Difficulties: Adventures in Moving

     A Baby Usul, curled in a dark orange blanket stared out the window of her family’s Neohome in beautiful Faerieland. She was lying on her bed, with silent tears streaming from the fact she arrived home safely. Maybe change in life isn’t so bad, after all. Wait- that sounds like the end of the story doesn’t it? I guess, to understand what’s happening to this Usul, we must begin at the beginning, with some background to understand her life.

     This Baby Usul lived with her adoptive siblings- a female Rainbow Cybunny and a male Island Wocky. The Baby Usul, known as Babs to her friends and family, was only 122 days old, while her adoptive siblings, Rain and Isle whom are both 1,365 days old. Babs has always been creative for her age, a dreamer. When they used to live in Neopia Central, her ideas caused many residents to tell her to keep her head out of the clouds… but now she lives in a city that fell out of the clouds. She never understood that saying, anyways.

     Rain and Isle were created on the same day, 3 hours apart. When they met, Rain was blue, and Isle was yellow. And they were the closest siblings this side of The Lost Desert. They went everywhere together, from the deepest parts of Maraqua to the tip-top of Terror Mountain. When Rain and Isle turned 365 days- or one year- old, they bought each other a special birthday present. Isle bought a Rainbow paint brush for Rain, as Rain always wanted to be the colour Rainbow, and Rain bought Isle an Island paint brush, for a similar reason. They lived together in a small Neohome in Neopia Central for another 961 days, before realizing how lonely it was for the two of them to live with only each other. They knew what they should do. They found a small red Usul, a runt compared to the rest of her species, whom had been put in the pound. Shivering out of fear and cold and hunger, she curled into a ball in a back corner. Her eyes were shut and tears streamed down her adorable face. She had been abandoned the day she had been created. And had lived here every day since, all 82 days later. Rain smiled at the little Usul, before reading the name plaque.

     “Isle”, Rain whispered to her brother, “Her name is Babs. And we wanted a Usul as our new adopted sibling, right? That’s why we got this Baby Usul morphing potion, to assure our new baby sibling was both a baby and a Usul, correct?”

     “Yes, Rain…” Isle whispered back, “What are you thinking?”

     “Let’s adopt little Babs here. The first thing we’ll give her to eat is this potion, and then we’ll buy several pizzas from Pizzaroo!” Rain said they smiled, and told their pink Uni attendant that they were adopting Babs. And for this family everything looked perfectly fine.

     However, fast-forward 39 days, and it doesn’t look quite as perfect anymore.

     Babs hated their new neohome in Faerieland. They just moved there. And that is where this story begins.

     “I don’t want to move!” I yelled angrily at my two older siblings, “This is home! We can’t change that! You hate me, don’t you! Stop smiling Rain- and Isle, stop putting the furniture in the Neohome storage shed!” I yelled, running spastically back and forth between my two siblings. I had finally begun to trust these two Neopians, and I had finally allowed myself to see this small house as home, but apparently, that wasn’t good enough for them.

     “Babs, sweetheart, this is an old Neohome- they’ve just finished building what’s now known as the NEW Neohomes, they’re much nicer than this dump! You should be glad that we’re lucky enough to be moving into one of these houses!” Rain said to me, ruffling the fur on the top of my head.

     “I’m not glad, we’re not lucky, and this house ISN’T A DUMP! You know what’s a dump? The Neopian Pound! But you wouldn’t know about that, would you Rain? Nor you Isle! You guys never lived there, you only visited once, and that was to pick me up! This neohome is a lot better than the Pound! This house isn’t a dump!” I screamed mad at my siblings, mad at the existence of “New” Neohomes, mad at our “luck”, mad at Neopia… no, not at Neopia. This place is too beautiful. I’ll blame this on Dr. Sloth. Yeah, I’ll be mad at him. It’s his fault all of this.

     “Sweetheart, calm down…” Rain said in her nurturing, soothing voice, “Our new house will be much nicer, and you’ll love the beautiful view there! And you’ll make lots of new friends!” I stopped yelling at that last part. Only to grit my teeth, tears bubbling up at the bottom of my eyes.

     “New friends? I don’t need new friends- I’ve already got friends…” I said quietly, “I’ve already got friends…” I said my voice starting to waver.

     “Sweetheart, you won’t be able to see your current friends very often anymore, it’s too long a trip between Faerieland and Neopia Central.” Rain said.

