The Prank

     "Can I help you?" he asked. The Nimmo shuffled his feet before replying.

     "Before you close the door on me, just hear me out. The news hasn't been made public yet, but Doctor Death the Yellow Techo is retiring today from his pound duties. While the pound is looking for his replacement, it's going to take some time."

     "In other words, no new drop-offs will be made until the announcement is made and the pound doesn't want to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Neopians when it does reopen. As well, they want to get rid of the excess ones still waiting to be adopted in order to lessen the strain on the systems once it does. Am I correct?" The Nimmo nodded.

     "What's your name?" He replied that it was Nimarito. Afterwards, the Shoyru invited him in, but not before introducing himself as Crim.

     The Shoyru was just making breakfast when three other Neopians, Kris the Ghost Chia, Tangerine the Orange Bruce and Sakura the Pink Xweetok, came down. All three of them were confused at the sight of the Blue Nimmo.

     "Crim, what in Sloth's name is going on here? You know that our home is too small to house any more Neopians, no pun intended," the Orange Bruce told Crim.

     "I know, Tangerine, but this Nimmo states that Doctor Death is retiring today, so the pound will be closed until further notice." The Xweetok crossed her arms and sighed.

     "You do realize that today is April Fools, right? Of all the Neopians out there, you should know that, seeing as you're the most gullible within the family." Crim fired back that he was not.

     "Remember the supposed discovery of Goldrun and the alleged grand opening of Lutari Island? You fell for those right off the bat."

     "Don't forget the one year that the old Battledome was 'closed' permanently. You ran around screaming like a Wibreth with its head cut off," Tangerine added.

     "All right, you guys made your point. But this year's different, okay? I just have this feeling that it will work out fine."

     "Okay, Crim, but don't come crying to us when you find out that it was indeed one. Anyways, I'm off to the lab and do our dailies, so I'll see you guys later," the Ghost Chia stated before she flew off. The others acknowledged the leave.

     It was a couple of hours later when the Ghost Chia, now a Yellow Meerca, returned, with a sheepish look on her face as she handed them a couple of bags. Both the Bruce and Xweetok groaned once they saw the Green Gelert trailing the Meerca like a stray. The Gelert looked like he was starving.

     "Sakura, Tangerine, er, my apologies," the Meerca said before dashing off to her room because she did not want to incur their wraths. Both of them sighed before sifting through the bags to see if they were any food they could find to feed the poor Gelert, yet the Gelert was grateful for their generosity and kindness as his hunger faded away and his strength returned. Still, both of them were somewhat wary of this latest addition.

     "Looks like this might be a long day for me over at the Help Centre," the Bruce replied as she sighed again. Sakura looked at the eldest family member before suggesting that Tangerine took a shorter shift. Tangerine nodded in agreement.

     By the time Tangerine returned home, she was dead tired as her shift was longer than she had expected, owing to the fact that she went to the Healing Springs to try to heal the two ill Neopians that had suddenly appeared while she was volunteering, a Red Gnorbu and a Green Grarrl, without any luck. Sakura quickly rushed over when she saw her sister slump into one of the chairs.

     "It turns out the rumours of Doctor Death retiring was true after all and we're not the only ones who were forced to take in pets," Tangerine wearily replied as she handed Sakura the day's news before she fell asleep for a nap. Sakura felt pity for both of the Neopians that had followed her sister home, seeing as both were ill.

     By the time night rolled around, nearly everyone in the family, the lone exception being Crim, was exhausted, so they were glad to finally get some rest and headed off to bed. Once they were out of site, the Gelert and Nimmo began to count down the minutes to midnight. Despite being guests in the home for the day, they were well behaved, even if they were reluctant to leave due to the compassion that they were given.

     It took the four adopted pets some time to muster the courage to leave. Fortunately, the Gelert was smart enough to leave a letter behind as he felt that it would minimize the damage caused by them after they had left and he did not want to see the adopted family suffer too much from the prank the entire pound had created.

     When Crim woke up the following morning, he had assumed that the adopted family members had gone out to run some errands or work on the dailies, failing to notice the letter on the dining room table. Kris, on the other hand, did, so she took the letter and began silently reading, not happy with what she had seen, although she was sad as well.

     "To our adopted family,

     Even though we only stayed at your Neohome for just a day, we were deeply moved by your compassion and willingness, giving us some hope for the future. It is with a heavy heart that I am letting you know that this was an elaborate prank created by Rosemadder the Pound Uni and Doctor Death, with the entire pound being made aware and involved with it. If this prank caused any damage, on behalf of Rose and Doctor Death, we apologize in advance. Hopefully, when we meet again, the circumstances will be different, but you will remain in our hearts.

     Yours truly,

     Nimarito the Blue Nimmo, Basil the Green Gelert, Rosie the Green Grarrl and Pepper the Red Gnorbu."

     When she was finished reading, she promptly showed it to her sisters. After they were finished, three sets of eyes glared at the Red Shoyru. Then Tangerine crumpled up the letter and threw it towards him in order to catch his attention. He picked it up and unfurled it, his face slowly turning white as he read the letter. When he was finished, he looked up towards his sisters and gulped.

     "Kris, take the day off from the dailies, but you can still head to the lab ray. Let Crim handle the rest of the dailies as his punishment for his role in this prank. Honestly, I wished the Grandma Boochi random event was real in the first place. Maybe it would have toned down your gullibility in the first place," Sakura said after a few seconds of silence.

     "Oh, come on, that's not fair," he wailed, causing the three to smile. He deserved it after what they had been through the previous day, although secretly, they knew they would miss the adopted family.

The End