Rosalina and the Way-Weird Beast

     “Aww, look at the whittle Werelupe!” Lenny cooed. “He’s so cute! And look at his whittle snarl as he’s clawing his way inside.”

     The younger Werelupe sneered at everyone before focusing his gaze on Rosalina. Growling, he inched forward to the frightened Xweetok.

     Rosalina stepped back cautiously. She didn’t want the Werelupe to attack her with his little, admittedly-adorable claws. Now pinned against the wall, an idea has popped into Rosalina’s brain. She looked down at the growling Werelupe and asked, “Hey, aren't you Wilbur’s brother? I think your name was Luke or something.”

     Beanie sniffed the air and ran towards the Werelupe, who scooped up the little Meepit and snuggled him. “Don’t worry. I’ll take you home right away.”

     “I knew it! You are Luke!” Rosalina snapped her fingers. “Case closed.” She looked at the bigger Werelupes. “Alright, now you can go back home and we can all pretend this day never happened.”

     Luke replaced Beanie on the ground. “You’re going to pay for what you did to Wilbur!” he shouted. “And for stealing my Meepit!”

     “What? I did nothing to your hairy beast of a brother,” Rosalina retorted.

     “But you left and never came back,” said Luke, “and don’t forget stealing my Meepit!”

     “You were so much cuter when you were sleeping,” said Rosalina.

     Luke growled and jumped at Rosalina, who swatted him away and fled to the back of the sofa. Peering up cautiously, she saw Margo fend off one Werelupe with a frying pan while Wendy backflipped across the room, kicking the second Werelupe in the face. Where in Neopia did she learn to do THAT? Rosalina wondered.

     “Look out!” Lenny pulled Rosalina up as Luke ran up to her with a bat. Having no idea where the little Werelupe found such a weapon, Rosalina followed Lenny, Wendy and Margo down the stairs and out of the building.

     Rosalina heaved a huge sigh. “Now what? Those freaks are still going to follow us, and one of them has a BAT!!” She was relieved that Beanie had followed her, and she scooped the Meepit into her arms.

     “We have to head into town and seek help,” urged Margo.

     “How will we get there fast enough?” asked Rosalina.

     Wendy rang the bell of a blue tandem bicycle. “Lenny and I can pedal while one of you sit in the back, and the other sits up front in my basket.”

     “Oh, I wanna pedal the back part,” said Lenny.

     “I don’t care what we do, but we have to leave now!” Rosalina pointed to the doorway, where Luke was standing with his bat. “Hurry, Neopians; let’s boogie!”

     ***

     Once they reached the town square, Wendy pulled Rosalina out of the basket. “Now I wish we had a way to contact the Defenders of Neopia,” she joked.

     Sitting in the basket had cramped Rosalina’s legs, but she was willing to run as far away from those Werelupes as her aching legs could take her. Margo was gripping her arm, looking around at the few villagers who were congregating outside of the shops. Just as Rosalina felt like she could breathe at last, a loud chorus of howls made her scream. Circling the square was a group of well-dressed Werelupes. Some wore black-tie suits; others had black dresses with white aprons. The only one not in black and white was Aiden, and he was boldly confronting the confused villagers.

     “Well, I've never!” a shrill voice proclaimed. Ms. Humphrey stuck her snout in the air. “In all my years, I have never seen such an unkempt creature as this ridiculous Werelupe. Why, he doesn't even have proper manners!”

     Is this really the time? Rosalina wanted to shout, but she couldn’t. Then again, Ms. Humphrey would make a good shield.

     “Why are your friends trying to scare us?” asked a green Kacheek.

     A yellow Acara shivered. “Please leave us alone, monster!”

     “Destroy the wicked! Burn the corn!” cried Snaw.

     Wendy and Lenny approached Aiden. “Please spare these helpless villagers, Mr. Werelupe,” pleaded Wendy. “They don’t deserve to be scared out of their wits.”

     “Yeah! Just because Rosalina broke her promise doesn't mean you can come here and attack everyone,” said Lenny. He pointed to Rosalina. “That pastel Xweetok is innocent, I say! It’s not her fault your master, whoever he is, got mad when she ran away without letting him know beforehand. Everyone knows that fairytale princesses get a free pass in these situations!”

     Rosalina facepalmed.

     “Please leave these helpless villagers alone, Mr. Werelupe,” Wendy urged. “They’ve already had to undergo a terrible epidemic. Don’t make them suffer any more tragedies.”

