The Good Days II: The Search for Glenda - Part One

The first part of this story can be found here.

Renaline was asleep in her bed that night, dreaming good dreams. But good dreams were nothing to the Grey Faerie, whose lifestyle was much better than all the other Faeries of her type. She shared a huge mansion with Glenda, a red Uni who was once her master. Renaline's life was perfect, and the last thing she expected was for an old friend to return and make things chaotic.

      Renaline awoke suddenly. She looked around. There was nothing there. It must have only been a dream that had awoken her. As she woke up, she noticed a peculiar silence. Where was Glenda's usual snoring? As she looked around once more, she spotted something that she had definitely seen before. That familiar little ball of light appeared again, which eventually became the Light Faerie Naleena.

      "Naleena," said Renaline, rubbing her eyes, "why are you back again? Everything's fine here."

      "No, it isn't!" said Naleena. "Glenda is back! She's going to make you begin working as a slave again!"

      "Oh, no she won't," said Renaline. "Haven't you heard? I'm not Glenda's slave anymore."

      "Oh," said Naleena, blushing. "I thought you still hated her, so I trapped her on a desert island in the middle of nowhere. Sorry."

      "You did WHAT!?" Renaline yelled. In the bedroom across the hall, Renaline's yelling awoke Celia, Renaline's Usul friend.

      "What's going on here?" said Celia, running into Renaline's bedroom with her pillow.

      "This Light Faerie just took Glenda to a desert island! We have to save her!"

      Celia gasped. "Where did you take her, Light Faerie?" she asked.

      "Hey, don't call me Light Faerie. Call me Naleena," said the tall Light Faerie.

      "Okay, Naleena," said Celia. "Where did you take her?"

      "Oh, the Island of Wakatukilookablua…err, something like that," said Naleena. "It's somewhere west of Mystery Island."

      "We have to find her!" said Celia.

      "But how?" Renaline asked. "We don't have a boat!"

      "No," said Celia, "but we can get one. Come with me, and bring some Neopoints."

      Celia ran out of the mansion, with Renaline following closely behind. She carried a little purse that carried about a hundred Neopoints. They walked a long distance in the cold of the night, and Renaline didn't even know where she was going. Eventually, after hours of walking, Renaline and Celia arrived at a beach.

      "Okay, so we're at a beach," said Renaline. "What do we do now? We can't rent a boat at this time!"

      "Oh, yes we can," said Celia. She opened the door to a cabin on the beach. The sign on the door read "Boat rentals". Inside was a fat blue Skeith sleeping at a desk.

      "After you," said Celia, holding the door open.

      Renaline and Celia proceeded into the tiny cabin. The door slammed behind them, waking up the Skeith at the desk.

      "Huh? What?" the Skeith said. "Why do I have customers? We're closed!"

      "We urgently need a boat, Sir," said Celia. Renaline was beginning to understand Celia's plan.

      "Okay, then," said the Skeith. "How long will you be using this boat for?"

      "We don't know," said Celia. "We're headed for a desert island somewhere west of Mystery Island to save our Uni friend."

      "What? You can't do that!" said the Skeith. "That'll take weeks to get to in a little rowboat! We only rent for a day or less!"

      "Please," said Celia. "We need our friend back."

      "Okay, fine," said the Skeith. "That'll be 100 Neopoints."

      Renaline emptied out her purse onto the Skeith's desk.

      "Thank you," said the Skeith. "You may help yourself to any rowboat on the beach."

      Celia ran out to find a boat, but Renaline stayed put. She refused to go out in a rowboat without knowing where they were headed.

      "Excuse me, Sir," said Renaline, "but we have no idea where this desert island is. All we know is that it is somewhere west of Mystery Island. Can you help us?"

      The Skeith opened a drawer and pulled out a torn map of Neopia. It was so old that Meridell was not shown, but Maraqua was. The Skeith pointed to a spot of land on the map.

      "I believe this is where you are headed," said the Skeith. "The island of Erukalotho. It is known for the packs of wild Myncis who live in its trees."

