Chapter 9: The Flight

Night fell very quickly, I looked at my watch and it read 6:30pm.
"We better start moving or we will miss our flight out of earth,"I said.
Jiang and Melana nodded in agreement.
We walked up towards the ticket entrance gates.
"We have to go around,"Melana said.
"Yea, I can get through but you guys will have to sneak around,"Jiang said. We nodded.
As Jiang walked through the entrance gate, we crept around the side and as fast as we could, we jumped the fence. Thankfully, no one saw. We walked up to Jiang like nothing ever happened.
We didn't say a word as we walked down Main Street because we didn't know what to expect when we get to our destination. We know that it was going to be bad. As we walked into Fantasyland, people gave us odd stares at our uniforms and such, but got use to it after a quick glance. We stopped in front of the Peter Pan's Flight attraction.
I sighed.
I remember that I couldn't wait to get in line when I was little, but now, I am dreading of what's to come once I get inside. I could sense Melana was stricken with fear too.
"The entrance got to be here. It has to be since it's giving off strong signals and bad signals at the same time," Jiang said, nonchalantly as she walked in line.
It went relatively good paced. Not fast but not slow.
In mid way of the line, I decided to pray that God will give us the strength and courage to go through this mission. I looked over and saw Melana praying too. Jiang wasn't paying much attention since she was looking a lot at her watch.
When we got to the entrance, it was 7:13.
"Ready?" I asked, nervously as we got on the ship. They nodded.
As we slowly passed the flight controller, I noticed something odd.
The college guy looked fazed or being controlled by something. He stared at us a we 'floated' up into the Darling's room.
"There is something wrong with that guy," I pointed out to Jiang.
"Yea, he is controlled by a Other,"Jiang said, sounding like it wasn't a big deal. Can't she show a little bit of appropriate emotion?
We all had one hand on the pod as we passed by Big Ben wich shown 7:15. I check my watch, it was 7:15.
Just as we turned away from London and started to enter Neverland, whiteness surrounded us.
I couldn't see Jiang or Melana next to me but I could sense that they were still there because I heard Melana screaming. Of course, Jiang didn't say anything. I was screaming too because I felt like I was on a roller coaster going hundreds of miles a hour.
Then the whiteness slowly cleared but I was still blinded. When my vision cleared, I looked down and I saw Neverland with lite snow falling over it. Neverland looked like a ghost island because I could see no speck of life from my view. Well, probably because I was too high in the sky.
Then I noticed that I was seriously floating in the sky and I saw Melana and Jiang floating too. We slowly descended to the slightly frozen Mollusk Sea. When my legs surged into the water, I gasped. It was freezing cold! I was still expecting warm, Hawaii waters. Well, back when Neverland was still good and functional.
"We got to swim,"Jiang whispered.
I looked around and saw Skull Rock nearby. I pointed towards there.
Without a nod, we all started swimming as fast as we could. We didn't care where we going to go in Skull Rock, we just wanted to get out of the cold waters. Finally my touched a rock. I looked up and saw a cave wall and a few scattered rocks.  
I pulled myself up and sat on the ground, trying to catch my breathe, freezing. Jiang and Melana pushed up after me.
"Where do we go? I am freezing,"Melana whispered through her chattering teeth. Jiang looked up and we looked in her direction, a cave.
"Up there,"Jiang said.
Without a word, we started climbing up the rocky wall. It was like rocky climbing, except the rocks weren't smooth. Jiang levitated behind us, in case we fell.
We finally reached the cave. I peeped inside with my flashlight and it was pretty spacious with a few holes in the wall to let in a little light and air.
"Pretty nice room you got us here, Jiang,"Melana commented.
"Yup. I like to choose comfortable spots that I can nap comfortably in."
I opened up my pack and pulled out two airtight jackets. I tossed one to Jiang because Melana was already pulling her's on. I ripped the plastic and it puffed into a bubble jacket.
"Neat,"Jiang said as she opened her's.
We slipped on our jackets while Melana set up a pop up tent that was also stored in her pack. We crawled inside the tent and huddle together for warmth. The ice slowly defrosted from my face and I could finally feel my nose again.
"What do we do now?"Melana asked.
I pulled out three energy bars.
"We eat, then rest,"I said.
We opened up our power bars and ate quietly.
Then I heard a rock move behind our tent.

Chapter 8: Plan

The bus slowed to a stop when I saw the crowds of people in between the entrances of California Adventure and Disneyland.

"We're here,"I said, bumping Melana to awake her.

She groaned as she got up, eyes dazed from sleep.

As we got off the bus, she said,"Wow, it's 2:40. The bus ride only felt like ten minutes."

