Of Meepits and Dark Faeries: Part Two

"What are you doing?" said the guardian of the Healing Springs. "No loitering allowed." She pointed to a very fancy sign which had those words in cursive.

     "I'm waiting for someone," Irathatora replied shortly.

     "Well, wait somewhere else; I have work to do!" She splashed spring water on an unconscious white Kougra who had visible bruises all over him. "Stupid, reckless Battledomers," she muttered as she passed her hands over the Kougra, whose wounds were now sparkling with azure magic.

     After a moment, the Kougra leaped up. "Where am I?" he exclaimed.

     "You're at the Healing Springs, kid," said the Water Faerie, smiling tightly, "and you've been fully healed."

     "Oh. Where's my owner?"

     The Faerie pointed at the human who was standing there nervously. "Now let's go, kiddo," the human said, and dragged the Kougra away.

     Irathatora tapped her foot impatiently. Where was that idiotic Kelliaien?

     "Irathatora?"

     She looked down. A Tyrannian Slorg was standing there.

     "Bob, where's Kelliaien?" she said sharply.

     "In the Ice Caves."

     "WHAT?"

     "Hey, you two, could you please take your conversation somewhere else?" the Water Faerie snapped. "I'm trying to concentrate." She gestured at a cloud Xweetok who had an immensely frustrated look on her face and was scratching herself as if she couldn't scratch fast enough to keep up with the itching.

     "Let's go," Irathatora muttered. The Xweetok's frustration wasn't even close to reaching her own. The Darigan Aisha picked up the Slorg and hurried away.

     * * *

     Caira was now at the peak of the Slorg slime and she couldn't help but notice the way it seemed to sag. Don't look down, she constantly had to remind herself. Look in the direction you want to go.

     Then her foot slipped.

     As she tried to swing her foot back up, her other foot slipped.

     Now she was dangling by her paws, and was definitely looking down.

     The enormous ocean swirled beneath her. A wave was gliding across. It seemed tiny from where she was. And the tinier a wave seemed... the higher she was.

     Concentrate, she told herself. And she tore her eyes away from that tiny-but-probably-really-big wave.

     She took a deep breath and tried to swing herself back up.

     But, instead, the Slorg slime stretched very far upwards and, next thing she knew, she was flying through the air.

     She let out a scream of terror.

     This is the end, she thought. Goodbye, Neopia.

     And she landed on something very soft, fluffy, and white.

     Which, believe it or not, kind of hurt a bit. But not that much, fortunately.

     Was she dreaming? This was too comfortable to be true.

     She rolled into something very wet and breathed in water.

     Okay, so I'm not dreaming, she thought as she floated up and started coughing up water.

     Once she had gotten in a few breaths of air, she looked around.

     There was a Water Faerie, and a colorful wheel spinning and making her dizzier than she already was, and a huge, largely purplish-pink – or was it pinkish-purple? – city.

     And she couldn't help but notice the Darigan Aisha, who was all dressed in black, and the Tyrannian Slorg in her hand.

     She jumped up. That had to be Bob! And maybe that was Irathatora, too!

     She hurried after them as quietly as she could. Then it occurred to her that the fact that she was all wet wasn't really helping matters much, so she rolled in the cloud to let it soak up the water and continued hurrying after them.

     * * *

     After looking around to make sure that nobody could see her, Irathatora sank into the cloud. Using what, you ask? She used a spell which is very similar to the Dark Faerie ability Sink. Makes sense considering that Irathatora serves a Dark Faerie and specializes in dark magic.

     "Okay," she said to the Slorg. "Now we can talk."

     * * *

     Caira peered around the wall. The Darigan Aisha seemed to be – well, kind of glowing, but she wasn't giving off light. And she was also descending right into the cloud. Was there a secret passageway there or something?

     The Aisha had completely disappeared into the cloud.

     Caira tiptoed forward and put her ear where the Aisha had disappeared. She could hear mutterings, but she couldn't quite make them out. She had the Earth Faerie ability Burrow – would that help?

     Caira moved back a little and started digging magically into the cloud until she was close enough to make out most of what they were saying.

     * * *

     Alexa looked nervously around her. The Haunted Woods creaked and moaned and hummed as if the were alive. As is to brush off this thought, Alexa resolutely pushed up her sunglasses and started in.

     Someone obviously had a sense of humor, and had posted signs saying things like “this way to death” and stuff like that. Alexa was getting really freaked out. Once, she thought she saw a Meepit. Alexa felt rather sorry for the creatures. What if they didn’t really all want to take over the world? She would like to have a Meepit sometime. Suddenly, there was a loud crash and Alexa had her wish.

     The Meepit that landed on Alexa’s back was a Faerie Meepit. It looked a little afraid of her, but it still managed a whack at her, which only made Alexa like it more. She put it down and told it that it was now her Petpet, after which, it sullenly sat down and agreed. She asked it if it could show her where Irathatora was. It scampered off toward the darkness. Alexa followed.

     * * *

     All of Bob’s senses were tingling. He cut Irathatora off mid-sentence by asking, ”Is there any place safer that we could talk?”

