Destination: Kreludor - Part Two

     "This is not a circus," the Kougra said darkly. He would probably have to do it in the end, but it didn't hurt to be stubborn. His pride wouldn't let him be so submissive.

     "Please?" the Grundo asked, putting on the puppy eyes. Then she grew impatient and stomped with her foot lightly, "Come on!"

     "Okay! Fine!" Grumpily the red pet did some funny noises, and the security personnel walked off in the opposite direction to examine them. Matthew threw a look at little Reen, who was about to burst into laughter. He rolled his eyes and dragged her to the door.

     "It's locked," Rena stated, looking at the shiny metal lock.

     "Why would they bother with a lock when they've got guards?" the Kougra commented. He took a close look at the intricate design. Then he looked at the ground and noticed that one of the two Mutant Grundos who had just left because of the funny noise had dropped a laser blaster sort of weapon.

     "Stand back and watch," Matt said confidently to his friend as he grabbed the blaster. He closed one eye and aimed. A few seconds later, a pool of silvery liquid formed on the floor. The lock was nowhere to be seen.

     "Stupid," the White Grundo commented as an alarm activated. She grabbed Matt's arm and dragged him inside. When they saw the huge spaceship, they stopped. Both of them gasped in unison and looked at each other. Rena's eyes were shining with excitement as she grabbed her friend even tighter while running toward their new toy to play with.

     "Wow..." Rena trailed off as she touched the outer parts of the spaceship. She noticed that 'X2000' was written in slimy green letters just above her. Ugh... Was that Sloth guy so obsessed with green, black and metal?

     A loud noise startled the Grundo. She turned around and saw Matt pushing a button. A stair rolled down automatically, drowning out the noise of the alarm. A red carpet rolled down, and a programmed music fanfare played. Rena had never felt so powerful before. She could totally understand why Sloth liked all those cool things.

     Grabbing her friend, the Grundo started walking down (or rather, up) the carpeted stair.

     "Don't grab me," the Kougra protested as she practically dragged him along.

     "Don't you don't me!" Rena exclaimed with shining eyes. She smiled at her friend and said, "You know, every lady needs an escort!"

     "Since when were you a lady?" she heard Matt mutter under his breath, but Rena ignored it. Suddenly she heard some steps with her sensitive Grundo ears. Perhaps some of Sloth's minions were coming? Worried, the Grundo sped up, and the music did likewise.

     All that pompousness was gone. Rena rushed up the stairs with Matt dangling from her arm, fearing that the minions would discover them any second now. She jumped the last foot and landed safely inside the spacecraft.

     A loud booming noise, and the door closed. The two friends could hear the metal stair fall to the ground with a loud clank and realized that they didn't have much time. They started to bicker about whose fault it was until they heard some loud shooting noises.

     "They're here!" the Grundo whispered excitedly as she raced towards the left of the two seats in the front. "We'd better leave!"

     Sighing, the Kougra followed her. He sat down in the right seat and looked at all the buttons, levers and gauges. Not only were they many, but they were also colorful. Bright colors sparkled everywhere.

     Another few noises returned him to reality. He saw what little Reen was doing, trying to figure out which button to push. He rolled his eyes and reached out his arm, which just happened to push a button.

     Almost screeching, the ship started to move. It accelerated quicker than anything the two pets had tried before. Little Reen let out a few screams of terror before the speed was fast enough to make her fall right in her seat. A safety belt came out of nowhere and wrapped around her as she stared in amazement.

     Silver... Silver... The door was there, but it wasn't opening. Even with the loud noise, she could hear the security personnel shooting at them with laser blasters. Rena shuddered as the big door came closer. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea, going to Kreludor and informing those poor Grundos. But Rena knew deep inside that she wasn't the person to stand and watch evil take over the world. If it would come down to it, yes, then she would try and fight against the evil.

     Kablam! Rena opened her eyes. She realized that she had closed her eyes when the door got too close for comfort. She looked behind and saw through the clear glass that they had broken through the door. A nice print by X2000 had been left in the Space Station. The Grundo would've giggled and imagined what faces old funny Sloth would wear when he saw the hole, but she couldn't. It was a serious mission, and she shouldn't be joking.

     -

     Speaking of the doctor...

