Post by kittywinkins on Jul 7, 2007 15:32:51 GMT -5
Note: A story written fer me guild's newspaper. Never bothered to enter it into NT. Laugh and point, why don'tcha?
Oh.. and before we begin...
The pets in this story are mine. They are:
Lupin805 I believe Lupin is depicted as a Uni.. but I can't quite remember. Oldest, quiet, loves books.
Aroralee: A Wocky. Vain and prissy, loves gardening.
Tanulela: A red/brown Ixi. Impish, a trouble-maker.
Caprhicorn: A grey Kyrii. Eeyore's long lost twin brother.
WARNING: This version has not been edited and approved by the grammar police! Beware of falling typos!
Around Neopia in One Day
The sun crepted in to shine it’s rays on me at about 6.00 am NST on the day that began it all. I didn’t want to get up.. but after Tanulela came in and opened my curtains and yanked off my covers and yelled at me that it was my patriotic duty to Neopia to get up and serve her and my three other pets pancakes the size of Kreludor for breakfast, I guess I had no choice. Tanulela can be very persuasive when she wants to be.
I sat up and blinked the sleep from bleary eyes. Just then I heard a scream, sharp and high enough to shatter paper. Only one pet in the whole of Neopia could deliver a scream like that... Aroralee, my normally sweet and loving yellow Wocky.
I walked(no, stormed would be closer) down the stairs and into the kitchen where Tanulela and her two brothers sat innocently around the dining table.
“Okay, whose idea was it to put live grackle bugs in Aroralee’s shampoo?” I asked, glaring first at Lupin, my green Uni, who was once a blue Lupe and I will always think of as a Lupe, then at Caprhicorn, my youngest pet, a moody grey Kyrii, then finally at Tanulela, my boisterous red Ixi. Tanulela grinned evilly and Caprhicorn looked guilty. Lupin bearly looked up from the book he was reading. I glared at my two youngest pets.
“She sounded exactly like a banshee, didn’t she?” Tanulela asked, but I didn’t think she expected an answer because she kept right on.
“She should see if she can start her own opera at the Tyrannian Concert Hall. Actually” she grinned wickedly. “She shouldn’t because hardly anyone would come and those who did come would go deaf from the highness of the pitch.” Caprhicorn, apparently in a cheery mood, tipped one if his large floppy ears towards Tanulela and said
“Eh? what’s that you said?” The two burst into laughter. Lupin gave me a pitying glance then turned back to his book once again. I was not amused at all.
“You two really need to stop teasing poor Aroralee. Do you have any idea how much money I spent on that shampoo? ten thousand whole neopoints! completely wasted because you two decided to play a silly childish prank on her. And besides, I’m going to go deaf if this keeps up.” I winced. I could still hear Aroralee’s scream ringing in my ears.
“That’s Mom, always more concerned about her neopoints” Caprhicorn muttered. I frowned at him.
“Look on the bright side, Mom!” Tanulela said.
“If you go deaf, you won’t have to hear Aroralee scream!”
Just then Aroralee came padding down the stairs and that put an end to our conversation.
After breakfast my pets went off to their different tasks, Lupin to his still unfurnished library to read(hey, the money tree isn’t really made of money and neither am I!), Caprhicorn out to the yard to train because I still hadn’t gotten his training room finished, Aroralee to play with the petpets, and Tanulela to... well, normally I didn’t ask what she was always up to.
I myself sat down at the dining table and started going through the mail. An advertisement for the Pizzaroo, a note from a friend... and a letter from the Baguette Gazette editor.
Did I mention I am a writer? well, not really. But I like writing. if I didn’t, why on earth would I be writing this right now? but anyway.
The editor’s note went like this:
Hi,
Could you possibly write an article for the Baguette Gazette?
if so, would you?
The topic is worlds of Neopia.
Thanks,
Baguette Gazette Editor
Well, of COURSE I wouldn’t mind! in fact, I’d get started right away!
I yelled to my pets and they came running. I showed them the letter but they didn’t seem very impressed. “So... they want you to write an article. So what?” Tanulela asked.
“So what? so WHAT?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Tan, this means that I am going to need to go travel in order to find out about the worlds of Neopia. And that also means that I can’t leave you guys behind. Remember last time I asked Lydia to baby sit you?” Tanulela scowled.
“I wasn’t MY fault! she deserved to get drenched with the hose and almost fall into Caphicorn’s spike pit! she kept calling me ‘such a sweet little Ixi’ and ‘Oh, Tanylela!’ I just gave her what she deserved!” she grumbled. “Whether she deserved it or not, you’ve received a reputation. And not a good one.” I scolded her.
