[I started this awhile back, but then lost the file so I had to retype it from memory. Inspired by the Kingdom Keepers series I came up with my own group of kids nicknamed after well known Disney Characters with the exception of 1, who are different yet similar to the Keepers to encounter them and go on an adventure. I typed this fast and short just to get it out there first, but there will be more to it later on . Enjoy and please review!]

xxx

Either it was pure coincidence, a twist of fate, or someone was throwing Pixie Dust behind our backs that I had met him. It was dark, or rather dim lighted in the waiting line to The Living Seas: Nemo and Friends attraction ride. I was weaving through with no problem, but in no hurry, through the long and winding area designed to give a underwater setting as guests made their way to the loading dock. The ride could load several guests into shell shaped cars at once over a period of less than a minute, so there was hardly ever a wait. If anything, it was time to walk through the entire waiting area exhibit that took the most time prior to the ride. But it was one of my favorite parts before I even get to experience the ride, because the more I walked, the deeper I felt in its underwater ocean setting. It was like I had turned into a little fish myself and was swimming into an adventure of my own as vast as the ocean. I'm sure that's what Disney Imagineers had in mind as they were designing the attraction.

Just moments away from the boarding area, I accidentally bumped into someone who was walking, or perhaps almost running, from the opposite direction. Since they were moving at a faster pace, there was a small impact that nearly caused us to lose our balance.

"Oops, sorry," I immediately apologized. There was a small clatter on the floor and I noticed the person in front of me had dropped their sunglasses? Why would someone be wearing sunglasses in a dim lighted place like this, I thought as I immediately bent down to pick them up. When I was straightening up, I could see it was a boy about my age in front of me, wearing dark clothes and a baseball cap pointed low to hide as much of his face as possible. "Here, you dropped this," I said as I handed him back his glasses. He took them wordlessly with a nod.

"T-Thank you," he said quietly, almost in a whisper, and tried to hurry around me to move on. But something caught my attention as he passed me.

"You're-" I gasped and he froze abruptly. "I know you-"

"Don't know what you're talking about," he murmured as he tried to get away, but it seemed like he couldn't move his legs. Was he perhaps...afraid? I did know him, from somewhere. I wasn't sure at first because he could've been anyone, but his response practically proved it.

I took a step forward and whispered to his ear, in case someone was listening, "Uncle Walt's pen."

This time the boy whipped around, his sunglasses not yet put back on so I saw his expression. He looked shocked, no...he looked beyond shocked. I hit Captain Hook's treasure dead on.

"H-How do you..." but the boy quickly went silent and then a second later I heard it too. Footsteps. Other guests would be making their way to where we were and, assuming my discovery was correct, he would be exposed. Without thinking I grabbed his arm and pulled him close to me on the darker side of the path in order to blend him in more as we made our way closer to the boarding dock.

"Not here. Best get on the ride. Keep to my left and don't make any eye contact with anyone. I'll act as if you're my brother or a close friend of mine and the workers won't question us. I'll explain everything on the ride," I whispered to him hastily as we made our way to the boarding dock. The room was a bit more brighter to ensure safety of boarding and directing guests. The boy kept his head down and avoided eye contact as I quickly and completely took the worker's attention in boarding the shell car. The worker, being occupied by managing the cars, the guests, and the operation board all at once simply directed us to a car and moved on. We hurried to board and spoke not a word until we were clear out of sight. The Finding Nemo attraction began as the audio track of the storyline began. Marlin's voice started speaking.

The boy remained silent, as if unsure what to say or ask, but I could tell by his gaze that I had all of his attention. Nemo's school teacher and friends appeared in front of us as digital graphics.

"I know who you are," I began. "It won't be necessary for me to say it so we can leave it at that. But before you go accusing or assuming stuff about me in the wrong way, I want you to hear me out. I've heard stories about you, and I'm not just talking about surface news. I mean, I've heard behind the scenes-no, beyond behind the scenes stories about you. I can't tell you when or where I heard it, not yet at least, for safety reasons of a certain source." I paused to see if he had any reaction, but his face had turned blank, stone, almost emotionless as if he was trying to put up a guard. We entered the jellyfish scene, where puppet displays of jellyfish hanged from the air. It was my favorite part of the ride, because the jellyfish looked so real, and popped out more than the digital graphics of the Nemo characters.

