My Vacation: Part Seven

Wow, this vacation has gone by so fast! Hasn't it? Already I am going to tell you about my last destinations. I had been to the moon, the Space Station, Terror Mountain, Tyrannia, Maraqua, Mystery Island, Faerieland, and finally Meridell. Suddenly I saw the end of my vacation coming very fast as we planned our last two stops. The Lost Desert and the Haunted Woods.

     We stayed at the Haunted Woods while touring both destinations, seeing as the Neolodge was still being built in the Lost Desert. Some crazy person decided to make it a real pyramid. So, we packed our bags - we were getting really good by now - and then flew on over to the Haunted Woods on those beloved Eyries.

     We had barely gotten there and thrown our bags into our room, when we flew on down to the Lost Desert. I can't say I enjoyed all this flying around on Eyries, but I was getting used to it. Even Haelee was whooping with delight as we skimmed random lakes and ponds, the Eyrie dipping his talons in aimlessly. I smiled - at least she was getting some enjoyment in this vacation. First ugly Grundos had chased her, and then she had caught a yucky cold, after that she had gotten sincerely soggy diving into Maraqua; she had nearly been dropped off of Faerieland, and she had barely even dared come out of the Neolodge in Meridell. I rather pitied her.

     But here we were, and the desert sun was already beginning to burn us up. Jeanie began applying endless sun block, and I applied some fur-sun block on myself. Haelee merely looked scornfully at us.

     We weren't even in the Lost Desert but ten minutes before a swarm of horrible bugs attacked us! Angrily, I tossed Haelee at them and tackled them with endless kicks and punches. This was all to no avail as they kept coming, but a nice Wocky in a huge machine saved us. A long blue beam wiped out the bugs. The Wocky smiled and nodded at us, then drove slowly away. Jeanie then began to tour as tourists do.

     We entered Qasala, where we found some breakfast at Qasalan Delights. Yum! We toured a few more shops, but finally got tired of it and crossed the Desert to Sakhmet. We stopped at the Fruit Machine where a desert Aisha and a couple other desert pets held cards in their paws. When Jeanie and I stepped over, they flipped the card over. Three baggusses. The Aisha studied the cards closely then nodded.

     "Four hundred Neopoints to the blue Xweetok and her owner," the Aisha called, and a desert Usul pushed a bag of Neopoints into Jeanie's hands. Slightly confused, we left to browse other shops.

     We spent pretty much our whole day in the Lost Desert browsing shops. Towards about 9:00PM NST, when the Eyries would be coming to take us back to the Haunted Woods, we spotted Coltzan's Shrine. Jeanie looked at me.

     "What do you think? Wanna try it out?" she asked. I shrugged.

     "I heard some dubloons were buried around there anyway," I said, and we walked over to the shrine. Curiously, I stepped forward and touched the hieroglyphs. Then a shudder ran through the shrine and a spirit-like face shone before me.

     "Thank you for coming, Neopet," Coltzan said as I gaped at him. Jeanie and I stared at the shrine long after the old owner had disappeared. It was then the Eyries landed beside us, staring reverently at the shrine. In a daze, we climbed onto their backs and flew back to the Haunted Woods, where still in a daze we collapsed into our beds.

     Now, although it may seem cool to be sleeping right in the Deserted Fairground, it is not fun to have to listen to that stupid Wheel of Misfortune running all night long. When we woke up the next morning, we realized how close we were getting to being finished with our vacation. One day in the Haunted Woods and then back to Neopia Central. I don't know if either of us was regretting it.

     We started our day by visiting the Test of Strength. The Mynci sneered at us and handed us the hammer. I slammed as hard as I could, but we only got thirty-nine NP. In a huff, we left the sniggering Mynci. We walked back to the Haunted Woods. Unbelievably, Jeanie convinced me to go to the Haunted House.

     The wind was blowing when we approached, and we could hear low eerie moans. A ghostly face popped up before us and we fell into a ditch. I hung on to Jeanie in horror, both of us trembling. After hearing horrible scraping noises, we dashed out of the ditch and made a run for it! We soon found an old house. Glancing at each other, we approached it cautiously. At the door we knocked, and a light beckoned us inwards. Gulping, we looked at the portraits of Korbats lining the walls, their eyes full of malice.

     We continued down the hallway, and then there was a roar! We looked up to see a horrible misshapen figure. I screamed. Haelee screamed. Heck, even Jeanie screamed! We ran back down the hall, out the door and down the road. Never again. Never. Again.

     We ran all the way to Edna's Tower. I clung on to Jeanie's hand as we entered. The ugly green Zafara smiled at us and requested help. The second we saw her I was already halfway down the road. That is answer enough I guess... Jeanie dragged me to Esophagor, saying we had to at least do ONE quest! I agreed only to do the Brain Tree. We decided to do both, seeing as it was our last day.

     "I have a quest for you!" the Brain Tree boomed at us. I shivered.

     "What is it?" I asked slowly.

     "James Tonu died a long time ago and I need to know when and where for my records," the Brain Tree said. I frowned. You're the Brain Tree! I thought. Jeanie and I set out for the Esophagor with a sense of dread.

     "I ammm huunnggrrryyyy," he moaned. He gave us two food items to fetch, so Jeanie and I split up, Haelee going with me. I returned early with the Clawmatoe, although Jeanie took a bit longer getting soup. We gave the disgusting things to the Esophagor who gulped them down. In return, he told us the date of James Tonu's death. He then gave us some more items to get in return for the place. I was getting rather annoyed.

     We finally returned with the overpriced item, my irritation growing. We returned to the Brain Tree with his answers. He gave us a reward. I was tired. Can we go now? I wanted to ask.

     Our last stop on our last day was to visit Sydney. But when we saw his price and heard his creepiness we kind of went to the Wheel of Misfortune instead. Jeanie handed the hundred Neopoints to the man, and then gave the handle a jerk. The wheel spun and spun. "Aachoo!" I said, and suddenly felt nauseous. My face burned and felt unbelievably dizzy. Haelee nuzzled my paw in concern.

     Suddenly, Jeanie was holding me, her hand to my forehead. "NeoFlu," she said and held me close. She whistled shrilly and an Eyrie dived out of nowhere. "Faerieland Healing Springs, please," she said, climbing onto the Eyrie's back. He took off with a jerk. In five minutes we were there, and I felt even more sick from all that flying.

     "What happened?" Nereid cried as Jeanie climbed off the Eyrie.

     "That stupid Wheel of Misfortune made her sick," Jeanie said, handing me to the faerie. Her touch was gentle and kind. She smiled down at me.

     "We'll have you fixed up in no time," she assured me, carrying me over to a spring. "I'm pretty sure this one is hole-free," she added with a wink, and then dropped me into the spring.

     Immediately I felt the nausea leave me and felt much better. I floated around for a while, until Nereid reached in and pulled me out. I shook myself like a wet Lupe, and Nereid laughed. Jeanie took me from her and lovingly stroked my fur. "Thank you," she said to Nereid. "But it is time for us to go home." I smiled.

     And with that, we flew back to the Haunted Woods, and on back to Neopia Central. As I watched the Eyries fly away, I shook my head and frowned.

     "What is it?" Jeanie asked.

     "Well, I was just thinking," I said. "If I am going to be doing quests for Illusen from now on, we might want to save money on Eyrie Expressers by getting our own." Jeanie laughed, and Haelee joined in. Soon we were all laughing! And that, my friends, is how my vacation ended.

The End