Mordegan rolled over in his sleep, a faint smile playing
on his emerald coloured muzzle. He was dreaming again, dreaming about his puppyhood.
In his dream, he was playing in a sunny field with his sister, Miranda. They
were playing fetch. Miranda would throw the stick and he would catch it, snatching
it right out of the air... Riiiing! The piercing tone of his alarm clock
jarred Mordegan unpleasantly out of his sleep. The Lupe stood shakily to his
feet, still feeling a bit drowsy. Mordegan padded softly down the stairs and
out into the front yard, pausing to gaze fondly at the bluesticks and the swab
bushes, and saying a brief "hello!" to the lawn gnome. Mordegan sat down among
the flowers, breathing in their heavenly scent and reveling in their beauty.
Suddenly, his ears pricked up. Grinning, Mordegan jogged over to the mailbox,
in which the Mailchia was stuffing letters, humming cheerfully. Mordegan walked
up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hi Greg! Anything for me?"
The Mailchia nodded, and spent a few seconds
digging through his bag until retrieving a pale blue envelop decorated with
intricate swirls around the edges. Greg handed Mordegan the letter.
"It's from someone called Miranda." The Chia's
face broke into a grin. "Say, isn't that your sister?"
Mordegan looked over the letter, joy sparkling
in is eyes. "Yeah, it is! And she's coming to visit!"
"Nooooo!"
Mordegan and Greg both turned around sharply,
only to come face to face with one of Mordegan's siblings, a Halloween Ixi called
Zarrelian. Still clad in his pink fuzzle jammies, the Ixi wore a scowl that
almost wilted the garden's mondongos. The Chia backed slowly away, shouldering
his bag.
"Gotta go!" he said, and jumped onto his bike.
Mordegan sighed. "What do you have against my
sister? You only met her once."
"Once was enough!" Zarrelian growled, his little
devil tail beginning to swish in an agitated manner. "That Lupe doesn't like
me, and I don't like her!"
Mordegan chuckled. "Then it seems as though
you've reached an understanding."
Zarrelian sniffed. "Sure, you laugh now, asparagus
head, but just you wait and see. There's no way that battlesunn will let your
nutso sister visit. Not a chance!"
"We'll see."
***
Battlesunn's smile seemed to grow larger and larger as she read more and more
of Miranda's letter. Finally she finished, and set the letter down on the kitchen
table, grinning.
"I'd be delighted to have Miranda come and stay
for visit! She's such a sweet Lupe."
"Yeah, sure." Zarrelian grumbled. "She's a perfectly
wonderful girl.. When she's not shoving me into a beanbag chair and then zipping
it up!"
Mordegan's tail waged so hard it looked fit
to fly off. "Thanks Sunny! I'll go get her right away!"
Zarrelian threw himself at Mordegan's feet.
"No Mordegan, no! Please, don't invite her! Make me clean out C.C.'s litterbox,
force-feed me faerie foods, freeze me with my hypno helmet and make me watch
the Lupe greatness showcase, just please, PLEASE don't let that sadistic maniac
into the house! I beg you!"
Mordegan shook his foot free of the clinging
Ixi. "No dice, Zarrel. You've tormented me enough, now let go!"
"But she's out to get me!"
"Now you know what it feels like!"
Mordegan plucked Zarrel off his foot and tossed
him onto the couch. "I'll be back in an hour, I have to go pick her up from
her NeoHome on Terror mountain. See you in a bit!"
Zarrel whimpered sadly, clip-clopping slowly
off towards the living room, where he knew Shelly and Ezanna would be. If Miranda
was coming, then maybe he could at least bribe some protection out of his other
two siblings. The Ixi stopped short and confronted his sister and his brother,
bowing respectfully to the ground.
"Oh great elders, what is it that you desire
from me in return for your services of protection..."
Shelly rolled her eyes, pawing the flame coloured
handle of the massive attack fork that never left her side. "What do you want
now, Zar Zar?"
Zarrel cringed at the nickname, but kept a simpering
smile pasted into his face.
