The other two had been unsuccessful, and were glad to see SunRay with the fruit.
But who was following him?
"...This is Helonsare," SunRay explained.
Draco laughed at the name. "What kind of a n--"
Drake cut him off. "Why is he here?"
"I found him alone. I think he was abandoned, I saw footprints leading away,
east. Then the footprints of the Mero."
The Mero was there name for a hungry bull like animal that roamed the woods,
hunting everything.
"It must have chased them away, and he got lost I guess," Draco commented.
"I'll ask him," Drake said.
Picking up a stick he walked over to the Tatsu. He drew a picture with the
stick in the dirt of stick people running from a bull and one running the other
way. He pointed to Helonsare then to the stick person running to other way.
Helonsare nodded. "I knew it!" Draco yelled. " I told you but Nooooooo!" Sunray
glanced at Draco, and smashed the fruit in his face.
Two months later
Draco climbed to the top of a tall tree, the wind blowing in his face. He smiled
and leaped up, soaring above the forest. He looked south and soared down onto
a cliff; looking over the edge he pushed a rock over and watched it fall down.
It made no sound as it hit the bottom about half a mile below. He frowned and
peered down over the edge. Something was down there. He looked closer, and stared
in awe. It had to be over ten thousand creatures down there, all different colours,
and he couldn't make them out clearly however. Draco stepped back. He had to
tell them!
"Hey Draco! What's the rush? You know Helonsare is visiting today!" Drake said
as he saw Draco swoop down into the clearing.
"I can't talk now! Get Helonsare! You have to see this!"
"Huh? What is it?"
"I don't know! Where's Sun?"
"He's getting Helonsare!"
SunRay walked into the clearing with Helonsare, who had grown a lot since
they first met him. Also his owner had painted him a deep red colour. "Come on!
Hurry! You have to see!"
"Geez! That's what I call a swarm!" Sunray said as he looked at the huge cluster
below.
"I think it's an army!" said Drake as he looked down.
Helonsare looked down below. "I wonder what they are?"
***
In the few months, Helonsare had helped teach them the common Neopian
language, and learned theirs. However the three brothers said Neopian
was an ugly language and preferred theirs. Helonsare laughed at them and said
theirs was strange too.
"Hey! One's coming up!" said Draco, pointing down at a large blue one flying
up at them.
"Hide!" yelled SunRay.
It landed on the cliff, peering about. It had paws and a tail like a lion's,
and a pretty thick mane. The head and wings were fashioned like a bird's. Draco
whispered to Helonsare, "That thing's uglier than the Mero on a bad day!" Helonsare
frowned. It was staring directly at him. With a shrill cry of anger, it charged
at him.
Diving to the side, Helonsare dodged its attack only to be hit back as it turned
around on him. He managed to throw the large creature off, however it only leapt
right back it him--he was no match for it. It landed next to him, kicking him
to the side, his back against the cliff edge, Helonsare stood up, running at
the creature. However it also charged at him, its strength throwing him back
again, he slipped over the edge, hanging on with a hand. He called to his friends,
"There's nothing you can do to fight it! Go get help from the others!"
A second later the creature landed on the very edge of the cliff, slashed at
his hand, causing him to let go. Trying to get control with his large wings
as he plummeted downward, it was useless as the creature leapt after him, pushing
him downwards into the ground. The three rushed to the cliff's edge to peer
down below, and all they could see was the huge cluster below moving about.
Helonsare was gone.
Storming towards Neopian central through the forest they all feared it--this
place was where the people were. Stopping at the forests edge they saw the huge
hustle in town. They looked at each other uneasily.
"We can't go in there..." Draco said, his eyes scanning the crowd.
"He's right, we stand out too much! I mean, Draco is stars, I'm just too uneasy,
and Ray... you're...well..." Drake murmured, glancing at Sunray.
"I'm... what?"
"That's just it... Ray, you don't stand out half as much, you have to go in
and find someone who can help us!" Sunray looked at them strangely, then sighed.
