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Petpet Talk: The Prank


by christmas_ice

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If you enjoyed reading Petpet Talk: The Daycare and Petpet Talk: The Party, you’ll love this short story as well! And if you’ve never heard of the two short stories I’ve just mentioned, read them! ;)

Karl the Kacheek dragged his stubborn Angelpuss down the lane and into Ms. Finkle’s Sunshine Daycare for Petpets. Exasperated, Karl cried, “Arnold! Blah blah blab blab blah blah?”

     Arnold growled at his owner and slumped over to a corner. He watched Karl wave goodbye to the old Chia Ms. Finkle and hurry out the door. Sighing, Arnold lay down and closed his eyes.

     He was feeling extremely moody that morning. Usually he loved going to the daycare, because then he would see his friends. But this particular morning...

     “I wish I were home,” Arnold sighed, looking around the familiar room. His friends Stacy the Mazzew and Chucky the Polarchuck weren’t there yet. Dejected, Arnold hid his head under his paws. He planned to stay in that position until Karl picked him up in five hours, and he would have had not three certain petpets annoyed his plans.

     Three certain petpets—to be specific: Mark, Moe, and Millicent, the three notorious Meepits at the daycare.

     Mark was the one who started it. While Arnold was drifting off into a light nap, Mark cautiously crawled over, reached out, and gave Arnold’s white head the sharpest tap Arnold had ever felt. Arnold yelped in shock.

     “Excuse me?” Arnold demanded, glaring at the three snickering Meepits. “What in Sloth’s name is this?”

     “We just wanted to make sure you weren’t like, out of it,” explained Moe innocently, acting about as innocent as a Snorkle caught stealing cookies out of the cookie jar.

     “You lie,” Arnold stated simply.

     Suddenly old Ms. Finkle trotted over. “Blah blah?” she asked the group, glancing at the Meepit brothers warily. “Blah blah blah Arnold blah blab blab?”

     The four petpets stared cluelessly at the old Chia. Then to Arnold’s delight, Stacy the Mazzew hurried over. Stacy was the brightest petpet in the entire daycare center; she could decipher most of what neopets say, and when she didn’t understand, she made excellent, educated guesses.

      “Blah blah blah bothersome blah?!” demanded Ms. Finkle. “Blah blah blah Meepits blah!”

     Arnold, Mark, Moe, and Millicent turned to Stacy expectantly. Stacy rolled her large purple eyes and translated, “She’s asking if you guys were bothering Arnold.”

     “Oh.” Millicent grinned. “Of course not!” He began rolling over and over on the floor at the Chia’s feet so as to show her his charm, even though Arnold had only ever seen a Warf do that.

     Ms. Finkle was disgusted. She sighed loudly and walked away towards a group of bickering Snowbunnies.

     “So, what do you want to do today?” Mark asked his brothers.

     “We’ve already filled the bathroom sinks with Slimesickles,” Moe said.

     “And we’ve already replaced the Snowbunnies’ snacks with burnt Pyramibread,” added Millicent. “There is nothing else to do.”

     Arnold rolled his eyes and asked Stacy, “Where’s Chucky today?”

     “His owner’s sick,” Stacy replied. “Second round of Sneezles. Fairly unpleasant.”

     Arnold shuddered. Meanwhile, the Meepits were still contemplating on what to do with the rest of their day at the daycare.

     “I have an idea. Why don’t you tell us what your Prank of the Day is so we can prepare ourselves?” suggested Stacy.

     Every afternoon, during naptime, the three Meepit brothers would perform their daily prank on Ms. Finkle. It ranged from throwing broken plushies to exploding rotten neggs. Arnold didn’t see why Ms. Finkle didn’t just ban them from the daycare.

     “You know what?” Mark said, grinning maliciously. “That gives my brothers and me an excellent idea.” He winked at the two other Meepits and continued, “Every day my brothers and I pull a prank. We are already getting too predictable—”

     “No, actually,” Arnold interrupted. “The prank involving the Blue Fuzzle—”

     “Don’t interrupt,” interrupted Mark. “Anyhow, why don’t we do something unpredictable for once? Moe, Millicent, today we are going to be little... angels.”

