Episode 1: The Pirates, The Parrot, The Puzzles, and the Talking Boats

EPISODE 1! Hope it's good enough for ya'll! I edited some stuff again to fit in with Verge being inserted in the story. Really hope this makes up for the lost time!

Also, there was absolutely no proof-reading put into this (yet, at least) so please bear with me! And please read the note at the end!

"Not long ago, two heroes fought to save Earth."

"Most Dangerous World Imaginable is pushing in! It's too strong! I cannot close portal!"

"Vonnie, we have to close it from our side!"

"Phyllis!"

"It's the only way to keep Penn safe! He'll understand."

"Take care of him Phyllis."

"To save world from evil energy, they trap themselves in a lost dimension. Broken shards from fabric of Most Dangerous World Imaginable were scattered across time and space. Until yesterday. See? It's happy story. Anyway, that kid over there having bad hair day? That is their son. And that fairy with him? His fairy guide."

"Whoa, what is this—ah!"

"Penn and Verge return home with shard and for fourty two hour they have remained patient while Phyllis attempt to—"

"Phyllis, does it work?"

"…while Phyllis attempt to…"

"Phyllis, stop narrating! Can you locate my parents? Am I gonna get them back? I need to know now! NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW—"

"NO! It takes three shards to triangulate Most Dangerous World Imaginable. So I am needing two more."

"Two more?!"

"Yup, says right here on page 8," Boone, part-time Wiseman and Penn's best friend, turned the page of Penn's comic book, and pointed out the detail.

Divergent, the part-time fairy guide and Penn's oldest best friend, frowned as she flapped her golden wings and gazed down at her own copy. "This was strangely unnecessary. How did you do this overnight?"

Phyllis, the narrator and owner of the Odyssey, smirked at the fairy as she looked up from the table she was sitting behind. A large tarpaulin with her picture and the words "Phyllis-con" was placed behind her. "Phyllis don't tell you everything." Verge smirked back.

"How am I gonna find two more shards in the infinite multi-verse?!" Penn, the hero of our story, said in exasperation. Sashi, his part-time sidekick frowned as well. "Verge didn't need three shards to finally see her world!"

"Ahem."

"I-it's not that I'm not happy for you, again, it's just that I find this a tad unfair."

"There are plenty of shards that have broken from Most Dangerous World Imaginable" Phyllis explained. "The shards are also powerful enough to serve as key to any lost dimension – a lost dimension such as Fairy World."

Verge flapped her wings proudly.

"Relax," Phyllis continued. "I am adjusting your MUHU to detect when you are in world with shard. But, MUHU is not ready so, you go to work as normal."

Penn sighed and pinched his notes in frustration. "Yeah, okay! Uh, sure, fine! It'll be normal. But I want to save my parents ASAP!" He hit the comic book for emphasis and set it down on Phyllis' table. "Don't stop to make any more professional-looking comic books, okay?!"

"Uh-oh," Verge did a backflip, making her smaller as she flew to perch in Penn's hair, like she liked to do. "Someone's grumpy."

Penn sighed again. "I'm sorry. I—"

"Say no more." Verge bent forward from his hair and Penn looked up at her with his eyes. "I completely understand."

Looking into her tiny, sympathetic eyes, the redhead smiled softly and patted the brunette on her tiny head, gently ruffling her pigtails. "At least one of us has their problem solved. A princess only deserves the best."

Verge pouted. Penn chuckled.

Everyone got on the platform, Phyllis inputted the new dimension's algorithm, and said her usual words: "Good luck!"

As the heroes recovered from the zap and arrived in their new world, Verge opened her eyes to see a wide ocean. She stared at her new clothes and noticed she was wearing a long blue coat and a white shirt underneath with a cravat. She also wore a red skirt and brown boots like usual, but also had a tiny pirate hat atop her head. She beamed at herself, knowing right away that they were in a pirate world. She hovered beside Penn, who also admired himself in his new pirate gear.

"W-whoa-ho-ho! Look at this! Nice threads!" He looked to his right. "Not looking so bad there, Verge!"

"Thanks Zero!" she chirped. "You're looking unusual today too."

He laughed as he ran to stand on the mast, holding onto the rope as he also gazed at the ocean. "Check out this view!"

"We're back to work!" Verge cheered, pumping her fist. "And it feels good!"

Penn grinned. "

A green parrot with blue-rimmed glasses flew to perch on Penn's shoulder. He and the fairy immediately knew it was as they both smirked. "Nice beak," the redhead joked.

"Rah!" Sashi the parrot screeched, flying off. "Save your insults! Save your insults!"

"Oof, that is annoying," Penn huffed, straightening his hat. "Once would've done the trick, Sash."

"I still think you're cute!" Verge squealed, turning smaller as she went to take Sashi's head in her arms and nuzzle her. The parrot rolled its eyes but let the fairy be.

"Now we just have to find Boone," Penn put a hand over his eyes and scanned the area. "He's out there somewhere…"

"Nope!" Boone's voice called out. "Down here, buddy! I'm the boat…and a whale."

Verge flew away from Sashi and was surprised to find that the whole boat they were on was indeed fact a whale. Boone the Whale Boat to be precise. His fins rowed through the water as he kept the pirate ship moving.

The fairy's eyes twinkled. "That…is so awesome! How are you working?"

"Dunno!" the Wiseman Boat replied, his eyes half-lidded. "But it feels good."

