Big Nemo

Disclaimer: I do not own Slumberland, Nemo, Camille, Bon-Bon, Professor Genius, King Morpheus, or Flip. However, Professor Cloud and the helicopter are my inventions.
Storyline: This is actually an old story that I always wanted to continue. If you think it's stupid or you hate it, please don't tell me so. I'm already paranoid about it.

It had been 8 years since Nemo had visited Slumberland. Princess Camille was now a mature, beautiful young woman, King Morpheus had left the crown to his daughter and was now only a shadow of the man he used to represent, and Professor Genius was retired and living in the outskirts of Slumberland. One of the only people in Slumberland keeping up the same acts as when Nemo was around was Flip. Just after Nemo left, Flip was back to his crow-riding, people-terrorizing, mischief-making ways. One would think that after 8 years the man would slow down, but Flip was still up at his more youthful standards. Even the police officers that used to chase him had long since retired and made way for new young ones to catch up to the constant bother to the town.

Nemo was now a 16-year-old scholar and athlete in high school. He had become a very handsome young man with wavy brown hair and deep-set brown eyes that most girls in the high school desired. He was a starting varsity football player at his high school and was adored by everyone around him. He realized that he could have had any girl at school he wanted at any point in time, but he continually thought about a girl with blue eyes and auburn hair that he kissed on a dirigible. Who was that girl?

One night, before Nemo went to sleep, he decided to clean under his bed. As he pulled boxes of football trophies and plaques out from under his bed, he spotted a strange box with an air of royalty to it. A strange white box with little floral designs on it. Wow. Maybe this'll be worth something, he thought. Nemo then decided to open it to see if any inscriptions of where it came from were carved inside. Instead, he found a note. It told about cookies made at the royal bakery, courtesy of Princess Camille. Princess Camille? The name sounded vaguely familiar. After a few minutes of intense thinking, he decided to sleep on it and maybe it would pop in his head in the morning. He also had heard that dreams could tell people answers that may have not been answerable in the conscious world.

As soon as Nemo was asleep, he began to dream. He began to dream of the royal-looking cookie box and what royal bakery it could've came from. Soon a white light had filled his room and the sound of helicopter blades thundered in the air outside of his bedroom window. Thinking that he had finally gone insane, Nemo stumbled on over to the window and shut the blinds. He saw a strange hovering flying contraption, definitely a different sight from the propeller-driven airplanes and trains used for transportation in these times! The loud helicopter sound pierced his ears. Looking between the blinds, he saw that the contraption was close enough to touch from his window! Immediately he slipped some pants over his long underwear pants, his usual nighttime attire, and put on a shirt just in case the people on the helicopter could see him. He wanted to look more closely at the helicopter but the sound of it was deafening. He turned around, put in earplugs that were lying on his desk, pulled his blinds up a bit, and then opened his window a slight amount to look at the helicopter and what it was doing at his house. Once the window was a crack open, he could barely hear the talking of people aboard the helicopter, but knew that there must be a good-sized bunch. Also, he saw that the helicopter was a helicopter for celebrities and royalty! Hanging out of the open helicopter door about three feet from his window, the people on the helicopter motioned for him to get in, but Nemo was dumbstruck for a moment. A few seconds later he got an incredible déjà vu, and thinking about that, he immediately jumped into the helicopter.
Once aboard, a tall, wire-thin man with curly black hair and thick glasses by the name of Professor Cloud welcomed Nemo, gave him a tour of the helicopter, and introduced him to the passengers. Nemo thought Professor Cloud was a very corny man, but suspected that he must be some college scout testing him out.

Nemo was flattered with the immense attention, but wondered why it was he that was on this great helicopter. After he had been introduced to more than twenty people, the college scout idea floated out of his mind.

"Uh, this is great and all, Sir, but why am I here?"

"You are here, my boy, because Slumberland misses you more than you'll ever know. The Queen misses you the most, though…."

"What Queen? I kept seeing these things about a Princess lately. Any relation between the two?"

The Professor began to laugh heartily. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Nemo…. You knew the Princess eight years ago. Forgive me, I was not there; Professor Genius was your guide. Her father, the former King Morpheus of Slumberland, is now too old to carry the throne and scepter and has passed it on to his daughter, the Princess, who is now the Queen of Slumberland."

