Every Time I See You Falling
Chapter 1: A few months after the defeat of Dr. Sloth...
"And then I dashed out of between my parents' hands and went and pounced on that bounty hunter, before she got to blasting in my friend off!" The white Cybunny with matching brown ruff and piggytails exclaimed excitedly as she told her story.
"Oh, my Fyora, were you okay??" The little yellow Kacheek friend of hers asked.
"Yeah, no I avoided getting blasted myself so I just got a scuff or something from bodying that Acara! But at least my friend got to escape!"
"This all seems like a load of hoagie," commented a Gelert, which set off the Cybunny.
"It was true!! It was all freaking true!! I literally have a freaking medal to show it too!!" She yelled, but the Gelert scoffed.
"Whatever..." And walked off.
The Cybunny huffed, angry that she'd have been called a liar for telling her story. It wasn't even the first time and it was still really grating to her. What part of this sounded so little true? Why is it that it was so hard for Neopets to believe this was something that she had gone
"I don't know how did you do all of this. I would have cried the entire time if it was me." Said the little Kacheek. "I mean, getting caught up in the middle of an invasion? Getting caught up in this war in space caused by Dr. Sloth himself? With all his robots and everything? And being dragged around by a bunch of rebels who were the only ones fighting up there against him??"
"Oh no, I wasn't dragged around by the rebels, I actually helped them! I decided to volunteer, I just thought that was the good thing to do." The Cybunny replied.
"Yeah, but what if anything had gone wrong?" The Kacheek asked. "Your parents probably were very, very worried about you, weren't they?"
Cylara paused for a second. They were then very worried. They still were even to the present day. But what was she supposed to do? Just run away and hide like everyone else? She did her part to help and she helped win the war. She helped thwart that invasion. Neopia was safe for another day. If she hadn't helped, who knew, maybe the Resistance would have lost. And how would she live on if she had not helped? They would have lost, and Dr. Sloth would have won this invasion. There wouldn't even be a Neopia as she knew if it wasn't for her getting in a little bit of danger, but it wasn't that much. She didn't get her friend Christie's worry.
"Yeah, but that's fine. Mom is still a little bit freaked out." She lied. "And Dad thinks I'm really cool now, because I am a hero and all, now, right?" That was at least true. "But that's just how it is. It will all go back to normal, eventually." She hoped. This conversation was beginning to bother her, But she couldn't figure out why. "Anyways, what's for lunch today?"
"Gross bologna sandwiches, it is bologna day."
"Ew. I'm not looking forward to that!" Cylara exclaimed, and Christie giggled.
"Nobody ever is! Only Travis likes bologna in this school." The Kacheek said.
"What a weirdo!" The Cybunny responded.
The Resistance headquarters always had a droll of machinery and chatter, but today it seemed louder than usual, at least for the short blue Grundo in a black jumpsuit. Or he was more irritated than usual. Whichever way, Gorix needed a moment out of there, only his commander had noticed, and followed right after him.
Past the sliding hatch door, Gorix sighed deeply as he leaned back on the cold metal walls of the Station, his incoming headache already forewarning a bad day, but his moment was quick interrupted by the tall green bearded Ixi who had followed him.
"Are you alright, Gorix? You seem worser for wear today." The Grundo automatically straightened up and saluted.
"Commander Valka, sir! Yes, sir!" The Ixi sighed.
"I already told you many times, you can be at ease around me." The Grundo lowered his arm. "Also, lying about your state does you no good, I was asking because you were visibly struggling in there."
"It is just a headache, sir. I just need a minute out here." Gorix answered, and Valka refrained from chiding the Grundo for his formality a second time.
The Ixi studied the Grundo, studying other signs his underling perhaps was not picking up on himself. "You seem not well, perhaps it is best you refrain from activities today."
"No!" Gorix exclaimed with a desperation that surprised even the Grundo himself. "I just need a minute, sir, I'll be back in there picking up some tasks to be useful really quick."
"You really don't need to make yourself any more useful, Gorix." The Commander adopted a more chiding tone. "You are a hero, you helped defeat Sloth directly. You deserve a break at least once in your life." The Grundo seemed reluctant, so the Ixi saw no choice but to appeal to the one thing that made Gorix obey. "I command you to take the day off, and strongly recommend you to take even more time off. You have more than earned a break, I will not see you run yourself ragged any longer. Also, do go see the medical team, or if you can't walk back in, I will be sending someone out here, to treat your headache at the very least." Valka paused for a second, before adding, "There is no point in suffering without a reason."
The blue Grundo bit his tongue, nodding in agreement. He guessed he had no choice then, he was going to have to do nothing for that day.
The split Grundo wandered through the seedier parts of the Neopian city with a bag with his recently bought lunch in his hand, covered antennae to toe in cloth, with a hood overshadowing his face, watching all who passed by, fearing recognition. He knew logically that the chances were very slim, on the planet not many had heard of the recent war in space, Neopians were notoriously ignorant about world events, and absorbed in their daily lives.
And yet, he could not shake off that fear, of it all happening once again, like he had been recognized back on the moon, caught red-handed by the one he had long abandoned, and his life he had meticulously built for years to fit his master's bidding crashing down within a few minutes. Who knew, perhaps he could have been even in some foraged list of the police, or that one organization of brightly colored spandex-wearing weirdos that had their headquarters in this city.
At least he knew how to get himself out of any imprisonment if needed be, but if that happened, he would have to run out of this land to somewhere else. What a fate to come to have, to never be allowed to have moment's peace anywhere he went, always on the run, and for what purpose? What was the point of it all?
Right, it all rooted back in his fear back then. Fear of choosing the wrong side, fear of that side losing, and being subjected to terrors very known to him since his childhood. Only it would be worse, since he would have been captured as a rebel. The blue Grundo he once knew probably assumed he had done it out of ambition, or power hunger, like many of the others who joined the ranks of Sloth's armies, but the reality was far more pathetic. And so, the fear won, and he could not bear the thought of it all, and decided instead to play for the then winning side.
He was shocked to see the Resistance actually turn around like that, he thought that, from what he knew, it was just a matter of time before they would have been all but exterminated. And yet, they won the war, they thwarted Sloth himself, and this planet he hid in now was saved for another day.
As the split Grundo wandered past the desolate back streets of abandoned shop fronts and skeevy characters who eyed him as much as he eyed them back, he thought to himself, what was going to be his life plan? To hope that he would fade out of the public existence, and take on a new, quiet life? Perhaps, if given enough time, that would be possible, but yet, he had no abilities in anything else besides fighting and lying and manipulation, that was all he had learned up in space. He would have to learn a real job of some sort here, and try to live a life here, while avoiding authorities, never allowed to rest for a second in his life, always having to be prepared to pick up and go if he was found out. He was way too recognizable anyways, his half and half appearance and his scars, it was more than enough for his ex-friend to recognize him, and if some image of his had been passed on by that other Grundo, then he was as good as gone, he'd never find peace.
He could perhaps gather up Neopoints and change himself in color, and go after a surgeon or something to deal with his face, but that would take time, mainly given how little he had to offer that wasn't in the line of work that would put him in trouble sooner or later in here as well. Also, was he even willing to change himself that much? He wasn't sure he could answer that, his fears told him to do it, but that was a disheartening idea to him, to give even further into his fears.
And so, he feared himself doomed to the one fate he had decided years ago, and to have to crawl back to the master he had chosen, the moment said master returned, or his organization reformed once more. And meanwhile, all the Grundo could do was bide his own time.
The Grundo finally had wandered into a more affluent part of town, which he stopped for a second to admire. He had not seen such wealth and space up in space, everything was well kept, all the trees and greenery were vibrant and blossoming, the birds sang and the Neopets wandered with ease. There was even a school nearby, from what he had learned of what a school was, as he had not had this sort of experience growing up. The reverberation of the crowd of children enjoying themselves a strange type of sound he could not get used to, it was loud, and he could hear shouts and whistle sounds like the ones he'd hear in the training hangars of Sloth's ships, but they were clearly all happy to be there.
The Grundo took his hood off his head for a moment, it was too hot anyways for his outfit, and he noted that the Neopets did not pay as much attention here to their surroundings than in the previous neighborhood he was in. He sat down under a tree, and, in his hunger, opened his bag and started eating his lunch, removing his face mask to be able to access his mouth, and for a little while he had a moment of peace.
A bell rang at that school, the vibrato bothering him a bit, and then children of all ages started pouring out of the gates of the school, which was unexpected for him, as he did not know that was how schools would work. There were also those who did not look like children, closer to his age, who apparently went to school as well in this city? He got up immediately, putting his leftover food in the bag, and scrambling to pull his hood back on, before realizing he needed to have fixed his mask first.
And, in that slip of the moment, he noticed a pair of pink eyes he recognized from elsewhere had locked in him. Stopped in the middle of the crowd, a brown-haired Cybunny glared at him with shock and confusion. He did not give it a second further, and used the crowd's mess to slip away, sure that his mess up had earned him actual trouble sooner than he thought.
Chapter 2: Right before Cylara's summer vacation...
"Mom, I already said I am going to go, and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise!" The Cybunny with piggytails yelled despite her best judgment.
"I am your mother, and you will listen to me at once!" The older Cybunny who the first one resembled, but sporting glasses, yelled back. "Why do you even want to take part in all of that once again? Wasn't putting yourself in danger once enough??"
"It wasn't even that bad! I am fine, see??" The first Cybunny yelled, exasperated with her mother. Then, she looked at her father, who she also resembled but with a mustache and glasses, and added something that would appeal to him. "Besides, I am a part of the Resistance, it is my duty to go back up there and help the others, what sort of hero would I be if I just abandoned it all after doing one deed?"
"She does have a point, dear, our little girl is a Neopian hero, she has a duty now to help protect the planet, as she did before." The male Cybunny responded, and then he gleamed at his daughter with pride. "I still can't believe our little girl is all grown up now, and a decorated hero, for defeating the great and evil Dr. Sloth! What an accomplishment!" The young Cybunny blushed with her father's praise, but her mother was still exasperated.
"Am I the only one here with reason enough to see how horrifying this is??" The desperation was clear in Cylara's mom's eyes. "Last time we saw our daughter up there, she jumped into blaster fire! To fight a criminal, also!"
"To save my friend Gorix! He had saved me earlier, and had helped free you guys," Cylara said that part while pointing at her mom, "and all the others, it was only right to do that in return!" The older female Cybunny frowned, and tried to find words to respond.
"Yes but- That's not- That was still very dangerous! What if you had gotten seriously hurt? Or worse??" That last part was said in a breaking voice, which prompted the male Cybunny to wrap his arm around his wife, and she turned to him with pleading eyes.
"But I did not..." Cylara felt frustrated that her mother that it wasn't that big of a deal, she was far from being in danger back then, she had gone through far scarier situations later in that series of events, things she didn't feel like sharing to not worry her parents, and she also came out fine in the end. That confrontation with Ylana back then was nothing to her, just a thing she did to rescue Gorix. "And my friends at the Resistance would never let it get that far, mainly now. It is just cleanup and diplomacy work they're doing now, chasing after Sloth's minions who are still out there causing trouble, with the help of the corps up there, and helping with the aftermath of the Kreludan war. There isn't much danger around anymore, the Station and Kreludor are safe."
The Cybunny's mother pondered, still worried for her daughter, but she feared she had no ground to protest more, unless she were to become overbearing. Her daughter was a Neopian hero, like her husband had stated, she was more than capable to fend for herself as she had proven... But why did this bring so little comfort to the older Cybunny?
"And you have not seen him ever since?" The blue Grundo asked the Cybunny on his wrist device's screen.
"Nope, nada. Your little ex-friend just visited me that one time and then I guess just hightailed out of Neopia Central afterwards." She responded, her voice filtered through the device's noise, her signal coming from the limit from the device's range even after modifications, as she was down in the planet, and he was up in the Space Station.
