Return to Atlantis Part Two: Possessed Furbys
written by
Tabby
Most of the thanks for part two goes to Barnacle who, if you ask him, claims to have
written the entire thing
anyway. Well, I must admit he was the source for many of the "big fun" ideas in this thing and it
would not be near as good (and
complicated) had it not been for his advice. Plus, thank you to all my family members and friends
that read it beforehand (even if Cleve
Clove claimed "the beginning and the ending were good, but the middle was confusing". Nergh!
He just doesn't like Furbys! ^.~). And,
of course, I will be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to everyone out there who is going to read it
now. Feedback, anyone? If I don't hear from
any of y'all, I might threaten to stop writing, like I've threatened the past three months. My e-mail
address is TabbyMLP@aol.com; got
that? Good. Now sit, read, and e-mail.
"Big doo-ay!"
When Clever Clover heard this sound emitted from outside his front door, he assumed
that it was Tabby annoying him
with idiotic Furbish phrases. He grumbled as he went to let her in. However, upon opening the
door, he saw that his visitor was someone
much worse than he had expected.
"Whahoo! Party, wah!" a small autumn-colored Furby perched on his front steps said
shrilly, a little propeller cap on
her head.
Clever Clover promptly recoiled in fear, but pulled himself together and stuck his head out
the door, glancing around.
Tabby was obviously responsible for planting this Furby outside his house, so where was
she?
"Boogie! Hee-hee!" The Furby suddenly took to the air and flew past Clever Clover into
the archeologist's house.
"Hey!" Clever Clover yelled in outrage, swiftly turning around. "You fiend!" He chased
after the talkative furball.
The Furby apparently knew where she was going. "Doo-ay, wah!" She deliberately flew
down the hallway and into one
of Clever Clover's back rooms.
"Get back here!" Clever Clover was hot on her trail. "Tabitha, I'm going to get you for
this one!"
"Mee-mee e-day," the Furby said, skillfully floating around the room as she picked a chain
up from the desk and
clutched it in her beak.
"That's the Nur-Ab-Fin necklace!" Clever Clover protested, running forward. "Put it
down!"
"Big no," the Furby said in an unconcerned tone as she flitted back down the hallway and
out the door. The beanie
caps that Furbys used to fly enabled them to go "mee-mee" fast.
"Tabitha, wherever you are, you're going to pay!" Clever Clover declared, as he stood at
the doorway watching the Furby
fly off into the darkening evening. "It'd serve her right if she got in trouble with that necklace
again." Muttering under his breath, he closed
the door and turned back inside.
* * *
Time passed, and the evening grew late. Tabby walked through the dark of night alone,
facing up to the blustery wind.
It was only a walk home from the Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe, which was generally not an
intimidating feat. But Tabby's terrible fear of
the dark made the expedition absolutely petrifying.
And she was alone. There wasn't a soul around except for her. There was not even a
single light on in the surrounding
houses she passed. Who knew what evils lurked in the shadows? Most of the time as of late she
was able to walk back with Sugarberry,
her next door neighbor and best friend. But Sugarberry was with Vanguard at the Estate Manor;
and her other two friends, Tamara and
Tiffany, were off with their respective dates to other sights around town. Tabby felt dreadfully
alone.
Of course, the one that should have been with her-- and the one that had been with her
many times in the past-- was
Thomas. He had always been there to escort her home before-- but not so much in recent times.
She had begun seeing less and less of
him in the past months. Tabby hated to think they were growing apart. Never before in her life
had she had someone like Thomas to
love.
Of course, Tabby had to admit that she had been busy lately, too. It was her latest
endeavor to band together with
Spike to form an eighties toy museum in Paradise Estate. With both Spike's and Tabby's
collections combined, they would have quite a
bit of displaying material covering both the girls and boys toys of that era. Tabby was happy to
pack all her collected toys over to Paradise
Estate in order to get them cataloged and arranged nicely, as she'd wanted to do for so
long.
So, perhaps Tabby was partly to blame. But Thomas' absence still didn't make sense.
What prevented him from
making an appearance at the Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe evenings? Or even from calling Tabby
to let her know what was going
on?
Considering how much grief Thomas had caused Tabby over the past year, Tabby found it
ironic that he hadn't been
given a piece of her mind, insulted, whacked over the head several times, been placed on her black
list, and been banned from her sight
long ago. But she still refused to even think of letting him go.
