Capture the Flag

      “Quiet, captive. We can hold you until we find Team Ninja’s flag.”

      “But I’m neutral!” Ellie wailed. “I’m not on Team Ninja! This is a miscarriage of justice!”

      “On Team Pirate, Monique the Pirate Queen decides justice.”

      “I think you mean Mad Pirate Monique. Let me out!”

     Varston’s hands were tied loosely behind his back, and with some wriggling, he pulled himself free and pushed up his blindfold. He was in a dimly lit room, tied to a chair. Ellie was tied up next to him. “Where are we?” he groaned.

     Ellie shuffled in her chair to face him. “You’re awake. We got caught by Team Pirate. I think we’re in the Shenkuu Studies building. The pirate guarding the door is being completely unreasonable!” She shouted the last part.

     Varston untied his ankles and then helped Ellie out of her bonds as well. “Let me talk to the guard. If I’m on Team Pirate, then they should listen to me.” He headed towards the door, tripping over something in the dark and catching himself on the wall. “Hello? Can I talk to the guard?”

     There were voices in the corridor outside, and then the door opened, and a Lupe slipped inside. “Varston? Varston, is that you?” Hale threw his arms around Varston, and then pulled away and hit the light switch, illuminating his very guilty expression and slumped shoulders. “I’m really sorry about all this.”

     Varston’s stomach hurt. He wanted to accept his roommate’s apology, and he also wanted to yell at him. “Has everyone on this campus gone insane?” he asked coldly. “Staging ambushes and holding captives? It’s a game! All the winning team gets is an ice cream party!”

      “It’s Capture the Flag,” Hale said, as if that explained anything. “Listen, I’m really sorry I signed you up without telling you.”

     Varston crossed his arms over his chest, pressing his lips tightly together. “Sure.”

      “I am. I really am. When Lynn and I signed up, I thought you might want to play too.”

      “Why would I? This is sort of… your thing. Not mine.”

      “I don’t know. We thought it would be fun if you came. We didn’t want you to be left out-”

     Varston flushed. “Y’know it actually makes me feel more left out when you only include me out of pity. I’d rather you not include me at all.”

      “We like hanging out with you!” Hale exclaimed. “I don’t know why you’re so convinced Lynn doesn’t like you. Is it because you don’t like him?”

     It’s because I’m afraid you like him more than me, Varston thought, but he couldn’t say that out loud. “I like Lynn,” he said toothlessly. “Can you get me out of here? I was trying to go to the library to get my name off the roster.”

      “I can try, but-”

      “Enough scuttlebutting, bring the traitor out,” shouted the guard. “It’s time for him to stand trial.”

     Three Neopets dressed like pirates burst into the room and yanked Varston away from Hale. “What did I do?” Varston tried to ask over the commotion, but he was rushed down the corridor of the Shenkuu Studies building to a large lecture hall. A crowd of pirates cheered as he was brought to the front, and he couldn’t help but twist and fight his captors, his heart pounding in his chest.

      “Varston the purple Draik.” Varston craned his neck to see who was addressing him. Team Pirate had built a crow’s nest out of desks and chairs in the middle of the lecture hall, and a petite faerie Mynci sat at the top, leering down at him. “Or should I say… Varston, the purple TURNCOAT?”

     The pirates jeered. One threw a cheops fruit at him.

      “I didn’t do anything—there’s been a mistake-”

      “Silence, traitor,” said the Mynci. “We’ll stand for none of your lily-livered scallywagging in my court.”

      “Monique,” chanted the pirates. “Monique. Monique.”

      “Varston the purple Draik,” Monique said, now reading from a salt-stained scroll. “You stand in the pirate court accused of joining Team Pirate and then refusing to play. Is this true?”

      “Not on purpose-”

      “SILENCE, TRAITOR.”

      “How am I supposed to defend-”

     “We know you are a Team Ninja spy! You’ve been working with Team Ninja this whole time.”

      “What? No-”

      “Bring out the ninja!” A pair of pirates led a struggling Ellie to the front of the lecture hall while the crowd booed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

     Ellie looked around wildly. “I-”

      “Did I give you permission to speak?” Monique crowed. “Hold your tongue, lest I make ye walk the plank.”

