"Bye!" Zippo cried, waving his stubby arms furiously.
"See ya later!" Fly_Gurl was beating her wings, and jumping around excitedly.
"Mom! Mom! Mo-o-o-m!!!" Zippo was tugging relentlessly at my pant leg, a habit
he hadn't grown out of. "Can we go play Cheat? Can we can we can we?"
"I don't know... I was kind've saving money for souvenirs..."
"Ah, come on Mom," Fly_Gurl began flatteringly, "You know you're the best NeoCheat
player in all of Neopia!" Hard to argue with that.
I walked suavely into the gambling room, my NeoPets walking in a preppy gait
behind me.
"Oh! Who have we here?" A green Nimmo was seated at the Cheat table, along
with a Grarrl, and an Elephante. I took a seat, lay 50 Neopoints with a smack
on the table, and said smoothly, "Bring it on!"
I ended up winning 300 Neopoints and feeling pretty proud of myself. By the
time I had won three times and lost twice, we were at Terror Mountain.
"Okay!" I called, "Fly_Gurl, get your coat! You too, Zippo!" I laced myself
up, and descended down to the shore.
The air was cool and crisp. It nipped at my nose, turning it rosy. "Snow Faeries!"
Zippo cried, and he flew into a mound of snow headfirst. He moved his arms up
and down, legs back and forth. He stood up, admiring his handiwork.
I was laughing, wondering where Fly_Gurl was, until something cold and wet
slammed into my ear. "Oh..." I grinned and turned to face Fly_Gurl. "You wanna
play, do ya?" I scooped up a handful of snow, formed it into a perfect ball,
and launched it at Fly_Gurl. She dodged mine but was hit by a nearby pet owner.
He was laughing, until his Pteri landed one on the seat of his pants. Then,
his two pets and my two pets teamed up, as did the boy and I. We were soon all
a mass of freezing, wet forms, laughing hysterically till we were all so exhausted
to move any longer and collapsed into the soft snow. I made a snow Faerie and
hopped up, laughing.
The boy got up too, and he hugged his Pteri and Blumaroo lovingly. My two NeoPets
were hungry, so I said good-bye and thanks for a great time to the boy and asked
a passing Poogle where I could get some good food.
"Well, the Chia couple that's having a garage sale were kindhearted souls,
and would gladly give you and your NeoPets a good meal."
"Thank you!" I said. The Poogle nodded and hurried away, shouting to his friend.
"Come on you guys, let's go find these garage-sale Chias."
We did find the house... or, igloo... half frozen and wet to the bone from
walking over thin ice covered by snow.
"Oh, you poor dears!" The female Chia cried. "Of course I'll feed you poor
souls! You can call me Carassa. Now just come on in and warm yourselves!"
We lunged into the igloo, and huddled in front of the fire.
"How can you stand it here?" I took a sip of my hot cocoa and wrapped my blanket
tighter around me and watched the bustling Chia.
"Well, we can't anymore. My husband and I are having a garage sale to get rid
of all the junk we don't need in the closet, and moving somewhere warm."
"Like Krawk Island?" Zippo's face was covered in chocolate from the warm chocolate
chip cookies he had just eaten.
"Heaven's no!" Carassa cried. "A bunch of no-good pirate scum-bags there! I
wouldn't be able to sleep at night!"
"Neopia Central is nice," Fly_Gurl offered.
"Well, maybe. Any place is nice as long as we're away from here... away from
that Ghost Lion that's always around..."
"I'd move too!" I wasn't nervous anymore. I had read into the Ghost Lion,
and it was said he doesn't attack the pets that are loved for greatly. That
was an understatement for the relationship between my NeoPets and me. "Well,
I'd think we'd better go. We've still got skiing to do!" I stood up and thanked
the Chia.
"No problem! If you need a place to stay, come to us and we'll give you a room
on the double! Mika won't be gone long, and I know he'll understand..."
My NeoPets and I were in high spirits as we headed towards the Alpine Challenge.
Zippo was dancing along behind me as I paid for ski rental, and Fly_Gurl beat
her wings quickly.
I loaded the two on the ski lift, me between them. My excitement grew as we
began moving upward, and I looked over to Zippo. He was pressed up against my
side, and held my arm tightly. I whispered that I wouldn't let him fall and
turned to Fly_Gurl. She, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying herself.
She was leaning over the side, eyes wide as the lift slowly took us upward to
the sky. Once she almost fell, but I grabbed her in time. I held her against
the back of the seat after that.
When we finally got the top, Zippo lunged off and stood waiting for us. Fly_Gurl
seemed disappointed to get off, but I wasn't. I had begun to feel nauseous.
I strapped on my NeoPet's skis, and then did mine. Zippo was hovering above
the ground, making whooshing noises as he flew around. Fly_Gurl desperately
tried to stand up, and I hurried over to steady her. Finally, we were ready.
Standing at the top of Terror Mountain, looking at the small slope we would
be skiing down, I began to get nervous. We had chosen the easiest course...
due to the fact none of us had ever skied(except in the brief lesson we were
given before we started). I gulped, knowing as the owner, I would have to go
first... or, thinking that. I was about to start as Zippo burst forward, shooting
a blast of wet snow in my face.
"Weeee!!!" he cried, poles up as he sped down the mountain.
"Zippo!" I cried, and jumped desperately forward after my NeoPet.
The cold mountain air rushed past my face as I glided down the smooth hill.
Fly_Gurl was at my side, but she swerved quickly to the right and into me as
she followed Zippo into surrounding trees. I was knocked off balance, and fell
to the ground, my leg hitting something hard. There was a sickening crack, and
a roaring pain spread up my leg. Then everything went black.
To be continued... | 
