After an exciting day in the Valley of Peace, Alex and Cappy decided to take it easy and spent the fourth day of vacation just chilling around the Endless Summer Resort, playing in the pool, eating snacks, playing at the arcade, watching movies and just getting to know each other well. The next day, Alex wanted to explore the Islands of Adventure part of the Epic Universe. More precisely, he wanted to explore the Lost Continent.
Entering by the Seuss Landing section, Alex and Cappy arrived before the statue of a griffin wearing an Atlantean armor. "This place has quite the story," Cappy remarked as he studied the map. "Apparently, this place was originally designed for the Magical World of Disney. They were going to call it the 'Beastly Kingdom' as part of the Magical World's Animal Kingdom. However, after a story full of twists and turns, it ended up becoming The Lost Continent as part of the Epic Universe."
"It's divided into two sections: Sinbad's Bazaar and the Lost City," Alex remarked, looking over Cappy's shoulder. "Though, this place seems much bigger in the Epic Universe than it is in the Real World. I wonder why."
"It's probably because your world's version is just a theme park whereas the Epic Universe's is real with the locations being more developed and, therefore, larger than a simple theme park." The floating hat scratched the side of his head. "I must say, I'm a bit worried; this place seems quite lackluster when compared to the other islands."
"This statement couldn't be further from the truth," a voice said. The two friends turned around to see a young man with brown hair tied in a ponytail wearing a dark blue Greek costume.
It took a few seconds before Alex recognized this man and gasped. "P-Prince Proteus!" he exclaimed, quickly bowing down. From this gesture, Cappy understood it was an important person and bowed down as well. "I'm Alex Russo. And this is my friend, Cappy."
"You may rise," Proteus said, allowing the two friends to get back up.
Cappy mumbled to Alex: "Who's this man?"
"Prince Proteus of Syracuse, the childhood friend of Sinbad," Alex explained. "The Dreamworks movie's version; not the Sinbad from the ancient tales."
"Good to see some people still remember my movie," Proteus chuckled. "When I leave Syracuse and travel across this world, most people don't even recognize me."
Alex shook his head and placed his fists on his hips. "If you want my opinion, it's a crime; your movie didn't deserve to be forgotten like this. Sure, it has its flaws here and there, but overall, it's still an amazing film! And, unlike another pirate movie franchise, the plot wasn't overcomplicated and hard to follow."
"I'm glad you think that," Proteus gratefully said. "I overheard that this is your first time in the Lost Continent, correct? Well, it just so happens that I am very familiar with the place, so how about I serve as your tourist guide?"
Alex's tail started shaking with anticipation. "That would be amazing! Thanks, Your Majesty! Let's go, Cappy!" He pulled his friend back on his head and followed close behind the prince.
The two friends followed Proteus as he gave them a visit turn across the Lost City. They got to admire the ancient-looking statues made for Greek figures of legends, the most noticeable one being the gigantic statue of Zeus standing in the middle of a large lake. Proteus told them the story of the place as well as legends behind certain Greek gods and goddesses, not forgetting his personal experience with the goddess Eris and how she almost caused his world to fall into chaos.
"Say, Your Highness, has Eris ever attempted to steal the Book of Peace again?" Alex asked.
"Not that I know of. Of course, she is the Goddess of Discord and Chaos, so she'll always attempt to bring us trouble," Proteus explained as the trio topped before a statue of Zeus. "But she never pulled any move against Syracuse the same way ever again. And let's hope it's not today that she will; I've been looking forward to seeing my old friends again for quite some time."
Hearing this caused Alex to widen his eyes. "You mean that Sinbad will be here today?!"
Proteus nodded a yes. "Indeed; he announced his visit to the Islands of Adventure about a month ago, just to be sure I'll be there in time. If you want my opinion, he must've been tired of hanging around the lands of Fiji for so long."
"Fantastic! Can you introduce us to his crew?" Alex practically begged, causing the prince to chuckle again.
