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Pacing back and forth angrily was Ajliso, her tempered
side taking over. The baby Shoyru watched her keenly, blinking each time she
passed by in front of him. His Doglefox stood by his side, cocking his head
with the same expression as his young owner.
Finally, after what felt like hours of walking
continuously from the same place to another, Ajliso stopped abruptly. The baby
Shoyru blinked quickly, and his PetPet was found resting beside him, his head
between his paws.
Ajliso huffed, and looked around the small basement
in which they stood. Predictably, she began to complain. “I know they hate me,
but I didn’t think it was that bad. They’ve never done this before, although
I think they have many years ago. They usually erase their memories anyway.
I want to go home. I want to go back to the lousy space ship I call home.”
At the sound of the familiar word, the Shoyru
looked up at Ajliso, staring at her, his eyes beginning to water. The alien
Aisha hardly had enough time to sigh an ‘uh oh’ before the Shoyru began to wail.
The Doglefox whimpered sadly, as Ajliso looked
accusingly at the surroundings around her, as though the baby Shoyru’s crying
was all the objects’ fault but hers. When she discovered plugging her ears did
nothing, she snatched the struggling baby from the ground and rocked him back
and forth in her arms.
“There, there, little Shoyru,” she said, hushing
him gently. She thought of how all her shipmates had called her irresponsible,
and how shocked they would be to see her here right this minute, rocking a crying
baby to calm him. “I know what you need,” she said suddenly, after a few minutes
of silence. She placed him back beside the Doglefox to extract a few objects
from the belt tied around her waist.
As she put him beside the Doglefox, it was quiet,
and for that Ajliso was relieved. She reached to her belt, and the Shoyru began
to weep again.
“Little Shoyru,” she sighed. “I think you’re
going to flood Neopia before I can take one step out of this broken house.”
Shuffling noises were heard nearby, and Ajliso
discontinued her attempt to grab her destined object. She feared for what lay
ahead of her and made that noise, for it was not any of them. Doglefox stood,
also aware, listening carefully. The baby Shoyru was sniffling in Ajliso’s arms,
but otherwise, he too was quiet.
As the ruffling noise drew nearer, the Doglefox
began to growl. Soon, he stood a stance, showing he was ready to pounce on the
intruder. For a little PetPet like him, Ajliso found this very impressive.
Seeing that she had no other choice, she used
one hand to hold the Shoyru, and used the other to take a hold of her weapon.
She aimed in front of her an Asparagus Powered Ray Gun, careful not to hold
it close enough to the Shoyru that he could touch it.
The Asparagus Powered Ray Gun was a very popular
weapon, although it was hard to handle, for many would be laughing at its way
of function and name before being able to shoot down their enemy. It was hard
to manufacture, but everyone in the team had it just in case. It was only used
in an emergency, or when the user was alone without another (which did not happen
often, but that was occurring in Ajliso’s case).
“Come on out,” whispered Ajliso, not intending
for her voice to croak with her nervousness. “We’re ready for you at any time.”
A hissing sound came from the stairway, and suddenly,
grotesque-looking creatures popped from the area of the noise. The creatures
were things many would expect from a monster. There were many types, for more
than one appeared. There were hairy ones, their fur sticking out in all directions.
The dark fur slipped through, covered in slime (which they seemed to use as
gel for their hair), their piercing red eyes petrifying Ajliso as she held the
Asparagus Powered Ray Gun in front of her.
Another batch stood beside them, their surface
constructed slime, which may have been the reason why the other creatures were
covered in slime. Slits made up their squinty eyes, making Ajliso and Doglefox
shiver in fear.
“If you don’t stay back,” she warned to the
creatures, which made no different for they could not understand a single word
anyway. “I’ll shoot. Go on now, the Asparagus Gun is pretty powerful!”
The creatures did not react to her hand gesture,
which was the international move for shooing creatures away. Before Ajliso could
trigger the ray gun, many monsters lunged toward her, making her topple backwards
in surprise.
The ray gun remained in her hand, as she shot
several monsters coming toward her, their expression menacing. A single slimy
monster came toward her only defence – the Asparagus Powered Ray Gun – and seemed
to have gobbled it up whole.
Ajliso kicked at it, while trying to regain her
balance on her feet at the same time. The baby Shoyru, still resting in her
arm, began to feel more aware of things. The alien Aisha holding him stomped
and kicked at the creatures, as more piled in from the stairs. The Doglefox
was beside her, growling at them and yelping whenever attacked.
The monsters seemed to flow from the stairs,
destroying many things in their path, or at least making them slimy. One hairy
beast hung over her head, but she did not notice, for her mind was on the many
creatures down below.
“Ugh!” she yelled, kicking a hairy monster with
all her might but with no success. “Get away from me, you slimy, hairy aliens!”
The monster over her head plunged downwards to
her, engulfing her in darkness. Ajliso began to sway, feeling dizzy and heavy,
her balance weakening. She could not yell nor could speak, and her air, however
unpleasant, was limited.
There was a loud ‘chomp’, and the monster slipped
off her head and lay on the ground. She looked around, trying to find who had
saved her. She glanced at the Doglefox, but the PetPet was occupied with growling
at the creatures.
A hissing filled her ears, as the befuddled Ajliso
listened, and then realized that it was the baby Shoyru who had been hissing.
His hair was sticking on end, and he hissed as if he were a Cobrall out for
revenge. The Shoyru’s heart beat wildly, and Ajliso could feel it thumping against
her paw.
“Calm down, little guy,” she said softly, rocking
him back and forth in her arms. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
She scooped Doglefox into her arms and propped
him next to his owner. Hurrying out of the house, Ajliso continued to kick at
any monsters that met her path. Finally spotting her asparagus powered ray gun,
she picked that up, stuffed it on her belt, and ran up the stairs and through
the trashed house.
“We’re out! We’re out!” exclaimed Ajliso, hopping
up and down. She placed the Doglefox on the ground, and began to search for
the object she had been trying to get. “Here you are…” she said, placing it
on them. “It’s a translator, see? It can translate everything you say. Usually
mothers and fathers in Alien Aisha Land just get used to Neopets or PetPets
who cannot speak, but a lot of the richer people have these. And our group does
too, every one of us.”
The light shone from afar, and the glint of brightness
satisfied Ajliso, for she knew that most creatures could not stand the light,
especially the minions. Little did she know a few had followed her, trailing
behind.
To be continued...
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