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A Quest for Faerieland: The Trilogy - Part Three


by xxxkodakmomentxxx

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“After this, only one more stop before Faerieland,” John told them.

      “What are we looking for, here?” Stanly asked.

      “Attention, all Lost Desert dwellers!” a tan-colored Aisha called. “I am the owner of the Sakhmet Battle Supplies store!” Along with a large group of other Neopians and lost desert neopets, the crew of six walked over to the store owner to hear his announcement. “It is time for our yearly competition!” The crowd cheered.

      “What do you think this is about?” Don asked.

      “Who knows?” Jane replied. “Let’s listen.”

      “Every year,” the Aisha continued, “I hide a very rare, expensive weapon in the sand dunes out in the desert. The person who finds it gets to keep it! This year, the weapon I’ve hidden is... a Sand Blade!”

      “The Sand Blade!” John gasped, turning to his crew. “Everyone, ye must work hard to find our treasure! We must save Faerieland!” Adjusting his eye patch, the crew could see John was now getting into serious pirate mode. “Avast, ye sailors! Let us begin the treasure hunt!” Before anyone could say a word, he ran away to search.

      “That man is weird,” Don commented. Everyone nodded.

      “I guess we should start looking then.” Jane shrugged.

      “The Sand Blade is the color of sand, so it’s going to blend in very nicely with the dunes. We may never find it,” Cellestia told them worriedly.

      “We have to,” Stanly replied.

      Splitting up, they all went their separate ways, digging through the sand and watching where they stepped, scanning every inch of the sand dune they were each climbing.

      Not paying attention to where he was going, Jory walked straight into a large object, banging his head pretty hard. Rubbing his forehead, he looked up to see the Coltzan’s Shrine.

      “Hello, young neopet,” a voice from the shrine said pleasantly. “I often get visitors, hoping for gifts. What is it that you desire?”

      “Um, I really need to know where the Sand Blade is hidden,” Jory told the voice.

      “The Sand Blade? Why, there is no Sand Blade hidden in these dunes.”

      “What?!” Jory asked with shock.

      “That is correct. It is not hidden in the sand dunes, but somewhere else.”

      “Where?! Please tell me! I need to know so we can save Faerieland!”

      “I will do what I can to help you,” the voice replied, and suddenly some food appeared in front of Jory.

      “What?! Wait, wait! This isn’t help! Come back! Oh, never mind.” The voice had long disappeared.

      Picking up his food, Jory stared at the Pyramicake the shrine had given him.

      “Blast him for a worthless... oh!” Really looking at the food, he noticed it was in the shape of a pyramid. “Haven’t I seen pyramids around here... yeah! Sutek’s Tomb!” Twirling around to his left, he could see in the far distance a pyramid, more widely known as Sutek’s Tomb.

       At full speed, Jory ran towards the pyramid desperately. “I can’t waste time getting the others. The Darkest Faerie and Jhudora could attack Faerieland at any time! I can do this alone.”

      Walking right inside the pyramid entrance, Jory gasped when the large tomb door shut behind him by itself.

      “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” a voice boomed. Petrified, Jory looked up to see Jhudora hanging above him in the air, staring down at him with the most intimidating glare he had ever seen in his entire life. Her eyes were nothing but a pool of darkness, and for a moment made Jory remember the everlasting darkness of the pound, where he would once again be after all of this was over.

      “Pathetic neopet. Trying so desperately to make people think all you want to do is save Faerieland, but really all you want is to be painted by the rainbow fountain faerie in the hopes of getting adopted. You are so selfish! You couldn’t care less what happens to anyone as long as you get your way.”

      Jory looked down. “That’s true. When this all first started, honestly, I really didn’t care all that much about what happened to Faerieland, or anything like that. I just wanted to be painted a different color. I wanted to be given a happy home with someone who would accept me for who I am, not just for how I look. I didn’t want to go back to that smelly pound with those terrible people, always having to watch cruel owners give up their neopets just so they could have room in their homes for prettier neopets. But after spending today with my crew, helping John and Cellestia in battles and working hard to find the weapons the faeries need to defeat you, I now don’t care anymore how long I have to stay in that stinky pound! I just want to save Faerieland and make Neopia proud!”

