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Jacob was already in the city when he noticed the Grundos.
He knew they would eventually overtake them, and he would be no match for them.
If there was any hope for him to get to the robot in time, he needed to slow down
their charge. Taking Metonot inside of a ruined home, he quickly formulated a
plan.
"Metonot, I need you to do something for me,"
said Jacob as he rummaged through his travel sack. "You have to distract the
Grundos behind us."
"What! I can't do that! They would throw me
around like a rag doll!"
"If you were fighting them, yes, they would.
But I don't want you to do that. I just want you to distract them while I head
off to help fight the robot."
After handing the Sword of Domar and a Small
Metal Shield to Metonot, Jacob reached inside his pocket and pulled out Whooper.
"Come on, Whooper," said Jacob. "Time to wake
up now."
Whooper made a few beeping noises, and began
to hover instantly.
"Good. I need you to help Metonot distract some
Grundos. Do not battle with them, as you will lose. If you are in danger, run
after me, okay?"
Whooper spun around its head and said, "Must
protect Neopet."
Satisfied, Jacob focused his attention again
at Metonot, who was beginning to shake with fear.
"Hey now," said Jacob as he went down to one
knee, "don't worry. You'll be fine. All you have to do is pretend you're running
after Whooper instead of running away from Mutant Grundos."
Metonot gave a slight laugh at that, and said,
"I guess it won't be so hard if I think of it like that."
"Good," said Jacob as he got up to run. "I'm
counting on you Metonot. Be careful, alright?"
"I will."
Jacob gave one last smile, and ran off towards
the center of Faerie City. Metonot looked at Whooper, who was jumping up and
down excitedly. Smiling to himself, he ran out of their hiding place and into
the front of the advancing Mutant Grundos.
"Hey you stupid green buffoons! Bet you can't
hit me with those big hands of yours!"
As if to strengthen Metonot's claim, Whooper
blast a Grundo in the eyes with its laser beams.
Alana, a Earth Faerie and one of the healers
inside of the castle, crouched beside Fyora, unable to rouse her from her sleep.
She didn't understand it. She had already given her enough strength to heal
a small army, but Fyora kept asleep.
"Are you sure you're casting the correct spell?"
asked Danielle, a Fire Faerie, her assistant.
"Yes, I'm sure! I think this collar around her
necklace is absorbing all of the energy I'm giving her."
"Then how are we going to awaken Fyora?"
A voice from behind them said, "We are going
to have to destroy the robot."
Alana and Danielle turned around to see Jacob
watching them. Alana was speechless, therefore Danielle got in the first words.
"What are you doing here? And what do you mean
we have to…"
"Jacob!" said Alana, her surprise finally gone.
"Thank goodness you're here!"
"Wait a minute!" said Danielle. "You're glad
to see him?"
"Of course I am! Aren't you?"
Danielle said nothing, as she really wasn't glad
that he was back. She hated him. Not taking notice of her dissatisfaction, Alana
motioned for Jacob to come closer and said, "I think this collar is absorbing
all the healing energy I'm giving to Fyora. Are you able to take it off?"
Jacob shook his head and said, "The collar is
shut tight by technology, not magic."
"Then could you at least make it so that I'm
able to heal her. The collar is absorbing all my magic."
"Even if I stopped the flow of magic to the
collar, it would begin absorbing from Fyora the instant I walk away. I got no
time for that."
"How dare you!" screamed Danielle. "You don't
care what will happen to Fyora at all, do you?"
"If we destroy the robot that put the collar
on her, she will be fine," said Jacob. "The flow of energy that is going from
Fyora to the robot will then be cut."
"And what makes you so sure that the robot is
taking away her energy?" Danielle said accusingly.
Jacob looked at her calmly and said, "I see it."
While Alana and Danielle were taken aback by
what he said, Jacob walked over to Fyora lay and picked up her staff.
"What do you think you're doing!" screamed a
panicked Danielle as she grabbed for his arms.
Jacob swung his fist at Danielle, not giving
her a chance to act against him. She fell over, stunned. He stood up, Fyora's
staff in his hands. Alana looked at Jacob with fear, but he reassured her by
saying, "Don't worry Alana. I know what I'm doing. I will destroy the robot."
