Chapter 51: The Sea Witch's Apprentice
In the Shipwreck Graveyard, Mindy showed her new (err temporary) mentor the remnants of The Jolly Rancher.
Upon arrival, she noticed curious schools of fish, bottom feeders, and scavengers poking and tasting the scattered pieces. When the critters noticed The Sea Witch looming over them, they scrambled away with frightened cries. Ursula showed no sign of hurt. Instead, she took in every inch of the once proud vessel with a hyper-critical eye.
Mindy's heart twinged.
She'd been so caught up in rekindling she and Ariel's friendship, she hadn't realized the extent of the damage done to her beloved ship. In an unusual way, the Rancher had become a second home to her over the past few weeks.
Mindy had forgotten how comforting the mixed scents of peppermint, gingerbread, and dark chocolate were. Or the warmth of the giant easy bake oven while Dakota baked chocolate-chip cookies, and the coziness of the four-postered bed she'd shared with Scarlett in the Captain's Quarters. She even missed the impossibility of the grape-flavored cannons, as well as the green apple bits. Her lips spread into a wistful smile when she noticed a few of them were missing...then it shifted into a disappointed frown.
"Repair it," Ursula suddenly ordered.
Mindy snapped to attention.
Closing her eyes, she lifted her hands and snapped her fingers. She knew the ship would more than likely not look exactly the same as it had the first day they'd taken to the air, but Mindy vowed to make sure it was even better and brighter than before.
When a prominent 'poof!' met her ears, her eyes cracked open.
The Jolly Rancher had been restored to its former glory. It was notably bigger than the previous one, and had three different balconies for stargazing (complete with telescopes, dreamcatchers, decorative rock candy crystals, and marshmallow chaises). The sails were swirls of pink-and-purple cotton candy, cushy bean bags stuffed with jelly beans dotted the three decks, and M&Ms coated the railing.
Mindy's cheeks glowed with pride...but that pride was short-lived as a blast of fire collided with the structure, and set the ship ablaze. Her jaw dropped as her newest creation reduced to a pile of ash and charred candy before her eyes.
She turned to a rather pleased Ursula (who blew smoke off her fingers).
"Do it again,"
"Are you insane?!" Mindy demanded, "Why did you even-"
"-ah, ah, ah," Ursula wagged a finger in her face, "What did we say about questioning my methods?"
Mindy gave an exhausted groan. Then, she rolled up her invisible sleeves, and got back to work.
This time, she made the bold choice of losing the jolly rancher theme, and instead reconstructed the vessel out of gingerbread. The sails were a mismatch of Christmas-themed wrapping paper, and the railings were coated in stiff peaks of red-and-green frosting. Motifs of sugar plums, snowmen, and reindeer had been scattered throughout the structure. An ice-skating rink served as the top deck (with cute animated penguins), and multi-colored string lights wrapped the whole thing together in a neat little bow.
Mindy gestured to it with a wide smile; sweat dripping off her brow, "I call it, The Holly Jolly...I was gonna say 'Rodger' but it doesn't really make as much sense as 'Rancher' in my opinion. So...we're still workshopping it,"
Unfortunately, she'd never get the chance to workshop it as Ursula hurled another fireball at her baby. Mindy's bottom lip quivered as she watched the cartoon penguins scatter in a panic when the ship started to sink. Luckily, she'd thought of including lifeboats, and they were clever enough to know how to use them to get to safety. She almost laughed when she spotted a penguin string quartet playing "Nearer, my God to Thee" on the main deck.
With a snap of her fingers, the penguins were sent back to the confides of her imagination.
"Do it again,"
Mindy's eyes sparked for a split-second.
Then, suppressing a sigh of annoyance, she cricked her neck side-to-side before getting back to work. Little did she know, Ursula had caught her momentary lapse, and gazed upon her new pupil with a haughty, sinister smile.
As promised, Scarlett skipped past the...un-Disney-like parts of Bridgerton. To her complete bafflement, the very next episode in the season contained nothing but that stuff, so she shut it off (much to a certain middle-aged cricket's relief).
Dakota suggested they watch something else, but Wendy worried that The Lost Boys would accidently break the remote in an elaborate argument of some sort...which is precisely what ended up happening as half of them insisted on watching Peter Pan while the other half wanted to watch Paw Patrol.
