"It smells in here." Aini whined, plugging her nose as she came into Iri's room.
"It's paint." V responded. Aini crinkled her nose. "Daddy and I were working in here."
"I don't like it." Aini huffed.
"It's givin' me a headache." Celina whined. V smiled, patting her head, then crossing the room to one of the two windows and pushing it open, mimicking the action with the other window.
"I'll open the windows to air it out." she said. "And we'll read on the couch tonight? Okay?"
"Okay!" Iri exclaimed, bolting out the door.
"He's really excited." Celina said, sticking close to her mother. "He's been wondering what's gonna happen next, when Gold was gonna appear... When he and Archer were gonna start fighting..."
"Very soon, Celina." V smiled. Coming down the stairs, Iri already bouncing excitedly on the couch. "Though I think you should tell your brother that."
"Okay!" Celina chirped, jogging up to Iri. "Iri, Mommy says Gold and Archer are gonna fight soon!"
Iri let out something akin to a boyish squeal, practically jumping into the air in anticipation as V sat down.
o.0.o.0.o
Crystal in Neverland, Part 2
A creak of the gutters outside is what roused Crystal from her sleep. At first, she merely grunted, chalking it up to the house being old or a pokémon landed on it.
Still half-asleep, she suddenly became very aware of the sounds on the rooftop. Was there a horde of pokémon up there? She groaned, flipping over so her back was to the window. Things went undisturbed for a moment, so Crystal settled back down, sleep about to take her...
When the sound of the window suddenly unlatching punctuated the silence of the room.
Crystal's eyes snapped open, and, for a moment, she saw the shadow of a man, illuminated by moonlight. Gasping, she whipped around to confront the intruder, only to see nothing but an open window. Immediately, she began trying to find reasoning for the odd shadow, her window being open. Of course, she was dreaming of the shadow, and the wind or a runaway pokémon opened her window.
But wasn't the window latched?
But, simply to calm her racing heart, the young woman stuck her head out the window, looking left and right, and seeing nothing on her roof, not even a pokémon.
"See Crystal?" she berated herself, reaching for the window and shutting it. "You imagined the whole thing. Just a worthless dream."
Firmly latching the window closed again, she rested her head against the cool glass. For a moment there, she thought amusingly, that outline of that man almost looked like a man in pirates clothes, a rapier at his waist and a hook on his hand, the signature of the notorious Captain Archer of the Rocket. Ruth's stories and Emerald's wild imagination truly must be getting to her...
Suddenly, a small creak echoed behind her.
Slowly, she looked over her shoulder.
"Hello," an older man's voice said, hook glinting maliciously from the moonlight filtering through the glass. His voice was full of pride, and spoke to her as if she were a child and he the adult, having beaten her in a game. He was not the only one in her room. There were several other pirates, each with swords, one, in particular, holding a coil of rope. "Quartz."
"Quartz-" she barely managed to say before one pulled a gag over her mouth with so much force, it actually dragged her off the window seat. After knotting it behind her head, the hunched over pirate with the ropes set to securing her hands. She shrieked into the gag, kicking anyone who got to close.
Suddenly, sirens wailed outside. Had Ruth or another orphan heard what was going on, and called the police? Had they gotten here so soon?
Though Archer watched on with what seemed like mild amusement, when the sirens went off and spotlights shined into her room, he seemed to loose his cool for a moment.
"Curses!" he exclaimed, looking out the window, leaving her to the hunched over pirate. "Bring her down!"
Crystal suddenly realized why they had sounded the alarms. A huge, flying pirate ship came down outside her window. No doubt they thought it was an enemy plane, and they planned to shoot it down. Some pirates put a plank from the ship to her window. Archer turned, looking slightly frantic as the hunched over pirate continued to try to subdue her.
"Hurry, Petrel!" he exclaimed. While Petrel looked up from tying the rope around her waist, she managed a good kick to the chin, sending him knocking back with a squeal of pain.
Suddenly, ropes encircled her ankles, and she found herself staring at another blue-haired man.
"Should have taken care of those first, idiot." he said.
