New Neopian Times

The clouds were soft and the sky was sunny. A typical weather condition for Faerieland. The streets and clouds were crowded. Many Neopets and there owners passed by. There was no sight of the dark cloud, Jhudora's castle sat on. It was probably turned into a normal cloud when Jhudora became a Light Faerie.

Kachyraeek and Ciakaba came out of the Faerie Bookshop. Kachyraeek was holding a few shopping bags filled with foods, books and other merchandise.

"Do we have to shop a lot?" Ciakaba sighed. She hated shopping. Ciakaba was a female cloud girl, but had the character of a boy. She hated shopping and make-up, while Kachyraeek had blue lipstick and midnight eye shadow on.

"Yes, of course!" Kachyraeek replied. "I almost never come to Faerieland, and they have lots of cool goodies here! Oooh -- oooh! Look over there!"

She pointed excitedly at a sign saying '50% off'.

"Let's go! I love sales!" the Kacheek said, grabbing Ciakaba's arm.

"No! I'm going to the Faerie Castle and see how Jhudora is doing!" Ciakaba yelled annoyed.

"Fine!" Kachyraeek replied, sounding not a bit angry or disappointed.

The Kacheek headed for some faerie shops and Ciakaba walked to the Faerie Castle.

It wasn't a really long walk to the Faerie Castle, but it was so crowded that walking went very slow. You needed to push other Neopets and owners aside to get through.

Finally, she reached the Faerie Castle. It was a huge castle, with wondrous purple and pink towers reaching far out in the skies.

In front of the castle was a group of Neopets. They were wearing expensive clothes in bring pink and yellow colours.

Ciakaba passed them and entered the castle. Inside was a very long corridor. The floor was made out of shining marble and busy looking faeries walked around.

One of the Faeries, a Fire Faerie, noticed Ciakaba. She walked up to the Koi with a questioning face.

"Yes, what do you want?" she asked.

"Could I see Jhudora?" Ciakaba answered.

The Fire Faerie smiled, "No sorry, we don't let normal Neopets in."

Ciakaba rolled her eyes, "I am Ciakaba, the one who turned Jhudora in a Light Faerie!"

The smile on the Faerie's face abruptly turned into a laugh, "Ha! That's a good one!"

Fire Faeries, the Koi thought, they are all the same. Bossy, and very fast angry.

"Look -- I turned Jhudora into a Light Faerie!!" she shouted.

Still laughing, the Fire Faerie grabbed Ciakaba with one arm and lifted him a few feet above the ground.

"I'm throwing you out, little one," she said.

Before the Faerie could walk towards the front door, Fyora appeared behind the Fire Faerie.

"Fyora!" Ciakaba called out in surprise.

"Please, let this Koi down..' Fyora said to the Fire Faerie.

The Fire Faerie opened her hand, releasing Ciakaba and walked away. Ciakaba wanted to open her mouth to say something, but Fyora already gave the answer to her question.

"Yes, I know you turned Jhudora into a Light Faerie. Follow me, and I'll show you Jhudora," the Faerie said.

Ciakaba's eyes widened in amazement. "How did you know I-"

"Sssh... follow me," Fyora replied.

They walked down the corridor and entered the room at the end. It was not an ordinary room though. It was huge, with red carpet on the floor. The walls were made out of shining stone, and on the ceiling were hanging expensive chandeliers.

At the end of the room was one big golden throne. Next to it were four other thrones, way smaller then the one in the middle. In the throne at the left of the middle throne sat a Faerie. A Light Faerie. You could feel the happiness, joy and peace beaming from the Light Faerie. Ciakaba knew immediately who it was - Jhudora.

Fyora and Ciakaba walked to Jhudora. "Are you sure she isn't still evil?" whispered Ciakaba to Fyora.

"No -- no! Of course not!" answered Fyora proudly.

"Uhm... Jhudora?" Ciakaba asked to the Light Faerie.

"Yes, what is it cute little one?" she replied, smiling.

Freaky, Ciakaba thought, Now she is all whoo-pee-doo happy and nice, while she was the evil witch master a few days ago!

"Does she remember she was a Dark Faerie?" I asked Fyora with a low voice so Jhudora would not hear it.

"No -- she doesn't know that. She lost complete memory! That's good, because if she remembered she was a Dark Faerie, who knows what will happen," Fyora whispered back.

