In Defence of My Home
A YEAR HAD passed, and I had just celebrated my first birthday. I was no longer
the naive little Aisha who had to overcome her klutzy beginnings; I was a certified
"grown-up" pet with a rightful place in Muas' family. I had been going to the
Lab Ray less and less, especially after I was painted my favourite colour, Shadow.
I didn't want to risk changing again, and so I kept my visits to a minimum.
Reizend created the biggest news of that year:
he joined the Neopian Defenders. At first, he had agonised over the decision,
wondering if he'd be right for it, considering his limited Battledome ability.
Finally, though, he decided it was wits, not brawn, that should matter and joined.
The following is from Reizend's account of what
followed next, according to what I made him tell me:
I had just met my boss, Quidnik Von Liechtenstein
(we all call him QVL or try to pronounce his last name). I was pretty nervous,
as you'd expect, and was trying to impress him. I mentioned what happened with
you and the Pant Devil, the same story you've told us for the past year, word
for word. He seemed very interested in that, and said "We'll have to see if
she's interested in defending Neopia." I thought he was joking, but judging
from what happened next, I guess he wasn't.
"What happened next" was a Neomail in Muas' inbox
from QVL. She came into the living room, where Juega, Klaue, Reizend and I were
playing with Usuki dolls. (Juega had finally managed to convince Klaue that
they could be fun.)
She said, "Muasaum, there's a Neomail here from
'QVL'."
"QVL? That's my boss at Neopian Defenders!" said
Reizend. "Are you sure it wasn't for me?"
"Yes, it says 'to Muasaum, Muas' pet' on the
front."
"Well, read it!" Juega urged as I took the small
paper from Muas. On it, written in a flowing handwriting style that later seemed
completely different from QVL's personality, was a note:
To Muasaum, Muas' pet:
Reizend, our newest recruit and your older
brother, mentioned an incident involving the Pant Devil wherein you accosted
him and held him until the potential victim arrived and he could be captured.
From this story, you sound like exactly the type of pet we need on our force.
If you are interested in joining or learning
more about the Neopian Defenders, please reply to this note. I will notify Reizend
of where and when meeting details can be arranged.
Regards,
Quidnik Von Liechtenstein of the Neopian Defenders
"Wow," I said when I finished reading it aloud.
"He wants me for the Defenders! All because of one little thing one year ago."
"I'm sure," said Reizend, "that, had the Defenders
been in existence then, you would have been asked to join immediately after
the incident." He had begun speaking like a soldier, a fact Juega never failed
to make known.
"Do you have to use such big words?" she said
now, exasperatedly, and turned her attention to me. "That is so cool, Muasaum.
You should definitely ask for more info or join it. Two Neopian Defenders in
the same family! How neat is that?"
Klaue, who had become even wiser than he was
when I first met him, said, "You should think about this, Muasaum. Sure, it
sounds like fun and games, but it is a lifetime commitment. Reizend is already
feeling the effects. You're still fairly young, and I'd hate to see you stressed
out so early in your life."
"Klaue's right," said Muas. "If you want to join,
we'll support you, and if you don't, that's fine. But give it some thought."
That night, I gave it hours and hours of thought.
I knew that Reizend loved the Defenders, but also that it stressed him sometimes
and pushed him to his limits. I didn't know if I was ready for that kind of
commitment, like Klaue had said; but I also knew that if I didn't try, I would
always wonder how it could have been. After a few days, I told Reizend I would
like to join the Defenders.
From what I'd heard, it was easy to join; you
just expressed interest and then whichever boss you were assigned would allow
you to do a mission. The difficult part was continuing to do missions and making
a sincere commitment to the Defenders; most people didn't.
That day, Reizend took me with him to the headquarters.
It was a tall, imposing building, completely different from the Lab Ray, and
built near the Neopian Hospital. One got the impression of majesty and importance
by just standing in front of it and gazing up; I was immediately floored and
intimidated. Reizend, of course, having visited it almost daily for weeks, was
nowhere near as impressed as I.
"Come on, Muasaum!" he said, annoyed, and pulled
me in.
He led the way past the main lobby, and into
a labyrinth of corridors that seemed to lead to nowhere. I was rather dazed
and just kept him in sight at all times, until finally he stopped in front of
a door labelled "Group NR: C.O.O." He explained that it meant "Group New Recruits,
Commanding Officer's Office" and knocked twice rapidly on the door.
"Enter!" said a deep, imposing voice. I gulped,
Reizend pushed open the door, and we walked in.
After that voice, I was expecting a Lupe or perhaps
a Gelert, a Skeith or a Moehog. Certainly not a Blumaroo!
But that is who QVL is: a Blumaroo, short of
stature but not of strength nor will. He still managed to be imposing and a
good introduction into the Defenders corps. That day, I was terrified, and didn't
even think to laugh.
He stood up. "Hello," he said. "Reizend, who
is this?"
