Revenge of the Bottled

     "I almost have enough mushrooms for my stroganoff later today," they muttered to themselves quietly as they filled their basket. However, suddenly they heard a faint cry from behind them, and they turned to see the faint glow of a faerie. The faerie appeared to be in distress, crying.

     "Could someone help me? My sister is trapped inside a bottle!"

     The Chomby set their basket down and ran towards the light faerie, who then tearfully handed them the bottle.

     "*sniff* Here, she's stuck inside. I cannot open it; only a Neopet can. Please help…"

     The Chomby took the bottle. Looking inside, they saw what seemed to be the glowing silhouette of a water faerie and proceeded to uncork it. However, as soon as they did, they felt a firm grip on their neck and the voice of the same light faerie in their ear, but it was no longer the desperate cry.

     "Hold still. Nobody has to get hurt now," she said softly, but firmly.

      "Let me go!" the Chomby struggled to yell before the light faerie placed her other hand over the Chomby's mouth. Then the light faerie muttered something unintelligible, and the Chomby began to shrink. Once they were small enough, the light faerie held the same bottle up. With a flash of light, the Chomby got sucked into the bottle. The light faerie then placed the cork on top of it and slipped the bottle into her bag. She then walked over to the basket of mushrooms.

     "How nice of them to gather these for me. They would make for a great dish for my partners and me tonight."

     Taking the basket, the light faerie floated through the forest until she came upon a clearing. A fire faerie and an earth faerie appeared to join her.

     "Any luck?" the light faerie asked.

     The fire faerie grinned, nodding eagerly.

     "Of course, you know me, Azarah. Here's my haul!" She opened her bag, revealing six bottles inside. "How many did you get?"

     "Oh, Mel, I got 12, and I also have a basket of mushrooms, one of the pets kindly gathered for us for our dinner."

     "You are all way ahead of me here. I gathered three, but one of them might be famous," the earth faerie said.

     "Famous? I hope you're not exaggerating again, Cassie."

     The earth faerie reached into her bag and handed Azarah a bottle. Azarah peered into it and saw a tiny Usul with a miniature lamp in her hand.

     "Ah, I think this one is named Gilly. You are correct in saying she is famous."

     "So, what do we do with them now?"

     Azarah rolled her eyes. "Do I need to go over this plan again? We take them and leave them on Aethia's doorstep with a note that if she doesn't stop the trade, we will bring her more and start leaving them out in the open for Neopets to discover. Oh, the horror on their faces would be such a pleasant sight."

     The three faeries combined their bottles into one bag. Mel then got a campfire going with her fire spell.

     "Those mushrooms the Chomby gathered look good. Should we make Mushroom and Garlic Spaghetti?" Mel asked.

     "I'll get a pot of water going," Azarah replied.

     As the three faeries prepared dinner, they did not notice that the bag had tipped over and several bottles rolled out of it and down a hill and into a nearby stream. Made of virtually indestructible material, they floated further downstream into a larger river that carried them to the outskirts of Faerieland. The one containing the Chomby then became stuck against a bank.

     Morning came, and an air faerie came out to the stream to gather some water to make clouds. However, she soon noticed the bottle.

     "Oh no, a poor bottled faerie, I should release…oh good heavens, it's not a faerie, it's a Neopet! I must inform the queen!"

     The air faerie left her water pail next to the stream and grabbed the bottle, making a beeline for the Faerie Castle.

     ***

     Queen Fyora sat on her throne, drumming her fingers on the armrests. She had just been informed that a critically important visitor was to arrive any moment. Aethia stood guard to her right, holding a shield in her left hand and sword in the other. A Grey Varwolf in a wingchair also lurked in the room, holding a notepad and a pen in his paws.

     Faerie Kougras stood at the doorway, each holding a lance. There was a frantic knock all of a sudden, and two Kougras pulled open the doors. A dark faerie, escorted by two air faeries, walked briskly into the room. She held a large bottle in her hand.

     Aethia stepped forward and beckoned for the dark faerie to hand the bottle over. She peered inside the bottle and gasped.

     "Your majesty, you're going to want to see this!" exclaimed the Battle Faerie as she took the bottle and handed it to Fyora. The Grey Varwolf guided his wingchair closer for a look, but one of the air faeries stepped in front of him and held her hand up,

     "Please, not any closer until the queen has time to inspect the bottle. We do not want to risk your safety."

     Fyora stared at the bottle and gasped. Inside it, she saw a Chomby who was still struggling. Fyora immediately uncorked the bottle. There was a flash of blue light, but nothing else happened. Fyora tilted the bottle gently to its side, and the tiny, shrunken Chomby shakily wandered into her left palm.

     "They're shaking. Everyone move back, please."

     The Faerie Queen muttered something and tapped the Chomby with her right index finger. With a flash of pink light, Queen Fyora knelt and set the Chomby on the ground before her. The Chomby then began growing to their normal size.

     They then turned and looked at the group of faeries in the room.

