Kingdom Keepers: Next Generation (Unfinished/Unedited) *Republished

Chapter 9- Explanations

Sofia's POV

We were all astonished by what we had done. Here we were in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom right in front of Cinderella's Castle. Lucas looked so happy I thought he might start jumping and running to all the different attractions, but he held his composure. Eli looked mesmerized by how enormous it was. Emma couldn't take her eyes off the castle, she had probably read all about the artistry of it. Alex was looking at Peter in astonishment. After we had convinced ourselves it wasn't a dream, we stood in silence, thinking. I broke the silence.

"So, are there other characters like you?" I asked Peter. He had subdued the item he had caught earlier, which he had told us was his shadow.

"Oh, yeah. There are quite a lot of us. Wendy and the Lost Boys are back at my attraction. Prince Charming and Cinderella, but she prefers just Ella, stay backstage in their castle. It's mainly like that: we stay in our attractions. We talk sometimes, we're all friendly. If you want a good laugh, head to the Laugh Floor, Mike and Sully are great comedians. They host their show every night. I like going there." He smiled, as if remembering good times. Lucas spoke up, looking worried.

"If the good characters come alive, do the villains as well?" he asked.

Emma, Eli, and Alex zoned back into our conversation. We all watched Peter, waiting for an answer. Peter looked uncomfortable. He took a shaky breath and started a story.

"Quite a few years ago, a group of villains started gathering. Before then, they had always been there but never had been united. They called themselves the Overtakers. They started causing problems: stealing, changing parade routes, a cast member playing Mickey was caught on fire by the dragon over at Fantasmic! The Imagineers decided they needed to do something. An older guy, Imagineer, named Wayne Kresky found an answer. He developed the idea of hologram hosts. 5 kids were modeled for the program. At night, the kids showed up at this very park. They could see us, something no one had been able to do at that time. They solved this riddle, The Stonecutter's Quill. The Imagineers had been trying to solve this since it was given to Wayne by Walt. They found the pen. It's crazy powerful. We can't touch it though. The leader of the kids, Finn Whitman..." he cut himself off as all 5 of us gasped. Alex, Emma, and Eli looked at Lucas and I. I looked at them, then at my brother. He was staring at Peter; I could practically see his brain whirring.

"What? Weren't you guys sent by them? They have to be, like, in their late 30s now. They all work here. Well, Charlene Turner is technically a 'consultant' but she is so high up, she is practically an Imagineer." At the mention of his mom, Eli looked more confused then I'd ever seen him. He had always projected himself as one of the most confident people I had ever met. Now, he looked like he doubted everything he knew. I could see in all of my other friends' faces they were doing the same thing.

"Oh, look! There is Finn now!" Peter said.

I turned quickly and saw my dad lying on the ground. I knew if my dad saw us, we would be in a lot of trouble. He seemed to be sleeping for a moment.

"Peter, is there any way we could go to the comedy club?" I asked. He looked confused, but he led us into Tomorrowland quickly. We walked into the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor's backstage entrance. We walked straight into a large room with a stage, scattered tables and chairs, and a bar. As soon as we entered, the room went silent. I looked around and saw characters that I recognized from movies I had seen all my life. Mike Wazowski was on stage, Sully was standing off to the side talking to Celia Mae, Mike's girlfriend. Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were sitting together at a table close to the front. Alice was sitting with Megara and Lilo was sitting with her older sister Nani. The bartender was The Abominable Snowman. He had been serving a yellow snow cone to Phil from Hercules. They all were staring at us. Peter tried to break the silence.