"How do you know about...it?" The boy whispered in a low voice after hesitating to choose his words carefully. He's really on his guard, I noticed.

"The same source from where I heard the stories," I answered him. Our shell cart now entered the EAC scene. All around us were digital bubbles, fish, and of course Crush, Squirt, and Nemo on a tunnel shaped screen. We were approaching the end of the ride soon.

I continued on, "I'll cut to the chase. I'm like you, but at the same time unlike you. And while were at it let me tell you I'm not the only one; there are four others like me, just like your...friends."

This time I got a bigger reaction. "You mean you're a DHI?" The boy gasped and had quite difficulty keeping his voice down. Luckily we had entered the finale part of the ride where the attraction played the song In The Big Blue World with all the characters over and over in harmony; almost as overused as the It's A Small World Track.

I held a finger to my lips to point out caution with the volume of his voice. He immediately went silent. Since the ride was pretty much over, I motioned him to follow me after. We hopped off the ride and quickly made our way to the attraction's biggest display, the aquarium. The Living Seas hosted several displays of aquarium tanks home to similar fish and sea mammal breeds that appeared in the movie Finding Nemo. Sharks, eels, dolphins, sting rays, crabs, jellyfish, and of course clownfish. We made our way past all of the displays towards the exit. This time, the boy tried to resist my grip that was once again on his arm.

"Wait wait!" he whispered. "We have to watch out for guards!"

"There are none," I assured him, still tugging. "I understand your concern, but while we were getting off, if you didn't notice I was texting on my cell phone. One of my friends is stationed outside as a lookout, he reports there are none around the exit."

"And if your friend is wrong?"

"Then I've got a plan. You've got to trust me on this if you want to know more about me, about us, Finn," I whispered his name so no one would here. He froze and stopped resisting. After a second of looking into his eyes with determination, he gave me a slight nod and we made haste. In the next second we breezed through the automatic doors and stepped out into the humid Orlando sun.

[1]

"About time you got here," a boy's voice immediately spoke to us as we stepped outside the building. He was taller than Finn, but no taller than average height. He had dark skin, not as dark as one of Finn's friends, but still noticeably dark. His black hair shined in the afternoon sunlight like black pearls and his faded yellow eyes looked upon Finn like a tiger. Finn gulped and wondered what he got himself into.

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite," I joked.

"Usually," The tall boy grinned a dazzling smile, one that seemed to fit on model advertisements. "Come over this way, we found a great rendezvous point where the others are waiting.

Others? Finn wondered.

The tall boy went ahead down a shaded path and turned right at a corner. I let go of Finn and looked at him.

"Well, we may say that, but the decision is up to you if you want to trust us and learn more about us," I told him. "If you want to run, we're not stopping you, but hear me out on this. Whether you like it or not, we're connected now, so there's a high possibility that we'll see each other again even if you decide to leave now. And believe me, that's not something my friends or I decided, it's what we've chose to accept and make the best out of it. You're the leader, the choice is up to you." I took a few steps away from him, to show he was free to choose. Although I was slightly hoping in my heart he would choose to follow.

Finn thought for a moment, but not as long to waste any precious time he had. He made a decision with a strong determination in his eyes. "Lead the way, I won't run," he said. I gave a bright smile.

"This way," I said, as I started to move ahead but not much to distance myself from him. This time I didn't take his arm, but he followed at a close distance. We moved down the path that the dark skinned boy had gone down, keeping our watch and distance on the guests that were moving about a few feet away from us. A few seconds later we found ourselves at a hidden area just outside of The Land, a facility that hosted both attractions and dining. There standing among a shadow casted by the building were four kids, including the dark skinned boy Finn had saw area.

"Good, looks like you've convinced him," the dark boy smiled. I glared at him.

