Happy Holidays everyone! Since this will be a 3 day work week; rather than try to crush a story in on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, I've arranged a special treat! :)

By popular demand, I've decided to let a USER start the Story Telling for Monday, December 29th! To keep things interesting this week, I invite everyone to send in BEGINNINGS OF STORIES this Monday and Tuesday. I will look through the entries, and put the best ones up in the Story Telling section as I find them. On Tuesday afternoon, submissions will close, and a poll will be set up. Tuesday evening through Friday morning, you will be able to vote (ONCE!) for your favourite beginning. On Friday when I return, I will then announce the winner. The following Monday, the winning story will be used to start off Story Telling! :)

Sorry if this is confusing, let me give you a better visual idea:

Monday, 22nd: Submit the beginnings of stories.

Tuesday, 23rd morning: Submissions continue

Tuesday, 23rd afternoon: Submissions close, poll goes up.

Wednesday, 24th: Voting continues

Thursday, 25th: Voting continues

Friday, 26th morning: Voting continues

Friday, 26th afternoon: Winner announced

Monday, 29th: New Story Telling Competition begins, with the winning story starting things off! :)

If you are confused, or have any questions, please feel free to email me at storytelling@neopets.com.

Update, Monday 3:18 PM NST: I've decided to add 5 stories each day, for 10 stories in total to vote upon. Entries are in no particular order, and are numbered only for polling purposes.

Update, Tuesday 4:27 PM NST: Polls are now open! Voting will continue until Friday afternoon.

In simpler terms-- we are voting whose story has the most promise to begin a good Story Telling, not who can coerce the most people on the newbie chat in two days, or who belongs to the biggest guild. Poor "sportsmanship" will only result in disqualification, as will posting on fan sites to draw in more votes. Please, let the Story Tellers vote for their fellow Story Tellers. Everyone who follows the rules will be kindly rewarded on Friday for their good form. :)

Thank you, and good luck to all our authors :)

The poll is located at the bottom of the page.

Update, Friday 5:00 PM NST: Polls are now closed! Congratulations white_wolf_akia! You are the winner! You will receive an incredibly rare card of The Storyteller! Everyone who abided by the rules will receive a Story Telling trophy, 2000np, and a random rare item!

However, no reason to despair, finalists. This isn't your last chance to have your entry begin Story Telling. Just like anyone, I also have an occasional bout with writer's block, so don't be surprised if one day you find your story up on a Monday morning! :) If that is the case, you will be rewarded with a rare item, though the Storyteller card will only be given out to white_wolf_akia for winning the poll. Congratulations, everyone! :)

Oh, almost forgot: The next Story Telling Competition will begin MONDAY, after white_wolf_akia's story is put up. You may write stories, and save them to submit on Monday, but any entries received over the weekend will NOT be read, sorry about that.

Agent 00 Hog, the dashing Moehog secret agent, had just finished karate-chopping the last henchman, who went sailing over the usual catwalk railing. "Now it's just you and me, Dr. Tonu. Whatever fiendish plan you had to destroy Neopia this week, it's over," he said.

"Fool!" ranted the fiendish Dr. Tonu. "My studies of the Meridell Incident are complete. Mastery of the spacetime continuum is mine! Take one step closer and I'll..."

But Agent 00 Hog was a Moehog of action, not words! He had already leaped the gap separating him from the mad genius, and attacked. As they grappled, the device Dr. Tonu had been brandishing fell to the catwalk floor. A strange green flash filled the air as an explosion threw the struggling foes apart.

Of course, the rugged 00 Hog recovered first. He looked around at the rocky, barren landscape he found himself in. "I say.." he started, only to dodge a crude wooden spear tossed at him by a primitive looking Usul, who then turned and hid behind a pile of cracked boulders. "Hmm," 00 Hog mused. "It appears Doc Tonu's contraption has hurled us all the way to Tyrannia. And me without my Gruslen-hide tuxedo. Guess I'll be late for the Cheat! tournament this evening."

"You idiot!" shrieked Dr. Tonu. "That was my time machine you activated with your clumsy attack! Look! Look!"

00 Hog looked at the tree Tonu indicated. A sapling, rather. Something seemed familiar...

"That's the Money Tree, you imbecile!" said Dr. Tonu. "Or rather, it will be. Your meddling has marooned us both in the prehistoric past!"

"I stand corrected," quipped 00 Hog. "It appears that I shall be rather early for the tournament..."

The door slammed as Galley and her mother Akia walked into the living room.

