Twisted Turns Of Fate: Part Four

     Lisha's eyes fluttered open. Seeing Jeran above her, she smiled a small smile. "You can do it, big brother," she whispered. "Do it...for me." Then she passed out.

     "No! LISHA!" Jeran cried, tears falling down his cheeks.

     * * *

     Quenten looked over in boredom. He felt no emotion, no nothing; he hadn't for a while. A fog had settled around his heart and mind, keeping all his feelings away. He knew exactly what had happened; Maelstra had obviously cast a spell on him…but he didn't really care.

     When he saw Lisha fall, he felt a glimmer of light pierce through the darkness inside him. 'Lisha's hurt,' he thought. 'She's my friend, so why don't I care?'

     He heard Jeran scream and felt more of the fog disappear. 'That's it! I have to care more!' He thought about all the times he and Jeran had hung out together; he thought about playing with Lisha when they were younger…It was working! He was feeling alive and himself again!

     Using his tail, he ripped out the gag and un-tied the knot. Soon, he was free. He ran over to Jeran. Putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, he saw the great blue Lupe look at him. "Let's get her," he said, nodding.

     Maelstra started to laugh. "Oh, poor Lisha."

     Jeran glared at her. His insides were boiling; all he saw was red. He hastily wiped away his tears and felt an enraged power surge through his veins. Maelstra was going to get it.

     * * *

     Skarl was starting to back away. He was scared. This was way more then anything he could handle.

     Kayla saw him retreat. "Hey! Come back here!"

     At that moment, Skarl started to run…but he soon slowed down. Soon, he felt the red Zafara's hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going any further. "Got you!" she said in his ear, pulling him back. "You're not going anywhere."

     * * *

     Jeran reached at his waist, grabbed the hilt of his sword and un-sheathed it in one smooth motion. Quenten reached into a pocket of his belt and pulled out a pair of numb-chucks. Sensei stepped up beside them and took a fighting stance.

     "You hurt my sister," Jeran whispered fiercely, advancing on Maelstra. The Dark Faerie stepped backward uncertainly. "Now you're going to pay!" Growling, he lunged for Maelstra, his Ninja friends close behind him.

     * * *

     Kayla gently lifted the Ona out of her bag and handed it to Skarl. "What are you doing?" the bewildered King asked her.

     "Helping out," Kayla replied. Pulling her hands out of her bag, she held many small bottles of different colored potions.

     "What can I do?" Skarl was nervous, but stood firm. Now, he just wanted to help…in any way he could.

     Kayla smiled a small smile. "Stay here and watch Lisha and the stuff!" she cried, and headed into the fray.

     * * *

     Maelstra was surrounded by a flurry of paws and glinting metal. Something hit her in the back; the flat edge of Jeran's sword smacked her in the arm. "Ah!" she screamed. She had to get out of here!

     Just then, she saw a flash of red fur and felt something wet drip onto her hair. Looking up, she saw in horror that her beautiful locks were now...pink! "That's it!" she shrieked, standing up and throwing the four Neopets off her body. Raising her hand, she opened a portal. She ran into it and vanished.

     * * *

     Panting, Jeran watched Maelstra's hot pink hair trail into the portal and disappear. 'Good,' He thought. 'She's gone.'

     Everyone turned and hurried back to where Lisha was. "She's alive," Skarl said as they drew near. "But she's hurt, badly."

     "Then let's get her to the infirmary," Jeran said after he had sheathed his sword and picked his sister up. "NOW!"

     * * *

     When Lisha awoke, she saw Jeran and Quenten standing over her. "Oooh," she moaned, slowly sitting up. "Where am I?"

     Jeran smiled. "You're in the infirmary. You have a concussion."

     "Yeah, but you'll be better soon," Quenten added, grinning too.

     "So what happened?" Lisha asked, putting a hand on the side of her throbbing head.

     Both boys laughed. "Kayla can tell you," Quenten said.

     Kayla walked up to the foot of her bed. "They were hammering her," she said dramatically, waving her arms around. "But she wasn't giving up. Then I made her hair pink, and she took off like a blazing Nova!"

     "Pink?" Lisha asked incredulously. When her friend nodded, she smiled. "Way to go!"

     Just then, Skarl walked up to her bed. "Once you're better, we'll meet together in the Throne Room, okay? There are some things needed to be done."

     Lisha nodded, but instantly cringed in pain. Jeran laid his paw on his sister's hand. "Go to sleep," he murmured. "You need your rest. We'll be waiting here."

     Carefully lying back down, Lisha slowly closed her eyes and sighed. Instantly, she was asleep.

     * * *

     Lisha slept on and off for 2 more days. When she finally awoke, she stretched, feeling refreshed. Jeran was sitting in a chair beside her bed, head down, fast asleep. 'He's probably been here the whole time,' Lisha mused. Smiling, she reached over and shook his shoulder.

     When Jeran's eyes opened, he saw Lisha sitting up in bed. He grinned. "Feeling better?" he asked, getting to his feet and stretching too.

