Fostering Malice

All settings, species and most concepts in this story © Neopets, Inc., 2000-2010 and beyond.
All named characters other than Dr. Death and Rose belong to me, Rainbow Daydreamer.

Chapter 1:
Crash-Landed


Memo dictation start:

I have barely been on this wretched planet a few hours, and already the worst has happened. It distresses me to report that I have fallen into the hands of the enemy.

I have no idea how they knew I was dangerous. The disguise technology was diligently researched by my own Commander Batrien, and I was sure that my appearance was one of a harmless, if unusually handsome, Neopet. But now that I am awake, I see I am behind bars. Somehow, the truth of my nature must have come to light while I was unconscious. The room I find myself in is slightly larger than my shuttle, but it offers no opportunity for escape. Nevertheless, I shall remain vigilant, and seize my chance at the first possible moment so that my mission can be completed.

It will, I hope, be recorded that I have shown supreme bravery of the sort which might, purely as an example, be considered as evidence in a recommendation for promotion to full lieutenant. My resolve is absolute. The Neopians are our treacherous enemies, but no matter what foul creature or horrific abomination they send to interrogate me, I will remain stoic and uncompromising, and respond to every question with--

"Yaagh!"

On the ceiling before he was even aware of flapping his wings, the Korbat tried desperately to press himself into a corner. The enormous, scaly yellow head that had appeared in front of him continued to draw closer, attached to an equally scaly and enormous body wrapped in some kind of white robe, and fixed him with a terrifying expression of disapproval.

"Well now, it seems you're awake," it said, gazing at him as he tried to back away. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I was unconscious," he snapped, and tried not to show how frustrated the fact made him. "What do you want from me, foul agent of death?"

"That's Doctor Death, thank you. And we don't want anything from you except the 250 Neopoints for keeping you here overnight. Dr. Gelert from the hospital treated your injuries, but there were no spare beds, so we put you up here. Don't worry, we'll get you home in a jiffy, at least as soon as you get down from that ceiling. Oh, and tell us who your owner is," the creature added, flexing and tapping its thin talons in a sinister manner.

Owner? He bridled. Who did this ignorant creature take him for? Stupid, subservient pets had owners!

"I have no owner!" he spat out, his voice filled with anger and hatred for the very idea of spending his life as the servant of some human. "Don't ask me such things!"

"Oh… I'm sorry." The creature's face changed. Insofar as he could tell, it seemed disappointed, even saddened. It reached into a pocket of its robe, withdrawing a small white card and a pen. "Well, then… I'm going to need you to tell me your name, please."

"My--" The Korbat bit his lip. His training, years ago now, returned to him. This creature was trying to put him at ease, to lull him into revealing information. Well, he would remain strong and give nothing away. Sneering at his captor, he barked out the conventional response. "I will tell you nothing but a number!"

The white-robed creature sighed deeply. "Oh, no. Not another one? These owners just have no imagination these days, do they? If I could give them a piece of my mind over at the Creation Centre…" It paused, then seemed to recover its lost thread. "Fine. Your number, then."

"761194123286," he supplied coldly. "And much good may it do you."

"Frankly, I'd lose the attitude," his captor said in a voice that was almost gentle. "You won't get out of here very fast if you snark at everyone who comes through."

"Encouraging me to collaborate. Top marks." Fluttering down from the ceiling, he rested his head on his wingtips. "Well, you've had as much as you're going to get from me. Leave me alone."

"As you wish." To his relief, the strange creature moved away, murmuring something that sounded like "angry stage of the grieving process" under its breath.

The Korbat breathed a sigh, letting himself flop into the corner. Now his captor was gone, he had time to survey his surroundings more carefully. There were bars on his window, as well as the door between himself and the corridor, and if he squinted through the gaps, he could see other barred doors further along, with Neopets sitting or standing behind them. He allowed himself a faint smile. Clearly, this was a prison for disobedient civilians. The Neopians were evidently so unprepared for combat that they did not even possess a facility for prisoners of war. Pathetic.

"Hey. Hey, you in there."

The words were repeated a few times before he realised they were addressed to him. Lifting his head, he noticed the creature looking through the barred internal window to his left. This one seemed to be a different breed of Neopet; crimson from head to toe, it had floppy ears, a fluffy fringe and exaggeratedly large paws. A tattered headband held its frankly scruffy fur back from its face.

"Me?" he repeated, hoping his distaste would serve to discourage the Neopet.

"Yeah, you," she replied, unrepentant. "I saw you lookin' scared out of your wits when the Doc was writing you up. It's your first time here, isn't it?"

He realised, belatedly, that she was speaking to him as if he were a Neopian himself. Perhaps not everyone was capable of seeing through his disguise. He settled for a nod, wondering where it would lead.

"Thought so. The Doc tries to be nice an' all, but it's still pretty hard on a newbie. What happened, did you just get pounded or somethin'?"

