Mysteries of the Colors: Baby Pteris

After many months of JubJub and Kiko evasion, Angel and I were more than eager to continue with our research into the many mysterious colors of Neopia. During our many months of seclusion from the research world, I spent much time deciding which colors to research next. I managed to come up with a long list of colors to investigate and was thoroughly excited about each and every one of them. I knew that our return to our grand investigation needed to be marked with one the most exciting of the colors though. Thus, Angel and I packed up our gear and set out to research the ever-exciting Baby Pteri.

There is no doubt that Baby pets are some of the sweetest, most adorable pets in Neopia. Through the magic of the Baby Paint Brush or a stray zap from little Boochi, Neopets may gain a precious new appearance. The Baby Pteri is perhaps one of the most precious Baby pets of all though. While all other species merely shrink down to a tinier version of themselves, the Baby Pteri goes one step further. This little darling utilizes the magic of the Baby color to change into a sweet little egg form.

As had become tradition with our investigation, we settled upon five questions in order to further understand the mysteries of these precious little pets.

The Questions:

1. How do Baby Pteris eat?

Food is one of the most important aspects of a young pet's life. Without proper nourishment, one cannot expect a Baby pet to grow properly. Some pets even seek to eat beyond simple nourishment and receive a special Gourmet award. Although it is quite obvious how other Baby pets eat, it is not so clear with Baby Pteris. The little eggs do not have the mouths or beaks that other Baby pets possess, and thus Angel and I grew curious as to how these pets actually eat. We knew that owners could grow quite upset if we openly experimented on their pets, so we took to disguises for our investigation. To answer this question, Angel and I decided to borrow the Soup Kitchen for a day. While Angel spent some time shopping for various food items, I put together some rather convincing costumes. Once our preparations were finished, we snuck up on the Soup Faerie in the middle of the night and kindly relocated her to a locked closet. After procuring the Kitchen for our investigation, we donned our disguises and awaited the arrival of a Baby Pteri to run tests on.

Morning brought a rush of pets to the Soup Kitchen, and we quickly came upon a Baby Pteri and her owner. My masquerade as the Soup Faerie proved to be very convincing, as the owner gladly handed over her little egg for me to feed. Angel and I quickly took the Baby pet back to a side room, which the Soup Faerie had specially designed for Baby pet feedings. I gently set the little egg onto a pile of blankets, and we began our careful experiment. I wrote down results as Angel carefully ran the tests. We quickly found out that Baby Pteris are able to absorb food through their shell. You simply must blend the food to a mushy state and gently pour the food over the egg shell. In an instant, the food that Angel applied to the egg began to seep into and through the shell. All was going well, until an angry yell suddenly sounded right behind me. I turned around quickly and found myself face to face with the actual Soup Faerie. She was covered with closet dust, red in the face, and had a look of ferocity in her eyes. We fled from the scene in sheer terror, chased by angry owners, large cookware, and hot soup all the way through Neopia Central.

2. How do Baby Pteris read?

After seeking refuge far from the Soup Faerie's anger, we moved on to our next question. Many pets hope to be a top reader and have a book trophy someday. In order to do this though, a pet must read many books. Although many owners will read to their Baby pets, I have also witnessed Baby pets reading books on their own before. Although it seems obvious how other Baby pets are able to read, it is not so clear with the eye-lacking Baby Pteri. In order to answer this question, Angel and I set out to the most knowledgeable land of Brightvale. With disguises as the base of our experiment, I dressed myself to resemble none other than Princess Roberta. As Angel distracted Roberta with a charming petpet act, I snuck up on the famous Acara. Moving as quickly as possible, I used her own magic scrolls to bind and blindfold her. After locking her in the cellar of her shop, we quickly took charge of the Brightvale Scrollery.

Angel had ventured out into the Brightvale community and had come across a lovely Baby Pteri for us to experiment on. The little faellie gifted a fake coupon to the owner, which claimed to take half of the price off of a purchase of Brightvale scrolls. The owner gladly accepted the coupon and came to the shop with Angel. After purchasing three new scrolls for her Pteri, the owner began to discuss different Brightvale matters with me. I gladly kept the owner distracted as Angel convinced the Baby Pteri to read his new scrolls. It was the strangest sight. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the egg leaned toward one of the open scrolls. The Pteri seemed to be glowing with a strange sort of orange light, which engulfed both the egg and the scroll. As soon as the scroll poofed away in a bought of colorful smoke, the orange light shifted to engulf the next scroll. My best assumption was that the orange light somehow transmitted information inside the egg so that the Pteri could read it. As I watched this happen and tried to keep up with the owner's talk of Brightvale happenings, I scarcely took note of a strange scraping noise that was coming from the back room. My attention was captured by the noises that followed the scraping, though. The sound of splintering wood erupted from behind me, and I felt several scrolls thud into the back of my head. Rubbing the area of impact, I turned to see what was amiss. The answer to this question found Angel and I bolting down the cobbled roads of Brightvale, jumping away from spells at every turn as an angry Roberta chased us down.

