Ghoul Hunters: Part Four by bluescorchio104 |  |
Suddenly, the sound of a heavy wooden door slamming echoed
throughout Thepyt’s Neohome. Kerfon, Barshont and Thepyt all jumped at the noise,
still edgy and pumped up with adrenaline from their capture of Meuka.
“What in the name of Fyora was that?” asked Barshont.
Kerfon, being the boldest of the three, darted out of the kitchen quickly to
investigate the noise. He entered the entrance hall, and seeing nothing out
the ordinary, turned to leave. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted
an empty space where the captive Meuka was supposed to be. Well, empty apart
from the thick trail of slime which led from the broken Slave Collar to the
still open door.
Back in the kitchen, Barshont and Thepyt heard
Kerfon’s voice yell echo throughout the entire Neohome. “Uh, guys, I think you
should come and look at this…”
***
Kerfon stood over the broken Slave Collar, gingerly nudging it with his toe.
“Guys, I think we may have a problem.”
“That’s understating it just a tad, Kerfon.”
Barshont retorted angrily. “You see, this is what happens when you ignore me,
and bring a dangerous beast into a heavily populated area, secured by nothing
more than shoddy Space Weaponry.”
“Yeah!” said Thepyt supportively.
“Ha! You’re one to talk!” Kerfon said heatedly.
“Bringing Meuka here was your idea in the first place!”
“Yeah, well, you seconded the motion! You’re
equally at fault!” Barshont roared.
“But you gave in to our demands! So that makes
you liable as well, Mister Perfect!” Thepyt shouted.
“Be quiet, all of you!” Kerfon said, trying to
calm down. “We’re all to blame!”
“He’s right,” Barshont said in a less angry tone.
“We’d better find a way to find Meuka fast. We can’t have a carnivorous, feral
brute like him wandering around Neopia Central at this time of night. Who knows
how much damage he’ll cause!?!”
Thepyt and Kerfon nodded in agreement. “Okay
guys,” Kerfon said in steely tones, “we’d better grab a few weapons and start
searching the city now. Who knows how much of a head start Meuka’s had…”
***
A few minutes later, and the trio were tracking the handy trail of green slime
down the street. Where the slime wasn’t evident, they just followed the trail
of destruction. Lamp poles with chunks chomped out of them; trees with snapped
limbs; scared Neopians crouching behind bushes and whatever cover they could
find. At every turn the Ghoul Hunters hurried faster, dreading the next sight
of mayhem. Finally, they reached the heart of Neopia Central, where the main
shops stood around the Money Tree and Rainbow Pool. The Food Shop, shaped like
a hamburger, had a huge bite taken out of one side. The Chia shopkeeper was
hiding up a tree nearby, quivering more than the leaves around him.
“Where’d Meuka go?” yelled Barshont to the terrified
shopkeeper. The apron-clad Chia raised a shaking, stubby finger, and pointed
towards the Money Tree. Kerfon started forwards, only to be held back by Barshont.
“We have to do this strategically, remember!” the Blumaroo hissed. “I’ll approach
from the Neolodge. Kerfon, you approach from the auction house.”
“And I’ll come from the Art Centre,” piped up
Thepyt.
“And when I give the signal, we all rush in at
once, okay?” Kerfon suggested.
Barshont nodded. “Take my Rainbow gun to signal
with.” He slipped the brightly coloured weapon from his belt, and handed it
to Kerfon.
The Ghoul Hunters sprinted (or in Thepyt’s case,
waddled) to in their different positions. Before long, Thepyt saw a small, multicoloured
object fly into the sky. It was only after seeing it disappear into the clouds
that he realized that the object was the Rainbow Gun.
“Fool,” Thepyt muttered to himself. He started
waddling at full pace towards the Money Tree, eager to be the first to strike
a blow against the vile Meuka. Unfortunately, as he was passing by the Rainbow
Pool, he slipped and lost his footing. Sliding along on his flat stomach, he
fell into the Rainbow Pool with a splash, sending rainbow-coloured water drops
into the air. For a moment, he floundered in the water, before remembering that
he was a Bruce, and therefore was a natural swimmer. By the time he surfaced,
and managed to drag himself out of the pool, wet and bedraggled, the sounds
of battle were already evident in the still night air. Grumbling to himself,
Thepyt took off at a determined waddle, determined not to miss his share in
victorious glory. However, when he got to the site of fighting, there was not
as much glory to be had as he would have liked. In fact, there was none. Kerfon
was lying motionless on ground, a large bump showing through the fur on his
head. The steady rise and fall of his chest indicated to Thepyt that he was
merely stunned or unconscious. Barshont was faring equally badly. He had been
flung into the lower branches of the Money Tree, presumably by Meuka, and sported
various cuts and bruises. Even worse, by his standards at least, his fur was
smeared with dirt. He was still conscious though, and struggling to find a way
to get back on the ground without gravity having too much to do with it.
Meuka was chortling to himself in a low, raspy
voice. He was obviously going to take his time with his victims. Thepyt realised
that without his friends, he stood no chance against the mucus-ridden fiend,
and resisted the urge to run.
Then, he had an idea. It was one of those rare,
bolt-out-of-the-blue moments. Even rarer, considering his average level of quick-thinking.
Unfortunately, while this momentous notion was dawning upon him, Meuka had turned
around, and was hungrily anticipating his next meal. The slimy creature dashed
towards the spotted Bruce, and Thepyt snapped out of his contemplation just
in time to dodge the initial chomp of those ferocious jaws, and to start running.
