"Finally, the exit!" shouted Yang with glee. The group of Neopets had finally
found the crack where the vines had dragged them down. Ying seemed particularly
happy to have found it.
"Well hurry up!" Ying muttered, and pushed a Kyrii out of his way.
"Ying!" said Destiny. "I know we all want out of here, but there is no point
in pushing."
"I'll vouch for that," groaned the Kyrii, clambering off the floor. "Hey…what's
that sound?"
Everyone turned to look down the tunnel. Sure enough, someone, or something
was coming to meet them.
"It's Sinicar! He's coming to get us! We're all going to get it!" shrieked
a hysterical baby Gelert.
"No," comforted Destiny. "That isn't the vines…it's…"
It was then that Fortuna skidded past the corner, lost her balance, and fell
to the floor, inches away from Ying.
Fortuna was completely drained. It had taken all her reserves, and then some,
to follow the Neopets trail. Predictors, to some extent, could sense the past
from their surroundings. But it wasn't easy, and if they were also running like
a marathon runner at the same time…well, it was easy to collapse.
Destiny rushed to her side. "Fortuna! Are you all right? Why were you running
so fast? We would have waited."
Destiny and the others were so distracted by Fortuna's arrival, that none of
them noticed Ying, or more precisely, Ying's body creeping away, and making
a break for the exit.
"Fortuna, what happened to you?" asked Yang, trying to help Fortuna up.
"It's…it's Sinicar," Fortuna whispered.
"He…he...s…stole…y…Yi…Ying's…body."
"Sinicar stole Ying's body?" Yang repeated. "Hey Ying wha…Ying!"
Yang swiveled his head round to see the red Shoyru flying swiftly towards the
crack.
"Ying!" he shouted.
The Shoyru turned round in mid flight, looked at the herd of Neopets, and grinned
evilly. "Oh don't worry," he said. "I'll take good care of your brothers body."
Yang's eyes widened, and as Sinicar reached the crack, Yang propelled himself
forward, dropping Fortuna in the process.
Sinicar glided through the large crevice, and flapped himself high into the
sky. Before, he hadn't understood why any living creature would willingly want
to be painted with a Faerie Paint Brush. Now he knew why. Flying was an incredible
pleasure, almost as fun as destroying entire cities.
He was just about to head to his brother's, Dr. Sloth's home, when something
crashed into his stomach. Falling to the ground heavily, he saw a small green
Shoyru flying towards him. Still shocked from the first hit, Sinicar was too
sluggish to move out of the way, and Yang hit Sinicar's head, K'O'ing the body
stealer.
"Let go of me! You can't change me back! I'd rather die!" shrieked Sinicar,
as he writhed in the ropes that held him, hitting the Techo and Krawk that were
carrying him. Although the other Neopets had gone home, these two had stayed
behind to provide extra muscle. And Fortuna, Destiny and Yang were glad. X_Treme231
and Ali_gatre5 were both Battledome fighters, and although they be able to switch
Ying and Sinicar back, who knew what Sinicar as the Money Tree might be able
to do to them before the potion ran out.
"Be quiet, Sinicar," replied Fortuna, taking the lead. "You're finished.
Admit it." It had been surprising easy to defeat Sinicar. Fortuna's guess was
he hadn't been used to having a Neopets body, and all of his usual strengths
had been impossible to obtain. Either way, Sinicar was tied up, Fortuna had
her potion belt back (A Poogle had been nice enough to dash to her house, and
grab it), and Ying was going to be back to normal in no time.
As she found the entrance to the room, she turned her back to face the Neopets.
"Okay, let's drop him in here, and let the potion do the rest. But make sure
you pull him out with the extra rope quickly, or they might switch back again."
And with that, Fortuna looked into the large cavern.
Her scream of shock and horror sent chills down all of their spines…
***
"It's gone," Fortuna whispered. "It's all gone."
And so it was. The large wood cavern that had once been filled with the dark
Mind Taker potion was now empty. The last of the potion had been sucked into
the Money Tree.
Yang flew down to the cavern floor as the Fortuna used a levitation potion
to take the others down, and looked around anxiously. "No, it can't be all gone.
There has to be some left."
"Yang…" Destiny started.
But Yang didn't hear her. "Ying! Ying! Speak to me!" the Shoyru cried, close
to tears.
Just then, the group heard someone laugh. They turned round to see Sinicar
chuckling evilly.
"Oh this is too good," he said. "You tried your best and failed miserably.
Who'd have thought I would be able to extract my revenge this easily. Now your
friend is trapped forever, like I once was. You might as well release me, there's
no point in keeping me prisoner."
"You…" Destiny growled, marching towards the red Shoyru.
"Don't make us do something we wont regret," warned Ali_gatre5. Fortuna looked
around the cavern. "But this doesn't make any sense. Sinicar said the roots
and the Money Tree would return to normal when the potion disappeared. Why are
they still here?"
Suddenly, Fortuna heard Yang cry out. "Fortuna! Your robe!"
"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked, and looked down at her strange clothing. She
cried out in shock when she realised what the green Shoyru was pointing at.
