The Flood that Brought Trouble

     Spike the blue Shoyru didn’t like going to Neoschool. In fact, he had tried almost every excuse in the book to get out of Neoschool but his owner, Hannah, was too smart for that. “Well, I guess if you have Ugga-Ugga, you can’t tell me whether or not you still want to be painted stealthy one day,” Hannah would say as Spike laid in bed.

      “Of course I want to be stealthy!” Spike would proclaim before realizing he ruined his lie.

      Spike wasn’t the smartest Neopet in the land but he also wasn’t the dumbest. One day, he asked his brother, Konjik the baby Kiko the following question: “How do you get out of Neoschool?”

      “I’m a baby that studies magic. I think that warrants me being able to get out of simple learning. Plus, I’m, like, really smart dude.”

      “Do you know any spells that would get me out of Neoschool?” Spike asked, hopeful that his younger brother would have the insight as to how he could get out of class.

      “I know hundreds of possible spells and scenarios that could get you out of class but I’m not gonna tell you any of them because learning is important and you obviously need to learn a thing or two.” What Kon didn’t realize was he basically gave Spike the answer to his question: a spell.

      While Konjik was out, Spike snuck into his room to start searching for a book. Spike wanted to get out of Neoschool and was going to do anything to do it. Then Spike came across a book labelled Weather Spells. Perfect, thought Spike.

      Spike put the book on Kon’s desk and started to flip through it. Unfortunately, a lot of the spells were in a language Spike could barely understand. For a second, Spike thought that Neoschool might be worth it for the ability to understand more than the common language but that thought was quickly replaced with the idea of causing Neoschool to be cancelled due to a severe snowstorm. He found a spell that had the word “storm” in it and made the assumption that it was going to be a massive snow storm. “Great!” he proclaimed.

      Spike read the incantation inside the book as best as someone who is novice in the ways of magic could and quickly put the book away. “Now tomorrow, I won’t have to go to school!” he said as he proudly walked out of Kon’s room.

     ~~~

      “Hannah, something’s wrong!” said a faerie Poogle as she looked out the door. Hannah quickly ran over to the door and saw what she meant: a giant flood. Giant was an understatement, actually, as the Creep family lived on one of the tallest hills in Shenkuu and flooding was virtually impossible without flooding the rest of the world. Hannah stood in shock with Ann as the rest of the family came to the door.

      All eighteen members of the Creep family was near some sort of window to the outside and looked over the cascade of water that surrounded their house. “How is this possible? We never get floods, and not ones that are possibly this large,” Markeene the Christmas Nimmo asked.

      Everyone was concerned and talking over each other except for Spike, who was concerned this was his doing. Did I do the spell right? Is this my fault? Oh my Fyora this is totally my fault, Spike thought as he panicked.

      “Everyone remain calm! We should check on our neighbors because there could be a lot of problems if everyone is truly underwater and this isn’t just a Shenkuu-isolated weather incident,” Hannah said, trying to get everyone to stop talking.

      “Maybe we should also get help and keep our house open as a place where people who may need help can come and stay dry!” a blue Hissi suggested.

      “You’re right Louis. I’ll stay here and I’ll have you guys split into teams. Team A will swim underwater to check the buildings around Shenkuu to see if anyone is underwater and needs help. Team B will take to the skies and try to fly to other lands to find out if anyone has any idea what’s happening. Team C will sail around to try and pick up other Neopets who may need help.” Most of Hannah’s family agreed to her plan until a ghost Usul piped up.

      “That’s great and all but we don’t have a boat. How do you expect us to sail around without something to sail with?” Ursula asked, more concerned than conceited.

      Hannah smiled and ran out of the room. A few minutes later, she came back with a boat, a handful of pills, and a water bottle. She put the pills inside of the bottle and shook it until the pills were completely dissolved. Then, Hannah put a few drops on the boat and put it right outside the door, into the water. In less than a few seconds, the boat grew to be large enough to hold over twenty pets. A pirate Lutari and a yellow Xweetok squealed with joy. Lily, the pirate Lutari, ran up to Hannah and asked, “Can I be captain of team C?!”

