Kayla's Great Discovery

      "I still think we should try and take back the farmers," an old Gelert persisted. "Without the farmers the army cannot stand."

      "We should attack the Citadel!" A Kacheek suggested.

      "No, the Court Dancer has our king snatched from us! We need Skarl! I say we break the Court Dancer."

      "You are kidding. If we try and break the Court Dancer we will fall into her trap, and the Castle Court is the last hope to Meridell."

      "Jeran and his army are the last hope to Meridell! I can't believe you think a bunch of couch potatoes can help our people. Unless we can think of a way to help Jeran or Skarl, no miracle can save Meridell." Kayla sat in a corner, listening intently to the conversation. A miracle. A miracle. Kayla thought of what she could do. All that came to mind was potions. Sighing, Kayla slid off her chair and slunk out of the Courtroom without anyone knowing.

* * *

      "What am I supposed to do, Cocall?" Kayla's Turtum looked up at her and purred. She sadly stroked his bare head. Cocall cooed.

      "Rrrrrrr, meep," he purred.

      Kayla smiled and asked him, "Will Meridell survive?" He only lay down with a look of content in his eyes. Sighing, Kayla heaved herself from the chair and strolled to the cabinet. Cocall's tiny eyes followed her. The Zafara gently wrapped her nimble fingers around the knobs and pulled open the doors. Kayla had two cabinets. One in the kitchen with her food and Cocall's Canned Chow. The second one held strange potion ingredients, such as red, thick, bubbly stuff, fried potatoes and scrambled poisonous cheese. Bottles and bottles of purple runny liquid, green jelly-like substances and orange, preserved fish floating in milk-white water. Kayla opened this cabinet.

      Cocall looked at her with interest and cooed, "Meemeemeemee?"

      Kayla took half of the ingredients out and carried them to the lab. "I don't know, Cocall," she said, pulling on some magic-proof leather gloves. Her Turtum paddled through the doorway before the door closed. "I don't know what I'll make, but I've got to do something." Kayla loved the lab. It was dark except the glowing ingredients and the dim light that shone up from the light bulbs on the table, so she could see. It had an eerie air to it and sometimes, instead of making potions, she would just make some dry ice bubble and cackle, pretending to be a mad scientist. Cocall didn't understand why she did that, just purred and cooed. Kayla went right to work, mixing the formula from the fried potato in with the red, bubbly ooze and then she tried grinding the cheese into the preserved fish, and mixed that into the purple runny liquid and after that she mixed the first potion with the second potion and then ran it through a poison-checking filter and fed it to Cocall. Her petpet was her loyal test-taker, and because she loved her Turtum she always checked for fatal substances before giving it to Cocall. Even Reverse Powder couldn't reverse the effects of death. Cocall sipped the potion, peering down at it with glee, as though he was a baby being fed from a bottle full of milk. Then he pulled away and waited for the effect to come. It did in seconds.

      "Oh, Cocall!" Kayla laughed. The potion had made Cocall break out in red and white polka-dots! She fed him some Reverse Powder mixed in water, and then he returned to his natural color, though Cocall grimaced at the bitter taste. Kayla tried other combinations and other ingredients but nothing came out that seemed to help. She was just about to give up as she fed a potion to Cocall after checking it for poison. He licked his lips and purred, the remains of the potion bubbling up and popping on them. Kayla sighed. That potion was the thirteenth dud today. It was becoming night, the blood-red sun sinking on the hills of Meridell. Suddenly the effects of the potion took place. Kayla was staring out of the window when she saw a magic poof out of the corner of her eye. She looked down and saw Cocall staring up at her. She was surprised to see his head go up to keep his eyes on her. Was she getting bigger? The lab was still the same size it had always been, until she realized Cocall was shrinking. He shrunk from his original ft. to as tall as her shortest vial, going down to about as tall as half a pencil, leveling off at about two inches. Kayla gaped at her Petpet's size.

      Cocall cocked his head and cooed, "Rarara? Rrrrrrr..." Kayla scooped the pet up in one hand.

      "Cocall, you're tiny!" she whispered more to herself rather than him. He bounced up in down in her hand, making her whole arm go up and down. He purred up a storm.

      "I'd better feed him the Reverse Powder," she thought, reaching for the container. Suddenly a light bulb went on in her head. "Reverse Powder..." she thought, grabbing some fried potato, purple runny ooze, and a dead lizard's tail. As she mixed them together, Kayla threw in some Reverse Powder and boiled the cup of potion. The small Cocall watched her curiously. He got bored, grabbed a cork from an old vial and started wrestling with it. It was about as big as him. He played with the cork while Kayla ran the liquid through the filters. The screen read 'No Poison'. She poured the potion into a squirter.

