This is the IDB Plot to accompany Neo's The Return of Dr. Sloth Plot. I wrote it, and it may be discussed here:
http://forums.finalhit.org/showthread.php?tid=19148 The prologue takes place during Chapter 2 of Neo's Plot.
Prologue: IDB’s True Mission
Neopia could be seen outside the window. It did not look so different from Earth. The sphere hung in space among the stars, water covered much of its surface, and land wove around it. But the continents were different from Earth’s. There were fewer oceans. And in rare instances there would be a spot that would flicker and remind the observer that this was simply Neopia’s representation in the Internet.
A tan cloak shrouded a figure that stood by this window in the Virtupets Space Station. His face was visible, and his red eyes glowed in a way almost similar to the blue jewel on his helmet. The helmet itself was large, with stylized ears that looked like fins because of their size. The lower or inner part of the fins were orange, while the outer part was a shade of black only a hint lighter than the endless expanses outside the window.
The window was large, filling the entirety of the wall. Forte’s eyes were not focused on the window, however. Instead he looked down at a communications device in his black-armored hand. He gave it a simple smirk before slipping it behind his cloak and turning to face his audience.
Nine others were gathered around a rectangular table. They were in a meeting room, but it was without any luxury of food or drink. To Forte’s right and at the front was Shattered Rift, a hooded figure wearing a blue robe in the Jedi style. A robot eyrie stood mechanically at his side, unmoving. Behind Rift sat TOSO, with medium-length blonde hair and blue eyes, the only person seated at the table who wore what might have passed as casual business attire. His green elphante had to stand a few steps back from him to have enough room. Rabid, a humanoid canine sat behind TOSO. A stylish yellow peophin was at his side.
Opposite that group, on Forte’s left, Lex sat at the front. She appeared as a medieval maiden in a blue dress with long brunette hair. The faerie draik in pirate clothes beside her waved discreetly to the royalboy draik that was flanking Forte. Behind Lex was Matt, wearing a dark brown hoodie, with a jut of brunette hair sticking out from beneath the hood. An exhausted green gelert rested his head on the table while Matt scratched behind his ears.
The lighting of the room obscured four others, and none of the features of them or their neopets were visible.
“As you’ll recall,” Forte began, “when you were first chosen to be IDB Raters, I told you the truth behind an old rumor: Neopia is real. It is not merely another website in the Internet, but as alive and tangible as Earth. There was something I didn’t tell you, however: the true purpose of IDB. On the surface, we supply Battledome information and advice for any Neopians who request it. Beneath the surface, IDB has a much darker truth.
“Finalhit, the man who created IDB, was a hero of the Meridell War. But he disappeared at some point, perhaps when we were infiltrated by usurpers bent on our destruction. But our true mission remains the same: one day we will be called upon by Lord Sloth to conquer Neopia.
“You all remember that nearly three years ago Viacom purchased the Neopets website. The fact that this happened mere days following the Curse of Maraqua War was no coincidence. Viacom had stepped in to bring peace to Neopia.”
“That’s why we haven’t seen a real war since then!” Rift jumped in. As soon as the words were spoken, a red light lit up on the ceiling at the center of the table and an alarm sounded.
“Indeed,” Forte nodded, speaking loudly over the alarm. He seemed completely unfazed by it. “Since Viacom purchased Neopets, we saw a minor incident in the Lost Desert and another at the Lost Isle. Only a third incident in Neovia came anywhere close to getting out of Viacom’s hands, but they were still able to step in quickly enough to regain control of the situation.
“Years ago IDB lost contact with Lord Sloth. Then, yesterday, I received a summons on one of the old channels, and that’s why I called all of the Raters to the space station.” Forte glanced up at the alarm and grinned, but it gave Matt enough time to interject.
“If the channel is years old, how do we know it’s safe?”
“We didn’t,” Forte’s gaze lowered to meet Matt’s. “But I knew our pets could handle anything that might be thrown at us. Fortunately, a few minutes ago I received a message from Kage informing me that a certain vessel had entered the docking bay.”
Suddenly the door to the meeting room slid open and three blumaroos entered. At the center was Commander Garoo, and flanking him were two armored guards. Garoo spoke a single line.
“Lord Sloth requests the presence of all IDB Raters.”
Chapter 1: Orders
The halls of the Virtupets Space Station were made of a pale blue metal and stretched in every direction like a maze. Forte followed a single armored blumaroo who lead the way through the hallways, and more than a dozen others, all raters, followed in single-file.
Kage was first. The right half of his body was human, but as if cut in half by a narrow line, the left half was entirely orc. A maraquan shoyru padded along by his side, but the neopet’s expression was indifferent. He even stopped to glance down another hallway when they came to an intersection.
Cran was careful to sidestep the shoyru. She was dressed casually, simply wearing jeans and a hoodie, and only long red hair made her conspicuous. A mutant gelert walked beside her with surprising poise but as much disinterest in its owner as the shoyru seemed to have for Kage.
Next followed Graph, slouching slightly and wearing purple chest armor that had a design at the center similar to a red bullseye. Short brown hair was just visible beneath a wide, ovular helmet that covered most of his head. Square glasses with a small antenna concealed his eyes. By his side was an uncertain chockato chia that circled even more widely of Kage’s shoyru than his owner or Cran had.
Mike was a couple of steps behind Graph, wearing a bandana designed after the Canadian flag. An electric jubjub sauntered happily beside his owner. Like Graph, Mike, too, was wearing armor. Unlike Graph’s, Mike’s was far more streamlined. The armor, almost resembling a ruki, only had one arm with something on it that was too small for a shield but too big to be anything else. The armor matched the gloves and boots, but the ruki influence was not as prominent in them. Mike passed by an advertisement on the wall behind him that compared both raters’ armor. It read, “Out with the old, in with the new. Buy our new line of Space Armor today!”
