The Memoirs of Maeika

      "I'll see you after school, sweetie," she said, kissing me on the top of my soft plush head.

      "Yep," I said happily. "Will you teach me to make chokato soup?"

      "Of course," she said with a smile. "Bye bye! Oh, and sweetheart, a new potion of mine is bubbling in the cauldron, so don't eat what's in there."

     But I was already almost inside school, and I didn't hear her.

     ***

     A tall girl with long black hair and violet eyes was running around Neopia Central putting posters up with a blue Draik. They both looked very worried and rushed.

      "I'm looking for a red Cybunny," explained the girl to a user who asked what they were doing. "Long ago I left her with my friend Jerelle, because I didn't have enough money to care for her. I played games, did dailies, and mastered the stock market. I traveled all of Neopia. I even got my Draik, Diellae, to surprise my darling Cybunny. I came back a couple days ago to find that Jerelle was long gone and my baby, Maeika, was nowhere to be seen. I don't know what to do!"

     The user expressed her sympathy, but said she had no idea where the Cybunny was. The tall girl sighed and began plastering posters up everywhere she could.

     ***

     I came home that afternoon early, because Chealle was on vacation. I took the metal ladle from beside the cauldron and ladled soup into a metal bowl. I didn't realize that the soup was an odd, acid green color. I grabbed a spoon and put a big mouthful of soup into my mouth. Suddenly, I was shrinking. Getting closer and closer to the floor. I couldn't move or talk or anything. I felt I didn't need to breathe, or blink. But I could see. I saw there was another Cybunny plushie beside me that was slightly dusty. And I saw a pair of yellow high heels walk in. It was Tae. My bowl of soup that I had held in my hands was empty and quite a few feet back from me under the table. I saw Tae walk over to the cauldron, heard her stir it, and then saw her walk over and sit down at the table. Another faerie walked in. I believe she was a fire faerie.

      "Hello, Neetaelle!" said Tae, leaping up from her chair. "As I said, this is my new potion."

     She walked over to the cauldron and ladled some into a vial.

      "What does it do?" asked Neetaelle crisply, scribbling something on a clipboard.

      "If you splash it over a fluff of cotton, it automatically becomes the plushie you want it to be!" gushed Tae. "It's worked in all my tests so far! Except it doesn't do Usuls, for some reason."

      "Alright," said the fire faerie.

     I would have gulped if I could have. The potion must have malfunctioned on me and turned me INTO a plushie. This was going to be interesting...

     ***

      "Our sources say that Jerelle took her pet, Milo, and your pet, Maeika, to Faerieland on vacation," said the pink Uni at the pound to the tall girl. "Then she disappeared. Vanished. Nobody knows where she went or what happened to the pets."

     The girl began to cry, and her Draik leaned over sadly to comfort her.

      "Don't cry, Lealle," said the Draik softly.

      "But it's my fault!" sobbed the girl. "I should have known Jerelle was unreliable! Diellae, maybe those posters will do something... maybe somebody knows where she is."

      "Yes, maybe," said Diellae, still softly, leaning over and stroking Lealle's hair. "Maybe we should go home and rest, and try again tomorrow."

      "Okay," agreed Lealle.

     So the two departed for their neohome sadly, wishing they knew where precious Maeika was.

     ***

     The faerie left, and a Wocky walked in.

      "Where's the plushie Cybunny plushie I ordered?" she asked.

      "Oh, it must have fallen off the table," said Tae, bending down to look under the table.

     There I was, with what must have been the real plushie right behind me. But to my horror, Tae didn't see the other plushie. She grabbed me and handed me to the Wocky.

      "Have a good day!" she said, waving at the Wocky, and then turning around again to put the neopoints the Wocky gave her into a box.

     That was the last time I saw Tae.

     ***

      "The house warming is tonight," said Lealle rather dully, leaning back into her comfy chair. "I don't know what to do, Diellae! Where could Maeika be?"

      "Well, we need this break tonight," said Diellae in a soothing voice. "We need to relax for a bit. And besides, the housewarming will be fun."

      "I suppose," said Lealle.

     The two sat there silently for fifteen minutes.

     The red Wocky carrying me lead me to a hotel room.

      "Here it is!" she said brightly to her owner.

      "That's just the thing for Lealle!" said the owner, who was short with curly red hair. "It'll be a great housewarming gift!"

     The Wocky nodded enthusiastically, gave me a squeeze, and passed me over to her owner, who was packing up a suitcase.

      "Bring over that roll of brown wrapping paper," said the owner to the Wocky. "And the ribbon, too, please."

     The Wocky brought both over, and the owner picked up a pair of sharp, gleaming scissors. She cut the paper with the scissors and they made a nice, crisp clipping sound as they slide through the brown paper like it was butter. She cut out a nice, big square, and suddenly my nose, which somehow still worked along with my other senses, caught a whiff of cinnamon and the scent of thick coffee. A Mynci was carrying a tray of cinnamon coffee cake and coffee in.

      "I know you like it in the afternoon," said the Mynci to the girl with a smile and a nod.

     The girl laughed.

      "More like Elli likes it in the afternoon," she said as the Wocky dug into the coffee cake and slurped up the coffee.