"Ha! Well, shiver my timbers!" Penn laughed, sliding off the mast and back to the main deck. "I guess boats are alive in this world." He stomped on the deck twice as Sashi and Verge went to stand on it as well. "Oh, multi-verse, what will you come up next? Check the Specs, Sash!"

"Rah! Check the Specs, Sash! Check the Specs, Sash!" Even Verge jumped a bit beside her when Sashi screeched. The parrot was not too fond of her new form herself as she sighed. "I'm annoying."

Verge patted her wing gently. "You're adorable," she whispered.

Sashi just sighed once more and checked her Specs. "You are a good pirate. You must recover a treasure map from the fearsome pirate, Woodbeard, then find the treasure and get it safely away from him. WAH! Away from him, away from him!"

"Sounds simple enough!" Verge piped. She spoke as Boone chuckled, making the boat move and make her lose her balance.

"She sounds like a parrot!" he guffawed.

"WAH! Sounds like a parrot, sounds like a parrot!"

Verge frowned, as she flew upwards. "We've established that, Boone!"

"RAH! We've established that, Boone! We've established that, Boone!"

The whole boat shook as Boone laughed harder. Penn too began to lose his balance as the ground rumbled, and before they knew it, he was shot into the air by the water from Boone's whale blowhole. Verge screamed, as she didn't see it coming herself, and she and Penn rode the water until it disappeared. The two fell back onto the deck with a thud.

"Oh no!" Verge shook a bit, getting the water off, but she looked behind to find her golden wings drooping. "Boone, you got me wet!"

"Oops!" Boone blushed a bit, suddenly feeling apologetic. "Sorry, Vergie. New whale form, ya know?"

Penn picked the fairy up and placed her on his shoulder. "You can stay here for now."

"WAH! Here for now! Here for now!" Sashi, unaffected by the water as she flew away in time, perched on a barrel of apple cide, a smug look on her beak.

"Hey Sash, maybe with the bird's eye view, you can spot Woodbeard's ship!" Penn noted, standing up. He closed one eye and began talking in a pirate voice. "The sooner we be findin' ye ol' treasure, the sooner I be savin' me parents!"

"What," Verge said blankly.

Sashi deadpanned at him. "You're not gonna talk like that the whole time, are you?"

Penn straightened and crossed his arms. "Well no, I don't have to, but I thought it might be fun. I don't know why it's okay for you to talk like a parrot and I can't talk like a pirate… Pirate and parrot are practically the same word."

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time having fun here," Verge said, patting the space beside here, aka his shoulder. "Right now, let's do what we do best!" She pointed upwards. "Look! Sashi's already on the case."

"Rippen and Larry close ahead!" she called out. "We can sneak up from behind!

"Boone dive!" The talking whale boat began to swim underwater and head towards where the villains were.

Verge pointed at the rope above her. Penn nodded and swam towards it. As Boone neared the surface, they overheard Rippen's voice. "But, we have the treasure map, and therefore the advantage."

Boone leaped out from the water, and Penn swung off the sail mast. "Hahaha! You never have the advantage! Because you know what, you're you!"

He dropped onto Larry's deck and Rippen immediately started slashing his sword at him. Verge, who was still wet, yelped as she began to hide underneath Penn's hat.

Penn tried to get back on the boat and thanks to Rippen throwing his sword, he managed to get back onboard.

"I'll be taking your map and whatever self-respect you might have!" Penn declared, holding Rippen's belt up.

Verge peeked from the hat and giggled as the villain's pants fell down to his ankles. "Nice," she praised, and Penn gave her a tiny fist bump. He laughed cockily at his victory.

But then the sea began to rumble once more, and it wasn't from Boone's laughter. Another boat that seemed to be a dolphin leapt out from the water. As it suspended midair, a pirate also swung down on their own rope and swapped the map Penn had with another piece of paper.

"Hey!" he shouted. But the pirate landed on their boat safely and began to sail away.

"Huh, let's see what it says here," Penn murmured, holding the paper. "'Thanks for the map, and your belt. Sincerely, a better pirate'?" As if on cue, just like Rippen's situation, Penn's pants fell off. "O-kay." He laughed nervously to himself before throwing the paper onto the deck in annoyance.

"They got you good," Verge started.

"Not a word. Boone! After that apparently much better pirate! Go, go, go!"

And so Boone flipped his fins as fast as he could. Larry also began swimming after the pirates, and soon they started a wild chase. Verge held onto Penn's hair for deal life, careful not to let go, and their boat began to sing along the way.

"I'm a whale-faced boat and I'm floatin' free on this splishy splashy sea

And I chew on krill which is gross and smells

I'm not all for all to see

Splishy dishy wishy

And a yo-ho fiddly-fee

I'm the one that wrote this sea shanty

A shanty wrote for ye

We're hot on the tail of a scurvy ship

Where they're drivin' we can't tell

But we gotta get back the treasure map

So the multi-verse stay well

Splishy dishy wishy

Yo-ho-ho!
Splishy dishy splooshy

Yaaar!

Splishy dishy yo-ho-ho-ho!

"Why," Verge deadpanned.

"WAH! Oh no! Oh no!" Sashi screeched. "Waterfall! Waterfall! YAH! Waterfall! Waterfall!"

Sure enough, the pirates were heading straight for a giant waterfall and were about to fall off any moment.

