A Deal with the Daniels: Part One

Jimmi had various books piled on his desk as he tried to make sense of the odd language. The Chia had spent almost every waking hour studying Dark Books and trying to perfect his Dark Magic. By now there was a permanent shadow that lingered in the throne room, even in the middle of the day. Yet the Fire Chia still had much difficulty with many of the spells.

     "Ye gnura millo pxy," he worked out slowly.

     He raised his paw and envisioned a powerful blast of energy shooting forward. Instead only smoke poured from his fist.

     "Okay, okay, smoke is good," he assured himself. "Except I already have a dozen smoke spells. I need something new, something powerful."

     His practice was interrupted as a robotic orb with a propeller fluttered into his room.

     "Ah, surveillance bot, I'm glad you're back," Jimmi exclaimed. "Status report."

     The robot chirped in response.

     "Oh that's right," Jimmi sighed. "I haven't invented that yet."

     The Chia shook his head in frustration as he reached for the flying bot and removed a disc. He then went to his massive Virtupet-made screens and inserted the disc. One of the screens immediately lit up and showed other, much more ferocious, robots rampaging through Altador. However, there were also various Altadorians tossing projectiles at the robotics. The makeshift weapons did little damage, but the robots were slow and had no long ranged weapons of their own. It was a deadlock.

     "I don't believe this," Jimmi pouted. "I removed their hero; why don't they just give in like Shenkuu?"

     To emphasize his point he gestured to the pair of statues that he had acquired through successful acts of magic. One was a furious Ogrin, the hero of Shenkuu; the other was a shocked Skeith, the hero of Altador.

     "This just goes to show that I need to improve my magic skills," the Chia concluded. "I need to make people fear me, then they'll crumble under their conqueror."

     He immediately returned to his books as the shadow around him seemed to grow darker.

      ***

     Not too far away in the mysterious mountains, a Krawk had seen everything. Gazing into a foggy blue ball, he watched Jimmi as he planned his domination. The Krawk allowed a sly grin to slide across his face.

     Lord Daniels was the sort of character who would strike fear into the heart of anyone who gazed upon him. His eyes were hidden by a ragged, yet till regal, top hat. Underneath the hat dropped long tangles of ebony black hair. The Krawk's green skin had a sickly hue to it making him appear like a corpse.

     "Little Jimmi has come quite far," he declared to no one in particular, "but I think it was time he received some help."

     The Krawk wrapped himself in a murky brown cloak and grabbed a staff that resembled a claw reaching out. Slowly he stepped down from his mountain home and proceeded towards Shenkuu.

      ***

     "Sir Godry, Sir Godry, come quick," squeaked a small voice.

     The tall Gelert knight immediately grabbed his sword and prepared for battle.

     "What is it, Timmel?" he asked the young squire.

     "It's... it's the treasury, sir, someone's trying to steal crown jewels," proclaimed the nervous squire. "I thought it better to... to come to you."

     "You thought right, young Timmel," agreed Godry. "This is a job for knight, the Hero of Meridell no less. I'll stop these heinous heisters."

     The Gelert took off down the halls and headed for the treasury. He kicked down the doors, which had already been broken into. Standing in the room full of glamour was a gang of bandits, led by a Fire Pteri. She had her feathers wrapped around the majestic crown of King Skarl.

     "Jenni Chumpchange," Godry declared angrily. "And I was hoping that you'd finally gone straight."

     "You'll have to keep hoping, hero," spat Jenni. "Get him, boys."

     The thugs each pulled out high tech blasters. Without a second to think Godry found himself under fire. Quickly he raised his sword to his face and deflected the oncoming beams. Then he dived for the nearest crook and smacked him on the head with the flat side of his sword. The next thug raised his blaster to shoot, but Godry sliced the laser half and left the thief begging for mercy. The Gelert glimpsed just the flash of another shot as he dodged to the right. The third crook was aiming and getting ready to fire again. Godry also aimed and tossed his sword. The beam and sword collided; the beam was deflected while the sword sailed straight into the weapon.

     "And that wraps that up," Godry boasted as he shot a smug look towards Jenni.

