Warring with Sloth

      "Limeras!" my owner Rainy called up the stairs. "Come on! Let's go for a walk."

      "Okay!" I yelled back. I took one last look at my colorful Robot Xweetok casings in the mirror (through the visor, of course) and trotted downstairs to find Rainy rummaging for a coat in the closet. "How are you cold?"

      She rolled her eyes at me. "I haven't got casings."

      "Oh yeah. Sorry," I said sheepishly. "Let's go."

      Rainy pulled a blue coat from the hook and threw it on. "Okay." She turned the doorknob and opened the door a crack. Some flurries of snow rushed in the door. "Hurry," she said.

      I ran past her into the freezing winter air. At least, it was freezing to everyone but me. My casings worked great. Following me out, Rainy led us onto the sidewalk, which was barely visible.

      "Where do you want to go?" she asked.

      "Can we see if the pond is frozen over yet?" I had been dying to check that spot ever since it started snowing a few days ago.

      "Sure. Only you lead. You can break the trail for me." Rainy drifted behind me, letting me take the lead.

      "Okay, then." I turned from her and began to forge my way through the thick snow. "Want to take a shortcut through that field? It'll be quicker."

      My owner thought for a moment, then nodded. "I think you can still break the trail through there."

      I whisked back around and leaped right into the middle of the snow. "Come on!" I shrieked. "It's fun!" I continued to jump from place to place, leaving big dips where I'd landed. Rainy tried to follow, but soon got stuck in a snowdrift. Rats. I'd forgotten I needed to break the trail for her to stand a chance of crossing. "Hold on, I'll come."

      But I couldn't forge the trail well. The field seemed to be filled too deeply with snow. I was making it, slowly, bit by bit. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over me, blocking out the light from the sun. I heard Rainy scream.

      "Well, well. An ice-proof Robot." A familiar face was staring at me. A face I'd seen before, when Rainy had taken me to visit the Evil Hall of Fame. Sloth. "What shall we do to you?"

      "I'm not scared of you, Sloth." I retorted. But it was a lie, and he knew it as well as I did.

      "Haha. Trying to be brave, little Xweetok? It takes more than the bravery necessary to brave the laboratory ray to do it to me." Sloth leered down at me. For the first time, I felt cold outside. His presence was sucking the warmth from my heart.

      "I know what we should do to you." Sloth spoke quietly, menace and amusement glittering in his words at the same time. He pulled out a bottle from his pocket. It contained murky liquid, a smell pulsing from it that was so strong, I wanted to run away just to avoid it. I opened my mouth, gagging against the putrid scent.

      Quick as a flash, Sloth popped out the cork and poured the liquid into my mouth. I tried to spit out the stuff, but I had already swallowed some. My throat started to convulse horribly, and I choked. My vision faded to black, then back to white, then a swirl of rainbow colors, then shades of gray, then back to black. Then my eyes focused again.

      I felt different, but I had expected that. What good things did Sloth ever give you? I also felt... heavier... kind of.

      "Limeras! Are you okay?" Rainy was hurtling toward me. "What the..." Her words trailed off as she saw me."

      "Rainy? Where's Sloth? And... why are you looking at me like that?"

      "Sloth's gone... but... you- you're a Mutant Moehog! Sloth must have given you a Transmogrification Potion!"

      No wonder I felt so heavy.

      "How are we going to get you home?" Rainy wondered.

      "Don't get started about my weight," I muttered, in a bad mood after the encounter. "I'll try."

      Rainy stood back, watching me as I tried to lift myself onto my new hooves. "I can't move at all," I whimpered helplessly. My owner tried lifting me, but it didn't work. I lost count of how many things we tried. And the whole time we were trying, Rainy was muttering about how Sloth had cost her her Fountain Faerie Quest.

      Finally, we gave up trying to get me home ourselves. Rainy left me by myself while she hurried to buy a morphing potion. When she came back, she was holding a Blue Pteri potion. I swiped it from her hand and gulped it down. Within a moment, I was a Pteri, soaring in the sky above her head and the snow. We started home, me flying rather clumsily with my new wings and her stumbling and struggling through the barriers of snow.

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      "I'm going to get him back for this," I muttered through clenched teeth as I pushed my way through the door of my room. I knew for sure that Rainy wouldn't let me, so I would go without her, without telling her. This very night. I knew my friends, Hauntedsong and Shadowflower, would help. They always had my back.

      So that night, I stole away from the house, hurrying through the skies, halting at each tree to make sure no one saw me, heading for my friends' home.

      I halted at their bedroom window. "Hauntedsong! Shadowflower!" I hissed. They both looked up, their ears pricked at the sound of my voice. Shadowflower saw me at the window first. She leaped out of bed.

      "Who are you...?" Then she recognized my voice. "Limeras?!? What happened?"

      "Sloth's what happened," I said bitterly. "He came and fed me a Moehog Transmogrification Potion. Rainy had to morph me into a Pteri to even get me home."

      "So what do you want to do? Whatever it is, we'll help." Hauntedsong had emerged from her bed too.

      "I'm going to find him, trap him, and make him sorry he ever gave any pet a Transmogrification Potion," I muttered grimly. "If it's the last thing I do."

      "When do we leave?"

      "Tonight."

      We traveled all night, barely pausing to rest every few hours. By morning we were at the Virtupets Space Station, and soon spotted Sloth bragging to the homeless Grundos.

      "You critters haven't even got homes! And look at me! Powerful, brilliant, and handsome.-" I had to stop myself from snorting here."-You're all ugly, stupid, and lowly. Join me, all of you-"

      I couldn't stop myself. I leaped out at the villain, swiping at his head with an iron claw. He yelped in surprise like a baby. At that moment, I didn't realize Shadowflower and Hauntedsong were beside me, matching my every bite, claw, and taunt. As the Grundos watched in silent awe, the three of us together, additionally supplied by our element of surprise, brought Sloth down to the metal of the Space Station.

      "Let go! Let go!" Sloth was shouting. "Or else I'll give all three of you my potions and see how you like it!"

      We didn't stop. "Promise you'll leave us alone," I hissed in his ear, giving it a sharp nip as I said the words.

      "I'll leave you alone!" Sloth screeched, flailing under our weight. I half-noticed he gave an emphasis on the word "you" and was staring at one of the Grundos as he said it. I was about to object when my friends let go, apparently thinking he would leave Neopets in particular alone. Without them, I stood no chance. I pushed the mistrusting part of me away, and fled with my friends out of the Space Station.

      And that just goes to show that friends together can overpower any evil.

      But Sloth would be back, no doubt. We'd won one fight, but he wouldn't be stopped by a few scratches and bites. But when he returned, we would be ready for him. All three of us.

The End