The Iridescence of Amber

     "Oh no! Mick!" Deckar roared as he tore off back down the way he came and made it back to the spot where he'd last seen Mick. Kaylee had also gotten the distress call and arrived before Deckar did.

     All of Mick's equipment was still in the spot where they'd last seen Mick, but the Nimmo was nowhere to be found.

     "Distress signal, Mick's stuff all lying here, but no Mick. Something really bad happened here. He'd never leave his gear behind!" Kaylee says worriedly as she knelt down to inspect the abandoned gear.

     "Did you see anything?" Kaylee asked while looking over the pile of computers and gadgets.

     "N-Nothing! We weren't even gone that long! I wouldn't let anything get past me!" Deckar stresses.

     "Where could he have gone? What took him?" Kaylee grabbed the GPS panel and saw Mick's signal slowly growing further away in a direction that didn't make sense. If it were true, then he was somehow inside the walls!

     "I don't know, but when I found out I'll fight tooth and claw to get him back!" Deckar growls.

          "So, does this 'art' have anything to do with those Petpets that are encased in amber?" Mick asks as the Buzz leads him further into the Amber Cave, the Amber Wand still pressing into his back.

     "You'll see, my amphibious trespasser. The name's Koal and I am an artist. I love making art and being surrounded by my beautiful creations. I put a lot of pride into my work and having you pesky Agents sniffing around my amber is getting in the way of that." Koal said, sounding pleased with himself.

     Koal led Mick down a serpentine path until they came to a large room filled with hardened amber and molten sap that dribbled slowly down the walls. The room was illuminated by a hole in the ceiling that provided not only light, but fresh air to the otherwise suffocating tunnels, Mick assumed. It would almost be beautiful had the room not been dotted with Petpets frozen in amber. Their faces were all a mix of terror and surprise. Some Petpets were frozen while they tried to flee, such as Babaas and Mimbis that just weren't fast enough while others appeared to have gone down fighting with Cobralls and Gallions rearing up to strike.

     "Why are you showing me this?" Mick asked, disgusted at what was laid out for him to see.

     "Why, you came all the way out here for my Petpets, right? Well, here they are! Aren't they just gorgeous? They're all so much more appealing when they're not squirming around or making all that dreadful noise. My collection is far from complete, however. I want more. So much more..." Koal said almost dreamily.

     "What about the Petpet's well-being? Something tells me they don't like being imprisoned in amber just for you to stare at-" Mick yelps when Koal jams the wand between his shoulder blades.

     "It doesn't matter what they like, Four-Eyes. I'm the one with the amber so I call the shots. I still have more to show you. Get moving!" Koal hisses and leads Mick past the macabre statues. Mick feels a sense of dread beginning to bear down on him. He begins to sweat in anticipation as to what the cruel Buzz was about to show him next.

          "Do you know how to read that thing?" Deckar asks while he watches Kaylee tries to read the GPS panel.

     "Maybe? Mick designed the blasted thing and he didn't exactly leave any instructions laying around. Look, it says his tracker is in the wall. Either he turned into a ghost and phased through, or there's a door we missed. There has to be a clue somewhere!" Kaylee shines her flashlight around the cavern until she spots footprints heading towards an amber-coated wall. Her light seems to shine through the sap and while illuminated, reveals an unexplored path.

     "Agent 5! There! Can you knock down that amber? I think there's something behind it!" Kaylee points to the suspicious amber. Deckar snorts and cracks his knuckles. "No problem. Stand back." he growls and winds his arms back. Raising his fists above his head, he puts his entire body weight behind his crushing blow, cracking the amber. Not satisfied, Deckar winds up again, but this time he lowers his shoulder and rams into his target with all his might and crashes through, shattering the amber blocking their path.

     "You did it! Nothing beats your muscle! C'mon, we gotta rescue Mick!" Kaylee attempts to lift the abandoned gear, but the weight of it causes her to fall back onto her backside.

     "How about I carry Mick's junk and you light the way? He's a scrawny guy, but I know his gear weighs a ton. It won't be a problem for me." Deckar effortlessly lifts the mechanized pack and fits the straps onto his shoulders. Kaylee nods and keeps the GPS panel in one hand and leads the way down the tunnel with her light in her other hand.

     "We're coming Mick. Just hold on..." she whispers.

     Koal leads Mick to a relatively normal-looking tiled laboratory. It has enough space for several vats of molten sap and what looked like a glass cell, but not much room for anything else.

