For Neopets peeps: should I submit this to the Neopian Times or not? If so, yay! If not, please tell me what to improve upon and I shall do it!

Neopets

Cast to the Shadows

"Your shadow stealthily
leaves nothing of where you go, like a poisoned needle
that sews together my footsteps.
Your light pliantly
strikes the water tower, like a lightning bolt.
That severs the source of my life." Bleach

It wasn't meant to be this way. It was a mistake. A mistake.

A timid young girl and her blue peophin walked into the dark, eerie depths that was the Lab Ray. She smiled nervously, pulling some rather greasy golden blonde hair behind her ear, her green eyes shining with uncertainty. She turned to her treasured pet and said, "Well, here we are!"

The blue peophin blinked her cool blue eyes, "Are you sure we should do this, Rei?"

Rei nodded, "Of course! You want to be Faerie don't you?"

The peophin shrugged, "But… what if something bad hap-"

"Don't say that!" she snapped. She then recovered with immediately afterwards, "I mean, nothing'll happen. Just trust me, alright?"

The peophin sighed, "Fine." She stepped in front of the large lab ray and swallowed, a bead of sweat streaming down the back of her neck. She looked at her owner, "Okay…! I'm ready now?!"

ZAP. There was a great flash of yellow-white light and an issue forth of smoke. Rei coughed, shutting her eyes. She tried to get to her pet, carelessly swatting at the smoke around her.

"R-Rei?" came the peophin's voice.

Rei smiled, "How do you look?" She ran over to her, "I hope that you-"

There was a sharp intake in breath as soon as Rei took in the sight before her – her peophin was a deformed being of red eyes, matted purple fur, sharp yellow teeth, jagged black hooves, and a messy black mane. She winced back in revulsion, "Y-you're a m-monster! A MONSTER!"

The peophin looked down at herself in the reflection of the tiles that she was standing on, "Th-that's m-me?"

Rei backed away from her, "Y-you're ugly. A monster. An abomination." She started to breathe fast, "Wh-what am I gonna do with you? What will people say?"

The peophin bit her lip, staring at the beast that was her reflection, 'What happened to me?' she thought. A tear streamed down her cheek, 'What am I?'

Rei came up with a solution, "You're going to the pound."

The pound; where no pet wants to be. It was unsanitary, frightening, degrading, and cruel. The pets where served gruel everyday and sleep on rock mattresses that give them pains in their backs and sides. They were in dark cells that gave off a rotten stench even worse than the foulest dung. It was terrible and it was where the peophin would be spending her days in.

The peophin was literally dragged into the Neopian Pound and Adopting Center.

"Please don't take be there, Rei! Please! We can try again! Just shoot me again!" She swallowed uneasily, "I know there's a chance -"

Rei stubbornly shook her head, "No. What if you turn into something else? Something worse?"

The peophin bit her lip, "I know that, but please, Rei! Please, please! You don't have to do this!"

But the peophin's cries and pleas were unheard as Rei opened the doors and shoved the freak of nature in with her. She went up to the techo with the eerie look and smile and demanded, "Take this – this thing away from me!"

He frowned mockingly, "Owners aren't supposed to get rid of their babies. Are you sure you want to?"

Rei nodded, "Yes."

The peophin shuddered in the corner, praying to some higher being that she would not be subjected to such torture and abandonment. She hoped that this was just a bad dream that she would wake out of.

'It's just a bad dream,' she repeated to herself like a mantra to ease the pain. 'You'll wake up in your room and Rei will be waiting with a shining face with hotcakes with syrup and orange juice and eggs! I'll be in my warm, cozy bed in my nice room overlooking Neopia Central! This is all a dream!'

"Sign here," the techo stated emotionlessly. "And you have the 250 neopoints for the fee, correct?"

Rei nodded, getting out of her pocket a small bag that contained the coins.

"You know that all petpets attached and pet trophies will go with the pet and that all battledome items with be detached and will be straight to your inventory, correct?"

"Yes."

"You meet the minimum age requirement?"

"Yes."

The techo sighed, "Are you sure you want to get rid of your pet?"

Rei nodded strongly, "Yes."

The techo closed his eyes, "Very well then." He snapped his fingers and the peophin was dragged into a dark hall, a hall leading to the pound where she would be cast into the shadows, a cruel, painful fate.

It had been months, even years, since the peophin had seen her owner. She had also long forgotten her name that she was given. In a sense, she was happy – a name would just be a painful reminder of the ignorant owner who had abandoned her.

