Jake POV
Like a dark scary shadow, the figure jumped down from her perch and walked into the red moonlight, revealing her face and it was the scariest thing I had seen in my life by far. This was Izzy now. As my heart started to race, my eyes frantically began to look at what monstrosity she had become. She was tall, much taller. She was either the same height as me or taller. Her hips were wide-come to think of it her whole pelvic region was-and her waist was smaller. I guess that was the equivalent to my and Cubby's sudden tallness broadness. Her hair was not a golden chocolate but rather an ugly dark brunette, almost black. It was no longer in flowy pigtails and instead was ridiculously wavy and full of volume. It looked like a lion's mane. Her complexion was not tan anymore either. She had grown a bit pale and honestly after living in this horrid environment for half a year I wasn't surprised. She had on a white pirate blouse, a short ruffled black skirt and a blood red sash tied around her waist. It also looked like she had some sort of metal platform on the bottom of each of her midnight black boots since she had evidently disposed of the red ones. In her hand was a short but still deadly looking sword. Where did she even get that? On her face was a sly smirk that didn't distract me from her devilish dark red eyes. I'm sure if she showed her teeth she'd reveal fangs. She looked like a vampire, but that was not even the worst of it. She looked like a grown woman.
"Ah, how you all have grown!" she said with fake enthusiasm as she began to circle us. She lifted up her skirt and placed her blade in a sheath strapped to her thigh, for it looked like her hands were being used to animate her emotions as she spoke. "I suppose I have changed a bit though too. Haven't I, hero?" she asked, getting into my face. There was a small aroma of ash and charcoal that came from her and I couldn't help but cringe at it.
"Izzy." was all I could blurt out. The corrupted pirate quickly got out of my face and started to pace with her hands behind her back.
"Well….not quite, Jake," she started. "You see ever since you broke my heart and stomped on it until it was dust, left me to be nearly tortured to death and never came back when I called for help after you promised me to do so if I needed such a thing…I underwent a little change if you couldn't tell," Izzy lectured, doing a little twirl with her black frilly skirt. "And I can't say I have ever felt better."
"You are not Izzy." Cubby said with brave eyes. The girl in the black skirt placed her hands on her hips and scoffed.
"And just what, pray tell, do you mean by that?" she asked.
"We know it's you in there Morgan!" Peter exclaimed.
"Hmm….maybe you are right," she admitted. "But either way, I am in full control, I am still the old Izzy .….just better," she paused before eventually turning to Cubby. "How's Neverland Cubby?" she asked. "Is everybody still in hiding from me?"
"Maybe." he answered timidly. Izzy scratched her head in fake confusion.
"Huh. Peter, may I ask you exactly how many slanderous lies you have told the inhabitants of Neverland to make them this afraid of me?" Peter Pan crossed his arms and glared.
"I didn't tell anybody anything Morgan. I also wasn't there when you burnt down the whole Island. You have already made them fear you yourself. You did not need any assistance from me!" he retorted.
"Calmdown. I was just asking a question!" she sassed. "So Jake, how was exploring the lands beyond the Neverseas .….for seven straight years? It sure must be nice to be a legend. I can't say otherwise though. You certainly deserved it from the start. I mean…you are the important one after all. It isn't like Cubby or I matter is it? I waited fifty years to be the chosen one but we certainly can't have that now can we? Some of us just have to accept the fact that we will just never be special. But please do not pity me at all. I now realize that I was far too smart for all of you idiotic, cowardly, stuck up, fatuous, morons. I have a world of my own here and I have made the most of it. Don't you think so?" I shook my head.
"Not really." I mumbled.
"What? You don't think this is a good look for me?" she asked while twirling around again.
"No," Peter laid out bluntly. "You look miserable."
"Well I think Neverland will be in absolute awe when I return to conquer and get what I deserve most; Revenge. And what better way to do that than by…well..kill is such a harsh word. By..unaliving all of you."
"Killing us won't make you feel any better Izzy. It will not make you happy." The lass immediately swiped the sly and mischievous smile off her face and replaced it with a death glare.
"How dare you speak to me about happiness!?" she roared. "You destroyed my happiness when you left me to die!" She cooled down a little. "I am a very patient pirate. Fifty years I waited to have my chance only to be completely overlooked. Im surprised you got the grit to even journey here. I could kill you all right now. Look what happened to the dragon. You don't see him around here do you?"
"What did you do to it?" Peter asked.
"I killed that thing the day I arrived here," she said casually. "But don't worry, he was put to good use. After all, where do you think I get my nourishment from? Do you think I just didn't eat for six months straight?"
