The Mystery Behind Neoschool: Part Five

     "Well, well, well. What in Neopia should I ever do to make you forget about your discovery?" It was a scary thought to what he could do if he really wanted us to get sudden amnesia. I've heard of some powerful artifacts, but wondered at their potential to cause one to forget. My head, as you can blatantly see, was spinning off in plenty of directions, disregarding the fact that this enemy of ours was standing right in front of us, almost suffocating our air supply.

     Blusia was staring at him for she had never seen the Techo in the extreme state of anger he was presently in. Eyes twice as yellow as I previously saw them with twice the amount of veins. I don't know what prompted my Poogle to ask him the following question, but she did anyway. "Are you that Techo from the Altador Cup?"

     "What Techo?" He looked slightly surprised at the suggestion.

     "The Techo who is a crazy lunatic like fan, that's what." She was unafraid for a second as if she was the threatening one, instead of him. He didn't budge from the position he was in, looking quite perplexed. She took it for confirmation and said, "A-ha! So indeed you are!"

     "I don't know how you arrived to that conclusion, but that is correct," he sighed, wondering how Blusia managed to find out.

     WHAT?! He gave in just like that? Obviously, this Techo does not own a mirror, I smirked, thinking to myself.

     "Listen, you obviously have never felt so alone, thinking that what you are doing is normal when others think differently." He looked both us in the eye with despair.

     "Uhh, have you not seen what I was up to for the past day with Neoschool?" I spoke, slightly irate.

     "Whatever. How about you forget about my connection to the Altador Cup in exchange for myself forgetting about this Neoschool affair?"

     "Deal," I gleemed happily at his proposal. "On the condition that we have a chance to tour this place," I quickly added. The shopkeeper had no other logical option than to accept and did so, but with a look of nervousness. His countenance had changed so much from what he was like originally, I had to question, "Why are you so anxious, Techo?"

     He turned around, for he was staring out the building's door as if waiting for someone, and answered hurriedly, "It's nothing. Nothing. You best be quick about your supposed tour."

     If it's nothing, he wouldn't advise me to hurry, I thought to myself and looked over at Blusia who had been waiting impatiently for us to start snooping around the place.

     We still stood at the end of the long hallway with plenty of rooms about us to explore, not to mention upstairs as well. We decided to begin with the door on the left, opening it to reveal an extremely messy room, splatters of paint everywhere. On the walls and on the floor, it was a complete disaster. Hues of every color imaginable were able to be spotted. The desks were devoid of material and the chairs empty of possible students. We examined the desk in the far corner, also utterly empty and spacious. Looking around for a while to take in the presence of the room, we exited soon after, jubilant as to have this special opportunity to look around.

     The Techo still stood in the hall, peering at us with a more apprehending look. It's almost as if he said, Hurry up!, but we were in no rush to leave Neoschool.

     Entering another room, we were fortunate enough to have the course name still written out on the giant board on the wall. It seemed inviting, stating, "Potion Brewing Basics" in very nice handwriting. Peculiar, how the writing is still visible after all these years, I mused. What a huge contrast this room had next to the other sloppy one! It was spotlessly clean with not a hint of dust or debris anywhere, which was also rather puzzling. There were cabinets lined up across the walls, and upon opening them, we found nothing but empty glass bottles. The types Kauvara uses for her magic concoctions.

     We were about to examine the desk next to us when we heard a door slam open loudly. Chances were it was the main door by which we had entered Neoschool. A strong wind proceeded after it, for we could see its effect after the classroom's own door opened as suddenly. We were stunned at this behavior, but shrugged it off to weather, but it was much worse than weather.

     The Techo, panting as he was trying to gain sufficient strength to enter the room we were in, was shouting something obscure. We rushed over to him, grabbing his arms with all our physical might, dragging me into the room.

     "What did you say?" I screamed, trying to be audible over the roaring wind, after my Poogle and I had succeeded in placing him in one of the empty chairs in the classroom.

     "We need to get out of here!" he screamed, shaking from fright. "NOW!"

     "Why?!"

     He stared at us impatiently, but we continued to plead.

