Morphomakeo! (The Gathering – Part Two)
(The Merged Realms of Brave and The Sword in the Stone)
(The Merged Realms of Brave and The Sword in the Stone)
Genevieve, Adrienne, and Russell arrived within a whole
different atmosphere in a flash of golden light. Upon their arrival, however,
they nearly lost their footing as they stood in the most unstable piece of
construction ever – the tilting tower of Sir Ector's castle. Thankfully, with a
little luck by holding very still,
the tower maintained balance. Seeing that Merlin was there in the tower with
his talking pet owl (Archimedes) and his friend and pupil (Arthur Pendragon –
a.k.a. “Wart”), Adrienne voiced her displeasure in standing inside of the
unstructured tower: “You really
aren’t using magic to fix this death trap?”
“I’ve been teaching Wart here the fundamentals to using
smarts as a solution to problems rather than magic.” Merlin remarked.
“In other words, the idiot’s way.” Adrienne reprimanded.
Archimedes heartily laughed. “Couldn’t have said it
better myself.”
(Disney Note: The Sword in the Stone is noted in Disney history as the last animated film Walt Disney produced before his death in 1966.)
Merlin shot Adrienne a cold stare. “Oh, why am I talking
to you? You’re the cold-hearted, war-hardened one! I want to talk to the kind,
sensible one!”
Adrienne smirked over his insult. “Cold-hearted?”
“Where did these people come from?” A startled Wart
inquired, gesturing to Adrienne, Genevieve, and Russell.
“Remember what we told you, boy? About DunBroch arriving
here from another land through a form
of sorcery?” Archimedes said, opting to use the term “land” over “world” to
avoid confusing Wart. “Well, those two women are sorceresses that come from
another land themselves. They’re fixing the problem.”
(Authorial Note: There is a notable pattern in the realms that are crossed over, as one is based on a 3D-animated Pixar film while the other is based on a 2D-animated Disney one. This was intentional by Livingston, who wanted to assess more Disney/Pixar films to the series after featuring Toy Story in the first installment and The Incredibles in the second. Monsters, Inc. was out, due to its usage in The Disney Ghostbusters series. Out them all, Cars was the trickiest one to integrate, due to its "complex" characters.)
Following on Archimedes’ explanation, Merlin said, “Yes,
and what a problem it’s becoming. We—” He stopped as soon as he spotted Russell
– an outsider – there in the tower with them. “W-W-What is he doing here?”
Genevieve held her hands up in protest. “Now before you
go off, Merlin, just give me a chance to explain…”
“You both know what’s happening to the universe as we
know it!” Merlin yelled – his frustrations now clear. “Worlds are tearing apart
from realms that are being crossed, and here you’ve brought one from another world, putting it in even greater peril?”
“I couldn’t just leave him back where he was!” Genevieve
shouted back.
“Well, what about his friends? Hmm?” Merlin queried.
Adrienne innocently shook her head. “That’s what I tried to tell her.”
Genevieve groaned over Adrienne’s way of placing blame.
“We can really do without your instigating.”
“Alright, alright! We’ll worry about the boy later.”
Merlin said. “Right now, we have more pressing matters to deal with. The daughter
of King Fergus and Queen Elinor – Princess Merida – has vanished.”
“Well, where is she?” Genevieve asked.
“No, my dear, I mean she has literally vanished – disappeared out of thin air!” Merlin
reiterated. “It happened just a moment before you two – or three, I should say
– arrived here in the tower.”
“Oh, no.” Genevieve unsettlingly muttered.
“Do her mother and father know?” Adrienne questioned.
“No, and if they ever do, you can be sure Ector will be
to blame.” Merlin stated.
Genevieve’s body grew very tense. “It’s getting worse
than we imagined. The rift is taking effect on the worlds and ‘erasing’
residents of the ones that are merged right now.”
(Authorial Note: The "erasing" of characters in the merged Disney realms was an idea inspired by Back to the Future, one of Livingston's favorite films and one of the notable inspirations for the first World of Disney story. He based it on the same notion established from the film of the effects to come from tampering with space and time, dimensions of which help to make up the Disneyverse.)
“Is that what’s gonna happen to me or Dug and Mr.
Fredricksen?” Russell fearfully asked.
Noting how terrified he was, Genevieve immediately consoled
him, kneeling down and giving him a protective hug. “No, it won’t, honey. I
promise you that.”
“I think the time of bringing our other selves together
is now of the essence.” Adrienne told Genevieve.
Letting go of Russell and standing back up, Genevieve sternly
faced Adrienne. “You’re right – which is why I’m assigning you the duty of finding and gathering them.”
Adrienne’s eyes enlarged. “Say what?”
“You heard me.”
“How am I supposed to find fourteen other reincarnations in such a limited amount of time?”
Genevieve gave a confident smile. “Easy. Four of them are
already in the Up/Peter Pan world, so that just leaves you
ten to search for.”
Adrienne rolled her eyes in infuriation. “Oh, wow. Ten?
Is that all? Thanks a lot.” Her
sarcasm was evident.
“Relax. The more of us that are gathered, the easier
it’ll be for you to find them.” Genevieve assured.
“You’d better be right about that.” Adrienne grimly warned.
“Or else the entire Disneyverse suffers the same fate as Fantasia.” On this
warning, Adrienne vanished in a quick flash.
The entire conversation confused Wart to no end,
scratching his shaggy blond hair. “What’s Fantasia?”
