The Lost Merman

A New Skyman

Chris was getting airsick after flying for three days. Then he was glad when he saw he was over trees. He jumped off Toughclaw and landed on the branch of one of the trees. He was relieved that he was out of the air and onto something more solid.

Chris slowly climbed down and saw he was in some sort of tropical rainforest with giant green trees and yellow sand. A place he had never been or seen anything like it in his life. His mind would have been curious about this place if he wasn't three days hungry. Then he saw some bananas and he climbed up the tree. But, when he got on the highest branch, the bananas were still out of his reach. He jumped up and tried to reach them, but he couldn't. Then something went straight through them and the bananas landed... on an annoyed Chris's head.

Out of the banana mash came an Amazon bird. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm in on the run for something I didn't do and a herd is after me."

"What are you accused for?" asked Chris.

"I'm accused for stealing breadcrumbs from the evil Jaco-Palo and – Here come Jaco-Palo's armies!" The Amazon's wing pointed to the left.

There Chris saw a whole bunch of tropical birds flying towards them.

"Captain Talon, there he is next to that human!" yelled a cuckoo bird.

"Well, you know what to do, Lieutenant," said Captain Talon, an oilbird. "Get them both!"

"You heard him, birds!" Lieutenant Cuckoo shouted. And the birds flew like a sandstorm.

Chris saw them coming. He grabbed the Amazon bird. "You tell me which way to go, the best places to hide and I'll protect you."

"If they say, 'Have you seen anyone called Kevin?' – that would be me – say no," Kevin the Amazon bird told Chris.

"My name is Chris," said Chris.

And so the chase was on. Wherever Kevin told Chris to go, Chris would go, through the cramp trees, through the deep sand trenches, through the waters and through a dark tunnel.

"Have you been down this tunnel before?" asked Chris.

"No, that's why I'm sure it'll lead us to safety," Kevin said, proud of himself. "Besides I think we've lost them."

"If you keep quiet, I think we will!" whispered Chris.

Then he saw some light ahead. They were approaching the end of the tunnel! He was running towards the light and found himself somewhere no one had ever seen been. He found himself in some sort of large temple! It was large and handmade with stone. It had columns and colours and grand steps and seats with large candles.

"What is this place, Kevin?" asked Chris.

"Oh, bother, we must've taken a wrong turn," Kevin sighed. "We're in the temple of Jaco-Palo!"

"What? How many temples has he got?"

"Just this one. This one has been built long before the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Mayans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs."

"And it will be the last temple when we knock down Eric's and Triton's Kingdoms!"

Chris and Kevin turned around and saw Captain Talon's army flying towards them. Chris ran down the stairs, leading to him to outside. He followed the stairs down, but his vision was surrounded by clouds. He was so focusing on running down that he didn't know he would fall down! Luckily, he grabbed the last step and looked down. He saw below that he was in some sort of oasis, full of sand and tropical trees.

Kevin was flying in the air and flew back to Chris. "Chris, let my claws grab your shoulders and I'll fly you to safety!"

"No! Go on, Kevin! Run... Er, I mean, fly for it!"