The blue Draik considered himself to be a generous sort, so he made a point to donate every chance he could, and Granny Hopbobbin's charity drives were no exception.

Once he reached the farthest corner of his attic, Brian stood back to survey his handiwork. His items were gently used, but still good, and he had managed to get a decent haul. "Now it's off to donate them," he announced to no one in particular.

Brian flapped out of his Neohome, box in tow and grinning broadly. He knew he was heading in the right direction, for he was flying alongside other Neopians carrying boxes of their own. His heart felt warm as he took in how generous his community was.

As he grew closer to Neopia Central's town square, however, he could hear voices shouting and they did not sound happy. Hopefully I can just make my donation and leave without getting into any trouble, the Draik thought.

The din appeared to be located around Granny Hopbobbin's donation center, however. Brian frowned; why were there so many people angry about charity? Curious, and a little annoyed at the scene before him, Brian edged his way through the crowd until he could see just what was making the onlookers so agitated...

'Thieves?' Brian thought worriedly. That didn't sound good. The Blue Draik tapped the shoulder of the closest neopet he saw, a frowning Yellow Blumaroo. "Excuse me, but what exactly happened here?"

"Someone stole all the donations everyone made this morning!" The Blumaroo announced, shaking his head. "And they have no idea who did it!"

Brian's mouth dropped open in surprise. "W-what?! That's terrible! Who would steal donations made to charity?"

"Right? But, well, it wasn't all the donations, actually," The Blumaroo corrected himself a little sheepishly. "They actually only stole..."

"Neggs?" Brian repeated the Blumaroo's words, "That seems strange."

"Well, it's more than just the food, but they took all that too. But it was pretty much anything that had a Negg on it was stolen." The Blumaroo replied, "Some gem Neggs were swiped, books about Neggs, even Negg shaped furniture and Negg plants were taken."

"Why would someone want to take all the Neggs?" Brian asked.

"No ideas, but until we find out who it is, all the donations are on hold. Poor Granny Hopbobbin is just distraught inside." The Blumaroo replied.

Brian could just picture the sweet elderly Acara upset that someone would go and ruin a charity drive for everyone like that. But it still seems strange that the thief only took Neggs.

"Maybe Kari would know why someone would take nothing but Neggs?" Brian asked.

"She's already on her way." The Blumaroo said, "She'll be here shortly. There's really nothing to do but wait."

Brian grumbled a bit, but then realized something. When he was cleaning out his attic, one of the books he put in his box was 101 Negg Recipes.

Realizing something, Brian opened up his box and began to look through his donations, until he noticed the book...

The Blumaroo knit his brows together. "What are you talking about?"

"My book. 101 Negg Recipes. It's gone!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Look," he said, flicking past a few more books. "It should be right here. Between Mynci Coloring Book and Offensive Mopping. I put it under 'N' for 'Negg'".

"Maybe you just forgot to bring it," the Blumaroo suggested.

"I was flipping through my boxes right before I landed. I definitely saw it then," Brian explained.

"Landed in Neopia Central? Then that would mean that whoever took it is still around here!" the Blumaroo exclaimed excitedly.

"Then maybe the thieves never even left."

"You're probably right...! Huh? What's that?" the Blumaroo asked, pointing a stubby finger into the box.

Right where the book should have been was...

"The thief must have left that behind by mistake when they stole the book!" The Blumaroo exclaimed.

Brian nodded in agreement, before picking up the feather to examine it better in the light. There were only a few neopets this could have come from, but it was still a few to choose from.

"It could've been from a Yellow Lenny, a Pteri or an Eyrie..." He murmured thoughtfully. The feather was about average size and didn't really have anything special or noteworthy about it.

"All we have to do is look around for one of the three and we have out thief!" The Blumaroo continued on excitedly.

Unfortunately, there was one problem with this plan. As they glaced around, they saw that there was a Yellow Lenny in one corner rummaging through his bag, a Yellow Pteri by the back shaking his head, and a Yellow Eyrie up in front talking to the Grarrl.

Which one was the thief?

"Hey, I'll go check on the Eyrie. You spy on the Pteri, okay?"

