Rage Alone III: Ambitions - Part Two

      The Virtuclaw lit up at the forward-most point. Mass amounts of energy drained throughout the ship, and then directed into a massive beam of orange light. The Space Faeries paused and threw her arms forward to erect a red barrier of energy in front of her. The orange light slammed into the shield, but remained in a continuous bombardment upon her. In a matter of seconds, her shield shattered and she was directly hit by the weapon. There was an explosion upon contact with her and she flew back towards the planet of Neopia.

      On the Virtuclaw, everyone cheered at the success of the weapon. The Grundos let off a mighty roar in honor of their accomplishment, yet Sloth didn't utter a word. After the cheers an roars subsided, Sloth asked, "Are you sure that blasted faerie was eliminated? I don't want that thing coming back."

      A Grundo behind Sloth looked at the computer monitor and said, "Her energy readings are still there, but severely weakened. She's not dead, but certainly not going to be a problem for us."

      Sloth stood up from his chair. He looked to the Grundo beside him and said, "I think this would be a good opportunity to interrogate the Shoyru. Make sure this is as simple as possible."

      The two of them walked to the back-left of the room to an elevator. After the door was closed, Sloth pressed the button for them to go down. "I must say, I expected a bigger challenge," Sloth admitted.

      The Grundo responded, "I can't say this will be as easier through the rest of the mission. You still haven't explained the importance of the Shoyru or what we're after."

      Sloth told him, "When I was on Neopia, I discovered an energy signature directly connected to that of the planet. When it became unstable at the core, the planet itself became unstable. I think this Shoyru knows where it is because I can read the residual energies on him. If I can get my hands on it, then these Neopets will be at my mercy."

      The Grundo asked, "If it's no longer unstable, do you think they know how to stop it?"

      Sloth answered, "No. When I get it, I will keep it under my control no matter what."

      The elevator door opened and the two stepped out into a long hallway. As they walked past the steel walls, an occasional Grundo passed by them. It took a minute of walking for them to reach the door leading into the brig. Sloth walked into the door while the Grundo continued down the hallway. Jyrados was sitting on a metal bench with a particle shield separating them. Jyrados had a metal collar around his neck, and an agitated expression on his face. After Sloth entered, Jyrados looked up and said with a hard tone, "Who would have thought you'd kidnap random Neopets. What, run out of better ideas?"

      Sloth walked up to the shield and told him, "This was far from random. It would be random if we never met and I had no use of you. But alas, we have met and I need you to talk."

      Jyrados laid down along the bench and casually said, "I don't know what you expect me to say. I don't know anything that psychopaths with superiority complexes would want to know. So anyway, what's with this little ornament on my throat?"

      Sloth told him, "I know you focus on dark magic. The collar suppresses that magic so you won't be able to use it to try any futile escape attempts."

      Jyrados laughed with a few coughs mixed in. He rose up an arm and said, "I'm sure all that's around us is empty space. Where would I go if I tried to escape? Like you said, it's futile."

      Sloth said, "It's just a precaution. People try all sorts of desperate plans when they're faced with dangerous situations."

      Jyrados replied, "Let's talk about desperate for a moment, Sloth. What kind of desperate plan do you have this time?"

      Sloth simply mentioned, "Fethva..."

      Jyrados paused for a moment before rising back up in a sitting position. "What do you want to know," he asked.

      Sloth grinned slightly and answered by asking, "Where is it?"

      With a soft chuckle, Jyrados responded, "You're barking up the wrong tree. Fethva doesn't exist. It's become nothing more than a story following a catastrophe."

      Sloth turned to his right to lean against the wall. "You will talk," he stated matter-of-factly.

      Jyrados shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Like I said, nothing to say."

      The Grundo walked into the room at that point. His head wore a helmet with an antennae on top and one of both its sides. He didn't say a word, but rather just stood in front of the door inside the room. Sloth nodded to the Grundo and said to Jyrados, "Are you familiar with Virtupet technology? Of coarse you are. As every Neopian knows, we have the power of mind control, which makes getting information much easier. Beatings can be so unreliable. People will say anything to keep from feeling pain."

      Jyrados just yawned and told Sloth, "You still can't get anything from me. Fethva can't be yours or anyone's."

