Defender of Neopia - Tyranny of The Doctor: Part Five

      Keenomarci quickly ran towards where the explosion came from. She came up to a gaping hole in the corridor wall. Through the flames, she could see a muscular-looking green Ixi standing off with an alien-like pink Aisha.

      "Ha, you're done for." The pink Aisha chucked evilly. "Release GRUNDOBOT!"

      "Oh my," Keenomarci gasped as she witnessed a large robotic monstrosity tear its way into the hangar that was the next room. The GRUNDOBOT dwarfed the green Ixi in size and as it stepped towards him, it let out a horrifying screech.

      She leapt through the flaming remnants of the wall and into action. She zipped past the green Ixi, who was frozen with fear and caught the large metal forearm of the robot before it smashed him into faerie-dust.

      She struggles and with all of her strength grabbed the arm of GRUNDOBOT, lifting the forearm above her head.

      "What is this?" The pink Aisha had a look of disbelief as she witnessed Keenomarci lift GRUNDOBOT off the ground and sent it flying across the room. "Valka, you snorkel..."

      Commander Valka, the green Ixi, shook his head. He could not believe his eyes and began to laugh heartily. "It doesn't look like you're going to best me today, Sophix." Commander Valka smirked as he pointed his blaster at Sophix II, the pink Aisha.

      Sophix sneered. "You haven't heard the last of me, Valka!" Sophix vanished in a flash of light.

      GRUNDOBOT jittered and steamed as it picked itself up off the ground.

      "Oh dear, looks like it's round two..." Commander Valka said nervously to his new comrade.

      "Don't worry, I've got this one," she said, extending a hand to keep him back. "After all, I am a Defender!"

      She leapt up towards GRUNDOBOT as it made a charge towards her and her fist connected firmly with its rigid jaw. Its head spun around several times as it was sent crashing against the wall. GRUNDOBOT made several beeps and blips before powering down.

      "Impressive!" Commander Valka said, congratulating her on the victory.

      She took a moment to catch her breath and looked around. "Sam, Gorix said that Sam was with you, is he alright?"

      Commander Valka nodded. "Sam is alright, I had sent him to go and evacuate as many civilians as possible before Sophix ambushed me. He told me everything about what happened and how you bought them some time to escape."

      She sighed with relief.

      "You've been a great help here, young Neopet. I think we should be able to take things over from this point." he said, dusting himself off and walking over to her. "Besides, we received a communication from Defender Headquarters, from Judge Hog."

      That bad feeling had returned to the pit of her stomach. "Y-you did?" She squeaked out nervously.

      "Yes, he said he hadn't heard from his top defender-in-training and had gotten worried that something might have happened to her."

      "I can explain everything." She sheepishly looked down, embarrassed.

      Commander Valka chuckled and waved his hand gently. "It's okay. I told him everything that Sam relayed to me. He was very relieved to hear that you and Gorix made it here in one piece. He asked me to relay the message that he would like to see you at Defender Headquarters, once we got things under control here, at the space station."

      "Are you sure you don't need any more help?" she asked, looking around at the damaged hangar bay.

      "We should be fine now. You've taken out most of the attack force and no doubt have caused enough of a diversion for my resistance team to complete the operation." Commander Valka reached into his belt pocket, pulled out a small device and handed it to her. "Here you go. You'll be able to use of the escape pods to travel back to Neopia in no time."

      She grasped the device and nodded softly. "Thank you, Commander," she said, walking to one of the undamaged escape pods nearby. She looked back over her shoulder before stepping in, seeing a group of resistance members rushing into the room and saluting Commander Valka. She smiled and closed the escape pod.

      It ejected into space, as she began her voyage back to Neopia. She reclined in the soft seat and reflected on her grand journey. She had learned a valuable lesson and the words that Lightning Lenny has told her rang in her memory loudly.

      "The road to knowledge is long, but you must take it one step at a time"

      She realized that these small missions were actually preparing her for the larger missions ahead. She promised herself that she wouldn't cut corners any longer and that she would do her best from that day forward.

