"Hello? Ms. Negg Faerie? We have some neggs we'd like to turn in." Sniffles the Cybunny said as she entered the Neggery and looked around. "Hello?" she called again. Usually the Negg Faerie was right by the entrance watching over the neggs.

"What's wrong Sniffy?" the Cybunny's Uni friend asked, entering the Neggery behind her.

"I don't know, Saffyre.I don't know where she could be. Mayb--" the Cybunny was interrupted by the Negg Faerie, who had frantically rushed by.

However, she stopped upon catching sight of the two friends. "Oh, you must be the negg sitters... I'm so glad you're here!"

Sniffles and Saffyre turned and looked at each other oddly, both mouthing, "negg sitters?" to each other.

The Negg Faerie continued, hardly even noticing them. "I need to leave right away for a summit being held in Faerieland. Just keep and eye on them until I return, okay? Oh, and what ever you do... DON'T let them get warm! Great, thanks... bye!" With that, she fluttered out of the Ice Caves.

The two Christmas coloured pets looked at each other in shock.

"Uh-oh," they said in unison...

Sniffy was the first to recover from shock. "Maybe we should put some snow around the neggs. You know, to keep them cold, even if the light is on," she suggested. Sniffy glanced over at the neggs, which seemed to be nicely frosted over again. Saffyre nodded, then ran outside to start gathering snow. Once the neggs had been neatly packed with snow, Sniffy flipped the switch back to the "On" position. To both pets' pride and satisfaction, the neggs remained cool. The two friends then took a patrol around the Neggery, to make sure that none of the other neggs were melting, then closed up the shop. They found a sign that said, "Out to lunch," and decided to go get some food.

After about an hour or so in Happy Valley, Sniffy and Saffyre returned, only to find...

...that one of the neggs (a large, green, speckled one, that had been right on the top of the pile) was gone, leaving only its broken green shell as evidence that it had ever been there.

Sniffy was greatly agitated by this, and realized that some kind of creature must have hatched out of that negg. However, before she could comment about it, Saffyre brought a very serious fact to her attention.

"I didn't know neggs could hatch!" she exclaimed, "At least, none that I have ever heard of..."

"No wonder we were supposed to keep them cold!" Sniffy interjected, a sense of macabre ringing in her voice. "They must incubate in the heat!"

However, before she'd had a chance to hear her sentence echo off the frozen walls, a sudden crash came from the back of the Neggery. Upon turning to look, they just happened to see the end of a long, green tail slipping through the doorway...

"What if it's dangerous?" Saffyre asked, whispering as they exited the Neggery. "What if it hurts us?"

"Sshhh!" Sniffy told her. "If it is dangerous, I'll be the only one to find out. You stay here, in case anything else hatches. Got it?"

Without saying anything more she stalked off, following the green tail that had just circled around the Neggery. She broke into a run, chasing down the tail.

"Gotcha!" she cried, leaping onto the tail, which had just popped into view.

She landed on it, quickly grabbing the body.

"What the--" said a muffled voice, which came from beneath her.

Confused, Sniffy got up... revealing a green Draik. A yellow Wocky stood over them. "Who... who are you?" Sniffy asked.

"We're the negg sitters... we got caught in a snow storm, and ended up getting here a little late." the Wocky explained.

"And who are you?" the Draik asked, brushing himself off.

Sniffy was about to reply when, suddenly, there was a scream. She recognized the voice instantly--it was her friend Saffyre.

"Eeeeeeeek! Sniffy, get back in here! They're ALL hatching...!"

...Sniffy hopped back into the Neggery, with the real negg sitters following hastily. Saffyre was cowering in a corner, her eyes open wide, with one hoof spread across her mouth.

Sniffy and the others watched in horror as three neggs hatched at once, followed by another... then another. Almost a minute had passed, and at least ten neggs had already hatched. Tiny black eyes poked out of each one, darting back and forth between the four Neopets.

"W-why are they looking at us like that?" the Wocky stuttered. "Are they b-bloodthirsty or something?"

The Wocky quickly hid behind his Draik friend as another creature looked at him from the crack of a green negg. Saffyre still held her hoof to her mouth, as if to stop herself from screaming.

The neggs kept hatching... soon, every negg in the room had hatched. One of the creatures had managed to climb out of the shell that had protected it, then began crawling towards the three Neopets. Saffyre backed further into the corner, out of the creatures' view.

