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NEOPIA, SOMEWHERE IN NEOPIA GRASSLANDS, 6:03 AM- Xelqued
stared off into the vast grasslands. Norbekk was right: Off in the distance
was a small Faerie Outpost. He could tell by the way the buildings were shaped,
but couldn't see any faerie.
"Perfect. That's just what we need. Hostiles
just two miles away from us, stranded on this planet with no communication."
Xelqued moaned as he walked to the rest of his crew. "We'd never find our way
out of here, probably NOTHING on this planet can contact a nearby colony!" He
slumped back on a tree that was slightly toasted after coming in contact with
flaming debris.
Kiglbrog looked at the rest of the depressed
crew, and began to think deeply. After several minutes, he jumped up and yelled
"EUREKA! That's it!"
Everyone looked at Kiglbrog oddly until he finally
said, "During the Faerieland Invasion, I piloted a cruiser. When I was approaching
the city, I saw a HUGE Communications Relay! Although the technology would be
low-tech, the size of that thing could probably make it to a colony. The captain
told us that we needed to get to the city first and we didn't have enough time
to destroy it, so the relay is probably still operational!" That was all that
was needed to make everyone smile…
But Xelqued thought over this. "Hang on… I have
a few questions. One: How do we get there? Two: How do we ENTER the relay? And
Three: How would we escape Faerieland?"
Kiglbrog already anticipated those questions
and instantly answered. "We enter through Faerieland's bases. We rush through,
break in, get an evac, and rush to the nearest garage. Let the port open, and
escape through Transport. And we get to Faerieland… In THOSE!" Kiglbrog pointed
to the Faerie Outpost. Everyone looked out into the distance and saw it: Faerie
Buses. Large aircraft designed to take flightless Neopets up to Faerieland.
They could easily sit everyone in the group, and with space to move around!
Xelqued grinned evilly as he drew his Ray Gun…
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER- A wide hole was cut through
the fence protecting this garage. A trail of muddy footsteps led all the way
into one of the garages and right into a Fire Faerie Transport.
Higola rubbed her feet on the siding of the
bus, wiping the mud off her uniform. She thought it didn't look professional.
The rest of the crew sat into the seats with muddy feet. Xelqued and Norbekk
sat themselves in the cockpit, ready to leave. The garage door was wide open
(Stupid Faeries! Thought Xelqued on the way in) and the Aishas were all inside
the bus. Xelqued hit the starting button and the lights inside flickered. Everyone
could hear the jets beneath rumbling with power as Xelqued turned the bus, drove
it out of the garage, and onto the runway.
Xelqued grabbed the microphone inside the cockpit,
turned on the Intercom, and talked into it, "Is everyone ready for takeoff?"
He shut off the intercom and heard a series of snaps. He took that as a yes
and hit the gas.
The bus sped quickly through the runway. The
crew could hear the wings on top beginning to flutter as Xelqued started them.
The runway was almost to an end when Xelqued pushed on the steering wheel and
brought the bus up. The landing gears beneath the bus slowly closed as the bus
flew off into the morning sky.
Xelqued was almost tired of flying. The sun
was in his eyes and Faerieland was still a good few miles away. He remembered
his nice warm house back on Nirzip, but banished the thought. Thoughts of home
discourages morale, he remembered the motto his trainer told him when he was
just recruited. The light of the sun made him quite sleepy, and even though
the small balls of cotton-sized clouds were beginning to form the outskirts
of Faerieland, he couldn't go on much longer. He was just about to hit "Autopilot",
when something went wrong.
INSIDE FAERIELAND MILITARY BASE- "What is THAT?" exclaimed an Earth Faerie,
sitting at a computer. A nearby Light Faerie looked to the Earth Faerie's computer
and nearly spit out her coffee. "What's a civilian bus doing out here?" the
Light Faerie questioned.
"I think I have the answer to that!" shouted
a Dark Faerie just a few meters away. The Light Faerie rushed over to the Dark
Faerie's computer and saw the problem. Alien Aishas.
