Lord Shen reprimands Minnie

Minnie, Mowgli, and Pudge 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 men, who were hiding underneath some boulders and plants.

The first man was tall, thin, and balding with fair skin, brick red eyes, black sideburns, a long nose, and thick black eyebrows, wearing a black wetsuit, forest green flippers, and a yellow swimming mask. His name was Jasper Badun.

The second man was also balding, but was short and fat, with the same fair skin, brick red eyes, black sideburns, long nose, and thick black eyebrows as his brother. Like Jasper, he also wore a black wetsuit, forest green flippers, and a yellow swimming mask. His name was Horace Badun, Jasper's younger brother and partner in crime.

Anyway, Jasper and Horace 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 fairy. She was a slender, tall woman with shallow lime skin, yellow eyes, a prominent chin, red lips and fingernails, and a black octopus' lower abdomen with eight long tentacles (complete with purple suckers on the bottom), wearing a black horned headdress and an evil-omen ring. Her name was Maleficent.

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

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

"And now, look at me!" Maleficent 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 Jasper and Horace, "Jasper! Horace!" The Badun brothers hit their heads on one of the boulders as Maleficent told them, "I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little daughter of his." she smiled very cruelly, finishing, "She may be the key to Shen's undoing."

Mowgli and Pudge 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." Shen said to his daughter.

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

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

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

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

Then he waved his gloved hands in front of Minnie 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!"

Mowgli and Pudge understood if it was her father admonishing Minnie for her behavior but the little rabbit was yelling at Minnie because his ego was hurt, and that was just wrong. So they got up in the rabbit's face, as well as subsequently the peacock lord's face.

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

"Yeah!" added Pudge. He and Mowgli blushed as the peacock lord glared at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Um, well, first...These alligators chased us." The little penguin said nervously.

"Yeah, that's right! Right! Two alligators!" Mowgli said, "As a matter of fact they were *big* alligators."

Pudge 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 they went, "Grrrrrrrrr!" And, and we were like, "Whoooaaaaaa!" Ah! And then we were safe. But then this duck came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -"

Shen was bewildered. "Duck?"

"Pudge!" Mowgli scolded, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at the penguin. Pudge gasped and covered his beak. Then he and Mowgli hid behind Minnie a bit.

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

Minnie grimaced and shrugged trying to calm down her father while Mowgli and Pudge were still hiding behind her. "Nothing - happened." she stammered.

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

"Daddy, they're *not* barbarians!" Minnie frowned at her father's choice of words towards the creatures she loved.

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

Then Shen 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 daughter snared by some Crash-eater's hook?"

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

"I'm 11 years old;" said Minnie angrily. "I'm not a baby anymore!"

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

Unable to put her word in edge-wise, Minnie spoke rapidly as her father 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!" Shen yelled, as he turned away from her, "And I am *never*, *NEVER* to hear of you going to the surface again. Is that clear?"

Minnie swam off, crying a bit with Mowgli and Pudge following her.

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

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

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

Bugs shook his head. "Oh no, Your Majesty." Then, with determined conviction, he said, "Why, if Minnie was *my* daughter, 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.'

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

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

"Minnie needs constant supervision." said Shen.

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

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

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

"And *YOU* are just the rabbit to do it." Shen said, poking Bugs in the chest, and the rabbit'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?" Bugs 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 Minnie, Mowgli, and Pudge looking around suspiciously before quickly swimming off.

"Hmm? What is that girl up to?" asked the little rabbit, 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 Minnie pulled a large stone back revealing a small cave dug into the rock.

Bugs 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. Bugs 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 rabbit in wonder.