"Honey it will be ok, don't cry!"

"ARE YOU JOKING?" Galley managed to scream through her hands and tears.

"I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL LIKE THIS TOMORROW!"

"Sweetie, you have to go to school... it will be ok."

Galley started sobbing again. "I'm never going to the Lab Ray ever again... never, never, never!"

Chandler, a shadow Gelert walked in the living room, and Galley quickly threw a blanket over herself.

"Dude what's up with all the yellin'? I just got to the fifth level on Neoquest and then... um what's with the thing under the blanket?

Akia whispered something to Chandler, and his grin grew bigger and bigger. "DUDE! I HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

"NO!" Akia yelled and got between Galley and Chandler

"You are her brother and you are not going to treat her like a freak show!"

"I'm not gonna make fun of her� I just want to see her... to um... comfort her."

"Chandler, NO! You just go to your room!"

"I didn't do anything! You can't just send me to my room.... isn't that like illegal?"

"NO IT'S NOT! Just go... please..."

"Fine! I'm going I'm going!"

As Chandler walked up the stairs, Galley started to think about how nice her life was before Akia hade the marvelous idea that she wanted to start taking her to the Lab Ray... I used to be a beautiful green Shoyru, and now I'm�THIS! She thought to herself, but then her thoughts were interrupted when Akia asked softly if she wanted anything to eat.

"No, I don't feel like eating right now."

Still under the blanket Galley started to think again. "No one understands how hard it is to be the stupid little lab rat..."

"Bye! Thanks for the lift!" Wind Dancer (or Wind for short), a cloud Uni, smiled and waved at the boat as it pulled away from the dock of Mystery Island. After a whole winter of snow, she was ready for a vacation with some fun in the sun!

The first thing Wind did was head straight for the beach. She quickly found a spot in the sand near the water.

She pulled out a pair of blue sunglasses and rested them on her head. She leaned back in the sand and stared at the sky.

Wind sighed, watching as a red Aisha and a faerie Kacheek played volleyball. The Aisha served the ball. As the ball sailed over the net, the Kacheek got ready to bump it back, but missed. Both of them laughed as the ball rolled to a stop in the sand.

Normally, Unis aren't shy and loved sports. Surely Wind would have no trouble with volleyball if she asked them if she could play too. However, Wind had trouble making friends. It was as if she didn't fit in anywhere with anyone!

"That's what vacation should be about," Wind said out loud, sadness growing inside of her. "Spending time with your friends or family and having fun. But who do I have? No one!"

Wind suddenly got up, brushed some sand from her neat fur, and trotted to the ocean's edge. She ignored the people around her. Wind needed some "her" time.

She smiled to herself as she dunked a hoof in the water. Calmness washed over her for a few seconds.

As soon as she was snapped out of her daydream, Wind spotted something by a palm tree nearby. She squinted and tried to make out what the figure was. It looked like a shadow Uni, but Wind wasn't sure at all.

He (or she) was staring at the Aisha and Kacheek, who were still playing volleyball. Their mouth was set in a thin line, glaring at them both. Whoever this was, they looked VERY mad!

Wind groaned. "The heat must be getting to me," she said. "That Uni looks as if the Aisha and Kacheek have done something horrible to them!"

It was none of her business, Wind walked farther out into the water. She swam underwater and relaxed.

When she finally surfaced, Wind turned around, startled. She had heard screaming coming loudly from the beach....

Snow stung against Layla's numb skin as she huddled in the corner of the dark alley.

Another merry Christmas, she thought to herself bitterly, tears clinging to her eyelashes.

She stood up, her limbs aching from the cold and being in a cramped space. A light at the end of the alley caught her attention as she brushed the snow from her shivering body. Slowly, she made her way to the end of the alley and peered down the deserted street. Christmas lights winked at her from shop windows and warm light poured out of the windows of homes lining the sidewalk.

The light that had caught her attention came from a small house directly across the street. Carefully, she made her way across the icy street to the window of the house. She peered into the brightly lit room, and her eyes widened in longing.

A baby Kougra tumbled around on the floor, playing with a piece of wrapping ribbon, while an elegant faerie Ashia placed a present under the twinkling Christmas tree. Tears burned Layla's face as she turned from the window.

"All I want for Christmas is a family," she said, as she hugged herself to keep the biting cold away.

The crack of a door made her jump, and she gasped as she turned around...

