The Shoyru Tamer: Part Six

     Jhudora looked at Sammy. “Oh, so you’re that little freak Ray kept talking about. The one that witnessed the day -”

     “- You took him away from me,” Sammy said bitterly. She narrowed her eyes, and they went completely white. The outlining to the black bubble turned white. “Sohtinz Noitrem Hetaraza!” she yelled, and the bubble burst. Sammy fell onto her feet, her eyes still white. The five other bubbles burst, and Nik, Duel, Mega, Angel, and Curse fell to the ground, next to Sammy. Her eyes returned to normal.

     “Aw, how cute,” Jhudora said sarcastically. “The little baby losers are teaming up.” She laughed. “No matter how powerful your magic is, Sammy, I’ll always be better than you. Evil is always better than good.”

     “Then maybe I should go to the evil side,” Duel said. She turned to Curse and lowered her wing to right in front of his mouth. “Curse, bite into my wing,” she said. Curse blinked. “If just holding onto you makes just my eyes go red, then let’s see what happens if you bite me.”

     Curse sighed. “Whatever you say, Queen Duel,” he replied. Curse opened his mouth and clamped down hard into Duel’s wing. Duel slightly winced, and when Curse let go, her eyes started changing color. As she stood up, her mascara started changing into the same markings on Curse’s face. She turned to Jhudora, her eyes narrowed and her pupils fully red.

     “Well,” Jhudora said, folding her arms. She glanced over at Ray, who was still lying on the ground, unconscious. “Well, this is unexpected. No matter; I can still defeat you.” Jhudora snapped her finger and a bit of black magic shot out at Duel.

     Duel did nothing but raise her hand. The magic stopped dead in its tracks, and then turned around and zapped Jhudora. She stumbled back, but that was all. Jhudora narrowed her eyes. “This might be harder than I thought,” she muttered under her breath.

     Sammy, Curse, Nik, Angel, and most importantly Mega watched the evil Duel go up against Jhudora.

     “My move,” Duel said in a voice that reminded the five of them of a Darigan Shoyru. “Viva Las Magicas!” Duel swirled her hands around above each other, and a light-purple cannon-like ball of magic formed between her hands. Duel pushed her hands out and the ball shot towards Jhudora, knocking her in the chest.

     “That was my spell,” Sammy said, “but that’s not what that spell is supposed to do.”

     “This is going to end badly,” Curse muttered as another streak of black magic flashed past his eyes. Once again, Duel deflected it with ease. Jhudora growled and went red in the face.

     “Even if Duel’s stronger now, she’ll never defeat Jhudora on her own!” Mega cried.

     “So then why are we just standing around?” Angel asked with a grin on her face. Duel shot another magical cannon at Jhudora. “We can fight with her!” Mega, Nik, and Sammy nodded. Curse looked over at Jhudora.

     “I’m not of much help,” he said. “All I’m good at is trying to rule the world.”

     “Then go keep an eye on Ray,” Sammy said. Curse nodded. He scampered past Duel and Jhudora’s fight and hopped up onto Ray’s stomach, checking to see if he was okay.

     Nik sighed. “So, how are WE going to help Duel?” Sammy smiled slyly. She grabbed Nik’s hand with one her hands and Angel with the other.

     “Mega, grab onto my waist,” she commanded. Mega was irked at first, but then rushed behind Sammy and grabbed onto her waist. “Okay, everyone concentrate on defeating Jhudora. Concentrate really hard…” The four of them closed their eyes. Sammy started glowing black. At the same time, Duel swirled her hands again to form another magical cannonballs. Sammy’s eyes flashed open. “Viva Las Magicas!” Sammy and Duel said together. Duel threw the cannonball at Jhudora, and black magic whooshed past Duel’s body, both attacks hitting Jhudora at the same time.

     For a few seconds, nobody could see anything at all. Smoke filled the sky. Everyone started coughing. When the smoke cleared, Sammy opened her eyes and looked around. “Where’d Jhudora go?”

     “She’s gone,” Nik replied after emerging from the smoke. Angel and Mega appeared next.

     “Jhudora…” Angel muttered. “She just disappeared. And I can’t tell if she was defeated or fled.”

     The smoke fully disappeared. Duel came into sight, with a note on her head. Her eyes were back to their blue color, and her wacky mascara had returned back to normal. Sammy grabbed the note off Duel’s head and read it aloud. “Good job, you brats. You’ve actually defeated me. Maybe I’ll find a new apprentice. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll just come back after Ray. All of you will learn soon enough. And then ‘Jhudora’.” Sammy smiled. “We did it.”

     Sammy felt a tug on her pants. She looked down and saw a Halloween Shoyru clutching it. “Help… Please..?”

     “Oh, of course,” Sammy replied, crouching down and helping the Halloween Shoyru up. She looked around and noticed the other fallen Shoyrus waking up.

     “Thanks,” the Halloween Shoyru said. “I’m okay now.” She smiled at Sammy.

     “Hey! Queen Duel’s mother!” Curse shouted. Sammy spun around. “Mr. Shoyru Tamer over here is waking up!” Sammy’s eyes lit up and she dashed over next to Ray’s body. She sat down on her knees.

     “Ray…? Are you okay?” she asked as Ray stirred awake.

