Legends, Heroes and Brother Episode 4: A lot Goes Wrong

by Evil_lord

Beaches of Neopia (Near Mystery Island)

The comrades had been moving on for days now. Arguing mostly. Eating whatever they got in their mouths and sleeping underwater if need be. They were all beaten battered tired and starving it was all Shadad could do to keep his head up during his muscle bound plod. He had never lived like this before. Bustoph's wings had long since lost their energy. Now they flopped over his sides as be stumbled along as tired as Shadad. Then there was Thorbarro. The little silver Shoyru darted this way and that way and coaxed them on. He flew fancy tricks and flips. He was possibly the most annoying creature on Neopia.

"Behind annoying is my most endearing quality," he said. Sat on a tree as Shadad and Bustoph dropped dead under it.

"It's your most annoying quality," Shadad panted.

"Do not fight you two," Bustoph said. He barely opened his mouth as his head rested on the ground. Sweat soaking the fur only Shadad could see and dripping off his forelock. Shadad suffered most. His long Lupe fur was suffocating him. He didn't even understand why Bustoph was leading them this way. He was inclined to ask him but, "No questions asked."

The Shoyru stretched and curled up on the branch for an afternoon rest. He hardly ever slept at night. Preferring to stop Shadad and Bustoph's progress during the day. At least how Shadad saw it. He lay his head down on the ground. Today, in this heat, he could do with a rest as well. Bustoph was long settled into a peaceful sleep. Shadad stared forward for a moment. Blinking his silver eyes at the scorching air. Breathing the fiery oxygen in deeply and letting in burn back out his dry mouth. He was about to close his eyes when he heard a sound. A large sound. Like that of, a wave. He and Bustoph shot up straight away. Ears perked and eyes wide. Thorbarro fell out of the tree. Shadad took off in a dead run toward the source of the sound. Dirt and dust flying out from behind his huge feet. He had a grand stride that put his run even faster. Bustoph lopped up behind him a few seconds after. He was too tired to run but it was obvious he was thinking what Shadad was. Thorbarro sat up and shook his little head. He looked at Shadad and Bustoph and got a evil smirk on his face. He jumped up and shot ahead of both of them like a shot silver arrow. Shadad and Bustoph lost him over the hill drop of on the horizon quickly.

Wait, drop off......... Shadad and Bustoph jammed on their breaks the second they saw the Shoyru do what looked like going into the earth. Both their feet slid to a stop. They both looked over at the same time. A sickening 30 ft drop to the ground was in front of them. A dead drop.

No ledges, no paths, and one dying tree sticking out of the middle. Bustoph glanced his eye at Shadad who was looking straight at him, "Can you fly?" Shadad asked.

"Yes, but you can't."

"Never mind what I can do," Shadad said. Then he swung his head a round and, thwack, sent Bustoph off. The Uni spread his wings quickly and glided down to the beach. He looked back at the water and then up at Shadad.

"Mad Lupe!" Bustoph yelled at he saw Shadad slipping his back feet down to dig into the face of the drop. He was climbing down. He dug his front claws into the top of the drop until he had a firm footing. Then he began to descend even more. It appeared he knew what he was doing. The white Lupe clutched into the face with as much strength as possible. He felt the sweat poor down his face and around his muzzle. He felt his claws ache with the strain. He ignored it though. Ignored it and continued doing all he could to slowly get down. He closed his eyes with a sharp pain. A rock had made a slice in his calf. He pinned his ears back as flat against his head as possible and held the pain at bay. He sighed and continued his decent. A rock gave way from under his foot and he fell about 6 feet before getting another good grip. He saw a tree just below him and thought the roots would hold the ground together better. He found one and put his foot on it. The root gave way and another one attached to it came out and whipped Shadad in the face. He recoiled in pain which sent him back away from the mountain. He fell a good 10 feet before he grabbed on again.

Sliding 7 feet before stopping again, he jumped 5 feet to the ground. A cut just below his right eye bled as did he claws. Cuts on the pads of his feet made him long for water. For a moment he turned to Bustoph's stunned face. The Uni looked like he was about to yell the Lupes brain out the other side of his head.

All Shadad could do was shrug, "It's a lot easier with snow." Shadad lay his a hurt body in the soothing cold water. Lapping into his large white muzzle with a long pink tongue was the water he was longing for. Then he felt a little Shoyru jump on his back. He pulled his head up and looked at Thorbarro.

"Shadad! Shadad, come see what I found!" Shadad spit a mouth full of water at the Shoyru sending flying back into the water and then plodded out of the cool water. He saw Bustoph standing over something on the bank that was blue white and black? He walked over to Bustoph and looked down. A small drenched shadow Kougra lay there on his side. His small mouth hung open and it appeared that he was dead. Bustoph implied that this Kougra may not have been so lucky when the young Kougra coughed and began breathing forcibly. Shadad stared down at the small creature. The Kougra stumbled up to his feet and finally stopped coughing. The small creature opened it's little yellow eyes and fell back at the sight of Shadad. It put out it's little claws and leaned up against the cliff.

Hissing and growling at the white Lupe, Bustoph walked over and looked at Shadad, "Must have just got off the mystery island, Shadad. We are like monsters to the little critter. Probably doesn't even have a name other then unukputclicksnortburp or something."

