One of the Decepticons comes from Hasbro's "Transformers".
Chapter Eleven:
A Minor Setback
Elijah fled from the Animal Headquarters, long before he was discovered. Upon hearing the alarm, Elijah ran through a portal, back to the limbo world Terranus. At the only Nobody base, Elijah ran inside and met Ronnie Buckley, who looked surprised to see him.
"Elijah, I wasn't expecting you here for at least a month," said Ronnie.
"I know, but I had to come here. I knew here I would be safe," said Elijah. He saw a familiar hobbit woman standing behind Ronnie. "Hello Amber."
"Hello Elijah," said Amber, nodding to him.
"What news have you learned about the villains?" asked Elijah. He followed Ronnie over to a wooden table.
"The villains are relentless. We've already gotten three attacks by Maleficent this month. Captain Hook is no help. You know he imprisoned me, just because I was a nobody," said Ronnie.
"I believe the talking animals did the same to me at the Animal Headquarters," said Elijah.
"Yes, I did hear about that. It's no wonder you escaped from there," said Amber.
"We've been getting mixed signals from the Halls of Nature. The Future's noticed wormholes cropping up, where Aslan had frozen time. That's the reason Voldemort was able to find Harry Potter in the time he came," said Ronnie.
"So we have a new problem," said Elijah.
"That hobbit girl they have at the Halls of Nature, who goes by the name of Malinda, she's proven a nuisance. I already don't trust her," said Amber.
"You haven't even met her," said Elijah, chuckling.
A beeping sound was heard throughout the base. Red lights flickered on and off. Ronnie rushed over to a control panel, where one of the nobodies was working.
"What have we got?" asked Ronnie.
"I think what Malinda must have done there, at the Halls of Nature, sure stirred things up. It's worse, not good," said Amber.
"Quiet!" said Ronnie, shushing her.
"They're attacking our naval bases," said the nobody on the control panel.
"The villains must be onto us," said Elijah.
"Or something bad is invading," said Ronnie.
All the while, a miniature Decepticon made its way towards a plug. As the Decepticon charged up, it stole several files from the control panel it was hacking. The nobodies noticed this, with help from Amber, and decided to shut down the system. The Decepticon was furious, but spotted the names "Malinda Brandybuck" and "Frodo Baggins" on the site, along with their images. The Decepticon, while avoiding being hit by a weapon, fled the scene.
"It'll be back," said Ronnie, lowering his pistol.
"It stole a lot of files, Ronnie," said Amber.
"Well, get the system back online," commanded Ronnie to the Nobodies he was in charge of. He told himself, "No villains are going to be hacking in that way again."
Rogue had been trapped inside one of the villains' starships for quite some time. She was handed raw meat once a day and given some water to drink for a certain amount of time. For a lioness, she was quite famished, but also hopeful of finding a way to return to the Pridelands, her homeland. Eventually, the ship landed on a different world. Rogue overheard the orcs say the world they landed on was called the Dragon World. They left the ship to start up their machines. While inside her cage, Rogue heard the orcs being killed by fully-grown dragons, along with their machines destroyed. Entering the ship and heading straight to Rogue's cage was a human woman that the lioness recognized.
"Eliza, what are you doing here? Did Elijah escape in time?" asked Rogue.
"Elijah's been away from the Dragon World for six years. He hasn't returned," said Eliza. She managed to turn the lock and open the cage door.
"Thanks. I owe you one," said Rogue.
Eliza shushed her. "We have to escape carefully."
A dragon outside told Eliza, "The orcs are finished, madam."
An adult lion entered the ship. "Are you sure there aren't any villains here?"
Eliza introduced Rogue to the lion. "Rogue, this is my son Eli."
Eli told the two, "We have to leave… now. The dragons are going to destroy this ship…" He was cut off by rumbles. "You see what I mean?"