"Mordegan's sister, Miranda, is coming for a
visit, and she hates me! I just need some protection."
Ezanna chuckled darkly. "Who doesn't despise
you?"
Zarrel's ears folded back and teeth began to
grind together at the insult, be he still managed to stay in character. He turned
his gaze towards Shelly, who tossed her attack fork in the air, caught it, and
twirled it skillfully.
"Miranda's coming for a visit, how nice. Miranda's
the coolest." She paused to smirk at Zarrel. "You just better hope that she
doesn't pound you too hard into the ground."
Zarrel was about to speak when the sudden, piercing
ring of the doorbell interrupted him. The Ixi's face turned white as sheet as
his ears caught the terrifying sound of Miranda's cheerful voice, greeting Battlesunn.
Zarrel slowly trudged down the stairs, taking care to tread as quietly as possible.
He took a deep breath, and faced his mortal enemy.
Miranda, the slim cloud Lupess, her periwinkle
blue pelt splashed with puffy white patches. Miranda had tied a royal purple
bandanna around her neck, so that the knotted side was just under her chin.
She had also plucked a purple flower from some garden and placed it behind her
ear. She was quite a pretty Lupess, Zarrel had to admit, but she wore that infuriating
smirk that was always evident on her snout whenever she was in the presence
of the Ixi. Apparently, she had seen him.
"Come out Zarrel, I know you're hiding behind
that cookie jar." Miranda's voice was light and feathery, with a hint of a southern
accent. Zarrel gingerly peered out from behind his post, and strode confidently
over to Mordegan's sister.
"Hello Miranda, I trust that you are well,"
he said, in a stern tone that betrayed his own fear.
Miranda smirked the hated smirk, and patted
Zarrelian on the head, as though he was a Doglefox who had just performed some
stupid petpet trick.
"Good boy, Zarrel. I see that Morty's trained
you well."
The large outburst of laughter that followed
this last remark made Zarrel's face blush to an even deeper red. He growled
and pointed a hoof at the Lupess.
"Sure, you laugh now, but just wait and see
Miranda, soon I'll have you wishing that you never, ever came! Muhahahaha!"
Miranda rolled her eyes and stared exasperatedly
at Mordegan.
"Is he going through some weird phase, or did
he just watch too many Star Wars parodies?"
Mordegan shrugged. "I'm not really sure, it's
probably a mix of both. It's best to just ignore him when gets like this."
Shelleylou clucked her tongue. "Don't encourage
him, Mordegan."
Still fuming, Zarrelian stomped off towards
his room, stopping on the way to grab a bag of crisps and a six pack neocola.
As long as Miranda was going to be there, he decided, he would survive in his
room.
Three days later, Miranda had made herself quite
comfortable at the NeoHome and quite popular with all the members of the family.
Except for Zarrel, of course. The young Ixi refused to leave his room, even
though Battlesunn went up there twice a day to try and persuade him to come
down.
"Come on Zarrel!" Battlesunn pleaded. "Everyone
loves Miranda but you! She's such a nice Lupe and you're making her feeling
bad. Besides," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Miranda is Mordegan's genetic
sister, and you are Mordegan's brother, so then technically, Miranda is your
sister, to!"
"Sister in-law." He would snort. "And
besides, that doesn't change a thing. I'm still not leaving until she does."
Battlesunn sighed. "Suit yourself, Zarrel. But
I'm warning you, your food supply won't last you much longer, and then you'll
have to come down!"
Still, Zarrel refused. He would waste away the
long hours of the day playing on his harmonica, (much to the dismay of his petpet)
and reading stories about his hero, Balthazar.
"I've got to be strong, like Balthazar." He
would say. "Balthazar would never back down!"
Suddenly, Zarrel stopped. A evil looking smile
was spreading slowly over the Ixi's face. Zarrelian looked down at his petpet,
a red mallard called Webbleflub. Zarrel snatched up the poor petpet, and then
stared at him in the eye.
"You, Webbleflub, are going to do a little spying
for me?