"Did somebody say waterfa—AHHH!" The other pirate's dolphin boat began to shriek as she found herself at the edge, but Boone managed to bite her tail and hold her back in time.

"This is why boats should always brush and floss!" He struggled to pull the giant dolphin back, and Verge couldn't help thinking if her tail was starting to hurt.

"Verge! Can't you use your dust?" Penn shouted.

"Still wet!"

"Woodbeard's coming right for us!"

"Um…SQUAWK! SQUAWK!"

"What."

"What?" Sashi raised an eyebrow at her.

Verge shrugged as she settled on Penn's hat. She pointed upwards, and the two saw a flock of parrots heading their way. "Get them here, Sash!"

The part-time sidekick flew up and managed to communicate with the birds. They somehow managed to distract Larry, causing him to swim off the edge of the waterfall.

"Larry, NO!"

"Last one in's a rotten shark butt!"

"Yes!" Verge cheered.

This gave Boone enough time to get both him and the dolphin boat on safe waters. He panted as he finally let go of the other boat's tail. Penn, meanwhile, had other matters to attend to, and he dropped down and landed on the other boat. He pointed upwards at the crow's nest in anger.

"Come down and show thy cowardly face, you—"

"Beautiful lady?"

The pirate that stole the map finally revealed their face, and to everyone's surprise, it was a girl. A brown-skinned, dashing woman with a smile that made Penn blush. "Oh, boy," Verge sighed. "Remember when I said Penn falls for every girl in every dimension?" She whispered this to Sashi, and the parrot only looked annoyed as well.

Penn laughed nervously as he backed away. "No, no…I-I wasn't gonna say that."

"Because a pirate can't be female?" The woman continued to taunt him, moving closer to Penn.

"No! No, no, pirates can be females! Some of my best friends are lady…pirates!" His back hit the ship's wall, and he smiled awkwardly as the female pirate glared. "Um…this is Verge!" He pointed upwards to his hat, where the tiny fairy peaked from the flaps and she waved a bit.

But the pirate's gaze was still focused on him. Penn's lips quivered a bit…

Until the girl giggled. "I'm just messing with you! Thank you so much for saving our lives! We owe you! Big time!" She bowed her head a bit and Verge scoffed. "I'm Maria, and this is my boat, Maria."

"You both have the same name," Boone said, confused.

Boat Maria nodded. "Mm-hmm. Can you say confusing much?"

"Confusing much! Confusing much!" Sashi shrieked on Penn's shoulder. "AAH!"

"Oi," Verge sighed again.

Pirate Maria held a rolled up piece of paper. "The map's all yours!" She handed it to Penn. "I always thought it was cool to break the law but the way you guys chased us down and rescued us, I am really impressed! You have my respect sir!" She held out her hand and the redhead pirate shook it willingly.

"Do you now?" The fairy on his head squinted her blue eyes.

"From now on, I vow to be like you and fight on the side of good."

Penn apparently was still blushing, but he lifted his head in pride and crossed his arms. "Well, honestly, I'm glad I could just be an inspiration to ya."

Both Sashi and Verge rolled their eyes.

"With your new attitude, ye won't go far!" Penn used the funny pirate voice once again, and Verge yelped as he took his hat off, holding onto it once more. Penn laughed awkwardly as no one else laughed with him. "Heh, it's just pirate talk…"

"Can we go back on Boone now?" the fairy said impatiently, hanging from the hat.

"Whoops," Penn quickly adjusted his hat on his head and together with Sashi began to climb back on his own boat.

"I'll do my best to live up to your high standard!" Pirate Maria waved at the heroes as her boat Maria swam away.

"You guys are killin' it!" the dolphin boat cheered. "Especially the whale boat! You make it work from port to starboard, honey! Mm, mm, mm!"

If boats could blush, Boone certainly did. Verge chuckled a bit.

Penn sighed in satisfaction this time. "Feels good to make a difference, right gang?"

"I don't think we actually made an impact on her," Verge muttered.

But her friend ignored her and began to unroll the paper Maria gave. "Now, let's find that treasure so we can get home—What?!"

The fairy on his head peeked and was shocked to find they didn't at all have the map. "What the dust?"

"She switched the treasure map for an ad for eyebrow enhancement! I don't need eyebrow enhancement! My eyebrows are one of my best features!"

"Really?" Verge questioned. "Thought it was the hair."

"Not the point, Verge."

Sashi glared towards the direction the Marias left. "She's going down."

"Okay, let's settle this with calmness," The fairy knocked on Penn's forehead. "Let's not use violence, though it might be a good idea to use brute force."

Penn raised an eyebrow. "Since when were you okay with brute force?"

"Let's go after Maria and steal the map back!"

"Alright!" Penn pumped his fist in the air. "Boone!"

"Dive!" The whale boat cheered as he took to the underwaters again.

'Not again,' the fairy thought grumpily.

This time, Boone found it easier to swim with the waterfall than fall off of it. As he resurfaced, Sashi already managed to get the map.

"Nice!" Verge cheered. But as Penn retrieved what she stole, they realized it was only a part of what they needed.

Boat and Pirate Maria resurfaced from the water before them.

"Well!" Penn said, feeling cocky as he held up the paper. "Well, well, well." Pirate Maria did not look happy. The boats began to swim in circles. "Guess you can't find the treasure without half a map. Advantage: good guys."

"Uh, that doesn't make sense!" Pirate Maria brandished her rolled up half. "You can't find it with half a map either!"

