Some cookies are necessary to make this site and our content available to you. Other Cookies enable us to analyse and measure audience and traffic to the site. Cookies are also used by us, advertisers, ad-tech providers and others to develop and serve ads that are more relevant to your interests. To consent to the use of Cookies and proceed to the site, click Accept below. If you wish to withdraw consent later you will find a link in the footer Cookie Choices. For more information: Privacy Policy.
Storytelling Competition - (click for the map) | (printer friendly version)

If you have any questions about the competition then read our awesome FAQ!


Week 401
You are on Week 402
Week 403

Every week we will be starting a new Story Telling competition - with great prizes! The current prize is 2000 NP, plus a rare item!!! This is how it works...

We start a story and you have to write the next few paragraphs. We will select the best submissions every day and put it on the site, and then you have to write the next one, all the way until the story finishes. Got it? Well, submit your paragraphs below!

Story Four Hundred Two Ends Friday, February 13

Zeran blinked a few times and tried to concentrate on the radar screen, staring at the hundreds of tiny green blips flitting across it. The Grundo could recognise most of them as the shuttles that carried tourists from Neopia to the Virtupets Space Station. The smaller, quicker blips were recreational vehicles that the citizens of the Space Station used to take trips to Kreludor, and the bright, slashing streak of blue was the mark of the Space Faerie on patrol.

The Grundo's eyes started to glaze over again as he gazed at the screen, and he drifted off into a daydream about his next assignment -- keeping the Lever of Doom clean and polished -- which seemed like the height of excitement after this job.

As Zeran pictured himself carefully scrubbing the lever's handle, a new blip appeared on the radar screen. He leaned closer to stare at it; the craft, or whatever it was, seemed to be drifting, not moving purposefully like a ship would.

"Sir, could you come look at this?" the Grundo called to his supervisor, a harried-looking Blumaroo named Merius.

"It could be space trash," the Blumaroo mused, watching the blip float lazily across the screen. "If that's that case, we'd better bring it in. Try to make contact and then tow it in."

"Yes, sir!" Zeran said. He clicked on the communications radio and said, "This is Virtupets Space Station, over. Please identify yourself, over."

There was no answer, other than the quiet beep as the thing moved closer.

***

After the object had been taken on board, Merius sent Zeran down to the Hangar to properly identify it. On first glance, it was just a regular ship, rather similar in size to one of the tourist shuttles. Inside, though, it didn't look like any shuttle Zeran had ever seen.

The main cabin of the ship was circular and its walls were lined with glass cases. The panes of glass looked steamed over, though, so Zeran couldn't see in. He tried wiping the steam away, but it appeared to be on the inside of the cases.

"Sir, it seems to be a cargo ship of some kind... I haven't figured out what the cargo is yet," the Grundo said into his radio.

"Keep trying," was Merius's response.

With a sigh, Zeran took his crowbar from his belt and jammed it into the door of one of the cases. After a few minutes of struggling, the door popped open, and something fell out of the case, knocking Zeran over with it.

"Aaaaaa!" Zeran cried, trying frantically to push the thing off of him until he realised that it wasn't moving. "What in Neopia...?" he breathed, as he found himself staring into the dead eyes of a giant Moach. "But... but that's impossible..."

Author: The space junk gets weirder and weirder...
Date: Feb 9th
Moaches simply weren't that large. Not in real life. Zeran was, of course, familiar with stories of giant Petpetpets. He'd been part of an excellent Blechy costume in a play once; it had made a great sensation in the audience. But nobody took them seriously. Real ones were supposed to be physiologically impossible. Oh, there was the occasional crazy professor claiming to have found a Mootix ten times the size of a Ruki in some lost area of Neopia, but that was nonsense. Anyway, how could you lose part of a planet? Especially once you had visuals from space.

The creature staring blankly down at him, however, did not seem to have been greatly affected by its own impossibility. Unless you counted being apparently dead. And it was much, much scarier than models or costumes, partly because it was so unmistakably real. The mandibles dangling beside him were sharp and real, the exoskeleton tough -- Zeran gingerly took hold and tried again to push it off himself -- and strangely light for its massive size. Lighter than he'd expected, anyway, and lighter than it had felt when it was falling on him.

He rolled the Moach aside, carefully and with greater coordination than his earlier flailing. Its limbs seemed spindly and fragile, but none of them broke or tore. He sat up and frowned at the case that had held it. Warm, moist air was still rolling out of it; the humidity was condensing into a low fog in the cooler ship air.

"Zeran? Zeran, come in!" Merius's voice was sharp. "Are you alive in there? What are you yelling about?"

He must have left his radio transmitting. Of course, his superior officer could override that to ask what was going on.

"I got one of the cases open, sir," Zeran said a little breathlessly. "It's, uh... a little hard to believe, but it's a Moach. Bigger than me. And dead. It was in a warm, humid environment inside the case. I'd guess the others have the same kind of contents and that's why they're all so fogged up on the inside."

