Anne and Baxter

      Both Baxter and Anne had been abandoned by their owners years before. Back before Tuskaninny were popular, before Cybunnies were the pet of choice. In Neopia nowadays, the two could easily find another family. Any noob would be happy to pick a painted pet off the street. But Anne the Cloud Cybunny had put her foot down on that. If someone were going to adopt them, it wouldn’t be for what they looked like.

      Anne was glad they lived on Mystery Island. Anywhere else, Baxter might have frozen to death. As it was, Anne was a bit hot with her heavy Cybunny fur. Baxter had no idea that if they lived where Anne would have preferred to live (i.e. Terror Mountain), he would be frozen solid in less time than it took to wake the Snowager.

      Baxter jumped to his feet. “Haha! I’ve got it!”

      Anne was not as excited; when you lived with Baxter, you got comments like this regularly.

      “We’ll go to Garepitu!”

      Anne looked up in surprise. Usually he had nothing to follow up the words, Haha! I’ve got it! “What’s Garepitu?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

      “You know, Garepitu. Deserted city.” He made a fin motion that he clearly thought would explain the whole thing to her. “Garepitu,” he concluded. Realization dawned on Anne.

      “Oh. Geraptiku?” she asked. Baxter nodded happily, a goofy smile on his face. “But how will that help us?”

      Baxter screwed his face up in concentration. He stayed like this for a good five minutes, and then he shrugged his shoulders.

      Anne rolled her eyes. “You have got to be the most stupid Tuskaninny Neopia has ever seen!”

      Baxter made a sour face and looked down at his fins. “It was just an idea,” he muttered. “Take back what you said.”

      Just then, an idea came to Anne. “Baxter! You have got to be the smartest pet on all of Mystery Island!” she exclaimed delightfully.

      “Now that’s more like it!” He nodded, grinning.

      “We go to Geraptiku, find the lost treasure, and all our problems are solved!” Anne said excitedly. Baxter looked happy, too. “And,” Anne continued, “We’ll be able to buy everything we’ve ever wanted! Food, a home, maybe even petpets!”

      Baxter’s face lit up with happiness. “I could get shoes!” he said happily.

      Anne stared at him. “For your fins? Oh, why not! With all the neopoints we’d get, we could get shoes tailored by the finest shoemaker in Neopia!” Anne laughed. Not because she thought what she said was funny, but because she was laughing with happiness and relief. They would never have to look for food again! “We’ll set out tomorrow!” Anne declared.

     For Baxter, tomorrow came too soon. Anne shook him awake before the sun rose over Techo Mountain. The rest of the morning was a blur to him. He was pretty sure they had gotten lost several times, but he didn’t comment. By mid-afternoon, Anne was frustrated and Baxter was bored.

      “When are my shoes coming?” he asked impatiently. Anne looked very annoyed.

      “Wait until we get there!” she said. Baxter was not pleased.

      “Alright then, when are we going to get there?” he asked. Anne grumbled, but said nothing out loud. Baxter sulked.

      It was a few hours later that Anne admitted to herself that they were lost. She stopped at the next house. It was a small hut, but there was a long line outside of it. This annoyed her, but she pulled Baxter into the back of the line with her. For what seemed like forever, Anne and Baxter stood in that line. And the whole time Baxter was singing a song he had made up about what his shoes were going to look like. Anne, and several other people in the line, had plugged their ears long before they reached the front.

      “Next,” a voice called out.

      Anne glanced up and hushed Baxter. They were finally at the front of the line. Anne gulped, pushed the grass door covering out of the way, and walked in.

      “Hi,” she said nervously to the old Kyrii sitting behind the desk. “Um, well, me and my friend here,” she pointed to Baxter, who was amusing himself by pulling books of the bamboo shelves lining the walls and dropping them into a fire pit. “We’re kinda lost. Could you help us find--?” The Kyrii cut off Anne.

