Back at the house....
"Are you guys ready yet?" angel asked. Angel and Lark were standing in front
of the house. Cloud stepped out onto the lawn. She had extremely visible streaks
of white sunblock on her brown-spotted face.
"Where's Sunset?" Lark asked her.
"I'm HE-ERE!" Sunset cried tumbling out the second-story window. Her wings
barely had time to unfold before she hit the ground.
"Get in the car!" angel cried, "We have to get to Mystery Island!"
"I hate Mystery Island," Sunset grumbled as they approached the docks.
"Be quiet," angel said, "We won't be there long. Just until we find Ermine.
Then we'll go back home."
"Can we stop in Faerieland?" Sunset asked. She liked to play the Fruit Machine
in the Lost Desert, but Faerieland was her favourite place. Everyone knew it
was because she was faerie, but she claimed she'd liked it even before that.
Finally, they reached Mystery Island.
Knowing that Ermine would ant to play Tombola, angel led the others to the
Tiki Tack Tombola hut first.
"Can I play Tombola?" angel asked, knowing if Ermine had played, the Tiki
Tack Man wouldn't let them.
But, he nodded and Sunset drew a card.
"Twenty two!" she cried and the Tiki Tack Man handed over 150 NP and he handed
a bottle of Red Sand to Sunset.
"What now?" Lark asked when they had left the Tombola hut.
"Well," angel said, "We should check the hotel. She has to stay SOMEWHERE."
So, they all went to the hotel. But when they asked if Ermine had checked
in, the owner said that yes, a young white Aisha has checked in that day, was
that her? Angel, Lark, Cloud, and Sunset shook their heads and continued on
their way.
"Where could she BE?" Cloud asked.
"Maybe she went to the Rock Pool," Sunset suggested, "That's where I'D go."
So, the family raced off to the Rock Pool.. But she wasn't their.
Or at the Island Mystic (but they WOULD fend off a pack of rabid Lupes) or
at the Cooking Pot, or at Sacrificers.
"Well," Cloud said after a minute of rest outside the Food Shop, "Sunset and
I have come to the concussion that Ermine is not here."
"Yeah!" Sunset said, fluttering around the top of a palm tree.
"Then where could she--" then Lark remembered the thoughtful look on Ermine's
face when the army came, "Uh-oh."
Ermine gasped and followed Blue_Print up a HUGE hill.
"Are we--" Ermine began, but then stopped in awe. Ahead stood the Haunted
Woods. They looked too much like the woods in all the scary stories angel had
told her when she was young. "THIS is the Haunted Woods?" she asked Blue_Print.
He nodded.
"All right, Troops!" Ulrick cried, "Let's split up! Troop Alpha you take the
new ones and head toward the Brain Tree and Haunted House. Troop Beta you...."
The rest of Ulrick's directions were lost as Erime stared in horror at a huge
tree with a big brain and a big old house.
"C-Come on," Blue_Print said to Ermine, trying not to show how frightened
he was.
"Do we actually have to go IN there?" Ermine whispered to Gola, a Tyrannian
Shoyru.
"Yup," she said, "Unless of course you want to go on to the Lost Desert ALONE."
She said alone as if it were a bad word.
"Right," Ermine said and followed Blue_Print down the hill.
Within two days they had gather five recruits, left the Haunted Woods (much
to Ermine and Blue_Print's relief) and had arrived safely at the Lost Desert.
After three days gather twelve recruits there (a herd of ten Lost Desert Kaus,
a desert Shoyru, and a desert Peophin) and were moving back to Tyrannia.
"It's time to fight," Ulrick said and motioned for the troops to move out.
"ALL RIGHT RECRUITS! HALT! ABOOOOOUT FACE!" Ulrick yelled. Ermine covered
her ears. She still wasn't used to the power of the Skeith's voice.
"We will be staying here until the enemy arrives! You can stay at the Inn
or lodge with a resident. Here, we have some Tyrannians willing to take in some
recruits!"
Ermine avoided a mean-looking Mynci, and a scary Grarrl. She dodged through
the bustling crown until she laid her eyes on a Gelert she couldn't believe
was Tyrannian
"I'm not really," the Gelert admitted when Ermine approached and asked to
stay with her, "And I'd love to lodge with a fellow Neopian!"
