"One hundred dubloons, no more, no less," said a burly Lupe.
"That's a scam," said a young, scrawny Moehog by the name of Louis, who didn't
know if it was a scam or not, "Sixty dubloons and that's my final offer!"
"Fine! Just give me the money you hoodlum!" said the Lupe, who would have accepted
anything at that time. They had been haggling all morning and he was tired of
the boy. The Moehog wanted his last Mighty Asparagus Sword, which, by the looks
of him, would land in a museum instead of a battle.
"Yes sir!" he exclaimed and pushed a little bag jingling with dubloons over
the counter to the Lupe
"Take it and leave," said the Lupe, pointing at a shelf covered with all of
the new weaponry. He would count the dubloons later, for he was hungry. He knew
the little brat wouldn't dare try to give him any less. When the Moehog left,
the Lupe went through the cave's mouth, down the steps, and walked in the direction
of the Golden Dubloon.
Louis raced home; he crashed through the doorway and scurried up the stairs
into his bedroom. He gently laid the sword down on his bed and looked at it
with admiration. This would work. He could sense it.
It had all begun the morning before. It began like any other day. He woke up,
got dressed, and went downstairs. This time his mother was already up, beaming
at him.
"I'm so proud of my baby Louie!" she declared and ran up and gave him a hug.
"Uh, thanks mum, but what did I do?" he replied nervously.
"You're in the newspaper, again! For your science fair project, first place!"
she exclaimed grinning.
"Oh no, got to go! Love you, bye!" he said in a hurry and rushed out the door,
paying no attention to his mothers cries to come back and have breakfast with
her. He ran towards the school building.
"Hey four-eyes!" said a husky voice behind him.
He turned around slowly and winced when he saw Spike, the worst bully in all
of Neopia, walking towards him. He turned and bolted towards the school. He
could feel the heavy footsteps of a huge Grarrl running behind him.
"My sister was supposed to win that thing! You're going to get it this time,
buddy!" he howled behind him.
His sister was a beautiful Grarrl named Tracey, probably the only beautiful
Grarrl ever to exist. She was the best-looking pet in our school and she was
smart too! Her project came in second place and now I was going to pay for it.
He ran a little faster now, he didn't want to get beat up again. It would be
the third time in one week, by one guy! That would probably be a new record
for the doofus, he thought, and laughed out loud.
"What are you laughing at, dweeb?" he yelled, "It doesn't matter anyway, because
you won't be laughing when I'm done with you!"
Louis ran faster, he was almost to the stone steps leading up to the school
building when he tripped over his own shoelaces and fell on his face. He tried
to get up, but before he could a foot stomped squarely on his back, slamming
him back on the hard cement.
"Thought you could get away, huh?" he snarled, "thought you'd just run into
the school building and snitch, huh?"
"No, I wasn't going to do tha-" Louis began.
"Shut up!" Spike growled. Louis did.
"Good, now what do you think I should do to you?" Spike asked, with a grin
on his face.
"You should leave me alone," Louis said hopefully.
"Nah, I want to make sure you learn your lesson about whose smartest at this
school, Louis," he replied and kicked Louis over on his back and brought his
fist high over his head, preparing to knock out a few of Louis' teeth. Just
seconds before, a gorgeous, faerie Blumaroo appeared at the top of the steps.
"Spike! You leave that boy alone!" she shouted.
"Mrs. _Cuckoo_! It's not how it looks, I swear!" Spike wailed bringing his
fist down to his sides.
"Save your breath," she said coldly and grabbed Spike's arm. She dragged him
up the steps, "you can go to class now Louis".
Louis went to his class. He twisted the doorknob and took a deep breath. He
walked in and the entire class looked at him. Some of them snickered and others
threw things.
"Louis! Glad you decided to join us!" the teacher said, followed by more snickers
from the class.
After school Louis called his mum to pick him up. He was not going to walk
home from school today. His mum came and picked him up and took him home. Louis
knew he would have to deal with Spike once and for all, if he wanted to be able
to go to school again. This was when he bought the sword.
Louis picked up the sword. He caressed the sword with his hooves, smiling.
He had a good feeling about tomorrow. He picked up the sword and placed it into
a roughly made sheath he had made just hours before. He put it in the bottom
of his backpack and stood up. It was getting late and he had a long day tomorrow.
He woke up early that morning, got ready for school, and crept down the stairs.
His mother wasn't up yet, he wrote her a note and slipped out into the dimly
lit streets. He had looked up Spike's address in the phone book, so he knew
exactly where to go. He stood outside in their front yard for quite some time,
trying to decide which window what Spike's. After a while he saw a light turn
on in one of the rooms, a silhouette of a huge, bulky figure was all he could
see. He hoped it was Spike. He found a small pebble and threw it at the window.
It hit and fell back down. The figure moved, opened the window, and stuck his
head out. It was Spike.
"Hey doofus! I'm here to kick your butt!" Louis yelled and began laughing.
"You're going to pay for that!" Spike yelled back down and the figure moved
away from the window. Within a few minutes Louis heard the door to their house
swing open and saw Spike walking towards him. He dropped to his knees and opened
his backpack. He drew the sword from the sheath and pointed it at Spike. Spike
jumped and took a few steps back.
"What are you, crazy?" he asked, "that isn't fair! Fight like a man!"
"Oh yeah? Since when were you fair, huh? Picking on the little guys?" he shouted.
"I can beat you with or without that sword!" Spike said flatly and charged
at him. Louis swung the sword and it made a thin slice down Spike's cheek. Spike
let out a yelp and swung at Louis, knocking him hard in the jaw. Louis fell
down and the sword went flying. It landed a few feet away and both Louis and
Spike ran for the sword. Luckily, Louis was much smaller than Spike. He got
there first and turned the sword on Spike. Louis swung again, this time he cut
Spike across thigh. Spike fell to his knees, got back up, and ran into his house.
"You'll pay for this! I'll make sure of it!" he screamed at him, slamming
the door.
"I don't think you'll be messing with me again," Louis whispered to himself
smiling, he went home with the same smile on his face.
The End | 
