"Oww..." I muttered. For a minute, I couldn't remember
what had happened. Where was I?
I sat up; I was on some sort of cot. It wasn't
mine, and I didn't feel Boojah, my Selket petpet, sleeping on my paw. Had I
slept through the night? It was so bright that it was probably noon. The air
was a lot cleaner than it was...when? How much time had passed? I glanced at
my watch, the only thing I had brought with me beside my Desert clothes.
It didn't work.
The last second it recorded belonged to 7:13pm,
NST. Late--after dark. So where was I?
Then came the horrible memory. I ran away, because
Lebmon hated me. Because leb388 hated me. Coltzan...what did he say? Something
about miracles, dreams, and heroes.
Whatever.
So where was I? I looked around. It looked like
the inside of a tent.
"Takamet! She woke up!" called a voice. It was
so bright that it took a minute to see (Aishas have great hearing, but horrible
eyesight. We tend to keep our eyes closed unless we need them), but I could
make out the figure of...me? No, just another Desert Aisha. The Aisha looked
older than me, and by the voice, it sounded like a female.
Another Aisha entered the tent, followed by an
Aisha the size and cute face of a Baby Aisha, but with Desert clothes like I.
"I'm Takamet, and this is is Akiona, my wife.
And this is my daughter, Osiri. We are servants of King Coltzan III. You are
in Sahkmet City now."
Sahkmet City? Sahkmet City was an old name for
part of the Lost Desert. But it was made a colony of Neopets over a year ago!
Only the capital of it now was called Sahkmet. And after Ursurper--the murder
of the king--the royals were kind of laying low. Servants broke off and opened
shops like Osiri's Pottery (Was it the same Osiri?). And King Coltzan had been
murdered...maybe I could save him!
But that would have to wait. Right now I had
to figure out what I was doing here. I saw that Takamet and Akiona looking at
me, so I said, "My name's Lebki, but everyone calls me Li. With an i instead
of two e's." I felt nervous, but I continued. "It's actually my initials, by
my name is also my owner's nickname, so everyone calls me Li."
Takamet looked puzzled. "What's an owner?"
"Um..." How do you explain to someone that you're
a pet? "Never mind. What am I doing here?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Akiona said.
"You just showed up inside the city gates during the night."
I squinted down at my watch. 7:13. I turned the
dial for the day. The 21st day of Storing, Y4. That reminded me. "What day is
it?"
"It is the 9th sun of the 70th blue moon of the
812th planet rotation."
"Um..." Like that helped. But apparently Coltzan
was alive, so there was only one more question I had to ask.
"Has the Lost Desert, I mean, has Sahkmet been
invaded yet?"
Takamet and Akiona's eyes widened. Osiri had
gone outside to play--she looked a little younger than Lebmon. Oiy, Lebmon...just
thinking about her made me mad.
"I can assure you, Sahkmet is under the protection
of the best king yet and is very safe," Takamet said.
I took that to mean no.
"You guys have to get out of here!" I exclaimed.
"It's not safe--Sloth's coming!"
Akiona sighed. "She's delirious," she said to
Takamet. "It is all right, Li, you are safe here."
"NO!" I exclaimed. Overcome, I ran out of the
tent. Sloth could come at any minute or in a hundred years. I had no way to
be sure.
"I heard everything," came a voice.
I was in the hot desert, but sort of in a city,
and looked around for the speaker. "Osiri?"
"Yep!" she exclaimed. She was certainly nicer
than Lebmon. More understanding than her parents, at least. "So, we're going
to be invaded? Cool."
I smiled. "Can you show me around? I'm not sure
I know where--I mean, when--I am."
"Sure!" she exclaimed. "But how can you be Desert
like us and not be from around here?"
"I come from Neopia," I said. "It's not too far
off from here."
Osiri started walking, so I followed her.
"Neopia, huh? Never heard of it. The only places
I know of are here and the land Senator Palpus came."
"Where's that?"
"I can't remember. Senator Palpus is some guy
King Coltzan trusts."
"Oh." We walked around some; Osiri showed me
the palace, some shops inside the city, and a secret entrance outside the gates.
"We're not supposed to leave without permission,"
she said with a laugh, "but you really need to get a look around."
We circled around the city for about half an
hour until we saw something interesting. "What's that?" I asked, pointing.
Osiri squinted. "Huh. I dunno."
Walking closer, I saw an army. "AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
I screamed.
Grundos--Mutant Grundos--were walking toward
the city gates, and leading them was the most familiarly ugly face I ever saw.
It was Dr. Sloth.
"The invasion's here? Now? We've gotta run!"
Osiri looked confused, but knew I was serious.
"What's going on?"
"Sloth's here," I said. We were only about a hundred
feet away from the city gates. If Sloth or anyone else turned around, they'd see
us.
"Shouldn't we warn everyone in the city?" she
asked.
"Well...." There was a huge chunk missing out
of the city wall, and Mutant Grundos were pouring in. "Looks like they already
know," I said. "And we can't get back in...maybe we can get help from a shopkeeper
in one of those tents," I said, pointing to some gold-and-white tents not too
far in the distance. Actually, the tents looked like they could use help from
us, since they looked so torn and tattered.
