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Shadow stopped on a small island and watched Akala play
around for a bit. She picked a few fruits and had lunch with the small petpet.
After lunch, the pair dozed off quietly.
The black Shoyru awoke to a frightened crying.
Akala had woken up and played in the waves until two big white gulls had decided
on soothing their savage appetites with the Doglefox. Shadow, however, was not
too happy with this arrangement and quickly grabbed Akala from the first gull's
talons with her grappling hook.
"They should pick on someone there own size.
But since I'm the biggest around here, they'll have to deal with me," quipped
Shadow bravely.
The truth was, the gulls towered twice Shadow's
size. But with Akala giving her confidence with his excited barks, she tackled
both gulls and flung them into the ocean with her grappling hook.
"That's a lesson for you little guy," Shadow
told Akala, who was dancing around Shadow continuously, "Always try non-lethal
force."
And with that, Shadow carried her new friend
to Meridell.
King Skarl had forgotten to take out the earplugs
he wore at night so he couldn't hear the destruction of his kingdom. Shadow
giggled as Skarl stared at a painting while several people tugged at his mammoth
robes. He suddenly realized he was needed and boomed out "What? WHAT?" knocking
over several servants as he turned. A few more servants thought that Skarl was
confused with the painting, and rushed over to explain- If that would be possible
with all the crazy jokes everyone wanted to tell him.
Shadow strode through the majestic marble halls
of Meridell castle and watched as people gambled with the treasurer and played
Meristones. She stepped into the library and gasped. The gigantic mahogany shelves
seemed more like walls. Shadow walked to librarian's desk with Akala, who seemed
to realize he needed to be quiet, to ask for help.
Several hours and piles of books later, Shadowflame
had still not found anything. Her Doglefox tugged at her foot urgently.
"What is it boy? Need the bathroom?"
Akala shook his head. "Bark!" He motioned to
look to the left. There was Spectre. Shadow knew by his blue skin and anchor
tattoo. Spectre suddenly turned and slid out of the library.
"What was he doing here?" Shadow asked Akala,
intrigued.
"Woof!" barked Akala. In his mouth was a note.
Shadow became very worried.
Shadowflame,
If you want to stay alive then flee the library
and stay away from Maraqua.
Something is going to go down there tonight.
Any more sleuthing will just get you hurt. I couldn't bear to lose such an opponent
at cheat.
"Could it be- Spectre likes explosions... A
BOMB!" exclaimed Shadow.
Akala and Shadow began running through the library
searching for the bomb.
"Arf! Arf!" barked Akala loudly.
Shadow flew high over the monstrous shelves until
she saw Akala. She landed by her Doglefox, who was attacking a book.
"It's just a book! Calm down!"
Akala got a hold and pulled out a book riddled
with green lights. Shadow didn't think, just acted. She smashed the bomb with
her Shoyru Sword.
"What's the-" The librarian's Scorchio peeked
around a shelf and spotted the bomb. "Ooh..."
The librarian never forgave Shadow for the book
cart her Scorchio wrecked in her fall.
Ocean winds brushed Shadow's face as she flew
towards Maraqua. She slid across the night sky and over the whirlpool of Maraqua.
"I never should of brought you along," she told
Akala, who was strapped to her belt.
"Woof!" answered Akala.
As Shadow flew into the whirlpool, which seemed
to reach the bottom, it became evident that massive amounts of construction
had been done. It was distorted, but there. Shadow hovered over the vortex's
end and took a deep breath.
"Take a breath boy," she warned Akala.
And then she plunged.
The water was cold and dark in the night, but
the lights on the huge complex that sat by Maraqua illuminated everything. Shadowflame
swam for a submarine docked at an airlock and found the sub and airlock were
securely sealed. Her air was running out. Akala gurgled and hung limp. A determined
resolve struck Shadow. She pulled out her sword and lashed out through the water
and cracked the seal. She struck again. For Akala! For herself! For Neopia!
The seal broke. Water gushed in and sucked the Shoyru and Doglefox into the
airlock. Air flooded the pair's lungs and new life flowed through them.
"Wow..." she gasped, looking out the porthole,
"Wow..."
"Woof!" sniffed Akala.
