Chapter Twenty: Realm
Zone – 1967
Bella fought through foliage in the middle sweltering
jungle atmosphere to find Michelle. She was practically sweating just a little
through her shirt with a heavy yellow glow shining through it. For minutes she
had stepped through the jungle, almost stepping in mud at one point. It was almost
beginning to seem as if she would never find Michelle, until…
Music…High tempo music.
It sounded so good to Bella that she turned her head in
the direction it sounded from, spotting a ruined temple that appeared Hindu in
design. The temple was a short distance away from where she currently was, so
she went right after it with great curiosity. Thoughts of finding Michelle were
still fresh on her mind, but she could not avoid the music. She even bobbed her
head back and forth to its rhythm; she did this the entire way there.
When she arrived at the temple, she climbed over a
crumbled wall that led her directly through an entranceway into the temple. The
moment she walked in, she was met with a welcoming yet surprising sight: her
sister, Michelle, dancing with a large collection of monkeys. Draped over her
head was a banana peel, which she did not seem to care was on there the entire
time she was dancing and singing with the monkeys. She danced in step with the
monkey’s orangutan leader, King Louie, singing a song that was not of the
cartoon that realm was based upon, but more of a real world one.
“My jungle love,
yeah!” Michelle sang.
The monkeys followed with the chant, “Oh-e-oh-e-oh!”
“I think I wanna
know ya!”
“Know ya!”
(Pop Culture Note: "Jungle Love" was released on July 2, 1984 off of The Time's third album Ice Cream Castle. Morris Day and Jesse Johnson both contributed to the writing of the song, with Day performing the lead vocals and Johnson on guitar. Noted singer-songwriter Prince played all the other instruments. The song is one of The Time's signature numbers and played at every concert to this day.)
A few niftier dance steps between Michelle and Louie and
then the song came to a close; the monkeys wildly applauded from different
sections of the ruined temple. Bella even applauded herself after witnessing
the excellent display of entertainment. She soon found herself forced to stop
applauding, on the other hand, as she was suddenly grabbed by the back of her
jeans and hauled up into the air. The monkeys that surrounded the temple were
tossing her one-by-one to King Louie and Michelle, until she was dropped a few
feet right in front of the two.
At the moment Bella appeared before her and Louie, a
large and wide smile emerged on Michelle’s face. She helped her sister to her
feet and gave her a huge hug. “My sister! It’s so good to see you again!” Both
her heart and Bella’s glowed dark blue, responding to the great happiness
between them.
“It’s good to see you,
my sister. I just wish I didn’t have such a massive
wedgie at the moment.” Bella uttered, gazing behind her to see her purple
underwear grotesquely sticking out of the back of her jeans.
(Authorial Note: The underwear being colored as purple is another of Livingston's many subtle nods to Back to the Future. Marty McFly's Calvin Klein briefs were purple in the film.)
King Louie approached Bella, observing her very closely.
“Crazy, man! There are two of you
now!”
“Your Highness, this is my dear sister.” Michelle
introduced.
Louie stood on both of his hands and extended one of his
feet out to Bella. “Any ‘sister’ of the woman-bear is a sister of mine!”
As she shook Louie’s foot, Bella whispered to Michelle,
“Woman-bear?”
“It’s like ‘man-cub’. Cute, isn’t it?” Michelle answered with a giggle she shared with Bella.
“Now, then…let’s hear about that fire.” Louie told
Michelle, immediately getting down to business.
(Disney Note: In the Jungle Book cartoon adaptation, King Louie has a specific interest to "Man's Red Flower," a.k.a. fire, which all animals fear. Owning it would make Louie a real king over all the jungle. It is detailed in the lyrics to "I Wanna Be Like You," a song that is excluded from this story.)
Michelle chuckled and said, “Now, now, Louie…you have to
hold up your end of the bargain.
First, I give you a swingin’ party; then, you give me the headband; and, after
that, I tell you about fire.”
Louie did not seem too pleased on the deal he was
reminded about. “Aww, phooey! Alright, then, woman-bear.” He then whistled to
one of the monkeys hanging around the temple, playing with the very same
headband that Michelle was requesting. When the monkey heard the king whistling
to him, he turned his head to him. Louie “scatted” an order to the monkey,
signaling him to throw down the object to the king.