A nearby Fire Faerie who glanced at the Dark
Faerie's computer questioned the Light Faerie, "Orders ma'am?"
"Shoot it down!"
BACK AT THE BUS- Xelqued hit the Autopilot button.
A soothing voice that sounded strangely like Fyora's said through the Cockpit
intercom, "Autopilot is activated. Enjoy your flight." Xelqued ignored it and
sat himself out for a nice nap. He just managed to close his eyes when a huge
THUMP! vibrated through the bus. It shook everyone so violently that several
crewmen nearly cracked their helmets! And to an unpleasant surprise, the Autopilot
deactivated itself with a rude message. "Autopilot deactivated. Ship under attack.
You're on your own." Xelqued gave the controls a long glare.
"What in Florgzil VI was THAT?" exclaimed one
of the repairmen.
"Did something just hit us?" shouted Kiglbrog.
Xelqued jumped from his comfortable position
and began trying to stabilize the ship when he saw the cause of the attack:
Fire Faerie Cannons.
[Fire Faerie Cannons- These cannons are shaped
like half ovals with a very large cannon at the front. They have a pod where
the Fire Faerie (The only type of Faerie capable of manning them) can sit and
fuels power to the cannon. They are capable of firing ten fireballs a minute.
The fireballs themselves are 1 meter in circumference. They are positioned only
around Faerie Garages for protection.]
Several balls of fire erupted from the sides
of certain clouds. They all hit the bus hard and burned through the metal hull.
The crew began growing worried as the smell of smoke began to seep through the
windows and doors. A fireball hit the wings of the bus and set the rubber and
metal wings on fire. One fireball was so powerful, once it impacted, it melted
through the hull, singed the skeleton of the bus, and melted right into the
seats themselves, creating a gaping hole in the bus. That wasn't the only one
with such intensity.
THUNK! Another fireball impacted the ship. The
force rocked the ship and created another huge searing hole. The seats were
boiling hot and the walls around the holes were beginning to sear. The heat
was reaching unbearable levels and caused panic. Higola tied to calm down the
hysteria forming within the melting walls, but it wasn't working quite well.
After several minutes of going under fire from
cannons, the ship looked like metallic Swiss Cheese that was slowly being boiled
in a fondue pot. The wings were nothing more than four black metal sticks, flapping
slowly. The crew was huddled around near the cockpit, trying to avoid the melting
metal or the occasional fireball that flew through a hole and impacted inside
the bus. The engines were on fire and were running out of fuel. Xelqued was
attempting to steer the pile of melted trash into a safe landing zone. He had
found a perfect place, a nice soft cloud with plenty of cover. He was attempting
to land when one last fireball hit the bottom of the bus where the fuel was
stored. The engines literally exploded with flames and began to fly at hundreds
of miles an hour, totally out of control.
Xelqued heard the impact, but somehow, he couldn't
hear a thing afterwards. He could swear he heard the crew screaming as a huge
flaming hole was about to burn the floor of the bus. The explosion pushed the
ship downward more steeply than desired. Xelqued's life flashed before his eyes
as he grabbed the controls and attempted to steer the boiling scrap that he
and his crew were stuck in. He grabbed the steering wheel, and began pushing
down on it so hard he thought he might just snap the burning metal. The ship
wobbled slightly as fireballs singed the air around the ship and began to try
to stabilize itself.
Xelqued continued to hold the controls tightly.
He thought he had gone deaf, and couldn't hear Norbekk screams, even though
he saw the hysteria on his face. The ship's sirens had gone off, but he could
not hear them as well. The sound of the engines failing was also something that
was not audible to Xelqued. He then averted his attention to the ship. His vision
was beginning to get blurry and everything was getting white. He could feel
the force of the fireballs continuing to hit the ship, and could feel the controls
struggling. He couldn't hold on much longer. The heat was unbearable and the
descent was making him dizzy. He pulled up on the controls one more time with
all his strength.
And that's when the bus rammed itself right
into a building, hidden in the clouds.
To be continued…
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