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“Hey, Linny? Yo Lin… where are you?” Tahoshi clicked
his claws against the walkie-talkie as he talked into it, pondering upon the
question which he had just asked. The Lupe hadn’t heard anything from his owner
in a while, almost a whole half an hour. It was highly unlikely for Linny to
stop talking to any singular moment in time, let alone a whole 30 minutes, which
signaled only that perhaps she was in some bit of trouble.
“Hey! Kuraiiro!” Tahoshi bellowed, far too lazy
to simply sit up and walk into the kitchen. In response a mutant Cybunny poked
her head around the corner, attentive and curious.
“Yes Tahoshi?” she asked politely as the Lupe
motioned for her to come closer.
“Hey Kurry, heard anything from Linny?” he inquired,
trying to keep the conversation light and casual as to not indicate that he
really cared. Kuraiiro put a black claw up to her nose, closing her eyes in
thought, and then shaking her head in response after a while.
“Mmmm… nope! Haven’t heard anything! But you
have that walkie-talkie, so why don’t you just talk to her?” Kuraiiro spotted,
eagerly pointing at the electronic device in Tahoshi’s hands. Tahoshi simply
clicked the radio button on the side of the radio and shook his head as the
static ensued through the speaker.
“Nothing! Been calling that fool for a good while
and I haven’t heard a THING!” he muttered. The Cybunny’s ears drooped as she
began to nervously wring in paws in worry and woe.
“T—Tahoshi… You don’t think that—” But Kuraiiro
couldn’t finish the sentence not for reasons of grief, but as the door to the
home gave a loud SMACK as it connected with the living room door startling her
and Tahoshi.
“HARRI! YOU NUMBSKULL WILL YOU STOP SLAMMING
DOORS LIKE THAT!?” Tahoshi roared to the figure standing in the open doorway.
The electric Gelert lowered his ears in response, sadly biting down upon the
bundle in his mouth.
“I’m soffree Tahofee… pweef dunt be mad,” Harri
cried gently, dropping the paper in his mouth onto the floor, as well as allowing
the tiny white Weewoo on his head the opportunity to get down. “Hedwig and I
just went out for some sausages and guess what! WE FOUND A NEOPIAN TIMES WITH
LINNY ON IT!” Harri giggled happily, accompanied by the cheerful ‘weewoo’ cries
of his companion.
The Lupe and Cybunny stared in a panicked fashion,
each diving madly to snatch up the paper first. In the end it was Kuraiiro who
won, however Tahoshi stuck quite stead fast behind her as she read the article
aloud…
“Sources today confirm that for the first
time in nearly all of recorded Neopian history an artifact which resided within
the Hidden Tower has been stolen. Though the details of the events, which transpired
this morning are still quite sketchy, we have been informed that at approximately
10:20am FST (Faerieland standard time) a tour was being conducted within the
walls of this legendary armory. Witnesses report a young girl eagerly pilfering
a carrot blade (at last estimation costing a substantial 8 million Neopoints),
then quickly leaving the vicinity destroying on her way out three bottles of
the elusive slumberberry potion (9.5 million Neopoints) as well as the famed
Jhudora’s crystal ball (3 million Neopoints)
Queen Fyora valiantly tried to restore the item
to the tower, however the alleged robber got away and has not been seen since.
Reports have been alleged that the fiend boarded a ship to the Space Station,
but once again these rumors are unfounded.
The Faerie Queen has put an alert out for all
of Neopia allotting a 12 million Neopoint reward for any information which may
lead to the possible capture of this thief.
“I would like the Neopian public to know that
we shall not rest until the perpetrator has been apprehended!” A hassled looking
Fyora told out of our reports this morning—”
The article continued on for quite some time,
however none of the pets seemed to take notice of the rest for smack dab in
the middle of the page sat a rather accurate artist rendition of their owner,
smiling up at them with her favorite red sweater. Following the sketch ran a
list of her physical appearance status including items such as ‘hyper demeanor’
and ‘extremely insane, approach with caution’.
Tahoshi could not bear to look at the article
any longer as he held his head in shame, while Harri let out a strangled gasp
and Kuraiiro simply heaved a sigh after finishing the above entitled article.
“Five Neopoints says we’ll be arrested in ten
minutes,” Tahoshi muttered, now cursing his owner with a colorful vocabulary
for her extreme lunacy.
“I told you we should have had someone go with
her,” Harri whined.
***
Though she had all the time in the world, Linny never really took advantage
of the time to simply visit the space station. Even though it wasn’t that long
of a flight from home (as the Grundos which controlled the launch ships up to
the station had aptly mastered the idea of light speech travel), it was simply
something which had never really crossed her mind. After all, how after does
one think of visiting a space station in space?
The snacks sold upon the small cart during the
flight were not nearly as delicious as the half eaten carrot place which occupied
the seat next to Linny, but her guilt was too overridden to allow her to indulge
anymore on the decimated weapon.
“Ohh, I feel like such a fool,” Linny sighed
as she slowly munched on a lollypop fashioned in the likeness of a blue Grundo.
“Now Tahoshi and Kuraiiro and Harri are gonna be arrested and thrown in jail
and fed to Sloth and Vira and Count Von Roo and I’m gonna be turned into dung
an—”
“Welcome to the Virtupets Space Station,” announced
a smooth female voice, interrupting Linny’s spiel of doom. Instantly her sadness
vanished as she stuffed the weapon and candy into her bag and skipped off the
ship into the hustling docking bay before her.
“Yippe! I can get some MORE food now!” Linny
smiled setting her sights onto the Grundo Café situated in the center of the
station. Everywhere she looked there were Grundos running around and slowly
setting to work. Lights happily flashed on and off while intriguing looking
robotic petpets flew around in amusing little puffs of smoke and electronic
beeps. Even though the population was dominated mostly by Grundos, it did not
mean that it was the only species, hardly. Ixi, Kacheeks, Lupes, Lennies, every
pet she could think of was here, milling about as they finished their shopping
or sat down for a bite to eat…
As Linny sauntered up to the food court She pondered
the reason that she didn’t visit so often, she had only been here five seconds
and was already having the time of her life!
However, not too far form the food court in which
Linny ate, a young Grundo, not bigger than perhaps a small throw pillow, looked
up at a shadowy figure seated in a chair. He opened his mouth to speak, instantly
starting to shake from head to toe as the words came out in a stammer of fear.
“S-sir… the g-guards are ready for your orders…
sir.” The Grundo went into a low bow as the chair swirled around, revealing
the most feared face from one end of the galaxy to next. At this news, the green
visage broke into an eerie smile that sent chills down the Grundo’s spine.
“Excellent. Begin phase two now," the voice hissed
before letting out a deep chortle.
To be continued...
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