Sarah was anxious and was so to the point of feeling terribly sick. As to what might happen, or that they were caught and now permanently stuck here to be some puppet to some dark witch. Her fear was showing through her tears and tried her best to hide it. It got her friend's attention, of course. Woody jumped and succeeded in grabbing her hand. Bing Bong, closely terrified himself, took her other.
"...it's all on me, guys.... I'm sorry!"
"No..." she heard the elephant deny. "No, no...."
"Listen, kid... You need to keep it cool right now." Woody told her, straight forwardly.
"He's onto us..." she tensely whispered, hopefully that Bing Bong would miss it, but he didn't.
"Ssh!" Woody hushed them both. "Remember what Rob said. We stick together." he then smiled at them. "Got it?"
"Yeah!" Bing Bong instantly felt better.
Sarah sighed, glancing at the elephant for his optimism. "Yeah, we stick together." she finally agreed.
They were being closely watched and she was feeling like she was going to explode. Bing Bong nodded to her, trusting the cowboy before he fixed his small hat atop his head. The three of them though were welcomed by having a multicolored sheet thrown over them.
"Improvise on that! Ya got 20 minutes!" blared one of lackeys and they were all laughed at.
A deflated Bing Bong struggled a little but when he got free, he was smacked surprised by the mere color pattern on the sheet. Sarah noticed that the pattern was a set yellow, blue, red, green and purple circles, almost like a party table cover. It didn't seem to concern her but the look on her friend's face did. He was staring at it as if he was remembering something.
"Bing Bong...?"
"Yeah... uh~... I got an idea." he then brightened.
"Do you...?" Woody inched closer.
The drum roll disturbed them and the lights went dim. Which was confusing to the girl, it must have been magical of how this place really worked.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS!"
"...here we go." Woody grumbled.
Robin's movements made them look up and he silently told the group to stay quiet and low before dropping a parchment down to them. Sarah got it and hid it in her hands before their captors noticed anything.
"Hey!"
"I just tripped!" she barked back.
They looked back up but the fox was gone already. Frightened, she looked at what this little note said.
Stay quiet and make not a sound. Geno knows what's going on out there, but hadn't the time to tell you. I know you let Mickey out again and our magical friends are getting close to the source now. Just hang in there and keep your ears sharp and eyes peeled. After the baiting when Geno gets downed, do what you can to get to the entrance maze. By any means necessary.
Sarah really began to get nervous as well as excited. Hopeful. Woody read it fast before crumpling it when the guards started to get pushy.
"What ya got there, dolly!?"
Woody's face grew sharp.
"Stop bugging us..." Sarah snapped again. "We're doing what you want...."
"We're keepin' a sharp eye! What's so important 'bout that paper?"
"Just somethin' I dropped!" Bing Bong tipped his hat before picking up the crumpled note. "...to help me remember my... my act!" he said, as brightly as he could.
Once again, Pete's voice made their heads spin. On stage, Geno was tied to a wood pole in the middle of the stage before a clapping audience which were still seemingly invisible. They were there, mostly made up of villians, both weasel, lizard...even rats, cats and dogs.
They all seemed to be fans of this act. In the light, Geno's ruined fur revealed strikes from the whip and his head was held tightly in a rein. That same one he was caged with. He though kept his head low and began to catch his breath to keep a straight head. He had to think. He had to outsmart their captor and quick. He shut his eyes tight the moment he heard the loud step of that all too familiar peg leg. The crowd grew louder with glee. Sarah's stomach dropped and Bing Bong couldn't watch when they saw Pete himself march forward with a whip in hand. Woody looked pained. Gurri was held beside the announcer's box with Gammy as she was forced to watch from a better view. She looked tortured. She tried to keep her eyes closed as much as she could.
By the looks of all this, Sarah knew that this wasn't going to end well. She didn't even want Bing Bong to watch what was going to unfold.
"Oh God... you better not look, buddy..." she painfully whispered.
The nervous elephant did what he was told and covered his eyes. With a lowly whimper he shook his head, in dread. Sarah soon got his attention,yanking his sleeve.
