Edna the Witch waved her hand over a cauldron, trying
to make a Bubbling Potion of Jetsam Stretching. But she needed one important
ingredient: Chicken. It may have sounded silly, but Edna the Witch often needed
Chicken to make her evil concoctions.
It was Halloween, and Edna REALLY needed to finish
brewing her Potions, or else she wouldn't be able to go out with the other Neopian
baddies and celebrate. Quite recently, a Jetsam had offended her by refusing
to do one of her quests, saying it was too expensive. Edna looked forward to
seeing the look on the snobby Jetsam's face when he was STRETCHED!
Edna heard a rustle in the trees behind her.
Two figures came towards her. The witch squinted; her eyes were not as good
as they were before. When they were about a meter away from her, she saw that
it was a Red Usul and a Green Krawk.
"Welcome to my home," whispered Edna in a hoarse
voice. "I deal in magic spells and potions. Need someone to love you? Want to
give somebody spots and itches? I'm the person to talk to!"
"No," said the female Usul, "you give us Spooky
Food when we do your quests. Actually, I'm in need of Spooky Food, because to
do a Brain Tree Quest, you have to feed the Esophagor two times, and the Esophagor
likes Spooky Food..."
"How lovely," said Edna, and although she pretended
she wasn't listening properly, she was very interested in this stuff about the
Esophagor and the Brain Tree. Still, she thought, she might as well stop thinking
about that silly Tree and the Esophagor and start getting the ingredients for
her Bubbling Potion of Jetsam Stretching. "So you want to do one of my quests?"
"Yes," said the male Krawk impatiently. "We really
want to do a Brain Tree Quest, so get on with it!"
"All right, young Usul and young Krawk, listen
carefully. I want you to search in the Shop Wizard and help me get my Chicken
- you have one hour before the magic is gone. Good luck..."
***
Quite soon afterwards, the Usul, whose name was Lucy, and the Krawk, whose
name was Kwark, returned to the Witch's Tower, Kwark carrying something in his
paws.
"Here's your chicken!" said Kwark excitedly.
"Now where's our Spooky Food, Edna? Give it here!"
"Be polite," snapped Edna. "As a matter of fact,
what you are holding in your paws, Krawk, is Orange Chicken, not Chicken!"
"Orange Chicken IS Chicken, don't you even know,
you stupid witch?" cried Lucy. "Give us our Spooky Food, we did your quest!"
"Get out of here!" screeched Edna.
Lucy and Kwark did, shouting behind them, "This
quest wasn't even worth doing! Now we'll never do the Brain Tree Quest!"
"I assure you, young ones," said Edna softly,
"I will have revenge on you."
***
"Brain Tree," said Edna, "There is a young Usul and Krawk who have opposed
me by not doing my quest properly, and shouting rude things at me."
The Brain Tree narrowed its red eyes. "What do
you want?"
"I want to have revenge upon them." Edna smiled,
showing her yellowed teeth to their full extent. "It is simple. I propose I
do your Quest, and instead of giving me an item, give me revenge on those two
young ones!"
"Yes, maybe I'll even attack all good NeoPets,"
roared the Brain Tree, baring its teeth in return, an waving a branch. "Do my
quest first."
***
"We're lost," Kwark moaned. "It's all your fault, Lucy. You were screaming
at that old hag who calls herself a master at magic and potions, and we stomped
off into this stupid forest and - "
"WILL YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION??" boomed a voice.
Lucy and Kwark looked, and, right in front of them was a huge tree. Without
thinking, they knew instantly that it was the dreaded Brain Tree.
"Um..."
"All right! Adam Flotsam died a long time ago,
and I need to know where, and when, for my records. You must go and find this
information out. Return to me within 0 hours and 59 minutes, and I shall give
you a prize."
Lucy considered. "I'm quite good at my Neoschool.
Hm, ah yes, I remember! Adam Flotsam died...1930 BN in Maraqua, before the Whirlpool!"
The Brain Tree laughed. "WRONG ANSWER! Oh, I've
just realised, it's the young Usul and Krawk that old witch told me about! HAHA!"