Jhudora shook her head a little. "How are the people doing? Are they satisfied with the 50% off sales?" she asked.

"Oh yes! Absolutely!" Ciakaba answered. "Well, I have to go again. Good day, Jhudora..!"

She bowed down for Jhudora and Fyora and walked to the door. She opened the door and stepped out of the room. Before she closed the door behind her, she took one last look at Jhudora. One split-second they thought she saw a red glow in Jhudora's eyes. But that must have been her imagination.

When Ciakaba left the castle, she saw Kachyraeek standing next to the castle wall staring up. The Koi walked to Kachyraeek.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I heard the Hidden Tower is supposed to be somewhere around here," the Kacheek replied, still staring up.

"Well, let's go!" Ciakaba said, grabbing Kachyraeek's arm and pulling her away from the castle wall.

They headed home, hoping that Hittop didn't noticed that they were gone.

* * *

"Where have you been?!" Hittop yelled. He slammed his fist on the Kauvara table.

"Uhm... Faerieland?" Ciakaba stuttered, with Kachyraeek hiding behind her back.

"Faerieland?! Why didn't you tell me you were gone? I searched all over the place and Tyrannia! I was so worried!" he shouted, his face turning red. "What were you two-"

Suddenly, banging noises coming from upstairs echoed through the room, interrupting Hittop. Ciakaba covered her head with his hands to protect her from the stones that were falling down from the ceiling.

Kachyraeek quickly grabbed Ciakaba's arm and they ran upstairs, fleeing to Ciakaba's room. Hittop wanted to shout something, but his voice was blown away by the banging noises from upstairs.

"Stupid workers!" he shouted, when the noises finally stopped.

***

A few days have passed without anything important happening. The workers were still working on Kachyraeek's room. They seemed to have bad luck, because every time when they almost finished, something bad happened; a wall broke down, the wind got too heavy and blew the whole room apart, a group of gigantic Grarrl's passed the house, destroying the room by banging their feet on the ground. They needed to stay home every day to watch the workers work so nothing would go wrong. Hittop now paid more attention to Ciakaba and Kachyraeek so they wouldn't sneak out again. But now the workers had a few hours break, so they rested in the living room.

"How much longer?" Hittop asked the workers.

A green Chia turned his head around, "Sorry, it's going to take a few days. Saber thought we had stolen some pieces from the omelette, and in rage he broke the room down. Stupid Lupe!"

"Can we go to Faerie Land? They have a long break now.." Kachyraeek sighed. "It's so hot in here.. In Faerieland it is cold and quiet.."

Hittop smiled, "All right.. We can go.."

"Yes!" Kachyraeek and Ciakaba called out, jumping in the air.

"Let's go!" Hittop said, walking to the door.

"Wait, I need to find Dracko!" Ciakaba replied, looking around the room. She looked down and saw Dracko hanging in the chandelier.

"Dracko, come down here this instance!" she yelled, jumping up, trying to grab her Drackonack.

Obeying his owner, Dracko jumped down and landed on Ciakaba's shoulder. The Koi smiled and followed Kachyraeek and Hittop out of the house.

* * *

It really was better in Faerieland. There was a small breeze, cooling them down. It wasn't very crowded today. Most of the Neopets and owners sat down on the ground, relaxing.

"So what do we do?" asked Hittop.

"Well, we go and see if we can find the Hidden Tower!" suggested Kachyraeek, swinging her arms around in joy.

Hittop nodded and they walked to the castle in Faerie City.

"Where is it?" said Ciakaba, frowning. She looked around and saw a dark cloud in the sky. She zoomed in and saw a castle of some sort on the cloud.

What is that? she thought, Is it... What? Heh... it's gone.. I must have imagined it or something...

Ciakaba looked down again and saw something shine. Something shined, she knew it. Walking closer to the glowing stone, she reached her fin out to touch it.. Suddenly the world around her faded and she was in a room. The floor, ceiling and walls were made out of stone. Some Neopets wearing expensive clothing walked around. Around the room were tables made out of glass.

She stepped closer to one of the tables and saw a staff laying on it. She immediately knew what it was. It was one expensive Battledome weapon, worth over one million Neopoints. And you could only find it in the Hidden Tower.

