Lupina II was lying dreamily on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. But she
wasn't only there. She was also watching a Poogle race, cheering loudly for
Poogle number two. In her room, all was quiet. It was a grey day outside, and
the air in the house wasn't stirring, but a breeze ruffled her fur. It was a
minor effect of the strong wind that was bringing tears into her eyes at the
Poogle races.
Lupina II had the ultra-rare ability to be two places at once.
It hadn't always been like that. She used to be normal, only able to be in
one place at one time. But since a month ago, that had changed. A month ago,
her parents had taken her to Verdancia, the forest where her mother was born.
There, she undertook the initiation into her powers, a ceremony in which she
was required to stand beneath the Lupe Moon Falls from midnight to dawn. After
this was completed, she had obtained amazing powers through the Lupe Moon Charm
that always hung around her neck, the charm that was the key to her power.
The Poogle race ended. Number 3 had won. Lupina left the stadium with the
rest. In her bed, she bumped around a bit, because of the jostling at the races.
The two parts of Lupina were not exactly the same. One of them could teleport
easily, the other was bound by the inability to. But Lupina could interchange
them easily, so that if one of them was in danger and could not teleport, it
could be switched with the one that could and be brought far away. Sometimes,
Lupina's family found her with strange cuts or bruises from her adventures with
the other part of her. She always kept part of her with her family, so that
they wouldn't worry about her.
At the moment, she was resting in her room. Boredom never seemed to be a problem
for her, because she could always do something interesting. Although the part
of her at home was bored, it was paying more attention to the other part, which
was now playing Deckswabber on Krawk Island.
The game of Deckswabber ended with a Techo draining the last bit of her health
points, and she received 356 Neopoints and a dubloon. Lupina switched her parts,
put the items in a safe place, then switched back again.
Lupina teleported to Mystery Island. She got a booby prize off Tombola, didn't
have enough money with her for food, and wasn't in the mood for trading. She
teleported around to the rest of the lands of Neopia, but nothing interesting
seemed to be happening anywhere. It was one of Lupina's rare moments of boredom.
Lupina was alone in her mansion home in Happy Valley. Her owner, Amy, licensed
to own unlimited pets at once, was off handling business. Her parents, Lupina
I and Zakani, were at work, as were the parents of her three friends, who were
assigned to stay after school for cleanup. Lupina I had saved the world twice
in her younger days, once from the Darkness Faerie and once from Dr. Sloth.
Lupina II was proud of her mother's deeds.
Getting up from the chair on deck, Lupina went downstairs into the galley.
She bought some crackers to snack on. She watched a group of old lady Blumaroos
playing Cheat, which was slightly amusing because they kept accidentally saying
what they had. Otherwise, there was nothing going on. She curled up in a corner
to wait, feeling it would be rude to teleport at the moment.
Back in her room, she decided to visit Professor Letitia, an elderly Lenny
who lived next door. Standing, she trotted out of her room. She was at the top
of the grand, swooping stairs that led down to the main hall. She took them
three at a time, pulled on a raincoat and ducked through the door into the cold,
wet afternoon.
Keeping her head down, Lupina scurried up the sidewalk and onto the concrete
steps leading up to Professor Letitia's house. Grasping the intricately patterned
iron railing, she lifted the brass knocker and let it drop, three times. The
door opened, and the face of an elderly green Lenny poked out. He was wearing
thick, round spectacles, which made his eyes look very large. He had faded feathers
sticking out at odd angles and a rumpled appearance.
"Eh, eh, it's the young Lupina, second wasn't it?" he asked. "How are things
going, Lupina? School all right? I hope you're taking some harder courses, schools
were much more challenging when I was young..." He trailed off. "Oh my goodness
me! Here I am, in this nice warm house of mine, letting you stand out there
in the cold. Come in, come in!"
Gratefully, Lupina obliged. The house was warm, and smelled of gingerbread
and apple cider. Lupina paused a moment, letting the smells from the kitchen
waft past her nose.
"Don't stand their waiting, come have some gingerbread and cider!" the Professor
called from the doorway. Lupina willingly followed him in, helping herself to
some warm gingerbread.
"I hope you didn't mix any of your latest experiments into this cider!" she
joked.
Professor Letitia leaned forward. "Actually, these days I'm working on psychic
abilities, not chemistry. I don't have a case right now though. I'm looking
for one."
"You are? Well then, I have one for you."
"You do? Really? Who?" Letitia asked excitedly.
"Me!" Lupina exclaimed. "No, seriously. I've got this really weird ability.
I can be two places at once."
Professor Letitia nearly knocked the table over in his excitement. "Two places
at once? Are you serious? Where else are you right now?"
"On a boat cruise, in sight of Krawk Island."
The old professor sat down on the floor with a thud, heedless of anything
else in his rapture. "Two places at once! This is amazing! This is incredible!
This is - would you mind coming into my study for a moment?"
Grinning, Lupina followed him into the study.
When he had sat down and regained his composure, Professor Letitia started
to question Lupina.
"Have you always been able to do this?"
She described how it had come about after her initiation.
"Do you have trouble paying attention to people speaking to you in both places
at once?"
"No."
"What else is happening right now?"
"I'm getting off the ship and onto Krawk Island. The gangplank is narrow.
I'm keeping an eye on the little Mynci in front of me. He looks like he might
fall off."
"Wow," Letitia breathed. "Amazing. Well, if you don't mind, do you think you
could conduct a few tests with me?"
"Sure." Lupina shrugged. "What do you want me to do?"
"Hmm... Krawk Island... Ah! I've got an idea!
This'll be a test to find out how well you can transmit text from one body
to the other. I heard Mr. Roboto, you know, the winner of the Deckball
Championships, is giving a speech in about five minutes. Do you think
you could listen to the speech and tell me the exact wording of it?"
"Sure," Lupina said. On Krawk Island, she teleported across the island to
the dock from which you were given access to the Deckball Arena, a ship a ways
out. Waiting for the speech to begin, she started reading a copy of a Neopedia
article on the voyage to Krawk Island.
"Well?" Professor Letitia asked, impatient. Lupina looked up.
"Oh, sorry. Right now I'm standing on the dock, reading about the Voyage
to Krawk Island. The speech is about to begin. Oh, here it goes now!"
"What's he saying?" Letitia asked.
"'Welcome, welcome. Yes, it's me, Mr. Roboto, winner of the Deckball Championships.
Want to hear my strategy? Well, I make a feint kick in one direction, making
the opponent go that way to block me. Then I swing back just a tiny bit and
kick the ball the other way. It's very easy.
"'Deckball takes focus, practice, and above all, strategy. You have to have
a plan. Don't just take what comes. Take what comes and fit it into your plan!
You've got to keep to it. Get my point? Well, see ya around Neopia, folks! That's
all!'"
Lupina finished. Professor Letitia ran to the TV and switched it on.
"This is a speech that Mr. Roboto just made at Krawk Island about his strategies
for Deckball." It was Sally the Zafara reporting on the news. The TV showed
a picture of Mr. Roboto standing on the dock at Krawk Island. Professor Letitia
could see Lupina standing up towards the front. Her ears were pricked, ready
to listen. She was turning away from a big sign entitled, "Voyage to Krawk Island."
Mr. Roboto started to speak. "Welcome, welcome. Yes, it's me, Mr. Roboto,
winner of the Deckball Championships. Want to hear my strategy? Well, I make
a feint kick in one direction-" Professor Letitia switched the TV back off,
amazed.
To be continued...
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