“And since I can’t leave you behind, I’m going to take you with me. So go pack up whatever you need.”
“When are we going?” Caprhicorn asked.
“As soon as I get some nps out of the bank” I replied.
Okay, so it wasn’t quite that soon. But it wasn’t MY fault!
Lupin wanted to bring along his whole library and sulked for nearly half and hour when I told him he could bring one book. Then I had to stop Caprhicorn from bringing all of his battle weapons. And keep Aroralee from packing 101 different shampoos, conditioners, lotions, soaps, and every other beauty product you can think of.
Suprisingly, Tanulela did nothing wrong. She packed her bags and was ready to go in five minutes. I just KNEW something was up. I’d have to keep a close eye on her.
Finally, we were ready to go and we boarded the ferry that took us from Roo Island to the crowded Neopia Central. We had a bit of a mishap near the Rainbow Pool and almost lost Caprhicorn to another owner at the Money Tree, but we made it out alive and unscathed... if you don’t count the scrape Aroralee got on her elbow when she got shoved near the Money Tree.
But I found something out: When going to Neopia Central, be sure to always disguise painted pets. Especially expensive ones like grey or faerie.
Our next stop was Meridell. We strolled along the dirt roads, enjoying the beautiful medieval scenery, being sure to steer clear of the castle. Last time I tried telling a joke to King Scarl, he didn’t seem to enjoy it that much. I guess he doesn’t like people making fun of his weight...
As we walked farther on, we saw a large shape. As we drew closer, it appeared to be a large overgrown petpet, sleeping quite peacefully. Lupin walked up to him.
“I know who this is..” he commented.
“It’s Turmaculus. Supposedly if your petpet wakes him up, he will reward them.”
“So, let’s try it!” Tanulela said.
“You go, Lupin.” Lupin marched up to the monster with his Snicklebeast Socraties.
“How shall we wake him...” Lupin mused for a few minutes.
He finally decided to have Soctraties bang pots and pans. It worked all right. Turmy woke up with a grunt and a groan... but he didn’t seem very happy. He glared at Socraties and then with one large gulp, swallowed him up.
“SOCRATIES!” Lupin screamed. The monster grinned and opened its mouth in a wide yawn. Before any of us could stop him, Lupin leapt into his mouth after Socraties. “Hey! Lupin!” I yelled and Aroralee screamed her banshee scream again. The monster stopped mid yawn and stared at her with curious eyes, as if contemplating whether or not to eat her. its mouth was still open and through it we could see Lupin galloping towards us, Socraties on his back, looking very confused. Just as the monster was about to close its mouth Lupin leapt through it and slammed against Aroralee, completely bowling her over.
“I got him!” Lupin panted. “
Don’t EVER do that again!” I scolded him. He looked very ashamed but argued that he couldn’t leave his petpet, the best friend he’d ever had. I decided we had better leave Meridell before any more trouble came.
Next we went to Brightvale, Meridell’s next-door neighbor. Naturally, Lupin wanted to go everywhere. We visited the castle, but the king was in his library and didn’t want to be disturbed. we stopped by the scrollery but it was sold out of everything. So was the Brightvale book shop.
After that, Caprhicorn wanted to spin the wheel of Knowledge. I gave him 500 neopoints and watched.... at a distance. I knew enough from other wheels to be very careful when spinning them. Sometimes lightning or fireballs like landing among my pets and casing them much discomfort. I didn’t want that to happen to me, especially not when I had so many more places to visit.
The wheel spun. And spun. And spun some more. Finally it landed on the picture of wise King Hagan. The Draik who ran the wheel offered Caprhicorn a box and he pulled a piece of paper from it. We all stepped closer as he read aloud.
“Did you know that if you type ______ while playing Sutek’s Tomb it will reset your timer?
Caprhicorn crumpled the paper into a ball a and scowled. “Fat lot of good that will do me! like I’d ever be caught DEAD playing a game like that!” He must have been in a bad mood because he pulled out his Rubber Power Axe and started whacking at the wheel. It took me, the Draik who ran the wheel, and my three other pets to restrain him and calm him down. By that time all that was left of the wheel were a few pictures and an oily screw.
We left Brightvale rather hurriedly, much to the relief of the residents.
Next we passed through the Haunted Woods. I should have known better, really I should have. Bring Tanulela to the Haunted Woods? utter and total disaster.
“I want to go to the Deserted Fairground!” Tanulela shouted at once.
“Noooo...” I groaned. “
C’mon, Mom! Pleeeeease?” Tanulela begged. Finally... somehow... she talked me into it.
She raced ahead of us and before I could stop her she ran straight for.... the Wheel of Misfortune.
“Oh no,” I told her.
