It was a cold day in the beautiful land of Neopia. The pearly white snow lay
thickly on the ground, glistening in the feeble sunlight. The trees were bare,
other than the neat rows of snow, like candy floss. The morning dew was clinging
to the branches glinting in the light.
As it was early, only the adult Neopians were around. Most of them were snuggled
up in their warm beds dreaming of glorious foods, beaches on Mystery Island
or the snowy mountains next to where the hut of the Uber Faerie lay.
Bubbles had been having a wonderful dream, when he awoke suddenly. Bubbles
was a blue Kacheek. He was very handsome and loved adventures. He was always
getting into trouble but his heart was in the right place and he showed it.
He sat up and looked at his calendar. It had been four weeks since Christmas,
His first ever Christmas and he had absolutely loved it.
Slowly, Bubbles got out of bed onto the cold floor of his bedroom. Shivering,
he put on his fluffy, blue slippers and flumped down the stairs, rubbing the
sleep from his eyes and yawning. He reached the bottom of the stairs and waddled
into the kitchen. He searched for Melanie, his owner so he could get some breakfast,
but she was not to be found. Grudgingly, he opened the fridge to make himself
breakfast. There he found some scrambled Neggs on Faerie Toast and a note:
Good morning honey,
Sorry if I worried you. I've had to go out. The Neopets staff called me.
There was an urgent meeting in the town hall, which I rushed to attend. I'll
be back around lunchtime.
Love,
Mel
xxxx
Bubbles scrunched up the letter and sat down to his meal. He went to get dressed
to slowly pass the time away.
Melanie arrived home a little earlier than expected. She has a mysterious
grin across her face.
"All right there Bubbles?" she asked perkily.
"Yes, I'm OK Mel," replied Bubbles.
"Do you want a Cup of Hot Borovan?" asked Melanie.
"Only if you're having one. Shall I get the water from the wishing well?"
added Bubbles when Melanie had nodded.
Bubbles grabbed his huge, fluffy bobble hat that immediately fell straight
over his eyes, his gloves and his long, black, warm, winter coat. Melanie passed
him the bucket and he stepped out of the front door.
"I won't be long!" called Bubbles as he slowly begun to trudge through the
snow, his knees knocking with the coldness.
He walked past the shops of Neopia, where many Neopians were now up and the
workers were busy making chocolate and hot-dogs or selling books and toys. He
walked past the soup kitchen waiting for the smell of the fresh soup to come
drifting out of the window…. As he approached, he realised there was a note
on the door:
CLOSED - NEOPETS BUSINESS - DISCUSSED AT MEETING. BACK AT AROUND 3:00 NST
Bubbles was intrigued. Something weird was going on. He put his curiosity aside
and carried on on his journey. It was bitterly cold and he wondered if it would
be OK to spend his pocket money on some hot food. He decided to go to the Wishing
well first. When he got there, there was an awful smell. He looked around and
saw a filthy Neopian. She was an old Usul and had probably aged a lot because
of not eating, for it was clear that she had not eaten for days, weeks even.
As he approached her, she turned to him and said, "Hello. You don't have any
money do you? I'm sorry to be rude but I haven't eaten for days," she said in
a beautiful, high voice.
Bubbles put his hand in his pocket and withdrew his money. He really wanted
a hot-dog to warm himself up, but she needed the money more than he did. He
forced the money into her grubby paw and smiled. She smiled back at him and
said, "Kindness will be returned." Bubbles looked confused and stared at her
but she simply sat on he floor staring at her money. Bubbles hastily filled
his bucket with water from the well and ran home as fast as his little legs
could carry him.
When he got back to his NeoHome on Cosy-pet Approach, there was huge sign waiting
for him. It was bright pink and was hung across four NeoHome. It said "Neopian
Relay. Apply within!" He walked into his house and dropped the bucket leaving
the water to soak into the thick carpet, and shouted out, "Melanie?" She walked
out from the shop at the front of the house and grinned at him.
"You want to enter then?"
"Well what do I do," he replied, puzzled.
"Basically we both enter and we run around the Poogle racetrack. You
run, then I run and then you have to do the final lap. The winner gets a strawberry
paint brush."
Bubbles face lit up. He had always wanted one of those.
"Where do I sign? he asked, grinning from ear to ear. Melanie disappeared
into the kitchen and came out a minute later with the entry form. Bubbles wrote
his name in his new curly signature and passed it to Melanie to write her name
down.
"So was this what the meeting was about?" he asked inquisitively. She nodded
but not everything seemed to match up. He knew he wouldn't get a better answer
out of her so he raced up the stairs to listen to Chomby and the Fungus Balls,
his favourite rock group.
