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Our little family loved taking walks on the shores of Mystery
Island. It was where we lived, so we did that often. Usually, we went when we
suspected Mom had been at Neopia Central buying something.
It was silent, until Mom pulled something out
of her bag, making a crinkling noise.
"Mmmmm," ILoveBunnees, my mother hummed, interrupting
the silence. "Chocolate coated mint bar. A classic."
"Well, did you buy enough for all of us?" my
sister Aecadia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course," Mom smiled, pulling three more
out of her bag. "Actually, I got you three lots of treats but only one a day.
We don't want you getting Bloated Belly."
Aecadia snorted. If she had it her way, we would
eat stuff from the Bakery and Chocolate Factory all day long.
By the way, Aecadia is one of my sisters. She's
a rainbow Uni, the oldest of the three of us. But don't let her species fool
you-she's not vain at all. Well, she DOES like to spend a little more time on
her mane than she should, but don't we all sometimes?
My other sister, Aquera, is the middle sister.
She's a Faerie Peophin. I remember how long it took Mom to get Aquera that Faerie
paint brush -- she literally spent days at the Trading Post, offering tons of
rare items. Aquera was so happy when she took a dip in the Rainbow Pool and
got wings.
And me? Well, my name is cutie_bunnie. I'm a
baby Cybunny, which is funny because I'm the 'baby' of the family. As soon as
magic of the Rainbow Pool allowed Cybunnies to become baby, Mom actually went
to the Hidden Tower, talked to the Faerie Queen herself and got me a baby paint
brush. I knew it had cost a lot of Neopoints (and a lot of time to FIND the
Hidden Tower!), so I was eternally grateful.
"Mom?" Aecadia suddenly asked, interrupting
my thoughts. "Can we go to the Battledome? I really, really, really want to
get the Pant Devil back for stealing my hairbrush." (Okay, so maybe Aecadia
IS a little vain.)
Mom smiled. "Of course. Let's find a boat to
Neopia Central. I want to do some browsing anyway."
"Can we stop at Faerieland?" Aquera begged,
her wings flapping. "I have a green job coupon. I want to find a job."
"Sure," Mom smiled again. "You can just fly
up there now, it's not far away. Just come back home when you've completed the
job… unless you want to buy yourself something with the Neopoints you make,"
she added in slyly. Aquera laughed, but didn't think that was a bad idea. She
said goodbye, took a head start on the sand, and flew into the air, her fin
flapping behind her.
We managed to catch the next ferry to Neopia
Central. On the way, Aecadia couldn't stop talking about her upcoming battle.
I stayed silent while she did so.
"Okay, so I've got my grand lightening beam…
hmmm… and my rainbow frost cannon… should I get some snowballs? Maybe a Battlecard…
hmmm… no, nope… ummm…" Finally I couldn't take it.
"Aecadia, PLEASE be quiet," I said through gritted
teeth. "I can't enjoy the ocean with you muttering to yourself."
Aecadia looked taken aback, but she shut her
mouth and looked at the floor. I could feel Mom's eyes boring into my head,
wondering what was going on with me.
The truth was, I wanted Aecadia to shut up because
I was jealous. I really had nothing. I mean, nothing I was GOOD at, something
that made me stand out. Sure, I was the baby, but so what? Aecadia was good
at battling (she had the highest Battledome score in the family) and Aquera
was great in the Employment Agency. She could complete a job at top speed and
get lots of Neopoints for us to put in the bank.
I wasn't really good at anything. Mom gave all
of the good Battledome equipment to Aecadia, so I couldn't be a good fighter
(Aecadia had the best stats, anyway, since she was the oldest). Any job coupon
we actually managed to get our hands on was Aquera's.
Finally, my sad mood was uplifted when we got
to Neopia Central. Aecadia trotted off to the Battledome, saying she was going
to "get that piece of blue underwear good". Mom waved her off.
"Come on cutie_bunnie," she said. "I have about
two thousand Neopoints with me, maybe the Bakery will have something."
"Yeah," I sighed sadly.
"Aw, what's wrong?" Mom asked, looking concerned.
She didn't give me a chance to explain, but reached into her bag and pulled
out a choco-strawberry muffin.
