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A group of four pets and their owner, a preteen named Wolfyu,
prowled about in Meri Acres farms. The oldest of the pets was a male white Zafara,
whose name was Metthuselah, alias: Methie. Actually, the oldest happened to be
a Christmas Pteri, whom Wolfyu had adopted after creating Methie. Her name was
Loquindi, and she had no nickname. The other two pets were a male shadowed Lupe,
Legnomolla, or "Legno", and an electric Eyrie named Piumala.
The group walked along the dusty dirt paths
until they reached the "Pick-your-own" section of Meri Acres. Wolfyu and her
pets approached the scruffy looking lean yellow Gelert that ran the fields.
Before any of the five could say anything the Gelert began to speak, "Ye must
be here for 'Pick-your-own'. Fork over two hundred Neopoints and ye'll be in…"
Methie was carrying the Neopoints on this particular
visit and went ahead and "forked them over" to the Gelert. "Now, kiddies, remember
that ye can only have six items in these--"
Loquindi cut off the Gelert as she hurried to
catch up with a slightly overeager Legno, "We know, sir. Thanks anyway, though."
The pair dashed off. Wolfyu looked at the Gelert,
who was rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Uh… sorry for Loquindi's rude behavior,
she won't do it again," Wolfyu said apologetically. "S'okay, girlie, now get
'long and pick yer berries…"
As the remaining three tread into the fields,
Piumala whispered to Methie, "She's supposed to be the oldest, correct?"
Wolfyu and Methie rounded the group up into
a clearing and stated the rules of that day's berry pick. "Okay, all of you
will pick one berry each -- it doesn't matter what kind it is, you can only
pick ONE." She glared at Legnomolla, who had at one time picked thirteen berries.
"I'll pick two so there's no confusion. Now, let the berry picking begin!"
The family split up in different directions,
each looking for the largest and plumpest berries. Loquindi spread her wings
and lifted her small body above the fields. She looked down upon all of the
other pets foraging for the delicious fruits while trying to spot a bush with
her favorite kind of berry: The Pusberry. She looked to her left and spotted
a dark green berry bush. Without another thought she flew down towards the bush
to claim what she hoped was her favorite berry.
Legno walked along the first row of bushes,
looking left and right. He tried to catch the scent of a Red Chia Berry bush,
but couldn't find one. Cocking a black eyebrow in frustration, he continued
along the row.
Piumala followed Wolfyu down a long row of bushes,
often feeling security with her owner, since she was the youngest, though largest,
of them all. She was looking for Voidberrys, since she loved the galactic look
on them. Wolfyu was looking for nothing in general, just for the ripest that
she could find.
Metthuselah on the other hand, went far into
the fields, quickly finding himself in the center of all of the numerous rows.
Now, which way to go? he thought to himself, trying to think of where
he had found his favorite berry (the Juicy Berry) the last time he and his family
had gone berry picking. He headed west towards a small stream that ran through
the farm, stopping when he found a bush that fit his liking.
Looks like no one's touched this bush for
a while, thought Methie, eyeing all of the large Juicy Berries hanging from
the bush. Which one should I choose?
Using his scent of smell he scented out
which of the berries would be the tastiest for dinner. He laid his eyes on the
largest of the bunch and he smiled and inhaled the delicious scent. He reached
his arms out to pluck the berry from its stem, but before he could reach the
berry he noticed a small yellow glow emitting from under a leaf. He backed up
and then stuck his head into the bush to get a closer look at the strange glow.
He blew away a stray leaf and thought
he saw a cork, but before he could investigate further, he heard a rustle in
the bushes behind him. He pulled his head out of the Juicy Berry bush quick
enough to see that Loquindi was Perched directly behind him on a log. He mentally
sighed with relief and greeted the Pteri, "Hi, sis, why are you over here? You
never come over here."
"I found my berry already," Loquindi
said, holding up a normally sized Pus Berry. Methie smiled and turned back to
the bush.
"Well, I think I've found something, but
it's not a berry…"
"What do you mean, Methie?" Loquindi
questioned. "There's usually nothing but berries on Meri Acres Farm."
"Well, there's this glow, and it's definitely
not a berry. Want to help me look?"
"Sure. Just let me put this berry in
this log so no one takes it… there, done. I'm coming!"
The siblings both jumped to the bush and
began pushing their way through. With a squawk of disgust, Loquindi came upon
an old boot and brushed it out of the way with her wing. Methie was edging towards
the golden glow with determination stamped all over his face. Loquindi soon
caught up with him and watched as her brother swept away the remaining leaves
that were blocking their view…
Methie's eyes widened as he saw what was
emitting the light. It was a bottled Faerie, a Light Faerie. Loquindi was shocked
as well. Neither had ever seen such a thing, yet they had both heard of them
from stories and from Wolfyu. Methie tried hard to keep his surprise under control
but to no avail. He looked over to Loquindi and smiled, "Have you ever seen
one?!"
Loquindi was astonished, but replied,
"Heard of 'em, but this is my first time seeing one. Think we should take it
back to Wolfyu to have her take a look at it?"
"Yeah, that's the best idea, I think.
I wonder how she'll react? She's never found one. At least, I don't think she
has…"
With that last comment the white Zafara
carefully lifted the glowing object from the ground and the siblings backed
out of the bush. When back in the sunlight they took a look inside the bottle.
It was very hard to make out what was
inside since it was still glowing even in the bright sunlight. Methie held out
the bottle under the shade of a nearby tree and Loquindi was able to make out
a tiny human figure residing inside the corked bottle. The Christmas Pteri looked
at her brother and said, "It's a Light Faerie."