"With pleasure. But he's not supposed to arrive until this afternoon, so we still got time to visit."
The three went to Fire Eater's Grill, where Proteus bought a Traditional Gyro Combo to Alex and a crispy greens salad to Cappy. Before long, they were done visiting the Lost City, so it was time to visit Sinbad's Bazaar. The Arabian-themed location was pretty active, with shops everywhere and sand being dragged into the wind. There were plenty of sellers in the streets that approached the trio and attempted to get them to buy things of great value. However, Proteus told Alex not to fall for it, claiming that should he accept to buy their 'unique items', he'll end up dry on money by the end of the day.
Whilst visiting the bazaar, the group passed before a hat shop that displayed special foreign decorations for the head, including fakir turbans. Once again fascinated by his new discovery, Cappy decided to transform into a fakir's turban, just like how he decided to turn into a rice hat in the Valley of Peace. "I didn't even know it was possible to make a hat out of a turban! There's so much to learn!" the little turban beamed.
"Just wait till he meets Sinbad and his crew; I bet he'll want to turn into a bandana," Proteus mumbled to Alex, who nodded in agreement.
"It's true that his red bandana is pretty stylish. Man, I can't wait to meet your friend, Your Highness; he's practically the Jack Sparrow of the Epic Universe. Bet he must be pretty proud to have a section of the Epic Universe named in his honor," Alex said.
"To be honest, this place is more named on the myth that inspired his creation and less on the Sinbad I'm familiar with in particular... But, yes, he likes to brag about it," Proteus admitted with a little roll of his eyes. "Don't worry about meeting him, though. He may be a little eccentric, but his heart is in the right place."
Eventually, the three of them arrived at a port, where many ships came and went with boxes of merchandise. Alex and Cappy walked to the edge of the port, thrilled to feel the sea breeze on their face. "So? When's Sinbad supposed to arrive?"
"It shouldn't be long, now. If he stays true to his word, he'll be there any minute," Proteus affirmed.
The wait did indeed last a few minutes. The few minutes became many minutes. Then, the minutes became half an hour, the half an hour, a full hour, and the full hour, many hours. Eventually, the sun started setting on the horizon, and there was still no sight of any ship with an orange mast.
"I'm bored... Why's he taking so long?" Alex whined.
The prince of Syracuse shook his head, his sight locked on the horizon. "I have no idea. Maybe he ran into a problem while coming here. Possibly a sea monster, another pirate ship or one of those other world creatures?" A frown formed on his face. "Unless he decided not to come... Oh, wait!" He suddenly got up upon seeing a ship approaching the port. "It's them! They're arriving!"
A noticeable ship with orange masts was effectively approaching the bazaar's port. On the very top of the highest mast was a certain man dressed in a red and black pirate outfit, including the red bandana previously mentioned by Proteus, and a brown beard. This certain man jumped down his ship and used a catapult to throw himself over the water and into a crane used to transport crates on the port, the ropes of which he used to gracefully descend to the port's ground before walking over to the trio.
"You couldn't just wait for your ship to coast the port and walk down like a normal person, could you?" Proteus asked.
"I could've... But where's the fun in that?" the pirate asked. For a few seconds, the two men just stared at each other, before breaking out into a fit of laughter, shaking hands and exchanging a hug. "It's good to see you again, Proteus!"
"You, too, Sinbad." Now that his friend had arrived, Proteus placed his fists on his hips and raised an eyebrow. "You haven't mugged in business with bandits again, right? It was already hard to convince people you didn't go rogue after your little trip to Skull Island."
Sinbad chuckled and raised his hands like he just got offended. "Wait, you think I did business with bandits? I'm not the one who hired one of Bowser's soldiers as my bodyguard," he claimed, giving a look in Alex's direction. "I never expected you to become friends with the King of Koopas, old buddy."
