The Uprising

By: Ralphie2

(Original Version. Approx. Feb 2003)

Grigager the mutant grundo sat at his usual table at mealtime. He looked around himself and saw about five other tables that filled the room. Sitting at the other tables, grundos of all size and rank conversed while eating the standard issue slop that Dr. Sloth made them eat. He looked at his own plate and a grayish blob stared back at him. He looked to his right and saw a group of grundo warriors exchanging stories of how they came to work for Sloth. Grigager thought back to a happier time of his own life.

It was a nice warm day. Grigager sat on the grass and played with a flower he'd found at his feet. The young grundo heard above him a strange rumble that seemed to shake the earth around him. He looked up to see a large black shape descending from the heavens. It lowered directly over him. He looked up at it with curiosity when he was whisked off by another grundo nearby. He looked back to see the shape land on the exact spot where he had sat moments before! It was then he realized it was a massive ship!

Out of it came a being like he'd never seen before followed closely by a creature that resembled a grundo but was too large to be one. Without saying a word the strange man pulled a device from his pocket and pressed a button situated in the centre of the pad. A large cylindrical object rose from the top of the ship. It was a large gun of some sort! It aimed towards one of the other grundos sitting only a few steps away. The large weapon fired and his former friend was engulfed in a bright light. Grigager sat and watched in horror as the former grundo was mutated and mutilated until he resembled the creature that followed the strange man.

As soon as the transformation was complete the man yelled something at the other Grundo. The grundo stood up and walked slowly towards the menacing man. By that time the gun had already aimed at another and fired. He watched again as a close friend morphed into another hideous being. Before he realized it the gun was aimed at him! He stared straight down the barrel as his world turned white.

As fast as the light came it left. He looked at himself and that he had grown exponentially! He looked towards the strange man. The man yelled at him and gestured towards his side. It was completely alien to poor little Grigager. The others seemed to understand perfectly but he didn't catch a word of it! The man seemed outraged by this. He turned to his subordinate and yelled in that strange language to him. The other grundo spoke back in the same manner. The strange man turned back to Grigager. He began speaking in grundonian. He said.

"I am Doctor Sloth. You have just been in a mutate ray malfunction. The mutate ray builds my army of Mutant Grundos. The ray has only transformed you halfway. You will still be in my army though. Come along." Sloth finished speaking by wrapping his arms around his back. Grigager was curious about this 'Army' and followed back to the ship.

A sudden yell from one of his superiors brought Grigager out of the memory. He left his plate untouched on the table.

Grigager found himself lying on his rusty bunk once more at the end of the day. Now that his work was finished he was left time to lay and reminisce again about how he came into Sloth's army.

As soon as young Grigager stepped into the ship he was met with the unpleasant feeling that came with space travel. There were windows to look through. He saw that they were approaching a planet. It certainly wasn't his homeworld. Just when he thought he had the ships course planned out the entire ship jerked away from the planet and towards a space station of some sort. They steered straight into a port. As soon as they stopped a message rang through the ship in that strange language. As soon as that gibberish finished another message came through in grundonian. It said.

"Would all grundos report to our draft er, I mean our volunteer fighting force centre." Hearing this message Grigager followed the other mutant grundos. He came to a desk with some kind of alien sitting behind it. The strange alien talked gibberish to each recruit. When Grigager came to the table the alien looked at him and blabbed something. When this thing saw that grigager had not understood a word he coughed into a fist and looked back up. Then grundonian passed his lips as easily as breathing.

"I am commander Garoo. I will be your superior here in the Sloth army. Doctor Sloth told me to send you to the main dungeon. Since your only half mutant I guess I'll have to too show you the way. Follow me." Grigager followed behind obediently.

The hallway seemed endless. Cmdr. Garoo walked with a mighty pace leaving poor Grigager running behind him. They came to a room where Sloth stood in front of a jail cell. As soon as the grundo looked into the cell he wished he hadn't. Inside sat three grundo figures. His mother, father, and little brother. They were huddled up in the corner. When Grigager approached they all backed away in pure terror. Slow horrific realization flowed over Grigager. When his family looked at him they didn't see their beloved member. They saw a monster that probably resembled the one that had dragged them there. He became numb as he stood there and watched them tremble. Sloth opened the cell and stepped inside and gestured for Grigager to follow. He walked after Sloth obediently. Grigager stopped a few steps before Sloth feeling no reason to scare his family more than they already were. Sloth whispered something into Grigager's mother's ear. His mother looked up with an unbelievable shock on her face. She stared at Grigager as though he were some freak, which in her eyes, he probably was. She leaned back toward Sloth and said something back to him. He nodded his head in answer. Her head once again turned to Grigager in the same manner as before.

Sloth turned to Grigager and brought him out of the cell. Sloth stayed in the cell. Sloth pulled a ray gun out of his coat. Slowly walked to Grigager's mother. He placed the gun to her head. Sloth coldly stared at Grigager. Grundonian passed his lips as he told Grigager.

"You and I both know you are different from the other mutants. They aren't smart enough to understand anything other than my orders. You, on the other hand can think for yourself. As good as that may make you for advanced projects you're still an unstable element in a critical situation. I have to know I have your complete loyalty. There are three ways to get your loyalty. Either I give you another blast with the ray gun. That would most likely kill you but you would be more receptive to my orders. I could place you in a battle situation. It would let me know you're loyal. Unfortunatly that would be just as dangerous as not doing anything. Or you could perform some act of complete selflessness. I will give you one minute to decide. If you don't pick then I choose for you. Trust me, you don't want me to choose for you! One minute starting NOW!" Sloth gestured to his assistant to begin the countdown. The assistant pressed a button on the console next to himself.

Grigager wondered what Sloth meant by choose for him? He decided that he didn't want to find out. His brain began to go at light speed. He knew that he didn't want to be blasted with the mutate ray again so number one was out. He didn't want to have to battle for respect. So numbers one and two were defiantly out. But what did Sloth mean by 'act of complete selflessness'? He began to ask what that statement meant when Sloth beat him to the chase.

"Well your one minutes up. I guess I pick. Now I picked number three. Which means that you have to pledge your allegiance to me. Along with giving something up very important to you." Sloth fiddled with his gun and once again pressed it to the woman's head. Suddenly Grigager realized. Sloth was going to shoot his mother. That's what he meant by 'act of complete selflessness'! He had to convince him not to kill her.

"I will pledge my allegiance! Just let her live. Can't you just take my word! Just don't make her suffer! Just trust me! I will follow you without any question!" Grigager clenched the bars of the cell as he pleaded for his mother's life. He watched Sloth's trigger finger twitch on the gun. He seemed uncertain for a moment until he regained his former cold-blooded stare. His finger suddenly stopped twitching and held its place on the trigger. He looked to Grigager as he answered.

"I wish I could take that chance." The cell echoed with the sound of a single gunshot.

Grigager woke in his bunk in a cold sweat. He breathed heavily for a moment until he deliberately slowed it down. He sat up and remembered his earlier memory. He shuddered as he looked around at the other recruits. They had never had to watch as they're close family was killed. Ignorance really was bliss. He had decided long ago that he only needed one thing from Doctor Frank Sloth. Vengeance!