"Um, I think there's a reason for that, Chaz," his JubJub companion said, eyeing the rollercoaster. "Is it even operating?"

"Sure it is! Look," he said, turning a switch on the control panel. "Voila! Who needs a silly attendant?"

Flufa felt her fur stand on edge, which made her look like she'd just been vigorously rubbed with a balloon.

Chaz grabbed his fuzzy companion and placed her in the ride car. "No worries... the track looks solid!"

The JubJub's eyes panned ahead. "Um, no it doesnnnnnnnnnnnn't!" she screamed, as the rollercoaster took off at an eye-watering speed that spread her words over hundreds of feet of track.

"WHHHHHhhhheeeeeeeeeee!" Chaz shouted in glee, as the car shot over the rickety, rusted track. "Isn't this great, Flufa?" The only response that he got was a pathetic whimper from his friend, whose shaking was nearly equal to that of the railcar itself.

Flufa's terrified silence was finally broken by a scream. Ahead, the track was entering the black depths of a demonic clown mouth...

"Come on, this isn't so baaaaad!" wailed Chaz as the coaster went into a long drop. The pets' stomachs lurched forward as the drop carried on.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!" screamed Flufa. Chaz did the same, but just for the fun of the moment. Suddenly, when they were turning into a helix inside the cave, the ride stopped dead. Flufa sighed in relief.

"Whats the deal?" Chaz asked angrily. He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot on the steel floor of the car, which seemed to echo a long way. "Start the ride already!" he yelled.

"There wasn't an attendant, remember?" said Flufa, glaring at her friend.

Chaz groaned. "Wait," he said, turning ahead. "What's that?"

A shot of shock went through their bodies as they heard high-pitched giggling coming from somewhere in the cave. "What was that?" whispered Flufa.

"Just some special effect," said Chaz, trying as hard as he could not to show fear. Flufa knew that he was also scared, which made her feel even more nervous.

"Well, there's no use waiting here," Chaz said while unbuckling his seat belt. He hovered over Flufa and unbuckled her, for she was too stiff to move. He then picked her up and flew on through the cave, trying to find a way out.

"This is all your fault, Chaz," growled Flufa. "You made me go on this ride." Chaz didn't reply. He just stared ahead, as if he were too busy listening to speak.

"Do you hear that?" he asked finally. Flufa leaned her head forward. "No, but--" her voice was cut off by a strange noise that had come from right behind them. The two pets slowly turned around with wide eyes to see...

...a hideously freaky clown! It looked exactly like the one at the cave opening, except this one had a set of hideous dripping fangs.

"Whee! Isn't this delightful? I have some brand new toys!" the clown chuckled in a creepy voice that echoed throughout the cave.

Chaz and Flufa screeched in terror, then started to run off. However, the clown sent its hands flying forward on a spring. The hands grasped the terrified duo and retracted back towards the clown.

"C-Chaz? W-What d-do we do?" Flufa muttered, her heart throbbing in her little chest.

"Don't worry, I'll get us out of this," Chaz said, smiling meekly while trying to convince his friend (and himself) that he was right.

"Tee hee, let's go to my room and play!" the clown squealed, jogging through the cave and turning into a pitch black pathway.

The Shoyru and JubJub bounced as the clown dashed through the cave. Flufa sighed fearfully when the last sights of the molten lave disappeared around the bend.

The journey to the clown's lair seemed to go on for hours, but they finally reached a door, with a sign tacked on it that read, 'mY rOoM! eNtEr aT yOuR oWn rIsK!'

"We're here!" the clown cried, roaring with maniacal laughter. It stepped on a little pad that seemed to work like a pump. With each pump, the door slid upwards, revealing a room that looked like it belonged to a madman. There was a small, flickering red light, which hung from a chain on the ceiling, that swung from left to right... left to right...

There was also a table, which was covered by sharp objects. Knives, scissors, tweezers, drills, nails, pins, needles, blades, and worst of all... a CHAINSAW! Each and every one of the utensils was splashed with an eerie looking red substance.

The clown thrust the two pets on a weird little table, then strapped them down.

"Don't worry, Flufa," Chaz whispered, hysteria creeping into his voice, "We'll get out of here."

The clown went over to the table that held the sharp objects and selected an item. He approached the Shoyru first, grinning menacingly as he held a corkscrew in his clutches, twisting his wrist from side to side.

"I'm afraid that you've come down with a bad case of Intestinitus," the clown said with a chuckle. "It is my professional opinion..." the clown grinned, "that you are in dire need of an immediate operation!"...

Flufa screamed, and Chaz squeezed his eyes shut. Everything went black, except for the maniacal laughter that echoed sickening pictures in their minds.

