Maybeck awoke by the usual statue to see Amanda and Maleficent on one side of the street, Finn and the obnoxious pirates on the other, with the pirates heading toward the firehouse. He knew he had to act fast. He headed off toward the bushes on the side of the street with the pirates, personally wanting to avoid Maleficent. Besides, he had seen Willa go off with the pen anyways. It was then that a voice startled him. "Hello." A British accent said down at his feet. Maybeck swore that if there wasn't a building right at his back, that he would have jumped a mile. "Philby, I thought you were a dang pirate." Although, Maybeck being Maybeck, a guy who couldn't care less about his language, he didn't say 'dang', he said something that would've gotten any other keeper grounded for a month. Philby ignored the foul language to get to the point. "We need to help Finn" Philby said in a whisper. Even Maybeck could tell this, though. "Thanks a lot. I totally didn't know that." Philby had already had enough. Maybeck had broken his record of how fast he can annoy him. 16 seconds it was. "We need a plan. Lucky enough, I have one." Maybeck looked at him as if to say, "Don't you always?" and Philby started.
15 minutes later
Finn had watched the Amanda, Willa, and Maleficent ordeal go down when he got the chance to look between the pirates. He had fought off about half of them, being six in all, but he couldn't quite tell, for they were moving far too quickly even though they were robots. He had found a large tree branch on the ground for him to use to fight them off, but it wasn't helping much. One of Maleficent's slaves kicked him in the gut but it passed through him. He managed to become slightly solid and grabbed the boot of the pirate and twisted it sending it to the ground. He heard faint yelling from above, but was still occupied with the remaining two pirates. Then, Finn saw it. It was Philby and Maybeck swinging on vines.
10 minutes ago
"This will never work." Maybeck said to cover the fact that he was disappointed hadn't thought of a plan himself. Philby's plan was to grab vines from outside of The Jungle Cruise and tie them on to the low wires above the area where Finn was handling the pirates fairly well up until this point. From there they would jump and knock the pirates down. It was an elaborate plan, but better than going out and fighting them with sticks. They had cut down the three or four vines they needed when they heard the clacking sound of high heels. They took cover behind a bush and silently waited.
About 20 minutes later
Finn was sure of what he saw. It was the two of them, on vines attached to who knows what and coming straight for him. Charlene came out from behind a bush and pulled Finn back having known what the two were up to. Philby and Maybeck were two feet from each of the two pirates when they extended their legs and gave them a push with all their might sending them back a good five to ten feet. Willa and Amanda then appeared behind them. Amanda had a concerned look in her eye. "We need to get into the firehouse. I have a big feeling that's not the last of them." As soon as Finn was about to ask where she was, Jess appeared behind Amanda. She started, "Sorry guys, I fell asleep before we were crossed over and had a dream. I'll tell you guys later. We gotta go I thought I heard pirates coming when I crossed over." They climbed the steps to Wayne's apartment and the old man quickly caught on to their predicament. He hurried the seven in, and closed the door to a crack and he saw the pirates rounding the corner as the last of them rushed in. He silently closed the gap and turned towards the kids. Philby spoke up first, "Boy, do we have a story for you guys." He glanced over at Maybeck, whose heart was still racing from what they had just witnessed.
They all took a seat in the small apartment as Philby and Maybeck started to tell their tale. Philby started it off, "We had ducked down behind an oversized bush, and luckily we could peer through the gaps without being seen." He motioned toward Maybeck allowing him to speak. "Around the corner come Queeny and her nuisance side-kick, Cruella DeVil. We heard as much as possible, but their voices were hushed. They started talking about some sort of plot to get rid of us. Apparently, they are getting pretty desperate because they were going through a list possible help for some big uprising." Maybeck glanced to Philby. "They had sat down on a bench only a few feet away as they went back and forth with character names. They had gone through likely allies such as Dr. Facilier, the Queen of Hearts, and Hades. Those are characters we would expect, but then Cruella made one last request, for the Evil Queen was denying most. It was the one thing that Lady Grimhilde gladly agreed to; Mickey Mouse." A loud gasp filled the room as a feeling of uncertainty and unpleasantness swept throughout the room. Maybeck finished, "She had agreed to bring it by Maleficent to cast a spell on Mickey and use his powers against us." The Keepers were speechless. Willa looked as if she was coming to tears. Charlene had surpassed her and was already sobbing. Jess and Amanda were hugging tightly. Finn looked down at the ground in defeat. Wayne then spoke to the children, "Well, I guess we have a mouse to save." The Keepers looked among themselves and then to Wayne and all nodded.
Wow. I was on the verge of tears as I wrote that. Tell me what you guys think!