IT WAS COLD. It enveloped him, choked him, suffocated him. He was drowning
in frost, and ice. He felt the impending sense of doom rapidly approaching,
he tried to part the frost with his paws, but he couldn't. Some powerful force
held them back. Searing pain ripped through him, and he fell to the ground....
Marlfox awoke with a start. The young, male
fire Wocky had been dreaming, dreaming a horrible dream. He was only too happy
to escape it.
He placed a paw to his chest, trying to slow
his racing heart. Marlly, as he was called, had been experiencing night terrors
like this for a long time, peppering his sleep. They had all started when he
had begun to use the lab ray... He turned around and saw his brother, Skypaw,
sleeping in the bed opposite to him. Skypaw had been adopted from the pound
at an early age, the days of being in the there, with other supportive, locked
up pets had made him very understanding and calm.
The faerie Gelert was the perfect companion for
the outspoken, feisty Wocky, also an adoptee.
Marlly scampered up to the window, and threw
open the blinds. He winced as his eyes met the blazing morning sun. The dew
flecked hills shone in the sunlight, as though it was strewn with glittering
jewels. Pale pink and gray bellied clouds drifted lazily across the powder blue
sky. The tree tops glowed brightly as the sun rays slanted off, illuminating
the dancing dust motes swirling in the pools of pale golden light. All this
beauty was lost upon Marlly as he pondered the lab ray, anticipating what shape
or form it would twist him into today. Marlly sighed, he may as well awaken
sooner than later. Marlly pulled a blue short hair brush through his charcoal
gray fur, wolfing down a cold breakfast of neocrunch cereal and leftover omelette.
He wiped his mouth on a napkin, and set off for the ray. The lab ray was located
deep in mystery isle, but Marlly had the map and soon found the way.
"Ah… back again, Wocky?" asked the frizzled
old doctor.
"Yes, yes just get on with it, would ya?" Marlly
retorted.
The doctor, slightly ruffled, took his place
at the ray. Glaring distastefully at Marlly, he muttered a few curses under
his breath and practically slammed his fist down on the button. Zap! A large
cloud of smoke curled around Marlly, covering his ripping changes. The smoke
cleared, and Marlly coughed loudly, trying to dislodge the smoke from his throat.
The smoke had made Marlly's eyes water, so he kept them shut. The doctor grinned.
"Ahh... not half bad, I'd say!"
Marlly shook his head as he stared down at his
paws, only they weren't there. They had been replaced buy two, skinny wings,
dark blue feathers covered his tall, gangly body. He was a blue Lenny.
***
"Aww... come on Marlly, it's not THAT bad..."
Skypaw was trying to coax Marlly out of the
house, after being turned into a Lenny by the lab ray, he had rushed home and
barred himself in his room, refusing to come out.
"Come on Marlly, you can't stay here, anyway.
We have to visit cousin Snowbounce, remember?"
Marlly didn't stir. "I'm not going! they'll
laugh at me."
Skypaw wasn't giving up yet. "Aww... geez Marlly,
did anyone laugh at you yet?"
Marlly growled, difficult to do if you're a
Lenny. "Yes! You, Nighthowl, mom... Even old Dewbuck was cackling at me!"
Skypaw smiled. "Well, you have to admit, it
was a bit of a shock. Anyway, we've been looking forward to this trip for weeks!
Just us, Snowbounce, his owner and the beauty of terror mountain! No Nighthowl
or Ziggy or Dewbuck! Besides, you have to go. Now come ON!"
Marlly finally allowed himself to be dragged
out of his room, subdued only by promises of tigersquash and snowberries up
north, they were his favourite food. The two pets were going to fly up there,
their cousins lived high up on terror mountain and it was almost impossible
to walk. If marlly were still a Wocky then he would've rode on Skypaw's back,
but since he was a Lenny
"You can fly for yourself. I don't want to have
another heavy load on the way up, I'm already carrying our backpacks."
Marlly stood rooted to the spot. "I can't fly!
not with these pathetic wings! I can't even hover! In fact, I've changed my
mind! I'm not going anyway."
That was enough for Skypaw. "I don't know about
YOU but I'VE been really looking forward to this trip! And no sore faced Lenny
is going to ruin it for me! You're coming if I have to carry you the whole way!"
Marlly glared at him. "No!"
With that, Skypaw pumped his massive lavender
wings, shot into the air, dove down and grabbed marlly by his royal blue neck
feathers.
"Put me down you stupid mutt!" Marlly screeched.
"PUT... ME... DOWN!"
Skypaw growled, "Okay, I'll put you down! You'll
hit the ground and become a Lenny pancake!"
Marlly gulped, swinging precariously from Skypaw's
firm, but gentle jaws. "Fine, but at least let me ride on your back."
Marlly swung one duck footed leg up around Skypaw's
neck and settled himself comfortably between his head and wings. Skypaw grinned.
"You're much lighter as a Lenny, giving you
rides when you were a Wocky practically broke my back! I can hardly feel a thing!"
Marlly had to admit, he did love riding on Skypaw's
back. Everything looked so much fuller and magnificent from the back of a faerie
Gelert Neopets and their owners stopped on the street and pointed up the pets
as they flew past. Marlly chuckled.
"Hey, Skypaw! We could open a business! You
know, charge pets for a free ride..."
Skypaw grunted in reply. "Come on, Marlly. We
could get frozen for that."
Marlly shuddered, remembering his dream. "Please
don't say that, Skypaw."
***
After flying for about an hour, Skypaw finally reached the foot of the mountain.