     "Neoschool had teachers hired, obviously. Everything was going according to plan, but for unknown reasons, it had to shut down before it ever opened. This sent some of the teachers into a wild frenzy and they were not found from that point on. No one knows what happened to them, but whenever anyone has imposed upon this here land, a 'wind' starts to pick up. As for me, I say that their grief or anger has turned them into ghosts."

     His story sounded incredibly absurd. Ghosts?! Sure, there were plenty of ghosts, but they resided in the Haunted Woods, not these woods in Neopia Central!, I thought. Blusia pointed to the cabinets then, gasping at what she saw. All of the bottles were floating around in the room, surrounding us. And they were filled.

     "SEE?!! Some mysteries need to be left closed!" The Techo withdrew from the room cowardly and started to run who knows where, leaving us alone in the classroom with mysterious potions flying at us. Not knowing what to do, we began to run after him, following his lead, but he did not realize this, running ahead with all his might, even faster than Blusia.

     We managed to get into the hallway, noticing that all the doors to the classrooms were wide open, revealing what was inside. "It's as if Neoschool is coming to life in this strange way!" And this way was not the way we could have handled, ever. In what looked like a Neopian History classroom, tens of maps and diagrams were flying about in the air. Blusia spotted the door we had initially entered and sprinted towards it with me behind. As I crossed the door, I heard the wind stop and an eerie silence fell like never before.

     We stood in front of the looming Neoschool building for a brief while, catching our breathe, when I heard a sharp, piercing wailing from inside. Are those spectres? I gasped, closely following the faint shadows going across the structure's porch, looking wizened and helplessly sad. I tried to get Blusia's attention, but her back was facing the building and she was too frightened to turn around. My eyes darted back to the spot I saw those strange ghost like entities of possible Neopian teachers, but they were gone. I somehow got this bizarre feeling that they weren't angry at visitors, they just wanted an audience to teach, but that was not possible.

     "Where's my umbrella?" I asked, noticing I had lost it somewhere along the way.

     Blusia did not answer me, still clutching the tiny scrap of paper with Neoschool's address. "What shall we do with this?"

     Before I could answer, out of the Neopian sky, there fell a torrent of rain, a storm was just beginning. Raindrops fell onto the worn out paper, smudging the ink and destroying the paper as it dropped softly to the ground. After waiting to see it was in a state that was unrecoverable, Blusia and I headed home slowly, our muscles aching from all that exercise.

     We arrived home some hours after that, relating what had occurred only to Fruzia, the Plushie Zafara who was eager to find out why we were gone for so long. My other pets did not share this same curiosity and returned to their prior activity of napping. The neopet was shocked and stated we needed to tell someone about it, but I disagreed, "I promised the Techo that I'd forget about the affair."

     "But don't you think you owe those forgotten Neoschool teachers some attention? After all, they were trying to get yours," he countered, Blusia joining in on his side.

     When I was done giving them some supper, I picked up a quill pen and started to write this adventure down on paper. I'm still using it to write down some closing lines. I stumbled upon a mystery that despite my very best, remained strangely unsolved, because finding the building meant nothing if I didn't know the reasoning behind it. Please, don't run out of ink, pen! I'm giving it a sturdy shake. There! Anyway, I hope the Back to School shopkeeper isn't too angry at me for going against my intended promise. After all, the Altador Cup isn't in session, at least right now it isn't. If you, reader, have had hope for Neoschool's opening, I happily salute you, for so did I. However, sometimes it's best to let things go and allow them to work themselves out on their own. Because, who really knows if Neoschool won't open up some day? Until then, I'm laying the matter at rest and dedicating this record of my sleuthing to those Neoschool teachers that have found themselves without a Neopian job for now. Let them wander about their Neoschool home undisturbed.

The End

Author's Note: Well, this brings my series down to a perhaps bittersweet end, an ending which I figured was necessary as it could end in no other way than it did. If you have gotten this far, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read it! In no way, shape, or form, is this adventure true. It is merely a creation of my mind which was dwelling upon the matter of Neoschool more than was proper. In a sense, I hope you have stopped worrying about Neoschool if you have, because I have (Nevertheless, I still have some supplies in my Safety Deposit Box). If you have any questions or comments, feel free to neomail me, thanks!