"How do you think Shaylir will take this?" Shaeylan asked
passively raising her gaze upwards towards Myyth who looked a bit befuddled
about the whole situation. The ebony and scarlet Eyrie scratching his chin with
one of his paws. She had a good point. At the moment she was a green Aisha and
her earstalks were hitting Myyth in the beak. In an irritable manner Myyth swatted
them away with his free paw.
"In all honesty, she is a very good owner I suppose,
but...we aren't normal pets. An owner merely gets in our way...we have to
find a nice way to convey that thought to her," Myyth replied, pacing a
bit in place, ruffling his fiery feathers.
Myyth and Shaeylan had discovered a nice plot
of land on a very small island off the coast of Neopia Central. On this land
they planned to build a much more professional secret lair then the make shift
one they had at the moment; it was inconveniently located in the basement of
their NeoHome. It wasn't actually the fact that it was in the basement, but
the fact that the basement was easily accessible to Rhapsody. Rhapsody was Myyth's
arch nemesis and was constantly foiling his plots for world domination. The
truth was that Rhapsody wasn't even really a Neopet, but a very powerful faerie
in disguise out to stop Myyth.
"How do you suppose we do that in a nice manner?"
Shaeylan responded with a quirk of her eyebrows, folding her arms in a calm
manner. "'Oh Shaylir, You're a great owner and all but we don't need
you.' I'm sure that will go over just fine."
"Well, what else would you suggest?" Myyth retorted,
clearly frazzled by the whole situation. All he wanted was to get out and on
his own. For a mage, this was expected but for a Neopet, it was frowned upon.
"Look, She's understanding. She'll let us go, besides. Maybe she'll give us
a start. Lone us a bit of NP to begin building the lair? But of course we'll
tell her it's merely a second home, not a place to cook up diabolical schemes."
"Right. Go ahead and try. I'll back you up, but
I truthfully have doubts about it." Shaeylan stood up with a flick of her earstalks
and began to clamber up the stairs. "Let's go."
"I hope this works. Otherwise I fear we'll have
to deal with Rhapsody forever," Myyth sighed and followed his sister/assistant
up the stairs to the kitchen.
***
Shaylir cursed under her breath as she dropped a now burnt piece of cloud faerie
pizza on the counter of the kitchen. She pulled off her large over mitts and
blew on her hands to cool them off the best she could. Then she picked one mitt
up in her hand again to waft the smoke away from her face.
"You tried. I suppose we'll just have Neoflakes
for dinner again, but that's all right. I rather like Neoflakes," Rhapsody said
in an encouraging tone of voice, sitting comfortably at the kitchen table. The
Faerie Kau watched her owner with rapt interest, hoping that she didn't feel
bad about the cooking failure.
"I'm awfully sorry. I told you I was a wretched
cook. I bet you're getting sick of that Tombola Food..." Shaylir sighed, sinking
into a chair after pouring some Neoflakes into Rhapsody's bowl. She leaned back
in the chair weary and exhausted trying not to inhale the thick smoke in the
air.
"Oh no, Sick of Tombola Food? Never," Darkwise,
Shaylir's pirate Krawk, drawled in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. He
grudgingly took a bite of his own bowl of Neoflakes while Shaylir chose to ignore
his remark.
"Where are Myyth and Shaeylan? Can one of you
tell them it's time to eat?" Shaylir asked getting up from her seat and pushing
it in. Her hazel eyes met Darkwise's off kilter ones, but he merely shook his
head in a definite "No, never mind. Here they are now," Shaylir spoke indicating
the entrance of the Fire Eyrie and Green Aisha.
"Excuse me...Shaylir, but can Shaeylan and I
ask you something?" Myyth asked in as polite a tone as he could mange. He plopped
himself in a seat next to Darkwise, Shaeylan not far behind. The Pirate Krawk
threw a suspicious glance at both of them before continuing with his meal. If
it could even be called that.
"As long as it has nothing to do with having
me help you with taking over Neopia," Shaylir was nonchalant in her response.
Shaeylan and Myyth exchanged glances.
"Well, you see...we were wondering...if..." Myyth
coughed slightly into his paw slurring the rest of his words.
"What was that?" Shaylir asked with a quirk of
her eyebrow, clearly puzzled.
"He's asking if we can move out on our own,"
Shaeylan said simply. Myyth glared at her. She had been too blunt about it.
He wanted to ease into it and ask politely.
"What, but why? That doesn't make any sense!"
Shaylir blinked, obviously very confused. This had come out of nowhere. "Was
it something I did? Do I not take care of you...?"
