Ha, haha!" Mulan giggled. "I'm free! Free as a bird! Free to frolic in the fields with the does and their fawns!"
"That may be, Mulan the Mighty Huntress, but you will never escape me now!" Dr. Mordrid shouted, sending a glow of yellow magic towards Mulan.
"Ah!" she screamed as it hit her with great force.
"It appears my powers are too much for you," Mordrid pointed out.
Mulan turned into a rabbit and cackled, "Ha! That's what you think!" She hopped away.
He chased her.
"You know you have no power over me in that state," Mulan called back to him.
"That may be. But I can cast a spell!" He thrust his arms out and the might huntress was frozen in place.
"What? What?? WHAT????" Mulan screeched. "I-I can't move! No!! This can't be happening!"
"But it is! I've beaten you, mighty huntress. Face it! I am more powerful than you will ever be!"
Mulan strove to move. She strove and strove and strove. But it was all to no avail--she couldn't even move her little bunny tail! "MORDRID!!!!" she cried, her voice filled with fury. "I shall kill you!! THAT IS MY VOW!!! YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE MY WRATH!!!!!"
Suddenly, a great tiger bounded into the clearing. It ran towards Mordrid and leapt at his chest, knocking him forcefully to the ground.
"Rajah!" Mulan yelled. "Free me!"
Rajah looked torn. He wanted to kill Dr. Mordrid, Master of the Unknown, but his mistress called to him. What to do, what to do? But finally, with a threatening growl in Mordrid's direction, the giant tiger pranced merrily to the Mighty Huntress.
"Rajah, my pet," she purred. Rajah purred as well. "The Doctor is mine. He will find, if he tries to escape, that his way is barred by all the animals of the forest."
Indeed, when Mordrid rose to his feet, intending to make his escape, he found animals ringed around the clearing. Big animals and small animals; animals of all shapes and sizes and colors; lions and tigers and bears, oh my! and also several mobile forms of plant life that wanted a piece of the action.
"You'll never get away with this, Mulan!" he shouted. "The forces of good will prevail, and you will be banished from this dimension!"
"Ha ha ha. Ha...haha...haha. Ha." Mulan enjoyed the sound of her own voice very much. "I think NOT! Doctor Mordrid, you and your pathetic 'forces of good' perish here and now, in this pleasant little forest clearing! Because you see these animals? These animals hate you! They hate your magic! They hate your voice! But do you know what they hate most of all?!"
Mordrid stared defiantly at her. "What?"
"They hate your blue jumpsuit! They want to know why they don't get jumpsuits of their own!" She cackled. "But I'm afraid they won't get the chance to know, because you'll be too dead to answer! Haha!"
Mordrid thrust his arms toward her, but no sorcery shot towards his adversary. "What?!" he murmured incredulously to himself. "She has no power of her own!" When he glanced back up, Mulan was advancing towards him. He realized he couldn't move, either. Whoa, that was wild, when did it happen? He didn't think that. The narrator did.
But anyway, he realized he couldn't move. Mulan was coming closer...there was no escape. But wait! The power of the mind was absolute! That was the first lesson every sorcerer learned! Of course!
He closed his eyes--actually, he didn't, because he couldn't move--and willed not his power back, oh no, but the animals in the clearing. Yes, it was the animals in the clearing--and of course the several mobile forms of plant life-- that he spoke to with his mind.
But he didn't need to speak to them. The animals were shocked and outraged at what Mulan had done to them. She had betrayed them! She had PROMISED to ask about the jumpsuits. She had. The does and their fawns had been there to witness it--she had said, "Cross my heart, sure as hell won't die, stick a needle in your eye". The animals of the forest were VERY upset at this chewed off end of the staff they were suddenly being offered.
