Chapter 56

Cat Yzma

Kronk stood in front of his Squirrel Scout troop, which consisted of half a dozen children, including Chaca and Tipo, all dressed in Squirrel Scout Class A uniforms. Kronk, wearing his counselor's uniform, was teaching his first squirrel-speaking lesson since signing up a new scout. A familiar, chipper squirrel, which the troop had come to name "Bucky", stood on Kronk's shoulder.

"My acorn is missing," Kronk said.

"Squeak, squeakin', squeak, squeakity," the scouts, save for the grouchy new member, repeated in squirrel "language".

"Did you eat the acorn?" Kronk continued.

"Squeaker, squeak, squeak, squeakin'?" the scouts translated.

"You owe me a new acorn."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeaker…" One of the scouts noticed that the white-furred kitten next to him, who was also wearing a scout uniform, was not participating. He nudged the grumpy cat and held up an acorn. Yzma sighed and did the same, along with the other scouts. "Squeakin'," they all finished.

Kronk sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm so proud of you guys," he said.

After the meeting had been adjourned, Yzma stalked away. Once she was out of view of the scouts, she violently threw the uniform off and screamed in indignant rage. She clawed deep gashes in a nearby tree, venting her rage. While she was still slashing fiercely even after cutting off a large amount of bark, she stopped immediately when a red dot on the ground drew her attention. She approached it curiously, then jumped after it when she saw it move. She followed it for a few seconds before she noticed someone standing nearby.

"My, aren't you adorable," Kuja said. He held a laser pointer in his hand. He dropped it and stooped down to gather Yzma in his arms. "And soft, too." He stroked her fur. Yzma was annoyed to be subject to such disrespectful treatment.

"What are you doing here?" Yzma asked coldly.

"I take it your plan of murdering your ex-boss did not go so well," Kuja teased. "Never fear, however. I have succeeded in our main objective and retrieved the artifact, at the expense of all the other treasures."

"Great," Yzma mumbled. "Now, if we're done here, change me back!"

Kuja sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid that the emperor used up all of the human potion, so it appears as though you will be stuck like this for a while." Yzma growled. "But you're right. We are done here. So, let us return to the Vale." He opened a Corridor of Darkness and stepped through, still cradling Yzma.

Zeromast, Maleficent, Pete, Hades, Loki, Kefka, Mozenrath, Dr. Hämsterviel, Horned King, Cruella, Dr. Facilier, and Doug turned when they heard a portal open, and they saw Kuja step through, holding a white cat. Facilier smiled, understanding the situation, but the others were confused.

"Say, uh, Kuja, what's with the kitten?" Pete asked. The white cat hissed at him.

"Let's just say that not all of us came out of our altercations in the Empire of Llamas unscathed," Kuja said cryptically.

Some of them were still perplexed for a moment, but then they watched the cat scowl at them and it dawned on them that the cat was Yzma. Maleficent, Pete, Hades, Loki, Kefka, Mozenrath, and Dr. Facilier burst out in laughter. Yzma rolled her eyes.

Zeromast allowed himself a soft smile and shook his head lightly. "I see that you delivered the idol. Good work," he said.

"Why, thank you," Kuja bowed, giving Yzma the opportunity to escape. "I received some resistance, but I found it… lacking." He shot Maleficent a pitiful stare. "They put on a good show, but I would have thought someone strong enough to give you a grand finale would have posed a challenge to me."

Maleficent's eyes widened. Pete looked back and forth from her to Kuja, utterly baffled by the latter's claim. Maleficent regained her composure and looked at him with mild annoyance. "Do you mean to inform us that you defeated Sora and his friends and yet neglected to put an end to him?" she asked.

Kuja shrugged dismissively. "They were undeserving of my blessing," he replied. "You might be more forgiving, however."

Pete shrugged. "Well, at least we'll actually get to go up against them again," he admitted. "It kinda woulda been disappointing if we got all riled up and then he came back and told us they were done for."

Maleficent seemed to agree, though her hatred of the Keyblade wielder, particularly after yet another mention of her demise, seethed. "Very well. We will have multiple opportunities to destroy him in the future," she conceded.

"They deserve the fires of pandemonium to consume their very souls," the Horned King muttered.

"By the time I showed up, the Keyblade wielders were already exploring the vault," Kuja added. "It appears that they know we are seeking to gather the artifacts."

Mozenrath stroked his chin. "Interesting," he said. "Makes sense, though. After our first attempt to retrieve the artifact in Agrabah failed, Xerxes and I found them in the treasure vault conducting their own search."

"And we may have dropped a few hints when we clashed in the cursed prince's castle," Kefka said.

"But they definitely knew about us from the start," Loki pointed out. "By the time we fought in the castle, they had already determined that Hades was among our ranks, which meant that they had already determined that said ranks existed."

"Of course. They had to have known that something was amiss, else there would have been no reason for them to gather together like they had in the previous conflicts," Hämsterviel deduced.

"However, they did not seem to have any idea as to what sort of artifacts we sought," Kuja said. "They sought out a religious tablet based on a hunch, which means that they have not yet determined how to find these artifacts."

"But if they are taking notes based on each encounter, it is likely that they will come to understand our search patterns soon," Zeromast warned. "If that happens, they will start gathering the items, and that will prove to be a significant obstacle."

"Huh. If only we knew how much they know," Pete mused. "Then we can make sure to keep a lid on how much we spill, and we can be ready for when they're ready to catch up to us."

"Exemplary idea, Mr. Pete," Zeromast said. Pete looked at him in confusion. "Perhaps we should follow them and determine just how much they know of our search. Would you like to volunteer yourself for the task?"

Pete took a step back, taken by surprise. "Well, I… I mean… well, you see… huh?"

"You might as well, cat," Doug said with a chuckle. "That way, you can get them to spill the beans while they beat you up." He took a sip of extra-foamy coffee.

"Hey, you don't have to get right up in their faces if you don't want to," Hades assured him. "Probably better that way, 'cause then you'd probably screw it up. Just tail them from a distance. Think you can handle that, big guy?"

Pete rubbed the back of his head nervously. "So, um, how do I know where they're gonna go?" he asked.

"Excuse me one moment," Zeromast said. He walked upstairs and inspected a model of all of the worlds. The models were mounted on rings that moved by a mechanism that simulated the worlds' motion and paths around the stellar system over time. He located the model of the Empire of Llamas and then found the nearest worlds. He had a good idea which world his enemies were most likely to visit in their next trip. Satisfied with his conclusion, he descended into the meeting room to inform Pete of his destination.