Chapter Twenty-Six:
Realm Zone – 1992
Joie woke up with a snore, saliva trickling down from the
right side of her mouth; she was heavily groggy, but she was able to recall
what happened before losing consciousness. In an attempt to move her arms, Joie
quickly realized that they were pinned to the wall that she was sitting
against. Her arms were held above her head, forcing her to glance up to see her
wrists shackled. Joie tried to budge through them, but she did not
have enough strength to break through, still feeling very groggy.
“It’s no use.” A voice near her said, and she found Sean
and the others sitting around her, shackled to the wall in the same matter –
with the notable exception of Robin, Bean, and Abu, whose small bodies were
shackled from the neck down. “They’ve got us clapped good in these.”
Joie seemed rather furious to find herself in such a
position, using that fury to free herself with another mighty attempt to break
through the restraints…still no avail. “Argh! This is my worst nightmare, man!”
“It’s like a dream come true!” Gonzo enthusiastically
said.
Joie shot a puzzling stare to the weirdo and his
statement.
(Character Note: Being a performer of death-defying stunts, Gonzo takes enjoyment in the most unsettling of circumstances, whether it be imprisonment or torture.)
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Ciciley uttered. “We’ve
got to stop that wedding!”
“What does it matter? It’s just the Sultan’s royal vizier
and some strange girl.” Aladdin remarked.
The street urchin’s depiction of Joanie greatly offended
both Sean and Ciciley. “That ‘strange girl’ happens to be our mother, dude!” Ciciley retorted, much to
the sudden disbelief of Aladdin, who said not another word afterward.
“So, uh…how exactly are
we getting out of this dungeon?” Fozzie asked.
No one answered immediately because no one was absolutely
certain.
“I wish Sweetums were here.” Robin said. “He would just
break through our shackles and get us out of here in no time.”
“If Animal were here, he would eat through them in less
time.” Scooter added. “Then again, Animal would eat through the whole palace!”
(Authorial Note: Animal was one of the Muppets Livingston considered for World of Disney but wasn't able to find the right place for the character. He does finally appear in World of Disney 3, albeit his importance to its plot has yet to be determined.)
Joie grunted again, clearly on a mission to break through
the shackles entirely by herself. Noticing her futile attempts, Sean told her,
“Knock it off. You’re going to hurt yourself doing that.”
“Shows…what…you…know!” Joie exclaimed between grunts.
“If…you were…my real…brother…you’d
know…how strong I am…under…PRESSURE!”
SNAP!
After one intense tug, Joie’s shackles popped loose, much
to everyone’s surprise. With a hearty chuckle, the heavily confident young
woman told her companions, “Lesson Number One – never doubt mah skills!!”
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
Soon after Joie made her confident statement, the
shackles holding the others popped loose just the same without a hint of
budging from them. The high confidence in Joie quickly dropped. “Okay…so I’m
not the only one apparently.”
(Authorial Note: This scene originally worked in favor of Joie, showing her superhuman strength as another trait of hers that helps free herself and the other characters. When Livingston realized that he needed some way to work Brandy in, he changed the scene to favor her as the group's rescuer.)
Within seconds, a figure suddenly materialized at the center
of the room, shocking everyone. Sean’s shock subsided, however, as soon as he
noticed that the figure was in fact Brandy. Trying to control his frustrations
with her tardiness, Sean exclaimed, “Where have you been?! I ought to kick your
butt right now!”
“What did I do?” Brandy innocently inquired.
Watching how Sean addressed the woman who just
appeared in the dungeon, Kermit asked, “You know her?!”
“Yeah, this is the ‘Almighty Brandy’ whom I’ve been
blathering on about for hours.” Sean replied.
Brandy waved to the group with half of a smile. “Nice to
meet ya’ll.”