"It's not what you think," Proteus said with a roll of his eyes, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder. "This young man is visiting the Epic Universe for the first time, so I offered to present him the Lost Continent."
"Hi, I'm Alex! It's an honor to meet you, Captain Sinbad!" Alex excitedly said and offered his hand to the pirate.
"My, it's quite rare to meet someone who has the decency to call me 'Captain'," Sinbad chuckled, shaking Alex's hand. "Did my old prince buddy bore you out with a history lesson on the Lost City and its thousands of legends?"
"No, no, it was quite fascinating, actually," Alex assured. He then pointed at his fakir turban. "This is my friend, Cappy."
"Eh, eh, you're naming your hat, kid? That's cute." Sinbad practically jumped in surprise when Cappy revealed his eyes and limbs. "What the...?! A haunted turban?!"
"It's not haunted; Cappy's one of Super Mario's friends," Proteus explained, amused by his friend's reaction. He then crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so late? It's way past the time you had promised to come here."
"Sorry about that; the guys and I ran into a little unexpected problem," Sinbad tried to explain. "And by 'unexpected problem', I, of course, mean we had to save a poor princess from one of those dumb Marines who have nothing better to do than harassing anybody they meet on the seas."
Proteus did not look convinced at all. "Come on, rescuing a princess? That's the best excuse you could come up with, Sinbad?"
"Hum, excuse me sir, but he's telling the truth," said a shy voice. Sinbad moved aside to reveal a young girl with aquamarine skin wearing a green turtleneck sweater, purple high-waisted jean short shorts, purple, dark gray, and white striped stockings, gray knitted socks, and dark purple boots with purplish blue laces.
Alex looked at her for a few seconds before gasping. "You're Ruby Gillman! From the DreamWorks movie that recently came out!"
"Huh, yeah, that's me," the teenage kraken shyly said. "A ship belonging to the Marine trapped me in a net, and their captain, who had strange powers, wanted to keep me for his collection. Lucky for me, Sinbad and his friends passed by and accepted to save me."
"Hey, saving the ladies' my specialty," the pirate captain affirmed with a wink. "Looks like we have a lot of catch up to do and introductions to make. How about we do all of that around some good meat and fresh beer? Reunions are an opportunity to celebrate, after all!"
If Alex's tail were to shake any faster, it would fly away. "WE'RE GONNA HAVE A PIRATE PARTY TONIGHT!"
When the sun left place to the moon and the stars above Islands of Adventure, a party was raging on aboard Sinbad's ship. There was eating, dancing and even some fighting. Alex excitedly ran around the ship, meeting every member of the crew, whilst Proteus got reunited with his former engaged partner, Marina. At the moment, the friend trio caught up on everything they missed whilst Alex, Cappy and Ruby were listening to Sinbad's right hand, Kale, telling them one of his stories.
"... But one day, Sinbad grew tired of his life of leisure on the lands of Fiji, so convinced us to set out to the seas again," Kale told the three youngsters. "After all, a true pirate cannot resist the call of the sea for long. Thus, we began sailing the ocean again, eventually finding this island whose biggest mountain was shaped like a skull!"
"Skull Island!" Alex exclaimed.
"Exactly! Upon reaching the coast, our ship got attacked by a group of enormous, aggressive crabs," Kale continued. He began swinging his sword around for dramatic effects. "We fought like crazy against those disgusting beasts, but our swords and arrows could barely scratch their shells. Thankfully, it's easier to cut down a crab once you slip beneath them. By the end of the day, we had a month's worth of seafood packed into our ship."
Alex couldn't help but shiver a bit. "I understand how the experience must've been; King Kong was one of my favorite video games growing up. Even if Skull Island is terrifying, I enjoyed both the movie and the game. Probably because they were made by the same director who made The Lord of the Rings."
"Wait a minute, the crabs were from a video game? I thought only the movie stuff was canon?" Ruby remarked.
