Prologue – Time Zone: Unknown
(Editorial Note: World of Disney was first published on FanFiction.net on April 16, 2010. It underwent two drafts through 2009 before it found its niche.)
The clear blue eyes of Joanie Navarro finally snapped
open after being closed for some time. Gasping for air, the odor of burning
metal plagued her nostrils and forced her to cough out the hints that were already
in her lungs. She rolled to her side, draining every bit of it all out. Just
from that gesture, she felt a throbbing pain at the side of her head, which
undoubtedly came from the “fiasco” that occurred earlier. Something happened
earlier that she couldn’t recollect completely, and the condition of the room
was clear evidence of that.
(Narrative Note: The prologue takes place during the beginning of the final act of the story - Chapter 29 to be precise. To keep readers in the dark about this, the "Time Zone" has no specific point in date.)
All of the machinery in Dr. Bunsen Honeydew’s basement
laboratory was destroyed, ravaged in flames and twisted into scraps. The Magic
Gateway, his reality-bending/time-swapping invention, was demolished in the
process, consumed in fire just like everything else and looked to be melting
away. But that seemed impossible to Joanie, as the fire was not intense enough
to melt the metal of the machine. Then it hit her – she melted it with her evil magic…to prevent Joanie from going
after her, once she banished the others into another unknown dimension.
I’ve got to get off
my butt and save them, she desperately thought. Of course, that was easier
said than done, considering the incredible amount of pain she was in. She was
doing all that she could just to keep the room from spinning before her very
eyes. There was no way that she would be capable of performing any heroic deed
at that time.
(Biographical Note: "Joanie Navarro" is inspired by and based on Joanie Mars, a popular cosplayer who has made appearances at many conventions, including Comic Con, as a variety of characters from Anime, video games, comics, and other media.)
And then she heard a familiar moan nearby.
“Dr. Honeydew?” She said with a hoarse voice. Swallowing
hard to clear out all the dryness in her throat, she looked to where she heard
the moans come from and gathered all the strength she could to pull herself off
the cluttered floor. On the way up, she noticed her horn-rimmed glasses lying
on the floor – still intact after all that happened – and retrieved them, placing
them right back over her eyes. Almost instantly, her vision became twice as
good as when they were off.
(Biographical Note: Joanie Mars did in fact wear horn-rimmed glasses at the time this story was written. Today, she wears a different style.)
Bunsen and his assistant, Beaker, were scattered around
and lying unconscious over certain areas. However, one particular sight sent
her into extreme caution: the young African American male lying near the
flaming, destroyed equipment. “Oh, no…Sean!”
She quickly went over to him and pulled him away from the
flaming equipment, before checking to see if he was still breathing.
Thankfully, he still had a pulse and appeared to be breathing normally. Nearby,
Bunsen and Beaker were starting to come out of their unconsciousness and see the
damages that were caused to their laboratory. It looked to be beyond
repairable, which was a devastating realization for the two Muppet scientists.
“Oh, dear. Oh, my.” Bunsen said, numbing on his fingers
in nervousness.
Beaker meeped his displeasure as well.
(Grammatical Note: The word "meep" does not fit in Microsoft Word's grammar/spelling system and often counts as incorrect, unless added to the thesaurus.)
Realizing that the two regained full consciousness,
Joanie glanced back at them briefly while doing her best to keep her focus on
Sean. “Guys, Sean’s hurt! I need your help!”
“Oh, Miss Joanie…look what that terrible woman did to our
lab! It will be impossible to get all of this re…”
“BUNSEN, PLEASE!!!” Joanie exclaimed with panic and
desperation registered within her voice. “He’s my son, man!”
(Biographical Note: "Sean Thomas" is based on and inspired by Sean Livingston, the author of the World of Disney series.)
Snapping out of their moment of mourning, Bunsen and
Beaker focused their attention on the young man who was lying on the ground,
hurt and unconscious. “O-Of course. There’s a medical kit upstairs that Beakie
and I can retrieve for you.”
Beaker nodded and meeped in approval of Bunsen’s offer
for help.
“That’s good. That’s good.” Joanie remarked. “Please get
it for me. I don’t want to leave him here unattended.” She gently lifted his
upper body and rested it upon her kneeling form, checking for any signs of cuts
under his short, black, curly hair.
Bunsen nodded and said, “Certainly, Miss Joanie.” Both he
and Beaker then climbed up the nearly ravaged wooden staircase that led out of
the basement of the Muppet Theater. They crossed the backstage right of the
theater, where the med kit box was bolted right against the wall. While getting
the necessary medical items out of the box, Beaker meeped a question to his
boss. “Why don’t I have this medical kit downstairs in the lab? Well, I hardly
ever get hurt during experiments, Beakie. There’s no need for one.”