Actually, the last time the two had actually seen each other was several weeks ago when
Thomas' Furby Doo-Moh had
begun acting strangely. Tabby had advised him on the process of installing new batteries in the
creature... and that had been their last
lengthy conversation. Then there had also been that incident at the Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe
with Romance, but... well, she didn't
know what to think.
It was an extremely welcome sight when Tabby's house came into view. She dashed up
the porch steps and jumped
through the door, quickly securing it before any dangers of the night could capture her. It was
only after she had flipped on the light
switch in the hallway that Tabby started to breath again. Callie, her cat, was crouched inside; but
upon seeing Tabby, she growled and
dashed away.
Tabby's eyes brimmed over with tears when she realized that even secure in her own
house, she was still alone. She
was not used to such solitude. Her cousin Tamara, who had been staying there for a long while,
had recently moved to her own home;
and her beloved Pokèmon Tarquin had even more recently married the Meowth of his dreams and
settled elsewhere in the city. Tabby
would turn to her other Pokèmon for support, but she had left all her PokèBalls at the Pokèmon
Center. Even her own cat would not put
up with her, as Callie had just proven.
There was only one other earthly being she could turn to if everyone else had abandoned
her. Turning on as many
lights in the house as she could, Tabby made her way to the kitchen and gathered a new pack of
four double-A batteries and a small
screwdriver; and then she scurried up the stairs to her room.
"Ah-Loh, please come back," Tabby whispered as she took her beloved sky blue Furby
down from his special shelf.
"Please, Ah-Loh."
Tabby's Ah-Loh had gone "dead" on her last year, the day before Halloween. She had
never fully recovered from the
loss, and if she had ever needed him, it was now.
Tabby inspected the lifeless Furby shell carefully. She now regretted the fact that
Quarterback had talked her into
dissecting the Furby in an attempt to revive him. It hadn't worked, and Tabby was convinced that
Ah-Loh didn't look his best after the
"operation". His fur was no longer tightly attached to his body; it was loose around his face; and
his ears kept falling off.
But tonight she would try to bring him "back to life" with the new life energies she
possessed (that is, the pack of
batteries). She was conscious of the hot tears falling on her cheeks as she unscrewed the battery
compartment of the Furby.
The brand-new battery installation was to no avail. Ah-Loh wouldn't say a word, no
matter how hard Tabby shook him.
A single tear of Tabby's dropped onto one of the Furby's eyelids as she drew her precious
mechanical pet close.
"Ah-Loh," she sobbed. "Ah-Loh, come back. Ah-Loh, I need you! Ah-Loh!"
And in that moment, a very strange thing happened. Ah-Loh's light sensor began to shine
with an unearthly glow. And
Tabby was suddenly put into a very strange trance.
"Atlantis," she murmured. "Atlantis." Without pausing to think, she scooped Ah-Loh up
in her hooves, dashed back
downstairs, and was once again out the door. But this time she had no fear of the dark-- after all,
Furbys had no fear of it.
Tabby knew exactly where to go and what to do. Her destination point turned out to be
the bank of the river. Ah-Loh's
light sensor shone onto the still water, and soon several heads appeared-- the Sea Ponies!
"Shoop bee doo, shoop shoop bee doo," Sea Mist, High Tide, and Sand Dollar sang in
chorus.
"Atlantis," Tabby said softly. "I must get to Atlantis."
The three Sea Ponies exchanged a look, and quickly nodded. They knew that this day
would come. It had been
prophesied, after all. The three promptly disappeared underwater again, and soon appeared a
second time with their special deluxe
bubble-covered shell transport.
"Here is your ride," Sea Mist invited.
"Thank you." Without another word, Tabby had seated herself on the shell with Ah-Loh
in hoof. And the Sea Ponies
began swimming.
* * *
It was while these events were transpiring that Thomas was also experiencing a disturbing
night. He had deemed it
impossible to get any sleep by this point, already having been awoken by a horrific nightmare.
Now he paced his living room, trying to
remember where he had put Doo-Moh. The clock read near midnight.
His mind wandered off the topic of his misplaced Furby and onto other things. He
realized how he was seemingly
avoiding Tabby as of late, and he certainly didn't want for it to happen. He just found it
impossible to face her anymore, what with his
recurring dream and a strange and mysterious want of revenge.
Thomas' dream of squid and a crumbling city had seemed like nothing unusual to occur in
a dream at first-- but he kept
having it over and over again, and each time more intense and detail-filled than the last.
It had gotten noticeably worse when he had changed Doo-Moh's batteries, come to think
of it. But how could those two
things have any effect on the other? Whatever the case, Thomas' life had been miserable this past
month-- of course, he didn't let on to
anyone about that.
