"Does this look crooked to you?" She asked her Petpet.

The little Lutra answered by rolling onto his back and playing with a stray ribbon. It had once been a bow but Dwindle, the Uni, had so many bows she often gave them to the fuzzy critter to play with.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at her new poster. All her friends were going to be so jealous when they saw it. She couldn't wait to see their faces.

She sighed as she gazed at the handsome face looking back at her from the glossy print. Chadley was so dreamy. Her friend, Tawna, thought she was so clever when she started the "I *heart* Chadley Fan Club" but Dwindle knew for certain that Tawna didn't have a poster like this.

Her brow wrinkled into a frown as a thought occurred to her. Tawna didn't have a poster now, but what would stop her from buying one of her own the second she saw Dwindle's? The Uni shook her head. No, this wouldn't work. If she wanted to be Chadley's #1 fan and make her friends green with envy she had to have more than a poster.

Dwindle pondered the problem as she got lost in the art. She memorized each of Chadley's features. She could look at his blue eyes for hours. Her mind wandered and she tried to pinpoint the name of their shade of blue. It wasn't quite an indigo, nor green enough to be called aquamarine. Maybe more the color of lapis lazuli? She wasn't sure. If she saw him in person it would be easier to determine the exact hue.

She sat up quickly as a brilliant idea hit her. "That's it!" she exclaimed to Puffs, who was still occupied with her Premium Cloud Bow. "We'll go find Chadley. I'll ask him to autograph my poster. He can write, 'To Dwindle, thanks for being my biggest fan.'" She giggled in delight. Tawna would never be able to one up that.

She carefully untacked her prized possession from the wall and rolled it up. She untangled the bow from Puff's paws and tied it around the poster to prevent it from unraveling. She scooped up the Lutra with her free paw. "Come on, Puffs. We're off meet Chadley..."

Dwindle quickly hid the poster behind her back and greeted her friend nervously. "H-hi Tawna. W-why are you here?"

Tawna tilted her head slightly, a sign that she was confused. "Why? Not happy to see your best friend? Also, you'll never guess what I got. I'll be the #1 Chadley fan!"

Dwindle chuckled nervously, willing her wings to cover up the rolled poster.

Tawna saw the movement and squinted the eyes. While the Korbat had good hearing, her sight wasn't quite as keen. "What's behind your back?"

Dwindle shifted herself in between the poster and Tawna. "Nothing. I mean, um... a... uh... it's a... Library Scroll!" She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. Although she felt bad about lying to her friend, she was determined to be Chadley's #1 fan.

And it was true. The blue and white in the ribbon looked somewhat like the local library's current theme, "Fly high with reading in the sky," but Tawna's eyes couldn't see the difference. "I-I have to return it."

The Korbat nodded, her eyes still squinted in suspicion. "Right... well, you can do that. Meanwhile, I'm going to get my stuff ready for tonight's Chadley Fan Club meeting."

Dwindle's eyes widened. "T-tonight?!?" she repeated, shocked.

Tawna nodded, somewhat smug. "Yup. Tonight I'll show you that I'm the biggest fan!" She grinned widely. "See you tonight!" She laughed before turning away and heading back toward her house.

Dwindle stared after her, glaring at her retreating back. If she wanted it to be a tough competition, then that's what she'd get -- even if that meant Dwindle would have to find Neopia's newest big star within the next 12 hours. The enormity of the task dawned on Dwindle and she realized that she would need some help.

"Come on," she told Puffs, who -- up until that moment -- had been batting at a Rainbow Morning Flower. The Lutra sprang to attention. "We have some information to get!" The duo turned and walked out of the garden, heading in the direction of town...

She had never gone to the Games Room by herself before -- as a baby, her mother feared for her safety and accompanied her everywhere -- and so, the road was a little unfamiliar to her. Asking for directions several times, she turned a corner and realized that this road she did recognize.

"Tawna's house is on this street," she told Puffs. "Look, it's that one!" She pointed to a pretty little blue-and-white dwelling on the corner of the intersection. "She probably went home already."

An idea sprang into her mind, however. After all of Tawna's bragging about how she had something that would make her the "ultimate" Chadley fan, Dwindle couldn't help but be curious. It was true that Tawna was silly, selfish, shallow, and a little stupid, but Dwindle couldn't let her get the upper hand in the war of Chadley fangirls.

"Come on," she said to Puffs, who blinked back innocently at her. She ran across the lawn, the Lutra following close at her heels. "I need you to give me a boost. Here's Tawna's room."

