Strange Little Story
Yah, I have too much time. So I wrote a story. It is incredibly strange, but... I dare ya to read it. WARNING: only read if you have an hour or twelve.
The Gift
The storyteller looked over the crowd who had showed up. All of them were grinning, laughing, and making their owners feel lightheaded and giddy. She raised her arms for silence, shushing all of them immediately. “Tonight’s story begins in the past, but not very far back. It is a tale of adventure, of determination, and of the love between friends. It does not start on a stormy night, but on a grassy hill, just outside of Meridell...”
Niko sat with his paws folded over his stomach, a small smile on his face. His owner, Felice, was going to get a new neopet today, and it was going to be a Kougra for sure. He had always felt lonely in his family- the only Kougra in three neopets! His siblings, Marco and Shalla, had each other (they were both ixi's), and he truly did love them, but sometimes he got the feeling no one really understood him. But today, he was finally going to get a sibling. Ahhhhhhh, finally someone he could share his thoughts with!
Taking one paw off his stomach, he shielded his eyes from the noon sun. There was Felice! Quickly he jumped up, dusting himself off, for she couldn’t stand dirt. Felice wafted up the hill to him.
“ How’s my favorite nomad of the desert?” He smiled ruefully, brushing dust off his gold bracelets. “Can we go get the egg now? I want to meet my sister.” They had already agreed that the new member should be female, just for balance. “Sure, but don’t you want to eat first? I’ve got...”
“Mom! We have an appointment!”
“Yes, but...”
“MOM!”
“Sorry. Lets go meet your little sister.”
They walked over to the adoption agency. A faerie Aisha glided over to the desk. “Ah! You’ll be the 12:30 appointment. Right this way, please. “
Niko and his smiling owner followed in the wake of her long feathered wings. Now that he was actually here, his stomach was performing several complicated cartwheels. What would she be like? Strong and fast like Shalla? Smart and studious like Marco? Maybe she would be a copy of him- happy and carefree. There was no more time to think it over however because that was when they arrived at the egg nursery. The aisha checked her clipboard, muttering names. “Araya123... Beyonce301... ganondork... Ah! Felice. This is the one,” she said, handing Felice a large yellow egg.” treat her well!"
The next day...
The entire family gathered over the egg. The first cracks had appeared just before dawn. For the rest of the day, everyone had been suggesting names for the new baby. Shalla wanted her to be called Fawn, while Marco was more of a Mya fan. Felice had a good name- Trillian Jean Scott. The rest thought it was too long, though, so it was shortened to Trillian. As for Niko? Zoomer, he thought, smiling to himself. Zoomer the yellow kougra... it has a nice ring to it. By now, the egg was a maze of hairline cracks and faults. After watching it for a while, he found out one of the basics of Neopian life- kougras have no patience. Draiks, sure, but his claws ached for the outside. He stretched, paced, and grimaced until Felice made one of her rare demands- that he go outside now. He reluctantly complied, for although he had tons and tons and neotons of energy inside, he wanted to see the egg hatch. After the shortest game of Gormball in the history of Neopia, he ran back home to check on the egg. Niko didn’t have to worry. It would be night before the little Kougra would finally make it’s way into the world. And then... he would wish that it had never happened.
Fyora rubbed her temples and slid The Book off her lap with a sigh. The Book contained all the laws of Neopian life, from the basics ones like not having more than one thousand neopoints from a single game, to all the subtext about how much everything cost. It was a huge monster of a thing, ancient and with so many curses and spells laid over it that anyone so much as hiccuped near it would find themselves buried up to their necks in the middle of the Lost Desert. In theory. But this was not what was on the Queen’s mind as she thought about what the rule of too many children was. As she recalled, it went like this:
Of Twins
If, of out of the egg should spring
Two of a kind, twins by blood
And the song of three pets the owner doth sing
Then not to the pound, the place of crud
But only one shall remain in your grasp
One shalt go, for by the rule
‘T will go to the native land, the past!
In this way, it shall not be cruel.
Fyora rose to her feet, rubbing her aching back. A trip to the Healing Springs, She thought. A few days in total relaxation... bliss. But first she had to tell Felice. Sighing, she flew glumly near the ceiling of her tower. Sometimes she hated this job, being the cause of pain, of disappointment. But that was just part of her responsibility, and someone had to do it. Hopefully they had already decided on which cub they liked best, but somehow she knew that wasn’t the case. They probably liked them both, making this doubly difficult. A voice came suddenly from her left- “We’re out of Asparachucks and Baby Paintbrushes! Order more!”
