“You’re wasting your Neopoints, you know.” Kori pointed out to her friend with a shake of her head. “These games are rigged!”

But Benny only grinned, picking up a ball to throw at the row of coconuts in front of him. “I’m from Roo Island! Games are my thing, Kori, I’ve totally got this.” The Blumaroo squinted at the targets trying to determine the best one. He was sure there was a secret to this game. He just had to find it!

The second ticked by as his friend tapped her foot impatiently. “Just throw it already!” Kori moaned in annoyance, but Benny would not be deterred.

“Patience, young Kougra! You can’t just throw things willy-nilly and expect to win. There’s gotta be some technique to it.” The Blumaroo explained confidently, before he went back to analyzing the coconuts in front of him. He was close to finding the secret, he thought, as he focused on the central coconut in particular.

Finally, he raised the ball, and closed his eyes. Next to him Kori frowned, “Wait, why are you closing your eyes?”

“The secret to this game, Kori, is not to look at the target with your eyes, but with your heart.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Look, just let me show you!” Benny shook his head, before he turned back to the game, closing his eyes once again, and raising the ball. Then, envisioning the target with his heart, he threw the ball as hard as he could.

The sound of a loud crash could be heard, as well as a gasp of disbelief, but when he finally opened his eyes to look, what he saw was not what he expected….

"I've never seen anything like that happen before!" The Quiggle shouted, pointing at the Warf. It was hugging itself, quivering, and making scared noises.

"How did it get there?" Kori asked. "Can we keep it? What should we do with it?"

The Quiggle scratched at the back of his head. "Uh, I don't know. I don't want it. Petpets just get into things. Take it." He reached into the stand and grabbed the Warf, who didn't react to being picked up. He placed it in the hands of Benny, who was still dumbfounded.

Benny looked down at the Warf in his hands. It was still making little noises and shaking. "Uh, hey little guy. How did you get inside a coconut?"

The Warf finally reacted, looking up at Benny with wide eyes. Suddenly, it turned and pointed at something with determination...

"Oh no you don't!" yelled the Quiggle running the game. "You cannot break open all of my coconuts!"

"But what if there are other petpets trapped inside?" Said Kori with a look of fear in his eyes, "we have to save them."

"No," said the Quiggle. "You will not break my game!"

Benny had an idea. "I want to play again." he said, handing his neopoints to the Quiggle.

"Okay," said the Quiggle smiling.

Benny tried his best to mimic the actions of his previous throw. He closed his eyes and raised the ball. Then, envisioning the target with his heart, he threw the ball as hard as he could.

Just like the first time there was a huge crash. Benny opened his eyes and turned to the game. He gasped when he saw...

"Uh Oh.." Said Benny as he looked a Kori in surprise.

They shared a very brief moment of mixed horror and amusement until they heard the fuming Quiggle underneath the tent.

"Just wait til I get out of here! First that petpet and now this!..."

From the corner of his eye Benny noticed somebody slipping into the woods behind the tent, they had dropped something on the ground as they disappeared. He turned to Kori.

"Come with me!" Said Benny and they both took off towards the woods. "Not that I don't want to stick around and see the look on his face but..."

Benny picked up the item the mysterious figure had dropped, just outside the woods.

"Someone else was responsible for that petpet and I want to know why..." Kori looked wide eyed at what Benny had found...

"Would you like the people who trapped you in a coconut that people throw things at?" Benny pointed out. "This has to be a clue to who did it. Maybe the circles represent the coconuts they were rigging? If we can find out who they are, then we can find them!"

"That's a good thought, but I wouldn't even know who to ask - whoa!" Kori let out a yelp as the Warf leaped from her hands, snatched the token from Benny and landed on the ground. It let out a muffled bark.

"Of course! They had this little guy before they put him in the coconut, I bet he remembers where they are! Let's follow him!" Benny pointed out.

The Warf led the two Neopets on a winding trail through the Woods. Kori occasionally looked around nervously at their surroundings, but Benny kept his gaze locked forward at all times, determined to bring to justice the Neopians who were placing innocent Petpets in harm's way.

