Dubloons to the Double

     Bam! Flazer, a red Shoyru female, just shut her book, Neopia's Past and Present.

     "Oh, Flazer," Zafar said. "Do you actually believe that there is a pile of shining Dubloons somewhere in Krawk Island?"

     "Yep," Flazer replied. "Just because you, a Zafara who buries his nose in ten-year-old books, hasn't found any, it doesn't mean that there isn't any."

     "Well," Zafar retorted, "try to find some then, if you're so clever!"

     Flazer obliged and immediately flew out of her NeoHome, flying about a hundred feet into the air. She was so determined that she flapped he wings so fast that they were nothing but a red blur- people looking from the ground would think she had no wings at all. By the time she got to Krawk Island, it was sunset. She landed at a cave near the very edge of the island.

     "Now I'll show that arrogant spiked rabbit whose words are true!"

     Her voice echoed eerily into the cave. Evil cackling answered her words. Krawks and Eyries emerged on all sides of the cave, who sprang out and attacked Flazer. She yelled at them at the top of her voice, but the scream seemed to echo only in the cave and did not reach the outside of the cave.

     Two days had passed. Back at Flazer's NeoHome, Zafar was worried.

     "Don't tell me something's happened to her. Oh, pray not," Zafar mumbled to himself.

     In the cave, Flazer was continuously biting at the ropes that were binding her. However, the ropes were too thick for her to bite through and also made of non-burnable nylon. She tried to move, but the ropes were too tight. The Krawks and Eyries cackled with glee and threw Flazer in a smaller cave that branched out from the main one.

     "Let me go now, or I'll burn you!" Flazer threatened, but the Krawks and Eyries howled even louder and stuffed a wad of nylon string into her mouth and blocked the cave with a giant rock.

     After struggling for a while in the dimly lit cave, but to no avail, Flazer gave up. She was fighting a losing battle against sleep and soon drifted off to sleep.

     When Flazer woke up, the cave appeared to be pitch-black and she yawned. It took a while for her eyes to be adjusted to the darkness. She yawned again and this time, stretched her wings- she could stretch her wings? She looked around and saw the nylon rope, as well as the wad of nylon string, lying a few feet away. The rock blocking the entrance of the cave was gone as well. Now that she looked around, she saw a male Pirate Chia snoring quietly near the side of the cave. He was grey in colour. With a striped red-and-white shirt and a pirate's eye-patch, he looked nonetheless like the pet of a pirate.

     Feeling curious, Flazer prodded the Chia with her finger and whispered, "Hey… who are you? Wake up!"

     "Whoa- what the-" the Chia said. "Oh yeah, now I remember. I was captured by those… filthy animals, if that's what you can describe them as."

     "You're the one who rescued me right? Thanks, but why did they capture you and me anyway?" Flazer asked.

     "… Well, long story, girl, but it all started when they were abandoned, years ago. You see- their owners were once crew on a pirate ship. They learned how to smuggle items, especially Dubloons, onto the ship. But one day, they went back to the ship empty-handed. This made their owners furious and they were thrown overboard. The Eyries flew for the nearest cave available and the Krawks swam in their direction. It is sad, really. They always vent their anger on any being which has the utter misfortune to pass by this cave. So far, I don't know where the others are kept, but I do know that you and I are the only ones they have captured for what should be a few months. They do it out of fun, but also partially because of their hate for any other being that does not match the likes of them."

     Flazer yawned and said, "Poor them. Still, that doesn't give them the right to kidnap anyone they like. We've got to escape!"

     The Chia agreed and stomped out of the cave. He checked the passage for any signs of the Krawks and Eyries, but there were none. He crept silently along the passage and beckoned Flazer to follow him. They continued down the cave. When they reached the entrance of the cave, they saw that it was blocked by another giant rock.

     "I wonder how they get all those darn rocks," Flazer said curiously. "They can't dig them out alone, can they?"

     "You never know. How would they be able to dig those caves out, you should ask first," Pirate Chia replied.

     "Oh yeah, I never thought of that," Flazer sighed. "Hope we can find a way out of here fast."

     They passed by the cave that they were in before, meeting an unwelcome sign. The Krawks and Eyries were standing by the cave's entrance, not one bit happy at all.

     "Kekeke… think it was funnnnnny, escaping like thaaaat? We'll teach you a lessssssson. See if you dare meddle with ussssssss again!" one of the Krawks hissed.

     "Here we go," Flazer whispered. "Attack!!!"

     The Krawks and the Eyries leapt at Flazer and Pirate Chia and some pelted them with pebbles. The latter two ducked the stones and attacked. Flazer spit out a large jet of flame at the Eyries while the Pirate Chia rammed headlong into the Krawks.

     "Take that!" Flazer yelled as she whirled her tail at an Eyrie and flung it at the others.

     The intensity of the battle was so great that none of them noticed the crumbling rock from the ceiling, until a trickle of sand fell onto Flazer's wing.

     Feeling this, she screamed, "RUN!!!"

     She and the Pirate Chia leapt off the Krawks and Eyries they were fighting and quickly fled as far as they could, away from them. The Krawks and Eyries, too stunned at the sudden movement, did not know what was happening until one of the Eyries was hit by a falling rock. However, it was too late as part of the ceiling caved in with a deafening explosion a few moments later. The disaster was far from over, however. The remaining loose parts of the ceiling were unsupported and cracks slowly appeared on the ceiling. The whole thing collapsed like dominoes, one metre after the other.

     However, Flazer and the Chia were nearly reaching the exit when the loose rock fell and blocked their way.

     "No!!!" Flazer cried, but it was no use; the loose rocks slammed onto them a few seconds later.

     When the dust had cleared, they, weakened by the blast, could barely get up and run. However, there was no need. The entrance lay right before their eyes, with a wooden box in the mouth- a box? Curious, Flazer opened the box and saw two rusty Five Dubloon Coins.

     Gazing half-heartedly at the Dubloons, she handed one to the Pirate Chia and sighed, "So this is what I risked life and limb for. A Five Dubloon Coin in a box hidden in what- a rock. Oh well, the money from this could last me a week, I guess."

     "Well, the box's of no use. Let's throw it away when we reach outside," said the Pirate Chia.

     They went to the small junkyard at a deserted corner of Krawk Island and stepped towards the pile. Pinching their noses to block out the overwhelming pungent smell, they were about to fling the box when a certain rattling sounded from inside the box. However, when they opened the box again, there was nothing.

     Flazer thought for a while and said, "Do you think what I'm thinking?"

     The Pirate Chia nodded. Both of them seized the edges of the false wood bottom and pried it open. The blinding brightness temporarily prevented them from opening their eyes, but when they could, it was just what they expected.

     A pair of One Thousand Dubloon Coins. Flazer could almost imagine the look on Zafar's face if he could see it.

The End