The Blumaroo That Could

     "JINXED!!!" yelled a fifteen year old blue Zafara. 'Jinxed' was the owner; however, she did not like being called Mom one bit. "SKYLER SMACKED ME INTO A TREE AGAIN!" The Zafara was now rubbing her bruised nose.

     A Darigan Uni walked into the house through a large door, grimacing. "I wouldn't have if Razzy hadn't tried to ride me like I was some sort of steed!"

     The blue Zafara shot back, "What else are Unis good for?"

     And with that, Razzy was off, and Skyler was close behind. At this rate, neither one of them could possibly win.

     Upstairs, Jinxed was in a cloud bedroom, which contained baby furniture, various petpets, a Christmas Blumaroo, and a young Faerie Bruce.

     "Well," Jinxed sighed contentedly watching them from the window. "I guess they'll never learn."

     The Christmas Blumaroo smiled. "Can I watch Flitterie and the petpets? Please?"

     Jinxed smiled. "You're only six, Cuddly."

     "I know," Cuddly said, smiling. "But I want to be a petpet sitter when I grow up. I'm really good at the game, so can I try it for real, pretty please with a Chocolate Meepit on top?"

     Jinxed sighed, shaking her blonde head up and down. "I guess so." She smiled. She did have quite a soft spot for Meepits.

     And with that, she jumped off the floor, and walked out the door to the bedroom, grinning, ear to ear.

     Cuddly picked up the purple baby. "Goop," she said, her orange wings shaking.

     "Yep," Cuddly said putting Flitterie into her cloud crib. "Goop."

     So, Cuddly began watching the petpets, grooming them, cleaning their litter, and rocking them to sleep. And when Holi the Christmas Angelpuss tried to fly out an open window, Cuddly was there before she could get a foot out into the open air.

     "I guess all those games of Petpetsitter and Extreme Herder finally paid off!" Cuddly cried gleefully.

     Flitterie gave her an encouraging yelp of "Goop".

     Outside, Razzy and Skyler were still chasing each other around the yard. This time, though, Tickle the Strawberry Jubjub was chasing after them as Noroiiell the Grundo and Rittinell the Ixi cheered them on.

     "Stop!" she yelled, her red fur glistening in the cloudless afternoon sun. "Skyler, stop poking Razzy with your horn! Razzy, don't do tha-Skyler!"

     Tickle, being six, hated all sorts of violence, and was constantly trying to keep her siblings out of trouble despite the unlikeliness of them ever stopping.

     Cuddly gave her an encouraging wave from the bedroom.

     Tickle smiled back, giving her the look that meant that if she had arms, she would be shrugging her shoulders.

     Cuddly was always encouraged to do better when watching TickleFive’s determination.

     A few hours passed, and everyone eventually grew tired. Skyler and Razzy finally gave up the chase, after, of course, a few more pokes and insults.

     Tickle went to bed, after finishing a plate of Fluffy Faerie Pancakes. Flitterie had fallen asleep after a while, too, mumbling something about "Goop, goop, gooper, goopy."

     Noroiell and Rittinell had gone to bed also.

     It was only Jinxed and Cuddly now.

     Cuddly remained in the bedroom, patting the sleeping petpets on the head, and cleaning their food dishes, half asleep.

     Jinxed entered the room. "Cuddly," she whispered, as not to wake Flitterie, "You can go to bed now. You did a great job today. You're definitely more of a big kid than I thought. I'll take you to Pizza Roo tomorrow if you want to go..."

     Cuddly strained to keep her eyes open. "Yeah. That would be nice." All she could really think about, however, was her nice soft blumaroo pad bed.

     Just as Jinxed was about to leave the room, there was a crash. The door to Flitterie's bedroom rushed open, and a dark figure rushed in.

     Jinxed screamed, and lunged for it, but landed with a thud on the carpet. That thunk must have woken Skyler. Cuddly wished and wished that it had, and that Skyler would come, and would bring her battle equipment with her. But alas, no one came.

     The figure lunged to the crib.

     "FLITTERIE!" Jinxed yelled, getting up as quickly as she could. But it was too late. The figure jumped out the window, carrying the screaming Flitterie.

     "NO!" Jinxed yelled again. "Not my Flitterie! Not my Flitterie." Jinxed collapsed to the floor, sobbing into her thick “Flotsam Swim Team” sweatshirt.

     Cuddly had to think fast. She ran to her room. She hopped over to her desk, ignoring the silent calls of the fluffy bed in the corner of the room.

     Cuddly pulled out a pair of Blumaroo Bouncing Boots, the ones that Jinxed had gotten her when she had morphed Skyler.

     Cuddly ripped on the boots, and bounded out the mahogany front door, chasing after the mysterious kidnapper.

     The night air was freezing. It was a full moon that night, and the wind howled like a Werelupe calling to the moon. But despite her fears, Cuddly pressed on.

     Soon, she caught up to the shadowy figure that was now carrying off her little sister.

     "I'll save you Flitterie!" she yelled.

     The kidnapper turned around, and out of surprise, dropped Flitterie. Flitterie flew in no apparent direction. Well, she sort of flew; after all, she was just a baby, so she couldn't go very high.

      The shadow flew after her. Cuddly now knew who it was. It was none other than the Neopet that had haunted her nightmares, and had ruined all of her dreams. It was the evil Chia himself, Hubrid Nox.

     Cuddly saw her target. She hopped after Flitterie. The only thing she had to do was get there before Hubrid, just like she had to get to the petpets before Balthazar in the games of Extreme Herder.

     Cuddly grabbed Flitterie out of the air, turned around, and hopped back to the neohome without looking back. She could see the open door, and she ran faster, and faster, and faster, until at last, she hopped through the door, and shut it tight.

     Clink! She locked the door several times. She closed all the curtains, and woke up Skyler. All of her family gathered in one room together.

     The next day, the Defenders of Neopia were swarming Cuddly's house.

     "Can you describe the pet exactly?" Judge Hog had asked her numerous times.

     And of course, she always responded, "Hubrid Nox."

     Judge Hog grimaced after a few more questions. "Ugg. That villain was probably up to some sort of terrible scheme again. Probably involved ransom. We'll catch him though, not to worry, little Blumaroo.” He laughed, patting her on the head. “I guess I don’t have to tell that to you, though.”

     As Judge Hog spoke, Flitterie cantered up to CuddlyNine’s feet. Flitterie looked up at her, giggling. “Goop.”

     Cuddly smiled. She had done well. She had saved her sister, and earned the respect of Judge Hog himself. Now all she had to do was wait until tomorrow and see what adventures awaited her next.

The End