Friday: All Sold Out

A Neo-citizen had a time constraint of 12 minutes and 7 seconds from an impatient Dark Faerie and so he was hastily racing across Neopia Central to obtain the desired item: a JubJub Piper Muffin. Trying his best to maneuver through the array of other Neo-citizens who were window shopping or leisurely walking around, he continued running along Neopia Central's famous Yellow Dirt Road and into the Neopian Bazaar.

      With sweat glistening on his forehead, he kept moving his feet forward even though it was nearly killing him inside; every step was equivalent to tiny needles stabbing his poor soles. He raced southwest, bypassing the Bazaar's famous Hubert's Hotdog Stand, known for selling the best hotdogs in all of Neopia, and then the Battle Magic Store, deemed the best shop to buy high quality weapons for low low prices, until he saw the shop he was searching for... the Bakery House.

      The Neo-citizen was hyperventilating by this point as he had to race all the way from Faerieland to Neopia Central - it was a great feat that he had not fallen over from pure exhaustion. Huffing and puffing, he adjusted his clothes as they became jumbled from his scramble to get to his destination. He stood in front of the Bakery House with his index and middle fingers pressed against his pulse until he could feel his heartbeat palpate at a more normal pace.

      Releasing a heavy sigh of relief when he felt his heart beat at a steady rate of 85 beats per minute, he turned the doorknob on the Bakery House's bright red door while simultaneously closing his eyes. He recalled his Neofriends telling him that losing a sense can heighten another, so with his sense of vision subdued, he hoped his sense of smell would amplify so the wonderful waft of freshly baked bread emanating from the shop would go into his sinuses. However, he noticed something was amiss when he smelt zilch - no freshly baked bread, not even a whiff of baking. Opening his eyes, he was completely shocked to see the scene before him - the bread baskets were all empty and the glass Cookie Dome where the Breadmaster would stock cookies had been reduced to tiny speaks of crumbs. Walking further into the store, he discovered that the Bakery House was completely sold out of baked goods!

      Covering his face with his hands, he released a frustrated groan as he tried to figure out the best way to avoid the wrath of the Dark Faerie - she would not be pleased to know that he had failed his third quest. He belittled himself for not being more prepared - he knew he should have waited until Saturday to accept the quest, but he was too eager and tried to do it on Friday instead.

      From the spaces in between his pudgy fingers, he saw the Breadmaster, the proprietor and head baker, swing a set of wooden doors and stand before him. He was covered completely in flour, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet - each step he made created a flour-like footprint on his ceramic tiled floor.

      Dusting off the flour on his customary white apron and shaking his head underneath his chef's hat that was obviously too big for his head, the Breadmaster said "Sorry, we are sold out of everything! We get restocked every eight minutes or so, so please come back soon."

      The Neo-citizen peeked at his watch and acknowledged he was running out of him - 7 minutes and 58 seconds to be exact, and explained his extenuating circumstances to the Breadmaster. With hopeful eyes and an anxious smile on his face, he hoped the Breadmaster would sympathize with him and pleaded, "Please bake me a JubJub Piper Muffin!"

     The Breadmaster shook his head and replied, "Even though I just put a tray of Red Rose Sugar Cookies into the oven, I am completely backed up with orders. You aren't the only person who desires one of my delicious baked goods. I even had to hire help in order to meet up with my high demand," while gesturing to a blue petpet who was lugging a sack of sugar into the kitchen.

      "A few days ago, I realized I was going crazy between having to bake my yummy pastries, welcoming my patrons into the store, and offering the best quality customer service while checking them out," the Breadmaster elaborated while pointing to the two-horned petpet who was tossing sugar into a large pot that already held flour and baking soda. "I was like a maniac! Finally, I decided to take a petpet under my wing."

      Turning his head to the direction of the petpet, the Breadmaster said, "We're going to make a batch of 24 Chocolate Chip Biscuits this time!"

      In return, the petpet eagerly nodded his head and spread his orange wings outward and flew to the back room in order to retrieve the rest of the ingredients. The Neo-citizen regarded the critter that looked double the size of the rest of the petpets in Neopia and said, "Well, that petpet sure seems eager to help you."

      "He is absolutely amazing," the shopkeeper praised. "He doesn't need to be micro-managed at all! I just tell him what I need to bake and he'll do it, no questions asked! He's an amazing petpet, and I'm guessing an excellent baker as I've had to restock my store more times than I can count!" From the corner of his eyes, the Neo-citizen saw the petpet wrap a large silver whisk around his tail and whip the concoction at an incredible speed.

      *beep*

      *beep*

     *BEEP*

      Hearing the sound of a timer going off, the Breadmaster said, "The Red Rose Sugar Cookies are done! I have to take them out, otherwise they'll burn!" He quickly walked into the kitchen.

      The Neo-citizen knew the moment when the Breadmaster took the tray of cookies out as he could smell the mixture of butter, flour, and sugar permeating through the air. The Neo-citizen inhaled deeply - something about the smell of freshly baked cookies always warmed his heart and so he said, "Jhudora will surely be upset that I cannot complete her quest, but I'll try to make it up to her by purchasing those freshly baked sugar cookies. Do you know when they'll be ready?"

      "My petpet will be bringing them out soon! Just sit tight and he'll stock some more in a jiffy! In the mean time, I need to go to the basement and fetch some Chokato frosting - I haven't made a Chokato Deluxe Aisha Cake in a while!" the Breadmaster said from afar.

      Pleased with the customer service he received, the Neo-citizen decided to wait in the far right corner of the shop and sat on a wooden stool.

      Wow, what a helpful petpet, the Neo-citizen thought. He recalled how fussy his own petpet was, a Pfish who needed to be constantly watched over. His petpet had a tendency to get into mischief - last week his Pfish jumped into the Rainbow Pool and came out Plushie! It was so embarrassing for him! What a relief it would be to not fret over your petpet...

      As the Neo-citizen continued to think about his Pfish's mischievousness, the swinging of the wooden doors interrupted his train of thought. From his stance, he saw the blue petpet enter the shop front and begin stocking Red Rose Sugar Cookies in the Cookie Dome.

      Getting up from his spot, he approached the Cookie Dome and was surprised to see that the petpet only restocked 8 cookies.

      That's odd, the Neo-citizen surmised, typically the Breadmaster stocks cookies in bundles of 24, yet the petpet only stocked a few cookies. Shrugging his shoulders, he gathered 5 of them and approached the counter where the petpet was waiting to check him out.

      Handing the Neopia Central inspired petpet Neopoints to pay for the goodies, he noticed the critter had almost doubled in size and his cheeks were puffed out like a Bubble petpet. Just when he was about to mention it to the Breadmaster, the critter hopped off the counter and scurry into the back room.

      The Neo-citizen wanted to comment on the petpet's off-putting customer service, but shrugged it off when he remembered that The Breadmaster assigned him the task of baking 24 Chocolate Chip Biscuits. As the Neo-citizen began placing the Red Rose Sugar Cookies into his inventory, he said to no one in particular, "That is one strange Bloopy indeed."

      Bloopy Trivia: A Bloopy will try and steal your Neopets food when it isn't looking. It can store food in its cheeks and double its size!

The End