     "Well? Get in." Koal says bluntly and gestures towards the open cell. Peering inside, Mick could see a pipe jutting from the ceiling and a grated drain in the floor.

     "This looks like a shower. If one of us here needs a bath, I think it should be you. You stink. Like burnt toast and evil." Mick says flatly.

     Koal would blink if he had eyelids, but he doesn't so he stares at Mick blankly. "I don't smell, bug-breath. You're right though; it is technically a shower. Just get in." Koal said almost excitedly. "No thank you. I already took a bath this morning and-"

     "I said get in!" Koal yells and shoves Mick into the cell suddenly and slams the door shut.

     Koal locks the door and quickly buzzes over to the vats and began to turn a valve on one. Fear pits in Mick's stomach as he realizes what's about to happen. He bangs his fists on the glass door as the pipe above him began to gurgle and rattle. Koal pulls a lever and hurries back to the cell to watch. He rubs his hands together in excitement as a sweet scent fills the air of the small room.

     Mick pauses briefly when he feels something warm and wet dribble onto his head. He wipes it off and sees that it's molten sap. He can't contain his scream as the pipe began to spew the liquid amber down onto him. It felt like he was being submerged in hot syrup.

     Mick rams into the door with his shoulder as the sap floods up to his calves. He locks eyes with the very excited buzz who then laughs at Mick's terrified expression.

     "This 'shower' is what I use for my bigger Petpets! You should feel honoured to be the first Neopet to try it out! Do try to strike a nice pose for me, won't you? And make sure it's something comfy, because you're going to be wearing it forever! Hahaha!" Koal cackles as the sap reaches up to Mick's waist.

     "No! No no no! Help! Someone help!" Mick cries out as the panic began to bubble out of him. Already he could feel his lower half tingling and growing stiff. His knees were slightly bent but now he couldn't straighten them.

     "Aww, don't worry. I'll make sure your friends know you're here. When I'm through with them, you guys'll have a lot of time to spend together. I promise." Koal flashes a razor-sharp smile as Mick vanishes under the molten amber. "You'll look excellent in my garden..."

     Kaylee stops dead in her tracks and gasps while trying to read the handheld panel.

     "What is it, 31? How's his signal? Are we close?" Deckar asks, trying to crane his neck to view the panel.

     "His...His signal. It's gone! It flashed really fast for a second and now...he wouldn't have turned it off. Oh, 27 please be okay..." Kaylee's paws go clammy and she swallows a lump in her throat.

     "He's a tough guy, 31. He might not be the strongest of us, but he's really smart. I'm sure whatever trouble he's in, he's already figured a way out." Deckar tried to reassure Kaylee, but wasn't so sure of his own words. "I hope you're right, 5." Kaylee mutters quietly as she began to pick up the pace.

     "Looks like there's a room up ahead. Be ready. My hands are full, so if we see something, blast it first and we'll ask questions later." Kaylee's muzzle wrinkles with canine aggression. Deckar grunts approvingly and readies his blaster to 'stun'.

          Kaylee and Deckar stop before entering the room and hide on either side of the entrance. Kaylee switches her flashlight off and peeks around the corner. She quickly withdraws and holds back a retch. Deckar takes a peek and feels a chill run up his spine before he also has to look away.

     The room is full of amber Petpets. Their bodies are frozen in time, forever trapped in hardened tree sap.

     "Found the Petpets..." Deckar whispers.

     "But where's Mick? This is the last place where his tracker pinged." Kaylee whispers back. She swallows hard and forces herself to move out from her spot. The coast is clear, but Deckar keeps his blaster and his guard up.

     "Hey...I think I see someone over there. In the middle of the room." he says quietly.

     Kaylee glances over at the figure and slowly walks towards it. She shines her light on them and drops it with a gasp. Her jaw drops as she stares down the familiar form trapped in amber in the centre of the room, illuminated by the light of the evening sun from a hole up above.

     Kaylee drops the GPS panel and sprints to the statue with Deckar following close behind.

     Kaylee stops right before reaching him. Carefully she reaches out to touch him, but shies her hand away.

     "No..." Deckar whispers breathlessly. "...Mick?!"

     "It...It can't be! He was just with us! I'm so sorry Mick!" Kaylee wraps her arms around Mick in a sorrowful embrace. Weltrude's voice echoes in her head as Mick's fate sinks in.

     '..we have no way of breaking the poor thing out without shattering the amber and risking its life.'

     "This is my fault. I left him first. If I'd just stayed behind...I-I could have kept him safe..." Deckar's voice quivers. He is unable to bring himself to look at Mick and his terrified expression, with his eyes open wide and mouth open in a silent scream and his arms outstretched in a futile attempt to shield himself from danger.

