The Magical Quest
After a few minutes of walking, the four heroes found themselves standing before another Pete statue. Mickey looked at it with an uneasy look as if he felt something on the other side. Minnie patted the boy on the shoulder as the peasant nodded, putting on a more serious look. It was too late to turn back now, after all.
And so the four entered as they soon found themselves in a city, the statue placed in an alleyway. In fact, the statue was faced upward in a garbage disposal thus the group had to climb out of it. Clearly, Pete's subjects had very little respect for him, and could you really blame them?
They couldn't believe their eyes. What kind of sad world was this? The sky was full of clouds so there was no sunlight, only the light of the torches scattered around the place. All of the citizens lived in run-down cottages and shacks, all of which looked like they were on the verge of collapsing. Coincidentally, one was actually missing a wall.
Mickey and Minnie looked at this with disgust as Donald simply stared at the poor townsfolk. They made his life as a peasant look like paradise.
Most of all, it was warm here, thus the four took off their coats and left them near the statue. It wasn't like they needed the things at this point. This couldn't be Peteland, could it? Well, it was made perfectly clear when Goofy chuckled, pointing at a castle at the edge of town. This castle was huge, so there was no way anyone could miss it.
"Well, we finally made it," Mickey said with a gulp as the group advanced toward the castle.
As they walked around, something horrifying caught Minnie's eyes, the princess staring at the sight with a look of concern. What she saw was pulling around a wheelbarrow full of gold coins and meat talking to a peasant. But how was this a bad thing? Well, what they were talking about was cause for alarm.
"I'm so sorry," the peasant said with a pathetic look on his face as he groveled and pleaded, "Please give me more time! I promise I'll make five coins by the end of the day!"
"Sorry, but tax collection is today!" the guard snapped, then noticing a piece of cheese in the man's pocket shoved his sword into it, pulling out the dairy food while saying, "This'll cover it nicely."
As the guard carried on, the peasant broke out into tears crying, "That was my dinner!" as Minnie's eyes narrowed. The princess marched over to the peasant and knelt down, placing a hand on his shoulder and handing him a small bag full of coins. The peasant looked at the bag and shifted his eyes around, whispering, "Thank you," into the princess's ear before running off toward a nearby shop.
"C'mon, Minnie," Mickey said, signalling her to follow him and the others as the princess nodded and caught up with him saying, "Sorry. It just pains me to see people suffering like that."
Mickey blushed after she'd said that, chuckling a little. This was part of the reason he loved Minnie so much. She was such a caring mouse.
However, their trip toward the castle was cut short when another guard walked by and held his sword up against Donald's collar asking, "Excuse me, sir, but where did you get such expensive clothes?"
"Hey, let go of me!" Donald snapped, throwing his fists forward as one attempt actually managed to hit the guard in the face. The man grimaced before sheathing his sword and shouting, "This just got personal!" before leaping at Donald, pinning the duck to the ground and proceeding to punch the sailor repeatedly in the face.
"Hey, get off of my friend!" Mickey spat, grabbing onto the guard's shoulders as the man rammed his elbow hard into the mouse's face, Mickey backing off and noticing a small bit of blood dripping from his nose, the mouse fuming and tackling the guard, he and Donald both proceeding to give the man the beating of his life.
Minnie slapped her forehead, Goofy cheering the two on while a group of other peasants joined in with Goofy's cheering. Having lived under Pete's rule for so long, it was only natural that a lot of them wished they could have done the same thing.
However, this was all cut short soon enough when more guards appeared, prying Mickey and Donald away from the other one who slowly got up, breathing heavily and glaring angrily at the two. Mickey and Donald tried to fight back as the citizens watching left the area, knowing it wasn't a good idea to get involved with this.
"Hey, you let go of my friends!" Minnie spat as one of the guards examined her and pointed at the girl shouting, "It's Princess Minnie! Arrest her and her friends!"
Minnie narrowed her eyelids as she grabbed one by the arm, lifted him up and tossed him into a nearby trashcan. However, that was as far as she would go as the guards soon overwhelmed her and held the princess by the arms. Goofy looked at this with concern and narrowed his eyelids.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" the jester asked as he pulled a rope made of handkerchiefs out from under his sleeve and wrapped it around some of the guards, swiftly pulling it back as the guards spun into a nearby wall, stars dancing around their heads as their eyes started to spin.
However, this little miracle didn't last long as one of the guards crept up behind the jester and held tightly onto the dog's hands, making sure he wouldn't pull anymore funny business. Goofy would have started up his rocket shoes, but he'd actually wasted the oil in them when he used them on Ingo.
And that was that. The four were dragged off to the castle basement and locked behind bars in a single cell. Minnie looked at the sight of thirty villagers within the cell and put on a look of anger. If recent experience was any indicator, these citizens had most likely committed no real crimes.