A blue kougra guarded the door ahead, and the soldier leading Forte took his post opposite the kougra. The kougra saluted with his fist to his chest, and the door slid open for the raters to enter.
The room was much larger than the meeting room Forte and a few of the others had been in only minutes before, and most of the floor was bare. Forte reached a place near the center and kneeled. Kage and Cran took their places to his right, and Graph and Mike to his left. A few other raters obscured in shadow also took their place in the front row. The raters who had been in the meeting earlier took their places in a second row, kneeling so they were positioned behind but in-between the raters who were in front. A few in the back row were obscured from view as well.
“The IDB is honored by your presence, my lord,” Forte spoke simply, making the same salute the kougra had, fist raised to his chest. A throne rested only a few steps from Forte. Its back was stylized with the red and black coloring of the Virtupets sigil, but the symbol was obscured by the being that sat on the throne.
“So few in numbers,” Dr. Frank Sloth commented to no one as the black beads of his red eyes swept over the group. His skin was a green color so pale as to almost be yellow. The black cloak he wore was invisible in shadows, but the red interior of the collar flared around the back of his head. Forte said nothing, and Dr. Sloth continued. “There is a small organization here in the station that was formed in the aftermath of my defeat years ago. Right now they are foolishly trying to hack our communications, but they will learn nothing of consequence. Soon, however, they will attack the docking bay where the civilians are. I want you to join them and gain their trust by defeating my soldiers there.”
“Gain their trust?” Rift spoke too loudly. “We could crush them-”
Dr. Sloth had only raised his left fist, but the robot eyrie that had been at Rift’s side a moment before was now skidding across the floor. Sparks flew from metal scraping against metal, and a line of oil suddenly marked the path the eyrie had slid. In less than a second the neopet had been reduced to a pile of parts.
“Did I hear someone question my orders?” Dr. Sloth seemed to ask the air. A soft glitter of metal ran across his raised fist but seemed to instantly dissolve into his flesh. He lowered his first and continued. “You will infiltrate this organization, this resistance to my will, and await further orders. If they do not fall for the ruse, kill them all.”
“Consider it done, my lord,” Forte had raised his fist to his chest once again, and all of the other raters made the same salute.
“You are dismissed,” Dr. Sloth spoke. Once Forte and the others had risen, Dr. Sloth gestured to the broken eyrie and added an afterthought. “And have someone clean up that mess.”
Chapter 2: Battle
The Raters filed into a shop from a backroom. Every piece of Graph’s armor was present in a bargain bin while Mike’s was on display in the window. Behind a glass case were two helmets. One was rough, large, and yellow except for a stylized, purple eye at the center. Beside it, with red at the ears and on the top, was a much newer model of the same item. Except for Forte, each of the older raters took a moment to stop and pay their respects to the two helmets. As soon as the last of the newer raters had entered the Space Armor Shop the armored blumaroo who had led their way closed the door behind them.
Forte raised compact binoculars to his eyes and looked past the two armored guards at the door to the shop. Outside was one of the open areas of the space station. Blumaroo guards were watching over hundreds of neopets. Some of the guards were armored the way the raters’ guide had been while others were only in uniform. Forte turned back to the other raters.
“Looks like the party hasn’t started yet,” Forte whispered, grinning. “Graph, can you hack the station’s PA system from here?” Graph looked startled for a moment before shrugging and walking behind the counter. He typed frantically into the shop’s computer system for a few moments before giving a thumbs up.
Forte glanced over his shoulder, binoculars once again to his eyes. Dozens of meters away, barely visible through the crowd, a vent had been taken off its hinges and a blue grundo had stepped out. Other neopets were following out of the vent. None of the guards had seemed to notice them.
Forte raised his hand for a moment before suddenly clenching his fist. Graph pushed a key. The draik beside Forte had a yellow bomb in his hands. The bomb had a single black dot halfway between the fuse and the base. After setting the end of the fuse to the floor, the draik struck its tail to light the fuse. Then he swung his tail again to set the bomb rolling along the floor towards the guards. Both of them had only a moment to notice the weapon before it exploded.
At that exact moment the music began. Metal blared from the PA system. Both civilians and guards looked up at the speakers in surprise. Raters piled out of the Space Armor Shop. Across the plaza the blue grundo, Gorix, seemed to yell something into the air. Soon lyrics joined the music.
“I’m not a victim ‘til I let you take me down!” The voice had no singing talent, but it fit with the sound of the song. “I’m not a target in the sights of your mercy!”
“Hey, listen!” Mike’s electric jubjub said as it stopped just outside the shop. Mike winced. One of the armored blumaroos stopped when it saw the two, pausing just long enough for the jubjub to toss a green sticky hand and snatch the brown blaster from the blumaroo’s hands. The guard stared in disbelief long enough for the jubjub to fire a stream of fire and a launch of pellets. The fire only left scorch marks on the armor, but the pellets toppled the guard over.
Cran had gotten to the middle of the chaos. Her mutant gelert flipped to dodge the shots of two uniformed guards, but spun in midair to slam his twisted horns into both guards, skewering them. After landing, the gelert lowered his head and then rapidly flung it upwards, sending the two guards flying into the crowd.
Rabid had found another shop partway across the plaza. Dozens of cages contained various petpets, and Rabid swiped a credit card across the terminal at the counter. Suddenly the cages were open, and Rabid gave an enthusiastic, “Woof,” before starting to toss the rounder petpets to his peophin. His peophin caught them one by one with a bronze crosse and hurled them at guards.
