Fantasia Crisis
By Lord Akiyama
Inspired by "Crisis on Infinite Earths" by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Chapter Twenty-Three
---
For some reason, his head smacking against the deck following the punch hurt a little more. It was probably because of the wood, but it didn't matter to him. "Ow," Chris muttered in a chuckle, rubbing the point on his head that hit the deck.
"That's all you have to say?" Helga winced just a little from the effort. She hadn't really stopped to think of the repercussions to herself of decking Chris with the shape she was in. Honestly, it was still worth it.
"Well, I could say, 'I deserved that regardless of what I say,'" Chris shrugged with a grin. "Or I could go the ridicules route and say, 'Thank you, may I have some more.'"
"Either way, you're likely to get it," Helga muttered back.
Chris tried to chuckle as he got up. "Believe me when I say I did all I could to get back to you. I even tried to write you a letter. Which means it never made it past ol' Alexander."
"Oh, gee, you sent a letter, forgive me for ever doubting you..." Helga glared sarcastically through dark eyes. "Eight years, Chris! Eight! That's a long time to write a letter."
"A lot longer while you're getting tortured every night whether it be from the enemy or from someone who supposed to be your commanding officer," Chris sighed.
Helga stayed very quiet for what was possibly the longest two minutes of her life. "Everyone thought you were dead," she muttered at last. "I thought you were dead..."
Chris sighed again, stepping up to her. "With all that I had to go through, I probably should have been," he said. "Though the past two years have been extremely odd. Since when was the last time you woke up to find yourself conversing with talking dogs?"
"Every morning..." Helga shuttered.
"I'm sorry that I hurt you by not being there these past several years," he said, running his hand through her hair. "I wish I could take it all back. I really do."
"So do I, Chris," Helga sighed looking out over the water. "A lot has happened in those eight years."
"I could only imagine," he said, wrapping his arms gently around her waist.
"Hell, a lot has happened in the last week," Helga rolled her eyes, but leaned back into his strong frame anyhow. It was so oddly familiar and strange at the same time.
There was silence for a moment. Chris leaned his head in close upon her shoulder. "So who are these freaks we find ourselves with?" he asked with a grin.
"Other than how you just described them? It's hard to say," Helga smirked back. "There's some wizard or something they all go around calling 'the Master of Masters' and he's telling us we have to go rid the world of evil or some other such nonsense."
"And I thought I heard every ridicules thing in the world," Chris chuckled. "How much more bizarre can this be? And am I hearing right when I overheard some little girl saying you were turned into a mouse twice?"
Helga stiffened bolt upright. "Some little girl has a big mouth," she grumbled.
"How in the world did that happen?" Chris asked curiously.
"Would you believe me if I told you the first time it was willingly?" Helga sighed.
"What about the second time?" he asked.
"The second time..." Helga growled a little. "The same little girl with the big mouth has big, clumsy hands."
"I take it you want to do violent things to her," he grinned.
"Give me a little credit," Helga replied indignantly. "I don't massacre little children, only those old enough to fight back."
---
Everyone just turned their heads when Jafar appeared suddenly screaming. Chernabog rolled his eyes in frustration and The Horned King chuckled in amusement.
"I take it things aren't well," The Horned King said. Jafar glared at him for a moment as he breathed heavily in anger.
"I... have been... OVERTHROWN!!!" Jafar screamed in frustration.
"You should not have been so focused on ruling Agrabah," Chernabog said. "You should have been killing the twelve. And if I understand correctly, this was just what you were not doing."
"I was finding the street rat," Jafar said, "when this happened. I don't know how it happened, but I have lost complete control of Agrabah."
"How exactly did you lose control?" Maleficent said with an arched eyebrow.
"That I am not sure of," Jafar said. "Must be some mystical thing. Maybe Yen Sid has done something."
"Yen Sid would never waste his energy on such a worthless deed," Chernabog said. "No, something else is amiss. It cannot be Hades for he could care less about what everyone else does."
"Shall I search for you?" Maleficent asked.
"No," Chernabog replied. "You must remain locked upon this street rat. He is the last one left and we cannot allow them to retrieve him. With Shan Yu and his warriors eliminated, our task is becoming rather difficult." He thought for a moment and then turned to The Horned King. "We shall have to use The Black Cauldron," he said. "We have no choice but to breathe life to The Cauldron Born."
