The Lost Fuzzle: Part Two

      The minutes crawled by like hours, and finally I saw a boat sailing alongside ours. I leapt up at the opportunity. “Garin, look, a boat! Let’s stop and ask for directions!”

      Garin’s face turned grim with defiance. “No. We can find our way there on our own.”

      “Garin, we’re hopelessly lost; admit you’re wrong for once,” I said, annoyed.

      “No,” he repeated.

      “What is it with men and asking for directions?” I asked rhetorically, outraged by his stubbornness. “I’m going to ask,” I added, knowing he wouldn’t answer the question. He looked like he wanted to stop me, but he stood still as a statue.

      “Excuse me, sir?” I called to the boat. The captain looked over toward me. He was friendly but old looking, a pirate Kougra with frayed robes and graying hair. His eyes were golden and sparkling, full of laughter and kindness.

      “How can I help ye, lass?” he asked in a gruff voice, the typical voice of a pirate his age.

      “We’re looking for Krawk Island; could you point us in the right direction, please?” I asked as politely as I could.

      A huge smile spread across the pirate’s face, displaying startling white teeth. “Oh, ye can just follow me. I be going in that direction!”

      My spirits soared. “Great, thank you!” I said. The pirate tipped his hat. I turned to Garin with a smug smile. “See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” His reaction startled me. He looked at me and actually smiled. More like a flicker of a grin, but nonetheless.

      We trailed alongside the old Kougra, and soon we had docked. Krawk Island looked surprisingly vacant, with only a few Neopets streaming by. Still, I took Ally’s hand to make sure she wouldn’t wander off. Even with a few people, she could still get lost.

      “We should go to the Golden Dubloon first,” Garin said.

      “Why, so you can eat?” I asked skeptically.

      Garin grinned. “No, I just got a feeling in my gut,” he said, sounding rather earnest.

      Yeah, hunger, I thought silently but not aloud. Might as well go.

      I made my way to the front. An intimidating blue Lupe stood in the front, guarding the door. With a small gulp, I spoke up, my voice barely a squeak. “Excuse me, sir, may we go in?” I asked.

      The Lupe looked down. “Got any dubloons?” he asked in a husky voice.

      He made me feel poor. “No, sir, but-”

      “Then no,” he said simply.

      “But sir, this is import-”

      “I SAID NO!” he roared. “DON’T TALK BACK TO ME.”

      Horrified, I bit my lip and ran to hide behind Jacques. Hiding behind Garin would make me feel pathetic.

      There was a small flash of anger in Garin’s eyes. He stepped forward determinedly. In a flash, he pulled out some silver coins from his pocket. There looked to be about 10. “This should cover it,” he said, pushing them into the Lupe’s paws. “The Aisha, the Kyrii, and the baby are with me.”

      I scowled. When was he going to learn to stop treating me like a baby? What did I have to do to prove to him I wasn’t? Alas, I gripped Ally’s paw tighter and followed Garin inside.

      No wonder outside was so vacant. Everyone was crowded inside. The inside smelled chokingly of different aromas; salad, pizza, grog, anything you could think of was floating around in there. I scanned the room. A green Chomby, a family of Jubjubs, a girl with wavy brown hair, a Koi... Wait. A girl with wavy brown hair?

      I stepped forward, and everyone followed me. When I reached the girl I found she was in conversation with Loretta Fontaine, a beautiful green Aisha with wavy flaming red hair. I tapped the girl’s shoulder, and she turned around. Both our faces dropped in shock.

      “Chili?”

      “Anna?”

      “Oh my gosh!”

      Anna gave me a huge hug. In case you’re wondering who Anna is, she’s my owner and best friend. She’s been my owner for over two years. She created me, trained me, fed me, and everything.

      She let me go, and I jumped as something furry brushed against my leg. Something furry. Orange with black stripes.

      “Fang!” I said, picking up the little bundle of fur. Fang was my pet Gruslen, Anna gave him to me about a week ago, explaining something about an “avatar.” Aw well. I got a cute new petpet; that was fine with me.

      Anna smiled. “I brought him with me. He was tired of being left in your room. Alone.”

      A little bit of guilt crossed over me, but I ignored it. Garin came over and shook Anna’s hand, saying a friendly hello, as did Jacques. Such gentlemen, I thought as I rocked Fang back and forth, like he liked. Ally had jumped into Anna’s arms at this point.