She sighed. This was going to be a long day.
Niko listened solemnly to Fyora. Two babies instead of one had come out of the egg, making the total number of pets five. Niko, Felice, and Marco (Shalla was babysitting the twins) had come up to talk with the queen about their situation and decide what to do. But what she had said had stunned them all. Send one of the sisters to Mystery Island? It was unthinkable! How could they choose? The trip back home was spent in awkward silence, each one wondering what the others were thinking. Finally, the Eyrie who had carried them there landed. The prospect of it was horrifying. "finally, the red eyie who had flown them there and back landed. "Here's my card, I'm in Meridell until next Saturday. Gimme a hoot if ya need anything!" Felice took the card and stuck it in the pocket of her jeans without looking at the flamboyant signature on it. Mumbling a thanks, she turned and strode glumly away, her pets following.
The big eyrie, whose name happened to be Nick, watched them go. "Well don't thank me or anything," he muttered slightly, atching their retreating backs reproachfully. Shrugging his strong shoulders, he flexed the muscles in his wings, winging into the air. It was all part of the job.
The walk back to their neohome was even worse, if possible. And Shalla... as soon as she opened the door and saw the trios face’s, she burst into gut-wrenching, falling-down sobs as she collapsed into her brother’s arms and Felice’s tight hug.
“W-we have to gi-give her up...abando-don....”
Niko cleared his throat nervously. “We keep one and the other one goes to Mystery Island, That’s what Fyora said, see? Now calm down, calm down....”
This, quite obviously, did not have the desired effect. But we have to leave them now, a crying, unhappy bunch, to go visit Fyora in the tower. For it is in she did not tell them that this story rests upon.
Fyora glided silently through her private chambers. She hated giving people news like that. Sinking into a cushy armchair, she muttered a releasing charm for the stress. Faeries get a crummy deal- everyone expects them to be perfect, beautiful, calm examples of the perfect life. They did have a few perks, like flying, magic, and truly extraordinary powers of sight and sound. Fyora herself could see the gnats on a Lupe’s back three miles away. However, she did not see the cloud forming by the arm of her chair.
Jhudora smiled cryptically "And how are the twins, my dear?"
Fyora leapt up. “You! But how did you get in here? No one else knows about this place!!”
Jhudora shook that off. “No matter. The point is, you didn’t tell them something about the twins, and I need to know what you are hiding.”
Sinking back into her chair, the queen closed her eyes and recited the second verse about twins.
Only in times of need do they come
When the world is at a deadlock
One, to the power, is blind, deaf and dumb
but to the other, it’s not a great shock
But faerie, know this, secret be this fact
the knowledge of this power
that when two are apart, there shall be no contact
only I know where they are, I, in the Hidden Tower
With her eyes closed, Fyora did not see her nemesis disappear, but she heard the delighted cackle and the SNAP of a disappearance. A sigh escaped her lips, along with a whisper of defeat.
“What have I done?”
Niko had made his decision four nights ago. There turned out to be a female and a male, and he had eventually decided to give up the the little girl baby. Although Shalla wept, Marco went pale and he himself shed tears and nearly didn’t let her go, they did eventually leave her in a small clearing near a hidden cove.
A lot of people say that everything happens for a reason, and personally, this one event was enough to prove that to me. Niko had named the baby they were keeping Zoomer, because that was his favorite name. The little female in the clearing, however, was named Banna for short, and though none of them had given much thought to the name, it was strange that she was named after a phrase in the old tongue, one that had been lost as countless seasons had gone past, a langauge that only precious few faeries knew now. No one knew what it meant, it simply sounded good for her. Her full name was Banashak Dematre, and this was the only thing she remembered of her life before abandonment. It was probably better that way.
And we must leave her now, still asleep under the trees, to go across the waters to a place called Krawk Island. Here , if you go past the Armada playing boards and the fungus cave, there is a pirate ship coming in to dock near a cove... the smugglers cove...
“Arrr, yeh did good o’ this’n trip, lad, I’ll give yeh that. Now fetch me dat chest an’ lets have a gut peep’n inside.”
