"Hammer... check. Nails... check. Water-proof glue... double check!" Levi smiled as he carefully packed the duffel bag that lay on his bed. The Maraquan Chomby was on a mission of his own design. While stuffing more supplies into the bag, a journal fell from his bed and onto the floor.

In the Chomby's scrawling handwriting, it read:

For years the underwater city of Maraqua has been abandoned. Lost in the cold, dark depths of the sea, it has nearly been forgotten, even by those who once called it home. With the pirates long gone, it is my belief that the city can now be safely rebuilt. Once again Maraqua will illuminate the seabed with its beautiful glow of underwater lights, and be filled once more by bustling shops and the laughter of oceanic species.

Hopefully, as I reach toward this goal, others will follow in my footsteps, bringing supplies and tools down to the bottom of the sea. There we will rebuild what was lost!

The Chomby reached down to pick up his journal from the floor, carefully placing it into his bag, which he then zipped up before putting it over his shoulder.

Flicking off the lights of his home, the Chomby headed towards the docks...

"Ready?" she asked.

"As always. I have everything that I'll need for now," he replied.

"And I brought the sensible things," Cheera added with a mischeivous grin. "You know, like food, a flashlight, and everything else you tend to forget. What would you do without me, Levi?"

The Maraquan Chomby swished his webbed tail sheepishly. "I really don't know. I'm glad you're coming with me," he said, smiling.

Cheera's face brightened. "Of course I am! After all, we're best friends! You ready to go?"

Levi nodded, and the two friends...

...both dove into the warm waters surrounding Mystery Island. For hours, they swam beneath the waves and aquatic scenery. Since they were an Acara and Maraquan Chomby, breathing underwater was as easy as breathing on land. The two friends had visited Maraqua lots of times, but their stay was always brief. Now, they had much bigger plans.

"We're going to do it, Cheera!" Levi claimed excitedly. "We're finally going to do it! You and I are going to be the first Neopets in history to rebuild an ancient civilization!"

"Easy there, partner," Cheera replied. "We have a long way to go before we can even begin construction. First, we have to make some really good sketches of the landscape. Then, we'll need to return to the surface and recruit some extra help. There's no way we can do this on our own."

Levi nodded as he continued to swim. "I know, I know... but that shouldn't take too much time. It may take a few trips, but we'll get Maraqua up and running again faster than you can say..."

Before the Chomby could finish his sentence, he realised that they were now at the entrance to the once flourishing city of Maraqua. Although it was nothing more than a debris-ridden ocean floor, to Levi this place was a heavenly nirvana.

"Maraqua..." Levi said, finishing in a dreamy state.

Cheera chuckled before snapping her fingers in front of Levi's face. "Ok, Levi! Come back to Neopia! Let's go set up camp."

As the two friends unpacked their sacks, Levi heard a low growl from his belly.

"Was that the bubbling pit or your stomach?" Cheera asked with a smirk.

"I guess all that swimming made me hungry," Levi said, smiling as he turned towards his checkered colored friend. "What's say we have your specialty before we start working?"

"Two seaweed burgers, coming right up!" Cheera explained. "I saw a whole patch of fresh greens over there by the cliff... I'll be right back."

As Cheera swam off to collect her ingredients, Levi pulled out his journal and began to write.

Reconstruction of Maraqua: Day One

My confidante, Cheera, and I have arrived at the ruins of Maraqua. As many times as we have visited this lost utopia, it still takes my breath away. I can almost hear the sound of young Jetsams and Maraquan Aishas swimming around, playing sponge ball or performing tricks among the currents. The Neopets who chose to remain back on dry land thought I was crazy for coming down here to rebuild this city. Since Maraqua's demise, others have insisted that the terrible fate this city suffered will occur again if it is rebuilt, but I will not be scared away so easily, for I...

"LEVI! COME QUICK!"

Levi stopped his pen scratching and placed the journal back in his sack. He then quickly swam over to where Cheera was. Suddenly, the sight that Levi beheld, there amongst the patch of seaweed, made his Chomby heart stop.

"Sweet Fyora," he said softly. "It's..."

"Or, at least, what's left of it," Cheera replied. True enough, below them lay the wrecked remains of a once-great submarine. Known to all as The Revenge, the ravaged vessel had been abandoned, rammed deep into the side of a great fissure. Its entire rear had been gnarled and crushed, but the bridge looked slightly better. "I'd say that it's been here for a while, judging by the algae growing on it." she hypothesized.

The duo stared down at the sub, nodding in silent agreement to check it out. They swam down inside the crevasse and gazed upon the debris. "What do you think happened to it?" Cheera inquired.

