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Outside of the city, Jhudora woke up from unconsciousness,
the robot's collar off of her neck. Propping herself against the wall, she got
to her feet and began to slowly walk towards the entrance of her cloud, leaning
against the wall for support. She was seething with anger, as that robot she fought
beat her down to unconscious. No one in hundreds of years has done that. And those
that did never came back from the rematch.
Jhudora intended to make it that way for the
robot. However, that was going to be a problem, as it could be anywhere in Neopia
now. Her doubts were swept away when she got outside. Jhudora saw the smoke
rising from the city.
"So the robot is attacking Faerie City?" thought
Jhudora with a grin. "This is perfect."
Raising her hand, Jhudora summoned forth her
staff, which appeared in her outstretched hand with a flash. Coming off the
support of the doorway, she grasped her staff with both hands, summoning up
a storm that would cover up the whole city.
"Not only will I destroy the robot, but I will
finally destroy Faerieland, and the rule of Fyora."
With the image of the robot in her mind, Jhudora
sent out the storm upon the city, covering it with its dark and thunderous clouds.
Jacob was finally able to knock the Roboball
to its feet when the thunder clouds blocked out the sun. He looked fearfully
up at the sky, knowing full well where the source of this storm was from.
"Darn it, Jhudora!" cursed Jacob. "Why of all
times do you have to send a magical storm?"
The Roboball, sensing the new magical energy,
formed into a ball and flew up into the dark clouds. Jacob followed after it,
not only angry now, but fearful. If the Roboball absorbed the magical energy
of the storm, it would be recharged with power again, and Jacob would not be
able to stop it.
Catching up to the Roboball, Jacob could see
that thunderbolts were already striking the surface of it and being absorbed.
Summoning up magic quickly, Jacob swung Fyora's staff, sending his own winds
against the dark clouds. He hoped this would fend off the clouds and take away
the Roboball's new source of power. In a few moments, the clouds dispersed,
and the thundering disappeared. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jacob focused his
attention back on the Roboball.
The Roboball was flying straight at him, taking
advantage of the fact that Jacob's back was towards it. It struck Jacob hard,
but he did not let go of Fyora's staff. The Roboball continued flying down towards
the city, intending to crush Jacob into the rubble. Quickly gathering his wits,
Jacob teleported away just in time, before the Roboball smashed into the buildings.
Not far off, in an abandoned cellar, Jacob was
breathing heavily. He was overmatched, and he knew the reason why. It was Fyora's
staff. While it was one of the most powerful magical relics known, it was not
a thing of war. It was meant to heal, nurture, and protect, not harm. To use
it for battle would go against the will of the staff's purpose. And against
the will of Fyora.
But Jacob needed its magic now, even if it was
forbidden. The staff itself would not allow itself to be used for destruction,
so Jacob would have to put its power into himself. It would be dangerous, but
it was the only way. The robot needed to be destroyed, and a staff that was
meant to heal would not be of use.
With Fyora's staff in his hands, he kneeled
on the ground, and focused its magic into himself. If anyone passed by the cellar
at that moment, they would have seen a red glow come from its opening, getting
brighter by the second.
The Roboball forgot all about Jacob, and was
now destroying the surrounding homes. After a few minutes of destruction, the
Roboball noticed a red glowing form running straight at him. It was Jacob, his
face full of fury. Taking opportunity of the distance between them, the Roboball
fired a few laser shots at him.
Jacob did not dodge, and ran straight into the
barrage. He flinched with pain and almost tripped on his feet, but he kept on
running straight at the Roboball. Sensing that laser fire was ineffective, it
began to charge at Jacob, intending to take a more personal approach.
Coming upon one another, the Roboball swung
its fist at Jacob. Jacob merely swatted it aside and threw his own punch, hitting
it right in the face. Again and again, Jacob kept throwing punches at the Roboball,
not giving a chance to retaliate. The Roboball, beginning to finally feel fear
of destruction, formed into a ball and slammed into Jacob.
Jacob flew only a few feet with the Roboball
before he grabbed hold of it and forcible stopped it in its tracks. The Roboball
kept trying to force Jacob backwards, and it only succeeded with a few inches.
With a great cry, Jacob began to press against the sides of the Roboball. As
its hull began to crack, the Roboball stopped trying to press Jacob backwards,
and began to try and fly from Jacob's crushing grasp.
Sneering, Jacob said, "I'm sorry. There's no
escape for you now."
One hour later, all of those that had fled during
the Roboball's attack had come back. Many of them were putting out fires, repairing
buildings, and healing the wounded. Some of them were even helping the freed
Grundos search for Dr. Sloth, who had seemed to disappear in all the confusion.