Tyrfal the Eyrie stretched and grumbled, preening his dark blue feathers. He was so glad the holidays were over. It was always so noisy in his part of the forest, what with people dashing about cutting down trees and collecting holly, making footprints in the nice, crisp, deep snow and generally being a nuisance. Tyfral liked quiet and peace, not hustle-and-bustle. Oh well, he thought grumpily, putting his head under his wing, it'll be quiet now for another eleven months, until next holidays.

But just as he was settling down for a nap, he heard a high, thin wailing, like someone crying. Oh, what now? he thought. But the crying went on, and though Tyrfal was blustery and cross, he did have a heart beneath his surly exterior. I guess I'd better find out what's wrong, he thought, and leaped into the air, flapping his mighty wings.

From the sky, it took him only a few minutes to see the Lupe curled up in a miserable ball of damp fur beneath the edge of a sprawling pine shrub. The Lupe was sobbing as though her heart had broken. Tyrfal folded his wings and swooped down to land next to the bush.

"Hey now," he said, using his beak to push aside the edge of the bush. "Enough of that." The Lupe looked at him with tear-filled eyes, and he felt his heart melt slightly. "What's wrong?" he continued, more gently. "Are you lost?"

"If only that was all that was wrong!" sobbed the Lupe. "You see, my name is Raelie, and I was sent on a quest by a faerie to find a special branch on which grow the magical Berries of Crystal Ice, which only grow during the last few days of the Month of Celebrating and the first few days of the Month of Sleeping, and I'm almost out of time, and I'm not going to find them before they stop growing!"

"Well," the Eyrie said gruffly, that's too bad, but it'll be all right. The faeries sometimes get grumpy if you don't get their magic ingredients to them in time, but they'll forgive you. You don't need to wail so."

"You don't understand," Raelie said. "It's not just for some everyday spell. The safety of my whole village rests on this spell! I was chosen to find the magical berries because I was the smartest and strongest young Lupe, but I am going to fail, and the whole village will be destroyed!"

"I still don't understand," Tyrfal admitted.

"The village is under a curse! Unless the faerie can pour drops of a magic potion made from the berries on the roof of every house, then during the Month of Sleeping, the village will be..."

The Aisha crouched in the shadows of the alley, his eyes nervously darting backwards and forwards. There was something hunting him. He could hear paw steps, ones that stopped a few seconds after his did. He sensed movement, close by. He heard the light breathing that was not his own.

This was no game. It was a professional, one that sought what he held.

He ducked out of the narrow mouth of the alley, creeping swiftly down the deserted street. It was a cloudy night, devoid of even a soft moonlight to cast a small light into the inky blackness. He clutched the precious bundle tight to his chest. They would never have it! Never!

Faster, now, hurrying just a little. He heard the light footfalls speed up behind him a fraction too. How eerie it was! In the dark night, he was on edge as it was. He played a finely balanced game here: run, and the pursuer would surely catch him... but walk for too long and he risked the same fate. Every nerve in his body was taut and tight. He wouldn't make it home tonight: back to the den of the Thieves, where his parcel would be safe. He would have to gamble on Lady Luck being by his side tonight.

He broke into an all-out run, rushing through cobbled streets, hurtling up a drainpipe and fleeing over silent roofs. The iced tiles meant his foot often slipped. His follower was too close behind him now. He had no choice.

Whispering a spell for soft landing, he dropped the bundle carefully down the nearest chimney and fled. He almost crowed with joy as the hunter took the bait and followed him. Sliding over the icy roofs, he prayed for the safety of his charge. He felt cold breath on his neck, the hunter at his heels.

He would not make it home tonight, nor any night, but his job was done.

In a grate, amongst the ashes of a cold fire, a small baby Shoyru slept, unaware of the sacrifices made for it, unaware of the future awaiting it, unaware of its history or parents or destiny. Unaware of its new home, unaware of everything but the soft blanket wrapped around it and the shimmering pendant around its neck...

"What?!? No dubloons means no rare artifacts, so git!" yelled the old pirate Lenny, who just so happened to be the chief supplier for The Smuggler's Cove.

Brooklyn the blue Gelert cringed. "How about I work off the cost?" he asked, hopefully.

A squat, pink Bruce came waddling towards them. "Aye, what be all the commotion over here?" he asked angrily. "The pirates are comin'. We don't want them to see a kid over here."

The Lenny nodded in agreement, and motioned for Brooklyn to hide behind a nearby barrel. "Hey, what's the big idea??? I have a right to-" He would have continued to rant, but at that very moment, the sound of a loud metal clank was heard.

