If you keep up with the news in Neopia, you must have seen the PetPet
Puddle. (It's one of the coolest things ever to happen to Neopia!) Have
you wondered how we Neopians found out about this magical puddle? Well, here's
the story:
Crista was a spotted Kougra. She'd been a green Kougra for most of her life,
but the Lab Ray had recently turned her Spotted, and she absolutely hated the
look. So she'd bought a Green Paint Brush and was on her way to the Rainbow
Pool.
Sally, a red Koi and Crista's best friend, was hopping along next to her. Sally
was pretty experienced at 'walking' on land, but it wasn't easy considering
she had no legs, so she'd saved for a Faerie Paint Brush and couldn't wait to
get her wings.
"Really, Crista," Sally protested, "you look good in spots."
"I do not," Crista protested around the brush in her mouth. "Spots are ugly."
Sally sighed. Then she brightened and chirped cheerily, "I can't believe I
get to be Faerie! I can't wait to have wings!"
"I can't wait to be GREEN again," replied Crista dryly.
"You're such a pessimist," Sally grumbled. "You complain about spots, you complain
about book prices. Next I'll hear you complaining about Skweek." Skweek was
Crista's PetPet, a cute Nuranna who followed her everywhere. He was behind Sally
and Crista as they crossed the path into the center of the Neopian Marketplace.
"Skweek? Are you kidding?" protested Crista, shifting the paint brush in her
jaws. "He's too cute to complain about."
"See? You're complaining already."
Crista laughed, then yelped as a Kadoatie dashed between her paws. Seconds
later a Puppyblew tore after it, barking its huge head off. As Crista staggered
to regain her balance, a dollop of paint fell from the end of her Paint Brush
and landed in a puddle.
The water turned solid green.
"Yow," said Sally. "Keep that up and you won't have enough to paint yourself."
Just then the Kadoatie, having circled the Rainbow Pool, came running back
towards Crista, Sally, and Skweek. It splashed through the puddle with the green
paint in it.
Crista blinked. "Is that Kadoatie...did it just turn...?"
The Puppyblew raced past in hot pursuit, and Crista realised her eyes weren't
playing tricks on her. "Those PetPets just turned green!" she yelped, dropping
her Paint Brush. "Get them!" She took off after the newly coloured PetPets.
Sally started to follow, then realised she wasn't fast enough to catch up to
the racing PetPets. So she continued on to the Rainbow Pool, dipped her Faerie
Paint Brush in the water, and watched as the paint filled the pool with vivid
colour.
Crista pounced on the green Puppyblew, but realised with a sinking sensation
that she'd never catch up to the Kadoatie. She groaned, watching it dash away...then
her eyes popped as a Faerie Koi, baby blue with pink and blue finny wings, soared
over her to catch the green Kadoatie.
Sally scooped the PetPet up in her light blue arms and flew back to Crista.
"Here you go. Ready to be painted now? Then we can see how much these PetPets
are worth."
As they returned to the Rainbow Pool, they passed the puddle. It was transparent
water again, but there was now a green fish swimming in it.
"Skweek?" asked Crista. The green Nuranna looked up at the sound of his name.
"So that one dollop of paint was enough for three PetPets," Crista mused as
she picked up the Green Paint Brush. She was quiet, lost in thought, as they
got in the short line for the Rainbow Pool. Quickly she had reached the front
of the line.
"Which paint brush do you want to use?" asked the Stars Uni who manages the
Pool.
"Green," Crista replied.
"You? Green? But the spotted look suits you."
"It does not. Spots look bad. Can I go to the pool now?"
"Let me see the brush first."
Crista held up the brush and the Uni inspected it. "Oh my," she said. "Oh me
oh my, I can't let you use this."
"What?" demanded Crista. "Why not?" asked Sally.
"It doesn't have enough paint. If you try to paint yourself with this, you'll
end up a hideous shade of greenish over spots, possibly crashing the system
and certainly giving me a lot of work cleaning up the Pool. I'd talk to the
shop owner who sold you this."
"What's the hold up?" yelled a Scorchio from the back of the line.
"You'd better go now. You're holding up the line," the Stars Uni said, shooing
them off.
***
"Forget about your colour," Sally said as they left. "We need to figure out
what to do with these strange new painted PetPets."
"That puddle seems to be like a miniature Rainbow Pool if you use the right
paint," Crista explained. "If we can make small Paint Brushes with just enough
paint to change only one PetPet's colour, we'll be rich. Where can we find small
brushes?"
Sally thought about that. "How about a Learn-to-paint Set?"
"That's perfect!" Crista shouted. "They come with two brushes, right? So a
dozen Learn-to-paint Sets, plus one Green Paint Brush, equals a dozen Green
PetPet Paint Brushes!"
"Unless, of course, those pets were just freaks of chance," Sally remarked.
"Good point. Let's try Dr. Petrov's PetPet book, and if there's no help in
it we can ask him."
PetPet colours weren't noted in the book, so Sally and Crista took a scenic
train ride to the Haunted Woods carrying Skweek, the green Kadoatie, and the
green Puppyblew. But when they entered the Spooky PetPets Shop, they received
quite a shock: Instead of the familiar scary green chap, there was a Halloween
Cybunny standing at the register.
"Excuse me, miss, but where's Dr. Petrov?" asked Crista.
"Petrov?" repeated the Cybunny in a Transylvanian accent. "Petrov has gone.
Where, I cannot say."
"Oh. Thank you." The girls left. "Now what?" asked Crista.
"I don't know."
"Let's do some tests."
