Okay, you Pride Team fans, it's finally time! Time to finally get back on the Emperor's New Groove track with this VERY long awaited Pride Team chapter. This time, some of the main characters of the movie will make an appearance, plus this chapter will have some ideas thought up by my good friend and assistant manager of this series, Tashasaurous. Have fun!
Picking up where we left off, Sneasel, Wynaut, Dr. Robotnik, Orbot, Cubot, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were screaming when someone came up to them from the shadows.
The figure stepped into the light, revealing it to be a skinny old woman...but the eight of them kept on screaming. Why? The answer is...the entire scene freezing for some reason?
"Allow me to explain to the readers." Someone came into view in front of the paused scene, a Pokemon named Drowzee. "The reason those eight are still screaming even after the figure revealed herself is because she's...oh, how should I put this? ...Scary beyond all reason."
"Yeah that sounds about right." the author, that would be me, agreed before bringing up a different subject. "So, what are you doing here pausing scenes? I'm trying to write a story here."
Drowzee nodded. "I understand. I just thought I'd tell the viewers who the woman before them is and what she was doing before she saw the Outsiders...even though they may have a good idea anyway."
"They probably do, but go on ahead and do so." I smiled while typing at the idea. "It'll be pretty funny!"
"Oh definitely. Now here's what happened earlier." With a snap of his fingers, the scene changed in an instant to a throne room in the palace. "I was a new recruit for the emperor's kingdom, so I was there to see what went down with the woman...and also had a good laugh about some of the stuff." Drowzee's voice narrated
Drowzee was seen standing next to a couple of guards and a peasant. They were standing in front of the throne, which was being seated by the woman from earlier. A bulky man was seen standing next to her. "And why have you come here today?" the woman asked the peasant.
"Well...Your Highness-I mean, Your Grace." the peasant started to talk.
Drowzee's voice began to narrate again. "For those wondering...no, the woman is NOT the emperor. Even though she's sitting on the throne, that's Yzma, the emperor's advisor, or as the emperor once put it: 'Living proof that dinosaurs once roamed the planet.' As for the man standing next to her, that would be Yzma's right-hand man. At times, she gets a new one. That one is called Kronk."
A fly buzzed by, annoying Yzma. "Yeah, I got that there, Yzma." Kronk tried to get the fly...but he ended up hitting the floor when it landed on his forehead.
"Yeah, that's Kronk." Drowzee laughed a bit as he narrated. "Apparently, Yzma's had quite a bad habit of trying to run the kingdom behind the emperor's back. And as fate would put it, right when both the Pride Team and the Outsiders made it to the kingdom, the emperor finally decided to put an end to that. Now let's see what happened."
"It is no concern of mine whether your family has...What was it again?" Yzma asked after the explanation.
"Um, food." the peasant answered.
Yzma gave a laugh about it. "You really should have thought of that before you became peasants." She decided that she was done with him. "We're through here. Take him away. Next!"
"But I-" the peasant started before the two guards grabbed him by the arms.
"You heard her." Drowzee told the peasant. "Gotta keep the line moving, a village leader will be here any minute."
"Oh, okay." the peasant was dragged away by the two guards.
Yzma groaned and ran her fingers on her face. "The nerve of some of those peasants, huh?" a voice asked her.
"Tell me about it." Yzma agreed...until she realized who it was that asked her, making her jump out of the chair.
Turns out it was the emperor of the kingdom himself, who happens to be a teenager named Kuzco. "Hi there."
"Ooh, Your Highness." Yzma nervously said. Kuzco cleared his throat and pointed at the spot the advisor was sitting on. She wiped it off while laughing nervously.
"Uh, you were doing it again." Kuzco said.
"Doing? Doing...Doing what?" Yzma asked.
"Doing my job." Kuzco answered. "I'm the emperor, and you're the emperor's advisor. Remember that?"
Drowzee was heard narrating again as we get a closer look between the emperor and the advisor. "Like I told you people before, scary beyond all reason. It's so bad that even Emperor Kuzco had to question to himself what was keeping her together...even wondering what she had in between her teeth."
Kuzco snapped out it when Kronk spoke next. "Good thinking, Yzma. What do you say, Kuzco?"
