Defender of Neopia - Tyranny of The Doctor: Part Three

      "I suppose I do owe you an explanation, Gorix." He spoke gently, turning around to see a startled look on Gorix's face.

      "You know each other?" Keenomarci gave a sceptical look at them both.

      "Not officially." He adjusted his collar. "You're a tough Grundo to track down, Gorix."

      "Enough already," Gorix shouted, clenching a fist. "Who are you and why have you been following me?"

      "When we lost contact with you on the Space Station, we thought Sloth got you." He removed his jacket, revealing a similar uniform to what Gorix was wearing. "I'm with the Resistance."

      Gorix's expression turned from anger to relief. "You nearly scared me half to death!" He chuckled and put his hand on his forehead in disbelief.

      "Okay, somebody needs to explain what is going on here," Keenomarci said sternly.

      "Oh, my apologies, I never did get a chance to introduce myself after being thrown around by an apparent super-neopian purple Kyrii," he replied dryly. "My name is Sam Xtarlight but just call me Sam."

      Keenomarci turned slightly rose-color with embarrassment. "Sorry about that, Sam. I just thought you may have been with Dr. Sloth."

      Sam shook his head lightly and waved his paw. "It's alright; I thought the same thing about you, actually."

      "She is from Defender HQ. I sent a scroll for help when my communicator broke on my, 'trip' down to Neopia," Gorix explained.

      Sam eyed her with scepticism. "Are you sure, Gorix? How can you be certain that she isn't working for the enemy?"

      "Do I look like somebody that works for Sloth?" she said defensively.

      "Well, you've got super-strength. That could have been achieved through genetic mutation. Though, you don't exhibit the abnormal growth that most Sloth mutants do." Sam circled her, looking her up and down. "You're also oddly colored for a Kyrii."

      "If you must know, I had an accident in a secret laboratory near Mystery Island," Keenomarci snapped. "I was sent to rescue Gorix as a mission directly from Judge Hog himself. If you don't believe me, why don't you just take him back to Virtupets Station yourself right now?"

      Sam stopped for a moment and turned his gaze back to Gorix.

      "It's true; we had to escape from Sloth C.L.O.N.E.s in Kiko Lake. We narrowly made it here. I wouldn't have been able to get this far without her." He looked at Keenomarci with concern.

      Sam nodded. "Okay. I'm going to keep a close eye on you, for now." He reached into a pocket and his calm demeanour turned panicked.

      "What's wrong, Sam?" Gorix asked, with a puzzled look.

      "My communicator," he shouted as he patted himself down. "Where did it..." He then realized what happened during their initial tussle, when the communicator was thrown down the corridor. He then grabbed his jacket and ran out of the room and down the hall.

      Keenomarci and Gorix gave chase and as they ran out into the hallway, they saw Sam frantically searching the hallway for the communication device.

      "No," he shouted, throwing his coat against a door in frustration. "It's gone!"

      "I'm sure it's got to be here somewhere," Gorix said, walking up to where Sam was slumped on the ground. "It's not like it could have grown legs and walked away, right?"

      Sam just shook his head sadly. "Take a look," he said, extending his arms. "It's an empty hallway; there's no place it could have gone. Somebody must have picked it up."

      Meanwhile, somewhere in Neopia...

      "Heh, a FANTASTIC device this is!" The Pant Devil chuckled wildly. It stared at the strange device as buttons flashed and hummed. "Ooh. I wonder what THIS does!" It pressed one of the flashing buttons and the device made a loud noise that startled the Pant Devil. It startled it so much that the device ended up slipping out of the Pant Devil's grasp and fell down into the branches of the Money Tree, which was currently very busy picking out treasures from its branches.

      "Oh my," the Money Tree cheerfully said as it grabbed the device. "This will make some poor Neopet happy, I'm most certain."

      "I'll be taking that," boomed a deep, terrible voice. A large green hand reached out from under a deep black cloak and grasped the device firmly.

      "I'm sorry, sir!" the Money Tree retorted cheerily. "But you have to have a Neopet in order to- "

      The tall figure in black pointed a rather large looking blaster at the Money Tree and twisted a wide, evil grin.

