The Cursed Paintbrush- Transformation
"Sabrina, you should rest," Aqua said desperately, "I've already lost Scorpachick and I'm scared about losing you… Please?"
"I know, I know," I muttered as I sat down at a table, I had other things on my mind… Like where was Illusen's cure now? If it was stolen, what would happen to it? Would Hubrid Nox destroy it? Or would he lure us to our doom? And what about my poor Neopets…
Meanwhile, with Hubrid Nox at the Secret Lab…
"Frisk468, tie up Illusen and Scorpachick…" said the heinous Chia as many others Neo-humans followed his orders. He cackled as Illusen stared with fury…
"Yes Master!" said a flowing voice belonging to a half-mutated humanoid Koi. The human looked normal- except for the long frilly fins of the aquatic Neopet and her eyes were sparkling blue.
Illusen and Scorpachick struggled against their tightly bound bonds as the mechanical Lab Ray was positioned according to Hubrid's orders.
"By next Sunday, if your friends don't arrive to save the day, then I will make sure both of your DNA are blended together to make the ultimate Earth Neo-Faerie!"
"You wouldn't!" yelled Illusen. She would NOT oblige to blend with a Kacheek!
"Yes, I would! After all, I'M a purely evil villain!" cackled Hubrid.
Three weeks later…
"Why are we here, anyway?" I said, staring at the lush green scenery… Sparkling azure oceans surrounded the rain-drenched island as a group of multicoloured Peophins frolicked in the sea, neighing delightfully. Aqua sighed, brushing her wind-blown lightly browned hair to the side; she was dressed in a trendy leather jacket... We got off the ferry very briskly.
"Why do you think we are here? Sabsalinaishia told me about the Secret Laboratory and that's where Illusen and Scorpachick are supposed to be…" she retorted.
"Ella, if you get us lost or something on this island…" I was worried; it wasn't like my very best friend to be sarcastically commenting on my words every time. Was she up to something? Or was it just me thinking nonsense?
"Don't worry, what is the worst that could happen to us, here?" Aqua smiled.
"Hubrid Nox could capture us for one thing… Or we might fall prey to the wild beasts that inhabit this island, or we might starve- or I might transform- or…" I began the listing… About 20 minutes later, Aqua told me to keep quiet, or else!
"Well, should I? I'm your best friend remember?" I protested.
"Still, I think you should hold your tongue." said Aqua. I was shocked; it wasn't like her to say those words to me. Was she serious? Or was she joking? Suddenly, we heard a rustling in the bushes, we both froze in fear… Was it a wild Neopet? Or something else?
The green Neopet watched the two teenagers talk to each other while being in undercover… It ducked as one of them started yelling at the other. The emerald Neopet was scared of the voices…It reminded it of her captor's voices. One of them with brown hair seemed strange to her, the words were somewhat signified by her bizarre actions. The other girl with black hair and tiny glass object on her eyes…What was it? It hadn't seen humans for such a long time… But to her, she sensed something wrong with the black-haired girl, but the Neopet didn't know…
"Rar!" said a fierce dragonish voice as the green Neopet revealed itself… I was freaked out, what was it? It… Was a cute emerald Shoryu! Aqua also jumped as the Shoryu shook her pointed head, her huge eyes glaring at us. Was it a wild one?
"Who… Are you?" Aqua prompted the scaly-dragon Neopet. It spoke in a high-pitched voice, which was very fast-paced... I could hardly understand its voice.
"My… Name… Is… Mariam586!" The green female Shoryu (I wasn't sure) squeaked. "I was taken from my original owner, Sunprincess816, by my captors…"
"What sort of captors? What did they look like?" asked Aqua…
"Scary!" Mariam586 said. I gave her a blank look, no description!
"It was dark, but I couldn't see… They looked somewhat like villains." The cute Shoryu continued to be talkative and a bit naïve. "And they had a laugh that sounded malicious, like they were planning something to do to me…"
Mariam586 shuddered with apprehensive fear in her eyes, "It was horrible in there, horrible. I could hear the heinous screeches of the captured Neopets and humans in my cage!" Humans! Either I was hearing things, or my ears must have being malfunctioning! Aqua's mouth was open in incredulity and revulsion. Mine was open too- I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Were they being tortured in there?
