Heroes of Disney #1: Rise of the Firebird

Ch. 14: Poor Unfortunate Souls

Dodger strutted on the other side of the street, to what I guessed was the hot dog stand, most likely getting ready for another meaty steal.

I looked at the street in front of me and my heart sank. There was no way I was getting across that road. The traffic was just way too blocked up. And Dodger was getting away fast. I suppose we could have looked for someone else, but even if we found anyone else, they would most likely be as hard to reach as Dodger is.

I turned to my little team. "We can't walk past the street. Too many cars."

Hercules shrugged. "Not a problem. We'll just go by air." He was about to put two fingers in his mouth and whistle for Pegasus when we heard a loud crash and a scream.

We whirled around to face the direction of the noise to find a couple of Disney Villains migrating down the street, knocking over trash cans and pushing people out of the way. One was a large black octopus. Or, at least on the bottom half of her. On the top she looked fairly human, except for her grape-purple skin tone, of course. She had bright red lips and a horn of gray hair. Extending from her fingertips were some of the longest nails I've ever seen. The other one was a pale skinned guy in what looked like a black, ripped toga, with a bunch of furry pelts wrapped around his muscular body. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail and was carrying a sharp sword in his right hand. On his left arm rested a brown falcon, glaring straight at me, as if I were a mouse that it's been anxiously waiting to eat.

I held back a choked sob. Two of Disney's most evil villains are striding down the sidewalk, looking like they're heading toward us. Probably with the intent on killing us. Well, me. Since I was the only one of the group who could actually die. Lucky me.

"Ursula and Shan-Yu." I muttered, taking a step back as they drew closer.

"What are THEY doing here?" Tiana asked in desperation.

"Whatever the reason, we certainly are poor unfortunate souls if they beat us." Hercules laughed at his own joke.

No one else did.

"I don't see how this is funny. They look like they want to kill us." Tiana mentioned.

"You don't say?" Buck asked the princess.

Herk rolled his eyes. "C'mon. I'm a GOD. I have ultimate strength. Just watch. I dare them to come closer."

And come closer they did. Their wicked grins plastered on their faces. Tiana, and I hid behind Perry, Hercules and Buck. I know, it was cowardly of me. But in my defense, I wasn't a muscular god, a secret agent platypus or a crazy, crime-fighting horse. Hmmm...two-thirds of that entire last sentence doesn't sound very heroic at all. Well that's perfect. My only protection is a platypus, a horse, and a proud god. Again, not very heroic at all.

Soon, they got close enough to where I could smell them. Ursula smelled like a mix of dead fish and octopus. At least I think she smelled like an octopus. I mean, why wouldn't she? But I've never smelt an octopus before. I'm completely getting off topic. As for Shan-Yu, he smelled like wet fur. Have you ever smelt a wet dog? That's sort of like what he smelt like, except ten times worse.

Then Ursula spoke in that cold, voice of hers. "Well, what do we have here?"

Shan-Yu grinned. "Looks like the boy we've been looking for, Ursula."

"I think it is, Shan-Yu."

Shan-Yu then whispered to his falcon. Loud enough to where I can hear what he said. And what he said chilled me to the bone.

"Hayubusa, fly down to the southern border of the city. Find Faciliar. Bring him here." Hayubusa, the falcon, screeched and flew off his arm, flying in the opposite direction of where we came from, deliberately flying over my head, and grazing it with his talons, snatching up a few hairs.

"I hate that bird." I muttered.

Hercules pulled out his sword and got in fighting stance. "You two better get out of here. Or Perry, Buck and I will pummel you to a pulp." Perry was also in fighting stance, and Buck was standing on his hindquarters, arms (legs?) raised to attack.

Shan-Yu and Ursula looked at each other and laughed.

Then before any of us could react, Ursula speedily reached out with one of her tentacles and lashed it around Hercules' waist.

"I'm sorry, Hercules, but our battle is not with you." She lifted him up in the air without warning, and with all the strength of one tentacle, which I've heard were was a lot, flung the god, sword and all, into a nearby building. The building was made of bricks, and he flew straight threw it, creating a massive hole in the building. I'm surprised it didn't collapse immediately.

People started screaming and running away from the evil Disney duo, soon realizing that getting in their way could mean imminent death.

Ursula grinned straight at me. "Our battle is with YOU."

I gulped.

Well this was going to be fun.