This is what Kuzco had to say after Kronk tapped him on the shoulder with a fist. "Whoa! No touchy! No touchy. No touch."
Before it could go any further, another servant entered the room. "Excuse me, Your Highness. The village leader is here to see you."
Kuzco smiled at that. "Oh, great. Send him in." He had some unwelcome news for Yzma. "Oh, and by the way, you're fired."
"Fired?" Yzma repeated in shock. "W-W-What do you mean, fired?"
"Um, how else can I say it?" Kuzco snapped his fingers. In an instant, Drowzee came to them and wrote out the pink slip while the emperor continued. "You're being let go, your department's being downsized, you're part of an outplacement, we're going in a different direction, we're not picking up your option...Take your pick. I got more." Finished, Drowzee gave the pink slip to Yzma.
The now ex-advisor was so shocked that she couldn't get any complete sentences out of her mouth, until she finally slumped in the emperor's chair. "But-But, Your Highness, I have been nothing if not loyal to the empire for-for-for many, many years."
"Hey, hey everybody hits their stride. You just hit yours 50 years ago." Kuzco leaned a little closer to Yzma who's now angry and growling. "So...who's in my chair?"
Kronk came to eagerly answer the question. "Oh, oh! I know! Yzma. Yzma's in your chair, right?"
"Very good, Kronk." Kuzco pulled a snack out for a reward. "Here. Get the snack." He tossed into the air above Kronk.
"Got it!" Kronk tried to catch it in his mouth, but he ended up jumping after the snack...and falling far to the floor.
"OK, you heard the man. Up, up, up." Kuzco told Yzma who got up and stormed out of the room, snarling as she did.
"I'm okay. I'm fine." Kronk told the others.
Drowzee was now seen standing in front of another frozen scene. "It's safe to say Yzma's not taking being fired so easily. Now that you all know, it's time to get back to Yzma meeting the Outsiders. Thank you."
Drowzee took his leave and the scene he walked away from began to move. Now it's time to continue the story!
SMASH!
Sneasel, Wynaut, Robotnik, the robots, and the hyenas just blinked when they saw the ex-advisor smashing statues in anger after being fired...Apparently, Yzma explained what she's been through after the eight of them finally got a chance to calm down.
"And I thought she was just plain scary beyond all reason." Banzai muttered to Shenzi and Ed.
"He can't get rid of my that easily!" Yzma handed the hammer she was using to Kronk. He had his hands full of Kuzco statue heads and was struggling to place another for Yzma to smash while she just paced in anger. "Who does that ungrateful little worm think he is?"
Cubot raised his hand. "Oh! I think he's the emperor of this kingdom that fired you for doing his job!" Everyone, minus Kronk and Ed, gave the yellow robot annoyed looks.
"Ignore him, he's a slow bucket of bolts." Robotnik told Yzma while gesturing her to continue her rant. "Please, continue. We're all ears."
"Gladly, does he..." Yzma took the hammer, but paused to look at the statue. "A little to the left." Kronk bumped the statue a little just before Yzma destroyed it. "Have any idea of who he's dealing with!?" Yzma paced while Kronk set up another statue.
Ed just shrugged, but Yzma went on. "How could he do this to me? Why I practically raised him!" She got yet another statue head good with the hammer.
"From what you told us, I would've thought that guy would've turned out better." Wynaut said.
Shenzi shook her head. "Jeesh, and I thought Scar made a bad ruler. This Kuzco kid sounds A LOT more annoying!"
Sneasel shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "Teenage kings, go figure."
Kronk decided to join the conversation himself. "Well, it's better she's takin' out her anger on these things instead of the real Kuzco, huh?"
Orbot agreed. "Oh, indeed. I just wish Dr. Robotnik would get some statues of Sonic to take his anger out on after a battle."
Cubot nodded. "Me too. At least that way, the boss won't take his anger out on us."
Dr. Eggman was about to yell at his robots, but Yzma gasped and went over to Kronk. "That's it, Kronk! That's it!"
Banzai raised an eyebrow. "What? What's it?"
"I'll get rid of Kuzco." Yzma answered and chuckled.
