Chapter 4: Fear and Doubt

Deep within her lair, Maleficent had viewed the five forgotten heroes having nightmares after having the spell of fear and doubt seeped into them. The villains standing before her, Yzma, Captain Lyle Tiberius Rourke, Scroop and the space pirates, and Alameda Slim with Rico as the Willies cowered behind him in fear. They all watched with amazement and pleasure as their nemeses grew more paralyzed before either waking up crying hysterically or falling off their beds.

"So that's what happened to poor Cabin Boy after the spell," Scroop smirked at how Jim rushed out of his room in a panic. "Still wish I could've been there to see the whole thing."

"Whenever I see Kuzco in agony, I feel as light as a feather," Yzma stated. "I was happy until that mouse intervened. But this is much better."

"Interesting," mumbled Rourke, crossing his arms. "I never would have believed that a nightmare would cause this much emotional stress; even to a bumbling fool like Milo."

Before Alameda Slim could say anything, Maleficent tapped her staff to bring their attention to her.

"Listen well," she demanded. "You've all been brought to my lair for one purpose: to help us be rid of Mickey and his family forever. But first, we start off by breaking the spirits of the lesser known heroes. And when all goes well, they may help us without even realizing it."

"Pardon me for asking miss," Yzma cleared her throat. "But what exactly happens next?"

"Good question there. So far the fools are in great doubt of feeling unwanted by anyone. But just wait till they fall asleep again. That's when the real fun begins."

"The real fun?" Slim was puzzled.

"You'll see what I mean," Maleficent cackled, peering into her staff to view the image of Milo being comforted by Kida.

"But why need our help?" Rourke took one step forward. "I may be known as an explorer with a greedy reputation that nearly cost the loss of a civilization, but I don't have any powers."

"And my last attempt to overthrow the emperor had me turned into a kitten," moaned Yzma.

"And all I'm known for is controllin' cattle with my yodelin', but nothin' else matters," Slim snorted, crossing his arms with a sour expression.

"Yes, yes, I am very well aware of all your flaws and defeats from those would-be-heroes," Maleficent snarled. "But powerful or not, we may need your help in bringing down our enemies."

"What's in it for us?" Scroop sneered.

"Think about it. By joining in our group, all of you might be able to make something better of yourselves like you always dreamed of. If all goes well, perhaps you may be honored as one of the most powerful forces of evil this world, and the next, has yet to know. Are you all with me?"

The villains were in silence for a few seconds to think it over until they stepped up to Maleficent and accepted. If they joined in, then maybe this evil plot could be the next step in defeating their enemies once and for all.

Down in Atlantis

"Please Milo, you have got to eat something and try to forget about the dream," Kida said gently as she sat on the bed next to Milo while holding a plate of food. "I know it has been a hard time for all of us, but we can not let anything negative get a hold of us. You remember what Mickey just mentioned? He's says that he and his friends are doing all they can to fix things."

A confused and downhearted Milo sat on the edge of the bed in silence, face in his hands. He wanted to believe what Kida told him. But somehow or other, the harsh words from his dream haunted him ever since he woke up this morning. Even if he had risked his life to save Kida and Atlantis from a terrible fate, was it possible that he and his friends really let Mickey down with their failure that brought on this struggle to save the Disney Company? No, Mickey never mentioned any of that because he says it doesn't matter if his movie is a huge hit or not. He cares about his family just the same. Sure Milo was now glad of that, but now he wasn't so sure about what everyone else thought of him.

Milo sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. "I know dreams aren't real," he muttered. "But it all seemed more than just a bad dream. It's as if the voice was actually saying that the whole world was against us…all because of our failure."

Kida sighed. She had to admit that even she wasn't all that happy with being forgotten and left out. To be ridiculed and poked fun at for your faults was enough to make you feel unwanted and useless. Why couldn't anyone out there focus more on their pros and less on their cons? It was simply fickle.

"I do not know what people expect from us," Kida admitted. "After all, we are just a lost civilization forgotten by time. So it is hard to understand everything that has happened." She handed him a pear. "Please try to eat. You need your strength today."

"Thanks Kida," Milo accepted the pear and took small bites from it. He hadn't felt much like eating today, but at least Kida was only trying to help, even if she didn't hold all the answers to the questions swimming in his mind about the dream. Comforting him was the best she could do for now.

