Revenge and Resistance: Part Nine

     ***

Gormos was in shock when he arrived at the mines. He had not heard of the destruction the mines had suffered, and his mind and heart were racing as he stumbled through the rubble.

     “Hello? Gorix? Cylara?” he shouted, looking for any signs of his friends and comrades.

     A sheet of metal to his left slid sideways suddenly, and he made his way for it. From below the sheet, two heads popped up from a large hole. With a sigh of relief, Gormos hugged his two friends, who were in awe to find their leader had returned.

     “What happened here?” he asked as they pulled him into the hole, which had led down into the mines and at the moment served as their hideout.

     “Long story,” Cylara said. “After you left, we figured Garoo would come back and try to capture the mines, so we transferred to Café Kreludor for the time being.”

     “But when we were there, we were tipped off by the bartender that our position had been compromised,” Gorix added. “So we decided to come back here. They wouldn’t look for us here again.”

     Gormos nodded. “Makes sense. Now what’s been going on in terms of preparations and planning?”

     At this the duo looked at each other, red-faced.

     “You mean you haven’t done anything without me?” he said incredulously.

     “You were needed more than you thought,” Gorix said. “We were lost without you. In fact, many left the group. They were fed up with not doing anything.”

     “How many are left?”

     “About forty,” Cylara muttered.

     “Then we have a lot of work to do,” Gormos replied gravely. He addressed the entire group now. “Alright, team, this is what’s going to happen!” He pointed at groups of people and delegated responsibilities. “I want you ten to manage weapons preparations, and you lot to get everyone ready for attack. Gorix, do you know if that ship we had before is still available for our use?”

     At this the Grundo nodded vigorously.

     “Good, then we can use that to transport us there. The rest of you, I want you to go prepare the ship and load the supplies we’ll need! Let’s move; we’ve got a lot to do before we can attack!”

     The groups scattered and began working. Gormos had a hint of a smile on his face as he watched things take shape.

     They were going to attack Sloth on his turf.

     And they were going to win.

     ***

     “AAAARGH!”

     “Please, sir, please don’t—”

     ZAP.

     “How dare she? How dare she! ” the Doctor cried. “That was my prisoner!”

     “Sir—” a Grundo began, eying the other Grundo lying on the floor.

     “NO! She had no right to free that vile faerie! I will find that Aisha and take my revenge, or die trying. That was my ace in the pocket! I had her in my clutches! She was mine!”

     “But sir—”

     ZAP.

     “I’ve had enough of you all,” Sloth muttered. Once again, he called for another cleanup and sat down at his desk, fuming. Things were ruined now, utterly ruined. He had lost half his team in some way or another, plus his most prized prisoner. Things were not going well on Neopia, either; he hadn’t taken into account that many of the countries had armies that were willing to fight them off. He had assumed the warning signs at the beginning were enough to scare them into submission. It was a gross miscalculation on his part, and he was suffering the consequences.

     At least he didn’t have to worry about those fools that called themselves a resistance. Thankfully, things had worked out in such a way that when Garoo abandoned him, it actually paid off. And Garoo and Skyfire had returned with the report that the Resistance had been defeated, something Sloth was relieved about.

     A voice crackled through the speaker. “Sir—there’s an unidentified ship under cloaking coming straight for us!”

     Sloth turned to the screens behind his desk. He watched all the exterior cameras swivel to the ship’s location, and Sloth could make out a slight shimmering. By the looks of it, it was a rather large ship.

     “Heat vision,” he commanded. The cameras flickered off for a moment, and then reappeared with bright colors replacing what was simply black before. Reds and oranges displayed the rocket’s exhaust, and he could make out life forms inside. Quite a lot.

     One of those people caught his attention. It was tall, brawny, and it seemed like he was directing the rest. With a smile, he realized who these people were. It did not matter to him that they had not been defeated earlier. He would get his own crack at them now, and this time he would not fail.

     He jabbed the button on his desk. “Warning!” he barked into it, and his voice blared throughout the entire Station. “We are under attack! Prepare yourselves for an attack on board! Meet them in the hangar and kill them all!”

