Chapter 50: The Final Island
After a four days out at sea, Alex had made amends to everyone on board, and they accepted his apology (Though Iago took some work convincing) and after Alex had found that map, Jack altered course and set sail for the final stone, and no sooner had the sun risen on the fifth day, that a large island came into view. Alex knew that this was it, the location of the final Dragon Stone.
Alex stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the box holding the ring he planned to use to ask Ariel to marry him. Alex gripped the box and sighed.
"Alright…THIS time, I'm gonna do it!" Alex said to himself.
"You're going to do what?" a voice suddenly said from behind.
Alex's heart nearly skipped a beat, it was Ariel!! Alex cried out in shock and quickly hid the ring box in his pocket before Ariel could see it.
"OH! Uh…hey Ariel!!" He greeted nervously.
"Hello Alex!" She smiled. "What was it you were going to do?"
Alex gulped silently, he stared into her navy blue eyes and nearly chocked on his own saliva.
"Ok Alex, you can do this! Just do it! Don't chicken out now!" Xela cried in his mind.
"I was uh… finally going to tell Stitch to stop stealing my shoes in the morning!" Alex lied horribly.
"Ugh…you are hopeless…. Completely hopeless!" Xela groaned.
Amazingly enough, Ariel bought it! She simply smiled and nodded before going off to find Eilonwy. When Ariel was gone from sight, Alex sighed in relief.
"Well, sure pulled that off!" Alex said, trying to salvage what was left of his pride.
Iago then flapped his way over and landed on his shoulder.
"Yeah, that was smooth… Like SANDPAPER!" Iago sarcastically commented.
Whatever WAS left of Alex's pride was now officially shattered.
"It's always nice to have someone understanding to talk to…" Alex hissed sarcastically at Iago.
"Meh, that's what I'm here for…" Iago shrugged.
With that, Iago flew off his shoulder and went somewhere inside the ship. Alex sighed and sat on a barrel.
"Ugh…Xela's right, I AM hopeless…" Alex sighed.
Stitch, who had seen the event take place, trotted over to Alex and nudged his leg with his head.
"Oh, hey Stitch" Alex smiled.
Alex bent down and lifted Stitch into his lap.
"Don't tell me YOU saw what happened too…."
Stitch nodded, and Alex groaned.
"Stitch, you think I'll EVER work up the nerve to ask her?" Alex asked. "I mean, what if…she say's no?"
"Alex, brave." Stitch said. "Alex ask Ariel, Ariel say yes. Alex and Ariel, belong together."
It wasn't EXACTLY the advice he had hopped for, but Stitch's heart was in the right place, so it counted for SOMETHING. Alex just smiled and rubbed Stitch's head.
"Thanks Stitch" Alex smiled.
At that moment, Alex saw Jim approaching him slowly. Jim sighed and stopped a few feet from Alex.
"What's up?" Alex asked.
"Um….well…" Jim said nervously. "I was thinking, since after what happened with the Dragon Stones, maybe I can hang onto them while we search for the final one."
Alex scratched his chin, in deep thought.
"I dunno, I don't want what happened to me, to happen to you…" Alex said.
"Well, I'm not gonna use them, I don't even know HOW" Jim pointed out. "I mean it'll only be for a little bit"
Alex sighed to himself, after much debate, he finally decided on a yes, after all, what harm could it do?
"Ok, Ok, let me get them then…" Alex sighed.
He layed Stitch down on the deck, who scampered off to find food as Alex left. Jim sighed and sat on the now empty barrel.
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" He said to himself.
Within a few moments Alex returned, carrying a small chest under his arm.
"Alright, here" Alex said. "I've been keeping them in here…"
Alex handed it to Jim, who gave a weak smile.
"Uh…thanks…" He said with a fake grin.
Alex smiled back and looked out towards the sea, the island was coming closer and closer to the ship, but he noticed something…it was snowing on the island, and it was the middle of summer!
"Huh? Why is it snowing out there?" Alex asked.
Suddenly the Black Pearl came to a grinding halt, which caused Alex and Jim to fall to the ground.
"HEY!" Jim cried. "What gives??"
As Alex picked himself up from off the deck, he saw Jack approaching.
"It seems the water around the island is frozen solid, and the Pearl is wedged in the ice…" Jack said. "We can go no closer; we'll have to continue on foot…"
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Soon, the team disembarked from the ship and slowly began to trek across the ice, towards the island. Alex suddenly broke into a run on the ice.
"C'mon guys! Keep up with me!" Alex called.
"We would if you were MOVING!" Iago replied.
"Huh?"
Alex looked down, only to see that his running feet were helplessly slipping on the ice, he was going absolutely nowhere. Alex stopped his futile attempt to run, only to end up faceplanting the ice. The crew couldn't help but snicker.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny…" Alex groaned.
Alex slowly wobbled to his feet before regaining his balance on the ice.
"Well, what do we do? We'll just keep slipping on the ice…" Alex pointed out.