Scarlett asked if they wanted to compromise and watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates instead.
She was met with scattered looks of confusion, so she shut her mouth. She only prayed she hadn't just ripped apart the fabric of the universe by hinting that spin-off shows (as well as a theatrically-released sequel) existed on Disney's official streaming service.
One punch led to multiple, and both the remote and the TV were chucked out the window...
With TV crossed out as an option, Wendy and Scarlett pampered themselves in the dolphin-run spa, while the boys played their sixth game of Twister. Tinkerbell and Jiminy were seated on the leather sofa positioned in front of the tarp. The fairy spun the color wheel, and the cricket called out the instructions. The only ones remaining were Nibbs, Slightly, and to no one's surprise, Peter.
"Right hand blue!" Jiminy shouted.
Peter and Slightly's hands landed at the same time. Nibbs however, stuck his tongue out and tried squeezing in-between them, but fell short of a few inches. He flopped onto his stomach with a yelp as his rabbit ears covered his eyes. He pouted as he joined the other Lost Boys eating popcorn on the sidelines.
"Man!" he groaned, "I was so close that time!"
"Alright folks, it all comes down to this," Jiminy announced in a hushed, dramatic voice, "Slightly and Peter, neck-and-neck, ear-to-ear, toe-to-toe. Will the mighty Pan gain his sixth win of the night, or will his second-in-command FINALLY manage to dethrone the king of Neverland?"
"Put the twerp in his place, Slightly!" Scarlett hooted from her place at the hot tub.
Wendy's head popped up from her back massage, "Go Peter, go!"
"Oh you are so going down Pan-da-man," Slightly said.
Peter's eyes narrowed in playful determination, "We'll see about that,"
Tink spun the wheel three times as Jiminy called the shots: "Right leg green!" "Left hand yellow!" "Left leg blue!" "Left leg green!". Peter felt himself hitch forwards, but he saved himself at the last minute by levitating his torso. Slightly caught on, and pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Hey! No fair! You chea-AH!" he suddenly cried out as he landed on his side, "You cheated!"
"Annnd that's game!" Peter sprung upwards and crowed while beating on his chest, "Little Flying Eagle has does it again! I'm undefeatable!"
"Another round?" Jiminy asked.
"Heck no!" Slightly protested as he dusted himself off, "He keeps cheating by flying! I even caught you doing it right before Toodles went down in the last game!"
"It's not my fault you guys are a bunch of sore losers!" Peter shrugged, "Besides, I wasn't cheating. I was outwitting you by using a special advantage I just so happen to have,"
"So, cheating?"
"I'm an immortal, magical flying boy, not a dictionary,"
"Let's play something else!"
"Red Rover! Red Rover!" The twins begged.
"Nah, we always play that!" Nibbs complained, "What about hide-and-seek instead?"
"This house is too small for that," Cubby pointed out.
"Hey, what're these?"
Everyone's heads whipped in Peter's direction as he yanked out a drawer underneath the coffee table. Inside, were a bunch of miniature plastic animals with chibi-like eyes and calm, neutral expressions on their furry faces. Scarlett stepped out of the hot tub (she wore a black-and-yellow spotted bikini), wrapped a towel around her hair, and trotted over to see what the commotion was about.
She suddenly squealed with laughter, "Are those Littlest Pet Shops?!"
"Dunno, are they?" Peter asked, "I have no clue what you Otherworlders do for fun. From hanging out with you, I've gathered they just sit around watching garbage television all day instead of playing outside,"
"To be fair, we don't just watch garbage television," Dakota spun around in his bar stool, but didn't look up from the compact mirror he held, "We also listen to garbage music with no coherent melody or lyrics, watch garbage reality TV about washed-out celebrities, worship garbage YouTube influencers until our eyes bleed, and tell our significant other that we're 'Going to bed' only to stay up till 3 A.M scrolling on TikTok for pointless garbage fifteen second videos while eating from garbage fast food chains,"
"I'm gonna nod and pretend like I understood half of the things you said," Peter replied as he sat cross-legged on the floor and glanced up at Scar, "So...are these, like. Modern-day Otherworldly toys?"
