"Watch out, Slightly! Coming in on your left!"
Slightly maneuvered out of the way just as the twin flew past him, clipping his foot and sending him spinning out of control. He leveled out just above the trees, but had to quickly dip down to avoid getting smashed by the Neverbird.
"Sorry, Slightly!" Smee called from his perch on the mechanical bird. "I didn't see you there!" He gave an apologetic wave and laughed gleefully as he flew the bird over the forest.
Slightly huffed and flew back up towards the sky arch. "Be careful!" He muttered. "Just because Neverland is put back together doesn't mean you're all invincible!"
He glided up until he found the sweet spot, a place near the center of the sky arch where he could just hover and look down on all of Neverland. He took in the dazzling scenery, the waterfalls, the cliffs, the lagoon, the forests, the sand dunes, and the Silver Mountains. All of the sky arch panels had been replaced, and they were back to displaying a brilliant sky. With a fraction of Hook's treasure they had been able to purchase all the necessary materials to repair Neverland over the past few weeks. There were just a few more things that needed to be recreated, and they were using Curly's regenerators for those.
That morning they had gotten the network fully functioning again, and the magnetic grid was back up. He watched as the pirates rode on various mechanical animals and the lost boys soared through the air. The twins were playing tag around the Imagination Tower, and Peter was doing intricate tricks above the waterfalls.
Slightly sighed. He wasn't much good at flying. It seemed he wasn't much good at anything that was important in Neverland. His skills included observing, singing, making clothes, cooking, and pretending. He was excellent at pretending. Pretending he knew what he was talking about when he gave advice, pretending to like the games as much as everyone else, pretending he didn't care that his parents had abandoned him at a petrol station.
He shivered at the memory of that awful day. His family had been vacationing in France. After touring a castle, they had stopped for petrol. He had run into the station to use the toilet, and when he came out, there was no sign of his parents or sister. He had tried to be brave, he felt he should be at eight years old, but he kept breaking into tears as the police took him and tried to locate his parents. When they were unsuccessful, he was placed in a children's home, where he stayed for a year until the Crocodile came for him.
"What are you doing up here, Slightly?"
Slightly flinched and turned his head, only a little surprised to see Tink's new avatar perched on his shoulder. For the past few days she'd been sneaking up on people and trying to scare them, but Slightly never gave her quite the reaction she hoped for. What was startling, however, was that her new fairy robot looked like her. Skin-colored vinyl covered the metal body, and it had short red hair and blue eyes, with an expression that always seemed perturbed. Looking at the avatar was like looking at a miniature Tink with wings.
"I was just admiring the view," Slightly responded.
Tink sighed, but through the fairy's speaker it sounded like a rattle. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I think it's even more spectacular than before."
Slightly quirked an eyebrow. "You're sounding oddly joyful today."
The avatar flew back and forth in front of his face, making him dizzy. "It's just so exciting!" Tink cried. "Everything is working again and people are having fun and no one will want to leave anymore!"
Slightly nodded, but he wasn't sure that everything would go back to the way it had been. Captain Hook seemed pretty melancholy about being trapped in Neverland again, and Peter spent most of his days working at that bakery. Neverland was definitely much better than it had been, but that was no guarantee that people would stay.
"Hey Slightly," Tink said in his ear, "are you alright?"
Slightly forced a smile, pushing the lingering thoughts of his family from his mind. "I couldn't be better," he replied. "This is every teenage boy's paradise."
Tink made a noise that sounded like a snort. "Well, since you're not doing anything, would you mind placing some regenerators?"
Slightly suppressed a groan. "I'd love to."
*****
After placing the last regenerator, Slightly brushed the dirt off of his knees and looked around for Tink. She had been giving him instructions, but now she was nowhere to be seen.
"Tink, are you there?" He looked for the nearest camera and addressed it, knowing how often Tink watched the feeds. "Tink, can you hear me? These regenerators are ready to be activated!"
There was no answer. She must tongue-tied with Curly, he thought, chuckling at his little joke. He shrugged and headed towards the Imagination Tower. He would just activate them himself.
He opened the program once he got to the top of the tower and located the regenerators he had just placed. One was on the backside of the Silver Mountains where one of the peaks had crumbled away, one was in a barren spot of the jungle where some zebra trees needed to grow, and the last one was a few meters into the lagoon where some dancing coral had been destroyed. He typed in some code and was about to execute when he was interrupted by a loud roar. He looked up and saw Lamar, the hulking Buffalostrich Rex, at one of the windows. Slightly laughed, quickly typed in the commands to execute, and then went to open the window.
"Hello, old boy," Slightly whispered, petting the beast's huge, furry head. "Are you hungry?" He pulled out some rum berries he had leftover from breakfast and Lamar ate them right out of his hand. Slightly's heart swelled with pride. Of all of his creations, he was the most pleased with Lamar, even though everybody else had thought his idea was ridiculous. The hybridized animal had eaten the Crocodile, which turned out to be a very positive thing, and he had been much more tame ever since the near destruction of Neverland.
Slightly stroked the Buffalostrich Rex's head for a few more moments, then said goodbye and shut the window. He circled back to close the regeneration program and gasped.
"Oh no. Oh no, this can't be happening!"
He typed in various codes, but nothing would stop the command he had previously given the program. The devices were regenerating the wrong way. Instead of building up into Neverland, they were tunneling into the ground. Slightly switched the view and saw the trajectory of the regenerators. They were on course to burrow around the periphery of Neverland, go up past the sky arch, and erupt into various spots in the Grey World. It would take about a week for the program to complete. In his haste to go see Lamar, he must have typed in the wrong command.
Slightly groaned and buried his head in his hands. The easy thing to do would be to tell Tink about his error and have her fix it. But he didn't want to be made fun of for yet another mistake. He racked his brain for a solution and suddenly had an idea. He knew there was something that could probably halt the regenerators. The twins had accidentally jammed the system with it before. But he'd have to go up to the Grey World to get it.
He closed the program and ran down the steps of the tower. He would hurry up to the Grey World, get what he needed, come back and fix everything, and no one would know about his blunder. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then launched himself into the air and flew up towards the entrance to the Grey World. He carefully emerged out of the manhole and replaced the cover. Then he straightened, took two steps forward, and got hit by a car.