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Ixi, Luperusse, and Ghicaccio walked for only fifteen
minutes after parting with Skeithena and Fluffy, before they reached a door.
It looked a little like a NeoHome door, complete
with a little Username-And-Password box. Ghicaccio lunged forward, but Ixi held
her back. "No, it could be a fake login box," he warned her. "What's more, it
could be a trap."
"Why, you sound just like me, young Ixi!" A Yellow
Lupe suddenly appeared behind them. "It is odd, however, that a fine Faerie
Ixi like you would be in here, in the Ice Caves - in such terrible condition,
too! That is, if you don't mind me saying."
"No, I don't," said Ixi briskly. "Go on."
The Lupe nodded, and continued, "So you would
like to get past the door, eh? Why would you, hmm? You could get into rather
large trouble with some rather scary people, if you did... "
"Who are you, to say that to us?" said Ghicaccio,
hostility sharp in her voice. Of course. DellaNeve was her brother.
He laughed. "Ah, I have not told you my name.
I am sorry, young ones. My name is Garon, the Lupe who ventured in the Ice and
Faerie Caves. Now I have found a new challenge - this part of the Ice
Caves, it is even harder to navigate around than the Faerie Caves. How you young
amateur Neopets (if you don't mind me saying so, of course) even got here, seemingly
unaided, I can hardly believe."
Ghicaccio was convinced, but Luperusse narrowed
his eyes. "Are you friends with Jhudora, to try to stop us?"
Garon laughed, again. "Oh no, I am not a friend
of Jhudora's. Neither am I trying to stop you. I am simply warning you of the
dangers. I have, however, befriended the Snowager. He told me everything,
and he knows a fair lot about Jhudora's plan too." Garon tapped the code box
with a claw. "Including that."
Ixi knew what to do, but only Ghicaccio could
do it. Not because of her wide, cute eyes, but because Della was her
brother. Ixi looked at the Baby Lupe, and she got the message. She turned to
Garon. "Uh, Mister Garon... could you please get us through... please? My brother's...
imprisoned by Jhudora. In there."
"I promised my good friend the Snowager that
I would not type the username and password in, for his employer's enemies,"
began Garon, but Ghicaccio cut him off -
"Mister Garon! If you just tell us the
username and password, and not type it in, you won't be typing it in for us,
right? Go on!"
Garon sighed. "I guess so. The Snowager will
be so mad at me, but for an innocent - cute - Baby Lupe and her brother, I guess
I'll have to do it. The username is a smiley - that's a colon and the right
bracket - and the password is 'hotdog'... "
Luperusse and Ixi bit their lips trying not to
laugh at Jhudora's username and password, and Fluffy licked her lips at the
thought of a chocolate-flavoured Brucicle-flavoured hotdog, while Ghicaccio
typed into the code box:
Username: :) [Luperusse and Ixi were still
trying to refrain their laughter, without much success]
Password: hotdog [At this point they were
Rolling On Floor Laughing Their... Tails Off]
The lock clicked and the door flew open, with
the code box still saying Username: :), Password: ******.
The three walked in. Ghicaccio turned to thank
Mister Garon, but she found that the Yellow Lupe had already slunk away. So
she thanked him silently.
DellaNeve was in there, pacing to and fro. He
turned to Ghicaccio. "I'm cold," was all he said.
"We'll get you out of here," Ixi assured him,
but just as he said that, the door behind them slammed shut. The code box screen,
on the inside of the door, flashed Username and Password?. They heard
Jhudora's voice, recorded on the code box: "I guess you got in by typing a password,
but when I installed this code box, I made a password for getting out
as well as in. Have fun trying to get out!" After that was the expected
evil laugh, "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA".
Although, trapped inside, the four NeoPets were
flabbergasted, but on the outside of the door, the code box still flashed:
Username: :)
Password: ******
***
The Snowager sighed. "I hate it when Jhudora makes me imprison innocent Neopians,
but my employer said that I had to capture all who tried to come in here. I
failed my job with the other NeoPets; but I must do my best, by keeping you
here, as much as I will regret it."
The Moltenore didn't answer, but fired a jet
of flame at the Snowager's tail. The snakelike creature literally flew up into
the roof of the cave, making a horrible cracking sound, and Pants On Fire had
to run for his life as the (obviously) heavy Snowager fell back down.