      Before Jhudora could reply, Jory rushed straight down the corridor of the tomb, not paying attention to the several wall paintings, doors, and separate hallways along the way. Jhudora did not bother to go after him, but instead poofed away into thin air, probably to go meet the Darkest Faerie somewhere.

      Gasping for breath, Jory slowed down and stopped at the end of the corridor, which had turned out to be much longer than expected. It had also gotten so narrow, that Jory’s body was only an inch away from each side of the wall. And yet, the corridor continued on.

      Not too far ahead, he could see what appeared to be a very large door. Continuing on, closer and closer to the door, he was surprised to find the corridor get wider again. However, he was even more surprised when he reached the door, and found it to only be the size and height of his head. The door was the perfect size for a baby neopet.

      “The ancient natives must have built this tomb using complicated imaging techniques, to trick trespassers,” Jory explained to no one in particular. Using just his claws, he opened the tiny door knob and poked the door open, squatting down and looking through the door out of his right eye.

      Glistening from the thin rays of the setting sun that shined through the small cracks in the tomb’s ceiling, Jory could make out what appeared to be... the Sand Blade!

      Reaching inside with his hand, his arm got stuck right before his hand could reach the blade. Yanking his arm back out, he really wished he wasn’t a mutant just long enough to use his tail to reach the blade. But as a mutant, his tail was even bigger than his arms.

      Trying to think of a way to get inside, he looked back down the corridor when he suddenly heard faint rumbling. Squinting, he could just barely make out something moving towards him. Something that must be big, since it was making the floor shake just slightly. As the object neared him, he could finally see what it was.

      “Giant boulder!” he yelled, looking every direction, trying desperately to find an escape. “Help! Help! Ah!” Screaming, he backed up, expecting to feel the wall the tiny door was on. Instead, he tumbled backwards through a giant doorway. Without questioning it, he stood up and, using all his strength, heaved the giant door shut. Immediately, the boulder banged against the door outside, not breaking the door, but holding it firmly shut. The door would not budge open in the least.

      “This tomb must have loads of magic spells put on it,” Jory mumbled to himself. “A tiny door turning into a giant one? A boulder three times my size rolling at me out of nowhere? Definitely magic.” Turning around, Jory soon spotted the Sand Blade. Lifting it up, he looked around. There was absolutely no way to escape.

      “I’m gonna die here,” Jory sobbed to himself. “After being so close to saving Faerieland, I’m gonna die here.”

      Staring up at the ceiling, Jory once again noticed the small cracks. Then looking around the room, he saw barrels, boxes, and several other hard, large items the ancient natives had probably stuck in there with their deceased king, Sutek, as such was the custom in the Lost Desert. Suddenly, an idea struck him.

      “Those cracks in the ceiling have sun light showing through them, which means that above the ceiling is the outside. If I can just pile these items on top of each other, I can climb up them and use this sword to make a giant hole in the ceiling that I can climb out of!”

      Performing his plan, he carefully stacked the barrels and boxes on top of one another, carefully checking each one to make sure it would not collapse under the weight of the other boxes, or of him.

      Finally, the stack of boxes reached the ceiling, and he gingerly climbed them up to the very top. Occasionally he’d feel a wiggle here or there, but ultimately the stack was sturdy and firm. Reaching up with the sword, he began stabbing it into the ceiling repeatedly in a circle, like a saw. The centuries old tomb ceiling easily crumbled by the sword’s sharp edge, and before long he had carved a hole just wide enough for him to climb through.

      Excitedly, Jory hopped onto the top of the pyramid and slid down the side to the bottom, rushing off towards everybody, waving the sword high in his hand.

      “I got it! I got it!” Jory yelled. “I found it! I found the Sand Blade!”

      “Yay, Jory!” Cellestia cried, hugging him. John came rushing up and patted him on the head fondly.

      “You’re amazing!” John praised as Jory handed him the blade.

      Jory smiled proudly as Don patted him on the back, and Jane and Stanly congratulated him.

      Pointing the sword towards the ship, John rushed forward. “Come along, ye shipmates. As me crew, you must follow me into the sunset!” They did.