Ciciley glanced carefully at Brandy’s face, seeming to
have recognized it a little, even though she had never met the young woman; she
reminded her much of someone that she already knew. She continued staring at
her face while Sean helped her up and said, “We’ll share intros later. Right
now, we’ve got a wedding to crash.”
“There’s a secret entrance over here.” Brandy indicated
as she moved to a section of the cold stone walls of the dungeon and pressed
against it, opening a secret passageway. When the others saw a grassy plain
beyond the opening, they knew that Brandy had just revealed a secret passageway
out of the dungeon.
(Disney Note: This secret passageway is the same one that Jafar used to lead Aladdin out of the dungeon and take him to the Cave of Wonders.)
Watching Brandy show the way out, Joie grinned with
amusement. “Oh, I’m lovin’ this girl already.”
As the group followed Brandy out of the dungeon, Ciciley
pulled Sean aside for a moment and quietly asked him, “Sean, does your ‘friend’
remind you of anyone we know?”
“We don’t have time for a chat, lil’ sis.” Sean remarked.
“Maybe we…”
“She looks exactly
like our mother…and even a little like you!”
Ciciley exclaimed, still keeping her voice down so that the others could not
hear.
(Narrative Note: This moment is the major reveal of Brandy's identity for readers. Although not explicitly stated by Ciciley, it is implied that Brandy is in fact a member of the Thomas family, hence why she has been so concerned with interfering with the family timeline and ceasing to exist because of it.)
Sean’s focus went away from their current situation to
what Ciciley just told him, raising a curious eyebrow. “What?!”
Before the conversation could have gone any further, the
main topic of the conversation – Brandy – stepped up back into the dungeon and
beckoned the two siblings. “Hey, c’mon, y’all! Get a move on!” As she summoned
them, Sean got a good glance at Brandy’s face there and then, and he realized that
Ciciley was right – Brandy had features that were a combination of himself and
Joanie, but mostly the latter. Since meeting her in the ice cream parlor in
Orlando, he had never really noticed until that very moment.
(Authorial Note: Livingston thought of Brandy Wine as bearing a slight resemblance to Joanie Mars during the time he wrote World of Disney, though the two women did not see it themselves.)
Refocusing on their task, Sean did his best to take his
mind off the subject and follow Brandy outside of the palace with Ciciley. The
group ended up near the front staircase leading to the Sultan’s throne room,
which had a more beefed-up security with at least seven guards standing at
attention near the doorway. Kermit’s face cringed once he noticed the guards.
“Well…so much for taking the front door,” the frog disapprovingly said.
“Can’t we go in the same way Brandy came into the
dungeon?” Robin inquired.
Brandy checked the power levels in her wristband – a red
holographic “Warning” display projecting above it. Shaking her head, Brandy
informed the others, “We’ll have to go into this one cold, I’m afraid. I’ve
barely got enough juice to get us back to reality.”
“Great.” Scooter said. “Easier to get out, but harder to
get in.”
Joie smiled while coyly popping her fingers. “Ya’ll have
gotta start takin’ initiative!” She then moved away from the group and headed
towards the staircase. Joie was as fast as a cheetah, climbing up the gigantic
staircase in less than a minute. Once she reached the top, she confronted the
palace guards head-on, taking each one down with a marvelous display of Muay
Thai hand-to-hand combat. The others could barely keep up with her moves
because they were so quick; not even Bruce Lee could match them.
(Cultural Note: Muay Thai is a combat sport of Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This physical and mental discipline that includes combat on shins is known as "the art of eight limbs" because it is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins, being associated with a good physical preparation that makes a full-contact fighter very efficient. Muay Thai is recognized as an effective striking base within MMA.)
All of the guards were down in a few seconds, and the
entrance to the palace left a clear path for the group, which Joie gave the
“O.K.” on with a smile and wave. Having watched the unbelievable moves that
Joie displayed, Sean turned to his sister and the Muppets and said, “Where did
you find her?”
“Don’t look at me – I just met the chick.” Ciciley said.
