A Toy Shop...
"You're kidding me, right?"
Cybil rolled her eyes as Hypotenuse shrugged.
"I dunno. The last thing I remember is something
about the shop owner here knowing more about the plushie's origins."
"You mean that fat old grandma Meerca snoring
in that rocking chair over there? You're telling me she knows how to defeat
him?"
"Actually, fat old grandma's real name is
Edwina Merka-Plushe. Quite a coincidence, don't you think?"
Cybil fell silent as Hypotenuse stepped up
to the ancient plushie, tapping her lightly on the nose.
"Excuse me...Edwina? Remember me?"
The wrinkled Meerca's eyes fluttered open,
and a smile spread across her lips.
"Ah, well hello there Hypipplenoose!"
"Erm...mam...it's Hypotenuse!"
"Oh, right, of course Herpilitose...so, what
do you need from ole' Gran Merka-Plushe? Another toy, perhaps?"
"Granny's been selling toys for as long as
I can remember..." Hypotenuse whispered. "I used to come here when I was a little
pup."
"You remember that, and yet you can't remember
how to destroy the most evil creature on the planet?" She hissed back.
"No use whisperin' behind Granny's back. She
can hear ya just fine." The withered Meerca rasped. "Now, I'm guessin' you're
here for more than toys, right?"
"Right...we're wondering if you could tell
us about your Great Uncle? Eville?"
The Meerca smiled wistfully as she started
to rock back and forth in her chair.
"Ah, yes...it was so many years ago, but this
ole' head on grandma's shoulders can still remember exactly how it all went..."
"What shoulders?" Cybil whispered. Hypotenuse
gave her a sharp glare, and she once again fell silent.
"Ah yes, I can remember...great Grandma told
me of the day that little Eville was born. The whole family was so happy. They
had just opened this toy shop, ya see, and most of em saw him as a good luck
charm for our small business. Oh, how many years have passed since then...it
feels like hundreds..."
"Actually, it WAS hundreds..." Hypotenuse
added.
"Really? Gee...anyway, he grew up to be a
nice toymaker, always making the most beautiful plushies. He worked up enough
to buy himself a golden paint brush, and he even managed to upgrade the store
into what it's become today! But Granny told me he always acted a little strangely,
especially when he started practised magic. Maybe that's why he was so tempted
when that curious Hubrid guy came and abducted him away. After that, the family
heard that he became so powerful that he actually was able to overthrow Hubrid
and become a magician for good instead of evil. Yes, that's my dear old granddad...but
then, the day came when that evil witch turned him into...oh, I never got to
know dear old Great Uncle Eville."
"We know the rest..." Cybil nodded, trying
to comfort the suddenly sad Edwina. "Does that boost your memory at all, Hypotenuse?"
"Wait...I remember..."
Cybil gasped. "Yes?"
"I bought a green Nimmo plushie for twice
as much as it was worth! GRANNY RIPPED ME OFF!"
"Oh, it's your fault for falling for it, dearie."
Granny laughed.
Cybil grunted. "Enough of this! We're getting
nowhere here! Now, can you tell us where we can find him now?"
"Oh, dearie, aren't you such a little pain?"
The granny grinned, getting up from her rocking chair. "Last thing I ever heard
from the tike was something about the Haunted Fairgrounds..."
The Haunted Fairgrounds (Big Surprise, eh?...)
"Hypotenuse..." Cybil gasped, delicately dabbing
her forehead with a handkerchief. "We've been searching for hours, and we STILL
haven't found a thing!!"
She leaned against a large Chia Clown statue, fanning
herself with her ears as Hypotenuse dug through a cotton candy vending machine.
"There had to be some kind of secret switch or item
laying around here somewhere! I've played enough video games to know that the
villain's dungeon is easily accessible when you find the super key or defeat
a certain number of bad guys!"
"You didn't get out much as a child, did you?" Cybil
sighed. "And I'm asking this as a professional Lupologist."
"Oh, shut up! You aren't a Lupe therapist!! And look
some more instead of sitting on your tail and dawdling!" Hypotenuse nearly fell
into the machine as he dug through the mass amount of cotton candy.
