A/N: I got the story plot from a Neopedia article of the same name.

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The red Kacheek's eyes were squinched tight, her muscles contracted and tense. She gnawed her lip as droplets of sweat slipped down her brow. Then her legs went loose and her arms hung limply. The red Kacheek dropped her paws, cradling something in her paws. For, indeed, a tiny baby Kacheek had been born.

Strangely, the Kacheek was born spotted rather than red. But he looked all right. The mother Kacheek hugged her newborn close to her, nuzzling her face in his and he gave a contented sigh, snuggled up and fell asleep.

"Oh, baby," sighed the mother, bringing him to her face, "I think I'll call you Albert."

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From that day on, Albert grew to be a strong, healthy you Kacheek. He just loved planting and was always trying to grow produce in the unlikeliest of places: Terror Mountain, for example, and even Tyrannia's harsh, barren ground. One day, he stood in a field, packets of flower seeds in his hand and a straw hat on his head.

"Hmmm," said Albert, adjusting his overalls. "I wonder if I should plant these, or these." He looked from one packet to the other.

"I think I'll plant the tiger lilies." He dropped to his knees, carefully shaking out the packet and making a small hole with his paws.

"Hey, Alb!" someone from out on the horizon called. Albert looked up. It was his friends Bay, Jumps and Cutie.

"Hi," greeted Albert, straightening himself as his friends neared him. "Just planting some flowers."

"Aw, you're always planting flowers," said Jumps playfully. He was a green Kacheek, Bay was turquoise, and Cutie was pink with a big red heart on her chest.

"We're going shopping," announced Cutie in her soft voice. "You want to come?"

"Sure, but let me finish planting these flowers first."

His friend waited impatiently while he pushed the seeds in the hole, covered it up with dirt and watered them with his portable watering can.

"Come on, Albert," persisted Bay, the one who'd hailed him from across the field, when he was done, pulling him away.

"Okay, okay," agreed Albert, laughing, letting his friend tugging him away.

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"Mmmm." The four Kacheeks stood outside the ice cream shop, licking away at some new blue Techo Ice Pops they'd bought.

"Alby, have I got a challenge for you," began Bay suddenly, licking on his ice pop.

"What?" asked Albert, wondering what it could be.

"I dare you to plant something where there isn't any sunlight at all -- say the Haunted Woods."

"No way!" Albert was shocked.

"Aw, come on!" pressed Bay.

"Well, alright," Albert agreed, tenderly touching the packet of pineapple plants that he'd bought that day.

"Great! Let's go!" said Bay, zipping off. Laughing, his friends joined him.

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But when they got there, they changed their minds on the spot. The sky was forever dark and stormy, and the eerie full moon that gravitated over it all shone like a pale beacon. Dead trees bordered the area, and made a circle off to the left. In the middle of it were human skulls, piled in a little pyramid like some exorcism circle. To their right, there was a graveyard, its entrance shaded by overgrown willows. Moss-covered tombstones stuck out of the ground, cracked and misshapen. They all knew it was the Game Graveyard. Somewhere farther off, there was a maze, a dark, scary maze made out of hedges. Dark overgrown hedges. It didn't take a genius to know that this was the maze that the Mutant Blumaroo from the game Fetch had to navigate through every day.

"Albert, I changed my mind, don't do it!" panicked Bay, waving his arms wildly in the air.

The Kacheek's face was set. "I am going to do this, whatever it takes." In case you're wondering if he didn't have any good sense, you're wrong. He was doing it more to plant seeds and bring hope to the Haunted Woods than he was for the dare.

Albert slowly walked forward to a small patch of dirt under a gnarled oak tree. He soundlessly kneeled, and dug open holes with his paws to plant the seeds in. At least he was about to, anyway, when a giant fist reached out and grabbed him!

His friends watched in horror as Albert was lifted up from the ground, squirming and struggling. Then they realized that the giant hand that had caught him was none other than that of Esphagor, the evil mountain that loomed over the Haunted Woods. But when they saw what happened next -- well, read on, travellers.

Esphagor brought Albert close to him and began in a low, deep voice. "You are my slave," he boomed.

Albert squirmed again. As he did, he could fell that he was changing. He felt a wave in his very skin spread out over his skin. When he looked at his paws, he saw that they were turquoise. Then he felt something bursting out of his head, pulsing, ever pulsing. Albert felt his head. It was his brain! Argh! He was a mutant Kacheek!

His friends, upon seeing this horrible transformation, fled the spot. They weren't cowards, but they didn't know just what could happen to their friend.

Only his eyes remained the same. Albert vaguely wondered why as Esphagor said in his low voice, "Now, get me a Jhudora wrap." He dropped Albert.

Albert, seeing his chance, began to run. But then Esphagor stopped him. "Get it!" he thundered. Albert had no choice but to obey his wishes. He scampered away in the other direction.

It wasn't east to find an item when you were a mutant, Albert thought bitterly some while later. Everyone avoided him. When he asked the shopkeepers, they recoiled and said they didn't have it. Yeah, right. But at last Albert was in front of the Soup Faerie's place. He knocked on the door.

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The Soup Faerie had had a Jhudora wrap and now Albert was bringing it to Esphagor. "Slow, too slow, maybe if you get me a Skelsoldier Axe I would let you go," Esphagor declared in reply.

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And so on it went. Albert always failed to get the asked item in time. Six months later, Albert felt as if he could run a thousand miles. He felt sullen and mean. His body ached all over. His eyes, probably the only thing that had kept him sane, were now big and red, like any other mutant Kacheek's. He collapsed onto the rock-hard ground his body slumped and sore.

"Get me a Meridell T-shirt," Esphagor told him.

"No!" Albert didn't want to listen to him. He was sick and tired of this. Quick as a flash, he got up and darted away from the mountain's grabby hands. Esphagor tried to grab him, but failed. Albert darted under the giant fingers and made way for the exit, not just the exit of Esphagor's desolate ground but also the exit of the Haunted Woods. As he came out, he could feel his brain shrinking and receding into his oversized skull, which was rapidly shrinking. A wave passed through his body, making him yellow-orange again. He didn't have to look to know that the blemishes he felt appearing on his soft fur were spots.

Albert felt full of fresh energy. Seeing his friends quite a ways off, he ran toward them.

Cutie had a jolt. "Albert! We thought you were gone forever!"

Albert laughed, long and loud. "No, I'm not!"

And with that he zipped away, faster than any Neopian runner.

And in case you're wondering just what happened to those pineapple plants, well, even though Albert was practically a bad guy (the Haunted Woods were enough to make anyone sulky and mean, whether or not Esphagor cursed them), he was still a good guy at heart, and the plants had thrived on this until they were big and strong. They lit up the place so that it was happy and bright for evermore. And even if someone did cross paths with the talking mountain -- well, Esphagor's reign was over, and no one would be a slave to his evil wishes ever again.