Now, she was called 'Shadow.' The guards had jokingly suggested to call her Shadow since she was always hiding in them, hiding from the cruel world around her. Ironically, it fit and it stayed.

Suddenly, there was a soft call from the cell over, "Yo, Shad!"

The voice belonged to a red gelert that Shadow had befriended. He had been issued into the pound shortly after Shadow had. Even though the two of them were into different bands, lived in different places, and had completely different lifestyles, the two became friends almost immediately.

"Yo, Shad!" the red gelert's nickname snapping her out of her reflecting. "Shad!"

"What, Suta?"

"Why are you so quiet today?" he asked gently.

"I'm thinking."

"'bout what?"

"Why do you care?" she retorted, turning in her "bed."

"Jus' curious. It's not like I got anythin' better to do."

"True. I'll tell you," she licked her lips. "It's about… Rei."

"Rei Gensin, your old owner?" he laughed. "Man does she have issues!"

"Shut it!" Shadow said defensively.

"Wait, you defending her?"

"Y-yeah. She did love me… once." Shadow hung her head in sadness and defeat.

"Once," he scoffed. "She rejected you an' you still love her?" He shook his head, "Man, I couldn't do that, Shadow."

Shadow sighed, "I know. Crazy, huh?"

"No," Suta muttered. "Jus' shows you got heart."

Shadow had fallen asleep soon afterwards and was rudely awoken to a large panging that sounded as if someone was banging two large pots together. There was then a loud screech, "Breakfast time, you maggots!"

Shadow yawned and blinked her eyes lazily. She winced at the bowl of grey-brown liquid swimming in a white bowl that had been put into her cell by a guard. The large grarrl guard stared back at her with malice-filling green eyes, demanding, "Are you going to eat your mush or not? I can always give it to someone more deserving." He pulled out the last word syllable by syllable and walked away laughing.

Shadow sighed. She had trained herself long ago not to be taunted by the pound guards. She had learned the hard way that crying only adds fuel to the fire.

Shadow stared back at the formless, disgusting liquid and shot back, "You can't expect me to eat this!"

The male red ixi looked back at her, somewhat surprised that she would even dare speak up. He walked over to her so close that she could feel and smell his rotten breath on her nose, "What did you say, peophin?"

She swallowed up some courage and spat in his face.

The ixi hissed at her, "You little good-for-nothing twit! How dare you even think about messing with me!" He stared at her eye-to-eye, "Don't forget, peophin monster that you are in here and I am out here." He pointed to himself and gave a cruel smirk, "And there ain't nothin' that'll change that."

Shadow licked her dry lips, "B-but someone will adopt me! I just know they will!" Tears streamed down her face no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

The ixi gave a wild bellow, "Ha! You? Do you honestly think someone will adopt the likes of yourself? A Darigan peophin?" He whispered harshly in her ear, "You're disgusting." He then walked away, "See ya 'round, peophin monster. I'm sure that we'll meet again."

Shadow winced, a small tear falling from her face into her gruel. She shook her head, "You have to be strong, Shadow. Crying is for wimps. Crying is a surrender to the heart. Do not cry."
"Yo, Shad!" came Suta's comforting voice.

Shadow smiled, "What is it, Suta?"

"I heard that some people are going to come in and adopt."

Shadow laughed, muttering under her voice, "It's not like we're going to be."

Suta bit his lip, "That's right. You almost were, right?"

Shadow said nothing. All she did was look at the floor, her eyes shining with tears.

"It's a painful thing, huh?"

"Yeah."

The blue uni showed the people around, "Please feel free to ask me any questions about the pets, everyone!"

Shadow sighed, lurking in the dark shadows that covered the entire back of her cell. She scanned the people with a heavy heart, her heart aching when the gate to some pet's cage was opened, and they were finally free. She felt happy to see them go, and yet jealous because it was not her door that was being opened.

Then, a small girl with maroon-red hair and shining turquoise eyes went up to Shadow's cell and called out, "Hello? Is there anyone in there?"

"Yes," came Shadow's soft reply.

"Why don't you come out so I can see you?" she said cheerfully. "I want to see you!" Her hair was messily styled into two pigtails, one on the top of her head, and one on the bottom. Most of her hair was lazily hanging in her face or near her ears.

Shadow sighed, "You wouldn't understand, little one. I'm… a monster."

The girl shook her head, "I won't laugh at you. Oh, and by the way, my name is Ellie. What's your name?"

"They call me… Shadow."

"Why that's a nice name!" the little girl smiled. "C'mon out, please! I want to see you! Please! Please!"

