"Which - puff- way?" gasped Remus.
"I-puff puff- don't, know!"
"I do!" called Bob who was running after them. "Hurry, run southeast to my
cave! The Brain Tree's after us!"
Remus was stunned. "The Brain Tree can run?"
"How do you think he gets to the Battledome, noodle brain?" asked Bob.
"Come on!" Remus was going to ask how Alloran had acquired a cave but--"He's
behind you!!" yelled Petra.
ZRRACCKKK!! A bolt of lightning shot out and hit Punchbag Bob.
"OOOUUUUUCCCHHHH!!!" yelled Bob, "I hate being a Punchbag!!"
Luckily the bolt only made him lose 200 hp. Not much for a Punchbag.
Remus gasped and looked at Petra. "It really is Punchbag Bob!!"
"Run!!" yelled Petra as the Brain Tree turned to fire a bolt at them.
Petra, Bob and Remus began a mad dash to Punchbag Bob's cave. Luckily for them
it was fairly hard for the Brain Tree to run through the thick forest, so they
managed to get quite far ahead of him.
"I think we've lost him!" gasped Remus, looking back.
"Don't stop running," yelled Bob, "he'll be here soon enough!!"
They finally made it to Punchbag Bob's cave.
"Quick! Inside!" said Bob.
After Remus and Petra ran in he proceed to push a large boulder over the entrance
of his cave. A secret door he used for protection. But, it was too late, for
at that moment the Brain Tree came crashing through the forest and fired 100
of its razor leaves at him.
"YEOW OW OW OW OW OW!!" screamed Bob.
"That's for messing with me, you sack of stuffing! It's an insult to have
you try and do any damage to me! My reputation will have gone down once the
ghost whisper hears this!!"
With that the Brain Tree aimed more lightning bolts at Bob. Bob started to
feel dazed, out of the corner of his button eye though he noticed a strange
light shining out of the forest, he then thought he saw another… Punchbag? He
blinked. Suddenly out of the light a HUGE bolt of lightning hit him.
"I HATE BEING A PUNCHBAG!" Bob yelled once more before he blacked out.
A week later at the Neopian Hospital…
Punchbag Bob blinked and opened his eyes then shut them, blinded by the brightness
of the place he was in. Where was he? And what had happened? The last thing
he could remember was a large flash of white light.
"Shhh, I think he moved," he heard someone whisper. Punchbag Bob sat up and
opened his eyes wide, looking around he saw that he was in a strange room. A
very stark and white room. A hospital room. He had been lying on a bed with
blue sheets. He also noticed a pink Poogle and Blue Shoyru staring curiously
at him. Suddenly he recognised them.
"Petra!" he exclaimed. "Remus! What happened? The Brain Tree…?"
The two NeoPets grinned and ran over to hug Punchbag Bob "You're alive!" Petra
said.
Punchbag Bob was quite shocked by this sudden display of emotion. "Erm…yes.
A Punchbag can't actually die you know…"
"Really?" asked Remus.
"Shush," said Petra, "Never mind that, I'll tell you what happened. It's been
a week since Halloween. You know how the Brain Tree was beating you up?" Petra
paused. Bob winced at the memory. Strangely he felt all right now, however.
The Doctor must have done a good job. "Anyway, while we were in your cave we
looked around and saw a mirror so we took it outside and used it as a shield
against the Brain Tree. When he saw us he struck a HUGE bolt of lightning our
way but it backfired and hit him! All of his leaves went up in a puff of smoke;
he got burnt very badly. Then he ran off."
Petra grinned at Bob again. Remus hesitated, "Erm, when the bolt of lightning
hit the mirror and bounced back at him another bolt also, uh, bounced off the
other way and hit you. That's when you got knocked out. Our owner came to the
Haunted Woods looking for us and then helped us take you to the hospital."
"Ah," said Bob. He didn't quite know what to say. Why were these two NeoPets
smiling at him when he had tried to scare them off in the first place?
"Thanks for saving our lives Punchbag Bob," spoke Petra. "If you hadn't shown
us your cave we'd have been fried."
"Yeah," Remus agreed. "Also, the ghosts in the forest think it was you who
got rid of the Brain Tree! They're all talking about how Punchbag Bob beat the
Brain Tree!"
Punchbag Bob gasped and couldn't help but grin. He'd be respected in the forest
now! He hoped.
"We've, er, got a present for you." Petra blushed as she handed over a large
box. "Open it."
Punchbag Bob couldn't believe it. A present? For him?? "For me?" he asked.
No one had ever given him a present. Never. He hastily untied the ribbon and
lifted the lid off the box. He looked inside and then had to wipe a piece of
lint that was threatening to fall from his eye. How could they have known?
"We didn't know why you wanted to go trick-or-treating with us and pretend
you were a Techo, then, later we realised after going to your cave and seeing
how empty it was that you must've been really lonely in there…" Petra trailed
off for Punchbag Bob was considerably bawling his eyes out. He took the little
Ghostkerchief PetPet out of its box and hugged it close to his chest. He decided
to call it Bobby.
"T-Thank you," he stammered out. No one have ever been so nice. He wanted to
say more but couldn't.
Remus smiled, "By the way, thanks for letting us beat you up all the time--it's
really fun!"
Punchbag Bob made a silent vow to himself to let any NeoPet beat him up as
many times as they wanted to.
As Petra and Remus exited, they said, "Now you'll never be lonely again!" And,
he never was.
The End | 
