The Korbat from Krawk Island

Nobody knew his name, mainly because nobody would dare to ask...

The Korbat walked into the classroom, a red bandana tied around his head. He had the appearance of a Pirate, as he was painted so. The row of fangs that protruded out of his mouth was wooden and he was wearing only an unzipped vest and a wide pair of sweatpants. One of his large ears was chipped at one part and the other had a golden ring in it. Thankfully, his legs were both made from flesh and not wood, and he carried no sword or dagger.

      "Class," said Miss Candy, an Island Kacheek that was teaching their fifth grade class. "We have a new student joining us today. His name..."

      She stopped there and looked down at the new student. He stared back at her with a mindless stare, his left pupil rapidly shrinking and growing and saliva dripping out of his mouth. "Umm..."

      "Yarr!" he said, in a heavy pirate accent. Without being assigned a seat, he walked through the narrow space between the wooden desks until he stopped in front of Feo's desk, which was directly northeast from Rey's.

     Feo was an extremely sassy Desert Aisha. She had been only a plain Yellow Aisha when Rey befriended her, but during summer vacation her owner won the lottery. She came back with the most stylish clothing and a bursting make-up box, though she rejected popularity to hang out with Rey. Feo, however, still acted bratty and gave Memi, a Yellow Lutari and the most popular girl in their entire school, a run for her money when it came to behavioral issues.

      The Pirate Korbat looked at Feo, his eyes now beginning to cross. The Aisha was in the middle of doing her nails, a regular classroom routine, with a file and only looked up when she realized that the entire room was quiet and looking at her.

      "What, have I grown too beautiful?" she said, looking around. Then she saw the Pirate Korbat looking at her.

      "You're purdy!" he said, his voice cracking.

      It took her less than half a second to respond. "Ew, gross!" she said, spluttering. Feo got out a bottle of pepper-spray and got him right in the eyes. He only blinked and drooled once more, so, trying to prevent the waves of gossip that would come, she pulled out her blush and slammed it right across his face. He went flying into the air, opening his wings so that he would not crash right on to the ground.

      In front of me and to the left of her, their other friend, Suki the Jelly Quiggle, laughed. He was a very easygoing person and didn't seem to mind hanging with girls all of the time.

      "Now, Feo, that is enough!" said Miss Candy. "I'm sure that even though he is an extremely ugly being and most likely has no potential for anything, there is most likely something good in him!"

     At this point, the Pirate Korbat spat a glob of spit right over another student's head. It landed on the ground with a big splat and it turned out to be a piece of tar. "Err... deep, deep inside of him," stammered the teacher once again.

      The Pirate Korbat, apparently not hearing anything that anybody was saying, then found a seat that was empty and, instead of sitting on it, turned it around and hung upside down from the top of it.

      The lesson then continued. Ignoring everything that Miss Candy was teaching about the philosophy of ancient Maraquans, Rey leaned her Baby Usul form over her desk to join the conversation that Suki and Feo were having.

      "I think he's a witch in disguise!" said Suki in a low whisper. "Just look at him!"

      "The less I do of that, the better!" replied Feo, throwing the blush she had slapped him with into the rubbish bin. "What a shame; I actually liked that shade..."

      "Why not give him a chance, you guys?" Rey said. "He can't be all that bad."

      "Are you kidding me, Rey? He just totally ruined my social career in front of the entire class. I may never eat another lunch at this school again!" Feo said dramatically, now taking out another shade of blush which was the exact same colour that she had just thrown out. "Everybody's going to look at me like I'm a-"

      "Feo! Suki! Rey!" Miss Candy said, slapping a yardstick on to each of their desks as she yelled their names. "Are you paying attention?"

      "Yes, ma'am!" they all said in unison, their faces beginning to glow red (or, in Feo's blush-covered case, yellow).

      "Good! Now pay attention! You will have a very important pop quiz on this material next week!" she said, throwing the yardstick back on to the roof above their desks.