Alana was in charge of the faction that was
healing the wounded. At the moment though, she was more concerned with finding
Jacob and Fyora's staff. She found him removing rubble from a building, with
the help of assorted Faeries and Neopets.
"Jacob!" cried out Alana.
Turning away from the rubble, Jacob gave a faint
smile when he saw Alana.
"Good to see you Alana. I was hoping you would
be able to heal Metonot for me, as he still seems a bit wobbly on his feet."
"There will be time for that later. Is the robot
destroyed?"
"Yeah, it's destroyed. We wouldn't be able to
do all this if it wasn't."
"Good," said Alana as she breathed a sigh of
relief. "I'm glad my trust in you didn't fail."
"I'm just glad you did!" said Jacob.
Alana giggled a bit in her happiness, and said,
"Come on, then. Let's go to Fyora. She'll want her staff back."
Jacob got a cautious look on his face, saying,
"Um… I don't know if that would be a good idea Alana."
"Why not?"
"I sort of lost it," Jacob said with a sheepish
look.
Dr. Sloth was hiding deep in a forest laughing.
His Roboball was destroyed, and his army was converted back to normal. But his
plan wasn't a total failure, as he now held one of the most powerful magical
relics in Neopia. Fyora's staff!
"With Fyora's staff missing, Faerieland will
be in disorder!" thought Sloth triumphantly. "In the meantime, I will study
the magic of this staff, and gather more Grundos to man my army, and lay siege
to Neopia another time!"
Sloth began to laugh again, put his laughter
was cut short when he realized he wasn't holding Fyora's staff anymore. Panicking,
he looked all about him, hoping that he dropped it. Finding nothing, Sloth had
begun to realize the obvious truth. Fyora called back her staff.
"No!" screamed Sloth, as he began to kick a
tree in anger.
The Roboball: Epilogue
Alana was pulling Jacob by the arm through the castle. They were being followed
by Metonot and Whooper, who were trying to keep pace with the arguing Faeries.
"I can't believe I trusted you with Fyora's
staff!" yelled Alana. "I should have just done what Danielle was going to do,
and stop you!"
"Hey, will you stop yelling at me," said Jacob.
"The magic I used on myself put me in a rage. I couldn't control my actions,
so I left the staff wherever it is. At least I destroyed the Roboball."
"The destruction of a silly named robot doesn't
matter if Fyora loses her power to rule!"
"Will you stop worrying Alana?" said Jacob reassuringly.
"Maybe Fyora has a recall spell on her staff that will make it return to her
hands."
"Stop trying to defend yourself Jacob!" said
Alana, turning towards him. "You lost Fyora's staff! And when the rest of Neopia
finds out, there will be chaos. And I hope they find out it was you. You deserve
to be…"
"That's enough Alana!" said Fyora.
Both of them turned towards her voice. She was
standing only ten feet away from them, holding her staff.
"You have your staff Fyora," said Alana.
"Yes, I do. Thankfully, I did have a recall
spell on it. It was a bit old though, and only by luck did it work."
Jacob gave a sigh of relief to what she said.
Fyora looked at him and gave a smile, saying, "It's good to see you again Jacob."
"It's good to see you too Fyora," said Jacob
as he bowed.
"Why have you decided to come back now after
all this time?" inquired Fyora. "Well, to be truthful, this isn't the first
time I've been here. I've just laid low. I'm here now because I heard from some
faerie that a robot was attacking here."
"'Some faerie'?" asked Fyora, raising an eyebrow.
"Doesn't matter now. You'll find out later who
it was."
Fyora nodded her head and said, "Do you have
proof that the robot is destroyed?" Jacob nodded and reached into the side of
his coat. He pulled out a flattened red and silver disk, and dropped it to the
floor. The disk hit the floor and rolled to Fyora's feet, falling over mere
inches from hitting her toes.
"This is the robot?" asked Fyora.
Jacob became a bit red in the face, and said,
"Yeah. That's it alright."
Fyora nodded again, and looked at Jacob and
talked with a more serious tone.
"I wanted to ask what it is you did to destroy
it."
Still red in the face, Jacob scratched his head
and said, "Well, I don't really need to tell you, as you can tell by the state
of your staff what happened."
"You took the magic from my staff and used it
in a destructive way," said Fyora, to which Jacob gave a nod. "You used an illegal
form of magic, turning the power to heal, to harm. A very punishable offense."
Jacob kept silent and looked at the floor while
Fyora let what she said sink in. "An offense I will not charge you for," continued
Fyora. "While I am not pleased you did it, you would not have done it if it
was not necessary. I am glad that you were successful."
