Pipes: Part Six

      “What time of day do you suppose it is?” I asked Daniel, then looking at Mom for a second opinion.

      “I feel well rested; it should be about time for the wake up call,” Mom said, feeling her cheek for the burn, which had happily left her beautiful face. I noticed Daniel looking at her oddly again. He was going to have to figure out that she was his love soon, maybe when the lights under the pipes weren’t so dim, when they were up in Neopia Central.

      “Remember, Nuld,” Daniel whispered, just in case Lionel was listening in, “Keep the key in your fur until you reach the pothole. Your fur has done a great job of keeping it well in, and we don’t want you running with pressure on you if you only could run with three paws.” I nodded back at him, and tied another knot through the key for one last piece of safety.

      It was a fabulous thing that Daniel had whispered, because Lionel was stomping himself to our door the very second, with his normal wake up call. He didn’t suspect a thing, and it was hard not to give anything away. But I stayed calm and looked annoyed for Lionel to assume that everything was the same, terrible day as always.

      “Out we go, my Xweetoks!” Lionel pounded on the door, and then he trudged away. His voice was slow, which meant he probably didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before, probably moaning that the key was gone. Of course, this was a good thing because he’d fall asleep on his chair much more quickly than normal.

      We were all more than excited to get out, but had to use the acting skills to take a long time to get up to the main part of the underground. After, say, ten minutes, we were all standing out near the sewage pool.

      “Today, men and women, we are doing the same thing that we’ve done for five years. Cleaning,” Lionel said, awaiting the ever occurring laugh from the Skeith. Lionel was delirious; he’d used that joke so often now, sometimes even in the middle of cleaning, like yesterday.

      “Has he said that for all the time you’ve been here?” I asked Daniel.

      “Well, when he supposes that the year has changed, he’ll up the number, but basically, yes.” He giggled his childish laugh that was so unusual concerning his tone of voice when he normally spoke.

      Everyone got on the surfboard, and we were all anxious for the both of them to fall asleep. But as twenty minutes went by, like clockwork, Lionel and the Skeith fell fast asleep. Daniel was a bit paranoid of them, and he made sure I should go by falling into the sewage pool while they were sleeping, since that got Lionel and the Skeith ticked off.

      After everything was announced safe, Daniel looked at me and pointed to a small tunnel at the end, right past the chairs.

      “You just follow the tunnel, and then a pipe goes directly up. I take it you can find the pothole; you’ve lived there your entire life,” he explained, and I nodded again.

      “I hope I can save you all. If he wakes up, and I return... all is lost. He’ll take the key and...” Daniel put his paw to my mouth.

      “Be quiet and stop being such a pessimist. You might as well go now, before they even do wake up.” Daniel booted my surfboard over to the end, and the Wockies stopped dead on their own boards. One pointed at me, and they all looked at Daniel who put his paw to his mouth and told them to keep quiet.

      I scampered through the tunnels, as quick as I could, but also as quietly as I could. All the pressure was loaded on me. Of course, I was the fastest out of all the captives, so I tried as hard as I could. Until I heard loud stomps, I’d know that I was safe.

      Finally, I made it to the pipe that stuck straight out of the ground. My claws felt more than alive when they touched the familiar surface, and began running straight up, making only a small clink every few seconds. As smart as I was, I even remembered to tuck my tail up. No trudge came from behind.

      And then, I had made it to even more familiar ground. All at once, my instincts returned, and I knew exactly where I was, as if there was a map screwed into my head.

     Right when I took the step onto the main pipe, I heard a tremble and a shout. My heart began to race, and I took more and more steps up, keeping a pace since I knew there were still a couple miles up.

      “Nuld!” a light, squeaky voice came from below. Lionel was trying to hypnotize me again with his childish, fake sounds. No word came from my mouth, for as sure as a sound came, he would know exactly where to go.

      The familiarity was consoling, and I sprinted up and up the pipes. Lionel’s pants soon could be heard, very faint, but still heard. My eyes widened, and the pothole light became visible. An escape was calling out my name, but the large weight at the bottom pulled me back.