The team moved swiftly up the staircase and joined Joie
at the top before entering the palace. Moving further and further into the
complex, the redder and hotter things started to look and feel. Arriving in the
throne room, the group was met with a startling sight – Jafar and Dawn standing
side-by-side near the Sultan’s throne with the Sultan himself acting as a
minister and Jasmine, standing close nearby, acting as a bridesmaid. There were
torches lit all around the room, granting an intensely hot atmosphere that made
even Jafar sweat; however, it was more fear into his sweating than heat.
(Setting Note: The atmosphere of this scene is based on the "evil makeover" Jafar gave the palace following his rise to power from possession of the lamp in Aladdin. The abuse of Jasmine and the Sultan is nearly quite the same.)
The sight made Sean, Ciciley, and especially Robin very
unsettled. “Please tell me someone
has a plan,” Sean said through gritted teeth.
“Plain and simple…crash the wedding!” Joie boldly stated
while smacking her right fist into the palm of her left hand.
Joie rushed into the throne room, running directly toward
Jafar and Dawn. Sean tried to call her back, but she was already within a few
feet from the “couple” before it was too late. When it seemed as if Joie’s
brash plan would have worked, Dawn – appearing to have sensed her presence long before she made a move – turned her
sights away from the Sultan and focused on Joie with an outstretched arm. Joie
suddenly froze in place and then hovered six feet in the air before Dawn; with
one slight gesture, the wicked shield of Joanie Navarro sent the young woman
flying across the throne room and smacking her into a wall.
(Narrative Note: Much of Dawn's display of sorcery is based upon the abilities of the Force from Star Wars, the gestures in its usage similar to those from the Jedi and Sith. Interestingly enough, sorcery and the Force come to a head in World of Disney 3.)
Once Joie was out of the way, Dawn soon noticed her
companions standing at the entrance to the throne room. Briefly turning to the
Sultan with a cold stare, she uttered, “Pause.” And on that single word, the
Sultan froze from his duties as minister, standing where he was and staring off
into space. Dawn then briskly strode her way to Sean, Brandy, Ciciley, Aladdin,
Abu, and the Muppets in a manner that was clearly threatening.
(Narrative Note: Dawn's "Pause" spell is used again in Tales of the Disneyverse during her confrontation with Genevieve. It's her most powerful and effective ability displayed so far in her appearances through the World of Disney series.)
In a panicked state, Brandy handed something over to Sean
and said, “When you get the open opportunity, put this over her head!”
Sean glanced at the object she had given him and noticed
it to be one of her headbands – the same one, in fact, that they got Joanie to
wear when she took the persona of Ariel. Remembering the consequences to having
the device worn by Joanie last time, Sean negatively shook his head. “No way!
That’s what got us into this mess in the first place!”
“You’ve gotta trust
me on this!” Brandy pleaded.
“LOOK OUT!!”
Fozzie’s warning came just as the group noticed Dawn
tearing away a chunk of the floor telepathically and hurling it towards them.
In just the nick of time, the group dodged out of harm’s way, letting the chunk
of marble and earth wedge into the entranceway and blocking any possible exit. While
in the process of saving his own life, Sean lost his grip on the headband and
let it roll across the floor, stopping near the unconscious Joie. As he got
to his feet to retrieve the item, he heard the screams of Kermit, Fozzie,
Gonzo, Bobo, Scooter, and Bean nearby. Turning his head, he noticed Dawn using
her telekinesis to juggle the six Muppets in midair – the only Muppet whose
screams were of joy turned out to be Gonzo’s.
“Ha, ha, ha! This is so
cool!” The weirdo shouted.
“Glad to see one of us is having so much fun!!” A
disgruntled Scooter cried.
In the midst of her “fun” with the other Muppets, Dawn was
soon confronted by Robin, who begged with teary eyes. “Joanie! Please don’t do
this! This is not you!”
