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A Tiki Tale: Color or Companion? - Part Three


by mzkimmi

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Tikhasis the pink Draik awoke suddenly. She opened her eyes, feeling exhausted yet wide awake. It was a sunny day in Neopia Central.

     Tikhasis could hear Pteris singing outside, and the buzzing of a group of Veespas, who were playing right beside her window.

     “What a gorgeous day!” she thought as she peered across at Siyana, who was playing with a blue ball of yarn in the corner.

     She jumped here and there, flicking the ball across the floor and rolling over onto her back as she played; not realizing her owner was awake.

     "Good morning, Siyana," she said, smiling at her adorable yellow Kadoatie.

     Siyana jumped, looking startled.

     Tikhasis giggled at her as she flicked the ball around in the air after getting a claw stuck as she tried to discard the ball and pretend like she had never been playing.

     Yarn spilled all over the floor, and Siyana quickly scooped the mess up and shoved it back into the cupboard, looking embarrassed and unimpressed.

     Without waiting for a verbal response, Tikhasis continued on. "Well, we have one million, two hundred and five thousand neopoints. We need to make about another seven hundred thousand neopoints today, in order to reach our goal and purchase a faerie paint brush for each of us."

     "Good morning!" Siyana responded at last, nodding at her owner and then gleefully attacking a clawed Kadoatie plushie that Tikhasis used to have as an ornament on her bed, before Siyana arrived.

     There was little left of it now, Tikhasis noticed with amusement, as she left the room with Siyana following closely behind her.

      Kimmi was nowhere to be seen, so Tikhasis and Siyana relaxed at the table together and ate a bacon and egg omelette each for breakfast. With full stomachs, they headed out to wreak some more havoc on some more innocent Neopians’ bank balances.

     "Here Siyana, put this on," Tikhasis said, handing Siyana a Woolen Scarf and wrapping a Brown Winter Scarf around her own neck.

     "Today, we're heading to the Ice Caves," she said, in answer to Siyana's questioning look.

     It was a warm day in Neopia Central. Together they wandered across to the ferry, where a friendly looking Blumaroo sat behind a ticket booth counter.

     "Two tickets?" he queried and Tikhasis nodded, passing him the 10 neopoints fare.

     The Blumaroo handed Tikhasis the tickets, and together they hopped on the ferry to Terror Mountain.

     “Wow, this ferry looks about one hundred years old!” Tikhasis exclaimed to Siyana, as they boarded.

     The ferry pulled away from the dock with a shudder and a creaking noise, and Tikhasis and Siyana looked at each other in mild alarm.

     In spite of its appearance however, the ferry was completely sturdy, and took them closer and closer to Terror Mountain. As they neared the mountain, the temperature dropped substantially, and both Tikhasis and Siyana were grateful for the extra clothing.

     Together, they hopped off the ferry, making their way across to the ice caves. Siyana leading the way, they trudged through the ice and snow and ended up at the ice arena.

     They took a seat each and began watching the battling. Just as the battling began and Tikhasis started to enjoy the battle, Siyana began to wail loudly. Several people stared at them, some walking away to find seats in other stands. After a few moments, the neopoints began to flow, and the somewhat irritated battlers handed over their hard earned neopoints.

     They continued wandering around the crowded arena for over an hour, until Tikhasis noticed someone nearby who had tried to move away from them earlier. The Neopian looked extremely disgruntled by the incessant loud mewing of Siyana, and looked at Tikhasis with a distinct air of contempt.

     "I am used to this from the mutant Kadoaties, but you'd think an owner could keep a sweet and innocent looking yellow Kadoatie under wraps, if she were really trying," she muttered, as she stuffed five thousand neopoints into Tikhasis's flower purse.

     "Get out of here!" she almost yelled at Tikhasis and Siyana.

     Feeling the heat of her face and ears burning, Tikhasis turned to Siyana, and took her outside, feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

     "Thank goodness we're almost at our goal, Siyana," she whispered, "I don't think I can do this for too much longer."

     Even Siyana was looking a bit less happy than she usually was.

     Trying to cheer her up, Tikhasis pulled Siyana into the crystal shop, where they stared in awe at the pretty objects about the store, both pondering and wondering how it possibly came to be that there were snowballs in this store that were actually on fire.

