The Legend of Paraiso: Part Four

      "Look!" she urged. Jeanie and Nexy looked around at the walls and gasped.

      "What is this?" Jeanie asked. Designs and hieroglyphs dotted the walls.

      "How should I know?" Ailemea asked. "Nexy's the reader!" Jeanie looked at the baby Yurble whom she had set down the moment she had climbed off of Soqai's back. Trohanex was looking at the walls with more than a look of interest - it looked like he was reading it.

      "Nexy?" Jeanie said uncertainly, stepping up behind the baby. He glanced around. "Are you reading this, sweetie? Can you read this?" He stared at her and then giggled and nodded. Jeanie grinned and scooped him up. "What does it say?"

      Nexy pointed at some writing and said, "Oweh." Jeanie blinked.

      "Oreh? What about him - ugh, I mean her?" Jeanie asked. Trohanex frowned and then scanned the walls, concentrating.

      "Uhm..." he said, then began to gesture with his hands. Jeanie sighed.

      "I don't speak sign language, Nexy," she admitted, frustrated. Ailemea leaped forward.

      "Don't worry, Jeanie, I'm well practiced with his charades," the Xweetok said, and watched the baby Yurble.

      Nexy once again began to gesture wildly with his arms and paws. He pointed at random things and squawked and sometimes said little words. Aile translated as he went along.

      "Let's see, ok - he says that Oreh is an old legend of a guy that saved some place called... Paradise? No... anyways - okay, Oreh is either supposed to eat a really big pizza or save the world. I kind of missed a few signs."

      The baby waved his paws around again in similar signs he had just done.

      "Definitely pizza," Aile confirmed. Trohanex glowered at her. "Okay, I change my vote to saving the world... wait - Oreh is going to save the world?" Nexy jumped back into his signing and Aile watched him closely.

      "He looks like he is quoting what is on the walls... he says... 'Only Oreh~Hero can save... Paradise? Only Oreh the Reborn can find the key. Only he who made it can remake it.' Is that our Oreh?" Ailemea asked curiously. Nexy shrugged. "Hey, you're the genius you should know this stuff!" The baby stuck his little tongue out at her and Jeanie sighed.

      "Can't you two ever get along?" Jeanie begged. It was then that Soqai landed softly with Oreh on her back.

      "Wow," Oreh said appreciatively, looking around. "What's this?" she asked, gesturing at a octagonal shaped indent in the wall.

      "Ask the genius," Ailemea said unhappily. Nexy wriggled out of Jeanie's arms and crawled over to that section of the wall. He studied it for a few minutes then turned around and signed at Ailemea.

      "He says that is where the key goes," she said, bored - then she gasped at the rest of his signing. "I do NOT look like a fat Skeith when I wear yellow eye shadow! Take that back!" She advanced on the little demon but Jeanie blocked her way and scooped him up. Trohanex wrinkled his nose at his older sister over Jeanie's shoulder, and Ailemea playfully reflected his expression.

      "What key?" Oreh asked, still examining the wall. Trohanex motioned.

      "The key that when inserted into that wall supposedly saves all the old inhabitants of Paradise and changes the land back to when it was normal," Aile translated. "I wonder what it looks like," she mused.

      "Maybe like this?" Oreh asked, picking up a wooden octagon shape from the ground.

      "Where did that come from?" Ailemea asked. She looked at the ground and found shards of glass and a lot of mud. "Hey, that is the exact place where my bottle of clean water shattered."

      "Really?" Oreh said with interest. She turned to the indent and pressed the octagon into the wall. "It fits perfectly," she announced.

      "Maybe it is the key?" Jeanie asked. "But does that mean that Oreh wouldn't be the Hero?"

      "Hero? What?" Oreh asked in unison with Soqai. Jeanie sighed and hurriedly filled the two in on what Trohanex had told them.

      "Why couldn't I be the Hero?" Oreh asked.

      "Well, you just put the key in its place and I am not seeing any old ancient people," Aile said with a smirk.

      "Well," Soqai suggested. "Maybe it has to do with the species of Hero as well?" Everyone perked up at this.

      "Nexy," Jeanie asked. "Does it say anything about Hero being a specific species?" The Yurble scanned the walls then nodded. "Well?" Jeanie encouraged. Nexy pointed at Soqai.

      "He says that the-" Ailemea began.

      "We get it, dear," Jeanie stopped her. "So maybe if Soqai and Oreh put it in together? Oreh and Wocky?" They shrugged.

      "I still think this is all a big hoax and you guys are crazy. Let's just go home!" Ailemea said simply. The rest of the group turned and glared at her.

      Soqai gracefully walked up to the wall and stood beside Oreh. Together they took the key and pressed it gently into the wall. Nothing happened.

      "Told you," Aile taunted. Jeanie thwacked her over the head. The group sighed and sank down once again. Nexy rolled into Jeanie's lap and yawned.

      "Can we go home now?" Ailemea asked pleadingly.

      "Aileme-" Jeanie was interrupted by sharp voices from above.

      "HEY PEOPLE! We know you're down there," loud voices shouted from above. Everyone blinked.

      "You don't think-" Ailemea said.

      "It couldn't be-" Jeanie agreed.

      "The people of Paradise didn't-" Soqai said.

      "We have your petpets!" the voices continued. "We'll give em back to you if you just pass up all your Neopoints." Aile groaned.

      "It's the Grundo Brothers," she said.

      "What are they doing way down south?" Jeanie asked.

      "Maybe they read a map wrong," Ailemea replied. Jeanie glared and Aile stood up. "Hey, boys!" Aile called up the pit. "You can have those petpets. Aros has a bedwetting problem, Haelee likes to eat paint brushes, Jeanie is just like her namesake, (Jeanie glowered fiercely at Ailemea) and heck... Times New Roman is a pile of soot. So, you just do us a favor and take them off our hands."