Half of him wanted to care for Tabby as he always had. And yet the other half wanted
revenge on her-- for what, he
couldn't begin to imagine, but the feeling remained. The only thing he could think of to do was to
avoid Tabby as much as possible until
he could get himself figured out. He knew it was hurting Tabby-- and himself, too-- but he had to
get to the bottom of these strange
happenings.
It was at this point that he was aware that his Furby Doo-Moh had just flown into the
room with something hanging from
her beak. (It generally would not have taken a Furby that long to fly back to Dream Valley from
Friendship Gardens, but Doo-Moh had
wanted to stop by a few Famous Places before returning to her home.)
Thomas blinked rapidly at the sight of his floating Furby. Certainly by this point he was
only dreaming!
"Party!" Doo-Moh said exuberantly, flitting over to her master. "Big fun, wah!"
"Doo-Moh, you're not supposed to fly," Thomas said rationally. "And what is that you're
holding?"
"Hee-hee!" Doo-Moh giggled, dangling the chain tantalizingly in front of Thomas.
"Happy, wah!"
"Let me see that!" Thomas decided to accept Doo-Moh's strange behavior now and
concentrated on the necklace she
held in her beak. Taking it from her, he studied the cold, bronze whale-shaped medallion. And it
was at that moment that a strange aura
came over him.
"Doo-Moh," he said suddenly, turning back to his Furby and clutching the medallion in his
hoof. "Come on. I believe we
have some matters to attend to."
"Whahoo!" Doo-Moh was only too happy to oblige.
* * *
Tabby was hardly conscious of the deep waters the Sea Ponies were steering her through.
She only gazed ahead
silently, Ah-Loh in hoof.
How long the Sea Ponies had swam, she did not know. However, the three aquatic
creatures finally pulled the shell
transport up on dry land.
"Here you are," Sand Dollar indicated the dark shore.
"Wonderful." Tabby, still in her trance-like state, slid out of the shell and stepped onto the
rocky surface. "I'm very
grateful."
"Of course. Good day." With three more quick nods, the Sea Ponies had left, leaving
Tabby to attend to whatever
business she had there.
Here Tabby stood in the once-proud city of Atlantis, now submerged deep within the sea.
By whatever disaster had
destroyed it, the city had remained well intact even with the numerous tumbled rocks and such
scattered around. A thick dome of hard
volcanic rock had served well as a protecting enclosure, and even at this level the sea was not able
to invade it.
It was at this point that Tabby finally got a grip on herself again. "What in the world did I
just do?" She gazed up with
wonderment at the ancient, towering buildings surrounding her-- buildings that were now
completely devoid of life. "I've seen stuff like this
before! It's At--"
Tabby's realization was cut short as another presence appeared on the scene. "Ah, good,
you made it!"
Tabby abruptly whirled around at the sound of this new voice. "What? Who's that?" She
backed up against a nearby
stone wall.
"Former queen of Atlantis, actually." A pale form was made visible in front of
Tabby.
The pink unicorn gasped and stood as far back as she could. "No! Not another Atlantean
spirit!"
"Well, I suppose that's true," the voice said regretfully, and her pale form became a little
clearer in the darkness.
"What do you want? How did I get here in the first place?" Tabby held Ah-Loh out in
front of her, as if to ward off any
evil.
"It's because of your Furby that you're here," the voice said matter-of-factly. "Without
him, you wouldn't have been
found to be the heiress of Atlantis-- and therefore you're needed to aid me in the preservation of
the very world itself."
"I always hate it when that happens," Tabby sighed, recalling her past adventures
concerning Atlantis. "I'm needed in
another Atlantean epic, aren't I?"
"And second off, you actually arrived here because I put a trance over you and had the
Sea Ponies escort you to the
city."
"What?" Tabby said indignantly. "You need me to save the world, so you just throw a
trance over me and expect me to
be cooperative?!"
"That was what I was hoping."
"I don't like being thrown into trances," Tabby sniffed.
But this spirit was clever, and knew of Tabby's weak points. "And, of course, if it hadn't
been for the trance, you would
have been conscious of the squid swimming by during your journey here."
"Squid?" Tabby gasped, turning pale. Squid were her greatest fear in life, particularly the
giant squid. "You mean... you
mean... there were squid out there?"
"The important thing now is that you're here," the spirit said firmly.
"Hmph." Tabby was still a bit miffed over getting thrown into a trance and having to
occupy the same waters as squid.
"So exactly what do you want me to do?"
