[Before we proceed, I would like to clarify something. Using em-dashes doesn't mean I use AI. Most people just don't know how to use it hence people think having em-dashes is something only AI writes. Any decent writer knows how to use em-dashes, either for emphasization over something important or simply a replacement for comma. Most of the times, it's the latter for me. Anyway, that's all, apologies for disrupting your reading session with this short announcement.]
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Henry's eyes widened in surprise after reading the familiar name, "Dr. Dolittle?"
The disheveled doctor now known as Dr. Dolittle seemed surprised and when he saw where Henry's eyes were staring at, he explained, "Oh that's actually my name, not Chee-Chee's. He just likes to wear my clothes."
Henry shifted his gaze to Kristoff and saw the look on his face as if he had seen this comedic scene a thousand times.
"So, your name is Dr. Dolittle. Is that your surname or?" Henry gulped his saliva and asked. He's already aware of it, he just wants confirmation and maybe to avoid suspicion in the future.
Pushing the rim of his cracked glasses, the doctor nodded his head, "My surname. My full name is Dr. John Dolittle."
That was the final nail in a coffin, 'So he's indeed THAT Dolittle. The same doctor who is capable of talking to animals. If that is the case then Kristoff…' While deep in his thought, Henry's eyes wandered towards Kristoff.
Perhaps one of the reasons Kristoff was able to understand Sven was thanks to Dr. Dolittle.
'But how could that be? Dr. Dolittle is an entirely different character and not supposed to be part of the Frozen film.'
Unconsciously, his mind went back to the unexpected meeting with Ariel. She too, is not part of Frozen and yet she exists. Which leaves Henry to one conclusion.
'I'm in a universe mixed with different Disney characters that are supposed to exist in their respective universes.' For such a heavy realization, Henry barely felt surprised by it.
As far as he knows, there are various theories and myths invented by the diehard fans of Disney movies. Most famous among those theories is how all Disney animated films are comprised in a single universe, just different places, times, and eras.
And now, it seems like he'll be the first and foremost witness of that theory being proven.
'I wonder. What animated films are also included in this universe.' For the first time, Henry felt the long-forgotten excitement in his heart. The same feeling he used to have during the nights he spent rewatching his childhood films.
"…nry…Henry!"
Just then, he was snapped out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw the worried look on Kristoff's face that faded and turned into relief.
"If you were in a daze a few seconds longer, Doc would've fed you the medicine soup he just made for Chee-Chee." Now even Henry's face turned into relief. No way he's going to drink something designed for an animal.
Trying his best to stay calm as Chee-Chee the gorilla carried him like a princess, only when he was brought back down but this time, on the bed, did Henry sigh in relief.
"You'll be in good hands under Dr. Dolittle, Henry." Kristoff assured him, before continuing as he turned to leave, "I'll be going now. I still have a few ice to harvest and sell."
Remembering Kristoff's job as an ice harvester in the movie, Henry nodded his head and expressed his gratitude, "Thank you, Kristoff. For bringing me here. I'll try to repay you somehow."
Kristoff pulled a pair of gloves from his pockets and embarrassingly replied to Henry's words, "As much as I want to wave your offer off since it didn't cost me anything. I'm actually tight in coins right now, so I hope you don't mind if I wait for that compensation."
Henry chuckled, recalling how Kristoff would sometimes sleep in a barn without permanent housing. The man even takes care of his old sled as if it's his only child. Those aforementioned predicaments are enough to prove Kristoff's financial life.
"Don't worry. Not to brag but before the shipwreck, I'm not that short of coins."
With the promise of repayment sealed, Kristoff finally left. Probably about to go back outside the capital city with Sven.
"…You know, I've never seen Kristoff being with someone else aside from Sven. It's a relief that the kid finally gets a friend." Dr. Dolittle's words made Henry shift his attention to him.
Brimming with curiosity as to how much backstory and lore was hidden and not shown in the film, Henry asked the only man who could satiate that hunger, "How well do you know Kristoff and Sven?"
"It was 15 years ago. Sven got sick, no one in the capital can cure him and even if they do, Kristoff couldn't pay for them. It was in the middle of the night and I was on my way to lock up when I found them wandering to one of those abandoned houses around my clinic."
Dolittle grabbed his famous tall black hat from a wooden hat stand and placed it on the top of his head before continuing, "Even from afar, I can hear Sven's cry for pain. Color me surprised when I discovered that Kristoff was able to communicate with the reindeer. So I took them in and helped them without asking for a coin."
"So, you can talk to animals?" Facing Henry's question, Dolittle didn't hide anything and nodded his head.
"Yes, I can. People may deem me crazy and all because animals are seen as unintelligent creatures but I'm different. You know, back then, I was just the same as every other normal human. I used to not understand animal language."
A smile crept up to Dolittle's face as he finished his story, "Then one day, I don't know if it's the god's will or simply a latent talent I was born with that just emerged out of nowhere. Animals were no longer uttering gibberish to my ears. They started talking like humans. Since that day, I went from studying human medicine to practicing veterinary."
"And Kristoff?"
"Oh him? He told me he formed some sort of deep understanding with his reindeer to the point that he can distinguish his intention through grunts and gestures. His case is fascinating actually. Even though he doesn't actually know animal language but once he spends enough time with an animal, he starts to understand them similar to Sven."