Lex sat beside one of the few fountains in the space station while her draik combed her hair. One of the armored guards rushed past just as the draik was sauntering around to her owners other side, and the guard tripped on the draik’s tail. Suddenly the draik spun, scraping with the wooden comb against the guard’s armor and tearing into it.
On the opposite side of the fountain, its seat being one of the only raised platforms, Matt’s gelert held out a golden bow with its front paws and pulled back at the arrow with its teeth. It seemed to struggle for a moment as it pulled, but he finally released the arrow and it shot off, piercing the armor of one of the guards.
Rift’s eyrie flew through the air, only showing slight scuffs on its plating that might as easily have been from the battle as from being repaired. The jets on its wings weakened as it approached a group of the uniformed soldiers. The eyrie spun, flashing a red and yellow ring on its tail. Light lashed towards the soldiers and left burns where it had touched.
“What do you think? Soccer or bowling?” TOSO asked his elephante, who nodded before trumpeting and leaping into the air to curl into a ball. TOSO kicked his pet into the crowd. The elephante rolled and struck each of the uniformed soldiers that crossed his path.
Some of the civilians were fighting as well, and a few humans who had been trapped in the space station fought side by side with them. A ring with a scarab emblem was the most prominent weapon, firing burning acid at the uniformed soldiers but having no effect against the ones with armor. One brave child even rushed forward with his neopet wielding a simple stick that shot out a shower of sparks.
Graph was racing, dashing left and right in a vain effort to follow his chockato chia through the crowd. The chia was the only neopet not fighting, and it stopped abruptly when it reached the major elevator that serviced the three civilian levels. Standing there high above it was another armored blumaroo, but Riilan wore black armor rather than the gray of the other soldiers. The chia opened its mouth wide to let out a loud scream, panicking rather than fleeing.
Kage kicked his maraquan shoyru’s shell, pointing towards Riilan. The shoyru spun and slashed at its owner with a wicked, black-hilted sword. Then the shoyru turned and seemed to casually notice Riilan, a blumaroo so large it nearly matched the height of the humans. Riilan leveled his blaster and fired at the chia, but the blast hit the shoyru’s shell. The chia took the opportunity to run while the shoyru slashed at Riilan, taking the blumaroo’s left arm clean off and making the blaster fall to the ground. Another slash across Riilan’s mid-section tore the beast in two. The shoyru spun around triumphantly to face its owner, and slammed the blade its sword into the plated flooring of the station.
However, Kage did not share his neopet’s excitement. A look of shock crossed the half-human and half-orc face. Behind the shoyru, Riilan had used his right arm to slide his lower half back into his upper-half. A locking noise was lost in the din of the music and pandemonium, and slowly Riilan stood up. He lifted his fallen arm from the floor and reattached it in a similar manner to how he had reattached his lower half. Once he had flexed the fingers of his left hand, he balled them into a fist and struck down at the shoyru, denting the ground with the neopet’s imprint. The shoyru’s head wavered for a moment before falling to the ground unconscious.
Riilan pulled the shoyru’s sword out of the floor and took a sweeping glance over the plaza. In a fluid motion he threw the sword like a hatchet. It passed by both civilians and soldiers alike, skimming by without clipping any of them. Forte’s draik saw the flash of metal at the last moment and barely avoided getting hit by the weapon. His owner noticed as well, and broke his conversation with a green ixi to look across the plaza to where the attack had came from.
“Impossible,” Forte mouthed, seeing through his binoculars only the end of the scene that had taken place moments before. He turned back to the ixi. “My name is Forte, administrator of the IDB. Our strongest pet was just defeated, and all we can hope to do now is hold off this army long enough for the civilians and ourselves to board the shuttles and return to Neopia’s surface.”
“There is one other option,” the ixi told Forte. “I am Valka, and my soldiers and I have been stationed here on the space station for the time when Dr. Sloth would return. That time is now. Our headquarters is on one of the maintenance levels. It’s a maze down there, and if we can get all the civilians aboard the shuttles then we can withdraw to the maintenance levels.”
Forte nodded before pressing a few keys into a small communications device in his armored hand. The music was dulled to nearly silent, and Forte’s voice boomed over the PA.
“Attention civilians. This is Forte of the IDB. Proceed to the shuttles immediately. Once you’re back on Neopia’s surface, alert the Defenders of Neopia that Dr. Frank Sloth has taken the Virtupets Space Station.”
Forte turned back to meet Commander Valka’s gaze before turning to face the crowd. His eyes settled on Riilan, and he muttered to himself. “Now we just have to hold off a monster.”
Chapter 3: Regroup
A distant but consistent pounding echoed throughout the space station, reaching even the resistance’s headquarters. Kage, Lex, Rabid, and more than a dozen humans who were not affiliated with the IDB all carried their neopets, critically injured from the battle, and they followed a red zafara into another room. All of the other neopets would need medical treatment as well.
“Good, you’re all back,” Commander Valka spoke after giving a full glance over the group. Gorix, Cylara, and the scout had all arrived a few minutes after the others. Valka turned to Forte. “We owe you and your raters our lives. That monster would have killed us all if your team hadn’t been able to hold it off.”
“We would never have been able to hold it off if you hadn’t thought to hack that blast door in the docking bay,” Forte replied.
“If I may interrupt?” the scout asked. Valka turned his head to her and nodded. “The reconnaissance mission yielded two pieces of interesting information, sir. You know the civil war that’s been going on between the grundos on Kreludor?” Valka snorted in response.
“A trivial family feud,” he replied in annoyance. “If they’d rather squabble over the mines than help us, then we can’t be concerned with their troubles. Especially at a time like this.”
