It was a couple of hours after the incident in the palace. All the doors and windows were open, letting the stink filter out. Several of the staff were running around, making sure nothing was broken, and immediately replacing the object if it was. But all in all, the Palace itself was in perfect condition.
I had paced around on the Palace steps for a good portion of those couple of hours, trying to figure out why Mickey would need me. The only thing I knew was I was supposed to stop some sort of menace called "The Lavas of Hell" whatever that was. Was that what Mickey was summoning me for? If so, how did he expect me to accomplish it? I didn't even know if this... this being was a being at all. Did it have something to do with the destruction of The Pride Lands? The attack on Agrabah? I had a feeling they were all connected somehow, but connecting the dots proved a lot harder than I thought.
Soon, Jasmine came up to me and interrupted my thoughts.
"Your ride should be here in the next few minutes." She said. "Are there any questions you would like to ask?"
"Yeah. What's The Lavas of Hell? Why exactly am I here? Who or what is trying to destroy the World of Disney?" I asked, half-hoping Jasmine could give me the answers.
Jasmine paled. "How did you know about the Lavas of Hell?" She asked, apparently shocked.
I pulled the mirror from my back pocket. It was sticking out of my pocket, but for the most part it was covered up by my shirt, so no one has seen it.
Realization flooded the princess' eyes as she looked at the mirror. "You were spying?"
"Technically speaking, yes. I saw Mickey on Olympus, with Donald and Goofy, talking to Hercules. They were talking about a prophecy. A prophecy about me. I'm supposed to stop something called the Lavas of Hell."
Jasmine nodded, never taking her eyes off the mirror, as if it might self-destruct or something. "I'm aware of this. I'm one of the few people Mickey shared it with. I honestly don't know what the Lavas of Hell are. I mean, I have a few ideas, but none are very concrete or applicable."
"Can I hear a few of them?"
But before Jasmine could answer, her eyes averted to the sky and she grinned. "Looks like your ride's here." She pointed to the sky.
I looked in the direction she was pointing and my eyes widened as I realized what it my ride was.
It was coming toward us at amazing speeds, it's red metal fins breezing the air. Its bright red coloring reflected in the morning sunshine, almost leaving me blinded. Its little antenna sticking up on the roof and waving around in the quick breeze.
"You're kidding me." I asked Jasmine, not taking my eyes off the small ship. "They're my ride?"
"They're some of the fastest transportation available in the World of Disney. They could get from here, to New Orleans in less than two hours, whereas it would normally take a whole day on a regular plane or helicopter."
I stared as the bright red ship began to slow down and descend into Agrabah, right in front of the palace. Openings on the bottom of the ship opened, releasing four tires, which slowly lowered onto the ground. Razoul and a couple of other guards tried to intercept the ship, but Jasmine stopped them.
"It's ok, Razoul. They're here on my invitation." She told them.
Razoul sighed and stepped back. I don't blame him. This is twice in one day he wasn't allowed to do his job.
As the ship came to a complete stop, I looked inside the windshield to see four figures unbuckling their seatbelts and getting out of their chairs to climb out of the ship. The figure on the far left in the front had bright orange hair with large round glasses that encircled his small, yet curious green eyes. He wore a black and orange shirt, with dark orange shorts. He looked to be about 6 years old.
On the far right in the front was a raven-haired girl with brown cat eyes and a pink headband. She was wearing a purple dress with a pink ribbon tied around the middle. She was wearing purple dancing shoes. She too, was 6 years old.
In the back on the right, a young boy about 5 or 6 with curly dark brown hair stood up and walked toward the exit. He wore a green and yellow shirt and blue jeans. She had large brown eyes.
And finally, in the back left, a young girl stood, the youngest of the four. 4 years old, she had bright, baby blue eyes and straw-blonde hair that was tied back into two ponytails. She wore pink overalls and a blue undershirt, and she had a microphone sticking out of her overall pocket.
