Far away, in the land of Meridell, Jeran walked across the
drawbridge leading from his land's castle in full body armor. He was about to
begin his daily stroll across the kingdom, as it was his duty as captain of the
knights to maintain peace and order. However, the feeling of majesty and pride
that he had in the past was now replaced by confusion, as he had no idea who to
protect anymore.
In the past, Jeran fought for the peace of all
that lived in Meridell. And to maintain that peace, in was necessary to have
possession of the magical Orb that was in King Skarl's possession. Only the
Orb could keep peace and happiness in the land, as its power kept back famine
and disease.
Doubt was instilled in his mind when Lord Darigan
and his followers had come to wage war against Meridell. They had claimed Skarl
had stolen the Orb from their land, and they intended to take it back. Jeran
fought against them, even though their accusations troubled his conscience.
It was all in vain however, as Darigan recruited more powerful warriors that
believed in his claims than in Meridell's.
But it was not over even after Meridell's defeat.
The Orb, the magical artifact that was the cause of the supposed peace they
had throughout the years, had driven Darigan insane. He began to destroy not
only Meridell, but also the very followers that acquired the Orb for him. After
a long and hard fight, Darigan was defeated. He vanished into thin air, and
the orb cracked in two.
With the destruction of the orb, it was assumed
that the fields of Meridell would decay, and sickness would begin to spread
like wildfire. None of this has passed though, much to the horror of Meridell
and Darigan alike. They all believed prosperity was achieved because of the
Orb. However, as Meridell continued to grow from day to day, they all began
to realize that they placed too much trust in the Orb. It had deceived them
all into a pointless war for peace. And now that it was gone, the only difference
that they had achieved was more pain and grieving for those that were lost.
After much negotiation, a truce was finally
formed with the forces of Darigan. They would live in peace with the Meridell
citizens, and would share the prosperity that they had all taken for granted
in the past. It was uneasy at first, but now Darigan and Meridell citizens can
freely walk the streets without tension.
As the orb was not crucial to the peace of the
land, what had they all fought for? That was Jeran's predicament at the moment.
Jeran's brooding was cut short as he heard a
loud crash. He jumped to attention, raising his sword and shield into a battle
stance. Scanning Meridell for the disturbance, he saw smoke rising from Illusen's
Glade. What could be happening over there, thought Jeran. Having no time
to speculate on things, his knight's instincts kicked in. He cleared his mind,
and ran towards Illusen's Glade.
Illusen began to cough as she inhaled smoke
and dust. Only a second ago, she was resting against a tree, enjoying the midday
sun. Then someone or something had smashed right through the tree, spooking
her out of her daydreams. Before she could move away, the upper half of the
severed tree and fallen on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
Illusen raised a shaky hand and summoned up
some winds with her magic. Within a few seconds, the smoke and dust had cleared
from her vision, and she finally saw the one responsible for her current situation.
Floating in the air not that far from her was a red and silver robot.
"Target acquired," said the robot as its feet
touched the ground. "Beginning Capture."
The robot began to walk towards Illusen, who
was still trying to struggle free from underneath the tree trunk. She began
to realize that the robot would be right in front of her before she ever got
free, so she decided to focus on slowing him down instead. Raising her free
hand again, vines began to grow from the ground and around the ankles of the
approaching robot. This did not work at first, however, as it simply tore away
from the vegetation with its powerful strides. With a little more focus though,
Illusen was able wrap vines all around the body of the robot, stopping it for
a few extra moments.
While the robot struggled against its bonds,
Illusen was able to crawl from under the fallen tree and finally get to her
feet. When the robot finally tore through the restraining vines, she was ready
for it. Picking up a few leaves from the fallen tree, she focused her magic
to form them into sharp throwing weapons. She hurled them at the robot, expecting
them to cause some form of damage to it. However, the enchanted leaves either
bounced off or broke to pieces when they hit the metal surface of the machine.
Free of its bonds, the robot raised an arm and
pointed it at Illusen. The humming of gathering energy could be heard by Illusen,
and she decided to make a dash for it. As Illusen jumped away, the robot released
a blast of energy from its hand, incinerating the ground where she stood. The
robot continued to shoot a barrage of laser fire as Illusen jumped and wove
away from it.
Illusen knew she was not ready to fend off the
machine. She began to make a run for her home, where she would gather her weapons
of battle, so that she would be ready to take it down.
Jeran saw the meeting between Illusen and the
robot as he ran towards them. He was stunned at the power of the machine that
had sent Illusen running. He had heard stories of the power of robots, but he
had never taken them to be true.
The robot was about to chase after Illusen when
Jeran came upon it. Its back was turned towards Jeran, so it could not see him
running towards it. Putting his shield forward, Jeran charged right into the
robot, intending to knock it off its feet. He did happen to land hard enough
into the robot push it into the air, but the robot merely levitated to prevent
it from falling to the ground. The robot landed back on its feet only five feet
away.
Frustrated at his failure to knock down the
living hunk of metal, Jeran rushed at it with a powerful sword chop. His sword
hit the robot with a soft clang, not even penetrating its shell.
Finally turning around, the robot said, "Capture
of primary target interrupted. Fend off intruder and continue capture."
Jeran was able to throw in a few good swings
as the robot said that, but even those weren't effective against the machine.
He quickly raised his shield as the robot raised one of its arms to attack,
and the impact of the robot's swing nearly threw him over. Jeran kept his footing
though, and made another futile swing, accompanied by another punch from the
robot. Jeran was able to keep his footing this time, as he now knew how strong
the machine actually was. This may take awhile, thought Jeran as he ground
his teeth.
