The small boat hits the shore and we all get off. On the beach, we sit down and rest or a moment. Finally we are on land.
“What are you animals doing here? This is no land for you!” a monkey with an eyepatch comes out from behind the trees.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Why, I was once an explorer for the land of Jamaa. I was told to find the Phantoms and study them. I got lost years ago, but I’ve tracked them to this island. They live in that fort in the mountains. I’ve been studying them for a long time. Oh, and my name is Sinsar,” says the monkey who I now know is Sinsar. Sinsar looks like he’s in his middle ages, but he seems to be brave and athletic still. He wears an eyepatch on his left eye and has a scar down the center of his face. His right eye is sea green and glitters in the morning sun.
“Are these animals intruders? If they are, kill them,” a large lion comes out from behind the same tree Sinsar came from.
“No, they aren’t. I can tell they’re Jamaasians just by looking at them. And a Jamaasian wouldn’t be with rats unless those rats are helping them. So no, these aren’t intruders, Mincero,” Sinsar tells the lion called Mincero.
“I haven’t seen another Jamaasian for years- well, I have seen you, Sinsar, but still,” Mincero stares at us in amazement.
“Why are you here?” Mincero and Sinsar ask together. Mincero is large and also has a scar down his face. He doesn’t wear an eyepatch, but he looks even older than Sisnar. His blue eyes are aging but he still looks strong. He looks big with the large mane.
“We are here because Liza sent us. We have to defeat the Phantoms because they are now closer to Jamaa than ever,” I explain.
“Interesting. I’d like to show you our base, but there’s obviously no time for that. We need to get prepared. We are about to battle the Phantoms,” Sinsar grins.
“We’ve never done this because two animals aren’t enough, but with all of you guys, we might have a chance,” says Mincero. Mincero must’ve been another explorer along with Sinsar.
Mincero leads the way through the forest with Sinsar close behind. The rest of us follow behind the two. There isn’t a mystical feeling like the one in the Mythical Forest, but this forest is dangerous. We’re getting closer to the mountains and it’s getting harder to go forward because we’re going up. Evergreen trees block out view of anything except for the path we’re on, and the only light we have is the early morning sun. There are small bugs along the path and Kurkah picks one up for breakfast. There’s dew and mud all over my paws now.
The forest continues along the side of the mountain, but now there’s not as many trees because they don’t grow on such steep mountains. I try to talk to Nova, but she’s still angry at me.
“You know, Nova, I didn’t mean what I said. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking when I said I wanted rares more than my friends. I am so sorry, Nova, and I know this doesn’t make up for it,” I start to shed a few tears while speaking. Nova glances at me for a second, and it looks like she might accept my apology. But she just keeps on walking.
I walk back up to here and start talking again.
“Nova, you mean more than anything in the world to me. I’ve known you since I was born. You were born right next to me, in the same room. We became best friends. We always hung out with each other. We never cared about rares, and you always stuck up for me. I am terribly sorry for what I did. And I want you to be my best friend- once again,” I plead.
Nova looks at me again. I can see a tear forming in her eyes. She’s the wolf I’ve always liked, but I never admitted I had a crush on her.
“Cup, what you said was hurtful. I never thought you would say something like that. I don’t mind you being friends with Kurkah anymore. I don’t care. He’s your best friend now. Go to him,” Nova sighs. She walks ahead of me.
I sigh, too. Kurkah’s great and all, but he doesn’t compare to Nova. No, Nova wouldn’t betray me. But what about Kurkah? I doubt it. He’s changed. Is it Keenen? I’ve known him for a little while now, and I consider him for a friend. Could he betray for those treasures he mentioned to us on this island? Could he of hinted to us he would betray us when he said the best of our friends could do it for their life?
I keep my distance from Keenen with caution. We’re finally at the Phantom Fort. I glare around myself. We’re at the top of the mountain, and I can see the beautiful oceans below and the forest we had to go through to get up here. The morning sun is now becoming brighter and it is nearly noon.
“Okay, guys, it’s time to-” Sinsar begins to say. But out of nowhere, thousands of phantoms surround us. They easily take us all down, even though we try to fight. The peaceful morning is now a nightmare as the Phantoms knock us out with some weird magic.
“Psst- Cup, wake up… it’s me, Kurkah. The Phantoms can talk. They’re giving us a trial. Just remain calm,” Kurkah wakes me up and I realize I’m in a room with all of the other animals I was kidnapped with.
