Kallisari was a happy-go-lucky blue Peophin. She lived in a river in the western
part of central Neopia. Not that she would have known what "western part of
central Neopia" was if you'd asked her. Kallisari's earliest memories were of
diving into the river, and she'd lived there happily ever since, playing with
the Water Faeries and going onto land, mostly to get something to eat. Sometimes
she'd go on little exploring trips, but her tail flukes would hurt after awhile,
so she usually didn't stray too far from the water.
One day, Kallisari became tired of trying to chase down Water Faeries (she
always lost), and decided it was time to chow down on a particularly good batch
of neggs that she knew about. The Faeries had told her how to make sure she
got herself good neggs, and she carefully avoided any that looked strange. She
was happily running/sliding through the woods towards her special grove, when
suddenly SPLAT! Poor Kallisari was totally squashed!
She lay flat on the ground, heaving for air while her blurred eyesight made
out a laughing yellow ball in front of her.
"Hahahahaha! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha!" it chortled.
"Wha... why?!?" Kallisari was too winded to give vent to her hurt, so it was
her total bewilderment that came to the surface.
But her half-formed questions weren't answered. The Kiko (for so he was),
merely hopped away, still singing to himself, "Got her, got her, got her."
"Why you!" Kallisari surged back up and raced after the yellow Kiko as fast
as she could. But she was no match for him. The uneven contest ended when her
still slightly crossed eyes made her hit a tree. She lay there with her eyes
shut, holding in her groans of hurt and frustration as she listened to the last
small remnants of sound from the rapidly departing Kiko.
Kallisari vowed never to go near that section of the woods again. But, happy
go lucky that she was, she managed to forget all about it by the next day. She
was totally taken off-guard when a huge weight whacked her on top of the head
again. This time, she didn't waste time asking questions. She immediately shot
towards the bouncing yellow Kiko. It was no use. Even laughing, he saw her coming,
and easily dodged her. Kallisari's eyes were wet with tears of frustration as
she watched her tormenter vanish.
Things did not improve over the next few days. Kallisari began avoiding that
section of the woods, but more often than not, she was ambushed again by the
evil Kiko. Poor Kallisari's head was beginning to seem like one huge bruise,
and it was only her hunger that kept her going onto land.
She began to despair, until the day that she met another Peophin at the riverbank.
This one was dressed in a very strange fashion. Kallisari's eyes were riveted
by the strange Peophin's hat, which had a wide brim and a cone on top.
"Hi there!" she said, surfacing in front of the strange Peophin.
"Yihh!" the other said, hopping backwards and scooting towards the woods.
"No! Please, come back! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"
Her unintentional victim stopped and turned around. "It's ok," he replied.
"I'm sorry I ran. I just wasn't expecting a wild Peophin and, well..." he stopped.
"Well what?" inquired a curious Kallisari.
"Well, I... I, well, uh... I just hate looking this way. But I've got to."
"I think you look nice! What's so bad about it?"
"Because I'm male! My owner thinks it's cute, but I think it's silly."
"I think it's cute, too." Kallisari replied firmly. "How did you get it?"
"I found a magical Halloween paint brush and my owner had me painted with
it."
"Halloween? Paint brush? What do they look like, and where can I find one?"
"Well they're about like this size, and they have flexible bristles in about
this sort of shape, and the bristles are covered with black paint that has two
orange eyes in it."
"Ugh! Eyes?"
"Yeah, well, it's just a picture of them... not the real thing, of course!"
"Oh. So where can I get one?"
"I don't know, unless you bought one. They're really expensive, though. I
was incredibly lucky... er, unlucky... enough to find one for free."
"Well if you can, I can too!" Kallisari decided.
"Good luck, you'll need it."
"Thanks!"
"And try heading east, that's where a lot of Neopets are, and so most of the
paint brushes are more common there."
"Okay!" Without another thought about her helpful friend, Kallisari dove back
into the water and headed east at top speed.
Over the next day, she hunted high and low for anything resembling what the
stranger had told her, with no success. The one thing that she did find was
lots and lots of Neopets! Kallisari was very shy, having seen almost no others
in her isolated life. She tried to avoid them whenever possible. She felt guilty,
but that was better than trying to talk to them.
It wasn't until late in the day that she found a huge set of buildings. They
totally overawed her, but there were a lot of Neopets, so she figured this must
be her best chance at finding that paint brush. The crowds were thinning out
by this time, so she felt confident enough to stroll into the mall (for that's
what it was) and hunt through the rooms there.
It was at about the tenth shop (although she'd lost count, having never needed
to count higher than four) that she saw what she was looking for. Kallisari
plastered herself against the store window, staring longingly at the paint brush.
Its painted eyes seemed to stare back at her.
"It's a beauty, isn't it?" a purple Elephante said proudly.
Kallisari jumped with alarm. "Ehhhh..." she neighed in a near panic. "Oh!
Hi! Is that yours?"
"Yup. Pretty, isn't it."
"Yes! Could I have it?"
"Sure, it's a bargain. Only sixty two thousand neopoints!"
"What?"
"Sixty two thousand neopoints."
"I... don't understand. Neopoints?"
