Chapter One
Scratches, Snowballs, and Snowagers
"Papa?" Azuldragao the Shoyru asked his papa.
"Yes?" Azuldragao's owner, Quinto, asked.
"It's the first day of December," Azuldragao commented.
"Oh, thanks, Azul," Quinto said. "We can go to the Advent Calendar."
"YAY!" Azuldragao rushed off to tell his brother, Verderato the Kyrii, and his sister, Jadretana the Zafara.
"Guys!" Azul yelled.
Jadretana looked up from her book, 'Learn to Swim.' "What?" She asked.
"It's Advent Calendar day!"
A cheer boomed around the NeoHome.
Jadretana did not want to go first, so she stayed home; she absolutely hated cold weather. Her green fur just wouldn't keep her warm enough. It would grow out, though, because she was only born about a fortnight ago, and it would definitely grow. There were many things Jadretana wanted, two of them being a Rainbow Coloured Boom Box and a Starry Paint Brush, but what she really wanted was a shiny 50-dubloon coin to buy a Pawkeet.
Verderato decided that he wanted to go first, because he was always second compared to his older brother Azul. And he was tired of being second. Three months ago, Quinto had gotten a Skunk Paint Brush from Tombola, and instead of giving it to Azul, he gave it to HIM! That was only time being first. Now he would be first again. And he knew what he wanted. A Rod of Supernova, to use in the Battledome!
Azul decided to take the trip up to Terror Mountain, even though he wanted to get his present last. He liked it up there, even though it isn't as cool as Sakhmet or Mystery Island. Some cool games, like Kiosk, Snow Wars, and Alpine Challenge were on the mountain, although none of those games were as cool as Deckswabber. And he didn't even know what he wanted. A Fire, Fire, Your Pants on Fire Paint Brush would be cool to replace his plain blue fur, and there's the final piece to the Space Map he was collecting, and then there was that Fish Negg that was wanted by everyone, and then he wanted a retired Slidefish that was made in Maraqua, and a Bag of Infinite Neggs from the Kiosk. It was so hard to choose just one thing.
"Are we there yet?" Verderato asked Quinto.
"Not much longer." Quinto replied. Then, as an afterthought, "Hey Azul, we're passing by Snow Wars. Wanna play?" Azul nodded vigorously. "Okay then. You stay right here, and we'll go to the Advent Calendar." Azuldragao smiled mischievously. "Now, Azul, don't put that smile on or I won't let you do this next time." Azul nodded once again.
After beating all of the contestants easily, Azuldragao had 10 heavy snowballs in his pocket. He decided, to be nice, that he would give the Wet and the Poison Snowballs to the Chias that lived in the igloo, so, setting Quinto's rules aside, he headed up the mountain.
When the Chias thanked him for giving them the snowballs, they gave him 726 Neopoints for his kindness. So when he went back down, with a sufficiently lighter knapsack, he headed towards the Kiosk station to buy a Scratchcard.
Azul knew the Wocky at the station, and gave him all of the Neopoints he had earned that day to the Wocky if he could get a Faerie's Fortune card. The Wocky kindly agreed.
SCRATCH! A ring!
SCRATCH! $2500!
SCRATCH! $5000!
SCRATCH! A ring!
SCRATCH! $10000!
And.....SCRATCH! A ring!
The Wocky handed Azuldragao a Bag of Infinite Neggs, (huge smile from Azul) and shooed him away. And as he was leaving.....a very interesting cave caught his eye.....
