Surrounded by Darkness

by queen_galaxy

I opened my right eye. Just a small stream of light shone through the dark clouds outside. I already knew then it was going to rain. I sat up and climbed out of my bed. My little sisters had already gotten up and were downstairs playing. Poogidy was playing with the Robotic Chia downstairs in the living room as usual.

I have three sisters. Audencia the green Acara is the youngest but is the one with most energy. Mighty_Wing the blue Eyrie is next, she doesn't do very much, but she likes to sit around and read. Poogidy is like my twin, you can already guess, she's a blue Poogle, and she's like a pest, and stresses out our owner, queen_galaxy. And I, the oldest of the four, am a blue Kacheek. I'm Kacheeko_Meeko.

As you can see, my name gives out my species as well as Poogidy's. I can smell Hot Cakes downstairs, queen_galaxy is done making breakfast. She doesn't have very much Neopoints now because she spent most of it to build our NeoHome,get furniture,and get the inside to look decent. "Kacheeko_Meeko!! Come down for breakfast, you little lazy one! Heehee!" queen_galaxy calls to me.

I walk downstairs. My sisters just sit at the table and wait for their food. Queen_galaxy passes out Hot Cakes, orange juice and an organic piece of fruit to everyone. Poogidy just sits the Robotic Chia on her lap, puts her glass of orange juice on one of its hands,and makes it lift its hand up when she wants to take a sip.

"Poogidy! Set that down and eat!" queen_galaxy scolds.

I sit and eat slowly. Audencia looks at me with wide eyes and a questioning look on her face. "You want to say something?" I ask her. Audencia gasps, then gives a giggle.

"What's the matter?" I ask her again.

She looks at me and says, "You slept in! Heehee!! Mmmm!" She shoves her face into mine and examines my eyes thoroughly. She sits back in her seat. "You're tired?" she asks.

I look at her with a frown, then force a small smile to her. She never did like to see people sad or depressed. Queen_galaxy only taught her to be happy and to hope for the best.

"No, just upset a little," I reply back.

"Aahhh....why?" Audencia asks me.

"I guess it's because the sky hasn't been clear or blue for almost a week.....and I don't like it."

"Oh, get eating. You know queen_galaxy worries when she doesn't see hungry pets eating!" I say to her.

She smiles, then eats some more, making a very disgusting, but a cute mess. Poogidy sees how I smile at Audencia and just starts eating messily herself. Queen_galaxy notices me and my face and pops a thermometer in my mouth. She sets a hand on my head and asks, "Are you feeling well, honey?"

I take the thermometer out and reply, "Yes, I'm fine!"

She puts my white jacket on and pushes me outside with a backpack of things. "Here, go for a picnic. Get some fresh air. You don't want to be in the house with your sisters all day, do you? Have fun!" queen_galaxy says and closes the door. I look around, then start walking. I walk for ten minutes, then stop to rest my feet. I check in my backpack. There is about 200 NPs in it. Queen_galaxy always loved to give to people. I stand up and head for the High Street. Maybe I can pop into one of the shops and see what there is today.

As I'm walking, I can feel something slowly creeping up on me and it's getting closer with each step I take. I stop. My heart is frozen, something in my throat makes it difficult for me to breathe. What is it? Is it friend or foe? Maybe someone who wants directions...or maybe worse...what if it's someone trying to cause trouble? Or...what if it is....a ghost, a lava ghoul, followers of Dr. Sloth?!?! My heart thumps wildly as if it'll spring right out of my chest. Thoughts race wildly through my head. I can't think, but I can see that I'm slowly turning around to see what it is. I stop at the site of it and gasp in fear. A light is pulling me toward it. I fight it, but it's too strong. I can't think or breathe. I'm in fear and horror, fighting it and fighting it, but it won't work. All of a sudden I just lose myself and everything starts to darken, and I just fall....

***

I awoke with rain pouring on my face. I slowly opened my eyes. I sat up and looked around. I seemed to be in a dark forest. Everywhere I looked were large, dark trees looking down at me as if I was a tiny ant. I slowly stood up, my legs felt wobbly. I must have fainted. Yes, I'm sure I did! Where was I? I was walking down the smooth, open dirt road to the High Street, but I'm nowhere now.