Eventually the Warf came to a stop in the middle of a clearing and dropped the token on the ground. Fog swirled around the dark foliage around them, but aside from the Warf, Benny, and Kori, not a creature stirred.

"I don't see anything. Maybe the Warf is mistaken," Benny said, as he turned to look at his Kougra friend and saw her focused on something behind him. The Blumaroo spun around to see...

"What in the world?" Kori said, "That wasn't there before."

"No, it wasn't." Benny replied, and the Warf made a few sounds and rushed over to the hole, pointing at it and hopping up and down.

"I think he wants us to go inside." Benny said.

"Are you kidding?" The Kougra said, "You know you should never go into a mysterious dark hole in the middle of the Haunted Woods! The best case scenario is that we wind up in the catacombs under Neovia, and I don't feel like getting cursed all day!"

"Only one way to find out!" Benny said, and throwing all caution to the wind, jumped into the hole...

"Woah!" Benny's voice echoed from the hole. "There's lights here. Kori, you coming?"

Kori looked at the hole again. The Warf was at her feet, yapping. "... Fine," she said at last, wrapping her paws around the petpet and praying for a painless descend.

Honestly, the sacrifices she made for Benny.

She landed on her feet gingerly, and true to his words, the destination was not in pitch darkness. Rather, there were torches along the side of the corridor, enough to light up the place completely. The Warf whined, jumping out of Kori's paws and scurrying ahead. He turned, looking back at the two.

"He wants to lead us somewhere," Benny deduced, excitement evident in his voice. "He knows this place! Lead the way, little guy!"

The Warf yipped, his tail wagging, and the two Neopians followed after him as he scampered through the corridor, only to stop at a door...

Benny turned to look at her. "Look, I have a feeling about this. In my heart." He thumped his chest.

Kori let out an irritated snort. "That heart of yours sure is getting me into trouble!"

"Shh!" Benny said. He began to turn the knob, but alas, it did not budge. "It's locked!" He began looking around the torch-lit corridor frantically. "There's gotta be a key somewhere!"

"Benny, come on. It's locked for a reason. Let's get out of here!"

The Warf scratched at the door and whimpered. All of a sudden, there was a clicking noise of the lock from the inside. The knob began to turn, and the door creaked open...

The Warf, however, was undaunted. He trotted across the threshold without a backward glance.

Both friends expected something from whoever had opened the door. A friendly greeting, maybe, or a suspicious stare from within, perhaps. Instead, there was... nothing.

Benny regained his adventurous heart after a few seconds. He strode toward the open door, calling out, "Hello?" He stopped just outside, peering in. "I can't see a thing. Kori, can you grab one of those torches?"

Benny's confidence broke Kori's tension and she recovered enough to nervously tease her friend. "Oh, sure. I'm just here to do the heavy lifting." She removed the closest torch from its holder carefully to avoid being burned. Benny held out his paw to take it once Kori walked up to the door. "I'll go first, so I should hold that."

"No arguments here," Kori grinned. "Just try not to trip over something."

Benny grabbed the torch, and turned back to the room. Still at the entrance, he tried to get a good look inside by moving the torch around. Kori, being shorter than her friend, managed to get a good look under his outstretched arm.

It was difficult to see the details of the room due to the flickering light from the torch, but one thing was certain: there was no one there. Kori fought to remain calm. "But... but the door had to have been opened by SOMEONE!" she protested. "It was opened from the INSIDE. The knob TURNED."

Benny was more interested in looking around than in inconsequential things like logic. The room seemed empty, except for a table along the left wall that had a bunch of books on it. There were so many they almost obscured the stiff-looking tablecloth that they lay upon. Benny walked over to the table, casting the torch light over the books' covers. "I can't read any of this. Hey! Some of these books have the same symbol that coin had!"

Kori was exasperated. "Benny! Forget the books! Something's not right here!"

Benny shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe there was some kind of spell on the door. What is it, boy?"

The Warf was scratching frantically at the far wall, whining. Benny turned from the table and walked eagerly forward, with thoughts of trap doors and false walls in his head. He felt along the wall, but all the stones felt smooth and even. He tried pushing in a few places, but it just felt like a regular wall.

"Benny, come on. Haven't we looked around enough? We should go before anyone knows we're here."