A smile came upon the face of The Horned King. "Thank you, dark lord," he said. "I shall perform your bidding."
---
"So you two are married, huh?" Simba asked, looking out at the sun rise in the distance. "I take it he doesn't want to wearing pirate clothing like you?"
"Simba, I don't even want to wear this ridiculous stuff, especially not soaked in wine," Helga made a small face as she spoke. "The last thing I thought I'd have to do anytime soon was laundry. Then again, that seems to be consistent with everything else," she added lightly touching the swollen flesh under her eye.
"Besides, you don't want me wearing pirate clothing," Chris said. "Remember what happened the last time I wore foreign clothing, Helga?"
"Christopher has one set of clothes and he'll wear them day in and day out, no matter what," Helga smirked. "He brings new meaning to the term casual."
Simba chuckled when the three saw Lilo walk up to them. "You probably want these," she said to Chris, handing him photographs before walking off.
Chris through all the photographs of the different stages of Helga transforming into a mouse. "Nice tail," he said.
"Give me those," Helga said grabbing for them.
"You know, you did looking kind of cute as a mouse," Chris chuckled.
Chris chuckled some more. "So, you plan on burning these pictures?" he asked with a grin.
"As soon as you hand them over I do," Helga said forcing a smile.
"Maybe I should just keep them," he grinned wider.
"Christopher..." Helga tried as hard as she could to keep her voice calm. "This whole 'being alive' thing, you've come to enjoy it, right?"
Simba began to chuckle himself before Chris finally handed over the photographs. "I know the feeling," Simba said to Chris.
"Smart choice," Helga nodded shoving the pictures into he back of her belt.
"Well, we're getting close to our friend Aladdin," Amelia said as she joined them. "According to the device, we'll be reaching a place to dock in another two hours."
"Make sure Robin is ready to go," Simba said.
"Swell, gives me time to try and track down a steak or something to put on my eye," Helga muttered.
"Ever thought about being nice to Robin for a day?" Amelia asked.
"Maybe for Christmas," Helga shot back smoothly without any hesitation.
In a mere blink of an eye, they were no longer on the ship. The ten were standing inside a gigantic room. "Can someone tell me what just happened?" Robin asked.
"You're not the only one," Simba said.
"Oh, I don't know, I'm rather getting used to it," Helga grumbled regaining her balance.
"Strange, I was kind of hoping to see the master of masters," said a floating blue figure.
"Well, I guess the appropriate question is who are you?" Hercules asked.
"He looks like one of the ancestors," Mulan shrugged.
"I think the more appropriate question is where are we?" Helga threw in.
"You are in my kingdom," a female voice spoke. Everyone turned to face her. "I am Princess Jasmine, the rightful ruler of Agrabah. I have come to understand that Aladdin was with the master of masters."
"Was is the key word, I'm afraid," Simba said. "We haven't seen him since the balance disruption two years ago."
"And you couldn't have just sent a telegram?!" Helga shot back rather annoyed. "I was kind of in the middle of something important."
"And that was trying to find Aladdin," Amelia said. "Not figuring out ways to stuff a little girl inside a gun barrel and firing it toward the ocean."
"I am not out for some little girl's blood!" Helga shouted. "I understand the impression you all have of me, but even I have my standards."
"Maybe we should get back to the issue at hand," Simba said. "Like how exactly we got here."
"By yours truly, my feline friend," the blue figure said with a smile. "I am the one and only, Genie of the Lamp! That's right, for only three wishes, you shall be granted your greatest desires in seconds flat or your meal is free."
"My first wish was to meet whomever Aladdin was summoned for," Jasmine said. "It appears you have some dealing with the master of masters?"
"He called upon twelve to help him stop some evil from taking over the universe," Simba said. "Two years ago, something happened that caused everything to, in a sense, turn upside down. We haven't seen Aladdin since."
"I told you that you should have just wished for Aladdin," a red parrot appeared. "But oh no, you wanted to meet these people. As if they had Aladdin with them, but I guess my proving a point was not so grand in your opinion, I'm so sorry."
"Quiet before I have you turned into a staff animal for good," Jasmine growled.
"If you're quite through, can we please get to the point?" Helga said folding her arms.