     To his surprise, he realized that Jenni and the crown had both disappeared. He turned around just fast enough to see a burst of orange depart. He chased after the Pteri and also left the treasury. He cursed to himself as Jenni flew out the window.

     "I'll get you anther time, Chumpchange!" he declared.

     Suddenly a whip shot out and wrapped around the Pteri's leg. She came crashing into the wall as the crown slipped from her grip. A Pirate Shoyru darted off from the roof and clutched the crown before it could come crashing to the ground. The Shoyru then wielded her whip again and stopped Jenni from making a get-away. This time she tossed the Pteri straight into Godry's arms.

     "If you thought the Moltaran Prison was bad, wait till you see the dungeons of Meridell," mocked the Gelert.

     Once all of the criminals were handed over to the dungeon guards, Godry turned to the Shoyru.

     "Well, Miri, you sure know the perfect time to show up, but I thought Krawk Island was your territory," Godry asked.

     "Well since you were letting a dangerous crook escape, I think I might have to add Meridell as part of my territory," laughed the Shoyru.

     "Oh really, and Krawk Island is squeaky clean, I suppose?" retorted Godry. "But seriously, I'm sure you've got an important reason for coming here."

     The Shoyru's joyful demeanor vanished as she answered, "Yes."

     "Come with me to my chambers," Godry suggested. "You can explain there."

     Once the duo was inside the cozy room of the Gelert, Miri began to explain.

     "You've probably heard by about the maniac who's taking over Shenkuu and Altador," Miri said.

     "Of course, Jenni's dastardly brother, Jimmi," Godry replied. "That psycho has put out flyers, billboards, anything he can to announce that he's defeated both the heroes of Shenkuu and Altador. Quite the tragedy."

     Both were silent for a few minutes. Then Miri said, "I believe that he has used Dark Magic; I've heard quite a few reports from the area that can only be explained by the Dark Arts."

     "Then this threat must be stopped immediately," Godry declared as he slammed his fist into a table. "But why did you come to me, out of all the other heroes?"

     "Because," Miri began, "I believe that the Chia's next target is Meridell."

      ***

     The Krawk walked through the shadows. From building to building nobody got more than a glance at him before he disappeared. Of course there were few townsfolk outside in the once majestic land of Shenkuu. While parts of the town had been rebuilt, others were still disasters. Either way though, the townsfolk were terrified of their new emperor and his many robots.

     "Robots and magic," mused Daniels. "What an odd combination."

     Testing out a theory, the Krawk raised his staff and rapped it against a nearby robot. The bulky creation tumbled to the ground without a fight. Another nearby one made its way over to the attack, yet Daniels had disappeared, and the robot returned to its route.

     "Yes, I can see why he needs magic," concluded the Krawk.

     Soon he had arrived at the palace. Making his way through the halls he came to the throne room. It was there that he found Jimmi working intently in the dark.

     "Hello, Jimmi,"he greeted as he allowed himself become visible.

     "Aah! How did you get in here?" Jimmi panicked. "Guards! Guards!"

     "Your robots are useless," Daniels declared. "But that doesn't matter because I'm here to help you."

     "You are?" Jimmi asked in surprise. "Who are you?"

     "My name is Lord Daniels," the Krawk answered. "Perhaps you've heard of me."

     "Daniels, Daniels," mused Jimmi. "Oh, that's right, you were ranked as one of today's most dangerous villains."

     Realization dawned on Jimmi as he bowed to the Krawk.

     "Lord Daniels, it is an honour to be in your presence," Jimmi praised.

     "Yes, yes, enough of that," Daniels sighed as Jimmi returned to his feet. "You've learned much Dark Magic, but I can teach you to master the art."

     "You can?" Jimmi gasped in joy. "But why help me?"

     "Were you, perhaps, taught by an Usul known as Lady Sala?" Daniels asked.

     "Yes, I was," Jimmi answered in awe.

     "Well, so was I," explained Daniels. "If Sala saw potential in you, that it would be foolish to let you slip out of my fingers. No, I will make you into a true Dark Lord, then together we can rule Neopia."

     As Daniels said this, he removed his hat and allowed Jimmi to see his eyes. The Chia had to resist the urge to cringe in fear. In the place of eyes were two pools of pure darkness.

To be continued...