“Remember what happened at the last wheel? No way am I going to spin a wheel with THAT name!” Tanulela looked at me with big huge soft baby Ixi eyes. I don’t know why... I just can’t refuse those sweet little pink eyes. I let her spin the worst wheel of them all.
She marched up with 100 neopoints in hand and gave them to neopet in charge. Then she stepped up and pulled the skull-topped lever. I didn’t want to think what sort of creature that skull had once belonged to.
The wheel spun. And finally landed on the -Np sign. The neopet grinned evilly and said
“Argh! you just lost 80 neopoints!” I groaned. Those neopoints are precious, I tell you!
“Okay, no more. I told Tanulela. She scowled but followed as I walked rather quickly out of the Haunted Woods.
Our next stop was the Lost Desert, which isn’t really so lost anymore, but anyway.
“I hear there’s a lot of fascinating artifacts here!” Lupin said enthusiastically.
“The ruins of Qasala are supposed to be quite interesting..”
“Err, right. Well, we’re going this way.” I said quickly before Lupin could bore us all to death with his five hour long lectures on the value of broken bits of pottery and the bones of long dead kings.
We didn’t go into Sakhmet, we passed it and followed the river towards the sun. Eventually we came across an ancient palace half buried in sand.
“Hey.. I think I recognize this..” I said, memories of a nearly impossible plot including zombie mummies and fiery evil fathers and insane princes stirring inside the depths of my mind.
“Who cares? this place looks awesome!” Tanulela shouted and raced forward.
“Tan... wait!” I yelled, but she had already disappeared inside. I gritted my teeth and we followed her.
Before us was a long hallway with loads of doors. Some were oddly shaped and were brightly colored. Others had weird symbols above them.
“Hey.. this door is cool..” I said. I stepped forward towards a cool blue door.
“Um, Mom... I wouldn’t do that if I were you...” Lupin began, but I had already pushed the door open and walked inside.
Suddenly the floor disappeared below me and I was falling. I clutched wildly at the air. Somehow my hand grasped the end of a hanging rope. I held on for dear life. My pets were peering down at me from the edge of the pit I had fallen into.
“Holy Meepits, Mom! you were lucky there was that rope there!” Caprhicorn gasped. I glanced below me and gulped loudly. Ten feet before me was at least fifty sharpened sticks.
“I don’t care about luck! just get me out of here!” I hollered at my pets. Lupin frowned.
“I hope you’ve got a good grip, this might take a while...” “I don’t HAVE a while! get me right now!” I yelled. I could feel my fingers slipping.
They eventually got me up, though it took several attempts and the near death of Aroralee’s snow Kookith FatAlice, who almost ventured too near to the edge of the pit.
“At least she’s made from snow so if she gets crushed or whatever you can just make another” Caprhicorn joked. He wilted under the laser glare of Aroralee, who spent the next hour cooing and cuddling FatAlice.
When I had finally gotten my feet back on firm ground, I left the Lost Desert as quickly as possibly.
I was feeling desperate... where could I take these guys where they wouldn’t get hurt? Kreludor came to mind.
We caught the next space shuttle headed that way.
As we stepped off an orange Grundo stepped up to us.
“Hello, welcome to Kreludor! Gravity is currently 27% that of Neopia. Boing!” Aroralee grinned.
“Hey. Cool.” She jumped and flew up ten feet. Aroralee once won a pogo jumping compition. She loves jumping.
We all started to jump. I only got three feet in the air, something that amused my pets greatly.
‘No more extra servings of borovan brownies. Especially if we ever come here for vacation’ I told myself firmly. My pets were all jumping, and jumping, and jumping... when suddenly Aroralee gave an extra large jump and.... cleared the atmosphere. With dismay, I watched my pet float away into space. I ran to the nearest Grundo. It was orange. Of course.
“My pet cleared the atmosphere! can we get her back?” I asked him, ignoring the amazed looks the other Grundos were giving me. He shook his head sadly.
“Sorry, Misses, no hope to get her back now. Might I suggest you adopt a Grundo for your next pet?” I walked away with a heavy heart. Aroralee! sweet, silly Aroralee, gone with one leap.
“Come on, Mom. Let’s get back to Neopia.” Lupin steered me back to the space shuttle and the herded the other two pets into it.
“Where to now, Misses?” the Grundo piloting the shuttle asked.
“Uhm... Mystery Island.” I said randomly.
“It was Aroralee’s favorite place.” My three remaining pets gave me a sympathetically look. I just kept shaking my head in amazement. How could that to happen to ME? sure, I’ve had some bad luck, but not THAT bad!
