"Hey! Shadow Shoy! Are you gonna wake up at all?"
"Come on! Breakfast is ready!"
"Mfrm..."
"Come oooon! It's a proper cooked breakfast! Wait...are you insulting my cooking?"
"All right I'm up!" Kargupi rose from his tangle of sheets, yawning loudly,
to face his owner, Greg. When Kargupi came downstairs, he could see Aurami,
his Pteri sister eating bacon and eggs, and his Cybunny brother HydroFrosto
eating toast and marmalade, being a vegetarian.
"Morning Kargupi," said Hydro, as Kargupi sat down.
"Where's Rakugi?" asked Kargupi.
"NeoQuest," Hydro and Aurami chimed.
"Aaahaaa. That's becoming a sort of an obsession, isn't it?"
"Aren't you the observant one!" cackled Aurami, as the NeoQuest battle music
blasted in the lounge.
"Wow...his food...it must go...faster than mine does!" Kargupi gasped.
"Food doesn't walk Karg," said Hydro.
"Oi! No!" yelled Kargupi, as a little blue Krawk waddled off quickly with most
of Kargupi's bacon. That was AquaSnap (read What
a Krawk) Kargupi's new PetPet, which used it's jaws well.
***
Kargupi hopped through the undergrowth towards the ship. Had he flown, he would
have been easily spotted, and as he didn't know who these guys were, he decided
to keep a low profile. Nobody messed up Kargupi's forest!
Kargupi got nearer to the landing site, and heard voices: "Don't rest until
you've found it! No food 'til someone finds that shard!"
These guys sound pretty dodgy to me... I'm taking a trip with them, thought
Kargupi. Two burly looking NeoPets, a Techo and a Grarrl, set off in one direction,
and Kargupi followed them.
"Shroud" Kargupi whispered to himself, and using his special dark ability,
made himself almost invisible.
"If we're gonna find that shard, the swamp is the place to go, trust me Rankir,"
hissed the Techo
"You better be right, or it'll be Techo for my dinner," snarled the Grarrl
menacingly.
"I can't believe how people can eat that disgusssting Techo ssstuff that the
old hag gives out" said the Techo angrily. "That's revolting."
"Why does Infin want that old rock anyway? said Rankir, "Some guys will do
anything for a rare bit of ROCK."
"Crazy old guy, I tell you I am NEVER working for him again, I thought this
would be easssy," said the Techo as he hopped over a branch as they entered
the marshy area that was in the middle of the forest.
"Man Hachof, this smells, hurry up and find the shard," said Rankir, "Then
we can get back first and have all the grub."
"Is that all you EVER think about!? Quit whining!" exclaimed Hachof. "You shou
- hey! That's it! See the green crystal?" Hachof pointed to a glinting sharp
shard, standing in the marshy earth.
***
Kargupi flew into the ship. He had let his shroud down because it had consumed
a lot of his energy by that time, and couldn't risk using up any more. He silently
hovered over the Techo and Grarrl, as they handed the shard over to a blue Quiggle.
"Good work, you may now go and eat," said the Quiggle, and Hachof and Rankir,
hurried off.
Kargupi re-engaged his shroud as he landed, following the Quiggle to a security
door.
[PASSWORD PLEASE]
"Rancid Ummagine," said the Quiggle through the speaker.
The door whirred and opened. The Quiggle hopped through and Kargupi slipped
through after him.
"What?" said the Quiggle He looked around as if he had seen something, and
Kargupi hid in a shadow, hoping that if the shroud didn't work, well, he was
black, at least maybe the shadow would.
"I have the shard, master," snickered the Quiggle, holding out the gleaming
crystal in his chubby hands.
A voice came from a chair facing away from Kargupi's view. It was menacing,
and...somewhat familiar.
"It certainly looks authentic. Place it in the chamber Jaharome," said the
voice.
"Yes sir."
The Quiggle hopped up to a door and pushed it open. He hopped through into
a small chamber, where a table in the middle of the room had three padded pillows.
He went over to a green pillow, and placed the green crystal onto it, making
sure it was secure, then leaving the room. Kargupi had slipped through as the
Quiggle had hopped through, and as it exited, he missed his chance to get out
again.
"Crud," he whispered as the door swung shut.
He once again let the shroud leave him. Thoroughly tired from using up too
much power, he walked over to the shard.
"You there!"
Kargupi jumped a metre in the air.
"Shhhh....they'll hear you!"
Kargupi looked to where the voice was coming from and saw a shriveled old cloud
Koi locked in a small wooden cage in the corner of the room. Kargupi was surprised
he had only just noticed him.
"You have to stop him," said the Koi. "When he gets all the shards not even
the strongest Neopian will be able to stop him!"
"Woah calm down, you gave me a fright," said Kargupi.
"Just listen to me!" said the Koi. "My name is Jeradeous, they took me
here to tell them where to find the shards, YOU can find them first!"
Kargupi scratched his head. "I got the general idea these guys weren't just
normal crystal collectors. What do these shards do?"
"First of all, only one person has ever united all three shards together. Luckily,
that person was the Faerie Queen, she used it's powers to make faeries as they
are today, and never used them for bad. Unfortunately, this young rascal plans
to use them to rule Neopia!" said Jeradeous.
"....."
"There are three shards young man, fire, grass and air. When they are brought
together, they form three other shard, water, light and dark. These secondary
shards have enormous power, why simply the dark shard would give him the power
he needs!"
"Ah. And I have to find them?" said Kargupi, a drop of sweat trickling down
his face.
"Basically."
"But WHERE?"
"Listen young one, what is your name?" said Jeradeous.
"Kargupi," said Kargupi.
"Kargupi, I cannot lie to this....thing. He is pure evil. He knows if I am
lying, and I have to tell him. That is how he has the first shard. If you get
to them first, you can stop him. The fire shard is in the depths of the great
Tyrannian volcano. The air shard is somewhere in Faerieland. I do not know where.
Go now! There is no time to waste! Get them before Infinity!" said Jeradeous
in a panicky voice.
"Wait, I have to free you!" said Kargupi.
"I would slow you down, I can't get away from him," said Jeradeous. "There's
an exit just there!" he pointed to a door.
"YOU!" the Quiggle barged through the door. "You're dead meat!"
Kargupi snatched the shard from the table and ran through the exit door. He
turned and slammed the door behind him, turning on the emergency lock.
"GUARDS STOP HIM!!!" yelled the Quiggle through the door.
"Here goes nothing!" said Kargupi, as stunned guards appeared. He was outnumbered.
He fired a Shoyru inferno at the advancing guards, still running through the
corridor. They fell to the ground, with blackened faces. He glided over their
bodies and kept running as fast as he could. A large Scorchio stomped round
the corner and put up his arms to swat Kargupi away.
"Drain life."
Kargupi smirked and drained the energy slowly out of the large Scorchio It
tried to stand up, and wobbled. The Scorchio shook his head and shot his hand
forward to punch Kargupi. Kargupi stopped the massive fist with one hand, smiling.
The Scorchio looked petrified.
"Evidently, size really doesn't matter," said Kargupi, and kicked the Scorchio
in the head, felling him.
Kargupi jumped over the Scorchio's trembling body and kept running down the
corridor. He noticed it was getting narrower. He kept passing doors, and then
reached the end and pulled open a dusty emergency exit door. He smelt the fresh
air, and took flight.
"Better get going right away, now this guy knows I'm after the shards too,
he's going to be worried, I've got no time to waste...." and with that, he put
on a burst of speed, heading towards Tyrannia.
To be continued... | 
