Proud to be a Grundo

      “Good morning sister!” Sandy’s voice called from inside the doorway.

      “Good morning,” Mayzi replied blankly, focusing in on her heavy hooves.

      “Doesn’t staring at yourself every morning get tedious? Though I suppose you are a Uni now...” Sandy trailed off.

      “Have you ever wondered what would happen if you woke up one day and you weren’t a Kacheek?” she inquired.

      Sandy tilted her head curiously. “No, I don’t worry about things like that. I try to stay positive. If it did happen I suppose I’d just live out my days like normal. Why do you ask?”

      Now was the time, when she finally decided to tell someone. “Well, the truth is...” Mayzi started hesitantly, “I can’t stand being a Uni. I’ve put up with it for so long, but now I know for sure that I’m not meant to live a Uni life. I want to be a Grundo again,” Mayzi said honestly.

      “Wow, I didn’t know you felt that way... You sound sure of yourself, so I say go ahead; go back to your original form. Though, I feel obliged to ask, how are you going to do this?” Sandy asked, walking further into the room.

      “Not sure,” Mayzi said; she hadn’t gotten this far yet. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. But the lab ray is definitely out of question.”

      “Hm... Well, a morphing potion sounds reasonable. I mean, I’m sure it wouldn’t cost much.”

      “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do! I’ll buy a Grundo morphing potion from my savings! But, what will our Aunt think about it?”

      “I’m sure it’ll be fine; just go out there and start searching!”

     ***

      The walk to the Magic Shop was short since she lived in town. Mayzi positioned herself in front of the mysterious shop. Around her neck was a bag of Neopoints, her life’s savings. She pushed the door wide open.

      “Welcome, I house many astonishing items for all of your purposes,” Kauvara invited from inside the shop. Mayzi always enjoyed coming here. Sure, she wasn’t very interested in magic or potions, but something about the shop spoke to her. It had a high tented roof that draped majestic purple fabric from all sides. She walked up and down the rows of shelves; there were many types of potions, but no Grundo morphing potions from what she could see. After tiring of searching, she approached the shop keeper.

      “I’m in need of a Grundo morphing potion; do you happen to have any in stock?” Mayzi asked kindly.

      “No, I do not,” she replied while shaking her head. “I sold one earlier this morning, but there’s none left now.”

      “By any chance do you know when another will be available?”

      “No, I don’t. You could always try the shop wizard.”

      Oh great, thought Mayzi, if I would’ve come a few hours earlier I could’ve gotten it, but now I’ll have to travel to the Marketplace.

     ***

      The walk to the Marketplace was short, and once she was there it was easy to spot the Shop Wizard. There’s bound to be at least one morphing potion here, she thought.

      “Welcome! What may I help you look for?” said the short JubJub with a smile. He’d helped Mayzi out so many times in the past that she had learned that she could always count on him.

      “I’m in desperate need of a Grundo morphing potion; could you please find me one?”

      “I’ll try my best.” He turned around and opened up a guide book to all the Marketplace shops and began to search. He was in full concentration, something that amazed Mayzi every time. After endless page flipping, he turned back around with the results. “I could not find anything in the area. I could try elsewhere, but I doubt that you’ll find it; they’re quite rare. You could always try the trading post. Anything else you would like to search for?”

      “No,” sighed Mayzi, “that’s all I needed to look for. I’m not even going to bother going to the trading post; they’ll probably be way over my price point anyways and I don’t feel well enough to travel there.” Though Mayzi really didn’t go there for fear of being disappointed again. She thanked the kind Wizard and started making her way back home.

     ***

      Was she ever going to find the item she needed most to be herself? This was one of those few times when she barely noticed the shops around her, as she headed back home in Neopia Central. Sure, there would always be another chance to get the morphing potion at the Magic Shop, but it was so unpredictable when a new one would come, and it was too expensive anywhere else. I’m almost home now, she thought gloomily, and then I’m going to have to tell Sandy that I couldn’t find it... The sun shone bright as she passed the Money Tree. She squinted her eyes to try to see what was in front of her. Wait... In front of the book shop, could that be... no, of course not... Wait, it is! Mayzi sprinted to the familiar face she saw. “Aunt! Aunt!” Mayzi shouted excitedly.

      “Oh, Mayzi! What brings you into town?” she asked with a smile.

      Now that she thought of it, meeting her Aunt, who wanted her to be a Uni in the first place, might not be such a good thing. “Well, um... I’m not quite sure how to tell you this, so I’m just gonna jump right in. You see, I’m tired of being a Uni. I want to be a Grundo again. I’ve spent the whole afternoon trying to track one down, but they were sold out at the Magic Shop and the Shop Wizard couldn’t find any. I didn’t know how you’d react, but I knew that telling you this was better than hiding it. I mean, you’re not too mad at me, right?”

      Her Aunt let out an amused chuckle, “Mad? Why not at all! You made my day. I too have longed to be a Grundo again. I hope you don’t mind me telling you an explanation.”

      Mayzi’s shock reassured enough for her to say, “Not at all.”

      “Good. Back when I gave you the Uni Morphing Potion I felt differently about Grundos. I was ashamed of how they were taken advantage of by Dr. Sloth, and I felt as if Unis made people think that we were strong. But I was wrong to be ashamed of something that wasn’t our fault. Now, I’m proud of our heritage, and I have had plans of becoming a Grundo again too.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a potion. “While at the Magic Shop this morning, I found this. I was going to use it on myself, but now I feel like you should take it instead.” Mayzi watched as her aunt held out a Purple Grundo Morphing Potion and placed it into her Neopoints bag. “Please don’t be guilty about taking it. I can always buy one at the Trading Post; I have the Neopoints,” she said with a wink.

      “Wow!... Thank you so much, I’m glad that I have your support, and I’ll make sure to take it as soon as I get home. Thanks again.”

      “You're welcome.” And with that she returned to her shopping, waving Mayzi good bye.

      Mayzi thought of what had just happened. Sandy would be so surprised about all of this. But, she knew something else now. You can change your appearance as much as you want, but you can’t change your heritage. Now Mayzi was truly proud to be a Grundo.

The End