"Come one, sleepyhead,"I said.

I saw the long line to the check in area. My eyes strayed towards our backpacks and I already knew that we wouldn't get through because we had no authorization to enter. I grabbed Melana's wrist and walked briskly to the sidelines. 

The second the cast members didn't look towards out direction, we ran. As J.U.S.S. trainees, we were taught to run silent so that no one could hear us. 

When we were far enough, we slowed to a stop.

"Now what?" Melana asked, panting a little bit.

"We wait for the person I called," I said.

A person then called from behind me,"I am right here."

I turned and saw Jiang. She handed me the pod.

"When I got here, your dad and a couple of starcatchers already left to Neverland. The remaining catchers went home,"Jiang said.

"Good. Here's the plan. First, we need to get past the entrance and enter the Peter Pan ride as quick as possible," I said.

"But the pod only works when the miniature Big Ben says so,"Jiang corrected.

"Don't worry. I just checked google and it read 7:15pm," Melana said.

"Great," I commented.

"So, what are we going to do?"Melana asked.

"We wait. But when the time comes, we will wait near the ride and try to get in line by 6:50. Hopefully, we will reach Big Ben by that time. I don't know where the entrance is but as a long as we have the pod, we will be fine. After that, I don't know what to expect,"I said. 

"Has anyone been to Neverland?" Melana asked out of nowhere. We all shook our heads.

"Well, it was worth a shot."

"We should probably get in,"I said.

"Wouldn't it be better if we do it at night?"Jiang said.

"Yea, because they won't be able to see us,"Melana added in.

"You both got a point," I said.

"So, do we just chill here?" Melana asked.

"Yup,"Jiang and I replied at the same time.

                                    -------------------------<>--------------------------

"King,"said the Skeleton as he ran into the King's cave, overlooking the ghostly Mermaid Lagoon.

"What is it?"The King asked.

"We are getting strange power signals from the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are kept."

"Why?"

"We do not know. It is a starstuff related because no one can get close to the source. Three men died from overexposure."

"Curtana, eh?"

"The Sword of Mercy?"

"Remember when you tried to reach some hidden starstuff, you used Curtana."

"Yes, but that boy broke it again."

"From my knowledge, myths have it that the person who owns the tip can only reach it and possibly summon it when it gives off powerful signals."

"The boy."

"Yes."

"We need to get him."

"Yes, as soon as possible. The Curtana is a great help to my conquest. Bring me the tip and if you are lucky, the boy too."

"Yes, sir."

The Skeleton rushed out of the room.

The King whispered to himself,"You think you can hide from me, Peter. You can't. Once I obtained the power of the Sword of Mercy, I will be undefeated for the rest of my reign. No sword will ever cross my path without being destroyed when I have both the Sword of Mercy and the Blade of Death. Ha ha . . . show yourself and fight like a man."

Chapter 7: First Apollo

An Apollo is a fancy way of saying a "mission". We like to call it that because most of our missions are more serious then anything else. My first Apollo was assigned a week after I met up with Kaoru. I was finishing up some homework when I got a call from the Director (pre-recorded of course),"The president is coming to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to see a live symphony. We are detecting major bomb threats, possibly nuclear from Korean radios. We want you to inspect or disable anything related to a bomb." I hooked up a airline.

                                      ------------------------------------------------------

The doors opened to the Amtrack station.  Melana got off with me. 

"I feel like we are lonely without Chelsie," Melana said.

I nodded. Chelsie is the oldest of us and she barely failed in the test but she still failed. 

"Yea, now where are we going to get practically perfect jokes?" I commented.

I looked around and spotted a couple of agents that our part of our group in uniform. 

The group was made up of Melana (102), Glenn (53), Kira (98) and me. Kira and Glenn were the combat agents. Melana is the floater. I am the techy person. We all made a pretty good team.