3. Do Baby Pteris speak?

Fearful of staying in Brightvale, we decided to move on to another land to continue our research. The next question that we intended to study was a rather simple one. Angel and I wondered if Baby Pteris were capable of speech. Our family was full of rather talkative pets, as were many other families that Angel and I had come across. It seemed that every pet was capable of speech, yet I still wondered about Baby Pteris. Once again, it is to be noted that these pets have no mouth or beak. Thus, I wondered if they were actually capable of speaking at all. Angel and I were once again having trouble with finding a way to answer our question. So we decided to follow our tradition of angering pets in order to find our trickier answers. I figured that nothing would anger an owner or a Baby pet more than the pet being stolen out of his or her owner's arms. Angel and I decided that a member of the Thieves Guild would be the best pet to do such a thing.

After carefully crafting disguises, Angel and I made our way to the Mysterious Obelisk in Tyrannia, where the Thieves still awaited the results of the war. We sought out the easiest target of the group and struck when she carelessly isolated herself from the crowd. After ambushing the Petty Pilferer, we tied her up and threw her into an abandoned tent on the battle field. As Tyrannia is the home of many Pteris, we quickly found an owner and her Baby Pteri nearby. In my new thievish disguise, I rushed toward the owner and snatched the little egg from her hands. She shrieked as I raced away with her little egg. The Pteri quickly answered our question as well, as several loud sounds erupted from within the egg. The whole pet shook with anger, shuddering each time he shouted for help. I had no sooner discovered the answer though, when the egg was snatched from my own hands. I skidded to a stop, wondering what had just occurred. To my misfortune, I found myself facing none other than Kanrik himself. Apparently Angel and I had thrown the Petty Pilferer right into his tent, thus he could see very clearly through my disguise. As he returned the pet to his owner, I sped away from the scene. Unfortunately, Thieves are immensely swift, and Angel and I had to dodge their attacks the whole way out of Tyrannia.

4. How do Baby Pteris battle?

After narrowly escaping Kanrik and the rest of the Guild, we found ourselves back at home on Mystery Island. I was feeling a bit sore from the many angry pets, owners, and faeries that I had faced, yet the investigation had to go on. The next question on our list involved how Baby Pteris were able to battle. It seemed to be quite a feat to me for a normal Baby pet to wield weapons and face opponents in the Battledome, thus the idea of a little egg battling was astounding to me. I did not quite understand how one would go about equipping such a pet, or how the little pet would be able to battle anyone. It seemed that all of our plans for these experiments involved costumes of some sort, and I found myself donning yet another disguise in order to seek the answer to this question. This time my outfit matched the Ghost Lupe, as I would have to face a Baby Pteri in the arena to fully receive my answer. Capturing the Ghost Lupe was quite a challenge, but we managed. Angel seemed to know a little history on the Lupe and on whom he sought revenge. She managed to convince him to go with her, and she proceeded to lead him on a wild chase through the lands. Meanwhile, I took my place in the Pango Palladium in order to battle some pets.

Unfortunately it seemed that every pet except for a Baby Pteri planned to challenge the Ghost Lupe on that day. I found myself on the run from these pets of immense strength and brutal weapons. Luckily my outfit was quite durable, and stood up against these many challengers. Finally, as the sun was setting, a Baby Pteri challenged me. I learned a valuable lesson in that battle. It was that you should never judge a battler's strength by their level of adorableness. I found out much more about the Baby Pteri battling style than I ever sought to know. Using a special leather band wrapped around the egg's center, the Pteri was able to wield weapons. The band had loops to hold the weapons tightly and allowed them to stay upright at the egg's side. The pet then attacked by rolling at an immense speed and slamming into me with his shell and his weapons. The powerful impact sent me flying against the arena wall. I didn't last two minutes in the arena against the Pteri. He booted me out of the arena with one of his strongest strikes, and I slid across the lush island grass. To my misfortune, I slid right in front of the actual Ghost Lupe. He growled in my face with immense ferocity, and I scurried to my feet. I was on the run in moments, trying to outpace the angry Lupe as best as I could.

5. How do Baby Pteris move?

After we finally escaped the Lupe, I was worn out. I was beaten and bruised all over. We still had one more question to answer though. I was immensely curious to know of all the different ways that Baby Pteris could move. How did they get around, besides having an owner carrying them or rolling about? I refused to put on any sort of disguise for this experiment, since I was still hurting from the last four disguises. Thus, I convinced Angel to run the experiment while I recorded the results. She agreed, and we took to the streets of Qasala to find the answer to our final question. Angel's plan for the experiment turned out to be quite simple but rather effective.

As we wandered the streets, Angel caught sight of an owner purchasing a Fruity Shaved Ice for her sweet little Pteri. The owner barely had the treat in her hands before Angel flew over, snatched it away, and soared down the streets. A wail came from the Pteri, and the pet quickly took chase after her. The pet proved to be very mobile as he rolled quickly down the desert streets. As Angel soared higher, he threw himself into the air, using the tops of tents to bounce into the air. When the egg had soared into the air, he used his strange orange light like a pair of hands and swung from ropes tied between buildings. Finally, he reached the same height as Angel and threw himself toward her. The treat slipped from her hands and she began to fall as the egg slammed into her back. I caught her right before she hit the ground, and we raced away as the egg chased us.

Thus, our investigation into the mysteries of Baby Pteris ended. We hope that you may have learned more about these interesting pets through our exciting experiments. I must ask that you please excuse us, as we set off to investigate even more strange and mysterious colors. I hope that we will have the chance to write again soon with even more intriguing information for the citizens of Neopia. At least, I hope to do so after we have paid off our debts to those that we impersonated. Apparently characters do not appreciate being locked away or led on wild chases. Until next time!