Standing on the Lutra's shoulders -- Dwindle briefly reflected on her recent growth spurt and felt a pang of sympathy for her Petpet having to support all her weight -- she peeked through her frenemy's open window...

"It's got to be in here, Puffs," she whispered, tiptoeing around Tawna's various items. First Dwindle looked in the closet, but there was nothing there except clothes and shoes. She looked under the bed as well, but there was nothing down there other than a few lint balls. Dwindle rubbed her head in thought as her eyes scanned the room. That's when she saw it -- perched upon the dresser was a small rolled up piece of paper, which had been neatly tied with a yellow bow.

"I wonder what that is..." Dwindle thought aloud as she made her way to Tawna's dresser. Taking another look around to make sure that nobody was watching, Dwindle carefully unwrapped the ribbon and unraveled the paper.

"It's a poster!" Dwindle exclaimed a little louder than she had hoped. Realizing her mistake, the Uni covered her mouth and examined the poster. It was the exact same one Dwindle had!

"Wait a minute..." Dwindle said as she looked over the writing scrawled on the bottom.

It read, "To one of my biggest fans, Dwindle," and was signed by Chadley.

"She... she got it signed for me?" Dwindle said in disbelief as guilt set in. "All of this time, I've been accusing her of being selfish." She carefully wrapped the poster with the ribbon and crept back out of the window with Puffs.

Once she was a safe enough distance away, Dwindle sighed. "What am I to do, Puffs? Tawna obviously wanted to make this a surprise for me, and I've gone and ruined it!" Puffs looked at her with big eyes, waiting for Dwindle to do something.

"I think I've got it," she said, beginning to think. "I'm going to get my poster signed for Tawna! That would be the right thing to do, right?" With a smile on her face Dwindle decided to hurry down along the street...

Now began her search for Chadley.

Puffs began to paw at the poster Dwindle held in her hooves, the little Lutra making slight pllllllrrrr-ing noises that sounded a bit like disapproval.

"Oh Puffs, don't be ridiculous," Dwindle told the Petpet. "This is a marvelous idea."

Puffs glared at her, obviously not caring about what she was saying.

Dwindle passed through hordes of Neopians around Maths Nightmare, since it was the game for the day that Chadley had challenged Neopets to beat his score on.

Dwindle slipped quietly and undetected through the crowd as Neopets of all species cheered for someone as they got a high score.

Puffs growled and leapt onto the poster, scratching at the ribbon tied around it. He looked extremely agitated.

"I don't have time for this right now, Puffs!" Dwindle exclaimed, drawing attention from a few 'pets around her. "I'm trying to look for Chadley, and I can't do that if you keep bothering me about my plan!"

Puffs shot her one last glare and hopped off of the poster, settling into a slow but steady gait behind her.

Looking around, Dwindle spotted the unmistakable green fur and handsome face of the one and only Chadley. Also, of course, the ugly powder-blue skin that could only be Abigail's.

Dwindle ran the rest of the way there, until she realized that there was an extremely long line for Neopets, all waiting to meet Chadley. There was almost no one around Abigail.

The little Uni flared her wings open and flew above the line, resulting in complaints from the Neopets in line. Dwindle didn't care about cutting, though; she had wasted far too much time getting here, and she still needed to get ready for the meeting of the club that night.

Dwindle flew up just as someone was leaving with an autographed photo of Chadley. Thankfully, it looked as if the Uni would be able to swoop down just before the next Neopet stepped up to Chadley.

She crash landed right in front of Chadley, earning a few disgusted glares.

"Chadley," Dwindle started, almost out of breath. "Would you be willing to sign this poster? To one of your biggest fans, Tawna."

Chadley grabbed his pen and took the unrolled poster from Dwindle without even a simple greeting.

His face quickly turned confused as he handed the poster back to Dwindle without signing it. "This is surely a mix up, little Uni girl. This poster is already signed. Next!"

Dwindle, completely in shock, looked at the poster. Sure enough, in the corner it read, "To one of my biggest fans, Dwindle," signed by Chadley himself.

She grabbed the ribbon, which she had just noticed was a bright yellow.

Dwindle had grabbed the wrong poster...

Puffs looked at Dwindle unhappily as she stared at Chadley, her mind unable to fathom her mistake.

"Are you daft? Get out of the way, little girl!" Chadley frowned at her as she stayed rooted to the spot. Stung by his words, Dwindle stumbled away and fell right into Abigail.

"Ooof, careful," Abigail wheezed. Chadley rolled his eyes and sniggered as Dwindle brushed herself off. Puffs hissed at him in dislike, eyes narrowed.

