Zarrelian sighed sadly as he passed by his brother, Mordegan's
room. The sounds of happy music, combined with the happy laughter and voices
emanating from the Lupe's bedroom could only mean one thing: Mordegan was happy.
Thus, Zarrelian, an ambitious Halloween Ixi, had failed in his mission, the
mission that had been bestowed on him the very day he was created. After all,
it was a little brother's sworn duty to annoy the older siblings to their fullest
extent. The Ixi couldn't understand it. He had tried everything, sneaking vicious
magtiles into Mordegan's bed, stealing all of his Halloween candy and switching
it with fruit, even scribbling all over Mordegan's prized forest hat, which
usually led to the Lupe breaking down and crying. But now things were different.
Now, it seemed as though every insult that Zarrelian threw, every prank that
he pulled, every downright nasty thing that he did to Mordegan just seemed to
bounce of the Lupe's hide. It was as though he had some sort of "forcefield",
a forcefield of happiness. It made Zarrelian's blood boil just to think about
it. Maybe I should just give up... he thought dismally. Maybe I should
just leave Mordegan alone. Zarrelian was just about to retire to his bedroom
for the evening when he heard Mordegan's cheerful voice cut through the air.
"Yes, Shelly, I'm perfectly aware of the consequences
of becoming battlesunn's new lab pet. I know that it can change my species,
colour or gender..."
"Then why do you even want to do it?" came Ezanna,
a blue Krawk's questioning tone. "I know I wouldn't."
Mordegan sighed exasperatedly. "That's because
you're a Krawk, a really rare species. It's different for me, I'm just a Lupe"
There was a pause in the conversation, and even though he couldn't see it, Zarrelian
just knew that Mordegan was pausing to grin that trademark smile that he always
grinned just before delivering the punchline to some cheesy joke. "Besides,"
he continued. "It doesn't really matter what happens to me, because even if
I'm turned into a mutant Chia, Battlesunn would just say that I was a green
Lupe in any story that she included me in!"
The other pets roared with laughter, and Zarrelian
ground his teeth together. "No one ever laughs at MY jokes," he pouted.
"And mine are always much better than that dumb Chia-eater?"
Suddenly, a light flicked on in Zarrelian's
brain. The evil little gears started to turn, and The Ixi got a glint of deviousness
in his eye.
"Lab ray, eh?" he chuckled. "Sure Mordegan,
you SAY that you wouldn't care if you were turned into a mutant Chia, but I'd
like to see you say that again? If you really WERE! Muhahahahaha!" Thunder boomed
and lightning cackled in the background as Zarrelian rose up on his hind feet,
and laughed his triumph to the sky!
Back inside his room, Mordegan cocked an ear
quizzically. "Say, did you guys hear something?"
Zarrelian stopped laughing and scampered off
to his room to do some fine-tuning to his plan, he didn't have much time until
morning.
***
Mordegan got out of bed bright and early the nest morning, ready for his first
visit to the ray. He ate a quick breakfast of cold cereal and milk, and started
out the door down the path towards the ray, unaware that a certain Halloween
Ixi was following not to far behind.
The Lupe hummed a cheerful tune as he trotted
merrily amongst the flowers, his emerald green pelt shining with luster as the
sun struck his fur. Zarrelian, who was allergic to flowers, tried his best to
keep a hold on his itching nose as he fought back potential sneezes. "It'll
all be worth it when he's a mutant Chia, it'll all be worth it when he's a mutant
Chia..." he repeated doggedly to himself.
Finally, Mordegan arrived at a large, shiny
steel building, bright flashes of light coming every so often out of the top
of its opened ceiling. Pets and their owners would come out of the doors, some
of them looking extremely happy, others very depressed. One girl and her Gelert
were nothing short of ecstatic.
"Wow, Tyler! Check you out, now you're fire!
This is the coolest!"
In response, the Gelert wagged his huge tail
and licked his owner's hand.
Zarrelian rolled his eyes. The way some of those
Neopets pandered to their owners... It was just sickening. Nothing short of
sickening. "You wouldn't see me doing that." He snorted. "The only that I depend
on battlesunn for is food, and Neopoints, with which to buy those lovely plushies..."
Mordegan stared once more at the flashes of
light coming from the domed ceiling, and then nervously padded in. Zarrelian
followed, at a slight distance. Mordegan walked slowly through a maze of steel
hallways, following the constant flashes, which Zarrelian had assumed to be
the zaps of the ray.
His assumptions were correct, and as the Ixi
passed through the last doorway, and into a large doorway, Zarrelian saw the
massive ray. Mordegan stood up, and stride to his position in front of the ray.
