Dijon reprimands Alice

Alice, Cody, and Edmond swam as fast as they could, hoping that they didn't miss the concert. (Although we know that they already had). Unbeknownst to them, they were being spied by two snakes, who were hiding underneath some boulders and plants.

The first snake was an Indian Python with golden yellow skin, yellow eyeballs, and golden brown spots. His name was Kaa.

The second snake was a yellow one wearing a red bathing cap and a matching swimming mask. His name was Sir Hiss, Kaa's best friend and partner in crime.

Anyway, Kaa and Hiss had magical eyes that are connected to a magical crystal ball, which is located in a big, dark and creepy cave. In that big, dark, and creepy cave, lived an evil cat woman. She was a slender cat with grey fur, fairly tan skin, green eyes, blue eyeshadow, black hair, and a black octopus' lower abdomen with eight long tentacles (complete with purple suckers on the bottom), wearing an Egyptian-like headdress and gold cuffs. Her name was Mirage.

"Yeeeeeees, hurry home, princess," said Mirage, as she watched her crystal ball. "We wouldn't want to miss your uncle's celebration, now, would we? Huh! Celebration indeed. Oh, bah! In *my* day, we had fantastical feasts when I lived in the palace."

Mirage took a scared shrimp from her shell and ate it very loudly.

"And now, look at me!" Mirage said gloomily, "Wasted away to practically nothing! Banished, and exiled, and practically starving! While he and his flimsy fish-folk celebrate." She swam a little in the room and looked at her reflection in the mirror, then at her crystal ball again. "Well, I'll give 'em something to celebrate soon enough."

She called to Kaa and Hiss, "Kaa! Hiss!" The two snakes hit their heads on one of the boulders as Mirage told them, "I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little niece of his." she smiled very cruelly, finishing, "She may be the key to Dijon's undoing."

Cody and Edmond sighed sadly and with disappointment as they anxiously listened to their friend's sentence just outside the throne room.

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lady." Dijon said to his niece.

Alice shifted, head down hands behind her back, she really was sorry she had missed the concert. "Uncle Dijon, I'm sorry," she said, "I just forgot, I -"

Dijon cut her off. "As a result of your careless behavior,-" he said, waving a hand. But Timon, in turn, interrupted the king from behind his turban, shouting, "Careless *and* reckless behavior!"

Dijon was angry, but he still loved his niece. And he didn't want to seem to harsh, and he called out, "The entire celebration was-"

"Well, it was ruined!" Timon yelled, popping up in front of Dijon's face, "That's all. Completely destroyed!"

Then he waved his hands in front of Alice as he sighed, "This concert was to be the pinnacle of my distinguished career. Now thanks to you I am the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"

Cody and Edmond understood if it was her uncle admonishing Alice for her behavior but the little meerkat was yelling at Alice because his ego was hurt, and that was just wrong. So they got up in the meerkat's face, as well as subsequently the Arabic dog's face.

"But it wasn't her fault!" Cody protested.

"Yeah!" added Edmond. He and Cody blushed as the Arabic dog glared at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Um, well, first...This Jabberwocky chased us." The little kitten said nervously.

"Yeah, that's right! Right! A Jabberwocky!" Cody said, "As a matter of fact it was a *big* Jabberwocky."

Edmond stuttered at a loss for the right words, but he quickly got caught up in his improvement story telling, saying, "And we tried to, but we couldn't, and he went, "Grrrrrrrrr!" And, and we were like, "Whoooaaaaaa!" Ah! And then we were safe. But then this cricket came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -"

Dijon was bewildered. "Cricket?"

"Edmond!" Cody scolded, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at the kitten. Edmond gasped and covered his mouth. Then he and Cody hid in Alice's hair a bit.

Dijon stood up. His amused face at the boy and kitten's stuttering story quickly changed to one of anger. "What? Oh! You went up to the surface again, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?"