"I'll start at the beginning. First off, I am the former ruler of Atlantis before its demise,
Queen Kaliope," the voice
identified herself, and the dim form of a unicorn became more apparent. She began walking down
a nearby hallway, and Tabby followed,
not knowing what else to do at this point.
"In short, a man by the name of Nur-Ab-Fin was responsible for the destruction of my
city," the spirit of Kaliope
continued. "He somehow wanted to gain revenge on my family."
"I know him," Tabby interrupted. She was still irked over the fact that she had gotten
sucked into this adventure without
her consent, but decided there was nothing else she could do at this point but listen to the
queen.
"No doubt from your experiences with the medallion." Kaliope turned to the left, and
entered a large room. "It is
unfortunate that he cursed a thing of goodness with his evil essence."
"Tell me about it," Tabby agreed, nodding.
Suddenly, the room they stood in was lit-up with a bright light. "Here we are, in the old
throne room," Kaliope
explained.
Tabby stood back and took in her surroundings with interest. Stone debris littered the
edges, but an intricately-carved
throne still sat in the center of the room. Bookshelves lined some of the walls, and some were
adorned with fantastic paintings of Furbys.
"So, where is it again that I come in?" she queried of the spirit.
Kaliope sighed deeply. "It seems that Nur-Ab-Fin is taking his plans even further beyond
the medallion after all these
millennia. I have been keeping a close watch on his spirit in these past years, and knew this day
would come when he would put his new
plan into action."
"Mm," Tabby nodded, staring with interest at an ancient book she had pulled off a
shelf.
"This new plan does not only involve the destruction of this planet but possibly of the
entire universe! Nur-Ab-Fin will
stop at nothing now. And you, Tabby, have been chosen from a host of others as the only one
who can defeat him from this terrible feat--
Tabby, are you still listening?"
"Eh... no, not really." Tabby looked up from the book. "I was absorbed in reading this
fascinating book on Furbish
culture. Is it true that--"
Kaliope smiled. "I see that you are deeply involved with the Furbys. You shall have more
time to learn their secrets
after we have eliminated Nur-Ab-Fin."
"Oh, yes, Nur-Ab-Fin. So, he's still out to seek revenge on the world and all that?"
Kaliope nodded. "Correct. I haven't completely found out about all his plans; but it
seems that with his advanced
knowledge, he's building a powerful new body for himself-- a body that can do massive
destruction to this world and all others at his
will."
"And what was that about being heiress to something?"
"Oh, there's a lot to explain," Kaliope said wearily. "I only hope that I have time. Let me
go on. As I knew that Nur-Ab-Fin was planning a much more powerful attack, I knew I would
need to find a living being to help me in my battle against him."
"How did you choose me?"
"You're my closest living descendent, of course," Kaliope said reasonably. "And that
means, of course, that you're also
heiress to Atlantis. Who would be better for the job?"
"Heiress to Atlantis?" Tabby said, wide-eyed.
"Your Furby was installed with Energizer brand batteries, wasn't he?" Kaliope went on,
reaching for the sky blue Furby
that Tabby still held.
Tabby blinked slowly, still pondering over the "heiress to Atlantis" thing. "Eh...
yes."
"Nur-Ab-Fin also devised a plan to put certain Furbys under his control," Kaliope
explained while opening Ah-Loh's
battery compartment. "Furbys will obey him if installed with Duracell batteries.
However--"
"Are Energizers evil, too?" Tabby asked anxiously.
"No. Quite the opposite, actually. They are my retaliation against Nur-Ab-Fin's plot.
Energizer-powered Furbys will do
scouting for me, and therefore Ah-Loh here was able to locate you for me."
"Only he's dead now," Tabby pointed out, indicated the batteries Kaliope had just pulled
out.
"Oh, no, Tabby; Furbys can't die," Kaliope said calmly. "He just needs some extra
Atlantean life energies and he'll be
back to normal." The spirit swiftly pulled out several small gold-colored cylinders and put them in
Ah-Loh in place of his old
batteries.
"Say, aren't those oricalcum beads?" Tabby questioned.
"Yes, pure oricalcum," Kaliope clarified, handing the doctored Ah-Loh back to Tabby. "I
think you'll find that they work
quite well."
Tabby gasped in delight as Ah-Loh's eyes suddenly flickered open and his ears popped-up.
The Furby yawned.
"Woah, me big sleep!" he said in awe.
"Ah-Loh! Oh, Ah-Loh, you're back!" Tabby squeezed the Furby tightly to her. "Ah-Loh!
