"You'll find out soon enough," Nysck replied, his voice tense.

"That's not soon enough," Sen muttered sulkily. Nysck had looked suspiciously anxious yet determined all morning and had so far refused to answer why they were going to Terror Mountain in the first place.

The Scorchio turned on Sen suddenly, his eyes blazing almost as much as the red and yellow flames that made up his wings. "Let's just say that if you follow along and don't ask too many questions, you'll get the biggest reward you could imagine."

"What kind of reward?" the Meerca asked before he could stop himself.

Nysck let out a sharp, angry snort, flames dancing from his nostrils. "Let's go. We're almost there."

The friends walked through the winding glassy tunnels of the Ice Caves in silence, Sen studying the icy ground at his feet, following Nysck blindly. Suddenly, Nysck's steaming footsteps stopped, and Sen, in surprise, slid into him.

"We're here," Nysck said, a bit of nervousness touching his voice.

Sen looked up. They were standing beside a spotted green building that was shaped like a giant Negg. The Neggery. The Meerca couldn't help but lick his lips at the thought of all the delicious Neggs stored within under the watchful eye of the Negg Faerie.

"What are we doing here, Nysck?" Sen asked, frightened by the strange gleam he saw in his friend's eyes.

"Simple, Sen," the Scorchio replied, smiling. "I'm going to destroy the Neggery..."

"Not the Neggs," the Scorchio sighed, his voice so exasperated that Sen could practically hear a "you idiot!" tacked onto the end. "Just the Neggery," Nysck continued, speaking slowly and distinctly.

"But how can you destroy the building without destroying the Neggs, too?" the Meerca protested.

Nysck grinned conspiratorially at his friend -- a frightening sight at the best of times for someone who knew the Scorchio -- and replied, "Watch and learn, my friend, watch and learn." He reached out and snagged a piece of material off the side of the Neggery.

"This, my friend, is what the Neggery is made of. I snagged a patch off of it a few days ago to test something out, and it was a brilliant success!"

"What was a brilliant success?" Sen asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"This," said the Scorchio simply, before breathing a thin stream of flame. The emerald material caught on fire easily, and Nysck dropped it into the snow before stomping it to snuff the flame.

"Oh. But won't that burn the Neggs inside?"

"No. I checked, and most of the Neggs are kept in nonflammable containers. Some of the Icy Neggs might melt, but the others should be fine."

The Meerca paused. This was a very, very bad idea, and he knew it, but still... the prospect of all those Neggs was almost too much to resist...

"But the Negg Faerie..." Sen started, but was interrupted by Nysck.

"With any luck, the Negg Faerie won't know what's happening until it's too late. Now, here's what I want you to do -- I'm going to light the Neggery on fire. The Negg Faerie will rush out of the building to try to put it out. Once she does, I need you to use your natural Meerca speed to rush in and grab as many Neggs as you can. Go for the rare ones first."

"But I might get burned!"

"Not if you're fast." Nysck shrugged. "And I know you're fast. So, are you in?"

Sen knew he ought to say no, and he knew just as well that he wouldn't. He'd never been able to say no to one of Nysck's schemes, no matter how crazy it had seemed.

And this one, if it worked, would result in getting all the delectable Neggs that Sen could eat. How could he possibly refuse?

"I'm in," said the Meerca.

"Good." Nysck nodded. "I'm going to count to twenty before starting the blaze. Rush over to the door, and don't go in until the Negg Faerie leaves, got it?"

Sen nodded firmly. "Got it."

"Then let's go!"

The Meerca didn't need to be told twice. He darted for the front of the building, waiting right by the door, keeping constant count in his head.

18... 19... 20. Nysck must have started the fire now...

In a few moments, Sen could see smoke rising. He waited for the Negg Faerie to leave.

And he waited... and waited...

Before long, half the Neggery was up in flames, but the Negg Faerie still hadn't come out.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Sen knew that something had gone terribly wrong...

His heart, already accelerated with the mixed terror and thrill of the execution of a crime, skipped half a beat.

He waited. Ten more seconds ticked on. The heat of the flames scalded him, even from the small distance he stood at.