"What about the Petpets? We can't just abandon them!"

"We don't even know-" Kori stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide and panicked. "Do you hear that?"

Benny listened. He heard it too. "Voices!" he whispered. "Quick! Close the door!"

Kori turned and closed the door behind her. "We should hide!" she squeaked. "They might come in here!"

The two of them made their way to the table as fast and as quietly as they could. Benny wasn't sure what to do with the torch, but Kori took it from him and grabbed a pawful of the tablecloth. She thrust the lighted end into the cloth, smothering the flames with the bunched-up cloth. She and Benny ducked beneath the table and tried to arrange the cloth so that it hid them from view. They were only partially successful, as the books laying on the cloth overhead weighed the cloth down and made it hard to move it. "Maybe they won't look over at the table," Benny nervously whispered. "Shh!" Kori cautioned frantically.

The voices seemed to be just outside the door to the room now. Benny realized too late that they had forgotten the Warf, who was still scratching at the wall. The door opened again. "Well, what's this Warf doing here?" one of the voices asked. "I thought you put all the Petpets in those coconuts?"

"Must have missed one," grumbled another voice. Benny stifled a gasp. He knew that voice. It was...

"What is he doing here?" whispered Kori wide-eyed.

"Shh," replied Benny.

"Did you hear that?" asked one of the voices.

"I told you, those kids are on to us." Said the Quiggles voice.

"I don't think anyone is here," replied a third voice.

"Wait," said the Quiggle, "There, under the table. What is that?"

Kori held her breath as she heard footsteps coming towards the table.

The Quiggle bent down, lifted up the table cloth and...

How will the story end?

"I could ask you the same thing." Kori let them be pulled out from under the table gently, before looking the Quiggle square in the eye with a furious glare. "You owe use some answers."

Leeroy appeared to be slightly uncomfortable with the current circumstances. He glanced at his friend who appeared to be a Red Lutari. The Lutari's eyes were crinkled in mirth as he let out a chuckle and then whistled. "Might as well tell them, it can't stay a secret forever." The Lutari smirked back at his companion, who withered at the suggestion, then the Quiggle nodded in agreement.

"Give me a moment and then I want you to follow me." Leeroy said as he walked up to a book shelf, pulled out a coin identical to the one they owned, pushed the books aside to reveal a slot where he placed the coin. There was a clicking sound, then two walls on the other side of the room turned sideways to provide them with a doorway. The Warf yipped, running ahead of the group to rush through it.

"Wait!" Benny said as he went after it. He was worried about traps. Catching up to the petpet, the Blumaroo held him in his arms. As he stood up again he was blown away by the sight before him.

There was various petpet beds alongside the walls with food and water dishes. There was a lit fireplace with loveseats set next to a coffee table in the middle of them. A TV was playing a black and white family program. In front of it, staring up at the screen, were dozens of petpets. The Warf Benny was holding leapt out of his arms. He watched as his companion went forward to nuzzle some of the other petpets. At the sight of the new visitor, Benny was greeted with various welcoming mewls, barks, and other sounds.

"It's a petpet daycare." Benny turned around to face Leeroy, with Kori and the Lutari behind him. "These are supposed to be petpets for my stand, but I couldn't bear give away all of them."

The Lutari snorted in exasperation. "Leeroy's got a secret alright, he's actually got a heart of gold. Only a stupid fellow would take in this many he hasn't always got time for. That's why he hired me, to help him look after them. "

Benny and Kori smiled at each other, they couldn't believe how mistaken they'd been over this whole thing.

"Now that you're here, would you like to take one home?" The Quiggle asked curiously.

They shared a glance as they nodded in agreement. The Warf seemed to have noticed his two friends heading for him and jumped into Kori's waiting arms. Pure joy was written all over the trio's faces.

"Thank you! We're sorry about what happened earlier." Kori said apologetically.

"Not a problem. I believe you already know the way out." Leeroy said as he chuckled. "It was nice seeing you again."

"Bye! Thank you again!" Benny and Kori waved as they began to make their way out of the tunnels again. They were utterly glowing in happiness, and with the new addition to their family, had felt the adventure was well worth the hardship.

The End.