Danny helps Minnie

On shore, under his castle, Danny played the same song Minnie sang to him on his clarinet, Bagheera lay nearby as Danny played his clarinet. He stopped and sighed and got up off of the rock. Danny started walking around, getting Bagheera's attention and causing him to get excited.

"What is it, Danny?" asked the panther.

"That voice." Danny said, "I can't get it out of my head." He turned to Bagheera, saying, "I've looked everywhere, Bagheera. Where could she be?"

Not far away, Minnie and her friends finally managed to get her to the shore. It was exhausting, but everyone made it to the shore.

Mowgli, Pudge, and Bugs were the only ones exhausted and weary that they collasped near the rocks!

Minnie started to wake up and pushed her bow out of her eyes. As she did, she noticed her new tail and knees and was caught by surprise. She raised one of her legs above water and saw a foot and four toes (Mickey Mouse and his friends have four fingers on their hands). She wiggled her toes and was fascinated. She had finally gotten her wish of having legs and a tail and being a normal mouse. As she marveled at her new legs, Daffy flew overhead and landed on Minnie's leg.

"Well, look at what the catfish dragged in!" he exclaimed, "Look at ya! Look at ya! There's something different. Don't tell me, I got it. It's your fur-hairdo, right? You've been using the dinglehopper, right?"

Minnie shook her head no, but kept smiling.

"No? No, huh?" Then Daffy thought for a moment and said, "Well let me see. New . . . seashells?"

Minnie didn’t respond, but smirked at Daffy, hoping he’d find out the answer. "No new seashells."

Minnie shook her leg to get Daffy to notice, and he stood on her leg, annoying Bugs. "I gotta admit I can't put my foot on it right now," he said. "But if I just stand here long enough I know that I'll -"

"SHE'S GOT LEGS AND A TAIL, YOU IDIOT!" Bugs shouted.

Finally, Daffy jumped up, seeing Minnie's tail and legs, and rose up in a flutter at the outburts.

"She traded her voice to the wicked fairy and got legs and a tail." Bugs explained, "Jeez, man . . ."

By that time, Daffy had flown and sat on a rock by the rabbit. "I knew that."

While Minnie attempted to stand, Mowgli and Pudge explained to Daffy what was going to happen.

"Minnie's been turned into a normal mouse." said Mowgli.

"She's gotta make the male orange cat fall in love with her, and he's gotta ki- he's gotta kiss her." added Pudge.

Her legs were a little wobbly. It was as if watching a baby try to stand on its own with no support for the first time.

"And she's only got three days." said Bugs.

Minnie managed to get on her feet, but quickly found herself unable to stand still. She quickly lost her balance and fell over in the water, causing a splash that got Mowgli, Pudge, Bugs, and Daffy wet and causing Daffy to have a piece of seaweed hanging off his beak. Another piece of seaweed was on top of Minnie's pink bow.

Bugs got frantic. "Just look at her. On legs and a tail. On normal mouse legs with a normal mouse tail! My nerves are shot. This is a catastrophe! What would her father say? I'll tell you what her father'd say, he'd say he's gonna kill himself a rabbit, that's what her father'd say!" he complained, turning his attention to the man cub and penguin.

Other than Bugs' frantic yelling, Minnie was getting up and getting the seaweed off of her bow. Hearing this, she saw Bugs starting to head into the water, and then she picked him up and shook her head frantically, trying to make him change his mind. Minnie didn’t want her father to find out about what she just did, and, picking him up and shaking her head no are in an attempt to stop him from going to tell Shen.

Bugs carried on complaining. "I'm gonna march meself straight home right now and tell him just like I shoulda done de minute . . . and don't you shake your head at me, young lady." Eventually, he stopped complaining and spoke in a normal tone of voice. "Maybe there's still time. If we could get that fairy to give you back your voice, you could go home with all the normal fish, and just be . . . just be . . ."

Bugs' hope for Minnie started fading away when he saw Minnie's sad, gloomy face. Fearing that Minnie would get more depressed than she was when her grotto was destroyed by Shen's anger, Bugs finally started to give in, saying, "Just be miserable for the rest of your life. All right, all right. I'll try to help you find that cat."