"The real Kuzco?" Kronk and Cubot asked in confusion.
Eggman slapped his square robot in the back of the head. "Of course she means the real Kuzco!"
"He's right." Yzma began to explain. "Don't you all see? It's perfect. With him out of the way and heir to the throne, I'll take over and rule the empire. Brilliant!"
Wynaut had a question of his own. "Wait, how does that work with you being fired and all?"
"After what Yzma told us, I would say that the only ones who know about that are us, and also Drowzee." Orbot guessed.
"True, but the new Drowzee doesn't really count. So, it's just the eleven of us, soon to be the ten of us." Yzma added, using her fingers.
"And I'm one of those ten, right?" Kronk asked.
Sneasel had an unamused look. "...Yes, you are. So, Yzma, how do you plan to pull this off?"
"I'll show you." Yzma answered. "To the secret lab!" The ten of them were standing in front of two levers with Kronk's hand on one of them. "Pull the lever, Kronk!" Yzma ordered.
Kronk did so, only for a trap to open up underneath his boss as well as Sneasel and Eggman and all three of them fell through.
"WRONG LEVEEEEEER!" Yzma yelled while Eggman and Sneasel screamed, before there was a huge splash down below, as the others gaze to where the three of them landed in the water.
"Uh..." Kronk muttered apologetically.
"Maybe it was the other lever?" Cubot suggested, prompting Orbot to face palm himself, while Ed laughed.
"What did he say?" Orbot asked Wynaut and the other two hyenas.
"He says he agrees with that dumb bot." Shenzi translated.
The door up ahead then opened up to reveal the soaking wet trio, with a great big alligator having the tips of Yzma's dress, Robotnik's jacket, and Sneasel's tail in its mouth with a goofy expression and the three of them looked beyond sour.
"Why do we even have that lever?" Yzma growled in frustration.
"Who's idea was that!?" Sneasel growled angrily.
Eggman growled just as frustrated, then he turned to face the alligator and snapped. "Get off of my clothes, you over-grown lizard!"
He and the other two then slapped the large reptile in the face, causing it to let go and whimper like a dog as it scampered back into its watery den.
The three of them stormed up to the others. "One of you pull the other lever!" Sneasel angrily said.
"Got it!" Banzai pulled the right lever and all of them found themselves on a Roller-Coaster cart.
"Please remain seated and keep your arms and legs in at all times." an announcer advised.
"I just remembered something..." Eggman whimpered as he and everyone else braced themselves for the wild ride into the lab, and as they descended super fast, Kronk and Ed being the only ones enjoying it, the evil doctor screamed hysterically in terror. "I'm terrified of Roller-Coasters!"
"Faster, faster! Yzma, guys! Put your hands and paws in the air!" Kronk happily had his hands in the air. Ed laughed as he did the same with his front paws.
Wynaut clung to Sneasel for dear life, even crying as they slid down to the lab. "SNEASEL, I WANT MY MOMMY!"
Soon the ride came to a stop in the lab. While Yzma and Kronk landed on their feet, now dressed in lab coats...the Outsiders ended up crashing and piling on top of each other, groaning...except for Ed who was on top of the pile, he happily laughed at the ride.
Robotnik groaned as he rubbed the side of his head. "Once I get my theme park built, I'll charge big prices for the rides...but also make the Roller-Coasters a lot safer than what we just went through."
Shenzi's eyes wouldn't stop spinning. "You mind telling us your plan to get rid of the emperor, Yzma? I don't think me and my boys are quite ready to eat him or anything."
Yzma went over to a table. "Eat him? No, that's not how I'll do it...but someone write that down, that could be a good back-up." Yzma smiled when she imagined a plan in her head. "Oh, I know. I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives..." She laughed a bit before she wrapped up the plan. "I'll smash it with a hammer!"
The Outsiders recovered from their pile up. Sneasel raised an eyebrow. "That's your plan to get rid of the emperor?"
Banzai shrugged. "Not bad, but I'm still kinda up for eatin' him."
"It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!" Yzma accidentally spilled a potion on a flower, completely killing it. There was silence as they all looked at the dead flower.
