A gentle breeze blew across the island, slightly stirring and rustling the
leaves. Up above, a bright sun blazed somewhat to the west, signaling afternoon.
Around it, the blue, cloudless sky greeted all who looked up to gaze.
On the north-western area of Krawk Island, a large pirate ship housed the
famous Deckswabber game. There, a trio of NeoPet sophomores from Neopia High
School head for the bridge that led back onto the island. Another set of three
Deckswabber games had just ended.
"Wowie! That was fun!" Drakken(_94579) the Christmas Scorchio exclaimed, descending
the stairs after the long walk across the bridge. A blue Jetsam and a fire Grarrl
followed.
"I'll say. We just earned 8 more Dubloons today!" added Ryan the Jetsam, grinning
widely. His sharp fangs gleamed under the sunlight.
After two more flights of stairs, the trio was finally on the sand beach.
Garret(_94579) the Grarrl looked around. "What should we do now guys?" He adjusted
his heavy backpack, trying to shift its great weight. "If anything, we still
have that history project to do on Tyrannia's great battle against the Monoceraptor."
Ryan and Drakken slouched. "Please don't remind us..."
A wave of water crashed nearby, spraying the NeoPets slightly. "Too bad,"
Garret grunted. "If we don't do it, it's an D+ in Humanities for the second
semester. And, the finals are coming up."
"NOOOOO!!!!" Drakken and Ryan collapsed onto the sand, face first. The fire
Grarrl shrugged.
After some time having his face buried in the sand, the Jetsam propped up.
"I'm bored, and I would like to do something exciting before we go home to work
on the project," he declared, brushing the sand off his pants, jacket, and face.
"And there's only one place on this island we can go explore."
Drakken shook the sand off. "If it's the Food Club, then no. I'm still full
from lunch." The Scorchio straightened his Santa hat. "There." Garret tapped
his right boot on the sand, his arms crossed at his chest in thought.
"Could it be... Fungus Cave? All people do there is feed their Krawk PetPets
the fungus so they'll transform into the rare Krawk NeoPet. I don't think anyone
has ventured deep inside it yet," the Grarrl stated, mentally patting himself
on the back for being so intelligent for a Grarrl. So many people these days
think of Grarrls as NeoPets with sheer power and no brains, but Harry (Tiara's
adopted Grarrl who was formerly known as "dsaf654dsaf899") and Garret had proven
otherwise.
"Bingo! Fungus Cave it is!" the oddly enthused Jetsam proclaimed, flashing
a victory sign. It was hard to see any Jetsam so friendly and, well, somewhat
carefree as this one these days (many are friendly enough to invite you for
dinner, to BE dinner, heh heh).
"Okay then," Drakken nodded. "Let's go! Garret, you lead the way."
Garret foot only moved a quarter inch forward. "What? Why me?" He crossed
his arms and his gaze became stern. "You didn't set any traps or tricks did
you? I am not easily bamboozled!"
Ryan shook his head. "We know that. It's because you're the oldest and strongest.
You're practically our 'big brother!'" Drakken nodded in agreement.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Garret waved his hand, then led the trio towards their
new destination: the Fungus Cave.
It took the NeoPets about a half hour to reach the Fungus Cave from the beach
near the Deckswabber ship. After climbing the long flight of stairs, they finally
arrived at the cave entrance. Gathering their courage, they stepped in.
"Huh. What you couldn't do for 'Entrance of the Queen of Sheba,'" Garret remarked,
examining the cave walls. There was an active river at the centre of the cave,
leading out.
"Yeah, but all this fungus would agitate the Queen," Ryan added, playing along.
"She'd run out faster than you could say 'beef pie!'"
Drakken became serious and stepped forward. "Do you guys hear that?" His two
"brothers" whirled around.
"Now that you think of it, yes," said Ryan, squinting his eyes to see forward
into the darkness. The sound, well, sounded like a scream. A high pitched one.
Like a girl's.
"Someone's coming!" Ryan shouted, noticing a bright yellow object coming closer.
"Lean against the walls!" Garret ordered. Everyone leaned against the wall.
Soon enough, a female Usul with yellow ribbons ran past them with a red Krawk
following her and a smoke trail generating from their swift footwork. Both had
pale, frightened faces and the Usul's tail became something like a bottle-brush.
Also, through the river, it sounded like they were yelling something like "GHOST!!!
GHOST!!!" over and over. Garret, Drakken, and Ryan watched the pair literally
"fly" down the concrete steps.
"What's eating them?" Ryan questioned.
"Dunno," responded Drakken, walking back in. "But let's go inside and find
out who this 'ghost' is and if it's real."
Back inside, the trio stopped.
"We can't go any further," Garret announced. "It's too dark to see anything."
"We'll use our abilities then," Ryan the Jetsam replied. "Night Vision!" As
soon as he finished, he jumped into the river. "I'll take the river way." With
that, he submerged and only a faint blue fin remained. It moved on upstream.
"Magic Torch!" A large piece of wood with fire burning at the tip materialised
in front of the Scorchio. "Take it, Garret."
