DHvV: Casey's revenge Part 1

Kanga tried to rub the darkness away from her eyes. What had just happened? She had just found out Roo was gone, and went to Owl’s house for answers. He was giving one of his frustrating non-answers about his cousin Dexter’s incident with the egg when there was a knock at the door, and then everything was a blur…

It was a maelstrom of voices and noise…cold steel…what was that smell? It seemed familiar…where was she? She blinked several times and tried to steady herself. She was lying on…concrete, apparently. Had she been taken prisoner? That fox and bear had blathered about some sort of war, but she’d never dreamed that it would come to the Woods…to her family…

“Roo!” the thought of her son gave her the energy she needed to push herself over the brink of consciousness. She was wide awake now, pushing herself up to her feet. Three rats skittered away once they saw that she was awake.

It didn’t look like a prison cell…there were lockers on the walls, and what looked like…baseball jerseys? Bats? There were wooden benches, which apparently she’d missed in her fall…a sudden dull pain told Kanga that she’d suffered a bump on the head…which seemed strange…what on earth was going on?

Sunlight was coming in through a window on a nearby door, which wasn’t barred or locked, so she hadn’t been taken prisoner…at least, she wasn’t in a prison or cell. Where was she? And more importantly, where was Roo?

Just then, the door burst open and Owl came running in. “Owl? What’s going on?!”

“Ah, there you are! Thank goodness! The game’s about to start!”

Kanga blinked. “The game? What…” it was then she noticed the glazed look in Owl’s eyes. Hypnosis?

Owl continued blathering on, as he was wont to do. “Oh yes, the game of the year! The most spectacular showdown in Baseball History! Why, it reminds me of the time my Aunt…”

Owl started blinking, the glaze vanishing from his eyes. “The…who…what…oh yes, as I was saying, my cousin Dexter was so distraught when he broke the Faberge egg, he…erm…what on earth? Did I redecorate?”

Kanga turned Owl towards her. “No, we’re somewhere else. Owl, something happened, but I can’t remember much. Can you? We were talking in your house…”

Owl “Yes, yes, you were distraught about Roo’s whereabouts…I was trying to get you to have some tea to calm down, where there was a knock on the door…and then a bunch of ruffians came pouring in…”

Kanga froze. They were abducted! “Oh no…” she mouthed before she heard something else.

There was a dull roar outside the door, the sound of a crowd…cheering? A marching band? This didn’t sound like any prison Kanga had known. What on earth was going on? She supposed there was only one way to find out.

“Owl, shh.” She whispered. “Don’t say anything for now, just follow my lead, ok?”

“Hm? Oh, oh yes. I’m just as confundled as you are…This reminds me of the time when…oh, right. Erm, carry on.”

Sighing, Kanga opened the door, being careful to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. The last thing she needed right now was to go blind.

It wasn’t a prison, it was a…baseball diamond? A professional one, much bigger than the ones she and her friends would use to play. A metal backstop instead of a wooden fence, perfectly manicured green AstroTurf instead of roughed up grass, smooth white paint instead of rough chalk. And instead of a bench where a few spectators would nibble popcorn, there was an enormous grandstand filled with people, all of with the same glazed eyes and chanting ‘Take me out to the ball game’ with eerie unity.

Seeing some faces she recognized a nearby dugout, she calmly hopped over there, putting on her best smile while still looking around. On the other end of the field, several human players were chattering among themselves. One of them in particular, one who seemed familiar but Kanga couldn’t quite place him, kept sneering in her direction.

When they were halfway there, Owl suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. “Kanga, look!” he whispered, pointing at the crowd. “The ruffians!”

Kanga glanced up to where he pointed. Sure enough, a few rough-looking individuals in brown clothes were walking through the crowds, carrying scimitars and glaring at everyone around them…Kanga guessed they were from Agrabah, and were making sure everyone was staying in their seats. But then one of them took a shiny necklace off an old white-haired woman’s neck, and she didn’t even react. Thieves! And there were several of them throughout the stands, and more guarding the doors with their swords…were these the famous Forty Thieves?

One of the thieves glanced down at Kanga, and she immediately averted her eyes and quickly hopped over to the dugout with Owl.

Lumpy and Gopher were sitting there, along with…Christopher Robin?! So this was where he had been taken! Kanga breathed a sigh of relief on seeing that he was alright, at the very least. However, he was downcast, and Kanga could tell he had been hypnotized like everyone else. She couldn’t help but wonder how on earth so many people could be in a trance at once. Then again, that might helpful…

Hoping that her other friends and her son were here, Kanga looked around the dugout. Robin’s classmates Darcy, Max Goof and PJ were here as well, and a lanky blonde teenager with freckles she didn’t recognize. But no Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger or Roo. All of them seemed as comically miserable as Eeyore on a bad day.

Kanga tried to keep her hopes up. Roo must’ve followed them when they went on their quest to find Christopher, and they would keep him safe. That was all she could hope for right now…

Just then, the speakers came alive with static. The crowd quickly hushed to hear the announcement.

“-the great honor of announcing this ridiculous game will be mine.”

“Great honor?! Gimme that mike, Haroud! I’m the boss, I’m the one who gets the great honors around here!”

“As you wish, Abis Mal.”

“So, wheres that script…Ahah! Okay. Ach, Ah-HEM! Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to greatest baseball game this side of Mudville! Courtesy of Professor Doofenshmirtz’s Hypno-o-no-nomono-o-nater, and your…heheheheheheh, generous donations to our forty-man security force-“

“29-man.”

“Shut up Haroud! Anyway, thanks to all that, we can now offer you the greatest ball game in recorded history!”

Kanga’s face contorted in bafflement. She was abducted to play baseball? This all seemed so ridiculous and surreal. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say she was dreaming. It wouldn’t be a surprise…Hundred Acre Wood residents always had strange dreams.

“And this is a special occasion today, for this is the triumphant comeback of the greatest ball player in all the world, the okie-dokiest gent in all of Mudville, the pride of them all, the savior of sports, the Sinatra of 1902, the greatest human being who ever lived in any century – geez, I thought Gaston had an ego – uh, anyway, let’s hear you shout for CASEY!”

The entire crowd roared with approval, and Kanga spun her head around to look at the player Abis Mal spoke about. Sure enough, it was the one who’d given her that sneer, the muscled redhead leaning on his bat as casually as humanly possible. He had surrounded himself with women – a Hawaiian brunette, a young housewife, a redhead in a cheerleader’s uniform – all of them under the same spell as the others.

Now Kanga recognized him, as did Owl. “Of course! Casey was that gent who played Christopher Robin’s school for that big charity drive. I remember it like it was yesterday. Several of Christopher’s classmates went home sick because of some Doctor Drakken’s evil plan or somesuch, so Christopher asked us to help with the game.”

“Yeah, and we’re never gonna beat him!” Christopher Robin moaned. “He is just too good!”

Everyone in the dugout said some form of a hopeless ‘Yeah.’ Except for Kanga and Owl.

“Erm…that’s not quite how it went last time…In fact, I daresay we won!”

“Yes.” Kanga asserted. “We’re here, and we’re going to give them our best game. Isn’t that right?”

Everyone in the dugout said some form of an eager “YES!” The dour mood had completely vanished, and now everyone was raring to go, much to Owl’s bewilderment.

“They…perked up rather quickly, wouldn’t you say? This reminds me of the time when my friend Archimedes…oh, sorry.”

Kanga smiled slightly. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just play along with this little game…for now.”