| "Hey look," said Shawna. "Camp seems to be all the rage
this season. Better sign you guys up while it's cheap!"
Kiwi and Kawi groaned. They knew what camp meant.
Camp meant icky cabins, 1 minute showers, and worst of all, wilderness. What
Kiwi and Kawi hated most was the wilderness. There could be anything lurking
behind that shadow...
The day of camp arrived quickly. The Aisha brothers
rode a bus with Shawna to the camp. The campsite was crowded; owners everywhere
were bidding farewell to their pets. Kiwi and Kawi stayed with Shawna until
a tall Gelert lady came up to them. "Hello there," she said. "You must be Kiwi
and Kawi. Come with me and I'll show you where your cabins are."
Just as they predicted, the cabin was dreadfully
dirty. They weren't alone in the cabin, either. There was a pink Aisha, a striped
Shoyru, and a Faerie Lupe rooming with them. All of them were shy at first,
but they soon started chatting. Kiwi and Kawi came to know that the pink Aisha's
name was Alayna, the Shoyru's was Sammy, and the Lupe's was Kaleigh.
Alayna came to camp because she wanted to be
free from home for a week. Sammy just came to camp because he was going to suffer
boredom. Kaleigh came because she knew her brothers would beat her up if she
stayed home.
The five Neopets unpacked their duffels and
went to bed as the sky darkened. The chirping of crickets, the fluttering of
moths, and owls hooting certainly made the night seem like it was in the woods.
Kiwi and Kawi shivered in their bunks until they fell asleep.
BANG BANG BANG!!!
The door was knocked on loud and long and clear
late in the morning. Kiwi sleepily opened up an eye and opened up the icky door
of his cabin. A yellow Gelert with a T-shirt blew a whistle hard in Kiwi's face.
"WAKE UP!!!!" she screamed into the cabin. "YOU MISSED YOUR BREAKFAST!! YOU
SLEPT IN!! YOU..."
And she screamed random statements into their
cabin. "Aww..." Kiwi groaned. "How can we get penalized for sleeping in?"
When the Gelert left, the others started mumbling
sleepily as they got up and about. Kiwi checked the time. 9:45 it said.
About 10 minutes later, the Neopets were to
attend the camp orientation. There they would be filled in about all the things
that were going to happen, what the pets were expected of, and above all else,
safety precautions.
"We cannot guarantee your safety!" shouted a
yellow Kacheek. "We will not be responsible for any injury, including death,
lost items, or medical problems. Remember the camp motto: Bamboozli Squigotti,
which translates to English, 'look after yourself, no one else will'!"
"Dude," said Sammy. "It sounds more like Boot
Camp than a fun summer camp that we all expected it to be."
"I can't even say the camp motto!" said
Alayna. "Baboo... Buzlia... Booly Skwigoo... oh forget it!"
The camp motto, Bamboozli Squigotti, was all
around. Pets all over the camp site were saying it; it seriously got on Kiwi's
nerves. Whenever he goofed up on something and needed help, the pet next to
him would say, "Bamboozli Squigotti" and walk away. When the bathrooms were
closed for the night, and he had to go, the janitor with the keys would simply
say, "Bamboozli Squigotti". When a gang of bullies teamed up against him, the
other pets would say, "Bamboozli Squigotti" and ran off, laughing hysterically...
not to mention that Kiwi got a major punch out of the enemy.
The others were fed up too, particularly Alayna.
She always had an owner to take care of her, but she couldn't do it on her own,
let alone saying the motto correctly.
Groaning, everyone headed out for lunch. Today's
menu was extra gross; a giant fish stick with fish juice loaded up in it. Not
even Kiwi could stand to eat it.
"Hey Kiwi," said Kaleigh. "I dare you to eat
that fish stick, full of fish juice."
Kiwi gasped. He looked down at his disgusting
meal. But a dare was a dare, so he had to eat it. How bad could it be,
he thought as he stuck his fork down the fish stick, fish juice oozing out.
He tightly shut his eyes and stuck the giant fish stick inside his mouth.
 Pets surrounding Kiwi gasped. His face turned
green, even though no one noticed because it matched his already green face.
A fishy sensation overcame him as he courageously swallowed the last bite. "Hmm,"
he said. "This isn't so bad."
"Really?" said Kawi. He took a bite out of his
own fish stick. Sammy grabbed his and ate his down. The other pets were astonished.
They tried theirs too. "Hey," they exclaimed, "This stuff is good!"
In an instant, pets all over gorged fish sticks.
Kaleigh ate hers up too. But Alayna was still intimidated by hers. The fishy
smell was difficult to bear. "Come on," said Kawi. "I like it; you will too!"
Alayna looked at her fish stick again. It did
look kind of OK, even a little tempting. So she took her chance, and wolfed
it down. Everyone cheered and clapped their hands (or paws or hooves or wings
or fins). "See?" said Kawi. "I knew you could do it!"
After the lunch incident, the pets headed to
the pool. Besides, it was a good way to refresh your day. But in front of the
entrance were three life guards, all Gelerts. "You must pass a swimming test
before entering," they said gently.
