"You're right," James said. "It's probably because everyone is asleep."

Feeling self-conscious, the two Scorchios walked down the aisle, keeping their wings folded in, hoping no one would look their way. Everyone had their heads directed toward the front of the room, however. No one was staring at the latecomers. Alice and James found seats near the front and slipped into the ancient chairs, which creaked and squealed from their weight.

The Buzz at the podium cleared his throat and said, "As I was saying, we now believe that the continents of Neopia were once connected as one huge land mass, before splitting into the many separate continents and islands that exist today..."

The Buzz droned on and on about Neopian land masses. Alice listened, filing the information away in the back of her mind. Her conscious mind was concentrating on the Kiko sitting on the panel behind the Buzz...

Shifting her attention from the somewhat disturbing Kiko, she listened once more to the Buzz, now that he was getting to the point of the meeting.

"Errrhem! Yes! Now, instead of my little bit of sidetracking - Uncle Louie did get out of that little fix however, hehehe - the Council of the Scientists of Neopia Guild have been researching this strange phenomenon of moving continents very intensively. It appears as though about two hundred thousand years ago, the one large landmass suddenly broke up into what it is today. We are trying to figure out why. Something has been brought up, you see, by our special guest, Captain Firlo 'Crazy Eye' Migrew!"

With this, the Buzz flew slowly back to his seat. There was a little bit of clapping, but none too much to set off the excited feeling. If anything, the crowd had been suddenly uninterested. The Kiko Captain raised one huge swimming claw and said, "Aye, I did find meself a bit o' good news fer ye all scientists. As it turns out, this 'phenomernon' that ya'll are callin' the seperation was caused by a great evil, aye, and not sumthin' normal I can tell ye...

Alice snorted at this, James covered his mouth with a wing, rocking slightly in mirth. A groan was heard somewhere near the back of the crowd.

The captain scowled. "Don't ye be guffawing 'bout this. 'Tis the truth! Do none of ye know the tale? I suppose I shall have ter tell it to ye." He sighed and leaned heavily against the podium. "It all started long ago, when the land of Neopia was newly formed and the earth still soft. Andrakilel was a great pirate, lived aboard his ship he did, raiding the coastline when he ran out of grub or just wanted some loot. He built his ship up big, so as to scare them townsfolk outta their houses afore he even landed, it worked fine mind you, but he got a bit big for his breeches, if'n you know what I mean."

The captain stopped, glaring about him. Even the officials on the panel looked a bit unsure. The exact thoughts of the Buzz are as follows: Oh great, another old cook. We'll be the laughing stock of Neopian humour yet again... But that is besides the point. The captain looked around him, at the suspicious faces and the mirth that they held back. He sighed.

"O'course. Young'uns don't think much of these old sea tales, but I'll have you know that these tales were started by the truth..." He paused, as if at a loss for words, then continued his rant. "Young'uns today have no respect, none at all. Ah remember when one such as meself was given a high position aboard the ship, and youngsters was told to keep quiet. But if'n yer just gonna ridicule me, I'll step down an' let yer back to that broken record of scientific facts. Ye have no reason to believe me stories.. no reason at all..." And with that he turned, walked back to his seat and sat down.

The Buzz stood up, a bit unsure of himself, he was often unsure of what was happening, but he went with it anyway. "Well... if anyone else wants to say something... this is your chance..."

"I'd like to hear about Andrakilel!"

Almost immediately, Alice shrank in her seat, unsure of what made her say that out loud. She wasn't even interested to hear about pirates and their big, ugly, creaky ships. She was even less interested to hear about what those pirates did with their big, ugly, creaky ships to cause the land masses to split apart.

The Kiko Captain cleared his throat, and Alice thought she saw him give her a wink with one of those remarkably, unbelievably, un-Kiko-like, dark eyes.

