Phook Trilogy

To Billy, an Acara looked like a cat with pigtails. She had light blue fur and pink paws, and her pigtails were light blue also. She was a big fan of the Blue Kacheek group which is a famous band in Neopia and had a crush on Phook.

Just then, Chrissy blundered into the room sleepily and plopped down on the chair next to Billy. He disapproved of this so he slid his chair a little bit to the left to stay away from Chrissy as if she were contagious. If there was one thing in the world that he could have, it would be a restraining order.

"Mommy, could I have some waffles?" she asked sweetly, Billy glared at her with disgrace. "I hate you" he muttered under his breath trying not to be heard, but he failed. "Mommy, Billy is being mean to me!" she said pretending to cry.

"Billy, do me a favor, don’t pick on your sister and make my life easier." his mom said sternly.

Since it was Saturday, nobody had school. Billy avoided going to the movies with Chrissy. ("It’s called the ‘Pink Uni!’") So Billy went to his friend Joey’s house.

Joey was a JubJub, they have feet like a duck, and the rest of their body is just a big fur ball. Billy thought that was sensational. Even though they were best friends, Billy really just liked going there because of Joey’s sister. Her name was Anna. Anna was a Bori as well and she had such a bright white fur if you saw a picture of her fur only, you would think you’re looking at fresh snow. Billy had a huge crush on her but was jealous of her boyfriend Carson the Gelert.

He wasn’t surprised though. He was very smart and athletic. How could he keep up with such comparison?

At Joey’s house, they played Play Station Two. They unanimously decided with Carson and Anna as well they would play the famous Neopian game called The Darkest Faerie.

As they were playing, Billy lost and he was out of the game. While Carson was playing, (did I mention that he was proficient at video games also?) Billy tried to make him look bad by distracting him. "Don’t mess up!" he would say with his face in front of Carson’s.

"Stop it, stupid!" Carson would reply with his eyes glued to the screen. Billy couldn’t manage to distract Carson and he ended up winning. Billy left Joey’s house in depression.

When he came home, Chrissy still wasn’t there. Even though the movie should have ended, he figured that Chrissy stopped at her friends house. He had eavesdropped on her conversation on the telephone a week ago and heard her talking about some kind of election.

Well, there was something to do.

He was going to find out about that election.

Just in case, Billy recruited Joey to help him. Of course Carson wanted to come along. They both said no. So the temporarily optimistic Joey and Billy set out on foot to Chrissy’s friend Megan’s house. It was going to be about a five minute walk to Megan’s house. She was an Acara also. Megan and Chrissy had this stupid little club called the "Alliance Of Acara" and Chrissy and all her friends were nothing but evil.

When they finally arrived there, Billy and Joey crouched down under an open window to eavesdrop on what they were saying.

"Okay, here’s what we’re going to do," said a voice which Billy recognized as Chrissy’s. "The first person to vote will walk up to that table in the living room and right down either Chrissy, or Megan. Got it?" she instructed.

"Maybe they’re going to vote who is their president," Joey whispered while silently shifting into a more comfortable position. "If they are, I hope Megan wins!" Billy replied leaning closer to the window.

"She’s cute!" said Joey.

"Oh do shut up or they’ll hear us!" Billy pointed out just barely above a whisper as Chrissy ordered one of the friends named Sammy to vote first.

Inside the house, Sammy just had picked up the pen and wrote down who she thought should be the president of the "Alliance Of Acara"

First Sammy, then Lindsey, followed by Minnie, Jessie and finally Hilary. To announce the votes, Megan’s mom came in, Billy and Joey peered through the window to see what was happening.

The votes read:

Chrissy had won the election. "HOW STUPID!" Billy yelled forgetting that they weren’t supposed to be heard or seen.

"Hey!"

Billy saw Chrissy pointing to the window that they were standing under. All the Acara ran over to the window and they lifted Billy and Joey up and pulled them in, Chrissy then closed the window locked it, then pulled down the blinds and locked the door. Which was their only escape.

"So, look who we have here." said Chrissy sternly looking particularly at Billy which her stare was clearly saying, "MOM! Billy was spying on us!" Megan and Jessie then tied them both to a chair.

Then they all left the room.

However, they quickly came back with water balloons. "Speak!" they yelled anxiously waiting for the big moment. "What are we supposed to say?" said Joey, which was responded quickly with a water balloon held close by his face. "Why were you spying on us?" Lindsey yelled demanding an answer while holding two balloons, both aiming at Billy. "Well," Billy began. "I sort of ‘overheard’ Chrissy talking about an election, so we were curious and wanted to find out..." Billy confessed.

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" BANG! Splash! Pop! "AAAAGGGHHH!"

"RUN!" yelled Joey, "You idiot! I’m tied to a chair! How am I supposed to run?!"

More water balloons came crashing down on poor Billy and Joey, but they had gotten hit so many times that it made the ropes that they were being tied with were so soggy they broke apart and the troublesome Neopets broke free.

"Oh flobbersnorf," said Chrissy. Billy picked up the water balloons and then began giving them a taste of their own medicine, Joey to.

"Hey, what’s that?’" said Billy pointing to a sphere like shape in the wall. It was changing colors of the rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, then Purple and it would started over again. "Don’t do anything to it!" Joey told Billy as he cautiously approached the... Well whatever it was.

"Billy, DO NOT touch it!" Joey said ignoring that Billy wasn’t paying any attention to what he was saying. "Who knows what it might do?!" he said trying to pull Billy away from ‘it’

He touched it.

There was a gargantuan screaming noise. Billy and Joey were warped to a different part of Neopia! "Where are we?" asked Joey curiously craning his neck around Billy to see where he was since Billy landed on top of him. "I think, in the Hills Of Jub..." He replied.

"Really?" Joey replied, as he started jogging forward once Billy had gotten off of him. "Where are you going?" Billy asked, following him. "Well, now that we’re here, we might as well explore," Joey answered.

They continued walking for about five minutes without talking until Joey broke the silence. "Hey look, a cave!" he said pointing to it. The cave had a small entrance and two Neopets wouldn’t be able to go in at the same time. This time it was Billy who had to encourage Joey not to go inside the cave, but just as Billy had done earlier, Joey ignored him completely and entered the cave.

When they walked into the dank cave, they immediately began to heat up do to the humidity in the cave. Fortunately, Joey never went on adventures such as this without his nap sack. In it, the bag contained some basic necessities such as snacks, a few water bottles and also some other vital items. However, there were two towels which Billy and Joey used to mop up the sweat that blurred their vision. (Yeah, there was that much)

While doing this, they continued walking close together. They had seen some scary things in there like moving skeletons. Joey’s nap sack also contained a baseball bat, (don’t ask) they used this to whack the skeletons whenever they approached them.

After awhile, nothing had happened. But then Billy and Joey both heard a noise. It sounded like someone who was hurt. At first they thought the voice could lead to evil, but it sounded so desperate for help that they decided to follow the voice.

It lead the two friends to another hole in the wall. This time it was dark except it had a reddish yellow glow in the bottom left part of it.

Billy and Joey carefully entered the cave and stopped dead in their tracks. In the corner of the cave was a Scorchio agonizing over a deep gash in his right leg.

A Scorchio looks like a dragon. They are usually optimistic, but Billy found it hard to be optimistic in this situation. Joey immediately sat down next to the helpless Neopet and began tending his wound.

"Thanks," he managed to say through clenched teeth. Joey patched it up with a few bandages and asked the Scorchio if he could walk.

He got up, tried walking, and did. But he was limping. "How did you know all of that?" Billy asked him. He never knew that Joey would make a truly remarkable doctor.

Joey didn’t answer. The two of them continued helping him walk. After he could walk on his own they kept walking.