"Very well," Jasmine said, raising the lamp to shoulder level and then rubbing it. "Genie, my second wish is for Aladdin to be summoned before me."
"Hocus pocus, alakazam!" Genie said to laugh as sparks began to fly all around him. "You want it, you got it! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, a kid out of the streets of Agrabah and into the comforts of your own palace, heeeeeeeere's Aladdin!!!"
In mere seconds, Aladdin appeared before them. He looked very different. Ragged with long hair. Not to mention some facial hair beginning to grow.
"My goodness," Ariel gasped. "What happened to him?"
"Again, I would think you'd be used to this kind of thing by now..." Helga muttered. "I suppose it's too much to hope for that he's actually himself."
"I'd give him three seconds," Robin said. "Three... two... one..."
Aladdin began to violent lunge after anything that moved, screaming who they were and where he was. Everyone was careful not to get connected with one of his strikes.
"Here's a small thought for you," Helga said dodging his grasp and tripping him with her foot. "How about you try asking politely first without the violent confrontation?"
"What in Heaven's name has happened to him?" Jasmine cried, nearly running to him.
"He's been possessed," Amelia replied. "A witch has enslaved his brain and now he cannot remember anything from the past."
Jasmine looked at Aladdin for a moment, barely seeing the eyes of a man who captured her heart years ago. She sighed and rubbed the lamp again. "For my last wish, Genie, I wish for Aladdin to be released from this possession."
"Is that your final wish?" Genie said in a rather obnoxious appearance.
"Yes," Jasmine sighed.
"Well then, let's free Al's mind and set it right," Genie laughed, shooting sparks right at Aladdin. Aladdin screamed a little before shaking himself.
"Wha... what happened?" he asked.
"Oh you name it, it happened," Helga shifted her weight, "but in a nutshell, two years and a dime store witch with delusions of grandeur happened."
---
Maleficent screamed, nearly falling to the ground as she held her head. "I lost the lock!" she cried.
"That is all of them, Maleficent," Chernabog growled. "They are all nearly gathered once more. I suggest you do something very quickly, or else I shall have to do more than just fix the problem."
"How has this happened?" Jafar asked.
"I'm not sure," Maleficent replied. "One minute, I had him under my lock. The next, he was released. Something strange is..." She paused for a moment and began to think. "They have a genie."
Jafar looked shocked upon hearing this. He then became enraged. "Iago," he whispered. "That ignorant little--"
"We can deal with him later," Maleficent said with a smile on her face. "Rather, we both have a date in Agrabah."
---
Amelia held the lamp in her hand, examining it. "Fascinating," she muttered. "So you can grant any three wishes?"
"Well, not any three wishes, there are some minor limitations," Genie said. "Number one, I can't make any one fall in love. Wish it were that easy, but it's not."
"I think we're all better off for that," Helga replied. "What are the others?"
"Number two, I can't kill people," Genie said, cutting off his own head. "Too messy and might scare the kids."
"That's alright, I'm more of a hands on person myself," Helga smirked flexing her fingers. "Anything else?"
"And then there's number three," Genie said. "I can't bring the dead back to life. It wouldn't be too pretty now would it?"
"No, they just spring back on their own anyway," Helga sighed. "Alright, sounds fair enough, so what's the catch?"
"Aside from those three, you can wish anything you want," Genie said proudly. "Al already made two wishes. Made him a prince and then saved his life. Bird beak here wanted me to bring him to Jasmine, bring Jasmine back to normal, and then overthrow Jafar so that Jasmine could reclaim Agrabah. Jasmine wanted to meet you, summon Al, and then bring Al to normal. Not bad for a fine day's work!"
"Maybe we can use the lamp to make our job a little easier," Mulan suggested. "Aside from awaiting The Spring Sprite to be reborn, we could practically wish for this whole thing to end."
"How could we wish it to end?" Helga said putting her hands on her hips. "He can't kill Chernabog or anyone else for that matter and as long as they're still out there, I highly doubt they are going to just give up and go home. From my experience, every time you think you've solved a problem, it just leads to another one. If we're going to play around with this stuff at all, we need a little more insurance. First off, someone should just wish for unlimited wishes."
"First off, we should test him out before we go about doing anything more," Simba said. "Go ahead and wish for something Amelia."