A large, scary Phantoms sits in a throne. He wears a crown.
“Why are you all here?” he booms.
“To kill you! You will never conquer Jamaa!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
Nova nods, along with all of the others.
Except for Kurkah.
“Phantom King, if you let me go I will give you some of my gems,” Kurkah makes a deal.
“What about your friends?” the Phantom King asks.
“I don’t care about them. They aren’t worth my gems and rares. I’ll give you enough just for me to be let free,” Kurkah locks in his deal.
“Kurkah! You idiot! You betrayed us! I can’t believe I ever trusted you! I hope these phantoms murder you!” I shriek. Nova is remains silent for a few second then knocks every phantoms away from her.
Nova pounces onto Kurkah and nearly bites open his throat. He barely dodges it. Kurkah tosses Nova off of him, and Nova lands on her feet. She quickly gets up and pounces onto Kurkah again. She is about to kill him but the Phantoms King strikes her with his electric volts.
“Enough! Pay me the gems and you are free to go,” the Phantom King says.
Nova refuses to listen and once again gets up and pounces on Kurkah. The Phantom King then flies as fast as possible at Nova with his mouth wide open, ready to consume Nova.
“Nova! Watch out!” I scream.
Nova just barely dodges the Phantom King, but the Phantom King doesn’t stop. He accidentally consumes Kurkah.
“No!” Sinsar screams.
“Phantom Kings become whatever they eat, but they don’t know that!” Mincero catches onto what Sinsar is saying.
The Phantoms let us go as they watch their King transform into something else. The stone walls of the fort are different colors with the bright light the transformation is causing. In the end, the Phantom King is a large, completely black version of Kurkah and can shoot volts out of the tentacles growing from the paws.
“Get them! Invade Jamaa! Take everything you can, I’ll be right behind you!” Kurkah orders all of the Phantoms as their new King.
We race through the stone hallways to find the portal back to Jamaa.
“Where is the portal?” I ask the others as we continue down the hallway.
“With my years of study, I think it’s at the end of this hallway! I’ll throw a smoke bomb to slow them down,” Sinsar says. He tosses the smoke bomb at the Phantoms following behind us and it stops them dead in their tracks.
At the end of the hallway, there’s a portal. Everyone hops in.
“Where are we?” Keenen asks. I know where we are. We’re in the prairies behind Mt. Shiveer.
“Don’t worry, we’re not far from Jamaa,” I say.
“And we have to hurry, it won’t be long before the Phantoms come through that portal,” I point out.
All of us race to where the mountains begin. Mt. Shiveer is right in front of us.
“How do we get up? We only came down the last time,” I ask Nova.
“We’ll have to climb,” she says.
Everyone starts climbing up the ice, and once we’re at the top, we are finally back in Jamaa.
“Hurry, we have to go warn Liza that the Phantoms are coming! Go to the Township!” I demand everyone.
We race over the ice and back to Jamaa Township. It is a bright, sunny day and Jammers are all over the place chatting and trading their items for others. Soon all war will be loose.
I race up the pathway with the others following behind me. Nova is at my side. We enter the hut and Liza is shocked to see everyone here.
“Liza, this is important. Kurkah betrayed us, and was consumed by a Phantom King. They become whatever they eat, so now he’s leading the Phantoms through the portal and back here. I’m sorry we didn’t conquer them there, but it’ll have to be here!” I apologize and warn her at the same time.
“I’ll have to alert the alphas. Get prepared,” Liza responds.
We race back outside into Jamaa Township.
“Everyone, get into your dens. Now. The Phantoms will be invading Jamaa soon!” I warn everyone. And then I spot Archie, sitting by his popular and rare friends on the bridge.
“Cup! I was missing making fun of you. It looks like you got more weird, unrare friends!” Archie laughs.
“You could never defend yourself. We could beat you up right now!” one of Archie’s followers grins.
I find myself pouncing on Archie. I claw at his face and smash it down against the bridge. I press it down as hard as I can until Archie begs for me to let him go. His followers stare in shock.
“Now get out of here. The Phantoms are coming. And obviously, Archie, you aren’t strong enough to defend yourself for when they do,” I laugh with Nova.
Nova is laughing with me! I thought she was still mad…
“Nova, are you my best friend?” I quietly ask her.