The cabin boy, a young Kyrii who answered to the name of Finz, nodded and pushed the the latest plunder over to his captain, Barr the Koi. Grinning, Barr kicked open the box. out tumbled neopoints, gleaming gems, gold cloth, and a truly stunning assortment of weapons. He sorted through all of these, shoving the best back into the chest, all the while keeping up a steady stream of babble.
“Now see, this is th’ best silver on th’ island, so’s we keep it. But ye’ cen tell, this is jus’ filigree on the handle ‘ere, so I’m’a sell it when we dock. Noo take ‘em that into the hold and tha’s where yeh’ll stay till the next raid. Go on, move!”
Finz saluted and gave a mighty heave on the side of the box. shoving and pulling it, he edged it down the stairs to the hold. Manuvering the awkwardly shaped casket took some time, but he managed. Sinking slowly down among the assorted pilfered items, he let out a deep sigh. Too nervous to talk when the captain was around was around, for he was very easily offended, he never talked on the ship except when he was down here. This was the only place he really felt comfortable talking in, even if no-one was around to hear his conversations.
Listening for the captain, he squatted carefully on the ships floor, not making a sound. Taking a small piece of metal from a pouch around his neck, Finz picked the lock expertly and smoothly pushed back the lid. It was a time honoured tradition on a pirate ship for the poorest person on board to go through the new loot on every trip and pick out a few neopoints, maybe a trinket or two, so they could get a little higher up on the ships ladder. Grinning, he grabbed twenty neopoints and a small, bright jewel. About to put everything back, something in a corner caught his eye. It was a small oilskin package, wrapped heavily and stained in a few corners. Hesitating only a moment, he grabbed it and shoved the rest of the stuff back into the box. He didn’t know why he had grabbed it, except that i was odd, finding something so plain inside a treasure trove.
Swiftly standing, Finz stowed the neopoints and gems inside his coat and started to unwrap the package. He had time, the rest of the crew was busy selling their wares. As he unwrapped it, sitting in darkest recess of the hold, the package started humming softly, like a happy kadoatie. Surprised, he nearly dropped it, but managed to catch it. As the last wrappings fell away, he realized that he didn’t have the faintest breath of an idea what it was. The object was round and a funny metallic blue in color, about the size of a snarhook. Strangely heavy for it’s size, he felt the strain on his arms and sat down, making a nest out of it’s wrappings and setting it in the middle. Staring deeply into it, he suddenly heard a voice.
“You have found my orb, friend. It has called to you and you have come. Destiny made you find it.”
Finz felt the ships hold dissolving around him. Nothing existed, not even him, only the orb in front of him. The voice was coming from it, but who was talking? Naturally, he tried to question it, but his lips had disappeared and it was rather hard talking without them.
“Finz, you must help the gifted one in her travels. Be her rock, her strength. Go now!”
And he went, falling headfirst into darkness.
There was light.
There was darkness.
Somewhere above Finz’ head a bird chirped. There shouldn’t be birds in the ship, he thought distantly. The captain will have a fit. And why is there grass in the hold? That thought disturbed him. Grass... and then it came back- the orb, the voice, the whole thing. He tried cracking open an eye. All he saw was green. Not very informative. Raisng his head slightly, he opened the other one. Now he saw trees and bushes. Had the ship crashed? No, he was too far inland for that. Maybe the orb had taken him here. Rising unsteadily to his feet, Finz looked around. He was in a jungle, but why? Was the gifted one a tree? He looked up, then down. Maybe there’s a village around here, or a town. He started walking, looking for signs of people- metal, cloth, maybe some footprints. He was actually a good tracker, one of the reasons that his ship had hired him on. He was lucky, sort of. If they had not taken him on, he would probably be a beggar now, if he wasn’t in the pound. It made him realize how delicate life was. If he hadn’t been at the docks at the exact same time as Barr was looking for a cabin boy, he wouldn’t be on the crew. And if he wasn’t on the crew, he wouldn’t have found the orb... At that moment he heard something quite different from birds and wind.
“Roll up, roll up! One free chance to win your fortune! Zero, Two or Five wins! Try your luck....”
