Crooky24 walked down the street. It was a chilly autum day, so the little Christmas
Chia wore a scarf. He sighed as he saw the condition of the town. There had
been a serious Lupe problem. For Crooky lived in Chiopia, a Chia-only city which
was on the side of Lupe Forest. On the other side, there was Furgleton, another
Chia city. And lately, Lupes had been bigger a problem than ever.
But Crooky wasn't worried about one Lupe. That Lupe was his best friend, Nip72.
Nip72 was a pure white Lupe who was alpha male of a pack that lived by the side
of Kiko Lake. Lately Nip hadn't visited much, but Crooky wasn't worried.
One night, Crooky woke up to the sound of banging outside. He went to the window
and looked out, expecting to see Meercas in the garbage cans. But these were
no Meercas! Lupes were digging through the trash and throwing wads of it at
Crooky's house. They had gleaming red eyes but that was pretty much all Crooky
saw of them. Not daring to run out, the poor Chia watched in horror as the Lupes
finished with his house and moved on to the others. Finally, they left and Crooky
went back to bed.
The next day, most of the town Chias cleaned their houses. It was very hard
for Crooky to clean the foul smelling fish heads from his roof gutter. But it
was worse for a few others. Dried, week-old Strawnella Shake is hard to get
off your windows. And half the gunk couldn't even be identified! After FINALLY
finishing his cleaning, Crooky went down to the store and bought Lupe-Away,
a Lupe deterring stuff that could be sprayed by the house. After spraying and
taking a much-needed shower, Crooky went to bed. He was happy to know that no
Lupes would throw garbage tonight!
Well, our furry little friend was partly right. No Lupes threw garbage. But
they did throw pumpkins. And the next night, Crooky was awoken by a crash! When
he went downstairs, the Lupes were stealing food from his fridge! And the night
after that, the Lupes destroyed half the house! This was getting serious. That
day, Crooky went down to by Lupe snares. They harmlessly capture Lupes. AND
Crooky surrounded the house with mallow bars, which Lupes hate. This time, Crooky
was sure he wasn't going to get any more problems.
That night, Crooky got up at about midnight. He peeked downstairs. And he was
shocked at what he saw. A white Lupe with a snare dangling from it's leg! After
wrecking the house, the Lupe ran away. Crooky went upstairs again, shaken. Why
were these Lupes this tough?
The next day, Crooky headed off to see Nip72. Surprisingly, the mallow bars
had been eaten. This was getting weird. Only a few Lupes like mallow bars. But
they were about to get weirder. When Crooky got to the lake, he saw that Nip
was wearing a black collar, decked with different colored gems. Nip hated collars!
He said they were not for wild pets. And the talking was brief. Nip snapped
at Crooky and seemed very cold towards him. This both shocked and saddened Crooky.
But now he knew who ate the mallow bars. And he knew that his best friend was
with a band of bad Lupes.
The little Chia was going to get to the bottom of this. He went out and bought
a magic hat that let him be invisible. That night, Crooky snuck down to the
lake. He watched as Nip woke up and came out of his cave. Now the Lupe's eyes
were glowing red. He walked down the path and joined a band of other red-eyes
Lupes. One desert and one skunk was holding a whimpering faerie one, which was
muzzled and tied. The band walked away into the woods. Sickened, Crooky followed.
It seemed like forever. Everyone walked to the haunted woods and began to head
up a hill. When they reached the top, Crooky could see a castle. The Lupes walked
to it and whispered what must have been a password. The door opened and everyone
went in. The faerie Lupe's eyes were wide with fear. And his eyes widened even
more as the company walked into a throne room. A Dark Faerie sat in the throne,
stroking a black Aisha.
"Classic villian," whispered Crooky to himself.
"Ahhhh! My pets have returned. And I see you have a new addition! Please remove
his shackles and muzzle. I love a good struggle," she said.
Crooky's stomach turned as the faerie lupe was released. He cowered for a second,
then stood tall.
"I'm not afraid of you! I have a good pack and a good family! I won't let you
take that away!"
