It was a hot summer day in Neopia Central; Leslie and Luname were bundled up in sweaters, hats, and long pants.  You see, they weren't in Neopia Central.  They had gone up to Happy Valley for a slushie and some shopping.

The trees were, as always, covered with both leaves and snow.  Leslie trudged through the drifts; the shorter girl next to her was skipping on the white ground.  "Snow in summer, snow in summer, in Happy Valley there's snow in summer!" she chanted.

Leslie grinned.  "Want to play a game of Snow Wars?"

"Yeahhh!"  And Luname dashed off towards the pretty snowglobe castle with the SNOW WARS sign on a candy cane in front of it.

"Wait up!" called Leslie, laughing as she ran after the younger girl.  Suddenly she crashed into something moving just as quickly the other way, and fell with a thud.  "Oh...sorry about that..."

"It was my fault," replied the sheepish-looking blue Uni who had fallen ungracefully beside her.  He was actually quite a handsome stallion, despite the position he had landed in.  "I'm late for a date..."

"It's all right, really."  Leslie got to her feet and helped the Uni up.  "Have a good time."  He nodded gratefully and galloped off.

"Leslie!" called Luname from a few dozen meters away.  "C'mon!  The Scarf wants a match with you!"  The Lupe-tail-haired girl nodded and hurried to join her young ward in the great game of snowball hurling.

Leslie nodded.  "You certainly do have talent," she said to the pink-haired girl.  "But so does Santa."  They came to the shop, which was sort of the slush equivalent of Hubert's chain of hot dog stands.  "And he kept beating us."

"Hey!" called Luname to the striped Eyrie on top of the stand.  "Excuse me!  Can we have some slushies please?"

The Eyrie glared irritably down at them.  "I'm off duty," he squawked.  "Isn't there somebody inside?  That's who you should be asking!"

Touchy, thought Leslie, a bit irritated.  But she looked into the stand, and sure enough caught a glimpse of red hair beyond the racks of ice and flavors and cups.  The owner of the long red hair stepped to the side, and was now in complete view of Leslie and Luname, but still hadn't noticed them.

"Excuse me, miss!" called Leslie.  "Could we have some slushies?"

The red hair flew as the head holding it snapped around to see them.  "Oh - I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" said a distinctly tenor voice, and the young man in the Slushie Shop apron walked over to the counter and rested his elbows on it.  "What'll it be?"

"Oh!  I'm sorry," exclaimed Leslie.  "I..."

"Leslie thought you were a girl!" exclaimed Luname, giggling.

"Well, your hair," a flustered Leslie begain.

The guy smiled.  "I get that a lot," he said complacently.  "May I take your order?"  He smiled at Leslie, and his smile was so charming that she relaxed a bit.

"I want a Pan Galactic Gargle Slushie!" Luname announced.

The waiter peered at the girl with mock intensity.  "Are you a twenty ton mega-Elephante with pneumonial bronchitis?"  he asked.  She giggled and shook her head.  "Well then, you can't have one!"

Leslie nodded.  "Luname, you know perfectly well you're too young to be allowed to have one of those," she scolded lightly.

"Awwww," pouted the girl.  "Can I have an Ergy Slushie?"

"Sorry, we're all out," said the young man apologetically.  "You know it takes forty Ergyfruits to make those - they're rare!"

"I want a Pepperminto Slush then," Luname said decidedly.

"Nuh-uh," Leslie cut in.  "Three of those and your teeth will turn pink.  Your mother said specifically that you couldn't have those.  Same with Cheesburger Slushies."

"How 'bout an Orange Cream Slushie?" asked Luname rather desperately.

"One Orange Cream, coming right up!" came the cheerful reply from the waiter when Leslie didn't object.  As he began to mix the slush, he added, "And what is your name, charming girl?"

"I'm Luname.  And this is Leslie," came the reply.  "What's your name?"

