was screaming.
The citizens were running around everywhere. Skeletons, goblins, demons, witches, imps, and any and all other types of monsters Chernabog had conjured up were everywhere in town, causing mischief and destruction.
They pushed the gates open. When they did, the fell off of the walls and took out some booths.
"We have to hurry to the castle," Mickey cried. The four jumped back onto the horse and rode down the street.
As they past by the monsters, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Prince Phillip fought them of as best they could.
So many familiar faces. So many of Mickey Mouse's friends.
All of them suffering.
Clarabelle Cow ran past them, being chased by a goblin. Prince Phillip managed slice it's head off.
Scrooge McDuck was cornered, protecting Huey, Dewey, and Louie from a skeleton. Donald swiped his sword, and the skeleton fell apart. His nephews cheered and began kicking and smashing his bones, laughing.
Max was fighting a demon off with his skateboard. Goofy managed to shoot it through the head.
"Gotcha covered, son!" he shouted.
Chip and Dale were being chased by an imp. Mickey was able to shoot it with a fireball.
"Thanks, Mickey!" Chip and Dale shouted at the same time.
They rode to the gates of the castle and knocked on it three times with the handle. Golden sparkles flew out of it, and the doors opened. Off in the distance, they could see all of their friends gathered around.
"Look!" Minnie cheered. "Here comes Mickey!"
They rode over and dismounted the horse. Daisy stomped over and slapped both Donald and Goofy with one swing.
"How dare you!" she screamed. "You were supposed to run the kingdom. And what did you do instead? Oh, I don't know, maybe sneak off and steal weapons from the magical armoury!"
"Daisy, now is not the time for that," Yen Sid assured her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and stomped away.
"Yen Sid!" Mickey cheered, giving him a hug. "You're okay!"
Yen Sid smiled and briefly wrapped an arm around him. Mickey let go, quickly noticing that his wound was gone.
"Yes," he said, reading his expression. "Because you brought the heroes. The more souls that arrived at the castle, the more darkness that left my body. And now that they are all here, we can create the portal to Bald Mountain."
Behind him, Ariel, Simba, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Hercules, and Prince Ferdinand all stood in a group behind him. Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto stood off to the side.
"Come, all worthy heroes!" Yen Sid began, raising his arms into the air. "Gather around. Form a circle around me."
The seven obeyed him.
"Mickey," he said. "Give me my hat."
He stepped into the circle, handed over the hat, and went back over to Donald and Goofy.
Yen Sid placed the hat on his head and waved his fingers around. Everyone watched in curiosity.
Suddenly, sparkles poured out of his hands and fell onto the ground. Rather than disappearing like they did with the door, they instead spread out. They circled around him, growing brighter, until there was a glowing circle on the ground, with the heroes standing around the edges of it.
Yen Sid walked over to Mickey and placed the hat back on his head.
"Are you ready, my boy?"
Mickey looked back at Donald and Goofy. They nodded. He looked up at his former master and nodded as well.
"Good," he said. "Now you may go and fight Chernab"—
An explosion came from the portal, knocking everyone back. When the smoke cleared, Chernabog himself emerged.
He laughed, looking down at the different people and animals.
"Why, thank you," he said to Yen Sid. "As you can see, I could only send my minions into this universe. But thanks to that portal of yours, I myself can now join the battle."
He looked down at Mickey Mouse.
"You have gone around to the other worlds, collected the heroes, and blah blah blah. But you see, during this time, I have grown stronger myself. So now I can do this!"
He made two fists and smashed them into the ground. However, Hercules was able to stop him and throw them away, but not very far or high.
"Impressive," he said.
"I won't let you hurt these people!" he shouted up to him.
"And neither will I!" Simba added.
Everyone else looked up at him. Chernabog laughed again.
"You all are too cute," he said. "I really don't think any of you understand. Weren't you listening to Pete? You can't stop me! I am invincible!"
He smacked Hercules into the wall with Aladdin and Prince Ferdinand with one hand, and hit Simba, Peter Pan, and Prince Phillip with the other. He stared down at Ariel, who was standing with Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto.
He went to grab them, but Mickey jumped in front of the four and started shooting of lightning bolt at Chernabog's hand. The two were pushing against each other, until Mickey succeeded and skimmed the demon's face.
He growled down at them, but then smiled. He turned to face the town, and let out a massive wave of energy, destroying all buildings in his way. All of the citizens were sent flying as well.
His minions laughed at his power. They continued to run around and cause torture.
