As he had remembered, the rainforest seemed to have a language all its own. Birds spoke to each other not only through chirps, but through their movement as well, signaling to other creatures without the ability to fly what was going on miles ahead. Life moved all on its own here, near Ferngully, home of fairies. Zak shook his head slightly, his long, blonde locks swinging into his deep brown eyes.It had been almost four years since his last visit to the rainforest, and what a memorable visit it had been. At the time he’d only been eighteen; naïve to the point of brain-dead. He’d not cared a lick for any other soul, least of all the lives of the trees that now surrounded him. It was lucky he’d had what he sometimes considered a very lifelike dream; meeting Crysta and Pips, and the other fairies. Being shrunk down to barely a few inches tall and learning how important even the smallest creature’s impact could have on the environment. After almost witnessing the destruction of an entire ecosystem, Zak had promised himself then and there he would do anything he could to keep Ferngully and other rainforests safe from harm.
So, almost exactly four years from the last time he’d been anywhere actually near a rainforest, Zak Young had returned. He’d joined an environmentalist group the moment he had returned to Bykon Bay, Australia, and it had taken all that time for him to prove he was ready for fieldwork. He could feel anxious twists in his gut as he walked ever closer to what he had remembered to be the home of his little friends, and as he stepped forward, towards the almost unnoticed green and blue light streaks, he smiled.
“Hey, guys,” Zak murmured, careful to make sure he did not disturb any of the light streaks. He sighed unhappily, knowing well enough that he wouldn’t be able to speak with the fairies. It had been some time since he’d been there, and an irrational fear of having been forgotten began to stir in Zak’s heart. A sudden bright green flash in front of his eyes sparked his return to reality, and he smirked, following the light. “Human, yeah, I know, not supposed to exist.”
Walking forward, he pulled out his camera, taking snapshots of the various foliage clinging to the many trees. He almost wanted to take a picture of the green lights, but he knew if he developed the images and those light streaks showed up as something worth investigating by some inane scientist, the quiet peace of Ferngully would be disturbed. Zak didn’t want that at all, so, shrugging, he continued snapping shots of endangered flora and fauna.
Unbeknownst to the large blonde human, a tiny red headed fairy watched him intently, following him as close as possible. Pips, remembering with a slight jump in his heart, knew exactly whom Zak was and was more than thrilled to see him again. Buzzing just a little ways away was Stump, one of Pips closest friends, and he gave the mischievous little fairy man a thumbs up sign. Pips grinned darkly, following even more closely behind Zak.
“You’ve been gone too long, Zak. You made me miss you.” Pips muttered under his breath, beating his wings as fast as he could, keeping up with the human’s long stride. He had no idea where Zak was planning on going, but that didn’t matter. As long as Zak stayed close enough to Ferngully, Pips could do what he’d been planning.
After he’d received reports from Knotty and Root that a troupe of humans had been spotted in the forest, one of which looking exactly like Zak, Pips knew what he had to do. Too long had he gone without seeing Zak, without saying what he really wanted to. His plan was a little slapdash, but it felt right, and the little red head always went with what felt right. In a nutshell, he was going to shrink Zak and spirit him away. The other humans would get along fine without him, but Pips knew deep in his heart that if he could not have Zak, he would die. He had felt like something had been ripped from his heart when Zak had said goodbye all that time ago, and seeing the lovely blonde again immediately filled the hole that was left.
Looking over towards Twig, another of Pips’ friends, Pips nodded once, motioning towards a grouping of hanging vines. Twig tilted the horns of his riding beetle, and took off towards the vines, buzzing right by Zak’s ear, causing him to turn his attention towards him. Zak blinked, lowering his camera, walking over towards the vines where Twig had flown off to. Pips bit his lip, waiting just until Zak was right in the middle of the jumble of greenery.
“Crysta, you better have given me the right spell…” Pips muttered, lifting his pipes to his lips. Trilling out a short, musical tune, he pulled away, breathing deeply. “Bless your eyes with magic light, I give the gift of fairy size…um, and sight.” Pips grimaced. He was unsure of how to perform the spell exactly, as Crysta hadn’t been sure what she had done when she’d shrunk the blonde human before. She had given Pips the spell, but told him it was up to him with what to do with it.
A sudden green flash blinded Pips, and he turned his eyes away for a moment. When he looked back, his heart sank, not seeing Zak anywhere.