“Unfortunately,” the scout continued, ignoring Valka’s dismissive tone, “I’ve discovered that it goes deeper than just a brotherly feud. I found certain files that indicate Sloth has a hand in it. He has placed a traitor, or perhaps more than one, among the grundos. The traitor’s sole task is to play off of the pre-existing tension and pit the two factions against one another.”
“So Sloth wants the Kreludian grundos busy and out of his way,” Valka realized. “But why?”
“I believe his aim is the mines, sir,” the scout answered.
“The mines?” Valka asked, uncertain. “What is he going to do with all that Kreludite?”
“I’m not sure, but I think this disc might provide a clue.” The scout withdrew a disc from her suit and handed it to a purple poogle seated at the console. Graph had sat on the seat next to the poogle.
“While they’re retrieving data,” Forte interrupted, “We need to come up with a plan. It’s only a matter of time before Dr. Sloth finds this base, and if they destroy the medical facility here our only other chance will be to take the facility by the Space Arena.”
“Then taking it should be our first goal,” Valka agreed after a moment. “That is, if you think that monster can be defeated? Or even fought?” Kage opened his mouth to speak, but the scout spoke first.
“That was the other piece of intelligence, sir,” the scout explained. “Contained on the disc are plans for a robotic warrior codenamed Riilan.” She hesitated before adding, “We met him upstairs.”
“Does it have a weakness?” Forte demanded.
“It sure does.” Graph grinned at the console before giving a low whistle. “Riilan’s a beauty, though. Whatever this metal is, it’s like nothing we’ve seen on Neopia or Kreludor. You can’t cut it, but you might be able to dent it if you use something strong enough.”
“Then how did Kemito tear him apart with a sword of skardsen?” Kage asked.
“The joints aren’t made of the same metal,” Graph answered. “But here’s the real kicker: there’s a control console in every limb. There’s one in the chest, one in the head, two in each arm, and two in each leg. That’s how he put himself back together. If you find a way to destroy those, you’ll destroy Riilan.”
“So how do we destroy them?” Forte asked.
“No idea,” Graph answered.
“We’ll never be able to destroy something like that,” Mike groaned. “You saw what it did to anyone that got in its way. It even mowed down a dozen of Sloth’s blumaroos.”
“Commander Valka?” the poogle spoke up. “We’ve got a transmission coming in.” A spectacled, yellow jubjub appeared on the monitor.
“You’re just the pet we wanted to see,” Valka told the figure. “I’ll listen to your report in a moment, but for now your expertise would be appreciated.” Valka tilted his head towards the poogle. “Send him the files on the Kreludite.”
“Hmm, Kreludite?” The jubjub echoed Valka and staring down at the files he was receiving. “That’s a Sloth toy for you: dangerous but powerful. The radioactive decay of Kreludite causes the release of gamma waves, which react with the carbon inside each of us. Essentially, Sloth must be using it to, how shall I say it, mutate us. But it’s different from last time. Rather than just enlarging a few grundos to do his bidding, Sloth’s focusing on all neopets now. Kreludite, if wielded by improper hands, has permanent, drastic effects on the composition of our bodies.”
“Then there’s literally no time to waste,” Valka muttered to himself. “While we speak, Sloth continues to build up his power. We’ll have to continue this transmission later. Cylara, if you please, accompany Gorix to Kreludor. Show the grundos that Sloth has been manipulating their feud. Convince them to put their differences aside and join our cause.”
“There are still shuttles that can escape Dr. Sloth’s scanners?” Forte inquired. “Is there room for any of my raters to accompany them?”
“Just one shuttle,” Valka answered. “And I would appreciate that. The shuttle could hold five, but it won’t be a comfortable ride.”
“I don’t pay them for comfortable. Ambassador Cran, and raters Rabid and TOSO will accompany Gorix and Cylara,” Forte decided. The three raters seemed to shift uncertainly in the crowd. All of the neopets were walking around, but all of them showed cuts and bruises from the battle. The humans who were not raters listened to the discussion from the edges of the room. “So what’s our plan for the station?"
Chapter 4: The Neopets Team
Almost all of the humans and neopets had left the resistance base. Forte stood in front of the display where Commander Valka had stood less than ten minutes before. Mike stood off to the side, staring down at another console, and Graph, the poogle, and a few other neopets manned the equipment.
“Patch me through to the Defenders of Neopia,” Forte instructed. Graph’s fingers typed furiously, and a yellow and black suited moehog appeared on the monitor. His arms were folded across his chest, and a hint of blue skin was visible near around his mouth and ears.
“Judge, it’s been a while,” Forte greeted Judge Hog. The Judge blinked before nodding and giving a warm smile.
“It’s good to hear from you, Forte,” the Judge acknowledged. “But I’m guessing this isn’t a house call. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the hundreds of citizens that landed in Maraqua less than an hour ago, would you?”
“You guessed right,” Forte grinned, but it quickly faded. “Dr. Sloth has taken the space station. We’ve found evidence that he incited the civil war on Kreludor as well.”
“Dr. Sloth?” Judge Hog stared in disbelief. “So the rumor is true. The Neopets Team made an announcement that the space station was undergoing maintenance.”
“Clearly they forgot to mention the new tenant,” Forte added wryly. “What are they really doing, behind the scenes?” Judge Hog hesitated.
“They’re doing nothing,” he answered. “Other than the one announcement and banning space travel, there hasn’t been any word or sign that they’ve done anything. It’s almost been too quiet, in fact. You don’t think it’s possible that Sloth is keeping them quiet?”
