Fantasia Crisis
By Lord Akiyama
Inspired by "Crisis on Infinite Earths" by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Chapter Ten
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"That lion will die, Chernabog," Maleficent hissed. "I will kill him myself. Do you not see what he has done to my face?" She paced around the room, slamming her staff against the ground after every three steps. The scar on her left cheek was still fresh, the pain continuing to sting her face.
"You should be so fortunate to extract revenge, my dear Maleficent," Chernabog said through clinched teeth. His body was still smoking as he sat still in his chair to heal. "Even when I have completely healed and my body has fully adapted to my full strength, I cannot lay a finger on that blasted Hades without killing everything."
"I told you that man was of great concern," Maleficent shot at him.
"And I told you not to under estimate any of the twelve," Chernabog shot back. "Besides, you should stop this pacing and venting of your rage. You will lose your concentration on the remaining nine."
"Even at full concentration, I am having trouble keeping my lock on all of them," she said, slowly calming down. "In fact, I will surely lose lock on the captain."
"Do you think you can find a way to enhance your power to keep your lock on them?" he asked.
"No," she replied. "There is no way to enhance my power. Otherwise there would have been no other way except through Yen Sid for them to release my lock."
"That was quite impressive what that lion did to release your lock on the princess," he said. "How many can you guarantee a lock upon?"
"Five," she replied. "But how wise is it to allow the other four to be released from my lock? Would it not be easier for them to be retrieved?"
"I made no such suggestion to release four," he answered. "But eventually we will have to release them one at a time until we remain at five we are satisfied with."
"The problem with that is we no longer have a fix on the position of the lion and the princess," Maleficent said. "They are no longer in the village, but to which direction we do not know. If we release one and they free a second, we will have been quickly reduced from nine to seven. We cannot allow them to be retrieved so quickly."
"When The Horned King has recovered The Black Cauldron, it will not matter," Chernabog said. "Remember that they need all twelve to have a hope against me and The Spring Sprite has been eliminated."
"Even still," she spoke, "the longer we can delay them, the better you shall become when you have recovered."
"I have no doubt about that," he said. "But you will lose more than your concentration if you continue to remain locked on all of them."
"So I should release my lock on..." Maleficent quickly stopped before finishing. She thought for a moment before she spoke again. "I am now having trouble on both the captain and the outlaw. The outlaw has engaged in a situation that is disturbing my lock."
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"Are you sure you don't want any of the food I brought?" Ariel asked, setting herself underneath a tree and removing a bag full of food. "I brought plenty for a three week journey."
"The problem is my appetite would make the supply good for two days," Simba said with a grin. "Besides, I already have my own source of food. But you probably wouldn't like it." Simba went to a log and pushed it over with his shoulder. What Ariel saw was Simba beginning to munch down on some bugs.
"Goodness," she said. "How could you possibly eat bugs?"
"It's called living with a couple of outcasts," he answered after swallowing a mouth full. "Strange things can happen when you hang out with a meerkat and a warthog in a paradise untouched by any one else."
"Does your wife know?" she asked as she slowly began to nibble on her food.
"She tried it once to see if she could stomach it the way I could," he said. "She's a trouper, let me tell you that."
They continued to eat, occasionally asking one another a question when Simba suddenly stopped eating and froze in place. He slowly raised his head in the air and looked about. Ariel stopped eating when she saw Simba like this. She quickly placed the food back into her bag and stored it somewhere close to the tree. She then unsheathed the sword, staying close to the tree. Simba continued to look around for a moment.
He suddenly leaped back as it appeared the woods exploded. A large grizzly bear appeared, roaring in rage. Simba quickly leaped out of the bear's line of sight before reaching Ariel. "It wasn't after us," he whispered, "but I don't know if he saw us any way."
The bear turned to where it entered from, slowly taking a step back. Simba and Ariel watched as three arrows began to fly at the bear. The bear had made a timed swipe that smashed all three. The bear roared again when a figure in ragged clothing swiftly leapt out of the trees out of the bear's line of sight. The figure landed on the ground and moved swiftly into the other side of the road. The bear turned to catch a blur entering the forest. The bear was about to start after the figure when it stopped and began to sniff.
"Uh oh," Simba whispered. The bear turned toward them and began to growl loudly. "He's spotted us. Move!"
Ariel jumped back as Simba leaped from the tree and charged after the bear. This was a new experience for him. He had never encountered a bear before, only hearing about it from some of the other twelve. He leaped up against the bear and the battle was on. He swiped at the bear's body before it swiped at him. Simba flew to the ground, but quickly pushed himself back up. They growled at one another before Simba began to slowly circle his foe.
The bear quickly turned to smash incoming arrows, causing the figure to leap out of that side of the forest and reenter the other side. Simba took advantage of the distraction by leaping on the back of the bear and biting down hard on the neck. The bear roared in pain as it swiped at Simba. Simba bit hard, but decided to leap off quickly before he could get connected with a swipe. Simba charged with a shoulder against the stomach. The bear grunted and then smacked at Simba. Simba roared in pain as he slid against a tree.
The bear shook its head and began to step toward the lion when a sword was slammed into its shoulder. The bear roared in immense pain as Ariel struggled to keep to keep the blade in place. As the bear looked down to see the wielder of the blade, three arrows connected at its chest. The bear roared louder in immense, gasping for air when it saw Simba in the air with a swipe at its face. And then all went black.
Ariel released the blade as she watched the bear fall dead to the ground. Simba limped a little around the bear, making sure it really was dead as they both breathed heavily. Ariel took steps back before leaning up against a tree as Simba sat on the ground, licking his paw. The looked up when they saw the figure walk up to them, removing the hood that cover the face behind it.
"Good to know you still have the fight within you," the figure said. "I didn't think you had it in you, Ariel, to be quite honest. You on the other hand, Simba, proved without a shadow of a doubt that you are king."
Ariel looked at him with narrowed eyes and a surprised look. "Y-You recognize us, Robin?" she said.
"Sure I do," he said. "I kinda figured Maleficent had a hold on me like she did with young Aladdin."
"How can we be sure that you're truly not under her lock?" Simba asked.
"I don't know," Robin shrugged as he walked up to the dead bear. "That is completely up to you to decide. I will say this, the heat of battle seems to be one good way to break her concentration. You think less about anything she wants when you are battling for your life. Luckily I ran into this poor chap."
"It really is Robin," Ariel cheered, clapping her hands together.
"Indeed I am, your highness," Robin smiled as he bowed to Ariel. "These two years have been rather confusing for me, especially under lock. One thing is for sure, very much everything is turned upside down and a little sideways as well."
"Don't I know that," Simba said. "And will still have the others to find?"
"Won't our mission be tougher with The Spring Sprite gone?" Robin asked, removing the arrows from the bear. "I saw what happened to her, mate."
"From what the apprentice told me, she's more than the spirit of seasonal spring," Simba replied. "He said she was a spirit of life and rebirth and that would have to wait for her rebirth before the twelve could be together again."
"That I'll have to see for myself," Robin said, cleaning the arrows with a cloth. He sighed as he examined the fallen body before him. "Well then, I haven't had much to eat within the past few days and I'm sure the fur would do nicely should we run into foul weather."
"I suspect we'll be having plenty of foul weather ahead, Robin," Simba said.
to be continued...