At the Poogle Races

     "Dang it!" Butterscotch the yellow Gelert stomped.

     "I told you not to bet on number five," Maybelle the blue Uni said matter-of-factly to her only older sibling.

     "Last week you told me not to bet on number three!" Butterscotch argued.

     "That was LAST WEEK!" Maybelle said, frustrated.

     "We never win," Butterscotch groaned. "If only we could replace one of the Poogles with a remote-controlled Poogle, and then make sure we won."

     "That's it!" Maybelle clapped. "You're smart when you're not trying to be."

     "Um... thanks?" Butterscotch asked.

     "Excuse me, number three? Can we get your autograph?" Maybelle adjusted the Terror Mountain team beanie on her head.

     "Sure, anything for a fan." The yellow Poogle winked.

     Maybelle smacked her sides, pretending to look for her notepad, which looked pretty silly considering her outfit had no pockets.

     "Aw, shucks," she said, "I left my notebook in that closet over there."

     "What were you doing in the closet?" The Poogle looked confused.

     "Looking for my pen... which is also in there... well, come on!" The Uni dragged the Poogle with her.

     "So, who can I make this out to?" the Poogle asked once Maybelle handed him the yellow star notebook she found on the ground. "Wait, it'll say in the book. Um... this is Poogle Number Two's notebook."

     "Just find a clean page and rip it out," Butterscotch said. "Make it out to Butterscotch and Maybelle."

     As soon as the Poogle started writing, the two pets ran out and moved the wooden block across the door, then grabbed some superglue off the janitor's cart and glued it into place.

     "Okay, I have your – wait... where'd you two go?" the Poogle asked.

     He went to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

     "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted, banging on the door.

     ~*~*~*~

     "ST, can we have some money for something?" Butterscotch shut the door behind him and removed his blue coat.

     "What for?" their owner, ST, asked as Maybelle hung her squid scarf on the coat rack above her Wellington boots.

     "A robo Poogle," Butterscotch said honestly.

     "Why?" ST asked.

     "We talked to Poogle Number Three today," Butterscotch half-lied, "and he said that he always trains with a robo Poogle. We want to be as fast as he is one day."

     "Okay," ST handed over some Neopoints, "but I expect you to practice every day."

     "Don't worry," Maybelle said, "we will."

     ~*~*~*~

     "All right, you have the controls?" Butterscotch stared at Maybelle's high-tech Virtupets brand device.

     "Yep. You set up the course?" Maybelle asked the makeshift hurdles in front of her.

     "Yep." Butterscotch smiled. "On your marks..."

     "Get set..." Maybelle added.

     "GOOOOO!" they both shouted.

     Maybelle started pressing buttons like there was no tomorrow.

     "YEAHHHH!" they shouted once the Poogle reached the finish line.

     "Two minutes," Butterscotch said to his watch.

     "Whatcha doing?" a yellow Aisha (their little sister Lem) stepped outside.

     "Playing," Maybelle covered.

     "ST said you guys are supposed to be practicing and she wanted me to control the Poogle so you could both run," Lem explained.

     "Hey, Lem, if I buy you a disco Aisha plushie for your birthday next year, will you promise to go away?" Butterscotch asked.

     "Just keep it away from Maybelle." Lem shuddered at the memory of her favorite sweater getting ruined.

     "What have we here?" the youngest of the family, Cinn the purple Wocky stepped outside. "Captives?"

     "Cinn, no!" Butterscotch said to his youngest brother wielding a toy sword.

     "Why?" Cinn asked. "It's just a toy."

     "But it's really expensive," Butterscotch said, "and it's our favorite."

     "Fine." Cinn sighed.

     "Thank you." Butterscotch smiled.

     The Wocky trudged back inside.

     "So, how are we gonna sneak this – "

     "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the pets heard from inside.

     Within seconds, a purple Wocky came charging out with a ruby sword, his only equipped item. He jumped onto their course, breaking a few of the wooden hurdles, and then started smashing the Poogle.

     "CINN!" Maybelle gasped, "What in Neopia do you think you're doing?"