“Yes, I am, Cup. And I’m ready to defend Jamaa.”
The Phantoms are now coming towards us. They have entered Mt. Shiveer and have spotted us down in Jamaa Township. Suddenly I feel other animals coming up behind me. All of the alphas are here and ready to fight.
One of the greatest warriors of Jamaa is here. His name is Jamarshal. He isn’t very well known, but he helped during the first battle against the Phantoms. He is a large crocodile with a battle-scarred body. He winks at me, knowing my importance, and everyone is ready to fight. I even spot Archie sneaking out of his den, wanting to help defend Jamaa.
The Phantoms pour into the Township, and we race right at them. I tackle one to the ground and bite it. It fades away. Nova does the same with other phantoms, and this is our strategy. I find one of Keenen’s rat pirates being consumed by a Phantom. Then another one gets consumed. Keenen nearly gets eaten by a Phantom himself but I pounce on the Phantom, making sure Keenen stays alive.
Phantoms are surrounding Sinsar, and he is about to be consumed. I just manage to pull enough of of him so that he can fight the rest off. Sir Gilbert takes down Phantoms easily, but more and more are coming and it’s getting harder to take them on.
I can now see Nova struggling to fight off fifteen phantoms attacking her. I grab a stick with my mouth and use it to knock all of the phantoms away from her. I spot one of the most famous warriors in Jamaa being consumed by a Phantom. I think it was Morsiott, who was a brave horse.
“No!” I can hear Greely shouting as the Phantoms finish Morsiott off.
Greely is then attacked by at least fifty Phantoms, but Nova and I come to his rescue. We pull them off but all of the Phantoms are sent flying into the Jam Mart Clothing building, breaking its windows and busting through the walls. I look around and find Archie being consumed by a Phantom. Even though he is a bully, I can’t stand watching anyone die. I race over to help him, but it’s too late.
Just then a much larger, dark figure pounces onto me. It is a… what is it?
A completely black Arctic Wolf.
“Ahh, Cup. It’s me, Kurkah. No, don’t be afraid. I’m only going to kill you!” Kurkah laughs and sends one of his tentacles flying at me. I dodge it and it hits the hard ground. Kurkah gets a little frustrated.
Kurkah jumps high into the air and lands on me. I lose my breath for a second, and Kurkah asks if I have “any last words”.
“Yes, I do. Why did you betray me? I trusted you…” I ask.
“Because I don’t care about you. I care about myself and everything I own. After this I’ll own Jamaa and everyone in it, including the rares and gems. Oh, my life will be so great!” Kurkah grins.
“Okay, it’s time to kill you,” Kurkah says and gets his sharpest tentacle fired up with electricity. In the background I can see much larger animals racing into Jamaa. They are huge compared to my kind. Leading them is Ersel. It is the Tribe of Ersel Animals!
Kurkah turns around just in time to see Ersel pounce onto his face. I scramble to my paws and watch as Ersel pins Kurkah to the ground. Ersel looks Kurkah in the eye, then quickly bites down with his large jaws. Kurkah, the Phantom King, is dead.
All of the Phantoms are now retreating because Kurkah is dead. They head back towards the prairie and through the mountains. They are going back to Carntimyus Island.
“Thank you,” I tell Ersel. I look at him again. His blue eyes and scarred face. He just won’t get out of my mind. And again, he’s so small compared to the other members of his tribe.
“You are welcome, Cup,” Ersel says.
I slowly walk back to my den, where my mother greets me with tears. I am finally home.
“Cup! Get up! Mira is here, and she is going to give us rewards for being so brave!” Nova shakes me awake.
“Why this early in the morning?” I ask while rubbing my eyes. Suddenly, Nova pulls me out of the bed and races me out of my den. We arrive outside in the center of Jamaa Township where Mira, the mother of Jamaa, stands by all of her alphas.
“Cup. I have heard how brave you are. I would like to give you 500,000 gems as your reward. Nova, you are just like Cup. You were brave and helped your friends in the hardest times. I will also give you 500,000 gems. And each of you will get a Diamond Sword,” Mira smiles upon us. She stands in front of the bright sun, and looks amazing with the sun as her background. Her feathers sway in the wind as she waits for us to accept our prizes.
Nova and I both take the gems. But we don’t take the Diamond Sword, my dream item.