The Grundo dropped us off at Mystery Island and we wandered along the beach. Trying to distract me, Tanulela pointed to an interesting rock formation further inland. Just as my back turned I heard a gigantic SPLASH! from just behind me. I whirled to see Aroralee splashing her way to shore.
“Aroralee! how’d you get here?” I demanded as soon as she got ashore.
“I floated for a while then the Space Faerie flew by and grabbed me. She flew me down till we were about a hundred feet above the sea and then she just dropped me.” I scowled.
“How rude!” Aroralee nodded emphatically.
“Yes. And.. Mom?”
“What is it?” I asked her.
“I think I’m going to take my Space Faerie items out of my faerie collection.” Aroralee said in a hurt voice. “Imagine! dropping ME!”
“Probably because she thought you were too fat!” Tanulela teased. Aroralee’s eyes grew wide and her lip trembled.
‘Uh oh...’ I thought as warning bells went off in my head. I had to get them out of there.. FAST before any of the natives complained about Aroralee crying. She can be very loud about such things.
“Can we go to Faerieland next?” Aroralee asked hopefully. I shrugged. Why not? it’s not like my pets could get into any trouble there with all the faeries around. How wrong I was.
“Hey! what’s that plushie doing way over here?” Caprhicorn asked. He walked up to a blue Grundo plushie with a sad frown stitched on his face.
“That’s the Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity” Lupin said, putting his scholarly voice on. “Supposedly the Discarded Magical..”
“Okay, we get it.” Tanulela said impatiently.
“It has a long name and is magical. Been there. Seen that. Got the Petpet. Can we go?”
Caprhicorn shook his head.
“Tan, you are so weird I’m not even going to talk to you.” He closed his eyes and started walking away. “Caprhicorn...” I started.
“Leave me alone!” he snapped.
“Uh.. Cappy? do you mind..”
“I SAID leave me alone!” he said angrily, but kept on walking.
“CAPRHICORN!” I yelled. Just then he walked right off the cloud and disappeared. I ran to the edge of the cloud and saw him falling... then I saw a beautiful air faerie pick him up and fly him up towards the cloud we were standing on. She set him on the cloud, waved to us, and flew away.
“Drat! I didn’t have time to get her autograph!” Aroralee muttered sadly.
I ran over to Caprhicorn and gave him a long lecture about watching where he was going and using his eyes, often being corrected by Lupin on a pronunciation or a meaning of a word.
Finally, I checked my wristhingych.
“Jeepers, it’s late!” I exclaimed.
“I think we have enough time for one more visit before we have to be done for the day. Any suggestions?” Immediately four voices cried out.
“Maraqua!” yelled Aroralee.
“Terror Mountain!” cried Caprhicorn.
“Virtupets Space Station!” Was Lupin’s suggestion. “Tyrannia!” Tanulela almost screamed.
“Woah... woah..” I said, holding up a hand.
“Let’s see... Maraqua? won’t do... it’s underwater. Terror Mountain’s too cold, and I think I’ve had enough space exploration to last a lifetime. How about Tyrannia?” I was greeted with cheerful consent from all parties.
We reached Tyrannia about an hour later thanks to a passing boat and Lupin’s wings.
I tried out several of the foods in the food shop but lost my appetite when Tanulela starting talking about what the Bronto Bites were made of.
We wandered eventually up to the Plateau and walked around, trying to sneak into the Concert Hall(without success), playing GoGoGo! and trying to get up the nerve to enter the Lair of the Beast.
While we were enjoying some free omelet we had received when I looked around and asked
“say... where’s Tanulela?” The Ixi had disappeared completely. We set off in search of her, calling her name and looking behind every rock and clump of grass we came across.
We were wandering across an empty flat place when we heard her yelling. I turned to see her galloping at full speed, chased by a herd of angry Tonus.
“Oh no... what now?” I groaned.
“TAKE COVER!” Tanulela screamed.
“They’re after me!” That was quite obvious, of course. Aroralee dived out of the way and Caprhicorn took off running in the opposite direction while Lupin took to the air. I stood rooted to the spot. Just before she was about to run be over, Tanulela dived out of the way. I was thrown to the ground and trampled my at least a zillion Tonu hoofs. Trust me, it’s not pleasant.
When they had passed, my pets came creeping up towards me.
“Hey.. Mom.. you okay?” Caprhicorn asked me. I groaned and rolled over.
“Come on. Let’s go home. It’s way safer there.”
Moral: Never stray farther then three feet from your neohome’s front door, especially if you have pets like mine. Trust me, it’s way safer at home.
Note: the author of this story has been suspended over a spike pit, had two of her pets almost killed, and has been trampled by rampaging Tonus. Unless you are planning on complementing her on her wonderfully talented writing (HA!) please.... don’t.... bother her... Especially if you’re going to throw heavy objects. *winces*
Oh.. and before we begin...
