Mysteries of the Colors: Halloween JubJubs and Kikos

After taking a few weeks off to recover from our bought of NeoFlu, and to calm the Cloud JubJubs down, Angel and I were rather eager to begin our investigation into colors once more. During our weeks off, we were busy preparing for Halloween with my pets. I had spent quite a while making costumes for each of them, and we had carefully planned the best trick-or-treating route possible. I was also busy trying to figure out which color to investigate next. As I helped my pets pick out pumpkins at a Meridell pumpkin patch, the answer quickly came to me. We would investigate Halloween pets. Not just any Halloween pets, though, but rather the Halloween JubJub and Halloween Kiko.

Halloween pets are spookily lovely. Each pet is like a costume come alive, decked with Halloween garb from head to foot. Halloween JubJubs and Kikos are most mysterious in terms of Halloween pets. The Halloween paint brush affects all pets quite differently. Some pets simply gain a cute costume, while still others completely transform into pets that could lurk nightmares. Strangely, the Halloween color takes a different spin when it comes to JubJubs and Kikos. With a splash of paint, both seem to morph into living jack-o-lanterns. Their pumpkin costumes accentuate not just the night of Halloween, but the festivities leading up to it, which often include pumpkin carving.

As we did in our last investigation, we settled upon five main questions in order to further understand these mysterious pets.

The Questions:

1. Can Halloween JubJubs and Kikos be lit with candles?

It is a comforting sight to see jack-o-lanterns lighting the way on a dark Halloween night. Thus, I immediately questioned whether these pets could light up in the same way. Angel and I decided to be a little more cautious with our experiments this time, in order to avoid the nasty consequences that our last investigation brought about. We chose to venture to the Haunted Woods to answer this question, as the Woods always seem to be cast in darkness and shadows. After stopping by a few shops and purchasing various candles, we began to search for a Halloween JubJub and Kiko to experiment on. As the Haunted Woods abounds with Halloween pets, we quickly located both the JubJub and Kiko hanging around the Haunted Faire. Pulling them aside, we explained a little about our investigation and the question we wished to answer and asked if they would kindly help us out. Both were a bit skeptical, but they agreed.

We pulled them off to the side, where darkness was abundant, and put a candle in each of their mouths. I lit the candle in the Kiko's mouth and Angel did the same for the JubJub, and then both pets closed their mouths. Immediately, both pets were illuminated, and an area of light danced in front of them. The JubJub's eyes and mouth shone light, while the Kiko's eyes glowed with illumination. All went well, until the JubJub suddenly started shouting in pain and running around in circles. We quickly discovered that too much light would cause the pet's entire body to glow. I glared at Angel as the JubJub flung itself straight into the apple-bobbing tank, drenching the apple-bobbers and Bart in water, and a baby fireball rocketed out into the night air. Moral of the story: If you let your Lupe's mischievous faellie play with fire, you are going to end up with burn marks on your arms and bruises from apples on your head.

2. What is beneath the Halloween JubJub's top?

After relocating our investigation to Neopia Central, where we hoped to catch visitors to the Rainbow Pool, we moved onto our next question. If you ever examine a Halloween JubJub closely, you will notice that the very top of their heads do not appear to be completely connected to their bodies. Much like a jack-o-lantern, it appears that the portion of their head containing their stem could easily be removed. Thus, it begs the question of what exactly is beneath their tops. Angel and I knew that no JubJub in their right mind would even think about letting us try to remove the top of their heads, so we decided to be a bit sneaky with our investigation. After watching the Rainbow Pool for several hours, we discovered a lone Halloween JubJub dancing merrily away from the colorful waters. He seemed newly painted and rather sleepy (perhaps from saving up for his Halloween paint brush), thus he headed towards a lush meadow in the distance to take a nap. After situating himself amongst the fallen leaves below a half-bare tree, he quickly dozed off. I shot a quick glare at Angel, reminding her not to cause too much trouble, and we both snuck up to the JubJub. Angel positioned herself on one side of the JubJub, and I positioned myself on the other. I nodded quickly to Angel, and she quietly flew down and tugged the JubJub's top off.

The stem and top bit of pumpkin slid off easily, and I glanced to see what lay underneath. Surprisingly, it seemed that there was a little storage area up there (As the JubJub's head is rather large, I assumed the brain was underneath the storage area), and that this JubJub had filled his head with cookies and other snacks. Not a second after I glimpsed this treasury of sweets though, the JubJub's eyes suddenly snapped open. In moments, he realized what had happened and began chasing us across the meadow. Angel was still carrying his top in her little paws, but quickly tossed it back at him as we neared Neopia Central. I heard a distinct thud, and glanced back to see the little JubJub lying on his back, with his top at the side and his snacks strewn about on the ground behind him.