     Giving up on finding an answer to this question, but distracted from the earlier shame, they left the store and looked about for a less crowded area to continue with the plan.

     Settling down in a quieter area, Siyana began mewing loudly. Tikhasis continued pocketing neopoints, with some people handing over their scratch-card winnings, and others scurrying away quickly.

     They moved to a new area, settling down by a cave opening.

     All at once, there was a loud hissing noise, coming from behind them.

     Tikhasis quickly realized that Siyana's mewing must have awoken the Snowager, and he did not look happy! He sprayed a mouthful of ice toward them, and they both shrieked, jumping out of the way.

     Terrified, they ran towards the bottom of the mountain, slipping and sliding the entire way down to the ferry docks.

     They tumbled onto the deck, coming to a sudden stop. They both stared at each other in shock, and then both burst out laughing at the sight of the other, covered in ice and snow.

     They both shook themselves off, and sat down on the edge of the dock, so that Tikhasis could once again count the neopoints in her purse. A few moments later, she jumped up, and grabbed Siyana and spun her around in the air.

     "Two million and thirty five thousand neopoints!" she exclaimed, and they danced about happily on the dock until the ferry returned a couple of minutes later.

     They hopped back on the ferry, chatting about the prospect of getting wings later on that day.

     “Thank goodness we have enough; I don’t think I could take much more of your mewing myself!” Tikhasis joked.

     Upon arriving at Neopia Central, they headed straight for the Auction House.

     Excitedly, they pushed the door open, and sat waiting for some paint brushes to bid on.

     Half an hour later, Tikhasis had started to become impatient and bored. She began daydreaming about having her wings at long last. The dream was a wonderful one; however she was snatched from the happiness this dream when she wondered how she could explain the wings to Kimmi.

     This was the one thing Tikhasis hadn’t considered – how was she going to keep the plan a secret, when she had her wings? She would have to lie to her owner.

     Deep in thought, Tikhasis didn’t notice a faerie paint brush go by, even after a not so subtle nudge from Siyana as it was brought up on to the stage.

     To the left of the stage, Siyana saw another faerie paintbrush coming up.

     She mewed at Tikhasis to get her attention.

     Tikhasis shook her head at Siyana, realizing she couldn’t lie to her owner. Unsure of what she was going to do, Tikhasis began to walk towards the aisle, a confused Siyana behind her. Just as the faerie paint brush was about to be brought to the centre of the stage for auctioning, the doors burst open.

     In the doorway, Kimmi stood with a very unimpressed expression on her face. She glanced across the room, and upon sighting Tikhasis and Siyana, excused herself to the auctioneer, strode over to the two of them, and took a nervous looking Tikhasis and Siyana straight out of the Auction House.

     Outside, she snatched Tikhasis's purse off her, and peered inside the purse at the contents.

     Shaking her head and frowning, she said at last, “I had hoped this was a mistake, Tikhasis. I had hoped that the Draik they were talking about was not you.”

     Biting her lip, Tikhasis realized she could not think of a single response. Kimmi took them both by the hand, and marched them home, remaining silent throughout the entire trip.

     Two hours later, Tikhasis sat alone in her room. Both she and Siyana had been grounded, and were not allowed to play with each other for a week.

     Tikhasis was already missing Siyana, and she was worried about what her owner had said. Although Tikhasis had repeatedly assured her that the plan was her own idea, thought up before Siyana even arrived on the scene; Kimmi seemed to believe Siyana was a bad influence.

     Tikhasis now realized it was she who was the bad influence, and felt terribly ashamed.

     Kimmi had seemed so angry and upset with them; Tikhasis wondered if her owner would ever forgive them.

     She wondered if she would ever see Siyana again. With all that had happened that day, Tikhasis realized that she wasn’t even thinking about not having her wings. She just wanted her owner to be proud of her again, and to be able to see Siyana again.

     It had all been for nothing anyway, she knew. At that very moment, Kimmi was donating all of the neopoints they had earned while carrying out the plan to the Money Tree.

     Tikhasis began to cry quietly into her pillow, as she drifted off into a troubled sleep.

To be continued...

 
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Other Episodes


» A Tiki Tale: Color or Companion? - Part One
» A Tiki Tale: Color or Companion? - Part Two
» A Tiki Tale: Color or Companion? - Part Four



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