      The pod approached Neopia's atmosphere and burned a streak through the sky as it entered the brilliant blue skies. Keenomarci never had the opportunity to view Neopia from this high up before, it was breathtaking. She could see the sparkling summits of Terror Mountain, the whitecaps left from the wake of the ships entering and leaving Krawk Island, she even could see the shimmering glow that the Lost Desert's dunes gave as they reflected the mid-day sun.

      "I promise you, Neopia, I will get strong and protect you from any evil that threatens you." She spoke softly as the space pod made a final approach towards Neopia Central.

      The landing sequence engaged. There was a lot of beeping and hissing coming from all around Keenomarci, she was startled but it all seemed operating as normal. The pod began to slow as the landing thrusters engaged. She felt the heave of gravity as the pod touched down on the landing pad.

      As the steam cleared around the pod, Keenomarci saw the silhouettes of several Defenders standing around the landing pad. Judge Hog and Lightning Lenny were standing in front.

      She opened the hatch to the pod and coughed slightly as the dust hadn't yet settled.

      "Welcome back, Keenomarci," Judge Hog said as she stepped down from the pod. "It's good to see you made it back in one piece."

      "Hello Judge Hog, sir," she said nervously.

      "Sounds like you had quite the adventure, trainee." Lightning Lenny chuckled.

      "I'm sorry for not following your orders, Judge Hog..." She looked to the ground.

      Judge Hog looked at Lightning Lenny and motioned his hand downwards. "I sent you to and survey the area, Keenomarci."

      "I know, I –" She tried to explain but Judge Hog held up his hand.

      "You took it upon yourself to meet the contact, you failed to report your actions back to Defender HQ and you endangered not only your own life but the lives of many civilians on the Virtupets Space Station." He spoke with authority.

      "Yes, Judge Hog, sir." She felt two inches tall.

      "You also single-handedly saved the contact, infiltrated enemy lines, you did not crack under interrogation and you saved the resistance leader, giving the rest of the resistance enough time to meet with their contact and commence their operation to stop Dr. Sloth." Judge Hog spoke with pride in his voice.

      Keenomarci looked up at everyone. "Y-yes, that is true, sir."

      "Well, we can't exactly overlook the fact that you broke rank..." Judge Hog said raising a finger to his chin, in contemplation. "... However, considering the acts of heroism you demonstrated I believe we can work out a good compromise."

      She perked up and found herself at a loss for words.

      "You're going to be a great hero, one day, Keenomarci," Judge Hog said with a smile, "Until that day comes however, I expect you to attend training classes on Mystery Island daily. You'll also be working closely with Lightning Lenny as well. I want to make sure that you can get a handle on your skills, if you're going to be a full Defender of Neopia."

      "Absolutely Judge Hog, sir!" she exclaimed excitedly. She couldn't hold back her smile any longer.

      "Good job, kid." Lightning Lenny smiled and patted her on the head. "I'll see you after your training class has completed tomorrow. Don't forget to bring your sparring gloves; I want to see if you can keep up with me!"

      Keenomarci nodded.

      All the Defenders made their way back indoors and Keenomarci took a few moments to absorb everything that had happened to her. She looked up to the skies and saw a far off twinkle in the distance.

      "Thanks, Gorix," she said as a tear ran down her cheek. "I really hope I get to meet you again one day."

      She walked into Defenders Headquarters to gather her belongings for her trip to Mystery Island. She intended to keep the promise that she had made to Neopia, to become its greatest Defender.

      High above Neopia in Virtupets Station, the resistance members cheered their victory over Doctor Sloth and his minions, watching Sloth's flagship self-destruct on the view-screens.

      As the rest of the resistance celebrated the victory, Gorix stopped for a moment and wondered to himself what had become of that strange purple Kyrii he met. Maybe he would get to see her again someday and they would once again save Neopia from a terrible evil. For now, he would celebrate this victory over the tyranny of Doctor Sloth. He smiled to himself and rejoined the celebration party.

The End