I only own Bethany and Roger.
Mickey looked at the Warners and Timon. Mickey wondered if he looked as worried as they did. Probably, he was never really good at hiding his emotions. With a sigh, Mickey looked at the castle again. But again, no one came out. When they saw that no one was coming out, the Warners and Timon stopped acting and Mickey got out of the woods. They taunted the villains but that didn't work. It was like there was no one inside.
"What in the world is going on?" muttered Timon.
"Don't know," muttered Mickey as he pushed the call button on his headpiece.
"Batman? Leo?" he asked quietly. Oh please, please let them answer…
"Mickey, what's your status?" Mickey let a silent breath of relief when he heard Batman's voice.
"Um, we're fine, but…no one came out to greet us," Mickey answered.
"That's because there's hardly anybody here."
"What?! Then…it was a trap? Wait, if it was a trap, why isn't there a whole lot of villains to catch us?" asked Mickey anxiously. Instead of an answer, there was just silence, an uncomfortable silence.
"It's because our loved ones were here. Now everyone except the Master and two other villains has gone ahead to find the Black Cauldron, just as we suspected." Were? Darn it, they must be taking Minnie and the others with them to find the Black Cauldron! They were so close to rescuing them but they were too late! But at least they were close…maybe they can catch up to them! Wait a minute, the Master was still here?
"Their Master's here along with two other villains?! Why are they still here? Do you need us to come in?" asked Mickey, his anxiety for Batman and the others in the castle coming back.
"No, just stay there…at least not until I know the whole situation." Did…Batman just sound persistent? Well, I guess he has a good reason for us staying here…
"Alright but…do you know why Leo didn't answered? I know he didn't forget to turn on his headpiece because I talked to him right before our mission started," asked Mickey.
"He…might have turned it off in order not to get distracted. Don't worry Mickey: Aang and Bethany are with him and together, they won't be taken down that easily."
"I guess you're right," agreed Mickey, still afraid for his friends' safety and noticing the pause.
"Of course I am. I'm Batman. Batman out," stated Batman, making it clear that this as the end of the conversation. Mickey sighed, but it didn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that Batman was hiding something from him.
"What the…" said Aang in disbelief. He's an unanimated…I'm not the only one who found a portal recently?
"Why…are you here?" asked Bethany, still in shock. A part of her hoped that her instincts were wrong, and that he was here to help. But the other bigger part of her knew that her instincts were right on the money.
"And what do you mean, you made sure they knew?" asked Leo, sounding more suspicious than shocked.
"Hmm…what would be the best way to answer your questions? Ah, let's try this: I am the Master and I sent Two-Face to deliver the message to your friends. How's that?" Roger said his smile now sly. Time seemed to stop for Bethany. Her instincts told her she shouldn't trust this man from her world, but she didn't imagine this.
"No…" whispered Bethany. He's the Master? The one who gathered all the villains together? The one who freed the villains that died in the movies? The one who stole the Dip? The one who kidnapped their loved ones? The one who dipped them? The one who plans to dip everyone else that was still alive?
"NO!" cried Bethany as raged temporarily replaced her grief. How could he…didn't he grew up with Minnie, Winnie-the-Pooh, and the others? What reason could he possibly have to kill them?!
"Looks like someone is mad that someone from her world is the cause of all this," sneered Roger. Mad? Mad doesn't even begin to cover it you son of a cur.
"I don't know why you are doing this and actually…I don't care. Aang, Bethie NOW!" ordered Leo. In an instant, Leo swiftly changed into his 2003 form and ran towards Roger, his katanas out. The next instant, Aang went into the Avatar state and charged at Roger. Having gotten up by this time, Bethie quickly drew her sword out of her new scabbard that she created after the fight with the Clown and Other Mother. She then charged at Roger while taking out a rock from her pouch, rapidly going over ideas of how to punish this murderer.
Without blinking an eye, Roger waved his hand. Suddenly, the stone tiles beneath their feet shot straight up with them still on them.
"Ah!" cried Bethany as she fell backwards, but instead of hitting the floor, she hit what felt like a wall. She quickly looked around and found that the tile had grown bigger and was now somehow a huge nontransparent sphere. Not allowing herself to think how this happened, Bethie imagined that the rock in her hand had a special power before throwing it at the curved wall. As soon as the rock hit the wall, the sphere cracked into a thousand pieces, causing Bethany to fall to the ground.
"Impressive Bethany. Seems like Timon was telling the truth that your skills were proficient," praised Roger.
