The Meepit Named Little Meepie

      "Aw, Missy, can't ya just hold it?" Moonshine said, almost shoving it into my banana colored paws. I shuddered and looked the other way. I don't know why, but Meepits just creep me out. I tapped my tail.

      "I thought you said you were the bravest baby Gelert in Neopia," Moonshine said, smirking a little. I snarled.

      "Well, I'm willing to make an exception."

      "Aww, just give the wittle Meepit a chance," Moonshine said, cuddling it right up next to her periwinkle fur.

      I shuddered. "Well, I can tell you this: I'm not planning to even make eye contact."

     ***

      I pulled my back pack over my shoulder, and I eagerly waited outside of Mr. Lupid's classroom for Moonshine. She had told me that she had a wonderful surprise that she was sure I would love it. I tapped my tail, and my long, ribbony ears quivered. I finally saw Moonshine walking down the hall. Since I had been waiting for about a half an hour, I eagerly ran up to her and began jumping up and down in excitement. What had she brought me? A Faellie? Maybe a faerie paint brush, so we could soar the skies together? She smiled warmly. "Are you ready for the surprise?" I nodded. "Here it is!" She brought her paws from around her back and brought out…

     I jumped back. "You brought that… that…thing?"

      Moonshine frowned and nodded. It was back again! The evil pink ball of fluff WAS BACK! Oh, cruel world!

      I got control of my legs, and then smiled. "Okay, Moonshine, where's the real surprise?"

      She just stood there, looking at me. She finally said something. "Missy, I'm going to visit the Lost Desert for a vacation, and I want you to baby sit Little Meepie." I laughed. This must've been some kinda joke! I mean, what kinda friend would just give your arch enemy to you? I waited for her to start laughing too. But she didn't.

      "Missy, I'm serious. I want you to take care of Little Meepie for the week."

      My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. What was this? She held the Meepit towards me. "Now, I figured that you two should get acquainted, so that's why I brought him here."

      I almost fainted. Since when were we allowed Petpets in school?

      "Now," Moonshine continued. "I'll give you Little Meepie at the end of school," she said, tucking the Meepit in her back pocket of her back pack. She saw me staring at the evil thing. "And don't worry; Meepie doesn't escape. He's a good, well-trained boy."

      RIINNNNNG! We both jumped, and Mr. Lupid opened the door to the classroom. I started blending into the crowd of my classmates, and within minutes we were both inside the classroom. I sat down at my desk, waiting for Mr. Lupid to start the day.

     We went through the daily announcements and all that junk, and I had just gotten out a pencil when my eyes wandered over to Moonshine's back pack. I froze. That little Meepit was climbing out of the pocket! Luckily, I sit next to Moonshine, so I tapped on her with a paw.

      "What?" she whispered, swinging her bushy tail. I jerked my head to the back pack. "So?" she questioned. I groaned, and managed to whisper that there were no contents of Meepits in her back pack. Her eyes widened, and she pointed a shaking paw toward the front of the room.

      "Any questions?" Mr. Lupid asked. He looked directly at us. I placed a frozen smile on my face. "Good, I- ACH-CHOO!" Mr. Lupid sneezed. "Oh no," Moonshine gasped. "Is Mr. Lupid allergic to Meepits?"

      By now, Mr. Lupid had sneezed enough times to make up for the whole year. I was hoping he wouldn't notice Little Meepie, but my hopes were soon crushed. By now the class was on the floor, looking around to see if anything that had to do with Mr. Lupid's sneezing was down there. I held my breath as a green Aisha crawled on the floor close to Meepie. She began to crawl away, but then saw Meepie. She gave a cry, and the next thing I knew, she was showing Meepie to the world. Mr. Lupid stopped sneezing long enough to stare at the object. His eyes widened and he managed to say, "Whose is it?" before going into another span of sneezing.

      "I don't know," the Aisha said before noticing the collar. Moonshine was completely frozen.

      The Aisha continued examining it. "It said that it belongs to… MOONSHINE!" the whole class turned and stared at Moonshine.

      Mr. Lupid frowned, walked over to the Aisha, snatched the Meepit out of her paws before striding towards Moonshine. He then shoved Meepie into her paws. "Don't… ever… bring… Petpets… to… school." Moonshine gulped and nodded. I sighed, but then a red Techo named Andrew piped up, "Mr. Lupid, I saw Moonshine AND Missy with that Meepit this morning,"

      Mr. Lupid snapped his head around and looked at me. I practically melted. He snarled before walking to the front of the room to continue with the lesson.

     ***

      "I tell ya, that Meepit is nothing but trouble! He just earned us two weeks of detention!"

      "He didn't mean anything," Moonshine retorted, stroking Meepie under the chin.

      I snorted. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm not keen on taking care of that Petpet, if that's what you want to call it," I snarled.

      "Well, then," she smiled. "Then… I guess you don't want any Neopoints."

      My ears perked, and I turned to Moonshine. "What do you mean? I get paid?"