"Very well," Amelia said, rubbing the lamp. "Let's see, how about I wish for all of us to be back aboard my ship."
"Testing are we," Genie said with a grin. "Well then, let's give to her and give it to her straight. Your wish, my dear, has--" Suddenly, a flash of lightning crashed upon the Genie. The Genie said nothing before before rapidly disappearing into the lamp.
"Your wish has been denied!" the tone of a familiar female voice said. All turned to see Maleficent and Jafar standing at the entrance door. "This has all been entertaining long enough, but now it is time I put an end to this once and for all."
"My thoughts exactly," Helga hissed drawing her sword.
"Oh, I'm afraid your idea of how to put an end to this is too fair for my tastes, my dear," Maleficent grinned, connected the staff to the ground. "For you see, I have more unfair ideals to put to work. And I want nothing more than to extract some revenge on that foolish lion who scared me!"
Seconds later, a ring of fire engulfed Maleficent and Simba. Another was made, with everyone else along with a grinning Jafar. "My, my, she is quite the feisty one, isn't she," he chuckled.
"Damnit, will everyone stop saying that!" Helga growled springing up with a forward kick.
Jafar swung his staff at her leg, knocking her to the ground and very close to touching the fire. "I was referring to Maleficent, you short-tempered wench!" he said.
Helga rolled quickly away from the flames. "Ok, congratulations, I think we just found a term I like even less," she sneered swinging her blade at his staff. If they could disarm him, she really didn't think he would pose much of a threat physically.
Simba quickly looked about him at the fire before locking eyes with Maleficent. "All this for a scar?" Simba said.
"It is more than a scar, you pathetic fool," she hissed. "You dare lay your paw upon me, believing that you could match wills with me." Her voice suddenly seemed to echo as Simba noticed she was beginning to transform. "Now, you shall know my true power and it shall be hopeless for you to ever defeat me!"
Simba watch in horror as Maleficent began to tower before him. She was no longer human. She was a dragon. And she began to laugh.
Everyone tagged along and followed Helga's lead. However, Jafar seemed to be expecting this and blocked every shot that was made at him. He quickly unleashed a wind force that blew everyone to the ground. "You are going to have to do better than that if you hope to defeat me," he chuckled. "In fact, you might have to do a lot more." Jafar laughed as he began to transform himself into a giant serpent. "Try your best shot," he laughed. "I doubt you will ever draw blood against me!"
"It's not going to be enough to draw blood," Helga murmured under her breath. "At that size, it would be like a pin-prick. We need to even the odds."
Beast leaped forward to attack, only to be knocked to the ground by Jafar's head. Hercules tried the same, only to be smacked to the ground by the rattling tail. Robin fired arrows, only to be snatched by the villain's mouth. Jafar laughed as the heroes began to wonder just how they could possibly defeat him.
"Blast it all," Amelia said. "Hercules, you and Beast head for the tail and see if you can use some of your strengths there. Aladdin and Stitch, you're up front. Helga and I will go to the left, Mulan and Robin to the right. Try to stay out of view, Ariel. We're going to need that sword of yours soon."
"You think this is going to work?" Beast asked Hercules as they made for the tail.
"Who knows," Hercules responded. "At this point, I'm beginning to see that there are forces greater than Gods."
"Do you think maybe we're in over our heads?" Mulan asked Robin.
"My dear, we've been over our heads the minute we met Yen Sid," Robin replied as they made for the right side.
"As long as he doesn't start sprouting more heads, someone should be able to get a shot in," Helga muttered lifting her sword again. "By your leave, captain."
Simba leaped as quickly as possible, dodging the flames shooting out of the dragon's mouth. He was beginning to tire, needing to act quickly before he gets caught. He looked and made a leap for the tail, clamping down upon it. The dragon roared and then turned her attention to him on her tail.
"Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving," Simba thought as he leaped away before the dragon shot flames at him.
Jasmine watched as the flames intensified, unsure of what has happened to the others. All she could see were the transformed figures of Jafar and Maleficent. Iago was rubbing the lamp frantically with no luck of the Genie appearing.
"This is not working," Iago yelled in frustration. "Either this is because we used our wishes or that witch placed a spell on him that can't be broken!"
"Keep trying," Jasmine cried. "We're not giving up on them!"