How long they were asleep, well... neither of them knew. Chaz opened his eyes, but it seemed to make no difference: all he saw was black.

A slight shuffling noise made Chaz jump.

"Who's there?!?" he yelled. Chaz made an attempt to get up, but it was to no avail. He felt like he was drowning in pillows.

"Ch-Chaz!? Is that you?!" Flufa's voice trembled through the void.

"FLUFA! Are you okay?!"

"I-I think so... where are we?"

That was a good question. Chaz strained until his eyes would have fallen out of their sockets, but the world remained pitch black. Judging from the feeling, they were assured that they were in a closed space - Flufa's head was pressed against the ceiling - like a box.

"Let's try jumping. Maybe we can open it?!" Flufa said with an air of panic.

"What good will that do?" Chaz responded cynically.

"Not like any of your ideas were that great, Mr. Let's-Ride-The-Abandoned-Coaster!!"

Chaz sighed. "Okay, on the count of three... one... two... THREE!"

They both jumped. A ray of light shot through the darkness for a split second, then disappeared.

"Now, again! Maybe we can find the edge again?!?" Flufa cried excitedly.

"No need," Chaz said. He sounded like he was trying to squeeze his voice through a tube. "It's on my tail..."

With a great amount of effort, Flufa aided in rescuing Chaz's tail. They lifted the the edge together, tumbling out of their prison.

Chaz lifted himself off of the carpet, and noticed something strange about his hands. They were patchy, fragmented... and sewn together with twine!!!

"AHHHHHH!!! I'm a plushie!!!" Chaz screamed. He turned to look at Flufa, who lifted herself off the floor with a chew-toy squeak. "AND SO ARE YOU!!!"....

...Flufa stared at her friend for a moment, trying to digest what he had just said. She then slowly lowered her eyes to her feet, and saw that they looked and felt softer than normal. What truly scared her was that her toes had stitches at the ends.

"Chaz! What's going *squeak*..." Flufa gasped, then quickly shut her mouth. She was horrified by the sound she'd just made. "W-what's wrong with my *squeak* voice?"

"You're a squeak-toy!" said Chaz said in a terrified whisper. He then started to pace floor. "This is insane! How did that clown turn us into toys?"

"That's not all he *squeak* did." Flufa pointed one of her toes to the ceiling and, for the first time, Chaz noticed that everything seemed much, much larger than it had been that morning. All around them were shelves, chairs, lamps, and other inanimate objects that stood tall as buildings. Upon the wooden shelves were other toys: Ixis, Lennies, Aishas, Scorchios. All of them seemed lifeless and still.

Chaz gulped nervously as he gazed around him. "Y-you don't think that they're..."

Just then, large heavy footsteps echoed off the walls. "Someone's *squeak* coming!"

"Quick!" said Chaz. "Back in the box!" Both Flufa and Chaz quickly hopped back into the toybox and remained perfectly still. The footsteps were getting louder. Although they were plushies, the two friends could feel their hearts pounding against their clothy exterior. The lid suddenly burst open and there, smiling down on them, was the Chia Clown. Chaz and Flufa were too scared to move, which probably helped them look more like plushies.

Whistling, the Chia Clown picked up the two "plushies" easily and set them on a high wooden plank.

"Well, my little friends... what do you think?" asked the Chia as his grin grew wider. "Daddy decided I could have you two! I'm sure you're going to LOVE living here with me. You'll be my special, special friends, and we'll play... and sing... and dance all day long! Won't that be FUN???"

Chaz shuddered as the Chia Clown grinned disturbingly. "Well," the clown said again, "I best be off to bed now. I'll try to see if I can find some more friends for you to play with, okay? TAH TAH!" The clown couldn't help but chortle madly as he walked out of the room.

"I-Is he *squeak* gone?" asked Flufa out of the corner of her stitched mouth.

"Yeah... he's gone." Chaz and Flufa relaxed as they looked around the room again. "Flufa, we've gotta get out of here!"

"That's what I told you *squeak* the first time!" snapped Flufa. "But, nooo! You just had to *squeak* go on that stupid ride! Now look at us! We're walking, talking *squeak* plushie freaks!"

"Join the club..." a voice replied gloomily. Chaz and Flufa froze as they heard the third voice. Slowly turning around, they saw...

"Yeah," a green Nimmo added, grinning, "Luckily for us, thought, that stupid clown doesn't realize that we're still alive." The group surrounded them.

"Is this really happening?" Chaz asked, reaching out to touch the Nimmo's face.

"Were you expecting this to be a dream?" the blue Kacheek joked. "Oh no, this is real."

Flufa stared at all the plushies. "Is there a *squeak* cure?" she asked, saddened by her condition. The group shook their heads, staring down towards the ground.

