The Adventures of Penny Part II

Thanks to Jon and Adam for great suggestions on part "deux"! I have to credit Jon for dreaming up such a crazy and awesome turn of events! This has become an awesomely bizarre story! Enjoy, and any suggestions for the conclusion to Penny's adventures are greatly anticipated. :)

While Penny was standing in the middle of the room, stunned, she heard an inhuman groan emanating from Hazel. The sound of it sent chills down Penny’s spine. Hazel’s face was still buried in the pillow, but now she was writhing as though in deep agony! Her groaning voice was low and loud, reverberating all through the room. “uuuuuuuuggggggh” Hazel bellowed into the pillow.
Penny felt her heart rate speed up, beating uncomfortably in her throat.Somehow, she sensed a threat; but how could sweet, beautiful Hazel be a threat to her? She had never ever hurt a fly! Penny ignored her instinct to be wary of Hazel, and instead approached the bed slowly, preparing to stroke Hazel’s back to comfort her.
“What’s wrong, Haz—NO!” Just as Penny reached her hand out to Hazel, Hazel grabbed her wrist with a grip that would have rivaled that of a well-trained Bumpkin Bellows Brawler. Hazel stared at Penny and continued the eerie groaning sound. Penny felt something inside of her flip, and the combat training that she had received so long ago and had almost forgotten kicked in at just the right moment.
“hi-YA!” Penny kicked Hazel square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Hazel flopped down onto the bed, trying to catch her breath. Penny went into the “revolting monkey” Kung Fu stance in preparation to continue her fight with Hazel. Instead, though, Hazel just started to cry and whimper on the bed.
“Oooooh, Penny!” she whimpered helplessly. “What have I done? How could I have attacked you?” She turned her head and looked at Penny, with tears in her eyes. Her expression had completely transformed, and now she looked like the same small and delicate (although more pathetic) Hazel she had always been.Penny took her fists down and approached Hazel. She cautiously sat down next to her.
“Hazel, tell me what happened. Why are you crying?”
“Oh, Penny. Skippy might be dead!” Hazel blurted out.
“What? Why? How?”
Hazel let out a big sigh, preparing to open the floodgates and let it all out.“There’s a reason that I’m the star of Master Greenhorn’s class, Penny.” Hazel admitted. “In the beginning, I just had a few lucky breaks when I answered all of his questions right. But then, Master Greenhorn started expecting me to be the star of the class. Well, I didn’t want to let him down, Penny! I didn’t want to look like a failure!”
Penny was afraid that she could see where this was going, but she asked Hazel to continue.“Well, I smuggled some of the ingredients for the cure for Prickly Pear Syndrome home with me, not to mention all of the other extracts and chemicals I’ve taken from Greenhorn’s lab before that.”
“ Oh my ---! … And… did you do anything with those extracts? Did you use them?” Penny was afraid to know the answer, but she had asked too much now. She might as well just hear the whole story.
“Well, I tried to make the solutions and concoctions that Master Greenhorn told us about. I knew that if I did that, I would be way ahead of the rest of the class. It was too dangerous, though, Penny. I shouldn’t have done it! I got carried away with it. I felt so powerful, being able to create potions that could cure diseases, and certain concoctions that could alter moods and states of mind.”
“But, Penny!” Hazel interjected. “We aren’t supposed to even learn how to make those unless we pass the Crafts of Concoctions exam in our 8th year! This is so dangerous!”
“I know, Penny. I think that’s why I liked to do it. I never intended it to go this far, but I just couldn’t stop! Eventually, I didn’t have time to sleep anymore. I had to stay up all night just to concoct my concoctions and do my readings in a 24-hour day. Up until now, I’ve just been drinking gallons of Carabona Coffee. But, then I decided I needed something more. So, I found a recipe for Nutty Neurosa Nectar. I tried to extract something called 3,7-dimethylxanthine from a chocolate bar using just a candle, a razor blade and good wishes. I thought that I had managed to extract it, and I made the Nectar. All of a sudden, though, I got nervous. I had never made something before that I was going to drink myself. I got really really scared and I just wanted to get rid of it. Just then, Skippy ran into the room. He must have thought that the Nutty Neurosa Nectar smelled good, because he was jumping up on me and begging for it. I kept telling him ‘no! no!’, but it was like he went crazy for the Nectar! He went completely nutty! Eventually, he jumped up on me and knocked me down. I dropped the petrie dish with the Nectar in it, and he lapped it up right away. Ever since then, though, Skippy has been passed out with his mouth open and tongue lolling out. I can’t even wake him by putting cinder sausage under his nose! Oh, Penny!”
Penny just shook her head and sighed in response. The shock of these developments was overwhelming.
“That’s why I snapped at you just a moment ago and grabbed your wrist like that, Hazel. I must have inhaled some of the fumes from the Nutty Neurosa Nectar. It must be way too strong! Instead of making me alert, it made me rage! After Skippy passed out, I quickly looked in my “Unforgettable Formulas” manual to see if Neurosa Nectar has side effects.” As Hazel began to continue her sentence, another tear formed in the corner of her eye.
“Penny, dogs are allergic to chocolate. The chemical I extracted from the chocolate was a concentrated form of the drug that dogs are allergic to. The manual warned against giving the Nectar to dogs!”
“Oh, Hazel!” exclaimed Penny. “What are we going to do?!”
“Well, before we do anything, we have to go to my house and get Skippy before my mom gets home and calls Master Greenhorn. Do you have any idea how much trouble I could get in, Penny?”
“But….” Penny didn’t know what to do anymore. Hazel was like a sister to her, but protecting her meant breaking so many rules.Whatever decision she made would deeply affect her life as well as Skippy’s life and Hazel’s future.
“You know,” said Hazel, “I might be able to concoct the antidote and save Skippy. But I’ll need your help.”