I could imagine the scene now: a gigantic cave lupe looking down upon a weak-looking white Lupe, who was shaking like jelly. Blasting away monsters like these was basically a new concept for me. Just a few hours ago, I had been whisked back in time by the Scorchio's Time Ray to Ancient Neopia, and now I've learned that I have to go and retrieve the Ring of Xantan from Xantan the Foul, who lived in the Dank Caves, where I am now.

'If I can't even defeat this cave lupe,' I thought, 'Then I'll never be able to defeat Xantan!'

After a few battles or so with fire and ice imps and the occasional plains beast, I had become a lot stronger, but not strong enough to take on this cave lupe. All hope was basically lost until I remembered that I did have a magic wand.

Quickly, I leaped back up on my hind legs and gathered all of my energy into making the best shot. The caves lupe, growling, had reacted faster than me, as it was the predator. It leaped up and prepared to pounce on me, but I got out of the way just in time. That completely broke my concentration.

I need to find a way to keep that lupe away from me while I concentrate on a good spell!' I thought. Frantically, I looked around for something to mesmerize the lupe for a while. That's when I noticed that the caves lupe, when it had leaped up, avoided the small stream of sunlight that came from the hole that was the cave's entrance and exit. I dashed towards the small rope ladder dangling from the top and began to focus my skills. True to my suspicions, the cave Lupe would not move anywhere near it, but circled it menacingly.

I kept my cool, and soon, by using all of my energy and strength, managed to gather all of it into one area at the tip of my wand. With a powerful white shot of radiant lightening from my White Wand of Life Magic, I hit the cave lupe and sent it flying towards the cavern wall with a loud crunching noise.

'Phew!' I sighed. I quickly ran up to it to see if it had dropped any items. A small cave lupe pelt laid on the floor, which I picked up and stored away. Some items could be used to given to certain people around Ancient Neopia that could make better weapons or armour. I sprinted away; there was nothing interesting about a fallen cave lupe.

I met many cave monsters, which included more cave lupes and cave imps. After the first terrifying encounter, most of them were pretty easy to defeat now. The Dank Caves were very properly named: very scary, very wet, very dark, completely dank. I thought I would die for want of air soon, but I knew that I had to be strong. Keeping calm, I finally reached a small slide which would take me down to the next level.

Nothing was very interesting down there at the Upper Temple level. Nothing except Rikti, anyways.

I was surprised that there were pillars, statues, chairs, and tables under here in the middle of the Dank Caves, but I didn't wonder how they got there. They were completely swept out of my mind by a small, frightened Korbat sitting against the wall.

'Y-you don't look like a m-monster!' it said in a frightened voice. It looked like a very normal Red Korbat with a small backpack on its back. 'W-what are you?'

'I'm an adventurer, from Neopia City,' I replied. I wasn't scared of it, but it obviously was scared of me. 'Eleus Batrin sent me to get the Ring of Xantan.'

When I said the word 'Xantan', the Korbat shuddered. 'Never say that name around me! It brings fear and dread to my heart.'

'Huh?' I asked.

'I am Rikti the Korbat, from a far place in the great Swamps of Neopia,' he began. 'I decided to venture from my home, much to the disapproval of my brother, to explore the Dank Caves. I have been bewitched by Xantan the Foul, when he discovered me. I am rooted to this very spot and cannot move, so I can't leave until Xantan dies. The monsters usually just leave me alone, I don't know why, but they just do. The Foul Beast, who is a powerful wizard, lives at the bottom of this dungeon. It will take all your strength to defeat him if you want to get his Ring!'

I stood very still after this extraordinary announcement. 'All my magical powers? But today was the first day I've ever used a wand!'

The Young Korbat looked at me like I was insane. 'What? What are you even DOING down here if you're that weak? How'd you fight off all those monsters? I couldn't even escape them without a scratch, but you-'

Rikti's face lit up as he realized I was wearing the Cloth Robes that Morax had given me, back in Neopia City. He looked at me with new eyes, but they also showed fear.

'I want you to leave me in peace,' said Rikti. 'You may go, but if you get killed by that filthy beast, don't blame me,'

It seemed to take forever, but finally, I had made it to a small ramp going down. This was, as Eleus had mentioned before, the way down to the lower temple of the Dark Caves. 'It'll only get darker from here,' I recalled. Taking a deep breath, I jumped into the yawning hole going downwards.

I landed with a plop on the floor. Dust rose everywhere as the untouched earth as I landed. Standing up and brushing myself, I found bits of skeleton hanging everywhere.

'Ew!' I said to myself, beginning my walk down the passageway. It was extremely dark and filthy. As I went on, I gradually saw more skeletons and a lot more filth. Now I also realized why it was called a 'temple'; it looked as if somebody had lived here before, but not in a long time. Already, I had passed many rooms and fought many monsters. My items pack was gradually getting heavier and heavier as it was loaded with tiny gemstones and healing potions.

With each step I took, I knew I was heading closer and closer to my goal: Xantan the Foul. I could fight off most monsters on that level, which included broken, burnt, and frozen skeletons. As they dropped dead (again) the piles of bones grew larger and larger. Each way I looked, there were decaying skeletons, and my feet crunched on them with each step.