"Like the coward he is. I do wish he had stayed around there, so I'd know where to find him to deck him personally." A snort was heard from the device.
"I'd pay prize 'point to see that rematch." His friend replied. "This time, bare handed, the two of you. On the streets of Neopia. You'd definitely win."
Gorix grinned with that vote of confidence, but he also worried about that traitor in the sense of his duties. "Yes, but also, we are cleaning the streets of these criminals, before their master return, which is another reason it is a good and bad thing you spotted him over there. That confirms he's alive, so he survived Sloth's master ship's explosion, and he is in Neopia now... But if he left Neopia Central, who knows what land he would have gone to."
"He strikes me as a guy who would probably return to space eventually." Cylara responded. "I can't think of how would he fit on this planet, and he literally was covered head to toe that day, to not be recognizable. If it weren't for him not covering his face properly, I'd not have recognized him. But imagine being dressed like that all of the time over here? Mainly now in summer? Whew. One would overheat."
"Mhm, I guess it makes sense." The blue Grundo pondered. "I too can't think of how would he work over there, it's not like we learned enough to do... Neopian jobs."
"Right, you guys never went to school." His friend responded. "Well, you're not missing out on much, though, studying sucks."
"But you do learn valuable skills from it." Gorix said. "I only know math and some low level engineering because I was required to learn them to figure things out here. Most things I've learned are self-taught. At least you get teachers and other mentors who can help you."
"Yeah, but also you're crammed in a room with forty kids every period of the day, most who you couldn't care less, even some who hate you, while being also taught things you don't need and don't care. Also, a lot of teachers are just bad, so many of them let power get to their heads, and get all bossy and full of stupid rules. And all we're doing is learning to cram for end-of-the-year exams." The Cybunny ranted, but the Grundo still didn't see what was the deal with what she was talking about. It was all much better than what he had grown up with. "Anyways, I can't wait until the year is over, I miss you and the others, and I can't wait to help the Resistance out. Get to doing some of that good work, you know?"
"Right. How have your parents resolved themselves about it? Are they okay with you coming over for your summer vacation?"
"Dad has been for it since day 1. Mom is still not happy about it, but at least she finally stopped yelling at me to not go. She is worried I will get hurt, and wants to talk to Valka directly as to what I can and can't do." Cylara responded with annoyance in her voice, to which Gorix responded with a snort. "I'm serious, though, she said that if I'm going they're dropping me off, and she's going to talk personally to that Ixi."
"Well, Commander Valka is always open to talk, and probably would understand and try to assuage her worries, and probably try to accomodate for her." A scoff was heard from the device.
"I just want him to tell her I'll be fine, and for her to believe that. So she can get off my tail about it." Cylara said.
"Your parents are very doting and caring," Gorix said with a hint of jealousy. "You should consider yourself lucky to have them around. Besides, it is a good idea you stay out of more dangerous missions regardless. You still need to be trained."
The Cybunny rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, I know, but I don't want to miss out in all the action! That's the fun part!"
"Right, your concept of fun..." Gorix trailed off, disconcerted about it.
The split Grundo with distinctive scars watched from a safe distance the school he had first taken note a few months back behind a short wall, keeping an eye on the crowd as they left at the end of the day. He had binoculars on him to keep track of one Cybunny he had marked, the one he had feared would spell his doom.
And yet, he risked himself by staying in this city, and for what purpose? Sheer curiosity, he reckoned, or something else. That was the Cybunny he had seen the one he once was friends with partner up, who helped catch him, and to even defeat Sloth. That meant she was special, in some way, as to have been chosen by that Grundo, but this one could not figure out how was she special.
She seemed like the others in that school, all very Neopian and urban. They all seemed childish, including her, and he had observed the interactions she and her friends had around town, and it lacked any degree of severity or seriousness. Her parents also seemed like your average Neopian, with jobs in companies in this same city, driving motorized vehicles that were unremarkably indifferent from the others in these streets. He had seen her house, it was not different from the others in the street she lived in, and they were all spacious and fully furnished with luxury he had only heard of up in space. She did not seem to have any ties to monarchies or other special lineages, from what he had searched around about, nor with the race of the Faeries or other magical beings that inhabited this planet. Everything about her was remarkably average and steeped in this level of comfort and pampering he thought was alien.
He noted on his notepad some more things he observed about Cylara's friends today, not acknowledging that he too was being observed at that moment. After watching what seemed like a mild discussion in between her mother and her, as she got into the vehicle her mother drove, he thought there was nothing more to do here, and had no interest in following her home today, so he decided to go back to his quarters in the less kept part of the city. Packing away his gear and ensuring his face was unrecognizable under the hood despite the summer heat getting to him, he turned around to finally notice the pink alien Aisha who barely disguised herself despite having her face in actual wanted posters. She had been entertaining herself by watching his activities, standing at the corner of the street, and shook her head as he approached.
"Creeping on schoolkids? Now that's something I wasn't expecting from you." The white haired Aisha said.
"Sophix, what in the stars are you doing here??" Parlax hissed quietly as he stood next to her on that street corner.
"A beauty like me needs a day off every other day, don't you think?" She put her hands to her face and grinned graciously as she winked, the Grundo not buying that excuse. She continued on with her act, lowering her hand. "It is true, I was here to get some sun without risking radiation poisoning from outer space. Also, to rouse some of those law abiding officers in spandex suits, they're always fun to bother. Although I haven't seen any of them on patrol today, which is a shame. But what are *you* doing here? And aren't you sweating your skin off with-" She gesticulated at the Grundo. "All of that?? It must be 80 degrees out here."
"I don't want to get caught, different from you." Parlax said that quietly. "But I have just been... Around here. Hiding, trying to figure out what to do."
"Where does watching schoolkids fit in this? That's uncomely even for you, short stack." The alien Aisha snarked, the Grundo not being amused.
"I'm not randomly watching schoolkids, I'm just studying one Neopet." He pulled out his folder of observations from his rucksack, and from there he showed a picture he had managed to snap a while back. It showed a particular white Cybunny with matching brown ruff and piggytails, laughing with a yellow Kacheek and a blue Usul. The Aisha raised an eyebrow and scoffed.
"That's your type? I thought you were not-"
"She is the one who was with someone I knew from the Resistance-"
"Mmmhhh-hmmmm? I see..." Sophix cut him off to tease him.
"And she helped defeat Sloth himself." Parlax asserted, trying to not get carried with the Aisha's teasing. "Actually, she was the one who activated the Space Faerie token to trap him, while I fought Gorix."
"Ooohhh so his name is Gorix?" Sophix continued with her teasing, which finally got to the split Grundo.
"Are you not listening?? She defeated Dr. Sloth!" He hissed. "So I was studying her to see why or how did she manage to do that."
Sophix shook her head once more and tutted. "If that's your actual motivation, you are overthinking this, that green alien has always been sort of oblivious to his own defenses and to vulnerabilities, that's how he got defeated the last time, and unsurprisingly this time as well." She glanced at the picture once more. "By a schoolgirl as well, well that's a shame. But I never was the sort to think he was undefeatable, only rich. That's all that matters after all."
The Grundo pondered for a moment. That was true, he himself had found the feared Dr. Sloth to be egocentric and arrogant to a fault, almost thinking himself invincible, to the point he had no bodyguards, only decorations fashioned after his likeness, that stood in his ship. That was the biggest security risk the Grundo had noticed, and he wasn't even paying that much attention. And yet, this giant moster was still the most terrifying creature the Grundo knew, not as much for his person but for what he was capable of, and for what his followers were willing to do. The Cybunny was foolish to have confronted him directly, she was marked for life, the whole Resistance was. Mainly considering Dr. Sloth always managed to come back.
"Say, speaking of the devil, I was told by Ylana the other day that a conglomerate of Sloth's scientists and other higher officers were discussing on gathering resources to rebuild and reinforce the armies while they search for the Space Faerie token to free him." The Aisha commented. "It's incredible how obsessive these types are with that guy, but as long as they're paying a pretty 'point, I'm in. She even commented how one of these Neopets paid half of what she was promised for hunting that Resistance scout, just for her troubles, and to rebuild loyalties."
"... And?" Parlax asked, unenthusiastically. That wigged out the alien Aisha.
"Well, if you aren't that needing in money, that leaves more for me. I just thought perhaps you were looking for a job that fit more... Your profile." She gestured towards the hood and mask. "Besides, before you told me about that Cybunny, no one in Sloth's armies knew of some way to operate that token, all the scientists in Sloth's ships tried and failed to wield its magic."
"Well, she did it, I saw it with my own two eyes, while I fought in Sloth's room." The Grundo said.
"Exactly, so that's important information to help your boss to come back." The Aisha said, but Parlax wasn't fully sure if that is what he wanted. But then, what else was he going to do with his life? "All they need is to find the token now. There has been scouting ships searching the wreckage, it is just that they need to keep it on the down low, and avoid detection by other ships or that Space Faerie. But it is just a matter of time."
"I guess." The Grundo said.
Chapter 3: At the beginning of Cylara's summer vacation
Cylara was in awe and shock at how much her mother was sizing up to the tall green Ixi Commander, as she dictated the ground rules as to what her daughter could and not do in the Resistance.
"Also, I do *not* want her handling a blaster ever! Those things are dangerous, and you may put her through training and all, but there is no way in Fyora's good name that I want her messing with weapons like those!"
"Mom! How do you expect me to defend myself then??" The young Cybunny protested, but the Commander attempted to assuage the mother's concerns by assuring her request was met.
"Do not worry, we will focus on sending your daughter to diplomatic and other non-violent missions." Cylara scoffed, feeling infantalized by the two adults discussing. "Anyways, it is not like we expect much confrontation from Sloth's minions, they have all scattered in the wind in the wake of their master's demise, and have gone into hiding, since even the authorities here and on the moon have been searching with us. They haven't offered us much trouble, and do not show any signs of otherwise."
The older female Cybunny, satisfied enough with that response, turned to her daughter and added. "I also want to hear from you every night, understood? Your superior gave me this communication device," she showed the transponder she got from Valka, "and I'll see with your father on how to get it running with our TV, you can't give me any excuse to not keep in touch. Also, maintain your curfew hours during this summer vacation, the last thing you need is to have to deal with sleep deprivation right before your school year starts again."
"Alright, mom." Cylara said, now that last part was the most unrealistic of her demands, but there was no point in discussing with her mother at that point. Speaking of Cylara's dad, she looked around to see where was he now, and go figure, she spotted him looming over Conicks, who seemed to be enthusiastically explaining about the radar and all, while her father nodded, just as enthusiastically. Cylara left her mom behind, to chat away with Valka about more demands she had, while the little Cybunny with piggytails approached the other two, just to watch their interaction.
"... And so, when the light signals bounce back from whatever object be out in space, the antennae will detect it and the direction it came back from and how fast, and calculate the position of the incoming object, and project it on the screen, in the equivalent position, flattened to 2D. And so that's how we get to know if there are any strange ships passing by the Station." The yellow Grundo spoke, and the older Cybunny responded, as he noted down on his notepad.
"Fascinating, my boy! So this is how it works? I absolutely love how futuristic all those thingamajigs are here, it is never a boring moment!"
"Just you wait until I get to the onboard control computer of a spaceship, if you think this is fascinating. It incorporates so many features to calculate trajectory, including radars!"
"Wow!" Cylara's dad exclaimed, his eyes growing large like a little child. "Can I go see?" But at that moment, his wife had approached the two, preparing to finally leave.
"Honey, I think we'll have to leave it for the next time." There was an audible sound of disappointment from Cylara's dad. "Have you said goodbye to your daughter?" Cylara's mom looked at the little Cybunny with warmth but concern.
"Right, no, I had not, we were so caught up discussing Virtupets tech, I forgot about the time!" He looked at Cylara and gave her a warm smile. "Well, sweetheart, why don'tcha give us a big goodbye hug, before you go off to do your 'hero stuff'?"
