Retired And Extremely Reliable (the final part of this little story arc)

Before we begin: My goal with Five Kingdoms is to find interesting new ways that Disney could use their IP's and franchises, without resorting to crappy remakes of stories that already exist.

Think of a Captain America movie where a whole squad of super soldiers is represented by men and women of duty from all different communities, cultures and backgrounds.

Or maybe a Star Wars TV series where the cast is made up exclusively of non-human alien characters.

And how about a production where the various Disney Princesses are all part of a badass fantasy secret agent unit that tackles organized crime and dark sorcery in the Magic Kingdoms?

Perhaps someone could even make a series that connects all the Pixar Movies together (have you heard of Pixar Theory? The idea that those films are all in the same universe and timeline?)

Imagine if the producers at Disney focused on QUALITY over quantity, instead of churning out an endless stream of new mediocre movies, shows and other forms of slop.

Now, we resume the story.

For a short time, the two apprentices floated through the quantum void, flying through the fabric of reality, which looked like a cascade of ethereal, iridescent energy, a prismatic sea of all colors.

Then, the trip was as over as quickly as it had began.

Frisk and Sora had touched down in some variant of New Orleans, Louisiana, one that had robot waiters serving a nearby restaurant and enormous glowing mushrooms growing alongside ordinary trees. A lively, vibrant party was taking place this evening, and the atmosphere was festive and welcoming- Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, was in full swing.

"I don't remember seeing gnomes, glowing mushrooms or astromech droids when we visited New Orleans during our training travels," Frisk curiously noted. "Wasn't this city supposed to be located in Frontierland instead of Dreamland?"

"Well, we do live in a multiverse," Sora answered. "Even spectacular, unique and diverse places like this have plenty of alternative versions, knockoffs and copycats."

Frisk nodded in agreement.

"Where should we start looking for our Fairy Godmother?," they asked. "I forgot what Perry The Platypus told us using the animal translator aboard the Falcon."

Sora pointed at a luxurious mansion in the distance, on top of a hill, which was decked out in brilliant paint and lighting.

"Where else would a powerful and wealthy wish-granter who used to work for the Imagineer Order live? Besides, a person like her naturally needs to keep herself busy."

The pair of Padawans made their way through the crowded streets full of merrymaking and revelry, and after an hour or so of squeezing through the crowds, they finally made it to the doorstep of the mansion.

Frisk knocked on the door, and they were greeted by none other than Princess Tiana, a famous cook who served as the head chef for the Imagineer Order, having made delicious dishes for the Jedi Council, Avengers, Damsels Spec Ops, the Incredibles, and even King Mickey's royal court!

"Hello, Master Chef Tiana!"

Tiana had a grim expression on her face, and she wasn't surprised at all to have these two visitors in particular. Clearly, she was aware of what had transpired on Coruscant, which could only mean that the Fairy Godmother knew too. Despite this, she couldn't help but offer her guests a drink.

"Junior Imagineers? I figured you'd come here. And I suppose you young ones need to know the whole story behind the terrible truth... we're in a time of turmoil worse than anything seen before in the history of the Six Kingdoms. Though, ironically, one of those kingdoms no longer exists, as of this week. Anyways, welcome inside. You're free to get a sip of hibiscus lemonade while Granny Goodness gets ready to speak with you."

Frisk and Sora followed Tiana inside and sat down at a dinner table. Several children were sitting with them, and they were very interested in the newcomers.

"Are you an Imagineer?," a girl in purple pajamas asked Sora. "I see you have a lightsaber on your belt. Only the best of the brave and the bold carry that kind of weapon! You're a little younger than I thought you'd be, though."

"Technically, I'm a junior Imagineer," Sora answered. "I just got my responsibilities, and I just barely received the level of trust that allows me to carry a lightsaber."

"I had a dream that I became part of the Imagineer Order!," another child said. "I traveled to this distant planet where everything was a sandy desert. It was a horrible place to be! The people living there were being enslaved and terrorized by big slug aliens that basically ran the local mafia. But with the help of my friends, I ended up freeing all the slaves and putting an end to the crime syndicate!"

"Do you think that dream could end up becoming real in my future?," the boy asked Frisk. "I once heard Imagineers can have prophetic visions."

"Oh, please, that's ridiculous!," a third kid shouted. "Dreams don't ever end up becoming 100 percent true, that's a myth someone made up!"

Frisk smiled, then told the young audience their opinion:

"If you believe in yourself, you are devoted to your dreams, and you have the determination to chase them, you might just end up making them a reality."

