The Magic Tree

      Wallace the Red Wocky stood before him, feeling ashamed and looking down at the tattered socks he wore on his feet. “But I wasn’t joking,” he said in a quiet voice. Of course, King Skarl didn’t hear him over his own ruckus.

     Wiping away a shed tear from his laughter, King Skarl stood up from his throne and scattered a handful of coins at Wallace’s feet. The king then said, “Here’s 72 Neopoints for the joke, kid. I’m off to lunch. That Chunky Beef Stew better be waiting for me.”

     “But it’s 7:00pm!” Wallace exclaimed, watching the king’s back quickly retreat from the throne room. Perplexed and disappointed, Wallace gathered up the coins and then departed as well.

     His helmet and shield felt extra heavy as Wallace crossed the mote of Meridell Castle, his shoulders slumped. Biscuit his Warf Petpet was eagerly waiting for him on the other side of the bridge. As soon as she saw him, she bounded toward him with hope in her tiny, naïve eyes.

     “He laughed at me,” Wallace explained to Biscuit, “He laughed at my socks, my secondhand armor, my stature, the fact that I stick out like a sore thumb by being red. He didn’t take my request to be a Knight of Meridell seriously.” Wallace felt a wave of sadness wash over him as saying it aloud made the situation feel all the more real.

     Biscuit’s hopeful expression fell and she whined, frowning up at Wallace with her sad puppy-dog eyes.

     Wallace stared down at his loyal friend for a beat. Biscuit could convey everything she wanted to say in just her eye contact alone.

     “You’re right,” Wallace replied, “A knight would be resilient and not give up so easily. Maybe things would have gone differently if I could have shown King Skarl my fancy footwork, my quick wit, my determination! I won’t give up. Let’s go train some more.”

     With a defiant nod in reply, Biscuit followed Wallace as they made their way together to the woods outside of Meridell and toward their “special tree.”

     This tree was an enigma. It always was filled with items that would slowly rain down from its branches. He never knew who put the items up there or why, but appreciated the tree’s existence nonetheless. Many Neopians assumed Wallace had lost his marbles the way they’d seen him scurry around, collecting the junk as it fell. However, Wallace is a crafty and optimistic Wocky. He invented his own training regimen which utilized this tree in order to enhance his own abilities.

      Wallace approached the tree, assuming his starting position of arms out in front of him and paws up. “Rule number one,” Wallace spoke aloud to no one in particular, “Always be ready to catch anything!”

      The tree gave way to the first item: a single, green Twirly Fruit. Wallace quickly scampered out of its fallen path, adding, “Rule number two- there isn’t a punishment for not catching something. Don’t catch berries because they’re not worth many points.” Wallace is the one who came up with the point system, after all. He knew it best.

      Once the Twirly Fruit landed on the ground, the tree next gave way to a Spiky Orange Murex Shell. Wallace quickly aligned himself in its path so that the spiky shell landed in his paws, somehow not injuring him. “22 points!” Wallace exclaimed to a proud, yipping Biscuit. It was not quite clear why the shell was worth twenty-two points exactly; Wallace must have just liked the sound of that number when he created his point system.

      With determination in his gaze, Wallace watched the next item descend. It was a book titled “The Ixi Adventure.” The tree would drop a few books from time to time, with this one being the softest. So, according to his point system, this book wasn’t worth as much as the other books. Yet, it still ranked higher than berries.

      The soft back cover of the book plopped on top of his spiky shell, becoming a stack of two items together that was worth 44 points. A good start. Wallace maneuvered a few short steps to the left and right to ensure the items wouldn’t topple over. He knew that he should never stand still and always be ready to change course. For, once his stack fell, his training round ended.

      “Okay, rule three,” Wallace began again, “Catch a Plushie next.” For some reason, the tree would always release a Plushie as an option if Wallace had successfully caught two items. He didn’t know how the tree exactly knew to do this- it was just what happened.

      Unfortunately, the next items to fall were shells and berries, but Wallace knew better to weave out of the way from those now. They were not worth as many points as a Plushie would be. Finally, he saw a Garlic Jubjub Plushie start to descend next. Keeping his short stack upright, Wallace successfully lined himself up and secured the Plushie. Now, his three items together were 79 points, because these Plushies were worth 35 points each.

