Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any copyrighted material. The Black Cauldron is owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Silver Screen Partners II, Ted Burman, Richard Rich, the late Lloyd Alexander, Ted Berman, Al Wilson, Vance Gerry, Roy Morita, Art Stevens, David Jonas, and the Walt Disney Company. Please support the official release. The Yu-Gi-Oh anime is owned by the late Kazuki Takahashi and Shonen Jump. Please support the official release of that franchise.

Episode XXVI (26): Heroes' Commemoration

When the heroes opened their eyes, they noticed that they have been transported back to Mickey's castle.

They found themselves in the throne room, standing before King Mickey.

"Mickey Mouse?" Joey asked. "He's the king here?"

Rebecca smirked. "You've obviously never played Kingdom Hearts."

Mickey got up from his throne. "Everyone, I want to congratulate you; all of you. I heard about what happened in Paris and I must say, the way you battled was admirable." He turned his attention to the heroes from the Warner Domain. "Mokuba, Rebecca, and Leon, I am grateful to all of you especially; for being friends with Quasimodo. It was because of the three of you that he was able to discover and accept the person he truly was and that helped him to discover his own element."

He then looked at the Heroes of Millennia. "And thank you, Heroes of Millennia. You helped Natius and his friends battle one of the most dastardly villains of this Domain. A Dark Master, no less. I especially commend you, Princess Emily. You remained true to your element even when facing your most hated enemy."

The heroes from the Warner Domain bowed in respect.

"It was an honor," said Yugi.

"We're glad we could help," said Joey.

Leon heard a familiar voice call his name. He looked and saw a familiar young mouse coming his way. "Olivia," he laughed. He gently picked her up and brought her close to his face and she began hugging him.

Emily held her magic rod to Mickey.

"Keep it," he told her. "You can use it to protect your friends here."

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded approvingly. He figured that she and the others would be needed here in his kingdom again.

Danyal looked into her messenger bag took out a red resin hexagonal shaped coaster that depicted a clear image of a Red-Eyes Black Dragon card.

Joey asked Danyal, "What is that in your hand?"

She stated, "I am sorry for going a little off topic, but from what I've read that a self-proclaimed psychic named Esper Roba threatened to turn a Duel Monsters card into a coaster. Is that true?"

Joey blinked in surprise. How did she know about that? "Well, yeah, actually, Esper Roba beat Rex in a duel and said his rarest card would make a good coaster for his drink."

Joey voiced his question to Danyal, "How did you know this?"

Danyal answered, "I have read about your duel with that boy."

This intrigued Joey and the others. Who would have thought that the Duel Monsters card game and tournaments would be well-known in this Domain? Then again, in almost every world Yugi and the others have been to, they've met people who heard about the game.

Mokuba spoke up. "Esper Roba wasn't really a psychic. His younger brothers were helping him out by telling him what cards his opponents would play. But when I caught them cheating, they told me about how their big brother protected them from bullies and, well, I empathized with them because my big brother always did the same for me." He chuckled bashfully. "I guess that's why empathy is my element."

"Well, you can be understanding of others," his brother pointed out.

Danyal stated, "I would recommend Esper to use epoxy resin. Though it is strongly recommended to wear gloves and safety equipment to protect yourself from getting it all over you, simply because this stuff is notoriously sticky. It is also not a fast process because it takes up to 12 hours to a full day to harden."

"Is that how you made your card look like that?" Joey asked.

Danyal stated, "Correct."

A servant came by and whispered something in King Mickey's ear. The king nodded in understanding. "Mokuba, Rebecca, and Leon, Detective Basil wishes to speak to you."

"Oh, of course," Mokuba replied. "We'll go straight away."

"I wonder what he wants," Leon mused as he set Olivia down.

"Only one way to know," the raven-haired boy said.

"Come on," Rebecca said. "We don't want to keep the Great Mouse Detective waiting." And the children followed their escort.

Yugi watched in curiosity, wondering why Basil would want to see those children in particular. He hoped they weren't in any trouble.

To the children's surprise, they saw a 72-year-old ageless puppet that would pass off as a child in the eyes of adults.

Basil introduced the children to a member of the Big Five of the Golden Disney Age.

They knew who this puppet was. It was Pinocchio. Leon had read about him in his fairy tale books back home and he watched the film with his friends too.

Leon asked, "Why are you here?"

The puppet boy removed his hat with a bow. "You must be the trio from the Warner Domain everyone talks about. I heard that one of you represents the element of innocence and when I heard you were coming to the castle, I had to meet you."

The redhead raised his hand. "That's me."

