Faerie Fanatics: Part Two

     Anyway, it was three weeks since I had talked to the Parlour Usul. I also realized how much I missed Shara since she stormed out of the shop. I thought I considered her an annoying pest, but helping me anyway, but now that she was gone I realized how much of a dear friend she was to me.

     So meanwhile, I was enveloped in these thoughts when the ferry thudded clumsily into the dock of Mystery Island.

     A muffled voice came from below, the driver I presumed. "Oops," he said. "Sorry! I'm quite tired today!"

     I rolled my eyes in a perturbed fashion. I jumped down onto the glistening yellow of Mystery Island's beach. It felt more like a holiday than an investigation to find the Rainbow Faerie.

     I made my way to the top left corner of the Island, to the Island Mystic. It was hard to imagine that he was the most likely to be the kidnapper. He was always so kind when I visited him.

     And, believe or not, most of his predictions come true. Well, for me anyway. But I think listening to him was half the fun anyway.

     I had to take a rowing boat to get through the waterway to the Mystic's hut. However, there weren't many rowing boats for hire and, since Mystery Island was getting more popular by the second—for some reason or another—the boats were continuously being rowed back and forth. It was extremely difficult to find a free vessel. Just like the ferry.

     Then I noticed something else strange. The boats were going out of control! When they reached the Isle of the Mystic (as I like to call it) the boat thudded sharply against a rock sending the unfortunate passenger into the water. I remembered the clumsiness of the ferry. I wondered if this was connected.

     I also wondered how I would get over there to speak the Mystic. I couldn't get into a boat, and even if I did I wouldn't have a chance to get into the hut because I'd get flung into the depths of the waterway. And, if you're wondering, I can't fly very well. Wings too small, stomach too round, you get the picture.

     I heard a girly chuckling nearby. It sounded oddly familiar…

     "They should have been painted Faerie!" cackled Shara, shooting up into the air with brilliant expertise. How did she learn how to fly like that so quickly?

     Before I could call out to her, she had stomped into the Mystic's hut, laughing.

     Bewildered Neopets were now swimming back to the surface, after being dunked into the waterway, but still others didn't seem to notice them and still paddled in their little rowboats and slammed into a rock jutting out of the water.

     This had certainly been a strange day, and I knew that the Rainbow Faerie's disappearance was the cause.

     The next sound I heard, I will never forget. The most ear-piercing scream emitting from the Mystic's Hut. It was so loud, all the rowers stopped either starting or in the middle of the waterway. I seized my chance. I grabbed a vacant boat and rowed swiftly to the Isle.

     What I found inside, was both startling and perplexing

     ***

     The hut was empty. By empty, I mean no-one was in there. The Mystic's crystal ball was there, a peculiar table with massive rings on it—just like in the picture—and two seats. There were the usual voodoo figurines and psychic mumbo-jumbo all over the walls and on shelves.

     I hate to say it, but the culprit was the Island Mystic.

     But first I had to find him. Where was he? There was no backdoor to the hut, and not any secret panel that I'd heard of. Well, of course I wouldn't have heard of a secret panel, as it would've been secret…

     I shook these thoughts out my mind. They were distracting me. I eyed the crystal ball for a second. I wonder…

     I sat down in the Mystic's chair and peered into the crystal ball. It was the biggest hunk of glass that I ever saw. It was about as big as a baby Kiko's eyes… "Goo goo bah!!!" babbled an immature voice from outside. I glanced out of the door and on the other side of the waterway was a baby Kiko.

     Strange, I was thinking about baby Kikos, and there was a baby Kiko.

     With these thoughts fresh in my mind, I looked back into the crystal ball. To my astonishment, a picture gradually shaped itself in it. When it came into focus, I saw that it was Jhuidah, the island faerie. Then below, there was elegant text that said, 'The Island Faerie will have the answers.'

     Like an electric Kougra, I sped out of the hut. Forgot I was on an isle, got a bit wet. I eventually swam to the other side and ran to the Cooking Pot.

     To my surprise (you'd think I would've been used to all these surprises by now), the Cooking Pot was crowded, just like the Rainbow Fountain.

     I asked a nearby electric Kougra what was going on. He simply replied, "Doesn't anyone read the Neopian Times?" He pushed the latest issue into my arms and sighed. I couldn't believe I had been so sidetracked that I forgot about the Neopian Times!

     I unfolded the newspaper and gasped as I read the headline.

THIRD FAERIE DISAPPEARANCE

     After the mysterious vanishing of the Faeries, Jhuidah is the third to go. After the Water Faerie from the Healing Springs went without a trace, the rate of injured and sick pets has increased immensely. Jhuidah also had control over the resources in Mystery Island, so the Neopian Times crew recommends caution when traveling on ferries to the Island. Story continued on page 6…

     I remembered the message in the crystal ball. "The Island Faerie will have all the answers." Correct, as usual. Jhuidah's kidnapping had resulted in the boats and ferries going out of control. But that still didn't explain why the Island was so much more popular all of a sudden.

     But that was answered that second. I noticed other pets running past me, holding extremely rare Battledome weapons in their arms. Not again…

     I lunged at a passing Acara embracing a Battle Faerie Amulet and yelled my dishonesty and heartless speech.

     "Enemy?!" Shara screeched. She squirmed out my hands. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here…"

     I stood back, my mouth gaping. How did she just keep popping out of nowhere? Didn't the Island Mystic kidnap her?

     "I have to go. Bye, Enemy," Shara mumbled angrily and stomped away toward the Island Mystic's hut.

