Later that same morning, when Puppy and Ramoose had finished
breakfast and the so-called Trini had gone to take a bath (something Trini never
volunteered to do), the rainbow Tonu and baby Gelert approached their owner on
the subject.
“SeaZ0ne, something Pfishy is going on,” Puppy
said. “But I can’t quite place my paw on it.”
“Trini woke us up at the crack of dawn,” Ramoose
said.
“And she called me Trixy,” Puppy added.
SeaZ0ne grimaced. “You guys, too? This morning
she actually offered to help me with breakfast.”
“Trini did?” Puppy’s eyes widened.
“That’s the thing,” SeaZ0ne said, frowning.
“I’m not sure it is Trini.”
“Then who is it?” Ramoose asked.
“I don’t know,” SeaZ0ne said. “Maybe-”
Just then there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it!” Fawnie said in a sing-songy voice.
Puppy, Ramoose, and SeaZ0ne exchanged skeptical
glances.
“Dart!” Fawnie exclaimed with glee after she
opened the door. “So good of you to drop by!”
Dart stood bewildered as the Faellie flew herself
at him and clung to his shivering body in a big hug.
“Come in! Come in!” Fawnie urged. “What brings
you this way?”
When they heard that the visitor was Dart, SeaZ0ne,
Puppy, and Ramoose hurried into the living room to join “Trini” and her Warf
friend.
“Hey, Dart!” Ramoose patted him on the back.
Dart smiled. “I just dropped by to say hello
to… oh, Trini didn’t tell me what her name is…”
“What?” SeaZ0ne said. She had caught Dart’s
mistake.
“He said he stopped by to see me,” Fawnie said
quickly.
“Oh, okay, well why don’t you get Dart something
to eat,” SeaZ0ne suggested. “He must be starving after the long walk over here.”
Fawnie seemed hesitant to leave them all alone
without her supervision, but finally relinquished herself to the kitchen.
“So why did you really come?” SeaZ0ne whispered,
leaning in to talk.
“Well,” Dart began, “because Trini told me to.”
“Trini?” Puppy said. “So then who’s that in
the kitchen?”
“That’s Trini’s sister,” Dart said. “But not
really her sister. She was just there when Trini was little.” Dart proceeded
to tell them a full account of what had gone on the last couple of days as he
saw it.
Puppy and SeaZ0ne sat with looks of confusion
on their faces, while Ramoose seemed to understand exactly what Dart was saying.
“When I went to pick Trini up before SeaZ0ne’s
surprise birthday party, it was about a year ago, remember? Well, there were
other Faellies there too and one, I think her name was Fawnie, kept following
Trini around.”
“Do you mean to say that that Faellie in there,”
SeaZ0ne pointed to the kitchen. “Is Fawnie?”
“And she kidnapped Trini?” Puppy said.
Dart tilted his head in thought and then nodded.
“What are we supposed to do?” Puppy asked.
“Well, Trini said you can bag her and take her
in to the Defenders of Neopia.”
“I don’t think we have to get that drastic,”
SeaZ0ne said.
“Maybe we can make her go back where she came
from,” suggested Puppy.
“Where’d she come from?” Ramoose asked.
“Well, she must have a family,” SeaZ0ne reasoned.
“So why did she steal Trini’s?” Dart asked.
“Looks like we have some investigating to do,”
Puppy said.
“Why don’t you head home,” SeaZ0ne said to Dart.
“You take care of Trini. I think we’ve got it from here.”
**********
“Hey, Trin,” Puppy said, walking up beside the Faellie, who remained in the
kitchen. “What’s cooking?”
“Just a little something for my good friend
Dart,” Fawnie said. “Isn’t he a sweetie?”
Puppy rolled her eyes.
“Oh. Well, Dart left,” Ramoose said, joining
them.
“What?” Fawnie sounded disappointed.
Don’t worry, you still have us to feed,” SeaZ0ne
said, stealing a piece of fruit from the bowl Fawnie was preparing.
“Why’d he leave so soon?” The Faellie asked.
“He went to check on Trini,” Puppy explained.
“But I’m right here,” Fawnie said.
“Now how does that work?” Ramoose asked. “There
must be two Trinis!”
“Unless one of them isn’t Trini,” SeaZ0ne concluded.
Puppy gasped. “But how could that be?”
Fawnie looked around at them, puzzled by their
drama. “What’s going on?”
“I thought you knew… Fawnie,” SeaZ0ne said.
The Faellie blushed. “I’m Trini,” she declared.
“Come on, we know you aren’t our Trini,” Puppy
said.
“But I AM!”
“You aren’t,” SeaZ0ne declared coolly. “You
kidnapped Trini and locked her up in Dart’s tool shed. We know. Dart told us.”
Fawnie shrugged guiltily. “I’m just as good
as Trini. I might as well be her.”
“We have half a mind to take you down to the
Defenders of Neopia,” SeaZ0ne warned. “But luckily Trini is just fine of if
you leave right now we’ll let you off easy.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Well…” SeaZ0ne hadn’t been expecting this.