"Who is and who isn't making sense isn't important. I've got one X and two riddles on my half of the map."

"And I have two Xs and one riddle!"

"And I have it going on!" Boat Maria seemed to eye Boone with a smile. "How you doin', Whale Boat? How you doin'?"

"Anyone else think this is weird?" Verge whispered as she made her way off Penn's shoulder and stood beside Sashi on the boat's rail.

"Now, look, I think we should team up, okay?" Penn persuaded. "We can split the treasure!"

Sashi did her best to talk with her beak closed. "Penn, what are you doing? We can't trust a pirate! Rah! Can't trust a pirate! Can't trust a pirate!"

"But aren't we pirates too?" Verge whispered back, her mouth also pinched into a smile.

Boone also replied in the same manner. "Technically, but remember Phyllis' pirate song? Yo-ho-ho! Ya-ha-ha! Never trust a pirate or I'll punch you in the jaw!"

"But we are also pirates!"

"We're good pirates," Penn assured, also forcing a smile like his teammates. "And yes, I'm well aware of the pirate song. But I can handle Maria."

Pirate Maria seemed to look at them mockingly as she too, smiled and spoke at the same time. "You can definitely not handle me."

"Look lady, we just wanna go home!" Verge complained.

"Chill out, Pirate Fairy. You've got yourselves a deal!"

With this, Penn smiled. "Finally," Verge crossed her arms. She did a backflip and returned to human size. "Let's get this over with."

The boats then found a place to float while Pirate Maria hopped aboard Boone and together with Penn, put the map together. Verge held up some scotch tape and it was as good as new. Penn frowned. "Where did you…" The fairy opened her mouth but he held up a hand. "Ah-ah. You don't tell us everything."

The first X seemed to glow as a picture of a talking fish ("What?" Verge scratched her head. Sashi was perched on her shoulder as she shrugged.) began to speak out their first clue. "Carefully choose your path before you stride. Let the first of these words serve as your guide!" It laughed as the heroes eyed the picture on the map.

"That place looks familiar," Sashi noted. "I saw that by the waterfall!"

"Then that's where we're headed!" Penn declared.

The heroes set off. Verge constantly kept trying to flap her wings but they were still too damp. "If we keep popping up from the water and surprising people for no reason, I'm never gonna get flying again." One of the fairy's pet peeves was getting her wings wet, for all she could do now was sit on the apple cider barrel with her legs crossed and mouth pouted.

"Aw, cheer up, Verge," Penn said. "You've always liked solving puzzles and solving mysteries. This treasure hunt will make you feel better."

"Well, it will, so long as Miss Two-Faced over there doesn't come up with any more tricks."

With that, Pirate Maria only winked.

The boats arrived at their destination, and soon they entered the cave on the map. Boone looked worried, but Penn, Verge, and Maria climbed up the cave's stairs in determination. They lead to a floor with various letters on it. On the other side of the floor, a big treasure chest sat upon a high platform.

"Huh," Penn wondered. "Letters all over the ground." Pirate Maria began to take a step forward, but Penn held her back. "Hold on, wait! The clue says to be careful."

Maria was still very stubborn. "I've never been afraid of letters and I'm not going to start now—"

Just as she spoke, the ground gave in underneath her and she began to fall. "Zero!" Verge cried, as he failed to catch her. The fairy reached out instead, and managed to grab Maria's wrist before she fell into a lake of hungry fish creatures with sharp teeth. Their jaws snapped, as if they had been hoping she would fall.

Penn helped Verge, pulled Maria up, and carried the pirate bridal style. Maria hung onto his neck, looking bewildered. "Okay, letters are terrifying."

"Tell me about it," Verge joked.

Her redhead friend, however, wasn't paying attention, as he only seemed to smile at Maria in his arms. The female pirate looked suspicious. "Uhh, if you can stop holding me in your arms now…"

Penn blushed for the nth time today. "What?" He looked around and set her down, chuckling nervously. "Weird! Y-you know I didn't- I didn't even notice." He continued to laugh like an idiot.

Verge coughed. "Smooth."

Penn just grinned. He walked towards Maria. "All we gotta do is spell the letters of the first word of the clue: Careful—"

Before he could even finish the word, the ground gave in beneath him as well, and he shouted out as he fell. "Maria!" Verge shouted this time.

The female pirate was right ahead of him, and saved Penn in the exact way he had saved her. One of the creatures poked its snout out from the hole in the ground, but Maria kicked it back. "Hawks," Verge murmured.

Penn decided to take advantage of the situation. "Now, who's holding who in whom's—whoa!" Maria let go of him before he could finish.

"Maybe we're thinking about the riddle too literally," she pondered. Sashi flew to sit on Penn's shoulder. "We need to think about this with a completely blank mind…"

"Where are we gonna get one of those?" Verge crossed her arms.

Boone gave a serious look from his area. "I'll do it!" he declared with determination.

"That'll do I guess," Sashi joked, turning to Verge.

Penn held out the map to his eye level. Boone smiled. "Okay. Going blaaaaaaaank…now! Carefully choose your path before you stride…let the first of these words serve as your guide…" A blank, dumb-stricken look was plastered on his face for quite a while.

Suddenly, Boone chuckled. "Okay, that's enough Disco Letter Monkey. Hahahaha!" Penn, Verge, Sashi, and Maria exchanged looks with one another. "Woohoo! Go go! Disco! Monkeh! Yeah!" He seemed to be dancing a bit in the water.