Pink in colour, the creature's skin was the same shade as the negg from whence it came. It had black beady eyes that seemed to shine as the light hit them. Its body was quite slender, and it crawled on all fours. Its tail was long, and it seemed to have no trouble whipping it back and forth, like a protective weapon.

Sniffy plucked up her courage and approached it.

"H-hello," she said, trying not to let the fear in her voice show. "You're a nice looking thing, aren't you?"

It hissed at Sniffy before backing away and knocking its shell onto the floor. The Cybunny walked back to the negg sitters, then asked Saffyre to move towards them.

"O-okay," the Uni whispered. However, just as she began to move, another creature (this one with dark, blood red eyes that lay behind black slits) jumped in front of her, preventing Saffyre from moving.

"Eeeeeeek!" she screamed. "Help me!"

The creature opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs. It hissed threateningly.

"Guys! I think this is a bad one!" the Uni shrieked. As Saffyre said those words, she was left with no other option, but to continue backing into the wall as the creature began crawling towards her...

The Wocky, still hiding behind his fellow sitter, looked sorrowfully at the retreating Uni. "I don't understand... neggs aren't supposed to hatch, let alone release vile little creatures with sharp teeth. Should we try to help her?"

"We have to," the Draik replied. "After all, she's in this mess because we were late getting here."

Sniffy looked at the two of them, then said. "Okay, on the count of three. One... two... THREE!"

The Draik took off quickly, kicking the dark creature away from the Uni, as the Wocky and Cybunny took up positions at each of Saffyre's sides. Walking slowly, the four were able to move from the corner, so that they each faced in an outward geographical direction (North, South, East and West), leaving no side unprotected.

The group had gotten halfway to the exit when the Uni, who had been leading the quartet towards the door, noticed that they'd been cut off by another legion of the dark, sharp-toothed creatures. In a fearful voice, Saffyre said, "Guys... I think they've cut us off."

"Same over here," the Draik replied.

The other two confirmed that they were, indeed, surrounded. Just then, they suddenly heard a loud...

...crash, as the door was blown open by a chill winter wind flooding into the room. The hideous monsters shrieked, as their bodies hadn't adapted to the freezing climate of Happy Valley yet. Luckily, the creatures near the door had been thrown by the wind towards the back of the room, providing a route for the Neopets to escape.

"Hurry! Run for the exit, before they close in on us!" the Wocky shouted as he broke for the door. The other three, who'd been thinking the same thing, weren't far behind.

Standing at the door was a young Blumaroo, covered by layers of warm winter clothing. In his hands the Blumaroo held four delicate neggs, which he'd brought to the Neggery with hopes of exchanging them for tokens. However, his cheerful face was soon overcome by fear, as he witnessed the four companions charging towards him like a herd of rampaging Tonu.

With a final leap towards the door, the four pets crashed into the innocent Blumaroo. With a chaotic rumble, the five tumbled down the steps and fell into the freezing cold.

However, there was no time for them to celebrate their lucky escape...

"RUN!!" Sniffy screamed, her ears flat against the back of her head. However, the others were already two steps ahead of her.

"Over here," the Wocky said, beckoning the others to the Snowager's cave.

"What?!? We can't go in there... we'll get blasted!" Saffyre gasped with disbelief.

The Draik flew over Saffyre with ease, turning to face her in midair. "Not if we're careful we won't!"

The party entered the cave, silently tiptoeing as quickly as they could behind the huge pile of treasure-- and the Snowager. "Quickly, they're behind us!" hissed the Wocky urgently.

A loud clopping sound echoed through the silent cave. The Uni stood, unmoving... frozen with fear. In the entrance, the tiny creatures (now looking ridiculous and multi-coloured from the negg-shells) came noisily in, their sharp claws scratching the delicate ice floor. The four friends dived behind the Snowager, just as it reared up and growled.

Stunned by the sight of the mighty beast, the negg creatures were unable to move as the Snowager turned to fire an icy blast at them.

Sniffy couldn't help but peek as the beady-eyed creatures were frozen in ice. After what seemed ages, the Snowager stopped its attack. By this time, the creatures had been left glazed over and immobile. Slowly and elegantly rising up, the Snowager moved towards the creatures. Choosing the prettiest of the negg-shell covered creatures, the beast added them to his vast collection with a quick flick of the tail.

Sniffy had to duck as a hunk of curiously coloured ice was thrown at her head. It clanked harmlessly against the thick ice walls, then landed in the pile of treasure.

"Come on, let's go!" the Wocky whispered, beginning to take charge of things.

"What, NOW? It's right next to the entrance!" the Draik snapped.