      After she had her back turned to the blackboard once more, Suki quickly opened his notebook and began to copy down all the notes he had missed from the person sitting to the other side of him. Meanwhile, Feo and Rey continued to converse.

      "I want to know where that creep came from! Why is he so weird?" Feo demanded, though Rey could not reply as she didn't know. "There's something very awry with that kid, and I want to find out..."

      "Do you want me to come with you?" Rey offered. Rey had found that the more help and reassurance Feo got in her times of desperation, the more quickly she calmed down.

      "Yes! I need someone with an actual IQ count to come with me," Feo replied. "We'll follow him back home after school..."

      She took a pencil with a small mirror attached to the end of it and poked Suki with it. He did not turn around and seemed to ignore her, concentrating on what Miss Candy was saying at the front of the class. Feo then used a renewed force and poked him repeatedly until the pencil ended up getting stuck inside of his stomach. Finally, he put down the MSPP Pen he was using and turned around.

      "What do you want?" he hissed, keeping one eye looking to the front.

      "We're going to follow that new kid around and see why he's such a freakazoid!" Feo said, her voice rising higher and louder. "Come with?" At that moment, they heard a sound from the back of the classroom and they all turned to look at the Pirate Korbat. He was still hanging upside down, though he was asleep and his mouth was open, drooling all over his face.

      "Doesn't seem like anything's off with me," Suki joked, now picking up his pen to write again. "Alright, alright, I'll come with you guys..." he said, shrinking after a threatening look from Feo.

      "This is it!" Miss Candy was there once again. "If you make one more peep until this class is over-"

      At that precise moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of school. The Kacheek Teacher was nearly trampled as all of the students rushed out of the door like a herd of wild wildebeests crossing a river.

      "Saved by the bell!" Suki laughed, picking up his notebook and pen as they were swept out of the classroom.

      After everybody including Miss Candy had left, the Pirate Korbat awoke from his slumber, his eyes glinting red. He wiped the drool off his face and took off his wooden fang-guard, revealing a row of shiny but sharp teeth. The Korbat spread his wings and flew out of the open window in a whoosh of air.

     ***

     "Can't vengeance come after dinner?" Suki groaned, his stomach rumbling. He, Feo, and Rey were sitting at the base of a large tree right next to the sidewalk.

      "Vengeance is a dish best served as soon as possible," said Feo, pulling out an apple from her make-up kit. "Here, eat this."

      As Suki took the fruit, Rey noticed a dark shape fly out of the window of their classroom. "Guys, look! It's him!" Rey said excitedly, pointing up at the sky.

      The other two looked up. "Quick! Follow him!" Feo screamed, pointing up at the sky. As Suki and Rey started running as fast as they could, their Aisha friend pulled out a collapsible scooter from behind the tree and unfolded it. Stepping on a Virtupets-V where the brakes should have been, it let out a gigantic puff of smoke and, with a stream of fire from the tailpipe, she blasted off into the same direction in dead pursuit of the flying figure in the sky.

      "Hey, wait for us!" Rey yelled, panting. Suki finished the apple and threw what was left of it into a garbage can. Using energy he just received from the food, he took her by the hand, rolled into fetal position, and started bouncing through the streets, following the fiery scooter.

      Soon, both scooter and bouncing Quiggle stopped in front of a wooden Neohome made in the likeness of a pirate ship. "I saw him land here and go inside," Feo explained, folding her scooter and putting it on the edge of the charred grass in front of the house.

      "Let's try going around it into the backyard," said Suki. "There might be some portholes or windows we can look through..."

      Being as unobtrusive as possible, they crept around the rickety Neohome and into the backyard. The only thing there was a shed (or was it an outhouse?) and a few broken toys.

      "Guys, I'm scared..." said Suki, turning around to go back. However, before he could, vines grew out of the ground and twisted around each of their bodies, preventing them from escaping.

      "What's going on?" Feo screamed.

      "I told you he was a witch!" Suki yelled back, struggling to pull himself free while not decapitating his jelly form.

