Myrin the Kougra tuned out the rest of the Tiki Tour Guide's description, focusing instead on the sounds of the distant waves crashing against Mystery Island's shores. The warm, tropical breeze blew through his fur as he was pulled along in the Tiki Tours rickshaw.

"And that brings us to the end of the tour! Please exit the rickshaw, and I hope you enjoy your stay on Mystery Island!" finished the Tour Guide. Myrin did so, and pulled out a few extra Neopoints to give to the guide.

"Thank you so much," Myrin said. "It's my first time here on the Island, and it was great to see the si-"

BOOM.

A loud, echoing bang, like the crashing of thunder, cut Myrin's sentence short. A rumble went through the ground, nearly knocking the Kougra off of his feet. Around him, the native Island Neopets scrambled away from the area, fleeing toward the beaches.

"What's going on!?" Myrin yelled over the ringing in his ears.

The Tour Guide had been knocked prone, but jumped back to his feet. "Something's happening to the volcano!" he yelled.

Myrin looked around at Techo Mountain. Rocks had been knocked free and clattered down the side of the mountain. A thick, black smoke was pouring from the mountain's peak, nearly completely obscuring the Kougra's vision of the sky. He could just barely make out a shape moving within the smoke.

"Something's moving up there! It looks like...."

"Again?!" Myrin yelled back over the rumble of the erupting volcano. He had been paying attention to the history part of the tour--part of it, at least, the part about the massive Moltenore that had been awoken not once but twice previously to wreak havoc in Neopia. "I thought you said Tura-Kepek faded into nothing!"

"He did!"

The Tiki Tour Guide joined the mass of Island Neopets and visitors fleeing toward the beaches. Myrin thought it would be a good idea to follow.

Behind them, a second cacophonous crash rang out across the island, and Myrin imagined another large chunk of Techo Mountain cascading down the slopes by the emerging Petpet.

They reached the beach in time to see a fiery figure disappear into the thick jungle that crowded Techo Mountain's slopes. The treetops shook, and they could follow the creature's movements as it lumbered down the mountainside, but the rumbling beneath their feet had finally stilled, and the beach fell eerily silent.

Myrin surveyed the Island Neopets huddled nearby. Most of them were trembling, and he realised with a start that he was trembling too. He gulped. Moltenus had been woken up twice before, his tour guide had said, which meant he'd been put back in the mountain twice--three times, if you counted the very first time--and surely someone like the Tiki Tour Guide would know exactly what to do this time.

Mastering his nerves, Myrin asked, "So what do we have to do to put him back?"

No answer came.

Myrin looked around the beach again. He couldn't find the Tiki Tour Guide anywhere, and even worse, he noticed for the first time that...

"Where in the world could they have gone?" He muttered, having temporarily forgotten about the horrible beast he shared the island with.

Mere minutes later, he spotted them. Though they were only dots on the horizon at that point. They had taken all the boats along the beach, completely standing Myrin.

Furious, he bellowed, "I'M STILL HERE! BRING THE BOATS BACK!"

But he was only met with silence in response, along with the view of a fading fleet of ships. With his chest still heaving from running and yelling, Myrin realised with a sinking feeling that making this much noise while on the same island as the Moltenore was not the brightest idea.

With dread building, Myrin turned to find...

Myrin panicked and surveyed the shore, hoping to find a small boat he could get away on, but sadly there were none left. He ran to the nearest homes and knocked loudly, though no one answered. They were either ignoring him, or had already escaped on one of the boats.

"I should've taken that Terror Mountain tour instead," he mumbled sadly to himself as tears fell down his face.

He stood forlorn as images of his hometown, friends, and his Petpet flashed through his mind.

"No!! You can't give up!! Your Petpet is waiting for you!!!" The bright, shiny eyes of his Petpet back home gave him the jolt of courage he needed. He was still alone on the beach, but certainly he could find somewhere to hide.

He ran as fast as he could, away from Techo Mountain and the wide open beach. In the far distance, he could see what looked like another jungle. If he could get there in time, he might be safe from the Moltenore.

He continued on with all his might, until he ran straight into...

"Oh no! I'm in Geraptiku!" Myrin exclaimed aloud. The tour guide hadn't taken the rickshaw anywhere close to the dark jungle with its forbidding ruins, but had spent part of the tour telling what Myrin had assumed were ghost stories meant to frighten silly tourists. Tales about piles of skulls, abandoned huts, and a tomb full of both traps and treasure...

Myrin looked over his shoulder and saw palm trees wave their blazing fronds wildly as they were pushed to either side. Moltenus was coming straight towards him, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. "I guess I don't have much of a choice," Myrin muttered, pushing himself to his feet and sprinting beneath a crumbling archway into the city of Geraptiku.

The atmosphere within Geraptiku was crushing. The silence was so heavy that Myrin nearly stumbled beneath its weight. He was seized by a sudden sense of wrongness so strong he skidded to a stop beside one of the abandoned huts, his breath rattling in his chest. Suddenly he understood why the tour guide had kept them far away from this city.