      Aboard the ship, Jory stared excitedly ahead. Only one last stop, Maraqua, before they could bring the weapons to Faerieland and make Neopia proud.

      “Maraqua is over fifty miles away!” Cellestia told John. “That’s about a two hour trip.”

      “We don’t have two hours!” Don cried. “Jhudora and the Darkest Faerie are probably already up at Faerieland now, battling!”

      “Listen!” Jory said. “The blade was hidden in Sutek’s Tomb. Jhudora hid it there, I would suspect, because she appeared to me briefly while I was in there. And remember in Brightvale when King Hagan said Jhudora gave him the idea to make everyone who visits give him a piece of their wisdom? And how-”

      “What’s this shortcut?” Jane asked quickly, interrupting Jory and pointing at Cellestia’s map.

      Jory raised his eyebrow at Jane’s sudden outburst. Why would she think a shortcut was more important that discovering his theory of what Jhudora was doing? Or rather, being forced to do?

      “There is a shortcut,” Cellestia agreed, pointing it out to John on her map. “But there’s a whirlpool in the very center of the path. This is a twenty minute path if we can avoid the whirlpool. However, if we get sucked into it, who knows where we go? We’d be lucky if we made it out alive.”

      “It’s a risk we’ll have to take!” Jane said. “We need to get to Maraqua fast!”

      Jory looked hard at Jane. She looked very tense.

      “Hm, this really doesn’t look safe...” John shook his head.

      “You’re a great pirate! You can steer us through it!” Her voice was shaky.

      Now even Stanly, Don, and Cellestia were staring at Jane curiously. Why was she so tense?

      “Alright, alright.” John sighed, turning the ship a sharp left and taking it up through the shortcut. “Hold tight, mateys! We’re in for a bumpy riiiide--!” Suddenly, the ship began moving faster and faster. Cellestia clung on to Jory and her meowclops. Stanly retreated into the kitchen, while Don ran up beside John and began hoisting the sails, trying to catch a calmer wind.

      “We’re being dragged towards the whirlpool!” Cellestia called over the raging waters which were beginning to circle around and around, bringing the ship around with them. The ship rocked back and forth, to and fro, bobbing up and down, splashing seawater onto the deck of the ship. Jory could feel himself getting seasick.

      “Hold on tight! We’re going under!” John yelled. “Everyone, into the hold! It’s the only place on the ship with no open areas! When we go under, the water won’t get into the hold!” Hurriedly he opened the solid trap door and rushed each neopet into the hold. Finally, he got to Jane. “Come on!”

      Jane shook her head as a terrible grin slowly spread over her face. She laughed, ran over to the trap door, and slammed her beak into it, making a triangle-shaped hole. Laughing cruelly, she flew up off the ship.

      “Now you’ll all drown! Hahaha!” The truth became obvious. Jane had been the one that was the traitor all along. Quickly, she flew away to tell Jhudora and the Darkest Faerie that she had gotten rid of the pesky pirate crew once and for all.

      John still ducked down into the hold, closing the trap door. Ripping off a piece of his leather overcoat, crumpled it up a bit and shoved it into the hole until it fit very tightly and could hardly budge. The rest of the crew looked worriedly around and hung onto one another as the ship teetered one way, then completely fell over the other way. Instantly the ship went under, and they quickly sank farther and farther down. This really seemed to be the end.

      “We’ll be here until we starve,” Stanly cried.

      “Actually, within days, the trap door will crack under the water pressure and we’ll drown,” Cellestia said.

      “There’s no way we can swim up?!” Don asked.

      “The water pressure is too great for us to open the door,” Cellestia explained. “It’s pressing down on the trap door too much.” She shoved on it a bit to prove her words. “Besides, we’re thousands of feet under water. It would take approximately fifteen minutes for us to swim to the top.”

      “And there’s no way any of us can hold our breath that long,” John sighed. “I can barely hold mine for a minute.” Placing one arm around Cellestia and one around Jory, then gesturing Stanly and Don to sit up next to them, he smiled comfortingly. “I am a strong believer that something good comes out of everything. There’s always something positive about the situation.”