     "You wouldn't let me play with your new toy," he said, "and ST always says, sharing is caring."

     "She also says not to destroy other people's property," Butterscotch pointed out.

     "Oh, you can break rules, but I can't?" Cinn asked.

     ~*~*~*~

     "Um, hi." Maybelle placed a sack on the red Bori's desk. "This used to be a robo Poogle."

     "What in Neopia did you do to it?" Donny poured the contents onto his desk.

     "We didn't share," Butterscotch said.

     "I'll have it done tomorrow," the Bori promised.

     ~*~*~*~

     "Has anyone seen Poogle number three?" the red Scorchio asked.

     A Poogle walked up to the Number Three space.

     "Ah, there you are, number three." The Scorchio smiled. "Get ready. The race is about to begin."

     Maybelle and Butterscotch sat in the front row. Soon, a yellow Lupe began pushing past them.

     "Excuse me," he said, a cup of Neocola in his paw.

     He appeared to be shivering.

     "Are you okay?" Maybelle asked.

     She was dressed in a white tank and a blue glittery skirt, but she wasn't even close to being cold.

     "I have a bad case of jitters, but I live to see the Poogle races," he explained.

     "Then why didn't you get the potion of containment?" Butterscotch asked.

     "Oh, excuse me for not being Mr. Richey Rich who can just buy expensive medicine whenever he needs it! I'm depending on my bet towards Poogle Number Five to pay for a healing potion." He sounded annoyed.

     "GOOOOO!" the red Scorchio cued.

     Maybelle began pressing buttons, but about thirty seconds into the race, a very angry Poogle began storming out of the hallway where the closet was.

     "STOP!" it shouted.

     Maybelle panicked and began pressing the buttons even faster. That's when Shaky Soda Guy began shaking even more and his Neocola spilled on Maybelle's remote. It started emitting sparks, so the Uni tossed it onto the track. The robo Poogle stopped right above a hurdle, letting the other four pass him.

     "What in Neopia is going on here?" the Scorchio asked.

     "Two pets came last week and asked me for their autograph, then locked me in the closet, and I suppose they're using that robot to cheat and win the bet," the Poogle explained.

     "So... that's not Poogle number three?" Maybelle pointed to the robot, talking in an accent and covering her face with a pink flowery hat and heart shaped sunglasses that she'd brought in her bag just in case.

     "No, it's not," Poogle number three replied, "and if anyone sees Maybelle and Butterscotch, I believe a male yellow Gelert and a female blue Uni, just let me know."

     He stormed off.

     "Well, we're out of here," Butterscotch said, running back home.

     ST was waiting at the door for them with her hands on her hips.

     "What?" Butterscotch asked.

     "Would you care to explain this Neomail from the Poogle races I just got?" she held a piece of paper in front of them.

     "Uh..." Maybelle began.

     "Wait, I got this," Butterscotch said, "grounded for two weeks, no Neomail, no Neopian Times, no leaving the house. Go to your rooms and think about what you did."

     The Uni and the Gelert walked upstairs to their bedrooms.

     "We probably lost anyway." The Uni shrugged.

     ~*~*~*~

     "And the winner is... THE REAL POOGLE NUMBER THREE!" the Scorchio announced. "Huh? It seems like only two pets bet on number three. So the winners are... Maybellene_uni and _butterscotchcandy_. Are they in the audience? What? I guess they left."

     "What do we do now?" one of the Poogles asked.

     "Um... in second place was Poogle Number Five! The pet who placed a bet on him is... Mr. Golden!"

     "That's me," a shivering yellow Lupe with a can of Neocola in row one stepped up to claim his prize.

     "And Mr. Golden here will be featured on the cover of Faerieland Magazine next to Poogle Number Three next month, so keep your eye out!"

     ~*~*~*~

     "Yeah, maybe it's a sign that all this happened," Butterscotch said. "We just weren't meant to win."

     "Let's try playing something else next time, like Coconut Shy." Maybelle shrugged.

     Within hours, the two pets were constructing hollow coconuts that would be knocked over by even a pebble.

The End