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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 17th day of Awakening, Yr 27
The Neopian Times Week 129 > Continuing Series > The Roboball: Part Three

The Roboball: Part Three

by jacob133

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...

Previous Episodes

The Roboball: Part One

The Roboball: Part Two

The Roboball: Part Four

The Roboball: Part Five

The Roboball: Part Six

The Roboball: Part Seven


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