"Right, I should do that." Cylara said, blushing, before she hugged her dad and mom. The two reciprocated the hug, which lingered for a second or so. The other agents of the Resistance watched them, a warm sight like this was rare, and thus cherished. "I love you, mom, I love you dad. I'll miss you." She said, hoping that last part wasn't going to be as bad. It was only for a bit over two months, it shouldn't be so bad, right?
Meanwhile, Gorix had finally arrived at the Resistance's headquarters, saluting Valka in his usual formality, and the approaching the trio. The Cybunny mother saw him first as they broke away from their group hug.
"Right, and you must be Gorix, right? Cylara has talked about you all of the time at home for these past months."
"Oh, so this is the other hero who saved us from Dr. Sloth!" The Cybunny father said out loud right after his wife, extending his hand to greet. Gorix, overwhelmed, blushed deeply as they shook hands and he got a pat in the back, and responded rather quietly.
"Yes, yes I am."
"Well, then, you need to keep an eye out for her as well, don't let Cylara get too much into trouble, alright? And don't get into too much trouble either, alright? You're both too young for this shenanigans." The female Cybunny asserted.
"Yes, ma'am." He responded.
"Alright." She gave the blue Grundo a kiss on each cheek before saying, "Goodbye to you too, we've got to head out to the Hangar before we miss the ship of the next hour back to Neopia." Cylara's mom directed her husband, who saluted Gorix as they left towards the sliding door like Gorix had just saluted Valka.
"Good luck in your endeavors!" And then he saluted the rest of the Resistance in the same manner as his wife took his other hand to lead him out. "And to all of you!"
"You talk about me to them all of the time?" Gorix started the conversation a little while later with what had stayed in his mind the most. Cylara, Scout and Conicks were hanging out with him on a more empty part of the headquarters, while they waited for Valka to get back to them from convening with the Space Faerie about outer Neopia's state in recent months. Cylara looked at him at first confused, and Scout snorted.
"Not much for padding a conversation before dropping the bombshell, aren't you?" The beige, taller Cybunny with long matching hair commented.
"I was just curious..." Gorix blushed a bit.
"Well, yeah, you're my friend, aren't you?" The white Cybunny responded, finally getting what he had asked. "What sort of friend would I be if I never mentioned you?" Gorix was overwhelmed with happiness to hear that, it felt almost... Impossible. He was her friend, he was important enough to be mentioned to her parents, and a ton of times from what it seemed. That made him warm, but he still felt a tinge of apprehension, and he wasn't sure why.
"Ooh, now I'm curious. Do you talk about me as well?" Scout asked.
"Well, yeah, I talk about everyone, you, and Conicks, and even Valka, that's how mom knew who to get her to answer to her about all her crazy requests about me." Cylara responded. Gorix didn't say anything, but that bothered him. Perhaps he wasn't as important as he had thought he was to her, and he had only misunderstood.
"Right, she was 100% intimidating Valka right there, it was so funny!" Conicks chimed in. "Also your father was so interested in everything over there, he asked me to explain everything."
"Heh, yeah, he was like a kiddie in a candy shop right then." Cylara chuckled. "But yeah, my mom was acting way too wild back then. I don't get her, she's become so much more demanding and overbearing in these past months, she wasn't like that... Or well, too much like that." The blue Grundo pondered, trying to remember Cylara's mother before, and he realized he had not really known her beforehand, but she didn't seem too unreasonable in her worries, from what he had just witnessed, and from what Cylara had told him in past months.
"It's a shame I wasn't there to greet them, you could have warned me ahead of time you'd be bringing your parents over, I wanted to meet them properly this time!" Scout chided Cylara.
"I had told Gorix they were coming! But you guys had to go on a mission right as I arrived in Virtupets!" The white Cybunny protested.
"There was already a mission scheduled at that time, it's not like we can just reschedule those things." Gorix said, perhaps a bit too coldly.
"We could have asked for another team to sub us in." Scout responded. "Valka would definitely understand."
"Gorix is a bit strict with his commitments like that," said Conicks. The blue Grundo was going to disagree, but his yellow colleague had a point. "You would have to have gone to the Commander yourself and ask, and he would probably still fuss."
"Hey, I'm not *that* strict!" Gorix protested as the others chuckled. "It's just that... Yeah we already had things to get done."
"At least you got to say hi to my parents, otherwise they'd think you were imaginary." Cylara snided, and the others chuckled even more.
"But honestly, though, Cylara, I want to talk to your parents when they come back, alright? Just to thank them for their help back then. I still owe my hide to them." Scout said.
"Right." Cylara responded. "I'll warn you ahead of time when they come by, although I think it'll only be by the end of my stay here.
"Well, pipsqueak, are you ready?" The pink Alien Aisha with white hair came to meet up with the split Grundo with the prominent facial scar, who was standing by on the metallic dark halls of the ship they had boarded in the depths of the solar system. A tall blue Acara with a prominent beauty mark and more prominent irritated face accompanied Sophix.
"Don't mess this up for us, alright? You are here to offer mercenary services with us, alright? No bootlicking allowed, we don't want to offer our work at a discount." Ylana said.
"I was not a bootlicker, Acara." Parlax scowled. "And I have no need to blindly devote to a bunch of weirdo scientists and other weirder officers."
"Right." She responded, and signaled to the two others to follow her into a room at the end of the hall. In there, they were met with a shadowy group of Neopets of all sorts in Slothian uniforms and scientist coats. Even Commander Garoo was over there, his robotic underlings not present, though.
"Here are the mercenaries, Ylana Skyfire, Sophix II, and... Parlax?" The dark Blumaroo announced to the conglomerate. "Switching sides once again, Grundo? I should have guessed that once a traitor, always a traitor, but you're hanging out mercenaries for what purpose? You won't be very safe with them." The Grundo gritted his teeth, but Ylana responded first.
"Speak for yourself, Garoo. At least we came out of that disaster months ago mostly intact. You can't say the same about your troops, can you?"
Sophix chuckled and chimed in, mocking the Blumaroo as well. "Didn't you have to escape prison, too? You tried to capture one of those suited freaks in Neopia, and it didn't go all that well, right? Tsk, tsk..." Garoo frowned, being reminded of his failures, and that made Parlax feel a bit better, enough to speak up.
"I am working with who is left, and that I trust. But we are all here to work for the same goal you guys have, haven't we? We had come here to negotiate a new contract, and offer some interesting information that may aid in your search to bring back the big guy." The others seemed interested, and Sophix grinned in approval of his response.
"Do elaborate, Grundo." Said a half-robotic yellow Shoyru in a laboratory coat.
Later then, the three exited the room triumphantly, Sophix even hopped in happiness at the prospect of getting paid. "Ahhhh, when we get an advance, can we go shopping and gaming in Roo Island for a whole day?? I am so happy to see this big money coming in, I don't even want to pay my debts, I just want to par-tay!"
"No. That would just get us into trouble with the authorities down there. Yet again." Ylana said. "But I could go for a night out up here, in some shady outpost in the asteroid belt."
Parlax was deep in thought and anxiety, two things he had long grown used to. He had kept his nerve throughout the negotiation despite that hardline Blumaroo breathing down his neck all of the time. That was what he was good at, but it had worn him down in a way he hadn't experienced ever since he spent his time on the moon. At least he was getting paid far more than before, working with the two mercenaries, that was good right? That was a step up, right?
"Also, hey, shortpants, I knew you worked with like, talking and manipulation, and had that mission on the moon for a while, but wowee, that was awesome back there!" The alien Aisha said. "Thanks for helping us fight back Garoo on the negotiations and get a good price!"
"Right, that was... Impressive. I thought you'd lose your nerve, but you pulled through." The Acara responded.
"Thanks, but yeah, I am just... Used to it." The split Grundo responded. "But can you stop calling me by a thousand different ways of saying 'short'??" He complained, annoyed at the Aisha's antics. "You even let it slip in there, it's hard to be taken seriously when you call me 'half-pint' in front of everyone!"
"Nope! Cope with it!" Sophix grinned, and Ylana shook her head.
"If I hear bickering from the two of you while we're busy I'll hit you both with the first thing I get my hands on!"
Chapter 4: On the day of Cylara's first mission...
The large purple Grundo leader shook the white Cybunny's hand *way* too enthusiastically for her comfort, mainly as she was so sore from physical training earlier that day. They stood in front of a crowd of Purple and Orange Grundos and a few other Neopets coming from the planet to witness the event. Some journalists from the Neopian Times were even present, alongside some film crews of newscasts she knew from Neovision, and the Space Faerie was also there, watching with a smile. The other large Grundo, who was orange and was the brother of this one, shook hands with Gorix just as enthusiastically, but her friend did not seem to be as easily literally swayed by this gesture.
"And with that, we officially give our thanks to the heroes who brought us peace in this little satellite after years of conflict and rid us, and space, of Sloth's villainous influence!" Zorlix announced loudly, making Cylara wince a bit.
"And we announce that our peace negotiations have successfully come to a conclusion, and the orange and purple Grundos are united once more!" Xarthab followed up just as loudly, but Gorix maintained his formal smile. "May our shared heritage and peace on this satellite bring us prosperity and happiness for years to come!"
Everyone clapped and the Grundo faction members present even cheered and hooted. Well, that was good work, Cylara thought, although not the most exciting. As the crowd started to spread out and break into groups, the two Grundo brothers were approached by the news groups to answer questions, and the two Resistance members rejoined once more.
"Publicity work, huh? Well, that was easy." The white Cybunny commented to the blue Grundo. "Is there anything more... Challenging that we could do? Chase off some Sloth minions from Virtupets, who knows?"
"Your mom made it very clear she was going to kill the Commander if she hears that you are doing that sort of thing. You can't even have a weapon." The Grundo commented.
"I can't have a blaster, she never said anything about other weapons. Like, I could have a bat! That is good enough for me already!" Cylara suggested enthusiastically, making Gorix snort.
"What good is a bat when everyone else uses ray guns here?"
"It's better than nothing!" Cylara protested.
While the two chatted, the Space Faerie approached them. "Well, there is the two who saved Neopia from Dr. Sloth's return."
"Space Faerie, ma'am!" Gorix saluted promptly.
"Oh, hi!" Cylara greeted the faerie. "You are glitterier than on the screen."
The faerie chuckled. "I will take this as a compliment. And, um, please, Gorix, is it?" She asked to verify her telepathic findings. "Do be at ease, I do not need such formalisms. Also, you can just call me Mira, it is shorter to say." Gorix lowered his right arm. Addressing the two, the faerie continued. "Speaking of paying respects, I have come here to thank you for doing what is essentially my job and duty. I do apologize for not thanking you sooner, I know there was a ceremony the Faerie Queen hosted a few months back, but, on my way back from the other end of the galaxy, I got caught up dealing with a global civil war of this race of- Well, never mind, my excuses are not important. What matters is that my failure to discern what was a diversion endangered this planet greatly, and if it were not for the two of you, Neopia would have been doomed. And so, I thank you greatly, and have to admit it that I owe it to you for your heroism and bravery."
"Nah, that's fine, Miss Mira, we are just glad to help. Right, Gorix?" Cylara looked at her partner for confirmation she said the correct thing.
"Yes, exactly. The Resistance's vow is to also serve and protect Neopia from the evil grasps of Dr. Sloth, so we're more than happy to share with your duty." Gorix responded.
"Well, at least that villain is trapped for now, and peace has been restored." Turning towards the Cybunny, she commented on something she noted. "I am glad that you've come by to help as well once again, it is great to see initiative, but..." The Space Faerie hesitated for a second as she stared at the Cybunny, who seemed nervous from the sudden attention. "Well, won't you miss your family and friends down in Neopia Central during this summer?" The faerie asked warmly, but there was concern in her tone.
