Hey guys! :3 I went through a big ass change in my life recently...I moved to California! Yeah it was pretty sudden. From snow, freezing cold Upper Michigan, to this. But it's weird...these past few couple days I've been chilly enough to wear sweatshirts. ...I thin I'm an alien guys. o.o An adopted alien.

Anyway, the reason was, I'm now a 'nanny' for my step-mom's cousin. It's cool. I get to take care of a three and a half month old girl named Bella (whom is adorable and much cooler than that one chick from that one stupid vampire series), and a six year old named Olivia (who is also cool and loves Mario so whoo!). So I finally got a job, guys! AND IT'S IN CALI. HOLY CRAP. Forty five minute drive from Disneyland. I think I'm in heaven.

Anyway. I'm all settled and stuff now...so I wrote you guys up a chapter! :3 Sort of short, and I'm sorry for that, but lol. Gettin' to the good stuff now. Hurrhurr.

The roller coaster ride began and ended in what can only be described as complete and utter chaos. The magnificent thing had three settings. "Wimpy", "Awesome", and "Holy Mary Mother of God STOP THIS THING". They group rode the coaster from easiest to hardest, one setting after the other without stopping for a break between sets.

Wimpy lasted two minutes and had Usopp clinging to Luffy while Skie and Zoro counted the trees they slowly chugged by.

Awesome lasted five minutes and had Usopp screaming, Luffy laughing, Sanji and Nami throwing their arms in the air, and Skie and Zoro competing on who could scream the loudest as the ride zoomed on.

The last setting…well. It lasted a grand total of fifteen minutes, and at times topped seventy miles an hour. Complete with upside down loops, dips into pitch black tunnels, swirls, and at one point it dove into an underwater tunnel full of sharks and other beasties.

Usopp was traumatized into silence, Luffy was still laughing, Sanji and Nami were clinging to each other and screaming, and Zoro and Skie were competing that time, very vehemently, on who could last the longest without screaming, yelling, or making any noise at all. At one point or another the both of them had clapped their hands over their mouths to keep themselves quiet. Really, though, it was just hardest not to laugh.

The coaster came to a stop, and the group took their time walking, crawling, and sliding up out of the seats, flopping onto the platform on the side of the ride, catching their breath from either screaming too much, or using up all their energy to not scream at all.

"That…" Luffy began, sitting beside Usopp as the long-nosed young man leaned against him, the two back to back. "That was AWESOME!" he roared, throwing his arms in the air again. "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"

"Absolutely not!" Nami snapped, hair an absolute mess, Sanji fixing his own mussy blonde hair beside her by dragging a hand through it a few times, lighting himself up a cigarette. "Look at my hair!"

"Yeah you look pretty funny," the captain commented, grinning as he stood and brushes himself off.

Nami growled but began to fix her own hair, huffing and turning away from him.

"That…" Skie breathed. Her hair was stuck back like a traffic cone on its side. "That was the best roller coaster ever."

"…You lost," Zoro said, and laughed when Skie shoved him. "Okay! Okay, but it was! And you did!" She shoved at him again and he held his hands up as if to ward her off. "Fine. Fine, it was a tie. Tie! Truce!" he added when she kept shoving at him with every word.

"…Fine. Truce it is," she said with a shrug, and looked around.

The rest of the park called.

Really though, the rest of the day was not wasted. There was an eating contest concerning cotton candy between everyone but the navigator and cook, a spin-the-teacups ride which made most of them sick (at least the ones who had participated in the eating contest), a dart game where the targets were balloons filled with glitter in which Zoro won Skie a giant stuffed elephant (and then got angry because she gave it to Usopp), and a merry-go-round that had seahorses instead of regular horses to ride on.

The day was winding to a close with all of them laughing, Luffy having just told some joke about a talking apple and a piece of chicken that made absolutely no sense, but was somehow hilarious anyway.

It was beginning to get a bit dark. Dusk was coming up fast, the beautiful bright purple trees surrounding the amusement park darkening into a deep, royal color as the sun began to set. The group made their way towards the entrance/exit of the place, following the dimly illuminated dirt path, nearly squinting until the street lamps posted along the road came to life, lighting their way.

"I think this was a damn good day," Skie said, laughing as they let the park behind them, making their way back up the grassy hill to the entrance of the forest trail they had come through.

"I think you're right—" Nami had started, but was cut short when Usopp glanced over his shoulder and let out a gasp.

The rest of them turned around, and couldn't help but stare at the park, lit up left and right like fireworks grounded for display. Nothing was moving; the park was at a dead standstill. A work of art set out for display. The crew just stood, looking it over for a few quiet moments, enjoying the view until one of them let out the first yawn.

