Mundo The Grundo vs The Alien Aishas:Part Two

     Last time, on Mundo Grundo vs The Alien Aishas

     A friendly, intelligent, but anxious Grundo named Mundo was going about his happy little life up in space. He was working in school on his final project, synthesizing healthy food into unhealthy food to create a combination so delicious and so nutritious it would turn Neopia on its head. After a failed test drive, he headed home with a brain full of inspiration to work on the next day. The future was looking bright, and he had a clear path to success... When, all of a sudden:

     "BREAKING NEWS," the news reported spoke sternly from the television. "Virtupets Space Station is now in a state of emergency. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PODS FOR ANY REASON. I REPEAT, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PODS FOR ANY REASON. We are now on lockdown. Stay tuned for more updates."

     — — — —

     Mundo’s family sat in shock at the broadcast they saw. It was happening, all the things they had told Mundo growing up about how his generation was due for a space tragedy any moment...it was all happening right now, right in front of Mundo’s eyes. He tried to keep his composure, he tried not to run in circles screaming.

     "Where is Lydia!?" Mundo exclaimed suddenly, realizing that he had not seen his little sister since he arrived home.

     "She’s in her room, she stayed home sick from school today and she’s alright," his mother replied, trying to keep her voice calm after hearing the news broadcast. She turned to her husband, "What are we going to do?"

     As soon as the words left her mouth, another siren went off, a warning call that once again reminded everyone of a lockdown and to stay in their pods. Mundo got up and ran to the window, to see if he could catch a glimpse of whatever was out there...and he did. His eyes focused in one what seemed like dozens of tiny grey spaceships whirling around, surrounding the space station on seemingly all sides, and more of these ships were dotted across space. There were already a lot here, and it looked like a lot more were coming. This was just the beginning of what could be a very long ordeal.

     The TV flashed back on, pulling Mundo’s attention from the window. Two of Virtupets military generals appeared, one spoke with a matter of fact tone:

     "Dear citizens," he began. "It has come to our attention that we have been surrounded by small space ships. We have not yet determined the threat level, nor do we know if they are enemies or violent in any way. What we ask is that all residents of the space station stay calm and keep composure, we are doing everything we can to keep the situation under control and to keep it from escalating. We have your safety in mind, and we are doing everything we can to serve you."

     The TV flicked off again, and Mundo was not very comforted by his words. This was the way all his parents’ stories started, they always said they military came on the news and assured everything was alright...and within hours someone as sinister as Dr. Sloth was attempting to board the station.

     "Sloth..." Mundo muttered.

     "What? No," his father rebutted. "Dr. Sloth has flung himself into the far reaches of space."

     "What if he went away this long to build up an army? What if this is his army?" Mundo was growing more and more concerned. Worry wrinkles were strewn across his forehead and beads of sweat has started dripping down his brow.

     Mundo didn’t want to sit complacent, he knew in all the stories that his parents told that someone always had to take a stand and stop the threat. The history of Virtupets, and the history of Neopia, is full of the greatest heroes you could ever imagine, and they all stood up against the bad guys and fought their hearts out to restore peace. Someone was going to have to be the one to stand up now, for this generation, and in a moment of anxious panic and clouded thinking, Mundo decided he was going to be the one.

     "I have to do SOMETHING," Mundo screamed as he ran for the door.

     "Stop! Where are you going?" Mundo’s mother shouted. "Don’t go out there, it’s a lockdown!!

     Mundo yanked open the pod door, which surprisingly had not been locked yet, and ran out into the halls of his apartment block. He heard his parents yelling after him, but ignored it. He had to do something more than sitting around in his living room waiting for these...things...to come and get them. He had to do something, and he knew just the place to go. The lab.

     The lab had everything, it was very well stocked and Mundo was smart enough to know how to use it all. He had a split second vision of using what he learned from his food laser to create a different kind of laser, one small and compact enough that he could carry it around like a laser gun, but strong enough to completely destroy an enemy ship with one blast. His brain was so clouded with anxiety that he wasn’t thinking straight, and he was starting to have delusions of grandeur, envisioning himself as the sole hero in a war against these UFOs, taking them out one by one until none remained. He even thought about how he would destroy Dr. Sloth once and for all. And then reality hit...

     "STOP! YOU! Where are you going?"

     Mundo froze in his tracks. He had made it halfway to his school laboratory by now without seeing a single soul. What was this voice? He turned around to see five massive Grundos rushing towards him.

     "This is a LOCKDOWN. You are under arrest, you are not allowed to leave your pod. Since you can’t obey that order we will put you in the pod prison to keep you in order." The Grundos then grabbed Mundo up and dragged him off. He did not put up a fight, his body fell limp. The adrenaline was crashing as the gravity of the situation dawned on him. He wasn’t a hero, he is just a teenage kid who knows how to weld some metal together and mix some chemicals. And he had just made one of the dumbest decisions of his life: rushing out into the direct line of danger during what could be the biggest attack Virtupets will ever see. Even if he was going to be the hero, he was not going to be able to do it from a jail cell.

     After a few minutes of walking and a quick ride on the bus-pod, they were now deeper within the space station, a few levels below the main deck. Mundo was being forcibly escorted down a long hallway of cell pods, most of them were empty. There is not a lot of crime on the space station these days, most of the criminals were wiped out ages ago and now the researchers and their families all live in peace. The cells weren’t all empty though, a couple had nefarious looking criminals glaring intently at the new blood joining them.

     "Ah, a young one, what did you do? Draw on the wall with crayons?" A Lutari snickered from behind his bars.

     "Maybe he stole a lollipop on the playground," muttered a Blue Acara with matted fur and a sinister expression. "I heard you can get some major time for stealing sweets these days!"

     A few more criminals chimed in with random little jabs, but Mundo just did his best to tune them out and not let them intimidate him. He was nothing like them, he reassured himself, he just made a mistake and that is how he ended up here.

     Mundo was walked further down to his own cell, where he was put inside and locked in.

     "Don’t try anything funny, we have enough problems at the moment without having to deal with rogue runaways," one of the Grundo guards said as they all walked away, leaving the little Grundo Mundo all alone in his cell.

     He sat somberly on his new bed, pondering just how long he would be in there. He felt so helpless, and his worst fears started playing through his head. He was stuck in this tiny pod, during a major crisis, while his family was helplessly in their home. They would be so worried when he didn’t return, they might think the worst...and the worst might happen to him. He did not feel very safe in this place, what if it’s where the invaders came to first? And he was totally defenseless, with nothing to use as a weapon or protection, and nothing to give over as an attempted peace offering...or at least nothing they would want, he was sure itchy blankets and a flat, hard pillow weren’t a hot commodity for these intruders. But there was nothing he could do, so he laid down on the scratchy sheets and put his head against the rock solid pillow to try and get some sleep.

     To be continued…