The Time-Space Catastrophe

      Sydney was in the kitchen washing the last batch of dirty dishes and utensils at Kelp. She never liked the job, but needed the money to save up for a course in Science in the University of Brightvale. The white Lutari was pondering of something when her boss, Arthur the Acara stormed in.

      "Hurry up, Syd! We have a party of Faeries waiting for someone to take their order." he snapped.

      "But you told me to wash the dishes and--"

      "And now I'm telling you to take their orders! Chop chop!"

      Sydney scurried out of the kitchen with a pen and a slip of paper and headed over to one of the tables coolly-lit by the jelly lamp. A light faerie waved over to her.

      "Hello! Can we get four deluxe burgers?" she asked, beaming.

      "I'm sorry, we don't serve that sort of food here. You can go for the Braised Turkey Cutlet or the Filet of Beef instead. It's the closest we have to a deluxe burger." said Sydney sympathetically.

      "Oh, it's fine. Make that one Filet of Beef, the Pate a la Kelp and four Triple Chocolate Shells. Oh, and can we get four Aged Tchea juices?" said a fire faerie.

      "Sure." she said. Sydney quickly jotted everything down and gave the slip of paper to the head chef. After some time, the food was done and she took the food back to the table.

      "Hmm...tastes good. But the beef isn't juicy enough. And the chocolate shells could use a bit more cream, if you ask me." said an earth faerie, frowning slightly.

      The light faerie nudged her in the elbow. "Oh, don't mind Sylvia here! The food was simply superb! Here's a nice tip for your trouble." said a smiling Marina, stuffing a fistful of Neopoints into Sydney's hand.

      As soon as Sydney pocketed the tip, suddenly she felt a change. Everything seemed blurred and she found her surroundings slightly resistant to pressure. Then she found herself back near the sink, standing near a stack of dishes.

      "What? How did I come here?"

      Sydney pondered. It seemed like she traveled back in time, where she was washing dishes. It was unusual. She shrugged and washed the small batch of dishes when Arthur the Acara barged in, with the same frustrated look he had the last time.

      "Hurry up, Syd! We have a--"

      "A party of faeries waiting for someone to take their order? You can count on me." finished Sydney.

      The Acara seemed dumbfounded, but Sydney grabbed a slip of paper and a pen anyways and headed to the table. Marina the light faerie waved to her.

      "Hello! Can we get four deluxe burgers?"

      "I'm afraid we don't serve that here. But I recommend a Filet of Beef, the Pate a la Kelp, four Aged Tchea juices and four Triple Chocolate Shells." she said cleverly. It was exactly what they had ordered before.

      "I was thinking of the exact same thing. What a coincidence." said the earth faerie, surprised.

      Sydney quickly handed the slip to the head chef and took out a small book from her pocket. It read out, 'King Hagan's Guide to Extraordinary Sciences.' She rapped through the pages and opened a section which read 'Time' on it.

      'When a disturbance is caused in the tachyonic field, it can cause a Neopian to enter a time loop, which lasts for a period between 10 minutes to 2 hours. It helps one to make more progress. The tachyon time force is controlled by certain otherworldly artefacts, so destroying one will break the time loop and free the Neopian from the loop." she read out.

      "So I need to find out a way to break the time loop before I go back in time again." she thought.

      The Lutari took off her apron and rushed out of the restaurant. She left Maraqua and headed to Brightvale, running in the nick of time.

      Sydney knew just where to go. She went to a small bungalow in the outskirts of Brightvale. A smart -looking Mynci in thick-framed spectacles opened the door.

      "Hello Edwin. I need your help with something."

      Edwin was a very professional scientist who simply adored the art of science. The nerdy Mynci knew a lot about science. In fact, he had planned out the idea for a very advanced time machine which worked on the concept of space-time relativity.

      "Come in. You can tell me whatever it is." he said assuringly.

      Sydney came in and Edwin slowly closed the door. She then narrated to Edwin the events which took place at the restaurant and what she seemed to understand about it. Edwin was alarmed, but he calmed down after a while.

      "I know who's handiwork this is. This can only be Dr. Sloth's doing. But the problem is that if you tell any other Neopian about this, the laws of time will be broken and you'll be stuck in an irreparable dimension between time and space for eternity." said Edwin.

      Sydney gulped. She had no clue of what to do at the moment, but she would have to visit Virtupets and find out which specimen was controlling the time-space curvature. But she had no other choice.

      "Edwin, I'm going to the Virtupets Space Station." she said. "I'll sneak off in one of the spaceships and I'll reach there quick enough."

      The Mynci hesitated. "I'll have to go with you, then." he said firmly.

      "No! You'll only risk your own life and set us off in more danger!"

      "You'll be in less danger in the presence of a trusted companion, so let me help you destroy the time loop."

      Edwin and Sydney were in Virtupets Space Station. The place was occupied with oddly-dressed Grundoes who were performing different tasks.

      "I'll need to go to the control room." said Edwin. "Can you provide a distraction." he whispered in a hushed tone.

      "Okay, I guess." whispered Sydney in response. She pleaded for help in a false voice of distress and pretended to faint. A crowd of Neopets rushed to her aid.

      A Grundo cautiously studied her movement. "She's unconscious." he said. "Take her to the infirmary."

      Edwin sneaked past them and entered the control room. A board was set with a large number of buttons. He pushed a small blue button and a beep came from the machine. A blue hologram of a Grundo appeared.

      "Startup Initiated. User Identification Required." said the Grundo.

      Edwin's spectacles fell to the floor. While picking them up, he noticed a sheet of paper on the ground. Something was printed on it.

      "Instructions to run Intelligent Grundo Holographic Oriented Resource. Say the respective identification acronym." he read out.

      "Wait, that spells out I-G-H-O-R. Is your name Ighor?" asked the Mynci.

      The Grundo smiled. "User Identification Received. How may I help you?"

      "Do you have a way to access the time loop?" asked Edwin quickly.

      "To destroy the time loop, you must break that object." replied Ighor.

      He rotated to a small angle and flashed a light towards a potted vase in the corner. Edwin headed towards it. It was a perfectly ordinary vase, but he took a look inside. A glowing mass of energy was inside it.

      Edwin grabbed the vase, but he stopped when the door slammed open.

      "What do you think you're doing?!" snapped Dr. Sloth.

      Edwin quickly threw the vase as hard as he could. It shattered into several tiny pieces, and the mass of energy changed into an otherworldly pink color, creating a blinding light. He found himself surrounded by Ighor, Dr. Sloth and Sydney.

      "Well, you did it!" said Sydney happily.

      "You.....you--how could you access Ighor? How did you destroy the time-space loop? You ruined my plans!" he bellowed, awestruck.

      Sydney grabbed Edwin and rushed out of the room. They returned to Brightvale.

      "I had to go through the time loop several times." said Sydney, grinning.

      "That was some adventure, huh?" said Edwin, who was exasperated. "Nobody else knows about it, but we were two heroes."

      "I still have to go back to Kelp tomorrow for my job." said Sydney. "But I never thought we would be able to make it successfully."

      They were eating hot dogs ordered from Hubert's Hot Dog place. Only the two of them in Neopia had knowledge of the treacherous incidents of that day.

      The End.