A Snack Bites Back
Something Had Happened!
It was Hollowbelly's favourite random event:
he had found a food item! A lovely Chocopie Slice lay on the ground, his for
the taking. The Green Lupe capered a bit out of sheer delight before settling
down to devour his find on the spot. He opened his mouth to gulp the pie whole,
and--the pie bit HIM instead! Yes, it really did, it split itself to reveal
two rows of nasty-looking teeth, and lunged to sink them into Hollowbelly's
tender nose. With a howl of shock and pain, the Lupe whipped his head back and
forth to dislodge his attacker. The pie let go and was flung several feet. However,
instead of splattering, it landed intact and Hollowbelly could see a pair of
angry eyes in the creamy topping, glaring balefully at him.
"For goodness' sake, what kind of a pie are you?"
the Lupe yelped, unable to believe his own eyes. Were it not for the pain in
his nose, he would have thought that he was dreaming.
"A very mad pie," the thing answered in a gooey
voice. "Try to eat me, will you? You just wait!" And with that, the pie started
to bounce back towards him, vicious teeth snapping.
Hollowbelly did not wait for it. With a loud
"Ki-yi-yipe!" of terror, he did a one-eighty and bolted. He ran for a full five
minutes, not daring to look back to see if that cherry-topped horror was chasing
him. When at last he could run no further, he glanced fearfully over his shoulder.
There was no pie to be seen. Panting and trembling with relief, he headed for
home.
Upon reaching the NeoHome that he shared with
his brother (Jonah, a Striped Flotsam) and sisters (BlossomAnn, a Yellow Aisha
and Miss_Claus, a Christmas Bruce), Hollowbelly found his siblings huddled together
on the lawn.
So anxious was he to tell them his incredible
story that he did not notice how upset they looked, or that the front door was
standing open.
"You guys are not gonna believe what happened
to me on the way home--" he began.
"Shhhh!" hissed BlossomAnn. "They'll hear you!
Keep your voice down!"
The Lupe raised a questioning ear. "Whaa--? Say,
what's going on? Who are `they?'"
"Our foodstuffs," whispered the Flotsam. "They've
come to life. It happened just a little while ago. They all jumped out of the
pantry and drove us out of our house!"
"They're mean," whimpered Miss_Claus, who was
the youngest. "And scary, too."
At that moment, a Cheeseburger and a carton of
Kau Kau Farm Milk appeared in the NeoHome doorway. "You want to keep it down,
out there?" the burger snarled at the cowering pets. "The rest of us are trying
to take a nap in here, and we don't like to be disturbed!" With that, they went
back inside, slamming the door rudely behind them.
"BUT THIS IS OUR NEOHOME!" BlossomAnn yowled
at the top of her lungs. Hoots and jeers from within were her only answers.
For a long moment, nobody said a word. Then Jonah
glanced at Hollowbelly and inquired, "So, what were you about to say happened
to you on your way home, big brother?"
"Never mind," muttered the Lupe. "Let's get out
of here."
"Where will we go?" Hollowbelly thought a moment,
then answered, "Let's go visit our cousins. Maybe Pearlbeak can help us out.
I'll bet she could beat up all those sassy foodstuffs single-pawedly."
On their way to their cousins' home, the four
NeoPets saw many strange and unnerving sights. A Cinnamon Swirl rolled across
their path, stopping only to hurl insults at them before rolling on. A group
of variously-coloured Neggs had gathered in a park clearing, having some sort
of meeting. At one point Hollowbelly thought he saw the same Chocopie Slice
that had bitten him earlier, teamed up with a piece of Chocolate Cake and a
Chocolate Waffle Cone. He shivered and took the long way around to avoid being
seen by them.
Even more disturbing was the fact that they did
not encounter any other NeoPets, despite the fact that they lived in one of
the more populated suburbs of Central Neopia.
When they finally reached their cousins' house,
it was almost dark. The usually cheery NeoHome had all the shades drawn and
the door shut tight. "The joke's on us if they've been driven out of their home
as well," Jonah said gloomily as they approached the door.
Ignoring him, Hollowbelly rang the doorbell.
When nothing happened after half a minute, the Lupe began to scratch and knock
urgently. "Somebody please answer the door!" he begged.
A soft bumping sound was heard from within, like
something was being piled up against the door. "Go away, you awful things, or
I'll thrash the lot of you!" squawked a voice that sounded both angry and frightened
at the same time. "Leave us in peace, or I'll leave you in pieces!"
