The Uni and the Miamouse: Part Four

     "Anything happening?" asked Winny. Cuni's friend had wandered to the back of the throne, inspecting it.

     "Not yet..."

     "All the scroll said was for you to sit on it," said Winny. She gave the throne a good hard kick with her hoof; but it stood just as strong as ever. It didn't wobble or jerk at all.

     "Am I doing somefing wong?" questioned Cuni, shifting uncomfortably in the seat of Jhudora. The hazy, purple-ish mist continued to snake at Winny's hooves, as Cuni's were dangling off of the throne.

     "No, I don't think so..." Winny replied, examining the throne again. "What'd the scroll say?"

     "Atop hewr cwoud, er, you must go," recalled Cuni. "In owder to, ah, save youwr fwiend."

     "Sit upon her throne, er, you... must," finished Winny, "To, ah, assure your journey soon will end." She blinked. "That's it?"

     "Yeah..."

     "There must be something," said Winny, exasperated. "Fyora must not have mentioned something in the scroll..."

     Cuni's heart sank. "But... if -- if it doesn't wowrk, i-if we can't get to da pwace where Shy is..."

     "Hold on!" cried Winny, suddenly looking up at Xrai. "I think -- I can't be sure -- we've got to try it -- might as well--"

     "What is it?" asked Cuni eagerly, a bit of irritation in her voice.

     "Cuni, when you mentioned Shyle -- I kind of got a... an idea." Winny's eyes lit up. "Concentrate on Shyle. Think about her. Picture, um, a happy memory of the two of you! Do something, anything!"

     Cuni launched into thought, scrunching up her face into what she hoped was a desperate but thoughtful expression. Just knowing Shyle wasn't there made it harder and harder to think of a happy memory. She tried to shove a thought of she and her Miamouse skipping blissfully in a meadow or something, but the images of Cuni's past that Jhudora had shown her kept drifting across her mind.

     Maybe dat's why she showed dose to me, thought Cuni.

     Winny seemed to know exactly what Cuni was thinking. "Try harder," she urged encouragingly.

     So Cuni racked her brain, and remembered one time when she and Shyle had attempted to bake cookies -- on their own. It was a mess. There was cookie dough all over the place, chocolate chips flinging from the blender, along with the occasional droplet of milk dripping from the ceiling. When her owner, Courtney, entered the room, at first she looked outraged -- but then she laughed along with Cuni and Shyle. It was a moment when Cuni had been enjoying life to the fullest in the company of her Miamouse, Shyle.

     At that precise moment, Cuni felt her body give an unstable jerk; eyes still closed, Cuni felt as though a rope had been tied around her waist and was flinging her around, like she was nothing but a pillowcase Cuni let an earsplitting scream tear from her throat, flailing her hooves, not daring to open her eyes for fear of what she might see.

     She would hear things whooshing past her, she could feel herself tumbling and flipping in midair down some dark hole to which there was no exit; her heart hammered, and her voice altered and finally faded.

     All of a sudden, her hooves hit solid ground with an almighty force. Cuni swayed slightly, but was able to stand her ground. As she opened her eyes, Cuni gasped; she was in a cylinder-shaped room made entirely out of a bronze-colored wallpaper. It shined and gleamed, reflecting the baby Uni back at her. Cuni's breath was rapid and shallow as she looked around wildly; where was she? Where had Winny gone? Oh, of course... Winny hadn't been sitting on the throne with her; she hadn't been transported to this place.

     There were no doors in the room at all, and when Cuni got a better look around, she spotted three trapdoors in the center of the room. Curiously striding forward, Cuni jumped when she heard an echoing voice exclaim,

     "Here you have come to face your first task.

     But what could you do with trapdoors, you ask?

     It really is quite simple, you see;

     Just pick a door, either one, two, or three.

     One door leads on to your next course;

     The other two will drag you in with much force

     Onward to impending doom

     So hurry, now; your decision looms."

     Cuni was positively stunned; her first task? Jhudora really wasn't going to give in without a fight, and Cuni's first thought was that there would be more. She gulped, and gazed at the doors, trying not to think about what lay ahead; she focused on actually getting there, without being sucked into one of the doors towards an everlasting doom.