     A roar was heard throughout the Station. Another voice crackled through the speaker into his office. “Sir,” the voice said, and he realized it was Garoo speaking, “I just want—”

     “No need, Garoo,” he cut in. “Just finish them now.”

     “...yes, sir.”

     They were nearly onboard.

     Sloth was ready.

     ***

     The ship slowly landed in the hangar, where they were greeted by hundreds of clones all aiming Virtublaster 3000s at the cloaked ship. Gormos swallowed nervously. They weren’t going to be able to do this. They were going to fail.

     I have faith in you, came a voice. Gormos recognized it, and he nodded resolutely. If she had faith, they would be able to do it no matter how much of an uphill battle it would be.

     “Alright, team, I know I should make some sort of rallying speech right now, but I don’t think this is really the time. Just know that we can do this!” he said as loudly as he possibly could.

     The group around him wore nervous expressions, but they nodded in agreement when Gormos spoke. “Yeah!” they cheered. Gorix punched a yellow button near the hatch in the floor of the ship, which sprang open readily. Gormos looked at his team. “Just push right through them to the other side. They’re not who we’re looking for, okay?”

     With that, he leapt into the hole and onto the floor of the hangar, letting his feet absorb the shock of the drop. He was instantly met by a barrage of colorful beams of light, but he was already darting across the room. Gorix and Cylara gave each other a small, knowing glance and dove in next, following their leader. Soon, the entire Resistance had left the transport and began fighting off the clones. As they rushed through the hangar, Cylara was caught up trying to take down the clones. Gorix, following Gormos through the nearest door, paused and glanced back.

     “Cy! Leave them to take care of it! We have more to do!” he shouted frantically.

     The Cybunny kept her eyes trained on the clones, but after a moment begrudgingly left the battle and followed her friend. Only the three of them had managed to make it through the door before the clones blocked it off. They were pursued by three or four clones, but Cylara took care of them quickly.

     “We have to keep moving,” Gormos said. “We need to get to level ten, and fast.”

     Suddenly, Gormos was struck by a red blast of light from behind. He yelped and twisted quickly to see who was attacking them. Garoo, the gaunt Blumaroo who had double-crossed them, was smiling nastily.

     “Go!” Gorix yelled. “Cy and I will take care of him!”

     Gormos hesitated. “You sure?”

     “Just GO!” Cylara shrieked. “You’re losing your advantage!”

     “This is our fight, anyways,” Gorix said as he shot a blue flash at the approaching Blumaroo.

     Gormos nodded, and took off for the elevators.

     As soon as the doors parted on level ten, Gormos was once again met by gunfire. Fortunately, he had thought ahead and prepared himself, and he took shots back at the attacker. When the smoke cleared, he found Ylana Skyfire lying on the floor against the wall across from the elevator. He was instantly met with a twinge of guilt.

     The Acara was breathing heavily as she slipped into unconsciousness. “You finally got me,” she smiled weakly. “Good job, Gormos.”

     He was silent. There was nothing to say.

     “Goodbye, Skyfire,” he said. With that, he took off for Sloth’s office.

     ***

     The door to the office was open. Sloth was sitting at his desk, watching, waiting for him. It was eerie, but Gormos couldn’t worry about that now. Now was the time to attack. He pulled his blaster and aimed it at the villain.

     “Gormos,” the Doctor said rather civilly. “You should have stayed missing.”

     The Kougra’s expression was cold. “Too bad for you. You know, Sloth, I noticed something as I was working against you and your cohorts.”

     “Mm?” Sloth listened, intrigued. He didn’t seem to care his life was on the line at the moment. “Do tell.”

     “I’ve noticed you haven’t left this room, let alone the Space Station since this ‘war’ started. Am I right?”

     Sloth’s eyes narrowed. “What are you getting at?”

     “You are a coward, Doctor. You get your minions to do your work for you because you are a coward,” he said with a sly sneer.

     He was silent for a moment. It was a strange sight to see two enemies simply staring at each other from across the room for moments on end.

