One Last Chance

by oojaxoo182

It was the year 2201, and all of Neopia was ruled by a cruel overlord. He kept power with a vast army of traitorous Neopians and pound pets who thought they finally found someone to care for them. Prices in Neopia were far too high, money was taken from users in huge amounts, and pets were abducted from their homes to work as slaves. Neopia was falling apart at the seams, but few wanted to oppose the evil government. However, there were bands of rebels and guerilla fighters. Most were quickly killed or imprisoned; their cause quenched somehow. But there was one group in particular that survived. They were nameless and usually didn't start battles. They waited patiently for their power to grow.

The band was led by "the four", as they were called. They were descendants of the original fighters from when Neopia was first conquered. They were B_B01 the Korbat, blaze13 the Uni, Scydemon the Gelert, and Tessie_11725 the Gelert. They had an owner, but she usually remained anonymous. "The four" were highly intelligent and well trained. They had allies all over, but were not yet ready to strike. The overlord knew of their existence, though he never caught them. Because of this, they could not have a store or a NeoHome. They wandered all over Neopia or stayed in the homes of supporters.

One night, as they settled in the basement of a friend, they heard a knock at the door in the house above. The could hear the door creaking open and caught word of conversation.

"No......rebels........not.......what....we.....hiding......no one," Then came the evil voice of one of the ruler's soldiers. This one was more clear.

"We know you are hiding those scoundrels, 'the four' I believe. Show us where they are, and your death shall be painless!"

"I told you, no one is here!" the friend said nervously. Then they heard her tapping her foot against the floor. It was Morse code for them.

'Get out. Go through the basement window and run!' it spelled. The four quietly unfastened the window and leaped out. However, as blaze13 shoved through, the basement door creaked open.

"Get them!" the soldier yelled. Blaze13 slipped through the window and went running after the others, but they were blocked by a huge Grarrl. It was General Alfonso_D_Saur, they had met before, but more briefly.

"Ah, hello, wait till his lordship sees what I have found! The leaders of the band he has been after for two years!" the Grarrl laughed. Suddenly, a huge boulder flew up and hit the general on the head. Tessie_11725 had used her magic pebble ability. They took a run for it, Tessie_11725 throwing rocks at anyone trying to stop them.

Suddenly, Scydemon tripped and fell on the ground, his leg crumpling beneath him. The other pets looked back at him.

"Go!!!! Save yourselves, you are more important!" Scydemon yelled. He tossed his transporter helmet. "Go!"

Scydemon had set the helmet and now they were all beamed to Faerie City, or what was left of it. He rolled onto his side and shot sparks at the nearest soldier, but he was soon overcome by them and was hauled away.

The others arrived at Faerie City The once beautiful, gleaming building were dilapidated and leaned precariously. Faeries didn't exist anymore. They had all run away or been captured long ago. Many said the overlord kept the Faerie Queen in chains in his throne room. Blaze13 looked around. She knew Scydemon was probably caught and taken away by now. She didn't think they had technology to make him tell secret information yet, but she still worried for him and their cause. B_B01 looked inside the old Faerie bookstore and came out with a few books. They had been left over when everyone fled from the city. They were very rare books and he thought they could go to good use. He put them down in the circle where the pets were.

"I haven't read that one," Tessie_11725 said, picking up a purple book with a Faerie on the cover. Blaze13 grabbed a plain pink book with faded black lettering. She looked inside and realised it was a diary.

Dearest Diary,

2001Butterscotch2001 has been caught, His execution was in the papers today. I cannot believe it. The resistance is down to only me and Scywolf2000. And imagine how I didn't like him when we first adopted him. Now it is all up to us. I am to have my child soon, I don't know what I shall do. I cannot settle down long enough to have her.

Starfire_0013

Blaze13 showed the diary to her owner.

"Well I'll be.....that is your great-great-grandmother's diary. She started the resistance long ago. 2001Butterscotch2001 was B_B01's ancestor, and Scywolf2000 was Scydemon's ancestor. Tessie_11725's ancestor was named Yellowie_11725," she said.

"Well, 2001Butterscotch2001 had already had a son with a Shoyru before he was killed. Scywolf2000 was captured and killed, he had a kid too. Starfire_0013 had her baby in prison, but it escaped with help from friends. Yellowie_11725 was captured but escaped after everyone was already dead. She continued resistance work until she died, having produced two children," the owner said.

