Chapter Three: Lost in Transit
Four Years Later
Nine months pregnant – check. Barefoot on intensely hot
sand – check. Sweating profusely – check. Figured out how you ended up in a
desert wasteland with two suns – still
pending.
Her blistered bare feet kicking up sand and one hand on
her protruded, bouncing belly, Christina Thomas did not have that much time to
determine how she wound up in the mess she currently found herself in. Not
too far behind her was a pack of Tusken Raiders, otherwise known as “Sand
People.” How she was able to identify these grotesque-looking creatures was
thanks to having a husband who insisted on watching Star Wars almost every movie night.
(Star Wars Note: Tusken Raiders, a.k.a. "Sand People," are a native species to the desert world of Tatooine. Their homeworld's harsh environment resulted in them being xenophobic and extremely territorial, often attacking the outskirts of smaller settlements such as Anchorhead. They have appeared often during the Star Wars saga - taking shots at podracers in the Boonta Eve Classic in The Phantom Menace, being responsible for the death of Anakin Skywalker's mother in Attack of the Clones, and making their official debut in A New Hope.)
They held their spears high in their pursuit of the young
pregnant woman.
Christina’s mind raced over the multiple possibilities of
her predicament. Only mere minutes earlier, she was in the Muppet Theater, worrying
over the whereabouts of her husband and questioning the story shared with her
by Victoria and Genevieve – two women who proved they could no longer be
trusted in her eyes.
(Authorial Note: Originally, I had planned for these events to be depicted in the epilogue to Marvel Mayhem, establishing a point of reference for their appearances in this story. It was easier to summarize them for this scene, as it helped the transition between Mayhem and World of Disney 3, without taking readers out of the pace of the story or seeming out of place in any way.)
Wait! That’s it!
Upon having her realization, she tripped on her legs and
tumbled down a large sand dune. The Sand People followed her tumbling body down
to the base. As soon as it stopped, they momentarily had as well
and began slowly advancing on her. Christina saw them closing in and attempted
to get back on her feet, yet she struggled with the extra weight she carried
and the exhaustion that overtook her. She could get no further than turning
from her side to her back.
It was no use. She and her baby were going to die at the
hands of a group of aliens she never in her life imagined she would face.
“Sorry, kiddo,” she whispered to her unborn child, one
hand rested on her bump.
Just when the Sand People were a few feet from her,
something rocketed down from the sky and hit the dune. It literally exploded
from the impact, a massive sand cloud gathering around Christina and the Tusken
Raiders and blinding them.
Clearing her eyes from bits of sand, Christina attempted
to see what was happening, only managing to catch the Sand People being
attacked themselves by a muscular figure who punched down three.
Another figure, one donned in a hood and cloak, entered
the skirmish with an orange lightsaber – its glow lost in the sand cloud that
its color meshed with. The remaining Tusken Raiders were slashed down with ease
from the lightsaber-wielding, hooded figure.
Once the two combatants successfully defeated their
opponents, the hooded figure turned in Christina’s direction. Showing a display
of lightning-fast agility and incredible strength, the hooded stranger picked
Christina up from the ground, carrying her out of the sand cloud and into
fresher air.
Able to see much clearer, Christina gazed at her rescuer.
First thing she noticed was how her body – exposed from beneath the opened
cloak – had the shape of a toned, slender woman. In addition to the beige
cloak, the mysterious female was donned in a blue silk sweater that hung off
her slimmed frame and exposed her pale shoulders, a maroon miniskirt with
skinny jeans worn underneath, a gun belt with two holsters carrying blasters
and lightsaber hilts, and knee-high, high-heeled brown boots that were riddled
with sand at their rubber soles. Her face was obscured by round pilot’s goggles
and a reddish-orange scarf, although Christina could manage to make out hints
of brown hair poking from underneath the hood.
(Character Note: Adrienne's signature outfit is a combination of contemporary Earth attire and accessories found only in the Star Wars universe. Although not specified for this description, her pilot's goggles are in fact abandoned podracer goggles she snagged for herself.)
“How far along are you?” The woman suddenly asked while
carefully setting Christina back down. She followed up with various
pregnancy-related questions that Christina tried to answer but could not, due
to the rapid way in which she spoke.
She could only manage to yell out, “I’m not giving birth this minute!”
The mysterious woman appeared to calm down and ceased in
her inquiries.
Within a matter of seconds, they were joined by
Christina’s other rescuer. This one she was amazed to have recognized and see
up close in the flesh there on the alien Star
Wars planet.
“Hercules?”
Sure enough, it was him – the one of Disney fame. His
tall, muscular body glistened beneath the two suns, only not from sweat (there
was not an ounce seeping from him) but something more godlike.
