Omelette Demander

     I crept away silently, not even daring to sneak a tiny morsel from the gooey egginess that loomed several feet higher than me. Sabre-X followed my retreating back with suspicious, narrowed eyes. I hoped he hadn't noticed that--

     "NO! You cannot take more than one slice per day!"

     Emer was practically ejected from the Giant Omelette, and he immediately dashed over to my rather small, Yellow Shoyru form. I sighed. That Lupe had definitely somehow known that I was just a decoy.

     "How did he know?" asked my Green Kyrii brother, voicing our thoughts.

     "I don't know, Emer," I answered. "But I think he has spies with photographic memory."

     Emer smiled weakly. "Maybe so, Citrina." I heard a stomach grumble and looked at my youngest brother. He looked rather sheepish, and I sighed.

     Our family of five had fallen into hard times this past month. Saphiri, Rubilla, Emer, Crysdia, and I were hungry nearly all of the time. That was why Emer and I were attempting to snatch another slice of Omelette. One Sausage Omelette does not hold starving pets over for long, and Crysdia, our owner, had looked to us for support. She had about two hundred fifty thousand NP, which was far too much for the Soup Faerie. However, Crysdia didn't dare spend a single Neopoint on food. This was because Rubilla, our vain, second-youngest Red Lenny sister, was demanding a Pink Paint Brush. Since Crysdia loved all of us too much to go against us, she was forced to save everything and anything to sell for money. Our shop reeked of expensive, rotting food that was meant to be sold months earlier. Saphiri, our Blue Xweetok brother who was only one day younger than me, was unfortunately stuck with Rubilla all day. He didn't have wings, so he couldn't transport anyone from our home in Terror Mountain to the Tyrannian Plateau. Also, Saphiri was too heavy for me to carry, unlike Emer. That was how Emer and I had escaped from Rubilla's spoiled brattiness.

     Of course, now there was the trouble of sneaking another few Omelette slices (several extra for the rest of the family) without being seen by the watchful Sabre-X. Somehow, I could feel his eyes glaring at me from the other side of the Omelette. Then, quite suddenly, I had an idea. I grabbed Emer's ear and whispered into it, "Make a big fuss about leaving, then try to steal some Omelette. Whether you get some or not, go to the Wheel of Monotony and wait for me. If I'm not back and it's nearly dark, go home without me. You know how to get through the tunnel, and even though Crysdia told you not to go through there, go anyway. There are almost always daring pets who travel through there in big groups. Go with one of them." I dashed to within a half inch of the Omelette after giving my instructions, where my yellow coat blended right in. Even the brown cloth bag I was carrying looked like a particularly large sausage.

     Emer nodded to my brown bag, since he didn't know exactly where I was, and he began walking along the side of the Omelette toward the Concert Hall. "Oh, too bad. Now my family will just have to go on STARVING because A CERTAIN STINGY LUPE refuses to LET ME TAKE ANOTHER SLICE OF OMELETTE," the Green Kyrii lamented loudly. I almost chuckled as I watched, but I managed to stop in time. Sabre-X, from the other side of the Omelette, seemed to be getting rather angry, but who really knew? Emer continued making similar remarks to this first one as he plodded along. Then, when he had to walk around the corner of the Omelette to get to the Tyrannian Concert Hall, the Green Kyrii snatched two slices of Plain Omelette (most likely because he knows that Rubilla despises Plain Omelettes) and broke into a run. From my post, I observed Emer dashing to the exit of the Plateau while Sabre-X zoomed after him with impossible speed. I heard him roar, "NO, YOU CANNOT TAKE MORE THAN ONE SLICE PER DAY!", and that was the last of the outside world I heard for a long time.

     I had fallen through the soft, eggy wall of the Omelette and was now in a dark, suffocating space. Now, I'm not sure if I really was suffocating, but I quickly used the ability 'Air Shield', anyway. After that, I used 'Night Vision'. As I used the abilities, I remembered that it had been before Rubilla that I had received the bottled Faeries. I was being wistful when I noticed that I was standing in a tunnel which had been excavated inside of the Giant Omelette.

     "Weird," I muttered to myself. "Why would there be a tunnel inside of the Giant Omelette?"

     "Weird's right!" a nasally female voice piped up from somewhere beside me. I jumped as the voice continued, "You know, you're the first visitor we've had in a while."