"Where am I? I was walking to the High Street just a minute ago...and now......now.....I'm....lost....." I said to myself.

I started walking a little bit. Everything was so strange. There were no animals or people around here. After walking for what it seemed like ages, I just stopped. I had not found any roads, open space...nothing. I fell to my knees and cried. I tried to fight the tears, but then remembering my fight against the light, I just gave up. I was a failure....and I would never see my little sisters or queen_galaxy again.

"No...don't do this, Kacheeko_Meeko! You're brave! You'll find a way out of this!" I said to myself again, trying to calm down. That's when I heard something from a bush nearby. I quickly stumbled up. What is that? I held onto my Coral Orb tight, and slowly walked to the bush. "Come out! Uh...um...cause...uh...I'm armed...." I managed to say in a cowardly voice. Without queen_galaxy, I wasn't me. I was afraid...and alone. Then, a reddish orange Kougra sprang right out at me and tackled me to the ground. I tried to get up but I couldn't. My Coral Orb rolled out of my hand, his growls and roars and his sharp teeth scared me so much that I barely turned white.

My eyes grew small. I tried to scream and hope he would get scared and run off, but it was stuck in my throat and I couldn't get out anything, not even a squeak. Every time I tried moving my arm he would dig his claws right in--it hurt so much. I winced in pain, not even looking at it for fear he was eating my arm. But then I all of a sudden was able to get a high screech out of my mouth, I closed my eyes real tight.

"AAAAAAEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, he dug in harder and bit my left arm really hard. But then I felt him loosen. Was I fainting again? I opened my eyes and saw that a yellowish white light was surrounding us. Then, something blasted at the Kougra, knocking it into a tree. It seemed to come from me. How was I able to do that? The light went away, and the Kougra stood up and shook himself.

"What'd you do that for?!" he growled angrily at me.

"I didn't do anything!" I yelled at him.

I sat up. My arms hurt and tiny streams of blood gently fell down them. He bit a part of my skin off and my white jacket was all torn up. He shook his head snobbily at me, then walked in a circle with his tail up high. "What's your problem?" I asked him. He just snorted. "Jeeze! You don't have to be mad at me for not getting anything to eat!" I said to him.

He looked at me and said, "You...you wouldn't know! You're not all alone somewhere strange to you!" I looked at him, and asked, "Are you...from Neopia?" He sat with his head low and replied, "Why do you want to know?!"

I picked up my Coral Orb,and looked into it. I could see a small reflection of my face. It stung in saddness.

"Well....because....I'm from Neopia and if you were I thought maybe we could help each other...would you like me to help you find the way back?" I asked.

He shot up and gave me a glare. "I don't need your help!!!"

"You must have one awful owner if you're acting like that!!" I shouted at him, "Nevermind! I'll find it myself! Owwww!" I grabbed my arm, they both hurt. I looked in my bag. There were cloths in there and bandages too. I ripped some of them up and wrapped them around my arms. He sat down again and just watched me. I put my backpack on and started walking again.

I was gone for five minutes when I heard the crack of twigs and dried leaves. I zipped around to find the Kougra standing right there. "What are you doing?!" I said to him, "I thought you didn't need my help!"

He looked at me, then hung his head. "Um.....I lied....I guess......" he said.

I smiled at him. "About time you admitted it! We're both alone! Let's go," I said to him, "I have a little bit of food in my backpack."

We walked together for a bit, but had not found anything that would help us. We talked to each other for a bit too. "I never did get your name," I said to him about a half hour later.

"Oh, my name is Kangoogra," he replied, "What's yours?"

I looked back at him and said, "My name is Kacheeko_Meeko....and I think my owner queen_galaxy would be very worried about me...I think she'd be running up and down the streets of the Marketplace by now."

We both laughed and walked on. We were just about to rest and eat when Kangoogra mysteriously fell through a hole that I just walked over. He slipped and fell down the dark hole. I could hear his voice echoing all the way down. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" he screamed. Then it just faded away.

I panicked. Was he hurt? I don't know how but I seemed to build up a lot of courage and jump down the hole after him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" I screamed down. It felt like a long way down. I knew I shouldn't have done that!!!! I closed my eyes real tight ready for the hard, life-threatening landing...but it didn't happen. Instead, I landed on something sticky and sweet smelling. I opened my eyes. I was on top of a jello cake!! I looked around. Everything else was all dirt walled.