Mokuba frowned at the title of 'Big Five'. It brought a lot of bad memories. "You're a member of the Big Five?" he asked Pinocchio.

That was when Jiminy Cricket appeared. "Yes, but rest assured, this group is not evil like the group from your world."

"The leading member is King Mickey himself," Pinocchio said. "Second to him is Snow White, then there's me, and our two remaining members are Dumbo and Bambi."

"Oh," the children said in awe.

"But Bambi was taught to avoid humans because all the deer believed man was evil," Rebecca recalled.

"And Dumbo is just a baby elephant," Leon added.

Pinocchio pointed out, "When he had to collaborate with Smokey Bear back in the forties, he began to see a different side of humanity when he learned about conservation efforts to protect the forests."

The children wondered if that was challenging for Bambi, because they remembered that his mother was killed by a human hunter. Surely a traumatic experience like that would leave a young fawn heartbroken.

"Being the young fawn he was, Bambi didn't understand too much about humans aside from what his mother and the Great Prince taught him," Jiminy explained. "He didn't fear or hate them the same way his fellow forest animals did and so it was quite the miracle he held no ill will towards humans. Still, as he got older, he knew that some humans were still dangerous, and he continued to avoid them."

"And he never had much interaction with humans until he started coming to this castle," Pinocchio added. "He was shy around them, but he began to see that not all humans were bad after some time."

"Does Bambi represent an element?" Mokuba wondered.

Not many animal heroes in this Domain represented an element, but Bambi was one of the first to. His element was life - one of the purest of elements.

Jiminy Cricket told Mokuba, "His element is life. One of the purest of elements."

Leon asked, "Would Simba represent that element as well?"

"Not quite," the cricket answered. "While they went through similar trials in their lives and are both royal animals, the challenges they went through that determined the elements they were worthy of were different."

That made sense. Bambi demonstrated life because that was how his story was like: the natural course of life. It was like the natural course of birth, growth, change, death, and renewal. That was exactly how Bambi's story was like. It started from his birth and progressed to how he went through life and how he grew. And his journey also showed natural life like the change of seasons, the destruction from the fires, and new life being born from the aftermath.

Simba's coming-of-age journey carried the same principles, but his final trial was a challenge of leadership. Realizing the responsibilities, he finally had to take, he was able to defeat his uncle and prove himself a true king.

"In his youth, Simba thought being a king would be fun and he would always have his way," Jiminy explained. "He didn't realize the seriousness of his future role until he spoke to Mufasa with the help of Rafiki."

"And it was because of that moment that Simba matured and understood that being a king has its responsibilities," Rebecca figured, "responsibilities he had to take."

The cricket nodded. "He understood what being a king truly meant and so he earned the element of leadership."

"Like Princess Kida from Atlantis," Pinocchio said.

Rebecca asked, "Did Dumbo get an element?"

"His element was effort," Jiminy answered. "He didn't want to let his oversized ears get in his way of trying to contribute to the circus and he wanted to show everyone he could help out. And with a little help from his good friend Timothy Q. Mouse, he made the effort to learn to fly."

Rebecca smiled and adjusted her glasses. "Putting in effort can really make a difference."

"He had a strong sense of eagerness too," Pinocchio added.

"They all do at that age," said Jiminy.

Rebecca asked Basil, "Is effort a pure element?"

Jiminy answered, "It is pure, but it is not one of the purest. Three of the purest in our group are life, innocence, and kindness."

Basil cleared his throat. He still had business to discuss with the children and now that the pleasantries were finished, he wanted to get to the matter at hand. "I want to talk to the three of you about what happened in Paris."

The children braced themselves, thinking he was going to scold them about what happened in the festival. Basil told them he didn't want them to go, but what happened wasn't either of their faults.

But that wasn't the only issue. Basil heard about what happened in the bell tower and how the children got hurt standing up to Frollo. "I want you three to know how disappointed I am in you," he was saying. "You knew what kind of man Frollo was and the dangers he posed, yet you put yourselves in danger anyway."

"What else were we supposed to do?" Mokuba asked.

"I told you to avoid him," the detective snapped.

"We couldn't just let him keep hurting Quasi," Rebecca protested. "You were still being reckless!" Basil shouted.

Basil turned to Leon, and he stated, "Those gashes on your face are a fraction of Frollo's wrath."

Mokuba argued, "I know what we did was foolish, and we truly apologize for it."

Leon touched his cheek. The gashes from Frollo's rings have healed, but he could still feel where the minister struck him. "It was worth taking a hit from him."

