Feepit vs. Meepit

     "That's for you Meepits," the Feepit said, frowning disdainfully.

     "B-but..." Mariah was determined to try at least once. "Can't we be friends?"

     "Don't give me those eyes," Arlene said, glaring at Mariah. "That's so Meepit-ish..."

     "Please?" the little Meepit pleaded. A vein in the Feepit's forehead bulged dangerously as the blue petpet bounced forward and slapped the sapphire-colored one.

     "Ouch..." Mariah muttered as she touched her other cheek where Arlene had struck her.

     "And now you're going to act all cute," the Feepit said matter-of-factly as she glared at the victim of her violent act. "Please," she scoffed, "You're evil. Meepits are evil. You're all evil, forming a secret army to take over Neopia!"

     "N-no," the young Meepit said, fear entering her eyes for the first time she had been placed in this new home after being bought from the petpet shop. "You're kidding... T-there is no such thing as that."

     "Don't deny it," the Feepit snarled, jumping forward. By this time Mariah knew better. She skipped back and avoided the attack. "See? You're especially trained for this. You're evil!"

     "I'm not evil," the poor little Meepit whispered as two big tears formed themselves in her beady little eyes.

     "You Meepits are evil and ought to be extinguished," Arlene proclaimed as she waddled forward, making her opponent back down.

     "Aww... Look how great they're getting along!" the pet that towered above them squealed. A speckled wing swept down and pulled the Meepit away, making her sigh of relief.

     "You just got lucky," the Feepit said, raising a clenched fist. "But I'll get you!"

     The spotted Pteri noticed that her new petpet was making shrill noises of unhappiness. She took another look at the Feepit on the ground, then at her petpet and shrugged. As best as she could console it, Mariah only stopped making those noises when Arlene was out of her sight.

     "Can't wait for it, huh?" the Pteri said excitedly to her new petpet. "That new game... Feepit vs. Meepit!"

     Mariah gasped. She didn't like unnecessary violence, and a fighting game like that certainly did not appeal to her. The Meepit reminded herself that she was supposed to have manners, and smiled at the Pteri.

     "We'll take you guys to see it tomorrow! It's gonna be great!" The Pteri put her away in a nice little box, separated from the rest of the hard, cruel world Mariah had just experienced.

     The Meepit sighed from relief. She was at least safe now... until tomorrow. As her heart calmed down, Mariah started thinking about the only other petpet she had met in this household. What did Arlene mean with 'getting her'? Why didn't she want to be friends?

     The cute Pteri came back to play with her, and fortunately Arlene wasn't there. By now the Meepit had begun to understand that Arlene wasn't a very friendly creature. She nipped the Pteri's wings a few times playfully before she buried herself in the pink pillows. With her mind full of questions and feeling rather anxious for tomorrow, Mariah fell asleep.

     -

     "Cool!" the spotted Pteri exclaimed, dragging her brother and their two petpets off to the arena.

     "I don't understand what you are so hyped-up about," the Kacheek said matter-of-factly as he placed the two petpets on the ground.

     "Go and have fun, you two." The Pteri smiled before she turned away, leaving the Feepit and the Meepit alone with each other.

     Mariah gulped. Tomorrow had arrived too soon. Way too soon for her liking.

     "Let's get this done and over with, you evil little thing..." Arlene muttered as she brushed her fur. Gasping from the pain of having her arm pinched and caught, the Meepit was quickly dragged off to an arena-like area, far away from the two pets.

     "There we go," the Feepit said once they had reached that grassy place. It looked like a miniature field with small houses and cute, brightly colored things in the background.

     Confused, Mariah just stood there. Arlene waddled to the other side of the arena, and started glaring at her. The Meepit gulped nervously as she tried not to let the sweat run off her like a river.

     What was she supposed to do? She didn't even know how to fight! Mariah turned around to see if there were any good hiding places, but there weren't. Instead, she looked into the eyes of a playful Mynci and yelped from the fear.

