Defenders of Neopia – Where They’ve Been

     A lonely chia was falling through the clouds. He glanced around at all the mountains rushing up to greet him. He had been falling for as long as he could remember, but he noticed he was finally getting closer to the ground. As he neared the ground, he thought of all of his friends and family. He closed his eyes and…. rolled over and felt the blood return to his fingers and toes. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed the rough, blank walls in the cell-like room.

     "Oof.. where am I?" he groaned as he sat up.

     He rubbed his eyes and stretched. Suddenly his legs were touching the wall and his arms were touching the ceiling.

     "Oh. My. Fyora." the chia said as the memories came flooding back.

     Dr. Flexo stood up and walked the length of the room.

     "All I remember is visiting Mystery Island and going to the bonfire at the beach… Before that, the Geraptiku tribe gave me some odd-smelling soup… ohh."

     Dr. Flexo took a deep breath and started doing yoga to calm himself down. Double pretzel pose, flamingo pose, crow taking off pose and a few super-bendy poses later he stood up and bowed.

     "Now.. how to get out of here.." he thought outloud.

     Just then he heard heavy footfall coming from the other side of the wall. It sounded like two.. No three people. He could hear a low, muffled conversation.

     Dr. Flexo took a step back, stretched his neck and got his ear up to the trapdoor on the ceiling.

     ".... promoted Kastraliss to commander for taking total control of Neopia Central. But I got nothing for taking over Roo Island and Kiko Lake?" one of the voices said.

     "Well I mean Neopia Central is pretty… central to taking over all of Neopia. But I think Faerieland is the biggest threat because of Queen Fyora and the faeries." a deep voice said.

     "True.. we should talk to the crew about a sneak attack.. Although if we capture Queen Fyora or the Space Faerie, the rest will likely surrender." a female voice said.

     "But they have armies and armies worth of faeries, all with powers. We should convince Frank to lend us some ‘advanced technology’. He has quite the storehouse of weapons to use on the faeries." the first voice said enthusiastically.

     "Ooh.. I wonder if he still has those invisibility potions." the female voice chimed in.

     "Well we have lots of time! it’s not like they or anyone else can find the ancient flower that can break the spell. We destroyed all but one and hid that one too well and no one even knows what to look for!" the first voice whispered.

     "Enough gossip, back to work. Don’t forget to check on the rest of the prisoners..." the deep voice said as he trailed off.

     Dr. Flexo heard the footfalls slowly fading down the hallway.

     "Other prisoners? Break the spell?".

     His brain began to swim.

     "What spell have they put us under? Who is us!? Who else do they have? And If they’ve taken Neopia Central.. what about the Haunted Woods? What about Brightvale and Meridell? Who are they? Who is the ringleader? What do they want? Am I going to be in here forever? Are the Defenders safe? Will they come and rescue me? Do they even know I’m gone? How long have I been in here? Why is my head itchy?"

     Dr. Flexo felt the top of his head and noticed a tiny Scoach.

     "What are you doing in here little guy?" as he began to scratch more.

     The oddly-coloured Scoach bit his finger and he immediately had to sit down to keep from falling over.

     "They’ve been keeping me.. us asleep! But why? It has to be a group of the super villains and monsters we’ve been imprisoning… but how did they all get out? They would have to some kind of powerful magic to escape the fortress where we took them.. The leader must be someone who is cunning, manipulative, and has a stockpile of magical resources.. But who?!" the chia pondered to himself.

     He went through a mental list of all the villains the Defenders had captured.

     ‘The Pant Devil, Ghost Lupe, the Cave Chia, the snot monkey Meuka, the Brain Tree, uuumm...Commander Garoo, Tekkitu the Witch Doctor, the Meerca Henchmen, Giant Ghostkerchief, an Evil Sloth Clone, Snow Beast, there was the big ravenous Chomby, oh and the little Mootix Warrior, Kastraliss, Slug Monster, the evil mermaid sisters from Maraqua, Qasalan Mummy, then the creepy clown guy Mr. Chuckles, Eyrieki, Kasuki Lu, Lady Frostbite and the Cybunny Scout."