The monkey was just about to oblige to King Louie’s
command, until…
RAWR!!!
A monstrous roar bellowed throughout the ruined temple, bringing
total silence over the once overjoyed kingdom. All heads turned to the
entrance, where the powerful, sophisticated, and deadly tiger known to all in
the jungle as Shere Khan stood, menacing as always. His mere presence brought
chaos over the temple, as all of the monkeys scattered, swinging and climbing
their way out of the ruined temple. Even King Louie, the fun-loving animal he
is, grew heavily serious upon the appearance of Shere Khan, losing his cool
very quickly.
“Uh, I-I’ll see you woman-bears later! I’ve gotta split!”
Louie exclaimed.
(Disney Note: The villainous Shere Khan can be looked upon as another purpose for Louie's attempts at obtaining fire, since the Bengal tiger is a known predator to the jungle kingdom.)
While Louie made haste out of the temple, the monkey that
carried Michelle’s headband tossed the object aside. Michelle noticed the
action and ran to catch the falling headband. Unfortunately, it fell through her
grip and rolled across the ground, forcing Michelle to chase after it. As she
had done so, she tripped over a rock and fell hard to the ground, her arm
outstretched. Thankfully, she was able to get a grip on the headband before it
could roll any further from her reach.
Michelle smiled, but it soon faded once she heard deep,
sinister purring. Her blue eyes darted upward and met with the fierce glare of
Shere Khan. She was so stricken with fear that her grip on the headband began
to loosen. As it did, its metal surface angled with the sunlight, creating an
intense glare that connected directly with Shere Khan’s sight. The tiger was
blinded, his left paw going over his eyes, and Michelle saw an opportunity in
getting to her feet and escaping the temple with Bella.
“C’mon!” She cried to her sister upon leaving the area.
The two young women ran as fast as they could across the
jungle, leaping over foliage and ducking through branches along the way. As
they ran, Michelle quickly placed on her headband. “Now what do we do?” Bella
asked her.
Michelle then addressed an unseen member of their party.
“Brandy! Can you hear me?! If you can, you have to get us out of here no—”
Both of them suddenly skid to a halt as they came across
a large cliff with what looked to be a fifty-foot drop. They turned to run back
the way they came; unfortunately, Shere Khan appeared, having caught up with
them. Instead of attacking them at the moment he made his presence, he just
slowly and menacingly advanced towards them. “No where else to run,” he sneered
to the two women.
(Disney Note: In the character's history, Shere Khan was voiced by six actors. Russian-born film actor George Sanders, a good friend of Walt Disney's, provided his voice in the 1967 cartoon, giving the character his notable sophisticated British-accented voice. Following Sanders's death in 1972, Tony Jay took on the role, starting from the 1990 Disney Afternoon series TaleSpin, until his passing in 2006. The only voice actor not to have used Shere Khan's notable English accent was Jason Marsden, who voice the cub version of Khan in the 1996 animated series Jungle Cubs.)
Michelle and Bella stood and watched helplessly as their
end approached.
“You know what would be really pleasant right now, my sister?” Michelle inquired to Bella.
“What’s that?” Bella remarked.
“If we were someplace a little less terrifying…like the
Hundred Acre Woods.”
Bella nodded with a frail smile. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Shere Khan was only a couple of feet from the two
sisters; and, after stopping for a brief moment, he pounced. Michelle and Bella
held each other and shut their eyes tight. However, during the entire incident,
something quite unexpected – mostly to Shere Khan – occurred. The two women
dematerialized from the very spot they stood, disappearing completely before a
shocked Shere Khan’s eyes. The once-ferocious tiger quickly found himself
soaring over the edge of the cliff, screaming in the process.
Fortunately for Khan, he did not fall completely down the
fifty-foot drop. Rather, ten feet down, he landed upon a huge branch that was
elongated from the wall of the cliff. The branch was strong enough to hold
Khan’s weight, but that did not make up for the fact that he was a good forty
feet above a river that he was not sure was shallow or deep. If there was one
thing that terrified the mighty Shere Khan more than fire and man’s gun, it was
extreme heights. There was no telling how long the tiger would remain on that
branch.
Realm Zone – 1989
“Ariel!” Sebastian exclaimed. “We must return to
Atlantica immediately! Your father is
probably wonderin’ where you are now, child!”