"Bing Bong... that idea! What is it...?" Sarah asked.
Meanwhile, when the drum roll was sounded, Geno kept his head as high as he could despite that he was tied to the wood pole in the center of the ring. He could hear Pete snap his whip as he closed in. He dug his hooves into the dirt, preparing himself for the pain.
There was a snap and a sharp sting rose up from his thigh. He gritted his teeth and broke into an angry sprint.
"GET ON!"
Geno felt the line tighten up as he galloped around the pole. Suddenly he was yanked so hard that he had to change direction. He got the sense that someone was nearing behind him and gave a painful kick! Gammy got his jaw kicked by two sharp hooves and flew off several feet out of the ring. The audience gasped as some started to laugh and cheer.
Sarah shut her eyes! Bing Bong had to turn away. He remembered what Robin's note said.... The entrance maze? He glanced up at the top of the cages.
Geno was going to keep trying, by kicking and stabbing as much as he could, despite the whipping.
Pete who took the line from the pole to reel in Geno. Geno dug his hooves into the dirt and pulled away.
Having someone as innocent as Bing Bong to watch this kind of violence angered Geno even more, next to threatening his sister. The buck's eyes were red with fury and his fur rose, dashing around the corral, wildly. He had to keep in motion as long as he could. The cheers of the audience were getting louder.
As this was going on, Mickey was hard at work when he was led to the right spot in the hay. The magical trail had ended and he started to scratch and dig through some dirt but he blunted his claws when he hit the wood top of some sort of box, which was where this one light was glowing from inside it. His little burrow was starting to give it away so he had to be very quick. It hurt a little, but he wedged between the planks and found himself dropping into the box. He was blinded and his whole body started to shake and he began to feel sick. There before the mouse was a small jewel which was transparent with a hypnotic swirling pattern of sharp green and gold. This was it! He found it... Now, to destroy it.
Geno roughly rammed into the high fence, in hopes that it would fall. He was yanked again and then whipped again. He broke into a violent charge towards Pete, not caring now. This was the moment Pete chose to use the leg trap and threw a rope with two heavy stones attached to the ends. Geno felt a pain hit his right leg and it was forced to bend. That dreaded rope forced his leg to bend and it stayed stuck that way. From that, it caused him to lose his balance and fall hard to the ground.
Everything fell quiet. Gurri was in tears.
An angry Woody ran to Bing Bong who used his trunk to throw him up to the top of the nearest cage. The weasels guarding the group started to notice and started to charge. The fawns broke away to confuse them. Sarah and Bing Bong worked together to throw the given sheet over the weasels and Sarah quickly tied it closed. They all ran off right after!
As Pete heard the commotion going on backstage, Robin was close behind him with his dagger at the ready. Quickly, he ran out and snapped the line tied around Geno's leg. The buck was freed and he instantly stood up. Caught off guard, Pete was too late to react when he got butted in the stomach painfully and was so out of breath that he fell. But when Geno jumped off of him to get over the high fence, he flung his whip and caught the angry buck by the antler just as he jumped. He landed on the other side but found his head held high with heavy force. Pete yanked hard.
Meanwhile, Bing Bong fell on his knees after he skid, trying to turn a corner. Things were being thrown at him, from rocks to nets. Sarah gave him a shove to get him to go and they both ran. The fawns tried to fight them off. One accident done by the elephant when he fell again had sent a weasel flying up into the air by a loose plank on the ground. Bing Bong looked pretty shocked at what he had caused and this had given the fawns similar ideas. They smirked at one another and began to hop around, confusing the weasels. They bounced off the ends of these planks, whacking two, then three... then six weasels side ways and up ways, knocking them senseless. As they all ran to the maze, Robin took this time to break certain major ropes off the supporting tent beams. From that, things started falling apart.