Eggman looked from flower back at Yzma. "...Do you know how much postage cost these days? Surely you can come up with a better plan to get rid of Kuzco AND save money."
Yzma had to admit that Robotnik had a good point. "Hmm, you're right." So, she thought of something simpler while holding a bottle of pink stuff. "Well, to save on postage like Dr. Robotnik suggested, I'll just poison Kuzco with this." She handed the poison to Kronk. "Take it, Kronk. Oh ho ho ho. Feel the power."
Kronk looked at the bottle he was holding. "Oh...I can feel it."
The Outsiders just shrugged at the idea. "Well, while you two poison the bratty emperor, the rest of us will secretly look around the palace to find something that we're looking for." Shenzi told Yzma and Kronk.
"Ah yes, of course." Yzma told the hyena. "But in the meantime, our moment of triumph approaches!" She laughed a bit once again. "It's dinner time!"
And so, while Yzma and Kronk were getting the dinner plan to poison Kuzco ready, Sneasel and his group that went with him were secretly searching around the palace to find the Chaos Emerald...but so far they've had as much luck finding the emerald as Scrat does having an accident free day.
Pretty much everywhere they looked in the palace they couldn't find even something like a Chaos Emerald. Sneasel even tried asking the Drowzee from earlier. "My friends and I lost an emerald of ours. Kinda looks like this, only a different color. Have you seen it, buddy?" Sneasel even showed Drowzee the purple Chaos Emerald Ivo had with him.
Drowzee's eyes widened when he saw the emerald for some reason. "The emerald..." He slowly reached for the Chaos Emerald Sneasel was holding, but once he noticed the Sharp Claw Pokemon raising an eyebrow at him, he shook his head and pulled his hand away while clearing his throat a bit. "Sorry, there's no emerald like that anywhere in the emperor's palace." Drowzee shrugged. "Then again, what do I know? I'm still new here."
Sneasel groaned as he put the Chaos Emerald away. "Okay, this was a waste of time. Thanks anyway." He walked away to join the others who were still secretly hiding.
Drowzee waved to the Dark/Ice-Type until he was out of sight.
The Outsiders regrouped with each other, none of them looking happy. Robotnik even growled a bit. "I don't believe this, all of that searching and we still can't find the blasted Chaos Emerald!?"
"Perhaps the emerald is located somewhere outside of the palace." Orbot guessed.
"But we probably just get lost in the city if we look. We're still new around here." Wynaut pointed out.
"Plus there's a good chance those Pride Bozos could be there looking for the emerald themselves." Shenzi added.
Sneasel groaned in annoyance. "Yeah, this day just keeps getting better!"
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry." Banzai walked ahead. "I'm gonna see if Yzma poisoned that emperor for us to eat yet."
Even Eggman shrugged. "Oh well, seeing a victim of someone's evil schemes might cheer me up."
So, they all went over to where Yzma and Kronk were having 'dinner' with Emperor Kuzco. They stopped at the door as soon as Kuzco's head hit the table.
"Finally!" Not noticing the eight waiting by the door, Yzma laughed in triumph. "Good work, Kronk."
"Oh, they're so easy to make. I'll get you the recipe." Kronk thought Yzma was talking about his spinach puffs.
Yzma finally noticed the Outsiders. "Ah, right on time! We need to get rid of the body, so I'd say it's time for the hyenas to eat."
The hyenas drooled at that. "Talk about perfect timing!" Shenzi said. Ed happily licked his jaws.
Orbot scanned the body of the emperor before he pulled the hyenas back. "Hold it!"
"What is it?" Wynaut asked.
The answer was Emperor Kuzco's head shot back up. Luckily, the Outsiders hid behind the door frame before they could get caught...even if Banzai and Orbot had to drag Ed and Cubot with them. "OK! What were we saying?" Kuzco asked, not noticing the eight that were hiding in his palace.
Yzma tried to give an answer. "Uh...we were just making a toast to your long and..." She paused when she saw that Kuzco's ears changed. "Healthy rule." Kronk just gave off a silently shrug.
"Right. So what are you gonna do?" Kuzco asked. He didn't know that his neck stretched a bit and grew black fur. "I mean you've been around here a long time, and I really mean a long time."