"What happened?" Billy asked him looking at his leg. "I ran into Xantan. We had a miniature war, if you could call it that. And well... He won"

"Who’s Xantan?" Joey asked curiously. "Xantan is some evil dude that roams this cave. Trust me, you do NOT want to go to war with him." he replied, "he is the worst person in Neopia."

"No one can be worse the my stupid little sister Chrissy" Billy corrected him.

"By the way," the Scorchio began. "Name’s Max, what about you?" he asked, "I’m Joey, and this is my friend Billy" Joey responded. "Nice to meet you."

After introducing each other, the three of them walked silently through the dark and eerie cave. "What’s in that bag?" Billy asked Max pointing to the bag that he was carrying. "Oh, just a few weapons that would help me if I ran into any creatures like cave Lupes or something."

All the while, Max, Joey, and Billy were being followed. They didn’t know this though.

Eventually, the three of them came to a fork. "Left or right?" Billy asked the Scorchio, "I’m not too familiar with this part of the cave, because I haven’t ventured this deep, but let’s go left."

"Not to be rude or anything," Billy began, "But what were you doing in here in the first place?"

"I’m an explorer, I live by Lummock Sendent, he makes wands for people. I needed a special kind of wand but I have to give him a ring that only Xantan has so here I am looking for him!"

BANG!

There was a loud crashing noise. All of the Neopets looked around to see where it was coming from. "Guys," Max said in a low voice, "follow me, carefully and most importantly, be quiet"

Max lead them into a small burrow that was empty. "What was that all about?" asked Joey, "I saw Xantan."Max replied.

"AND I SAW YOU!" said a crooked voice.

Xantan blasted through the burrow carrying a sword that was on fire.

"RUN!" Max ordered Billy and Joey, "I’ll fight him myself!"

"Take my baseball bat!" Joey told Max while tossing it to him. But Billy and Joey couldn’t just leave Max there, they had to help him somehow.

Just then, they both ran back into the burrow. Billy hopped on top of Xantan while Joey pulled out a bomb from his nap sack.

A BOMB?

Joey was about to throw it at Xantan when he suddenly ran head first into a wall. It started to tremble and then collapsed on Joey forcing him to let go of the bomb. When the bomb fell on the floor, Xantan picked it up while holding his sword in the other hand. "Any last words, losers?" he asked snobbily. "Yes," someone said, "Good bye!"

Max came flying down from the top of the burrow and tackled Xantan, stole the bomb. Max helped Joey and Billy get out of the cave. They waited outside and then heard a loud bang.

Max had won.

"Hurry, go!" Max yelled leaping out of the burrow. "I only temporarily stunned him!" he exclaimed.

The three ran out of the cave and Billy and Joey offered Max to join them and help them get back to the Ice Caves. Max accepted this offer and joined them on what was going to be the greatest adventure of their lives.

After about an hour of walking, Max, Billy and Joey finally reached the small Neopia city. This is where they went back to Lummock Sendent and told him about their situation. Lummock took out a wand and waved it over a spare wardrobe. It suddenly started to flash a bright white then it turned into what looked like the transporter or whatever that thing was.

All of them jumped in and were blasted back into the Ice Caves.

Max went with to Joey’s house while Billy went to his own house. Everything was normal when he walked inside, he sat down out the kitchen table craving for some food. He checked the clock. It was four thirty. Not close to dinner yet he thought to himself. So he trotted over to the food cabinet and took out a granola bar. Just when he peeled the wrapper off Chrissy came storming into the house drenched.

"I’M TELLING MOM!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, at first Billy thought it sounded so off pitched that she would have shattered the windows.

Chrissy turned around and ran upstairs. Billy noticed that her tail was beginning to change from blue to gray. Must be some stupid Acara thing that will turn gray when she’s mad, he thought to himself.

Billy quickly got grounded. Perfect.

Chrissy went outside to gather up some carrots and potatoes for dinner while Billy had to stay in his room for the entire day. About half a minute later Chrissy came bustling into the room with a newspaper scrap.

"Phook is here! Phook is here!" she screamed in regalement while jumping up and down. "That’s nice dear," said their mom, "Now close the door, you are letting the snow come inside."

"The only reason you like Phook is because you have a crush on him. I bet you don’t even know his job!" Billy said very annoyed. "Yeah I do!" Chrissy replied, "Phook is a... Wait a minute... I’m just not going to tell you!" she said even though she knew that Billy knew she had no clue what he did for a living.

Billy was forced to go with Chrissy to see the marvelous Phook. They had to walk all the way to Neopia Central only to be greeted by a line in front of the Neolodge which had to be at least four hours long.

"Come on Billy, let’s get in line before it gets any longer!" Chrissy told him as they approached the colossal line.

They got in line behind a huge Grundo. A Grundo is a kind of Neopet which looks like an alien. This one happened to be one of the strongest Neopets in Neopia.

"Hey, Billy." Chrissy started.

"Yeah?"

"How come there’s smoke coming from the top window? Is it some kind of show they’re performing?"

Billy looked up towards the window she was pointing to and sure enough, just as she said, smoke was coming from the window. Pretty soon, other Neopets began to notice this unwanted situation.

"Ah! Look at the window! The Neolodge is on fire!" Billy recognized as a Neopet in school called Emily. One of Billy’s friends Scott the Xweetox came up to him "Dude, get out of here, Dr. Sloth is in the building man!"

At first Billy’s first instinct would normally be just to run away to safety, but as they were running, he slowed done until Chrissy was in front of him, he continued this until he had eased to a stop. Chrissy noticed, but she that it was too dangerous to correspond with Billy’s ignorant mistake.

Trying to blend in with the crowd was hard at first. But he then realized that if he were to walk backward, towards the Neolodge, it somewhat looked like he was going forward if you saw him for only a second. When he finally reached the double doors, the curious Neopet crept inside the vacant hotel. Billy then began to explore this gargantuan hotel. He had never been in here before and the curiosity got the better of him.

Instead of his original mission which was finding Sloth he made the dumbest mistake in life, he was just going to explore the place in no particular spot.

As he passed a room, he noticed that a Neopet called a Gnorbu was inside on a phone, and looked very excited. Daringly, Billy entered the room. The Gnorbu quickly noticed and jumped in surprise. Suddenly, the queer Gnorbu changed his expression so that it seemed he was the most bored Neopet ever.

"Sup" he said flatly. This Gnorbu apparently was superior at acting because just a moment ago, he seemed excited. "Hey, do you know that this place was on fire, also, I heard that Dr. Sloth was in the building!"

"So?" the strange Gnorbu said, "By the way," he added, and suddenly his faced turned purple.

"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO JUST BARGE INTO MY ROOM? MY PUPPYBLEW HAS BETTER MANNERS THAN YOU!" he shouted in a mad fit. Billy was so startled that he stumbled backwards and fell on his back outside the door in the hallway.

"AND STAY OUT!" he yelled throwing a copy of the Neopian times at him hitting him in the head and slamming the door closed.

"Gees, talk about a split personality!" Billy said aloud to himself.

"Yeah" a voice behind him said. Billy turned around and saw a sweaty red Kacheek behind him bending over to help him up.

"Come on, we haven’t got all day!" the Kacheek said impatiently. Billy founded himself running at full speed to keep up with this Kacheek. The path they took didn’t make it any easier.

Left, left, right, left, right, right.

Suddenly the two of them came to a giant door. The Kacheek started to fumble around with his keys until he pulled out a bright green key. Billy found it hard to find something so conspicuous in such a time period.

The Kacheek opened the door which lead to a flight of stairs. "Hurry!" the Kacheek said still running, except now down the stairs. Billy closely followed. When they reached the bottom, Billy saw an amazing sight. At the bottom of the stairs was a place that can only be described as a child’s heaven. There was candy everywhere!

There were jolly ranchers, gum, chocolate bars, and lollipops, starbursts, and peanut butter and chocolate on a stick! It was far beyond anyone’s imagination. Paradise. That’s what it was.

