Last time Vin, a yellow Kyrii, took his brother's place at the pound. Vin
found that he had a special power to foretell the future and predict danger.
There was a breakout at the pound when Dr. Sloth came, who freed the Neopets
and used them to attack Dr. Death. Now Sloth is tempting Vin to drink a can
of Neocola with sleeping toxins. Will Vin fall for it? Let's find out.
He was in trouble. Big trouble. His insides swelled
and his forehead was burning in pain again, and the pain actually woke him up.
What's going on, where am I? He had dreamt that he was in great danger.
Vin found himself trapped in a tube. There was some red liquid in the tube and
several black cords stuck to his skin. Outside he could see blurry images of
red Grundos. The bigger ones were walking around the dome shaped lab while the
smaller ones were on computers near him.
On Vin's left he could see a bluish tank with
a Kacheek that must have fainted. There were several more tubes with fainted
Neopets beyond the Kacheek, which seemed to make the inner circle of the lab.
The Grundo in front of him saw something on his computer screen that made him
jump. He typed in more keys to make sure that he was correct and called the
other Grundos to come take a look at his computer. The nearest rushed to the
Grundo's computer screen, slapped the Grundo's shoulder, and spoke a word of
praise. Soon others joined him, until every Grundo in the lab was there.
The Grundo was continuously pointing at his
screen and jabbering about his discovery until he typed something on his keyboard.
The computer was talking to Vin through his mind. "Hello, how are you feeling?"
Where am I? Vin thought.
"You are at the Virtupets Space Station," the
Grundo typed.
Why am I here? What are you doing to me?
Why am I in this tube?
"Well, well, slow down now. I have questions
too, you know. But I'll answer your questions first. You're here because Sloth
wants us to experiment on you. You see, Sloth wants to study every Neopets species
in the Neopia so he could find out how their minds work, their strengths and
weaknesses, and their battle tactics. So when he fights the Neopets of Neopia
once more, he will have a better chance at winning.
"The red water you see around you is sleeping
acid, and I'm surprised that your awake, it's powerful stuff. Once I finish
studying you, you will be placed in the blue tube, where you will get smarter
and stronger, so Sloth can use you in his next war, and you could be a traitor
for your own pitiful world. After all, what's the fun of keeping all Grundos,
when he can have a variety of Neopets! And there'll be nothing you could do
about it, when you're brainwashed and hypnotized!
"But you may wonder why I should be telling
you all this. I suppose that you could already predict the danger, but I want
you to know that once Sloth recovers, he'll be absolutely unstoppable. But why
not help him, when Neopia is too weak to defeat him. If you don't help, either
way, Sloth will win, just that if you try to help your own world you will be
killed, and if you serve Sloth, you will be spared and great with your own palace
with servants and Neopets to worship you.
"You could predict for Sloth when Neopia is
planning an attack or rebellion and I will be rich from this discovery. There's
nothing that you could do, your Kyrii information has already been downloaded.
And you're about to go to the blue tube and forget everything you just heard
and serve Sloth forever. But before that, you must answer my questions. Where
did you get the power to foretell the future? And how does it work? Tell me,
lest I carve out your brain and find those answers myself!"
You're lying, Vin thought. If you
wish to kill me, you may, but I know you can't find the information by taking
out my brain.
"I know what you're thinking," the computer
replied. "You think you won't be able to tell Sloth anything when you're dead.
We'll just see about that! I'll dump you into the blue tube and hypnotize you
and block out what I just told you. Then you'll tell me. Haha."
No!!! Vin started biting his cords and
fell to the bottom of the tube. With all his strength, he crashed the glass
and fell to the hard floor. Two huge Grundos made a grab for Vin, but Vin got
away in time.
"Get him! Get him!" the Grundo who had experimented
on him bellowed. "He knows very secret information!"
A red Grundo reached for the switch that lowered
the metal door down. Vin slipped away just in time, leaving the two Grundo's
hands jabbed under the door. Had he been a second short, his fate may have ended
differently. For the first time, Vin liked sleeping acid, which made him slippery
so he could easily slip under the door very easily, but now he had to find a
route to run in.
Go left came the voice in his head. Vin immediately
ran for it. He got past the maze with his instincts telling him his fate of
what would happen if he went the way he felt he should go. Finally, Vin came
within a door, which he opened with ease. Inside, he found several Neopets and
their owners checking out Battledome weapons.
"Get him!" a Grundo commanded. Two Grundos smashed
through the entrance door, panting.
"There's *pant* nowhere to *pant* run and *pant*
nowhere to *pant* hide," said the other one.
"Hey," the shopkeeper shouted. "No evil mutant
Grundos allowed!"
"But… but…"
"The least you could do is buy something," the
shopkeeper retorted.
The Grundos grumbled something, but smirked
at Vin. They started tearing through the items, searching for something cheap.
I better do something, Vin thought. If
I run they'll just catch me.
"Gee, wet your coat," a nearby Koi teased.
"None of your-- wait a sec, you're a genius,
thanks!" Vin said. He squeezed his tail with one paw and with the other, collecting
the sleeping acid.
The two Grundos, who had difficulty raising
their purchases since their hands were jammed earlier, were busy haggling.
"Nighty night," Vin whispered and threw the
acid on the Grundos' heads. Immediately, both Grundos fell asleep, snoring loudly.
So it is strong stuff Vin marveled.
You will suddenly realize you will have to go
to the Grundo's Café came a voice in his head. The messages in Vin's head were
getting clearer after the computer had experimented on him. He ran outside and
asked a Neopet and her owner where the café was.
"That's weird, I never got a something has happened
sign like this before; I mean some ghost stole my Neopoints is common, but a
wandering Kyrii asks you where the Grundo's Café is, is just weird," said the
owner, but his Neopet pointed towards the café's direction.
"Thanks," Vin said and ran off. A huge Grundo,
larger than the guards who had ran after him was helping two small Grundos who
had blasted Sloths earlier.
"Could I help you?" the chef asked.
"Erm…"
"You look tired, how about a nice drink, one
ice cold drink coming up."
"But I don't have any Neopoints."
"No points! Do you even have an owner?" the
chef boomed. The two small Grundos chuckled.
"Well… no, but what about them?" Vin pointed
at the two Grundos.
"Oh, they're an exception; there are lots of
ownerless Grundos, like me. I think it's better this way anyhow. We don't need
anyone to control us, why we just rebelled against Sloth a few months ago, at
that war. Sure a few owners come with their Grundos here. Their Grundos saying
it's the best life in Neopia, but what do they know, eh? One thing you gotta
know is freedom always comes first. Who cares about forever being rich or respected,
when it's not even fun."
"You're wrong," Vin gritted, remembering his
owner and siblings. "And Sloth's back. He's going to start another war, I mean
it, and this time he's prepared."
The chef stared back. Suddenly, the two Grundo
Guards trooped out of the shop. I should have added more acid.
"Hide me," Vin shrieked. The Grundo chef opened
a bottom cupboard and locked Vin inside.
"Have you seen a yellow Kyrii around here?"
"Well, well, would you look at the time, we
really should be blasting more Sloths right now," said the small Grundos and
they scampered off. The Grundo Guards growled, for that game was always their
least favorite (they had a hard time catching sight of the sloth), but ignored
them.
"Have you seen him?" they hissed.
"No, in fact I hadn't had a single Kyrii customer
all day."
"All right, let's go Grunt."
"Hey," Grunt said suddenly. "About that cupboard
of yours…"
To be continued…
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