Beaker meeped a sigh, putting his face at the palm of his
hand and shaking his head slowly – it obviously was not the answer he was
hoping for.
(Character Note: The choice of Muppets in World of Disney relied on how each one could reflect to the main plot. Bunsen and Beaker are responsible for the creation of the machine that leads to the titular "World of Disney.")
Just as soon as Bunsen and Beaker got all the items they
needed to help their friend, a loud roaring sound emerged from within the
dressing room in the center of the three at the upstairs landing. The thing
that was inside began clawing at the door, trying to get out. The two Muppet
scientists trembled at the noises, knowing full well what was inside and daring
not to let it out.
In his fear, Beaker stammered a meep to Bunsen.
“Of course we can’t let him out, Beaker. Without the
Disney Princess from his realm, he is just a wild, untamed beast. And letting him out will not only put us in danger, but
every other living being in this time period as well.”
(Character Note: Although not directly referenced in this scene, the Beast of Beauty and the Beast has his first mention in Bunsen's line of dialogue.)
While he and his
assistant headed back downstairs to the basement again, Beaker meeped an
inquiry to Bunsen. “I’m not certain of what particular year we’re in. All of
the equipment in the lab was destroyed from the previous ‘incident’. The best
way to find out would be to venture into the sublevel of the theater, where
we’ve housed the generator for the machine.”
Beaker meeped a remark to Bunsen’s statement, as the two
finally made it back into the wrecked laboratory and gave the medical items to
Joanie to help treat the wounds on her son’s head. Watching her flawlessly
handle the treatment, Bunsen and Beaker’s thoughts went to what she said a
short moment ago – admitting that Sean was her
son. Here this young man was, from a totally different time period than his
mother’s, and he was practically the same age as her – yet, in recent days, she
was acting just like one to him. It was quite uncanny; and in their field, that
would be a phenomenal scientific discovery. If there was one positive thing to
come from their experiment, it was bringing this mother and her son together.
(Biographical Note: There is no actual familial relation between Joanie and Sean in real life. In reality, Livingston is a year older than Mars.)
“What generator?” Joanie suddenly asked them, wrapping
thin gauze around Sean’s wound.
Bunsen barely realized she asked him a question. “I beg
your pardon?”
“While coming in, you said that there’s a generator for
the machine in the sublevel of the theater. What does it do?”
Bunsen shared a glance with Beaker and responded, “It’s
rather complicated, Miss Joanie.”
She chuckled at his remark. “Dude, this whole experience
has been complicated for me. I just want to know what it does. If it means
saving the rest of my family – past, present, and future – then I’ll accept whatever weird science you two have
got to explain.”
Bunsen nodded in approval and went to his workbench,
which was barely still standing at the center of the room. Reaching into one of
the drawers, he pulled out a long, rolled-up sheet of paper and spread it out
near Joanie, who tried not to move herself in order to keep Sean’s head
leveled. It turned out to have been blueprints to the design of the machine’s
generator, which looked very funky to Joanie (and even Bunsen and Beaker
themselves – they designed it). It was an 18-story geodesic sphere with over a
million different components working together to power up one small machine
inside of a basement.
(Narrative Note: This is our first introduction to the Sphere, the primary plot device of the series. It has appeared in four stories so far - World of Disney, The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2, Tales of the Disneyverse, and World of Disney 3.)
“This is the Magic Gateway’s generator, Miss Joanie.”
Bunsen indicated. “Its entire structure works as a conduit – or battery – for
the machine that used to be right over there.” He pointed the contorted hunk of
metal standing at the wall. “Fortunately, the generator is still backing up
power to another source…a second
gateway.”
It was this point to where Joanie was, as she expected to
be, confused. “So…it’s a backup of a backup?”
“Precisely,” clarified Bunsen, before he pointed to the very
center of the sphere, where there appeared to have been a room that was the
same size and shape of the basement they were in. “In this room is another
Magic Gateway machine that has all of the same functions of the one prior. We
can use it to find our friends and your family and bring them back to their
respective realms and times.”
He skipped ahead of all the technical mumbo jumbo and
went right to the solution of their problem, which was exactly the way she
wanted it to be delivered to her. Lost in her delight from the news, she almost
didn’t hear the young man resting on her lap groaning. As if things were
looking up already, Sean was regaining consciousness – a great sign to show
that he wasn’t seriously injured or worse from the recent encounter. Opening
his dark brown eyes, the first person he saw was Joanie, who was smiling at him
– although from his upside-down perspective, it looked more like a frown.
