| The year was 2569, and Neopia found itself in a struggle. The Grundos, once liberated from Sloth by a band of heroes who put an end to him once and for all, were Neopia's last line of defence. The Alien Aishas assisted them, and the two groups ventured out into lands unknown.
Zargoth 5 and Solis were a team of an Alien Aisha and a Grundo, who worked tirelessly to protect Neopia from the alien scourge. The creators of the Giant Space Fungi had finally revealed himself; an ageless villain who attempted to take over Neopia all throughout its history. Though, he did so secretly and in disguise.
Once he was Lord Kass, once he was the Monoceraptor, and he had even been the Terask II virus. He could take any form at will, and he was known only as The Timeless One.
"It seems we've hit a dead-end." Zargoth 5 frowned and turned to Solis, admiring his Grundo companion.
"I could've sworn we had a beacon in this sector." Solis frowned, revealing her irritation.
Suddenly, there was a large flash. In front of them looked like an entire world made entirely out of Space Fungus... |
Author: triarthrus_eatoni
Date: May 5th
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They gasped as they watched the fungal landscape begin to pulse. It writhed as if it were a living creature, it’s moist surface glowed with bioluminescence with purple spiral veins coursing up the waves of the hills like little rivers of illness. Mushrooms the size of Virtupets shuttles swayed in the musty wind, releasing spores that drifted away like ash.
Zargoth 5 immediately pulled his visor down and nudged Solis to do the same. “Seal your suit.” He murmured. “This can’t be natural.” Solis obeyed her companion as she grabbed at her own suit. “This is not a planet… it’s growing by the minute!” There was no other moment in their journey where they had felt so trapped, yet so intrigued to move forward. Squinting down at the pulsating fungus, they began their journey to land.
As the two floated cautiously towards the giant fungi surface, numbers and data started flickering on their screens. They felt the energy shift. This was an ancient feeling. A familiar vibe… too familiar. The duo locked eyes fearfully as Zargoth 5 whispered, “He’s here…” Solis choked on her words as she realised the shocking truth. “No… he’s not here… THIS WHOLE THING-” she waved her arms rapidly in the air as she gestured towards the pulsing blob of fungus. “Is HIM!”
| Author: qlobal
Date: May 6th |
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Zargoth 5’s eyes widened as he realised what Solis’s words meant. “We have to turn the ship around! We aren’t equipped to handle this!” Solis agreed and grabbed the lever, pulling it desperately, hoping it would make the ship rise back up faster. The duo realised the timeless one hadn’t just created the giant space fungus - he had become it completely. This planet was his body… It was a living, thinking and breathing organism shaped by centuries of stolen power and evil.
Their ship began to shake. “Oh no…” Solis looked over the edge and realised the surface of the fungus started splitting open. It was absolutely horrific as they realised the split of the fungi planet opened like a mouth, with jagged and fungal teeth grinning in their direction. This was a thing made from Neopian nightmares. Zargoth 5 and Solis' ship sputtered as they realised the impact had damaged their shuttle.
“Welcome…” A scratchy voice boomed. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Before the two could even react, the creature’s spores opened wider and their ship was suddenly yanked downwards by an invisible force they could not fight. It was not gravity, this was pure will. The will of the timeless one. And it wanted revenge.
| Author: nev3r_f3ar
Date: May 7th |
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They plunged down into the darkness of the beast, an arduous descent as they were also subjected to the horrendous screeches of their ship breaking down. The duo could only hold onto their seats for dear life, hoping that they would survive whatever awaited.
"Hope you're enjoying the ride." The monstrous voice taunted them. Zargoth 5 felt the sudden wind on his side as the ship door ripped out, pulling him to follow. "Solis! The do-" He shouted but could not finish as he was dragged out. "NO! Zargoth 5!" Solis cried out but was helpless to do anything as she was also flung from her seat with the remains of their ship roughly hitting a solid surface.
When Solis opened her eyes, she realised she was in complete darkness. The Grundo was laying on something slimy but slowly sat up, breathing heavily from all the chaos of the fall. Her body ached from the crash landing and Solis felt absolutely sick. Sick from the drop, sick from the Timeless One's torment, and sick from the impending feeling of doom. Once her caught her breath, Solis mustered up the energy to shout, "Zargoth 5! Can you hear me? Where are you?"
| Author: togepwi
Date: May 8th |
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A flickering light blinked in the distance through the darkened fungal mist. Solis staggered toward it, hopeful. Suddenly, her communicator crackled with Zargoth 5’s voice. “Solis is that you? The ship took a lot of damage.”
“Yes it’s me. I’m glad you’re ok,” Solis said, approaching Zargoth 5, whose suit’s emergency beacon was glowing bright cyan, illuminating the Alien Aisha’s form like a beacon in the dark.
Their ship, Solis now saw, was nearby, submerged in a lake of spore-infested sludge. The hull steamed, hissed, and groaned. Zargoth 5 knelt down to inspect. “The Gravitic Displacement Coil is cracked. Without this, we can’t fly through space. And we won’t be able to get out of here.”
A sickening laughter echoed around them, vibrating the squishy ground they stood on. “Poor little pests,” the Timeless One boomed from every pore. “I never get tired of devouring pesky ships like yours that are always trying to eradicate me. Now you’re just my snack.”
“That’s it,” Solis hissed. “There might be other ships here. They might have the part that we need.”
Zargoth nodded. The duo braced themselves, before they activated their beacons of light towards the rest of the fungal abyss before them…
| Author: treeword
Date: May 9th |
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The slimy ground that sprawled out before them was made of sickly pink, fleshy fungus. Solis couldn’t tell if it was pulsating independently or if the movement of their lights was casting an illusion that played with her mind. Either way, the Grundo shuddered at the sight.
