 What to Do With a Pile of Petpets?
by iwonder
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“What are you going to do with all these Petpets you’ve been collecting? Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ’em in a stew?” Edna the Witch looked quizzingly at the grey faerie. She didn’t see a point in asking the good citizens of Neopia to fetch you things unless you had a specific use for them, and in her case that was usually to make some type of spell. For the most part cooked up in her red cauldron. Or sometimes in the black one, some spells needed that extra bit of darkness to really spring to life. “No, obviously not. These are beloved little critters, not something you’re supposed to eat for dinner,” Baelia replied with a sigh. She had been trying to explain to Edna multiple times already, but the Witch of the Haunted Woods never quite seemed to understand. Edna stirred her cauldron absentmindedly, picking up a tentacle that seemed to be trying to feel its way out, and sticking it back of the pot with her ladle. “Alright, not for dinner. But what about spells? I mean, I don’t usually have Petpets as ingredients, I tend to just use some food items, a dash of medicine, and a toy or two. But what if–” Baelia looked at her sternly. “No! No Petpets! These are special little creatures.” She picked up a Warf and gave it a squeeze. “Those old things? But they’re so… ordinary. You don’t see a lot of pets walking around with regular old Warfs as their Petpets. Fine, fine. I won’t attempt to make a Warf stew. But what is your plan? Just put them all in a big pile?” “No, that’s not it. I can’t really tell you yet, but I came to ask you if you had any spare food laying around that I could use.” “Oh. Okay. Sure, I guess. Hold on a minute,” Edna replied, poking around in the nooks and crannies of her tower. “I think I have some leftover items from a failed spell or two. I get a lot of people asking if they can help me collect things for my spells, but sometimes I just ask them to get me the weirdest thing I can think of, to see if they actually find it. I don’t actually use things like Blumaroo Bumarangies or Caramel Juppie beasts for my spells,” she gave a slight laugh, that really sounded more like a cackle. “Here it is,” she said, while handing over a bag filled with cauliflower, celery, and checkered steak. “This was from a few days ago, I had the idea of asking people for anything that started with the letter C. Why? I have no idea! It seemed like fun.” Baelia accepted with a wry smile. At least the food wasn’t rotten. It would have to do for now. “Thanks,” she replied. “Oh would you look at the time, I really must get going before it gets too late. Thanks again for all your help!” Slowly backing out from the tower, she made sure to pick up the few Petpets that hadn’t already run outside. While she was pretty sure Edna was just joking about putting them in a cauldron, you really couldn’t be too safe with a witch of her nature. Making her way through the Haunted Woods past the haunted house and the game graveyard, she stopped in front of the Esophagor. Maybe he had some leftover food items..? It couldn’t hurt to ask. Upon approaching, she immediately heard his loud, booming voice. “II AMMM HUNGGRRYYY..... feeed mmeee annndd I wwilll reeewwaardd yoouu....” “Hey Esophagor!” “Oh, it’s you. I thought it was another one of those pesky questers, they keep asking me for answers to the Brain Tree’s questions. I thought he was supposed to be smart, but he really doesn’t seem to know anything. What can I help you with?” “I was wondering if you had any leftover foods that I could use to feed my Petpets,” Baelia asked, looking around at the dead branches surrounding the Esophagor. “But it seems you’re all out.” “No, not at all. If you look just on the other side of that tree over there,” the Esophagor said, attempting to point with his green gooey body, you’ll find a pile of uneaten things. You can never be too prepared for the end, at some point, people will stop coming here and giving me things in return for knowledge, so I try to keep some items in stock just in case. You’re welcome to take some of it. I see you already have a bag to carry things in. I’d help, but you know… I’m kind of stuck here in this swamp.” Baelia thanked him and went to pick up some bone-chilling bacon, ghost pancakes and haunted hummus. After leaving the Haunted Woods, she made her way back to Faerieland. She hadn’t actually brought all the Petpets with her on her trip, just the ones she’d collected that day. Making her way past the racing Poogles, she found the little path that led to a clearing just behind the top of the rainbow fountain. All the Warfs and Puppyblews came running towards her, the buzzers and Angelpi lazily flapped their wings, and the mallards squawked hello while they temporarily stopped digging for critters in the grass just beside the waterfall. “Hi friends, I’m finally back,” Baelia said with a smile, “and I brought presents!” She pulled out the cauliflower, bone-chilling bacon, and celery from her bag, and started feeding the pets. “I know this isn’t ideal, but it won’t be much longer. Tonight is the night!” she said, excited at the thought that her Petpet friends soon wouldn’t be overlooked by pets trying to find a small companion. The Rainbow River glistened in the sunset, and Baelia strained her ears to hear if anyone was approaching. Sure enough, she could soon hear a splash and a friendly voice shouting “Baelia!” from just below the waterfall. “It’s okay to come down now!” It was Naia, the Fountain Faerie. Grabbing a handful of Angelpi, Baelia started to walk down the slope to the fountain. You could count on the Warfs, Puppyblews, and mallards to follow you wherever, but the Angelpi were little princes and princesses that expected to be carried wherever they went. Unless there was food, in which case their wings suddenly seemed to start working. At the bottom of the waterfall, she finally saw Naia. “Thanks for doing this, I didn’t know who else to turn to. These poor little things keep piling up, and no one seems to want them. I know I usually send other people to you, and I wouldn’t want to be a bother–” “Don’t worry about it!” Naia interrupted. “It’s just a little dip, there’s plenty of water to go around.” Baelia smiled thankfully and started dipping the unsuspecting Petpets in the water. In goes a plain old angelpuss, and out comes a snow Angelpuss with carrots for ears. She grabbed a buzzer that flew past her ear and dipped it, and out came a crackling fire buzzer. Better not put those two together, or all that’ll be left of the Angelpuss will be the carrots. She threw in a raft of Mallards, and out came all sorts; cloud mallards, faerie mallards, and Tyrannian Mallards. “This is great! Thanks, Naia. Now I’m ready for tomorrow’s adoption event, I’m sure all these Petpets will have a much better chance at getting a forever home!” The End.
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