Les Poissons (Mina’s Antoine D’Coollette version)

Inside the dining room table, Manic was standing near the window, looking out into the distance. While Chuck was seated at the large table, beginning to clean his pipe, Manic was waiting patiently for Mina to arrive as he tried desperately to reason with his nephew.

"Oh, Manic, be reasonable," said Chuck, feeling clearly amused while waving his pipe in the air. "Nice young ladies just don't - swim around rescuing people in the middle of the ocean and then - flutter off into oblivion, like some -"

Manic cut him off. "I'm tellin' you, Uncle Chuck, she was REAL!" he said, "I'm gonna find that girl. And I'm gonna marry her." He put his left hand over his chin, gazing out the glass windows.

Suddenly, laughter was heard from behind him. He turned his head to see the lover with his mother.

"Come on, honey." said a voice, "Don't be shy."

It was Aleena. She stood by the door frame, guiding the lover into the dining room.

Out of the shadows came Mina.

Mina was now wearing a teal dress consisting of a poet-sleeved blouse, a long olive vest with a crimson collar, (similar to Mulan’s dress during the battle with Shan Yu), a crimson belt, and black ballet shoes. She was still wearing her headband and white gloves.

This was a new look for Mina, and she showed that she was being treated well by the servants.

Manic's eyes widened as Chuck walked up behind his nephew.

"Oh, Manic, isn't she a vision?" asked Chuck.

The grin he had was never slipping off his face. Manic's mouth hung open. But he closed his mouth and swallowed, feeling somewhat nervous.

"You look - wonderful." Manic stammered.

Mina, unable to say, "Thank you," replied with a gentle blush, she shrugged her shoulders, appreciating the nice comment, a smile on her face as her green eyes looked up from behind her ears.

Manic blushed a light pink as Chuck helped Manic into his chair, quite enthusiastic, but not before giving the young princess a light nudge. Manic pursed his lips, but grinned nonetheless.

"Come come come, you must be famished. Let me help you my dear. There we go - ah - quite comfy?"

He helped the princess into her seat. Manic tucked the chair under the table as the mongoose sat down.

"Uh, it's...it's not often that we have such a lovely dinner guest, eh, Manic?"

Mina wasn't playing attention anymore. She was too intrigued by the glistening silver 'dinglehopper' resting on the table. With a wide smile, she picked up the shiny object and began brushing her hair with it. She looked up to face a confused Manic and a horrified Chuck. Mina delicately placed the 'dinglehopper' back on the table and looked down in embarrassment.

She bit her lip and looked up as she saw Chuck using a lighter to ignite the coppery thing that Mina understood as a 'snarfblatt'. Chuck kindly smiled at her, and handed her his pipe. "Uh, do you like it?" he asked, "It *is* a rather fine..."

Chuck stopped in mid-sentence when the mongoose blew into the pipe as if it was a trumpet, sending a cloud of smoke spurting out the top and straight into his face. Manic cracked up with laughter while Aleena gave a small giggle. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed.

Manic cleared his throat, trying to regain composure. "Ahem. I'm sorry, Uncle Chuck."

Aleena smiled, placing a hand on her son's shoulder. "Why, Manic," she said. "That's the first time I've seen you smile in weeks."

Mina looked up from the table and smiled. "Oh, very amusing," said Chuck, as he used a handkerchief to wipe the last bit of smoke of his face and sniffed. "Aleena, my dear, what's for dinner?"

"Oooh, you're gonna love it!" Aleena smiled. "Chef's been fixing his specialty, grilled mouse!"

Basil poked his head out from behind a sugar bowl and gasped upon seeing the chef of a French kitchen. He was a slender brown coyote with brown fur with beige markings at the muzzle, upper face, and underbelly, blonde hair, blue eyes, a black nose, and small black whiskers. He wears a blue, red, and yellow Acorn Kingdom Army uniform, red boots, a white chef's hat, and a matching apron. His name was Antoine D'Coollette, the French chef of the kitchen. Antoine rummaged through a cupboard. Singing in French to himself, he hummed to himself as he took a basket of trout and putting one on a counter. With his food ready, the coyote chef started singing.

Antoine: ***Les poissons***
***Les poissons***
*How I love **les poissons***
*Love to chop*
*And to serve little fish*

Grabbing the trout from the basket, Antoine pulled out a cleaver and violently chopped off its head. This shocked Kaa horribly. Horrified that this was happening, Basil hid his face.