"Well, Proton-"
"Hurry!" Archer ordered as he leapt onto the plank and hurried aboard his ship. Proton smirked at Petrel, then hefted Crystal up, literally hurling her her out the window and into the arms of another pirate. All to quickly, Crystal found herself being tossed from one pair of disgusting arms to the next, then landing painfully on wood. "Set sail, you worthless maggots!"
She grunted at the ship suddenly was hoisted into the air. No way this pirate ship was flying. No way...!
Suddenly, the ship jerked, sending her rolling into the side, shoulder painfully throbbing at the contact. She heard something grinding against the brick sidewalk below them, causing the ship to actually tilt, forces fighting for the upper hand. Archer, standing next to her, cursed under his breath.
"Raise anchor, you idiots!" he exclaimed. Crystal saw some pirates beginning to hoist the anchor, and though they sent a jeep flying and destroyed several chimneys, they suddenly, they were flying free again, her hopes of getting free or being rescued becoming dimmer and dimmer with each passing moment.
"Chika!" Crystal blinked at the familiar sound, glancing down at Mega, who was chewing at the ropes binding her arms to her sides. Had she snuck aboard? She attempted to send some encouraging words to her pokémon, but decided against it. Her grunts a muffled words might catch the attention of a pirate, and that might make them notice Mega. She didn't want to know what they would do to her only companion if they were willing to kidnap a girl for... whatever reason.
At this point, she was to terrified to find reasoning. Why would a gaggle of men kidnap a sixteen year old girl? Well, a few reasons were fairly obvious. These men obviously didn't care for bathing much, so the prospect of women actually approaching them was probably rare. All she could pray that wasn't why they trussed her up and threw her on a ship. With each moment the rope refused to loosen, her reasoning and logic was quickly replaced with a heart pounding fear she hadn't felt since her mother and father were drafted as a nurse and soldier respectively.
Sudden fear at her fate was replaced by a new one. Airplanes. Airplanes were divebombing and shooting at them, and the pirates were jerking the ship this way and that to avoid the assault. Crystal suddenly found herself sliding this way and that across the smooth wood, separated from Mega all to quickly for her liking. She couldn't even see the grass-type between the feet of hurrying grunts, trying to get the ship to safety.
Her back rammed into the side of the ship, nearly knocking the wind from her. Pigtails whipping around her head, she sat up, glancing at the world below. Spotlights were still searching for the ship in order to get good aim to fire. Just as she was sure that one spotlight got good sight of her, the soldiers below able to see that there was a kidnapping in progress, a pirate wrenched her back, sending her rolling along the shipdeck, unable to stop where she was landing and what she ran into as both her arms and legs were still firmly tied.
Suddenly, there was calm. Crystal was on her back, exhausted from the endeavor she was forced to go through, and simply stared at the calm, cloudless night sky.
Then there was a burst of color.
Crystal widened her eyes, simply staring at the kaleidoscope flashed above her, voices suddenly surrounding her.
"It's so weird!" a cheerful female voice exclaimed. "He just started flying and he never stopped!"
"We have our own beef against Archer and his pirates." a male voice mused. "We gijinka's like a challenge. I say we partner up, yeah, Jade?"
"We'll get back at that *bleep*ing *bleep*." a rough girls voice said. "*Bleep*ed magikarp."
"We used to be members of Archers crew," a male voice said. "We were exiled from the ship for not wanting to hunt down Gold."
"Hello, Gold! Coming to Mermaid's Cove again?"
"MY NAME IS BLACK AND I'M A LOST BOY!"
"I'll get you Gold! I'll get you for what you've done! If it's the last thing I do!"
"You really don't want to stay, Quartz?"
"I have to go back..."
"Goodbye, Quartz!"
"I'll always believe in you, Gold!"
Crystal swore she heard the voice of her mother, or at least, a maybe teenaged version of her, among the voices in the void of color. It was surrounded by voices of many young men and women, even Archer's voice mixed into it. At this point, Crystal was so exhausted and confused, that all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep.
"Land ho!" one of the pirates shouted as the sky suddenly went from headache inducing flashes of color to clear and beautiful blue, untarnished by any sort of cloud or smog. Crystal suddenly felt herself being dragged to the edge. Holding the back of her neck, whomever had her forced her to look at the small island below her, rainbows circling it. To Crystal, it looked like a little slice of paradise, with mountains and beaches and jungles...
