House Party

     The Usul's owner, named Nina, patted her lightly on the back. "No, Sis, I don't think that would work out too well. Come on, I'll help you find your Usukis."

     Sis's expression of grief and despair immediately evaporated and was replaced with a giddy grin. She trotted along next to her owner, who was tying her blond hair into a ponytail, and said, "You're the best owner I could ever ask for, unlike Nelly, who is the worst. Brother, that is."

     "You and Nelly just need to learn to get along," Nina replied with a sigh. "I'm leaving you two alone for the whole weekend and I can sense already that both of you will get yourselves into a heap of trouble."

     "I'm not going to do anything bad this weekend, I promise," the Usul assured her owner with a wink. "But Nelly, on the other hand..." she trailed off.

     "Oh, don't be so down on him," Nina scolded as they stepped out from the house's back door and into the yard. It was a fairly large spot of land, with healthy green grass growing everywhere but not a tree in sight. Well, there was green grass everywhere but for a mound of freshly dug dirt that stood before them. Next to the mound was a shovel that appeared to have just been used.

     Sis scanned the yard with squinting eyes, looking right past the mound of dirt. "I give up. We'll never be able to find the spot where he buried them," she said in a depressed voice.

     Nina blinked, stared at the mound of fresh dirt for a moment, then shifted her gaze back to Sis, who was still peering over the yard desperately, then finally looked at the pile of dirt again. "I think I might know where they are," she said, laughing.

     "Where?" The Usul's eyes opened wide.

     Nina walked up to the mound of dirt and quickly shoveled it to her side, then planted the shovel half a foot deep into the ground. She pulled it up with strength, and before Sis knew it her Usukis were all on the ground in front of her.

     "How...how did you know they were there?" Sis whispered, staring at her owner as if she was Queen Fyora.

     "Dumb luck," Nina answered in a satisfied voice. As Sis picked up her Usukis and held them close to her fur, Nina told her she was not to annoy Nelly, and that she would go and have a little talk with the yellow Kacheek momentarily.

     Inside the house's living room, sitting on a comfortable purple couch, was Nelly. He was a slightly plump yellow Kacheek, always up to something silly, be it for a good cause or not. But every day, you could count on him to think of some new way to burn down the house, or annoy Sis.

     "Nelly?" Nina walked into the living room, and sat down right next to the Kacheek. "What did I say about burying Sis's Usukis? Does she go around burying your toys?"

     Nelly thought of the time that Sis put dresses on his action figures, put make up on them, and hid them in her drawer, but he could not think of a single time Sis had buried his toys. He sighed, and admitted, "I guess you're right, but she deserved it."

     "What did she do to deserve it?"

     "Um...I forgot." Nelly scratched his head. "But that's not the point," he added quickly.

     Nina laughed. "Well, Nelly, I'll let you off this time," she said as Sis walked into the room, eagerly listening to her owner's words. "But if you two do anything to annoy each other this weekend, and I find out, then I'll have to put you guys in time out."

     Sis gasped. "Time out!"

     Nina nodded gravely, then rose from the couch. "So I'm trusting you two to be mature for these next two days. Behave."

     "We will," Nelly assured her, saluting. "Sis and I can have a lot of fun together when we're not tying each other's fur into knots or throwing bricks around or anything."

     Sis nodded. "Nelly and I will get along just fine, don't you worry."

     "Well...okay." Nina looked barely convinced; she knew all of this was just an act they were putting on. Deciding that there was nothing she could do about it, she walked upstairs to her room.

     "We're going to have so much fun starting tomorrow, Nelly," Sis said slyly. "I can hardly wait."

     "Me neither," Nelly agreed, wondering what he could do with - or to - his sister during the following two days.

     ***

     "Okay guys," Nina began, carrying a large red bag around her shoulder. "I have some business to do, I'll be back in two days. Remember everything I told you about behavior, and there's food in the fridge, and extra blankets in my room if you get cold at night-"

     "Extra food in your room, cold blankets in the fridge, we got it," Sis said quickly, looking as if she was going to explode if Nina stayed in the house for one more second.

     "Are you sure you guys are going to be okay?" Nina then asked them uncertainly, biting her lip.

     "We'll be fine, Sis and I are old enough now to take care of a house for two days," Nelly said in a charming tone.

