| also by tracypaper12
Lapinnie rushed out of the room she had been hiding in
and followed Sazbae determinedly out of Ye Magnificente Museume.
Meanwhile, Tracy and Lapin were trapped in large
cages. Tracy had a fraud angry face, forcing herself not to look worried. Lapin,
however, looked very shaken, although her eyes were dancing. Tracy's companion
turned her head to face the hall, very silent, while Tracy was rattling the
bars furiously.
"Let me see them, and I mean now!" Tracy roared,
her voice shaking.
"And if I don't?" asked one of their captors.
"If you don't, then -- then --" Tracy leaned
toward Lapin and looked at her for support.
"If you don't, then you don't get your Neopoints,"
Lapin said daringly, looking at the guard straight in the eye.
A smile appeared the guards' faces. "How much
are you willing to pay?"
"Forty-thousand Neopoints each pet!" announced
Tracy.
"Hmm..." one of the captors thought. "Isn't that
a little small? The life of your pets are on the line."
"Fifty, then."
"Deal."
Lapin whimpered. She glanced at Tracy, but the
determined owner did not catch her eye; Lapin looked away. With the total amount
of all her Neopoints, she couldn't even afford half of Lapinnie, unless...
unless she wasn't there.
"Let's see them," Tracy said.
The figures revealed a large number of pets.
There was a Kougra, a Gelert, a Chia, and a Shoyru. Tracy scanned through the
bunch, and spotted a depressed mutant Cybunny at the side.
"Buffy!" cried Tracy. "That's her, release her!"
Lapin nudged Tracy hard on the ribs. Tracy looked
at her, and saw that the child's face was full of concern. After a few seconds,
Tracy found out why; Lapinnie was not among the group.
"What have you done with --"
Lapin gave her a look, but Tracy could not decipher
it. She decided not to press on, not knowing Lapin kept her from saying it so
that they did not go after a loose pet, but did the right thing nonetheless.
"What have we done with what?" asked one of the
guards, glaring at them.
"Er, with Buffy's hair?"
"She was like that when I found her," one growled,
taking out a key and allowing Buffy to be free from her cage. "Now, how much
was that? Fifty grand?"
Tracy stirred. "Coming right up..."
Tracy reached into her pockets and glanced at
the miniscule amount of Neopoints she carried with her. "Hang on..."
A few minutes later, Tracy looked up from her
position. "I think I have everything in my bank account," she said with a forced
smile.
***
Lucy looked at the tall building standing in front of she and Monica. "Well,
we're here..."
"Yeah." Monica shifted anxiously from foot to
foot. "I really don't think..."
"Monica," Lucy said angrily, "it's too late to
back out now. Your sister and her best friend have been kidnapped, and it's
up to us to save them."
"I wasn't backing out!" Monica said defensively.
"I'm just kinda nervous. I mean, us, against an entire guild."
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Lucy whispered,
dragging Monica up to the front door. "Put this on." She handed her a black,
knitted balaclava.
"I made them in Textiles at school. Nifty, eh?"
"Great, we're stealing from a guild of thieves.
Oh, the irony." Monica muttered sarcastically, pulling the balaclava over her
humongous Ixi head. After a few minutes of struggling with it, she managed to
pull it across her face. The wool was itchy, and had holes in several places.
"Okay, what now?"
"Shh, just follow me!" Lucy carefully crept along
the hallway, her big feet padding silently along. Monica stepped onto the marble
floor, her hooves clopping loudly.
"SHH!" Lucy hissed, glaring angrily at Monica.
"It's not my fault!" she snapped back. "My hooves
are loud on this floor." Lucy looked around frantically.
"We need something to cushion the impact." She
carefully removed four magical Krawk plushies from a display stand, and thrust
them towards Monica.
"Tie these to your feet," she said, "And hurry!"
"No way," Monica said, pointing her nose up,
"What if I turn into a Krawk?"
"You won't," Lucy said through gritted teeth,
Monica reluctantly tying them to her dainty Ixi hooves. "Faster, Monica, before
we get caught -- or before Buffy and Lapinnie are hurt."
Monica quickened her tying pace and stepped on
the floor. Her balance was slightly off, but she managed to walk on the ground
silently, although in fear that each step could mean turning into a Krawk like
Lucy. Monica's sister halted her as they came to a forked hallway, one with
four different routes.
"Monica, help me choose one," Lucy said.
"Are Faerie Krawks pretty?" whimpered Monica
as she looked at the four separate hallways. She shook her head in fright and
managed to say, "Choose one of the middle ones, Lucy."