(Narrative Note: This quote from Robin is another that was used in the opening to Marvel Mayhem in Genevieve's dream/flashback of all the horrors that Dawn has brought to during her life as both Sean Thomas and the Guardian.)
Unfortunately, Dawn did not answer to the name of her
true self; however, she did take notice of the tiny frog’s presence in the
throne room and used more of her unimaginable power to send him into the air
just like the other Muppets – except he went even higher. Robin’s small frame
floated forty feet into the air and practically touched the ceiling; he cried
for Kermit the entire time he was in the air, unable to move or stop himself
from going any higher. It seemed in Dawn’s mission to try to get the frog
higher than he was, as Robin’s form repeatedly smacked against the ceiling
until the small frog fell unconscious from the blows.
Seeing what Dawn was doing to Robin, Brandy grew very
angry; she turned to Aladdin, who was picking himself off the floor after
having dodged the chunk of floor, and made a command. “Follow my lead!” The two
then worked together in running towards Dawn, who was distracted from the
Muppets she was controlling, and tackled her to the floor, pinning her down.
Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Bobo, Scooter, and Bean – who were
all only a few feet from the floor – fell and landed atop of one another.
Robin’s unconscious form fell its forty-foot distance from the ceiling of the
throne room, his body moving lifelessly through the air. Ciciley, quickly
taking notice of the tiny Muppet’s plight, had positioned herself beneath his
falling form with her hands cupped. Robin fell comfortably into
Ciciley’s hands like a catcher with a baseball. “Gotcha!” Ciciley said with a
smile, but that smile soon faded once she realized that the small frog was not
moving at all. “Robin?!”
(Authorial Note: Dawn's attack on Robin is regrettably the darkest moment of the story for Livingston to write, and he worried as to how bleak he made the scene in the otherwise cheerful, family-friendly tale.)
Meanwhile, Brandy and Aladdin were forcibly keeping Dawn pinned
down to the floor. In doing so, Brandy cried to Sean, “Get the headband! Do it now!!!”
Sean went to the object as it continued sitting beside
the unconscious Joie; unfortunately, before he had a chance to grab it, someone
else got their hands on it first. To Sean’s dismay, Jafar was the one who had
retrieved the item before him, glancing upon it curiously. While watching Jafar
with the headband, Sean heard two heavy thuds
and turned to see Brandy and Aladdin lying far away from Dawn at opposite sides
of the throne room; he could only assume that she hurled them aside with
another display of her remarkable power. The powerful woman then stoically got
back on her feet as if nothing ever happened.
Sean’s attention was redirected back to Jafar when he heard
the character address him in a very desperate manner. “Tell me…will this device
stop her?!”
It came as a surprise to hear Jafar ask such a question,
but seeing how terrified him and Iago were of Dawn somehow made sense to it.
Sean nodded his head in response to his question and uttered, “Yes…it will.”
Jafar wickedly smiled, gazing upon the headband once more.
“That’s all I need to know.”
(Authorial Note: Livingston wanted Jafar's act of heroism to be a surprise for readers, leading them to believe he would have taken the coward's way out of the situation and side with Dawn on her conquest. Unexpected character role-reversal such as this is what makes the events within the World of Disney series unpredictable.)
At first, Sean expected Jafar to throw the headband to
the floor and smashed it with his staff, or something to that extreme. Instead,
the royal vizier hid the item behind his back while approaching Dawn, who
turned to face him with the same emotionless face that she had been masked with
the entire time. “My love…seeing the way you have disposed of these cretins has
allowed me to see how much we really are meant to be together. With our
combined powers, I believe we shall rule Agrabah and possibly even the world!”
“I am pleased you see so, my love.” Dawn said.
“Of course, a ruler such as you deserves her own crown.”
On that cue, Jafar revealed the headband in his hand and easily placed it atop
of Dawn’s head. Dawn did not make any sudden moves; she kept herself open to
the trap without even knowing it to be one.