Alice grimaced and shrugged trying to calm down her uncle while Cody and Edmond were still hiding in her hair. "Nothing - happened." she stammered.

Dijon threw his hands up in exasperation rolling his eyes, saying, "Oh, Alice. How many times must we go through this? You could've been seen by one of those barbarians. By...by one of those *humans*!"

"Uncle Dijon, they're *not* barbarians!" Alice frowned at her uncle's choice of words towards the creatures she loved.

"They're dangerous!" said Dijon, glaring right back at his niece. She hadn't seen the things Dijon had. She hadn't seen the nets or the fishing grounds that killed hundreds of innocent fish every day. Dijon was the king of the sea. And everything in it was his to watch and care for didn't she understand that?

Then Dijon tilted up her chin so maybe she might see the sad truth in his eyes, saying, "Do you think I want to see *my* youngest niece snared by some fish-eater's hook?"

But Alice turned her head away at her uncle's gesture. He was treating her like a baby! She knew the dangerous of humans and their hooks. She went to explore shipwrecks, not fishing grounds. And did he think she was a fool?

"I'm 10 years old;" said Alice angrily. "I'm not a baby anymore!"

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young lady." Dijon shouted, pointing his finger at his niece.

Unable to put her word in edge-wise, Alice spoke rapidly as her uncle paused, desperate to get him to understand, explaining, "Well,-"

"As long as you live under my ocean,-"

"Well,-"

"You'll obey my rules!"

"But if you would just listen!" she protested.

"Not another word!" Dijon yelled, as he turned away from her, "And I am *never*, *NEVER* to hear of you going to the surface again. Is that clear?"

Alice swam off, crying a bit with Cody and Edmond following her.

Dijon slumped back on his throne, the anger he had felt early quickly disappeared as he watched his niece flee the throne room crying.

"Hmph! Kids!" Timon said, trying to console the Arabic dog, "They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you."

Dijon lifted his head off his hand and looked hesitantly over at the meerkat. "Do you...think I...I was too hard on her?" he asked.

Timon shook his head. "Oh no, Your Majesty." Then, with determined conviction, he said, "Why, if Alice was *my* niece, I'd show her who was boss. None of this "flitting to the surface" and other such nonsense. No, sir! I'd keep her under tight control.'

Dijon straightened up, and you could practically see the light bulb over his head. "You're absolutely right, Timon!" he exclaimed.

"Of course." Timon smirked, crossing his arms.

"Alice needs constant supervision." said Dijon.

"Constant supervision." Timon repeated, nodding in consent.

"Someone to watch over her." Dijon said, "To keep her out of trouble."

Timon crossed his arms behind his back. "All the time." he said.

"And *YOU* are just the meerkat to do it." Dijon said, poking Timon in the chest, and the meerkat's face fell. He gasped then swam away.

He grudgingly accepted his charge and the king dismissed him.

"How do I get myself into these situations?" Timon said to himself, "I should be writing symphonies, not tagging along after some headstrong kid."

He threw his hands up in despair and shook his head. He rounded the corner, and his self-pity quickly changed into curiosity as he saw Alice, Cody, and Edmond looking around suspiciously before quickly swimming off.

"Hmm? What is that girl up to?" asked the little meerkat, as he struggled to follow the three of them, collapsing on a rock and panting heavily when they finally reached their destination that was far away from the busy city.

The three looked around again before Alice pulled a large stone back revealing a small cave dug into the rock.

Timon hopped up and scurried quickly to follow them, barely making it through the door as the rock slid back into place over his tail.

He gasped, trying to free himself as quietly as possible. Pulling on a small plant growing in the sand he managed to pull himself out from under the rock, his momentum sending him flying where he came to a stop, hitting a strange object.

It was an hourglass. Timon groaned and rubbed his head. Before he gasped, the pain was quickly forgotten as he gazed at the cave that lay before him. "Huh?" gasped the meerkat in wonder.