The beginning of the final story arc! I hope you enjoy.


Episode 35: Betting on The House

Snow fell on the Magical World, and not because of Elsa this time. With a chill on his breath, Gabriel walked down Main Street, with Jasiri at his side like always. The two were on their way to what was supposed to be an important meeting, one that was requested by Mickey Mouse himself.

"I'm a bit nervous about this one, Jasiri," Gabriel admitted. "I mean, Mickey is the big guy in charge of everything, so if he's the one calling the shots, then it must be something big."

"You're right about that," Jasiri nodded. She shook her head to get rid of the snow that was getting in her hair. "As much fun as this snow is, I'd rather be warm and indoors at the moment."

"Luckily for you, our destination is right here," Gabriel said. He gestured up to a night club, the words 'House of Mouse' on a large sign outside the building. "Welcome to the House of Mouse, the one place you want to be at to meet the stars and watch cartoons with them to boot."

The two headed into the building, where Gabriel found himself having a sense of nostalgia at seeing the interior. It was just like how he remembered it in the show, with only a few modern amenities added to keep the place up to date. Going into the backstage area, Gabriel and Jasiri were met with the iconic Sensational Six: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.

"You finally made it!" Goofy greeted the duo, shaking Gabriel's hand.

"Nice to see you again too, Goofy," Gabriel replied with a smile. "So, Mickey, you called me here for something, right?"

"And I'm glad you came quickly," Mickey said. "We were planning to put on our big winter show this year, but then trouble arrived."

"By 'trouble' he means that no-good Pete," Minnie said with a frown. "He's always tried to run our club out of business, but he's taken it a step further this time."

"And you can thank Daisy for this one," Donald said, glaring at the other duck in the room.

"How was I supposed to know he'd take the bet that seriously?" Daisy defended herself. She then sighed and looked to Gabriel. "Pete came in trying to cancel our show, and I joking said that we could put on a show even without Mickey being the star."

"And Pete decided to make a wager out of that," Mickey continued. "If we can put on a full three-act show, including a prelude act and cartoons in-between the acts, then he'll sign over the deed to the club full-sale, no strings attached."

"So you guys just have to put on a show like you normally do? That doesn't sound too hard," Jasiri said.

Gabriel shook his head. "Knowing the type of guy Pete is, he probably gave you some unreasonable demands and will most likely try to sabotage us as soon as we start succeeding."

"Pete said we can't have any actors for the show," Goofy said.

"He said 'characters,' Goofy," Donald sighed.

"So we'll need some fresh new talent for the three acts," Gabriel noted. "I can cover one of those, but the other two will have to be filled out by other guests to the Magical World."

"Why don't we invite our friends to help out?" Jasiri suggested.

"Great idea, Jasiri," Gabriel said. "I'll have to make a few calls, but that just might work. Any other rules we have to follow, Mickey?"

"We'll need another host for tonight, and us here at the House of Mouse can only perform in the preshow act," Mickey said.

The raven nodded. "Don't worry, you guys. We're going to make this the best House of Mouse show ever, beat Pete at his own bet, and have fun while doing it!"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered.

[***]

In Fantasyland, Silver was humming to himself "Someday My Prince Will Come" as he polished the carousel horses. Just as he reached down to apply more soap to his sponge, a red-furred squirrel came running up to him, carrying a scroll in its mouth.

"Oh, hey there, little squirrel," Silver said, setting down his sponge to pick up the rodent. "What do have there?" Taking the squirrel, the boy read the message inside. "Gabriel wants my help, and it's a request from Mickey himself!? I'd better get going!" He let the squirrel hop onto his shoulder as they ran off towards Main Street.

In the Enchanted Forest, Mia was practicing her lightsaber skills, with the Wind Spirit Gale throwing objects at her to train with. After a few swings, the girl turned off her blade and took a seat on the ground, just in time for Kristoff and Sven to come over.

"You're getting really good at that," Kristoff said.

"Yeah. Once I'm ready, I think I'll seek out a Jedi Master so I can get some real training in," Mia said.

"In the meantime, I've got a letter from your friend Gabriel," Kristoff said, handing over a letter to the girl.

Mia read through the message, then turned to Kristoff and said, "Do you think I could borrow Sven? It's urgent that I get to Main Street as soon as possible."

"What do you think, Sven? Want to go on an adventure with Mia?" Kristoff asked. He then took the reindeer's mouth in his hand and said in his Sven voice. "I'd love to, but don't forget about me, okay?"

Mia smiled and hopped onto Sven's back. "thanks, Kristoff! I'll send him back as soon as possible!"
In the Mysterious Tower, Logan was using his sketchbook to conjure up Magic Brooms to help him with his chores in the tower. He'd grown as a sorcerer and was now training with both Rachel and Ali to become better sorcerers.

"Woah, careful there!" Logan said as one of the brooms was about to start dumping water over the stairwell onto Ali.

"Should we really be using the brooms for this?" Ali questioned. "Remember what happened when Mickey used them?"

