"Y... you're... I'm... This is real!" I stammered. "B... but, how?"
"No idea, and I, for one, don't care" Kyry stood up. "I'm just glad you're finally here for real."
Maxa opened her mouth to say something, when a resounding crash came from the kitchen. Dashing over, we skidded in, to find Zapo half buried under a stone shelf, and numerous cans of food. With an exasperated sigh, Kyry got Maxa to lift the shelf off of him, while Ken dragged him out from under it.
"Zapo, are you alright?" I asked.
"Well... yes... but..."
"But what?"
"We have no cream" he said sadly.
"So, besides the lack of cream, you're alright?"
"Ummm... yup!"
"Good. 'Cause if you do that again, I'm going to let Kyry's vines tie you to the wall so your siblings can beat some sense into you!"
Zapo backed away, eyeing first me, then Kyry. I looked over, and the other three were eyeing Zapo, each with a suspicious glint in their eyes. I shook my head at them, and turned to straighten up the mess with a resigned sigh. Kyry and Maxa soon pulled me away, saying the boys could clean it up. They dragged me through the house, pointing out things that they thought should be fixed, changed, moved, removed, and added. I was then hauled outside, down Chia Close, and into Neopia Central, armed with nothing more then my pets and a shopping list. We headed for the furniture shop, picked out what we needed, and headed for the counter. As we went, I noticed just how empty it was, even though the place was packed with expensive, rare, and high-demand items. I stepped up to the counter and handed the shopkeeper the list of items we wanted.
"Alrighty. All told, that'll be 100,000 NeoPoints, please" the shopkeeper said, after tallying the prices.
"100k!?!" Kyry exploded. "That's ridiculous! We'd have to buy 10 times as much before it came to that total! You're trying to scam us! Why I oughtta..."
Kyry lunged forward, her face a brilliant red with rage. I grabbed her before she got to the counter, and held her back.
"I'm really sorry about this" I said to the keeper. "She's not normally like this. And don't worry, I've got the NP to pay for the..."
I trailed off as I noticed that the keeper was staring at me with a mix of awe and fear.
"Y... you... you're... a... a... solid!" he stammered.
Blinking in confusion, I set the now calm Kyry down. Stammering "You're solid!" over and over, he slowly reached over and gently prodded me in the arm. His courage grew as he prodded me harder, until he scratched me with one of his claws.
"OUCH! Enough already!" I snapped.
I pulled my arm away, but not before a couple drops of blood hit the counter. Looking slightly hurt, he looked down, and gasped when he saw the blood. Looking at the blood, he looked at my arm, then at me.
"I... I thought only neopets bled" he said with awe.
"All solid living organics bleed. Especially when you scratch them. Now, can we please get back to the business at hand?"
Apologizing profusely, the keeper turned back to the register, and hit a few buttons.
"Okay then, let's see. All told, that'll be 10,000 NP please."
"Wha... But, just a minute ago, you said that it was 100k. Why's it dropped to 10k?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"It's standard Neopian shopkeeper policy. Solids get things at 10 times less then non-solids do."
"Erm... Okay, now I'm even more confused. What do you mean by solids and non-solids?"
The keeper simply pointed at the door, where a pink Aisha and her owner had come in. What was so odd about this, however, was that, while the Aisha looked perfectly normal, her owner looked like a holographic projection. She was transparent, and had horizontal lines running though her, like a TV with bad reception. She looked around, pointed at a gray chair, which the Aisha picked up, and headed for the counter. The haggling screen opened between the owner and the keeper, and the Aisha and her owner soon walked out, having paid what Kyry thought to be a hideous price. Seeing the bewildered look on my face, the keeper smiled kindly.
"All owners look like that, to one degree or another. Some, you can barely see, others are almost indistinguishable from a real solid."
Needing time to let this sink in, I quickly paid the keeper and headed out the door, waving goodbye as I herded Maxa and Zapo outside. As we headed for home, I couldn't help but notice all the holographic owners that were around. They were all completely oblivious to each other, and almost as oblivious to their pets. As a result, some pets ran off, chasing or bullying other pets, while some just wandered off to chat with their friends. Still more were stuck having to keep their younger siblings behaved, though this was mainly just those whose owner had three or more pets, or a baby pet. And the petpets. OY! They were *everywhere*, and were into *everything*. We quickly made it back to the safety of our NeoHome, and we all sank down into chairs, relived to be home. As Maxa and Kyry went about the house, arranging the new furniture they way they wished, a holographic window appeared in front of me.
"You've got NeoMail" a computerized voice chimed.
Curious, I reached up and pressed the button that said 'Read'. The window changed, displaying the message. It was a question from a newbie in my guild. I hit the Reply button, the window changed, and a holographic keypad appeared. I quickly typed up a response and sent it off.
"How did you know how to do that?" Ken asked curiously.
"I've done it so many times on my computer back home that I hardly think about it" I replied with a shrug.
"Say... How about travel?" Zapo piped up. "Can we still go to... say... Mystery Island at the touch of a button?"
"You know, I'm not sure. Hmmm..."
Hesitantly, I put my left hand up, and a holographic version of the standard yellow side bar popped up. Reaching over, I tapped Explore, and the map of Neopia swam into view. I reached for the sign that said 'Mystery Island' just as Kyry and Maxa walked into the lounge. Pressing the sign, a bright light filled the room, then dimmed, leaving the five of us standing on the dock at Mystery Island. With a whoop of delight, Maxa and Zapo dashed off the end of the dock and into the water, intent on having a nice long swim. Ken, Kyry and I wandered over to the beach and stretched out, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze wafting in off the ocean.
