(No P.O.V.)
It was perhaps a day of travel after taking the night to rest their bruises and all for Emma and John before they soon heard screaming and growling through the forest. With subtle expressions, the duo set off to check the situation with spears that they crafted up through the night with Emma's pocketknife.
They saw a elf child holding a elf toddler in its arms as they ran from crocodiles. However, they aren't normal crocodiles. They are actually standing upright like Louis or the Captain Crocodile, but they are not wearing clothes or speaking either. There are four of them, and Emma recognized three of them with John furiously recognizing the third one; Brutus and Nero, and Tick-Tock. The fourth one, it's the leader, and to the duo's shock, the lead crocodile is albino.
With a signal and a couple of gestures, Emma and John came out of the side, ramming the albino and Tick-Tock in the side, halting the twin brothers in the back as the elf child momentarily looked back, and went to climb a tree with the toddler in tow.
The rammed crocs growled angrily as they got up, looking at their attackers, and Tick-Tock actually paled when he recognized John. John sneered, his Scottish accent flaring up, "Recognize me, monster? Ye an thon brute, Hook were ower cocky tae see thon A survivit the flames. A swore tae make ye an yer master rue the day A find ye, an here ye are, chasin a innocent pair o children! Ye truly are a monster!".
Emma saw that there is a past between John and Tick-Tock, but she didn't care for it right now as they have threatened innocent children's lives, and she would not live for that. She glared at the albino, hissing angrily, "Those children are under I and Silver's protection now! If you wanna want them, fight us!".
The albino snarled, and gave some growls to the twin brothers, Brutus and Nero, and giving a roar-snort at Tick-Tock, and the albino stood back as the other three crocodiles went for the duo. Emma, being a experienced soldier, went through several defensive techniques in fighting the twin brothers while craftily dodging their jaws and tails before killing Brutus in the head with her spear, and killing Nero in the heart with the spear once more.
John was much more scary as he had a personal grudge with Tick-Tock, actually inflicting wounds through the eyes and legs which is ironic, and pinned him down, snarling, "Enjoy Tartarus, fiend! Ye wonae be harmin anyone iver again, an oh, A will be sendin Hook yer way. But first, where is thon damn codfish?".
Tick-Tock had some last energy to tap Morse Code with his talons in the ground as it's the only way to communicate with humans, and John learned Morse Code all too well during his stay on the Jolly Roger.
John snorted, "He's oot at sea, eh? Figures. For once, A thank ye for tellin me o thon. A hope ye burn i fire, tick-tock!", before killing his enemy into the front of the head. He exhaled heavily as he came off the body, and glanced at Emma, "Sorry ye had to see that, lass.".
Emma shook her head, "It's war, John. You don't have to explain that he was part of your past as it is obvious in retrospect. Now, come on, let's wrangle some answers out of this albino. ", glowering at the albino who was shocked and frozen.
John smiled wryly as he grabbed some vines, "Let me take care of that. I know Crocodile Morse Code. Go check on the children, eh? They must be scared at least.". Emma nodded, "Sure thing. Just don't beat him up much, hmm?".
John nodded, "I ain't having no grudge with him unlike that fiend. Go on, Emma. You better than me to bring children to safety than seeing this.". Emma smiled in understanding, and patted his shoulder before heading off to track the child's footprints, and soon finding the two children hiding high in a tree.
Emma softly and calmly called out, "Are you alright, little ones? It's okay, those monsters won't hurt you anymore.", and a shaky young male voice called out, "You promise?".
Emma spoke warmly, "I promise on my heart.", and rustling answered her as the voice whispered, "Okay, we're coming down.". Within a minute, the elf child made it down with the toddler holding tight in the shirt of the child.
Emma took a close look, surprised to see that they are actually blue-skinned with dark blue hair, and they look a bit familiar to a couple of boys she knew. The child is only nine years old, wearing a ragged black tunic, dirty green trousers, and red shoes, having a chubby physique with wide brown eyes. The toddler in his hands is perhaps 3 or 4, due to the fact that he looks so little in appearance, having a skinny physique with some baby fat, wearing a slightly oversized gray tunic, blue trousers, and green shoes.
