Untitled Document
Tiki Hati let out an involuntary squawk, as he spotted the
smoke lazily drifting into the sky.
"What's wrong?" called Polador urgently, sensing
something was wrong.
"Fire! Fire!" Tiki Hati squawked, and zoomed
off in the direction of the smoke. Polador was seized with panic. Fire? In a
jungle? If somebody didn't put it out soon, the whole forest might go up in
flames. Polador raced along the make-shift path Farolt had carved throughout
the forest, no longer caring if he tripped. A tuft of fur snagged on a branch
and was ripped out savagely. Polador ignored it, and kept running as fast as
his legs would allow. He could smell the sharp acrid smoke, and before long
he could see it rising above the treetops above his head. Polador burst from
a bush, and was confronted by a scene of destruction. Cocos, dead and dying,
littered the clearing like empty packets of Neodrops, as if thrown there by
some lazy greedy Neopet. Huts burned ferociously, emanating the acrid stink
of wood smoke. And in the middle, Polador could see Thalion. Or more accurately,
Farolt in the body of Thalion. The Lupe laughed crazily, the sound sending a
cold shiver down Polador's spine. Tiki Hati landed hastily beside Polador, and
gasped at the carnage. But among the destruction, he quickly spotted Farolt.
The Pteri pointed at Farolt. "Let's go!" he
urged. "We have to kill him before he harms anyone else! Killing him is the
only way! When Thalion's body ceases to function, Farolt will be trapped within,
and die also!"
"But I thought we were going to use the artifact
thingy to get Thalion back into his body first!" said Polador in surprise.
"If you don't remember," said Tiki Hati impatiently,
"I said we needed artifacts to save him. As in plural. We have only the artifact
holder, remember!"
"But, but," Polador stuttered. "there has to
be a way! What are the other artifacts?"
"How am I supposed to know?" said Tiki Hati
angrily. "The only decent clues to what they might be are buried in some stupid
childish legends!"
"Those stupid childish legends just might save
my friend!" Polador yelled. "So just tell me!"
Tiki Hati looked a little taken aback. "The
legends mention some supernatural Petpets. Giant ones, superpowered ones, and
psychic ones. See how stupid the legends are?"
"They're not legends! Thalion and I faced those
Petpets!"
"You did?" Tiki Hati looked interested. "What
did they look like?"
"Never mind that! What do the Petpet have to
do with the artifacts?!?!"
Tiki Hati tried to concentrate, which was quite
hard to do when fires are raging around you, and a mad Lupe is laughing crazily
in the background. "After their riddles were answered, and they were craftily
and slyly persuaded to do so, they were supposed to hand over their respective
artifacts. I can't remember exactly what the artifacts were though."
Polador sighed in frustration. "We didn't solve
any riddles! Or persuade any Petpets, craftily or otherwise! We had to kick
their tails just to survive!"
Tiki Hati shook his head sadly. "Well, then
you wouldn't have obtained the artifacts from them. Sorry buddy, but we're going
to have to do this the hard way."
Polador ground his teeth together. "Well, I'm
going to try anyway!" he said stubbornly. "How am I supposed to activate the
artifact I have now?" he pulled the candle-holder-resembling relic from his
backpack roughly.
"You can't. It's impossible. Even worse, you
have to go close quarters to use it. And both of us know that's suicide."
"I don't care!" Polador grabbed Tiki Hati by
the feathers of his chest and pulled him close, using the other paw to press
three very sharp claws against the Pteri's throat. It was his very first act
of aggression in all his life, but Polador never bothered to notice the fact.
"I have to try! Tell me! Or you're about to be so much roasted Pteri."
Tiki Hati squeaked nervously, alarmed at the
Polador's sudden change of attitude. "I insist you put me down right this instant!"
Polador pressed his claws a little closer to
Tiki Hati's throat, "Tell me!"
"Okay!" the Pteri squeaked. "You just have to
go close, and have the intention of using the artifacts in your heart and soul.
But the rest of secret of using it was lost many years ago."
Polador dropped Tiki Hati onto the ground, and
sprinted towards Farolt, the only artifact he had in paw. He tackled the laughing
Lupe, and pinned him to the ground. He held the metal holder to Farolt's throat,
breathing heavily. Nothing happened. Farolt calmly sat up, pulled Polador off
him, and threw him a few metres to the side. The Lupe landed heavily, raising
a cloud of dust. He had failed his best friend. His only shot at beating that
abomination had failed, and now there was nothing he could do. The relic glowed.
