When Neopia Turns Evil: Part Four

      "I happened!" said a voice in the trees.

      Kroost turned around to the dark figure in the trees. "Count Von Roo!" yelled Kroost.

      "Yes, it is I, Count Von Roo. Your stupid friend came out in the middle of the night to walk around and I found him. Then I decided to bite him! I know you guys are the chosen ones, so now I'm going to bite you!" Count Von Roo said.

      He dove down onto Kroost to bite him, but ended up eating Kroost's body. "How are you made of dust?!" asked the Count while he was spitting out dust.

      "I'm a Halloween Uni and Halloween Unis are mummies. Aren't the bandages obvious?" asked Kroost.

      The Count ran back into the trees and disappeared again. Kroost looked back towards Spike and picked him up. Kroost ran from the bazaar to the hospital to look up his condition. He entered the hospital and put Spike down on a chair. He found a book and started looking through it.

      "Symptoms, symptoms, what are his symptoms?!" yelled Kroost.

      He stopped and looked very closely at the page. "'This is a nasty illness that needs urgent medical attention. Your pet will feel sick, tired, and grumpy until you give it the cure. It is a very common illness that can be given by Count Von Roo! The cures are Medical Soap here or a Warm Green Blanket in the Lost Desert!' I have no time! I just need the soap!"

      Kroost searched cabinet after cabinet for the soap when he finally found some. He washed it a little and rubbed it all over Spike. When Spike woke up, he looked perfectly normal.

      "Alright, buddy?" asked Kroost.

      "Fine, thanks. We need to get Count Von Roo. It's daytime so he won't be able to attack in the sun without getting fried," said Spike.

      "The problem is going to be finding him. There are a million trees in Neopian Central and he escaped through them!" exclaimed Kroost.

      Spike opened his backpack, took out a pair of goggles, and said, "Not with these. Heat seeking goggles Hannah got in her NC Mall Gift. They're really cool!"

      Spike put them on and said, "Let's ride."

     ~~~

      Once Spike and Kroost were done packing up from the store, Spike hopped on Kroost's back and said, "I'll tell you which way to go so then I won't lose you."

      They left the store and went into the woods. Kroost walked carefully so he would not make too much noise. They silently went through the woods for one hour until they reached Count Von Roo. All he was doing was sleeping in a tree. Spike carefully climbed onto the tree and onto the tree branch. He opened the Count's mouth and poured half the bottle in. That's when Count Von Roo woke up.

      He tried to bite Spike's hand off, but luckily Spike jumped off the branch in time. The Count was gagging on the juice but still had enough energy to chase Kroost and Spike.

      "Go, go, go!" shouted Spike.

      Kroost started to gallop through the woods and into the bazaar. The Count was getting weaker and Spike could tell. Spike took some of the juice and poured it onto his hands. When Count Von Roo got too close to Spike, Spike punched him! Spike could hear the Count falling apart!

      "Stop!" commanded Spike.

      Kroost stopped and turned around. All he saw was a pile of ash. "What?" asked Kroost.

      "That pile of ash is Count Von Roo. I punched him with the garlic juice on my hands and he just fell apart! What do we do now?" Spike asked.

      "Put him in the garlic juice bottle in case he tries to come back alive," said Kroost.

      Spike picked up any ashes and put it inside the bottle. They decided to do something nice and ride to Roo Island and put the bottle inside his coffin. When they got to the coffin, they lifted the lid and dropped the bottle inside.

      "What now?" asked Kroost.

      Spike turned towards Faerieland and said, "The Rainbow Fountain."

     ~~~

      They arrived in Faerieland and saw that even the Rainbow Fountain Faerie was frozen.

      "Okay, now what? Only she can activate the magic fountain water!" Kroost complained.

      Spike dove into the water and found out it's deeper than it looked. He looked around the waters until he spotted what he needed: the knob. This knob turned on the waters to on, off, or temporary. The Rainbow Fountain Faerie only used temporary for pets and owners who needed to be punished. He turned the knob to temporary and swam up.

