Defenders of Neopia - Where They've Been: Part Two

      Dr. Flexo sat in a deep meditation.

      If they had hidden cameras in each cell, he would have to be careful about moving around too much. After days of listening to the guards’ footsteps he figured out their schedule. They patrolled above his cell every 30 minutes and they rotated. The guard with the loose lips came every third rotation.

      He craned his ear back up to the trap door and waited for the shift rotation. Just when he heard the light footfall of the third guard, he felt something touching him again. He brought his attention back into his cell and didn’t see anyone or anything there. He heard mumbling from above and shot his ear back up to listen.

      “... on all the prisoners. No movement in any of the cells.” the female voice said over her walkie talkie.

      “Good, I’ll tell Lady F. Once you check on the flower and make sure it’s watered, your shift is done” the deep voice said over the walkie talkie.

      “Ahh.. I haven’t been down there before SIr.” the female voice said.

      “I’ll explain it to her Sir.” the loose lipped voice chimed in. “It isn’t down, it’s up.. It is a flower remember? If you go to the painting of the Esophagor in the room where all the leaders sit. Press on the image of the Spectral Flower and you’ll be taken up some stairs to where it is. Got it?”

      “Isn’t that a little too obvious as a hiding spot?” the female voice said sarcastically.

      “First, nobody knows the flower is the key ingredient for the spell. Second, even if they did, they would have to get past all the villains we work for to get to the painting. Lastly, an alarm goes off in the guards quarters anytime someone presses the flower in the painting. Satisfied?” the chatterbox replied smartly.

      “Fine. Fine.. I knew I should have just taken the job street sweeping in Neovia..” the female voice mumbled as she walked down the corridor.

      Dr. Flexo laid down on the dirt floor to meditate.

      “I know where it is... now how to get it..”

      Dr. Flexo brought his heart rate down and curled up to sleep. Just as he was about to fall asleep, something popped into his head.

      “It looks like a fuzzy green rectangle? Oh. Wait. Orig!?”

      The image changed again into a picture of a grey, ghostly looking flower.

      “That must be the flower the guards were talking about! But how do we get it?” Dr. Flexo thought aloud.

      The image morphed back into the fuzzy green Lupe-shape, then quickly changed into a picture of the shadowy flower moving.

      “I was never good at Charades.. Um the flower needs to move. But we’re trapped?”

      The image repeated itself.

      “Wait is this Orig I’m… talking to?”

      The image flickered back to the green Lupe-shape but focused in on the red mask. The image flashed a lightning bolt and the flower smashed on the floor

      “Oh. Goodness I’ve missed pet contact! Are you the only other one awake? Do you know where the others are?” Dr. Flexo whispered excitedly.

      The images flashed through the sequence a few times.

      “Right. Focus. So you want to smash the flower so they don’t have enough of the ingredient to repeat the spell. Got it. But how?”

      The series of pictures went through his head again, more slowly this time. Orig. Light. Smashed Flower.

      “Wait. Hold on a minute. How are you even talking to me!?” Dr. Flexo thought aloud.

      The images stopped. They blurred out and suddenly he saw Judge Hog talking to a mysterious figure but he noticed a multi arm Nimmo statue in the background..

      “The Secret Ninja Training School!? What was he doing there?”

      The image focused on them talking about deep meditations.

      “If studied and practiced enough, the Defenders could develop additional powers” The shadowy figure whispered mysteriously.

      “If you teach the Defenders how to do this it could be revolutionary in helping us stop the supervillains! Judge Hog replied with enthusiasm.

      “It takes years of practice. Only the most devoted students will become masters and be able to use telepathy.”

      The two figures faded out of his head.

      “Suddenly the years of meditation practice Judge Hog made us do makes so much sense!” Dr. Flexo thought excitedly as everything clicked into place.

      “So you can use your telepathy to uproot the flower and crush it? So why haven’t you done that already? Why are you telling me all of this?”

      Another picture formed in his head. He was looking at.. dark corridors, damp rooms and some tech built into the rocks. There was a big room with chairs where he was guessing the meetings took place, then the images followed a series of long metallic halls winding down into the darkness.

      “If this a rough layout of a system of underground caves, then I’m still not seeing the problem? Just destroy the flower?”

      The image of the flower flashed in front of his eyes.

      “You don’t know where it is! Okay no problem..” Dr. Flexo began whispering aloud.

      Meanwhile...In a vast, dimly lit room the female guard found the painting. She pressed gently upon the monochromatic flower and heard a click. The painting itself slid upwards and she stepped through the frame. As she walked up the stairs she felt something touch her. She spun around but didn’t see anyone. She took a deep breath and kept climbing. When she reached the top she stopped dead in her tracks.

      There were huge dark purple tubes attached to the container the flower was planted in. It seemed like they were collecting all the dust from the air around the ghastly flower. How was she even supposed to water it? She walked slowly around the room and noticed an opening with a small blue circle on it.

      “Blue for water right?” she justified out loud and poured the water into the opening.

      As she turned to leave, she heard a sucking sound and whipped back to the flower. A soft mist was coming out of a dark grey pipe and the flower turned slowly to soak it up.

      “Okay. Good. Done.” and got down the stairs as fast as she could. When she stepped through the painting back into the dimly lit space the painting closed behind her.

      Back in his dimly lit cell, Orig stretched deeply. Suddenly he heard chirping. He turned and noticed a small brown bug watching him. Orig knew that they were being watched so he felt into his cell with his mind to look for the camera.

      “Underneath a fake rock.. Well aren’t they clever.”

      He faced his back to the camera and began his meditation laying on his side. He felt his way out of the cell and into the guard’s quarters. He was walking himself past the security panel when he froze. There was a large cluster of monitors each showing a different cell.. He targeted each screen individually.

      “A disturbed looking blue Moehog, a drooling green Buzz, a dirt-streaked white Aisha, a long orange braid laid over a yellow Kau, an inky, dejected Wocky, and a deeply cracked Scorchio.. Oh my Fyora.”

      Before he delved too deep into his dark place, Orig made his way into the largest room in the caves and around the table. He waltzed through the painting and snuck up the stairs. He couldn’t believe the villains could manage to put together such a complex spell…

      The green Lupe looked around the room to figure out how to do it. After a few minutes, he took a deep cleansing breath and focused all his attention on the flower. Abruptly the dirt quivered. He dug the flower out, turned it upside down and reburied it. He relaxed his mind and sat in the darkest corner of the room watching as the sunlight slowly burned the roots. The purple pipes dimmed and he returned to his cell.

      The deep voiced guard muttered to himself as he headed to water the flower.

      “I don’t see why I get stuck with all the lackeys.. I could be running my own land by now if I had a special power.. Maybe I could find one of Sloth’s many hidden weapons.. Ya right..”

      As his eyes zeroed in on the darkened room, something felt wrong. The pipes weren’t flowing and there he realized that it was too quiet. Where were the sounds of the machines whirring?

      He looked over into the enclosure. There was what looked like a …. wilted spider?

      “They’ll have my head for this… What do I do..”

      His mind began to race.

      “Maybe if I just turn the flower right side up? They’ll notice for sure.. I need a plan. It must have been that daft guard..f they see this, they’ll blame me.. I know it.”

      He opened the containment and reached into the dirt. He turned the flower and dropped it in shock. There was nothing on the other end of the plant!

      All of a sudden he heard an alarm go off deep in the recesses of the lair.

      ‘Oh Sloth!”

      To be continued…