     "We...?" I questioned uncertainly. I cautiously turned my head to the area where the voice was coming from. When I saw that the speaker was a Glowing Hissi, I nearly fainted.

     "Yup!" the Hissi exclaimed, totally ignoring my confusion. "There's more pets in here than just me, and there are some pets that are actually just visitors that like to come by often. Like to come and see them? Good! Follow me."

     Bewildered, I found myself walking alongside the Hissi. She tried to make some conversation, but I didn't exactly answer her since I was so confused. For one thing, my 'Night Vision' ability had run out and I hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing another pet inside of the Giant Omelette yet, so my thoughts were all muddled and I couldn't remember how to use any abilities. Fortunately, the Hissi's glowing form was just bright enough so that I could see her.

     The facts suddenly caught up with me after about two hours of walking (Man, that Omelette is huge!). I yelped as my brain suddenly realized what had happened. I was walking through a TUNNEL that had been dug inside the GIANT OMELETTE following a HISSI who said that she LIVED in here with OTHER PETS.

     Unfortunately, I had yelped at the exact point when we had arrived at the destination. Lots of eyes were staring at me. For what seemed to be a long time, no one said anything. At length, one of the pairs of eyes spoke up.

     "Who's that?" the voice asked. It was old-sounding and suspicious.

     "This is... um..." the Hissi thought for a second on if I had told her my name, and deciding that I hadn't, she nudged me and muttered, "What's your name?"

     "I'm Citrina," I announced. "And I'm wondering what a little town of pets is doing inside of the Giant Omelette."

     "Well, since we don't have any light, we don't really do anything but sit in this main cavern and eat. Living in a giant egg does have its benefits, I guess," the voice from before answered. "Anyway, Citrina, we first ones who found out that the walls of this here Omelette are really easy to fall through were also the ones that decided to build a civilization here. We live in the Omelette and are self supporting, and we move before it's all eaten." The voice was sounding increasingly proud. "No one who has found us out has decided to go back. We call this mini-town Dark Egg. It's an egg, and it's dark. That's why only Silhii, that Glowing Hissi, leads the outsider pets here. She can also see in the dark, so she's the perfect guide. Welcome to Dark Egg, Citrina."

     I peered at the eyes in this cavern, Only the proud voice looked even remotely pleased, so I used the ability 'Magic Torch'. Now that it was light, I looked at the faces behind the eyes.

     The citizens were mostly haggard, tired-looking pets of various species, but I suppose the tiredness comes of living in a giant, hot omelette. After all, being inside of a dark, seasoned egg all of the time MUST mean that one is constantly bumping into carrots, peas, cheese, sausages, and onions, which is probably quite annoying. Most likely, this group of pets was regularly irritated and therefore, they were irritating to others in return. The pets themselves, though, were actually quite happy. They could finally see in the light. I even saw a Chia yelling, "It's been so long since I've seen you!" and grasping a Draik's claw.

     The speaker from before was the only unhappy one. He was an old Orange Poogle who was very angry. "You... you... YOU YELLOW LIGHT BULB! NOW WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CALL OUR TOWN? IT'S NOT DARK ANYMORE!"

     "Call it Dim Egg, just keep it light, Juoyixteer!" retorted at least fifteen other pets in unison. The Poogle looked rather put off by either this comment or the calling of his name, but he nodded in grim approval anyway. "Fine," he consented. "This town shall now be known as Dim Egg." No one heard, though, because they were all bustling about.

     Before I realized it, I ended up going around the entire Giant Omelette and lighting its interior with magic torches. I imagine that by the time I was finished, the entire cooked egg must have glowed from the inside. I never learned anything about the inhabitants inside of the Omelette, though, since they merely grunted and passed by me. I developed a routine as I went about the tedious task of lighting tunnels. After using 'Magic Torch', I snatched an Omelette from the wall. About halfway through, I started wondering about Emer. Had he gotten home safely? And what about Rubilla, Saphiri, and Crysdia? Were they starv--

     "Hey you," my guide grunted. He was a Green Tonu. "Stop half-concentrating, you've lit this place up three times. Come on, let's move." The Tonu marched forward, and I had to half flutter to keep up with his pace.

     "Um..." I started, not quite sure what to call him.