"There's another bad part about this," a green Scorchio added. "Once you've been a plushie for a certain amount of time, you then actually turn into one... like my brother."

"What!?" Chaz exclaimed. "How much time do we have?!?" he asked; the urgency in his voice was apparent.

"It's random... could be tomorrow, or the next day, or months from now," the Scorchio replied. "It's different for everyone." Flufa stared at her poorly sewn feet, then began biting her lip.

"There has to be a way out of here!" Chaz exclaimed. "Isn't there some kind of opening?!?" A blue Nimmo emerged from the small group of plushies and pointed towards a wall.

"There is a vent over there, but we can't open it," he said. "We don't have a wrench, or any tools to use." Chaz looked at the vent, then started to run towards it.

"Wait!" a Faerie Usul warned. However, it was too late. The Shoyru jumped off the table and began flying towards the vent. "You can't fly," the Faerie Usul sighed to herself, watching Chaz as he plummeted towards the ground.

Smashing into the ground, Chaz was sure this was the end... but he was still alive, though. In fact, it didn't even hurt! The other plushies jumped off the table and landed by Chaz, then began walking towards the vent. Chaz encouraged Flufa to come with them and catch up with the group. Flufa hesitated, but then jumped off.

"This is the vent," the blue Kacheek said.

"There must be a way to open it," Chaz said.

"But *squeak* how?"...

...they stood there for minutes, trying to formulate a plan. Finally, something came into Chaz's mind. "Hey, didn't that Chia have a bunch of tools back at the lab?" he asked Flufa. "Maybe we could use his wrench to try and open the vent?!?"

Flufa seemed excited for a moment, but a look of dismay soon fell upon her face. "We don't even know how to go back there," she reminded him. All of the Neopets sighed.

Suddenly, the green Scorchio yelped in surprise. "Goodness--what in tarnation is that?!?" he cried, pointing towards a box in the ground. He showed them that it had a little key that was pushed into the slot.

The blue Kacheek looked less excited. "Oh, that? I reckon the clown dropped it on his way out--it looks pretty useless to me," he shrugged, then walked away.

"Hey, wait! Maybe, if I turn this key forward... like an ignition, then--" Chaz jumped back as a small ray emitted from the device, hitting the room's door. That's when the door suddenly became a portal, similar to black hole.

A voice within the portal spoke in a deep, oily voice. "Welcome to Portal 1... 5... 4... 9, entrance to your lab. Two of you may enter. There are fifteen minutes before the portal closes... have a nice trip!" A timer appeared on the device's screen, indicating how much time was left for the trip.

Flufa grinned. "Alright! *squeak* This is our lucky *squeak* break! We can get the wrench *squeak*, come back, then open the vent!" They headed towards the portal, only to be stopped by the poor blue Kacheek.

He tugged on Chaz's leg stubbornly. "Please don't leave us--we want to get out of here, too!"

"Don't worry, we'll get you out- and that's a promise!" he said. The Kacheek finally let go, then waved one last goodbye before watching them enter the portal...

"Thank you for using our portal. Please, come again!"

Another voice came out from behind her, and it seemed a little bit scared. "Flufa, there you are! I've been waiting for at least five minutes!"

Flufa whirled her head around and laid eyes on Chaz. She was so relieved that she rushed over and gave him a squeeze. Her words rushed out. "Oh Chaz, *squeak* thank goodness! *squeak*"

Flufa pulled away as she heard the last of his words. "Five minutes?" she asked him nervously, "but I was only in there for about ten seconds!"

Her friend frowned in thought. "Hmm... must be a portal thing. Very polite service, though," he said, smiling a little and brushing the thought aside.

"Anyway, we're here!" He cast a look around him. Flufa also took the time to examine the room, as well.

The room took on a different look when one was less than a foot tall... it was still horrible, though. The metal tables took up the center of the room; a few buckles for paw-binding hung carelessly off the edges. Chaz shuddered when he saw them. The most disturbing thing was the table of grotesque instruments, which was at just enough of a tilt to allow both Neopets to see its gruesome array.

As Chaz saw all of this, he nervously reached out for Flufa's paw. He looked around the room for any type of wrench, but nothing helpful showed itself. "Let's look around," he said in a soft voice. Flufa nodded, her eyes wide on the table. She managed to tear her gaze away and look over to other parts of the room.

"Let's *squeak* go over there," she said, pointing to a huge shelf of even more metal objects.

"Good idea," Chaz answered, walking in that direction. It took a long time with both of them toddling along. Flufa made soft squeaking noises every so often. After a while, they reached the shelf.

"I'm going to climb up," the still-adventurous Chaz said.

