A Shocking Surprise

     "Good morning to you!" she sang, giving her owner Shelby a hug as she leaped on her tippy-toes to the breakfast table. Shelby grinned at her pet and tossed her a piece of toast.

     "I know somebody who is excited about today!" Shelby said with a laugh. She placed some bacon on the table and sat in the seat across from her only Neopet.

     "So are you sure you want to do this?" Shelby asked Hermione seriously. Hermione wolfed down her bacon and laughed at Shelby's question fearlessly.

     "My dearest Shelbs, I'm as sure as Fyora is the queen of Faerieland," she replied, chugging her orange juice. Shelby sighed and smiled.

     "Whatever you want, Queen Hermione!" she said excitedly, banging her hands on the table to the beat of the song Hermione was singing and getting up to fix herself a glass of water. Hermione sang aloud to Yes Boy Ice Cream's latest hit "You're Finished".

     "So done with playing games! So tired of the same! I'm ready for you to pull it throuuuuuuuuugh!" Hermione sang.

     "You're done! You're finished! You go dippity-dooooo!" Shelby sang along.

     "Forever's just nothing compared to youuuuuuuu!" Hermione chimed.

     "So all I have to say is I'm sorry it's this way but you're done! You're finished! And weeeeeeeee're throuuuuuuuuuuuugh!" Shelby and Hermione sang together. They high-fived as they cleaned the dishes and skipped to the closet. They kept singing as they put on their coats and kept singing as they skipped all the way to the Secret Laboratory. They had finished singing "You're Finished" for the fourth time when they arrived. Shelby squeezed her Usul's paw.

     "Are you sure about this, Hermione? Because if you want to back down, that's totally cool. We don't have to do this," she said, fully knowing Hermione wasn't about to back down. Hermione laughed loudly and squeezed Shelby's hand harder.

     "Of course I'm ready for this," she replied, grinning up at her owner.

     After three hours of waiting, Shelby and Hermione finally got to the front of the line. Shelby cleared her throat and cautiously took Hermione's coat as Hermione skipped up to the Lab Ray. Hermione, however, was as excited as a young Neopet would be.

     "Doctor, are you sure this is safe?" Shelby cut in, her cinnamon-colored curls blowing in the breeze. The Doctor grinned evilly and shook his head. Shelby shivered as her Neopet laughed at her some more. Wasn't Hermione done with laughing at her now?

     "First time?" an older-looking girl with heavy eyeliner, red lipstick, and silvery shoulder-length hair asked. Shelby nodded quickly. The owner smiled. Shelby smiled weakly back. This person was seriously giving her the creeps. At least she was friendly...

     "You'll get used to it. It's not so bad. Well, your pet certainly looks ready!" the owner said with a chuckle. Shelby nodded quickly again.

     "I'm Jaime. These are my pets Gregor and Bellatraz," Jaime said, moving to reveal a Darigan-painted Eyrie and an Island-painted Kau. The pets greeted Shelby sweetly and turned to talk to the starry-painted Skeith behind them.

     "I'm Shelby and that's Hermione," Shelby said, pointing to Hermione, who was giggling and squealing on the chair as the red electric bolts covered her. Jaime nodded.

     "Well, she's definitely an Usul..." Jaime said quietly. Shelby chose to ignore this. Behind Jaime, Shelby heard Gregor and Bellatraz giggling at Jaime's remark.

     "Well, Shelbs? How do I look?" Hermione asked, doing a full 360-turn for Shelby. Shelby turned pink at the sight of what was left of Hermione. Jaime was erupting fits of laughter, as were Gregor and Bellatraz.

     "Oh... uh... um... Well... You look different," Shelby stuttered, scratching her head in confusion. Much to her relief, Hermione grinned and squealed again.

     "Good! Different is good! Now c'mon, Shelby, I wanna go show myself off by strutting around the shops. I suggest we hit the NC Mall first, seeing how that's such a big place." Hermione chattered away. Jaime chuckled as Gregor stepped up to the huge Ray.

     "Good luck," Shelby said coldly to Jaime, who smiled and waved with a: "Goodbye!" They left just in time to see Gregor, now a Mallow-painted Grundo, step away from the machine to reveal himself to his owner.

     Shelby cleared her throat and tried her hardest not to look at her excited Neopet. They were waltzing around the NC Mall like they owned it, and people were staring and pointing. Shelby wondered when somebody would break it to Hermione that she wasn't as pretty as she thought she was...

     "Hey! What's up? How's it goin'?" Hermione was asking loudly to nobody in particular. Shelby just trailed her silently, digging her head into her coat and groaning between fierce shakes of her head.

     "Is that Hermione Silvercrest?" a Cloud-painted Scorchio asked, rushing over to Shelby and Hermione.

     "Nooooo!" Shelby groaned quietly. The Scorchio was Devon Bryson, a classmate of Hermione's. His owner Louis was nice, but he didn't enjoy the presence of Hermione very much.

     "Yes, it is! Hey, Devon!" Hermione yelled across the NC Mall, obviously trying to attract attention. Devon, confused, turned around to see if anyone was behind him and sniggered.

     "I didn't know your hearing was bad. So what happened to you? You used to be a cute little Usul and now...." Devon's voice trailed off as Shelby, behind Hermione, was making furious hand motions to him.

     "What do you mean? Aren't I amazing? Gorgeous? Super-cool?" Hermione asked, throwing herself in the spotlight. Devon started howling with laughter and pounding his knee. Hermione's proud grin started to slowly disappear.

     "You're.... You're.... You're a freaking Mutant Mynci!" Devon said between fits of laughter. Tears welled in Hermione's eyes. She started sobbing. Shelby poked her tongue out at Devon and shooed him and his annoying owner away.

     "Why didn't you tell me I'm horrible?" Hermione sobbed. Shelby wiped Hermione's tears off on her sleeve and dabbed at her cheeks.

     "Well, I think you look cool. You're fierce and furious and you hold some authority now," Shelby offered, caressing her crying Neopet. Hermione sniffled and smiled weakly.

     "Hey... You're right! Now I can be fierce and furious! I can pretend to be hollow-brained and powerful! Me Hermione! You Shelby! We friend-friends!" Hermione growled, pounding on her chest. Shelby's face broke into a grin.

     "That's the spirit! Me Shelby! You Hermione! You big and scary!" Shelby pounded back. Hermione giggled and pounded her chest.

     "Hermione demand chocolate! Hermione want smoothie!"

     "Haha nice try! Hermione no get no smoothie!" Shelby pounded back, tackling Hermione and tickling her. Hermione giggled tremendously and gave Shelby a knuckle sandwich.

     "Ouch! Get your kung-fu Mynci paws offa my head! You'll mess up my hairdo!" Shelby demanded. Hermione laughed out loud and wrapped her arms around her owner in a hug.

     "Don't worry, soon you'll turn into a Faerie-painted JubJub or something slightly better," Shelby cooed. Hermione cackled darkly.

     "Something better? Nothing is better than this!" she announced, her light and airy voice booming. Shelby smiled. That's the kind of spirit Hermione had.

The End