The Five Kaus: Part One

      For the past few months, Jacob had been taking him to see the Mad Scientist to test his experimental lab ray.

      "If you ever want to take out the Pant Devil without my help, you need to get stronger," said Jacob as they first visited the lab. "And the best proven way to get strong fast is to visit that crazy Lab Scientist at his laboratory."

      "But I've heard rumors that his lab ray can change me into a different Neopet!" Metonot complained. "I don't WANT to change into another Neopet! I'll lose my wings!"

      "Look, the chance that it could happen is low, but even if it does happen, as least you will be tough, right? And if you do change into another species, perhaps it will be a winged one, like a Scorchio, or an Eyrie."

      Despite his arguments, Metonot visited the Lab daily, and DID get strong enough to overpower the Pant Devil and a few other villains of Neopia. And Metonot didn't change into another species as he had feared. He only changed into a bunch of different colors: Disco, Electric, Rainbow, Mutant, Green and Halloween.

      Only after he got into the habit of visiting the lab did his fear come true: Metonot turned into a Yellow Poogle. He could no longer fly! For the first time in his life he was forced to walk on the ground like everyone else. It brought him to the point of tears. Jacob tried to cheer him up, even gave him some toys to play with, which never happened before. But none of that worked, and Metonot was in complete misery.

      Both of them were hoping that the lab ray could fix the situation they got themselves into, and continued to visit, first getting him turned into a Red Quiggle, and then thankfully turning him into a Yellow Korbat. When Metonot realized that he had been turned back into a Korbat, he flew about the laboratory several times, much to the discomfort of the Scientist, as there were many fragile things stacked on top of the shelves. But Metonot didn't care. He had his wings back!

      His joy was cut short when Jacob told him they were still going to visit the lab.

      "What is wrong with you!" cried Metonot. "I finally got my wings back, and now you want me to lose them again?"

      "No," said Jacob as he covered his ears from Metonot's screams. "I just think that we can continue visiting the lab ray without worrying about you getting changed again. The worst is behind us, you know?"

      Metonot tried to change Jacob's mind, but the decision was made, and they continued to go to the lab, and Metonot was eventually turned into a Red Kau, and then into a Ghost not long after that.

      And that was the current state of Metonot: turned into a Ghost Kau when in actuality he was a Korbat, capable of taking off from the ground with a single flap of his wings. Now anytime he flapped his arms, people thought he was about to charge somebody and they ran away. Or they just ran away because he was a Ghost.

      Whooper, Metonot's Avabot, was the only one that seemed to be noticing the anguish that he was going through. Instead of being the insane dancing and broken robot that he was, he was now just...dancing. It was a waltz to one of the slow orchestra tunes Metonot was fond of. If there was any notion that Whooper was broken as he danced about in front of Metonot's tired and sad eyes, none was given.

      "Whooper, you can cut it out," said Metonot with a sigh. "I just want to rest."

      The Avabot gave out a low humming noise as it stopped dancing, an obvious gesture of disapproval. Nonetheless, Whooper was being cooperative, another trait that he had developed as of late. He jumped atop Metonot's head, and went to sleep on the space between his horns.

      'At least you can sleep,' thought Metonot as he watched Jacob and the Lab Scientist bicker. "I have to stay awake and see what's going to happen to me next."

     ********

      "Metonot is miserable," said Jacob. "I know it, you know it, even Whooper knows it, and he's a broken robot!"

      "He's broken?" said the scientist with a mischievous grin. "Would you mind if I fixed him up for you? I would do it free of charge."

      "You keep your hands off of Whooper! All I want from you is to turn Metonot back into a Korbat or other flying Neopet. Any will do as long as he can fly again."

     "Jacob," said the Scientist, "As much as you are worried with the health of your Neopet, I'm being honest that I cannot reverse the effects on the spot."

     "What do you mean you can't reverse the effects?" screamed Jacob. "Haven't worked out the random effects of that laser yet?"

