27. The Wonderful World of The Loud House(2)

Mary, feeling responsible for bringing Linka into this mess, heads West alone for some answers.

-/-

Mary arrives and uses her claws to climb herself up the stone wall and pulls herself through the nearest window.

At first, she made it through without being noticed. Then she hears "Stop!" One of Maleficent's goblin-minions sees her and starts running towards her. He's a wizard to some degree and the only one at that. With his wand, shoots lightning at the rabbit. She dodges his attack, and giving no warning, runs up to him, jumps at his neck and bites it. He yelps in pain and shakes her off, but Mary doesn't let go until he falls. Mary spits out his blood on his body when he does.

Thinking that it would do her some good (plus it would be stupid if she didn't take it), Mary picks up the discarded wand with her mouth and goes on her way.

None of the other goblins were aware of the recent death for they were all celebrating the downfall of Linka in Maleficent's throne room.

"It's a shame that our noble guest couldn't join us for the celebration." The evil fairy says aloud. "I'll see how he's doing in the dungeon." He gets up and leaves.

Curious, Mary falls into the castle and gingerly follows him. She ducks and hides in every nook and cranny as she does. Maleficent goes down to the lowest level of his castle where there's only a door. He unlocks it then closes it slowly behind him. Mary rushes in as its closing and hides in a corner.

On a bench chained to the wall is a Robbie Dan doppelgänger. Wearing a brown tunic over a black shirt, brown pants, a red cape, and black riding boots. He glares daggers at his visitor.

"Oh come now, Prince Philip. Why so desolate?"

"Why have you brought me here?"

"It's all part of the fairy tale." His scepter creates images. It first shows Linka on a bed with the animals from before keeping watch. "Behold the castle to the East. And in the highest tower is Princess Aurora, sleeping in peace. Though she is unsure of where or when she hopes that she'll return to her old life as Linka Loud again."

His scepter creates a slideshow of her previous adventures. "She's lived quite the adventure, hasn't she? From fighting a Hydra to New York City."

"The seasons change. But a hundred years is a day to the girl in the repose stage." A future image of Philip, old and depressed, leaving Maleficent's castle on his horse. "And the gates of the dungeon part. And our prince is free to go to his sweetheart. A lionhearted young boy, straight and tall, to wake her up with an act of selfless sacrifice." He states sarcastically.

"And prove that true love conquers all!" Hearing enough of his taunting, Philip lunges forward at him, despite being restrained. Maleficent laughs at his antics. Mary growls quietly at the sinister creature.

"I swear to you, Maleficent! When I get out of here, I'll kill you!"

"Oh, I'm sure you would, my boy. But that's ages away. Pleasant dreams." He turns and leaves the dungeon, locking the door behind it.

Mary hops out of the shadows in front of Philip. "What? A rabbit?" The rabbit puts a paw on her mouth to shush him. Then she uses her teeth to bite off the shackles on his wrists and ankles.

Philip stands up. "You came to help me?" Mary nods. "You know, under different circumstances, being saved by a bunny would bruise my ego." Mary just rolls her eyes.

He takes one step towards the door but Mary steps in front of him. Knowing the road ahead is treacherous, Mary waves the wand and grants him the Shield of Faith and the silver Sword of the Spirit.

Philip stares at the weapons amazed than he pauses and shoots a perplexing look at Mary. "Wait, where did you get that wand?"

Mary headbutts him in the shin as if to tell him to stop asking questions. "Ow! Alright! Let's go! My horse is outside!" Mary then uses the wand to zap the lock away. She jumps on his shoulder and they escape. They travel up a flight of stairs but along the way, they run into a goblin patrolling the stairs. He screeches and sounds the alarm. Robbie Dan's doppelgänger cuts his cry for help short by stabbing it in the throat.

Our heroes continue upward. Soon after, a party of minions comes rushing down the stairs, weapons in hand. They turn around and run toward an open window. The prince protects himself from his blows with his shield. He swings his sword and limbs and blood start flying every which way. He jumps out of the window with Mary in tow. Mary uses the wand to lift above the ground when they were just about to plummet and places them down gently. Philip hears his horse whinnies to his right and runs to him. He's chained to the ground.

Goblins from on top of the west wall throw boulders on him. The horse neighs loudly as a warning. Mary gasps and uses the wand to transform the rocks to confetti.