"Adam.  Not the Adam," he added, seeing Leslie's shocked face, "just an Adam.  One of your ordinary run-of-the-mill Adams."  He stopped talking as Leslie's communicator beeped.

"Excuse me," she said, and, turning her back on the stand, replied to the call.  "What is it?"

"We're on Terror Mountain and there's a Grunka ripping up trees!"  came the familiar voice of Sailor JubJub.  "Whoever's nearest, we need backup - Scorchio and Moehog are with me."

"I'm in Happy Valley," Leslie replied in a hushed voice.  "I'll be there in a minute."  She switched off the call and turned to see Luname holding her Orange Cream and Adam looking expectantly at her.

"Um, um, I..."  She floundered.  "Adam, would you please watch Luname for a little bit?  There's somewhere I need to go - I'll be back in maybe fifteen minutes..."  Then she trailed off, because Adam was eyeing her suspiciously.

"You know," he said slowly, "there are some types of users who would ask someone they didn't know to watch their kid or pet, and then take off and never come back again.  Especially little kids who don't know how to take care of their pets, and girls who've done something stupid and had a kid they don't want."

Leslie stared, aghast.  "That's awful - you can't think I'm one of those!"

"It happened to me once," Adam explained.  "I have a little Pteri - this lady said she had to pick up a friend, and would I wait with her pet, and I did, and that was two months ago."

"I..."  Leslie leaned forward and looked Adam in the eye.  "I would never do such a thing, not to Luname - I agreed to care for her because her mother's indisposed, and I intend to do just that.  But my friends need my help, and they need it now.  Please, believe me..."

After a long moment that felt like hours, Adam nodded.  "Maybe I'm being naïve, but you look like the sensible sort," he said slowly.  "Go on.  I'll watch her."

"Thank you - thank you!" exclaimed Leslie, and turned and ran for the path up the side of Terror Mountain that led to the top.

The large pink and purple-splotched creature, like a mutant Grundo with wings, was bigger than any Sailor Lupe had seen before, and ripping up trees with the greatest of ease.  She could see why help had been called for.

"It isn't reacting at all to my Rainbow Gun!" and Sailor Lupe recognized Sailor Scorchio's British accent.  "I might as well not be firing at all!"

"JubJub Fuzz!"

"Moehog Kick!"

"Lupe Lunge!" cried Sailor Lupe, adding her power to the fray.  The Grunka shuddered but didn't retaliate - it didn't seem to regard them as enough of a threat.  If only she could do more than just her regular attack!

Wait a moment.  Something clicked in Sailor Lupe's head.  "Sailor Moehog - it's the fourteenth of Hunting, right?"

"Yeah..."  Realization dawned on Moehog, Scorchio, and JubJub.  "It's Moehog Day!"

"D'you think I'll have extra attacks?" wondered Sailor Moehog.

"Only one way to find out," replied Scorchio, pointing to the Grunka and winking.

Sailor Moehog turned to face the large VirtuPet and drew on her knowledge of Battledome attacks.  "Moehog Fire!" she shouted, and a huge fireball appeared between her palms.  She hurled it at the Grunka, which roared. Now it retaliated.

"Get it away from the trees - come on!" called Sailor JubJub, leading the group over past the Snow Faerie's igloo.  The Grunka followed, raising its fists - which were nearly half the size of one of the girls.  It brought them down-

"Moehog Shield!" cried Sailor Moehog, and a sheet of what looked like Moehog mane poured from her hands to form a wall above them.  The massive pink fists landed with a clang on the magically hard shield.  The girls continued running, approaching the cliffs just beyond Colin and his game of Cliffhanger.

The four sailors stopped running after a quick turn; the Grunka stopped also, not realizing that it was now between the soldiers and the cliff.  "Got a third attack?" asked Sailor Lupe, looking warily at the VirtuPet's mean little eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I do," replied Sailor Moehog.  "Let me think...Moehog..."  Her brow furrowed in concentration, and she didn't even notice the crackle of electricity that flickered over her tiara jewel.

