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Untitled Document
For a minute, nothing was moving, like before. Everything
was still frozen, like I was looking at a photograph. I looked at everything
in front of me. Mere civilians of the Lost Desert were fighting with whatever
they had against Mutant Grundo Commanders. I saw Neopians, most of which with
weapons I could identify, who would later receive trophies rewarding their work.
Are leb388 and Pegasusmon3 here? I wondered.
My owner and older sister would both be living in Neopia right now. No--they
wouldn't be here. Pegasus would only be month or two old now, far too young
to be battling, I thought.
The Rock Beast was massive and enormous--and
right in front of me. He was still on one leg, poised from whacking me. I could
get him.
I glanced at my watch. It wasn't ticking.
But then--
Bang! Everything was in motion again.
I only had one chance. I ran and plunged my sword into the Rock Beast's left
leg--the damaged one. The leg crumbled first. The Beast tried to lean its weight
back on the other leg, but it was too late. I caught it off guard, and it started
to wobble--toward me.
Suddenly, something jerked me to the left.
The Rock Beast fell with a BOOM!--and crumbled into dust and pebbles right where
I would have been standing.
I turned and saw who had dragged me to
safety. It was Brucey.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "That was some
hit. One in a million!"
I nodded. "I'm fine. I guess I just have
good reflexes. You too--thanks."
"It was nothing," he said meekly.
"I'm glad you're okay," Osiri said to
both of us.
Everyone started cheering for the defeat
of the Rock Beast. I was just happy to be still standing. None of the Mutant
Grundos were left, either. We had won--but there was just one thing to do.
"Brucey," I said, "Run and find Sloth--hurry.
I'll find Osiri's parents."
"Okay," he said, speeding off. "Bye, Li!"
Osiri and I dodged through the cloud of
dust and searched around--searched for two Desert Neopets in a mob of thousands.
Finally, Osiri spotted them.
"Mum! Dad!" Osiri shouted.
"Osiri! Li!" Akiona yelled back.
We ran up to them, and after a few seconds
we were together again.
"We were fighting," Takamet explained.
"Where were you two? We were so worried."
"Oh, just hanging around." I said. I looked
up to the tower in the palace where I last saw Sloth. I saw a flash, and decided
I'd better investigate. "I'll be right back," I said to the three of them.
Akiona nodded. "We'll be back in our tent--luckily
it wasn't destroyed."
I ran off in search of Brucey, and bumped
into him on his way out of the palace.
"Oiy! Hi Li! Guess what I found!" he showed
me his shiny lucky coin, shimmering like new in the Desert sun.
"Brucey!" two voices called. It was Capara
and Princess Fernypoo; they were normal again.
"I took down Sloth and got my coin back,"
Brucey said proudly. "And I destroyed his sceptre."
I smiled. I remembered that from the videoclip:
Brucey knocked Sloth over by surprise, the snake sceptre broke, and Brucey got
his coin back.
"Listen, Li--I'm headed back to Neopia,
and I was wondering. Well, you seem like a Neopian, even though you're dressed
like you live here in the Desert. Would you mind coming back to Neopia with
us?"
I considered. Neopia wouldn't be the same.
After all, there was nearly a year and a half's difference. "I think I'll stay
here for awhile," I said. "But thanks for asking."
"Okay," he said. "Well, thanks for everything."
"You're welcome--and thanks again," I
replied. "Bye."
"See ya, Li!" he shouted, running back
with Capara and Fernypoo.
I stood there for a moment, watching them
leave. Suddenly, Sloth stormed out. "Cheap sceptre," he muttered. "Ah well,
yes--on to the next civilization that needs destroying. Neopia will be mine!"
I stood still, and he didn't even see
me as he walked by. I almost felt sorry for the poor guy.
Then, I remembered that it was Sloth.
What goes around comes around.
So I walked back to Osiri's tent to say
goodbye. They and some neighbors were having a feast to celebrate their victory.
Osiri and her parents looked happy to see me, so I stayed for the celebration.
All that night we partied, and I got to eat Desert foods that weren't burned
for once. For awhile, everything seemed all right, so I decided to stay for
the night and then leave in the morning. I didn't realize how tired I was after
all that had happened during the day, and the day before, and I soon fell asleep.
Again in the morning, I woke up not knowing
where I was. But the memory quickly returned.
Osiri, Akiona, and Takamet were already
up. I had breakfast with them and told them what I'd waited so long to say.
"I'm going back."
All three looked shocked. "Going--going
where, Li?" Akiona asked.
"Back to Neopia. I belong there."
"No, you belong here, with us," Takamet
insisted. "You're Desert, aren't you?"
"Yes, but--well, sort of. You don't understand.
I've got to go back."
"Li--"
"Thanks for being so generous, and for your
hospitality. I'll miss you," I said, walking out.
"Li! Li!" I recognized the voice as Osiri's.
I didn't turn around, I just kept walking. "Li! Wait up!"
"Osiri, I have to go," I said, still walking.
"But Li!" she caught up with me. "Don't
you want to stay?"
I looked at her and shuffled my paw in
the sand. "Well, yeah--but I was born in Neopia, and I belong there. My family's
there, too, and my cousins and friends. It was really an accident that I came
here in the first place. I don't have a choice. I stayed here two days already--maybe
longer."
"But Li, you're a hero!"
"No, I'm not. That was an accident, too."
