Okay, my first Neopets fanfic that I've uploaded :) A little idea I had, concerning the fact that Grundos come from space, and, as the Weather Page knows well, 'There is no weather in space'. So, what if Gorix got dragged down to Neopia by his hyper and crazy work partner, and saw the effects of weather for the first time?

Sorry if the writing doesn't make sense - I often write stuff that seems complete gibberish, but it makes sense in my head :P

You probably have to have read 'The Return of Dr Sloth' plot comic in order to understand this. For those who haven't and are reading anyways: Gorix is a v. serious Grundo (aka Alien) who has spent his entire life in space, defending his planet from the evil Dr Sloth, a mad scientist who wants to take over. Cylara is a Cybunny (rabbit anthro) and Gorix's work partner, a hyper 15-yr-old civilian who helped save the world during the RoS plot, who lives on the planet's surface.

This story is set about a year or two after the events of RoS, where Cylara and Gorix have been working together. I guessed a little of Cylara's happy-go-lucky nature would have rubbed off on Gorix by now, but not too much. He's still waaay serious. Cylara decides a holiday would be good for him.

Intro

Gorix had been innocently sitting on an old pile of spaceship parts in some abandoned corner of the Hangar bay and drinking the contents of a tube of Garthroxian Goo, when Cylara glomped him from behind.

"Hai Gorix!" She yelled in his ear.

Once he had recovered from the shock of having a young Cybunny leap onto his back, which had resulted in him inhaling most of his drink, Gorix smiled at her.

"Hullo. I guess you're off on leave then?"

She grinned widely.

"Yep. Oh, and by the way: say yes."

"Yes." There was a pause, then Gorix frowned suspiciously. "What am I agreeing to?"

He never got an answer, as she shrieked with delight and grabbed his arm before setting off in a run, dragging the unfortunate Grundo after her. Gorix would have called to her to slow down, but he was too busy trying to keep his balance.

The two skid to a halt in front of one of the huge silvery-white transits that shuttled pets to and from the Station. This one had a neon green sign above the front window, displaying its destination: Neopia Central.

The Cybunny glomped him again, around the throat this time. Cylara was shrieking, and after a moment Gorix picked out words.

"He said yes he said yes he said yes - that means we can take him!"

There came the sound of a chuckle.

"So I can see. Let him go Cylara, he needs to breathe."

The young Cybunny looked down and realised she had been hugging Gorix so tightly his face was turning – wait, what colour does a blue person go if you choke them?

Anyway, she let go and the Grundo slumped to the floor, sucking in gulps of air. He straightened up and greeted the man who had saved him from an unfortunate end.

"Good morning, sir. And, er, thanks."

Cylara's father laughed.

"She's just excited. She gets like it a lot."

His eyes were drawn to a Rotawheel had that darted between his legs. His face lit up, and Gorix was reminded quite forcefully of Cylara.

"Fascinating! I wonder how it's powered..."

He set off after the Rotawheel and attempted to catch it, but it zoomed away from his outstretched fingers with a panicked buzzing sound. Cylara's father was undeterred – he merely laughed and started to chase it around the Hanger, determined to catch it and unlock its secrets.

"I can't imagine where she gets it from," said a voice from behind Gorix.

Cylara's mother had stepped out from the transit, and she was regarding her husband with a smile and a twinkle in her pink eyes. She smiled down at Gorix.

"Hello, dear. All set?"

Gorix blinked, surprised.

"All set for what?"

Cylara giggled.

"I kinda didn't tell you – we're taking you with us on holiday! And before you start going on," she said loudly, cutting across Gorix, who had just opened his mouth, "I've already cornered Valka and convinced him to give you some time off. Well, it took some convincing, and I only really got you a weekend off, but that's enough, isn't it? So you're coming with us down to Neopia. And I've already packed a bag for you, so there."

Gorix slumped. He knew when he was defeated – it would be pointless to disagree with her. Years of work at her side had taught him to just go with whatever mad scheme she had planned.