     "If only I knew how his machines worked, I could have figured out where he was before this happened to him...what will we do?" Kaylee asks as she chokes back a sob.

     "Hold that pose..." a gravelly voice hisses an answer behind the duo. Kaylee and Deckar are barely able to leap out of the way in time as a bolt of amber shoots at them.

     They jump to their feet and run for cover as the scent of burnt toast mixes with the sweet sap and damp earth.

     "Your friend was an excellent test subject. My little experiment was a success! Ha ha! He really brings the place together, don't you think?" Koal smirks.

     "You! You did this? What did you do to him?!" Kaylee screams, her sorrow giving way to a boiling hatred.

     "I have created art! Your friend is now the centrepiece of my collection! I promised him that I would make you join him so he wouldn't get lonely. So, who's first?" Koal eyed the Agents even as they hid behind pillars of amber.

     "This is disgusting! When HQ warned us that a monster would be down here I see they weren't wrong!" Deckar growls.

     "Disgusting? Oh, don't be so hard on him! I know I haven't gotten around to smoothing out your friend's edges and I haven't polished him up yet, so he's not quite finished at the moment. I wish you two would have been around when I poured that amber on him! He was louder than any of these Petpets!" Koal taunts cruelly.

     That did it. Deckar can't contain his rage any longer. He jumps out from behind his cover and charges at Koal. He takes aim with his blaster, but a flash of light blinds him and all of the feeling from his right leg drains from his body. Unable to keep his balance, Deckar falls face-first into the dirt. He glances back at his leg to see it stiff and encased in amber. His blaster had fallen just out of his reach after dropping it upon impact with the ground.

     "The bad part about this wand is that it isn't as effective on larger targets. It always takes a few hits to do the job. Now I've got you and you can't run away!" Koal takes aim at Deckar as he tries to scramble back behind cover. Magic charges the wand and Koal winds up for another cast when a hard object connects with his head, disrupting his spell.

     A flashlight drops to the ground while Koal spun in the air growling in pain as a fresh bump formed above his left temple.

     Kaylee dives out from behind her pillar to help Deckar stand and get him to hobble behind another pillar.

     "You'll pay for that!" Koal hisses and charged up the wand again after being interrupted. Kaylee leaned out from behind her cover and fired a stun round at Koal. He managed to duck out of the way just in time to return fire.

     Kaylee withdrew when she felt heat on her hand and she dropped her blaster in surprise. Opening her eyes, her stomach twisted when she saw her fist was crusted over with amber and now immobile, just like Deckar's leg.

     "Deckar! I lost my blaster! It's out in the open and I can't reach it!" Kaylee said while she holds her frozen hand helplessly. She looks down and something peculiar catches her attention.

     A frozen Icklesaur. It stood protectively over a clutch of amber eggs while it wore a tracking collar around its neck and a tag sat embedded in its frill. That Buzz truly did not know the meaning of mercy. There was no use in trying to talk to him. As far as she knew, they were finished.

     "Come on out, my future masterpieces! It won't hurt, your friend can attest! I can freeze you piece by piece, or we can get it all over with at once! I don't have all night, so decide quickly or I will decide for you! Tick tock!" Koal laughed, then flinched as laughing irritated his new bump. He grumbles and nurses it with his free hand.

     "Lemme try this..." Deckar said switching places with Kaylee. He stuck his frozen foot out and maneuvers Kaylee's dropped blaster back behind the pillar. Koal sees and shoots at Deckar once again, but only succeeds in making the amber that already coated his leg just a little thicker.

     He scoops it up and Kaylee tries to take it from him, but he refuses to hand it over. "He got your good hand. You won't shoot straight. I'll try to get him this time. I can't run, so if I miss, try to get out of here and bring help while I got him distracted." Deckar says solemnly.

     "I can't leave you and Mick down here! We leave together or we don't leave at all!" Kaylee protests.

     Deckar closes his eyes in resignation and takes a deep breath.

     Deckar jumps out from his hiding spot and as expected, Koal meets him with a blast from the Amber Wand. Deckar returns fire and focuses on the wand. The blaster beam hits the wand just as it casts and explodes, filling the air with a cloud of kicked up dust and sending Deckar toppling backwards. Kaylee runs out from her cover and helps Deckar sit up. Curiously, Koal doesn't appear to be throwing spells at them anymore.

