Reunions and Petpets: Another Pirate Adventure

     Meadowbuck groaned and opened his eyes. Dirty light filtered into the confined space, revealing dust moats and the figures of the Yellow Gelert's friends--a Spotted Blumaroo and a Royal Bori. Meadowbuck shot upright. His ears rubbed against rough fabric, maybe canvas. The canvas shook as the framework holding it up rattled and swayed. They were moving. They were inside something, a cart or a wagon, and they were moving.

      Dull pain pounded through Meadowbuck's head, especially behind his eyes. The Yellow Gelert touched the fur between his ears and found a malicious bump and some scales of freshly-dried scabs. All he remembered was laughing and swapping stories in the tavern with Sproingal and Lady Oakridge, and then….

      Nothing. What--? Who--?

      Lady Oakridge and Sproingal needed his attention more than these questions needed it. Meadowbuck crawled to Lady Oakridge's side and touched the Royal Bori's shoulder.

      "Lady Oakridge?" he whispered. She mumbled something and stirred slightly. At least she was alive. Meadowbuck reached up gingerly and examined her head with his paws. She had a bump like his.

      "Ugh...Meadowbuck?"

      Meadowbuck turned to see Sproingal already sitting up. The Spotted Blumaroo rubbed his eyes.

      "My head…" he moaned.

      "Mine too," Meadowbuck said.

      Sproingal looked around. "Where are we? What happened?"

      "I don't know," Meadowbuck said, then gasped. "Christopher! He's not here!"

      Sproingal swished his head back and forth to look for the Faerie Ombat, then groaned and covered his eyes. "Oww...okay, no sudden head movements."

      "Anybody got some ice?"

      Meadowbuck and Sproingal both breathed a sigh as Lady Oakridge propped herself up on her large digging claws and squinted at them.

      "How much Neocola did we drink last night? I must have gone into a sugar slump....." She reached up and touched the bump on her head. "Whoa...never mind. Neocola didn't cause that."

      "We're being transported in a wagon," Meadowbuck said. "And Christopher is gone."

      Lady Oakridge huffed and sat up. "I was afraid of this. I eschewed a body guard and now we're all captured."

      Sproingal's eyes grew huge. "We've been kidnapped for ransom?!"

      Meadowbuck shivered and crossed his arms over his scrawny chest. "Do you think Christopher got away?"

      "None of our Petpets are here," Lady Oakridge said. "They might be in cages somewhere else. They're all painted--they'll be worth something if whoever kidnapped us wants to sell them."

      Sproingal crawled to the back of the wagon and started examining it for a catch. "There's gotta be some way to open this."

      Meadowbuck reached up and pawed at the canvas overhead. It was thick and new, impossible to tear without something sharp. Lady Oakridge tried to wedge her claws where the canvas met the side of the wagon, but it was fastened tightly. The three of them sat down again, and Meadowbuck and Sproingal rubbed the bumps on their head.

      "I don't remember anything after sitting at the bar together," Sproingal said.

      Lady Oakridge took a deep breath and held up her head regally. "We should reconstruct what happened last night. Maybe we saw our attackers in the tavern and just don't remember it."

      Meadowbuck rubbed the worry off his face with one paw--and maybe rubbed away a frightened tear at the same time. "Right. Okay. Here's what I remember…."

          ------------------

          Meadowbuck slogged through the ankle-deep puddles as rain dribbled down the back of his neck. His Straw Hat didn't quite fit snugly on his head at the moment, because a little purple ball of fur was underneath it, trying to avoid the rain.

      "I can't wait for you to meet them, Christopher! Aw, Oakridge and Sproingal are the best. I was in school with them at Brightvale Academy before I met you. We didn't end up going to the same college, and our careers are totally different, so I haven't crossed paths with them in ages." Meadowbuck reached up a paw to rub between Christopher's ears under the hat. "I'm glad I decided to take a break from the Geraptiku dig to have this reunion with them. It's our seventh anniversary since graduating."

      The Faerie Ombat chittered beneath the hat and licked a raindrop from his paw. Meadowbuck laughed.

      "I know you don't like the rain, buddy. We're almost there."

      The homey yellow lights of Brightvale glimmered just ahead of them. The three alumni had chosen a lovely little tavern and inn in Brightvale to have their reunion. Lady Oakridge lived in Brightvale still, having returned home to run the estate when she finished her degree in business management. In her letters to Meadowbuck, she always assured him her studies were quite boring, particularly in comparison to his own studies in archaeology. Her letters these days now consisted mostly of boring anecdotes about days spent in court or advocating for whatever recent cause had caught Lady Oakridge's eye. Meadowbuck mostly skipped over those parts of her letters.

