Sorry for the delay. I've been trying to get a lot of stuff done.
Chapter 37: Ray of Hope
"Now, this restaurant of yours, is it going to have étoufffée?" Louis was asking Tiana.
Tiana answered, "Jambalaya, gumbo. It's going to have it all."
Jason's stomach rumbled. "Can we talk about something other than food? I'm starving."
He was ignored.
"Mm-mmm. I've always wanted to try red beans and rice, muffulettas, po' boys."
"Stop Louis. You're making me very hungry." Naveen said. It was then a bunch of mosquitos flew by. Naveen's tongue flew out of his mouth. "Interesting."
"Oh no." Aurora said as she realized what he was going to do. Naveen hopped off Louis and swam over to the mosquitos.
"What are you doing?" Tiana asked.
Naveen shushed her. "You are frightening the food." He tried to catch a mosquito with his tongue, but he missed. "This is harder than it looks." He tried again, but ended up with a branch in his mouth.
Jason and Riku chuckled at that. Tiana laughed softly. Aurora just rolled her eyes and looked away. They noticed a firefly fly by them, and heard a familiar sound.
"Oh no. No, no, no. There's no way I'm kissing a frog and eating a bug on the same day." Tiana said before her tongue started pulling her to the firefly. Riku managed to keep control of his own tongue, but Tiana had lost all control.
"Come on." Riku said to Jason and Aurora as he jumped into the water and swam after the two frogs. Aurora shook her head, but followed.
What happened next was too funny. Naveen saw the firefly too and snuck up on it while Tiana's tongue kept pulling her towards it. Both their tongues flew out to catch the bug, but instead caught each other. The force of the tongues pulled Naveen and Tiana together. They ended up looking like they were kissing each other.
"Hello." Naveen said.
That did it. Jason burst out laughing. Tiana shot him a cold glare before getting up. "Hold still." She told Naveen. Aurora noticed their tongues were tied together.
Louis caught up to them. "Y'all find anything to eat yet? Oh, my."
"Yeah, they're a little tongue tied right now." Riku joked.
"This is not funny!" Tiana said.
Jason held up a hand, or foot, or whatever, to where his ear should've been. "What? Sorry, can't understand you."
"Hang on. Old Louis got it covered." Louis said as he grabbed Tiana and Naveen. Before the others could stop him he started pressing, squeezing, and twisting the two frogs together. "How's that?"
Aurora's jaw dropped at the sight of Tiana and Naveen. Now they were really tied up in their tongues. She turned to the gator. "You made it worse, you idiot!"
Louis thought about it. "You know what this needs? A sharp stick! Be right back." Louis went off scatting into the bayou.
"Come on. Let's get you two fixed." Riku said as he, Jason, and Aurora tried to untie Tiana and Naveen. No good. What Louis did he did too well. They were stuck with no way of getting unstuck.
Tiana groaned. "This is all your fault." She told Naveen.
Naveen rolled his eyes. "My fault? My fault…Let me tell you something. I was having a wonderful time until…"
"Coo! Well, looky here!" A strange accented voice said. Everyone turned to see the firefly was back, and he had red hair with some mismatched teeth. "Girl, I guess you and your boyfriend got a little carried away. Am I right?"
"What?!" Aurora asked. "You think they're…"
Both Tiana and Naveen started protesting.
"Oh, no, no!"
"Do not be ridiculous!"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"I am the Prince of Maldonia!"
The firefly didn't believe them. "Let me shine a little light on the situation." He tried to light up, but farted. "Excuse me. One more time now." He strained until the light finally turned on. Then it went out again. The firefly then turned his butt like a light bulb until it turned on. "That's more better. Yeah."
Jason and Aurora had never seen a bug like him before. "Why is your butt giving off light? You don't explode do you?"
"It's okay, baby. I don't explode me. I ain't no firecracker! I just got my big butt glowing! That's right. The woman like a man with a big back porch!"
"Look, can you help untangle Tiana and Naveen?" Aurora asked.
The firefly took a look at them. "Lord, you done this up real good, for sure. Now where this go to at?"
"Can you fix them or not?" Jason asked impatiently.
Riku looked at him. "Easy, Jace."
"Don't call me that!"
The firefly smiled. "Hang on, Cap. I'm just going to give a little twist here." He twisted and disappeared between Tiana and Naveen. "We're getting to know each other now!"
"It's official. I hate this bug." Aurora said.
"He is strange for a firefly." Riku said.
Jason looked at him. "Firefly? Why not just call it a light bug?" Riku's response was a shrug.
The firefly had light escape wherever it could from Tiana and Naveen. It looked a little…okay, very weird, to Jason and Aurora. There were no fireflies on Harthyn, though if they're anything like this bug they considered that a good thing.
