The Color of Love

by serenitysm

Matikioli and I had been walking around Neopia, looking at the biographies of the old, strong pets. Matikioli was my second pet, a Green Lupe, and my favorite. We were having a day out; I did this with all of my pets occasionally. He wanted to be just as strong as these pets so he could battle them in the Battledome. We were searching the database when Matikioli shouted, “Stop! I want to see that one!” He saw a Fire Lupe with the highest stats possible. “Wow! He looks so cool!” He was so excited, and his tail was wagging against my leg so hard I almost fell over. “Can I be a Fire Lupe too?” His eyes were all watery and his lower lip was trembling. He always did that when he wanted something, but this time it seemed real.

“Well, if we can find a cheap Paintbrush in the marketplace, you can be a Fire Lupe.”

“Yippee!!!” He scampered of to the marketplace over to the Shop Wizard. “Mr. Wizard? We need a Fire, Fire, Your Pants of Fire Paintbrush! Can you find one for us that’s cheap?” He said quickly. His tail was still wagging.

“Hmm…well, there’s one here for 2000 NP, 2500 NP…here’s one for 1500 NP! You’d better run over there!” Matikioli galloped over to me.

“Can we go get it? Do you have 1500 NP? Do ya do ya do ya?”

“Hold on, let me run to the bank.” We took off to the bank and quickly withdrew some money from the Manager. He smirked as we left. Matikioli led me to the right store, and we hurried inside.

“How may I help you?” a Faerie was managing the store.

“Yes, do you still have a Fire Paintbrush?” Matikioli looked up at her, he was tense with the excitement.

“Yes, it’s right here. That’ll be 1500 NP.” I handed her my bag of money and took the Paintbrush.

“YAY!!! I got a paintbrush, I got a paintbrush!” Now that we actually had the paintbrush, I wasn’t in a hurry, but Matikioli was! He grabbed me by my sleeve and dragged me to the Rainbow Pool. We checked to make sure he could still be a Fire Lupe, and then I put the paintbrush in the pool, and the water lit on fire and turned red and black.

“Come on Matikioli! Jump in!” He was circled around it, with his tail between his legs.

“It’s scary…”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt. I’m right here.” He looked at me one more time, and leapt into the pool. The fire exploded into a small mushroom cloud, and then the pool was clear. He came out of the pool, a Fire Lupe. He stood up tall and proud and walked over to my side.

“Let’s go show my brothers and sister.” He was very calm. Too calm. We walked home and Maelow, Touokey, and Purple_Queeney jumped up to the door.

“Looky Looky! Matikioli’s different!” they all shouted. Matikioli strutted up to them and turned around so they could see. “Neat-O!” said Maelow. He was the youngest. We all walked into the house to admire Matikioli’s new color.

1 Month Later…

“Mommy, Matikioli won’t share the Click-Clacks, he said they’re too good for me!” This had been happening for weeks. Ever since Matikioli had been painted, he acted very stuck up and was being a brat. He thought that because he had been painted, he was better than everyone. I really missed my cute, hyper Matikioli, plus he was tormenting his siblings. I decided to take action.

“Hey guys! Come here for a sec’.” All four of them ran up to me and asked me what I wanted. “I need to go to the Marketplace and get some groceries. Matikioli, would you come and help me carry them?” He merely nodded in agreement, where as he usually jumped up and down, so excited that he got to help me out. I left Purple_Queeney in charge and headed to the marketplace. I already knew where I was going to go. I had asked the shop owner to hold it for me. Matikioli smoothly walked along, acting as if he owned the street.

I took the package and walked over to the Money Tree. Matikioli followed nonchalantly. I kept on walking but took a right at the Rainbow Pool. I dipped the Paintbrush in the Pool and it turned a bright green. The hills of Ireland were pictured in the pool, green and lush. Matikioli looked at it in disgust, a sneer on his face.

“What are you doing?” he said with an incredulous “greater than thee” look. In one quick movement, I picked him up and dumped him in the pool. He yelled and made a big splash in the pool. The pool became clear again, and Matikioli crept out of the pool.

“Mommy, what happened?” I ran and hugged him.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, you’re all better now, and I love you even more than I did in the first place!” He licked my face, wagged his tail, and scampered home to his brothers and sister.

The End