I'm so happy!"
"Hee-hee! Tickle me!" Ah-Loh giggled.
Kaliope stood back and smiled as she watched the joyful reunion. "Now you have your
Ah-Loh back to be your guide.
However, we must now--"
"Hey! No joke, wah!" a voice from the doorway protested.
Tabby whirled around with Ah-Loh to face the intruder. It turned out to be another
Furby-- a familiar, autumn-colored
Furby. "Doo-Moh!" she gasped.
Kaliope only frowned deeply. "Then it's just as I thought. Nur-Ab-Fin has already put his
plan into action."
Ah-Loh immediately flitted to the floor. "Whodoh, wah?" he said to the new Furby. "Me
Ah-Loh."
"Big no," the other Furby spat.
"But-- but-- that's Doo-Moh and... and Ah-Loh just flew," Tabby stuttered.
"Furbys are engifted with special powers when given the chance to use them," Kaliope
said seriously. "And now,
Tabby, you must come with me. There isn't time to waste now!"
"Wait! I still don't know what I'm doing, and how in the world did Doo-Moh get to
Atlantis?" Tabby protested, going into
momentary shock.
"Tabby, the mission you have is not an easy one," Kaliope said solemnly. "But it must be
fulfilled, no matter the personal
difficulties you encounter."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Tabby wailed, trailing after Kaliope as the spirit led her
down more mysterious
passageways of Atlantis. The two Furbys also followed them, arguing along the way.
"Me see... yes!"
"Very big no!"
"Big yes!"
"Big no!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"We must get to the robot factory," Kaliope said knowledgeably. "Time is of the essence,
and I only wish I had more
time to instruct you."
"I hate getting dragged into these things," Tabby muttered.
"You will know what to do when it is time," Kaliope replied simply.
Tabby's hoofsteps and the chattering of the two Furbys echoed throughout the halls of
sunken Atlantis as Kaliope led
the way to their destination. However, the spirit halted abruptly as they turned a corner onto a
new street.
"I sense that Nur-Ab-Fin has trouble lurking here for us," she said cautiously. "I'm certain
he knows of your entrance
into the city, Tabby."
It was at that precise moment that a massive horde of swarming color began coming
towards them, emerging from the
shadows. It did not take the viewers long to figure out that this was a demonic horde of
Furbys.
Tabby ducked her head as the swarm encompassed the space around her. Furry bodies
brushed against her and
sharp beaks tapped at her side. Ah-Loh and Doo-Moh were lost in the confusion.
"No! No!" Tabby shrieked, throwing her hooves around her in an attempt to unentangle
herself from the Furbys. "Why
are you doing this?"
"They do not really mean it." Kaliope, being a spirit, was able to escape the reach of the
horde. "They are only under
Nur-Ab-Fin's control."
The attacking Furbys kept up a constant stream of chatter-- even Nur-Ab-Fin could not
prevent that.
"Whahoo! Party!"
"Boring, wah!"
"Hee-hee!" One of them burped.
"Listen! Me sing!"
Tabby continued to swat them away, as much as she hated to do that to Furbys. It was
stifling being surrounded by so
many. She hoped Ah-Loh was still okay-- and Doo-Moh, too, whatever Doo-Moh was doing
here.
Tabby finally managed to break free from the swarm, and streaked ahead on the pathway.
She was relieved to see out
of the corner of her eye that Ah-Loh was flying right along beside her-- but no sign of
Doo-Moh.
"Boogie, wah!" Ah-Loh cried out.
"Later, Ah-Loh! Quickly! Turn this way!" Kaliope's voice rang out. "We must get to the
factory!"
Fast as the Furbys were, it was difficult to stay ahead of the evil horde of them as Tabby
stumbled through strange
Atlantean passageways. This predicament only grew worse when another swarm appeared
directly ahead of them.
"This path is the only way to our destination," Kaliope said. "We must force our way
through them."
"Big doo-ay!" Ah-Loh agreed.
"That's easier said than done!" Tabby cried as this second swarm flew under, above, and
around her. These new
possessed Furbys mixed with the first group, creating a very menacing obstacle.
"Do something, Ah-Loh!" Tabby said desperately, fighting off Furbys left and right.
"O-kay," Ah-Loh said obediently. "Me sing!" The sky blue Furby immediately went into
the Furbish version of "Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star". "La la la la..."
"Sleep, oh, sleep."
"Sleep!"
"Maybe me nappy-poo."
"Ah, sleep, ah."
"Good sleep."