      Sloth gave another nod to the Grundo. The Grundo fixed his eyes on Jyrados, and focused in on him. Jyrados' muscles stiffened and he took in a deep breath as a chill filled his body. Within a few seconds, his body relaxed and his face was expressionless.

      Sloth's grin grew larger and he said, "There, that's better. Now, where is Fethva?"

      Jyrados answered in a soft, monotone voice, "Fethva is nowhere."

      The grin vanished from Sloth's face and he asked with a small amount of tension in his voice, "What is that suppose to mean?"

      Jyrados told him, "It was destroyed. Fethva shattered."

      Sloth looked at the Grundo and said, "Are you sure he's telling the truth?"

      The Grundo nodded and responded, "He's not strong enough to resist control. This is the truth."

      Jyrados continued, "I destroyed the crystal to correct the imbalance."

      Sloth looked back at Jyrados and said, "So, it really did control the planet. How did it work?"

      Jyrados told him, "It was controlled by two pillars. They were set to lessen magics of ill intent. When they were corrupted, tension began to destabilize Neopia. When the pillars were destroyed, the crystal was destroyed, which broke the link it had with the planet."

      Sloth thought for a moment, then inquired, "If the laws of energy are correct, then the energy still exists. Where did it go?"

      Jyrados stated, "I don't know."

      Sloth punched the shield, which caused a ripple around his fist. He asked again with anger, "Where is it!"

      Again, Jyrados stated, "I don't know."

      Sloth ask, "Where are the shattered pieces? Can they be recovered?"

      Jyrados answered, "At the broken mountain to the south of where you took me; just short of where the ice meets rock. Fethva's crystal can be recovered, but not his energy. Fethva was destroyed."

      Sloth formed another grin on his face and replied, "We'll see. Well, at least I will. You, however, are no longer useful to me." He turned his gaze to the Grundo and ordered, "Assemble a team to search the area around the mountain. I'll be overlooking them personally. I'm willing to bet the pieces still hold parts of the energy signature."

      The Grundo broke control over Jyrados and removed the helmet. With a bow, he turned around to open the door. Before he could walk out, Jyrados said, "I'll have your heads for that."

      The Grundo responded with, "It will be the other way around after you are executed." After that, both he and Sloth left the brig.

      Jyrados slowly stood up in front of the shield and looked at the rest of the room to see it completely empty. He clenched his teeth and hit the shield with a fist, then continued to hit is harder and harder. Each hit caused a small flash of light where it was impacted. On the fifth hit, the entire shield flashed and sent a surge of energy through his body. Jyrados screamed and fell to his knees from the pain. He still needed rest from his injuries, and rested his forehead against the shield while still on his knees.

      Meanwhile, on the surface of Neopia, a light faerie in a long, yellow gown fluttered in the air above the drone as she talked to Draicus, Simpha, and Gorrem. The faerie said to them, "So this thing shot a beam your friend and he vanished? Any idea why?"

      Gorrem told her, "No, we don't even know who sent it."

      The faerie responded, "Well it's clearly of Virtupet origins. Sloth was sighted by Kreludor, and it was the single from this one drone that led us to him."

      Simpha yelled, "Why was Sloth after Jyrados? And what happened to him?"

      The faerie said, "Just calm down. Jyrados was only teleported away. He only collected a small amount of information from its data stream, and a teleport order was made."

      Draicus rather calmly informed her, "You probably could have started out the conversation by saying that. Have these things been dropping all over the place?"

      She answered, "No, just this one. The Space Faerie went to investigate, so it should only be a matter of time until your friend is recovered. Now I just need to take this drone back Faerie City. Will you all be alright?"

      "Actually," Simpha mentioned, "we're all pretty tired and need to get to Neopia Central. Could you maybe give us a lift or something before you take that thing back?"

      She nodded and waved an arm to levitate the drone and them in he air. The faerie then started to fly north towards Neopia Central as the others followed behind. As they moved, Gorrem looked up at the sky and said, "Uhh, guys... is there suppose to be a meteor shower today?"

      Draicus and Simpha looked up to see eight balls of fire fly past them high in the sky. They were in a line formation next to each other, and heading south at the same speed. Draicus continued to look up as he said, "When we get done back home, I think we better get ready for something big."

To be continued...