The Cybunny in question beamed, and began dragging him onto the transit. Cylara's mother turned to follow, when she realised her husband was still preoccupied with the robotic petpet. She turned and called to him.

"Simon, would you put that silly Rotawheel down and get in? The transit's going to leave without you, and it's the last one this week. If you don't get on, by the time the next one goes we'll have already come back. Now, come on."

The male Cybunny obeyed, a disappointed look on his face. He slid into the seat beside Gorix, looking very much like a boy caught with his hand in the biscuit tin.

"If only I had a little more time – I might have figured out the secrets..." He went off into almost inaudible muttering about power supplies and electronics.

Gorix leant back into the hard plastic of his seat. He might as well get comfortable, now he'd been shanghaied into yet another of Cylara's madcap schemes. Although, he supposed, he guessed it probably was about time he took a holiday.

When you'd gotten to the stage where you were doodling rocket ships on the dossier you were trying to read, it was a definite sign you'd been working too hard.

Chapter 1 – Cloud Cover

Gorix had been fine, all the while they were travelling in space. True, he was used to flying much faster than this, and being at the helm of his own ship, but; ignoring the instinct to go yell at the pilot to get there before Christmas; he was almost enjoying himself.

It was fun to watch Cylara bouncing around the cabin in her excitement, annoying the hell out of the other passengers, who glared at her over their copies of the Neopian Times. It was entertaining to listen to Cylara's parents bicker playfully about Simon's new hobby of collecting anything vaguely electronic. And it was, indeed, quite enjoyable to sit with his partner at the porthole and teach her the names of all the different stars and galaxies they could see, and learn about the names given to the constellations by Neopians.

It wasn't quite so fun when they entered Neopia's atmosphere.

Grundo antennae, if you didn't know, are extremely sensitive. No one is entirely sure what they are for, but they are useful. They certainly helped miners detect the sound of a rock fall underground from miles away.

But with the sudden changes in pressure inside the cabin, Gorix was clutching his own antennae and cursing whoever decided Grundos should have antennae in the first place. Cylara's mother helpfully gave him a barley sugar, but he was still in pain by the time they reached the troposphere.

Cylara started to giggle, and he opened his eyes to glare at her for laughing at him, when he realised she was staring out of the porthole. She turned to grin at him.

"Look, Gorix! All those clouds!"

Gorix looked. Then wished he hadn't.

It had suddenly occurred to him that they were now flying through a place where Gravity was in full effect. If the ship lost power at this point, they would simply accelerate faster and faster downwards until something broke their fall.

Sure, that was a fear quite a lot of people got when flying. To someone who had lived their entire lives in space, where the worst that could happen during a power cut was that you drifted off of your course until someone turned up to give you a hand – annoying, but not exactly life threatening – the idea was terrifying.

When the world turned white outside the windows, Gorix curled up in his seat, covered his eyes, and waited for the end.

Through the fear, he felt a vague annoyance at Cylara for giggling. He was trying to panic in peace, thank you very much. The least she could do was stop laughing and pointing out how high up they still were.

In about a half-hour, although it felt like an eternity to the young Grundo, the transit came to land on the runway at Neopia Central Station. Or, perhaps land wasn't the best word. Bounce would probably be more accurate.

When the ship came to a halt, an automated message stared up over the loudspeakers, thanking the passengers for using Air Neopia. Cylara's father smiled.

"Well, that was one of their better landings, I must say. Well, come along everyone."

People were standing to leave, collecting their bags from overhead lockers. Cylara turned to her Grundo companion, and was surprised to find him curled up in a ball.

"Er, Gorix? You alright?"

Gorix spoke up, muffled through his hands.

"I don't think I like flying much."

Yay, Intro and First Chapter done :)

I'll be honest, I was using my little sister's fear of flying as a template for this. And the whole bouncing-landing thing - if you've ever been on a Ryanair flight, you probably know what I mean.

If you like, you could press that shiny button below and review :P