     "We were out celebrating on Mystery Island with some of the other Defenders.. Oh. NO! If they have my team, we are never getting out of here!" Dr. Flexo exclaimed as he faded into sleep.

     In another dank, dimly lit part of the underground caves, 12 ominous figures sat around a table. They were quite a hodgepodge of characters, but they radiated pure evil.

     Lady Frostbite blew a bitter wind to get everyone’s attention. Heads turned in her direction, but not without disdain and discomfort. Meuka slung snot across the room and missed her head by an inch. The Pant Devil swooped in and took Tekkitu’s staff. Commander Garoo grunted and everyone fell quiet. Lady Frostbite nodded at the Commander.

     "Now. The time for action is now. We have all of the Defenders under the spell and all of Neopia will be ours. During our previous meeting, we discussed who will get each land. I believe we were on Mystery Island?"

     Tekkitu’s staff swung and hit the Pant Devil across the back of the head before soaring back to the Witch Doctor.

     "Yes, I would like my island." Tekkitu said calmly.

     "No objections? Great moving on. Lost Desert! Qasalan Mummy, I’m assuming you want it since the Meerca Brothers took Qasala at the last meeting?" Lady Frostbite said quickly.

     "Mmmm."

     "I’ll take that as a yes. Okay last land for today, the Haunted Woods. Mr. Chuckles you get the Deserted Fairground and the Brain Tree will get the rest of the Woods. Are we clear?"

     "Well… I…" the creepy clown replied

     "Take it up with the Brain Tree" Lady Frostbite interrupted. "On to the real reason I’ve gathered you all here. Faerieland poses a problem. The Queen and her horde of faeries need to be stopped as they are the only ones left who can stop us, since Neopia’s ‘greatest’ Defenders are all in our dungeon. Who has a bright idea on how to capture her?"

     "If one of you makes a spell or gas that is spread using an explosive, I can fly it up there and throw it in a window of the Faerie Castle" Eyrieki exclaimed excitedly.

     "You’re forgetting the Force Field that surrounds the Castle. Next!"

     "I can create a blizzard so they can’t see anything and we can sneak in and capture them all!" the Snow Beast declared.

     "You’re forgetting about the Fire faeries! They can barely lift a finger and burn your blizzard away instantly. Anyone else have any bright ideas?" Lady Frostbite said impatiently.

     "We can sneak into the castle in the dead of night and steal the Queen’s sceptre!" the Meerca Henchmen announced.

     "And how do you plan to get past the Royal Guards, into her private room and past the magical wards where she keeps the sceptre?"

     "We can do the first two.. I’m sure someone here knows how to make a spell to get to the sceptre" the Henchmen replied.

     "Tekkitu, can you and the Brain Tree work with Dr. Sloth to figure out a spell?"

     "I can try.. Dr. Sloth tends to go soft so the spell will likely only temporarily stun the Queen or freeze the magical wards but not allow us through.."

     "Just figure it out. Now about the prisoners. They need to be continuously checked! One of you forget to check on Orig and he almost died. Just because we need the Defenders out of the way for now, doesn’t mean that we want them all dead. The spell was made using the magic of the artifacts from the Deserted Tomb in Geraptiku.. this means it is ancient and can be faulty. So all the prisoners need to be checked several times a day. Just because the hidden cameras allows us to see them, it can’t show us if they are breathing.. Use your brains. Meeting adjourned." Lady Frostbite proclaimed.

     Back in a dank, windowless cell Dr. Flexo couldn’t believe his ears! It took him a while to squeeze his ear out of the trapdoor but he managed to hear most of their conversation!

     "The whole team!? But how? Maybe they forgot someone who can recruit some help to get us out! Maybe the Faeries already have a plan in the works? I mean they have to know what is going on! If Neopia’s lands are slowly being taken over and their leaders captured, they should know about it! Because if they come up with a way to steal the Queen’s sceptre... there is no stopping them.."

     Suddenly he felt something prodding him.

     To be continued…