The children unanimously nodded in agreement, and were more than smart enough to know that this was a good piece of wisdom and advice. They very much appreciated their first meeting with the protectors of the realms (albeit two guardians who were very new to the tough job.)

Then, in a puff of mist, the Fairy Godmother, Gina Goodness, appeared before her duo of lightsaber-wielding guests and the kids at the dinner table. Tiana had already told the old sorceress the names of her visitors, something the princess chef had a habit of doing.

"Alright, pipe down, everyone! I need to speak with the two newly appointed apprentices, our dear friends Sora and Frisk, about an urgent issue. If you can't handle hearing scary bad news, you're free to go upstairs. Anyone who wants to listen to the news can stay."

All but two of the children, the two boys who were debating on dreams, as well as Princess Tiana, stayed seated with Frisk and Sora.

By now, it was evident that the Fairy Godmother had chosen to live in this mansion for the purpose of using it as an orphanage for underprivileged and impoverished children who weren't as lucky as everybody else.

Even after retiring from millennia of service in the Order, and expending the vast majority of her magic, she had kept her constant focus on selflessness, kindness and compassion- saving lives and sharing wisdom was a much better and more preferable task for Gina than actively fighting and bearing arms in a war, two of the most aggressive duties Imagineers could be expected of performing.

Tiana addressed the metaphorical elephant in the room:

"Gina, you've lately been giving the Order a full explanation behind the horrible events at Freedomland, but not every team of Imagineers in the field, off duty or in reserve right now have received this key information. Is it possible our enemy is interfering with our communications across the multiverse? I was formerly in the Damsels of Destruction brigade, so I have the training to know a hacking incident when I see one."

Fairy Godmother Gina shook her head. This was clearly something that was troubling her greatly.

"Our enemy is as old as time itself, yet very few people in the multiverse were aware of his presence at all. He has been waiting patiently to make this move. Feeding upon the sins, wrongdoings and negativity of mortals and deities alike to obtain enough power to strike a decisive blow."

"That doesn't answer Tiana's question," Frisk said. "Yes, our enemy is a primordial and ever-evolving nameless evil of some sort, but how come the Order still hasn't gotten a full status quo update? How'd the latest message get blocked on multiple occasions? And how come we didn't know about the existence of this great enemy until not long ago?"

Gina then gave a more complete description of the current state of affairs, which included absolutely EVERYTHING she knew about the shadowy force of evil pulling the strings behind the curtain, data that she had somewhat recently been collecting:

"Truth be told, I tried warning everybody of what was going to happen a while back. It didn't work. Nobody was aware of the coming upheaval. Not only were our communication systems hacked for quite some time, people were outright ignoring the subtle warning signs of the impending doom."

"Before we can come to an accurate conclusion on the details of our foe's plan, we must first understand who he really is. As I said before, his existence was not widely acknowledged by most people in the Magic Kingdoms, and even the forces of good in the multiverse deliberately ignored the coming storm that he was a personification of, likely due to folks getting too comfortable with a long age of peace and prosperity, especially in Freedomland."

"Do you remember the most commonly accepted story about how the multiverse was born? The whole deal with Dwayne and Sarah conjuring all of reality into existence by drinking orange juice and then spilling it? Well, there's a part of that story which was deliberately erased from the history records, for reasons we can only assume are nefarious."

"Dwayne deliberately broke the glass of juice when it was empty, out of morbid curiosity, despite Sarah telling him not to do that, because their job had already been done."

"This act, the Shattering, single-handedly created all the ill-will, tyranny, corruption, cruelty, sinning, and hatred in the multiverse. A place called the Void naturally holds in the vast majority of this negative energy, but from time to time, cracks appear between the Void's outer layers and the overall cosmic structure of the Magic Kingdoms."

"These cracks act as doorways from which evil spirits and living nightmares can escape into the Magic Kingdoms and worm their way into the minds of people, in some cases corrupting those individuals and setting the stage for horrible wars and catastrophic disasters."

"You see, while Freedomland enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity, bloody conflict and unrest was surfacing in the other five Magic Kingdoms. It is the greatest sin of the Imagineer Order... the fact that nearly 99 percent of us, the people with the power to make the greatest change, stayed out of those little wars, believing that the threat would never come to our doorstep. We became firm believers in non-intervention, and now we are paying the price for that naivety and foolishness."

"Those gaps between the Void and our realms were tearing open at an unprecedented rate, and by the time we were just waking up to what was going on, it was too late. Evil triumphs when good people fail to act!"