"Nnn- yeah," Cylara responded, trying not to lie to the Space Faerie. "But uh- I'm keeping in touch with my parents, and it's just for a short while. But it's fine, I wanted to come over here, I missed being up here in space."
The Space Faerie frowned at the Cybunny, but decided to not say anything for now. "Well, then." She then looked at the two. "Your Commander has told me about how the Station's radars have picked up distant unidentified ships when Virtupets passes near the wreckage of Sloth's ship during the daily orbit, and that had me a little concerned. Hopefully, it is just your average clandestines and criminals attempting to evade detection, but, with so many of his minions out there, you never know..."
"Right, Valka was talking about finding personnel to patrol that region of space, and to search for your Token so we can secure it." The blue Grundo responded.
The Space Faerie sighed. "The worst is that I know it is there, I can sense it. And with some time to search, I could find it. Only this could mean days or years, because of the very nature of space's dimensions, lost Pteri problem, you know? If I had more free time I would have already done this, only I have only recently returned, and I am already very behind in my patrol of outer Neopia, there is Space Fungus everywhere, threatening anyone leaving or coming to the planet. But it certainly is among the wreckage."
"No worries, we will arrange ourselves and figure it out." Gorix assured her, while Cylara just watched.
"I am so glad to have such dependable allies as your group." The Space Faerie smiled, and then turned towards the news crew that was approaching them. "Well, I guess you have another type of trouble to deal with." She greeted the Neopets with a smile, and quickly the trio was swarmed with questions and microphones and tape recorders.
"Yeah, the reporters were all over us, asking even what color of hair ties I use!"
The Cybunny could be heard through the metallic door to her guest room at the headquarters, chatting away with her parents. He couldn't help but feel jealous, as he could not even conjure when was the last time he had ever seen his own parents.
"Yeah, so Gorix was suuuper cool and collected, and so ready to answer all the technical stuff we were allowed to talk about to the public, I didn't even know half of the answers he said, and the other half I had no idea if I could talk about it, that's why I was so quiet."
That was true, she was quiet on the interviews, but Gorix had noticed the Cybunny had grown unusually quiet right before then. He knew the Space Faerie could be a bit intimidating at times, with all her magnificence and magic, but the Grundo thought that Neopians were used to faeries, so to have Cylara be so quiet in her presence was definitely strange. But he was not going to ask her about it yet, he didn't want to seem pushy. She would probably talk about it, eventually, she usually was very open with him.
The blue Grundo walked down the hallway of the sleeping quarters of the Resistance, through the other hallway that connected to the communal kitchen and break room, and came out in the computer room, greeting the red Zafara with a long metallic visor as he passed by their desk. Finally, he stopped by Conicks's table, filled with screens and equipment, where the yellow Grundo with the polycarbonate goggles was watching one of the screens as it analyzed some data.
"Hey Conicks, can I bug you for tonight?" Gorix asked, standing next to the Grundo sitting down, who looked up and snarked.
"When do you not bug me?"
Gorix scoffed. "Haha, very funny. I've been leaving you alone as of recently, I know you're very busy with the radars and the decrypting of all the Sloth data stuff that was recovered from the wreckage and the captured minions."
"Also you've been so busy hanging out with Cylara. Can't forget that."
The blue Grundo blushed a bit from that comment. "Well, it's just that I need to help her settle in and everything."
But Conicks did have a point, he had been hanging out with Cylara all of the time, the two had been doing things together since she arrived, partly out of her initiative, tailing around where he went to see what was going on, but also partly through his initiative, as he had so much to catch up with her. It was not like they didn't talk to each other all of these past months, but it felt like it was not enough. Well, he had a bit over two months to do all the catching up he could hope for, and that should be more than enough, shouldn't it? They were training together, he was showing her the ropes about a lot of things, it was as great as he had ever hoped to be.
"Mhm." Conicks responded while paying attention to some information that popped up on the screen with the analysis.
"Uh- Anyways, so, you've been going over some of the records on the moon civil war mission, right? I overheard you telling Valka about it earlier." Gorix asked tentatively, and yellow Grundo took a moment to process what the other meant.
"You want to look into what your old buddy was up to all of this time?"
Conicks turned to face Gorix, who was so surprised at being easily read that he was left speechless at first, then prompting him to respond in an angry tone.
"He's not my buddy and you know it. He's a traitor and trash and if I ever come across his sorry face I'll finish the fight we started on Sloth's room." Gorix gritted his teeth at first, but then his frown went from a mad to a sad one. "But yes, I do want to see what did he do on the moon... Out of morbid curiosity." That last bit prompted a quiet scoff from the yellow Grundo.
"You know, for a spy and an operative agent of the Resistance, you read as easily as a picture book. Including that I did notice you listening in earlier." Gorix was going to protest, but Conicks opened up a digital folder on one of the screens, prompting his attention. "Here, take a gander, I already separated everything I've decrypted so far related to the Kreludan civil war, I knew you would be interested."
"Thank you..." Gorix said, as he pulled up a chair and started reading about the Grundo factions and a special agent with common colors to both groups who was there to incite violence and chaos for bigger purposes.
"... And you know, at least, in between Gormos and Garoo, sure, they both may be hunks, but at least Gormos is bearable, while Garoo is insufferable, and personality can be both a discount or a plus, depending on the case." The pink Alien Aisha continued her monologue to the tall blue Acara and the short split Grundo, who were neither fully listening in.
"Uh-huh." Parlax said absent-mindedly as he checked around the asteroid outpost they had set their feet on for their mission.
This unnaturally lit place was crowded with outlaws from Neopia and beyond, wandering about the shops and street markets that had installed themselves chaotically in this lawless place. Grundos, mutant or not, Alien Aishas, and even normal Aishas, alongside other Neopets, frequented the place, but there were other stranger creatures who he had no idea from where they could have even come from, and he tried not to stare too much to not attract the wrong types of attention, but made him deeply curious regardless. Also, above the buildings, surrounding the asteroid on all sides, and even on other nearby asteroids that floated alongside this one, were ships of all sorts of technology. This was the edge of the Neopian solar system, its outer asteroid belt right behind its heliopause was home for many a failed planetoid and asteroid that was both of interest of interstellar mining corps and as hideouts to those who had track records. And this asteroid in particular was where their search target was last known to have headed towards, for his unnecessary hiding. The trio of mercenaries walked through the crowd, looking for a familiar face, and avoiding any menacing glares.
"... But you know I don't necessarily find it bad for someone to be so strict and mean-spirited, I mean, I hang out with you all of the time, after all." Sophix said that to Ylana directly, who finally got fed up with the Aisha's annoyance.
"What does that even mean...?" The Acara growled.
"It means you are lucky you are very good looking." The Aisha said, grinning.
"And you are lucky I've tolerated you so far for missions. Don't test my patience." Ylana responded, irritated.
"Boo, you are so not fun." Sophix responded, a bit offended that her compliment was shut down so severely. She then turned towards Parlax, who had just been watching the two bicker this entire time. "Unlike you, half-stack." The Grundo rolled his pupil-less eyes at her. "What do you think of Gormos? You did work right next to him, didn't you? Anything of relevance to tell me about? Was he at least fun to chat with?"
"I didn't do idle chat with superiors on... His ranks." Parlax avoided saying the name for fear of drawing in attention. "But I don't have much to comment on that Kougra, only that he thought himself far superior to the others around the top. And he was very fed up with how the boss treated him, mainly towards the end."
"Well, that is one of the downsides of working for a megalomaniacal weirdo with a penchant for attempting world domination, you don't necessarily get the best treatment at the job." Ylana chimed in while still looking around. "It's not like we didn't know what we were getting into when we agreed to work with him." Parlax had to agree with that.
"Yeah, I heard he betrayed the big green guy at the last minute, leading to your Cybunny pal and a Resistance agent to infiltrate the throne room, where you met up with them. At least that's the story the moon Grundos are telling." The pink Alien Aisha looked at the Grundo for confirmation.
"She is not my pal, I did not even know about her until that day." Parlax frowned, annoyed. "But also, I did not know about the part of Gormos letting the two through, that explains a lot of what happened that day. I also did not think he'd be the type to side with the Resistance, maybe he just didn't see the two?"
"We can confirm that story with him..." Ylana commented, signaling towards an establishment where a familiar hooded figure with two Kougra ears poking through the hood sat on a lonely table with a cup. The three headed into the establishment and towards the table, and the ex-commander was quickly surrounded by the trio.
"Enjoying time all by yourself on this asteroid, Kougra?" Sophix teased. "You could have at least called us."
The shadow Kougra looked at the mercenaries, frowning at their newest recruit, and grunted in evident irritation at Ylana. "What do you want?"
"We've come here to clarify some stories and propose new ventures." The Acara responded, pulling up a chair to sit. The Aisha and the Grundo also pulled their own chairs, with Sophix sitting in reverse as to lean her head on the back of the chair.
"I am no traitor, if that's the clarification you wanted out of me. Those stupid moon Grundos are spreading straight up lies about me, but no one believes me!" Gormos protested quietly. "I even showed my face to them, hoping they'd believe my corrections, but that just made them all scream and cheer at me like I'm some sort of teen idol, it's so embarrassing!" Sophix snorted, making Gormos scowl.
"But you did let the two rebels through, didn't you?" Parlax asked. "The two who went onto trap our leader in that Token shortly after."
"How would I have known they specifically had that Faerie Token with them, much less would know to use it?" The shadow Kougra snapped. "They were two children like you," He pointed at the Grundo, who frowned in offense, "I didn't think he would be so easily defeated by two children! Also weren't you in that room?" The Kougra said that in an accusatory tone, which prompted Parlax to defend himself.
"I was busy with one of the agents, but unfortunately he was not the one with the Faerie magic, who was confronting... Him directly."
"It serves that big green alien right for underestimating others so much, that he could not stand his ground against a child." Gormos said, which prompted Sophix to giggle.
"Well, someone seems to have a case of wounded ego." She teased, which also landed flat, with the Kougra this time.
"It is not like I care anyways, I'm doing my own thing now. I have plans, and I will build myself up to fulfill those plans."
"Well, that's disappointing to hear, we were told to retrieve you, and I was hoping it would be an easy job." Ylana chimed in, as dry as her usual self.
"For bail? But I am technically not considered an outlaw." The shadow Kougra grew concerned.
"No, silly, to rejoin the ranks." The Alien Aisha giggled. "There's a group of top officers who are paying us to find you and other missing officers, to regroup and rebuild. Also they are planning on freeing the big boss."
"Ugh. Of course, half of his ranks are fanatics who will never give up the cause." Gormos rolled his eyes. "Meanwhile the other half is filled with your sorts. But no thanks, you'll have to rescind that agreement, I'm not coming. I don't care if he is brought back or not, I'm done with his cause."
Ylana placed something hard and metallic next to his cup on the table at that moment, while glaring at the Kougra. "I do mean it when I said I wanted this to go the easy way."
"Always the pleasant company, aren't you, Acara?" The Kougra stared down at Ylana's blaster, gritting his teeth.
Later that day, the whole road was cleared, as the crowds had dispersed in a panic while the shootdown happened. The three mercenaries had obviously overwhelmed the Kougra who was passed out after getting hit with a powerful laser blast. Parlax tied Gormos up to ensure he wouldn't escape.
"Woo! I love adrenaline rushes!" Sophix exclaimed. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it? How about we take a moment to have a little break in that place he was in?" The Aisha suggested to the Acara. "I'm thirsty, and the selection behind the counter was really good. I can even pay for you." She looked over at the Grundo. "And you can get some Achify, kid."
"I don't even like soda." Said Parlax.
"I already told you, no slacking on the job!" Ylana chided Sophix. "Besides, we can't risk him waking up, he is tied up but he was still formidable as an enemy, and I don't like risking my luck twice."
"I agree." Said the Grundo.
"Boo, both of you are soooo boring!" Exclaimed the Alien Aisha.
