When Neopia Turns Evil: Part Five

      This shelf was full of magical items. Pirates never used magic. Or did they? "Xandra and the Darkest Faerie gave those to them for extra security in case we came," Kroost pointed out.

      Kroost and Spike launched any magical item they could find out the porthole. When they were done, the room was completely empty. As they sneaked back, they waved to Ming and Bugga. Once they got to their rooms, Ming and Bugga followed in. Bugga ran into Kroost's pack while Ming fell asleep on a bed. Pirates stormed their cabin and "woke up" Kroost and Spike.

      Kroost and Spike screamed like babies did when babies were woken up by a loud noise. Two pirates rocked Kroost and Spike back and forth, to calm them down. Captain Scarblade came in to two screaming babies in a cabin full of pirates.

      "What's with all the commotion?!" yelled Captain Scarblade.

      "Two petpets were terrorizing all of us! We think they came in here but we woke up the babies. We're trying to get them back to sleep!" said a pirate Bruce.

      Once Spike and Kroost calmed down, the pirates settled them down into their beds. The pirates quietly walked out of the room and then they went to their beds.

     ~~~

      The next day was a busy one. Spike and Kroost were awoken to the ship moving back and forth, water coming into their room, and Captain Scarblade yelling commands to the crew. Spike and Kroost ran upstairs to see what was going on. It was pouring outside and to make it worse, it was a kraken attack. Cannons were going off over and over.

      Some pirates were panicking. Maybe because the babies secretly threw away the weapons? Probably. Right before the kraken left, he threw a bright bottle into the air. Coincidently, Spike caught it. He knew exactly what it was: a faerie in a bottle. A water faerie to be exact.

      Before someone else could get their hands on it, Spike opened the bottle and had let the water faerie free. "Thank you for releasing me. I bless you with the ability heal."

      And with that, she was gone. He started to suck on the bottle to act like a convincing baby. Nobody could get mad at that face. At least, nobody but Captain Scarblade. He screamed into the rainy sky and stormed into his cabin. Spike ignored him and crawled to his cabin with Kroost. Once they were in there, they laid down in their beds.

      "Wow, man, that was pretty convincing. I even thought you were a baby for a few minutes. And out of it all, you got the ability heal! That's pretty awesome!" Kroost said.

      "Look how scared they were. I mean, some of them could've been eaten by that kraken if we hadn't taken away their cannons. Should I feel bad?" asked Spike.

      "Doubt it. I mean, they're searching for neopets that are trying to escape their evil and then imprisoning them. You shouldn't feel bad for them," said Kroost.

      "You're right. It's all in my head. At least, I hope it is."

     ~~~

      They were carried to lunch and ate mushy meat and mushy vegetables. Scarblade kept ignoring Spike and Kroost after Spike opened the bottle. He didn't care, though. Spike knew they were bad guys and knew nothing good would come from them. They were pirates after all. After lunch they roamed around the ship, looking for Captain Scarblade's quarters. They didn't find the quarters and at that point, they were too tired to. They ended up falling asleep on the floor.

      When Spike and Kroost woke up, they were in their booster seats with mushy food on their trays. They ate and were brought to bed. They stayed up until all was quiet. Kroost looked out the door to see if the coast was clear. Once he gave the thumbs up, they were off.

      They took their weapons and walked carefully through the ship. They walked up to the wheel and saw a secret trap door. Why hadn't they seen it before? They opened the hatch to see the Captain, writing on his map. Spike and Kroost slowly flew down and pointed their weapons at him.

      "Spike and Kroost, I should've known you two were such big babies," said Captain Scarblade.

      Spike and Kroost were shocked. He knew all along? Why hadn't he destroyed them the moment he saw them? Scarblade turned around with a bottle strapped to his chest. Scarblade ripped the bottle off his chest and Spike inspected it.

      "Courtesy of Xandra, of course. What to know what it is?" Spike knew exactly what it was: a Lupe transmogrification potion. But it was different. It was glowing and very swirly.

      Before Spike could get the potion, Scarblade drank the whole bottle. The ship started to rumble as Scarblade started to transform. In seconds, he was a mutant Lupe. He wasn't done yet. He then started to grow and become more grotesque. The ship broke apart, the crew was swimming in dark water, and Spike and Kroost were completely helpless.

      Scarblade grabbed the two babies and started to laugh. "You morons! I knew you were the chosen ones from the start! I knew my moronic crew couldn't figure it out but I knew! I knew it from the start! I was just waiting until you guys came close enough to me without the crew and then I would attack!" The crew, Spike, and Kroost were all left staring.

      To break the silence, Scarblade slammed Spike and Kroost deep into the water. They floated to the top and stared at Captain Scarblade, kicking the crew away in the water. But why? The crew was attacking him! Kroost and Spike watched as Scarblade kicked his crew miles across the ocean.

      "What do we do?! We don't change back until the middle of the day and it's only night!" Kroost yelled.

      "We're in saltwater, right?" asked Spike.

      "Probably, why?" asked Kroost.

      "Our temporary colors are going to wash off. If we rub all of our color onto Captain Scarblade, he'll become a baby!" Spike explained.

      They flew out of the water and over to Scarblade. While he was distracted kicking his crew, Spike and Kroost started to rub themselves all over Scarblade. Once all the pink and green were off them and onto him, they turned back to normal while Scarblade started to shrink. Soon enough, Scarblade was nothing more than a big baby.

      Spike caught him and brought him down to one of the pirates. "Do you think you could take care of him?"

      The pirates all started to agree on it. Then Kroost asked, "Would you know where the Darkest Faerie is?"

      A pirate Bori said, "We believe she's in Altador. We were sailing there to see if we could find some prisoners and deliver them to her. You guys can find Altador on your own, right?"

      "Sure! Let's go, Kroost. Good luck with that big baby!" said Spike. Then they were off to Altador, bright and early in the day.

      They flew off to Altador and past a couple of islands. Soon, the pirates were just a dot on the morning horizon. When they reached Shenkuu, Spike decided to take a break and eat breakfast.

      "What would you like, Kroost: peas and carrots or marshmallow omelette?" asked Spike.

      "Marshmallow. I would rather have jelly, though," said Kroost.

      "Well, Ming doesn't eat omelettes but he loves jelly," Spike said as he pulled out Ming for his breakfast. Kroost decided to pull out Bugga for him to eat breakfast too.

      They sat in the majestic land and looked at all the ruined houses. "It looks like there was a war here. I wonder how your mom is."

      That's when Spike started to panic. He dropped his omelette and fled to his house. He took ten minutes to find it since every house was just piles of rubble. He landed when he saw a statue head on the rubble. Spike knew it was Hannah's. He sobbed, knowing Hannah was either gone or lost until they were done. What if when they were done, all the statue pets and owners just disappeared off the face on Neopia?

      He grabbed the head of Hannah and set it down on the rubble. What was the point of taking it with him? To make him more miserable? Or maybe more enraged about what Xandra and the Darkest Faerie did. Whatever the answer was, he didn't want to know. Kroost came flying down with Ming, Bugga, and both packs to see Spike sobbing on the ground.

      "Spike, we have to go. Hannah will be back and I'll make sure of it."

To be continued...