Tails of Terror: The Malice of Mr Squishy - Part Two

     It wasn't pleased.

     Opening it's mouth, the Snicklebeast snapped at Togger's paw, engulfing his finger in a slobbery grasp. Togger shrieked girlishly before pulling up, the Snicklebeast now dangling from his paw.

     "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!"

     With a thud the Snicklebeast fell to the ground, Togger whimpering at his finger. Sila hurried back into the hallway, a worried look on her face, just as the Snicklebeast burst into terrified tears.

     "Togger!" she exclaimed, scooping the Petpet up into her arms and rocking him gently. "There there, Mr Squishy, it's alright, that big nasty Gelert won't hurt you again-"

     "BIG NASTY GELERT?!" Toggerneo exclaimed in disbelief. "HE BIT ME!"

     Sila glanced down at the teary-eyed Snicklebeast, and watched as it pointed a finger at itself and gave a puzzled frown, as if to say "What, me?" And, of course, Sila fell for it immediately.

  "Oh come now," she said with a smile at the huge glistening eyes of the Petpet, "he wouldn't hurt a fly!"

     Toggerneo growled and held up the finger, which was bleeding badly. "I think you'll find this is a lot BIGGER than a fly, and he happily tried to eat it entirely."

     The Aisha rolled her eyes and put her finger near the Snicklebeast's mouth. It glanced at Toggerneo, and for a moment he would have sworn there was a devilish grin across its face, before it turned back and started nibbling on her finger gently, smiling as sweetly as possible.

     "Awwww, Mr Squishy wouldn't do a thing to hurt you. Maybe you just have very weak skin?" She giggled. "Or maybe you're just a wimp."

     "I AM NOT A WIMP!" he yelled angrily. "THAT CREATURE- WHO I WILL NOT CALL "MR SQUISHY"- IS EVIL!"

     Mr Squishy started whimpering, and hugs Sila's paw tight.

     "Oh yes," she said with a sigh. "Why, I'd bet even Sloth himself couldn't stand up to this thing. These hugs are all part of his master plan to destroy the planet, I'm assuming."

     "B-…but-" Togger stumbled to find the words.

     "Stop fooling around," she said firmly, "and find a good place to sleep for my sweet little Fluffykins! Everyone is going away for the weekend, so that'll be the perfect time for you two to bond!"

     Togger's eyes widened.

     "You're going away?! For the whole weekend?! Where?! When?! Why didn't you ask me to come?!"

     "So you would like to come to a rebuild Maraqua protest?" Sila said, rolling her eyes.

     "And get my fur wet? Well, of course not! But I would like to have the option…" Toggerneo said, turning from Sila with folded arms. Mr Squishy looked around him, mapping out this new home like a master thief plotting out his route through the valuables of the house. Sila, content that Mr Squishy was happy now, gave Toggerneo one last look and headed back out into the kitchen. The Gelert waited for her to slide the door shut before kneeling to Mr Squishy slowly, muscles tensed in case the monster attacked and he had to make a quick getaway.

     "I know your game," he said, glaring at the Petpet. "You can't fool me, you little sack of cutey-sickness." All it did was smile sweetly, and Toggerneo sighed, standing up straight. "I've got my eye on you," he muttered as he spun on his heel and headed back towards the stairs.

     The Snicklebeast grinned as the Gelert's long tail swished by him.

     CHOMP.

     "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

     "Toggerneo!" Sila called as she made the sandwich, totally unaware that the Snicklebeast was, at that moment, trying to utterly devour the Gelert's lower half. "Be nice to the poor mite!"

     ***

     "We'll see you soon, Toggerneo!" Nick exclaimed, a puzzled look on his face. "We're only gone for the weekend- usually you're glad to have the place to yourself!"

     "USUALLY," the Gelert said, still clinging to his owner's legs desperately, "there isn't a homicidal Snicklebeast roaming the house, looking for fresh meat!"

     "Togger!" Sila exclaimed. "For the last time, Mr Squishy-"

     "Mr Evil!"

     "MR SQUISHY is just a cute little Petpet in need of some attention." And with that she stepped out the door, closely followed by Nick, who'd managed to escape Toggerneo's frantic grasp. With a sharp boom the door was shut.

     It sounded, to Toggerneo at least, like the sound of a Snicklebeast smashing a vase over his head, before searching for a place to gag his next meal. Well, the searching and gagging weren't in the noise, but it was sure to happen.

