One Stormy Day, Three Sunny Resolutions

     BOOOOM!

     "Liz! Li-izzz!"

     "Les, what's wrong?" Liz rushed into Les's room, still in her nightgown.

     BOOM! KA-BOOOOM!

     Les the green Xweetok huddled underneath her bed covers, clenched up into a tight, shaking little ball. Liz, her owner, gently pulled back the blankets to see Les staring up at her with wide, frightened eyes. Liz placed her arms around Les and whispered, "It's alright, it's okay. It's just a morning thunderstorm." As Liz spoke these consoling words, lightning flashed outside the window, blasting the room with a furious illumination that traversed the curtains, only to retreat a half second later.

     BOOOM!

     Liz held Les close to her as together they waited for the storm to recede. Minutes passed. Then the bursts of light into the room came less frequently and the persistent drums of thunder seemed far off. Soon only the steady downpour of rain falling outside their Brightvale home filled Les's ears. Still Liz held her tight.

     "Alright, alright." Les pushed Liz away. "You don't have to keep holding me. I'm not a baby, you know!"

     Liz got up and began to walk out of the bedroom. "I'll make breakfast then," she said. "Make your bed, Les, and clean up the toys you left out last night - this room's a mess!"

     Les stared wearily at her bed, the sheets strewn on the floor, the pillow on the other side of the room against the wall. Then her big eyes fell on her Quiguki dolls, still in the midst of their Quiguki VS Sloth battle from the night before. Les glanced back at the fallen sheets, and then looked again at the toys. The bed sheets. The toys.

     Soon enough, it was all out war, with Pirate Quiguki leading the Quiguki forces against the evil Dr. Sloth and his Grundo-mutated band of Usuki warriors. Cornupepper Jelly served as for both sides, and occasionally Frank Sloth twisted his arms and head into another action-packed move! But despite his fancy stances, the Quiguki forces appeared to be winning, and then, all of a sudden:

     "Breakfast, Les!"

     "Aww... I'm busy!" the Xweetok shouted back.

     "I made your favorite: Omelettes with Cream Sauce!" Liz called.

     "Oh, yay!" Les cried and hurried to the kitchen. The Quigukis would have to use the Lab Ray on Sloth later.

     "So just what were you doing in there?" Liz asked as Les stuffed creamy omelette into her mouth.

     "Oh, nuthin'," she mumbled.

     "Cleaning any?"

     "I'll get to it," Les grumbled, and went back for a second helping of omelette.

     "Well, please do," Liz said. "I would really appreciate it." Les's owner got up from the table and placed her plate and utensils in the sink while Les watched silently. "I'm going out now," Liz explained.

     "Where? Why?" asked Les between bites.

     "To run errands, earn Neopoints, that sort of thing," answered Liz. "Now be good while I'm gone." She bent down to hug Les at the table but the Xweetok pushed back her chair and scurried away before she could.

     "Well, bye!" Les said, and ran back to her room and the battle that could not resume without her. Liz placed Les's plate in the sink and walked out the front door of their Neohome and into the still pouring rain.

     "So, Sloth... Any final words before we submit you to the evils of the lab ray, transform you into a pretty Ballerina Usuki, and make you dance for us all night long?"

     "Fools! You'll never get away with this!"

     Pirate Quiguki scoffed. "Arggh... Is that what you think? You have a lot to learn, Franky."

     ZAP!

     Light bleached the room and then everything went black.

     KA-KA-BOOOOOOM!

     "Eeeeeck!" Les squeaked. A Dr. Sloth action figure dangled from her one paw, a pretty Ballerina Usuki from the other. The transformation had failed. The Quiguki army would be very displeased that no one would be dancing for them tonight, for the early morning storm had returned with renewed strength and Les now quivered in the darkness surrounded by scattered toys and blobs of red jelly.

     KA-BOOOM!

     "Liz!" Les cried. "Li-izzz!" She was answered with a streak of lightning outside her bedroom window. Les quickly dodged under the security of her fallen bed sheets before the storm's fury drummed its anger in her ears again. "Liz!" she shouted as little tears began to trickle down her fury cheeks. Les knew Liz was out and would not hear her, but she cried for her all the same.

