For the Altador Cup: Part Four

     They got back around 8:30 NST. By 10:00, Ellie was starting to seem a little odd. By midnight, she had lost it, and was going crazy for a cookie.

     "I need to have one!" she screamed, running at Trinna. Grabbing the box and springing into the air, Trinna managed to avoid the first assault. However, Ellie had wings too, and she also took to the air. Soon, they were whizzing around after each other. Unfortunately for Trinna, Ellie was decidedly more athletic, and Trinna began to tire.

     Oh no, what am I going to do? she thought. What advantage do I have over her.... Aha! Quickly, Trinna whispered a few words, and a small ball blue flame appeared in her hand. Turning herself so that she was flying backwards, she threw it at Ellie.

     "Hah!" said she, flying after Trinna. "It didn't even hurt! It was cold."

     "That's the point!" replied the faerie Xweetok.

     Slowly but surely, Ellie realized what had happened. The spell had been one to freeze up Ellie's muscles, so that she was unable to pursue her prey. Eventually, she dropped to the carpeted floor.

     "You... can't... do... this!" cried the Ixi. "Sam... won't... let... you...."

     "Well, he's not here, is he?" replied Trinna.

     "But... But..." Suddenly she went silent. Quickly and deftly, Trinna checked her vital signs. She had fainted, and this meant that when she woke up, the truth would be revealed. Memorandum was probably being used, and it was an awful substance, with awful side affects, when you stopped using it. Trinna wasn't surprised.

     * * *

     Slowly, Ellie opened her eyes. She felt like she'd been sleeping for months and months. Her muscles were all sore, and her head was cloudy. Luckily, the cloudiness of her thoughts was dissipating quickly, unlike her physical aches.

     "Wh-where am I?" she said to the faerie Xweetok sitting next to her.

     "You're in the Altadorian Hall of Heroes. My name is Trinna. What do you remember?" replied Trinna.

     "Well... I... uh..." Suddenly, it all came flooding back to Ellie. Even the parts where she had been under the influence of the memorandum, she remembered. Apparently the potion had been more mild than even Trinna thought.

     "Yes. Yes. I remember. It was Sam and Tilly who were... controlling me. Who... made me forget... my place. My homeland. My team," continued Ellie.

     "I bet you're really angry at them, aren't you?" Trinna said consolingly.

     "Yeah. Really, really angry."

     "Well, you won't be happy to hear this. It wasn't just you. Half of the players that have been replacements on the Altador team have been stolen from their opposition. Don't worry, though. I have a plan to get back at our friends, Sam and Tilly."

     * * *

     Ellie couldn't thank Trinna enough. She was finally going to help lead her real team to victory, and she was going to get back at her captors. Besides the benefits for her, she would get those cheaters disqualified, and all the other teams would have their stars back.

     The plan had two parts: the first was the infiltration. Ellie would pretend like nothing was wrong, and would go back to live at Tilly's house. Trinna would mix up an immunity potion, that would render the memorandum useless. That way, Ellie would be able to eat the cookies without fear.

     Once Ellie was in place, she'd gather information about all the people on the team. She'd figure out where they were really from, and why they thought they were Altadorian. Meanwhile, Trinna would seem to throw herself wholeheartedly into the cause for Altador. Sam and Tilly would hopefully trust her so much that they would let her in on their little plot. When they did, she would pretend to support them, and would pretend to help them, while really she prepared for the next stage in the plan.

     After the infiltration, came the catch. The trap was the way that they planned to expose Sam and Tilly. For this, Trinna recruited her old friends Mira and Kira. Ellie would lure Sam and Tilly to the darkened council chambers, where Mira and Kira would be waiting. When Ellie and the others entered, they would swiftly place a net on Sam and Tilly, and would secure it to the floor. The next day, Trinna would bring the council there, and expose the entire plot. Altador would be disqualified, and the game could go on fairly.

