For the prequel of this series, see "On
the Outside".
Fire and Ice
When FlameKeeta, the fire Lupe, awoke, she found herself stretched out across
a steel table, her paws shackled and her ash-black wings crushed and useless
beneath her. The room was dark and the flames that had covered her body were
smoking as if someone had doused them in water.
Someone groaned beside her and she turned her head quickly to her right. She
sniffed the air and smelt more doused flames.
"Keeta!" she hissed.
"Flame? Is that you?" The human Keeta (GryphonSong) muttered from the other
table.
"Yes. We must be captives here," Flame murmured and tried to wait for her
eyes to adjust to the darkness, but it was too complete and she could see nothing
but a faint blue glow that pulsed a few yards away.
Keeta gasped. "Jay! Jay!"
Jay (IndianaJadedBlueJay) groaned and tried to roll over. "Just a few more
minutes…"
Keeta took a breath before screaming, "JAY, YOU IDIOT! WAKE UP!" Her voice
echoed and seemed to shake the entire room.
They heard a rustle and a thump as Jay tried to sit up but found himself shackled
to another steel table. "What the…"
"Did you have to be so loud?" Flame growled under her breath.
Keeta shrugged. "How would you have done it?" She moved her arms and, finding
it extremely annoying to be trapped, she slammed her fists down on the steel.
"I hate being confined!" she hissed.
"Get used to it, girl," a dark, deep voice murmured from the darkness. "You'll
be here fore a long time."
"You want to bet?" Flame growled. "I'd like to see you keep us."
"Oh, that won't be hard. We have your little friends…" The voice chuckled.
"They're quite happy here…"
A large TV screen turned on in front of them to reveal all of the Neopets
being slapped in the back by Fire Whips, forced to chisel Terror Mountain into
the shape of Dr. Sloth and Triano the Pepito.
"How can you do this? Aren't you a Neopet yourself?" Jay asked, shocked and
angry.
"A Neopet?" the voice shuddered with anger. "I should rule over all Neopets!"
"Sloth!" Flame screeched and threw herself forward, breaking one paw out of
the steel shackles.
The voice gasped faintly, but then regained itself. "Yes, I am Dr. Frank Sloth,
leader of the VirtuPets Corporation. I should be the ruler of all Neopets… I
was here before you disgusting pieces of slime!"
A soft clicking was heard as Sloth's booming echo faded. Not long after, Keeta's
fist met Dr. Sloth's shadowy face. "A disgusting piece of slime?" she snorted.
"At least I'm not vomit green!
"By the way, you really shouldn't put the keys to the shackles within arms
reach. That's just plain stupid." She tossed the ring of keys to Flame, but
not before Sloth was back up.
With a loud cry of anguish, he launched himself at Flame who dodged out of
the way and passed the keys to Jay.
The clumsy human fumbled with the keys and freed one hand, but the keys slipped
from his fingers and fell with a clang to the floor. He leaned backward, struggling
to reach the keys, but Sloth grabbed them first and aimed a lightning gun at
Jay's head. "Guards!" he called as Keeta and Flame froze. "Take these two away!"
Four Shoyru guards stepped in, flicking on blinding lights. All of them were
fire, the only type of pet able to stand against the flames (LoveChargoun being
a special Lupe and immune to the intense heat). Two escorted Keeta, and likewise
for Flame, out of the room. Flame gave a piercing backward glance at Dr. Sloth.
After they were down the hall a bit, three of the guards yawned hugely. "You
guys look pretty tired," the other guard commented.
"Yes."
"Definitely!"
"Well, I think I can take it from here. You guys go take a rest," the
Shoyru who hadn't yawned offered.
"You sure?" One asked.
"If course! I mean, look at them. They're weak and silent!" The guard laughed,
causing Flame and Keeta to glare.
"All right. Thanks, Zownar." The guards then left, yawning and talking softly.
Once they were out of hearing range, Zownar, the remaining guard, ushered
them into a separate, small, empty room with only a vent on the upper wall.
