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The Alien Aisha gal continued, saying all the words I'd
known I'd have to hear sometime and hating the facts. "We would enjoy having
you back in our ranks, Derek Sonix, though your mind could be in need of realignment.
Nothing our scientists can't fix."
"Oh, by Fyora's crown-" I began.
"For Jierdana's sake, agent, you've even picked
up their lingo!"
For some horribly stupid reason, my fear was
beginning to be overwhelmed by anger. Well, maybe not quite anger, but a definite
annoyance. The idea of being returned to the Alien Aishas absolutely terrified
me, but I was beginning to remember why I could never really fit in with them,
regardless of trying. Maybe my blood was Alien (as some rather extensive and
painful procedures had proved to my parents), but a Neopian viewpoint on things
governed my personality, heart and mind.
I burst against my will. "What part of 'I'm a
Neopian now and won't work for you' do you not understand!?" I shouted.
The Alien Aisha suddenly twitched her ears, noticing
the sound that I'd been listening to for quite a while, that perhaps was the
real reason for my sudden bravery.
"Faerie racers!" she screeched. "Everyone get
un-"
*SMASH* Before she could even finish, a sky-blue
cloud racer burst through the wall, closely followed by four similar racers
in varying shades of the rainbow.
As the faeries climbed off their racers, I smirked
at the Electric Buzz. "Told ya I wouldn't work for you!" His eyes flickered
back and forth as I continued. "I don't know how you originally came up with
your idea or how you got my private information, but I'll bet anything you didn't
know I'm on the Faerie Protection Program!"
The Uber Fire Faerie, Head of the FPP, pulled
out a piece of cardboard and folded it into a makeshift megaphone. "Turn around
slowly with your paws/claws/feet/whatever in the air! Step away from the ray
and allow DeSoni to come over here by me. Don't try anything or I and my sister
faeries will be forced to take drastic measures to protect our charge."
Unfortunately, but naturally, these sort of evil
people don't give in as nice an' easy as we wish they would.
Ms. Alien flipped around before I had even moved
and kicked me viciously in the stomach, knocking the air straight out of my
lungs. As I lay there gasping, Electric Buzz grabbed me around my middle and
yanked a box out of his pocket.
A hush fell over the faeries and myself as we
noticed it wasn't just a box, but a small pyramid, an Aisha Myriad.
"Now, DeSoni," began the Electric Buzz, waving
the Myriad in my face. "You know what this thing does to faeries. You should,
since you helped design the originals Fyora secreted away. Fix the ray, or your
friends here lose their magic. A faerie without magic is as good a dead. A human
with useless wings and no heart for anything."
I couldn't even struggle. The faeries had done
so much to help me get settled in Neopia Central.
"Now DeSoni, or the faeries turn gray!" He threw
me on the ground so hard I slid several feet towards the ray's console.
I looked at the faeries, looking beautiful next
to their racers in all their differing colors. I remembered Fyora, while prepping
me for life in Neopia, telling me that even captivity in a bottle is preferable
next to turning gray. And I couldn't risk it.
Stiffly and angrily, I stood up and walked towards
the ray itself, picking an octagonal shaped screwdriver off the console on the
way. Ms. Alien stood behind me to make sure I didn't try anything, not that
she knew enough to even be able to tell if she did. It was clear to me that
she was nothing more than a simple ambassador.
I dismantled the head of the ray and pulled it
off. As the Alien gal carefully watched my every move, I reached in with my
small right paw and pulled a large congealed glob of the magic-invincibility
paint out. Next, I reconnected a few wires the glob had knocked lose. All the
while, I was hatching a plan and only half paying attention to the operation
that I could've done in my sleep.
She held out a tube of sealant, which I took,
handing her the odd-looking screwdriver and the glob, which she looked at disgustingly
and put on the floor. Next, I carefully and painstakingly sealed the hole in
the conversion chamber from which the paint had spilled. Taking the screwdriver
back, I reassembled the head and got ready for action.
"There," I said, turning toward the Buzz and
his Myriad. "Happy now? Now put the Myriad down."
"What, and let these creatures stop me? First
we have to test the ray anyway. Princess? Can you get one of our minions for
us?"
She laughed wickedly. "Actually, I have a much
better idea." She shoved me into the ray's path and smirked as I stumbled. "Let's
just hope, for your sake, that you did this right." She slammed the go button
before I could leap out of the way.
A swirling, colorful beam shot out of the ray
and hit me in the chest, slowly expanding to cover my whole body. It felt like
the last time I had made a mistake and annoyed a Dark Faerie too much, and she
had blasted me with some sort of energy-draining magic beam. Just as that time,
I couldn't move a muscle. And this time there were no Water Faeries to step
in with the antidote. Then the falling and the swirls abruptly ended and I knew
what I had to do.