"Wow!" exclaimed Billy gaping at all the candy, "Yeah, and this is nothing if I were to sell my diamond that I found." the Kacheek replied.

"Wait a minute," Billy started, "Are you Phook?"

"That’s right" he replied with a grin.

Back at Billy’s home, Chrissy ran into her room almost blind from her tears fearing something might happen to Phook. She looked into the new mirror someone anonymous gave her. She still looked normal. But wait a second, what are those black things sticking out of her head. She was turning hideously ugly! During this woeful time, she suddenly felt a strong pain in her head. It felt as if somebody was pounding her head madly with a hammer. She gripped it tightly as the immense pain swept through her entire body. It felt now as though she was being turned inside-out.

Desperately she searched for the door now blind seeing nothing but a deep, deep black. She scrambled left and ran into a wall. Running her hands along the wall searching for the door she heard a voice inside her head.

Meanwhile, Phook and Billy were having the best time in there lives. Eating all the candy imaginable, relaxing and watching movie called Madagascar.

"You know," Billy said, pausing and turning to Phook, "I wonder who that Gnorbu was, you know back there that had the mad rampage?"

Phook didn’t reply. Billy figured he had no clue so he turned the movie back on.

Just as the movie was about to end, the was a big crash and all the lights went out. "What happened?" Billy asked Phook even though he had no clue where he was. There was no reply.

"Hello?" Billy tried again, "Phook, where are you?"

Still no answer. Billy fumbled around looking for the light switch and when he finally found it, he flipped it on, and did a thorough search of the secret basement. Everything in the room was destroyed. The couches were ripped as if a wolf had slashed it. There was a huge crack in the television and all the candy was thrown across the room. It was as if a bomb had hit the place, or a college party had just ended.

Billy stepped carefully to where Phook had been sitting. He analyzed the chair for any traces left behind by the culprit. On the chair, that was still on (it was a massage chair) and Billy noticed a small footprint.

It was Chrissy’s paw print.

Panic-stricken Billy dashed up the stairs to get to his house as fast as possible. Or maybe I should go to the police. Yeah, go to the police and tell them what happened Billy thought.

As Billy got to the top of the stairs, he tried to remember the right ways, to go. Desperately, he first tried right. That worked, he kept guessing the ways to go until he finally got it all right and recognized the hallway he was in. As he approached crazy Gnorbu room, he walked slowly in case he was still in the room. After he was about ten feet passed it, he picked up his speed again. Sprinting across the hallways in not a smart thing to do. Especially when you’re running as fast as you can and can’t stop in time so you end up running into a wall. Billy was in this situation except he didn’t run into a wall. He ran into the Gnorbu.

"SO!" the Gnorbu yelled, "YOU JUST DON’T LEAVE DO YOU!? THINK YOU’RE SO SMART DON’T YA MISTER BIG SHOT!"

The Gnorbu chased Billy out of the Neolodge where he finally stopped, turned around and back to his phone he went. Billy finally convinced himself to turn around and look at the Neolodge. In terror, he realized that the once prominent Neolodge, was coming to an end. The loud blowing noise swirled in and out of his ears as he watched the Neolodge come crashing to the ground.

Billy prayed that Phook wasn’t in there.

When Billy finally reached the police station to report the tragedy, he was basically out of breath. With his lungs pounding, he managed to say Neolodge, boom, Phook, and sister. But to the police chiefs, this made no sense at all. They decided to take Billy to the Neolodge after understanding that something must have happened to it. Thunder-struck, the police asked confusedly what happened. This dismal situation had deeply upset all the Neopets who had heard knowing that some of their friends and family might die.

Billy was just fortunate he wasn’t in the building. When he walked home that night, he noticed that Chrissy wasn’t there. And that gave him the idea that she was the one responsible for the disaster. The next day, Billy was just waking up when the phone rang. Surprisingly, he realized that it was Zentis. Phook’s cousin.

"Hey, you know if you did anything to-" but Billy cut him off. "Hey! Listen, we were just watching a movie, then there was a big bang. The lights went out, and when I turned them back on Phook wasn’t there."

"Oh,"

Suddenly Zontos, Phook’s other cousin, stole the phone from Zentis. "Listen, Billy, if that is your real name, meet me in the back alley and- " "Do you ever shut up?" Zentis said in the background.

After those two had cleared everything up, Zentis invited Billy over for a search party. He also said that Zantis would be there along with his wife Julie.

Julie was a blue Kougra. So was Zentis, except he was an orange Kougra. Kougras look mostly like Tigers. Once Billy had finished his ham, cheese, and pickle sandwich, he headed to the address Zentis had given him. This address lead him to the largest house he had ever seen. Right next to the house was a rocket. The rocket looked like it was made of bits of metal and plastic. As Billy walked up the steps on the porch, he stared admirably at the rocket pondering how long it took to make it. Billy had to jump to reach the doorbell since it was so high. He also made a few futile attempts to reach the knocker on the door.

After about a minute, Zentis opened the door, accompanying him was Zontos who was eating a peanut butter sandwich. "Want some?" he asked which Billy barely understood because the peanut butter had muffled his voice since it was stuck to the roof of his mouth.

Zentis invited him inside and Billy took his coat off hurriedly. After all, it was scorching in this place.

"Sorry about the heat," Zontos said, "Julie used to live on Mystery Island and she screams and cries if we don’t get the same temperature."

"I do not!" said a voice. Just then, a tall blue Kougra walked into the room. Billy figured this was Julie. She was wearing a handmade necklace which was entirely flowers. It was pretty. Billy noticed a pattern. Green, then white, then purple then blue.

"Hi sweetie!" she said in a sweet, but yet, to Billy, somewhat creepy voice. Suddenly he thought, that’s sweet... to sweet. Man that’s creepy.

Julie lead the three Neopets into the kitchen. Everything was made of gold. The sink, oven, microwave, refrigerator and even the trash can! The gold seemed to shine so brightly, like it was the sun.

"Why do you have a rocket outside?" Billy asked suddenly realizing that he was being nosy. "We sometimes visit Kreludor and collect gems from it," Zontos replied. Kreludor was the Neopian moon.

Zantis then came into the room. He was carrying a clear, gigantic bag which looked like great multitudes of pieces of trash. "Do you want to see the inside of the rocket?" he asked while setting the bag on the golden counter. "Sure," said Billy calmly although jumping with excitement on the inside. The five Neopets then walked outside towards the rocket. "Everything in the rocket we made. Also, it’s all made of junk. Plastic bottles for levers, bottle caps for buttons, any kind of trash, you name it and it’s in the rocket.

"Who’s idea was it to build the rocket out of junk?" Billy asked curiously emphasizing the word "junk."

"Oh," said Zontos sadly looking at the ground while shaking his head, "It was another brilliant idea by Phook."

As they drew nearer and nearer to the rocket, Billy could start to make out some small objects on the outer part of the rocket. He noticed some of them items that were being used were brown bags along with some bits and scraps of steel.

Finally when the five of them reached the rocket, Zontos took a bright green key out of his pocket. "Stand back," he warned to everyone, he then pushed the key into a keyhole. The rocket made a loud blaring sound as if it were a tornado siren. Gradually the rocket started to lean over onto its side. It did this ever so slowly until it was completely on its side. "What was the point of that?" asked Billy as he watched Zontos open the door. "It’s for security reasons." he replied, Zontos lead the way inside the rocket. For the third time Billy thought he was dreaming. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Everything was made of junk, but it had been painted like it was a painting. Every kind of college symbol was on the wall. Duke, Akron, Michigan State, Texas, California, Georgia Tech and even Vermont!

"Why do you have all the college symbols on the walls?" Billy asked now very confused at everything that they have seen. "Well, Zentis graduated from almost all the colleges. And he had an idea to put up their symbols." Billy continued to stare at the walls wondering why he had gone to all of these colleges. Billy also didn’t know what Zentis would want to be when he grew up. Well, maybe he could ask him now. "Hey Zentis, why did you go to all the colleges?" he asked.