'I see. No wonder he was able to talk to Polynesia earlier. I almost thought he possessed the same ability as Dr. Dolittle.'
Just then, Dr. Dolittle grabbed his cane and pulled his coat from Chee-Chee the gorilla, "Anyways. I have matters to attend to outside. If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell my friends here. Don't worry, I taught them to understand English."
With a fix on his tall black hat, Dr. Dolittle left the room—leaving Henry alone with a Gorilla, a Dog, two monkeys, a rabbit, and several more animals.
"Uhm, hello everyone. I'm Henry…" As this is Henry's first time talking to animals who are capable of understanding him, his approach is rather awkward.
The animals all stared back at him, tilting their heads as if wondering if Henry could also understand then similar to Dr. Dolittle.
"Huu~ Huu~" It Chee-Chee the gorilla who responded with a grunt, picking up a piece of banana from the side table before handing it to him.
Henry smiled and accepted it, "Thank you, err Chee-Chee was it?" When the gorilla nodded his head, Henry smiled and returned the gesture.
For the rest of the day, Henry spent most of the time trying to get close to the animals, maybe also hoping that his talent would make it so he would understand their language.
Unfortunately, aside from the parrot Polynesia, whose inherent nature is her capability to mimic human voices, Henry failed when it came to the rest of them.
Now left alone, Henry closed his eyes. With his leg numb and resting, he has nothing left to do but practice with one thing that saved his ass in the shipwreck.
His magic.
If it wasn't for the Wind Barrier magic spell, he would've been impaled to death. If it wasn't for the Water Bubble magic spell, he might've been unable to save Sir Liam and watch him drown to death.
Overall, his years of physical training and honing his body became batshit when it comes to natural disasters. It was only his magic, which he spent an entire week training on, that contributed the most to his survival.
'No way I'm going to neglect magic training. It's a game changer in this world.'
With that decision in mind, Henry shifted his attention to somewhere else. The shipwreck.
No doubt that the entire thing was orchestrated by someone who wanted to kill him. There's nothing else that can explain it all. Sir Liam and the rest of the crew on the ship had no enemies with deep grudges, only him, the heir Prince had thousands of enemies throughout the world. With half of it being in the very same Kingdom he's going to rule someday.
'Of course, who else could do all this but my very own siblings?' Henry sneered at the thought of it. Timothy and Alexander are probably jumping in excitement back in the royal castle. As for Samantha, he knows the girl barely had any interest in the throne, only her mother does.
Now that the biggest thorn—which is him—on their side is gone, the only enemy they have left is themselves.
But would they become the next heir?
Nah, they'd still lose.
Not only does Henry have the unyielding support of the Grand Duke whose presence and influence transcends all of the noble houses in Lioncrest Kingdom combined.
Not to mention, gaining the Court Magician's support is a must. Speaking of Master Elias, knowing that old teacher of his personally, Henry could only imagine how he would describe his situation as Above-Average that an heir to the throne must go through.
'Heh, I can't wait to see my brother's faces once they see me come back in one piece.'
———
—{Polynesia}—
The boy is grinning. I wonder what's going on inside that boy's mind.
"10 copper coins says he's crazy." Jip the dog suddenly spoke, wagging his tail in excitement. There goes his curiosity as always but considering how he always had a thing for spotting bad people, I'd say the Henry boy is far from being a bad person.
"Shush now, Jip. It's been years since we received a patient. Don't scare him off now, you hear me?" Dab-Dab the duck strolled inside, a small chef's hat on top of her tiny head. She's always been like a mother figure to everyone, even to me sometimes.
"Dab-Dab! What's our breakfast for today? I'm hungry!~" Gub-Gub the pig, cried out for food once again. He always does it every morning.
"Oh, you silly pig. Hungry again?"
"I think the dog is right. Earlier, the boy was staring into the air like he was deep in thought and all of a sudden, he grinned." Chee-Chee scratched his chin, chuckling nervously as he tried to ride along with his canine brother.
Just then, an owl flew in from the open window, perching himself on top of a cabinet, he scratched his under wings for a brief moment before speaking, "Alright everyone, settle down! We have a tiny bit of a problem in our hands."
Jip, the most adventurous out of all of us, ran and jumped at the Too-Too the owl, "What is it? What is it?!"
"We're running out of coins once again," Too-Too spoke with a sigh of defeat.
"Oh no…That means we're back to eating scraps again?" Gub-Gub slumped on the floor with his ears drooping.
"Sounds like a you problem, owl. You always handle the coins, surely you have a plan, right?" Dab-Dab pointed her yellow beak at the owl and said.
The owl scoffed, "It wouldn't be a problem for us in the past but the doc barely has any patients nowadays. We need another way to find money."
"Maybe we should steal?" Gub-Gub raised his hands and suggested, which was quickly turned down by both Dab-Dab and me.
"Absolutely not!"
Silence ensued between all of them. Just as I was about to leave and fly out there to catch up to the doctor and break down the news to him, Too-Too suddenly noticed Henry's presence and asked.
"Who's the boy? Did I miss anything?"
"He's a patient Kristoff brought in this morning!" It was Gub-Gub who eagerly answered him.
"Oh really…" The owl stared at Henry and squinted his big circular eyes before continuing.
"Well, does he have money?"