Chapter Two
Royal Affairs
The band concert played an upbeat fanfare, mixing nostalgic joy and military pride. The audience chamber was a full house; everyone in town had shown up to watch the ceremony. The crowd was filled with friendly faces, though none of them human. The town was populated by anthropomorphic animals, from dogs to cows to chickens to chipmunks. The society works much the same as any modern human town, save for the fact that it is led by a monarchy and royal court, which resided in the very castle in which the ceremony was taking place.
The blue platform on which the throne normally sat had been transformed into a three-foot tall stage, and the golden throne in the center had been removed and replaced with a brass lectern closer to the front. In the far back of the chamber, two enormous statues stood in alcoves on either side. The one on the left was made to resemble a duck wearing a leather robe and a conical wizard's hat that dipped over his eyes, who carried a curled wooden rod in his right hand. The one on the right was made to resemble a dog wearing knight's armor and holding a shield in his left hand. Hanging on the wall in the center was a large red banner emblazoned with a symbol made up of a large circle and two smaller ellipses toward the top. Beneath the symbol a long, thin banner was stretched across the larger banner. It read:
Congratulations Disney Castle Knight Academy Graduating Class
Queen Minnie Mouse stood behind the lectern, perched upon a stool so that she could be seen above the top. She was an anthropomorphic mouse, which on this world was a creature that had an almost-perfectly spherical head with two thin circles for ears, black fur covering its entire body except for the face, which had a Caucasian complexion, a very thin tail, and four-fingered hands (much like the other anthropomorphic residents of the town). She wore an elegant pink ball gown, white gloves that extend up her forearms, and a gold tiara with a ruby inset with the same shape as the symbol on the banner behind her. Next to her stood her husband, King Mickey Mouse. Mickey looked almost identical to her, except that he did not share her long eyelashes, wore no crown, and he wore a black and red jacket with white lining and two yellow straps, red pants with a zipper and a yellow pouch on each leg, a pair of large yellow shoes with grey backs and two orange, intersecting straps on the front, and a pair of white gloves which were traditionally worn by nearly everyone in town. Behind them stood a row of young men and women, dogs, cows, cats, and geese, all wearing blue leather suits and iron knight's helmets, gauntlets, boots, and breastplates. Once the band concert had finished playing, Queen Minnie addressed the crowd. "Thank you all for coming today. I am proud to present this year's Royal Knight Academy graduates. These disciplined individuals have braved the fiercest training regimen that this castle has to offer. They studied hard and practiced harder, never losing sight of their end goal. And most of all, they have taken to heart the sworn duty of a Disney Castle knight: aid those in need, defend those who cannot defend themselves, and always treat those around you fairly and justly."
One twenty-one-year-old canine looked out at the crowd, feeling both nervous and excited. He had black fur, a hairless Caucasian face, long ears, and two front teeth that stuck out over his lower jaw and were separated from each other by a few inches. Max Goof scanned the faces in the crowd and found his friends standing together toward the left wall. His best friend P.J., girlfriend Roxanne, as well as Bobby, Vicki and Stacey. Seeing them gave him a boost of confidence, and he returned his attention to Queen Minnie's speech.
"I would like to thank the instructors and officers who helped our new knights on their path to greatness. Would you all please come forward? Morton Mazur." Max saw a tall dog with a crew cut and wearing a business suit climb onto the stage to kneel respectfully to Queen Minnie. The crowd clapped for him. Max remembered him as a stern man who encouraged hard work and learning even on leisure, and who had a rather poor sense of humor. He did not take kindly to Max's early string of practical jokes. Max saw Mazur shake hands with the queen and king then stand at attention and salute before she dismissed him. "Launchpad McQuack," the queen called for the next person. A tall, muscular duck wearing the uniform of an airplane pilot approached the queen and did the same thing as Mazur. "Seamus O'Hara. Floyd Gottfredson. Carl Barks…" The list went on, with the queen calling up and congratulating over two dozen knights and military instructors. Max was thankful for all of the instructors who prepared him for this day.
