When Bad Shoyrus Go Awful: Part Two

Keya finally found her voice. "Ah! Laural! We have to go now. I want to get everything money can buy!"

I deposited 1 million into my savers account, just before upgrading it to Millionaire-Mega Platinum. And then came the shopping spree.

I gave Keya 30,000 Neopoints and told her she could invite some friends and have a girl's day out. She smiled, and ran off with the bag of coins. I had a fleeting feeling that when she returned the bag would be empty.

I spent the day upgrading our Neohome. The insurance went from nothing to Peophin Platinum. The wallpaper became royal. We had marble flooring, the halls were filled with light from gorgeous chandeliers, and we had a very sleek heating system. I also changed the bamboo to cloud, and it cost me a mere 25,000 Neopoints. I could get used to this.

Keya came home carrying a pack bursting with toys. It was more plushies then I had ever seen in my life. She had baby plushies, faerie plushies, mutant plushies, and everything in between. I was appalled. How could one Shoyru spend 30,000 Neopoints on plushies in a single day? Her face was glowing.

"Look, Laural, look! Have you ever seen anything so magnificent?" She paused and looked around her. "Wow! Nice upgrades. Tomorrow can we go furniture shopping?

I signed. She would never be happy. This little Neopet was like a hole you could never fill. "Sure, Keya. We can pick out all new furniture."

"Great! I thought we could do a pink theme in my room. You know, with that heart shaped nice bed and a cool dresser?"

"Sure, sure." Anything to get her off my back.

"And what about a Petpet? And could I," she paused, and I knew what was coming. "Could I get painted?"

I sighed. I had been dreading that question. For all knew, she could have wanted to be painted baby, which would blow close to half of our money.

"Well, that depends, Keya. What do you want to be painted?"

She looked at my with a dreamy expression in her eyes. "Well, I really wanted to be painted royal, but I know that's even more then a million. So I decided on faerie."

I breathed a sign of relief. Faerie wasn't that expensive. It was between 200 and 300 thousand, which was nothing compared to what she could have demanded.

"Sure Keya, we'll get one the day after tomorrow." I was tired. I wanted to go to bed, so I left her amongst her mountain of plushies and headed for my room. This room was even worse then Keya's. There was no bed, but a pile of pink pillows in the corner for sleeping. And then there was dung chair near the round hole in the wall that served as a window. I tried to forget all about Keya's greed as I drifted into a peaceful sleep.

I was awoken by Keya jumping on my excitedly. "Today's the day! I need new furniture!" She nearly screamed in my ear.

I yawned. "Keya, what the heck are you doing up so early? It's still dark out," I squinted through the darkness. She was smiling a huge maniacal grin. Some people say that money changes creatures. Humans and Neopets alike. But Keya wasn't any different. She had been like this since day one. Greedy and ambitious and power hungry. I don't know how I missed it when I was creating her. But now that she had that money, the sky was the limit. Or at least 1.3 million Neopoints.

The Shoyru was so excited that she nearly pushed me from behind all the way to downtown Neopia Central. The furniture shop was, of course, the first stop.

She got a heart shaped stain glass window, a valentine's pillow, a beauty bed, a pink vanity desk, a pink rug, and a pink table. I was sure the room was going to look like cupid's house, but Keya was set on this arrangement. She bought all fancy bathroom plumbing, some stone kitchen appliances, Zen living room furniture, and then left me to pick out my bedroom furniture.

I picked out a nice Kauvara set, and surprisingly, Keya approved. We also bought some food at the health food shop. And Keya insisted on buying a bandana and a scarf from Uni's Clothing. The day had been a long one, but it was only 2 in the afternoon when we were done shopping.

We passed an owner with a baby Ruki and a baby Yurble on our way home. Both were squealing on how they were going to try the new game, Hannah and The Ice Caves.

Keya was watching the babies intently with a glow in her eye, but I didn't really notice. But the talk of games got me thinking. We should still have a steady flow of Neopoints coming in.

"Hey Keya, do you want to drop this stuff of at home and play some games afterwards?" I asked hopefully.

"Nah," she sighed. "We're rich now, why would we play games? Games are for poor Neopians."

I looked at her angrily. We had been rich for 2 days! How could she be so snotty already? I thought perhaps I had better get another Neopet to make her a little less spoiled. But what if that pet turned out like Keya? I didn't think I could stand two Keyas. No, I would just have to stick it out with Keya.

"Come on Keya! Games are fun. They'll just bring a little extra home."

But Keya just smiled and shook her head, as if the subject wasn't even worth talking about.

We arranged all the furniture that night, and I had to admit, the house looked magnificent. I was lounging on my Kauvara bed when Keya walked into the room and pounced on my bed. She gave me a melting smile.

"Hi Laural! I can't wait for tomorrow! To finally be painted is a dream come true. I'll have so many more friends at school, and I'll be happier." She gave me a hug and ran back to her newly finished room.

That was strange. I had never seen Keya so content, so happy with life. Who was this little Shoyru, and what had she done with Keya? I smiled. Maybe she just couldn't think of anything else she wanted. Maybe she was finally content. The thought calmed me, and I began to drift into a serene sleep.

But before I could get there, I felt a twinge in my stomach. Something was wrong here. Something was very wring, indeed. Keya was never content. And she was definitely up to something.

My sleep was not as relaxing as it had been the night before. I had the most frightening dream. Keya was sitting upon a huge pile of plushies and furniture, wearing a string of pearls and heart shaped sun glasses. She was a baby, or painted baby I could not tell. She was laughing happily, like a five year old in a candy shop, playing with one of her thousands of plushies. She looked directly at me and smiled. And she spoke, "Oh! Hi Laural! I spent all of out Neopoints. I'm a little baby now. I'm sorry about that, but I had to be this cute." Her irony was bitter. She was not really sorry. In fact, she was so happy she had stolen my Neopoints that she could burst. "But I really can't have you stealing it back now can I?" I wanted to protest, tell her that I couldn't get it back because she was already painted, so it didn't matter. But I couldn't. My mouth seemed glued shut. I couldn't even mumble. She laughed, and jumped down from her mountain and dragged me to the edge of a cliff made from paint brushes. "Bye-bye Laural!" And with that, she pushed me over the edge, laughing merrily, as if it were Christmas.

I woke up with beads of sweat dripping down my forehead. It was light out my window, but Keya never let me sleep this late. What was going on? And where could I have possibly gotten the dream from? I jumped out of bed and ran to find Keya. She wasn't in her bed, or in the kitchen or bathroom. I ran for the living room.

There, sitting before our new fireplace, was a baby Shoyru. She was playing with a faerie plushie. I screamed.

She looked up at me abruptly, "Oh…hi Laural. Sleep well?" She seemed nervous, not like in my dream.

I was so enraged that I couldn't speak. She took my silence as a You-better-explain-right-now-missy statement. She shifted uncomfortably on the floor.

"Well, I knew you would never let me be painted baby if I asked, so I told you I wanted to be painted faerie. Last night I took 600,000 of our Neopoints to the Hidden Tower and bought a paint brush from Fyora. And, here I am," she finished weakly.

I still couldn't speak. I was so angry I picked her up and marched her all the way to the Shop Wizard. I bought a red paint brush, and painted away her beautiful baby color. I didn't care that I was throwing away the money. She needed to learn that this was so wrong.

We were never really rich again; we stayed at the hardworking middle class title. And I'm OK with that. And thanks to our run in with over a million Neopoints, Keya is too.

The End