"But what about the Lenny?" asked the Blumaroo.

"He's within my field of vision too, so leave him to me," Brian whispered back before separating from the Blumaroo.

"Negg-related items stolen, huh?" Brian heard the Eyrie muse quietly once he was close enough. "It's rather unusual. Hmm, are there any Negg objects which haven't been stolen?"

"Only a couple," replied the Grarrl. "We've managed to keep a book - the Negg Faerie Diaries, I think - and a Negg slushie. We've safeguarded the items; they may be effective in luring out the thieves, you see."

"Ah, yes yes, that's quite a brilliant plan," said the Eyrie. Brian watched as he forced a smile and approached the Lenny with the bag, weaving in and out of the crowd and stealing sideways glances as he flapped his wings.

That's definitely suspicious, thought Brian, and followed the Eyrie stealthily. He made sure to hide himself well in the mass of Neopets while staying close enough to hear their conversation.

"We're missing a book, but that thick-headed Grarrl has it. He's planning to use it to expose us," Bryan heard the Eyrie hiss softly.

The Lenny sighed. "We could come back later. Surely there would be someone else who would give away that book." He zipped the bag and slung it on his wing. "This bag's pretty heavy already."

The Eyrie retorted, but his voice had lowered into a harsh whisper. Brian had to go closer and crane his neck to catch his words.

However, the Draik's movements caught the attention of the Lenny, who immediately slapped his friend's shoulder to hush him up. Before Brian could react, the two of them had disappeared into the crowd ...

The Blumaroo opened his mouth to speak, but Brian quickly silenced him.

"Its the Lenny and the Eyrie." Whispered Brian, "I am sure of it. But I lost them in the crowd, we need to find them."

"Let's split up," the Blumaroo replied in a hushed voice. "We can cover more ground that way."

"Sounds good, I will start near the front of the crowd and you can work on the back of the crowd." Replied Brian.

The two split up and Brian pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He began to look left and right. Searching all of the faces of the nearby Neopets, looking for the Lenny and the Eyrie.

After a few minutes of searching, Brian saw some yellow up ahead. As Brian got closer, he gasped, shocked at what he saw.

Up ahead was a group of at least 50 Lenny's and just as many Eyrie's. All yellow...

"Well, there's only one thing to do." Brian said, scurrying off back towards the Grarrl. He had to be quick, before they got away...

"HEY, LOOK AT THIS NEGG BOOK I JUST FOUND!" Brian said, holding the book with the title Negg Faerie Diaries on the cover. Brian was waving it around like a fool. "This will be the perfect addition to my donation!!" He exclaimed, smiling over at the Blumaroo.

"What are you doing?" The Blumaroo mouthed the words, his eyes wide with terror as he saw Brian acting rather foolishly.

But Brian had a plan, and just as he figured, two heads turned his way at the mentioning of the magical word, Negg.

"They're over there!" He shouted, pointing at the culprits. The previous red Grarrl appeared behind Brian's back, following the pointed fingers to the Negg culprits.

"HALT! STOP RIGHT THERE, THIEVES!" The Grarrl shouted, starting to run towards the culprits.

But as the Grarrl ran off, the two yellow Neopets still managed to slip away, and their feathery hands landed right on the book Brian held in his hands.

"Let go, now! Or we'll....."

"Good," the Eyrie sneered as he snatched the book. "Nice to see at least one Neopian here knows what's good for him. Now keep quiet, you, or else."

Yeah, yeah, 'or else' what, Brian thought, knowing that these two would likely not be so bold if the Grarrl was still nearby.

The Blumaroo was still in shock as he watched the thieves flap away with the Negg Faerie Diaries book. The Grarrl came back, winded. "What... happened?" he panted.

"The thieves took the Negg Faerie Diaries!" the Blumaroo cried. "Right out of his hands! They were threatening him and everything!"

"Relax, they actually -"

"What is going on here? I was told Neggs were going missing, so I got here as quick as I could."

The arrival of Kari the Negg Faerie cut off Brian before he could finish explaining. She appeared to be talking to the Grarrl, but her gaze flicked to Brian as well, acknowledging that she had interrupted him.

