Aurora was a very emotional person, but from their experience with her, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather never would've pegged her as the kind of person to dwell on a certain subject, at least not for a long time.
What should've been a happy moment for the gang, having now gotten four of the eleven scepters, turned out to be rather depressing.
A distraught Aurora lay in bed in the cabin of the ship. She had been there for the past five days; barely eaten or drank.
The good fairies as well as the other princesses were really worried as the fairies look through the window and saw that Aurora hadn't budged an inch.
Jasmine talked to Flora as she flew over to her. "Anything?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not," said Flora.
"Oh dear," said Snow White. "What are we going to do?"
"She's been like this ever since we left Kettlepot," said Rapunzel.
"It's all my fault," said Belle.
"No it's not, Belle," said Tiana.
"Yes it is," Belle retorted. "She's like this because she was trying to help me. She must feel so bad. I've got to go talk to her."
But as Belle started to make her way to the cabin, she was stopped by Rapunzel.
"No, Belle, wait," Rapunzel said. "Just give her some time alone."
"She's had five days alone!" said Merida. "She can't stay like this forever!"
"Please understand, Merida. The poor dear feels awful about was happened on Kettlepot and we need to give her time to feel better," said Fauna.
"Fauna is right," said Snow White. "We should give Aurora her privacy."
As the fairies and the other princesses pondered over what do about Aurora, Feemer suddenly began to glow again.
"Good news, ladies, we're approaching the next scepter! Let us approach it with vigor!" Feemer exclaimed.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much vigor to be had with the gang, much to Feemer's aggravation. He understood that the girls were worried about their friend, but he also knew the important mission at hand. And they couldn't let their personal feelings get in the way of that. But as he was about to basically chew the girls out, Pocahontas, brought all of their attention to the ocean.
"What is it, Pocahontas?" asked Flora.
"I see something...something...moving...in the ocean," Pocahontas said from the crow's nest.
She couldn't completely tell what it was, but from where she was standing, it appeared to be some giant creature. Merida and Rapunzel barely caught a glimpse of what looked like the tail before it moved under the ship. Then, the ship itself began to tilt back and forth. Then, Snow White trembled as a growl was heard.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Tiana.
Realizing the situation, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather rushed into the cabin to get Aurora. At first, she didn't want to get up, but they informed her that some kind of creature was near the ship and she had to get up. Eventually, she did so and the four came out of the cabin.
"What's going on?" Aurora asked weakly.
"I saw something in the ocean," said Pocahontas.
"And it is big!" said Feemer.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the creature emerged from the ocean in front of the ship, revealing itself to be Ursula's monster. It had finally found them. It let out a ferocious roar that almost knocked Pocahontas out of the crow's nest.
"What it that thing?!" said Tiana.
"It's the Lochness Monster!" shouted Merida.
"OK, first of all, there's no such thing, and second, what would the Lochness Monster be doing here?! This is Alatar, not Scotland!" said Tiana.
"Sorry to break up this riveting debate, but can we please focus on the giant menacing creature with the 200 rows of sharp teeth?!" said Feemer.
"Don't worry, I can take this beast!" Merida said, pulling out her sword.
Belle quickly ran to the bottom of the ship and pulled a level that she and Ibby had installed, causing a giant propeller to emerge and spin rapidly, making the ship go fast and evading the monster. But the monster was not far behind, it easily kept up with them as if they were moving like snails. As it got closer, it spun its tail and nearly hit the boat.
"We've gotta lose that thing!" said Tiana.
"Well, Ariel, you live in the sea, try talking to it!" said Rapunzel.
"I can barely talk to Sebastian! I can't reason with a monster like that!" said Ariel.
The said monster formed a tidal wave, attempting to knock the boat off balance, but Mulan, who was steering the boat, was able to keep the boat steady. Meanwhile, Pocahontas did her best to keep the sails up. Luckily, thanks to the enhancement from the Mecha Orb, it wasn't so hard. Also, thanks to the orb, the monster had a hard time breaking through the hull of the ship. But it wasn't giving up as it entrapped the ship in a whirlpool. This caused Mulan to lose her grip on the steering wheel. It looked like the gang was going to drown, but then the good fairies used their wands to make the whirlpool disappear. But they weren't out of trouble yet as the monster surprised them and grabbed onto the ship with its teeth.