      Sproingal, no the other hand, had gone to an art school after the Academy, only to drop out a year in because he didn't agree with the commercialized focus the school had on art. He wanted to paint because he loved it, not because he wanted to follow the latest trends and sell his work to the highest bidder. Meadowbuck found it unclear from his letters what Sproingal did to pay the bills. But whatever it was, he also had time to paint, and seemed happy. To Meadowbuck, that was all that really mattered.

      Meadowbuck himself loved his career, too. He'd begun his degree in archaeology just as the Obelisk was uncovered in Tyrannia, and he jumped at the chance to join the digs. His contributions fasttracked him to graduation. He now had his own dig in Geraptiku, where he hoped to discover new chambers of the Deserted Tomb. He hypothesized that the main chamber of the Tomb had yet to be unearthed. When he found it--and he was sure he would--it would reveal just what the long-gone Geraptikuans used the Tomb for beyond simple treasure rooms. Maybe an ancient ruler of Geraptiku was buried there!

      With one soggy paw, Meadowbuck shoved open the door to the tavern. In his haste, he pushed it harder than intended, and it swung open and slammed against the wall. All eyes turned to view the lithe archaeologist. Meadowbuck's cheeks burned beneath his fur, and he held up a hesitant paw to wave to everyone. Viewers included two Pirate pets--a Lutari and a Quiggle--an Elderly Kacheek, a Woodland Meerca, the Purple Shoyru bartending at the back, and….

      "Sproingal! Lady Oakridge!" Meadowbuck exclaimed. His boots sloshed water onto the wooden floor as he ran to his friends at the bar. The Royal Bori and Spotted Blumaroo held open their arms and caught him. At their sides, a Spotted Feebit and a Nuk excitedly squeaked and bleated, respectively.

      "Meadowbuck!" Sproingal and Oakridge chorused, hugging him tightly.

      Seven years is a long time to be apart from dear friends. Meadowbuck knew his face was wet with tears, but he would allow his friends to think it was only rainwater.

      "I've missed you," he whispered, an arm looped around each of their necks. "I didn't realize how much until just now." He sniffed and looked around. "I'm surprised it's just you two," he said. "Don't you always have a bodyguard, Lady Oakridge?"

      The Royal Bori chuckled and shook her head. "I'm supposed to have one at all times, but I told her to take the night off. I've got Nuka with me." She gestured to her Nuk with a smile. "I don't need protection."

      Sproingal huffed a sigh as he picked up his matching Spotted Feepit to cuddle her. "I still don't think it's a good idea. You've got political enemies! And stuff!"

      Lady Oakridge patted Meadowbuck's chest. "Don't listen to him. A few other Brightvale nobles may dislike my policies, but they're not going to hunt me down in a tavern and bother me when I'm with company." She patted Meadowbuck's chest again, this time a little more forcefully. "You're so thin," she said. "Does anybody feed you out on that dig of yours?"

      Meadowbuck chuckled and released his friends, grinning. "Sometimes my assistant will bring a double lunch and make me eat one of her sandwiches. And Christopher usually reminds me when it's dinner time." His eyes lit up, and he reached under his hat. "Oh! Christopher, come out and meet everyone!"

      The Yellow Gelert withdrew his Petpet from beneath his hat and held him up. The Faerie Ombat blinked sleepily at the assembled company, and yawned.

      "He's adorable!" Lady Oakridge exclaimed. She held out her huge claws, palm up, and allowed Christopher to crawl into them. "Hey there, little guy!"

      "No more Starmane, huh?" Sproingal said. "I miss that old Liobits."

      Meadowbuck shook his head. "My digs are much too dirty and wet for a cardboard Liobits. He's safely tucked away at my family's house. I write to him. If I'm reading his letters correctly--and I may not be, his formatting is very scrambled--he spends most of his time reading in my old bedroom."

      Lady Oakridge scritched beneath Christopher's chin, and he cooed. "I was always so impressed that you taught Starmane to write." She set the Ombat on the bar and reached down to pick up Nuka, so they could meet each other.

      Sproingal chortled at a memory. "Remember, on the first day of school, Sir Cubbern caught Meadowbuck passing notes to Starmane?"

      "He was so angry I had a Petpet in class!" Meadowbuck said.

      Behind the little group of friends, the Pirate Lutari and Pirate Quiggle got up from their table and settled at the other end of the bar.