The pets single filed and walked through the
entrance. The pool was astonishingly large. "Okay," said a Cloud Gelert. "To
pass the test, you must swim one lap around the pool."
All the pets read the pool depth. It was 25
feet deep. They gulped. What if we drown while we were swimming, they
worried.
"You," said the Cloud Gelert, pointing to Kawi.
"Get in the water."
For one thing, Kawi was unable to swim. He opened
his mouth to object, but the Gelert stopped him. "Come on, go!"
A bell rung above the two; the vibration shook
the ground. Kawi slowly stepped in, his mind screaming in terror he was going
to drown. He could not feel the ground below him, and instantly he felt himself
sinking. He took a deep breath, and swam off.
Kiwi's hairs were on end, watching his poor
little brother swimming for dear pool privileges. He was only an eighth of the
way so far; he knew that he wouldn't make it. Please, he prayed. Don't
let him die.
As Kawi kicked and lunged, water burned his
eyes. His breaths were cut off. The pressure was unbearable. By the time he
was three quarters of the way around, he accidentally breathed water. Kawi choked
like crazy, and he tried to rise up onto the top of the water. But it was too
late. He kicked his final kick and froze. The water devoured him up as he drowned.
Kiwi could not see the silhouette of his brother
in the water anymore. The water was too deep and dark. There were murmurs in
the line of pets as Kawi fell deeper into the water. Kiwi realized something
was wrong, very wrong. There were no more air bubbles, no more waves. The water
suddenly became very still. Kiwi prepared to dive in.
"HOLD IT!" screamed the Cloud Gelert. "What
are you doing?"
"I have to go in!" shouted Kiwi. "My brother
is drowning!"
"Remember the camp motto," said the Gelert sternly.
"Bamboozli Squigotti, which means 'Look after yourself, no one else will'."
Now Kiwi was in a sticky situation. Either he
obeyed the camp regulations and let his brother die, or break the rules and
save his little brother.
"Kiwi!" shouted Sammy from behind him. "What
are you waiting for? This is a life or death matter!"
"He's right!" said Kaleigh. "Save him, Kiwi!"
Already shouts and screams were in the air. Kiwi already made his decision,
and dived into the water.
The pressure in Kiwi's four ears built up as
he dove down, down, down. He still could not see his brother. No, he
thought. Could it be too late? He was quickly losing his breath. Kiwi
had to fetch Kawi and go back up, otherwise his life would soon be over too.
Not much longer, he saw a faint outline of his brother. Kiwi kicked as hard
as he could to get to him. In about a second he grabbed Kawi and instinctively
lunged back up to the surface, trying to hold his breath another two seconds
longer.
 Sammy and Kaleigh and Alayna could finally see
Kiwi and Kawi rising up to the face of the water. In half a second, two green
Aishas were gasping for air. No one said anything for a moment. Everyone just
stared.
Finally, a cheer erupted from a little yellow
Poogle from the back of the line. Then a few more cheers came up from a bunch
of Chias. A huge hip-hip-hooray broke out from Cybunnies from the opposite end
of the line. Suddenly the entire pool area erupted into cheers. A big crowd
of lifeguards picked up Kiwi and Kawi and brought them to the camp E.R, and
a police car, fire truck, and helicopter came to the scene.
In the evening, the Aisha brothers found themselves
in the paramedics' truck. The truck rolled in front of the camp, dropping them
off at their cabin. Kiwi opened up the icky door, still not knowing what had
happened. Everyone else in his or her cabin was already asleep.
The next day was uneventful. So was the next
day. And so was the next. On the day after that day, when Kiwi and his cabin-mates
were going back to their cabins, Alayna asked Kiwi a question. "Why isn't there
anymore exciting things going on?"
"Well," said Kiwi. "I don't really know. Maybe
the lifeguards became more protective. Maybe they even got rid of the camp motto
and made up a new one!"
"Yeah, that could be possible," Alayna giggled.
"Bamboozli Squigotti, what a funny motto!"
Kiwi stopped dead in his tracks. "What did you
just say?"
"Bamboozli Squigotti,"
"Alayna you said it!!" said Kiwi, his eyes open
wide. "You finally can say the camp motto! Woohoo!"
And the rest of the way back to their cabin
Alayna, Sammy, Kaleigh, Kiwi, and Kawi sang "Bambooozli Squigoooooooootti" so
loudly that all the other pets surrounding them stopped to stare.
The next day was when everyone left camp to
go back home. Alayna, Johnny, Kaleigh, Kiwi and Kawi all said their good-byes
as they went on different buses. When Kiwi and Kawi's bus arrived in Neopia
Central, Shawna was awaiting them. Kiwi got off the bus and grabbed his bag.
So did Kawi, but unfortunately his bag was stuck in a huge pile. "Hey, could
you give me a hand?" he called to Kiwi.
But all Kiwi said was, "Bamboozli Squigotti"
and laughed.
The End
| 
