Part Twelve:
With the Faerie Queen's help, Spritzie fully recovered from her injuries. Lucky for them, because this final item may be the hardest yet to get...
"Are you all ready for the final task?" asked the Faerie Queen after breakfast the next morning. They were in the throne room, with the eight Neopets standing in front of her, and the Queen sitting on her throne, the Angelpuss beside the throne.
"Yeah," answered Spritzie a little shakily, "We're ready."
"Be careful this time, guys," advised Luna, "We don't want anyone else to get hurt. This time it may be worse." Emerald nodded in agreement.
"This time, you must go to Terror Mountain," informed the Faerie Queen, "The Monocerous has an Ultra Ice Negg you must possess."
"Oh, my..." gasped Lil.
"That's worse than the Meuka we had to deal with in the Woods!" exclaimed Chibi.
"Be brave, and have confidence," said the Queen, "Have faith in yourselves."
The Faerie Queen waved her hand, and the group was suddenly in the midst of a raging blizzard.
"Where are we!" cried Lil in the howling wind.
"We must be somewhere on Terror Mountain!" answered Chibi. He dug his hooves into the ground in an attempt to keep the wind from knocking him over. He folded his wings to keep the air from catching him and blowing him away.
"There's no way we can find the Monocerous in this blizzard!" declared Sun. "We need to find shelter to wait it out!"
Together, they struggled on, fighting the blizzard, until they found the entrance to what seemed to be a large cave. They walked in, and soon they found a vast structure of tunnels, some filled with stalactites and stalagmites.
"Should we go exploring?" questioned Chibi, "We may find something in one of these tunnels. Like something we can use to fight the Monocerous when we find him."
"May as well, then we'll be productive while we're waiting on the blizzard, at least," answered Luna, "Where do we find the Monocerous anyways?"
They picked a tunnel with less objects protruding from it, and began exploring. Soon they came to a dead end, where stalactites and stalagmites joined to form bars blocking their way.
"Well, I guess we turn around," Spritzie said.
"No, wait," replied Koorite, "I think I see something on the other side." Chibi used his Uni Kick to break the bars and clear the way. They continued a few yards, and were astonished at what they found.
"Whoa!" gasped Lil, "What is this place?"
"This is impossible..." muttered Spritzie. They had walked into an enormous cavern. The ceiling stretched up hundreds of feet. The base was enormously wide. Inside the cavern were countless treasures and dubloons.
"Have we found the Snowager's cave?" questioned Chibi.
"No way," answered Gryffin, "Compared to this, the Snowager is a peasant. Besides, Snowager isn't anywhere around."
"We must be actually inside Terror Mountain itself," determined Lil, "Somehow the entire mountain is hollow, and all of this is inside."
As they looked around the cavern, Sun noticed something. "Hey, look," she said. She and Spritzie walked over to a shiny object in a corner.
"I don't believe it!" Sun cried out, "It's the Negg!"
"How do you know?" questioned Spritzie, noticing several identical Neggs a short distance away.
"Oh, I just do..." Sun said vaguely. Spritzie put the Negg in her sack.
On the other side of the cave, Luna heard a shuffling, and what sounded like growling. She looked to the side. She let out a horrible yell as the Monocerous, who had been hiding, watching, pounced on her. Not wasting a second, Emerald immediately jumped on the Monocerous' back and began clawing. Before it could roar in pain, Chibi gave it a swift Uni Kick in the jaw, temporarily stunning it.
"RUN!" cried out Lil. The group quickly ran into the tunnel. Soon after, the Monocerous regained his wits, and was chasing after them.
"Should we stay in the tunnels!" demanded Gryffin, "Maybe he won't use his roar to paralyze us in here because of the possibility of causing a cave-in or avalanche!"
"Good idea!" cried out Spritzie, "And let's split up! We still have our communicators, and he can't follow all of us!"