Finally, the queen reached the last name in the lineup. "And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank our esteemed captain of the royal knights, Goofy." This was met with a storm of applause and a few cheers. A tall hound stepped onto the stage, attempting to keep a neutral expression to appear professional, but he was too jovial and proud to conceal his smile. He wore an orange and black suit, a knight's helmet that acted more like his traditional hat, a gauntlet on his left arm, a wide belt buckle with blue straps, and pointed metal shoes. He approached Queen Minnie and King Mickey and knelt before them. He shook hands with both Minnie and Mickey, then stood at attention and faced the crowd when they bade him to rise.
Max cracked a smile at the captain. Not only was Goofy the second-greatest warrior in Disney Castle (the greatest being the king himself), but he was also Max's dad, and the friendliest and most caring guy in town. He was known at times to be clumsy and, as one might surmise, goofy. He has a history of embarrassing Max in front of his peers, albeit unintentionally, but Max has learned to go along with it. He greatly missed his dad when Goofy was out helping King Mickey and the boy he called "Sora" in protecting the worlds from the Heartless, and he was glad that he was able to come home and watch him get through his last few weeks of knight training, and then be here on this momentous occasion.
Two brooms made of wooden shafts and straw bristles that were bunched into two points walked up onto the stage. Each broom had two skinny arms with four-fingered hands. They grabbed onto the stool, which Mickey helped Minnie climb off of, and carried it away so Goofy could take his place behind the lectern.
"Thank you," Goofy began, but realized that his voice wasn't being amplified around the room. He leaned forward and tapped the microphone, creating a humming sound with each tap. "Uh, is this thing on?" That time he could hear his voice in the surround sound, followed by a few snickers from the crowd as well as one of the graduates behind him. He stood up straight, then realized that in that position the microphone was not close enough to him, so he adjusted it until it was closer to his mouth. "A-hyuck," he began again. "Thank y'all for havin' me. I am very proud to see these fellers reach the end of their training and cross the bridge into knighthood. I regret that I had to miss their last two years due to performing my duties, but I am happy that I could be here now, to welcome them into the brotherhood." He turned around and faced the graduates. "Ten-shun!" Max and his colleagues stood at attention, their arms flat against their sides and their expressions professional. "Now when I call your name, you come forward so you can officially receive the title of a Disney Castle Royal Knight!" This was met with applause from the whole room, save for a few disgruntled canine characters standing by the door, their leader glaring bitterly at a specific graduate student.
Goofy called forth the first graduate, a cat-person named Thomas Blackstone. He bade him to place his hand over his heart, swear to a solemn oath, then drop to one knee so Queen Minnie could tap him on the shoulders with a rapier which a magic broom had brought to her. This pattern followed for each graduate down the line. With each knighting, Max's apprehension increased, until Goofy called out "Maximilian Goof."
Fighting past his nerves, Max stepped out of the line as a goose reclaimed his spot next to him. He stepped up to the front of the stage, hearing applause from the crowd as well as some rambunctious yells and calls from Bobby, who got strange looks from the people around him, though he did not seem to notice until Stacey tapped him on the shoulder and shook her head in disapproval. Max turned to face Goofy. Goofy withheld the urge to smile and give him a supportive wink, as he did not want to show favoritism to his son.
Goofy placed his right hand over his heart, encouraging Max to do the same. "Maximilian Goof," he shouted with authority, beginning the same speech he gave with the others. "Do you swear to abide by the Disney Town code of citizenship?"
"I swear!" Max shouted back.
"Do you swear to uphold the dignity of the Royal Knights?"
"I swear!"
"Do you swear to do your turn in defending the people of this world from danger and menace?"
"I swear!"
"Do you swear to set a good example for future cadets and inspire goodwill among the townsfolk?"
"I swear!"
"Repeat the Knights' sacred code of honor!"
"All for one, and one for all!" he shouted, louder than before. He heard Bobby repeat this in a cheer and in the corner of his eye he saw a few people giving him dirty looks.
Goofy gave him a quick nod and took a step back. Queen Minnie stepped forward and bade him to kneel. Max complied.
"For your dedication in maintaining the knightly order and competence in training, by the power invested in me as queen, I hereby dub thee a Disney Castle Royal Knight," Minnie recited, tapping her rapier against each of Max's shoulders as she did so. Despite having to repeat that line multiple times, she said it with no less enthusiasm than any other time. She shook hands with Max. This was met with applause from the entire room, save for a single glaring pair of eyes at the far back, though Max did not notice the nasty character watching him bitterly.
