Chapter
Twenty: We Are Here to Change the World
(Authorial Note: Other than for another obligatory Captain EO reference, I picked the subtitle for this final chapter as a callback to Chapter Fourteen, in which the actual song was sung by EO and his band. Here, it's meant to establish a sense of irony from th events that will occur.)
From Emperor Palpatine’s throne room
on the Death Star, Fantasia loomed in its majestic white splendor. His view of
the planet, the armada, and the Sphere came from the observation dome at the
top of a tower placed directly next to the station’s superlaser. The platform
served as Palpatine’s watchtower in order to view the laser’s firing
demonstrations. His chamber could only be reached through a massive circular
doorway with a large metal beam that rotated to unlock the door. In the main
chamber, his throne was elevated above the floor by a short staircase, flanked
by his Royal Guards and Imperial Senate Guards. There were numerous control
consoles surrounding the throne. Throughout the room were decorations of large
statues made of black stone.
(Star Wars Note: This version of the Emperor's throne room is based from the one featured in the 2008 video game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, during the final boss fight with the Emperor himself. The player at this point in the game had the choice of whether to fight Palpatine or Vader, the latter decision triggering an alternate timeline where the hero - Starkiller - becomes apprentice to Palpatine after killing Vader. As of 2015, this game is no longer considered canon, though this throne room was still featured in this story as an homage.)
Fantasia was in excellent trajectory
of the superlaser, just as the Emperor desired.
He sensed the turning tide of the
battle on the planet, angered in the particular failure of Vader against a
mouse and two would-be Jedi.
It was as the blue-haired woman
warned him – Fantasia could not be taken so easily. But he was prepared to take
drastic measures nonetheless.
“What is our next course of action,
Your Majesty?”
Tarkin was nowhere close to being as in tune with the Force as his
emperor was, but he was certainly aware of how their efforts – despite how
quadrupled they were – dwindled in this war. Reports from the other ships came
through fast of the heavy firepower and necromancy that the sorcerers on the
planet carried, picking off their troops rapidly.
“This world we sought to conquer must
now be destroyed,” Palpatine asserted, his displeasure evident in his tone.
“Governor Tarkin,” the Grand Moff stood at attention of his next order, “have the
superlaser primed and ready to fire on my command.”
Tarkin bowed to his ruler. “Yes,
Your Majesty. It will be done.”
He made haste in his departure. Time
was of the great essence.
------------------------------------
Fighting Yve Ette head-on and
bare-handed was a mistake that Taryn, regardless of the Guardian power both she
and Marcia possessed, started to see. The physically advantageous Yve Ette had
the fight in her favor. She hardly needed her bizarrely structured lightsaber
to beat the life out of them both. Taryn in particular found herself strained
and exhausted, lying face down in the dirt after a hard and swift roundhouse
kick to the face. She only had this new body for a day; there was still a lot
to get used to. One thing was for certain: it could definitely take punishment
well.
(Narrative Note: This is the first time a reincarnation of Joanie has teamed herself with an amalgamated reincarnation of her son. In The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2, she teamed with an alternate version of him from the Marvel Universe. Both of these pairings are callbacks to when their original selves worked as a team in the events of World of Disney.)
She felt herself yanked off the
ground by the back of her crop top. Dribble flew from her mouth as her head
whipped from the rough-handling. Once again, she was facing Yve Ette, that
vicious, bloodthirsty smile on the corrupted reincarnation’s countenance. She
did not waste any time in throwing punches. Her fist was like a blur until
Taryn could see the lines on the knuckles before everything fleetingly went
white and her brain rattled in her skull. She counted ten hits before they
stopped all of the sudden.
Through hazy, doubled vision, Taryn
could almost make out what looked to be Marcia holding Yve Ette’s arm back,
drawing attention to herself. Taryn felt the grip on her top drop, along with
herself, as Yve Ette centered her onslaught on Marcia. She became more of a
victim to Yve Ette’s quick feet than her hands from the Bruce Lee action she
brought on her.