He sighed, this was where the real workout began. He took a casual glance back
at Marlly, the Lenny had propped himself up, using Skypaw's ears as a backboard.
He seemed to be dozing. Skypaw sighed.
"Correction, this is where MY real workout begins."
In a way, Skypaw was almost glad that Marlly
had fallen asleep. It meant that he would have no distractions, as the flight
had become more difficult than Skypaw had anticipated. He had begun to notice
some warning signs. Snow on the ground, lower down on the mountain than usual.
That meant that it was colder than it normally was. Also, the air had become
heavy and thick, which meant a storm was coming. Lastly, the air was also getting
much, much colder, and Skypaw's wings were beginning to tire. A soft rustling
movement emanating from Skypaw's back signified that Marlly had awoken.
"Hold on marlly," Skypaw murmured. "We're approaching
some gales..."
A large torrent of wind crashed into the Gelert
He held his ground, and continued to plow onward, Marlly clinging doggedly to
his neck fur.
The two pets climbed higher and higher into
the air, getting closer and closer to the mountain. A small red Pteri went whizzing
by, headed in the opposite direction. She stopped, however, to deliver a hasty
warning.
"You should turn back! The winds up there are
very, very dangerous! It's a full fledged storm!"
Skypaw snorted. "No offence, little bird, but
I think that a fully grown faerie Gelert would be stronger than a little feathered
tennis ball. I think that I can handle this storm."
The Pteri was highly offended, her beak chattered
angrily, "Then you will meet your end!" With that, she zipped off.
Skypaw should've heeded the Pteri's warning.
The winds were strong. He had remembered, shortly after, that Pteri's were the
flying champs of the world, and if they couldn't fight a storm then no one could.
It had started to rain, and as they progressed, the rain turned to snow. Not
your nice, softly falling kind of snow, it was stinging, icy hail that buffeted
them left and right, and caused stinging welts wherever they struck.
Skypaw barked happily. "Look! Look marlly! There's
Snowbounce's cabin! I can see the weathervane!" Marlly looked up and saw the
bronze Eyrie atop the four points swing madly in the storm.
"There's a strong current, but I think that
I can get over it. Hold on tight." Skypaw warned. Marlly nodded, not wanting
to speak for fear that a piece of hail might go down his throat.
"Almost... there..." Skypaw grunted.
Marlly sighed happily, soon they would be inside
the nice, warm cabin, roasting marshmallows and playing cheat! He would regale
Snowbounce, and his owner, pyro with the tale of their battle against the winds.
Then, disaster struck. It happened in a second,
Skypaw didn't even notice it at first. One particularly large chunk of hail
hit Marlly square in the face. Forgetting the powerful storm, he automatically
put his wings up to his stinging eye, releasing the hold on Skypaw.
One millisecond was enough. Marlly was driven
right off Skypaw's back by the forceful gales. Skypaw turned in time to see
a dark blue shape rocketing into the forest, battered by the frozen winds. "Skyyyyypaaaaaaaaw!!!!"
Marlly's scream grew fainter and fainter as he tumbled deeper into the dark
forest.
"Marlly! Marlly! Marlfox!" Skypaw was searching
helplessly among the trees, calling his brother's name. "Marlly, where ARE you?!!!"
Skypaw sobbed, he had been looking for almost two hours and still had found
no trace of the Lenny "It's all my fault! why didn't I listen to that Pteri!
I'm such an idiot!" Skypaw spiraled down, down, down to the frozen, snow-covered
ground. He lay there for a long time, lamenting and sobbing, his teardrops melting
away the settling snow.
"Why, WHY did I force him to come along? Why
didn't I just let him stay home?" Skypaw sighed. He knew this was doing nor
Marlly or himself any good. The wind howled around him, chilling him to the
bone and filling his heart with the sad songs of the storm. He looked back at
his wings. As strong as they were, they were still thin, more decorative then
affective. The tips were beginning to glisten with frost. He would have to go
back to the cabin or his wings would freeze and fall off. With a deep, heavy
sigh he slowly made his way back up to the glow and warmth of his Snowbounce's
home.
***
"Skypaw! you made it!"
Snowbounce was a cheery, jolly white Blumaroo
who loved the snow and the game cheat! His owner, pyro was a young boy of about
thirteen, equally nice and cheerful.
"Hey Skypaw! Great to see ya! Er... Where's
Marlly?" pyro asked. Skypaw shook his head sadly.
"Marlly's gone."
Over the next hour, Skypaw told pyro and Snowbounce
exactly what had happened. He spoke in a dull monotone, as if all his grief
had been used up. He finished with the words,
"And so, as you can see, I as good as destroyed
my own brother."
pyro sighed, and put a comforting hand around
Skypaw's shoulders. "Hey, calm down. It's not your fault, and don't worry too
much about Marlly, he's probably fine. I'm sure he can handle anything we got
out in those woods, didn't you say that he was level 20, with most of his stats
in caps? I'm sure that he can take care of himself."
But Marlly was in far more trouble than pyro
had casually assumed. The wind had blew him fast and hard into a tree, and he
had immediately been knocked unconscious. Over the night the wind had constantly
been blowing frost and snow at him, so in the morning he found his frail body
pinned to the tree by a thick layer of ice. He was spread-eagled onto the tree,
when he tried to move his whole body was set afire with pain. The dream... it
was becoming a reality. But that wasn't all. Marlly had heard low howls in the
distance, which could mean only one thing. Wild Lupes.
To be continued... | 