Alana, holding the unconscious Fyora, merely
nodded. Smiling, Jacob ran towards the castle. As he ran, he called back to
Alana, saying, "Take care of Fyora."
Inside the castle, the Roboball fired upon all
creatures it saw. Thankfully, not that many Faeries or Neopets were left behind,
as they all fled upon the defeat of Fyora. The Roboball's main goal was now
to destroy the castle. Upon the destruction of it and the city, panic and chaos
would spread throughout all of Neopia, and no one would dare defy the one that
destroyed Faerieland.
Down the hallway, in the full view of the Roboball,
a hiding Lupe thought it would be the best time to run away. It aimed its hand
at the retreating Lupe, ready to fire. The instant he fired however, he was
hit from behind by huge boulders, and the laser shot missed by a few feet.
Unharmed by the boulders, the robot turned around
and saw Jacob standing down the hallway. The Roboball rushed towards him, intending
to smash Jacob with its fist. Jacob dodged the punch, and forced the staff he
held against the Roboball's arm, attempting to pin it down. Jacob was merely
thrown several feet away when the robot pushed him off.
Landing on his feet, Jacob thought, "Okay. I
need to take him out of this castle to fight him, but I can't force him out.
He is to strong to take on physically, and he'll just absorb the magic I use."
The Roboball began to rush him again.
"Maybe if I used his own momentum against him."
When the Roboball threw its next punch at Jacob,
he didn't dodge. He grabbed the Roboball's hand and pulled it towards him, pulling
the Roboball off balance. Then Jacob pulled it with him through the walls of
the castle.
Finally outside of the castle, Jacob let go of
the off guard Roboball and hit it like a baseball with Fyora's staff. It flew
off towards the smoking buildings of the city.
"Well, at least it's out of the castle," thought
Jacob. "Hope it doesn't get in the way of Metonot. He's got enough problems
with the Mutant Grundos."
During the chase Metonot gave the Mutant Grundos,
he had woven them back and forth across the city, making it near impossible
to attack the city, as those that were rushing after him ran into others along
the way. He was having the time of his life. Of course, as with all good things,
it had to end eventually, as was the case right now. The entirety of the army
was after him now, and they were all annoyed that a weak Korbat along with an
Avabot could cause them so much trouble.
"Come on, Whooper!" cried Metonot. "We're in
way over our head! Let's find Jacob and hope he can help us get rid of these
goons!"
Whooper responded by making a loud beep and firing
another laser shot at the rampaging Grundos.
With a few more seconds running, Metonot would
be out of the downtown part of the city, and would be able to find Jacob more
easily. Right before he could exit though, something crashed right in front
of him. The shockwave knocked down not only Metonot and Whooper, but the Mutant
Grundos that were chasing them. As Metonot got up from the ground, he saw the
object that crashed in front of him. It was a glowing red and silver robot.
"This must be the robot that Jacob was talking
about," thought Metonot, beginning to panic.
The robot took notice of Metonot, and raised
one of its hands towards him. Metonot yelped, knowing that this was the end
for him. Before the robot could fire however, a loud voice from behind him called
out, "Roboball!"
The robot dropped its arm, focused on the one
that called out, and said in a monotone voice, "Yes Master Sloth?"
Uh oh, thought Metonot as he turned around.
Behind the ranks of the Mutant Grundos, He saw Dr. Sloth laughing manically.
Metonot quickly flew off with Whooper to hide behind some rubble while Sloth's
army and the robot named 'Roboball' were distracted.
While Metonot hid, he was able to hear Sloth
say, "How many collars do you have left Roboball?"
"One Master Sloth. But I have already reached
maximum power."
"Good! Good! Save that collar for later. If
one of your power sources should fail to give you anymore power, you can find
a replacement with that final collar. Now…destroy this city and everyone in
it, starting with the Korbat that ran behind the rubble over there!"