"Strange," Merius said. "Well, don't open any more. They might not all be dead."

Oh, that was not a happy thought. Zeran had to admit this was more interesting than the general run of monitor duty, but as he heard a sharp clatter and scratch, he suddenly thought perhaps it was a little too interesting.

He turned, looking around at the cases, and was staring straight at one as its door rattled. A harder impact, with a cracking sound, and a minuscule crack appeared.

"Sir," Zeran said, "I'm not sure we're going to have a choice..."

Author: schefflera
Date: Feb 9th
"One of the things is still very much alive, and it's getting out."

Zeran's eyes were fixed on the crack in the glass. He watched with horror as the creature threw itself against the door and the crack widened.

"Sir, it's about to break out." The Grundo whispered frantically into his radio. Another rattling sound, the crack widened once more, but the glass still held. "Sir, what should I do?"

Silence answered him. Then, "I'm coming down. Get to safety."

Zeran didn't need Merius's command to know what he had to do. Even if the Blumaroo had told him to remain in the space ship and watch over the creature, he wouldn't have listened. Obeying to commands was essential in his job, but even that had its limits. When he had the choice between his job and his life, Zeran preferred to live.

So he turned away from the case, prepared to storm out of the space ship. Behind him, he heard shattering glass but he did not dare looking back. Getting out of there was most important right now, before the giant Moach that he was sure had just escaped caught him.

"Aaaah!"

Zeran had not even gotten out of the main cabin when he heard the cry. And it did not sound like a screaming insect.

Torn between finding out what was happening and getting to safety, the Grundo slowed down. Just a few more steps and he could slip out of the space ship, away from overgrown Petpetpets. Not much longer, and he would be safe. Only a few more metres.

But Zeran never made those last metres. Instead, he halted and slowly turned around.

Standing in the middle of the room, staring down at the giant Moach, was a Blumaroo. A Blumaroo who looked suspiciously similar to the one Zeran had just been talking to on the radio.

"What is this thing?"

His eyes darting between the radio and the Blumaroo, it took Zeran a moment to reply. "This is the giant Moach I told you about, Sir." How was this possible? How could Merius have gotten into the cabin? And what had happened to the creature that had been hidden inside the glass case...

Author: iloenchen
Date: Feb 10th
***

Merius was hurrying down the stairs that led to the space dock area, clutching his radio and wondering why the most bizarre incidents always happened when everyone was gone on lunch break.

The Blumaroo scrambled onto the landing and with a few powerful leaps was well on his way to the unidentified spacecraft.

Then he heard a shout:

"Aaaah!"

Merius skidded to a halt immediately in front of the spacecraft's entrance, and his face bore the mark of the most intense bewilderment: unless his ears had deceived him, he had just heard himself scream.

"What on Kreludor is going on here?" he muttered to himself, and he stuck his head around the doorframe to find an answer to that question.

It was a very frightening answer.

There was Zeran, standing with his back to the entrance -- and there, inexplicably, was Merius, talking with him -- and to complete the incongruity of the scene, an enormous dead Moach lay at their feet.

"What the heck?" said Merius. Zeran whirled at the sound of Merius's voice and did a triple take at his supervisor's head poking into the spacecraft.

"I second that question," said Zeran, sounding more brave than he felt. He began to back toward the door, then halted and stood between the two Meriuses, uncertain of what to do next.

"Catch him, he's an impersonator!" cried the Merius inside the ship, addressing the order to Zeran, who was looking quite confused.

"I'm an impersonator?" responded the Merius outside the ship, extremely vexed. "How can you insinuate such a thing, when you're the one popping into existence in a ship and looking exactly like me--"

The rant was silenced by the sound of a fist shattering glass in one of the cases immediately adjacent to the door. Merius's head was showered in the fine particles; he closed his eyes to prevent their being damaged -- and when he reopened them, he saw a version of himself and not one, but two Zerans standing before him.

"Oh... my..." said Merius. As one, he and Zeran -- the Zeran whose bewildered countenance confirmed that he was the real one -- fumbled for their radios in search of the panic button...

They never managed to reach them. With startling strength and speed, the Zeran and Merius doppelgangers launched themselves toward their respective twins and wrested their radios from their hands. Then, again with strength that seemed utterly abnormal, they grabbed Zeran and Merius and pushed them into the broken-fronted glass cases from whence they had themselves emerged.

Before Zeran or Merius could react, their living images had smeared a substance across the front of the cases, one which solidified on contact with the air -- and Zeran and Merius were trapped, while their replicas were free, and exiting the spaceship with horrific cackles.

Zeran kicked at his case with all of his might, and he could hear Merius doing the same thing in the next case down.

Their efforts were in vain: they had neither the strength nor the endurance required to smash through, and their struggles subsided and gave way to tired panting. The humidity and heat inside of the case did not help them feel more comfortable.

Zeran pressed his face to the glass, trying to see through the thick fog to make out how Merius was doing in his own case.

"Sir?" he called, hearing his own voice echoed back to him thickly in the fog.

