Illusen the Kadoatie #4: Shiny the Warf

      After a nice Kadoatie nap on the comfiest park bench, Oblivia met up with and began to chat with some of her friends, giving me and Little Mooty permission to wander off as we pleased.

      "What do you think that cloud looks like?" I asked my Little Buddy.

      "I think it looks like... a piece of chocolate," he replied.

      "You think they ALL look like a piece of chocolate, Little Mooty!" I laughed.

      We both broke into fits of giggles as I lazily slumped my way along the the cleanly trimmed grass. Around our area of the incredibly large property sat two surprisingly polite Skeiths sharing a picnic, two Skeiths whom I believed were their children playing in a nearby pond.

      At least, that's all I thought was nearby.

      As I wobbled along a few more feet, it suddenly came into sight.

      All felt right with the world as soon as I perceived it in its full glory. It was an oak tree, but not just any old tree. It was both the thickest and tallest tree I had ever seen, equally both the width and height of a castle, if not more. Its bark was thick and deep, which made it perfect for scratching and climbing. The leaves were thicker than the bark, held by branches longer than all the hopes and dreams of the world combined, setting what felt like the entire world in an eternal shadow.

      I simply had to climb up it.

      I ran at the speed of light over to the roots, then with the fierce pounce of a true warrior, I leaped onto the tree and sunk my claws into its bark.

      After I found myself sticking to the tree, I had to keep in a squeal of excitement as I continued to climb high above the light green grass below me.

      "Woohoo, go Illusen!" Little Mooty cheered. "That's my little daredevil; freeing herself from domestic life and going on a real adventure!"

      The little guy's tone quickly changed, though, as I eventually found myself very close to the top of the tree. I may not have looked down, but I had a good idea how high I was thanks to my ears brushing up against a small cloud.

      "Uhh, Illusen... not to kill your fiery spirit or anything, but I feel like we're starting to get a bit... gulp... high."

      Ignoring his complaint for a few seconds, I climbed steadily up onto the final branch at the very tippy top of the tree. It was then that I took the curious yet admittedly daring act of finally looking down.

      I felt a horrible lurch in my stomach that almost- and thank goodness it didn't - threw off my balance entirely. Down below me was what looked like millions of feet of nothing but leaves and branches, perfect for scratching me over and over if I fell. I couldn't see the ground directly below me, but I could see spots of the surrounding park through the leaves, but it didn't help my anxious plight at all when I saw absolutely no sign of Oblivia.

      I was speechless for only a few seconds before my natural instincts kicked in, and then, all of sudden, I began to scream at the top of my lungs, possibly the loudest screech I had ever erupted from my lungs.

      "Wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" shouted Little Mooty.

      I immediately stopped my wailing, then looked over at Little Mooty on my tail, my cheeks glowing with slight embarrassment at my actions.

      "Okay, 'kay..." he said, as though the cogs in his brain were still at work as he spoke. "I've got it; I'll go alert the Warf Rescue Team, they'll get you out of this mess!"

      "Wait, Moot, WAIT!"

      Apparently he didn't hear me, as he merely continued to scurry down the bark. It wasn't too long until he was lost from sight, leaving me with nothing better to do than to sit on the branch in my own grumpiness and wait for him to return.

      If you're wondering why I'm so grumpy, I'll answer you in one word; Warfs. I HATE Warfs!

      Ok, now you may be wondering why I would hate Warfs, considering that so many Neopians seem to consider them the most adorable little Angels to ever live... well, I'll tell you why. Warfs simply aren't trustable. Of course, I could never hate them as much as Jhudora, but they came pretty close. Back when I was just a little kitten in the Mystery Island Training Center, I was chased around the place for hours and hours by a whole pack of bullying Invisible Warfs. It was a truly horrible experience, and I thank the stars everyday that Oblivia eventually came and bought me, freeing me from the presence of Warfs for the rest of my life. My ears always twitch furiously whenever I think about it.

      So imagine how I felt when I heard a loud sound like a catapult, then found a blue Warf floating to the ground below me on a parachute.

      At first I thought I could grin in bear it, but after watching Warf after Warf stack upon the former, I made the crazy decision to flee before they could get too near me. I sank my claws in the bark and began to hastily climb down, my paws practically flying from one spot to the other. I had only made it so far though when I reached a particularly weak spot of tree bark, causing it to break off and me to fall from Faerieland knows how high up.

      It all happened in a blur. All I could see were blobs of brown and green flying past me, branches hitting and scratching me, the whole ride getting faster and faster by the second.

      And then, it stopped.

      I looked up, and had to keep myself from screaming at the sight.

      A Starry Warf had caught me!

      "Hi there," he said. "Now, I'm just going to carry you down with my parachute..."

      He wrapped one paw around me to hold me, and that was when I lost it. I squirmed out of his grasp and pounced into the air, ready for another daring blur of flight... only to realise he had caught me by my tail.

      "Whoa now, I know it's a scary experience, but you just have to trust me until we get down to the ground, then you can frolic off to your owner and forget we ever met."

      I hissed fiercely as he brought me back into his grasp. His other arm grabbed his parachute. He leaped off the tower of Warfs and quickly opened the parachute, leaving me to dread the now much slower way down.

      "Wait a minute..." I began. "Aren't I supposed to climb down your little Warf tower? Why did you just fly me down?"

      "Well..." he began, licking his lips as though he were nervous. "You see, I just wanted to, err... get to know you personally." He rushed out this last sentence, and it only made me more thankful when we finally reached the ground.

      "Well, thank you very much," I said in an almost mockingly fake voice. "But I simply must go now..."

      I felt Little Mooty jump into my fur from where he must have been waiting for me, beginning to ramble about what must have been a glorious adventure of getting the Warf Rescue Team to come save me. However, I couldn't spare the energy to listen to his babbling, as my attention was entirely set on getting back to Oblivia as soon as possible.

      But then, something very, very strange happened.

      After I ran only a few feet away, I found myself mysteriously looking back at the Starry Warf. He was still sitting there like a jolly little kid, as though he had been waiting for me to stare at him.

      As if this wasn't strange enough for me, I found myself walking back to him, and soon enough I was standing right in front of him! But if this wasn't insane behaviour already, things pretty much just snowballed from there....

      "My... my name is Illusen," I said, standing high with what I hoped looked like a prideful stature.

      "I'm Shiny," he said brightly. "You know, like a star."

      I allowed myself to giggle slightly at his silly name, then said, "Welp, I need to get back to my owner, Oblivia. Thanks again for saving me."

      "Oblivia?!" he asked in such excitement that it made me jump. "You mean, Oblivia the Usuki Usul?!"

      "Uhhh... yeah."

      "What a lovely coincidence!" he replied. "My owner is a Usuki Boy Usul named Rocko, and he was just talking to her this morning! I was with him, but I had to leave to come rescue you."

      It suddenly clicked. I knew Rocko; he was a close friend of Oblivia, but I never knew he owned a Warf!

      "Oh, well, Oblivia is probably still talking to her friends, so... you just wanna come with me?" I asked.

      "Of course!"

      The two of us began to walk back through the park, Little Mooty deciding to stay quiet for some reason or another. I never thought I would ever say this, but while my head was saying to flee, my heart never wanted this walk with him to end.

      Maybe not all Warfs were bad.

The End