Hey guys! So sorry about the delay. I barely have time to do anything nowadays. This will only be a short chapter 'cos I have other stuff I need to do. Again, thanks for your patience.
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Holly Short saw the target pop up out of the corner of her eye. She whirled round aimed and fired in less than a second. There was an overly loud zapping noise as the target fizzled out of existence.
Holly watched as the scoreboard slid down. She allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. 65/65. Full score.
As Holly turned away from the scoreboard, she noticed for the first time the crowd of spectators gaping at her score. What Holly didn't know was that only two other fairies had gotten over half her score before. Trouple Kelp and Julius Root, the LEP's former commander. But, for Holly Short, the score was average.
Holly took off her virtual-reality goggles and shooed the officers back to their desks.
Foaly had created the virtual-reality target practice course when several of the LEP's various janitors had complained about cleaning up shattered targets. Now, only Holly could see the targets with the virtual-reality goggles on. Holly was about to report to the front desk when her comms unit buzzed in her ear. Every LEP recon officer had a standard comms unit so that they could be contacted instantly in case of an emergency.
"Holly!" said Foaly's voice. "I need you in the Observation Room now!"
Holly sighed. "What is it now, Foaly?
"I'll tell you when you get here. Now get going."
As Holly walked down a corridor, past rows of offices, heading for the Observation Room. A head poked out of one of the offices.
"Hey Holly," said Corporal Grub Kelp. "Wacha doin'?"
"Foaly's got some emergency up in the Observation Room." Holly replied.
"Ohhhh. That's so not fair! You always get top-secret missions on the surface and I just sit here all day filing papers! I'm sending in a complaint!" cried Grub, an indignant look on his face.
"You do that, Grub. Just remember that not all surface missions end well." Holly cautioned her fellow officer.
Grub gulped. "Ah...Maybe I'll just keep filing papers..."
"Whatever you say, Grub." Holly said, walking down the corridor.
Holly entered the Observation Room. It was very much how she always remembered it. Clean, pristine walls with computer screens everywhere.
"Holly!" said Foaly, clopping over to her from where he'd been gazing at one of the screens.
"That's me." said Holly. "What's the problem?"
"Come over here." Foaly said, leading her over to the computer screen. "That's the problem." he said, indicating the screen.
Holly gazed at the screen, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. On screen, there was a map of the surface world. Every now and then, a burst of blue light would appear for a split-second in a different part of the world and then disappear.
"Sorry, Foaly, but I have no idea what that is."
Foaly sighed in frustration. "Whenever you use magic, it leaves a print in the air for a fraction of a second and then fade away. I have recently created a program that locates the magic print and places it on this map within that split-second. The bursts of light you can see on the map are those magic prints. With this program, I can see when, where and how much magic the field officers on the surface are using right now."
Holly nodded, digesting this speech. "And this relevant...how?"
"Well, about half an hour, my program picked up on a magic print so big it could have killed the fairy creating it. What's more it lasted longer than any fairy could possible sustain without being killed from sheer exhaustion. I also checked the records and no fairy was scheduled to be in that area at the time." Foaly explained.
"So what your saying is there is a really powerful unknown magical being loose on the surface." it was amazing how Holly could make a terrible crisis sound like an ordinary day at the office.
Foaly shook his head grimly. "Look, I'll bring it up on the big screen so you can see where it came from."
Foaly tapped a few keys on the keyboard and suddenly the map appeared on the huge screen overhead.
Holly watched the small magic bursts scattered all over the globe. "Ah...Foaly? I don't see anything."
"Shhh. Just watch."
Holly turned her attention back to the screen just in time to see a huge blue blob blossom onto the screen. Holly gaped. The thing was huge! And it hadn't even started to fade yet! Whatever it was, it couldn't be good for the People. That amount of power had to be dangerous for both fairies and humans. Slowly, the magic print began to fade and Holly could see where it was coming from.
Oh no. she thought and groaned.
Ireland. The magic print was coming from Ireland. Artemis was up to something. Again.
"That's right." said Foaly, seeing the look on her face. "It's Artemis. Although how he managed to get his hands on a power like that, I have no idea. Whatever it is it can't be good."
Holly nodded dumbly. Now she knew why she'd been called to the Observation Room.
She was going to be sent to check on Artemis. Find out what he was up to and put a stop to it if necessary. Holly didn't know if she felt good or bad about this. Although Artemis was annoying, he was still her friend and the only contact she'd had with him was a few brief chats on the fairy communicator Holly had given him a few months ago and the occasional email. She would be able to talk to him in person for once!
"Alright, Foaly. I'll do it. I'll go and see what he's doing."
Foaly smiled. "I knew you'd say yes, Holly. You never let us down."
"Thanks Foaly. When do I leave?"
"As soon as we get you kitted out and get Trouble...I mean the commander's clearance."
"Right. Let's do that."
_ _ _
Holly soared through the air like she was born to fly. There was nothing she liked best than flying. Oh, the sheer joy of feeling the clear, surface air on her face, whipping her hair out of her face.
Holly gazed down at the valley below her and thought back on the past twenty minutes.
Trouble had been reluctant to let one of his best officers go, but when he was informed of the situation he ordered Holly to the surface as soon as possible. Holly was "kitted out" with the basic field officer's equipment and given a pare of Hummingbird wings. Holly had asked for the latest model, the Doubledex, but all of them had been rented out by other field fairies.
Now Holly flew over the beautiful country of Ireland feeling happy. She was on the surface with a whole stash of the latest LEP equipment and she was not being chased by some huge evil monster.
But I could well be in a few minutes. She reminded herself grimly. Whatever Artemis is doing it can't be good.
Even though her helmet had a built in GPS, Holly didn't bother to turn it on. She had flown this way so many times she knew it off by heart.
After ten more minutes Holly soured over the city of Dublin. She was nearly there. She quickly performed the "three W's" checklist. Wings, weapon and way home. All check.
As Holly flew over a big hill, the huge stone blob of Fowl Manor came into view. Holly threw off the giddiness that always came from flying and steeled herself for the worst case scenario.
Holly jerked her legs up behind and above her and fell in a steep dive for Fowl Manor.
Time to get down to business.
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Hope you liked that chapter. It was really hard to make because I've got a stye in my eye and I can barely see! Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask...I'm new to Fanfiction and I'm not sure how to change my review settings to let non-members review too. Can someone tell me how to in their review? It would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
-Spinnika
Remember-R&R!