     Each trapdoor had something about it, as Cuni had just now noticed; each had an eternal smoke oozing out from beneath the wooden door, two of them were purple and one was orange.

Well, thought Cuni, if Jhudowa ish gonna pway mind games wiff me... I might as well pway awong. I've gotta find Shy!

     By looking at the trapdoors, Cuni was instantly reminded of visiting the burger shop once with Courtney. She remembered coming across one of those little puzzles on the box, the ones that showed nearly identical pictures, Which two (insert name of object here)'s are alike? She could relate this problem to that; except she only had to pick out one trapdoor, whereas you had to find two images that looked alike, and here, Cuni couldn't throw away the box if she was wrong; she may never see daylight again if she chose incorrectly.

     She ruled out the trapdoor with orange smoke oozing out of it; Jhudora's main color was purple. Advancing upon the two trapdoors, Cuni peered at them, but found it was much more difficult; these doors looked exactly the same. Looking even closer, Cuni could make out tiny rings around the golden brass handles.

     Squinting her eyes, Cuni inched closer so that her face was barely an inch away. The rings were very small, but Cuni could see them all right; one of the doors, the one on the far right, had wavy rings; the last door had straight ones.

     How could wavy rings relate to Jhudora? Was her hair wavy at all? Suddenly, Cuni remembered the mist at her cloud; they snaked around the ground, twisting and turning in a wavy formation...

     This was her chance. Had she figured it out? Was it correct?

     Cuni's first instinct was to run away; the problem was much too challenging for a Uni of her age! But, knowing there was nowhere to run, Cuni made up her mind in a split second and knew she had to take a chance. She moved forward; one single step seemed to last an eternity, and when, finally, her entire body stood atop the wooden trapdoor, it no longer supported her and collapsed beneath her weight; Cuni screamed held her front hooves up high. She seemed to be sliding down a slimy sour tunnel, except that it was pitch-black and Cuni could see nothing.

     Cui had just begun to wonder where the tunnel would lead when suddenly it leveled out and she shot out of it as though it were a water slide. She hit the hard floor with a loud thud, and rubbed her sore arm, shaking her head to clear her mind. Enraged, Cuni got to her feet and kicked at the wall.

     Hadn't Cuni gone through enough? First, she'd been made to sit through Jhudora's stupid slideshow of her past... and then endured losing her beloved Miamouse for a second time, after watching her best friend being tortured. Cuni slammed her hoof against the ground and roared, "It isn't FAIR!" Her voice echoed and bounced back to her off of the walls.

     Eyes still blazing, Cuni glanced around and spotted a large metal door across the room, and looked over her shoulder; she saw the large tube from which she had came. A flickering lantern hung above her, but the light was faded; this task did not seem so hard. After all, the door was right there.

     It was a grimy, slick sort of place; the floor was damp, and Cuni's hooves sloshed through as she moved forward for the door.

     Suddenly, a red beam of light appeared from one side of the hall and Cuni stopped in her tracks, eyes fixed on the light. Slowly, it reached across the room and connected with the other side of the wall, so that if Cuni wanted to get to the door, she'd have to walk through the beam of light. But the baby Uni didn't move.

     "Hewwo?" she called uncertainly; but the only reply was her echoing voice. There was no sudden exclaim that came out of nowhere to give her instructions; she was on her own. Ad it was pretty straightforward, really; all she had to do was cross the beam and stride to the door. But it was what would happen when she did so that bothered her.

     "Well," she breathed under her breath, strolling towards the light. "I'll never know until I twy."

     With one swift movement, Cuni had taken a deep breath -- and launched herself forward, streaking through the light, which instantly turned a shining, gold color. At first, the baby Uni thought nothing had happened -- until the world seemed to flip upside down, and she felt herself hanging from the floor, looking down at the ceiling.

     She felt the blood rush to her head and gulped. Now what? She let out a scream that echoed; nobody would hear her, nobody. She felt herself dangling there, and knew that if she even took one step forward, she would fall and perhaps hit the ceiling; or maybe some dark hole would appear instead and she would be fall into that as it swallowed her up.