"That is disgusting!" Peter spat and rightfully so.
"So you killed old scaly face?" I asked.
"Correct Jake. And I will do much worse to you if you don't cooperate!" Izzy's evil counterpart hissed. "But…maybe I will spare your measly lives if you hand over my pixie dust and the Forever Flower." she said calmly, reaching out her hand. Peter only shook his head and clutched the leaf pouch with the crystal flower closer to him.
"Never." the boy declared. Izzy clicked her tongue and shook her head.
"Big mistake," she said as she turned around and looked straight at me. I felt the anxiety rise when she approached me, standing only about three inches away from me. Our eyes were locked and I realized that she was indeed an inch or two taller than me. We were so uncomfortably close that it looked like we were gonna kiss. Ew. Izzy reached out her hand. "Give me the pixie dust Jake," she ordered, pointing at the sack tied around my neck. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." I swallowed hard and protectively put my hand that was not holding Cubby's rod on the glowing pouch before taking a small step back.
"As you would say, yay hey no way," I declared. "So it looks like we're gonna do this the hard way because I am not giving this to you."
"Why does everything have to be an argument with you?" Izzy asked, slightly annoyed. "But the hard way you say?" She was quiet for a moment. "Ok!" the teenage woman exclaimed in a high pitched voice before quickly yanking the yellow pouch off my neck and then sprinkling some of it all over her. She pulled out her small sword from its strap and then chucked the pouch back at me like a basebal pitch. Hard.
"Oof!" I let out as it socked me in the shoulder. Izzy cackled like a maniac and ascended into the air, twirling.
"Now that feels good!" she let out, admiring the golden trail of sparkles she created. She looked at the rod in my hand and smirked. "You didn't bring the staff for nothing." she said, twirling her small blade as if it were a baton as she stepped towards me. Oh no. Please don't tell me we were about to….
"Izzy don't you even!" I growled, but she only came closer and continued to giggle that evil laughter.
"And why not?" she asked slyly, with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Because ...because I don't wanna hurt you." I stuttered.
"Oh how sweet!" she mocked "I would feel very special if I actually cared about what you had to say."
"Izzy please!" I begged as she only proceeded further towards me. "You don't have to do this."
"The hell I don't Jake!" she barked. "I have already had my turn to suffer. Now it's yours." the corrupted girl said, holding up her blade and then smirking at me evilly.
"You weren't the only one who suffered, Izzy!" Cubby surprisingly butted in. "I was there right along with you! What about me? What about my pain!?"
"HAH!" Izzy laughed like a hyena and I could tell the blonde boy immediately regretted what he said. "Your pain!? Were you abandoned by your parents? Did you watch one of your first ever friends fall into a volcano? Were you rejected after fifty years of waiting to be someone important? We're you humiliated and whipped shirtless until you could barely breathe? Were you locked in a room with several grown men while they sang "what should you do with a drunken sailor"? Were you haunted and followed by an evil spirit for fifty days until death was a calmer place for you? Were you kicked out of Neverland and forced to live in a place like THIS!? I don't think so! So shut up Cubby!" she roared at him before putting her attention on me again. "But back to you Jacob….let's see what you remember." And before I knew it, she came at me, quick. To my absolute horror, we were fighting. Never in my life did I ever think I would be doing this. This was horrible.
When Izzy sprang into action, she did not start out easy in the slightest. She tried to strike at me, but I used Cubby's staff to firmly defect it. I was in no way attacking her; I was merely defending myself. But it was not an easy job. Our weapons struck each other several more times as Cubby watched in shock. Izzy attempted to slice my chest open but I quickly slid out of the way. This was unbelievable. Back when it was just her and I depending on each other, Izzy was NEVER the fighter. I was and I still am. She would rather flee than fight. She was the first one to be protected if anything! And now here she was trying to kill me since she's apparently mastered how to use a blade, despite the fact that she had never even held one until now. I on the other hand had years of experience…but it didn't seem to be enough. We stopped fighting for a quick minute to stare at each other, both panting. Izzy regained her poster and gave me a condescending smirk.
"Really Jake? You're already tired after that?" she picked.
"Well then lucky you because there is much more where that came from!" I shot back.
"You can't scare me, little boy," she giggled but then put on an irritated face right after. "Now hold still so I can put you out of your misery!" she growled as she struck at me once again, but I quickly blocked her long knife with the staff and then reached out with my free hand and grabbed her wrist. Izzy clenched her teeth and tried to break free, but if she twisted too hard she'd break her wrist. "Let go!" she whined, trying to pull away.
