Chapter 11: The Final Showdown part I
By then, the once fallen heroes being back on their feet were able to conquer and defeat their own enemies. Aladdin succeeded in freeing the genie from Jafar, trapping the sorcerer in a black magic lamp.
"NNOOOO!" Jafar screamed with anguish as he became a trail of vapor that disappeared into the lamps spout.
"Al, you did it!" Genie laughed for joy. "I'll take it from here." He took the lamp and flew up to the starry sky to hurl the object and send it to the farthest end of the desert oasis. "That takes care of him. Now to take care these guys!" He flew back down to help Aladdin fight off the rest of the remaining enemies.
The entire cast of Great Mouse Detective, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, Aristocats, Oliver and Company, and The Rescuers no longer had trouble conquering Madame Medusa, Cruella Deville, Edgar, Sykes, Ratigan, or the two gators with the same wits they used before. Robin Hood and his merry men led the citizens of Nottingham to safety after driving off the rhino guards and sending Prince John off into hiding. Mulan and her companions fought with Shan Yu and the Huns on top of a Chinese building. With the help of Mushu, he flew in with the largest rocket and waited for Mulan to give the signal for him to light the fuse. Stabbing the sword through Shan Yu's tunic to pin him down, she vaulted out of the way as the rocket came hurtling toward him at a fast speed. The Hun leader let out a scream of terror as it smashed into him and carried him far over to where all fireworks are kept securely in one of the towers. The warriors watched as a towering massive fireball erupted, fireworks showering the night sky.
While the rest of the heroes were still busy fighting off the rest of the villains, things over at Frontier Land were mighty hectic with Alameda Slim still in possession of the last dark crystal. The girls had unfortunately underestimated Slim when they thought they could handle him quite well like last time. If it weren't for the large amount of spellbound cattle charging and tossing them around, at least one of them might have already caught up to Slim.
"OUTTA MY WAY YOU CATTLE THUGS!" Maggie snapped, shoving one bull to the side as he struggled to make her way to the attraction. "I SAID OUTTA MY WAY!" Two more bulls were charged aside as she used her head. These hypnotized cattle might have been strong and muscular, but Maggie was still just as strong as any of them.
"YAH, TAKE THAT AND THAT!" Buck cried out as he fought with a whole bunch of coyotes and bulls.
"HELLO ANYONE, I COULD USE A LITTLE HELP WITH THIS BIG GUY!" Mrs. Calloway grunted, trying hard to push back a green colored bull who was attempting to ram her. She wasn't so sure if Maggie, Grace, or Buck was able to hear her cries.
Out of nowhere, a buffalo by the name of Junior pounced upon the bull who dared to hurt the one cow he had a soft spot for.
"HAVE NO FEAR LITTLE LADY, JUNIOR IS HERE TO SAVE YOU!" Junior smiled as he continued defending Mrs. Calloway from as many hypnotized cattle as he could. "NOBODY HURTS MY WOMAN!"
Mrs. C blushed warmly when he said this and stayed on his side to fight off more oncoming coyotes and spellbound cattle.
"GUYS PLEASE, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Grace pleaded among the crowd of colored cattle. "I DON'T WANNA FIGHT…UGH!"
Before Grace knew it, an orange, neon colored bull unexpectedly charged into her side powerful enough to knock her off the ground and sent her flying toward the towering buttes of the attraction, screaming in terror. Then she had felt the solid stone before she saw it and tumbled down the small hill, close to the lake. Her flight ended abruptly when she struck the cold rock. Her whole body was in searing agony from the impact that might have possibly caused her ribs to break, even though Grace wasn't too sure if they were truly broken. But just as Grace feared, she found she could not move a muscle. If she tried, it would result in more fiery pain. Grace flinched when her heart convulsed painfully inside her injured ribs. She could only lie there in pain; hoping that someone would find her soon enough. Her voice was too weak to call for help in a loud tone.
Her other two bovine friends were mute with shock at what they seen. That set them off to give them more fierce determination to help out Grace and snap that dark crystal away from Slim, even at the cost of their own lives.
Alameda Slim looked down from the tallest butte to stare in satisfaction of the injured form of Grace lying near the lake.
"Perfect, now that one o' them bovines is outta the way, time to end this fight with a yodelin' tune," he sneered, gripping the dark crystal tightly.
Since Slim found out that Grace could never fall under his hypnotic yodeling tune, it would still be a sadistic pleasure for him to have the blond heifer watching helplessly as her friends fall victim to his spell the same way with these other neon cattle.