The pets in this story are mine. They are:
Lupin805 I believe Lupin is depicted as a Uni.. but I can't quite remember. Oldest, quiet, loves books.
Aroralee: A Wocky. Vain and prissy, loves gardening.
Tanulela: A red/brown Ixi. Impish, a trouble-maker.
Caprhicorn: A grey Kyrii. Eeyore's long lost twin brother.
WARNING: This version has not been edited and approved by the grammar police! Beware of falling typos!
Around Neopia in One Day
The sun crepted in to shine it’s rays on me at about 6.00 am NST on the day that began it all. I didn’t want to get up.. but after Tanulela came in and opened my curtains and yanked off my covers and yelled at me that it was my patriotic duty to Neopia to get up and serve her and my three other pets pancakes the size of Kreludor for breakfast, I guess I had no choice. Tanulela can be very persuasive when she wants to be.
I sat up and blinked the sleep from bleary eyes. Just then I heard a scream, sharp and high enough to shatter paper. Only one pet in the whole of Neopia could deliver a scream like that... Aroralee, my normally sweet and loving yellow Wocky.
I walked(no, stormed would be closer) down the stairs and into the kitchen where Tanulela and her two brothers sat innocently around the dining table.
“Okay, whose idea was it to put live grackle bugs in Aroralee’s shampoo?” I asked, glaring first at Lupin, my green Uni, who was once a blue Lupe and I will always think of as a Lupe, then at Caprhicorn, my youngest pet, a moody grey Kyrii, then finally at Tanulela, my boisterous red Ixi. Tanulela grinned evilly and Caprhicorn looked guilty. Lupin bearly looked up from the book he was reading. I glared at my two youngest pets.
“She sounded exactly like a banshee, didn’t she?” Tanulela asked, but I didn’t think she expected an answer because she kept right on.
“She should see if she can start her own opera at the Tyrannian Concert Hall. Actually” she grinned wickedly. “She shouldn’t because hardly anyone would come and those who did come would go deaf from the highness of the pitch.” Caprhicorn, apparently in a cheery mood, tipped one if his large floppy ears towards Tanulela and said
“Eh? what’s that you said?” The two burst into laughter. Lupin gave me a pitying glance then turned back to his book once again. I was not amused at all.
“You two really need to stop teasing poor Aroralee. Do you have any idea how much money I spent on that shampoo? ten thousand whole neopoints! completely wasted because you two decided to play a silly childish prank on her. And besides, I’m going to go deaf if this keeps up.” I winced. I could still hear Aroralee’s scream ringing in my ears.
“That’s Mom, always more concerned about her neopoints” Caprhicorn muttered. I frowned at him.
“Look on the bright side, Mom!” Tanulela said.
“If you go deaf, you won’t have to hear Aroralee scream!”
Just then Aroralee came padding down the stairs and that put an end to our conversation.
After breakfast my pets went off to their different tasks, Lupin to his still unfurnished library to read(hey, the money tree isn’t really made of money and neither am I!), Caprhicorn out to the yard to train because I still hadn’t gotten his training room finished, Aroralee to play with the petpets, and Tanulela to... well, normally I didn’t ask what she was always up to.
I myself sat down at the dining table and started going through the mail. An advertisement for the Pizzaroo, a note from a friend... and a letter from the Baguette Gazette editor.
Did I mention I am a writer? well, not really. But I like writing. if I didn’t, why on earth would I be writing this right now? but anyway.
The editor’s note went like this:
Hi,
Could you possibly write an article for the Baguette Gazette?
if so, would you?
The topic is worlds of Neopia.
Thanks,
Baguette Gazette Editor
Well, of COURSE I wouldn’t mind! in fact, I’d get started right away!
I yelled to my pets and they came running. I showed them the letter but they didn’t seem very impressed. “So... they want you to write an article. So what?” Tanulela asked.
“So what? so WHAT?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Tan, this means that I am going to need to go travel in order to find out about the worlds of Neopia. And that also means that I can’t leave you guys behind. Remember last time I asked Lydia to baby sit you?” Tanulela scowled.
“I wasn’t MY fault! she deserved to get drenched with the hose and almost fall into Caphicorn’s spike pit! she kept calling me ‘such a sweet little Ixi’ and ‘Oh, Tanylela!’ I just gave her what she deserved!” she grumbled. “Whether she deserved it or not, you’ve received a reputation. And not a good one.” I scolded her.
“And since I can’t leave you behind, I’m going to take you with me. So go pack up whatever you need.”
“When are we going?” Caprhicorn asked.
