It was a bright, frosty, peaceful summer morning in meridell. The gang of friends were all outside in the forest, walking along a worn down dirt path. "How can it be so light out, but still so cold?" Jelltar complained as he rubbed his arms and shivered.
Its not so bad, your just a wuss." Rokant teased as he passed Jelltar.
Hey, Sarah, would you like to come back to our house after we finish the walk?" Brendan said happily to his companion.
It feels nice out here, I don't know what your problem is," Perridur chuckled as he bent down to watch a trail of ants carry away a leaf.
Nevira shook her head. "Kid, don't lean too close or the ants will take you with them."
That sounds wonderful," Sarah replied.
As the group walked along the path, they talked and laughed, until they made it back to Brendan's home. They walked down the rocky path towards the door, and went in.
Brendan, do we have anything to drink?" Jelltar said as he walked in the door. Brendan headed over to the refrigerator and shook his head. "Sorry, I forgot to go to the shop earlier. Can you settle for tap water for now?" He answered.
No way! I hate that nasty stuff." Jelltar yelled.
Well, I'm a little thirsty too, so I'll take a trip to the market." said Tonan as he smiled. "I'll bring back something to drink." and with that, he was gone.
So, do you guys want anything to eat?" Brendan said to everyone.
Do you have any celery?" Perri asked as he sat down. "And peanut butter, and raisins?"
I'm fine, thanks," Zijrah said.
Ywania chuckled. "I guess I'll eat ants on a log too, if you have everything to make it.
Brendan checked the cupboard. "I have celery, and peanut butter.." he hesitated. Then, he turned and smiled. "And I found some raisins!" He said as he laid the ingredients out on the table.
Votur smiled and walked over to the table innocently. "Hey, there isn't much peanut butter there.. I could make more!" He said with a grin.
No!" Dorshent shouted from across the room. But it was too late, Votur had took out a wand from his cape and recited some magic words. In a puff of smoke the jar of peanut butter had disappeared, and in its place was a solid brick, still smoking. "Um.. oops. Sorry.." he said, ashamed.
Votur, you idiot." Rokant sneered from the chair next to the door.
Perri's happy look faded into a frown as he watched the peanut butter transform. He scowled at Votur, "Why did you have to do that? There would have been enough!"
Zijrah chuckled. "That's just Votur."
Edging forward, Ywania picked up the raisins. "I guess I'll just eat these..
Jelltar smiled. "Gimme one of those." he said as he reached towards the table. Dorshent smiled, and took one too. Suddenly, the door busted open and Tonan came running in. "They're back!" she shouted as he stumbled through the door. As he ran in he tripped and rolled into the living room in the middle of everyone, then quickly stumbled to his feet, panting. "What's wrong?!" Brendan shouted. As soon as he finished an arrow shot in through the still opened door, and went straight for Tonan. He turned and gasped, and just in time he turned into a wispy, shadowy, figure, and the arrow traveled straight through him and stuck into the wood floor, right next to Jelltar's foot.
Holy!" Jelltar screamed as he jumped off of the couch in fright and landed next to Perri.
Tonan changed back to normal and then ran over and shut the door. "What is it?!" Rokant shouted.
The PSC." Tonan said grimly.
Everyone's gaze fell upon the arrow stuck in the floor, the arrowhead was dripping in a purple liquid.
Poison.." Relker said from the corner of the room. "I recognize the smell..
I wonder what they want this time," Oreo said nervously, walking over to stand by Relker.
What they always want," Ywania said, rolling his eyes, "to cause us pain and heartache."
The PSC?" Perri's voice quivered. "What's that? And why are they trying to kill us?
There's no time, Perri, I'll explain later. Now we have to get out of here. There's a door in the back that we can escape into the woods from, hurry!" Brendan said as everyone rushed to the other side of the house and towards the door. Jelltar reached for the doorknob, but Rokant grabbed his hand. "You idiot! We have to check and see if someone is out there first!" he said as he let go of Jelltar. Dorshent stepped forward and opened the door just a crack to peek out. "Nobody's there." he said. As soon as he finished, everyone rushed out of the door and straight into the woods, avoiding the dirt trail that was out in the open. As they ran through the forest, dodging trees and stepping over roots, Brendan could still see the curiosity in Perri's eyes. "The PSC is a horrible organization." Brendan started as he ran. "They are committed to capturing pets. Once they get a pet they put a collar on them that forces the pet to obey the leader, Drake. We are not sure what they plan to do with them, but I'm guessing it is to make themselves powerful enough that they can do anything they please. I know this because.." Brendan hesitated, and then continued. "I know because I have lost two of my own pets to the PSC.. Serlaa, a draik who lost her life to Draik, while trying to protect us. They even brought down Perlenn, a huge mutant grundo. He died trying to protect us, also." Brendan stopped speaking, and held in his tears.
