The Adventures of Trina: The Return of the Staff - Part One

     Hundreds of years had passed before the staff was finally discovered. It was then stolen by the evil Dr. Sloth and was being used against the city. Luckily, before much damage was done, Sloth was defeated by a green Bruce by the name of Brucey B and as result; the staff was split into two pieces. The staff was then taken and destroyed from the surface of Neopia forever, or was it?

     * * * * *

     Her dream painted a smile on her face. As she often described it, it felt as real as it was when it was real. She remembered every thought, every word, and every smile that encircled her as she pulled the bizarre colored paper off of a box. The paintbrush had been quite popular at her neoschool, but she hadn’t seen anyone painted with the color. She stroked her hand against her new soft fur as she wrapped herself in the warm blankets.

     Twice a week, she stayed late in neoschool and took special classes to improve her grades in science. It was the one subject she could not find a bit of interest in and she had honestly tried numerous times to like it. Often during important lessons, she was daydreaming about the future. If not daydreaming, she was worrying. What if she hated science forever? She knew that sooner or later, she would run into the subject in her life and would have to force herself to cope with it.

     On Wednesdays, she would travel to an agency in the outskirts of town which taught her the basics about her favorite subject: archeology. She didn’t know what exactly made it so fascinating to her; maybe it was the adventure of searching for information, the researching, or just the pride of learning about it. With hope, her dream now took the shape of a much older self wandering about the Lost Desert, in search for something that would change the world.

     Someday, maybe someday, she thought to herself as she drifted back into sleep, someday I hope...

     * * * * *

     “...And that’s what I want to be when I grow up,” a young Wocky proudly read aloud to her classmates.

     Everyone started to laugh.

     “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an archeologist,” Trina’s Tonu English teacher, Ms. Manee, told the class, but her stern face did not stop them from laughing.

     Trina frowned. She had finally considered telling her class, and thought she would feel proud about it after. She just couldn’t comprehend why everyone thought her dream job was strange. She was a little clumsy at times, and wasn’t one of the strongest pets around, but she still wondered.

     “I’m going to be the greatest archeologist in the world! You’ll see!” she shouted over the roaring laughter of her classmates, but no one seemed to have heard, or paid attention to her.

     Suddenly, the neoschool bell rang and the class was over. Once she exited the room, Trina began to stride though the crowded slender hall until her best friend, Cassie, the green Usul, caught sight of her.

     Cassie asked, keen for discussion, “Did you hear the news?”

     “What news?” Trina asked with confusion. “Was it in the Neopian Times? I got it this morning, but didn’t have time to read it. I was doing my math homework.”

     “Someone actually robbed the Battle Magic Shop!” she told Trina with enthusiasm.

     “No way.” Trina’s eyes opened even wider. “How did they do that?”

     “I don’t know, and the Neopian Times is not sure what items were exactly stolen, either.” Cassie placed her furry paw under her chin and kept chatting. “I could imagine that they took all the items worth millions, or most of them.”

     “I agree.” Trina nodded.

     “By the way, since tomorrow is Saturday and you’re not busy, can we go hang out in the Lost Desert? I need to buy some emergency supplies just in case a big storm comes knocking at our door this year.” Cassie stood in front of her, waiting for a reply by tapping her left foot against the floor.

     Cassie was Trina’s first and best friend. She had met her many years ago in an art class and ever since they’d been a tough bond to corrupt.

     Trina thought about it for a second, and then she replied, “I guess so. 10 A.M. okay with you?”

     “Sure. I’ll go ask Linny and Pat to come with us. See you there!” Cassie waved her hand and skipped toward her next class.

     * * * * *

     At night’s beginning, Trina lay almost motionless in her cozy wooden bed and began to think. Her mind filled up with many questions that seemed to not have an answer. She looked at her plain square window on her wall in front of her. She gazed deeply at a bright shiny star that had caught her eye.

     “Maybe tomorrow will be the day,” Trina silently mumbled to herself. “Just maybe.” She crawled into her bed, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

     Later, her earsplitting alarm clock rang repeatedly. Trina hit the round green “off” button on the top then noticed the time. It was 8:10, just enough time to get to the Lost Desert. She rubbed her eyes to get them into focus, and then grabbed her green backpack. She got out of bed and slowly made her way toward the kitchen. It was filled with oodles of checkered kitchen furniture. Not a corner was spared with her home decorating skills, which was no wonder why she had been commented on as an artist at times. Trina pulled open her purple Kacheek fridge and grabbed six pairs of cold bottled waters. She shoved them into her backpack and then left her nice air-conditioned neohome in Neopia Central.

     When she arrived in the Haunted Woods, she walked through as rapidly as she could. To Trina, Saturday mornings instantly meant busy crowds. She saw many pets waiting patiently in line to play Test Your Strength and Coconut Shy. She resisted the urge to spend from her wallet as she passed by; however, it didn’t stop her from gawking at the whining, losing contestants.

