THE FIRST NEOPET (WORKING TITLE)
By Carmelspanial
Chapter 2
Disclaimer-I don't own Neopets…don't sue…not worth your time…you know the rest.
A/N-POV in the beginning of the chapter kind of goes back and forth in this chapter, from Adam to Neo. Tell me if this is too confusing and I'll rewrite it. O.K., on with the story…
Neo darted behind the trash pile as soon as he heard the noise of a door opening. Too scared to poke his head around the corner to see if a human was indeed there, he curled himself into a ball so as to make himself as small as possible. All he could do now was wait here and hope he wasn't discovered…
The ten-year-old boy stared at the Lupe carcass the adults had killed last night. He was sure he had heard a Lupe howl, but this one was dead. Maybe there were other Lupes in the village! If that was the case he needed to warn an adult right away. He had been taught that the animals that inhabited the nearby forest were dangerous, especially the predatory ones like Lupes. If one was in the village that could only mean trouble. He could faintly hear a rustling from behind the trash pile. Maybe another Lupe was hiding there! He knew he should run and tell the nearest adult but his curiosity got the better of him. He very slowly crouched down and peered behind the trash pile…
Neo could hear the human approaching now. He was certain that they would kill him, the same way they killed his mother. He could see the human's shadow now. He knew he shouldn't, but he forced himself to look up. He was surprised to find that the human looking down at him now was small, very small. Neo had always imagined humans to be bigger then this. Neo wondered if this wasn't just a pup, like himself…
The boy was startled to find that there was indeed a Lupe behind the trash pile, but not the fierce, killer adult Lupe he had been so afraid of finding. It was instead a green Lupe pup, and a small one at that. The pup slowly raised its head to look at him, and for several long seconds the human and Lupe just looked each other in the eye. Finally the boy got up the nerve to approach the pup. He got down on his knees in front of it and held out his hand, allowing the pup to smell it. Finally he reached put and petted the Lupe pup on the head. The pup responded by licking the boy's hand.
"Your pretty friendly for a Lupe." The boy said out loud, even though he knew the Lupe couldn't understand a word he was saying. "My name is Adam. Do you want to stay with me? You can be my pet! My Mom says that all Lupes are dangerous but you don't look so dangerous to me!" Adam cautiously picked up the Lupe and carried him into his house. Now of course Neo had never been inside a house before, and when the door shut trapping him in he became frightened. He leaped from Adam's arms and began to bark frantically, looking for a way out. Adam caught Neo by the tail and clasped his hand over the pup's muzzle to silence him. "Be quiet! You'll wake Mom up! You don't have to be scared of being in a house, umm…what am I gonna call you, anyway? I know! You're green so I'll call you Midori! That means green!"
Adam took Neo, whom he called Midori, to his room and locked the door behind him. He placed the pup on his bed and wrapped him in an old blue blanket. He again proceeded to pet the Lupe. "So where is your family, Midori? I bet your Mom is worried sick about yo…wait, was that Lupe on the trash pile you're Mom? I'm sorry, Midori."
Neo sniffed at the air, trying to figure out where he was. Wherever it was, Neo didn't want to be there. He wanted to be back in the forest, with his mother. This human place was strange. The humans lived inside short, fat hollow trees, spoke a language he couldn't understand, and now they had him trapped. He had to find a way back home. The humans were probably going to kill him the same way they killed his mother. His mother! At the thought of his mother Neo began to howl again, and this time Adam couldn't silence him.
Back in the surrounding forest, Neo and Botan's pack had gathered to debate Botan's fate. They did not know what happened to her, they only knew that she had not returned from the human village the previous night. They had also discovered one of her pups, the runt of the litter, missing as well.
The pack formed a circle around Bouzen, the leader. Bouzen was old and many in the pack thought he didn't have long to live because he had been quite ill lately, but he was incredibly wise. In his younger years, when the pack was larger, his had been the dominant pack of the forest. But his older years had been plagued with sickness, and eventually larger, stronger Lupe packs came along and forced Bouzen's pack out of most of their ancestral territory. Now all that remained of this once proud and powerful pack had congregated here to discuss the fate of two of their own.
"My friends, I would like to thank each and every one of you for meeting here on such short notice." Bouzen began. "As I'm sure most of you already know, we sent Botan last night to the place of the humans to find food for the pack. She was supposed to return by the time the sun rose. Needless to say she has not yet returned. And this morning it was discovered that one if Botan's children, the one called Neo, is also missing. At this point I'm afraid we can only speculate about their fate."
All eight of the other Lupes in the pack began to talk at once, exchanging theories about what had become of Botan and Neo. Some of them believed that Botan, too frightened to enter the place of the humans, had abandon the pack rather then face her fears and for some odd reason un known to the rest of the pack, had decided to only take one of her cubs with her. Others believed that Botan had killed Neo because he was the runt of her litter and then had used the food raid on the place of the humans as an excuse to run from the pack so as not to pay for her crime.
Bouzen strained his voice so as to be heard over the noise of the pack. "My friends, silence!" At their leaders order the pack was silent in a second. "Now then, we can speculate all we want but the fact remains that it is only speculation. To discover the truth we must go out, each and every one of us, and look for evidence! Any clue at all as to the whereabouts of out two missing comrades. The obvious place to begin our search is also the most dangerous. The place of the humans. That is where Botan was going last night. We will begin our search there."
One younger Lupe protested. "We are going to the place of the humans in the day light? That is suicide! The pack cannot afford to loose any more members; we have already lost two!"
"We have no choice. You can remain here if you wish, but all Lupes who are loyal to this pack and its leader will follow me this day. I only hope that, in the process of recovering our two missing comrades, no more members of our pack are lost. Now come, my friends! We have business to attend to this day at the place of the humans!"
TOO BE CONTINUED…Well, it's a little longer, anyway! Hope you enjoyed it and be sure to review it. FEED BACK IS MY LIFE BUT NO FLAMES!