     “Yes,” Isle replied, “And even if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t want you trying to travel by yourself- what if you stumble into a pack of wild Meepits? Or worse- get captured by Dr. Sloth’s minions and get forced to work for him?! You don’t want that. Now come on, our new house, your new room, and all sorts of new friends are waiting for us. Now, climb onto my back, and we’ll get going.”

     “No.” I said.

     “What did you say to me, kid?” Isle said, growling in frustration. He’s a grump, he always has been, ever since I met him.

     “I said no. I am not climbing onto your back, I’m not going to make new friends, and I am absolutely not moving to Faerieland.” I said, my voice starting to raise, and tears threatening to spill.

     “I don’t like that tone young lady. I might just carry you by your neck scruff. Now behave, it is time to move!” Isle shouted at me.

     “And I said NO!” I screamed, before running off into a nearby wooded area. It isn’t large enough to be considered a land by the Neopian Geographical Society, but it is a nature preserve for petpets. I saw some Babaas running around. How cute! Wiping away my tears, I snuck up to them. I then grabbed one out of the clump of them, as they squeezed together, scared.

     “I’m gonna name you… AAAAAAAAAH!” I screamed as the other Babaas pushed me over. The Babaa I had grabbed hopped away, and the others followed him. And it was then that I heard the ominous rustling noise. I glanced all around me, wondering where it was coming from. I finally realized it was coming from a nearby bush. As I was about to let out a sigh of relief, I ended up screaming again- it was a gaggle of Meepits! There were at least 20- no- 30 of them! I was so scared. I started wailing loudly. It was at that point that a green Uni came into view. It was my dear friend Zo!

     “There you are, Babs! We’re all worried about you!” Zo cried.

     “Who’s ‘we’?” I asked her cautiously.

     “Me, Lazii, Jasper, Isle, and Rain of course Babs!” Zo said, “You ran off here and you could get hurt out here! Now, let’s go before the Meepits decide to attack.”

     “I’m not leaving.” I said stubbornly, “If I leave here, Rain and Isle are gonna force me to move to Faerieland and I’ll never see you again. I can’t do that. You’re my best friend.”

     “Alright, Babs, I wasn’t supposed to tell you this, it was supposed to be a surprise, but… Lazii, Jasper, and I will be moving to Faerieland, too. We’ll be moving there on the day you turn 365 days old. We’re gonna show up to your birthday as a surprise birthday present… but… I guess it isn’t much of a surprise anymore, now, is it?” Zo said, looking away, embarrassed.

     “Well… no, it’s not. But when it happens, I can pretend to be surprised, right?” I said to her.

     “Of course! Now, let’s get you back to Rain and Isle, they’re really worried.” Zo said smiling.

     “Alright… but I’m still gonna miss you until you move to Faerieland, too.”

     “Well, I’d be upset if you DIDN’T miss me while you were in Faerieland and I was in Neopia Central! Just promise me one thing.”

     “What?”

     “That until Lazii, Jasper, and I move there, you’ll have as much fun as possible and make lots of new friends to introduce us too when we move there, okay?”

     “Alright.”

     At that moment, we stepped out of the trees, and ended up back on the dirt path in Neopia Central. I saw a frazzled Rain and Isle. I cleared my throat, and they turned to look at me. Their eyes lit up like it as the final day to get presents from the Advent Calendar. And they hugged me really tight. Then, I climbed onto Isle’s back, and we headed off to Faerieland.

     And so, a Baby Usul, curled in a dark orange blanket stared out the window of her family’s Neohome in beautiful Faerieland. Her room was twice as large as the room she had in Neopia Central, and had green walls and a yellow floor. She smiled, amazed that this beautiful area was now her home.

     She can’t believe she fought moving here. She wondered what the next day would bring.

     But, she soon came to regret moving.

     “Rain, Isle, I’m heading outside to try to make some new friends, okay?” I called out as I finished eating my Tomato and gulping down my Neocola, my favorite breakfast.

     “Alright, but be careful! Don’t talk to Dark Faeries or Jhudora! And don’t stray too far, you could get lost!” Rain said.

     “Have fun squirt!” Isle said to me. I smiled to myself. Sometimes, my adopted siblings acted a lot more like over protective parents than as siblings.

     I soon wandered outside. I saw a really beautiful Faerie Acara.

     “Hello!” I called out to the Acara, “my name is Babs, what’s yours?”

     “Hmph!” the Faerie Acara huffed, turning away from me and fluttering away rudely. Wow. Her social manners and polite conversational interactions were as nonexistent as that one fake land I saw in that book… I think it was called Jelly Land or Jelly World or something… but it doesn’t matter, since it isn’t real, right? Anyways, after thinking about that, I came up with one of my many silly ideas. I chased after the Acara.

