"Hee hee hee he he he he ha ha ha ho ho ho hee ho hee hee..." the ecstatic
Poogle laughed a hysterical laugh. At last, she had completed her collection
of Usukis. Every single Usuki. From the cheap Mermaid Usuki to the priceless
Grundo Independence Usuki.
"Now that I have all the Usukis and all their sets and accessories, what should
I collect? I have all the PetPet and NeoPet paint brushes, dozens of each Codestone,
dozens of the faeries, the novas, the Motes, and all the candies. What else
is left? Doughnuts? Nahhh, too fattening. Slushies? Hmmm. Nope. Too easy to
collect. Something challenging. Hidden Tower items? Nah. The Faerie Queen's
nice enough, but her restock times are so inconvenient sometimes! Besides, I
have all of them..."
Before she could finish her private debate, Joni was interrupted with a thunderous
yell. "JOOONNNIIII!!!!!!!!"
"Uh oh" was all Joni could say as she turned her head and faced her reflection
in the mirror. Flying with her faerie wings, she raced down the stairs to the
first floor, where her owner stood holding handfuls of paper in her hand, while
punching buttons on a calculator.
"Yes, mum?" Joni asked sweetly with a forced smile.
"Don't sweet talk me, young lady! This month, no this week, no today, you
have spent more Neopoints than most Neopians spend all year! Over a million
Neopoints used on USUKIS?!?!?!? What were you thinking? Last time you spent
all those Neopoints on Motes, and I don't think I need to continue! Do you think
that Neopoints grow on trees?!?"
"Well--" Joni began.
"Don't mention the money tree! We may be somewhat rich, but you should still
control your spending! If you don't how will you ever adapt if we lose our Neopoints
or something? So, I am taking your privilege of going to my bank account and
taking out Neopoints for a week. Let's see if you can control your spending!
Please sweetie, you have to spend a lot less!" Rosie exclaimed, taking a deep
breath.
"But... but... but..." was all Joni could manage to say before bursting into
tears and flying to her room. She didn't look at the new furniture and decorations
on the second floor as se zoomed by into the third floor, which was her personal
level.
Yes, this was one rich Poogle. Her owner knew how to play games and had great
strategy in the Stock Market. But Joni took advantage of this and so shopped
her heart out. Yet shopping was not her only love. She would train daily so
her stats were unbelievably high and used the best weapons when fighting. (Joni
also had a complete collection of weapons) Now, back to the story.
Joni hiccupped as she sniffled. "Mum's being unreasonable. Look at my room.
(A collection of 10 rooms was her "room") It's practically empty! I NEED more
items! What is she thinking? She's being unreasonable! I'm going to go for a
fly. Come on, Fairfair. (Her faerie blibble) Let's go."
So out the window they went, soaring in the clouds over Faerieland. Waving
to some of their friends and neighbors, they had a blast and Joni felt much
better. That is, until she crashed into Fire Shoyru. They collided in midair
and began to fall. Luckily, Fairfair and unknown Airax caught them and with
much struggle lowered them safely on a cloud. Then they sat on their foreheads
and made sounds while pecking at their cheeks. Finally, Joni opened her eyes
and saw a male Shoyru rubbing his eyes and head. She gave a little scream and
almost fell off the cloud while backing away. The Shoyru gave her a look before
bursting out in laughter. Looking at her response, the Poogle couldn't help
giggling and started rolling on her back, holding her stomach.
"What's your name?" the Shoyru asked.
"Joni. What's yours?" she answered.
"FieryDragon101010, Fiery or FieryDragon for short. Nice to, erm, meet you,"
Fiery replied with a grin.
Joni couldn't help but smile back. "Come on, I'll treat you to some snacks.
Do you like Faerie foods?"
"Um, I've heard of it, but I've never tried it before..." Fiery said sheepishly.
"You've never had Faerie food? Well, come on! Let's go! And afterwards, you
wanna go to the Faerie Library and read some books? I love it there!"
"Sure! You'll have to lead the way, though. It's my first time in Faerieland,"
FieryDragon said, relaxing a bit. "Oh, by the way, this is Soarsaur. My little
sister named him." His smile drooped a little at that remark but he recovered
quickly.
"This is FairFair. They seem to be getting along well," Joni remarked as the
two PetPets played tag in the clouds. Then the two flew off into Faerie City.
They had a great time. Eating Faerie Mellows, Earth Faerie Brownies, Flaming
Faerie Pizza and who knows what. Then they read dozens of books at the Book
Shop and read certain passages they found interesting to each other. It was
a great day and Joni forgot all about her NP "Problems". Fiery walked her home
since the clouds were getting crowded as pets flew home for the night.
"Won't you be late getting home?" Joni inquired.
"Huh? Oh, no. I won't be late," Fiery answered. But Joni saw the change in
his expression.
"I know we met just today, but is something wrong?" Joni asked with a caring
smile.
"No. Nothing's wrong. I'm doing fine. Thanks anyway," Fiery answered. By then
they reached Joni's house. She invited him in and he gladly accepted her invitation.
He seemed to be in awe of his surroundings. Never had he seen such splendor.
Rosie, recovered since the bill incident, greeted Joni and Fiery with a smile
and a brief introduction before disappearing into her study. Joni gave Fiery
a brief tour of her home before realising the time and told him he should hurry
home. His face darkened as she asked about his home. He took Joni by the paw
and led her to a Kauvara's couch. He began to tell her his story.
"You see, my former owner was never rich. He scrimped and saved but all he
could ever afford for me was a Fire paint brush and he won my Airax from the
Wheel of Mediocrity. He eventually gave up since he thought he had no talent
in games and quests. He fed my sister, AishaGirl101010, and I with his last
Neopoints then he disowned us. I tried to stick with my sister, but someone
adopted her because they liked her White coat. I was so brokenhearted that I
stopped eating and my appearance was so haggard that people didn't even feel
pity for me. Finally, I escaped because even Dr_Death felt sorry for me. Yeah,
even painted pets can not get adopted sometimes! So, I've been flying around,
eating omelets and whatever I can find to survive. I was exploring all the places
in Neopia. I met nice people, but none of them really wanted to adopt me, so,
here I am!"
Joni was shocked at his story. This new friend she made. He was homeless and
poor! Yet he was still happy, even without items and Neopoints and a big gorgeous
mansion! She leaned over and hugged him before dragging him to go talk to her
owner.
*A FEW MONTHS LATER*
Fiery breathed in deeply before ringing the doorbell to a NeoHome on Terror
Mountain. A little Faerie Aisha opened the door and peered out. Her
eyes shone as she saw her older brother but she was still filled with uncertainty.
"Fierfire?" she whispered.
"Shagirl?" he replied.
There was no need for words as the two hugged each other. Joni watched a ways
back and her eyes filled with tears. There was not that great a need for Neopoints
when you had friends and family.
"Well, I won't shop for anything other than the necessary from now on. Well,
other than books. I haven't finished by collection--" Joni was interrupted by
a huge hug from her owner as she mumbled, "I was KIDDING..."
The End | 