"I'm two cases down from you, Zeran," called Merius, his voice muffled and distant. "We need to get out of these things!"

Zeran pressed his large Grundo eyes against the glass, trying to make out something in the case beside him. There was something tiny on the floor in that case, a minuscule speck -- the fog kept getting in the way, swirling by just at the moment when the speck was cleared -- ah, finally!

Zeran swallowed hard. In a brief parting of the humid fog in the next case, he had made out what the tiny dot was: a dead Moach.

With a shock, Zeran realised that the case next to him had been the one that he had first pried open, from whence the gigantic dead Moach had fallen.

Zeran called this piece of information as loudly as he could to his supervisor, who received it in puzzled silence.

"Zeran," came Merius's voice through several layers of glass. "The substance in these cases is obviously something that can take the shape of things at will. I think that the Moach got in there by mistake -- these cases aren't supposed to be contaminated by images to copy until they're opened -- do you follow my reasoning?"

"Yessir," answered Zeran. "So what do we do about it?"

"What do we do about it, indeed..."

A muffled thud informed Zeran that his supervisor had just kicked his container in frustration.

"In all of my years as a radar watchman at the Space Station, I've seen some pretty weird stuff and intercepted some pretty strange shipments... but none as weird as this. I wonder... I wonder..."

"We need to get out of here, sir," called Zeran, yoinking his supervisor out of his meditative state. He was himself feeling slightly tired; there was something in the swirling white fog that induced somnolence...

"The Space Faerie," said Merius suddenly, as if half-awoken from a dream. "We need to call the Space Faerie -- she must be informed..."

Zeran folded his hands together comfortably on his stomach and closed his eyes. Yes, yes, the Space Faerie... but how could he call one who was out there, swirling among the stars, when he was trapped here, just a little Grundo...

He did not know it, but the close affinity between Grundos and space, and between the Space Faerie and the same, would provide him the help he needed. Zeran's silent anxiety emanated from him like a beacon that only those with the most acute magical sensitivity to space and its invisible waves could possibly detect...

***

Next to Zeran's empty chair in the control centre, the radar screen blinked peaceably up to the vacant room. Upon it, the bright blue streak representing the Space Faerie's movements had suddenly halted its course and begun to turn...

Author: larkspurlane
Date: Feb 10th
The Space Faerie stopped in mid-flight as she patrolled the outer orbit of Kreludor, suddenly crippled by an excruciating headache. The pain she felt behind her eyes connected her telepathically to a helpless Grundo, the species she had committed herself to protecting. Zeroing in on the source of the distress signal, the Faerie launched herself at supersonic speed toward the Space Station.

***

Zeran began to feel very drowsy and leaned his cheek against the glass front of his prison cell, hoping that its cool smoothness would refresh his senses. He no longer had the strength to call out to Merius and he couldn't see clearly enough through the swirling fog to determine if his supervisor had made any progress in his own escape. The longer he remained pressed against the glass, the less he cared about rescue; his anxiety had turned to ambivalence and that ambivalence was quickly leading to apathy.

The Grundo yawned, teetering on the edge of sleep, when a blue and red blur streaked into the spaceship, resolving itself into the Space Faerie, standing in an action-ready pose with her head tilted with curiosity. She approached Zeran's case and tapped the glass with a red-gloved hand and then took a step backward, commanding, "Stand back from the glass!"

Zeran was shocked by her sudden appearance, too shocked to wonder how she knew he needed her help, and shook off his lethargy long enough to stand clear as ordered.

The Space Faerie reached into the folds of her costume and took out a handful of small red balls with folded wings.

Are those what I think they are? Zeran thought to himself. I hope she doesn't break open all of the cases! It occurred to the Grundo that maybe he should warn the Faerie of the danger lurking inside the unopened cases, but even those Grundos not affected by sleep-inducing mists are not known for their quick wit or reactions. While Zeran was still forming an opinion on whether to warn or not to warn, the Space Faerie threw the Exploding Space Bugs in a perfectly aimed arc that saw each glass front explode in a shower of shards, releasing four clouds of fog and two dazed Space Station employees.

Merius and Zeran collapsed together on the floor, coughing and panting in the clean air of the spaceship, helpless to stop the four nebulae as they overwhelmed their rescuer. Immediately there were four Space Faeries standing in a circle, identical to the original save for their cruel sneers, and one lying prone and senseless on the spaceship's smooth metallic floor. The true Space Faerie was shoved abruptly into one of the compartments and one of the replicas sealed over the glass case before joining the others in streaking out of the shuttle.

Zeran recovered his senses enough by this point to run to the imprisoned Space Faerie's cell and futilely begin banging at the front with his fists and boots. Turning to Merius he asked, "Why is she unconscious? Those things didn't knock us out like that."

The Blumaroo shook his head thoughtfully and then shrugged, "Maybe it takes more out of you if they make more than one copy of you. Or maybe..." Merius became suddenly alert as a chilling thought occurred to him. "Maybe this ship, the clouds of fog, maybe they were prepared especially for the Space Faerie because she was the one they were sent to imprison."

