AN: And we're back! I hope you all didn't fret too long while I was on vacation. After getting some family bonding time and taking in the fresh mountain air, I'm ready to return to saving the magical world of Disney! Let's free the Animal Kingdom as the adventure continues!
When Adam and Rachel approached the Dino Institute, namely being that dinosaurs were running amok around the place.
"Huh, I thought the dinosaur amusement park was at the other studio," Adam mused.
"At least we know what Hex messed up over here," Rachel said. "Although how we're going to solve this problem is another thing entirely."
Poe hummed, then shot a magic beam at a T-Rex, transforming it into a goat. "I could transform these beasts into more tame creatures, but that might take a while, and drain me of my magic."
"Hey! Over here!" called a voice. The group looked to see a young African American girl that was surrounded by Cast Bots, all dressed like scientists. "If you want to know what's going on, how about you help me first!"
"You heard the kid, let's help here out!" Jake exclaimed.
Giving a nod, Rachel summoned her Keyblade and attacked the Cast Bots, with Poe providing magic blasts as support. Adam's robot arm could stun some of the robots for Rachel to finish off, while Jake used his Lasso to trip up the bigger robots and make them easy targets. Soon enough the Cast Bots faded into code cubes and the girl gave a sigh of relief.
"Whew, thanks for the save. This had to be the one day I left my inventions at home," the girl said. She smiled at the team as she continued, "Anyway, the name's Lunella Lafayette, but you can call me by my superhero name, Moon Girl. I was here researching dinosaurs with Dr. Marsh and Dr. Seeker when the time portal went haywire and brought all of these dinosaurs to present day. Do you know the ecological ramifications of this if we don't fix it in time!?"
"I'd say pretty bad," Adam guessed. He opened up the Golden Atlas and showed the team a map of the institute. "So, the anomaly here seems to be at the top of the building, which by the look of it is where the time energy is gathering."
Looking towards the building, the team could see that there was in fact a vortex forming above it. "That's a Timephoon, and a nasty one at that," Poe said. "If we don't close it, you can kiss this timeline goodbye like February 30."
"But there is no February 30," Adam said.
"Exactly! A timephoon erased it from existence!" the duck shouted.
"Luckily for us, the one person that can help us with the dinosaurs is up there too," Moon Girl stated. "The Cast Bots took him up there, probably because he can control other dinosaurs."
"So if we save your friend, then we can get the dinosaurs to go back into the time portal and stop the timephoon at the same time," Jake said.
Moon Girl gave a thumb's up, and the rest of the team made their way towards the Dino Institute. Cast Bots riding dinosaurs tried to stop them, but Rachel and Poe led the charge to defeat the robots while Adam, Jake, and Moon Girl tried to calm the dinosaurs down. The adventurer dodged a Utahraptor, warding off the beast with his robotic arm.
"You know, it would be nice if this book could actually help me fight, or get us up to the top of the building," Adam said. Flipping open a page, he was surprised when a page started to shine, and suddenly an Ice Giant came out of the book. "Woah, that's new!" he exclaimed.
The Ice Giant took out his ice club and slammed it into the ground, sending out spires of ice to corral the dinosaurs. Once that was done, the Golden Atlas glowed again, sucking the Ice Giant back in to where he came from.
"So the book can summon people from around the world," Jake said. "And even beyond by the looks if it. A great call there, mate."
"It was kind of an accident, but I'll take it!" Adam said, closing the book and using his cybernetics to climb up onto one of the spires. Rachel flipped her way up as well, with Poe turning into his raven form to follow them. The team quickly platformed across the ice, flighting off the flying Cast Bots until they reached the roof of the Dino Institute.
"There he is!" Moon Girl said, pointing to a red T-Rex that was being held in magic chains.
"You're friend is a dinosaur himself?" Poe asked.
"His name is Devil Dinosaur, and he's the best friend a thirteen-year-old could ask for," Moon Girl said. She went over and rubbed Devil's snout. "It's okay, boy, we're going to get you out of this. All we gotta do is break this lock."
"Easy," Rachel scoffed. Pointing Fatal Crest at the comically large lock, a beam of light came out of the end of the Keyblade. With a clicking sound, the chains were removed, and Devil Dinosaur stood up and gave a proud roar.
