Part 3
"Bashful, what are you doing?" Bashful asked himself, tired after running after the Glooms. He stopped to catch his breath. "You can't catch the Glooms by foot." He then saw a doe run pass. Bashful perked up. "But on the back of that deer you can!" He approached the animal that had stopped to eat a path of grass. He cleared his throat and the deer looked up at him.
"Excuse me." He said to the animal. He pointed to the sky at where the Glooms were going. "A flying broom just went that way. Can you take me to wherever it's going, please?" The deer walked to the dwarf and gestured him to hop on. Bashful got on. "Thanks, now, that way!" The deer then galloped to the direction where the Glooms went. Bashful held on tight.
"Okay, thanks." Bashful said to the deer when they got to their destination. He got off the animal's back. "This is the place." He looked at the deer. "Now stay here; I might need your help later." The dwarf went closer to the Gloom's cottage.
He gasped when he saw Peaches lying in his pen.
"C-Calm down, Bashful." The dwarf told himself, walking slowly. "Peaches is just sleeping. No need to be frightened. He ran to look into the window. He looked and looked and then he saw it. The gramophone was in the corner of the room. Bashful smiled to himself. "I knew it!"
He then heard a loud snort from behind him.
"Uh-oh!" He said to himself. He turned himself slowly and found Peaches looking madly at him. Bashful laughed nervously and gave the animal a weak smile. He waved to him. "Hi, Peaches."
Peaches began to squeal frantically. Bashful tried to calm him down.
"No, Peaches; calm down! Shhhhh!"
"GRIM!" Bashful heard Hildy shout to him. "Can you calm down that warthog of yours? It's driving me crazy!"
"Sure, Hildy." Grim replied. "HEY, PEACHES; CALM DOWN!" But, Peaches didn't calm down. He just kept squealing. "Huh, I wonder what got into him?"
"Well, I have an idea. Why don't you go out and look?"
"Sure, Hildy. Whatever you say."
When Bashful heard that, he tried to hide, but, Peaches wouldn't let him. "Peaches! Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Bashful tried to duck under a nearby bush, but Grim pulled him back. "Ooh, we have a spy, do we?" Bashful tried to escape, but Grim had a good grip on his arm. He patted the warthog's head. "Good, Peaches." The warthog smiled in content. Grim pulled Bashful inside.
"HELP!!" Bashful shouted. "HELP!" The deer looked up, saw the dwarf in trouble, spat out the grass she was chewing on, and ran to get help.
"Oh, Hildy!" Grim called to her as they were now inside. His wife came to him and saw Bashful. "Look what I found outside."
"Well, well, well." She began. "If it isn't Bashful of the 7D. What are you doing here?"
"He was spying on us." Hildy looked shocked.
"Spying?"
"I know you and your husband cheated." He told them.
"Cheated? Whatever do you mean?"
"Yeah!" Her husband added. "Hildy wouldn't do such a horrible thing to me!"
"You know what I mean." Bashful continued. "You're Samantha Glee and her dad. You used the gramophone playing those recordings of whistles. You won't get away with this. I'm going to tell."
"Oh dear. He's right; we did cheat and you're going to tell and we'll have to give away our broom." She then looked evil again. "Well, we can't have that, can we? GRIM; GRAB THE ROPE!" Bashful shivered.
"W-what are you going to do with me?" He asked. She gave Bashful an evil grin again.
"You'll see! GRIM, HURRY UP!"
"I-I don't think I want to." Bashful said. Grim appeared and handed Hildy the rope.
"Here you go, my Hildy pie." He said. Hildy smiled.
"Thanks, hubby." She looked at Bashful again who gulped. The dwarf tried to escape, but Hildy ordered Grim to grab him. They tied him to a chair and Grim carried him to a closet and sat him down in the middle. Bashful struggled to get free. Hildy looked down into his face. Bashful looked at her, glaring.
"You'll stay down here until we figure out what to do with you."
"And that might take time." Grim added. "Or it may not. Ether way, you hang tight. We won't forget you."
"GRIM!"
"Sorry." And with that, Grim and his wife left the closet, Grim closing the door behind them.
Bashful struggled and struggled. He gave up and sighed.
"Oh, Bashful." He said to himself. "You tried to be the hero, and look where that lead to. What are you going to do now?"
The dwarves were about to go to bed, when Grumpy realized something.
"Hey, where's Bashful?" He wanted to know.
"I knew something was missing!" Happy admitted. "Or in this case, someone." Doc looked around the room.