     "Round one! Feepit vs. Meepit!" the Mynci said playfully as he drew a line with a stick in the middle of the arena.

     "Gonna get you, soldier of the secret Meepit army," Arlene growled as she stood there. The Meepit blinked. She had expected the Feepit to attack right off the bat, but...

     The attack hit her right in the stomach. Mariah fell down on the ground and held her small paws to the place where raw pain was streaming into her body.

     Was fighting like this? If it was, then... Trying hard to avoid the next few attacks, the Meepit took a deep breath and said, "I don't wanna fight!"

     "Fat little chicken," the Feepit replied. "That is just a way to conceal your true motives..." Without saying anything else, Arlene released a few powerful combos upon the poor Meepit. Even though Mariah had long been lying still on the ground, but the Feepit did not stop until she had run out of energy.

     "Round one goes to the Feepit! Time for round two!" the Mynci declared as the two pets got up.

     "I'm not evil... and I'm not a part of some secret, bad army!" Mariah whimpered as the Feepit drew closer. Arlene's cold, black eyes were relentless as she advanced. The Meepit backed as much as she could, trembling from fear.

     Just as the Feepit's punch struck, Mariah got an idea. She jumped up in the air and promptly landed on Arlene, hitting the Feepit pretty hard.

     "Sorry!" the Meepit whispered as she ran to the other side of the arena, fearing for more attacks. Somehow she felt that Arlene would just get angrier.

     Mariah was right. Quickly Arlene jumped up, ignoring the pain in her head as she ran forward and kicked the Meepit. The pink petpet defended herself the best she could, but a hit from above made her collapse on the ground from dizziness.

     "Evil, evil petpet..." she heard Arlene say.

     "Can't we be friends?" the Meepit desperately pleaded one last time.

     "NEVER!" the Feepit shouted as she attacked fiercely with new anger behind her. "Friends with a suspicious thing like you? Never in my life!"

     "But please don't fight me..." Mariah begged, but the politeness and cuteness of it all just provoked Arlene even more.

     "You are evil. Evil should be eradicated." Arlene kicked, punched and kicked again, and the Mynci gave her extra points for using a combo move.

     "I'm not evil," the Meepit thought out loud. She firmly held the belief that she was not evil, though she wasn't sure if she was really good. If she was good, like some of the other petpets at that shop had discussed, then Arlene would like her.

     Mariah ducked when the Feepit's fist came swinging, and lost her balance. Weakened and panicking, she accidentally kicked Arlene so the other petpet also fell.

     "Showing your true colors, huh?" the Feepit hissed as she crawled towards Mariah. "Well, I'll show mine too!"

     More and more rapidly Arlene threw kicks and punches at the Meepit. Mariah had no way of stopping them all. She was forced into a corner, then curled herself like a ball and hid in her own world. The tears were flowing now...

     The Meepit felt utter hopelessness as she hid inside her dark little world while hearing and feeling Arlene's fist make contact. She had tried to be friendly and good... But why didn't it work?

     Was it true, what Arlene had said? Was she evil? Mariah made no effort to brush her tears away, as fresh ones rolled down every second. Everything was growing so distant now...

     Lightheaded, the Meepit crawled out of the corner. She didn't even know what she was doing, but the light and the crowd astonished her. As the wind swooshed, she felt own fist move up and block the incoming attack.

     "Help," Mariah whispered. If there was one thing she didn't want to do, it was to fight. She had seen how those petpets in that shop had so bitterly fought each other for an owner, and the raw pain from the last round was still there. "I'm not evil," she repeated as she threw her left paw out, trying to make her mind less muddled than it was.

     Hearing a loud thud, the Meepit opened her eyes. She looked at Arlene, who was lying on the other side of the arena.

     "Fight! Fight!" the crowd around the arena chanted. Gasping, Mariah ran over to see if the Feepit was all right. She had done the thing that she had absolutely promised herself not to do.