Mickey's soldiers ran out of the castle and charged at the monster. They started attacking at his feet. He looked down at them and started to blow them away, including the other heroes.
The soldiers did not give up. They continued to fight the beast. Peter Pan even flew up to slice at the side of his face. He was then swatted away by the monster, as if he was nothing.
Mickey fired more magic at Chernabog. He fired a lightning bolt down at him, knocking him, Donald, Goofy, and Yen Sid in opposite directions.
They got back up. "Go!" Yen Sid shouted to the seven gathered heroes. "You must help the city!"
Without a second thought, they all hurried into the town. Along the way, Aladdin and Ariel had grabbed swords from fallen soldiers.
Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto ran over to the castle's walls, hoping to be unnoticed while still watching.
Donald joined the soldiers as they went in for another attack. Yen Sid stood behind Mickey and Goofy as they shot fireballs and arrows respectively.
Chernabog leaned down and attacked them all in one swing. This time the soldiers were not getting up. Goofy and Daisy ran over to check on Donald.
Chernabog smiled, looking down at the three of them.
"Bad spot to do that," he said raising his fist into the air. This time, Hercules wasn't here to save them.
But Mickey Mouse was.
He had run over and fired another laser, doing the same thing as they went through before.
"Run!" he shouted while he was doing it. Daisy and Goofy helped Donald up and walked him over to Yen Sid.
This time, Mickey didn't win. Chernabog crushed him into the ground. When he removed his fist, Mickey had to climb out of the ground.
"Enough!" he declared. "You cannot defeat me. I will always win."
He looked down at Minnie Mouse and a wicked smile spread across his face. He went down to grab her, and Pluto ran away. She went to follow him, but wasn't fast enough.
"Minnie!" Mickey shouted.
"Mickey!" Minnie shouted back.
Chernabog laughed again. "If you want your precious friend to stay alive, mouse," he began. "Then you are to come to Bald Mountain. You will come alone."
He climbed back into the mountain.
"Minnie!" Mickey cried.
The mouse looked up at the old wizard.
"What do we do?"
They looked around at the others, who were slowly getting back up.
"You must go," he answered.
Mickey knew that that was what the answer was going to be, although he didn't like it.
"Chernabog is more powerful than any of us can possibly imagine," he explained to them all. "I would highly recommend that you go alone. However, if you are not back in five minutes, I will send Donald and Goofy down after you."
"What!?" they both cried.
"We can only defeat him in the spirit realm. If we were to defeat him here, he would simply return back to his home and come back again."
"What about you?" he asked.
"I will stay behind to fight," he said. "The heroes you have gathered, as well as your soldiers, will stay here to protect the kingdom. It's already in danger as it is. You must quickly go!"
Mickey took a deep breath, gave his favourite pup a tight hug, and jumped down into the portal.
The mountain was a very dark place. It was incredibly big, enough for more than one Chernabog to sit upon.
Chernabog himself sat at the peak with his arms folded. He spread out his wings, looked down at the mouse, and silently zapped two lightning bolts from his hands down at Mickey. He attempted to deflect it, but was knocked back due to the incredible power.
Getting up, he spotted a cage next to Chernabog, with Minnie Mouse inside. Mickey used his magic to give himself a red robe with a brown rope tied around his waist, as well as a pair of blue shorts. Dodging more attacks, he began sprinting up the mountain.
Chernabog raised his arms into the air. Many ghosts and skeletons climbed out of the ground, blocking Mickey's path.
"Destroy him!" he screamed, his voice sounding incredibly more demonic.
They all charged at him, but he sent a wave of energy at them all, making the skeletons fall apart and the spirits slightly disappear. They came back and charged at him again.
Mickey created a giant ball of magic and threw it at them, taking them all out. He continued running towards Chernabog.
"Everyone!" he shouted. "Don't stop!"
More and more monsters started coming out of every crack and corner of the mountain, fighting Mickey. He did not stop fighting or defeating them, however there were many.
A demon managed to slash at his face, leaving clash marks behind and knocking him to the ground. He was getting surrounded by more and more monsters. He let out another wave of energy, but as quickly as he let it off, more monsters were there to take the originals' places.
He jumped up and fired a lightning bolt into the air. The lightning bolt was stopped by a cloud that he soon also created, which made hundreds of tiny lightning bolts reflect off and burn all of the monsters. He ran towards Chernabog again.
"No one can do anything!" he screamed, grabbing a boulder half the size of his castle. He hurled it down at the mouse.