"Hmmm," He thought out load. "The last time I saw him was when we were leaving the restaurant."
"Then, maybe we should go back. Maybe he's there." Doc nodded and lifted off his blankets. He got out of bed.
"I think you're right, but before we do, let's all search here." The 7D (or rather 6D) agreed. They all got out of their beds, except Sleepy who yawned.
"Why don't we look in the morning and rest? I'm tired."
"Oh, no." Grumpy replied. "You're coming with us. Six heads are better then five."
"I thought it was two heads are better then one." Sneezy said.
"Well, there aren't two of us, is there? Nope, there's six. Now come on Sleepy, you can sleep after we find Bashful. He may be in danger."
"Let Sleepy sleep, Grumpy." Doc told him. "There're five of us. That's enough to look for Bashful." Grumpy sighed.
"Fine." He and the other dwarves looked for Bashful, calling out his name. Sleepy went into a deep sleep.
Suddenly, Doc heard something. He gestured for the others to be quiet.
"Hang on, you hear that?" The other dwarves listened when Grumpy spoke up.
"Doc, I don't hear anything."
"Shhh, you will." There was silence, and then they all heard it. A faint knock at the door.
"Yeah, I hear it."
"I hear it too." Happy added. They heard it again.
"There's someone at the door." They all went downstairs. Doc was about to open the door when it fell to the floor. The deer had rammed into it and now stood inside on top of it. Grumpy sighed.
"Oh, great!" He said. "Now, we need a new door." Happy waved at the doe.
"Hi!" He greeted. "Welcome to our humble abode!" The deer then went off, came back, and off again. The animal did this a few times.
"Uh, what is the deer doing?" Sneezy asked. "Why is it going back and forth like that?"
"I think it wants us to follow it." Happy put in. Doc went to the deer.
"Is that true?" Doc questioned the animal. "Do you want us to follow you?" The deer lowered its head and pushed Doc's butt. Doc held his hands in defense. "Whoa; whoa, okay." He looked at the others. "Guys; this deer wants us to follow it."
"And you expect us to all follow it?" Grumpy wanted to know. "We don't know this animal. It could be dangerous."
"Maybe the deer knows where Bashful is." Sneezy said. Doc looked at the deer again.
"Do you know where our dear friend Bashful is?" The deer didn't answer. Instead, he pushed Doc's butt again. Once again, Doc held his hands in defense. "Whoa, okay." He looked at his friends. "Come on men; let's follow the deer." The dwarves followed the deer, except Grumpy who went to the bottom of the stairs.
"SLEEPY!" He called up. "WE'RE GOING TO FOLLOW THIS STRANGE ANIMAL WHO MAY OR MAY NOT LEAD US TO BASHFUL! YOU JUST STAY HERE AND PROTECT THE COTTAGE!" He went after the others.
Downstairs, lying awake in his bed, Sleepy nodded with a yawn.
"Okay!" He agreed. "You do that." He yawned again. "I'll protect the cottage. Don't worry." He went to sleep again.
"Do we have to run on our feet?" Grumpy questioned out loud when they were running for a while. "How far is this thing is going to take us." Happy shrugged.
"Don't know!" He answered. "We'll know when we get there. Besides, this is a good workout for us, don't you think?" Grumpy sighed.
"I wish. I just wish we'd get there soon. I'm exhausted!" The deer then stopped and called into the forest. "Now, what is that crazy animal doing?" More deer then bolted from the forest. They all lifted the dwarves onto their backs and all ran after the first doe.
"Aw, how nice!" Happy observed. He looked at Grumpy. "The deer must have heard your complaining. Now you can rest your legs!"
"Yeah," Grumpy agreed. "thank gosh!"
The dwarves gasped when the animals lead them to the Gloom's cottage.
"The Glooms!" They all said together. The animals let the dwarves get off of them. Doc looked at the deer.
"Is this where Bashful is?" He asked the animal.
"If it is," Sneezy spoke. "How are we going to get in?" Doc thought about this and snapped as an idea came to his mind.
"I have an idea." All of the dwarves huddled up and Doc told them his plan.
Doc knocked on the Glooms' front door and quickly put a scarecrow in front of it (they had asked if they could use it). He then dashed into the bushes with the others, waiting for someone to open the door, Grim answered it. He looked at the scarecrow.
"Can I help you?" He asked, unaware that he was talking to a scarecrow. It didn't answer. "Hello?" It didn't answer again. "Sir, can you talk? Hello!"
