header

The Other Dimension: Part One

by twilight_lover

The little red creature scampered about the house, tumbling pots and pans and suchlike paraphernalia saying "ZEEEEeeeeeEEEeeee!" while she ran.

SweetheartZeeZee the Zafara, for that was her name, had a sweet smile for every creature, even for her surly companion Arrick the Gelert. She ran at a breakneck speed and was an utter nuisance when she put her mind to it. While she loved reading books like Arrick, she also liked running around, getting lost and making friends. Her fur was red in colour, and this gave her a very charming demeanor.

Arrick, on the other hand, was a cautious Gelert, currently certified a super genius by their owner's standards. He used rather long words when speaking and almost always had his nose in a book. His long ears twitching while he absorbed knowledge, he was now staring intently at the latest book, Algebra. His blue tail also twitched as he calculated x(4y-3x) - 4y(3x²).

"Stop all that racing around!" Arrick finally snapped. He was thoroughly irritated by this little rodent that often disturbed his reading. Why in Neopia did Ms. Twilight create her? SweetheartZeeZee was annoying and seemed brainless.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?" SweetheartZeeZee asked.

"I like running around. It's fun!"

"I'd rather be disowned than live with you," Arrick growled, putting his paws over his head.

"You don't mean that," SweetheartZeeZee said lightly. "Who else can pull you out of that stuffy mood you so often get into?"

"Ms. Twilight could," Arrick replied.

"Ms. Twilight wouldn't want to. She created you to satisfy that intelligent side of her that gets her high marks in Science Classes. She created me to balance out the sociable side of her."

"So exactly what is the objective of all this running about like a mad Grundo?" Arrick burst out. He immediately regretted his words, seeing the little tears drop from those wide blue eyes of his companion. Calling someone else a Grundo was about the worst thing to do, because a Grundo is the worst thing in Neopia.

SweetheartZeeZee pouted and scampered off.

Arrick sighed as he used his nose to close his book. He got up and followed the pet he shared the same owner with. It wasn't easy living with SweetheartZeeZee. They were utter opposites. Arrick wasn't sure at first whether SweetheartZeeZee was nothing more than a bad joke when Ms. Twilight first brought her home. The first thing the little Zafara had done was to scamper all over him, sniffing him and making him sneeze with her tail.

To each his own, Arrick thought as he got up on the balcony ledge with SweetheartZeeZee. "I'm sorry," He apologised.

Silence. Uh-oh, he thought. The silent treatment.

Suddenly, SweetheartZeeZee said, "Arrick, what's that?"

"What's what?" he asked.

"That," she replied, pointing at a shimmering oval in the park below the balcony. "It looks like a Light Faerie in front of a mirror."

"Well, you know Light Faeries don't like these parts," Arrick answered, curiosity also pricked. "You know, I remember a story Ms. Twilight used to tell me about alternate dimensions. D'you think that could be a doorway?"

"Why, I dare say so!" SweetheartZeeZee declared. "What are you waiting for, Arrick? Let's go in!!"

"ZeeZee wait!" Arrick called.

Too late. SweetheartZeeZee had already scampered down the ledges so quickly Arrick wasn't sure he had seen right and the next thing he knew, SweetheartZeeZee was at the shimmering oval smiling up at him, calling, "Come on, Arrick!"

Then she was gone.

Arrick very nearly shouted one of the low oaths Ms. Twilight always used whenever she was frustrated with either of them, braced himself and leapt down right into the shimmering oval.

****

Arrick found himself in a forest, sniffing the ground cautiously. He didn't like the smell of this place. It faintly reminded him of the Grundos that used to come by and steal Ms. Twilight's food. That was the time Dr. Sloth had tried to destroy Neopia. He was gone now.

"ZeeZee?" he called softly. "Zee?"

There was a slight shuffling in the bushes close by.

"ZeeZee? Zee, answer me."

No reply.

"ZeeZee!"