"Especially for you," she winked, handing the
treat to me.
I smiled. "Thanks Mom," I said before stuffing
the muffin in my mouth.
"Now let's shop," she said, grabbing my paw
and leading me through a sea of other pets and owners.
We stopped in the Toy Shop, and Mom decided
we needed more deluxe coloring pencils. She picked a set off from the shelf
and started haggling with the Lupe shopkeeper.
I smiled. Mom was the best haggler. She could
get something for half the Neopoints it was priced at, and it helped she had
a discount card.
Mom insisted we go into the Chocolate Factory
after the deluxe coloring pencils were safely in her bag. We left an annoyed
Lupe shopkeeper and went into what Aecadia thinks is the greatest shop since
the Book Store.
"Oooo more chocolate coated mint bars," Mom
said, squirming through the crowd. I hopped along the floor, picking up things
people dropped.
"Mom!" I cried, waving a mint bar someone had
dropped. "I have one! Let's just buy it!"
"No way," she laughed, taking the candy from
me. "We are so haggling."
I sighed and rested my chin in my paws while
my mother and the Kiko shopkeeper argued quite loudly over a piece of chocolate.
Finally, my mother won and grinned, leading
me out of the shop.
"I think we have enough chocolate coated mint
bars to last us until the month of Celebrating," she laughed, taking a bite.
"C'mon, let's go to the Battledome. Aecadia should be finished with her battle."
We walked over, and sure enough, Aecadia was
standing outside looking positively excited.
"Mom mom mom mom mom mom!" she cried in one
breath. "Look! I won the battle and the Pant Devil gave me back my hairbrush
AND some hair gel AND five hundred Neopoints!" she squealed. "Can I go to the
Chocolate Factory, please, please, puh-leeze?!" she begged, obviously wanting
to spend her winnings.
Mom laughed. "Sure, but we were just there.
They might be out of stock."
"I'll wait, I can just fly home. See ya!" she
grinned, trotting off.
My eyes filled with tears, but Mom didn't notice
because Aquera came swooping down from the sky.
"Hi you guys!" she exclaimed. "Look, I got a
really easy job that paid me one thousand Neopoints!" she grinned. "Here, you
can put seven hundred and fifty in the bank," she said, shoving a bag at Mom.
"But I want to spend some. Can I go and buy some stuff?"
"Sure," Mom said again. "Aecadia's also wandering
around the shops; you guys stick together and then fly home - I want you both
back by seven," she warned.
"Okay!" Aquera smiled, running off.
After Aquera was gone, I started to cry, like
when nothing happened at Coltzan's Shrine. A few pets looked up and raised their
eyebrows, but didn't do anything because Mom was already trying to soothe me.
"What is it cutie_bunnie?" she asked, concerned.
She gave me a hug.
I never had told Mom how I felt about my sisters,
but I guess now was the time.
"I'm not good at anything," I hiccupped. "Aecadia
is good at the Battledome and Aquera is always getting jobs at Faerieland. They
always bring back Neopoints for the bank and everyone's always complimenting
them. I'm just not good at anything!" I cried some more, and Mom let the tears
stream down my face.
"Oh cutie_bunnie," Mom sighed. "Everyone's good
at something. You just haven't found out what you're good at yet."
"What if I never do?" I muttered into her shoulder.
"You will," she smiled, stroking my fur. "And
if you don't, well, you're good at being you."
"Everyone's good at being themselves," I mumbled,
wiping my eyes.
Mom shook her head. "Haven't you ever noticed?
A lot of pets always try to make themselves sound better than they are. They
lie about their stats, they pretend they're millionaires when they're hoping
to find Neopoints on the floor, and a lot of pets don't know who they are. But
you're honest, and you're not afraid to show Neopia just who you are."
I smiled. "Aw, mom. That's not true."
"Of course it is, I'm your mother so it has
to be right," she grinned. "And I'm sure other people who aren't your mother
would say the same thing - cutie_bunnie, you're one of a kind, no matter how
many Baby Cybunnies there are.
"Now come on," she said before I could thank
her. "Let's go home. These chocolate coated mint bars are starting to melt."
The End
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