Of Rivals and Riches

     Celeny, a white Zafara, stared at the sea. Sitting on the warm sand. She heard of Whitebeard's legend too. She wanted to go and find the treasure, that would surely make her rich. Celeny was a treasure hunter and a good one. But she had one rival - Geoff.

     She was sure that that sneaky Kacheek would try to find the treasure faster than her. She smiled, "But he won't, I will," she thought to herself. She stood up and ran towards her little hut, determined to find the treasure.

     Geoff, after several more hours of digging, gave up and decided to walk back to the village, dragging the shovel behind him. Celeny got bored too and headed back to prepare to search for Whitebeard's treasure. They both went to the food shop for lunch.

     They went to the counter in the small food hut. Geoff looked to his left and saw Celeny. "Oh. It's you," he said in a stuck-up way.

     "Always has been," Celeny said proudly, sitting on the stool beside Geoff's. "I would suppose you're looking for that stupid treasure once again?" she said to him.

     "Ah..." Geoff thought for a moment, "stupid is as stupid does," he couldn't think of a better retort.

     "Even if the treasure did exist," Celeny said, "I would find it first!" She knew in her heart the treasure did indeed exist, she was just trying to discourage Geoff.

     "Oh, you wanna bet?" Geoff said. "I bet 10,000 Neopoints I'll find it before you!" He took a handful of paper Neopoints bills out of the pocket of his shorts.

     "Well, why don't we make it interesting?"

     "What, 10,000 Neopoints isn't interesting?"

     "Moderately," the white Zafara said. "But why don't we say that whoever wins the bet gets..." She paused for suspense, "one... Bar... of chocolate!"

     The purple Kacheek's mouth started to water. "Deal!" He called the waiter behind the counter.

     "One bar of chocolate, please," the Blumaroo waiter took a chocolate bar from the rack behind him and Geoff and Celeny each paid for half the bar.

     "Good luck, loser!" Celeny smiled and continued taunting Geoff, "But I don't think even luck can help you win now... After all, I'm a Zafara!" Celeny smirked.

     "You believe that Zafaras are luckier than other Neopets?" Geoff said, sounding more evil,

     "Then take this!" Geoff threw a Grarrl Gobstopper at the unsuspecting Celeny, who was unable to dodge the malevolent sweet. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

     "Lucky Zafaras... Such an old Mootix tale." Geoff took his trusty shovel and went outside. He smiled and ran off to the other side of Mystery Island.

     The beach was peaceful. Celeny hadn't been here yet, or at least Geoff thought so - There were no holes in the ground. But there had been an certain Zafara before. She had buried an old wooden chest she found at her home. Of course, Celeny had taken out all the stuff that was in the chest before.

     Geoff started digging and after a few meters deep, he came at the old chest. He dug further, then he tried to pull out the chest. He smiled, but that smile soon disappeared when he tried to pull the chest out of the hole - The chest was too heavy, the sand kept falling in the hole.

     "I can do this, it will take a lot of time, but I can do this!" Geoff thought, his arms were now getting tired and his legs were stuck in the sand. "Well... Maybe this is going to take much longer than I thought..." Geoff muttered to himself. He looked up, at the sun, but quickly looked away. It wasn't late yet, because the sun was now at its very top. Then he took his calendar out of his backpack to see if he needed to do anything in the next few weeks.

      ***

     Celeny opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred and the waiter, that she had seen before, was looking at her. "Hello? You okay?"

     "Um... Hello?" Celeny said, slightly confused. "Where am I?"

     "You are in the Small Food hut," the waiter patiently explained. "You got hit hard by that Gobstopper."

     "A Gob-what?" Celeny asked, while she tried to sit up. She did not succeed; she fell down again and the room was twirling.

     "A Gobstopper," the Waiter repeated. "Very unpleasant candy if you get hit by it."

     "Oh... That sneaky Geoff..." Celeny muttered. "If I ever see him, he is gonna be REALLY sorry..." She pounded her right fist into the palm of her left paw, demonstrating visually how sorry Geoff would soon be.

     She then closed her eyes, as the room was twirling around but 5 seconds later, she opened them again. The room had stopped twirling and she slowly stood up.