Max stood up and retook his place in the line of graduates, barely containing his excitement. This was it. He was now a Disney Castle Royal Knight. He shared a fist-bump with the graduate to his right, a bear named Humphrey, before the latter went up to be knighted himself.
On the opposite end of the chamber from the stage, what appeared to be a massive lilac-colored door was built into the wall. However, it was actually a decoration that was part of the wall, and the actual door was a much smaller, normal-sized board built into the outside face of the wall, facing into the colonnade hallway just beyond, leaving an alcove carved into the apparent door up to the actual door.
Three anthropomorphic dogs stood within that alcove. The one who had been giving out the evil eye for the entire ceremony, Bradley Uppercrust III, stood in the middle, still looking upon the stage with contempt. He had long brown hair and wore a purple sweater with a light blue dress shirt underneath, khaki pants, and light grey sneakers. When the cheering for Max died down, he rolled his eyes. "I swear, he says. Gimme a break," he growled.
"You know, Brad," one of his cohorts, named Slouch, interjected, "maybe that had something to do with why you're not up there sharing the spotlight."
"It's Bradley!" he corrected. "And shut it. Did I ask for your opinion? I just can't stand it. That glory should be all mine. I should be the one they are all cheering for, but I get shafted back a hard-earned year while that clown gets to be on top of the world." He clenched his fists in frustration.
The other dog, named Jeff, raised his hand nervously, politely asking to talk. When Bradley saw him do this, he shrugged, which Jeff took as permission. "So, what do you suggest we do, chief?" he asked.
Bradley looked on as his old second-in-command, a giant dog named Tank, stepped up to meet Goofy at the front of the stage. "Come on, boys. We'll show them what I— we're really made of."
After the final graduate had been knighted and reclaimed his spot at the end of the row, the brooms returned the stool and Goofy helped Queen Minnie onto it. She waited for the cheering to die down before she began. "It is such an honor to personally welcome these noble young men and women into the knighthood, and I sincerely hope they will live up to their promise and show themselves to be defenders of the town and good citizens every day! And now…"
She passed the rapier to King Mickey. He pointed the blade into the air and shouted: "All for one, and one for all!"
Goofy summoned a circular, gray, rounded shield, emblazoned with a darker gray Hidden Mickey logo, out of thin air, accompanied by a glow of white light, and raised it above his head. The other knights, including the newly-knighted, pumped their fists into the air, and all pitched in. "All for one, and one for all!" They were joined by everyone in the audience, enthusiastically repeating that sacred code in rhythm. Slouch and Jeff even participated cheerfully, though Bradley sneered and repeated the oath ironically. Besides the sinister outlier, the room was full of celebration and pride.
After the ceremony, the gathering went out to the garden for lunch. Afterwards, everyone dispersed to either return to their daily activities, celebrate in private, or prepare for the party for the knights planned for that evening. For King Mickey and Queen Minnie, they had no official obligations for the rest of the day, so they retired to the library. Pluto, Mickey's pet golden bloodhound, had been curled up asleep in his doggy bed throughout the morning, but he woke up at their arrival. He stood up, stretched, and approached his master, panting cheerfully. Mickey and Minnie pet him lovingly, then Minnie went to fill up his food dish. Mickey sat down at the desk, flicked on the lamp, and began to review paperwork for town business while Minnie set up a ladder to scale the bookshelves and locate a book she was looking for. Minnie found the spot where the book was supposed to be, but noticed that the spot was empty.
"Oh, Mickey, have you seen the record book?" Minnie asked, fingering the three-inch empty slot in the shelf.
"Oh, I think Jiminy had it last night," he answered. "You want me to send for it?" A magic broom turned to face him (figuratively) when he made the suggestion.
"No. I can review it later. Thank you, though."
Mickey continued reading over and filling out the paperwork while Minnie pulled out a photo album from the shelf. She climbed off of the ladder, opened the book and started to flip through the pages.
"I had not realized that Jiminy had taken this with him on the journey," Minnie commented. She remembered how, when the castle's wards against dark entities was compromised by an invasion of the past, she had attempted to take stock when she noticed that the old photo album was nowhere to be found. When efforts were mobilized to restore order, she had not had the opportunity to resume her search. When Mickey and the others returned, along with Jiminy, Jiminy had shown her the two journal volumes, the first of which being mysteriously blank, as well as all of the photographs that he had taken during the later parts of the adventure.
