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When Ylana awoke, her skin was hot, and she could tell
that she was missing some fur in a few areas. Other than that, she felt okay.
Slowly, but steadily, she opened her eyes to see what had happened.
There was destruction everywhere. Grundo's
Cafe was totally demolished, most of the walls were black, most likely from
the explosion. Judge Hog was in the corner, tying up two Grundo's who were scowling
faces, and all the other Defenders, with the exception of Aclaimisha were standing
around him. Everyone seemed alive and all right, well, except for that one Purple
Grundo on a stretcher...
"YLANA!" a steely voice screamed.
Ylana turned around to see it was Aclaimisha.
Her usual white outfit was a dirty grey, and her eyes were sparkling out of
rage.
"YLANA! What were you doing? No, better yet,
what were you thinking? You disobeyed a direct order back there, you know that?"
Aclaimisha hollered.
"I was getting rid of the robot the only way
I could, that's what! If I'd had waited much longer--"
"If you had waited much longer, Ylana, then my
group would have come to back you up since we figured out how to defeat it!"
the Aisha screamed. "That Grundo who was piloting it nearly died Ylana! He's
hurt so bad now I doubt he'll ever walk again!"
Ylana was about to fight back, but then she noticed
something. Aclaimisha was yelling out her real name, something should never
be done. "Aclaimisha, stop saying Ylana! I'm Flaming Sky, remember?" Ylana hissed
to her with a sense of urgency.
"Correction, you were Flaming Sky!" Aclaimisha
hissed back, her eyes narrow.
"W-were?" Ylana whispered. She could feel tears
forming behind her eyes, and her blood was becoming to run cold. After all of
these years of plotting, planning, they couldn't just be wasted...
"Yes, were! After your supreme act of insubordination,
you are now banned from the Defenders of Neopia for always and eternity!"
Ylana expected to break down and cry after this,
but an emotion that she hadn't felt since that day when her "friends" had trapped
her in the hole erupted inside of her instead, and she liked it. "YEAH?" Ylana
screamed, standing now. "WELL I DON'T CARE! I'M GLAD I'M NOT PART OF YOUR LOSER
SQUAD ANYMORE! YOU HEAR ME? I'M GLAD!"
Aclaimisha looked at her, somewhat shocked, and
took a step back.
Ylana advanced on her, though, making sure she
could hear her screams as loud as possible, and for some odd reason she started
laughing; laughing at the fact that her old teacher seemed scared. "SO WHAT?
WHO CARES? I'M GLAD TO LEAVE YOU! JUST PAY ME AND I'LL LEAVE! AND I'M HAPPY
ABOUT IT! SEE, I'M LAUGHING!" the blue Acara cackled. She then threw off her
mask and utility belt and everything else that had belonged to the Defenders
of Neopia.
This time, it was Aclaimisha's turn to laugh.
"Pay?" the Aisha giggled. Though her voice was
soft, it had an undeniable tone of pure danger. "Pay? You thought to Defenders
of Neopia paid?"
Ylana only nodded her head, afraid of what was
coming next.
"You are more foolish than I could've ever believed!
The Defenders of Neopia do not, and have never, paid anyone who work for them!"
"But, on the day we met, you said the reward
was better than anyone could imagine... What else could you mean?"
"You were black hearted from the beginning if
you thought I meant money when I said that! You fool, I meant the reward of
the gratitude from the people you save! The reward of knowing you helped people
out! The reward of the pride you feel when you realize you've thwarted an enemy!
That's the reward I referred to! Can you not see that? If not, then I regret
allowing Judge Hog to pass you into becoming a Defender of Neopia! I even regret
recommending you for joining in the first place!" Aclaimisha screamed, rage
reeking from her every pore. Her hair was standing on end, and she was starting
to attract attention to herself.
This time, Ylana actually broke down in tears.
She was still angry, but also disappointed, disappointed in everything she could
think of. She tried desperately to hide her tears, but it was impossible. No
matter how hard she tried to act like she was sneezing when she held her arm
to her face, the Acara's whimpers were quite audible.
Then, Judge Hog came up, his face grave.
"Well, what's the news?" Aclaimisha asked, her
voice still bitter and harsh.
"Well, the Grundo will be fine, but he says he
won't press charges as long as I let him go free--"
"YOU DIDN'T!"
Judge Hog nodded his head sadly. "I had to,"
he conceded.
The Rainbow Aisha yelled at the wall, and then
kicked it venomously, leaving a large dent. "This is all your fault you know!"
she spat at Ylana, who turned her head away from her piercing gaze.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it Aclaimisha,
so let it go. Ylana Skyfire won't cause anymore trouble for us anymore. No come
on, we're getting back on the ship," he said, signaling for them to follow.
Ylana began to get up, but Aclaimisha stopped
her.
"He didn't mean you!" she hissed.
The Acara took a step back, shocked and saddened.
