The "meanies" stared at the Blue Meanie stood menacingly in front of them.

"Well? What are you doing?" He shouted, making other Meanies turn and stare. "State your business!" He roared.

"Oh." Blue breathed out, relieved. She held out Jeremy. "We're here to take this prototype weaponry to Lord Indigo for review." She said smoothly, unfazed by the Meanies aggressive glare. Having Jeremy next to her made her feel much calmer somehow.

The Meanie sniffed. "Very well." He pushed the door open to let them through.

The walked inside, and Blue and Emily stared around them. The walls were marble, which Emily knew was normally iridescent purples and greens, but had turned a dull grey since the Meanies took over. Other Blue Meanies walked up and down the corridors, going about their business. Some had papers, others were carrying heavy boxes. Not one gave the children a second glance, taking them immediately to be Meanies.

Either the Meanies are very, very thick, thought Blue, or Jeremy is an excellent artist. Maybe a combination of both.

Either way, nobody tried to stop them as they followed the main corridor to a pair of grand looking doors fairly deep inside the pyramid. Two particular aggressive looking Meanies were stood outside it, ready to attack intruders.

"I often find," Whispered Jeremy, almost inaudible, "that the bigger a Meanie is, the more stupid they are."

The Meanies guarding the doors allowed the children to get fairly close before they pointed their spears at them. "Why're you here." Snarled one of them.

"We're here to take this prototype weaponry to be reviewed by Lord Indigo." Blue said. She had been practising the speech in her head.

"Aye. Okay. Come in." One of the guard Meanies turned and knocked lightly on the door. "Your lordship? You have some guests. Got apples to show you!"

A low, gravelly voice replied "Very well. I've been expecting these."

The guard Meanies opened the doors. As they passed the one that hadn't spoken yet, it whispered "Good luck." and Blue noticed it had a large bruise on its face.

Somehow Blue got the impression that it saw through their disguise, but, like Max had been, was willing to help them. But she wasn't sure.

As they entered the doorway, an enormous, hideous Blue Meanie was sat on a huge throne, breathing heavily. Blue felt Finn tense up underneath her and started to feel nervous. Even Jeremy wasn't smiling.

It was Roger who made the first move. He bowed down carefully, cautious not to let Emily fall off his shoulders. Finn quickly did the same. "Your honour..." started Emily, and let Blue finish. "We're here to present this prototype weaponry for your Apple Bonkers."

She was starting to get fed up of saying this over and over again. Lord Indigo stared at them, absentmindedly grinding his long claws against the marble wall, creating an unbearable fingernails-on-blackboard sound that he seemed to relish.

"That." He spat. "Would be very nice. It is such a shame you take me to be such a fool."

"Wha... wha... what do you mean?" Stuttered Emily nervously.

"You know what I mean!" He roared angrily, his blue face turning deep scarlet. "You can't fool me with your disguises!" GUARDS!" He screamed, "TAKE THESE LIARS AWAY AND LOCK THEM UP!"

A dozen Meanies rushed to Lord Indigo's aid. "NOW!" Shouted Roger suddenly, and Emily leapt off his shoulders, pulling out her violin. Blue did the same and gripped her tambourine ferociously. Finn and Roger slung their instruments over them and fiercely started to play.

The Meanies winced, some even collapsed to the floor, squealing and gripping their blue ears with their chubby fingers. Roger snarled and brought down his guitar on to one of their heads, knocking it unconscious. Somehow, the acoustic remained intact.

Seeing Blue's look of wonder, he grinned and explained: "Pepperlandians make their guitars strong!"

Blue laughed and carried on shaking her tambourine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Emily violently poke a Meanie's eye with her violin bow, and Jeremy practising karate at the same time as playing his clarinet. It was quite a sight, but any comedy was taken away by the sense of urgency and the violence in the room.

Lord Indigo was shaking in pain and anger from the sound of the instruments. He shuddered violently and snarled "STOP IT NOW!" All the Meanies in the room turned to look at him, confused. Did he want them to stop fighting? "NO YOU FOOLS!" He roared, "I MEANT FOR THEM TO STOP PLAYING THEIR INSTRUMENTS!"

The four children took their chance, knocking out at least seven Meanies in the space of thirty seconds. "YOU IDIOTS!" Roared Lord Indigo, but fell to the floor as Roger played a few violent power chords, aided by Finn's piano.

"I'LL GET YOU!" He screamed, and leapt up from his throne, running between the unconscious Meanie bodies that littered the floor. He raced through the corridor, violently pushing confused Meanies out of the way in his rush to escape the music makers. Most of the other Meanies went into a mad frenzy after seeing their great leader flee for his life, some followed him, and most of them started to head back to whatever nasty place they had come from. "Catch him!" Shouted Roger angrily, referring to Lord Indigo. But it was too late. He ran off into the distance, laughing maniacally and shouting "I'LL BE BACK!"