‘So, are you guys okay?’ the pilot questioned.
‘Sure, thank you for rescuing us.’ said Lethal, politely.
‘Yeah, no problem. Say, you guys heard of that Lupe group called the Prowlers?’
‘Uh….w-what about em?’ stammered Lethal.
‘I dunno, just thought I should warn you. They’re on Roo Island supposedly, you know?’
‘A-and you know what they look like?’
‘Yessir.’
Lethal grinned. No one would notice them!
‘Alright, here’s Roo Island, you guys’ the pilot said, looking back. Suddenly, his face went pale. ‘YOU!’
‘Uh…oh…’ Lethal backed off, but Hatchet charged at the man. The pilot tried to dodge, but Hatchet was too quick. He tore at the man’s skin with his claws, and the man who got us here fell down in a puddle of blood.
‘Let’s go.’ Hatchet commanded us. Lethal’s gawked, but Angel seemed to pass it off as a day’s work.
‘Come on, Lethal.’ Angel called him.
Lethal ran out of the plane, eyes still on the bloodied corpse. Luckily, no one had been around to notice the attack. We were in the abandoned area. Angel suddenly grabbed a bottle off the ground. It was marked BLUE SCORCHIO MORPHING POTION.
‘People in Neopia are so careless…’ he said, with a grin. He popped open the bottle. Lethal and Hatchet both gasped as he devoured the whole bottle and turned into the infernal dragon that is Scorchio.
‘Wow, when it said it gives you wings, I didn’t think it really meant it?!’ Angel remarked, with a twisted grin on his face.
‘Can we just go now?’ said the impatient Hatchet. The other two obeyed and they walked for miles upon miles, until they reached what seemed to be an empty area, only marked by a circle of rocks on the ground.
‘Open Sesame Egg Roll’ The ground slid open, and Hatchet fell in, motioning Angel and Lethal to follow. The two Neopets shrugged at each other and went behind their leader.
‘Ya know, on second thought…I think I’ll stay out here. I’m a Scorchio, and this is a Lupe’s war.’ Angel grinned, flying out of the hole.
‘Whatever you say…coward…’ mummered Hatchet, going farther into the sheer blackness of the Manifest’s base.
‘Master? Master, I’m here.’ Hatchet smiled.
‘Wha…’ Lethal began.
‘Master, I brought fresh meat for you.’ called Hatchet. Lethal gasped in betrayl, and began to run. Hatchet was quick to recognize it, and took Lethal down by the neck. Lethal stormed back, knocking Hatchet on its back. Hatchet bit at Lethal, and Lethal let out a horrible shriek of pain. Out of the darkness came a pirate Blumaroo. He stepped directly on Lethal’s paw with his pegleg, and drew out his knife, he began to strike down upon him, but suddenly a blur went by and the Blumaroo went sailing, hitting a pillar head-first and falling to the ground, presumably dead.
‘Angel!’ Lethal said with glee.
‘You betcha! Wait, Look out!’ Lethal dodged, and Hatchet went sailing into Angel, digging his teeth in, but Angel threw him off with great strength, then with the greatest of his might, he thrust fire into Hatchet’s face. Hatchet burnt to death almost instantly.
‘The crown, it’s right there!’ Lethal pointed to the throne of the deceased Blumaroo.
Angel flew with rapid speed, took the crown in one hand, then turned back and scooped up Lethal with the other, and flew straight out of the hole, and then dive bombed for the ground. The two had gotten the crown. Their mission was complete, sort of.
‘Angel, how are we going to get back home?’
‘Well, Lethal, where there’s a will, there’s a way, or at least, there’s a pay phone.’ Angel pointed at the pay phone nearby. ‘We call home, say we have the crown by coincidence, and they’ll never know with a Scorchio and an innocent Lupe, right?’ Angel smiled, taking a dubloon from his pocket, and inserting into the phone. ‘Yeah, hi, is this Advisor Wessle? … We have the crown, Wessle … What? … YOU HAVE THE CROWN ALREADY?! … But…but…then what do we…ugh…wait, I get it. Sorry to waste your time, Wessle.’ Angel gave a twisted frown towards Lethal.
‘The crown is a fake…Hatchet really had things covered…’
‘Angel, why did you help me?!’
‘You thought I was a part of this? I was just as much fooled as you were.’
‘Then why’d you stay outside?’
‘I’m a coward…’
‘Haha…so, how are we supposed to get home?’
‘Welllll…there is a plane that we left somewhere isn’t there?’
‘Yeah, that, ummm…’
‘Don’t worry, no one has it.’
‘Angel, if you couldn’t steer the boat, how will you steer the copter?’
‘Who said I was driving?’
‘Oh…’
‘Didn’t you old man teach you anything?’ Angel laughed, and Lethal joined in. He knew Master understood what he had done, but his calling was elsewhere besides criminal life. Criminal life had got him nothing and nearly cost him everything. For Snowowl and Nuke, it had cost them the entire price. Amazing how far greed takes us, only to give us nothing for our troubles. It’s a life-long lesson that many of us never catch. To make your own life, it has to come from your energy and your ethic, not what you can scavenge by breaking the law. Lethal and Angel have learned to do it the right way. Oh, and they also learned how to pilot a helicopter!
LETHAL went on to get a job at the Bruce -n- Bruce Bottle Cap company. He invested his money in the company’s stock, and when Bruce Cola hit the market the stock rose to numerous heights. He opened Angel’s Escape Motels, a safe haven for all runaway Neopets alike. He doesn’t neccessarily have 2 million neopets as Hatchet said, but Hatchet didn’t know what he was talking about anyway, so heh.
ANGEL is a captain in the Lost Desert Navy, and sees Lethal regularly. He was honored recently for the capturing of over half of the Manifest.
ANTSY accidently ingested Grarrl Morphing Potion at a party, and he’s now a big fat Grarrl named Antsy (hehe). His current job is working the full shift at the Lost Desert Food Stall.
NUKE did indeed die while climbing the ladder of the helicopter. His body was retrieved along with Snowowl’s body by a ship captained by none other than Angel.
THE MANIFEST is on their last leg (*pun*) thanks to brave action by the Air Force and Navy of both the Lost Desert and Mystery Island.
SANKARA did indeed steal the crown over a game of Checkers. She gave a public apology to the people of the desert. What she got back wasn’t neccessarily forgiveness, but the biggest waste of fruit in the Lost Desert’s history.
VYSSA will never play Checkers again.
THE END – Porygonix