Chapter 5: During training...
"Then you do this," The blue Grundo in red training shorts and a white tank top slowly pulled the white Cybunny's right arm with his left hand. Her training gear was pink leggings and a grey tee, and her brown hair was tied up in a messy bun. "This," he stepped back with his right foot, landing it slowly over her toes. "And this." He slowly approached the tip of his right elbow to the top of her abdomen, where the chest bones end. "And, with enough force and speed, you can make the enemy both lose balance, and also be temporarily incapacitated, as the solar plexus, when hit hard enough, will cause your diaphragm to spasm, and so you become breathless."
"Alright that's cool to know, although I knew of this move." Cylara said, as she and Gorix stepped back to reset their training positions. "We do learn self-defense in school down there, you know? They say it's good to know in case some creep approaches you. Only you never remember it when you're in actual trouble. Can't I learn a bit more on... The offensive part?"
The beige Cybunny nearby chuckled. "Well, we could start with some principles of physical combat. Do you know how to throw a punch?" She was sporting black biker shorts and a matching top, and her long hair was up in a high ponytail behind a headband that also pushed back her ears.
"Well, I know the motions, everyone knows what a punch is." Cylara responded to Scout. "I have never really needed to do that though. But like, really, fisticuffs in space? Can't we do anything a bit better?"
"Not for now, it's always good to learn to defend yourself physically." The older Cybunny responded. "Also, we all know you are just trying to push for learning to use a blaster. Which no, missy, your mom is right, it's dangerous stuff. Leave it to the experts to use weapons."
"Yeah, sorry Cylara, even if your mother did not explicitly prohibit you, we would still have to train you, you can't just pick up a blaster and start using, it is dangerous, you could blow a finger off." Gorix commented.
Cylara huffed. "Ugh, some time I'll get into some sort of big trouble and you will be sorry for not letting me defend myself."
"And this is why we're training you on physical combat, so you can get out of a pinch if needed be." Scout said.
"Besides, all your missions are to be pacific. And we will be accompanying you when possible." Gorix complemented. "So your experience will be the least problematic possible. You are just a beginner at all of this, after all."
"A beginner who helped you guys get out of pinches so many time a few months back!" The white Cybunny protested.
"A beginner regardless." The beige Cybunny responded.
After the training was done and she had taken a shower, Cylara laid down for a moment on her bed, and sighed. Her muscles were so sore, and she was so tired, but she was still incensed, she could even say uncharacteristically so, because no one would listen to her. What was the point of any of this? She wanted to fight, she wanted to be ready to fight, wasn't this what the Resistance was about?
Although, she thought, nothing started easy. It was like doing math all over, where you were made bored to tears from having to do scale conversions and simple inequalities, and then suddenly you were already being asked to figure out functions and do geometric proofs and optimization. But that would take years! The Cybunny's restlessness was eating her up, she wanted to be out there, in action, she wanted to fight. It felt like it was the only thing that would make her feel less... Antsy. Something she had been feeling for a while.
Ever since she came back from her previous adventure, specifically. It had been a short string of events, a few days, but it made such an impact on her life, that returning home felt uncharacteristically strange. Quiet. Menial. Returning to school was as if she was no longer like the rest of her group, in ways she could not even begin to describe. And it was all so bland then. And it didn't help that not everyone believed her about her time in Virtupets, even with the news of her and Gorix spreading around, even when the two were summoned to Faerieland to receive medals from the Faerie Queen herself.
Cylara had no patience anymore to even deal with those sorts, snickering and trying to reduce her whole experience to just deliriums. She had no patience for normal life anymore, she had learned of things with greater purposes, and had helped literally to save world. If she could stay here and become a full time Resistance member, it wouldn't matter if the Neopets at her school didn't believe her, or that her mother was being so overbearing now, or that she even had to learn mathematics, even she did enjoy learning the subject, only the classes made it boring.
But she didn't want to say those things to the others, otherwise she would be chastised for "wanting to throw away her life" or what not. That's how her school counselor, who forced her to come visit every week for over two months after she came back, talked to her the one time she even mentioned the idea of wanting to come back to space. That's how the others sort of spoke about it when she decided even more to go to space after the meetings ended, even Gorix was concerned about it when she told him of her idea, and had asked him to talk to Valka about the topic. That was what her mother first yelled about. So, of course, she changed her proposal, to become more palatable to those who had disagreed with her.
What was that she even sought up here, she wondered. Adventure, she guessed. To feel that thrill that she had felt back then. But her father had always warned, any job is only ten percent the cool stuff Neopets talked about, ninety percent other, boring stuff. Bummer, she thought, as she passed out from the post-exercise sleepness for a short moment, although she knew Gorix would call on her shortly upon noticing she was out of her shower.
"Yeah, so we had training today, and then Valka told me about- Wait, no I can't tell you that."
"Moooom, no it wasn't anything like that, it was self-defense stuff, like back at school, you know? Yeah."
Once again, Gorix didn't mean to, but couldn't help but overhear Cylara from her room while she talked to her parents. He moved away to give her some privacy, and give him some thinking time.
The blue Grundo felt bothered by something in Cylara's attitude as of lately, like there was something she was not telling. He did not that sensation of being kept out of it, it made him feel unsure of her, like... No, he should have more faith in her. She was always there for him, rescuing his hind since the first instant they met, she was always so enthusiastic to talk to him, and about him... She considered him her friend. And obviously he thought the same from her.
But Gorix felt uneasy nevertheless. Perhaps it was just his worry that Cylara was aching to jump into danger, that was it. She didn't seem as impulsive back then, did she? Probably, he could not tell for sure.
The Grundo entered the relatively empty operating room, where only Conicks sat in his corner, listening to music loudly in his headphones while studying a screen, and some other older agents were discussing on a corner, but did not pay Gorix much mind. He saw the green Ixi who was their leader on a terminal all the way on the other end of the large room. Approaching his Commander, who sat leaning back on a rotating chair in front of yet another set of screens, the bearded green Ixi seemed very concerned with something, as he pinched the bridge of his nose and swung the chair back and forth, seriously staring at one screen in particular.
"Commander Valka, sir." Gorix saluted his superior, who turned the chair towards the Grundo and sighed as he lowered his hand.
"Once again, Gorix, you do not need to be so formal all of the time..."
"Sorry, sir, are you busy right now?" The Grundo insisted, but then switched gears. "Is something wrong? Did I approach you on a bad time?"
"No, wrong, nothing is. I am just deeply conflicted about some news I've received." The Commander told the agent.
"About what, if I may ask?" Gorix asked.
"I was appointed, by popular decision, leader of Virtupets." The Ixi waved his hooved hand at the screen. "I did not even nominate myself, the thought of taking a cargo like that did not ever even cross my mind prior to this moment. And yet, it has happened."
"Congratulations, Commander!" Gorix said automatically. "That's... Good news, right?" He asked.
"Depends of how one views it, and what one aims for life." Valka straightened his stance on the chair. "If one aims for power, this is great news, the best they could wish for. But I never wanted to be a leader of a group, much less a leader of a mass, I have never aimed to be where I am right now, it was only the serendipeties of life, and the need to do something about it when evil arises, that led me to this end, it was only the vote of confidence of the other operatives that landed me and established me as the Commander of this group, and it has only been the sense of duty to the Resistance and to keeping the peace of Neopia that kept me in this place. But this has been no walk on the park."
Gorix listened intently with filial attention to the Ixi Commander as he spoke, only nodding along every so often.
"Power is a double edged sword, and the search for power is far easier than maintaining it. Mainly responsibly." Valka continued. "It is easy to be a tyrant, to take over and want to impose your will, while neglecting everyone else's needs, or worse, exploiting them for your own selfish desires. It is far harder to have to listen to those who you lead over, and attempt to best respond to all of the things that are your responsibilities. I have lost endless nights stressing about the health and safety of each and every one of you. I have mourned so much for all of our casualties and losses over the years, even those that were nonlethal. I have exhausted myself so much attempting to best coordinate everything we do, so that we can carry out our missions properly, so that everyone is comfortable, so that everyone is best suited for what they wish to do, so that no one overexerts themselves, and we all get along harmoniously. All while also maintaining communications and dialogue with other authorities here in space, and even down on the surface. It is tough work, but those are my duties as I serve this cargo I was placed in."
"So..." The young blue Grundo hesitated. "You are not... Going to accept the appointment?"
"The worst is, I have to." The old green Ixi responded. "If I was appointed, it is because they seem to think I am a good fit for the job. And if I don't want to do it, then someone less fit will have to do it. And that would be selfish of me."
"Oh..." Gorix mulled, understanding his Commander and the struggle he was going through. If he were in the Ixi's place, he'd conclude the same, and take on the job, but it did mean he'd have to worry for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of residents' livelihoods, and the management of the entire station, and that seemed so overwhelming, he could barely even think of what would his day be like. The Grundo then wondered if this meant Valka would be less present in the headquarters in the near future, and who then would step up in his place.
"But," Valka refocused on Gorix. "You seemed like you had concerns of your own that you wanted to talk about. And I so rudely imposed mine instead, I apologize."
"Oh no, don't worry, it's just..." The Grundo thought perhaps it was a bad time to talk about his own concerns, but he also remembered how Valka had insisted several times already that it was best to discuss concerns, as silly or small as they could seem, instead of holding them in, mainly if it had to do with other agents. "I have been... Kind of concerned about Cylara... And her insistence with wanting to jump into action-"
"And get a blaster?" Commander Valka asked, and Gorix nodded silently. "So I've heard, Scout actually brought it up earlier. I am still mulling about what to talk to your friend about that. It's not like I do not appreciate her readiness to spring into action, her initiative and her strong personality has clearly proven crucial and indispensable to the Resistance, and her heroism is unparalleled, much like yours. But yes, I do agree with her mother that it is not a good idea to just throw her into the fray..." The Ixi looked at Gorix with a saddened look. "I did have to learn that lesson the hard way with many agents here, as I mentioned just earlier."
"Mhm," the Grundo agreed. "And so, I don't get it though, why she is acting like that."
Valka chuckled and half-smiled warmly. "Well, you of all Neopets should have a notion as to why she's like that, considering you two are so similar. Don't you remember how were you like when you first got brought over here by my daughter?" He noticed a poorly hidden frown coming from Gorix, old grudges did die hard with that Grundo after all. "You were not much different, and ended up getting into some trouble over... What was it?" The Commander tried to incentive Gorix to participate.
"It was... Was it the radio communications antennae, that was infested with evil petpet bots? Was that my first mission?" Gorix asked, trying to remember the adventure from years ago.
"Yes, although it wasn't meant to be *your* first mission." Valka chuckled. "You jumped in and decided to take someone else's mission." Gorix blushed.
"Yeahhhh, to be fair I had no idea how task assignment worked back then in the Resistance. At least I got the grasp of that now."
Valka chuckled. "So that is what I believe is the issue with Cylara, her eagerness is getting to her. That, and the fact that she seems a bit too... Entertained with danger."
"Right. Her 'this was fun' still raises some questions with me." Gorix commented, to which the Ixi chuckled while shaking his head.
"So..." The Commander said. "Perhaps it is just a matter of you relating to her complaints, and getting her through this initial impatient phase. She'll settle in just fine, and will come to appreciate these more peaceful times."
"Right, right." The Grundo nodded. "I understand."
"Alright? Is that all you have to talk about today?" Valka asked, and the Grundo could not think of anything else, but he felt a bit inconclusive with his leader's prognosis, although he chose to believe it. Perhaps it was just a matter of talking to Cylara about it.
The split Grundo in a tank top and black sweats grunted as he got up from the floor, having been flung over and tossed a few feet by the tall blue Acara, who wore a loose tee and running shorts.
"Come on, shorty, don't waste my time!" Ylana yelled, and Parlax gritted his teeth as he got up. "Either you do that properly or I'll kick you out of the team!" The dark Blumaroo watching the trio train on his training hangar scoffed.
