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"What did you want to tell us?" King Koy asked the pets.
Nahum was still thinking about where he had seen that Jetsam before.
"We have very urgent news to tell you," Aych
began, "The whirlpool is starting up again. If you don't stop construction,
it will destroy everything, including you and your people." The Queen and King
were appalled.
"Yes! We must act quickly!" the King exclaimed.
The Jetsam began to get a little uneasy. He whispered something in the King's
ear. "How do I know you're not spies sent here to sabotage our construction?"
This created a difficult situation. Aych was
a spy, but wasn't there to sabotage construction. Kaleigh spoke up. "It doesn't
matter. The whirlpool will come anyway, if we are or are not spies." Aych was
relieved. That was close.
"Do you have any proof that the whirlpool will
come again?" Queen Flotsamm asked.
Nahum said, "We have seen it from space. It's
too far to see from here, but it is approaching." The Jetsam continued to whisper
in the King's ear.
"No! It's impossible! No creature can go into
space! You are here to stop the rebuilding of Maraqua! Seize them!" the King
ordered. Suddenly, Tuskaninnies and Maraquan Chombies swarmed in on them and
had them bound. "Take them to the dungeon!"
As they were being carried away, Nahum finally
remembered where he had seen the Jetsam before. On the beach, reading all the
Neopian Times issues about Maraqua. He had to have been sent to trick the King
and Queen. The three were roughly thrown into a cage, otherwise known as the
dungeon, and locked it tight. Then they threw that cage into a room comprised
entirely of thick pearl and locked them in.
"Once again, we're trapped in something," Kaleigh
lamented. She sat down in the cage that was big enough to fit them all in and
give them a bit of space, but yet small enough to make them feel crowded.
"Don't worry Kaleigh. We'll get out of here
someway or another," Aych comforted. Nahum felt bad.
"I know that Jetsam was up to no good!" Nahum
said holding his legs in his arms on the floor, "Why didn't I do anything?"
"It wasn't your fault Nahum. I didn't catch
it at first, but only now I realize it. That Jetsam is Majest. He somehow managed
to escape our prison at Spyworks. When we get out of here, we'll get him good,"
Aych said to Nahum. Nahum felt better.
"Thanks." Nahum said, "Did you notice that
little hole in the side of the wall?" Aych and Kaleigh turned their heads and
saw it. "It seems to be a window. We could be able to see the whirlpool through
it."
Aych sighed. "Yes, but right now, I need rest.
Night you two." Nahum and Kaleigh agreed and went to sleep, hoping to be able
to fare better tomorrow.
**
"How on earth could you miss that? The hole
was two inches from you!" Cody exclaimed to Timothy. He had just missed a perfect
shot.
"It was two inches from me for one second.
Then, Ashley knocked me off my hoverboard," Timothy said, rubbing his sore elbow.
"The score is still 40 to 42!" Seth exclaimed,
"Caitlin you start it." Caitlin nodded. She took the ball, and threw it. Warren
managed to fly his board over Jeff to catch it. Passing it to Ashley, she was
able to take a shot at the four-point goal, when Timothy knocked her right off
her board. She sprawled on the floor.
"Woohoo! Got you Ashley!" Timothy taunted flying
past her. Ashley got back on her board, and Cody stole the ball from her. Cody
was soaring in towards the three-point goal. If he made it, his team would be
in the lead. Caitlin and Warren hovered to form a wall to block the goal. Cody
laughed at the pitiful attempt to block him. He just lifted his board over them,
but Caitlin jumped off her board, pulled Cody's board and Cody came crashing
down onto her.
"Foul!" Cody shouted, "That's a foul!"
"You can do that, Cody," Seth chuckled, still
watching the game with great interest. Cody snarled and continued the game.
Warren had the ball in his paws, and was nearing
the four-point goal. He shot the ball with such speed Timothy and Jeff didn't
see it. It went right in.
"YES!" he exclaimed, "Four points!" Ashley
and Caitlin hoverboarded over to congratulate him.
