Chapter 6
It was morning, somewhere in a lair on the other side of Skylands…
“Naivel! Naivel wake up!” It was a voice from outside the door of the hallway. The room itself was a bit dark, but the light was breaking through the trees onto Naivel. She wanted to go back to sleep.
“It’s, like, 7 in the morning…” She told herself quietly. But she got up anyway, put on a purple dressing gown and made her way to the window, nobody seemed to be out there; there was a tree in the way though, and she was just in time to see Nightshade (one of her fellow Doom Raiders) fall out of the tree onto the branch at the same level as her window, Luminous came down after.
“Having another bad hair day again?” Nightshade asked, getting up onto his feet while trying to balance.
“Actually no, I’m not; more like a ‘mad’ hair day!” She joked. Luminous laughed at that point.
“Oh, I get it… Crazy hair, right?” He said afterwards.
“Yeah, I suppose… All these spells, driving me crazy…” Naivel disappeared into the room and switched the light on. Her hair was a lot longer than it was before due to the magic she was testing, so she went over to the mirror; to her surprise her mascara was all smudged. Naivel wasn’t bothered; it was an early summer’s morning after all, she then walked over to the wardrobe and got dressed into a grey-ish black dress lined with flowers and matching purple boots. She already knew who was outside by the voice, but when Nai opened the door she slammed that guy in the face, it was Wolfgang.
“Hey, mate, next time look where ‘ya going, will you?” He said. Naivel helped him up; and they walked downstairs together. They walked through the winding corridors and into the main room of the building. That was where Chef Pepper Jack was waiting; he was holding a piece of paper and looking down at it.
“Heya, Nai my girl! I was wondering if ‘ya could do a few things for ‘ya ol’ buddy?” He handed her the list. Naivel nodded and took it.
“Oh, good, great even! Ok; you gotta get the apples, steal the spices, and go down to the orchard, for more apples!”
“But why do I need lots of apples?”
“Aye, good question; it’s a really big day for me, and you’re my right hand ‘gal for a day! Ain’t it excitin’?
“Well... You are the most renowned chef in all of Skylands; maybe it’s your spicy stuff, it always wins... Ya know?”
“Well, Nai, that’s why ‘am playin’ fair this year; desert’s the theme, spices, apples, pie… Mm, mm, mm… I can picture it…” He made his way towards the door. “An’ keep away from any trouble or y’all are in for it!” He warned Naivel as he made his exit.
She went to the other door, on her right, and got to work straight away. It was a crisp, sunny morning; that was something Luminous would love, in her opinion, anyway. The trees were stationary with only a few branches twitching through the breeze; Naivel hadn’t been to the orchard in a while, and it was actually very far from the Golden Queen’s lair. But Naivel had to go; or Pepper would lose the contest, the words “An’ keep away from any trouble or y’all be in for it!” went through her mind a few times. In her left hand she was carrying a large, empty basket; for the apples and spices, she thought. Naivel’s only memory of being in that orchard was the time she first joined the Doom Raiders. As she was walking Naivel had a million thoughts racing through her head; maybe not a million, which would be a lot. Naivel knew she couldn’t run into any ‘Trap Losers’, she was warned about them; getting in their way meant she’d be gone, for a while. She snapped out and stopped daydreaming after walking into a tree, and noticing how far she was from the Queen’s lair. Then there was a sign in spidery writing and an arrow facing the north. It read ‘IRONJAW GULCH, 2 MILES’.
Meanwhile…
“Need any help kiddo?” I was hanging upside down from a tree; I knew today was a good day to get some rest, after all the weird stuff happening here. Doom Stone, the islands, everything was upside down.
“Nope,” I said, falling from the tree; he helped me up though. It had been at least four days since I left Windsong Islands. I had gotten used to everyone here, and how different they were from the folks back at home. I hadn’t told anyone where I was from or anything; I preferred to keep it secret for now. I thanked Doom and made my way into the woods and sat alone, watching the sun roll by. There was a lake beside the tree, a large one. I had nothing much to do but watch over the lake. Not knowing what even more ridiculous havoc was going on in Ironjaw.
What was happening? Naivel had set foot into Ironjaw to notice the sun was in the middle of the sky. Come to think of it she had thought about not going to the orchard after all, instead she would be all stealing. And just in time she had noticed a mabu about to leave the shop. Immediately, she stepped in and reached out for a small red apple. But as she touched it, the mabu turned around
“Excuse me, ma’am; are you gonna pay for that?” Naivel realised she hadn’t brought any money. All she replied with was
“Yes.” And bolted away into the main street with the apple in the basket; she seemed to be running all over Ironjaw Gulch. She eventually gave up and ‘surrendered’, many residents crowded around her with their arms folded. The Mabu police force was there. Naivel was cornered; but she had a plan. She jumped onto one of the stands and leapt into the air, waves her hands as purple dust spread. The police turned into sheep.
“Oh, no…” Said a small mabu in the crowd of people, and everyone gasped as she took some spices and apples; she laughed a bit and finally confirmed
“Darling, that’s how I roll!”
