Terror Mountain seemed to be quite annoyed with the two
semi-scientists who were now sprinting happily upon the territory of the deserted
Ski Lodge. Justin was now trampling around in the mounds of snow without any
purpose, grasping his new pet codestone as his partner Jonathan followed mindlessly.
Due to Justin's previous wish, his friend was no longer bossy and actually had
very little to say. So the Elephante took it upon himself to be the new leader
of their expedition, and as he took the responsibility of being the leader,
Justin found that doing so was great fun and couldn't blame Jonathan for being
as bossy as he was before.
Walking in Jonathan's shoes or not, Justin thought
being the leader was a fun game, especially with the codestone within his possession.
Everything would go his way, and to make a new beginning, Justin cried, "I wish
that fifty flaming hot burritos would appear right here!"
Well, if leadership was just about eating, Justin
was doing a great job. He knelt on the ground and began to devour his snack
as Jonathan watched intently. "Hey, Justin, can I get a piece of.."
His inquiry was cut short as the Elephante grunted
and looked up. "A piece of my burrito my left wing! You always treated me badly
when you were in power, so now you've got to face your punishment." Justin went
back to eating, ignoring the fact that Jonathan had no idea of what he was talking
about.
The Wocky frowned and snatched the codestone
away from Justin who continued to pig out. "Now it's my turn."
Justin looked up towards Jonathan, his eyes widening,
knowing his wishes would not be as simplistic and harmless as his own were.
Neolodge Fountain
Saigru the Kougra tiredly sat on the edge of the fountain in front of the Neolodge,
preparing to take a dip into the water's depths. He and his brothers were almost
finished, and if he were successful here the seventh codestone would be in his
possession. For the past five minutes he'd been searching for the eccentric
codestone by the view of the surface, and had done so without much success.
"This adventure is really tiring me out." He
stated to himself, and then waded in the water. The contents of the fountain
were pure and cold, so the Kougra did his best to feel on the bottom with his
large paws. There was a thin layer of Neopoints on the bottom however, due to
the slightly superstitious Neopets who had made a wish, donating a small portion
of their money in hopes of their wishes coming true.
Wishes. Saigru halted in his footsteps and realized
something. If the codestone had been in the water for too long, the Neopets
making wishes would find that their wishes were eerily coming true in a matter
of moments after they tossed the coins into the water.
Around the other edge of the fountain, a small
Flotsam held tightly onto one of his Neopoints and closed his eyes. "I wish
for a..." he began, but stopped with fright as Saigru dashed in front of
him, creating a loud SPLASH! effect in the water as he tripped over the stone.
"..bike." The Flotsam giggled hysterically
at Saigru towards his rather funny looking fall into the water. Saigru paid
him no heed and reached into the water, grabbing the codestone from underneath
his hind paw before the Flotsam could see. Luckily a blue bike fell from the
sky at the same moment, adverting the Flotsam's attention long enough to give
Saigru time to scramble away.
Noticing the soaking orange Kougra running away,
the Flotsam frowned confusedly, and then peered into the water. "Well, if you
can't beat 'em, join 'em." He said, and jumped into the water, murmuring dozens
of wishes underneath his breath in hopes of them coming true.
Wishing Well
Krawker_oth and his older brother, Jyrosen were standing in front of the Wishing
Well with frightened expressions settling onto their faces. They had just realized
the same thing that Saigru had moments before, although the three hadn't spoken
for several minutes. Krawker bit his bottom lip and peered into the contents
of the Wishing Well.
"If the stone is in there then all of the wishes
will come true." Krawker sighed and rested his elbows on the edge of the well.
Jyrosen nodded, knowing that if the stone were also in there, and then they'd
probably never be able to get it out without using magic.
"Yes, but what harm can it really do? I mean,
at the Wishing Well you're only allowed to wish for items, anyway."
"That's true."
The two split up after a few more moments of
silence and began looking for the stone on the ground, in treetops, and underneath
or next to anything else on the ground. Their search commenced for another twenty
minutes and still had no luck, until Krawker looked to the side of the Wishing
Well.
Luckily, the codestone was somewhat embedded
in a layer of mud present on the side of the well. It had stuck to the side
and was still hanging there, glistening in the sunlight. "I found it, Jyrosen!"
Krawker proclaimed, and then scrambled to the well, retrieving the goal of their
search.
"Great," Jyrosen replied, and then looked towards
the sky. The sun had already began to slowly creep towards the phase it would
be positioned at during it's set in the sky. "We'd better hurry and meet Saigru
at the Money Tree if we want to get to Terror Mountain in time."
Unfortunately, they would find a large mess awaiting
them once they finally managed to reach their last destination.
Terror Mountain - The Ice Caves
Justin the Elephante had long finished his meal of burritos -- it was quite
obvious, for the layer of snow on the ground where he lay was now covered in
a gruesome red color with bits and pieces of the burrito's wrapping scattered
amongst the ground as well. His starry cheeks were covered in a meaty layer
of food, too, making it look as if the Elephante had made an attempt to put
on make up using one of his grandmother's recipes. However the food-loving Neopet
was far from content after his meal, and there were several reasons for that
as well. · One of the burritos he previously ate appeared to be rotten, for
now as it rumbled around in his stomach, Justin felt rather queasy. · His best
friend, Jonathan, now had possession of a codestone that would do whatever he
wanted it to · And worst of all, he was still hungry.
