Faith, Trust, and Leaf-Men?

Chapter 2: The Chase

So, this is where things start to get complicated for the inhabitants of Pixie Hollow. P.S. I forgot to do this again. I do not own Tinker Bell or Epic. They belong to Disney and Blue Sky Studios.

OOXO

As Tinker Bell sped toward where the Pixie-Dust Tree was located, her friends quickly caught up with her, who were wanting to believe that this was all a nightmare. As the Tree came into view, everyone gasped, horrified to see that the bark was starting to turn a sickly shade of green, where a hole could clearly be seen at the center of the sickening patch.

Queen Clarion and the Ministers of the Seasons were already present, terrified beyond measure, wondering who, or what, could have done this.

"This doesn't look good. If the Pixie-Dust Tree is truly poisoned, then it could die, and if it dies, how will we be able to travel to the mainland to change the seasons?" the Minister of Spring wondered, clearly worried by the horrific situation at hand. Everyone knew that the only reason that fairies could fly was the pixie dust produced by the tree.

"Something must be done about this. Fall is nearly upon us. If we cannot save the tree, there's no telling what consequences may occur," the Minister of Fall replied, as worried as the rest of them.

As Tink landed on a branch of the tree, she spotted her dust-keeper friend, Terrence, with Fairy Gary by his side. Wanting to find answers, she sped toward them, landing beside them.

"Terrence, how did this happen? When did you all notice? Did you see anyone, or anything, suspicious?"

"Tink, one at a time. First, we don't know who, or what, could have gotten to the tree. Second, I was just going to gather some dust, when I noticed what was wrong. And third, from what I've heard, no one has seen anything suspicious around here. Queen Clarion is clueless about who could have even gotten to the tree. If I didn't know any better, I would think that a fairy did it, but that wouldn't make any sense, seeing as how the Tree is the only reason that we're able to fly."

Biting her lip, deep in thought, Tink began to wrack her brain, trying to find out if she had seen anything suspicious. Now that she thought about it, she had seen something very odd as she was passing through the Autumn Realm.

Deciding that she had to go and check it out, Tink flew over to where her friends were investigating the puncture in the tree's bark. Informing her friends on her hunch, they all flew over to the Autumn Realm, with Clank struggling to keep up, seeing as how the others were in a hurry and Clank wasn't exactly the fittest one of the bunch. Reaching their destination, Tink led them to a certain branch, where she had spotted an unusual bump that didn't look like it had belonged. Locating it, she realized that the bump was indeed gone. Knowing that there was an intruder in Pixie Hollow, Tink turned to her friend, Vidia, and said,

"Vidia, go and warn the Ministers that there's an intruder in the Hollow. The rest of us will try to locate him, or her."

When Vidia sped off, Tink began to split the fairies into groups, to scour all the realms. Speeding off, with Clank and Bobble, to Spring Valley, Tink wondered how they could be able to find someone in all those realms. Glancing down, she saw that the Ministers were already organizing search parties and guards to secure the borders of the realms, since whoever it was couldn't have gotten far, since they weren't able to fly. They knew this because there was no sign of any pixie dust by the puncture wound on the Tree.

As Tink flew past other fairies, who were also joining the search, Tink noticed something duck behind one of the trees nearby. Signaling to Clank and Bobble to keep quiet, they all peeked around, just in time to see something race around the tree.

"Stop right there! Who are you?"

As Tink and the others began to follow after, they nearly bumped into Rosetta and Vidia, who had arrived just in time to see them pursue their target. Joining the chase, they tried to keep the intruder in sight, as it jumped from tree to tree, with surprising agility. With a burst of speed, Vidia tackled it to the ground. As she stared into its horrific face, she gasped in shock, loosening her grasp a little, just enough for it to get away. Quickly recovering, Vidia sped after it once more, not expecting for it to make a sharp turn to the right. Caught off guard, Vidia tried to brake, only to crash into a bush.

"Vidia, are you all right?" Rosetta asked, knowing that that couldn't have felt great.

"I'm fine, just go get that thing. I'll be with you in a jiffy."

As Vidia tried to break free of the branches that were pinning her down, the others ran into Silvermist, Fawn, and Iridessa, who quickly joined the chase.

Spotting the thing crossing a stream, Silvermist created a watery vortex to pin it down, only for it to dodge at the last possible second. Fawn tried to get some squirrels to catch it, but to no avail. Spotting a stream of sunlight, Iridessa redirected the light toward the thing's face, causing it to cry out in pain. Before Rosetta could tangle it in some vines, however, a huge raven appeared out of nowhere, scattering the fairies with its powerful wings. As she crashed into a tree branch, Tink saw the thing leap onto the bird's back and fly off. Determined to catch it, she managed to grab onto the bird's tail feathers, while Rosetta grew vines to tangle it. Squawking in protest, it knocked off its rider, which managed to land on another tree branch. Darting into the forest once more, its path was intercepted by Vidia, who had finally managed to break free. To make sure that it wouldn't get away again, Vidia, Fawn, and Silvermist sped toward it from three directions. However, the creature just smiled and disappeared through the tree. Eyes widening in shock, the three fairies all tried to brake, but to no avail. With a sickening thump, they all crashed into the tree, wondering, in their dazed states, why they hadn't passed through, as well.

"Oh, when I get my hands on that thing, it's so going to get it," Vidia mumbled, gingerly picking herself up.

"That thing sure was fast. Ow, my head," Silvermist moaned, rubbing her forehead, where a bump was already starting to form.

"What was that thing, anyway?" Fawn asked, not liking where this was going.

"Well, whatever it was, it wasn't from around here," Bobble replied, with a wheezing Clank behind him.

Eyes narrowing in curiosity, Tink experimentally pushed on the bark of the tree, trying to see how the creature got through. As she began to knock on the tree, trying to hear any sort of hollow sound, Queen Clarion and the Ministers of the Seasons arrived, having heard of the commotion. When Tink explained how the creature had gotten away, Queen Clarion narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.

"I shall report this to Lord Milory, straight away," the Minister of Winter announced, prepared to set out, when the Queen stopped her.

"Tell Milory of the Boggan's escape route. I want him to know of this."

"Queen Clarion, how do you know what that thing is?" Tink asked, wondering how she could've known.

"I will explain all of this back in the Square."

OOXO

Well, well, well, the plot thickens! Of course, I will explain how Clarion knows of the Boggans. Until then, keep in touch!