(Character Note: Hercules's presence in the story was decided when I realized how I needed to follow up on the previous two installments and the Disney characters introduced in their respective adventures. The second story, The Marvelous World, inspired the idea of these characters teaming up and being heroes against villains beyond their worlds - an idea that would in turn inspire World of Disney's 2016 spin-off story, Defenders of the Disneyverse.)
“Are you O.K., ma’am?” He asked Christina.
Christina, nearly speechless at the sight of Hercules,
confirmed to the Greek legend, “I…I am.” She could not stop staring at him with
such starry eyes. His appearance was practically entrancing. The world around
her seemed to have slowed down in those few seconds.
“Stop that!” The hooded woman told her in a seemingly
jealous tone of voice. “Herc, help me get her back to the hut for her
protection.”
“Back to the…? Wait a sec!” Christina demanded. “Where am
I?”
“You’ve seen Star
Wars, right?” The hooded woman inquired, to which Christina gave a nod in
reply. “Then welcome to it.”
She gestured to the twin suns, which just then reminded Christina
of the ones on Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine.
---------------------
Christina and her two rescuers arrived in a hut at the
southwestern edge of the desert a few short moments later. Entering the
dwelling, she noticed how it looked as if it had not been in use for years.
“Did the fella just give up on hiring a housekeeper?” She
jested, and Hercules supplied only a slight chuckle in response.
“The man who once lived here has been dead for quite some
time.” The hooded woman clarified in a rather somber voice that instantly
killed the mood Christina livened up with her innocent joke.
(Star Wars Note: Fans will note from the description in the location of this hut to be Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi's. He took shelter in the small dwelling after the fall of the Jedi Order, when he brought the infant Luke Skywalker to live with the Lars family. He lived there for 19 years until the mission to rescue Princess Leia, a mission that led to Kenobi's death at the hands of Darth Vader.)
After maintaining a hidden identity for close to two
hours since their encounter, Christina watched as the woman finally removed her
hood, exposing long, flowing locks of brown hair. She also removed her googles,
revealing a pair of piercing pale blue eyes.
Noticing the woman’s face for the first time, Christina
saw how strikingly beautiful she was with defined cheekbones and eyebrows that
complimented her amazing features. Although pale in skin tone, there was enough
color to bring out her peach-blossomed lips.
“I never caught your name, Miss…?”
“My name’s Adrienne. But you knew me by another once.”
Christina was visibly confused by her claim. “Uh…no. I’ve
never met you once in my entire life. Though you do look familiar – like ‘been on film and television’ familiar.”
(Character Note: This is a subtle clue to how Adrienne's incarnation came to be. In World of Disney's multiverse, the actress Adrienne Wilkinson exists as much as she does in reality. This can lead to the plausible conclusion that Sean Thomas subconsciously chose the identity of "Adrienne" from memory of being a fan of the actress.)
“We have met
before, Chris.”
Christina froze in shock. “Only my husband ever calls me
‘Chris.’”
Adrienne smirked. “First day we met, I was going through
the most horrible breakup ever – made me think I would never fall in love ever
again. I had been working at the theater that night when you came in, asking
for an interview with Kermit the Frog. He wasn’t there that night – no one was
but me – then you…”
(Spoiler Note: It is revealed in The Disney Access that Sean Thomas had a girlfriend before Christina named "Rachel." Though their breakup has not yet occurred in the story, which revisits events from World of Disney, it can be assumed that we will see it happen and the cause of it.)
“Wait.” Christina held up a shaky hand in protest after
the strongly accurate recollection. She
moved in closely to Adrienne, examining her face from the defined cheekbones to
the pale blue eyes that she stopped upon. Her lips quivering, she muttered,
“Sean?”
Adrienne warmly smiled. She gazed down at Christina’s
baby bump and placed a hand over it, feeling the living miracle squirming
inside. “My little girl’s almost ready,” she whispered. Her demeanor shifted to
that somber mood again, her smile fading immediately. “How did you get here,
Christina?” She made her inquiry without a single hint of emotion, not missing
a beat.
Still in shock of discovering who she was addressing, Christina answered, “T-The details are
vague, but I remember being in the theater and talking to Genevieve about what
had happened to Sean…I mean, you.”
Adrienne frowned on Genevieve’s name. “She’s the one who brought you here?”
“She may or may not have. Like I said, I’m not solid on
the details. All I know is that I want to go home right now. I’m not having our baby in some galaxy far, far away!”
Adrienne looked away from her, clearly distraught. “I’m
not even sure there will be a home
anymore… not after what the Empire plans to do with the
Sphere.”
The perplexed Christina blinked in rapid motion. “I’m
sorry. The what?”
