"Come on, boys! You can do better than this!" Tink yelled from her avatar as she flew between the lost boys' boats. Curly sighed and began rowing faster out to the lagoon. They were all playing Treasure Tag, a game in which everyone tried to collect floating golden tokens out in the lagoon. Everybody had their own boat, but they were still divided into teams of pirates and lost boys, meaning they had to work twice as hard in order to win. There were also Gobbling Crabs, little machines that would eat up the tokens, and they all tried to sabotage the other team by sneaking them into their boats. Once all the tokens were retrieved, the team with the most would win.
Curly was trying to get into the game, but it was just so nice to be out on the lagoon. Plus, there didn't seem to be much incentive to win. It appeared that he wasn't the only one reluctant to put forth effort. The twins were spitting water at each other and Noodler and Smee were both sleeping in their boats. In fact, the only ones who were really competing were Nibs, Alf Mason, and Whibbler. They were circling around each other, grabbing tokens and lobbing crabs into one another's boats. Nibs was manipulating a mechanical seal that would periodically jump out of the water and slap his opponents in the face.
Curly saw Tink flying his way, so he sprang to action. He looked at the controller on his wrist and called up a pelican. The robotic bird flew down to the surface of the water and scooped up several tokens in its large beak, then emptied them into Curly's boat. He then grabbed a Gobbling Crab that had been sitting in the back of his boat, loaded it into his slingshot, and aimed it at Bill Jukes. The crab landed right next to the pirate, who glanced at it lazily and threw it into the lagoon.
"Good work, Curly!" Tink exclaimed. "Now I've got to go get those twins to do something!"
As soon as she had flown away, Curly sat back and enjoyed the newly renovated Neverland sky. He heard clucking nearby. Someone must have been hit with chicken ticks. He gazed across the sparkling lagoon. He saw Captain Hook floating along with his Magno-Needle in the water. The contraption was picking up tokens, but it was also attracting mechanical fish and other random debris. The Captain didn't seem to notice. He was staring off into the distance, looking melancholy. Farther out in the lagoon Curly saw some of the mermaids splashing each other. He couldn't tell if they were fighting or playing.
A few moments later an alarm sounded and some of the pirates cheered.
"We won! We finally won!" Whibbler cried, jumping up in his boat and falling into the water.
"What do we get for winning?" Asked Alf Mason.
"Nothing," Bill Jukes replied, untangling some boomerang birds from his arm.
"What?" Whibbler spluttered. "Don't we get extra resources or anything?"
"We've divvied up everything equally already," Bill Jukes said. "It's easier that way."
"How about dinner? Are the lost boys going to cook for us?"
"Meals have already been assigned," Smee said, stifling a yawn. "It makes planning more effective.
Alf Mason frowned. "Then what are we playing this game for?"
"For fun!" The twins answered in unison. They were trying to get their Gobbling Crabs to attack each other.
Everyone headed back to the beach. Curly looked around for Tink's fairy, but it wasn't anywhere in sight. He overheard Whibbler and Alf Mason grumbling about how everything was useless, and Curly couldn't help but feel that there was some truth in what they were saying.
*****
"What was wrong you with you guys today? You weren't even trying! I can't even remember the last time you lost that easily!"
Curly stepped back, a little wary of Tink's intensity. He had brought her dinner in central control, and now he was being subjected to her angry interrogation.
"Maybe we're out of practice," Curly offered. "And with Peter and Slightly gone, the odds weren't really on our side."
"That's no excuse! You boys are each at least five times smarter than those goons!"
Curly massaged his neck. "Maybe because there was no incentive to win?"
Tink rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Curly tried to come up with another reason, but he knew he was just dodging the real issue. Even though Neverland was functioning again, there just didn't seem to be much purpose. When the Crocodile was running everything, there had been intense competition and a sense of ambition, but now those things weren't necessary. They were still inventing new things and playing games, but mostly they were just existing.
"Any sign of Slightly?" Tink asked, clearly trying to change the subject.
"No, but I bet he'll be back soon. He didn't take any of his stuff with him."
"Do you think somebody should go look for him?"
"Nah, he's probably just out there having some fun."
"What? Because Neverland is so boring?"
"Well, yeah. Sometimes."
Tink gasped and Curly immediately wished he hadn't said it.
"Well if Neverland is so boring, why don't you just leave?"
Curly blew his breath out. "Tink, you know I would never leave you, and I don't like the Grey World that much anyway."
Tink huffed and turned away. Curly cautiously stepped towards her. "Neverland is amazing, but we're limited down here. Some people might be getting a little restless, that's all."
Tink turned to face him. There was fire in her eyes. "Then I guess I'll have to make people stay.
Curly laughed. "Tink, you can't do that."
She gave him a murderous look. "Yes, I can."
Curly studied her face and saw what was driving her emotions. Fear. She was still afraid of being left alone in Neverland. "Tink, I'm sure this will pass. Everyone's just in a funk right now because of everything that's happened in the last few months. They'll come around."
Tink sighed and a little bit of the fury left her eyes. "I guess you're right."
Curly pulled her to him and kissed her on the forehead. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks."
He studied her face, still unsure if she had completely calmed down. "Just promise me you won't do anything crazy."
Tink made a face. "Crazy? What? Do you think I'm an unstable psycho or something?" Curly had a dozen answers to that question, but he wisely kept them to himself. He loved her, but she could still be a little scary sometimes.