First of all, the four children would like to thank all of you for freeing them from the lift and saving Neopia (yet again) from Doctor Sloth. Here is the solution, in case you were wondering how everybody did it.

We put even more LOADS of red herrings in than we did for The Hunt for the Crown. Hopefully, you were sent in the wrong direction a few times... erm, we actually meant to say, red herrings are bad and we apologise for putting them in. Anything we don't mention on this page was a red herring.

1. The first clue was in the letter from Dr. Sloth. He mentions that the first programmer's "mouth will be full of that vile purple vegetable that he craves so much."

2. By looking up "Ummagine" in the Shop Wizard, and if you refresh the results page enough, you will find vpet_storage4's shop, which contains weird items like Ummagine T-shirts, Ummagine Cakes, and Ummagine Plushies.

3. After you're done with the shop, do a search on vpet_storage4. Go to his NeoHome first. There's a picture of Blarthrox, who tells you the first of the two numbers (84 and 19) of the deactivation code, and that the only way you'll be able to disable Neopet Version 2 is to collect all ten numbers by finding the three other programmers.

Refresh the page until you get a secret coded message from one of the programmers. You're going to need this coded message, so save it for later.

Check the source code and you will get the question, "Who are you?". Write that down.

4. Next, go to Blarthrox's pet page. At the bottom of the page he tells you about his friend and his owner, Virtulogorex. That's the only clue here.

5. Do a search for Virtulogorex. You will find that he's got a pet named Zyrolon. In his pet description you will learn the approximate time that he works. Go to Zyrolon's pet page. First, check the source code to get the question, "Who created you?" and notice that there is a hidden image of the Metal Devourer from NeoQuest.

Go to the poem at the bottom of the page. Here we used number/word equivalents, meaning that some of the words in the poem can also be read as numbers. For example, "to"=2; "Oh"=0; "for"=4; "too"=2; "to"=2; "won"=1; "to"=2. Don't forget the "8" from the poem's title. You should end up with the number 82042212.

6. Since you got the clues from Zyrolon's page, the next logical step is to go to NeoQuest and defeat the Metal Devourer. Once you have defeated it, add "?subcode=82042212 to the end of the URL. This should happen.

Find the subroutine code (see above) and run it. This will decode the message you found in Blarthrox's NeoHome. You'll need to know some programming here, like PHP or JavaScript.

7. After you've run the code to decode the Blarthrox's message, you'll get a half-decoded message. Don't stop there. Remove the decoded text, and run it again through the decoder. You'll get the rest of the letter this way, and another clue.

www.neopets.com/space/index.phtml?hatch=7b&sector=14-alpha&floor=7

9. View source in the Maintenance Hatch 7b page to find a .swf filename. After you try adding to the www URL, you should figure out by now that it should be added to the images URL like so:
//images.neopets.com/space/hatchgame2534.swf

10. Welcome to the TRUTH CHECKER Version 2.0_. The first answer is "grundo". The second answer is tricky. It's just like the Mystery Pic game. The answers are:

//images.neopets.com/space/slothsarmy.jpg
//images.neopets.com/space/space_foodkeeper.gif
//images.neopets.com/shopkeeper/robot_keeper.gif

The third and final task given by the TRUTH CHECKER is even trickier than the step before. You have to match the eye with the faint circle on the image. After you've done that, you'll get the number 901236480. Write that down.

11. Remember the maintenance hatch URL? You'll need that and the code you got from the TRUTH CHECKER. Add the code to the URL like this:

//www.neopets.com/space/index.phtml?hatch=7b&sector=14-alpha&floor=7&subcode=901236480

Doing this will open the hatch and Grimilix, the third programmer, will pop out.

Ahhh, you found me....

Grimilix will give you his card and tell you part of the deactivation code, 03.

12. Go to Grimilix's pet page. This page contains one clue: a SwF file. You're going to have to view source to get this one. Add it to the images URL to get this. The Flash animation will show you another part of the deactivation code, 59.

13. Do a search for Grimilix and you'll find out his owner's name is "vvvppp" and that vvvppp belongs to The Warriors of Sloth Guild. When you get to guild, check the source code for another question, "What game do you want to play?" Write that down with all the others.

14. Do a search on qebnidxobbi, who is second in command in the guild. Click on his pet's page (Eywooseq) and view source. In the source code you will discover a link to the following image:

15. If you take this image into a paint program, such as Paint Brush, and do a flood fill on the background, a URL is revealed.

It reveals the URL of a vending machine.

16. The last member of vvvppp's guild is Yondorolon. Instructions on how to operate the vending machine are on his pet page. From the clues on this page you will learn that the sequence is 10 steps long and that Yondorolon is colour blind. View the source code. A grouping of 10 steps are in a different font colour and upside down. Flip them right-side up and you'll get:

Shake
Shake
Kick
Big Yellow
Purple
Yellow
Green
Kick
Big Orange
Pull Lever

17. When the right sequence is entered you will break the machine, and if you've done it between 3-3:15 am/pm NST, Zyrolon will come out to fix it. When he does, he will give you two numbers for the deactivation code, 31 and 66. He also mentions a "Krawk Island drunkard". Here you should also view source for another hidden question: "What are the codes?"

18. In the Neopedia, look up Captain Threelegs. In the article, "Room 109 with the drunkards" is mentioned. This gives a room clue at the Swashbuckling Academy. Add ?room=109 to the Academy URL to find this.

Tazzalor's the name... but that's all I seem to remember.

19. Tazzalor can't remember his favourite food, which is the ending of his shanty. His favourite food is actually a mixture of the food he is singing about: Bargjelly Sundae. For helping him finish up his shanty, Tazzalor gives you two more numbers of the deactivation code. 58 and 11. So far, that makes eight, but you still need two more. He also gives you a link to the Deactivation Console.

20. Do a search for Tazzalor and on one of his pages you will find another hidden question. This time it's "Why are you doing this?"

21. Go to the Deactivation Console and view source. Another hidden question is revealed: "It is time for your first lesson".

22. Zyrbelvekk, another member of vvvppp's guild, has a Grundo named Yzlobiqq. Go to Yzlobiqq's pet page and view source. Right click and zoom in on the Flash image. This will reveal the location of Neopet Version 2. Floor 39, Room 72a. Add those parameters to the space URL like so:

//www.neopets.com/space/index.phtml?floor=39&room=72a

23. Entering the hidden questions in this order will force the computer to give you the final two numbers of the deactivation code:

24. Go back to the Deactivation Console and punch in the following codes to deactivate Neopet Version 2:

03 59 58 11 41 94 84 19 31 66

This should turn off Neopet Version 2, freeing the children from the lift.

THANKS FOR PLAYING