Minnie smiled and kissed the rabbit before putting him down.

"Boy. What a softie I'm turning out to be." he said.

Daffy came across what appeared to be a dress that consists of a navy blue bodice which has olive, crimson, green, and orange prints on the front with copper lining, a light chartreuse short-sleeved blouse that has a purple-and-gold brooch in the middle, an apple-green sleeveless cropped gilet with teal, dark green, brown, orange, and chartreuse rosemaling on the front and back, and a teal skirt with yellow, olive, and brown sunflower prints with darker teal stalks and leaves with smaller olive, dark teal, and purple designs between each sunflower (which has a wavy looping yellow line with light teal dots above each loop, and a small dark teal leaf design on the left, middle part of the skirt (similar to the dress Anna wore on her birthday), a pair of light olive stockings, several pale olive-yellow petticoats, a pair of black ballet flats, and a friendship bracelet. Daffy grabbed the dress, stockings, petticoats, flats, and bracelet.

"Now, Minnie, I'm tellin' ya," said the duck, "If you wanna be a normal mouse, the first thing you gotta do is dress like one. Now lemme see."

Before that, he noticed that with Minnie's mertail gone, she wasn't wearing anything from the waist down, …except her shell bra, mermaid bikini bottom, and bow.

Meanwhile, Danny continued trudging down the beach, unable to take the girl’s voice out of her head. But as he walked, Bagheera detected a scent, one that he recognized from before. Suddenly getting excited, he tried getting Danny to follow him. "Danny, look!" cried the panther.

Danny looked stunned. "Bagheera? Huh . . . what,"

Bagheera just happily started running ahead of Danny. The cat saw his pet panther rush off. "Bagheera!"

Back with Minnie's friends, they managed to dress Minnie up in the navy blue, olive, crimson, green, orange, copper lining, light chartreuse, purple, gold, apple-green, teal, dark green, chartreuse, yellow, brown, dark teal, and light teal dress, light olive stockings, pale olive-yellow petticoats, black flats, and friendship bracelet over her pink shell bra and matching mermaid bikini bottom. She was still wearing her white gloves and pink bow, as well. She felt giddy wearing her first normal mouse clothes. Daffy gave a wolf whistle as he checked out his friend. "Ya look great, kid!" he said. "Ya look - sensational." Mowgli and Pudge agreed. But Bugs felt skeptical about the dress, stockings, petticoats, flats, and bracelet.

"The female black mouse must be this way! She's this way! Follow me!"

Suddenly, everyone heard Bagheera's excited shouting nearby and looked. They spotted Bagheera charging towards them. Mowgli and Pudge yelped, got spooked, and hid under the shallow water.

Daffy flew off, and Bugs, knowing that Minnie would need him, rushed to the girl and hid in her dress. Minnie tried getting away from Bagheera. But the hyper panther kept intercepting her at every turn. Minnie got on a small boulder at the beach as Bagheera kissed her face.

"Bagheera!" Danny called from a distance.

Bagheera stopped licking Minnie, turned, and ran to his master, leaving Minnie to smile at the panther.

"Bagheera!" Danny called before seeing his pet, and tried to calm Bagheera down. "Quiet, Bagheera! What's gotten into you fella?"

As Danny petted his pet, his eyes widened when he noticed Minnie sitting on the boulder. "There she is!" Bagheera said.

"Oh . . . Oh, I see." said Danny, as he approached the female black mouse. Minnie tried to compose herself by moving her bow on her head.

"Are you O.K., miss?" asked Danny, as he playfully ruffled Bagheera's head. "I'm sorry if this knucklehead scared you." he said, "He's harmless, really - . . ."

Danny stopped talking and stared at Minnie, but as he did, he started having a feeling. There was something familiar about her. Minnie smiled very lovingly at him.

"You . . . seem very familiar . . . to me." Danny said skeptically, "Have we met?"

Minnie nodded yes with a big smile on her face. "She's the one, the female black mouse I was talking to you about earlier!" Bagheera cried in excitement. He tried to lick her, but he was pushed down by Danny.

