A Tiki Tale: Color or Companion? - Part Two

     "I look fabulous enough!" she declared, after stopping to gaze once again at her reflection, and then placed the brush down and headed into the bedroom.

     The sun shone beautiful rays of sunshine into the room, and Tikhasis reached into the small bed beside her and gently cuddled her faerie Kadoatie, waking her from her sleep.

     "Life just couldn't get any more perfect than this, could it?" she asked the faerie Kadoatie, who purred and smiled, nodding in agreement.

     A sudden loud noise awoke Tikhasis from her dream. She stared down at her pink body and sighed in disappointment. It had all seemed so real!

     Looking across her room, she smiled as she noticed Siyana snoring contentedly in the corner of her room. Well, at least part of the dream had become true!

     Looking out the window, Tikhasis noticed that there really were beautiful rays of sunshine pouring into the room. It was a gorgeous day; the storm from the previous day seemed to have passed. It was definitely a perfect day to begin the plan.

     Yawning and stretching, Tikhasis jumped out of bed. The thud on the floor awakened Siyana, who opened her eyes wide as she realized where she was.

     Unlike Tikhasis, Siyana was wide awake just moments after waking up, and quickly sat upright and then jumped out of bed. She switched off the night light beside her bed, which unbeknownst to Siyana, was purchased thoughtfully by Tikhasis just prior to her arrival, so as not to make her feel self-conscious about her fear of the dark.

     She then followed Tikhasis out of the room and into the kitchen, where Kimmi sat with a steaming hot cup of vanilla flavored tea. Kimmi smiled and waved as the two headed out to go pay a visit to the Rainbow Pool and Petpet Puddle.

     Tikhasis and Siyana chatted excitedly about what it was going to be like, having wings. They discussed Siyana's nerves about being painted, and Tikhasis soon had her more excited than nervous. They chatted about the plan, and where they were going to start, what they were going to do, and how great it was going to be when they both had wings.

     They even chatted about how amusing it was that all pet owners seemed to think that petpets, and petpetpets for that matter, were incapable of talking sense - only pets knew the truth - that petpets and petpetpets only chose to speak to their direct owners.

     As they were walking, suddenly a stream of colours appeared off in the distance.

     "It’s the Rainbow Pool!" Tikhasis whispered to Siyana.

     "I've never been there before now. I’ll bet it's beautiful!"

     They continued walking, and a short while later, they arrived at the Rainbow Pool.

     Tikhasis quickly realized she was correct in her assumption. She had never before seen anything as beautiful as this.

     A rainbow of brilliantly bright colours started what seemed to be as high as the sky, and streamed all the way down into some crystal clear water, making beautiful bright patterns in the water. Green grass grew all around the water, and there were hundreds of excited pets jumping around the pool, some with magical paintbrushes, others gazing at their newly painted selves in the water, all smiling joyously.

     Siyana tugged at Tikhasis' hand, taking her towards the Petpet Puddle.

     As they walked past the Rainbow Pool, Tikhasis sighed. Siyana was snapped from the thoughts of how beautiful it all was, and she squeezed her owner's hand affectionately.

     "It won't be long, Tiki!" she whispered.

     Finally, they arrived at the Petpet Puddle. They both looked around them, taking in the beauty of it all.

     "We'll be back here with paintbrushes in no time!" Tikhasis agreed.

     As they somewhat reluctantly left the puddle, they decided the best place to begin the plan would be at the Kadoatery boards.

     What better place to start than at the very place where people would expect grateful Kadoaties to leave them in peace, considering the members of these boards were joined together by their noble plans to ease the Kadoaties' hunger? It was devious and genius!

     They arrived at the Kadoatery boards a short while later, where hundreds of people sat discussing Kadoaties, while others dashed about madly trying to find foods they thought the Kadoaties might ask for.

     Siyana mumbled under her breath about how the Kadoaties that were kept at the Kadoatery got to ask for whatever foods they wanted to, and Tikhasis laughed in amusement.

     “The Kadoaties that are here are waiting for their owners to return, and are being kept in small cages. What would you prefer? Any snack you could ask for or your freedom and your owner beside you?” Tikhasis said, without expecting an answer.

     Nodding in understanding, Siyana sat next to Tikhasis, and before even being prompted, started to sing quite an awful song.