"We are all going to die too," Tessie_11725 said.

"No, this time we will finally win!" her owner replied. The pets grumbled. "Well, now that they've seen you nice and close, I'm afraid we'll have to paint you." The owner went searching throughout the city and came back with four paintbrushes. She used a white paint brush on Blaze13, a green one on Tessie_11725, and a yellow one on B_B01. She put a shadowed one into her bag to paint Scydemon if she ever saw him again.

"Why are we all ordinary colors?" Tessie_11725 asked.

"Special pets stand out, we don't want you to stand out. Someone would notice a Faerie Gelert in the middle of this poverty stricken world," the owner answered.

"Oh," said Tessie, realising her stupidity.

Scydemon was handcuffed and bounded with powerful spells. Then he was taken to see the overlord. Two Skeiths in green uniforms marched him into the throne room. Scydemon noticed the fear everyone in the room seemed to have. Next to the throne, there was a figure in chains. She was withered and weak looking, but even in her condition she seemed to glow and radiate from her purple hair to the tips of her toes. Scydemon looked at the throne. There was seated a figure in black. Scydemon couldn't see any part of him, except two evil eyes peering from under his black cloak. He knew this was the overlord.

"Bow before your master!" the ruler roared. His voice seemed to penetrate deep into Scydemon's mind. Everyone in the room flinched. Scydemon's head whirled as the voice echoed. The Skeiths pushed him to his knees. Scydemon cried out as he landed on his injured leg.

"Hurts does it? Well I can show much more pain than that!" the overlord screeched. "Take him away, I will come to the dungeons later to decide how to handle him."

As Scydemon was dragged from the room, he looked into the crowd. He recognised Betty_Bean. They were to stay at her house three nights in advance. She would betray them, and the rest of the four would be caught. That is if they decided to go. Scydemon couldn't control that now, he couldn't even control his own life.

"We have to free Scydemon," Blaze13 said, "He is essential to the resistance and he has vital information. And most of all, he is our friend."

"I agree, but he is in the capitol palace prison," her owner said, "It is hard enough to get into the town it's in, let alone the dungeon."

"Yes, but we have no other choice," B_B01 said. So they began to plot. They searched around Faerie City for items they could use. They found a wet snowball, a poison snowball, a book of fire spells, a cloud charm, a fire gem, a blue Healthshroom, and a pair of denim coveralls. Then they sat to make a plan.

Meanwhile, Scydemon sat alone in his prison cell. Suddenly, he heard the door at the end of the hall open. His thoughts about escape were wiped away when General Alfonso_B_Saur and the overlord showed up at his cell.

"Terrible conditions," the overlord remarked, "I love it!"

"Shall we start torture for information?" the general asked.

"All right, let's. I'm very interested in what he has to say."

"I'll never tell you anything, you dirty scum!" Scydemon yelled.

"I see this one will be hard to get information from," the overlord said.

"Yes, but we will get information," the general replied.

Back in Faerie City, "the four" and their owner formulated their plan.

"Shall we do it after or before we stay at Betty_Bean's house?" B_B01 asked.

"I'm thinking before, we can't leave him there too long," Tessie_11725 said.

Suddenly, a shabby blue Poogle came running across the city. He stopped when he saw them.

"Run! Save yourselves! The army is headed this way to inspect the city!" it said.

The group glanced a each other in terror for a split second. Then they took off running. They could already see the huge group rising over a nearby cloud. A cruel looking stone Uni lead the group, consisting of other Unis, Eyries, Shoyrus, and Korbats. The air was filled with the sound of roaring from the beating of their wings.

The four split up. Blaze13 headed for the healing springs, B_B01 and Tessie_11725 went for the castle, and their owner disappeared among the clouds. The Poogle was nowhere to be seen.

Part of the army advanced for the castle. All of the faded yet beautiful stained glass windows flew apart as soldiers crashed through them or used abilities to blow them apart. B_B and Tessie were caught on the stairs. A blue Eyrie advanced to fight. Tessie threw a poison snowball at him and the Eyrie fell onto the floor, clutching his face. Next, two Korbats came for he attack. Tessie used her long tail to whip at their wings while B_B clawed, scratched, and used his abilities. The pets continued up the stairs.

When they reached the top, they turned right and left every which way. They took one last turn left and met a dead end. It was a tower room with one window. They turned to go back, but a group of fighters were coming down the hallway.

