His desire to join the Defenders didn't wane with age, as every Halloween he went out trick-or-treating as a different member, never able to pick out his favorite from the group. He often claimed that the best day he'd ever had was the day that Judge Hog himself visited him and a group of his friends at a park one day. All that did was reinforce his desire to join the team of heroes he so admired.

There was just one problem, though. Sunar had no superpowers at all.

He didn't have super strength. He didn't have laser vision. He couldn't fly, and that was like the base level superpower that every hero needed -- unless they had super speed, which he was lacking as well. The only one that he could even try to work on was super strength, but no matter how hard he tried, he never felt himself getting stronger.

Every time he failed, he returned to his comics, reading more and more about their adventures -- and more importantly -- their origins. If he could only replicate the origins that the Defenders of Neopia had, then he could get some super powers as well and join them. However, almost all of them had been the result of events that he just couldn't replicate on his own.

Sighing, Sunar went to his bedroom window and looked out at the night sky, watching the stars blink and twinkle. I wish I could have super powers, the Wocky thought, So that I could be a superhero.

Just then, one of the stars in the sky started to move oddly. Sunar's eye was drawn to it as it started to fall lower and lower, descending faster and faster. Finally, the light crashed into the ground, not too far from his house.

Sunar gasped out loud. It must not have been a star at all. It must have been some sort of comet, or a meteorite! Sometimes Neopets could gain superpowers from cosmic things like that!

With that as his only thought, the Wocky quickly grabbed a pair of shoes and ran outside, in the direction of the fallen space object. After several minutes of running through the bushes and trees, Sunar came to a clearing and a crater in the ground. He gasped out loud at what he saw...

Trisha had been a good pal of Sunar's ever since he'd moved to Neopia Central. She lived nearby, and would often walk with him to school. She would listen to his stories of being a hero, but always just laughed and smiled when he'd finished. She truly didn't understand what it meant to Sunar.

"Trish?" the Wocky exclaimed as he stepped closer.

The Acara turned around in surprise, while Sunar recoiled in shock. The blue Acara's eyes were glowing a toxic green.

"Sunar?" Trisha replied in confusion.

"What happened?" Sunar asked. "Was it the star?"

"Star? Was that what it was?" Trisha remarked, still sounding a bit dazed. "All I know is that I was enjoying a late night stroll when something came crashing down. I went to investigate and was blinded by a light. After that, I started feeling really hazy."

"Your eyes are green," Sunar told her. He felt that he had to let her know, as she probably hadn't seen a mirror.

"What?" Trisha exclaimed. "Green?"

"Yeah... like, really really green," Sunar said, emphasizing his point. "Trish, I think that star might have given you super powers."

Sunar probably should have felt a measure of jealousy toward his friend, but right now he could only feel excitement for his discovery. Other emotions would come later.

"Super powers?" Trisha asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Sunar said eagerly. "Like flying, or super strength, or--"

He was cut off when Trisha sneezed, however; it was far from an ordinary sneeze. She fired snot all over the crater. Snot that glowed green, just like her eyes.

"Or super mucus," Sunar concluded. "That is so cool!"

"No, Sun, it's not," Trisha moaned. "It's freaky. This is just a dream, right? Right? Everything is actually normal."

"Are you kidding, Trish? You're a superhero now. That's awesome!" Sunar exclaimed.

Before anyone could add anything, Sunar heard the sound of someone approaching. He then turned around and saw Judge Hog marching toward them...

Mincing no words, the Moehog nodded his head as a greeting to the two friends and started. "Young lady, do you have any idea what just happened?"

Trisha shook her head and replied, "I-I was just walking when this bright light came down from the sky an--" Her summary of the events was cut off by another sneeze, spraying more mucus around her.

Judge Hog opened his mouth to speak, but Sunar jumped in before the famous crime-fighter could say anything more. "Judge Hog! You're my hero! I've collected all of the Defenders of Neo--"

The eager, young Wocky was cut off by a strong hand placed on his shoulder. Judge Hog looked into Sunar's eyes and stated, "Young man, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we have an extremely serious and perhaps even dangerous matter upon our hands."

Sunar, even more riled up that he had had contact with Judge Hog, started to ask something, but just then, Trisha, who had remained quiet until now, fell to the ground with a soft thump.

Judge Hog hurried over to the Acara's side and turned her over. Studying her face, he murmured worriedly, "It has started..."

Judge Hog stood up quickly. "There's no time - quick! We have to get her inside. NOW!"