It floated in the air a metre from the ground, glowing softly. Polador watched
in amazement as its pure white light grew brighter and brighter, until it was
almost too brilliant to see. He shaded his eyes, and felt his backpack moving.
He looked over his shoulder, just in time to see three small items rip through
the fabric of the bag, and zoom towards the floating holder. Each flew towards,
then cemented itself onto the tip of a different metal arm. The glow subsided
somewhat and Polador was able to see just what the artifacts were. On the middle
appendage of the holder there was the swirling, rainbow crystal he had picked
up off the floor. On either side, there was the small, life-like stone buzzhive,
and the small stubby candle.
The stand of the holder started to lengthen,
growing longer and longer, until Polador found himself holding something that
looked exactly like a trident. On each of the three trident tips was a different
artifact that either he or Thalion had unwittingly picked up from the underground
central chamber where they had done battle with the Petpets. Polador grinned
to himself. Thank Fyora for the saying "Want not, waste not," he thought. He
hefted the trident clumsily, unaccustomed to handling a weapon after his life
of pacifism.
Surprisingly, the trident was lighter than he
expected. He held it out in front of him, point first, and charged at Farolt.
The maniac Lupe, too busy gloating over the destruction of the Coco tribe, never
saw what hit him. Or what almost hit him. The trident, just before impact, halted
suddenly, and Polador was forced to awkwardly stumble to avoid falling over.
Each of the three trident tips glowed brightly, as they each shot out a beam
of light. The beams, instead of continuing on a straight path as the laws of
physics dictated, started curving around the Lupe, not into him, but around,
until he was contained in a circular cage of shimmering rainbow light. The Lupe
snarled, and thrashed at the cage's bars, his memories of capture so many years
ago coming back to haunt him. Three beams of light, seemingly from above the
cage, but with no visible pint of origin, shot downwards, and delved deep within
its prisoner. Farolt's scream of animal rage was abruptly silenced, as a wondrous
spectacle took place. Thalion's body's fur was stretching, bulging, in the oddest
places, as something started to emerge. A wisp of greenish mist materialized,
protruding from Thalion's chest. The wisp started to slowly grow more substantial,
as it formed the shape of a tail. Before long, more mist had emerged from Thalion,
the greenish substance forming itself into a perfect replica of a Lupe. Thalion's
body collapsed onto the ground, and the maniacal look faded from his face, and
the red pupils faded from his eyes, as the greenish, mostly transparent Lupe
looked around at its surroundings. The cage of light dissolved into nothingness,
and the trident stopped glowing in Polador's hands. Its handle shrank, and it
became the same size as when Polador had found it.
"Why didn't you tell me you had the other artifacts?"
Tiki Hati hissed furiously.
"I didn't know!" said Polador. "What's happening
anyway?"
"Well," said Tiki Hati, squinting at the strange
spectacle of the newly-materialized Lupe, "I think that Farolt has just been
evicted from your friend's body. And since he no longer has a prison, or body,
to inhabit, only his spirit remains. And that-" he pointed at the greenish Lupe,
"-is Farolt's spirit. Or ghost, if you like."
Farolt was looking none too happy. In fact,
he was looking extremely angry. "FOOLS!" he cried, his voice more deafening
that thunder. "How dare you divert me from my revenge! I want my body!"
Thalion stirred, and groggily opened his eyes.
Polador, not caring about Farolt but happy to see his friend alive, rushed forward,
and dragged him a few metres away from Farolt. Tiki Hati, thinking quickly,
splashed the contents of a Bottle of Water onto Thalion's face. The Lupe started,
opening his eyes wide, roused from his stupor.
"Where am I?" was his first question. "And who's
the weird phantom guy?"
"You're in the middle of the jungle." Tiki Hati
informed him.
"And," Polador chipped in, "That 'weird phantom
guy' is Farolt. He's possessed your body for the last few hours. But we managed
to get him out."
Thalion stood up shakily, leaning on his best
friend for support. "And what's that thief doing here?" He pointed at Tiki Hati.
"Thief?" said Polador, confused.
"Never mind that now." Tiki Hati said. "I'm
on your side. We have more important things to do."
Just a few short metres away, Farolt was angering
quickly. He floated in the air, his feet a foot above the ground. "What have
you done?" he howled. "I'll have your heads for this!"