"Electricity?" asked Sailor Scorchio.

"That's it - Moehog Lightning!" cried Sailor Moehog, and a torrent of electrical charge immediately shot from her hands and flowed into the Grunka.  It let out an anguished howl.

"Shoulda thought of that when you started ripping up trees!" exclaimed Sailor JubJub, taking aim.  "JubJub Fuzz!!"

"Lupe Lunge!"  And Sailor Scorchio let loose with her Rainbow Gun.  The Grunka, severely weakened by the electrical blast, teetered back and forth near the edge of the cliff.

"Would you like to do the honors?" asked Sailor Scorchio, looking at Moehog, who nodded.  Running up to the Grunka, she tapped her boot with her henshin pen and a Moehog Hoof Pad appeared on it.  "Moehog Kick!"

The Grunka fell.

"Can't stay and talk - I have to get back to Luname," was the first thing any of them said.  And Leslie turned and rushed off before the others could so much as nod in agreement.

"No, not at all," she heard Adam reply from the counter.  "I must admit, I was only half expecting you to come back - but I'm glad you did.  Now, why don't you have a Coco Whip Slushie?"

"A...a Coco Whip?" asked Leslie, bewildere and still catching her breath.  "But those ... are only made when the ... Chocolate River meets the Cream Waterfall - on the other side of Neopia ... they're so rare, they're way out of my price range..."

"Well the, I'll buy one," Adam said matter-of-factly.  "I get a huge employee discount on these things.  Then I'll put it in my shop for a price you can afford, and you can buy it!"

"Wow...thanks..." stammered Leslie, and the transaction happened exactly as he'd proposed.  The slushie was absolutely delicious, as though mixed from a slice of heaven on neopia, and she sipped slowly so as to savor every last drop.

Two Unis walked up to the stand as Leslie and Luname were drinking their slushies beside it.  "I want a Tiger Orange Slushie," the yellow one - female - said.  It was GoldenBeauty, Gami Tenbo's pet.

The other Uni was the blue stallion Leslie had crashed into earlier that day.  "I'm sorry, Beauty, but I just can't afford that," he was saying apologetically.  "I got you an Ergy Slush last time - let's try some of the cheaper ones, shall we? They're just as good."

"Zephyr, darling," replied GoldenBeauty, "I'm used to only the best.  And the best, naturally, costs more money."  Then she spotted Leslie and Luname.  "Um, Zephyr, let's find another stand, shall we?  We don't want to hang around with riffraf and freaks."  Leslie cringed.

"Now, look-" protested Adam and Zephyr together.  They looked at each other in surprise, then Adam nodded at Zephyr to continue.  "I bumped into her earlier today, and she seemed quite nice," the blue Uni explained.

"And she seems honorable enough," added Adam.  "Certainly not riffraff."

"Are you all blind?" moaned GoldenBeauty, looking plaintively at Zephyr.  "Just LOOK at her!"

"You know what?" said Zephyr suddenly.  "For all your pulchritude, you're just a spoiled, selfish brat, and I thought you could change but you haven't in three months - and now you show yourself to be superficial too!  I don't want a girlfriend who's so shallow and self-centered!"

GoldenBeauty blinked, completely taken aback.  "What are you talking about?"

"I'm dumping you, Beauty," Zephyr confirmed.  "Get your own Tiger Orange."  And he turned and galloped away.

GoldenBeauty harrumphed and stalked off in the opposite direction.  Adam, meanwhile, was smiling after Zephyr.  "Good for him," he said.  "I've been waiting for that to happen for months."  Leslie looked puzzledly at him.  "Oh, Zephyr's my pet," he explained quickly.

"Coincidences abound," remarked Leslie.  "Thank you again for the Coco Whip.  Come along, Luname - we need to get a scratchcard and go home.  It's getting late."  And they walked off, almost-empty slushie cups in hand, through the summer polar snow.