Finally... Chapter 8 is up... Or, actually, chapter 7. Erm, at the moment I'm listening to a song so I can't concentrate. Okay, let me reply to all my ever so loyal reviewers!!! Thank you, this is the first time I got so many reviews for a chapter for this story!!!
Hiei's pet monkey: Yup, I lovvveeee chocolate. Thanks for reviewing!!! And for being the first reviewer for this chapter. I think.
Mr. Pippin A. Nozzers: Haha! That's a funny review... Thanks for reviewing! By the way, Artemis, she is not smarter than you! She's just as intelligent as you are! Don't slam MY head into the wall, PLEASE!!! Go ahead and continue slamming Pippin's instead Oh yeah, I AM insane.
EvilExpressions: I'm besting your writing??? Oh, I CERTAINLY don't believe that. I did feel complimented though...Hope you didn't hurt your head too much ;) Thanks for reviewing!
Cyberspace: Yes, yes, I know it's weird... Haha, it's supposed to be. Thanks for reviewing!
cybergurl: Yay! You're the second person to like my character! She may not be very original, but she IS evil... Thanks for reviewing two times in a row!
nanayaku: Ooh, weird name. I didn't know all the characters were full of life... Thanks for reviewing!
Raven and Januarye: Erm, yes, I do take story requests... but I will have to think about the request and all that. You know. Like if I don't like the request I won't agree to it and stuff like that. Yup, you're a regular reviewer... Cool... You live so far away from where I live... Thanks for reviewing!
Anonymous: It's a good thing? Okay! Erm, I don't have exactly a wide vocabulary, so erm, what is, erm, credible? ((Gets embarrassed and starts to suck her thumb, but only in her head. No way is neutralgal going to suck her thumb in front of everyone))
And thanks to any reviewers I have left out! (and that's you, Jing Yi)
Okay, I'm done with the reviewing. You're relieved, aren't you? Fine, I'll stop droning and babbling about things you don't need to know and get on with the story. Guess what? I've stopped listening to the music so I can concentrate and type this story faster. Enjoy! (My foot)
This chapter is going to be very long... I think.
By the way, sorry to some of the reviewers I missed out for replying in A Talk in Haven! Thanks for reviewing and I'm truly sorry I forgot to reply! :(
Chapter 7: Flight over Haven (stupid title, I obviously know)
Artemis: Yes, it IS obvious. Delete this entire story and I shall be calm again instead of popping out from nowhere whenever you update.
Neutralgal: Shut up, Artemis, and let me type. Go away! It's my story; you can't make me delete it!
Artemis: ((scowls)) Okay, fine, I'll go. Delete this pathetic Fole character and then you shall finally be left in peace.
Neutralgal: Let me type my fic!!! Go away, Fowl! ((Pushes Artemis till he topples over the side of the paper to goodness knows where)) Now, readers, sorry for the interruption. I shall continue the fic. And continue reading, please.
Chapter 7
"Short! What are you doing here? Didn't I send you to look for that pixie?" yelled Root as Holly burst in at the Police Plaza doors. He slowly turned purple in rage. Closely following Holly was Chix Verbil with a purpling nose.
Holly flung her helmet onto the floor angrily. Her auburn hair was slicked with sweat and she looked very angry. Furious, in fact. She pushed Chix out of the doors and turned back to look at Root heatedly.
"How am I supposed to 'look' for Opal? Fly around in circles, bang into an extremely irritating sprite and not catch a single bit of Opal's pointy ears?" shrieked Holly. "Send a Retrieval team! I mean, don't. They won't be able to find her. Foaly can't detect her on the radar, so what's the use! I'm – I'm not giving up – well, I mean, it's impossible! Nobody can do this! Call for a countrywide search! Or something!"
Root glared at Holly.
"SHORT! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT?"
Holly hung her head (just to shut Root up) and slowly picked up her helmet, as if she were really sorry (you know, she wasn't. She would have been but she was still fuming on the inside.).
