Still thwarting Sloth's mind control... Circulation: 169,514,957 Issue: 284 | 23rd day of Running, Y9
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Guardian: Part One


by kaylamdal111112

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Special thanks to tiki444405 for letting me use her neopet Nicolestar1234567890 in my story.

~Sequel to Flame of Ice: The Story of a Warrior~

Part One: Prologue

A camouflage Zafara sat before a group of children, narrating a story. “Then, Sam and Sage together used the powers of the coins and the Sword of Ice and Flame to defeat the Creature, and froze him in ice,” he was saying. “Then, the whole cave collapsed. Sam, Sage, the three Ice Neopets, and the Guardian who was set free just barely made it out before the ice crumbled on top of them.” There were startled gasps from the children, and some of their eyes widened. The Zafara smiled and continued. “Then, the Eyrie Phoenix flew Sam home on his back; right back here. Then, Sam finally found his inner warrior, and he and Sage were made the Guardians of the Bands. And so, their quest was finally over.” The children applauded, and some shouted excitedly.

      Then came a female voice from another room. “Rionex!” the voice called. Out of the room came a Fire Shoyru. A blue bandana was tied around her neck, and a gold band was on her wrist.

      The Zafara chuckled. “And here’s one of our Guardians now!” he told the children. “So, Sage, what’s happening?”

      Sage laughed. “Dac, you’re not a teenager anymore.”

      Dac just crossed his arms and smiled grimly. “Yeah, but I’m not an old man yet, either, unless you’re an old women.”

      Sage shook her head, as if to shake off the thought. Then, she asked, “Dac, have you seen Rionex?” Dac nodded his head out the door in the direction of the beach. Sage went over to the door and looked out. There, a baby green Shoyru was looking at a Buzzer as it flew around her head. “Ah, always getting into trouble,” Sage said affectionately. Without another word, Sage walked out the door and towards the baby Shoyru.

      When Rionex saw Sage walk over to her, she said excitedly, “Mummy, Mummy!” As Sage knelt down beside her, Rionex pointed at the Buzzer and said, “Buggy.”

      Sage laughed and hugged Rionex gently. Dac came out and stood beside Sage. Then, the water rippled, and out exploded a Maraquan Gelert. Like Sage, he had a blue bandana tied around his neck and a gold band on his wrist. At his side, he wore a sword that was long and shaped like a flame, but was icy blue. As his paws hit the soft sand, Rionex cried excitedly, “Daddy, Daddy!” Sage let her go as Rionex ran to her father.

      The Gelert’s eyes shone as he laughed. “Hello, Rionex,” he said to her. He looked up and smiled at Dac and Sage.

      Sage walked over to him. “It’s nice not to be fighting for once,” she told him quietly.

      “Sam and Sage, sitting in a tree!” Dac called from behind them.

      “Dac, you seem to keep forgetting that you’re not a teenager!” Sage shouted to him.

      “Where have you been these past few years?” Sam asked Sage, which drew a laugh from all of them.

      Sam and Sage hugged each other tightly, and then they both turned their attention to Rionex. Rionex flapped her wings excitedly. Her orange hair swirled when her wings flapped. “I see Ry has been doing well,” Sam observed, looking at Rionex.

      Sage laughed. “Yes, she has. She also seems to have gotten her father’s adventurous side.”

      “I’m not the only one with an adventurous side.”

      Rionex watched them for a time, but soon got bored with it, and turned her attention to the vast woodland borders. She crawled over a ways before a Pawkeet flew down in front of her. She stared at it in wonder, a broad smile spreading across her face. The Pawkeet fluttered around her for a bit, as she laughed happily. Then, the Pawkeet flew off, back into the forest.

      Sage and Sam both laughed, then they went over to their daughter, who was excitedly flapping her wings and wagging her tail.

      ~*~

      However, their life would soon be disrupted when the Creature was once again set free.

      A young blue Lupe bounded playfully through the snow of Terror Mountain. She was having so much fun that she didn’t pay much attention to where she was going. Soon, she found herself in an area of Terror Mountain that she had never known before. There was large ice chunks and snow piled up, and there seemed to be a collapsed door under the pile. The Lupe went over to sniff it. “I wonder what’s under there?” she asked herself. Carefully, she started to pull away the ice chunks and remnants of the door.

      As she pulled away one piece of the door, she noticed that there were two holes in it. Uninterested, she threw it aside. Under it was a tunnel. Carefully, she crawled into the tunnel. The tunnel was unblocked, except for an occasional piece of ice here and there. Excited, the Lupe bounded down the tunnel, careful to dodge the ice blocks.

      At the end of the tunnel, there was a large wall of ice and rock, blocking what lay on the other side. The Lupe snorted and, unfaltering, she pulled away chunks of ice and rock at the top and rolled them down the side. Soon, there was a big enough hole at the top for her to squeeze through.

      On the other side, she saw a hole in the icy floor untouched, it seemed, for centuries. The Lupe bounded to the hole and jumped down. It turned out to be an icy tunnel. The young Lupe slide all the way down until she reached a pile of snow at the bottom. Her head popped out of the snow as she heard to voices talking.

      “The original cavern wasn’t blocked very well,” said the first voice, a strong male one.