"I couldn’t find a job that I liked so I kept switching colleges. I ended being what I like to be. A scavenger."

Zontos raised his hand symbolizing that he was a scavenger as well. Zentis and Zontos were both very successful scavengers. For example, once they found the Sword of Skardson! That was a very rare sword.

Billy was showed around the rocket by Zentis, Zontos, Zantis and Julie. After that, they all had to "Get down to business"

First, they went back into the house. Zentis lead them into a dark room. The only piece of furniture in the room was a large table in which Zentis and Zontos would plan out where to search for items. This time, there was a gigantic sheet of paper. On the sheet was a picture of Neopia. Also, on top of that were many small sheets of paper that had maps of all the areas drawn out on it. Billy pondered who drew the pictures because they were phenomenal!

It seemed as though Julie read his thought because she broke the silence by saying "I drew them."

"Okay, we’re basically going to go threw the whole diamond dilemma again." Zontos said putting a pencil behind his ear. Billy thought that Zontos was just trying to look cool putting the pencil behind his ear. Billy also knew that Zentis and Zontos didn’t want to go through the whole adventure right now. To start, Zentis had a wife, second, according to the book Phook wrote, he called it "The Diamond Dilemma", Zontos had caught Ugga-Ugga. That was a catastrophic Neopian disease, and all though most common in Tyrannia, can be widely spread to places far away such as the Lost Desert.

"Okay, we’re first going to search where the whole shebang started. The ruins of the Neolodge. After that, we can check everywhere else in Neopia central. And this time, we’re going to search more thoroughly." said Zentis suddenly seeming very serious.

Zentis took a folder out of a drawer under the table. The folder was labeled Neopia Central in bold letters. Inside, Zentis reached in and grabbed four sheets of paper. Each sheet had a picture drawn again by Julie. One had the regular Neopia Central. The second one had another beautifully drawn picture of the bazaar. On the third it had yet again, a fabulous picture of the Neopia Central Marketplace. On the last one was a picture of the art central. Here you could by some items like coffee or collectable coins.

"We’ll have to split up," Zentis began plotting out how to search, "Julie and I search the art central. Zontos you search the bazaar, while Billy and Zantis search the regular Neopia Central."

When they started the search, Billy and Zantis first decided to look in the Neopian Bank. However, when they were asked who they were and they just said that they were looking for somebody, thinking that they were going to hold someone hostage, threw them out the building. Secondly, they went next door to the Auction House. The auctioneer was so loud that both of the Neopets heard them outside the building. First when they opened the main door, they found themselves in a single bland room. In front of them the two friends found four doors.

"Which door should we take?" Billy asked Zantis while studying the doors as if to find any clues.

"Let’s start going from left to right." Zantis replied walking to the door. He opened it and found a bright white hallway. Zantis walked in first and Billy followed. They noticed about every five inches on the walls there was a door. Billy put his ear against the wall trying to hear anything on the other side. Faintly he could make out the words, "Three hundred dollars. Do I hear four hundred dollars? No? That’s it, three hundred dollars going once, twice, SOLD!"

Billy figured that room was one of the very many auctions going on. Zantis did the same with the next room and heard the same thing.

Both decided to give up on the auction house or else they would have been there for days. So they next jogged over to the hospital. Here, they were also kicked out for disturbing guests. So they headed south for a few minutes until they reached the petpet shop. When Billy and Zantis walked in they quickly had to cover their ears. It was so loud! From deranged purring noises, to loud barking. There was any sound imaginable in that shop. Billy and Zantis tripped over some little petpets several times. Some got mad and ended up biting them.

In the end, after asking the owner of the shop if she had seen any red Kacheeks, she said no. So the petpet shop was off the list. Now they had to go to the post office. However, when they got there, Billy heard a loud crash. Zantis heard it also. Billy’s curiosity was sparked. He looked out the window and in amazement, saw hundreds of Neopets running around panicking. Some were pointing to the sky.

Billy looked to see what was causing the all the commotion and then gasped. In the air was Vira.

Vira was an Acara who once wished to be the most beautiful Acara ever. Unfortunately, the wrong ears heard that wish. Now, That Acara still wonders through the meadows and still kisses flowers as she used to. Only now, she makes them poisonous to the touch. When Vira would hand out her magic mirrors, it would show a picture of you, as beautiful as ever. But then, the beauty quickly fades away and turn into a twisted, horrid version of an ugly you.

Billy quickly ripped a leg off a chair and ran outside. Zantis followed except he had a seat of a stool which he used as a shield. Billy was using the leg as a sword. "Zantis, grab the leg, I’m going to get the police!" he shouted as he tossed the leg towards Zantis. "But what if I can’t fight her off?" he asked, "That’s for you to figure out!" Billy shouted back, and then he was gone.

Billy dashed towards the police office. When he thought he was a fair distance away, he glanced back to see how Zantis was doing. But Vira was not fighting Zantis. She was following Billy.

Soaring across the sky was Vira. Looking angrier than ever. Billy still kept sprinting towards the police station. Vira then threw a fire ball at Billy just barely missing him. Billy had ducked at the last second causing the fire to go over his head. He was almost at the police station when Vira then suddenly pulled Billy up. Billy always wanted to fly, but not like this!

He never had reached the police station but the police were chasing Vira from the ground shooting at her with rainbow guns. That was a weapon you would use in the Battledome. None of them hit and Vira escaped with Billy as her hostage. For some reason, Vira looked strangely familiar to Billy. Her eyes, he’s seen those before! It was Chrissy!

"Chrissy, is that you?" Billy asked, Vira only hissed in reply. She carried him all the way to the Meridell in which he took him into the forest which lead to a bog.

This is where Billy was set down. Vira flew down and gently set Billy in a tree. Accompanied with Vira was Dr Sloth. He was the most evil person in Neopia. He always tries to take over the world, fortunately, he never did.

"So, I see you brought a tester." Sloth said. To Billy, even if Sloth was talking a normal voice, it still sounded sinister. Again, Vira only hissed in reply. Sloth then went to a tree as if understanding what Vira had just said. Sloth then pulled a piece of bark off the tree revealing a panel with a dozen buttons on it. Sloth pushed a bright red button and suddenly a patch of ground split apart and a gigantic, almost mean-looking laser type rocket emerged from the ground.

"In five hours, this rocket is going to melt all of this forest. After that, it will lead to the destruction of Brightvale, then soon all of Neopia and I will rule the world!" he yelled chuckling evilly. "Be quiet!" a voice said. Balthazar then appeared from behind a tree. He was carrying a bottle with a fairy in it. Billy remembered that once his mom told him the Balthazar would bottle little fairies to sell and make a huge profit.

"Somebody might hear you." he said after shaking hands with Sloth and Vira. "I had another big day today making money by selling all these fairies.

"You’ll never stop Brightvale!" said yet another voice. This time it wasn’t Vira, not Sloth, nor Balthazar, but it was Zantis, Zentis, Zontos and Julie. They had somehow found where Billy was. And these friends were ready for a battle. Zantis had a rainbow gun, and a shield, Julie had a Enhanced Solar Gauntlet and Zontos had his wings reinforced with metal. Along with a shield to and a lightning gun.

Zontos flew up and took Billy down from the tree while Zantis began to occupy Sloth. Zantis took his rainbow gun and aimed it at Sloth. But right before he fired Vira dove at Zantis and knocked him away from his gun. Sloth ran over and picked it up. Vira then ran to hold Zantis down while Sloth aimed the gun back at Zantis. When Zontos had rescued Billy, he tried to save Zantis by jumping onto Sloth’s back and start to try to fly away with him. He eventually knocked him over and this time Sloth dropped the gun!

