A Tale of Rohane

      The Neopet that lived in said house was a baby Kougra named Bluestar. There was also a little Xweetok named Caria, an adorable little girl with her trademark laugh. Meneus was a Blumaroo that dreamed of fighting in the Battledome one day. The Gelert named Ruka was by far the largest one there, though only by a little. Eyse was a Moehog, named for his eyes, which were much brighter than any others his age. Farin was a Yurble, a young boy that liked to play the villain. Vera was a Kyrii, one who loved her thick mane of hair. Aceri was an Acara, and by far the best among her four-legged friends at walking upright. Finally there was Darus, a Chomby that always felt out of place away from Tyrannia, his home.

      The babies, at the moment, weren't doing anything spectacular. They were giggling and fighting and playing with the toys that were now scattered all over the living room. It wasn't until Meneus, the Blumaroo, got bored that he rallied together his friends to suggest a new game to play.

      "Hey, guys, shush a moment! This is boring, and I've got an idea! We should reenact the story of Rohane!"

      "Rohane? I've never heard of Rohane before," Caria, the Xweetok, piped up with a confused expression on her face.

      Immediately the room exploded in noise. The rest of the babies had heard the story, and had assumed it was common knowledge, that all knew the story. The fact that one of their number had never heard of Rohane. Why, it was madness!

      "What do you mean, you never heard of Rohane?!" gasped Ruka, the Gelert.

      "Why, he's a hero!" Eyse the Moehog gasped.

      "He saved Meridell from that evil dude. He saved my home, how do you not know?" Bluestar exclaimed.

      "Rohane was a warrior!" Aceri the Acara said with reverence.

      The shouting went on for quite a while, until finally Bluestar's owner and master of the house came running in telling them to quiet down.

      "If you want to go on shouting like maniacs, go outside!"

      So that is exactly what the children did. They stampeded out the sliding glass door into the large backyard. Unlike many places, there were no fences separating the yards of one house and the next. Behind the property line, which could only be discerned from one random sunflower that had been planted there, was a large open field. So if the babies ran out of space in the backyard, they could always migrate into the field. But for now, they stayed near the house.

      Bluestar's older sister was stationed outside to watch the little babies while they played, ensuring they did not go too far or wander off. Though the little children barely noticed the Kougra. They were already too caught up in this game that Meneus had suggested.

      "Well then, don't you worry Caria, we'll tell you the story! We'll act it out for you!" Farin the Yurble said with a grin.

      "Well, I get to be Rohane, obviously," said Meneus.

      "And why's that?" Ruka asked with an edge to her voice.

      "Because I'm a Blumaroo."

      No one was able to dispute Meneus' flawless logic, so he got the part of Rohane.

      "I want to be Mipsy!" Bluestar said happily, giving a little skip. She seemed so enthusiastic about being Mipsy, such a grin on her face, no one argued.

      "I shall be Talinia, the archer. I do have the best eyesight here," said Aceri with a bit of a smug smile.

      "And I can be Velm!" said Eyse.

      "Then I can play any villain that needs to be played!" said Farin.

      "Well, then I can be any nice person that the people meet along the way," said Vera, the Kyrii.

      "I can be the random enemies that you run into!" said Ruka.

      "And I'll be the narrator," said Darus.

      "Let's begin!" exclaimed Caria, suddenly very excited to see the story.

      "Well, it begins in a small little place named Trestin Village," Darus began. "and a Blumaroo named Rohane. He had decided that with his Father's Sword he would go out adventuring and rid Meridell of the evil clutches of Ramtor, King Skarl's advisor, an evil Bruce."

      At this Farin, the Yurble, barred his teeth at Caria, growling lightly.

      "Hello Mother, I am going out now," Meneus said, facing Vera.

      "Alrighty dear, but you put on a coat now!" Vera said in a voice cracked with age.

      At the mention of wearing a coat all the babies giggled, having heard the line enough from their own owners. When would grown-ups learn that they didn't need those coats? They were strong and the fierce wind didn't pierce their skin as it did the oldsters.

      "And I hope you've done your homework or you'll be grounded."

      More giggling, especially Caria, who had put her hands over her mouth to stifle the raucous noise she was making.

      Meneus then walked away from Vera, a little away from the group. At this Ruka jumped in front of him, her face close to the ground and her butt in the air as she tried to look menacing, with a loud growl and a hiss and she even snapped her teeth in his direction.