"YODEL-AADLE-EEDLE-OO!" Slim sang loudly.
Nobody saw the dark crystal shimmer its sinister light. Maggie and Mrs. Calloway had made to the entrance of the mining trains until they suddenly stopped with crazy looks in their eyes. But before he had a chance to continue any further, a gray furry long-eared critter pounced at Slim's head, causing him to lose his balance and slide down the butte.
"GET THIS FURRY BEAST OFF O' ME!" Slim wailed, trying to take the animal off his head. "GET OFF ME YAH VERMIN!"
The furry vermin turned out to be Lucky Jack who had somehow made his way to the top of the butte without Slim knowing. With one quick bite, he snapped the leathery string and removed the crystal off the outlaw's neck.
"HEY GIRLS, CATCH!" Lucky Jack threw the crystal down to the girls' location, knocking them into consciousness.
Rather than ask what happened, Maggie spied the crystal next to her feet and heard Slim cry out fearfully.
"NO, NOT THE CRYSTAL! I NEED THAT!"
"Now Maggie!" Mrs. C ordered.
With all her strength, Maggie brought her foot down on the crystal, shattering the evil device into a dozen broken pieces.
Slim watched in shock and horror to find what the cow had done to make him lose his power. The cattle were returning to normal, losing their neon colors and looked around in confusion.
"Huh, what happened?" one of them asked.
"UH…THIS AIN'T OVER YET COWS!" Slim shouted from the lower part of the buttes. "DON'T THINK YOU'VE HEARD THE LAST OF ALAMEDA SLIM!"
Disappearing out of sight, the girls were about to go after him until a sliver of dark, swirling energy in the sky twisted open above the Rivers of America. Milo Thatch, Jim Hawkins, and the rest of their sidekicks who had recently arrived to give the girls a helping hand, witnessed the same sight they did. Maleficent instantly appeared standing above the very set where the show for Fantasmic was displayed. Green flames engulfed her. A gust of bitter wind swept across Frontier Land, causing the Atlanteans and the RLS Legacy to lose control and be pushed back. Only Jim, Milo, and a few other remaining warriors were able to hold on tight to resist the force.
Kida arrived with Mickey in the nick of time to witness the characters struggling. To Mickey, it seemed that Maleficent was challenging every one of them to come forward and face her. The evil sorceress let out a throaty chuckle as lightening cracked from the sky, creating thorny briars rising out of the lake and the ground like slithering snakes. The Atlanteans fired their blue blasts at the thorns, destroying a few before the sharp needles could touch anybody.
"KEEP FIRING!" Milo commanded. "WE CAN'T LET THOSE THORNS OUT OF THE GROUND!"
Mickey was about to ask for Kida to lead him closer to Maleficent until he turned his head to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction as his eyes widened in horror to find Grace lying still on the ground. It wasn't too difficult for the mouse to tell that she was badly injured. To make matters worse, more thorny briars were erupting out of the lake around the attraction and making their way at a frightening speed toward Grace. If it wasn't for the briars growing everywhere, Maggie and Mrs. Calloway wouldn't be having a hard time trying to get to their friend in peril. Mickey knew he had to help her quick.
"KIDA, TAKE ME DOWN…OVER THERE!" Mickey pointed to Grace's location.
Kida nodded and steered the stone fish to the right at a fast pace. Landing the flying device, Kida and Mickey hopped off and jumped in front of Grace to defend her from an oncoming branch that had burst toward them. She slashed at with a swoop of her Atlantean spear, cutting it into the air. A couple more erupted leaving her to slash at a few more. Mickey shot a couple yellow blasts from his fingers, frying them. When there was none left, the two fighters finally went to check on Grace.
"Please be alright," Mickey whispered in a pleading tone.
The poor blond cow showed no signs of life, until Kida shook her shoulders gently enough for Grace to cough a bit. Mickey smiled a little in relief to find that she was still alive. For Grace it was terrible. She could barely move or speak, all thanks to her petrified, injured body. Grace gagged as her semi-consciousness broke from the next wave of distress inside her ribs. It felt that someone was taking a hammer to her head and nothing could stop the intense pounding. The pain was more unbearable than she had feared. While Kida was busy untying the knot to her necklace, Grace was able to open her eyes halfway and look on into the grief stricken face of Mickey Mouse. For the first time, she was glad to see him by her side. She didn't know why, but something about him being her made her feel good.