Julie dashed over to retrieve it, but Balthazar interfered. He knocked Julie to the side and picked up the gun fired at Billy but missed.

But who was hiding behind the tree? Billy noticed a nose sticking out behind the bark. It was... MAX?

Once all the villains were gone, Billy helped everyone up. Fortunately, there were no injuries so Zentis didn’t have to panic. After all, he did have Hemophobia which was the abnormal fear of blood.

Billy was the first one to break the silence. "How did you know where I was?" he asked everyone. Joey said that he ‘smelled trouble’ and went to Brightvale to stop it. Zantis said that he just followed Vira. Since Sloth, Vira and Balthazar, left, they could now investigate. Sloth had left the rocket vulnerable and in plain sight so Joey went to the king to report the incident. This king was the smartest guy in Neopia. He could practically read what you were thinking.

When the king came to see the rocket, he did not know what to do with it. "Maybe we should destroy it because Sloth said that in five hours it will melt all of Brightvale!" Billy suggested. So the king listened and they blew the rocket up by using one of Joeys’ bombs. After that, Billy and all his friends decided to search the Meridell because they were all ready here. The king also granted them one wish. Zantis said that they needed help finding his brother Phook.

"We’ll make a search party to look for Phook," the king replied, "And good luck on your journey." Since the king had promised to have a search party in the Meridell, the five Neopets decided to search somewhere else.

After they got back to the house, they started to suggest places where to look. Almost everyone said Kreluder. This was because when Sloth first came to Neopia, he landed on Kreluder where he used a Neopet called a Grundo as a servant.

So back outside they went to the hand made rocket. For Billy, it was going to be his first time riding a rocket. And this time was probably going to be his last because he wanted to be a xylophonist. After the launched the rocket and they landed in Kreluder, they started to look around the Neocola machine. Billy and Zantis were thinking outside the box and started stamping on the ground looking for some transportation hole that led underground to some secret lair. And it didn’t take long to find it.

Billy soon found a button on the ground. He stepped on it and began plummeting down to who knows where.

When Billy landed, he found himself in a room. The room was kind of eerie and was all gray except for a single lantern in the middle of the room. Billy took a step forward and walked into something. He walked about five feet. He thought that this would be enough leeway to find his way around whatever that object he is. Billy than walked to the lantern and picked it up. He held it toward the object and didn’t see just something. He saw someone and it was Phook!

Phook was tied to a chair with a piece of scotch tape over his mouth. Billy hastily began untying him. Then he ripped the tape off. "Ow!" yelled Phook. "Quick, we’ve got to get out of here!" Billy told Phook. "Sloth is going to try to take over the world again if we don’t hurry. He already made a rocket but we destroyed and now he’s probably going to build another one really, really fast!"

Phook quickly grabbed Billy’s arm and pulled a portable ladder out of his pocket and grinned. "Let’s go!" Phook found the hole that Billy fell through and pulled the ladder apart and set one end at the entrance.

When they both got out of the hole Billy asked Phook if he had any instincts of where Sloth may be hiding. "Oh I got one." he said. With that he pulled a portable rocket out of his pocket and set it on the ground. Phook and Billy hopped in and flew towards in old battle scene. Jelly World.

This was where Phook and his family fought Sloth the first time for the shiny diamond. When they arrived at Jelly World, Phook contacted his family with a two-way and shortly afterwards, Zantis, Zontos, Zentis, and Julia arrived in Jelly World as well.

As the family (and Billy) began to search for any signs of evil, Billy soon found something that was so conspicuous that he couldn’t believe no one ever noticed it. On the fairly old sign that said "Welcome to Jelly World" Somebody has screwed up the letter and apparently added some new ones as well. Because it now read "Sloth Rules!"

Suddenly a bomb exploded. Zantis, Zentis, Zontos, Phook, Julia, and Billy all looked up and stared spell bounded at a building that was on fire no more than five feet away from them. Have you ever smelt burnt jelly? Well, if you were one of these six unlucky characters, you would then know that it is the most horrible, putrid smell in the entire universe. And not just Neopia’s universe, but our universe as well! It smelled worse than burnt rubber! And I don’t know about you, but that is the worst smell I’ve ever smelled next to burnt jelly.

Soon, jelly Blumaroos and jelly Jub-Jubs were running out of the building yelling and screaming. Billy just stood there stupefied while the poor citizens of Jelly World ran around panicking. And it wasn’t long before a fire truck was at the scene. As the raging fire began to be conquered by the water, Sloth jumped out of the highest window. He was followed up by an apparent assistant Vira. "How did she know we were coming here?" Billy wondered after still having haunting memories from his first encounter with the horrid demon. Once again, Vira picked up Billy and dragged him into the now burning building that they had jumped out of. Sloth was busy ordering everybody to get out of his way while he began to remodel Jelly World.

"What do you want from me?" Billy yelled at Vira who had just dropped him in a chair. All Vira did in response was to hiss at him once more. Vira hastily brought a rope over and began tying Billy to the chair. At this time, Billy began squirming like a worm whose body was half stuck in the dirt that was just added to a garden.

Then, Vira said her first sentence other than hissing. "We have Phook. And never will we tell where he is!" she said. Her voice kind of dragged on "is" "We already found him!" Billy shouted back.

But, the same Gnorbu that had thrown the Neopian Times at Billy came in the room.

"WHO’S THIS? YOU AGAIN? IN MY OTHER APARTMENT ROOM? AND NOW YOU BROUGHT YOUR GIRLFRIEND WITH YOU TOO?!" The Gnorbu seemed oblivious of the dangerous and evil Acara. He picked up a bottle of Sunkist and hurled it at Vira who was flung to the back of the room. Then, without untying him, he picked up the chair Billy was in, and tossed him out the window. Then, he knocked the daylights of Vira by throwing a remote control at her head.

Back outside, Billy had landed with a hard thud on the ground. He had several bruises but that was it. Zontos found Billy, and untied him as the six Neopets: Julie, Phook, Zantis, Zentis, Zontos and Billy, all ran to their rocket and took off to make a new plan on how to catch Sloth and his evil posse.

Back in Jelly World, inside an extinct volcano, Sloth had his laboratory set up and was still screaming at Vira who regained consciousness. "You fumbled on the goal line again!" he yelled. "I don’t care how you get Billy and Phook, I just want you to get them as fast as you can so we can destroy them okay!?" he screamed. "They’ve already caused me enough trouble, and this plan will not fail!"

"How are we going to catch him? He’s got Vira, and probably an exceedingly high amount of other goons on his side as well!" exclaimed Zontos as the Neopets were trying to figure out how they could catch Sloth. "Zentis, you always have ideas, how can we stop him?" asked Zantis. Zantis wasn’t overly concerned about catching Sloth knowing that Phook would put his life on the line again. Zantis also wasn’t overly thrilled about having his brothers’ life being like the last shot of a basketball game. If miss, you lose. In this case, Zantis would lose his brother Phook. If you make, everyone is all happy just like the people in Cinderella.

"Well," Zentis began, "While none of you guys were paying attention, I snuck a tracking device on the back of Sloth’s head. All I have to do is turn on my computer, bring up the right file and we’ll know exactly where he is!" He replied.

Zontos jogged over to the computer and turned it on. Next, he logged on to Zentis’s name and asked what to do next. Zentis told him to let him take care of it. Since he was the only one who knew how to work the computer properly. He went on to his website which was called imageek.com and went to his tracking system. The tracking system showed everyone where certain Neopets he knew where there. However, he had everyone color coded and Sloth’s color was red. For evil.

It showed that Dr. Frank Sloth was somewhere in the Sakhmet chambers. This was a big palace in the lost desert.

