Part 4: The Necklace

"Well, well! It looks like Scientist Boy came back to our humble classroom?" Derix said, grinning coldly as Xelqued was walking the classroom a week later.

"Shut your mouth, Derix." Xelqued said, even colder than Derix's smile, as he shoved the Aisha off his desk and sat down. Derix hit the floor and snarled.

"Oooh, I'm scared. Really I am," he said sarcastically. "Little Scientist is learning Tai-Bo?"

"I said shut UP, Derix." Xelqued snarled back.

"Maybe if you could-"

"Derix, if you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to rip out your jaw, take it to Neopia, and bury it into the ground." Dream spat, bracing for a battle. "But that, of course, would have to be after I hunt you down and rip you to shreds…"

Derix gulped. "You wouldn't dare touch me, you stupid Gelert." He hissed.

"Oh, yes I would. Like a game of cat and mouse, only now it would be a game of dog and cat. Wouldn't you say, Xel?"

Xelqued nodded. "We could cause a nuclear explosion in the remainder of his brain, Dream. Can't let that happen, he won't know how to run then, and that would ruin all the fun."

Dream sighed. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Coming from the two who have been making friends with a clone..." Derix mumbled. In an instant, Xelqued was at his throat.

"Don't… you… call… Zee… a… clone… UNDERSTAND ME?!" he hissed, one paw on Derix's throat. Derix grinned.

"I believe that would be… proof, wouldn't it? I'm sure my father would absolutely love to hear that… him being second to the commander, and I know that the commander would love to hear about how you've been sneaking to visit your new girlfriend in the middle of the night…"

"I HAVEN'T BEEN SNEAKING TO SEE ZEE!" Xelqued yelled, then, realizing something else, mumbled, "And she's not my girlfriend either."

Derix laughed. "I'm sure she's not. So what's that?" He pointed to some sort of a chain hanging from his backpack. He ripped it out and laughed even harder, showing everyone the round, rainbow swirling thing hanging from the golden necklace. "A present for his girlfriend, most likely!" He moved it back and forth, just out of Xelqued's reach. "Or maybe you just thought it would look good on yourself? A piece of junk made by your piece of junk Myriad? Well, of course it'll look good, but-"

Derix didn't notice Dream until she had raised her paw and smacked him on the back of his head very hard. He fell, face first, onto Xelqued's desk, unconscious. Xelqued picked up the necklace nervously and stuck it back into his backpack. He and Dream made sure to tread on Derix's tail as they walked out of the room.

"I hate him." Dream snarled. "I absolutely hate him. No one is supposed to touch that thing, and no one bugs you about Zee being your girlfriend… except me. NO ONE!"

"She isn't my girlfriend! Don't get on my nerves, we've already got enough to deal with without Derix and you bugging me."

"Well I'm sure she wouldn't say no to being your girlfriend." Dream and Xelqued were still arguing by the time they reached the door. The strange chain was dangling from his backpack as Xelqued pressed the key to open the door to the room.

"I said shut up." The doors to Zee's room opened, and suddenly, both children froze. There were scientists in there! And the commander!

"Ah, Xelqued. DarkDigitalDream. How nice to see you both again." The commander said. They could see Zee waving from behind the glass, but stopping when she noticed someone watching. "We're working with your friend right now, it won't take long."

"Experimenting on her, you mean." Xelqued snapped.

"Excuse me, we are conducting scientific-"

"Experiments. Your experimenting on her, and I'd like to let you know that she has a brain and knows very well what your doing." Zee tilted her head in confusion, watching Xelqued's every move.

"Of course she does. But she hasn't made so much as one syllable to tell us she doesn't like it, now have you?" the Commander poked the glass, which Zee pawed at. Commander laughed. "What a smart creature she is. Much smarter than those Greebles we had last week. Intellect beyond all our other…" he turned to Xelqued. "…Specimens. If only she could talk, what would she say?"

"She can!" Xelqued snarled. "And she doesn't like what your doing to her."

"She can't, we hear nothing from her all day."

"Didn't you NOTICE that you put up SOUND PROOF GLASS?" Dream spoke up suddenly, glaring at the Commander.

"Yeah. Y'know, if you let her out then maybe…"

The commander's eyes clouded over. "Then we would be done with the experiments faster…" He turned to the cluster of scientists behind him. "Vertunax! Put a leash on Experiment Z and take her out. We're going to have a little chat…" The scientists cheered, but Xelqued stood with his mouth open.