The Outsiders watched on as the emperor was still oblivious to what was happening to him. "Wow, is that what dying from poison looks like? I'm glad I'm a robot." Cubot whispered.
Sneasel shook his head. "That emperor isn't dying, you dunce bot. Something's wrong." They watched as Kuzco got some more looks of a llama, but he finally stopped talking when Kronk knocked him out with a broccoli plate.
They all gathered around the unconscious emperor. "What?! A llama?! He's supposed to be dead!" Yzma yelled angrily.
"Yeah, weird." Kronk added.
Dr. Robotnik held his hand out. His eyes not leaving the llama. "Kronk, let me see the vial you used for the plan." Once he got the vial, the evil scientific genius figured out what the problem was. "Aha! Just as I thought!"
"What is it, Doc?" Banzai asked.
"Take a look at this picture." Dr. Eggman flipped the paper on the vial, showing that it wasn't the sign for poison...but rather just an image of a llama.
"Wait a minute..." Yzma took the vial to have a better look. "This isn't poison. This is extract of...LLAMA! Ugh!" She tossed the vial as it bounced off Kronk's head.
Sneasel face palmed himself in great annoyance. "Great! As if searching everywhere in this dump and STILL not able to find a stinkin' Chaos Emerald wasn't enough, now the plan to kill the emperor brat went wrong! Can't we ever have something good happen to us for once?!"
Shenzi grinned a bit. "Well, at least we can still eat him while he's unconscious." Ed laughed in agreement, drooling up a storm.
Surprisingly enough, Banzai shook his head. "Uh-uh, no way, count me out! You four know that I don't eat llamas!" He told his fellow hyenas, Wynaut and Sneasel.
"Are you allergic to llamas?" Orbot asked.
"No, they give me gas." Banzai answered.
"Oh, it's too bad the emperor turned into a llama instead of being poisoned." Cubot tilted his head a little.
"You know, in my defense, her poisons all look alike." Kronk told the robot before he turned to his boss. "You might want to think about relabeling some of them."
Yzma turned to Kronk while pointing at Kuzco. "Take him out of town and finish the job now!"
"What about dinner?" Kronk asked.
"Kronk, this is kind of important." Yzma said.
The hyenas looked at all the remaining food on the table. "Hey now, he might be on to something. All this stuff that he made looks really good!" Banzai drooled happily.
"Forget the emperor, I want to chow down on what's on this table!" Shenzi agreed. Ed laughed and nodded.
Kronk smiled at the hungry hyenas who were eager to have his cooking. "How about dessert?"
Wynaut smiled a little. "That sounds tasty. What do you guys say?" He asked the other five.
Eggman pondered to himself. "Actually, something to eat might make things a little better."
"We are robots, we don't need food." Orbot gestured to himself and Cubot who nodded.
Sneasel shrugged. "Still, can't let this all go to waste."
Even Yzma started to get into it. "Well, I suppose there's time for dessert."
"And coffee?" Kronk offered.
Finally, Yzma caved in to that. "All right, a quick cup of coffee." But she gave off an order to Kronk. "Then take him out of town and finish the job!"
Meanwhile, the Pride Team members that left to find the Chaos Emerald were still looking around the city to find it, but no one had any luck.
As Max, Riolu, Timon, Pumbaa, Crash, Eddie, Sonic, and Tails were scanning across the city in their search for the Chaos Emerald, the group glanced around when they heard a very unusual bopping in front of them.
"Huh? Do you guys hear that?" Crash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Where's it coming from?" Max's Pikachu ears perked, twitching for the source.
As the Pride Team and their two new friends glanced from left to right, Sonic's ears twitched before his emerald eyes shifted towards the stairs, pointing at the very direction. "Up there."
The group all gazed upward to find an unfamiliar large, strong man descending towards them...dancing while making sing-song like noises, carrying a red sack. From his appearance, he appeared to be of a higher class of workers, yet his dancing and singing were very questionable.
"Who's that guy?" Eddie asked, shrugging.
"I've never seen him before." Tails shrugged as well.
"Me either." Riolu agreed.