"PEARLBEAK!" yapped the Lupe. "OPEN THE DOOR!
IT'S US, YOUR COUSINS!"
This was followed by a silence that lasted two
seconds, then a dragging sound, as though whatever had been piled up against
the door was now being hastily pulled away. At last the door opened, just a
crack at first, then flung wide to reveal a female Silver Eyrie. "Hollowbelly!
BlossomAnn! Get inside, cousins--" she gestured frantically, "--get inside quickly!"
Seconds later they were all within the house
and helping to pile furniture back against the door. Nobody had to ask the reason
for the barricade. Once it was secure, Pearlbeak turned to her cousins and hugged
them one after the other. "Thank goodness you're safe!" she cried. "But what
made you come here when it's so dangerous to be traveling right now? You should
have barricaded yourselves in your own homes."
"We--we don't have a home right now," Hollowbelly
said in a low voice while BlossomAnn tried to comfort Miss_Claus (who was crying).
The Green Lupe went on to explain how they had been driven from their NeoHome
by the living Food Items.
"Oh, you poor kids," the Eyrie sympathised. "Luckily,
we only had a few provisions in our house when they suddenly came to life. A
few zaps with my Attack Fork sent them packing out the front door, but they
swore they'd return with reinforcements. That's why I thought they had come
back when I heard you at the door."
Hollowbelly started to say something else, but
at that moment a Fire Wocky bounded into the room. "Hey, cousins! Glad you weren't
eaten up trying to get here," he said brightly. "C'mon into the TV room. They're
covering the living food thing on the Channel One News right now."
They all followed the Wocky (whose name was 7_flames)
down a corridor and into a lavender, squishy-floored room containing a green
sofa, a Purple Kougra and a television set. The TV screen showed a worried-looking
Gelert newscaster behind a desk. Next to her head was a computer-generated logo
that read "NEOPIAN FOOD CRISIS."
"...in Central Neopia, the main Food Shop, the
Coffee Shop, The Health Food Shop, the Smoothie Shop, Hubert's Hot Dogs, Pizzaroo
and the Bakery have all shut down for the duration of this terrible crisis.
In a recent interview, Hubert Mynci was quoted as saying, `I was very nearly
eaten alive by my own merchandise...'"
Hollowbelly cleared his throat nervously. "Guess
this means we can't send out for pizza, huh guys?" He felt embarrassed when
nobody laughed.
"...the Lost Desert Food Stall tent was completely
destroyed. Meanwhile, reports from Terror Mountain indicate that the Slushie
Shop and the Happy Ice Fun Snow Shop have both been put on ice until further
notice. Likewise, the Tyrannian Food Shop..."
The Green Lupe's stomach rumbled loudly. Hearing
about all that food didn't help.
"...Merifoods, Grundo's Diner, the Mystery Island
Food Shop, the Golden Dubloon and the Faerie Food Shop have all ceased operations.
However, there is one ray of hope in this midst of this dark catastrophe. We
take you now, live, to the Soup Kitchen..."
The image on the screen changed to show a very
weary-looking Soup Faerie ladling broth into a bowl held by a famished-looking
Red Zafara. Behind her stretched a line of hungry NeoPets that seemed to go
on for miles and miles.
"Well, at least the Soup Kitchen is still functioning,
thank goodness," commented Pearlbeak.
"Yeah, but look at that line," 7_flames countered.
"Why, I'll bet if you were very bloated when you entered the back of that line,
you'd by dying by the time you reached the front!"
"This is REALLY going to mess up the Gourmet
Club, big time," muttered BlossomAnn, who was a high-ranking member of said
club. "I had a piece of Faerie Sparklecake at home that I was planning to have
for my next meal, but it told me to go stuff it, the rude thing!"
"Poor Soup Faerie," Miss_Claus put in. "Somebody
really ought to help her."
"I think somebody already is. Look," said Jonah,
pointing to the screen, which now showed several other Faeries of various different
alignments pitching in to help pass out bowls and portion out the soup. Nearby,
Fyora the Faerie Queen herself was being interviewed. "Until this current crisis
has been remedied," she was saying, "the Soup Kitchen will offer nourishment
to all, regardless of how many Neopoints one has. It is the least we can do
to help Neopia."
"Do you have any idea what can have caused this
current situation, Your Highness?"
"None whatsoever. We have our suspicions, of
course, but no conclusive evidence. Investigations will be made shortly. I'm
afraid I cannot tell you any more than that."