Whether from the lingering effects of the mist or his natural lack of intelligence, the Grundo continued to look puzzled as he asked, "But who would do that? Why would anyone want to imprison the Space Faerie...?"

Author: mamasimios
Date: Feb 11th
"Well, Sloth's the obvious choice," Merius said.

"He usually does robot duplicates," Zeran put in dubiously. "Well, and potions. Transforming fog is... um... new. But I guess you never know."

"No," Merius muttered, starting to prowl restlessly around the shuttle. "We shouldn't get locked into one assumption. Could there be other Space Faeries?"

"Besides," Zeran said, "the four duplicates?"

"Yes. Or... some other kind of alien. Sloth brought you Grundos from some other planet originally, right? And then there's the Alien Aisha Empire. For all I know the 'normal' Aishas on Neopia's surface are some alternate form of them. Maybe there are other... powers, out in space."

"Obviously not one our Space Faerie knew about."

"No." Merius scowled. "We have to figure out what they're up to."

"And get her out." Zeran looked around, his original strategy finally occurring to him again now that the effect of the mind-numbing mist was wearing off, and picked up his crowbar.

It dissolved into a cloud of mist in his hand.

***

The four duplicate Space Faeries spread out through the Space Station. One headed for the control centre. One made her way toward the ventilation systems. One turned back into a duplicate of Zeran, found his seat, and slid back into it, intently studying the monitoring screen.

One zipped along a corridor, then slowed, stopped, and backed up a little. She looked up and down the hallway. Finding herself unobserved, she reached out a hand to the "Do Not Pull" lever...

Author: schefflera
Date: Feb 11th
...and slid it down. A mechanical arm flew out of the compartment and grabbed at her, but she sidestepped it. The duplicate Space Faerie's eyes glowed red with fury; she raised one hand and emitted a burst of blue energy that incinerated the mechanical arm. With a satisfied grunt, she continued walking to the nearest access ladder and began her climb to the top of the Space Station.

***

Zeran looked at the spray of fog that floated where his crowbar had been. "This is bad."

"No kidding," said Merius.

A hissing noise suddenly reached their ears, and Zeran and Merius looked at each other. "Gas!" they exclaimed in unison and ran out of the craft.

All around the hangar bay, a white gas billowed out of the vents, and Zeran felt a tingling sensation shoot down his spine. Merius, with his powerful Blumaroo tail catapulting him forward, reached the oxygen tanks first, clasping a mask over his face. As Zeran ran, he suddenly realised that he could not feel his fingers or toes, and he saw grey stars creeping around the edge of his vision. He collapsed to his knees, and began to slump to the floor.

Merius clasped a mask over Zeran's mouth and helped him strap the oxygen tank to his back. Slowly, Zeran's vision and feeling returned.

"Merius," Zeran panted, "what do we do now? It's doubtful many on the Station could grab oxygen masks in time. They're really only for space walks, and this is one of the only places they're stored."

"The duplicates are already taking over," Merius said grimly.

Zeran nodded and looked back in the direction of the mysterious spacecraft, but he could barely see its outline through the gas. "What do we do, Merius?"

Merius strapped the oxygen tank to his back and headed for the hangar exit. "I'm going to find a Virtublaster and see if I can blast the real Space Faerie free. You go back to your station, check the radar, and see if there are any more craft like these coming."

"If there are?"

Merius glanced over his shoulder, annoyance creeping over his face. "Contact me by radio, and we'll try to prepare this time."

"But how will I know it's you, and you'll know it's me?"

Merius stopped in his tracks. "Right. Let's use a password. Like 'I just drank 42 Pan Galactic Gargle Slushies.'"

"That's kind of long, isn't it?"

"Less chance that the Faerie duplicates can guess it."

Zeran shrugged as Merius ran around the corner, out of sight. Suddenly alone, Zeran's skin became covered with goosebumps at the thought of his own double walking around somewhere on the Station. He quietly jogged to the access ladder, and climbed up to his radar station on the floor above.

The white gas prevented him from seeing more than a few feet ahead, but he knew the corridor like the back of his hand. He walked through the door into the radar station, and saw someone sitting at his monitor. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he approached. "There's something bad going--" He stopped short as the figure swivelled around in the chair.

He was staring face-to-face with himself.

"Oh, no."

"Do not feel bad, Zeran," said the duplicate. "It is too late for you to do any good."

Zeran looked over at the radar screen. A tiny green blip providing no identification code flitted across the screen, and halted against the large grey figure representing the Space Station.

"We're being boarded," whispered Zeran.

The duplicate smiled.

***

The third Space Faerie duplicate was not panting when she reached the top of the Space Station. She merely stepped onto the deck, to the pre-arranged meeting place in an unassuming part of a corridor. There she waited.

Soon, a buzzing sound reverberated through the corridor. A few feet from her, a drill pierced through the hull, and a large tube slid through the opening.

The duplicate stood at alert.