"But-- but what am I supposed to do? How do I get back to Neopia? I need a passport!
I could get by being a Defender of Neopia and all, but if I can't go back with
you guys, I'm stuck here forever!" Ylana cried with trembling lips.
"I'm afraid that's your problem now. After all,
you wouldn't want to accept help from the loser squad, would you?" Aclaimisha
said. Her face lacked all emotion, and then she walked away with Judge Hog and
didn't look back.
Ylana sat there, frozen. What was she to do?
Well, she could never leave the Space Station, that was for sure. We'll not
until she became a legal citizen of it, and that would take a few years. The
Acara hit her head up against the wall in rage, and then wished she didn't since
the wall was made of steel. Anger and hate boiled inside her; now her plans
of buying Mystery Island expanded, now she wanted Neopia Central too! No, she
wanted the whole of Neopia! She wanted them to suffer, just like they made her
suffer!
All of the anger boiling inside Ylana was nearly
impossible to control, and she felt sick. It must have shown on her face to,
for a voice from behind asked her, "Trouble?"
It was greasy, and most pets would've never trusted
it, but in Ylana's state, any pity was appreciated. "Let's just say I had a
bad day," she mumbled, not daring to look up.
"You poor thing, would you like to come with
me and tell me about it? We can go to my house and I can get you some coffee,"
the voice said.
Ylana nodded her head; she had nothing better
to do. Slowly she rose to her feet, still looking at the ground in rage.
The two remained silent until they arrived at
a very large corridor in the left side of the Space Station.
"Ah, here's my house!" the figure, who Ylana
now realized was cloaked in black, cried.
They entered, and the cloaked figure led her
to the kitchen, which was a good thing since it was a very massive house. He
brought out two cups of coffee, and poured a whole lot of cream in Ylana's.
Usually she didn't like cream, but she was so depressed and angry she didn't
particularly care. She drained one whole cup in one gulp, and banged it back
on the table. The coffee had an odd taste to it, but she wasn't about to complain
over something that minuscule after the day she had had.
"So, tell me about what's upsetting you," the
cloaked figure asked.
Before she knew it, Ylana was spilling her whole
story to him. How she had hated her childhood, how she had set her mind to buying
Mystery Island when she was little and kicking the mean people off, how the
Defender Aclaimisha had saved her life and told her that Defender's got rewards,
about her plot to become a Defender of Neopia... The story went on and on, and
finally stopped when she was sitting right there.
"That's terrible what the Defenders of Neopia,
no, the whole of Neopia, did to you," the sympathetic figure in black muttered.
Ylana nodded gratefully, she had come to like
the figure in black.
"Of course, this might actually be for the better.
After all, if all that hadn't of happened, then you wouldn't be sitting right
in front of me! It's been so long since I've found such a useful, I mean, wonderful
pet as you," the figure continued.
Ylana looked up, seeing the figure's face for
the first time. He was green, and he slightly resembled a chicken, but he had
been kind to her, so the Acara said nothing derogatory.
"You know, I've had a bit of a grudge against
Neopia for a little while now as well," he said simply as he glanced at his
yellowing fingernails.
"You have?" Ylana asked.
"Yes, I have indeed. I've even been planning
a bit of revenge against them. Maybe you'd like to assist me, I could use one
of your skills. I'd pay well, so even if my scheme did fail, which I assure
you that this is not likely, then you would have plenty of funds to begin your
plans," he said, a smile forming on his twisted face.
Ylana looked at him skeptically. "How do I know
this isn't one of those lame schemes were you go and bombard people with cheap
snowballs?" she asked dully.
The green figure laughed, rose from his chair,
and then signaled for her to follow him. He walked over to a picture frame,
where he lifted it up to reveal a panel of symbols. He did a very complex combination,
and suddenly the wall melted away. He walked through it, and Ylana followed
him at a loss for words. Finally he stopped at a balcony, and ordered Ylana
to look down.
The Acara wanted to scream, but didn't have the
lung capacity that was needed. Instead she let out a frightened hum. For below
her were rows upon rows of robots, strong ones by the look of them.
"Does this look like a lame scheme were you go
bombard people with cheap snowballs?" the figure asked, a smile formed on his
lips.
Ylana shook her head, and then said, "I'll join."
"Good. My name is Doctor Frank Sloth. You?"
"Ylana Skyfire," Ylana said.
"Nice to be working with you Miss Skyfire. I'll
make your equipment in a bit," Doctor Sloth said. "I have to go do something
now, but you make yourself at home. This is were you will be staying for quite
a while now."
Ylana nodded, at a loss for words. In just one
day her whole life had changed, but for some odd reason, even though she now
knew she was leading a life of crime, she smiled. She liked it this way.
Ylana Skyfire won't cause anymore trouble
for us anymore, Judge Hog had said. He was wrong. Oh, how very wrong indeed.
The End?
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