“Whatever’s happened, we need to act,” Forte stated. “Are you able to gain access to any shuttles? I need as many battlers on Kreludor as possible. If you have access to any ships with suitable cloaking, send them to Kreludor first and we’ll see if they can bypass Dr. Sloth’s scanners to have them join us here.”
“It’ll take hours to get a suitable force to Kreludor,” the Judge pointed out. “Can you hold off Sloth that long?”
“If we can’t, then Commander Valka has offered an alternative solution,” Forte replied.
“Valka’s still in the game?” the Judge laughed. “What’s his backup plan?”
“If we can’t hold off Dr. Sloth, we’re going to destroy the space station,” Forte answered. The Judge’s expression went dark.
“The Neopets Team would never condone such an action,” Judge Hog growled. “Valka, you, and the rest of the raters will be put in prison on Terror Mountain.”
“Valka has made it clear he doesn’t care about TNT’s regulations, and quite frankly, neither do I,” Forte was irritated. “Get me backup on Kreludor, and let me worry about holding off Dr. Sloth.”
“Be careful, Forte,” Judge Hog admonished. His image slowly flickered away and left the screen blank. Forte turned to face Mike.
“Are the others in position yet?” he demanded.
“They’ve gotten Riilan’s attention, if that’s what you mean,” Mike answered. “It won’t be possible to hold the medical facility and execute our plan.”
“Then we won’t worry about holding the facility,” Forte replied. “I’m going to join them. Continue to oversee things from here, and if anything unexpected happens, alert me immediately.”
Chapter 5: Riilan
Forte sprinted down one of the hallways of the space station while his draik flapped quickly to keep pace with him. The sound of battle rattled from both ends of the hallway, but the distinct sound of human shouts told Forte which way to head even without Mike speaking in his ear.
“They’ve been separated from Valka and his troops,” Mike’s voice was anxious with worry. “And there’s still no word yet from Kreludor even though the others should have landed there twenty minutes ago.”
“Unless it’s all part of the plan,” Forte mouthed silently to himself. He spun around a corner, and at the far end of the hall he could see the glistening of black metal that marked Riilan.
The robot held a brown blaster with three barrels, and he leveled it at a neopet beneath him. Riilan fired, knocking back the already weakened neopet. One of the shadow raters cried out wordlessly, and another shadow neopet lunged through the air at Riilan. A roundhouse kick sent that neopet careening into the wall.
“This was a bad plan right from the start,” Matt complained. The hallway opened up into the engines room where he stood with Kage, Rift, and Lex. Behind all three of them were a dozen generators all powering the space station. “And now there’s only four of us left.”
Riilan turned to face them. Four neopets stood read to defend their owners, and Riilan aimed his blaster at Matt’s gelert. An acorn bounced harmlessly off Riilan’s back, but a second acorn followed and exploded against the metal, making Riilan stumble forward onto one knee.
“Make that five,” Forte shouted, still several meters behind Riilan. His draik was a little further behind, slowed down from aiming the wooden slingshot in his hands. Riilan fired a shot at the draik before getting back to his feet.
Kage’s shoyru grabbed the golden bow from Matt’s gelert and aimed it at Riilan. He fired off a shot much more easily than the gelert could manage to, and the arrow struck Riilan’s ankle, piercing at one of the joints. Riilan casually reached down, pulled the arrow free, and threw it back at the shoyru. It hit the shoyru’s shell and sent the neopet spinning away.
Rift’s eyrie dived at Riilan, using its beak to pop the cork off the bottle it held in its talon, and it splashed the purple and blue liquid on the robot. Riilan vibrated for a moment, but seemed unable to move.
“Now, Lex!” Forte shouted. Both of their draiks were standing side by side. Forte’s fired another acorn, and Lex’s shot a blast from a gold and silver wand. The combined force knocked Riilan onto his back.
A blue and gold book floated in front of Matt’s gelert, and a beam of light and darkness flew at Riilan. The robot had gotten back to its feet and a shield materialized on its arm. Lights on the front of the gray shield seemed to calibrate, and the shield absorbed the magical attack. Kage’s shoyru lunged with the same sword he had attacked Riilan with in their last battle, but a yellow helmet with red at the ears and top appeared on Riilan’s head. Kage’s shoyru suddenly stopped, and his eyes became lolled with hypnosis.
Forte’s draik aimed another acorn, but Riilan whipped a purple and blue pistol and fired a shot that hit the draik and knocked the acorn off its mark. The acorn exploded against one of the generators, and the lights in the room flickered. Another magical blast from Lex’s draik’s wand knocked the pistol from Riilan’s hands, but Riilan tossed a peach colored spore at the draik. The spore became incredibly bright for a moment before fading, and Lex’s draik stood disoriented, reaching out with her arms, blinded.
Riilan picked up his brown blaster from the floor, and took a red blaster into his other hand. The red blaster fired a stream of water that caught Matt’s gelert in the face. The brown blaster sent a batch of pellets that knocked Forte’s draik to the ground. Another blast of water sent Lex’s draik sliding across the floor. A batch of pellets narrowly missed Rift’s eyrie and left small dents in the ceiling. Kage’s shoyru didn’t even flinch at a blast of water as he lunged towards Riilan, and he slashed the nozzle of the red blaster clean off. The sword tore into the brown blaster a second later, and in that same moment Riilan dropped what remained of his red blaster and punched the shoyru aside.
Rift’s eyrie dove again, but Riilan was ready with the gray shield. None of the liquid touched his armor this time. Riilan leapt with an uppercut that sent the eyrie spiraling in a nosedive. Forte’s draik fired another acorn that exploded against the shield and cracked it.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Lex spoke out loud. “Why didn’t Dr. Sloth give Riilan stronger weapons? We’ve been able to destroy each one he’s used against us.”