"Now, those living nightmares and evil spirits have a leader. The being behind the destruction of Freedomland. The nameless evil, the most powerful of the Greater Dream Demons... Zalgo."

Frisk and Sora gasped. So did Tiana and the two kids paying attention to the conversation.

However, Frisk had a bit of knowledge that Gina wasn't expecting...

"Wait... did you say Dream Demon? I think I once read about a species of beings that went by that name during my Imagineer training. There was one in particular named Bill Cipher, who terrorized the early multiverse soon after Dwayne and Sarah departed."

Gina was astounded at the fact that Frisk knew this.

"Yes! Bill Cipher is one of Zalgo's aliases! But how did you know that? And where and when did you find that information?"

"That doesn't matter now," Tiana said. "We need to know what this Zalgo monster is planning! And fast! Everyone in the Order should be hearing the news, it's long overdue!"

The Fairy Godmother realized that her question for Frisk wasn't useful, and so she chose to give her guests a handy revelation, more info that every Imagineer was inevitably going to be presented with:

"Here's the truth: Zalgo wants the Infinity Stones. Six primordial relics, transparent and colorful fragments of Dwayne's orange juice glass, that can grant the bearer's wishes when they are brought together. If he gets all six, he can fully enter our world. When that happens... every thinking being in the multiverse, including people in hypothetical places beyond the Magic Kingdoms, will be enslaved to his will, doomed to a cycle of eternal suffering."

"Destroying Freedomland was merely the first step, it was a failed attempt to get rid of the individuals and groups who could pose the greatest opposition to him. But now we have the upper hand. Not only did we survive, but we can get to the Infinity Stones before him. And he expended a lot of his magic power in the process of causing our latest calamity. He'll have to rely on whatever followers he may have gathered, those Heartless people, to do his dirty work. We have a head start in this race... though we must still be careful."

"It's settled, then," Sora said. "You're broadcasting what we spoke of to the rest of the Order, right?"

Gina gave him two thumbs up.

"Now that we're done with our little discussion, Tiana and I will get those malfunctioning communications fixed, no problem! Our legion of heroes will finally know the truth. And you'll be there to help them, soon!"

"But before you leave, you might as well have a good Fat Tuesday dinner!"

Sora and Frisk stayed for the night and were treated to some of the best food in Dreamland: New Orleans Creole and Cajun cuisine!

The rest of the children came to the dinner table for the holiday occasion, and everyone was stuffing themselves. There was a wide variety of food on the table, ranging from gumbo, croquettes and jambalaya with differing spice levels, to the ubiquitous fried chicken, smoked pork cuts, and boiled seafood, complemented by assorted fruit salads full of berries, citrus and stone fruits, in addition to grilled greens and wild mushrooms.

It was the last day before Lent, when people in Catholic New Orleans started to traditionally refrain from eating "indulgent" foods for 40 days, including the majority of animal products, with occasional exceptions at least once a week. Alcohol was off limits, too.

Princess Tiana was busy as a bee during Mardi Gras, predictably, but the extra work was well worth it. A holiday respite from the troubles plaguing lands far and wide was a moment to be cherished.

"Thanks for staying over for Mardi Gras! But you have a job to do... best get on with that. Regardless, I wish you luck in your next endeavor."

"See you later, alligators!"

Sora and Frisk left the next morning. It was time to use the Kingdom Key once again, and move on to the next step of the journey...

...But just after the Imagineers departed, one of the boys that Fairy Godmother Gina was looking after asked her a serious question:

"Will those terrible, horrible things out there come to find us and hurt us?"

Granny's response?

"Not if I have anything to say about it. I'll always do my best to keep you safe, even when you're all grown up. You don't need to worry."

Next Chapter: Another Objective (A day in San Fransokyo)

This will be the beginning of the Tomorrowland story compilation. An adventure to the distant future in a galaxy far, far away is in the works!

In this upcoming part of the book, we will eventually get to learn how Imagineers are able to warp reality in order to bring their thoughts to life, through the power of the Dreamforge, the harness of creation. (Kind of like a Green Lantern Power Ring!)

This amazing power comes at a cost, though... one that takes a great toll on an Imagineer's body, mind and soul.

The full principles behind the Disney-themed magic system of Brainstorming will be revealed in the next few chapters.

Anyways...

Thanks for reading!

Do you think rebooting this fanfiction was a good idea? And does anyone in the audience believe that the Walt Disney Company can do better, and try to correct the problems they've been having for the past 5-8 years or so?

Let me know in the review section!