When Neopia Turns Evil: Part Six

      "Spike! Kroost! Darlings! Welcome to Altador!" announced the Darkest Faerie.

      In an instant, the stadium filled up with thousands of dark faeries until the whole place was packed. The Darkest Faerie flew down into the stadium wearing an Altador Cup uniform. Spike tried to attack, but Kroost held him back.

      "Welcome, little heroes. Every since Xandra and I froze every hero, Shoyru, Uni, faerie, and anyone unwilling to join our side, it's gotten very boring. I go around and taunt the frozen Altador council and laugh in their faces like some pets like in mind. But alas, it gets boring. I used to watch the Altador Cup when I was but a small faerie and thought, 'Hey! Why not challenge the little heroes to a match?'

      "So I waited until you came here. The rules are simple: you two versus two of me, no cheating because even though I'm a dark faerie, I will always honor Altador Cup, and it will be a regular Yooyuball. If I win, you guys will be my prisoner. If you win, I will give you the power to once and only once turn me into a statue and dump me into the ocean. Deal?" asked the faerie.

      "Why are you being so nice?" asked Kroost.

      "Well, it's so boring here and I need some fun! Come on!"

      "Fine, deal then."

      She smiled and snapped her fingers. In an instant, Kroost and Spike were wearing Team Altador uniforms and were transported to their side of the field. The crowd was cheering as the Yooyuball was raised into the stadium. Spike immediately flew after it. He held the Yooyuball and tossed it to Kroost who scored the first goal. Usually, you only need five goals to win so this was going to be a snap.

      But that was until the Darkest Faerie scored three goals while they weren't looking! How was that possible?!

     ~~~

      It was match point in the game. Spike and Kroost were exhausted while the Darkest Faerie wasn't even breaking a sweat! Spike looked closely at the field and noticed there were three other shadows. There were invisible faeries around her! Spike decided to teach her a lesson and fly into one of them. The faerie turned visible and the Darkest Faerie looked flustered.

      "You cheated! Since you cheated, we win by default!" shouted Kroost.

      "Fine, I shall give my power to Spike and you can freeze me!" she announced.

      A dark beam came from her hands and into Spike's. Before he could freeze her, she said, "You've got to find me first!"

      Soon, all the faeries from the stadium started to fly up with her and scatter all around. Spike couldn't tell which faerie was which! Before he could shoot at any of them, Kroost was forced to cover his hands with a pair of gloves.

      "My owner gave them to me because of my fire hooves. This will absorb the power and give it back to you. Don't take them off until we know it's the real her. Now, where would she be?" asked Kroost.

      "Faerieland with Xandra, toasting their success. I know she'll be there. Let's get out of here!" Spike and Kroost found their packs in one of the stadium seats and headed for Faerieland, kissing the dark faeries goodbye.

     ~~~

      They arrived in Faerieland to see it was in horrible shape. Flowers wilting, water murky, and overall horrible. "It wasn't like this when we were here," Kroost pointed out.

      "The Darkest Faerie probably made it like this. The sooner we freeze her, the better." They walked around the city to find it in ruins.

      They looked all over but couldn't find a trace of them. "It's hopeless! They aren't here!" Spike proclaimed.

      "We haven't checked there," Kroost said, pointing into the air.

      "Where are you pointing to?" asked Spike.

      "Just get on my back and trust me," said Kroost.

      Spike jumped on Kroost's back and Kroost flew up into the air. When they got up high enough, they went into an invisible window and into what looked like a store. It was full of expensive items such as paint brushes, weapons, and very exclusive books. Spike was shocked he had never been here before. Before he could grab a paint brush, he heard the cackling of two very evil villains.

      "It's Xandra and the Darkest Faerie," Spike whispered.

      He took the Fire and Ice Blade and started walking down a large spiral staircase. Once they reached the end, they saw Xandra and the Darkest Faerie, toasting to their success. Spike felt so enraged that he went back up to get the Slorg Flakes. He came back down to notice the ladies left their drinks untouched.

      Spike quickly poured the Slorg Flakes into their drinks. When they came back to take a sip, they both turned into Slorgs! Spike walked over and laughed at the two.

      He pointed both his pointer fingers at them and said, "Mess with me, get the horns."

      In the blink of an eye, they both turned to stone. Just to make sure they were gone, he cut both of them in half with the Fire and Ice Blade.

      "Who next?" asked Spike.

      "Lord Darigan. It's odd, I remember being on a peace treaty, right?" asked Kroost.

      "I don't know but we got to prepare for anything. Next stop: Darigan Citadel."

     ~~~

      They flew in quick haste to Darigan Citadel to see minions working on building a bigger castle for Lord Darigan. They flew down into the land and noticed that nobody was paying attention to them.

      "They have no pupils or irises. They're obviously hypnotized. We'll get in with no problem," Kroost said.

      They got to the doors of the castle to see it unguarded and locked. They inspected the door to see it was a platinum door. The Fire and Ice Blade wasn't strong enough to break it because the fire would melt it but the ice would seal it back up again.

      "I got a plan, but you have to concentrate really hard. We're going to melt the platinum using your fire hooves and my magic torch. It might take us a while, got it?" asked Spike.

      Kroost had already started. What he was doing was rubbing both his hooves in one big circle. Spike was doing the same. In about ten minutes, Kroost had cut a hole and Spike had cut a smaller hole. They both went inside to see babbling babies on the ground, crawling and crying. Where was Lord Darigan?

      They walked around the palace to see no valuables, no paintings, nothing but curtains, doors, carpet, and a few windows and torches letting in light. "What happened? I remember taking a tour of this place and there were so many paintings and vases and such. I wonder what happened," Kroost wondered.

      "Maybe they sold it all to pay for all the stuff the minions are working with. Come on! We need to find Lord Darigan!" Spike exclaimed.

      They made a beeline to the throne room to see a playpen with a baby Korbat. "Lord Darigan isn't in here! It's just a baby!" Kroost complained.

      "I am Lord Darigan!" said the baby.

      "You are?" asked Kroost.

      "Yes, I am. Didn't you guys know that Lord Darigan was a Korbat?" he asked.

      They both shook their heads no. "Well, it's time for us to stop you! What should we do with him, put him in a time out or something?" asked Spike.

      "Maybe. Maybe we can feed him vegetables. I know babies hate vegetables," said Kroost.

      "You'll never get me!" Lord Darigan shouted.

      In the blink of an eye, Lord Darigan had transformed into the same, hideous, fire beast he was before he turned back to normal. What could they do? When they faced Captain Scarblade, they had the temporary color on. Now, Kroost and Spike had nothing they could use. "Why was he a baby before?" Spike asked.

      "I don't know!" screamed Kroost.

      Before Kroost and Spike could attack, a strong wind came into effect. Soon, Lord Darigan was gone in the blink of an eye! Kroost and Spike were very confused. What had happened to Lord Darigan? Were his slaves revolting and trapping him? No, they were still working like nothing had happened. A cloud of dust formed when the wind came in. Soon, two figures came up.

      "Be ready," said Spike as he grabbed his Fire and Ice Blade.

      When the dust cleared, there was a royalgirl Shoyru and a royalboy Uni. "Who are you?" asked the Shoyru.

      "We're the chosen ones. Who are you?" asked Spike.

      "No, we're the chosen ones, Cherry the Shoyru and Norman the Uni. Judge Hog told us so," said Cherry.

To be continued...