Shalin the Fire Shoyru is sitting in his living room on his Luxurious Sofa
reading the latest edition of The Neopian Times. He is a family man, with two
children and a lovely Striped Shoyru as his wife. His children's names are Varin
and Chelzai, and his wife was named Layia. His home, although only three rooms,
was nice one in Neopia Central.
Earlier that year, he had been drafted to take part in the war against the
invading armies of Sloth upon Sakhmet. Leaving his family behind, he equipped
his Grand Lightning Beam and Hypno Helmet, and set off for the next flight out
there. Upon his arrival, he was immediately trucked out to the Battlefield,
and set loose. He set loose his Black Frost Cannon, and managed to defeat forty
Grundos, and five Sloth Clones.
Now, peace has returned. But that peace is about to be broken.
*knock knock* "Someone's at the door honey, can you get it?" Layia asks.
"But the game's on!" Shalin whines. "I have 50 Neopoints on the Lupe Pack to
win!"
"I'm cooking supper honey," explains Layia. "And unless you want some, you'd
better answer the door!"
"OK, OK, I'll get it."
Shalin walks over to the door. Suddenly, a scream lets loose somewhere down
the street. "Must be those kids again. What are they up to now?" He gets closer,
and turns the knob. There, standing in front of him, is a Grundo Commander!
Layia sees the green giant and screams, dropping the dish of chicken soup.
"Run Layia, RUN!" shouts Shalin. But while his back is turned, the Grundo Commander
pulls out a Stone Snowball, and thwacks Shalin unconscious.
All down the streets, house after house was being burned to the ground. Women
and Children were all captured, and rounded up. Shalin came to, just as his
house went up in flames. Hollering for his family, he wandered through the flames
until the smoke became unbearable. Shalin stumbled out, and was immediately
taken prisoner by the Invaders.
As he searched for his family, he spotted Lupes, Lennys, Chias, Aishas, Flotsams,
Jetsams, and all the other species awaiting the same fate. Finally, a glimmer
of hope! He spotted Varin, Chelzai, and Layia in the center of the crowd. He
shouted to them, but he was drowned out by the crying of all the others, and
he was shuffled along.
Waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity, there was finally a stirring
of activity. A spaceship descended into the street. It was a wicked-looking
spaceship, not the kind you see traveling back and forth to the Space Station
so often. And out of it, came a Grundo. This Grundo was so terrifying to the
eye, that immediately Shalin turned as white as a sheet. It was none other than
the infamous DR. SLOTH!!!
"Denizens of Neopia!" he barked. "Do not feel alone! As I speak, millions of
NeoPets, young and old, married and single, are being taken in by my army! There
is none to stop me! Resistance is futile!"
Nobody argued. The majority of the pets being taken in were only Level 1. And
those who were strong had been locked up in cages, and forced to wear power-restraint
bracelets. As the pets were shipped onto the spacecrafts, Shalin was already
thinking of a plan of escape. Oh, how he wished he had his battle equipment
with him!
Sloth obviously thought ahead, Shalin thought. He's already loading the Battle
Equipment on board in a separate area so we can't locate it. Interrupted in
mid-thought, he was shoved inside and put in a storage container. The floor
started shaking, and they were off.
Shalin studied his surroundings. He was in a room with one other NeoPet; a
Desert Aisha. There were no guards around the area, so he assumed that there
was an alarm system. "Psst. Hey! Aisha boy! You have any idea where we're going?"
The Aisha nodded. "We're going to Sloth's private lab. He's going to try and
do a transmogrification on half of the NeoPets, and then he's going to make
mindless Robots out of the other half."
"Half of the entire population, or half of the species'?"
"Half of the population," the Aisha replied. "If you're lucky, you'll become
a Robot."
Shalin shuddered at the thought of becoming a mutant. Looking down at his restraint
bracelet, he realised that they were just specially modified Megaton Bracelets!
"Look at our bracelets!" He exclaimed. "I think if I can just get this wire
off, and put it back here…" He started fiddling with the item, and as he did,
the pain became worse and worse. It was so bad, he was about to faint. Finally,
the pain ceased. He had found the correct wire!
After the numbness in his wrist had gone down, Shalin used his all of his strength
to bend the bars holding him in. He managed to crawl out and take a peek at
the room he was stored in. It was just that - a room. One with a door, no windows.
"Stand back," he said to the Aisha. "I'll bust these bars open."
The Aisha backed up, and Shalin bent the bars apart. "Wow!" exclaimed the Aisha.
"What's your strength level?"
"Just twenty," Shalin said. "Now let's get that Bracelet off you." *click*
The Bracelet went back to normal.
"How do we know who's outside?" the Aisha asked.
Unfortunately for them, the window on the door was too high. "You're lighter
than me," suggested Shalin. "So you climb up on me and see if you can see anything."