"And I thought I've seen everything," Amelia muttered as she positioned herself with Helga to the serpent's left side. She drew her sword and looked to Helga. "We need to figure out his attack pattern so that we could appropriately strike."
Helga nodded. "It doesn't seem like he's putting a lot of thought into his attacks, though. He's just relying on brute strength."
"Wait for Robin to launch his arrows," Amelia said. "The distraction might help us on all the other sides."
"At this point, I'm open to suggestion," Helga muttered, still feeling the effect of Rourke's attack.
"Pull back, I'm about to launch," Robin yelled to Mulan. Mulan made another swing before quickly leaping toward the archer. Robin drew three arrows and fired them at once toward the head. The connected, causing Jafar to turn his attention to them. "Let's hope that distracts him enough for the others," Robin muttered.
"Go!" Amelia yelled, charging at the serpent.
Helga burst forward after the captain, planting her sword into the ground just before they reached the serpent and using it to vault herself up onto the tail. After a brief moment to catch her balance, she pushed her sword as far down into the mass of scales as she could manage.
Beast dug deep into the scares of the serpent. Hercules pounded hard. Amelia jammed her sword. Everyone had something with the serpent, who yelled for a moment. The serpent looked down on Helga and swung her off, causing her to land close to the fire.
Helga recoiled a bit as her arm brushed the flame, but quickly pushed herself up, trying to see if they had done any damage at all.
Aladdin rolled away from a strike the serpent tried to make with his tail. Aladdin noticed he was near Ariel and quickly grabbed the sword. Ariel did nothing to stop him, to afraid of what she saw. Aladdin charged after Robin launched another trio of arrows. It was almost just like back at Big Ben as Helga watched Aladdin slice through the air with the sword in hand.
The serpent screamed in sheer horror. A scream unlike anything they heard. The pitch was so loud that everyone covered their ears. Moments later, the screams began to echo as the serpent began to melt before them. When the echoes finally died down, there was nothing left but a puddle of black. Soon, the flames that surrounded them disappeared as well.
"It worked?" Aladdin said, catching his breath.
"Well done, lad," Robin said, patting him on the back. "This sword has saved our lives again. Truly is quite the weapon."
"Maybe we should save the congratulations for later," Beast said. "I think we need to focus on helping Simba." Everyone turned to the fires that surrounded Simba and Maleficent. Or rather Simba and a dragon.
"We have to get in there," Helga said already moving towards the ring of fire, but the heat was too intense and she had to step back, shielding her face with her hand.
Simba nearly dodged the flames that were shot at him, yet the intensity of the heat stung at his body, causing him to roar in pain. He slammed against the ground, trying to quickly get to his feet. The dragon laughed some more.
"No one can help you now," she said. "It is inevitable that you die by my hands!"
"Damn that lion for this," Helga muttered under her breath as she took a few steps back. Taking a deep breath, she ran forward, jumping though the flames and rolling onto her shoulder as she hit the other side. Quickly pulling out her sword, she stood her ground between Simba and the dragon. More than likely, she was just going to end up a charbroiled briquette after this, but lately, she seemed to be doing a lot of stupid things.
"What, you didn't think it was going to be that easy did you?" she said as she stared up at the beast.
"Nice of you to join us, Helga," Simba said.
"Ah, another pathetic fool to kill," the dragon laughed. "This shall prove to be entertaining indeed." She shot fire from her mouth at the two, who quickly dodged in the same direction.
"So, did you tag along with a plan?" Simba asked.
"Other than trying to keep from ending up with a scorched throw rug, not really," Helga replied. "She said you scared her before, right? That means she's not invincible and at least to some degree flesh and blood. What we really need is a good hit with Ariel's sword," she mussed out loud.
"And you didn't bother to bring that with you?" Simba asked, arching his eyebrows.
"Hey, I'm making this up as I go, alright?" Helga shot back. "Aladdin!" she shouted dodging another burst of flame. "The sword! Toss it over! And don't aim for the voice..." she added as an afterthought.
"The sword..." the dragon muttered. She watched as Aladdin tossed the sword over the fires. Narrowing her eyes, she smacked the sword away using her tail. "You shall not defeat me with Excalibur!" she cried, more determined than ever to burn Simba and Helga.