Sunar looked around Judge Hog at his friend lying on the ground. "Trisha? Are you okay?"

Trisha lay prone on the ground, her body trembling. Snot trickled steadily from her nose, forming a slimy pool that began to coat her body. Grunting, snorting noises erupted from the Acara as more and more goo streamed from her face.

"Sissssterrrrr," an eerie voice called on the wind. "We come for you..."

Judge Hog's eyes widened. He scooped up the phlegm encased Acara and thrust her into Sunar's arms. "There's no time. They're coming. I'll keep them here - take her away now!"

"Take her where?" Sunar grunted, sagging beneath Trisha's weight.

"The only place she'll be safe," Judge Hog said. "To..."

Despite himself, Sunar felt his heart leap a little. It had been a lifelong dream of his to see the Defenders of Neopia headquarters, and even though the circumstances under which he was getting this amazing opportunity weren't exactly the best, it still counted, didn't it?

"That way," the Moehog ordered brusquely as he pointed Sunar in the general direction of Neopia Central Plaza. The Wocky smiled slightly to himself -- as if he actually needed the guidance! He'd never told anyone, for fear of being marked as a stalker, but he could get to the Defenders' headquarters with his eyes closed.

"They'll explain everything," Judge Hog said, giving Sunar a small push in the right direction. "Just go!"

He stumbled toward Neopia Central Plaza, still struggling to carry Trisha...

"I'm sorry," said an impatient voice, "but we have no active missions that require volunteers at this moment."

Sunar spun and found himself face to face with none other than Lightning Lenny. Before the Wocky could explain himself, the superhero's eyes grew wide behind his silver and blue mask and Lightning Lenny exclaimed, "Your friend! Her eyes! It's... begun."

"Yes," Sunar agreed, "that's what Judge Hog said, and..."

"Oh, so he knows?" the Lenny replied. His voice grew more calm, more steely. Nodding to himself, he asked, "And where did you leave Judge Hog? Somewhere safe, I hope?"

"Safe?" Sunar asked. He couldn't imagine that there was anywhere in Neopia where Judge Hog wasn't perfectly safe. What did his hero have to fear? "We heard a strange voice that said they were coming for my friend here -- it called her 'sister' for some reason -- and Judge Hog said that he'd take care of them."

Lightning Lenny squinted in thought and then asked, "Did he say 'take care of them'? Those were his actual words?"

The Wocky thought and replied, "Well, no, I guess that's what I thought he meant, but I suppose he just said he was keeping them there while we escaped."

"Okay, that makes more sense." The Lenny paced around, rubbing his wings together fretfully, glancing furtively at Trisha and the pool of green slime that was growing on the floor where she lay in a fitful, unconscious state.

"Okay," Lightning Lenny repeated. "I'm going to assemble the Defenders to go help Judge Hog. You two stay here. I mean it. You can't take your friend here out of the building, understand?"

"Yes, okay," Sunar replied. The fear in Lightning Lenny's voice was making him feel very uneasy. "Could you please tell me what's going on, though? Am I in danger?"

Lightning Lenny looked at the Wocky thoughtfully and said, "If she hasn't... affected... infected... you yet, then you may be alright. Maybe that's the key; maybe you can't be infected. As for the rest of us, however... well, Fyora help us all."

"But what?"

"I don't have time to explain," Lightning Lenny said briskly, then approached a pedestal and grabbed the book that was displayed there. Flipping to the right page, he thrust the book toward Sunar and said, "Read this and remember what I said: don't... leave."

Sunar watched as the Lenny left with the lightning speed that gave him his name and then looked down at the book. The chapter heading was "Meuka's Revenge"...

"A young red Meerca filled with glee,
Walked alone one fateful day,
He saw and odd crater by the ol' tree,
Which lead him off the path -- astray.

Cries for help were to no avail,
Slowly encased in his own snot,
He became more and more frail...
He thought he might be left to rot.

But a glimmer of hope came soon,
A few Neopians followed behind.
When they saw him -- snot-covered an' strewn.
Eyes filled with scorn and help was declined.

Green glowing eyes,
Mucus -- not fur,
Now seeks to gather allies,
His revenge -- ready to incur."

The words sent a chill down Sunar's spine -- one he wouldn't have felt had this been a regular medical book.

The Defenders can handle this, right? Sunar thought, becoming a bit worried. He had seen them beat Meuka time and time again in his comics, but this book gave him an uncanny feeling. This time Meuka had something big planned -- something that could destroy Neopia.