"Devil thanks you guys for helping," Moon Girl translated. "Now then, we need your help, boy. Let's get these dinosaurs back to their correct time!"
The red T-Rex nodded, then looked down at the other dinosaurs and gave a roar. Understanding the apex predator's orders, the giant creatures all went back inside of the building, with the rest of the team following to make sure they all entered the time tunnel. In no time at all the timephoon cleared up, signaling that the crisis had been adverted. Once the last dinosaur went through, a flash of light produced a key with a Mickey-shaped design on the handle. Jake jumped up and grabbed the key to look at.
"This must be what will unlock the zone that Hex locked off," Adam said. "The others will probably gather other keys as well."
"So our mission is complete," Rachel said, giving a high-five to Adam.
"Pardon me, but it looks like there's still one dinosaur still here," Poe said, pointing to Devil.
"Oh, Devil isn't from the past," Moon Girl explained. "He's from the Savage Land, a secret island near Antarctica where dinosaurs still live."
The group blinked at the absurdity of that statement. "What world are you from?" Adam asked.
"The Marvel universe," Moon Girl answered.
"Ah, that explains it," Poe nodded.
[***]
Over at Mount Everest, Logan and Silver were making the trek up the mountain, currently waiting at an expedition post for warm clothes and a train to take them to their destination. Silver shivered in his coat, cuddling up to Maximus for warmth.
"What's taking Logan so long?" he asked. "And why aren't you cold, Destiny?"
"Oh, that's because my body regulates heat better than humans," the whale shark explained.
"And that carried over into your human form, great," Silver rolled his eyes.
Hey guys, I got the train!" Logan called. He was pushing the mine train down the tracks, stopping once it got to the station. "This is the only one they had left, but it's out of fuel so I'll have to push you all up in it."
"That would take a really long time, though," Destiny hummed.
Silver looked at the train before getting an idea. He hopped onto the front and pointed his remote at the engine. With a discharge of electricity, the train came to life with a whistle. "Huh, it worked!" he cheered. "This is a coal-powered train, but the power of cartoon magic saves the day! Let's all hop aboard!"
Everyone hopped into the mine train as it chugged down the track, speeding through the grasslands at the base of the mountain before climbing up through it. As the weather got colder, Silver brought the train to a stop once the tracks went through a small temple of sorts. Logan took note of a depiction of a yeti in a nearby mural.
"You know, Adam would love to come and investigate this place," he said.
"Yeah, well, let's just get warmed up before going on," Silver said, preparing to start the train again.
As they climbed higher into the mountain, Maximus looked back at the temple as the ominous sounds of chanting came to his ears. The train past through a small cave as they got closer to the summit, which unbeknownst to the heroes was hiding some Cast Bots, these dressed like mountain climbers. They nodded to each other and scattered to interfere with the heroes' journey. As they exited the cave, Silver gasped as the tracks in front of them had been torn up.
"Brakes!" he shouted, pulling the train to a stop before they could crash.
"It must be the yeti!" Logan exclaimed. His pendant shined as he grinned. "Oh man, I can't wait to fight that thing!"
"I guess the only way to go now is on foot," Destiny said.
Before any of them could exit the train, a large Cast Bot dropped down and pushed their train backwards, forcing it to roll in the opposite direction.
"Everyone, hang on!" Silver screamed as they rocketed back down the tracks.
They went back through the cave they exited from, but more Cast Bots appeared and redirected the tracks, sending the heroes plunging into the depths of Mount Everest. The wheels sparked as Silver pulled on the breaks, with Logan laughing at the thrill while Destiny held onto Maximus for dear life. Silver did get the train to stop, and just in the view of some other nearby tracks as well.
"Okay, we should be safe now," he breathed.
Having spoken to soon, a large figure fell onto the tracks near them, tearing up the rails and giving a loud roar that echoed through the cave. The figure turned its eyes towards our heroes before jumping down their way.
"Go, go, go!" Destiny shouted, pulling on the lever that controlled the brakes. The whale shark underestimated her strength, however, and soon enough the train lurched forward with no way of stopping, turning it into a truly out-of-control ride.