Finally, I reached the ramp downwards to the fourth and final level of the Dank Caves. This was supposed to be a big maze, and at the end- Xantan's Lair. Gulping, I slid down the ramp into the complete darkness of Level 4.

'Ewww! What is this stuff?'

Stepping out of a small room in which the ramp had landed in, I had stood up and left into the maze. There were twists and turns everywhere, and everything was covered with a thick layer of slime; yes, a thick layer of slime. It is NOT very fun to go tracking through all the sticky, gooey stuff, especially when you're already covered in dust and dirt. I had tracked through almost everything the maze had to offer, and that was quite a lot. Many monsters, including Slorgs, dropped many things: rods of rock, small gemstones, healing potions, and more. Finally, I reached my destination: Xantan's lair. It wasn't very distinguishable from everything else; the entrance was covered in thick, brown slime. It was a bit lighter in there, if slimier and grosser. I knew that Xantan the Foul, made of decay and sludge, was at the end of a small hallway that was his lair. But the scariest part was his skeletal guardians.

There were two of them, but I didn't know that. I was slowly sinking in slime with every step I took, but I never really went under the surface of it. I wasn't aware of two skeletal, undead things conjured up by the Sludge beast that was slowly following me around where ever I went; I just wanted to get out of that mess, and quickly too.

They attacked when they saw the chance: right before I would see Xantan. Only one attacked at a time to deceive me. I was expecting a monster or two in Xantan's very own lair, but I wasn't expecting this one.

'Ahhh!' I yelled as it pounced with hits skeletal fury. The skeleton guard carried a large staff, which it either shot spells at me or whacked me with. With my quick reflexes, I quickly managed to send a counter strike spell at it, which hit it but very weakly. I couldn't escape from it; it wouldn't let me go to Xantan or go back the way I came. I knew that I had to battle it.

WHAM! As I was deciding, it hit me in the chin with its staff. 'You undead skeletal creep!' I roared, getting up. 'You're going to regret ever doing that!'

KABAM! I hit it with the strongest spell I could muster, and that was pretty strong after all of my training.

After many other hardships with the monster, we reached a time of final fury: both I and it were very tired and nearly beat, but we had enough energy to keep going on. It raised its staff to whack me with it one last time, and I raised my wand to zap it one last time. A small force of white energy gathered at the tip of my wand, and the skeleton guard began to advance forward towards me. It raised its staff to attack, leaving its ribcage unguarded. I lowered my wand, grabbed it with both wands, and shot my most powerful spell at him while he threw his staff at me.

A loud explosion took place. Bits of slime went flying everywhere as the two magical items clashed together. I was thrown back by the impact of the blow, and so was the skeleton guard. You can imagine what something like a skeleton will do if it hits a wall with a very strong impact.

I ran up to where it had fallen, and discovered that there were two sets of skeletons instead of one. I shrugged, thinking, 'Oh well. At least I get some more cool stuff!'

I scooped up the hoard of Healing Potions and a small piece of tattered cloth, and looked towards the hallway's end.

'So,' screeched a voice from the end of the hall. 'You've defeated my Skeleton Guards, and now you're going to defeat me? Pah!'

His voice rang through the hall like sludge. It seemed to defy normal sound waves and simply have the power to ooze into your ears, leaving you unable to do anything about it.

'Who are you?' I asked, stupidly. It was the first thing I could think of.

The voice laughed. 'You do not realize who I am? I would have expected much better of you, after all that you've done to my creations!'

Something inside my head suddenly clicked, without warning. 'You- you're Xantan! You're Xantan the Foul, aren't you?'

'That's right,' said the voice evilly. 'And I'm coming to kill you!'

Quick as a flash, and as nimble as a Blumaroo, Xantan had slithered up to me and I could get a better look at him. He was, in fact, made of slime, like a mutated Sludgy. Its face gave the being a mad look to it, and around its 'neck' was a small, brook-coloured cape with small purple stars on it.

'Go away and never come back!' It cried.

'Never!' I replied.

The creature sighed. 'If you insist...'

'Yes, I do, and I'm not leaving until I get what I want!'

'Then you shall now suffer the consequences!' It reared up to attack!

It brought forth its sludgy hands and they slowly began to glow with fiery energy. He was working up a fire attack! I couldn't do that with my White Wand, but I still could send attacks at him. Quickly, I sent a lightening bolt of white at him, but it was engulfed in all that sludge and disappeared! Xantan barely flinched at the attack. I knew I had to get a stronger spell, but before I could do anything, it had launched its fire power at me and I was sent flying back, crashing into the wall.

But, I was made out of much stronger stuff than that. I got up very quickly, and sent another lightening bolt at him, but this one was bigger. It was engulfed in the oozing slime of Xantan's sickening body. He raised his hands to send another attack, but something unusual happened to my oozing opponent. Small paralysis attacks of white lightening seemed to course through his body and damage him a little bit. I didn't know where it came from, and I was just about to send another attack at him when a slightly larger paralysis attack took over him for a few seconds.