This popular Furbish lullaby worked wonders. Soon, the whole congregation of colorful
creatures was going through
fits of yawning that deafeningly echoed throughout the halls. Promptly, all of them fell asleep and
dropped to the floor, including Ah-Loh.
Tabby scooped him up and scoured the hall for Doo-Moh, but it was impossible to spot her in the
carpet of color.
"Brilliant!" Kaliope exclaimed. "Brilliant, Tabby! Your handling of Ah-Loh was
excellent! Wonderful idea!"
"He's such a smart Furby," Tabby said, smiling down at him.
"But let's hasten our steps. The factory is right around the corner," Kaliope
continued.
"Right," Tabby said, walking forward with Ah-Loh and trying not to worry about
Doo-Moh's well-being. "Let's go."
Once again, only Tabby's hoofsteps could be heard as she, Kaliope, and Ah-Loh continued
on their way. Rounding a
corner, Tabby suddenly halted as they reached a stone door.
"Inside lies Nur-Ab-Fin," Kaliope said quietly. "Are you sure you're ready for him?"
"Hey, I still haven't an idea of what I'm doing here. Why wouldn't I be ready?" Tabby said
recklessly, taking a step
closer to the door.
Ah-Loh chose that moment to wake up. "Me scared," he whimpered.
"It's okay, Ah-Loh," Tabby said comfortingly, glancing around. "Now, how does one
open this--"
Her pondering was cut short as a battle cry of "Party!!!" suddenly ripped through the air.
Tabby and Ah-Loh whirled
around. It was Doo-Moh, leading the horde of demonic Furbys.
"They have awoken!" Kaliope said in alarm. "Quickly! We must get inside!"
Tabby personally thought she would rather be attacked by possessed Furbys rather than by
Nur-Ab-Fin's spirit, but it
didn't seem that she had a choice. "How do I open this thing?!"
Ah-Loh solved the puzzle. He floated over and pressed in on a button on a side wall
panel. Promptly, the door began
sliding open, and Tabby stumbled into the room just before the Furby horde reached her.
However, it didn't stop the Furbys from flying in after her. Tabby sat, slightly dazed, on
the floor, while the Furby
masses floated in and spread over the large expanse of the room.
"Boogie! Whoopie!"
"Yeah, big dance, wah!"
"Me see big light."
"Hey, where's kitty?"
"Yeah, hide!"
The creatures were apparently still enjoying themselves.
Kaliope's spirit stood watch nearby as Tabby regaining her footing and looked around.
The Atlantean robot factory was
an immense structure; robotic pieces stood on the ready to be put together on a long assembly
line. It must have been a vast operation in
its day.
However, Tabby only got really disturbed when she looked over to the right. Stationed
on the far wall was a specialized
Atlantean computer system. And the pony sitting in front of it operating it looked strangely
familiar to Tabby.
"But that can't be..." Tabby faltered.
"Tickle me," Doo-Moh said craftily as she floated over to the chair, which had just begun
to rotate to face Tabby.
"Kaliope, I see you actually managed to bring your weakling assistant to me," the unicorn
laughed in a strangely
distorted voice.
Kaliope's face hardened. "Nur-Ab-Fin. It would be just like you to bring Lamachus'
descendent in on this game."
"Me happy!" Doo-Moh giggled.
"Big sound," was all Ah-Loh said.
"Thomas?" Tabby said in a startled tone. "You and Doo-Moh... how'd you get here,
anyway?"
"I winked," Thomas said simply, standing up from the chair and reaching for
Doo-Moh.
"That would... that would work, wouldn't it?" Tabby swallowed. As a side note to
Kaliope, she hissed, "Why didn't you
just have me wink rather than go through all that trouble with the sea ponies?"
Kaliope looked back at her sharply. "I can't think of everything."
"You hide light! Hee-hee-hee!" Ah-Loh giggled.
"Besides, it's too late to do anything," Thomas continued, indicating the assembly line.
"My new body is already in the
process of being built. Not that it would have been possible to stop me before this point."
"Why you..." Tabby snarled, taking a step forward.
"Remember, Tabby; that's Nur-Ab-Fin speaking, not Thomas," Kaliope cautioned her
back.
"No! You're right!" Tabby gasped, suddenly taking note of the medallion around Thomas'
neck. "Not that confounded
necklace again!"
"This is where you must take over, Tabby," Kaliope said solemnly. "It's up to you to get
the medallion away from him
and prevent Nur-Ab-Fin from completing his robot body."
