*Note: This chapter does take place before the events of Bambi, but that story won't be the main focus of the chapter. It just serves as the new world Frankie and hre companions have traveled to after leaving Monstropolis.

Chapter 15: Goodbye for Now

The Border that we found in Monstropolis led to yet another world in Disney, and we all ended up in a nice world that was home to a calm forest with a cool breeze flowing through. Kind of like how I wanted the first world I traveled to be before I ended up in Aladdin's world when I first started my adventure. The map we had wasn't too clear about which world we were now in, but it did say that the next Border was another day's travel. So, we spent what little daylight we had going in the direction it was in.

However, when night fell and we were still nowhere near the Border -close to halfway, I think- we realized that we needed to rest for the night. Unfortunately, we were so deep in the woods that there was no sign of civilization for miles.

"Looks like we're camping out for the night." I stated.

"Ooh! Sounds fun! I'll help set it up." Genie beamed at the idea of the four of us camping. He then went off to make us a campsite like these woods were a campground, complete with a fire circle and chairs to sit in around the circle.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Panic asked when we stopped walking. "What if somebody finds us?"

"I'm more worried about ticks getting me than people finding us." I told him. Yeah, that shows you all how much I like the outdoors. Don't get me wrong, nature is beautiful, especially when it's untouched by humans, but the ticks? Just thinking about those blood-sucking, Lyme Disease carriers digging their heads into my body makes my skin crawl. And with my current outfit being my pajamas from back home, I had very little to protect my face.

Pain looked over at Genie's progress before getting an impressed smile on his face. "Hey, look at that." he said.

We all looked and saw Genie had finished up with the campsite, and even magicked up some hammocks in between some trees -one for me and two for the imps. A relief because my hips do not do so well on hard surfaces. Genie sat down in one of the chairs around the fire circle and was holding four weenie roasters in one hand and a tray of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers in the other.

"Anyone for s'mores?" he offered.

I was starving. I think the last time any of us had a decent meal was during that celebration back in Atlantica -which underwater cuisine is pretty tasty, I have to admit. So, the idea of the four of us dining on the traditional campfire snack practically made my mouth water. So, without a second thought, the imps and I sat with Genie around the fire circle and made s'mores.

"I can't remember the last time I went camping." I said as I watched my fourth marshmallow roast over the campfire. "I had to be eight-years-old, and my dad wanted to spend a Fall Break camping."

"You don't really talk much about your dad." Panic pointed out as he ate his fifth s'more. "Is he bad like your mom?"

"No. My dad's great." I explained. "And I think he'd really like to visit this place and meet you guys. He's about as nuts about stuff like this as he is about appliances, and he loves appliances."

"Well, we'd like to meet him someday." Genie said with a smile.

"Why does your dad love you and your mom hate you?" Pain asked. "I thought it was both parents' jobs to love their kid?"

"Because I exist? Because I'm not her quote-unquote "golden child" of an older son?" I listed off what I thought were Mom's reasons that she hated me. "Because I want to have fun with my friends in ways she thinks are illegal?"

"You do illegal stuff?" Panic asked.

"Depends on your take on painting abandoned city property." I said as I ate my s'more.

The teal imp thought about it for a moment. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"What about your dad?" Genie asked.

"He's not too bothered by it, but he does think that I could do better as a person." I admitted. "He's why I think I could be better."

"Like to be a hero?" Pain interpreted.

"Something like that, yeah."

"Is that why you're-" he stopped himself from repeating what happened back in Toaster's world and rephrased himself. "Is that why you want to help people?"

I gave a little shrug. "I guess so."

Genie then looked up at the night sky and then back at a watch on his wrist he had magicked up for comedic effect.

"It's getting pretty late," he stated. "We should probably get some sleep."

I agreed with him on that. I placed my marshmallow roaster down and helped Genie put out the fire. After he magicked up a bucket of water to douse the flames, I used the roaster to stir up the remaining ash and embers. When all was said and done, we all went to our hammocks -aside from Genie who started to go back into his lamp- so we could all have a good night's sleep.