Jacob continued to keep silent and stare at
the floor.
"However, I'm also guessing that you didn't
enjoy what it was you did."
Giving a nod, Jacob still kept his eyes to the
floor.
"That's some much like you. You always refrain
from violence, even though you've been tempted many times in the past. Whenever
you did jump to anger, you'd always be ashamed. And I suppose the rage you were
in when you did this," said Fyora as she tapped the now crushed robot, "didn't
feel too good either."
"I'll be fine, Fyora," said Jacob, looking up
from the floor finely.
Fyora smiled, and said, "I know you will. It
was good to see you Jacob."
Jacob grunted, turning away from Fyora. Alana,
who stood silent during their conversing, put her hand on Jacob's shoulder,
saying, "Jacob, I'm sorry if I…"
Alana stopped when Jacob brushed her hand off
of his shoulder.
"I don't need an apology Alana. If Fyora didn't
have a recall spell on her staff, you'd still be yelling at me."
Jacob walked away from both of them towards
Metonot, who was waiting for him. Fyora turned towards Alana, seeing that she
was in turmoil and said, "Don't worry about what you said Alana. Jacob isn't
unforgiving."
"I told him I couldn't trust him, and I would
have said worse if you didn't interrupt me," said Alana, on the brink of tears.
"Jacob used to sensitive in the past, but life
has made him stubborn, and free of care. What you said might have hurt him,
but not much. He understands you were just upset, and was looking for some outlet
for your frustration. You need not worry if you think you've damaged your relationship.
Just give him time, and he'll come back someday."
Alana sighed, said thank you, and ran off to
find wounded Neopets and Faeries, hoping to take her mind off things. Fyora,
letting out a sigh of her own, picked up the crushed remains of the robot and
walked away.
As Jacob and Metonot walked out of the castle,
Metonot finally spoke up and said, "So…I guess you know Fyora really well."
Jacob laughed, saying, "Yeah. I guess you could
say that. We've seen enough of each other to see eye to eye."
"…Wow. Do you think you could introduce me to
her? I'd like to meet her!"
"You could have met her right there in the castle!
Nothing was stopping you!"
"Well… I didn't want to interrupt what you two
were talking about. I don't think Fyora would think too highly of me if I did.
And when you were finished talking, it seemed like you wanted to leave. And
I've learned it's impossible to argue with you when you want something."
Jacob began to laugh some more, getting the
attention of all those around them as they walked through the devastated city.
"Yeah, I guess you are right. I suppose I should
try to set that up next time we come here. I should be of celebrity status after
today."
"Hey, you're right!" said Metonot, flying excitedly.
"You saved Faerieland from destruction! Maybe even Neopia!"
"I don't see how that should change anything.
I'll be viewed by a higher standard, but I'll still be viewed the same."
"How can you say that? When people find out
what you've done, they'll…you know," said Metonot as he got a cautious face.
"Faeries will be able to except you now."
Jacob smiled, and said, "Again, I doubt it.
When the rest of the Faeries find out it was me who destroyed the robot, word
of how I tore Cassie's wing, punched Danielle, and improperly used Fyora's staff
will spread. Then my past will start to leak out to others, and then rumors
will be made. The intolerance given to me by the Faeries will be the same, only
on a higher scale. The rest of Neopia will know."
Hearing this, Metonot began to feel sick. Jacob
was going to have to put up with more pain because he did a good deed. Jacob
took notice of Metonot's attitude and said, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm
not worried. Only thing I'm worried about is your well being. How are you holding
up from being zapped by that collar?"
Thankful for the subject change, Metonot said,
"I'm fine. One of the cities guards gave me a healing potion after it came off,
so I…"
"No," interrupted Jacob. "I mean, how are you
dealing with the fact that I told you to accept having a collar around your
neck."
Metonot was taken aback, and looked up at Jacob.
His eyes were filled with concern. After thinking for a bit, Metonot said, "Well,
you said it was the only way to power down the Roboball. Besides, it wasn't
really that painful. This whole day was a fun adventure! I'm glad we came on
this trip!"
Jacob grunted, and said, "I guess that's one
way to look at it."
All of a sudden, Jacob stopped and snapped his
fingers, as something dawned on his mind.
"The Battledome!" said Jacob. "I forgot all
about the reason we started this trip! Come on, Metonot! Let's go before we
miss out on some good fights!"
Jacob ran off, without giving Metonot a chance
to say anything.
"Story of my life," thought Metonot. "Jacob
gets serious for once and suddenly snaps back to being care free. Should have
figured it wouldn't last."
Metonot flew off after Jacob, calling for Whooper
to keep up with him.
The End
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