     Varston squinted into the crowd of Neopets. Somehow in the hour since Capture the Flag had started, their pirate costumes had become ragged and threadbare, like actual buccaneers. In the back, he caught Lynn’s eye. Lynn was watching quietly, and Hale stood next to him, whispering in his ear.

      “What did I do?” Ellie shouted over the clamour. “I’m neutral this year. Check the roster for Ellie the white Xweetok! I’m not there!”

      “Aha,” Monique said, holding up her copy of the team roster and then comparing it with another sheet of paper. “But you weren’t neutral last year… were you, Ellie the Elusive, Flick’s right-hand ninja?”

     The pirates erupted into boos.

      “I don’t approve of Flick’s actions,” Ellie protested. “I told him that I wouldn’t be helping him this year-”

      “You cost Team Pirate an ice cream party,” Monique spat, throwing the team roster down. “Take her away. Put her in the deepest, darkest, dankest basement you can find.”

     A Shoyru flew up to Monique, and said behind his hand, “The Shenkuu Studies building was remodelled over the summer. The basement is really nice these days.”

      “Then put her in one of the study rooms! Get her out of my sight!” Monique turned her fiery gaze on Varston. “And you… a pirate associating with a ninja. Care to explain yourself?”

     Varston chewed his tongue, glowering.

      “You may speak,” she added.

     His eyes flicked up to the dark corner where Hale and Lynn were still conspiring quietly. Hot fury blazed in his chest. He was on trial, and Hale still cared more about Lynn.

      “I have one thing to say,” Varston said, keeping his voice low so the pirates had to lean in and listen. Hale stopped talking to Lynn. “I have one thing to say,” he repeated, louder, trying to hold his voice steady. “All I wanted to do tonight was study in the library. But I have been ambushed, chased, kidnapped, held captive, and put on trial—all for a game of Capture the Flag. Don’t you remember you were students an hour ago? Do you really care so much about an ice cream party? Have you forgotten they have soft serve in the dining hall? Have you all gone nuts?”

      “Get him out of my sight!” Monique shrieked, and a pair of burly pirates wrestled Varston out of the lecture hall.

      “Hey, hey,” said the familiar voice of Hale, following Varston and his captors down the hall. “We’ll take him from here.” He grabbed Varston’s arm, and Lynn grabbed his other arm, and once they were away from the pirates, they yanked him into an alcove. “We’re going to break you out of here.”

     Hale’s expression was earnest in that puppylike way that only Lupes can pull off. Varston could believe that Hale wanted to jailbreak him from the Shenkuu Studies building. But- “Lynn’s going to help?” he asked suspiciously.

      “Of course,” Lynn said. “We’ll get you to the library and get your name struck from the roster.”

      “Won’t Monique put you on trial for helping me?”

     Hale and Lynn exchanged a glance. “We’ll take our names off the roster as well.”

      “Are you sure?” Varston asked, suddenly teary. “You won’t get to go to the ice cream party if Team Pirate wins.”

     Hale shrugged. “It’s just a stinking ice cream party. Like you said, they still have soft serve in the dining hall.” He clapped Varston on the shoulder. “I’ve memorized the guards’ shift cycle. They change every fifteen minutes. We can slip out through the side door.”

      “Wait—what about Ellie? She’s neutral,” Varston said. “They can’t hold her captive if she’s not playing.”

      “But she’s Ellie the Elusive, Flick’s right-hand ninja,” Lynn protested.

      “Not anymore,” Varston said firmly. “She had a falling out with Flick. We need to help her get to a neutral zone.”

      “Fine,” Hale said. “I’ll go get Ellie from the study room and meet you two by the side door in five minutes.” He dashed off.

     Lynn and Varston shuffled their feet.

      “Uh—I guess—let’s get going, then,” Lynn said.

     They reached the side door without any difficulty, taking turns watching the hall for the pirate patrol. More than five minutes passed.

      “D’you think Hale got caught?” Lynn asked.

      “Iunno.”

     Varston surveyed the dark campus, plotting their best route to the library. Players from Team Ninja would blend especially well into the trees and the sides of buildings now. They’d have to be fast.

     Lynn noticed him looking out the window. “Sure is dark out.”

      “Yeah,” Varston agreed. “‘Cuz it’s nighttime.”

      “You, uh- I should- I should mention that it was sort of- I was the one who told Hale to sign you up.”

