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The group arrived at the Ice Caves. "The Snowager isn't
evil," explained the Uber-Air Faerie gravely, as the pets jumped off the Air
Faeries' backs, "so try not to hurt him unless it's absolutely necessary. The
Snowager simply does what he is paid for, and nothing more. It's just that Jhudora
pays him the best, so he serves Jhudora."
Ixi put two and two together. "So... that means
that the Snowager's treasure is Jhudora's as well?"
The Air Faerie looked at him. "Yes and no. The
Snowager has a love of treasure, and Jhudora provided him with a lot of it,
with items from her Quests. Jhudora keeps some of her own treasures in the deepest
part of the cave, where even the Snowager can't touch it. The Snowager is not
only guarding his own treasure--he is guarding Jhudora's as well."
"So that means that Jhudora's paying the Snowager
with the treasure he's guarding, so that the Snowager will guard Jhudora's treasure,
that even he can't get?" the Air Faerie laughed at her funny way with words,
and nodded.
"Well, my sisters and I will go now. Good luck
on your quest, my children. If you'll excuse my saying so, you'll need that
luck. A lot." Her Air Faeries nodded and the whole group flew away. It was a
spectacular sight to see in a place like the Ice Caves. Everyone there stared.
Skeithena spotted one of the pets who stared.
"Fluffy?!"
she shouted.
The baby Aisha looked back at Skeithena. She
had obviously been crying. "S-Skeithy? Lupey?" she added, looking at Luperusse.
"You know each other?" said Ixi quickly.
"Yeah, Fluffy's a very nice Aisha. She saved
us before." This had happened once when Skeithena and Luperusse had been babysitting
Fluffy. Fluffy had been a horror but the siblings' feelings had changed when
Fluffy saved them from being kidnapped by Jhudora.
"BABY LUPEY!" shouted the Aisha, hurling herself
upon Ghicaccio. "SKEITHY! LUPERUSSE!" she added.
"What happened to you, little Aisha who can't
string a short sentence together?" asked Ghicaccio, trying to get Fluffy off
her. "Gerroff me!" she added.
"'Kay," said Fluffy. She turned to Skeithena,
who was the oldest one there, and therefore the one that Fluffy trusted the
most. "Skeithy-nah, Jessa [Jess was Fluffy's owner, and Sharon's best friend]
come wid me, tour big caves!" She gestured around the Ice Caves. She shrugged.
"Dunno where Jessa went, Jessa say before, if lose me, she gonna go Chia Police,
den go back home-a, wait for me! Maybe talka Sharon too... "
Ixi paused. "What's she saying?"
The yellow Skeith was a highly experienced babysitter,
and knew the language of Baby NeoPets as well. "She says that she was touring
the Ice Caves with her owner, and she lost Jess, basically." She looked at Fluffy.
"Fluffy, you'd best go with a Faerie or something, who could help you. The Negg
Faerie, maybe?"
Fluffy let out a wail. "Negg Faerie stranger,
Jessa said no talk strangers, could be scammer! Or hacker, bad, bad!"
Skeithena sighed, "No, the Negg Faerie can't
be a scammer or a hacker, Fluffy. Go on," she nudged Fluffy. "Stay with her.
We're going on a very dangerous adventure."
But Fluffy had now attached herself to Skeithena's
wing. "No! Fluffy go on dangerous adventure already, go stupid Jhudora-slave!"
Fluffy had once been a slave of Jhudora. "Skeithy and Lupey go on adventure
too! Can do, can do! Ixi and Baby Lupey go on adventure, too?" she asked suddenly.
"Fine, you're coming with us," muttered Luperusse.
"Yeah, Ixi and Ghicaccio have been too... we just have been. Don't complain
if you become a Brucicle though."
"Fluffy no complain," said the Baby Aisha, rather
solemnly. "Brucicle yummy. 'Specially chock-lick."
***
"The Snowager's got very acute hearing, even though he's got such small ears
that you can't even see. He can't smell or see well, either. He's really short-sighted,
but that doesn't matter because at hearing the slightest sound, he'll send out
one of his icy blasts," explained Skeithena. "I'd imagine that he'd be scared
of fire."
Ixi nodded, "Yeah, but none of us has any fire
abilities. At least, I don't."
Fluffy pointed at Luperusse. "Lupey good Battledome,
Jessa say. Lupey fight scary-wager."
"No way!" said Luperusse indignantly.
The cute Baby Aisha cocked her head, interested.
"Why no way?"
Ghicaccio said, "The Snowager's got about, oh,
only six hundred hit points. You'll have to find another smart plan to defeat
him," she added to Skeithena. "Be quick. We've used up a day, it's already getting
dark."
Luperusse cursed badly enough to make Skeithena
open her mouth to scold him, but she thought better of it. Her brother cursed
again. "We're here, but we don't even have a plan."
The baby Lupe hugged her Moltenore. "Let's see
if we can dream up a plan, then. Bedtime."
The Aisha grinned, "Fluffy have ten pet blankies!
No cold for night?"
***
"I'm so worried about Fluffy. She's only a Baby Aisha," sobbed Jess.
Sharon put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Fyora Neomailed me and said that Luperusse and Skeithena are in the Ice Caves
now. What if they meet Fluffy there?"
"Yeah, but if Fluffy stays with them... Fyora
said that it was dangerous where they're going."
"We don't even know where they're going, so don't
say that."
"The reason Fyora didn't tell you is that it's
so dangerous she doesn't want you to be worried out of your mind!" Jess retorted.
Then she sniffed. "I'm sorry I'm giving you such a hard time, Sharon. I'm just
so worried."
"Jess, so am I, so am I. But crying doesn't do
any good. Our NeoPets, they'll take care of themselves." Or so I hope,
Sharon thought.
***
The five Neopets, thanks to Pants on Fire, wasn't half as cold as they should
have been. The Moltenore, thankfully, breathed very deeply, and his fiery breath
kept them quite warm. The five of them tried to get as close to the Moltenore
as possible. Naturally, Ghicaccio got the closest. She fell asleep first.
The rest of them soon fell asleep, in the freezing
Ice Caves, next to the entrance of the deadly Snowager's lair.
To be continued...
Tomorrow, our heroes are going to venture into the Snowager's home... although
it's 'next day' in the story, it's 'next issue' for you! *winks* ;) Meanwhile,
feel free to Neomail
me with any comments, complaints, questions, suggestions, or just to have a
friendly chat! Thanks and have a nice day :)
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