Mokuba understood. While he agreed with Basil that it wasn't smart of him and his friends to put themselves in harm's way, they still did it because they cared. The raven-haired boy looked at the detective. "Basil, we know the reason you didn't want us to go back to Paris was because you wanted us to be safe, but if we had listened to you, we would have never forgiven ourselves."

Pinocchio showed a more gently smile. "You know, that proves what great friends you are and how much you really care about the hunchback."

Pinocchio asked Leon, "If you read my story, is it true that I killed Jiminy Cricket?"

Leon hesitated, not wanting to answer. It was cruel, but true nonetheless.

"It's true," Rebecca answered without hesitation.

The puppet boy looked down in shame. "That's what I thought." He didn't want to believe it, but now that he knew it was true, he deemed himself even more underserving of the element of innocence.

"Don't be upset," Rebecca said. "Lots of fairy tales and children's stories are dark like that no matter how innocent they seem."

Leon sighed. "I should know that better than anyone else."

Rebecca asked, "Did someone say that to you?"

No one really said anything to Leon, but he had discussed it with his friends before about how fairy tale stories have a dark side no matter how innocent they seem. It was the same for the Duel Monsters cards in Leon's deck.

Rebecca asked Pinocchio, "Did someone say that to you?"

The puppet boy sighed. "I received some insults here and there and some of the folks in the castle have made fun of me behind my back."

A servant remarked, "Puppetmon."

Pinocchio rebuked, "I predate that demon by nearly six decades. I have been around since 1940, that demonic brat was created in 1999. So do the math on how many generations I've impacted at that point."

Basil decided it was time to dismiss the children. "You three may go," he permitted. "Our time with you is done."

So, the trio left the room. When they came back to the throne room, they heard King Mickey announce to Natius and his group that their next destination was the mystical land of Prydain.

"Prydain is a mythological Wales," the king advised Natius, "so the people won't have any understanding of any passages from the Bible that you might recite."

Danyal stated to Natius, "You can still recite them to Brandon."

Natius gave a small grin. Maybe reciting a few passages would teach Brandon something. Then he remembered. "Joey, you said you had a friend back home who also represents humility."

Joey did remember mentioning that when he heard Natius mention having to find someone who supposedly represented that element. "Her name is Max," he said. "But she doesn't know anything about any of this."

"And I hope she never does," Kaiba muttered. He spoke in a clear voice and said, "Anyway, I think it's time we left. I've had enough excitement for now."

Mickey respected his decision. "Well, you're more than welcome to come back to these worlds whenever you want to."

The children smiled, their eyes filled with hope. "You mean, we can still visit our friends here whenever we want?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes, but you must still be careful," the king advised them. "The Dark Masters are still at large."

None of the heroes liked the sound of that. "That means Frollo's still alive," Mokuba mused.

"Do you think he'll come back to Paris?" Leon asked worriedly.

Rebecca crossed her arms. "I think after what happened, he'll know better than to even try."

"I hope you're right," the redhead replied.

"Well, whether or not he does, you children can be rest assured that you will be under the protection of the heroes of the worlds you wish to visit," Mickey assured them.

"Well, that's reassuring," said Téa.

Danyal told Joey, "It's very fortunate that your sister doesn't know about this situation. I can't imagine the psychological impact that it would leave."

Joey was thankful for that too. There's no way he'd bring his sister to any of these worlds; especially with the four Dark Masters on the move.

"There may come a time when we may need your help again," Mickey said to Yugi and his friends. "Would it be all right if we asked for you in the event, we may need you?"

"Sure," Yugi answered. "We'd be happy to help out."

Joey winked and said, "Call us if you need us."

The two groups of heroes went their separate ways into differing portals, one in the door of the Warner Domain and the other was the mystic land of Prydain. Before long, our heroes were now in the land of Prydain. They found themselves surrounded by dense trees that bore no leaves.

"Where are we?" Zander asked.

"I think we're in the middle of the Forbidden Forest," Mahad answered. "Before you ask this is not the Dark Forest from the Harry Potter franchise."

Suddenly a voice called out, "Hen Wen!"

Natius ran through the dead forest, and he noticed a boy that resembled Brandon Kyle, but he had auburn hair and green eyes. He was dressed in medieval clothing suitable for a peasant boy.

He asked, "Brandon, why are you here?"

The boy asked perplexed by the raven-haired boy's choice of words, "Who is Brandon?"

Before Natius could answer, the boy identified himself. "I am Taran of Caer Dallben. Who are you?"

Natius decided to use the name he was baptized with and answered, "Ignatius."

Taran asked, "What village are you from, Ignatius?"

Natius replied, "I'm afraid I can't tell you the name of the village I hail from."

Taran continued to observe Natius. "Your clothes," he began, seeing how strangely Natius and the others were dressed. "You're not from Prydain, are you?"