"Recognize it, Quartz?" Archer said in her ear. "Of course you do. You love Neverland."
Crystal could practically hear the pride in his voice. She let out a disapproving grunt, jerking away from his grasp, unwilling to accept the little island below her. Archer stared at her with amusement, as if finding her struggles funny.
"Don't quite remember you being so stubborn and feisty, though." he said, turning his attention back to the island, officially ignoring Crystal.
She had heard the pirates call him Archer on multiple occasions, and pretty much everyone referred to her as Quartz. Crystal briefly remembers that Ruth always commented on how similar they look, with exception of hair color. She always remembered her mother being a blond, claiming 'blonds were the most fun!'.
But then again, there were always those dark roots...
Crystal, given her mother's personality, honestly wouldn't have put it past her to have dyed her hair into a more 'fun' color.
"Heh," Archer chuckled, turning away from her. "I've got a little surprise for you, Gold."
Crystal let out a muffled squeak of surprise? Gold? Impossible...!
"Drop to the ocean!" someone yelled. "Prepare to anchor!"
"This is simply perfect." Archer continued to gloat. "Yes, Petrel, Proton, Ariana..." Crystal blinked, seeing Archer talking to two men and a woman. Already recognizing Petrel and Proton as the men who tied her up, and assumed the redheaded woman was Ariana. "With Quartz as our bait, we shall lead that *bleep*ed boy to his doom. Someone!" he shouted. "Summon the beast!"
Crystal blinked as a couple of grunts picked up a bucket of... something, and dumped it over the edge. Crystal wasn't sure what was going on, but then she was suddenly pulled to her feet, the ropes around her waist being tugged at.
"Set the bait!" Archer ordered. Crystal suddenly felt herself dangling over the edge of the ship. For a moment, everything was fine, when suddenly, air bubbles began forming. Crystal blinked, narrowing her eyes as she tried to see what was in the debts below her. She suddenly screamed into the gag as tan tentacles began smashing above the water, red eyes glowing through the dark blue.
A... A tentacruel?! How on earth was it so big?!
Crystal suddenly found herself terrified. A true blue shot of terror. She had always been used to being so in control. She has always been the surrogate mother for the children at the orphanage, making sure everything ran smoothly and efficiently. She made sure everyone was fed, everyone was happy, and everyone was safe.
Suddenly, all in the course of less than an hour, she had every ounce of control wrenched from her. Not only was the kidnapped from her home, bound and gagged, and yanked into an impossible world, now she was dangling, utterly helpless, over a beastly creature who looked prepared to kill.
o.0.o.0.o
Gold watched amusingly from above as Archer smugly spoke.
"No doubt, Rockets!" Archer exclaimed. "That boy will be nothing but a notch on my belt after this!"
At this, he swooped down, snatching the hat off his head with a laugh.
"Only in your dreams, Karp!" he exclaimed, putting the hat on his head and flying behind the sail.
"Gold!" Archer exclaimed as he sliced a hole through the sail and burst through it while doing a backflip. Tossing the hat in the air, he expertly sliced it to bits, grinning down at Archer.
"Well, Well." Gold grinned. "I didn't know a Magikarp could talk." he turned to the human sized young woman fluttering next to him. "Did you, Soul?"
"Not in the slightest!" Soul giggled.
"Blast them!" Archer shouted, pointing at them with his rapier.
"Take you best shot, Captain!" Gold exclaimed, expertly dodging a cannon. Another whizzed by Soul.
"Yow!" she exclaimed, shrinking down. "Much to close for comfort, Gold!"
"Come on!" Gold mocked, watching humorously as the pirates tore their sails apart trying to hit him. Suddenly, something whistled over his head. Gold ducked his head, turning to face the pirate with the hat. "Striiike one!" he shouted. Another swing. "Striiike two!" a third swing and another miss. "Strike three! You're out!" and, as if on cue, a round of bullets cut through the rope ladder he was standing on, sending him hurtling to the deck below.