Pets were screaming, pointing, running. Sen knew that they should have been off by now, their crime already committed. Attention was never a good thing, and Sen knew they were getting a lot more of it than they needed.

And yet, on Nysck's instructions, here he waited.

His thoughts began to whirl. Where was the faerie? Was she hurt? Trapped in the fire? Doomed?

For that matter, where was Nysck? Had he gone in to steal the Neggs himself?

Thief as I may be, I can't live with death on my conscience.

What about your own death? his sarcastic side noted pointedly. It's kinda hot in there, if you haven't realised.

Sen hesitated, glancing back at the chaos behind him. Before long, some authority would show up. And then he and his Scorchio friend would be in a lot more trouble than they'd ever bargained for.

Trying not to think of what he was doing, Sen ripped the door wide open and thrust himself in.

Smoke. Fire and smoke. Sen choked. How did Nysck bear it, being a walking fireball? The prospect seemed unbearably agitating.

Marred by the scent of the fire, the smell of Neggs wafted up to him, irresistably inviting.

Inwardly, he groaned. How could he manage to be hungry at a time like this?

It was too hot. Some voice in the back of his head wondered if the Neggery would collapse on him as he ran through. The Meerca tried not to think about it, but it was difficult.

He pulled more doors out of the way. Doors, Neggs. Doors, Neggs, fire. That was all there was, thrown into some jumbled labyrinth.

And then he heard a voice.

He caught a strain of a sentence, a soft faerie's whisper, not Nysck's voice of fire.

"You woke it."

And then the Meerca was in, bursting through a final door.

He froze to a halt, his feet slipping slightly as his frame turned to stone.

The Negg Faerie stood by the blazing wall of the Neggery, her eyes burning like the flames her respite was enduring. Her palms glowed with a nimbus of magic.

Behind her stood Nysck.

Not stood. Cowered was closer to the mark. The Scorchio looked badly shaken, his fiery wings seeming oddly diminished. He stared past her, past Sen, at something the Meerca couldn't see.

Something rumbled...

There was an enormous yawn.

Sen gulped and turned around.

First he saw a green tuft outlined against the flames, like a huge treetop.

It rose from the ice, appearing to grow as it went.

It was a giant Negg.

The body had as its base colour a strange, murky iridescence. But that was hard to see, for other more solid colors flashed and faded on it constantly as the creature spun madly. A shield appeared on one side; blue fur drifted off it onto the air. Sen glimpsed a lightning bolt, a bow, a coat, a pair of holly leaves. He blinked, dizzy from the thing's whirling and the heat of the flames.

"Wh-what is it?" he stammered.

The Negg Faerie smiled without mirth, and her voice was like the rustle of dead leaves. "The Guardian. The ideal. The taproot. The Ultimate Negg."

The Ultimate Negg halted its rotation and grinned horribly at them. The cape of a Super Negg shrouded it; the glasses of a Genius Negg peered over the lips of a Glamour Negg surrounding the yawning, jagged-toothed mouth of a Ferocious Negg. Heat shimmered off it, and the odor of peppermint and maple syrup rose into the air.

To his horror, Sen's stomach growled.

The Ultimate Negg's red eyes fixed on him...

The Ultimate Negg rumbled primordially, still growing. It easily burst through the burning timbers of the Neggery, casting them off like matchsticks. The few Neopets who had not fled from the terror of the fire in the Ice Caves now stood watching in a mixture of horror and awe as the Negg widened its ferocious mouth.

Sen could only cower in fear; he'd spent his whole life obsessed with Neggs. Was this how it would all end, eaten by the biggest Negg in existence?

The Negg began to sway, in an attempt to draw the Neopet-sized teeth closer to its prey. Sen swallowed hard as he looked up into the gargantuan mouth.

"No!" a voice shouted from behind him, as a jet of fire blasted over his shoulder.

It impacted on the Negg, not damaging it, but sending it rocking back in the opposite direction.

Before Sen could react, he was scooped up from behind and lifted into the air.

"Are you all right?" Nysck asked, his air of bravado present once more.