Polador, a bit worried, asked Tiki Hati, "He
can't hurt us, right? I mean, he's a ghost now. Just a big harmless blob of
ectoplasm, right?"
A moment later, the 'big harmless blob of ectoplasm'
blasted a huge, smoking crater into the ground dangerously close to them.
"Maybe not."
"Now that Farolt is a spirit, he's no longer
bound by the laws and limitations of the physical world. Any energy he can gather
in the spirit world is now his to use." Tiki Hati explained. "When my ancestor
captured Farolt, he used the amulet as soon as the separation of body and soul
was complete. Farolt never had a chance to use his new-found powers"
"We don't have the amulet!" Polador moaned.
"It's lying on the floor in a million pieces back in the chamber!"
"Well," Tiki Hati said, narrowly avoiding another
blast of energy, "We'd better stop this guy fast."
"And just how do you suggest we do that?" Polador
said.
"Um… hit him with a big stick?" Tiki Hati guessed.
Polador forced himself to remain calm. Just analyze the options that are open
to us, he thought. And then pick the most appropriate option. But there were
no options left. Except for two. The first involved running away. Bad choice.
If they did that, the whole island would be subject to Farolt's wrath. The second
choice Polador preferred not to think about. But someone would have to do it
eventually, he reminded himself. So it might as well be me. He steeled himself
for what he about to do, and took the plunge.
He started jumping up and down, waving his arms.
"Hey! Farolt! You big baby! Come and get me!"
Farolt turned around, and fixed his blood-red
eyes on Polador. The courageous Lupe charged forwards, and came to face to face
with Farolt.
"Hey, buddy," he whispered furtively. "You want
a deal?"
"What kind of… deal?" The Ghost Lupe looked
suspiciously at Polador.
"I'll let you control my body for a while, okay?"
Farolt's look of suspicion softened a little.
"And what do you expect in return?"
Polador thought quickly. "Any powers you could
possibly bestow upon me."
Farolt pondered the deal. I think I'll just
keep his body, he thought to himself. No superpowers for him. Just the glory
of serving me. "Deal."
Polador turned to his friends. "Now, my former
friends, I serve only Farolt. My one and only true master."
Tiki Hati hissed angrily. "Traitor! I knew he
was too good to be true!"
But Thalion wasn't listening. His already low
spirits fell. What's he doing?, he thought. Polador wouldn't do anything like
that. He wouldn't……
Farolt concentrated, and slowly, with great
effort, formed himself into a streak of pure blackness. The streak delved into
Polador's body, and disappeared. But Polador was ready. Inside his mind, he
could feel Farolt struggling for dominance. What are you doing, servant!?!?
Farolt cried angrily inside Polador's mind. You agreed to serve me!
Well, you were wrong. Polador thought in response.
Involuntarily, he could feel, see, understand Farolt's motivations, the source
of his madness. He recoiled, and concentrated at the task on hand. His own mind
and Farolt's struggling for control, Polador slowly kneeled down. His paw shaking
violently, he somehow managed to pick up a rock.
What are you doing? screamed Farolt inside
Polador's head. Oh no. Farolt could see Polador's intentions. Not hard to do
when you're sharing that same body. You wouldn't have the nerve, scum.
I wouldn't? Polador said in response.
Let's just see about that.
He raised the rock high above his head,
it threatening to fall from his feeble grasp. With all of the mind power, will
power and strength he had, Polador fought back Farolt's attempts at controlling
his body, and with one powerful movement, brought the stone crashing down onto
his own head. There was a stomach-wrenching crack, and Polador's body slumped
to the ground, as the rock thudded into the ground. Tiki Hati and Thalion were
stunned. Tiki Hati bowed his head, regretting his hasty judgment of Polador's
seemingly treacherous actions. He destoryed himself to save us all, he realized.
Thalion rushed forward, and cradled Polador's head in his arms. He felt for
a pulse, but there was none. Above, dark gray clouds gathered, and a low rumble
of thunder echoed through the area. The first pitter-patter of rain started,
and before long the rain was coming down steadily, extinguishing the burning
fires consuming the huts. A single tear, trickling down Thalion's cheek, mingled
with the drops of rain. Still carrying his best friend's body in his arms, drenched
in the steady rain, Thalion screamed at the sky in anguish. His fear, anger,
grief came pouring out, mingling, melding to become one, to mourn the passing
of his friend. "Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!...."
The End
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