Gold grinned, deciding to occupy his time by swinging around on a rope. He could tell Archer was irritated with his incompetent grunts, as he was rolling his eyes. Gold was, however, surprised that he lost hi furious and annoyed look, and adopted a rather calm face.
"Get down here, boy." he finally said, pointing his sword at him. "I have, ah, something for you."
"A present? For me?" Gold paused his spinning, resting on the rope with a grin on his face. "Aw, you shouldn't have."
"Call it a token of the affections." he said, turning around and slamming the blade into his hook, metal clanging off metal. "She's an... old friend of yours."
"A friend?" Gold mused. Well, he said 'she' so that crossed off the Lost Boys, Onyx, Carnelian, Green, and Red. Gold was also fairly certain he could cross off Topaz, Sapphire, Jade, Opal, Yellow, and Blue as well. Yes, they were his friends, but if they were captured, he was sure that Red's crew would have already rammed Archers ship. As for Jade and Opal, Onyx would have set the ship ablaze and Carnelian would have used some seaweed to strangle Archer.
So that left Platinum and White, the mermaids. But the mermaids were so terrified of the captain that they bolted the minute he appeared.
Then who could it be?
"Who?" he finally asked after a moment of contemplation. Archer chuckled menacingly. Slowly, he raised his sword and pointed.
Gold followed his gaze and saw a young woman, roughly sixteen, with blue pigtails. She was swaying back and forth, bound and gagged, occasionally jerking as she struggled to get free. He wasn't entirely sure if she noticed his presence yet, but he heard the water splashing below. He snapped his gaze back to Archer.
"Perhaps you're drawing a blank?" Archer mused. "Don't tell me you don't recall the person who almost made you leave Neverland for good!" he sighed. "Ah well. Say goodbye to your precious Quartz."
"Quartz?!" he exclaimed, both in surprise and rage. When Quartz said she was leaving Neverland, he never expected her to come back. But the fact that Archer got his hand and hook on her, why, it made him want to slice off his other hand and feed it to some other animal.
Archer raised his blade, planning to cut the rope that held her aloft.
"Don't you dare, Archer!" Gold exclaimed, whipping his dagger from his belt and shooting down towards the pirate. "You cowardly karp!" their blades clashed in momentary fighting. "Let her go!"
"You want her, boy?" Archer smirked, shoving him to the side and whipping around. "Well, go and get her!" and with that, he sent his blade flying. Gold watched in horror as the sword sliced the rope holding her aloft. As if in slow motion, the rope slid through the pulley. The only thing that snapped Gold out of his shocked revere was Quartz's shriek, loud, shrill, and terrified, even through the gag, punctuated by Archers cackles.
In a split second decision, he leapt over the edge after her, stabbing the tentecruel with his dagger as he tried to spot her pale nightgown and navy sweater among the water.
o.0.o.0.o
Crystal screamed as loud as she could into the gag as she fell, suddenly cutting herself off as she smacked against the water. Naturally, she tried to swim, but with her limbs tied, she couldn't move.
Needless to say, she sunk like a rock.
Suddenly, a flash of black and white shot by her. Crystal craned her neck to see a blunette and brunette mermaid, the former with a platinum black tail and the former with a pale white one. As she sunk, they seemed to be calming the beast down, perhaps telepathically.
Her lungs began burning, begging for air. Just as she was sure death was the only option out of this, a pair of arms wrapped around her and began pulling her up, past the monster, past the mermaids, all the way to the surface. He wrenched the gag from her face once they broke the surface, and actually kept going up. One arm was behind her shoulders, the other under her knees.
"I did it." she heard Archer sigh with relief. "I finally rid myself of that wretched Gold." a pause, as if it was sinking. "Free of that wretched Gold forever!" with that, he let out a bellow of laughter. "Petrel! Who is the greatest man to ever terrorize the shores of Neverland?"
"Um..." he trailed off thoughtfully. "Red?"
A CLANG resounded across the ship as Archer smashed his hook on Petrel's head. Slowly, he turned back to the rest of his crew, holding his hook up menacingly.
"Anyone?" he said threateningly. Under the pressure of his terrifying glare and the unconscious Petrel, they began chanting his name.