The group screamed as they exited the cave, getting blinded by the light as they plummeted down the tracks at high speeds. They spiraled around the mountain, entering other caves as the roars of the yeti continued to get louder with each pass. As they got closer to the bottom, they entered one last cave, where in the darkness their train was suddenly halted and pulled off the tracks. Thrown from the train and into the snow, the heroes looked up to see the yeti towering over them, hot breath coming from their nose and brushing their faces. The yeti roared at them, but while Silver hid behind Maximus, Logan stood his ground and roared back, surprising everyone.
"I didn't know you could speak Yeti!" the yeti said, shocking them even more.
"YOU CAN TALK!?" they all exclaimed.
"Of course I can," the yeti said. "Hello, the name's Betty, Betty the Yeti. I protect Mount Everest from pesky travelers that defile the temples up here. They all run away when I try to ask them to leave, though. Such a shame that they get lost up here."
"So you're not a blood-thirsty monster?" Logan asked.
Betty smiled, showing her sharp teeth. "Nope, I'm just a friendly mountain guardian! Sorry about the scares, but people keep building tracks up here and I gotta get the message across that they shouldn't do that."
"So, what is it you like to do, Betty?" Silver asked, coming out of his hiding spot.
"I like my job, but my real passion is disco!" Betty said, clapping her hands to reveal a disco ball above them.
"A disco yeti, how about that," Destiny giggled.
"We're here because there was something for us to find on the mountain," Silver explained. "It's what those robots are protecting."
"Oh, those guys," Betty rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've had to deal with them too. A big pain if you ask me. I did find this weird key on one of them, though." She reached into her fur and pulled out a Mickey-headed key.
"That looks like a video game item, and since we're dealing with Hex, that must be what we're looking for!" Logan said.
"Then you can have it," Betty said, handing the key over. "If you'd like I can show you guys down the mountain so you don't get lost."
"That would be appreciated," Silver said, hopping on Maximus' back. "Especially since that train won't be going anywhere anytime soon."
"A bit sad that we didn't get to fight a yeti, though," Logan sighed.
"It's not fighting, but you should ask my cousin Harold about Yeti Basketball," Betty suggested. "Just stop over by the Matterhorn and tell him that Betty sent you!"
[***]
Off in the savanna of the Pride Lands, Gabriel and Soren ran through the grass towards Pride Rock. The raven was hoping that Jasiri would be here, as an encounter with her pack of hyenas earlier said that they saw her with the Lion Guard.
"Look at all the animals around here!" Sisu marveled. "And they all live together in harmony?"
"That's the Circle of Life for you," Gabriel explained. "The predators hunt only for the food that they need, and when they day they become the grass that the prey will eat. It's a cycle that both the Lion King and the Lion Guard all keep in balance to make the Pride Lands as prosperous as it is."
"It'll be nice to meet Simba and Nala," Marian nodded. "They come by to visit King Richard whenever they're in Nottingham."
Coming up over a hill, the group stopped when they saw an odd scene in front of them. Many animals were surrounding Pride Rock, but they weren't there for a ceremony. Most of the animals looked to be confused if anything.
"Well, that's not a good sign," Soren said. "Come on, let's get over to Pride Rock and see what's happening."
The group nodded, with Gabriel and Marian hopping on Sisu's back to fly over to the large structure. Once up there, they wandered into the cave where Simba and Nala were talking to each other.
"This really is a mess," Simba sighed. "The Lion Guard are out dealing with it, but now we've got a whole lot of scared animals outside our door."
"What are we supposed to tell them?" Nala asked. "With Zazu hurt, there's not much we can do."
Gabriel coughed to get their attention. "Excuse me, but what seems to be the problem here?"
"Oh Gabriel! Nice to see you again," Simba said with a smile. "And hopefully you can help us with our problem. You see, these weird robots appeared in the Pride Lands recently and started scaring all the animals. Vitani and the Lion Guard and dealing with them now, but the rest of our subjects aren't taking it so well."
"We sent Zazu out to inform them of the problem, but those robots got to him first," Nala said. She stepped aside to reveal the hornbill lying on his back sleeping.
"Oh dear," Marian gasped. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine, but they hurt his voice so he couldn't explain anything to them," Simba said.
"Without the majordomo around, it'll be hard to get the message out to everyone," Gabriel noted.
"We could do it for them!" Soren suggested. Hs smile then fell as he sighed. "Wait, that would take forever to do, especially as none of us know the layout of the entire Pride Lands."
