Rage Alone III: Ambitions - Part Five

      As they continued to look at their consoles, the one behind the commander announced, "Primary generator at ninety percent. Secondary generator destroyed. Tertiary generator at fifty percent. Engines at fifty-five percent. Hull integrity at sixty-seven percent. Weapons disabled. Life support at eighty percent..."

      The commander cut him off with, "I told all hands to abandon ship. The rest of the crew already left on the escape pods. I'm only here to see that Sloth's orders are followed, so go."

      The Grundo to the left told him, "The lift was disabled when the tertiary generator was damaged. Unless there's another exit, we're trapped."

      A deep sigh was released by the commander before he asked, "Fine, then where is the Shoyru right now?"

      "Well," the left Grundo answered, "his energy signature is growing, so I'm reading him all over the ship. There's no way I can find him."

      The commander slowly rose with a hand remaining on his chair for support from the shaking. He walked closer to the monitor without stumbling until he was resting up against it with one hand. "So this is what it's like to have the rage of an entire planet crashing down on you. I'll admit, I find it rather fitting for me. I have spent my existence working to bring it down, and now it'll be realized through my sacrifice. I'm glad the last thing I'll see will be the piece of Neopia I turn into a smoking crater."

      His attention was suddenly jerked to behind him where the wall holding the console where the smaller Grundo worked erupted into an explosion of blue flames. The Grundo slammed into the wall next to the monitor and fell to the ground with burn marks covering his face and chest. The flames crept along the walls and ceiling with a life of their own as Jyrados slowly stepped through the hole. His teeth were bared while blue ribbons of energy stretched from his eyes and coiled along his arms. His wings were outstretched to the sides with the flames gliding off their edges. A soft growl was complimented by the crackling of fire in Jyrados' wake.

      The Grundo to the left was paralyzed in fear at the mere sight, but not the commander. He let out an echoing roar as he unholstered a QX-92 Neutrino Blaster from his belt and immediately pulled the trigger while aimed straight for Jyrados. The coil at the end of the gun lit up with a yellow light before it released a beam of energy. The air in the room was pushed to the sides with force as the shot forced its way towards Jyrados, who released a roar of his own. When the beam was mere inches away from his body, it halted against a sudden field of blue light, and the ribbons of energy rapidly increased in width. In an instant, which seemed like an eternity, the neutrinos were displaced and the beam vanished as fast as it appeared. Having displaced the beam, the blue light expanded to shatter the weapon and force both Grundos against the walls, which left the commander holding his broken ribs in pain.

      Jyrados jumped across the bridge to land in front of the commander as the flames trailed behind him. For a moment, they stared into each others' eyes in an exchange of hatred. In a raspy voice, almost sounding like a hiss, Jyrados said, "You remember that conversation we had in the brig?" Jyrados then reached out a hand towards the commander as the Grundo's eyes opened wide.

      At the dig site on Neopia, the drill was set up on three hydraulic legs where it pointed straight down and had a green particle beam dissolve the stone. Next to the drill was a circular platform with a diameter of three meters. Four spikes lined the outside with a golden color to them. At the center of the platform rested the pieces of the Legacy of Fethva. Each piece resonated to one another to produce a soft hum, though it was drowned out by the deafening scream of the drill as it tore through the mountain. Sloth was now standing next to the platform with five of his heavily armed guards around him. As for the six Neopets, they were once again congregated by the rocks which overlooked the dig site.

      Draicus sat in the middle of the group and told them, "We need to do something to interrupt his plans before Jyrados gets here. If they're still working towards the crystal, then they have a backup plan. We can use the element of surprise, but that would only help if we went for the armed guards first."

      Gorrem interrupted to add, "And from the looks of that object in the sky, we have less than half an hour to do it."

      Draicus nodded and continued, "So if everyone's ready, let's do this. Save Sloth for last since he's the least of our worries under the circumstances."

      Simpha clenched tight a wand of earth. Gorrem held his wand of fire close. Draicus readied a wand of water. Miermah held out the wand of air. Tumarche and Depthcharge prepared their lightning gun guns. They exchanged glances at one another before they jumped up simultaneously to release a sudden barrage over the field of Grundos. Tumarche hit one of the guards around Sloth in the chest with a bolt of lightning, which disabled him instantly. Draicus released a stream of bubbles, but to avail as the guard he aimed for reacted quickly and held out an electro shield to absorb the blast. Simpha caused several large rocks from the ground to bludgeon a guard and a worker into unconsciousness. Gorrem released a fireball towards one of the guards, which impacted him directly, but his Grundo X2000 Chestplate made it so damage was done, but not enough to debilitate him. Miermah formed a miniature tornado beneath one of the guards, and although that itself didn't knock him out, the impact in the ground after sending him flying through the air did. Depthcharge released a bolt of lightning, but missed the guard he was aiming for and hit a miner instead.

      After their initial attacks, they all ducked back behind the rock. Before they knew it, lasers were felt as they slammed against the rock as well as flew over their heads. The Grundo attacks did not stop, which kept them from continuing their end of the fight. After a few minutes, however the attacks slowed down, but only slightly. Draicus held out an arm to signal Gorrem and Simpha to head to the left, but they didn't think it to be a safe idea.

      On each side, three guards turned the corner and pointed their rifles at the Neopets as the rest of the Grundos ceased their suppressive fire. One of the guards on the right announced to them, "Put down the weapons and we may consider sparing your lives."

      Although hesitant, they dropped their weapons in front of them one at a time. Gorrem and Simpha took the longest since they were loaded up on equipment. The group stood up and a guard each took one of them by the arm and pressed their rifles against their backs to lead them to Sloth. As Sloth looked over them, he said with an unsettled voice, "Two of you I recognize. You're the friends of that Shoyru who's destroying my cruiser."

      Draicus looked over to the platform with the pieces of Fethva and casually told Sloth, "You're a fool to think that's gonna help you. It's a waste of time."

      Just as Draicus finished, the Grundo behind him turned his rifle around and knocked Draicus to the ground with the back of the gun. Simpha turned to lunge at the Grundo, but the guard behind him grabbed Simpha by the throat from behind and forced him down beside Draicus.

      Sloth turned his back to them and ordered, "Tie them up and throw them next to the pods. I don't have time to deal with this right now. Just get me those last pieces."

      After the six of them had their appendages tied together with metal wire surrounded by thin, plastic tubing, they were left at the center of the row of drop pods. They looked at the cruiser, which not only looked to be minutes away, but also was releasing flames from the dorsal side. The most unusual thing about it was the fact that the flames were blue without producing any smoke.

      Everyone's attention was caught when the noise from the drill ceased. Two of the Grundo miners removed grappling guns from their belts and pointed them into the hole and shot them into it. They traveled for a few seconds before the strings stopped and hollow clanks were heard. They clicked buttons of the guns in unison to retract them, which revealed the last two pieces of Fethva at the ends. Once they pulled the pieces from the hooks, they tossed them onto the platform and everyone took a step closer.

      Sloth, who was closest to the platform, smiled. After a glance at the cruiser, he returned his gaze to the crystals and said, "This will be a glorious day."

To be continued...