Everyone was alert now, looking at the large, monster. He was worse than anything
else in the Gallery of Evil. His blank eyes were gray and hideous. He cackled
evilly.
Acceber grabbed her pets. Holding her Shoyru to her chest, she ran as fast
as she could. Following their friend, the others all gripped their pets.
They ran as fast as they could, their muscles burning like acid. Finally, the
monster’s cries were far behind them and they found themselves in a dry, vast
land. The dry ground cracked below them as they stepped in spots that weren’t
crowded with spiders.
“Where are we?” Yonishia bawled.
LittleNaik rolled his eyes. “We’re on the Tyrannian Plateau. Are you dense?”
“LittleNaik, keep your dumb comments to yourself!”
“Oh, quiet, Mermaid!”
“Hey! Come say that to my face!”
“I’m gunna - ”
“Quiet the both of you!” Sparkle_Qween yelled. Her sweet face was filled with
a look of rage and sorrow, as her voice prevailed in getting silence. “Now,
where do you think arguing will get us? I’ll tell you. That Monoce-whatcha-ma-call-it
will come and DESTROY US ALL!”
Silence ran over everything like a wave and, as Sparky continued to pull the
wheelbarrow, they all spoke in hushed voices.
“Why is he following us?” Cosmic_Queen cried.
“Because,” Acceber lowered her voice even more, “he wants weak pets for his
slaves. Only two pets here weren’t adopted and are fully trained. He can sense
it.”
Not even trying to keep her voice down, Cosmic cried, “He’ll never take my
babies!”
With that, everyone and everything on the Plateau turned.
A little Aisha, whose eyes looked wise, approached them. She wore rugged caveman
clothes and her face was smeared with dirt. “Gargoo lasmu jikaby!” She held
her paw out.
Keladry_Squire perked up instantly. Like a ball, he bounced out of the crowded
wheelbarrow, which had been filled with the sleeping Scorchio’s warmth. He crawled
to the Aisha and they shook paws.
The foreign Aisha looked surprised as Keladry spoke in Aisha language. She
watched, fascinated.
“I Tuthaga. Me Tyranninee,” she said. “Our town in state of Gesam. We sad.
Many pets disappear from Tyrannia. They just disappear – like this!”
The Aisha, now known as Tuthaga, vanished. They all waited, impatient and puzzled,
but she did not return.
Sparkle_Qween started to push the wheelbarrow, and everyone followed. They
brushed past the Giant Omelette, though many complaints were brought up and
overruled. They marched past the Ticket Booth, after being questioned by a mysterious
Lupe, and then paused at the end of the Plateau.
“What happens now?” Saratigo asked.
“We, er… we keep going.” Acceber answered. “We’re going to the Volcano.”
They all stared in silence. The arid land before them made Acceber cry softly.
She missed their home and normal life. Now, she might lose her pets. As the
first wheel of the pets’ transportation light touched the dry land, the ground
cracked, and the wheelbarrow lay on a slant, its wheel well wedged in the stubborn
dirt.
Chiera tumbled out and landed by Acceber’s feet. “Um,” she scratched her head
and squinted into the distance. “Now, this doesn’t seem to be my room…” she
muttered. Cosmic_Queen and Sparkle_Qween exchange dismayed glances; Acceber’s
pet had gone mad.
“Chiera! I’m so glad you’re okay!” Acceber threw her arms around the Scorchio,
who appeared to have survived the blaze without a cut, burn, or scar.
Saratigo watched with envy as everyone crowded around her sister. It was just
like at the orphanage; Saratigo had been placed in a rusty cage next to a lovely
Poogle, whose fur was well groomed and cage was clean and what the Shoyru thought
looked royal. She actually had furniture in her large cage that took up more
than what five cages the size of Saratigo’s would, and she was fed Turkey Dinners
every night before anyone else got leftovers and bruised fruits, so everyone
could watch and feel jealous. Then, when they got their meals, the Poogle dined
on pies and cakes for desert. Her beauty got her everything.
The Poogle even had a line formed of the numerous people pleading to own her.
The pet would examine the owner, refuse them, and point out a flaw of theirs.
Saratigo would watch as she turned down owner after owner because they had a
number at the end of their username or because they were poor. No one even glanced
at the purple Shoyru, who, if so much as a poor person who would have to bring
her to the soup kitchen or not be able to enroll her in school or not have been
able to read her books, had even mentioned adopting would have thrown herself
into their arms. The only time she was ever in the spotlight was when she had
been adopted and frost_acceber had marched past the shiny bars of the Poogle’s
cage and had taken Saratigo.