"No," Natius answered. "We're travelers from a foreign country."

Taran gave a slight nod. Then he asked, "Since you're here, I was wondering, have you seen my pig? I've lost sight of her, and she's wandered off somewhere."

Natius bluntly told him, "I don't want to say this, but I have yet to see a pig in these woods. However, I'll see if we can help."

"Thank you," Taran Replied. "And I'll help you find this Brandon you're looking for."

Bianca began hearing a squealing deeper in the forest!

Taran recognized that it was Hen Wen and based on the sounds of her cries, she was in distress. He ran through the trees and came to a clearing where he saw the pig running around frantically. In the sky were two dragon-like creatures called gwythaints, hovering over the pig and trying to capture her.

Danyal fired an arrow towards one of the flying creatures and the arrow struck one of its eyes causing the creature to let out a scream of pain!

Bianca took out her sleep inducing shurikens, but before she could take aim at one gwythaint, the second forced her against the hard ground, hurting her. It was the same for the others. As they would try to attack one gwythaint, the other would attack immediately. These creatures were ruthless and clearly were not going to have any interferences.

Taran and Hen Wen began running towards each other, but the boy was too late to save her as one of the gwythaints caught her in its talons. Taran grabbed onto the creature's tail, but the second forced him down with its strength.

Despite being bloodied and bruised, Taran began pursuing the flying creatures. He scaled a hill and as he looked on, he saw the gwythaints flying towards a castle in the distance.

Natius got up and scaled the same hill with his friends as they caught up to Taran and Danyal looked at the castle with astonishment and she asked, "Do you think that's where Brandon is being held?"

Natius took a few breaths before answering. "I don't know. We'll just have to go there."

Bianca groaned in pain. "Natius, those things almost killed us. The way we are now, it might take us ages to reach the castle."

Natius asked Taran, "Are there any wildlife in Prydain, other than those beasts and pig?"

Of that, Taran had no knowledge, for he had never ventured anywhere past his home before. However, before coming across Natius and the others, Taran did encounter a very unusual and troublesome creature.

At that moment, that same creature appeared. He was small with a shaggy coat of cream-colored fur and earthly colored hands and feet, and he had fur above his lips like a moustache. He called himself Gurgi.

"No, great lord," he pleaded. "Not go in there. Forget the piggy," he said sadly.

Taran was not happy to see him. Angrily, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Gurgi come back to be your friend," he said, holding Taran's hand and nuzzling it with his face.

"You're no friend," Taran barked, pulling himself away. "You ran away when I - oh, never mind. I promised Dallben I'd keep Hen safe. I have to go."

As Taran began marching towards the castle, lightning flashed, causing him to flinch. "Well, are you coming?" he asked Gurgi expectantly?

"Me? Go in there?" Gurgi asked. "Oh, no, no, no. It's a terrible place," he whimpered, frightened by the mere sight of the castle.

Taran huffed. "Just as I thought. You're no friend. You're just a miserable coward," he said scornfully.

Danyal scolded, "Young man, he fears what is within the castle."

She looked at Gurgi and she commented to him, "You made me think of an old dog that I had. You don't have to be afraid; my arrows are powerful to send demons back to Hell."

Gurgi was confused about the part of sending demons to Hell as he was not familiar with the Catholic religion.

Taran asked, "What's in that castle?"

Danyal answered, "One word. Evil. They say that the Horned King is the one who possesses this castle and let's just say that he is an undead monarch that will stop at nothing to find the Black Cauldron so he would-"

She noticed Taran walking away from her and she sighed in exasperation and snarled, "What-? Seriously!"

He looked at her and snapped, "I told you; I have to get Hen Wen back."

Gurgi cried to Danyal as he pulled on her leg, "Don't go in there! It's a terrible place!"

Danyal felt herself falling on the ground, causing her glasses to fall off her face!

Danyal turned to see Gurgi as he begged, "Please! Don't go!"

"Get off her," Mahad cried, pulling Gurgi away.

Gurgi finally released Danyal. "If great princes and pretty ladies go into evil castle, poor Gurgi will never see his friends again," Gurgi whimpered.

Danyal replied, "You make the Cowardly Lion have more courage than you. It's quite tragic."

She got up to her feet picking up her eyeglasses!

Taran turned around and called to the heroes, "If you're coming, you'd better keep up!"

Bianca groaned again. "He can't think about anybody else except himself, can he? I mean, doesn't he realize we're all hurt?"

Natius commented, "I'm debating if I should scold him out."

