Part Six:

The group has just survived an attack by four devious Dark Faeries. But now, they will face something that is no laughing matter...

Together, the group continued following the scent of the Eyrie and the Ixi through the forest, stopping only for lunch.

Around mid afternoon, they had found themselves at the Haunted Carnival. "They went in here..." said Luna, "I have a bad feeling about what's on the other side of those gates."

"Well, let's get whatever it is over with, if they went through here," said Chibi, slowly starting for the gate.

Luna slowly followed her brother. Emerald and Lil all looked at Spritzie. "Ummm, go ahead, guys."

Lil and Emerald looked at each other. They had never seen Spritzie be afraid of something. They all just stood there. Koorite rolled his eyes. "Come on, you guys. There's nothing to be afraid of. Let's go," He said as he started after Chibi and Luna. Emerald ran to catch up with Luna. Emerald looked around cautiously as Luna followed her siblings' scent. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. Emerald wasn't watching and ran into her. "Wha… what's wrong, Luna?" He asked her.

"Their scent…"

"What about it, Luna? Did you find where they went?" Chibi asked quickly.

"No. Their scent. It's all over here. They've been in all directions," She sat down, devastated, "How will we ever find them now?"

"Maybe if we split…" Chibi started.

"No!" Spritzie interrupted, "That's not a good idea. Not here. We need to all stay together."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right, Spritzie," Chibi said finally, "But now what?"

Emerald stepped forward, "I say we pick a direction and head that way first."

"How about… left?" Koorite asked.

"Let's go with that," Chibi responded.

They all walked further ahead. They heard an evil cackle in the distance. As they got closer, Lil exclaimed, "It's Sidney!"

Sidney saw them and cackled, "Wanna buy some pegs, Dave?"

Koorite, Spritzie, and Chibi looked at each other. "Come on, let's go," They said, pushing the rest of them along.

They kept running until he was no longer in sight. "Whew," Lil sighed.

"I don't like this place," Luna said softly.

Chibi walked up to her, "Don't worry, Luna. We'll find Gryffin and Sun, and then we'll be able to go home."

Spritzie looked around, "What's that in the distance?"

They all turned around to look. Emerald used his keen eyes to look into the distance, "It looks like a tent."

Luna jumped up, "Do you know what this could mean?"

"What, Luna?" Chibi asked, looking at her.

"Maybe that's where they are. Maybe they went into the tent for shelter during one of the rain storms."

"You're right," Chibi said, "It's worth a shot. Let's go."

All of them scurried down the hill to the tent. They paused outside. "Spooky Furniture? Do you think they would be in here?" Chibi asked.

"We have to try, Chibi," Luna whispered hopefully.

"Eh, look at the coffin," Koorite said as he studied it.

"Come on, let's go," urged Luna.

"How about some of us stay out here?" Spritzie asked, "Just to keep an eye out for them."

"Good idea, Spritzie. Emerald and I will go inside, the rest of you can stay here."

Emerald and Luna walked towards the door, side by side. Luna paused before they entered. Emerald looked at her, his face filled with concern. She nodded, then started walking in. Emerald followed closely behind her. They got inside and looked around. There was wooden furniture in the shape of coffins everywhere. Luna shivered. Then in the back of the store, they saw a small teal Grundo with red eyes wearing a long black cloak. Luna started walking around the store. Emerald stayed close to her, while keeping his eyes on the shopkeeper. "I don't think they're here, Luna."

"I know. Let's go ask the shopkeeper."

"Uh…"

Before he could stop her, Luna was heading towards the counter. He could do nothing, but stand with her. He followed her up to the counter. "Ummm, excuse me," She said meekly.

The teal Grundo looked up at her. She stepped back. "Ummm, have you seen a yellow Ixi and green Eyrie?"

He didn't say anything. His eyes flashed red. Luna started backing away. "Uh, never mind, I'll just…" she muttered as she turned around and ran out of the shop.

Emerald looked at the shopkeeper, then ran after her. When they got outside, everyone looked at them. They saw the look of horror on Luna's face. Chibi stepped forward. "What's wrong?"

"Can we just get away from here?" She asked as she quickly walked away.

Everyone followed her. "What happened?" Chibi inquired.

Emerald went on to tell them what had happened. "I don't like this place," Lil said, breaking the silence.

"Me either," Koorite agreed.

"Let's focus on finding them, so we can get out of here," Spritzie declared.

Everyone agreed. They started up a steep hill. After a short climb, they came to the Wheel of Misfortune. They searched all around it. There were no signs of Sun or Gryffin. "I'm getting hungry," Emerald said as he lay down in the grass, exasperated.

"Me too," Luna said as she lay down beside Emerald and set her head on his back.

The rest of the group sat down to rest. Spritzie got out her pack, "We should get something to eat. Between Koorite, Lil, and I, we should be able to share what we have between us."

Lil and Koorite got out their food and passed it around so that everyone got some. After they had eaten and rested a bit, they decided to keep moving. They walked across an empty field. Soon they came to the foot of the mountain. All of a sudden, Koorite stopped and his ears perked up.

"What's the matter?" Lil asked.

"I hear something," Koorite said cautiously, smelling around. "I can smell it as well..."

Suddenly, three Chia Clowns came up, laughing frantically.

"You dare enter our Carnival?" snarled one of them. "You shall pay the price!"

"What do we do!" cried Luna.

"We have no choice..." answered Spritzie, becoming suddenly brave once again. "We fight!"

The three Chia Clowns approached.

"We outnumber them two to one," said Emerald. "We can do this."

Together, Emerald and Luna ran toward one of the clowns. The Chia tickled them both with powerful feathers. Emerald slashed at it with his claws, as Luna used her power to heal herself of some of her injuries. Emerald pelted it with pebbles he had levitated off the ground. He toughened his skin to make himself more resistant to the Chia's attacks. Luna did the same by projecting a small Bubble Shield around her. A final Kougra scratch from both, and the Chia fell to its death.

A slight distance away, Chibi and Koorite were fighting another Chia. Chibi gave it a massive Uni Kick as it sprayed them with a large amount of water from a flower on its chest. Koorite clawed at it and bit at it with its large Lupe teeth, and then sent small sparks at it. Chibi used his Fiery Roar, and the Chia stopped dead in its tracks. Another swipe with his claw, and Koorite had finished this one off.

The third Chia Clown was battling Lil and Spritzie. It seemed a little weaker than the other two, smaller. It spat out a blast of water at Spritzie, but her Bubble Shield protected her. Lil roared with her fiery roar. Soon, the two had finished it off as well.

Slowly, the six regrouped. "Is everyone ok?" Spritzie asked, her eyes darting to the others. One by one they nodded their heads. The small Jubjub was crying.

"I've... I've never killed anyone before," Lil sobbed. "I'm a murderer!"

"No, you're not," said Koorite forcefully, as though trying to make himself believe it as well. "We fought in self-defense. Those things were evil."

"Ok..." began Luna, looking at Chibi and Emerald. "How can we pick up their scent again? Especially when it goes several different places?"

"I guess we'll have to follow it everywhere, and see what happens," said Chibi dully. "How tedious."

Our friends are growing weary from searching for so long. Will they ever find the missing Neopians?