The stressed-out crustacean was addressing the
green-tailed, redheaded mermaid sitting upon a large rock and staring out
towards a majestic castle that belonged to Prince Eric. Unbeknownst to
Sebastian and the other two characters at the scene – a seagull named Scuttle
and a fish named Flounder – the young girl before them only a manifestation of
the little mermaid known as Ariel. In
actuality, she was Joanie Navarro, who mentality believed she was the character
herself.
(Biographical Note: The twist with Joanie becoming Ariel is another nod to the magnificent cosplay talents of Joanie Mars, having costumed as The Little Mermaid in early 2010, the year World of Disney first went online.)
(Narrative Note: This twist was first alluded to back in Chapter Four with Joanie displaying the mannerisms of Ariel.)
“Ah, give dah kid a break, Sebastian.” Scuttle said.
“She’s in love…with a human…man!”
“That is precisely da reason we should get out of here,
you idiot!” Sebastian retorted. “Her father’s gonna kill dis crab when he finds
out about all of dis!”
“He won’t find out if we don’t tell him, Sebastian.”
Flounder notified.
“You’re right, Flounder. We just gonna forget da whole
thing happened. Da Sea-King will never know.” Sebastian calmly told Flounder. “You won’t tell him. I won’t tell him. I will stay in one piece.” And not a moment
later, the crab frantically told the mermaid, “Now let’s get back to the
waters, before…”
“JOANIE!!!”
Ariel’s (Joanie’s) eyes moved from Prince Eric’s castle
to the beach where two humans (one male, one female), who had their attention
solely focused on her, ran their way. Realizing they have been noticed by the
humans, Sebastian lost his cool and shouted, “We’ve been spotted!!” He then
jumped back into the water with Flounder following him, while Scuttle took
flight to the skies.
Ariel (Joanie) attempted to retreat herself; however,
something compelled her to stay on the large rock and watched as the two humans
ran across the shallow water, splashing their way to Ariel and not seeming to
care how wet their clothes got. Once the male human reached her, he excitedly
said to her, “Joanie! Man! Am I ever glad we found you! Are you alright?”
(Narrative Note: This is the first time in the series that a World of Disney character takes on the appearance and personality of a Disney character. It happens again later with Genevieve, the reincarnation of Sean Thomas, in Tales of the Disneyverse when she goes in disguise as Merida of Brave. Both instances are displays of the power they inherit as "Guardian of the Disneyverse.")
The mermaid gazed closely at the human, appearing rather
confused. She had never talked to a human before, yet she felt unusually
comfortable talking to this particular one. “My…My name’s not Joanie. My name
is Ariel.”
Both of the humans exchanged a look of bewilderment over
her response.
“And…who are you?”
The male human chuckled and answered, “Joanie…it’s
me…Sean.” He swallowed very hard upon adding, “I’m your son, remember?”
Ariel’s (Joanie’s) eyes grew wide. “My…son?!”
The male human called Sean turned to his female
companion, still looking very confused. “Brandy, what’s up with her?”
Brandy shrugged. “If I could guess, I’d say that she’s experiencing
some sort of ‘dimensional flux’ – a process in which a subject from one
universe merges with one from another.”
(Narrative Note: Brandy's guess is only 20% correct. While Joanie has in technical terms "merged" with Ariel in regards to mentality and a couple of physical traits, the real Ariel is temporarily "erased from existence" as long as Joanie - her replacement - is present within the realm.)
“Did we do
this?!” Sean asked, moving from confusion to caution.
“No, this must be an outside source, possibly a result of
Bunsen Honeydew’s machine.” Brandy answered. “It’s rather an impressive
phenomenon. Your mother is the first-ever subject to cross-dimensional
reanimation. You should be honored.”
Sean glanced to Brandy oddly. “Are you kidding me?!”
He suddenly felt his short, black, curly hair being
touched and quickly turned his head to see Ariel’s (Joanie’s) hand over it.
“You have such beautiful, soft hair,” she told him. “Do you use a
dinglehopper?”
Sean looked very uneasy from her “observation.” “O.K.,
now this is getting weird, Brandy.”