     The girl then picked up the paper again. She wrapped it around me, and soon I could barely see out of the wrapping paper, except for blurry shapes. I felt the girl put tape around the bottom of my wrapping paper and I felt her pick me up and set me in what I supposed was her suitcase. Then all was dark for many hours.

     ***

      "Oh, here comes Stelle and Elli!" said Lealle, waving to the short red-haired girl who was walking through the door. "You're right, Diellae, this is just what I need to take my mind off of things."

     Diellae smiled and ran to greet Elli.

      "Here is your present," said Stelle, setting a lumpy package on a long wooden table. "I'm so glad you can be back in Neopia Central, Lealle! But I'm sorry about... about Maeika."

      "Oh, Stelle, it's okay," said Lealle, hugging her friend.

     The lumpy package was very confused.

     ***

     What were they talking about? Was there somebody else who was named Maeika? Did Lealle know Tae? I was so very, very confused. Whatever they knew about me, I was certain they had no idea I was sitting there, listening to their conversation. They walked off into another room, and Elli and a Draik followed them. I saw other people and pets place packages beside me, and soon I was lost in a sea of packages. A flood of people and pets came into the room about an hour later, and I heard paper ripping and people talking loudly. I heard that girl, Lealle, thanking people and I heard their quickly-uttered "you're welcome"s. Eventually, she came to my package. I felt her hands pick me up, and she picked up the tag hanging off my bow.

      "To Lealle, from Stelle," she read out loud.

     Then she ripped the paper. It took her a bit to actually get the packaging open, but after she did, she was ecstatic.

      "Oh, thank you, Stelle!" she cried. "You know I've always wanted a plushie Cybunny! And this is definitely the next best thing."

     She gave me a squeeze and passed me over to the Draik, who I'd heard was called Diellae. Diellae hugged me and kept me in her paws while she and her owner opened more gifts. Then the guests left, and Diellae left me on her dresser while she slept.

     ***

     Lealle and Diellae left the next morning to speak with the Defenders of Neopia. Diellae brought her new plushie Cybunny plushie with her.

      "Can I help you?" asked Judge Hog when they arrived.

      "Yes," said Lealle, stepping forward and shaking his hands. "I'm Lealle, and this is my Draik, Diellae. Long ago, before I adopted Diellae, I was very down on my luck. I had the sweetest little red Cybunny named Maeika, but I couldn't provide for her. Everyday we tried to go to the soup kitchen, but one day I just couldn't stand waiting in long lines and watching my pet starve. So I left her with my friend Jerelle to go see if I could make some neopoints. I struck gold, pretty much, and now I'm very rich. I got a blue Draik egg and hatched Diellae, as a surprise for Maeika. Then I came back here a few days ago, and Jerelle was gone, and my Cybunny was, too. I heard that Jerelle went to Faerieland before she vanished, but I have no idea where my pet is."

      "Well, that's a very sad story," said Judge Hog thoughtfully. "I can send some troops out there to investigate, but I'm sorry to say you can't expect too much. It's hard to locate missing pets."

     Lealle nodded and took Diellae's paw as she walked away.

     I was very surprised when I heard Lealle speaking to Judge Hog. So that was how I came to be in Tae's hands. I missed Tae very much, but thinking back, the truth was that faeries simply can't have pets. There's too much that can go wrong. Sure, Tae and I had great times together when we did spend time together, and we loved each other, but I remembered all the empty evenings filled only with soup, a note from Tae, and some items from her quests. I suddenly felt a rush of affection for this Lealle who had left me with her friend. Diellae held me as we walked back to their neohome, and I suddenly felt very fortunate to have found them.

     I caught the scent of chocolate chip cookies on my nose from my place in Diellae's hands the next day by the kitchen table. Lealle walked by with a plate of the cookies and set them on the table for Diellae. Poor Diellae had caught Fuzzy Fungus. Lealle was warming up a pitcher of honey blossom extract for her on the stove and had meanwhile baked the cookies.

      "Here we go," she said, bringing the pitcher of honey-colored liquid over to Diellae. "Drink up, darling."

     Diellae took a long draft of the extract and sighed with content.

      "I feel better," she declared.

     What happened next happened very fast. Lealle reached over to take a chocolate chip cookie from the plate beside Diellae, and she knocked over the honey blossom extract. Meanwhile, Diellae's grip on me slackened and I fell to the ground.

     The honey blossom extract fell on top of me. I felt a tingling sensation all over me, and suddenly I began to grow and grow, until I was my regular size again. I realized I could move.

     Lealle was gasping and so was Diellae, and suddenly, before I even knew it myself, I was blurting out my life story and I was being hugged by both Lealle and Diellae and we were all half laughing and half crying so much none of us can really recollect what happened after that.

     Somehow we ended up sitting at the table together, eating chocolate chip cookies and exchanging wide smiles. And life is always better with warm chocolate chip cookies and smiles.

     I am living happily ever after with my new family, and as for Tae, well, I haven't seen her again yet, but maybe I will someday. You can never know. But for now, I'm content living with my new family in Neopia Central. Lealle, Diellae, and I are going shopping for a Krawk now so we can have another sibling, and that's really the end of my story so far, so I guess I'd better wrap this up with one big, happy THE END.