      "Around 5,000 Neopoints- a day."

      My eyes probably looked like plates. 5,000 Neopoints? That was more than I earned in a week! Without thinking, I said, stupid me, yes.

      Well, we had things all wrapped up by the time Moonshine's owner called her home to travel. Moonshine shoved Meepie in my paws. I was overjoyed and I screeched and jumped all the way home. I was gonna be rich!

      ***

      That night I had a little trouble sleeping. I could hear Puzzle, my Spardel, soft snores and the wheezing of Meepie curled up next to Puzzle. I ask you, how could you sleep with that much noise closer than a yard to you? I don't know how, but I finally got to sleep. The next morning I woke up to hear the birds chirping. I fluttered my eyelids and got my eyes into focus. I had almost lifted my weary self when I noticed my worst fear, sitting on my bed. I jumped up so fast that Meepie landed with a hard thump on the floor. I snatched Meepie off the ground before striding down the stairs to our front door. I lifted my arm and prepared to give Meepie flying lessons, but then I remembered the 5,000 Neopoints deal.

      I trudged back inside with the Meepit in my grasp. I don't think he liked that position, because moments after a bit of swinging, he told me his feelings. He took my paw and BIT IT! I'm not talking about a little nip, he just took my paw and played meat grinder with it. I yelped and released the evil one. While I was nursing my paw, I caught a glimpse of a pink blur running into the kitchen. I growled and padded into the kitchen, searching every nook and cranny, but Meepie had picked a hiding spot well. I finally gave up and decided if he wanted to play hide and seek, he could play by himself. I would just read a book till he came out.

      I had read the book Gelert on Treasure Island for about 45 minutes, and then I heard the surprised and shocked cry of my brother, Luke, a fire Gelert.

      "Missy, come down here, mum is going to be so mad!"

      I raced down the stairs and into the kitchen. I pushed open the door and gasped.

     Meepie, star destructor, had torn up our kitchen! Pots and pans were everywhere, and there was a gallon of fresh milk spilled on the floor. Meepie had somehow found his way into the ice box and had polished off a carton of ice cream. Bananas were squashed and ruined. Just about every food imaginable was on that floor. And can you guess who was sitting in the middle of it all? Meepie.

      I fell to my knees and began picking up the pots and pans. I froze when someone else had wandered into the kitchen. And it wasn't Luke. It was mum.

      "Hey, Missy, there you are. I heard a clatter and I rushed down as soon as I-" Her speech was cut off by the, uh, little mess. I took this time to study the wallpaper. Hmmm, little white flowers…

      "Missy, what happened!" Her eyes fell to the Meepit covered in flour, then back to me. I couldn't say anything. My goose was cooked.

      "Missy, even though Meepie did this, you should still take responsibility for him."

      5000 Neopoints, 5000 Neopoints, 5,000…

      "Missy, I'll be back in two hours, and when I come back, I want this kitchen to be spotless. I'm sorry, I'm just trying to be a good owner." She leaned down and kissed me before pushing open the door and disappearing. I then turned to the evil one. My eyes narrowed, and I crouched. I was ready to give this Meepit a lesson. I gave a loud yip before running after the surprised Meepit. He squeaked a little "Meep!" before getting his short legs together, and we were off!

      Oops! I roared past the counter, and a jar of jelly met the floor. They shook hands happily. Meepie slipped on the jelly, and jumped on the counter to control himself. He was still sliding, and I almost had him when I got acquainted with a carton of eggs. Meepie had somehow rammed into the carton and 24 hen grenades tumbled down.

      I slowly lifted myself off the ground, yolk rolling down my muzzle and egg white dripping off my nose. I was only thinking one thing: THIS MEEPIT WOULD PAY! I tore into Meepie, and he jumped into a flour sack. I didn't care; THIS WAS WAR! I dived into the flour sack before I realized I was a bit too big. Too late. My head got stuck on the bag, but I didn't care. I growled and pawed at the bag, and a huge puff of flour settled in the room. Meepie tore a hole in the bag, and I ripped the bag, and we were off!

      I pounced, leaped, and landed right in the middle of him. I almost had him when I heard a creak of the door. Our respective heads turned around to the door. It was pushed open, and I saw McKinley there. He was my skunk Lupe brother, but who cared now?

      Can you imagine what this looked like? The kitchen covered in food. Meepie and me covered in egg, jam, and flour. Me about to do some damage to a Petpet I was babysitting. McKinley opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He managed to call out the word in a hoarse voice "Luke!" and before I knew, 3/5 of my family were in here. Luke gasped, and time ticked. I closed my eyes and waited for Luke to call out to mum, but he didn't. Meepie was the first to act. He slipped out from under my paws, and before I knew it he was bolting to the living room. I stood up and yelled a war cry. "After him! Charge, attack, bonsai!"