As the group thought of what to do, they stepped outside to get some fresh air to think. Gabriel looked at his Dragon Gem, with Sisu peering over his shoulder at it. "So that thing can do what mine does, right?" she asked.
"Theoretically," Gabriel nodded. "So that means glowing, shapeshifting, fog, and controlling water. Not like those are really going to help us right now. Any thoughts, Soren?"
"I mean, Lion King isn't one of my favorite movies, but I still want to help where I can," he said. Pulling out his Infinity-Sided Dice he let it roll between his paws. "Think this could help?"
The raven shrugged. "It can't make anything worse happen, that's for sure."
With a role of the dice, the sides flashed before turning into the image of a pair of birds. With a magical burst of energy, two birds where lying dazed on top of Pride Rock, one being a white egret and the other a purple eagle.
"Hapana, what was that?" the egret asked, shaking his head.
"I think we're at Pride Rock," the eagle said.
"Hello Ono, hi Anga!" Soren greeted.
"I don't think we've met before, but I'm Gabriel," Gabriel greeted the two newcomers. "Sorry about the sudden summoning, but it looks like you're the ones we need to help us out."
"Jasiri told us about you the last time she visited," Ono said. "And if the Pride Lands are in trouble, then as former members of the Lion Guard we'd be happy to help."
"Agreed," Anga nodded.
"Then let's get started," Gabriel said. "We've got to tell all of those concerned animals down there that the Lion Guard are dealing with the threat to the Pride Lands. Anga, with your keen sight we can see where all the animals are, and Ono can use his brains to plan out our best route."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Ono said. "But only two of you can fly. That's not enough to get to all of the Pride Lands in a reasonable amount of time."
Gabriel looked at his Dragon Gem, closing his eyes and letting his magic go into it. With a puff of smoke, the anthropomorphic raven was now a black hornbill. "Hey, the shapeshifting works!" he said.
"Up top!" Sisu cheered, giving a high five to her partner.
"Sisu and I can help the animals down here near Pride Rock," Marian offered. "I'm well acquainted with the citizens of this kingdom for them to know me."
"I'll go with Anga to the north, while Soren, you go with Ono to the south," Gabriel said.
The two groups nodded, and with Anga giving her cry of "Anga lenga!" the four fliers took to the skies to spread the word. As they did, the Pride Lands brought to Gabriel a song that he sang as they flew over the grassy plains of Africa.
Ibabeni njalo bakithi ninga dinwa
Ningapheleliwa nga mandla
Siyababona bebefun' ukusiqeda
One by one
As they flew, Anga pointed out where animals where panicking, with the two birds flying down to calm them. First they landed at the watering hole, where the hippos and crocodiles were staring at each other distrustfully.
Ngeke balunge
One by one
Sizo nqoba
One by one
Ngeke ba lunge
One by one
Gabriel's song reached out to them, calming them down so that Anga could explain everything to them.
Ibabeni njalo bakithi ninga dinwa
Ningapheleliwa nga mandla
Siyababona bebefun' ukusiqeda
One by one
Ono did the same for Soren, with the Jaquin stopping some leopards from chasing the antelope.
Ngeke balunge
One by one
Sizo nqoba
One by one
Ngeke ba lunge
One by one
Ono went over to some birds to tell them about the situation, with those birds joining the group in spreading the word.
Sizo nqoba
Ngoba thina, siyazaz
Ngoba thina, siyazaz
Hearing the song, some of the friends of the Lion Guard started singing along, spreading the message to their fellow animals.
Ngoba thina, siyazaz
Ngoba thina, siyazaz
Marian and Sisu walking through the crowd near Pride Rock, with the dragon using her glow power to get their attention while Marian calmed them with her words.
Zobona bayabaleka
Zobona, zobon
Zobona, zobon
Zobona
Zobon, amagwala
Kovu and Kiara, who just got back from visiting Kion at the Night Pride, were met by Soren and Ono, who explained to them the problem. The two lions and future rulers of Pride Rock nodded in understanding, joining in the song as they too helped the heroes.
Ibala lami elimnyama
Ndiya zidla ngalo
Gabriel and Anga saw the hyenas on the edge of the Pride Lands and asked them to help. While they were a bit nervous, they agreed and let the song guide them in unity.
Ibala lami elimnyama
Ndiya zidla ngalo
Hearing the music, Simba and Nala went outside to see what was going on.