     ***

     Mr Squishy was already making plans for the poor Gelert, although his prey didn't know it. He had taken over a small Petpet carrier, which seemed to be home to another Petpet already- a plump Warf, who was named Totodum. Mr Squishy had expected some sort of resistance to his capture of the carrier, but this "Toto" wasn't particularly bright, it seemed, and control was soon the Snicklebeast's. Everything was perfect, except that the Warf took every opportunity he had to make a friend with a disgusting glee. As Mr Squishy plotted and concocted a devious plot, Totodum prodded his sides, giving a goofy grin every time they made eye contact, and belched loudly on a constant basis. The solution to Mr Squishy's Warf problem was obvious. With a heave Totodum was pushed from his carrier and into the yard, and sat there, sniffing sadly, whilst the Snicklebeast just giggled insanely to himself-

     ***

     "Uncs!" Mauky exclaimed with a giggle. "Was he really that evil? I mean, how could you know what he did?"

     Toggerneo blinked.

     "Uhh… it was in his written confession. Yeah. Anyways, whilst that was going on…"

     ***

     Over the course of the Friday evening Toggerneo heard not a peep from the Snicklebeast. Every few seconds he would glance up from his book- Gelert Rock and Roll, a book he swore to his friends starred him on the cover- and look around, to make sure the monster of unimaginable terror hadn't crept in. Finally, as the last light faded from the windows and his eyes started to droop, he slid the bookmark into place and put the book on the floor at the end of the bed, standing up and yawning. After a few moments he'd changed into a short shirt and shorts, and was clambering into bed.

     A soft creak from outside the door, and immediately all signs of fatigue were gone- Toggerneo's ears shot up straight and he stared at the door.

     Inch by agonising inch, it slid open, and in stepped...

     ***

     "Oooh, I bet this is gonna be scary, Uncle Togger!"

     ***

     Pacca.

     ***

     "… Oh."

     ***

     The baby Lupe trotted happily over to his big brother, grinning from ear to ear, his tail wagging furiously.

     "Hey, Pacca," the Gelert sighed, sitting down on his bed and patting his lap. The Lupe leapt up and hugged Toggerneo tight, smiling still, and the Gelert brother returned the embrace. "I'm really glad-"

     He froze.

     There, tucked securely into Pacca's bandana, was a small, crudely drawn picture. In it a familiar Snicklebeast was pushing a large frost cannon towards an even more familiar red Gelert, grinning manically.

     "… Now THAT'S creepy."

     ***

     "You're around here somewhere!" Toggerneo growled, his body strapped with pillows, a saucepan taped to his head. "Don't make any sudden moves, I have a… umm…" The Gelert patted his pockets. He had no weapon. Quickly he leapt into a forward roll and to the fridge, whipping it open and scouring the contents. "I have… A cucumber!" Triumphantly Togger swung the veggie around and over his head, like a sword fit for a knight. Or a potato.

     A faint cackle came from somewhere close by, and Toggerneo spun his cucumber around viciously, scanning the kitchen. Empty. Trying to keep his breaths regular, and his feet from shooting him out the front door, the crimson Pet stood up straight.

     The house had sunken into a slight darkness, the weather outside brewing a storm, thunder booming all around. But inside the Neohome, all was quiet. The sound of a pin dropping was enough to make Togger fly for cover. (Wouldn't you?) It was like something from one of Birdie's horror stories…

     "Creepy," he muttered, just trying to fill the silence. "I mean-"

     Suddenly, a sound echoed from the hallway. The stairs creaked with the patter of paws, a noise that was getting more distant as Togger's keen ears listened to them fade away.

     A look of fear flashing across his face, Toggerneo crept up to the stairs, taking a look into the bleak darkness above- the noises of footsteps had gone again, and all that was left was the roar of the thunder, entering the house from an open window near the peak of the stairs. Sneaking slyly up the steps, and still clutching the mighty cucumber in hand, he placed a paw on the bathroom door. With a twist of the handle, the door was open.

     And the room… was vacant.

     Flicking the light switch, Togger wandered into the bathroom, the bright light comforting him like a shield from the great, demonic Snicklebeast.

     The warmth of the lights and the fact that he was in relative safety immediately brought back to Toggerneo the fact that he'd been about to get into bed when Pacca had come in. Yawning, the exhausted Gelert sat down on the thick carpet, crossing his legs and resting the cucumber on his lap. He still looked around him, checking for anything out of the ordinary, but the eyes with which he searched were slowly closing… he was so tired…

     BOOM.

