"So anyway, these Rings of Time give us power over time!
We can-"
"Chakeebo! You aren't talking to your friends
about our Rings of Time, are you?" asked Millyum.
"Er...no," lied the baby Chia.
"I just heard you!" growled Millyum. She grabbed
Chakeebo by the arm and brought her golden ring close to her mouth. She spoke
into it.
"Rewind five minutes."
Chakeebo and Millyum were hovering in the darkness
for a few seconds. Millyum was giving Chakeebo 'the look'. When the universe
returned it was exactly five minutes earlier.
"You've got to be more...you know! Others can't
find out about our rings. If they did--" Millyum's lecture was interrupted by
the last member of the Time Twisters. His name was Deracko, and he was a strawberry
Tuskaninny.
"Hey guys! Did you hear? The VirtuPets Space
Station...it crashed!" exclaimed Deracko.
"But...how?" questioned Millyum. This was really
big news, as big as the destruction of Maraqua.
"It crashed into the ocean during the evening!
Nearly every Grundo in Neopia is...gone. They don't know who did it. All they
know is it wasn't an accident!"
"Then it's up to us to investigate," cried Chakeebo.
The others nodded. Deracko and Chakeebo placed their hands on Millyum's shoulders.
She brought the ring on her finger closer to her mouth. She looked at the clock.
It was 1:00 p.m. NST.
"Rewind fifteen hours!"
Once again the universe went black. The trio
were staring into the darkness. A moment later when the world returned the Official
Usuki clock was ringing. It was 10:00 p.m. NST the night before. The trio walked
out of the house to catch the next flight to the VirtuPets Space Station.
***
An hour later the gang could hear the loudspeaker boom 'Breakfast on Friday
will be canceled due to a space-gerbil infestation'.
"Ewww!" said Chakeebo and Millyum at the same
time. They looked around the big steel sphere.
"All we have to do is walk into the control rooms
and make sure nobody tampers with the stuff," said Millyum.
"Yeah, and I'm sure those guards will just let
us in! We need to freeze time," said Deracko. Millyum and Deracko rested their
arms on Chakeebo. He got his ring and brought it closer to his mouth.
"Pause."
With that everything stopped. The trio walked
around a bit until they found the control room. Deracko was right, two mutant
Grundos were guarding the doors. Since they were frozen in time, Millyum, Chakeebo
and Deracko just walked right in.
"Unpause."
"Good job Chakeebo. Now all we have to do is
wait for whoever to sneak in," said Millyum. Easier said than done. They waited
there quietly for seconds. Minutes. Hours. Nothing was happening! The loudspeakers
boomed again.
"We're crashing! Something is wrong with the
station! Aaaaaahhh!" screamed the voice. Deracko, Chakeebo and Millyum exchanged
shocked looks. They looked out of the window. They were just feet away from
water. Deracko and Chakeebo placed their hands on Millyum's shoulder.
"Rewind three hours!" she screamed.
After the darkness thing the gang found themselves
in the control room again, three hours before. They froze time and snuck out
of the station and got an escape pod to take them back down to their NeoHome.
***
The gang was sitting at their kitchen table thinking...actually only Deracko
and Millyum were thinking, Chakeebo was reading an old copy of The Neopian Times.
How could the VirtuPets Space Station crash?
"This is weird," said Deracko. All of this time
travel had made him really confused. He didn't know if he was wide awake, tired
or anything.
"Did you know that the Grundo Spider was made
by Dr. Sloth and some type of potion?" asked Chakeebo.
"This isn't the time or that! It's not like the
Grundo Spider..." Millyum's sentence sort of broke of as she and Deracko's eyes
met they smiled.
"I wouldn't really put it past the Grundo Spider
to have some sort of controls in his cave. What if he wanted to sabotage the
Space Station to get revenge?" asked Deracko slyly.
"It's 1:15. Put your guys' hands on my shoulders,"
said Millyum. Deracko and Chakeebo obeyed.
"Rewind seventy-five minutes."
***
The gang slowly walked up to the cavern of the Grundo Spider. It was big and
dark. And scary!
"I'm not sure I really want to go in," whimpered
Chakeebo.
"If the Grundo Spider tries to hurt you just
freeze time and get out of the way," said Deracko. He led the others inside.
Spyders were running around the cave. Their eyes were bright green instead of
red.
"That would definitely qualify as creepy," muttered
Millyum. They walked further. Until...
"Hey, I'm stuck!" cried Chakeebo.
"Me too!" cried Millyum.
"I can't use my ring either!" exclaimed Deracko.
He was trying to move his Ring of Time closer to his mouth but his arm was too
stuck.
"Why hello! It isn't everyday some food wanders
into my cave," said the Grundo Spider as he emerged from the darkness. The trio
thought fast. They had to stop the Grundo Spider from eating them. Out of the
corner of his eye, Deracko saw that Chakeebo (the smallest) had wriggled free.
Chakeebo nodded as he ventured further into the cave.
"We know your plan to destroy the Space Station,"
said Deracko.
"What? How could you know?" asked the spider.
"We're...psychic!" Millyum said.
"And you expect me to believe that? Hah!" laughed
the Grundo Spider.
Crack! Crack! Fizzle! Bang! Zap! Crack!
Noises could be heard further down into the cave.
The Grundo Spider went to investigate. Deracko used his Tuskaninny Blast to
free himself and Millyum. They ran down further into the cave. The entered the
main cavern and gasped. It was full of machinery...but it was smoking! Chakeebo
kept hitting the machines with a fallen stalagmite.
"What do those machines do?" questioned Millyum.
"I think they control the VirtuPets Space Station,"
said Deracko. Deracko looked around to see Chakeebo running around the lumps
of broken machinery. Chakeebo ran over to Millyum and Deracko. They placed their
hands on Chakeebo's shoulder.
"Pause."
While the Grundo Spider was as still as a statue,
Deracko Chakeebo and Millyum escaped that dark and scary cave.
***
The trio was lounging around their NeoHome. They had big bags under their eyes
but they couldn't get to sleep. It was daylight! They had to suffer the consequences
of time travel.
To be continued... |