I knew exactly who these Disney characters were. Leo was the one with the glasses. June was the one with the dancing shoes. Quincy was the one with the blue and green shirt, and Annie was the one with the microphone. They weren't from a movie, but from a television show geared toward little children. It was a show called Little Einsteins, and it played on Disney Junior for about three years. Yeah, I know, I know. You probably think I'm even weirder for watching Disney Junior. But in my defense, my little brothers, Danny and Daniel, watch it all the time, and when I'm bored, I'll sit down and watch it with them. Those shows can actually be very educational. I actually learned a lot about music just by watching Little Einsteins..... I'm just digging a deeper hole here....moving on.
The little kids walked down the stairs that opened up from Rocket's side. (Rocket is the name for the ship they ride in. He's actually alive.)
Naturally they had grins on their faces as they faced us.
"Hey everybody!" Leo greeted us. "Which one of you is Jamie?"
I walked to the front of the group and held out my hand to Leo. "That would be me, Leo."
Leo looked shocked as he shook my hand. "How do you know my name? Teenagers don't usually watch our show, let alone know our names."
"Well, my little brothers watch your show, and if I'm to know everything there is to know about Disney, wouldn't it make sense to include the younger audience movies and shows into the equation?" I grinned as I looked at each one of the younger characters in turn.
"You're an actual Earthling? That's very interesting. I've never been to Earth. Or at least, not your version of Earth." June told me.
"What do you mean?" I was confused.
"The World of Disney and Earth have similar graphical designs. They share many of the same countries, oceans, cities, mountains, and other geographical features. That's why you see so many familiar places an sites when you watch Disney movies and shows." June explained.
"Especially our show. We've been everywhere." Quincy commented.
"And it's all because of Rocket!" Annie congratulated.
"Beep beep beep." Rocket beeped in thanks to Annie's compliment.
I looked back at June. "Wow. You really ARE very smart."
June blushed. "Thanks."
I turned back to Leo. "So you're here to take me to New Orleans, I presume?"
He nodded. "Time to get moving."
He turned toward his team. "Little Einsteins, we've got a mission! We've got to get Jamie to New Orleans as quick as possible! Now lets' go!"
He, June, Annie and Quincy ran to Rocket and climbed in. Leo leaned out. "C'mon, Jamie!"
Smiling at the familiar dialogue seen on the show, I waved one last time to my friends and climbed inside Rocket.
The inside of Rocket looked to be surprisingly bigger than the outside, which I deemed as a little odd, but I didn't question it. Basically the interior was lined with a huge computer console covered in hundreds of little tiny buttons that I don't think I've seen used once on the show. I wonder what they did.
The Little Einsteins were all seated in the same fashion that they had come in at. Except that there was a slightly larger seat in between Annie and Quincy.
I sat down and the seat immediately buckled up for me.
It still amazes me how kids as young as these guys have all the best technology, I thought to myself.
But I didn't notice Leo starting up any controls.
"Leo, aren't we getting ready to go?" Concern resonating in my voice.
"Yup." Then he started patting his legs. "C'mon everybody, pat!" He told his group.
They all immediately began to pat their legs.
Of course, I thought. The only way to start Rocket up is by....patting. I completely forgot. Why, I have no idea.
"June is patting!" Leo exclaimed. "Quincy's patting! Annie's patting!"
"He he." Annie giggled.
"Jamie? Why aren't you patting?" All four kids looked at me, and continued to pat.
"Well, the thing is, I don't....I don't pat." I confessed.
They all looked at me strangely. "Well, you're going to need to pat if we want to get anywhere." Leo told me.
I sighed, realized that there would be no getting out of this, and started to pat my legs, figuring things could be worse. People could see me.
"Jamie's patting!" Leo continued. "But we need more power! Pat faster! Patpatpatpatpatpat!" He began talking speedily, and the speed of his patting increased.
I went along with it, to my humiliation.
"Now raise your arms! As high as you can! And say, BLAST OFF!" Leo yelled.
The Little Einsteins obeyed his command, yelling "BLAST OFF" so loud I think it broke my eardrums.
"Blast off." I said without any enthusiasm.
"Hold on tight cause here we go!" Annie told me as Rocket lifted off the ground and zoomed into the air.
After a few minutes of flying steadily through the air, Quincy, who was to my right, turned to me and asked, "Having fun yet, Jamie?"
"Oh yeah. I'm having a blast." I said, but I don't think Quincy caught the sarcasm.
Oh boy, I thought to myself. This is going to be a LONG ride.