"I don't know..." Levi replied, "maybe it got hit by the whirlpool?"

"That's crazy." Cheera replied sharply. "They were supposed to have been the ones who created the whirlpool when they destroyed Maraqua." Exploring further, they swam inside one of the many gashes in the hull.

"Good point." Levi replied. "Hey, maybe we'll get some answers if we find the bridge, or captain's quarters," he suggested, heading towards the hall and approaching the bridge. "Let's try this way."

After a few minutes, the hall had taken them into the bridge. Unfortunately, after an hour-long search, they had failed to find any answers.

"Uggh," Levi grunted. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Come on, this isn't even why we came to Maraqua. We can deal with all this once construction is off to a good start."

With that, the two friends swam back towards the exit. In the hall, however, Cheera noticed a door that was much more ornate than the others. "Hey, look at that! That must have been the captain's quarters. Maybe we'll find something there?"

Although Levi was beginning to grow impatient, his increasing curiosity had not yet been satiated. "I guess you're right," he agreed, pushing the rusted door ajar.

Creeping inside the long abandoned cabin, they inquisitively looked around. Levi approached a mahogany desk, then gazed upon what lay on its surface, his eyes widening. "Um, Cheera, I think I found something...

...Cheera raced over. "What?" she asked excitedly.

Levi pointed towards the desk, and Cheera then gasped. "Yes! This is absolutely perfect! What a find!" she exclaimed.

The Maraquan Chomby nodded. "Just look at the detail; this is so cool!"

On the desk laid a map. However, this wasn't just any ordinary map... it was a map of what Maraqua once looked like, before the whirlpool had hit...

"Look, there was the Food Shop... and oh! I think those were he houses. There are the rest of the shops... cool! You can tell that they had a big mall in the center!" Cheera devoured the map with her eyes, scanning every last detail and feature.

"We could definitely use this to rebuild the town!" Levi said. "It would be just like before... we could make a replica!"

"Wait a second, Levi..." Cheera said. She was pointing towards the corner of the map, where some writing had been scrawled. It was obvious that it had been written hastily. "Listen to this..."

"But, what does that mean?" Levi asked.

"I'm not too sure," Cheera slowly. "I think it means that, once you set foot in Maraqua, you can't leave without something terrible happening to you."

"That's nonsense," Levi said. He waved in the general direction of the map, saying again louder, "It's probably just something that the pirates scrawled on there... you know, to scare people from trying to come back."

"You're probably right. Let's just take the map, so we can figure out where the best place to start rebuilding is." Cheera said.

Levi's eyes lit up in excitement. "That's the spirit, Cheera!" He hurriedly rolled up the map, tucking it under his left arm. "Onward!" he cried, pointing out the door.

However, at that moment they heard a loud bang. Spinning around quickly, their eyes went to the doorway behind them.

"Cheera," Levi whispered. "What was that?"

They heard footsteps coming closer, along with a grunt, as whatever it was slowly turned the corner and began coming down towards the captain's quarters, dragging one foot along the ground.

"Levi," Cheera whispered. "I think we should..."

...HIDE!"

"Where? Where can we hide?" Levi cried, panicking.

"Under that bed in the corner...QUICK!"

Levi normally would have disagreed, but he was so frightened that he jammed himself under the bed. Cheera hastily followed and, as a last thought, reached out and pulled the dilapidated quilt down, so they were adaquetly hidden.

The door opened. Levi had never seen anyone open a door so slowly. It let out a long, mournful creeeeaaaak before opening to reveal....

A pirate.

But not just any pirate.

A skeletal pirate was gazing at his awful state, and seemed torn between being disconcertened or jubilatory. Ragged clothing hung from his graying bones, and upon his head could be found what was once a very fine pirate hat--until it had been slashed by some dagger or sword... It also seemed to be stained with something terrifyingly dark crimson.

Levi was terrified himself, and he was absolutely certain that if their situation hadn't absolutely called for silence, Cheera would have screamed aloud.

Cheera's eyes widened, and she took Levi's hand in hers and squeezed so tight. She bit her lip while pushing herself further back under back under the bed. Levi's heartbeat was beating so rapidly... he was sure it was going to stop soon.

The loud, harsh sound of crackling rusty metal caused his head to snap back.

Cheera was so scared that she had shoved herself backwards too hard. There was now a large, gaping hole right beneath the captain's bed. As they both lay crouching, staring in horror at what they had done, the bed slid through the hole... giving them away.

"CHEERA... GO!" Levi screamed. He seized Cheera's hand through a terror that almost blinded him, and tried his best to pull her away.