Before Lucy and Kwark could say anything, the Brain Tree grabbed them by their
necks with a strong hand - or rather, branch. The Brain Tree had kidnapped two
young NeoPets!
***
A male blue Nimmo, named Ommin in a long orange cloak was walking along a path
when he heard a scream. He recognised the screams to be from his two younger
siblings, and roars from the Brain Tree.
"Lucy, Kwark!" he cried. But there was no answer,
and Ommin knew that he had to consult Judge Hog, the Supervisor of Defenders
of Neopia.
***
Ommin walked his owner, Jade, to the Defenders of Neopia building. "Jade,"
the blue Nimmo said in a panicky voice, "They said they wanted to go off to
do some quests to earn Neopoints for us, and I said yes, and went to look at
the Spooky Petpets! I distinctly heard them scream! It's all my fault!" He started
to sob.
"There, there, shush, Ommin," said Jade soothingly.
"It wasn't entirely your fault, dear. Come on, we're here now. Let's
go see Judge Hog."
Judge Hog put his hooves on his hips. "So, what
have we here? A sobbing Nimmo and his owner?"
Jade explained their situation: all about the
lost Lucy and Kwark, and the screams Ommin had heard. While she was speaking,
Judge Hog alternately nodded and wrote notes down on a sheet of paper.
"All right, I'll post this sign on the Defenders
notice board, I'm sure someone will solve this problem," Judge Hog assured them.
"It was the Brain Tree, you say?"
"I heard the Brain Tree say stuff," sniffed Ommin.
"Be quiet, young one. I wonder, what's the matter
with the Brain Tree?" Judge Hog looked thoughtful. "Must be a full moon or something,
or Halloween. Oh yeah, it IS Halloween!"
Just as he said those words, a tiny blue female
Kacheek walked into the D.O.N. building, reading the Notice Board. A beautiful
red ring flashed on her right paw. "I can help," she whispered to Judge Hog.
Judge Hog actually laughed. "I don't think you
can. You're just a little Kacheek! Go back to where you belong - your NeoHome!"
"I can," said the determined Kacheek, whose name
happened to be Cheeka. "I can do it, Judge Hog!"
"Let her," said Jade firmly.
"All right then, if you insist...but only Ommin
and Cheeka go, all right? Humans can be killed, and I - I, Judge Hog, can't
go because my life is, er, too precious! It's a dangerous quest!"
***
Cheeka peeped out from behind a tree, looking at the Brain Tree. As soon as
the Brain Tree saw her, he roared, "No non-Halloween pets here or DIE!" Cheeka
ran off back to Ommin, who were waiting behind another tree.
"He only lets Halloween-painted pets near him,"
whispered Cheeka. "Come on, let's make a disguise. "Picking up sticks from the
ground they stuffed it up their mouth like fangs.
"This doesn't look remotely like a Halloween
NeoPet," commented Ommin. Then he snickered. "You're only a little Kacheek,
what can you do?"
Cheeka was not offended. She just winked. "The
Brain Tree isn't that clever, you know."
They then crept out behind the tree, and the
Brain Tree boomed, "You no Halloween NeoPets - don't try to fool me!"
The female blue Kacheek looked up, laughing nervously.
"Um...didn't you hear? The NeoPets Team just announced that...er, the Halloween
Kacheek and Nimmo both got a HUGE makeover! Honest!"
The Brain Tree nodded, then laughed, if a tree
could. "I captured two little NeoPets! Edna the Witch told me to, to take revenge!"
The Tree used a branch to reach into its mouth and he revealed the unconscious
Krawk and Usul.
Ommin actually screamed, the 'fangs' falling
out of his mouth. The Brain Tree saw through their disguise, and grabbed Cheeka
and Ommin.
"If only we had some fire!" squealed Cheeka,
not very loudly, for she was in the iron grasp of the Brain Tree's branch. As
soon as she said these words, a fireball erupted from her ring and the Brain
Tree went on fire! Screaming, it let go of the four NeoPets.
Ommin hugged Kwark and Lucy, who woke up, and
Cheeka said, "Whew, that was close! I didn't even know that ring I bought at
the Grooming Parlour for 400 NP was a Cheap Fire Ring!"
The End | 