SweetheartZeeZee finally poked her head out of the bushes, eyes wide and fearful. "Where are we, Arrick?"

Without hesitation, he replied, "In another dimension."

SweetheartZeeZee whimpered and crept over to hide under Arrick. "This place is scary, Arrick."

Arrick looked behind him. No shimmering oval. He, too, began to feel a bit nervous.

"The oval's gone, Arrick! How are we gonna get back?" SweetheartZeeZee had to point out the obvious.

"I have two eyes like you, ZeeZee. Of course I can see that."

There was a sound from up ahead.

"Arrick!" SweetheartZeeZee gasped. "Did you hear that?"

"Grundos," Arrick said grimly. "This must be a dimension where Dr. Sloth must have taken over Neopia."

"I don't like Dr. Sloth, Arrick."

Arrick shrugged. "Who does?" he asked, trying to make her feel better.

"HAR!" a harsh voice boomed from right behind them and a great light shone on them.

Arrick yelped and SweetheartZeeZee shrieked in fright.

"Don't let them get away!" a horrible voice shouted.

The two NeoPets began to run. "Run, ZeeZee!" Arrick shouted. "Use your speed!"

"What about you?" SweetheartZeeZee shouted back. "I'll keep them off, then catch up with you!"

SweetheartZeeZee looked back incredulously.

"GO! GO NOW!"

She didn't look back as she ran and ran without stopping. Her heart beating so quickly she was sure it was up to a thousand beats per second she ran until she finally bumped into something hard.

"EEK!" she screamed, terrified that it would be the last of her. She had visions of herself mutated the way Dr. Sloth had done to the unlucky Zafaras that were caught by him.

There was a replying yell and she fell backwards.

"Oh, my lordy, lordy, lordy me!" a twangy voice mumbled. "Whut have we git ourselves into now?"

SweetheartZeeZee got up to see a small encampment. A blue Zafara was rubbing his forehead where he and she had crashed together. There were other NeoPets about, and they all came out curiously from their hiding places to see what had happened.

"My, my, my! Ain't seen not one fully non-mutated NeoPet around here before, no!" the blue Zafara said, finally getting up.

SweetheartZeeZee gasped when she saw his face. He had one computerized glass eye and the other eye had a red optic lens over it. His teeth protruded from his mouth and his skin looked leathery and scaly. The small spikes on his back, characteristic of all Zafaras, were metal and in the shadow of the forest, seemed to emit evil looking electric charges.

"Now, see here missy, I ain't whut you tink," the blue Zafara said, backing away cautiously. "We all ain'ts, for dat matter."

"What happened to you?" SweetheartZeeZee cried. "Yoo mean - whaaat didn't - haaappen to - to usss!" a Korbat screeched from his perch in a nearby tree. His wings were made of metal plats and instead of ears, he had antennae that blinked with a blue light every few seconds. "All - all - all mutated! Mutated halfway! Until we're so - so - so ugly!"

"Pardon Jekers, missy," the blue Zafara apologised. "He gits very emotional every now and then."

"Who are you?" SweetheartZeeZee asked, a knot of fear rising in her throat. "Why are you all like this?"

"We be all called changelings, missy," he replied. "Half mutated but still got our minds in our heads. Ain't all o' us got turned evil, and with our hopes, ain't all o' us gonna at all. M'name's Zeb, by the way, missy. And whut be a cute, fully non-mutated NeoPet like you be doin' here in the Woods o' Despair?"

"'Woods Of Despair'?"

"That's whut it be called now, ain't it?" Zeb asked, cocking his head quizzically.

"I… I don't know. I don't come from around here."

"Then where do you come from?"

SweetheartZeeZee shrugged weakly. "There was a shimmering oval, so me and my fellow pet went through it, and came here."

"You mean… that's whut it did?"

SweetheartZeeZee didn't reply. She was exhausted and frightened from all this. She fainted right on the spot.