     "Hewp, oh, hewp!" she cried, rooted to the spot. Breathing heavily, Cuni closed her eyes, trembling all over, and did the only thing she thought could, the only thing that made sense (well, perhaps it didn't) -- she took a step forward.

     Suddenly, the world righted itself and Cuni fell over. She looked over her shoulder; she had crossed the line, the door lay ahead, and Cuni lurched forward, yanked open the door, and sprinted through after slamming the door shut behind her.

     "Welcome to your third and final task," said a quiet voice from somewhere in the darkness. Cuni looked up, trying to find her way around. It was pitch-black, but as Cuni waited a minute or so for her eyes to adjust, she could make out the faint outline of a Neopet nearly ten feet in front of her.

     "Wh-what?" she stammered.

     "Welcome to your third and final task," repeated the creature. It said nothing more.

     "Er, what do I haff t-to do?" stuttered Cuni.

     The creature said nothing.

     "What do I, um, haff to do?" Cuni repeated, slightly louder. The creature still said nothing.

     The Neopet snapped its fingers, and the room was lit; Cuni could see the Jetsam staring back at her and it made her look away nervously. Glancing at her surroundings instead, Cuni gasp; it was a vast, endless room. There were no walls; just a cream-colored floor that seemed to go on forever, and, up above, a heavy fog hung, so thick Cuni could not see through it.

     Cuni stood there silently for a moment, and then it all happened in a flash; the Neopet twirled around, and it began to change shape; the red Jetsam's skin was changing, he was growing taller, hair was growing. Long, purple hair with green streaks. A smirking face appeared, and a dress draped the dark faerie; Jhudora stood, glowering in front of the shaking baby Uni.

     Her voice had changed. The Jetsam's low, distant rumble had changed to Jhudora's high shriek. "You'll never see your Miamouse again," she cried mockingly, "I don't see why you continue to try; your attempts are feeble. She is gone."

     Cui felt her heart racing, and she took a step backwards. "Wh-what do you mean, 'she's gone'?" spat Cuni in a strangled, soft voice.

     The faerie's lip curled. "That is for me to know," she said quietly, and suddenly launched forward; before Cuni knew what was happening, Jhudora had the struggling baby Uni pinned to the ground, a malicious gleam in her eyes.

     Cuni blinked and screamed. With a force she had been practicing (by kicking her brother, Alec, when he chucked snowballs at her) Cuni kicked Jhudora away, and the faerie backed away with a look of surprise. Cuni knew she had no choice; Jhudora had her trapped. But she had to try, she just had to...

     The baby Uni remembered her love of flying, and made up her mind in a second's time; with a great burst of speed, Cuni had shot up into the air, cutting through the fog, and wandered aimlessly, listening to the faerie's shrieks below her. She knew she didn't have much time; she had to find a way out, she had to... Jhudora could fly, she'd be in the air after Cuni in minutes.

     Cuni, trembling and terrified, took great care in not making a sound as to not attract Jhudora's attention. Rising higher and higher, Cuni extended her arms; surely she'd bump into something at one point, something that could hide her from Jhudora.

     BANG!

     Rubbing her head, Cuni was thrown backward as she hit something made of solid brick. Startled, Cuni held her hooves out in front of her to see it was some sort of entrance... to where, she did not know. Cuni hurled herself inside of it and began to crawl, the darkness overcoming her. Jhudora's shrieks of mirth faded, and Cuni crawled deeper and deeper, farther and farther.

     The darkness pressed in from all around her, and twice Cuni banged against a brick wall and was forced to feel around for another path. The baby Uni had just begun to panic when she squinted her eyes -- and saw a speck of light ahead of her. Cuni began rushing forward, her hooves aching.

     Finally, Cuni burst out into the open; she fell about three feet, and landed on her hooves. Cuni clutched a stitch in her side and stopped to catch her breath before looking at her surroundings. It was a brick room, lit only by a flickering torch in the corner. The torch cast a shadow around the room, and there was but one barred window high, high above them.

     It was then that she heard it. Cuni's heart pounded against her ribs as she leaned forward; she could hear a faint whimpering sound. A familiar whimpering sound.

     Cuni trotted forward, listening intently; there was a small cage in the corner of the room. In the cage, curled up into a ball, was...

