Arlupeze's Test of Loyalty: Part Two

by Lupezgrl

When Arlupeze finally woke up, she was in an underground room. Her left shoulder hurt like awful, but she wasn't thinking of herself. "Where's Zoon? And _Nebula_?! And what about poor Lupines?!" She cried out at the patient Poogle who was treating her wounds.

"Oh dear," She said in a very motherlike tone, "I'm not sure, but if you mean a silly looking little ghost and a white Lupe and a fire Lupe, then they're all safe, bless their little hearts."

Arlupeze sank down into her bed, which was feeling very comfortable all of a sudden. "Oh......*yawn*.....well...well what was that big green thing...." she asked.

"Oh, you must mean the horrid Blast-o-ball. He's really harmless, unless he's red. Luckily, he was green, as I can tell from this acid. Yes, he is a very shy little Jubjub, turned into a mutant though, poor thing. Probably by that awful thing in these woods."

Just those few words snapped Arlupeze awake. "Woods? An awful, evil, thing in these woods?"

"Why yes, my little Lupe, it's what I think is a Sandouth, not an elder yet, but evil all the same. Why?"

"Oh, nothing in particular." She remembered something else, though. "What are these woods called?"

"Oh, just the Ranouchi Forest. May I please ask 'Why?' again?" But Arlupeze didn't hear her; after the word "forest" she had settled back down into a peaceful slumber.

***

The next morning, the three Lupes and Ghostkerchief sat down for breakfast with Patience, the kind old blue Poogle, to find out more about the forest. The needed to know all they could for their quest. Patience started. 'You see, a goddess named Laughrodite created this forest. She made happy NeoPets to live in here, to grow crops, to make law, and just to live in peace. However, to do this last wish, she had to make it so no evil could enter, only good, but at the same time so her pets could go and come as they pleased. So she made 'The Barrier'. I know what you're thinking. Well, this 'barrier' lets all good through, but no bad.

Unfortunately, 5000 years ago, an evil offspring of a Sloth came here. It looked nothing like Sloth, but it was called a sandouth. Those are very evil creatures, who eat their victims whole, and when you get to the stomach, there's acid - but we shall think of happy thoughts now, no? He found a way in, and could never leave. This was awful. So Laughrodite sent for the strongest Lupe of all, Pandora. She was a Lupe who held the sacred Lupe charm, very rare indeed, only 1 was made. She was half white, half black, because although she was pure good, she knew evil magic. She came here and fought off the evil Sloth, along with 2 other Lupes and a fireball. Sloth was defeated, and for 5,000 years our forest has been here, undiscovered and consisted of only good things.

"But last week, the evil Sandouth came back. He had not been defeated, only given more evil magic then before. He mutated all pets except for me and poor Link, my Lupe friend here. We believe that you four are the next Pandora and Company, and we wish for you to help us."

These four pets were stunned. They had no idea how big their quest was! They had to get started right away. When Arlupeze finally spoke, she spoke for all, "we will try our best, Patience, you have my word on that." With those 11 words, Arlupeze turned, said "Come on, boys, we have a forest to save," and walked towards the evil tower in the distance.

***

Lupines was in the lead. He kept sniffing the air, and whenever either Lupe asked what he was doing, the answer was a sharp "Nothing!" and they kept walking. Finally _Nebula asked, "All right pretty boy, where are we going?!" Lupines knew he could hide it no more, and pointed straight ahead. They looked up- right into the eye of the giant Sandouth.

To be continued...