"Yup. I remember Mindy used to be obsessed with these things. I think she owned...I wanna say, two hundred?" she knelt beside him and picked one up at random: a red-and-brown dachshund with sparkling green eyes, "We played with them a lot as kids. Eventually, we got the crazy idea to start our own channel where we made our own short videos and web series starring them. They had some honestly twisted, and complicated dark storylines. Mindy had a big imagination, even then. The videos themselves were awful and quite cringey. The footage was low-quality, and the dialogue was laughable at best. But we didn't care. We had fun making them, and that was all that mattered," her eyes suddenly dimmed with melancholy and nostalgia, "Times were so much simpler back then,"
"And how does that revelation make you feel?"
The voice shook Scarlett out of her reverie. She gasped upon seeing Jiminy Cricket jotting down notes with an eager smile. She made a show of dropping the toy back into the drawer and crossing her arms at the tiny conscience.
"Are you really therapizing me right now?"
"Well," Jiminy cleared his throat, "Mindy already told me you accepted her proposal. I figured since you brought it up, there's no time like the present,"
Scarlett opened her mouth to tell him off, but sighed in defeat.
"Okay,"
Jiminy hadn't been expecting this, "Come again?"
"I said, okay," Scarlett clarified, "But I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't want to disappoint Mindy. And even I'll admit she's only trying to help...in her own weird, Mindy way,"
Jiminy slapped his knee with a whoop, "You will not regret this, Miss Bloom!"
"Too late," she grumbled under her breath.
"Now, what do ya say we go somewhere more private?"
Scarlett scooped the cricket into her hands, and retreated into her bedroom. Meanwhile, Dakota had wandered over to the rest of the Pan Gang. His eyes narrowed the longer he stared at the assortment of toys.
"There's something I don't get,"
"Yeah," Peter agreed as he picked up at a border collie and poked it, "How come their heads wobble like that? It's kind of creepy,"
"No, I mean why would Mindy poof these up?" Dakota asked, "If she really doesn't remember a thing about her childhood, then how come she was able to remember her favorite toys from when she was a kid?"
They stood in immense thought...
"Maybe she's starting to remember things slowly?" Peter offered.
"I guess, but that still doesn't explain-"
"-I think she just missed us,"
Everyone's eyes widened as they glanced into the drawer as one unit. The abandoned border collie blinked up at them with a chill, yet off-putting smile.
"Sup,"
They all screamed in horror.
"Again,"
Mindy sagged to the floor with a dramatic moan.
"Get up, we'll have none of that slacking," Ursula barked.
"It's not slacking, it's called taking a break. We've been at this for two hours now," Mindy whined, "What are you hoping to accomplish by having me do this over and over and over again while getting the exact same results every time? Don't you know this is the very definition of insanity?"
Ursula slapped her hands free of pulsing blue flame, "If you want to control your powers, you must first build up your stamina. Hence, why we are doing this. I want to see how much more of this you can take. How long can you stand having someone you barely know criticizing your work? How long will it take for you to finally snap and let all hell break loose?"
"You know what," Mindy's eyes started to flash, "I'm pretty damn close now, so why don't we just call it a day and go grab some smoothies or something?"
"Pretty damn close is not near close enough," Ursula snapped, "I want to see you tremble in rage, sweat with pure exhaustion, I want to see the Anomaly completely and utterly explode with power,"
"But I've never let myself get that far before. There's no telling what could happen,"
"Then I suppose we're both going to learn something new today," the Sea Witch said before pointing at the most recent demolished ship, "Now repair it...I won't ask you again,"
"We both know that's a lie,"
"I heard that!"
Mindy rubbed her temples, then thrust her hands out with tickling pink-and-blue sparks.
Next thing Scarlett knew, she was laying in her bed staring up at the ceiling. She almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Her first therapy session, and not a normal therapy session either.
A therapy session with Jiminy-fucking-Cricket.
Said cricket sat on the edge of her nightstand with his notepad; half-moon glasses atop a nonexistent nose, "Why don't we start from the beginning? How'd you and Mindy meet?"
"I don't know," Scar admitted with a shrug, "We've known each other since diapers. Guess the first notable interaction was when these bullies in kindergarten were kicking sand in her face and calling her names. You know, your typical run-of-the-mill childhood best friends meeting story,"
"I'm assuming you put those hooligans in their place?"