"Puffs! Don't be so mean!" Dwindle exclaimed. She turned back to Abigail, who was looking at the poster in her hands curiously.

"Isn't that the poster that a young Korbat got signed earlier?" she inquired. Dwindle shuffled her wings and looked at the ground in absolute misery.

"She had it signed for me... I meant to bring mine to get it signed for her, but I mixed the two up."

When she glanced back at Abigail she was shocked to see the Aisha's eyes twinkling.

"Ah, I see. It looks like we have a little fixing to do then, don't we?"

Bewildered, Dwindle could only stare at Abigail.

"Come on, no one wants to see boring ol' me anyway..."

Dwindle took note of the two or three Neopians who had seemingly come to support the Aisha. Upon her leave, they just shrugged and entered the Chadley circle, seemingly content to be meeting the far superior host.

The Brawns' leader turned around, several meters ahead of the Uni. "Come on," Abigail beckoned. "I'm not mean." She sighed. "I won't condemn you for loving that conceited, vainglorious..."

"Where are you going?" Dwindle interrupted -- she could not bear to hear her hero cast in such a negative light -- as she ran up to the inferior Daily Dare challenger... but, at least the repugnant Aisha was willing to help.

"First, we're going to get you another Chadley poster."

"But they're all sold out in the stores!" the Uni wailed. "I purchased one of the last ones... they'll undoubtedly be gone by now."

"Do you know why the stores sell out so quickly?" Abigail asked, the twinkle in her eye growing.

Dwindle snickered. "Because it's Chadley, duh. Why else?"

The Aisha chuckled derisively. "Yes, that's exactly why," she replied sarcastically.

The Uni then realized the pair had stopped in front of a door. Abigail endeavored to open it... inside were hundreds of posters possessing Chadley's image.

"This is Chadley's personal room," the Aisha announced.

Dwindle marveled, her eyes wide. "It's a thing of beauty," the Uni said softly.

Puffs just snarled at walls filled with the Zafara's image.

Abigail sighed. "The reason the stores sell out so quickly is because they never get more than 20 posters in at a time... Chadley pre-orders tons of them direct from the manufacturer."

"So..." Dwindle trailed. "I should just take one?"

"Go ahead." Abigail smiled semi-sarcastically. "If he notices it's gone, he'll just go order several more."

Gingerly, the grinning Uni entered the room and retrieved a poster. The two then exited and Abigail closed the door, securing the epic Chadley chamber from the rest of the universe.

"So, I have a poster," Dwindle started, "but how am I going to get him to sign it?" She looked pensively toward the wooden floor. "I've disturbed him. He called me daft." She almost teared up.

Abigail smiled. "Listen, kid," the Aisha started cordially, and still calling Dwindle a "kid" despite a minimal age difference, "it'll be okay. I have everything planned out." Her smile grew wider. "When we're done, he's not going to sign the poster to one of his biggest fans, but to his absolute greatest."

"How, though?" the Uni inquired, stifling a sniffle.

"I'm going to feign a situation in which Chadley's life is in danger." Oh, if only it were for real, Abigail thought to herself. "And you," she continued, pointing to Dwindle, "are going to save him..."

"Questions later," the Aisha interrupted hurriedly while winking. "We have to get to Krawk Island."

The baby Uni stared at Abigail as if she'd lost her marbles. "But we're in Roo Island! There's no way we could get there before tonight! I have a deadline, you know!" Abigail just winked again, grabbed Dwindle's hoof, and then reached into her pocket before running around the room with the Uni's hoof in one hand and some mysterious-looking thing in the other. Abigail threw what she held in her hand, while still running, and suddenly... a portal appeared!

Abigail pushed Dwindle in, jumping in a second after. The Uni couldn't believe her eyes. She was enveloped in a glowing dark and light purple substance, and felt like she was floating in a deep pool made of jelly. Sparkles twinkled in every direction. Without warning, Abigail came into sight. Dwindle saw the Aisha touch a green star. The baby Uni did the same and closed her eyes...

"It's okay, Puffs," she said to the little Lutra.

"Come on, then!" Abigail said, pointing up the hill.

"Abigail!" Dwindle shrieked. "What are you going to do?!?"

Dwindle looked absolutely flabbergasted. "Your plan was to point to a hill?"

"No!" Smiling, Abigail pulled the mysterious-looking thing -- some metallic device -- from her pocket and clicked a button.

