Usuki Singing Stars #44: Usuki-Conned

     "I can’t believe you guys got us Usukicon passes!!” Patricia squealed as she followed her friends inside the convention center. The faerie Shoyru was bursting with excitement as she gazed at all the pink and purple booths scattered around the main floor.

     Sparkles clapped. “Snaw was the one who got us the passes,” explained the pink Bruce.

     Scary sighed. “Because the IDIOT can’t be trusted to roam around here without us trailing behind,” grumbled the purple Bruce.

     “But that's why Snaw invited his friend Brandon to come too,” said Sparkles. “That way we could enjoy Usukicon by ourselves. Plus, I think Brandon was seeking a Space Usuki doll or something.”

     “Oooh, what if there’s a new batch of Usuki Singing Stars stuff?” Patricia said excitedly. “Like new clothing sets? Or that rumored gold convertible?”

     “Who cares,” Scary drawled impatiently. “I want an Usukicon gift bag before all the stupid dweebs and collectors hog them!”

     After picking up their Usukicon gift bags, the girls eagerly checked out all the different booths, ogling at all the new dolls, clothing and playsets. Patricia’s eyes grew wide when she noticed a solid gold Usuki doll in a glass case. “That doll has to be worth millions of neopoints!!” she breathed.

     Scary peered at the doll. “Is that real gold?”

     “Of course it is,” said a blue Lupe. She was wearing a yellow sundress and an Usul-ear headband. “In fact, this doll is supposedly worth over five hundred million neopoints!” The Lupe sighed. “I can only imagine how adorable she must look in the Usuki summer dress.”

     “Eww, definitely not that tacky sunflower-print one,” Scary scoffed.

     “Hi! Are you enjoying the Usukicon too?” asked Sparkles.

     The Lupe nodded eagerly. “I sure am! Name’s Abby, by the way.” She pointed to a nearby booth. “Ooh, let’s go look at the new NC Mall items.”

     “Nah. I want more freebies,” said Scary.

     “Where can we get more?” Patricia wondered.

     Sparkles shrugged. “I don’t know. But I need to go to the bathroom for a quick minute.” She handed her goodie bag to Patricia. “Can you please hold this for me, Pat?”

     “Actually, I think I’ll go, too,” said Patricia.

     “Whatever you losers are doing, I am not holding anyone’s anything,” Scary snorted.

     “Well I don’t mind being the goodie bag holder,” said Abby with a laugh. “I’ll meet up with you girls at the make-your-own Usukicon T-shirt booth.”

     Patricia nodded and followed Sparkles to the bathrooms. When they returned to their friends, Scary was eyeing a displayed Superhero Usuki. “Hey Scare, where'd Abby go?” asked Sparkles.

     “Don't know, don’t care,” said Scary.

     “But she had our gift bags!” Patricia gasped, looking around desperately for the Lupe. “Maybe she went to get refreshments?”

     Sparkles shook her head. “Remember what she said? She was going to check out that t-shirt making booth. Let’s go meet up with her over there.” She beamed. “And then we can make our own shirts! What a perfect souvenir of our first Usukicon together!”

     “You two go ahead and, uh, make at your shirt,” said Scary. “I’m staying here to look at this doll.”

     Panicking, Patricia and Sparkles hurried to the booth. Although a blue Usul pushed them to make their own souvenir shirts, the girls declined and scanned the crowd for any blue Lupes. “Ooh, maybe she’s Abby!” said Sparkles, pointing to a nearby Lupe.

     “Nah. Abby’s not that tall, remember?” said Patricia. The Lupe turned out, snorted, and walked away.

     “CANDY! MYNCI! BANANA! TOMORROW! JAY!” Snaw shrieked, dragging Brandon towards the booth. “Come, my Brandon. Let us make a t-shirt with this very slogan!”

     Brandon waved to Sparkles as he walked by. “Hope you and your friends are having fun!” he shouted.

     “Silence Brandon!” Snaw hissed. “I did not permit you to speak.”

     Sparkles gasped. “Look, Pat! She’s over there by the lemonade vendor.”

     “You’re right! Let’s go.” Patricia followed Sparkles across the floor, trying to keep Abby within her view as she shuffled through the differing crowd of con-goers. Please let us make it there in time, Patricia pleaded silently as she pushed past a green Grarrl.

     Luckily, Abby remained at her spot, casually sipping her lemonade. When she looked up at Patricia and Sparkles, she narrowed her eyes and said, “My, you two could use a humongous glass of lemonade.”