Goblins from on top of the east wall shoot flaming arrows him. Philip immediately raises his shield but the arrows are now flowers raining down.

"That's a very plot convenient wand, isn't it?" Philip comments. He then breaks the chain off his horse with his sword. He pulls himself and the rabbit on top of it and they ride off. But the minions aren't done with them yet for above the castle's exit, pots of molted lead are poured out. Philip keeps a straight face, knowing he's protected. An iron umbrella appears over the three of them and they safely get through the gates.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Maleficent demands, coming out of his tower. He gasps when he sees the prince and the rabbit escaping. "No!" The drawbridge is pulling up as they are leaving. Mary is frightful of the outcome, but the horse jumps over the edge successfully and gallops East.

With his magic, the evil fairy waves his scepter and creates a dark cloud over his head. "A forest of thorns shall be his tomb! Borne through the skies on a fog of doom!" He sends the spell to the East castle. From it, lightning strikes the earth and thick bushes of prickly thorns block the road.

The three of them are dumbfounded by the new barrier. The horse stops in front of the thorns just in time. Philip swings his sword around to cut the branches. Mary uses the wand to make the thorns disappear below so that path is wider for the horse. Philip's cape gets hooked on some thorns, causing him to choke and forcing him to discard it. They finally make a clear path to the castle.

"No! It cannot be!" The Lars doppelgänger transforms himself into green fire again and travels East. Like a bomb, he explodes on impact in front of the prince. Maleficent stands before him with flames behind him.

"What was it you said? That you'll kill me once you are free? Let's see how you will deal with me now, O Prince! And all of the powers of Hell!" With a thunderous boom and green and purple smoke and flames surrounding him, his final transformation is revealed to be a 70-foot black, fire-breathing dragon.

Needless to say, the boy and the rabbit are scared shitless. Remember when this chapter was about Linka and her world-hopping? This guy was introduced a couple of pages ago and he has to face a dragon?!

Nevertheless, Philip commands the horse to charge. The dragon breathes fire, throwing him and the rabbit off the horse. He breathes fire again at the boy, but Mary jumps up and takes the hit for him, leaving her stunned and dropping the wand.

"Rabbit!" Philip exclaims, concerned. He growls at the dragon. When it lunges toward him, he slits the bridge of his nose. He screeches in pain, giving him time to climb up to the edge of a cliff. Maleficent meets him there and snaps his teeth at him, he swings his sword at him rapidly demanding that he get back. Green flames dance and grow below him.

With another fireball, Maleficent blasts the weapons out of Philip's hands. They fall into the pit.

Maleficent chuckles darkly. "Poor boy, no one can save you!" He sneers.

The boy braces himself for impact. Suddenly, he hears another man tell off the dragon.

"That's what you think, you overgrown lizard!"

From above, Raphael swoops into the scene by his hair and snatches the Latino boy up.

"What?!" The dragon exclaims as Raphael swings them around the flames and lands them both safely on the ground.

"I'm so glad I left my tower!" He boasts. "Where's Linka?"

"Back there in that white tower! We have to save the rabbit too!" He points to the thick layers of thorns.

"I'm on it! But someone has to distract that lizard!" He whistles for backup. From the heavens, Hercules flies in on his pegasus. The creature gets just close enough for Hercules to make his shot. He readies his bow and shoots an acidic arrow into the arm of the dragon. Maleficent panics when his arm becomes paralyzed. The Greek god smirks at this and shoots another arrow into his other arm.

"That's how we do it on Olympus!"

A cloud of pink smoke appears behind the dragon. From it is Clopin running up to him and climbing up his scaly back. The dragon feels his weight and attempts to shake it off. While holding onto a scale, the Gypsy takes out a ridiculously long chain of hankies from his collar. He throws it to Hercules, who grabs one end and wraps it around the long neck. Then he throws it back to Clopin, who pulls back both ends to hold him in place. He digs his feet into the dragon's wings.

"Steady, boy! Down!" Clopin commands as it thrashes and howls around.

Leaving his mouth unhinged gave the perfect opportunity for someone else to throw a flying object into his mouth. The dragon chokes on it.

"Spinach puffs! Get them while they're hot!" Kronk declares as he flies with Aladdin and Yzma on Aladdin's magic carpet. A real one this time. Kronk throws another one into his mouth.

Aladdin brings them up close to the side of his face. And with his sword, he swings and slices his right ear clean off.