Antoine: *First I cut off their heads*
*Then I pull out the bones*
***Ah mais oui***
***Ca c'est toujours delish***

Taking out another trout, Antoine took the cleaver and violently chopped off its head then proceeded to skin it and gut it while Basil leaned against a wall and covered his mouth, feeling quite sick, feeling as if he may want to throw up.

Antoine: ***Les poissons***
***Les poissons***
***Hee hee hee***
***Hah hah hah***
*With the cleaver I hack them in two*

Taking out another trout, Antoine again chopped its head and then chopped the rest of the body into tiny pieces. Basil tried getting away, but he found himself face to face with the trout's head.

Antoine: *I pull out what's inside*
*And I serve it up fried*
'*Cause I love little fishes*
*Don't you?*

After cutting the trout's head off, Antoine pulled out the insides of the trout and cooked it on a frying pan before serving it on a plate.

Spotting a large lettuce leaf, Basil grabbed the leaf and used it to disguise himself as he slowly scuttled away from an unsuspecting chef, who is too absorbed into his little *fish hacking mania* but Antoine took a mallet and began smashing a tuna flat.

Antoine: *Here's something for tempting the palate*
*Prepared in the classic technique*
*First you pound the fish flat with a mallet*

When Antoine pounded the tuna flat with the mallet, Basil flew off the counter along with other stuff on it. He hid again under the lettuce before hearing more gross stuff from Antoine's preparations for the tuna.

Antoine: *Then you slash through the skin*
*Give the belly a slice*
*Then you rub some salt in*
'*Cause that makes it taste nice*

When Antoine was describing those horrid moves, Basil cringed even more.

Just after Antoine put the salt on he rather was holding the fish body close to his cheek, Basil’s worst fear was confirmed when the cook reached out and grabbed the lettuce leaf, leaving him exposed. The small mouse kept perfectly still as the chef gasped,

"*Zut alors*!" exclaimed Antoine, "I have missed one!" He picked up the 'dead' mouse and continued singing,

Antoine: ***Sacre bleu***
*What is this?*
*How on earth could I miss*
*Such a sweet little succulent mouse?*
***Quel dommage***
*What a loss*
*Here we go*
*In the sauce*
*Now some flour*
*I think just a spurt*

Antoine tossed Basil into a bowl of sauce and threw a spot of flour in his face, making him cough and sneeze before pulling him out and stuffing some breadcrumbs in his mouth.

Antoine: *Now I stuff you with bread*
*It don't hurt 'cause you're dead*
*And you're certainly lucky you are*

Basil spat out the breadcrumbs and wheezed loudly. Antoine didn't notice that the mouse in his hand was still alive.

Antoine: '*Cause it's gonna be hot*
*In my big silver pot*
*Toodle loo*
***Mon poisson***
***Au revoir!***

Antoine threw Basil across the room into a large pot of boiling water. Antoine held on to the inside of the pot before a bubble popped, burning him out of the pot and onto the counter with a loud thud.

Antoine, hearing the 'thud', looked over to it being confused. He used a pitchfork-like utensil and stabs on either side of the mouse, picking up Basil and carefully inspected it. "What is this?" he asked. Basil bit Antoine's nose, making him scream in pain as he held his nose.

Basil landed on the handle of a pan on the stove. Antoine reached for the snake, but instead put his hand on the fiery hot stove. The chef screamed and blew on his hand as the pan fell onto his foot. Antoine grabbed his foot and cried in pain, before sending Basil an angry glare, grabbing a bunch of knives and hurling them at the snake.

Basil, who ducked each knife, dove under the counter, and while the chef was looking under the counter, Basil pushed the bowl of sauce off the counter. The bowl shattered on his head. Going more insane, Antoine lifted his cleaver and brought it down. But all he managed to chop up was the counter.

He saw Basil running for his life. Basil screamed as he tried getting out. The cleaver landed right in front of him, stopping him from slithering that way. He quickly made a mad dash underneath Antoine and hid underneath a cabinet of glasses and pottery. Antoine screamed, holding his mallet in his hand, Basil hid as the psychotic chef jumped and crashed into the shelves.

Back in the dining room, everyone heard loud crashes coming from the kitchen.

Aleena, who was pouring drinks for the prince, Chuck, and their young guest, looked in the direction of the kitchen at the sound of a large crash. "I think I'd better go see what Antoine is up to." she said. Once she had excused herself, she hurriedly made her way to the palace kitchen.

Back in the kitchen, the insane chef, ripped clothes and all, was tearing apart the cabinet, mindlessly throwing things out of the way trying to find Basil. "Come out, you little pipsqueak, AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" he snarled. He continued to tear apart a cupboard.