"Mmmmm! Lime!" I said happily. "(gurgle....spit) Help!!...help!" I heard Kangoogra cry.

I looked in the direction the call was coming from. And there was Kangoogra inside a huge hole of the jello cake...and drowning in it. I gave a giggle. It was funny to see. I reached down to help him up. He grabbed my hand and pulled.He pulled too hard and I fell in with him.We both sunk to the bottom of the cake as I started eating my way out. I crawled out onto the dirt floor. It was so dark but there was a light ahead. I reached in and pulled out Kangoogra. He was on the ground for a minute, then gave a big sigh and sat up. "Thanks....I wonder why this thing of jello is right here," he said. I looked at him, then looked at the light. The light seemed to be from torches and candles.

"Hmmm....." I said and walked toward it.

Kangoogra got up and ran up beside me. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I want to see what's over here," I replied.

We walked through a small tunnel, and when we reached the end, there was a beautiful place...it seemed to smell really sweet and sugary. Kangoogra ran up to one building that was really cold and sticky.

"Mmmmmm....this smells good..what is it?" he asked as he smelled it. I shook my head, licked it, then I replied,"It's Ice Cream, Kangoogra."

He looked at me and gave me a small nervous laugh."Hehe..um....I knew that! Hehehehe..." he said. I ran up a small hill and looked about. It was wonderful!! We were outside again,and this place was great!

"Kangoogra! This place is neat! This place smells sweet! This place......this place.......this place is made of candies!!!!!" I cried.

He crawled up and looked. It was beautiful! Houses were made of Ice Cream, Fudge,white and dark chocolate!! The roofs were made of crunchy cookies! Trees were all lollypops and popsicles, then the largest of buildings were Ice Cream sundaes and cakes. The streets were all paved with Lemon NeoDrops which looked like cobblestoned gold. It was all as if I was in a little kids' dream! Anyone with even the smallest sweet tooth would like to be here! The grass was marshmallow with green powdered sugar on it. It was all so sticky. It felt like mud but fighting against it wasn't so stressful as mud. I felt as if I wanted to just eat it all right there!!! But then I stopped and looked around. Where was Kangoogra?

I turned and saw him running up to a small house made of cotten candy. He looked like a zombie. His eyes wouldn't move or anything and his tounge was hanging out. He ran up to the house and took a bite out of it. Then a farmer looking Techo came out with a pitchfork made of peppermint candy cane.

"You darn kids! Get! Get! Go eat your own house!" he yelled with rage, and chased Kangoogra like a mouse to a cat. I ran up and grabbed Kangoogra's tail and stood in front of the man.

"Um...sorry mister! My friend doesn't know what he's doing....do you?!" I said, and gave Kangoogra a scowful look.

The Techo stood still with a red shirt, blue jeaned overalls with a hole in the right knee and a straw hat on. He still didn't look very convinced. He gave a rueful laugh. "Pathetic excuses! None of you teens know anything! In my old days, the youngers respected the elders! And..." he trailed off on me because I stopped listening.

What was with this guy? I just grabbed Kangoogra and we ran. Kangoogra led me into the Techo's crops and we could hear him yelling at us from way back there on the road. "You..meddling...kids!!..." was all I heard from him as we ran some more. I just started laughing. We both stopped to catch our breath and Kangoogra asked me what was so funny.

"(gasp)..that old guy....couldn't catch.....a...cold if he tried I bet!" I managed to say from all my heavy breathing.

Kangoogra fell down laughing. He looked like he was going to die laughing from trying to catch his breath at the same time. I sat up and looked out at the sky. The sun started to set. It was very peaceful. It reminded me of the sea when the sun sets. I lay down and thought about it. The orange-yellow water turned to a tint of light pink and peach, forming into one color, swirling like a tornado. Then once the sun set and some fire flies came out, the stars lit up and the moon shone. I looked at the fire flies and stars. They reminded me of lights you would find at theatres. The ones that shown up at the sky,moving from left to right, and the ones that sat up at the top, highlighting anything you put up there with them. Each little bulbs of fire, burning brightly....I looked over at Kangoogra, he was just settling down to sleep. I missed my little sisters and queen_galaxy. We would all sit around on warm summer nights and watch the sun set. I could feel a small tear stroll down my face as I thought about them. I had to find a way back home. Then I just drifted asleep....