Sunar re-read the poem in his head, hoping to find something that alluded to a cure, stopping on the last part: "Now seeks to gain allies, His revenge -- ready to incur..."

The dots suddenly connected in Sunar's mind. Trisha had been infected as one of the "allies."

Fear filled Sunar's mind. Is the disease contagious?! Will I be infected as well?!?

Suddenly Sunar let out a large, mucus-filled sneeze...

It was just a regular sneeze.

Sunar heaved a big sigh and scolded himself for letting his imagination run wild with him.

Vaguely, he wondered what Judge Hog and Lightning Lenny were up to. Did this mean other Neopets were the victims of snot inducing craters as well? Also, where was Meuka? Not to mention the ambiguous voice earlier...

"Sunar," Trisha said, startling the Wocky.

Sunar spun around. Trisha, quiet up until this point, was now standing before him, her eyes glowing green and a smile touching her lips, one that did not quite radiate the same warmth Sunar loved so much about his friend.

"Trisha! You're... you're okay?" Sunar asked hesitantly, taking note of the snot matted in Trisha's fur that seemed to pulse slightly, enveloping her body.

"Oh yes," she said quietly. "I feel fine. In fact, never better." She flexed her paw appreciatively and made a move toward the door.

"Wait!" he said. "We aren't supposed to leave, Trisha. Lightning said--"

Before Sunar could finish, however, Trisha had raised her paw and shot a large ball of snot toward him...

Moaning slightly -- that snot had packed a wallop! -- the Wocky sat up and grimaced. Not only had it hurt, but it was gross, too. Wiping himself off as best he could, he stood up, his mind racing. Upon reflection, he didn’t know much about the situation, but mentally he ticked off what he did know as best he could.

First, Meuka was behind it and was recruiting allies.

Second, Meuka had infected Trisha.

Third, the Defenders were frightened of the situation.

The last point made him pause. Yes, they'd definitely been frightened. Judge Hog had been beyond serious, and Lightning Lenny had been practically jittery. He groaned again. They were frightened... and he had let Trisha get away. How much worse had he just made things?

Momentarily, he was gripped by despair as the severity of the situation struck him. Even his heroes were frightened, and he'd been so busy acting star-struck that he'd inadvertently made a bad situation worse. He paced the hall of the deserted headquarters, trying not to see what he was surrounded by -- the portraits of his heroes in action. The ones they’d saved. He had been so excited to be here, but in his excitement he’d been blind to the danger -- even after both Judge Hog and Lightning Lenny had warned him. He'd even read the book and the passage about Meuka and not understood how serious things were until Trisha trashed him and walked out the door.

And there wasn't anything he could do about it. He didn't have super strength and he couldn't fly. HE wasn't stretchy, he didn't have x-ray vision. He obviously wasn't extraordinarily clever.

Maybe I should just leave hero work to the heroes, he thought, sighing, and slumped down to the ground, his head in his hands. Oh Trisha... I failed you, too. I failed my heroes, and I failed my friend.

But even as he thought that, he stiffened. Trisha was his friend. His friend! Jumping up, he ran to the book he'd discarded, the very same one Lightning Lenny had given to him, and he flipped open to the passage on Meuka. Reading past the prose he re-read the bits he'd only scanned earlier when he'd read the poem. As he read, he grew more and more excited.

Maybe he didn't have super powers or super knowledge, but he had something his heroes didn't and couldn’t have -- knowledge of his friend. Trisha was still in there, he knew it -- and he knew how to save her. Holding tight to the book, he raced out the door and followed the trail of slime his friend had left behind. Fortunately, it wasn't hard... the trail was glowing green in the darkness.

When he finally found his friend, however, he paused and swallowed hard, because she wasn't alone...

Gagging, Sunar gripped the book tightly and stepped forward. Trisha growled something to the other two Neopets; they then nodded and ran off, probably to infect other innocent Neopets. The snot-covered Acara drew closer to Sunar with a menacing glare, her eyes glowing an acidic green that seemed to burn holes through Sunar.

Still, Sunar stood his ground and looked back at Trisha, waiting for her to make a move. She snarled, showing her goo-encrusted teeth, and hissed, "You fool. This will all be over soon... very soon, and after I take care of you--"

In the middle of her sentence, Trisha lunged out at Sunar who closed his eyes and stayed completely still. He could feel the mucus blast hit his bare skin, and Sunar fell to his knees, the force of the attack too strong.

