Never Wish to Fly: Part Three

      "You should be more careful, you know!" complained a green Grundo.

      "Oh, sorry! I guess I was showing off but wasn't paying attention!" apologized a sheepish Glia.

      "Well next time, be more careful! You nearly crashed into the ground!"

      "I know..." Glia remembered the quest that she was on and that she could only fly until noon tomorrow. She had no time to be lectured now! She decided to test her luck since Grundos were a space species, originally free for adoption on Virtupets. Perhaps he would know something about the map piece! "Say, would you happen to know anything about a space map?"

      "A space map, you say? Hmmm..." The Grundo stood there, trying to remember if he had.

      Glia impatiently tapped her foot. "Um... I don't mean to sound impatient, but I'm sort of on a time limit..."

      "A time limit? What, are you on a Brain Tree quest? I thought he only asked for information about people? Ah, I guess he's just decided to change things up and--hey! Wait a minute! Where are you going?" Glia was now storming away. Obviously, this Grundo knew nothing! He was simply wasting her time!

      She started walking down the street but was pulled into the dark alley next to the arcade. A dark figure had a strong grip on her front leg.

      He spoke in a low, husky voice. "I heard you talking about the space map with that Grundo over there." The figure made a gesture to the Grundo, who was still standing there, looking somewhat lost.

      Glia drew her breath in, excited. "You mean you know something abou--" She was interrupted.

      "You must NEVER talk about that map with the wrong person!" said the figure threateningly, pressing her tighter against the brick wall. Glia was becoming intimidated. Looking out of the alley frantically, she noticed that no one was around! What a terrific time to be alone! "But no." The figure released her from his grasp and turned his back. "I don't know much about it, alone that it exists." Glia sighed. At this rate, she was never going to get anywhere! "However," the figure continued, "I know someone who does have the information you seek."

      Glia hoped the figure was serious. "Can you-can you take me there?"

      The figure shrugged from beneath his dark, hooded robe. "Depends."

      "On?"

      "What do you have?" he snarled.

      "Well, I--" Glia was desperately trying to think of something worth value that she had with her to give, but before she could think of anything or even finish her sentence, some muscular mutant pets grabbed her backpack, tossing it to the figure, and slammed her back against the wall! Restrained, she fought to free herself.

      The figure dug through the bag, luckily not finding the small, half-hidden zipper to the section where the map pieces had been folded and stored. However, he had found the gem! Glia couldn't believe she had been dumb enough not to hide it better!

      "Ah." The figure held up the gem in front of him. "Isn't it great when two people can trade to get what they want?" He slipped the gem into his pocket. Just as he turned to leave, he flung the backpack back to where Glia was standing. "The other contents of this bag are useless to me, but I shall sure enjoy this 'generous present'." He laughed manically, resembling the scientist only a little bit earlier that day. "Oh, and before I forget! Island Mystic. Say Scepton sent you."

      "Scepton?" Glia tried to question.

      He glared. "I don't repeat myself. Now, begone out of my sight before my henchmen help you," he growled menacingly.

      Glia grabbed her backpack and sprinted out of the alley, headed to the mystic.

     -

      "What do you mean I can't leave?" demanded Pangra.

      "Please," pleaded the robot. "You-must-save-Ne-o-pi-a."

      "Save Neopia from what? At least explain yourself!"

      "Al-right. But-I-must-tell-this-stor-y-fast." The robot began his story, sounding as if he was playing a sort of recording, and speaking more normally. "Back when Virtupets was created, there was a map made of it. This map was given to a scientist. Then a different scientist came and stole two of the pieces. This other scientist lived in the Haunted Woods and had been ordered to steal these specific pieces, since they had Kreludor on them. He had been instructed by none other than Sloth. You see, Sloth now had a plan; he needed those pieces back for it to work. Sloth disappeared for a few days after he concocted this plan and began constructing a machine."

      "What was the machine for?" asked Glia, becoming very interested in the plot. The robot ignored her question and went on.

      "He was at it again with this plan, attempting to end the neopets race. The plan was to make Kreludor crash into the whole of Neopia. With this new machine Sloth could control the orbit of the moon. However, in order for this machine to work, it would need both of the map pieces, along with a piece of Kreludan cheese."

      "Cheese?!"

      "But, to find just the right kind of cheese, the map was needed to show the layout of the moon. Sloth sent his minions, and they came back with the cheese. That was two days ago. After the cheese had been placed into the machine with the map pieces, Sloth had control of Kreludor. But he discovered one flaw with the machine. Although the moon's orbit could be altered, reversed, and even stopped, Sloth could not make it go faster. A flaw in the cheese, most likely."

      "So let me clarify: the moon's orbit has been altered to crash into Neopia? How long do we have?"

      The robot's voice became the same mechanical one that he had used earlier. "I-would-say-un-til-noon-to-morr-ow. But-we-can-not-do-an-y-thing-un-less-we-have-those-map-pie-ces."

      "I thought the map was needed to operate the machine?"

      "On-ly-to-change-the-sett-ings. Sloth-has-al-read-y-gott-en-rid-of-the-pie-ces-a-gain."

      Pangra groaned. No one was going to make this easier for her, were they? "Do you have any idea where they might be?"

      "No. But-his-Grun-do-as-sis-tants-might."

      Almost as if on cue, footsteps were heard coming down the metal hallway. A large Grundo poked his head into the room. "Hey! What are you doing in here?" angrily demanded the Grundo.

     -

      "Ah, welcome to my little hut! Ahh, I guess you came here to have your fortune told! Well... here it is: You suddenly realize that you must paint your left ear gree--"

      "No, I'm not here for that!" complained Glia, newly arrived at the mystic's hut.

      "Oh, so you're one of those kids who come to complain about me not using the word kyrii in your wisdom, huh? Well, when the time is right, I'll--"

      "No, I'm not here for that!" Glia repeated, becoming testier by the minute. After the day's earlier events, she didn't have much patience left. She just wanted a straight answer from someone!

      "Ok, then what?" asked the mystic slightly irritably.

      "Scepton sent me," she stated matter-of-factly. There was a shocked look on the mystic's face, but he calmly handed over a small slip of paper with a Haunted Woods address on it. "That's it?! No information, just a piece of paper?"

      The mystic shrugged. "All I was told was to give this to the first person who was sent by Scepton. It's been in storage here since..." Glia gave a flying leap, trying to get a head start on her way to the Woods. Once in the air, Glia grumbled. All this trouble just for a piece of paper? Hadn't this Scepton heard of a safety deposit box before?

      After an hour's flight (which is a long time to be in the air, if you've just gained wings), Glia finally landed in the town square of the Haunted Woods. It had only been dimming outside, but with all the trees, it looked almost like it was late at night. She wasn't even sure that it was evening until she heard the large clock boomingly chime eight o'clock. Wow, the time had flown by fast! It seemed almost like mere minutes ago she had been running home from the ferry dock on her way home from school. Searching around the town square and asking some locals, she found an entrance to the woods, where she guessed this house was located. What would she find there?

To be continued...