Mickey saw through her sorrowful, regretful eyes and knew what she might have been thinking. How could he not find it in his heart to forgive her and the others for rejecting his invitation, after all they've been through?
Grace coughed again, feeling Kida's fingers on the side of her ribs. Her legs were cold and numb. Then she was able to whisper in a shallow sigh. "I…I'm s…sorry."
"It's alright," Mickey said gently. "I forgive you. Besides, it's not your fault this happened."
Another crack of lightening brought his attention as Mickey remembered that Maleficent still needed to be stopped.
"Mickey, go stop Maleficent if you have to," Kida reminded him. "I will stay here and watch over her. These injuries may take a little longer to heal."
Reluctantly Mickey left Grace in Kida's care. "Don't worry, this will all be over soon." He told her. "Just hang in there."
Mickey set off on foot since it wasn't too far where Maleficent stood. He did not have time to look back and see a tear slide from Grace's eye as Kida concentrated on healing her injuries.
"Insolent fools!" Maleficent bellowed, sending a wave of green energy at the Atlanteans, throwing them off their stone fishes before landing in the lake, their spears torn from their hands. "You're no match for me!" The blue blasts from the stone fishes were deflected by some sort of enchanted barrier protecting Maleficent. None of them could break it open. Next the Legacy fired cannons and lasers from above, but it too had no effect on breaking the barrier. "Is that the best you can do?" She called forth a trademark of green fire to strike the ship like a bolt of lightening. The ships sail was caught by fire.
"FIRE!" Amelia exclaimed, turning the wheel. "We must turn around!"
"LOOK OUT!" Doppler shouted, pointing to another oncoming wave of green fire, striking instantly. "WE'RE GOING DOWN!"
Indeed Doppler was right the moment the Legacy was losing control and preparing to fall into the Rivers of America with a great big splash. Luckily the ship had not been that high enough for it to break, but the fall created a massive wave of water from beneath. Amelia, Doppler, Morph, Silver, and B.E.N. were able to escape from the stateroom before being spotted by Maleficent.
"SEE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU FOOLS!" Maleficent cackled victoriously. "YOUR PUNY WEAPONS ARE USELESS MY DARK POWERS! YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER RETURNED!"
The sorceress watched the natives riding atop their mammoths stabbing and slicing their sharp spears into the thorny briars to help the bears move through. No word from Maleficent was going to ever break their fighting spirit anytime. This had infuriated her further more.
"Well then I see you're all so eager and desperate enough for your own downfall in fighting me!" she said, tapping her staff. "Perhaps you're not as weak as I thought. But let's see how well you handle this!"
The heroes looked above to find green fireballs raining down upon them. They dodged them without a scratch. But Maleficent didn't stop there. A dozen more thorny briars erupted out from the lake and stone cement, carrying the natives, bears, and Atlanteans off the ground. Still they refused to quit fighting. Soon another different power from out of nowhere had shot out, incinerating the briars to save the heroes. Maleficent turned to her left to see Mickey Mouse standing in good health.
"NOBODY HURTS MY FAMILY WHILE I'M STILL AROUND!" Mickey shouted, pointing his finger in her direction. "NOW LEAVE HERE OR ANSWER TO ME!"
Maleficent didn't feel the least bit threatened by his warning. "THEN LET US END THIS BATTLE ONCE AND FOR ALL!" She raised her ominous staff with both hands and drove it into the stone, causing green flames to erupt around her. Soon she began to take on a monstrous transformation.
Mickey had seen this coming. But he had always been prepared for this sort of thing during every battle with the forces of evil. No fear dwelled within his heart, not even as he watched the transformation of Maleficent going from sorceress to a dark fire breathing creature of sharp angles. Her face evolved into a fanged snout and her hands curved into sharp talons. Her dark robes melted into her skin, morphing into scales. Her serpentine neck grew upward at an enormous length. The whole transformation was complete in no more than an entire minute.
The heroes were taken aback by fear of this monstrosity, not knowing whether to stay and fight or take cover if they were possibly no match for this dragon. Maleficent, now in dragon form stretched out her wings and flew over the Rivers of America to do battle on land. With a swish of her giant reptilian tale, the natives and bears were cast aside and thrown into the lake with several splashes sounding. Even Kenai and Koda had been caught in this with the others.
"You don't frighten me Maleficent!" Mickey snapped courageously. "Just try and finish me off!"
