"Here's a question," said Ying, after the four of them had walked (or flown
in Ying and Yang's case) for about an hour. "How do we get to Faerieland before
Dr. Sloth and Sinicar? They already have a head start."
"Fortuna smiled. "Do not underestimate me little Shoyru," she replied, pulling
a strange vial from her belt. It was filled with a strange purple liquid. Ying
looked confused. But Yang recognised the potion.
"That's a Transporting potion isn't it?" he said.
"I hear they're so rare you can't find them anywhere." Destiny nodded. "Fortunately,
Fortuna knows how to make them."
"Okay, but one more question," said Ying.
"Yes, what?" asked Fortuna.
"If we can transport using that potion, WHY HAVE WE BEEN WALKING FOR THE PAST
HOUR?" Ying screamed.
"Wow, I've always wanted to go to Faerieland," gasped Yang, when they were
transported. "It's just how I imagined it."
"I thought it would be bigger," said Ying, trying to hide his excitement.
"So where's Sinicar and company?"
Suddenly, the entire cloud of Faerieland shook, and a large crack, snapped
and ripped its way towards them. "I believe that is them," said Destiny, and
then turned to her owner. Fortuna, what should we do?"
Fortuna turned to look at the Faerie Castle. "We must warn the Queen, we have
to protect her, and get the other Faeries to fight!"
With that the girl ran towards the Castle, with the two Shoyrus and Lupe in
close pursuit. When they reached the huge door, all four of them had to pull
to open and close it. Then it was an all out sprint to the main hall. Fortuna
took the lead and ran into the Hall.
"Your highness, Sini…" Fortuna stopped. In front of her, sitting in the Queens
chair, surrounded by Mutated NeoPets and Sinicar, was Dr. Sloth!
"What the…" asked Ying and Yang, as the too ran into the room, followed by
the white Lupe, Destiny. Dr. Sloth grinned. "We reached Faerieland a lot quicker
than expected, but we played along with your little game. Sinicar certainly
is strong, but he loves a good game."
Destiny growled as the mutated pets took a step closer, and Dr. Sloth continued,
"I would have loved to do this much sooner, but I needed Sinicar's power to
be able to win. Now, with the Faeries captured, I can use the Gun I built here
to turn every creature in Neopia into a mutant!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Ying. Sinicar pointed to some mutants digging
in a corner.
"Big brother make mutant gun. Faeries built over it. Now we find and fire
it," he said. Then he put his hand out and waved it in front of the four.
Suddenly, Ying and Yang felt incredibly tired. As they looked around, they
saw that Fortuna had already fallen asleep, and Destiny wasn't far behind. As
the four of them fell under Sinicar's sleep spell, Dr. Sloth smiled. "It wont
be long now," he said.
When Ying woke up, he was surprised to see a strange face looming over him.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Sitting up, Ying realised that the girl was Fortuna.
But they weren't in the great Hall anymore.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I think Sinicar cast a sleeping spell on us, then locked us in the dungeon,"
Fortuna replied. "We were at his mercy, but for some reason, he didn't turn
you and Destiny into mutants, but…"
"Wait a sec, where's Yang?" asked Ying, looking round frantically. "Dr. Sloth
didn't…"
"We do not know," said Destiny. "He may just have been taken to a different
cell. After all, the Faeries must be locked down here as well, he might be with
them."
"Maybe," said Ying. "But how do we get out of here, we have to stop Dr. Sloth
from firing that mutant beam."
"That's easy, I'll just use another potion," replied Fortuna. "Let's see...I
should have…Oh no!"
"What is wrong, Fortuna?" asked Destiny.
"My potions, they're all gone!" cried Fortuna, falling to the ground. "They
must have taken them off me before they locked us down here."
"Great, so now how do we get out?" said an annoyed Ying.
"Perhaps I can help," replied a voice.
They all jumped up in shock. "Where did that come from," wondered Fortuna.
"Over here," called the voice. Ying looked in the direction of the voice. Hiding
in a nook of the wall was a figure. As it came into view it said, "I have an
explosion charm that should do the trick." Ying recognised the figure. It was
the Fire Faerie!
"So why are you still free?" asked Ying, when they had been freed. "I thought
Dr. Sloth said they caught all the Faeries."
The Fire Faerie looked serious. "You were by the Money Tree when Sinicar was
released right?" Ying nodded. "Then you will remember I was watching the tree
and attacked it. But I failed and fell to the ground. Sinicar thought he had
destroyed me, but I was only weakened."
"I guess that makes sense," said Destiny.
"I've been following you whilst I healed. That's why I came here to help you.
We have to stop Dr. Sloth and his stupid brother from firing that beam. There
is no way I'm going to serve Dr. Sloth. He doesn't even like Gormball!"
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" shouted Ying.
"This passage leads directly to the Hall. With any luck, we'll be able to surprise
them and destroy the gun before they react," said the Fire Faerie flying ahead.
"Hey wait, shouldn't we free the other Faeries before we go?" asked Fortuna.
"I mean, we need all the help we can get."
The Fire Faerie shook her head. "I don't know where they're being held. And
it would take too long. Besides, I only have one more Exploding Charm that would
work on the cages, and I need to use that to destroy the beam. Suddenly, five
mutated pets leaped out at the four, and blocked their way.
"No entry," said a Mutated Kiko.
"I wasn't asking for your permission!" shouted the Fire Faerie, aiming a large
Fireball at the NeoPets. Then she fired. Whilst Ying, Destiny and Fortuna took
cover, the NeoPets stayed firm. Even when the Fireball closed over them, they
still didn't move. When the Fire dimmed down, they saw that all of the pets
had fainted from the blast. After making sure that none of the NeoPets were
seriously hurt, and only unconscious, the four carried on down the passage.
Meanwhile, in the main Hall, the mutants had discovered something under the
floor. Pulling away at the cement and dirt, the revealed the entire gun, still
in one piece. One of the mutant Grundo's ran to Dr. Sloth and Sinicar.
"Masters, we have found the gun. We are preparing it for firing."
"Good," said Dr. Sloth, "but make sure the beam is working in the next hour,
or else. Do you want to find out what 'or else' means?"
"No master," replied the Grundo, and went back to the beam.
Watching the mindless pets, Sinicar and Dr. Sloth relaxed and waited. Soon
Neopia would belong to them.
"The first thing I'm going to do is change the name," said Dr. Sloth. "How
does Slothopia sound?"
Sinicar laughed. "Good brother, very good."
The two of them were so wrapped up in their discussion that they didn't notice
the eyes in the painting of the Faeries above them move away…
"Okay, if we go another few feet…and turn this lever…ah here we go," said the
Fire Faerie to Ying, Destiny and Fortuna. The three of them watched in awe as
slits appeared in certain places on the wall. Being as cautious as possible,
Fortuna looked through one of the slits. "It's the Main Hall," she whispered.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say were looking through the Faerie Painting."
"We are," replied the Fire Faerie.
"Look, over there," interrupted Destiny, pointing in the direction of the gun.
"It looks like its ready to fire."
Just then, all the mutants surrounding the gun moved away, and a mutant Grundo
marched over to Dr. Sloth and Sinicar. After speaking in hushed tones, Dr. Sloth
laughed and pointed at the gun. A mutant Techo then jumped on it, and the gun
began collecting energy into a large black and red sphere. "Correction Destiny,"
said Ying. "It is ready to fire!"
To be continued... | 