When they came to a fork in the path, they took different directions - Chibi and Gryffin going straight, Sun and Lil going one way, and Spritzie, Emerald, Luna, and Koorite going a third. Soon, the Lupe, Shoyru, and Kougras came to another divide, and the Kougras went one way, Spritzie and Koorite the other.
"He's following us!" cried Lil, "He must think we have the Negg, or something!"
"Well, maybe that's a good thing!" answered Sun, "You're a Jubjub, you're immune to his roar!"
Soon, they reached a dead end. Sun and Lil turned towards the creature, poised to defend themselves. Their enemy drooled hungrily. They could hear bits of conversation amongst the others through their communicators. The others had begun to realize where the Monocerous was.
"Hey, you!" cried a voice from behind Monocerous, "Over here! We've got the Negg! Good thing we found our way to you!" it was Spritzie and Koorite. The Monocerous turned and began chasing them, with Lil and Sun following.
As they chased through the winding tunnels, they soon found themselves back at the cave entrance. They ran through - Spritzie and Koorite, with the Monocerous on their heels, Sun and Lil following behind, keeping the others informed over communicator. As soon as they stepped out into the still-raging blizzard, a gust of wind caught Spritzie under her wings and swept her away, Spritzie still holding the Negg-containing sack.
"Spritzie!" cried out Lil, as the others, who had by now reunited, watched in despair.
"No!" cried out Koorite. In anger, he and Emerald both pounced on the Monocerous. The Monocerous roared angrily, and everyone collapsed, paralyzed. Everyone except for Lil and Sun. Lil looked at Sun, confused. But before she could say anything, the Monocerous pounced.
Just as he was about to land on Sun, she began glowing. Radiant, white light began shining all around her. The strength and power of the light was aimed at the Monocerous, and hit him, causing him to immediately disintegrate. Sun then returned to her normal appearance, as though nothing had happened.
"What's going on?" Lil questioned, "How did you learn to do that? I've never known an Ixi to be able to do that." They both looked around at their paralyzed companions.
"You will find out soon," answered Sun. Suddenly, the yellow bubble appeared and carried the group - minus Spritzie - out of the blizzard and back to the Palace in Faerieland.
As soon as they got there, the Faerie Queen walked up. She waved her hand, and rainbow sprinkles fell on Chibi, Koorite, Luna, Emerald, and Gryffin. Soon after, they regained consciousness.
"What happened?" asked Luna, "Where's Spritzie? Did we find her? What about the Monocerous?"
"We haven't found Spritzie yet," answered Lil, "As for how Sun destroyed the Monocerous, I'd like to know that myself. And what was that huge cave we were in? How did it get there?"
"I have been watching from the mirror," said the Queen, ignoring Lil, "I saw what happened with the Monocerous. It is time for you to know the truth now."
"Not yet," insisted Sun, "Spritzie was carried off by the storm. She has the Negg. We have to find her." The Queen nodded and took them to the throne room, the group looking at each other curiously.
When they entered the throne room, the Angelpuss happily ran in circles. They all walked over to the large wall mirror.
"Show me where Spritzieblue the Shoyru is," commanded Fyora. The mirror brought up an image of the blue Shoyru, the pack tight in her fists, fighting the wind in a remote, unknown area where she had finally landed after being swept away.
Without hesitation, Fyora reached her hand towards the mirror. When her hand touched the mirror, it seemed to liquefy, sending out ripples through the mirror. To the astonishment of the Neopians, her hand went through the mirror. They watched as she grabbed the struggling Shoyru and pulled her back through the mirror, which then solidified once again.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Chibi.
"How did you do that!" demanded Spritzie, standing up, "And if you can do that, then why have we been going on all these chases after things you could have gotten simply by going through your mirror?"
"We have all of the pieces now," said Sun, looking at Fyora, "It is time."
Somehow, Sun was immune to the Monocerous' roar, while that ability is reserved to only Jubjubs. And she seems to have other powers far beyond the average Ixi. How is this possible?