Naivel ran away from Ironjaw Gulch and into the woods again. She sat down in the opening of the trees. It was in the afternoon now, and all her dreams were coming back to her without everyone knowing she had been gone ages…
Back at the Golden Queen’s lair, Chef Pepper Jack had complained about Naivel’s disappearance; he asked where she was, and how it had been hours since she left to get what he needed. Dr Krankcase stepped up.
“I and Wolfgang here will find her for you, your highness.” He said. “She doesn’t go far either, and Gulper’s missing too…”
“Yeah,” Wolfgang interrupted, “that’s kinda true…” The Golden Queen and Chef Pepper told Wolfgang and Dr K to go find her and bring her back immediately, they both set off.
Naivel stuck in a dream in the woods. Her dream involved her and Wolfgang, Naivel was dressed in a sparkling white gown that reflected the sun in the vibrant yellow sky. She took a few steps forward while watching every villain and Doom Raider (who were all dressed in white tuxedos or dresses) cheer her on. Even Wolfgang at the front was wearing a tuxedo (he would never wear that anyway). She soon found herself under a gazebo with him.
“Go on, kiss! Kiss the bride!” Everyone cried out. Naivel got a little closer to kiss Wolfgang, but she snapped out of reality. And guess who she was about to kiss? Dr Krankcase! He blushed a bit…
“Cadence, for goodness sakes!” He said angrily. “You’ve been gone three hours, Gulper’s missing!”
“It isn’t my fault, ya know? Sheesh, calm down…” Naivel answered, going back into the woods.
She thought to herself about how Dr K was sort of right, she’d been gone hours. But all she had to do was find a giant blue blob that could be on a rampage or taking over the entire universe! (AN: Even though that’s almost impossible because Gulper is a blob) Naivel refused to believe in those bizarre things because Gulper is a dimwit.
“Says the guy with the weird hat…” Was the thing she wanted to say to him, but it wasn’t long before she ended up encountering a sheep; but she knew that sheep, most of the bad guys did. She knelt down and asked it for directions, it replied with a ‘baaaa’ and pointed its hoof further into the trees.
“The soda falls?” Naivel asked, the sheep unfortunately shook its head.
“Knew it, I just knew he’d go there. Why? Because if he drinks that soda… He’ll get addicted to it, drink more, and grow so large he’ll wipe everything off the face of the earth!” She panicked for a bit, and eventually darted into the woods in search of Gulper.
“Wait there for a sec, I’ll be right back!” Naivel found the forest around her was getting darker every step she took; it wasn’t that long until she noticed the rosy glow from a small clearing. She crept up and looked through the bushes to see Gulper sleeping and a small trog-like creature standing on top of it.
“Naivel, go away…” It said.
“Oh, hi Rage Mage, did Gulper drink the soda yet?” She came from the bushes.
“No, now go away!” The trog whispered in a raspy voice.
“Woah, chill out, I’m just here to get Gulper not a biggie right?” She tip-toed a bit nearer to the giant blue sea slug
“Naivel, don’t you even dare.” It was clear Rage Mage was getting madder every time Naivel took a step towards him; it wasn’t until she tripped on a stick that Rage Mage lost his temper and then Gulper woke up the second the stick snapped, then he grabbed Naivel with his giant blue hands.
“Who are you, little girl? Why wake Gulper?” He demanded.
“Don’t you remember? It’s me, Naivel!” Naivel tried to break free.
“Which ‘Naivel’ is little girl?” He held her tighter, so she couldn’t break free
“Umm, Naivel Note? You know I’m your fellow Doom Raider, and Wolfy’s girlfriend?” That moment, Gulper looked wide eyed at her and hugged her tightly.
“Oh, so it is Naivel!” He laughed.
“Yeah, it’s me alright! Kranky made me get you, so let’s just go home; and forget about the weird stuff we had to go through…” Gulper let her go as they went out into the opening again, the sheep was gone, and Rage Mage had followed them.
“I’ll be back, Naivel,” He muttered, “it’ll be the last time you cross me!” They didn’t care about Rage Mage that much, Naivel stopped in the middle.
“I’m just gonna chill here…” She turned right as Gulper turned left, making her way to the lake. Naivel sat by a tree next to it and got out her guitar; she then began to play a simple rhythm on it…
The notes flew across the surface of the lake over to the opposite end where I was, it was faint but I could still hear it. I hummed along to the tune, I couldn’t really see who was playing it; I didn’t want to sing, I’m not the best singer in Skylands after all. And after a few minutes or so the music stopped.
But the girl (we know her name now) had heard rustling in the trees, and giggling (probably the reason why the music stopped) It left her to rush back into the forest opening. She then saw a branch above her; though she’d turned away, the branch creaked, Naivel was surprised to see a tiny android with spider-like legs sitting on the branch, and it had a large platinum blonde ponytail as well. (You probably guessed who it is)
“O…M…G! You are the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen in my whole, like, entire life!” She exclaimed, jumping up and down in extreme excitement.
“Cute? Hey, lady, I’m not cute, I’m scary! Roar! Fear me!” The kid snapped back pointing her blaster at Naivel’s nose.
“Scary? Why can I be scared of something this adorable?” Naivel picked the girl up. “I don’t think Queenie’s gonna mind having a little kid in the group!” It wasn’t long until Naivel was returning to the Golden Queen’s lair with some random robotic kid…
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