After about a minute of swinging his sword and
absorbing blows from the robot, Jeran actually got a cut into the hull of its
armor. He knew this, as he was being electrocuted. His sword was conducting
electricity from the crack he had made. Jeran accepted the pain as a victory,
as he had finally cut through the hull of the robot. The robot, sensing the
damage, leaped ten yards away from him.
"It's afraid," thought Jeran. "It knows that
I have the upper hand. And I'm not even winded yet!"
Before Jeran could rush at the robot again,
it folded into itself and became a large metal ball, hovering in the air. What
is it doing? thought Jeran. After only a few seconds, the now ball shaped
robot flew straight at him. Having no time to dodge, Jeran put his shield up
in front of him to absorb the blow.
The robot slammed into him, smashing his shield
into several pieces, and throwing his sword from his hand. Jeran flew several
feet through the air, and then landed on the grass. Dazed and confused for only
a few seconds, he got right back to his feet, grunting in pain. His sword was
a short run away from him, but there would be no time to get it, as the robot
was coming at him again.
He quickly dodged and grabbed for his belt.
He grabbed for the Ultra Nova that was given to him as a gift by his sister
Lisha. When the robot came by again, he activated the Ultra Nova, ignoring its
healing properties, and threw it at the rushing robot.
The robot flew through the flash of magic like
it wasn't even there. Not only that, but Jeran could have sworn that it had
absorbed the magic. He tried to dodge again, but was clipped in the shoulder
as it flew past again. Jeran tumbled several more feet onto the ground. Pushing
himself up again, Jeran saw that he was even farther away from his sword than
before.
"I'm getting tired of this," thought Jeran.
"I need my sword."
Again, the robot was flying straight at Jeran.
Deciding to take a chance, he began to utilize the magic Illusen had taught
him and quickly burrowed himself under the ground. Safely under the dirt, the
robot passed above his head. Grinning, Jeran began to dig a tunnel towards the
direction of his sword. He hoped his disappearance would confuse the robot while
he retrieved his sword.
After half a minute, Jeran poked his head above
the dirt and looked around. He almost shouted with glee when he saw that his
sword was a hands grasp away and the robot was coming out of its ball form,
back to humanoid. He grabbed his sword and leaped from his tunnel, spraying
dirt everywhere, rushing straight at the robot. If Jeran wasn't in such a rush
to slash at the head of the robot, he would have heard it saying:
"Power low. Require new power source."
The robot turned straight at Jeran. Seeing that
his attack wouldn't be a surprise anymore, Jeran pushed himself to run harder.
Apparently, because the fact that he was so focused on rushing at the robot,
he did not see a collar coming from it until the last second. The collar clasped
around Jeran's neck, of gave a yelp of surprise.
"What the heck is…" was all Jeran could say
as the collar was activated. Jeran jumped with a jolt, dropped his sword, and
fell to the ground while running. He stopped a mere four feet from the robot.
The robot began to hum from the new power it
was receiving from Jeran. The cut that he had put into its hull with his sword
was closing up, via self repair.
"New power source acquired," said the robot.
"Continuing acquisition of primary target."
The robot changed back into its ball form and
flew off, leaving the unconscious Jeran behind.
***
Far away from Meridell, Dr. Sloth's army was moving at a slow pace across
Neopia. Had Sloth not been incapacitated, the army would be attacking the surrounding
lands. Instead, Sloth was being carried by one of his Mutant Grundos, along
with the other Mutant Grundo that had a collar around its neck.
"Get me another healing potion," groaned Sloth.
"And get one for him too while you are at it."
As the Grundo went off to get another two bottles,
Dr. Sloth groaned again, thinking of the situation he was in…and how it was
all his fault!
When Roboball activated program 'Energy Steal',
Sloth programmed it to absorb the powers of ANY creature it could in its vacancy.
He should have programmed it to absorb the powers of any creature in its vacancy
EXCEPT Dr. Sloth. If he had, Sloth wouldn't be a battery for his renegade robot.
That was another effect of the energy stealing
properties of the Roboball. Not only did the collars it used immediately absorb
power from the targets, but it stayed around their necks and kept absorbing
energy for the Roboball. A maximum of two collared creatures could be attained
at a time. Whenever a new target was collared, the weaker energy source of the
previous two would disengage, and the collar would fall off.
That was what Sloth was waiting for as he marched
across Neopia with his army. When the Roboball collared two others, his own
collar would fall off, and he would be able to chase after it with full strength.
It's only a matter of time, thought Sloth,
as he was about to drop off into a little nap. I know where it'll eventually
go to, and when I get my strength back, I'll meet him there. Then he will be
under my control again.
Before Dr. Sloth could fall asleep though, the
Mutant Grundo he had sent off to get healing potions came running up and said,
"Master Sloth, look!"
"What do you want!" yelled Sloth, beginning
to moan since he wasted his strength to yell. He didn't feel like drinking any
healing potions at the moment, but he knew it was for his own good.
When he looked at what his Grundo minion held
in his hands though, Sloth was woken up to full alertness. Not only was he holding
a healing potion, but a collar. Sloth quickly looked to the other collared Grundo,
and saw that his collar HAD come off its neck. The Grundo was now marching instead
of being carried. He looked weary and tired, but he was still marching.
Sloth grabbed the healing potion from his minion's
hands and instantly swallowed all its contents. Throwing the flask to the ground,
he yelled, "Double your pace. Soon I will be healed, and we may then enslave
all of Neopia!"
To be continued...
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