Adee's Tale

     She shook her head slightly at her own silliness and looked about the room. "My, what a wonderful day it is!" Adee exclaimed to no one in particular. With that said Adee made her way to her ice cream cone shaped door, opened it, took one last longing glance at her room, and shut the door behind her. A small sigh managed to escape her small lips as she trudged down the hall.

     Soon, her eyes shone brightly with the thought of breakfast springing into her mind. "Ice cream!" she shouted with glee. Quickly, she made her way to the kitchen area and opened the freezer. She had just opened a new tub of strawberry ice cream last night and she looked forward to finishing it off for breakfast. "Hey! Where is it?" Adee shrieked in horror when she saw that the freezer was empty, save for the ice that had accumulated over time.

     She searched furiously for her ice cream but it seemed as if someone had stolen it during the night. That was when she saw it. There, in the sink, was the empty tub of ice cream with the spoon still inside. "I could have sworn I left some for this morning," she whined. "I guess I shall have to go to the factory for more!"

     Swiftly, she put on her winter boots, a light blue jacket, a nice blue winter cap, and put her hair in pig tails. It would not be good if her hair kept getting in her face due to the windy day it seemed to be outside. With a look of determination, Adee quickly set off for the Ice Cream Factory.

     After trudging through the snowy paths of Neopia, Adee shouted with glee as a giant ice cream cone came into view. "I made it!" she gasped out between soft pants. Upon making it to the steps of the tall, stone building with iced windows on every floor, Adee shook the snow out of her boots and out of her hair. It would not be good to walk in looking like a Snowman…they might think her vanilla ice cream and try to eat her. She walked up to the massive glass doors and peered inside. No one was about inside the giant factory. Shrugging off the feelings of unease, she reached for the door; however, no matter how hard she tugged, she could not seem to get it open.

     "There has to be a way inside!" she shouted to herself. She scanned the area around her and laughed with pure joy when she spotted a small air shaft coming out of the building. Without a second though, Adee quickly jumped into the long pipe and began to slide down.

     It was slow at first; however, as the snow began to melt from her coat and gloves, she started to go faster and faster. Adee looked ahead of her and noticed that up ahead there was a sudden drop in the air shaft. With a large gulp and a yelp, she fell down the narrow shaft. At first it went straight down, but then it started to even out and curve just a tiny bit to the right. Then, it started curving back to the left. After a few loops Adee had no sense of direction at all…up, down, left, right…it was all the same.

     After a few minutes of this torture, Adee finally emerged into a large room. The walls were made of iron that seemed to glow from the polishing it obviously received. Adee walked over to the walls and laughed at her distorted reflection. "This is fun!" she stated. She grew tired of the walls rather quickly and took another glance around. It was there that she saw the giant row of ice cream cones.

     She ran over to them quickly and clapped her hands together excitedly. Never had she seen so much ice cream at one time! It was a magnificence that almost brought tears to her eyes. She was glad she did not cry for if she had her tears would have quickly turned to ice. With a small shiver, she pulled her coat about her a little more and soaked in the warmth if offered.

     "Where to start?" she asked herself as she stared at the long row of ice cream. There was chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and vanilla with chocolate swirls. There were even more flavors with names she had never heard of! Her mouth watered and she finally decided to start off with her personal favorite…strawberry. She opened her mouth wide and greedily took a large bite of the strawberry ice cream.

     Warning, warning. Security Alert on level 3. Starting Anti-IceCream-Theft Security Systems on Minimum.

     Adee peered about her with a look of shock on her face. "What was that all about?" she whispered. Soon, she realized just what that warning had meant. Slowly, the ice cream she had just been eating started shooting out at her. It was rather slow and she dodged it quite easily. She even managed to reach out her hand a few times and eat a few handfuls. "This is a lot nicer. I no longer have to go to the ice cream!"

     Warning, warning. Security Alert on level 3. Advancing Anti-IceCream-Theft Security Systems to Medium.

     Adee wondered again at that strange voice and hoped that nothing bad would come of it. After a moment of waiting, she let out a grumble as the ice cream stopped coming at her and disappeared within the ice cream cones. "That wasn't very nice!" she shouted to the room at large.

     Just then, the smell of mint hit her nose and she peered down at the ice cream cones again. This time, the entire row was mint ice cream and it seemed to be headed straight for her. She dodged left and right as the ice cream came flying at her. It was not too bad, but it did cause a slight sweat to appear on her yellow cheeks. "What… did I… do… to deserve… this?"

     The ice cream suddenly stopped its vicious attacks upon her and disappeared yet again into the ice cream cones. Adee waited for that annoying voice to speak up but nothing seemed to be happening. Slowly, she tiptoed across the floor and noticed a small door at the very back. By the time she made it halfway across, a voice echoed throughout the room and caused her to cringe in fear.

     Warning, warning. Security Alert on level 3. Advancing Anti-IceCream-Theft Security Systems to Advanced.

     Suddenly, a large rumbling was heard as the large cones opened up and vanilla with chocolate swirl ice cream appeared down the row. Adee shivered at the sight and made a mad dash for the door in the back of the room. The ice cream came at her with a grudge, it appeared. She had to dodge left, right, and sometimes had to backtrack just to avoid being hit! "Oh no! I have to make it to that door!"

     With her last ounce of energy, Adee jumped for the door and quickly opened it. She peered back at the room and shut the door and a loud thud reverberated around the room. "Phew," she started as she leaned against the door, "I made it."

     "That's what you think," said a gruff voice.

     Adee screamed with fright at the voice that came from in front of her. She slowly looked up but found that a beam of light was being placed on her eyes. A dark blue paw reached down and grabbed her by the coat.

     "You'd think people would learn not to come down here," the voice said with a sigh as the flashlight went out.

     Adee finally caught a glimpse at her captor and noticed he was a Lupe with a blue suit and a whistle tucked neatly in his pocket. "A guard," she thought. "Am I in trouble, sir?" she asked with a bit of apprehension.

     He chuckled a bit and said with a sigh, "Not this time. Just stay out of the factory next time. The Ice Cream Machine does not like to be tampered with." With that, he opened the front door and pushed Adee out onto the steps she had once stood on.

     Adee watched as the door was shut in her face and the Lupe disappeared down a dark corridor. "Maybe next time I should just stick to the local store," she said aloud as she started trudging away from the dreaded Ice Cream Factory.

The End