Webbleflub cocked his head. "Quawk?" he asked
questioningly as Zarrelian dove into his toy box and re-emerged with a "How
to be incredibly annoying kit" clasped in his hooves. He set it down on
his bed, and retrieved a small camera, attached to a helmet, just large enough
to fit snugly over a mallard's head. Webbleflub gasped and started scurrying
off, but Zarrelian caught him, and snapped the helmet onto his head. Zarrelian
smiled grimly at his mallard.
"I'll be watching whatever you see through this
camera on my TV Go spy on Miranda and see what's she up to." Zarrelian straightened
up, and saluted his petpet. "Good luck, Webblueflub."
"Quuuuuawk!" Webbleflub cried as Zarrel lifted
him up and tossed him out into the hallway. Webbleflub tried to stand up, but
almost feel over from the weight of his camera. Then, remembering his mission,
scampered over to the living room, where Miranda, Mordegan, Shelleylou, Ezanna
and battlesunn were hanging out, laughing and chatting. With the courage of
Sir Borodere coursing through his crimson feathers, Webbleflub stepped boldly
into the room, and then, not so boldly, dashed behind a large beanbag chair,
so he wouldn't be seen. Quickly, Webblelflub adjusted the camera so that he
could see what was going on, and then, he waited. It was Shelly who spoke first,
complaining about Zarrelian.
"He's so rude!" she said. "And annoying, too.
I'll bet that he just want to get a rise out of you, Miranda."
Miranda smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it. Actually,
I think that your brother is kind of nice. I mean, you could've had it worse."
Everyone chuckled at that last remark. Miranda continued, "I mean, when I was
a puppy, I despised Mordegan more than anything in the whole world! He was always
so annoying! But now I really like him."
Mordegan snickered. "Yeah! I was really annoyi--"
His face fell. "What? I didn't know that you hated me!"
Miranda grinned, patting Mordegan affectionately
on the shoulder. "Oh come on, we were just pups! But you're better now. And
I'm sure that someday soon, Zarrel will grow up to be a really nice Ixi. You
may not like him now, but he'll mature, and he'll get out of this 'Neopia domination'
thing, and when he's older, you'll probably really like him."
Back in his room, Zarrel had witnessed the whole
affair from his TV, and was close to tears.
"Wow! Miranda actually put in a good word for
me! She's not so bad after all!" He sighed. "I suppose I was slightly standoffish,
but only slightly! Even so, I might as well go make up with her."
Zarrel tiptoed shyly over to the living room,
and grinned at Miranda.
"I'm sorry for being so mean, Miranda. I mean,
for someone who's the sister of old whiskerchops there," he jerked his head
towards Mordegan. "You're not half bad." Miranda smirked. "That's good to hear,
Zarry. Too bad you decided to accept my greatness just before I was about to
leave!" Zarrelian growled low in his throat. "Call me 'Zarry' again and I'll
see to it that you accept MY greatness!"
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Big words for a small
goat."
She walked over to Mordegan and gave him a quick
hug. "Bye Morty! I'll see when the holidays start, okay? In fact, why don't
you come over to my NeoHome on Terror Mountain for a visit next time?"
"Just as long as we don't have to fly up there
on a faerie Gelert? Ezanna muttered, leafing through a copy of The Neopian Times.
Miranda said her final goodbyes, and trotted
out of the door and down the path towards the Terror Mountain ski lifts. Mordegan
smiled.
"It sure was nice having Miranda over for a
visit." He looked around, confused. "Say, where's Shelly?"
Suddenly, Shelleylou dashed into the room, looking
as though she's just won the lottery and waving around a letter.
"Hey look everyone! It's a letter from my brother
Joe, and he's coming for a visit!"
The End
Author's Note: A huge, tremendous, ultra-big thanks to my little brother,
_Borleo_, who supplied me with the name of Mordegan's sister when I was caught
in a rut. I could never have thought of such a great name if was not for his
magnificent mind which is better than mine, and therefore this story would not
have been possible. (There, you little pain. You got your recognition, now stop
holding my teddy bear hostage!) | 