Timon, however, was cringing. "Oi, he's doing his own theme music?"
Unbeknownst to the heroes, it was Kronk, who was carrying out his duty to get rid of Kuzco. But the moment he saw the group, he briefly panicked and leaned against the wall, in a comical and failed attempt to pretend he wasn't there, making a paused sound effect. The friends all looked at him dumbfounded, exchanging bewildered glances before deciding to walk away, too weirded out by the man who, once seeing the coast was clear, and unaware he was leaning against a mosaic of two giants pointing accusingly at him, continued onward in the opposite direction.
"Okay, that guy was just weird and creepy." Sonic shuddered a little, a raised eyebrow with a shrug.
"I'll say." Crash agreed, creeped out as well.
"Big, dumb, and tone deaf. I am SO glad we don't even know that guy." Timon shook his head, disgusted.
"I don't know, there's something funny about him. What was he carrying in that sack? What if he's a robber, or a kidnapper?" Pumbaa murmured worriedly, gazing over his shoulder.
"Now why would a guy dressed up like that be a robber or a kidnapper? For all we know, he could be taking his laundry somewhere," the meerkat disagreed, before adding jokingly. "Or maybe he was running away to avoid doing his grandmother's laundry." He burst out laughing at that.
Everyone gazed at him, most deadpanned, Tails and Pumbaa both confused.
"What?" Timon shrugged, cluelessly.
Riolu shook his head. "Oh, forget the creepy big guy. Let's just get back to finding the Chaos Emerald."
"But we've looked everywhere in the city." Crash pointed out.
"Yeah, and we haven't even seen the emerald." Eddie agreed.
"I even sped around the place twice to try and find it." Sonic said, just before he quickly ran off. He came back to the others just as quick. "Thrice."
Max turned to the two-tailed fox. "Maybe we're not looking at the right place. Tails, is the radar working again?"
Tails took out the radar, but sighed when he got nothing. "I'm afraid not."
Pumbaa turned to Sonic and Tails. "Well, you two have been searching for the Chaos Emeralds longer than we have, maybe this one's in an area no one would even think to look."
Sonic shrugged. "He's got a point. There are times when we find the emeralds in a city or somewhere in a jungle."
Tails perked up. "That's it! We just need to expand our search to outside of this city."
Timon gulped. "Y-You mean, like in a jungle, filled with carnivores who want to...eat us?" He gulped in fear while the possum twins played dead.
Max raised his paws up to reassure them. "Guys, it's okay. No predator will come near you, not while we're here to protect you."
Riolu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll show them a thing or two if they make a mistake of messing with us...or if they call Pumbaa a pig."
"Agreed." Tails turned to Pumbaa in confusion. "But you ARE a warthog, which is still a pig, right?"
"Call me Mr. Pig!" Pumbaa answered, causing the others to laugh.
After the laugh, Sonic shrugged. "Well, now that that's solved, let's get to search widening." He scooped Max, Riolu, and Pumbaa as best as he could. "Tails, get Timon and the possums. We'll get to a jungle in a flash, make that half a flash."
Tails already gather up Timon, Crash, and Eddie. "You got it, Sonic." Soon, they took off fast with Sonic's running and Tails' flying...the Pride Team members they were carrying screaming in surprise, with Crash and Eddie screaming in amusement. Now they were off, away from the city to continue their emerald search.
However, what they didn't see was Kronk falling down a set of stairs. He had second thoughts about letting Kuzco die, but that didn't go well. Now the sack he was carrying was in the cart of a peasant in a green poncho. Kronk tried to get the peasant's attention, despite the crowd of people walking by in different directions. In the end, the peasant, his llama, and the sack were gone, making Kronk worry. "Uh-oh. This is not good. Uhh. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me." Kronk gasped in worry, thinking about what Yzma might say if she ever found out.
At last, chapter 3 of the Pride Team's Groovy Adventure is finally completed! Oh man, sorry it took so long. I'll try to get this part of the Chaos Saga done before at least the year ends. After that, I'll move on to finish the Last Airbender part of the Celestial Squad, plus I'll move on to a different part of the Pride Team. Until then, I'll see you faithful readers in the next chapter!