***
Miamice, Kadoaties, Puppyblews, Nuranna, Snorkles, and Unioctos all could be
changed to green and blue. Crista figured that was enough to start with. To
advertise the paintable PetPets, she called up Lanchon, the yellow Kougra who
runs the Rock Pool PetPet shop and Crista's boyfriend. The conversation went
something like this?
"Hi, Rock Pool PetPets, how can I help you?"
"Hi Lanchon! It's me."
"Oh, hi Crista! What's up?"
"PetPets are paintable!"
"Say what?"
"You can paint PetPets. I've figured out how. A bit of paint from a normal
magical Paint Brush will change lots of pets' colours if you use the Rainbow
Puddle. That's what Sally and I call the puddle near the Rainbow Pool."
"Wait wait wait, back up. You found this puddle near the Rainbow Pool."
"Yes."
"And if you use paint from a normal Paint Brush, it'll paint PetPets."
"Yes."
"All of them?"
"Not too many that we've found so far. But they come in at least green and
blue."
"Wow."
"Yeah. So we'd like to use the Rock Pool for advertising. I've made some PetPet
Paint Brushes, which will probably sell for a ton once we've marketed them properly."
"Sounds great! You wanna come over and put up an ad? Maybe set up a little
stall next to the Rock Pool?"
"O-" Crista stopped. She was still Spotted. What would Lanchon think of her
looks? "Um, maybe I'll stop by later. I've got some stuff to do, PetPets to
take care of."
"Oh. Okay. Gotta go; I've got customers."
"Okay!" Crista hung up. "That was close."
"What was close?" asked Sally, coming in with a blue Snorkle.
"I don't want Lanchon to see me like this! I mean, I've got spots!"
"But you look good in spots!"
"I don't. And that's a fact. So stop telling me I do. Anyway," Crista abruptly
switched the subject, "how are the PetPet Paint Brushes going?"
"Oh, fine, just fine. I've got a few hundred done by now."
"Can you take them to the Rock Pool? Set up a shop nearby on Mystery Island,
so that Rock Pool visitors will have to pass it to reach the Rock Pool island."
"Okay. Keep an eye on the PetPets, and make sure you keep the Kadoaties and
Puppyblews separate." Sally flew off with the PetPet Paint Brushes in Blue and
Green. She dropped quite a lot on the way up there, and users began to pick
them up.
***
Through a process of trial and error, Crista got more and more PetPet paint
colours listed. She basically found a pet (like a Moink) that could be painted
green, then tried to change it back to its original colour (like pink) and see
which other pets could come in that colour.
Meanwhile, the news spread like wildfire that PetPets are paintable. The PetPet
Paint Brushes sold for tons of money, and the painted PetPets that Crista had
created sold just as much as the Rock Pool ones. But as she worked on creating
more PetPet paint brushes, she never got around to visiting the Rainbow Pool.
Of course she came nearby to use the Rainbow Puddle, as it had been dubbed,
but she didn't visit the big pool, and she stayed Spotted.
And then came the day when Sally called Crista with a bit of a crisis: "Some
PetPets are fighting and these users are yelling at me about getting Red PetPet
Paint Brushes and someone else wants to know which pets can be painted and I
need you here!" What could she do? Crista went to her shop, hoping she could
avoid meeting Lanchon.
To her dismay, Lanchon was in the shop helping with Sally's crisis. "Hi, Crista!"
he called. "Glad to see you. We could use an extra pair of paws here." But her
sharp Kougra eyes detected a hint of disappointment in his expression.
"Don't even say it," she snapped. "I know I'm spotted, I know it's ugly, I'll
turn myself green again when I get the time."
Lanchon blinked. "You're not ugly! Spots look good on you!"
"You're just humoring me. You've said you love my stripes."
"Of course I do-"
"Hey!" protested one of the customers. "Quit talking and start serving us!
I want to know if my Kadoatie can be painted pink!"
"I'll give the list to the Uni at the Rainbow Pool," Crista said. "After today,
ask her. But for now, I'll answer you. Yes. Kadoaties come in pink." She deftly
parried the questions thrust at her and quickly sorted out the mess. The shop
grew empty.
"I could never do that," remarked Lanchon. "You're so good with words, Crista.
And what I was trying to say was, your stripes were beautiful, but stripes are
ordinary. A Kougra with spots is special, so spots suit you."
Crista nodded, somewhat soothed. "But why did you look disappointed when you
saw me?" she demanded suddenly.
"Oh, well..." Lanchon looked embarrassed. "Um, actually, I bought you a Spotted
Paint Brush. For your birthday. But you really don't need it now."
Crista smiled. "So you really like my spots?"
"I really like your spots."
"Thank you, Lanchon! I'm never going to use the Lab Ray again, so I can stay
Spotted forever!" She bounded across the shop and gave him a hug and a kiss.
"I'm the luckiest pet in Neopia. I've got a great boyfriend, a wonderful best
friend, and a boatload of Neopoints!"
"No, I'm the luckiest pet in Neopia," Lanchon corrected her. "Because I know
you."
PetPets are paintable now, and Crista is discovering more colours all the time.
If you go to the PetPet
Puddle and read the list that Crista gave the Uni, you can see what
colours are available so far. If you find a PetPet Paint Brush on the floor,
save it to paint your own PetPets! I leave you with this thought: Paintable
PetPets are so so so so cool!
The End
P.S. If you're wondering what happened to Dr. Petrov, you might be interested
to know that Crista got a Neogreeting the other day. It was the one with a Kyrii
on a desert island labeled "Wish You Were Here" and the text was "Hi Crista!
I've earned so much money that I decided to retire. Now I'm relaxing on a beach
near the Lost Desert. It's been dubbed, aptly, the Lost Beach. Say hi to Lanchon
and Sally for me! Cheers, Irving Petrov." | 