"Antoine!" shouted Aleena.

He shot up, banging his head on the shelf, causing several new pots and pans to fall or break on the floor, at the sound of Aleena's shrill voice. His uniform and apron were torn and stained, his chef's hat was gone, he only had one boot, and there was a hole in the elbow of his uniform.

"What are you doing?" Aleena demanded.

Antoine stammered about what he was doing earlier. "Well - I - I was just - er, er, I'm sorry, *madame*." he finally said. Aleena scowled at the coyote as he gave her an apologetic grin and pinched out a fire that had started on his furry cheek.

Aleena picked up the plates - which all had a metal dome over the top - off a nearby bench, and storming out the kitchen. "Well, I never!" she exclaimed in disgust.

Chuck set his glass back on the table as Aleena placed their dinners in front of him, Mina, and Manic. "You know, Manic," he said. "perhaps our young guest might enjoy seeing some of the sights of the kingdom. Something in the way of a tour?"

Manic simply sat there, staring at Mina with a lovestruck expression on his face. Realizing that his uncle had said something to them, they snapped out of their daze. Manic let out a small chuckle and looked at Chuck. "I'm sorry, Uncle Chuck." he said, "What was that?"

Chuck leaned over to his nephew and whispered, "You can't spend all your time moping about, you need to get out. Do something, have a life. Get your mind off-"

As Chuck complained, he opened his dish, and Basil was huddled inside. Mina noticed Basil and became worried. Basil quietly shushed the worried mongoose, who opened her dish and urged for Basil to quickly hide in hers.

"Easy, Uncle Chuck, easy." said Manic, "It's not a bad idea. If she's interested."

As the two chatted, Basil quickly and quietly dashed across the table and hid in Mina's dish. With Basil safe, Mina quickly turned to Manic.

"Well, what do you say?" asked Manic. "Would you like to join me on a tour of my kingdom tomorrow?"

Mina nodded, genuinely excited by the prospect and also internally relieved.

"Wonderful!" beamed Chuck. "Now let's eat, before this mouse wanders off my plate." He looked down, only to be confused that Basil had just ran off his plate.

Dinner got carried on into the evening long after the sun had set and afterwards, Mina, Manic, and Chuck went their separate ways.

Mina was now dressed in her nightclothes as she watched Manic play with Cheese from the balcony.

Mina was now wearing black pajamas that consists of an undershirt and pants.

"Come here boy!" Manic laughed to Cheese, "Arrr!!!" He knelt on the ground and Cheese ran up to him calling out, "Chao!" Manic growled playfully at the Chao as he pinned him down. He looked up and smiled when he saw that the mongoose he'd found on the beach that day, watching. Manic waved at Mina, and she waved back, before slipping further back into her room. Manic's eyes sparkled as his smile widened. He was actually really looking forward to taking her around his kingdom tomorrow, and could only hope that she felt the same way.

Mina smiled as she brushed her hair with her fork. Basil (who was now wearing a white T-shirt and green flannel pajama pants with a red plaid pattern as his pajamas) complained about his experience in the kitchen as he cleaned off the cooking spices. "This has got to be, without a doubt, the single most humiliating day of my life." he complained.

Mina patted Basil on the head.

"I hope you appreciate what I go through for you, young lady!" scolded the mouse, as he waved his lettuce leaf at Mina while she walked over to her bed.

Mina's bed was a large canopy bed with sea-green mattresses & matching bedsheets & pillows, large green curtains (with golden draw-tassels) on all four sides (attached to the purple canopy), light green blankets, white linens, a warm, fuzzy purple blanket, & jet black mahogany bedposts (with a headboard of the same color & material).

Anyway, Basil told Mina, "Now, we've got to make a plan to get that hedgehog to kiss you."

She opened the curtains and bounced a little before settling back into the large pillow on the left side of the canopy bed and crawled under the covers.

"Tomorrow, when he takes you for that ride, you gotta look your best." said Basil.

Mina lay in her bed. It was very comfy and warm. It was a nice place for her to sleep for the night.

"You're gonna bat your eyes - like this," Basil went on, as he batted his eyes and puckered his lips. "You gotta pucker up your lips - like this."

But by now, he realized that Mina was already fast asleep. Basil shook his head and smiled. "Hm." He blew out the candle on the bed side table. He hopped onto one of Mina's pillows, closed the curtains, and before falling asleep himself, he said, "You are hopeless, child. You know that?" He yawned and closed his eyes as Mina covered him up with her purple blanket. "Completely hopeless!"

And with that, Mina and Basil both fell asleep for the night.