“Something wrong?” he asked her.
Tears began to form beneath her eyelids as she looked
down upon him. “No…nothing’s wrong. Everything’s just perfect, man.”
His eyes darted from her to the room, seeing how ravaged
it appeared. Memories of recent events began to catch up with him, and he
realized what happened prior to his unconscious state. “Oh, no! Where is
everybody? Where’s Kim? Where’s Meagan? Cici? Kermit? Gonz…”
(Character Note: We're given a quick intro to some of the other primary players of the story in this line of dialogue by Sean - both original and Muppet.)
Joanie felt him trying to get up, but she quickly settled
him down before he could’ve done so. “Shh! Shh! Calm down. It’s okay. We’re
going to find them.”
He shook his head negatively. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, no. Don’t say that.”
“It is! Because they wanted to give up on finding your
mother – our grandmother – and I
just…I couldn’t let it go.”
(Character Note: Another indirect reference to a character we will meet in the story - Diana Navarro, Joanie's mother and Sean's grandmother.)
(Editorial Note: Although it seems like it now, the inclusion of the phrase "let it go" is NOT in reference to Frozen, which was released three years after this story was complete.)
Joanie sighed, feeling the opposite way; she felt like it
was her fault, not his own. “You were
just helping me…which I appreciate more than you know. Seriously, man.” Saying
that, she took her right hand and grasped onto his.
Sean still felt ashamed, but he was relieved to know that
his own mother was proud of him regardless. If she knew the type of
relationship they had in the past (or, in her case, will have in the future),
she would question her role as a mother more than she already had been since
they met through Bunsen and Beaker’s experiment. He didn’t want that,
especially considering how close they were becoming. What he did want was to
get up and stop feeling so useless.
(Narrative Note: This is the first sense we get of the dynamic in relationship between mother and son that is explored further along in the story.)
He made another attempt, which Joanie once again tried to
avert. “No, no. Stay down and rest.”
“No, I’m going to help you all find the others,” he
declared, finally getting to his feet while fighting the pain that was
throbbing in his head. “I heard you three talking about some sort of second
Gateway machine.”
Joanie groaned in annoyance – he was definitely her son,
seeing how hard-headed and determined he appeared to be. She honestly couldn’t
blame him, with all that happened earlier. It was such a devastating blow that
they couldn’t just sit around and lick their wounds. With a hint of regret, she
admitted, “Bunsen says there’s a generator beneath the Muppet Theater that’s
powering another machine – one that will help us find everyone who’s missing
here.”
Sean nodded with a hopeful smile. “Great! Then let’s get
down there and get to business.”
“It might be a hard process to get to the generator,
Mister Sean.” Bunsen revealed to him.
“Well, how hard are talking about?” Joanie inquired.
Beaker meeped a statement to Bunsen that neither Joanie
nor Sean could decipher. From the nervous way he delivered it, they knew it
couldn’t be good. Bunsen, the only one who could interpret his speech,
answered, “It’s the only way to reach it, Beaker. The Initiative never allowed
us to have any access to it through the Muppet Theater, because they feared
unauthorized personnel would discover its existence.”
Joanie felt like she and her son were completely being
left out of the loop. One Muppet was talking in “meeps,” while the other was
talking in plain English, although none of what he said made any sense. “Uh,
guys? Hello? Wanna explain to us what the heck you’re talking about?”
Bunsen hesitated briefly and finally addressed them about
it. “Depending upon the time zone we are currently in…we may or may not have to
take a submarine to reach the generator.”
Joanie and Sean’s eyes widened in disbelief at what the
Muppet scientist just revealed to them. “It’s underwater? I thought you said it
was beneath the theater?” Sean responded.
“No, no. The generator is underground.” Bunsen clarified. “It’s just…it’s part a system
that only DHARMA Initiative members can gain access through.”
(Pop Culture Note: The reference to the DHARMA Initiative is a direct reference to the hit show Lost, which was broadcast on the Disney-owned network ABC from 2004 to 2010.)
The eyes of Joanie Navarro shut very hard in frustration;
this was, of course, accompanied by a deep, disgruntling sigh. Meanwhile, her
son was even more perplexed from her reaction. “What? What is the DHARMA
Initiative?”
“A project that consists of a lot of researchers,
scientists, inventors…you name it they’ve got it.” Joanie told him. “Bunsen and
Beaker registered as members back in 1974.”
(Editorial Note: World of Disney was published a month before the series finale to Lost with no knowledge of how the series would end beforehand.)
“Some of the research we do for them is here at Muppet
Labs.”