Flufa let go of his paw. "Okay, but be careful. I'll guide you from back here," she answered, taking a few jumps backwards. Chaz mustered his courage and began to climb.

Flufa directed him, exclaiming, "Go over to your left... *squeak* I think I see something!"

Chaz complied, but the object turned out to be a pair of shiny scissors. Putting them back down, he looked over towards Flufa. "Where next...?"

This went on for a long while, but they couldn't find anything helpful. Disappointed, Flufa turned around to look back over the other things in the room. Suddenly, she gasped loudly, exclaiming, "Look over there!"

Excited, she squeaked a number of times in a row, pointing to a high shelf in the corner.

Hanging over the edge, just enough so that you could see its top, was a wrench.

Chaz was excited, too, but only for a moment. Time was running out quickly...

...Chaz narrowed his eyes at the shelf. If he were still a Neopet, he could have easily flown to the shelf, but now that he was a plushie it was nearly impossible. Unless...

The shelf was next to a pegboard; Chaz could climb up the pegs and reach the wrench, then somehow throw it down.

He pointed this out to Flufa, who squeaked with fear, but agreed to let him try. So, peg by peg, the little Shoyru climbed to the top of the board. All he had to do now was jump from the board to the shelf.

"Be *squeak* careful!" Flufa called, just as Chaz jumped.

It was a brilliant jump, and Chaz barely made it. He was exhausted, but couldn't risk a moment to rest; had to save the plushies, before it was too late.

Flufa cheered as Chaz stood up and launched himself at the wrench. "Look out, Flufa!" he called as the wrench toppled over the edge. Taking a deep breath, Chaz jumped down to the laboratory floor far below. He then called to Flufa, and together they pushed the wrench to the portal.

The portal announced that 13 minutes had passed. They were halfway across the floor by then.

At 14 minutes, they were just a few feet away. "30... 29... 28..." the portal said. Chaz and Flufa took a deep breath, then went ahead and leapt through.

When Chaz opened his eyes, he was back in the room with the other plushies. He could feel the hard iron of the wrench in his hands. He then overheard the portal as it said, "3... 2... 1... thank you for using the magic portal!" It then disappeared.

He sat up, to see that the other plushies had surrounded a figure on the ground. Standing up, he walked over, feeling his heart quicken. It couldn't be, he told himself.

Walking over, the other plushies saw him and parted sadly. Now running forward, Chaz could see Flufa on the ground, clearly a real squeak toy.

"FLUFA! NOOO!..."

"Chaz, you idiot! Wake up!"

"Huuh?" Chaz asked. He opened his eyes, to see a fuzzy JubJub shaking him. "Flufa? You aren't a plushie!"

"What are you talking about?!" Flufa asked him, her face full of concern. "I thought, the whole time on the end of that roller coaster, that you were screaming in fright... but really, I guess you just fell asleep!!!" Chaz looked past her to see a navy night sky, speckled with stars. The coaster car was its starting position, and the ride was over. Flufa helped him out of the car, and Chaz stood shakily on his feet.

"I was having the weirdest dream..." he murmured. "You and I were captured by an evil clown in the roller coaster, and he turned us into plushies! Then we had to go get a wrench, and there was a curse that would make us plushies for good, not the living ones we were! And you turned into a real plushie! You were laying on the ground, all frozen and..." Chaz broke off, and Flufa gave him a hug.

"It was just a dream," she said. "Why don't we just go home and--" she was cut off by the sound of a blue Tonu exiting Sidney's tent across the fairgrounds.

"These better not be fake, too, Old Man Sidney!" the Tonu warned. "Or I'll want my money back!"

Hey, you two!" Flufa called in their direction. "Since when has Sidney been an old man? And please, what time is it?" The Tonu ran away from them, screaming.

"GHOSTS!!! RUN AWAAAAAAY!!!!"

"Wait!" called Chaz. "You dropped your... newspaper." He picked it up, then he and Flufa gasped as they saw the front page.

"Search cancelled." Chaz read aloud. "The parents of Chaz, a Shoyru, and Flufa, a JubJub, have called off the effort to find them. The two young Neopets went to the Deserted Fairground one day and never came back. All traces of them have disappeared. Their worried parents have ended the search. "We have suffered through 30 long years of disappointment," they said. "We've finally given up any hope of them coming back."

"30 long years?" quavered Flufa. "How..." Chaz looked down to the ground and shrieked. There were plushies strewn about the floor of the fair, everywhere, as far as the eye could see. They all wore angry expressions on their faces. Then the two screamed as they heard the familiar laughter of a clown. It was a crazy laughter, the laughter of a madman: dangerous chuckles and gruesome giggles, growing louder and more maniacal until it filled the night sky...

THE END