I'm called out of my cabin by my brother. I can hear the loud commotion rising outside. I sigh and make my way out of my cabin, pulling on my coat and hat. "What's going on now, Squirt?" 

My brother doesn't even bother to answer, he just gestures towards the growing crowd of children by my ship. And at the lead is Peter. 

I put on a smile that is friendly, but not inviting. "Peter, what're you doing here? And with the horde no less?" 

He gives his signature wide grin and opens his arms in a friendly and inviting gesture. "We're here to play a game, of course." 

I raise an eyebrow at his words. Of course, I knew the answer before he said it. I'm just waiting for the right words before any of them set foot on my ship. "And what game is it today?" 

"Hmm," he taps a single finger on his chin to make it seem like he's thinking, "how about a classic? Lost Children versus Pirates?" 

Figures. It was only a matter of time before he called for another play fight with me and my crew. He only has few games he plays with us; treasure hunt, sea adventure, and us versus them. I continue to stare at him long and hard. There's one thing he has to do first before any game can start. It's protocol after all. 

"You know the rules Pan, what do you say?" 

He whoops and twirls in his place floating by my ship. I watch him amused and wait patiently. Finally he stops and looks at me, mocking a serious tone. "Permission to board. Captain?" 

I tilt my head and pretend to think. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I want you and the gang to trash my ship today." He pouts at me. I see my brother roll his eyes at my words from the corner of my eye. I feel the corner of my mouth twitch upwards in a smirk. "Alright fine. Crew, arm yourselves! We have boarders to throw off!" 

My crew cheers and drops their chores. They either grab their weapons from their belts or scramble on the deck to grab one before the horde of children finishes descending on the ship, intent on overwhelming us. 

Now they m

ay have numbers, but none of them are armed and my crew is taught very quickly how to fight. Both sides fight dirty. The children are prone to forming small gangs and attacking crew members as a group, or even using childish and unruly tactics to gain the upper hand. A few lucky ones manage to get weapons from around the ship and use them. This is Peter's usual tactic. 

I stand ready, a calm hand resting on the handle of my blade. I never bother with the small time children. I occasionally push away children or crew members who wander close to me inter fighting. I'm waiting. For a proper opponent. Peter usually fights with me, but today he is locked in a duel of blades with my brother. I'm not concerned, I know my brother can handle it. I scan the chaos and spy Tink perched casually in the top of the main mast, watching the entire show with disinterest. 

I feel a rush of wind moments before Peter and my brother stumble in my direction from their locked blades. I side step them easily, watching on in interest as they duel. I spy Peter grab a small knife from his belt and go to swing it towards my little brother. 

I draw my blade in an instant and step between them. My blade catches his sword and my other hand grips his other wrist which is gripping the knife. "Now now Peter, no cheating. you will fight with honor or I'll eject you from my ship. Try a dirty move like that again and you will regret it." I twist my hand that is on his wrist and make him drop the knife. I kick it away from us, giving Peter a final glare before letting go of his wrist. 

"Alright, sorry. No more dirty tricks." Peter steps back a half step, holding his hands up in surrender, one still holding his sword. 

I nod and step away from the two, inviting them to continue without further interruption. They don't need to be told twice, they lunge at each other and start up their dance one again. And I return to my post, ready and waiting for my challenge. 

Out of the corner of my eye I see Wendy snatch up the knife I had kicked away from Peter and slowly and carefully make her way towards me. I hide my grin, this should be interesting. I see her raise the blade and prepare to lunge towards me. 

I turn quick as lightning and grab her arm in my left hand. I smirk at her. "If you want to sneak up on a pirate, it better not be the captain. You're going to have to do better than that, Darling." 

She fights against my grip and grunts in annoyance. My eyes sparkle with mischief and delight at the possibility of a proper challenge. I kick her away from me, releasing my grip the same second my foot makes contact with her hip. 

A scream of pure rage rips from her throat as she rights herself after stumbling back from my kick. The sound of her scream rings across the expanse of the ship and the chaos stills, everyone turning to look at us. 

I lazily roll my shoulders and shake out my sword arm while watching her closely. Her chest is heaving as she glares at me, emotions written all over her face. Such a naive little thing, I'm going to enjoy taking her down a peg. She surges towards me, her knife raised again. 

I laugh and side step her, whirling around to watch her stumble towards where I was standing a moment before. She whirls around and glares at me. 

"Oh Darling, you're going to need something better than that pig sticker if you want a prayer os fighting me." I hear the laughs and cheers of agreement from my crew at my words. Even some of the children give a chorus of agreement and encouragement my way.

Her eyes darken and I glance where she's looking. She's eyeing a saber that is on the deck no too far away from the two of us. My smirk widens. "Now that's more like it." Her eyes snap to me. I tilt my head towards the saber. "Go on then. I wasn't stop you." 

She narrows her eyes at me and slowly makes her way over to the blade. She crouches down to pick it up. And when she does the grey sash around her waist shifts and I see a tear that was obviously being concealed by the sash. Now that's suspicious. I don't linger on the thought though because I have something else to focus on. She straightens with the new blade in hand and turns to me. 

I give her an amused look. "Well, let's see what you got." 

She lunges and this time I don't side step. I casually parry all of her blows and keep us moving. An amused smile stuck on my face as her face becomes more frustrated and filled with rage with each step. 

Eventually I get bored playing with my food and start taking this challenge seriously. I start playing offense and pushing her with each blow of my blade and step forward I take. Her expression changes from rage to flickering with concern and she starts to stumble. I back her into a corner and lock out blades. I lean in close and look her directly in the eyes. "Nice try, but not good enough." 

I knock the blade from her grip and push her to the deck. She lands with a small 'oomph' and look sup at me with a glare. I grin and grab her blade before stepping back and holding it up like a trophy. My crew cheers at my victory. Peter declares the game over. 

I look over my shoulder at the still sitting girl. "Don't feel too bad, you never really stood a chance against me. Maybe you'll remember that and learn something from this." 

I turn back towards my crew and toss the saber to one of my nearby crew members. "Pan, as fun as this was, get off my ship!" I shout at the leader of the chaotic bunch. He grins and orders the Lost Children back to camp. Wendy is still grumpy, but goes with them. 

My brother sidles up to me a Is slide my cutlas back into its sheath. "Did that go how you wanted it to?" 

I glance up at my brother and fake a shocked expression. "You wound me to think I wasn't in control the entire time." 

He shakes his head at my antics. "You know things are going to change now." 

"I know. We'll be ready." I sigh and start shouting orders to my crew to clean up the ship. I make my way to the forward deck and lean on the railing, breathing in the salty air and looking out at the waves. We'll be ready, we have to be.