Taking that as his cue to run, Metonot jumped
away just in time, as the rocks he was hiding behind were blown apart by the
Roboball. A few more shots were fired after him as he ran, but Metonot was fast
enough to stay out of the way. It looked like he was in the clear, until a few
Mutant Grundos jumped in front of him. Metonot threw his arms up in front of
him to defend himself from the thrashing he knew he was about to receive.
Instead of feeling fists, however, Metonot felt
a magical force flow over him. It was a pleasant and good feeling instead of
being harmful. Opening his eyes, Metonot saw the Mutants Grundos that were about
to throttle him were now regular shaped Green Grundos. They were dazed and confused,
as if they had no idea how that got to where they were. A whistle above Metonot's
head broke his eyes away from them, and when he looked up, he saw Jacob. He
was floating above the ruins, holding onto Fyora's staff.
"You alright there, Metonot?" said Jacob.
Metonot was about to ask what had just happened,
before Dr. Sloth screeched behind him.
"How DARE you take away my Grundo army!" screamed
Sloth. "I'll make you pay! Roboball, attack that…"
Sloth stopped in mid sentence and began to shake.
Confused, Metonot looked back up at Jacob, who was pointing Fyora's staff right
at Sloth.
"He's trying to take control of Dr. Sloth's
actions!" thought Metonot excitedly.
After a few more seconds, Sloth began to utter
words with great effort.
"…Robo…ball…"
"Yes, Mater Sloth?" chimed the Roboball.
"…For three…minutes…I…want you…to…obey…all orders…from
him," said Sloth, pointing up at Jacob.
"I'm programmed to obey only you Master Sloth."
"Then obey my…orders…Roboball!" cried Sloth,
who collapsed after finishing his sentence.
Jacob flew down right next to the Roboball, and
asked, "Tell me. How exactly does your energy absorption work?"
The Roboball told him everything, even the specifics
of what happens when a new person is collared when there are already to others
collared. Jacob pondered everything it told him, and he snapped his fingers
and said, "Metonot! Come over here!"
Metonot flew over to Jacob, uneasy about standing
next to the Roboball.
"Um… what do you need, Jacob?"
"I want you to do something that will be very
painful, but is necessary for me to take down this robot."
"What is it?"
"I want you to be collared by it. Doing so will
have it lose one of its already strong power sources, and replace it with you."
Metonot had overheard what the Roboball had said
about its absorption process, so Metonot jumped several feet away when Jacob
said that.
"What!" cried Metonot. "Are you kidding? I'm
not going to do that!"
"Metonot, if you don't do it, the Roboball will
be too strong to overpower," said Jacob in a pleading tone. "I need to order
it to the robot while I still can."
"Why don't you just have Sloth order more time
for you to be in control of it? Maybe even have it under you permanent control."
"I can't do that Metonot. Sloth's mind is too
strong to manipulate. All I could get was three minutes, and can't get anymore
now, as he's currently unconscious. If we waste anymore time, I'll lose control
of the Roboball, and Faerieland and the rest of Neopia will be doomed."
Metonot looked at the Roboball, who was now starting
to get jittery, as if it was getting impatient. In a few more moments, the Roboball
would attack them both. Making up his mind, Metonot gave a grim nod to Jacob.
Not wasting any time, Jacob yelled at the robot
and said, "Roboball! Collar this Neopet right here!"
"Sloth said to save last collar for emergency,"
said the Roboball. "And your designated target will lower my power drastically."
"Do it anyway! I order you to collar it now!
The Roboball waited a few more seconds, and then
a compartment opened up on it. A collar flew out and onto Metonot's waiting
neck. Fearful, he stared up at Jacob, who said, "Don't worry. Everything will
turn out alright."
The collar activated, and Metonot fell over unconscious.
Whooper, who had remained silent the whole time, floated over to him, and began
to try and rouse Metonot by tapping him with its feet.
Jacob looked away from his Neopet, and stared
at the Roboball. It was beginning to power down, and the glow around it faded
away. Jacob knew that it was weaker, but it was still a formidable foe, as it
had Fyora's power.
"Alright then," said Jacob, gripping Fyora's
staff tightly. "Let's see what you got."
To be continued...
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