Cybil rolled her eyes and got off the Chia clown
statue. Suddenly, the ground underneath her feet caved in, and she released
a scream before finding herself plummeting underground.
Hypotenuse turned. "Hey!! Mint Cotton Candy! I didn't
even know that existed, did you Cy..."
He gaped at the huge open hole in the ground, plucking
the last bits of cotton candy out of his fur.
"Oh poo."
Secret Underground Lair...
"Tell me, Evil...why is it you couldn't even handle
a pathetic little nerdy Cybunny like Cybil?"
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME, YOU PUNY MORTAL!! I WOULD
SHAVE ALL YOUR FUR OFF AND MAKE YOU EAT IT..."
"You WOULD, you SHOULD, but you CANNOT! AND YOU NEVER
WILL!" The leader reminded him, menacingly holding up a paw. "So, in the meantime,
TELL ME WHY."
Suddenly, a bunch of rocks tumbled from the ceiling,
collapsing on top of the surprised leader. Soon, Cybil fell after, landing on
top of the heap with a thud and a groan from the Lupe buried beneath. She readjusted
her glasses, bewildered and confused as she stared around the room.
"What's going on here? Where am I? HEY!! THIS IS
THE SOCIETY OF CHIA DESPISERS!"
The Lupes all took a step back, looking confusedly
around as the leader yelled angrily from under the rubble.
"EVILLE MERKA PLUSHE!! DESTROY HER!!"
"WHY SHOULD I?" The plushie scowled. "YOU
HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT ABUSED MY POWERS! YOU MAY NOT REALISE THIS, BUT I HELPED
THIS GIRL GET HERE SO I CAN BE FREE!"
"WHAT?!" The Leader rasped, pushing against the rocks.
"DON'T YOU DARE LET HER READ THAT BOOK!"
Cybil was already paging through it.
"Hm...what's this thing?"
She thumbed through the book as the plushie rolled
its glass eyes and the leading Lupe released a loud howl of agony.
"WOULD YOU HURRY UP ALREADY?!?!"
"Well, SOR-RY that this book doesn't have an index..."
She smiled triumphantly as she put a paw down onto
the page she had been looking for.
"BINGO! Okay...Eville Merka Plushe, Seperatum Asparagum
Piffle Wiffle Diffle Dum! Red Rover, Red Rover, GREY DUCK!!"
Suddenly, a brilliant blast of lightning filled the
entire room with an unearthly purple glow similar to the earlier one. The Lupes,
frightened halfway to death, fled from the room, abandoning the Leader. He howled
once more as the plushie cackled, slapping the rubble off with several flicks
of his tail until revealing the injured Lupe beneath.
"WITH THAT, WE ARE SEPARATED!!!"
Cybil sensed something amiss. "Okay...what's going
on?"
The plushie grinned, waving a paw carelessly towards
her. With a flash of purple, the book she was holding burst into purple flames,
and she hastily dropped it, watching as it disintegrated before her eyes. She
stepped back, horrified as the plushie turned to her with a smile.
"DESTROY ME!? THE BOOK ONLY TOLD YOU HOW TO SEPARATE
ME FROM THE CULT!!"
"Oh no..." She gasped, backing away. "So that means..."
"THAT'S RIGHT!! I, THE MOST POWERFUL EVIL IN ALL
OF NEOPIA, AM ONCE AGAIN FREE TO CREATE CHAOS AND HORROR THROUGHOUT NEOPIA CENTRAL!
AND I'D LIKE TO CONGRATULATE YOU FOR SETTING ME FREE!"
"Good one, Cybil! You should be sooooo proud!!" The
Leader howled, shaking a fist as he tried to limp away.
The plushie lashed out with its tail, pinning the
Leader onto the ground. Cybil recoiled, staring at the burning book, then to
the pinned leader, and finally to the plushie.
"But...Edwina...and Hypotenuse...
Edwina suddenly appeared from behind the obelisk,
shakily stepping across the floor towards the stunned Cybunny. She watched as
it melted down into a Headless Von Roo plushie, obviously being controlled by
Eville's magic.