"Do you have a photo of her that I may be able to recognize her?"

"Hmmm…." The Professor looked around his wallet, then the chopper, asking an occasional passenger, but no pictures of the Queen were to be found. "I'm sorry, Nemo, but there aren't any pictures of her aboard the helicopter."

"How did you know my name right when I got on this thing? I never told you it."

"You'll see…."

As the helicopter flew towards Slumberland, Nemo sputtered out questions about the helicopter, Slumberland, and the queen lady.

"What's she look like?"

"Well, she has blue eyes, and auburn hair--"

"Huh?" Nemo felt a spark of recognition. Unfortunately, it left him as fast as it had came. He hadn't remembered what he had said the day before.

Finally the helicopter arrived in Slumberland. Nemo just couldn't get any recognition out of the balloons everywhere, the smiling and waving people, and the tall castle steeples reaching up to the clear blue sky. Everything was quite beautiful and perfect, and the crystalline clouds surrounding the small kingdom were definitely not storm clouds. Lush foliage dotted the grounds about the white castle in the center of the kingdom. As soon as the helicopter started to try to sink down to land, a gigantic black crow flew right underneath the aircraft, causing temporary turbulence. Nemo spoke up after regaining his lost balance. "What was that?"

The pilot of the helicopter answered. "That is the town's mischief maker. Slumberland would never have to have any police if he wasn't here."

"That crow?"

"No, there's a man riding the crow. Look out your window. You'll see him. He's a plump fellow."

"Yeah, I see him."

Nemo sensed he had seen the man before, a chubby humorous-looking fellow, but he could not recall what part the man had played in his existence, and could not recall his name.

The helicopter landed safely and Nemo was escorted out. Hundreds of people waved at him and shouted his name happily. Nemo, beginning to catch on to the popularity thing, waved and smiled back. He, Professor Cloud, and a painted-up teenage girl named Bon-Bon walked up a flight of steps leading into a part of the castle. There, he was brought before a throne with its back turned. Professor Cloud stood proudly next to Nemo and signaled to the guards nearby to turn the throne around. A button on the wall was pressed, and the throne began to turn. Nemo's eyes grew wide, hoping that this Queen was recognizable. However, when it was turned around to show him Her Majesty Queen Camille, the throne was empty. Suddenly, Nemo became very dizzy and almost fell over. He had had a déjà vu about this scene. He remembered the throne being empty another time after the guards had tapped the ground with their poles to turn the throne around. So, he had been here before! He remembered a bit more. Once the guards and the tall man he was with had realized the person in the throne was missing, they ran off and left him all alone. Somehow, he ended up in an upside-down room….
The guards and the Professor ran off to look for the Queen and Nemo was left again to fend for himself. He just stood there, wondering if the Queen had a train set that ordinary humans could ride on…. He immediately felt like a madman and shook his head at his stupid thoughts.

Soon Nemo was approached by a short, chubby guy with a long maroon jacket and a top hat. The man had clown makeup on and seemed like a fun-loving guy. He walked right up to Nemo and took off his hat, revealing a bald head with tufts of black hair around his ears. "Hey, Nemo, do ya remember me?" he asked cordially.

"Hmmm…. I heard that you and your bird almost wrecked the chopper."

"Ehhh… I wasn't gonna wreck it, I've just never flown ol' Flap underneath a chopper before, wanted to try it."

"I see…."

"So you don't remember me, eh?"

"I've seen your face before, I just don't recall your name."

"Do you remember any of the fun stuff we did, kid?"

Nemo thought deeply for a while. Within a minute or two he got flashbacks. "Let's see…. I do remember you having to carry a ton of luggage through some swampy area. I also remember you falling out of a cannon…. Oh, yeah, and I think I recall correctly when I say that I think I rode your crow once… right into fireworks…. Am I wrong?"

Flip pushed out a nervous laugh. "Uh, no, kid, you're right, but, uh, do you remember any of the positive things about me?"

"Well…." Nemo stuttered as he thought.

"You're tellin' me that you don't remember making the dinosaur sneeze all over the bandstand? Or the fun rides on my crow?"