      "Guys, we're getting pulled to that shed or possible outhouse-"

      Before Rey could finish, a separate set of vines sprouted from the ground and opened the door, revealing what looked like a twister of darkness embedded into the ground. One by one, the vines each threw them into it before they retreated back into the soil.

      After what felt like only a few seconds, they were on a large piece of green jelly.

      Without Suki.

      "Suki?" Rey screamed, looking around frantically. Feo did the same thing, though she remained silent in her panic (for once).

      "I'm down here," came a muffled voice from underneath them. Looking into the jelly, they found the shape of a Red Quiggle stuck in the very center.

      Overjoyed, Rey yelled, "Suki! How did you get there?"

      "Who cares, we need to get him out!" Feo yelled at her, though she was only a few inches away. "We're coming, Suki!"

      Taking out a mirror, she began scooping her way towards the pet. "What, this thing's gotta be, like, a gazillion calories!" she responded to Rey's bewildered stare.

      However, the Aisha's efforts were to no avail. Every time she scooped out a small bit of jelly, more of the lime-flavored dessert ended up taking its place.

      "It's no use!" Feo screamed, stating the obvious.

      "Just - just go on without me!" said Suki, one eye closed. "I'll - I'll alright!"

      "You sure?" Rey asked. He nodded, and Rey hesitantly replied, "Alright... come on Feo, let's go find that creep..."

      Feo and Rey climbed off of the jelly and observed their surroundings. They were in a dank hallway, lit only by torches fitted into brackets that were lined on the ceiling. A dusty, blood red carpet was on the ground that went in the direction of the only way the hallway led: forward.

      Tentatively, the two Neopets began walking down it. It seemed to go on forever, the blank, wooden walls, though featureless, mocking them as they emulated themselves many times. Finally, after about ten minutes, they could see a light ahead.

      "Let's go!" Rey said, beckoning to Feo. She raised her mirror like she would a sword and nodded.

      They walked the rest of the way and found themselves in a dark, stone, dome-shaped room. A single ray of sunshine shined in through the ceiling, casting a shadow over the silhouette of what looked like a Pirate Korbat.

      "You!" Feo screamed, running forward. When she got to the stream of sunlight, she angled her mirror so that the light bounced off of it and lit up the ugly Korbat.

      Rey screamed in surprise. Instead of his old poor-looking outfit, he now resembled a Halloween Korbat with a few pirate aspects to his appearance, though his pupils were still distorted.

      "Welcome, my dears," he said with his old pirate accent, though his voice was deeper. "I've been waiting for you here..."

      "What do you want with us?" screamed Feo. "How did you know we were going to come?"

      "Oh please, didn't you know that all vampire Pirate Korbats can still hear things in their sleep?" he said, laughing. And from the walls, his laughter was joined by a steady stream of laughter. "I heard you ranting about me in class, Feo. If you really feel that way about me..."

      "I do!" she screamed before anybody could do anything. "You - you creep!"

      "Very well, then," he said, a dark expression falling on his face. He clapped, and the sunlight went out, only to be replaced with a phosphorescent glow from the walls. "Family! This is why I did not go grocery shopping today..."

      Both Neopets did not listen to what he last said because, from the new light source, they could see that on every possible perch on the walls there was a Korbat that looked exactly like him: large fangs, creepy cape, diminished ear. And all of them looked very hungry.

      "R... r - run!" Rey screamed. Feo threw her mirror at the Pirate Korbat and ran back the other way towards the only exit. However, they discovered that it had been covered by a gigantic vampire Korbat that had been hanging over the doorway before.

      "We're done for now!" Feo screamed. She took out her make-up kit and quickly applied blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and lipstick to herself.

      "What are you doing?" Rey screamed as the Korbats advanced on them, forcing them to go to the center of the room where the beam of sunlight was before.

      "If I'm going to get eaten, I might as well do it beautifully!" she replied back. She took out a bottle of pepper spray and, mistaking it as perfume, nearly pressed the nozzle when it was right in front of her face.

