Mission For Knowledge: Part Three

     Along with paying for her college education, she was allowed an apprenticeship in a local petpet store. The store was much smaller than Fantastic Friends, but it was where the larger store got their Mystery Island petpets.

     The final straw for her came when Uri, the manager of Fantastic Friends, offered her a free petpet.

     “What?!” she screeched, flapping her wings in excitement. The purple Tuskaninny laughed as green feathers swirled everywhere.

     “Of course, Rain. It’s the least we could do.”

     “The least you could d...” Rain mumbled, shaking her head in amazement. These wonderful Neopians had offered her a free college education, a well paying job that would help with her future career, and now they were even offering her her own fantastic friend.

     “Why don’t I show you around the store?” Uri said with a giggle as she led the lanky Lenny through the many aisles of the gigantic shop.

     After over an hour of examining well over a hundred species of petpets, Rain decided on a humbly priced Mallard. Uri was not convinced that Rain wasn’t choosing this species solely for its price, but couldn’t talk the stubborn Lenny into anything more exotic.

     “What will you call him?” Uri asked, as Rain went through the petpet care section of the store and picked out food items and the like.

     “Pecks,” she stated, smiling at the adorable little green creature.

     “And Pecks he shall be named!” Uri exclaimed, as she quickly pushed Rain out of the store and away from the cash register.

     When Guy came home, he met a fire Pteri, orange Tonu, green Koi, red Chomby, yellow JubJub, and green Lenny crowded around a small, feathered object. He leaned over the closely knit heads to peer down at the Mallard. “Where’d you get that?” he asked, putting down a rather average brown box on the coffee table.

     “Rain got it as a welcome present from work!” the orange Tonu, Giggles exclaimed. The young neopet turned large pink eyes on her owner.

     “Can I get a petpet too?” she asked sweetly, batting her long eyelashes. Guy rolled his eyes and nodded.

     “I’m sure you’ll all want something after I present Rain with a gift of my own.”

     All of the neopets looked up at him. Rain’s eyes grew wide.

     “I can not believe you went and got me another present! You just bought me that whole furniture set for my new room!” Guy had bought Rain the full set of pink Lenny furniture.

     “Well, there is still one thing missing from your pink Lenny themed room.”

     “Oh yeah? Did they come out with some other piece?” Rain asked curiously, scooping her petpet into her arms.

     “Something like that. Why don’t you take a peek?” He presented her with the boring brown box. Rain reached out and took it from him. The package was not heavy. She wondered what kind of furniture would be so small. She raised the lid off the box and screamed.

     “What!?” Guy’s fire Pteri, Ace, asked, flying up to the ceiling in fright. Giggles jumped into her owner’s arms, along with the green Koi, Emerald. Curio the red Chomby dashed behind the fire couch. The only one who didn’t run was Tyk, the yellow JubJub.

     “Let me see!” he demanded, stepping boldly up to the dropped box. He kicked the lid aside and gasped himself.

     Inside was a pink paintbrush. All of the neopets stared at Guy in awe. A sheepish look crossed his face.

     “Okay, I didn’t pay for the whole thing. My guild donated a lot to the Paint Rain fund.”

     Rain looked up at Guy, tears brimming in her eyes as she ran straight into her foster owner’s arms.

     “Thank you, thank you so much.”

***

     The sun rose the next morning on brand new pink feathers on one very happy Lenny. Even though she still had to work at her old job, Joyful Juice, she couldn’t help but smile.

     She placed her favorite pretty pink flower hat on her head, and walked out the door with pep in her step.

     The tinkling bell announced her presence to the empty eatery, and she whistled as she straightened the already straight chairs and put on a pot of coffee. Fifteen minutes later, her regular customers and best friends entered the store for breakfast. They were chatting noisily and then, one by one, they stopped and stared.

     Yums, the brown Bruce was the last to stop. His beak opened wide and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

     “You’ve been painted,” was all he managed to say before the rest of the group rushed passed him to admire Rain’s new paint job.

     “You look beautiful!” Chelsea the spotted Cybunny cooed, as Rain preened for her adoring fans. Chilli clapped his icy hands together and Arnie, the pink Elephante, trumpeted loudly.

     “What’s with all the ruckus!” an orange Techo screeched as he bounded into the store. He stopped dead when he saw the pink Lenny standing before him.

     “Sorry, Mr. Dreds. My friends were just excited over my transformation.” Rain’s boss looked gob-smacked.

     “How did you manage to afford that paintbrush with the measly wage I pay you?” the Techo asked in astonishment. Opi, the Darigan Kau snickered, and Rain pointedly cleared her throat.

     “My foster owner’s guild graciously donated the paint brush.” As she said this, the cogs in her brain started to turn. Every time her owner painted one of his fosters, it meant they were about to be adopted. Her jaw dropped and she stood dumbly for a few seconds. Her boss snapped his fingers impatiently and demanded she get back to work as another slew of customers arrived.

     Rain practically floated home where she was greeted by Pecks in the front garden. Guy had been so kind as to install a pond just for the little mallard. She stuck her feet into the cool water as Pecks paddled over to her. She rubbed the little petpet’s feathered head absent-mindedly as she waited for Guy to return.

     Half an hour later, Guy strode up the front lawn with two bags of groceries in his arms.

     “Would you get the door please, Rain?”