“Mira, from what I have been through, I’ve realized that all of these rare items don’t mean that much to me anymore. I don’t need to be popular. I just need to be me,” I say out loud with everybody listening.
The alphas smile, along with Mira. Mira nods.
“Thank you for your bravery, you two. You are dismissed,” Mira concludes.
Nova and I walk back to my den, but then I realize we are being followed.
“Did you just hear that?” I ask Nova. Somebody is near us.
“Yes…” Nova whispers.
Out of nowhere Liza comes in front of us. We’re right in front of my den and in the yard.
“Cup, this isn’t over. I have new prophecies coming towards me. The Phantoms aren’t finished with us. But there’s something far more dangerous coming. We need to prepare. And to prepare, I need you to find the Forgotten Alpha, who can help us battle for the win,” Liza orders.
“The Forgotten Alpha? Who is that?” I ask with curiosity.
“He was once an alpha that joined us and fought in the original war against the Phantoms. You will have to go deep into the northeast lands, which will be after Coral Canyons. You will have to travel through big, dangerous mountains with large cliffs. Then will come a woods where there will be another type of animals. They will tell you which way to go to find the Forgotten Alpha from there. But this time, I’m sending six other animals with you just in case you need backup,” Liza explains.
“I know who three of them will be. Mincero, Sinsar and Keenen will come with us,” I tell Liza.
“Okay, but you have to spend time with animals all around Jamaa. You need to pick three more by tomorrow at midnight. Then meet me here at that time tomorrow,” Liza demands.
“Okay, I understand,” I say.
“Good. Now go find the other three by tomorrow at midnight,” Liza says, then Nova and I race away.
“Nova, what do you think is going to be the biggest battle we’ll be in?” I start a conversation with Nova.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it won’t be with the Phantoms,” Nova says in reply.
I shrug it off and then walk down into the Township. We have to find three other animals to come with us on the journey.
“Okay, this is the best place to find animals to come with us. The Township,where most of them are,” Nova says out loud.
We look around at some of the Jammers here. None of them look like they’d be the “adventure” type.
“Hey, what about that one over there?” Nova points at a younger, bold looking lion. He doesn’t have scars, but he looks strong.
“Sure, let’s go talk to him,” I respond.
The Lion sits by the entrance of Jam Mart Clothing and looks to be bored. The Lion looks up at Nova and I can tell he likes her.
“Hey, would you like to come on a journey to find the Forgotten Alpha?” Nova asks.
“Umm… sure? Wait- hey! Never mind me, I’d love to go on the journey!” the Lion stumbles while trying to pick out what words to say.
Nova looks at me with a little hint of confusion on her face.
“What’s your name?” I ask the lion.
“I’m Rocky, and I’d really like to go on the adventure!” Rocky responds with a large smile.
Nova and I slowly back away and whisper to each other.
“Nope, he is not going with us. Did you see the way he was looking at you? I’m going to have nightmares about that face…” I whisper to Nova.
“Yeah, I agree. He’s not coming with us,” Nova laughs a little while whispering.
We both decide to go back to my den for a little break, but then I spot a middle-aged fox walking around. He looks like he’d be a good addition to our group.
“Hey, would you like to come on a journey with us to find the Forgotten Alpha?” I ask him.
“The Forgotten Alpha? But why?” the Fox wonders with confusion.
“Because there’s a great battle coming. One so hard that we will need him for it. I have no idea who we will be battling, but we need the Forgotten Alpha to help us during it,” I explain.
“And we need to bring six people on the journey. Would you like to come with?” Nova finishes.
“I will come with. He used to be my best friend,” the Fox says. Just then I realize he is one of the greatest warriors of Jamaa, the Fox Warrior Rapicik.
“Wait a second- are you Rapicik?” I ask with amazement.
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re going on the journey with us,” Nova and I say together.
I spot one of Archie’s old friends, Wandel, looking at us. He must be wondering what we’re doing. He stands by a large panda that must be another warrior. Wait- he’s one of the most famous Panda warriors ever, Padanda! I am meeting so many great animals.
“Oh, Cup. There’s nothing to be glad about,” Liza once again comes out of nowhere.
“Wait- why? I am recruiting a bunch of great animals to come with me!” I say to her.
“But the final battle will be a betrayal,” Liza warns.
A betrayal. Just like the betrayal when I trusted Kurkah and nearly got Jamaa destroyed.
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