Ariel thought for a moment before getting an idea, she raised her staff into the air and mumbled a spell out loud. Suddenly, a blast of wind came out of nowhere, and propelled the team forward across the ice, and towards the island (Except for Iago, who could fly).
"Whoa! Nice work Ariel!" Eilonwy cried as they sped across the ice.
"Thanks!" Ariel smiled.
"But, how do we stop?" Alex asked.
A moment of silence fell over the group as they sped towards the island.
"Um…I didn't think of that…" Ariel smiled sheepishly.
Jack and Alex smacked their faces with their hands in unison. Suddenly the gang was closing in on the island and the shoreline came into view.
"BRACE YOURSELVES GUYS!!!!!" Alex cried as he covered his face with his hands.
The team cried out as they reached the shoreline and were launched from ice, straight into a pile of snow. Alex popped his head out of the snow and shivered.
"Great… Now I'll probably catch a cold from all this…" Alex sighed.
The team slowly crawled their way out of the snow bank and regrouped.
"Ugh… this adventure is probably going to take YEARS off my life…" Jack groaned.
"If that doesn't, the Rum will…" Alex quipped.
Jim dug the chest with the stones out of the snow and sighed, he was already on the island, he couldn't back out now.
"So, how do we find the stone?" Eilonwy asked.
Alex began to think for a moment, as Stitch sniffed the ground. Iago landed on Stitch's back and shivered from the cold.
"Hey blue guy, if you're looking for food, don't eat the yellow snow…" Iago advised.
Stitch turned back to face Iago and snapped his jaws, scaring away the foulmouthed parrot. Stitch resumed sniffing the snow until he picked up something. Stitch grabbed Alex's pant leg, shaking it to get his attention.
"What's going on?" Alex ask
Stitch pointed towards the forest off the coastline.
"Stitch, find something!" Stitch called.
Jack looked at his compass a bit, before snapping it shut. "Well, looks like we have our heading."
Alex nodded and turned to Stitch.
"Alright Stitch lead the way!" Alex smiled.
Stitch nodded and headed towards the forest, with the group following behind. Soon, they found themselves deep in the forest, with Jim and the stones taking up the rear.
"Hey Jim! You frozen back there?" Alex called.
Jim didn't reply, he just looked around hesitantly. He then tapped Eilonwy's shoulder to get her attention.
"Yes Jim?" She asked.
"Um…Eilonwy…. If I did something bad… would you forgive me?" Jim asked nervously.
"Of course! Your one of my closest friends!" Eilonwy replied cheerfully.
"I mean REALLY bad…" Jim said reluctantly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Eilonwy asked.
"N-Nevermind…" He sighed.
Eilonwy looked at him and shrugged before turning her attention back to the path before them.
At the head of the group, was Jack, Alex, and Stitch. Jack leaned to whisper to Alex.
"You think this wise boy?" He asked. "Brining all the stones with us… what if someone tries to steal 'em? Savvy?"
Iago, who had been eavesdropping from Ariel's shoulder, looked back and gasped. He then flew over and landed on Alex's shoulder.
"I think the better question is, what if JIM tries to steal 'em??" Iago asked.
"Huh? What do you mean??" Alex asked, confused.
Iago pointed his wing behind them. Alex looked, only to see Jim, and the stones were gone.
"WHAT!? Where'd Jim go??" Alex cried.
It didn't take long for Ariel, Stitch, and Eilonwy to notice that Jim had indeed disappeared. Alex quickly turned to Stitch.
"Stitch! Can you track Jim down??" Alex asked frantically.
Stitch nodded and sniffed the ground quickly. He soon picked up on Jim's scent and ran south, into the heart of the forest.
"Follow him!!" Alex commanded as he ran after Stitch.
The group ran after Stitch as they tore thru the snowy forest. After a short period of time, they came to a clearing. From there, Alex spotted two things: The first was a small, frozen lamppost stuck out of the snow. The Second: Was Jim, the chest, And Jadis were standing there, waiting for them.
"Jim! Why'd you run off??" Alex asked.
Jim didn't reply, he just looked ashamed and turned away. Jadis laughed wickedly and took a step forward.
"Welcome Disney Warrior, I've looked very forward to meeting YOU!" She said, pulling out a strange, spear like weapon.
"Wh-Who are you?" Alex asked, getting into a fighting position.
"My colleges call me Jadis, but here in the land of Narnia, I'm known only as The White Witch!"
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Oh yeah, THAT'S RIGHT! If you didn't figure it out by now, Jadis is the White Witch from Narnia!! HA! Bet most of you didn't see THAT one coming! Oh yeah! Who da author? WHO DA AUTHOR???
Fans: NARNIA ISN'T DISNEY!
Hey! Disney did a movie on it, PLUS they got an attraction at MGM for it, Heck, even the White Witch herself appeared in the parks once or twice, AND Disney's doing the sequel, so it counts! (Felt I needed to get that out before I get flooded with emails about it)