She stalked quietly across the grass, all four ears on alert like antenna on
the radio her owner had told her about, her eyes trained on her prey, grass
stalks whispering just above her head. The sky was her favourite colour above
her head, whisper blue like her sister, and the lazy clouds floated by. The
perfect spring afternoon, but she noticed none of this. She was intent.
She could see it, farther away. It was big, but size is relative in Neopia.
She knew that to a Grarrl--like her friend Panz, perhaps--it would seem laughably
tiny.
It was far away. The dirt under her paws was dark brown, the colour of the
Brown Paint Brush she had seen in that wonderful magic store the other day.
It had been hidden back, not in its correct section--not that the store had
sections, anyway, it was all a massive jumble that she loved--as if the owner
subconsciously wanted to keep it and hid it away so no one would see it. But
she had seen it, dripping its magical brown paint into the bucket below.
But she was getting sidetracked. Now was not the time to be thinking of paint
brushes that made pets look like life size versions of the chocolate candy that
Kiko sold in his store. Now was the time to focus on... it.
She was in the middle of a large field. Long, long ago, even before there
were humans in this land, it had been used for growing crops to feed everyone.
But when the humans came they showed everyone better ways of harvesting and
getting food and they left the fields barren. Perfect for young Aishas like
herself.
She could tell she was in the middle of the field because she had passed a
big rock. When her Uni brother had flown over this field he reported that there
was a huge boulder in the middle of it. Now she knew she was getting close.
A cricket jumped across her paws and a tiny Buzz fluttered in her ear. Normally
she would be after one or the other like a Lupe chases a Chia, but her brain
barely registered the incidents. She froze in place suddenly, thinking her prey
had moved, but it had not. She waited, frozen in time, almost feeling the seconds
pass by, tick... tick... tick like her owner's grandfather clock. Intently she
watched for any sign of movement, crouched down among the rampantly growing,
unchecked grass.
Tickticktick. Finally she moved. Just an inch, but movement. She carefully
set her paw on the paint brush brown ground, tensed, moved forward. The ticktick
receded into the background. She began to move at the same pace as before.
She was coming closer to it. She could see its glint against the bright sun.
She could almost taste what it held. She sped up, not worrying about anything
anymore. She just wanted it. She was so close...
There! It was in her paws. She tapped it once, twice, and it split open. Inside
was a wonderful piece of candy and a book. She purred, picked up the candy and
looked up at her owner.
"Oh, Ryndinsha," he said, "why can't you ever eat your Neggs like ordinary
pets?"
He picked her up--she was still purring from her conquest--and began to walk
the short journey to their home in the heartland of Neopia, right outside the
field. It had been a wonderful afternoon.
The End | 
