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A small boat containing a white Aisha named Yoko, a mutant
Kacheek named Gioacchino, and a red Eyrie named Jon washed up on the shores of
an mysterious island.
"This island is very mysterious," commented
Yoko.
"Maybe that's because it is... Mystery Island!"
spat Gioacchino.
"Is it? Really?" asked Jon, looking around.
Gioacchino looked at his brother in disgust.
"I can see the the Tiki Tack Man's shirt from over here," he grumbled.
They started to walk down the streets of Mystery
Island. Shop keepers were shouting out daily prices of their goods. Tourists
were clicking away on their cameras. Tiki Tack Man was brainwashing a couple
of tourists into buying some Eye Candy for 500 NP.
They walked down the streets, and suddenly found
themselves on the outskirts of the village. Even the Pteris were quiet in this
unknown area. The waves lapped gently at the shore. A small weather beaten hut
was nuzzled between two palms, unnoticed and almost invisible to the untrained
eye.
Jon noticed it immediately. Pointing it out
to his siblings, he asked, "I wonder who lives in there?"
The three walked slowly up to the hut.
"Do you think we should knock? Or maybe we should
just go in?" said Gioacchino in a whisper.
Yoko answered his question. She marched up to
the door and swung it open. "HELLO!? Anybody home in there?" she called down
the hall.
"Yoko! You idiot!" cried Gioacchino and Jon
together.
A gruff voice came from the back room. "Who
dares disturb my slumber?" the voice growled.
Jon gulped.
"Umm... we're just leaving... sorry about that,
mister," Gioacchino said frantically, trying to escape.
Yoko, however, strutted up to the door and called
back, "It is I! Yoko the cute! With my two brothers, Gioacchino the ugly and
Jon the asinine! Can we come in?"
Loud, rumbling footsteps shook the house as
the dweller of the hut came to the door. Jon closed his eyes and made a whimpering
sound. Gioacchino looked as if he was ready to bolt at any second.
A giant coconut came to the door. "Yoko the
cute?" it asked.
Yoko nodded. "What's your name?"
The coconut slammed its spear against the wooden
floor three times. "I am Pango-Pango! Keeper of Mystery Island! I am very much
happy to see Yoko the cute and see of her brothers!" Pango-Pango said, looking
at the very shaken Gioacchino, and Jon who still had his eyes screwed shut.
"Look! Pango-Pango is a nice coconut," said
Yoko. "You can open your eyes, Jon," she added.
Pango-Pango smiled. "Welcome to house of me!"
he boomed.
"You mean, 'Welcome to my house', don't you,
Pango-Pango?" said Yoko.
"Yes! Yes! I mean that, I do!" he boomed, slamming
his spear on the ground again. "Inside, you three! Share tales of much happiness
we shall! Pango-Pango is much liking of stories!"
Yoko beamed and trotted in after the retreating
coconut. Jon and Gioacchino nervously followed their sister.
Pango-Pango lit a candle next to a large bamboo
throne. He sat down, and beckoned the three to sit down. "Tell me story of you!"
he growled.
Jon and Gioacchino went pale.
Yoko, however, had adapted to the situation
very well. She cleared her throat. "Well, it all began when we were playing
at our friends' house. Their names are AstronomyDog and Tch-"
Pango-Pango cut her off. "No. They shall tell
me tale of you!" he boomed, pointing at Jon and Gioacchino.
Gioacchino was a sickly green, and Jon was shaking
and making odd squeaking noises. Gioacchino turned to his brother. "You start,"
he said simply.
Jon cleared his throat. "Well, I... I mean,
we... were playing with his friends one day. And then, Gioacchino made a comment...
like, a mean comment, at the Water Faerie... and she was all, like... WOOSH!
And we were like... AAH! So there we were.
"And then we found this island... right? And
so Gioacchino treks off, and Yoko and I stay behind to clean up the boat. And
so we're cleaning, and Gioacchino comes tearing back, like, through the trees
and tells us to start rowing... he had to fight the Water Faerie's killer Meowclops,
Polly, you see...