     “Abby….thank goodness….” Sparkles panted. “And our bags….you have….them….”

     Abby raised her eyebrows. “What? I don’t have anything of yours,” she gasped overdramatically. “In fact, I don’t even know you!”

     “Sure you do,” Patricia insisted. She pointed to the gift bags looped around Abby's arms. “In fact, two of those five gift bags are ours! You said you’d hold them for us while we went to—”

     “Uh, I don’t THINK so,” Abby scoffed. “Like I said before, I don’t know you and therefore haven't taken anything from you. So there!” With a smirk, she pushed a red Shoyru aside and strutted towards a nearby stand, where a purple Uni was selling pretzels.

     “Where did she get those other gift bags?” Sparkles marvelled.

     Patricia sighed. “Great, NOW what can we do? We were bamboozled at Usukicon and now we don’t have our gift bags.” Angry, she kicked an empty Neocola can.

     “I suppose we go meet back up with Scary and, uh, find the Defenders of Neopia,” Sparkles suggested.

     “You’re not serious, are you?” Patricia raised her eyebrows.

     Sparkles nodded. “I’m sure we’ll find at least one superhero around here. I mean, who can honestly resist the call of Usukicon??”

     ***

     “Wha—oh, you’re back,” said Scary, turning away from the displayed Superhero Usuki she’d been staring at for who-knows-how-long. “Did you two find any more freebies?”

     Patricia quickly relayed their encounter with Abby the ‘Usukicon Gift Bag Thief’. “Now we’ll have to leave Usukicon without our souvenirs!” she wailed.

     “And those bags were so cute,” Sparkles added. “Plus I scanned the entire convention floor for the Defenders of Neopia, but only saw a few Kougras with capes and masks.”

     “So….you two didn’t find any more free stuff,” Scary pressed.

     Patricia facepalmed. “We were trying to retrieve our stolen gift bags from that treacherous Abby! We had no time to seek more free stuff.”

     “Well then, you shouldn’t have trusted a complete stranger with your valuables,” Scary sniffed.

     Brandon waved to the girls as he approached them, pushing a cart piled high with Usuki boxes. “Hello, fellow Usukicon goers!" he said cheerily, holding up his boxed Space Usuki. "Look what just bought for half a million! Wanna go get some drinks to celebrate my latest victory?”

     “We’re actually in a bit of a jam right now,” sighed Patricia.

     Scary rolled her eyes. “I’m not, thanks for asking.”

     “Why? What happened?” asked Brandon.

     Before Patricia could reply, she and Sparkles turned and saw Snaw fighting with a familiar blue Lupe, who was growling as she pulled a gift bag towards her. Patricia gasped and pointed, exclaiming, “Sparkles, there she is! It’s ABBY!!”

     “Ick, and she’s still wearing that ugly dress from before,” scoffed Scary.

     Abby grunted loudly as she tried to pry the bag away from Snaw. “Let go, you big oaf! This bag is mine!”

     “It’s mine because it has my name on it!” Snaw sneered. “I only told you to hold it for me because I needed to buy a new lasso for my Superhero Usuki!” With an added scream, Snaw pried the bag out of Abby’s hands and, with a smile, placed it gently in the cart. “There! BRANDON, make sure it arrives safe and sound into my SDB.”

     “Y-you can't do that,” Abby sputtered. “That bag was mine.”

     An angry blue Bruce stepped forward and grabbed a gift bag that had fallen to the ground. “And this one was mine until you decided to walk away with it,” she said.

     Two Usuls stepped forward and grabbed their gift bags before heading towards a nearby booth. Feeling confident, Patricia reached over and grabbed two gift bags, handing one over to Sparkles. “I believe these two belong to us,” she said with a smirk.

     “Those don’t belong to you,” said Abby, glaring. “I’ll have the Defenders of Neopia on you before you can say Usuki Defender Tower Playset!”

     “Yeah, whatever.” Patricia walked away, happily swinging her gift bag. “So, now what should we do?”

     “Break into Brandon’s house and take all his money,” Snaw suggested. “I already stole his house key earlier."

     “Oh Snaw, you're just joking...right?” asked Brandon hesitantly.

     “Brandon, you don’t need to worry about that,” said Snaw. “Also, stop talking. Your terrible non-singing voice will drain away all of my happy memories of this year’s Usukicon.”

     “I hope we can come back next year!” Sparkles squealed.

     “Me too,” Patricia agreed. “Though let’s be more careful in the future: I don’t wanna be conned at Usukicon ever again!”

     The end.