      “I know,” came the second, this one less strong, but still male. “How that cavern didn’t fall when Sam trapped the Creature, I’ll never know. Maybe, there’s more to the riddle on the back of the coins...”

      “More?” the first voice asked. “Wouldn’t the Warrior Shaman have told us if there was more? She was the one who created the coins, after all. Just like she created the bands.”

      “True,” the second voice replied. “But, I don’t think she intended the riddle to come true. I think that maybe things just happened that way, and the riddle was just an excuse for hints.”

      “Now you’re arguing the point that you just made!” exclaimed the first voice. “What are you thinking about, Veral? Why are you fighting so much?”

      The young Lupe looked over to where the voices were coming from. There, she saw a Maraquan Gelert and a Maraquan Draik. The Draik, Veral, hung his head. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” he said. “When you and I were made the Guardians of the Coins, I felt it was such an honor. Now, I feel it as a burden. I know that if the coins get into the wrong hands, it could cause utter chaos.”

      The Gelert looked over at Veral. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.” Then, smiling, he added, “You know what? I think the Warrior Shaman put the riddle there just as a sign of hope, in case the creature ever did escape again. A sign that he could be defeated.”

      Curious, the Lupe pulled herself out of the snow pile. She bounded forward, impatient to find out. In her haste, she slipped on the ice. She slid forward into the unsuspecting Draik and Gelert. They were knocked down, and two silver coins flew from their grasp. The two coins landed on a large piece of ice in a frozen pool of water. The coins glowed yellow, and the ice changed into an eerie green. It turned into to green, slimy liquid and slid off the figure of a giant mutant Jetsam. As the slime came off, the two coins fell into his claws. His eyes burst open, showing in an eerie shade of yellow. Slowly, his lips parted to reveal deadly sharp fangs.

      Strong arms grabbed the Lupe. “What have you done?” cried the voice of Veral.

      The Jetsam looked over at Veral, the Gelert, and the Lupe before grinning evilly. “You two have caused me a lot of trouble,” he said, “but, now I have the coins, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

      Veral let go of the Lupe and walked towards the Jetsam. “Not quite,” he said. “You see, two golden bands were formed by the Warrior Shaman. Just one of them is more powerful than both of the coins put together.”

      The Jetsam hissed. “Silence!” he cried. Using both coins, he made green slime form over Veral, which turned into hard and sturdy glass. The Gelert growled fiercely, and reached for his side, where a sword would have been. Then, he remembered he was no longer in possession of the Sword of Ice and Flame; it was now Sam’s sword. The Jetsam smirked and said, “Oh, no weapon, huh? Well, too bad!” He once again used both coins to create green slime, and formed it around the Gelert. Like the slime that had formed around Veral, it turned into hard and sturdy glass.

      The Jetsam laughed evilly. Then, he looked down at the Lupe, who was cowering in a corner. “Who... who are you?” she stammered.

      “Why, I’m what most know as ‘the Creature.’ And, I must thank you for setting me free from that prison. What’s your name?”

      “Nicole.” Then, Nicole asked, “Why’d you cover those two in slime?”

      “Why, they are evil neopets,” the Creature lied. “They helped freeze me in ice, so that they could take over Neopia.”

      “Really?”

      The Creature nodded.

      “Wow. Does that mean you’re a hero?”

      The Creature grimaced, but nodded. “However, there are more. Now, my question is, do you wish to become a hero, too, and help me stop these evil neopets?”

      Nicole nodded excitedly. “Yes, I’d love to!”

      The Creature grinned evilly. “I hoped you’d say that.” Then, a silver glow emerged from the coins and engulfed Nicole. All that could be heard throughout the cave was the Creature’s evil laugh.

      ~*~

      An evil laugh rang out over the water. Sam and Sage both lifted their heads at that familiar laugh. “Sam,” Sage said, “do you think the Creature was set free again?”

      Sam nodded. Then, as if on cue, a giant head popped out of the water, followed by massive claws and tentacles. The Creature laughed and said, “Hello again, Sage and Sam. I here you’ve obtained some new magic items. I’ll be taking those now. Otherwise, how will I take over Neopia?”

      Sam drew the Sword of Ice and Flame and faced the Creature. From behind the Creature came a fearsome looking blue Lupe, her eyes blazing with anger. The Creature laughed and said, “Meet Darkstar, my new apprentice. Darkstar, will you introduce yourself to these ‘warriors’?” Darkstar growled and jumped upon Sam. Sam slashed her away, but green slime was left on his arm. Quickly, it started to spread from there. He pulled off his gold band, and handed it to Sage. “Sage,” he said, “take the bands and Rionex, and fly away from here!”

      “Sam, I won’t leave you!” Sage cried.

      “Just do it!” exclaimed Sam. “If you don’t, the Creature could get both of the bands, along with you and Rionex. Please, Sage!”

      Sage hesitated, but grabbed the band that Sam handed her. Then, she scooped up Rionex and flew into the air. Tears streamed down her face as she flew away, and Sam was covered in the slime. “Daddy?” Rionex asked. “Daddy!” Small tears came from Rionex’s eyes. Little did anyone know, Rionex’s role in the battle against the Creature would be great.

To be continued...

 
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