The Unwelcome Fusion of Two Quaint Lands

     “Don’t go outside, Walda!” called Maldice. Being a talented magician, she then told Walda, “I sense an aura of strange magic.”

     “Really?” asked Walda.

     “Yeah. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

     Then Walda’s cousin, Nadaba the Maraquan Draik, made an observation. “No way! Look!” she cried, pointing to the window.

     Walda and Maldice both gasped. Sure enough, the house was submerged in water well past its roof. Kikos were worriedly pacing around underwater. “Do NOT open the door!” yelled Nadaba.

     “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, Nadaba,” answered Maldice.

     Nadaba tried to turn on Neovision to see the news, but there was no signal, of course. “Do I really have to tell you that it won’t work?!” asked an exasperated Maldice.

     Nadaba frowned. “If I were able to open the door, then I could swim outside to see what’s going on.”

     Maldice smirked. “That is why teleportation spells exist! We can teleport ourselves outside, and Walda and I can use a spell to breathe underwater.”

     Walda grinned. “Maybe I will find a vicious monster to defeat!” she declared, brandishing her sword.

     Thus, the trio went outside to investigate.

      ---

     When they stepped outside, they witnessed a Kiko eating seaweed. “Yuck!” exclaimed Walda incredulously.

     “What?” shrugged the Kiko. “I haven’t had my breakfast today.”

     “Seaweed is a common meal for aquatic Neopets,” pointed out Nadaba. “It’s not too bad with the right seasoning.”

     “Who cares?” snapped Maldice. She turned to the Kiko. “Can you tell us why Brightvale is flooded?” she asked.

     “The plumbing of Kiko Lake broke,” he answered. “A spell apparently caused it. I’m no expert in magic, but I would think that you’d have to break the spell, and then repair the plumbing.”

     “You are right,” answered Maldice. “We must follow the magical signal to its source. Then I will break the spell, and someone else will have to fix the plumbing.”

     “I know how to fix pipes!” volunteered Nadaba. “I learned how by playing the game ‘Sewage Surfer!’”

     “Well, that’s a relief,” commented Maldice. “First, though, we must break the spell.”

      ---

     The trio determined that the spell was radiating from Brightvale Castle. When they arrived there, they saw a heavily guarded entrance. “No unauthorized personnel are allowed into the castle!” barked one of the guards.

     Nadaba sighed. “But we need to break the spell! Please let us in!”

     “No! I am under strict orders to refuse!”

     Maldice smirked. “Good luck keeping us out when the whole land of Brightvale is flooded.” She swam upwards toward the top floor of the castle, then swam through a window that had been broken by the sudden rush of water. Walda and Nadaba soon followed.

     When they got inside, they witnessed King Hagan scolding Magon the amateur wizard. “Blast it, Magon!” bellowed Hagan. “You have REALLY done it this time! All of Brightvale is FLOODED with water from Kiko Lake!”

     “Well, the Kikos seem to be enjoying it,” quipped Magon.

     “You are NOT funny! You might as well QUIT at magic, because none of your spells EVER work correctly! I’ll have to find someone more experienced to fix this mess!”

     “I can do it!” exclaimed Magon. He waved his wand and said a few magical words...

     “WAIT!” yelled Maldice. “That’s not the right spell!”

     Instead of solving the problem, Magon had created an additional problem by summoning a giant monster. An enormous hermit crab, to be exact. Walda lunged toward the creature, but he retreated into his shell, and her attacks caused no damage.

     Luckily, Maldice had an idea. She cast a spell to make the shell disappear, and then Walda annihilated the unprotected monster. He scuttled away with little energy, crawling out of sight.

     Hagan turned to the trio. “Good job eliminating that monster!” he exclaimed. “Anyway, Maldice, please undo this spell. You did a great job before!” (Issue 957- The Clash of Two Faeries on their Special Day)

     Maldice waved her wand and said a few magical words. The spell was broken, and the flood water disappeared. “Thank you!” exclaimed King Hagan. “I will now have to hire some workers to repair all the damage to our infrastructure...” He frowned.

     “In the meantime,” began Nadaba, “I’ve got to go fix the plumbing in Kiko Lake.”

     Thus, Nadaba journeyed over to the lake, followed by Walda and Maldice.

      ---

     When the trio arrived at the lake, they saw a group of Kikos lamenting over the disassembled pipes. “Can I help?” asked Nadaba.

     “Sure!” replied a Red Kiko. “We can use all the help we can get!”

     “Right now,” began a Blue Kiko, “we have to retrieve all the scattered parts. They are not broken because they are made of indestructible metal, but they need to be reassembled. Unfortunately, the spell disassembled our plumbing system and scattered all the pieces.”