Suddenly, the chest she was leaning against swelled from a large inhale of breath, then her rescuer let out a howl akin to a pokémon.
"Did ya miss me, Captain?" he asked.
"Oh, look at his face!" Crystal turned her gaze to a pigtailed brunette, holding Mega in her arms a she fluttered, full sized, next to Gold. "Priceless!"
"How did you escape the beast?!" Archer exclaimed, rushing to the edge and looking over. As if to answer his question, a spurt of water smacked him in the face. He scowled, whipping water from his face as he stared down at the two mermaids.
"We are still perturbed about dumping that filth in our cove." the one with the platinum tail said. The brunette mermaid giggled.
"Platinum, this big guy say's he's hungry!"
"Oooh, what better dish for a big fella like that than a Magikarp?" her rescuer hinted, nudging the fairy with his elbow. The pigtailed girl grinned, setting Mega on his head.
"Sounds delightful!" she giggled, doing a full backflip before sprinkling what looked like glitter over the water below. Crystal could feel her mouth drop as the enormous tentecruel suddenly rose from the water, floating next to her for the briefest of moments...
Before Soul dropped her arms to her side, allowing the beast to fall into the deck, right on top of Archer. The pirate somehow managed to escape the beasts mouth, though now the tentecruel seemed to see him as a meal, as he dragged the screaming Archer into the water.
All to quickly, Crystal watched as Petrel tried to climb across the plank so he could save his captain, only for the pokémon to spit Archer back up out of the water and send him flying into the trap door to the lower decks.
A moment of silence.
"Petrel." a rather calm voice said.
"Um, yes Captain?"
"Do me a favor and fix the plank. So I can make you walk it!" Petrel suddenly burst from the door in fear, running away from his enraged captain as he climbed back onto the top deck.
At this point, her rescuer was already laughing, flying back to a rock in the middle of the ocean. All at once, Crystal realized she was being carried by a random stranger, and began jerking, trying to get away.
"Easy does it, Quartz." he laughed, undoing her ankles while the girl got to work on her arms. "Oh, the look on Archers face when I-"
She cut him off by kicking him in the chin, sending him summersaulting back.
"Okay, ow." he said as she shook herself free of the ropes, standing up. "What the hey, Quartz?" The girl behind her had shrunk down again, flicking behind the boys ear.
"She's scary." Crystal faintly heard her mutter. Deciding to ignore her, Crystal began looking around, assessing her surroundings. She was on some rock in the middle of the ocean, near an unknown island, with her kidnappers on a ship maybe a mile or so away. She refused to acknowledge the two mermaids staring up at her curiously, as well as the boy floating next to her.
Suddenly, realization hit her, and she snapped her gaze back to the boy. Messy, raven black hair, elf-like clothes, ability to fly, enemy to pirates, a fairy companion, friend to mermaids, and gold eyes. He seemed just as confused as her, pointing at her face and hovering uncomfortably close, getting closer the more she backed up, mouth agape and unwilling to admit what was clearing in front of her.
Suddenly, there was no more room for her to go back, and she was falling over the edge.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, whipping around her and pushing her back up onto the rock. She quickly put as much distance as possible between her and him, pointing at him.
"...Gold?" she finally said. Gold was rubbing his chin, as if trying to massage the pain from her kick away.
"Well, you're sure not Quartz." he finally said.
"Are you okay?" she glanced over her shoulder at the water below, seeing the two mermaids looking up at her, concerned.
"White and... Platinum?" she murmured.
"She looks like her, Gold!" Crystal heard as the fairy fluttered in front of her again.
"Soul?" she asked, furrowing her brow. There was no way they were real. Mermaids and fairies don't exist, and Gold is just a legend. Honestly, all she could chalk it up to was a very, very realistic dream. "How funny." she muttered, rubbing her temples. "I'm dreaming." she glanced at Gold. "You're not real."
Suddenly, cannon fire exploded. The two mermaids blow them gasped, ducking under the water for safety while Gold wrenched her down against the rock. A cannonball whizzed over their head, landing on the island with a audible explosion.
"Gold, you double-crossing pipsqueak!" they heard Archer yell as they both looked up. "Come back and fight me like a man!"