      And before we knew it, my family was chasing a little Meepit. Luke was in the lead, following me, and McKinley in the last. Puzzle came down to see what the excitement was, thought this was some kind of game, and he tore up in the lead. Well, soon we all got kinda tired, but we were still chasing. It stopped when Meepie squeezed under a cushy couch chair. Puzzle was peeking under, Luke and McKinley trying to lift the chair up, and me digging at the carpet to burrow under there, it was yet another state of chaos.

      Ever get that feeling that someone's watching you? At that very moment, I heard a floorboard squeak. I slowly turned my head to the noise, squeezed up a smile, and tapped my tail. It was… gulp… Mum.

      She stared at us, her eyes wide open, and her hand over her mouth. From beneath it, I heard… huh? Laughter? I waited for her to speak.

      "Missy, Luke, McKinley … Puzzle… uh, what are you doing?"

      Since Luke was the oldest, we all turned to Luke to share an explanation with Mom. He gulped and began. "Well, uh, Mom, you see, the little evil… I mean, Meepie, went into the kitchen and uh, made a bit of a mess, so we all jumped into help so he, uh, wouldn't do anything else to the house." Luke just about fainted after that. Mum's eyes wandered around the destruction in the room.

      "Well, Luke, it seems that you and your siblings did most of it anyway."

      Luke opened his mouth to explain a little more, but I suddenly saw Meepie crawl out from under the couch. I made a quick dive and nabbed him. I didn't wait for Mum to give an answer, I just quickly ran up the stairs to my room before he decided to express his feelings again. I still had a mark on my paw. I opened the cage door and shoved my paw in there, released Meepie, pulled my paw out, and slammed the cage door.

      That night as I lay under my covers, I tried not to think of the unfair punishment that Meepie had earned us. He had awarded us for taking care of him The Gold Grounded Award. Me, Luke, and McKinley were grounded for the weekend. Since we all had things to do, things to get and all, we had my sister, Kayla, wish-to-be starry Zafara running around Neopia gathering supplies for Meepie and all sorts of things. I suggested that we put him in a metal cage with iron bars, box him up and send him to Terror Mountain, but Mom quickly responded NO!

     ***

      It was soon Monday. I smiled. Usually, Monday's were TORTURE, but today I had a surprise in my back pack for Mr. Lupid in detention. I was happily wagging my tail when the school room door opened. Mr. Lupid smiled warmly to everyone that walked in, and as I passed, I could see him frown for a few seconds then resume smiling.

      We went through math, reading and writing, and social studies, and my surprise had finally given up and stayed put. I think he was excited in taking part of even more mischief.

      As I went into detention, I lowered my head to hide my smile from Mr. Lupid. As I was placed at my desk, I remembered to take the evil one out. I quickly raised my paw. "Mr. Lupid?" He turned his head. "I forgot my homework in my backpack… can I go get it?" Mr. Lupid frowned and then smiled a little. "Yes you may, Missy. It's good to see that you care about school work." But I didn't hear him. I was already out the door and by my back pack.

      I reached my paw into the smallest pocket and pulled out my weapon. I smiled, and Meepie stared right back. I pulled out a piece of already graded homework to keep my cover going and strode back into the classroom. I stopped at the doorway and unbuckled Meepie's collar. I remembered that without that collar, I wouldn't be in detention. I fully stepped into the classroom, trying not to make a scene. Mr. Lupid grinned and placed a paw over his chest, then whispered to himself, "No…Missy? It can't be true!" Heh heh, it wasn't.

      I slipped into my desk and pulled out a pencil and began to "write" over the crumpled homework. I eased my paw with Meepie towards the floor before releasing the trouble maker. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Meepie scampering along the wall. I could hear myself whispering "That's right, Meepie… towards the front."

      Other students in detention had noticed the Meepit and were snickering. Mr. Lupid looked up from his book and looked at the students. We all immediately fell silent. He turned back to his book and we started laughing. This time he just muttered and ignored us. Meepie was so close…

      I giggled softly as Meepie climbed up the chair leg. Mr. Lupid began to sneeze. He had NO IDEA what was coming for him!

      Meepie continued up until he reached the oak seat, and then began to climb up Mr. Lupid's shirt! Mr. Lupid frowned and then snapped his head to Meepie on his shirt. He screeched and released his book, sending it flying across the room. He then began swatting at his shirt, but Meepie wouldn't let go. Mr. Lupid finally got Meepie off, swatting him across the room. I reached out a paw and grabbed him before he hit the floor. But something was wrong. Mr. Lupid was STILL swatting at his shirt, and then I realized that HE THOUGHT MEEPIE WAS STILL ON HIM! By now the whole class was laughing and writhing on the floor. I was just about near death myself!

      Meepie seemed to be laughing himself in my palm. He was laying on his back making strange squeaking noises.

      I smiled and then collapsed on the floor, laughing really hard. Between giggles I looked up to see Mr. Lupid screaming and swatting, standing on the chair. I laughed.

      Life has a way of balancing itself out sometimes.

The End

Author's Note: I'd like to say thank you to all the users who sent me Neomail to write another story. Without you, you wouldn't be reading this.