     “Oh,” replied Nadaba. “How many pieces are there?”

     “There are 100 pieces in all. 96 ordinary pieces and four golden connector pieces. Can you help us look for them?”

     “Sure! Walda and Maldice will help, too.” She turned to them. “Won’t you?”

     “Of course we will!”

     After a lot of searching by the trio and several Kikos, all 96 ordinary pieces were found. However, there was no sign of the golden connector pieces. “Where ARE they?” fumed Nadaba.

     A Yellow Kiko overheard her grumbling and curiously approached the scene. “What are you looking for?” she asked.

     “The four golden connector pieces. No one can find them!”

     “Well...” began the Yellow Kiko, “I saw Brutus running off with them.”

     The other Kikos collectively groaned. “Who is Brutus?” asked Nadaba.

     “He’s a mean, scruffy Brown Kiko who hoards random items, particularly shiny ones. He must have wanted to add the pipes to his collection.” She sighed. “He lives in Crabula Cave. I don’t know why anyone would want to live there...”

     “We must go find him and ask for the pipes back,” declared Walda.

     “I wouldn’t. He’s super ornery, and he will likely start a fight if you try to reason with him.”

     “I’ll quash him!” announced Walda, brandishing her sword. “We have to beat him. Do you want to live with no plumbing for the rest of your life?”

     “Good point. You sound determined. Well, head to the cave, then.”

     Thus, the trio started their voyage toward the cave.

     ---

     When they arrived at the cave, they walked in and saw a large body of water. Nadaba swam across it with Walda riding on her back, while Maldice flew over it. All was going well until Nadaba felt a sharp pain in her tail.

     “Owwww!” she screamed, her yelp echoing throughout the cavern. “A Crabula pinched me!”

     “There must be tons of them swimming in the water,” pointed out Walda. “What should we do?”

     “I have an idea,” announced Maldice. She waved her magical wand, and all the Crabulas quickly fell asleep. Thus, the trio reached the end of the water without any more problems.

     When they walked into the next room, they noticed a Brown Kiko with blonde hair and a scruffy beard. They gasped in horror as they realized that he was eating a Crabula. “HEY!” yelled Nadaba. “Petpets aren’t food!”

     “Who are YOU to tell me what to do?!” he snarled. “Get out of my cave!”

     A concerned Walda decided to reason with Brutus. “You have the golden connector pipes, don’t you?”

     “Yeah, what’s it to you?! Now get out!”

     “We need those pieces to repair the plumbing in Kiko Lake. No one can even take a bath. Please give them back.”

     “I don’t care. I bathe in the lake.”

     “That’s not sanitary...” remarked Nadaba. “All kinds of critters live in the lake.”

     “Well, we need the pipes back,” asserted Walda.

     “GO AWAY!” bellowed Brutus, hurling a rock at Walda. She quickly dodged it, and it hit the wall of the cave.

     “It looks like we’ll have to fight him!” yelled an exasperated Walda.

     “A fight? Well, you’ve got yourself a fight, then!” shouted Brutus.

     Walda began to lunge toward him, but he quickly summoned a wall of flames to surround himself. “He knows magic, too?!” hollered Walda incredulously.

     “Amateur fire magic,” remarked Maldice. “I know all kinds of magic. I can put this one out.”

     With that, Maldice waved her wand, and the room instantly flooded with water, putting out the flames. Brutus struggled to attack, but he just couldn’t breathe underwater. A lack of oxygen stunned him long enough for Walda to annihilate him. With that, Maldice waved her wand again, and the water disappeared.

     “Ha!” she exclaimed. “You can’t breathe underwater, can you?”

     “That would be water magic,” he groaned, half-conscious. “I only know fire magic... Well, take the pipes back, if you want them so badly. I am clearly no match for you.”

     Walda retrieved the pipes from a pile of random objects which looked like garbage to her. Then the trio made their way back to the construction site.

      ---

     “Yay!” exclaimed the Kikos. “You got them back!”

     “Was Brutus hard to beat?” asked one of them.

     “Not at all,” smirked Walda. “He’s an amateur!”

     “Well,” began Nadaba, “I will reassemble the pipes now.” She quickly fixed the plumbing system, much to the delight of all of the citizens of Kiko Lake.

     “Thank Fyora! I can finally take a bath now!” cheered one of them.

     “Well,” began Maldice, “that was a hard few days worth of work. We can finally get a good night’s sleep now.”

     “I need something to eat first,” whined Walda.

     “Me, too,” answered Nadaba. “I’m starving!”

     The End.