     * * *

     Just as they had finished preparing for the first stage of their plan, they heard a knock on the door. Just in time! they thought in unison. Ellie put on her best face, and remembered that she needed to act as if she only remembered what Sam and Tilly had told her.

     Of course, on the other side of the door stood Sam. "Hey Sam!" she greeted.

     "Hey yourself! Did you girls have fun? I see you ate all the cookies Ellie, just like I asked. You're such a good girl," he replied.

     Naturally, this was not the case. Trinna had disposed of the cookies, but kept the container. That way, nothing would seem to be suspicious.

     "Well, we'd best be off then, right? I had so much fun, Trinna, I hope we can do something like this again!" With a hug, Ellie said goodbye to Trinna, and went off with Sam, carrying a bottle of immunity potion in her pocket.

     * * *

     Kira and Mira were surprised, if happy, when they were visited by their friend from the Island, Trinna.

     "Trinna, dahling, what's up?" said Mira.

     "I hope you've been having a good time!" said Kira.

     "We were actually about to look for you. You know how the Mystery Island versus Faerieland game is coming up, right? We wanted to invite you!" continued Mira.

     "Oh yes! It would be lovely if you could come with us," added Kira.

     "I'd love to! However, I'm here on slightly more serious business," replied Trinna.

     "What happened?!" cried the twins in unison.

     So it was that Trinna told Mira and Kira Ellie's story. Ellie was a poor girl from Meridell, whose owner was constantly in debt. Once, when on a trip to repay some loans from Faerieland, a kind girl passing by took Ellie to Fyora and had her pick out an item from the Hidden Tower. Ellie chose a Faerie Paint Brush. Ellie's owner, who loved her more than any amount of money, painted her. A few years later, Ellie's owner decided that she was going to travel Neopia. It would be a trip that lasted many months, but Ellie was confident that she would be fine alone. Then, one day, she heard about the Altador Cup, and the riches that could be gotten if your team won. She had always had a knack for sports, so she went to the Meridellian tryouts, and she was the best player there. However, King Skarl didn't like the idea of having a peasant on his team. She pleaded with him until finally he gave in, but there remained much enmity between her and the King, which created enmity between her and all of the coaches she trained with. Luckily, her team loved her, and she was their star player. That was, until she was kidnaped by Sam.

     "Finally, I figured out what they were using to make her forget. I got it away from her, and I whipped up an immunity potion, so that now she won't be affected by Tilly's memorandum," finished Trinna.

     "What a sad story!" blurted Kira.

     "Is there any way we can help to make things right?" said Mira.

     "Actually, that's exactly why I'm here," replied Trinna. "I have a plan. We're going to lure Sam and Tilly into a trap, and then we're going to expose them to the Altadorian Council, and the Altador Cup Committee. I'm going to set the trap, Ellie's going to lure them there, and I was wondering if you two would be willing to spring the trap."

     Instantly, Kira replied, "Of course! Anything to help poor Ellie after all she's been through."

     "Mm-hmm!" agreed Mira.

     "Okay then. Tomorrow, at approximately 6:30 PM NST, I'll come to get you. I'll have already prepared the trap in my room. You'll need to wait for Ellie to bring Sam and Tilly. I'll be with you, and I'll give you the signal. Then, you'll have to press a button, pull the corner of a net, and pull a lever. Sound easy enough?" explained Trinna.

     "Yes," said Mira.

     "We'll be there," said Kira.

     "Great then. Bye!" With a hug, Trinna left the Eyrie twins to go attend to the matter of creating the trap.

     * * *

     Ellie was about to be sick. She'd been talking to her teammates all day, and had managed to figure out just how bad the situation was. As Trinna had said, all of the "replacements" for the Altador team had been the star players on other teams.

     You had Krandall, who was from Kreludor; Simpree from Maraqua, and Xalthox from the Haunted Woods.

     It wasn't just that they were replacing real players with stolen ones, even. Ellie found out that Sam and Tilly had sabotaged various pieces of equipment so that the real players would get hurt, allowing the false players to replace them.

     It made Ellie sick.

To be continued...