"You could say that," Scarlett said, "I hit them over the heads with a sock full of rocks, and I beat them so bad they ended up in the hospital for a few days. I got suspended for a week. When I came back, I started a rumor that the ringleader of the bullies had herpes just cause I caught her making out with a boy who went to the middle school next door during recess. It spread like wildfire, and soon no one wanted to even look in her direction. Her parents caught wind of it, and she got into huge trouble. Apparently, the rumors weren't too far off since she became pregnant with the middle-schooler's kid,"
Jiminy's pen fell out of his hand as his jaw fell to the floor.
"This was in elementary school?"
"Yup,"
"A-and you didn't even feel the slightest bit of pity for this girl?"
"A little," Scarlett pretended to inspect her nails, "But then again, she made the mistake of calling Mindy a pig-faced, skank-ified bitch so that justifies it in my opinion. Plus, it isn't my fault she went and got herself knocked-up at eleven,"
"Walter Elias...talk about giving into temptation," Jiminy exhaled, "Remind me never to get on your bad side ever again. So, you obviously care an awful lot for Mindy. And while protectiveness over your friends is an admirable trait to have, don't you think you might've acted a bit too...rashly?"
Scar tapped her chin, "Nope,"
The tiny conscience winced.
"Why don't we go back further?" Jiminy suggested, "Talk about your childhood,"
Scarlett paused for a split-second, "There's nothing to talk about...I had a happy childhood,"
Booooop!
Her hands slapped over her nose which had grown a few inches longer. "What the everlasting fuck?!" she burst (much to Jiminy's chagrin), "I'm not Pinocchio! How is this even possible?!"
"I-I have no clue!" the cricket exclaimed in a panic, "This has never happened before!"
"Not even with Mindy?!" Scarlett's eyes widened at the realization, "Wait, that's it! Mindy! She-she can fix it as soon as she gets back from training!" her shoulders then sagged as another thought came to her, "But in the meantime, I'll be stuck like this,"
"There might be another way,"
Scar perked up, "How?"
"Um," Jiminy twiddled his fingers, "Ya know the saying, 'the truth will set you free'? Well..."
She caught on instantly, "No,"
"But if you could only-"
"-I feel guilty enough that you have to deal with my bullsh-crap! My bull crap!" Scarlett hastily corrected herself whilst tugging on her hair, "I know I'm not exactly a ray of sunshine to be around personality-wise. It's just...I tend to have a lot of trouble interacting with people I've never met before. Let alone singing, dancing cartoon characters. Anything remotely corny or whimsical makes me sick to my stomach. But that's just how I am. And I'm sorry if I've ever come across as cold and aloof to you. I'm trying to be more polite to you guys since you and Mindy are so close, and I would do anything to make her happy. And that includes going to therapy and getting help but..." she trailed off, and flopped back-first onto the bed, "I feel like...like opening up will wreck the innocent minds of the beloved characters she's working so hard to protect. I don't want to taint you with the-the mess, the disaster of a human being I am, I'm...too broken," Jiminy gestured for her to elaborate, "My past is too broken. I'm-I'm terrified that if I tell you, I'll scar you for life,"
And with that final, truthful declaration her nose shrunk back to its usual size.
"Scarlett, I'm a licensed professional," the cricket said with a gentle smile, "Though I don't look it, I've seen it all. Sure, Pinoke and Min were my first clients, but I'll remind you I also had to go to university and have mock sessions with tons of different individuals. No matter how horrible the story, I assure you I can handle it. Please don't hold back for my sake,"
She bit her lip, "It's just that... I've never told the whole thing in one go before,"
"And that's okay," Jiminy reassured her, "If you ever feel like you need to stop at any time, don't hesitate to do so. Above all, I promise not to judge you or press for the gritty, gory, unpretty details like I've done in the past. Just go at your own pace, and get everything you need to off your chest, alright?"
Once again, Scar hesitated.
Then, she sucked in a quick breath and nodded, "Alright, I think I'm ready now,"
On try #34, Mindy gave it her all.
She pulled out all the stops to make the most exquisite, most extravagant, most complicated ship she'd ever designed. A ship so glorious that no one, not even Ursula could bring herself to smash into a million bite-sized pieces.