A pink Alien Aisha with white hair slid down the tube and landed on the metal floor.

The duplicate raised her hand to her forehead in salute. "My Lady Sophix."

The Alien Aisha smiled. "Ah, it is good to be back..."

Author: tashni
Date: Feb 12th
Lady Sophix dusted her space suit with a flourish and looked around, as glamorous and dazzling as ever.

"Have you taken care of...?" she started to ask, then, with a giggle that was as coquettish as it was chilling, stopped. "Never mind. There is only one way you could have assumed your current shape. I am glad that she is out of the way."

"To the Control Centre, then, Lady Sophix?"

"To the Control Centre, cadet. Lead the way."

The Space Faerie duplicate gave a smart salute and guided Sophix to the command room.

***

Meanwhile, Merius had obtained an old Virtublaster from a little-used storage room just off of the Hangar and was returning with it to the troublesome ship.

When he arrived, the Space Faerie was no longer in her unconscious state but showing signs of life -- and very vigorously, at that. The case that she was in shook with the force of angry magical blasts from within.

"H-hold on!" cried Merius, stammering in spite of himself in front of the faerie's wrath. "I'm going to try to blast you out!"

Unlike the Space Faerie, Merius was fully aware that he should not under any circumstances hit other as-yet unopened cases. He held the Virtublaster in a well-practised grip and aimed for the very centre of the transparent surface of the Space Faerie's case, its weakest point.

The Space Faerie curled up into a ball amidst the swirling fog -- and Merius pulled the trigger on the Virtublaster.

An explosion of sound and light, the musical shattering of glass, a blue-black blur -- and the Space Faerie was standing in front of Merius, by all appearances unharmed save for the slight sleep-haze she had fought against in the case.

"You did well," she told Merius in a voice as soft as the velvety black skies she lived in. "But we have more work to do here."

"Thank you -- y-yes, there are duplicates running around, I'm not sure what they're made of or who they’re working for, it's crazy..."

"Hush," said the Space Faerie, placing a calming hand on Merius's head. Merius felt as though his thoughts and emotions were being spoken to her through the point of contact between his skull and her palm. "Merius, is it? I see what has happened here. You will be of help to me yet -- you will be of help to Neopia yet."

Merius was silent as the Space Faerie's red eyes narrowed momentarily. "But where is Zeran, your friend? The one who called me? You sent him -- where?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, the Space Faerie turned and held out her red-gloved hand as though she was feeling for something.

"The Control Centre," she said. "And he needs our help."

***

And so two groups with two very distinct agendas were converging toward the Control Centre. Sophix and her troops, and Merius and the Space Faerie. One group was on a mission to do damage, the other to rescue. One had malice, spite, and acquisitiveness as its forces, the other had mobilized new friendship and ancient magic -- and powers as old as the stars.

And neither had expected to crash headlong into the other in the main corridor leading to the Control Centre...

Author: larkspurlane
Date: Feb 12th
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

With a feral and rather screechy battle cry, Merius pulled the trigger of the Virtublaster before he could think. It left burn marks all over the corridor, but only managed to graze the wing of the fake Space Faerie.

At least he had hit the right Space Faerie. She snarled... and began to melt.

"What the..."

Meanwhile, the real Space Faerie soared and dodged as Sophix blasted away with her own ray gun -- a larger, pinker version of Merius's weapon.

"You can't stop us!" the Aisha growled. "In no time at all, the Space Station will be ours!"

And at that moment, the melted stuff, neither solid nor liquid, was forming again -- this time into another Sophix. But as she reached out for Merius's Virtublaster, the Blumaroo gave her a swift kick in the face.

The second Sophix crashed into the wall, and before she could recover, Merius pointed his Virtublaster at her.

This time, he lost count of the number of times he pulled the trigger.

* * *

"But I can stop that!" Zeran reached out for one long, bronze-coloured lever. He pulled it all the way down, and watched as the gray spot on the radar screen began to lurch to the right. Then it lurched back, ramming into the unidentified green blip.

"You do realise that you're damaging your own station as well, right?" the copy pointed out, scowling. "Idiot."

"A little damage is a small price to pay to keep the invasion from happening!" His fingers skimmed across the keyboard, hoping to move the Space Station a little more to at least stop more invaders; they would deal with those that managed to get on later.

"In that case..."

The fake Zeran launched himself on the hapless Grundo, and they crashed into the control panel. Several lights went on, and the air was full of ominous clicking, beeping, and whirring sounds.

As they struggled, neither of them noticed the prominent gray figure tilt dangerously to the left. It hit the green blip, which disappeared; that was a good thing.

The bad thing was that the Space Station kept on tilting faster and faster, heading straight for the great blue and green globe that was Neopia.

* * *

Sirens went off. Merius and the other Sophix could feel the floor slip beneath their feet. The entire corridor was bathed in an eerie red glow. Somewhere in the distance, there were frantic footsteps and the unmistakable cacophony of blaster-fire and screaming.