All the Neopets crammed into the small airplane that Phook, Zantis, Zentis, and Zontos used to fly to Jelly World. From there, they battled Sloth to when back Phook’s shiny diamond which he now has encased in a solid gold box in a vault which only he has the combination to. Surrounding the vault were three matches that whenever someone other than Phook walked in the room, the matches would have droplets of gas dropped on them, then a lighter would light the gas-covered matches and they would start a huge fire.

After they got in the plane, Zentis again, was the driver, they took off and flew to Lost Desert. And once more, they listened to Shut Up, and again, Phook started singing at was told to zip his mouth.

After several hours, the eager Neopets finally departed at their destination. Billy was the first to hop out of the airplane and look around at where they had landed. They were near the old Coltzan Shrine by the river that crossed between the two cities Qasala and Sakhmet. Qasala was a city that was added after the war in the Lost Desert after the queen of Sakhmet married the king of the invisible city Qasala.

Zentis hastily began pulling out equipment that made no sense to Billy. One crazy invention was some tracking device that would help them follow Sloth. Another fancy hoohah was some wacked out telescope that had a tracking device in at that would point in the direction that Sloth was in.

As the Neopets began walking, Billy and Julia started collecting intriguing rocks that were almost like fossils. Zontos was the one who collected Sakhmet beetles that would crawl around. He had brought along a cage for them to be put in.

Finally, the Neopets arrived at the large palace. To their surprise, there was a brawl going on! Neopets gathered and tried beating up Sloth and his minions while Sloth and his gang started shooting the defenseless Neopets with rainbow guns. Zontos jumped in the commotion and hopped on Sloth’s back and bit him in the neck! Apparently that was a pressure point because Sloth immediately fell to the ground. Sloth’s team then picked up the bloodthirsty Zontos and dragged him into one of Sloth’s ships. Others picked up Sloth and put him in the ship as well.

However, Zontos was no quitter. As soon as the guards let go of him, he flew out of there reach and went right back to the are where the mob of good guys were. By this time, Max and Joey had been contacted by Billy and once more, Joey had his knapsack filled with who knows what? Joey pulled out a potion that would put everyone asleep within fifty feet. The bottle was shaped like a grenade that you would also have to pull the pin from the top of the bottle except instead of it exploding, it lets out a sleeping gas.

Joey took out gas masks for everyone and he pulled the pin. Instantaneously, everyone was knocked out. Everyone who was not sleeping started to charge at the huge ship Sloth owned. If you would have seen in aerial view of this picture, you would have thought there was a bomb about to go off and everyone was running for sanctuary. Phook was the first to hop onto the stairs that lead inside the plane. He was followed by many others who climbed up the handrails while the stairs were congested with many other Neopets.

Once Billy had reached the top of the steps, he couldn’t find his friends. Max eventually found him and the two of them got to look at the scenery in the spaceship. There were about five huge windows that were on each side of the ship. Then, in the dead center of the ship were a ton of controls that were used to fly the ship. Billy and Max stuck together and managed to maneuver their way over to the controls. They both sat in the chair that was the pilot’s seat. It could have been a perfect seat for the king of Brightvale! It was so big, Billy estimated that three Neopets could have fit in the chair with room for knapsacks about as big as Max’s.

But as much as Billy and Max enjoyed sitting in the chair, they knew that they had work to do. "Not only am I an explorer, but I also am a good engineer!" said Max. With that, he pulled a wrench out of his pocket.

Before he could start tearing apart the controls to prevent Sloth from flying away, Joey appeared. "Need some help?" he offered, he then set his knapsack on the ground and began pulling tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, and... Sandwiches out of the bag. "What are the sandwiches for?" Max asked with a curious look on his face. "I’m hungry!" he said. After that, he took the screwdriver and opened the control panels. Max then picked up the hammer and smashed everything inside to pieces. Next, Joey took the screw and put the panel back in place so now it looked as if nothing went wrong.

Then, just as the finished packing up, Billy heard a scream, "SLOTH IS BACK!" And soon everyone was darting for the doors. Coincidentally, Max, Joey, Billy, and Phook were the last ones that made it to the door. Unfortunately, they closed right before the could make it out. Phook starting pounding on the door even the it was futile trying to break it down.

Billy turned around and two his horror saw Sloth and his minions charging right at them. Joey jumped right back at them and a new fight was started.

"Sir, you’re not going to like this!" one of Sloth’s minions said while he was fiddling with the controls. "Everything seems to be the opposite of good. All the controls are dead."

Joey at this time had pulled a rope out and tied every single one of Sloth’s minions to the floor. Billy never knew that Joey was so strong.

"You rampage of terror is over Sloth!" Joey said as he rejoined his friends. "Oh really?" he replied in a tone that sent shivers done Billy’s spine. And after he said that, he vanished. He just disappeared into thin air. And a few seconds later, a green Gnorbu appeared. To Billy, he seemed oddly familiar. "Who are you?" Max asked in a firm tone. "I’m nobody special, I’m just here to fly the ship back to where it belongs!" he said in a babyish voice. "Well, you can’t because we busted all the controls! This ship is staying RIGHT HERE!" Joey announced. Now he said that in a way that in cartoons you would here applause in the background. Suddenly, the Gnorbu turned dark red. "SO YOU’RE THE PUNKS WHO BUSTED THE CONTROLS!" he yelled. It was so sudden that it caught everybody off guard. "SO I HAVE TO BE TELEPORTED ALL THE WAY FROM NEOPIA CENTRAL TO HERE TO FIX THIS STUPID SHIP WHICH I NOW FIND ALL THE CONTROLS ARE SMASHED WITH A STUPID HAMMER BY A STUPID JUBJUB!!!" Joey pulled an umbrella out of his knapsack because so much spit was flying out of the Gnorbu’s mouth.

After the mouthful, the Gnorbu was now taking several deep breaths and started to return to his greenish hue. Max then started to laugh. He thought the Gnorbu was hilarious! "THAT TEARS IT!" the Gnorbu said while he plunged at Max. "YOU FIX IT!" he yelled and he threw Max at the control panel. But again, Joey quickly had the Gnorbu tied up and threw him with all of the other guys he defeated. "Let’s get out of here!" said Phook, "But the doors locked!" Billy replied. "There’s no way to get out!"

"Really?" said Joey, while he pulled a stick of dynamite and a match out of his knapsack. He then threw it at one of the giant windows. As he planned, it exploded. Joey then pulled a giant rope out of his knapsack and threw it through the hole, and everyone climbed out of the ship safely.

Billy lead the group to where they landed their plane. All the Neopets doted on him for his ingenuity. But Joey realized that he had made a mistake in his seemingly perfect impetus. He didn’t put a grappling hook on the end of the rope! But before he could haul the rope in, another encumbrance settled in by a terrifying discovery. "Joey, Billy, do you hear a quiet beeping sound?" Phook said. "So its not just me?" Billy said apparently he was hearing it two. And just then, the heard a voice that was coming from the intercoms set on the walls.

"Even if you do escape before the bomb goes off," a familiar voice said, "You would get out by the windows which is at the zenith of the spaceship, you’d fall four hundred feet to the ground if you jumped off!" it said.

Sloth!

"There’s a bomb?!" Phook said in fright, "Pull the rope in! If we want to get out alive then we’ll have to work diligently! I don’t really care if were at the zenith of the spaceship because I already have a plan for that, but let’s go!" So Joey pulled the rope in with alacrity pulled out a grappling hook at of his knapsack and attached it to the rope. Then he swung the rope around his head, gave it a good toss and watched in awe as it was a perfect throw. It landed on the window and the grappling hook attached it to the window. Joey slowly zipped his knapsack shut and walked over to the rope. Phook and Billy were already a fourth of the way up the rope by the time he first laid his hands on it. "Hurry Joey! Its vital if we make it out of here in less then two minutes!" Billy said clearly shocked and Joey’s laggard action. "Nonsense!" he said calmly, "Haste makes waste!"