"What are we going to do, Nysck?" Sen asked feebly from the Scorchio's arms.

The plan had gone horribly wrong. They were trapped in a cavern; Nysck couldn't stay airborne forever, and there would surely be members of the Defenders of Neopia at the cavern's entrance by now.

"I don't know, just as long as we stay in the air, we'll be fine! I need time to think!" Nysck snapped at his friend.

A scheme was hastily concocting itself within the Scorchio's head... but Sen knew it would have to be fairly elaborate to get them out of this one. He glanced down at the cavern floor.

"Uh, Nysck," the Meerca said cautiously, "I don't think the air is all that safe."

Down below, the Ultimate Negg was transforming. Its appearance had been fluctuating ever since its appearance, but now it seemed to be able to control its form. A set of pure white wings were growing on either side.

Sen recognised them... the wings of a Negg of Purity, one of his favourites.

The large wings appeared finished, and the Ultimate Negg flexed them experimentally. Then with a single flap, it lifted itself up into the air...

"You aren't going to try to run away from it, are you?" Sen asked, watching the Ultimate Negg flutter over to them.

"Got a better idea?" the Scorchio snapped, speeding out of the Negg's reach. "Geez, you need to lighten up on those Neggs, Sen. You must weigh, like, a tonne."

"Less talk, more flap," Sen ordered.

For a giant piece of food, the Ultimate Negg was fast. It followed them across the roof of the Ice Caves, gnashing its ferocious teeth each time the two managed to escape. The Negg Faerie hovered over the Neggery, watching the action.

"Help!" Sen called to her.

The Negg Faerie shook her head. "I can't risk destroying the taproot."

Sen fumed silently. He could give up Neggs if it meant he got out of this alive. They needed the help. How long had they been at this -- an hour? Two?

Nysck panted, sweat dripping off his forehead. "I can't -- can't keep going," he gasped, dodging a large ice stalactite. "Need to -- rest."

"Negg incoming!" Sen yelled.

The Scorchio listed to the left, and the Ultimate Negg hurtled by them, its red eyes murderous. "Huuunnngrrryy," it growled, stealing the Esophagor's catchphrase.

"It turned around. Move Nysck, move, move, move!" Sen panicked. He ate Neggs, not the other way around. "Why aren't you moving?"

Nysck looked dull. "Huh?" he asked, quivering in the air. Sen knew what was about to happen.

"Oh no, you don't! Don't give in Nysck, don't give in, don't --" The Meerca ended his sentence with a scream that would have shattered glass. Nysck's wings gave in to exhaustion, folding up. The two Neopets plummeted down, down, down.

Right into the grinning mouth of the Ultimate Negg...

Sen threw out his arms, legs, and tail wildly, trying to slow his fall, and then balled up hastily and yanked the end of his tail out from between the gnashing teeth. Then he reached out and quickly yanked Nysck out of the way before he could lose a wing.

The Negg continued to chew. Sen scrambled desperately as the tongue threw him from side to side, trying to push him into the teeth. The heat was almost as bad as inside the burning Neggery -- a sudden pang of remorse for the damage cut briefly threw the fear, and then was lost as he scrambled back up toward the centre of the tongue -- and the smell of Negg was overwhelming. Somehow it wasn't very appetising anymore. Cooler, fresher outside air rushed in every time the teeth parted, bracing him and making continued breath bearable.

"Nysck," he panted. "Nysck, do something -- maybe we can get out when it opens its mouth, it's not made to chew without opening--"

Nysck looked toward the parting teeth and then stared at Sen as if he'd gone crazy. The teeth snapped together again.

Suddenly the tongue moved, not to tilt sideways, but upward. Sen choked and struggled for breath as hot wet muscle pressed him against a hard palate that was like nothing so much as a gigantic, firm slice of lightly steamed Negg, and then the pressure squirted him free.

Backward -- toward the Negg's throat!

He screamed again, scrabbling for purchase against the soft thick surface, and tumbled inevitably back and down with Nysck.

And came to a stop.

In a closed, rounded pocket of air.