When we approached our team, I got a good look at the others. Kira was a tall, skinny blond girl. Glenn was a short Asian kid with sport sunglasses. They looked way more professional then Melana and I who only wore our green uniform and brim hats.
"99 and 102 reporting for duty,"I said.
"Good,"Kira said without any recognition that she was glad that we came. She then looked at Glenn.
"We are off schedule thanks to you guys by 5 minutes and 3 second,"Glenn announced.
I rolled my eyes, a on schedule weirdo just what I was craving for right now.
"First off, we need to check in the Kawada Hotel. We are planning on staying her for two days, today to complete our mission and then we leave for home tomorrow," Kira explained, looking into her notebook. 
I was impressed a little bit by her straight to business style. Maybe they are not so bad if they are efficient. But one thing bothered me that I just had to bring up. 
"Do we have to check in the hotel now? If the bomb is expected to blow tonight, shouldn't we be scouting the area by now? It's better safe then sorry,"I said.
Glenn slowly nodded his head in agreement.
"Sure. So we are detecting a signal from under the orchestra pit,"Kira said, not wasting any time.
"Do you know where the bomb is?" Melana asked.
"No."
"Do you know what kind it is?" I asked.
"No."
"Well glad we are scouting."
"Yea, who knows when it would blow,"Melana added.
"Here is what we need to bring: first, we all have to be approved by the guards which I think would be easy; second, Elysea gets the Lockism in case the bomb is locked; Third, the rest of us cover the perimeter,"Glenn said. 
"Sounds like a plan,"I said.
As we started to walk in the entrance, my phone rang. The caller i.d. was my dad. I immediately picked it up.
"Hello?"I said. But then the connection dropped when I was fully inside the building. 
"Damn,"I muttered.
"Who was that?" Melana asked.
"My dad,"I replied. She just looked at my sadly.
"You still haven't heard from him yet?" 
I shook my head.
"Wait, Disneyland is a hour from here. Maybe you can go and search for your dad in the remaining time left."
"I can't do that." Is she nuts? A agent is never to leave her group without given permission.
"Why not? You have the gear," she said, nodding towards my backpack.
She did make a point because I was carrying 'the works' backpack. I had all that I needed in it. 
"You gotta point," I said. Melana beamed.
Once we past security, we put our plan into action. We covered areas that we thought the signal came from but then we found it coming from a floor vent. Glenn and Kira covered the perimeter near the vent. Melana stuck with me, I was glad. I crouched near a good three-foot wide vent. I pulled out my flashlight and shined it inside. I saw a dusty floor with a few boxes. 
"I think it's okay to go inside,"I whispered to Melana.
I radioed Glenn and Kira saying,"Going in."
I took out my screw driver and unscrewed the screws. I pulled the vent cover out and climbed in the hole. I slowly let myself down to the floor. Once I was on the ground, Melana threw the Lockism down. The Lockism is a special computer that can disable bombs but only in emergencies. I grabbed the case and ran towards the middle of the basement. I looked around quickly, trying to find the bomb. I flipped on my bomb detector on my watch. I walked slowly towards the walls. 
"Come on,"I muttered,the watched shown noon.
Then I heard a beep. I waved my wrist over that section of the wall again and it beeped again. I knelt to the ground and the beeping sped up a lot. I looked towards the lower all and saw a crack. I got out a durable pocket knife and started scraping away at the linings. The slab of rock fell to the ground. I put my knife away and pulled out a flashlight and shined it inside the hole. I saw a Macbook Pro with a timer, marking 60 minutes exact.
"Okay, here it goes,"I said. 
I felt around the laptop, no wires.
I carefully pulled the laptop out and looked around it. There was no way, from what I could see, to get to the computer hard drive without accidentally blowing it up. I opened the Lockism and connected the USB wire to the laptop. The info of the bomb popped up.
"Woah,"I mumbled.
It was all tech. It was made that if anyone would touch a wire it would ignite a minor bomb. Enough to blow up the person who touched it. Glad that I didn't touch it.
I clicked the disable button and the Macbook powered down. Very nasty system, but easy to shut down.
I felt my phone vibrate when I started to shut down the Lockism. I reached in my pocket and looked at the caller i.d., it was my dad. I flipped my phone open.
"Hello?"
"Elysie,"said my dad. The reception was so bad that I could barely hear a thing.
"What's wrong?"I asked.
"Elysie . . . ,"my dad started but there was a eruption of loud noises and groaning.
"Sorry dad, I can't hear you. You got to speak louder."
"DISNEY! FLIGHT! RIDE! POD! NOW!," my dad yelled into the phone and the call dropped.
"Dad?" I yelled into the phone. All I heard was a drone tone. Oh no, I am not losing you.
I vigorously packed up my things and climbed up the vent.
"You shut it off" Melana asked.
I screwed the vent cover shut, got up, and handed her the Lockism.
I radioed Kira,"Disabled bomb. Call security to location."
I turned to Melana and said,"When Kira gets here, give the Lockism to her."
"Where are you going?" Melana asked, confused.