     "Thank you for letting me stay here." Celeny said to the waiter and she ran outside. She had to find the treasure earlier than Geoff... Or maybe... Maybe.... Celeny smiled. Maybe Geoff was now trying to get her Old Chest out.

     She ran off to the Mystery Islands forest. She didn't want to look if Geoff was busy with her "Fake Treasure Trick". Geoff could get very suspicious. Celeny knew that from an earlier experience.

     She was thinking about the chest and meanwhile the forest got in sight. Celeny just then noticed it and smiled. She ran into the forest. Some Cobralls crawled over the ground. Cobralls were not really poisonous, unlike the Reptilliors... Deeper in the forest...

     Celeny went deeper into the forest. It also became darker, but she continued. She just had to look out for the Reptilliors.

     Celeny was convinced the treasure had to be somewhere in the darkness... Or in a cave or something...

     Maybe even in a certain Volcano.

     ***

     Geoff was still tugging at the treasure chest with all his strength. Unfortunately, all his strength wasn't very much. Then, he realized how stupid he was.

     "I now realize how stupid I was!" he said, conforming with the thoughts of anyone who might write about that day. Pfft, he thought, who'd want to write a story about him? "I'll just open it in this hole and take whatever's inside out for all to see... especially that idiot Zafara... Muhahaha. Mwahahahahahaha!" He coughed for a few seconds, then caught his breath.

     He took his shovel and used it to hit the lock on the wooden chest a few times. It finally broke off and he opened it to see the riches inside. When he found out there was no creamy middle, he was pretty angry.

     "I've spent all the hours lugging air. Great. That's just great," he said sarcastically. He looked around and saw the volcano while sitting just outside the hole. He remembered the treasure inside the volcano the previous autumn.

     "That's just great!" he said, sincerely this time. He took his shovel and headed for the volcano.

     Meanwhile, Celeny was lost in the forest. It seemed huge to her. She was sure she wasn't going around in circles, she was just following some mysterious Zafara tracks. She kept following the tracks on the mud ground, when suddenly a small twig fell behind her. Being in a forest like that, the scariest sounds always seem the loudest and Celeny heard it loud and clear. She looked behind her and saw the twig and also her tracks. She looked in front of her and saw that the tracks she was following looked exactly the same. She looked to her left, at the tree. A lot of trees like that seemed to be around the forest... then she realized, she was going around in circles.

     "D'oh!" she said, as the curse echoed off the rotting trees.

     She decided she needed to find a way out. Yeah, that would help. She looked for the closest opening in the trees and found a way to a clearing. She ran on toward it. When she got out, she looked in front of her. She had to look up to see all that was in front of her. It was the famous Mystery Island volcano (unless it was some other volcano that just happened to be on the island).

     Of course, she thought. That volcano is probably the only place Geoff never dared to look. Celeny quickly went around to find the entrance and went into the maze-like tunnel. As did Geoff, on the other side.

     After a few minutes, Geoff and Celeny were each pretty far into the volcano. Then, at the same time, they stopped. They each looked behind them, but there were tunnels everywhere.

      "I am so lost," they said at the same time.

     Geoff continued walking, as did Celeny.

     "The treasure MUST be here!" Geoff thought, thinking angrily about the Old Chest. He started running, so he could be faster than Celeny. Celeny wasn't hurrying, like Geoff, but she was walking carefully.

     Her paw slid over the walls, maybe there were diamonds in this volcano. Suddenly, the volcano rumbled. a few small stones fell down. Celeny gulped and quickly ran away. She looked behind her. Geoff just came out of a sideways and knocked against Celeny.

     "Oh! It's YOU!" Geoff said, angry. He palmed his fists and pointed one of them at Celeny. "I'll get you!"

     "I have a name, you know?" Celeny giggled nervously. "Did you like my Old Chest?"

     "Yes!" Geoff said sarcastically, lowering his fist, "It was one of the most greatest treasures that could ever possibly have existed in the history of anything."

     And the volcano rumbled again, but Celeny and Geoff ignored it. At least, Celeny tried it. She gulped and looked at Geoff.