***
Fluffy was perched on Skeithena's back. "Skeithy, where?"
"I think we're close to... somewhere," said Skeithena.
"We're going deeper underground... and it seems a little warmer here, Fluffy.
The tunnel walls, floor and ceiling seem to be somewhat dryer. What? In the
name of Donna, there are actually weird plant roots on the walls!"
"Plant. Root," agreed Fluffy, poking the roots
with a paw.
"Dead end," said Skeithena sadly. Roots
and vines blocked their path, but Fluffy actually hurled herself off Skeithena's
back, and crashed straight into a Yellow Chomby's face, which was peeking out
of the vegetation.
The friendly Chomby didn't seem to mind. "Well
hello you two!" he said enthusiastically. "WELCOME TO TYRANNIA!" he screamed
suddenly in their ears.
"Ouch, don't do that," said Skeithena. "You'll
deafen us."
"Sorry," said the Chomby, grinning slightly,
yet trying not to. "It's my job. Well welcome, welcome to the wonderful and
wacky land of - "
"Ty-wann-ee-ah," completed Fluffy delightedly.
They walked past the Chomby and wandered around
Tyrannia for a while. "We'll go back into the Ice Caves after we get some food,"
Skeithena assured Fluffy gently, "just in case the rest are in any trouble."
"Skeithy no have money," said Fluffy. "But Skeithy
get Chock-lick Brucicle?" she added hopefully.
"This isn't Terror Mountain, Fluffy," Skeithena
laughed. "But I'm sure we'll find some way to buy some food... "
***
Later on, in Tyrannia...
"What are you doing here?" said Sharon, surprised.
"We need some food, we're famished."
Jess hugged Fluffy, and nodded at Skeithena.
She bought about five Cactus Leaves and threw some NP at the Tyrannian Foods
shopkeeper, who said gratefully, "Uggh-Ugga-Ugg!"
"Tell me everything," said Jess.
"No time, I think we should go back to the Ice
Caves to meet DellaNeve, Luperusse, and the rest... " said Skeithena.
Sharon and Jess didn't know who DellaNeve and
'the rest' were, but they had the sense not to ask. "We'll come with you then."
***
"Well, we'll freeze here I guess," said Luperusse sullenly.
"Probably. Unless Skeithena comes. I'll freeze
first," added DellaNeve. "Or starve. I don't look forward to either."
Ghicaccio opened her mouth to join in the gloomy
conversation, but then the door swung open. "Skeithena! Fluffy! PANTS!" she
cried joyfully. "How did you get here? FOOD!"
The famished Neopets grabbed the Cactus Leaves,
while Skeithena did the introductions and told them what had happened since the
five NeoPets had split up. "We arrived in the Ice Caves, and we saw Pants wandering
around... " [Ghicaccio had a vision of Pants shooting fireballs everywhere and
terrorizing the Ice Caves] "... and then when we got here, the username and password
were already typed in the door. We figured you'd be trapped in there, or something.
The door looked like a dungeon door... "
"Hold the door open!" shouted Luperusse
suddenly, as the door started to swing shut.
The two humans, five Neopets, and Petpet all
hurled themselves on the door at the same time, keeping it open. "Let's get
out of here," panted Sharon, "this door is going to crush us if we stay in here
and have to keep holding it open."
"Made out of Faerie metal," nodded Ixi, and they
started the journey out of the Ice Caves, talking happily, while Ghicaccio practically
strangled DellaNeve and Pants with hugs.
***
When Ixi went home, he found Jane packing her bags. "I hope you had a good
adventure," she nodded at him. "I see you're still alive."
"Yes, I am," Ixi agreed. "We're all okay -- JANE!
You're packing your bags?!"
She nodded. "Yes, what did you expect? You should
know that I'm going away... "
Ixi howled. "I'm sorry! When I was in the Ice
Caves, I kept thinking about you - and - please don't leave!"
His owner grinned. This was what she'd been waiting
for. She gave a false sigh. "Well, Ixi, I don't know if I should leave or not...
I really don't know.... "
Jane and Ixi caught each other's eyes and they
both burst into laughter.
The End
I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Do please Neomail
me with any comments, complaints, questions, suggestions, or just to have a
friendly chat! I will be eternally grateful... Anyway, I won't waste any more
of your time ;) Thanks for reading and have a really GREAT day!
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