     "I am so sorry," she told the Feepit. Instantly she felt herself flying backwards and landing on her back. Another kick made the Meepit see stars.

     "Round two to the Feepit!" she could hear someone announce far, far away. "Round three begins now!"

     "Someone help me!" Mariah cried out in anguish as Arlene jumped up and started to attack again. As her vision blurred, the Meepit could hear a familiar voice.

     "What's going on here?" the Pteri asked. The flame of hope burned brightly in the Meepit's chest as she got up. Salvation was here!

     "I believe that it is our petpets reenacting the Feepit vs. Meepit battle," the Kacheek stated. "Oh, look... Arlene has won two rounds already!" The striped Kacheek bent down and took up Arlene, who was growling at Mariah.

     The pink little petpet breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the two pets cuddle Arlene. They were praising her, of course, but the Meepit felt somewhat disappointed. Why didn't they pick her up and play with her, too? Then again, that might make the Feepit even unfriendlier...

     As the two happy pets patted and played with Arlene, the Feepit blew a raspberry. The revenge, as Arlene liked to think of it, was complete. She remembered the first time she had seen a Meepit's beady eyes... Oh, how much she had learned since then! That species was simply evil, and Arlene considered it her duty to destroy all of Meepitkind in order to save Neopia from these critters.

     "B-but what about me?" Mariah asked as the two pets started to leave. Ignorant of her somewhat loud noises, they kept on going. The Meepit waited until she was sure that they had forgotten about her, and tried to decide what to do next.

     For the first time in her life, Mariah felt betrayed. Even though Arlene had been mean, she hadn't expected this... them leaving her behind! The Meepit started walking in the other direction, not intending to return to the people who had so quickly forgotten her.

     Crystal tears of pure unhappiness rolled down the Meepit's face as she ran away, blinded by them. Only the way the asphalt scratched her after bumping into someone made her open her eyes.

     "S-sorry," Mariah whispered, unable to trust herself to talk.

     "Another one?" the petpet in front of her said. "Well, mateys, shan't we help this one too?"

     "Yes!" the petpets behind him squealed. When the Meepit had dried up her tears, she saw a whole bunch of Meepits, just like her, standing in behind the leader. He was the one that she had bumped into.

     "Won't you join us?" he said, bending down and reaching out a large paw. "With our powerful, beady eyes and our immense cuteness, we'll make Neopia better!"

     "Better?" the little Meepit wondered, as she stood up. The cruel words that the Feepit had uttered not long ago were still echoing in her mind. An army... She looked at the large number of those of her own species that were present, and shook her head. Arlene had claimed that they were evil. If they were, then...

     "No," Mariah said firmly, truly not wanting to be evil. She had committed enough sins today, hitting poor Arlene not once, but twice. "I am not evil."

     "We're just going to help you..." the leader said, pointing to the Meepits behind him. "Just like how I helped these guys..."

     "I am not a soldier of some secret, evil army," Mariah replied. She started walking away, and none of them stopped her. As soon as she reached the arena, the feelings and memories overwhelmed her. Falling on her knees, the Meepit started to sob. She convinced herself that she was not evil, and many other things on top of that as the tears that had been restricted all poured out.

     "Aren't you going to go after her, boss?" one of the Meepits asked the leader.

     "No," he replied. "She'll realize it. A Feepit cannot be defeated. Not if one is alone."

     "I see," the Meepit replied. "But it is certain that she will come, right?"

     "Of course. She'll join our army, making Neopia a little bit 'better'..." He frowned thoughtfully. "But maybe not the way she expects. Then again, we'll have to get rid of that naïveté and actually train her, I suppose."

     "Let's find new recruits then, boss," the Meepit said.

     "Yes. I'll go after her now. You guys stick to the plan, operation Taking Over Neopia!" The leader let out a laugh that matched Dr. Sloth's in wickedness as he started walking towards the place where Mariah was. "Now, as for that annoying little Feepit Arlene... Might have to beat her up again, that brat..."

The End