"40-46!" Seth shouted out the score.
"Why is it that he always scores every time
he shoots?" Jeff asked Timothy. Timothy just shrugged.
The timer slowly wound down to 0. "Times up!
Warren, Caitlin, and Ashley win!" Seth exclaimed. The winners all rejoiced.
They jumped off their boards. The losers all came to congratulate them.
"Good game," Ashley said shaking paw and hand
with Jeff. Suddenly, a blaring noise resounded within the Spaceball court.
"Dawson needs us! Let's go!" Seth said urgently.
The six players put their boards away and reported to the briefing room.
**
Aych yawned. She had just woken up from her
uncomfortable sleep. She proceeded to wake up Kaleigh and Nahum.
"Good morning you two," Aych said, as the Mynci
and Acara woke up.
Kaleigh yawned, "We're still here?" Aych nodded.
Suddenly, Kaleigh snapped. Her eyes went bright red and her tentacles all hardened.
She grabbed one of the cage's bar and snapped it right off. She ran out of the
cage, eyes blazing, and started to smash the pearl walls. Nahum trembled.
"What's wrong with her, Aych?" Nahum asked,
watching as Kaleigh put dents the size of bowling balls into the pearl walls.
"Must destroy!" Kaleigh grunted, pounding wall
after wall.
"I don't know, it seems to be some sort of
mental problem," Aych said, watching in fear as the crazed Acara's rampage had
almost brought the prison crumbling. Some Maraquan Blumaroo guards came in to
see what was going on. Kaleigh grabbed one in each tentacle and slammed them
against the wall.
"MUST DESTROY!" she shouted. The Blumaroos
fell to the floor. She looked around for something else to destroy, when her
blood red eyes saw Nahum. Nahum trembled. Kaleigh grasped Nahum in one tentacle
and started squeezing tight. Nahum panted for breath, when Aych head butted
the mad Acara. Kaleigh lay on the floor. Her eyes turned back from red to white
and her tentacles turned back to normal. She looked around.
"Did I just," she began to ask. Aych nodded,
helping Nahum get some much-needed breath. "Oh no, this isn't supposed to happen."
She began to cry. "Why now of all times? Why now?"
"What's wrong Kaleigh?" Nahum asked, picking
his crying friend off the floor.
"The Acaran Rampage. It's not supposed to happen
now! I'm supposed to be able to tell when it will happen! Something's wrong!"
she wailed. Aych helped her calm down.
"What's the Acaran Rampage?" she asked.
"It's a mental problem that makes an Acara
go into a rampage. Once it starts, you can't stop it until said Acara has it
for, for," Kaleigh said faltering, "I don't want to say it!" Then her eyes turned
red again. Her tentacles became hardened. And this time she wouldn't be stopped
so easily.
***
Dawson pulled out the holographic map. "We
need to act fast. I've been doing some research on you eight kids, and I found
out Kaleigh has a mental problem."
Jeff said, "We knew she had one. She just wouldn't
tell us what it was. It didn't seem very serious at the time." Dawson changed
the image on the map to a regular blue Acara.
"I want you to see what this mental problem
does to an Acara keeping in mind the date and time under the picture show at
what time the events would occur," Dawson said, pushing a button to make the
simulation commence.
The blue Acara was happy at first, then its
eyes turned blood red and its feet became hard. Its mouth broke into a sinister
grin. The time showed four years. The sim paused.
"Nothing will happen for a really long time
after the first one, generally ten years, it varies from case to case, so let's
speed it up. Now we will add something. A purple Grarrl, let's name it Barney,
for instance comes walking by," Dawson said. A purple Grarrl appeared next to
the Acara. "Also the Acara is now trapped inside a big metal room." The metal
room appeared surrounding the Acara. "Now I will play it and watch what happens."
The Acara pounded the metal room to dust and
knocked Barney out of the holograph in one swift hit.
"That's pretty strong," Jeff commented.
