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Untitled Document
Inside the closet, 00 Hog was watching the scene from
a tiny hole in the wood. Penny opened the door, as asked, and a group of skunk
Myncis barged into the house. "We are here to ask questions about the cooking
pot incident yesterday.
"I thought there was just one of you..."
"I'm Freddy and these guys are... umm...they
are just rookies. They will just watch and learn. I was sent by 00 Hog because
he was sick today and couldn't come."
"Sure I was," Hog muttered loudly, but then
covered his mouth quickly. One of the Myncis heard something and looked around.
"Oh," said Penny, trying to look surprised.
"Anyone else here with you?"
"Pardon?"
"You know... is there anyone else here besides
you?"
"Oh yeah, there's a guy in the closet, but don't
mind him," Hog joked to himself in a whisper.
"Closet, you say?" asked the Mynci.
"Closet? What closet?" asked Penny, trying to
fix the situation to no avail; a Mynci was walking over to the closet.
00 Hog covered his mouth once more but he was
too late. He grabbed his sparkshooter out of his pocket and got it ready, pointing
at the closet door that was about to open.
The unfortunate skunk Mynci swung open the closet
door and Hog's sparkshooter went ZAP! The Mynci fell to the ground. Hog ran
out of the closet, grabbed Penny and dove behind one of her sofas. The other
Myncis drew out their rainbow guns and started firing at the two targets.
Behind the couch, 00 Hog put his hand in his
pocket and came out with a couple of gold 00 Hog battlecards. "Good enough!"
he said. He grabbed Penny again and ran with her out the front door. He threw
his cards at the Myncis; they all got one each and fell backwards. One Mynci
shot a shot with his rainbow gun at 00 Hog. The shot skinned him, but touched
him enough to make a scratch.
***
Hog entered the building where he worked for the second time that day, but
this time, he had Penny with him, and he had a tear in his jacket where the
rainbow gun got him. Agents knew that something amazing had happened to Hog
so they all rushed to see their comrade and to hear his story. Jasper cut to
the front of the crowd with a worried face.
"What happened to you, Agent 00 Hog?" he asked
worriedly.
"Ask someone to take Penny somewhere to stay.
She's the witness and I'm afraid she can't go back to her house right now. It's
too dangerous." Hog pointed to Penny.
"Alright. Vicious?" A Lupe in uniform reported
to Jasper and he took Penny away. "Anyway, what happened to you?"
"I'm OK now, and it is a long story." Hog started
to tell his story but stopped halfway, "I'm tired. I'm going home. I'll call
you when I get there and I promise I'll tell you all about it."
"Alright then. Go home." Jasper smiled.
***
When 00 Hog got home, he took off his tie and all the rest of his clothes.
He climbed into bed, ready to put his mind at ease when he remembered that he
had promised to call Jasper. He can wait till tomorrow, thought Hog,
It's not like he's my mother or anything.
***
The group of skunk Myncis that had gone to the witness' house came in all
together into the secret lair of Mooki the spotted Koi.
"What the heck happened to you guys?" asked
Mooki impatiently.
"00 Hog attacked us."
"This is incredible! You people were like what?
Ten? And one Moehog attacked you?!"
"I managed to get a shot at him, sir..." a Mynci
said.
"A shot?! One shot?! What weapons did you use?"
"A rainbow gun. We told you that you should
get us better weapons," said another Mynci.
"You're right," Mooki responded calmly, "you
are all dismissed! Except for you. Come here." A Mynci went over to Mooki.
"Go buy some better weapons for you guys to
use." Mooki handed some NP to the Mynci.
"Thanks, sir!" The Mynci started on his way
when Mooki called after him.
"Can you also pick up a scratchcard for me on
the way back?"
***
The next morning, Agent 00 Hog entered the department fresh and ready to start
a new day. Jasper walked up to him in cranky mood.
"You didn't tell me what happened yesterday,
like you were supposed to!"
"Alright already! I'll tell you the whole story
over a nice cup of coffee and marshmallows."
Hog and Jasper ordered two cups of coffee and
marshmallows and Hog told Jasper the rest of his story. Just as Hog was finished
reciting his tale and they were sipping the last drops of their drinks, the
front door burst open.
The tall muscular Moehog stepped into the building.
He was wearing yellow spandex. It could only be Judge Hog. 00 Hog saw him and
knew who he was. 00 Hog covered his head with an issue of The Neopian Times
he was pretending to read, hoping that Judge Hog wouldn't see him. Oh great!
Hog thought. Judge Hog was walking towards them.
Jasper waved to Judge Hog. "Welcome to the department!
This is the agent I was telling you about!" Jasper motioned to 00 Hog, who was
still hopelessly pretending to read The Neopian Times. "You may have heard of
him, he is Agent 00 Hog." Judge Hog's face went blank. He opened his mouth to
say something but shut it. The two Moehogs' heads were flooding with ancient
memories.
"N… N… Nice to meet you, Mr. 00 Hog," Judge
Hog stuttered.
00 Hog looked up at the tall Moehog and his
eyes looked deep into those of Judge Hog's. "Nice to meet you too," Hog said
and then muttered, "My, how you've grown!"