Mickey dashed aside to avoid the flaming hot breath from the evil dragon. The briars were set aflame as Maleficent attempted to snatch the mouse in her jaws. Not knowing how many flaming breaths it would take for the dragon to run out of fire, Mickey knew he had to flee from the fiery branches and lead Maleficent to where she could not hurt the fallen heroes any further. And he certainly didn't wish to hit any of his friends by accident with his own deep magic.
Still he kept on moving and dodging the snap of her powerful jaws. Not even the force of the thorny briars could stop Mickey as he made a run. He searched for the entrance of Frontier Land as he climbed the branches, avoiding the sharpness of the dense thorns. Unluckily, there was barely anything to see through the stems since it seemed that almost every sign and attraction was becoming entangled and covered. Mickey couldn't help worrying about the others who might possibly be trapped somewhere within the vines; especially for Kida who still stayed behind to heal Grace of those serious injuries.
Then before he knew it, the dragon had found him, pulling its head back and thrusting it forward. The dragon breathed another long plume of green fire. Mickey scrambled out of the way before the branches caught fire. The flames spread slowly as Mickey climbed to the top of a different hill of briars. This time Mickey countered another fire attack with his own power. The two attacks created a minor explosion of sparks raining down. After this, Mickey quickly made his way across the hazardous area of thorns by hopping and shooting a few briars away to make an easier path for him. He wanted to be careful not to waste too much of his powers by doing this.
Roaring in rage, Maleficent swiped at the dense thorns with her enormous tail and talons. Then when she spotted Mickey several feet away, she used her tail to slam the ground powerful enough to cause him to lose balance and tumble down. With pleasure, the dragon took more swipes, followed by another green fiery blast. But she had not seen Mickey grab on to a briar before he could hit the ground. He continued climbing and hiding to avoid her sight until he was able to find a spot to do battle with her.
While Mickey had been taking care of Maleficent, Kida was still at work with concentrating on healing Grace's terrible injury from the earlier crash. As much as she wished to go help Milo and the others, Kida couldn't bear the thought of leaving someone alone while they were in much greater pain. This wasn't the first time that she had dealt with a great injury, but no matter how long it might take, she wasn't going to give up anytime. Nothing was going to stop her.
Grace coughed softly again, showing signs that she was not beyond all help as it seemed. Kida was relieved to see that the sweet bovine held on. Her hands kept hold on the ribs while holding the blue crystal on top. The crystal glowed brightly as the job of healing was working through.
This situation was soon to be interrupted by the appearance of the monstrous dragon's face rising from behind the buttes of the attraction. In some way, Kida sensed the monster's presence, but refused to look up or be aggravated by the flames that surrounded the two. Although sweat poured down their faces, a bright blue light from the crystal created a shield, protecting them. No flame could break through.
Furious at this, Maleficent was gearing up for another attack to fry them for returning to interfere with her victory. There was no possible way these fools could ever stand a chance against her dark powers. As she breathed more fire in their direction, the force was cut halfway by a white orb of light, creating an explosion of green fire and white energy before exploding into dusty sparks. She turned around to find Mickey standing on top of her tail.
"LEAVE MY FRIENDS OUT OF THIS MALEFICENT!" Mickey demanded. "YOUR FIGHT IS WITH ME! LET US SETTLE THIS ON THE MATTERHORN!"
The dragon whipped her tail upward, heaving Sorcerer Mickey into the air. In secret, Mickey planned this to use the opportunity to do this from a higher altitude. And that higher altitude was the top peak of the Matterhorn attraction. The plan worked perfectly for him as he found himself flying over Fantasy Land for what it seemed like forever. When he finally did land on the Matterhorn safely, he climbed quickly to the top, listening closely to the oncoming roars of Maleficent. He felt light as he continued climbing, but none of that mattered to him. Despite how far he was from Maleficent's reach, Mickey could feel the heat of the flames approaching. He had only at least two more climbs to go after rechecking his position down below.
Before he could climb another step, Mickey turned around courageously to find the dragon no less than several feet away. This was it. The final confrontation between him and Maleficent was about to be drawn to a close. Only one of them would win this fight in the end. But Mickey was not afraid.
AN: I decided to break this final showdown into two parts to make it a little more epic and exciting as best as I can. Glad to have done another update here. Usually I hate taking so long to update, especially when working on an animated project keeps me busy. So I sincerely hope that the next chapter doesn't take too long for me to update. I would like to thank the people who reviewed this story so far and thank PokeMaster93 for advice on how the ending should go. I'll see how well I can handle it.