Methie nodded in understanding and handled
the bottle more carefully, as he now knew that a living, breathing thing was
inside of it. He looked over at Loquindi, "Grab your berry and let's go. I'll
get mine later."
Loquindi flapped her wings in agreement
and snatched her Juicy Berry from inside of the log where she had put it earlier.
The two pets made their way down the row of plants and began a lookout for Wolfyu.
After fifteen minutes of watching for
their owner, Loquindi and Metthuselah sat down to think of an easier way to
find the preteen. Methie came up with the first idea. "Loquindi, you can fly,
so why don't you fly way up there and see if you can spot Wolfyu. Also see if
you can find Legno or Piumala, we can ask them if they've seen her at all. I'll
watch the berries and this Light Faerie."
Loquindi nodded at her brother's excellent
planning and took off from the ground. Though not the largest of Pterii, she
was extremely fast in the air, and was soon high enough to see the entire farm
of Meri Acres. She scanned the rows and rows of berry bushes below and soon
spotted a light and dark blue Eyrie pelt. Following her sight, she saw that
Wolfyu was standing along side her sister, the Eyrie. Loquindi smiled and took
a moment to pinpoint her owner and sister's location before diving back down
to her brother.
Landing on the ground with a small puff
of dust from the dry dirt, she hopped over to Methie, her brown, red, and white
plumage billowing with the wind.
"I spotted Wolfyu and Piumala somewhat
south of here, Methie! But I didn't see Legno at all. I wonder where he is?"
she chirped.
"That doesn't matter right now, Loquindi,
we have to find Wolfyu and show her this," he motioned to the Faerie. "Now,
let's go find them before we loose them again."
The pair dashed off in the southern direction,
searching for their owner and sibling. Soon along the path Wolfyu's brown hair
came into sight, as did Piumala's wings.
"Should we call out to them?" Loquindi
asked.
"No, we might attract someone else's
unwanted attention…" Metthuselah glared over his shoulder to a Kacheek who had
just stolen a rare berry from a Usul's basket. Loquindi understood when Methie
motioned toward the Kacheek. "I'll just fly over to them and tell them that
we're over here. Is that okay?"
"Yes. That's best."
"Okay, here I go." And Loquindi took
off once again.
She landed close to Wolfyu's basket and
shouted to announce her presence, "Wolfyu! Piumala!"
The two being called for looked over to
the shouting Pteri. Wolfyu said, "What is it, Loquindi? Swallow a bug?"
The Pteri closed her eyes in frustration.
"No, I did not swallow a bug. I would like it if I swallowed a bug. I'm here
to say that Methie and I have found something and we need you to look at it."
"Ahh, okay. C'mon Piumala, let's go see
what they found."
The electric Eyrie quickly caught up with
her owner and followed. Loquindi hopped a few paces ahead of Wolfyu in order
to show her the way to Methuselah.
Methie sighed in relief when he saw his
sister appear around the corner. He dashed up to her and was even more excited
when he saw Wolfyu and Piumala appear. Hopping up to Wolfyu he announced, "Wolfyu,
Wolfyu! Look what I've found here!"
"What is it, Methie?" Wolfyu said, calmly.
Methie held up the bottle and light Faerie. Wolfyu's eyes lit up, "Hey, wow!
Where'd you find this?"
"Well, I would say that a little birdie
told me, but actually a little birdie helped me. I found it in a bush when I
was looking for berries. Loquindi helped me find you guys."
"This is a very great find. Do you know
what happens to a pet who finds a trapped Faerie?" Wolfyu asked. Metthuselah
shook his head. "The pet gets blessed with a Faerie ability."
Methie, Piumala, and Loquindi couldn't
help but smiling. This was their first time doing anything like this. They were
about to question their owner more when Legnomolla came romping through the
bushes carrying the largest Chia Berry on the farm. "Oheyo, what's up?" he shouted,
his normal greeting being his own made up word, 'Oheyo'. Then he saw the glowing
Faerie, "Oh, I guess that's what's up!" He trotted over to his siblings and
sat down.
Loquindi giggled at her brother before
again settling down to pay attention to Wolfyu, who had began to speak again,
"Since Methie found this Light Faerie, do you think that he should open the
bottle?"
All of the pets nodded quickly, Methie's
being the most enthusiastic. Wolfyu handed him the bottle and he took it from
her.
He placed his hands warmly around the
bottle and uncorked it, sending light bursting from the opening of the bottle.
All eyes that were watching the event were wide with wonder. The Light Faerie
bounded out of the bottle and did a small flip in the air. It turned it's tiny
head towards Metthuselah's fuzzy white one. The Faerie smiled and said, "Thank
you for releasing me. I grant you the ability to use a Magic Torch."
With that comment Methie began glowing
a bright yellow and a magical energy rushed through him, triggering the power
to use the torch. Methie smiled when the light had faded but found that the
Faerie had gone. He turned his head back towards his siblings and smiled, "Well,
that was my first blessing."
Wolfyu, Piumala, Loquindi, and Legno couldn't
help but smile for the Zafara, and, after Methie had gathered one berry, a Juicy
Berry of course, the family walked home, feeling that all of them had been blessed
that day by Metthuselah's experience.
The End
Author's Note: Metthuselah, Legnomolla, Piumala, and Loquindi are real
pets belonging to me. Compliments or Constructive Criticism is welcome. ;)
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