"Pardon?" asked Judge Hog.
"I believe that this is the first time you've
met…right?" asked a confused Jasper.
"Yes, yes. Never met before," 00 Hog lied slowly.
"Well, he is here to go with you on your next
mission."
"What do you mean?" asked 00 Hog.
"After your unfortunate meeting with the skunk
Myncis yesterday, we decided to give you a partner to keep you safer."
"Safe?! All I got yesterday was a scratch which
is already healing! I work alone, Jasper!" Hog said the last part through clenched
teeth.
Judge Hog was watching the whole conversation.
He laughed to himself and thought, same old stubbornness.
Jasper and Hog were looking at each other and
were silent. Then Jasper said, "You WILL go along with Judge Hog and you WILL
be kept safe! We can't afford to lose an agent like you."
Hog smiled warmly and chuckled. "Alright, alright.
No need to get worked up about it."
Jasper's small walkie-talkie gave some static
and then a voice called for him. He picked it up and asked, "What is it?"
"Something has happened at the Hidden Tower
in Faerieland! Send some of your men over right now!"
Jasper lifted his head up to find that 00 Hog
had already started to the entrance to go to Faerieland. Judge Hog was still
standing there.
"Go along with him," Jasper told Judge Hog.
Judge Hog nodded and ran after 00 Hog.
***
Hog jumped into his flying vehicle that would take him straight to Faerieland.
Judge Hog jumped into the passenger seat right before it started to go.
"It's nice to see you again, Hog."
00 Hog didn't answer right away but looked at
Judge Hog and smiled. Tears were starting on his face and his voice was cracking
up a bit when he said, "Yeah. You know, I always thought you were the best cousin
in the world." Then 00 Hog burst into tears and he gave a really strong hug
to Judge Hog.
"Destination reached," declared the computer
inside the speedy vehicle. 00 Hog and Judge Hog both ignored the computer.
Judge Hog hugged 00 Hog back and said, "It has
been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were only twelve years old -
when my Dad and your Mom died," tears began to trickle down Judge Hog's face,
"And now look at you! You are a famous secret agent!"
"And you! You…you are a super hero kind of guy
wearing spandex!" said 00 Hog and they both started laughing.
"Destination reached," the computer repeated.
Hog and Judge Hog got out of the vehicle to
find a whole bunch of Faeries standing there, crying tears of joy. Even Jhudora
was there and she was trying to keep herself from crying. All of them had heard
the conversation. Hog was embarrassed and started blushing but he played along
and put his arm around his cousin. All the faeries clapped.
Fyora, the Faerie queen cut to the front of
the crowd. "Follow me," she told them. She turned on her heels and walked swiftly
towards the hidden tower, her robe wrapping around her legs in the cool Faerieland
breeze.
When they reached the hidden tower, they followed
the Faerie Queen right into it. She led them into a beautiful living room with
the most comfortable sofas you could have ever sat on. "So, you would like to
hear what I have to tell you, I presume?" the Faerie Queen asked.
"Yes, your highness Fyora, please tell us,"
answered 00 Hog.
"By Shankly! These sofas are amazingly comfortable!"
Judge Hog exclaimed loudly.
Fyora looked at Judge Hog and raised an eyebrow.
00 Hog looked at his partner and made a threatening face. Then the Faerie queen
laughed. "Yes...people have the tendency to do that whenever they sit down here.
I made the sofas myself."
"Ah..."
"Anyway, this is my story. I was fixing up the
hidden tower items for sale, right before going to sleep. Then, the stained
glass window broke open and about a dozen skunk Myncis barged in and started
grabbing all the items. Of course, I got all of them before they could leave
- they are in the dungeon."
00 Hog jumped up. "Take us to them right away!
Maybe we can get some information out of them!"
Fyora got up gently, turned, and motioned for
the two partners to follow her. "Very well then, follow me."
Agent 00 Hog and Judge Hog were led into a small
circular room with padded sides. They realized it was a kind of elevator because
the door on the other side of the small tube opened to a hallway with stone
walls and floors.
They followed the Faerie Queen down the corridor.
"What in all of Neopia is your problem?!" 00 Hog whispered quite loudly to Judge
Hog.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!
I'm talking about you and your sofa obsession! Are you still like that?"
When they were young kids, they sometimes went
to buy food for dinner. Young Judge Hog always used to go inside the furniture
store and try out all the sofas. 00 Hog remembered it as if it were yesterday.
His cousin used to say, "A sofa is a need in life… everybody must have a sofa.
A day without your sofa, is like a day without eating!"
"What sofa obsession?"
"The sofa obsession!"
"It's not an obsession!"
"It is too! This was you 'Oh its sooooo comfortable!
Did you feel this sofa? It's so soft!'"
"You're exaggerating! I said 'Holy Kau…"
Their argument was interrupted by Fyora's voice.
"Here we are boys!" She reached for a wheel on the door. Not really a regular
door but a door of a vault. She spun and turned the wheel in a way too fast
for a mind to record, and pushed it open.
To be continued...
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