"No, no! It's not that at all. It's just...Shaeylan
and I are much more independent then other Neopets. We want to be on our own.
We'd still come and visit of course..." Myyth tried to cover up for the blunder
Shaeylan had made as Darkwise snorted into his Neoflakes about the "more independent"
comment.
"More independent? If I find out this is just
some ploy to take over Neopia..." Shaylir threatened clenching her fists next
to her. "I will personally turn you both into mutants and throw you in the pound!"
Of course she didn't mean it, She would never ever do that, and even though
the threat was harsh she wasn't very firm about it. Besides, she actually liked
mutants so that sort of defiled her threat.
"No, no...of course not. We just want to be on
our own. That's all. Please?" Shaeylan pleaded to Shaylir, her eyes flickering
hopefully.
"Fine. Go on. Go. If you think you can live without
me that's fine." Shaylir shook her head sadly and marched out of the room.
"Well, that was surprisingly easy. Goodbye Darkwise,
Rhapsody." He threw a smirk in Rhapsody's direction. The Faerie Kau merely returned
the favour. Both he and Shaeylan had already packed their suitcases with a few
important items, their NP savings, and other such things.
"You know exactly what they're going to do Rhapsody.
And so does Shaylir. Why in Neopia did she let them go?" Darkwise asked bitterly
looking up from his Neoflakes. Rhapsody was surprised, in all the time she had
been living with him they had never actually exchanged real words.
"I don't know...I think she expects that they
won't be able to live on their own...but I do know one thing. I've got to follow
them. Without me to stop him all I've been working for could be lost," Rhapsody
replied with a sigh as she stood up. Her Kookith, Guardian, was right behind
her.
"Working for? What are you talking about?" Darkwise
was completely in the dark about the whole Rhapsody being the Chaos Faerie thing.
He knew about Myyth being a mage but he didn't quite believe it.
"It's a long story. Just...just tell Shaylir
that I've gone because I want to make up with Myyth after all of the times we've
fought and that I may or may not be back. Got it? And...here...give her my Kookith."
Rhapsody lifted Guardian on the table in front of Darkwise. "And do me a favour.
Make sure if Shaylir gets any new pets the Kookith goes to them. She'll guide
them in the right direction."
"But Rhapsody..." Guardian protested in a crestfallen
voice. "I want to go with you." The little Kookith saw the Kau's expression
and sighed. "I know, I'll be of more use here...goodbye."
"Right, okay," Darkwise replied with an indifferent
shrug. He honestly could care less. "Uh, Have fun."
"Thanks Darkwise, and don't say Goodbye Guardian.
I'll be back eventually." And with that Rhapsody was out the door after Myyth.
***
"Rhapsody. She could cause us problems." Myyth stopped suddenly almost knocking
Minion, his Moltenore, off his shoulder. "We've got to find some way to keep
her in place."
"Good point..." Shaeylan responded nonchalantly,
her new Zumagorn bouncing next to her.
"Minion and Innocence. We've got to send them
as spies... we can disguise them as a parting gift for Shaylir to give her future
pets." Myyth clacked his beak together enthusiastically. "There problem solved.
Minion. Go. Keep an eye on Rhapsody and make sure who ever you go to gets brain
washed to follow me when I become ruler of Neopia. Got it?" The Black Moltenore
and the Blue Zumagorn both nodded as they raced each other back to their old
NeoHome.
"That makes things easy. But I'm really going
to miss those two..." Shaeylan sighed.
"Me too, but what else is there to do?"
Myyth replied, mirroring Shaeylan's sigh, but his
upset at losing his companion didn't bother him for long as images of his soon
to be secret lair bounced around his head.
***
Shaeylan stretched after helping Myyth set up their tents. They had to stay
in tents while their actual lair was being built. They didn't mind. Not one
bit. They weren't in any rush now that they had their secret lair to look forward
to.
That was when Rhapsody showed up.
"Hello roomies," she said in a very sarcastic
manner, trotting up to Shaeylan and Myyth.
"Very funny. Go away. We don't have to let you
stay with us you know," Myyth countered bluntly, glaring at Rhapsody with a
fierce loathing.
"Oh yes you do. Otherwise I'll let Shaylir know
what you're up to." A evil grin slowly found itself onto Rhapsody's face.
"You wouldn't."
"Oh I would. So you'll just have to deal with
me for now. So what's for dinner?" Both Myyth and Shaeylan just shot very very
angry looks at the grinning Faerie Kau.
The End | 