      "I am an evil Lupe that lives on these plains, and I shall gobble you up for dinner and spit you into your mother's hair!"

      "Don't talk about my mother that way! Now I must kill thou!"

      Meneus jabbed his arm at her, holding in his hand an invisible sword, and Ruka fell to the ground with eyes wide open.

      Here Bluestar gasped out loud, "WAIT!" And into her house she rushed. Not more than a few heartbeats later she returned with several items in her arms. One was a toy sword, which she handed to Meneus.

      "No warrior is without a sword!"

      "Thanks, Bluestar," Meneus said with approval, gazing in awe at the toy sword that was now the weapon he would use to defeat the evil Ramtor and save Meridell.

      Now they could continue this quest in earnest.

      Meneus began to wander off, and again Ruka popped out in front of him. She was squatted in the same manner as before, and she said, as evilly as she possibly could, "I am an Aisha that lives on these plains, and I shall gobble you up for dinner and spit you into your mother's hair!"

      "Insult my mother and you die," Meneus snarled, slashing her with his toy sword.

      Ruka clutched at her heart (though he had run his sword over her shoulder) and fell to the ground.

      Meneus walked on, and as he did (the group of babies following him), Darus began to speak. "Rohane continued on his quest, walking around the mountains and finding a forest. He walked into the cave, and it was dark," Darus said. The Chomby knew the story of Rohane very well, as it was his favorite story, and he was definitely best-suited for narrator.

      Meneus walked on, waving his hand in front of his face as if he was having trouble seeing.

      "He got lost many times," Darus continued.

      Meneus swung his head side to side, eyes wide, as if he was lost and trying to remember which way he had come and which way he should go.

      "But eventually he came across an underground mine!"

      Ruka jumped out before Meneus, in the same menacing position as before. "I am a skeleton, as you can see with your two broken eyes, and I worked here once. It was horrible."

      Meneus gasped, as if in shock of the skeleton, the likes of which he had never seen before. "You ARE a skeleton. Eww, bones!" and he swung his sword and struck Ruka in the head.

      "AUGH," Ruka said, clutching her head and falling to the ground. "You have defeated me and please don't hit me so hard next time."

      "Sorry," Meneus apologized.

      "All Rohane had to do was follow the train tracks, and he came across something harrible."

      "You mean horrible?" Aceri asked, confused at his odd pronunciation.

      "That's what I said!" Darus shot back, only three quarters teasing.

      "What happened? Don't stop now!" Caria, the only audience member, shouted. She was so very curious as to what had attacked Rohane, slayer of skeletons.

      Farin, the Yurble, jumped out from the crowd to stand before Meneus. He tried to stand as tall as he could, and he pounded his fists on his chest. "I am a very ugly Kacheek, the Foreman of this mine, and living Neopets are not permitted in these caves!"

      Farin lunged at him, grabbing Meneus' shoulders, but his mouth opened in surprise as he felt the toy sword against his stomach. "NOOOO!" Farin screeched, falling to the ground.

      "The evil Foreman disappeared, and with him all the skeletons and ghosts, and the mine got brighter and felt less evil cause the evil was killed... No, the evil was vanquished," Darus corrected, remembering the word from when his mother told him the story.

      "What does vanquished mean?" Eyse asked, nearly drowned out by Caria's cheering and clapping at Rohane's victory.

      "It means Rohane won," Darus answered, raising his head a little higher, proud of himself for knowing a word others did not.

      "Well, anyways. So, the Foreman dropped some armor, and Rohane put that stuff on. Then he got up and left that cave, and traveled...." Darus hesitated, trying to remember the direction Rohane went. "West, he traveled west and reached White River City."

      "No, not west. West is left, and Rohane went right," Bluestar pointed out.

      "Oh. Well, Rohane went east then, where he found White River City."

      "Hello, hello, traveler! I am this guy that runs the place where travelers sleep. Would you like a room?" Vera asked loudly.

      "Yes, I would like a room," answered Meneus.

      "So Rohane slept then he left, out into the wilds, searching for a cave he had heard talked about in the city."

      Ruka jumped in front of Meneus, and yes, you guessed it, in the same menacing posture as she had been every time before. "This is my forest, Blumaroo, I am a shadow Gelert and I shall send you back to White River in pieces!"