Finz broke into a run, crashing through the jungle toward the voice. Finally he stumbled right into where the voice was, crying from relief. He created an odd sight, this sturdy, obviously tough kyrii running down the street crying, but he no longer cared about anything but the ground under his feet and the voices all around him. Slowing down, he gasped, not used to the humidity and heaviness of the air. This simply could not be Krawk Island, but it’s sister isle, Mystery Island, seemed to fit the description. Huge jungles, lots of tourists, crowded shops, humid, gently perfumed air... in other words, paradise. He approached the food shop, a hot, crowded, place, and looked at the prices. There didn’t seem to be anything he could afford. Four hundred neopoints for a single piece of fruit? Even I’m not that crazy! I’ll have to steal something this time. Edging closer to the baskets of food, he picked out the least expensive item- a lemwart- and let himself be bumped close to it. Grabbing one behind his back, Finz fought his way through the crowds, and caught the eye of one of the chia police. Smiling blandly he made his way forward, stuffing the fruit into his pocket. But the police sidled up alongside him. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything in you’re pockets, now would you?” said the uniformed neopet.
Finz shook his head, silently denying the act. He chuckled nervously, cursing his stupidity in his mind. Of course the shop would be gaurded! Then he thought of a better ploy.
“All I have is this, friend,” he said, taking out the lemwart. “I already paid for it, sir. It’s for my friends, see?”
The chia looked inflamed. “And who are these so called friends of yours?” He whispered, barely controlling his anger. “Speak, boy!”
The kyrii backed away nervously, thinking frantically of someone to call his friend. He said the first thing that came to mind. “The old members of Grundo’s Gym. They sent me to get food because they don’t like crowds.” It was a weak excuse, but one that might work.
“Oh? and who are these members of the gym you’re talking about? You don’t seem old enough to have known about the gym, lad.”
He had heard about the gym from the first mate who used to spend all his time playing there, and now used all his breath on telling the crew about the joys of working out. “Well, there’s a fire lupe, a blue nimmo, a spotted kacheek, a yellow acara, and another blue kacheek too. They’re a bit overweight now that the gym is gone, sir”
The police member looked doubtful. Finz watched his face carefully, hoping the ruse had worked. Apparently it had. The chia lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry, young one. You go off now and watch out for theives.” The chia shuffled away sheepishly, watched by the relieved kyrii.
“That was quite an excuse. Don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.”
Finz whirled around, searching for the voice. It’s owner, a young kougra, held up her paws. “Calm down, friend. It’s just another one of us thieves, no reason to be jumping around like a mad quiggle. It’s just that it was an exceptional excuse.”
He grinned slowly. “Ah, that. Well, it’s good to know someone appreciates my line of work. And who are you, anyway?”
“I already told you, just another theif, like yourself.” Seeing the look on his face, she added, “But my given my name is Banna- short for Banashak Demetre. What’s yours?”
“Finz, not short for anything”
Banna scratched her cheek idly. “You’re from Krawk Island, yes?” Finz nodded. “I thought so. You have a bit of an accent, and only the people from there would name a kyrii Finz.”
Again he nodded, and asked, “Do you know where I can stay? I only got to the island today.” Which was true, but very much understated. In any case, she smiled and showed her kindness. “Here, You can stay at my hut, It’s just down this road. Come on, the sun’s going down already.
And off they went, talking and laughing like a pair of childhood friends.
‘The hut’ described Banna’s home very well. It was built chiefly from bamboo and had only a few piles of straw for beds. In one corner sat a very old, very beaten cupboard, and it was from this she took food. It was an interesting dinner for Finz- Pickled eel, his lemwart, a blobbule, and something called a ‘munion’. He had never had tropical food before, except for the occasional heartatoe. They ate everything, talking about nothing for a long while. Gradually, the sun dimmed and light faded from the little dwelling, and they got to telling about their pasts. They shared stories of succesful theivery, and Finz talked about his sailing while his new friend told long tales about the island. At long last, Banna asked him a simple question, one that he had waiting for her to ask but had dreaded answering.
“Hey Finnie, did you ever have an owner?”
He had, and though it had been long ago, he remembered her like it was all happening right then and there.
Flashback...
They were walking around at the docks one day, watching ships unload their cargo, when Demi started talking about paintbrushes.
“I’ve saved up enough for one now, you know. What would you like to be painted, little guy?”
He thought about that for a while. Then, lookin up shyly, he whispered, “I’ve- well, I’ve always wanted wings. Can I be a faerie?”