***

Mmmmmm....I smelled pancakes. I sat up,and looked around. It was my room! I walked downstairs. Poogidy was playing with the Robotic Chia again. I sat up at the table and so did my sisters. This was like a beautiful dream! I was with my little sisters again! Audencia smiled at me and started eating. I was so happy I reached out to hug her. But before I got close to her I fell. I sat up and opened my eyes. I wasn't in my home. I was still outside lost with Kangoogra in a strange world.

I was dreaming. But how could I be dreaming? It felt so real. My heart was shrinking every few hours of loneliness, even with Kangoogra with me, I was still alone. The sun was just rising. I looked over at Kangoogra. He was all curled up sleeping still. I got up and walked behind some trees where I found a small pond of water.

"That's funny...that wasn't here before!" I said. I walked closer to it. I just got to the edge of it when a light bursted right out of it. I covered my eyes so the light wouldn't get in it and looked to see what it was. A lady with very long, golden white hair stood over the water of the pond with a long white dress. Her hair laid down her back, like a long river.

"Kacheeko_Meeko..." she said to me.

"You know my name?" I asked her.

"Yes...." she replied.

I looked at her for a short time, then looked away.

"You want to know why you're here? You were sent here by me to help save your world, Neopia," she said to me.

I froze. Save Neopia?! I was in Neopia before I was sent here! I shot right around and glared. "WHAT?!?! You tore me from my family, took me away from my friends, my world, my home, my pancakes....just to SAVE IT?!? I was better off in it to do that!!!!" I yelled. I growled. Why would she do such a stupid thing?! She looked so smart!

"Ahhh.....you were sent here to train for your battle, young one. I see you miss your family, yes?" she said, seeming like she knew all of my thoughts. I turned away but then looked back and hung my head low. I felt like lying to her but just looking at her face....I just couldn't. It was if I was cursed to never lie to anyone. I sighed.

"Yes...." I slowly said to her.

She smiled and replied, "Ahhhh.....then see your family you will..." She rested her hands in front of her and another light from the edge of the pond where I was to just to the right of her was a bubble looking thing that looked just like the road I was on before I was pulled into the world I was now.

"Just walk through here and you'll be back in your world. But you won't be there for very long. For only 24 hours you'll be there...so hurry! Or you will be locked forever in your world,and will not be able to save it," she said.

I growled again. "Save it from WHAT?!" I yelled.

She looked at me with a long stare. Tilted her head just a bit,and said, "From destruction of course. Evil, undead spirits from the evil realm. Nothing so big, except they plan to join up with Sloth and destroy Neopia..."

"Team up with SLOTH?! Why didn't you say so!!!!!!" I shouted and ran into the portal she opened up for me. I whirled around as if I was in a tornado. Then I just fell in the middle of the road I was on before this all happened. I sat up. Queen_galaxy was charging towards me, my little sisters following behind her. Queen_galaxy picked me up and just squeezed the stuffings out of me. She looked at my torn up arms and nearly fainted.

"Where were you?! Where's your backpack? What was that in the road? What happened to your arms?!?!" She and my sisters kept asking questions and didn't give me a chance to answer. My head was spinning with questions. After I explained everything, queen_galaxy just fell to her knees with a very shocked expression on her face.

We all had a normal night together: Laughing, singing, playing. And when the 24 hours were up, I gave my good-byes and jumped back into the portal. When I fell out, I was back with Kangoogra the sun was still rising and he was just waking up. He yawned and looked at me as I was getting my things ready for another trip.

"You're up....already?" he asked all sleepy. He stood up and stretched.

"Yep, now come on...I have a strange feeling to go North," I said to him. I turned and watched the sun rise. I smiled a little. He seemed so lonely still. I wanted to tell him about my trip back home....but I couldn't...it would break his heart. Knowing that I was staying with my family and he wasn't. We set off down the golden Neodrop road...on a quest....

The End