"There goes the freak," a voice said, not bothering to whisper.

"Hey, Freaky Hair!" yelled another.

She ignored the shouts. She'd gotten them every day of her life since she joined Neopian Junior High. But when a wad of crumpled paper hit her head, she started to walk faster. Another wad, and she was running. Leslie didn't stop running until she'd reached her NeoHome.

A lock of hair fell from her headband into her eyes, and she pushed it back grumpily. Her hair was dark green, not too strange for Neopia, but about four inches of the end was pale yellow. She'd tried cutting the yellow part off; the shorn ends of her hair changed color again overnight.

She opened the door and was greeted by an enthusiastic red Lupe. "Hi! Hi! Hi!" he barked excitedly. "How was your day, Leslie?"

Leslie_83 shrugged. "Good by my standards."

The Lupe sat back on his haunches and looked at her worriedly. "Cheer up! Don't pay any attention to their teasing. I get teased too, you know."

"Oh yeah? By who?" Leslie set down her backpack and flopped down on her Kougra print sofa. Her NeoHome was only four rooms, since her gardening hobby took up the rest of the land, but it was enough for her and her Lupe. Kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, that was all they needed.

"A couple of Shoyrus and a Chia down at the Food Shop," he answered. "They thought it was a riot that my name's spelled wrong, even though I explained that the name FirePrince was _taken_ and you had to spell it FirePrinse."

"They're nuts," replied Leslie. "What did you buy?"

"Nothing at the Food Shop. The owner kicked me out."

"That biased little Chia. Thought you were the problem, right?"

"Exactly. So I went to the Health Food shop - owner's a Quiggle, nice enough - and got us a bunch of fruit and vegetables for dinner. Hope you don't mind."

"Steer clear of those kids, all right?" asked Leslie. "Use the Shop Wizard if you have to." She grabbed the remote control from its place on the end table and switched on the TV. "Let's see if there's anything good on."

FirePrinse trotted over to the sofa and jumped on, snuggling against Leslie. They idly watched the channels Leslie was flipping through, stopping when the picture stopped changing.

"Time to put new batteries in the remote?" asked Leslie.

"I just put them in yesterday," replied FirePrinse. It was only then that they looked to see what every channel was showing.

WARNING! DR. SLOTH HAS BEEN SIGHTED IN NEOPIA. CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO TAKE EXTREME CAUTION AND NOT GO OUT ALONE OR AT NIGHT. KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON YOUR PETS AND STAY ALERT! STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. WARNING! DR. SLOTH HAS BEEN SIGHTED...

"Omigosh," whispered Leslie. She and FirePrinse suddenly stared at each other. "I left my bedroom window ajar!" the girl exclaimed.

"I didn't lock the door!" barked FirePrinse at the same time.

They rushed into the bedroom and looked around. Everything was in place. FirePrinse closed the window while Leslie took a quick inventory. It wasn't as if she had anything valuable, after all. In this room were only the bed, her clothes, and a chest of drawers containing her items. FirePrinse's bed wasn't there, but she knew the blankets were in the washing machine and the basket with it.

A quick check of the remaining rooms proved that nothing was missing, not even the codestone hidden behind the health food in the cupboard. The pair closed and locked all the windows and the front door. "We're secure," said Leslie finally.

"Aw, I really wanted to go to the Wheel of Excitement today," pouted FirePrinse.

"We can still go," Leslie reassured her Lupe. "We just have to stay together. Come on." She grabbed her jacket and handed him his, and off they went, 200 NP in Leslie's pocket.

Handing the light faeries at the Wheel 100 NP, FirePrinse thought about how wonderful his owner was. Some owners neglected or abused their pets, but not Leslie_83. She wasn't outstandingly rich but she got by with enough to spoil her pet.

The Wheel of Excitement spun around and around, finally landing on the Uber-Light Faerie.

In a vision of gold she floated out of the clouds and looked at Leslie and FirePrinse with a seemingly all-knowing gaze. Leslie felt like she was being judged, and resisted the urge to squirm.

After a few seconds the Uber-Light Faerie held out her hands, and an ornate gold and silver cup appeared floating just above them. "This is the Sacred Chalice," she told them, handing the cup to FirePrinse. "Use it only in times of greatest need." She turned and flew away.

"What was that supposed to mean?" asked FirePrinse.

"Don't ask me," replied Leslie. "Hey," she said to one of the Light Faeries, "could you explain that to us?"

The two faeries, who were excitedly whispering to each other, turned to look at them. "I don't believe you got the Sacred Chalice!" exclaimed one.

"You could sell it in your shop for 200,000 NP!" her friend squeaked, and launched into
a high-pitched giggle.

"Don't be a baka!" replied the first, hitting the second on the head. "It's worth so much more than that!"

Leslie and FirePrinse shrugged at each other and slipped away, the faeries' bickering fading as they headed for home.