But for just a moment, the Blumaroo was blind and deaf to everything else that was happening around him. He didn't see the Space Faerie manage to trap Sophix under a gossamer net with bright red and blue weights, or hear the Aisha's yells of frustration and fear.

A minute ago, the little silver crystals on the tilting floor had been a puddle of what looked like molten metal. And that puddle had been a copy of Sophix.

"I know how to beat them," he whispered. Turning to the Space Faerie, Merius repeated in a louder tone of voice, "I know how to beat them! But... what's going on?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure it can't be good! Come on!" the Space Faerie called back. She zoomed to the Control Centre, and another batch of Exploding Space Bugs demolished the door.

As it crumbled into ashes, two Zerans rolled out, locked in a struggle of their own, and on the radar screen, the globe that was Neopia was getting bigger by the second...

Author: precious_katuch14
Date: Feb 13th
"Oh, my precious Neopia!" cried Merius.

It was a silly exclamation, he knew. Neopia belonged to thousands and thousands of others; it certainly wasn't his. The last time he had actually been on Neopia was very long ago. But he couldn't help the strange, protective rage that flared up within him. For so many years, he had been a guardian of the Space Station. He had supervised the day-to-day operations, the patrols of the skies, the surveillance of incoming spacecraft, the nitty-gritty maintenance. Now all of that was being threatened.

He lunged for the control panel, but something crashed into him, knocking him to the floor. He tried to raise the Virtublaster, but his arm was paralysed under a crushing weight. Gasping with pain, he glanced up into his own face.

"You stupid!" he seethed. "Don't you understand what's happening? We're going to crash into Neopia! Let -- me -- go!"

The other Merius simply laughed. "I don't care," it said. "I can take the shape of anyone I wish. You will be nothing, but I will thrive."

"But you're not REAL!" Merius struggled wildly. "You're nothing but a clump of shapeless mist, a crazy dream that can't come true. Go back to where you came from. Go back to your world of emptiness. And let me go!"

The background noise took on a slightly different rhythm. Somewhere, the Space Faerie was fighting against the various duplicates. Zeran -- which one? -- tumbled into vision, shouting, "Which one of you is Merius?"

"Are you really Zeran?" the Blumaroo yelled back, using his free hand to pummel at his own face.

"I just drank 42 Pan Galactic Gargle Slushies!" roared the Grundo.

"What?"

"I JUST DRANK 42 PAN GALACTIC GARGLE SLUSHIES!"

"So?"

"That was our password, you dimwit!"

"Oh, right, right! Just blast this other Merius for me, will you? We're about to crash into Neopia, and only I have the authority to start up the emergency engines!"

But the duplicate Merius was turning around, putting a deliberate punch into Merius's stunned face. "He didn't know the password! I'm the real one. Blast him!"

"No! Zeran, listen to me!"

Zeran stood uncertainly, large eyes confused.

Merius summoned his last strength. "Zeran, when you blast a duplicate, it melts! When you blast a real Neopet, you know what happens. If you have to blast both of us to find out, do it. Argh..."

And, in that locked grip with his other, wrong self, he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. Any time now. Any time, and the ship could crash into Neopia.

Oh, hurry up, Zeran. Just hit the trigger and get it over with. Let me get to the controls. Let me steer the ship away from Neopia...

The blast came.

***

Some time later, Merius's fingers were still sore and throbbing from the desperation with which he had jabbed at the buttons. The computer screens were scratched, and some backup computers had been knocked over, but the biggest screen was still intact.

It showed an expanse of glittering space, with Neopia turning serenely away, as the grey figure of the Space Station danced on in orbit.

Zeran mopped up the silver crystals. It was strange how threatening they had been just moments earlier, when they had taken on such familiar forms.

The blue streak of the Space Faerie flew like a shooting star. She never stayed around for very long. Elsewhere, other Grundos were in need. Elsewhere, other evil plans were in the making, watched over by such figures as Lady Sophix, who never seemed to tire.

But for now, Merius was tired. Tired from a day's good work. Neopia was safe once more, and for as long as he lived, he would make sure that it continued to be safe.

"Bring me a Pan Galactic Gargle Slushie, will you, Zeran?" he smiled weakly. "I need a little energy booster before we bring in the maintenance team to fix up this mess. And we need to contact the cleaning crew too. Can't have any more Moaches running around, now, can we?"

Zeran smiled. "You got it, sir."

And all across the tranquil darkness, the stars seemed to sing.

The End

Editor's Note: Due to a holiday, the Storytelling Contest will be on hiatus until Tuesday, February 17, when a new beginning will be posted. See you then!