"Well, you see, actually, I was the one who took it," Mickey answered, sheepishly. Minnie looked up at him quizzically. "I set the camera to Prompt-Shot mode, and I printed the pictures I liked. Then I sealed off my section and passed it off to Sora and Jiminy when I met them in Twilight Town."
Intrigued by this, Minnie broke the seal on the section of Mickey's photos and started searching through them. The first one she saw was of a tropical island with palm trees bearing coconuts and star-shaped fruits. "You were on Sora's world?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I saw that it was going to be swallowed in darkness, so I figured I'd hitch a ride into the storm so I could jump into the Realm of Darkness to find the other key."
Minnie turned to the next picture, and saw a massive cavern of black rock, which would have been pitch dark if not for the blue and purple light showing through cracks in the rock, along with the glowing yellow dots that served as the eyes of shadows and bat-like creatures. She started to turn to the next page, and had gotten a brief glimpse of a delicate human hand wearing a white fingerless glove and grasping part of an item made of blue painted acrylic and aluminum wire, but a knock on the door took away her attention before she could reveal the complete picture.
The door opened and a duck wearing a navy-blue jacket and a shorter, light blue coat, with gold trimming and adorned with large yellow buttons, zippers on either side of the buttons, and an indigo belt, as well as a dark blue witch's hat, the uniform of the Court Wizard. The duck had white feathers and a yellow bill and flippers. He had black pupils and his sclera had a bluish tint. He inched his way into the room, but not all the way and not too quick to seem impolite, but quickly enough to convey a sense of urgency.
"What is it, Donald?" Mickey asked. He noticed that his longtime friend seemed nervous and frantic.
Donald blurted out his message in a gargling-sounding nigh-incomprehensible voice. "Yourmajestytheteenyshipsfromthegummishiparegoinghaywirechipanddaleare-indangerthegarageisinchaoshurryweneedhelp!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Donald," Mickey interjected. "I can't understand a word you say."
Donald stomped his foot and groaned. He took a deep breath and decided to start again. He suddenly gave a sheepish look, as if he was embarrassed by the incident he was trying to describe. "Hehehe… Well, I was trying to help Chip and Dale do maintenance on the Gummi Ship. There seemed to be a malfunction communicating with the Teeny Ship robots, so I was inputting commands in the big Gummi Ship while Chip and Dale were working on the robots, but…" He trailed off nervously, trying to come up with a nice way to put it. "I may have lost my temper and cast Thunder. Now the Teeny Ships are flying all over the place shooting lasers at everything."
Mickey stood up at once, eyes widening. "Gosh. Then we've got to go help them!" He nodded to Minnie, and they followed Donald out the door, running through the colonnade, out into the garden, through the door in the middle, and down the spiral staircase to reach the Gummi Garage. Donald pushed open the door at the bottom, let out a quick scream in terror, and jumped out of the way as a laser shot in his direction, forcing Mickey and Minnie to dodge the blast as well.
Mickey and Minnie surveyed the damage. Many of the gears have been knocked loose and their axles bent out of shape. The winch holding the Gummi Ship aloft were uneven, causing the space ship to be held at a harsh angle. The ship itself was missing several pieces, the wing planes and several structural blocks blasted off of the hull and scattered on the floor. Two chipmunks, who wore yellow blacksmith's aprons with red shoulder straps and a red Hidden Mickey logo in the center of a blue pouch on the front, were running all over the place, panicking and trying not to get hit with the wild shots of photon blasts. These energy bursts were coming from two fast-flying machines, the Teeny Ships, which resembled smaller versions of the Gummi Ship. A cricket, which looked nothing like a cricket, who wore a top hat, waistcoat and shoes, clung onto one of the Teenies for dear life.
Mickey acted fast, leaping over the railing and landing right in front of the chipmunks, Chip and Dale. He shouted an invocation for a spell: "Reflect!" A shield that appeared to be made up of transparent hexagons materialized around them. The lasers that would have hit the chipmunks instead bounced harmlessly off of the barrier. Two seconds after the lasers were deflected, the shield dissipated. Mickey turned around and crouched so as to lean closer to the tiny chipmunks. "Gosh, are you all right, fellas?" he asked.