"Then, like... we were rowing along through
the sea, and Yoko sees this pillar of light. It's like... whoa! And so we were,
like, sucked up into it, right? And the Air Faerie says she'll help us and gives
us this bag... that incidentally looks exactly like a grackle-stuffed turkey..."
Gioacchino cut off his brother. "Yes, incidentally.
It was filled with all the bad winds. The Air Faerie gave it to us so that we
might get home quicker, with only the good winds. But Jon here, being one wheat
flake short of a full box, thought the bag was a grackle-stuffed turkey and
opened it up... sending us right back to where we started.
Then we ended up on a deserted island. It looked
really spooky. I found this house that happened to belong to Edna the witch,
and she had already turned Jon and Yoko into Usuki dolls. So Edna and I bargained
for lives: if I guessed correctly which Usukis were my siblings, she would turn
them back and give us directions home. If I guessed incorrectly, she would turn
me into an Usuki. I guess correctly, of course," Gioacchino said with an air
of pride.
Jon began again. "So then... like... we went
to Mrs. Prenderghast's house, because Edna said she knew the way to get us back
to Neopia Central, like. So we went over, and she yelled at Gioacchino because
he tore her rug..."
"She did not!" interjected Gioacchino.
"Shut up, it's my turn!" yelled Jon. "So then,
she told us that we had to go through the ocean to get home quickly. And that
there would be a cliff and a whirlpool, right? So then we got there... and like,
it was a cliff and a whirlpool. Polly the Water Faerie's Meowclops was on the
cliff, and the Ocean of Much Doom® with the killer whirlpool of Maraqua on the
other side… but we made it through..."
"...and here we are," Gioacchino finished.
Yoko noticed that the candle Pango-Pango had
lit was running low. It was almost out. Pango-Pango noticed this too, and lit
a second candle, identical to the first.
Pango-Pango grinned. "Aah, my good friends!
Pango-Pango is very happy of the story you have told!"
Jon looked at the giant coconut in his bamboo
throne. "Umm... Mr. Pango-Pango? Do you suppose you could tell us how to get
back to Neopia Central?"
Pango-Pango's eyebrow's furrowed. At least the
coconut fuzz was furrowed. "Go home? What do you want to do that for? Good home,
here!"
Yoko sighed. "I miss my mommy," she said, softly.
"You miss a mommy? I tell you! Mommy don't miss
you, no such thing! You three away have been far too long! Mommy has moved on,"
Pango-Pango growled.
"No we haven't!" shouted Jon. "We have only
been away for a week, at most!"
Pango-Pango's face broke out into a grin. "A
week? A WEEK?! Why, you three sit here in this hut for a month already!"
Yoko gasped. "No we haven't!"
"Yes, you have! Mystery Island's big mystery!
Solved! Time is passing quicker at here than at Neopia Central. You is much
older than you think!" he said. "Mommy has moved on."
Yoko began to sniffle, and then to bawl. Pango-Pango
laughed loudly, his laughs reverberating off of the thin walls of the hut.
A window flew open. "PANGO-PANGO!" a familiar
voice shouted.
Pango-Pango looked a bit distressed, but tried
to keep his posture as he went to the window. "Who is it there?" he yelled back.
The window broke away, and a gust of wind entered.
The wind swirled around in the room, and took on a solid form. The Air Faerie
glared at Pango-Pango. "You are in deep trouble with the Faeries," she said,
through gritted teeth. "You are under orders by the Queen Faerie herself to
release these three!" she said, pointing at Jon, Gioacchino, and Yoko.
"Aww. But have fun we did!" Pango-Pango whined.
"Not anymore. C'mon, guys! I'm taking you back
home!" she said, picking up the Kacheek, Eyrie, and Aisha.
"Whee!" cried Yoko, as the Air Faerie flew the
three over land and sea, heading to Neopia Central. "This is awesome!"
"I wonder what mom's been up to this past month,"
pondered Gioacchino.
To be continued...
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