"May I be so bold as to ask what--or whom--you
suspect, Your Highness?"
"I'll bet my Wocky Shield of Truth it's Jhudora,
the Dark Faerie," whispered 7_flames.
Fyora shook her head. "No comment, if you please.
That will be all."
The screen image cut back to the Gelert reporter.
"Thank you, Your Highness. In a related story, word is out in Tyrannia that
the Giant Omelette has disappeared, possibly for good. In the following pre-recorded
interview, Sabre-X is quoted as saying, `The Omelette has been missing for over
a day now, the longest it's ever been gone...'"
"That may be a blessing in disguise," said the
Kougra, speaking for the first time. "Can you imagine how awful it would be
if the Giant Omelette came to life? It would be worse that The Stuff--I can
just imagine it slithering around, engulfing everything in its path..."
"Cut that out, Kuvu," BlossomAnn hissed as the
Bruce whimpered and huddled close to her. "You're scaring Miss_Claus. If she
has nightmares tonight, I'm gonna give you such a scratch--"
Kuvu stared at the floor meekly. "Sorry about
that, Blossom. I wasn't thinking."
The Yellow Aisha smiled forgivingly at her cousin,
then set about putting Miss_Claus to bed in one of the guest rooms. The young
Bruce, exhausted from the long walk, fell asleep almost at once, and BlossomAnn
returned to the television room to catch the remainder of the news.
The NTV News came to a close with the promise
of further updates as they occurred, but Pearlbeak went over and switched the
set off. Facing her remaining cousins and siblings, the Silver Eyrie looked
grim. "Guys, this situation is well beyond serious," she began. "And as a member
of the Defenders of Neopia, I see this as a call to action. I don't need to
see my supervisor to know this. And I don't know about the rest of you, but
I'm not content to just sit here locked in our NeoHome and hope that things
get better by themselves soon."
"And slowly starve to death while we're waiting
for that to happen," added Hollowbelly, horrified at the very thought of such
a thing. "I agree; we gotta do something about it."
"Yeah, but what?" challenged Jonah. "The
Faerie Queen herself looked like she was at a loss for what to do. What can
mere NeoPets do against something that has the Faeries stumped?"
Pearlbeak smiled slyly. "Fyora mentioned that
there will be investigations. Like her, I have my suspicions as to who could
possibly be responsible. But whomever is behind this terrible occurrence will
undoubtedly be on their guard against Faeries. I figure a small group of determined
NeoPets may be able to succeed where the Faeries have failed."
"A small group of determined--and foolhardy--NeoPets
may well get their heads handed to them, too!" Kuvu said dryly. "Count me out;
I'd rather get in line for the Soup Kitchen."
"Good luck trying to make your way over there,"
murmured Pearlbeak.
"Well, I'm in," Hollowbelly woofed, standing
up. "Better to die fighting than to die hungry."
"I'm in, too," piped up 7_flames. "I've already
got cabin fever from being cooped up here."
BlossomAnn and Jonah exchanged glances. Finally,
the Yellow Aisha spoke, "I'd like to go, but one of us has to stay with Miss_Claus.
She's too young and too timid to do any fighting."
"Say no more, sis," replied the Flotsam. "I'll
look after her. You're the better fighter, anyway."
With that settled, Pearlbeak urged everyone to
go to bed so they would be well rested for the journey to come. Hollowbelly
started to argue that he was already hungry, and would be even hungrier in the
morning, therefore they really ought to leave right away, but BlossomAnn fixed
him with such a look that he hastily squelched his protests and retired to one
of the guest bedrooms. Though his namesake rumbled and growled throughout the
night, the Lupe slept.
***
Meanwhile, outside the NeoHome and all over Neopia, the living Food Items reigned
supreme. Sandy produce stalked the Lost Desert. Frozen foods prowled through
the Ice Caves. Medieval foods were laying siege to Meridell Castle. Bands of
tropical fruit had taken over Mystery Island, seeking to ambush the unwary.
Worst of all were the Gross Foods, which were found on every continent and island
in Neopia, and were totally without fear, due to how disgusting they were. If
a gang of them surrounded any unlucky NeoPets, the Gross Foods would taunt and
torment the poor creatures by threatening to feed themselves to them.
And the NeoPets were confused, frightened, many
of them homeless, and all of them hungry.
To be continued...
Next week: Morsel Combat | 