Chip, the chipmunk with the small black nose and single front tooth, looked up at the king. "We are now, your Majesty," he answered.
The other one, Dale, who could be distinguished from his brother by his large red nose, two buck teeth, and mohawk of fur on his head, wiped sweat from his brow and let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah. We coulda been done for. Thanks," he said.
Mickey held out his hand, and they climbed into his palm. He then opened his right pocket and slipped them in for protection.
Inspired by his king's quick acting, Donald snapped out of his terror, summoned his Mage's Staff, and turned his attention to the ships' movements. Noticing a pattern, he waited until the right moment. "Fire!" he shouted, pointing the brown wizard hat tip of his staff towards where the Teeny Ship would be. A ball of fire shot out of the tip, flew through the air, and made a direct hit at the front of the machine, destroying the guns and sending it backwards to hit the wall. With a crunch, its chassis caved in and the engine flames died down. Damaged to the point of system shutdown, the Teeny Ship fell to the ground.
Down below, Mickey saw the other Teeny Ship, with the cricket still holding on. "Jiminy! Jump!" he called.
Jiminy Cricket looked down at the mouse, far below him, while he himself was moving too fast to gauge where to let go. However, he had the utmost faith in Mickey, and he had no idea how much longer he could hold onto the ship, so he did as he asked, throwing himself off of the haywire robot.
As Jiminy fell, Mickey pointed towards him with both hands. "Zero Gravity!" He cast his spell, surrounding Jiminy in a transparent orb, whose descent slowed quickly until it came to a complete stop, with the cricket floating and rotating in the middle. Mickey ran as fast as he could, then jumped high into the air. He cupped his hands around Jiminy just as they spell wore off, and Jiminy landed safely in Mickey's hands, seeming to suffer from no ill effects of whiplash. Mickey landed safely on the catwalk, and opened his pocket to put Jiminy inside along with Chip and Dale.
Unfortunately, the Teeny Ship had looped around, and its firing trajectory was inching ever closer to Mickey and Jiminy. Mickey detected this and turned around. He let out a yelp as he realized he was completely off guard.
"Faith!" An orb of light flew at the Teeny Ship, blasting it to smithereens. Mickey gave Minnie a wave of thanks, knowing that it was her magic spell that had saved his hide.
"Is everyone all right?" Minnie asked. Mickey had climbed back up to the ledge where he had come in, taking Jiminy, Chip and Dale out of his pocket.
"We're all good, your Majesty," Chip answered. He looked around and saw all the destruction that the Teeny Ships had caused. "Looks like we're gonna have to do some clean-up."
Minnie clapped her hands, a signal that summoned six magic brooms from around the castle. One of them carried a dustpan, with the intention that another would sweep the scattered pieces up with its "feet".
As Chip and Dale set about replacing the demolished axle and two of the brooms lifted the fallen gear, Donald raised his hand like a student answering his teacher's question. "I'll help!"
"No, you won't!" Chip retorted angrily. "You can work on picking up the pieces, but after that you won't touch anything! Understand?"
Donald slumped a bit, feeling guilty. "Understood," he sulked. He started walking down the stairs to reach the floor.
Mickey and Minnie remained on the top landing, watching everyone at work. They had decided to supervise the repair process. Jiminy hopped up onto Mickey's hand. "Even when we're not soaring the cosmos and fighting monsters, there is no shortage of excitement around here, is there?" the cricket commented.
"Not as much as out there, but hardly a dull moment, ah-ha!" Mickey agreed.
That evening, many of the townsfolk were gathering in the recreational center across town. In the gymnasium, people talked amongst each other and danced along to energetic music performed live by the pop rock star Powerline. Veteran knights, new or recent graduates and non-military citizens were present, helping themselves to refreshments, playfully sparring together, and in all having a good time at a party with all of their friends.
Goofy stood at the gym door, watching everyone enjoy themselves. His eyes were trained on Max, who was talking and laughing with his friends. He wiped a tear from his eye. He felt so much pride in all of the graduates, but especially his son. He remembered the good times they had together when Max was younger, and felt a twinge of sadness as he realized that Max wasn't a kid anymore.