“Gee, maybe it’s because Riilan is a weapon,” Matt replied snidely.
“No, Lex is right,” Rift agreed. “Something’s wrong about this.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kage interrupted. “It’s now or never for our plan.”
Matt nodded, and his gelert rushed towards Riilan. The robot kicked the gelert aside dismissively, and an acorn bounced harmlessly off of Riilan’s armor. Lex’s draik flapped to gain height while Rift’s eyrie flew in a loop around Riilan. In a couple of seconds Lex’s draik had joined the eyrie, and another acorn bounced harmlessly off of the robot’s armor. Riilan reached out and grabbed both of the neopets at once, and he slammed them together over his head before throwing both at Forte’s draik. Another acorn flew, barely missing the two neopets, and it exploded against Riilan’s armor. Riilan stumbled back a few steps, stopping just a step in front of a generator. Kage’s shoyru leaped into the air and slammed the wicked sword through Riilan’s neck, making the robot take another step back, and the sword cut into the generator.
Electricity lanced through the sword and sent the shoyru flying through the air. More electricity flickered through the weapon, but it only hesitated for a moment before using Riilan as a conduit. Only the joints sparked from the overload. Soon steam poured out through the joints, and then through Riilan’s now open mouth. His arms hung limply at his side, and his blumaroo tail slumped against the floor. The red glow in his optics flickered before slowly dimming as Riilan went offline.
Chapter 6: Kreludor
Red lights lanced down at Kreludor’s barren surface as red ships flew overhead. Far fewer green lights shot back up, too often missing their targets. Yellow lights fired from the blasters held by the grundo army, but even with their greater accuracy they made little more than grazed the ships. Amid the battlefield Cran, TOSO, and Rabid had taken cover in one of the trenches. Like the grundos, the rater’s neopets were also firing helpless shots into the sky.
“Still no response from the space station,” TOSO quietly announced with a hint of nervousness in his tone. “There’s no way of knowing whether they got our message and know that Gorix and Cylara went to Sloth’s flagship alone. What do we do, Cran?”
“Until we get new orders, we stick to our current ones,” she replied hesitantly. More confidence filled her voice with her next words “Even though we’ve lost control of the situation with Gorix, we can assume that he and Cylara will never succeed in their mission. Lord Sloth will kill both of them.”
“Woof,” Rabid interjected in amusement.
“What about releasing Parlax?” TOSO asked, but Cran answered while TOSO was about to say more.
“None of the grundos suspect that we played any part in it,” she reminded him. “They’ll suspect other traitors in their ranks, and even if Parlax was captured and tortured it’s unlikely any of them would believe that we were the ones to set him free.”
A dozen meters away from the trio one of the slingshot-like structures exploded. Then, in almost the opposite direction, another was hit at its base and tilted to crash onto its side. Only one was still visible from their cover.
In the sky a larger ship had stopped to hover, and slowly began to lower. Its jets slowed its descent as it landed on the surface. Dozens of uniformed skeiths and krawks poured out from the now open sides. Several of the krawks fired at the grundos to keep them back while the skeiths applied manual force to their ship. The ship’s hatch opened and revealed a large blaster.
One of the ships in the sky dropped an explosive onto one of the rock coverings that three grundos were hidden behind. All three grundos were flung away from the explosion, and the ground-based weapon was aimed at them. It fired, catching two with its beam. The two grundos began to grow larger while their skin changed from purple and orange to two different shades of green. Their comrade stared in disbelief as one of his fellows leaped onto him, crushing him with brown boots that had suddenly appeared on the mutant grundo’s feet.
“It mutated them,” TOSO gaped while Rabid howled at the scene. “It’s a variant of the lab ray designed as a weapon. Sloth’s mutating the grundos and turning them against themselves.”
“It’s worse than that,” Cran informed the two. “Forte reminded you before the fighting started, didn’t he? Neo is real. Over the years there have been a handful of incidents. Seizures, mostly, but a couple of people went comatose while playing. Only a few people ever made the connection that all the victims were playing Neopets before it happened.” TOSO stared in disbelief, but Cran continued. “Almost all of them shared one thing in common: the lab ray had misfired and hit them instead of their neopets. Who knows what this weapon could do to us.”
Rabid’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as if ready to start laughing at a joke. TOSO’s face went stern.
“There are more thirty humans halfway across Kreludor that are coming to join this fight,” he whispered. “More in transit from Neopia.”
Another bomber flew low and dropped its explosive, and a second covering erupted to reveal nearly a dozen grundos. The weapon hesitated several seconds before firing. Most of the grundos were back on their feet and running, but four were caught by the ray and mutated.
“It has to charge between shots,” TOSO exclaimed before glancing to the battlefield between the three of them and the weapon. Krawks and skeiths using large rocks for cover were firing away at the defenseless grundos that hadn’t been caught by the ray’s shot.
“Woof!” Rabid shouted in agreement, pointing in the same direction TOSO was looking.
“Our orders were to infiltrate the resistance,” Cran reminded them. “Let’s keep playing the part and take that ray out before the cavalry gets here.”
Chapter 7: Instruments of Destruction
Inside an empty hangar, resistance members pushed back Garoo Elites, and Valka was locked in combat with Garoo himself. Forte’s draik and Kage’s shoyru tore through elites with ease, buffering the resistance’s ranks. Two large doors were at the two ends of the hangar, and three raters came through from the resistance’s side.
“Don’t tell me you started the party without us.” Matt seemed genuinely disappointed, but his gelert let out a yawn of relief. Rift stood beside Matt while his eyrie flew overhead. Lex was leading the two, and her draik floated on its back in midair, casual and almost indifferent to the battle.