A knee to the face sent Marcia
reeling back and down to the ground. She made an attempt to get back up, only
to be pinned by a big heavy boot planted firmly between her breasts. She could
not get up any less take a breath from the immense pressure. She
saw Yve Ette standing proud atop of her, her special-made saber flaming
above her head. It was clear this fight, as well as Taryn and Marcia
themselves, came to an end.
“No weapons and no brains,” ridiculed Yve Ette, half-turning towards Taryn in
her address. “I expected more from you,
Joanie! You’re always full of
surprises!” She focused on Marcia again. “But this one…she’s a poor excuse of
an abomination that’s just waitin’ to be—”
POW!
From the left, a fist unexpectedly
flew in and clocked Yve Ette, knocking her off of Marcia and wobbling back
while her lightsaber fell out of grip. It was not so much as a powerful
punch, just a measly love tap to distract her. Judging from the register, it
was not Taryn that threw it. She turned her head to face her attacker and
laughed once she noticed it to be Katie.
The blonde carried the impressive
height and muscle definition to look imposing to any mere mortal, but Yve Ette
was nothing of the sort. She tried everything in her power not to laugh too hard at the foolish woman, who
danced in place like a boxer in a ring, especially with her red robe bouncing
along to her rhythm. All she needed was a pair of gloves.
“C’mon, you bully!” Katie
challenged. “I ain’t afraid to show you
who’s boss!”
Yve Ette grinned with vindictive
glee. “And I don’t need no lightsaber to kick your big butt!”
She was all too keen to prove this
straightaway. However, something kept her from taking another step. Her eyes
searched below to see the cause of her immobility, discovering the startling
sight of her feet molded to the ground.
“What the—?”
Before she knew it, she was tackled
from behind. The charge came so fast and hard that she was knocked right out of
her boots, which remained meshed to the ground. As she hit face-first into the
dirt, her right cheek momentarily skidded over the gravel. The linebacker was
Brandon, who had one large knee embedded in her back, putting all his weight
into it to keep her pinned.
“Honey Badger,” he yelled to Katie.
“Get her weapon!”
“Honey Badger?” Yve Ette groaned
in the dirt. “Seriously?”
(Biographical Note: "Honey Badger" is the actual pet name that Brandon Cordner, the man who inspired the "Brandon" character, refers to Katie Mackintosh in their real-life relationship.)
Quickly, Katie followed her lover’s
command and bolted for the disengaged lightsaber hilt lying uselessly on the
ground.
Brandon kept eyes between Katie and
Yve Ette. He suddenly felt his knee drop and hit the ground, looking below him
to see Yve Ette no longer there. Swinging his head back to Katie, he screamed,
“LOOK OUT!”
Katie froze the second her eyes met
with Yve Ette, following a successful teleport from underneath Brandon to
where she retrieved her saber. Her heart beat out of her chest as she stood
face-to-face with the sinister woman – that cold glare in her ice blue eyes penetrating
the courage Katie showed against her only seconds earlier.
“I have to commend you both on your
foolish attempt,” Yve Ette said, “but, in the end, that’s all it was…foolish!”
Katie’s eyes darted to Brandon, who
could only kneel helplessly where he was as Yve Ette stared down Katie, ready
to slay them both with her lightsaber.
She switched it on. Nothing
happened.
Glancing to her weapon, Yve Ette
suspected something different. For one, the usual heft in the hilt was absent;
it felt light – really light – as if
all the components within it had been emptied. Then there was the glaring
inscription she found near the end of it: “Made in China.”
Yve Ette’s fiery eyes grew wide. “This is a toy!”
(Disney Note: Although not an intentional reference, readers can look at this line from Yve Ette as a subtle variation on Woody's line to Buzz in Toy Story, a Disney/Pixar film that has had a presence in the first World of Disney story.)
A sharp, knifing pain shot through
her back and migrated through her chest as a familiar blade made of fire and
lightning protruded right before her eyes. She was impaled by her own
weapon, the evidence there between her breasts. The pain was overwhelming;
breathing no longer a luxury.