I yawned as I climbed into my hammock. "Goodnight, guys."

"Night, Frankie." the guys all said to me right as I went to sleep for my 6th night in Disney.

Several Hours Later

A rustling noise woke me up from my sleep. It was nearly dawn when I woke up, but I still peeked out from my hammock to see if it was Genie or one of the imps was up and moving around, but they were all still asleep. If someone else was here, then they were probably spying on us, and with the two easy worlds we've traveled to in a row, I was worried our luck had run out and another villain had spotted us. So, I got out of my hammock and went to find whoever was out there, reluctantly leaving the others behind.

I wandered around the woods for a while before spotting an open meadow behind a tree line. And when I went to inspect it, those rustling noises came back. I hid myself behind a tree and peered out from it, expecting to see some evil maniac lurking about. But there was no villain, or any other human for that matter. That thing making the rustling noises was just a female deer wandering about.

The doe's ears raised in alert when she sensed that I was near, and the moment she looked up and saw me, all I could do was stare at her back. I had never seen a deer so close before, let alone see an actual deer since I grew up in a city, but there was something about that animal that made me feel like I was honored to be in her presence. I carefully crept out of my hiding spot, slowly enough not to spook the deer, and held a hand out for her.

The deer hesitated at first, but I guess she sensed that I wasn't a threat and decided to slowly approach me as well. I stopped moving the moment she got super close to my hand so I wouldn't scare her off. The deer sniffed my hand, and when she finally knew that I meant no harm to her, she let me pet her head. And, gotta tell you, deer are a lot more soft than they look.

I probably had spent ten minutes petting the deer before I heard more rustling noises approaching. The doe's ears perked up again and she turned her head towards the direction the noises were coming from, but she didn't run off. That meant that it wasn't a human or a predator approaching us, but some other animal. And when I saw what animal it was, I could hardly believe my eyes; A stag, probably the tallest and most regal looking deer I had ever seen approached the doe and I, but this wasn't any normal stag.

"The Great Prince…" I quietly breathed in realization.

I bowed my head in respect for him. The prince stared at me, his eyes narrowing at me as he was determining whether or not I, a human, was allowed in his presence or his forest. But the doe, in silent talk, gestured towards me. Neither deer were making a single sound, but I could tell that they were talking about me and how I didn't hurt the doe before the prince showed up. But there was something else, something particular about these two deer that seemed off. I then noticed that the doe looked a little on the stout side in her belly, indicating that she was pregnant and was expecting a fawn pretty soon.

A pregnant doe standing with the Great Prince?

My eyes widened in realization, only this was a happier one. That doe was Bambi's mother, and at the moment, she was still pregnant with him. This meant that the events of the movie had yet to happen, and that my appearance hadn't broken any sort of world order so far as I was aware. A rarity on my adventure thus far.

The two deer then gave me a goodbye nod as they walked away towards the meadow. Seeing those two together before their son was born was a very sweet sight to see, especially since they never interacted after the fact. Even after being in their world before their son's story began felt special. It's hard to explain, but I guess after being in all the other worlds before or during their stories, I felt like I was growing closer to both those worlds and Disney entirely. Which made me realize that leaving Disney was going to be much harder than I had originally thought.

"Frankie?"

I gave a frightened noise before I whipped my head around, but thankfully, it was only Genie who had found me and not some creeper or villain I had met before.

"Genie!" I said in relief. "I didn't hear you follow me. Did you come to bring me back to the campsite?"

"Yes and no. I needed to talk to you about something." he explained to me. "Something kinda important."

This was serious. If it wasn't that important, he'd tell both me and the imps or wouldn't have bothered following me, but if he followed me all this way and waited until after the deer left to talk to me, this was really serious business.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, that's just it. I can't exactly explain it."

Maybe I stand corrected.

"Okay, you're kinda losing me here." I said to him. "A little more than you usually do."