"No, I don't think I remember that…."

"Uh, do you know my name?"

A blank look from Nemo signaled for a change of subject. Flip was somewhat disappointed but was sure he could help Nemo remember who he was. Cheering up, he strove to make plans for the day.

"Nevermind that, kid, whaddya wanna do first in this wonderful land?" He pulled a long brown cigar out of his coat pocket and placed it in the corner of his mouth. Nemo's eyes lit up, remembering the man as the only person he had ever seen smoke a cigar, and his brain registered the name. "You're Flip, right?"

Flip gave Nemo a big buddy hug. "Yay, kid! Good job! So, what are your plans? Wanna fly on my crow?"

Nemo felt bad but had to tell Flip what he was really here for. "I'm here to see the Queen; do you know where she is?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, kid…. Oh, by the way, what happened to that little squirrel you used to have? That Icarus furball?"

Nemo answered more quickly than expected. "He died about six years ago. He was a good squirrel."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Flip stammered. To imagine that cute fuzzy animal not around anymore…. Flip almost came to the point of tears. In this happy world of Slumberland sadness and death were not well known. In a few seconds, however, he was back to the happy-go-lucky Flip he always had been.

Flip lead the way to where he thought the Queen was. Nemo began to follow, but decided to go the other direction after thinking about where her chambers were. Straightening his clothes, Nemo walked toward the part of the castle that her room was in as Flip was just realizing that Nemo wasn't behind him. Sighing sadly, Flip disappeared back into the sky on his crow. "Man, that kid sure has changed…."

Queen Camille sat inside her chambers, brushing through her long shiny auburn hair. Oh, how I have missed him! I hope he knows who I am…. I just couldn't bear to see him for the first time in eight years in front of everybody, she thought.

She wondered what Nemo looked like now. "Oh, he's probably so handsome," she said to herself.

Just then there was a knock at her chamber doors. Swallowing hard, she straightened her red satin dress out and opened the doors a crack. Standing before her, with wavy brown hair and deep-set brown eyes, was Nemo. Immediately she swung open the doors and greeted Nemo with a warm hug. Nemo looked at the girl hugging him at this moment. He then knew that this was the One he was thinking about but couldn't put his finger on who it was! Just then he knew everything at once. And, knowing what girls wanted to hear, he began to stammer. "Camille, I've really missed you. I've been thinking about you a lot."

"Oh, Nemo. It's been terribly lonely without you. You're all I can think and dream about."

Nemo decided that he was going to give his second kiss to Camille too. He had saved it for her. And so he kissed her. And Camille gave her second kiss to Nemo.

As the pair was kissing, a good long lip-lock, Professor Cloud walked in. Uncomfortably, he fixed his collar as Nemo and the Queen realized they were being watched and stopped the kiss. They stood side by side as Cloud came over to Nemo's side. "I see you've met Queen Camille," he said.

"Uh, yeah," Nemo muttered, embarrassed.

Professor Cloud talked to Nemo a bit about the changes in Slumberland since he had last came.

"Slumberland hasn't had Nightmare since you destroyed it! Also, the technology has really grown. As you can probably tell, the dirigibles that used to be our prime source of transportation have evolved into helicopters! We now use telephones, of course, helicopters, and all sorts of wonderful new things."

"Well, that's good," Nemo replied half-heartedly. At the moment, he only wanted to spend more time with Camille. She was without a doubt the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and to think that she wanted to be near him too…

"Also, Nemo, the guide who escorted you around Slumberland eight years ago, Professor Genius, is now retired and living near the boundaries of Slumberland. He is a tired old soul now, but he is currently flying to this location in a helicopter just to see you again!"

"Are you of any relation to the Professor?"

"Uh, as a matter of fact, I am. I am his nephew. He is the youngest brother in his family, and I am only ten years his junior, the son of his eldest brother."

"I see…." Nemo was obviously not interested. Being a high school age, Nemo's interests lay elsewhere. The Professor sensed this and left hastily after explaining a few more brief facts. "Now don't you two do anything I wouldn't do!" he shouted as he departed.