"It's hard to show how very serious it is in
a holograph, due to the fact there's so much we don't yet know. Other things
we do know is that Acaras with this syndrome never age, making it impossible
to tell how much longer until the second showing of the sickness, or if they've
had it for a long or short time. Kaleigh could be fifty and you don't know it,"
Dawson said, "Also, it is not curable. Once it starts it doesn't stop. It does
stop for certain intervals, but those intervals become shorter and shorter until
they are seconds long. When an Acara has this, they cannot control their body
functions like they'd want to. A common theory is that the sickness affects
a certain part of the brain, making it corrupted."
"So, what happens to an Acara that has no intervals?"
asked Ashley looking at the Acara holograph.
"Watch," Dawson said. He sped it up to no intervals.
The Acara disappeared.
"Did it just explode?" Timothy asked, hoping
the answer was no.
"It defragmented. Its body could no longer
support the rampage," Dawson said, "Kaleigh has this, and we have to help her."
The six were now feeling pity for the poor Acara.
"What I don't understand is how she kept it
hidden all these years," Ashley said.
"Sometimes, the truth is harder to believe
than a lie," Dawson said. "She didn't want you to know out of fear this would
change things, and so she made it sound not severe at all."
"How can we help her?" Jeff asked. Dawson just
smiled, and pushed another button. He seemed to have a lot of those whatsits
lying around. A mysterious hooded and cloaked Blumaroo entered the room. An
air of darkness surrounded it.
"This is Capernaum. He's from also from Spyworks,
and believes he can help us. He's been curing Neopets with mental problems for
decades," Dawson said to the six somewhat frightened children. Capernaum slowly
hopped forward.
"But it will be my first time with an Acaran
Rampage victim. I have an idea of what we could do, but we must act fast. We
need to be in Maraqua quickly. Spyworks has offered their SpySub and air tanks
for us to use," Capernaum said in his mystifying voice.
**
Back in the prison cell, Kaleigh was mercilessly
trying to attack Aych and Nahum. "You can't get away! I will destroy!" she growled.
She narrowly missed Nahum, and put a huge dent in the side of the prison. Kaleigh
was about to hit Aych, when the Koi whacked her with her tail. Kaleigh hit the
wall, and pushed herself off again with her powerful tentacles.
Nahum quickly glanced out the window. "The
whirlpool is here! We've got to do something Aych!" Aych pulled Nahum out of
the way of a devastating blow heading straight for him. As Kaleigh pulled her
tentacle out of the newly created dent she saw the whirlpool heading towards
Maraqua. She chuckled evilly.
"A worthy opponent to destroy! Must destroy!"
Kaleigh burst through the wall and, with a burst of speed, swam towards the
whirlpool. Nahum and Aych watched in shock. Kaleigh actually thought she could
destroy the whirlpool that had previously destroyed all Maraqua.
"What are we going to do Aych? I don't want
Kaleigh to get hurt, even if she did go insane," Nahum asked concerned for his
friend. "I know! I'll go see she doesn't hurt herself! If the rampage stops
while she's close to the whirlpool, it'll be the end of her!" Nahum swam as
fast as he could to help Kaleigh.
Meanwhile Aych had something else planned.
She breezed through the water and found Majest. "There you are! You're under
arrest!" she shouted at the Jetsam. The Jetsam just smiled his sinister smile.
His scar lengthened as he did so. Aych took the opportunity and attempted to
ram the rogue Jetsam. The Jetsam just stood undaunted. He raised both flippers.
Suddenly razor blades came out from the sides. "Uh oh, this isn't good," Aych
said, trying to stop, but she couldn't. The scar under Majest's eye had a beam
on her. Majest snickered.
"You spies always forget that your enemies
are as powerful as you! General Hyreum will be most pleased! Not only did I
ensure that the robot whirlpool will destroy Maraqua, I also was able to dispose
of a spy!" Majest said. Aych could almost feel the cold of the sharp metal.
To be continued...
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