Ferny and the Amazing Juiceland Adventure

     Anyone who sees princess Fernypoo nowadays would never think that, one day, she was a sweet, kind and charming child. Her competitive personality and selfish behavior are due tom many things, including years of etiquette classes, constant pressure from her parents, and people reminding her that she will rule the kingdom one day.

     However, it was not always like that. Nobody knows how amazing was one of the adventures she lived before her royal training had started. When she was 8 years old, Fernypoo loved playing hide and seek with her friends. She would always try her best to find a great hiding spot but sadly they were too obvious and she constantly ended up as a sore loser.

     Nonetheless, she was feeling really determined on that day. She decided it would be different this time, and she would find the best place to hide! She would stay there all day long if she had to, just so she could prove to everyone that she was the best hide and seek player ever.

     As soon as her friend Kapara started counting, Ferny ran away as far as she could. She ran into the woods and, without noticing, trespassed the limits of the castle lands. This meant trouble because the rules were very clear about respecting the boundaries of the royal lands: beyond them, fantastic and dangerous beasts dwelled. It was definitely not a place for an eight-year old princess to be, her parents once said.

     There she found a majestic tree with a large trunk and, without thinking twice, hid behind it. “They will never find me here”, she thought.

     However, after a few minutes, Ferny got tired. After all, staying at the same place for such long time was really boring. Even though she wanted to prove her point, it was no longer fun.

     At this moment, she saw a shiny light. A light that would have blinded her, if wasn’t for her ears’ reflexes, quickly covering her eyes. She slowly uncovered them, and as soon as her eyes got used to the brightness, she recognized a Babaa’s lamp. The same Babaa Night Lamp which belonged on the side table next to her grandmother’s bed. “How did this end up here?” she asked herself.

     With no second thoughts, she started walking towards it. After all, this lamp belonged to her grandma, and she would not leave it in the wood as if it was trash. She tried to grab it and...

     “Hey! Careful there!”, said the Babaa.

     Ferny was so surprised that her jump would make any Hassee jealous.

     “You speak!”, said Ferny, breathless.

     “Of course I do! And I also jump. C’mon! It’s time!”

     “Time for what?”, Ferny asked.

     “To fall”, replied the Babaa.

     Before she had the chance to even begin to understand, the Babaa jumped. As soon as he reached the floor, the ground swallowed him, taking Ferny too. She went down the biggest slide she had ever seen! If heights were to scare her, she would probably be terrified!

     She landed on the floor as gracefully as a giant slipping on a banana peel. With her face on the mud and her dress like a mess, she was ready to yell at him, when she looked back and her jaw dropped.

     The slide which she went through was actually a giant pipe, which belonged to a tree house. The biggest and most glamorous house she had ever seen. Bigger than her own palace.

     Yet, what truly shocked her was the amount of tangled pipes going in and out of the house. They led to many different directions: underground, straight up to the sky, going in and out of the tree trunk. They were straight, twisted, big, small, blue, yellow and red. She was not able to count them, even if she wanted to.

     “Beautiful, isn’t it?”, said the babaa. “This is the Juicetree, the meepits’ tree. All energy is generated by them, using mice wheels. All the juice of our land is produced here, to then be distributed to all the citizens of Juiceland.”.

     “Is that her?”, a voice asked.

     Going down a pipe next to them, a blue meepit graciously landed in the grass.

     “Yes, Meenie”, said the Babaa. “That’s the one who’s gonna help us”.

     “How?”, asked Ferny.

     “The tree was in great shape until a couple months ago” explained Meenie. “After a huge and suspicious blizzard happened, we realized that the most important item of our tree was missing: the Blue Daisy Hair Clip.”

     The moment the item’s name was announced, the tree roared like it could feel that something important was missing. “The tree will stop its operation soon if we don’t find it and place it back to her roots”, the Babaa explained.

     “We talked to Kauvara, our oracle, and she read in the cards that only a brave and honest princess could find it...”

     “And that’s where you come in!” finished Meenie. “According to the prophecy, it’s you who can get the Hair Clip back!”

     “But I don’t even know where to sta...”

     Before Ferny could conclude her sentence, several explosions started to emerge. Neggs and more neggs came from everywhere, exploding the pipes and the trunk of the tree.