     "No! No! Stay away from me!" they yelled.

     Queen Fyora took a step towards the Chomby. "It's alright now, we're not going to hurt you…"

     But the Chomby bolted for the door. The guards awaited further instruction from their queen, unsure what to make of the situation, certainly not wanting to force the distressed Chomby to stay.

     Queen Fyora shook her head and sighed. "Let them go."

     Pausing a bit to think some more, she then turned to the others in the room. "Also, could everyone clear the room? I have things to discuss in private with Aethia."

     Everyone left except the Varwolf reporter in the corner, so Queen Fyora went up to him.

     "I know you heard me. I'd appreciate it if you gave me some space." The Queen glared sternly at the Varwolf.

     "Queen Fyora, this seems important. It's in Neopia's best interest that the Neopian Times makes an accurate report on this."

     "She said to clear the room. I'll make sure her wishes are carried out," Aethia said, taking several steps towards the Varwolf before Queen Fyora stepped in the way. She rested her hand on the left armrest of the Varwolf's wingchair as she stepped in front of him and gestured for Aethia to back away.

     "I've changed my mind. Geo can stay as long as he's not disruptive. These developments are most troubling, and I think it would be problematic if we tried to hide them from the public. I hope that works for you, Geo."

     Fyora stepped away from the wingchair, which allowed Geosona to move closer to the faeries as they continued their discussion.

     "It's clear to me that the bottled faerie business is now out of hand, Aethia."

     Aethia shot Queen Fyora a confused look. "What does this have to do with that?"

     "Look, Balthazar being locked away has not stopped the trade, and now a bottled Neopet turns up on my doorstep. Clearly, this was a faerie's doing. If we don't find a solution soon, there will be more incidents like this. Faerie-Neopet relations could suffer and endanger Neopia all over again."

     "Neopets depend on those Faerie Abilities, though. Any solution is going to have to replace how that system works."

     At this, Fyora grew slightly annoyed and flared her nostrils.

     "You keep using that argument, and yet I haven't heard any solutions from you. It's been years, Aethia."

     Aethia shrugged.

     "I'm just one faerie."

     "You are not just one faerie. You have a tremendous influence on how the Battledome works…"

     "Without me, there would be no reason Neopians would even release faeries."

     "Oh, don't tell me you think you're actually part of the solution under the current system," Fyora hissed as she got near Aethia's face before she turned and looked back over her shoulder. Aethia was also looking at Geo, the Varwolf, scribbling notes.

     "I think it's a little unbecoming of us to argue in front of our esteemed Neopian Times reporter," Aethia retorted before backing away.

     "Fair enough, my apologies, but we shall discuss in private at a later date," the queen insisted.

     Aethia left the room and headed back to her weapons shop. As she approached, though, she noticed a box at the doorstep.

     "Now what would this be? I am not expecting any deliveries."

     She took the box inside with her and set it on the counter in the storeroom of her shop. As she opened the box, though, the contents began to shock her.

     "What on Neopia… are these all Neopets inside these bottles?"

     The Battle Faerie then peered into the box and noticed a note under one of the bottles. She unfolded it and read it aloud.

     If you are reading this, that means our operation was a grand success. We know you are complicit in the trafficking of bottled faeries. How could you not be, since your entire business at your Ability Academy depends on the blessings of captured faeries? You are a traitor to our beloved sisters. You have until the end of the week to put a stop to this, or more Neopets will be captured, and this time, we'll put them on full display for the public to see. You'd better get to work. Tick Tock!

      • Azarah, Chairfaerie of The Faerie Justice Department

     "Bold of her to put her name at the bottom of the note…" Aethia noted. She stared a bit at the handwriting since it seemed familiar to her, but she had not remembered when she last saw it.

     She then picked up each bottle and uncorked it. Then she muttered a spell, and in a bright flash, every Neopet returned to normal size. Putting it all together, she released a Lupe, a Grarrl, a Shoyru, a Peophin, a Jetsam, a Kiko, a JubJub, a Pteri, a Bruce, a Krawk, and an Usul.

     "What happened, where am I, wait, why is the Battle Faerie here?!" most of the Neopets yelled frantically.

     The Neopets mostly did not want to linger in Faerieland and after receiving instructions from Aethia on how to leave Faerieland, all the pets immediately left, except the Usul.

      "You look familiar… is your name perhaps Gilly?" Aethia asked.

     The Usul looked up a bit dazed and confused at Aethia and nodded.

     "Yes, that's my name."

     "Do you mind answering some questions?"

     "Uhhh. Sure."

     "How did you end up in the bottle?"

     "Well, I was in Neovia buying some food, and I heard the cries of a faerie. She was weeping because her sister was stuck in a bottle, and only Neopets could release faeries from bottles. However, as I tried to open the bottle, the faerie pounced on me and then shrunk me. She shoved me in the bottle afterwards. I didn't even know who she was."

     Aethia scribbled down some notes in a small notepad she brought out.