"Fine. We'll just wait awhile, then..." the Wocky snapped back reluctantly.

The Snowager continued to pick through the chunks of ice... flinging the rejected ones outside without any regard as to whether they hit an unlucky passer-by. An urgent thought passed through Sniffy's mind... What's gonna happen if they thaw out? and swiftly informed the others about this matter. They all had the same reaction as her: shock and fear.

The Snowager finally slithered back towards its newly enlarged pile of treasure, then flopped ungracefully onto the mound and began to snore.

"Now?" Saffyre mouthed to the others, who nodded.

"Wait, hold on! Why don't we get some neggs to replace the ones we lost?" the Draik suggested.

Sniffy nodded, then began delicately removing neggs from the pile. Even Saffyre managed, albeit rather clumsily, to pick up some neggs with her hooves...

...The Snowager grunted and twitched in its sleep many a time, and each time it did so Saffyre would jump, dropping all of the neggs she had collected onto the icy floor of the cave. After collecting them again, she would happily trot out of the cave, carefully setting them outside the gaping hole that was the only exit and entrance out of the Snowager's layer.

During her third trip, Saphyre set down the last negg she'd been carrying and drew herself up proudly, ready to take, drop, collect, and deliver more. It was then that she heard the shriek.

It was bone chilling, moving through her rigid body like ice.

Another yell filled the air and, terrified, Saphyre recognized it... the yell belonged to Sniffy! The Uni shrunk away from the mouth of the cave in horror, but as her scream filled the crisp air, Saffyre's love for her friend overcame fear. She charged into the Snowager's layer once more.

The monster was reared up, its long neck arched viciously, and Saffyre could see something hanging from the great ice worm's gigantic mouth: Sniffy.

The Draik was whacking at the Snowager's side unsuccessfully, attempting to suprise the beast into dropping the Cybunny it held tightly in its powerful jaws.

The Wocky had backed against the wall in horror. As she saw Saffyre coming in, the Wocky jerked her head towards the Neggs on the floor that she had collected. She would deliver them to the Neggery. Saphyre nodded. She could not think of any other way the poor Wocky could help.

Saffyre stepped back and stared at the Snowager, who was shaking his head viciously back and forth. The Uni looked around urgently, trying to find something that could help save her best friend.

She observed that one of the negg monsters was unthawing and twitching, trying to struggle out of its icy encasement. As she gazed upon it, it was as if a fluorescent lightbulb had popped into her head, filling it with a bright, eerie glow.

"Wait, stop! Get the monsters from the Snowager's treasure pile! Melt the ice on them with your flames... I have an idea!"

"Are you crazy?!?" the emerald colored pet mouthed. However, he obeyed Saphyre and, reluctantly, began melting ice off the monsters, two at a time.

Saffyre grabbed one of the first creatures to be freed. It struggled and squealed, even tried to bite Saffyre's hoof, but the Uni didn't care. Aiming, she threw.

The monster landed on one of the Snowager's icy eyes. Confused, it dug its claws into the ice worm's head.

The Snowager roared, managing to keep its captive within its grip the whole time. Gritting her teeth, Saphyre threw another monster, and another... and another.

Soon, nearly all of the negg monsters that had hatched in the Neggery were swarming all over the Snowager's giant head. Thrashing in pain, the Snowager finally dropped Sniffy's limp body to the ground, announcing its distress to all of Terror Mountain with a loud roar.

Saffyre quickly galloped from the cave, picking up a stunned Sniffy as she flew by, following the Draik. She couldn't have carried out her plan without him; she would have to thank him later. But now, they had to get away!

Soon they were back in the Neggery. The new Neggs, fresh from the Snowager's treasure pile, were sitting on the shelves where the monsters had once been laying. The Wocky lay slumped in a soft sofa, which stood off to a side of the Neggery.

Saffyre, Sniffy, the Draik, and the Wocky, collapsed onto the sofa. The Draik sighed.

"Well, that's over."

All of a sudden, the pets heard footsteps at the Neggery's door. The Draik bared his teeth, and Sniffy shrunk back in terror.

The Negg Faerie walked in cheerfully, smiling at the four exhausted Neopets.

"Oh, you got help?" she asked, addressing Saffyre and Sniffy and nodding towards the Wocky and Draik. Not waiting for a reply, she questioned the pets once more.

"How did everything go?"

The four pets exchanged concerned glances. Saffyre suddenly had a malicious twinkling in her eyes and a sly grin on her delicate face.

"Oh, it was very exciting, if I do say so myself... really, everything went great!"

The End