"Look, I like helping you out. You're my buddy!" Genie started explaining before a worried look came onto his face. "But, I keep getting these visions about Al and Agrabah in trouble, like something's calling me back."

"You're just a little homesick, is all." I told him. "I mean, I get that."

"No, it's something else." he shook his head. "I think it's a premonition."

"Like a future vision?"

"Yeah."

I stood there with a puzzled expression. "Can genies even see the future?"

"Sometimes," he said before getting onto a more serious point. "But the more worlds we go to, the stronger the premonitions get."

He then turned himself into an old fortune teller, complete with a crystal ball and a necklace of charms, and threw some bones onto the ground, and watched as the bones stood up and started shaking as if they were scared of something.

"The bones say danger will come to Agrabah." he said in an eerie voice.

I blinked at the bones in confusion. "They do?"

"The bones never lie." Genie said before turning and speaking back to normal. "They may joke about your weight, but they never lie."

If Genie's premonition was as bad as he and the bones say it was, then I knew what had to happen. Since Genie was free, then there was no point in forcing him to stay with me on my adventure. And if Aladdin was in trouble or going to be in trouble, then he needed help more than I did. I know that he could take care of himself, but with a friend like Genie, Al could use the help. Besides, Genie's probably seen the whole world and more by now like he always wanted. So, there was probably not much else for him here with the imps and I.

"I understand." I finally said. "If that premonition is calling you back to Agrabah to help Aladdin, then I won't stop you."

"But what about you and the imps?" he asked. "I don't wanna leave you guys here by yourselves. What if you still need help finding the king?"

"We'll make do with what we got." I assured him. "Don't worry about us."

"Hey, with all the trouble you seem to get yourself in, how could I not?" Genie said as we started heading back to the campsite.

Five Minutes Later

Genie and I explained his premonition and that he had to leave back for Agrabah to the imps when we got back to the campsite. To be honest, I expected the imps to argue back and say that we need someone like him to stay with us on my quest, but considering as how they were speaking from one freed former prisoner to another, I was surprised to see the imps understand why Genie had to leave and couldn't stay with us on the adventure any longer.

"Take care of yourself, big guy." Panic told Genie.

"Yeah, and next time we see each other," Pain added. "Well, uh, maybe you could show us this Agrabah place. You and Frankie make it sound kinda cool."

"Maybe sometime, fellas." Genie smiled at them. "Try not to cause trouble for Frankie."

"No promises, but okay." Pain said.

Now came the hard part. I knew that this was probably the last time I'll ever see Genie if I never came back to Disney, and since he's been nothing more than a true friend to me during my adventure, this goodbye was going to be super hard on me.

"I'm gonna miss you, Genie." I tearfully said as I hugged him goodbye.

"You too, Frankie," he told me -getting equally as choked up as I was. "And no matter what anyone says, you'll always be a hero to me."

That meant a lot coming from him. We broke off the hug, and Genie gave me the map he had held onto for most of the adventure. Indicating that I was the one in charge of it now, and I wasn't planning on losing or destroying it like I did the spell. Genie then magicked away the campsite before he floated up into the air, reluctantly ready to leave.

"Say "hi" to your pops for me." he told me with a smile.

"I will." I assured him as I waved goodbye. "Tell Aladdin I say "hi".

He gave me a nod, and just like that, Genie disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Indicating that he left back for his home in Agrabah.

"I'm gonna miss him." Pain said after a moment of silence. "He was pretty fun to have around."

"Me too." I agreed before shaking away the thought of Genie no longer joining us and started focusing on the mission at hand. "C'mon, let's get a move on."

To my surprise, Pain was the one who stopped me from walking off with a concerned look. "Hey, you gonna be okay?"

I gave him a reassuring nod. "I'll be fine."

And with that, the imps and I continued on to the direction the next Border was in. I had a more determined look on my face as I held onto the magic map. It was up to me now to find the king, I only hope the next world we go to will put us closer.