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Untitled Document
Nothing was ever good enough for Taniz. The grouchy,
skunk Acara was constantly complaining about everything. The new issue the Neopian
Times just came out. Everyone in Neopia flocked to the news-stands, anxious
to read their favorite comics, stories or articles. Taniz went to, trudging
miserably behind everyone else, muttering about how irritatingly bright the
sun was. He would glance at all the brilliant stories, comics, and articles
for about 4.5 seconds before tossing the paper the ground and grinding it beneath
his paw. He would snort at the horrified onlookers and rant about how all the
stories were the same, how all the articles had no point, and how all the punchlines
in the (poorly drawn) comics were just rip-offs of one in an earlier issue.
Thus, Taniz was about as popular as a rabid Magtile
at a picnic.
Of course, none of this bothered him. He would
just snort disdainfully, turn on his heel and storm off, usually to go complain
at something else.
He didn't have a Petpet, because they were all
stupid. He didn't have an owner, because owners were just interested in spending
Neopoints on pointless toys and grooming products. By all rights, Taniz should've
been in the pound, but he was so pessimistic and demoralizing that Dr. Death,
quite literally, "kicked" him out. Even the sweet tempered Rose couldn't seem
to detect any "good" in him.
It was on a morning quite similar to the one
described earlier when Taniz chanced by a cheerful looking snowy white Kougra,
who was standing on the curb, patiently waiting for the traffic to slow so that
he could cross. Taniz, grumbling about infatuation, came stomping by to stand
beside him, tapping his paw impatiently on the ground as he waited to cross.
"Come on!" He shouted at the cars. "Hurry up,
would you?"
The Kougra, who was called Osgood, smiled to
himself. He had heard about Taniz, and while he had never met him before, he
was almost positive that this grouchy Acara was him. Just then, Osgood spotted
an elderly Gelert lady trying to cross the street. Osgood, without any hesitation,
dashed over to the Gelert to help her cross. Taniz, who was watching, rolled
his eyes and groaned.
"Oh great. Another do-gooder, looking for recognition.
He's only doing that so that he can get praise and the Neopian helping paw award.
Disgusting!" He spat bad-temperdly on the ground.
By this time, Osgood was back from his good deed,
and was quite fed up with Taniz. He walked up to him and prodded him on the
shoulder, clearing his throat.
"What?" Taniz barked, whirling around to glare
at the Kougra.
Osgood frowned and looked Taniz straight in the
eye.
"I know who you are, Mr. Acara, you're Taniz.
You're the most bad-tempered, vile, pessimistic and grumpy pet in all of Neopia."
"So, I've gotten myself a reputation, eh?" Taniz
spat, sneering at Osgood.
The Kougra folded his arms across the chest.
"Look Taniz, I've got something to say to you. You need to change, lighten up
a little. Because if you don't, you're going to wake up one day and realize
that you don't have a friend in the whole world, and that you've wasted your
life, staring happiness in the eye and spitting at it's paws. You need to change
your outlook on life. Now."
Taniz rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like I'm really
going to listen to some weirdo on the street who stops me to tell you that I've
got to change my life. Tell you what, buddy. Go get yourself a medical diploma
and then come and see me, okay?"
Osgood's saintly temper finally snapped. "Alright
Taniz, that's it. I don't care anymore. You want to ruin your life? Fine. Think
of what I said when you finally open your eyes and see how alone you are." He
snarled, flicking his blue striped tail.
Taniz chuckled harshly. "Yeah, I'll send you
a picture when it happens."
Osgood shook his head sadly and softly padded
away, leaving Taniz alone with his thoughts. The black and white Acara gave
a loud, "Harumph!" And stalked off.
It just so happens that Fyora, the Faerie Queen,
had been watching this whole exchange, and had been thinking. Of course she
knew about Taniz, everyone knew about Taniz. The only thing that Fyora didn't
know was what to do with him. She decided to call a Faerie meeting to try and
find a reasonable solution to the problem.
She called all the Faeries together, and asked
for any ideas. Maelstra suggested that they dump him into the ocean, Psellia
said that they should banish him to Terror Mountain. Finally, it was Fuhnah,
the Fire Faerie, who offered a good solution. All the Faeries agreed to use
it, and they instantly went about preparing for it.
Taniz was wandering aimlessly around Neopia Central,
not really doing anything, or saying anything, though he was thinking about
Osgood had told him. He thought it was nonsense, of course, just a bunch of
dung. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft crying of a nearby Bruce.
The Bruce was standing beneath a large tree,
staring up into it's branches and sobbing. Curious as to what had caused her
so much distress, Taniz approached her.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked icily.
The Bruce, paying no heed to the rudeness in
the Acara's tone, pointed a flipper up at the tree and shakily managed to stammer
out, "My Gathow is stuck in the tree! Could you help her? Please? I can't climb."
Taniz snorted, shaking his head. "No way, kid.
I'm not going up there, risking my neck, just to rescue your dumb hairball of
a Petpet. You should've paid more attention to her, anyway."
The Bruce's eyes filled with tears. "Oh please
help! She's scared, and cold. You've just got to help!"
"I missed the part where that's my problem."
Taniz sneered, and turned his back on the Bruce to leave. A sudden glow of bright
light caused him to turn back around, his mouth opened in astonishment.
"I don't believe it!" he whispered.
The Bruce, who wasn't really a Bruce at all,
had transformed into a beautiful Faerie. Taniz was too astounded to speak.
The Faerie stared at Taniz, pointing a slender
finger at him.
"Neopia's put up with your mean spirit and insults
for long enough!"
The Faerie murmured some strange words, and shot
a flash of light at Taniz. Almost at once, a strange transformation began.
Taniz' paws shrunk ad shrunk until they disappeared
all together. His legs elongated to create a strange, ribbony tail behind him.
His ears shrank into his head and face became longer and flatter. When the transformation
finished, Taniz, the rude, vile skunk Acara had become the very first Tanizard,
a grouchy and mean spirited Petpet.
The Faerie smiled, and carried poor Taniz to
the waters of Mystery Island, where he swam deep down into the waves and was
never seen again.
The End
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