"Mickey!" Minnie cried.
Mickey dived and slid on the ground, the rock skimming his hat and crashing into the mountain. This caused an avalanche, making more rocks start rolling down towards Mickey. He leapt high into the air and created a cloud beneath him and started flying towards the beast.
He growled in anger, grabbing another large boulder on his opposite side. He chucked it down at the mouse. He moved the cloud down as quickly as he could, accidentally allowing the rock to cut his arm.
Nonetheless, he continued towards him. Chernabog roared in anger, going for another boulder but finding none. He roared again and sunk his claws into the mountain, creating a rock and throwing it down again.
Mickey flew the cloud above the rock, dodging it. The rock crashed into the mountain and made more start rolling down the path, underneath Mickey. He flew his cloud a tiny bit higher just in case.
Once he started getting close, Chernabog started flapping his wings over and over again. This made his cloud disappear and his hat fly away. He started plummeting towards the rolling rocks beneath him.
He managed to land on a rolling rock on his feet. He started running on top of the rock, losing his balance a few times. He leapt up, caught his hat, placed it on his head, and created a rainbow bridge beneath him leading to the top of the mountain. He started sprinting as fast as he could towards Chernabog.
Angry, he threw his fists down on the rainbow, barely leaving a dent. It didn't even send a shock wave towards the mouse. He threw his fists down again, doing nothing. After a third time, he left a tiny crack.
He kept doing it over and over again, trading hands after each punch. Mickey ran and ran before the rainbow would be destroyed.
After one final punch, it shattered.
Mickey leapt across the gap, and managed to grab the edge.
He pulled himself up and immediately dodged another punch from Chernabog. He rolled over and jumped to his feet.
"So I see you've made it," he said to him. "Mickey Mouse."
"Chernabog," Mickey began. "You can't do this. This universe is a home to me and my friends, and thousands, maybe even millions, of innocent creatures. If you do this"—
"Then everything will be fair," he finished.
Mickey stopped. "What?"
"Yen Sid is the creator of all worlds," he explained. "Including this one. He creates me with a mind of destruction, and hides me away into this dark spirit realm. Do I not get to live with your and your peace? Yen Sid made me a monster people fear! He made me trapped in this world to live with myself for all eternity!"
The three stood in silence, unsure of what to say.
"So you have a soft side too, I guess," Mickey finally said.
He growled. "Soft? Soft!? If you're looking for soft, mouse, then you better look again!"
He fired his fist down at Mickey, until something big slammed into his side. He was sent across the mountain, almost to the edge but not quite.
When he looked up to see who had saved him, it was Pete.
Chernabog was moving to fast to stop himself. Pete took the hit for Mickey.
"Pete!" he screamed. "I thought I killed you!"
"Well, technically you didn't," he corrected him, weak from the blow. "And whaddya think mountains are there for? To climb!"
"So you didn't hit the bottom after all," he realized. "Well then, let's try again!"
He bent down to grab Pete, but his hand was blasted away by Mickey Mouse.
"We will defeat you, Chernabog!" he shouted, walking over to Pete. "You won't destroy our homes!"
He roared extra loudly, his voice bouncing off of the wall and causing another avalanche below. He fired his fist down, but Mickey began blasting it away again for a third epic shot.
They pushed towards each other, Minnie and Pete watching in astonishment. But Chernabog had been pushed to his limit, and he crushed Mickey Mouse again.
"Mickey!" Minnie cried from her cage above.
Pete helped the mouse up. "Come on, mouse," he said. "Er, King Mouse. Keep going! You can do it!"
Pete grabbed the hat and placed it back on his friend's head. Mickey cracked his back and held his fists up at Chernabog.
"Do you really want to keep going?" he asked.
"I'll never stop until you're defeated," Mickey told him.
"And neither will I!" Pete added, getting his friend's back.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" screamed two voices from behind.
When they turned around, Donald and Goofy were sprinting up the pathway and towards Chernabog. Donald started attacking his feet, and Goofy started shooting at his chest. Chernabog simply rolled his eyes and swatted them over the edge.
"No!" Mickey cried, running over.
The monster swung another punch, but Mickey dived down and slid right to the edge. He watched his two friends fall to their deaths.
He didn't move. He couldn't move.
He jumped.
"Mickey!" Pete cried as he fell and fell.
After a few seconds, Mickey started to become dizzy. A whole variety of bright colours blasted around him, until everything was halted by a bright white light.
Mickey grew a pounding headache until he passed out.