     “Come on, you gotta tell me your name, I told you mine! Weren’t you ever taught manners? Stop running off like this, it isn’t nice! Why won’t you tell me your name?” I called out as I tried to keep up, running on my stubby legs.

     “SHUT UP!” the Faerie Acara screamed, “My name is Ace. Now leave. Me. ALONE!” And then, the Acara pushed me down a rocky slope. I landed at the bottom, covered in scrapes. I’m glad our new house is near the Healing Springs… but… where is our house?

     Oh, great, I ended up getting lost. Just like Rain warned me about. I have no idea how to get home, I’m at the bottom of a rocky slope, I’m tired, hungry, covered in scrapes, and worst of all, I’ve only accomplished making an enemy- I’ve made no friends since moving here.

     “Why don’t you let me become your friend?” a mysterious voice asks from behind me.

     Mysterious voices are usually not a good sign- especially when you’re lost. Most Neopets know this. Babs, however, sadly doesn’t.

     She hasn’t been taught that information yet. And so, clueless Babs wanders into danger.

     “Sure!” I said, before turning around to come face to face with someone from my worst nightmares- Jhudora, the darkest Faerie. I gulped.

     “I- I mean… sure, if Moltara ever freezes over!” I said, shaking out of fear.

     “What spunk, for such a small, fragile, Baby Usul.” She said, “I like that. Now, how about you help me, by doing a quest. I’ll help you in return.”

     “No!” I exclaimed, before clearing my throat. “I-I mean, no, I don’t want to do a quest. I just need to head home. Good bye.”

     “But, young Usul, you don’t know how to get home. You’re lost.” Jhudora said wickedly.

     “L-leave me alone!” I whispered in fear. The only way this could be worse would be if Dr. Sloth tried to recruit me right now. But Dr. Sloth doesn’t come to Faerieland, right? …right?

     “Babs, where are you?” I heard Rain exclaim.

     “I’m-” I began, before Jhudora waved her hand and silenced me. She smiled cruelly, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and floated up to where my mother was.

     “Your mangy brat got lost in my domain, you multi-coloured freak.” Jhudora said to Rain, “So, I have a special offer, just for you. Either, you bring me a purple neohome 2.0 bed, or this brat will be put in the pound and you’ll never see her again.”

     I gulped. My bed. She wanted my bed. Rain looked uncertain, and she glanced at me. I solemnly nodded yes. Rain hopped home, grabbed the bed and brought it back- all in under 2 minutes. Jhudora huffed and dropped me, before disappearing in a mysterious cloud of green smoke.

     “Are you okay sweetie?” Rain asked worriedly. Her eyes widened when she saw my scratches. “What did Jhudora do to you? I swear, if she hurt you I’ll get Fyora to find and punish Jhudora! I will-”

     “Rain, stop.” I said calmly, “Jhudora didn’t cause these. A Faerie Acara pushed me down a rocky slope, and I got the scratches from that. Jhudora only found me.” Rain caught her breath and smiled at me.

     “How about a quick trip to the healing springs?” I asked her.

     “That can most definitely can be arranged.” She replied.

     And so, a Baby Usul, curled in a dark orange blanket stared out the window of her family’s Neohome in beautiful Faerieland. She may not have had a bed anymore, but she didn’t care. One day in Faerieland down, 245 more to go until Zo, Lazii, and Jasper move here. The days came and went uneventfully. Days turned to weeks, then months. Until, finally, it was the day Babs turned 365 days old.

     Soon after I finished my breakfast, there was a loud knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” I called out while Rain and Isle were occupied with their Usukis. I opened the door, and there in front of me were three familiar faces- Zo, Lazii, and Jasper!

     “Oh my Fyora! I wasn’t expecting to see you guys here!” I exclaimed, and I honestly hadn’t. I had forgotten that today I turned 365 days old and that today they were coming. Lazii, the blue Lutari pulled me into a huge hug, while Jasper, the yellow Chomby rubbed his head against my side.

     “Has anything interesting happened since you moved here?” They all asked me simultaneously.

     “Yes.” I answered with a smile, “Why don’t you all come in and close the door behind you so I can regale you with the details.” And so, they did.

     This house wasn’t home, not originally, at first, it was somewhere she never wanted to go. But soon it was learned that change is good, just like adventure, for the soul. And soon, the four friends would go on adventures of their own. And who knows? Maybe they’ll befriend Queen Fyora or stage a rebellion against Dr. Sloth! But, no one knows, and only time can tell.

     The End.