The Greatest Treasure of All: Part Three

      Katrina, who had been looking at the ground, now spoke up. She lifted her head with a jerk and yelled angrily at him, "Don't you understand? Aaron is right. There is no treasure. We're just a couple of naïve little children, just like he said, who don't know the difference between what's real and what's fake. We've been fooled. There's no point in going on with the treasure hunt. It's over. We're done. We're giving up."

      Ricky looked very confused and a little hurt. "Giving up?" he asked. "That isn't like you."

      Katrina didn't answer him.

      "Look, who cares what he thinks? He could be wrong. Even if we don't find a treasure, it's okay. The only way I'd be ashamed of us is if we didn't try. Come on, we have to at least try. We've gotten this far, we might as well go the whole way. What do you say?"

      Katrina looked at him, into his eyes. He really seemed sincere for once. "You're right," she said, starting to smile. "It isn't like me to give up, and we should at least try." Ricky smiled back. Katrina went on, "But you're not acting quite like yourself either. You actually seem… nice." She couldn't believe she had just used that word, "nice," to describe Ricky.

      Ricky put on a mischievous grin. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it. It's just until we find the treasure."

      Katrina gave a short laugh. For the first time that day, she actually hoped she never found the treasure.

      "Okay, so, what do you think the clue means?" Ricky said, getting back to business.

      "Oh, I don't know yet," said Katrina, glancing down at it again. "Who is the 'cute little friend'?"

      Just then, a very cute little friend made herself known from behind Katrina. She giggled and smiled when Katrina turned to face her.

      "Rita!" Katrina shouted. "The cute little friend!"

      "Rita? What? But how could she know where the treasure is?" asked Ricky. "It's a good theory, but I'm not quite sure…. Who else could it be?"

      Rita giggled again, this time because Dreamer was twirling and dancing around her. Rita reached out and gave Dreamer a great, big hug.

      "Maybe it's Dreamer!" suggested Katrina. "She's cute, and little, and she's our friend!"

      "Katrina, come on, if Rita doesn't know about it, and moreover we don't know about it, how can a Petpet?"

      "A… Petpet…." Katrina murmured to herself. "I've got it! Maybe Dreamer wouldn't know, but Petpets on Mystery Island would!"

      "You mean the Petpet Shop? That's where the treasure is?"

      "Yeah!" said an excited Katrina. "Let's go!" They rushed off to the Rock Pool, the Mystery Island Petpet shop.

      Once they arrived, a kind yellow Kougra shopkeeper greeted them, motioning to all the cute little friends with his paw. "There are so many," noted Ricky. "Which one knows where the treasure is?"

      They could see Petpets in every direction: Catamaras to the left, Sproings to the right, Primellas everywhere. They were all frolicking about and swimming and playing with each other. However, there was one lonely little Baby Blu in the corner that didn't seem to be having as much fun.

      It was very little, and also very cute, so Ricky and Katrina decided that it was worth a try. They walked up to the Baby Blu.

      "Hi, little guy," said Katrina. "Why don't you go play with the others?"

      The Baby Blu hid its face under its fins and whimpered.

      "Well, that didn't work. Why not?" wondered Katrina.

      "Well, obviously, it didn't work!" said Ricky. "You just don't know how to handle something like this. Here, let me try." He knelt down in front of the Baby Blu and put his face right up to it. "Hello! We are your friends! Now tell us where the treasure is, little wimp."

      "Ricky-!" She was too late. The Baby Blu burst out in tears, yelling as loud as it possibly could.

      "Wow, for such a little guy, he sure has a big voice!" said Ricky, trying to cover the Baby Blu's mouth and make it stop crying. "Listen, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Now please, just stop!"

      It calmed down a little. It sniffed a few times, then put an end to the waterworks. It even smiled.

      "Aww, you're not so bad, little guy," said Ricky. "You're cute when you're quiet."

      The Baby Blu jumped up on its tail and gave a small squeal of happiness. A few seconds later, it started bouncing away.