"A leash?! You're treating her as if she's an animal or something!"

"Well she isn't exactly an Alien Aisha, now is she, boy?" Commander turned back to Xelqued with a snarl. "I tire of your talking out of line. Silence."

"No!"

"I SAID BE QUIET!" the commander roared.

"Hey!" a very familiar girlish voice chorused. "Don't tell my friend to be quiet, four-ears!" Everyone turned and sure enough, there was Zee, sitting calmly on the hard floor, staring straight at the Commander. For a minute there was silence, but then the muttering started sounding.

"She can talk!"

"It's a miracle!"

"These experiments should be done by the end of this week!"

"Xelqued is a friend of hers!"

"She spoke against Arlhox!"

"Amazing, look at the brain waves!"

"We'll have a new species yet!"

"Wow…" Zee looked at the scientists, then pointed to them while watching Xelqued. "They talk a lot, don't they, Xellie?"

"Xellie?"

"Fantastic!"

"She has a pet name for her friend!"

"She thinks like us!"

The Commander just stared. "You really… can talk?"

"A' course I can talk, Commander-ness!" Zee sat tall and proud. "And let me tell ya…" she pointed to the leash. "This thing is tight! Get it offa me!"

"Do as she says." The Commander ordered. Vertunax just stared. "I said do as she says!" The leash was off in a manner of seconds. Zee rubbed her neck with a sigh.

"Man that was getting annoying." She sat next to Xelqued and Dream. "Hows it shakin, you two? Did'cha bring me another book or somethin' today?"

"Uh... well..." Xelqued said, stunned that his friend would talk out against the commander and everyone like that. Then again, she didn't know any better.

"Ex-nai on the ooks-bai, Zee..."

Zee snickered. "Nice pig laten, ream-Dai."

Dream grinned proudly. "Thanks."

"You've been bringing her BOOKS?!" The Commander suddenly roared. "No WONDER she learned to talk! You two have been bringing her books!" He instantly picked up Xelqued and began shaking him. "She's absolutaly useless now!"

"I thought I told you to leave my friend alone, four-ears!" Zee suddenly snapped. The Commander stared down at her in shock.

"Four-Ears?"

"Yeah, you heard me. Now put Xellie down before you feel agonizing pain." She smiled, showing off her teeth. "See these? I can bite down pretty hard with these. Now let him go." The Commander let Xelqued go, practicly dropping him to the ground.

"He's been taking you out of line with him, hasn't he? My poor poor Zafra..."

"ZAFRA?! What kind of a name is THAT?!"

"It's your name, lovely."

"No it's not! My name is Zee, when did it get changed?"

"Well, we decided that you would be called Zafra the day after you met... um... "Xellie" for the first time."

"Well my name was Zee first. Xellie calls me Zee, so my name is Zee. Don't you ever THINK of changing it, pal."

"Lay off the Xellie, alright Zee?" Xelqued sighed. "You said you were going to call me Xel. Not Xellie." Zee smiled a sweet smile at him.

"Well I happen to like Xellie better." he sighed.

"Girls..."

The Commander sighed. "Well, we have no more use of her now. We'll just have to start another similar experiment, and maybe if we're lucky, it will be a male..." He motioned for Vertunax to put Zee's leash back on her, but Zee danced out of reach.

"Na na na! Come get me!" She sang.

"Zee, no, don't..." Xelqued started, grabbing her paw. "Don't provoke them, it could get really nasty..." Zee looked at him for a few seconds, her eyes going soft, then suddenly whipping her head around as Vertunax tried again to put on the leash. Xelqued pulled Zee just out of Vertunax's reach once again, and she sighed.

"Look, Xelqued, don't make my job any harder than it already is."

"Then leave Zee alone. She hasn't done anything."

"She is an EXPERIMENT, Xelqued. We can always use another..." The Commander started. He was holding a needle and taking steps toward the three of them. Dream let loose a gasp.

"They're going to put her to sleep, Xel..." all three took a step back, and suddenly, the ship started shaking as if something had hit it.

"Wooah!" Xel yelped. Zee was suddenly clinging to him, and he felt his face grow hot.

"Whats going on, Xellie?"

"I... I have no idea..." he replied, shaking.