      "May I have your map?" Renaline asked. "I promise that I'll return it to you when- or if- we return."

      "Of course you may," said the Skeith. He handed the map to Renaline.

      "Thank you," said Renaline.

      "Renaline!!! Where are you? Hurry up!" Celia yelled from outside.

      "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Renaline shouted as she ran out of the cabin with the map. Celia and Renaline sat down inside the nearest rowboat on the beach.

      "What's that in your hands, Renaline?" Celia asked.

      "It's a map," said Renaline. "That Skeith gave it to me. It shows the island where we are going."

      "Cool," said Celia, taking the map. "According to this, we have to start by paddling North-East. Push us off!"

      Renaline took the paddles and pushed the boat off into the moonlit water.

     ***

      A day passed, and Renaline had been paddling the whole time while Celia slept. The duo was now approaching the green fields and towering castle of Meridell. Renaline's arms were extremely sore, so she lightly tapped Celia on the shoulder to wake her up.

      "Wake up, sleepyhead," said Renaline. "It's your turn to start paddling."

      Celia yawned loudly. "Are we there yet?" she said annoyingly.

      "No," said Renaline. "We're barely past Meridell. But take a look at that beautiful sight!"

      To the right of the rowboat, the view of Meridell was stunning. You could see the castle and the fields, and the Meri Acres Farm was almost visible. However, Celia did not notice this right away.

      "What's so beautiful about a yellow spot in the water?" said Celia. Renaline was confused, until she looked straight ahead. There really was something floating in the water.

      "Oh, well," said Renaline. "It's probably just a pile of dung or something like that."

      "No, it isn't," said Celia. It's moving, and it's crying. I can hear it yell from here."

      "Well, then, paddle over to it and see what it is!" said Renaline. Celia paddled over to the strange yellow spot in the water, and didn't believe what she saw. A yellow Yurble was drowning there.

      "Help! Help!" the Yurble cried.

      "Grab on to my paddle! Quick!" Celia shouted. The Yurble held on tightly to the paddle as Celia pulled her up.

      "Thank you for rescuing me," said the Yurble. "Someday, I shall reward you greatly."

      Celia was all excited about getting to know this Yurble, her history, and absolutely everything there was to know. However, Renaline noticed before Celia that the Yurble was wearing an amulet with a bright red gem attached to it. In a blink of an eye, the scarlet colour of the gem faded to a soft green.

      "Nice amulet," said Renaline.

      "Thank you, Miss…um…what is your name?" the Yurble asked.

      "My name is Renaline, and this is Celia," said Renaline.

      "Who are you? Where are you from? Tell us everything about yourself!" Celia said excitedly.

      "Okay, Celia," said the Yurble, giggling slightly. "Sit back and relax, because this will be a very long tale."

      Renaline and Celia agreed. Celia began to paddle, and Renaline actually did sit back and relax.

      "Begin," said Renaline.

      "Well, my name is Verila. I come from the beautiful land of Meridell, which we have just passed. It had always been my goal to be able to fight against Lord Darigan or Lord Kass in the Meridell war. My sister is famous for making magical potions. Her name is Kayla."

      "Kayla is your SISTER?" Celia said in awe.

      "As I was saying," said Verila, "Kayla told me one day that she had lost her special amulet, and I was the only pet out there who could find it for her. I didn't exactly believe all that, but I set out onto the streets of Meridell to find the amulet for her. Eventually, I found it, but when I got back to our NeoHome to return it to my sister, she was gone. I figured that she had gone off to help fight for Meridell, so I put on the amulet and hoped that it would protect me so I could go out into the war and find Kayla. But the amulet didn't do much good, and I was thrown into the water."

      "Wow," said Celia. "That was a great story."

      "Could you please give us a hand?" Renaline asked. "We're looking for Glenda, a friend of ours. She is trapped on a desert island somewhere west of Mystery Island. Would you be able to help us find her?"

      "I would be glad to help," said Verila. "But beware; you are headed for a very dangerous place! When the gem on the amulet turns red, then danger is near!"

      The gem on the amulet suddenly changed from green to bright red.

To be continued...