Thunder crashed like the beat of a thousand drums, lightning arced across
the dark night sky, and the rain pelted down in sheets onto the backs of the
two young Neopets.
"Maki!" GladysCat cried, struggling to make herself heard over the din of
the storm. She fluttered her large Faerie wings agitatedly as she pulled at
the rope, trying to bring the mainsail down. "This is getting out of control!
We've got to get to land and wait this storm out!"
MakiKai grappled with the tiller, making a valiant effort to keep the small
sailboat on course. "I can't see anything in this rain—it's too dark!"
A sudden bolt of lightning zigzagged across the sky, revealing a towering
cliff before them. The two friends screamed in terror as their little ship headed
straight for the rocks...
Sometime later, Maki gradually became aware of waves lapping at his paws.
With an effort, he raised his head and, spitting sand and salt water out of
his mouth, looked around.
Maki found that he was actually on a sandy white beach bordered by a thick
jungle, and the bright tropical sun shone overhead. Bits of wood were scattered
about on the tideline, and still more were floating in the water. Maki's heart
sank with a sudden realization.
"Gladys!" he screamed, running about on the beach and looking for any sign
of his friend. "Where are you?" But there was no reply, save for the relentless
pounding of the surf and an occasional parrot squawk from somewhere deep in
the jungle.
Tiring, Maki sat down heavily on the sand and gave in to despair. His boat
was wrecked, Gladys was gone and possibly drowned, he was stranded here on a
mysterious island, and he was never going to be able to recover that amulet
now.
After a long while, Maki looked up and discovered he was not alone. Seeming
to materialize out of the forest's edge, a green Kougra quietly watched him
with its keen yellow eyes.
Maki remembered the stories he had heard about how fierce Kougras were, but
instead spread his shaking paws wide in a gesture of peace. "Hello," he offered,
trying to make his voice sound braver than he felt. "My name is MakiKai."
The Kougra walked gracefully over to the young Zafara and offered her paw.
"My name is Atuarre, and I keep watch over Mystery Island, defending it from
enemies. I can see you are a stranger to our shores."
"Why, yes," Maki admitted, a bit taken aback. The Kougra's tail twitched lazily
from side to side as he explained his story. "Have you seen my friend? She's
a Faerie Aisha by the name of GladysCat."
"Hmm... sorry kid, I can't say I have," said Atuarre sympathetically, tilting
her head to one side. "But I can take you to someone who might have seen her.
Follow me," and with that, she melted into the jungle shadows.
Maki brushed the last bits of dry sand off his fur and walked after the Kougra.
Sometime later, Maki found himself in a clearing before a small hut made of
sticks and green palm leaves. After exchanging glances, he entered the hut with
Atuarre.
Inside, a wizened old man with a bone in his hair sat in a green bamboo chair,
his face lit by the flickering light of a tiny fire. "Welcome, travelers. What
do you wish to know about the future?"
MakiKai looked skeptically at the green Kougra. "A fortune teller? We walked
all the way through the jungle just to hear a fortune teller pretend to know
the future?"
Atuarre shook her head, growling softly in what must have been a laugh. "No,
Maki... the Island Mystic actually has great knowledge of many things, ever
since he ate a whole batch of fortune cookies many years ago. His prophecies
may sound strange at first, but he is nearly always right in the end."
Maki's eyes narrowed to suspicious slits, but he decided to ask his question
anyway. "Island Mystic, is there a way I can get off Mystery Island?"
The mystic sang a strange chant under his breath and dropped some powder into
the fire, which shot up in a spurt of blue flame. "All I can say is... seek
the Kougra that does not roar." He closed his eyes and settled back in his chair.
Atuarre bowed. "Come on, kid, let's go."
"But... is that it? 'Seek the Kougra that does not roar?' That doesn't sound
like any kind of prophecy to me!"
"The Island Mystic is almost never wrong; that must be your fortune, strange
though it may be." With an effort, Atuarre dragged Maki out of the hut.
Maki turned to start protesting again, but found himself looking at a ring
of island natives, all pointing spears at him and shouting loudly in a strange
language. Maki gulped nervously...
