Camptastic! Comes the Campy Curtailing

TheCuriousSeed

Chapter 5 and we're staying alive! Read along, after all, what could possibly go wrong?

~The next day the group awoke to find the bears gone. Daylily and Holly inspected the area and found no major damage, so they decided to check on the bears, but despite being Animal Scouts, not even their noses were keen enough, so…

~"Heidi?" asked Holly.

~"Yes?" asked Heidi.

~"Can you help us track the bears down?"

~"They're off to fatten up for the winter; I'm sure they'll be fine."

~But Daylily checked her heart, which was slowing, but not for rest. The bears were nearby and hibernation was nigh, yet they were still a little too thin. Daylily often had to check her heart since she was the strongest empath of the Scouts, even the Animal Scouts, and she loved and cared for the animals' safety all too much. She also sensed a tortoise getting ready to hibernate nearby, but said tortoise was in a dangerous spot. Oh, if only there was at least a fourth Scout!

~Suddenly, Neverland seemed to send a signal that the group needed to return home immediately, ergo why Nene suddenly appeared before everyone and signaled to pack everything at once.

~"You'll need a lot more Pixie Dust to get us all back home," said Daylily, who siphoned out the dust that remained on her body minus her wings and gave it to Nene, who told her to keep her Pixie Dust in case any animals needed her help… in fact, Nene had plenty of Pixie Dust left and gave each fairy her extra Pixie Dust, leaving the rest for herself.

~"You heard the Belief Talent," said Holly. "We have to leave straight away."

~Everyone began to pack their belongings and soon huddled around Nene, who returned them all to Neverland, namely the Hollow.

~But the Scouting, Tinkering, Winter and Animal Talents were stranded!

~"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" cried the smaller Silver.

~"I think Nene had too little Pixie dust for us, especially given that we weren't directly touching her," figured Holly.

~"I hope either of those new twins were Belief Talents?!"

~But the Incomplete twins Emerald and Buster weren't Belief Talents or Winter Talents or Scouts or even Nature Talents. In fact, they were supposed to be Culinary Servers, but they were so Incomplete they oft forgot the menus and what the customers wanted!

~"Okay, stop panicking for a bit," said Daylily, checking her heart, which was even slower than ever. "It's almost time for them to hibernate… and they've gained just enough weight this year, but they still need to keep feeding today, then return home."

~"We should help them," said Jessie.

~Off to the sleuth.

~Meanwhile, back in Pixie Hollow, a storm began to rage!

~"Hickory, whatever it is you're upset about, rein it in!" exclaimed Onyx.

~"But this isn't mine!" cried Hickory.

~"No one else can make a storm this strong by herself!"

~"This storm is far too large for even the entire Weather Guild to create!"

~"She's right!" cried Gloriosa. "A Merprince is doing this because he's extremely upset!"

~"What Merprince?!"

~"Mer-royalty can summon far stronger storms than any other merfolk, especially the Nevermerfolk!"

~A bat flew by, tossed and tumbled in the wind. Fortunately, Nene was still not a bat nor was Prilla nor even…

~"Jimin?!" cried Pearl.

~"I have to find Prince Taehyung!" cried Jimin.

~"Who's he?"

~"And maybe warn him about the storm!" cried Gloriosa. "One Merprince is the reason for said storm!"

~But the worried look on Jimin's face was all the reason to assume Prince Taehyung sent the storm… but unlike the other merfolk, Prince Taehyung was quite kind… at least to his best friend Jimin.

~"Oh my word…"

~"I have to go!" cried Jimin, flying towards Mermaid Lagoon.

~Wait! Let me at least frost your wings first!" cried Pearl.

~"Pearl, I don't think that's a good idea," said Onyx. "You're a Water Talent and frosting wings is best left to--"

~But Pearl refused to listen and as she frosted Jimin's wings, he thanked her and left.

~"I hope our friends that got stranded are okay," said Xenops.

~Better than okay were said friends, who managed to ensure all the bears very well fed and ready to hibernate, alongside the tortoises and other hibernators. All the animals in this wintry realm now taken care of, it was the girls' turn to…

~"Don't return to Pixie Hollow yet!" a voice called. "There's a huge storm there than no fairy can stop!"

~"What's Jimin doing out here in a realm this cold?" asked Heidi.

~Thankfully Jimin's wings were protected with frost thanks to Pearl finally mastering the art of wing frosting, but he was in a rush to console Prince Taehyung, who was very upset. Jimin clearly felt this was his task and his alone to take care of since he was the first sparrowman to truly be respected by a merperson, let alone a merprince, let alone befriended by one. He was on a mission to help Prince Taehyung by any means worthy of a prince and he was too determined to let anyone or anything stand in his way anymore.

~When Jimin reached Prince Taehyung, he found the Merprince by himself perched on the rock of Mermaid Lagoon. Prince Taehyune was very upset, but he knew he couldn't tell the other merfolk lest they laugh at him again. Jimin could see how hurt Prince Taehyung was despite no physical wounds adorned, awaited the invitation (an open palm) and landed, sitting on Prince Taehyung's right palm.

~"Oh, it's horrible," said Prince Taehyung in a different language seldom spoken by either Neverfairy (sparrowman in Jimin's case) or Nevermerperson. "I should just give up living in Neverland anymore, maybe swim away to the Mainland; I bet the merfolk there will be more respectful, especially to a prince."

~"Prince Taehyung, just because you had a bad day today doesn't mean you're a bad merprince," explained Jimin in the same language, who still respected royalty even if he befriended them. "Besides, you're stronger than you're crediting yourself for." He dared not mention the storm to Prince Taehyung's face, but Prince Taehyung knew this attempt to spare his feelings was in vain.

~"Even Soop and Oola laughed at me for that storm I caused, saying at least they could control their storms, case in point when Soop summoned a flood to Pixie Hollow long ago. I wasn't around yet either, but it still hurts. I can't afford to sing around you lest you become a bat again..."

~Jimin could still remember that day Prince Taehyung accidentally sang him into a bat, ergo why Jimin now did the singing instead whenever he visited and Prince Taehyung forgot his special shell that negated the danger of a merprince's singing voice. Not wanting to be a bat ever again and seeing no protective shell, he sang to Prince Taehyung. Even though Jimin was a Dancer, he also had a very beautiful (but safe) singing voice. When he was done singing his song of confidence and standing up for what was right and spreading encouragement, Prince Taehyung felt better, wiped away his tears and smiled as a thank you. Jimin then hugged Prince Taehyung's thumb while Prince Taehyung hugged Jimin close to his heart before Jimin waved goodbye, the two parted, Jimin flying away, Prince Taehyung swimming away, and the storm was now over.

~Fortunately, the girls that were stranded also found a way back home and Pixie Hollow was once again safe from the storm. Camping was fun as was hanging out with the first merman to befriend a sparrowman and helping the animals prepare for winter, plus now that things have calmed down quite a bit, it was looking wondrously magical in Pixie Hollow again.

Hope you enjoyed this last chapter of the Camptastic series!