"Joey, this is no time for any of your stupid maxims, right now, we have to get out of here!" "Fine," said Joey. He jumped onto the rope and quickly started climbing up with his friends. When they reached the top of the rope, Joey pulled a second hammer out of his knapsack. He threw it at the window and it shattered easily. When the climbed slowly to the broken window frame, Joey pulled a box about three inches around out of his pack. He dropped it out the window and waited a few seconds for it to hit the ground.

"What was that?" Billy asked. "Just jump." Joey said. Joey locked everyone’s arms and jumped out the window. Everyone was oblivious as to what was in the box. Billy braced himself for impact. When they hit the ground, all of the Neopets flew back into the air. "A trampoline?" Billy asked over the roar of the wind that flew past his ears. "Yeah, I couldn’t think of anything better to do!" Joey replied. Each time the Neopets hit the trampoline, their bounces would be slightly lower. Eventually, the stopped bouncing altogether.

"Hurry, we have to get out of here!" Phook said grabbing hold of his brother Zantis and now holding Billy. All of them bolted away from the rocket. And just in the knick of time to, because at that moment, the rocket exploded. Fire shot out from all directions, lighting the trampoline as if it were a firework. The pets bolted away, and dove behind a food shack and waited for the explosion to cool off.

"Now what do we do?" asked Billy in despair. "We have to stop Sloth from trying to take over the world again," said Zontos joyfully. "This is going to be so much fun." With that, he started running towards the wide open desert. Nobody who was stupid enough to traverse across the desert had ever returned. It was a long stretch, filled with miles of dry, hot sand accompanied with the searing sun. The only wild creatures that inhabited it were some little ghost like balls that floated around called imps. The fire ones which were the only ones that could survive their, were always dehydrated causing them to be blood-thirsty and cranky around any other living thing around them. Only idiots would try to survive in it. Zontos, happened to be that idiot.

"Zontos! Don’t go to the desert! Who knows what might be there!" said Zentis running after him, and tripping over something. He looked down on the ground and his jaw dropped in amazement. It was a small Grundo, cowering on the ground. "Sorry, I didn’t see you there." Zentis said trying to sound as polite as possible. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Don’t go after him!" the Grundo mumbled, Zentis and all the others noticed that he seemed maimed and beaten up. "What happened?" asked Julie worriedly. "Do go after him I tell you! Don’t do it! He’ll win! He’s got more power than you think! You’re no competition. You won’t stand a chance, and if he’s mad, he’ll destroy you!" he mumbled. He sounded scared, and he said everything as if he could read their minds. "He got Viliorio and Vilioria! The could eat you in one gulp!" he said. "Who are they?" said Billy. Zentis’s face turn a bright white. "You mean Sloth?" he asked gulping nervously. "Yes! He’s looking for you Phook and Billy! Don’t let him find you! You’ll surely die!"

"Zentis, what’s a matter? Who’s Viliorio and Vilioria?" Julie asked Zentis. "They, are the two monsters, that lived in the cave in Tyrannia. Sloth must have somehow captured them and is using their monster abilities to create havoc! The little Grundo is right! He’ll easily kill us!" he said, terrified. Zontos pulled Zentis off to the side and whispered in his ear, "Look, Zentis, he seems to know a lot about Sloth. Let’s use him to find his weaknesses and whatnot. You get lemons, Zentis, you make lemonade." Zentis nodded his head. "You’re right. Uh, Mister, do you know where Sloth’s location is?" he asked trying to sound confident. "Jelly World," he stammered, "In the biggest volcano in the back of Slihill." he said. Then he fainted.

"Where’s Slihill?" asked Max who had been relatively quite for the past few minutes. "It’s in the back of the mountains in Jelly World, it’s where all the extinct jelly volcanoes are." Zentis quickly replied intellectually.

Joey pulled another small box out of his knapsack and three hover skateboards appeared out of the box. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I never thought I would use it for this many Neopets. After all, normally I would not know this many friends," he said.

Billy shared a board with Joey, Zantis with Julie, Max and Phook, and Zentis and Zontos shared their own. All of the Neopets zoomed away from the Lost Desert to the creepy squishiness of Jelly World.

"Are we there yet?" Phook asked for about the tenth time. He may have seven years older than he was when he had his last adventure, but he still had the annoying impatient personality that everybody loved, (and hated) about him. "Phook, we know how you have the amazing talent of pestering people, but for once, you’re going to have to sit still without a radio for more than an hour." said Zentis, clearly exhausted from getting Phook to shut up; a nearly impossible task.

A few minutes later, while Phook had finally found a way to occupy himself (swatting Max’s tail, and pretending to use Zantis’s as a broom since it was so big and bushy) Zontos got out of his squatting position and stood up. Then he yelled at the top of his lungs "JELLY HO!" They were finally there! The Neopets could see jelly buildings in the distance. "Oh thank Goodness!" said a very relieved Max. Phook was excited, yet he actually found swatting tails entertaining, so he kept batting them around. He reached out for Julie’s tail, only to be slapped in the cheek, and lectured by a irritated Kougra. "Don’t even think about it!" she yelled.

The Neopets landed, and they hopped off and stretched. Their feet quickly sank in the jelly ground. "Now where do we go?" asked Zontos. Zentis did a brief recollection of what the Grundo had said. He said that they had to find the Slihill. Max’s keen eye sight led to a quick discovery of where the were. It was located behind the jelly apartment buildings. Zontos had to be dragged away from the delicious "Giant Jelly" because he was guzzling it down at a dangerously fast rate. "Zontos leave it for the needy!" said Joey, and they were off, for what could be the worst battle Phook or Billy has ever been in.

Meanwhile, the evil Dr. Frank Sloth , his assistant Vira, and Balthazar and a few other unfavorable guest all huddled around a crystal ball. "Excellent, excellent," began Sloth, "the weaklings have come over for a little party." he said menacingly. "Oh boy a party!" said a small babyish voice in the back round. "What type of present are you going to give them Doc?" it asked. "Oh nothing important," Sloth replied, "Just a flying friend of mine." he continued. All the villains shivered as they heard a mighty roar of two beasts that could tear anybody apart.

Phook had already gone back to his nasty habit of swatting tails. He became flustered, however, when he found out Joey didn’t have a tail, so he started swatting his knapsack. Unfortunately, he hit a sparkler and a match in the sack, and there was a slight disturbance while they had to put the fire out. "Phook, you pickle brain, why do you have to be so childish?" said Julie, again putting the Kacheek into place. "Sorry, I just get so bore-" Phook cut himself off, as he nearly rolled down the fifty foot hill they’ve been climbing. He was staring at a flying dinosaur thing that looked like a Pterodactyl. "It’s Viliorio!" shouted Zentis as he began herding the group under a bush. The beast dove at them, but they hopped onto a tall, steep volcano just as Viliorio obliterated the jelly bush.

"That was close," Max whispered. He had jumped away without looking and coincidentally landed on the ill-tempered arms of-

"Boy, what’s you’re problem?" said Julie, throwing him to the ground. The angry reunion was cut short, as the terror once more commenced. Viliorio dove at them again, this time, there was no place to hide. The Neopets huddled together and braced themselves for their deaths, but nothing happened!

"HOLD!" said a rough and familiarly evil voice. Viliorio retreated to the top of the volcano, where the second beast, Vilioria, came and sat down next to him. "Well, I see you met my new pets," said Dr. Sloth, who had just emerged from a secret passageway from the side of the volcano. "Viliorio, Vilioria, go back inside, I’ll handle this. It won’t take long." he instructed. Just then, the two creatures flew inside the volcano. However, Sloth obviously wasn’t going to try to destroy the Neopets by himself, because Balthazar immediately came out. Followed by several other villains. Vira being one of them. She flew out from the top of the volcano, hissing madly, and flailing her tail. Billy took out a bowling ball out of Joey’s knapsack and threw it at her. It hit her square in the head. Vira fell to the ground but got back in the air moments later. Only now, there was something different about her. Billy couldn’t think of what it was. Her appearance, it seemed slightly altered. That’s it! Her tail was blue! Just like Chrissy’s! And her eyes, were less red and more of the unique purple color the she had as well! But how could she be turning back to Chrissy?

