Dec. 20th, 7:42 NST
Somewhere in Neopia
Morning
Almost everywhere you go in life, you will encounter
people who will lie, bluff, trick, con, pretend, deceive, mislead, and swindle
you. Whether you like it or not, you'll meet frauds, fakes, cheats, liars, impostors,
hypocrites, and phoneys. However, most of the time, you'll meet these people
with reluctance, and once they meet you, the cheating begins. When Shankly Holmes
and Wockson followed the Elephante outside of the Battle Magic shop, they had
no idea who they were dealing with.
The desert Elephante led the two confused detectives
out of the marketplace and into an extremely large secluded area of trees, a
little bit away from the Wishing Well.
"OK, this looks like a good place to stop,"
said the panting Elephante, sitting down on a nearby rock. "That was kind of
a bad start, so let's start over. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Menti."
"I'm Shankly Holmes, and this is my partner
Wockson," said Shankly politely.
"I know who you are," stated Menti proudly.
"I've read all about you! I've even written an article about you for the Neopian
Times!"
"So why did you bring us here?" asked Shankly,
brushing dirt off of his trench coat. "What do you know about the disappearances
of all those pets?"
"Well, I brought you here because I wanted to
tell you this in private. Anyway, I know some things about the disappearances."
"Tell us, tell us!" said an impatient Wockson.
"Well," began Menti, "The other day I found
a very peculiar map while I was strolling around the Rainbow Pool. It was shaped
like a duck, and on it was a path that led from the Battledome to an old factory,
also shaped like a duck. But the strange thing is that the factory is supposedly
around here, yet we can both see that it's perfectly empty. When I heard about
the disappearances, I knew that I should tell you instead of going to investigate
by myself."
"Are you sure this is where the factory is supposed
to be?" asked Shankly, taking the map from Menti.
"I believe so," said Wockson, looking over Shankly's
shoulder and using his amazing mathematical skills to determine the exact location
of the factory.
"Well," said a jealous Menti. "I could've answered
for myself..."
"Stop bickering, you two," said Shankly, walking
around the clearing. "The factory has got to be-OOF!"
There is nothing so funny to me as watching people
make silly mistakes in life. Just the other day, I visited my Aunt Tilly's house
for her birthday and watched the family Gelert knock her over as she carried
her cake into the kitchen. As her face became frosted, I couldn't help but thinking
that that event would be the highlight of my laughing life. But there is nothing
funnier than watching a grown man with crazy sideburns slam right into a wall
that's not even visible.
As Shankly slid down the wall, his arms and legs
outstretched, Menti and Wockson became as worried as...something that gets worried
a lot.
"Mr. Holmes!" shouted Menti and Wockson simultaneously,
both running over to Shankly. "Are you-OOF!"
If you have ever seen two Neopets run straight
into invisible pillars simultaneously, you wouldn't be so shocked or humorous
at finding that when Menti and Wockson ran over to the recuperating Shankly,
they both ran straight into hard substances and slid down the sides of it.
"Ouch!" all three shouted together.
"What is this?" asked Shankly, getting up and
feeling the wall. "It's right in front of me, yet I see no trace of it whatsoever!"
"Hmmm...very strange," added Menti. The trio
surveyed the walls and pillars in front of them, feeling along for something
unusual.
"Look!" shouted Wockson, and the other two came
over. "I found a door!"
Slowly and carefully, Wockson pushed open the
door, revealing a hall of complete darkness.
"I'll go first," volunteered Shankly, taking
a step forward and disappearing into the darkness. Not wanting to be left alone,
Wockson moved into the doorway, but before Menti could go inside, there was
a sudden shaking and an enormous din.
"Wockson? Wockson, are you OK?" came a voice.
"Yes, sir, I'm all right!" replied another.
"Where's Menti?" asked the first voice.
Just then, Shankly and Wockson, alone in the
darkness, felt an extreme heat boiling down upon their skin and fur. All in
an instant, all of the hot lights turned on, until the two detectives finally
realised their surroundings.
They were inside a humongous blue room, with
cages lining the walls and potions of all sorts on tables in throughout the
room. On each of the cages was a label marked "Roso Factory." Shankly and Wockson
stood in front of the door in which they entered (which was locked, as Wockson
discovered the hard way). On the other side of the room was a door marked "TESTING
ROOM" in bright red letters.
"What does Roso mean?" asked Wockson, staring
at a nearby label on the side of a cage.
"Wockson, come look at this," said Shankly,
looking inside a cage. Between the bars was what appeared to be a Dark Battle
Duck, sleeping quietly.
"How strange," said Wockson. "Battle Ducks are
inanimate objects-they only move when you use them in the Battledome." But Wockson
could clearly see that this Battle Duck was snoring and quietly breathing.
"Look, there's more!" interjected Shankly upon
discovering other Battle Ducks in other cages, sleeping and even twitching.
"They've even got different colours!"
Suddenly, one of the cages next to Shankly began
to shake violently. Rapid squeaking came from the inside that sounded like a
hyperactive Psimouse. Just then, the cage burst open, and a purple Battle Duck
came zooming out past Shankly's head and towards the wall, where it bounced
back and came hurdling back.
"Mr. Holmes, duck!"
"I know it's a duck, Wockson!"
"No, duck!"
"Yes, I know, I'm not dumb!"
"DUCK!!!"
In one moment, Wockson leaped, Shankly shrieked,
the duck squeaked, cages rattled, potions broke, tables turned, cages opened,
and after all the pandemonium, Wockson and Shankly were now hidden behind a
table, close to the Testing Room wall.
"What's happening?" screamed Wockson over the
noise, although they were right next to each other.
"Apparently, these Battle Ducks are much more
powerful than they're supposed to be!" said Shankly, holding up the table as
duck upon duck bounced off of it. "They must have been altered or mutated or
something!"
"But who would do something like that?" asked
Wockson as both detectives struggled to move their table shield with them while
they nudged to the Testing Room door. They got up, holding the table, and ran
into the door of the Testing Room.
"Sir," said Wockson again, panting. "Who would
alter Battle Ducks?"
"Only one suspect so far," said an out of breath
Shankly.
"Who?"
"Elephante, my dear Wockson..."
To be continued... |