     Dr. Sloth, villain extraordinaire, had been sitting in his chair and sipping the ultra coffee of doom when he heard the alarm. His sensitive ears immediately curled back and he slapped the table, roaring in fury.

     "What in the world is going on?" Sloth shouted at a poor Grundo henchman.

     "Err..." the little Grundo trailed off. "I don't know."

     "Hmph," the villain frowned. "Useless." He looked around quickly and grabbed a pair of earmuffs in order to protect his ears. To his horror, they were in the worst color possible. Pink.

     Grumpily Sloth put them on, aware of the fact that a villain always had to look good. But who could possibly look handsome in a black cape and pink earmuffs? Sloth rolled his eyes as he stepped out of his office, ready to yell at those useless minions to actually do something instead of just running around in panic.

     An idea hit him, and Sloth poked his head inside his office. He glared at the Grundo for a minute or two, while the poor thing shivered. Finally the Doctor said in a deep voice, "Clean up the mess."

     Sloth's office was messy. It hadn't been good before the alarm, with all those pencils and darts at that Space Faerie Poster. The alarm had caused Sloth to jump, thus knocking the container of coffee across the floor. Some of his most important documents had been stained with brown latte. Sloth sighed as he saw his extra just-in-case-the-regular-cape-was-destroyed cape ruined by the same coffee that he had sipped earlier. He made a mental note to take it to Jhudora at the next villain meet.

     Villain extraordinaire walked out of his office with pink earmuffs. Even though he couldn't hear them, he could see that they were laughing at his odd attire. Sloth rolled his eyes, but didn't flash his cheesy grin. Couldn't they see an evil genius even if he was clad in pink earmuffs?

     "Doctor Sloth!" someone shouted. A Mutant Grundo came up to Sloth and nervously told him the bad news. The poor Grundo was squeezed as panicked members of Sloth's team of minions ran around.

     It was a bedlam. To his irritation, those pink earmuffs blocked out everything. He wondered if it was a good idea to take them off, but decided against it when he saw the red lights. To hear nothing was better than hearing the alarm. Since he couldn't hear the Grundo, Sloth simply walked away. He unfolded the map and walked towards hallway H3026 where he had been about an hour ago.

     He noticed some streams of light, and realized that someone was using the newest version of the laser blasters. Anger bubbled as he saw the remains of his new lock. Sloth walked inside the room where spacecraft X2000 supposedly should've been. Instead of a nice, shiny spaceship, there were a bunch of Grundo battlers shooting at... a hole?

     A hole had been made of his newest invention, the keep-everything-out/in door! At that moment, Dr. Sloth's face was just the one that Rena had imagined.

     It took Sloth a few seconds to regain control of himself. He shouted orders to the Grundos as he looked for the chief of them all. Sloth sighed, regretting the fact that he hadn't forced the Grundo Commander to double-check everything. If they had done that, surely they would've caught those two pets. The security team had been slacking off, and this was the result. Sloth made another few mental notes regarding hard training for all of his minions. Sure, he wanted was the best, but just as he had feared, this was another display telling him that the people surrounding him had to be good too.

     Sloth took out a can of Neocola and gulped it down. He felt refreshed as he saw the chief of Grundos running towards him. Being a villain was hard. Running a crazy place like this was even worse. With a last sigh, Dr. Sloth got out of his pool of self-pity and faced one of the biggest Mutant Grundo of Neopia.

     "Please accept our apology regarding this matter..." the Grundo began, but Sloth interrupted him.

     "Stupid, useless, insolent, lazy fools!" he screamed and the Grundo jumped several meters. Then Sloth's evil red eyes calmed down a little bit, and he continued. "Prepare X2002. We're going after them."

     "Prototype X2002? The one that is hardly fin--" the chief said, but stopped when Sloth pointed towards the door at opposing the broken door.

     "Stop talking and start walking," Sloth snapped. The chaos hadn't ended, but he was back to his old self. "I believe that this won't take longer than a few minutes." Strangely enough he felt somewhat insulted by those pets, breaking in and stealing his newest finished project. They deserved a lesson. A lesson that they would remember for the rest of their lives.

     "Um... As you wish," the Grundo said as he walked towards the door. "Which pilot will you have? Pilot SC098?"

     "No," Sloth said with a glint of evil in his eyes, "I'll be the pilot. "

To be continued...