"Okay, let's take the middle left one then."
Lucy and Monica made their way into the hall
and crept about. They were travelling as silently as they could, fearing the
worst that could possibly come. Lucy looked tense, while Monica trailed behind
her, more afraid of turning into a Krawk than being caught by the thieves guild.
With one hard swallow, the two continued on, until they reached an opened door
with a few steps leading to the other room.
The Krawk motioned for Monica to follow her as
they sneaked into the room stealthily. There were vehicles and large metallic
doors in this room, with things big enough to hide behind. Lucy took advantage
of this and hid behind a large car and breathed heavily.
They heard someone snicker from the other end
of the large, echoing room, footsteps following it. One of the metallic doors
was closing, as it had been opened beforehand. Monica gave Lucy a hard stare.
"That's Sazbae's voice; I could recognise it
for miles," she said, seeing a Faerie Ixi cross the room. Lucy nodded.
"I've got that pesky, geeky little mutant Cybunny
and her little ickle friend, and I've finally got their owners too!" gloated
Sazbae from afar. "Now, all I have to do is get Monica to join us, and I'm all
done my little plan." Sazbae let out a scream of triumph, hurried to a shelf
aligned along the walls, and stacked some items onto there.
"Wait a minute," Lucy whispered to Monica. She
pointed vaguely behind Sazbae, and Monica recognised her sight at once. Lapinnie
was hiding behind a stack of items, spotting them as they were seeing her.
"Okay, Monica, let's go," Lucy ushered, as Monica
looked at her with disbelief.
"But Lapinnie's right there! Shouldn't we get
to her or something?"
"Sazbae's here, and we can't risk anymore time.
Buffy's not with Lapinnie, and if we stay in this room, we're eventually going
to get caught. We can meet up with Lapinnie later for information and look for
Buffy, Tracy, and Lapin later."
From across the room, Lapinnie glanced at Lucy,
who gave her a curt nod and hurried out of the room with Monica, making sure
Sazbae did not spot them.
Lucy lead Monica out of the large room and back
into the hall. They looked around, Monica still grumbling about the Magical
Krawk Plushies tied to her feet. The duo hurried along the halls, veering left
and right, Monica simply following Lucy's lead.
"Where are we heading?" Monica finally inquired,
stopping.
"Lapinnie should be somewhere around here, because
I saw a door at the other end of the room around this area. She should be right
-- here we are." Lucy said, beckoning Monica to a dark room. It was full of
boxes, shelves and, most importantly, a disco Aisha.
"Hi Lapinnie," Monica said, looking around at
the Aisha and her Krawk sister. She breathed in and said, "Spill."
Lapinnie then began telling the two about being
outside alone -- although she did not explain why -- and how Buffy had went
to search for her. She told them about their capture, the training and the first
mission. Buffy and the other Neopets on the mission were captured, as Lapinnie
had explained, and she said how she heard the voices of Tracy and Lapin in the
other room. She lead her story up until they had both met in the oversized garage.
This took about fifteen minutes, as it had been very descriptive and Monica
and Lucy kept asking questions.
"So... what are we going to do?" Monica finally
said, her eyes twinkling.
"I think we should call in the Chia Police,"
Lucy said, crouching behind a stack of crates. "They'd be more experienced in..."
"-- Eating donuts!" Monica whispered angrily.
"Look, I don't want to just call in the professionals. I've always wanted an
adventure..."
"Look, Monica! The important thing is that everyone
gets home, alive and safe, and these crooks are put in their place," Lucy said,
her eyes burning with rage, "we're not here for kicks, you know."
"Woah, calm down, I'm sorry, I really am. Maybe
you're right."
"No," Lapinnie said, peering over the crates,
keeping her second set of ears pressed against her back. "We don't have time.
Besides, these people aren't really all that bad, I think they just need a better
influence than Fozaibae."
"Who's that?" Monica said, re-tethering one of
the plushies to her feet.
"That's not important," Lapinnie said, "but what
is important is that we act fast. It was really dark and we had a map to that
old building; I only have a small clue of where it is. If we lose them now,
we may never find them."
Lucy nodded. She and Monica looked out the door
and to the halls.
"Could you possibly try to lead us to that building?
We'll have to get out of this place unnoticed, but we especially need you because
you're the only one who knows --" Lucy began, interrupted by Lapinnie.
"What's this?" she hissed, reaching to her cloak's
pocket and withdrawing a bugging device from it. "Oh no, I don't believe it."
To be continued...
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