"You're right.... You two stay here!"
They watched as Sunray attempted to walk uneasy hind legs as he went into the
crowd. Scared half to death as he shuffled through the people, not used to any
people or other pets other than his brothers and one used to be friend, he was
highly nervous.
"Help... Somebody help!"
He looked up at everyone as he was unheard, and seeing a large green Tatsu
leaning by a tree, he went over, uneasily half running on his hind legs.
"Sir! It's an emergency! You must help! Please!"
The Tatsu looked down at him coldly for a moment, then slowly smiled "Young
one, what is it?"
Sunray immediately nodded, explaining, "Well, my friend and I were going through
the woods and we went to this cliff and there were these beasts below, and--"
"Wait a moment... what kind of beasts?"
Sunray described the creature that they had encountered, and what it had done
to Helonsare.
"My lord, boy! They've returned for us!" the Tatsu nearly yelled, getting up.
Sunray wanted to know more though. "Who...What has sir?"
"The Eyries... they nearly got all of the Tatsus before, but apparently we
didn't destroy the last of them! There isn't much time!"
Sunray watched as he ran off to alert everyone, then snuck back to his brothers
waiting worriedly by the forest edge.
"What happened?" Draco asked promptly.
"This isn't good," Sunray said slowly, looking back at the busy marketplace.
Three Days later
"Okay, were outnumbered by about a half, which isn't good considering the odds
we faced last time, long ago. But history his repeated itself, my friends, and
though it isn't our fault, we have to do what we can to fight back against the
forces that oppose our lives as we know it, and our lives period!"
The three brothers watched from high in the tall trees at the streetlight lit
market place, which was empty by the normal population, instead thousands of
Tatsus stood in the streets listening to the large green Tatsu that Sunray had
met, who turned out to be in charge of battle for the Tatsus.
"We can't let our foes take over our lives! We have to strike back and win
what we know! For our people, and everyone else!" the crowd cheered at this,
and the three exchanged glances, wondering what they had gotten themselves into
this time.
"I wont take no for an answer in this war! Our entire race is at stake, and
we need the entire population of us to go together, and not let the Eyries replace
us!" Again the cheers drifted up to them.
"What are we going to do? We have to help...right?" Draco said, looking at
his brothers.
Drake sighed. "We can't get too involved in this, it's not our fight... but
we have to help. We can't let them do this alone... can we?" Sunray didn't know
what to say. But the image of Helonsare being beaten by the brutal Eyrie stuck
in his mind.
"...I don't know what we can do to help. We can't fight; none of us are half
strong enough. Not even added together."
Draco nodded in agreement. "All we can do is to wait and hope..."
***
It had been two weeks since the late night army meeting they had observed,
and hadn't seen neither a Tatsu nor Eyrie in town since.
"I don't know guys...maybe we should check once more?" Sunray said as the three
walked through the forest, making nearly no sound.
"Perhaps... last time we checked was a whole three days ago...a lot can happen...as
we know," Drake said as he walked along.
"Yeah, besides, were halfway there as it is," Draco replied uneasily.
"Next we have...jeremy598206!" an announcer yelled across the huge crowd that
stood before him. By his side was a green Eyrie. They watched with a half dead
look on their faces, horrorstruck as soon as they figured out what was happening.
Drake slowly murmured, "They're giving out replacements...."
A young girl ran up smiling broadly and the Eyrie happily ran to her side.
"The Tatsus were destroyed," Sunray said in a dry voice. "Kaluo27! Please come
forward!" he yelled across the crowd, consisting of all previous Tatsu owners,
not a one missing besides those who had received theirs and left, or in anger
had abandoned the replacements before even receiving them.
A small boy ran forward to pick up the small yellow Eyrie. The three sadly
turned to leave as suddenly they heard something.
"Helonsa...wait a minute, this ones crossed out, hm...oh well. Let's try drow50!"
Draco looked at them and said, "He's gone...forever. Come on...let's go home."
To be continued... | 