“We’re all out of chips, too,” Kage shouted back to the three. Forte smirked in victory, but his face went blank again as a pink aisha entered through a smaller door at the center of a third wall. A dozen red and yellow robots followed her, each half the size of a neopet. Behind them two windows dwarfed that wall.
“Looks like you need some help, Garoo,” the aisha teased.
“It’s about time we got some reinforcements,” Garoo sneered.
“Oh, I brought something even better,” the aisha smirked deviously. “Constructicons, unite!”
The robots began to twist, parts shifting. A familiar sound resonated as their parts clicked into place. Each robot, all in their new shapes, formed a pair with another. Then they flew together and locked into place. Together they formed a mechanical giant that was twice as tall as any of the humans and towered over the neopets.
“Prepare… for extermination,” the Grundo Bot spoke in a deep, mechanical voice. An acorn flew through the air and hit the robot’s torso. The acorn exploded and forced the robot to take a step back, but the Grundo Bot simply reached its hand to its torso and brushed the soot away. There was no sign, no dent, to indicate that the attack had had any effect.
Kage’s shoyru leaped at the Grundo Bot’s back knee, striking with the wicked sword that had defeated Riilan. The knee bent only partway, and the shoyru floated in midair for a moment before falling back to the ground in front of the robot. A fist came down, aimed for the shoyru, but when it missed the blow tore up metal from the floor. A purple mynci and a red zafara from the resistance both leaped away from the giant. Another resistance member, a red lupe, fired off three futile shots. In a moment the Grundo Bot’s hand swept the lupe into the wall and crushed him.
Rift’s eyrie flew overhead, spilling blue and purple liquid onto the giant’s shoulder. The Grundo Bot simply turned its head towards the shoulder and blew the liquid onto the red zafara. The zafara struggled weakly, unable to move, and the Grundo Bot kicked the zafara into another wall.
An arrow flew at the giant’s foot only to bounce off harmlessly. It distracted the Grundo Bot long enough for the mynci to leap onto the giant, bounce upward, and tear away free cables from the robot’s back. The mynci landed behind the giant in time for the Grundo Bot’s heel to knock the mynci into the wall directly behind them.
Rift’s eyrie swooped in again, dodging the three-fingered claw of the giant, and spilled more of its potion onto the Grundo Bot’s head. The giant continued to follow the eyrie with its gaze, reaching and missing again.
“Slumberberry Potion isn’t having any effect on it,” Rift shouted, but Forte ignored the words and turned to Lex.
“Get your draik in the air: this thing can’t fight aerial opponents,” Forte told her. Lex’s draik had already targeted the giant’s middle. The draik swept upward, cutlass held out to cut into the robot’s armor, but the robot knocked the draik aside in mid-flight. There was no sign of even a scratch where the cutlass had scraped.
Matt’s gelert, unable to take flight, chanted to itself while a spell book floated in front of him. A flash of light and darkness erupted from the book, but the light bounced off the giant and reflected back into the gelert and sent him skidding across the floor.
Forte’s draik took the opportunity to drop a yellow bomb in front of the Grundo Bot. The explosion broke open the glass portion of the robot’s chest, revealing a white and blue glowing sphere.
“Haven’t we had enough Transformers allusions already?” Matt asked in exasperation. No one seemed to notice the question.
“How can a Thyora’s Tear go so long without breaking?” Kage wondered.
“It’s a piece of Dr. Sloth’s technology,” Forte reminded him. “Graph can’t get a fix on it, though. He’s barely able to keep the radio line open.”
Lex’s draik, still in the air, reached out her hand. Matt’s gelert’s bow flew up to rest in the air beside her, nocked an arrow on its own, and fired. The arrow bounced harmlessly off the Tear. The giant’s arm reached out for the draik, and the draik flew back. The bow, forgotten, dropped to the floor. Once the giant’s arm was fully extended a bomb appeared in the palm, identical to the one Forte’s draik had used. The bomb launched collided with Lex’s draik before exploding.
The Grundo Bot’s other hand lifted into the air as Rift’s eyrie came in for another run. A winged sword flew out and caught the eyrie in mid-flight, piercing through the smaller robot’s armor and sending the eyrie careening towards the ground. Kage’s shoyru took the moment of distraction to leap up impossibly high and slash the wicked sword into the Tear. A force welled around the sword, pulling it out of the shoyru’s grasp, and then flung it through the air to land in Matt’s gelert.
Another acorn flew through the air, exploding against the Tear, but that attack merely had the same reaction as before, pushing the giant back a step. Kage’s shoyru pulled his sword free from Matt’s defeated gelert.
The space station suddenly rattled, gently shaking. An explosion was slowly expanding, visible through the window behind the Grundo.
A few moments later the Thyora’s Tear cracked, and Kage’s shoyru leaped for a second strike. As it leaped the giant began falling to pieces, connections between the smaller robots breaking apart, and the shoyru ended up slashing harmlessly at the air. The shoyru landed, blinking for a moment before stabbing his sword into one of the fallen robots. He turned to face Kage and gave a smile as if he had defeated the Grundo Bot. Everyone, human and neopet, stared for a few moments before a voice broke the silence.
“Hey, listen!” a familiar jubjub’s voice boomed over the intercom, followed by a human voice, less audible, saying, “Stop playing with that.” The voice was Mike’s. After a moment he continued speaking at normal volume. “Attention to all of Dr. Sloth’s flunkies: your boss’s flagship just bought it.”
Epilogue: Aftermath
A door styled with the Virtupets symbol slid open, allowing Forte’s entrance from a hallway into a much larger room. He passed by two of Sloth’s royal guards and walked to the center of the room. Large portholes lined the walls, and the room itself was vacant except for a throne more ornate than the one in the space station had been. Dr. Sloth sat on the throne.