"Taste my sword, you Lochness Monster!" Merida said as she charged in with her sword.
"It's not the Lochness Monster!" said Tiana.
Merida swung away at the monster's head, but unfortunately, it had no effect. Seeing this, the good fairies powered up her sword and this time, it was more effective, causing the monster to drop the ship and Mulan soon regained control. The monster then swung at the ship with its tail, but Merida used her sword to hold it back. As it went for a another swipe, Merida ducked it, but it managed to hit Snow White, causing her to hit one of the masts hard, rendering her motionless.
"Snow White!" shouted Cinderella.
Mulan decided to join in the fight. "Tiana! Quick! Take the wheel!" she said.
As Mulan stood by Merida, the beast attempted to chomp away at the two while Belle and Cinderella took Snow White into the cabin.
"Listen, the monster is magic!" Flora said as she powered up Mulan's sword.
"Well if it's magic, maybe we can use the scepters to take care of it," suggested Merida.
"The scepters only work if all eleven are together," said Merryweather.
"Then how are we supposed to beat this thing?!" said Mulan.
It was then that the good fairies got an idea. It was a bit risky, but they would need Merida and Mulan to keep the monster distracted for the plan to work. The plan was for them to use the same sleeping spell they had used on the Enchanted Dominion when Aurora fell asleep.
The fairies would need time to gather enough magic to use the spell for a monster this size, so with that, Merida and Mulan kept the monster at bay while they concentrated their magic into a ball.
As the monster went for Mulan, she got it with a kick to the face while Merida swiped at it with her sword as the magical ball of energy grew larger.
"Not to pry or anything, but a sleeping spell would be good right about now," said Mulan.
"We're almost done," said Merryweather.
"OK, don't mind us," said Mulan.
"Thank you, dearie," said Fauna.
Meanwhile, in the cabin, Cinderella and Belle placed Snow White in her bed as she winced in pain. They noticed her holding her abdomen and decided to check it.
"Hold still, Snow White," said Belle as she moved Snow White's arms.
To the shock of Belle and Cinderella, Snow White had a series of scratch marks across her body. They figured they must've come from the monster.
Finally, the three fairies had managed to finish the spell and urged Merida and Mulan to get out of the way. Carrying the energy, they flew up to the monster and threw the spell directly at its face, causing the monster to fall into a deep sleep.
"Goodnight, sweet prince!" said Merryweather. "I've always wanted to say that."
Flora and Fauna just rolled their eyes, while Feemer sighed in annoyance.
Mulan, Merida, Tiana, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Rapunzel ran up to the fairies to congratulate them. Aurora looked on, happy for the fairies, but disappointed in herself for yet again failing to do anything.
Just then, Cinderella and Belle called in the rest of the gang to the cabin.
Snow White's injury was more serious than anyone could've imagined. Belle and Cinderella had tried most of the first aid supplies, but none of them had worked. Upon analyzing the injury, Flora came to the realization that it since it had been caused by a magical creature, regular healing properties couldn't heal her.
"Well can't you use your magic to heal her?" asked Tiana.
"I'm afraid not. Our magic is powerful, but we're incapable of healing injuries like this," said Flora.
"Wait! What if we use Rapunzel's healing magic?" Ariel suggested.
The other princesses nodded in agreement and turned to Rapunzel who looked at them wearily.
"I can't do it," Rapunzel said.
"Why can't you?" asked Flora.
"Well I forgot to tell you guys this back at the palace, but, when the magic from my tears brought Eugene back to life, they were able to grow my hair back, but not my powers," said Rapunzel.
The gang sighed in frustration. With their only options gone, they knew they had to find someway to heal Snow White, but what possible resource could heal an injury like this.
Feemer then suggested that maybe they could find something for Snow White at the island where the next scepter was located.
"We don't have time for that, Feemer! We need to help Snow!" said Tiana.
"Listen, I understand how you all feel, and believe me, I want Snow White healed as much as you, but remember our mission," said Feemer.
"Well our mission is not any good without Snowy!" said Merida.
