Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 14: As the Parrot Flies

Chapter 14: As the Parrot Flies

"EVERYONE! OUT OF THE CASTLE!"

Jim sprinted from the kitchen, ignoring the red light on the back of his skull and the cyborge yelling that he was going the wrong way.

The castle walls sunk under each sonic boom. Tiles cracked and exploded. Alarms screamed as the lights strobed in and out. Students were screaming. Everyone was running, disorienting the space and spreading panic.

Then, Jim saw the red parrot. The red parrot that had been at the Benbow before it burned. The red parrot with the cloaked stranger.

"BOMBS AWAY BABY!" squawked the parrot, sailing over Jim's head. A sparkling fuse was clenched between the parrot's claws. "BLLLLLAST OFF!"

Floundering and shoving, Jim tore after the parrot. He raced up the stairs, one hand skimming the wall for balance. The parrot swooped just out of reach, his red tail feathers appearing and disappearing around the curved walls.

Grinding his back teeth, Jim increased speed. Eyes on the parrot, he lunged up the stairs, skipping one and two steps at a time. Quickly, he started to gain on the parrot.

Leisurely, the parrot glanced over his shoulder.

"HOLY HECK!"

"Gotcha!" growled Jim, leaping at the parrot as the bomb dropped.

BOOM!

The stairs split apart. Grabbing at air, Jim fell through the crack as the floor buckled and collapsed. Jim fell through the castle levels. He smelled chlorine. Arching his back Jim twisted wildly, searching for something to stop his fall. But in seconds, Jim cracked is spine on a cement edge and rolled into the swimming-diving pool.

Even if the fall hadn't knocked him out, Jim would never have escaped as the castle collapsed, concaving on itself like a fist.

Ariel saw the red parrot through the water.

Flipping her head to the surface, Ariel watched the parrot sail over the swimming pool. Something was sparkling in the parrot's claws. Removing her goggles, Ariel squinted through the chlorine haze.

A whistle blew. "Ariel! Ariel!" Coach Phil danced his bottom on the diving board. "Hey Ariel! Get back into formation! Ya got seventy more laps to go, Girl! Come on! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!"

"Blurbbble!"

Ariel wavered as Lana bumped into her underwater.

"What the Hell, Ariel!" Furiously, Lana ripped off her goggles as Aquata, Maris, and Arista collided with Lana. "Why aren't you swimming? And what are you looking at?"

Ariel ignored Lana. Slowly, she walked toward the center of the pool. The parrot had dropped something. Something round and sparkling. Curiously, Ariel reached out her hand to catch the object.

"HOLY SHMOKES!"

Ariel's eyes widened as Coach Phil hopped up, blowing his whistle.

"Ladies! Out of the pool! Out of the pool! IT'S A BOMB!"

Ariel dove.

FA BOOM!

Hot water poured into Ariel, knocking her like a wall of bricks. Her chest ached as the lights went out. Pockets of water exploded as chunks of rock shook from the crumbling walls.

Kicking hard, Ariel broke through the surface. Rocks fell like rain around her, leaving huge holes in the walls from which screams escaped. Ariel twisted in the water.

"Attina! Andrina! Aquata! Alana! Adella! Arista!" Water spiked to the crumbling ceiling. Trying to swim with shaking limbs, Ariel made for the edge of the pool. "Attina! Lana! Coach Phil! Attina! Attina!"

Ariel jumped. A grotesquely misshapen figure smacked onto the cement right where her hand had been. Ariel heard a cry. Grasping the edge, she watched as the misshapen figure caught the red light.

It was a boy. He looked at her for an instant. Just an instant. Then, his sunken eyes spasmed as his back cracked against the cement. Eyes closed, he rolled off the edge and sunk into the turbulent pool.

Ariel didn't think. She didn't pause to turn worriedly at the crumbling ceiling or caving walls. In a sweep of impulsivity, Ariel kicked from the edge of the pool.

She dove after the boy.

The water was dark and wild. Pillars of bubbles blew into her eyes as rocks punched through the water. In bouts of red light, Ariel saw a landscape of rubble, filling the pool.

Then with a horrendous crack, the floor of the pool split in two. Ariel's chest squeezed against the current created by the draining water. Body screaming with effort, Ariel muscled against the current, searching for the boy.

There! The boy dragged limply into the current. The back of his head scraped against the pool floor as his body folded into the huge crack. Propelled by the current, Ariel swam to the boy. Seizing him against her, she kicked upwards.

But she was too late. As Ariel reached for the surface, the walls of the castle groaned and fell. Boulders covered the pool, exploding like bombs and trapping Ariel and Jim underwater.

Frightened, Ariel squeeze the boy's hand. There was no way out! No way out except...

As the light faded, Ariel looked at the crack, draining the pool water to some unknown underground depth. Heart pounding, Ariel buried her head in the boy's shoulder.

Then, letting the current overtake her, Ariel and Jim tumbled through the crack and out of the broken castle.