"He came on his own, so do us a favor and don't tip off his trust on us, tiger," I stuck my tongue at him. He raised his palms up in defense.

"Easy there princess, you should know I'm careful with my prey," the boy shot back as a joke. Finn seemed to be a bit nervous around him.

"Enough bickering already you two," another boy interrupted. Finn saw he was a boy slightly shorter than the dark boy wearing glasses and a fedora with a blue feather tucked underneath the band. He had lighter hair, blonde it seemed like, and blue eyes. Finn guessed he was probably German. "We need to give him the 411, right?" He took a step towards Finn and looked him up and down, making Finn feel even more uneasy. "Don't worry," the German boy told him, "We won't harm you. Din over there just likes to make jokes on every other boy he meets." He jabbed a thumb towards the dark skinned boy known as Din.

"I just wanted to make him feel welcomed," the boy called Din answered in a whimsical tone.

"W-Who are you guys?" Finn finally found his voice.

"We're Wishers, Finn Whitman," the German boy told him, which caught Finn by surprised hearing his full name.

"Wishers?"

"That's right," I cut in. "Remember what I told you on the Finding Nemo ride? We're like you, but unlike you."

"So you're DHIs?" Finn said the word again for a second time, and again in a whisper.

"Not exactly," The German boy said. "To put it simply, we were the prototypes for DHIs. As you and your friends are rumored to be Kingdom Keepers, we're known as Kingdom Wishers. But unlike you, we don't have DHIs, we aren't publicly known, but we were hired for certain...tasks."

"We're basically extras, forgotten luggage, lowlifes, deadweight-" Din put it before he was interrupted by a shoe thrown at his face. A shoe that, to fin, looked more like a replica of Cinderella's glass slipper, only it wasn't made out of glass when it feel to the ground, but clear rubber.

"You don't have to put it that way moron!" A petite girl with blonde hair and pink eyes argued at him. She carried a light blue parasol and aside from the Cinderella like slippers was dressed in a matching light blue one piece dress. She looks like Charlene with the exception of the size and eyes, Finn thought.

"That's Cindy," I informed him. "She's the real 'princess' of the group. But don't judge her by her size and looks, she's much tougher than she looks."

Like Charlene, Flinn thought again.

"Well Din was right on the first part," the German boy spoke again. "We are extras, since we were used more for like beta testing for you Keepers later on. But once the testing was done, they basically threw us out. We're just normal kids now, formally."

"Until we met someone that would connect us to you, Finn," I exclaimed. "Someone you probably know very well."

Flin nodded almost immediately, Wayne.

"Hey," a voice Finn heard for the first time spoke up. A boy a little taller than Cindy but shorter than the other boys with red hair and dressed in green clothes spoke up from behind Cindy, "Aren't we throwing random info at him all at once? He's probably confused by now you know."

"Oh dear you're right, we should've explained things in order," the German boy realized along with the others. "Well most of this we've already told you, but to set things straight each of us Wishers are nicknamed after a certain Disney character by our appearances and a wish that the Disney character represents. For example, I'm known as Jim or Jimmy, as in Jimininy Cricket from Pinnochio. I'm the wisher of bravery, truth, and unselfishness."

"He was called the Wisher of Conscience, but it sounded too dumb," Din whispered to Finn with a snicker. He ducked to avoid a blow from Jim's fist. "Me next! I'm Din, as in Aladdin. I'm the Wisher of Wonders, as in the Cave of Wonders. I'm also sometimes nicknamed Tiger because of my beastly looks."

"And behavior," Cindy added. Din gave her a look.

The blonde girl pointed out as the 'princess' spoke next, "I'm Cindy, which is short for Cinderella. I may look cute and small, but I'm top of the class in my martial arts club." She gave a Finn a demonstration, nearly landing a blow to his face with her foot, but stopping with just enough time to prevent contact. "I'm the wisher of dreams, from Cinderella's signature song A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes."

"Peter, as in Peter Pan," the red head boy spoke. "Wisher of Neverland. Don't ask me to fly though, because believe me I've tried, and I can't."

