The light outside of Griffiane's window streamed in and
Atreyu, NeverForgetGriffiane's Airax, squawked at 9 am sharp. It wasn't that
he was trained to do this; it was just that Bailey, the Christmas Anubis, would
come in, with a Pepito on his back, and chase Atreyu. The poor Airax would be
chased from his perch on Griffiane's Curvy Zen Drawer to all over the house.
Griffiane never paid this much mind. He would wake up, give a good stretch,
shake out his rump, and go pick up his prized Gold Brush and brush his glistening
purple fur in front of his Zen Mirror.
Griff's morning was normal, until he put his
paw on top of his Zen Drawer for his prized Gold Brush, which was no longer
there. He screamed and looked instantly out his window where a blue-black ghoul
ran off cackling, waving the brush in the air.
"Shaduin!" Griffiane wailed. The form of the
Shadow Usul appeared through the floor.
"What do you want O, God of All Ugly?" The Usul
hissed in her mild accent. She disliked Griffiane; he was far too vain for the
deceased Usul's taste.
"You were supposed to keep those evil people
out of the NeoHome! Now my brush is gone!" Griffiane cried and collapsed on
his Zen Couch, sobbing.
The Shadow Usul, also known as Shaduin, glanced
out the window. "Ah, so now I see what has happened." She shrugged. "It is just
a brush, you can get a new one."
"But it isn't just a brush, Shady! It's my baby!"
Griff screeched. "I've had it since I was barely even an hour old… MissingMoonstruk
and I traded my Improved Lightning Beam with her Gold Brush. I can't bear to
part with it!" The Eyrie continued to sob uncontrollably on his couch as the
Usul stood and watched, amused.
"Why don't you just follow the Pant Devil, find
his lair, and steal back you precious brush," the Usul suggested. Creating
a shadowy nail file, she leaned against his bed and began to file the indistinguishable
nails on her front left paw.
The purple Eyrie's head snapped up. "I've got
it! I'll just follow the Pant Devil, find his lair, and steal my brush back!
I'm a genius!" Griff cried and jumped up from the couch, his paw in the air.
The Usul stopped filing for a moment to look
up at him. "It may say that on your pet look up, but I don't think it can be
proven."
***
Griffiane breathed in the sweet air of the outdoors and sighed it out. He
had a brand new dark purple designer jacket on with matching boots and scarf.
"Ah! What a beautiful day!"
"Griffiane!" GryphonSong, Griffiane's owner,
called from down the hall. "I'm missing almost all my Neopoints! Do you know
what - Griff?" But it was too late, the Eyrie was off. He skipped down the road
as Atreyu, his Airax, fluttered, as nervous as a Whoot, at his side. The Airax's
eyes darted this way and that and his frayed feathers were left on the street,
as he seemed to sweat them out.
"I don't think we should be doing this!" He
squawked, he voice barely eloquent.
Of course, Griffiane being who he is, the nervous
Atreyu was ignored. The Eyrie had walked for quite some time and ended up from
the top of Terror Mountain to the edge of Happy Valley. The Eyrie sighed. "I
don't know where to look and I'm so tired... However, my feet are as comfortable
as ever! With these designer Neoi boots, I could walk forever!"
I hope he's not going to start screaming advertisements
again... Atreyu thought sadly as he looked at his stylish owner.
"Excuse me, sir, but what is it that you are
looking for?" A cold looking striped Eyrie in a faded green scarf asked Griffiane
softly. "If you'd like, I could let you warm up in my slushie shop."
Griffiane raised an eyebrow. "Me? But you are
so... So very unstylish! I only mingle with the people who are of the highest
style."
Atreyu sighed and buried his head in his wing
before writing in the snow:
Sorrie!
Kan I be your pet?
The striped Eyrie looked at the pleading Airax
quizzically. "Are you taking care of your petpet well enough?" she asked.
Griffiane stopped rambling and even looked surprise.
"Petpet? What...? Oh! Petpet!" He laughed nervously. "Of course, he's very happy
with me, aren't you A... A... Achooyu!"
"Bless you," the Eyrie said.