He dashed among the shops, winding his way through the gaps between them, with
only weak electric lamp light to guide him. Meuka wasn’t far behind, drooling
saliva and mucus like a rabid animal. Thepyt, puffing and panting, finally reached
his destination- Kauvara’s Magic Shop. Pulling out an Asparagus-Powered Ray
Gun, procured from the same Space Weaponry shop as the Slave Collar, he blasted
a large hole in the shop’s wooden door. Tumbling clumsily through the hole,
he started waddling furiously through the dark shop, searching the shelves desperately.
Finally, he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the small glass jar off
the shelf, and turned around, just in time to see Meuka burst in through the
already damaged door, obliterating what splinters were left. Charging at the
beast, Thepyt uncorked the jar, and hurled it at him. The Bruce abruptly changed
course, turning and running away from the monster once more. Meuka snarled in
surprise as the jar sailed at him, leaving a fine white trail in its wake. Opening
his huge jaws, he snapped them shut just in time to smash the jar. Broken glass
was strewn on the floor with a tiny tinkling noise, and the fine white particles
formerly imprisoned within the bottle drifted downwards slowly.
Suddenly, the particles stopped drifting downwards.
The white trail left by the jar in the air, also composed of those white particles,
stopped drifting downwards too. Instead, as one, they all started slowly drifting
towards Meuka, the first of the particles landing gently on the surface of his
mucus body. Meuka looked at them inquisitively, unsure of what harm these small
white particles might inflict. Then the sizzling began. The Salt Motes, for
that was what the small white particles were, began eating away at the moisture-rich
mucus that made up Meuka’s body. With an inhuman howl of agony, Meuka clawed
at the tiny motes, but it was too late. Before long, he was nothing more than
the puddle of slime on floor, and even that was then quickly eaten up by the
magical motes.
Thepyt wiped his brow in relief. He flopped down
on the hard floor, exhausted with his night’s work. He was just going to rest
his eyes for a second. Definitely not go to sleep. Just rest his eyes for a
second. Before long, Thepyt was curled up on the floor, snoring gently.
***
The next morning, Thepyt was rudely awakened by a high pitched shriek of terror.
Stirring sleepily, he opened his heavy eyelids, then quickly shut them again.
The glare of the morning sun, with its strong rays pouring into the shop through
the doorway, was too much for his sleepy eyes. Interrupting his return to dreamland,
something hard prodded Thepyt in the stomach. He opened his eyes again, saw
what, or more importantly who, had prodded him, and scrambled to his
feet.
“Uh, Miss Kauvara, how nice to see you… uh, I
can explain everything…”
***
Back at the Money Tree, a small crowd of Neopians were gathered around a small
clearing that encompassed the Money Tree. But they weren’t there to pick up
freebies. Nope. They were all staring at the odd striped Blumaroo who snored
away peacefully in the tree’s highest branches. Well, that’s not quite accurate.
Some were staring at the silver Lupe who was lying on the grass, limbs askew,
who was also snoring peacefully.
An angry figure who stood on her hind hooves,
and who happened to have a blue hide speckled with stars and a pointy hat, struggled
through the crowd, dragging a shorter, plumper figure along with her. Having
reached the inside of the little circle of Neopians, Kauvara let go of Thepyt,
and stared at him menacingly.
“Okay, so now I believe your story about your
little friends.” Kauvara said, glancing at the battered Lupe and Blumaroo. “But
you still have a lot of explaining to do. And you have to pay for the damage
to my shop too, not to mention all of those wasted Salt Motes.”
Thepyt, standing as tall and proud as his stature
would allow, stood in front of the Money Tree, and cleared his throat. He told
them exactly what happened the night before, leaving out, of course, the part
about his friends and himself leading to Meuka to Neopia Central in the first
place. He also, not completely unintentionally, verbally spruced up the tale
of his own performance. The crowd was fixated, and when he was finished, the
crowd looked disappointed to disperse.
Finally, when the mob of Neopians had moved away
to continue their daily lives, Kauvara voiced a question. “What I want to know
is, how exactly did Meuka get to Neopia Central in the first place? I mean,
he always stays within the boundaries of the Haunted Woods, right?”
Thepyt’s cheeks would have gone a bright shade
of red, had there not been two big black spots situated there. “Uh, I don’t
know,” he stuttered. “Not a clue.”
Kauvara looked at him suspiciously, then turned
away and headed back to her shop. She had a business to run. Looking over her
shoulder, she yelled, “I’ll bill you for the mess later!”
Thepyt nodded meekly, and started upon the difficult
task of waking up his friends, and in Barshont’s case, getting them down on
the ground again. After forking out some Neopoints for some Water Muffins from
the Battledome Weaponry shop, he woke up both his friends successfully. After
paying some more, he was able to obtain some Striped Balloons, which he used
to successfully lower down Barshont from the tree.
Finally, the trio of bedraggled Ghoul Hunters
limped home, all mournfully thinking of the parade they would never get.
***
Later that night, under the light of the full moon, something stirred in the
very heart of Neopia Central. Something evil. A large pile of green sludge smoothly
slithered out from its daytime hiding place- behind one of the ornamental bushes
at the front of the Neolodge. Without any apparent source of power, the pitiful
remains of Meuka headed up Main Street, beginning the long, long trek back to
the Haunted Woods, where it could feed once more, and grow large again. And,
eventually, get revenge.
The End
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