“Damn it, did it not work?” Pips moaned, flying over to the hanging plants Zak had been standing under. He frowned, unable to spot the human anywhere, until he noticed a tanned arm hanging just out of a bird nest. Grinning, Pips flew over, landing lightly on the rim of the nest, looking down at a rather unconscious Zak Young. “Ha, it did work! Now,” Pips said, trilling his pipes again. Stump and Knotty flew over on their beetle rides, looking expectantly at Pips.
“Yeah, boss?” Stump asked, raising an eyebrow, noticing Zak in the nest. Pips crossed his arms, looking around cautiously.
“We need to take Zak back home, but I don’t want anyone else knowing what I’ve done yet. Take him to my place, and whatever you do, steer clear of the bat.” Pips said, leaning down, caressing the side of Zak’s face. Knotty tilted his head, confused.
“Why aren’t you coming with us?” He asked. Pips smirked, standing up straight, kicking off the nest, beating his wings, his green magic trail forming at his feet.
“I can’t. Crysta knows I wanted that spell, and I know she’s gonna be on my hide until I tell her why. I’ve got to find her and tell her.” Pips said, shrugging, taking off.
Stump glared down at Zak, unsure as to why in the world Pips would want him back, considering how much those two didn’t get along before. But, if it was what Pips wanted, it was what needed to be done. Grabbing Zak by the foot, Stump lifted the now tiny human easily, flying off to Ferngully.
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“You did…WHAT??” Crysta asked, shaking her head at Pips. Pips rolled his eyes, leaning up against the inside wall of Crysta’s home. After the victory over Hexxus last time, Crysta had officially taken her place as the fairy mage, and therefore moved into the mage’s quarters on the outskirts of Ferngully. It had been difficult at first moving into Magi’s old home, but after a while, Crysta settled in. Currently, she was only half ready for the day’s healings, and definitely not ready for Pips confession. “You found him and shrunk him!?” She squeaked. Pips nodded slowly.“Yes, I did. I saw him and he looked so lonely…he wants to be in Ferngully, it’s obvious. I’m doing him a favor, Crysta.” Pips said, shrugging. He was intentionally leaving out his actual reasons for finding and shrinking Zak, but, as he thought, Crysta really didn’t need to know that. Crysta glowered at Pips, disbelief marking her eyes darkly.
“You have no right to choose what someone else wants and then do it for them! Believe me, Pips, this was a mistake.” Crysta sighed. Pips scowled, turning to leave. Crysta’s eyes snapped up to see Pips readying to leave and she reached out to him. “Look, I can understand. But he chose to leave, remember?” She said.
“Well, I think he made the wrong choice. I’m fixing it.” Pips snarled, jumping out, fluttering his wings, heading off to his tree home. Crysta pursed her lips, watching him leave.
“You’ll learn, Pips. I know you will.”
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Zak had no idea why the hell he had such a blaring headache, but he assumed it must have something to do with how his neck was angled. Though it hurt to move, he shifted, sitting upright, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to work the kinks out. He felt a little fuzzy headed, and blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings.Whatever he was sitting on was nice and soft, but didn’t feel like the ground. The last thing Zak remembered was walking into a bramble of vines, following a tiny bug that looked really familiar…then, out. Blackness had overwhelmed him. But…why wasn’t he on the ground? Squinting, looking down, he noted he was sitting on something that looked very much like a bed.
“What…” Zak muttered, twisting. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he continued looking around, becoming more and more puzzled. He was definitely on a bed of some sort, though it looked like a hollowed out twig filled with moss and leaves. That wasn’t possible…unless he was tiny. Suddenly, Zak inhaled sharply, jumping to his feet. That wasn’t the brightest plan of action, as he still hadn’t cleared his head completely, and he fell forward. Thankfully, a pair of arms caught him.
“Careful, Zak. Don’t hurt yourself.” A musical male voice chuckled. The arms holding Zak pulled the blonde up onto his feet, then pushed him back onto the ‘bed’. Zak’s brown eyes slowly grazed from the bare feet standing to just the outside of his booted ones, up to what looked like a yellow skirt made of flower petals, up a hardened muscular chest and finally into green eyes that would make the healthiest sprout whither in jealousy. Zak slowly shook his head, unable to believe who he was looking at.
“Pips…?” Zak asked, unsure of his own voice. Pips grinned wide, crossing his arms over his chest. Zak blinked, his breathing becoming shallow and harsh. “This can’t be…”
On To Part II ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: Ferngully and associated characters are © Kroyer Films, FAI Films, and Twentieth Century Fox. This particular fanfic is © Allie Behemothe (me). Back to the Library