Reluctantly, Flora agreed with what Feemer said. She figured that maybe once they got back to the Magic Kingdom, they could find a way to heal Snow White there, but for right now, they needed to focus on their current objective.
The other princesses objected to this decision until Snow White interjected, struggling in her breath.
"Flora...is right...don't worry...about me...I'll get better soon enough...but...we...need...to...save...our...families...and...loved ones..." Snow White said.
"But we love you as well, Snow White," said Pocahontas as she held Snow White's hand. "We can't leave you like this."
"Please...do this...for...me..." Snow White said.
So, at Snow White's request, and with heavy hearts, the princesses instructed Feemer to lead them to the next island.
After a bit of travel, the gang finally arrived at the designated island. Upon observing the island as they approached it, they saw that it was covered in a dense forest with tall trees and vines and rocks and cliffs. And off in the distance, stood a large mountain. The steampunk setting of Kettlepot was an unorthodox setting in of itself, but now it seemed they would be heading into a jungle setting. Nonetheless, the gang knew as usual, they would have to stay on their feet as their ship docked near the beach.
Most of the princesses, along with Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and Feemer departed the ship, keeping Snow White in the cabin, but one stayed behind, Aurora.
"Rose? Aren't you coming?" asked Fauna.
"No, you go on without me," said Aurora.
"But why not?" asked Merryweather.
"I'll just slow you all down, especially with Snow White as she is now. I wouldn't be much help," said Aurora.
Seeing the emotional state she was in, Flora decided to let Aurora be and told her to keep an eye on Snow White while they went to find the scepter.
As they left the ship, Aurora walked into the cabin, sitting near Snow White. As she looked at her, sleeping in her bed, she was reminded of the time when she herself was in a sleeping spell. She was so helpless at that point, that Phillip had to come and save her. And now here she was, helpless again to do anything for one of her friends. At this point, she wondered if she was the right princess to have a scepter.
The gang began trekking their way through the deep, dense jungle forest. Along the way, they encountered a few wild animals including snakes, and different kind of birds, including kookaburra's and parrots; most of which were cawing really loud.
"And I thought Iago was loud," said Jasmine.
As the group walked further, they trekked across some wet mud that Rapunzel was not too fond off.
"Eww, I guess this is a disadvantage of not wearing shoes," Rapunzel said.
"Hmmm, it doesn't really bother me," said Pocahontas.
Just then, Mulan looked behind her and noticed something. "Hey, where's Aurora?" she asked.
"Well...she decided to stay on the ship and look after Snow White, dearie," said Fauna.
"She seriously needs to get over this pity party she's on," said Merida.
"Merida!" scorned Jasmine.
"Well she does!" Merida retorted.
Being the most adept at climbing, Pocahontas decided to climb one of the trees to get a better view of the surroundings. She figured that maybe she could find a glow or any kind of sign of the scepter. She climbed all the way up over the canopy and from her position, she could see the branches and leafs of the rest of the trees.
"Do you see anything?" asked Ariel.
"I see some houses up in the trees," Pocahontas answered.
"That means this place is not deserted," said Ariel.
"Obviously," said Jasmine.
As the gang continued on their way, they followed Feemer's glow through some more trees and across a waterfall. It didn't seem as Feemer wasn't glowing any brighter and the group had a large jungle island to explore. So, Cinderella suggested that maybe they should split up to cover more ground. Tiana, on the other hand, believed that following Feemer was the best option since it would waste less time, not to mention the fact that splitting up in an environment such as this would not be the best plan. Flora actually agreed with both Tiana and Cinderella's points of view and came to the decision that they would split up into groups of two; Cinderella and Tiana; Belle and Ariel; Merida and Rapunzel; and Pocahontas and Mulan.
"What about me?" asked Jasmine.
"You'll go with us and Feemer," said Flora.
"Oh great, we get paired with Ms. High Maintenance," said Feemer.
"Hey Feemer, ever wondered what it's like to be buried six feet in the dirt?" Jasmine said cynically.
And so the groups went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, Aurora continued watching over the injured Snow White who slightly opened her eyes towards her.
"Hi...Aurora...why didn't you...go...with the others?" Snow White asked.