"Sorry, Commander. I had to let out some – steam," said Holly lamely, now feeling a little ashamed of herself. Root grunted. Suddenly, Holly heard a voice in her earpiece.
"Holly? Bad news." Holly rolled her eyes.
"Yah, like what, Foaly? Run out of hoof moisturizer?" she said sarcastically.
"Actually, I have," replied the centaur.
"FOALY! YOU STUPID DONKEY, JUST GET TO THE POINT!" yelled Root into Holly's microphone. On the other side, Foaly winced.
"Touchy," muttered Foaly. "You see, the thing is, Julius-"
"Haven't I stressed the point about the Julius thing? Just get on with it and STOP CALLING ME JULIUS!" roared Root. Holly flinched. It really was unnecessary for Root to speak into her microphone. He could have stood ten metres away and Foaly would have heard everything as clearly as crystal. Well, apart from the fact the microphone was whisper-sensitive.
"Foaly, what's up?" she whispered into the microphone.
"Fine, I'll get straight to the point. Fowl's got his memory back."
"What!" cried Holly, stumbling backwards in surprise.
"I said, Fowl's-"
"No, I caught that part, Foaly. How did he do it?" whispered Holly, knowing full well if Root heard their conversation he would have started to swear. Very, very viciously.
"Secret stuff. Can't afford to have nosey fairies like Opal or Grub to overhear. I need you both in the Ops Booth, right now," said Foaly, seriously. Holly's mouth fell open.
"O-Okay, then, see you later," said Holly and terminated the link. She took off her helmet and glanced at Root.
"Err, Commander? We're needed in the Ops Booth," said Holly nervously.
"Why?" asked Root gruffly, rather perturbed by the fact that Holly had shooed him away while she was talking to Foaly.
"Well – well, Fowl got his memory back," stammered Holly. She counted in her head, three... two... one. Root's explosion came right on cue.
"WHAT!!!" exploded Root, jumping clean off the floor and his seat.
"Well, that's what Foaly says, Commander. Maybe – maybe it's a trick. Or maybe not," said Holly hopefully. Root shut his mouth and slowly both made their way upstairs to the Ops Booth. Halfway there, Root opened his mouth and started to swear so viciously and furiously he burned the ears of some officers who were passing by and Holly had to put her hands over her ears to block out the words.
Operations Booth
Two hands still clamped firmly around her ears, Holly waited impatiently for Foaly to let her in. After waiting for a few long seconds (Root was still swearing), the doors slid open and she rushed in, almost colliding with Foaly.
"Sorry, but Root-" she jerked her head towards the direction of the swearing commander, who, at the moment, didn't look like one at all, "-is getting furious. Do you happen to have a pair of earmuffs, or anything to cover my poor ears?"
Foaly winced as Root's words entered his ears and they wilted.
"Unfortunately, no. I have some tin foil hats, though. Want them?"
"No thank you," groaned Holly. "Just - get him to shut up."
Foaly nodded.
"But it won't be easy," said Foaly. Just then, Root stopped swearing and started to breathe very heavily instead.
"Yeah, right, very hard, yeah," Holly whispered sarcastically. Foaly decided to ignore Holly and speak, addressing the now semi-calm Root.
"News Flash, um, Fowl got his memories back. From none other than Mulch Diggums," Foaly said. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard. "Apparently, Fowl got past Holly's mesmer, managed to lie about something and Mulch, working alongside Fowl, returned the memories. That's all I know."
Holly groaned.
"I KNEW I should have followed Diggums!" she moaned. Root glared at her.
"Are you saying – the Commander is WRONG? I'll have your recon acorns for that, Short-" yelled Root, fuming.
"Now, now, calm down, Julius-"
"Shut up, pony boy!"
"Err, Commander? Shouldn't we send someone to see how Fowl's doing?" asked Holly nervously.
"You're not giving the orders around here, Short! Now, I order you to go and check on Fowl! This instant!"
"Yessir."
