Adventures in Neopia!
Rating: K+
Stargate season: Any season where Sg-1 consisted of Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c… Season seven, maybe?
Spoilers: Anything up to season seven.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Sg-1 or I am not making any money off this story.
Author's Note Added May 27, 2007: If anyone remembers this story from way back in '05, I apologize for the "hiatus." But I'm back now, and have added chapter four.
Original Author's Notes: The idea for this story had been gnawing away at my brain for nearly two years now, demanding to be written. I figured I should finally do so before it drove me (completely) insane…
One more thing: None of the Neopets in the story are based on real ones. I did a search on before choosing the pet names, and as of the time this story was posted, none of the names were in use on the website.
Chapter One – Thunderstorms and Angelpi
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Jack was tired of this planet. The place was a jungle or something: hot and sticky, and home to a variety of freakishly large insects that seemed to find him quite tasty.
"Crap!" He whacked at a purplish mosquito that was intent on feasting on his arm. He sprayed himself (for the umpteenth time that day!) with bug repellent. Completely ineffective bug repellent. Who made this stuff, anyway? He briefly considered writing to the company when he got home and giving them a piece of his mind, but decided against it when he realized the manufacturer probably never considered that their product would be used against purple alien mosquitoes.
He looked over to where Teal'c was standing. Apparently, the big guy wasn't having any better luck with the bugs than Jack was. He smacked the back of his neck and Jack thought he heard him swear in some alien language.
Jack walked through the tall grass and leaned against a boulder. His knee was bothering him again. To make matters even worse, a marathon of his favorite show was starting in five minutes and he'd forgotten to set his damned VCR to record it! He groaned.
Well, at least it wasn't raining.
Suddenly, Jack heard a great KABOOM of thunder and water promptly began falling from the sky. How disgustingly cliché! He thought in disbelief.
That was it; he'd had enough, his team had been here for hours and hadn't found a single sign of intelligent life. It was time to call it a day. Maybe if he hurried he could be back in time to at least catch a few episodes of The Simpsons.
He clicked his radio on.
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
"Time to pack it up. Collect Daniel for me, will ya? Teal'c and I will meet you at the gate."
"Yes sir."
He began to call out to Teal'c when he heard Daniel's voice on the radio.
"Jack!"
Oh great. He's found something.
"Yes, Daniel?" he asked cautiously.
"Uh, we can't leave yet. I've found something-"
"New rocks to play with?"
He smirked at Daniel's exasperated sigh. "They're not rocks, Jack! They're artifac- Actually, yeah. This time they are rocks…but they have these strange symbols on them, I've never seen them before. It's really quite fascinating."
Of course it was. It seemed everything Daniel found was fascinating.
"Daniel – just bring them with you. If it's worth investigating further we can send a team back later."
A pause; then another sigh.
"Fine,"
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Five minutes later, after much swearing, rain, spraying of bug repellent and conking of foreheads on low hanging branches, a rather bedraggled Sg-1 was back together, a hundred or so yards from the gate. Daniel was chattering excitedly nonstop. Something about his rocks; about how he'd never seen any symbols quite like them; that he thought they might be some previously undiscovered language; blah blah blah. Something like that. Jack didn't much care: they looked like your ordinary, fist sized river rocks, with crudely engraved little drawings.
He was about to make some snarky remark when a crashing sound was heard in the woods to the left.
CRAASH!
Jack, Carter and Teal'c automatically raised their various P90s and staff weapons, while Daniel just looked up from the rock in his hand and said "what?"
They watched for whatever had caused the crash but found nothing, until a small furry animal gracefully hopped out from behind a fallen log and stopped at Jack's feet. It looked up at him and blinked its big yellow eyes. It had fluffy white fur, and looked rather cat-like with its small pointed ears, pink nose and short delicate muzzle. The thing had little angel wings, and was that a halo floating above its head?!
It sat back on its haunches and raised its little front paws. If Jack had been into the whole small fluffy animal thing, he would have thought it looked rather cute.
It continued to stare up at Jack. Jack stared down at it. He looked at his teammates for help; they just watched the animal silently.
Suddenly, the creature emitted a loud, startling sound.
"PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
It leaned forward and began rubbing itself on Jack's pant leg.
"Aw!" Daniel said, grinning.