Merlin left the question unanswered to deter from baffling
Wart even further on the subject. He instead focused on Genevieve, who was left
disconcerted by Adrienne’s harsh reminder of a past event – or a future one,
from the perspective of Merlin. “Have you once thought about warning Yen Sid
and the other sorcerers of Fantasia now that the rift has temporarily brought
it back into your timeline?”
(Narrative Note: Although the boundaries of time is skewered in the Disneyverse, making its worlds vulnerable to change, Fantasia is a different case, since it is the essential core of the Disneyverse itself and cannot be altered as easily with a continuous time frame. The reality of this is explored in World of Disney 3, mentioning previous attempts by the Guardians to alter events with the same end result taking form.)
Genevieve’s hands balled and tightened into fists,
hearing this question from Merlin. “You can see into the future – have you considered telling them?”
Noticing the severity in her voice, Merlin dodged the
question that was bounced back to him and opted in changing the subject. “Ahem!
So how are we going to solve our ‘Missing Merida’ problem?”
Genevieve grinned. “Morphomakeo.”
“Ah! The first spell I taught you during your first
incarnation!” Merlin eagerly exclaimed. “Brilliant, my dear! Brilliant!”
“What’s a ‘Morphomakeo’?” Wart asked.
“Another one of Merlin’s crazy, blunder-headed spells
that he passed down to that poor young soul over there.” Archimedes unfavorably
explained.
Greatly offended by the talking owl’s criticism, Merlin
fired back: “Crazy? Blunder-headed? Now see here, Archimedes! I happen to know
that the ‘Morphomakeo’ spell is one of the most effective and powerful of
spells!”
“And the perfect solution to our problem.” Genevieve
added.
“What does it do?” Wart curiously asked.
“It will allow me to pose as Merida, making me over as
her.” Genevieve replied. “It’ll be only temporary, until Adrienne gets all the
reincarnations together in time to save the Disneyverse.”
“And you really
believe that will solve all of our
problems?” Archimedes insolently inquired.
“Just the one we have here.” Genevieve said before facing
a standing mirror and positioning both of her hands over her blond head. Moving
her hands down and around her figure, a glowing golden ring circled her and
moved with her hands. As the ring moved downward, Genevieve’s clothes and
features dramatically and magically changed before the eyes of Merlin, Wart,
Archimedes, and Russell.
Her hair had turned long, curly, and red and her pirate
attire had changed to a dark teal cotton Medieval-style off-the-shoulder dress
with gold trimmings and beadings and a floor-length skirt, complete with dark
gray boots. When she turned to face the others, Merlin, Wart, and Russell were
stunned to see how much of a different woman she became, albeit with her face
remaining relatively the same.
(Authorial Note: This is another idea inspired by Genevieve Marie Nylen's impressive range of cosplays, which includes one for Merida. For both Tales of the Disneyverse and Marvel Mayhem, Livingston opted to capitalize on her talent for her character's ability to take the form of Disney and Marvel characters.)
Archimedes shook his head at Genevieve’s disguise, which
was only ninety percent convincing. “This won’t
work.”
“O ye of little faith.” Genevieve said with Merida’s
strong Scottish accent (which came with the makeover).
“Whoa!” Russell mused over her new voice.
Merlin smiled in satisfaction. “It’s good enough to hold
Fergus, Elinor, and the rest of DunBroch over until matters are settled,
Archimedes.” He then spotted one minor flaw in the disguise. “Uh, I’m afraid that will have to go.”
Genevieve realized that he was pointing out the necklace
from her pirate disguise, which remained with her Merida one. “Oh! Of course.”
She immediately removed it and handed it over to Russell. “You’ll watch over it
for me, won’tcha?”
Russell still could not get over how incredibly adequate
her Scottish accent was from the American one she spoke with upon meeting her
for the first time. In his awe, he managed to take her necklace and give her
his promise: “Sure.”
“Thanks, Russell.” She said with a smile. “Now, while
we’re away, you stay here where it’s safe.”
“Hmph! This place is where it’s the least safe.” Archimedes slammed.
Genevieve slyly grinned at the owl. “Then you can stay
here and keep him safe.”
Archimedes, realizing what he just got himself into,
ruffled under his feathers. He grumbled a compliant while Genevieve, Merlin,
and Wart made their departure from the tower, leaving Archimedes alone with
Russell. Gawking at the “oddly-dressed” child, Archimedes noticed how he was
prying one of the pendants of Genevieve’s necklace open. “What is that you’re doing
there, boy?”
“I just wanna see what’s in her locket.” Russell said
before successfully opening it and peeking inside. His curiosity shifted into
confusion when he saw old photos of two beautiful women – one that looked to be
in her mid-forties with dirty blond hair and a radiant smile, the other that
looked to be in her late-twenties with raven hair, stunning blue eyes, red lips,
and light skin. Embroidered in small gold letters beneath the two framed photos
were the names “Christina” and “Brandy,” along with their respective
classifications – “Wife” and “Daughter.”
(Narrative Note: The two women in this locket are Christina - the "wife" - and Brandy - the "daughter." This is the first mention of Sean Thomas's wife and Brandy's mother in the series, setting up for her full introduction in Marvel Mayhem and her later involvement in the main plot of World of Disney 3.)
(UP NEXT: How a real-life singer and bodybuilding princess inspired two more reincarnations!)
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