      "Not today!" Meneus yelled, again smashing the sword into Ruka's head, though this time managing not to injure his poor friend.

      "Rohane found that cave and down he went. There were many little puddles and pools, and Rohane had fun playing in them cause who doesn't like pools?"

      Ruka jumped out in front of Meneus and (let's just assume she always does this, okay?) crouched in the same menacing posture. "Go no further, Blumaroo! I am a skeleton knight and I've got this beautiful golden armor and a sword and a shield."

      Meneus swung his sword, and Ruka raised her arm in defense, the toy sword hitting it. "This is where my shield is, by the way, so I blocked that," Ruka said.

      But Meneus did a cool spin move and hit Ruka again, this time in the stomach. With an exaggerated flourish she fell to the ground.

      "So, Rohane comes out of the cave and he's on an island surrounded by water. So much water, as far as the eye can see. And then rising up was a tower, a huge tower, like, super big. And so he went in. And there were a ton of the skeleton knights and guards inside. He walked up four flights of stairs, fighting those nasty skeletons and spectres along the way," narrated Darus.

      "What's a spectre?" Caria asked.

      "A spectre is just like, a ghost," Vera explained.

      "And finally he reached the evil Zombom, this red Elephante in scary black robes, with powerful magic! But Rohane wasn't scared, he's a warrior, and so he attacked Zombom," the Chomby continued.

      Suddenly Farin jumped in front of Meneus. The Yurble was trying to stand as tall as possible, raising his hands above his head and teetering on tiptoe. "Roar, I'm the evil Zombom and I've been watching you come up here with your sword waiting to fight me, but you will not win because I am much stronger than you!"

      "Yeah, well, you're ugly!" Meneus retorted, and the audience giggled.

      "Argh, magic hands!" Farin said, holding his paws out in front of him and waving them, a bit as if he was waving.

      Meneus carefully lowered himself to the ground before rolling sideways. To the babies he was an elite fighter doing a sweet dodge roll.

      "More magic, ah!" Farin said, turning to aim his invisible magic at Meneus.

      Meneus hopped backward like a Cybunny, and just as quickly rushed forward and pushed his toy sword against Farin's stomach. Farin grasped at his fake wound and fell to the ground.

      "And all the skeletons and spectres disappeared, because Zombom's magic was not around anymore, and Rohane was able to leave the tower safely. Now Mene– I mean Rohane– went back to White River City, and the bridge that Zombom had raised. Oh, I forgot to mention, Zombom raised the bridge across the river, so half the city was on the other side all alone. But it's back, the bridge, and so Rohane went across and that's where he found Mipsy."

      Bluestar did a little hop of joy now that it was finally her turn to be introduced into the story. "Thanks for putting that bridge back!"

      "Oh, it's no problem. What do you do?"

      "I'm a wizard, see? Doesn't the robe give it away? Gah."

      "Well, why don't you join me? We can adventure together."

      "Yeah, sure! You'll probably need a good wizard around to keep you out of too much harm."

      "So together they traveled from White River City all the way to Lakeside," Darus began. "And it was here that they learned of the ancient city.. Um. Phororor."

      "That's not right, it's called Phorvavum," Aceri argued.

      "No no, you've got it all wrong. It's called Phora," said Vera, with an air about her that said her word should not be disputed.

      "No, I'm pretty sure it's called Potraddo," Eyse said, looking slightly confused.

      "I know it's not that. Potraddo is the guy we're about to run into. He gives us the password," Meneus said.

      "What are you guys talking about? City? Password? Phora-somethings?" Caria asked, her eyes wide with wonder at all the interesting sounding things to come.

      "No, no, I remember now! It was called Phorofor!" Bluestar exclaimed.

      "Yes, that was it. So, Rohane goes to this old guy named Potraddo who's hiding in the woods," Darus said.

      Vera stood up and hunched over a bit, her head nearly touching the ground because she was already so short. "Go to the east. There you will find Ramtor. But you gotta get through Phorofor first, and there you can find a magic orb that will magic you into the east."

      "Okay, we'll be setting off right away," Meneus said.

      "Wait! I haven't told you the password yet. It's ad ro un ta en," Vera smiled. "I remember the password because it was cool. What, you didn't remember? Ha! Well, Rohane, remember that or you'll never save anyone and fail at life."

