Fab Hair and the Alien Scare

      Pure_Decadence paced in front of her house. The aroma from the Kelp restaurant around the corner wafted by her and she inhaled sharply. The only thing that smelled better than the braised turkey cutlet cooked at the eatery was the smell of hair dye as it was being applied to her tresses. The chocolate Peophin was known to her friends as being the one to always wear the latest fashions and it was nineteen days into the new month and she still hadn’t dyed her hair. The water lifted her red hair as she shifted nervously and she caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye. “Can you even believe this?” She asked no one in particular with an eyeroll. Hail was too busy to come with her to the salon, the last time she brought her older brother Brujyh he’d walked out with long platinum locks with the tips dyed blue, no way was she making that mistake again. A lightbulb went on behind her eyes. “Reeyce!” she exclaimed and pulled her cellphone out. “FASHION CRISIS, meet me ASAP” read the Neomail. With that, she was on her way to Neopia Central to visit the NC Mall. If only she’d known how true her words were… she might have just stayed home.

Deca wandered around the NC Mall looking for the long tail and blue cape that denoted her friend Reeyce was around. Reeyce was the most glamourous Lost Desert Xweetok that Deca had ever had the pleasure of knowing. The two met last year at the Altador Cup’s Backstage pass event and they’d been close friends and fashionistas ever since. Deca wandered into the Wonderclaw store and there she spotted her friend. “REEEEEEEYCE” she shouted, getting angry looks from two Lupes playing the claw games. Deca glared back “fashion is serious business ok?” She said and quickly went to her friend’s side.

Reeyce looked the Peo up and down, “Deca… your hair!” She cried.

Pure_Decadence had the decency to blush. “ I know! Red is like so two weeks ago!”

Reeyce nodded. “It’s ok. I bought this cloak yesterday. When I got home the newest copy of Neopia Fashion Trends Magazine was sitting on the table and the first article said that capes were the new cloaks! Can you believe it?” Reeyce gave a mock shudder, or perhaps it was one of real horror.

Deca eyed her own dress, the peppermint queen dress with attached cape. “Capes are out?! We have a serious issue here.” The two Lupes snickered again, earning a glare from both fashionistas.

“Let’s get straight to grooming parlour to fix this!” Reeyce exclaimed.

Deca sat in the barber chair, her tail swishing against the ground as the Eyrie behind her assessed her hair. “What are you thinking about doing with it?” The Eyrie, known as Mujuura, asked, his voice gravely.

Reeyce looked up from her issue of the NeoTimes. “Something other than red. Red is dead. All the gossip magazines say so. But she can’t go green because I’m doing the whole mint and aqua deal.” The Xweetok said with a gesture to her own foil wrapped hair.

Mujuura gave the Peophin’s locks an appraising look. “Hmm orange wouldn’t go so well with your tone, how about we try white? White is so in right now.” He murmed with a click of his tongue.

Deca tilted her head, “I’ve never tried white before. Let’s do it.” She said after receiving a quick, approving nod from Reeyce.

Mujuura smiled and left to get the dye mixture ready.

Sloth rubbed his hands together as he gazed at his newest invention. “This ray gun will have everyone under my control and there’s nothing the Space Faerie can do about it. She thinks she’s so high and mighty challenging People to the battle dome and dropping gifts on unsuspecting People. Well think again!” He exclaimed and flourished the ray gun into the air. Sloth wheeled around and quickly zapped an unsuspecting Grundo.

“What do you want?” The Grundo asked and rubbed his knee, where the zap landed.

Sloth frowned. “I want you to bring me a diet Neocola.”

The Grundo gave him a weird look but hurried off to do as he asked, calling over his shoulder. “A please would have been nice.”

Sloth examined the ray gun. “Needs work apparently.”

Pure_Decadence and Reeyce sat chatting happily about the new NC collectible while Mujuura combed the dye through Deca’s hair.

“The Tomos Collector’s Top is perfection. Isn’t Hail’s birthday coming up? You should buy him it. It’ll look great with his colors.” Reeyce exclaimed

Deca leaned forward to get a better look and Mujuura sighed and pulled her back into the seat. “If you keep moving, I’m going to mess this up.” He proclaimed and dumped more dye on her hair.

“oooh that is pretty!” Deca squealed, “and look at the mystery capsules! We need to pick some up before we leave today.”

Reeyce smiled and agreed.

“Alright darling. Let’s move you to the heaters so the color can set properly.” Mujuura said. The two girls looked at each other and giggled at the sight of one another’s hair wrapped up in tin foil.

Dr. Sloth waded through the mall glaring at all the happy shoppers. He pulled out his ray gun “Zap! Zap! Zap!” he cried gleefully as he fired away. Each hit landed on an unsuspecting Neopet and turning them into a mindless zombie. “Each of you return to my ship, together we will invade Faerieland.” Complying, the Neopets all turned to walk out the door, bringing their shopping bags with them. Sloth ran through the mall cackling gleefully as he zapped more and more petpets. “Just call me Boochi because I’m zapping everyone!” He glanced at the barbershop and noticed a stealthy Eyrie, a chocolate Peophin, and a Lost Desert Xweetok all sitting in there. He raised the ray gun and fired three shots before turning away.

Reeyce jumped as a crash came from the front of the shop. Her eyes widened as a ray of light came towards her face. She rubbed her nose when the ray of light zapped her. “Ouch!” She glanced over at Deca as her friend exclaimed in fright.

“What the Sloth was that?” Deca cried out?

“I think it was Sloth!” Reeyce said, pointing towards the door of the mall. Beside them, Mujuura had dropped his scissors and started walking towards the door. “Hey Muj! Where are you going? We’re not done here” The Xweetok exclaimed, slightly annoyed.

Deca pointed to her hair. “Who’s going to get this foil out?” The Eyrie ignored them and continued walking. The two friends looked at each other before scampering after him. Reeyce reached out and gripped him by his shoulders.

“Muj stop! Are you even listenin..ah!” Reeyce cried out as Mujuura pushed her away, his gaze vacant.

“What’s your problem?!” She growled.

“What’s everyone’s problem?” Deca followed up, pointing to all the People streaming out the door. “It’s like they’ve all been hypnotized.”

“Yeah but we were zapped. Why weren’t we hypnotized?” Reeyce asked before glancing at Deca’s hair. “Do.. I mean.. you’ve read the stories. Do you think our foil hats protected us from the alien?” Reeyce asked.

Deca and Reeyce stared at each other.

“Does this mean it’s up to us to stop him? I mean.. my hair does need to be finished.” Deca asked.

To Be Continued!