The Greatest Treasure of All: Part Six

      "Let's just look at the clue," said Katrina, unfolding the silver note from the island kitchen chef. "Here's what it says:

     Are you willing to find the treasure at any cost?

     Go ahead, but be careful not to get lost

     "Weird, nothing really pops out at me when I read that. Where could that want us to go?"

      "I don't know either… let's find keywords," suggested Aaron. "Cost, careful, lost… Lost! Maybe it means the Lost City of Geraptiku."

      "Brilliant!" said Ricky. "But there's just one little problem."

      "What's that?"

      "It's lost. We don't even know where it is."

      "Oh…" said Katrina. "Well, we'll just have to search the whole island, then."

      They did, and it took almost two hours, but they finally arrived at a place just north of Techo Mountain that had dark sand, thick foliage, and a creepy feeling being given off. All the huts seemed abandoned and they couldn't see anyone for miles around. It was definitely the Lost City of Geraptiku.

      "So, where do we look first?" asked Ricky. "There's the Petpet Shop, and -" he shivered, " - the Deserted Tomb."

      "Well, we were already in a Petpet Shop - the Rock Pool, remember?" said Katrina. "So it's most likely in the Deserted Tomb."

      As Katrina and Aaron started walking toward the Tomb, Ricky called out, "Um, w-wait, you guys! What if it's a trick? We wouldn't expect the treasure to be in another Petpet shop, so that's where they put it! Don't you think?" He let out a nervous chuckle.

      "Oh, I see what's going on here," said Aaron with a grin.

      "You're not scared, are you, Ricky?" asked Katrina.

      "Me, scared? Of course not! It's just that… Rita might get scared. Don't you care about the little ones? I'm just saying, for her sake," he countered, crossing his arms.

      They all looked at Rita, who did not seem afraid at all, and was already meandering on over toward the Deserted Tomb with a smile.

      Dreamer looked at him pathetically, and so did Katrina and Aaron. Ricky, though embarrassed, tried to sound tough. "Well, then, if everybody else can do it, I can too! I'll even lead this expedition. Watch me!" He marched ahead of them toward the tomb with his head held high, but inside he was still very afraid.

      They all advanced to the great stone door that protected the tomb. "This is it, everyone," said Katrina. "I bet the treasure lies somewhere in there. Now, whatever happens, just stay together and we can make it."

      "Let's just go in before I change my mind and run away!" said Ricky.

      They used all their effort to lift the door, but it only went halfway up. They peered inside, but could see nothing except pure darkness. Each of them had to get down on their hands and knees and crawl through the small opening. There was no turning back now.

      They blindly stumbled around inside the tomb, not able to see anything that was even an inch in front of their faces. They bumped into many walls, but eventually got to a semi-lit room. Katrina was the first to try to step forward, but quickly jumped back when several arrows came shooting across the room at her. She was very lucky not to have gotten hit by one, which zoomed by mere inches away from her fur.

      "Whoa, that was a close one. We'd better watch out; this whole room is probably booby-trapped. They carefully made their way across the room as many more arrows and other traps were set off. Katrina carried Dreamer close to her to make sure she didn't get hurt, and Aaron did the same with Rita. Ricky was too busy yelping at every sudden movement and barely missing flying arrows to protect anyone besides himself. They eventually made it through a small opening at the far end of the room.

      They crawled through the opening one by one, and exited into a much brighter room. There was a Petpet in the middle of the room, settled on top of a large wooden stand, and light seemed to be emanating from underneath it. Rita happily jumped out of Aaron's paws and ran over to the Petpet. It was spooked by her sudden appearance and scampered off into a crevice in the corner of the room. The glowing object underneath the Petpet was a small golden chest. The luminosity of the entire room seemed to come from that one little box.

      "Eureka!" shouted Katrina.

     "Wow, this is it, this is definitely it!" Ricky yelled in delight.

     "You're right," said Aaron in both happiness and disbelief. "This is… the treasure. The ultimate treasure. I can't believe it, but there's nothing else it could be. I'm standing a foot away from the greatest treasure of all."

     They all stood in awe before the treasure, which was now shining brighter than ever. They slowly walked up to it. Katrina handed Ricky the key given to them by the chef. Without speaking, they felt like they knew that that was the key to open the treasure. Everything seemed to fit. Ricky stepped forward to open it. He inserted the key into the whole on the treasure chest….