"Two thieves - a yellow Lenny and a yellow Eyrie have been stealing Negg items. They just took the Negg Faerie Diaries. The only Negg item remaining is a Negg slushie," The Grarrl explained. "There was a large group of yellow Lennies and Eyries, the suspects got lost. I'm afraid all we can do now is wait until they feel bold enough to come back for the slushie."

Brian seized the lull in conversation: "No, we won't. They don't have the Negg Faerie Diaries actually. It's right here," the Draik announced, producing a copy of Offensive Mopping and ripping the dust cover off with a flourish.

"They probably won't be too happy about being tricked and will come back to confront me about it, so if we act fast we can lay a trap for them..."

"What kind of trap?" Questioned the Blumaroo.

Kari waved her hands and a table appeared. "Set the book on this table," she said. "This is a magical table. If anyone so much as lays a finger on this book, the table will immediately turn into a giant cage. Then whoever is near will be trapped along with the book."

"Wow, that is amazing," said Brian.

****

"All we need now is the Negg Slushie, then we have everything that you requested master." Said a yellow Lenny proudly as he smiled at a dark cloaked figure.

The figure walked into the light and pulled down her hood, her purple hair falling down to her shoulders.

"WHAT IS THIS?" She yelled holding up a copy of Offensive Mopping. "This is not Negg Faerie Diaries. Go get my book and my slushie at once!"

"Y-y-yes Jhudora," the Lenny Replied. "Right away miss."

The Lenny ran from Jhudoras cloud and caught up with his Eyrie friend.

"We need to go back to Granny Hopbobbin's donation center and get the last donations at once...

How will the story end?

"USELESS! And to think that you were two of my best Level 50 minions. Back to Level 1, the two of you!" Jhudora yelled. The Lenny and Eyrie hung their heads in shame.

"Well," Jhudora said haughtily, "I suppose the only way to get anything done around here is to do it myself." And with a flip of her hair she was off, soaring towards Charity Corner.

With a tremendous whoosh Jhudora swooped down outside of the donation center, as Neopets darted away. "Give me every last Negg item you have, or you will regret it!" she yelled.

The red Grarrl was the only pet left who stood between her and Granny Hopbobbin's center. "Halt, Jhudora! We won't let you steal any more items from this charity!"

"Yeah, that's right! You'll never get the book and slushie from us!" shouted Brian. He and the Blumaroo bravely joined the Grarrl guarding the door.

Jhudora smiled wickedly, and said "Foolish Neopets, you can't stop me!" She murmured a quick spell and the three pets were flung aside. She strode through the open doors and quickly spotted the book on a nearby table. But as she grabbed it, a giant magical cage entrapped her!

"NOOO!" yelled Jhudora. "How could this happen? I was so close!"

Kari then stepped forward from the shadows. "Hello, Jhudora. We've stopped you at last. You won't steal another item from Charity Corner again. But I have to ask - why were you stealing? And why was everything related to Neggs?"

Jhudora sighed. "Well, to tell the truth... I was stealing these items so I could come back and donate them again myself. I heard that Neopians who donated really special items were rewarded with amazing MAGICAL ARTIFACTS OF ULTIMATE POWER!"

"At first I tried to make all of my minions - err, I mean my cherished Neopet friends - bring me items that I could donate. But most of them just donated the items themselves. Can you believe that?! And I had just restocked some great lollipops to reward them with too," Jhudora pouted.

Brian felt a pang of pity for Jhudora, and stepped towards her. "Jhudora, stealing - especially from charities - is wrong. The whole point of Granny Hopbobbin's donation drive is so Neopians share what they have with those in need. Sure, the rare items we get after donating are nice, but the true reward is helping to make Neopia a better home for everyone!"

Jhudora hesitantly smiled up at Brian and nodded her head. One of the yellow Eyries in the crowd began to clap, and soon the entire crowd had joined in the cheering!

Granny Hopbobbin stepped out of the donation center with a wide grin on her face. "This," she said, gesturing at everyone around her, "is what Charity Corner is all about! To all of you, a thousand thanks for helping make Neopia a better place!"