"He tried once during a recording, but nearly broke his arm," Jim recalled.

Fin nodded; he was starting to understand each of the Wishers and what their respective Disney references. Aladdin, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Jiminy Cricket. So that leaves, Finn thought turning to me.

"Ah well," I spoke up, "To tell you the truth I'm kind of the outcast of the group. I wasn't based on any Disney characters, and in fact wasn't even part of the original group. I just happened to run into these guys after I met your friend and stuck with them. My full name is Fleirfy, but everyone calls me Flei."

"Fleirfy? What a strange name," Finn observed.

"Actually its a scramble of the word Firefly," Jim announced. "Flei is dubbed as the Wisher of Light, and I'm not just talking about a firefly's light."

"Interesting," Finn thought. "And did Wa-I mean, my friend, come up with all of this?" All of the Wishers nodded. "For what purpose?"

"To be honest, we don't know," Din shrugged. "I mean, we may seem buddy buddy since we've been together probably longer than you keepers, but we weren't involved in much of anything until recently. We basically had normal lives after the testing."

Normal Lives, Finn thought. That almost sounded alien to him.

"That is, until all of the stories about you and your friends came about. Thats when we were recruited by your friend who relayed everything to us," Jim brought up. "Which brings us to the present."

"So my friend set you guys up to meet me?" Finn asked.

"Actually, we weren't expecting to meet you today," I came in. "Your friend sent us a note that something would happen today if we all went to this Disney park, but nothing was mentioned about you. We just knew something would happen."

"And it did," Finn concluded. I nodded.

"Yes, but it must've took amazing timing," I said. "The fact that I happened to be making my way on to the ride at The Living Seas as you were exiting out, and the fact we bumped into each other-" but I didn't finish my sentence. The others looked at me until I realized something very important and turned to Finn. "Why were you at The Living Seas Finn?"

"Uh..." But before Finn could answer, his cell phone buzzed. He took a second to check the ID and frowned. "Sorry," he said, "but I have to go."

"So soon?" Cindy asked, almost in a whiny tone.

Peter sighed, "Of course he has to Cindy, did you forget exactly who he is? In fact we may be putting him at a risk keeping him here."

"Oh no, it was no trouble at all," Finn assured them. He tried to think for a minute at what today. I decided to take charge.

"How about this Finn? We'll give you all of our numbers. If you want to know more about us, send us a text and we can meet up outside of the parks. We all live relatively close around here to each of the parks."

"Since when did you get put in charge?" Din argued.

"Since when did you have a big mouth?" I shot back. "So you in?" I asked turning back to Finn. He nodded and held out his cell phone. We each took turns putting our numbers in, and entered his after into ours. Then it was time to part ways.

"Well, it was nice meeting you today Finn, even if it was rather unexpected yet expected," Jim smiled. Finn managed to give a smile back.

"Yeah, same here," Finn nodded as he looked at each and every one of us. "I'm sure to keep in touch. I'm very interested in hearing more about your story, and your connection with...my friend. I'm sure the other keepers would like to meet you guys too."

"We'd love to meet them as well," I smiled.

"Who knows, maybe we have things in common with them," Peter laughed.

"You'd be surprised," Finn gave a small laugh himself. With one more look at us, he turned and headed off to leave. As soon as he was out of sight, the Wishers and I huddled for a secret discussion.

"So? We finally met him, now what?" Din asked, the most oblivious guy to details of the group.

"We'll probably be contacted again by his friend, so stay alert," I told everyone. They all nodded in agreement.

"He's cute," Cindy commented.

"What about me? I'm cute, aren't I?" Peter exclaimed next to her, half-joking, half-serious. "I thought you said you have a crush on me."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "You're as cute as a teddy bear," she joked.

"Thanks a lot!" It was Peter's turn to roll his eyes but he still laughed.

"We probably should start doing some research ourselves now," Jim mentioned.

"This is getting exciting," Din exclaimed with glee. "I feel like something big is going to happen."

"Hopefully a good kind of big. We don't want to run into any unexpected company," I told him. "Alright Wishers! Lets go!"