Unpredictable Predictions

     Darkest_Soul came cantering onto the lawn, looking behind her shoulder as if being followed. She halted quickly in front of her sibling, nostrils flared. Rolling up on her side with a clank, Tribalnova took a moment to study her older sister, then asked the obvious question.

     "What happened?"

     Darkest_Soul took a moment; snorting loudly and allowing her breathing pattern to revert to normal, she then dropped to the ground beside Tribalnova, acting as if nothing were wrong. "Oh, nothing."

     "What?" Tribalnova asked, wondering what her quirky sister had decided to spook at this time.

     "It's not important," Darkest_Soul replied nonchalantly. She rolled out on her side and bathed in the warmth of the summer sun on her island coat, letting the breeze move the flowers in her mane and tail. Tribalnova groaned at the drama queen of a Uni and stood up, shaking bits of grass and dirt out from the overlapping metal joints. Stretching, she yawned, and then turned to walk back towards the house. As she moved, she could have sworn she heard something rustle in the bushes. Stopping fast, she braced her front legs and snorted, ears pricked. A quick scan yielded no results, so she sighed, released the air in her nostrils and entered the Neohome.

     "Solanarii?" she called out as she searched the hall. Dark, her human, was out getting groceries, and Remainingsoul, a Plushie Shoyru, was busy training. That left the three of them, and she had no clue where in the world her Maraquan Shoyru of a sister was. No music thumped from above her, so that meant she may be studying, though she highly doubted it. After a moment, she ambled over to the cabinet and glanced over the contents, trying to find something to eat. She realized there was a reason Dark had run to the Food Shop... There was nothing there! Rolling her eyes, she snapped the smooth mahogany door back and made her leisurely way back to the lawn, listening to the clank of her metal hooves echo through the empty home.

     The sun-drenched beach was deserted. The diva of an Island Uni known as her sister was missing from the scene, which wasn't too odd for her, and meant Tribalnova had the afternoon alone to herself. Collapsing to the sandy portion of the oceanfront property, she stretched out on her side and started to resume her interrupted nap, right where she left off. Unfortunately, the nap just wasn't to be. There was a rustle in the palm tree above her, and then a thud. Jumping to an upright position, she warily eyed the coconut lying inches from her head.

     "Ugh, what is going on today?" she growled and rolled the other direction. Not two moments after her lids shut she heard another rustle and nearly jumped out of her metal skin when she noticed what was before her. Standing in the sand were three masked Neopets, holding something unrecognizable in their paws. She leaped up and didn't even waste the time to shake off the sand. All the circuits in her head told her "RUN!!!" Never denying her survival system, she galloped towards the house, not 50 feet away. As the door loomed closer, it opened and another masked figure was standing in the doorway. Slamming on the brakes, she skidded in the sand as her hind legs slid underneath her. Quickly executing a turn on her hindquarters she took off in the other direction, heading towards town. But from the tree above her, another marauding pet swung down and tossed something towards her, which landed in a splash on the ground. She was forced to dodge to the left and ducked her head under the unrecognizable figure, knocking it out of its lodging in the tree in the process. With an audible "Oomph" it ungraciously made contact with the ground.

     Glancing backwards slightly, she caught the creature in her peripheral vision. It was a small, Mynci-like figure and it rubbed its head slightly. That was all she saw before she ran off full tilt back towards town. Up ahead she noticed a tall figure and it took a moment before she recognized it as her human. Picking up speed, she quickly reached Dark and slid to a halt, breathing heavily.

     "Nova, hun, what's wrong?" Dark asked, putting down her groceries to the side of the dirt path. In the summer heat, her lean frame had a white cami tanktop, a pair of light "vintage" jeans, and brown cowboy boots. Her owner had described the point of vintage to her but she never quite got the grasp of paying Neopoints for something as silly as worn out jeans. She brushed a strand of short sun streaked brown hair from her face and frowned slightly.

     "Something came after me..." was all that could escape her mechanical muzzle. She looked backwards, ears pricked and eyes wide. She could still see movement on the horizon.

     "What happened?" Her human followed her gaze, but her inferior eyes saw nothing.

     "I don't know! I took one out with my head, though," Tribalnova commented with a very small laugh.

     "Let's go take a look. Remainingsoul will be back soon; he should be done by now," Dark stated, picking the bags back up and heading back towards the house cautiously. Tribalnova hesitated, and then with a wary step followed her human. Unfortunately all her Battledome equipment was at home, so other than her defense system and the awesome might of her human's purse, she was pretty well out of luck, even if Dark was great at wielding the bag.

     As the Neohome loomed closer, it looked picturesque, the light shining off the ocean and wind blowing gently through the palm tree leaves. It was very difficult to keep on the alert, and Tribalnova knew Dark was having problems believing her. The coconuts up in the palm trees clunked against each other, and as she kept an alert ear on them she heard them go strangely silent.

     "Gotcha," she whispered, nudging her human, then making motions up towards the nearest palm tree, still quite a few yards from them. There was a figure resting in the top. "How about I ram the tree and you beat it with your purse?" she asked as she laughed at the thought.

     "Too bad I didn't keep my customary brick," Dark answered with a slightly sarcastic tone and then looked back up. "Where'd they go?"

     The beach was now silent and only the seaside sounds echoed in the scenery.

     Tilting her head slightly to the side, she scanned the Neohome and found nothing, only her hoof prints in the sand from her haste to get away. Dark sighed and went into the house, putting the sacks on the table, where Remainingsoul sat, reading a book.

      "How long have you been here?" Tribalnova asked, slightly puzzled.

      "I just now got back, and came in the backdoor," Remainingsoul answered, entranced with his newest novel. He flipped to the next page and scanned over its contents, leaning back in his chair and resting a plush claw on the edge of the table.

      "You didn't see anything going on? Tribalnova got attacked earlier!" Dark asked, folding her arms over her white shirt.

      "Huh? No, I just got back. You okay?" he asked, at least semi-interested but still reading.

      "I am, but I have no idea what that was." Tribalnova glanced back out the door and saw nothing, but wanted to check and make sure. "I'll be right back." In the late afternoon light, her place was paradise... minus the attack. She tried to imagine what had left just as quickly as it came, treading cautiously past the plant that had warned her not a half an hour ago to the edge of the property, feeling the ocean splash against her metal legs.

     It quickly came to her. Earlier in the day, she'd been told by the Island Mystic she would be "assaulted by an army of stealth Chias." She'd always thought that was a load of rubbish... or was it? With a newfound respect for the crazy Island Mystic's predictions, she headed back for the house. It was to her disadvantage she didn't hear the massive giggles coming from behind the brush as Solanarii and Darkest_Soul rolled on the ground laughing as they removed their masks.

The End