Gabriel left to take his seat at the court house, but before he did, Lord Vox requested a quick meeting with him. He claimed that he only wanted to introduce himself to his future in-laws and see to a few "minor" details.
"King Gabriel, it is honor to finally meet you." He said. "And I am most grateful that you were able to attend my wedding."
"And I am most grateful to you for liberating my niece from the tower." Gabriel said. "I am forever in your debt."
"Then I suppose that means I have your blessing?"
"If my niece has chosen you to be her husband then yes, you have my blessing. Is that why you called me here?"
"Yes and one more thing. Pentious!"
Captain Pentious produced a document and a pen.
"Since Princess Charlotte and I are to be married, it is only natural that I become her trusted protector and provider. However by royal law, that position bleongs to you. Unless of course you sign it over to me."
"With all due respect, why do you need me to sign this?"
"Call it a gesture of good faith. It shows that you truly trust me to be a devoted husband to your niece."
"In that case, you wouldn't mind if I read this little document, would you?"
"Of course not."
Captain Pentious handed Gabriel the document and he read it carefully. The only words he saw on that paper said that by signing this document, King Gabriel would be relinquishing his role as Princess Charlotte's protector and provider to her husband. Suspecting nothing, he signed his name on the dotted line.
"Thank you, your majesty." Lord Vox said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must continue to ready myself for the wedding."
Gabriel nodded and left his chamber. As soon as he was gone, Vox began to chuckle to himself sinisterly.
"That was almost too easy."
He then proceeded to use his nails to scratch away paste that had been used to cover up several other sentences on the document. Doing research, Lord Vox learned that even if he married Charlie, he wouldn't be able to rule the Ninth Kingdom because the marriage and coronation neccessary for Charlie had become long over due. She had until her twenty-first birthday then all rights to the throne would go to her uncle and his children. Unless, her uncle signed away those rights.
In other words, Lord Vox had just tricked King Gabriel into sighing a deed that would declare Charlie and her husband rulers of the Ninth Kingdom as soon as they were marrried.
"You're despicable Vox." Pentious said in a tone of disapproval.
"Mind your own business Pentious."
"Fine, I just hope once you're king you'll finally give me my long overdue reward."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have always been your most loyal ally and it was my genius in technology and mechanics that made your reign and this kingdom possible. Yet you've always taken the credit for it, without even giving me a thank you. I think I deserve a little something for my aid and loyalty."
"Yes, you deserve to live."
"I believe that I deserve more than that. Don't forget, I made you and I can break you."
"Yeah right." He chuckled. "Now enough of this ridiculous talk. Prepare the courthouse."
"Hey I'm not just going to eat on this. That's what I've been doing for the last ten years. You owe me!"
"I owe you nothing, and if you're smart, you'll never mention this ludicrous idea again. Because if you do, you'll find yourself lacking a head."
Captain Pentious glared at him.
"And while you're at it, send those two imps to the landfill where all the other creatures are, I have no more use for them."
His glared intensified but he did as he was told. Blitzo and Moxxie were taken from the dungeon and to where the landfill was located. A horribly disgusting and filthy place but there was a birght side. For Moxxie that is, at that landfill he was reunited with his wife Millie.
"Oh Moxxie, I was so worried." Millie said kissing and embracing her husband. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"It's alright now Millie." He told her. "We're together again."
"Enjoy it while you can lovebirds." Blitzo said. "Banishment today, genocide tomorrow."
"Genocide?" Moxxie said.
"Oh yeah, once Vox gets his ass on the throne of the Ninth Kingdom he's going try to wipe us out just like Hitler tried to do the Jews. With the Fourth Kingdom being so small, he couldn't accomplish much outside his domain, but if he has control over the Ninth Kingdom, the biggest that there is, well...We're pretty much screwed."
The other creatures gasped in horror at Blitzo's words. Among them were Angel and Vaggie, they had continued their conversation through a walk from the river. By coincidence, they found themselves walking toward the landfill where nearly every mythical creature had been banished.
"But Lord Vox can't possibly gain control over the Ninth Kingdom." Vaggie spoke up. "King Gabriel rules it. Charlie is no longer qualified to inherit the throne."
"Unless of course her uncle signs over his rights to the throne." Blitzo said. "And he did. Vox tricked him into signing."
"Oh my God!"
"Alright nobody panic." Angel said. "Charlie and the cyborg aren't married yet. There's still time to save our necks."
"And how exactly do we accomplish that?" Blitzo asked.
"Simple, we stop the wedding. We get Charlie to call it off."
"Fat chance of that happening. The princess has been dreaming of this moment her entire life, even if her groom to be is an asshole, she's not going to call off her fairy tale wedding."
"She will if her true love is the one who asks her to." Angel said. "Princess Charlie is in love with somebody else and I know him, I can find him and bring him to the court house to stop the whole thing."
"But Angel, Alastor won't listen to you." Vaggie said. "You said so yourself."
"Yeah but I'm nothing if not determined. If anyone can get him to come around it's me." Angel turned back to the imps and other creatures. "In the meantime, you think you all can stall the wedding?"
"Stall the wedding? Are you crazy? That entire courthouse will be under high-tech security." Blitzo said. "There's no way we'll be able to get in there and stall."
But Moxxie wasn't so pessimistic on the subject.
"We'll do that best we can." He said.
"Really?" Vaggie said surprised.
"Sure, anything for romance."
"And to prevent ourselves from going extinct." Millie added.
"You two are insane!" Blitzo said.
"Do you wanna live in fear all your life?" Moxxie asked him. "Or worse, be killed and not even put up a fight?"
"What's the point of fighting at all? It won't change anything! We don't stand a chance! We just...We just can't do it!"
"Oh yes we can!" Moxxie declared and he quickly called out to get everyone's attention. "Listen up everybody, we've spent our entire lives letting people like Vox push us around and treat us like we're lower than dirt. We've let the likes of him drive us from our homes, take away our freedom, and basically ruin our lives. If we don't stand up now then they're just going to take our lives. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to live and I'm willing to fight for that right. Who's with me?"
There was a moment of silence and all the other creatures huddled together to talk it over. They were all afraid to go up against the likes of Vox, some found the very idea mad. But on the other hand, this was probably their last chance to ever get their lives back. To never again have to worry about being threatened by the world just because of who they were. If they didn't do something then this could be the end of all things mythical and of lore.
After about five minutes, the silence was broken and they cheered in agreement.
"Great!" Angel said. "Now here's the plan."
Angel proceeded to rally up all the creatures and carefully instruct them on what to do.