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Have you ever heard it said that cats are curious? Well
I suppose that counts for Aishas too, being as much like a cat as we are. Even
though you aren't a cat (you could be an Aisha), I bet you were curious when you
read the Floud's description. Flouds just float around until they bump into something
interesting. (yawn) Never feed them carrots. In my opinion, if there is something
that outrageous included on a petpet's medical sheet, then there needs to be some
kind of explanation. When I was a younger Aisha, I found out that reason.
Bang! Bang! went my feet against the legs of
the kitchen table. Bang! My long Aisha ears were drooping with intense impatience.
My owner, Schynie, was getting me a surprise. I knew what it was, a petpet,
because I had listened in on a phone call that Schynie had made the night before.
My younger sister Pidoli saw me and threatened to tell, so I had to get off
before I could find out what kind. I was so excited when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it! I'll get it!" I yelled through
the house, easily beating my sister FlimCotoren to the door. "Where'd you go,
mom?" I asked innocently. I couldn't ask what she'd gotten me because that would
involve me having listened in and… let's just say I didn't want to be grounded
until I was eighteen.
"To the store," Schynie replied slyly. She dangled
a huge plastic bag in my face.
"Did you get me anything?" I asked meaningfully,
putting on my begging face.
Schynie laughed, "Why don't you come into the
kitchen and find out for yourself, Tafeii?" I bounced (yes, Aishas can bounce)
behind her and waited for her to set the bag down on the counter. "Here you
go!" Schynie opened the bag and a small pink petpet flew out slowly.
"Meep meep!" went the odd little creature. "Doi!!"
The little guy rammed into part of the kitchen cabinet. I ran over to help him.
"Tafeii, what is that?" my sarcastic sister,
the oldest, Sphronk, said while she leaned casually into the door frame.
"It's a Floud," said Schynie. "Here are his
medical papers."
"What, is he allergic to something?" Sphronk
laughed derisively. Mom gave her a sharp look.
"Flouds just float around until they bump into
something interesting," I read aloud. Since when was our kitchen cabinet interesting?
"Never feed them carrots."
FlimCotoren laughed. Pidoli was skeptical.
"Is that really what it says?" she questioned.
"Yes!" I shoved the paper into her hands and
she showed it to Sphronk and Flim. I hugged the Floud tight to my chest.
"What are you going to name him?" Schynie asked.
"Bob," I said without a thought. And Bob it
was.
Bob and I always played together after school
and on weekends, but there was always that carrots thing tingling in the back
of my mind.
One day, a really bright and sunny Saturday,
in the month of Swimming, I came home from my piano recital to see Bob flying
around the living room and Schynie cutting up organic carrots for dinner. I
got an idea. Sneakily, when my mom went to the bathroom, I snatched a few carrots,
grabbed Bob, and carried everything up to the room I shared with Pidoli.
"Out," I demanded to my Gelert kid sister who
lay on her bed listening to M*YNCI on the radio. Pidoli frowned, but carried
the boombox into the playroom.
I closed and locked the door and sat down on
my bed. I let Bob sniff the carrot, and he took a huge bite out of it.
"Flying Faerie Flotsams!" I exclaimed. Bob looked
fine at first, but in about a minute he keeled over backwards with a fleeting
meow. "Bob! Oh no, Bob!" I put my hand on my little Floud's heart and jumped
back, because my petpet's stomach was as hot as fire and his heartbeat about
100 times per second. This was one of those times when I wished for a petpet
hospital. "C'mon, Bob!" I coaxed worriedly.
Suddenly, the heat of Bob's body went down to
normal and his heart rate slowed. I watched him sit up, dazed.
"Bob! You're alive!" I was majorly relieved.
The Floud stared at me with a look more intelligent then any petpet I'd ever
seen. He opened his mouth. I was assuming I would be hearing his affectionate
meow, but no.
"Pardon me," Bob began, in an accent reminiscent
of the Lost Desert. "But my name is, has been, and always will be Randall. I
am so glad you have freed me, young Aisha!" I was terribly confused.
"Free you?! All I did was not follow the directions
on your medical sheet!"
"Sheet, shmeet! We have to free the others!"
Bob - er, Randall - began to fly towards the door, which I knew he could probably
unlock.
"Wait! Not until you explain what in Meridell
is going on here!" Randall gave me one of those glances that look like they
say "I don't have any time for you kids!" Randall flew back to my bed.
"Wouldn't you want to retrieve your body if
you'd been a dumb petpet for a decade or two?"
I gasped, "You're not a Floud, Randall?! What
are you, then?" Randall used a stubby flipper-thing thing to rub his forehead.
"Kid, you're giving me a migraine. I'm a Techo
for Fyora's sake!"
I looked my Floud up and down. "How do I - we
- change you back?"
"Kid, it's just a simple visit to my old high
school pal Steraan. I bet you know him. The batty old jitterbug that runs the
lab ray?"
I nodded. "Well, my good friend Itzibu knows
him. She uses the lab. But we don't have all the pieces yet."
"Fine, fine!" said Randall the Techo/Floud.
"Just get me out of this prison and into his lair!" I unlocked the door and
followed Randall through the house and to outside, where we began a long trek
down the sidewalk.
"Do you know your way?" I asked the burning
question.
"No," came the reply.
I groaned.
"But Steraan does!"
Before I could ponder this, a yellow Scorchio
crash-landed in a tall Heart Fruit tree in the neighbors' yard.
"Bada bada boo!" a muffled yet heroic voice
came from the tree trunk as Steraan climbed out of a large hole. " Is that you,
Randall?"
The Floud nodded quickly.
"Steraan," he asked. "Could you please fly my
new Aisha friend and I to your lab?"
"Ay," Steraan laughed. "Sure! Your lil' friend
don't have the pieces but I know you do!" The old, crotchety Scorchio had a
wheezing laugh.
The ride turned out to be a very long one, over
Faerieland and through Mystery Island... Eventually, we crashed into a murky
sea, full of Jetsams and Flotsams. Steraan waved to them as we passed.
"Blub blub blub?" I tried to ask Randall something
important. Luckily, Randall nodded. Apparently he could understand fish.
"Who turned you into a Floud" became
"Blub blubba blubity blub blub?"
And as Randall replied, even though his answer,
too, was in blub, I heard it plain as day. "Who else? Dr. Sloth! At first, his
minions were all different species of pets. Then he used transmogrification
potions to turn them all into Grundos, but he didn't have enough. When he got
to the last drop, he mixed a bunch of foul things together, creating a "Floud"
potion, enough for the rest of the pets. The Floud became a popular petpet,
since it couldn't actually do slave work for Sloth. Now they are mass-produced
by the faeries, so it's impossible to tell which Flouds are truly Flouds and
which are imprisoned pets unless you feed them carrots. That is because a baby
Grundo thought the gloppy potion was a trash can for food, so he threw in some
carrots."
By the end of Randall's tale, Steraan had landed
at his lab. He turned Randall back into a handsome yellow Techo with ease, and
flew us back to our homes. Since Randall was grown-up, he took over work at
Cockroach Towers Hotel and has lived somewhat happily ever after.
The End
Author's Note: I got a new petpet, an adorable Cirrus, but I am still trying
to convince the Faeries to take 'Never feed them carrots' off the Floud's description.
So far, I've been unsuccessful. If you would to help on my 'Free The Floud Pets'
(FTFP) campaign, please Neomail my owner, Schynie! See you!
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