"Arrr, seems ta me there's a li'l int'rest comin' from ta front," the captain said to the Buzz. The Buzz gave an apologetic shrug to the audience, then hovered back to his seat, which was still nice and warm. Meanwhile, the captain, who sat on his chair for all of two seconds, sat up and made his way to the podium. The audience groaned audibly, and tried to act like they wanted to be elsewhere, which was exactly where they wanted to be.

"As I was sayin'," the captain continued, "Andrakilel built 'imself a grand ol' ship, an' raided and plundered wherever 'is ship landed. However, Andrakilel made a big mistake, 'e did. During one o' his raid n' plunder missions, he came upon a peaceful comminity of Nimmos. Now, ya gots ta understan' that even though these Nimmos're practi'tieners of their Neo-Fu mumbo-jumbo, they were against violence, and surrendered ta Andrakilel. Andrakilel burned down their monastery, and took their greatest treasure - the Golden Egg of Infinite Wisdom!"

The captain paused for dramatic effect, and even cleared his throat for emphasis.

"Now what Andrakilel din't know was that the Egg had a great Curse placed on it..."

While the scary green Kiko glared out at the audience, James muttered in Alice's ear, "Nice going, Alice, now we've got to sit through this weirdo's tall tale as well as the rest of the Buzz's speech!"

"I actually don't know what made me do that," Alice whispered back, "I feel so embarassed..."

"This Egg," Captain Crazy Eye continued, obviously not hearing the whispers throughout the room, "'Ad a mind of its own! It were like... like a brain in a shell! An' what th' Golden Egg did when it touched a foreign object, it took it over, ya see. And take over Andrakilel's ship it did! Arr!"

James checked the watch on his wrist. "What a waste of time," he sighed quietly.

Alice watched a fed-up Aisha and a few Korbats leave their seats to sneak out the exits.

"The ship grew even larger on 'er own, full of ghosts and fog, and soon she sprouted ten-thousand squid tentaclies! Andrakilel an' 'is mates, meanwhile, were turned inta ghouls by th' Egg's 'air-raising power...

"Yeah, right," said James as he yawned sleepily.

"As I were sayin'," the mysterious Kiko said, obviously annoyed, "Andrakilel was ridin' through Neopia. The Faerieland Cloud was attacked from below the water, so it 'ad been pushed straight up into the sky.

"Terror Mountain was blasted North from a super attack. That's why it's so cold there. It's near the North Pole!

"Tyrannia was moved to a desolate place, and that's why the Tyrannians are so..." He seemed at a loss for words, "...in the past.

"Mystery Island and Krawk Island were once together, but after Andrakilel blasted 'em west, the placed where he attacked separated them.

"The Haunted Woods was once a merry place, but Andrakilel blasted the area under a perpetual black cloud."

"The Lost Desert, in some ways, was like Tyrannia. It was blasted to a desolate place, but technology just survived. They became water-hunters forever. So you see, Andrakilel separated the land masses!"

"Excuse me..."

"I've been listenin' to this mindless conversation, and I say you all are wrong!"

Captain 'Crazy Eye' started sputtering and hopped toward the smirking Eyrie and said, "Yer a phony! All these business smart-alecks think that they know evry' thing, but ye listen to me young'un! I've seen more than you thinks, so back off an' let me finish."

The unflustered Eyrie just cackled and opened his briefcase and took out a glass case. Inside was a tiny glass shard, but any Neopet could see it was golden and shining brightly.

"Know what this is, old man?" the Eyrie taunted.

The Kiko gasped and his body could be heard hitting the ground with a THUD! The captain fluttered his eyes open and in a hoarse voice whispered, "The Cursed Egg!" and fainted dead away...

"T-the Kiko's r-right!" she stuttered. She realised that nobody was listening, so she yelled, "THE KIKO'S RIGHT!" Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. "He IS an imposter!"

"Right and wrong," said the Eyrie slyly. He grinned again. "I am an imposter. I dressed up as Lester Figwatch so nobody would realise my true identity. But, in other ways I am not an imposter," he continued. "Ways that one could not explain."