     "Ok, and could you describe what this faerie looked like?"

     "Well, she is a light faerie, I think. Her wings are yellow at least."

     Aethia scribbled more notes.

     "An evil light faerie. Not very common in these places, but all faeries can be bad. Ok, can you be more specific?"

     "She had yellow hair."

     "Gilly, that's most light faeries. Can you give me something more?"

     "Ah, well, her hair was in pigtails."

     "Ok, that rules out some light faeries. Is this her?"

     Aethia shows a picture of Siyana.

     "Those aren't pigtails!"

     Aethia sighed. "Alright, how about you draw her?"

     "I'm not an artist, but I'll try."

     Gilly took a pen, and Aethia flipped to a fresh page in her notebook. A few minutes later, she stopped and handed Aethia the notebook.

     "That's a stick figure with wings and pigtails…."

     "I told you I can't draw. I think you'll need to ask someone else."

     However, before Aethia could suggest an alternative, there was a knock at the door. Aethia opened the door, and the same Grey Varwolf from earlier floated into the room in his wingchair.

     "Hello, Miss Aethia."

     "Wait, you're that pesky reporter… I mean the Neopian Times reporter from earlier. What brings you here?"

     "Pesky… I'm just doing my job," Geo replied, rolling his eyes from the soft insult.

     "Whatever, just forget what I said and cut to the chase."

      "I'm not just going to forget… anyways, I actually have some evidence about this faerie bottling up Neopets. But maybe I'm just being pesky."

     Aethia stared at Geo with disbelief. How could a Neopet have more evidence?

     "You have evidence? How do you have evidence before us, faeries do?"

     "I've been outside of Faerie City… the Village of Cirrus at the very least; where have you been looking?"

     Aethia hadn't even had time to leave the city to look for any clues. She shook her head.

     "Alright, well, spit it out, what evidence do you have?"

     "I can confirm that the faerie's last whereabouts are likely near the Haunted Woods and Faerieland border. After speaking with the air faeries who brought the Chomby, they told me their home was downstream from the Haunted Woods."

     Aethia narrowed her eyes. Somehow, she felt an annoyance that a meddling reporter from the Neopian Times managed to uncover evidence before she did.

     "Hmph, your meddling might prove useful yet. To the Haunted Woods we go."

     "But wait, she might not be there anymore. It doesn't seem like she stays still very long. I think we need to talk to the Chomby again and… actually, Gilly, can you tell us if you overheard where they were going? The bottles aren't soundproof, right?"

     Gilly raised her eyebrows.

     "Well, I couldn't until they accidentally allowed some bottles to spill out of their bag. As I was rolling away, they muttered something about heading towards Meridell and Brightvale to find more Neopets to capture and avoid drawing too much attention to one place."

     "I see, I think it would be prudent to head there and ask if anyone has seen any new faeries lurking in the area."

     "Can I help?" Gilly asked.

     Aethia pondered this as she brought out a dagger from the storeroom, absentmindedly polishing it with a cloth before she finally gave her answer.

     "I cannot have the risk of you getting captured again. Queen Fyora would never speak to me again! So, I'd prefer you sit this one out."

     "But I resolved the Tale of Woe just fine."

     "Well, this time we aren't just dealing with ghosts and stuff. This is a dangerous faerie," Aethia said flatly, folding her arms before Geo cleared his throat.

     "Ahem! Actually, I have another clue for her to chase after if she gets Fyora's permission. Azarah mentioned the Faerie Justice Department. She's working with others. I will need Gilly to help us dig through any past mentions of such a group. But yeah, I'm sure Fyora would have to approve of her snooping around."

     Aethia looked back at Gilly and nodded. "Please go find Queen Fyora. I'll be sure to send notice for her to be expecting you."

     Aethia then took out a piece of paper and scribbled a note about it. She then folded it up and placed it in her hands. She then blew at the paper gently, and it floated into the air and then disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

     "Message sent! Now off you go."

     "…You could have just given the note to me, and I could have just shown the castle guards…" Gilly commented, confused at the whole spectacle.

     Aethia glared at her, furrowing her eyebrows and slightly raising her voice.

     "Now hush, I needed to practice my magic. Now off you go to Fyora."

     Aethia then turned towards Geo. "What's so funny?"

     "Oh nothing…"

     "I'm assuming you're coming along? Can your wingchair go that far?"

     "It should be able to as long as you help me recharge it with your magical faerie dust."

     "Look, I'm not your… actually, faerie dust is free and takes no work for me to produce. Sure, you can have it, whatever, let's go."

     "Wait, where are we going to stay over there?"

     Aethia paused for a moment to ponder. "One moment," she eventually said.

     She scribbled down another piece of paper and then did her magic again.

     "I sent that one off to Illusen. She'll have space in her glade, I am sure."

     Aethia then threw a few things into her bag. A change of clothes and a few protein bars.

     "Let's go!"

To be continued…