"They grow up so fast," a raspy voice said out of nowhere. Goofy turned and looked down to see who spoke and saw Donald.
"Oh. Heya there, Donald," Goofy greeted. "How are you?"
"Eh. Lost a few feathers this afternoon. I don't want to talk about it. But it's all fixed." Donald looked past the crowd and focused on Max and his friends. "I remember how it felt when I found out that the triplets had opened up a shop in Traverse Town. I felt bad that I hadn't paid much attention to them after I became the court wizard. But seeing them take that kind of responsibility, it warmed my heart to see they turned out all right." He looked back up at Goofy and rested his hand reassuringly on his arm. "He's gonna be just fine, Goofy."
Goofy smiled. "Yeah. I know. Thanks, Donald."
Closer to the concert stage, Max and his friends were reminiscing on the past semester. Bobby and Stacey danced along with Powerline, though a bit more erratic and eccentric than what was on stage.
"…He wanted to get to the finish line first, so he activated some sort of device that blasted apart the scaffolding of the construction crew ahead of us, hoping the wreckage would block our path while he took a detour. But we worked together to hold the structure up and get the crew down safely, and continued on our way. I managed to get across just ahead of him," Max recounted, describing an incident that occurred at an obstacle race a month before.
"Wow. Brad really was a poor sport," Roxanne said, amused. "And he got away with that?"
"Well, he didn't get to become a full-on knight. But on the flipside, no one could prove it was him, so yeah." Max shrugged, then lightened the mood with a snicker. "But it was nice seeing him take a blow to his pride when O'Hara said he needed to learn a thing about sportsmanship."
"You know," P.J. interjected, "I feel bad for the next batch of cadets that get stuck with him. Even my dad wouldn't be that bad, even back when he was a scheming Musketeer captain."
Max and Vicki nodded, understanding. They knew full well that P.J.'s father, Pete, was a longtime enemy to Goofy, King Mickey and Donald. They also knew that, although he had gone through a softer period afterwards, he had posed as a Musketeer captain on another world, kidnapped Minnie, who was a princess on that world at the time, so he could become king, and tried to kill Mickey, Donald and Goofy, who had actually been training as Musketeers under his leadership. A few years after that, he started to turn over a new leaf, however, and felt ashamed of his dishonorable deeds. Even though he remained a jerk and had eventually gone back to villainy, he had never stooped that low again after P.J. was born.
Vicki tipped her beret up. "In a structure of many pillars, the weakest beam may compromise the standing. The strong pillars must make up for that beam and secure the weaker pillars, and should shoulder the burden left by the failure of the beam," she spoke poetically.
Bobby leaned in towards her and laughed. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Beret Girl!" he commended. Everyone started laughing.
Just then, Roxanne noticed a commotion at the opposite end of the gym. She tapped Max on the shoulder and pointed towards it, and he saw a figure wearing black and magenta armor and a motorcycle helmet shoving his way through the crowd. Max could not figure out who was under the helmet, though the color scheme seemed familiar.
"Guys…" P.J. pointed up at the stage lights, where a masked canine was pulling at the wires, causing the spotlights that were focused on Powerline and his backup dancers to flicker out. Powerline and his crew stopped performing and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on and the music died down. P.J. squinted his eyes and focused on the culprit. "Wait, is that Slouch?"
A realization hit Max and he wheeled back around, only to find that the armored intruder had already reached him and his friends. Now that he could see him in his full height and the entirety of his armor, Max knew for sure who the intruder was. He also noticed that at his side, sheathed in a scabbard, was a sword.
"Yuh-oh, this guy's no bueno!" Bobby called out. He stepped in front of the armored man, attempting to block his approach. Max made a mental note of how that probably was not the best idea when the other guy has a sword. "You should step on outta here, pal, 'cause you don't want to get yo-self on Max's bad side. You don't realize what kind of trouble you're—" Bobby was cut off when the man lifted him up by the neck. Everyone gasped. Some of the closest knights tried to move in to help him, but they were tripped up by some dogs who were wearing the same kind of mask as Slouch. The thugs tried to tie ropes around the knights' ankles, but the people around them kicked them off
"Hey, back off," Max shouted. He charged at the intruder, twisting so his shoulder would deliver the brunt of the force, and knocked him backward, causing him to release his grip on Bobby and drop him.