     "If you say so," Nina replied with a smile. "Be careful, you two!" She then proceeded out of the door slowly, taking one last hesitant look around the house before locking the door behind her.

     "Yay!" Sis exclaimed, jumping onto the purple couch in their living room.

     "What should we do first?" Nelly asked, also hopping on the couch.

     "My friends are going to come over and you're going to go to your room and pretend you're nonexistent." Sis flashed him a devilish girly look.

     "Okay," Nelly answered simply. He shrugged, then walked up to his room without another word. Sis watched him walk away with astonishment.

     "It sure doesn't seem like Nelly to just walk away without a fuss like that," Sis noticed, but before she could think any further, a blue Wocky and a green Uni stepped through the front door, looking ready to party.

     "Hey Sis! I like, just bought this new makeup, and it's like...whoa," the Uni commented as she flew onto the couch with the red Usul.

     "It's like, such, like wow," the Wocky added, who was now standing on a glass coffee table that looked ready to shatter from all the weight.

     Sis jumped excitedly on the couch, and suddenly spoke as if her IQ had dropped seventy points, "That's like, great you guys, and I'm so like glad, that we're like having this house party," she was about to finish saying, but was interrupted by an obnoxiously loud knock at the door.

     The Wocky clasped her paws onto her cheeks and opened her mouth wide. "You like, invited more people?"

     "No, I like didn't," Sis explained, flabbergasted. A bright expression was plastered onto her face, and she pranced up to the front door. The knocking continued; Sis opened the door gently. The Wocky jumped off of the coffee table to get a better look at the mysterious stranger at the door, as the Uni followed along, abandoning the purple couch.

     Standing in the doorway was a rather familiar plump yellow Kacheek, but Sis couldn't put a finger (not like she had fingers anyway) on who it was. It wasn't Nelly, because this Kacheek had a brown mustache on his face, and he was also wearing a dark blue suit, with pockets on either side of his pants, and one shirt pocket that held a few pens. To top it off, he was also wearing a blue ballcap that matched his suit, somewhat.

     "Like, who is that?" the Wocky asked with a disapproving frown.

     "Funny you should ask," the Kacheek answered in an unrealistic low voice. "I am Nel -- I am Nel from the Neopian Babysitting Agency. Yes, the NBA is a fine organization...."

     "Ew," the Uni said. "Sis, you like, said we'd be alone, except for like, your stupid brother Nelly who's up in his room anyway."

     Ignoring her friend, Sis asked the Kacheek with eyes that looked like slits, "Who sent you here? Was it the Tonus, or-"

     "Nina has hired me to babysit you three for today," Nel said in a voice even more muffled than before.

     "We like, can't have a babysitter," the Wocky stated firmly. "So you can leave, like now. 'Kay thanks, bye."

     "I'm afraid I have to do my job." Nel walked right through the door without any further questions, and sat himself down on the purple couch.

     "Like, no!" the Uni shrieked.

     "Calm down you guys, we can just ignore him," Sis suggested calmly, then cleared her throat and spoke in a much higher pitched voice, "I mean, let's like, ditch him!"

     Sis and her two friends laughed as they all trotted up the creaky wooden staircase to go on the second floor of the house, where all of the rooms were. Without a word, Nel followed them upstairs and into Sis's bright, pink room. Not noticing Nel's presence just yet, the Wocky collapsed onto Sis's fluffy pile of stuffed Pawkeets and Warfs, in the corner of the room. Sis and the Uni took seats on her big yellow bed, and all three of them began to gossip at once.

     One second later, they noticed Nel sitting on a red bean bag across from Sis's bed. He was eyeing all of them casually, waiting for one of the girls to speak.

     "You. Are dismissed," Sis ordered, enraged.

     Nel looked as if he was taking a mental note of everyone's rude behavior towards him. "Ah, yes...let's see. I'll be reporting all of this conversation to Nina. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear you were disruptive, and probably even more happy when she finds out you had two friends over!" He swung his arm out in front of him and pointed it accusingly at the three friends.

     The Uni rolled her eyes. "Let's just like, deal with him. He's like, not gonna leave, like...us."

     "True that," the Wocky admitted with a nod. She waved her paw off at the Kacheek and began talking about something extremely unintelligent.