      "Wait!" Rey said, grabbing her wrist. "That's not perfume, that's pepper-"

      Rey stopped in mid-sentence. An idea formed inside her brain. "Quick, read the ingredients of that thing!"

      "Alright, but I'm not sure how intelligence will help us now..." she said, turning the bottle over and looking at the label. Reading in dim light, she recited, "Essence of Cornupeppers, carbonated liquids, carbon dioxide, lost hopes, and garlic."

      "Garlic! That's it!" Rey screamed. Taking the pepper spray from her hand, she began to spray the closest vampire Pirate Korbats with it. They all turned away and fainted, only to be replaced by more.

      "You're a genius!" Feo exclaimed. She took out about half a dozen other bottles and, three in each hand, began spraying as many as she could.

      But, it was to no avail. There were just too many, and soon, each of the seven bottles was dropped on the floor, empty. The Korbats, pleased with their victory, prepared to begin their prolonged dinner.

      However, at that precise moment, a male voice called their names. "Feo! Rey! Where are you guys?"

      A giant thumping came from the hallway, and, though the giant vampire Pirate Korbat tried to stop the creature's advance, it pushed its way into the room, swallowing the vicious Neopet into its stomach.

      "Suki! You made it out!" Rey cried in happiness. Though he was now a gigantic jelly Quiggle with a huge belly in which a mirror pencil and vampire now resided, he was still their old, loveable friend.

      "Yep, I totally did!" he replied back, waving. "I just ate a bit of the jelly, and since I was jelly, I ended up replacing the jelly I just ate. I had to eat all of the jelly to get out, but at least I'm free!"

      "Yes you are," Feo said. "But if you don't free us, we're going to wind up like all of that jelly you just ate!"

      "Oh-" Suki replied, looking pompously at all of the Korbats that still surrounded the two female Neopets, though their attentions were now focused on the gigantic jelly thing that had just entered their liar. "Why didn't you say so from the first place?"

      He rushed forward and instantly consumed all of the vampire Pirate Korbats inside his stomach.

      "Thanks a lot, Suki!" said Feo. She rushed up to hug him, but found that since he was over twelve feet tall such a feat would be near impossible.

      "Don't mention it,' said Suki, smiling and waving. "Though, this does mean that I'll be this size forever..."

      "Oh, don't worry," Rey said in a reassuring voice. "Once everything digests, we can scoop all the excess jelly out of you. Now, come on, let's go home..."

     ***

      At school the next Monday, Suki was back to normal and they were all recounting their wondrous experience of the past week. However, before the school bell rang, in walked the Pirate Korbat, now looking like a normal Pirate Korbat.

      "Hello Suki, Feo, Rey," he said to each of them as he passed their desks, smiling.

      "What do you want, loser?" Feo snarled, giving him a look of disgust.

      "I just wanted to apologize for what happened last week," he said, oblivious to Feo's expression. "Those Korbats, they entranced me in their strange spell. I did not mean anything that happened. Suki, I thank you for consuming them when your belly was of gigantic proportions."

      "Don't mention it," he said, patting his now regular-sized stomach.

      "So, Korbat," Rey asked, as he took the seat behind Feo that was to the right of her, "What is your name?"

      "My name is-" But at that precise moment, Miss Candy walked in, carrying a large stack of papers.

      "Oh, no," said Suki, looking horrified. "Don't tell me it was today-"

      "Class, close all of your books and get out your pens and papers, as it's time for your test on the philosophy of ancient Maraquans!" Miss Candy seemed to squirm with delight as she moved down the rows, handing out papers to everyone.

      Since they did not take any notes or study at all during the weekend, Feo, Pirate Korbat, and Rey had no clue what to write on it except for their names. With this idea in mind, Rey leaned over and glanced at his test, searching for the name space.

      In it, he had written, "Seiji."

The End

Thanks to dubloon for letting me use sukiyosukiyo, frazeocity for letting me use fouraredone, and xx_bandgeek for letting me use Miss_Candy_Girl_7.