The Cursed Paintbrush- Transformation

I decided to go to my local Neopian doctor ASAP (also known as the next morning)… Now, I might explain something critical to you readers… In Neopia, there are not just doctors and pharmacies for the Neopets, there are some clinics for human patients too, so it's divided equally between the staff members who work at the hospital…

So, I went to see Doctor Gertie (It's his real name in Neopia, so don't laugh, ok?).

"Hello Miss Diamond! I haven't seen you in a while," smiled Dr. Gertie the human doctor. (What? Did you expect him to be a Neopet like the others? You did!) He had short blond hair, blue friendly eyes and a doctor's white coat and a Neopian Hospital logo badge on his front pocket. He was also working at this huge computer on his desk and typing a medical report into his Microsoft Word file and working at his papers... And answering the fax, all at the same time! I laughed!

Dr. Gertie is a very nice and well-known doctor in the area and personally, I couldn't have found a better person to diagnose my problems…

"Yeah, long time no see." I answered politely, he likes politeness… He coughed once and told me to sit down on a comfortable cushioned chair made of wood.

"I've heard some rumours about you, Miss Diamond, and I would like to see whether they're true or not: One, were you bitten by a Usul?" I gulped…

"Yes, but it was a Shadow Usul." I corrected him. His eyebrow went up.

"Hrrph," He made a strange sound with his throat that I couldn't understand.

"What?" I snapped at him, I didn't have time for this!

"It's just that I have a cold too…" He stared into my eyes… I shivered; he looked like he was studying me for an experiment… Then he turned back to his normal self… "Your heartbeart's slightly irregular," he told me… How did he know that?

"I see, and what sort of Neopet paintbrush splattered paint on you?"
"A Darigan one," I said punctually as his eyebrow went up even more.
"Darigan! Oh no, this is not good news…" Dr. Gertie moaned as he shuffled his files about accidents profiles. "Look here, not many people have been splattered by paintbrushes, but I know that from looking at the files, not all of them survived…"

He showed me a sample, "This person called Eristandler got splattered by the Polka-dot paintbrush… What happened was he got the chicken pox- and died shortly afterwards." That sure didn't make my day! I shuddered in my seat.

"And this young girl got hit with an Island paintbrush and she couldn't stop dancing the Hawaiian hula until she died of old age…" continued the Doctor.

"Apparently the effects vary from person to person because of genetically unstable chromosomes… And the symptoms are wide-ranging too."

"Which means…? I can't cure myself?" I added, he sighed and told me to fill out a long form which listed the major symptoms. Which I did… Two hours later, I completed the last symptom and handed it out to my Doctor Gertie. Of all the symptoms on my list, I ticked three of them.

"Transformations, acute pain and irregular pulse. Right…" He said as he read them out. "I'll prescribe some temporary measures to fix it until we can get you cured." Then he dragged out a huge jar of pills! And he told me it'll cost half of my Neopoints in my pocket. My mouth dropped open. "That's more than 1,000 NPs!" I told him, he seemed to be nonchalant about it… I gritted my teeth as I pressed each of the gold coins into his hands…

"Yes, but what can I do about it?" shrugged Dr. Gertie. I just stared at him until he continued working at his cramped and crowded papers on his desk.

"See you, Miss Diamond. I hope you don't transform into something ugly…" Doctor Gertie joked to me as I went up to leave. Thanks a lot, that'll REALLY make my day! I thought sarcastically and ironically, knowing fully well that his joke was mostly true for me… I didn't want him to see the expression on my face as I left the room… I had to lug the medicinal pills all the way to the bus stop, and even then, I had to hide it so people wouldn't think I was strange carrying pills around… Oh no, I forgot about my Neopets! When I arrived back home, everyone (all my four Neopets) were still asleep. But just before I slept, I took a pill just in case I transformed in my sleep like last time!

This ordeal went on for several weeks, but sometimes, I just plain forgot to take my medicinal pills and that's where all the trouble began again… To my dismay- and horror!