An Expedition--with a Kangaroo.

Discovery

All of us tumbled into a heap on the icy ground. It wasn't the best entrance to a world I'd dreamed of for so long, but it was more than I could ever ask for. After we all dusted ourselves off, Heather and I took a moment to take a look around Pixie Hollow.

Even though it looked utterly wretched and disheveled after the snowstorm, the trees still seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. The sunshine seemed to dance over the slush on the ground; it was phenomenal how a place could be severely in need of repair but magnificently fascinating simultaneously. Worn-out and dreary fairies hovered in the air as they slowly flitted from one tree branch to another, trying in vain to repair the damage in the Hollow. Not that it was helping, anyway—the destruction seemed to have covered every inch of the fairies' home.

Tink and Peri bit their bottom lips as they glanced at the wreckage. "Welcome to Pixie Hollow," Peri said, voice filled with sorrow and helplessness. "They're doing the best they can, we promise," Tink offered. "It's not the best introduction to our home, but I guarantee it will be much better after the crisis has been solved."

Heather and I looked at each other, then at Kangaroo/Bunny, who was still surveying the loss. "It sure isn't what it used to be like," said Kangaroo (quite unhelpfully). The five of us stood in awkward silence as fairies flew by, either slowing down to gawk at the Easter Bunny and two Clumsies (human beings), or increasing their speed to ensure Pixie Hollow was restored efficiently.

I took a few steps forward, careful not to slip on the ice. "Where are your friends?"

"Probably somewhere in this mess," Tink responded halfheartedly.

As if on cue, a frazzled Fawn rushed up to us. "Gruff's awake," she said quickly.

"What?!" Tink screamed. "But—there was no comet—a snowstorm—why...wha—...HOW?!" And, providing no explanation, she raced away behind Fawn.

When we finally caught up with Tinker Bell and Fawn, we saw them kneeling before a giant blob of gray. "Blazing copper kettles," I gasped as the creature lifted its head and revealed striking green eyes.

"His fur looks like yours," Periwinkle spoke to Bunny while pointing at the creature.

"Is that...Gruff?" I asked. Tink looked at me from beside the creature and nodded her head. "He's the NeverBeast,"

"Looks more like a Bandersnatch to me," I chuckled, thinking of the odd animal from Alice in Wonderland.

"More like a mix of a Didelphis marsupialis and Bison occidentalis," Heather commented while Fawn looked up in surprise. "That's what I said when I first met Gruffy!"

"I have no idea what you just said—" I began, but Heather clamped a hand over my mouth.

"A hybrid of the opossum and an extinct species of bison. The scientific nomenclatures were in the encyclopedia Mom gave me for my eighth birthday,"

"You don't see any towers around, do you?" Fawn asked all of us.

"No, I don't think so," Bunny replied. "Does the NeverBeast have something to tell us?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Tink answered. "Gruff isn't supposed to be awake for another millennium, so this is highly unusual."

"He used to help us protect the Hollow who wakes up once every thousand years when a green comet passes Neverland," Fawn continued. "But a lightning storm will strike soon after, which endangers many of us fairies. To prevent us from being obliterated by the storm, Gruff creates one tower in each season to draw the lightning towards them, then collects all the lightning and the negative energy until the storm passes. Gruffy here can also use the lightning to bring our fallen fairies back to life,"

"But he isn't building any towers this time around, nor has there been any reported sighting of something even remotely related to the green comet, except Gruff, of course," Tink continued. "We know he's the protector of Pixie Hollow, so he's definitely here to protect us from something."

"But what is it?" Heather murmured. She reached out, took a strand of fur from Gruff, and studied it closely. I frowned at her, but she didn't notice. Tink and Peri were whispering, and Fawn joined in soon after. "It can't be," Periwinkle gasped suddenly. I looked quizzically at the fairies.

Bunny seemed to know what was going on, and he gasped, too. "Not your wings," he grimaced at the trio and began to search for something in his pack. "No, no, no," I could hear him muttering. When both sides were unhappy, I knew something had gone wrong. "Your wings are just shimmering a little," I raised an eyebrow.

"You don't understand!" Fawn wailed. I had never seen her this distressed before. Bunny had produced another type of snowglobe from his sling bag and tapped it, once, twice, three times. A holographic globe appeared, but peculiar lights or stars were flashing all over the countries, almost like they were twinkling...had I seen something like this before? No, it had been described to me...

"Is that...the map of Believers?" I questioned hesitantly.

"Yes," Bunny answered my question, but gazed at the holographic globe intently. "It seems like the number of Believers is relatively intact. The numbers are slightly dwindling, but this is only for the Guardians in question,"

"The prospect is still worrying," I remarked cautiously. "What about your wings?" I looked over at the three anguished fairies.

"This is an entirely different situation," Tink whispered, barely audible. "Our wings shimmer on different occasions, like the time when we found out Peri and I were twin sisters. But this shimmer is duller. It happens rarely, but it occurs when our core Believers have a conflict with one another. But we don't know who our core Believers are until they prove it to us,"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" My face was still twisted in a worried expression because of the situations the magical beings were facing. "Maybe this loss of Belief and conflict is the cause of the blizzard, causing the late spring."

"It could be the case," Fawn pondered. "Maybe Gruff knows the answer,"

The fairies, Bunny, Heather, and I had subconsciously grouped into a circle when discussing our troubles. Everyone was so focused on their problems that nobody noticed the NeverBeast sneak away. So when Fawn looked back, she gasped in horror at the giant hole that had appeared where Gruff was—

"Wait, that's one of my tunnels," Bunny said, incredulous. "We've got to find him. He's our last hope!" cried Periwinkle as she jumped into the hole without hesitation, Tink and Fawn following closely behind. Bunny pulled Heather and me along and descended into the dirt tunnels.

"That was a (oof) short visit to Pixie Hollow, but (oof) even though it was wrecked, (oof) it was a dream come true," I shouted as the long, winding tunnel kept flinging us to its walls.