She heard a voice whisper close from
her right, “It’s incredible how fast I can shop at Toys R Us during a warring invasion.”
(Pop Culture Note: The toy lightsaber switched with Yve Ette's real one is part of the "Bladebuilders" line from Hasbro. These plastic-made sabers are customizable with light and sounds that simulate the lightsabers used in the films. Most of these are actually sold in retail stores, including Toys R Us.)
Anne-Marie. She orchestrated this
diversion, using Katie and Brandon to buy time to switch the specialized,
Guardian-killing saber with a common knickknack. It should have infuriated Yve
Ette, but even she had to admit the genius of it. Anne-Marie was a
reincarnation two tiers above Yvette, which placed her as the second most
experienced and powerful Guardian beside Genevieve. To have underestimated her
was a mistake Yve Ette subconsciously kicked herself for.
The blade switched off, leaving Yve
Ette’s twitching body to collapse to the ground. This twitching soon transpired
into convulsing. Her eyes and mouth glowed red, until that glow seeped out in
the form of a ghostly blood-red mist – the spirit of the entity known as “Dawn”
that possessed and corrupted Yvette for many years. It howled in defeated
anguish, fading into oblivion.
(Character Note: This is the last "Dawn" is seen in the World of Disney series, as this tale brings her story arc - which began in Tales of the Disneyverse - to an end. There is a chance the character will be referenced in The Disney Access, but as the original version, based from a cosplay by Joanie Mars, introduced in the first World of Disney.)
Freed from Dawn’s hold over her,
Yvette stared into the heavens with content eyes, the red glow no longer plaguing
their usual crystal blue hue. Unfortunately, the content turned to suffering,
her body twisting from the gaping, bloodied hole in her torso.
Anne-Marie went to her immediately,
kneeling beside her. She knew the one risk of purging Dawn’s spirit from
Yvette’s body with that lightsaber was in turn ending Yvette’s life cycle. It
was what the weapon was designed to do, and there was no way of stopping it.
“Hold still,” she calmly instructed
Yvette. “It’ll be alright.”
There was much regret in Yvette’s
tear-flooded eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so very sorry for all I’ve done.”
Anne-Marie forgivingly shook her head. “It was never your fault, sweetheart.” She heard the gravel around them
shift and glimpsed up to see Taryn, Marcia, Katie, and Brandon watching on.
Their faces registering compassion.
“I wished I could’ve lived a better…longer life.” Yvette’s voice was close
to a whisper, fading. “There’s so much…good I could’ve…done…so…much…”
Her eyes slowly closed, permitting
herself to pass on.
(Character Note: World of Disney 3 marks the death of Yvette, but she is planned to return in flashbacks from other World of Disney installments, before her corruption by Dawn.)
Anne-Marie hung back, tears in her
eyes. Together with Taryn, Marcia, Katie, and Brandon, she watched as the body
of the reincarnation “Yvette” gleamed in a gold/rainbow hue and broke down
piece-by-piece into a pile of dust, the leather attire Dawn had her wear as
“Yve Ette” all that remained with it. Soon after this process, Anne-Marie waved
her right hand over the remains, conjuring a spell that transferred the dust to
another plane of existence, awarding Yvette’s successor – Buohler – a better
atmosphere to be reborn into.
---------------------------------
“He’s so cute,” Walter exclaimed, getting
acquainted with Benji. “He looks so much like a mini version of Sean.”
The display of Walter and Benji
standing at eye level with each other delighted Genevieve, Victoria, and
Natalie as they witnessed the exchange. It was enough to take their minds off
the nightmare happening outside the White Mountain fortress.
Benji was intrigued by Walter,
lightly stroking his foamed skin and patch of brown hair, as if he were a
cat. “You’re a Muppet,” he observed with excitement.
“I sure am.” Walter pleasingly
acknowledged before he was warmly embraced by the enthusiastic six-year-old.
The gesture drew a collective “aww” from Genevieve, Victoria, and Natalie. “I
love you, too, buddy.”
(Authorial Note: I based this interaction on the classic Sesame Street segments that featured conversations between children and Muppets, with the former often making adorable comments that evoke hilarious reactions from the Muppet characters.)