"Because...because I'm...I'm just so useless. I nearly messed things up back on Kettlepot and I'll no doubt mess things up here," said Aurora.
"You're not...useless, Aurora," said Snow White. "We all...have a...part to play...here..."
Aurora wanted to believe what Snow White's words, but she thought about all the great things that the other princesses had done in their lives. From Merida stepping up to save her mother; to Tiana defeating a voodoo master, to Rapunzel's former healing powers; she just felt that compared to everyone else, she wasn't that special. However, Snow White quickly pointed out that she herself had once been helpless when she ate the poisoned apple that her stepmother had given her. She knew how she felt and pointed out that everyone's not perfect and sometimes, help is needed from time to time.
Snow White placed a hand on Aurora's, smiling at her as Aurora pondered what she had just said.
Merida used her sword to cut through the vines and leafs as she and Rapunzel searched for the scepter.
"Let's look around here," said Rapunzel.
As Rapunzel searched around a nearby tree, a fly nestled onto Merida's red curly hair, but was quickly flicked away by her. But then another one soon followed, then another and another, until practically an entire swarm tried to nestle in her hair.
"Shoo, flies! Get outta here!" Merida shouted.
Just then, Merida spotted a nearby puddle of water and dove her head into it, causing the flies to fly away.
Rapunzel chuckled as Merida submerged her head from the water, with her hair now being all flat and wet. But she quickly washed off the water and her hair was back to being curly.
Rapunzel's chuckled soon came to an end as something began tugging on her hair. It was a Venus flytrap that was quickly devouring it, tugging her in the process.
As Rapunzel screamed for help, Merida grabbed her by her abdomen and pulled her back, but the flytrap put up quite a struggle. Realizing this, Merida released Rapunzel, pulled out her sword, and cut off the flytrap's head, then released Rapunzel's hair from its mouth.
"Thanks," said Rapunzel.
"No problem," said Merida.
"Maybe we should consider getting haircuts," said Rapunzel.
"What's a haircut?" Merida asked before she and Rapunzel walked on.
But as the two walked on, a net trap caught them from underneath, lifting them high above the ground and causing Merida to drop her sword. They struggled to get out, but the net was too strong.
Soon after, a group of tribal-looking people with white stripes painted on their faces and brown loincloths, appeared from behind the trees, dancing below Merida and Rapunzel and holding spears up to them.
"These must be the local residents," said Rapunzel. "And something tells me they don't like visitors."
Elsewhere, near a waterfall, Pocahontas stopped to get a drink at the lake and also washed her face with some water.
Mulan noticed had a bit of a depressed look on her face. "Pocahontas, what's wrong?" she asked.
"I'm worried about Aurora. Do you think she'll feel better?" asked Pocahontas.
"Sure. She's just going through a phase. She'll get over it," said Mulan.
Pocahontas was worried about Snow White as well, not fully knowing if she would be ok or not. Mulan assured her that she would be and that they would find a way to help her.
With that, Pocahontas and Mulan continued on their search, coming upon a few rock formations. Mulan decided to look near the rocks while Pocahontas looked on the ground. Mulan didn't find anywhere on her part except for a very special piece of 'treasure' left behind, much to her dismay.
Pocahontas meanwhile, while searching on the grass, noticed an unusual flat circle of dirt. She found it odd that a circle would be in the middle the grass like this, but eventually, she brushed it off and continued looking for the scepter.
As Mulan came up short in her efforts, she decided to go with Pocahontas and search further down. As she leapt off the rocks, she landed on the circle of dirt and instantly sunk above her abdomen. The circle of dirt was in fact a circle of quicksand.
"Mulan!" Pocahontas shouted as saw Mulan sinking.
"Stop! Stay back! You'll get stuck too!" Mulan said.
Before Pocahontas could think of a way to save her, a rope tangled her right leg and dragged her away from Mulan, hanging her upside down. Mulan gasped as the same jungle men from before appeared before them, screaming and dancing savagely.
Inside a cave, Belle and Ariel looked through the caverns for the scepter. So far, they had found nothing in their search, but Belle wasn't too enthusiastic with her efforts.
