THE DISNEY EXPERIMENT
Scene 21 – Backs Against the Wall

DISCLAIMER: This Scene contains characters and references from Disney's American Dragon, Lilo & Stitch, Fillmore, Dave the Barbarian and Kim Possible. I do not own any of these characters. For storyline purposes, the crossover episodes of Lilo & Stitch never took place in this continuity. Neither did the 'stoning' of Monkey Fist.

The goblins tightened their formation around the group, rotten teeth bared. There must have been at least five dozen of them. There was battle lust imminent in their eyes, albeit mixed with hesitation and fear. It was hard to blame them; they were, after all, torn between their terrifying evil master and a ragtag band of super-powered teens.

"Take them down!" Jake roared, leading the charge.

The frontline of the goblin horde were the first to react, motivated by instinct and blood-thirst. Fire and steel and energy bolts danced across the cavern, piercing the gloom with an intensive fireworks display.

As the battle evened out, Phineas fell back. "Guys, hold them off while I try to recalibrate the solar emitter!"

"Why can't we just blow up the roof or something?" Ron asked.

"No can do," replied Phineas. "Readings indicate we're right beneath a major shopping district. Bringing the roof down could wind up harming hundreds of innocent civilians."

"They sure have everything planned out," remarked Lilo as she worked her plasma rifle. "Anyone seen the sparking sword?"

Downing a trio of overgrown goblins, Jake said, "Yo, here's the plan! Phineas, work on your solar thing. Stitch, Lilo, Ron: keep the goblins away from Phineas. Kim, you get the sword. I'll make sure the Dark Dragon stays down."

"Get the sword? No big," said Kim, bounding over the raving goblins and activating her suit's solar emitter. She spotted the Sword of Argon quite easily, its electrical trail burning like a flare in the darkness, and plowed her way through the horde towards it.

She was almost within arm's reach of the sword—locked in the embrace of freckled goblin archer—when the goblin equivalent of Mike Tyson rammed her into a stalagmite. Grunting savagely, he gargantuan creature raised a spiked mace and sent it crashing over Kim's head. But the mace didn't meet its mark, stopped instead by the force bubble generated by Kim's suit, protecting the wearer from harm.

Seizing the momentary distraction, Kim lowered her shield and kicked off from the rock, pounding the monster's eyes with energy-wrapped fists. Battle suit rapidly accelerating her muscles, she fired a fusillade of punches into the goblin's gut; it was down before it even realized what hit it.

The archer with the sword had managed to put a fair distance between itself and Kim, running in the direction of the demon cocoon, wherein the Dark Dragon attempted to regenerate. It couldn't be allowed to get there! Whipping out her grappling gun, Kim took careful aim and fired: the hook caught hold of the archer's leg, tripping it and sending the sword through the air.

"Got it!" cried Jake, swooping in to catch the magic weapon.

Then one of the goblins got hold of Jake's tail, triggering a mad clamor for the key to the Dark Dragon's true return.

The sword bounced from hand to hand in a blue, so fast that all that the only way to track it was to trace the energy contrail it left behind. The goblins passed the sword quickly and urgently, stalling its pursuers using arrows and glaives. Jake, who had multiple arrows lodged in his scales, sounded the command: "Everyone, grab the sword!"

The ensuing rabble was nothing less than insane: hands, gauntlets and claws stretched and scratched like fanatic zealots reaching for the ultimate divine prize. Jake had it in his tail at one point, but lost it to a pitchfork-wielding goblin. Pitchfork was punched out by Ron, who was tripped by a goblin wearing nothing but a loincloth around its waist. Stitch bowled loincloth-guy right over, but caught the sword by its blade. The resulting shock gave a trio of goblins the chance to dive in a pick the weapon right up. They were stopped by Lilo, who plastered each of their faces with multiple plasma bolts.

"I have the sword, guys," said Lilo, bending to pick up the sword.

Like a flock of starved ravens, shade demons descended upon the sword in unprecedented numbers. Lilo screamed in terror, falling on her bum as the shade demons disappeared along with the Sword of Argon.

Then, just like that, the battle came to a halt. A startled Phineas swore into the comm.-link, drawing everyone's attention to the Dimensional Rift Inducer where the Dark Dragon, still wearing Fillmore's skin, stood behind a raised console. In his hands was the Sword of Argon, which glowed a deep, thrumming cyan. Stupefied, they watched as the Dark Dragon slid the blade into a slot on the console, supercharging the Inducer with massive amounts of energy.

The bulbs and nodes on the machine lit up simultaneously, making loud beeping noises that were drowned out by the sound of the Dark Dragon's mirthless guffaw. In response to the light, the shade demons parted, though ever so slightly. Still they held together, their will bent to that of their master's, and all their master wanted right now was to return to full power. The air crackled as the pressure within the cavern increased significantly; the Inducer was charging up, slowly but surely.

"Guys!" Phineas shouted through the comm.-link. "We have less than ten minutes before the Rift Inducer reaches full power. It's now or never!"

Jake gritted his teeth. "If we can't blast through the shade demons, we'll go for the man himself!"

