THEY RAN DOWN the hallway, sweating from both fear and their exertion of energy
in the run. They passed doors on either side of them. When they reached the
end of the hallway, they ducked into the closest doorway. Their hearts where
beating loudly enough for them to hear each other's. They looked around the
room that they had just entered. It was small, dark. At the other end of the
room was a door. They walked to it and opened it. The door led to another hallway.
Once again, it was very long and bright white.
The only visible difference were the Grundo guards at the end of the hallway,
who happened to see them. The guards, three in all, charged toward the group.
They had no weapons, but appeared to be very strong. The group turned around
into the room again, only to see two more, unarmed but strong Grundos coming
out of the shadows of the room. They were trapped, all they could do was fight
and hope to make it out alive. Butterwort and Brian went into the room and faced
the two Grundos from there, while Magister Wally, Kay, and Jellybraun attacked
the charging Grundos from the hallway. Magister Wally was the first to strike
a hit against the Grundos, he bruised it, but the sword did no further damage.
Angry, the Grundo wrenched the swords from Wally's hand and struck Wally down
with it. The Magister fell to the floor, his eyes wide. The Grundo spat on the
Magister's body, then made a move at Jellybraun. Jellybraun defended himself,
but not without strain, the blow from the Grundo was strong enough to send the
Chia flying backward, though he blocked the hit. Having enough, Kay ran at the
Grundo, leaped over it, and struck it in its back. The Grundo melted away into
a green paste. Jellybraun and Kay both took on the second Grundo and defeated
it easily. The third Grundo was slightly tougher an opponent, but still, in
the end, went down. Soon later, Brian and Butterwort returned, Brian had a large
bruise over his right eye.
They looked down at the late Magister, and Butterwort
spoke up. "Our first death." He began to cry.
"Don't cry Butterwort," said Kay, sympathetically.
"We hardly knew him anyway..." He trailed off and began to whimper.
"Let's go," said Jellybraun. They moved on to
the end of the hallway, leaving the Magister's body behind. They exited it through
a door at the end. They moved into a large room with tubes all along the walls,
eggs in each of them.
"They look just like my egg," said Kay, still
wimpering.
They moved on. In the center of the room, the
floor was raised, computer consoles were on it, along with some moving shape...
"Dorg!" yelled Jellybraun.
"Yes, how did you guess?" he stepped out of
the shadows. "There is also someone else here that you should meet."
"Who?" asked Jellybraun, angrily.
"See for yourself. You can come out now, Doctor!"
A door to the right of Dorg opened, and a tall
figure emerged from it. It came into the light.
"Doctor Sloth!" exclaimed Kay. "You are behind
this war?! You're obviously doing something about these eggs, too?!"
"Yes, yes," said Sloth, glowering at Kay. "I
have to do with everything going on in Neopia right now. Even the problem with
Coltzan's Shrine. It's all me."
"You filthy villian! How could you be doing
this?!"
"Easy, I just want to."
Dorg spoke up. "I asked for his help in the
war, that's what got him started on all this."
"Correct, General," said Sloth. "When I found
out you had come across one of the Grarrl eggs I cloned, I hired Rowfort to
join your quest. I told him to turn you in to the Lupes when you got to Terror
Mountain. Then, the Lupes would take the egg from you, and return it to me."
"Are they real eggs?" asked Kay."
"Oh yes."
"Why would you make such a thing."
"There's an easy answer. World conquest. I would
train them to help my Grundos take over all of Neopia."
"How did you lose that egg?"
"I had it out, and accidentally let it go into
the garbage shoot. It eventually landed on Krawk Island, where you found it."
"Who told you I had it?"
"One of your best friends, and perhaps the love
of your life. You know who I'm talking about. Judy. She's one of my informants."
"Judy..."
"In three days, I will unleash every Grundo
in Virtupets, which is about three hundred million, on Neopia."
"No..." said Jellybraun. The loud speakers of
Virtupets crackled on.
"WE ARE HAPPY TO REPORT THAT SO FAR TODAY, WE
HAVE DESTROYED THREE QUARTERS OF THE CHIA ARMY. WE EXPECT TO HAVE WIPED THEM
OUT IN THREE HOURS TIME."
"No!" yelled Kay. "You're going to pay for all
the Chias that were killed today!" he charged at Doctor Sloth, who moved out
of the way and stole the sword from Kay's hand.
"Claws," started Sloth. "Get them!"
Large metal claws on flexible metal arms came
popping out of the floor. The group dodged them, but the claws wre relentless
and continued to pursue the company. Soon, tired out, all the group save Kay
were captured and held in the grip of the claws.
"Kay!" yelled Butterwort. Kay turned to him,
still dodging the claws. "Run! Leave here!" Listening to Butterwort, Kay ran
to the door, opened it, and fled the room. The claws pursued him still, he ran
harder to the end of the hallway, passing by the Magister's body. He opened
the door that went to the room he was in earlier, got in, and shut it. He could
hear the sound of the claws impacting the door on the other side. He fled the
room into the first hallway and then into the landing bay. There, he stopped
dead. In f ront of him were at least three hundred million Grundos, loading
themselves into transports. He fled back into the hallway, and sat on the floor.
He began to cry.
The End | 
