The White Weewoo Attack

      It was a Friday afternoon, and Florezca the Pink Draik eagerly retrieved her delivery of the Neopian Times, hoping to enjoy the interesting pieces which had been published for Issue 1050. However, when she sat down and began to read the paper, she quickly realised that the issue was certainly not what she expected. Rather than lots of writing and comics, she was greeted by a single paragraph:

      To my fellow Neopians:

      I’m guessing that you are wondering where Issue 1050 is. Well, the truth is that there will be no Issue 1050 until I, Dr. Frank Sloth, get what I want. You see, there is a White Weewoo statue locked within a vault deep in the Catacombs. I need someone, anyone, to unlock the vault and give me the statue. Until this demand is met, I have ordered my Mutant Grundos to ransack the printing press and sabotage Issue 1050. All of the Neopian Times workers have been taken hostage, and they will not be released until my demand is met. If you want to see them again, and if you want Issue 1050, then someone must give me the statue.

      Horribly yours,

      Dr. Sloth

      Florezca scowled. This was not the first time that Dr. Sloth had hijacked the Neopian Times. (Issue 932---The Disappearance of Chet Flash: A Gamer’s Revenge) She was horrified by the violence occurring at the printing press, and she also knew that the White Weewoo statue could not be allowed to fall into evil hands.

     She had read in a book that the White Weewoo statue was, in fact, a magical artefact capable of brainwashing others. Therefore, Dr. Sloth obviously could not be allowed to have it, as he would use it to brainwash all of Neopia into going along with his nefarious plans. It was similar to the Cybunny statue she had read about in “The Great Cybunny Theft.”

     Therefore, she figured that the best Neopians to deal with Dr. Sloth’s evil plan were the ones who encountered a similar statue last time. She quickly contacted some relatives: Maldice the Stealthy Draik, Sellescha the Pastel Kacheek, and Walda the Baby Kacheek.

     They quickly arrived at Florezca’s house. “We need a plan,” began Maldice. “I suppose that the first step would be to go to the printing press and rescue all the hostages. I’m sure that, at the very least, the workers have some injuries which the Gelert Doctor would be glad to treat.”

     “Agreed!” answered Walda. “As a strong Battledome fighter, I’ll make those Mutant Grundos regret it!”

     “Let’s go!” replied Sellescha.

     They arrived at the printing press, where they were greeted by a scene of total chaos. The building was smashed and on fire, with Mutant Grundos hauling off hostages in handcuffs. All of the hostages were gradually being loaded onto a spaceship.

     Walda immediately pulled out her Wand of the Dark Faerie and began attacking the Mutant Grundos. Though they were large and muscular, they were no match for this seasoned warrior. They fell to the ground unconscious, to the relief of the hostages.

     As Walda was dealing with most of the Grundos, Sellescha noticed that one stray Mutant Grundo had escaped Walda’s attention. The Grundo was attacking a Neopian Times worker with a Battledome weapon and trying to take him hostage.

     Sellescha knew that this could not stand. “HEY, LOSER!” she yelled at the Grundo. “Yes, YOU! Big, green hunk of muscles! Leave that poor Neopet ALONE!”

     The Grundo kicked the worker to the ground and lunged at Sellescha. He tried to punch her in the head, but she dodged him. Then he stepped on her tail with his giant foot, trapping her.

     She screamed and flailed to try to get free, but the Grundo would not let up. Just then, Walda ran over and blasted the evil Grundo with her Wand of the Dark Faerie. He quickly fell unconscious.

     “Let ME handle them!” warned Walda. “You're not strong enough!”

     “I would rather it be me than that other guy!” answered Sellescha.

     With all of the Grundos outside unconscious, Maldice used a magical spell to undo the handcuffs on the hostages. Some were suffering from burns or broken bones, so they needed medical attention. Then Maldice used another spell to put out the fire and restore the printing press to its former glory.

     “Nice!” cheered Sellescha.

     Just then, the spaceship took off. There was one more Grundo, this one in the cockpit, and he was trying to escape with the hostages that had been loaded onto the spaceship so far! Walda tried to shoot the spaceship down, but it had flown out of her reach.

     “Don’t shoot the spaceship down!” yelled Maldice. “That would be horrible for the hostages! I have a better idea.”