But now, Saratigo remembered just how rejected she had felt. Now she vowed
to do something to win the affection of everyone in Neopia – no, not just Neopia.
She wanted to be known around Tyrannia, Faerieland, Mystery Island – she wanted
to be known around the world.
“All right, sorry guys, but we’ll have to walk from here,” Sparkle_Qween said
as tears rolled down her pale cheeks. Bags had formed under her eyes, making
her constantly looked doubtful that they would live.
With many complaints, the wheelbarrow was abandoned and, Spyro, Shyn, and
Cherpster flying, they all started towards their destination. Saratigo, who
had been given the option to fly alongside her friends, decided to walk. Too
much effort was involved in flying – and she needed to think. As her genius
plot ran through her head one hundred miles a minute, she, her owner, cousins,
and friends made their way to the mysterious wonder of Tyrannia’s stale land
– the Volcano.
Half way through their desired route, they all sat down for a rest. cosmic_queen
searched through the bag she had taken. She came up with a Teal Juppie, which
they all shared. She saved the rest of the food.
“When we get to a store, we’ll buy some food and get full,” she told her famished
pets, sister, and friends. They all stared at her with weakening eyes. Where
would they found food in the middle of the desert?
Chiera wobbled as she shuffled behind the group, which had started up again.
Saratigo rolled her eyes and nibbled hungrily at her tiny share of the meal,
a fraction of the Juppie. Everyone wanted to fight, to just blow up, blaming
their companions for all the trouble they were having. But it would be a waste
of the small amount of energy they possessed to argue and it was too early to
lose their patience. Thus, a silent meal.
Yonisha was sulking, which made LittleNaik bursting with rage. That made the
owners scold them, and they’d be upset, and everyone would be frustrated. The
emotions they passed through their silence were enough to make anyone go mad
– and only half a day had passed.
The heat bore upon them, piercing into their tolerance like a drill. They ached
all over, but endured the pain until an upset Yonishia cried out.
“Why are we going to the Volcano, anyway? It’s gotta be worse in there! The
Monoceraptor will come in there and –”
“Oh, put a Negg in it, you little – ”
“Quiet, LittleNaik!”
“Make me!”
Shyning efficiently flew between the fighting pets. “Quiet all of you!” She
placed a striped, cyan paw to her lips. “I hear something…”
A breeze chilled them, and a few pebbles jumped along the rough ground, but
not another sound was made. Spyro landed near his owner and from their suitcase,
he pulled a shiny Sword of Domar. It’s blade maintained the sleek look it had
had when Cosmic had first won it at a Gormball tournament, without a trace of
rust.
Without warning, the star Shoyru was tackled to the dusty ground and his sword
was pulled from his paws. Everything was a misty blur of red, until a crimson
Kougra emerged from the fight, baring his teeth menacingly, the sword between
his thick paw and the cracked ground.
Spyro crawled backwards towards his owner, who was holding a small Sparkshooter
Spyro had several scratches on him, and he was shivering, but he tried to look
brave, and he appeared unhurt.
“Who are you?” Cosmic demanded.
The Kougra growled a low growl, glancing from pet to pet, sending them scrambling
away. He chuckled under his breath when he succeeded in scaring them.
“Who are you?” Cosmic repeated, aiming the Sparkshooter at the Kougra’s arm.
“I have every right to fire!”
“Drop your weapon,” the Kougra replied, calmly. “I am Tyger_Blood, of Mystikal_Silver’s
pets. I mean no harm – ” he glanced at Yonishia. “Acaras don’t make good meals
anyway.” Yonishia tripped as she stumbled to her owner.
The Kougra, who called himself Tyger_Blood, batted the sword with his paw,
sending it sliding to Spyro. He started to walk in the direction that they had
come from.
“Where are you going, Tyger_Blood?” Cosmic directed the Sparkshooter from the
now turned Kougra’s hind leg to his paw, then to the back of his unprotected
neck, emphasizing his name when she spoke.
“If you must intrude on my given privacy, I am heading when liberty leads me
to hunt. I have a family to feed – it’s more important than standing here, talking
to useless strangers who don’t know this land.” He held his back to Cosmic,
dangerously.
“Well, liberty isn’t very on today,” Sparky scoffed. “Because it’s leading
you into the Monoceraptor.”
“You just watch where you’re heading,” he began to walk away.
They stared, pondering his remark. Turning back to their trail, they realised
the meaning of his statement; a swarm of Swamp Ghouls was marching towards them,
growling evilly.
To be continued... | 