MakiKai stumbled for what must have been the umpteenth time, and wondered
when he could stop walking and the natives would untie his paws. "Ow!" he exclaimed
as he received yet another spear jab in the side. "I'm sorry, I'm walking as
fast as I can!" The native's grass skirt rustled as it shook its spear and shouted
some more. Maki sighed.
"Hey, take it easy, kid," said Atuarre, who was walking freely beside him.
"I think we're getting close to the village now." Maki was wondering what she
meant when he heard a familiar voice call his name.
Startled, Maki looked up and was surprised to see... "Gladys!" he exclaimed
in delight. "I thought you'd been lost!"
GladysCat jumped lightly down from a tall palm tree, fluttering her delicate
Faerie wings to hover slightly above the ground. "No, when the boat hit the
rocks I was thrown aside... I managed to grab onto a piece of driftwood and
float to shore, but when I landed I couldn't find you. That's when I met these
lovely people here," she said, smiling at the coconut-headed natives, who were
gathered around them. "It didn't take long to learn their language; it's pretty
simple, really... and they soon realized that I wasn't a threat."
"Oooma bunga! Kumchakka!" she announced, and Maki immediately felt the pressure
on his paws lessen as his vine bonds were cut. He smiled and rubbed his chafed
paws ruefully.
Gladys acknowledged Atuarre with a nod of her head. "I'm glad Atuarre found
you alive and well. She's a good scout and a loyal friend." Atuarre lowered
her head modestly and purred.
A native stepped up to Gladys and chattered quickly, showing her an empty
tin of sardines that gleamed in the sun. "Hmm... now that's worth a thought,"
she mused to herself. "Who's up for a quick game of chance?"
Atuarre brightened. "Sure! Let's pay Tiki Tack Man a visit. You never know
what we might win from the Tombola wheel!"
Gladys withdrew her paw from the palm leaf basket and anxiously looked at
her ticket. "You win a booby prize!" shouted the Tiki Tack Man, whose colorful
shirt glowed in the bright tropical sunlight. "You have won... a can of musho
mushy peas!" Looking disgusted, Gladys offered it to Atuarre, who ate it hungrily.
"Ewww," said MakiKai, who thought the food looked revolting. "That's your
second can of peas today!"
"Hey, kiddo, when you've been here as long as I have, you'll eat anything
you get," Atuarre responded.
Maki took a ticket of his own and examined it. "How do you know if you've
won?"
"If your ticket ends with a 0, 2, or 5," replied the Tiki Tack Man, lifting
his reed mask and looking at the ticket.
"We have a winner!" he cried, lifting Maki's paw into the air. "You have won...
a rubber Pteri toy!" Maki looked at the absurd yellow toy, which flopped limply
in his paw and squawked.
The Tiki Tack Man laughed and clapped Maki on the back. "I just know you'll
have a great time with that toy!" He held up a soft plushie and showed it to
Maki. "If you want more cool stuff, just come look at my island merchandise
shop!"
"No, I don't really want to go shopping right now," protested Maki, but soon
found himself inside the shop anyway. Browsing through the shelves of cheap
merchandise, he let his eyes slide over the numberless bottles of sand. "This
is all complete junk," he muttered.
Maki reached over to pick up a plushie, which was in fact exactly like the
one which the Tiki Tack Man had shown him. "It looks just like a Kougra, but
it doesn't roar, it just squeaks. How curious."
The sight of the plushie seemed to strike a bell inside his head, and he stood
in confusion for a moment until he looked out the front window. MakiKai laughed
in sheer relief as he ran out the store.
"Look, look guys!" he shouted. "It's a huge replica of a super toy sailboat!
We could use this to sail to Krawk Island!"
The Tiki Tack Man came out of the shop. "Take it," he said. "do whatever you
want with it. You have greater need of it than I do, and it hasn't been attracting
customers to my shop like I thought it would."
Maki's mouth fell open. "You mean... you'll let us have your boat?"
"Of course," the Tiki Tack Man said. "It should float easily, since the natives
on the island made it out of the best blairnut wood they could find."
Gladys clasped the shopkeeper's hand firmly and shook it, and Atuarre roared
in delight. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" MakiKai cried. "There's nothing that
can stop us from getting that amulet back now!"
To be continued... | 