As touching as this moment was for
everyone, Genevieve could not help but feel distressed for Walter. “I’m so
sorry you’re mixed up in all of this,” she told the Muppet.
Walter separated from Benji,
directing his focus to Genevieve. “Oh, it’s alright,” he said with a hint of
optimism. “Sean promised me that I’ll get back home as soon as this Penz comes
back.”
“Speaking of which, where is she?”
Natalie questioned. “She should’ve been back here by—”
(Character Note: Penz's absence will be fully explained in the "World of Disney Christmas 2" mini-tale, currently posting on Wattpad.)
Natalie let out a deep gasp, as did
Victoria.
Both women experienced a sudden
panic attack that brought them to their knees.
Genevieve, Walter, and Benji looked
on them, concerned and baffled.
“What’s the matter with you two?”
Genevieve asked.
Natalie fought to breathe as much as
she did to speak: “I-It…It f-feels like…my heart…a-and lungs…are…t-trying…to
jump…outta m-my…mouth!”
“S-Same here!” Victoria concurred.
The attack passed as suddenly as it
came, relieving the two women of the tormenting pressure to their internal
organs. Genevieve and Walter helped them to their feet just as a bright golden
hue shined at the corners of their eyes. Their eyes squinted from the
illuminated figure standing close by.
“Adrienne?” Genevieve managed to
identity the visitor.
From what she could make out, it was
not the young Padawan she recalled seeing back at the castle-mansion. This was
the older one – the one who helped her save the Disneyverse from a world-eating
dimensional rift in time and space not very long ago. Her entire body shimmered,
her clothes were a ragged combination of those of her past and present selves,
and her eyeballs were replaced with orbs that sparked in a mixture of gold and
rainbow, giving them a chillingly alien presence.
(Authorial Note: This scene is the last for the "Adrienne" character, as she will reincarnate into a new, never-before-seen form in the Tales from the Battlefront spin-off story that takes place after the events of World of Disney 3. Her alien appearance here is an "in-progress" reincarnation into the new form; it is much different than other reincarnations, due to the unorthodox method that triggered it.)
“My god,” Victoria murmured, shocked
by this frightening change. “Adrienne, what have you done
to yourself?”
“What was necessary for my
survival,” she answered in an echoed voice. “I’ve fused my past with my
present, creating this ultimate form
you see before you.”
Genevieve’s heart skipped a beat.
“What? Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve endangered not just your timeline but all of ours as well! You
could wipe us all out of existence! You know that?”
Adrienne frowned. “I have control
over all of time and space, distilling all paradoxes. I see the universe as it
is – every living microorganism.” She raised her arm, pointing her right index
finger to Genevieve. “Including you.”
(Pop Culture Note: The basis for Adrienne's "ultimate form" comes from the "Bad Wolf" entity featured in Doctor Who. In the episode "The Parting of the Ways," the Doctor's then-companion, Rose Tyler, looked into the heart of the TARDIS and the Time Vortex filled her to become the entity. From this temporary power she possessed, she wiped out a fleet of Daleks and resurrected Captain Jack Harkness from death, turning him immortal in the process.)
The tip of her fingernail sparked
with the same gold and rainbow colors that her new eyes did, an energy emitting
out of her body and towards Genevieve. It slithered in through her mouth and
nose, overwhelming her entire body until her eyes ignited in the gold/rainbow
hue. Her head titled back and her arms outstretched, engulfed in the glow.
Within seconds, she atomized and dispersed in thin air.
“GRANDDADDY!”
Shocked by the sudden unnatural
combustion of Genevieve, Benji tearfully hugged Victoria’s hip, burying his
face into it.
Walter, Natalie, and Victoria
herself were just as appalled.
“How could you do that in front of
him?” Victoria scolded. “You killed her!”
“She’s safe.” Adrienne reassured.
“She will reemerge someplace much safer than here, I promise. You all will.”