      "Hey," Oakridge said. "I tried to say it was me writing those notes to keep you two out of trouble." She beckoned to Meadowbuck, and he hopped onto the barstool beside her. "Want a Neocola? Most places in Brightvale don't sell it, but this tavern recently started importing from Kreludor."

      "That's right," the Purple Shoyru barkeep interjected. "Turns out, there's a want for fresh vegetables up on that there moon. All's I gotta do is keep 'em supplied with carrots and potatoes, and they keep sending me Neocola for me customers."

      The Shoyru plunked a frosty glass down on the bar in front of Meadowbuck and upended a can of Neocola into it. The liquid frothed and bubbled as it rose in the glass. Meadowbuck smiled ruefully at the barkeeper and took off his dripping Straw Hat.

      "Um," he said. "Actually...I'd rather like something hot. The rain has me chilled."

      With a roll of her eyes, the barkeeper picked up the Neocola glass and began to drink it herself as she moved off to prepare a hot beverage for the Yellow Gelert.

      "You really are soaked," Lady Oakridge said.

      The Royal Bori stood up in her barstool and reached across the counter to grab a towel from the barkeep's side. She offered it to Meadowbuck, who nodded gratefully and began to rub his fur dry. The Purple Shoyru came back with a steaming mug of hot Borovan and stared at Meadowbuck. He glanced at her, and she narrowed her eyes. Hastily, the Yellow Gelert folded the soggy towel and laid it neatly on the bar.

      "Sorry," he said.

      She rolled her eyes again and left the mug with him before moving off to tend to the Pirate Lutari and Pirate Quiggle at the other end of the bar.

      Sproingal stifled a giggle with one paw. "Heh, you're already getting in trouble with the establishment. I always thought you were such a straight arrow!"

      Meadowbuck laughed. "I wouldn't say straight." He gestured with his mug. "Besides, don't you remember when I broke curfew and punched those bullies in the middle of the night?"

      Lady Oakridge offered Christopher and Nuka some peanuts from the available snack dish. "Meadowbuck is all about 'doing what's right,' Sproingal. Which has nothing to do with the towel, really, but it does explain why he'd go against 'the establishment' sometimes."

      Meadowbuck chuckled. He sipped his Borovan and surveyed the scene. His old friends, talking animatedly and feeding snacks to his Petpet. There was no way to make this night any better.

          ------------------

          In the wagon, Meadowbuck, Sproingal, and Lady Oakridge exchanged sober glances. Their night of mirth seemed so far away in this morning of confinement. The wagon continued to bump along whatever road or path it was on, with no way out of it.

      "The Pirates," Meadowbuck said.

      Sproingal and Lady Oakridge nodded.

      "I remember now," the Spotted Blumaroo. "They started listening in on our conversation when we were talking about Brightvale Academy."

      "But why?" Lady Oakridge said. "Were they there for me?"

      Meadowbuck rubbed his eyes. "Did anyone recognize them?"

      The others shook their heads. Oakridge clicked her claws together while she stared at the canvas ceiling of the wagon.

      "I don't see why pirates would be after me," she said. "I've never made any naval policies. Or really...anything that would affect a pirate."

      Meadowbuck squinted at nothing in particular. "Wait...pirates…."

      "Yeah?" Sproingal said. "So what? Lady Oakridge says it doesn't mean anything."

      "No," Meadowbuck said. "It's not that...it's…" He groaned. "Okay, so in college, I first met Christopher because, um…" He sighed. "I might have stolen him from pirates?"

      Lady Oakridge and Sproingal stared at the Yellow Gelert, jaws dropped. Meadowbuck chuckled nervously and rubbed his paw along the side of his muzzle.

      "Yup...so um...if these are those pirates...maybe they're still mad about it."

      Lady Oakridge covered her mouth with her claws to hide a grin. "Meadowbuck! I can't believe you stole from pirates."

      Sproingal held up a paw. "Wait a sec. It doesn't explain why they were so interested in our conversation about Brightvale Academy when we were talking at the bar."

      Meadowbuck drew his knobbly knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "I hate to say it, guys, but you remember how we were talking last night about the bullies I beat up? Their names were Rasival and Sacrige. You remember them, right?"

      "Of course," Lady Oakridge said. "You got them expelled for vandalizing school property, and stealing books from the library."

      Sproingal squinted at Meadowbuck. "What do they have to do with the pirates?"