“Search all you want, travellers. You’ll never find a way out,” the Timeless One mocked with a maniacal laugh that shook the ground they walked on.
In that moment, as Zargoth 5 and Solis did their best to hold their ground, tentacles of sinew and slime sprouted from the biological material underfoot. One shot out in an attempt to ensnare the Alien Aisha’s left leg, but he was a second faster, dodging it quickly.
“We have to find our spare parts and fast!” Zargoth 5 said in a pant.
The pair started a full-out sprint, sidestepping fungal limb after limb, but they were losing steam fast. It seemed as if the tentacles were always one step ahead, anticipating their every move.
“Look! Over there!” Solis shouted feebly, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Zargoth 5 followed her outstretched arm to find…
| Author: i_lovee_icecream
Date: May 12th |
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A tear. A rupture in the very fabric of space!
Zargoth 5 gazed wide-eyed at the spectrum of colours ripping through the fungus trees in the distance. A red-gloved hand broke through the rift… then another.
“It couldn’t be,” Zargoth 5 thought, turning to Solis.
A smile. A teary-eyed smile. That’s when he knew it was real. He wasn’t dreaming.
He turned back, breaths sharp. The words still came out in a breathless pant:
“Mi...ra. The... Hero!”
“Hurry! I can’t hold it much longer!” the Space Faerie roared.
Just steps away now, they moved in unison. Dodging a flurry of encroaching tendrils, the pair activated the boosters built into their suits, launching forward.
“I won’t allow this, Mira! They are mine!” the Timeless One shrieked.
“We’ve got to hurry!” Solis said. “This is our one shot out of here! Even if we find the spare parts, there’s no way we can repair our ship with this thing on our tail! But now we can—”
A fungus vine shot from the earth, poised to claim Zargoth 5. But just as it was about to grip him, Solis intervened, shoving him out of the way and into the Space Faerie’s grasp.
“No!” Zargoth 5 cried.
But the world vanished. In an instant, he found himself in the Faerie’s space station.
“Zargoth...” Mira said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “There’s still time. We can save Solis. We can…”
| Author: shadowgunzr
Date: May 13th |
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"...defeat the Timeless One, once and for all."
For a moment, Zargoth 5 felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the space station. He gaped at Mira.
For years, the Timeless One had accosted Neopia using his shapeshifting powers, but Zargoth 5, Solis, and all the other Neopians who fought back could only manage to push him away for a time until he returned with a new form. And now, Mira was telling the alien Aisha that there was a way to truly beat their greatest enemy.
"H-How?" he whispered. "Mira, I know you wouldn't joke about anything like this, but..."
The Space Faerie produced what appeared to be a heavy chain necklace, with a pendant covered in buttons and small switches.
"A group of scientists and I have been hard at work studying the Timeless One's powers. Remember that in each form, he lost his battle. Whether by the Tyrannians who fought the Monoceraptor, or the combined strength of the Meridell and Darigan armies who rejected Lord Kass, or the four brave travellers who erased the Terask II virus from their starship.
"With this holographic device, you will be able to expose them by shapeshifting into each of the Timeless One's weaknesses and chip away at his defences - and save Solis."
Zargoth 5 watched as the device spun lazily in the Space Faerie's hand. He thought of Solis and her sacrifice, how she was alone now, in the belly of the beast.
Then, he...
| Author: precious_katuch14
Date: May 14th |
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...reached out and touched the device.
At once, he was transported back to the Timeless One. Except... he felt lighter? Ephemeral? Like a hologram, he wasn't really there. He just knew that he felt the presence of evil, but stronger than the evil was the strong bond he felt with--
"Wait," he heard a voice cry, piercing through sniffles. "Zargoth 5, are you in my head!?"
Indeed, the Aisha realised, he was seeing the world through the eyes of Solis. "I think I am!" he exclaimed, elated. "I thought I'd lost you! But then the Space Faerie gave me this device and--"
"I KNEW I felt your presence," she said, comforted.
"--And it appears as though we need to work together to defeat each form of the Timeless One. You are my eyes and arms, I am your intel as to weak points. Where to 'chip away'. So to beat the Timeless One once and for all time. Got it?"
Solis nodded slowly. "Weighty stuff. Big gravity. I like it."
"Good," Zargoth 5 replied. "Let's get to work saving the universe. Our final boss battle is beginning."
Indeed, manifesting in front of their very eyes, was a Monoceraptor...
How will this story end?
| Author: rielcz
Date: May 15th |
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The Monoceraptor charged, but Solis, guided by Zargoth’s voice, moved with precision, striking each vulnerable point as they surfaced. With every form the Timeless One took, she adapted, fought harder, until the beast let out one final, universe-shaking cry and collapsed into light.
Then silence.
When Solis opened her eyes, everything was still. Clean. Quiet. The nightmare planet was gone. No spores. No tendrils. Just stars.
She reached up to her ear. “Zargoth? We did it.”
But there was no reply.
“Zargoth?”
She turned and froze.
The device was gone. Her visor reflected only her own wide, horrified eyes.
Far above, in the orbit where the Space Faerie’s station had once been, there was nothing. No signal. No station. No Zargoth 5.
The Timeless One was destroyed—but so was the link. So was he.
A long moment passed.
And then Solis did what she’d never done on a mission before.
She fell to her knees and wept.
Neopia was safe.
But her partner was gone.
Still, as she looked to the stars, a familiar glimmer blinked once in the distance—soft, blue, and steady.
Solis wiped her eyes.
Maybe... just maybe, he made it.
The End.
| Author: 0climmer0
Date: May 16th |