The Grundo hated being called that, he barely tolerated from Sophix because she was annoying him on purpose, but Ylana was far more serious in her provocation. And yet, she did let out the hint he needed to perform the move they were training, the fact he was far shorter than her, he would have to aim his momentum lower on her body, to knock her off her feet. Parlax got up and approached Ylana quickly, and, pushing at her waist level, he managed to destabilize her and, sweeping her feet with his right foot, knock her to the ground. Only, she dragged him by his tank top with her, and, placing her foot on his chest, sent him flying on an arc over her and past the other way as she fell to the ground as well. The Grundo tumbled on the floor, but he got up right away, out of breath.
"That was decent!" Ylana shouted this time while getting up.
"Hooray, shorty, you are getting better!" Sophix, who wore matching white leotard, sweatbands and leg warmers, chimed in to mock Parlax once again.
He was out of shape, although he pondered when was it that he was last in shape, given he spent way too long on that moon, playing the advisor. He could still fight, though, his clash with that one he once called a friend proved that, but he could feel then that he had become sloppy, and, had the fight lasted much longer, he wouldn't have guaranteed he'd even escape. Even if that Grundo was dumb enough to use a blaster as a melee weapon with a lightshow side effect. If Parlax were to work as a mercenary with the others, he would have to shape up.
"Well, let's try this once again, from the top." Ylana approached the split Grundo, ready to attack once again, and he prepared himself to defend.
Later that day, he found himself listening to the two other mercenaries, everyone having showered and changed back to their usual spacesuits, while eating the familiar tasteless gruel that was the all-nutrition meal Sloth troops and other goons always were fed. The latter was definitely a thing he particularly did not miss at all, while the former he was on the fence.
"Isn't it uncomfortable to wear a leotard for exercising? I hate feeling so exposed, I don't know how do you deal with that. Besides, what is the point of the leg warmers when your entire legs are exposed? You're only covering your lower calves and ankles." Ylana asked.
"Nah, I like the feeling of freedom it gives me, I can do whatever movements I want without tripping over my own clothes." Sophix responded. "And the leg warmers are to warm me up and look cute, you have to always look cute."
"You really don't." The Acara commented.
"Besides, I bought this set a while back on a really good sale on Neopia! It was practically a steal!" The Alien Aisha continued. "And so I need to put it for good use, or else it'd have been a waste of Neopoints."
"You could have just not bought it." The Acara commented once more.
"I could have, but then it'd also have been a waste then, of good opportunity." The Alien Aisha said.
"Not really." The Acara responded.
Parlax's attention wandered around the mess hall, it was justifiably emptier than he remembered mess hall dinner hours being back then, when Sloth's empire was at a full throttle. There were a few groups of Grundos scattered about the place, several of them mutant, who huddled together and spoke mixed Doranian and Neopian. There were groups of Blumaroos that were distinctively Garoo's minions, with their blue overall with yellow cuffed ends. And there were other Neopets and Grundos that were more mingled together, low level minions who had not much else to do with their lives or nowhere to go so they were okay with coming back to the Slothian empire when the opportunity popped up. The superiors did not eat with these types in this hall, getting their own quarters and break rooms to eat within their own, and mercenaries were not required to be here, but, to save money and time, both Ylana and Parlax had agreed it'd be smarter to eat at the mess hall. Despite Sophix's protests about the food.
He was surprised at how much of the routines had been preserved past Sloth's fall, being resuscitated the moment everyone gathered within those ships once more. He too was surprised at how much of Sloth's fleet had been preserved, tucked away at the far corners of the solar system to avoid detection and destruction. Sure, there were massive losses to those groups of ships near the moon or the Station, that were actively used for the invasion, and were too close to the danger zone. They had all been blasted to smithereens, their detritus floating about the outer Neopian exosphere and the moon orbit. But, from what he had been filled in by some of the Neopets in the upper ring, trying to orchestrate their master's come back, so many other ships, mainly the ones that hosted personal quarters for the different groups serving Sloth, were out of harm's way on purpose, and, save for some few that got caught, and the trashing that many of the more unwilling servants did, to escape when there was no more leader controlling the whole empire, there was still so much intact.
Finally, Parlax noticed a large Neovision screen hanging from a far wall, playing a major channel on near mute, with closed captions on for watching convenience. On that screen he noticed someone that didn't just catch his attention, but straight up chilled his blood for a second, a ghost from the past he had just thought about moments earlier. He could not read the captions or the label of the news section, but he recognized that one blue Grundo anywhere.
Gorix seemed to be in Kreludor, and there was also the Space Faerie with him. The news segment kept on going back and forth in between them, and then, the Neovision cut to a third Neopian, that white Cybunny with distinctive brown ruff and hair. What was she doing on Kreludor? This must have been some sort of segment about the Resistance making news, perhaps something to do with his work, given they were on the moon. He just watched the Neovision for a while, trying to read their mouth movements, and it seemed so, something about peace, something about efforts and even Dr. Sloth got mentioned. Would they even mention him? Would Gorix, that overemotional dramatic fool, even have the heart to call him by his name? Probably not, Parlax thought, disappointed.
"Whatcha watching??" His thoughts were interrupted by Sophix placing her hands on his shoulder in a jolt, so to make him jump.
"Can you not??" Parlax complained, missing her with his elbow, as she had managed to dodge his attack while she looked at the Neovision. She sat back down next to him, and squinted at the Neovision.
"Ooohhh, 'Resistance Members and the Space Faerie Meet on the Moon at the End of Kreludan Peace Talks'." The Alien Aisha read what he could not. "They broadcast that in open Neovision? Isn't putting the faces of the Resistance members on the news risky? It even makes our jobs easier."
"Well, it doesn't matter, everyone knows these two's fa-" Parlax was answering, but he got cut off by Sophix's exclamation.
"Oh! That's your Cybunny gal! She is talking about something on the big ol' greenie meanie being gone for good- Oooooooh, that's an insult." The Aisha giggled. The camera panned out back to Gorix. "And there's another one, two faces out in the open like that. They're begging for an ambush."
"Oh, I know that Grundo and that Cybunny." Ylana chimed in. "That brat bodyslammed me when I was trying to get rid of that operative." Parlax glanced at the Acara, he did not realize she knew of them.
"That's the girl who trapped Sloth in the token." Parlax said to Ylana, who was glaring at the Neovision.
"Good to know she's up here in space with us, huh? At least it makes the job much easier to retrieve her to undo all of that." The Aisha commented.
"How do you know that?" Asked the split Grundo.
"She did do a comment just now about staying over for a couple of weeks up with the rebel group." The Acara responded first.
"You really can't read the screen from here, can you?" Sophix asked. "Are you sure you're not secretly a Korbat?" Parlax only frowned in response, and then continued to eat his gruel.
Chapter 6: A Particularly Eventful Day
"It's probably just some hiccups with the supply line, but you know how it is, best safe than sorry." The green Ixi Commander spoke with the red Zafara with matching visor, who silently nodded along, and a green Nimmo, who was writing down instructions on their watch. "It's just down by the hangar, the blaster batteries and other techs we requested should have arrived already, you just need to ask about shipments in my name."
"I wanna go." Cylara chimed in, having been eavesdropping out of sheer curiosity for a while. The three turned to her with some surprise. "That looks like fun, and I need to stretch my legs a bit."
The Nimmo frowned in confusion, the Zafara touched their forehead and then signed a Y, and Valka was the one who verbally responded to her. "Are... You sure? It is just a check in with our ammunition parts supplier because of some unexplained delays, there is hopefully nothing else to it."
The Cybunny shrugged. "Yeah, I'm bored, and Gorix is busy in a mission, so I may as well make myself useful, right?"
"Well... If Leon and Syenne are alright with that..." The Commander turned to the two next to him, the Nimmo continued to frown, but nodded slowly, and the Zafara shrugged in ambivalence. "Well, then, it seems they're okay with that, so sure, go ahead, tag along in their task if you so wish."
"Hooray!" Cylara celebrated and skipped over to the duo. "So, chat up some suppliers, right? That sounds easy enough. Maybe we could frisk them a bit, who knows?"
"Um..." The Nimmo frowned even more.
"I do not think it'd be necessary," Valka responded firmly. "And I do not want any of you getting into trouble with the authorities, so no harassing anyone, do you hear me?"
"I'm just pulling your leg, Commander." The Cybunny responded, chuckling. "I'll behave."
"Well then, and given you were also listening in, I assume I do not need to talk about the mission twice." Cylara nodded in response to the Commander. "So do please go as soon as possible, since the Station's business hours restrict the availability of the suppliers."
The Zafara saluted the Ixi in response, and the Nimmo said "Yes sir, we will head out then."
"Aye-aye, captain!" Cylara responded, to which Valka shook his head at. The newly formed trio promptly headed out of the headquarters, with the Nimmo leading the line.
On the maintenance tunnel, Cylara kept on skipping ahead of the duo and whistling happily, trying to keep her spirits up despite her feeling irritatingly antsy. She had not even noted how strange the Zafara and the Nimmo thought she was acting, as the two kept their distance on purpose and interacted quietly. At a crossroads of tunnels, she turned to the two to ask for directions yet again, as she was blindly leading them.
"So, what's the way next? We're not that far from the Hangar already, right? We've gone down quite some levels."
"Yes, we are almost there." Leon said as the two approached her. "We're leaving the tunnels soon anyways, it's just one last left."
"Left! Awesome!" The Cybunny started turning, but she was surprisingly caught by her shoulder by the Nimmo.
"Maybe we should stick more together, so you don't get lost." Leon said, and Syenne nodded in response. With an apprehensive glance at the hand on her shoulder, she nodded.
"Alright, no problem." She decided to stick with the two of them as close as possible, perhaps even too close for them, as they continued down the hallway. "So... How long have you guys worked together in missions?"
"You have an issue with silence, don't you?" Leon asked Cylara, who was both offended and surprised at that question. Syenne signed by raising their palms, then pointing at the Cybunny, and then pull the hands away from each other with the two main fingers less curled than the rest on each hand. The green Nimmo, who was watching his buddy sign, then looked at Cylara. "Yeah, there's something up with you today, why are you so antsy? It's making us concerned." The red Zafara nodded in agreement.
"It's nothing! I am just..." The white Cybunny hesitated for a second. "Bored. Yeah. Got nothing to do, and Gorix is away with Scout..."
"Ugh, you're the jealous type?" Leon asked.
"Hey, I don't mind!" She responded, relieved the conversation was going her way. "I am just bored without him, or Scout. And Conicks was so busy he refused to entertain me, so I decided to bug someone else. Like you guys!"
The Nimmo rolled his eyes, convinced, but the Zafara pursed their lips. "Well," Leon finally responded, "we've known each other since the conception of the Resistance, so it has been a long time."
"Cool, and you guys know Gorix from then as well?" The Cybunny asked.
"Yes...?" Leon answered, annoyed at the snub. "Subtle, is that what you want to talk about then?" The Zafara followed that with a mocking gesture towards Cylara, who answered awkwardly.
"Well, if you don't mind?"
The rest of the path there was filled with questions about her missing blue partner, to which the other two answered with more patience than they would admit to. How tall had he been back then, what were his biggest blunders back then, if there wete any, if he had any family, and anyone else he also was close to were some of the questions, although the last two got some strange, hesitant looks from the two.
"You know about Parlax, don't you? I mean, we heard you two found him spying for Sloth on the moon." Leon answered.
"Yeah, and then Gorix kicked his hind in battle at Sloth's ship." Cylara completed the story. "I know he was Gorix's best friend, I got told as much, but was there ever anyone else?"
"Well..." The Nimmo thought while he answered. "No... I mean, he's not a loner... He has always been friendly with everyone... I mean, there's Conicks, they chat often, and Scout, who he didn't know before the invasion, and then there's you."