"This isn't working, is it," Verge deadpanned.

"'Fraid not," Penn replied.

"Oh wait wait wait wait wait wait wait!" Boone cried out. "The first of these words. You need to step on the first letter of each word! Yeah baby!"

Penn, Verge, and Maria grinned at each other.

"So we're just gonna ignore that he saw some monkeys," Boat Maria said grumpily.

Boone continued to dance but the pirates immediately began to hop to it. "Good job, Boonie!" Penn praised, once they got to the other side.

"Ye-heah! Disco Letter Monkey!"

"So we're all gonna act like this isn't happening," Boat Maria looked so done.

Verge smiled. "Just roll with it," she said.

"Okay."

Penn and Pirate Maria returned from the treasure chest with a shell in Penn's hand. "Is that what we came here for?"

"Apparently," Penn scratched the back of his head. "I'm not a fan of it either. Let's just move on to the next clue!"

"No time to lose! No time to lose! RAH!" Sashi squawked.

They got on Boone and the two boats began to sail off. Verge, who took the map from Penn earlier, unrolled it again. The two now stood on the mast, balancing themselves. "Okay, next clue…"

The talking fish from earlier began to speak once more. "Welcome to clue number two - the puzzles are piling. If you get the picture, treasure mountain you'll be climbing!" The fish then began to cough unusually. "I'm sorry, can I get some hot tea?"

"Yeesh." Verge handed the map to Penn, who scanned it. The wind flew in their hair and the fairy slowly started to flap her wings. "Getting there."

"I've seen this place," Penn told her. They slid off the mast and joined Maria at the deck. "Let's head North!"

The map showed a pile of giant rocks in the shape of skulls, so that's where the heroes arrived at. The rocks, however, did look to be very high up so they had no choice but to climb, as it said so in the clue. Just looking at it made Penn tired.

"Uh, Verge? Sure your magic isn't working yet?"

"Nope," the fairy replied. She returned to human size and landed perfectly in Penn's hat. "Dunno when I'll be ready for this so, keep it up Cap'n!"

The redhead sighed, Maria shook her head, and together they began to climb the rocks. Penn grunted with each step. "Well, we should be able to make short work with these next two clues. I was, always good at puzzles, even when I was little."

"It's true, he's a master."

"Thank you Verge—What?!"

Once they reached the top, Penn, Verge, Sashi, and Maria were all horrified to find what seemed like a million puzzle pieces scattered out before them. Some skeletons and skulls were even littered around. Just looking at them made Verge feel dizzy. She felt faint and collapsed in Penn's hat. The pirates and the parrot still stood, their mouths agape, at the work they would need to complete.

"So perhaps we should start by finding the corner pieces?" Penn squeaked.

Sashi gave up and collapsed on the floor next to some puzzle pieces, fast asleep. Penn and Maria began to piece some pieces together for the next few minutes.

"Alright, we gotta be close to finishing this puzzle—Oh no there is so much more puzzles!" Penn could feel himself losing his temper as he kicked the ground and threw the skeleton beside him. "Stupid puzzle pieces! Stupid mission! Stupid puzzle mission!" He angrily took a puzzle piece and began chewing it ferociously.

This seemed to wake Verge up, as her blue eyes blinked. "Uhh, Zero…? You okay?"

He looked up, about to speak to Verge, but then saw Maria eyeing him. She blinked once, clearly questioning his sanity.

The part-time hero sighed as he stood. "I suppose it's fair to say I have a slight issue with being impatient," he admitted.

"Slight?" Verge scoffed. "Hey!" She tipped over when Penn nudged his hat.

"It's really hard to deal with sometimes," Penn moved away from Maria, rubbing his arm as he looked down sadly. "You wouldn't understand."

Verge returned to human size and patted Penn sympathetically. Even Sashi, who was standing a few feet away, looked saddened. They all knew what this was about.

But Maria didn't look judgemental, and also crossed her arms insecurely. "You might be surprised. We all have issues. I never told anyone this before, but…I used to be part of a pirate team. We tracked down a treasure chest full of valuable pirate trading cards, including a rookie Seaweed Nancy, mint condition! But when it came time to divide up the haul, they ditched me. And that was the last time I trusted a human. I trust talking boats but that's it."

Penn exchanged glances with Verge. "I promise I won't double-cross you." When Verge nudged him playfully, he laughed a bit. "We won't double-cross you. Not even for a Seaweed Nancy."

"You might not get the chance," Maria smiled. "Looks like we're going to be stuck on this mountain of puzzle pieces for the rest of our lives."

"Don't make it sound depressing," Verge huffed.

"No matter how you look at it, it's depressing."

"But it could be fun solving all these!"

"Please no," Penn deadpanned.

Verge leaned her head back, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, but sulking about it is not gonna—Hey! Look up there!"

Penn and Maria gazed upwards, and through the cloudy skies they saw a hole in the greyness: a branch from a tree poked out, as if calling out the pirates to notice it. "That's oddly conventional!" Verge pointed out.

"Mountain of puzzle pieces!" Penn snapped his fingers. "That's it! The clue said the puzzles are piling! We just need to pile them up!"

"That's still going to take a while!"

"Better than nothing, right Verge?"

"Yeah but why go through all the trouble when we can take the easy route?"

