The Lost Merman

The Land Orb

"Uh! Oh!" Chris woke up to find himself not in the mountain or in heaven, but on Earth. A piece of green earth. He got up and saw he was in a nice forest, with Kevin and Barry and Berry drinking water and eating fruits.

"Hey, you're awake!" cried Barry and Berry, each giving him an apple.

"What happened, guys?" Chris asked, as he took both apples.

"Well, from the start, when you left me and Berry out there – " began Barry.

"We were playing I spy for ages – " joined in Berry.

"Then we heard a fighting noise – "

"Barry sent me to check it out and I got stuck – "

"I had to go and help Berry out – "

"Then I started to sink and the mountain – "

"Let me guess the end," interrupted Chris. "You tou keep down and found me and Kevin and flew us up."

"Yeah!" cried the toucans.

"We're sorry if we caused any trouble," apologized Berry.

"That's okay," smiled Chris. "I've been in rougher spots." He hadn't really, but he just decided to keep cool, like when Prince Eric and Princess Ariel don't panic when something bad goes wrong. "But the Land and the Sea Orbs might be in much tighter spots, so now we've relaxed and recovered, let's carry on."

And so Chris and the birds flew on to continue their long journey. They haven't been flying for long until they came to Prince Eric's castle. The birds flew on, but Chris sat on the roof and saw what was happening. Prince Eric's sailors and soldiers were getting on the ships. On the biggest vessel ahead of the whole fleet, Prince Eric got on board and was joined by Princesses Ariel and Melody. They were greeted by King Triton and his army.

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?" asked Eric.

"Yes, I am," answered Triton. "Ariel, Melody, are you two ready?"

"Yes," they answered. Then they hugged Eric, probably for the last time. Then Triton used his triton to turn them into mermaids and they dived in.

"Cast off!" Eric ordered. He wanted to get on with this mission before anyone discovered he was going soppy. Before he was out of sight, he called to Grimsby, "If I don't return, take good care of the Kingdom and let the peace with the sea continue, Grim!"

"I will, I promise!" promised Grimsby. And the vessels were out of sight.

Chris had been watching every detail and could barely move afterwards.

Kevin came back to him. "Chris? Chris!"

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. I've just been watching something that makes it more vital that we must find the orbs. King Triton and Prince Eric are going to war with Jaco-Palo!"

"Well, sitting here won't get any done," said Kevin. "Come on."

And Chris slowly followed.

Chris and Kevin finally caught up with the twin toucans in a dark forest with lots of trees. They all stopped at a stone-made temple filled with columns.

"I reckon this will be where the Land Orb is," said Barry.

"Well, this is Gelrum Forest and no one has come here for about a century, so this would be the best place to hide something like an orb," Chris said. "Come on, time's running out."

They went inside and they all found a big hunk of... nothing! Just a big neatly hand-made room, with no pictures, no candles and no furniture.

"Start searching," ordered Kevin. "It must be in here somewhere."

While the birds were searching the roof and the walls, Chris was searching for the floor. He saw one brick very loose and decided to push it down. Then the whole floor began to rumble and fall down! Chris was very lucky he had those wings not only because of the falling floor, but underneath the floor was being crushed by self-spinning blades underneath!

"No wonder no-one would try," said an amazed Kevin.

"Why?" asked Barry and Berry.

"Never mind," sighed Kevin. "Let's fly down and find that Land Orb."

So they all flew down, avoiding the blades, to the ground below. Chris landed on it and it felt rock solid. He walked on to see what he might find on the ground, while the birds flew in the air.

Then something caught Chris's eye. He saw a stone-made picture of a similar orb. He got closer and studied it. Then he sank to the ground so quickly that he couldn't flap out in time. "Help! Help!" cried Chris.

His friends saw what was happening and flew to help him. The toucans grabbed a shoulder of Chris each and tried to pull him out, but the sinking was too strong. They let go by slipping off his shoulders and Chris was gone.

"Chris! CHRIS!" screamed Kevin, deciding to fly straight into the muddy bog to rescue him, but the toucans grabbed his legs each.

"If we don't find the Land and the Sea Orb, every creature of the world will die!" shouted Barry.

"Yeah, continuing this journey is what Chris would have wanted!" added Berry.

Kevin stopped struggling and calmed himself down. "You're right. Let's end this for good."

They flew on and were greeted by crossing blades from wall to wall. But that was no problem for fast birds that could fly quickly, except the tail end feathers of poor Berry came off!

Then they all flew on but Kevin was nearly crushed by the wall! The toucans dragged him back and to see some parts of the wall moving out from each side. With no way to fly over it, the birds had to fly quickly and swiftly through them. But, when they got through, there was a large giant brick from another wall pushing them further away and sending them through a giant skull's mouth.

"Well, nice knowing you guys!" shouted Barry as they were sent through the mouth.

They were heading down some lava at the ground below. They tried to fly, but flapping their wings did no good.

Then Kevin saw vines that like the ones from his home forest. "Grab one!" he ordered the toucans. And they obeyed.

"Why can't we fly, Kevin?" asked Barry.

"Well, maybe it could be a spell that's stopping us," thought Berry.

"Yes, Berry," agreed Kevin. "That makes absolute sense." Then he looked around and saw floating on a giant tree at furthest end of the forest of the giant vines... the beautiful grass-green Land Orb! "What are we waiting for? Come on!"

But no matter how fast the birds hopped from vine to vine, the tree and the Land Orb kept flying away from them. Kevin and Berry kept on swinging, but then Barry stopped and closed his eyes.

"Barry, what are you doing?" shouted Berry.

Barry didn't answer, but Berry's questions were answered when the tree and the Land Orb arrived at where Barry stood. He touched it and then he closed his eyes again. Kevin and Berry were so confused, but they were even more confused when they were standing outside the temple.

"What's going on?" asked Berry.

"How did you do it, Barry?" asked Kevin.

"Well, all I did was wish that we could make that tree and that orb come closer to us instead of away and we could get out of that horrible place in one piece," answered Barry.

"So it was your brain that got us out," thought Kevin. "How clever!"

"Not clever enough to get Chris out," sighed Barry. "I thought of him, but it's only wish that has come untrue!"

"Now that's untrue!" giggled a voice all the birds knew. They were very shocked when they looked ahead and had their mouths fall to the ground.