     "SHY!" screamed Cuni, tears leaking down her face as she charged forward; the journey had all been worth it. Shyle looked up, and began squeaking frantically at the sight of Cuni.

     Cuni smiled, eyes watering, and noticed the incredibly large lock on Shyle's cage. Cuni began to pick at it, and heard a clang. She was making progress.

     Sunlight shone in through the barred window, and Cuni wondered absently where she was, and where Winny had gone. But, as she moved her hooves back and forth, trying to break the lock, Cuni focused on her poor Miamouse in the cage.

     "CUNI!" came a shout, and Cuni spun around so fast the lock nearly went with her. There, climbing lightly out of the same brick tunnel Cuni had crawled through, was Winny.

     "Winny!" cried Cuni, nodding at Shyle. "I found hewr! Shy! We gotta get hewr out of dare--"

     "She's coming -- sorry, it was -- my fault --" stuttered Winny, moving forward and gazing at Cuni in terror.

     "What?" Cuni was confused, but she bent down and began to work on the lock again as Winny spoke.

     "After you got in the throne -- I followed -- thought of Shyle -- and you -- trapdoors -- they were already -- you'd already been there -- you did all the tasks before me -- I--"

     "Winny, what's wong?" exclaimed Cuni.

     Winny's eyes kept darting for the brick tunnel. "Followed you -- to that room -- with the fog -- Jhudora saw me -- thought I was you," stuttered Winny, horror-struck. "She chased me -- I found the tunnel -- she followed me--"

     "You're saying Jhudowa's coming?" cried Cuni, dropping the lock.

     "Yes!"

     Suddenly, a cloud of smoke began to issue from the tunnel and Cuni worked furiously with the lock; her hooves kept slipping, and she began to pant under the pressure. "Huwwy!" Cuni hissed under her breath to herself. "Gotta huwwy..."

     The smoke began to twirl around in a whirlpool formation; a human was forming. Cuni knew all too well that Jhudora would appear any second.

     Jhudora's feet appeared first, following by her long, purple dress, and next was her hair and head; the faerie stood there, glowering at the two pets. She raised her hands; Winny flinched, Cuni held her hooves over her face in protection.

     "You two," the faerie hissed. Cuni began working on the lock furiously. "You two despicable little Unis. I should have done away with you long before now. You'll never escape here aliv--"

     "DONE!" boomed Cuni, and the cage door flew open; the brown Miamouse burst out and Cuni held her tight. A terrible smile played on Jhudora's face.

     "It matters not," said the faerie in a horrible whisper. She held her hand higher above her head, ready to cast a spell of some sort upon them -- when suddenly, miraculously, a pink cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere.

     It was amazing. Cuni beamed, and the two Unis inched closer to one another as yet another faerie grew from the cloud. Lastly, after her body had grown and Jhudora was lost for words, the Faerie Queen's crown was placed upon her head.

     "Jhudora." Fyora's eyes were blazing, and Jhudora backed away in shock. The queen turned to face Cuni and Winny, and said gently, "I think it's time for you to go. Good luck." She gave a wave of her hand, and Cuni felt a sensation of bliss; her thoughts wondered, she was swirling gently in the ocean waves without a care in the world. She was dimly aware of anything else around her, and Cuni's eyelids drooped.

     Cuni blinked. She was standing in front of 3570 Air Faerie Avenue, and as she glanced over at Winny's taken aback expression, she had the feeling her friend has just realized where they were as well.

     "Wh--" Cuni stammered.

     "Where's home," breathed Winny. Cuni glanced down at Shyle; the Miamouse was staring blankly around in wonder.

     "Winny! Cuni!" screamed Jade from behind; they spun around to see that she'd dropped her flashlight and was sprinting towards them. As Jade cooed over Winny, embracing her and asking questions, Cuni looked up into the sky; even in Faerieland, clouds were visible, and Cuni could see an oddly-shaped cloud that, to her, looked like a Miamouse in the arms of a Uni.

     Shaking her head to clear her mind (how was that possible? A cloud in the shape of a Uni, holding a Miamouse?) Cuni trotted gratefully down the cobblestone steps after Jade and Winny.

The End