"Excalibur?" Amelia whispered. "No. It cannot be."
"Upon my word," Robin said as he watched the sword land near Jasmine. "Could it really be Arthur's prize?"
"Damnit!" Helga cursed as she watched the sword fly away from them. "Wait... Excalibur? Oh she can't possibly mean..."
"Move!" Simba yelled, leaping as he pushed himself and Helga out of the way of incoming fire. "Is that supposed to be something important?" he asked while catching his breath.
"No, I mean, it's just a fairytale," Helga replied between breaths. "Excalibur was the sword given to Merlin by the Lady of the Lake but then..." she stopped short, "if Merlin is real, then... the sword must be, too. The fact that she's afraid of it says enough."
"Help us out, guys!" Simba yelled. "We need the sword!" Simba and Helga quickly went about dodging the flames again, hoping the others heard.
"You heard him," Amelia called. "Robin, we need you to distract her."
"I'm running low on arrows, ma'am," he said.
"Then launch them when we're ready to throw the sword," she said. "Beast, you're pretty quick enough. Get the sword. Everyone else, find something to throw."
"She wants me badly, so I'll distract her," Simba whispered to Helga. "You try to get some swings at her while the others get the sword."
"With pleasure, though I think I'm just going to succeed in making her angrier," Helga muttered back. "I hope they're quick about this..."
"Let me know when to throw it," Beast said, returning with the sword.
"Robin, get ready," Amelia called. Robin drew three arrows and pulled them back to launch, nodding to her that he is ready. "Both of you, now!" Robin launched all three arrows toward the dragon with Beast tossing the sword seconds later.
Helga lashed out at the enormous body of the beast, but the scales were like iron. By all appearances, she was doing more damage to her own sword than the creature.
"Simba!" she shouted as she saw the faint gleam off the sword as it once again flew through the air.
The dragon caught sight of the sword and was about to swing her tail when arrows rained down upon her. Simba quickly took advantage of the distraction by leap for the sword. He clenched upon the hilt and took a chance at throwing it at the dragon. As the dragon shook away the arrows, the edge of the blade was injected into her heart. The dragon screamed in terror, much like when Jafar was killed.
The dragon began to breath heavily as she reverted back to her human form. Maleficent stared in horror of the sword sticking through her. She looked back up at Simba as rage came over her. The feeling passed when her expression stopped suddenly cold. Black mist came out of her as she fell to the ground. The mist engulfed her and moments later all that remained was Excalibur.
Simba sighed, nearly collapsing upon the ground. He watched as the flames died down and the others were able to pass through. They quickly went to the both of them, checking to make sure they were alright.
"I swear, you do something like that again..." Helga glared at Simba, though there were faint, ever so slight traces of a smirk on her face.
"Me?" Simba chuckled. "You're the one who willingly jumped into the action this time."
"I have no idea what you're referring to," Helga replied indifferently. "I just hate the smell of scorched fur."
---
"I still can't get him out," Aladdin said, rubbing the lamp. "Looks like she left some kind of spell on it to keep him in."
"Looks like we'll have to wait for one of the wizards to do something about it," Simba sighed. "Problem is, we were brought here by him. Meaning that since he's trapped in the lamp, we're walking back to the ship."
"Great." Helga muttered. As much as she wouldn't admit it out loud, she really wanted to get back to Christopher. "Do we even have any idea which direction that is?"
"The nearest port seems to be just south of here," Amelia said, looking out the window into the distance. "At best guess, maybe a day and a half journey at the least. Two if we rest during the trip. We better get some rest now."
"Well isn't this just wonderful," Helga turned a somewhat icy gaze on Jasmine. "I hope you all see what good 'wishing' has done us."
"Easy Helga," Simba said, yawning. "She barely knew anything about what happened, so you really can't blame her."
"There various beds about the palace," Jasmine said. "You should be able to find something to suit you for the night."
"Thank you very much," Amelia said. "We're going to need the rest for sure."
"I doubt very much I'm going to find something to suit me..." Helga muttered under her breath already walking off in search of someplace to just get away from everyone else for a while if nothing else.
"Is that woman always like that?" Jasmine asked Aladdin.
"I think we barely scratched the surface," he replied.
to be continued...
Thanks to GoblinQueeen, who provided the dialogue and some action for Helga.