-1When I looked around, I saw darkness. I couldn't see anything around me but black. When I reached out, I felt a hard barrier. I pushed against it, but whatever I was in only shook. I reached out to either side of me, and pushed with all my strength. A crack formed, letting a bit of light in, blinding me for a moment.

"Hey, it's starting," a voice called out from outside.

I was curious to know what was starting, but I needed to get out before I could see. So I kept pushing. The crack I made earlier grew, wider and longer, until a large piece of whatever held me came off. I blinked in the sudden light, as I looked around the room. I soon noticed the two figures looking at me. One walked on four legs, and had a long nose. His fur was a light green color, and his ears were thin and long.

I broke off more of what held me before, now noticing it was pure white, with a few brown spots. I stepped out on my two legs. Looking down, I saw that I stood on a metal table. One of the figures pulled out a device and scanned my body, looking at the readout. He handed it to the bipedal one, then looked at me.

"Welcome to Neopia, young Pteri," he said. "I'm a Gelert, and that over there is a human and your new owner."

"Not for long. I can't take a neopet with stats like this," the human said.

The Gelert turned towards the human, surprise clearly showing in his face. I just watched, not really knowing what was going on. I could tell my owner didn't like what he saw, but I didn't know why.

"With training…" the Gelert started.

"These are almost rock-bottom stats. Get him to the pound, and I'll try again," he replied.

The Gelert gave a sigh, clearly not happy with what my owner was saying. I felt a shiver go through my spine when he mentioned the pound, though I had no idea why. I just knew I didn't want to go. I flattened my feathers and stared hard at the human, hoping to show that I wasn't interested in the pound.

"You still need to name him before you can pound him," the Gelert informed him.

The human looked at me for a moment, obviously not happy, as I continued to stare, ready to take off if he tried anything. It was a few minutes before he spoke again.

"jkl589," he said. "It'll work for the weakling."

He reached for me, and I suddenly jumped up and tried flying with my new wings. But since I was still young, and my wings were underdeveloped, I just fell back down and landed back on the table. He scooped me up before I could try again, and carried me out into the bright sunshine.

As we left the building, I noticed a few nearby buildings. One looked like it had a large pizza on top. Another building a short distance away had a huge plushie on the front of the building. As we walked towards the building, the one that was supposed to be my owner spoke to me.

"There's something you need to know. All your pets are good for is battling. I feel no connection, no love, no anything. And I don't feel sorry for putting you in the pound," he told me.

As we walked up to the door of the pound, I saw that it wasn't the ugly, falling apart shack I was expecting. Instead, it was a nice looking wooden building, with flowers growing on either side. If I didn't know what the place was, I'd think it was a great looking place.

My former owner walked in the front door, and I looked over at the two figures behind the desk. I would learn later that the one on the left was a Uni named Rose, and the one on the right was a Techo named Dr. Death. My former owner placed me on the table, dropped a bag next to me, and walked off without a word.

Dr. Death looked inside the bag, and gave a slight nod. As he reached over to pick me up, my neck feathers sprung straight up, and I tried to bite with my beak. He brought his hands away quickly, and my bite missed. He reached over somewhere and put something on my beak, preventing me from opening it, then picked me up again.

I was brought in a room with only one window, which had dark curtains drawn across it As I looked, I saw small cages piled on top of one another, and the pets had little room to move around. I also noticed a door to another room, where the larger species were kept. Their cages were larger, and next to each other. But since they were larger as well, they weren't any happier than we were.

Then I noticed the empty cage that would contain me. Even though I struggled, I couldn't get free. I tried pecking at him, but the thing that kept me from opening my mouth also kept me from doing any damage with my beak. Dr. Death took it off my mouth before putting me in a cage and making sure it was shut and locked, then walked away.

Nearly 22 hours later, I was in a light sleep. Even though the cage was uncomfortable, I was able to get at least a little shut-eye in it. But my sleep was interrupted by Rose walking in, followed by a human.

"Okay, pokepet70, just choose any pet here you want, and bring it out to me when you find it," she said, then walked out again.

Pokepet started to walk down the cages, looking around at the many different pets around him. I've seen pets with Petpets and painted pets go all day. Since I was a normal color, without a petpet, I didn't have a whole lot of hope. I wasn't even a rare species, so there was no reason to pick me.

He stopped in front of my cage and looked at me for a moment. He stroked his chin as if trying to think. Then I saw him reach forward and lift the lock on my cage, then opened the door and held out a hand.

I was so happy that my feathers all puffed out at once, as I gladly fluttered my way into his arms. He walked back out to the desk, where he got a sheet that told him all my information, before putting some money on the desk and walking out with me.

As we left the building, Pokepet said, "There's something you need to know…"

That killed the happiness I was feeling right then. The last owner said the same thing when he put me in the pound. I was so scared that I almost missed what he said next.

"…I picked you because I felt a connection. I saw you, and I just knew you were the right one for me. I will take care of you with love and kindness, as your brothers and sister will tell you." he finished.

"Forever?" I asked with hope in my voice.

"Forever," he confirmed.

My feathers puffed out again with happiness, as one thought stuck with me the entire way home.

You will always love me.

The End