
The Search for Fluffy: Part Four
by precious_katuch14
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"Now what do we do?" asked Glitter nervously. She held the
paper with the answer to the Brain Tree's question.
"We already fed the Esophagor twice… I had Candy
Peas in my backpack too, right? So it's done…we are headed for the Brain Tree!"
answered Sweet.
The faerie Acara shook her head. "No, it's not
that. How are we supposed to find Angel?"
"We find Sloth, we find Angel and Fluffy," said
Sweet impatiently. Come on, let's go to that tree and give him our answers!
We really have to hustle if we want to save our siblings!"
The two ventured closer to the tree, which was
sleeping soundly, its huge brain pulsating with every snore.
"You wake him up," said the striped Kacheek quickly.
"No, you wake him up," said Glitter. "I'm scared."
"You poke him so he wakes up. It's that simple."
"I don't want to! You wake him up then!"
"You wake him up!"
"No, you!"
"Who is making all of that noisy, disturbing
racket??" The Brain Tree had woken up, and was facing Sweet and Glitter, an
annoyed expression on its face.
Glitter nudged her brother forward. "We-we have
the answers to your question," said Sweet, holding out the piece of paper.
The tree snatched the answer from the Kacheek's
paws and read it. "Well, I'm sorry. You are five minutes late. I can't accept
late work! Time is Neopoints, my little friends," the Brain Tree said. "Now,
if you'll excuse me, I have an unfinished nap."
"But…but…" Glitter's voice trailed off, and her
eyes filled with tears. "But we wanted to find our sister! Now it looks like
Sloth has our brother too!"
"Well, a deal's a deal. You said you'd find the
information within the time limit. But you didn't keep your end, so that doesn't
mean I still tell you where Sloth is hiding," the tree answered, casting a stern
look upon the Acara. She said nothing more, except that she began to cry and
buried her face in her paws. Sweet patted her back and faced the tree, wearing
a defiant look.
"Look, branch-brain, we want to find our sister!
Why? It's because we look out for each other, and if anything happens to either
Fluffy or Angel, nothing, and I mean nothing will stop us from saving them!
If you don't want to help us and if you want to see them suffer, then it's your
choice! But Glitter and I are going to keep searching, even if it means walking
through these woods for a whole month! So the deal's off! We're going to find
Fluffy and Angel by ourselves, twig-head!"
Glitter looked up from crying. The Brain Tree
was speechless, and just stared at Sweet.
"Come on, sis. We've got two siblings in trouble,
and we're going to find them! If that big pile of sticks won't help us, we'll
do it ourselves!" said Sweet, pulling his sister along.
The two walked away from the Brain Tree, but
while they were doing so, Glitter tripped over a small stone, and fell into
a hole, just as Angel had. And since her brother was holding her paw, he descended
along with the Acara, down a huge, dark pipe. The two screamed and hung on to
each other.
After a few moments of slipping and sliding through
the dim tunnel, Sweet and Glitter plopped into a place filled with weird contraptions
and strange sounds.
"W-Where are we?" whispered Glitter, clinging
onto her big brother.
"I don't know," said Sweet. "Judging from all
of these machines, it has to be Dr. Sloth's lair. That means Angel and Fluffy
must be nearby! Come on!"
The two siblings sprang into action as they started
looking all over the place-under the huge machines, in every nook and cranny,
even in the cabinets. While searching, Sweet pulled out a funny-looking device,
which had only one blue button.
"What's this?" whispered the Kacheek, reading
the back of the gadget. He scanned the writing silently.
When in doubt
When the Ensorcellator's hypnotizing
Just press the button
It's time for the victim's awakening.
"Sloth is a bad poet!" laughed Glitter as Sweet
put the device into his backpack.
"And he's standing behind you now, my friends,"
said a sneering voice from behind them. The two whirled about-and saw the face
of a very familiar villain, with green skin, a black cloak and a triumphant
look on his face.
***
"Bonehead, now that there are no more interruptions, let us begin brainwashing
our dear friend, now that we got her little siblings!" said Sloth, staring right
at the brown Grundo.
"What are you planning to do?" asked Sweet defiantly
as he tried to wriggle out of his bonds. He, Angel and Glitter were chained
to the wall behind Fluffy. The latter was strapped to a large chair facing Sloth
and Bonehead. The evil villain was clutching a device in his hands and was pointing
it at the white Aisha. "Now, little one, we shall rule Neopia, hand in hand!"
