I dedicate this short story to ALL the great veterans of Neopia that so
bravely fought in the Battle of the Lost Desert and Tyrannia. My regards to
you, and my thanks.
It was a cold night in the Lost Desert. Griffin L. Kingsley the male fire Lupe,
known for his unusual passion for Chias, was at war. He was spending a month
in a very harsh Training Camp in Tyrannia, instructed by Grarrg himself. When
word got to him that the Lost Desert was under attack by (guess who!) Dr. Frank
Sloth, he needed to send out troops to defend the land.
Traveling by Lennicopter to one of the most dangerous parts of the lost desert,
Griffin was dropped down with the rest of the front line. He stomped down onto
the paved road that was now torn and maimed, Griffin stood there, his thick
army boots on all four paws, his dog tags around his neck and his famous khaki
cowboy hat with the pull string on his head and his bandana on his neck.
He howled, and charged at the nearest purple Grundo trooper, sending it down.
The trooper got up, his fists clenched and grabbed out a pinkish-colored Basher.
He stomped up to Griffin, and smacked the basher down, but Griffin ran beneath
his legs before he could get him. Griffin smirked kept an eye on the trooper,
and hopped back and forth. The trooper swung the basher menacingly, and Griffin
jumped up on him, knocking him to the ground.
Then, a second Grundo Trooper came, a rainbow gun in his claws. As Griffin
was trying to bite the other Grundo trooper's arm, the second trooper aimed
the gun at Griffin, thought twice, then slowly crept up from behind and smashed
Griffin on the head with the butt of the Rainbow Gun. Griffin was knocked unconscious.
When he woke up, Griffin was in a dark, musty room, little light coming down
from a tiny window in the edge of the room. He noticed that his paws were tied
behind the back of the chair and tied together, and that his back paws were
tied to the legs of the chair. Talk about uncomfortable!
Suddenly an extremely bright light clicked on, making Griffin squint his eyes.
A shadowy figure appeared at the other side of the room. "Ahh...Griffin Lupurous
Kingsley..." a voice came from the figure, as cool and calm as possible. "So
you are defending Neopia, are you not?"
Griffin thought fast. This guy was probably his enemy. It sounded like a Grundo
But how did it know his name? "No..." he said. "I'm uh...working for uh Dr.
Sloth," he cooly lied. The Grundo replied by slapping Griffin in the side
of the face.
"Liar!" the Grundo said. "We have all your information...perhaps it was not
so smart to wear your dog tags, eh?" It let out an evil laugh. The Grundo inched
forwards. "Griffin...please do, tell us where your base is...you will be rewarded..."
"No," Griffin said. "I'm not that stupid, Grundo I will go far for my world...way
far. I'm not about ready to just dump it all and go off living as evil."
"So be it," the Grundo said. "Guards..." Two huge mutant Grundos appeared
from nowhere and sliced through the ropes. They took Griffin away, one Grundo
tightly squeezing his forearms, the other Grundo tightly squeezing his back
legs. They walked for a little while until they got to a HUGE castle-like building,
several fences blocking any possible way out. Two guards angrily stood watch,
their huge spears at their sides. The Grundos continued on in, and plopped Griffin
on the ground in the castle.
He growled and went after them, but the one mutated Grundo yanked out a black
frost cannon and aimed it at Griffin's Head. Griffin stopped and his eyes narrowed.
"So you may have one this time..." Griffin snarled. "But I'll get you when I
get out of this place...that a promise."
He walked off angrily and nearly completely collided into a striped male Uni.
"Eh heh...sorry sir," Griffin said. "I'm sorta new here and all..."
The Uni nodded. "I've been here about three months...remind my owner not to
let me ever go into a war again until I'm at level thirteen, at least..." Griffin
laughed.
"Two Grundo punks ganged up on me. I need to stay focused more often...the
one Grundo was really weak, but the other sneaky one crept up behind me and
hit me REALLY hard. Stupid mutated Grundos" Griffin said.
"I tried to battle one but was no match...the Grundo I went after pierced through
my armor and tossed me against the wall...then they brought me here." The Uni
paused and held out a hoof. "My name's Greg."
"Griffin...just Griffin," Griffin said and shook Greg's hoof.
The two of them got along pretty nicely. They talked for a while until they
walked into one of the rooms where a moldy table sat. They sat down an talked
some more.
"But, anyway, speaking of that jailbreak movie...how are we going to get out
of this place?" Griffin said. He needed to be back in on the action!
"We wait until the war has ended and we'll be free. That is, IF Neopia wins,"
Greg said. Griffin bit his lip.
"But...but I need to go out there and defend Neopia!" Griffin howled.
"Not unless you find some way out of here," Greg said.
Griffin sighed. "Wait...what all goes in and goes out?"
"Well...Umm...they bring in some really bad food...and...uh...weekly, they
take out the trash to be dumped in the ocean...and--"
"Wait. Garbage? Dumped in the ocean."
"Yes. What's so special about that?"
"Well, not only is it polluting but *cough* It's a way out of this joint!"
Griffin and Greg both smiled at each other. They spent the rest of the night
talking to one another about the plan.
Later that night, Griffin and Greg slowly crept up from their bunks and slithered
down into the kitchen. The garbage man only had three more cans left to take
in the truck. When the garbage man's back was turned, Griffin and Greg silently
got into the trashcans and closed the lids.
As the man carried the cans in, he noticed how heavy they were! After Griffin's
was set in the can, the garbage man said to himself he should see what the heck
is in there that made it so heavy! As he opened it up, Griffin peered from the
top of the can to see what was going on. Phew! Greg covered himself in garbage
so he didn't look like Greg.
At the edge of the ocean, the garbage man dumped the contents of the can onto
the beach and in the shallow part of the water. Good thing it was dark, because
the Garbage man didn't notice Griffin and Greg. The two waited a half an hour
until the truck left.
Greg lifted his head out of the water to make sure the coast was clear, and
stood up. Griffin got up as well and shook himself off. He climbed onto Greg's
back. Greg looked around to double-check, and took flight over the desert.
The sun started to rise when the two got to Sakhmet. Greg landed on the edge
of the city, where Griffin got off. "Thank you, Greg..." Griffin said. "Thank
you so much for doing this. I don't know how to thank you!"
Greg nodded. "It was both of us through teamwork how we got here. Thanks for
helping me on the plan, too. But are you sure you want to go out there and battle
again? I can fly you back to your home..."
"No, no Greg..." Griffin said. "I need to defend my land for all I have...it's
what I do, Greg. Defending the weak is what I do."
And so, Greg gave one last look, nodded, and flew off. Griffin smiled and watched
the Uni fly off into the sunrise, heading towards his home, wherever that may
lie. As for Griffin, he took a deep breath and entered the gates, ready for
action. But that is a different story.
The End | 