Once Rogue snapped out of her trance, she followed Eliza and Eli out of the ship. The last villains that were inside the ship vanished via dark portal. The dragons destroyed the ship with a roaring flame, causing the ship to explode. Eliza, Rogue, and Eli were thrown forward by the blast. Rogue collapsed on the ground, her hearing ringing in her ears. Eventually she stood up and followed Eliza and Eli back to Eliza's cave. Once Eliza helped heal herself, Eli, and Rogue last, Rogue had loads of questions to ask the two.
"It's amazing how you two stayed alive all this time. Maranguan doesn't know you're here?" asked Rogue.
Eli said, "If he knew I was still here, he might kill me. On the contrary, it'd be an awful family reunion."
"You should be grateful. Don't ever give up on your father. He still has good in him, as Elijah told me and still believes," said Eliza.
"How did my namesake come around?" asked Eli, curious.
"I just thought of it. I wanted to call you Elijah, but Parker – your father – refused. I don't know why he did that, but something about the name made him tick," said Eliza.
Rogue said, "You look like you're hiding something. Was there something you weren't telling Elijah?"
"No, of course not," said Eliza, and that was the last of that subject Rogue and Eli got out of her. "I'm relieved to see you safe."
"The villains didn't exactly treat me well," said Rogue. She said between bites, after Eliza passed her food, "This is good."
"Will you be staying here, Rogue?" asked Eli.
Rogue shook her head. "I have business to attend to back at the Pridelands. I should return there after I get done here."
"The Dragon World's a big place. I'm sure we'll find something for you here," said Eliza.
Rogue said, "No, that's all right. I should manage from here. Thank you for your hospitality, though. We'll need that in the days to come."
"Do you think there's going to be a war between heroes and villains?" asked Eli.
Rogue said, "The villains made their move and lost. Now it's the heroes' turn."
"I hope you're right," said Eli.
That same afternoon, a meteor shower could be seen in the skies. One of the meteors crashed a distance away from the Pridelands. Kovu left Pride Rock to investigate the scene. Kiara followed him, as did Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa. When the group was near the site, Rafiki pointed at something in the center of the crater.
"Do you see that?" asked Rafiki, baffled.
"What do you think it is?" Pumbaa asked.
"Eh, could be nothing," said Timon.
Kiara noticed Kovu slide down into the crater. She followed him at a cautious pace. In the center of the crater was a metallic cylinder object. Kovu jumped when the door opened to reveal a blue alien about three feet tall, with four arms and on his back were talons. He wore a red spacesuit and spoke in an unintelligible manner. When he saw Kovu, the blue alien recognized him.
"Kovu… Stitch miss," said the blue alien, rushing up to the dark-furred lion.
"Kovu, Stitch is back. What are we to do with him now?" asked Kiara.
"We'll think of something. In the meantime, someone show him to the watering hole," said Kovu, gesturing Stitch onwards.
"So, does this mean he stays?" asked Pumbaa.
"Pumbaa, he's a blue creature that looks nothing like us. What does Kovu want with Stitch anyway?" asked Timon.
"Timon, it's just until Stitch is able to leave again," said Kovu.
"Why didn't we keep him?" asked Pumbaa, curious.
"Pumbaa," said Timon, stunned.
Kovu followed Stitch and Kiara to the watering hole. As Stitch drank as much as he wanted, Kovu gave Kiara a hint that he wanted to speak to Stitch alone. Kiara understood and left the area, but not before she got a drink of water.
Kovu asked Stitch, "You were up with those stars. What did you see?"
Stitch recalled, horrified, "Stitch… captured. I was tortured by villains. They never gave me a chance to explain. I ran, boarded a ship, bolted with the meteor shower. Somehow, Stitch returned to the Pridelands."
"Why did the villains torture you, Stitch?" asked Kovu.
Stitch replied, understanding, "They thought Stitch had something they wanted. This evil woman, Evil, wanted girl, but I didn't have girl they were looking for. They tortured me for information that I didn't know. Then they saw it. They're going to attack the village in two years time! They want the girl, to get to Frodo! That's it!"