The enemy quickly gained his bearings and kicked Max away. He threw a punch at Max, who dodged to the side and returned a swing of his own, which was blocked. A fistfight developed between the two, each landing a few hits but returning some of their own. "Let's see who the real champ is, clown," the attacker taunted. He threw a punch to Max's gut, but Max caught the fist in one hand and dragged him down by the arm, then punched his foe right in the face, breaking through his helmet's visor. This dazed the attacker enough to allow Max to rip the helmet right off of his head. A collective gasp was heard as his identity was exposed.
Max glared at his rival. "What's this about, Brad?" he asked angrily. "You still can't take being pushed back?"
Bradley Uppercrust III clenched his fists and glared back at Max. "Nobody gets it!" he shouted. "I'm the strongest out of all of you! No one should win over me! I'm the hero here. I'm the champ! And yet not only do these clowns get the prize and applause while I get thrown back to the kiddy table and told I 'need to learn what it means to be a knight', but you," his voice rose to a scream as he pointed at Max, "get top praise, top of the class markings! This shrimp gets the first place trophy for his old man being the captain of the guard, while my name and legacy get ignored!" Bradley drew out his sword. "Now I'm going to show everyone here what kind of strength makes a knight!"
He swung his sword, but Max was ready. The week before the graduation ceremony, Max and his classmates had learned the technique known to knights as well as Donald where they could summon their weapons of choice out of thin air. Bradley had not been made privy to this lesson, and was unaware that anyone other than the Captain possessed the ability, so he was caught off-guard when Max summoned his own Knight's Shield and blocked his sword.
"Everybody run!" Max commanded. He turned his shield to the side so that the sword would fall forward and slip off harmlessly, then kicked Bradley in the side. Bradley regained his balance and swung again, but Max blocked it and the blade bounced off of the shield. While still on the recoil, Bradley kicked Max, sending him sprawling backward.
Bradley raised his sword to strike him while he was down, but one of the nearby knights wrapped a pipe around in front of it and pulled it backward. Irritated, Bradley threw his arm back, bonking the knight on the forehead with the hilt, then swung around to punch him, knocking him out. More knights came to the assist, but Bradley struck back with the techniques shared to the class but with a rabid force that his opponents were not prepared for, and they were quickly thrown off-kilter and promptly knocked down. He stabbed his sword at his next enemy, when a massive pair of hands clapped over the sides of the blade. He looked up to see who it was and saw his old cohort.
"Tank?" he exclaimed, confused at why he would be fighting against him.
"What's going on with you, Brad? Going nuts, attacking everyone. This isn't you," the burly dog asked, concerned. He kept his hands tightly clamped over the sword while the knight beneath him ducked out of the way.
Bradley growled. "This was supposed to be my victory!" he shouted. "They were supposed to recognize my strength! Now they will see who the real champ is!" He pulled his sword out from between Tank's fingers and put it back in its scabbard as his former friend stared at him, disbelieving. "And I prefer to be known by my full name, not by your silly pet names!" He grabbed Tank's hands, turned around and threw him over his shoulder, launching him up onto the stage. Powerline and his band scrambled out of the way to avoid being hit.
Bradley turned back around and saw a Hidden Mickey symbol closing in on him. He pulled his sword up out of the scabbard, blocking the charge in the same motion. Grinning wickedly, he threw his full weight into Max, shoving him into the stage wall. He leaned his arm into Max's neck, pinning him down, and snickered. "Now who's the strongest?" he taunted.
He was distracted when he felt something gooey and stringy stick to the back of his head, and he saw that it also stuck to Max. Bradley turned around to see where the yellow substance came from, and saw Bobby with a canister strapped to his back, with a hose in his hands. "Cheddar Whiz-zay!" Bobby cried out, laughing. On either side of him, Stacey had her arms crossed and was glaring at him, and Vicki was snapping her fingers in rhythm with Bobby's exclamation. P.J. then rolled a pair of metal spheres toward him, stopping at his feet. One of them popped open, letting out a bang noise and giving off a flash of light, blinding Bradley for a moment. The other sphere buzzed, and Bradley was hit with a shock of electricity through his body. Enraged, he kicked the sphere across the room, causing it to break into pieces when it hit the wall.