"How much do you weigh?" B_B asked Tessie.

"I think that is a little personal, why do you want to know at a time like this?!" she replied. B_B grabbed Tessie, blasted the window open using spark, and flung himself out. For a few seconds they plummeted downward, screaming at the top of their lungs. Then B_B pulled up and they were flying.

Tessie stared up in amazement. The soldiers were too afraid to jump out after them. Suddenly, there was a pushing at the window side. A purple Shoyru appeared. She leaped out and swooped after them.

"B_B!" Tessie yelled.

B_B tried to fly away, but Tessie was weighing him down. The Shoyru hit them at full force. Everyone was flung in a different direction. The Shoyru caught itself and flew after Tessie. B_B plummeted to earth unconsciously.

When the Shoyru got to Tessie, it hooked its claws around the nape of her neck. Tessie looked up indignantly.

"I caught you now," the Shoyru said.

Tessie slapped the Shoyru across the face with her long left ear while using spark at the same time. The Shoyru let go and recoiled in pain.

"No you don't," Tessie mumbled as she descended lower and lower.

Things seemed to go by so slowly as Tessie fell to earth. The clouds were a slow whirl.

I'm going to be finished and the resistance will be ruined, she thought.

Suddenly, there was a white blur, and Tessie found herself on Blaze13's back.

"Hi," Blaze said sarcastically.

Then Tessie spotted B_B. Apparently, so did Blaze because she took a huge dive towards him. Soon, B_B was sitting next to Tessie.

"Where's our owner?" Tessie asked.

"I.....I......I don't know," Blaze replied nervously.

Again, the remaining four members were horrified. Tessie spoke.

"You mean, we're alone......"

Scydemon found himself in a torture chamber. There were old fashioned tools as well as new, lab ones. The overlord stood in the corner, overseeing everything.

"You may begin," he said.

"What do you know about 'the four'?" the inquisitor asked.

Scydemon remained silent.

"What do you know?" he asked again.

"Nothing I'll ever tell you!" Scydemon hollered.

"I see," the inquisitor said. He looked at the overlord who nodded in approval.

He took Scydemon and strapped him to a chair and the torturing began.

Blaze, Tessie, and B_B escaped to Neopia before they were captured. However, it was still a punishment because a pet without an owner, especially in these times, was in grave danger.

The pets roamed the streets, warily watching around them. A chilly breeze tussled Tessie's fur and a shiver went up her spine. She had an urge to turn around so she did.

There, only a few feet away, was a gang of vicious looking Grarrls.

"Slowly turn around and look," Tessie said to the others.

Blaze and B_B turned their heads and gazed at the dinos in surprise. Then they attacked.

"Haven't we had enough?" Blaze said as she knocked down the nearest Grarrl

"I don't know, but I only have two hit points," B_B replied.

Suddenly, he was struck with a silver battlecard. B_B fell over, his hitpoints leaving him. The Grarrls moved in for the kill. The other pets were cornered and injured badly.

Then there was a shrill whistle. The Grarrls fled as the adoption Uni and Techo appeared. They grabbed B_B, Tessie, and Blaze and took them off to the clinic.

Tessie awoke in a cold, grey cage. To her right, she saw B_B, but she could not locate Blaze. Immediately she knew she was in the pound. She roused B_B.

"What should we do?" Tessie asked.

"Escape," B_B replied.

After scanning the room, the spotted Blaze a few cage down and contacted her. They were about to join their abilities to break out when the door flew open.

There stood Alfonso_D_Saur. He had come for new recruits for the army.

"Let me see here, what level is this one?" he asked pointing to Blaze.

"Level 20, sir," The Uni replied.

"Ah, in the name of his majesty, the king overlord, I will adopt this Uni," he said.

Tessie gasped in surprise.

"Shhhhh," B_B said, not wanting to blow their cover. Obviously, the general did not recognize them since the paint jobs.

Blaze was taken from her cage and hauled in front of Alfonso. The adoption Uni gave her a look of true sorrow. But then she gave a smirk.

As Alfonso_D_Saur was leaving, the fire bell went off. In all the confusion Blaze got away. The adoption Uni ran to B_B and Tessie's cages and let them free.

"I know your owner, now be gone before they realise you are missing," she said.

The pets did not know how to thank her, so they just left, leaving Alfonso_D_Saur and the adoption clinic behind.