      "He he, cute little guy," she murmured as she took the cork away from Cocall, then picked him up and took him out side into the fenced backyard.

      "Alright, Cocall, let's see if this works," she told him, and squirted the potion into his mouth. Kayla set him down and stood back. Then it happened.

      "May King Coltzan be merciful," she murmured. Cocall had began growing. When a little poof of pink sparkles surrounded him and then blew away, the Turtum expanded to his former size. After that, he grew to a size of 3 feet, about as tall as a Chia. Kayla back up against the cottage wall as Cocall expanded to about 5 feet, finally stopping at 6 feet.

      "Wow," she gasped.

      Cocall cooed, "Mmmmmmm..."

      Kayla smiled. Perhaps Meridell had a chance after all.

* * *

      Kayla ordered 50 Turtums for 200,000NP. She didn't worry about the colossal price, she had made enough money from her shop to buy the Turtums and still have enough money. She gathered the Turtums outside in the fence, then prepared a potion for each of them. Fried potato, the purple pus, a dead lizard's tail, and the Reverse Powder. Pouring it into a squirter, she worked long and hard through the night to administer each potion. It was 3:00am NST when the last Turtum was fed. Sighing, she slumped against the wall as she gazed at the giant Turtums in her yard. Many didn't fit in the fence, so she tied them -using a lot of rope- to nearby trees. Kayla walked over to Cocall, whom she had tied to the house with a red collar so she could tell him apart from the others.

      "Oh, Cocall," she smiled, petting his watermelon-size head. "Thank you."

* * *

      King Skarl awoke from his slumber the next day. Lisha, one of Kayla's dear friends, had seen through the beautiful Court Dancer's disguise and freed Meridell from her evil spell. The farmers rejoined Jeran, and his army grew larger and powerful. As soon as King Skarl had come back to earth, Kayla sought approval from him an hour after he reformed the army. She met him in the Royal Chamber.

      "King Skarl," she said, curtsying, "I have developed a potion that could help the armies so I request that you come and see the result. I want permission from a wise king."

      He grunted and asked, "Zafara..."

      "Kayla."

      "Kayla, whatever, I have a lot on my mind, what with the farmers arising and Kass close to winning. I must stay in the castle. Would you be able to bring the 'result' here?" he asked in gruff tones.

      "Yes, sir, but you will need to at least come outside. For 20 minutes."

      "What, the result can't fit through the front door?" he scoffed. Kayla fidgeted.

      "No, sir, it can't."

* * *

      Kayla brought Cocall to the Castle's front doors the next day. Funny how they were just small enough to keep out a six-foot Turtum. The King assigned his Castle's Court to uphold for 20 minutes or less while he took a look at Kayla's discovery. Kayla tied Cocall to a tree and entered the Castle to escort the King out. A little charm never hurt. King Skarl was not actually convinced that a young Zafara's potion could turn the tides of war. But he wasn't so skeptical when he saw Cocall.

      "What... How... Where..." he could only stutter.

      "I was working in my lab to do something helpful, you know, with the war and all, and I came up with this potion that turns Turtums to a mammoth size." Kayla tried to make it less dramatic, as King Skarl didn't like plays all that much.

      "I'll take it," Skarl declared happily.

      "Sir, I have 50 more of them back at my shop."

      "Oh, I'll take them. I don't want anyone's pet, lass, I want Turtums who don't have a home yet! I'll send a messenger to pick them up. Good work, Kaylee!"

      "Kayla."

      "Whatever." Skarl, as he promised, took the Turtums at Kayla's shop. The messenger had to walk the whole time, or the playful Turtums would think he was trying to play tag. The Kougra messenger and the Turtums walked to the Castle. Kayla sighed happily, before Cocall nudged her with his giant nose. She petted him, feeling good about what she had done. The Turtums could be trained in days to be useful horses carrying catapults and tanks. They would really contribute to the war. Kayla led Cocall home, and slid his red collar off. One more potion was to be used. Mixing some Reverse Powder in with plain old water, Kayla gave the substance to Cocall so he could enter the house again.

      "Oh, Cocall," she sighed, hugging her beloved petpet. "I love you so much."

      Cocall purred.

* * *

      As you all know, Skarl won the war and Darigan took his rightful place atop the Citadel. Lisha and Jeran were the main reason that Meridell won, but Kayla's potion helped Jeran's army get back on their feet so that they could overthrow Kass. Everyone contributed, and that's why Meridell won.

The End

Author's Note: If any Neopians are reading this, I'd like to say hi! This is my first submission to make it so thanks!