     Varston’s gaze snapped to Lynn’s shifting eyes. “What?”

      “Yeah, I… I don’t know.”

     It had been on purpose; he was sure of it. Lynn knew that he wouldn’t want to play Capture the Flag, and he had made Hale sign Varston up so that Varston would be mad at Hale. He was purposely driving a wedge between them. He was angling to be Hale’s new roommate next year.

     Varston clenched his teeth. “Thanks. I’m having SO much fun.”

      “I meant to get you taken off the roster before the game started.” Lynn’s Lupe ears flopped down pitifully. “But things got so out of hand, so fast… I wasn’t trying to ruin your night.”

      “Yeah?” Varston said sarcastically. “Great job.”

      “I just don’t think you like me,” Lynn admitted. “Whenever we’re hanging out with Hale, you always seem really bored. I was hoping maybe if we were all on Team Pirate, we’d have a chance to get to know each other better. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

     The right thing would be to say, ‘I accept your apology.’ But Varston was finding that rather difficult. His throat closed up, his face was hot, and tremors of shame and embarrassment flickered up and down his body. Odd conflicting urges warred inside him to shout at Lynn and to apologize in turn—apologize for making Lynn think he didn’t like him when in fact he had never managed to formulate any independent feelings about Lynn beyond jealousy and resentment.

      “I’m-” I’m sorry I’m so insecure, Varston meant to say, but at that moment they were interrupted by the pounding of many feet on linoleum tile.

      “RUN!” Hale hollered. “GET TO THE LIBRARY!”

     Ellie was sprinting alongside, and a posse of pirates galloped close on their tails. Lynn threw the side door open, grabbed Varston, and pushed him out first, and then Varston was running across the quad.

     He ducked and rolled as a ninja clad all in black sprung out of the bushes beside the entrance to the library and sailed over his head. “I’m neutral!” he protested as he yanked the library entrance open and tumbled inside.

      “No you’re not!” shouted the ninja from outside, but Varston had made it to a neutral zone. Ellie slipped in behind him, and Hale dodged the ninja and made it in as well. They bent over, hands on their knees, fighting to catch their breaths.

      “Where’s Lynn?” Varston asked.

     Hale’s face was grim. “He sacrificed himself to help us get away.”

     Ellie shook her head regretfully. “I’ll never forget him.”

     Varston raised an eyebrow. “He’s still alive though. We'll see him once the game is over.” He looked from Hale to Ellie. “Right?”

      “Shh,” hissed the librarian. “This is a library.”

      “Let’s find the team roster,” Ellie whispered. “I’m ready to be done with this game of Capture the Flag.”

     Hale led them downstairs to the lower level of the library. The team roster was taped to the side of the vending machine. Hale went to cross out his name, but as he uncapped the pen, Ellie held up a paw.

      “Wait. Something’s not right. This vending machine should be empty.” She peered through the glass.

      “You really think the library basement vending machine is that popular?” Hale said uneasily, rolling the pen between his fingers.

      “No, I mean I personally emptied this machine a few hours ago.” Ellie’s fur stood on end. “I took out all the snacks and brought them to Marsyas’s Outpost to resell at a higher price. There- there shouldn’t be anything left in here. Someone must have refilled it when the game started.”

     Varston looked over her shoulder, his eyes gravitating towards his favourite snack, the Chomby Chips. His stomach rumbled at the familiar yellow and green packaging. “Since it’s refilled, mind if I…”

     Ellie stepped out of the way, still frowning, and Varston inserted some loose change from his pocket into the machine. The mechanism groaned as a bag of chips pushed forward, and then got stuck halfway down the machine.

      “Aw no. Not again.” Varston stuck his hand up the retrieval slot, fishing for the chips, but couldn’t reach them. “Argh!”

      “That’s a proper pirate sound,” Hale teased.

     Varston rattled the machine in frustration.

      “You know that’s really dangerous,” Ellie said. “Ten Neopets are injured in vending-machine-shaking accidents every year.”

      “I just want my bag of chips!” Varston whined, giving the machine a vengeful kick, and then several things fell loose at once. “Nice.” He pulled out his Chomby Chips, and then reached back in for the other free snacks. One looked like a plastic negg, and the other was a Pepper Chia Pencil Box.