She locked the door and walked over to the other two. "Listen, I didn't mean
to insult you, but it was the only way to get them to leave and to believe me,"
she said with pleading eyes.
Flame scrutinised her closely. "What are you getting at?"
"I know how to get you two out of here, and maybe even the other one," Zownar
said quickly.
"Jay." Keeta put in and began fiddling with her watch, which had broken since
she first entered the computer.
"Yes, him," Zownar muttered quickly. "We must find the Snowager."
Keeta dropped her watch and looked into Zownar's eyes. Keeta's were almost
as large as Zownar's as she looked at her reflection in the Shoyru's big eyes.
"The… Snowager?" she squeaked out.
Zownar nodded gravely. "She is one of Sloth's biggest fears."
"She? I thought it was a he?" Flame questioned.
"A little known fact about the Snowager is that beneath all that treasure
are her eggs, the treasure and the mother provide the warmth needed to hatch
the eggs. The male travels throughout Neopia in underground tunnels in search
of food, but he is not much of a threat," Zownar said, almost angrily. "Can
I please explain what we're going to do then?"
"Of course," Keeta said, and Zownar went on.
"We'll have to disguise you two as workers on that dreaded monument. I'll
escort you out, get far enough away, and we'll flee. We have to find your NeoRenegade
friends. After that, go swiftly to the Snowager's lair where she is imprisoned,"
Zownar explained.
"Wait…" Flame said, glaring. "How do we know that you're not just using us
to find the Cave?"
"Fine," Zownar said casually. "I won't go with you. I'll flee into exile until
all of this is over."
"Fine with me," Flame muttered. "When do we get out of here?"
Zownar glared and snorted. "Like I said, I've got disguises for you."
"Where? The room is empty!" Keeta exclaimed.
Zownar grinned. "Ah, but the vent!" She pulled off the metal vent cover easily,
as the screws had been pulled off earlier. She brandished two raggedy suits
with a larger grin and tossed them to Flame and Keeta.
"Ew…" Keeta muttered as a substance that felt much like horse manure was spread
onto her fingers.
Zownar looked at the ceiling and blushed. "I sort of had to take these from
a couple of stables workers…"
Flame rolled her eyes and shoved the garment over her head. "Wings,"
she said and flapped her great black wings to emphasise her point.
"Try to hide them and do your best to make sure that the other guards don't
notice," Zownar said as Keeta struggled to fit the long shirt over her bulky
wings.
"Easier said than done," Keeta said as she finally yanked the shirt over.
Two large bumps appeared on her back and the upper bone of her wing was visible
over the shirt collar and her longest feathers poked out at the bottom as she
put the ragged pants over the blue jeans she had on.
Once they were dressed, Zownar hurried them out. "If we don't go now, then
we don't go at all," she muttered and chained them up again, half-dragging them
across the floor and through the gates, quickly explaining her "mission" to
the other guards.
"Where are we, anyway?" Flame questioned as they walked towards a forest edge.
The rest of the land fairly desolate with scattered hills.
"Northeast Tyrannia," Zownar said and gave Flame a tug; pretending it was
an accident although it had clearly been done on purpose.
Once they were to the other edge of the forest, a few hours later, Zownar
pulled out the key and unchained them both. "Here is where I leave you," Zownar
said and spread her wings, not waiting for them to even say goodbye, she flew
off.
"Hostile, isn't she? A bit mean, too," Flame commented.
Keeta shook her head. "No. She's just lost too much."
"Weren't we going to get Jay?"
"Zownar'll take care of it. Sloth hasn't found out yet," Keeta said assuredly,
although she really wasn't sure. They didn't exactly forget Jay, rather, they
couldn't stop. Jay was being questioned and... Beaten. Keeta shuddered. "Come
on. We've got a long way to go if we're going to find WizardWalfoulm and the
Snowager."
Flame sighed. "I just hope my fire doesn't freeze."
To be continued... | 