She stopped in the middle of the street. “But... don’t you want to be a pirate, or a mutant? Something where no one would ever hurt you?” She exclaimed indrecously, comepletely and totally ignoring the traffic swirling around them.
“He shrugged nervously, avoiding her eyes. It was not exactly a surprise; they had had their differences from the start but had not talked about them until now. She had always wanted a tough, dangerous, battledome driven pet, and, well, he had just wanted to fly. Everything would be alright if he could just take the air aunder his wings and soar away from the earth into the endless night sky.
The gap between them started that day. Over the next few months, all the things that were different between them became pronounced as they dredged up all the fights that ever occured between owner and pet. And then one day, it became too much. They parted ways on Krawk Island, each going the way they thought was best.
As it happened, that was the day Barr was wandering the docks looking for a cabin boy to take the place of the last one, who had mysteriously dissapeared. Specificly, he had dissapeared very quickly on a prosperous island they had stopped at. But no matter, because the young, homeless kyrii was now on the crew of the Deafining Weewoo, and that was how he came to be on a pirate ship.
Snapback...
When he looked up, Banna had wide eyes and mouth could’ve caught flies. “Wow,” she said quietly, “That’s like something you read about in the Neopian Times!”
He sighed. “No, they wouldn’t put it in, it’s too weepy. They like happy. stories.”
She persisted. “You could make lots of neopoints for that! But,” her grin faded, “You’d have to have an owner to have it submitted.” A sigh, “Ah well. At least it’s better than my own tale. All I could remember from my owners is my name and something called a ‘Felice'. Do you know what that is?”
“Could be a name. Maybe it was a petpet.”
“Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter. Lets get some sleep, yes? It’s been a long day.”
They settled down onto their mats. Longer than you think, thought Finz. Longer than you can imagine, my friend. Good night.
The Days on Mystery Island are always warm and sunny, and except for the occasional gale, it was always peaceful in the afternoons. Banna and Finz passed the days talking and laughing together, stealing what they needed, making what they could. Togther, they started a garden and, though they grew no wonderful things in it, it worked for their main food source.
At night when the stars came out, the two sat and talked over their past theiving jobs. Finz told his kougran friend how he came to the island, and they both puzzled over the orb that transported him there.
“It must have a fantastic name, something like ‘Greater Orb Of The Earth’ or something,” Banna said one night, sipping her tea and looking up at the stars.
“Yeah... ‘Sphere of Infinite Power’, maybe.” Finz watched a beetle crawl across a leaf in front of him. “Or ‘Orb Of Infinite Trouble’, seeing what it did to me.” He sighed. His old crew was a memory now, but he still missed a few of them. They had been his friends, and now there was no hope of ever seeing them again. That had been his main goal for the first few nights, but he only had a little money and the crew would never go thisfar inland. He had adjusted to island life, yes, but old wounds still hurt.
Banna took another swig of her tea. “Wonder why it chose you to transport here. It’s abit strange, if you think about it.”
Finz blushed a little, under his fur. He had never told her that she was supposed to be the gifted one
A few nights after they had met, the faerie dreams had strted again. The first one had assured him that Banna was the gifted one. The others seemed to be just echoes of that fact, and nothing new was said. The dream came almost every night, except once when he dreamed about grubs and salsa. But other than that, it was the same.
He was always kneeling next to the chest, holding the sphere and looking into it. The faeries face appeared in it, sometimes swirling in with the mist, sometimes just popping up. She looked up at him, tilting her head, and hair fell across her face. Most of the time she just smiled, sometimes giving him a wink or a shake of the head. Once or twice she waved, but most of the time it was just smiles. He told no one about these dreams, not Banna or any of the other friends he had made.
He had made a few friends on the island. The chef sometimes especially requested him for finding ingredients, and a Mynci called Weston talked to him whenever they ran into each other. Banna had introduced him to a few people too, like the twirly fruit- stealing nimmo who she used to live next to, and the eyrie who had flown her to faerieland free so she could get things for the chef’s recipes. The eyrie was unusual- he flew very smoothly, instead of the usual flap....flap....flap of the eyries, he flew like flap gliiiiiiiiide.....flap gliiiiiiiiide. He had learned the skill from a shoyru who had passed through the island, and it proved very useful- everyone wanted to ride him instead of the other, jouncier eyries when they went up to faerieland. This made him a very nice profit, until the day it was all stolen by the tax beast. Though he had reported it to the defenders of neopia, no one was able to catch him. This explained why he now lived with Banna and Finz, making the house very crowded with his huge red wings. But he also made the house very enjoyable, filling it with his laugh and wit until the sun went down in the west. At this moment, Nick (the eyries name) he was taking a flight around the volcano in the darkness.