The Zafara raised their hands to their head, putting up their index and pinky fingers like horns, and then did a gesture as if asking. Leon squinted.
"Valka...? I mean, yeah, I guess, but he's our Commander after all, everyone is to some degree familiar with him-" The Nimmo gasped, getting what Syenne meant. "Oh you mean her?? Yeah, no, they haven't talked in a long, long while."
The Zafara signed a Y as to ask.
"Don't you know this?" Leon asked, and Syenne shrugged. "They had a bad falling out waaay back then, when we were all starting out."
"Who??" Cylara pried.
"You'd not know, she's long gone." The Nimmo turned to the Cybunny, but he looked back to the other, who was once again asking why. "It's a complicated story, and I don't think it's my right to chatter about this to either of you. Anyways, this was literally years ago."
"Aw, no chance you may tell an old tale to entertain us in this long travel?" The Cybunny insisted.
"Nope." Leon responded. "Also we're there, basically. We have to exit the maintenance tunnels on the next left."
Something was really off about this mission, and it wasn't just about the fact that we lost the suspect we were tracking down, despite them being alone. Or the fact we were deep within an abandoned mining cave in Kreludor, and the floor and walls were a bit too closed in, and the darkness was too dark, for how long we had been standing still in a crevasse. Scout and I hid, tightly close to each other, holding in our breaths to listen for any sounds that could give away something was happening beyond our narrow scope of vision. The blood rushing through my antennae wasn't helping, though, each thump muffled what I thought were distant echo sounds of some unidentifiable origin, although I wasn't sure they were real in the first place.
Finally, Scout let out a loud sigh. "I don't think we were followed, Gorix." She whispered. "I can't hear any steps."
"Yeah, me neither." I whispered back, and let out my own breath. "Let's get out of here." I started shuffling myself out of the crevasse first, since I was closer to the exit, and blocking her way.
"You don't need to tell me that twice." She said, and followed after me.
We quickly left that claustrophobic hole on the cave wall, and, after a quick survey of our surroundings, decided to head back towards the exit.
"I don't know if I like this..." I mumbled to Scout. "Am I the only one getting the impression something is happening once again? These Sloth minions, the one we were following earlier, and the one from the other day, they don't seem to be just scurrying away to escape getting caught and put in jail. They seem to be busy with tasks, as if... They were under orders..."
"But from who? Dr. Sloth is defeated, after all, you saw him get trapped in the amulet, didn't you?" The beige Cybunny asked, and I replied in a quick nod, before she continued talking. "The obvious response, maybe one of his direct underlings has taken over the operation? Garoo, perhaps, he seemed like the power-hungry type?"
"I think most high ranking officers working for Sloth would fit that profile." I said.
"Anyways, since we lost that fugitive agent, do you want to just head back and tell Valka about it?" She asked me while brushing off some moon dust off her shoulder. "I don't want to get Grundo's lung from hanging out for too long in here."
"It's the only thing we can do for now." I answered, annoyed at that admission.
Near the exit of the cave, I clicked the button on my wristwatch receiver to connect to the headquarters. Within a few seconds, the pinging device's screen lit up and our familiar green Ixi appeared onscreen.
"Gorix, how did it go? Did you and Scout manage to capture the Sloth minion hiding in the moon?" He asked from the tiny green screen.
"The mission was a failure, I regret to report, sir." I responded. "We almost got found out, and had to hide within the abandoned Kreludite mines, and now that agent is gone."
"Ah, I see... Well, there's always next time." The Ixi Commander tried to be sympathetic, and then followed up with, "I'll then be sending the okay signal to your pickup shuttle to come down to Kreludor's surface. Your location signal will guide our operatives to your present location within a few minutes, alright? Just stay over there if the coast is clear."
"Yes, sir. Understood." I said.
"Over and out," Commander Valka said before shutting off the communication channel, and I looked at my Cybunny partner.
"I guess we can just stay in here, or go out there in the open, it's your call." She said.
"We should head outside the cave, so the shuttle driver can see us better." I suggested.
Scout shrugged and turned away, towards the entrance, as she said "That's fine by me."
And, at that moment, as I was about to follow her, a hand came over my shoulder and covered my mouth and nose as it pulled my head back, tilting me backwards towards the darkness of the cave and making me lean against someone's body, and a cold metallic thing touched my back in a characteristic way as to know exactly what I was being threatened with. The muffled yelp I let out alerted Scout to my suddenly dangerous situation, and she turned around already with her blaster in hands, but it didn't help the situation.
"Put that blaster DOWN!!" My captor yelled. "DOWN, I say, before I do something regrettable with your friend!"
Scout hesitated, but eventually complied to the demand, tossing her blaster onto the dirt ground. She raised her hands up and said, "There, happy? Release my friend now."
"I never said I was going to release anybody, 'bunny." My captor hissed. "As a matter of fact, perhaps it is best I take this Grundo here as a prisoner, so we can have leverage against your little group."
"We? Who's we? The war is over, minion, Sloth is gone, your side lost!" The Cybunny shouted. "This is pointless, and you know it, so give it up already!"
The Neopet holding me chuckled. "You're so ignorant, and so boastful. Your victory was only temporary. We're not giving up so easily. Our Master will return, we are preparing for that! We are ensuring that will happen!" My heart raced, what did they meant by that? I couldn't say anything because of the hand over my mouth, but I let out some muffled sounds, attempting to struggle with this Sloth agent.
"What- What do you mean by that??" Scout responded, bewildered, and my captor laughed maliciously.
"It means exactly what you heard, rebel! Sloth *will* return, our group is already working on it!"
At that moment, a familiar noise of engines revved up outside the cave, and the lights of our shuttle flooded the cave. In that moment, I felt hesitation enough in my captor that I could push away from them, and elbow their blaster out of their hand and away from my back, falling a couple of feet away from us on the cave floor. They made a noise, and rushed for the blaster, releasing me, and I stumbled towards the exit of the cave.
Scout followed me after picking her weapon back up from the ground, and we exited the cave in a rush, and I tried glancing back to know who was it that had been holding me captive for these past few minutes, but they had disappeared into the darkness. The shuttle lowered its boarding deck for us, and we ran in as fast as we could, only stopping once we were deep within the bowels of the ship. Then, we rested there, out of breath and out of our minds, freaking out about what had just happened. We could feel the ship lift off, and that was the only relief I could feel at that moment.
"Wow, guys, what was that rush for?" The intercom buzzed in with our ship captain's voice coming through. "I thought the mission was a bust?"
"It's- It's worse than that. *Way* worse." I said.
I wasn't sure how did this come to happen, what part of my planning had gone wrong, or what unforeseen circumstances had lead to this moment. I could only guess she had ditched her group at some point I did not notice, and had wandered off, and stumbled onto me by sheer chance. How did she manage to keep on doing this, it was beyond me, but I assumed this white Cybunny was as surprised to run into me as I was at being run into.
"Well... This is awkward." She said first. I gritted my teeth, not knowing how to react, and she glanced at the slit on the large ventilation piping wall I was inside, created by poorly fit parts, that allowed me to watch the Virtupets Hangar floor from above as I had been requested to. "Hey, I can see that merchant's ship from here... Were you spying on us?"
"And if I were, what would you do?" I had already noticed she was unarmed, so taking her on a fight would be child's play. The main issue that I saw was her little Resistance wrist gadget, I knew that with one click of a button she could give away our location. She noticed that I had noticed that, though, and reactively hid it behind her body.
"I mean... I guess I should report you, shouldn't I? I just need to comm Gorix and he'd get over here and send your hind running in two milliseconds." She bluffed so blatantly and poorly, I felt even some embarrassment for her.
"Right, and where would he be? Because I did not see him down with you at the Hangar, you were paired up with Leon and Syenne instead." I said with confidence. "What happened, got left behind by your buddy for the older Cybunny?" I taunted her, and her lowered ears and reddness was all the answer I needed.
"Right, just like when you left Gorix behind? Is that what you're implying?" Cylara tried to taunt me back, but I scoffed.
"Is that how you are seeing this? Now *that's* interesting." I responded.
"Shut up, that wasn't- I was just trying to get to you," She said, even more red now.
"And failed spectacularly," I responded. "Now that I won on the squabbling, how shall I settle the more important question." I thought once more of my quickly drafted plan, how I could pull out my katana and quickly overwhelm her, but then, I pondered what would I do? Take her prisoner back to the ship, I decided. She looked desperate, looking all over the place for something to help her as she rushed loudly down the large pipe, it was just too easy.
I stepped forward, reaching for my sword, and the white Cybunny responded by scrambling away, she seemed to be choosing to run away... Only to stop a few feet ahead, and look back at me with a menacing smirk on her face. Stopping, I realized one moment too late what was her plan, as she stepped over the next poorly fit joint of the ventilation, and flexed her knees as threatening to jump.
"DON'T! You'll possibly make us both fall!!" I pleaded, reaching out to her.
"Possibly! Or maybe I could manage to escape just in case!" She had a proud grin and, in that moment, I froze, not believing the madness of that Cybunny.
She decided to go ahead with her threat, and hopped up and stomped as she landed with a loud bang. Secondary noises could be heard as the metal seemed to give away all around us, and, with a sudden jolt, the situation was looking that way.
The piping bent downwards with us in it, me and her screaming reflexively, and Cylara fell back with the piping giving in further on, while I barely managed to keep my footing. Finally, something snapped on the other end of the piece we were in, and it started crashing down, and I rushed to make it to the end we were nearest, preparing to make the jump. The Cybunny couldn't seem to get back on her feet, and, without even thinking, I grabbed her by her shoulder and put all of my strength on my legs, to make the jump with both of us.
We both fell near the edge of the next section of the piping, and both individually scrambled to our feet and rushed further down the ventilation pipe as the piece that broke off fell down on the Hangar, and we could hear the crowd below screaming and shouting. No other piece broke off, but the damage was already done.
"Well, that was a bit too overkill of a plan, I think. I hope the others don't find this out, or they'll be mad." The Cybunny commented as she looked back at the chaos she had caused. "Thanks for saving me, I guess. Although, wouldn't it have been better for you to let me fall?"
I stared at her, speechless, also wondering why I did that. "Consider it... Leverage." Yes, that was it. "Since I helped you, you can't fight me back. Now let's get out of here before the maintenance bots or the station personnel catch us here." I beckoned her as I started hurrying down the intact part of the large ventilation pipe.
The Cybunny protested as she followed me. "Says who? I can still go at you-"
"And send another giant hunk of metal careening down to the Hangar?" I cut her off. "Or manage to make us both fall this time? Aren't you supposed to be on the side of good?" She looked at me with annoyance, but relented.
"Fine. I won't tell the Resistance you were spying on us as long as you don't tell the authorities that little mess up was my fault." Cylara paused, and then spoke omce again. "Actually were you spying on us, or on me? I mean, back in Neopia Central-"
"That was not me spying on you, that was me getting found out by you when I was in hiding." I corrected her.
"So much for hiding out in the open, in front of my school, without even a cover or anything." The Cybunny teased, and I rolled my eyes. "You're not exactly indiscreet, you know? That large scar on your face and your split coloration are dead giveaways."
"I had taken off my mask to eat for one moment, and everyone started leaving your school at the exact same time. It was bad timing and negligence, I should have thought to not eat out on the open." But I really wanted to do so then, I had been feeling very claustrophobic from staying in the same hole in the wall with closed blinds and bolted doors I had been in for months, I never stepped outside, save for when I went grocery shopping. It was a mistake, regardless.
"Well, yeah, it was a quarter before three, that's when classes end."
Okay, arbitrary Neopian rule, understood.
Cylara tilted her head a bit. "Oh, right, you don't know that. I guess Gorix isn't the only one who hasn't seen schooling since he was young."
"Why are you here??" I cut the conversation short as I was getting annoyed at her prying.