     "Mew!" she cried; a loud and awful noise that resounded through the hallways and echoed off the walls.

     A few people looked slightly pained, and Siyana looked around for those who were most affected, moving closer to them.

     "Mew! Mew! Mew! Meeewww!" she wailed, pitifully.

     In seemingly little time at all, the people began to huddle around Siyana. Some offered her foods, to which she turned her nose up and promptly wailed some more. Those who were feeling sorry for her initially began to look annoyed, and within a few minutes the neopoints began to roll in.

     The annoyed people gave Tikhasis a combined amount of three hundred and twenty thousand Neopoints! She could hardly believe their luck. Was this really going to work?

     They grinned at each other as the people of the room ushered them out as quickly as they could, Siyana wailing the entire way out of the building.

     Once they were outside, they collapsed into a heap of laughter. Three hundred and twenty thousand neopoints sure was a lot for such a small amount of work!

     They decided to head across to the shops, to try and make some more neopoints.

     Together, they cleverly decided to avoid all of the stores they had any interest in visiting again, so as to avoid any chance of not being allowed back into stores that they wanted to visit in the future.

     One of the first places they visited was the Hidden Tower. They knew very well that neither of them would ever be able to afford anything from there. They then visited the health food store - there was certainly nothing of interest there! After the health food store, they visited several random people's shops, and at each of these stores, managed to get themselves thrown out - if not by the people purchasing items who were irritated by the awful wailing, then certainly by the shop owners who couldn't take it anymore.

     Siyana patted her throat. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer without a drink!" she said, laughing.

     Tikhasis and Siyana headed to the Fresh Smoothies store, chatting about the day's events. They were both quite tired, but also very pleased with the results so far.

     They sat together at the Fresh Smoothies store, after ordering. Tikhasis sat sipping her Mega Ice Creamy Jelly Smoothie, while Siyana slurped away at her Small Salmon Sherbert Smoothie.

     Tikhasis looked in her flower purse, and slowly counted the neopoints that they had made for the day. Several minutes passed as she flicked through the neopoints in her bag, and eyes wide, she started to speak.

     "We've made one million, one hundred and five thousand neopoints in the last six hours!" she stated, incredulously.

     "Can you believe that? One million, one hundred and five thousand neopoints!" she repeated, and Siyana grinned devilishly.

     Suddenly, Tikhasis noticed several of the people who had paid them those neopoints earlier that day entering the slushie store, and she quickly grabbed Siyana and rushed her out of the store.

     They didn't want to be banned from the Slushie store! Slushies were one of Tikhasis's favorite beverages! They hurried towards the door and crept out as quietly as possible, avoiding being noticed. For this they were both extremely thankful.

     "That was a close call!" Siyana said, looking back towards the store they had just left.

     "Let's call it a day, shall we?" Tikhasis responded.

     Siyana nodded in agreement and they made their way back to their home in Neopia Central.

     Tikhasis noticed some people watching them walk past, and quickly walking in the opposite direction to them.

     She wondered if they were considering that Siyana might not be quiet for long and as she turned to look at Siyana, noticed the pleased expression on her face. She realized that Siyana was enjoying being able to sing her song for what they both agreed was a good cause.

     As they were walking, Tikhasis and Siyana noticed some faerie pets and petpets chatting together as they ate dinner, and their eyes both lit up with excitement.

     “Yes, it is definitely for a good cause,” Tikhasis thought, trying to ease her growing conscience.

     They entered the house, and noticed Kimmi cooking in the kitchen.

     "Hello Tiki, Siyana," she called, as they attempted to creep down the hallway to the bedroom and avoid discussion.

      "What have you been up to today? Have you been having fun?" she queried.

     Tikhasis and Siyana exchanged guilty smiles, and avoiding the question of the day's activities, both agreed that they'd had a great time, and then scampered off to the bedroom for some much-needed rest.

     Tikhasis closed the door to the bedroom, flicked on the night light and settled into her comfortable new bed. Within moments, Siyana was asleep, quietly snoring away, curled up in her little bed.

     Tikhasis gazed over at her and smiled to herself, and closed her eyes, trying to get to sleep. Twenty minutes passed, and still Tikhasis was unable to sleep. She tossed and turned, and wondered why it was that she was feeling so unsettled.

     Eventually, after what seemed like hours, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

To be continued...