All of a sudden the Eyrie began laughing. Not a jolly laugh, but a cold, mirthless laugh. To everyone's horror, he began morphing. Hair began to spout from his chin, forming a gruesome, stringy beard. An eye patch slithered from his eye and slipped on his head. Where his regular leg should be, there stood a peg. His clothes had changed, he was wearing a bandanna on his neck and ratty torn rags hung from him. A foul stench engulfed the room's clean air.

"I AM ANDRAKILEL!" he roared...

James, always the one to be obnoxious (and loud) at the wrong time, rose and shouted, "Is it anything like the almighty caliber of the odor coming off of you?" He sat down to a few nervous titters, grinning widely.

"Are you crazy?" Alice hissed, slapping his chest.

Andrakilel suddenly rose into the air, and made eye contact with James, who was now frozen in his seat. "Fool," he growled, "foolish little Scorchio, you will pay for such impudence." He held the Egg up, and James began to change. The color of his body, a handsome blue, was beginning to lighten as he grew smaller. Screams filled the auditorium as those who hadn't already run out did so, while those who thought of themselves as being brave fought to catch a glimpse of what was happening up front.

"I'm shrinking!" he squeaked.

"No, you're not - he's turning you into a baby!" Alice screamed, terrified. James tried to answer her but all that came out was the typical babble of a baby. Finally, there he lay, asleep in his chair, tiny and perfect. "James! JAMES!"

Andrakilel laughed cruelly. "Oh, I got your boyfriend, did I?" Alice blushed, her yellow cheeks turning orange.

"How can I turn him back?" she demanded.

The evil being over her head smirked. "Find me in the Battledome. If you beat me, James will return to normal, and I will return the Egg. If you don't, I will take that as my cue to take over Neopia like I should have so long ago."

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Alice with only one clue - a piece of paper that said...

"What does this mean? Do any of you know?" she cried.

There was a general chorus of "No, we don't" from the assembled guild.

One old Zafara stood up. "I know, child."

"What does it mean? Tell me!" Alice questioned her.

"It means that there is only one thing that can break the curse of the Golden Egg. Indeed, child, it will help you defeat Andrakilel. But it will not do your task for you. This thing, unlike the Golden Egg, requires strength of will and a good heart to use its power. It is the Silver Egg!"

Alice was anxious now. "What is this Silver Egg? Where can I find it? I have to save my friend!"

"You have a true heart, child. Here is the Silver Egg. Use it well." The Zafara handed Alice the Egg, bowed, and started to leave. "Wait! Who are you?" Alice called.

The Zafara smiled, bowed once more, and walked out of the room.

Alice held the Silver Egg in her hands. She looked at it and started to cry. The audience maintained a respectful silence while she sobbed. When Alice looked up again, her face was resolute. "I will go to the Battledome and find Andrakilel!"

LATER, IN THE BATTLEDOME...

Alice stalked into the Battledome, her blue cloak swirling around her. "Andrakilel, I have come to settle scores with you!"

Andrakilel laughed madly. "Fool that you are, I knew you would!"

"So are you going to fight, or just stand there rejoicing in my foolishness?" Alice taunted.

"I will fight you! You are but a small obstacle standing in between me and the rule of all Neopia!"

Alice grinned. She had him now. "Maybe I'm a small obstacle, but is this?" She drew the Silver Egg out of her cloak and held it aloft.

Terror showed itself on Andrakilel's face. "It's... the Egg! How did you get it? It - it must be Zamitra the Enchantress! Yes - it must be her...." His last words died away into nothing.

Alice remained where she was, still holding the Silver Egg. At last she knew who the mysterious Zafara was. A powerful enchantress! Alice suddenly remembered James. She raced over to the corner where his cradle was, only to find him back to normal, struggling to get out of it.

"Thank you, Alice." James breathed heavily.

Alice looked at him. "Let's go back to the guild meeting. We can tell them that Andrakilel is no more."

The End