"Grim, what's going on?" Hilda said, going to him.
"I'm talking to this man, but he's not answering." The dwarves silently snuck in and began looking for Bashful. Hildy looked at the scarecrow.
"Uh, Grim, that's a scarecrow."
"It is?" Grim looked at the scarecrow and saw that it was indeed a scarecrow. "Oh, so it is." He did a face palm. "Duh; if only I had a brain." Hildy nodded in agreement.
"If only." He closed the door. "Hmmm, I wonder why a scarecrow would be here. We don't have one or crows."
"Somebody must be pranking us." She groaned. "Kids today."
"Yeah." He then was confused. "Why do you think kids would do this?"
Dopey saw the gramophone in the corner of the room he entered. He went to it, and cranked the arm. He put his arms to his face when he heard whistling coming out of it. Now why would the Glooms have a record on someone whistling? He jumped back when he realized it. The Glooms did cheat!
The Glooms heard the whistling and wondered where it was coming from.
"Where is that whistling coming from?" Grim wondered out loud. Hildy gasped in realization.
"The gramophone!" Grim looked at her with confusion.
"What? How is the gramophone playing? Someone must be playing it in order for it to…" Hildy grabbed him and dragged him towards it.
"Come on, Grim!"
"Oh, okay."
Happy went to where Dopey was. He beamed.
"Good job, Dopey!" He congratulated him, forgetting to be quiet. ""It's not Bashful, but man, that is some darn good whistling! Man, it almost sounds like…"
"I knew it!" They heard Hildy. The two dwarves looked at the couple.
"You knew that Happy and Dopey of the 7D would be here, Hildy?"
"Well, hi, Glooms!" Happy greeted. "How do you do?" Hildy pointed at them.
"Grim, get them! If Happy and Dopey are here, the others might be here too."
"Where is that whistling coming from?" They heard Grumpy ask. They turned to him. Grumpy gasped. "The Glooms!" Happy waved at him.
"It's coming from this gramophone. Doesn't it sound like that little girl?" Both of the villains ran after him. He ran, screaming.
Doc saw Grumpy coming his way.
"Have you found Bashful, Grumpy?" He saw the Glooms and ran as well, screaming.
Pretty soon, the Glooms were chasing all of them.
Bashful heard the screams. He made the chair jump to the door.
"GUYS!" He called. "GUYS; I'M IN HERE!" The door opened and Bashful saw the Glooms and his friends.
"Oh, hey Bashful." Happy said to him with a smile. "We were looking for you." Grim and Hildy grabbed them all and threw them in the closet.
"Here," She said. "you can catch up in here." She was about to close the door when Doc spoke up.
"Before you close the door on us, did you cheat? Did you pretend to be Samantha and her Dad and used the gramophone to win?"
"Oh, there's no use hiding it anymore." Hildy said. "Yes, yes we did cheat." The dwarves gasped, except Bashful. "But, we're villains! That's what we do. We cheat. Live with it."
"Yeah!" Grim added. "Live with it!"
When they closed the closet door, they heard a loud crash.
"Grim!" Hildy ordered him. "Be a dear and find out what that crash was, won't you?" Grim nodded.
"I'm on it, sweet pea." He said and went where they heard the noise. Hildy went off too.
"Hildy." Grim said to her moments later. "There are all kinds of animals in our house."
"What?" Hildy questioned and went to the front door and saw indeed, that the deer, along with other woodland animals have come in. The deer was standing on the Glooms' front door. She tried to shoo them away. "Shoo, shoo, be gone you filthy beasts." The animals all looked mad at them.
"Uh, Hildy." Grim told her. "I think the animals are mad at us." Hildy just looked at him.
"You think?"
The animals then all lunged at the Glooms. They screamed.
"Guys," Bashful said to his fellow dwarves, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry I went after the Glooms. If I haven't done that, you all wouldn't be here. Now you are all captured as well, and it's all my fault." He sat down, ashamed. The other dwarves went to comfort their sad friend.
"Don't feel bad, Bashful." Doc said. "You did the right thing. You felt that something wasn't right and you were right. It wasn't your fault. Plus, you were in danger. We would always help out a fellow dwarf in need."
"Yeah!" Happy added. "We may be captured, but at least we're captured together." Bashful smiled.
"Thanks for cheering me up, guys." Happy and the other dwarves smiled too.
"Sure; anytime!" He then looked at Dopey.
"I tried, Dopey. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough." Dopey went and hugged him. The dwarves awed at the sight.