I looked at her. She looked just like I did when I was younger. All my courage,
my young innocence, my adventurous spirit. And when I got back to my time, she'd
be two years older than me, since I wasn't even born yet then. "Osiri, have
you ever tried pottery?"
"No," she said, confused.
"Well, you should try it. I'm sure you'd
be good at it." I smiled, and she smiled back.
"Okay," she replied slowly. "But will
I ever see you again?"
"Of course you will!" I said. "I'll come
and visit you. Okay?"
"All right then... bye."
"Bye, Osiri!" I said. I started walking
away, and I didn't stop until she was out of sight. She'd see me again, but
after she opened her shop, Osiri's Pottery. But I tried not to think about that.
I had a destination I wanted to reach: Coltzan's Shrine.
It was only a barren spot in the sand,
but I knew the place by heart. Soon it would be a shrine to honor Sahkmet's
greatest king, Coltzan. But now, it was simply my passport home.
I concentrated on the swirling mist, what
the shrine looked like, and whatever else I thought I could help me. Just
two days ago, I was back in my own time, I thought. Gradually, the mist
in my mind became mist around me. And I saw the ghost that would be Coltzan's
ghost.
"Are you ready to go back, Li?" he asked
me.
"Yep--ready as ever."
"Do you have any regrets?"
"No. But I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Well," I said. "Will anyone--I mean,
will Osiri, Brucey, and everyone else remember me?"
"No."
I didn't know what to think. "Will they
know that I was involved in this?"
"Nope, only you will."
"Okay, then..." I was sort of sad, but
I had already made up my mind, and nothing in Neopia would ever stop me from
going back. "I'm ready."
"All right, then," Coltzan said, with
a ghostly smile.
Suddenly, the mist began to die down,
and I saw the faintest shadow of the Shrine. I glanced at my watch. It was spinning
like mad--so fast that the hands of it looked like a grey blur. The shrine was
more and more visible, but Coltzan started to disappear. The sand beneath me
turned soft and green--into grass. And the shrine in front of me turned into
a NeoHome.
The watch stopped spinning out of control--and
started to regularly tick.
"Am I--home?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "But back here, it's been
about a month since you left."
That long? Everything was back to normal
now, so I guess it didn't matter. "Well, thanks for everything, Coltzan." I
paused. "Um... Coltzan?"
He was gone.
Great. I was going to have a long story
to tell leb388. I sighed and stepped up to the door. It was unlocked, but I
felt reluctant to enter. After all, I'd been gone for awhile. Leb388 must have
been worried sick. I knocked slowly and walked in.
"Who is it?" came a voice.
"Oh, leb388!" I exclaimed.
"Li!" she cried. She hugged me. "Where
were you? I had the Chia Police looking and everything; you've been gone for
weeks, and--" she looked at me, and all her anxiety seemed to melt away. "I
thought I'd lost you forever, or that you ran away--"
"I did," I said quietly.
"Why would you?" leb388 asked.
"Because of me." It was Lebmon. She walked
in. "It was because of me, leb388. I made fun of her. I felt so bad when we
couldn't find her, though--I was just upset about my petpage not being selected
to win again. Then I realized what was really important." She hugged me, with
her Striped Pteri wings. I never realized how beautiful she was, and all my
hate against her disappeared.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"No, I'm sorry," she replied.
"Well, I'm glad you're all right," leb388
said to me.
Boojah, my Selket, jumped up into my arms.
"Hi, Boojah. Leb388," I started, "do you really like me? I mean, you got me
all that burned food--"
"Oh, that! I've felt so guilty. I had
spent too much time playing games that night, and I was in such a hurry coming
home that I didn't really think. I grabbed what I could for food and headed
home."
"Oh--" I didn't consider that. So she
had always liked me!
"Come on! Pegasus and Conspicit will be
glad to see you."
We walked into Conspicit's bedroom, where
stacks and stacks of books lay, and Pegasus and Conspicit were reading. When
they saw us, they slammed their books shut and ran over to greet me.
"Li! You missed the Meridell war!" Pegasus
exclaimed.
I stopped. "The what?"
"You know, the war!" Conspicit exclaimed.
"Yeah," Lebmon added, "Pegasus fought
for Meridell, but we didn't win."
"What? Is there anything... left to fight
for?" I asked weakly.
"Nope, but there is a new rumor about
a Jelly World," Pegasus said proudly.
"But that's probably fake," Lebmon laughed.
"Besides, after you've seen the Meridell war, you can't imagine anything else!
The debates on whether or not to fight for Meridell, the high resell price of
Battledome items, and all these cool trophies--"
Great. I went through all that trouble
to see the Lost Desert plot in full action, and I go and miss the Meridell one.
"Where were you?" Conspicit asked.
"Oh... in the Lost Desert, most of the
time," I said. After all, it was true. They'd never believe what went on in
the Lost Desert, though, and I decided that it was best not to tell them.
"So... the plot's all done? And the war?"
I asked once more for good measure.
"Yep," Lebmon said.
There was just one last thing I had to
ask. "Are there any videoclips?"
"Yeah, a bunch," leb388 said, surprised.
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I just want to know what everything
was like." I paused, considering. "But maybe I'll have another chance to see
it as it came."
All four of them looked puzzled.
"Li, are you all right?" Pegasus asked.
"Of course I am!" I exclaimed. "Excuse
me, I just got a great idea for a story."
The End
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