Crooky admired the brave Lupe. The Dark Faerie smiled coldly, she meerly raised
her hand a black collar shot out from nowhere. It rushed at the Lupe and instantly,
the poor creature fell to the ground, his eyes closed.
"Exellent. Now, let's see if that collar worked. Lupe, attack your mate here,"
the faerie said.
A hologram of a skunk Lupess appeared. The Faerie Lupe lunged and ripped at
it as the Dark Faerie laughed. Crooky's heart was no longer in his chest. It
was now in his foot. And he was sickened at what he saw. But before his heart
could stay in his foot much longer, it was up in his mouth. For the attacking
faerie Lupe had just knocked off his magic hat and Crooky was no longer invisible.
Silence. More silence. Then the Dark Faerie finally spoke.
"I could feed you to my Lupes here, little Chia. But you must be useful to
have come out here. I will use you."
She raised her hand and a slave collar (Crooky had realised this because the
gems fell off the faerie Lupe's collar, revealing the truth) shot out and grabbed
Crooky by the neck, shrinking to fit around his little Chia neck. The Dark Faerie
laughed.
"I've heard some interesting things about you and your Lupe friend here. I
think some entertainment is im order. Then I'll make you permantly under my
control by filling you with darkness and then, we are just a short step away
from ruling Neopia!"
From a kennel room, many more Lupes with slave collars on came marching out.
They were like soldiers.
"I think I will make you fight your little friend here, Chia," the faerie hissed.
She snapped her fingers and the room became an arena with Crooky and Nip standing
in it. The faerie hissed a command and the battle began.
Crooky had a strange feeling when the collar was on. He was aware of everything.
But the collar made him want to destroy. He didn't remember that Nip was his
friend. His master wanted him to and all Crooky knew was that he wanted to destroy
the Lupe, then destroy the remains. So when the faerie issued the order, Crooky
knew how important it was to obey. First, Nip lunged with his teeth bared. Crooky
aimed a punch. Nip dodged and bit Crooky. This just went on. And on...and on.
After a long time, the two could hardly stay standing. But the collars made
them want to destroy eachother, despite the pain. The faerie laughed as if this
was a big game. Began to get very mad when the two couldn't stand, whether they
wanted to or not. She was about to aim a spell that would give them the pain
to get on their feet when everyone saw (well, Crooky and Nip heard because they
weren't strong enough to open their eyes) a green light and felt a warmth. A
deadly quiet growl was also heard.
"No...could it be?" the faerie said.
First ghost lion appeared. Also his Kacheek friend. It is rumoured that the
poor Kacheek once had a run in with the Dark Faerie and now can never heal.
"You! You are nothing but an oversized kitten! And to prove it, I will enslave
your friend!"
She shot a slave collar at the poor Kacheek but the Ghost Lion crushed it with
a paw. He snarled.
"You are evil! You have no right to hurt these Lupes and this Chia! You will
go. NOW!" The lion said.
He let out a loud roar and the Dark Faerie disappeared. The roar also made
the slave collars crack and break. The pets fell to the ground for a second,
then got up. The apologies rambled on for a minute, begging for forgivness about
what they had done to eachother. None more than Crooky and Nip. Then everyone
walked over to the Ghost Lion and thanked him over and over. He waved his paw
and smiled. Then the Ghost Lion began to talk.
"You are all welcome. It is my vow, to protect all Neopets from evil and hurt.
As my friend here has not been. We will transport you back to the Lupe Forest.
And always do what you can to help a pet. We will leave now. We will leave.
Goodbye, friends."
The kacheek and Ghost Lion vanished. Seconds later, the Neopets found themelves
in Lupe Forest. All of them rushed off into the woods. Crooky and Nip said goodbye
and went home also.
After that, Chiopia had no problems with Lupes. One day, Crooky was walking
through the streets, enjoying life and enjoying everything. A little Chia and
it's mother walked by.
"Mommy, today the teacher said that the Ghost Lion was seen in Neopia! Is he
there?"
"No, little Mikey!"
Crooky smiled. He knew that someday, the little Chia would see the Ghost Lion.
and like Crooky, he would never forget him.
The End | 