Before either of the two could reply, Verge's wings flapped behind her and she was lifted off the air. She circled above Penn and Maria, sprinkling her sparkling golden dust on them. The pirates soon found they too were floating. To Maria, this was new, and she gasped in surprise. Penn gasped for another reason as he straightened his body.

"Since when did you get you magic back?!"

Verge shrugged. "This time I'm not sure myself!"

The redhead rolled his cyan eyes. But still he smiled. "Let's go!"

The three, along with Sashi, flew up towards the hold in the sky. They landed safely on the branch, and were happy to see the second treasure chest waiting for them ahead. The four approached it, and the pirates opened it together.

"Okay, let's see here…" Penn reached into the box, pulled out the object inside, and their faces were replaced with looks of confusion yet again.

"A music stand…" Pirate Maria said.

"And, a note? 'Get in.'?"

Verge fluttered her wings. "At this point…"

"I don't see why not." He shrugged at Verge, as if reading her mind. He and Maria hopped in the chest, but nothing happened for a moment. Verge became smaller once more and hovered beside Sashi.

"Now what?" Maria questioned.

As she said that, the branch shook and quivered. The chest fell as the branch broke off the tree. The pirates screamed as they held onto the chest during their descent within the tree. "Zero! Maria!" Verge cried.

"Come on!" Sashi shouted. The two began to fly downwards until they saw Boone and Boat Maria.

"I still see them!" Verge said, flying faster to follow Penn and Pirate Maria.

"Boone! I'm guessing you're talking about monkeys again! Knock it off and catch Penn!"

This caught the Wiseman's attention as he saw the screaming pirates start to fall into the water. Boone jumped from the sea. "I got 'em, I got 'em!"

But the chest only punched a hole in Boone's head and the pirates fell into the whirlpool that somehow appeared beside Pirate Maria. Verge, who had managed to catch up with them, flew to hide in Penn's pirate bag just before the chest and the pirates disappeared underneath the sea.

She stayed inside before she was absolutely sure they were back somewhere dry. She peeked from the bag and saw Penn and Maria were still in the chest, floating aimlessly in what seemed to be a secret underwater area. "This is beautiful," Maria commented.

It was true. Verge saw some tiny geyser spouts coming out from the water, and the reflections from the small waterfalls looked very pretty. She could stare at it all day. But then she was shocked at the fact that Maria was moving closer to Penn and her best friend had his lips puckered.

Were they going to kiss?

For a split second Verge was horrified, but not before Maria spoke up. "You had some seaweed on your shoulder, it's gone. Why did you close your eyes?"

Penn looked flustered. "Oh, uh, just because, uh, I have a condition where my eyelids are heavy and weak and I don't know why I'm talking right now—"

"Look! That ride brought us to the last X on the map!"

"May I see?"

"Verge!" Penn was shocked when the fairy flew out from his pack, returned to human size, and squeezed between the two to hold the map for herself. "You followed?"

"Of course dum-dum!" Verge smiled her brightest smile. "Couldn't miss out on solving the last clue!"

The talking fish reappeared and spoke the third and final riddle. "Add up all your clues of which there are three. Try to see what's not there or all wet you will be!"

Verge rolled up the map, put it back in Penn's bag, and pointed straight ahead. "Look, dry land! And an X on the ground!"

"Nice!" Penn cheered.

The three got off the chest once they were on the sand. Verge noticed there were mini geysers that spouted out water, and the water reached high enough to let anyone get back above water. Penn examined the X beneath them.

"Huh, well, there's an X but, nothing else."

Once again, as he said that, the ground shook. Verge nearly lost her balance. "This keeps happening today—Whoa!"

The three found themselves flying upwards, and soon they noticed a giant clam appeared from underneath them and had now swallowed the three up. They sat on its tongue for a few good seconds before Penn began to turn red. "Wonderful! Stuck in a clam? What a waste of time! Never get it right! Argh!"

"Zero, calm down!"

He threw his bag down and the map fell out, along with the shell and the music stand. Both Maria and Verge looked, ready to get it, but that's when they noticed something that wasn't there before.

"Music notes?" Verge questioned.

Maria bent to pick up the map. "Hey! Your childish freak-out worked! There's hidden writing on the note!" She then picked up the shell. "I bet, we're supposed to play the shell like a musical instrument!"

Verge beamed. "Nice thinking!" She set up the stand and laid out the music sheet, set the shell in Penn's hands and forced him to stand up.

Penn eyed the shell before blowing into it once. "Let's see, I took piano for a short while." He cleared his throat and then began to play.

The clam shuddered for a few moments before finally spitting the three of them out. Once they were out, the giant clam also burped out the final treasure chest. "There it is!" Verge cheered, flying over.

"Ye-heah!" Penn celebrated as well, getting the chest. "We did it Verge, Maria! My impatience worked to our advantage and you put your trust issues behind you and pulled a sword on us. Whaaat!"

"Maria!" Verge gasped. Penn was about to brandish his sword but it seemed all he had was a backscratcher, which the female pirate broke. "How could you!"

"Sorry," Maria said, holding up her sword and Penn's. She didn't sound the least bit sorry. "I had to double-cross you before you double-cross me."

"But I'd never do that!" Penn protested. "I like you!" He realized what he'd said and tried to correct himself. "As a teammate!" But Verge still stared at him.

"Nice try," Maria smiled, picking up the chest and beginning to walk away. "But I invented the 'I like you as a teammate'—"

"Maria—" Verge began, but she never got to finish her sentence.