"We have met?" asked Danny, as he grasped her hands, "I knew it! You're the one - the one I've been looking for! What's your name?

Bagheera turned to Minnie with excitement and also started feeling joyful and curious. "Yes, what is it?" he asked. Minnie tried speaking. But with her voice gone, nothing came out of her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked, "What is it?"

Minnie patted on her throat and showed Danny her neck, trying to show that she couldn’t talk.

"You can't speak?"

Minnie shook her head sadly. This caused Danny to feel down. "Oh." he said, "Then you couldn't be who I thought." He was sure that this girl was the one who saved him.

Bagheera rolled his eyes in frustration. "Oh, brother!" Minnie is his master's rescuer! Couldn't he see that?

Minnie did the same thing before coming up with an idea. *I know!* Minnie thought. She moved her arms and hands around as if she was trying to do pantomime or charades. Danny tried to figure out what Minnie was trying to say.

"What is it?" he asked, "You're hurt? No, No . . . You need help."

Minnie tried to make more hand movements to communicate. But then, she lost her balance and fell off the boulder!

"Whoa, whoa, careful," said Danny, as he caught Minnie in his arms. "Careful. Easy."

The two stared at each other in a shocked and awkward way.

"Gee, you must have really been through something." said the male orange cat, "Don't worry, I'll help you. Come on . . . Come on, you'll be okay."

As Danny put Minnie's arm over his shoulder, she glimpsed behind her and gave her friends a big grin. Mowgli, Pudge, and Daffy smiled at her and wished her good luck. Danny guided Minnie toward his castle. Walking was very hard for someone who spent their whole life swimming! Regardless, Danny was patient and made sure Minnie did not fall. Eventually, they arrived at Danny's castle.

Later in the day, Minnie was introduced to the animals - including the mice - and people working at the castle. The first order of business was to clean Minnie up and get her washed for dinner. In her tub filled with bubbles, Minnie played with them, overcome by fascination.

Pouring warm water from a jug over her head was a Chinese woman with olive skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes, wearing a pink Chinese dress, black ballet slippers, a blue sash, and a red ribbon around her waist with a white magnolia flower on top of her jade-green comb in her hair. Her name was Mulan, the castle maid. She was nearby, and she helped in getting Minnie cleaned up.

"Washed up from a shipwreck?" gasped Mulan, "Oh, the poor thing! We'll have you feeling better in no time.

Bugs, who was hiding in Minnie's dress, peeked out, but saw Mulan overhead, taking the dress, stockings, petticoats, and bow and preparing to leave the room. "I'll just - I'll just get these washed for you." she said.

In another room, the dress, stockings, petticoats, and bow were put in large tub, and Princess Ting-Ting, Princess Su, and Princess Mei helped wash them. Unfortunately, Bugs was still stuck in these clothes, and he couldn’t get out.

"Well, you must have at least heard about this, girls." Ting-Ting said, beginning to talk.

"No!" Su exclaimed.

Ting-Ting washed the dress, stockings, petticoats, and bow, causing Bugs to feel uncomfortable with each scrub and movement, saying, "Marva says she's a princess, but since when has Marva ever gotten anything right? I mean really, this girl mouse shows up in rags and doesn't speak-"

"Madame," said Bugs. "Please!"

As this conversation went on, he was squished by a presser, along with the dress, stockings, petticoats, and bow, but he recovered immediately afterward, though he landed on the clothes in the laundry basket.

"Not my idea of a princess." said Ting-Ting, as she took the dress, the stockings, the petticoats, and the bow and hung them on a clothesline, one by one, "If Danny's looking for a girl, I know a couple of highly available ones right here."

As the clothes were hung from the clothesline, they were moved towards the nearby castle. Bugs jumped out of the dress and landed in a room through a window. Relieved to be out of that experience, Bugs started to get up. But as he did, he saw something absolutely horrifying: beheaded fish with sharp blades, cooked squid and octopi in a pan, and worst of all, deep-fried rabbits on a plate. This was the castle kitchen, and the sight of so many dead sea creatures was too much for Bugs to take. He fainted in fear.