      Hannah made Lily let go of her and said, “Sorry Lily but you’re a Lutari and you’re more meant for Team A. Keen, on the other hand, can be a captain, if she wants to.”

      The yellow Xweetok screamed with joy and jumped onto the ship. “Okay, Team A will be Markeen, Joey, Harmony, Ursula, and Lily. You guys can either split up or stick together. Either way, make sure to come back in one piece. Team B will be Spike, Chris, Arenesia, Louis, and Bonzi. Team C will be Ann, Konjik, Lazir, Yan, Julian, Keen, and Kimmy. Any questions?” Hannah asked.

      “Can I be on team C instead? I’d rather be in a boat than flying in the air constantly,” Spike asked.

      “I’ll switch with him. Haven’t been in the air for a while so it’ll be good exercise,” Ann explained.

      “Alright, can’t argue with that logic. Just make sure to return home safely. The safety of this family is a number one priority. Only bring your petpets if you think you can protect you and your petpet. If you think that a moment could arrive where you and your petpet could be attacked and you can’t save your petpet, leave them here. They’re safer here. Any more questions?”

      No one asked anything else. One by one, everyone got into their teams. A few pets brought their petpets along with them, others didn’t bother. Team A headed out first, diving deep into what used to be the hill the Creep family lived on. Team B headed to the roof of the Neohome and launched off into the sky, heading to Altador first. Team C was pushed off into the new ocean and, with the help of Spike’s wings and Kon’s magic, moved at a breakneck speed. “We must find land!” Keen proclaimed as the ship moved away from the Neohome, the image of Hannah waving goodbye leaving them.

      “If only Faerieland was still in the sky. We could just stop there,” Kimmy, the blue Kougra said as she looked forward.

      “So, why do you guys think this happened?” Julian, the green Kyrii, asked.

      Spike laughed nervously and said, “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Dr. Sloth finally gave up on conquering Neopia and just decided to try and destroy it instead.”

      “That’s...a disturbing thought. Why would you think such a thing Spike?” Kon asked.

      “It could be the truth. Evil villains have amazing powers. Why stop at destroying Neopia? Dr. Sloth probably put something in the water to make it so we would think that!” Lazir, the yellow Kacheek, exclaimed.

      “If my crew would be so kind as to stop with the wild accusations,” Keen interrupted, “we’re approaching a barrier that is stopping us from moving!”

      Everyone turned and saw the massive wall of icy mountains the boat was heading towards. “Turn!” Julian screamed.

      Spike and Kon used their abilities to put the breaks on the boat before it crashed into the mountains. Julian turned to Keen, who was currently holding onto the top of the flag. “Keen, why would you steer us towards the mountains?! It would be quicker to go check on the people of Altador!” Julian scolded.

      “Because I didn’t want to see my home destroyed, ok?!” Keen screamed, tears in her eyes and pirate accent dropped.

      Everyone stopped and looked up at Keen, who looked scared, even with her Kateil, Sen, trying to comfort her. “You mean Krawk Island? Keen, they’re probably fine. They’re all pirates. We can’t worry about them right now though. We have to keep moving on. We could just head north and go towards Terror Mountain,” Julian suggested.

      Keen wiped away her tears and nodded in agreement. “Ay, ye be right lab rat. Let us sail forward, towards adventure!” Keen said as she pointed north, Sen pointing with her.

      Kon and Spike started to push the boat north. As the boat started to sail north, a familiar looking Usul floated upwards, through the boat and sat down in the middle. “Team A is super lame,” Ursula complained.

      Almost everyone on the boat jumped except for Julian and Yan, the Halloween Grundo. “Ursula, you scared us! Why’re you here?” Spike asked, stopping the effort he was putting into flapping his wings.

      “Because we ended up splitting up but I can barely see down there! It’s so murky!” she complained.

      “Murky? What do you mean, murky?” Kon asked.

      Before she could answer, Yan dipped his scythe down into the water and pulled it out, the scythe now having a sheen to it. It shined against the sun in a rainbow against the scythe. “The water’s contaminated, but with what?” Kimmy asked.

      Before anyone could think of what it could be, Kimmy screamed, “There’s something coming towards us!”

To be continued…