Part Nine:
The group narrowly escaped Vira, but now they must face the Ghost Lupe. How can they defeat someone who's not alive?
The next day, the Faerie Queen treated all of the young neopets to a great breakfast of omelettes from Tyrannia. Spritzie put on her sack, as Fyora gave Luna a new sack with some supplies.
"This is some food and supplies to last for a couple of days," Fyora said. "Be very careful. The Ghost Lupe will be especially difficult, since he is already dead." with that, she teleported the group to Mystery Island.
Lil looked around. All around, trees were broken, the jungle was dead. "Well, we may be on Mystery Island," she said, "but it's no mystery what happened here."
They wandered the jungle until they came to the remains of the village that had once thrived. Most of the huts were gone, burned ashes remaining. The Training School and Island Mystic hut were both simply gone, large craters in their place.
"I bet they blew up the Training School to keep Neopians from training for war," Chibi said.
"And they did the same to the Island Mystic because of the prophecy that was made," Spritzie added.
"Yeah, who would have thought he would actually be right about something?" joked Koorite. "And that it'd get him killed?"
"Yeah, " added Lil, "It's a miracle any of his prophecies even made it into a book. In fact, if he hadn't published that book of his prophecies, it wouldn't have. It was mostly a bestseller because of the weirdness in it."
"So, how do we find the Ghost Lupe?" Chibi asked. "It may be kind of hard to find a lonely, restless spirit in this place. After all, so many people have died unexpectedly here in the war, spirits could be all over the place. "
"Well, I don't see any," sulked Gryffin, "Maybe if we call out 'Here, Mr. Dead Guy'?"
"Go AWAY!" screamed a voice from behind them suddenly. They turned around to find the Ghost Lupe scowling at them angrily.
"Not until we get what we came after," answered Spritzie. "You have a Mystery Island Paint Brush that belongs to the Faerie Queen."
"Why would you want that anyways?" questioned Koorite. "You can't paint yourself. You're dead."
"I do not need it for myself, you idiots," answered the Ghost Lupe coldly. "I am protecting it for the Tri-Union."
"And why exactly do they want a Paint Brush?" Luna asked.
"They don't," answered Ghost Lupe. "And neither does the Faerie Queen. Do you not inform yourselves before rushing off to do the Faerie Queen's dirty work?"
"What are you talking about?" Sun demanded, preparing to charge. Lil watched Ghost Lupe with a quizzical look about her face.
"Do you really think that the Faerie Queen has such an interest in items such as Paint Brushes and Neggs - no matter how rare - as to send Neopians on life-threatening tasks to retrieve them? She has no use for such things. There is no amount of wealth that a Paint Brush or Negg could bring that the Queen doesn't already have."
"Then what's so important about these?" asked Lil.
"They aren't just ordinary rare items," said Ghost Lupe slyly. "They were enchanted by a mysterious sorceress long ago, when the Tri-Union first came to power. They were then given to the Faerie Queen to guard. When all of the enchanted items are united, they will form a great weapon which will give its owner enough power to defeat the Tri-Union."
"But if the Tri-Union already has these items and they're being guarded by members, then why don't they just unite the stuff together and take the weapon for themselves?" asked Luna.
"The Tri-Union managed to get the items from the Queen with the aide of Darkness Faeries," answered Ghost Lupe. "But something is missing: the mysterious sorceress herself. She is the last piece needed to unite the enchanted objects. But nobody knows who she is, how to find her, or even where to look."
"Exactly how do you know all this?' questioned Emerald cautiously, all too aware that the Ghost Lupe could simply be stalling.
"I'm a ghost," answered the spirit simply. "I've been around a long time. When you're dead and you wander aimlessly, you tend to see and overhear things."
"Well, you're going to give us that Paint Brush," demanded Chibi, charging at Ghost Lupe. He charged with his horn aimed, but he simply ran straight through the spirit.
"Physical force will not help you here," laughed the Ghost Lupe. "If you want the Paint Brush, you will have to earn it."
"How?" asked Sun.
"When I was alive, I was a brave Lupe knight for Meridell," began the Ghost Lupe. "My name was Larran. I was in love with a beautiful Lupe woman, Lorraine. We were soon to marry. Then one night, she was kidnapped by traveling slave traders and pirates, and taken to Mystery Island, where she was taken by the natives. I followed in a ship, determined to rescue her. I was near the island, when a violent storm hit, sinking the ship and washing the crew and myself- most dead, but some, including me, alive - onto the shore of the Island. Before we had a chance to regroup, the natives came and killed all of the survivors of the shipwreck. I have been here ever since."
