Phyllix's Radical Change

      “Relax, they won’t do anything while I’m here,” assured Hubert’s friend Phyllix. Phyllix was flying in a jerky, happy manner. That’s what faerie Poogles do when they are happy. “I am a very tough person to mess with.”

      “I’m sorry, Phyllix, but I don’t find pink and purple wings very intimidating,” Hubert taunted as the pair made their way out of Neopia Central. Today was the day that one of Phyllix’s closest friends, Kandy, was celebrating. It was Kau Day, and Kandy, who was a disco Kau, threw the biggest party and invited all her friends. Phyllix and Hubert had just finished buying Kandy some slushies for the party and were walking along a path that led them to Shenkuu, where Kandy lived.

      “Kandy said that the party favors this year are spectacular,” gushed Phyllix. “I can’t wait! Maybe they’ll be dubloons or gourmet food, or –,”

      “Let me stop you right there,” interrupted Hubert. “Kandy never gives out the same gifts. Last year she gave us platters of gourmet food and two years before she gave dubloons, so don’t get your hopes up. This year will be even more fantastic!”

      The two pals bickered on their entire trip to Shenkuu, which was no short trip. When they finally arrived at Kandy’s house, she opened up the door with a smile. She was wearing her favorite sweetheart dress and a crown. Phyllix was jealous.

      “Don’t you just love it?” Kandy asked. “I got it a few days ago and I was saving it for the party!” The outgoing Kau led the two friends in, where a whole throng of people were already having fun dancing, eating, talking, and playing games.

      Hubert and Phyllix stayed until they were the last at the party, and helped Kandy clean up. “Thanks so much for inviting us,” Hubert mentioned.

      “It wouldn’t have been great without you!” Kandy replied with a grin. “I have some extra special goodie bags for my best friends.” In a flash, she whipped out two polka-dotted bags stuffed to the top.

      “Oh my gosh!” Phyllix exclaimed, pulling out a handful of map pieces. “Where did you get all of these?”

      “I have my sources,” Kandy stated.

      “I just love it,” Hubert added. “Oh, look! There’s lots of candy in here too! Oh, and it’s chocolate! My favorite!” He took out a large chunk of chocolate and began chewing off a bite. “What a great bag this year, Kandy!”

      “It was so much fun! I can’t wait until next year!” Phyllix chimed in. The three friends all said their goodbyes and Hubert and Phyllix started making their way home. Both of them lived in Meridell, where it was quiet farmland.

      After leaving and nearly home, Hubert turned to face Phyllix. “You know,” he began, “I already completed my map to the Secret Lab. Do you want my pieces?”

      “Really?!” Phyllix exclaimed. “Thanks, Hubert!”

      “Don’t mention it. After all, I wouldn’t have been an avocado half my life if it wasn’t for that map!”

      “Yeah, too bad the Quiggle at the health store thought you were a real fruit and tried to convince you to be sold to that weird Lupe,” Phyllix pointed out.

      “That would have ended badly,” Hubert agreed.

      Both friends continued home to their cozy little cottages and fell fast asleep.

      The next day, Phyllix scrambled to get all of the map pieces and threw them together. She was so anxious to shed her wings and become something new! It took her some time to get all the pieces right, but about an hour later, she was ready to go.

      “Don’t worry about me, Peanut,” she said to her desert Eizzil. “You will still be able to recognize me when I’m done . . . I think.”

      Phyllix had some trouble following her map to the Secret Lab. When she got there, she was buzzing with excitement. She kept muttering encouraging words to herself as she stepped up to the laser beam. She flipped the switch, leaving all her worries behind. The beam made a deafening noise and Phyllix was surrounded by a wall of multi-colored light.

      When the sensation had ceased, she walked slowly home. She didn’t want to ruin the surprise of seeing herself by looking at the dingy mirror in the Secret Lab. By the time Phyllix got home, it was very dark. Upon opening the door, Peanut hissed at her.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked as Peanut scurried away. She shrugged and continued to move toward the gold mirror in her bathroom. She flipped on the switch and was met with a surprise.