"Do ye have it or not?" a rough voice inquired.

Both of them gulped. "N-no sir," the Lenny replied. "We were unable to retrieve it."

Brooklyn could hear the sound of loud, gritting teeth, followed by another loud clank. A scream of pain escaped from the Bruce's mouth. "Idiots. That'll teach yer a lesson fer defyin' me." The three pirates were just about to walk off, when the Bruce started to tug on the Captain's leg.

"Wait... we know ye can't go off on the journey without that artifact, so I offer ye something else. That young boy, behind the barrels!"

Brooklyn froze, horror-struck. What were they thinking?

"A boy, ye say?" said the Captain, sounding pleased. "This just might be workin'. First mate Garland, go and retrieve the boy." A pirate Mynci nodded, then slowly approached the Gelert's hiding spot...

Donna sighed, looking around the office room. It was time for the annual Christmas party, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Adam was showing off his "Asparagus & Borovan"collection to anyone who would listen to him ramble on about the virtues of the "wonderful green stalk" and the "drink that put hairs on your chest."

Matt the angry programmer was in the middle of a heated debate with Greg the very angry programmer and Matt the not-so-angry programmer about who really was angrier.

Yes, everything seemed to be going well. But why did it feel like something was wrong? She scanned the room again, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Frowning, she turned back to where she was testing out a new Neopets feature.

It was going to be an addition to Jhudora. Nothing much, just some touch ups on the image and some different prizes for the higher level quests.

She looked at the screen, puzzled, where an error message was displayed. Shrugging, she returned to the previous page, only to see...

"Oooo wouldn't you just love to do that honey?!?" Tammie said, pointing at the flickering TV screen where a Battledome fight was commencing.

Yusella sighed, "No mum." She continued brushing her mane. She was always brushing her hair, sometimes to the point of being obsessive, demanding her hairbrush when her hair was out of place.

Tammie, Yusella's owner, sighed too. She looked at her faerie Usul. "Yusella, I don't know why I bought you all that battle junk, if it's just going to rot in our safety deposit box."

"I didn't ask for it! Anyway, I think I'll go see Reabecka," she said simply, putting her brush on the Kauvara coffee table and skipping out the door.

Reabecka was Yusella's best friend. Nobody really knew why... they were complete opposites. Yusella flew from her house on Faerie Lane, high over the clouds of Faerieland, until she saw her friend's one-story Neohome. She landed, took a minute to fix her windblown hair, then went inside.

"Your owner's still convinced you should try out the Battledome?" Reabecka the blue Blumaroo asked sympathetically, bringing a can of neocola to Yusella.

"Yeah... personally, I don't see the big deal" Yusella admitted, popping the tab of the neocola. She took a sip and her eyes widened. "Reabecka, this isn't DIET neocola!!!"

"Sorry, sorry" the Blumaroo said in a panicky voice, running off to get another can. Yusella checked herself in her compact Aisha mirror.

Reabecka scurried back in, apologizing profusely because she had no diet neocola. Yusella snapped her compact mirror shut, deciding she wouldn't bother getting angry at her friend this time.

"I mean, what's so good about battling, Becka??" she continued.

Reabecka nodded as if she were agreeing, glad for the change of subject. She was in constant fear of her friend getting mad. "Uh huh. Usuls like you belong in the Beauty Contest, although the Battledome is actually..."

"Not you now!!!" Yusella exclaimed.

"Well you should try just one battle. I mean, it's pretty fun, once you try it out," Reabecka told her, blind to Yusella's short temper flaring up...

"TIKI TOURS: NOW ONLY 50 NEOPOINTS!"

A large sign exclaimed in bright green letters. It was a beautiful morning on Mystery Island--a thick fog spread around the dew-soaked foliage. The droplets sparkled on the flowers hanging down their vines. Two young friends were out, enjoying the day before the rush of tourists crowded their home.

"Ooh, ooh, Falay, look! Can we please go on that?" the smaller of the two, an extremely rare sponge Grundo, pleaded with the lanky Nimmo next to her. The Nimmo read the sign before responding.

"Yeah, that looks like fun. I haven't been on the tour for ages!" He fumbled in a small pouch for some Neopoints, then approached the Coconut JubJub. Within minutes they boarded the cart and set off toward the beach.

At first they were talkative--pointing out interesting wildlife and cool plants, but soon they lapsed into silence, preferring to watch the scenes without interruption. They were almost at the end of the tour when one spoke again.

"Falay, look! Look! It's--"...