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Touring Troubles


by cinnamontea

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We left our favourite band, A Lot Like Pteris, in the grips of Dr. Sloth. They were about to play the show of a lifetime in front of a sold-out crowd at the Tyrannian Concert Hall. But disaster struck within seconds of them stepping out onto the stage, with a spacecraft carrying the evil Dr. Sloth decided to land right on the stage. He challenged them to a Typing Terror-esque battle where they had to match the notes on the stomachs of hundreds of clockwork Grundos. These Grundos would charge at the band full force, blowing up if they got too close. The only hope for the band was to make them blow up prematurely by matching the notes on their stomach. When we left them, they were getting a bit overwhelmed with all of it.

      “I’ve got it!!” Roonimal exclaimed. “I’ve missed a few notes here and there, and if I miss the note and accidentally hit the one at the end of the sequence, the Grundo freezes for a moment. Let me try something.”

      Roonimal hones in on a clockwork Grundo heading his way. If he hits the notes perfectly, it blows up. But he reads the notes on this one backwards and plays them in that order. Miraculously, the clockwork Grundo starts to walk in reverse.

      “Something is bugged with them,” explained Roonimal. “If you play the sequence backwards, then they will walk backwards towards Dr. Sloth. And he doesn’t have any instruments to reset them back onto us.”

      Thankfully with all the sounds being produced, Dr. Sloth can’t hear anything. And he can’t hear anything over his own maniacally laughter anyway. Pity those who celebrate too soon, I guess.

      A Lot Like Pteris starts playing the notes backwards, The sequences have gotten longer and more complicated now, and the Grundos faster, so it is very tough to play it frontwards, let alone backwards. But they plough through. After all of the years of practice on their respective instruments, they have become an extension of their bodies at this point. The comfort at which Roonimal moves around the drum kit, Sergio plays the strings, and Noah manoeuvres the fretboard is unmatched.

      “Wh-what??” Dr. Sloth pauses his laughter enough to look down and see what is happening. All his clockwork Grundos are now functioning counter-clockwork and charging towards him. “What have you done!?”

      They start popping and exploding as they get to him, showering him with painful sparking burns.

      “This isn’t the end of me,” Dr. Sloth yelled as he runs back into his spaceship and climbs in.

      The band watched as his UFO took flight and moved at near light speed to blast out of the arena. The last of the Grundos popping and sparking in an uninhabited corner of the stage.

      “Wow, wow,” said Sergio. “You did it, Roonimal. You actually bested Dr. Sloth.”

      “Good to know we can actually practise what we preach with our songs,” laughed Roonimal.

      Noah turned to face the crowd, who was cheering at the top of their lungs for the band.

      “Thank you, everyone, for coming out to see us,” he shouted into the microphone. “Now who is ready for a REAL show!?”

      The crowd roared with excitement, the adrenaline of the situation kicked in and they were ready to rock more now than ever. They had just witnessed this band who goes on stage every night singing about Dr. Sloth and how evil he is…actually defeat Dr. Sloth in front of their very own eyes. This was an unforgettable night for the Tyrannian Concert Hall.

      “And when you go after us,

     You better bring all you’ve got,

     Because at the end of this fight,

     You’ll be the one blown up by robots.

      There’s nothing you can do when we join together,

     The power of this room is more than you could muster,

     So stay up in space, quiet and alone,

     Because every plan you come up with is just another blunder.”

      This song was truly the anthem of the night. Everyone in the crowd was singing it back to them. This brought the band and the crowd so close together, the energy in the room was palpable. This night will go down in Neopian history as one of the most memorable concerts ever, and is going to solidify A Lot Like Pteris as a band to remember. And it isn’t even the final show of the tour.

      After the band got off stage, playing three different encore performances, and doing every single song in their catalogue (some songs were even played twice), the band gathered in the back.

      “That was…unreal,” said a flabbergasted Sergio. “I don’t even think the adrenaline has worn off to let me process everything that happened out there.”

      “We did it guys, we did it as a team,” Noah replied. Still visibly under the same adrenaline rush as Sergio. “And we still have two shows left to do.”

      The final two shows would take them out of this world, literally. They were going up to space. Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station, the two places most affected by Sloth’s reign of terror.

      “I want to make them proud, I hope our music resonates with them as they dealt with these struggles first hand,” commented Noah.

      “They are going to love it, I’m sure of it,” Roonimal said in a comforting tone. “They understand first hand why we write what we do.”

      And they were off, first to Kreludor. Their spaceship landed on the moon and when the door opened, they were greeted by a screaming crowd.

      “What is this,” a shocked Sergio said, looking out.

      Tens of thousands of Grundos, citizens of Kreludor, had gathered at the landing dock and were waiting for the band. Word has spread quickly about what had happened at the concert hall.

      Their eyes scanned the crowds and they saw many holding up signs.

      “WE LOVE A LOT LIKE PTERIS”

      “THANKS FOR SAVING US”

      “DR. SLOTH IS TRASH”

      “YOUR MUSIC IS OUR ANTHEM”

      The crowds were now chanting the band's name up at them. They stepped down the runway and onto the surface of the moon and the crowd split to make an aisle for them. The crowds were ravenous and welcoming, polite but excited. People reaching out, professing how the band has changed their lives.

      They continued to walk to the end of the pathway, where a Grundo stepped out to greet them.

      “Hello, welcome to Kreludor,” the Grundo said with an authority. “I’m one of the leaders of the Sloth Resistance Movement here. I wanted to welcome you first hand to our moon. My name is Zorthrox”

      “Thank you so much for all of this, for having us, we’re so excited to play,” said Noah, eagerly shaking Zorthrox’s hand.

      “That’s something I wanted to talk to you about, you’re playing here,” responded Zorthrax. “Originally you were booked into our largest venue. But even that isn’t big enough to accommodate all the fans that you have here and the Virtupets Space Station, where your show is scheduled tomorrow. The spaces simply aren’t big enough on the space station either. So I wanted to invite you to play something a little different. Our first-ever outdoor concert, something we set up that is large enough to not only blast your music over the whole moon, but to the Virtupets Space Station hovering above. We can do a two-night concert event, where you’ll be able to play for everyone in both locations. We’ll also be bringing fans down from the space station to experience the show up close and personal.”

      “That sounds incredible,” said Roonimal.

      “We’ll do it,” Sergio smiled at Zorthrox. “This is an amazing opportunity, thank you so much for allowing us to do it. We are forever grateful to you and the people of Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station.”

      “No,” smiled Zorthrox. “We are forever grateful to you guys. It is easy for the rest of Neopian to forget about the evils of Dr. Sloth. In a lot of ways, the things he did never directly affected those down there as they have us up here. We live with constant reminders of his evils, it is woven into our daily lives and history in a tangible way. And we thank you for reminding the people of Neopia of our plight, and keeping them active and in the loop in case Dr. Sloth returns for a return of the return again where he returns.”

      “We will do our best to make you proud,” said Noah.

      And in a few hours, the band took the stage atop Kreludor. Giant speakers spread throughout the moon and attached to the space station were blaring with the band’s music. The crowds were going crazy, singing along to every word. And that day, music history was made in Neopia.

      “We will never forget about you,

     Those who battled him back to space,

     Those who fought for freedom for the rest of us,

     We will never forget about the Grundos in the sky.”

      The End.

 
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