"Why are you hugging me, Dopey?" He asked.
"I think he's thanking you that you would do this for him." Doc explained. "You're a good friend, Bashful." Bashful blushed and patted his friend.
"Anytime, Dopey." When Dopey released him, he looked all around, confused. "Where's Sleepy?"
"Oh, he stayed behind." Grumpy replied. "I tried to get him to come, but, well, you know Sleepy."
"Yeah, that sounds like Sleepy all right."
The closet door then fell down and the deer stood on top of it. The dwarves saw this and noticed the Glooms being attacked by various woodland creatures.
"Well," Grumpy observed. "Looks like we have our tickets out of here."
"How did the animals get in here?"
"They must have seen that we were in danger." Said Doc. "They're rescuing us." They saw some birds pecking the Glooms' heads as they ran from them.
"Stop pecking us, you stupid birds!" Hildy said.
"Yeah!" Grim put in. "What did we ever do to you?"
"How do we prove to the queen and the Jollywood citizens that the Glooms used the gramophone to cheat?" Bashful wanted to know. A deer butted into Grim, who bumped into Hildy, and the two spell casters were now knocked out cold.
The witch and warlock both woke up. Queen Delightful and Lord Starchbottom were staring them in their faces.
"Yoohoo!" Queen Delightful called. "Wake up!" Both Grim and Hildy sat up, and looked all around them. They were in the town center. The queen, Stachbottom, and Jollywood citizens were there, all looking at them. The 7D were there too, including Sleepy. They saw that the gramophone was also there in a bright-red wagon. The queen went over to the old instrument and tapped on it. She looked at the Glooms.
"Did you two cheat in the whistling contest using this gramophone, disguised as Samantha Glee and her father?" Grim and Hildy stood to their feet.
"Yeah," Hildy said. "What about it?"
"Well, did you?"
"No use hiding it anymore, Hildy." Grim told her. Hildy sighed.
"Fine, we did." She said. Everyone, except the 7D, gasped. "But, so what? We're villains, that's what we do."
"Yeah! So there!"
"I'm not giving up the broom. It's mine; it's all mine! Grim, let's get us out of here." Grim nodded and the Glooms ran off.
"What about the gramophone?"
"Leave it. We can poof it to the cottage when we get there."
The citizens were about to tackle down the Glooms, when the queen spoke.
"Let them go." They all looked at the Queen like she was nuts. She looked at Dopey. "I have something to give to Dopey." Dopey looked at the queen, wondering what she was going to give him.
Grim whistled as the two flew through the air.
"GRIM!" Hildy scolded him. Grim stopped listening and looked at his wife. "You didn't tell me you could whistle."
"You didn't ask." Grim told her. "Ether way, we'd still have your broom."
"Yeah, we would." Grim continued to whistle as they flew home.
"Dopey," Queen Delightful said to him when they were all at the queen's castle. The gramophone was also there. "If the Glooms didn't cheat, you would've won the whistling contest at the Jollywood Fair."
"You bet he would." Grumpy put in. Dopey lowered his head in shame. The queen then grabbed a gold medal and a broomstick. "Therefore, this medal is rightfully yours." Dopey couldn't believe it. He bowed to the queen and let her put the medal around his neck.
"Congrats, Dopey on your…" She began.
"Tenth win in a row." Lord Starchbottom reminded her.
"Right. Congrats on your tenth victory in a row for the 78th annual whistling contest!" Everyone cheered and applauded for Dopey who looked at his medal. Squire Peckington flew circles above his head.
"Congrats, congrats!" The parrot squawked.
"And this is for you too." She was about to give Dopey the broomstick when Lord Starchbottom spoke up.
"Do you want us to give this broom to charity for you?"
"No; it's all right." Doc told him. "We can give it to charity ourselves. It's no problem."
"Get it, Dopey." Happy said. "You deserve it." Dopey grabbed it and held it above his head. The queen took Dopey's hand.
"Three cheers for Dopey!" The queen began. "Hip-hip…"
"HOORAY!" Everyone finished.
"Hip-hip…"
"HOORAY!"
"Hip-hip…"
"HOORAY!" Everyone once again, cheered and applauded. Dopey whistled.
"Hey!" Bashful said, smiling. "He whistled for the first time in over two weeks!"
"Yeah," Happy agreed. "Isn't it great?" Grumpy sighed with contempt.
"Music to my ears." He added. "You just keep on whistling there, Dopey. Don't you dare stop." Dopey just whistled.