Author: yoyote
Date: Feb 13th



Quick Jump

Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12
Week 13Week 14Week 15Week 16Week 17Week 18
Week 19Week 20Week 21Week 22Week 23Week 24
Week 25Week 26Week 27Week 28Week 29Week 30
Week 31Week 32Week 33Week 34Week 35Week 36
Week 37Week 38Week 39Week 40Week 41Week 42
Week 43Week 44Week 45Week 46Week 47Week 48
Week 49Week 50Week 51Week 52Week 53Week 54
Week 55Week 56Week 57Week 58Week 59Week 60
Week 61Week 62Week 63Week 64Week 65Week 66
Week 67Week 68Week 69Week 70Week 71Week 72
Week 73Week 74Week 75Week 76Week 77Week 78
Week 79Week 80Week 81Week 82Week 83Week 84
Week 85Week 86Week 87Week 88Week 89Week 90
Week 91Week 92Week 93Week 94Week 95Week 96
Week 97Week 98Week 99Week 100Week 101Week 102
Week 103Week 104Week 105Week 106Week 107Week 108
Week 109Week 110Week 111Week 112Week 113Week 114
Week 115Week 116Week 117Week 118Week 119Week 120
Week 121Week 122Week 123Week 124Week 125Week 126
Week 127Week 128Week 129Week 130Week 131Week 132
Week 133Week 134Week 135Week 136Week 137Week 138
Week 139Week 140Week 141Week 142Week 143Week 144
Week 145Week 146Week 147Week 148Week 149Week 150
Week 151Week 152Week 153Week 154Week 155Week 156
Week 157Week 158Week 159Week 160Week 161Week 162
Week 163Week 164Week 165Week 166Week 167Week 168
Week 169Week 170Week 171Week 172Week 173Week 174
Week 175Week 176Week 177Week 178Week 179Week 180
Week 181Week 182Week 183Week 184Week 185Week 186
Week 187Week 188Week 189Week 190Week 191Week 192
Week 193Week 194Week 195Week 196Week 197Week 198
Week 199Week 200Week 201Week 202Week 203Week 204
Week 205Week 206Week 207Week 208Week 209Week 210
Week 211Week 212Week 213Week 214Week 215Week 216
Week 217Week 218Week 219Week 220Week 221Week 222
Week 223Week 224Week 225Week 226Week 227Week 228
Week 229Week 230Week 231Week 232Week 233Week 234
Week 235Week 236Week 237Week 238Week 239Week 240
Week 241Week 242Week 243Week 244Week 245Week 246
Week 247Week 248Week 249Week 250Week 251Week 252
Week 253Week 254Week 255Week 256Week 257Week 258
Week 259Week 260Week 261Week 262Week 263Week 264
Week 265Week 266Week 267Week 268Week 269Week 270
Week 271Week 272Week 273Week 274Week 275Week 276
Week 277Week 278Week 279Week 280Week 281Week 282
Week 283Week 284Week 285Week 286Week 287Week 288
Week 289Week 290Week 291Week 292Week 293Week 294
Week 295Week 296Week 297Week 298Week 299Week 300
Week 301Week 302Week 303Week 304Week 305Week 306
Week 307Week 308Week 309Week 310Week 311Week 312
Week 313Week 314Week 315Week 316Week 317Week 318
Week 319Week 320Week 321Week 322Week 323Week 324
Week 325Week 326Week 327Week 328Week 329Week 330
Week 331Week 332Week 333Week 334Week 335Week 336
Week 337Week 338Week 339Week 340Week 341Week 342
Week 343Week 344Week 345Week 346Week 347Week 348
Week 349Week 350Week 351Week 352Week 353Week 354
Week 355Week 356Week 357Week 358Week 359Week 360
Week 361Week 362Week 363Week 364Week 365Week 366
Week 367Week 368Week 369Week 370Week 371Week 372
Week 373Week 374Week 375Week 376Week 377Week 378
Week 379Week 380Week 381Week 382Week 383Week 384
Week 385Week 386Week 387Week 388Week 389Week 390
Week 391Week 392Week 393Week 394Week 395Week 396
Week 397Week 398Week 399Week 400Week 401Week 402
Week 403Week 404Week 405Week 406Week 407Week 408
Week 409Week 410Week 411Week 412Week 413Week 414
Week 415Week 416Week 417Week 418Week 419Week 420
Week 421Week 422Week 423Week 424Week 425Week 426
Week 427Week 428Week 429Week 430Week 431Week 432
Week 433Week 434Week 435Week 436Week 437Week 438
Week 439Week 440Week 441Week 442Week 443Week 444
Week 445Week 446Week 447Week 448Week 449Week 450
Week 451Week 452Week 453Week 454Week 455Week 456
Week 457Week 458Week 459Week 460Week 461Week 462
Week 463Week 464Week 465Week 466Week 467Week 468
Week 469Week 470Week 471Week 472Week 473Week 474
Week 475Week 476Week 477Week 478Week 479Week 480
Week 481Week 482Week 483Week 484Week 485Week 486
Week 487Week 488Week 489Week 490Week 491Week 492
Week 493Week 494Week 495Week 496Week 497Week 498
Week 499Week 500Week 501Week 502Week 503Week 504
Week 505Week 506Week 507Week 508Week 509Week 510
Week 511Week 512Week 513Week 514Week 515Week 516