Trisha cackled, delight painting her face. She came closer, paw already extended for another attack, but this time Sunar went on the offensive. He quickly stood up, pain screaming in his legs, and ran forward to hug Trisha.

The Acara froze, not expecting the sudden turn of events, and silence lay between the two friends. A few moments passed before Trisha realized what had happened and struggled to free herself from Sunar's hug. The Wocky held on tight, however, determined to rid his friend of the curse.

"T-Trisha, you're my best friend," Sunar started, his voice shaking a bit as he scraped every bit of his heart for the confidence he so desperately needed. "And I know that you're not this monster that you've turned into."

His words elicited no response from the Acara, so Sunar hurried on. "When I first saw Judge Hog, I'm sorry that I ignored you because I got so excited. You're truly one of the most important Neopets to me. Please, please come back..."

Sunar shut his eyes tight, hoping with all his heart and mind. His eyes popped open when he heard an immense cracking, and he stepped back in surprise as the snot around Trisha began to harden and fall apart. As the green layers fell away, Sunar's grin grew wider as his friend came back to him.

A look of confusion clouded her face as she stepped forward and gasped, "W-What happened? I-I remember bits and pieces of things, but..." Her voice trailed off before she continued. "You saved me, didn't you? Thank you!"

She wrapped her arms around Sunar and gave him a big hug, and the two friends embraced in happiness. However, Sunar knew that this moment of friendship could not last forever, so he drew back.

"Trisha, I'll need your h--"

His words were cut off by a threatening rumble behind him. The Wocky quickly whipped around, the book acting as his shield.

The Shoyru and the other unidentifiable Neopet from before were back with two more allies. The four of them slid closer to the two friends. Sunar stepped in front of Trisha, determined to not let her suffer the same fate as before, but a large shadow suddenly fell over the group.

Turning around, Sunar's face broke into a grin as he saw Judge Hog and Lightning Lenny standing side by side. The two superheroes quickly ran forward and mimicked Sunar by giving big hugs to each of the snot-covered Neopets. After a few moments, all of the infected Neopets' shells had begun to harden and break apart, just the way that Trisha's had.

Sunar and Judge Hog shared a smile as the crime-fighter dusted off his uniform. Without a word, they knew it was over.

Later on, the Acara and Wocky sat excitedly in a pristine room with a large, round table that was placed in the center of the room. Around its circumference were the Defenders of Neopia, including Judge Hog and Lightning Lenny, each now seeming a bit more relaxed than before.

Judge Hog stood up, his large frame exuding a commanding presence throughout the room and hushing all side conversation.

"Young man, we are pleased to say that Meuka's revenge did not come to fruition because of your brave deed. We managed to contain the situation before too many innocent Neopets were infected. Tell me, how did you know that a simple hug would fix the problems?"

Before Sunar could explain, Lightning Lenny cut in. "Yeah, we saw you give your friend there a hug, so we thought we'd do the same. And it worked!"

The Wocky, barely managing to contain his excitement from seeing so many of his superheroes, began to answer. In one breath, he blurted out, "Well, that book about Meuka's revenge mentioned how the infected Neopets were scorned, and nobody bothered to help them. After thinking for a while, I figured that the best solution is to do the opposite and show them kindness, which is what I did and--"

Aisheena, another Defender, smiled and stopped him with a simple, "Thank you, Sunar." The Wocky, realizing that he hadn't breathed for several seconds, stopped and gave his lungs a break.

Judge Hog came around to Sunar's seat and placed his hoof on Sunar's shoulder, just like when they had first met. However, Sunar could feel that this one contained much more approval, and the Wocky's face glowed as Judge Hog began to speak.

"Sunar, your actions today have proven to be the most courageous out of any of ours. None of us could have done what you did, out of fear of being infected. Although you may not have any superpowers, as you told us before coming here, your bravery makes up for all of that. We sincerely thank you for teaching us all what it means to overcome fear."

Sunar, unable to contain his emotions any longer, jumped up from his seat with a whoop. The Judge chuckled at Sunar's enthusiasm and continued. "As a reward for being the hero that prevented a terrible catastrophe, I grant you the right to be able to visit us at our headquarters at any time, and to come out on patrol with us every once in a while."

The young Wocky felt small tears forming at the edges of his eyes as he realized how good it felt to have his role model compliment him. He looked down at Trisha, who smiled at him and said, "Hey, Sunar. I think I finally understand why you're so crazy over the Defenders."

Joyous laughter filled the room.

The End