     A few hours had passed since Liz departed earlier that morning. The storm still raged and Les still hid under her bed sheets on the floor, but her pointless pouring tears and mindless shouts for Liz had ceased. Now, it was her thoughts that were pouring - raining out into a jumbled mix of scattered fragments, in much the same way as the rain was pouring down outside the window.

     "I'm such a big baby," Les told herself. "Scared of just a little storm. Liz is not scared by things like that. Liz... Liz is so good to me. I'm just rotten to her. Rotten. Omelettes with Cream Sauce... Mmm... She makes yummy dishes for me. Comforts me. And then what do I do? I'm mean to her! Pull away from her embraces! I love her, need her, but can't show that to her. My room's a mess!"

     Les peaked out from under the sheets at the remnants of battle spread out across the carpet. "Yep." She confirmed her own statement and then pulled Pirate Quiguki under the covers with her as lightning glared through the curtains. "So just what have you been doing in here?" she asked the doll. "I would really appreciate it if you cleaned up this room for me."

     The Quiguki responded with a droop of his head.

     "Yeah, I thought so," said Les. "But you know..." she continued. "That's one thing Liz would really appreciate. A second is me not being so much of a baby. And a third... I guess me just letting Liz know I love her. That's three resolutions. What do you think? Can you help me with them?"

     This time Pirate Quiguki shook his head up and down with a big grin on his plushie face.

     "Okay," Les said. "Let's start with number one. And to do that, I've got to follow number two and not be a baby."

     Les slowly pushed back the sheets from over her and Pirate Quiguki. Lightning flashed violently, catching her unprotected, exposed, and freezing her in motion, eyes wide. Thunder followed, and she had the instinct to hide back under the sheets. But then she remembered her promises, one and two, with Pirate Quiguki. And so with the doll hugged close to her side, she continued on and began to clean up the battle zone of her room.

     First, the splattered jelly was wiped off the carpet and deposited in the trash. Next, the bed was made in the neatest of fashion. Then Les went about arranging all the Quiguki dolls and Usuki dolls-turned-Grundo on the toy shelf above her bed. Finally, Les placed Dr. Sloth and Ballerina Usuki on her pillow, the villain somehow ending up with a pretty white tutu encircling his waist. And although the storm continued, Les went about these tasks as if it was a beautiful sunny day and she couldn't wait to go play outside.

     She didn't stop there, either. She set about cleaning and straightening everything in the Neohome from the bathroom to the attic. Les had just finished washing the dishes in the sink when Liz arrived home, drenched and with shopping bags around her arms. Liz looked relived, pleased, and pleasantly surprised when Les rushed over to help her.

     "Thanks, Les," Liz said, as the Xweetok took her umbrella and helped her with the bags. "And you cleaned the dishes, too? My, the whole house is clean! You must have been one busy Xweetok while I was gone."

     Les's face basked under Liz's words of approval.

     "Oh," Liz said, taking off her raincoat, "before I forget - there's a little something for you in that one bag there."

     Les reached in the bag and pulled out a Red Grundo plushie.

     "Oh, yay!" Les cried and was about to go run and introduce everyone to the new toy, but she stopped herself, remembering her third resolution: let Liz know she loved her.

     "Um, Liz..."

     "Yes, Les?"

     "Uh, I-I just wanted to thank you," Les said with a sigh. "So... thanks!"

     Liz nodded, as if perhaps she understood the hidden meaning in those simple words. "You're welcome, Les."

     Liz moved to hug her. Les recoiled.

     "Do you want a hug?"

     Les shook her head.

     "That's okay," Liz said, "it's here for when you need it."

     Les grinned and then began poking her new plushie's antennae.

     "Go ahead," Liz said, "go play."

     "Wheee!" Les shouted as she ran off to her room.

     "Just clean up before bed time!" Liz called after her.

     "Alright, I promise!"

     Soon, Red the Grundo, expert mechanic and technical wizard, had the Lab Ray up and running. Sloth was zapped into a pretty Ballerina Usuki and the Quiguki dolls laughed all night long at his incredible misfortune. And while the storm still raged outside her bedroom window on that day and on many days thereafter, Les's three resolutions brought nothing but sunshine inside their Brightvale Neohome, and she couldn't have been more happy.

The End