     With a yelp, Toggerneo leapt up and behind the shower curtain, shaking furiously as he resisted the idea of sucking his thumb. The Snicklebeast was in the room! It had slammed the door shut, and now he could see the shady silhouette of the vertically-challenged beast waddle around the bathroom. What was it doing? He couldn't be sure. But it was doing something horrific, no doubt, something or unimaginable terror…

     The toilet flushed, and someone coughed.

     "Pacca!" Toggerneo growled, poking his head around the shower curtain. "Get out of here! Can't you see I'm doing something VERY important?!"

     The Lupe looked his brother up and down, shock in his eyes, before bursting into tears and fleeing the room. The Gelert sighed- he hadn't meant to yell, and this meant he'd have to spend hours trying to get Pacca to forgive him.

     "Well," he said as his eyes rested on something in the corner, next to the wash basin, "that'll be the first step." The baby Lupe had left a bag behind, a small blue backpack with a picture of Jeran looking heroic on the flap. Pacca always carried his most valuable possessions in it, ever since Birdie had taken to stealing anything he didn't- a bag full of toys, candy and trading cards.

     Just as Toggerneo made to get up and grab the backpack, though, a small, pale paw burst through the zip, a bald paw on a stalk of white, ragged fur. The Snicklebeast! This was Toggerneo's big chance, but within seconds Mr Squishy could be walking free, and being face-to-face with the creature was not something the handsome Gelert was keen experience again.

     The Snicklebeast started unzipping the bag, it's horns poking through as is raised up on its feet, it's fur dripping wet in Pacca's saliva. Pacca, (being the most carnivorous of Lupes) must have found the Snicklebeast to be a new playmate, or chew toy, and Toggerneo would have laughed, were he not about to be eaten.  

The cogs in Toggerneo's brain twirled faster and faster, trying to think of some way to stop the Snicklebeast. A flash of inspiration hit him, and quickly he leapt over the Snicklebeast, grabbing it on the way. Somehow he found himself rolling all over the floor, trying desperately to keep the monster in his grasp, whilst it hit at him and growled menacingly.

     "NO!" Toggerneo exclaimed as the Petpet sprang from his paws clumsily. It had, though, clearly not planned on where it was going to land, and flew through the air like a rock, arms flailing wildly. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Mr Squishy landed with a splash in the toilet, the lid toppling over from the great rupture caused by his arrival.

     "… I caught him?" Toggerneo asked, dazed. "… Yes! I caught him! Asta la-bye-bye, Mr Squishy." Toggerneo said, grinning with triumph as he reached for the toilet handle.

     But then, from within the toilet, a little mournful plea could be heard. Odd sounds, like the purr of a Kadoatie, but much sadder. With his smug attitude dying, Toggerneo felt brotherly instinct kick in.

     "I HATE brotherly instinct," he muttered as he lifted the lid. There, trembling in the cold water, was the Snicklebeast, any ferocious quality it previously holding gone as it shivered. "…I'm sorry little guy… here, come on out and we'll get you dried-"

     It was at this moment that the Snicklebeast started to choke, and a scrap of paper poked out from it's mouth. Mr Squishy quickly stuffed it back in with an innocent smile, but within moments Toggerneo was desperately tugging his jaws open. "That- that looked familiar- Y-y… you didn't!"

     But he had.

     There, lying on Mr Squishy's tongue, was a scrap of paper which read "Defenders of Neopia - Issue #001"

     Toggerneo's eyes turned red. Redder than his crimson fur. Redder even than his cheeks when he'd managed to sleepwalk his way into a local library in the middle of the night, and awoken in the fiction area, surrounded by kids. Swiftly the toilet lid was slammed shut and Togger pulled the handle with all his might.

     FLUSH.

     And it was gone.

     ***

      "And that's how the courageous, brave, and rather dashing Gelert defeated the demonic Snicklebeast!" Toggerneo boasted, brushing his fur back confidently. "… Mauky?"

     Mauky, the speckled Cybunny, was fast asleep, clutching her uncle in a tight hug. With a smile, the Gelert picked her up in his arms and carried her to his tent, where he placed the young girl down before leaving with a parting kiss on the cheek.

     ***

     And if you listen really carefully…

     …and don't make a sound…

     …you can hear the mournful cry of Mr Squishy…

     …and then the flush of a toilet.

END.

Authors Note : Spiffy art done completely by Huggsy, whilst the fantabulous story is the joint work of Huggsy and Neonick. We hope you enjoyed it, Togger certainly didn't!