"I think he likes you, sir." Carter beamed, and rested an arm across the top of her P90.
"Indeed."
Jack scowled. They were all enjoying this far too much.
"Yes, well," Jack muttered to the cat-creature, pulling his foot away. "I'm really more of a dog person."
"MEEOWW!" the cat said pitifully, and leapt for Jack's shoe. It continued to merrily rub against him.
Daniel, still grinning, knelt and held his hand out.
"Here, kitty kitty!"
"Oh, for crying out loud! Daniel, don't encourage it."
The little beast hesitantly stood up, and went to sniff Daniel's fingers cautiously. It allowed him to put his hand on its head and gently scratch it.
"Be careful!" Jack warned. "It could be carrying some alien version of rabies, or who the hell knows what!"
Carter cleared her throat. "Um, he's right, Daniel."
"Look at the halo on his head!" Daniel exclaimed. "How do you think it hovers like that? I mean, I don't see any wires or anything…"
He trailed off as he examined the creature carefully. It simply sat there and blinked at him.
This talk of strange alien technology was apparently too much for Carter. Overcoming her fear of exotic diseases, she knelt beside Daniel and gingerly touched the floating golden ring. The winged cat began grooming a paw.
"Sir, this really is a fascinating piece of technology-"
"Magnets!" Jack concluded. Carter gave him a look. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"We really should stay and study this further-"
Of course we should. For crying out loud…Jack waved a hand impatiently. "Ah! Later, Carter. You can bring an SG team back later and both of you can study to your little heart's content. Sometime when it's not storming, perhaps?"
KABOOM! The thunder seemed to agree with him.
Daniel and Carter stood up and reluctantly stepped away from the animal, who seemed oblivious to the loud thunder and the water that soaked his no-longer fluffy white coat.
"Yes sir."
"Thank you." Jack nodded in satisfaction, throwing a last, disdainful look at the cat. "Alright, let's move it, kids!" Daniel gathered his rocks and the team began walking toward the gate.
The cat, however, had other plans. It ran and took a flying leap! It landed on Jack's shoulders but lost its footing and sank very sharp claws into his jacket.
"Ahh! Get it off me!" He twisted around, trying desperately to grab the offending beast. Carter and Daniel cracked up.
"PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" The little terror, having regained its balance, was now happily rubbing its head against the back of Jack's.
The little…
A hint of a smile appeared on Teal'c's face, and he raised an eyebrow. "I believe he wishes you to stay, O'Neill." This caused Carter to erupt into full-blown giggles, and Daniel snorted. Teal'c smiled wider.
They were so going to pay for this. Jack sent them what he hoped was his worse glare. Carter's grin broadened.
"I don't know, sir. You do look kind of cute together."
Jack finally managed to pluck the beast off his back –no thanks to his team- and tossed it to the ground. It lay there for moment, dazed, then stood, glared at Jack and looked indignant.
Then, standing on its hind legs, it crossed its front paws, puffed out its chest, and –much to everyone's shock and amazement- boomed "A CURSE ON YOU!!"
Leaving Sg-1 in stunned silence, the creature stormed off and disappeared into the trees.
"That was- creepy," Jack finally managed to say.
"Did that cat just speak?" Carter asked incredulously.
"That cat just spoke," Daniel confirmed with his jaw hanging open.
"That was most disturbing," Teal'c said.
Daniel was the first to recover. He gestured in the direction the pseudo-cat had run. "Guys," he exclaimed. "That might not have been an animal at all! That might have been some intelligent race we've never encountered before! We should-" He was cut off by Carter's gasp of pain.
She suddenly staggered, and grabbed Jack's shoulder as she sank to the ground.
"Carter!"
"Sam!"
"Major Carter!"
Jack reached out to hold her up, but there was a sudden sharp pain in his neck.
Hey!
He felt the world fading away fast.
He heard Daniel and Teal'c grunt as they were also struck. The last thing Jack saw was the feathered dart sticking out of the back of his 2IC's neck, and he had time for exactly one thought.
Crap.
Then it all went black.
So…What do you think? Should I continue? Burn it? What?
Note: For those that don't know, when you play with your petpets –such as the Angelpuss that Jack encountered- once in a while they will shout "A CURSE ON YOU!!" No one really knows why. They just…do…