In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree

      "Why do they have such a poor selection? All of the limbs on these are drooping like they haven't been watered in weeks." Waddles sighed.

      "What about those trees over there? They look good enough to me," his sister Aya said.

      "I don't want 'good enough'! I want the best!" he screamed, making all of the customers stare at them.

      "Well, what else do YOU suggest, Waddles? We've been to every Christmas tree farm in Neopia Central," Aya said, as she fiddled with one of the tree limbs she was standing next to.

      "I say we need to go somewhere besides Neopia Central, maybe some place with a forest and we can cut a tree down ourselves!" Waddles said excitedly, thinking about being able to use a saw.

      Aya stared around at the trees, pondering Waddle's statement. Then she said, "Hmm, Kiko Lake has a small forest and it's not too far from here."

      "That's the spirit, Aya. Let me just grab the saw at home and then we can head to Kiko Lake," Waddles said over his shoulder as he ran in the direction of their house.

      Aya flew back to their house as well to get a sled so that they could transport the tree easily without having to carry it.

      Once they arrived at Kiko Lake, Aya and Waddles wandered through the dense forest examining the trees.

      "Aya, these trees don't look like traditional Christmas trees. They're all shaped liked cones. Why did we even bother coming here!" Waddles shouted, scaring the mallards away that were roosting nearby.

      "Well, I didn't know. I've only been here once when I was little. I didn't remember what the TREES looked liked," Aya screamed at him, as she stomped away.

      Waddles broke his way out of the forest and into the clearing, finding his sister sitting down on the sand next to the glimmering lake.

      "I'm sorry, Aya. I know you were just trying to think of forests in Neopia. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that." Waddles smiled at his sister and tugged on her wing, making her giggle.

      Waddles stretched out on the sand, feeling the sun's rays on his flippers. He exclaimed, "I know! We can go to Meridell. They have many different varieties of trees. I saw some when I went there on our school field trip."

      They both agreed that Meridell would be a good place to look, so they started off on foot. After about three hours, they arrived at a cobblestone path, and followed it through the town. They soon spotted a row of some nice pine trees. They headed over there, only to find a giant stone wall that went off in both directions as far as the eye could see.

      "I don't think I should fly you over the wall, Waddles. We might not be allowed in there," Aya said nervously.

      "Oh, it's probably just the town line. We wouldn't get in trouble for crossing it. Think about it; we wouldn't even be IN town," Waddles said, seeming to convince himself that it was a good answer.

      Seeming to have no other choice, Aya picked Waddles up and flew him over the wall into the row of trees.

      "Good thing my sister is a faerie Ixi, otherwise we would've had to climb over the wall," Waddles said to himself, shuddering at the thought.

      "I would have liked to have seen that, a BRUCE climbing over a wall. You can't even climb over a pebble," Aya said sarcastically.

      After Aya walked around the perimeter of the trees, she said, "Let's hurry up, Waddles. I have a feeling we're not supposed to be here, no matter what you say."

      After weaving in and out of the trees, Waddles suddenly stopped in his tracks. "I think this will make a perfect Christmas tree!"

      Waddles was getting ready to saw the tree down when two seven foot tall green Grarrls stood before them, clad in red and blue armour.

      The one Grarrl knelt down, so he could be at eye level with the two pets, and said, "You two are trespassing, we're going to have to take you both to King Skarl."

      As the Grarrls wrapped their meaty arms around the trespassers, Aya said, "Told ya so."

      They were dragged away to the castle and locked in a musty dark dungeon for the rest of the night. Light soon began to stream through the bars in the dungeon window onto Waddle's face, waking him up.

      "I think I hear someone coming, Aya. Get up," Waddles said as he heard footsteps coming down into the dungeon area.

      One of the Grarrls from the night before approached the dungeon, carrying with him a set of rusty keys.

      "You two have been released. You're both lucky that King Skarl was in a good mood from some Blumaroo telling him a hysterical joke."

      As soon as the Grarrl said that, Aya and Waddles rushed past the Grarrl, bolted up the stairs, and ran out of the castle back into the sunlight.

      "Waddles, you don't know how mad I am at you for making me spend the night in some old dungeon. You should've gotten one in Neopia Central like everyone else!" Aya screamed hysterically, tears streaming down her cheeks.

      Waddles looked up from the ground and shuffled over to Aya. "I'm sorry for getting you into trouble, Aya. It was wrong of me not to listen to you in the first place. We'll just go home."

      Aya now looked even angrier than before. "You're crazy if you think I'm going home without a Christmas tree after all of this! We're going to find your perfect Christmas tree whether you like it or not!"

      Waddles rushed up and hugged Aya tightly, thanking her for not giving up. "I did think of one more place, Aya, that I should've thought of before... Terror Mountain."

      "Of course Terror Mountain has got to have Christmas trees; that's the place where they really get into the holiday spirit!" Aya beamed, knowing that her brother had thought of the perfect place.

      After a few hours of travel on a cramped boat, the captain finally said, "We've arrived at Terror Mountain!"

      "It's freezing, Waddles. I didn't know I was supposed to bring a coat from home." Aya shivered.

      "It's not bad at all. I love this cold weather. Come on, let's go find our tree!" Waddles said as they both rushed up the hill into Happy Valley.

      There were tons of snow covered Christmas trees scattered all throughout the town. Waddles grinned ear to ear like he was in a candy store.

      Aya flew up into the sky to get a view of the land and shouted, "There's some nice trees over there, Waddles."

      Waddles ran over to them as Aya caught up with him. Waddles pushed away some branches in his way and discovered a small clearing. In it was a lush green tree that stood in the center of the clearing by itself. The tree was wonderful; it stood there tall and proud. It had branches upon branches that could hold millions of tiny ornaments.

      "Now THIS is the perfect Christmas tree." Waddles sighed. Aya walked up next to her brother and put her arm around him, gazing up at the tree. "I think you're right, Waddles. I think you're right."

The End