"You're…an imaginer?" asked Bethany, even though she knew the answer. A memory of Batman telling her that only very experienced imaginers can enchant something without touching it ran across her mind. Just how long has Roger been an imaginer?
"Of course. How else could I have broken the boundary between the Otherworld and the rest of Cartoonland? And if I was you, I would worry about your friends and not about my imagining skills." Alarmed, Bethany turned around and gasped. Instead of seeing Leo and Aang, she saw two stone spheres floating in the air.
"Leo! Aang!" Bethany cried. To her growing alarm, Bethany didn't hear anything that told that they heard her. She then turned around, her sword pointing at Roger.
"Let them go!" she threatened.
"Nah, but I will let you be able to see them." Roger waved his hand and suddenly the stone spheres became clear, glasslike spheres, with Aang and Leo inside them, using everything they got to break the walls.
"Bethie!" exclaimed Aang, sounding both relieved and worried. Suddenly, the spheres moved in the air till they were behind Roger.
"What are you doing?" demanded Bethie, afraid for her friends' safety.
"Don't worry about us, just kick his butt!" exclaimed Leo.
"Oh, I imagined that those tiles would be totally unbreakable spheres and will move at my command. Which is why I am impressed that you somehow managed to break them. What did you imagine by the way?"
"I gave a rock the power to break the sphere," Bethany replied right before taking out another rock and throwing it at Roger. Feet away from Roger's face, the rock turned into a steel net. But instead of looking afraid or trying to dodge the net, Roger just calmly but quickly held out his hand. The instant his finger touched the net, the net turned into a small, harmless red leaf that fell to the ground.
"What…how…" stuttered Bethany in disbelief.
"Oh? You didn't know that you could give an enchanted object a different enchantment? But then, only very skilled and experienced imaginers can do that."
"Don't let him get to you! You can beat him!" supported Aang.
"Just concentrate!" encouraged Leo. They're right…I can beat him…I have to beat him…for Leo and Aang…and for everyone who was dipped!
"Aww…they think that you can beat me…how sweet of them. Looks like you finally made friends…either that they just want you to save them." Finally made friends? What did he mean by…no. Can't think about that. I got to focus on saving Leo and Aang.
"Oh, you're not going to tell me that you are their friend and they will do anything for you or something mushy like that? Thank goodness, Pumbaa wouldn't shut up about that, good thing I decided to dip him as soon as possible."
"As…soon as possible?" echoed Bethany. She was about to look up Pumbaa's name when she saw the button that would have led her to the list of everyone who was still alive. When she learned that everyone had died, the overwhelming shock and grief caused her to temporarily forget about Pumbaa. But now…
"Yeah, you see, I had Maleficent make a deal with him that involved him betraying you in order for us not to dip him. Unfortunately for him, I didn't need any information from him, nor did I ever plan to keep my word. I just wanted to have some fun." Fun? Fun?! Causing Timon pain for no reason was fun?! In that moment, Bethany felt an emotion she thought she would never feel.
"I hate you," Bethany whispered.
"Huh?" asked Roger, lifting his hand to his ear.
"I HATE YOU!" Bethany immediately grabbed a handful of rocks from her pouch and after quickly enchanting them into small steel orbs with cannons, she threw them at Roger. The orbs stopped in midair and started firing lasers at Roger.
Roger enchanted the tile he was on to become a spring that sprung him safely out of range of the lasers. Once Bethany saw he was about to land on the table, she ran to it. When she was near enough, she took a page off from Roger's book and changed the tile she was on to a spring that caused her to go flying towards a still falling Roger.
Giving a battle cry, she raised her sword, planning to cut him down once and for all. Then Roger snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Bethany felt two cold things catch her ankles.
"Ah!" she gave a startled cry as she looked down. The tabletop had seemingly grown two chains that had decided defy the law of gravity and attach themselves to her ankles.
"Bethie!" cried Aang in alarm.
Before she could do anything, the manacles pulled her down and then Bethany felt another manacle attach her left wrist. This manacle pulled her down while also twisting her so that she was looking at Roger's triumphant face instead of the table. Then Bethany felt yet another manacle attached itself to her other wrist and before she knew it, Bethany crashed onto the table, her chains pulled her limbs far apart. In spite of the pain she felt when she landed, Bethany tried to get up. But the manacles chaining Bethany to the table didn't let her move an inch.
This can't be good...Well, don't forget to review and I will update as soon as I can!