"To the Happiest Place on Earth."
Confusion lingered on her face, but then realization.
"Trouble?" Melana said.
I nodded.
"I am going with you."
"No, Melana. It's too dangerous."
"If I was going to a battle, would you come with me too?"
I thought of that for a second. Only a second.
"Yea, okay let's go."
As we passed by Glenn I yelled,"Assigned to another Apollo! Nice working with you!"
I didn't look back to wait for a answer.
We ran to the bus stop and the bus read that it was heading to Harbor Blvd. 
"Come on,"I said to Melana.
We hopped inside, payed our ride, and the bus drove off. I looked through my backpack frantically.
"What are you looking for?" Melana asked.
"The pod. But I didn't bring it," I said.
Then I remembered Jiang. I opened my J.U.S.S. phone and Jiang's number popped up. Whenever some one types in my number in any electronic device, my phone scans the number or brand.
I dialed the number.
By the first ring, Jiang answered.
"Elysie?"
"Not time to chat. I need you to head to my apartment, grab the pod, and meet me at the Disneyland entrance ASAP," I said.
"Got it." Jiang hung up.
I sighed and slipped my phone inside my pocket.
"Who was that?" Melana asked.
"Just a friend, running a errand for me,"I said.
"So, your friend is going to go to your house, which is up north, then bring the pod to you; which you are in the south."
"Yea. She's kinda fast."
Melana just stared at me confused.
There was a silence between us. Traffic started to clog up the highway.
"Hey, um, do you believe in God?" I asked.
"Yup. My parents go to church every Sunday so I just tag along," Melana replied.
"Yea, but, do you believe it?"
"Yea. Who can't? I mean, all the proof is in front of your eyes, you just have to clear the fog to believe it."
"Okay, got a little quotey there."
"Haha, my dad told me that quote. I thought that you might like it."
"Yea."
I stared out into the traffic and into the driver's faces. I saw different faces. I see content and happy, sad and stressed. Then my eyes landed on a SUV with a dad talking to two little girls, all laughing. Looking so darn . . . merry.
I sighed. 
I really wish I can be with my dad right now.
Then a light bulb flashed.
"Hey, Melana, can astronauts call people from space with cell phones?"
"Maybe."
"What if they are a universe away?"
"That's is definitely impossible. Theres no service."
I thought hard.
If my dad said that he was in Neverland, he's a wormhole away! That's not possible that the call got through.
"Uh, Melana. My dad called me back at the concert hall and he said that he was in Neverland and that he needs help. The reception wasn't all that great, but I could still hear him."
Melana thought long.
"I don't know. That's impossible . . . what if it's a miracle?"
"Miracle?"
"Yea, from God. Think abou it. What happened if you never heard that call? No one will go to your father's or his friend's aid. I think God let that call go through to call you to your duty."
"What's that?"
"I don't know. Maybe he wants you to help save your father and a mystical island."
"Seriously?"
"I don't know. That's just a random guess. Wake me when we get there."
Then Melana tipped her hat and fell asleep. Leaving me thinking, hard. 
Can God really call me to do this? Is there even a God? 
I decided to do one thing; pray.
I clasped my hands and closed me eyes.
Uh, hi God. I never exactly prayed to you before so I don't know how it goes. Well, to make story short, my dad is in trouble along with his groupie to save some island. I don't know what to do so can you please help me . . . us with this mission. Please. Um . . . Amen.
I opened my eyes and everything was still the same outside. I wonder if my prayer got higher than the ceiling.
I looked out at the traffic. It was still a long way. I closed my eyes, tipped my hat, and fell asleep.
                                         ---------------------------------------------------
I heard jingling.
I woke up and saw the bus, empty.
I stood up.
"Where's everybody?" I muttered.
Then a bright light floated towards me.
"Tinkerbell? Oh good, this is just a dream."
She smiled, then all went white.
The bus around me was getting swallowed by light. Fear gripped my chest. The floor was no longer under me, I looked down, terrified, then I felt like I was falling. I screamed as I fell into the darkness.
Elysea!
I heard a voice above me and I looked up. I saw a bright, golden kingdom. Paths paved of gold. I saw a man standing there, wearing pure white clothes that were so bright, holes in his hands and feet. I couldn't see his face though because I was too far away.
"Who are you?" I yelled.
Come.
I looked down and I saw a lake of flames with people inside of it.
Hell.
I looked up and tried to stop my falling.
"I can't come! I can't stop!"
Come, the man said again.
"Help me!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face as I felt the heat of the fire.
Then a hand grabbed me.
I saw the man in white pulling me towards the opening.
Once my feet landed on firm ground, I immediately hugged him.
"I am so happy that you saved me. I am so sorry that I denied you my entire life. Please forgive me, Jesus,"I blurted out, through tears.
The man hugged me tighter.
Your sins are forgiven.
I cried uncontrollably.
Go and save the lost souls in the Mollusk Island. I will watch over you.
Then the dream faded. 
I woke up and saw the Matterhorn in the distance.