      “OH MY CRACKERS.”

      The reflection staring back at her was the scariest thing she had ever seen in her life. She had changed from purple with pink faerie wings and long eyelashes to an eggplant-colored beast with black, bushy eyebrows, sharp claws, and crooked fangs.

      “It turned me into a Darigan minion!” she squealed in shock. “H-how does this happen?! No one can see me like this, I mean, honestly, who goes around looking like this anymore?!” she muttered frantically. “What happened to being turned a pretty pink jelly or silver or even strawberry?! I would have rather been covered in a never-ending layer of snot than to look like this!”

      Phyllix was darting around her cottage and Peanut was watching her from behind the Chia print armchair. The sight of her running around made her look even more beastly. She ran to her desk and wrote out a message to Hubert. She begged him to come to her house as soon as possible and to bring along Kandy.

      The day passed and just as the sun rose the next day, a bulbous orange figure stood next to a crazy-print catastrophe at Phyllix’s front door.

      “Come in, come in!” Phyllix exclaimed, pushing her comrades over the threshold. She had expected a sudden reaction between the two of them at the sight of her, but they didn’t even blink.

      “You look different,” Kandy pointed out with a giggle. “No worries. We can always zap you again!”

      “No! You should just buy a paintbrush,” Hubert urged. “Much safer.”

      “Wait. Aren’t you guys scared of me?” Phyllix asked quietly. She looked at her friends. “I mean, I look like I could destroy the world.”

      “Of course not, my friend. You just need some touching up,” Hubert replied. “Remember back before I was a little avocado? You didn’t scream when I had accidently changed myself mutant, did you? And at the time, I had a hundred spikes poking out of my head and had a foot-long tongue hanging out! I wasn’t the most attractive thing in the world.”

      “And that time I spilled permanent ink on my wardrobe and walked around in a raincoat and cowboy boots for a week? That wasn’t the best outfit I’ve ever worn,” Kandy added.

      “I love you guys,” Phyllix gushed. She gave her friends a big hug. “Watch the claws,” she joked.

      Hubert and Kandy promising a speedy return, they set off to the Market Place to find paintbrushes. Phyllix sat on her couch with Peanut, who had finally realized it was her, and thought about what great friends she had.

      Upon their return, Kandy and Hubert had a large sack of paintbrushes ready for use.

      “We got a striped one, a pink one, a purple one, a baby one . . .,” Kandy began.

      “But we figured you would like this one best,” Hubert said, pulling out a Darigan paintbrush from behind his back. “We thought you would like it better if you could stay like that for a while, that way you can use the Lab Ray again and not be scared.”

      “Why do you have that brush, then?” Phyllix wondered.

      “Well,” Kandy began, “we thought you wouldn’t want to be alone.” She pulled out a second Darigan paintbrush.

      Hubert and Kandy dashed out of the house, with a slightly angry Phyllix falling behind. The two friends had led her to the Rainbow Fountain.

      “Honestly, you two. Don’t do this!” she exclaimed.

      But they didn’t listen. In the blink of an eye, they had changed. Hubert had sprouted navy bat wings and horns as his orange changed to a deep blue-grey. Kandy lost all her flowers as her stripes turned deep purple and the rest of her fur a dark blue. Her eyes changed to blood-red.

      “We thought that it would be more fun to look scary with you than to see you sad and scary alone,” Kandy explained after their transformation.

      “You guys are so totally crazy! I would have never asked you to do this!” Phyllix shouted. “But that’s why you’re the best friends I could ever have. But you’re still nuts.”

      “Agreed,” chimed in Hubert and Kandy. The three friends hugged and headed back off to Neopia Central, where they could look for clothes that fitted their new wings, horns, and claws. Their looks could never break their strong friendship.

      It turned out that even something that looks bad can turn out so great, as long as you had great friends by your side.

The End