Saving Sakhmet: Part Two

by princess_zelda38

We had invited Scarab to have some lunch before we left for the Lost Desert, and we were having a delicious one, too. I had gone shopping and bought some exotic food for Scarab to try. I had gotten some Sausage Omelet, some Pumpkin Cookies, a Sour Lemon Slushie, and a Grape Snowpuff. Scarab liked it all.

"So what is next, Scarab," said Bryte.

"Next we must fly to the Lost Desert in an airplane. It is too far to walk, I ran as fast as I could, and it still took me a week."

"Who will take us, though? I don't know of any fliers who could make that journey," I commented.

"Unfortunately, I do," said Hiteru with a frown.

I understood why Hiteru had not been to willing to tell us about his "friend" from before his pound days. His "friend", Hampshire, was an old Bruce.

"So, ya'll wants to go thu' Lost Dessert, huh?" He followed this with chewing on some gum and spitting.

"Weeell (spit) I've never a heard of (spit) this Lost Dessert place…'Tis it in a Faerieland?"

"Lost Desert," said Hiteru tersely.

"Weeell," said the Bruce, wiping the spit off his green fur, "I guess, but, er, how many Neopoints will ya give me? How 'bout 500?"

Surprised at the cheap price, I paid 500 of my NP. I realized the price was right when I saw Hampshire's rickety old plane. I stared in horror at the dusty wings, broken propellor and faded seats. It was also missing one landing wheel.

"Gotten me through ev'rythin', yup, she has. Sturdy as a rock!" Hampshire then slapped the plane and it let out a slow croak.

I looked at Scarab, but he shrugged and crawled in. Bryte sat next to him and finally I walked aboard. Hiteru, Ari, and Tide looked doubtful, but they crawled in. We had left Arabeth and Pythara to look after the house.

"Here a we go! Shouted Hampshire. The plane gave a cough and started to rise. I gulped.

The rickety plane cruised along with a series of bumps and thumps. "Now passing Faerieland! Lets land and get some Fruity Faerie Fingers!" Hampshire began to turn the plane down, but a wing piece fell off.

Just then the Dark Faerie appeared. "You have like so ruined my MOST EXPENSIVE PLUSHIE! I HAD TO BE CAUGHT TWENTY TIMES TO GET THAT!!!!!" The Dark Faerie (none too happy) slapped our plane and disappeared. The plane sputtered and died.

As we started to fall, Hampshire was talking, "Weeell, she's a never been a up against a Faerie, maybe I should a stay clear of them fro' now on!"

I grabbed Hampshire, Hiteru, Tide, Bryte, and Scarab and jumped on Aristothonea. She gave an indignant snort but landed us decently.

"Weeell guess I can't a help ya now. Bye!"

"Wait! Come back! I want a refund!" I shouted, but Hampshire was gone. Grumbling, we went into the Faerie Food Shop. An old Kougra wandered in. She looked very hungry.

"Let's help her," said all the pets at once. I pulled out the last of my money and bought a bowl of Fruity Faerie Fingers and Dip.

I went up to her and said, "Here." She understood and smiled gratefully, eating the food.

"You helped me in a time of need, I appreciate that, here." She handed me a dusty map, smiled and walked out. The shopkeeper said, "I think you will find that useful."

I opened the paper. It was blank - completely blank. Usually gifts in Faerieland were special, but it didn't matter. I was glad that I had helped the poor Kougra.

"Well, maybe we should go to the Faerie Palace and see if the Faerie Queen can help us," said Bryte. The shopkeeper gave us some Faerie ice cream and we all left.

"I got Golden Faerie Queen Choco - Chip!" shouted Ari.

"I got Chia's Chunkalicious Fudge!" yelled Hiteru.

"I got Techo Master's Wave Watermelon!" cried Tide.

"I got Super Snowman Meltdown Mayhem!" exclaimed Bryte.

"I got Scarab Scream Surprise!" shouted Scarab.

We all looked at the bugs crawling over Scarab's ice cream and said, "Eeeeew…"

As for me, I had gotten my favourite, Terrible Tuskaninny's Revenge. We sat down on a Faerie bench and waited until we had finished our ice cream, then we went in.

There were great, cascading pillars that rose to the ceiling and seemed to touch the sky. Faerie children ran rampant in the halls, but still, the rug with a picture telling of the battle in space between Sloth and the Space Faerie was as clean as anything.

The Faerie Queen turned to face us and I almost gasped. The Faerie's face was full of contradictions. There was compassion, but there was also a harshness needed by the Faerie Queen. She seemed at one minute to know everything, and at another completely lost. I could tell all the pets felt the same.

As if knowing what we were going to ask, she said, "You have what you need to find the map's secret."

We all left, confused, except for Scarab, who seemed to be thinking, I didn't know what he was thinking though.

"That's it!" yelled Scarab. He pulled out a vial of the Lost Desert sand and sprinkled it on the map, rubbing it in.

The map twisted and places, and names appeared on it. As it continued to change, Tide's face grew wide with surprise, and he said what we were thinking.

"It's a map of the way to the Lost Desert!"

To be continued...