The heroes caught up with Taran as they sped up and Zander scolded Taran, "Boy! Your arrogance is going to get you into a lot of trouble. Some of my comrades have been hurt and a pair of flying gwythaints that are notorious for leaving enemies brutalized!"

"Besides, you got hurt too," Mahad added.

Taran cried, "I promised Dallben, I'd keep Hen safe."

"You can't help Hen Wen or anyone else while you're injured," said Mahad.

"You don't understand," Taran argued. "Dallben trusted me to protect Hen. He said not to let the Horned King use her to find the Black Cauldron." Without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Taran continued his trek to the castle.

Once the heroes reached the castle, Taran began scaling its walls, looking for a way to get inside without being seen.

Natius began to look for a secret passage, but so far, he was having trouble looking for the passage!

Anakin was keeping watch to ensure no one was following the heroes.

There was a part of a wall that was coming apart. Taran narrowed his way through, creating an opening. He climbed in and found himself in one of the castle's halls. One by one, the rest of the heroes followed.

Once everyone was inside, they began walking down the hall, keeping an eye out for any guards. A dog suddenly began snarling and barking ferociously at the heroes, but they refrained from screaming. The dog began to be dragged away by a guard who failed to notice any of the heroes.

As Mahad backed away, he felt a door creak open behind him. He turned around and saw some sort of celebration going on.

Natius looked at the partying and he muttered, "Damn. This is worse than the Festival of Fools."

He noticed a small goblin creature trying to take a glass of wine to the throne room.

Whatever celebration was going on was abruptly stopped as an ominous force began to fill the area. Suddenly the whole room went dark. Sparks began igniting, providing some small light. Through the small sparks and smoke, a dark figure donned in a burgundy hooded cloak appeared. It was the Horned King.

The Horned King had gotten back from the Forbidden Castle, and he ascended a flight of stairs to reach his throne!

The creeper, the goblin Natius saw, presented the Horned King with a glass of wine as he welcomed him. Then he ordered, "Bring in the prisoner!"

A henchman came, bringing a chained-up Hen Wen before the Horned King. Another henchman placed a tray of water in front of the pig as the creeper commanded her to use her powers to show the Horned King where to find the Black Cauldron. In response, Hen Wen turned her snout up and turned the other way in refusal.

The creeper decided to threaten the pig by pointing a hot coal towards her.

Vandela cried, "We must do something!"

As Taran pleaded for them to stop, he lost his footing and fell, landing in the throne room. The henchmen began surrounding Taran, pointing their weapons towards him.

Danyal stayed hidden and facepalmed the sight of Taran.

Taran was suddenly ordered to be released. The henchmen holding him tossed him close to Hen Wen. Once the boy and the pig saw each other, Taran began embracing his friend.

The Horned King spoke in a dark voice. "I presume, my boy, you are the keeper of this oracular pig."

Both Taran and Hen Wen looked at the monarch in fear. "Yes, sir," the boy stammered.

"Then instruct her to show me the whereabouts of the Black Cauldron," he ordered.

But Taran would not forget what his master told him. "Sir, I can't," he replied. "I promised."

"Very well," the Horned King replied. "In that case, the pig is of no use to me." And he crushed the goblet in his hand.

The creeper took Hen Wen and placed her on a stone for execution. As the executioner raised his axe, Taran begged him to stop. "I'll make her tell you." It pained him to defy Dallben like this, but he couldn't let Hen Wen be killed. As Hen Wen was released, Taran recited the same spell Dallben used, invoking her magical powers.

The water began to manifest into visions of a great black cauldron!

The Horned King kept wanting to know where to find the Black Cauldron, but as he approached the water, with his patience beginning to be lost, he frightened Taran, causing the boy to accidentally turn the tray up, splashing the monarch with the water.

At that instant, Taran picked up Hen Wen and began running, looking for a way to escape.

The heroes followed Taran!

"That idiot is going to get himself and all of us killed," Bianca muttered.

Danyal agreed, "He's more of a nuisance compared to other heroes."

They ran through the halls, trying to evade the henchmen and avoid getting captured. They soon came through a door leading to a balcony.

"We're trapped," Mana cried.

Taran looked over the railing. "The moat," he said. "It's out only chance." He lifted Hen Wen and pushed her over the railing, causing her to fall into the water.

Danyal began firing arrows that she took from Maleficent's archer causing some henchmen that were far away from her to get seriously injured as the arrow pierced into them as they yelled in agony!

Taran tried climbing over the railing but was grabbed and pulled back by the creeper. The Horned King came and ordered for Taran and the heroes to be thrown into the dungeons.

Author's Notes: The heroes are in for a surprise next episode. Will they escape the Horned King's dungeon?