"Well, the game was based on the movie adaptation from Universal, so I guess it technically counts," Alex tried to explain. "Plus, they released a book about Skull Island's fauna after the movie came out, and the crabs were in it." He looked back at Kale. "So, what happened after, Kale? Did you guys run into the velociraptors?"
Before he could respond, the ship's second-in-command received one of the crew members in his face. Sure, it barely made him stumble, but the gesture was enough to make him join the ongoing nearby brawl. "There goes the story," Ruby sighed.
"You look like their behavior doesn't bother you. Did you get used to it whilst traveling on this ship?" Alex asked the teenage kraken.
"Sure, but it's more because I find it pleasant to meet humans who don't run away in panic or try to hunt me down because of my appearance for once," Ruby explained. "Back in my world, krakens aren't usually-"
"Wait, wait, wait, please, say no more! I haven't seen your movie yet!" Alex quickly stopped her with his hands raised.
"Oh, sorry! I forgot about spoilers," Ruby nervously giggled and rubbed the back of her head. "But to be fair, I don't think you're missing much. My movie's on its way to become just like Captain Sinbad's."
With an annoyed sigh escaping his mouth, Alex crossed his arms. "I hate it when a movie flops despite being good. I mean, sure, I may not have seen your movie, but I'm certain it can't be THAT bad. Especially since DreamWorks has been on a roll lately, with movies like The Bad Guys and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. I'm sure your movie can't be as bad as The Boss Baby or Trolls."
Ruby gave a smile. "Thanks, Alex. Say, can I ask you why you decided to take on the form of a Koopa? They're not exactly the most popular species around the Epic Universe."
"Perhaps, but I've been a fan of Super Mario for as far as I can remember, and it just so happens that Koopas are my favorite creatures in the games," Alex explained with enthusiasm. "In fact, it's in part because Universal is partnering with Nintendo that I decided to spend my vacation here. Have you played the Super Mario games before?"
"Some of them. It's a bit difficult to play video games underwater."
"Oh, that's right..." Alex rubbed his chin before snapping his fingers. "I got an idea! How about I give you the address of my hotel room? That way, you could visit me, and we could play Mario games on my Switch during my vacation!"
"That's a great idea!" Ruby beamed, accepting Alex's piece of paper, on which was written his hotel room's number at the Endless Summer Resort.
A catchy pirate beat then rose in the air, when Rat, Sinbad's Italian friend, jumped out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around the two youngsters. "What are you kids still doin' here?! Get up there and dance with everybody!" He pushed them towards the center of the ship, where all the pirates were dancing together.
Once again, Alex's tail shook with excitation at the prospect of taking part in a pirate dance. He held his hand out to Ruby. "Come on, Ruby, let's dance!"
The young kraken hesitantly took the Koopa's hand and joined the dance with him. This music was catchy, everybody stomping their feet on the ground whilst some crew members were playing instruments in a pleasant tempo. Ruby blushed shyly at first, but soon found herself enjoying the moment because of Alex laughing and moving with energy, clearly having fun!
At one point, everybody switched dancing partners, Ruby ending with Sinbad and Alex with Princess Marina. "So Proteus truly met a talking turtle today," Maria remarked as she made Alex twirl. "I thought it was but a joke to sound interesting."
"I'm a Koopa, actually... Which is a type of turtle, I guess," Alex replied. "Say, are you and Sinbad still together?"
"For better and for worse," Maria replied with a chuckle. "The man's got a thing for getting himself in trouble, whether it be with pirates, mythical monsters or even gods... But that's one of the reasons I'm so attracted to him. My life as a Thracian ambassador in Syracuse was pretty boring."
"Yeah, I guess going on pirate adventures across the sea has nothing to do with sitting in a room and talking stuff with other people," Alex mused. He locked arms with his partner and ran in circles before talking again: "To be honest with you, it sounds like the kind of life for me."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "You want to be a pirate?"