"Luginarth," the Kougra said recoiling his claws. "Yes, this is my first time off the island. As well as an involuntary one."

He walked past Bustoph and Shadad and began examining the shoreline. "I got swept out by the sea in a recent rain storm brainy ack."

"Some lucky Kougra," Thorbarro said landing on Bustoph's horn.

Shadad walked up behind the Kougra, "you trying to figure a way to get back?"

"No, I am obsessed with dirt," the Kougra snarled.

Bustoph smirked as Shadad got a look on his face that appeared both confused and insulted. Then there was a cry from behind them. It was, to Shadad, apparent in a second that it was the cry of an infuriated Tatsu. Then he heard the familiar ( and all be it annoying) voice of the Tatsu's rider, Tate. The Kougra looked up, too late.

The Tatsu had flown by and rammed Shadad with his head. Shadad had missed its horns but was sent flying back into the little shadow Kougra.

"Look! Lia, there's another one!" Tate yelled above the roar of wings.

"Whoopee," Lia replied.

Thorbarro had flown into a crevasse in the cliff at the first sight if danger. Bustoph stood in his initial position looking reasonably unconcerned. Shadad had just pulled himself back to his feet when he heard a high howl that froze everyone still. There, up on the cliff stood two Lupes. One was stone, the other was simply black. A black Lupe, impossible right? Shadad thought so too. One of his eyes, his left one, was completely baby blue, while the other was completely black. Bustoph immediately understood that this was an optical disease that caused blindness. Shadad understood that he was in trouble. They both went down the cliff and hit with an enormous amount of power behind them. Strong legs.

Then, dust filling the air, like a cloud of smoke, the two Lupes walked out, eyes dead set on Shadad. Now, if you ask him today what went through his head, Thorbarro would probably say he didn't know and Bustoph would pipe up nothing, but the Shoyru took a dive straight at the stone Lupe and nailed him in the side...it must have been mach 3 speed.

Shadad jumped to his feet as the stone Lupe went flying into the water. Bustoph nodded his head. Feeling safe in his assumption that a stone Lupe, either way, probably wasn't good at swimming.

"Ci..ci...Cinnabar?" Tate stammered.

"Ye..ye.yes," the Lupe growled back in an annoyed tone. "We are annoyed with your incompetence Tate! Time and time again you fail to capture mere out laws! Why is it that I am not surprised that yet again, we show up and you're beating instead of working?"

"Hey," Shadad said slowly yet surely regaining his feet.

"Who do you think you are getting in the way. This is between me and him."

"And the Shoyru apparently," Cinnabar replied.

Again in his harsh growling voice that reeked of sarcasm. The next while is a blur in history and all the creatures minds. Cinnabar seemed to leap at Shadad in a mere moment. The two were growling and snapping. Barking and swiping at each other and rolling as the other attempted to wrap his teeth around his opponents neck. Now, Bustoph thought that this, Cinnabar, would have difficulties because of a lack of depth perception. However, the Lupe seemed just as on target with his swipes and leaps as Shadad. Then, the rock. A rock right behind Shadad's foot. As Cinnabar leapt at him Shadad took a step back and bashed his sliced calf on the rock. Shadad closed his eyes and fell onto his back. Cinnabar just in front of the injured Lupe Shadad knew it, this destruction crazed Lupe would have the end of him right now.

Then, BASH! A thousand splinters flew off behind the dark Lupe as he fell almost lifeless to the ground. There, behind Cinnabar, Luginarth stood on his haunches with the tree that had grown out of the face. It had fallen down with the stone Lupe When Luginarth was nearly knocked out he'd been close enough to the ground to find it. Shadad looked over to where Tate and his red Tatsu had been. They lay unconscious on the ground and Bustoph was walking away from them.

"Where's Thorbarro?" was Bustoph's immediate question.

"Over here," a little voice called from far away. A large man wearing a mask was holding the little Shoyru at arms length. He had dark skin and didn't look too happy.

"I found the island," he said, smiling meekly.

"He tried to steal half the merchandise in my shop," the large man boomed. He seemed to be speaking to the Kougra and ignoring everyone else. He dropped the Shoyru next to Luginarth.

That's when Thorbarro got a shifty look and a twinkle in his eye and whispered, " He brought me over on a boat. If we were to, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, BORROW it, we could get you back to the island."

Luginarth went to relay the plan to Bustoph who, he thought, could carry the injured Shadad to the boat. A minor nod from Bustoph left Shadad confused to the whole situation but he was in too much pain to care. Luginarth strolled easily back over to the man with Thorbarro on his shoulder while Bustoph hoisted Shadad up onto his back.

"I am very sorry sir, we," ZOOM! The little shadow Kougra darted right between the big man's legs and leapt into the boat. Bustoph had flown over the man and was sitting in the boat already. Luginarth tried frantically to find a way to start the boat. In the mean time, Thorbarro appeared to be trying to steal a rope from a big box the was attached to the boat. Something came out of it and was in the water. He wrapped his little silver claws around it and pulled hard. The string went out a bit and then pulled the little Shoyru back. He got a shifty little look in his eye again and began flapping his wings at turbo speed. The cord came right out and the motor boat shot across the water like a Lupe after a Chia.

"Wow Lugi," Thorbarro yelled, "you got the boat goin' good."

To be continued...