Minka was humming to herself a thoughtful tune whilst going through a pile of painted canvases whilst other canvases were scattered amongst the floor. Vinnie then walks by and sees what Minka is doing so he approaches her to greet his friend and starts to make conversation. "Hey there, Minka," said the goofy sounding but talented gecko, "what are you up to?"

"Hey, Vinnie!" greeted the cheerful pink monkey out loud, "Call me a narcissistic or that my ego's big as my head, but I'm just going through all the old paintings that I've done so far."

"Why would you call yourself a narcissist? That's perfectly normal, that actually shows your proud and love what you do."

"Aw thanks, Vinnie," Minka's smile grew wider.

"But I'll agree with you on one thing, you do have a really big head," Vinnie laughed whilst clutching his stomach as Minka laughed at his joke and playfully pushed him. Minka didn't realise it but her push was so forceful, it sent Vinnie a step back and he balanced on one foot whilst stretching out his arms, regaining his balance. Mink then offered to help steady him but Vinnie already regained his balance, "Woah, that was close."

"You know for a dancer, you sure are clumsy."

"Clumsy? Me? How am I clumsy?"

"You fall down all the time."

"Sure, but when I do, I do it in style, that shows how I so great!" then gecko went back to being serious. "Anyways, if it makes you feel any better about the whole ego thing, I always look back on video tapes of me recording myself practicing my awesome dance moves!" He boasted as he puffed up his chest to look more heroic than he really was.

"Alright, alright, already! I was just making a joke! I ain't beating myself up, ya know! No need to give me a therapy treatment, doc!" Minka said as Vinnie then fell down on his back and pretended to be a patient.

"Well, doctor, this whole tragedy started when I was born…" Minka shut her eyes and laughed out loud as Vinnie continued, "I was a suffering arteest! Why, oh why me?!" Vinnie waled as Minka picked up a paint brush.

"No, wait! Wait! Wait! Watch this!" she then begun her performance, "Life is meaningless and I have brought shame upon my family! I can't go on!" Then she commits suicide by stabbing her fur with the paintbrush whilst making guttural noises, "EUUUUGH!" She then collapses on top of the painted canvases, next to the mental patient as they both chuckled hysterically. They both start to get up. Vinnie then gets a good luck of the painted canvases as they get up. He walks around them and examines each one of them. This gave Minka an idea. "Vinnie?"

"Yeah, Van Gough?"

"I have an idea!" Minka jumped up and down, "I'll show you a painting and you have to guess what it is!"

"Alright, bring it on! I'm always the observant type and I always wondered what it would be like if I were an Art Critic." he then puts on a posh accent, "Hmmm, for this one I'd give this 2.5 stars. Should include more texture and more fluidity, oh I say, I say, I say…"

"You idiot! I'm not asking you to critique them, I'm just showing you my paintings and you have to guess what it is!" Mink says as she picks a canvas.

"Thank goodness, I couldn't hold that accent up any longer!"

"Alright, sooo this one!" She holds it up for him to see.

"Ok, let's see it's pink, it's also brown and looks like it has legs…"

"Good, good."

"It's a flamingo!"

"Nope, It's Blythe!"

"Blythe? Come on! That looks nothing like Blythe! How can that be Blythe?"

"Next canvas… THIS ONE!"

"It's a BIRD! No, it's a… skateboard! A tricycle! A hamburger!"

"Are you just saying random words?"

"PINEAPPLE SANDWICH!"

"Vinnie!"

"No idea!"

"It's a car!"

"That looks nothing like a car! Come on!"

"Are you insulting my Art? You dare question my qualifications as an artist?"

"No, of course not! Why? Are you gonna kill me with a paint brush?"

"Don't tempt me," she said as she bent down to find another canvas to proceed the game. She saw one faced down, she picked it up and turned it over. The canvas showed a large green splat shaped like a certain gecko in the air, upside down tumbling over. Minka was confused and but also found it fascinating and very humorous. She couldn't remember what it was, when she painted it or why… until she remembered what she did earlier. She pushed Vinnie and he almost fell over, his physique matched the shape of the painting.

Vinnie then all of a sudden fell down on his back and groaned. "Arr! How many paintings do you have? What are you, a hoarder?"

"Vinnie!" Minka snapped, "guess what this is!" Minka shoved it into his face as he pushed it away and gave a good look at it as he got up then he laughed in mockery.

"Pffft! That's the most dumbest thing I've ever seen!" he laughed out of controllably, "what the heck is that?"

"Easy now!"

"I'm sorry… It's just… it's just the dumbest thing I've ever seen! I mean, what even is that? Some green monster or it's just a green splat!" Minka was really enjoying this, he really couldn't wait to tell him. She was covering her snickering mouth.

"Oh it's green alright," she said, "just like you."

"Just like me?" Vinnie then looked at himself and then all of a sudden, his face lit up and he stared at the smiling monkey open mouther, " Minka, I just… realised."

"You do?!" Minka was ready to explode.