"How sad," Spritzie said sarcastically. "I know you're stalling. Tell us how to get the brush!"
"I was not stalling!" retorted the Ghost Lupe. "In order to do my task, you had to understand the background. On the ship, there is an item very special to me. It is a gold necklace with a heart locket on it. It belonged to my beloved Lorraine. I have always felt that if I could just have that necklace back, my most cherished possession, I would be able to move on to join the spirit of my love. If you retrieve the necklace for me, I will exchange it for the Paint Brush."
"And the ship is...?" began Sun.
"At the bottom of the sea," finished Ghost Lupe.
"But how can we get there?" asked Chibi, exasperated. "We breathe air. The ocean is full of water."
Suddenly, a large white sphere appeared in front of the group. Colors, all the colors of the rainbow, began to flash within the orb. They spun faster and faster within, a spinning colorful globe, until finally it exploded, the sprinkles landing on each of the Neopians. The sprinkles then vanished.
Go into the water, a voice said in their minds.
The Neopets all looked in amazement, wondering where the sphere had come from and what it had sprinkled on them; there seemed to be no effect on their bodies. "You heard the Faerie Queen!" Sun said finally, and began walking toward the sea. The rest followed.
"We'll get your necklace," Spritzie called out to Ghost Lupe. "You just be waiting with that Paint Brush."
"The Faerie Queen must be watching with that weird mirror of hers," commented Koorite.
Soon, the eight found themselves at the sea. "Is this the right place?" questioned Luna nervously.
"Only one way to find out," Spritzie said, heading for the ocean water, after putting her bookbag in a safe place. The eight pets put their communicators in her bookbag. Spritzie and Chibi reached the water first. As soon as their feet touched the water, their bodies began to change. The rest of the group stopped to watch in amazement. Spritzie's tail became like a fish tail, as her two Shoyru legs shrank into her body. Blue scales grew on her blue skin, and a pair of gills appeared on the sides of her neck. Her wings shrank into her back until they disappeared. Fins grew attached to her hands and arms. Chibi's tail shrank into his body, vanishing. The tufts of fur around his hind hooves grew around the hooves, then hardened into scales. Red scales covered the rest of his red body, as the hind legs melted together to become a fishlike tail. His wings became large, scaley fins, and his ears became webbed. The fur around his front hooves disappeared. Gills appeared on the sides of his neck. Both Spritzie and Chibi felt as their insides shifted and adjusted themselves to an underwater environment.
"Whoa!" Lil cried out. "The sprinkles are turning us into aquatic Neopians so we can survive underwater!" As she said this, she and Sun entered the sea. Their insides adapted for aquatic life. Suddenly, short, scaly arms, each with two tiny fins on either side of the wrists, grew out from Lil's sides. At the end of each arm, a webbed, three-fingered hand appeared. Her feet became scaley, and two tiny fins appeared on each foot, one on each side. She felt as gills appeared on the inside of her throat. Sun's fur hardened into yellow scales, as gills appeared on her neck. Her tail and hind legs all melted together into a yellow fish tail.
Koorite and Gryffin walked into the water next, and immediately the changes began. Their insides twisted to fit water life. All four of Koorite's limbs meshed together to become a new fish tail. His own Lupe tail then grew, twisting itself around the new tail, and melted together with the fish tail, becoming a part of it. Gills appeared on his neck, as his blue fur hardened to scales of the same color. Gryffin's front legs and paws shrank into his body. His hindlegs and tail melted together into a fish tail. His wings became large fins on his back. His green fur hardened into matching scales. A pair of gills appeared on his chest.
Emerald and Luna were the last to enter the water, after Luna put down her bookbag of supplies. As with the others, their insides adjusted to an aquatic environment. Their fur hardened into scales, each the same color the fur had been. Their tails grew larger and became fish tails. Their hind legs shrank and became small, barely visible fins under the tails. Gills appeared on their necks, and their front paws became webbed.
"This must be what the sprinkles were for," Sun said to the others. "So that we can change for the ocean life."
With some effort, the eight newly-transformed Neopians managed to push themselves completely into the water, and once they were out far enough, were able to swim the rest of the way.
The eight young Neopians have been transformed into aquatic equivalents of themselves to find the Ghost Lupe's necklace. But is he serious? Or is this a trap?