"But…but what about me?" asked Bonehead longingly.
"Of course you'll come too!" said Sloth absently.
He then pointed the Ensorcellator at Fluffy, mumbled a few words, and then pushed
the button. To the trio's horror, the yellow beam of light shot toward Fluffy,
whose eyes grew wide and focused on Sloth.
"Now," Sloth began, his voice triumphant, "shall
we take over Neopia, my dear?" He unstrapped Fluffy from the chair.
"Yes, great Sloth," said Fluffy in a monotonous
voice. "Yes, we shall conquer that world called Neopia together."
Angel, Glitter and Sweet gasped.
"You can't do this!"
"Why? Fluffy, no!"
"Please don't listen to Sloth!"
The villain cast an evil grin on the three of
them, and then went back to Fluffy. "But before we plan our evil scheme, would
you mind pacifying your siblings?"
"Of course. You and Bonehead may go on and start
brainstorming, while I take care of my meddling siblings."
With that, the two of them left and went into
another room, leaving the four of them alone in that place. Fluffy flashed them
an evil grin and pulled out some of Sloth's wicked contraptions.
"Fluffy, please!" whimpered Glitter. "We're too
young to get blasted! We're your siblings! You know, Angel, Sweet and me, Glitter?
Come on! You…"
ZAP!!!
The Aisha fired the first laser, but miraculously,
no one was hurt. Instead, it burned the ropes holding the trio. The binds fell
to the floor, along with the three other Neopets.
"You will never escape! Bow down to your rightful
leader, who is now working on a master plan!" Fluffy tried shooting them, but
her siblings dodged every shot. What ensued was a mad chase around the small
room of the hideout.
Suddenly, Sweet was cornered. His sister was
clutching a couple of large swords and three other weapons.
"Fluffy, no!" Glitter and Angel tried pulling
her away, but she pushed the Zafara and Acara away. She aimed right at the Kacheek,
who was now digging in his backpack for something useful. He pulled out the
mysterious device that he had picked up a while ago and pointed it at Fluffy.
With the push of the blue button, a jet of red
light blasted from the device and right onto Fluffy. She dropped her arsenal
and fell onto the ground, unconscious.
"Glitter, you stay here with Fluffy. Angel and
I will face Sloth. And I know exactly what to do." Sweet took Angel with him,
while Glitter knelt beside her dazed sister.
***
"It's been several minutes, Bonehead," sighed Sloth. "What is taking Fluffy
so long to get rid of her siblings? We need her now!"
"I'll go check," said Bonehead. He stepped out
of the planning room-only to be captured and tied up by Sweet and Angel. "Sir!
I don't know what they did to the Aisha but they've got me!" He screamed for
help but the Zafara gagged him, and tossed the Grundo next to one of the machines.
Sloth went after his associate. "Bonehead? Where'd
you go?" All of a sudden he smelled smoke. "What's going on?" he asked the Grundo
after finding and untying him. Unfortunately the answer lay beside them. Sweet
had set off one of Sloth's bombs, and was now precariously ticking away.
"What-why, you little idiots!" yelled the villain.
He found Glitter blasting a hole through the ceiling and herding her siblings
up.
"Come on, let's grab Fluffy and go!" said Angel
as he was hoisted up. Glitter grabbed the still-unconscious Aisha and scurried
out. When the quad was out, they fled away from the hole as much as possible,
and hid behind some trees.
After a couple of moments, they heard a loud
BANG!!!
While cowering amidst the forest, and some footsteps
scurrying quickly away, and muffled whispering reached the trio's ears.
"They…they escaped," whispered Angel. "Sloth
and Bonehead could be back soon."
"At least the two are gone now," added Glitter.
"Fluffy…Fluffy, wake up." She shook the Aisha's head slightly. "You all right?"
Fluffy's eyes finally opened, and she found herself
staring up at her three siblings, and the forest they were in.
"W-What…where…where are we?" She looked around
intently at her surroundings, and then turned to her siblings. "Wherever we
are, I don't like it. Let's go home."
Sweet nodded, and helped his sister up to her
feet. The quad was reunited at last, and now they were trekking home.
"I had the strangest dream," said Fluffy as they
made their way back to Neopia Central. "I was being controlled by Sloth and
I had to attack you three…"
The End