Finz snapped back to reality, still looking at Banna, the blush fading. “Um, yeah, it was strange. Maybe it was just random.” He frantically thought of a way to change the subject. “Um, I’m going to bed. ’Night, Banna!” He waved a shaking hand at the kougra and hastily went into the hut. Burrowing into the straw, he sighed his relief at not having to answer the question. It would be embarrising to tell his best friend that she was the gifted one. Sighing twice more, he fell into sleep.
Banna stared at the chair where Finz had just been. He had always been a little strange, always talking about orbs and faeries and ships. But this was almost too weird- one minute joking, the next going all shaky and awkward? Something was wrong with that. He almost never did that.
Almost. A traitor thought went through her mind. He does it whenever you talk about how he came to the island. That means he hasn’t told you something.
She shook her head forcefully. It could be anything, maybe just that he had accidentally not told her the truth once, and now it was too late. But... it could be anything. Meaning that it could be something much worse. However, Banna really did trust her friend, so always let his secrets rest where they lay. Rising, she walked slowly into the room she shared with the kyrii. He was already asleep, whistling slightly through his nose. She too eased herself onto her heap of straw, looking across the room at Finz. Turning over, her eyes closed and she went into dreamtime.
In Finz’ dreams, he was back on the ship, looking at the orb, A face looked out at him from it. It was the face of a faerie, with high cheekbones and kind eyes, and dark, delicate skin. The lips parted. “You have done well, child. The one with you is the one you must help. No, don’t speak now, we don’t have long. You must travel far, and leave the earth behind to save the ones in need. I shall take you to the place, but there my power weakens. Then you are on your own. Good luck.”
The kyrii stared into the ball. “Who are you?” He murmured. The face smiled, and said simply, “Someone who you will want on your side. Go, my friend, and do not be afraid. My blessings go with you.”
And that was all he remembered.
He woke slowly, to the announcement of a loudspeaker. I didn’t know the Tombola made announcements, he slowly thought. It was already halfway done, but the listened to the rest.
“...And will the owner of a red grundo, name Grundo_man89 please come to the front desk. Thank you for your time aboard our orbiting home.”
Wait a sec.
Orbiting?
Finz shot bolt upright. Unfortuneately, this turned out to be the day when he would learn a very important lesson: never stand up until you open your eyes. He hit a large, hard something and instantly fell back down, blacking out for a second or two. Shaking his head slightly, Our Hero looked up and noticed a large metal beam, now with a slight dent in it. Rubbing his head, Finz moved painfully back from it and ran into something else. This thing was soft, however, and turned out to be a waking Banna. She got stiffly to her feet, rubbing her paws along the ridge of her cheekbones. “Oooog, where are we? This isn’t my hut.” Supporting herself on a nearby box, she finally managed to crack an eye open. That’s when the full reality of it came to her. Coming awake amazingly fast, she promptly started running in circles, while at the same time yelling out a very long stream of panicked words.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!!! We’ve been kidnapped! Help help! Call the police! Call the Chia police! Get us out of here!!
Finz caught the alarmed kougra and dragged her to a stop. “Banna! Calm down, girl! I had a dream about this, it’s ok!”
That brought her back to her senses. “I think I had a dream too, it was about a faerie in a glass ball.” She looked around, taking in the shining, new metal beams and boxes. “She wasn’t very specific, though. So, uh, where are we?”
He was about to answer but then went still. “Whats that noise?”
“What noise?”
“That sort of thumping sound. Can’t you hear it? I thought Kougras had great hea-“
At that moment something heavy landed on his back. A squeal near him revealed Banna was being attacked too. Trying to struggle across to her, all he could see were flashes of green and gray then anotherr something hit the back of his head and everything went black.
The orb was back in his dreams again. This time the face in it looked angry.
“Ooooh, you little idiot kyrii! Don’t you know not to yell in unfamiliar territory?! Now you’ve been captured, and I can’t move you far in this place... look, I’ll transport you to a safe place, but this is the last time! Now be careful!”