But the Dark Dragon's minions, dim-witted as they were, were prepared for this. Deeply motivated by their master's impending return, they resumed their assault, their strikes twice as brutal, movement twice as quick. Freeing himself from a stranglehold, Jake took a quick survey of the battle and felt despair creeping up on him.

In no time, the horde had Kim surrounded and trapped in her own force field through sheer numbers. A pair of mud golems had Ron pinned to the wall, his enhanced strength nullified by the thick coat of hardened mire that held him prisoner. Lilo and Stitch had run out of ammo and were now fending off rabid goblins with nothing but claws and swords. Only Phineas seemed to be holding his own, his pulse blasters set on automatic as he worked on recalibrating his armor.

Jake was at a lost. All his combat skills and instincts honed to near-perfection, and he couldn't think of a way out—couldn't find a way to save everyone. He thought of freeing Ron first, but mud golems were impervious to fire… What about Kim? But Lilo seemed a lot more vulnerable without her guns…

What do I do!

The moment's hesitation cost him gravely, for Fillmore had launched himself off the Inducer's console and towards the American Dragon, throwing both of them to the ground. Human fingers found the dragon's windpipe and squeezed hard; there was rage and bloodlust and a killer's training in that grip, and it was enough to immobilize Jake, even in dragon form.

Then the Dark Dragon pressed his face—Fillmore's face—close to Jake's ear, hissing, "You have no idea how much information I've had access to using this body. I know everything about you, Jake Long. All the places you've been, all the haunts you frequent. I know why you go out at night, hoping to get blood on your hands. I know where your parents and sister live, and I know about your friends' deaths. And I know all about her, that little hunter girl you're rearing as a pet."

That was the Dark Dragon's mistake, because the thought of Rose gave Jake the strength for a small burst of flame, singing Fillmore's ear. The Dark Dragon reeled back with a screech, releasing Jake, who wasted no time in reversing the situation. Now Jake had Fillmore's back to the wall, his claws a bare inch from the Captain's face.

"All those people in the village," said Jake. "Did you kill them?"

Fillmore's lips contorted into a smile. "I hate to admit it, but that wasn't me. I sought out the monkey man as soon as I found him in the Organization's database. He had plans for a Rift Inducer of his own, but it was incomplete. He lacked two things: Fletcher & Flynn's genius, and a power source. I fed him the location of the Sword of Argon and gave him the know-how needed to summon a Monkey Daemon. The pathetic village never stood a chance."

The Dark Dragon was still smiling even as anger boiled in Jake's heart. It wasn't enough that the fiend had threatened the people he loved; he made sport of it. The darkness inhabiting Fillmore wasn't just a shadow—it was black as pitch.

Overwhelmed by fury and disgust, Jake flung Fillmore towards and through the wall, leaving a man-sized hole in the wall. Jake stepped through the hole, fangs and claws bared. But that did little to faze the Dark Dragon, who lay on his back and continued to laugh.

"When the lot of you came together, I knew that you would have gotten in my way. I needed you, American Dragon—I craved vengeance sorely—but the others are expendable. The felwing was supposed to get rid of them, but failed miserably. The strigoi girl, however, served her purpose well, providing an ample distraction while I stole the Inducer's plans from the Grid Room."

The memory of the fight in the Grid Room flashed in Jake's mind: Fillmore, lying broken and beaten by the computer console, his arm twisted behind him in just the right position to reach the access ports, while Alisha contended with Jake and Betty.

Oh, dear lord. Betty.

"What did you do to Director?" Jake asked, fearing the answer.

Fillmore smirked. "That one-eyed vermin is under quarantine. Unfortunately, Captain Fillmore lacked the authority to warrant an execution."

Good, she was still alive. Jake allowed himself to breathe a little easy. But his eyes met the Dark Dragon's and the anger rushed up his throat, spicy and bitter.

"I'm gonna kill you, you sick monster."

At this, the Dark Dragon sprang to his feet and laughed a genuine laugh. "Oh, American Dragon, you have no idea how much you underestimate me."

Then the Dark Dragon opened his mouth and from it bloomed a spurt of purple flames. The intense heat sizzled the very air and burned through Jake's dragon scales, forcing him to back away in shock and pain.

Kicking Jake in the chest, the Dark Dragon brought them both back to the thick of the main battle. The purple flames danced and stretched from Fillmore's mouth, searing the stone and everything it touched.

Ducking and dodging for his life, Jake pressed down hard on his earpiece and yelled, "Yo Phineas! The Dark Dragon's got some insane firepower. Any time now!"

Phineas hesitation was anything but comforting. "Well, I sorta gave up on recalibrating my solar emitter."

"What!?" That was Kim, screaming. "What's the sitch? What have we been stalling for?"

"Tell me you have a plan, man!" Jake screamed, taking to the air. He aimed a couple of fireballs at Fillmore; it took him a while to realize the Dark Dragon was making a beeline for the Dimensional Rift Inducer. "Phineas, do something!"

"AT LAST!" Fillmore roared, his face twisted in sick delight.

Multiple voices screamed in unison, chorusing, "No!"

Too late.

The portal opened, and all hell broke loose.