The Aisha, having no better plan, climbed onto the Shoyru's shoulders. "I
can't see anything, I'm too short!"
"Try using your ears!"
"Oh, I never thought of that."
Using his ears like radar, the Aisha soon discovered that there were no guards
to be found anywhere!
Jumping down, the Aisha told Shalin what he had heard. "Just as I thought,"
said Shalin. "All we have to do is get out of here, and find our Battledome
equipment."
"But how do we get out of here?"
"Easy. Grundos don't hear very well, on account they have those weird ears.
We just smash the door in."
"Oh."
Using Fierce Attack did the trick, and the door was smashed in.
"All right," said Shalin. "Now to find the equipment."
The Aisha, who hadn't been listening to him, suddenly stopped cold.
"What now?" Shalin asked.
"I can hear the equipment! There's a very strong humming coming from the fifth
room to the right."
"Well for our sakes it better not be Sloth's coffee machine."
Sneaking down the corridor, they came to the room, and a strange glow was emitting
from it. "I can feel the power!" said the Aisha.
"Then you go first," Shalin offered. The Aisha turned the knob, and gazed into
the room. "Why…there's got to be about 500 million Neopoints worth of equipment
in here!"
"That's nothing. Look what I found!"
There, in Shalin's hand, was the fabled ROD OF ULTRANOVA!!!!!
"Oh my!" half-shouted the Aisha. "Where on earth did you find that?!"
"Down here!" Shalin pointed. "There's a whole ton of good stuff down here!"
"Like what?"
"Well, there's a Rod of Supernova, about 50 Hypno Helmets, A Spectre Battledeck,
and other Hidden Tower items."
"I wonder who could afford all of those?" the Aisha wondered.
"I just want to take these and stop Sloth. Coming?"
"Sure, you'll need my hearing to get past all the guards."
Taking the Rod of Ultranova, and one Hypno Helmet along, the pair set off
down the corridor to find Sloth, and stop him. "Um, Shalin?"
"What?"
"Why don't we just take the elevator to the Sloth level?"
"Oh. OK"
They got in the elevator, and pressed the button. It seemed like an eternity
before the doors finally opened, but when it did, they were faced with 500 angry
Grundo warriors! Although grossly outnumbered, the Rod made short work of the
Grundos. After that was over, they walked through the door marked 'Cockpit'.
Making ready their armada of weapons, they burst in.
There, in the chair by the controls, sat Dr. Sloth himself.
"Sloth!" shouted Shalin. "You have taken my family, you have taken everyone,
and now you will pay." Dr Sloth looked smug. "You think you can harm me? A puny
little Fire Shoyru? Ha! I am immortal, did you not know that?"
"Yes, I did," smiled Shalin. "But I also know that you are not immune! Freeze
him!" The Aisha pointed the Hypno Helmet at Sloth, and fired. Smoked billowed
from Sloth's chair, and the pair had to cover their mouths to avoid inhaling
the gas.
As the smoke cleared, it was obvious that the Hypno Helmet had done it's job.
Sloth just stood there, frozen. "Good, now what do we do with him?" Shalin wondered.
"I say we put him in the air hatch and let him go. He won't die cause he's immortal,
but he'll be stuck out there for a looooooooooooong time!" suggested the Aisha.
Grinning, they took Sloth to the Air Lock, and let him go. "Buh-bye Sloth!"
waved the Aisha.
Returning to the cockpit, Shalin took up the chair, and turned the spaceship
around. Grabbing the PA, Shalin decided to make an announcement that was sure
to lift the spirits of all the NeoPets. *tap* *tap* "Ahem. Your attention please.
This is your new captain speaking. I'm afraid Sloth had to leave, he had some
problems needing care. The ship has been turned around, and is now heading towards
Neopia. Our flight time is approximately one hour more. Meanwhile, feel free
to wander about the ship wherever you want."
Shalin looks around, and finds the Manual Cage Override button, and pushes
it, setting all the pets free. "If you are looking for loved ones, please meet
in the cockpit. I repeat, please meet in the cockpit. Thank you for flying Sloth
Airlines. This is your captain and saviour Shalin, signing off."
As cheers fill the ship, the door to the Cockpit opens, and the first ones
inside are Shalin's loved ones, Layia, Varin and Chelzai. Striding to the door,
he took them in his arms. For countless minutes they stood in each other's arms,
crying. As others were reunited with their families, the ship approached Neopia.
Making a careful landing, he opened the hatch, setting free the NeoPets into
the desolate waste that was their homes. Much rebuilding would be needed, of
homes and lives, but at least Sloth had been defeated, all thanks to a little
Fire Shoyru called Shalin.
The End
I would like to thank the people on the Role Playing board for giving me
the idea behind this story. I would also like to say that I would like feedback
on this story from anyone. If they're positive, they're might be more Shalin
stories. :) | 