Ooops, I guess that was a little stupid. Finz felt the dream going away, and as everything faded and he went into the mist of dreamtime, his last thought surrounded him: If I do that again she might blow me up.
When Finz awoke, all he could think of was Banna. Trying to turn over, he opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. Some sort of bug-eyed, green creature was staring at him.
“Don’t be scared, little kyrii. Just thought you might want some food.”
That made him think of his stomach, which was growling fiercely. Opening his eyes again, he took in he fact that he was on a sort of hammock. He took another look at the creature in front of him. He had seen a picture of something like it once.
“Hey, are you a grundo?” Finz winced at gravel in his voice. He was parched! It was the thirstiest he had ever been.
The grundo noticed it too. “Here, have some water,” it said, passing a cup to him. Drinking greedily, he almost missed the creatures next sentence.
“In answer to your question, yes, I am a grundo. I go by the name of Ryft. Do you remember what happened?” When he nodded, Ryft blew a sigh of relief. “Good. Some of the people we find forget what happened to end them up in here.”
Finishing off the last few drops of water and drying his whiskers, Finz said, “Where is the kougra I was with? Is she ok?”
Ryft grinned. “Ah, that one is a fast healer. She was up and walking about an hour before. I think she is in the game room. Would you like to be taken there?”
In answer, the kyrii swung his legs over the side of the hammock and stood up. He swayed for a moment, almost blacking out, then announced, “Lets go.”
The games room turned out to be a huge, non-gravity version of meerca chase. It looked infinetely more difficult than the regular version, being 3-d, but also infinetely more fun. Banna was concentrating on the fun part, shoving off against walls, laughing hysterically, and going after the neggs with great gusto. Seeing him, she rebounded off against the opposite wall and zoomed over to Finz and Ryft. Grinning, she called out, “Hey slowpoke! Lets have a competition!”
“Slowpoke yourself! I saw you miss that last one twice, and you’re on the easy mode!”
“Am not! And this isn’t exactly as easy as it looks, kyrii!
I’ll kyrii your face in, girl! Just wait till I figure out how to play and I’ll beat you any day!” He took several steps into the room, and suddnly stopped walking. This is not to say he did not move his feet and try to step forward, it was just that it was rather hard to walk in zero gravity. He tried to run, but, but all it did was make him look silly, with arms and legs flailing everywhere. Finally, Banna stopped laughing and took pity on him enough to explain how to move.
“You have to find something to push off against. Like you would run into a wall, and then push your hindpaws against and aim in the direction you want to go. If you stop in the middle, it’s harder. Turn around until your facing the place you came from, and blow very, very hard. It should propel you around, but its hard. Hey, it’s your turn, wanna try?”
“OK, I guess... but don’t laugh!”He launched himself off against the right wall, straight as an arrow toward the happiness negg. Catching it, he turned his head wildly, looking for the next target. It turned out to be a rainbow colored negg, one of the highest point levels in the game. Unfortuneately, his head acted as a rudder and spun him wildly about until he reached the next wall, which of course sent tumbling off- backwards. Finally, after some hair-raising turns and jolts, he finaly made his way out of the arena.
“I....don’t...think kyriis...are made...for that.” He gasped for breath, talking haltingly. Recovering slightly, Finz glared at Banna, who was shaking hard trying to hold in laughter. “Just because kougras have good aim...” Grumbling, he walked off.
Ryft stared at his retreting back, now slightly bruised. “What’s with him?”
Banna finally realeased her laughter. “Hahahahah! Did you see that last curve? Straight into the corner... Heeheeheehee! Don’t worry about him, he’s a bit of a sulker. Bad loser, more like. What’s for dinner?”
Finz sat on the edge of his hammock, staring off into space. Literally. There was a clear spot on the wall and he could see stars and the occasional falsh of his planet through it. He wondered where all his friends were now, and whether they missed him. He knew that they would wonder about the hut being empty, and of there being no people in it, but who would really search for them and miss the two?
He thought back to it. Nick, the red eyrie,would miss them and would send out search parties if he could. Afew of the others would look for them too, but (and he smiled slightly at the thought) in all the wrong places. Who could guess that they would be in a hut when they fell asleep, and a space station when they awoke?
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