"Not specifically a pirate, but leading a life of adventure. I'd like to be like those guests who get to live here, in the Epic Universe, hanging around with the characters they love so much and do the things they love while doing so," Alex explained with a dreamy look. "Sure, dealing with bad guys like Voldemort and Dracula must be difficult, but to have fun for the rest of your life, it would be the dream."
The two partners stepped back and danced on their own a little. "Then why don't you do it? Nothing's holding you back from living in the Epic Universe."
At this, Alex once again brought his stare to the floor. "Well, the thing is... This is my first time in the Epic Universe, and I don't like the idea of living alone in a place I barely know. To come here, my parents had to make sure there were people to guide me at the airport, on the plane, and all the way to my hotel. Because I would've been unable to book my vacation on my own. Plus, I'd need money to live here, which means I would need a job... Unfortunately, I'm not particularly good at anything besides playing video games or pointing out facts about pop culture stuff..."
"That's a lot of reasons. A hundred reasons not to do it," Maria said with a chuckle. She briefly stopped the dance to put a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I'll share a little piece of advice with you, kid: I, too, had plenty of reasons not to leave my position as an ambassador and go on adventures with Sinbad. However, you only need one reason to change your life if that is really what you want. Think about this, okay?" she asked and gave the young Koopa a little bop on the nose.
Alex continued dancing, an absent stare on his face. "Just one reason..."
The party went on for hours, the crew eating pieces of meat, drinking beer from all over the world, and dancing way past the point of exhaustion. By the time things died down, with most of the crew passed out from exhaustion or drinking too much, Alex pushed a loud yawn.
"Okay, guys, I think Cappy and I'll be on our way if we wanna reach our hotel before midnight," Alex said, rubbing his eye.
"Take care of yourself, mate," Sinbad said and patted the Koopa on the head. "This party was fun; we should do it again sometime."
"I'd love it!" Alex beamed with what little energy he had left. "Say, what are you gonna do next, captain?"
"For now, the boys and I were planning to relax and enjoy our reunion with our friends," the legendary pirate replied. "After that, we're supposed to go search for a treasure on a remote island with another pirate crew in a few weeks. It's gonna be dangerous, but that pirate crew is really strong, so we should be okay."
"Another pirate crew? Strange, I didn't know DreamWorks ever produced another pirate movie. Are they from one of Ninendo's worlds?" Cappy questioned.
"Nah; they're not from Nintendo OR DreamWorks," Sinbad explained. "You probably heard of them; they call themselves the Straw Hat Pirates."
Alex froze on the spot, his eyes turning wide and round like coins. He took a deep breath to fill his lungs with air before releasing a powerful scream that could be heard across all the Lost Continent: "WHAAAAAAAT?!"
Author's note: Yes, Alex's a huge One Piece fan, XD! Shout out to b-wolf95 for suggesting Alex and Cappy visiting The Lost Continent.
Most of you probably don't remember Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, seeing as it never became as popular as other DreamWorks movies like Shrek or How To Train Your Dragon, but I did see it multiple times as a kid, so it holds a special place in my heart. With a section of the Lost Continent named Sinbad's Bazaar, I just knew it was the perfect opportunity to bring up one of the most underrated animation films ever made. Seriously, there's just so much to love about this film: the characters full of personality, the engaging storyline, Eris being a fantastic villain, the animation (even if the CGI wasn't good all the time), the lore - it goes on! As far as I'm concerned, Captain Sinbad is the Epic Universe's Jack Sparrow.
Ruby Gillman also got to make an appearance in this chapter. While I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm aware that it bombed at the box office, just like Sinbad did; that's why I thought it'd be fitting for her to cross his path here. After giving us two awesome movies in a row, I thought that DreamWorks was starting a streak, so I'm sad it's not the case. Nonetheless, Alex was more than happy to offer comfort to the teenage kraken.
Next time: Alex and Cappy spend a refreshing day at Volcano Bay!