Nodding, the Grarrl stepped forward and took the torch. "I guess I'll lead
the way for the ground path."
Drakken agreed and followed.
Chilly air blew around the Grarrl and Scorchio, causing them to shiver slightly
and make "fog clouds" when they breathed. The flame of the torch generated large
puffs of smoke that bent in the wind's current.
Inside, there were loads of fungus everywhere: on the walls, on the cave floor,
on the ceiling, and even on the tips of large stalactites and stalagmites. Bits
of rock lay everywhere on the rocky floor. And, the river slowly increased in
size as Drakken and Garret ventured deeper within the cave.
Also as they went farther in, they started to hear an assortment of odd sounds.
"What do you think it is?" the Scorchio asked his older sibling. The Grarrl
only shrugged.
A few steps later, the blue fin came back. Ryan jumped out of the water and
shook off the water.
"Not much, just water and fungus," he reported, following behind Drakken.
Garret stopped and faced the group.
"Should we continue? You know, deeper into the cave?"
"Of course!" Drakken and Ryan replied loudly, creating an echo. And so they
continued.
Twenty minutes later, the the groups still found nothing but rocks and fungus.
They were so far inside the cave that the light coming from the entrance couldn't
be seen.
"Look, there doesn't seem to be anything here," Garret finally announced,
stopping. He waved the torch around. "We should head back. It's already too
cold for me."
Drakken noticed something behind the Grarrl when the torch was behind him
during the wave. He walked up to him.
"May I borrow the torch?" he asked. Garret gladly gave it to him. With the
torch, the Scorchio moved forward.
"What are you doing?" Ryan followed Drakken. "See anything?"
Drakken squinted. "Possibly..." From his standing point, he noticed a figure
ahead that had two glowing eyes, like that of a dog in front of a flashlight.
It seemed to slightly move. Curious, Drakken ran over to it. Ryan and Garret
followed. Once there, the Scorchio placed the torch on the ground in front of
the figure. It turned out to be a male green Krawk NeoPet.
"W-who are you?" he asked, looking nervously at the trio. They sat in a circle
around the Krawk.
"I'm Garret, this is Drakken, and that's Ryan," Garret introduced, presenting
each person respectively with their names. The Grarrl smiled kindly. "Do you
have a name?"
"I... don't have a name..." the Krawk replied. "I was abandoned here a long
time ago when I was only a PetPet. I don't remember who my owner was and which
NeoPet I was assigned with. Soon thereafter, I got lost trying to find my way
out since it was to dark... But since then, I've stayed here and adapted to
have the fungus as food." He looked sideways at the dirt, His tail swaying slightly
from side to side.
Sympathy reflected in everyone's eyes. They glittered in the firelight. And
around them, dark shadows danced about on the walls and floor.
"So that explains all the idiosyncratic occurrences here like that Usul who
ran out. And you've been here for most of your life?" Ryan queried. The Krawk
nodded slowly.
The Scorchio just thought of a great idea. "Hey, there's originally three
of us," he commented, looking around. "...so I think we just found a new brother!
That'll make the maximum of four!"
The Krawk looked up. "...Brother?" Garret, Drakken, and Ryan stood up. Ryan
the Jetsam took the Krawk's hand in his and helped him up.
"Yep."
"Now, all you need is a name and some clothes to protect you from the weather,"
Drakken added, grinning. The Krawk's face lit up; he was finally smiling.
"How about... Jonathan Rex, or JR for short?" he suggested. Everyone nodded.
Garret stood next to him and removed his brown leather jacket, revealing a red
shirt underneath with orange stripes. He handed the jacket to the Krawk.
"Take this for the time being. It'll keep you warm 'till we get you some clothes
of your own," the Grarrl said. "And later on, you'll be painted with the colour
of your choice!"
Tears began to appear in Jonathan's eyes. "T-thank you! All of you!" He hugged
each and every one of his new siblings.
"Hey, no prob." Ryan shot him a thumbs-up and a wink.
"Now, let's get out of here!" Garret yelled, raising his right fist into the
air. Then, he picked up the still-burning torch and headed in a direction.
JR followed the group. "You guys remember which way is which?" he asked, not
exactly up-to-date with the current spells, technology, and things of that sort.
Heck, he'd never read a book in his life and still has yet to read.
"Sure! If we didn't, we'd just go ride in the river, courtesy of Ryan here,"
replied Drakken, pointing at the blue Jetsam with his thumb.
"Oh. ...Where do you live?"
"In a warm, comfortable home in Terror Mountain. 15156 Blizzard Lane, to be
exact," Garret informed.
"I see..."
"Don't you worry," Ryan told JR. "We'll get you some stylin' clothes at Uni's
shop, then get you filled with food outside of this dark, damp, and empty cave.
Hubert's Hot Dogs are world famous!"
Jonathan Rex stared down at the floor. "Thanks, guys. I'm grateful..." Garret,
Drakken, and Ryan turned around and beamed at him.
"No prob. That's what brothers are for!"
The End | 