     Soon she got through the Woods and stumbled into the sandy surrounding of the Lost Desert. She looked at the thin black watch she was wearing on her left arm. It was fifteen minutes to ten.

     Trina walked to the Emergency Supplies Shop in Sakhmet. When she got there, she noticed Pat the purple Shoyru waiting next to the tent entrance.

     “Hi Trina, you're late! The others are late again, also! They always are.”

     The purple Shoyru, known to Trina as Pat, rolled her eyes and sighed. Her full name was Patricia, but if called by it she’d snap a fit for hours on end. Unlike Trina, Pat was very good at science. Sometimes, she’d help her with her homework if she had time to spare.

     “I’m here.” A green Chia came running to the tent, her breathing tense. “Sorry I was late; I had to feed my new Mazzew, Marin. They’re quite annoying but definitely worth it.”

     “Linny, did you see Cassie anywhere?” Trina asked.

     Linny replied, now taking slower breaths, “She’s at Peopatra’s tent. Her new petpet ran off yesterday night – again – and she wants another one, though I have no idea why. It always comes back as long as you cook its favorite food.”

     “Let’s go there right now to help.” Pat began gliding toward the shop, sighing.

     Trina and her friends went inside the tent. The first person they saw was Cassie. She was the only customer in the shop at the moment.

     “Do you have any others besides Scarabugs and Selkets? I want something way cuter,” Cassie told Peopatra as kindly as she could.

     “I’m afraid not. We are out of stock of everything else but I will bring in a few more very shortly. Be patient and you will see.” Peopatra left her tent.

     “Hi Cassie,” Trina greeted her.

     “Hi Trina, Pat, and Linny! Did you come here to help me?” asked Cassie.

     “Yep.” Pat walked up to a small Scarabug and touched its furry back. It smiled vaguely.

     “Thanks, but it may be a while. Let’s go get some emergency supplies first, then we’ll be back,” suggested Cassie.

     They started to leave the shop, but while Trina was leaving, she tripped over a small loose nail in the floor. She looked down at it. It looked like it was not holding anything down, but hiding something. She gently pulled it up, letting a low creaking-like sound fill the room. She pulled it even harder. The whole floorboard came up with the rusty nail. She gazed down inside the hole. It seemed to be a trap door. “Hey! Over here!”

     Her friends came running. They stopped right in front of the hole with curious looks pasted onto their faces.

     “What is it?” Cassie asked.

     “I think it’s some sort of a secret passage trap door, and there’s only one way to find out what it really is.” Trina glared at Pat, grinning.

     “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Trina. Do you think Peopatra knows about this?” asked Pat. “It could be dangerous.”

     “I don’t know, but it could lead to something extra special. What if it leads to a secret room filled with rare treasures, or a hidden civilization! Please can we go down there?” pleaded Trina.

     “Fine, let’s go down just to check it out. However, we must hurry before Peopatra comes back.” Linny wasn’t so sure she wanted to go down the trap door, but since she would be with her friends it made her feel better.

     Trina went in first, then Pat, Linny, and Cassie. There was a small metal ladder on the side so they climbed down it one step at a time. The only source of light was coming from very tiny holes on the trap door and the passageway was very narrow. Trina was surprised they all fit on the ladder. Linny grabbed a small orange flashlight from her blue Jeran backpack and turned it on. The walls were made of a very old stone that apparently looked like blocks of dry chunks of dry sand.

     About a few minutes had passed and they finally reached the bottom. Linny waved the flashlight repeatedly in front of her only to reveal two paths.

     Trina whispered slowly to her friends with lucid uncertainness, “It looks like there are two passages that are going in different directions. Let’s go to the one on the left first, and then if nothing is there we could go though the other one.”

     “Uh, Trina, how are we going to get back out?” Cassie became more anxious with every step.

     “I haven’t thought about that yet, but we will.” Trina smiled, wondering what might happen if they became trapped.

     They kept on walking tirelessly for a large sum of minutes until the flashlight illuminated a wall in their path. Their curious eyes wandered for a way around it.

     “It’s a dead end! Let’s go back the other way!” Cassie yelled, already staggering back in the direction behind her.

     “I think we should leave before we get lost or something bad happens.” Linny began to feel a quiver that meant hazardous under her fur.

     Pat suddenly noticed the cold air tickling under her thin purple pelt. She inferred that they were deeper into the cave than before.

     “Why would someone put a dead end in a secret passage? Something must be here.” Trina pressed her paws against its cold surface.

     Linny handed Trina the flashlight and she started to look around. She noticed something shiny in the sand right where she was standing. She reached into the ground and pulled out a shiny black icicle-like stalk that was cracked at the end.

     She put her hand it the sand again and pulled out something to amazing for just one word to describe. It was a lustrous black with a head of an angry green Cobrall on the top. In addition to the head, it had a mouth, complete with mauve tongue, venomous looking fangs and yellow tinted teeth. It was truly terrifying, yet it gave her no fear, intimidation, or shivers.

To be continued...