Shades of Darkness - Shadow is Arising: Part One

Authors note: If you want to understand more about Pudding, read A New Start back in issues 154 and I55.

Breaking Barrier

A barrier was made long ago to keep them out. Time was peaceful. But the magic started to work in their favor. The barrier is breaking, and there is no Guardian to protect it. The faeries are failing. Nothing can stop them. The barrier is breaking.

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I woke to a typical day on Mystery Island. The sun was casting warm rays upon the land and the waves of the ocean brushed against the shore. Pudding, my Kougra, was doing her best to create havoc around the house to get me out of bed. After several attempts, she succeeded, and I came hobbling down the steps. My name is Jesse 12_3. I'm called that, but Mackenzie, or Kenzie for short, is a better way to say my name. My hair is a light brownish shade and so are my eyes.

I went into my kitchen and poured myself some cereal. I sat down and began to eat when a letter zoomed into the Neomail can...

Mackenzie-

Hey, I'm going to shopping in Neopia Central and was wondering if you want to come I'm not getting anything special, just some food and toys for Bananababy. Send us an answer back.

Bananagirl

I grabbed a sheet of paper and pen and told her that I would come. I shoved it in the canister and pressed the 'send' button.

"PUDDING!" I yelled towards the direction of the stairs. "We're going to go to Neopia Central to meet Bananagirl!"

My red Kougra, Pudding_is_cute_12_3, or Pudding for short, came rushing down the stairs with a sword in her hand. She never went anywhere without it. I found her a while ago on the roadside. She had never told me where she had come from.

"Can we buy some books?" asked Pudding.

"You already finished the ones I just bought you?"

"Yep, and they were awesome!"

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We took a Uni taxi to Neopia Central. It's really cool crossing the ocean on the back of a Uni. Pudding however, didn't think that at all.

"Is now a bad time to mention that I hate heights?" she whimpered.

"Yes!"

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I met up with Bananagirl and her Kau outside the food shop. Bananagirl, or Bananagirl12_3 (if you want to get technical) is a year older then me with light brown hair. Her yellow Kau, Bananababy12_3, Bananababy for short, was very artistic and athletic when it came to sports, but she never fights.

"Okay, Pudding, Bananababy, here's some Neopoints. Just go enjoy yourselves," I said and handed the pets some Neopoints.

We walked around the shops buying our groceries. We went to the bread shop first and stocked up on bread and pastries, then moved onto the hotdog stand.

Later on, Pudding came running up to me and looked at the bags in my hand.

"We need a well balanced diet!" she said while glancing over at the chocolate factory.

I gave her a stern stare. She looked back at me with pleading eyes.

"Oh alright, you can have some candy, but only a little," I said, and my Kougra ran off towards the factory with a grin.

We finished shopping and went to eat lunch by the Rainbow Pool along with many other random Neopians that day. I was sitting on the grass, sipping my Neocola, when a shot rang out like a gun. Blackness filled the sky as if all the light in the world went out, but it only lasted a few seconds before light came back.

"What the heck just happened?" I asked confused. Defenders of Neopia were already surrounding the area.

"I don't know, but let's ask an agent," said Bananagirl, pointing to a bunch of pets all wearing the same blue uniform.

I pushed my way through the crowd. Everybody seemed to have the same question as I did. Before I got to an agent though, a white Aisha agent started to speak.

"Citizens of Neopia, we are unsure of what happened. We are trying to contact the Faeries. Until we get answers, we would please request that you all return to your Neohomes until we get this sorted out."

We could do nothing but leave. Bananagirl said goodbye and left for her street while I took the Uni Taxi. Why did it go all dark all of a sudden? I pondered this subject until I got off the Uni. I walked up to my Neohome, unlocked the door, and went inside along with Pudding. I grabbed the Neopian Times off the doorstep before closing the door. The fiasco in Neopia Central was on the front page, but all the info was the same as what I heard that afternoon. I flipped to the Comic section and sat down in the living room to read.

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Torono_Darkshadow was running out of time. Number one, the invasion wasn't far off, and number two, the fact that the Starry Shoyru that he currently possessed was starting to die. He needed a new host. That was the way all Shades are. Each one has to live inside another living Neopet. Once they find a host weak enough, they conquer their mind when they express emotions that Shades love, like sadness, anger, despair, etc. Without a host, they are just gray shadows of their former selves with big red eyes. But they can only stay in a host for so long, because after a while the host starts to die. If a host dies in their possession, they die, too. Torono_Darkshadow was not going to die. He would find another specimen, one with a weak mind, but a strong body, and then the invasion would begin.

Torono liked to sit in his office in a tower in Meridell. The headquarters of the Shades was there, but of course, nobody knew about it. Every Shade there currently possessed a host, except a few of the lower ranks, which were mainly used to chase off unwanted visitors who stumbled upon his fortress while hiking or some other Neopian activity. Well, anyway, Torono (in his Starry Shoyru body) was sitting in his office a floor below the top of the tower. The top of the tower was the arena where he would often fight other Shades for fun. He was doing what he usually did on afternoons; plotting the destruction of the Human and Neopets nation. Bah! He hated Neopets. And humans were as good as scum. The invasion was months away, but he still needed more time. His plan was never going to work at this rate. He needed to find a new host, and fast, or he would perish before he could start the takeover. He needed somebody with ambition for what he was going to do, or the new host would die quickly if it could not stand the conditions of fighting and war. But, the host had to let its guard down, or he couldn't control it. That was getting harder to do.

There was a knock on the door. Torono happened to be in a very unpleasant mood, and for the unfortunate visitor, this could be trouble.

"Come in," said Darkshadow coldly.

His second in command, Denshaw, walked into the room.

"My lord, the plan is not going well."

"And?" said Darkshadow, not in the mood for games.

"Half your army, their hosts died in an accident in Neopia Central. We were trying to break the Barrier completely so we could use magic again, but it backfired," he said with fear in his voice.

"ARRRRRRRRG!" yelled Darkshadow while banging his desk. "WHAT DID I TELL THEM ABOUT LEAVING BASE IN LARGE NUMBERS WITHOUT A PERMIT?"

"But sir-

"WE HAVE TO BREAK THE BARRIER DOWN BIT BY BIT, OR THE HUMANS WILL NOTICE SOMETHING'S WRONG! JUST GET OUT DENSHAW, I NEED TIME TO THINK!"

Denshaw left, for nobody liked Darkshadow when he was angry. Looks like the invasion would be delayed.

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Deep in the heart of Neopia Central, there is a dark alley where no light ever shone. In that ally was a small cardboard box that was falling apart with age, even though the box had only been lying there for a few hours. One of Torono_Darkshadow's cronies had put it there on purpose. To make sure that the specimen that they had been monitoring found it.

The specimen was a Tyrannain Techo. He was poor, and had no home except for a cardboard box. He often begged or thieved for money, but hardly made any income because not to many people pity Tyrannain Techo's and he couldn't do much more then pick pockets for small change.

The Techo in question was currently walking down the ally with the box muttering to himself in his high squeaky voice.

"They won't give us their Neopoints will they? Cursed Neopians! If only they knew! If only they went through the suffering that I've been through since I was young! Then they would pay me yes, then they would!"

It began to rain. First it was just a few sprinkles and then it started to pour from the dark grey sky.

"Cursed rain!" muttered the Techo. He looked down and saw the box.

"What's this?"

The Techo opened the box and pulled out a dark medallion. It was a black orb attached to a golden chain. The Techo put it around his neck.

"I'm keeping this find," he said and walked off toward his home.

To be continued...