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"Fast forward five years!" cried Deracko. Millyum was grabbing
onto his shoulder and they started moving through the future. He had never gone
this far into the future, and he didn't know what the results would be. They were
floating in another dimension of darkness, waiting for the time traveling to end.
Deracko seldomly used his ring, but this was a time when they had to. They didn't
exactly have to, but it was a smart idea to move into the future to see if their
adventure was worth doing.
"Why is this taking so long?" asked Millyum
in the darkness. Normally it only took a few seconds for the time travel to
be completed, but this was taking a number of minutes.
"I don't know... it must be because I told the
ring to go ahead so far," answered Deracko. Their voices made an odd echoing
sound. Finally the darkness began to disappear and the Lost Desert came back
into view. It was much different. No black Petpets roamed and no purple gas
was nearby.
"I guess we must have saved the day!" said Millyum.
Her face burst into a big grin.
"Hey you, no smiling! You know what today is,
so stop the smiling," barked a yellow Chia as he walked by.
"Pardon me, but we don't know what today is.
Could you tell us?" asked Deracko. The Chia spun around and growled.
"You don't know what today is? Shame on you!
Today is the five year anniversary of when the adventure the Time Twisters took
ended! A tribe of Mutant Scorchios they had met up with earlier attacked them.
All of them died except for one of them who managed to get away. I should know,"
said the Chia.
"Why should you know?" asked Deracko. A thought
was wriggling into his mind. It was absurd, but still possible. It was the same
with Millyum. The Chia raised an eyebrow and spoke.
"I should know because I'm the Chia who escaped.
My name is Chakeebo," he said. Deracko and Millyum couldn't believe it! Their
merry little Chia friend had become this cold-hearted Neopet.
"Oh my goodness! Chakeebo, it's me, Millyum!
Do you remember when we went forward in time to see how the adventure turned
out? This is us, this is why we're here!" cried Millyum. She showed her ring
to Chakeebo. He grunted.
"Then you must return to the past! The Mutant
Scorchios must not prevail or the Mage will take over! It's horrible! He controls
every aspect of our lives! Go now!" he yelled. Deracko grabbed Millyum's wing
and Millyum said the words to bring them back to their original time.
"Rewind five years!"
Darkness returned. Millyum and Deracko just floated there for a few seconds...
and then a few minutes. It was taking too long! Eventually they returned. Chakeebo
from the future was right, the Mutant Scorchios were attacking! They had flown
in front their home in the Haunted Woods to get revenge. They were fending them
off as best as they could, but there were too many. The Rings of Time had been
stolen again and one of the Scorchios was looking at them.
"Give them back!" roared Deracko. He sent a Tuskaninny Blast at the Mutant
Scorchio. Yoigo, Chakeebo, Zeedil and Methalius were the only armed pets. Zeedil
was fighting with his spear, Yoigo had his Gelert Wand, Chakeebo had his Rainbow
Gun and Methalius was using up the last of his Lenny Grenades. Millyum fought
back with her Zafara Strike. With Deracko and Millyum's help, they managed to
drive the Mutants away.
"Thanks!" cried Bortyk. "We wouldn't have been
able to drive those Mutant Scorchios away without you!"
Deracko and Millyum looked at each other and
nearly burst out laughing. What could they say? It was the truth!
***
They all continued through the Lost Desert for a while. It was a long and
tiring journey, but they managed to find so civilization. They stopped at Kolicto's
tent for food and sleep. The next day they continued. They could feel the heat
of the Lost Desert leaving them, and the cold of the southern part of Neopia
coming. They traveled for days, finding whatever little food they could. When
the snow covered the ground and the petpets and purple gas became to thick it
was time to turn on the invisibility.
"Why is the gas so thick? And why are there
so many petpets?" questioned Junior G. The gas had become so thick that they
were constantly walking through. The petpets were everywhere!
"I guess it's because we're so close to the
source of them," said Tasuara. They continued walking until all of the air was
purple and stepping on the ground would squash a couple of black Hopsos and
black Mortogs.
"Now what?" asked Kyohara.
"I don't--what's this?" asked Yoigo. A black
Mortog had pushed away some of the snow. Underneath was a metal trapdoor. There
were seven ring holes in the trapdoor.
"It's like a keyhole! You put rings in and it
will open. How can you put your rings in? If you take off the invisibility,
the gas and the petpets will get us," said Methalius.
"We'll probably have to get Chakeebo to freeze
time as soon as we appear, put our rings in except for Chakeebo, then Chakeebo
will quickly have to put his ring in, and we can escape through the trapdoor,"
said Bortyk. Chakeebo nodded.
"Appear!"
As soon as everyone appeared, they grabbed Chakeebo.
"Pause!"
Time stopped. Bortyk, Tasuara, Millyum, Yoigo
and Deracko placed their rings in the slots. Chakeebo unfroze time.
"Unpause!"
As fast as anything, Chakeebo placed his ring
into the slot too. The door opened and they all jumped in before the purple
gas and the Petpets got to them. They went down a steel slide. It led them in
circles around and around until they came out. They thought they'd come out
in a place with green water, purple air, Black Roses and more black Petpets
than you could believe. Instead, they came out in a land of beauty. The grass
was bright and green and rivers flowed. The roof was stone, but for some strange
reason there was light. Small Faeries and Petpets roamed. They were all totally
healthy. Coloured lights zoomed around. What could they say? It was perfect.
"Look," said Zeedil. He pointed to a castle
in the distance. That was where the Mage lived and that was where they had to
go to save Neopia.
To be continued...
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