“Then we’ll stick our Lupes on you!”
“You haven’t got any Lupes,” Fawnie reminded
her.
“So we’ll stick Puppy on you!” Ramoose said.
“Ramoose!” Puppy exclaimed.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” Fawnie said. “You
love me. You wouldn’t turn away family.”
“Oh boy,” SeaZ0ne said. “We need a new plan.”
**********
“So now we know that that’s not Trini, but she won’t leave!” Puppy said, summing
up their situation.
“Basically,” SeaZ0ne said.
“Are we gonna call the Defenders of Neopia?”
Ramoose asked eagerly.
“No, we can’t hand her over to them,” Puppy said.
“We need to think big.”
**********
“Trini!” Ramoose exclaimed. “You’re okay!”
SeaZ0ne and her pets had decided to make the
next move. They had elected Ramoose to bring home the authority. It was time
for Trini to step in.
“Of course I’m okay. That dirty snowball couldn’t
keep me locked up for long,” Trini said. “So where’d you put her? Did you lock
her up?”
“Not exactly…” Ramoose said. “That’s why I came.
We need you back at home.”
“Well, duh!” Trini said. “You guys couldn’t
live without me.”
“That’s not quite the problem,” Ramoose said.
“You see, Fawnie won’t leave.”
“You’re saying this strange Faellie, this impostor,
took over my life and won’t give it back? Who does she think she is? Me?”
**********
“Okay, where is she?” Trini asked, storming into their Neohome. “I know Fawnie’s
here somewhere!”
“Ramoose?” Puppy asked, looking to the Tonu
for an explanation.
“I found Trini!” he said proudly.
“How’d she take it?”
“Ummm… Pretty well, I think,” Ramoose said,
watching Trini fly throughout the Neohome in a frenzy.
“Come out and show your skuzzy face!” Trini
hollered challengingly.
“What’s all the yelling about?” SeaZ0ne asked,
joining Puppy and Ramoose in the hallway. “Ohh, Trini! Welcome home!”
Trini was too busy sniffing out her look-alike
to pay SeaZ0ne any heed. “Where are you?” she called out to her enemy.
Finally Trini found Fawnie. The Faellie was
asleep in Trini’s bed, her head resting soundly on the cushioned pillow.
“Get up!” Trini yelled. “GET UP! GET UP! GET
UP!”
Fawnie jerked awake. “What is it, Tank?”
“Tank?” Trini exclaimed. “Who’s Tank? Is that
your Neopet? You’d better go home because your role playing of me is over. I’m
here now, you can skedaddle.”
Fawnie feigned confusion. “Who are you?”
“I’m TRINI!”
Fawnie shook her head. “You must be confused,
because I’m Trini.”
“Get out! You’re not fooling us!” The real Trini
ordered.
Fawnie sniffed sadly. “Where will I go?”
“Back to wherever you came from. Back to Tank.”
“Fine,” Fawnie said. “Some sister you are.”
“Me? You’re a kidnapper! You kidnapped me and
you’re NOT MY SISTER!”
“Well, we were like sisters,” Fawnie said.
“Let’s just say we had a sisterly disagreement
and then never speak again,” Trini suggested. “How’s that?”
“I see what you’re saying,” Fawnie said. “And
I understand. You’re not ready for the commitment. Let me just pack my things.”
“Fine,” Trini said, standing guard as the Faellie
looked around the room.
“Well, this is mine,” Fawnie said, grabbing
a stuffed bear off a nearby shelf.
“That’s Puppy’s,” Trini said. “Put it back.”
“You know, you’re not very hospitable,” Fawnie
said, placing the bear back on its ledge.
“Here, take some marbles,” Trini said, handing
the Faellie Ramoose’s brand new set. “Now you can leave.”
“Thank you,” Fawnie said.
“Uh-huh,” Trini lead the Faellie to the door.
“Sorry you stopped by.”
“Hope to see you again!” Fawnie said as she
left.
“I can only hope not,” Trini said, slamming
the door behind her. “Boy am I glad she’s gone.” Trini took a deep breath. “She’s
got some nerve.”
SeaZ0ne, Ramoose, and Puppy were still in the
hallway, where they had watched the Faellie’s exit.
“Trini, were those my new marbles?” Ramoose
asked. “I just got them and then you gave them away.”
“We can get you some more first thing tomorrow
morning,” SeaZ0ne promised.
“Sorry, Ramoose,” Trini said. “But I had to
get rid of her.”
“And thank Faeries you did,” Puppy said. “I
was beginning to think she’d never leave.”
“It sure is good to have you home,” Ramoose
said.
“You can say that again,” Puppy agreed.
“It sure is good to have you home,” Ramoose
repeated.
Trini groaned. It’s good to be home,
she thought.
THE END
Author’s Note: Yay! My first series! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please feel
free to send a Neomail my way. I’m always open to questions, suggestions, comments,
etc. Thanks for taking the time to read this! |