The Codestone's Awakening: Part One by apparent |  |
Sometime early in the month of July, otherwise known
as the month of Swimming, the season of summer had already welcomed itself into
the presence of many of those living on the planet Neopia. Every morning the
sun would gracefully dance upon the setting of the sky, and then steadily rise
and lower it's positioning there until late night, where the moon would gladly
take its post, illuminating the sky with an exceptional luster. The season also
brought crowds of visitors to local pools and beaches, as well as adventures
into the recognized parts of Neopia. Young Neopets signed up for classes at
camps, or attended the dreaded summer school in preparation for the new year
of school that lie before them. Overall, everyone was enjoying himself or herself
despite what their occupation may be.
The thought of occupation leads the story to
the coldest point of Neopia to date. Terror Mountain usually held onto a stable
condition of -10 degrees Fahrenheit when the sun was shining. Within the mounds
of snow and igloo-like establishments lie two "scientists": Jonathan and Justin.
Jonathan, who preferred to be called "Big J", was a rather lanky Wocky who sported
a rugged forest green coat, with a tail so fluffy no one would forget they ever
laid eyes on it. Justin, on the other hand, was a colossal Elephante who had
recently painted himself so his skin could match with the format of the starry
sky at night. Both had known each other since the time of their youth -- and
both were, unfortunately, just barely surviving on wages they gained from pestering
young Neopets who didn't know any better than to talk to strangers.
So, Jonathan and Justin had deemed themselves
scientists who would observe unusual patterns visible throughout the different
regions of Neopia. "This is our big ticket to being rich," Jon indicated to
the rather dumfounded Justin months before. "We'll find an interesting case
-- back it up with a few facts and present it to someone who will hopefully
want more work from us." Needless to say, the two weren't the brightest out
of the bunch.
However, Jonathan and Justin did notice something
peculiar that they weren't supposed to, quite some time before. Strangely, the
weather in Terror Mountain had changed from -10 degrees Fahrenheit to a staggering
85 degrees, in a matter of moments. Justin had eagerly pointed outside of the
window to the Slushie shop -- squealing, "Sun! Sun! Time to go get a tan!" when
Jonathan realized that something was terribly wrong. No one seemed to notice
this change, except for these two, and since then they had been investigating
Terror Mountain in hopes of developing a high-salary career. Fat chance, both
of them knew.
At that same time, some several months ago, Krawker_oth,
a spotted Krawk and his siblings, Saigru and Jyrosen the Kougra and Lupe, had
possession over a rewarding codestone. The Har codestone was overly eccentric
-- and granted wishes to whomever held it within their grasp. After deciding
that the stone would cause an overwhelming amount of danger within the society,
the three siblings did away with it entirely, knowing that no one would ever
find it again.
Or so they thought.
At this point in the present, Jonathan and Justin
were using their magnifying glasses to examine the snow-covered ground below,
not having anything else to do, when an event occurred that would completely
alter each of their lives. Justin, being rather bored, stomped one of his feet
onto the ground, creating a large hole when he removed it. "I hungry -- let's
go get some.."
Jon shuddered as he watched Justin's mind go
blank (as it often did) and then completed his sentence for him, due to the
fact that he was quite hungry himself. "Food, Justin, food. I know, I'm hungry,
too... but we've got so much to catch up on, and I'm sure some kind of clue
is bound to turn up somewhere. I know it."
As Justin fell with exasperation onto the ground,
causing an avalanche-like shake to the contents of Terror Mountain, miles and
miles away in the small plot of land outside of their NeoHome, Saigru, Krawker,
and Jyrosen were just about to find the "clue" Jonathan was ever so sure about
turning up. It was boiling hot in Neopia (or so it seemed) and the three brothers
were outside of their NeoHome, lying on their backs in the lush layer of grass,
gazing up at the cloudless sky. Krawker, as he often did, brought up a long
forgotten topic to start up some conversation.
"Do you guys remember that codestone we found,
you know, the one that granted wishes?" Krawker inquired while playing with
a blade of grass between his index and thumb claws.
Jyrosen let out a long, overly dramatic groan.
Sometimes he wondered where his younger brothers got their sense. "No duh, we
remember. That's only a once in a lifetime event, Krawker, of course we wouldn't
forget."
Saigru simply nodded his head in agreement. "I
remember. That sure was something, that codestone."
Krawker suddenly sprung up onto his feet, and
threw his upper limbs into the air. His brothers probably thought he was manically
insane at that moment, as they always did, but Krawker didn't give up hope.
"I think a stone like that is too good to just lose like that -- and someday
we'll find it again."
Jyrosen gasped and widened his eyes towards Krawker,
making Saigru laugh hysterically at his older brother's sarcasm. The white Lupe
bellowed, "That's just as easy as finding a Pteri underwater! No, wait, if we
do find that stone again, I'll give you 50 bazillion Neopoints."
Saigru fell over with laughter, his cheeks flushing
an overjoyed hue of rose pink. Krawker frowned, and allowed his arms to fall
back to his sides as opposed to over his skull. However, on the talk of "once
in a lifetime" events, the unthinkable happened. Amidst Saigru's loud cackling
and Jyrosen's continuous sarcastic jokes, a thick, rounded shape fell from the
sky, hitting Krawker upside the head. It produced a rather loud -PLONK!- sound
(Jyrosen always said Krawker was an airhead) as the Krawk fell to the ground.
He felt rather dizzy for a moment, but after recollecting himself and looking
towards what hit him on his head, Krawker felt overly excited.
His brothers stared, speechless. The same magical
Har codestone they encountered months ago rolled onto the surface of the ground
a few inches away from them, still as crimson as it was before, with hints of
silver radiantly gleaming on its surface. Krawker, on the other hand, smiled
comfortably to himself.
"Well, that wasn't expected."
****
Speaking of things that weren't expected was certainly the best conversation
choice, for back in Terror Mountain, Jonathan and Justin, still crawling around
like fools on the snowy ground, found something unexpected as well. Justin sniffed
at the codestone he came across while crawling on all fours, and after observing
it with his large blue eyes, he squealed with delight. "A codestone! We'll be
able to sell this for at least 3,000 Neopoints, and then we'll be able to eat
good again, Big J."
Jonathan smiled at his partner and have him a
pat on the back, similar to the kind a Neopet would give to its petpet. He picked
up the small stone off of the ground, finding some form of hope within his heart.
Jonathan wiped a few snowflakes from his thick eyebrows while speaking reassuringly
to Justin:
"This, my friend, is just the threshold of our
new career."
To be continued...
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