Brandy weakly sat up just in time to see the transaction
take place. As soon as Jafar had placed the headband over Dawn’s head, Brandy
touched a section of her wristband that activated a function with the headband
itself. Once activated, Dawn began screaming immensely in agony, falling to her
knees while clutching the sides of her head. Her eyes rolled to the back, exposing total whiteness in her eyes. The headband electrically sparked
gold all around Dawn’s head, making it unsafe to be touched even by Dawn
herself – who made that attempt only to send sheering pain to her fingertips.
Soon the painful action ended and left Dawn collapsing to
the floor; however, she did not fall unconscious afterward. She rapidly
blinked, her eyes searching for some sort of familiarity, and finally found the
lifeless Robin lying in the hands of Ciciley. A look of terror appeared over
her face – the first sign of emotion that she had displayed for some time – and
her eyes even welded up with tears. A remorseful voice emerged from within the
young woman upon uttering the name of the tiny frog. No longer was she “Dawn;”
she had reverted back to her true persona of Joanie Navarro.
BOOM! BOOM! KRACK!
Flashes shined through the windows of the palace before a
chunk of the ceiling broke free and fell to the floor, scattering debris
everywhere; thankfully, no one was in the way of it. The Sultan and Jasmine
awakened from their hypnotic states, looking around to see the palace crumbling
around them. Tremors soon emerged and sections of the floor had risen and
lowered unexpectedly. Jasmine had nearly fallen victim to another piece of the
ceiling that collapsed until Aladdin rushed to her aid and saved the princess.
“Are you okay?” The street urchin asked her.
Enthralled by his heroism, Princess Jasmine said with a
smile, “Yes…thank you.” Her lovely smile made the street urchin equally charmed;
unfortunately, the chaos around them brought the moment they shared to an
abrupt end.
“Brandy! What’s going on?!” Sean asked.
“It’s coming from Bunsen’s machine.” Brandy responded.
“It’s ripping this reality apart because of the instability!”
Her explanation on the occurrence greatly confused Sean.
“Instability from what?” He then seemed to figure it out for himself before she
had a chance to answer. “From us?! We’re
causing this?!” He shook his head negatively and added, “This has never
happened before! I mean…”
“Nothing can ever happen the same way as before when we interfere.” Brandy stated. “That
should’ve been the disclaimer to Bunsen’s machine.”
(Narrative Note: This is the second time the "disclaimer" has been referenced in the story, but it is the first in which a character has spoken it aloud.)
Hearing Brandy, Sean turned to Joanie, whose experience
in the realm was the greatest of the changes created within it, becoming a
character that was not supposed to have existed there. His eyes then shifted to
Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Sultan, Jafar, and Iago – each of whom would never witness
their fates happen the same as it had in the animated feature. Even though they
were fictional characters, their genuine fears made it feel as if they were
real people watching their lives come to an end altogether.
(Authorial Note: The collapse of the Aladdin realm is another moment Livingston had to heavily consider before moving on with it in the story. He ultimately decided, as dark as it might have been, that it is a necessary plot point to establish how fragile the Disneyverse is.)
“Is there anyway to stop it?” Sean asked Brandy with a
sense of hope for the characters.
Brandy shook her head in response. “I’m sorry. There’s
nothing I can do.”
She then punched some holographic letters and numbers
projected from her wristband and engaged the reanimation sequence, taking her,
Sean, Ciciley, Joanie, Joie, and the Muppets out of the realm. As he watched
all of their bodies beginning to disappear amidst the chaos that unfolded
in Agrabah, Sean watched the Aladdin
characters hopelessly witness their world crumble around them. The experience
gave a new insight on what it was that Bunsen had created – a machine that
creates life from fiction…and is also capable in taking it away as well. The
notion brought a great deal of fear and anger over Sean as he and the others
disappeared from a world that ceased to exist after their departure.
(UP NEXT: The Doomsday Device!)
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