     When the dust settles, they see that the buzz had joined his collection. His face was stuck in the moment of surprise as his wand exploded in his hand, mere remnants of it resting between his claws inside his amber prison.

     "You got him? You got him! Nice shot! Are you okay?" Kaylee asks while helping Deckar stand.

     "Never better. Now that he's frozen, he can't tell us how to get rid of this amber. Now what do we do?" Deckar says sadly as he turned back to face their entombed friend.

     Kaylee sighs and helps Deckar limp over to where Mick stood. the evening sun had set enough to where most of the light had faded from the cave. Deckar fishes around for his flashlight...but decides to grab the torch Kaylee had bought earlier. Maybe using it would cheer her up a little, and then seeing her happy might do the same for him.

     "We'll have to carry all of them out. After that...who knows how long it will take before someone figures out how to get them out of the amber without hurting them. If that's even possible..." Kaylee sighs and gently places her unfrozen hand on Mick's cheek...then draws it back when she feels something wet under her fingers. Inspecting her hand, Kaylee sees gooey amber sticking to her. Glancing at Mick, she sees a spot of green on his cheek where her hand used to be.

     "Deckar? Hold that torch closer to Mick." she says quietly.

     "Hm? Like this?" Deckar holds the small fire near Mick's head. Small beads of amber began to dribble down his face where the torch's warmth touched. Kaylee gasps and fishes out her own torch and lights it with Deckar's.

     "Hey! It's working, I think!" Deckar says with anticipation rising in his voice. The amber melted slowly under the small fires like wax on a candle. Soon, enough of the amber melts away and breaks when Mick is able to move enough to shake it off...then begins to scream and thrash around as much as he is able to move, startling Deckar and Kaylee.

     "Hey, hey! Easy now, Mick! You're safe! We got the Buzz!" Deckar hurriedly says, attempting to snap Mick out of his fit.

     "Mick! It's okay! Calm down! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Kaylee

     Mick stops screaming when his eyes focus. He's snapped out of his panic and he finally realizes that he's surrounded by his friends and that the danger had passed. "D-Deckar? Kaylee? Wh-What..." he began, but a sudden bout of lethargy sapped his energy and he paused to breathe.

     "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Kaylee asks.

     "Ugh...likely an adrenaline crash. I'll be fine...I just need a minute to rest. In the meantime, tell me what happened. The last thing I remember is being encased in this amber." Mick tries to flash a smile, but can't hide his exhaustion.

     "Sure. Just relax and we'll fill you in...just...are you sure you're okay?" Kaylee asks.

     "Well, being trapped in this amber doesn't exactly hurt, in fact, it would almost be soothing if it weren't so traumatizing. It felt like I just went to sleep. That being said, I don't think I'll ever be able to eat syrup again."

     Deckar laughs "Yeah, I know what you mean! I'm right up there with you on that, pal!"

     "Yeah. It's great to have you back!"

      After freeing Mick and themselves from the amber, the team moves the Petpets and the Buzz back above ground where they radio for the Rescue division for pickup. One by one, the Petpets are loaded onto the transport vehicles and are transported back to the Petpet Protection League's Headquarters for the thawing process. Soon after arriving, the three Agents are called into Weltrude's office for commendation.

     "Excellent work, you three! You've recovered the little ones and have even discovered the safest way to extract living organisms from the amber! Commendable job!" Weltrude claps as she read through the mission report. Kaylee, Deckar, and Mick stood at attention in front of her desk.

     "Thank you, Mother Bruce. If I may ask, just why was the tree leaking sap in the first place, and what will become of it? It's dangerous as it is right now!" Kaylee asks.

     "Excellent questions, 31. We have concluded that the tree is currently suffering from an infection and is secreting sap as a defence mechanism. You are correct that the tree is dangerous at the moment, but it is a valuable habitat for Petpets and is important to the people of Tyrannia. It would be wrong to remove it when we can tend to its malady. I have already dispatched our best gardeners to tend to it. Your concern for nature says a lot about you. That is why you three are some of my best Agents. You are hereby dismissed, but before you go please take a biscuit! I'm trying a new recipe!" Weltrude offers up a plate of freshly baked brown biscuits that were still warm.

     Weltrude offering biscuits after missions was nothing new. Kaylee suspected that it was her way of testing new flavours without risking eating something unpleasant, herself. Each Agent took one and wracked their brains trying to place the familiar, yet foreign flavour. Finally Mick piped up.

     "Well, they're...different. Uh, what did you use to make these?"

     "Oh, it's nothing too fancy. Just syrup is all." Weltrude answered cheerfully.

     The End.