Zarrelian grinned. Now was his chance, his only chance, to finally fulfil his
mission. Zarrelian dashed behind the ray, and whirled around all the dials,
pushed all the buttons and flipped all the switches. There was a crackling zap!
sound, and then silence.
Zarrelian trotted over to the front of the ray,
to see his handiwork, and then almost fainted.
Instead of transforming Mordegan into a mutant
Chia, all that Zarrelian had done was cloned him. Cloned him... a hundred times!
In a perfect, synchronised motion, all one hundred Mordegans turned to face
Zarrelian, and then simultaneously began advancing towards him. Zarrelian opened
his mouth to scream, but all the emanated from his mouth was the tiniest squeak.
Zarrelian tried to run, but he couldn't. His legs felt like jelly. Two hundred
unblinking Lupe eyes surrounded him, and one hundred mouths opened to reveal
rows and rows of jagged teeth, dripping with slippery ropes of saliva. Suddenly,
they all grinned.
"Hi Zarrel!" They said speaking in perfect unison.
"Hey, check it out! There's a hundred of me! Is this neato or what?"
"Nooooo!" Zarrel howled, and galloped for the
exit of the building. The clone army followed him.
"Come play with us, Zarrel!" they said.
Zarrelian ran faster, breaking free of the building
and dashing into the forest, the breath catching in his throat and coming out
ragged. Zarrelian's hopes were in vain, because the clones were much faster,
and in better shape, so they overtook Zarrelian easily. One of them grabbed
the Ixi around the middle and quickly tied him tightly to a tree stump.
"Let's play a little game, Ixi," one of
them said. We're going to play dress-up, and we're going to dress you up as...
oh, let's see, I know?! How about we dress you up as prom queen usuki's date
for the dance!"
"No!" Zarrelian cried. "Please, anything but
that!"
The clones all stepped forward, their eyes glowing
red. "Oh, you don't have a choice..." they hissed, advancing on the petrified
Ixi with a tuxedo and a cummerbund in paw.
"No, no! Please don't--Aiiiiieeee!"
The forest resounded with the Ixi's terrified
screams.
***
About three hours later, the clones finally let Zarrelian go. "Go home..."
they said. "Go home and rest, but be back here at midnight, because you need
to join miss Sally usuki for a tea party."
"And if you don't come back on time," another
had hissed. "Then we'll have to come for you, and you don't want that, do you?"
Zarrelian had ran home as fast he could, ready
to tell battlesunn exactly what happened. "Battlesunn'll make it all better,"
he said. "She'll somehow fix everything." But to his dismay, the Ixi had arrived
home to find an empty house, and a note taped to the refrigerator telling Zarrelain
and Mordegan that they had gone to a Jazzmosis concert for the night, and wouldn't
be back until late. Zarrelian, unable to eat, had crawled into his bed and tried
his best to get to sleep. He finally did, at around eleven PM, but then at twelve,
he was awakened in a most unsatisfactory manner.
"You didn't come!" A voice growled into his
ear. Zarrelian instantly woke up, staring in horror at the hundreds of red-eyed
Mordegan clones all clustered around his bed.
"You didn't come, and now you must pay."
Zarrelian gasped in horror as a Lupe pulled
out an electric razor and began advancing on him. "Prepare to be shaved, Zarrelian!"
"Eeep!"
Zarrelian jumped to the side as the Lupe made
a dive for him, wielding the shaver like a madpet. The Lupe didn't hesitate
one second. As soon as he landed, he swung the shaver up in a wide arc, neatly
shaving a patch of fur from Zarrelian's tummy. Zarrelian stared down at it in
disbelief, and then screamed.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"Zarrelian! What's wrong with you?"
Zarrelian sat up, and looked around his room.
There were no evil, Mordegan clones, just battlesunn, Shelleylou, Mordegan and
Ezanna, all clad in their pajamas and looking their tired. Battlesunn placed
a hand on Zarrelian's head.
"Aww... poor little guy, he's all sweaty and
pale. Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yeah, I guess I did," he murmured.
"All right then, we'll be off. Goodnight Zarrel."
Zarrelian watched as his family shuffled out
of the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
"It was just a dream," he said. "Just a
dream..."
Zarrelian jumped out bed to get a glass of water,
he was quite thirsty after the whole ordeal. He passed by the full length mirror
in the hallway, and stopped. The Ixi felt his blood run cold as he stared at
his stomach in the mirror, where there was one, perfectly shaved patch of bare
skin....
The End
Author's note: No, Mordegan is not, and I repeat, NOT a Chia-eater, hunter
or terroriser of any sort. Chia hunting is evil, and Mordegan stands firmly against
it and all that it stands for! | 