Ariel noticed this as she saw Belle seated on the cave wall with her head to her knees and went to check on her. "Belle? Are you alright?" she asked.
"I can't stop thinking about Aurora," Belle answered.
"I know you're concerned for her, but like Tiana said, you shouldn't blame yourself for how she's feeling. She'll be alright," said Ariel.
As the two decided to search further in the cave, a rock wall collapsed in front them. Seeing as how they couldn't go any further, they decided to head out of the cave. But unfortunately for them, the very same jungle people from before were waiting for them outside the entrance and took them away.
Meanwhile, Tiana and Cinderella were looking through another part of the jungle.
As they looked, Tiana furiously swatted away some flies. "Ugh! You would think after being a frog that stuff like this wouldn't bother me," she said.
"Well at least you don't to worry about wanting to eat one this time," said Cinderella.
Tiana and Cinderella shared a chuckle as they kept looking, then Tiana inquired something. "So, Cin, have you ever gotten rabies?" she asked.
"No, why do you ask?" asked Cinderella.
"Well, you spent most of your time hanging out with mice and rats. Did you ever catch any germs or anything?"" asked Tiana.
"No, not really. but there was one time after Drizella spilled tea on my apron, the next morning she was acting crazier than usual, foaming at the mouth, and when I came to her room, Jaq came out and he was smiling and..." Cinderella stopped her sentence upon realizing just what Jaq had done that night.
Tiana just shook her head at how Cinderella didn't realize that Jaq had given her stepsister rabies.
Cinderella, rubbing her head in embarrassment, turned and walked on to continue searching. As Tiana was about to follow her, two of the jungle people grabbed her from behind. When Cinderella turned, Tiana was nowhere to be found.
"Tiana? Tiana? Where are you?" she called out.
But she was soon to join her, for when took a step forward, she fell into a large hole. When she looked up, the jungle people stood outside the hole with spears pointed right at her.
Jasmine pointed Feemer in every direction, but he didn't seem to glow any brighter.
"You know, I'm beginning to wonder if you pointed us to the right island," said Jasmine.
"My senses are always one hundred percent correct," said Feemer.
"Well maybe you should change that to forty-five percent, because I don't see that scepter anywhere!" said Jasmine.
"It's here, you're just not looking hard enough!" said Feemer.
Indeed, Jasmine wasn't so enthusiastic in her searching and finally admitted so. She explained that she was worried about Snow White and Aurora. She knew they had to complete their mission, but it seemed it would be impossible if Aurora's head was not in the right place and if Snow White remained injured. In addition, she also worried about Aladdin as well as her father, Iago, and the rest of the Magic Kingdom. They had been gone from the kingdom for so long, and Golett and the Evil Empire had taken over. Even if they were able to get all the scepters, she wasn't sure if they would be able to stop them and aside from that, what would stop Golett and the other villains from killing their loved ones?
"Don't talk like that, Jasmine," said Flora.
"Everything will be fine," said Merryweather.
"How do you know?" asked Jasmine.
"We would not have chosen you if we didn't think you were capable enough," said Flora.
"Yeah, so stow that negative talk, get your caboose in gear, and let's find that scepter!" said Merryweather.
Jasmine thought about Aladdin again and what he would do if he were in the same situation. She knew he wouldn't call it quits, just like he didn't when she was captured by Jafar, and so she wasn't going to either. With her new resolve, she, along with Feemer and the fairies continued searching when suddenly, she was caught in a rope trap, while Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, while still small, were captured in tiny leaf bags by the jungle people.
"Release them at once, you savages!" shouted Feemer.
The jungle people jumped at Feemer's talking and immediately picked him up off the ground.
As the day tuned to dawn, Aurora checked on Snow White's injuries, she noticed her wincing in more pain than usual. She realized she had to do something to help ease the pain and decided to go to the ocean and gather some water to put on her scratches.
"You just wait here. I'll be right back," said Aurora.
"Can't...really...go anywhere..." said Snow White.
So after grabbing a bucket from storage closet, Aurora went off the ship to gather some water. But after she went onto the beach, a group of the jungle people caught notice of their ship and unbeknown to her, boarded it.
As she gathered the water in the bucket, Aurora remembered what Snow White had said to her.