     Stacy laughed. “Impossible,” she said flatly.

     Moe and Millicent were already hyperventilating at the thought of being good for one whole day. “No mischief?” they cried. “No pranks? No more stealing asparagus from the fridge and then using it as finger paint?”

     “No,” Mark said. “Today someone else is going to perform the Daily Prank. And guess who it is?” He turned smugly to Arnold and grinned evilly; Arnold shivered. “Arnold, I dare you to do it.”

     Arnold rolled his eyes. “No,” he replied simply.

     “Okay.” Mark paused, then said, “I double Drackonack dare you to perform the Daily Prank today.”

     Everyone gasped. It was an unspoken Petpet Code of Honor to never turn down a double Drackonack dare. Stacy looked apologetic as she said, “Sorry, Arnold, but you have to do it now.”

     “That’s right,” sneered Moe. “And I have a few ground rules for you. Number one, the prank has to have something soggy involved. Number two, you can’t warn old Ms. Finkle ahead of time. And number three...”

     “Number three, you can’t blame us,” Millicent said.

     Arnold stared as the others stared back. This is ridiculous! he thought. He was an Angelpuss. It was completely against his character to do something mischievous—he doubted he even could!

     “Okay, you have thirty minutes till naptime, which gives you half an hour to come up with a good prank,” Mark said as he trailed off with his brothers. “We’ll be watching!”

     “Don’t worry,” Stacy said. “I’ll help you come up with a good prank!”

     “Like what?” moaned Arnold. “I don’t want to bomb rotten chokatoes at Ms. Finkle. I don’t even have any chokatoes with me!”

     “Come on, there has to be a prank that’s funny but nice,” said Stacy, even though she’d never heard of such a thing.

     Watching a sleeping Spyder, Arnold suddenly thought of a brilliant prank. “Quick!” he said. “Get all the other petpets together! Oh, except for those three...”

      XXX

     “I wonder what Arnold has planned,” Moe commented as the petpets got ready for naptime.

     “Whatever it is, it better be good.” Millicent yawned and closed his eyes. “You know, it’s been so long since we’ve actually taken a nap during naptime. We’re always busy with the Daily Prank at this time.”

     “Yeah, now be quiet,” hissed Mark. “I want to see what Arnold has planned.”

     The daycare became quiet as every petpet got snug under their blankets. Ms. Finkle was dressed in what the petpets called her Prank Armor. She wore it every day at naptime in preparation for the Meepit Brothers’ Prank of the Day.

     Minutes crawled by, but no commotion occurred. Mark looked questioningly across the room at Arnold, who was lying on the rug and--napping? “What is he doing?” Mark growled in alarm. “Did he forget we double Drackonack dared him?”

     Even Ms. Finkle was beginning to look wary. “Blah blah blah Meepits blah blah prank?” she muttered, eyeing the Meepit brothers.

     Just then, every single petpet rose and walked forward; each handed Ms. Finkle a piece of paper. Each piece of paper had a drawing of three Meepits on it. Then, not saying a word, the petpets returned to their blankets and went back to napping.

     “A scary prank,” commented Arnold. He saw Mark flash him a smile from across the room, and Meepits plus smiling was not a comforting sight. Nonetheless, Arnold managed to smile back and dozed off.

     Later, as each petpet’s owner came to pick him or her up, Arnold heard Ms. Finkle talking to the Meepit brothers’ owner. “Blah blah blab blah pictures blah,” she was saying. “Blah blah no prank blah blah! Blab blab blah admiration blah blah.”

     Beside Arnold, Stacy snickered. “She’s saying that the Meepit brothers have turned a new leaf, and that everyone in the daycare was thankful for it because we all drew pictures of them.”

     Arnold had to laugh, too. When will the Neopets understand the Petpets?

The End

 
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