Week 517Week 518Week 519Week 520Week 521Week 522
Week 523Week 524Week 525Week 526Week 527Week 528
Week 529Week 530Week 531Week 532Week 533Week 534
Week 535Week 536Week 537Week 538Week 539Week 540
Week 541Week 542Week 543Week 544Week 545Week 546
Week 547Week 548Week 549Week 550Week 551Week 552
Week 553Week 554Week 555Week 556Week 557Week 558
Week 559Week 560Week 561Week 562Week 563Week 564
Week 565Week 566Week 567Week 568Week 569Week 570
Week 571Week 572Week 573Week 574Week 575Week 576
Week 577Week 578Week 579Week 580Week 581Week 582
Week 583Week 584Week 585Week 586Week 587Week 588
Week 589Week 590Week 591Week 592Week 593Week 594
Week 595Week 596Week 597Week 598Week 599Week 600
Week 601Week 602Week 603Week 604Week 605Week 606
Week 607Week 608Week 609Week 610Week 611Week 612
Week 613Week 614Week 615Week 616Week 617Week 618
Week 619Week 620Week 621Week 622Week 623Week 624
Week 625Week 626Week 627Week 628Week 629Week 630
Week 631Week 632Week 633Week 634Week 635Week 636
Week 637Week 638Week 639Week 640Week 641Week 642
Week 643Week 644Week 645Week 646Week 647Week 648
Week 649Week 650Week 651Week 652Week 653Week 654
Week 655Week 656Week 657Week 658Week 659Week 660
Week 661Week 662Week 663Week 664Week 665Week 666
Week 667Week 668Week 669Week 670Week 671Week 672
Week 673Week 674Week 675Week 676Week 677Week 678
Week 679Week 680Week 681Week 682Week 683Week 684
Week 685Week 686Week 687Week 688Week 689Week 690
Week 691Week 692Week 693Week 694Week 695Week 696
Week 697Week 698Week 699Week 700Week 701Week 702
Week 703Week 704Week 705Week 706Week 707Week 708
Week 709Week 710Week 711Week 712Week 713Week 714
Week 715Week 716Week 717Week 718Week 719Week 720
Week 721Week 722Week 723Week 724Week 725Week 726
Week 727Week 728Week 729Week 730Week 731Week 732
Week 733Week 734Week 735Week 736Week 737Week 738
Week 739Week 740Week 741Week 742Week 743Week 744
Week 745Week 746Week 747Week 748Week 749Week 750
Week 751Week 752Week 753Week 754Week 755Week 756
Week 757Week 758Week 759Week 760Week 761Week 762
Week 763Week 764Week 765Week 766Week 767Week 768
Week 769Week 770Week 771Week 772Week 773Week 774
Week 775Week 776Week 777Week 778Week 779Week 780
Week 781Week 782Week 783Week 784Week 785Week 786
Week 787Week 788Week 789Week 790Week 791Week 792
Week 793Week 794Week 795Week 796Week 797Week 798
Week 799Week 800Week 801Week 802Week 803Week 804
Week 805Week 806Week 807Week 808Week 809Week 810
Week 811Week 812Week 813Week 814Week 815Week 816
Week 817Week 818Week 819Week 820Week 821Week 822
Week 823Week 824Week 825Week 826Week 827Week 828
Week 829Week 830Week 831Week 832Week 833Week 834
Week 835Week 836Week 837Week 838Week 839Week 840
Week 841Week 842Week 843Week 844Week 845Week 846
Week 847Week 848Week 849Week 850Week 851Week 852
Week 853Week 854Week 855Week 856Week 857Week 858
Week 859Week 860Week 861Week 862Week 863Week 864
Week 865Week 866Week 867Week 868Week 869Week 870
Week 871Week 872Week 873Week 874Week 875Week 876
Week 877Week 878Week 879Week 880Week 881Week 882
Week 883Week 884Week 885Week 886Week 887Week 888
Week 889Week 890Week 891Week 892Week 893Week 894
Week 895Week 896Week 897Week 898Week 899Week 900
Week 901Week 902Week 903Week 904Week 905Week 906
Week 907Week 908Week 909Week 910Week 911Week 912
Week 913Week 914Week 915Week 916Week 917Week 918
Week 919Week 920Week 921Week 922Week 923Week 924
Week 925Week 926Week 927Week 928Week 929Week 930
Week 931Week 932Week 933Week 934Week 935Week 936
Week 937Week 938Week 939Week 940Week 941Week 942
Week 943Week 944Week 945Week 946Week 947Week 948
Week 949Week 950Week 951Week 952Week 953Week 954
Week 955Week 956Week 957Week 958Week 959Week 960
Week 961     


IMPORTANT - SUBMISSION POLICY! By uploading or otherwise submitting any materials to Neopets, you (and your parents) are automatically granting us permission to use those materials for free in any manner we can think of forever throughout the universe. These materials must be created ONLY by the person submitting them - you cannot submit someone else's work. Also, if you're under age 18, ALWAYS check with your parents before you submit anything to us!