A Trip to the Hospital (and Everywhere Else)

      “Huh?” Eileen, Celestile’s owner, looked up from playing Feed Florg. “Oh yeah, you don’t look too well. Um, hold on; let me finish this game first.”

      Celestile groaned. She wondered why Eileen would choose an ugly avatar over her, the cute, famous Baby Shoyru. She even had a book with her face on the cover called The Baby Shoyru Book. Celestile rolled her eyes and waited impatiently.

      Finally, Eileen was done with the game, but as disgruntled at how she missed the avatar by 2 points. “Argh! If only Florg had only eaten a bit sooner! Then, the Warf wouldn’t have--“

      “MOM! I’M STARVING!” Celestile cried in her highest pitched voice.

      “Oh. Right, sorry. I’ll look in my Safety Deposit Box. I still have all that junk from getting the SDB avatar. There’s bound to be some food in there,” she replied.

      Celestile rolled her eyes again. Another avatar. But at least she was getting somewhere with that empty stomach.

      Finally, they reached their Safety Deposit Box. Eileen opened the vault and began pulling out random objects. “Erm, Magic Vial... no, blue yarn ball... no, blue cap... no...” Things began flying out. “Ah-ha! How about a nice, tasty... Rotten Omelette!” Eileen said, pulling out a nasty blob of something. “I know it’s not exactly a gourmet food, but it’s the first food item I saw in there, and it will satisfy you for the day.”

      Celestile wrinkled her nose at this unidentified object. It looked nasty, smelled nasty, and was bound to taste nasty. But, since she was on the verge of starvation, she took it reluctantly. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else to eat in there?” she cried.

      “Now, Celestile, don’t be picky! You know we’re even lucky to have food! Some poor pets have to go to the Rubbish Dump to get food! You’re spoiled as it is,” Eileen chastised.

      Celestile gagged again, but what could she do? She was almost dying. She nibbled it, and then spit it out. It was as nasty and as rotten as Sloth! Her stomach growled, and so she decided to cram it into her mouth and swallow quickly.

      Suddenly, she didn’t feel so good. Not only was she still starving, but also, something was wrong with her throat. It began to tingle, and not in a good way. Then, the hurting started. “What’s happening to m–uhhg-uhhg-uhhga.” Celestile struggled to speak, but it hurt so badly, that all she could say was ugga.

      “What’s wrong?” Eileen exclaimed. She definitely knew something was wrong when Celestile cut off mid-sentence. Celestile would never do that.

      “Uhhhg uhhhhhgg ugga!!” said Celestile painfully.

      “Aw, Celestile, don’t talk in Tyrannian, you know I can’t understand!” Eileen said.

      Celestile became frustrated and pointed at her throat. “UHHHHHGA UGGA UGGA UHHHGA!!”

      Eileen definitely knew what was wrong now. “Are you sick? Is that why you’re not talking?”

      Celestile nodded vigorously, but then her throat was so sore that she stopped.

      “Oh my.” Suddenly, Eileen knew she had to get Celestile to the hospital. She scooped her up and ran to the Hospital, which was right across from the Kadoatery, a place she always went to. Together, they went into the white building where they saw other people with their pets. They sat in the waiting room, where one Kacheek was sneezing uncontrollably, and her owner was pleading for her to stop. Another pet, this time a Lupe that was normally yellow, was covered in huge blue and green spots. It was not a pretty sight. It was a pretty short wait time, because the doctor, a green Gelert with glasses, apparently knew right on the spot what the illness was and the treatment for each pet.

     Pretty soon, it was Celestile’s turn. She and Eileen entered a light blue room with a bed and a chair. In the room, there was also a huge list of all the diseases in Neopia and their cures posted on the wall. But before they could get to read the print, the doctor came in.

      “Hello! How are you? I’m Dr. Doctor. Yes, I know a generic name, but I was born with it! So, let’s get going. You don’t look like anything’s wrong on the outside, tell me your symptoms,” the Gelert said.

      “Well, she can only say uhhhhgga when she’s trying to speak,” Eileen asserted.

      “Uhggggggggaa uhhhgg,” Celestile put in there, just for emphasis.

      “Oh my.” Dr. Doctor turned around for a second, no doubt to look at the list of illnesses. “Erhm... ah-ha! Those are definitely the symptoms of Ugga-Ugga! It’s the worst Tyrannian disease.” He turned back around. “How did you get it?”

      “Well, I was feeding her...” Eileen started.

      “A Rotten Omelette?” he asked.

      “Yes! How did you know?”

      “Why, that’s usually what causes Ugga-Ugga!” Dr. Doctor stated intelligently. Celestile gave Eileen an angry look, and Eileen looked back guiltily.

      “Ah, well never fear. There’s always a cure! In this case, it’s...” Dr. Doctor turned around again to look at the list. “It’s... Sporkle Syrup!” He turned back around. “Just give her a cup of Sporkle Syrup and you’ll be as good as new! Remember, you can purchase the cures at the Neopian Pharmacy, or if they are sold out, try asking the friendly Shop Wizard!” Dr. Doctor smiled.