Emma leaned down with a warm smile, "You don't look too bad. Are you alright?". The boy nodded lightly, "Yeah, thanks for saving us...I thought they were going to get us like they got Mom and Dad.". Emma blinked in surprise, "Who has your parents?".
The boy sniffed, "The other monsters...Mommy told me to run and take Ian after she and Dad went to hurt the other monsters. I guess they told the chasing ones to get me and my baby brother...". Emma nodded, "I see, and Ian is your baby brother here, huh?", smiling gently as she tickled Ian softly, earning a giggle from the toddler, and the boy smiled, "Yep, and I am Barley. Barley Lightfoot.".
Emma widened her eyes, "You couldn't be related to a set of cousins named Chip and Dale, could you?". Barley gasped, "You know them?! Mom and Dad told me stories about Chip and Dale!". Emma grinned, "Know them? Kiddo, they're here in Andalasia with my group. I and Silver, the man back there, we're looking for them since we got separated, thanks to huge monsters aka orcs.".
Barley grinned, "Then you could help save my parents?", and Emma smiled brightly, "You're looking at the leader of the United Talons. We will all help save your parents and other people who got hurt by those crocodiles and other monsters, deal?".
Barley nodded, "Deal!", with Ian giggling, "Brother happy with deal!", and Emma warmly encouraged them behind the back, "Come on, let's get some dinner. And by the way, the name's Emma.", giving a wink. And so, Emma distracted the children with scavenging for tubers and berries while John wrangled some answers out of the albino.
Effectively, with his strong arms, John got rid of the albino thanks to the neck twist technique. Soon, John found Emma stroking a fire with the children snacking on berries. "Emma.". She looked up with a soft smile, "John. Let me guess, the situation here is bad.".
John sighed softly as he joined Emma upon the log, "Worse than bad. You remember the others' stories about the kingdoms here in Andalasia?". Emma nodded, "Yeah, belonged to Snow White, Ferdinand and Jasmine respectively, along with another kingdom that's said to belong to King Edward and his family.".
John nodded, "Jasmine's kingdom's destroyed, thanks to Jafar that we know of, but the three other kingdoms are in great danger as with Snow White and Ferdinand dead, Snow's kingdom has been taken by Medusa, the owner of those crocodiles, while Ferdinand's kingdom has been taken by Tremaine, Cinderella's stepmother.".
Emma widened her eyes, "Tremaine?! Cinderella said that she disappeared with Drizella after Anastasia's marriage to the Baker.". John sighed heavily, "Apparently, the rumors that the albino gave me is that she opted to ally herself with a notorious group of men who is skilled in killing royals like Prince Eric's parents years ago, and now having killed Ferdinand's parents, leaving Ferdinand's brother alone to be forced to marry Drizella and produce heirs.".
Emma groaned lightly, "And I suppose there's more to it...I know Anastasia got married two years ago. Is that enough for Drizella to be married and have a heir?". John nodded, "Twins, I believe, a boy and a girl. But unfortunately, Drizella died in childbirth, and rumors indicate that Tremaine was furious that she had the brother killed, wanting to raise the twins her own way.".
Emma sighed heavily, "Figures. The twins are innocent as they are of Ferdinand's blood, and besides, I have the feeling that Snow White could say that she would want them to be safe no matter what. But Tremaine, she has to be dead. And besides, if we left her alone, she would have put a attack order on Cinderella after she possibly had to order her to be kidnapped by the goblins as there's the chance that she is linked to Gaston somehow.".
John chuckled softly, "No wonder why you're the leader of the United Talons, lass.". Emma smiled a tad shyly, "Thank you, John.", and sighed lightly with a glance at him, "And the third active kingdom?".
John hummed lightly, "Not much as it turns out that the kingdom is cloaked somewhat in dark magic, but the rumor is that Cruella took over the kingdom, and that the royals are presumed dead or serving her.". Emma blinked in surprise, "Cruella? So, did they take over the kingdoms one by one or at the same time? That's the question.".
John nodded, "Well, don't worry, Emma, we will fix the situations at a time. After all, steady goes better than rushing around. Come on, let's eat something, and we will have clear minds in the morning.". Emma smiled in agreement, and so they went to cook up some dinner while entertaining the kids, unknowing that Emma's life is to be changed for better.