The halls of the Darigan Citadel were mostly decorated
with bone motifs. The floor was slippery and the walls were completely black,
with the exception of torches here and there. It was also freakishly quiet.
Or not...
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" a rainbow bundle of
fluff on wheels zoomed by Lord Darigan, almost knocking him over. He was merely
on his way to the throneroom and didn't quite expect for a... thing... to zoom
past him.
"Good faeries, what was that thing?!" Lord Darigan
thought out loud.
"What thing?" a faerie Lupe that happened to
pass by asked. She had a Necklace of the Water Faerie around her neck and was
casually filing her claws.
"That-- that colourful thing on wheels!"
"Oh!" the Lupe, Pry, laughed. "That's just my
baby sister on rollerblades!"
Lord Darigan straightened himself, not wanting
to look bad. Especially in front of a recruit.
"And I thought WE were in a desperate state..."
he muttered under his breath. "What is she doing here?"
"I'm baby-sitting her, silly!" Pry said as if
he was supposed to know that.
"This is not a day-care centre!" he growled,
taking a step towards her and clenching his fists in annoyance.
"It is at how much my owner pays me!" Pry retorted.
"'Sides, how much trouble could she possibly be? Only one little rainbow Zafara!"
"Oh, all right, I guess..." Lord Darigan reluctantly
agreed. He couldn't believe the Lupe's attitude towards her superior. He gave
up more because he wasn't in the mood for punishing.
"Hey, Pry, c'mon already!" a shadow Uni hollered
from the next corridor, clopping her hooves impatiently. She kept looking right
and left, bored out of her mind.
"Coming, Endage!" Pry ran towards her cousin,
Endage. Endage was actually her owner's sister's pet and although their owners
hated each other, they got along just fine.
"Ugh, my mane is messy!" Endage commented, straightening
her mane.
"End, the lab ray has gotten to your brain!"
Pry laughed. True, Endage was a lab pet. You wouldn't live long if you called
her a lab rat, since her owner's nickname was Rodent and... well, let's just
say Endage considered humans inferior.
"H-hey, where are you going?!" Lord Darigan
asked, suddenly realising he'd be alone with the hyperactive bundle of fluff.
He hated children...
"Duh! To fight Morris, dummy!" Endage cut in.
She scowled at Darigan and tugged Pry's paw, heading towards the door.
"Wait, what about your sister?" he insisted.
"Mom doesn't need to know about this!" Pry waved
goodbye, smiled and followed Endage to the Battledome.
Lord Darigan had a bad feeling about this. I
mean a BAD bad feeling. Like something was going to happen and he wouldn't like
it.
He turned around and headed towards his throneroom.
Quite frankly, it looked horrible, like after one of those destructive parties
(no offence to the decorator). The distance between the door and the throne
must've been eight meters. Which means eight meters of a dusty black rug. At
the door, there were two Skeith guardians. At least, they were suppose to be
there...
Shock and anger hit his face as in his seat
sat (scary music) the true femme fatale, Charmy!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he screamed.
"Who me?" Charmy, the rainbow Zafara, with pink
rollerblades and a casket on her head, stared at Lord Darigan innocently. She
blinked a few times and looked around her, trying to figure out who the scary
stranger was talking about.
"Who else?!" Lord Darigan screamed again.
"Well, I thought maybe him, or him, or maybe
even him..." she pointed at different Draconian Skeiths and Moehogs cowering
in corners.
"What have you done to them?" the king lowered
his voice and leaned back.
"Nothin', I just offered to play with them and
they just--" Charmy started gesticulating.
"Please, don't tell me, I bet it's horrible!"
he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Lord Darigan walked over to his throne and folded
his arms, sitting there, in front of Charmy. He cleared his throat and even
growled under his breath.
"What?" Charmy asked.
"GET OFFA MY THRONE!" he yelled.
Charmy, taken by surprise, flinched and while
starting to slip, tried to grab hold of the throne. Not successfully, as she
fell on the floor anyway. And down the three steps...
"Ouch, my tushie!" she complained, rubbing herself
and wincing in pain as she hit the bruised spot.
"Now scram, you... hyperactive little squirt!"
Lord Darigan hissed, motioning towards the door.
"But I like you!" Charmy whined.
"So?"
"Soooooooo..."
Five minutes later...
