King Fergus reprimands Merida

Merida, Taran, Chuckie, Donald, Jose, and Panchito 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 an evil tiger and an evil lion, who were hiding underneath some boulders and plants.

The evil tiger was a large, slender, muscular, adult Bengal tiger with orange fur, a white muzzle, paws, and underbelly, black stripes, a light brown nose, lavender eye patches and eyelids, yellow eyes, and long, sharp claws. His name was Shere Khan.

The evil lion was a slender adult lion with brown fur, a cream muzzle, underbelly, and paws, a black nose, claws, circles, ear innards, mane, tail tip, and fur on the elbows, thick black eyebrows, dark brown eyelids, neon green eyes, a pink scar over his left eye, and five black whiskers on each side of his muzzle. His name was Scar.

Anyway, Shere Khan and Scar 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 queen. She was a slender, beautiful woman with dark skin, long platinum blonde hair, cyan eyes, and a black octopus' lower abdomen with eight long tentacles (complete with purple suckers on the bottom), wearing a gold and dark red choker and gold earrings and bracelets. Her name was Queen La.

"Yeeeeeees, hurry home, children," said La, 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."

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

"And now, look at me!" La 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 Shere Khan and Scar, "Shere Khan! Scar!" The tiger and lion hit their heads on one of the boulders as La told them, "I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little daughter of his, as well as her brothers." she smiled very cruelly, finishing, "She may be the key to Fergus' undoing."

Donald, Jose, and Panchito sighed sadly and with disappointment as they anxiously listened to their friends' sentence just outside the throne room.

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you three children." Fergus said to his daughter and sons.

Merida and her brothers shifted, heads down hands behind their backs, for Merida really was sorry she had missed the concert. "Merida didn't mean it." Taran responded.

"Yeah, honest." said Chuckie.

"Dad, I'm sorry," Merida said, "I just forgot, we -"

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

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

"Well, it was ruined!" Br'er Rabbit yelled, popping out of Fergus' beard, "That's all. Completely destroyed!"

Then he waved his hands in front of Merida and her brothers 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!"

Donald, Jose, and Panchito understood if it was their father admonishing Merida and her brothers for their behavior but the little rabbit was yelling at Merida and her brothers because his ego was hurt, and that was just wrong. So they got up in the rabbit's face, as well as subsequently the Scottish king's face.

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

"Neither was her brothers'!" Jose chimed in.

"*¡Sí!*" added Panchito. He, Donald, and Jose blushed as the Scottish king glared at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Um, well, first...This Seadramon chased us." The rooster said nervously.

"*Sim, é isso! Isso!* A Seadramon!" Jose said.

"Yeah, a big Seadramon." Donald replied.

Jose 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."

Panchito finished their little fish tale, saying, "But then this snowman came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -"

Fergus was bewildered. "Snowman?"

"Panchito!" Donald and Jose scolded in unison, putting their hands on their hips and glaring at the Mexican rooster. Panchito gasped and covered his beak. Then Donald hid in Merida's hair while Jose hit behind Taran, and Panchito hid behind Chuckie a bit.

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

Merida, Taran, and Chuckie grimaced and shrugged trying to calm down their father while Donald was still hiding in her hair, and Jose and Panchito were still hiding behind her brothers. "Nothing - happened." she stammered.

Fergus threw his hands up in exasperation rolling his eyes, saying, "Oh, Merida. How many times must we go through this? You and your brothers could've been seen by one of those barbarians."

"What are you talking about?" Taran asked indignantly.

"By...by one of those *humans*!" replied Fergus.

"Daddy, they're *not* barbarians!" Chuckie frowned at his father's choice of words towards the creatures he, Merida, and Taran loved.

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

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

But Merida turned her head away at her father's gesture. He was treating her and her brothers like children! They knew the dangerous of humans and their hooks. They went to explore shipwrecks, not fishing grounds. And did he think they were fools?

"I'm 16 years old;" said Merida angrily. "I'm not a child anymore!"

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

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

"As long as you and your brothers live under my ocean,-"

"Well,-"

"You'll obey my rules!"

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

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

Merida, Taran, and Chuckie swam off, crying a bit with Donald, Jose, and Panchito following them.

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

"Hmph! Teenagers!" Br'er Rabbit said, trying to console the Scottish king, "They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you."

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

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

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

"Of course." Br'er Rabbit smirked, crossing his arms.

"Merida and her brothers need constant supervision." said Br'er Rabbit.

"Constant supervision." Br'er Rabbit repeated, nodding in consent.

"Someone to watch over them." Br'er Rabbit said, "To keep them out of trouble."

Br'er Rabbit crossed his arms behind his back. "All the time." he said.

"And *YOU* are just the rabbit to do it." Fergus said, poking Br'er Rabbit 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?" Br'er Rabbit said to himself, "I should be writing symphonies, not tagging along after some headstrong teenager and her brothers."

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 Merida, Taran, Chuckie, Donald, Jose, and Panchito looking around suspiciously before quickly swimming off.

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

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

Br'er Rabbit 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. Br'er Rabbit 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.