      "Sounds like good advice!" Bluestar said with enthusiasm. "Let's go, Rohane!"

      "So they set off and found this huge temple made out of sand and there were tons of mummies in there!" Darus said.

      "Kougra mummies, don't forget the Kougra, we're the best even at being mummies," Bluestar boasted.

      Farin suddenly jumped in front of Meneus and Bluestar, falling onto his face at their feet. The crowd giggled, and the Yurble hastily picked himself up, looking around as if he had not fallen at all.

      "URGH, I am a HUGE sand Grundo and I'm like a mutant Grundo but with different colours, fear me!"

      "Bah, I cast fire spell!" Bluestar shouted.

      "Ahhhh!" Farin gurgled, holding his eyes as if they had been stung with smoke instead of having been hit by a fire spell.

      While the Yurble wasn't looking Meneus jumped forward and hit Farin in the chest with his toy sword, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

      "So they stepped on this magic orb thing and came out in a castle! They navigated through it and came out in the east side of Meridell. They began to make their way to the city on the sea, Seaside," Darus narrated.

      "I am an evil red Wocky with evil red eyes and you will not get past me!" Ruka growled, having jumped out in front of Meneus and Bluestar.

      "I cast a spell to make us both quick! Quick like a Petpet that is quick," Bluestar said.

      "I am super fast now so I easily dodge your attack and hit you!" Meneus exclaimed, hitting Ruka on the arm with his sword.

      "Once they make it to Seaside they rest and go on to fight Ramtor in Meridell Castle!" Darus said loudly, obviously excited as they neared the ending of their story.

      Farin jumped out and yelled, "I am Ramtor, a huge blue Bruce with a white beard and long blue robes. You dare fight me for the throne? Prepare to be defeated!"

      "I shall cast a spell that makes you stronger, Rohane!" Bluestar called.

      Meneus rushed forward, swinging the toy sword and hitting Farin in the shoulder. Farin fell dramatically on his side before standing. "Later, fool!"

      Then Farin turned and ran across the grass, to the spot where the yard ended and the open field began. He stopped, turned, and just stared at the group of babies where they sat.

      "What just happened?" Caria asked, confused.

      "Well, Ramtor ran away. He could tell that Rohane and Mipsy were strong and he is a big baby so he ran off," Darus explained.

      "Now we go and fight him again!" Meneus shouted, waving a finger in the air.

      Meneus, with Bluestar beside him, started to walk towards where Farin had stopped, with the rest of the babies shuffling behind him. Suddenly, though, Ruka jumped out in front of them, and Meneus nearly stepped on her paw.

      "I am a horrible black Grarrl with snaggly wings and red eyes and I won't let you get to Ramtor!"

      "I cast a magic spell of fire, which hurts you a lot!" Bluestar said.

      "Oh, owow!" Ruka gasped in mock pain, grasping her arm.

      Meneus jabbed Ruka on the head, narrowly missing her eye, and the Gelert dropped to the ground.

      "Now we go on to Ramtor!" Meneus declared.

      The group reached Farin, who stood up as they approached. "Well, you got me last time but not this time, alright!"

      "Sure, you big wuss," Meneus mocked, eliciting laughs from the audience.

      "Grr!"

      "I cast the spell that makes you quick! Go go, Rohane!" Bluestar urged.

      "Yeah, well I also cast that spell!" Farin said quickly.

      Meneus swung his sword, hitting Farin in the arm.

      Farin jumped to the side. "Pretend I dodged that. And I cast my own fire spell!"

      "Missed!" Bluestar said with a smile.

      Meneus lunged with his toy sword, hitting Farin in the chest. Farin gasped aloud, and he put his paw to his head before closing his eyes and falling to the ground. "You have defeated me, the great Ramtor! Ugh."

      "And so, Rohane has saved Meridell from the evilness of Ramtor, once advisor of the great King Skarl, defeated by the warrior Rohane and the wizard Mipsy," Darus said, finishing his narration, a grin plastered on his face as he marveled at what a great job he had done.

      "Yay!" went up the cheer as the babies clapped and screeched.

      As the noise dropped Caria looked up, confused. "But wait, didn't Eyse say he was going to play someone? And Aceri too? You lied, though, they didn't play as anyone."

      Everyone but Caria laughed at this statement.

      Farin exclaimed with a chuckle, "Rohane's adventures don't end there, silly!"

The End