     “Sammy?” Ray asked weakly. His eyes opened wide. He smiled. “Hi Sammy.” He sat upright and the two hugged each other. When they broke apart, tears were streaming down Sammy’s face. “Sammy? Are you okay?”

     “I’m fine,” she said with a smile through her tears. “I’ve just missed you so much, Ray. And I’m glad you’re back.”

     “Hey, where’s Tamer?” the Halloween Shoyru asked Mega.

     Sammy looked from the Shoyru to Ray. “None of them know, do they?”

     Ray glanced over to Duel and Mega. “Er, no,” Ray lied. “None.” He smiled, and the two leaned closer to each other.

     Duel butted her head in between Ray and Sammy. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting anything, hm?” Duel asked teasingly. Sammy smirked, put her hand in Duel’s face, and pushed her away. The three of them stood up.

     Ray looked around. “I don’t think I’ll be training any more Shoyrus for a while,” he sighed. “My real intention was to create an army of Shoyrus to defeat Jhudora… But I think Duel and her friends were tough enough for her.” Ray smiled at Duel.

     “Guess we’re going to be sending a lot of NeoMails today,” Sammy said.

*****

     Ray and Sammy sat on the front step of Ray’s NeoHome with a stack of Neopoints beside them. Over the hours, as the owners came to take their Shoyrus home, the stack of Neopoints decreased. Most of the owners had demanded a refund, even though they still hadn’t paid for the days. Duel, Mega, MD, and Sea were rushing in and out of the house, bringing out the Shoyrus that were going home.

     Finally, a young girl, who looked about 9 years old, and a man who defiantly looked like an adult, walked up to Ray. “Uh, excuse me,” the man said to Ray, “would you know where the Shoyru Tamer is?”

     “Of course, sir,” Ray said with a smile. He stood up. “He’s right here.” The girl and the man stared at Ray.

     “Oh, well,” the girl started, “you looked a lot different on the poster… Well, anyway, we’re here for our Shoyrus.”

     “What’re their names?” Duel asked.

     “My Shoyru is Nikandros,” the man announced.

     “And mine is Angel,” the girl said after.

     Duel paused. “I’ll go get them,” she muttered. With that said, she ran into the house.

     “We’re very thankful you took good care of our Shoyrus,” the girl said politely. “It’s also very nice to meet you, too.” Sammy realized the girl was talking to her. “Do you live here with Mr. Tamer?”

     “No,” Sammy blurted out. “No, of course not. I’m just a friend.” A moment later, Duel, Nik, and Angel stepped out of the house.

     “Hi mom!” Angel said.

     “Oh, Mr. Tamer, I asked for Nikandros,” the man said, eyeing Nik. “Or, maybe you know him as Nik.”

     “Sir, this is Nik,” Duel remarked.

     “No, my Nik is an Island Shoyru –”

     “Who got re-painted because of a potion,” Nik said.

     “Oh,” the man said. Nik ran up to him and hugged him. “Ah, Nik. Don’t worry; I’ll buy you a new Paint Brush.”

     “Thank you, Mr. Tamer,” the girl said. She and the man simultaneously put 100 neopoints into Ray’s hand. Ray looked down at the money.

     “But, don’t you want a refund?” Ray asked.

     The man shook his head. “You’ve taught our Shoyrus, and we thank you for that.” He turned to the girl. “Come on, Sally. We’d better get home. Right?”

     “Yes, daddy,” the girl said. “Come on, Angel. Let’s go with Grandpa.” Nik stood still.

     “Wait, you mean my dad is your grandpa?!” Nik asked Angel.

     “I guess so,” Angel said with a blush.

     “Then why don’t I ever see you?”

     “I was adopted from the pound by Sally here just last month.”

     “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nik yelled in disgust, and the four of them walked off. Duel stared at all of them.

     Mega stuck his head into the doorway. “What I miss?”

     “THEY WERE RELATED?!” Duel cried. She almost fell on top of Ray from the shock. She sat down next to MD, pulled out her mascara, and started layering it on top of her face (since she had no time to put it on that morning).

     Mega poked his head back into the house. He and Sea walked back out a second later. “That was everyone,” Sea announced. “Everyone’s gone.”

     “I’d say just in time, too,” Sammy remarked. “Look; the sun is setting.” Everyone’s head turned. Indeed, the sun was setting.

     “How romantic,” Duel sighed.

     “I agree,” Mega replied. He quickly leaned to Duel, kissed her on the cheek, and drew back. Duel froze and took in what just happened. Her body remained frozen, but her eyes wandered over to Mega’s grinning face.

     Sammy and Ray giggled. “Well, there goes my business,” Ray muttered. He looked up at the house. “And what’s the point of it if there’s nobody inside?”

     “Well, wouldn’t you live in there with your Shoyrus?” Sammy asked.

     “Yeah, but it’s specifically built for a large amount of Neopets.”

     “You could always move in with us,” Sammy suggested.

     “But what about the house?” Sea asked.

     “We’ll just sell it to some rich dude who needs a large house,” MD replied.

     “Like that Borovan dude,” Sea muttered.

     “Sounds like a plan,” Ray said. “All in favor of moving into Sammy’s place say ‘Aye’!”

     “Aye!” MD, Ray, Mega, and Sea cried at the same time.

     “Well then, its set,” Sammy said with a large smile. “By tonight, we’ll all be under the same roof, as one big family!”

The End