"Well, well, well, dearie...bet you thought you had
it all figured out, eh? Well, Eville really didn't have no granny, and this
had nothing to do with that bumbling fool Hubrid Nox. You see, I've always been
this way...I've always been around. I AM THE PURE ENTITY OF EVIL!!"
Hypotenuse followed behind her, shrinking down into
a QuigQuig plushie with a pop.
"Here's the REAL history. I was created by a group
of Dark Faerie, and most of my powers were bestowed upon me by my 'mother',
Jhudora. One day, after she was confident I had gained enough power, she sent
me to the Hidden Tower to attack the Faerie Queen along with a few of her minions.
I would have succeeded had it not been for that surprise attack..."
"The Faerie Queen transformed me into a plushie and
locked me deep into the Hidden Tower, where she remained confident I'd be safe...that
is, until an Aisha Thief stole me. But it was an odd thing, really. I gave the
poor blighter awful, awful luck! So he decided to get rid of me, and so I was
passed down, creature to creature, till I ended up in the paws of these losers.
They knew who I was, how great an evil I had been, and decided to use my potential
to their advantage. The leader bound himself to me and then resurrected my soul,
returning my life to the way it was."
"But I was simply being held back by that droll,
horrible creature whom you see lying on the rocks under there. He was quite
a bore, really, keeping me harnessed for so long. But in you, Cybil, I saw potential...the
opportunity for me to find escape! Not to mention a whole truckload of IGNORANCE!
Oh ho ho, how clever of me..."
"So you used me?" Cybil snarled. "Just to separate
yourself from this lousy bum?"
"REALLY? WAS IT THAT OBVIOUS?"
The plushie released a hideous cackle, and both the
Headless Von Roo and the Quigquig took over pinning down the Leader. He desperately
began to cry out, hoping that his once loyal followers would hear his pleas.
"WAIT!! Get back here!! I command...you..."
The plushie curled his tail around the comatose Lupe,
snapping him up and holding him out by the neck.
"NOW, WHAT WERE YOU SAYING EARLIER? HM?..."
"Wait...I can...explain..."
"YOU CAN EXPLAIN YOURSELF TO THE NEXT LUCKY CHILD
TO OWN A WHITE LUPE PLUSHIE!"
"Noo...NOOOO...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
The Leader screeched in horror as he felt his skin
begin to crawl and his body begin to shrink. Cybil watched with grim awe as
he gradually shrank from his plump Lupe form to nothing but a little white Lupe
toy, looking like something you could buy from the Toy Shop except for its frightened
and horrified hand-stitched expression. The plushie flicked it into her paws
as she tried to process what was happening.
"But...how..."
"CYBIL, I AM FOREVER THANKFUL FOR YOUR RELEASE.
IN RETURN, I PROMISE NOT TO GIVE YOU THE SAME FATE AS OUR DEAR LEADER HERE..."
A murderous glint went over his eyes.
"FOR NOW."
He grinned.
"I BID YOU FAREWELL!! Antonio is breaking
up with Barbara today...BWAAA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!!"
With a brilliant flash of lightening and a rumble
of thunder, the plushie shot back into the sky, leaving Cybil to stare after
with his mouth slightly hanging open, still clutching the horrified white Lupe
toy. As the stormclouds receded, she settled back into reality, putting the
plushie into a pocket of her lab coat and searching for an exit.
A feeling of disbelief and grief still hung over
her head, like the dark clouds that had been in the sky just moments ago. She
didn't want to believe it, but she had to. No amount of denial could save her
from the facts she had learned that day.
"Antonio is breaking it up. I can't believe it."
With a dark cloud hanging over her head, she slunk
back home...
Will Antonio really break up with Barbara? Will
I ever shut up? Why does my writing stink so much? Will I ever get a real job?
Why the heck am I writing about a deadbeat Cybunny and evil toys in the first
place? Maybe you'll find out in the next wonderful edition of 'As the Stomach
Churns'! But you probably won't! Because this is...
THE END!!! | 