"Is that all you got, you cowardly snake?!" He exclaims. Yzma takes a potion out from her chest and drinks it all. She transforms into an adult lioness and jumps off the carpet onto the dragon's head.

"If anyone is gonna kill that girl, it's gonna be me!" She then bites off a chunk of his left ear. The dragons howl in pain again but Kronk keeps throwing puffs into his mouth to choke it.

From below, Scar, Beast, and Dodger run through the thorn bushes and up the cliff. They stop and stand in front of the dragon.

"Not if I get to her first!" Scar yells as a rebuttal. "Beast! Dodger! Go for the legs!" They each give their war cries and charge at the legs. They bite chunks off the scaly skin off and scratch and claw. Leaving the legs a bruised, bloody mess. Maleficent's stance has gone wobbly; he has had enough of this nonsense.

Forcing the food in his throat out, he screeches angrily and shakes the three animals off his leg. They fall on the ground below the cliff. The tremblings cause Yzma and Clopin to fall off the dragon. Luckily, Hercules caught them on his pegasus.

"I'm out of Spinach puffs!" Kronk panics.

"Kronk, this is no time to panic!" Aladdin scolds. The two on the carpet barely fly out of the way of Maleficent's fireball. "Start panicking!"

Once they heard that, everyone on the battle field gets out of range of Maleficent's firepower. During all this, Raphael and Philip crawl through the thorns to find the white rabbit. Raphael sees her first and reaches out for her. Her fur is too hot to touch, so he wraps his hair around her.

"I found her! Pull back!" He commands the other boy and they both crawl out of the thorn pit. As he moves back, Raphael finds the wand and picks it up.

"She's barely breathing!" The young prince exclaims. He looks up and sees the other doppelgängers dodging fireballs. "And as long he's breathing, we're all gonna end up like her!"

"We have a plan for that!" The blonde looks off into the horizon. "And here they come now!"

Coming toward the battle is a giant tidal wave. It extinguishes the green flames below them as it moves. Swimming and controlling the wave from the inside was the little merman, his father's golden trident in his grasp. And surfing on top of the wave on his solid ice board was Ellis.

"Not exactly how I pictured the human world." Avery comments.

"It's a bigger mess than this, dude!" Ellis tells him.

"What kept you?!" The Beast yells.

"You try controlling a giant wave out of the ocean with your father's trident that you have never touched before!" Avery yells back.

The pair move up to the dragon. Ellis jumps off his board and into the air. Avery concentrates on him and suspends him in the air with a golden ray from the trident. Ellis gathers up a flurry of ice and blasts it into Maleficent's face. He freezes the dragon's mouth, sealing it shut. Avery moves his trident and returns him on the top of the wave. The ice king creates an frozen sheet below his feet so he stands perfectly on the water.

"Ok, whoever has a plan, do it now. Cause I don't know how long that ice will last!"

Raphael hears his warning and wraps more of his hair around the charred bunny.

"What are you doing?" Philip questions.

"Just watch." Raphael takes a breath and sings. And despite the pressure around him, he keeps his voice soothing and calm. Philip takes a step back as he watches as his hair glows a bright yellow, from root to tip. And not just Philip, everyone is speechless.

Flower, gleam, and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt

Change the Fates' design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

What once was mine

Raphael unwraps his hair from the rabbit, Mary rises to her feet, good as new. She sees the dragon and frantically looks around for something.

"Is this what you want?" Raphael hands her the wand from before. Mary takes it back and grants Philip a new Sword of the Spirit. This one is sharper and brighter than the last one. Mary makes a throwing motion with her arm. The Robbie Dan doppelgänger nods in understanding.

"Someone get his attention! Merman, bring me close to him!"

Raphael takes out his frying pan and throws it like a frisbee at the creature. It hits him on the neck and he abruptly turns his head. "He did it!" He cries, pointing at Philip and getting out of range.

Avery uses the same magic he used on Ellis and carries him a few feet in front of the dragon. The dragon is so furious to see him that his eyes glow red with hate. He tries his flaming breath again, causing the ice to crack and melt away.

But before his mouth becomes free again, Philip readies his weapon. "Now, Sword of the Spirit, fly swift and sure! That evil die and good endure!" He says before hurling the sword; it's a direct hit at the dragon's heart. Maleficent wails horrifically at the impact. Avery moves his trident so Philip would move out of the way of Maleficent's fall. He drops below with a monstrous thud and there he lies, bleeding out.

