Sca's Snowager Showdown

      Sca was no ordinary Kacheek, in fact most people didn't know she was a Kacheek at all. One would have to question how that was? Surely Kacheeks were easily recognized with their cute paws and soft tails, alas our hero had been inflicted by a terrible curse at a young age. Invisibility. What's so terrible about being invisible all the time? No one could tell if your shirt was inside out or if you didn't brush your hair but it was lonely. A lonely existence for one so young. Sca dealt with it, strong minded and adventurous she'd had almost no issues living in a world where no one could see her. Sure it was unfortunate when someone ran into her or accidentally stepped on her feet but it also made adventuring easy and almost less scary. It's hard to be scared of the beast of Tyrannia if he can't see that you're there.

      The only time it truly bothered her was when she was hanging with her new found friends Brujyh, a dimensional Peophin and fellow adventure and his younger sister and her friends. It's hard to imagine someone being loneliest when they were surrounded by other Neopets but since Sca wasn't overly talkative on a good day she was easy to overlook if you forgot she was there listening.

      The day started out like any other. Brujyh called her from his house in Maraqua begging her to pack up for a new adventure. Sca's house laid on the other side of the Haunted Woods, as far from Edna's Castle as she could get while still living in the same region. The Haunted Woods seemed like a dreary place to live but for one so quiet she enjoyed the peace it offered.

      “You want to what!” She asked, her voice only slightly louder than a whisper.

      “I want to visit the Snowager! Hail says he lives next door to him and sleeps like clockwork. We'll just look around the caves surrounding his personal cave and see if we can't find something fun.” Fun of course was relative thought Sca who very much liked being uniced. Sca frowned, surprised that their friend Hail, as in Prince Hailstorm the ice Draik, would even think of suggesting such a thing when he was usually the one in the group besides Sca with some common sense and she said as much to Brujyh.

      The Peophin on the other end laughed and the young Kacheek could just imagine him tossing his hair back, wild blue strands going everywhere. “I didn't say Hail said we should do it! In fact, if I recall he said something about not ever going there ever in the history of ever.” Brujyh chuckled.

      “Bru...” Sca groaned slightly amused.

      “I knew you'd be in!” He replied “I'll see you in about three Kad pends.” The click of him hanging up the phone sounded louder than usual. Sca rubbed her eyes then shrugged. What was the worst that could happen, she asked herself before beginning to pack her back.

      Three Kad pends later.

      Sca entered the Happy Valley and looked around. She gasped in delight when she saw not only Brujyh but his younger sister Pure Decadence, nicknamed Deca, a Peophin with rich chocolate color. Standing next to her was their other friend Prince Hailstorm. Deca, usually a fan of warm Autumn colors, was surprisingly dressed up in a lengthy gown the color of deep plum. Sca had to chuckle at that, unlike her brother, Deca was quite the vain Peophin and wouldn't be spot outside their house without her hair prefectly curled and this year's latest Neomall items in her closet.

      She went up to her group and put a paw on Bru's shoulder. As always he jumped and gave a loud squeak before whipping his tail around to figure out what was near him. Peophin tail brushed Kacheek tail and Brujyh turned to her. “Good afternoon Sca.. or at least I think you're Sca and not some other invisible Neopet.

      “Ello Bru” she whispered. Deca and Hail turned towards her voice as well, Deca's gaze landing a little too far to Sca's right but Hail's eyes seem to bore right into her. “Hello to you two as well, I must admit I didn't expect you guys to actually come join us on this adventure.”

      Deca tossed her hair, must be a family trade Sca thought to herself. “Oh me? No way, it's too cold over there, I'm just passing through and figured I'd better check out the Merry Shop and see what I'd look like in holiday colors. It's never too early to shop you know. The only time I visit the Ice Caves is when Hail refuses to leave his house because he's too busy trying to figure out what's aboard the Coincidence.”

      Hail, ever the book worm or book wyrm if you'd rather, smiled good naturally. “I won't be joining you either unfortunately.” Sca felt a little crestfallen at that as she did enjoy spending time with the young Draik. “I've got to run something down to King Hagan. I'm just trying to talk Brujyh out of bothering my neighbor.” He turned a bemused look at the dimensional Peophin who was prancing in place, clearly bored and ready to be on their adventure. “Alas I'm already late!” Hail said looking at his watch. “Why it's close to two already!” He gave a little hop and unfurled his wings. “I'll catch up with you all later and please please please Brujyh don't bother the Snowager. He'll be sleeping soon.” With that Hail took off into the sky, the sun glinting off his ice wings and causing a brilliant reflection across the ground.

      Pure Decadence glanced around her and lifted a hoof. “I've got to be off as well but it was a pleasure seeing you... errrr um.. hearing you, Sca.” She proclaimed and attempted to pat the invisible Kacheek on the shoulder but missing by a good two feet and only patting air. She frowned, a little thrown off her game, before laughing a deep throaty purr that sounded like it belonged to a Kougra. With a swish of her tail, she too left.

      Brujyh turned away from Sca, almost sweeping her off her feet with his tail, and started towards the Ice Caves. “This is going to be our best adventure yet!” He declared loudly much to the amusement of an ice bruce standing nearby. Sca ran to catch up with her over eager friend.