"Izzy please…listen to me!" I pleaded. She reluctantly looked at me with hateful eyes as she strained and pulled away. "Whatever this thing has done to you…we can make you well again!"
"How many times must I tell you!?" she growled. "I am not the doee, I am the doer!" She then turned and roughly kicked me in the side. I had no choice but to let her out of my grip. I fell to the ground, clutching my side. Izzy's shoes had metal heels which only made it hurt even more. But I had to suck up the pain when I saw her charging at me with her small sword yet again. I staggered back, still on the ground before reaching into her pixie pouch that I had placed back around my neck, grabbing a pinch full of it and sprinkling it all over before taking to the dark skies. That was the only way I could retreat. I scanned the ground in search of Peter or Cubby but didn't see a sign of them. Oh no. It was just me and Izzy now.
As I frantically ascended higher and higher, I looked down to see the teenage woman still had a small amount of pixie dust on her, and so, she followed me into the air, her weapon still clutched in her hand.
"Come here Jakey Wakey," she cooed. "It's not gonna hurt much. I'll do it quickly, I promise."
"No Izzy. You come to me! I just wanna help you!" I said, concerned.
"Oh please Jake! I may be psychotic but I'm not stupid! Now come here!" We struck each other's weapons several more times as we floated in the sky. But the psycho pirate got the upper hand when she grabbed my forearm and used all her might to chuck me back down onto the ground. I was quick to spread my arms and legs apart, landing on my hands and feet like a cat instead of planting on my neck and head. I looked up and saw that Izzy was fully charging down at me, her shiny blade ready to pierce right through me. Faster than the speed of light, I bolted out of the way, resulting in her crashing to the ground. Izzy growled in pain and I couldn't help but feel guilty. Well that was until she shook it off as if it were nothing and looked at me in rage. I panicked and sprinkled a bit more pixie dust on myself and flew away again. However this time, Miss maniac couldn't follow. The tiny amount of gold dust she had spritzed herself with had worn out and therefore, she was stuck on the ground. I ascended higher into the air, and perched on the side of a cliff, completely out of Izzy's sight. I let out a heavy tired sigh before peering down to see where my predator was. She was roaming around the ground, searching for me like a hunter. She carried her blade over her shoulder like a baseball bat or a fishing pole.
"Oh Jakey-poo!" she called. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" her manic voice echoed in the canyon-like formation of the island. What do I do now? I can't stay up here for much longer! And there was no way I was gonna go back down and fight with her again.
"Jake!" I heard somebody hiss. I lifted up my head and looked around. "Over here!" the voice whispered again. I scanned the elevated area once more to see that the voice was coming from inside the small cave with a burning torch that Izzy had constructed. And out of it came Peter Pan and Cubby, frantically waving at me to come over and join them. I shut my eyes tightly before dashing over to the cave on the side of the cliff as fast as possible, hoping Izzy didn't see me. I let out a loud exhale when I entered the warm atmosphere of the cave. It was bare, minus the glowing torch of fire and a few dirty bones scattered about it, that I assume were those of the dead dragon. Cubby and Peter were standing right next to the flame of the torch. The green boy had the forever flower in one hand and a small piece of paper with some writing scribbled on it in the other. "Jake, we know how to fix this!" Peter whispered.
"You do? How?" I asked in undertone.
"Well, we gotta….we gotta…." the redhead's words drowned out in silence. I felt like I was about to pull out my spiky black hair.
"What Peter!? We do we gotta do!?" I demanded to know.
"We gotta get her to kiss it!" Peter said, straight out. "In order to free her of this insanity she has to accept the forever flower and kiss it...Willingly."
"Are you serious?" I asked. "We can't just throw it at her and hope it'll work?"
"No. If this thing breaks, it's game over," the brown eyed boy said, holding up the purple crystal flower. "But Jake…if this doesn't work then…..then we might have to just leave things the way they are." My jaw gaped and my olive eyes widened.
"What!? No! We've come too far! How can you even say that!?"
"SHHHHHHH!" Peter and Cubby hissed at me.
"Sorry." I said, remembering to whisper. Peter sighed and moved his uneven red fringe out of his eyes.
"We don't have time to talk about every single way things could go wrong," he declared. "But I'll tell you one thing, if we fail, we cannot get off this island without tha pixie dust." the green boy said, pointing at the pouch around my neck.
"And neither can I!" We jumped when we heard that crazy feminine voice again, immediately knowing who it was. I slowly turned my head to the entrance of the cave to see Izzy standing there, her hands on her hips and of course, an evil looking smirk on her face.
To Be Continued….