"Uncle Griffin, wake up!!" Indiana wailed.
Griffin's eyes fluttered and opened. Where was he? Oh, on the ground of the
desert. He knew that after looking around. What was that insane throbbing in
his head and that awful pain in his chest?? That, he didn't know. He didn't
bother moving his head down to see if there was blood or not, as he knew there
must likely would be.
"What happened?" Griffin asked in a small voice.
"A big rock is what happened," Indiana said.
"Huh?" Griffin had forgotten all that had happened. "Last thing I remember,
I was with you in the desert riding on Larie with a bunch of Chias..." Well,
maybe he remembered some things...
"Apiaries went insane! He took his Arabian clothes off and threw a big rock
at you. Then a winged-demon-Lupe thing swooped down to pick him up, and then
they flew off, laughing like madmen!" Indiana said, her paws flinging in the
air. She paused and handed Griffin Apiarie's former clothes.
Griffin looked the clothes over. The fabric was startchy and felt as if it
was made from a tablecloth. It was a two-piece suit...that was unusual. He checked
the inside of it. In the neck of it was a tag...Uncle Greg's Halloween
Costumes it read. It was a costume!! What kind of Chia was this?? He
looked for more.
In an inside pocket, he found a notebook and a pencil. He flipped through the
pages to read the notes.
|
Came up with silly ancient-desert name, Apiaries. Remember that.
The Lupe, most likely the leader of the group, gave us water. Drank
all of it already. It doesn't matter, as early tomorrow, my Chia
disguise will wear off and I shall become a demon Lupe once more.
Called Firepad to pick me up on my cell phone. I can't destroy
the
entire group of Chias like I presumed, as there are more than I thought,
and I found out the leader works part-time for the government.
No use taking a risk there. Get more demon Lupes to storm the group.
Have somebody sent down to destroy the Lupe.
|
"Oh, no..." Griffin said. He passed Indiana the notepad to read
for herself. Griffin looked around in the pockets again to find a...cell phone!
The one Apiaries was talking about in his notes. They were saved!! But...where
was Apiaries trying to lead him and the group?
Indiana gasped. "UNCLE GRIFFIN SOMEBODY WANTS TO DESTROY YOU!!" she shouted,
flinging her arms around Griffin, tears in her eyes. "They're not taking you!
I won't let them!!" She tossed the notebook on the ground, furious.
Griffin hugged back. He was glad that Indiana cared so much about him. "You're
like my father..." Indiana said sadly, her eyes closes tightly; she obviously
didn't want any harm come to Griffin.
Griffin knew about Indiana's mother and father...and it wasn't all that a happy
story, either. "And you are like my daughter, Indiana," he said in a soft
voice like cream.
Something just came over Griffin and he jolted his eyes open, releasing himself
from the hug. "Indiana, where are the Chias?"
"They're behind the dune. They said that they wanted to make a fire. In the
desert night, you told me it got cold--and it is! Without big, long coats of
fur like you or me, and without nice feathers like Larie, they must be quite
cold. Their fur is so short!" Indiana said.
Griffin plodded over to the Chias, who were calmly sitting by the fire they
had just made, most likely from rubbing sticks together, and old technique used
long ago and passed on from generation to generation. The Chias chatted calmly
and drank their water. Griffin looked down at the cell phone in his paw and
thought a moment. This was their ticket to ultimate freedom.
***
"So the Lupe just...flew off like that? Are you sure it wasn't a mirage?" Al
the blue Chia Lupologist,
one of Griffin's closest friends said. He had big owlish glasses on and a white-lab
coat. Fluffy, his PetPet and companion, a Cobrall, sat in his lap.
"Seriously! Not a bit of it false," Griffin said. They were in a helicopter
now, Al at the pilot's seat and Griffin to the right of him. Indiana was fast
asleep in his arms. The Chias were in the back, as there were not many of them.
But then again, it was a big helicopter.
Al was just a phone call away--literally. It only took several hours for Al
to get over to the desert, then discover Griffin and the Chias. It was a successful
rescue mission, and the worst thing that medically happened to any of the Chias
was one fainted of dehydration, but was given much water and was chatting away
with his friends in the back. All of them had some water, but the food would
wait.
"Describe what it looked like..." Al said, taking his paws off the controls
and fiddling around for his notebook. The helicopter jolted.
"AL! LOOK OUT!!" Griffin shouted as the helicopter jolted again and started
diving down. Startled, Al grabbed his hands on the controls again and steered
it back up into the air. Griffin started laughing a little as Al blushed, then
noticed Griffin laughing and gave him the death look. Griffin immediately stopped.
"Sorry, Al...heh...we'll talk about it later," Griffin said, holding back laughs.
He knew Al probably wanted to go out and find what the demon-Lupes were...that
was Al for you, a daring little Chia that yearned to learn everything there
was to know about Lupes.
The helicopter later landed in central Sakhmet. There, princess Vyssa greeted
them joyfully and invited them to stay at the palace for a great feast. Although
Griffin was intrigued that he had to sit next to the spot that the former king
sat, where a rather large red stain lay, he still enjoyed the meal of steaming
hot turkey. Indiana loved the food, too, but filled up on Tchea fruit and passed
the main course.
During the meal, Griffin found out that two months ago, a large group of Chias
were Neo-napped from Chia Park. The only evidence was a few unidentified Lupe
paw-prints and Lupe hairs. After many searches, the local police sadly concluded
that the Chias were stolen, then eaten; as the police needed time to work on
the murder of King Coltzan the Third. But now, they were rescued and safe.
"I grant you with this medal of heroism..." Vyssa said in the middle of the
meal as she pulled out a golden medal. "For putting your life at risk to save
others from harm's way." She slipped the medal around Griffin's neck and the
guests clapped.
Well, it's all downhill from there. The Chias returned to their homes and lived
as normal again, and Indiana came to live with Griffin and his family down in
Mystery Island. Vyssa continued ruling her land with truthfulness and justice,
but was never just as good as old Coltzan was. Little is known about the demon
Lupe or Apiaries, as the last they heard of them was in the desert. Al set off
weeks later in search of those demon Lupes, but that is a different story.
The End | 