Sen uncovered his eyes, stopped screaming, and looked around cautiously. They had been swallowed, hadn't they? This didn't seem like a stomach... it seemed like... well, the floor was rippling and heaving just in front of him....

He recognised it with a jolt when he saw the glimmer of a white triangle just ahead and to the side. He started to laugh.

It was a wild laugh and more than a little hysterical. High-pitched. He couldn't seem to stop. "Nysck," he choked out between whoops and giggles. "Nysck, look. It doesn't -- heehee -- it doesn't have a throat! It swallowed us, but there's nowhere for us to go!" He drummed his feet on the rear wall, still chortling.

There was a rasping sound at the back of the throat.

The tongue squeezed them again.

The Negg coughed.

It coughed a second time, tilting forward; Sen leaned back away from the teeth.

On the third cough, the tongue squirmed underneath them and threw them forward, and the Negg spat them out at the Negg Faerie's feet.

Nysck still seemed dazed, but he hadn't lost any limbs. Sen wheezed for air.

The Negg Faerie stepped over them.

Sen rolled over, dazed and covered in sticky Negg juice, and stared as she patted the Ultimate Negg that had just been trying to dismember them. It looked deeply unhappy; its eyes were teary and the fearsomely toothed mouth drooped.

"Well," the Negg Faerie said, "what did you expect? You aren't actually built to eat."

"Huuuuuunnnnnnnngggggggrrrrryyyy," the Negg moaned.

"No wonder," the Negg Faerie said in exasperation. "You've been using up a lot of energy, but you won't be able to replace it until you get back into the ground."

"Doesn't it need sunlight for that?" Sen asked weakly.

"Sen, shut up!" Nysck hissed.

"Oh, now you're awake."

The Negg Faerie didn't take her hand off the Negg's... side, or cheek, or whatever. "Ordinarily, yes, but generally I feed it with magic and large quantities of sugar. Unfortunately, you two have caramelised most of my stock." She regarded them with narrowed eyes. "I'm not usually a quest Faerie, but if you do what I tell you now, I might consider forgiving the damage you caused..."

"So it needs sugar and err..." Sen trailed off, glancing at the faerie who shook her head.

"It needs magic as well as sugar. I need the ingredients to make some more basic Neggs so the poor darling can be fed. Neggs make up the magic that keeps him strong and healthy."

"HUNNGGRRRRY," whined the Ultimate Negg in a pathetic tone, as if to emphasise its supposed starvation, caused by the two pets.

Wearily, Sen ignored Nysck's dramatic eye-rolling at the Negg's dramatics and glanced to the faerie.

"We don't even know what goes into a Negg. Aren't Neggs a fruit? Don't they just... grow?"

The faerie laughed at this, raising an eyebrow.

"And what do they grow from, then? Do you think they magically materialise in thin air?”

Sen sulked a little. She didn't have to be so rude, though he conveniently forgot that neither he nor his friend had really practised fine manners and etiquette when they had planned to plunder and then accidentally burnt down her home.

"Fine, fine. They don't grow in the air. What do we need?"

"A Negg Tree, of course." The faerie smiled sweetly. "And a sack of sugar, if you'll be so kind."

Nysck threw his arms in the air helplessly. Where in Neopia were they even supposed to find a Negg Tree? As if she had read his mind, the Negg Faerie glanced at him.

"The Garden Centre, that's where they're sold, as I'm sure you're wondering. You best hurry, this poor creature is just beside himself."

Helpfully, the Ultimate Negg weakly rolled from side to side, wailing and moaning in nonsensical noises. Faced with having to watch the beast put on another performance, the two pets bowed and muttered an acceptance of the quest as they rushed toward the exit, halting before they got two steps away at a call from the faerie.

"Go that way and the Defenders of Neopia will be on you in a second!" the faerie chimed merrily. "Get back here; I'll use magic to transport you to the Garden Centre."

Sen widened his eyes in surprise at such a generous offer, the faerie catching sight of this and snorting.

"Don't think that I'm doing any of this for you. If you were to be caught by the Defenders, we would all be forced to sit around, reply to questions and an investigation, discuss this, that and the other... by that time the poor darling would just be beside himself with hunger!"