     Rain jumped up and quickly opened the front door to their shared house. She followed Guy into the kitchen and unloaded one of the bags for him. When they were done she turned to face him with a small smile on her beak. He sat down at the table and sipped at a neocola until he finally noticed the pink Lenny staring at him.

     “What?” he asked innocently, taking another long swig of the sweet drink.

     “I was just thinking. When will I be able to meet them?”

     A wide grin gave Guy away as he stood up and walked over to the counter, where a letter was neatly folded.

     “I’d say pretty soon. They should be here any minute.”

     “What?!” Rain shouted, dashing into her room to groom herself. She put on her pink sun hat and quickly readjusted some feathers as she heard knocking at the door. She heard Guy open it and invite the person in.

     She took a deep breath and stood straighter as she walked as gracefully as she could out of the room.

     Her foster owner and another human stood in the living room talking. She decided to get some lemonade from the kitchen for the guest. When she came back, the two were sitting on the couch in a serious discussion.

     The human woman was much smaller than Guy, about one-third his size. In fact, Rain was probably taller than her. She had long, wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her tanned skin indicated she was outside a lot. Once again the cogs started turning in Rain’s mind. She had a pretty good feeling she knew where this human lived.

     Guy looked up and smiled at Rain, motioning her to come closer.

     “Rain, this is Skye. She lives on Mystery Island and is looking for a new member for her family.” Skye smiled pleasantly as she shook Rain’s wing.

     “Hello, Rain. It’s nice to finally meet you. Guy’s been corresponding with me about you for almost a year now.” This piece of news took Rain by surprise.

     “A year? But I’ve only been painted two days!”

     Skye chuckled. “Well, I’m also a member of the same guild as Guy, and he was one of the foster owners I talked to. He spoke highly of you and said you’d be ready for adoption after you graduated from high school. Now it looks like this was meant to be all along.”

     Rain could feel hot tears prick at the back of her eyes. She didn’t want to cry in front of her potential new owner. But to think, she’d been with Guy for only a month before she started her last year of high school. He’d been planning her future very carefully for the past year, and she hadn’t even known.

     “So, Rain, what do you think of Skye so far?” Guy asked, a concerned look on his face.

     “I think she’s great!”

     It was one week before she was scheduled to start her first day at Mystery Island Community College. Guy and all of the neopets that lived in his house came with Rain out to see her for her first month of being on Mystery Island. Rain was currently admiring her beautifully pink room. She stared over at the opposite side of the room and was admiring the gorgeous picture of a pink Lenny, then laughed loudly when she realized she was looking in a mirror.

     “Is everything all right in here?” Ribbon the maractite Lutari asked, as she plunked down on Rain’s red bean bag.

     “It’s great, thanks Ribbon.” Rain smiled at her new sibling. She loved all of her new family members. Bear, the fun loving island Bori, Guppy, the adorable Maraquan Mynci and lastly Gloater, the mischievous pirate Buzz.

     Earlier that day, Bear had shown her around Mystery Island. Rain had wanted to take a Tiki Tour, but Bear pointed out she was no longer a tourist, but a local. It felt weird to think that this place would now be her home.

     She and Ribbon left her new room to go to the back yard. Rain had been utterly amazed to find out that her back yard was a beach.

     Guy was standing next to a grill and was cooking up some seafood delights. Guppy and Emerald were far out from the beach, chasing each other through the waves. Curio was sunning herself and Tyk was perched on Guy’s shoulder, instructing him on how to cook the food. Skye and Bear were farther down the beach, playing volleyball.

     Rain and Ribbon stayed in the shallows, talking about their lives before this point. As the sun sank lower in the sky, Guy called everyone to come and eat dinner. He dished out delicious lobster tails and Geraptiku burgers.

     Rain held Pecks with one wing and her burger in the other. How much better could this day get?

     Skye approached the group with a small, oblong box in her hand. Rain looked at it curiously but thought nothing of it as the family continued to eat and chat.

     After everyone had had their fill, Skye stepped to the center of the group and addressed the crowd.

     “Everyone, we have invited a new member to our family. Welcome home, Rain!” Rain giggled shyly as everyone clapped and cheered.

     “But let us not forget we got two for the price of one!” Everyone again whooped and hollered, but Rain was very puzzled. Had Skye adopted another neopet?

     “And to welcome this other new member to the family I present you with this.” She handed Rain the little box. Rain was perplexed for a few more seconds before she realized Skye was talking about Pecks. As she started to open the box, Skye quickly added:

     “And since everything in Rain’s room matches, I think her petpet should match too.”

     Rain shrieked with joy as she took a pink petpet paint brush from the package. Tears poured down her face as she tried to make her beak move to express her thanks. But every member of her new family just came in and hugged her. Finally, she managed a feeble thank you.

     Epilogue

     Rain stood on her beach for a back yard and cradled her pink Mallard. Today was Friday; she had successfully completed her first week at MICC. The gentle waves lapped at the shores of Mystery Island, and she let the gentle breeze ruffle her feathers.

     She had spent her whole life trying to get into a place where now, she didn’t even give a second thought. Even though her life had felt like a battle field up to this point, she had finally won the war. Her mission for knowledge was completed.

The End

Author’s Note: This story means the world to me. Even though the events didn’t happen quite like this; I certainly wasn’t painted pink! When I was unable to get into my dream school, another window of opportunity opened up to me that I didn’t even realize was there. My message to you, dear Reader, is to never give up hope on your dreams, because you will achieve them in a most unexpected way.