Midnight slowly opened her eyes. She could wood far up over her. It took her
a second to realise that she was under a roof. She sat up to see that she was
inside a house. She was laying in a bed on the ground with a grey blanket. The
room she was in was very small. There wasn't much to it besides the bed. It
there was lots of dirt, though. Next to Midnight's door was a window, which
was the only thing that was lighting the room.
"What happened? Where am I?" she asked herself. "What happened back there?"
She sat there trying to remember what happened for a sec. Then she realised
that she didn't have the Sword! She jumped out of the bed and looked frantically
all over the small room. Then she saw the door in the small room, so she ran
through it. When she ran through, she was surprised to what she saw. There was
a large fireplace in the middle of a room, and sitting around it were Jen, Shane
and Misty, along with a White Lupe, Blue Lupe and a Green Lupe. Besides the
fire and all the NeoPets, the room was completely empty. The White Lupe walked
up to Midnight.
"I'm Seizer," said the white Lupe. "The Green Lupe is Star, and the Blue one
is Sparky."
"I'm... Midnight," she replied slowly. "What happened?"
"You were attacked by the Kougra twins," answered Seizer. "The Kougra twins
are two Kougras who work for the thing that wants the Ancient Sword."
"The Sword!" Midnight exclaimed. "How in Neopia do you know about the Ancient
Sword?"
"We'll explain later. Now, the Sword has been taken, which is very bad as
we all know. They will take it to their leader, and Neopia will be gone forever.
We have to catch the Kougra twins!"
"Yeah, we definitely do, but I'm confused... could you explain a little better
to me what happened?"
"Well, when you heard us howl, we were trying to warn you about the Kougra
twins. But it was useless. They were simply too fast. Once the one Kougra had
jumped on you and knocked you out, Star knocked him back off. Your brother and
sisters were also knocked out, but they recovered faster than you."
"Did you scare them off?"
"No, not really. We fought them for a short time, but then a loud roar had
scared them off. We've been hearing it a lot lately."
"What are we gonna do?! What if they get the Sword to their leader before
we can stop them!"
"That won't happen!" Seizer's voice was now very strong and firm. "They are
very smart, but we're smarter. We already know pretty much what we're going
to do. Trust me, they won't get far."
"What we're going to do," said Jen, "is go out and try to find the Kougra
twins. Seizer said he'd lend us some weapons to use. While we're out there trying
to get the Sword back, Seizer, Star and Sparky will stay here and keep other
enemies from following us like the Kougra twins did."
"You won't be able to overpower them," said Star, "but you can outsmart them.
You guys will have to have a quick mind!"
"With Jen with us, outsmarting them shouldn't be a problem," said Shane. "She's
very quick-witted!"
"That may be so," said Sparky, "but you'll all need to be quick-witted with
the Kougra twins."
Midnight nodded her head. "When do we go?" she said.
"Right now would be best," said Seizer. "You all are rested up now, but I
imagine you're hungry. We'll send food along with you, and weapons, of course."
"Great!" Midnight's spirits seemed to rise when she heard Seizer say the word
food. She suddenly remembered how hungry she was. Star went into a different
door on the other side of the room.
"He'll bring you what you need," said Seizer. "You all can choose your own
weapons."
Shortly, Star came back with 4 leather bags in his mouth. They were brown
and all weather worn. Each of them had a strap on the top of the bag to hold
it by. He laid them close to the fire. Jen, Misty, Shane, and Midnight all gathered
around the bags. Star took one by the strap and handed it to Shane.
"This is the food," he said. "It has berries, fruit, meat, and a jug of water
in it. Eat very little at a time! Now, each of you choose a bag."
Midnight, Jen, and Misty each took a bag. But there wasn't one left for Shane.
"What about me?" he said.
"We have another," said Star, and he ran back into the room, and quickly came
back with a sword. He gave it to Shane.
"Think you can handle a sword?" said Star.
"Of course!" said Shane as he held the sword in the air.
The sword was very plain. The hilt was grey. It looked like your every day
sword. When held to light, it didn't look pure gold like the Ancient Sword did.
The others opened their bags. In Jen's was a yellow gun, Midnight's was a weird
silver chain, and in Misty's was a necklace. The chain to it was gold. On this
gold chain was a bluish green glass ball. On top of the ball was a gold leaf.
"That gun," said Sparky, "can shoot electricity. But it needs water inside
it in order to make the electricity, so make sure you have extra water!"
"The chain," said Star, "is amazing. You throw it at an enemy with the other
end in your hand, and the chain will automatically wrap itself around the enemy.
You can send electricity through the chain, too! It will come to you how to
use it. Trust me."
"And the necklace is the most amazing," said Seizer. "That will also come
to you how to use it. Wear it around your neck at all times!"
Misty then put it around her neck. The others put their weapons back in the
bag.
"Now, get going!" Seizer said. "It's almost night fall. You'll want to get
as far as you can go before it gets dark! Now go! You'll have protection for
a long time now. Good luck, and great speed!"