"You don't have school tomorrow," FirePrinse remarked as they entered their NeoHome, "so I scheduled a trip to the VirtuPets Space Station, but I don't think that's wise considering the Dr. Sloth sightings."

"Good point," replied Leslie, closing the door behind her. "We should probably stay at home and keep an eye on the TV." She turned the television on and watched it repeat the same warning it had been playing earlier. "Care for a game of checkers?"

The two fell asleep in the living room, Leslie on the sofa and FirePrinse on the floor next to her, and did not wake up until the left-on TV started screaming, "WARNING!! ALL NEOPIANS SHOULD BE ON FULL ALERT!! A PET HAS VANISHED AND BEEN REPLACED WITH ONE OF DR. SLOTH'S DESIGNS!! WARNING!!

Switching to a news station, Leslie found a news crew outside a large NeoHome with three pets and a user. "We have here Sailorptah, the owner of the missing NeoPet," said a reporter. "Miss Sailorptah, can you tell us about the missing pet?"

"Her name was AvalonSolarFlare," choked Sailorptah. "She was a Halloween Peophin. I'd just bought her a Halloween Paint Brush, because she wanted so much to be Halloween instead of yellow, and she didn't have time to enjoy it!" She broke into sobs.

"Now see here!" snapped a green Lupe. "All of you reporters, scram! Leave!"

"Yeah!" added a blue Usul. "Like, go away!" The Lupe and the Usul, Sailorptah's other pets, ushered the reporters out of the NeoHome. Outside, a strange devilish red creature was wandering about. The reporters began following it, explaining that it was the creature which Dr. Sloth had presumably replaced AvalonSolarFlare with.

"Poor girl," said Leslie sadly. "Don't you disappear on me, FirePrinse, got it?"

"I won't," promised FirePrinse.

The next morning, the two woke up late. They sleepily ate breakfast in front of the TV, watching as it played warnings every fifteen minutes or so. At last Leslie said, "You know how we've been playing Cheat sometimes on Tuesdays and Thursdays?"

"Yeah. Why?" her Lupe asked.

"We've got nothing better to do, and we were in the middle of a round," she explained.

"When I wake up," FirePrinse answered, "okay?"

"Sure." It was around noon when they finally got around to heading for the Cheat! building. Leslie took the Sacred Chalice, planning to drop it off at her shop. However, they weren't halfway to the building when Leslie heard a howl behind her! Whirling around, she saw a strange creature wrapped around FirePrinse!

The creature was sort of a long red snake with blue Kougra stripes. It had a long horse's face with large blue lips and yellow eyes with long eyelashes and blue eyeshadow. "Get away from him!" shrieked Leslie, charging and grabbing for the creature. In her charge she dropped the Sacred Chalice, which fell open.

A glowing ball of white light erupted from the Chalice!

The ball of light hovered in the air for a moment, then disappated to reveal a strange dark green stick. It had a dark green circle on top with a cream edge, a cream 'N' in the center, and a pair of little white wings at the base. The stick was glittering ever so slightly, as if to say, "Take me. Hold me." Leslie reached out and took the stick.

Words filled her head. "Lupe Neo Power, Make Up!"

She was surrounded by light, glorious light, which suspended her in a vortex of light and color. Shooting stars enveloped her, forming odd yet comfortable clothes on her, clothes that felt right. Then she was back in Neopia, wearing a short-skirted outfit of dark green and cream. Somehow she knew it matched her lupe-tail hair perfectly.

"Get away from my pet, mutant creature!" cried Leslie. "I don't know what just happened, but I am Sailor Lupe...I think I am, anyway...and in the name of all NeoPets I'll punish you for hurting FirePrinse!"

"Whhhat?" hissed the creature in a whispery voice. "Whhho arrre youuu?"

"I just told you, I'm Sailor Lupe."

"Welllll, I ammm aaa Hissssladyyy, NeoPet created by the famous Dr. Sssssloth, conquerer of a thoussssand worllllds, creator then desssstroyyer of the Rrrrytargs Empirrre, owner of the lllosssst city of Atlantissss, avid commmmic book collllector..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know who Dr. Sloth is," snapped Leslie/Sailor Lupe. "The point is, I am going to get rid of you somehow..." She paused and held up her hands. "Lupe Lunge!"

Two green lupe paws shot out from Sailor Lupe's gloved hands, charging at the creature and disintegrating it into a pile of red and blue dust.

"Thanks," said FirePrinse shakily. "So now we're sure it's Dr. Sloth. That's one of his designs."

"So she said," remarked Sailor Lupe dryly, her uniform fading back into normal clothing. "Who can we tell about this?"

"Let's see if we can see one of the Uber-Faeries," FirePrinse suggested. "We can go to Faerieland right now."

The game of Cheat forgotten, NeoPet and owner began jogging towards Faerieland to spread the news.