"Muasaum," he answers. "My sister, who was involved
with the Pant Devil incident of a year ago."
"Of course," he said. "Muasaum. You got my Neomail?"
"Y-yes," I said, voice quavering. "I've thought
it over and I'd like to try this."
"You don't try the Defenders," he barked. "You
do it. Do or die trying. Got that?"
"Yes..."
"Now, if you do join, I want to make something
clear. Reizend is an outstanding officer, but I'm not going to go easy on you
just because he's your brother. You're treated individually here. Every pet
for themselves. The one thing I don't want is a pet coming in here thinking
she'll get a free ride because her sibling is a high-ranking officer. Okay?"
"Yes," I said again, feeling like the parrot
on the Mystery Island. Inside, I felt a bit indignant; did he think I actually
expected to be treated specially? I certainly didn't and hadn't given Reizend's
participation a thought.
"All right then. Your first mission is to battle
a dark faerie. When this pet, Rone, bought a faerie and opened it, the dark
faerie emerged. But instead of blessing the pet, she attacked him and gave him
Shock-A-Lots, NeoBlues and Blurred Vision all at once. He's currently recovering
in the Hospital, but the faerie hasn't been found. Your mission is to find her
and capture her, then bring her back here. Can you do that?"
"I think so," I said. "Where would she most likely
be?"
"That's for you to find out," he said with a
smile, "and I think you probably can. Good luck."
"Thanks..."
"Reizend, you stay here for your next assignment;
Muasaum, you can get started."
I nodded and left, quite glad to get out of there.
I didn't know how I was going to go about finding this faerie, but I figured
my first task was to speak to Rone in the hospital. As I mentioned, the Defenders
building was built very near the hospital for safety reasons, so I didn't have
very far to wander.
The hospital was much less imposing than the
Defenders building; it was bright, airy, and cheery. Professional Blumaroos,
Acaras, Lupes and all manner of other species hurried about, but not in a stressful
way; one felt as if this were all organised and accidents could never really
happen here. Everyone was smiling (except the patients, of course, and even
then, some of them were).
I walked up to the desk, where a Bruce in scrubs
waited. "Hello," he said, and I said the same back to him. "What're you here
for?"
"I'm on assignment from Defenders of Neopia,"
I said, relishing how official the words sounded, "and I need to speak with
a Neopet named 'Rone', suffering from three diseases brought on by a dark faerie."
"Okay, well then, he'll be in the 'magical wounds'
section. That's down the hall, to your left. The doors are labelled so you can
find the specific pet."
"Thanks," I said, heading down the hall.
There, I found a small semicircle of rooms, each
with a name on the door. Some quick checking found "Rone" to be in the center,
and I knocked on the door.
A human teenage boy opened the door and stared
at me. Behind him, I could see a blue Poogle, lying in the bed, unconscious
and covered with rashes and sores. He murmured "so silly of me..." in his sleep.
"Hello?" said the boy softly, jerking me back.
"Hello," I said brusquely. "I'm Muasaum, an officer
of Defenders of Neopia. I'm here to investigate the attacks by the dark faerie--"
"Yeah, yeah," he said. "Listen, Rone isn't up
to much of anything right now, but I can tell you what you need to know."
I nodded and he found a bench for both of us
to sit in outside the door. "I bought Rone the Dark Faerie, in a bottle, because
he didn't have much in the way of abilities."
"Why a Dark faerie?"
"I got a good deal on it. I was going to go for
Light or perhaps Fire, but Dark was the cheapest from the main shops. There
wasn't anything shady, I think. It was just an evil faerie."
"Okay," I said. "Now, do you know where it went?"
"I wasn't around when he let it out of its bottle,
but he's been muttering something about the Haunted Woods in his sleep. I don't
know if it means anything, but I guess it would be a place to start for you."
A few more questions proved fruitless, and left
me with only the Haunted Woods to go on. I was nervous and wished to high Faerieland
that it could have been some other world, any other world, as the Haunted
Woods had always scared me.
Nevertheless, I knew I had this duty, and I couldn't
lose on my first mission. I went to our NeoHome, where luckily no one was home,
and packed a few things I thought I'd need, including a book titled For the
Morbid Neopian: Deceased Pets and Owners; I figured I could sell it in the
Haunted Woods if I got the opportunity, or I could read it. I scribbled a note
for Muas and my siblings, and left on the first boat to the mainland.
On the way, I tried to make myself braver than
I actually was, but there was no denying the fact that I didn't have the weapons,
strength, or defence to take on a dark faerie, especially if she'd managed to
round up some minions during the time it took me to get this lead. I must have
looked quite odd, sitting there, eyes closed, muttering encouragement to myself
as the boat puttered on.
Finally I reached Neopia Central and got a UniTaxi
to the Haunted Woods. The Uni dropped me off far away, and told me I could easily
make the walk myself; he didn't want to venture any farther. I understood, paid
him, and walked on, using the time to prepare.
