Two small creatures rushed in the night. The only sound was of the leaves that
stirred beneath their feet and their panting tongues. The wailing of sirens
could be heard close by.
"Hurry Jock, we gotta escape these here Chia cops. They're catchin' up!"
"Oh, no, they ain't catchin' up. Not if I cen 'elp it," a low voice growled.
The two continued to run amongst the shadows, one holding something that gleamed
brighter than moonlight in his paw.
The sound of sirens was getting closer by the second.
The figure named Jock finally stopped. They were behind a NeoHome. "Yer right,
Thrunk. We gotta hide this here statue n' and scram."
Thrunk, in a stupified panic, twirled around and threw the precious item into
the nearest window of the NeoHome. Strangely enough, the shattering of glass
could not be heard, but the statue had given a loud thunk, obviously landing
on something soft inside the house.
Jock stomped over to Thrunk and gave him a good, hard bonk on the head. "Argh,
you stupidhead! It's too late to go in and get it, we've probably woken them
house-owners up by now! Run!"
The two rushed through the brush around the small bamboo cottage and out onto
the street again, the flaring red light of the sirens beginning to shine on
them. Being experienced criminals, they weren't seen that easily. They continued
to flee in the dark of the night.
***
"Benekah, me and Amy are going to go shopping now! We'll be back in several
hours!"
Deraxyl the Shoyru's voice rang rather annoyingly throughout the house. Benekah
the Aisha groaned and pulled her ears down, while at the same time yelling in
reply. "Okaaaayy!" She wasn't looking forward to this day. Everyone would be
away from the house except her, and she was sure it would be the day of ultimate
boredom.
She sighed with relief as she heard the front door shut, and continued writing
in her journal. A soft, warm breeze came through the window and ruffled her
fur. She smiled. She loved living on Mystery Island.
The abrupt sound of her bed sheets shifting caused her to turn around and gasp
as a strange object fell, hidden in her sheets, to the floor. The tinkling sound
of something breaking could also be heard, and a small piece of the object broke
off and fell beside it.
Benekah slowly slid off her chair and walked towards the object. "What is this?"
Carefully, she picked it up and looked at it. It was a statue. Shiny and yellow,
molded from what looked like gold. Studying it carefully, she noted that it
looked like a walking coconut from the Pango Pango tribe. It held a spear, and
its expression was blank. Stooping low again, Benekah picked up the broken piece,
which happened to be part of the coconut, and fitted it in place to see what
it fully looked like.
"Gosh...this thing looks a thousand years old! Maybe it's a Mystery Island
artifact. Maybe it's really rare! But where did it come from?"
Benekah's ears perked as she remembered the Mystery Island Historical Museum.
Maybe it had come from there! Feeling relieved that this day would not be completely
boring, she slipped the artifact in her backpack and headed out the door.
***
It was shopping day for everyone on Mystery Island. The streets and shops were
crowded and noisy. The gold statue poked a bit out of the leather backpack on
Benekah's shoulders. As she weaved her way through the main square, she heard
something from the nearby bushes.
"Psst. Aisha, over here."
Benekah cocked her head and looked at the bushes suspiciously.
"Yeah, you you stupi--I mean, lovely little Aisha. Come over here."
Benekah walked cautiously up to the bush. "Yeah?"
Two pairs of eyes peeked from the darkness. "You have that statue, am I correct?"
"How did you--wait, who are you?"
"None of yer - I mean, we are caretakers of the Mystery Island Historical Museum.
We've been walkin' around here, talkin' to peoples and askin' if they've seen
our lost statue. It seems ta have been misplaced..."
"Walking around? It seems more like you're hiding," Benekah replied. She looked
around to make sure no one was watching her talk to a bush.
"Yeah, well...we just can't let peoples know that we have a rare item in these
here streets! They'll go bazooka! Nuts! Crazy!"
"You forgot insane," the other eyes interrupted. He was given a bonk on the
head.
"Well, all we're askin' is - do ya happen to have it?"
Benekah wasn't liking this. It wasn't normal for museum caretakers to be hiding
in a bush. But if she refused and they were caretakers, she could be mistaken
for a criminal.
"Well, how about I just take it back to the museum? I can meet you there."
"Well...err...okay. We'll meet you there. Now--I mean, run along now."