Perri made a small eep and shuddered, stopping fully from fear. "But how can anyone be that evil?"
Ywania sighed, then turned and grabbed the usul's paw and dragged him along. "My bet is Drake's mad."
Nevira gnashed her teeth as she flew. "And if I ever run into him in a dark alley..."
Where should we go?" Sarah said, thinking ahead. She wanted to stop and comfort Brendan, but there wasn't time. "I'd say they're probably watching my house, so we shouldn't go there.
I have an idea!" Votur said as he flew closer to the ground. "I could turn us all invisible, and then we could escape." he stuttered.
Jelltar shook his head. "No! You can't do magic! You'll just end up turning us into frogs or something!" he shouted as he ran.
Shut up! Do you want them to hear you?!" Rokant whispered.
I guess we have no other choice, the forest goes on for a long time until we get to neopia central." said Dorshent hesitantly. "Everyone, stop!
The gang came to a halt, and watched Votur as he took a black wand with a white tip out of his dark blue starry cloak. He thought for a moment, then nodded. He raised the wand and twirled it in the air, and then swung it down towards the gang. "Disappear!" he said hopefully.
Suddenly, there was a huge puff of smoke white all around them. When the smoke cleared, they noticed that all the trees around them were gone, and they were standing in plain sight, still visible. "You idiot!" Rokant shouted.
There they are!" a voice yelled from above them. It was a voice they recognized. They looked up, and standing in the opened doorway of a helicopter was Drake.
Perridur hid behind the others. "Is that...?"
Great, now what do we do, dig our way to safety?" Ywania shot a glare at Votur. "Or do you have any more bright ideas? Maybe you should try to bring the helicopter closer, then it will go away." He rolled his eyes.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Chiunk jumped out from behind everyone and onto the paved road, in the open. "Go you guys! I'm too quick for these guys!" he said confidently.
Chiunk! Get back here, you don't who what they are capable o-" Brendan began, but then he felt Rokant's hand on his shoulder. "Brendan, go with everyone else, I'll stay behind and make sure Chiunk will be okay.
A loud yell could be heard as Dracko took out a large gun from behind him and shot it. Out of the gun came a net with four large spikes on each end. It was heading right for Chiunk, but he quickly darted out of the way. "Your so slow!" he shouted.
Come on!" Jelltar said as he tugged on Brendan's arm. Hesitantly, he began to run with the rest of the gang. Leaving Chiunk and Rokant Behind.
Do you think they'll be ok?" Nevira said as she looked over her shoulder.
And are we still running around with out a plan like idiots?" Ywania muttered under his breath.
As they ran, through the forest again, everyone was thinking of what they could do to get away. "Hey, Zotur, Tonan, Nevirah and Ywania can fly, right? What if they carry us up towards the mountain?" Jelltar shouted as he pointed to the sky, where a mountain was visible through the treetops.
Well, no offense, but I don't think we would be able to carry everyone Jelltar." said Zotur.
Jelltar frowned. Well, does anyone else have any better ideas?
Well, we can't keep running forever," Nevira said, unsure herself about what do to.
We could build a boat," Perri said absentmindedly, "and find a river to sail away on...
There's a river ahead, but we wouldn't be able to build a boat for all of us in such little time!" Relker shouted as he ran.
Before they knew it, they had reached the river, with no boat, or anything that could help them float. "What do we do?!" Jellter said as he jumped nervously up and down. "I've got it!" Dorshent shouted. "If we cut down one of these tree's, we could all fit on it and ride down the river.
How are we going to-" Jelltar began, but was interrupted by Relker. "Just do it!" He shouted.
They all began to push on one of the tall, thick evergreen trees. After a while, they could hear splitting noises, but they were faint. "We need more people!" shouted Tonan.
If Rokant and Chiunk were with us, I bet we could.." Brendan said to himself.
Zijrah started to walk farther up along the river. "Maybe there's a fallen tree we could use instead..."
Or better yet, we can make a raft," Sarah said as she spied a fallen limb and pulled it out of the brush. "There's bound to be some vines around here we can use to tie some limbs together."