However, Cheera wasn't moving. Instead, she sat quietly... transfixed by the awful sight in front of her.

Levi felt as though he was close to tears. "Cheera? Please go..." he begged, tugging uselessly at her stiff paw.

The ghostly pirate, who was now aware of their hiding place, boldly strode over to squat next to them.

"Well, what do we have here?" the pirate asked, his voice rough and frightening...

The pirate gave a raspy chuckle. "Oh, I won't hurt you. I'm guessing your here for a reason? Or are you just adventure seekers that happened upon this ship?"

By this time, Levi had joined Cheera on the floor. He was trying to look brave before pirate, despite the fact his entire body was shaking.

"We're here to rebuild Maraqua," he announced, attempting to sound fearless. "And you're not going to stop us!"

"I can't stop you," the pirate wheezed, "and I won't have to... IT will take care of that." The pirate smiled, revealing two rows of jagged teeth.

Cheera finally spoke up. "What is... IT?"

The pirate looked surprised. "Why, don't you know? When my vicious Captain Dread destroyed Maraqua, it awoke a terrible beast from below the sea floor. That nasty beast is what did the Revenge in. I'm surprised it hasn't found you yet, since it seems to be attracted to loud noises. If you kids started trying to rebuild... it'd be one you in a second."

Levi and Cheera's faces fell. So that's why no one had ever been able to rebuild Maraqua, Levi thought.

"Sorry to break it to you, kids... but you'd need an entire army to defeat Chiazilla."

"Chiazilla?!?" Levi exclaimed, then frowned. It would take an army to defeat it.

Suddenly his eyes lit up, and then he snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" Levi shouted. Cheera looked up at him hopefully. "If we can rally enough pets, then we can fight him together... then, perhaps, maybe they'll even help us rebuild the city."

"That's a great idea!" Cheera said.

Levi turned to the ghostly pirate. "Thanks for all of your help... we'll be back soon; hopefully, with reinforcements."

The pirate wished them luck, and the two friends headed for the surface.

Soon afterwards, they were once again on the docks, swiftly making their way to the most crowded area. The two friends split up as planned, and quickly explained the situation to everyone that would listen.

Within an hour...

...many bold adventurers and Battledomers had gathered together on the pier. There was a huge buzz of noise as they all chatted excitedly about Chiazilla, and exchanged battling techniques.

Levi made his way to the front of the crowd to meet Cheera, who stood beaming before them all. "Well, this turned out better than I expected," he grinned.

"I know... isn't it great!?" Cheera said, hopping up and down with excitement.

Levi laughed. "Calm down, Cheera!" The Acara blushed slightly and stopped her hopping.

Levi thanked an island Gelert who handed him a megaphone, so he could be heard over the crowd. "The time has come!" he said, his voice booming around the pier, as all the pirates, island pets, Battledomers and adventurers turned to listen to their leaders.

"The time has come!" he repeated, "That Chiazilla will go down, and Maraqua shall be rebuilt from the depths!" Countless cheers followed his statement.

He handed the megaphone to Cheera, who suddenly looked slightly nervous, which was unusual for his checkered companion. "Now we shall defeat Chiazilla, and he shall be Chia-Zero!" she declared, her voice echoing around the pier as she punched the air, causing the crowd to begin applauding and cheering.

With that, they all raced forward and plunged into the waters, then began swimming to find Chiazilla. It wasn't hard, and they soon spotted him while emerging from a deep trench in the ocean floor, having heard all the splashing as the fighters dove into the waters.

In a huge swarm of Neopets (and the few Petpets that had come along), Chiazilla was covered from head to toe in checkers, stripes, spots, deserts, fire and every other kind of painted Neopet and Petpet.

It didn't take long for the creature to realise that, despite it's great size, it was clearly overwhelmed. Unaccustomed to opponents fighting back, the disgruntled monster soon fled. The huge army watched him sink back into the abyss that he'd come from. "That's it, Chiazilla! Get back down that hole where you came from, and leave Maraqua in peace!" Levi yelled as the huge Chia disappeared into the murky depths.

The whole crowd cheered as Cheera turned to Levi. "Finally," she smiled, "You can finally live your dream of rebuilding Maraqua." She gave him a huge hug, and he hugged her back.

"I couldn't have done it without you, my friend..." he said, smiling.

And so, with the help of the Battledomers, pirates, island folk, and adventurers, Cheera and Levi rebuilt Maraqua, so that it possessed an even greater splendour than before. More than ever, Maraqua stood as a true underwater paradise for the aquatic friends.

The End