"Come and get me, ya Magikarp!" Gold shouted back.
"Don't taunt him!" Crystal exclaimed as another cannon whizzed over their heads.
"Come on! We've gotta get out of here!" Gold said with a grin, tossing her up in the air as another cannon blasted between them. Crystal let out a shriek as the explosive nearly hit her, falling onto Gold's back. Soul grew full sized again, scooping up Mega and bolting into the sky.
"Wait!" she exclaimed. "What's going on?! What are you doing?!" the last word ended in a shriek as the rock they were running across exploded. "Oh, my Arceus, we nearly died!"
"So if you're not Quartz," Gold said, seeming to take great joy in having her balance on his hands and shoulders. Crystal, on the other hand, was on the edge of either a mental breakdown or a heart attack, she wasn't sure which. "Who are you?"
"I'm her daughter!" Crystal exclaimed as she was falling, suddenly on Gold's back again. "Crystal!"
"Daughter?" Gold mused. "Well, if you're Quartz's daughter, then you're gonna love it here!"
o.0.o.0.o
Archer glared venomously at the spot Gold had gone with Quartz. That *bleep*ed boy had somehow outsmarted him again. The captain swore time and time again he had tried everything less than capturing one of his friends.
Wait a minute...
Why hadn't he interrogated the girl for that annoyance's hideout?!
"Captain!"
"What. Do you want. Proton." he growled, turning to look at him.
"While you were fighting Gold," he said arrogantly, crossing his arms. "I actually thought up a new way to take him down." Catching his attention, Archer stood, glancing at him.
"What is it?"
Proton gestured forward and watched as they dragged another girl on board with hands chained behind her back with steel shackles. This one was perhaps fifteen or so, with brown hair in pigtails at the nape of her neck, opal pink eyes glancing nervously around her, though her face remained placid, as if trying to not show how fearful she really was. Behind the crest of her bangs was a set of jolteon ears, and Archer immediately knew who she was.
"How did you manage to get the gijinka leader's younger sister?" Archer asked.
"It was pretty easy. This one is curious. We just lured her from her partner and poof, immediate bait."
"So what's your idea?" Archer asked.
"I say we blame the kidnapping on the Lost Boys and Gold."
"Onyx will be so enraged he won't listen to reason." Archer mused. "He'll sentence them to death almost immediately."
"You're seriously underestimating my brother." Opal suddenly exclaimed. "He may be a hothead, but he's not stupid enough to not coming searching for me or to believe you!"
"Yeah, but if you're dead, sweatheart," Ariana suddenly said. "He'll be so wracked with grief he'll take his rage out on the first person to point the finger. You're his sister, dear. Surely you'd speak if you thought he'd do something different?"
Opal fell silent, ears dropping as she was well aware that she was very much correct. Onyx was extremely overprotective of her, even more so than the rest of the tribe. Should she suddenly go missing or die, she knew Onyx would scorch half of Neverland to find the culprit, if not Carnelian loosing complete control over his fragile powers and turning the plants and jungles into monsters. Stricken by grief and rage, no doubt the two would snatch up anyone who was blamed and would kill them, despite what levelheaded Jade would say.
Upon remembering the glaceon gijinka, she smirked.
"Well, joke's on you, Karp!" she said, followed by a raspberry aimed at Archer. "My big bro will listen to Jade, and she'll suggest a search party. They'll scour the island before he goes and convicts the Lost Boys so ha!"
She shut her mouth, satisfied with her finish. He confident smile quickly faltered as Archer smirked.
"I wonder what your 'big bro' would do if, say," he smirked. "One of their pranks went horribly wrong and you drowned out in Dead Man's Rock?"
Opal swallowed uncomfortably, suddenly wishing the steel shackles around her wrists didn't negate all her electric attacks.
o.0.o.0.o
Crystal wasn't quite sure when they had stopped, but they had stopped out of no where, in the middle of a lovely little cove. She was resting on a rock, trying to get her bearings after Gold flipped her this way and that through the air.
"You okay, Crystal?" she blinked as White hovered over her, water dripping on her face. Crystal jerked back, glaring at her.
"Don't scare her, now." Soul said with a gentle smile.