      “Ah well, sure can do! Thank you!” Eileen said as she took Celestile out the door and into the streets of Neopia Central. “Well, that was helpful,” she said when they were walking away from the Hospital. “Who knew? The disease was called Ugga-Ugga. How creative.”

      Celestile once again rolled her eyes for the third time that day at Eileen’s sarcastic attitude. She wanted to scream, “Just get me cured!” but she couldn’t, of course. Ugga-Ugga was definitely a confining illness.

      They approached the Neopian Pharmacy, not far from the Magic Shop. Inside, a nice, blue Elephante nurse was working and shelving some cures. There were Fluff-Be-Gones, Magic Smelly Socks, Kikoughela Drops, Neggitus Injections, and more, but no Sporkle Syrup.

      “Hello! May I help you with something?” inquired the blue Elephante.

      “Uh, yes, do you have any Sporkle Syrup?” Eileen questioned.

      “Oh, does your baby Shoyru have Ugga-Ugga? Yes, yes, she does. Well I have to say, I’m sorry, but Sporkle Syrups are hard to find around here, and we don’t have any in stock. You’ll have to check the Shop Wizard. I’m sorry.” Just then, she restocked the shelves with new items, none of which was Sporkle Syrup. People then flocked to the place, grabbed things off the shelves, tried to haggle with the Elephante, crammed the right amount of Neopoints into her hand, and then headed straight to the Shop Wizard to see how much they could resell the items for. It was barbaric. Eileen just shook her head and then took Celestile and headed off to the Shop Wizard to see if she could find any shops with Sporkle Syrup.

      Once they reached the Shop Wizard, there was a swarm of people surrounding the poor JubJub. However, the JubJub was swift at pouring out the results of all the shops that had the items that the people wanted.

      “Erm, Sporkle Syrup, please?” Eileen asked among the sea of people.

      “Searching for: ...I did not find anything.” He frowned. “Please try again and I will search elsewhere!”

      “Sporkle Syrup,” Eileen said properly this time.

      “Searching for: Sporkle Syrup. I did not find anything. Please try again and I will search elsewhere!” he replied robotically.

      There weren’t any in any shop?! Celestile couldn’t believe it. Could this day get any worse?

      Eileen saw Celestile’s face and said, “Have no fear, let us check the Trading Post!” And so, they explored the world until they found Mystery Island, and then, the Trading Post.

      “Uhhggga ugga uhhga!” Celestile exclaimed. There were trading lots everywhere, with everything in it, from junk to rare paintbrushes. They searched for signs that said “Sporkle Syrup,” and finally found only 9 lots with it.

      “How much for one?” Eileen asked the lot owner.

      “280k in pure Neopoints please,” the lot owner replied.

      Eileen’s eyes opened wide. 280,000 Neopoints was a lot, especially for just a cure. “Sorry, I can’t afford it,” she said politely, and then walked away.

      Celestile couldn’t believe it! Eileen wasn’t going to cure her! “Uhhhhhgggggaaa!!!!!!!!!!!! UHHHGGAA!!!” Inside, Celestile was thinking murderous thoughts about how her owner was the worst. But Eileen just gave her a stern look and pulled her away from the Trading Post.

      ---

      Soon they reached Faerieland, and that made Celestile puzzled. Why were they here? Shouldn’t Eileen be busy trying to earn Neopoints to get that cure? Eileen was still silent as they reached the Healing Springs. There were beautiful fountains, but on the biggest one, there was a beautiful Water Faerie. Finally it dawned on Celestile that she was taking her there to get cured, hopefully, without using any money. But Celestile heard that sometimes the Faerie wouldn’t cure her, and would only give out useless Healing Potions. She hoped for the best.

     “What can I do for you today? Maybe I can heal your Neopets, or perhaps you would like to purchase some of my healing potions? Choose to heal your pets, see what is for sale, or return to Faerieland. You must remember that my magic is limited so I can't heal your pets that often. Also, I'm currently running out of potions so I am limiting one to each customer per visit,” the Water Faerie stated.

     “Hi, yes I am here to choose the option of healing my pet today,” Eileen said.

     She says a few magical words, and Celestile is fully healed! She smiles. “I hope that helps!”

     After the magical incantation, Celestile felt her throat being soothed, and the pain easing away. “Ugg--I can talk now!!” Celestile joyously flapped her wings danced in the air. “Thank you so much, Water Faerie!” But the Water Faerie was already onto another person.

     Eileen hugged Celestile and said, “Know that whatever I’m doing, I will always love you, and will always take care of you, no matter what.”

     Celestile smiled. Just then, her stomach gave a big growl. This time, Eileen was the one that rolled her eyes, but she smiled, took her hand and then they both headed towards the Food Shop.

The End

If you see this, it's my first Neopian Times entry! =)