Looks Can Be Deceiving - A Plushie Poogle Story

Year 1

Back in Year 1, a Kacheek toymaker on the peak of Terror Mountain began to work feverishly on his latest creation: a stuffed animal with qualities of the living Neopets attached to them. Of course, in Year One, such technologies such as the Lab Ray didn’t exist, and the Fountain Faerie wasn't present yet, so the toymaker began ordering shipments of finer and finer fabric of the utmost quality.

      When he stumbled upon a yellow-gold fabric, he had an idea. A brilliant idea! His living stuffed animal would come to life, as a yellow, huggable living thing. He began stitching and sewing, maybe gluing here and there, and cutting pieces of fabric. He ended up with some sort of shape but decided some spotted fabrics might look good, too. He stitched in a smile on the toy’s face, hoping that would help it delight many children.

      But one of the seams of this toy was open, so our toymaker friend thought this was his chance. He poured in some sugar, a pinch of a potion given to him by an unknown friend, and a tiny diamond. Then he closed the seam, and saw his creation stand up. Once he sewed in the aqua blue button eyes, there was no turning back. He named his creature Grisa.

      And within that moment, Grisa was born. She smiled, said a quick hello, and the toymaker was ecstatic that his creation talked. Then he boxed it up, signed a label, and prepared for this talking, living toy to be shipped to Neopia Central for some young Neopet to enjoy.

      Only our story doesn’t quite work out like that. Grisa was getting angry inside of her cardboard box. She made it to Neopia Central, but didn’t get her creator’s dream accomplished.

      She just was trapped in that stupid cardboard box for almost twelve long Neopian years at the bottom of a toy store’s warehouse. Little did she know her box was labeled “DO NOT OPEN” in red paint. The paint was added in Year 6 when the shopkeeper decided it would be a bad idea to discover the box’s contents.

     Year 13

      The strength from the unknown friend’s potion built up inside of Grisa. It was tearing the stuffing inside of her apart, making them rumble like a stomach she didn’t have, making something inside of her boil. Underneath her stitched smile came an onslaught of teeth, tearing the box to shreds. She was free at last!

      When Grisa crept out of the warehouse cellar, she figured out that it was dark outside. Nobody was in the shop, so she looked for the plushies. Plushies weren’t what toys like her were called in Year One; they were stuffed animals. And Grisa just sat down next to one that looked like a green Gelert. The other plushies seemed lifeless. Nobody moved, nobody made a sound, except for Grisa.

     Until one day.

     And on that one day, Grisa immediately discovered she was not the only living toy there, even before she gave the chant that was able to bring life to all. A little faerie-like creature hopped over to her, and immediately took interest in this somewhat oversized, yet docile-looking, plushie Poogle.

     “I’m Zelda~!” the little toy exclaimed with happiness to Grisa. Grisa immediately took a liking to this... miniature stuffed animal. Grisa didn't have the cultural background to realize Zelda was a Plushie Faellie, and that legend had it that Plushie Faellies were so evil that they were supposed to take over Virtupets Space Station and oust Dr. Sloth, making him second in command to their endless numbers of tiny, soft bundles of Petpet.

     Zelda, however, didn't want to overtake Sloth. She was a strong believer in the plush clan. She was hundreds of years old, and for some reason, was never sold at the toyshop. She had sat on the shelf hidden behind other toys for generations. For years, she was the only living toy there and always spoke to herself quietly. Zelda was looking for a companion, and she found it instantly in Grisa.

     Zelda immediately became Grisa’s loyal follower, her second-in-command. Despite her tiny size, the two of them became good friends quite fast, sharing the same evil ways. And both had one thing in common – resentment for being the talking toys who lived in silence for so long.

      So after meeting Zelda, a fed-up Grisa began chanting some nonsense, and all of a sudden the whole shop came to life under the cover of night, when hundreds of young Neopians were fast asleep in their comfy beds in their warm, spacious Neohomes. The green Gelert plushie said hello, while Grisa was formulating her plan. She was going to be the evil empress of the toyshop, in order to unleash her resentment and spite. Grisa resented her creator and his mission. She hated being stuck in a box for such an extended period of time. They, the plushies, would battle the wooden toys and anything else capable of their downfall. However, by the time morning would come, the plushies would have to pretend everything was normal.

      Grisa led her revolution for several weeks. The toy soldiers were mysteriously disappearing and the owners and employees of the toyshop were getting suspicious. One day, a young Usul worker discovered Grisa sitting on the shelf next to the green Gelert, which was Grisa’s usual day position. “Do you remember this one? The Plushie Poogle Plushie?” the Usul employee shouted. The cashier shook his head no. Neither of them discovered she was alive, but they discovered her existence a lot faster than expected.

      Grisa contemplated what to do next. When a little baby Gelert walked in with his mom, Grisa saw the look in his eyes and knew that was her home. Grisa drummed up a small rhythm with her soft paws, luring the Baby Gelert her way.

      “I heard you,” the baby Gelert, whose name was Ramby, whispered.

      Grisa nodded, her eyes welling up. “Take me home.” She was overly trusting of this strange infant who figured out her secret almost immediately, but Grisa didn’t really care.

     Ramby's owner caved in, and she poured a large amount of Neopoints on the counters so Ramby could take home this peculiar plushie, which looked as if it may have just finished crying. Why was it so damp? Ramby thought he knew, but his owner never would...

      Ramby excitedly took Grisa home. Ramby actually thought the talking was an illusion, and Grisa was able to sense this. Grisa stopped talking while he was around, and waited until Ramby either went to Neoschool or was at a friend’s house before she began to introduce herself to the other toys.

      The greatest thing Ramby asked for his owner to do for Grisa was buy her a crown and a dress, which Grisa used entirely to show her authority over the other plushies and demand they destroy the wooden toys. With this little costume, Grisa began to consider herself the queen of Ramby’s room, who would aspire to become the queen of all things plush.

      As Ramby matured, Grisa got tossed to the top of a shelf while new toys took her place. This made her want to continue even more. Even after all the years of havoc Grisa wrecked, Ramby never figured out what happened to his wooden toys. He just thought his mother threw them out after all the years, not that Grisa was destroying them one by one in his nursery when nobody was home.

     After all, Grisa looked innocent. She wasn't a Malevolent Sentient Poogle Plushie.

The End