"Is it true? Are they really experimenting on those poor Neopets and humans!" cried Aqua, Mariam586 nodded meekly, her eyes looked downwards. Then she ran off, asking us to follow her trail of tiny dragonish footsteps- as quickly as possible!
"This way," said the little green Shoryu who was known as Mariam568… "I was kidnapped from my original owner and was about to be captured by the Secret Lab, but I just escaped from there and I know the way to go… Please, hurry!" She begged as her dragon wings took flight. "The Secret Lab has them everywhere! There's no escape for those who don't survive!"
Who are 'them'! I wanted to shout at the Shoryu, What are they! But she just shook her head and shushed us, she wouldn't tell us. Just my luck! Aqua's eyes glinted with the fear of the unknown… Mine did too… What was in there, anyway? A huge monster? Suddenly, I felt a familiar presence of something I knew well…
"We're in this together," Aqua told me, "We have no choice now," We then stepped into the dark, creepy jungle… Many eyes stared at us hungrily from the leaves.
The green Shoryu raced towards our destination, which was very hard for us to catch up to, due to the leafy green, strange vegetation surrounding us. I was afraid that someone or something would attack us from any direction- at anytime… I felt the back of my neck prickle with fear as we finally reached the Secret Laboratory! Nothing looked very special about it, other than the pipes and the buttons sticking out of the ordinary building. Mariam586 twiddled with the air-vent before Aqua and I also entered the space.
"Ta-da!" shouted Mariam568 in triumph, "Look! I made a big-sized hole!"
"Yes, Mariam" I said absent-mindedly. "It's very nice." It was then that I noticed that my palms were beginning to feel sweaty… Was the toxin seeping in! I would rather not think about it… I then felt a twinge of pain in my arm, it seemed to spread...
"Wow," exclaimed Aqua, "What is this place?" I looked around in bemusement at piles of paper in an otherwise empty metallic room. Aqua began to sort through the paper…
"It's where the Lab Scorchio keeps his all his top-secret files!" Mariam explained. I read the first draft quickly…
"Experiment 536: Failure. Today, I made a breakthrough! If people and Neopets could be blended together using the Lab-Ray, why not also create the perfect Neo-human! Tried to blend a Chia and an African human male with some very nasty results…Got paid 3, 000 NPs for experiment by a Mr. Nox, who also applied injection of (unknown substance) to improve the effects." A raised eyebrow was formed as I read on…
"Experiment 667: Success! At last, I succeed in blending a Draik and a blonde human female's DNA together! It looked like the perfect candidate for Mr. Nox's army! It had blonde hair, purplish scales and a huge dragonish/humanoid body. Its eyes flashed like flames and the 'Draikan' tried to talk Neo-human! Got paid 6, 000 NPs for experiment by Mr. Nox, who used it for fighting…Other humans who opposed him."
"How crass (ridiculous)!" yelled Mariam heatedly, "It's Nox's worst idea yet! Imagine- he used my ancestral species' DNA samples to fight other humans!"
"Yes, it sure is," exclaimed Aqua as she finished proofreading it. "It's so dense, it isn't even worth thinking about…!"
"Look! Another file!" said Mariam as she pointed at the pile of paper- then a piece of paper slid out from nowhere. The green Shoryu read the missing file aloud.
"Experiment 4,392: Success! Found out that humans can be mutated by paintbrushes. Asked Thaerin to search out any victims… The subject got hit by a Darigan paint-brush! Ha, ha! The effects of the paintbrush include spontaneous transformations, dizzy spells, etc, etc…"
"Sounds familiar…?" commented Aqua. I nodded tiredly. When was this going to end…?
Aqua let the top-secret documented Secret Laboratory files drop from her hands… We now knew the truth- and the source of everything down in the Secret Laboratory. This was their entire plan for destruction! We all heard the experimental army approaching closer to us, the sound of evil laughter echoing through the empty metal room…
"I'm not going to let them do this…" I said to myself, all worked up...