     Irathatora sighed. It would take a lot of energy to teleport them all the way to her home, which was the only place she could absolutely guarantee to Bob that they were safe. But she knew Bob, and there was no arguing with him when he decided that a place wasn't safe. She rolled her eyes and began gathering her strength. "All right, let's go, then."

     "I saw that!" Bob said loudly.

     * * *

     “This is where the high and mighty Irathatora lives?” Alexa was dumbfounded. It was like a mini Darigan Citadel!

     Her Meepit companion nodded and said, "Meeeeeeepit.”

     “Oh, right. Let’s see how to get in.” Just then, a huge glowing purple ball appeared in front of the gigantic door.

     “What...” Alexa ducked just in time as Irathatora looked around. Then, Irathatora raised her hand and said something. The gate rose, and she disappeared within.

     “Gotcha,” said Alexa quietly. Then she crept toward the huge fortress.

     * * *

     A purple glow was enveloping Caira. Suddenly the Xweetok wasn't in the cloud anywhere... she was nowhere... and then she was standing in front of a very evil-looking castle.

     "Well, what have we here?" she heard a voice whisper.

     She turned around and saw a Darigan Aisha looking at her. Caira realized that she was wrapped in the Aisha's cloak. How did that happen? The Aisha raised her hand and said something that Caira couldn't understand, and her eyes were covered by the cloak as the Aisha – Irathatora – swept inside, clutching her.

     Caira kicked her hard. "LET ME GO!" she screeched.

     "Not unless you tell me why you were spying on me," said Irathatora. She snatched Caira's rope away from her.

     The cloak slipped off Caira's face and she saw, through the closing doors, a very familiar blue Poogle.

     Caira screamed quickly, hoping that Alexa would hear her, "YOU'RE FREEING THE DARKEST FAERIE!"

     "How did you find out?" Irathatora asked. She had seen the Poogle as well, but she didn't have enough energy to deal with her at the moment. She had to get this Xweetok into the dungeon before she caused trouble.

     "Does it matter? All that matters is that it's not going to work. Queen Fyora is going to find out." Caira punched and kicked Irathatora in an attempt to get her to let go.

     "Not if my plan goes right. At least, it will be a little while before she finds out."

     "What's so great about your plan?" asked Caira.

     "Why, the simple fact that I'm going to put a –" She stopped. "Xweetok, I'm not that stupid. I can see right through your act. You're trying to get me to spill the plan to you, aren't you?"

     Caira sunk her claws into Irathatora's arm while kicking her, but the Aisha's grip still hadn't slackened the slightest bit. She changed her tactic and started squirming and flailing. "Why would you want to free the Darkest Faerie? I mean, she's going to destroy the world, isn't she?"

     "She won't destroy it, she'll make it better! The world is too trusting of the light and too suspicious of the darkness. There are very evil things that light can do, you know, if they're corrupted, and they are starting to be corrupted by power."

     "I've never heard of any evil Light Faeries."

     "That's because smart Faeries don't reveal themselves as evil, Xweetok!"

     "And the Darkest Faerie can solve the corruption?"

     "Certainly, she can. I should know. She's the only one who –" She stopped again.

     "Whatever your plan is, it's got to be difficult to carry it out. If it wasn't, you'd have done it already. And then you have to figure out how to free her. Remind me why you're putting all this effort into it?"

     "Because that's what friends DO, you idiot!"

     Caira froze and stared at Irathatora. That wasn't what she expected her to say at all.

     The Aisha tossed her into the dungeon and Caira immediately jumped into action again. It was too late, though – the door had closed before she could get to it.

     "LET ME OUT!" she screeched.

     Irathatora ignored her as she locked the door and walked away.

     Caira sighed. She was tired from all that kicking and screaming; she would rest for a little while, and then work on breaking out.

     Then she heard a soft "weeeeewooooo" coming out of her coat.

     Caira unzipped it and a White Weewoo flew out, landing on the Xweetok's arm. "I completely forgot about you," she said, stroking Snowflake's soft feathers. "You can help me get out, right?"

     The Weewoo nodded.

     "All right, I need to rest for a little while, then we'll get to work, okay, Snowflake?"

     The Weewoo nodded again and snuggled up to her.

     * * *

     Irathatora collapsed on her bed. She'd had a long day. "So, what's going on? And what exactly happened with Kelliaien?"

     Bob explained what the Xweetok had done.

     "Oh, so that's how she found out about the plan," she groaned. "Good thing I locked her up. I saw a blue Poogle outside, but I was too tired to deal with her. Do you think she's a friend of the Xweetok's?"

     Bob nodded. “I know so. They lived in the Ice Caves by Kelliaien and me.”

     Irathatora sighed. “Now I suppose she’s going to come in here and try to rescue that Xweetok. I’d like to see her try. We’ll set a trap for her, and then no one can interfere with my plan!”

     Irathatora went over to the window and looked outside. Her mouth fell open. “Oh, Fyora.”

     Outside the window, as far as the eye could see, was a solid wall of Meepits.

To be continued...