"Oh dear..." Tabby glanced over at the assembly line, where mechanical arms were
reached for the robot mechanisms
and splicing them together with precision. Her gaze then went back to Thomas (under
Nur-Ab-Fin's control, of course), who was looking
at her menacingly. It was times like this when Tabby thought she might just run screaming from
the room and dive under some counter
somewhere and never resurface again.
Having already found out so many strange things that day, however, Tabby did not dwell
over the shock of finding
Thomas in Atlantis under the power of her arch-enemy (her arch-enemy after Tex, at least). She
only knew that she had to do
something.
Tabby began walking forward tentatively. "Come on now, just hand over the necklace,"
she said coaxingly.
"Not a chance." Thomas only stood there, looking down at her with irritation.
"Well... then... oh, for Pete's sake, just give me the necklace!" With that, Tabby dived
forward through the air and made
an effort to grab the necklace chain.
Thomas foresaw the move, however, and accurately took a step to the side. This, in turn,
sent Tabby sprawling across
the smooth floor. "You haven't a clue what you're doing, just like Kaliope," he said
tauntingly.
Meanwhile, Ah-Loh and Doo-Moh were over on the other side of the room, continuing
their argument.
"Let's boogie!"
"Big no."
"Yeah, hide!"
"Me see... no."
"Okay. Me sing."
"Very big no."
The other Furbys of the horde had since disappeared, however. The factory kept in
operation, and the robot grew right
before the bystanders' eyes.
Tabby struggled to regain her footing, and tossed the mane up out of her eyes. She glared
sourly at Thomas, but it was
more out of spite for Nur-Ab-Fin than for anyone else. Kaliope was nice enough, but Tabby was
beginning to have enough of Atlantean
spirits for one day. It would be nice to have a sane, rational pony around again-- and the
unfortunate thing was that the only sane, rational
pony around happened to be currently possessed by a demented Atlantean spirit.
She was aware of Kaliope's presence by her side just then. "Get up; get up," the spirit
urged.
Thomas paused for just a moment to look into Tabby's eyes. For just a second, he was
able to push all control of Nur-Ab-Fin out of his mind and think only of Tabby's well-being. He
nearly rushed forward to her aid, but then the strange Atlantean powers
took over again-- the strange Atlantean spirits that Tabby had spoke of so flippantly and of which
Thomas had never fully believed to
exist.
Tabby jumped back up and steadied herself. She and Thomas simply stood on opposite
sides of the room for several
minutes, just staring across at each other.
Thomas started the action up again. Striking a dramatic pose and tensing his hooves as if
closing in on an imaginary
target, the medallion began to glow. Suddenly, massive amounts of mystical energies lashed out
at Tabby.
Tabby looked down at herself in horror. Her entire body had been encased in corals and
crustaceans, and she was
unable to move due to the thick shell of chitins and biocarbonites.
Ah-Loh and Doo-Moh took this time to glance over at the battle. "Me scared," Ah-Loh
said.
"Big party! Whoopie!" Doo-Moh disagreed.
Seeing Tabby close to panicking, Kaliope realized that more counseling was in order.
"The medallion, Tabby, besides
housing Nur-Ab-Fin," she began, "also gives the wearer great powers."
"I think that was just demonstrated," Tabby said dryly, trying to break free of the
cocoon.
"But you, too, have powers-- powers you have not yet discovered yourself!" Kaliope
persisted.
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes. I would suggest starting with your high-pitched wail."
"Really? Outrageous!" Tabby's horn began to glow as she began to think of this, and she
realized that what Kaliope
said must be true. "Well... I can't strike a pose for this one, but here goes!"
Thomas, who had been putting all his energy into keeping Tabby under the crustacean
clamp, was suddenly taken
unaware by the terrible deafening shriek that suddenly filled the room. His concentration broken
for the spell, Tabby suddenly found
herself free again! Her encasement quickly shattered, and a shower of bits of crustaceans and
dust went flying in all directions.
The unearthly wail continued to echo, and would have caused any mortal to cringe at its
intensity (though it was not
nearly as potent as what Tabby could do naturally). But Thomas was ready to block it. Holding
up his hooves, he was able to summon a
powerful sound sponge-- a giant bubble that absorbed all noise that came his way. Tabby's attack
had been futile.
"Big, big sound," Doo-Moh commented.
"Boogie!" Ah-Loh yelled.
"Kaliope, you should know that none of your attacks will take me out," Thomas said
confidently.