“As soon as I get some nps out of the bank” I replied.
Okay, so it wasn’t quite that soon. But it wasn’t MY fault!
Lupin wanted to bring along his whole library and sulked for nearly half and hour when I told him he could bring one book. Then I had to stop Caprhicorn from bringing all of his battle weapons. And keep Aroralee from packing 101 different shampoos, conditioners, lotions, soaps, and every other beauty product you can think of.
Suprisingly, Tanulela did nothing wrong. She packed her bags and was ready to go in five minutes. I just KNEW something was up. I’d have to keep a close eye on her.
Finally, we were ready to go and we boarded the ferry that took us from Roo Island to the crowded Neopia Central. We had a bit of a mishap near the Rainbow Pool and almost lost Caprhicorn to another owner at the Money Tree, but we made it out alive and unscathed... if you don’t count the scrape Aroralee got on her elbow when she got shoved near the Money Tree.
But I found something out: When going to Neopia Central, be sure to always disguise painted pets. Especially expensive ones like grey or faerie.
Our next stop was Meridell. We strolled along the dirt roads, enjoying the beautiful medieval scenery, being sure to steer clear of the castle. Last time I tried telling a joke to King Scarl, he didn’t seem to enjoy it that much. I guess he doesn’t like people making fun of his weight...
As we walked farther on, we saw a large shape. As we drew closer, it appeared to be a large overgrown petpet, sleeping quite peacefully. Lupin walked up to him.
“I know who this is..” he commented.
“It’s Turmaculus. Supposedly if your petpet wakes him up, he will reward them.”
“So, let’s try it!” Tanulela said.
“You go, Lupin.” Lupin marched up to the monster with his Snicklebeast Socraties.
“How shall we wake him...” Lupin mused for a few minutes.
He finally decided to have Soctraties bang pots and pans. It worked all right. Turmy woke up with a grunt and a groan... but he didn’t seem very happy. He glared at Socraties and then with one large gulp, swallowed him up.
“SOCRATIES!” Lupin screamed. The monster grinned and opened its mouth in a wide yawn. Before any of us could stop him, Lupin leapt into his mouth after Socraties. “Hey! Lupin!” I yelled and Aroralee screamed her banshee scream again. The monster stopped mid yawn and stared at her with curious eyes, as if contemplating whether or not to eat her. its mouth was still open and through it we could see Lupin galloping towards us, Socraties on his back, looking very confused. Just as the monster was about to close its mouth Lupin leapt through it and slammed against Aroralee, completely bowling her over.
“I got him!” Lupin panted. “
Don’t EVER do that again!” I scolded him. He looked very ashamed but argued that he couldn’t leave his petpet, the best friend he’d ever had. I decided we had better leave Meridell before any more trouble came.
Next we went to Brightvale, Meridell’s next-door neighbor. Naturally, Lupin wanted to go everywhere. We visited the castle, but the king was in his library and didn’t want to be disturbed. we stopped by the scrollery but it was sold out of everything. So was the Brightvale book shop.
After that, Caprhicorn wanted to spin the wheel of Knowledge. I gave him 500 neopoints and watched.... at a distance. I knew enough from other wheels to be very careful when spinning them. Sometimes lightning or fireballs like landing among my pets and casing them much discomfort. I didn’t want that to happen to me, especially not when I had so many more places to visit.
The wheel spun. And spun. And spun some more. Finally it landed on the picture of wise King Hagan. The Draik who ran the wheel offered Caprhicorn a box and he pulled a piece of paper from it. We all stepped closer as he read aloud.
“Did you know that if you type ______ while playing Sutek’s Tomb it will reset your timer?
Caprhicorn crumpled the paper into a ball a and scowled. “Fat lot of good that will do me! like I’d ever be caught DEAD playing a game like that!” He must have been in a bad mood because he pulled out his Rubber Power Axe and started whacking at the wheel. It took me, the Draik who ran the wheel, and my three other pets to restrain him and calm him down. By that time all that was left of the wheel were a few pictures and an oily screw.
We left Brightvale rather hurriedly, much to the relief of the residents.
Next we passed through the Haunted Woods. I should have known better, really I should have. Bring Tanulela to the Haunted Woods? utter and total disaster.
“I want to go to the Deserted Fairground!” Tanulela shouted at once.
“Noooo...” I groaned. “
C’mon, Mom! Pleeeeease?” Tanulela begged. Finally... somehow... she talked me into it.
She raced ahead of us and before I could stop her she ran straight for.... the Wheel of Misfortune.
“Oh no,” I told her.