     "WHAT?" cried Ricky. "This dumb key doesn't work!"

     "You must be putting it in wrong," said Katrina, sure of herself. She took the key from Ricky and stuffed it in the lock. She tried it in all different ways and angles, but nothing worked.

     "This is unbelievable!" shouted Katrina. "We came all this way for nothing?"

     Rita was crawling over to the treasure chest and climbing up to it, and then gazing at a certain spot with great interest. Dreamer was also staring at it. Aaron tried to see what they were looking at. He found it. "Um, Katrina?" Aaron tried to get her attention.

     "We traveled all around Mystery Island, followed all those clues, barely got past a bunch of arrows and traps and this is what we get in return?"

     "Katrina," Aaron repeated. Ricky went over to Aaron and also began to look intently at the chest.

     "If this is somebody's lame idea of a joke, I'm going to hunt them down and I'm going to -"

     "Katrina!" Ricky and Aaron both called out to her in unison.

     "What is it? Can't you see I'm ranting here?" said Katrina irritably.

     "Look at this," said Aaron. He showed her an inscription in tiny letters etched on the side of the chest. It read, "Part Two."

     "Remember he said there was a recipe? The key was Part One. This is Part Two," explained Aaron.

     "So you mean we have to take this chest to the Cooking Pot and mix it with the key, and then we'll get the treasure?" asked Katrina.

     "Yeah, hopefully," said Ricky optimistically.

     They exited the tomb back into the Lost City, and once they made their way out of the thick shrubbery they had returned to regular, sunny Mystery Island. The Cooking Pot was just a short distance from Geraptiku, and they got there quickly. However, Jhuidah was nowhere to be seen.

     "Oh, well," said Ricky. "We'll just do it ourselves."

     Katrina dropped the key and the chest into the pot and stirred three times clockwise, as the Island Faerie had instructed them to do the first time. The pot bubbled and sizzled, and when it calmed down Katrina reached in to remove the new contents of the pot. But…

     "Huh? They're the same!" protested Katrina. "They were supposed to turn into the treasure! We're still stuck with this annoying key that won't even go into the -" She was jamming the key into the chest angrily as she was speaking. This time, it seemed to fit. "Hey, look, it works!" Something suddenly occurred to her. "Remember the Island Mystic's fortune? He said our luck will cease unexpectedly. He was right: our bad luck is suddenly over!"

     She turned the key, and the chest opened up. Ricky, Aaron, Dreamer, and Rita gathered around Katrina, waiting to see what the treasure was at last. They couldn't believe what they saw inside, but not because they were happily amazed.

     "Another note? But - but it was supposed to be a treasure… no more, please, no," moaned Ricky.

     "Hey, we've come this far together, and that's how we're going to finish it," said Katrina ardently. "This could be the last one; let's just see what it says…."

       As your long quest comes to a close

     You must be sighing with relief

     What treasure do you think is here?

     Riches and gold beyond belief?

     You certainly deserve all that

     But, actually, there's something more

     Worth more than Neopoints, it is strong and long-lasting

     It's what makes a rich pet out of one once poor…

     By the way, look up

     "Look up?" they all murmured confusedly. They did, and down floated Jhuidah from the fluffy white clouds of Faerieland in the azure sky.

     "Hello," Jhuidah greeted them kindly. "I'm sure you're all ready to get your treasure now, right?"

     They nodded.

     "Just out of curiosity, name the things you think would make a good treasure. What did you expect the treasure was?"

     "A million Neopoints!" said Ricky excitedly.

     "A paint brush," Aaron said.

     "A Faerie Doll," suggested Katrina.

     "Ah, yes, beautiful and wonderful things," Jhuidah responded. "But do you know what they all have in common?"

     Katrina, Aaron, and Katrina all looked at each other and shrugged.

     "Material possessions," answered Jhuidah. "There is something far greater than those in store for you. And what you don't know is that you already have it."

     "What?" Ricky, Katrina, and Aaron said simultaneously.

     "Friendship," said Jhuidah with a smile. "When I saw you fighting when you first arrived at my Cooking Pot, I knew you all needed this. You argued and yelled. You've probably spent many years like this, when you could have been friends all along. So I made you go on this journey, a journey where you had to work together and grow closer. I even involved the other residents of Mystery Island to help. Now I believe you've learned your very valuable lesson.

     Friendship," she concluded. "The greatest treasure of all."

The End