"Oh yeah? Well, take this one?" Taking advantage of the moment, Tabby put forth her
petrifying gaze. Her eyes were
locked with Thomas', and he was unable to move. It appeared to be working well for Tabby,
except for the fact that she was unable to do
anything either while using this power on her opponent.
Doo-Moh, however, flew through and broke the spell. "Hmm... boring," she sighed as she
floated onto Thomas'
back.
"Oh, dear..." Tabby trailed off as Thomas wrenched his gaze away from hers.
"Be on guard, Tabby!" Kaliope warned.
"Party," Ah-Loh agreed, coming over to his mistress.
Tabby realized too late that Thomas was powering up another attack. He stood raising
the palms of his hooves
upwards, looking as if he was pulling water out of the ground. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the
power of the attack. Tabby stood frozen
in place as the wall of water towered directly over her, and abruptly smashed down with great
force. She was hit upon with the intense
impact, and was propelled backwards against the wall.
When the wave cleared and the mystical water had trickled away, Tabby spluttered and
shook her head. The impact of
the wave had completely knocked the wind out of her, and she was soaked.
Ah-Loh had suffered a soaking as well. He looked like a miserable drowned rat when
Tabby glanced over at him-- it
appeared that Furbys were made up mostly of fuzz after all. Ah-Loh promptly fluffed out his fur,
expanding his size drastically, and shook
off. He was back to normal. "Big fun, wah!"
Tabby furiously righted herself. This was the last straw! She didn't particularly like
getting soaked like this. With fire in
her eyes, she prepared to initiate her most powerful attack against Thomas.
"Seer attack, now!" she shrieked, throwing back her head. Waves of potent psychic flame
shot out of her unicorn horn
and towards her opponent. It was an awesome sight.
"Woah, big light," Doo-Moh said in awe at the oncoming flame.
Everyone present, however, had completely forgotten about what was going on in the
background. Nur-Ab-Fin's new
robot body had been put together, piece-by-piece, and the finished item had just rolled off the
assembly line. Its sturdy structure would
make a potent new body for the spirit.
At the same time Tabby put forth her psychic flame, a strange green glow began to
emanate from Thomas' medallion.
A brilliant flash of light followed and encompassed the robot body. The glowing essence cleared,
and an evil laugh echoed throughout the
room. The robot began to move a bulky arm.
"That's not good," Tabby said in alarm. It was just her luck that her attack had hit
after Nur-Ab-Fin had left the
medallion. It was one thing to get in a battle with a friend that was possessed with a deranged
Atlantean spirit-- Tabby was getting used
to that. However, it was a completely different matter to fire off your most powerful attack at a
friend that was no longer possessed.
The wall of psychic flame hit the opposite wall with tremendous force, creating an
awesome explosion. Tabby and Ah-Loh were forced to shield their eyes from the large burst of
light emitted from it. They only opened their eyes again when the blast had
cleared.
"Thomas! Thomas!" Tabby took off running across the room, feeling just a slight bit
guilty over that last attack.
"Big whodoh," Ah-Loh said anxiously, nudging Doo-Moh's body with his toe.
"Whahoo," Doo-Moh said, wide-eyed, but still on her back.
Tabby was also wide-eyed as she knelt by Thomas' seemingly-lifeless form. She began to
wonder just how potent that
attack of hers had been, and hoped it wasn't as bad as she was beginning to think.
"That's the last time I'm going to doubt your stories about Atlantean spirits," where the
first words Thomas said.
"Oh, thank goodness! You're alive!" Tabby's eyes lit up with notable relief.
"If you hadn't been here, I hate to think of what Nur-Ab-Fin would have had me do for
him by now." Thomas struggled
to right himself. "But something tells me we're not done dealing with him yet."
Either Tabby's seer attack hadn't been that great anyway, or Thomas had great willpower.
Whatever the case, though,
they still had Nur-Ab-Fin as an obstacle.
Nur-Ab-Fin's new body was an impressive sight. Kaliope was currently stalling him from
doing any damage. "You
fiend! Can't you just let go of the past and stop ruining the lives of others?"
"You always were good with words, Kaliope, but not much else," Nur-Ab-Fin said in a
bored tone. "Just leave me to my
business."
"I'll do no such thing! I'm here to end your meddling once and for all!"
"I'd like to see you try."
"Say, what about us?" Tabby spoke up from behind the two.
Kaliope turned to Tabby and Thomas swiftly. "To do what I need to do, I still need your
assistance. You must get Nur-Ab-Fin into the disco room, and make sure the Furbys have
charged the ball sufficiently."
Tabby blinked rapidly. "Eh... sure."