This impromptu assistance gave Max the opportunity to knee Bradley and throw him off of him. Bradley swung his sword at him, but Max held his shield up against it. "You just don't get it, Brad," Max said. "Being a knight, it's not about physical strength, or being the best." He tilted his shield to let Bradley fall forward again, then stuck his foot out so his opponent would trip and fall to the ground. "That may be a side-benefit, but it's not the point. A knight is supposed to protect the innocent. Help the helpless." Bradley swung at Max's legs, but Max jumped over the blade without difficulty. "Knights work together and inspire people to help other, and they make the town a better place." Bradley stood back up, not even bothering to take his sword with him, and threw himself at Max, punching wildly. Max blocked the punches with his shield, then he swung it back at Bradley, smacking him in the face. "One does not become a knight just to prove that they are better than everyone else, or just to say they can. A knight is brave, loyal, courteous, kind, thrifty. You want to know why you didn't make the mark? It's because you embody none of those traits!"
Bradley roared in anger. He picked up his sword, and the fight continued, with Bradley swinging with his sword and Max blocking and pushing back. After a while, Bradley noticed Roxanne was still standing nearby, and he came up with a nasty idea. He pushed Max to the side, then jumped up onto the stage. He ran over to the support column for the lighting frame and started hacking at it. Up in the row of lights, Slouch watched Bradley's mad actions and was suddenly afraid. He realized that his team captain was so obsessed with one-upping his rival that he was going to hurt a lot of people. Down below, when he thought the column was broken enough, Bradley took a grenade out of a pouch at his belt, pulled the pin out, and threw the bomb across the stage until it landed right next to the opposite support column.
The grenade exploded, blasting the column to pieces and setting the stage on fire. Bradley pushed the column on his end out toward the crowd. Everyone started running to get out of the way. Slouch held onto the lighting frame for dear life.
Roxanne attempted to flee, but she tripped and fell to the ground. She rolled onto her back and saw the column coming right toward her. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the impact.
She heard a crash off in the distance, and realized that she was still alive. She opened her eyes and saw Max standing over her, holding the metal structure up with all his strength. She looked to the left and saw some knights rushing in to help hold up the massive load. Some of Bradley's former cronies were pulling Slouch out of the wreckage. Fortunately, he was not hurt too badly. Tank had climbed off of the stage and was lifting most of the support column on the opposite end by himself.
Bradley sauntered up to Max, smirking. He was clearly enjoying seeing Max struggle. "So, this is what being a knight is, huh, clown?" he remarked. He raised his sword to cut down his vulnerable rival, but Max would not have any of that. He willed his shield to materialize face-down at his foot. He then stepped on the rim and launched it spinning up to face level, then head-butted the back to knock it into Bradley's face, hitting him hard enough to stun him and send him reeling back, dropping his sword and falling onto his back near the row of knights holding up the top frame of the fallen structure.
He tried to force himself back up, but found himself making eye contact with Captain Goofy. Bradley tried to grimace in contempt, but he could only stare when he saw the look on Goofy's face. It was such a rare image to behold that Bradley did not know how to describe it. It was an expression that few could imagine his face could even make, and it conveyed an emotion that even fewer could imagine he could feel. On anyone else, such an expression would not have perturbed the arrogant rogue, but when he saw it on what was normally such a cheerful and amiable face, all Bradley could do was lie back down in shame, staring at a spot on the ceiling.
Bobby carted a box full of yellow jack platforms around the room, placing one in between each of the knights and adjusting them so that they poked up against the frame. P.J., Stacey and Vicki helped Roxanne out of the way, checking to make sure she was okay. The knights made sure that the jacks would hold up the weight of the frame, then when they were satisfied they let go of their load and ducked out from under the wreckage.
Max ran up to Roxanne, hugged her, and checked if she was okay. He turned to look at Bradley. Seeing his nemesis lying in shock, he shook his head in pity. A loud peal of cheering came from the crowd in the back of the gym. Everyone was giving a round of applause to all of the knights who saved the day, but to Max in particular. Goofy patted Max on the shoulder, causing him to look up at his father. Goofy was smiling.
"You did good tonight. I'm proud of you, Maxie," Goofy told him.
Max could not help but smile. He placed his hand over Goofy's. "All for one and one for all, a-hyuck."