However, he was not given anytime to think. Because just then, the Tax Beast flew out of the top of the volcano, and the horrifying Jelly Chia followed him. However, the worst, the scariest and one of the most dangerous characters in the whole of Neopia flew down from a jelly tree and stuck his fangs into the back of Joey’s neck.

Joey whirled around, slapped whoever his attacker was, then blacked out from the agony. Billy glanced over at the unconscious Joey, and froze in his tracks when he saw who attacked him.

It was Count Von Roo!

The Count was just like Dracula, he lived supposedly in the Haunted Woods, but slept on Roo Island, in a stone coffin under-ground. Only fools would disturb him in his sleep. When he woke up, he would fly to the Haunted Woods to scare the skin off innocent Neopets wandering alone at night. And even worse, he’s been known to sneak into houses threw open windows at night. When some innocent Neopet sleeps peacefully in their beds, sometimes, there are not there in the morning. Only a few ripped sheets and pillows would remain.

Joey, however, managed to toss his knapsack to Julie right before he fell. Julie pulled some weapons out of his knapsack then tossed it to Billy, who took some things out himself. The first item he pulled out was a sun ray. Since it was fairly dark out, Count Von Roo could run amok all he wanted. However, the sun ray brightens the area around it up so bright, that you would think that the sun was tripped by Kreluder and fell onto the earth. He pressed the button that made it work, and fell backwards, so surprised by the intense brightness.

When everything was visible again, he looked over to where Von Roo was and found nothing but a pile of ashes. Now, if only that would’ve happened to Dr. Sloth. Wait a minute! Where was Sloth? Knowing that Sloth could hop at him from his hiding spot and attack Billy, he began panicking while searching for him. All the jelly smoke flying around by other battles was beginning to blind and choke Billy. "I took down Balthazar!" Max’s voice cried out. That was followed by a shout of agony, probably Balthazar’s. Billy started following Phook’s voice which was saying, "Help! Vira! Yah! Take that! Ouch!"

He was almost there when to hands grabbed his back. He was spun around hastily and was face to face with... Joey!

"Billy, give me my knapsack," he told Billy. He had forgotten that he’d been carrying it around. Billy tossed the knapsack to Joey and he pulled out a potion. "What’s that do?" Billy asked inquisitively. "It’s a sleeping potion. I can’t use it though unless we all have gas masks on. And I only have two masks!" he exclaimed.

Their conversation was cut short though, by a loud hissing and a loud growl! It was Vilioria and Viliorio! They were swooping down right on the poor Neopets, who were unable to guard them. Both of them stopped diving, and cut right back up right before they hit billy and Joey. "Huh?" said a very confused JubJub. They looked up and saw a delighted Zontos riding the beasts! He had somehow attached a saddle on them and was riding them like a farm Kau!

"Wahoo!" he yelled blissfully. He hopped off and the beasts flew away from Slihill in the direction of Tyrannia where they could go back to their cave without any disturbances.

"Now we only have Dr. Frank Sloth and Vira," said Billy, quite relieved that there wasn’t anything that could swoop down and gobble him up in under three seconds. "Yeah," aid Joey, "where is sloth?"

By now, all the jelly dust had cleared. It revealed a long, dirty battlefield. Balthazar, Vira, the Tax Beast, the dust of Count Von Roo, a few dried up Pant Devils, and a half eaten cookie lay on the ground. Zentis was staring at the Pant Devils, wiping perspiration from his brow, and Zontos was laying on the ground, his arms sprawled out, one of them reaching for the cookie. Max collapsed on top of Balthazar from exhaustion. And Phook was tending a bloody ear that Vira had bitten who lay in front of him whimpering. Julie and Zantis were laying on the ground chuckling hysterically in front of the Tax Beast who lay next to them crying. Zantis had bite marks all over him and Julie’s tail was bleeding. Billy cringed at the sight of blood, but still knew that this battle was not over. "You pickle heads think you’re so smart don’t you?" asked Sloth who had reappeared at the top of the volcano. "Well, you forgot to take down my key weapon!" he said laughing madly. "C’mon out Mark!" he yelled. The secret passage opened up from the side of the jelly volcano and out came "Mark."

He was a green, mean-looking... Gnorbu? "Hey! That’s the guy from the hotel!"Billy yelled pointing at him. "He wouldn’t leave when I told him the building was on fire. He seemed all nice at first, then his face turned purple and he seemed super mad and started screaming at me!" he continued. "Don’t you get it you little fudge brain?" Sloth said rather rudely. "He’s the one hat set the building on fire! It was arson! He knew Phook was in the building, and since anybody who works fo me needs to try to kill Phook, so he set it on fire in a mad attempt to destroy him! Then he tells me some stupid Bori interfered and him and Phook were in his fire-proof secret hideout. So I sent your sister Chrissy to try and fetch Phook and hide him so we could get you idiots out of the way."

Sloth started to laugh his evil laugh again, but his throat was to dry. "Oh, sorry, hang on a second," he said, and he pulled out a glass of water, and chugged it down, and went back to his creepy laugh.

"But how did Chrissy turn into Vira?" asked Billy, realizing that he was doing something very rare; caring for his sister.

"That was too easy," Dr. Sloth began, "she’s such a stuck-up little pig, she thinks that she is the best and prettiest Neopet in the world. So I gave her a little present. I gave her a mirror that was owned by the original Vira. She obviously got scared about Phook, looked in it to see if she was still sane, and saw a normal version of herself. ‘Okay, everything is fine, I still look good and not ugly or insane or anything else like that.’ is what she probably said. She kept looking in the mirror for good measure, and saw she was starting to change. She turned ugly in the mirror, and the Vira effect came in. Just like that! See how smart and evil I am?" he explained. "Hey stupid Mark, you’re fat!" he insulted the Gnorbu!

"I AM NOT FAT! WHO WAS THE PICKLE HEAD WHO SAID THAT?!" he yelled. "It was that Kacheek! He said it!" Sloth said pointing at Phook excitedly. "YOU ARE GOING DOWN!" Mark said charging at Phook. "Joey! Give me the stool!" Phook yelled at Joey. He pulled the bottom of the stool Zantis had used earlier. Joey then threw it to Phook, who held it out in front of him and stood there, bracing himself for impact.

BANG!

The Gnorbu smashed into the stool, and fell to the ground, screaming and holding his head in pain. "Now Sloth, what where you saying?" Phook said in a way that many Neopets would think of as arrogant. "I say, you haven’t seen the last of me, Dr. Frank sloth!" he yelled jumping into a miniature rocket that he had summoned with something that had looked like car keys. "So long fudge brains!" he yelled flying away.

In a minute, he was gone. The Neopets managed to carry them-selves to the nearest jelly hospital where they were nursed back to health. After that, Max went back to the hills of Jub so he could go find Xantan’s ring. Joey went back home, but Billy and the rest went back to Neopia Central, since the Neolodge was back up and standing proudly.

Days passed after that, and billy went back to his normal lifestyle. Vowing never to mess with evil people like Sloth again. However, his new friends Zantis, Zentis, Zontos, Phook, and Julie were always hungry for adventure. But Billy, still refused, and the everyday hubbub of arguing with Chrissy continued.

Looking through a crystal ball, laughing insanely, the stalker of Phook was planning for yet another way to destroy him. "Why don’t you just give up Doc?" said a new voice in sloth’s recruiting room. "Shut up!" Sloth snapped. "I know just the way how to get that blasted Kacheek, and all his friends too. They, are going down!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Sloth was already working on his next plan, but is the third try really the charm? Only time will tell.

The End