"Right." She started to run, and I followed.
She's fast, I thought. A bit younger
than me...yeah, maybe Lebmon's age? My eyes were closed now, and I could
picture Lebmon perfectly. Braggy, bratty Lebmon. But suddenly, though, with
war breaking out behind me, Lebmon didn't seem so mean after all.
"I think we're far enough away," Osiri called.
"Okay," I replied, slowing down. I turned around
and tried to focus on the city walls. Everything was blurry, but there was less
green outside it. I hoped everyone inside was safe...but there was something else
inside me, nagging at my memory, that I just couldn't put my paw on. Something
was missing. Someone--
I turned around, and WHAM! I knocked into Osiri.
"Sorry," I said. It took a minute to focus my
eyes on something so close by. "Osiri?"
"Over here!" she called. I looked to see her
a few yards ahead. If it wasn't her I knocked over....
"Sorry," said a Bruce with what my owner would
call "Hawaiian" clothes. "I need to get my lucky coin, and my friends are in
danger. Excuse me."
My eyes bugged out. "Brucey B!" I exclaimed.
"It's so good to finally meet you!" I exclaimed, shaking his flipper/hand. "You're
famous, the way you saved the Lost Desert--I mean, the way you're going to.
And I've beaten you at Cheat! before--well, you weren't using your lucky coin."
Brucey looked confused as I rambled on, so I stopped.
"Have you seen this Jetsam?" he asked, holding
up the famous drawing.
I smiled. "Have I ever!"
"Do you know where he is?"
"Of course!" I said. "I know where your lucky
coin is, too."
"Great!" he exclaimed. "And...you are?"
"I'm Li," I replied.
Osiri, who had been listening silently for a
minute, spoke up. "I'm Osiri. Who are you?"
"Brucey B," he said proudly, then thought for
a second. "I'm kind of in a hurry, since my friends are in danger."
"A whole city's in danger," I exclaimed. "Only
we can stop it."
"You know, Li," Osiri said brightly, "I haven't
known you very long, but I kind of admire your adventuring side. After all,
you got all the way here."
"Yep," I said. "We'll get Sloth, that's for sure."
"How did you know--" Brucey started.
I laughed. "I know quite a bit, and I know that
Capara was turned into a 'snake,' which is actually a Wadjet, and that Princess
Fernypoo was mutated. I know that you're searching for your lucky coin that
you lost in a Cheat! game, and I know that Sloth has it, and he also has a staff
in the shape of a striking snake, which could, like, destroy us all."
Brucey's jaw dropped open. "How--" Even Osiri
looked impressed, though she didn't have a clue what I was talking about.
"Come with me," I said. We turned to face the
city. Half of the wall we could see was gone.
"Mum...Dad..." Osiri whispered.
"Don't worry; we'll save them," I assured her. But
I needed assurance myself. Sure, Neopets would win...but with how many casualties?
"Come on," Brucey said.
We ran through the sand until it turned into
rubbage. Tiptoeing over smouldering pieces of rock and metal, we made our way
into the city.
When we were inside what used to be the gates,
we had a pretty good view of everything. All sorts of Desert pets were fighting
off the mutant Grundos with swords. They looked like they were winning.
I looked up into the gleaming towers of the palace.
Then I saw it: the black cape, the green face, the red eyes.
And he saw us.
I took a step back in horror as he pointed his
staff at us. But no, he was pointing it at the ground, and suddenly, the rocks
and bits of broken stone melded together. "Uh...guys?" I asked. "We should get
out of here!"
"I'm not leaving without Mum and Dad!" Osiri
exclaimed. I could understand how she felt. I never had parents, but I had an
owner, leb388--and I don't know what I'd do without her, even if she did send
my Neopian Times stories under her name.
Suddenly, I felt scared and alone. It was Brucey,
now, who looked courageous. "Come on!" he exclaimed. We ran out of the city
and toward some of the shopkeepers. "Li, I'm going to set up a tent--a War Tent--to
record what's happening." He led us to a shredded tent with ruined food inside.
A Desert Grarrl was hiding under a table, and the deformed Capara and Princess
Fernypoo were there. "Excuse me, sir!" Brucey shouted to the Grarrl.
Slowly, the Grarrl emerged.
"I need you to take this Aisha to Neopia." Brucey
stopped and looked at me. "Do you even know where that is?" he asked.
"Of course! I live there!"
He looked confused. "But I thought..."
"Never mind," I said quickly.
"Um...okay. I need you to take the message to
Neopia," Brucey said, scribbling something onto a scroll. "Tell them we need
help."
I looked at Osiri, standing in a corner timidly,
looking like she was about to cry. Could I leave her?
Brucey met my gaze. "I'll take care of her,"
he said.
"Her parents are in danger."
"All the greater need for you to go," he replied,
handing the scroll to me. "I'll stay here until you come back."
"Okay," I said quietly. "Excuse me, Mr. Grarrl?"
I asked.
"Dontu," he said. "Call me Dontu."
"Okay, then, Dontu. I'm Li. And we need to get
out of here--fast."
He leaned over so that I could climb onto his
back. I waved to Brucey and Osiri. "Bye! I'll be back before you know it!" And
we were off.
To be continued... | 