Rippen, much to everyone's surprise, popped out of the water and took the chest from the pirate. "I'll take that!"

Maria scowled and she brandished her sword. "How did you get down here?!" Penn ran forward, getting his sword back. Verge fluttered her wings angrily.

"Larry's been dumping me down whirlpools all day!" Rippen replied. "Luckily the last one sent me here!"

"For the love of seasons," Verge muttered.

"You'll never get out of here with that chest!" Maria thrust her sword out threateningly.

"Fine!" Rippen sneered. "I wooooon't!" A geyser shot him straight out of the cave and did indeed help him get away with the chest.

"Hawks!" Verge cursed. "What now?" Penn frowned, not sure himself.

"I'm sorry," This time, Maria did sound apologetic. "I messed this up."

"Hey, we can still fix this if we work together!" Penn protested. "We're a good team, you and me!"

"Ahem."

"Verge too!"

But Maria only frowned. "No, we're not." She stepped on a geyser.

"Aw, come on!" But the geyser shot Maria out as well. "Rippen will screw up! He's a terrible villain!"

"Don't break the streak, Zero," The redhead just sighed in exasperation."Penn…" Verge began, but even she didn't know what to say at this point. She crossed her arms and looked away. She'd been feeling uncomfortable ever since they met Maria, but she hadn't wanted to say anything.

Penn looked at her now and tried to approach her, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Let's do what we can to fix things now," he said gently. "That's what you always tell us, right?"

The fairy sighed. "Right."

Penn took another step, as if about to hug her, but yelped as he tripped over something. The two were surprised, and looked into the sand to see a glint. There was something buried there, and Verge pulled it out.

"A key!" Penn exclaimed. "That must be the key to the treasure chest! Rippen may have it but he can't get the treasure without this!"

"Let's send him a ransom!" Verge cried out. "Challenge him to a duel, Zero! Take back what's ours!"

"Great idea!"

She looked around and dug some more until she found a bottle. Penn took a pen and parchment out from his bag and immediately began writing a note. As Verge watched him, her smile began to drop a bit, as she realized it was just them together in the underground cave.

When Penn rolled up the paper and was about to take the bottle, he noticed Verge's look and frowned a bit himself. "You alright?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah…"

"You've actually been feeling down all day."

"Oh, so you've noticed."

"I'm really trying to make it a habit," He tried to smile but Verge still looked away. "Vergie, what's wrong?"

The fairy hesitated. Was there really anything wrong? She looked into her best friend's cyan eyes and for a moment, she felt like a child again.

"…Mission first. Talk later."

As much as he hated being left in suspense, he had to respect the mission and Verge's wishes. Verge became smaller once again and hid in Penn's bag. The redhead let one geyser shoot the bottle upwards, and another geyser shot him out as well.

He still found himself screaming as he found himself in the air and began falling into the sea again. But just in time, Boone popped out from the water and caught him perfectly.

"Boone!" Penn cried. He looked upwards and saw a green parrot flying to sit on his shoulder. "Sashi!"

"Good to see ya buddy!" Boone cheered. "Before you came, Pirate Maria took off with Boat Maria."

"And we wondered where you were!" Sashi finished.

Verge flew out of Penn's bag and lifted Penn's hat. "No time to explain! Except you need to hide in here until the time is right!" Sashi seemed to go for it.

Penn stood up straight. "Boone, let's look for ol' Rip! I've got a score to settle and a treasure chest to steal back!"

Boone gave a salute with his fin. "Aye-aye!" Verge hid in Penn's coat and Boone disappeared under the water.

He resurfaced again as they neared Larry, and Penn climbed onto the mast with a telescope in hand. "Larry, ho!" Penn shouted.

"Hey guys!" Larry the shark boat greeted. "Nice haul, Boone! What is that, redwood?"

"Would you believe pine? I've never felt so beautiful."

Larry chuckled. "Well you look it!"

Rippen was impatient. "Oh, come on, at best he's a seven! Penn Zero, let's do this!"

"If 'tis a duel you want, 'tis a duel you'll get!"

Verge and Sashi couldn't tell what was happening from outside and could only hear their conversation as their swords clashed against each other and parts of the boat.

"Prepare to feel the wrath of Camp Blade Prancers!"

"Camp Blade Prancers? That's where you went to sword-fighting school?"

"Yes it is and it's a terrifying name!"

Penn had screamed as he fell off the rope, and Rippen laughed evilly as he kicked away the boy's sword. "It's over! Victory at last!" He laughed once more. "Farewell, Penn Zero!"

As Rippen raised his sword again, he was shocked to find an opossum to replace his weapon. "An opossum?

"Looking for this?" Pirate Maria was on one of Larry's sails, holding up his sword.

Boat Maria suddenly appeared, laughing. "Haha! Didn't see that coming!" Pirate Maria then swung down to the deck.

"Well no matter!" Rippen reached into his coat. "A Blade Prancer always carries a backup sword!"

But instead of pulling out a sword, he held a kitten by the tail, and that kitten began tearing his clothes to shreds.

Verge, who got out to take care of the opossum and was rubbing its belly, lit up when she saw the cat and cheered. "Kitty!"

"You're lucky I came back," Maria said smugly. "And had access to small mammals."

"Well you're lucky Verge is capable of taming them," Penn retorted. "And I had a plan! We put Sashi under my hat."