      "Baby!" he yelled in the waters.

      When he came out, he was a small baby Shoyru with a yellow one-piece pajama. "Spike! Where are you?!" yelled Kroost.

      "It's me, Kroost! I'm only temporarily a baby! My plan is to sneak onto the ship as harmless babies and send Captain Scarblade overboard. That means you will have to become a baby too," Spike said in a baby voice.

      "Fine, but how long will it last?" asked Kroost.

      "About two days, so we have to make it last. We have to get on the ship by this afternoon and make sure they don't get suspicious. Now jump in!"

      Kroost dived into the fountain as Spike got out. When Kroost got out, Spike was trying to hold back his laughter.

      "What?" asked Kroost.

      "You're pink," he confessed.

      Spike started laughing on the ground while Kroost looked at himself in the fountain water.

      "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" asked Kroost.

      "Maybe. Now, let's get to the top of Faerieland and wait for Captain Scarblade."

     ~~~

      They flew up to the top of Faerieland (even though it took a while with their tiny wings) and waited on the cliff. Spike pulled out Ming and two Wooden Toy Swords. He handed one to Kroost.

      "Why did you give me a toy sword?" asked Kroost.

      "So it looks like we want to be pirates. And Ming is also a pirate petpet," Spike said as he stared at Ming.

      Spike had only realized how small he was now compared to Ming. "Should I take out Bugga?" asked Kroost.

      "No, Ming will be enough." Soon enough, Captain Scarblade's ship appeared over the horizon.

      Spike started sword fighting with Kroost until the ship arrived. Pirates started to climb down the rope ladder from the ship and started to stare at Spike and Kroost.

      "Captain, we have two little babies trying to be pirates! Shall we kidnap them and make them walk the plank?" asked a Pirate Acara.

      The Captain came down from the ship to inspect the babies. "They are a Shoyru and a Uni! They might be the chosen heroes! We must tell Xandra!"

      Kroost thought fast and said, "Chosen what? Our mommies disappeared and we've been saying hi to all the faeries, but they won't talk to us! Maybe you cool pirates could tell us why?"

      Captain Scarblade stared at Kroost and took in every word. "We could use a few deckhands. Take them on board and find them a cabin. Maybe we can find them two pirate paint brushes and paint them. Take the Mirgle on board too."

      Three pirates carried Kroost, Spike, and Ming on board. When they reached their cabin, Spike climbed to one of the hammocks and started looking inside his pack.

      "What now?" asked Kroost.

      Spike pulled out a cutlass and a steel staff. "Good with a cutlass?"

      "Kind of. I've seen a ton of pets do it and it doesn't look so hard. I'm better with the staff. Are you good with a cutlass?" asked Kroost.

      "Great. I get the cutlass and you get the staff. We'll attack Scarblade when we morph back to normal."

      "What if they don't trust us and keep us under guard?"

      "They'll trust us. After all, we're just a couple of big babies."

     ~~~

      They stayed in their cabin until dinner. When two pirates came into their cabin, they grabbed them and brought them to dinner. Ming followed. They were put into what looked like wooden booster seats.

      A pirate Techo said, "Carved them myself."

      A pirate cook came over and gave them mushy vegetables and gruel. Spike and Kroost ate and ate until they couldn't eat anymore. They were taken into their cabins and tucked into bed.

      "Who knew these pirates could be so nice to what was soon to be their downfall?" asked Kroost.

      "You know the plan?" asked Spike.

      "Let Bugga and Ming out to distract everyone while we find as many weapons as possible and throw them out the window, right?"

      "Yes, but we have to not get caught and make sure Ming and Bugga don't find us."

      "I know, I've told Bugga and he's waiting to be released."

      "I'll open the door and you let Bugga out. Ming will follow." Spike flew over to the door and using all his baby strength, he opened the door.

      Kroost released Bugga and Bugga ran out the door. Ming followed. Spike and Kroost could hear all the commotion with all the pirates going on outside. Soon, the noise started to drift off to the upper part of the ship. Then they were off!

To be continued...