"I know I'm trespassing on your land! I promise I don't mean to!" Myrin called aloud. Somehow it didn't feel foolish, speaking to the empty air. "I'm being chased by a giant Moltenore, and there was nowhere else for me to go. Please, I promise I'll leave as soon as it's safe, please just grant me sanctuary."

The crushing sense of wrongness abated, and Myrin sucked in a full breath. Then Myrin heard a soft noise that was not coming from the Moltenore charging towards him...

“No, please, I’m begging you. I swear that I’m running from Moltenus and…”

The giant Quetzal lowered its head and gently nudged Myrin towards the Petpet shop. Myrin hesitated, but hearing the stomping of the Moltenus nearby scared him into following the Quetzal.

Once inside, the Quetzal appeared to stay at the entrance while other Petpets huddled inside the shop. A few minutes later, a loud roar and stomping signalled the arrival of Moltenus. However, also with that roar came a loud cackle.

“Muahuahua! My experiment is finally a grand success. Now I know you’re in here, giant Quetzal. Come out wherever you are,” the voice taunted.

Then flames began raining down on the huts outside. The Quetzal slithered out to confront them, causing Myrin to gasp. Outside stood a triumphant Fire Faerie, whom he recognized as Eithne right away based on the description from the tour guide. 

Without thinking, Myrin ran out to Eithne.

“Stop this! Stop it this instant! You’re going to destroy this island!” he shouted.

The Fire Faerie turned and glared at Myrin.

“Pesky meddling tourists! No matter. Moltenus, you take care of our Quetzal buddy. Don’t worry, I’ll handle our uncooperative tourist here.”

Eithne floated closer to Myrin and reached over to seize him as he closed his eyes in fear. Suddenly, he heard a loud yelp from the Fire Faerie and opened his eyes to find…

Myrin, thoroughly inspired by the sight, threw a large Chokato from his bag at the Fire Faerie’s head, knocking her off balance for a few moments. Myrin turned to see Moltenus and the large Quetzal now locked in a fierce battle on the outskirts of the Lost City.

"Why you little..." Eithne stood back up, ready to attack, when a loud explosion from the Deserted Tomb took over everyone’s attention. For a second, the fighting stopped between the giant Quetzal, Moltenus, Eithne, Myrin, and the Petpets.

As they all looked toward the towering Deserted Tomb, they saw...

“Akoni, is that you?!” Myrin shouted towards the Jubjub, still rolling towards him. The Kougra tourist was stunned to see the Tour Guide again. He thought that his attendant had left him for dead, saving his own skin.

“Of course it is!” Akoni said after taking a moment to steady himself. He shook his head back and forth to help orient himself before getting to his short and squat feet. “I wouldn’t have left you! Are you crazy? Your safety is my responsibility… and we don’t need Tiki Tours Incorporated getting sued…” he added under his breath.

As the smoke from the explosion dissipated into the thick jungle air, Eithne gasped and pointed up towards the ancient structure.

“No… It couldn’t be!” she exclaimed, her brows raised in shock. The flames on her arms danced wildly, obviously in tune with her sudden wave of emotions.

“Anyways, I had to go and get some… reinforcements,” the Tiki Tour Guide said to Myrin with a devilish grin.

It was then that the Kougra realised what Eithne had been pointing to…

How will this story end?

"The monster from the Deserted Tomb!" Myrin exclaimed.

But before he could ask how the Tiki Tour Guide had managed to convince the Ghost Hissi to help them, the spirit opened their mouth and emitted a loud, terrible hiss, their breath misting in the warm air.

"He's not supposed to be able to leave the Deserted Tomb!" cried Eithne. "Not after I..."

The Hissi lunged toward Moltenus, who shrieked and tried to fling fireballs at his new foe, but the Hissi's transparent body was unaffected, as both they and the giant Quetzal began driving Moltenus back...back, away from Geraptiku, and toward the direction of the volcano.

"Not after you messed with the natural order of the island, is that what you wanted to say?" the Tiki Tour Guide said, drawing himself up to full height - never mind that it wasn't all that much. "You experimented with Geraptiku's Petpets, hoping to find a good enough sacrifice that could take Moltenus' place in the volcano and ensure that he would remain free, didn't you? Then, both of you could..."

"...could find and revive Tura-Kepek," Myrin finished, remembering the name Akoni had mentioned just as Moltenus had made his first appearance.

Eithne glowered at them both, and for a moment, the flames surrounding her burned more brightly, so brightly that the air around her rippled with heat. But instead of stepping toward them, or the Petpets that had decided to watch as the Hissi and the Quetzal cornered the humongous Moltenore against Techo Mountain, the Fire Faerie flew away toward the ongoing battle.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Myrin asked.

Akoni did not answer, but continued watching the scene until the Hissi bared their fangs at Eithne, and the Quetzal used its tail to whip her into a grove of palm trees that were scorched upon contact with her.

"No, I think they have it covered," he finally said, grinning. "But, I have a question. How did you get reinforcements in the first place? There was nothing in your stories about the Deserted Tomb's monster fighting Moltenus, or..."

The Tiki Tour Guide's grin only became wider.

"I've got more stories to tell, well, once we're sure Moltenus has been imprisoned again and Eithne has stopped her experiments."

The End.