      “Anna, we’re looking for Mr. Fuzzles,” I said softly, looking at my owner as I spoke.

      Anna’s face fell, and she shook her head sadly. “The Smugglers took it. I had it with me because Ally was being punished--” (Ally traced her heel along the wooden floor guiltily as she said this)--“and they took it from me, claiming it was their ‘rare treasure,’ and that I had no claim over it.”

      Ally looked like she was trying not to cry, Jacques looked sad, Garin looked excited, and I just looked bored. Stealing from those idiot Smugglers? No problem.

      Or so I thought.

      Once Anna had finished her food, and her conversation with Loretta (that took longer then eating her pizza did), we made our way to the Smuggler’s Cove. A skull in front intimidated me for a moment, but I shook it off.

      I crept up to the side of the cave, just barely leaning my head in so I could see. Two disgusting looking pirates were tossing the orange fuzzle back and forth between their filthy paws. One was a Mynci, the other a Peophin. I knew we couldn’t get it now. We’d have to wait.

      “We’re going to have to wait. They’re tossing it back and forth; it’s too obvious,” I announced.

      Fang made a sort of yawning noise, and the other shrugged. We all sat with our backs against the palm tree, waiting. Slowly, my head began to droop like wilted roses. But even more slowly, the sun sank behind the trees. Everyone else, including Fang, had fallen asleep already. Forcing myself up, I looked cautiously back inside to see what the smugglers were doing. My eyes opened more in shock, and I suddenly felt more awake.

      The smugglers were sleeping.

      Now’s your chance. Don’t mess up.

      With extremely small steps, I made my way toward the orange fuzzle. I would have flown, but my wings would make too much noise. Each step I took was smaller then the last. But each step took brought me closer. The fuzzle was closer. I could see it. Slowly, I extended my arm....

      Got it.

      My hand reached a fuzzy, orange object, and I realized I had the fuzzle. I wanted to cheer and punch the air, but I realized I’d have to be quiet or they’d wake up. As slowly as I’d came, I began walking back. Sweat built up on my forehead from how tense I was. But there was the exit. Keep walking, you’re almost there, don’t blow it now...

      “Crack!”

      My head whipped down. I had stepped on a small twig. Anxiously, I looked over at the pirates. One yawned and rubbed his nose, and I waited another painful two minutes before deciding he was still asleep.

      “That was close.” I clapped my hand over my mouth. I’d spoken out loud!

      One of the pirates opened their eyes and rubbed them. “Uh, wha-” he began, Then he stopped. He saw me, holding that ball of orange fluff, wide eyed and scared looking. “That wench has got our fuzzle!” he yelled.

      Great. They caught me.

      At once, all his little pirate friends woke up. They surrounded me in a very tight circle, suffocating me in claustrophobia. They were too tall, trying to fly over them would be impossible.

      One ugly Pirate Jetsam put on a mask of false kindness. “Come on lass, give us the fuzzle,” he said in a charming voice, holding out an arm branded with tattoos and covered in dirt. When I did not respond, he got angry. He grabbed my collar and lifted me off my feet as I struggled in protest.

      “Look here, lass, you’re going to give me that fuzzle. And you’re going to do it now,” he said, his mouth so close I could smell his breath. It smelt like grog.

      “Drop her NOW,” a commanding voice said.

      The pirate screamed and dropped me at once, and I fell hard on the ground. When I looked up, I saw the pirate’s arm had been burnt. Garin! He had that special ability, Fiery Roar, I believe.

      As expected, almost all the pirates turned on Garin. But he fought them with impressive skills, practically dancing with his sword. The ones left tried to fight me. Poor them. They didn’t know how strong I was.

      I easily killed two birds with one stone by using my Lava Spit, and I used my Fiery Gaze to make three of the pirates fight one another. When I glanced back, I saw that Garin had seven pirates lying at his feet. They all looked unconscious. There appeared to be no other pirates in the cave.

      It appeared so.

      Just as I was about to leave, I felt something slash against my back that made me fall straight on my palms, scraping them. Shock was the first thing that hit me, then I scrambled to face whatever had slashed me.

      No.

      Not Him.

      Not now.

To be continued...