"You and me both," Usopp mumbled, and they turned from the sight slowly, making their way down the forest trail, lit up by lights hidden in the trees. "You're right, though, Skie," he went on. "It was a good day."

"You think?"

"I know," Luffy threw in, and they all grinned.

"The only thing I can't believe," Sanji started. "Was that Skie beat you in that eating contest, Luffy."

"I let her win!" the captain barked, and everyone rolled their eyes. "I did!"

"No one's as good at eating cotton candy as I am," the girl said. "Not even you, Luffy."

"Pft!" he spat.

"Pffft!" she spat back.

"PFFF—"

"Okay," Zoro growled. "Okay, okay, before we start up this sort of argument…" he rolled his eyes again. "Let's just switch topics. Yeah?"

"To what?" Skie and Luffy snapped.

"I don't know. Sheesh."

"Back at the hotel…you think they'll have dinner ready when we get there?" Nami wondered. She ignored the hurt look on Sanji's face, smiling at the others. "Think Brier will be there waiting too?" Sanji's look of despair was replaced by that absurdly common fawning grin.

"I hope so," he purred.

"Think she's had enough coffee while we've been out?" Usopp joked, remembering her stutter and eye twitches. He yelped when Skie shoved at him.

"Coffee is serious business. Don't go joking about the coffee," she scolded, but smirked a second later. "…But yeah. Probably."

A light caught their attention, then. Down the trail, one of the small, Christmas-like lights in the trees moved. It jumped to the tree next to it. And when they squinted it at it, they noticed the coloring was off. Instead of a calm, yellow color, its shade was more purple than anything.

"Do you see that?" Nami said.

"That's a big firefly," Sanji mumbled.

"It's purple," someone said.

"Big purple firefly, then."

"Fireflies aren't purple—"

"Look, it moved again!" Nami pointed as it jumped to the next tree, as if leading them on. The group broke into a jog after it but halted when the light suddenly just blinked out before they got close enough to see what it was, leaving them surrounded by the ordinary yellow lights.

"…What was that thing?" Luffy said, lifting his straw hat and scratching at a spot on his head.

"Dunno," Skie mumbled, but she had an idea. Everyone but Luffy had an idea of what…that light…might have been. "I dunno."

Suddenly, the purple light blinked on again, in a tree just beside them, and all of their heads turned to look at it. Close as they were, they couldn't make out what it was other than a ball of light with…

"Wings?" Usopp muttered.

The ball of light hopped one branch closer, the whole group jumping.

It seemed to flutter those translucent, glittering little wings at them before vanishing again.

And that was it.

…

"That was the fairy," Zoro growled, the first to break the stunned silence. "That was the damn fairy."

"The one that…" Luffy blinked. "The one that if you catch it you get a wish? Any wish?"

Skie held her breath.

"Uh huh," Sanji said. They were all still staring at the spot the little light had vanished from. "That's…what they told us."

"I know what we're doing tomorrow," Zoro grunted.

"Fairy hunt?" Luffy and Usopp said at the same time, blinking. Skie looked at her captain while he considered this. "…Yes. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll catch the fairy."

"Never thought I'd ever hear anybody say that and be serious about it," muttered Nami, but she clapped her hands together and nodded. "Alright. Tomorrow, the hunt begins, then."

"We'll talk to Brier! About stuff. She's the one who brought it up earlier, right? She probably knows a lot about the thing," Usopp broke in.

"I'm gonna be the one to catch it first," Luffy grinned. This made Usopp puff out his chest.

"Not if I catch it first," the sharpshooter challenged.

"Guys," Skie lifted a hand, expression calm. "…You're all nuts if you think you're gonna beat me."

Someone then, though it is not know for sure who, barked out a suggestion to race back to the inn back in Green Side. Loser had to be the one to get up early and wake everyone else up the next morning. Needless to say, the scramble was intense. And it was neck and neck for a while.

However.

Nami, tricksy lady that she was, used her staff to somehow trip everyone, sending them sprawling into the dust while she trotted ahead and won, while the rest claws and roared and sputtered after her.

Nami won and threw everyone a victory pose.

Usopp lost and threw a loser's tantrum.

And it goes without saying that the group fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows, unaware of the Marines just on shore that were waiting to creep on shore and hunt them down.

Think Arty's with those Marines? I think so. Hoo hoo what could go down during this showdown? Who knows. Probably something goofy weird and violent.

But who am I to know I'M JUST THE AUTHOR. -crazy winkface-

And hey, check out Chiisanakurinoki on DeviantArt x3 She recently posted up an adorable piece of Skie and Zoro.

Also, new poll up on my profile :3

ROOTBEER AND ROCK