As Brandy watched the exchange, something on Ariel’s
(Joanie’s) wrist soon caught her attention. It shined in a rainbow of colors
every time Ariel (Joanie) turned her wrist. Brandy was stunned upon the
realization that the object was her wristband. Ariel (Joanie) found it and was
wearing it. Of course, she obviously could not just take it from her, since she
would claim ownership of it, unless…
“That’s a beautiful…uh…bracelet you’re wearing, Joani…I mean, Ariel.” Brandy told her, and
when she brought the object to everyone’s attention, Sean was just as surprised
to discover it was the wristband.
Ariel (Joanie) smiled to Brandy. “You like it? I found it
while saving the life of a handsome
human named Eric…and he’s a prince!” The object glared in her bright blue eyes
as she gazed upon it. “It’s so beautiful. I’m planning to see him again tonight
and return it to him.”
(Authorial Note: Joanie mentally swapping personalities with Ariel is another nod Livingston gives to Quantum Leap, in which the main character Sam Beckett has been known to take on the persona of the person he "leaps" into at times, such as Lee Harvey Oswald.)
“Awesome.” Brandy uttered. “Can I see it for a moment?”
“Certainly.” Ariel (Joanie) acknowledged without a single
bit of hesitation, much to Brandy’s surprise, and handed the wristband right
over to her, after removing it from her wrist.
Brandy put on the wristband and immediately pressed her
right index finger over its cold metal surface. An array of holographic images
then shot out from the device, instantly alarming Ariel (Joanie). Seeing how
scared she was, Sean promptly told her, “No, it’s okay. Nothing to be scared
over. She’s just…er…doing her human
thing.”
“How is she
doing it?” Ariel (Joanie) questioned.
Sean shook his head. “I don’t rightly know myself, but I
promise it won’t hurt you. Don’t be scared.”
“Oh, I’m not scared…just fascinated.” The mermaid
replied. “I’ve always wanted to know more about the human world – its
treasures, its people, its wonders! So much I want to see; and, now…I’m seeing
it all before my very eyes! It’s so magical!”
Sean grinned at her; her attitude, while taking on the
persona of Ariel, was strictly the opposite of her normal Joanie Navarro
persona. It was somewhat ironic that she even ended up in the predicament that
she was currently in, seeing how much she despised being in the world of Disney
– only to become one of the characters in one. He almost wished she could stay
that way, mostly to avoid the tongue-lashing she would give him for not telling
her that she was his mother had she gotten back to normal. Of course, to
preserve the timeline, he had to bring her back to her usual self. And when
Brandy suddenly made a puzzling request to him, he wondered if she found a way
to do that.
“Sean, put your headband on her head.”
He did as she requested and took off his headband,
placing it upon Ariel’s (Joanie’s). The mermaid gazed upon it as he did so,
smiling and saying, “Oh! Is this something you’re giving me? Is it a crown?”
Brandy grinned. “Eh…something like that.”
She dialed in some holographic numbers projected from the
wristband and, before Ariel (Joanie) knew it, she felt a tingling sensation
over her head. It made her laugh uncontrollably. “Ha, ha! Hey, this tickles!
Ha, ha!”
Watching her, Sean turned to Brandy and asked, “What’re
you doing?”
“Retracing her brainwaves…they’re totally out of sync
right now.”
Ariel (Joanie) continued laughing from the sensation, but
she suddenly began to twinge, holding her head and squinting hard. “Ow! OW!
Stop it! It hurts!”
Alarmed, Sean cried, “That’s enough, Brandy! Knock it
off!”
“The sequence isn’t done yet! I have to keep going!”
“No! I said…KNOCK IT OFF!!!”
Sean grabbed at her wristband, disrupting the activity
that Brandy was engaged in. All of the sudden, Ariel’s (Joanie’s) body faded
before their eyes, disappearing completely after merely a few seconds and
leaving the headband falling upon the rock she was sitting on. They watched the
event occur with total shock; Brandy quickly dialing onto her wristband, while
Sean started questioning the whole thing.
(Narrative Note: No explanation is directly given as to what happens to the real Ariel after this scene, but she does in fact return to her realm as if her temporary disappearance had not occurred.)
“What happened? Where did she go?”
Brandy did not respond.
“Where did she go?!”
As soon as some information appeared on the holographic
display, Brandy informed him, “Agrabah…she’s in the Aladdin realm.”
(UP NEXT: A whole new world...literally!)
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