"Excellent!" laughed Electric Buzz. While he
and Ms. Alien were occupied cheering for themselves, I leaped at them. You already
know that I knew nothing about fighting, but I was the distraction the faeries
needed. And they couldn't accidentally hurt me either.
All together, the faeries blasted the three of
us, who were so entangled it wouldn't have been possible to pick and choose
targets. I didn't feel anything but a warm wave and a slight prickle of my fur.
It was over and I opened my eyes, expecting the worst.
The Alien Aisha and the Electric Buzz were surprisingly
not dead. I had to laugh as indignant croaks surrounded me. They'd been turned
to Mortogs!
As they angrily continued to fill the air with
croaking, the Uber Fire Faerie came up to me. "It's not permanent. They'll be
themselves to stand trial and living proof to Fyora that some Alien groups have
broken the agreement code. But, DeSoni, about what they've done to you…"
I shook my head sadly. "No, there's no way to
remove or even counteract the magic-invincibility paint. I was with the team
that designed the original formula."
She looked down at me, then knelt so she didn't
have to look quite so directly straight down. She put her hand on my shoulder
and I took a deep breath.
"You realize this makes you a danger to us faeries?
You were a risk before, with your background and all, but now…? Some people
would use you as a tool or shield, especially if they found out your past and
unique talents, even for an Alien Aisha, as the Electric Buzz did."
My earstalks drooped sadly in my face. "I-I was
kinda hoping you could trust me enough… That's why I didn't fight it. I figured
if I fixed it so it worked they would naturally test it on me, and what did
happen would ensue. If I had fixed it so it would be forever damaged, I felt
those two would hurt you gals, and they could've always found someone else with
enough knowledge to fix the ray. I was just handily available and, they thought,
vulnerable."
I avoided the Fire Faerie's brown eyes, along
with her surprised expression that I had thought that all out myself, and resigned
myself to whatever would happen. I wouldn't cry, but all the fears I'd had before
I first met with Fyora bubbled up. "Please don't make me leave…" I whispered.
The Uber Fire Faerie fingered my ears, where
I suppose the bruises were beginning to show through. " That stinkin' Buzz will
pay for this!" she exclaimed furiously.
My eyes popped up to her kind brown one's in
shock, and I was just in time to see her motion a water Faerie over.
The sweet mermaid-like faerie flew over and examined
my earstalks. "Ouch," she commented and waved her hand absentmindedly over them.
Nothing happened, except a slight glow lit over them for a second. She blushed.
"Whoops."
Thinking, she commented, "Well, that guck shouldn't
have warped your insides," and magically created a Dewberry Reviver.
She handed it to me and I smiled thanks as I
popped the cork and drank the lot. In a few seconds my two tall ears were erect
and perfectly yellow, and my disposition itself had turned an almost 180 degree
turn for the better. I proudly felt my earstalks and smiled up at the faeries
hopefully.
"So I can keep my shop?"
All the faeries, who had surrounded me as I healed,
giggled cheerfully. "Of course!" chuckled the Uber Fire Faerie.
Then she sobered up a bit, but still smiled happily.
"But you are in a very dangerous situation, and we can't keep an eye on you
24/7. How do you fancy an owner?"
I frowned. "I haven't done very well with humans.
The last three you tried me on ended up, respectively, starving me, gambling
away my store-savings, and pretending I didn't really exist-always talking about
this place called earth."
She smiled. "Oh, this one's different. She's
a rights activist for Petpets, a science teacher at a local Neoschool, an inventor
for the Space Station Space Faerie, and her hobbies include scientific experiments
and reading."
I groaned. "She sounds like a downright boring
goody-goody. I mean, a teacher?"
The faerie smirked mischievously. "Some people
call her that. But she and her Neopet have done some specialized work for us
and we know better. I've actually heard some rather rude dung-related comments
come out of her mouth when she's stressed. Anyway, she's known for coping with
unusual people very well."
I lifted one of my pencil-thin eyebrows. "How?"
"Well, for starters, her first and currently
only Neopet is an investigator and advanced student at the Mystery Island Training
School. When you get there you'll probably notice that Wocky leaving a lot.
Curiously, one of her favorite hangouts is a club-bar, but that's a professional
secret, so don't let on you know. Also, this owner's best friend is a total
airhead-slacker, fun-loving teenage blonde. The blonde's got two cliché pets-a
snobby Uni and a sweet Zafara-and one total klutz of a Shoyru that's an ex-gangster
and known for positively drawing trouble of every possible kind."
I blinked. "That, umm, doesn't sound like a calm,
normal life…"
"I thought you didn't want a calm, normal life."
"I don't."
"That's settled then. We'll tell your Scorchio
friends for you."
"Well, okay."
The Uber-faerie laughed delightedly and added,
"Her official name is appaloosa500, but she goes by Kay. She'll introduce you
to the rest."
To be continued...
Author's Note: Yah, I know it could end here, but I couldn't just end it
without telling you how DeSoni fits in with his new family, now could I? Please
read the next part!
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