"Foaly! Do your stuff! Don't just stand there!" roared Root, and muttering, "D'Arvit Fowl, D'Arvit, he's back..." over and over again, he walked out of the Ops Booth, at the same time shouting into his special microphone around his neck that was connected to all the speakers over Police Plaza.
Foaly handed Holly a radar.
"What! Is that ALL I get?" cried Holly, strapping it around her wrist.
"Yes, or are you saying your Neutrino 2000 isn't enough?"
"Of course I mean that!"
"Well, you're not on a mission or anything."
"Fine, fine, I'm going," said Holly crossly and strapping on a pair of Hummingbirds, she flew off to grab the next shuttle.
Howler's Peak
Opal flew the shuttle till it was directly beneath the rocky ground of Howler's Peak. Her secret hoard was underground, protected by cam foil and other devices. She had managed to nick quite a lot of metals and wires. It was about fifty meters underground from Howler's Peak.
The shuttle pod scraped against the walls of the chute she had made leading to her hoard. Unlike the chutes in Haven, her chute could barely fit a house. Luckily, her shuttle pod was small. Flying the shuttle pod to her secret hoard was easy, because it was horizontal and led slowly downwards. She lurched sideways, and she could hear the sound of goblins smashing against the side of the shuttle. She thought she heard the scream of a girl but she shook her head, thinking that it was some goblin screaming like a girl.
"Didn't you strap in?" moaned Opal as she swerved right, almost banging right through the chute. Murmurs and groans came from the heap of goblins.
"Idiots," muttered Opal as she narrowly avoided smashing the shuttle's wings off.
Meanwhile, Artemis Fole was inspecting the helmet she had on her head. It wasn't working at all. There was an earpiece, a filter for goodness knows what, a microphone, a blank screen, weird buttons and from what she concluded, two 400 watt bulbs at the top of the helmet. The visor was opaque. She wondered what the helmet was for when the shuttle suddenly lurched sideways, and to her horror, it lurched left. Because she was at the right corner of the shuttle, all the chairs and the goblins on the right side slid to the left side. Including her.
"AAH!!!" screamed Artemis and she tightened her grip on the legs of the chair she was holding. Now, she could see what creatures were sitting on the metal chairs. Ugly slimy green skinned creatures with huge bulbous eyeballs and dome-shaped heads rolled around and around in the flying machine.
She slid all the way to the metal box full of gold and at the same time a metal chair crashed onto her. Luckily she had had the helmet or she would have died.
The goblins weren't taking any notice of the tiny girl in a bright orange heat resistant suit and a helmet. All they were doing was screaming. Artemis curled up into a ball; bit her bottom lip hard as she prayed she would get through this alive, if not well.
Fowl Manor
Holly peeked through one of the many windows of Fowl Manor. Not there. She sighed. The radar on her wrist was beeping loudly. Surely Fowl was close by? Stupid Foaly. What use could the radar be?
"Check the kitchen, Holly," said Foaly. Holly rolled her eyes and flew over to the kitchen windows. To her amazement, Artemis was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, talking with Mulch. And she could hear their conversation clearly. Artemis apparently had not noticed the slight heat haze hovering outside his window.
"Gotcha," said Foaly smugly.
"Whatever," Holly said, peering in at the kitchen window. Just then, Artemis turned to look at the window. His eyes widened and Holly reassured herself, He can't see you. You're shielded. Completely shielded. Invisible to human eyes. But just then Foaly's voice resounded in her ear.
"Holly. Holly! Your shield is off!"
"D'Arvit," murmured Holly as she stared at herself. Quickly, she tried to turn her shield back on. She tried. She really did. She tried so hard beads of perspiration ran down from her sweat slicked auburn hair. But no matter how she tried, her shield wouldn't come on.
"When was the last time you performed the Ritual?" asked Foaly.
"Err..." said Holly as she racked her brains. "Since I healed Butler?"
"But that wasn't very long ago!" said Foaly. Holly nodded in agreement, scanning the area for any place she could hide. Spotting a clump of bushes, she rushed over to them and crouched behind them.