      There was conspiratory muttering from above then three squeals filled the air as Aros, Haelee, Times New Roman, and Jeanie were thrown into the pit. Their owners caught them neatly. Oreh was quick to sweep her soot into her bag.

      "Well, that was easy," Soqai said with an elegant laugh.

      "I told you they're as stupid as they look," Aile said, stroking the frenzied Ditsy in her arms.

      "Ailemea, hush!" Jeanie urged, looking up to the top of the pit. "They aren't gone yet." The group was silent until they could no longer hear the muttering of Grundos. Then Jeanie burst. "How CAN you be so rude?" she demanded.

      "Jeanie, they were threatening to steal our petpets - how was I NOT rude?" the Xweetok replied. Jeanie sighed and massaged her forehead as she usually did with Ailemea as a pet.

      "Let's just go home," Jeanie said, "I need a nice nap and Liz is probably getting worried about Soqai." She picked up her bag and leaned against the wall. Ailemea leaped up and ran to her side with Haelee. Aros leaped from Trohanex's arms directly into Jeanie's bag.

      Oreh picked up Trohanex with a fin and then thoughtfully walked over to where the key was still slightly imbedded in the wall. Soqai set down Jeanie (the Niptor) and followed. Oreh glanced at Soqai and they smiled.

      "Want to give it one more try?" Oreh asked.

      "Sure," Soqai agreed with a little smile. They reached out fin and paw and touched the key. Nothing happened. They closed their eyes and concentrated with all their strength. Nexy watched them and then reached out and touched the key as well.

      A white light blinded the whole group momentarily. Aile screamed and leaped onto Jeanie's shoulders, Haelee leaping into Jeanie's bag with Aros. Jeanie the Niptor roared in horror and practically flew into the bag.

      As snow poured into the large pit, Oreh hurdled onto Soqai's back, Nexy still under one of her fins. Jeanie and Ailemea jumped up behind, and right as Soqai strained her wings to lift them into the air, the melting snow rising up at a frightening speed. The faerie Wocky pumped her wings as hard as she could, slowly flying them up out of the pit. Finally, she cleared the top and collapsed onto the damp ground.

      Everyone took deep heaving breaths. They lay on their faces, waiting for their sight and strength to come back to them. For minutes they lay that way until a paw nudged Ailemea in the face. She waved a paw at them to go away. It nudged her again. She waved fiercely. It nudged her harder. She lifted up her head.

      "Okay, listen up, buddy-" she began and stopped short. Before her stood the most handsome Xweetok she had ever seen. She blushed. He was painted shadow, and his fur looked like it would blend completely easily into darkness. "I apologize - I thought you were..." she stuttered off.

      "Are you okay?" he asked. She giggled, blushed, and nodded. Jeanie sat up and watched, amused.

      They stopped short. Behind the Xweetok stood hundreds of confused looking Neopets. They looked extremely bewildered and were scratching at their heads as if they couldn't remember where they'd been for the last hundreds of years. Not to mention they were also standing on...

      "Where did all this grass come from?" Ailemea gasped. It was the loveliest meadow she had ever seen. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and the grass was greener than she'd ever seen. "Are we still alive?" she asked Jeanie, frightened.

      "I think we are in Paradise," Soqai said. "I mean, the real Paradise!"

      "If you mean Paraiso, then you are correct," the Xweetok said, turning his amazing eyes to Soqai, who smiled shyly. "I am Isaerios. And you?"

      "I am-"

      "The Heroes of Paraiso," a voice said behind them and everyone whipped around. The speaker was a Wocky. A very handsome Wocky. He was completely white, and his eyes were fiery with pride.

      "And you are?" Oreh asked.

      "I am Oreh - Hero of the Past Paraiso," the Wocky said. His eyes landed on Soqai. "And you, brother, must be Oreh - Hero of the Future." He bowed. Soqai giggled foolishly then caught herself and majestically shook her head.

      "I'm afraid not, good sir," she said with a sigh. "I am Soqai, pet of Vizzeh - and female." The past Oreh blinked.

      "Then how did you awaken us all and melt the great snows?" he asked.

      "I... don't quite know," she admitted. "Oreh and I were touching the key at the same time and then Nexy touched it and then everything kind of blew up." She gestured at Oreh the Flotsam as she said this and the Hero turned to her (Oreh).

      "Are you male?" the past Oreh asked; he was obviously getting very confused.

      "No, sir," the girl Oreh replied. "But I think I know what happened. The combined traits of a Wocky - Soqai, a male - Nexy, and me - Oreh are what caused the key to believe that the real Hero had returned." The past Oreh smiled.

      "Well then, my friends, I thank you."

      "You are very welcome," Jeanie said with a smile. "But I just remembered that Oreh - that is, OUR Oreh - has an appointment at a laboratory. So we need to be leaving." Ailemea sighed and looked miserably at her new found Xweetok friend. He stepped up to Jeanie.

      "I wonder, my lady," he said politely. "If you would allow me to accompany you to your home... and perhaps become an addition to your family for awhile?" Aile frowned. Not quite what she was looking for...

      "We would be honored - but why do you suddenly wish..."

      "It is the lady's eyes," Isaerios admitted. "They are so remarkably like mine I must investigate." He flashed a winning smile at Ailemea and the poor lady Xweetok's heart melted a little.

      "You are quite welcome in our home," Jeanie said, patting Isaerios on the head. He smiled as the past Oreh stepped forward to make a declaration.

      "And you, friends, are always welcome to the country of Paraiso."

The End