"What girl?" asked Kovu, confused. Then he remembered, "Of course, the prophecy. But why are they after Frodo?"
"Beats me," said Stitch, returning to drinking the water.
Kovu's thoughts were still on the villains' abduction of Stitch. So the villains were planning on using the girl from the prophecy as bait to get to Frodo. He thought, as he returned to Pride Rock to sleep, for a long time why that was. He dreamed of a torture session this hobbit woman with dark hair was giving to who appeared to be Frodo. Kovu roused uneasily.
Merry packed up the last of his clothes in his pack. As he snuck into the kitchen to pack up the food he would need, he was caught by surprise by Estella. Estella entered the kitchen with a knowing look in her eyes.
"You're going to visit Malinda, aren't you?" asked Estella.
"I'm going to make a stop at the Animal Headquarters first. That's where Aslan said they were going, Frodo and Malinda," said Merry. He hugged Estella. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Good luck to you. I hope you find them," said Estella.
Merry nodded. Opening in the parlor was a white portal. Merry kissed Estella once before departing. Periadoc witnessed the scene, putting a hand over his mother's shoulder. Merry waved to his family before departing.
When he came out of the portal, Merry found the Animal Headquarters with dimmed lights. He checked the armory first. There he saw Sam and Pippin staring at an elvish sword, Sting, floating above a pedestal. There was glass surrounding the sword.
"Where's Frodo?" asked Merry.
"We were about to ask the same question," said Pippin. "It's good to see you again."
"How do we get it out of there?" asked Sam.
"Oh, you won't be able to," said Mother Sinclair, startling the hobbits. "It's a shame you couldn't be here when Frodo Baggins escaped, as did your friend Elijah Molvaro."
"Where is he? Where's Mr. Frodo?" asked Sam. He was held back by Pippin.
"We're not leaving until you tell us where Frodo is," said Merry.
"I wasn't planning on you three going anywhere. If you escape, as your friends did, you'll be very sorry." Mother Sinclair then ordered her bears, "Lock this door, too! No one gets out unless told otherwise by myself or my colleagues!" After she left, the door was closed and locked.
Merry attempted to open the door, but was unsuccessful. "It's locked tight."
"They got to you, too… the bears, I mean," said Melissa, coming out from the shadows. Behind her was Nash, who remained silent and wary. "The animals have gone out of control."
"So, this wasn't your doing?" asked Merry, surprised a little.
"Would I be trapped in here if it wasn't? Although, I did get Elijah into some trouble, before his escape," said Melissa. She admitted, "Look, I still have three wishes left. I used my seventh wish to defeat Voldemort, the sixth to make me the Trick Master – similar to Jack Sparrow, the fifth to be able to cause as many pranks and distractions as I want, and the fourth to give Nash what he always wanted… a true friend, but sadly he hasn't found that person yet."
"I thought it was you, Melissa, but in order to find that true friend – and no, it's not the romantic sort – I have to dig deeper and look harder," said Nash.
"Why didn't you wish to get us out of this mess?" asked Merry.
"I didn't think of that," said Melissa. She announced, "Okay. I wish there was some way to escape this armory and leave the Animal Headquarters safely."
The wish worked, as the door became unlocked. In a mad rush, the five hobbits left the armory. Sam returned to the room and, finding a wooden mallet, smashed the glass. As he pulled out the sword, Sting, from the glass encasing, an alarm sounded. Sam ran to the doorway, making it out before the door closed. The five hobbits took off up as many flights as they could. When one way looked to have a dead end, the hobbits went in another direction. They climbed higher until they reached the top of the cliff. Before the bears caught them, the hobbits were in luck and stepped inside a starship. Melissa and Nash piloted the ship out of the limbo world Peradus.
Mother Sinclair watched the ship leave with agony. The bears trembled when Mother Sinclair returned inside the headquarters. She ordered an immediate execution for the prisoners locked in the dungeons. The bears did as she ordered, taking flight down to the lower levels of the headquarters.