Charmy roller bladed around Lord Darigan's throne,
while he whimpered softly and covered his head with his hands. His headache
was already unbearable and all because of a... of a... he restrained himself
from thinking what the little monster was.
"C'mon, play with me!" Charmy kept insisting.
"Play what?!" Lord Darigan cracked.
"Well, how's about..."
Later...
"I don't know about this..." Lord Darigan whimpered
in unusual fear. A sweat drop slipped down the side of his head.
"C'mon, bungee-jumpping is fuuuuuuuun!" Charmy
made giant puppy-eyes (and Zafaras have cute eyes as it is). She tied a rope
around Lord Darigan, smiling reassuringly. Although with this Zafara, smiling
spelt doom.
"Oh... all right, if you'll leave me alone..."
He closed his eyes and jumped off the Citadel's
roof, "What Dreams May Come" style.
Charmy watched him for a second in excitement,
before she looked at the rope. Then, her smile disappeared, letting know she
goofed something up again.
"Oops!" she stated, after which a loud a crash
could be heard "I apparently forgot to tie the rope!" she snickered. "Everybody
okay down there?!" Charmy asked, while leaning to see where Lord Darigan was.
A painful moan replied to her question.
"Guess not..."
In the throneroom...
"Ouch. Ouch. Owie-ouch. Owowowouchie..."
"Quit complaining!" Charmy said, as she tied
a bandage around Lord Darigan's leg. "It could've been worse!"
"I doubt that..." Lord Darigan sighed, with
bandages hanging on every part of his body. That headache suddenly spread all
across his body.
"Well, how about a game of Shapeshifter? I love
Shapeshifter..." Charmy leaned dreamily on Lord Darigan's injured foot, while
he gritted his teeth in pain.
"No! That is a... a thieves' game! I refuse
to play it!" Lord Darigan folded his arms.
"Well, we could always play dress-up..."
"How do you play Shapeshifter again?"
Later...
"ARGH! It's IMPOSSIBLE!" Lord Darigan yelled,
hitting the game with a fist.
"I don't get it, I've got to level 56 while
you still haven't passed level 1. You must be defective. You REAAAAALLLLLYYY
need that orb, Dary." Charmy giggled, as she passed yet another level of Shapeshifter.
She may be hyper, but boy, was she good at Shapeshifter (and puzzles in general).
"Don't call me that!" Dary--er, Lord Darigan
retorted.
"I'm bored, this game is too easy." Charmy leaned
on the puzzlebox, yawning slightly.
"Well, I suppose you have a suggestion, too..."
Lord Darigan muttered.
"How's about we play 'Experiments Gone Wrong'?"
Charmy started bouncing.
"How do you play that?" he asked, knowing from
the start that the game would involve something else to get him through a lot
of pain.
"Well, first you need a subject to experiment
on--"
"No way am I playing that!" the king cut in.
"Where did you learn that from, anyway?"
"From Mina. She does experiments on Petpets."
Charmy snickered.
Lord Darigan rolled his eyes. This menace was
wasting the only shred of sanity he had left. A brilliant, but nasty plan hit
him. After rubbing his hands and chuckling a bit, he straightened himself.
"Listen, I have a suggestion to make. I have
to go out for a second. These nice Skeiths will keep you company until I come
back, all right?" Lord Darigan inched towards the door.
He signaled the Skeiths silently and they jumped
Charmy as soon as their leader walked out the door.
Lord Darigan listened closely as fighting sounds
came from the throneroom. After several minutes of yells and the sound of weapons
clicking against each other, only painful moans could be heard.
He came in only to see Charmy yet again on his
throne, while the Skeiths were spread around the room, injured. They were, as
opposed to his plan, the ones moaning.
"WHAT ON--" he stopped himself and took a deep
breath. "Lieutenant, bring me a basket and a blanket, will you? A pacifier,
too... I have an idea..."
Later, Meridell's front gate... Jeran peeked
out the door only to see a basket covered with a pink blanket. He lifted the
blanket slowly with his sword to see a baby rainbow Zafara in it. It giggled
softly and made large puppy eyes.
"Some desperate mother must've abandoned the
poor guy." He picked the basket up and went inside, cooing at the little rascal.
The gate hadn't been closed yet, that desperate
screams, crashes and breaking glass could be heard from the Meridell Castle.
All followed by a mere "Oops!" and a giggle.
"Yup..." Lord Darigan smirked while seating
comfortably in his throne. "Peace and quiet..."
The End | 