     As she walked off into the distance, I got over my shock and remembered why I was here. THIS was why Mystery Island attracted more tourists now. The Cooking Pot was free.

     I decided to visit the hut again. It took a while, but I eventually got another boat and found my way over to the isle. The hut was in a bad state. I looked like it had been in a war; the walls were singed with continuous drips of water, holes in the earth and a dark cloud looming overhead.

     Despite the wreckage and definite struggle, I entered. The inside was no different to the outside, but it still wasn't much help.

     What was going on? I had to work it out, for the good of Faerie-kind. I don't know how I knew, but more Faeries had been kidnapped. Maybe a Dark, Earth, Fire and another Water Faerie.

     The hut was empty, again. The kidnapped Faeries were in here, but where?

     Then, suddenly, one of the voodoo figurines tilted slightly, and a secret panel in the wall opened slowly to reveal… I couldn't believe it.

     Shara.

     "You?!" Shara screamed. "Why are you stalking me?" I just stood there, gaping and opening and closing my mouth like a Koi out of water.

     Instead of talking, I stared behind Shara through the secret panel. Sure enough, there were seven Faeries gagged and struggling on the floor. Even the Island Mystic was there in the same position.

     "Shara, I think you need some explaining to do," I said simply. I was still gob-smacked; she seemed like such a nice person when we first met. Well, after that incident was over anyway.

     "OK, you caught me. I am the kidnapper," she cried. Shara looked close to tears.

     "But why? What is the point of it all?"

     "I desperately wanted to become Faerie, so I kidnapped the Rainbow Faerie so that I didn't have to wait for her quest. But my Faerie obsession got carried away, so I kidnapped more…" she seemed to struggle a bit. I knew this wasn't the reason, and I was going to squeeze the truth out of her.

     "Don't lie…" Now I was struggling. There was the red hot anger building up inside of me… I couldn't help it… I lunged at Shara. We flew over the tied up Faeries and through the surprisingly weak wall of the hut. We splashed into the ocean water.

     I was about to unleash a huge scratch- most likely resulting in a scar- when all of a sudden I got an electric shock. I wrenched my paw away from Shara and clutched it. It was a huge electric shock, it was throbbing in pain.

     But that was a small shock for what was about to come in about 10 seconds.

     ***

     Meanwhile, thousands of miles in space, a dark menace slammed his fist on his chair in anger as a Grundo informed him of what had just happened to Enemy and Shara.

     "Curses!" Dr. Frank Sloth exclaimed. "Our cover is blown! We need to get down there post haste. Galvanise!" he called to the Grundo. "Get me your fastest ship; we are going to pay that pesky Skeith a visit…"

     ***

     Shara was a robot. I couldn't believe it, all this time… What in the name of Fyora was going on?!

     Shara's fake fur was falling away from the metallic body and there lay a mangled robot, slowly sinking into the ocean, emitting electric shocks and loud zapping noises. In fact, the zapping was so loud that I hardly heard the futuristic hovering noise from above.

     "Well, well, well, Enemy!" said a rasping voice above me over the zaps and hovering sounds. "It seems you have fallen for my trap. Get in the craft."

     I looked up. It was hard enough to get over the all the shocks—including the electric one—without another. Dr. Sloth, evil mastermind, leaned out of the door of an impressive-looking spaceship with CX-4800 SS labeled on the side. A tiny green Grundo lingered behind him.

     "No way!" I cried. There was nothing he could do to make me get into his ship.

     Dr. Sloth just laughed, and said, "You're so far out to sea, it doesn't seem like you have much choice." He was right. I was bobbing in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't see Mystery Island, or ANY island for that matter.

     It was then that the confusion set in. So many questions were zooming through my mind. Before I could say anything, I felt myself being lifted out of the water by delicate, comforting hands. The Space Faerie was traveling at top speed away from Dr. Sloth's spaceship, with me in her arms.

     I've read stories about the Space Faerie in the Times and several Neopedias, and there were diagrams of her there, but she was even more radiant in real life. Plus, she had defeated Dr. Sloth before, so I felt safer than I ever had in the past few days. But Dr. Sloth's ship was catching up fast. I looked up at the beautiful Space Faerie, and she smiled, hardly noticing Sloth's ship literally meters behind her. She seemed to know exactly what was going on. So I asked her croakily.

     "Yes, I know you must be confused," she said with a wavy, fragrant voice. "I'll try to explain as bes-" She stopped short, her grip loosened suddenly and I dropped back into the ocean and sunk for a while before breaking back through the surface and gasped for air. I realized the Sloth had shot the Space Faerie with a ray gun, and she was floating silently and barely conscious not far from me. Before I could swim to her, a tangled net fell over me, and I was being pulled into Dr. Sloth's ship.

     The Grundo was struggling to pull me up. Dr. Sloth was probably sitting somewhere in the cockpit, the lazy chicken-head! I eventually got yanked into the entrance and the sliding door closed by itself and now all was mostly silent. I busted with anger.

     "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH THE FAERIES?! ANSWER ME NOW YOU-" Before I could think of an insult, Dr. Sloth chuckled.

     "Haven't you realized yet, that it's not the Faeries, or you that I am after?"

     "Obviously not!" I screamed. I was so furious; I felt like I could just rip open this net and do the same to Sloth. But not to the poor Grundo assistant, he needed freedom.

     Dr. Sloth was practically breathless with laughter now. Then he managed to get the words out.

     "It's your necklace that I'm after."

To be continued...