      “You will fight off scores of four-headed Monoceri.” He smiled, and then called out, “Next.”

      “Huh?” Anne said, as a blue Krawk peeked his head into the small room. “No, no! We need to find our way to Geraptiku! We’re lost! Can you help us?” Behind her, the blue Krawk laughed.

      “He only predicts the future. And says next, but that doesn’t really count. If you want to get to Geraptiku, which I don’t see why you would, because it's been abandoned, all you have to do is cross the water,” the Krawk said smugly.

      “What?!” Anne roared, causing Baxter to drop a very old scroll on the ground, “You mean, all day, we’ve been going in circles around on an Island, only to be told that if we swam across the water, we’d be where we wanted to!” She started screaming.

      “Yep, pretty much. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like the Island Mystic to tell me my future,” the Krawk replied, and sat down on a mat. Baxter turned to Anne, and whispered smugly:

      “Even I could have told you that.”

      “Then why didn’t you?” Anne said in a dangerously low voice. Baxter shrugged. Anne glared at him furiously, and the two marched out of the hut. Well... Anne marched. Baxter skipped, and continued his song about shoes. As soon as they were out of sight, the whole line breathed a sigh of relief.

      “This is where we cross,” Anne said, pointing to the water. “We can’t afford a boat yet, so we’ll have to swim.” Anne hoped in the water and began to Cybunny-paddle. Baxter stayed on land. After about five feet of swimming, Anne turned back to see Baxter watching her.

      “Well, come on!” she called back to him. Baxter only looked down at his fins.

      “I can’t swim!” he finally called back, clearly embarrassed. Anne sighed in exasperation.

      “Who ever heard of a Tuskaninny that could compose songs about shoes but couldn’t swim?” She said. Baxter giggled.

      “I have! His name is Baxter!” Baxter cried out jubilantly. Anne rolled her eyes and yelled:

      “Baxter! Look out! Three-headed, um... JubJubs are about to eat you!” Baxter screamed and ran straight into the water. Anne smiled. Baxter looked back up at the land.

      “Looks like they’re gone,” he said with a nod, and forgot he couldn’t swim. So he swam faster than Anne ever had in her life.

      “Wait up!” she called, and within a few minutes, the two pets were on the opposite shore.

      Anne smiled, after walking a little way; they reached a deserted city that had to be the fabled Geraptiku. Anne sat down on the ground next to a pile of bones. It sure looked empty. After looking around a bit, she spotted a giant Pyramid. “That’s where the treasure must be,” she murmured to herself. She grabbed Baxter’s fin and dragged him over to it.

      “I don’t want to go in,” he whined.

      “Do you want shoes?” Anne demanded.

      “Well, yeah...”

      “Then come on!” Anne said, and opened the door. It shut quickly behind them. Baxter began to tremble.

      “Riches beyond my wildest dreams may wait beyond that door,” he said, “But I have a very, very bad feeling about this place...” Anne pulled him through a passage.

      “Come on, sissy,” she said. She opened the door carefully. Nothing. “It must be this way,” she said, pointing. Baxter fidgeted. Suddenly, out of nowhere jumped a big scary Ghost Hissi, who chased them around in circles while thinking about the best way to cook them for dinner. Even Anne was screaming.

      “I suddenly remember where the exit is!” screamed Baxter, and grabbing Anne’s paw, dived out into the bight sunlight. Anne started to cry. “What’s wrong?” Baxter asked, “We made it out alive.”

      Anne sobbed, “But we didn’t get any treasure, we’re never going to live in a big home, or have petpets, or, or, anything!” The two sat in silence for a while, save for Anne’s sobbing. Suddenly Baxter smiled.

      “This whole trip wasn’t a waste of time after all!” he said. Anne looked up hopefully. “I found something,” he continued.

      “What?” Anne asked breathless, “What did you find?” Baxter smiled wide and opened his fins up for Anne to see.

      “A pair of shoes!”

The End