The edges of her robe were glowing a soft white light, and got brighter as
she moved around the room. She then had a flashback of when Ying was lifting
her to the exit. She had fallen, and some of the dark potion was absorbed into
her…
"That's it!" The Predictor shouted, shocking X_Treme231 into dropping Sinicar.
"That's why the roots haven't returned. Some of the potion must have seeped
into my coat!"
"Is that even possible?" asked Ali_gatre.
Destiny nodded. "Of course. That robe is filled with magic that have fallen
from various spells, and they could easily attract and absorb any potion nearby."
Yang looked at Fortuna with new hope. "Does that mean we can help Ying?" As
Fortuna took off her robe, she replied nervously, "I don't know. But if I can
extract the last of the potion from my robe, then maybe…"
First of all, the white haired girl took a blue potion from her belt, and poured
it over the robe. Then, she took several other bottles, and a strange looking
plant (it looked like asparagus to Yang), and dipped the plant into each potion.
Finally, she crushed the plant, and sprinkled the pieces over the blue potion.
"What now?" asked Yang, as he looked on in fascination, along with everyone
else. Even Sinicar was keeping quiet.
"Now we wait," Fortuna replied.
Just then, Fortuna's robe seemed to rip in two, and started to writhe and twist,
just like the roots of the Money Tree. Then a familiar dark gloop leaked from
the robe, and fell to the floor. There wasn't much, but it had to be enough.
Ying/Sinicar's eyes widened as he realised what was coming, and started to
twist like the robe, trying to get free of his bindings.
Fortuna looked at X_Treme231 and Ali_gatre5, the two Neopets that helped carry
Sinicar down to the cavern. "Grab him and stick his head in the liquid," she
ordered. "If he breathes it in, it should be enough to switch them back!"
"Gotcha," replied X_Treme, and he dragged Yang/Sinicar's head towards the pool,
and stuck his nose and mouth into the liquid. However, Sinicar wasn't going
down this way, and held his breath. If he couldn't live free, then no one would
use this body.
"He'll suffocate if he doesn't breathe it in soon!" said Yang.
"I think he plans to," revealed Fortuna, and turned to her trusty Neopet. "Destiny!"
she shouted.
"On it," said the white Lupe, bounding towards Ying/Sinicar's tail, and biting
into it, as hard as possible.
"AHHHHH," screeched Sinicar, then tried to shut his mouth again. But it was
too late, the potion had leapt into the Shoyru's open mouth, and had started
down his throat. He felt his spirit falling through an eternal blackness, and
landed into a wooden prison, where he was immobilised.
Whilst this was happening, Ying was torn from his shackles, and flew through
the darkness. Only his had a light at the end…
"Ying?" Ying heard the voice, but he couldn't place it. There seemed to be
some Neopets talking around him.
"Is he okay?" asked another.
"It is too soon to be sure," said another. "Let us wait a few more minutes."
He knew that voice all right.
"Destiny…" he moaned. "It's 'it's', not it is, and 'let's', not let us."
"Ying!" cried several voices.
As the red Shoyru opened his eyes, a saw a green blur plow into him. "Ying!
You're okay," cried Yang.
"Did you ever have any doubts?" asked Ying.
Suddenly, the group felt a rumbling, and the entire cavern seemed to shake.
The circle in which Fortuna was once imprisoned sank into the floor. The walls
seemed to melt, and the roots twisted erratically.
"What's happening!" shouted Ali_gatre.
"Now that all of the potion has been used up, the Money Tree is returning
to normal," explained Fortuna, over the din.
"Look!" shrieked Ying, pointing to the exit. Five heads turned upwards to
see the only entrance and exit, disappear underneath roots and wood.
"Were trapped!" shouted Destiny.
Ying whirled round to face Fortuna. "Fortuna. You better have one of those
transportation potions ready."
Fortuna smiled, and took out yet another potion. "Everyone grab on to me!"
she shouted, and as the four hands (and paws) grabbed her arm, she smashed the
potion to the ground, having them all disappear in a flash of smoke, just as
the roof caved in…
"Bye Ali_Gatre! See you soon X_Treme," shouted Yang, waving to their new friends.
"Stay in touch, all right?"
"Well that was fun," said Ying, collapsing to the floor. "Let's never EVER
do it again."
"I agree," murmured Destiny, sprawling across the floor. Fortuna would have
joined them, but something underneath the Money Tree caught her eye. And she
ran towards it. "I don't believe it!" she shouted. Ying, Yang and Destiny bolted
from the ground and looked at her. "What? What is it?" asked a worried Yang.
Fortuna held up a dark potion bottle. "It's a nanka
bottle! Now I can finally shut up the accursed Ummagine!"
"Oh yeah… I forgot about that," said Ying.
Destiny smiled. "Trust me Ying. If you had had to live with that vegetable
screaming for two weeks, you would not forgot so easily. Now let's go and silence
the purple demon."
As the four of them set off, Ying dragged behind. Something Destiny had said
wasn't right. Finally it clicked. "Destiny!"
The Lupe turned. "What?" she asked.
"You said LET'S!" he cried. "Not let us. Let's! Well that rounds off a perfect
day."
"You are so easily pleased," laughed Fortuna, and they headed back home.
The End | 