      “Like, when we die, Neopia will probably hang plaques in our honor, telling our brave story of how hard we tried to save Faerieland?” Don chimed.

      “Erm, well, yes, I suppose you can call that a good thing.”

      Suddenly, they heard a large crack coming from the trap door.

      “The water pressure is cracking open the door! We’re going to drown!” Stanly yelled.

      “I-It shouldn’t crack the door yet!” Cellestia stuttered. “It usually takes days!”

      “I don’t want to die here!” Don screamed.

      A second crack pierced a hole through the lock on the trap door. As sudden as the water that rushed in over them, four hands reached in and began pulling them out. As each one was pulled out, they were stuffed into large uniforms with helmets on them, a tube in the helmet connected to large holders on their backs filled with oxygen.

      Scuba-diving gear!

      “We heard about you guys traveling around Neopia, gathering the weapons needed to save Faerieland,” two Maraquan guards smiled as the Neopets breathed sighs of relief. “We heard descriptions of your ship from some of our land-friends. So of course, when we saw this ship while standing at our daily posts, we rushed over immediately to help.”

      “Thank you!” John grinned, shaking their hands vigorously.

      “Now, what’s the last weapon you need? We’ll be happy to give it to you. Anything to save our friends in the sky.”

      “We need a Maractite Battle Hammer,” John told them.

      Rifling through his uniform pocket, the guard pulled one out. “I always keep one with me. They’re very, very powerful.”

      Saluting the guards, John led his crew upwards. One of the guards pushed a button on his own guard uniform, and suddenly fire burst from the backs of John and the neopets’ gear, sending them super fast up through the water.

      Waterproof rocket-powered scuba-diving gear!

      Even when they reached the surface, the rocket engines kept blasting away. Excitedly, John holding all the weapons they had gathered on their journey, the five rushed up to the giant cloud in the sky.

      “Fyora!” John called out when they reached Faerieland. Faeries and faerie neopets began rushing around the heroes, all calling Fyora as well.

      Fyora, the light faerie, Illusen, the water faerie, the fire faerie, the battle faerie, and the rainbow fountain faerie rushed out to them. John handed them the weapons.

      “The Pink Faerie Snowball, the Flaming Dagger of Fire, the Skeletal Fire Gun, the Assassins Tunic, and the Sand Blade!” Fyora cried in delight. “We can now defeat the Darkest Faerie and Jhudora!” Holding up her own staff, the team of the strongest faeries in Neopia set out for Jhudora’s lair. But before they could move, the two evil faeries appeared before them in rage.

      “Attack!” Fyora said, not giving the two dark faeries a chance to say anything. The faeries began using the gathered weapons against the two faeries. The Darkest faerie shot out an orb of poisonous dark energy at Fyora, but she quickly placed the Assassins Tunic around her and deflected it. Illusen shot the Skeletal Fire Gun at Jhudora while the light faerie threw the Pink Faerie Snowball at the darkest faerie. The snowball exploded in her face, causing her to back up a bit.

      A fast attack from the rainbow faerie using the Sand Blade on Jhudora caused her to fall over, where Jory rushed over to her against John’s will.

      “Jhudora,” he said to the injured evil faerie. “The Darkest Faerie is using you!”

      “Pathetic, ugly neopet! You would never understand!” Jhudora rose and made a grab for him. Jory dodged it.

      “It’s true! Hasn’t she been making you do all the work? She made you set all the traps! She made you risk your life putting all the weapons into the Snowager’s cave. She made you go find Grarrg and convince him to attack us. She made you use your energy to create that giant whirlpool!”

      Just as Fyora threw the regenerated Pink Faerie Snowball at the Darkest Faerie again, the Darkest Faerie rushed behind Jhudora, causing the snowball to hit her instead.

      Jhudora was sent flying backwards, where Jory rushed to her once again.

      “And now she’s using you has a shield!”

      Jhudora stood up and faced the Darkest Faerie with an even darker look on her face.

      “You’re right,” Jhudora replied. “I’m evil, so I’m certainly not doing what I’m about to do to help Faerieland. But I’ll do it for myself, because no one uses me as a pawn!” Rushing at the Darkest Faerie, Jhudora slammed into her and sent her flying right into the middle of a circle the faeries had formed.