The Elephante laughed. "Man, you're way back in the sticks, aren't you? Don't
tell me you never saw a neopoint!"
"I guess not. What are they like?"
"Why, like this," he said, and pulled out a coin. Kallisari looked it over
carefully.
"Hmmm... you mean you want sixty two thousand of these?"
"Yep, or less than that if you have coins like this... or this... or these
would be best for that kind of money."
Kallisari shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't know where to get any of
these."
"Well you need sixty two thousand, young lady, or I don't give up the brush."
"Ok..... umm, that's more than four isn't it?"
The elephante threw back his head and trumpeted in laughter. "A whole lot
more than four! Yes, I should think so! Fifteen thousand and, let's see... five
hundred times more than four."
Kallisari's head and tail flukes drooped. She still didn't understand all
of those words, but the meaning was clear. With one last longing glance at the
paint brush, she turned to leave.
"Wait!" the shopkeeper said. Kallisari turned back. "Look, this is a Halloween
paintbrush, okay? So if you're looking for one cheap, try the Haunted Woods;
they've got all sorts of stuff like that there."
"Haunted Woods?"
"Yeah. It's south of here."
"Ok, and.... ok." Kallisari left, wondering why she hadn't felt like thanking
the shopkeeper. After all, he'd been helpful... hadn't he?"
Kallisari's rear end was hurting her badly, and it was totally dark by the
time she reached the Haunted Woods. She was slithering on her belly now, partly
out of soreness, partly out of fear of her spooky surroundings. The trees moved
here, but it didn't look like it did when the wind around her river home blew
through trees. It looked almost... alive. She shuddered and hugged the ground
tighter as she crept closer to the sparks of light in the distance.
Kallisari blinked as she topped the low hill and found herself looking down
into a small valley dotted with dark, twisted shapes. She finally realized that
they were buildings, of some sort. They did seem to be surrounded a lot of times
by those awful moving trees, though. Looking up, any hesitations she might have
had about the trees down there disappeared. The trees up here were even worse.
She quickly slid down the slope and started to cautiously poke about.
There were scary moans and howls in the wind in this valley, and Kallisari's
hair curled with her fear. But she hadn't come this far to quit. She was trying
to decide which spot to try first when the cackle started behind her.
"Heh, heh, heh! Got another lost wanderer looking for something?"
Kallisari spun around so fast she almost fell over. "Uh, yes," she replied,
trying to get her pulse back under control. The sight that confronted her didn't
help. Green, with warts over her long face, the stranger's haggle-toothed grin
seemed somehow less than inviting. Kallisari's eyes widened when she saw the
woman's hat. "That's it!"
"What's it?" the stranger scowled.
Kallisari pointed. "That's what I want! The other Peophin said you had to
have a Halloween paint brush to get one of those! Where did you find yours?"
The old woman shook her head. "Dearie, you are so naive. I'm Edna the witch.
All witches wear these."
"Ohhh... does that mean the other Peophin was a witch, too?"
Edna grunted with disgust. "No, it means exactly what she said. She got painted
with a Halloween paint brush."
"It wasn't a she, it was a he," Kallisari responded absently. She was still
trying to figure this thing out, but something seemed to be missing.
Edna's cackle pulled her out of her reverie. "A he, dressed like a witch?
That's a good one! I shouldn't think he'd want to show his face in public!"
"Wellll, he sort of didn't."
"Thought not," Edna grinned triumphantly.
"Mmm..." Kallisari took a minute to collect her scattered thoughts. It was
hard with the witch staring at her, but then she had it. "Anyway, that's why
I want a paint brush. I want to look like that, too. Do you know where I could
get one?"
"Sure, got lots of shops down there. They sell them."
Kallisari shook her head sadly. "I already tried there. They want neopoints,
and I don't have any of those."
"Well in that case, dearie, you're straight out of luck."
"Are you sure you couldn't get me one, somehow?"
Edna's eyes widened. "Girlie, I have people bring me things, not the other
way around. I make all sorts of magic potions here."
"Maybe a magic potion, then, that would..." Kallisari's voice faded away under
Edna's stern glare.
"Look, kiddo, you're asking for more trouble than you know. But just to show
you that I'm kind-hearted, I'll give you a paintbrush."
"You don't want any neopoints, either?" Kallisari asked hopefully.
"Nope!" Edna reached under her robes and pulled out a familiar object. "Here
you go, one special paintbrush. Ah, ah, ahh..." she pulled it back as Kallisari
reached for it. "There is a catch."
"A catch?"
"Nothing much, of course. Just the usual standard curse."
"Curse?" Kallisari's eyes widened. She wasn't sure what that was, but it didn't
sound good.
"Yep!" The witch cackled with glee. "One paintbrush, my honey, the object
of your heart's desire. But if you take it, you're doomed to marry your worst
enemy!"
"Marry?!? But I don't have any enemies!!"
Edna snorted loudly. "Don't give me that. Even an innocent like you has enemies."
Kallisari's heart sank as she remembered the Kiko. She wanted revenge on him,
she didn't want to marry him! Fear warred with revenge in her heart and mind...
To be continued... | 