"Um, I got curious about a vent, and Leon and Syenne were taking their sweet time to leave the platform and finish talking with an operative they came across on our way back from the Hangar platform, and so I decided to go explore a bit?" The Cybunny said that with the most straight face, as if this wasn't the most absurd answer one could give, and she hadn't just admitted to breaking Resistance mission protocol out of... Curiosity? But that wasn't what I meant by that question.
"No, I mean here in space. Why are you doing Resistance missions? Don't you have a whole life in Neopia Central? Isn't your mother worried about you?" I held myself from saying anything further that would incriminate me as to having had stalked this Cybunny after all, if only because I only had that initiative after the initial unplanned meeting. But yet, she still gave me an estranged wince, as if suspecting of things.
"My parents let me come over here, isn't it cool?" Her brag had some hint of this being a far more complicated matter than what she had said. "Besides, how can I not come back here? I am a Resistance member after all! It's my duty to help with the cause and protect Neopia." Hm, that also had a hint of something else, but I could not figure out what exactly.
"That's stupid." I said, deadpan.
"And what about you?" Cylara genuinely asked me. "Did staying in Neopia Central not work out after all? Did I scaaaare you off back into space?" She said that last part with a provoking grin, and I rolled my eyes almost automatically at that.
"A 'pet's got to eat." I answered, echoing a common phrase Sophix would say. "You were right, about me not being inconspicuous, it's difficult to find a job when your face is in wanted posters, and both your Defenders and Police patrol the streets of your town so much."
"Hm, yeah you should have gone to the Haunted Woods, or the plains of Terror Mountain, or even the deep mountains in Shenkuu, if you truly wanted to go on hiding. You'd *really* need to get away from other Neopets." She commented ignorantly. Why would I isolate myself completely like that? I'd have to probably live off the land and work way harder just to maintain myself in such places. "Well, that's your own fault anyways, if you hadn't betrayed the Resistance and worked for Sloth of all creatures-"
"I am not interested in moralizing speeches coming from random strangers." I snapped back at her as I stopped walking at an intersection deep within the ventilation piping system I knew that would lead me to the place I had to go next. Pointing at the opposite direction from where I pretended to go for, I told the Cybunny "That way is a pipe that slides you down back to the Hangar, you can just go back to the crowd and pretend you had just gotten lost from your team and nothing more had happened. I need to leave the Station now, so don't even bother following me, unless you want to be my prisoner. I know some resentful ex-officers who'd love to get their hands on one of 'the heroes who trapped Sloth', if you get my gist." The Cybunny looked at me with a bewildered look, as if she had not expected this obvious ending to our conversation.
"Wow, gee, you could have just told me I was annoying you." She snarked, and for a split second, I felt regret for being so harsh with her, but I wasn't about to step down. "Fiiiine, you're right, I should get going. Um, it was nice chatting with you, see you around?" She reached out a hand to shake, and I frowned at that weird response, prompting her to withdraw that offer. "Alright, alright, I guess not."
She started heading down her path, and I started heading down mine, preoccupied with my task list for that mission I was in. Suddenly, she called out from down the pipe, and I stopped and even turned around to listen to her.
"Can you at least not tell anyone on your side about this little conversation we had? It's only fair, I can't tell on you after all."
"I make no promises." I responded, trying to be curt, but her snark having rubbed off on me made me sound a bit differently. There was no point in telling the others anyways about this meeting, it's not like it changed anything as to their knowledge of the Cybunny being back up here.
Chapter 7: Later That Day, After the Mission
Cylara was finding it hard to keep her own findings to herself while Gorix freaked out about his and Scout’s to their Commander.
“And then, they told us both there are Neopets who are seeking to get Sloth back, and were already working on it!” The blue Grundo gestured panickedly as he explained what had happened on their mission in the abandoned Kreludite mines. “That they had a group and a plan, and it was already underway!”
The white Cybunny found it even harder to hide the strange excitement she felt with those words, and her heart raced with palpitations for the quickly imagined possibilities of future events that she could be dealing with soon. But she knew that was not only improper, but also insane, to wish that things got bad again, to wish for a villain like that evil scientist to return… But yet, something within her told her, wasn’t that the fun and
To not give away her impropriety in response, she decided to walk away, out of the Resistance HQ, to have some time to quieten down. Leaving past the automatic door operated by the eye scanner, she paced herself up and down the tunnel that hid away the group’s location. But, it couldn’t have been five minutes before the door slid open and close once again. Cylara looked at who could have exited at that moment, several paces into the darkness of the tunnel, and recognized the other Cybunny.
“Hey, Cy, how are you doing? Is everything alright?” The beige Cybunny in an orange spacesuit asked. “I saw you exited in a hurry just now, I just wanted to check on you.”
“Oh hey, Scout, yeah, I'm fine, I just, um-” Cylara struggled to make up something on the spot, but the other volunteered her best guess.
“Feel anxious about the whole revelation?”
Cylara looked at Scout and decided to go with her interpretation. “Yeah…” The older Cybunny lowered her brows with pity.
“Don’t you worry, I know Gorix is making it all to be this big issue, but I mean, it isn’t like Sloth is back yet, it’s probably just a couple of his fanatics faffing about and talking up a bunch of nothing.” The beige Cybunny looked away with concern, hinting to Cylara that even she didn’t believe that fully. “But… If worse comes to worst, Valka will probably figure something out to get you out before things get too bad.”
The white Cybunny hesitated. “... Right… Right.” She couldn’t bear to look at Scout in the eyes.
“I’ll also give Gorix an earful for scaring you like that, though.” The beige Cybunny approached the other and put her arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “We’re here for you, you know? We’ll keep you safe.”
The white Cybunny sighed in hidden frustration.
“Commander, you have to see this as an emergency! They could very well be running through a plan already to bring back the Doctor!” The blue Grundo said, exasperated, while the bearded green Ixi mulled over the alarming words. He finally raised his hand to request for a pause from the Grundo.
“These are alarming words indeed, Gorix, and I understand your concern, but we must not lose our cools prematurely.”
“Yes, but, we need to prepare ourselves to battle Sloth’s minions once more, we’ll have to contact the Space Faerie, we’ll have to figure out the Token’s location, we’ll have to- We’ll have to…” Gorix kept on trying to think of things to do, and realized something that interrupted his train of thought. Valka took this moment to reinforce his point meanwhile.
“Yes, we will do all of that. But none of that is immediate. There is no point in freaking out, it’ll only make things more difficult and troublesome.” The Commander turned to the others who were watching the scene, and said, “You heard Gorix here, there are plans to attempt to bring back Sloth. I’ll need to do an emergency meeting with the top officials in the Resistance as soon as possible, we need to discuss this matter. Radio in whoever is out on field missions, and those who are around, please report to the meeting room.”
Several Neopets nodded and started heading down the other room in the headquarters, while Conicks and some others in comms started pinging the agents far away. The Ixi, seeing that sufficient movement was being made, turned his attention back to Gorix, but the Grundo had already left the big room, the front metal sliding door of the headquarters shutting behind him.
Gorix had gone out, searching for his friend who he realized had gone away, and was quickly relieved to see she was still around, as she and Scout were hanging outside the headquarters. But his approach wasn’t as happy as he expected, as the beige Cybunny gave him a look that made him slow down in his approach, and speak in a quieter tone than a few moments previously.
“Cylara? Are you alright?” He approached the two Cybunnies, and the older one looked at him first, shaking her head discreetly. Then, the other Cybunny looked up.
“Oh, hey, Gorix, is your briefing in there done?”
Gorix hesitated at the seemingly blasé response, glancing at Scout, who didn’t seem to know any better. “Y-yeah, Valka is calling an emergency meeting with the top officials, and I guess evaluate the situation. But…” He hesitated a bit more. “How are you doing, though? I mean, you came up here during peacetime, but now, things are going south, and you’re in danger, and you’ll have to go back sooner than planned, right?” That realization saddened the blue Grundo, and surprised the white Cybunny.
“Huh? Wait, no, I mean, it’s not like nothing bad is happening yet!” Cylara spoke up.
“Yeah, Gorix, I think you’re getting way ahead of yourself, and letting your anxiety run your thoughts.” Scout chided. “You need to calm down, you are scaring both yourself and your friend. Look at how she is right now.”
The Grundo reddened. “Um, I’m sorry, Cy…” He said awkwardly.
“No, no, it’s-” The white Cybunny also looked awkward. “It’s fine. Yeah, we can’t- We can’t let ourselves get scared by this.”
“I’m still believing that was just some nutcase minion that refuses to let go of their crazy dreams of serving their master.” The beige Cybunny said. “You should have seen that Mynci, they looked like they hadn’t seen the light of the sun in weeks, in that cave, who knows if there is even some effort to try to bring back that big green meanie.”
“Right, right. Perhaps…” Gorix responded, not fully convinced.
The purple-and-orange Grundo was once again half-listening to the conversation in between his mentoring bounty hunters over lunchtime, while he mulled over the happenings from earlier.
“So you were made to wear dresses constantly, and that’s why you resent your parents?” Sophix II questioned Ylana with a loud volume of contempt and disbelief.
He felt stupid, for having allowed himself to get caught once more by that newbie. How did he not notice her disappearance on time? How did she even end up there after all? She had said she was just looking around, but he was far too suspicious that she had perhaps managed to catch wind of his spying and sought him out. Or perhaps he was letting himself get too paranoid about the encounter.
“No, what??” Ylana answered, irritated. “I’ve already told you, I resent my parents for losing all of their fortune shamefully. The dress stuff was just another point of contention between my mother and I.”
Also, he had to give it to her, she was very smart and good at navigating her environment to her advantage, and had effectively almost gotten the upper hand of the situation, if her risky plan hadn’t backfired on her. She was almost terrifyingly good at thinking creatively, and the destruction she had caused, one would even ponder how terrifying she would be if she would switch sides.
“But why is that even a problem?” The pink alien Aisha asked. “Dresses are so cute and amazing, and if you were rich, you were wearing all the fancy stuff, like velvet and silk and gold trim-”
Now thinking about it, it would be quite the cruel twist of fate, if he would manage to convince that white Cybunny to switch sides, leaving his poor ex-friend behind. The split Grundo allowed a small grin to slip through as he imagined the blue Grundo’s reaction to such a happening.
The tall blue Acara frowned, cutting her coworker off. “You try wearing a heavy Neovian gown all day, with the tightened corset and the layers and layers of skirts of heavy fabric! I thought it was awfully suffocating!”
But it would not be smart for her to switch sides, given that she was wanted by those who were paying him and the two. As a matter of fact, it was not smart at all that he let her go, the most logical solution was for him to have apprehended her as soon as he could, and dragged her back, perhaps he’d even earn a bonus for that.
“I think it sounds amazing!” Sophix replied.
“Pah!” Ylana protested.
And yet, what was the point of him doing that service so early? The higher ups had Neopets dredging up Neopian deep space, in search of that token their master was trapped within, and that was a task that could take weeks, if not months, to be done. The Cybunny would probably be locked up and tormented, as customary for those who were imprisoned by Sloth’s minions, all for the sick entertainment of those higher ups… And that’s if she did not manage to escape, or if the Resistance didn’t do a rescue mission, that could escalate the situation too early.
“Why are you even complaining about heavy and tight clothing anyways?” The alien Aisha continued to press on the Acara. “It’s not like our suits and equipment are light and loose. It’s no different.”
No, perhaps it would be a more efficient (and smarter) way to just keep tabs with the Cybunny, and prepare for the right time, when the Space Faerie token did turn up, to then capture her, and bring her in.
“It is light-years of difference!!” Ylana protested.
“Nuh-uh, it really isn’t!” Sophix countered, and then asked the Grundo. “Don’t you think so, Parlax?”
The split Grundo looked at the two of them blankly, trying to process the past five minutes of the conversation that had been happening next to him. Finally, he answered, “What a stupid conversation.”