“I take it the rumors of your demise were exaggerated, my lord?” Forte inquired while dropping to one knee and putting his fist to his chest in salute. Dr. Sloth made no verbal response, but lifted up his left hand and twirled a gold chain around his index finger. On the end of the gold chain was a blue ball. The stars on it sparkled like diamonds as it spun.
As if ignoring Forte’s presence, Dr. Sloth began muttering. The words were too soft to reach Forte’s ears, but came with an enunciation and clarity that was clear in the tone. The last word came so suddenly and loudly that Forte shrunk back, nearly stumbling as the throne room rocked with the force of the Space Faerie’s token. It lifted from Dr. Sloth’s finger to hover in midair, glowing brightly before unleashing a concentrated, purple mist. The mist formed to create a smoke-like representation of the doctor before solidifying into a perfect clone. The token slowly resettled into the hand of the seated Dr. Sloth.
“So,” Dr. Sloth’s counterpart turned to face the one seated on the throne, “was I convincing?”
The seated Dr. Sloth simply grinned before holding his right hand outward, palm up. Suddenly he clenched his fist, and both of the guards at the door fired at the doctor’s counterpart and reduced him to steam.
“That little cybunny was the perfect dupe,” Dr. Sloth chuckled. “And my clone played his part convincingly, but there is no more need for him.” After a moment Dr. Sloth turned his gaze to Forte. “Give your report.” Forte took a deep breath.
“We assaulted the plaza on the station’s supply deck in tandem with the Resistance’s attack,” he began. “Without our intervention they would have lost. We provided the opportunity and instruction for the civilians to return to Neopia. When Riilan appeared we retreated to the Resistance’s headquarters, where we infiltrated their computers and planted the program as per your instructions. However, they gained Riilan’s schematics as well as knowledge that you had manipulated the Kreludan Civil war as a diversion while you mined Kreludite.
“I contacted Judge Hog and instructed him to send backup to Kreludor where it might be bounced to the space station. None of these humans would arrive at the station, but instead ended up fighting your forces on Kreludor.
“Riilan overwhelmed and nearly defeated us on the space station,” the summary was interrupted as Dr. Sloth chuckled lightly, “and would have been defeated by the Grundo Bot if your flagship had been destroyed even a few minutes later.
“Meanwhile, three of the raters were dispatched to Kreludor with one of the resistance members and a civilian cybunny. Parlax was captured when the grundos realized his true identity, but we were able to release him. However, we were unable to follow the resistance member and the cybunny as they left for your flagship.
“Instead the raters on Kreludor lead nearly a hundred humans that arrived there from my request to Judge Hog. The mutation ray hit three of these humans. Two adults are comatose, and the third, a teenager, is paralyzed.” Forte hesitated for a moment as if expecting a reaction. Dr. Sloth said nothing, and Forte continued. “No one in the media has realized the connection, and medical science has no explanation.
“The official statement by the Neopets Team only states that maintenance on both the space station and Kreludor has been completed. In the eyes of the Neopian public the incident is a wild rumor, though perhaps a thousand battlers are aware of truth. The Defenders of Neopia silently thanked the IDB for our services. We were able to release Garoo and Sophix, and no one suspects our involvement there. That is the entirety of my report.”
Silence stretched for over a minute before Forte spoke again. “If I may speak freely, my lord?” Dr. Sloth gave a dismissive but allowing wave. “Why did we not move to conquer Neopia? Without our interference the Resistance would have been crushed at the plaza, and the grundos would never have learned Parlax’s true mission. The combined might of Riilan and the Grundo Bot could have devastated Neopia.” Dr. Sloth made a motion to cut Forte off.
“Riilan and the Grundo Bot were both prototypes, and it will be months before I have a significant number of them,” he explained. “My troops alone would have been insufficient for conquering Neopia’s surface, and when the Space Faerie returned I would have been forced to turn my attention to her. Leaving my troops on the space station and Kreludor would have accomplished nothing.
“Had I moved against Neopia, it would have merely fallen into the hands of others. The Neopets Team would likely have maintained Terror Mountain and their prison at all costs. Scarblade would have conquered Maraqua, Shenkuu, and as many other islands as he could hold. Malkus Vile’s crime syndicate would be running Neopia Central. Morguss would move to manipulate Meridell, Brightvale, and the Darigan Citadel. Judora might be able to release The Darkest Faerie against Altador or she might decide it too risky, though either way she would be stirring up trouble in Faerie Land. Kanrik and his thieves would take whichever land was left, likely the Lost Desert and Qasala. And all of those are ignoring The Three, who might strike anywhere or nowhere at all.
“Were I to allow such a thing, I still lack the necessary number of Meepit spies. Moreover, it was never my goal to conquer. I needed a true test for my forces and for the Riilan and Grundo Bot prototypes. My troops, as expected, are inefficient, and my fleet was not given a proper challenge. Riilan was a critical success, defeated by your ingenuity rather than a design flaw. The Grundo Bot test was inconclusive, but the schematics may still have a use. Lastly, I was able to learn the final secret of this token.” He gave the chain a twirl on his finger again.
“Oh, and of course I achieved other minor goals. Every piece of information with the Resistance’s database is mine. The IDB is once again the forefront of Neopian defense. Rumors of TNT’s incompetence abound in spite of their goal coming ever closer to fruition: Kreludor is now at peace, and every part of Neopia except Scurvy Island and the Haunted Woods are safe havens. Pacifism is a rampant plague.
“When the time comes for my true return, Neopia will be at my absolute mercy.”