Yeah, and a lot of it's poison ivy I bet." Ywania stuck out his tongue. "No thank you.
Guys, this is crazy! Nothing is going to work! Nothin-" Jelltar shouted before he was interrupted by Rokant, who was flying through the air, and who crashed through the tree, breaking it in half.
Rokant!" Brendan shouted. Then he looked behind him to see Chiunk being chased by five PSC agents, each wearing black suits with black helmets on, only showing their eyes. He kept running, and then jumped into the air, and onto Brendan's head, clinging to it.
Brendan, come on!" Tonan shouted from the tree that was floating in the water, along with everyone else on it.
Brendan turned and ran as the tree began to float down the river. He jumped towards it, and just managed to grab the end of it before it floated away without him. Slowly, he climbed on the the end, panting and grasping Chiunk tightly.
Is everyone ok?" Sarah said as she scooted over to help Brendan on.
For now," Ywania muttered. "Let's just hope there aren't any rapids, or waterfalls..."
Negative whimp," Nevira muttered under her breath.
Jelltar, who was sitting behind Rokant, noticed that he was grasping his shoulder and wincing. "Hey, are you crying? Hah! You wimp!" He said as he moved Rokant's hand away from his shoulder, revealing a nasty gash. "Ahh!" Jelltar shouted.
Rokant! Did you get hit with an arrow?!" Brendan shouted from the back of the group. "No.." Rokant shook his head. "It was a sword..
Rokant! You should have said something!" Brendan shouted.
Sarah tore off a strip of cloth from her shirt and dunked it in the water. She then edged closer towards Rokant. "We better try and clean it up some..
Rokant batted her hand away, and frowned. "I'm fine." he said angrily.
There was a long and awkward silence, until it was broken by Jelltar. "A waterfall!" He shouted.
I knew it!" Ywania cried. "This always happens!"
Oreo saw a branch laying on top of the water, and grabbed at it, hoping it would be marred well enough in the mud to stop them. But instead, it came up with a wet plop and flew through the air.
Before anyone could do anything, the tree, along with the whole gang, floated over the waterfall, and fell towards the river at the bottom. Everyone fell off, and were now falling in mid-air.
Now do you think you guys could fly us to safety?!" Perri shouted above the roar of the pounding water, but he wasn't sure anyone could hear him.
Tonan, flew down towards Perri, and grabbed his short arms with his feet, and struggled to stay in the air. "I can barely lift you!" He shouted. Before any of the other winged pets could do something, everyone fell into the water below, with the huge tree on top of them.
Perri scrambled to grab on to something before the current whisked him away, but it didn't matter too much. The tree had his tail pinned to the rocky river bottom, and it was all he could do to keep his head above the water. "A little help?"
Oreo was a ways away, near some of the smaller branches. The gelert sputter as she started to tread water. Once she got to the surface, she tried to get her bearings and grabbed a hold of the nearest rock. The mist from the waterfall clouded most of her view, so she let go and let the current take her a bit farther on.
Brendan rose from the water, panting heavily and shaking his hair out of his face. "Is everyone okay?!" he shouted, although the sound of the waterfall drowned out his voice. Dorshent and Jelltar were both clinging to the same rock, Dorshent's eyes darted frantically around, looking for Zijrah. Tonan, who was rolling around on the ground next to the river, missed the water completely and landed on the ground.
Tonan!" Relker shouted as he swam over to him.
Sarah shook herself off too and looked around, but everything was a blur. She reached up, and realized her glasses were gone.
Ywania came up next, his claws embedded into the tree's trunk. "I can't swim!" He hollered, hoping to be heard over the roaring water.
Zijrah broke the surface close enough to see Perri struggle with the tree trunk. He waved his arm frantically at her, and she hollered, "Hold on, I'll go get help!" Whether he heard it or not, she wasn't sure.
Nevira flopped up on the bank and just laid there, catching her breath.
Brendan swam out of the water and ran over to Tonan, who was moaning in pain, as blood dripped from his mouth. "Tonan!" Brendan shouted, horrified. "Its okay, your going to be fine!
Then, Brendan heard a voice from behind him. He turned and looked, it was Chiunk, he seemed be be standing, jumping on the water. But how was this possible? The Brendan saw what he was standing on.
Rokant. He was floating in the river, face down.
Nevira looked farther up the bank and saw Brendan and Tonan. She pushed herself up and stumbled over to them. "Are you ok?" Her foggy mind seemed to mirror the mist from the falls.
Sarah started to wade in the direction she hoped was the shore.