      Biscuit couldn’t help herself and bounded up to Wallace to praise him. Wallace knew from this happening before that he should not knock into her because then he’d lose his balance. Sweet Biscuit was reminded countless times to not get in the way, but she just couldn’t help herself. With a tail wag, she eventually retreated to the sidelines to watch what Wallace would do next.

      Something shining brightly began falling from the tree- a Golden Journal! This was worth a whopping 80 points just by itself. “Rule number four- something glowing is always good,” Wallace reminded himself, as the gleaning, glossy gold cover of the book caught his eye. It was falling from a point near the trunk of the tree.

      Wallace started to shuffle in that direction, but his pile of three started to become unsteady. The journal was falling at too fast of a rate; Wallace just couldn’t make it there in time with his stack intact. Regretfully, Wallace heard the noise of impact as the book thudded on the ground. Oh well, at least his stack was still upright. It was better to let it fall than risk his progress. There would always be more chances for it to fall again.

      Biscuit bounded forward again to console him, but then saw that Wallace was alright and retreated away again.

      With the three items stacked on top of each other, it was still easy for Wallace to keep his tower from toppling. He gained quite the coordination from his past training experiences. Wallace quickly dodged the fruit and Plushies that fell next, his eager eyes scanning for bigger prizes to fall.

      And could it be? Another glowing item was just emerging from the branches! It was a Harffel Fruit. Unlike berries, this fruit glowed so it was worth more, at a shining 111 points!

     But again, it was falling near the trunk of the tree. Wallace quickly assessed the situation and let his stack tilt enough so he could quickly scurry his way over to the falling fruit.

     However, near the trunk of the tree was a cluster of bushes that a crabby Drackonack called home. This Drackonack loved eating the leftover berries that Wallace left on the ground, but the Drackonack tended to still get in the way of Wallace’s path from time to time. It now emerged from the bushes with a garbled yell!

      The fruit was dropping at a point just beyond it. Wallace wanted to give another groan of disappointment. Yet somehow, his pile leaned just enough over the top of the Drackonack that Wallace luckily still managed to stack the Harffel Fruit on top of it.

      “190 points!” Wallace shouted, happy with this overall score. But the training round wasn’t over yet. He could see that one of the next items to fall was an Illusen Plushie. Although most Plushies were 35 points each, Faerie Plushies were more special and instead worth 50 points. Wallace had his preferences.

      He kept in time with his collection of trinkets, making his way over to the opposite side in order to catch the falling object- only for Biscuit to bound forward again, thinking of herself as being helpful. Wallace knocked into her and felt his stack start to slip.

      “Oh no!” Wallace exclaimed, the weight of his items leaving the palms of his paws. It was almost like he was seeing them topple over in slow motion. Biscuit put her paws over her head to avoid the oncoming assault.

      And that was that. His training round finished. Only 190 points. It was definitely not his best score, but it also was not his worst either.

      Once recovered, Biscuit yipped and looked eagerly up at him again. Wallace gave her a determined nod. Time for round two!

      But before he could begin anew, his training was interrupted by the sound of applause. Then Wallace heard hearty laughter- the same laughter from before that made his stomach feel queasy. It was King Skarl!

      “That was a good show!” King Skarl declared, striding over to Wallace. King Skarl must have been coming back from his lunch break and definitely seemed to be in a better mood than before. You should never come between a Skeith and their meal.

      “Thank you, your highness,” Wallace answered, shocked at receiving praise. Biscuit’s tail could not stop wagging.

      “I assumed wrongly about you,” King Skarl began, eyeing Wallace up and down with a glint in his eyes that could only be admiration, “You are clever, creative, coordinated! Everything a good knight should be. Come, I got a contract with your name on it back at the castle.”

     King Skarl then extended his hand toward Wallace. Wallace hastily shook it, mouth hanging open in disbelief. King Skarl then put his arm around Wallace’s shoulders, steering Wallace back to Meridell Castle with a happy Biscuit bounding behind them.

     The magic tree started rustling, and Illusen poked her head out from the branches. With a satisfied smile, she watched the trio depart together.

     The End.