"No, no! That's his name!" Griffiane explained
angrily. The striped Eyrie looked puzzled. "His name is..."
"Atreyu!" Atreyu squawked. "Atreyu!"
"I thought you said his name was Achooyu,"
the striped Eyrie asked with a raised brow.
"Bless you," he said and then suddenly
froze as he saw the Pant Devil sneaking stealthily outside of the striped Eyrie's
slushie shop. "The Pant Devil! He's the one who stole my brush!" Griffiane yelled
and ran towards the evil creature.
The Pant Devil simply cackled at the Eyrie and
pulled out a recently stolen lightning beam and aimed it at the Eyrie. Griffiane
yelped and dodged the beam, but only by mere inches. The Eyrie swiped out a
paw at the Pant Devil, but it only went through him. The ghoul chuckled again
before launching himself at Griffiane and slamming him down with the lightning
beam, pointing it at his head.
"All I wanted was my brush!" the Eyrie screeched.
"It's obvious," the Pant Devil hissed. "Your
fur looks terrible."
Griffiane cried out in anguish, not at his physical
dilemma, but at the Pant Devil's biting words.
Just as the Devil was about to fire his beam,
there was a squawk and a swoosh of misplaced air as a brown streak shot through
the sky. Atreyu snatched the lightning beam from the Pant Devil's dark hands,
gained altitude and aimed in one swift movement.
The Pant Devil left the Eyrie and backed away,
fearful of the little petpet. "Put your hands up!" Griffiane ordered for the
Airax. "Heehee... I've always wanted to say that..." He giggled as the Pant
Devil raised his arms shakily. "Empty out your bag, Devil!"
The Pant Devil sighed and emptied out his sack.
Out fell slushies, various styles of underpants, plushies, a purple Slorg and,
last but not least, a Gold Brush. Griffiane cried out in glee as he grabbed
the brush greedily and kissed its handle. The slushie shop Eyrie jumped forward
and collected her slushies, sticking her tongue out at the Pant Devil (whether
that was intentional or not, we may never know).
Just as Griffiane was about to let Atreyu shoot
the Pant Devil, a boy in a bathrobe ran out from nowhere. "My underpants!" he
cried and grabbed a handful of the underpants before scampering away. The Pant
Devil used this moment to gather the rest of his belongings, including the poor
little Slorg, and fleeing.
Griffiane clucked his beak. "And we could have
stopped the Pant Devil from stealing items forever..." He sighed, but his mind
was quickly altered as he remembered the brush cradled in his hands and began
fiercely hugging and kissing it.
***
The next morning, Griffiane was awoken by Atreyu's terrified squawk. However,
instead of ignoring it, he jumped up and screeched at the invading petpets.
The Anubis and the Pepito bounded away in fear, whimpering. Griffiane then stretched
and shook his rump. He motioned for Atreyu to come down from his perch and the
Airax reluctantly obeyed. Griffiane pulled a small safe out of his Zen Drawer
and carefully opened it to take out his Gold Brush. The two avians stood in
front of the Zen Mirror and Griffiane carefully brushed his fur and styled his
mane. He made a quick pose before reaching down and carefully brushing the little
Airax. Atreyu was so surprised he couldn't even squawk.
Once he was done, Griffiane gently set down
the brush and posed in front of the mirror. "Hey, baby. How are you doing?"
Atreyu squawked in reply as he flitted around,
taking a look at his freshly groomed feathers at every angle.
"Oh! Aren't you gorgeous!" Griffiane drawled
and changed his pose in an attempt to look suave.
I leaned against the door frame with GryphonSong
gazing sadly at the two by my side. "I'm afraid," she said dully.
"Somehow, I don't think we've seen everything,"
I muttered.
"A wise Uni, you are, Moonstruk, very wise..."
Gryphon sighed and turned on her heel, taking one last look at the pair of glistening
birdlike creatures. "Somehow," she said as she walked down the hall, "I think
you two switched places when I was taking you home from the Create A Pet."
"And somehow," I said as I followed after her,
my hooves rustling softly on the plush carpet. I grinned in one corner of my
mouth. "I think you're right."
The End | 