      "O-oh sorry, sir." The Money Tree released its grip on the device. "What I-I meant to s-say was: 'You GOT it! I'll just place that in your inventory!"

      The figure's evil grin faded to a sneer as he recessed the device into the depths of his black cloak and walked away, with a low chuckle.

      Meanwhile, back in the Neolodge...

      "It's gone." Sam shook his head and stood up. "There's no way that we can let the Resistance know what is going on now."

      Gorix just shook his head. "We're heading towards Tyrannia, you're welcome to join us. We were planning on taking my ship back to the station."

      "If we're planning on leaving early, we had better get some rest," Keenomarci suggested with a yawn. She was too tired to think about anything beyond resting.

      She retired to her room for the night. The soft glow of Kreludor beamed through the window, from the clear night skies. For some reason, she felt that the skies felt a bit darker this night.

      The next morning, they gathered in Gorix's room to discuss the next step in their journey.

      "Once we get to Roo Island, we'll be meeting up with my contact. A purple Grundo named Parthax." Gorix unravelled a map of Roo Island and pointed towards the docks. "He should have tickets for us at this point and we'll be able to catch a ferry to Tyrannia without suspicion."

      "Are you sure you can trust this Grundo?" Sam questioned.

      "I've been through a lot with Parthax, there's nobody else I would trust with this," Gorix replied.

      "So all we have to do is keep a low profile until we reach Tyrannia?" Keenomarci asked.

      "It sounds easier than it's going to be," Gorix said with a look of concern, he pointed to the entrance to Roo Island and said "Look here, this is one of the busiest ports into and out of Roo Island. This is where we will be most vulnerable."

      Sam scratched his chin. "Are there no other points where we could get in?"

      Gorix shook his head slightly. "It's under such heavy security due to it being such a tourist hot-spot. The have the royal guard patrolling the borders, so it's impossible to get in without being detected."

      "I guess we have no choice but to make a dash for the Tyrannia dock." She took a close look at the route they would have to take across Roo Island.

      "We can meet Parthax here." Gorix pointed to the Coffee Shop on the map. "From there, we can head to the northern part of the island and we'll catch the boat there."

      They spent the next day travelling to Roo Island. They had managed to stow away on a boat of goods that were set to be delivered to Roo Island for the Wonderclaw machine. Keenomarci grabbed a few cloaks to shroud their identities.

      As they arrived into port, the sun was high in the Neopian sky. It was a bright day on Roo Island and the forecast was very hot.

      Gorix wiped his brow. "Phew. These cloaks don't breathe all that well."

      "It was either this or baby outfits," she replied. "Just be thankful you don't have fur."

      As they walked through the port, they noticed that everyone was staring at them strangely. It was an odd sight to see Neopets bundled up in such balmy weather.

      "Let's just get to that coffee shop. I need to get out of this cloak." Sam sneered.

      They entered into the coffee shop and found a table quickly. They took off their cloaks as quickly as they could, as Gorix surveyed the room. An Island Shoyru walked up to their table to take their order.

      "Welcome to the Roo Island Coffee Shop," he greeted them. "What can I get for you?"

      "Iced Coffee please," Sam and Keenomarci both blurted out together. He looked at them both with an odd look; he marked down the order and walked back to the counter.

      "That's odd," Gorix said, still looking around the room. "Parthax should be here."

      "Maybe he's just gotten held up slightly," Keenomarci said.

      "I've just got a very bad feeling," he replied.

      Suddenly there was a loud sound coming from just outside the shop, and a strange looking purple Grundo came bursting through the doors, it was Parthax.

      "Gorix," Parthax shouted, "you need to get out-"

      His warning was cut short as a flash of light enveloped the room. There were shouts and muffled yells. Keenomarci was dazed as she tried to focus on what was going on.

      "Parthax-" Gorix could be heard shouting.

      As her vision began to return, she could see the silhouette of a figure but couldn't make out any features.

      "Get that Darigan Kougra, quick!" a voice said. "Don't forget that purple Kyrii."

      She felt numb, and then her vision faded. She heard muffled voices and could make the words 'Virtupets Station' out before she felt an overwhelming urge to sleep.

To be continued...