Once he left, Nemo and Camille talked the rest of the day about each other's lives, comparing and contrasting the times. Nemo talked about his high school and his sports and the Queen talked about how boring it was in Slumberland anymore. "Nothing is happening here. No Nightmare. No big problems to figure out. There's nothing for a queen to do here."

"But isn't Flip--"

"Yes, he's rather annoying and pesky. If it weren't for him I'd probably die of boredom. He's the only project this town has. Once he's incarcerated, that's it for any excitement around here."

Meanwhile, Flip grumbled around town, thinking of how much his little buddy Nemo had changed. He pondered what it would take to get the kid back on his side. It was apparent that Nemo didn't care about anything but girls now. Oh, to have Nemo as an ally. The cops had been after him more lately, and he had had a few close calls. Once Nemo was on his side, he could persuade the Queen of Slumberland to oblige, and he would not be in any more trouble.

Flip then suddenly popped an idea into his head. He could impress the kid, or at least make him smile, with a spectacular stunt. He had heard that a blimp celebrating Nemo's arrival was heading across town in a few minutes. Thinking of how amazing it would be to see a blimp pop and to have Nemo see it, Flip decided to light his cigar, ride Flap up to the blimp, and pop the blimp with the lit butt of his cigar. It would be the perfect troublesome thing to do. Besides, he was sure that Nemo, at this day and age, would not be impressed with a dumb boring blimp floating peacefully across the sky. Teenage boys loved wreaking havoc. He knew that he himself always did. Just as he had planned it all out, the blimp started across town, a huge white blimp with the bold happy lettering "Welcome Nemo" across it. Once the cigar was lit and ready, he began to start up into the sky underneath the blimp.

Nemo and Camille were notified of the blimp's crossing and looked out of the third-story window of the castle for the blimp. Dozens of floats and balloons filled the air as every citizen waved at Nemo in the window. The blimp was a bit higher, with an odd black shadow underneath it steadily increasing velocity, heading for the blimp. "Hey, Camille, is that Flip's crow flying up underneath the blimp?"

"Yes, Nemo, that does look like his crow. That must mean my police force is not doing its job." She spotted Flip on the crow. "Yep, Flip's sitting on it. What is he going to do?"

"I'm actually quite afraid of what he's capable of. A year or so after you were gone, he almost killed a whole crowd of people. He made a helicopter wreck into a school building. Sometimes I really wish that the police would just catch him. I'd be bored, but now that you're here, that'll be taken care of." She smiled warmly as Nemo leaned towards her to steal another kiss. He was definitely a Casanova, for never actually kissing another girl other than her. He seemed to be born with the Touch.

Nemo and Camille watched Flip fly up underneath the blimp and take his cigar out of his mouth. As the blimp flew softly across the sky, Flap flew alongside it with Flip holding his cigar near the canvas of the blimp. Both Nemo and Camille realized what he was trying to do. Both exclaimed at once, "He's going to pop the blimp!"

Within a few seconds the blimp caught fire. As Flip flew quickly away from the blimp, the fire ate a hole in the broad side of the blimp and loudly popped the blimp. In a matter of moments the blimp quickly deflated and the canvas of the blimp flew wildly all over the air. The huge mass of canvas slammed many people off their floats and knocked them to the ground below. The popping of the blimp injured many people and put many in critical condition. Flip was flying away too fast to turn around, but knew that no matter what had happened, the police were after him. "Hehe, they'll never catch me!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Nemo and Camille had just witnessed the whole horrible act and were gaping with mouths wide open. "Oh my-what just happened?" the Queen asked, hoping she was just having a Nightmare. Nemo could only stare blankly.

Immediately the Queen jumped up, startling Nemo out of his wits. "Ohhhhh, he's in for it now!" she fumed. Stomping around angrily, she threw open the window. Scanning the scattering crowd of citizens below, she spotted some of her guards and police. "GET FLIP! HE'S THE CULPRIT! ARREST HIM NOW!"

The guards looked up at her vantage point high above the ground. The head guard yelled up as respectfully as he could. "Did you see which way he went, Your Majesty?"

"YES I DID," she yelled back. "HE FLEW TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE KINGDOM."

A quick nod from the head guard, and the police force was off to apprehend Flip. An EMS squad attended to the injured, and the whole kingdom was in an uproar against the enemy.