Planet Montressor

Up on the thatch roof at the Benbow Inn, Jim Hawkins sat alone staring at the starry sky with gathering storm clouds passing by. By the rumbling of thunder in the distance, droplets of rain started to fall onto the roof, but the rain mattered little to Jim. There were far worst things in this universe than getting soaked unexpectedly. He couldn't believe what happened this morning. Before the nightmare, he was feeling as light as air from Mickey's visit. And now he was as miserable and discouraged than ever. He even felt humiliated from waking up, yelling as he raced to the restroom. The ruckus was enough to wake Sara and Doppler. Not only that, but it caused a bit of disturbance among the folks sleeping in the other rooms. Some complained while others were concerned. It had taken a few minutes for his mother and for Doppler to calm him down and carry him back to his room to give him more time to rest. When Jim was finally calm, he tried to remember every detail as he explained. All Sara could do was assuring him that whatever else happened in that dream was nothing more than an illusion.

"There you are, I'd thought you be up here lad."

Jim turned to his left to find Silver climbing up on the roof and sat next to him. Even when Jim felt Silver's metallic arm on his shoulder, it made him feel less lonely.

"Care to tell me what's troublin' you lad."

Jim sighed sadly before he began. "Well…it's just…how should I put this?" Trying to hold back tears inside, Jim went on. "It's just…sometimes I can't help but feel partly responsible for what's happening to the company down there." His chest now felt tight. "I just never realized it until this whole war started. I mean everyone is acting like we messed things up on purpose for them…or something like that. I'm so confused." That's when he felt a lump in his throat. "No matter how hard I worked, I'm just not good enough to be honored or thanked for trying my best." He paused for a moment before going on. "Then after that, you hear fans spread false rumors about you after the failure of a movie...our movie." Now Jim was trying his hardest to keep from crying as his shoulders shivered. "I just can't believe it."

"Never ya mind what them other fools think lad. And don't let some bad dream make you feel responsible for someone else's folly. I know yah better than they do. Yer anything, but yah ain't a loser Jim."

Jim looked at him with tearful eyes.

"None of us were aware of what was comin'. And no matter how bad things get, they won't stay that way forever."

For a while, Silver stayed on the roof to listen as Jim expressed his feelings of what it felt like when people pointed the finger at you for someone else's fault at messing things. He himself still didn't really know what to believe. What if he really was a nothing? Despite Silver's efforts to help him, Jim could already feel his self-confidence slipping away as he thought more about the bad dream of the horrible things said about his faults.

"Jim, why don't you come in now," Sara Hawkins called out from the window below. "You don't want to catch cold by staying out there in the rain."

"Coming Mom," Jim called back.

Now that the discussion on the roof was over, Jim and Silver decided to climb down and join the others to help in the kitchen and save the rest of the discussion for later.

Somewhere in the Canadian wilderness

"Kenai, you don't think we had anything to do with this whole mess happening do you?" Koda asked Kenai as they were walking into a cave to sleep for the night. He had been referring to the whole Save Disney campaign.

"Of course not Koda," Kenai shook his head, although he wasn't quite sure what to make of the horrible dream they both had. "I don't think it's anything to worry about. But let's try not to think of it anymore tonight, alright. Besides, I doubt anything bad will happen as we sleep."

Kenai allowed Koda to sleep close to him for the night. Back when he was still human, Kenai once learned from the elders that most dreams were believed to be symbolized as a warning or a sign of something on its way. For this dream, he couldn't really understand much of it, other than it reminding him and Koda of their failure to be a huge hit enough to save the Disney Company from going downhill. Why couldn't it have been? How could this have happened?

Just after the two bears had fallen asleep, smoky images swirled around them. Minutes later, Kenai and Koda woke up to find that they were standing in the midst of Main Street Park at Disneyland. Only that the skies were dark and grey. And the tumbleweeds blew in the quiet and uninhabited streets. Not a single human or toon was around.

AN: Here is an update finally. Sorry for the long wait everyone. I had to watch Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Brother Bear a few times before I could upload again. I didn't think they were bad movies at all. Maybe not the best in the whole wide world, but anyone can learn one thing or two from watching them. Well it all depends on how people see them from their own point of view. I learned that Disney originally made plans for a television series called Team Atlantis, but swept it aside after it's failure. But I must admit, a television series of the movie would have been interesting to watch. Anyway, it looks like the worst part is on the way. What will happen? Stay tuned and find out. Oops, I forgot to mention that I would like to give credit to Yensid365 for helping me with the hints and tips.