      "Wait, where are you going?" Katrina asked it. She and Ricky followed it, and it led them into a tiny cave in the middle of some rocks.

      "I can't fit in there, and neither can you, Katrina," said Ricky. "Someone's got to be super small to fit inside there…. You'd have to be a Petpet or something -"

      At the mention of a Petpet that was needed, they both turned instantly to Dreamer. Dreamer tilted its head to one side as if to ask, "Who, me?" Katrina told it to go inside the hole, and it did as it was told. It toddled into the cave, and after a few minutes it came back out, accompanied by the Baby Blu. Dreamer was now holding a small sheet of paper.

      "Oh, no," moaned Ricky. "Not another clue! I want to get straight to the treasure."

      Dreamer held up the paper and Katrina took it gently out of its paw. While Dreamer began to socialize with the Baby Blu, Katrina read the paper. It said:

     A flock of Kyrii chasing you

     Are his strange fortunes ever true?

     You will see…

      "Okay," said Katrina, "that's obviously talking about the Island Mystic. He's the one who always has those crazy fortunes for everybody."

      "All right, well, let's hurry up and get there. We started this early in the morning, and now it's the afternoon. I want to find the treasure before it gets dark."

      After bidding good-bye to their new friend, they rushed off to get to the Island Mystic as fast as they could. When they entered the Mystic's hut, they found him in what looked like a state of meditation, of very deep thought. His eyes were closed and he sat in the corner of the hut, completely still and unmoving. Leaving Katrina right outside the door with Dreamer and Rita, Ricky stepped inside quietly, thinking it would probably be unwise to disturb the Island Mystic, especially since he held a very intimidating shrunken head in his left paw.

      "Welcome, unexpected visitor," the Island Mystic said suddenly without even opening his eyes. "Yes, welcome to my humble little hut. I suppose you came to have your fortune told?"

      "Um, not exactly, sir," Ricky told him. "You see, I -"

      "I know, young one, I know why you have come. Now here is your fortune…"

      "No, you don't understand, I just -"

      "Hush, child," he cut Ricky off, his eyes finally popping open, looking a bit angry. "Listen to what the Island Mystic has to stay."

      Ricky decided to keep silent. The Mystic went on, "'Your luck will cease unexpectedly.' Remember those exact words. That is your fortune."

      "No!" Ricky cried out. "That can't be! We can't have bad luck, not now!"

      "Bad luck? Is that what I said? That wouldn't be very good at a time when you're looking for a treasure, eh?" the Mystic responded with a mysterious smile and a glint in his eye.

      "What? But how did you…" began Ricky, but, with a quick wink, the Island Mystic had disappeared, leaving behind only a small leaf of yellowish paper.

      Ricky, very puzzled, picked up the paper and exited the hut. When he met back up with Katrina, she asked him, "Well, what did he say? Did he tell you where the treasure is?"

      "No," said Ricky. "He just said 'Your luck will cease unexpectedly.'"

      "What?" asked Katrina in disbelief. "Does that mean we'll have bad luck? Does that mean we won't find the treasure?"

      "I don't know," said Ricky, "I really have no idea what he meant. He was acting really weird, all sly-ish and stuff… and just like Jhuidah and the Tombola guy, he disappeared. Has everybody gone mad around here? ... Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I also got this. It's another dumb note. How many places do we have to go until we find the treasure? This is getting annoying."

      "Here, let me see the clue," said Katrina, taking it from him and reading the contents of the paper out loud:

     "How nice it would be

     Sitting under a tree

     And relax by the sea

     "Oh, great, that means the beach, doesn't it? We have to see Aaron again," Katrina whined.

      "Well, if it means getting the treasure, then we have to go," Ricky pointed out. "At least we get one more pet back on our team. And if he doesn't want to rejoin with us, then we'll just go on without him and find the treasure by ourselves."

      "And then we get to rub it in his face," Katrina said, grinning, and then she, Ricky, Rita, and Dreamer made their way across the island to the beach.

To be continued...