Immediately, the scene started melting away. Soon, only Abigail, Dwindle, and Puffs were left. They stood in a giant metallic room covered in a lattice pattern comprised of laser light.

"This is the virtual reality room," Abigail announced. "I do believe I've convinced you just how real things can get in here?" She smiled almost menacingly.

"What?!?" the Uni inquired, half dazed and half furious. "None of that was real?"

"Well, the portal was just a flash of purple light from the Hex II Holograph Projector," she said as she held up the device. "Built by AAA himself. We were already in the room -- I just had it set to look like a regular room."

"Why did AAA build this thing?"

"To play games in," the Aisha said slowly. "To make the adventure come alive!" She pointed to the device's keypad. "He could enter a game ID, and then play the thing as though it was actually happening. Of course, I modified the device to make the room serve a more practical purpose..."

"A virtual reality chamber?"

"Indeed."

"Now, go to Chadley's private room and grab several handfuls of his posters," Abigail commanded Dwindle. "Bring the Lutra, too. This is Phase One of the plan."

Dwindle returned with many, many posters. Puffs carried a few as well!

Standing in the otherwise normal-looking room was Garin.

The Uni gasped.

"I stole him from game 527 -- Attack of the Revenge." The Aisha grinned. "He'll be the thief. Of course, game sprites can't last long outside their games, so the slightest disturbance will cause him to vanish." She handed Dwindle a cannonball. "Hit him with this when he goes after Chadley and he'll be gone, thereby making you that Zafara's number one fan."

Abigail exited. "Stage Two, commence!" she cried as she ran down the hall.

Abigail and Chadley returned soon after. "My posters are being stolen?" the Zafara inquired. "Alas, something more important than my fans... me!" He looked at all his posters scattered on the ground.

"Yes," the Aisha started, a tad exasperated. "Here!"

The Usul antagonist in Abigail's plot turned around, his sword facing the Zafara. "Is Chadley going to sleep with the fishes?" Garin inquired.

He took a sword swipe at the egoistical Daily Dare host. Chadley jumped back and screamed.

Abigail stifled a giggle.

It was then that Dwindle emerged from behind a holographic chair. "Begone, thief!" she shouted as she threw a cannonball at the Usul.

Immediately, he disappeared.

"Oh, for Chadley's sake," Chadley started, "you've saved my life. I'm so sorry for calling you daft before, little girl."

"Er... Tawna," Dwindle started.

Chadley picked up a poster. "'To my absolute greatest fan, Tawna,'" he said as he signed the words. "Now, go, little girl." In a whisper, he added, "But don't tell the others you're my number one. They'd probably form a mob after you... or after me." He shivered.

Grinning, Dwindle walked away from the Games Room with three treasures -- one unsigned poster, one signed for Dwindle, and the final for Tawna -- and back toward her frenemy's house.

She rang Tawna's doorbell.

The Korbat answered. "Oh, hello Dwindle!" she greeted with a smile, though her suspicious eyes betrayed her otherwise congenial look. "Come in."

Dwindle entered. "May I use your bathroom?"

"Uh, sure. It's down the hall."

The Uni hurried. She knew where the bathroom was, but it wasn't her destination. Running into Tawna's room, she set the "To Dwindle" poster back down. She then ran back to the Korbat.

"Oh!" Tawna started upon her friend's return, "I have something to show you. I was going to do it at the meeting tonight, but I suppose I can give you a sneak peek." She walked away.

Dwindle grinned. This was it.

Instead, the Korbat returned with a Florta. "I got her yesterday! She reminded me of you, so I named her Dwindle." Then, setting the Petpet on the floor, she unrolled two posters. One was signed to Dwindle, and the other Tawna. "I have a signed Chadley poster for me, and another for my Petpet! I said I was Chadley's number one fan!"

The Uni just gaped. "Er..." she trailed, completely taken back. Forcing a smile, she continued. "That's... sweet. I'm going to go now. See you tonight!"

With that, Dwindle left for her home.

When she reached it, she entered her room. She then fumed some not nice things about her friend.

As Dwindle gradually calmed, she realized that it was almost time for the meeting. Smiling in a mix of defeat and rage, she hung up her "To my absolute greatest fan, Tawna" poster beside the unsigned one. "Tawna doesn't realize it -- with this mis-signed poster, no one but me will realize it -- but, at least for a little while, I was Chadley's number one fan."

She then left for the meeting, an odd sort of elation filling her.

She had done so much that Tawna never did, and never would.

She supposed Chadley's fame wouldn't last forever, but these memories would last as long as she was alive.

She arrived content.

The End