     Thirty minutes passed, and Nel continued to watch the girls in silence. He had listened in on boring topics such as the new shampoo line that also worked as toothpaste, how tomatoes could make their face look younger, and which of the three wore the most jewelry. The Kacheek had started to lose hope on what he had done this for in the first place - to see if Sis would talk about him at all with her friends, because he, in fact, was not 'Nel' from the Neopian Babysitting Agency. No, the NBA did not exist, and Nina hadn't sent a babysitter for Sis. 'Nel' was just an imposter for the real Kacheek, hidden beneath an elaborate mask. This Kacheek was...

     Nelly.

     And just as Nelly finished thinking about all of this, he finally heard what he wanted to hear.

     "...So yeah and like ugh!" he tuned in to hear his sister say. "Nelly thinks his pranks are like so awesome, but he's yet to fool the likes of me." The Usul grinned.

     Nelly almost laughed, for Sis wasn't even aware that he was spying on her right under her nose. She would probably never figure out that 'Nel' was actually Nelly in an elaborate disguise. I am a genius, he thought proudly to himself.

     Time passed, and eventually lunchtime crept up on all of them. The sun was trying to shine brightly outside, but an annoying grayish white cloud was blocking half of the light. So instead, it was one of those boring partly sunny days where the humidity was unbearable and staying inside was a bright idea.

     "Let's like, eat, girls!" Sis said happily as she hopped down the stairs and into the kitchen; Nelly followed them, lost in his own thoughts. What would he do next? Just spying on their conversations got boring very quickly...he needed to think of something else to do. Something big.

     "What food is there in this house, besides like, chicken and mashed potatoes?" Sis's Wocky friend asked, pointing to a plate of leftovers disdainfully.

     "Like one second," Sis said. She gazed around the kitchen, looking past a painting of bright green, red, and yellow peppers hung on the tiled, pale blue wall. She pranced over to the fridge, and saw that Nina had indeed left some food for Nelly and Sis. The Uni peered in with Sis, then muttered, "Chicken. And mashed potatoes. Do you eat, like, anything else around here?"

     "Yeah!" Sis said defensively. "Well, actually, like-"

     "Don't worry, everyone," Nelly interrupted. "I'll whip up some lunch," he quipped, grinning evilly, finally realizing what he could do. "You guys can go up to Sis's room and wait; run along now." He cackled.

     The Uni rolled her eyes. "Gee thanks, like bye." The three girls walked up the steps, glad that they would finally be able to gossip without Nel watching their every move. He was like, the worst babysitter.

     Nelly rubbed his chin, pondering how exactly to pull off his excellent idea. To his right was a cabinet full of spices - those would definitely be useful - and to his left was a cabinet full of jalapeno peppers. He decidedly had a lot to work with. He grabbed the mashed potatoes and chicken from the fridge, and set them on the kitchen table. He wiped sweat from his forehead, and pulled every spice imaginable from the cabinet to his right, and took a handful of jalapeno peppers from the cabinet on his left.

     "These are convenient," he said, weighing them in his paws. He had it all set: Chicken, mashed potatoes, assorted spices, and jalapeno peppers. This was going to be a meal Sis would never forget. He pranced over to a cabinet next to the one with the peppers, and surprisingly enough, this one was full of chef hats and aprons. Then, he tied a white apron around his belly, but it snapped off and he had to get a larger size. He put a chef hat over his blue hat, then declared himself ready.

     The Kacheek started by crushing all of the peppers with his bare paws, which made an inexplicably hot juice. He sprinkled it all over the chicken, then a bit in the mashed potatoes. "That was easy," he commented with a shrug. Turning to the spice cabinet, he asked himself what to do to the food next. There were so many jars with so many different flavors, it made him wonder what Nina ever did with all of these weird things in the cabinets.

     Nelly stared at one jar of spice that had a red label. It intrigued him, for it said, "DO NOT USE ON F00D EVER." He knew Nina had written it, because she always used zeros in the word 'food.' It had been something she did since she was little, and was now incorrigible. Shrugging, he picked up the jar and examined it more closely.

     The inside barely looked like spice. It was more of a...potion, or concoction of some sort. It was a musty brown mud-like substance that made Nelly cringe, so obviously it would be the perfect thing to liven up Sis and her friends' meal. He unscrewed the extremely tight lid of the jar, and began to dump all of the 'spice' onto the mashed potatoes so that it looked much like gravy. Cackling again, he hastily put away all of the cooking utensils, and threw his extra cooking clothes into the other cabinet. "Sis and company!" he called loudly.