And so just as Doctor Mordrid, Master of the Unknown, was about to meet his doom at the point of Mulan the Mighty Huntress's arrowhead necklace, the animals charged her! It was a veritable stampede of big animals and small animals; animals of all shapes and sizes and colors; lions and tigers and bears, oh my! and also several mobile forms of plant life who were definitely NOT going to miss out on any of this action! They swarmed over Mulan, stopping her before she could reach Mordrid, and boy oh boy they made her regret her broken promise! While she tried to fight the animals off, her spell on Doctor Mordrid was broken! She had stolen his powers using Rajah, who actually wasn't a tiger at all! He was a lens for focusing magic and he had focused Mordrid's to Mulan instead!
Doctor Mordrid was eternally grateful to the animals of the forest for their kind deeds. So in return, he raised his arms to the sky. Lightning flashed, blinding everyone in the clearing, and when they could see again, Mordrid was gone. But from the sky rained jumpsuits. Jumpsuits of all colors and sizes! Red and yellow and orange and green and purple and pink and white and gray and yes, even blue! The animals of the forest all raised their voices in a great cheer for Doctor Mordrid, Master of the Unknown. For on this day, not only had he give them their hearts' desires, but he had also made them see the error of following Mulan the Mighty Huntress and believing her when she promised things to them! Never again would they fall under her spell. Never again. Never. Ever.
Never.
Never.
~
"Men!" Ling shouted. "Let's saddle up! Lock and load."
The "men" consisted of Boots, Mush, Yao, Nuka, and Vitani. They all had guns. I don't know what kind but I know they're guns.
"I'm not a man," Vitani growled.
"Close enough!" Ling shrugged.
"Don't we have more men?" Yao asked.
"Yeah, 'de guys in my lodgin' house," Boots answered.
Several boys came down the stairs of the lodging house that Boots had spoke of.
There were: Snipeshooter, Racetrack Higgins, and Kid Blink (I know that's not SEVERAL but it's close enough).
"Boots, what's goin' on?" the dark-haired boy, Racetrack, asked.
"We're preparin' fer war." At Race, Blink, and Snipes's confused looks, he added, "Mulan 'de Mighty Huntress KILLED Crutchy. We need ta get 'er."
"Grab a gun!" Ling said happily. Wait, he thought to himself. I don't want this woman dead. What did she do to me? Nothing.
"Ling, you're coming with us," Yao stated. "We split up into search parties. One group going one way and the other group going the other way."
"Okay." Ling walked over to his group--Vitani, Race, Boots, Yao, and himself.
The other group was Blink, Snipes, and Nuka. Nuka had insisted that he be in the smaller group. It's more quiet that way.
As Ling's group set out into the darkening sky, Boots though to himself, My friends are dead. And there is NOTHING I can DO about it. Well, that's about enough of that.
"Boots!" Race called. "We've found something!"
Ling knelt down next to the dark figure. "What is it?" He looked up at Yao.
"HE is a Ferengi Starfleet officer," a new voice broke in. "And I would like to treat his wound."
"Who're you?" Ling asked in awe. The owner of the new voice looked like a real loser. It was amazing.
"Doctor Julian Subatoi Bashir." Julian's hair was swept back by a long and powerful gust of wind as the sky was flooded with a bright green light.
"Shield yer eyes!" Boots shouted, covering his eyes with his arm.
"Nog, are you alright?" the doctor spoke again, emphasizing his strong British accent.
"I'm fine, Doctor," the Ferengi mumbled. He sat up. Now everyone could see his big head, big ears and small eyes. His skin was the color of a nectarine (if you've ever seen one).
"Hey, Yao. He's uglier than you!" Ling laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and (just tell me when to stop) laughed.
"Shaddup!" Boots and Race chorused.
"Look, Doctor Bashir Subatoi or whatever your name is! We have work to do, if you don't mind," Vitani said angrily.
"A talking animal!" Julian gasped. "How peculiar..."
"Can we get back to work please?" Vitani asked. "You know how much I love to chat but we have work to do! Remember?"
"What? Is it all work and no play to you?" Boots asked. "Dat's kinda weird."
"When we've finished with Mulan, my brother and I will come back for you," Vitani growled.
"I get 'de point," Boots whimpered.
"Good." Vitani walked in the other direction.
