Chapter 4: United We…Kick Their Tails!

I hunched my shoulders and watched the exchange between my brave friend and the Dark Faerie. Then Luvin drew her sword, and that was the signal.

In perfect silence the first flight of my squadron, the eyries, plunged out of the trees with me in the lead. We made no sound until we were almost upon our prey. Uttering eagle shrieks a split second before the attack; we hit the army of darkness completely by surprise.

I grabbed an unsuspecting mutant Moehog in my front paws and hauled him into the air. I aimed and stabbed at the collar with my beak, shattering it and freeing him. I glided to the edge of the battle and dropped him onto the ground, as were the other Eyries. With battle cries, the freed mutants raced back into the fray, striking out at their former captors.

Even as we dropped the mutants, squadrons of Korbats, Buzzes and Pteris dove down, dropping laugh grenades and other weapons on their targets. Kois and Kikos surfaced in the stream and sprayed powerful blasts of water at monsters from the Haunted Woods.

I got a brief glance of Luvin swooping and diving around Atera, frustrating the Monocerous and making Atera curse as she tried to deflect the attacks of a dozen or so faerie Kougras as they strained to shatter the Amulet of Darkness around Atera's neck. The Monocerous roared and several pets froze in terror. Then several Jubjubs answered the roar with their own piercing shrieks and leaped at the frustrated monster, kicking it with their strong feet. Jarred from their paralysis, the fighters gave war cries and attacked again, jabbing with their swords.

The battle was a long and tiring. I cannot count the number of pets I freed, only to swoop back to do it again.

Luvinnemiousis snarled in frustration as she missed the amulet yet again and had to dodge another swipe of Atera's dark sword. She was sore, battered and frustrated. Doggone it!

The Uber faeries hadn't been able to join the fray because of that darkness that Atera was using. The darkness had a terrible effect on any and all good faeries; draining their strength and making them helpless.

Lupes were doing a wonderful job from what she could see. Teaming up in groups of two or three on one opponent and breaking the collars on those who were being controlled. Gelerts sprinted around on fast paws, nipping at legs and chomping on sword arms and generally harassing the living daylights out of their opponents. Wingless Kougras were roaring and swatting the smaller enemies aside like flies.

Luvinnemiousis made another dive for Atera's amulet and missed once again. Atera hit Luvin with the flat of her sword and unbalanced, Luvin fell to the ground hard. She struggled to get her breath back and looked up in horror to see Atera raise her blade for the final stroke.

I saw my best friend get knocked out of the air and immediately saw red. NO ONE MESSED WITH MY FRIENDS!

With a full-throated battle scream I plunged down and smashed into Atera hard from behind, knocking her from her seat on the Monocerous. The dark sword flew from Atera's hand and she landed hard on the ground next to Luvin.

Absolute silence fell over the battlefield as I pinned Atera to the ground with my massive lion paws. I sliced the cord to the amulet and tossed it to Luvin.

"This is your honor my friend," I said to her, not looking away from Atera, "After all, you worked so hard to get to it."

With a triumphant cry Luvin grabbed the Amulet and smashed it hard against the ground. The amulet shattered under the blow and everyone yelled with joy as they began returning to human form.

As armored humans began shifting back and standing up with their loving pets gathered around them, the monsters from the Haunted Woods turned and fled. The Amulet's controlling powers gone, the remaining mutant pets pulled the slave collars off and raced to their prospective owners or clustered together to wait for someone to take them home.

I grabbed Atera's sword by the handle and glared at her, keeping her down with the point aimed at her neck. Her power source gone, the Dark Faerie kept still as Luvin tied her hands behind her.

"Get this straight Atera, no one, and I mean no one messes with my friends."

There were several flashes of light and the rest of the Uber Faeries appeared. The Earth Faerie gathered up the mutant pets and began the long task of returning them to their worried owners.

I dropped the sword, shaking a little in anger. I was rarely in the mood to fight, but when I did, it was really serious. And after word I always felt bad.

Luvinnemiousis came over and gave me a hug as she always did to calm me down after a fight. "Come on," she muttered to me, "I've got some chocolate ice cream stored in the freezer at my Neohome. Let's go home and spoil ourselves. The faeries can take care of this mess."

Ahhh chocolate. The world's best cure-all. I managed to summon up a grin and we raced each other all the way to her doorstep. Our pets weren't far behind.

Chapter 5: Just Desserts

An hour later we were both sitting on the comfy couch in her living room, letting off extra energy by recounting the parts of the battle we had seen.

There was a knock on the door and we opened it to find the Uber Light Faerie standing on the doorstep, "Luvinnemiousis, Alkuna, the Faerie Queen has summoned you to her palace."

"To all the owners and pets who participated in today's battle to save Neopia, thank you all! It shall be arranged for everyone who participated in today's battle to receive 10,000 Neopoints in their accounts and a trophy for their cabinets."

Cheers erupted from the crowds outside the palace. Luvin and I grinned and hugged each other. That meant we would be getting the money too. Wow. It felt kind of weird not having wings anymore. I soo wanted to just jump in the air and fly around for a while.

Then I frowned a little, "But why did she have to bring us inside the palace itself to tell us this?"

Luvin shrugged, looking as puzzled as I was. We were soon to find out.

The Faerie Queen turned and walked back into the palace and smiled at each of us. "Come with me… I have a special reward for the both of you."

We walked into the throne room and were commanded to kneel before the throne.

"Luvinnemiousis and Alkuna, for your bravery in battle and your successful shattering of Atera's Amulet, you are hereby dubbed Guardians of Neopia. Your strength and loyalty to the forces of good have been proven you worthy of this honor. In order to do your job as Guardians, however, you will be required to return to Neopia often. The forms you chose in Atera's trap will be the forms you are to take when the time requires it."

The Faerie Queen slipped a beautiful amulet over my head, then walked over and slipped one around Luvin's neck too. They shone brilliantly in the light, and blue crystals sparkled in the setting.

"Everyone has been returned to the exact time in which they left. You both will do the same. Thereafter, you must watch your time, for time in this world will be the same as the outside world. Congratulations, both of you."

We both rose and smiled proudly. Neopia was a wonderful place to be. We would protect this world with all of our powers. Which reminded me….

We spent a lot of money that night, changing into our Neopet forms and buying captive faeries. We released them, and were blessed with high-level abilities. After all, we needed abilities that didn't require physical work. I raised my electric blue wings and smiled over at my friend. Luvin nodded in total agreement with me. We both deserved a quiet evening of flying after the hard work we had done.