| also by tracypaper12 Sazbae carefully followed the group, careful not to make
a sound. She hadn't trained all these years for nothing. But Fozaibae had promised
her this mission; he'd told her she was to be the Taker. But instead, he'd picked
that Aisha. Sazbae felt herself go red with rage. She hadn't even made the team.
Fozaibae had told her that these new members needed chances too. She didn't
believe him.
"I'll show Fozaibae what these bumbling idiots
are really capable of," she sneered, creeping alongside Lapinnie in the bushes
around an old building. She carefully attached a tag to Lapinnie's black uniform,
then dropped back, attached one of Buffy's, and watched them go up the steps
of the house, before creeping back into the bushes.
"Let's see them get out of this," she snickered
quietly, shadowed in darkness.
Sazbae crept along the path, a determined and
evil smirk on her face. Little did she know that shadows lurked behind her in
the bushes, prepared to bound toward her at any second. They did. The Faerie
Ixi let out what would have been an ear-splitting scream if it wasn't for the
figure, holding a hand to her mouth and muffling the noises.
"Not a word, Ixi, and I'll let you go," said
a strangely familiar voice.
Sazbae nodded.
"Not so confident now, are we?" The figure released
her.
"I'm scared," squeaked a second voice.
She turned to Sazbae, her eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. The figure gained
back her confidence. "Where are they?"
"Yes, tell us where they are."
It took Sazbae another second to realize that
they were Buffy and Lapinnie's owners, Tracy and Lapin. They were dressed in
their normal clothing, Tracy's hair ruffled from waking up abruptly in the middle
of the night. Lapin appeared worried and hiding slightly behind Tracy, looking
at Sazbae with her deep, deep eyes.
"I don't know where they are," Sazbae lied quickly.
Tracy frowned at her. "Look, if you don't tell
us where they are, then..."
"Then do whatever you want to, because I have
no idea where they are," Sazbae performed.
"Fine. Let's go, Lapin."
Lapin continued to look at Sazbae directly in
the eyes. Her eyes were warm and full of worry, and with those eyes looking
at her; Sazbae was beginning to feel guilty for lying to them. She shook her
head. She mustn't feel so, or else her scheme would not go as planned. Sazbae
grinned as the two owners parted her.
Lapin ran up to Tracy and sighed. Tracy walked
along the bushes, alert and awake. Her eyes wondered, and her gazed paused at
the building.
"She was lying, Tracy."
Tracy wore a shocked expression.
"How do you know?" she asked.
"I could see it in her eyes. They weren't as
focused and didn't look the same as if she told the truth." Lapin explained.
"And they must be around here somewhere, if that Ixi is around. Maybe
they escaped and she was following them and tried to capture them again..."
"Well, I didn't notice anything," Tracy said
quietly, "But I trust your judgement, Lapin." The pair shone their torches around
the area, looking for any sign of their pets.
"Tracy?" Lapin queried. Tracy shook her head
to acknowledge she was listening. "What if... if they aren't okay?"
"Lapin, please don't go there," Tracy said stiffly,
her voice unusually high. Lapin shrunk back, and returned to searching. The
ground was a dull black, and covered in old crisp packets and half eaten foods.
It seemed hopeless. Lapin glanced at Tracy. She was searching the ground a little
way in front, checking underneath old cartons, and pieces of paper. Lapin could
feel her determination, and her upset. Buffy had been her first pet, and she
wasn't prepared to ever let her go. Lapin was brought back from her thoughts,
by a familiar cry.
"Lapin! Lapin! I think I've found something,"
Tracy shouted excitedly. Her voice echoed down the dark, empty streets. "I think
you might recognize it." Tracy thrust a tiny photo frame into Lapin's hand.
It was severely scratched, and covered in mud, but Lapin could not fail to guess
what it was. Inside the frame, there was a picture of Lapin, and all her pets,
including Lapinnie.
"It's... it's Lapinnie's photo frame," she stammered,
her hands trembling. "She must have dropped it." Tracy scanned the area, looking
for where they might have gone.
"I think it was recently dropped," Tracy said,
looking at the frame, "it's still intact and everything."
Lapin nodded, and the two owners continued their
journey to the building. The floors were musty when they came inside, the walls
echoing their every step. Water dripped from a distance, but otherwise, it was
quiet. The floor creaked as they walked through as silently as they could, trying
to hear the sounds around them.
Tracy held her breath, as the loudest squeak
came from an old floorboard. Whispering could be heard, and before they knew
it, figures surrounded them, and they heard a muffled snicker from their side.
"I've got you."
It was Sazbae.
***
"Why do we have to go again?" asked a befuddled Lucy, catching up her
determined Ixi sister. "We'll say we'll join the
thieves' guild -- I have the invitation after all -- and then find Buffy and
Lapinnie, then we'll all go," Monica replied smartly.
"How are you so sure they're in the thieves guild?"
"It's a hunch -- do you know how many times Sazbae
highlighted the word 'family' on that note? - and if not, I'll be gaining Sazbae's
trust and we both that she's behind it all," explained Monica.
Lucy nodded. There was no use denying it; Sazbae
just had to be behind it and nobody else. "I hope Buffy and Lapinnie
are going all right."
"Buffy is probably sulking without her books,"
joked Monica. Lucy smiled. Monica grabbed her backpack, and turned the lights
off. As she and Lucy walked past the window, the silhouette of two petpets could
be seen in the window.
"Mon, we forgot our petpets!" Lucy exclaimed,
rushing back towards the door.
"We can't take them," Monica said, "we don't
have time to be petpet-sitters. We have to save Buffy and Lapinnie."
"Petpets can be more useful than you think, Monica,"
Lucy said, opening the front door. Almost immediately, a blue Cobrall and a
Spardel shot from the house.
"Fine. Whatever," Monica muttered, patting her
Spardel. Wardy nuzzled her affectionately. They set off again.
"We better hurry, before it starts to..." Lucy
was interrupted, as the giant raindrops began to fall from the sky.
"Rain?" Monica suggested sarcastically. "Let's
hurry up, before my fur gets matted."
Lucy grinned, glancing at her Krawk skin. She
didn't have fur; how lucky she was. "Okay, let's go then."
***
Lapinnie shut her eyes. She was scared, and every part of her body was shivering
in fear. Buffy and the others had been captured, and she had dropped her precious
picture frame out of the window. To make things worse, Lapinnie swore she heard
two people come through the building and were captured too. It could have been
Lappiny, Monica, Lucy, or maybe even... Lapinnie squirmed. Their owners couldn't
have been caught. They would have been able to escape.
"We'll be all right..." she mumbled under her
breath. Voices could be heard in another room.
"You can't do this to us!" yelled a familiar
voice. "Our pets are here; you must have captured them! Release them now!"
"I'll make a deal with you," someone snarled.
"You give me a fair amount of Neopoints, and I will allow you to release one
of the Neopets I have captured. More Neopoints, however, would mean more released
pets."
Something ticked inside Lapinnie's brain. Lapin
and Tracy had somehow come to Ye Magnificente Museume and were captured with
the others. She slunk down the wall and swallowed her fear. Looking around frantically,
she saw a shadow lurk round. A closer look told her that the figure was small
and a Neopet, making their way out of the building and onto the yard.
Lapinnie glared at the shadowed figure. "Sazbae!"
The Aisha rushed out of the room and followed
the Faerie Ixi determinedly.
To be continued...
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