     “Oh yeah, I forgot that was going on,” said Lenny.

     Aiden howled. The other Werelupes joined in before charging towards the civilians. The yellow Acara ran towards a nearby café, while the green Kacheek charged at a Werelupe with a rake. Wendy was fending off two Werelupes with her kung-fu action, and Lenny was splashing mud onto a Werelupe’s apron.

     “Have fun getting mud stains out of your white apron!” Lenny laughed.

     “Follow me.” Margo pulled Rosalina into a bookshop. The sisters headed to the back, crouching underneath the bookcases filled with children’s books. “We should be safe here.” Margo blew a sigh of relief.

     “But now what?” asked Rosalina.”We can’t stay here and hide for the rest of our lives.”

     Margo rolled her eyes. “It’s not a permanent solution,” she insisted. “It’ll only be until we….uh….find a solution to this unique problem.”

     “Yeah, a Werelupe invasion is SO unique and special,” said Rosalina sarcastically. “Hey, why need The Defenders when we can gather the NT reports instead?”

     Wendy poked her head around a bookcase. “Hiya, girlfriends! We've been looking for you.” She and Lenny sat next to their confused companions.

     “It’s like a circus out there,” Lenny remarked. “You know, the kind where vicious Werelupes are attacking innocent civilians.” He picked up a book. “Ooh, this story’s about a Poogle! How adorable!”

     “Yeah, cute. Anyways, we need a plan of action before those crazed Werleupes destroy the town,” said Rosalina. “That Aiden and his oogly-googly minions won’t rest until they get me!”

     “There’s no way I’m surrendering you to that hairy maniac,” said Margo fiercely. “I’d rather talk to that Wilbur guy and force him to stop this attack.”

     “Do you think he’ll be reasonable enough to halt his Werelupe army?” asked Wendy.

     Rosalina’s mind flashed back to her final days with Wilbur. Despite not wanting to go back to living as his captive, she had to admit Wilbur had a different impression on her now. The once moody Weerelupe who’d growl every time they’d speak became calmer, especially after he began showing his softer side. It was odd to think Wilbur would send his servants and Aiden to attack the villagers, but she guessed this may have been some kind of vendetta against her. With that reasoning, Rosalina knew what she had to do.

     “I’m going.” Rosalina stood up, quickly ducking in time when she heard the glass shatter.

     Margo got up. “What are you doing, Rosalina?”

     “Someone has to go talk to Wilbur the Wonder Beast,” said Rosalina, “and that Neopian has to be me.”

     “Why can't it be Fyora? Or Hanso?” asked Lenny.

     “You can't go there by yourself, Rosie,” Wendy insisted. “How about I take you there on my bike?”

     “Fine, but I’m not going to sit in the basket again,” Rosalina grumbled.

     Lenny clapped. “Another roadtrip! I wanna ride in the basket this time.”

     “No one’s going anywhere.” Margo grabbed Rosalina. “What in Neopia are you thinking?” she gasped, shaking her sister. “You just escaped Wilbur, and now you want to go back?? And even if you can make it there, do you honestly think he’ll stop?!”

     Rosalina also had her doubts. She felt uncertain about trusting Wilbur, even if they were slowly forming a friendship. On the other hand, she had no other ideas. “Look, I get it,” said Rosalina, pushing away. “I can't say that Wilbur would be willing to stop all this, but I need to go to him! He may be the only one that can save the other villagers.”

     “It’s not like they can defend themselves with farm tools forever,” Wendy added. “Pus, I think Rosie can straighten things out with Wilbur. She’s the only one that can, after all.”

     Margo stared at Rosalina for a long moment. Finally she blew out a shaky breath and said, “Alright, you win. But I’m coming along too.” She wiped her eyes. “To keep you from saying something stupid.”

     “Thanks, Margo. I’ll do much better with you there.” Rosalina hugged her sister. “Just leave the last word to me.”

     “Group hug time!” Lenny joined in the hug, then Wendy.

     Rosalina was surprised at how comfortable she felt. Rather than rolling her eyes or trying to push Wendy and Lenny away, she held them close. It felt oddly satisfying. When the group hug was finally over, they heard a loud patter of footsteps approaching them.

     Rosalina was surprised to see Luke standing in front of them. He was growling, baring little white fangs. In his hands was a shiny golf club.

     To be continued….

     To be continued…