“Remember what happened at the last wheel? No way am I going to spin a wheel with THAT name!” Tanulela looked at me with big huge soft baby Ixi eyes. I don’t know why... I just can’t refuse those sweet little pink eyes. I let her spin the worst wheel of them all.
She marched up with 100 neopoints in hand and gave them to neopet in charge. Then she stepped up and pulled the skull-topped lever. I didn’t want to think what sort of creature that skull had once belonged to.
The wheel spun. And finally landed on the -Np sign. The neopet grinned evilly and said
“Argh! you just lost 80 neopoints!” I groaned. Those neopoints are precious, I tell you!
“Okay, no more. I told Tanulela. She scowled but followed as I walked rather quickly out of the Haunted Woods.
Our next stop was the Lost Desert, which isn’t really so lost anymore, but anyway.
“I hear there’s a lot of fascinating artifacts here!” Lupin said enthusiastically.
“The ruins of Qasala are supposed to be quite interesting..”
“Err, right. Well, we’re going this way.” I said quickly before Lupin could bore us all to death with his five hour long lectures on the value of broken bits of pottery and the bones of long dead kings.
We didn’t go into Sakhmet, we passed it and followed the river towards the sun. Eventually we came across an ancient palace half buried in sand.
“Hey.. I think I recognize this..” I said, memories of a nearly impossible plot including zombie mummies and fiery evil fathers and insane princes stirring inside the depths of my mind.
“Who cares? this place looks awesome!” Tanulela shouted and raced forward.
“Tan... wait!” I yelled, but she had already disappeared inside. I gritted my teeth and we followed her.
Before us was a long hallway with loads of doors. Some were oddly shaped and were brightly colored. Others had weird symbols above them.
“Hey.. this door is cool..” I said. I stepped forward towards a cool blue door.
“Um, Mom... I wouldn’t do that if I were you...” Lupin began, but I had already pushed the door open and walked inside.
Suddenly the floor disappeared below me and I was falling. I clutched wildly at the air. Somehow my hand grasped the end of a hanging rope. I held on for dear life. My pets were peering down at me from the edge of the pit I had fallen into.
“Holy Meepits, Mom! you were lucky there was that rope there!” Caprhicorn gasped. I glanced below me and gulped loudly. Ten feet before me was at least fifty sharpened sticks.
“I don’t care about luck! just get me out of here!” I hollered at my pets. Lupin frowned.
“I hope you’ve got a good grip, this might take a while...” “I don’t HAVE a while! get me right now!” I yelled. I could feel my fingers slipping.
They eventually got me up, though it took several attempts and the near death of Aroralee’s snow Kookith FatAlice, who almost ventured too near to the edge of the pit.
“At least she’s made from snow so if she gets crushed or whatever you can just make another” Caprhicorn joked. He wilted under the laser glare of Aroralee, who spent the next hour cooing and cuddling FatAlice.
When I had finally gotten my feet back on firm ground, I left the Lost Desert as quickly as possibly.
I was feeling desperate... where could I take these guys where they wouldn’t get hurt? Kreludor came to mind.
We caught the next space shuttle headed that way.
As we stepped off an orange Grundo stepped up to us.
“Hello, welcome to Kreludor! Gravity is currently 27% that of Neopia. Boing!” Aroralee grinned.
“Hey. Cool.” She jumped and flew up ten feet. Aroralee once won a pogo jumping compition. She loves jumping.
We all started to jump. I only got three feet in the air, something that amused my pets greatly.
‘No more extra servings of borovan brownies. Especially if we ever come here for vacation’ I told myself firmly. My pets were all jumping, and jumping, and jumping... when suddenly Aroralee gave an extra large jump and.... cleared the atmosphere. With dismay, I watched my pet float away into space. I ran to the nearest Grundo. It was orange. Of course.
“My pet cleared the atmosphere! can we get her back?” I asked him, ignoring the amazed looks the other Grundos were giving me. He shook his head sadly.
“Sorry, Misses, no hope to get her back now. Might I suggest you adopt a Grundo for your next pet?” I walked away with a heavy heart. Aroralee! sweet, silly Aroralee, gone with one leap.
“Come on, Mom. Let’s get back to Neopia.” Lupin steered me back to the space shuttle and the herded the other two pets into it.
“Where to now, Misses?” the Grundo piloting the shuttle asked.
“Uhm... Mystery Island.” I said randomly.
“It was Aroralee’s favorite place.” My three remaining pets gave me a sympathetically look. I just kept shaking my head in amazement. How could that to happen to ME? sure, I’ve had some bad luck, but not THAT bad!
The Grundo dropped us off at Mystery Island and we wandered along the beach. Trying to distract me, Tanulela pointed to an interesting rock formation further inland. Just as my back turned I heard a gigantic SPLASH! from just behind me. I whirled to see Aroralee splashing her way to shore.