The word was unfamiliar, and he hoped the cover of his wings was enough to hide his fumbling for the companion device. Its dictionary paused for a moment before telling him the meaning of the verb. Pound: to beat, pummel, thump.

"Pounded. Well, I suppose so," he murmured, recalling that after all he had been unconscious. He had blamed the bruises on the shuttle crash, but if this Neopet took such a casual attitude to the idea of being beaten up before coming to prison, perhaps the Neopians were more violent than he had previously thought. Despite himself, he gave a sharp shudder.

"That's rough," she told him, sympathetically. "Well, since you're new an' all, the Doc will probably be bringin' you dinner in your room. They don't actually let us starve to death here, for all the horror stories you get in the Times. Anythin' else I can help you with?"

The Korbat hesitated. An idea had occurred to him, but he couldn't help but wonder about the safety of it. Nevertheless, it seemed the best way of carrying out his sworn duty to the Commander. This Neopet was obviously a veteran of the Neopian punishment system, and no wonder; he could tell from her mere appearance that she carried a streak of disobedience to authority. When his companions returned to invade Neopia, pets like this one would have to be dealt with severely. For now, though, she was his best chance, whatever he thought of the prospect.

"Can you help me to get out of here?" he asked, his voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper.

He hadn't expected her to dissolve into hoots of laughter. "Of all things! Didn't expect you to be a pet after my own heart. Normally I'd be right there with you. I've tried escaping from this place more times than the Doc's had cold dinners, but I'm supposed to be a good little girl this week so I can get my privileges back and get the staff trusting me again. If I'm gonna help you, it's got to be hush-hush, okay? And I can't come with you."

The Korbat bit back the sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was an enemy civilian tagging along as he made his getaway. "I accept your conditions. Tell me what to do."

"Hmmm." She contemplated for a while. "There's the thing with the Flankin and the length of string… but I think Rose caught onto that one last year when I tried it. There's that one… no, you don't have a long enough tail. That one needs a south-facing window. It could be weeks before I can get my paws on the Doc's coffee supply. You don't have the body strength to manhandle a mop, do you? Well… I guess there's always the old sickbay trip gambit, isn't there?"

It took a moment for him to realise that the last question hadn't been rhetorical. "Oh. Um? I suppose so?"

"You really are new, aren'tcha?" She sighed. "Here's what you do. Fake being ill. Clutch your stomach a bit, maybe, and complain about aching all over. If you swallow some floor soap you'll probably get a fit of the hiccups, that might help. And make sure it's the Doc who comes to look at you, not Rosiebel-- she's the pink one. The Doc'll have to open up your cage to examine you…"

*

"I only hope we don't have to call out Dr. Gelert at this time of night," Dr. Death grumbled, turning his key in the lock. "Last time I did that, he made me buy him a batch of Purplum coffee. With biscuits, too."

The Korbat lay on the floor in silence, his wings crossed over his stomach. While the tip about the floor soap had indeed produced a fit of the hiccups, he couldn't help but feel his fellow prisoner should have been more informative about the quantity required. No longer needing to fake symptoms, he was genuinely feeling quite unwell. The attempt to grit his teeth and bear with the situation, as practiced by the role-models of his long-ago training sessions, was thwarted by the enormous hiccup that forced his mouth back open.

"Ker-hic!"

"Right, then." His captor swung back the door, and knelt down beside him. "Let's see about your stomach, now…"

With a flick of his foot, the Korbat launched his metal drinking dish off the ground. It slammed against Dr. Death's forehead with a sharp clang, and he seized the moment. His neighbour's words rang in his head as he took off: "Remember, you can fly, and the Doc can't."

Flight! Hard to imagine that it had barely even been a consideration when selecting the type of Neopet whose appearance he would take. Now it seemed as if nothing could be more liberating as he sailed down the corridor, drawing the eyes of dozens of surprised Neopets. In his head he was already picturing the tales of bravery and daring he would tell on his return, the story of his thrilling escape…

"Ker-hic!"

"And just what do you think you're doing? You're one of ours, aren't you?"

The voice was high and light, but no less sharp. A tall pink figure stepped through the door at the end of the corridor, alerted by the sound of his hiccups, and still carrying a clipboard between her outstretched hooves. His heart racing, he did his best to remain calm. You can fly, and--

The pink Neopet extended two improbably small wings from her shoulderblades, and took off in a flurry of feathers.

…and she can fly, too, it would appear.

In one smooth curve, she blocked his path and slammed him to the ground with the clipboard. The blow wasn't hard, but it startled him more than a little. He wondered if this was the "pounding" that the inmates received.