Ibala lami elimnyama
Ndiya zidla ngalo!
The two lions were surprised to see that all the animals of the Pride Lands were gathered, not in a panic but in song. Soon Gabriel, Soren, Anga, and Ono all returned to Pride Rock, with Gabriel landing on the ledge overlooking the animals and transforming back to his normal form.
Kumnandi...
Kumandi bakithi bo!
The raven led the animals in the final verse as the song came to an end.
Kumandi kwelakakith Eafrica!
With a smile, Gabriel gave a bow to the crowd, before turning back to the king and queen. "I think that solves the problem," he said.
"That song was fun!" Soren cheered. "Where'd you hear it from?"
"It came from the Pride Lands itself, but it's also in the Lion King musical," Gabriel said with a wink.
"King Simba!" called a voice. Looking down, everyone saw that Vitani and the Lion Guard and returned. "We drove those robots out of the Pride Lands, so everyone can return to their day now." She looked around at the animals gathered. "Although it looks like everyone is already calm."
"That's thanks to the Dream Keeper and his friends here," Simba said.
Vitani looked at the raven and smirked. "Once again you help my Guard out, Gabriel."
"It's no problem," he replied.
Suddenly, Ono and Anga started to glow. "Hapana! What's happening?"
"I think that menas the effects of my dice just wore off," Soren explained. "You guys will be back with the Night Pride soon enough."
"It was nice to help out in the Pride Lands again," Anga said before being sent back.
"Ono, before you go, I want to tell you something!" Soren said. He gave the egret and hug before laughing. "You're my favorite of the original Lion Guard, besides maybe Beshte. It was nice to meet you."
"Come by the Tree of Life any time," Ono said before being sent back as well.
With the problem resolved, the animals of the Pride Lands returned to their usual homes. Sisu and Marian came up to rejoin the rest of the team as well, with Marian holding a golden Mickey-headed key as well. "We found this while helping keep the crowd calm," she said.
Gabriel took the key, holding it up to the light. "I bet this will let us get through the barrier at the center of Animal Kingdom," he said. The raven then looked to Simba. "Hey Simba, Madoa told me on the way here that Jasiri was seen with the Lion Guard. Have you seen her?"
"Sorry, but I haven't," the lion king said.
"And we did see her, but she was acting weird," Vitani chimed in.
"How weird," Sisu asked. "Like I hit my head weird, or I think I'm king of an island while talking to a basketball kind of weird."
Vitani looked at the dragon confused, then shook her head. "I mean that she acted like we were still enemies back in the Outlands."
"Gabriel, do you think that Hex might have taken her memories?" Soren asked.
The raven looked concerned and hesitantly nodded. "Based on that information, possibly. Where did she run off to, Vitani?"
"She went out of the Pride Lands, to where the Tree of Life is," the lioness replied.
"That's our next destination, so let's hope she's there when we get there," Gabriel said.
Author's Note
So the keys of the Animal Kingdom have been collected! Let's break down all three segments, shall we?
First, Rachel and Adam's story combines elements of Ducktales (the Timephoon), the Dinosaur ride (having time travel and dinosaurs together), as well as the superhero duo Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Moon Girl will be getting her own cartoon soon, and if you go to Avenger's Campus at Disneyland she makes a cameo on the Spider-Man ride as well! Adam can use his Golden Atlas kind of like a summon from Kingdom Hearts, and in this case it brought in an Ice Giant from the Thor movies.
Second, Logan and Silver basically just rode the Expedition Everest ride, but all the trouble for them was caused by the Cast Bots messing with them. Betty the Yeti is the fan nicknames for the Everest yeti at Animal Kingdom, with Harold being the Matterhorn yeti's name. Betting being a fan of disco is a nod to the infamous "Disco Yeti," which is basically the Imagineer's solution for the yeti animatronic until they can fix it (which they always say they want to do but that it would take a lot of time and money to go in and do it).
Finally, Gabriel and Soren get to meet up with some Lion King characters for a song! This time it was "One by One" from the musical, which is a song sung in Swahili about standing strong and facing your enemies together. AvalorianJaquin told me that Ono and Beshte where his favorite Lion Guard members, so I put Ono in here as a tribute to that. Also, it looks like Jasiri is okay but suffering from amnesia!
Next time will be our heroes using their keys to get to where Hex is!