***
The day of the race came slowly. Bubbles was really excited. This just made
the days crawl by even slower. Finally the day arrived. He looked up at his
calendar to make sure he wasn't imagining it and was relieved to see it say,
"THE RACE." He hurried to get dressed as fast as he could and ran
downstairs. Melanie had cooked him a purple Negg because they were rumoured
to make you run faster, but Bubbles was too excited to eat.
Together, Melanie and Bubbles walked to the race track. Melanie went off to
sign them in.
"Well, well ,well. I didn't know they allowed pieces of Sludge in this race,"
snarled a curling voice behind Bubbles. He spun around. It was his mortal enemy
Godric Formal and his butler Gerald. Everyone knew they were the biggest snobs
in town. Every member of the Formal family had an Ultimate Riches account at
the National Neopian bank, or so Bubbles had heard.
"Lupe got your tongue Bubble boy?" he asked threateningly.
"You wouldn't be so cocky without your little butler would you?" Bubbles replied
nervously.
"TAKE THAT BACK!" There was a silence. "OK, I challenge you. Whoever wins
this race gets you… I mean the opponent, as a slave for the day and 1500 NP,"
said Godric spitefully. Bubbles didn't have that much money. He stalked off
leaving Godric and Gerald making chicken noises behind him.
A fanfare boomed through the stadium and the crowd cheered, "PLACES PLEASE!
Three." Bubbles crouched down low. "Two." Bubbles raised his back leg.
"One." A rainbow gun fired shooting flashes of red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo and violet. Bubbles ran his little heart out. He was in the lead.
The crowd roared and banners of," Bubbles, the Shooting Star!" could be seen
out of the corner of his eye. He ran all the way around the track and then it
was Melanie's turn. She smiled as she ran around the track. She was getting
further and further ahead of the opponents and before Bubbles knew what was
happening, it was his turn again. It was up to him to win. He took off around
the track, running so fast his legs hurt, but he could see someone coming up
the side. It was Godric.
They were neck and neck. Bubbles would get in front but would quickly fall
behind again. As they took their final steps a whistle blew. Godric had reached
the finish line first. Godric ran up to the judges and grabbed the trophy, shouting.
Bubbles felt a lot of sweat running down the fur on his face. Well most of it
was sweat. He felt the odd tear running down his button nose and past his sad
mouth. He dawdled on the way home and Melanie knew he was upset. He went to
bed early that night to try and forget about it but it was hard.
He woke up early the next morning. He had not been able to sleep until 10:00
NST. One of the first things he did was go downstairs for some breakfast because
he had not eaten a thing the whole of yesterday. But as usual, Melanie was not
there. She had left an Orange Chocolate Jubjub for him and a note.
Hello Bubs,
Read The Neopian Times and the note. It was on the front door step.
Mel
xxxx
He tore open the note. It said:
"Kindness will be returned. Meet me at the soup kitchen."
He was so curious he ran to the Soup Kitchen in less than a minute, forgetting
even to get dressed. Many NeoPets stared at him. When he reached the Soup Kitchen,
the Usul was waiting for him. She gave him a parcel. He tore the paper off and
saw a gleaming Strawberry Fields Forever Paint brush. His eyes shone but he
looked puzzled.
"How?"
She put her finger to her lips. She took it away and whispered, "Properantus
Formatus." In a blinding flash, she became a stunningly beautiful faerie.
"You deserved to win that race. You have a heart of gold. I know you
were freezing cold and I tested you." And with that she faded away.
Bubbles remembered that he was meant to go and read the paper. He walked to
the bookshop holding the paint brush to his chest. He peered through the window
to see the paper. The front page said, "Formal snubbed by snobs."
He read on, "Relay winner, Godric Formal has been forced to live in Cockroach
towers after his 500,000,000 NP mansion was mysteriously filled with Sludge.
A bright creature was spotted flying away. When questioned Godric said, "I
guess it was that stupid, dirty Usul She looked like a witch. She was so poor.
She actually wanted some of my gourmet food. She wanted a bite of MY food. I
laughed in her face. The cheek of it. I will not be living here for long. At
this point the young NeoPet began to cry as he told the reporter that his prize
from the relay, a strawberry paint brush, had been stolen by the Pant Devil.
The Pant Devil will be later questioned in court."
Suddenly it all made sense.
The End
Author's note: Kindness will always find its way back. Thank you all very much
for the support on the last two stories. More stories are to come but I would
love to know your opinions on this one. | 