      Meadowbuck gave a long, drawn-out sigh, which really came out more like a groan. "Rasival and Sacrige might have been on the pirate crew I stole Christopher from. And I might have gotten them arrested by the Defenders of Neopia. And they might have been sentenced to five years."

      Lady Oakridge covered her eyes with her claws. "Oh no. It's been five years, hasn't it?"

      Meadowbuck nodded. "They would have just gotten out about a month ago."

      "They've got a bone to pick with us," Sproingal said. "We're the ones who got them expelled from Brightvale Academy, and you got them arrested for piracy."

      "Sounds like a motive for kidnapping," Lady Oakridge said glumly.

      The wagon rattled to a stop. Everyone's ears pricked up as they listened to several sets of pawsteps walking around the wagon towards the back. The sound of a bolt being drawn on the wagon's back. The creak of hinges. Sunlight streamed into the wagon, and Meadowbuck held up a paw to shield his eyes.

      Two silhouettes loomed at the back of the wagon. Sure enough--a Lutari and a Quiggle, the Pirates who were lurking in the tavern last night.

      Lady Oakridge drew herself up. "Hello," she said. "My name is Lady Oakridge of Brightvale. I suggest you release us immediately. My absence will have already been noted by the Oakridge Estate, and they will be searching for me."

      The Quiggle's lip curled up. "'My absence has been noted.' Can it, girlie. We ain't interested in what you got to say."

      Sproingal made a strangled noise as he stared at the Quiggle.

      "What'sa matter?" the Lutari said. "Meowclops got your tongue?"

      Meadowbuck's breath caught in his throat. "I hear it too," he whispered.

      "I recognize your voices," Lady Oakridge said, her face aghast. "Y-you're--"

      "Rasival and Sacrige," Meadowbuck murmured. "It really is you."

      Oakridge and Sproingal shivered.

      "Ohhh I see, now you know us?" the Quiggle said. Rasival, Meadowbuck guessed, from the voice.

      "It's amazing what a few morphing potions will do," said the Lutari, Sacrige.

      Yes, the two Neopets standing before them were definitely Rasival and Sacrige. When Meadowbuck knew them, Rasival was a Grarrl and Sacrige was a Lupe. Eleven years ago, when Meadowbuck first arrived at Brightvale Academy, Meadowbuck had confronted the two bullies and stopped them from stealing school property, which got them expelled. They'd painted themselves Pirate and joined a pirate crew that raided Petpet shops for rare Petpets--like Christopher, an Ombat. When Meadowbuck "liberated" Christopher five years ago, Ombats had only just been discovered, and they were incredibly valuable. Meadowbuck and his friends had stopped the pirate crew, towed their ship to shore, and gotten them all detained by the Defenders of Neopia. With Rasival and Sacrige safely put away, Meadowbuck had thought he and Christopher would be safe. But apparently the two were still out for revenge.

      Meadowbuck rose to his paws, his thin frame desperately unintimidating. "Where are our Petpets? Where's Christopher?" he demanded. "What have you done with him?"

      Sacrige chuckled. "Weeeell, let's just say the whole crew is glad to see him again."

      Meadowbuck gritted his teeth. "He's even more valuable now that I've painted him Faerie."

      Rasival winked one bulbous eye at the Yellow Gelert. "Ain't yew just the smart one, eh? Some things never change."

      "Like how you never changed from being bullies and thieves," Lady Oakridge said.

      Sacrige bared his sharp teeth. "You'll regret talkin' back, sweet'eart."

      "Oh yeah?" Sproingal said. "Well you'll...you'll regret kidnapping us! It's illegal, first of all!"

      Meadowbuck and Lady Oakridge stared blankly at the Spotted Blumaroo. His ears drooped, and he smiled sheepishly.

      "I'm nervous," he said. "You can't expect my comebacks to be perfect!"

      Meadowbuck turned to the Pirates and raised his head high. He hoped they couldn't see his ears quivering. "What will you do with us?"

      Rasival and Sacrige exchanged grins. Meadowbuck resisted the urge to shiver. He'd always hated these two. They were scoundrels, and he never regretted for a moment getting them expelled from Brightvale Academy or turning them in to the Defenders of Neopia. They'd gotten what was coming for them. But now, on their own, with no school authorities or superheroes to break up a fight, and with an entire crew to back up the Lutari and Quiggle….

      The three friends were in trouble.

      "Fancy takin' a little voyage?" Rasival asked.

      Lady Oakridge's brows sunk lower over her eyes, and her lip curled up to reveal one canine tooth. "No," she said. "But I have a feeling you aren't offering us a real choice."

      To Be Continued…