So Ermine and Blue_Print had a place to stay (the Gelert took him in, too).
Sundrop, the Gelert, was very kind. She was born in Neopia Central, like Blue_Print
and Ermine, but had moved to Tyrannia to study.
"Also," she confided to them, "I'm a huge M*YNCI and Chomby and The Fungus
Balls fan."
So, they were set in the living and eating. But there was still the fighting
to worry about.
One bright morning, Blue_Print and Ermine were sitting down to a nice breakfast
of Froot Loops and Streaky bacon when Aelfrick, the Mynci barged in.
"Get you weapons!" he gasped, "The enemy has arrived!!"
Blue_Print raced from the table and went into the room Sundrop had lent him.
He returned with his arms full of battle guns, armour, and other weapons.
"There's nothing for Aishas here," Sundrop said, frowning.
"I don't need anything," Ermine said and grabbed a Clockwork Grundo and
a Rainbow Gun.
The three raced out the door. Aelfrick pointed them towards the Battledome
while he raced off to tell the rest of the troops.
When Blue_Print and Ermine arrived, most of the army was already there. Ermine
saw, on the other side of the Battledome a huge army of a bunch of nasty-looking
Chias and Aishas Krawk Islanders! Ermine gasped. They had a reputation for being
tough. But so did the Tyrannians. She looked more at the opposing army. She
saw a few Krawks, a new species, swinging their tails menacingly. What have
I gotten myself into? Ermine thought, a sick feeling rising in her stomach.
Blue_Print rested his paw on her shoulder, "Here we go."
A gong sounded somewhere and before Ermine could blink the fighting had begun.
A giant spotted Krawk raced at her. She closed her eyes and shot the Rainbow
Gun at him. He fell to the ground. She opened her eyes. He was back up!
"You're not getting anywhere with THAT!" he growled and Ermine remembered
her sister Cloud's speech about the Rainbow Gun.
"It only takes two hit points!" she cried. The Krawk came at her, aiming a
Rod of Super Nova at her. This is it. Ermine though, then she remembered the
Grundo
Ermine wound it up then threw the Grundo at the Krawk. She threw it at him.
When the dust cleared, she saw the Krawk laying on the ground, hit pointless.
"Yes!" she cried, not noticing the huge burn on her hand. Suddenly Ermine
heard heavy breathing and turned around to find a fat Chia limping towards her.
A few shots with the Rainbow Gun will take care of him! She thought and aimed.
I'm on a roll! She thought as she zapped a big faerie Krawk.
Just as she finished zapping a Chia, she saw an Aisha aiming his Tiki Bomb
at Blue_Print. "No!" she cried and jumped in its way. Then there was black.
"W-where am I?" Ermine asked, sitting up. A strong hand pushed her back down.
Ermine squinted until the faces came into focus. Standing above her were her
sisters and her owner.
"Mum!" Ermine cried sitting up, "Cloud, Lark, Sunset! How'd you find me?"
Angel pushed Ermine back down and Lark told the whole story.
"Luckily, Lark remembered how interested you had seemed when those Tyrannians
came to the door. She was the one who saved you," angel said.
"No" Lark said, blushing, "Sunset found you. She was the only one who realised
the almost white Aisha in the bed was you."
"White?" Ermine asked, looking at her brown arms.
"You were so pale!" Cloud cried.
"We're just glad you're back," angel said.
"But," Ermine said, suddenly looking sad.
"What?" Sunset asked, fluttering closer to her older sister.
"I wanted to make a name for myself," Ermine said sadly, "So I'd be special."
"A NAME!?" angel cried, "Lark, get the packet."
Lark took a packet from Ermine's bedside table. She opened it. Inside was
a Neopian flag. She unfolded it. "Let's see," she said, "One for joining, a
green heart for getting injured, one for courage in the line of fire and, oh
yeah." Lark held up an especially handsome medal, "One for caring more about
the safety of others than your own well-being."
A thought struck Ermine. "Is Blue_Print OK?" she asked.
"A case of Neopox, but, yes," Angel replied.
"NEOPOX?" Ermine cried, "How'd he get NEOPOX?"
Cloud giggled, "He ate a rotten omlette at the victory banquet."
So, Ermine made a name for herself. And that's all there is. But who knows,
maybe they'll be back.
The End | 