"We apologize in advance for Gold's behavior." Platinum said, looking pointedly at the boy, who was doing backflips for fun. "He's reckless and cares little for what goes on around him."
"You don't say." Crystal murmured, sitting up. She blinked in surprise, seeing that the two girls had skirts and legs instead of tails. "Why do you have legs?"
"We're special." White said. Figuring that was the best response that she was going to get, Crystal rested her head in her hands. This had to be a dream, right? There was no way she was in Neverland, no way she got kidnapped by Captain Archer, and it was definitely impossible that she got rescued by Gold.
"This is great!" Gold suddenly said, yanking her up by her hands, completely cutting off her denial. "You can stay here forever!"
"I can't stay here forever!" Crystal shot back, yanking her hands back.
"You're no fun!" Soul laughed, still holding Mega. Crystal glared at her, then snatched her pokémon back.
"I have responsibilities back home." she stated curtly. "I can't stay here."
Gold and Soul glanced at each other, then laughed. Crystal fumed. Were they laughing at her? Gold must have been extremely foolish, then. He had obviously felt her kick earlier. Why on earth was he laughing at her?
"You idiotic..." she trailed off, standing up and raising her leg. "Manchild!"
"Yow!" Gold exclaimed, ducking as her foot nearly hit his temple. "*Bleep*it, Crys, are you crazy?"
"Crys?" she blinked, then glared. "My name is Crystal."
"I don't think she likes Crys." Gold mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He then snapped his fingers, leaning in to her face again. "I know!"
"Back off or I'll kick you."
"Super Serious Gal!" Gold said, ignoring her earlier demand. "That's what I'll call you."
"No." Crystal responded. "Take me home." Gold grinned, glancing at the mermaids, both of which rolled their eyes.
"Gimme a kiss."
Crystal snapped her gaze to him.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't get me wrong," Gold said, crossing his arms behind his head. "I've got girls tripping over me on this island. Who wouldn't? Dashing good looks, expert with dagger, strong physique, hero to all... I honestly don't blame them." he grinned at her. "I'll take you home if you give me a kiss."
Crystal suddenly found herself very, very angry. She was very much aware of Gold's reputation, what from the stories Ruth and her mother told her. How, not only did he never age, but he was a philandering moron who chased everything in a skirt. Looking back on the stories now, Crystal as fairly certain that if it weren't for the fact that he had the Lost Boys, there'd be a trail of broken hearts with his trail of adventure. And the fact that he considered her to be one of his... one of his Neverland floozies was all the more insulting.
With a glare that could kill, she opened her mouth.
"How about you take me home or I give you a swift kick in the-" her curse was cut off as Gold yanked her into the air again.
"My, my, Super Serious Gal, were you about to swear?" Gold teased, tossing her up like she was a rag doll. While Crystal was usually one to hold her tongue, she was prepared and ready to let out a string of curses worthy of a pirate while dealing with him. Gold howled with laughter before she could utter a word. "Oh, man! Topaz would love you!"
"Gold!" He paused, glancing over his shoulder. Soul was fluttering next to him, still full sized, holding Mega. Suddenly, two lights, blue and yellow, fluttered in front of them. Crystal blinked as they suddenly became full grown teenagers, one with blond hair and one with brown. She almost immediately recognized them from the stories; Yellow and Blue, the two fairies who spent a majority of their time around the good pirates.
"We hurried as quickly as we could." Yellow panted, resting on the rock.
"What's going on?" Gold cocked his head.
"Onyx's taken the Lost Boys captive." Blue explained. "He thinks they kidnapped Opal!"
"Oh." Gold shrugged, tossing Crystal up again.
"Aren't you worried?!" Crystal exclaimed.
"They'll be home in time for supper." Gold stated simply.
"That's not all, Gold." Yellow said. "Onyx is mad. Really, really mad. If we can't prove their innocence, then they're probably gonna be executed!"
"Huh." Crystal felt like she was going to be sick if Gold threw her in the air one more time.
"Don't you care that your friends are in danger?! You're supposed to be their leader!"
"I'm telling you, Super Serious Gal, they're fine." Gold insisted. "Onyx and I are buddies. We mess with Archer together."