Jonathan snickered at the state of his friend,
as he lie frightened on the surface of the ground. Just moments before, the
Wocky was transformed -- Justin had wished for him to stop being bossy. Apparently
the wish did not have much effect on Jonathan for he easily wished himself back
to normal in no time. Now he could do whatever it was he wanted to without that
dumb Elephante standing in his way.
"Poor Justin," he smiled and fingered the codestone
within his paws. "I wish you'd stop being such a sissy. Come and help me take
control of Terror Mountain."
As commanded Justin stood up on his feet and
looked towards Jonathan. It was amazing what power could do to a Neopet, for
the Wocky was now as evil as someone wanting to compete against Dr. Sloth. His
cheeks were tinted a light shade of pink but his eyes gleamed with contentment
as he held the stone out for Justin to see.
"I wish all of Terror Mountain were within my
control," Jonathan sneered, and then raised an eyebrow. All of the shopkeepers
and faeries within Terror Mountain began to wearily head out of their shops
or game centers and advanced towards him while in a zombie-like state. Everyone
stood silently, looking up towards Justin and Jonathan - awaiting instructions.
Justin smiled, his fear of getting into trouble
with the law vanished due to the vanishing of his "sissy"-like traits. He stood
tall and bold next to Jonathan, although he still looked rather vulnerable,
as the Wocky spoke to his employees.
"Ah, yes, now before we get to destruction I
need you all to empty out your stations - give me all that you possess within
the next half hour. I want everything here in a pile."
Everyone solemnly began to trudge back to his
or her means of work. Justin stood in the center of the Ice Caves, avoiding
the dark crevasse in the middle, waiting for everyone to return.
In the meantime, Jonathan meandered away from
where he had begun to take over and headed towards the Snowager's Cave. His
eyes lit up as he managed to trudge into the entrance, peering inside. The interior
of the cave was dark and the air was sticky upon his green fur. However, the
Wocky continued inside to where the large ice worm lay. Jonathan trembled a
bit with fear, grasping the stone within his paw tighter than ever, taking small
baby steps as the tunnel continued forward.
Finally, Jonathan managed to come to a distance
where he was a mere two feet away from the Snowager. He whistled slightly, and
waited to see if the worm would wake up. To his fortune, it did. The Snowager
wriggled around before opening its slit-like eyes and focusing them upon the
minuscule Wocky that stood before him. Instead of blasting bits of ice into
his fur, the Snowager stared, expressionless.
Waiting.
Jonathan chuckled and then rubbed his paws together,
being careful as to not shatter the codestone on the hard surface of the ice
below. "Follow me, Snowager. There's some destruction I'd like you to do, and
I'm sure being cooped up in that cave wouldn't be as fun as putting others out
of their misery."
The large ice worm finally managed to blink,
his facial expression not hinting anything of what it was that the creature
felt, at least for a few minutes. Jonathan raised an eyebrow, and then finally
managed to relax when the Snowager began to wriggle out of its coiled position.
The two slowly advanced forward into the welcoming, though slowly setting sunlight,
wondering what mess they could get themselves into.
Jonathan squinted as he finally emerged from
the dark cave with the large Snowager behind him, imprinting a rather large
and deep mark on the surface of the ground. Justin had been prancing around
the colossal pile of treasure placed in the center of the Ice Caves level -
Neggs, scorch stones, pet pets, everything -- all given to them by the somewhat
brainwashed locals of Terror Mountain. The Snowager, quite impressed by the
pile of items, and immediately dragged his large icy body atop the various objects.
Justin wiped the end of his large, dripping trunk
and headed towards Jonathan. "They've given us everything that they have. What's
next?"
The green Wocky shrugged and then peered over
towards the resting ice worm. "Dunno. But if we want to have some real fun,
we've gotta wait for the Snowager to get some rest, he's going to need it."
A large gust of bone-chilling wind swept through
the air as the Snowager emitted a large snore. Jonathan tossed the codestone
happily from paw to paw.
The Money Tree
Saigru had found Krawker and Jyrosen as he was leaving the Money Tree to head
towards the Wishing Well. Fortunately, Saigru explained to his siblings that
he had encountered the same wishing problem after he found a mystical codestone
in front of the Neolodge, the thought that the location of the codestone outside
of the Wishing Well and the Neolodge's fountain would actually grant wishes
right away. The three were still continuing their search for the codestones
all over Neopia that granted wishes. Time was running out, after the sun set
it would become much more difficult to find a small stone.
"We've found them all, except the one on Terror
Mountain, of course." Saigru finally managed to say, as he and his brothers
counted over the eight additional codestones they'd managed to find. For safety,
each codestone was placed within a bag and then put on Saigru's back. One they
still held in their possession, and the other was yet to be located.
Krawker shuffled his feet on the ground uncomfortably.
The whole situation was affecting him the most -- after all, he'd found the
original codestone and had grown quite attached to it over time. Only if
I'd never shown Saigru and Jyrosen... he thought hypothetically, this
would've never happened. I'd still have the stone to myself.
Jyrosen wiped his large black nose with a white
paw. He was also quite tired from the excitement the day had brought, and wanted
to fine the last stone without difficulty. "I dunno why we're still standing
here. Terror Mountain is huge -- we'd better get looking right now."
"How're we going to get there in time?" Krawker
wailed impatiently, not ready to find the last stone just yet. When all of the
stones were found, they'd be destroyed forever. He found it difficult to admit
to himself that he was becoming too attached to a silly stone.
Saigru held up a codestone that he withdrew from
his backpack. He didn't want to depend on magic to help get them out of the
situation, which is the reason why he just didn't wish everything back to normal
in the first place. It was too risky.
"Well, we can use this..."
To be continued...
| 