Everyone else rejoices and regroup on the bridge. Avery sets Philip down and shrinks the wave to his size to be among them. Ellis jumps down when he does. Kronk hands Yzma another potion for her to drink and she's back into a human.

"That was awesome, Prince Charming!" Clopin tells him.

"It's Philip. And yeah, I just did that! But wait, if you had the wand Blondie, why didn't you make me a sword yourself?" Mary headbutts him in the shin again.

"Ow! I know, I know! Stop asking questions." He picks up the rabbit and hugs her as his way of showing thanks.

"So, where's the girl?" Aladdin asks.

"Up in that tower." Raphael points to it.

"Well, let's save ourselves the trip." Ellis sends a gale of ice to the tower. It goes inside through the window and carries out the sleeping maiden. Ellis pulls back his hands, the wind follows the motion and lays her out in the center of the group. Upon closer inspection, all the color have been drained from her face.

Mary leaves Robbie Dan's arms and onto Linka's chest. She is overwhelmed by guilt again and lets her tears spill on her body. Then, the color in Linka returns as she takes her first breath. "Mary?" She whispers.

"Wait, what happened? Aren't you supposed to kiss her?" Raphael asks Philip.

"Nope. Maleficent said an act of selfless sacrifice will wake her up. And I think helping me along on my journey and getting fried in the process, all to help me save Linka, counts as such an act. And give yourselves some credit, guys. You all came from God-knows-where and teamed up against a motherfucking dragon. Admit it, you guys care for her too, even you two." He points to the lion and the purple lady.

"Don't get used to it." They say in unison.

"Is that true?" Linka asks, sitting up.

"We were worried about you, kitten, er- Linka," Dodger says. "It's weird to see you as a human." Half of them agree.

"And I love you guys." Linka says. Mary licks her face happily. "Haha, I love you, too, Mary!"

"Now, wake up, Linka." The Beast tells her.

"What?"

"Linka! Wake up!"

"Wake up, Linka! Wake up!" Loki tells his sister, shaking her.

Linka jolts up awake, disrupting the rabbit on her chest. "Mary! You're OK!" She hugs the rabbit close to her chest. She takes a good look around, she's back in her living room on her couch. There's no bite wound on her leg. She's surrounded by her brothers, all back to normal. She looks at the TV, her laptop was plugged into the TV by the HDMI cable and Disney+ was on display.

"I'm home!" She cries happily.

"What do you mean, "you're home"?" Lynn asks. "You've been sleeping like a bum since this morning. You have a bed, you know."

"Don't you remember? This was after you asked us how we've been doing in our quarantine." Loni adds.

"And it's hard to watch TV here cause you toss and turn and snore!" Lexx complains.

"Then what about Mary?" Linka asks.

"She escaped her cage this morning," Lane explains. "I was looking for her then I found her on your chest so I left you two be." Linka hugs her a little tighter.

"I understand, but guys! My dream was wild! We were living out Disney stories and you guys, Claudia, Robbie Dan, Bebe, and Mom and Dad were in it! And I was chasing Mary all over the place! Then you all team up and killed Lars the dragon!"

"Well, thank you for that comforting thought." The goth says sarcastically.

"Kids! Dinner!" Lynn Sr. calls out. "Wait till you try my Spinach puffs!"

"Did he say Spinach puffs?" Levi asks.

"Are they any good?" Luke wonders.

"I wouldn't count on it." Linka animatedly jumps off the couch, still carrying Mary. "Come on, I'll tell you all about my dream at the table." She leaves with that. The ten brothers look at each other confused at her chipper attitude. Yet, they would be lying if they said they weren't curious. They follow their sister to the dining table.

AN: Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it. Walt Disney

Congratulations! You made it to the end! 53 pages, over 18,000 words! Ah, Disney, you-big-cooperation-who-doesn't-feel-like-it-has-to-try-anymore-but-I-keep-giving-money-to-you-because-you-have-childhood-and-teenhood-by-the-balls, you keep me entertained during this pandemic. If any of you wanted to make fan art out of any of my chapters, it's this one I want to see the most as an illustration.

Leave a review telling me which is your favorite! My personal favorites were Lynn's and Lane's. Because that's how Hercules defeated the Hydra (not with Phil of course) in the myth and I was following the Hunchback stage musical (which is very good), respectively. Stay safe and stay home!