"There aren't many hiding places here," said Holly angrily. "Why didn't my shield come on?"
"An unnatural phenomenon," said Foaly sarcastically. Holly rolled her eyes.
"I must have used up my magic healing or something. Who did I heal? Oh yeah! Now I remember! I pushed Trouble down the stairs once by accident and ..." she trailed off. That was a few months ago and Trouble had broken a bone or two and had some serious internal injuries. Thus, his magic wasn't sufficient and Holly had to heal him too.
"But then I only used a little bit of magic!" she said. Just then, Artemis poked his head out of the window.
"Holly? Holly?" he called.
"Should I say hi?" Holly inquired.
"No, unless he finds you in your absurd hiding place."
Holly did not reply. She was holding her breath and hoping fervently Artemis wouldn't come out and look for her. Unfortunately, he did and he found her curled up in the middle of the bushes.
"I knew I wasn't hallucinating. I was sure you would be coming."
"Wow, thirteen and already predictable. Remember, you're only fourteen three months later," Holly said as she crawled out of the bushes. Then, she stood up, pushed back a strand of hair behind her ears and looked up.
What she saw almost knocked her off her feet. Artemis had grown a lot in the past three months. She had to look all the way up to look properly at his face. His hair was also longer. She stepped backwards and almost tumbled back into the bushes.
"Artemis – you've grown," she said, her hazel eyes blinking to make sure it really was Artemis.
"Oh Artemis, you've grown, how much I miss you-" said Foaly in a high-pitched voice.
"Shut up, Foaly," she hissed. Artemis raised an eyebrow.
"Err – Foaly was just being his sarcastic self," said Holly loudly. Then she added in a softer tone, "Foaly? Is Root there?"
"Of course I'm there, Captain! Where's your shield!" cried Root.
"I don't know, Commander. I certainly haven't run out of magic, and I couldn't shield," explained Holly. "Now Artemis is standing here right in front of me and he's staring at me because I'm completely ignoring him-"
"I know about the Artemis part. Ask him whether you can go into his house."
"WHAT!" spluttered Holly. Artemis stared at her, now both eyebrows raised. She turned to Artemis.
"Stop raising your eyebrows, you know it's very irritating?" she said irritably.
"Ask him, Short! Or I'll have your badge AND your recon acorns!"
"Okay, okay. For what?"
"To see whether this is a trap, obviously!"
Holly turned to Artemis.
"I know, you want to come into my house to check for traps and see Mulch right? Well, you're welcome. Come in, there are no traps or anything of the sort," said Artemis. Holly thought he seemed sincere but she perished the thought.
"That's unlikely," she said, rolling her eyes and followed Artemis into the manor.
Howler's Peak (again for the don't know how many time)
Artemis Fole crouched behind a stack of dented metal chairs as the shuttle finally screeched to the halt. There was the sound of the ugly creatures getting up and the short blonde woman had left the shuttle.
"Arrange the chairs back into their proper places! I mean, later! Come on and help me repair the shuttle!" cried the blonde lady outside, speaking the strange language. The creatures stood up, mumbled something and all of them trooped outside the shuttle.
Artemis heaved the metal chair off her head, which was aching. She took off the helmet and surprisingly, she did not feel hot. It was rather cool inside the shuttle. Well, cool compared to what she experienced when the machine took off.
Quickly, she dragged a few metal chairs back to the left side and putting them in a row right at the back of the shuttle, she crawled into the tiny space between the chair right next to the shuttle wall and the back of the shuttle. She shook her long ponytail, which reached slightly below her knees. Then she squashed it into a clump at the top of her head and put the helmet back on. She pulled the metal chair in front of her closer to her and she wrapped her arms around her knees to make herself smaller. And then she waited.
"Buck up, you lazy goblins!" yelled Opal as she replaced a dented and scratched metal plate. She wasn't used to doing work with her bare hands. Usually it was her workers. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of her face. She lifted a dirty hand and wiped the sweat from her face, leaving smudges on her cheeks. She screamed in frustration and all the goblins turned to look at her.
