I would’ve said more, but then I realized the last Bruiser had not been destroyed yet and was coming right at us! “Look out!” I warned as I grabbed the person and leaped to the side. However, I failed to realize our fighting took us to the edge of the lagoon. Right before we fell I did fire another Fire spell that destroyed the Unversed this time, but it was too little too late.
As we began to fall toward the water, I jammed my Keyblade into the side of the cliff before grabbing my new friend’s wrist. As we held on, I then noticed there was a branch hanging not too far from where we were. “I’m going to swing you over to that branch.”
“Hurry.” She said as the fish people began to take notice of us. With some effort, I managed to get a motion going, increasing how far I was swinging until finally, my new friend was able to catch the branch and pull herself up. I was about to do the same when something leaped up and grabbed my ankle.
“Come on. Join us for a swim.” One of the fish people said.
I had a bad feeling they didn’t mean that literally. “No thanks.” I didn’t want to do this but I had no choice. I kicked the person who held me by the ankle until she let go and fell back into the water. The rest of them then began to splash me and throw shells at me. Okay. Now I am officially starting to hate these… whatever they were.
My Keyblade jerked a little, telling me if I didn’t hurry I was going to fall into the water. Looking around, I ended up focusing on the rocks that jutted out of the lagoon when something strange happened. It seemed like my vision zoomed in on one of the rocks, and everything else seemed to move in slow motion like the three fish people who were leaping out of the water. Now or never!
Pushing off from the face of the cliff I ended up flying over to the rock I had focused on, missing the fish people and crashing into it. “Whoa!” I cried out as I held on for dear life. What was that and how did I do it? No time to think about it. I had to do it again. Looking around again I found the power activated, but instead of just focusing on one rock I saw several that would allow me to get back to the edge. As I pushed off again, I zipped from one rock to another until I found myself back on solid land.
As I panted from the effort, I felt something hit me again. Seeing a seashell on the grass next to me, I picked it up and looked to see the fish people making faces at me and pouting. I decided I did not like fish people at that moment. Turning back to the girl I asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Thanks for keeping the mermaids from getting me.” She said,
“Mermaids? Is that what they’re called?” Looking back, I said, “I don’t think I like mermaids.”
“Not everybody does. Only Peter Pan can safely talk to them. Who are you, and what are you doing in Neverland?”
“I’m Clair Fay. I’m here trying to help my cousin learn to have fun.”
“Then you came to the right place. No one does fun like Peter Pan.” Smiling at me, she added, “You’re a good warrior, and I would be honored to call you a friend.”
“Thanks… I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name.” I apologized to her while we began walking away from the lagoon of the mermaids.
Realizing she didn’t introduce herself, she corrected that. “My name is Tiger Lily.”
“What were you doing out here?”
“I was trying to hide this.” Holding up the bow, she explained, “Peter Pan came to me asking to hide some stuff for a game of his. I hid some of the items he gave me, and was about to return to my camp when those monsters attacked.”
Before we could react, some rough-looking men came out of the jungle and grabbed Tiger Lily! I was just about to help my new friend when something went over the top of my head, blocking my vision and pinning my arms to my side. “All right, men. Take them back to the Jolly Roger.”
JASON’S POV
I was getting sick of this. We had gotten most of the items but now we had to climb a mountain to get another? I was having trouble breathing and climbing this thing. I was starting to think Peter Pan had a sick sense of humor because he was just flying around while the rest of us were using our hands and feet.
Despite his old age Scrooge had managed to get ahead of the rest of us. “Come on, lads. Nothing like a good climb to get the heart pumping.”
“And the arms aching,” I growled as we continued to climb. “Why do we need to climb a mountain just to find something?”
“We looked everywhere else,” Cubby said. “They’ve got to be on this mountain.”
“Besides, isn’t it fun to be doing this?” Peter asked as he hovered over us.
“Come on, Jason. Don’t be cross for trying something new.” Jiminy told me from my shoulder. With how he’s been doing I had half a mind to crush that bug. However, I didn’t want to get outdone by an old duck and a bunch of kids, so I swallowed my pride and kept climbing until finally, I pulled myself over a ledge.
Looking over, I spotted the wooden sword that was supposed to be up here. “Finally.” As I reached over for it something inside me thought back to the Lost Boys. They were all kids and had to climb up this mountain. That just didn’t seem fair when their leader could fly around, and I was up here catching my breath. Why weren’t they up here yet?
As I went back to the ledge to look, my heart skipped a beat as I didn’t see them anywhere in sight. What happened to them? Did they fall off the edge? What was that being sprinkled on me? “Scrooge? Slightly? Cubby? Tibbs? Toodles?”
“Boo!” someone cried out behind me, scaring me to the point where I fell over the edge! As I fell, I did only what anyone else would do in this situation: I screamed my head off. Reaching out for anything to slow my fall, I ended up tearing a leaf off a palm tree with both hands. That’s when for some reason it caught the wind and slowed my fall while I got carried away from the mountain.
I don’t know why, but I found myself enjoying this. This was a great view and this controlled flight was not bad at all. My cries turned to laughs as I kept going down. The longer I laughed, the more I felt less and less resistance from the wind. Then, it felt like I was no longer going anywhere and was just hovering. I felt the wind but I wasn’t going anywhere. “Jiminy? Why am I not moving?”
“I think because the pixie dust kicked in.” The cricket said. Looking down, I could see golden sparkles around me. Whoa. How was this working? The palm frond ended up blowing away, but I don’t think I needed it anymore. “Yes, this is pixie dust all right.”
“Pixie dust? But how’d I get it on me?”
“I had Tink sprinkle you with it.” Peter Pan said as he and the Lost Boys flew over to me. “Looks like that scare was what you needed to finally have fun.”
“That was you?!” As soon as my anger flared up, I felt myself drop. “Whoa!”
“Think happy thoughts, Jason! Think of when you were soaring just now!” My conscience cried out while hanging on to my shirt with his umbrella. Recalling that memory, I was able to get myself to stop before I collided with the treetops. I felt my heart beating against my ribs as I stabilized myself.
Turning to Jiminy, I asked, “So how come I need happy thoughts to keep in flight?”
“Because they lift you.” Peter Pan smiled, answering for my conscience. “Faith, trust, and pixie dust. That’s all you need to fly.”
“Wait until I show Clair,” I said. “Shouldn’t she be back by now?”
“Yeah. Tink said she went to help with…” Peter stopped as she said something else. “What? What do you mean Hook got them?”
“What?!” That caught my attention. “Who’s got her?”
“Oh, just an old codfish called Hook,” Peter answered. “He’s the captain of a crew of pirates that keep looking for treasure here.”
“Pirates?!”
“Oh, yes. I’ve been meaning to get a good scuffle with some buccaneers in.” Scrooge smiled as he flew up. “Which way to the ship?”
“That way.” No sooner than Peter pointed which way than I began flying as fast as I could in that direction. If my cousin was in danger I was going to help her. However, I then felt something grab the back of my shirt. “Hold on. Not so fast.”
“What are you doing? Let me go!” I growled at the boy.
“She’ll be fine. We’ll make a new game from this.”
“This is no time for games!”
“Come on. If you don’t try to have fun, you’re going to grow up to be a grumpy old man like Hook. Is that what you want?”
I don’t know why, but I found myself thinking of my father, and what he did to me for years. I was still angry with him, but I knew I did not want to be anything like him. “… No.”
“Then listen up. Here’s what we’ll do.”
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