      “Wait a second.” Ellie snatched the pencil box and the negg from Varston. “They don’t sell those in the vending machines. What’re they doing here?” She opened the pencil box, and her eyes went huge. “No way.”

      “What?”

     Slowly, she pulled a piece of dark blue fabric from the box. “It’s Team Ninja’s flag.”

      “But this is a neutral zone,” Varston protested. “They can’t hide their flag here—that’s cheating.”

     Hale grabbed the negg and broke it open, revealing dark green fabric. “This is Team Pirate’s flag.” He swallowed. “Both teams are cheating.”

      “You didn’t know where Team Pirate hid their flag?” Ellie asked incredulously.

      “I’m just a low-level deckhand. Only Monique and her closest circle knew where the flag was. I can’t believe this. They cheated. The game was never going to end.”

      “Technically,” Ellie said, “you could end it. You’re both Team Pirate. If you brought the Team Ninja flag back to the Shenkuu Studies building, you’d win the game.” Her hand curled in the fabric of the flag. “You should bring it back.” But she didn’t hand the Team Ninja flag over. “And if I brought the Team Pirate flag back to the petpeterinary building… Flick might forgive me for not signing up this year.”

     Hale backed away slowly. “You’re neutral. It won’t count if you bring it back.”

      “It’ll count if I add my name to the roster under Team Ninja first,” Ellie said, edging towards the vending machine.

      “Wait- wait!” Varston leapt in between them as both Hale and Ellie dove for the team roster. “I thought you didn’t want to play. You said this game ruins friendships.”

      “It can also fix them,” Ellie snarled, trying to duck under his arm.

      “Do you really want to be friends with someone who cheats at Capture the Flag?”

     Doubt flashed through Ellie’s eyes. Varston glanced from Ellie to Hale. “We can end this right now,” Varston said.

      “How?”

      “By doing this-” Without letting himself think, Varston breathed fire, as only a Draik could.

     Hale and Ellie yelped and jumped out of the way. Ellie gasped, and the team roster caught fire.

      “What have you done?” Ellie whispered. The flickering embers of the team roster glowed in the reflection of her eyes, and the Team Ninja flag slipped from between her fingers.

     Hale poked his head out into the hall. “Something is happening.”

     The three Neopets trudged upstairs and out of the library. All around campus, as if a spell was lifting, Neopets were lifting their eyepatches and removing their masks, popping out of bushes and jumping down from trees. “Is the game over?” asked the Team Ninja Aisha who had tried to ambush them on their way into the library. “Oh, hey Ellie. I thought you weren’t playing this year.”

      “Hey Vera. I’m not.” She looked around at the dazed Neopets. “I guess the game is over.”

     Lynn came galloping across the quad. “Hale! Varston! What happened?”

      “Both teams cheated by hiding their flags in a neutral zone,” Varston said. “And then… I burned the team roster. So I destroyed the magical contract for everyone.”

     The magma Ixi who had tried to catch Varston earlier came over. “Ellie?”

     Ellie turned to him, furious. “Flick! You cheated!”

      “How was I supposed to win without you on my side? I needed Ellie the Elusive.” Flick tried to touch her arm, but she shoved him away.

      “Do you think this means we all get ice cream?” Lynn asked. “A sort of ‘everyone wins’ scenario?”

      “Doubt it,” said Hale. Across the quad, Monique and her motley crew emerged from the Shenkuu Studies building. Monique tore off her buccaneer hat and threw it on the ground. “I think this means everyone loses.”

      “Well—they still have soft serve in the dining hall, right?” Lynn said. “We’ll go get some when it reopens tomorrow morning.”

      “What about the ice cream shop next to the movie theatre?” Varston suggested. He had gone there with Hale once. “They’re usually open late.” He turned to Lynn. “You’ll come, right?”

     Lynn grinned. “Yeah. I’ll come.”

     They headed across campus. “This was kind of crazy, but it was kind of fun,” Varston admitted. “Maybe I should’ve been playing from the start.”

      “There’s always next year.” Hale’s tail wagged.

      “Wait!” Ellie jogged up next to them. “Are you guys getting ice cream? Can I come?”

     Varston slung his arm around her shoulder and grinned into the dark evening air as they started plotting out their strategy for next year’s game of Capture the Flag.

     The End.