The scared Toon audience began to flee as Geno fought with Pete. Gurri managed to get away to search for the others. Geno made it near impossible for Pete to control him and now Pete was stubborn enough to not release him. Geno pulled harder and harder, lifting the overweight Toon. With one swift movement, Geno yanked one last time, snapping the whip from his antler. It hurt but it sent Pete up a ways and then landed atop a barrel where his bottom had gotten forcefully stuck.
"GET THEM!!" he bellowed, but there was only a frazzled Gammy nearby.
Geno glared at him before quickly dashing off, frightening the rest of the Toons as they tried to get out.
Mickey had to try and take the spell to get it to crack. Robin arrived on time now that the group was attempting to escape.
"Good man!" the fox laughed, uncovering the hay to find this box. Mickey scurried out with it in his mouth.
Pete was enraged about everything falling apart, so fast. Robin slid under Pete and cut his belt off, making his pants fall.
"NO YOU DON'T!"
Pete threw a sharp stone that flew over the fox's head.
"Too slow!" Robin cackled.
"GRRRR!"
"We're in the free!" Robin climbed up with the spell in hand and held it up, tauntingly. "It has been a pleasure in serving you..." he mocked, taking a bow before he cut one last line holding the tent together.
"DON'T! SHE'LL MURDER ME!!"
Robin knew who he was talking about.
"Then you should have made the wiser choice..." Robin sadly said before hitting the glowing orb against the beam and it cracked.
Right then when Sarah, Woody and Bing Bong were trying to find the way out through the odd maze. Each held a fawn. They started to notice the tent was starting to lose balance and wave from the sharp wind outside.
"It's gonna fall!" Bing Bong barked.
There was a moment when they all began to feel some odd feeling of relief and dizziness. The air felt lighter as this green flash lit up around them for a split second.
"What the heck??" Sarah shook her head.
"Oh!" Bing Bong felt that same strange fogginess as the rest of them.
"Come on, guys! Hurry!" Woody urged them, realizing that the spell has been lifted.
Pete's agonized yell could be heard as they made their way out of the once cursed tent. The outside was different then before to her as the sky looked like a monsoon was forming.
"Go! Go! Go!" Woody ushered them.
"No!" Sarah despaired.
Bing Bong gave a wail of surprise as the tent waved and began to break down, bit by bit. Geno had reunited with Gurri but they had taken an entirely different route than the others. The two observed from a grassy hill to see their prison flatten down as if it had been stepped on. Sarah led Bing Bong when he froze up when he saw that they were in the dark. She found a good hiding spot underneath a boulder. The fawns with them curled in their hold but kept their ears sharp. All they heard now was the winds whistling through the trees. Woody bravely went to look out before the welcoming light of pure blue began behind him, among his friends. The dark spell was gone and the Good Fairy was feeling much stronger now. Strong enough to bestow a protective spell over the rescued group. That sound of soft bells gave back that wonderful feeling of safety.
"...we... we did it...?" Bing Bong was brave enough to speak.
"W-we did, buddy..." Sarah said between breaths.
Joy's light slowly died away when her spell was firmly but invisibly over them. They were able to hear was the mysterious magical storm above them. Woody looked up at it when a clash of lightning lit up through the clouds. The bolts looked strange, and perhaps they were magical as well. As natural lightning was white, these bolts looked blue, even violet. This was no storm, but maybe there was some kind of battle going on above. Most importantly, as Robin had said...there was a very beautiful sign in the horizon, over the rocky hills. Sarah and Bing Bong slowly peeked out and they were drawn to the beauty of this aurora flowing through the atmosphere. With this aurora... there was the sign of the sun rising. There was surely hope.
"You all okay, guys?" Woody asked, his voice heavy with relief. "We're free..."
Bing Bong looked tired but he felt compelled to hug Sarah again. His newest and most trusted friend. She hugged him back, happily before she realized that he was crying again.
"Oh... Please, buddy... not now. Hurry, get all of them!" she ushered Woody and the fawns to help her.
These little heart created sweets could not be found by anyone.
Soon enough they all saw, from the hill across, the two deer and said fox waiting for them down below. Robin waved his cap at them.
"Stay hidden, dears..." soon came Joy's deep, warm voice.