      “We’ve got you now,” Fyora told her. “You’ll pay for your insolence and treason, once and for all!”

      “No!” The Darkest Faerie screamed as the faeries held the weaponry together and used combined magic on it. The weaponry formed into one giant weapon, representing all the lands the separate weapons had come from. This weapon was so grand, Fyora had no intentions of even putting it in the Hidden Tower. Because this weapon was going to seal the Darkest Faerie away; it could seal anyone away.

      A golden light coming from the weapon surrounded the Darkest Faerie, then began sucking her back into the weapon itself. Once it did, the weapon turned black, and suddenly crumbled like ash. Fyora squatted down, picked up the ash in her hand, and blew on it. The ash turned to ice.

      Illusen opened her hand and a magical, unbreakable jar appeared. Fyora dropped the frozen ashes inside, sealed tight the jar, and clapped once. Instantly, the jar disappeared.

      “Where did it go?” Jory asked.

      “Far, far away. Deep into the depths of dreams and illusion. Guarded by ancient memories.”

      “So basically, it’s just plain gone. It’s nowhere.”

      “Right.” Fyora leaned down and patted each neopet on the head, as well as shook John’s hand. “You all were brave and good. Jane has been captured and must remain in the pound for the rest of her life as a punishment for treason.”

      “Oh! Where’d Jhudora go?” Cellestia asked? Jory looked around. She was right, she was gone.”

      “Probably back to her lair.” Illusen shrugged. “But we won’t go after her right now, since she too helped us defeat the Darkest Faerie.”

      “Even Jhudora has just a tiny bit of good in her, even if it’s just to help herself.” Fyora smiled.

      Later that evening, back in Neopia Central, the crew was surrounded by cheering Neopians and neopets. Little did they know, everyone in all of Neopia was cheering for them.

      “Nothing could ruin this happy moment!” Cellestia smiled tearfully, so filled with joy.

      “My Jory!” a familiar voice called, Jory’s former owner rushing forth. “I’m so proud of you! You’ve given our family respect!”

      “Our family? What family?” Jory replied. “You abandoned me!”

      “Well, now I’m here to take you home!” she huffed. “Won’t my friends be jealous when they find out my neopet saved Faerieland!”

      “You just want me to show off to your friends!” Jory yelled. “You don’t care about me!”

      “Look! You’re MY neopet, so you have to obey me! And we’re going home!”

      “ACTUALLY,” John said matter-of-factly, stepping in front of Jory, “he, and Cellestia, are MY neopets.”

      “He’s right,” Dr. Death agreed, stepping out from the still cheering crowd. “You signed papers stating you were really abandoning your neopet, and this morning before this began, John signed papers officially adopting Jory and Cellestia.”

      “But that was just temporary!” the woman screamed. “He’s my neopet again! I can adopt him again!”

      “Only if I re-pounded him,” John replied. “Which I have no plans to do. Over this past day, Jory, Cellestia, and I have grown very close. They aren’t just neopets anymore. They’re my family.” He turned to Jory and Cellestia, who was clutching her meowclops, and smiled. “I don’t have any neopets of my own. Would you two like to be mine?”

      “Yes!” they yelled excitedly in unison, jumping up and hugging him. He hugged them back.

      “John?” Cellestia asked timidly.

      “Yes?”

      “Can I be painted Royal by the rainbow faerie?”

      “Ha ha, sure! And what would you like to be painted, Jory?”

      “Hm,” Jory mumbled. He thought to himself all the colors Skeiths could be painted. “Actually, if you don’t mind...” He began.

      “Yes?”

      “I’d rather not be painted at all. Is that okay?”

      John smiled.

      “It’s not okay. It’s perfect. Because you’re perfect.”

      Happy at last, Jory, Cellestia, her meowclops, and John walked to their home together, hand-in-hand, with hearts filled with joy. And this time, there really was nothing that could ruin that moment.

The End

 
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Other Episodes


» A Quest for Faerieland: The Trilogy - Part One
» A Quest for Faerieland: The Trilogy - Part Two



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