"Wake up! Wake up!" lil_strawberriee shook me furiously, forcing me to awake
from my quiet slumber. I glanced up into the excited face of my baby strawberry
Gelert and sat up. The alarm clock read 5:42.
"Aww, Strawberriee! It's not even daylight yet! What's all the excitement
about?" She glared at me until I realised… today was her first ever Battledome
fight. She had been saving all of her Neopoints from games over the last few
weeks and had bought a Gelert tail guard and some magical snowballs just yesterday,
and now she was ready. I had set her up to fight against one of my good Neofriends
pets named Tally953, who was about the same level and strength as my little
NeoPet.
"Come on! We only have 4 hours, 18 minutes, and 49 seconds until my fight!
Hurry!" she squealed, practically yanking me out of the bed.
"Okay, okay, let's go," I laughed as I got up and about. After getting breakfast
ready I started laughing again as soon as I saw lil_strawberriee come galloping
down the stairs, her tail wagging furiously. She had slicked her fur back with
my hair gel, sharpened her claws and was currently filing them with her sister's
nail file, and there was now a black streak (as a result of shoe polish) under
each of her big brown eyes. Our family, most of us half asleep, giggled along
with her as she flexed her muscles and strutted around the room.
About three hours later we accompanied lil_strawberriee to the Battledome,
where she and Tally began stretching and getting ready. When it was time for
the fight, lil_strawberriee came up to me nervously. "Do you think I can win?"
She said doubtfully.
"I think you've got as good a chance as anybody. Besides, even if you don't,
we will still love you, sweetie. This is just a friendly match. Good luck!"
I replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead before nudging her towards the
fighting ring. She gathered her battle items and made her way towards Tally.
"On your mark, get ready… BEGIN!" a Faerie Kougra bellowed from the announcement
desk. Both pets quickly put on their armour. Strawberriee flung a poison snowball
that just missed Tally, but the poison gas coming from it was enough to make
the Usul's eyes water, giving strawberriee a chance to throw another one right
at her. Just then, Tally gave strawberriee an attack with her yellow frost cannon,
sending strawberriee flying across the stadium. Whimpering, she quickly threw
a peach snowball, but with no avail. Tally finished her off and won the fight.
"And with an 8 out of 10 hit points left, Tally953 is the winner! Tally may
come up to the front desk to collect her trophy!" the Kougra yelled.
I instantly got to my feet and ran out towards lil_strawberriee. Bruised as
she was, she slowly got to her feet and limped toward me. She may have been
hurt physically, but her pride had been hurt unbelievably more. I scooped her
into my arms and brought her straight home, her brothers and sister following
behind without speaking. After coaxing her to drink up some healing potions
and mending her scratches, I tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight. "Sweetums,
you did wonderful today. I'm proud of you." Strawberriee said nothing, but rolled
over and fell into an uneasy sleep. I flicked off the light switch and sighed.
For the next week or so lil_strawberriee rarely said a word, eating and sleeping
routinely and occasionally leaving her little bedroom. Her siblings tried to
play with her, and even Tally came over to see how she was doing, but nothing
helped. "Is she going to be okay? I didn't mean to make her so sad!" The little
Usul whimpered as lil_strawberriee slammed the door in her face yet again.
"No, no, it's not your fault, you just did what you were supposed to do. Why
don't you come over again in a couple of days?" I replied as she left. I sighed.
The next morning, I brought lil_strawberriee some NeoCrunch cereal in bed,
but was surprised to see that she was nowhere to be found. My worries ceased
when I saw a note laying on her pillow:
I have gone to go to somwhere important, and mummy pleas donot folow me.
Love,
strawberriee
Respecting her wishes, I sat on our Zen sofa and waited, reading from a book
called Koi Tales. Just as I turned the last page, I heard light footsteps quickly
running up our sidewalk. A squeal and a door-slam told me my little angel had
returned.
"I did it! Mum! I won! I won!" strawberriee squealed happily, jumping around
as if she was on fire.
"What in Neopia are you talking about, sweety? Won what?" I replied, trying
to calm her down.
"I... I won! At the Battledome! I brought all my other snowballs and my stuff
and had another fight and I did it! I won! I beat my opponent and I still have
all my hit points! I won! Hehe!" She laughed as she told me the story in detail.
I was so proud and also so very glad she came out of her glum stage. "That's
great! Where's your trophy?" I asked.
"Right here! Isn't it pretty?" She handed it to me, still smiling. The inscription
was carved on a silver plate:
Beating Punchbag Bob CHAMPION!
"I'm gonna go show Tally!" she said, running out the front door. I stood there
laughing as she skipped happily down the street.
The End |