(Narrative Note: That "someplace" is in a New Mexico desert in the year 2044 of the Muppetverse, where Genevieve emerges from Adrienne's impromptu transportation spell. This occurs in the first chapter of The Disney Access. It is revealed that Adrienne not only transported her there but restored her to Guardian form once again.)
This did not sit well with Natalie.
“We can’t leave Fantasia. Not when it’s still hot at war with the Empire.”
“I am bringing this conflict to an
end here…tonight,” Adrienne declared.
Victoria shook her head at this
abomination. Benji still clung onto her, soaking part of her tunic in his
tears. What Adrienne did to Genevieve and the effect it had on the child was
unforgivable. “This power you’ve gained for yourself…it’s too much power,” she stated. “It’s going to corrupt you!”
The orbs in Adrienne’s skull fixated
on Victoria; the sparks in them intensified. “You know, I’ve never liked you – not since the day of
the rift! For once, I’m saving your
butt, and you’re being ungrateful? Why am I not surprised?” After a long pause,
she raised both of her arms, the glow of her body brightening. “None of what
has transpired here and now will be remembered by any of you. I cannot risk you
coming back to Fantasia.”
“Now wait just a minute,” roared
Natalie, who began to feel just as angry as Victoria. “It’s not your place to
change our fates!”
The echo in Adrienne’s voice reached
godlike quality: “I have the power to do whatever I choose to! I’m not a slave to
time and space anymore! They are
slaves to me! I’m the anomaly they have nightmares of! Like it or not, change is happening!”
(Pop Culture Note: Once again, a Doctor Who reference is made in this line of dialogue from Adrienne. Whovians will note how these words sound very similar to the Tenth Doctor's "Time Lord Victorious" declaration in the episode "Waters of Mars.")
Between Natalie’s retort and
Adrienne’s manic declarations, Victoria came to a shocking conclusion: “It’s
you. You are the singularity
Anne-Marie spoke about.” Her fears in this “ultimate form” enhanced from the
revelation. “Adrienne, listen to me…”
“I am done listening, especially to you!”
Adrienne waved her hands. Victoria,
Natalie, Walter, and Benji vanished.
(Narrative Note: The turning point of events in this chapter, as well as the epilogue, significantly splinter into installments of the World of Disney series that connect back to here. This includes the current installments The Disney Access and Tales of Fantasia, next year's Defenders of the Disneyverse, and Tales from the Battlefront, which debuts later this month.)
Alone in Deborah’s fortress, she
proceeded in stepping out onto the summit, facing the breathtaking view of Auda
City and the rest of Fantasia as it fell at the mercy of the invading Imperial
ships. Stretching her arms out, she let out a shriek heard from all over the
planet. The attacking TIE fighters erupted in simultaneous explosions above the
city and everywhere else in the skies.
In her shrieking, her glowing,
shimmering body lifted high above the mountaintop.
She blazed like a sun in the eyes of the Auda City defenders, becoming hotter and brighter to the extent that she
overtook the planetary atmosphere.
The blinding visage could be
observed from space, even within the Emperor’s throne room on the Death Star.
He questioned the unnatural glow that engulfed the entire planet. Was it some
sort of counterattack? Not wishing to take any chances, he reached for the
comlink button to give Tarkin the order he waited for.
Before Palpatine could so much as
utter the word “fire,” a series of explosions redirected his attention back to
the window. A fiery wave of energy spread out into the armada, disintegrating
every Star Destroyer and TIE fighter orbiting the planet. It crossed through
the Sphere, cracking it in half before it also disintegrated from space, but
not before unleashing a multicolored shockwave that shot towards the Death
Star.
(Narrative Note: After three installments that it was featured prominently in, the Sphere finally meets its structural demise in this tale; however, it is not entirely destroyed from the inside, with its central core still intact when it is discovered in The Disney Access.)
The Emperor howled in sheer terror,
witnessing himself and the battle station he occupied become the meal to the
hungry, destructive shockwave.
Nothing
remained thereafter – no ships, no Death Star, no Sphere, and no Fantasia.(UP NEXT: A Prelude to Tales from the Battlefront!)
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