Benekah gave the bush a funny look and continued on her way. The weight of
the statue was beginning to annoy her, and made her shoulders sore.
Just a little bit farther, she told herself.
Finally, in what seemed like forever, she had made it. As she walked up the
path towards the museum, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around
to see a Green Wocky.
"'Scuse me."
"Can I help you?"
"Is this the moo...moo...see..um?"
Benekah smiled. It was a young Wocky. "Yes, this is. What's your name, little
guy?"
"KiwiPaw. I was just created."
"That's a nice name. Mine's Benekah. I'm trying to return something that used
to belong to the museum -"
"Wrong. It belongs to us."
Benekah whirled around. She recognised that voice! She turned around to see
two Kacheeks! One Red and one Blue, dressed in black with black markings on
their faces. Burglars!
The blue Kacheek smirked. "Aww, did we scare you? Good. I'm Jock."
"And I'm Thrunk," the red Kacheek said, smiling stupidly.
"And we're outta here," Benekah said while grabbing Kiwi's paw. She recognised
that they were thieves immediately. She heard KiwiPaw shriek as a net suddenly
fell on top of them.
"Not so fast. You don't hand over the statue, you get hurt. If you do hand
over the statue, you get hurt anyway. Hoho, I just love being evil."
Benekah rolled her eyes. "Shut up and hurt me. Just leave the Wocky alone."
She could hear KiwiPaw whimper as he hid behind her.
"Oooh, so you have a weakness. Thrunk, take the Wocky."
"No!" Benekah shrieked as Thrunk came over and reached into the net, picking
up the tiny Wocky pup and sliding it through one of the net's holes. He squealed
the whole while, holding onto the net with one paw as Thrunk tugged at him.
"Benny-kah!" he cried.
"Oh, no you don't," Benekah growled. She shut her eyes and concentrated. She
could the feel the cold, smooth surface of a pebble in her paw, and she smiled.
"Magic Pebble!"
Thrunk cried out has he began to get showered with pebbles, while dropping
KiwiPaw at the same time. Kiwi also cried in pain as he was pelted by the torrent
of rocks. Benekah couldn't help that. Thrunk finally fell to the ground. Kiwi
was lying on his side.
"Spark!" was the next thing Benekah yelled. Sparks shot from her paw and slashed
at the netting, finally setting her free. She glanced at the hurt KiwiPaw worriedly,
then glared at Jock, who had been watching the occurrences in horror.
"Now, now...nice little Aisha. No need to use your nice little abilities on
us. Hehehe..."
"Oh, will you PIPE DOWN already?" Benekah grinned as she said it. She concentrated
again, and a beam of light appeared on her forehead.
"Grand Lightning Beam!"
A giant bolt of lightning emerged from her forehead and shot at Jock.
"Noooo!" With that, Jock finally fell, unconscious.
"Mmm. I'd like a Kacheek. Medium rare." Benekah giggled, brushing dirt off
her paws, but then remembered KiwiPaw. She rushed over to his side.
"Kiwi! You all right?"
KiwiPaw was beginning to get bruises, and pebbles lay all around him. "I...hurt.
Benny-kah hero!"
Benekah smiled and almost felt tears in her eyes.
"What's all this commotion?"
An elderly Nimmo was coming out of the museum door and down the path. "I'm
the caretaker of this museum. Is there a problem here?" His eyes widened when
he noticed the two burglars, out cold.
"No, but I think that this belongs to you."
The Nimmo smiled as the gold statue was placed in his hand. "Oh, praise the
Faeries! These wanted burglars had stolen this the night before! The Chia cops
have been looking for them all day. Thank you. Thank you so much."
***
The medal gleamed on Benekah's desk.
"Yes, I love you too!" Benekah kissed her medal and giggled, polishing it for
the fourteen-gazillionth time. She turned to see Deraxyl coming into her room,
grinning.
"So, how was your day? Bored out of your skull, or what?"
Benekah paused. "Well, I captured two wanted criminals, saved a life, and returned
a precious stolen artifact to a museum. You?"
Deraxyl laughed. "Right, Benekah. It can be your turn to go with Amy next shopping
trip." With that he left the room.
Benekah smirked to herself. "Hey, I didn't lie, did I?" Eyeing her medal, she
laughed inside and switched off her light for the night.
The End | 