The Woods fit the ideas that many Neopets have
about them: they were dark, damp, and scary. In order to reach the main clearing,
one had to walk through a narrow, barely up kept path. There weren't too many
others there at this hour, and the ones that were there were all scary mutants
and Halloween pets. I gulped and looked around at the clearing I found myself
standing in. So scary!
I looked around. To my right was the Korbat's
lab, and the Esophagor rising up out of the ground. Ahead of me were the masks
and colouring pages, and beyond that, the Brain Tree.
The Brain Tree! If anyone would know,
he would! I ran up to him and said in the official voice I'd been getting so
much practice out of, "Defender of Neopia here. I need to know where I might
find a fugitive dark faerie."
"And I need to know when and where Howard Eyrie
died," he retorted. "You tell me that and I'll tell you what you want to know."
I was stuck for a moment until I remembered the
book, Deceased Pets and Owners, that I had packed. I pulled it out of
my sack and found the index. "Eyrie...Eyrie...Howard...there we go! Okay, died
10th Relaxing, Year 3, in Faerieland."
The Brain Tree said excitedly, "Great! I'd been
wondering about that. Now, you wanted to know about a dark faerie?"
"Yes, a criminal."
"Hmm. A dark faerie passed by here yesterday;
I remember her because she seemed rather more scared than mean. I tried to talk
to her, but she didn't respond, and just flitted off into the woods. If I recall
correctly, however, a rather shady pet just passing through spoke to her for
a few seconds, and said that she mentioned she'd be staying in the woods for
a few days."
"Thanks," I said to the Tree, and turned around.
While speaking, he'd gestured with a branch to the area of the woods he apparently
meant. It was a clump of tall, menacing trees at least four times my height,
and Neopia's usual bright sunlight seemed blocked by the tops of the trees;
it was almost pitch black.
I tried to tell myself that I actually held the
advantage in situations like this. After all, I was painted Shadow, and she
couldn't see me if the surroundings were dark. But I knew that I was just a
little Aisha, going up against a mighty Faerie who had already beaten another
pet, and it would take some astounding luck to beat her. Realising that my sack
contained nothing of importance, I placed it at the trunk of the Brain Tree
and walked unsteadily on.
Once I was at the base of the trees, they seemed
even taller. I glanced up and was mesmerised by the sight of the branches above
me, like the Witch's fingers, about to reach down and snatch me up. I shuddered
and, from then on, kept my eyes on the ground. I kept my eyes open for any strange
movements, and was rewarded when I saw something flitting among the bushes.
I quietly stalked this movement for ten minutes,
keeping an eye on it as well as on my own movements so I wouldn't make too much
noise. It didn't seem to know I was there, or at least, did not react. I could
see a little more light up ahead and realised that we were drawing near a clearing.
Perhaps here, I could confront her directly (I was sure this was the faerie
now), and I could stand a better chance.
"You know, I know you're there," said the figure,
jumping into the clearing. My thoughts were confirmed: this was a small humanlike
figure dressed in purple and black, smiling a little grin at me. "You don't
have to be in stalker-mode anymore."
I sighed and stepped out. "I'm with the Defenders,"
I said, "and you're under arrest for assault on an innocent pet."
She stared at me for a moment, then began laughing.
"Arrest! Of a dark faerie! How simply laughable! You think you can arrest me?
Let's see you try!"
I took another step towards her, and she lashed
out with some type of lightning beam. It was then that I realised how I might
be able to beat her. My defence was Quasi-Semi-Godly, the highest of all my
statistics, and if I could simply defend myself of her attacks, I could wear
her out.
It seemed to be a perfectly viable plan at the
time.
But, as I realised as I dodged back and forth,
jumped up and down, and deflected her fires, I would probably get tired long
before she did. And as I was trying to decide what to do next, she attacked
with her biggest and best weapon yet. I still have no idea what, exactly, this
was, years later. I have never seen it duplicated before or since. All that
I can recall were multicoloured (but not Rainbow) beams of light erupting from
her hair, yes, her hair, and stopping just short of hitting
me, only to turn into balls and pummel me like hail.
I tried to fight back, but, as I had known going
in, I simply didn't have the power. When I was knocked down the fifth time,
I knew I was down for the count.
I woke up in the hospital--in the same wing Rone
was in--five days later. Reizend, Juega, Klaue, and Muas were all there, and
the pets jumped up excitedly when I opened my eyes. As I pieced together later,
the Brain Tree had told another pet, who was never identified, where I had gone,
and that pet had come after me, subdued the Dark Faerie, and brought me help.
I had failed, but I grew from the experience.
I continued like this for two years, honing the
craft and becoming more experienced, even after Reizend grew tired of playing
(as he called it) "cops and robbers". I was always grateful for him and QVL,
who both showed me my potential.
To be continued... | 