"As long as we help out ourselves, we should be fine," Rachel assured her.

"Students," Yen Sid called, bringing the three to attention. "You have been summoned by the Dream Keeper to assist him and my former apprentice in a matter of great importance."

"Gabriel needs our help?" Logan said in disbelief.

"And Mickey as well," Rachel noted.

Ali smirked. "About time he hung out with us again. Come on, you two, let's go!"

Over in the Muppet Theater, Jacob was helping Scooter manage the latest Muppet Christmas Show, happy that he was able to hang out with his favorite characters. When his phone rang, the boy asked to step outside so that he could take it.

"Alright, Oswald, what's going on today that I need to do?" Jacob asked. He paused. "Oh, Mickey? Really now. Okay then, I'll head over as soon as possible." Jacob stuck his head in the door and shouted, "Scooter, I'll be back tomorrow to help with planning! Something just came up with my job!"

"Bring back some more drumsticks while you're out," the Muppet called back. "Animal just went through our last shipment."

In the jungle, Adam and Melanie were trekking through the forest on their quest to make a big find for SEA. Upon arriving at a temple, the two were disappointed to find that they had in fact ended up at the Rebel base on Yavin 4 instead of at an ancient tomb.

"How did we even end up on another planet?" Melanie questioned.

Adam shrugged. "That shaman guy we met was a bit out his head. Literally- he was selling heads, remember?" He went over to one of the Rebel Troopers and waved. "Hey there, can you help us get back to Animal Kingdom? We got turned around a bit by a mad shaman. He was pretty angry when I accidentally sent his head roll. That was literal, by the way, the heads he was selling got sent all over the place."

"I think the Jungle Cruise puns are getting to you, dear," Melanie said.

"Are you Adam Jackson?" the man asked.

"Why, yes I am," Adam said proudly.

"We've received an order to tell you that you've been requested to Main Street by the Dream Keeper and Mickey Mouse," the Rebel Trooper said.

"It'll be nice to see Gabriel again," Melanie said.

"Aw, but I wanted to impress him with our big find first," Adam moaned.

At Spaceship Earth, Chris Inder was trying not to lose his cool as two girls, the twins Ana and Berry, were making a mess preparing a party for a person they just met.

"You don't even know this person's name yet," Chris said.

"Well you don't have to be here for the party with that attitude," Berry replied.

"Besides, the Mad Hatter doesn't need a reason to party, so why should we?" Ana added.

"The Mad Hatter is a crazy person," Chris rolled his eyes.

"Message for Inder, Message for Inder!" came a voice. The demigod turned to see a satyr running up to him, panting a bit from the run. "Hey Chris, we just got a message back at camp requesting you for a quest."

"Oh, a quest?" Berry jumped in.

"What's it for?" Ana said.

"Let the man finish," Chris interjected.

The satyr coughed and pulled out a piece of paper. "Your quest is to journey to Main Street and help Gabriel the Dream Keeper."

"Oh, we know him!" The twins said together. "Can we help as well?"

"Fine," Chris sighed as the girls cheered.

As the trio ran off, an alebrije dog flew down with a message in its mouth, giving a confused noise as to where the two girls had gone.

[***]

Back at the House of Mouse, Gabriel sat in the backstage as one by one all his friends came in. The only one missing was Soren, but soon the Jaquin was flying into the room as well.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Soren cheered, taking a place at the table. "So, why are we all here?"

"Everyone, Mickey needs our help," Gabriel explained. "The House of Mouse is under a threat to be closed down forever, and it's up to us to stop that from happening. Aside from the preshow act, Mickey and all the other Disney characters aren't allowed to perform."

"That's where all of you come in," Jasiri said. "We'll be splitting you up into groups to perform, a boys group and a girls group."

Soren raised his paw. "Can I really perform with the others? I'm not a human like the rest of you."

"Don't worry, little parrot jaguar thing," Berry said, picking up the Jaquin into a hug. "You can join our group. Our performance will be epic!"

"I'm not really one for singing," Jacob said, crossing his arms, Chris nodding in agreement.

"Then leave the singing to me," Silver said. "Performing on stage sounds intimidating, but if I'm doing it with other people, then I'll have all the confidence I need."

"We can use our magic to make our performance shine," Rachel said.

"Wait, won't we need a host as well?" Logan pointed out.

"That's what I'll be doing," Gabriel said. He put his hand in the middle of the table. "You all in?" The others put their hands over Gabriel's, with Jasiri putting her paw on top. "In the words of the Musketeers, all for one…"

"And one for all!" everyone shouted.


Author's Note

That's right, the big finale for this story will be the House of Mouse arc! This show was a big influence on me as a kid and introduced me to Mickey and his friends. It was also really cool seeing all of the various Disney characters interacting with each other, which makes it the inspiration for this entire story as well.

Also, a big, big thank you to everyone that submitted characters and ideas for this story. You all get to play a part in this final arc, so I hope you enjoy the good times!

Next Time: The House of Mouse opens with an act by the Sensational Six!