     “That may be true,” Sloth said with a sneer, “but I’ve still managed to get past fools like you anyways.” With a jolt, he pushed a button on his desk and the room filled with a purple and black smoke surprisingly fast.

     Gormos, coughing from the noxious gas, was slightly surprised by the sudden change of events, but he grinned through the thick smoke. “See, this is exactly what I mean. You have to rely on a poisonous gas to hurt me? Pathetic.”

     Sloth was shaking with fury now, though Gormos couldn’t see it. With razor-fast reflexes, he darted forward and pummeled the Kougra to the floor with a roar. Gormos fired his own blaster, but it was a split-second too late. He was knocked out with a gasp.

     Agitated from the gas, Sloth grabbed a few slips of paper off his desk and rushed to a door in the far corner of his office. He pulled a small lever and the door slid open, revealing a tiny capsule. Coughing, he stepped inside, and with one parting glance at the Kougra, shut the door. A rocket kicked in, and the capsule was gone.

     ***

     The battle had ended soon after Sloth fled. Miraculously, the Resistance had held its own against the clones, and Gorix and Cylara had managed to take down Garoo. So their spirits were high until they found Gormos’ unconscious body in the abandoned office, which was still teeming with the toxic gas. They were met by the Space Faerie herself, who managed to evaporate the poison in the air.

     Together, they freed the prisoners and Grundos as well as deactivating the hordes of clones that were left. They destroyed Sloth’s personal items in case he returned, worried he might try again when they least expected it. Though they weren’t very worried. Sloth would have to work incredibly hard to get back to the level he was at previously.

     The group was taken to Faerieland. The Faerie Queen, freed by the Space Faerie, hailed them as heroes and the saviors of Neopia. A celebration was held in their honor, and Neopets across the globe emerged from their homes, happy and relieved.

     Garoo and Skyfire were both imprisoned and placed in the same Faerieland palace cells that Fyora had been confined to. Gorix, watching the proceedings, noticed neither would so much as make eye contact with the other. He guessed that although they were working for the same cause, they were never really working together.

     The Scorchio running the Secret Laboratory quietly tweaked the outcomes of the ray once more, this time lowering the chances for robotic and mutant results. Fortunately for him, not many noticed the chances had been raised in the first place, for most had bigger things to worry about.

     Gormos managed to recuperate, though it was an arduous process. He had lain in the gas for longer than was safe, and his lungs would never be the same because of it. The entire Resistance visited him in the Faerie Palace. But now, as he was sleeping, only the Space Faerie watched the Kougra solemnly. She felt more than a twinge of guilt for his injuries. She remembered telling him it was in the stars that he was to defeat Sloth; she had made a mistake.

     “I did defeat him,” he said. She jumped slightly, unused to hearing voices.

     “Gormos? I thought you were asleep.”

     “I was, but your voice, it was so worried. No one can sleep through that.”

     “I’m sorry.”

     “Don’t be. What you need to know is that you did not make a mistake. I defeated him. He’s gone. We won!”

     She smiled. The joy in his voice made up for her guilt. She could now let him rest in peace.

     ***

     Gorix had shed a few tears when they visited Gormos, a fact Cylara pointed out mockingly afterwards. He feigned anger. “At least I have emotions!” he retorted.

     Cylara fingered her medal, the gift Fyora had presented the two of them, and smiled. “Whatever you say, weepy. Say, what are we going to do now?”

     Gorix shrugged. “Write a book?”

     Cylara rolled her eyes. “Real adventurous. We save the world and what do we do next? Write a book.”

     Gorix punched her playfully. “Shush, you.”

     The Space Faerie watched the two play-fight with a smile. Things were returning back to normal. And that meant normal for her as well. With one last glance at her new friends, she shot off into space, where she once again resumed her duties as protector of the skies.

The End

Author’s Note: Phew! I appreciate all of you who had the patience to read my long-winded series. Special thanks to extreme_fj0rd for proofreading it as well as all of my close friends at the NTWF who kept me inspired and writing. ^_^