"Gee, what a great basis for a friendship." Crystal muttered sarcastically. Gold let out a huff of irritation.
"Platinum! White! Watch out for Archer, I think I *bleep*ed him off by screwing up his plans!" he suddenly exclaimed.
"I assure you, Gold, we can take care of ourselves." Platinum responded.
"Blue and Yellow, you go back to Red, see if he can search the outer islands for Opal." as the two fairies flew away, Gold jetted into the air with Crystal on his back.
"Gold!" she exclaimed. She was ignored, however.
"I'm going to prove to you that the Lost Boys are just fine!" Gold said, ignoring her squeals at their speed. Soon, they were hovering over a dead-looking tree with a noose on one of the branches, Crystal demanding he stop. Suddenly, he did stop, actually listening to her. She sighed in relief, glancing at him.
"You really need to learn to li-" she was cut off as she was suddenly falling, sliding down a winding slide. At the very end, it arched so she was flying in the air, only to land safely in Gold's arms.
"Wasn't that fun, Crys?" he asked with a laugh. Crystal was to bewildered and motion sick to even think of responding. Gold gently set her down then turned. "Now I'm going to prove you wrong. Lost Boys!" he shouted, cupping a hand around his mouth. "Fall in!"
There was a moment of silence as Gold stood with his hands on his hips, Crystal having taken a seat on a bed. They both waited, Gold's confident and arrogant smirk slowly slipping into an irritated frown.
"Lost Boys!" he shouted, pounding on a wall. "C'mon!"
Nothing.
"What happened to proving me wrong?" Crystal asked, a hint of smugness behind her irritated tone.
"I don't get what's wrong." Gold huffed. "They usually always respond."
"Maybe it's because your friends," she refused to acknowledge that they were fairies. Simply refused. "Said they were captured!" Crystal snapped at him. Gold blinked.
"So we have to prove them innocent!" he said. Crystal blinked.
"Oh no." she shook her head. "They're your Lost Boys. You prove them innocent." she turned, set on walking away.
"Sorry, Crys," Gold said, suddenly scooping her up from behind. "You don't really have a choice!"
o.0.o.0.o
"What a cruddy note to end it on." Aini whined, stomping up the stairs to her room with Iri and Celina behind her.
"I thought it was really nice, Mom!" Celina smiled.
"Suck up." Aini sneered. Celina stuck her tongue out at her in response.
"I like it!" Iri grinned. "You should be a story teller!"
"A story teller?" V mused.
"Yeah! Tell stories and get rich!" Iri grinned.
"You should, Mom!" Celina agreed.
"It's stupid." Aini huffed. "Who would pay money to hear stupid stories?"
"I would!" Iri exclaimed. "I'd pay my whole dollar!" he grinned up at his mother. "A whole dollar!" he emphasized.
"Keep your dollar, sweetie." V responded, ruffling his hair. "Bedtime for you. We'll get to part three next week."
V watched as her three kids went to their respective bedroom, awaiting the lights to go out.
Suddenly, there was a childish gasp.
"Mama!" Iri slammed his door open, successfully alarming his two sisters. "Mama!"
"Iri?" Celina asked, immediately concerned while Aini sauntered down the hallway with her arms crossed.
"Mama, the stars are on my ceiling!" he cried out, rushing back into his room. He stuck his head out, as if wondering what was taking them so long. "Hurry! Hurry! They might go away!"
V gently prodded her two daughters into the room, smiling as Celina gasped, Aini's mouth dropping for the briefest of moments. True to what Iri had claimed, little stars were on his ceiling, now painted navy with silver glow in the dark paint, making them look like the actual night sky.
"Dummy, that's just paint." Aini finally said, though not quite able to take her eyes off the sight.
"No it's not!" Iri exclaimed. "It's the stars!" he beamed at V. "Mama and Daddy captured the stars!"
o.0.o.0.o
To clear up any misconceptions: Quartz is simply a name for Crystal's mother in this story. She's not an OC, she's not anything other than Crystal's mother. She never had an established name, so I gave her one.
Anyways, sorry for the late update. Lotta stuff's been happening and I just haven't had the time to write. I hope you enjoyed the update though!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^