Outside, there was a giant missile gantry with
a rocket-like structure on it. The gantry was tilted at an angle and all sorts
of plastic tubes wandered in an out of it. It looked as though the rocket had
a lightning rod stuck of the tip.
"It's a ray gun!" exclaimed a very overwhelmed
Shadow, "What's it aimed at?"
"Woof! Bark! Bark!" Akala panted from Shadow's
belt.
"The Space Station!" Realization crept across
Shadow's face. "They're going to blast the station!"
Shadowflame hit a button and strode out of the
airlock right into a Grarrl guard.
"Oof... HEY!" shouted the guard.
Shadow dispatched him quickly with her Ultra
Bubble Beam and unhooked Akala from the belt around his middle that kept him
attached to her belt. He dropped to the floor and shot off down the hallway,
which looked strangely like a starship hallway with big Plexiglas windows. Shadow
flew off behind him, picking off amazed guards as she passed.
There was a large room beside the gantry and
within it sat all the equipment and people to run it. Above this in the middle
of the room was a sort of skybox in which Spectre sat with Commander Garoo,
a Grundo Commander, and Jhudora the dark Faerie proposing a toast.
"To the fall of the Space Station!" grated the
blue Jetsam in his rough voice.
"To the fall of Sloth's mistake!" agreed Garoo.
"I can't believe what that fool Balantorea told
you Garoo!" exclaimed Jhudora after toasting, "I never guessed that technology
could do so much! And all it took was my magic!"
"I thought Pteri's were stupid!" Spectre said
thoughtfully.
There was a sudden crash as Shadow flew through
the glass viewing window and bounced off the wall into Jhudora who flew into
the melee Akala was creating amongst the Meerca technicians.
In the main room, there was a large window from
which to view the gantry and the gun. It was into this window that Shadow sent
Spectre.
"Traitor!" she screamed.
Garoo had pulled out a ray gun and stepped beside
the Grundo Commander, who had aimed his flame scorched gun at Shadow. Shadow,
however, was not in a good mood. She called upon the Fireball ability and pasted
the Grundo against the wall before using her grappling hook to throw Garoo on
top of Jhudora and Spectre. The three ran out of the room and disappeared.
Akala, meanwhile, had pinned all the technicians
against a wall. One of them had a control pad which could move the gantry to
aim elsewhere. The gantry rumbled to face the complex. Shadow had been watching
this, though, and used her Shoyru grappling hook to grab the remote. Then the
Shoyru and Doglefox ran to the airlock and escaped through the whirl pool, where
Shadow pushed the fire button.
Shadow walked into the Haunted Woods bar. Immediately
everyone left except a spotted Kacheek and a blue Blumaroo.
Albert smiled. "We wondered when you'd show up!"
"It worked!" shouted Shadow happily, "You two
are normal!"
"Yeah," said the Blumaroo, "Thanks!"
"No problem-"
"Fetch. I didn't have a name, so call me Fetch."
"No problem at all, Fetch," Shadow replied, "You
know, I heard a new player's looking for some pets..."
Shadow sat with her audience enthralled. Her
owner, Albert, and Fetch, listened to her every word.
"Um... Why did Spectre and Jhudora go with the
plan? And why did Garoo want to blast the Space Station?" asked Fetch quietly.
"Spectre was in it for the money, and Jhudora
hates everything good. Especially when it has to do with other faeries, like
the Space Faerie. Garoo just wanted to curry favor when Sloth returned," answered
Shadow.
"What did Balantorea have to do with this?" inquired
Albert suddenly.
"He knew how to transfer Faerie magic to energy.
Garoo also needed a Faerie so Spectre's smuggled technology and Balantorea's
information, which the Grundo Commander and Garoo had tortured out of him just
before the fire, would work. Since only Jhudora would do it, he asked her. And
to cut this question off at the pass, Garoo meant that everything the Space
Station is, is what it wasn't supposed to be. He meant it was Sloth's mistake
to have anything to do with it," replied Shadow.
"Oh..." murmured Albert.
"Why did you call Spectre a traitor?" Fetch questioned
wonderingly.
"I thought he was a friend," Shadow told
Fetch.
"Well, at least it ended happily!" noted Shadow's
owner, "And it made sense. Any more questions?"
Akala suddenly jumped on Shadow and made everyone
laugh away their questions as Shadow tried to wrestle him off.
The End
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