      “Right.. because there's a lot of competition for that spot.” She said, a little louder and less bashful now that Hail and Deca had left and it was just her and Brujyh. She, of course, was referring to their first adventure where they ran into Edna.

      Brujyh just chuckled and continued along, nodding at a fellow Peophin that was heading towards the Ice Arena. He looked up the cavern walls that glistened with ice and magic. “Hail's caverns are there which means Snowy's home must be over there” He pointed. “So we'll just explore between the two and call it good.”

      “Aren't you worried we might stumble into the Snowager?” Sca asked glancing up at the caverns too.

      “Of course not, I have a great sense of direction” Brujyh said almost sounding haughty.

      Sca snickered, “Yes because remember that time with the whirlpool?”

      Brujyh cleared his throat loudly “We don't talk about that!” but his face was split into a smile, knowing he succeeded in calming his friend down which was his intention with the comment.

      The unlikely pair walked up the ramp and entered the caverns, the temperature dropping slightly as they left the sunshine and warmer weather behind in favor of the damp caves filled with almost unnatural mist.

      Brujyh set off towards the left at the first branch in the road they took then when they came across another he took a left again. The third time they reached a choice Sca looked at him “Let me guess, left again?” She asked.

      Bru shook his head, “Not at all. We'll go right.” He said like it was the most natural choice in the world. This split led them to a cavern filled with four different choices. “Mhm” he muttered to himself. “The fourth corridor is the one we want.”

      Sca looked amazed. “How do you know?” She asked, her voice filled with wonder.

      Bru looked at the space right above her head, clearly thinking he was making eye contact. “I heard it once. One, One, Two, Four. Yup that's the way to the Snowager cave.”

      Sca slapped a paw to her forehead. “Brujyh no! That's the suggestion to getting the Kiss the Mortog avatar! Not how to get to the Snowager... wait I thought we were just exploring we weren't actually going to...”

      Bru shrugged. “Kiss the Mortog, Snowager, what's the difference? They're both impossible.” He smiled, looking completely unbothered with the mix up. The duo rounded a corner and Brujyh came to a quick stop, Sca stepping on his tail and tripping into his back, her backpack spilling across the floor and her keychain skidding off and coming to a rest at the bottom of a large ice sculpture.

      “Why did you...” Bru whirled around and clamped a hoof over Sca's mouth. Sca shook him off and peered around him. The shape she mistook for an ice sculpture was moving. Her eyes got large. Snowager inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly, a mist spraying across the floor and freezing against the wall in front of him, clearly deep in sleep.

      “Wow” Brujyh whispered gazing up at the creature many Neopets feared. “Beautiful!” His voice carried a hint of awe.

      “My mum gave me that keychain” Sca said quietly for she too was in awe of the magnificent worm in front of them. Brujyh looked at her, his gaze resting near her left ear.

      “I'll get it!” He said and slowly started to walk across the deep cavern. His every footstep echoed off the walls and sounded ten times louder than they should have. Snowy twitched in his sleep. Brujyh froze for a second then started forward again.

      “Bru!” Sca whispered, “Watch out for the..”

      Brujyh stepped on a yoyo carelessly left on the ground and with a loud creak it broke. The snowager woke up and his icy gaze settled on the Peophin creeping across his home. With a rear of his head, he inhaled as if he was smelling the smell of home made apple pie. Exhale harshly a cone of frost shot at Bru. The Peophin had just enough time to jump back into the connecting cavern, crashing into Sca in an attempt to get away from the blast. “Well that didn't work.” He said to her and helped her up.

      Sca patted her friend, making sure he was ok. “It's alright. I'll just.. um it's fine. It's just a keychain.” She told her crestfallen friend. Brujyh shook his head.

      “No I'm going to get it.”

      Sca shook her head back at him, despite him not being able to see it. “It's fine really. You shouldn't go back in there. He's angry enough as it is.”

      Brujyh's face was lit up in a smile. “Say Sca... why don't you try to get it? After all, he can't see you.”

      Sca stopped in her tracks, already having made her way towards the tunnel that would lead them outside. “I... didn't think of that.”

      She crept through the cavern peeking around the corner to make sure Snowager had gone back to sleep. Seeing that he had, she started to make her way across the room. Her footsteps were utterly silent, whether that was due to her being a smaller Neopet than a Peophin or her invisibility, or maybe it was just due to her being used to being quiet one could only guess. Coming up to the Snowager's side she bent down and scooped up her key chain before quickly fleeing the cavern.

      Bru gave a loud whoop and they both ran, hearing the sound of the Snowager waking up again. Once the two were outside and happily leaning against the Ice Crystal Shop they shared a quick hug. “That was amazing Sca!”

      Sca had to smile along with him. “It was kind of cool wasn't it?” She asked. Maybe being invisible sometimes wasn't a bad thing, especially when you had friends who believed in you.

      Brujyh nodded. “We got your keychain back and.....” he reached into his backpack coming up with a small book. Flipping through the pages Sca could see every single avatar he'd ever collected. Stopping at the last page she smiled happily at the Edna avatar sitting on the left hand side then gasped for on the right hand side was a shiny new avatar with some words underneath it, Snowager – Rawr! An avatar you get when randomly blasted by the Snowager.

      The End....or is it?