     "What?" snapped the crabby Tonu. Then his face softened a mite and he said, "The name's Sherwoodian." He sharpened again and continued, "Talk while you work."

     "Well, Sherwoodian, that stuff that, whatsisname, Juoyixteer said about no one leaving? Is it true?"

     Sherwoodian chuckled. "No way, Shoyru!" he guffawed. "Plenty of people come and go, and some just plain leave! Like me to name a few regulars?" I nodded. "Well, don't interrupt, it's quite surprising. No one ever reports us, though, so that's good. Anyway, there's the Soup Faerie, Dr. Sloth, Sabre-X..." I gulped and my eyes widened, but the Green Tonu paid no heed. "...Adam, Donna, and a bunch of others, among them prissy pets. Oh, it's terrible when the 'prissies' come. I can only think of one of their names right now. She's a Red Lenny..." I swallowed again, sweating in anticipation. "...and 'er name's Rubilla."

     I shot off faster than a bolt of lightning. I headed straight for one of the walls and burst through in a miniature explosion of gooey egg. I flew straight up into the dark sky for a while until the lights coming from the Tyrannian Concert Hall were simply pinpricks of light. Then, I spun slowly around in midair until I sighted the white snow of Terror Mountain through the veil of darkness. After seeing the white mountain, I zoomed like an arrow towards the place of my home.

     I burst through the front door in about twenty minutes. It was here that I observed an interesting scene. Crysdia was leaning over our small, circular table and attempting to snatch the Omelettes from Rubilla's plate. Saphiri and Emer had pounced on Rubilla and were holding her down. The Red Lenny was struggling to scarf down a the meager piles of Omelettes on everyone's plates. When I flew in and landed on the floor, all of this activity stopped. My family stared at me.

     Emer was the first one to react. "Citrina!" he yelled happily. The Green Kyrii leapt from his spot on top of Rubilla's wing and hugged me. Of all my siblings, Emer had always been the closest to me, so I knew that his being delighted was not on account of my disappearance.

     "Where WERE you?" yelled Saphiri. The Blue Xweetok had had to yell because Rubilla was trying to eat all of the Omelettes again. "Emer, give me a paw!" he grunted. The Green Kyrii bounded over to the Red Lenny and sat on her wing again.

     "Inside the Giant Omelette," I answered nonchalantly. I ignored the strange looks from the rest of my family and continued, "I'm sure Rubilla knows much more about it than I do. After all, she's a regular there."

     At this statement, I'm sure that my Red Lenny sister turned even more of a ruby red than she already was. She broke free of Saphiri's and Emer's hold and attempted to fly up the stairs, but I was in her way in an instant.

     "Well, Rubilla?" questioned Crysdia. She was using that tone of voice that meant, 'You better explain now.' "If you've been inside of the Giant Omelette, you shouldn't have to eat all that."

     The Red Lenny sighed and sat down again. This time, she made no attempt to eat Omelette. "As I'm sure Citrina already knows," Rubilla began in a saucy voice. She paused to glare at me. "There is a civilization inside of the Giant Omelette. I've been visiting it every night with some of my friends so that I can eat as much as I want without little brats stealing what is rightfully mine. One third of an omelette is not enough for royalty like me."

     This statement was Rubilla's doom, although she didn't know it at that second. She was simply sitting there with eyes closed, looking regal, when suddenly Emer, Saphiri, and I all jumped on her. How dare she call us little brats when only Emer was younger than her?! Our intent was to wound severely, but Crysdia stepped in before that happened. My brothers and I froze.

     "Rubilla. Come," our owner commanded in a harsh tone. "You are going to the Pound."

     "WHAT?!" the Red Lenny squawked. "What are you talking about?! Royalty doesn't belong in the POUND!"

     "Royal Pains do," Crysdia retorted, and she dragged Rubilla out the door by her red wing. The door was slammed shut by the freezing wind, and it was quiet.

     Saphiri, Emer, and I stayed frozen for one minute longer before we started cheering. I passed out the Omelettes from my bag, and we had a small party. Rubilla was gone, and we could finally have real food again. Suddenly, though, a familiar olive-green form streaked into the room and glared at Emer and me. We squeaked and dove behind Saphiri as Sabre-X growled, "NO! You cannot take more than one slice per day!"

The End