However, her look of anger turned to one of concern when she saw Mickey sitting down with his head facing the floor, a tear running down his face and his hands held together. He let out a sigh as Minnie made her way over to him, the peasant looking up for a few seconds before returning to staring at the ground.
"It's okay, Mickey," the princess said, patting him on the shoulder, "We'll just look for a way out."
"I got an idea," Goofy suggested with a big smile, "I'll dig us out!" before Donald glared at the dog and retorted, "With what?" as Goofy placed his finger against his chin for a few seconds, putting on a disappointed look as he slumped down.
"What's the point?" Mickey asked, "We'll just end up captured again," Minnie replying, "Don't say that," as Mickey remarked, "You know it's true."
Mickey then blinked, letting out a sigh before saying, "I thought that deep down inside of my soul, a hero was waiting to be let out. But who am I kidding, I'm just a mere peasant," as Minnie shook her head and replied, "You've no clue what you're on about."
"Oh, but I do," Mickey replied, looking up briefly before turning back to the ground adding, "I really do right now. I thought that could save my dog, but I had no idea how."
Looking up at the ceiling, the mouse proceeded to say, "Look where heroism's gotten me. I should have just stayed at home," Minnie gasping before cutting in and stating, "Would my royal guards have made it this far?" Mickey asking, "Why did I have to roam?"
"Mickey, don't be ridiculous," Minnie remarked, "Your heart was in the right place. We've come so far. You can't give up now. How can you just lose face?"
"Minnie, think realistically, we're finished," Mickey replied, "We're done, we're through. There's nothing left in this world that we can do. We tried our best but it wasn't enough. Now we're stuck inside a cell. Now there's nothing that can save us from the fiery pits of..." then looking at the readers, shrugged and refused to finish the statement.
As Mickey held his hands over his eyes, tears running down his face, Minnie placed a hand on the peasant's shoulder and let out a sigh. Donald and Goofy looked at this with concern. The princess had all the reason to worry. Mickey had really given up. That wasn't like him.
With that in mind, Donald got up and said, "It's time I set everything right," the duck marching over to Mickey while Goofy stared with confusion. This was new for Donald.
The duck marched over to Mickey, rolled up his sleeve and smacked the peasant upside the head as Mickey held onto it, staring at Donald and asking, "What was that for?" as the duck narrowed his eyelids shouting, "Mickey, snap out of it!"
Mickey blinked as the duck proceeded to say, "You were the one who kept saying that if we believe, we can do anything we set our minds to! Are you really going to give up just because we're in a jail cell? If anything, this is the least threatening obstacle we've faced so far!"
Mickey stared, blinking again as he asked, "Donald, what did you just say? I couldn't make out a word of that," as Minnie stated, "What Donald's trying to say is that we can't just give up because things are against us. Think about it, Mickey, we've faced much worse than this."
The mouse's eyes widened as he thought hard about that statement. They were right. After all, he'd faced a giant snake, a huge spider, a fire demon, a hawk, a Sasquatch and a persistent imp, avoiding certain death every time. Being locked in a cell was nothing compared to all of that.
With that in mind, the mouse rose to his feet with a look of confidence as he exclaimed, "You're right, guys! I don't know what I was thinking!"
With that, the mouse's ring glowed as he became is wizard form, shooting a powerful burst of magic at one of the bars thus blowing it off of its hinges. The other prisoners looked at this and cheered as Mickey blew off bars to their cells as well. However, the peasants didn't move.
"What are you doing?" Mickey asked as one of the peasants stated, "If we run, the guards will catch us. We'll wait here so not to create a stir. If we follow, the guards will know you've escaped."
That was a good point. After all, the element was surprise was always the best method for getting past tight security. Thus he, Minnie, Donald and Goofy made a run for it. Nothing was going to stop them now.
At that moment, Pete was sitting in his throne room with an uneasy look on his face. However, his look of fear turned to confidence as soon as a guard walked in, giving the king an army salute while saying, "We've found the princess and her servants, sir! They've all been captured and locked in a basement cell!"
A smile came over Pete's face as he laughed wickedly saying, "Excellent work, soldier. I didn't need Agan after all," however, at that very moment, that very wizard entered the room, Pete grinning and saying, "Well, guess what, Mr. General. My guards caught the princess and her followers."
"Actually, that's what I'm here to discuss," the wizard said, conjuring up the king's cauldron and using his magic to form an image within the liquid. Pete's eyes went wide, the guard staring with shock as the image showed the the four heroes walking through the halls and taking out any guards they came across.
"Oh no, they're still coming," Pete gulped as Agan grinned and replied, "Don't worry, Pete. Remember, you have us," as the king started to calm down and said, "That's right," then putting on a serious expression stated, "Agan, you and your men are too deal with them in any way possible, got it?" then remembered something important, adding, "but keep the princess alive."
"Yes, your majesty," the wizard replied, bowing before vanishing from the room in a puff of smoke. Nothing was going to stop Pete from ruling both kingdoms. Agan, Bogard and Jaguar were perfect for the job, right?