The Stone Hourglass
by Shepherd Virgo
This story is replacing 'Rod of the Heart Nova.' It will involve the same characters, and the same things will have happened in the first two books.
Disclaimer: I don't own Neopets.
Chapter 1 A Stranger
A few days after the shocking event with Jetsam, no one knew where Plesio and Aonca had gone. No one dared look for them, so everyone went back to their daily lives. Azuldragao, Verderato, and Jadretana became normal pets again, Faelinn became a simple plushie, Dr_Death went to the pound to work, Kalora played Cheat, and Captain Threelegs went back to the Academy. Quinto happily accepted Largato into the family along with Allegra, Elliot and Bleue for the time being until his owner came to find him.
Everything was back to normal, until one day, an odd visitor came to the door of the Sahkmet Mansion.
"Hello?" Azul looked out the door curiously.
"Hello," a masculine voice replied. "I am Comando. Segundo Comando. I am looking for a place to stay. Is this an inn?"
"No, this is Sakhmet Mansion," Azuldragao replied. "Segundo, mind if I call you the Seg-man?" Segundo nodded. "Seg-man, I'll ask my owner about letting you stay. You can come inside." He led the stranger through the house until they got to the X-Large Meerca Chase court beside the Mia's Makeover screen, where an image of a young Kyrii stood impatiently tapping her foot.
"Dad?" Azul called across the court. Quinto looked up from the controls, and paused the game. The robotic Meerca stopped dead. Quinto jogged around the court and answered Azul with a 'what' when he arrived at the other end of the court. Azul motioned to Segundo.
"Ah," Quinto sighed. "Hello." He looked to Azul, who gave him curt nod. Quinto started to leave the room and motioned for them to come. He stopped Azul at the edge of the court and continued to lead Seg-man around the house.
BAM!
"What was that?" Azul wondered aloud. He flew into the hallway and saw Segundo remove his cloak. Segundo was a shadow-colored Kacheek with a bloodred scar across his left arm. Quinto, however, lay writhing on the floor. His eyes open, Quinto stared at the Kacheek in horror.
"Revenge of a Minion," Segundo mumbled quietly to no one. Where had Azul heard the word 'minion' before? Then it hit him. Segundo was a servant to Sloth! He quickly changed into a battle form and hit the minion in the chest with a fireball. Seg let out a cry of fury as he turned and lunged at Azuldragao.
Meanwhile, Verderato and Largato, who had become nearly inseparable, also heard the large noise. "Minion!" Largato and Verderato exclaimed simultaneously. They ran down the stairs, seeing the battle that was happening between Azul and the mysterious minion.
Both minion and ancient sported a few wounds, each fighting with a weapon of it's kind: Azul using an apparantly upgraded Shoyru Sword and the minion using a Kacheek Dual Cannon that shot out both fire and ice.
Azul began to tire, Verderato saw. Azul had cowered back into and corner and then a bright flash appeared. The minion lay before them, dead. He wiped a tear from his eye, and went to pick up Quinto. He was unconscious.
They moved him into his room.
"We'd better get Kauvara," Verderato advised. Azul nodded in agreement. He changed into butterfly form and flew to Neopia Central.
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Azul walked into Kauvara's Potion shop.
"Lenny Morphing Potions on sale! 2000 NP!" Kauvara started yelling as Azul arrived. He smiled.
"You can cut that out, Kauvara," Azul commented heartily. She nodded. "We need Ancients." She nodded. Suddenly he heard the words 'All Ancients to Sakhmet Mansion!' boom through his head. He guessed that Kuavara had sent a telepathic message. "You have got to teach me to do that sometime."
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"What was this about, Azul?" Dr_Death mumbled. "RoseMadder has been considering bringing Mrs. Whorley back from the dead."
"You poor thing," Kalora said sympathetically.
Azul explained what had happened to everyone. All of them were stunned.
"That was the second-in-command, I believe," Rash said "Jetsam's one-up on him, and so is Garoo, but that's about it. He's known for stealing artifacts from us. We'd better check the body." Everyone scrambled towards the body of the late Segundo Comando.
"What's this?" Bleue asked curiously. She pulled out a stone box.
"Let's see," Faelinn replied. She opened the box. Inside lay a single stone hourglass. "ust a Stone Hourglass. Quite the useless Battledome weapon." She tossed it into the air behind, but Rash caught it before it hit the ground.
"Look, Faelinn," Rash said. "Come." Everyone gathered around. "The sand is stuck to the top of the hourglass. Isn't that odd?"
"Let me see," Kauvara said impatiently. She was handed the Stone Hourglass. "Maybe if we turn it around, the sand will go up."
"Good idea," Allegra agreed. Kauvara turned it upside-down. Her theory was correct. The sand did go up.
"Oh great," Kauvara mumbled. She turned around. "Rule Number 1 of being an Ancient: Never fiddle with unknown magic artifacts."
"Well, it's a little late now," Kalora replied sassily. "At least nothing is happening." It was as if she jinxed them. The air started to shimmer around them. Everyone glared at her. "What are you talking about? It wasn't me!"
Those were the last words they heard before they were sucked into the vortex.