      "As I have already told you," continued the Scientist as he scratched his head, "This is an experimental machine. I'm still trying to work out a few bugs. Every time I try to fix something, another problem occurs with the ray, in the form of a Shadow Aisha turning into a Sponge Grundo."

      "Well, haven't you at least made a new ray with all the data that you have collected over the years? It's not very scientific to keep doing an experiment that you KNOW is faulty."

      "No, I haven't made a new-" and The Lab Scientist's eyes opened wide...wider than normal at least. He stood agape, seeming to finally recall something that he had forgotten.

      "Yes...I DO have a new ray..."

      "You do?"

      "YES!" he cried out as he hovered in the air a bit with his wings. "I finished it a few months ago, and was cautious about presenting it to the public, as..."

      "Yes?" asked Jacob, who was now leaning in closer to hear the Scorchio better, even though he was standing right in front of him.

      "Well, it's an experimental machine of course, but it's different from the other ray's side effects..."

      "Yes?" and he leaned in even closer.

      "All the effects are POSITIVE!" cried out the scientist with a jump into the air.

      "What do you mean they are all positive?"

      "Every time a pet gets zapped from my new ray, there are no negative results. All strength, speed and endurance will be raised, and not only that, they will be raised tremendously!"

      "Really?" said Jacob with disbelief. Something like that was too good to be true.

      "Of course! And this will get you even MORE excited! I can change Neopets to any color or species on command! Your Neopet can be turned back into a Korbat right now!"

      "Okay. If this ray is so great, why isn't everyone in Neopia using it?"

      "One, you are the only person I have told of my newest invention. Two...it's still experimental, and has side effects."

      "What side effects?" asked Jacob as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. He knew there just HAD to be something wrong with it.

      "I don't know! I've never used it yet! But from my calculations, perhaps the worst that could happen is a failing to change a pet to the species I want."

      A tremendous increase in power and the only adverse effects being the failure of a pet species change? So even if Metonot remained a Kau, he would be an incredible contender in the Battledome. And as there was a chance to turn Metonot back into a Korbat...

      "Alright then. Let's see this ray of yours."

      "Of course!" said the Scientist as he jumped off to a corner of the lab and came back with a large cloth covered display.

      "Behold my newest creation! The Lab Ray 2000-X!" and the scientist pulled back the cloth.

      "Looks more like a cannon than a lab ray. Are you sure that thing is safe?"

      "I assure you," said the Scientist as he gave a bow. "It is as safe-no, even safer than my previous lab ray."

     ********

      Though he didn't think he would be able to sleep, Metonot was snoozing when Whooper began to softly tap him on the head with its foot. Another change from the old Avabot: He used to dance on his head to wake him up. In either case, both ways of waking him were annoying, as he didn't enjoy being awoken right after he dozed off.

      "Knock it off, Whooper. I'm trying to sleep." He rolled over on his side.

      "READY!" piped Whooper with his electronic voice. "JACOB READY!"

      "Finally," groaned Metonot as he slowly got to his feet. "Now let's see what pet I shall turn into today. Perhaps it will be a Koi, and I'll have to be carried around in a fish tank."

      As Metonot walked over to the firing pad, he gave Whooper over to Jacob, who placed him in his pocket for safe keeping. They both didn't want anything bad to happen to him. Jacob then placed a hand upon Metonot's head.

      "Now, now, Metonot," said Jacob with his ever so happy voice that had become so aggravating to him. "I assure you, this next test will turn you back into a Korbat."

      "Yeah right," Metonot said as he crawled on the 'zapping pad'. "And I'll eventually be able to fight off the Giant Ghostkerchief."

      "That's the general idea!" laughed the Lab Ray Scientist as he hit the switch, powering up the ray.

      "What?" asked Metonot, startled that the Scientist would say something like that. In the past, it was always something along the lines of 'I hope this works' or 'you must have plenty insurance to be doing this'. He focused his eyes, as he was still half asleep when he crawled onto the pad.

      And he saw the lab ray. The last coherent thought Metonot had was, 'That is not the lab ray,' and then the ray fired.

To be continued...