"Everyone needs help from time to time."
"We all have a part to play here."
"Maybe she's right," Aurora thought to herself.
Suddenly, the princess heard a scream coming from the ship and realized it could only be Snow White. Dropping the bucket, she quickly rushed to the ship, but then hid near it when she saw one of the jungle people on the port side. As she saw more of them, she couldn't figure out who they were.
"Help!" Snow White screamed as two of the jungle people carried her off the ship.
Aurora stayed hidden so the jungle people wouldn't see her. While she wanted to save her, she realized it wouldn't do her much good if she herself was captured as well.
"I have to rescue her, but how?" Aurora asked herself.
Seeing the jungle people heading into the jungle, Aurora, not wanting to lose them, nervously followed.
Eventually, after much pursuit, Aurora came upon her friends, tied by Rapunzel's hair around a large log of wood. For the moment, the jungle people didn't seem to be around, so she figured she would take the opportunity to try and set them free.
Slowly, she tiptoed up to them so not to attract any attention.
"Aurora, wait!" said Rapunzel.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," said Aurora.
"No, girl, you don't understand!" said Tiana.
"But I had to follow those strange guys to find you," said Aurora.
"No, Aurora, that's not it!" said Jasmine.
"I know, I haven't felt my best lately, but I'm a little better now," said Aurora as she untied Rapunzel's hair.
"But, Aurora, it's a..." Cinderella said before the jungle people surprised Aurora and tied her with the others.
"Trap," all the princesses said together.
"Tell me why you chose them again," said Feemer to the fairies before one of the jungle people stuck him in their mouth.
So not only was Aurora not able to rescue her friends, but she got herself captured as well. Suffice to say, this did not do well to boost her confidence. And to make matters worse, Snow White doing so well either. The hot air and smoke from the flames of the fires around them were making her sick as she was coughing hard.
As the jungle people surrounded them, eying them intently and focused with their spears pointed at them, the leader, a tall, lean man with a large forehead, stood before them.
There was almost a sense of intimidation as the light from the flames reflected off his strong, rugged face.
"Who are you why do you trespass on our island?!" he asked in a powerful voice.
"We don't mean any trouble," said Cinderella. "We've come here looking for a crystal scepter."
"I've never heard of a 'crystal scepter,' you must be mistaken!" said the leader.
"Who are you, anyway?" asked Merida.
"I am Sualili and you are trespassing on our island of Zula," said the leader.
Cinderella insisted that she and the others meant no harm Sualili and his Wukawoobi Tribe, which he called them, much to Merida and Rapunzel's humor, but unfortunately, he was not convinced. The Wukawoobi Tribe were very antisocial outside their own kind.
Despite the pleas from the other princesses and the fairies to release them, especially due to the fact that Snow White was injured growing sicker with every passing second, Sualili remained firm and declared that they were to be cooked. Still, they continued to beg and plead until Sualili eyes turned to the tall mountain in the distance and an idea came to mind.
He decided that he would spare the lives of the group on the condition that one of them would go up the mountain, named Savage Mountain, and retrieve a special ceremonial staff that he lost from there when it was taken from him by a beast. Many of his men had tried to reclaim it, but none had succeeded.
"None of these women have the guts to up the mountain!" said one of the tribesmen.
"I'll go," said Aurora, much to the shock of her fellow princesses.
"No...*cough* no, Aurora..*cough*...don't do it," said Snow White.
"She's right, it's too dangerous! You'll be killed!" said Cinderella.
"Maybe, but it's my fault Snow White is sick and I have to help her," said Aurora.
"No you don't!" said Merida. "Let do it! I have a sword!"
But Aurora's decision was final as Sualili untied her from Rapunzel's hair and told that she would have three days to get the staff and return with or she and her friends would be eaten. Aurora decided she would leave the next morning, but seeing as how the tribesmen seemed to be good at setting traps and such, she asked if they would teach her how to make traps since she would probably need this knowledge against whatever beast was lurking on that mountain. Sualili agreed, but informed her that all of their previous traps had failed against the monster. Although she was worried, this news would not stop Aurora. Was she scared? Yes. But she was prepared to do whatever it took to set her friends free.