Scydemon could barely breathe. He was still refusing to say anything to the inquisitor, but the pain was great. The overlord insisted on electric shocking, fire, water dunking, even mutation to get him to tell secrets, but nothing had worked. He was holding out. His one hope was that his friends were on the way.

And they were. The remaining three pets were more determined than ever. They didn't know where their owner was, but they knew their plan and intended to carry it out. They approached the capitol at nightfall and hid outside its walls.

They were crouched in a stand of bushes when they heard the gentle snapping of twigs. They ducked lower, and soon saw a person edging forward. It was their owner. Blaze leapt from the bush to embrace her, the others following.

Reunited, the group was stronger. They circled to the back of the city and began to scale the wall.

Everything seemed too perfect and peaceful. They reached the top of the wall with no unusual events. They were about to crawl down into the city when they heard a voice.

"You, stop," a yellow Kacheek called.

They turned around and looked at the Kacheek none of them were in a mood to be messed with.

Several minutes later, they were back in the process of climbing down, leaving an unconscious Kacheek behind them.

They entered the city and spotted the palace right away. They approached carefully and snuck in through the servants door.

Unfortunately, a group of soldiers was raiding the kitchen at that time.

The air became filled with fighting and a short while later, three uniformed pets and a human walked in to the palace.

They crept silently, following a map of the palace they had received. They headed south to the dungeon, not saying a word.

Not one guard detected them and they were soon entering the dreary fortress prison. They had no idea where Scydemon was, but cries from a passage leading left reminded them oddly of his voice.

Crossing their fingers, they slinked down the hall. When they arrived, there was door leading to a lab. Peering through the door, they saw Scydemon on a operating table, but it wasn't him. His long ears and tail were gone and he was a putrid color. He was mutated terribly. Tessie let out a cry of horrified surprise. The inquisitor turned.

His face froze and Scydemon's brightened. Another battle began. The overlord yelled for his guards. A group of pets came running in. B_B had knocked out the inquisitor and was cornering the professor. He spun around in time to see a blue Zafara kick him in the stomach.

B_B, Tessie, and Blaze were much better fighters than these, but they were simply outnumbered. They were fighting in vain. They were going to lose.

A Chomby had Tessie pinned. A group of pets were biting at her ears.

"Don't you see?" Tessie asked.

"What, see what?" the Chomby replied.

"Why are you fighting for him? He doesn't care about you. You could be with nice owners now. You could have a NeoHome and good food and mounds of toys. You could even be painted a special color if you wanted!" Tessie said.

"No that's impossible, no one loves us, and besides everyone is poor," the Chomby answered.

"They wouldn't be poor if it wasn't for your overlord," Tessie said, "He's keeping you from the happiest life you'd ever know!"

"What?" the Chomby said.

"You heard me," Tessie said weakly.

The Chomby jumped off of Tessie.

"STOP!" it yelled, "He's the enemy." The Chomby pointed to the overlord.

The gang of pets turned and looked at him.

"You're right!" a Bruce said.

"Yeah, he was never really nice," said another pet.

"Let's get him," said the blue Zafara

They advanced on the overlord and soon he was gone. The fight was over. They had won. The pets released the Faerie queen and a whole hoard of others they found and were escorted to accommodations in the castle.

Scydemon was laid down carefully. He was grotesque looking.

"Am I that bad?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"Oh....um...well...yes," Blaze said sadly.

"Let me have a mirror," Scydemon said.

Blaze fetched a mirror and slowly handed it to him. Scydemon gave a small cry of surprise when he saw himself. Tessie began to cry.

"It hurts so bad," Scydemon said.

"Yeah, we know, get some rest," their owner said lovingly.

"I love you guys," Scydemon said. Then he shut his eyes and lay still. Scydemon would never see another day.

The pets and their owner were stricken and mourned for weeks. They would never forget Scydemon, but a new happiness was crossing Neopia. Everyone was free. There was no overlord. People had guilds and painted pets. They could reopen shops and play games again. The atmosphere was a joyous one.

The remaining of the four were glad it was over, but they sat around lethargically. No one would replace Scydemon. He had been their comrade since the beginning. They remembered growing up and playing together, up to fighting the last battle. Sadness was the major feeling around their new NeoHome

One day, they were out for a walk in the field. Tessie was staring at the ground when she noticed a bright blue flower with leaves like a Gelert's ears. She smiled for the first time in a long while.

The End