Adrienne took a few slow breaths, prepping herself to
give a long, winded explanation: “It’s an invention created by Bunsen Honeydew
and Beaker that’s brought on several incidents that started with my mother
being biologically influenced in some way and gifted with powers
in unlimited sorcery – powers that she unknowingly passed down to me.”
Although it sounded totally unreal, Christina managed to
make sense of it from what she discovered about Adrienne. “And one of these
powers includes changing your whole physical appearance?”
“Thirteen times…so far.” Adrienne confirmed.
Christina’s eyes enlarged with surprise. “Thirteen? So far? How did this happen to you,
Sean?” She reached forward and touched Adrienne’s face, which felt nearly
ice-cold – strange, considering how long she was out in the sweltering heat.
“Is this still even your skin?”
“Yes.” She established, making Christina’s hand retreat
from the ice-cold skin, her face registering disgust. “The cells in my old body
atomized – turned into white dust – and transferred across dimensions of time
and space until it finally sculpted a new body out for me…that of a young
Englishwoman you happen to know.”
“Victoria?” Christina uttered the name in both anger and
shock. “You mean she’s you, too?”
(Narrative Note: Details of this occurrence was depicted in the opening tale from Tales of the Guardians. The original body of Sean Thomas atomized within his coffin during his funeral and transferred itself out of his home realm. Of course, thereafter, they were lost into the Disneyverse, manifesting into the form of "Victoria," before she reincarnated and permitted Yen Sid to bring the remains to Fantasia to help welcome Victoria's successor, Sheryl.)
“My first-ever reincarnated form.” Adrienne said.
“Genevieve is also – she’s my final
form.”
The casual tone in which Adrienne explained all of this
only mortified Christina even more.
“But that’s all beside the main point, which is the
Sphere that the Empire has.” Adrienne stated. “It’s traveled from realm to
realm as a way of ridding it from a world with inhabitants that intend to use
its power for foolhardiness. And now it seems that the Galactic Empire has
tapped into it and tearing this galaxy apart.”
“But how did I
get here?” Christina questioned before gesturing to Hercules, who had been
sitting at a table near them and gulping down cup after cup of blue milk. “And
why is he here, too?”
(Star Wars Note: "Bantha Milk" is a rich blue-colored milk produced by female banthas, a species of elephant-like hairy mammals on Tatooine. In addition to being a beverage, it is also used for ice cream and yogurt. It is notably available on other Outer Rim planets like Lothal.)
Adrienne’s hands rested on her hips as she figured things
out. “Well, to answer your first question, it had to be a transit spell that
Genevieve or someone else with our power placed on you. As far as Herc goes, his presence here is a prime example of
the Empire’s tampering with the Sphere. The damned fools have no clue what
they’re doing with that thing, and it’s affecting the fabric of space and time
as we know it – worlds are starting to merge and, soon enough, every single one
will break apart…all the ones that the Sphere has come in contact with.”
Christina chuckled with amusement. “This whole thing is
sounding more like something out of Star
Trek than Star Wars.”
“If we don’t do something about it, this place could very
well become Star Trek.” The
strictness in her address expressed how more serious she saw the situation than
Christina.
Suddenly, Adrienne’s hands went to her head, clutching it
in pain. She doubled over, attracting the concerns of Christina and Hercules.
“What’s wrong?” The Greek god asked her.
“The time stream is catching up with me.” Adrienne
hoarsely informed. “I knew better than to jump ahead of my own timeline to a point
where I’m not supposed to exist in. By this period, I’ve died – reincarnated
into my next form – and my body is reminding me of that right now, telling me
to get my sorry butt back to my own time.”
(Authorial Note: I didn't give a specific date or range of time that Adrienne jumped to for this meeting among her, Christina, and Hercules to happen, as I wanted readers to judge for themselves. But, to clarify, Adrienne in fact jumped thirty years into the future, presumably close to the time in the events of The Force Awakens. As for which version of Adrienne is featured in this chapter, it is one that exists from a timeline separate of the one established through World of Disney 3.)
“Is there anything we can do to help you?” Hercules
asked, visibly shaken by the state of his companion.
Adrienne shook her head. “You can’t do anything for the
version of me here and now, but you can
do something for the one that still exists before all the insanity has plagued
the galaxy. You both have to go to my past and help me stop the Empire from
making the single greatest mistake of their lives.”
“And how do you expect a pregnant woman and a Greek god
to help stop an entire evil empire?” Christina mockingly queried.
A weak smile emerged on Adrienne’s heavily trembling
face. “I’ve always had faith in you, hon. There’s never been one second in the
times we once shared together that I stopped believing in you.”
Fighting through the pain, she stood straight up and
delivered a gentle kiss on the forehead of Christina. It was a gesture accompanied by a bright flash of light filling the entire hut.
(UP NEXT: A trip back in time!)
No comments:
Post a Comment