      “Come on, Nuld, you can’t escape without the key!” He growled, but I heard him swallow, stop running, and growl even more, “You little rascal, you found it, didn’t you!”

      Nothing came from me. I wasn’t that dumb to give away my whereabouts in one word. But I looked back, and the orange blob was gaining. It was odd thinking about how a Tonu could climb pipes quicker that a tunnel Xweetok. He got closer, and closer.

      When I thought all was lost, my instincts remembered a pipe in the shadows, something that wasn’t visible, even to me. Knowing if I only went up, he would catch me, so I leapt over to the invisible pipe. My hands clutched around it, and Lionel had thought I’d fallen. The pothole was but a few yards up. Lionel looked up and down, not seeing me, or me below. We were both frozen.

      Then, his five years down in a sewer kicked in. He laughed and told himself how he’d get that key from dead old Nuld and take Delia up without a child. It tickled my spine how ruthless he was. The Tonu trudged down the pipes, and when I couldn’t hear him anymore, I climbed forth once more.

      And as lovely as it was, I reached the pothole, and found the hole for the key, and mangled out the very strong knots, pulling out the rusty old thing that’d save us all. It took a few bites of fur to get it out, but when it pushed it into the hole, it was worth it. My claws pushed the top of it up, and I climbed out, into Neopia Central.

      I shut the pothole back on, so when Lionel realized he had been tricked, it would still be impossible for him to come out. Then, I walked through Neopia Central, in search for the defenders. That was when my reading skills came in handy, since Mom had forgotten to describe it to me.

      Neopia Central was beautiful and bright, and it reduced my eyes to those of my mother. There was no time for looking around, for when I saw a huge building with the spelling of what I took as ‘defenders,’ I skipped myself inside. The strange tusked animal looked at me with a sneer.

      “What do you need?” the seemingly hog asked. It took me almost ten minutes spilling the whole story, and I wouldn’t want to waste time telling you what I had said to Judge Hog (the Moehog’s name) since I had just explained all that happened to you.

      “...and that’s the story, I need a squad quickly, so Lionel doesn’t hurt anyone from anger,” I pleaded, and bent forth at his knees. He stood tall and boasted a big set of muscles.

      “I’ll take care of this on my own. Think of the publicity! Delirious Tonu and long lost pets saved miles underground!” He squealed with delight, but then looked serious once more, and apologized for the happiness within the very much more serious event going on.

      Shaking my hand, I dragged him quickly to the pothole, which was very conveniently placed right next door to the book shop, which was how I remembered where it was.

      Judge Hog opened up the pothole, only to find Lionel in tears, pounding at the ceiling of it. He yanked the terrible Tonu out, and ran back to the office as quick as a speeding bullet. Lionel was already put into a cell for the moment, as Judge Hog had told me.

      We both climbed down, leaving the pothole open with a sign reading, ‘Do Not Close by the order of the defenders,’ and I led the Moehog down the miles of pipes.

      Finally we all came to the flat ground of the sewage pools, and Daniel waited with Mom and the Wockies. Everyone’s face lit up when they saw me back with the defender instead of Lionel. I laughed when I saw that the Skeith was still fast asleep.

      “We’ll keep that guy down here for a while. Serves him right,” Hog said, the rest of us agreeing. I led the way back up the pipes, where many of the animals saw the light of day for the first time in over five years. Hog and I pulled the tired Wockies out, and they scattered over Neopia Central, in search for their lost owners, who would faint of happiness to see them.

      The last to come out were Mom and Daniel. Then, a magical moment arrived, when Mom’s face was fully visible, out in the sunlight. Daniel looked at her, awestruck. He dropped to his knees and gazed. She blushed.

      “You didn’t remember, Daniel,” my mom, Delia, cried happily. He held her hand in his paw.

      “Delia. You went after me and trapped yourself.” Daniel got up and wrapped his arms around Mom, hugging her.

      “Daniel?” Delia said, waiting for the nod. “Nuld is your son.” Daniel looked at me with wide eyes, and his black coat glittering in the son, and held my hand. With that, we walked out into Neopia Central, the sun setting behind our backs.

The End