Neverland
First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS (2002)
Origin: Peter Pan (1953)
Ah, Neverland, the land where children stay young forever and where pirates ravage the land looking for booty! It is this magical world that Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy find themselves next - or to be more precise, it is within the hull of a very large, unfamiliar ship that they find themselves, and the only thing to do is find a way out. But before they can possibly think of escaping, a tiny golden fairy zips right up to them, clearly distressed and obviously in need of help, which the group kindly obliges. In return, this tiny fairy guides the group out, and they traverse the inside of the ship. Unsurprisingly along their short journey they have to fight through hordes of Heartless, but all is well as they make their way unscathed to... well, somewhere inside the ship that isn't where they started out, but somewhere that isn't outside, either. In other words, Donald thinks they're lost, and blames it on the tiny fairy when, out of nowhere, a flying boy dressed in green appears and scolds 'Tinkerbell' - the fairy - for bringing what he thinks are pirates to him and gets ready for battle!
Well, almost; the situation is diffused by Sora before it can even begin and the boy in green - who introduces himself as Peter Pan - deduces that they can't be pirates after all since they're lost in the ship and are wearing strange clothes. Sora quickly catches onto Peter Pan's drift and realizes that they're trapped in a pirate ship, a pirate ship named the Jolly Roger which belongs to Peter Pan's archenemy and source of laughter, Captain Hook. In fact, Captain Hook hates Peter Pan so much he's captured Wendy - Peter Pan's love interest - and has stowed her away aboard somewhere - and Peter Pan has every intention of getting her back, using the aid of Tinkerbell who wants to cause as much chaos as possible so that the pirates who captured Wendy will be distracted, and so that Peter Pan can make an attempt at retrieving her. So now that both parties have met up, they all decide it would be better for everyone to stick together at least until they get above deck, and so everyone makes their way through the ship once again.
After fighting yet more Heartless masses, Peter Pan spots a room they haven't checked yet and to his great surprise, there is his goal: Wendy. Ecstatic to see her, Peter Pan tries to run off with her for a life together in Neverland where neither of them will ever grow up, but Wendy is hesitant. In fact, she tells Peter Pan she wants to go back to her home in London. Peter Pan is so angry that he shouts at Wendy and tells her she's selfish for wanting to return home because it means they'll never see each other again and before Wendy can try to calm him down, he flies off and tells her she can rescue herself. Now with a fractured relationship between the flying boy and his friend, it is up to Sora and his pals to make sure Wendy escapes, so they tell her to wait in the cabin while they go and create a distraction for the pirates out on the upper deck. Obligingly, Wendy agrees.
After what seems like hours of hacking away through Heartless, Sora and his buddies finally manage to find their way above deck, where they find that the Jolly Roger is sailing calm seas under a beautiful moon - a scene which is quite ironic considering the mayhem that is about to break out as the one and only Captain Hook, dressed elaborately like a true pirate captain, strides aboard and outright accuses the four of them of being stowaways. Hook is a man who likes to jump to conclusions, it seems, as he also accuses them of being allies of Peter Pan, and psyches himself up for battle. With no choice but to go through Hook to get away from the ship and to rescue Wendy, the gang is about to prepare itself for a fight... before Hook shows that he isn't as stupid as he looks and proves he is one step ahead of the quartet - by having Wendy stood at the end of the plank! Poor Wendy is scared to high heaven and Hook only exacerbates the situation by using her as a threat, but unfortunately for the flamboyant captain, Peter Pan swoops down to save Wendy. Now highly enraged, Captain Hook does what he does best: attacks!
The Captain is a fine swordsman but he is no match for the valiant Sora who does away with him quicker than he can say codfish. Once again, peace is restored thanks to Sora and co.'s bravery and it doesn't seem like the inhabitants of the Jolly Roger will be hearing from their crazy Captain any time soon, which is even better news for Peter Pan behind his cool, calm and collected façade. It also seems that the boy in question has calmed down and has come to his senses about Wendy's decision to return home, which is still firmly in place. Peter Pan is afraid that Wendy will forget him and will have no memories at all left of him, which rings home to Sora who vouches for Wendy. Sora's powerful feelings about memories and their connection to the heart make Peter Pan realize that Wendy will never forget him since he is now a part of her life, and on that note, he takes her back home to London. Now with nothing left to do in the world, Sora and his friends decide to take their leave, too... but not before a Moogle flattens Donald to the deck!
During Riku's Reverse/Rebirth Riku finds himself below deck of the Jolly Roger with Heartless running around, which he takes care of as usual. After these pesky, petty battles, he heads up to the deck of the ship where he finds Captain Hook, who has returned to his position after his beating from Sora. Riku takes care of him without ease, finding even this feisty captain no more threatening than battered fish. With Captain Hook down, Riku exits Neverland.