     "Well, we are both lost, right?" Celeny said, making an attempt to smile. "We'll have to work together to get out."

     "Okay. But don't think we'll become friends!" Geoff said. He wasn't angry anymore, but you could see he wasn't exactly having the time of his life, even though he liked adventures.

     The two continued. The path became smaller and the lava closed in. The two could feel the hot air and they had trouble with breathing.

     Just then, it became colder. And they heard a mysterious chanting. It became louder, with every step they took. And it was even colder.

     They then saw an old Kyrii. He carried an red glowing staff and had a whole load of earrings in his ear. And a strange white twirl. And there was red fur, going down his back. It suddenly became warmer. Way warmer. It seemed that the Kyrii now was gathering the warmth of the volcano to ? Complete whatever he was doing.

     Celeny and Geoff sneaked closer and then they saw that the Kyrii was making some sort of a primitive attempt to dance.

     "Icarnatu ferosta lecktah! Icarnatu ferosta lecktah!" The Kyrii now shouted.

     "He looks quite familiar..." Geoff muttered to himself. "I seen him before..."

     Geoff was thinking, while Celeny was watching the Kyrii. He was now jumping and bouncing against the walls. Then suddenly, he turned around. And he saw Geoff and Celeny. He madly bounced up and down and growled.

     "Icarnatu ferosta lecktah! Icarnatu ferosta lecktah!" he shouted at the two pets.

     Celeny slowly walked away. But then, a group of fireballs appeared. And they were ready to attack.

     Then they ran and the Fireballs chased them. The Kyrii was running. He wanted to make sure that the pets were gone.

     Celeny fell and the fireballs were about to hit her. She jumped away, just dodging the Fireballs.

     Geoff then turned around while smiling. But when he saw the fireballs heading his way, he smile quickly disappeared.

     Celeny had to do something. She was a rival, but she would not let someone get hurt. She thought, she knew there had to be a way to stop him.

     The fireballs just barely missed Geoff, barely missing his right ear. He turned around and they were coming right back at him. Celeny watched as he ran from the fireballs in a cartoonish manner. She had to remember the phrase used to get rid of the Shaman last autumn, so she took a book out of the backpack she was wearing titled "Encyclopedia Neopia-Destructica".

     "Do you just bring a copy of that book everywhere?" Geoff yelled, still running. The shaman laughed maniacally by the lava pool.

     "Yeah, it comes in handy," Celeny said. She seemed to be taking her time, licking her thumb before turning each page, saying the words out loud. "Let's see... 'Quigukis,' 'Rock Beast',

     'Sloth'... whoop, too far. Seamus.. sham... shaman!" She read the long article about the shaman a few times and then finally cleared her throat to say "Be gone, evil shaman of darkness!"

     Suddenly, the fireballs turned away from Geoff and started flying towards the shaman. "Uh oh." He said, before he shot up through the air in flames, yelling "Why does this always happen when everyone says that?!"

     Seconds later, the Tombola man, the island mystic, Jhuidah the cooking pot faerie, the Techo master and the coconut tourguide appeared in the volcano chamber Celeny and Geoff were standing in and said "Thank you for rescuing us!"

     Celeny and Geoff looked at each other, confused. "You've been safe for months," Celeny said.

     The Techo Master realized how she was right. "Look, kid, do you want the reward or not?" he said angrily.

     "Yeah, okay," Geoff said.

     Several days later, Geoff and Celeny were back to their normal lives. They had split the large amount of Neopoints awarded to them and were sitting at the island food shop counter.

     "I just realized..." Geoff said, "Neither of us found Redbeard's treasure."

     "Whitebeard," Celeny corrected him.

     "That's what I said. Redbeard."

     "Ugh..." Celeny sighed. "Hey, what happened to the chocolate bar anyway?" Geoff burped very loudly, making the people and pets that were in the Food shop stare at them. "Double ugh..."

      "So, I suppose we're back to being enemies?" Geoff asked. A small smile appeared on his face.

     "You got it, buddy... I mean, enemy," Celeny said. They both laughed hysterically, then suddenly exchanged angry, suspicious glares. Then they started laughing again... only to continue glaring.

The End