"You, my dear," the creature announced, picking him up unceremoniously by his wings, "are going right back to your room. Let's see…" Striding down the corridor, she examined the doors as she passed them. "Oh, my. This has to be yours, doesn't it? With poor Dr. Death sitting in the corner with a bruise on his head! You're quite the violent little escapee, aren't you?" Her tone was soft, but he could tell she was frustrated in her own way. "Yes, you must be in here. Next to…" Suddenly, her voice shot up by an octave. "…DizzeeLara! Oh, I should have known!"

Her hoof slammed against the door next to his own. "I thought that kind of plan was too rebellious for a new resident! You put him up to it, didn't you, you incorrigible Zafara?"

"Ker-hic," he protested weakly, raising a wingtip.

"Absolutely not," the Korbat's neighbour retorted. "It was his own idea. I just figured I'd lend a bit of a paw." Despite her predicament, oddly enough, she was grinning. "Sorry, Rose. Guess there's no keepin' me well-behaved."

"I'll have her moved as soon as there's a spare room," Dr. Death put in, getting to his feet. "Inciting other pets to escape? As if we didn't have enough on our hands, Lara. For shame."

The Neopet called Rose dropped the Korbat in the corner of his room, making sure to double-lock the door on her way out. With a stern glance at the pet in the next room, she headed back the way she had come, Dr. Death following her. The corridor was silent, the quietness broken only by the Korbat's continuing hiccups.

"Sorry," Lara whispered at last. "I guess it was only a chance you'd get further than the lobby. I'll think of something better next time."

The Korbat lay slumped against the wall where Rose had dropped him, his spirit more crushed than before. "All I want is to get out of this place," he muttered. "I didn't believe it would be so, ker-hic, difficult."

"Everybody wants out, hon." Lara leant against the bars, massaging her face with both paws. "And with a number name like yours, it's gonna be a problem. But don't give up, okay? You never know what's gonna happen tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." He repeated the word, reflecting. He'd been so busy examining his surroundings for a way out that he'd completely forgotten to sleep. No wonder his energy levels were fluctuating so badly, especially in this pathetic small body.

"You gonna get some sleep, new kid?" Lara seemed to read his thoughts. "OK. If the Doc hasn't moved me before you wake up, I guess I'll see you in the mornin'."

*

"Wake up. Hey, new kid, wake up!"

He opened his eyes, all too aware that he had not slept for long enough. His neighbour was banging on the wall, trying to raise her voice as loud as she could without alerting anyone around them.

"I am awake," he muttered. "What do you require? Have you formed another plan for my escape?"

"Don't need one." Lara's grin was so bright that it seemed to dazzle. "You're one lucky duckie, new kid."

"I am a Korbat," he retorted, unsure even with his dictionary why she would mistake him for a waterproof toy.

"Well, you're a Korbat who just might be gettin' out of here this morning," she told him, still smiling. "I just got word. The pets with a window onto the first floor lobby saw Melanie's last pet get transferred today. You're in with a chance if she comes through here!"

The words meant nothing to him, but he followed her gaze towards the corridor. As he looked out, the door swung back and the jailer called Rose entered, a strange creature at her side. This one, at least, he had been taught to recognise in his training sessions, though he had never thought he would be forced to confront one so soon. Where were his weapons? Had the Neopians stolen them? How could he fight back against the hideous creature?

"Painted. High-level. LE. Cute name." The human moved down the corridor, followed by a Neopet. The words she spoke all checked out with his dictionary as being positive, but she had the tone of someone casually dismissing unworkable plans. "High-level, cute--"

"Hey, Melanie, it's DizzeeLara!" The Neopet with the fluffy neck-ruff waved a paw in their direction. "Can you believe she's still in here?"

"I don't think they're letting her out until she proves good behaviour. They might be waiting a while." The human passed by Lara's cell, pausing in front of the Korbat's. "Well now, what have we got here? Hey, come and look at this one!"

"761194123286," the Neopet read from the card. "A level 1 yellow Korbat. Melanie, you're so right! How'd you get so good at spotting them?"

"I'll send you to find the next one on your own. See if you can't rise to the challenge." The human knelt down beside the barred door. "Hey there, li'l Korbat. How'd you like me to get you out of here?"

The Korbat glanced across at Lara, who gave him a surreptitious nod. "I would very much like to get out of here," he admitted, unsure how he should be acting in the presence of the enemy.

"Brilliant!" the human enthused. "I'll get the paperwork signed."

He watched in silent bewilderment as the printed pages were produced, signed and marked with a stamp from Rose. The door was unlocked, seemingly without complaint from Dr. Death, and the human carried him out of his cell. He did his best not to shudder at the touch of her fleshy hands, and concentrated instead on the fresh oxygen, and the dazzling light from the blue sky.

"Take care, new kid," Lara whispered as they walked past. "You know where I am if you need me."

This memorandum marks the end of my stay in captivity. However… something is telling me that my troubles on this planet are by no means at an end.

Over and out.