Sen tried not to look incredulous at this description of the Ultimate Negg, nodding and avoiding looking at his friend, lest they both laugh or snort.

Ignoring them both, the Negg Faerie smiled. With a wave of a perfectly manicured hand, she sent dazzling beams of pale emerald light toward them, the small orbs engulfing the friends in a shower of jade and sending them whirling into nothingness, bound for Neopia Central, accompanied by the distant moans of the hungry Ultimate Negg...

"There's the Food Shop," he said delightedly, catching sight of the familiar burger-shaped building. "We could stop by and grab something to eat!"

"You and your stomach!" retorted Nysck. "We are here on a quest! There's no time to go snacking!"

"You're the one who got us into trouble in the first place," the Meerca answered, annoyed. "You cooked up that crazy idea and promised me a feast, and where's my feast now, huh? I'm not following you around anymore. So there. You're going to buy that stupid Negg Tree for the Negg Faerie, and I'm going to have a good snack for all my hard work."

"We're friends," said Nysck petulantly, a coil of smoke rising from his jaw. "You agreed to come with me. You can't just leave me like this. You're responsible too, you know. Think of that hungry Ultimate Negg. If we don't hurry, there might not be any more Neggs in Neopia."

"I wasn't the one who burned down the Neggery," muttered Sen, lingering in front of the Food Shop. But he gave in at last, faced with his friend's injured glare, and together they trudged down the sandy path toward the Garden Centre.

The green Blumaroo shopkeeper beamed at them from under his wide straw hat. "Welcome to the Neopian Garden Centre!" he said.

"We're looking for a Negg Tree," said Sen, eying the ugly Budseeds and Glants with distaste.

"Ah, that's a rare thing you're looking for," said the shopkeeper. "I'm afraid I don't have any in stock at the moment."

"But we need one," said Nysck. "The Ultimate Negg is hungry."

The Blumaroo raised an eyebrow. "Sorry," he repeated. "Out of stock."

Nysck wondered how big of a flame it would take to make the flimsy Feather Weeds shrivel up.

"Now what?" said Sen gloomily, after they'd visited the Shop Wizard and learned just how expensive the Negg Tree was.

"I haven't got that many Neopoints," Nysck looked equally troubled. “I planned to just steal a feast of Neggs in the beginning and be done with it. I never expected all this..."

They wandered down the lane, thoughts running wildly through their glum little minds. Rows of pretty Neohomes passed them by; shoppers rushed here and there with bags and baskets on their arms. And somewhere far away, the Ultimate Negg was hungry.

Sen's stomach groaned.

Then both he and Nysck stopped at the same time. Their heads were turned, their mouths agape. For just in front of them, in somebody's Neogarden, there grew a beautiful little Negg Tree...

How do you want the story to end? Tell us!

Sen started to nod, then stopped.

Wasn't this how they'd gotten into trouble in the first place? By planning a simple heist, which had spiralled out of control, causing far worse damage than they'd intended?

It was probably just an ordinary Negg Tree... but Sen had lost his taste for thievery.

"No," the Meerca said firmly.

"What do you mean, no? Do you expect me to dig it out with my claws?" asked Nysck.

Sen shook his head. "I mean we can't just steal it. It would be wrong."

"That didn't seem to bother you earlier, when we planned to rob the Neggery," the Scorchio pointed out.

"I know, but look where that got us!"

"How are we supposed to get the Negg Tree, then? There's absolutely no way we can afford to buy one, and we certainly can't go back to the Negg Faerie empty-handed."

Sen paused. "Well... look, we need a bag of sugar too, the Negg Faerie said. You can go buy that, and I'll go knock on the door and see if the owner will let us borrow their Negg Tree."

"Yeah, right," Nysck replied, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure they'll let a couple of complete strangers dig up their Negg Tree and drag it to Terror Mountain. Why wouldn't they? It's not as though we're wanted criminals or something..."

"It's worth a shot. Please. Just let me try, and if it doesn't work... then we'll just have to try something else."

