The Infestation

     The pair skipped quietly out of their Neohome. It was a beautiful spring day; the sun was shining and the Draphlys were fluttering in the breeze. Roo Island was always the prettiest this time of year, the rolling green foliage was quite the sight to see. They circumnavigated the Merry Go Round which was just creaking to life with its first customers and crossed the bridge, peeking down into the river for any Goldies that may have come to visit. Nigel chased a Mortog into the centre square. They listened as the Baby Neopians peeped in the distance and the locals chattered to their patrons. Finally, the two stumbled into their domain, the Games Room.

     They were always the first to arrive so it was part of their duty to start all of the Games. Barney flicked on the lights and Nigel bounced over to turn on Feed Florg. It sputtered to life with the bright inviting music. As Nigel continued down the line but there were a few Games not turning on. He roared for Barney’s attention and Barney immediately shuffled over.

     “Hmm. That is unusual.” Barney crooned, trying to click the button again. Nigel was sniffing around the back of the machine so Barney followed him with his eye.

      They both spotted it at the same time: A Mutant Meepit. Nigel stared at the pink thing with surprise and it stared right back… clearly it was dazzled by the bright lights. Barney shifted uncomfortably, as Nigel chased it from the room into the courtyard. He wondered how it got in. Then the lightbulb went off in his head and he ran down the line of games, aiming for the Juice Break room. Before he could reach it, he shuttered at what he saw: another Meepit in the corridor. This one was less dazed and had a half-eaten Scab Cake in its paw. It went to scamper off, but Barney swiped it holding it tight. It meeped with annoyance.

     Barney called for Nigel, if this was what he thought it was he would need back up immediately. He continued down the hall… he spied more Meepits in every corner. He snatched them up, his hands were full with angry Meepits… Nigel barely caught up before another Mutant Meepit rolled out from behind the Snowmuncher game, and this one had a mouthful of wires. It scooted off away and neither Barney nor Nigel made any effort to follow it.

     Barney slumped to the floor against Nimmos Pond, he dropped her head into his hands and whispered, “Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Nigel grunted, trying to corral the Meepits.

     Barney lifted his head and looked at Nigel, all life drained from his eyes. “It’s an infestation…”

     Nigel howled in response, clearly distraught. Their eyes scanned the end of the corridor towards where the Juice Break room was, and colors and fur could be seen everywhere. The Meepits crawled around, getting closer to them.

     Barney jumped up and started pacing, “How could this have happened?!” Nigel was doing his duty, trying to herd the Meepits away from the rest of the games. The Meepits were clearly waking up with the bright lights, becoming more and more active.

     Barney finally sprinted over to the Juice Break room, the door was opened just a slice, whoever was on night duty clearly did not do the proper check out protocol. He turned to see the wreckage, Meepits were crawling along all of the games chewing things here and there. Plus, customers were expected to arrive soon… he was in an absolute panic. He did the only thing he could think of – he pulled the Lever of Doom for a full shutdown. He could not let these Meepits infest the rest of Roo Island.

     Immediately the alarms rang out, and metal sheets covered the windows and doors, trapping them in. Nigel was still running around, doing a great job at pushing the Meepits towards the Juice Room, but there were just too many of them.

     Barney tried to swipe up as many as he could. At this rate, they would have to keep the Games Room closed all day.

     Suddenly, Nigel roared brightly, a clear sign that he had an idea. Barney gestured for him to go-ahead. Nigel sprinted towards the Mop ‘n’ Bop machine, breaking the glass. Barney shivered, he hoped he could fix that one rather than sending it to the Game Graveyard. Out of the machine popped the Angry Yurble.

     Barney clapped with delight; Nigel was a genius! The Angry Yurble was great at getting Petpets where they needed to go. As Barney gave the Angry Yurble the low-down, Nigel moved onto the next one: the Petpet Rescue room. As Nigel pushed open the door, he grumbled towards Samuel and Barney called him over. No one grabbed Petpets quite as fast as Samuel. Then Nigel jumped over towards the Snowbeast Snackrifice machine. Barney held his breath, Nigel would need to be careful – only letting out the Kyrii Villager and not the Snowbeast, or Nigel himself would be in danger. With the best and cleanest technique, Nigel accomplished this goal. Barney beamed with pride; his Noil was the best.

     This went on with Nigel getting Sir Pompadour, the Jubjub Charmer and Orrin to help out. The whole team was snatching up grumbling Meepits and chasing them down. Pink fur was flying everywhere, with the meeps of angry Meepits as they were forced back to their homebase. The team was making amazing progress and filling the Juice Break room back up. Nigel was herding Blue Meepits down the corridor, Orrin was hustling Snow Meepits like footballs and the Angry Yurble had quite a swing with his mop.

     Finally, the meeps were quieted, the peaceful sound of them back in their juice room; it appeared that all the Meepits were wrangled back home. Barney closed the Juice Room sharply and made sure to lock the door. The Neopians turned to face each other, giving a few chuckles. They were exhausted but they did it.

     Sir Pompadour spoke up, “My, my Barney. You have quite the smart Noil. If not for his fast thinking, and actions, this place would have been destroyed.” He looked around, noting that it was slightly destroyed anyways.

     The Jubjub Charmer spoke next, “I do hope you appreciate him, because he is certainly a loyal companion, and a smart employee. I dare say, I’d love to keep him myself. I am sure he could play the flute fantastically”. He reached down and pet Nigel who was enjoying the praise.

     Barney laughed but moved closer to Nigel, who was beaming up at him with pride. “What can I say, he certainly is the best friend a Neopian can have. Nigel the Noil is a true rockstar – smart, powerful and kind. I would never give him up… and I appreciate him every day, but especially today. When I was panicking, Nigel was the mastermind behind fixing this infestation.” Barney shook his head, remembering himself, “Thank you all for your help.”

     Everyone clapped, mumbling praises to Nigel and then moved back to their games. Barney looked over at Nigel and smirked, they would have a lot of maintenance to do before they could re-open the Games Room to full capacity but he was so proud of his Petpet for his bravery and smarts. This infestation was heroically defeated by Nigel the Noil. Nigel sauntered over to the Lever of Doom, flicking it back to its standard position. The light from outside started gleaming in and they could see the tittering of anxious Neopians waiting to get inside. Nigel sprinted over to the door and let them in… the Games Room would be open for business today, even if it was 15 minutes later and a lot messier than usual.

     The End.