     Maldice flew up until she reached the spaceship, pulled out her wand, and used a magical spell to deactivate the ship and slowly lower it to the ground. Once it was grounded, Walda ran inside and knocked the remaining Grundo unconscious with her Wand of the Dark Faerie. Then she dragged him out of the spaceship and left him on the ground.

     Maldice used her spell to uncuff the remaining hostages. “I guess we need to take these pets to the Neopian Hospital now,” she frowned. “There are some things which need a medical doctor and not my spells.”

     “I need to be examined, too,” remarked Sellescha. “I think that Grundo broke my tail.”

     Thus, Maldice drove the spaceship to the hospital, with the freed hostages and her allies inside. Sellescha, along with the workers that her friends had freed, stayed at the hospital for treatment.

     “Walda,” began Maldice, ”while Sellescha heals, we must carry on. Our next step is to protect the statue. You see, I was just contacted by the Defenders of Neopia. The good news is that they are busy arresting all the Grundos at the printing press. However, Sloth and his goons are now waging an assault on the Catacombs to try and open the vault with brute force, as Alstaf Poogle and the Storyteller are both refusing to open it.”

     “I’m in!” answered Walda. Thus, they got in the spaceship and went to the Catacombs.

     ---

     When the two arrived at the Catacombs, they were greeted by another horrible scene. All of the townsfolk who would’ve been at the Catacombs celebrating Issue 1050 had instead fled from the chaos. More Mutant Grundos had landed another spaceship, and they had both Alstaf Poogle and the Storyteller handcuffed. A pack of six Grundos were escorting the writers toward the spaceship as they squirmed to try to break free.

     Maldice quickly used a magical spell to ground this new spaceship so that the culprits couldn’t flee. Then Walda made quick work of the six Grundos with her Wand of the Dark Faerie. Maldice used another spell to break the handcuffs off the two writers.

     “We’re saved!” cheered the Storyteller. “We need to hide, though, before more of those goons chase us!”

     “Hide in our stolen spaceship!” answered Maldice. “I’ll lock the door!”

     Walda acted as a bodyguard, escorting the two writers onto the ship. Then Maldice used a magical spell to lock the door. The Mutant Grundos swarmed the ship, using brute force to try to get in. Alstaf and the Storyteller began to panic as the ship began to rock back and forth.

     “Enough! Forget those little mice, as they refuse to open the vault.”

     Walda and Maldice turned, and they saw Dr. Sloth, armed with his own Battledome weapons. Sloth turned to his vast army of Mutant Grundos; there had to be hundreds of them! “All of you need to head toward the vault immediately. We will use our brute force on the vault until it opens!”

     “Yes, sir,” replied all of the Grundos in unison. They immediately ran downstairs toward the vault.

     “As for YOU TWO...” continued Sloth, pointing at Walda and Maldice. “You can’t possibly win! I have 300 Mutant Grundos here right now, so you are outnumbered 150 to 1! The townsfolk all got scared and LEFT! Give up NOW!” Then he cackled.

     Walda and Maldice were determined, so they followed the Grundos down to the vault. They immediately began hitting the door with all kinds of Battledome weapons. “Keep at it until you break the door down!” instructed Sloth.

     Maldice tried to use a magical spell to make the Grundos sleep, but Sloth quickly hit her with his Sleep Ray, freezing her. With Maldice unable to act, it was up to Walda. Some of the Grundos lunged toward her while the others continued pummeling the door.

     Walda used her Lens Flare ability to dazzle the Grundos so they couldn’t see. While they were stunned, she was able to take out about half of them. The others recovered and continued assaulting the door. By now, it had a huge crack in it.

     “Keep going!” ordered Sloth.

     Just then, the door crumbled into pieces. “The statue will be mine!” cackled Dr. Sloth. “Grundos, end her!” He pointed at Walda.

     Walda used her Warlock’s Rage ability to stun the rest of the Grundos long enough to take them out. Then she followed Sloth into the vault.

     He was standing next to the precious statue, wielding his own Wand of the Dark Faerie. “Those useless Grundos...” he muttered. “I can’t believe you got past all 300 of them! Anyway, this White Weewoo statue will put you in your place!”

     He used his Wand of the Dark Faerie to feed dark magic into the statue in an attempt to brainwash Walda. However, the brainwashing spell did not have any effect on her. The Cybunny statue she had dealt with previously was unable to brainwash strong Battledomers, so she suspected that the Weewoo statue had the same fault.