The Scorchio snorted. "Fine. I'll go get the sugar. Good luck." The fiery Scorchio took to the sky, leaving Sen to his task. The Meerca swallowed once, walked up to the door, and pushed the doorbell.

The door swung open to reveal an elderly green Moehog. "Well, hello, dearie," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Ah, er..." Sen bit his lip, searching for the right words. "I... can we please borrow your Negg Tree?"

The Moehog's eyebrows furrowed. "Why, whatever for?"

"See... my friend and I, we kind of... well... set the Neggery on fire, and we woke up this giant Negg, and it was so hungry it tried to eat us, and the Negg Faerie sent us to find it some food, and she said she needed sugar and a Negg Tree, only we can't afford a Negg Tree, so I was wondering if maybe you could let us borrow it for a bit?" Sen stopped to take a deep breath. He hadn't meant to tell the Moehog the entire story of his and Nysck's misdoings, but once he'd started talking, it had all spilled out of him.

The Moehog paused a moment, then nodded. "I see." She smiled, her voice no longer that of an elderly Neopet but the all-too-familiar voice of the Negg Faerie. "You seem to have learned your lesson..."

Before Sen could reply, the world suddenly flashed green, then black, and he found himself standing once more in the Ice Caves. The Negg Tree was sitting on the ground beside him, and a rather surprised-looking Nysck was standing to his left, sack of sugar in his grasp.

The Negg Faerie smiled, looking much friendlier than she had earlier. "Good work. Had you tried to steal the Negg Tree, I would have sent you to the Defenders of Neopia and left you to pay for all your crimes. As it is... I will forgive you for the damages you have done to my home and my Neggs."

Sen and Nysck shot a quick look at each other. Neither was about to tell her how close they'd come to taking the Negg Tree.

The Ultimate Negg, perhaps feeling a bit ignored, gave a loud hungry moan.

"Here, give me the sugar." The Negg Faerie beckoned to Nysck, who promptly handed the sack over. Murmuring comfortingly to the giant Negg, the faerie poured the sugar into the Negg's open mouth. Now that the edge had been taken off of its hunger, the Ultimate Negg's moans grew softer.

"And now for the Neggs..." The faerie waved her hands over the tree, sending tendrils of emerald light flowing into the branches. In seconds, the young tree began to grow, the tiny Neggs on the branches rapidly becoming large and ripe. Sen's mouth watered as he watched.

"There," said the Negg Faerie as she lowered her hands. "That should be enough..." She reached up and began to pick Negg after Negg, feeding them to the Ultimate Negg.

Finally, after eating every single Negg on the tree, the Ultimate Negg gave a satisfied sigh and closed its mouth. The Negg Faerie patted it on the side. "There's a good Negg. Now, you need to go back to sleep."

The Negg wobbled back and forth a little, in what was probably as close as it could get to a nod. Then it slowly began to sink into the ground.

Once the giant Negg had disappeared completely into the ground, the Negg Faerie turned back to face Nysck and Sen.

"Now that the Ultimate Negg is properly taken care of, we will go and sort things out with the Defenders of Neopia." Both Neopets winced, obviously none too fond of this idea.

"As I said before," continued the faerie, "I don't intend to press charges. I will ask that the Defenders let you off with a warning... this time." The Negg Faerie's eyes hardened. "But if you ever try something like this again... you will learn what it means to be on a faerie's bad side. Understood?" The two Neopets nodded mutely. "Good."

Several hours later, after a long, unpleasant discussion with the Defenders of Neopia on why stealing was very, very wrong and that they would find themselves in a jail cell if they tried to commit another theft, Sen and Nysck were back in Neopia Central, heading for home.

"Whew," said Nysck. "That was quite a day."

Sen nodded. "I'll say..."

They passed by the Food Shop for the second time that day.

"Say, Sen," Nysck said. "Are you still hungry? We can check to see if the Food Shop has any Neggs in stock."

"Um... I am pretty hungry... but I'd really rather eat something different," Sen replied.

Nysck raised an eyebrow incredulously. His friend? Refusing his favourite food?

The Meerca continued, "You know, as much as I usually enjoy Neggs... I don't think I'm going to have an appetite for them for a long, long time."

The End