"No idea, and I, for one, don't care" Kyry stood up. "I'm just glad you're finally here for real."
Maxa opened her mouth to say something, when a resounding crash came from the kitchen. Dashing over, we skidded in, to find Zapo half buried under a stone shelf, and numerous cans of food. With an exasperated sigh, Kyry got Maxa to lift the shelf off of him, while Ken dragged him out from under it.
"Zapo, are you alright?" I asked.
"Well... yes... but..."
"But what?"
"We have no cream" he said sadly.
"So, besides the lack of cream, you're alright?"
"Ummm... yup!"
"Good. 'Cause if you do that again, I'm going to let Kyry's vines tie you to the wall so your siblings can beat some sense into you!"
Zapo backed away, eyeing first me, then Kyry. I looked over, and the other three were eyeing Zapo, each with a suspicious glint in their eyes. I shook my head at them, and turned to straighten up the mess with a resigned sigh. Kyry and Maxa soon pulled me away, saying the boys could clean it up. They dragged me through the house, pointing out things that they thought should be fixed, changed, moved, removed, and added. I was then hauled outside, down Chia Close, and into Neopia Central, armed with nothing more then my pets and a shopping list. We headed for the furniture shop, picked out what we needed, and headed for the counter. As we went, I noticed just how empty it was, even though the place was packed with expensive, rare, and high-demand items. I stepped up to the counter and handed the shopkeeper the list of items we wanted.
"Alrighty. All told, that'll be 100,000 NeoPoints, please" the shopkeeper said, after tallying the prices.
"100k!?!" Kyry exploded. "That's ridiculous! We'd have to buy 10 times as much before it came to that total! You're trying to scam us! Why I oughtta..."
Kyry lunged forward, her face a brilliant red with rage. I grabbed her before she got to the counter, and held her back.
"I'm really sorry about this" I said to the keeper. "She's not normally like this. And don't worry, I've got the NP to pay for the..."
I trailed off as I noticed that the keeper was staring at me with a mix of awe and fear.
"Y... you... you're... a... a... solid!" he stammered.
Blinking in confusion, I set the now calm Kyry down. Stammering "You're solid!" over and over, he slowly reached over and gently prodded me in the arm. His courage grew as he prodded me harder, until he scratched me with one of his claws.
"OUCH! Enough already!" I snapped.
I pulled my arm away, but not before a couple drops of blood hit the counter. Looking slightly hurt, he looked down, and gasped when he saw the blood. Looking at the blood, he looked at my arm, then at me.
"I... I thought only neopets bled" he said with awe.
"All solid living organics bleed. Especially when you scratch them. Now, can we please get back to the business at hand?"
Apologizing profusely, the keeper turned back to the register, and hit a few buttons.
"Okay then, let's see. All told, that'll be 10,000 NP please."
"Wha... But, just a minute ago, you said that it was 100k. Why's it dropped to 10k?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"It's standard Neopian shopkeeper policy. Solids get things at 10 times less then non-solids do."
"Erm... Okay, now I'm even more confused. What do you mean by solids and non-solids?"
The keeper simply pointed at the door, where a pink Aisha and her owner had come in. What was so odd about this, however, was that, while the Aisha looked perfectly normal, her owner looked like a holographic projection. She was transparent, and had horizontal lines running though her, like a TV with bad reception. She looked around, pointed at a gray chair, which the Aisha picked up, and headed for the counter. The haggling screen opened between the owner and the keeper, and the Aisha and her owner soon walked out, having paid what Kyry thought to be a hideous price. Seeing the bewildered look on my face, the keeper smiled kindly.
"All owners look like that, to one degree or another. Some, you can barely see, others are almost indistinguishable from a real solid."
Needing time to let this sink in, I quickly paid the keeper and headed out the door, waving goodbye as I herded Maxa and Zapo outside. As we headed for home, I couldn't help but notice all the holographic owners that were around. They were all completely oblivious to each other, and almost as oblivious to their pets. As a result, some pets ran off, chasing or bullying other pets, while some just wandered off to chat with their friends. Still more were stuck having to keep their younger siblings behaved, though this was mainly just those whose owner had three or more pets, or a baby pet. And the petpets. OY! They were *everywhere*, and were into *everything*. We quickly made it back to the safety of our NeoHome, and we all sank down into chairs, relived to be home. As Maxa and Kyry went about the house, arranging the new furniture they way they wished, a holographic window appeared in front of me.
"You've got NeoMail" a computerized voice chimed.
Curious, I reached up and pressed the button that said 'Read'. The window changed, displaying the message. It was a question from a newbie in my guild. I hit the Reply button, the window changed, and a holographic keypad appeared. I quickly typed up a response and sent it off.
"How did you know how to do that?" Ken asked curiously.
"I've done it so many times on my computer back home that I hardly think about it" I replied with a shrug.
"Say... How about travel?" Zapo piped up. "Can we still go to... say... Mystery Island at the touch of a button?"
"You know, I'm not sure. Hmmm..."
Hesitantly, I put my left hand up, and a holographic version of the standard yellow side bar popped up. Reaching over, I tapped Explore, and the map of Neopia swam into view. I reached for the sign that said 'Mystery Island' just as Kyry and Maxa walked into the lounge. Pressing the sign, a bright light filled the room, then dimmed, leaving the five of us standing on the dock at Mystery Island. With a whoop of delight, Maxa and Zapo dashed off the end of the dock and into the water, intent on having a nice long swim. Ken, Kyry and I wandered over to the beach and stretched out, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze wafting in off the ocean.