     “WHY isn’t it working?!” snarled Sloth. “Well, I guess we have to have a 1-on-1 fight now! You have already used both your Lens Flare and Warlock’s Rage abilities... You’re going to LOSE! Give up NOW!”

     Determined, Walda used her Thyora’s Tear to avoid damage, and then she used her Thunder Sticks to deal some damage and freeze Sloth for one turn. While he was frozen, Walda blasted him with her Wand of the Dark Faerie and Grapes of Wrath.

     When he unfroze, he still had some health left. He tried to hit her with his Wand of the Dark Faerie and Super Attack Pea, but she cleverly used her Reflect ability to send most of the damage back at him. He couldn’t take it anymore, and he fell unconscious.

     Just then, Maldice stumbled into the vault. “I’m unfrozen now... You beat him, right?” she asked.

     “Of course I did!” Walda cheered.

     “Great!” exclaimed Maldice. “Now I will render this statue powerless.” She waved her magical wand, and the White Weewoo statue lost its brainwashing effect, like the Cybunny statue before it. “Such an effect would only be used for evil,” she remarked.

     Then Maldice used a spell to create an invisible force field around the White Weewoo statue. This force field was meant to protect it, similar to the force field around the Cybunny statue. Well-meaning individuals could approach the statue to examine or transport it, but any thieves or vandals would be zapped. (Because the White Weewoo statue was also made of diamonds, Maldice figured that someone would try to steal it.) The force field would follow the statue if it were moved.

     Then Maldice used her magical wand to repair the damage done to the vault. She and Walda went back upstairs, where the Defenders of Neopia were arresting the remaining 300 Grundos. “Hello!” Maldice greeted the Defenders. “The big man is unconscious in the vault!”

     The Defenders of Neopia rushed into the vault, hoping to capture such a high-profile criminal. However, when they got there, he had woken up and vanished through a hole in the vault. “He got away...” groaned Aisheena.

     “We should pursue him!” replied Judge Hog.

     “Forget it,” replied Aisheena. “He probably took off in a third spaceship or something. He must be in the next galaxy by now...”

     “Unfortunately, that is probably true...” lamented Judge Hog.

     Thus, the criminal mastermind known as Dr. Sloth remained at large, per the usual. The Defenders went back upstairs to arrest more Grundos.

     Meanwhile, Maldice used a magical spell to unlock the door of the spaceship where the writers were hiding, and they came out meekly. “I need to go to the Neopian Hospital...” remarked the Storyteller. “One of the Grundos stepped on my foot. I think I have a broken toe!”

     “I think I have some broken bones, too!” lamented Alstaf.

     “Well, then, let’s get back in the spaceship and go to the Neopian Hospital,” suggested Maldice.

     “What about the statue?” asked Alstaf worriedly. “Is it protected?”

     Maldice explained that she had used magical spells to both remove the statue’s brainwashing effect and make it impossible to steal. “I hope that no more of these strange statues are found,” she remarked.

     “What a relief!” exclaimed Alstaf. “If that’s the case, we should display the statue proudly in the Catacombs.”

     The next day, the Neopian Times workers, Sellescha, the Storyteller, and Alstaf were released from the Neopian Hospital. The workers went back to the printing press and quickly printed Issue 1050, and the diligent White Weewoos delivered it to millions of households across Neopia. Furthermore, there was a huge celebration in the Catacombs to commemorate the milestone. Neopians gathered around the statue and enjoyed cake and ice cream.

     “Why is there no CHOCOLATE cake?!” complained Walda.

     “Because I requested vanilla only,” answered Maldice. “I know that chocolate gets you all wound up!”

     “You MEANIE!” wailed Walda. “NO FAIR!”

     Walda’s tantrum was barely audible due to the noise of the crowd. Also present was Florezca, who was glad that her relatives were able to solve the problem when she couldn’t. Then she noticed Sellescha’s broken tail. “My, what happened to you?!” she gasped.

     “Defeating the Grundos wasn’t easy...” she groaned.

     “Anyway,” began Maldice. “The situation is resolved now. I’m just bitter that Sloth got away...”

     “Well, I need some cake,” replied Florezca. “I’m starving!”

     The End…or is it?