"Mwahaha, the Kougra twins couldn't catch us even if you weren't here to keep
them away!!" Misty laughed. "I fear nothing, especially the Kougra twins! I
could beat them up with my paws tied behind my back, and that's a fact."
"But," Shane said, "I thought I saw you shaking when one of the Kougra twins
jumped on Midnight. But maybe I'm wrong."
"Shut up, Shane," Misty said as she glared at Shane.
Soon, Jen, Misty, Shane and Midnight were all on their way again in the large
grass field. The house they were all in was about a mile away now, but it was
still in sight, seeing as how flat the area was. The sky far above them was
not blue anymore. It was now many mixed colours. On the horizon far ahead of
them where the mountains were, it was dark pink. Then, as you looked up, the
pink turned into orange, and then orange into purple, and then directly above
them it was blue. The NeoPets could see a large space of water far, far ahead
of them. They were no longer close to any trees. But there were lots of large
rocks all around them.
"We should hurry, you know," said Jen suddenly. "The Kougra twins are probably
running, while we're walking!"
"Chicken!" laughed Misty.
"I'm no chicken, I'm a Pteri!!"" Jen shouted back.
"Bah."
"You know we should get moving, despite what you say. I'll bet they're way
ahead of us now!"
"Wrong!!" said a voice. Then, from behind two rocks in front of them, jumped
two Fire Kougras! They stood standing in front of the four NeoPets. It nearly
made them jump out of their skin!
"The Kougra twins!!" exclaimed Midnight. "They've been following us this entire
time!! But how could we not hear them!?"
"That's for us to know," started the first Kougra, "And you to find out!"
said the second. The one to the left always said something first. "I'm Blaze,"
said the first, "And I'm Daze!" said the second. Midnight got in front of the
others and stuck her hand in her bag which was around her neck.
"What do you want?" she said. "You already have the Sword!"
"That may be so..." said Blaze.
"But we have to stop you from taking it back!" continued Daze.
"Try and stop us!" shouted Midnight.
"Fine then," said Blaze.
"Our pleasure!" continued Daze.
Then they both pounced at the four NeoPets! Midnight quickly got her chain
and threw one end at Daze, who was about to jump on her, and it stopped him
in his tracks! It wrapped around him and he fell to the ground. At the same
second that Midnight got her chain, Jen grabbed her gun and shocked Blaze with
it! He also fell to the ground with a thud!
"That was too easy!" laughed Misty.
"Oh, this is far from over!" yelled Blaze. Then he jumped up, shook his head,
and opened his mouth. Then, without time even to think, he blasted a huge fire
ball at Midnight, who still had the chain wrapped around Daze! Midnight dropped
the chain and ducked, moving faster than she had ever remembered! Daze shook
the chain off of him.
"Don't underestimate," started Blaze.
"Our power!" continued Daze.
Blaze and Daze both started moving very quickly. They ran around and around
in a circle around Midnight, Shane, Jen and Misty. Midnight grabbed her chain.
But before she could do anything, she saw that the Kougra twins had stopped
running, and where they were running two seconds ago was now a ring of fire!
"We're trapped!!" yelled Midnight.
The four NeoPets then heard the Kougra twins laughing as they walked away.
"What now!?" exclaimed Misty. "Out of the frying pan, and into the fire!!"
"Wait!" yelled Jen. "Me and Shane can fly! We can fly over the fire!"
"But what about us!?" yelled Misty.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to pick you two up!!"
"A little Pteri picking me up?! I can't easily picture that!"
"What choice do you have, you stubborn fool!?"
"Well hurry!!" said Midnight as she eyed the fire. "It's closing in on us!"
Shane and Jen both jumped into the air. Shane grabbed Midnight by the paw
and Misty held onto Jen's tail. Jen struggled to hold Misty into the air, but
she somehow managed it. Jen and Shane both puffed as they struggled Midnight
and Misty into the air. Once they were completely above the ring of fire, the
ring closed in completely in a flash of light, and now they were hanging over
a circle of fire, that was still rising into the air! It startled Jen and Shane,
and Shane nearly dropped Midnight!
"Quick, stop going up, and start going over!!" shouted Misty. "Drop us on
the ground where there's no fire!!"
Before she could even finish what she was saying, the fire spread in another
flash of light, and the fire was much larger now! It covered nearly the entire
field. And the fire was still reaching for the sky.
"I don't think I can hold you much longer, Midnight," said Shane, still
huffing and puffing. "Too hot."
"And I don't know how much longer I can hold onto Jen's tail!!" exclaimed
Misty as she glared down at the fire.
"And I'm too weak to hold you much longer," Jen said as she puffed.
"There's no way we're gonna get away from this fire," thought Midnight.
Midnight looked down at the fire. Then she saw something laying in the fire
where the Kougras were standing after creating the fire. She looked closer,
and saw that it was the Ancient Sword!! It wasn't Shane's sword, she was sure
of it. She knew the golden glare of the Ancient Sword.
"THE ANCIENT SWORD!!" yelled Midnight at the top of her lungs out of fright.
"It's GONE! Forever!! Neopia is going to be DESTROYED!"
To be continued... | 