     “She’s here! The Negg Faerie! Help us!”, the meepits would scream.

     Looking back, Ferny saw her. The most beautiful faerie she had ever seen. But the evil in her eyes made it clear that she was not there to help.

     “So you did come, princess”, said the Faerie. “I heard you would be the one to help these meepits. But you will never get back the Hair Clip. I stole it and hid it, so well-hidden that you will never find it. EVER!”.

     “Oh, really? Then what is this in your hair?”, asked Ferny, pointing to the Blue Daisy Hair Clip on the faerie’s hair.

     “What? This.... is.... erm.... OH, WHATEVER! I couldn’t have it away from me, but you will never get it back!”

     The faerie then took out from her pocket a glass with some dust inside. Ferny looked at it and then back at the Babaa. She realized it was not something good.

     “Careful, princess”, said Meenie. “That’s her most powerful trick, the Sparkling Negg Dust. It freezes anyone who gets hit by it.”

     Ferny then started to run. She ran around the tree, just to see her friends being paralyzed by the dust. She was searching for something, anything that could help her to defeat the wicked faerie.

     That was when she noticed the many pipes around her. Yellow juices, red juices, blue juices, they were all over the tree and going down to the city of Juiceland.

     She remembered, then, a story her grandmother would always tell her when she was even younger. According to the story, the juices had powers. Once the three basic colors would get mixed, the juice would become pink, the strongest juice color, so powerful that it could defeat any wicked being.

     Ferny ran and grabbed vials containing the three juices. She quickly drained out a fourth one, and put a little of each juice inside of it. All of a sudden, the juice became pink, and a strawberry smell fulfilled the air.

     “What do you think you’re doing?”, the Faerie asked.

     “Preparing your defeat!”, Ferny threw the vial away with all her strength, and it hit the floor next to the faerie’s feet. It released a magical fog, which disintegrated the faerie, piece by piece.

     “NOOO! Impossible! I CANNOT be defeated. NOOOOOO”, and then she disappeared, in a cloud of purple smoke.

     “You made it, Ferny!”, shouted Meenie, now brought back to life. “We knew that you would make it!”

     “I knew it, Meenie!”, said the Babaa. “That’s why I came to Neopia. You, however, were doubting me the whole time.”

     “Whatever, dude. All the residents in Juiceland will be grateful to you, princess. I will take you back to your kingdom now. But, before you go, please take this gift as a reward for all you did for us!”, said Meenie.

     He took a glass from his pocket and gave it to Ferny.

     “That’s the Rainbow Foamy Soap. It’s a soap made from Meepit juice. It’s eternal, meaning it will always refill itself. With it, your fur will always be beautiful and shiny”, Meenie explained.

     “Thanks, Meenie”, said Ferny. “It was nice to meet you all and to help saving the tree. But wait a minute! Where’s the Hair Clip…?”

     “Didn’t you see? My brother Meedie already took it and placed it in the tree. It’s all working like it should”.

     Ferny put her gift inside her pocket and wondered how she would get back to her house.

     As if someone was reading her mind, a pipe coming from Juiceland started making a strange noise. Before she could even say goodbye, it sucked her in, taking her back to the woods.

     As soon as she landed, Ferny ran to where her friends were. When she arrived, Kapara screamed her name.

     “Ferny! You’re supposed to hide yourself. You lose AGAIN!”, said Kapara, laughing.

     “But I was gone for over an hour, Kapara! No one noticed?”, asked Ferny.

     “What are you talking about, Ferny? You’ve been hiding for a five minutes tops”

     “Ferny! Dinner!”, her mother’s voice came from inside the palace.

     “Game over. Maybe tomorrow, Ferny!” Said Kalora, coming from behind a tree on her right side.

     “That’s fine”, complained Ferny.

     “Maybe it was all just a dream?”, Ferny thought. “But it looked so real.”

     That is when she remembered the Rainbow Foamy Soap she got. She put her hand inside her pocket and, with no surprises, there it was. The proof that everything she had lived was real.

     That adventure would be her secret forever. Even after she grew up and became one of the best players in Cheating! Even after she discovered the Lost Desert with her friend, Brucey B! Still, she never forgot Juiceland, and the friends she made there.

      The End.