Mindy had reimagined the vessel as a Disney Cruiseline ship. The main deck contained three pools: one with a gigantic movie screen, one with a waterslide that would make Phineas and Ferb's look like It's a Small World by comparison, and one with aromatherapy, a hot tub, and a built-in Tiki Bar. There was an enchanted casino that ran itself, and a library where the reader could literally leap into the pages, and dozens of hidden gardens and floating waterfalls scattered about. There was even a buffet that appeared differently depending on what the eater was craving. Some other rooms included: A bowling alley, movie theatre, ballroom, spa, and escape room, and so much more. The cherry on top were the words: The Disney Imagine scrawled across the back in elegant spindly lettering.
Mindy's breath came out in weak, ragged puffs as she turned to her teacher with an expectant grin, "Are...are you...satisfied yet?"
"Hmm..." Ursula cupped her cheek in thought, "No,"
Even though she knew what was coming, Mindy still flinched when the Sea Witch hurled yet another fireball at her latest creation. She fell to her knees in a twitching, frothing heap as Ursula cackled behind her. The sound caused Mindy's eyes to flash faster than a projection reel.
"You...you should've seen the look on your face!" Ursula wheezed, "You were so sure of yourself! So confident that I wouldn't destroy this one just like all the others! You had me confused for a common, dizzy-headed tourist blinded by luxury, leisure, and useless baubles! It was magnificent! Delicious! Absolutely scrumptious ahahahahaha!"
To be fair, Mindy tried keeping it together.
But the rage boiling inside her was too much for her to bear all at once.
A prickly, staticky sensation spread from the length of her arms all the way to the top of her forehead. She squeezed her fists so hard, crescent moons formed along the palms of her hands. Her rapidly-flashing eyes scorched; turning her world into a blur of spinning light and color.
A nagging, yet seductive voice in the back of her mind urged her to unleash the beast. There was no one she cared deeply about at stake, and no one to hold her back but herself. Besides, they were in an abandoned graveyard. What was the worst that could happen?
No, Mindy was not a monster. She would not give in and risk demolishing the world.
She told herself she didn't want to harm Ursula. If what she'd said was true, then she'd already suffered enough at her hand. Plus, some naïve part of Mindy hoped if she spent enough time bonding with the villainess, she might warm up to the idea of becoming permanent allies; maybe even friends. Then, Mediocrity at Its Finest would gain one hell of a boon.
With the way the octopus was currently mocking her however, Mindy couldn't see that happening anytime soon. One of Dakota's favorite sayings was that meaningful friendships were like finding four-leaf clovers. If they didn't have all four leaves, then they weren't worth wasting time and energy pursuing.
Mindy's head started to pound with all of these conflicting thoughts... but when she'd had enough, she let out a guttural shriek of rage.
The sound caused Ursula to stop laughing immediately. For the first time since she'd met her, Mindy saw genuine terror in the Sea Witch's expression, but to her shock, she didn't feel guilty or abashed in the slightest. In fact, she enjoyed that she was the cause of her fear. She reveled in it. The smell permeated the crystal-clear waters surrounding them, and this shift in power dynamic sent a shiver of excitement down Mindy's spine.
Before she could stop or reason with herself, Mindy exploded in a burst of lavender flames. Thinking quickly, Ursula contained the girl in a spacious, pulsing dome of magic. When Mindy re-materialized from the ashes, she released a bone-chilling laugh.
"Youthink this'llstopme?"Her voice was warbled, distorted, it didn't even sound like her real voice. More like a potluck of dialects, accents, and pitches jumbled together to imitate her voice. Electric blue veins sprouted across her jaw and neck as she took on Ursula's voice, "'You-you have summoning magic that puts The Genie's phenomenal cosmic powers to shame! The entire cosmos at your fingertips!' Are youhappynow?!You got what youwished for! The Anomaly hasofficially lost. Her.Shit! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Then, Mindy started to sing with her bizarre combination of voices: Masculine and feminine, accent and no accent, animal and man, monster and girl, machine and mute. With the amount of force and strain she put behind each note, she managed to make a series of spider-web cracks appear inside the force field.
"Will Ibe good enoughforyou?Will I ever begood enough for anyone?Will Ieverbe good enough forme?Or will I continuetobe..."
The glass shattered.
"A MONSTER?"