The bug kept singing to himself as he worked within the two frogs. Jason was sure he heard mechanical whirring inside. Finally, the bug came out holding the pink end of one of their tongues. With a tug, Naveen and Tiana screamed as they came apart.
"It's about time I introduce myself." The bug said. "My name Raymond, but everybody call me "Ray."
"I'm Riku. This is Jason, Aurora, Tiana, and Naveen." Riku introduced everyone.
"Pardon me, but your accent, it's funny, no?" Naveen asked.
"I'm a Cajun, brah. Born and bred in the bayou. Y'all must be new around here, huh?" Ray asked.
Jason nodded. "You could say that."
Ray smiled. "Oh, that's okay. Earlier tonight I met a bunch o' new pals."
It was then the bushes parted. Riku, Jason, and Aurora's jaws dropped when they saw Axel, Mika, Roxas, Xion, and AJ.
"What happened to you guys?" Both groups asked in unison.
Raymond exclaimed. "Ah, you know each other then?"
"These guys are some of our friends we were telling you about. Got it memorized?" Axel asked.
"Sure do, brah." Ray said.
"Did y'all get yourselves turned into animals like Prince Charming here?" Tiana asked them.
Mika nodded. "Yeah, we were turned into animals."
"So you are people too." Naveen said.
"Please tell me you didn't see a voodoo witch doctor too." Tiana said.
Roxas and Xion were dumbstruck. "Voodoo?"
"I thought that was just nonsense." Mika said.
"Oh, no, it's real." Ray said.
Riku spoke up, "We're trying to find someone named Mama Odie so she could change us all back."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mama Odie?" Ray stopped him. "Y'all headed the wrong direction, brah. Now what kind of chucklehead told y'all to go this way?"
It was then Louis came back, holding a stick. "I found a stick!" he yelled proudly. Louis found everyone staring at him.
Tiana folded her arms. "Louis. Ray here says you've been taking us in the wrong direction."
Dropping his stick, Louis chuckled nervously. "I was…well, listen. I was confused by the topography and the geography and the choreography and…"
"First rule of the bayou, never take direction from a gator." Ray whispered to them. He then whistled and the bayou was lit up with a lot of fireflies. "Why, me and my relationals will help show y'all the way."
The two groups were amazed. It was like the bayou had its own night sky and stars, and those stars were bugs that could light up. Mika thought it was a beautiful sight. Naveen exclaimed something that no one could understand.
"Hey, Cousin Randy!" Ray woke some sleeping fireflies. "You ready for a little bayou zydeco?"
"A what?" AJ asked.
"Ready when you are, Cousin Ray." One of the fireflies said. They gathered some instruments and started playing some music.
"All right, Lulu. Let's get to it, darling." Ray said. The swarm of fireflies started flying off into the bayou. "Come on! Just follow the bouncing butt!" Ray said to everyone.
We're gonna take you there
We're gonna take you there
We're gonna take you all the way there
Gonna take you there
We're gonna take you there
We're gonna take you all the way
As they followed the bugs they noticed Louis was dancing to their singing. Mike found herself enjoying the song. For insects these guys could carry a beat.
Goin' down the bayou
Goin' down the bayou
Goin' down the bayou
Takin' you all the way
They passed between the roots of huge trees that grew in the water. Everyone that was a small animal was able to pass through a log just fine. Louis got stuck, but that didn't deter him from dancing still.
"We got the whole family." Ray was saying. "There goes Mimi, Cousin Beaudreaux. Oh, Grandmama! Your light out!" The elderly firefly clapped her hands and her light turned back on.
We all gonna pull together
Down here that's how we do
Me for them and them for me
We all be there for you
Ray noticed everyone seemed to have gotten lost in the dark, so he whistled and several members of his family lit the way for them. Everyone continued across the lily pads as Ray continued singing,
We gon' take ya, we gon' take ya
We gon' take ya all the way there
We know where you're goin' and we're goin' with you
Taking you all the way
As they were crossing the lily pads Louis sped by them. Several fireflies had attached themselves to his tail, and were acting like a propeller. Louis pointed ahead before standing up like he was taking a look out position. However the fireflies flew off, leaving Louis to sink into the water.
Goin' down the bayou
Goin' down the bayou
Goin' down the bayou
Taking you all…
Yeah, you know!
The fireflies lighting the way through the bayou gave the place a certain…beauty. The dandelions, the trees, all seemed beautified by the light. Louis accidently fell on some fireflies, and when he stood up, he looked like he was in some ridiculous outfit. Everyone laughed. Then the fireflies flew up and acted like fireworks before they flew down.
"Come on, y'all!" Ray said to them. "Keep that line flowin' and the lights a-glowin'!"
I hope you enjoyed that.