3. What is under the Halloween Kiko's bandage?

After helping the little JubJub upright again, and getting pelted with multiple snack foods and yelled at repeatedly, we set off to answer our next question. You see, all Kikos have bandages, perhaps from various injuries or perhaps just because they like to wear them. Nevertheless, as we had wondered about the JubJub's top, we wondered what lay underneath the Kiko's bandage. After traveling to the Neopian Central Marketplace, which was a fair distance from the meadow and the angry JubJub, we picked out the perfect little Halloween Kiko to use in our investigation. She had just floated out of the soup kitchen, and was staring at the various posters and fliers that decorated the Marketplace.

I casually approached the same notice board as her, and started examining a flier for a new sweet shop in the Lost Desert. I mentioned it to her and she started discussing the merits of various sweets with me. While we conversed, I gave a quick signal behind my back. Angel immediately swooped from the treetops nearby, and snatched the bandage from the Kiko. The Kiko shrieked in terror, and rushed to cover the side of her head up. In the moments before she blocked the spot from view though, I noticed what was there. The tiniest of jack-o-lantern faces grinned up at me. As the Kiko raced after Angel, I quickly disappeared in the opposite direction. Angel claims that she gave the bandage back eventually, but the next day I happened to see the same Halloween Kiko with a bow where her bandage should be. I had a feeling it was not a new fashion trend either.

4. How are Halloween JubJubs and Kikos plant-like?

As Halloween JubJubs and Kikos mimic the appearance of pumpkins, I wondered if they were plant-like in any other respect. Angel and I had both witnessed the strange and unique abilities of Cloud JubJubs, and so had every reason to believe in some connection between these pumpkin-like pets and actual pumpkins. We were not sure what answer to expect with this question, thus we had trouble coming up with an experiment to test it. We figured that since we had discovered most of the abilities of Cloud JubJubs by angering the pets, we should do the same with the current pets in question. We decided that it would be easiest to do this with pets that were already quite bothered by us. After carefully sneaking back into the Haunted Woods, we searched for the Halloween JubJub and Kiko that we did the candle experiment on.

It turned out that the JubJub had retained an abnormal glow from the baby fireball incident, and so we quickly located the pair at the Test Your Strength game. I called out to them and both pets turned. They scarcely glanced at Angel and me before becoming furious. It turns out that Halloween JubJubs and Kikos each have a unique ability. The Halloween JubJub sprouted vines from her stem that lashed out at Angel and me, while the Halloween Kiko quickly started pelting us with pumpkin seeds shot from his mouth. Each seemed incapable of using the other's ability, yet the ability each could use was truly terrifying. For such cute pets, their abilities were nightmares. Enlightened with our answer, we scampered away before we could come to too much harm.

5. Are Halloween JubJubs and Kikos able to use camouflage?

Angel and I were in quite a bit of pain from our endeavors in this investigation. We knew we still had one question left to answer, though. Since Halloween JubJubs and Kikos appeared so much like pumpkins, we wondered if they would be able to mimic pumpkins well enough to camouflage themselves. We planned to use the pumpkin patch in Meridell to conduct our experiment and decided to involve two Halloween JubJubs and two Halloween Kikos. It took a while to seek out the pets, but we eventually found them in various places around Neopia. Angel and I invited them to meet us in Meridell the following day at noon for a game of hide-and-seek in the pumpkin patch. The pets cautiously obliged.

The next day, we waited by the entrance to the pumpkin patch. As the minutes ticked by, though, the pets failed to show. Angel and I decided that something had gone wrong and that we would simply have to continue our investigation some other day. Since we were already at the pumpkin patch, though, we decided to gather a few more pumpkins for our Halloween decorations. We traversed through the patch of Meridell's finest pumpkins, careful not to step on them or to bump into the hay bales that were scattered about.

Finally, I found a perfect pumpkin to carve and put out on our front porch steps. I bent down to pick it up, but the side of the pumpkin suddenly split to reveal two eyes and a mouth. The Halloween JubJub yelled for an attack, and we quickly learned of the excellent camouflaging abilities Halloween JubJubs and Kikos possess. All around us, JubJubs revealed their facial features and lifted their feet out of the hay. Kikos revealed their faces as well, pulled their arms out from the hay, and floated away from the hay bales that they had been using to hide their bandages. The next thing I knew, Angel and I were dashing from the pumpkin patch, chased by a crowd of angry Halloween JubJubs and Kikos wielding vines and pumpkin seeds. Apparently the pets we had invited had mentioned the meeting to some of their friends, who unfortunately had experienced our experiments before. We had to race through half of Meridell before we could get away from that furious crowd.

Thus, our investigation into the mysteries of Halloween JubJubs and Kikos ended. We hope that you might have learned a little bit more about these interesting pets through our interesting endeavors. Now, if you will excuse us, we are off to investigate even more strange and mysterious colors. Perhaps we shall write again soon with even more intriguing information to enlighten the citizens of Neopia. That is, if we can manage to make it through Halloween night. Happy Halloween, everyone!