"Hidden Tower!" Ciakaba abruptly yelled. She ran to the door of the room, opened it and looked outside. Outside was Faerie Land, so it had to be the Hidden Tower.

"Kachy! Hittop!" she shouted.

Kachyraeek and Hittop appeared from behind a wall. They both saw Ciakaba's head floating in the air and gasped.

"What happened to your body?!" Hittop asked, his mouth wide open.

Ciakaba rolled her eyes. "I am in the Hidden Tower silly!"

Hittop and Kachyraeek walked to Ciakaba and suddenly found themselves in the Hidden Tower.

"Wow..." the Kacheek said, looking around.

"Let's go to the top of the building, they have some pretty Paintbrushes there!" suggested Hittop.

"Meh... boring," nagged Kachyraeek.

"They have plushies there, too!" said Hittop.

Kachyraeek smiled and they followed Hittop up the staircase. The staircase went in circles up, so you didn't see how long you still needed to walk. It took like ages. Finally, they reached a door.

Happily, Hittop slammed against the door to open it, but the door didn't move. He pushed the door again, but it only made a clicking noise. Apparently the door was locked.

"No!" Kachyraeek shouted. "I'm too tired to walk down again... Gah..." She leaned against the wall and slid down on the ground.

"Ciakaba, could you..." Hittop asked, glancing.

The Koi nodded and stepped closer to the door. She placed both of her fins on the door and concentrated. Instead of the door going open without a noise, there was a loud bang and the door slammed open. When the door hit the wall on the other side it fell down on the ground.

"You could have done that a little quieter!" Hittop whispered angrily.

"Well," Ciakaba replied, "I didn't know that-"

Kachyraeek jumped up and they all three stared into the room. A Faerie was laying on the cold floor, her hands and legs tied up. They recognized the Faerie -- Fyora.

They stormed inside and kneeled down next to the Faerie Queen. Ciakaba, the Cloud Koi, quickly untied Fyora and pulled her up.

"Are you all right?" Hittop asked, with a worried face.

Fyora slowly opened her eyes. She covered her eyes with her shaking hands. The Faerie opened her lips and said one name, "Jhudora!"

"I knew it!" Hittop called out, standing up.

"Stop her. I need to stop her," Fyora muttered.

Ciakaba shook her head in confusion. "But... then who is the Fyora I saw in the throne room?"

"That's a copy of me. Remember that Jhudora is a very strong faerie," Fyora replied. She tried to stand up but fell down on the ground again.

"But you're the most powerful Faerie. So what happened?" asked Kachyraeek with a peeping voice.

"I thought she changed since she became a Light Faerie. I let her into the castle, where she could see the most powerful items and weapons. Dumb of me! I should have known," Fyora said. "She surprised me! I was in the throne room... she came to me and... and.."

The Faerie coughed loudly and made some gurgling sounds.

"Don't speak, save your energy," Ciakaba whispered.

Fyora didn't listen and continued her story, "She wants to take over Faerieland.. She controls the copy of me, so she can let that copy do anything.. Everybody listens to me so she can do anything.. She wants to.. to... Make war with the rest of Neopia! Faeries are one of the most powerful being, so with a huge army of Faeries she could take out a large part of Neopia!"

Ciakaba gasped and tapped on Fyora's shoulder.

"It will mean the... destruction of Faerieland and Neopia," was the last Fyora could say. Her head sank down and she fell unconscious.

Ciakaba and Hittop lifted Fyora up and placed her on a bed in the corner of the room. Without saying a word, the group hurried down.

They stepped out of the tower and noticed some changed. The sky was now crowded with dark clouds and it was raining heavily. Sometimes lightning struck down making a crackling noise. In the far end of the Faerieland, they all saw a dark cloud with a castle on it. No doubt, it was Jhudora's cloud.

"Let's go!" Hittop commanded.

"What are we going to do?" Ciakaba asked, stepping backwards.

"We are going in," he replied. Hittop grabbed Ciakaba and Kachyraeek's arms and pulled them inside of the castle.

Nobody seemed to notice them, they were all just busy with their jobs.

They walked to the end of the corridor and stood still in front of the door leading to the throne room.

"What now?" asked Hittop.

"Let me think.. We need to show to the Faeries that Fyora is fake and that Jhudora is actually still evil... but how?" replied Ciakaba.

"I have no idea," said Kachyraeek, sighing.

To be continued...