'Of course!' I said, realizing what was happening. 'My magic attacks are getting trapped in all of that sludge, so it takes longer for the attacks to reach him, but the damage seems to multiply inside all that sludge! I wonder...'

I threw some handfuls of his own sickening sludge at him and then shot a spell. The sludge, of course, landed on his body and made him look bigger and fatter. It took nearly a minute for the spell to do something, but the wait was worth it. Xantan was beginning to look a little damaged, but I knew he was faraway from defeat. As he began an icy spell, I quickly scooped up more sludge and launched it at him. He gradually began to bloat up like a sludgy balloon. By the time he had finished powering up his spell of ice, he had grown so large I was surprised he hadn't touched the ceiling yet. He released the ice spell at me, which hit me with a force that was impossible.

I realized the down part of my plan: increasing his size, of course, had increased his attack power. Grimacing, I stood up, and began shooting spells at every part of his body that I could reach. Meanwhile, Xantan the Foul had stretched out his two hands, and two spells of fire and ice began to occur. He was making the ultimate attack, and so was I.

The climax approached as both Xantan and I had gathered so much energy the walls began to shake. He put his two hands together and cupped them up, and the two forces of magic slowly began to swirl into his most powerful attack. I had sent large lightening bolts at every sludgy place of his body I could reach, and I knew that the full attack was about to come. Quickly, I pulled my cloth robes tighter and braced myself.

Xantan had powered up all his energy and the first of my lightening bolts were about to give him damage. I waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing happened. Astonished, I looked up at Xantan's face, which was high up in the air. The spells had begun! They had rushed up through his body and coursed up to his decayed head, and he was slowly being electrocuted. Before I knew it, my sickening enemy glowed up like a large light bulb, as the Life Magic coursed through his slimy veins. He shrieked in horror; a sickening shriek that sounded like sludge splattering over something.

'Noooooooooooooooooo!'

With the last of his efforts, he send his fire and ice magic at the wall, and, in a nutshell, he blew up. It was mighty BOOM, like the BOOM! that happens when you steal somebody else's artwork. Sludge splattered everywhere, but that doesn't really matter anymore. The spell that he had sent made the dank caves rumble and tumble, and it was starting to cave in! I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get out fast enough, even if I wanted to. That's when I saw it: a small, blue disc levitating at the end of Xantan's lair. It was a teleportation disc, as Eleus had explained to me. It would teleport me to the entrance of the caves, but I could only use it when I had defeated Xantan. He was already defeated, so I quickly dashed towards it.

Halfway there, I tripped over something. Cursing, I got up, and brushed as much slime as I could off myself. I retraced my steps to see what I had tripped over, and I found it: a small, grey ring covered in slime. I probably wouldn't even had noticed it if it wasn't radiating a small, stormy-coloured light. I picked it up and brushed off all the slime and put it in my pack. I could admire it later, but first I had to get out of there before I was buried in slime and dirt forever.

When I had finally reached the teleportation disc, most of the pillars in Xantan's lair had already tumbled and crumbled. I turned around to see the wreck one last time, and as I turned back towards the teleportation disc, I heard a small whisper echo throughout the hall, bouncing off the walls like extremely goopy slime would.

'I will return...'

The ladder was nearly gone when I had reached the cave entrance. The black of night-time shined down from the opening as I jumped on to it and climbed frantically. The ascent didn't take long, and soon I was feeling the crisp, fresh air of the evening on my face. It felt so cool and relaxing after my long journey inside the horrible Dank Caves.

And now that it had caved in, there wasn't much of a chance that I had to go back in that mess.

And then I remembered Rikti.

'Oh no!' I cried, remembering. 'Rikti!'

'Um,' said a small voice behind me. 'I'm alright,'

I wheeled around and saw the figure of the small, Red Korbat. He was able to properly move again, as he waved at me.

'Thank you for worrying about me,' he said. 'I really appreciate you saving me from the clutches of that- thing.'

'Hey, no worries, eh?' I said. I looked back in the distance at Neopia City, which was pretty nearby.

'Well, I think I'll stick around here, in the Hills of Jub,' said the Korbat. 'I don't have much better to do, and I don't want to go back home,'

But before I could ask where exactly he lived, the figure of Eleus Batrin and Choras Tillie appeared out of nowhere. 'You're alright!' exclaimed the Kyrii. 'You're perfectly alright!'

'See, I told you he could do it,' said Choras, grinning. 'Well done, kid,'

'Well, it wasn't easy,' I said, exhausted. 'But I'm glad that's all over,'

'You must come back with me to Neopia City!' said Eleus, grabbing my paw. 'Come on; let's move before anything attacks us,'

I turned around to invite Rikti along, but he was gone. All that was left was a small piece of paper with some rapidly scribbled writing on it and the tatters of a brook-red cloak with pure stars on it. I bent to pick it up, but before I could do anything, the wind had swept it away off the hill and down to the base, where it slowly disappeared from sight.

Sighing, I walked with the Poogle and the Kyrii back to Neopia City as the first stars as the moon arose in the sky and the stars began their twinkling dance in the night of Ancient Neopia.