     The yellow Aisha nodded, smiling when she felt no pain. "Yes!" she replied. Soon, they walked out of the infirmary and down to the Throne Room, where Skarl, Sensei, Quenten and Kayla waited patiently for their arrival.

     "Sleeping Beauty awakes!" Kayla teased once she saw her friend emerge from the hallway. Running over, she gave Lisha a hug. "I missed you!"

     Lisha smiled wider. "Me too."

     Once everyone had gathered around Skarl's Throne, both he and Sensei smiled. Stepping forward, Sensei spoke first. "Apprentice Quenten," he said, looking at his pupil. "Come forward."

     Tentatively, Quenten took a step toward his teacher. "Yes, Sensei?"

     Sensei smiled. "You've demonstrated skills far beyond your years. And, although it was a little late..." He reached and pulled a Fish Negg from the back pocket of his belt. "You completed your mission."

     Quenten's eyes grew wide with hope. "Are…Are you saying that…?" he stammered.

     "Yes." Sensei nodded. "I, Sensei Fauncha, hereby pronounce you a full-fledged Ninja!"

     "Yay!" Quenten whooped and hopped up and down with joy. Soon, remembering his training, he stopped and bowed at his teacher. "Thank you, Sensei."

     Sensei smiled wider. "You're welcome." Then both he and Quenten stepped back and looked up at Skarl.

     He sighed. Glancing down at Jeran, he began to speak. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, old friend," he began, shaking his head. "If you would still like to, I would be honoured to have you as my head Knight again. And don't worry," he added, chuckling. "Fredrikson won't bother you."

     "But how can I?" Jeran asked sadly. "No offence, but I could never go back to being a Knight after all this! No one will trust me!"

     Skarl laughed. "Don't worry; Kayla has you covered."

     The red Zafara nodded and pulled out a pink potion. "This will make everyone forget this ever happened..." She bit her lip and looked at Lisha. "Even us."

     "I sure don't want to forget Maelstra with pink hair! It was funny." Quenten said.

     "Yeah, but..." Kayla stopped and looked like she was in deep thought. Soon, she pulled out little vials and poured a bit of a new orange potion into them and handed them to Jeran, Lisha, Quenten, Sensei, and kept one for herself. "Here," she said. "Drink this and you'll remember."

     "Can I?" Skarl asked hopefully from behind them.

     Everyone glared. "No!"

     "All right then, now drink this." Kayla instructed once everyone had drank the remembering potion.

     They all did. "Yuck, this is disgusting!" Lisha cried after she drank it, pulling a face.

     "Okay, now close your eyes. I'll throw this and everyone except us will forget." She glanced around. "One…two…three!"

     Kayla threw down an orb of purple light; when it hit the floor, it exploded with a midnight blue mist. Soon, it filled the room and flew out the windows, reaching out to the minds of every Neopian…

     * * *

     Maelstra was using an enchanted brush to comb her now rosy hair. "Ugh!" she screamed exasperatedly. "No matter what I do, it won't come out!" She threw the brush and hit the opposite wall with a loud thud. "That Zafara's going to get it..."

     Just then, she saw navy fog creep into the room. It soon began to wrap around her body. 'What's happening?' she thought, panicking. She could feel the mist float into her brain and swim into her memory. She suddenly felt dizzy and soon, she watched as the mist vanished, not remembering a thing of the past few days. "Huh?" She looked around in confusion. "What's going on?"

     Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her pink locks. "Ah!" she shrieked. "My hair!" She grabbed the brush she had just thrown and started brushing her hair once more.

     * * *

     Jeran watched the mist disappear. He smiled, realizing he could remember it all. He looked into the faces of his friends and saw their own happy grins. Looking back, Jeran saw Skarl shake his head as he read the Neopian Times. Eyes wide, he thought, 'Did it work on the paper?' He quickly ran to the throne and asked, "What's the headline, Your Majesty?"

     Skarl sighed. "It says, 'Number One Vacationing Spot: Mystery Island!' Can you believe it?"

     Remembering the old one, Jeran smiled. "That's okay. Just wait until the fall."

     Jeran glanced over to his friends; they were whispering to each other to see if Kayla's potion worked. "Jeran, can you please go down to the dungeons to check on the guards? I think they may be slacking off…someone could kidnap one of my prisoners." Skarl said, then buried his face in the Neopian Times, speed reading.

     "Um, sure," Jeran replied with a grin. Behind him, his friends were laughing uproariously. As he walked past, he whispered with a wink, "Stop it! Skarl might get suspicious…or Maelstra may hear us and try to kidnap someone again." That just caused everyone, especially Lisha, to laugh all the harder.

     While walking down toward the dungeons, Jeran thought, 'Well, at least I don't have to worry about the Fish Negg.' He quickly surveyed the dungeons, found everything in order (and noticed that no one looked at him strangely) and began to walk back.

     Just then, as he entered the Throne Room once more, he heard Skarl's booming voice call to him, "Jeran! I need you to get me something!"

     Having a good idea what it was, Jeran smiled. 'And this is why we should never have erased Skarl's memory…' He thought, suppressing a laugh. 'Here we go again!'

The End

Author's note: This, of course, never happened. Jeran has always been a hero!