“Including a giant golf ball-looking thing that’s
practically housed in one of their stations,” said the irritated Joanie, “which
the rest of us have to obtain membership just to gain access to.”
Hearing about the imagery of the generator’s design, Sean
got a sense of déjà vu. He knew he heard such a description before, but
couldn’t quite place his finger on it. It wasn’t until his foot came in contact
with the blueprints to the generator that he looked down and saw the familiar
structure for the first time. With a grin on his face, he knelt down slowly –
trying not to bring back the throbbing in his head – to pick it up and gaze at
it closely.
“You mean to tell me that the design for your generator
was inspired by Spaceship Earth?” He
asked a question that garnered some confused stares from Joanie, Bunsen, and
Beaker.
“Spaceship What?” Joanie asked.
He showed her the blueprints again, circling his index
finger over its structure. “In my time, this is all one big attraction known as
Spaceship Earth in Disney’s EPCOT theme park. It’s practically the
symbol of the park – something everyone who goes there identifies with.”
(Authorial Note: The idea of the Sphere having a physical resemblance to the Spaceship Earth attraction in EPCOT is based on its theme of time travel, which is one of the overarching themes of the World of Disney series. The Sphere is a representation of time and space, and it even becomes a literal "spaceship" by World of Disney 3.)
For a moment, he completely forgot that he was conversing
with people who were literally from a different time period as him, as they
each exchanged wondrous and perplexed glances. In response to his revelation,
Bunsen asked a crucial question, “When did this theme park open?”
Sean, being the Disney expert that he was, thought
through his knowledge on the famous company and searched for the exact answer
that Bunsen was expecting. Snapping his fingers and closing his eyes, he
concentrated hard on it, until he finally discovered the information stored
within his mind. “October 1982.”
Bunsen then appeared deeply lost in thought, which Joanie
noticed instantly. It was a look that she was all too familiar with in the
years that she lived in the Muppet Theater – his thumb and index finger were
rubbing along his chin, as he was looking down towards the floor. Trying not to
smile at the sight, she asked, “What’re you thinking, Bunsen?”
“Hmm? Oh! Well, I’m thinking that if what your son just
said is the truth, then I believe we have an alternative to reaching the
generator. That is, and I again state for scientific reasons, depending on the
time zone we are currently in.”
Sean shook his head and chuckled at his theory. “Wait,
wait, wait! You’re saying that this DHARMA Initiative could’ve somehow
transported this gigantic mechanism from underground the Muppet Theater to above ground. That sounds a little
implausible, don’t you think?”
“Not for a project like the DHARMA Initia…”
“Shh!” Joanie suddenly demanded of the group with an
expression on her face that made it seem as if she was focusing on something
other than the conversation Sean and Bunsen were having.
Noticing that expression, Sean curiously asked, “What is
it?”
She glanced up at him in surprise. “You don’t hear
that?!”
“Hear what?”
“The Mickey Mouse March!”
As if he weren’t confused enough already from all that
was happening in the past minutes, this was the most puzzling for Sean, Bunsen,
and Beaker. The room was absolutely silent to them; and as far as they were
concerned, they were the only four people in the theater after the incident
that occurred earlier. Sean knew that he suffered quite a head trauma from it,
and he began to wonder if Joanie did as well. There she was, unbeknownst to
even herself, humming the tune to the Mickey
Mouse Club theme song.
It then started getting louder and clearer to her,
driving her to the point that she got off her knees and headed up the rickety
staircase. Greatly concerned about her, Sean followed suit. He chased her
through several areas within the Muppet Theater, from Backstage Right to the
storage room. Everywhere, except for the particular dressing room where they
were holding the beastly creature
inside.
(Setting Note: For all the "reality" scenes, the setting is predominantly in the Muppet Theater. Much of the areas explored in the story are those directly featured in episodes of The Muppet Show, such as Backstage Right, the storage room, the stage, the reception area, and the attic.)
Sean was just about out of breath when he followed her
back to the room they started in, stopping near the stage door lobby in the
reception area. “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Are you…are you alright?”
Joanie was out of breath herself, but didn’t care all
that much about it. She was on a mission and couldn’t let anything stop her –
not even Sean. “That music…it’s bringing back so many memories. I…I can’t
exactly explain it. Just…Just trust me, okay?”
She then bolted out through the stage door, with her son
following. However, just as he stood in the doorway, something extremely
bizarre happened – she vanished. All that he saw was the back alley, which the
sunset was slightly illuminating. It was very odd and confusing; and as much as
he gazed around to find her, there was not a single trace of where she went.
Where did she go?
(UP NEXT: Flashing back to where it all started!)
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