“Aroralee! how’d you get here?” I demanded as soon as she got ashore.
“I floated for a while then the Space Faerie flew by and grabbed me. She flew me down till we were about a hundred feet above the sea and then she just dropped me.” I scowled.
“How rude!” Aroralee nodded emphatically.
“Yes. And.. Mom?”
“What is it?” I asked her.
“I think I’m going to take my Space Faerie items out of my faerie collection.” Aroralee said in a hurt voice. “Imagine! dropping ME!”
“Probably because she thought you were too fat!” Tanulela teased. Aroralee’s eyes grew wide and her lip trembled.
‘Uh oh...’ I thought as warning bells went off in my head. I had to get them out of there.. FAST before any of the natives complained about Aroralee crying. She can be very loud about such things.
“Can we go to Faerieland next?” Aroralee asked hopefully. I shrugged. Why not? it’s not like my pets could get into any trouble there with all the faeries around. How wrong I was.
“Hey! what’s that plushie doing way over here?” Caprhicorn asked. He walked up to a blue Grundo plushie with a sad frown stitched on his face.
“That’s the Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity” Lupin said, putting his scholarly voice on. “Supposedly the Discarded Magical..”
“Okay, we get it.” Tanulela said impatiently.
“It has a long name and is magical. Been there. Seen that. Got the Petpet. Can we go?”
Caprhicorn shook his head.
“Tan, you are so weird I’m not even going to talk to you.” He closed his eyes and started walking away. “Caprhicorn...” I started.
“Leave me alone!” he snapped.
“Uh.. Cappy? do you mind..”
“I SAID leave me alone!” he said angrily, but kept on walking.
“CAPRHICORN!” I yelled. Just then he walked right off the cloud and disappeared. I ran to the edge of the cloud and saw him falling... then I saw a beautiful air faerie pick him up and fly him up towards the cloud we were standing on. She set him on the cloud, waved to us, and flew away.
“Drat! I didn’t have time to get her autograph!” Aroralee muttered sadly.
I ran over to Caprhicorn and gave him a long lecture about watching where he was going and using his eyes, often being corrected by Lupin on a pronunciation or a meaning of a word.
Finally, I checked my wristhingych.
“Jeepers, it’s late!” I exclaimed.
“I think we have enough time for one more visit before we have to be done for the day. Any suggestions?” Immediately four voices cried out.
“Maraqua!” yelled Aroralee.
“Terror Mountain!” cried Caprhicorn.
“Virtupets Space Station!” Was Lupin’s suggestion. “Tyrannia!” Tanulela almost screamed.
“Woah... woah..” I said, holding up a hand.
“Let’s see... Maraqua? won’t do... it’s underwater. Terror Mountain’s too cold, and I think I’ve had enough space exploration to last a lifetime. How about Tyrannia?” I was greeted with cheerful consent from all parties.
We reached Tyrannia about an hour later thanks to a passing boat and Lupin’s wings.
I tried out several of the foods in the food shop but lost my appetite when Tanulela starting talking about what the Bronto Bites were made of.
We wandered eventually up to the Plateau and walked around, trying to sneak into the Concert Hall(without success), playing GoGoGo! and trying to get up the nerve to enter the Lair of the Beast.
While we were enjoying some free omelet we had received when I looked around and asked
“say... where’s Tanulela?” The Ixi had disappeared completely. We set off in search of her, calling her name and looking behind every rock and clump of grass we came across.
We were wandering across an empty flat place when we heard her yelling. I turned to see her galloping at full speed, chased by a herd of angry Tonus.
“Oh no... what now?” I groaned.
“TAKE COVER!” Tanulela screamed.
“They’re after me!” That was quite obvious, of course. Aroralee dived out of the way and Caprhicorn took off running in the opposite direction while Lupin took to the air. I stood rooted to the spot. Just before she was about to run be over, Tanulela dived out of the way. I was thrown to the ground and trampled my at least a zillion Tonu hoofs. Trust me, it’s not pleasant.
When they had passed, my pets came creeping up towards me.
“Hey.. Mom.. you okay?” Caprhicorn asked me. I groaned and rolled over.
“Come on. Let’s go home. It’s way safer there.”
Moral: Never stray farther then three feet from your neohome’s front door, especially if you have pets like mine. Trust me, it’s way safer at home.
Note: the author of this story has been suspended over a spike pit, had two of her pets almost killed, and has been trampled by rampaging Tonus. Unless you are planning on complementing her on her wonderfully talented writing (HA!) please.... don’t.... bother her... Especially if you’re going to throw heavy objects. *winces*