"Yeah, I just had an idea! Minka! You should paint a picture of me!" Vinnie shouted excitedly as Minka's smile vanished and was bewildered.

"Huh? What?"

"You never painted a picture of me before, why not do it! Wouldn't it be fun? I'll look so heroic and muscly and good looking! I'll be magnificent just like it rhymes with my name!"

"Your name is Vinnie."

"Not anymore, I'll be Vincent! Vincent The Magnificent!"

"I prefer Vinnie!"

"I don't! To me, Vinnie's too wimpy! Clumsy, boring, dumb, showing off, doesn't know what he's doing, That's all the rest of the pets see me as." Vinnie said. Minka hearing all that sounded as if he was, in fact, beating himself up, but he didn't realise it and he was not. He was talking with so much excitement as if all this was about to change. Despite that all he said was not true, it was all in his head. Minka could see it.

"That's not true, Vinne." Minka consoled him, "to me and everyone else you're a funny, talented quirky gecko…"

"But I wanna be seen as more than that! I wanna stand out for once," Vinnie butted in and then he took the canvas, "and with your help, Minka, I can! Why waste time on this monstrosity when you can focus on me! Because you never painted me before so that would be so much more exciting than making something so blurry you can't even see or make out what it is. But whatever it is, I'm sure it's just something dumb. I mean it's just a green splat!" he laughed as Minka was shocked and her anger was sort of rising up. She was getting quite irritated with her so called, "friend." She had to tell him.

"Vinnie there's something…"

"Ok, so what he should do is get some lights that will go with my amazing complexion…"

"Vinnie…"

"Then I should coming up with an awesome cool pose, what do ya think Minka? Should I be like leaning or should I show off my awesome biceps!"

"Vinnie…"

"And you can draw me like lifting up a car and have some big muscles, maybe have me wearing a Superman outfit, or maybe a Supergecko outfit. Something courageous! I just want it to be the best painting ever…

"VINNIE!" Minka shrieked angrily to the top of her lungs as her fist was clenched. For a minute there, she was in angry monkey mode. Vinnie, shocked, faced Minka.

"What? What's wrong?"

"That is you! That dumb picture that you're holding? That IS you! I DID paint a picture of you." Minka tried to avoid tears from forming in her eyes as her voice wobbled, "that dumb green splat is you!"

"What? That's me? How can that be me?"

"I painted it when you were falling to the ground! This is you falling upside down."

"You painted me falling down?" Vinnie asked madly, "but what happened?"

"I don't know! It looked funny, I guess!" she said, "some time ago, you were practicing your tap dancing routine or you were sliding off the rolling carpet and then you fell flat faced into the ground."

"And then you decided to paint me while I was in that position?"

"Uh… yeah," Minka sniffed as Vinnie then took the painting and stared at it, "well, now that you know, what do ya think now?"

"Has anyone else seen this?"

"No, I don't think so…"

"Good! Let's get rid of it and make a new one. A better one!"

"But I was actually thinking of showing it to the rest…"

"No! They can't see me like this! I'm world's best tap dancing gecko, this will destroy my reputation. Is that what you want?"

"Excuse me?! It was just a joke!"

"So you think I'm a joke?"

"Of course not! You're my friend! I would never do something like that!

"I would never do something like that too, Minka! You see? I'm actually trying to improve your work. Our reputation," he then put his hand around the sad, hurt little monkey, "If you do a better picture of me and then you show it to the pets. You'll become a better artist and I'll become a better gecko even better than I was before."

"What's wrong with the one you are now? The others don't think there's wrong, it's all just in your head."

"I can feel that's what they think of me! But this will improve your artwork as well. I mean come on! Surely you can do so much better than a green splat! That's just pathetic, I look pathetic!" the gecko snapped then he regained his composure, "so whatdya say?"

"You know what, Vinnie?" Minka took Vinnie's hand away, "remember you said I shouldn't call myself a narcissistic? You're right. The only narcissistic here is you." she then held her painting and gives it to Vinnie, "this is all your gonna get, Vincent The Magnificent, I hope you enjoy what I spent hours working on just for you." Her tears were streaming down her face as Vinnie held the painting in shame as Minka turned her back on him

"Minka, I…"

"Leave me alone, Vincent the Magnificent, I don't ever want to talk to you ever again!" She screamed as Vinnie's heart sank. Did he just lose his exciting, cheerful best friend? She took a deep breath and then continued, "but when you see Vinnie the Gecko around the pet shop, tell him that I can speak to him."

"Minka, I…"

"Not now." Minka then climbed from a leg and landed on top of nearby table and stared at the window in dismay. Vinnie could hear the sound of soft, gentle sobbing from his friend and felt like the ground should swallow him up. He looked down at the painting and stared at the "dumb green splat" that Minka painted just for fun.

"Geez, I messed up really bad. How am I gonna make it up to her?"

"Don't worry, Minka, I'll find a way, Vinnie the Gecho will find a way. I promise." he then spotted Minka's paintbrush on the floor, "but right now… I feel like stabbing myself with this paintbrush."

TO BE CONTINUED