     "We're - gosh - like - gosh - like - coming!" Sis yelled from her room. During the time it took them to walk down the steps, Nelly set the table. Three plates of heavily tampered-with chicken and mashed potatoes, and one plate of completely normal chicken that he had made for himself. He sat down in front of his food casually, and waited for Sis and her friends to get into the kitchen.

     "Oh, you're like kidding me," the Wocky groaned. "Chicken?"

     "It's special chicken," Nelly said.

     "...I like special chicken," Sis admitted, and began to dig into hers. Being the individuals they were, Sis's friends mimicked her and started tearing away at their chicken also. Seconds later, their faces had all turned bright red and they were squealing for water.

     "This chicken is like, hot!" the Wocky shrieked, and started clutching at her neck. Beads of sweat were running down the Uni's face and Sis was swishing back and forth uncontrollably. All this while, Nelly was laughing hysterically, feeling extremely pleased with himself as Sis scanned the room frantically for any kind of liquid.

     "I don't see water anywhere!" Sis panicked. "Maybe these mashed potatoes will quench my thirst!" She began scarfing them down as if she hadn't eaten since Tyrannia was discovered, too busy to notice Nelly howling with laughter. Sis's friends copied her and started dishing their mashed potatoes into their mouths like hungry Spardels.

     Nelly abruptly stopped laughing and watched the three of them in anticipation. What would the substance put on the mashed potatoes do to them? He began to find out as he saw the skin on Sis's arm begin to bubble, and mutate. Her fur evaporated and her skin turned to a crusty yellow-brown color; she suddenly gained a hundred more pounds and tusks sprout from her mouth. The same process was happening to the Uni and Wocky, to Nelly's horror. Sis grew a jagged tail with a webbed fin at the end, and a strange growth of skin that looked like a stick grew from the top of her head. Whiskers sprouted in random places, and her bottom feet were sucked into the flab of disgustingness that was now her body. Her friends had just finished transforming, too.

     They were mutant Tuskaninnies.

     All Nelly could do is gasp. So that's why Nina didn't want us to put it on food, he thought, panicking. She'll definitely have me in time out for this. Unless....

     Without another look at Sis, whose expression was a priceless mix of anger and confusion, he ran up to his room and threw all of his disguise into his closet, ripping his itchy brown mustache off. The Kacheek was now just his usual yellow self; plain old Nelly. He rushed back down, and walked into the kitchen casually.

     "Sis, I just saw some weird person who said he was from the babysitting agency go outside," he began, then looked at the Tuskaninnies with a very realistic look of terror. "What happened?" he asked believably.

     "It...was all Nel's fault," Sis managed to grumble.

     "Nel? Who's Nel?" he asked. Before Sis could answer, a soft knock was heard by everyone at the door. Sis and her friends continued to stare at each other disgustingly. "I'll get it," Nelly said.

     The Kacheek trotted to the door, and opened it carelessly. It was probably a magazine seller, or something....

     "Hey Nelly!" Nina said brightly as she walked in through the door. "The 'two day meeting' I went to ended much earlier than I thought it would," she explained with a laugh. She walked past him and towards the kitchen, leaving him standing there, paralyzed, wondering what would happen.

     A moment later, he heard a startled scream come from his owner. He walked slowly over to the kitchen, curiously. Nina and Sis had begun to speak to each other, and Nelly crept up behind them to listen.

     "...I never sent you guys a babysitter," Nina said to Sis, puzzled. "Who was this person and how did he give you guys my Tuskaninny Transmogrification Potion?" she asked angrily.

     "Yellow Kacheek," Sis muttered in a very low voice. "But he's gone now."

     "So it was Nelly in disguise?" Nina was exasperated.

     "...It couldn't have been!" Sis exclaimed in shock. "Or could he...?"

     "Nelly!" the four of them shouted simultaneously. The yellow Kacheek inched towards them, smiling nervously, trying to look like he had not been involved with the event in any way.

     "You've got a lot of explaining to do," Nina said to him. "Start with...why you disguised yourself as a babysitter?"

     Nelly scratched his head. "Well, it all began when Sis locked me in my room and invited at least thirty of her friends over to the house, you see...."

The End