"WAK!" The parrot brandished two small swords in each wing. "Under my hat! Under my hat!" She sighed and flew away. "Ugh, are we done yet?"

" Attack, my precious!" Verge yelled, pointing at the kitten. It still continued to chase Rippen as he shrieked and eventually went overboard.

"Larry, help!"

"Swallow you? Okay!"

"Larry, why would I say that! You have ears!"

"That's finger lickin' Rippen!"

Verge laughed as she returned to human size and picked up the kitten. It purred and nuzzled against her chest.

Penn turned back to Maria and took his hat off. "Well, uh, I'm glad you came back."

"Me too," Maria smiled genuinely. "You really taught me that being part of a team is worth the risk." Penn smiled, feeling satisfied, and Maria wrapped his arms around his neck. "I like you."

Verge was petting the cat, frowning a bit as Sashi went to perch on her shoulder. The parrot couldn't see her face but she could tell the fairy wasn't pleased.

Penn only laughed a bit. "Wha- aha…Thanks, thank you…and just so you know, I like you too. And I'm tied up."

"Should've seen it coming," Sashi whispered at Verge. The fairy laughed lightly.

"Oh not again, no!"

"I meant everything I said but I'm still a pirate!" Maria smiled as she patted his cheek, took the key from his neck, and took off with the treasure chest. She saluted at Penn and swung back onto Boat Maria.

"Eat my dust everybody! Technically there's no dust in a world covered in water, but eat it anyway! Chow down!"

As the Marias swam off into the sunset, Penn smiled as he watched. Sashi and Verge untied him, and at that they felt the zap.

The heroes returned to their world, another job well done. Verge was flying above them, but now flew to stay beside Sashi as Penn still looked dazed, a stupid smile on his face. The Japanese girl went to him a snapped her fingers.

"Hey! Lover boy! Snap out of it!"

"Lover boy?" Penn laughed defensively. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Sashi had her hands on her hips. Verge's arms were crossed, and her wings fluttered the way they did when she was annoyed.

"Good news, lover boy!" Phyllis' voice called out as she dropped in in front of the team. She held the MUHU in her hands. "Next time you are in world with shard, MUHU will glow green."

Penn caught the MUHU when the mechanic tossed it to him. "Alright. One step closer to Mom and Dad."

At that, his pants suddenly fell off, revealing his blue and white-striped boxers. "Aw, come on! Why! I'm serious, why did my pants fall down just then?!"

Behind him, he could hear giggling as Verge held out his belt like a prize. The redhead turned, looking furious. "Verge!"

"Can we all call it a day?" The fairy flew upwards. She became smaller and dropped the belt before Penn, who picked it up hastily and fixed his pants.

"Yes, another job well done," Phyllis nodded. "Now get out."

The four exchanged looks, smiling a bit.

Back in Penn and Verge's bedroom, the little fairy sat in her tiny matchbox bed, holding her new MUHU in her hands. She admired the black, gold, and white colors, and how it could shrink and grow to her size like a fairy can. She liked that she finally knew who she truly was, and who she was supposed to be.

And with all honestly, she liked that she had the option to stray away from the part-time fairy guide business.

She didn't want to get hserself wrong, since she absolutely loved doing these missions with Penn, Boone and Sashi, and she loved being their fairy guide. But discovering her world – the world she'd been searching for these past eight years – helped her get some options. It helped her discover new feelings, new emotions, and new thoughts to ponder on.

But the question is, how could she tell Penn?

The door opened, and she looked up to find Penn had just come back from the bathroom, since he was whistling and was now dressed in pajamas. Verge's only pajamas was a nightgown she'd fashioned out of leaves, but she was too immersed in her own thoughts to get dressed. Penn noticed this and sat at the edge of his bed, near his bedside table.

"Verge?" he asked. He deeply looked concerned. The fairy knew that whenever she looked into his cyan eyes, there was no easy way of hiding anything from her best friend.

"Yeah?"

"You still wanna talk?"

"What is there to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know…you were acting pretty much the same today but you also looked bummed about something. You sure there's nothing wrong?"

Verge set her MUHU down and grew to larger size. She stood before Penn, staring down at him. He looked up at her, not at all worried about what she would do, and stared back at his fairy friend with curious, innocent eyes.

Finally, Verge sighed and sat down on Penn's bed. He looked at her, but she was staring down at her hands.

"Zero, all I know is that I'm never going to leave your side and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you're not hurt." When her blue eyes met his cyan ones, Penn could see hope: hope that things would definitely, no matter what would happen, be okay.

"That really means a lot, Verge."

"We're getting your parents back. Alright?" She held out her fist.

She wasn't fairy-sized, but Penn still smiled a genuine smile and bumped it with his own. "Alright."

This legit took five hours to write HAHAHA IT'S 2AM HERE IM TIRED WHEW BUT I REALLY WANTED TO UPLOAD THE FIRST CHAPTER

I really want to make up for lost time. I have 4 more months of summer and I really hope to finish this whole fanfic within those four months. Even if I archery practice, hangouts with friends, road trips, other shows and books to catch up on and job-hunting, I promise to do my best!

I can't promise I'll upload regularly, but again, I'll do everything in my power to make sure I write during my free time!

Once again, thank you to all those that have faithfully waited until now! I hope this chapter keeps you satisfied for a good while before I write the next one. I love all of you!

-Ridaa