The Voyage of the Fair Mortog: Part Five

     Or add the wrong pet to the Gallery of Evil. Of all the pets who could be in there...

     Reality hit me, water balloon after water balloon.

     My best friend was now going to haunt Mystery Island for all eternity. Lord Sylva Carew of the Iyssfloe was now a nameless Island legend.

     Right? Maybe not. Maybe he just wandered off. He’s Carew; I mean, seriously, he could have just dropped his weapons because he got tired, and...

     No. I do not cry. Great flying potatoes!

     I put my head on a stump and sobbed.

     I wanted to go home. I wanted to have never grabbed that stupid little spear point in the first place. I looked up and saw what I least wanted to see.

     The spear point that I was thinking about, or one very similar, lay in the clearing. I stared at it and almost screamed again in frustration. Then something tapped me.

     I spun around, standing up.

     A plump, cheerful Tapira stared up at me with wide, sweet eyes. Three cute little baby Tapiras, one of them faerie and flapping its tiny wings, peered out from behind her.

     “Hey,” I said. The Tapira gave me a petpet sort of smile, nudged me again and swung her head in the direction of the forest I’d just come from.

     “What?”

     She swung her dark blue head again, and one of the babies squeaked at me.

     I stood up, and the petpet ran ahead, turning to see me as she waddled into the jungle.

     I sighed and plodded after her, making my way once again into the impenetrable jungle of nightmares.

     We must have been going for almost an hour now, and the sky was beginning to darken. Then I saw it. Something glowing about a hundred feet off the path the Tapira had found. A tiny volcano?

     The baby Tapiras began to run off the path towards the light, and the adult followed them.

     I shoved my way after them. If they weren’t scared of it, why should I be? Tapiras tend to be smart little things.

     At least the one waiting for me 200 years in the future was/will be/is pretty smart. I wondered if I’d ever see my beloved little petpet again.

     I shoved my way through some trees, heading for the light.

     As I got closer, I could see that it was either a Fire Faerie or a Light Faerie, glowing with volcanic flames. This was why Lightning and Hibiscus and everyone else were scared of the Island Faerie. I was too. I retreated. Then I swallowed. This wasn’t the Island Faerie that everyone loved. But maybe she was still... I couldn’t see her face, but...

     “Jhuidah?”

     I thought I saw a smile through the glowing. Suddenly I was near the beach. I could see the Fair Mortog just setting sail- was that Gabre in the crows nest, or Ferdinand? I was about to run for the ship and my friends when I heard something crashing through the undergrowth at me.

     Anglifae.

     “You!” I yelled at her, and the Cybunny paused.

     She stared at me angrily, and her hand reached for something. Maybe her magic mirror. I wasn’t about to face the coconuts again.

     I grabbed the darts that Lightning and Hibiscus had given me from my belt, and launched one with a breath.

     “They won’t hurt you that badly,” I remembered the ninja Mynci saying. “They’ll just keep your enemy from moving for a while- it’s a spell.”

     Anglifae froze in place.

     “That was for Carew,” I told her, watching the Fair Mortog disappear. I wondered if she even realized what had happened to him.

     Then I strode into the jungle and was unsurprised to vanish and reappear next to Jhuidah, who smiled again.

     “I do believe that you’ve given the Island the first permanent resident to move here since the ninjas came from Shenkuu.”

     I smiled at her, glad that Anglifae would get to stay with her coconut allies. Or maybe with Lightning or Hibiscus. She couldn’t cause much havoc here, that was for sure. Not even with the help of the coconuts. Because no one here trusted her. I had the feeling that Jhuidah would help with that.

     The Island Faerie handed me something- it was the spear point that had started this. “Now, um...”

     “Ambreona1. Ambry.”

     “Ambry. Go home to your future...”

     I flew again, this time a shorter distance just through the jungle as trees grew around a little clearing, and a path was forged clearing it again.

     And I was home.

     I stood up, and raced to the Neolodge and my family.

     ~*~

     A week or so later and we were home again. I sat on my revolving bed, watching as it carried me around and around my room.

     All the vases, the fireplace, the cloud music, the tree stump tables...

     All the questions.

     I stomped off my bed and to the living room, where I grabbed a Neopedia off the bamboo table.

     A young Lupe knight named Sylva... A diary... The storms and the shipwreck... There was no mention of a blue Lupe who vanished into the jungle; the bride was given very little mention... Certainly no clue that she was an evil Cybunny named Anglifae.

     It was the bare remnant of a story that would inspire so many interpretations... So many other stories...

     And inspire a few other things.

     Such as an owner who stares at you funny and inquires how exactly did your hair grow that much so fast, and where, may she add, did you get that awesome skirt.

     A little sister named Cutekitty who won’t believe you at all, and just looks at you oddly.

     But what really hit me staring at that story was one sentence.

     Not the one about how seven crew members vanished (due to a certain Cybunny) but the bit separated by a few dots from that.

     “I must rescue her.”

     Me. And the best friend I ever had. I really didn’t want to imagine him grabbing his shield and the sword he barely know how to use and sprinting into the jungle after me.

     I stomped back to my room.

     But only to grab two things- my Tapira and my little sister, who insisted on grabbing her vicious little Angelpuss.

     “Where are we going, Ambry?” she inquired, rolling her brown eyes.

     “We,” I said, “are using your school pass to get into the Gallery of Evil building.”

     Cutekitty stared at me. “Whatever,” she said. “Is this still about that time travel thing?”

     Why did I miss her, again? If all she does is insult me?

     I was reminded why a few seconds later when the Techo doorman informed us that no petpets were allowed inside, despite a sign saying that they were welcome, while glaring at my Tapira as if expecting her to eat the statues of evildoers and not-so-evildoers.

     I glared at him too, of course, but let me just say that it is, in my opinion, unfortunate that Wocky Glare is not a recognized Battledome move.

     Because if it was, my little sister would win it all.

     Five minutes or so later we were inside and Cutekitty’s Angelpuss was sitting down to plot how to get its own statue in the Gallery, or whatever small evil petpets with fangs and paint jobs do.

     Cutekitty watched me as I strode down the hall past Balthazar and Sloth, past Vira and all the rest, not bothering to read their placards.

     I stopped in front of a statue of a Lupe with huge red eyes and glowing mist surrounding him.

     I pictured the Cybunny who should have been in here instead.

     “Anglifae. Scheming nasty little Cybunny who turned Ambreona1 (heroic and talented Lupe)’s best friend (the awesome and incredible Carew) into a ghost and plotted to get his fortune. Steer very clear, and avoid any contact with unknown pets through magic mirrors. Also guilty of wearing overdone outfits with giant bows all over them that were much uglier than anything clashing that Carew wore.”

     I wondered if Anglifae enjoyed living on the Island, or if she got a ship to sail her home. I wondered what had happened to all the pets on the Fair Mortog.

     Tomorrow night I’d go searching through old records.

     Then I’d begin to write everything down, as I’m doing right now. I started this story so long ago, and now it’s almost done.

     But not quite.

     Because somewhere on this island is a Lupe with huge glowing red eyes who I am going to find someday.

     And I’m bringing along Cutekitty and Honeybuzzbee’s Guide to All That is Fashion. Because I’m fairly sure he still needs it.

The End