Shadow sighed, finally giving in. "I'm warning you, though."

She shook her head, "I'll be fine."

Shadow stepped out into the light and stared at the little girl who stared back. Ellie smiled, closing her eyes, "You don't look that bad."

"R-really?"

She nodded, "Yeah!"

"So you're going to adopt me?"

The girl bit her lip, "The… thing is… I don't have that many neopoints."

Shadow almost hit herself in the head, feeling stupid that she hadn't seen this coming. She then looked at the girl's clothes – nearly falling apart at the seams, a bunch of rags sewn together with patches. Shadow gave her a sad smile, "Well, thanks for coming, Ellie."

Ellie nodded and then turned her back, running away, shouting over her shoulder, "I'm sorry... Shadow."

Suta sighed, "It just goes to show that kids sometimes understand more than adults, eh, Shad?"

Shadow gave him a silencing look, "I – think that girl's coming over here."

Shadow was right. A young teenager was making her way over their cell. She had large, kind brown eyes and brown hair pulled in a ponytail on her right shoulder. She then spoke to them, her voice soft like velvet, "Why hello there? Can you tell me your name?"

Shadow looked at the girl in amazement, not helping to say aloud, "Don't you think I'm… a monster?"

The girl shook her head, "Of course not." She then turned to the gelert next to her, "Is that your friend?"

Shadow nodded.

"Why hasn't he been adopted? He looks perfectly fine to me."

Suta blushed, "I'm… average looking. There's nothing wrong with me and yet I'm not painted. I'm… average. Who wants to adopt an average neopet?"

The girl chuckled softly, "Well I'm in need of a 'monster' and an 'average' neopet. Can you point me in the right direction?"

The two exchanged glances that said: 'Is she for real?'

The girl then added, "By the way, my name is Koni. It's the name of your new owner, don't forget it."

It had been almost a full week since Shadow and Suta had been adopted by Koni. The two of them were in a nice neohome on Winding Wood Drive and had soft comfy beds with warm pillows and warm sheets. Of course the first thing the two of them did when they arrived was jump on their beds and have a massive pillow fight. Next they savored the fact that they also had edible food for the first time in a long time.

Shadow smiled, her mouth watering at the fruity pancakes in front of them stacked six high with purple tropical syrup, whipped cream, and berries. She then dug in, noticing that Suta had just gotten up. She swallowed hardly and said to him, "You're late!"

Suta smirked, sitting down, "Koni's gonna take us to the Rainbow Pool."

Shadow, who had been drinking some chocolate milk, nearly spit it all over herself in shock, "Wh-what?"

Suta stole one of her pancakes, "Yep. And what she's painting us is a surprise."

Shadow smiled, 'I won't feel like a painful mistake when I look in the mirror anymore!' Her smile then faded to a frown, "Do you mind?"

Suta looked at her, face stuffed with pancakes, "What?"

Shadow and Suta sat in the Rainbow Pool and waded around. Shadow sighed deeply, feeling better already in the rainbow water. She called out to Koni, "So, what are we being painted, Koni? We sort of want to know!"

Koni brought out the two paintbrushes from behind her back. She smiled, "The White paintbrush is for you, Shadow. I'm painting you white to signify rebirth and renewal." She then turned to Suta, "I'm painting you Starry, Suta. Because I know that you'll always try your hardest and reach for the stars, no matter what." She laughed nervously, "I know that the reasons I'm painting you these colors sound cliché, but… they make sense, no?"

The two nodded, understanding completely.

"Mind if I paint Shadow first, Suta?"

Suta shook his head, "She deserves it more than me."

Koni stepped towards her and bent down. Then, as soon as she touched the paintbrush to Shadow's skin, white color spread from the brush and onto Shadow's body, covering her with white. All of the blemishes and disgusting qualities that had been on Shadow's body disappeared into the water and faded away. Her body, mane, and hooves were now as white as snow. Her eyes a light shade of blue. Shadow looked at them, "How do I look?"

Koni gave her a mirror, "You look beautiful."

A small tear went down Shadow's cheek, 'I'm… not a monster anymore!' Suddenly, it hit her, "Isn't it ironic that my name is Shadow and I'm painted white?"

Koni gave her a large smile, "That's what'll make you unique."

Shadow gave Koni a big huge, "Thank you, thank you so much, Koni!" She stared at both of them, her eyes shining with gladness, "I'm no longer a shadow in the dark anymore."

"Then what shadow are you?" Suta asked.

Shadow grinned, "A friendly shadow. One that watches your back and is your… friend. That's unique, right?"