"What!?" she cried. The goblins shrugged stupidly and continued replacing the metal plates.
After replacing all the spoilt metal...
Artemis Fole was about to sleep when suddenly the goblins all trooped in. She squealed for a millisecond and then quickly shut her mouth.
A big fat creature sat on the metal chair she was holding onto. She withdrew her hands quickly and squeezed against the metal wall. The lady was shouting something, and then she laughed very evilly and sat at the front seat again. They were going to take off. Artemis had no choice but hold on tightly to the chair's legs, hoping the fat creature could not feel the pressure she was putting on his chair. He couldn't.
Opal was feeling very happy. She was about fly over Haven, maybe open the shuttle doors and sneer at those useless LEP officers.
"Where are we going next, Boss?" called one of the goblins.
"Haven," she said promptly, and cackled evilly as she sat at the pilot's seat.
"But isn't that the place where those LEP officers captured us innocent goblins for no reason?"
"Yup, and it's payback time," said Opal, smirking as the shuttle ground as it was heaved off the ground and started off in the direction of Haven.
Haven City
At the moment, there was a sale at Spud's Spud Emporium, the fries and hamburgers all cut down to fifty percent of the original price. Thus, there was a long queue of fairies lining up to save money on greasy fries and mystery meat. There was not much traffic on the roads, and instead many people were walking on the pavements and chatting instead of driving their vehicles.
"What do you want, miss," said a cashier at the Spud's Spud Emporium monotonously. Just then, the ground shook. A little sprite had smashed his face into a bowl of ice cream in his fear. The cashier screamed and pointed at the sky.
"A shuttle pod! A shuttle pod!" she squealed. Everybody looked up and at once, pandemonium reigned. Fairies were running around and screaming their heads off as a voice boomed from the shuttle.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" someone cackled. The LEP officers in Police Plaza all rushed out at once, guns raised. That voice belonged to none other than Opal Koboi, and they had heard the same laugh when Opal was dragged into her cell.
"Surrender, Koboi, you're surrounded," a voice came from below, from one of the LEP officers using a hastily brought out microphone so Opal could hear him.
"Yeah, right, very scary," sneered Opal. She was slowly descending. The officers, thinking she had surrendered, ventured closer to Opal's shuttle pod. It was unlike any shuttle pod they had ever seen.
Suddenly, the windows slid open and goblins armed with Softnoses poked their heads out and fired random shots everywhere. Fairies screamed and some of the LEP officers were injured. Opal cackled louder, holding another invention and that she fired at the Police Plaza.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all the commotion, Artemis Fole was trying to plan her escape. She was in a shuttle full of crooks, and the ones on the ground were the good guys. There was gunfire everywhere, and the shuttle was hovering a mere few meters from the ground. Maybe... maybe she could sneak past the goblins, jump onto the ground and not let anyone see?
She removed her helmet and put on her sunglasses. Taking off her suit, she left it in a pile in the corner she was hiding in and slowly, she sneaked over to the open shuttle door. The blonde lady was holding a huge weapon and was aiming it at a huge building. And then the woman laughed, sending shivers down the tiny girl's spine. She pulled the trigger.
A few things happened in that second. Artemis screamed and she was so frightened she fell from the shuttle, since she had been poking her head out. The bullet had crashed through the building and left a huge hole, sending debris everywhere. The LEP officers had all flown into the air and were trying to attack the shuttle from above.
SPLAT. Artemis fell feet first on the ground. She sprained her ankle and hobbling along on one foot, she crouched behind a wall, watching the good guys beat the bad guys. That did not happen. The bad guys flew the shuttle back into the illegal chute and were gone. A flight over Haven City.
Well... note that NOBODY saw Artemis falling from the shuttle, okay? The shuttle was, like, two meters from the ground only, which is why she didn't break a leg or anything. She sprained her ankle, though;) I'm so evil... Please review! Thank YOU!!!!!!