Lost and Found

     "Wait! Take your little sister!" she called back. Danny stopped in his tracks and looked back, seeing Eve tottering up behind him with a childish grin.

     "But she'll just get in the way!" the young Meerca complained. His mother appeared in the kitchen doorway with a 'Don't argue with me' look on her face. Danny sighed as Eve clamped onto his tail insistently. "Come on then, but hurry up! I don't want to miss the kick off!" he said as he grabbed her hand in his and pulled her along.

     They got to the stadium and through the ticket gates, the place was packed to the rafters with Neopets of all shapes, sizes and colours, Eve started to whimper as they were bashed about a few times on their way to their seats. Danny picked her up and held her above his head, half to protect her and half to move a bit quicker. They finally got to their assigned places; he put his sister down next to him.

     "Now be good; the match is about to start," Danny told her before he turned his attention to the pitch. They were a bit far back, so the view wasn't great but he could tell which player was which. He couldn't help the smile on his face, there they were! The Virtupets Yooyuball team practically right in front of him!

     The Scorchio referee blew his whistle to start the match and Danny leaned forward in excitement, whistling as loud as he could to spur his team on. When the first goal was scored by Sela Pretore, Danny felt he might go deaf from the noise. A quick glance down at his little sister showed she was covering her ears with a pained look on her face. He rubbed the top of her head affectionately before turning back to the game. The crowd was really into the game now and the Grarrl in front of him had stood up to cheer. Danny was forced to balance precariously on his fluffy yellow tail to see over the top of him.

     The half time whistle blew with only that goal scored; Danny sat back down properly and glanced to his right. Eve was looking hot, frustrated and bored; she was just too small to see over the top of the other Neopets and watch the game properly, even with the extra height her tail gave her. He felt a little sorry for her; he guessed she wasn't having as much fun as he was.

     "Are you thirsty?" he asked. She looked up and nodded at him. "Stay here; I'll go get us some slushies, alright?" When he had her agreement, he picked his way through the Neopets in the row and went down to the food court. He felt his heart sink a little at the size of the three queues at the slushie shop, but he joined the end of one of them nonetheless.

     Thankfully the Tuskaninny waitress was quicker than she looked and Danny got his two slushies after only a few minutes wait. He carried them carefully back to the stands, apologising as the Neopets in his room had to stand up for him again. He got back to his seat and immediately noticed his little sister was gone!

     "Eve?" he said as he looked around, putting the slushies in the cup holders provided on the arms of the seats. "Eve!" he called louder as he balanced on his tail again, trying to spot her in the crowd, but he couldn't see her anywhere!

     "Excuse me!" Danny turned to the Nimmo in the seat next to where Eve was. "Did you happen to see where the Baby Meerca went?"

     "I think she got annoyed because she couldn't see the half time show and went down to get closer," she answered, pointing down the stairs to the front of the stands near to the pitch. Danny thanked her for the help and rushed down there, not even bothering to apologise anymore. He called her name again when he got to the bottom of the stands, asking a few more Neopets whether they had seen her; worryingly, they hadn't.

     Danny was starting to panic as it sank in that he had really lost his little sister. He could feel the cold sweat tracing his face. How in Neopia was he going to find a tiny Meerca in a stadium this big? He looked around frantically, spotting another set of stairs that led back to the ticket gates and turnstiles. He decided to go look down there. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him; maybe she got bored and decided to walk home? He ran up to the turnstiles and banged into them with a crash.

     "Hey!" the Tonu guard called to him from the other side of the gates, still in his little ticket booth. "They are locked during the match, you know." Danny almost screamed in frustration; he silently counted to three before he answered.

     "I'm looking for my sister, have you seen her?" he asked a lot more calmly than he actually felt. His stomach twisted as the guard shook his head.

     "You left her on her own?" he asked in an accusing tone. Danny was about to shout back that he'd only been gone a few minutes before he thought better of it. The guard was right though, he never should have left her.

     Pushing aside his guilt, the young Meerca spotted a corridor to the left and he took off running down it, calling her name in an increasingly frantic voice. He skidded to a stop when he heard something – laughter, *her* laughter! It was coming from behind a door that he had almost run past. Danny gasped. It was the Virtupets locker room! He took a steadying breath and pushed open the door cautiously.

     All of his heroes were there, in the same room as him, and there was Eve! She was being tossed up into the air and caught by Goltron MK I, the goalkeeper, laughing hysterically.

     "Eve!" Danny called out, half in surprise, half in relief. The white Cybunny in front of him turned around.

     "Oh, hello!" Keetra Deile smiled at him. "I take it that she belongs to you?" She gestured with a flick of her head as Goltron put the little Meerca down and she ran up to her big brother, grinning like nothing was wrong. Danny picked her up and gave her a hard squeeze.

     "Yes, I lost her for a bit." Danny was so relieved that she was ok that he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her for running off. "I'm sorry that she bothered you..." he said, looking up at the Yooyuball players again.

     "Oh, she was no bother..." the towering Grundo, Weldar Xupenfarb, told him. "Just what we needed to stay relaxed for the second half." Danny grinned at that before realising.

     "The second half! We need to get back to our seats!" he gasped. Keetra looked to her Xweetok teammate, Sela Pretore, who nodded.

     "Fancy watching the second half from the VIP booth?" she asked with a knowing smile. Danny's open mouthed shock followed by speechless nodding was answer enough.

     The Meerca siblings had the best seats in house, sharing the VIP room with such dignitaries as Captain Threelegs and Gargarox, the Gormball legend. But even better was having a clear view of the pitch as Keetra sank a hat trick to firmly seal a decisive win over their Krawk Island opponents.

     Danny sank back into his seat after cheering as the final whistle went; XL Striker 3.8 had even looked up at the box and waved at them! Danny glanced down at Eve; she was leaning against his side, trying desperately not to fall asleep. He smiled and removed her half-finished slushie from her hand before she dropped it.

     "Come on, time to go home!" he said as he stood up, carrying her on his head while he used his tail as a makeshift seatbelt in case she dropped off before they got there.

     The trip home was, thankfully, uneventful, the evening sun casting a warm glow as they headed back at a leisurely pace. Danny pushed open the door and called out to his mother.

     "We're back! We won!" he said as he went straight for Eve's room, putting her to bed so she could sleep. His mother met him in the hallway as he headed for his room.

     "Did you guys have fun?" she asked with a warm smile. Danny gave her a huge grin as he nodded.

     "It was the best day ever!"

The End