Jirokichi The Rat

DISCLAIMER-I don't own Neopets so don't bother suing me, I heve nothing you want/

A/N-My Neopets account name is Satoshi_chan and this story is about me and my actual Neopets. Go look us up if you want. Oh and this is my first fan fic of any kind so be nice when you review...

My name is Jirokichi and I'm a blue Gelert. Well, Jirokichi is my official name though I have several nicnames. My owner and my three brothers call me Jiro, though almost everyone else I have ever come into contact with calls me Jirokichi the Rat. Needless to say it's not exactly a flattering nicname, and the story of how I got that name isn't a pleasant one. But my owner says that thoes who forget history are doomed to repeat it, so I guess it's for the better.

It all started back on the day when I was born. Satoshi_chan, my owner, brought me home from the Creation Center to meet my three brothers. Two of my brothers were Gelerts as well, Taraku_chan was painted starry and Vegiito_chan was red. But my oldest brother, Yakkul_chan, was a fire Lupe. He was the only pet that Satoshi trained to fight in the Battledome and he was the only pet who regularly got to read books. The first time I saw him I took one look at his huge yellow eyes and ran the other way as fast as my little newborn legs could carry me. In the process I knoched over a living room lamp. The bulb shattered and almost caught on fire. Thankfully it didn't ignite but I remember Satoshi picking me up, yelling words I could not yet understand at me and taking me back to my bedroom. It really wasn't a big deal and the incident was soon forgotton but if any of us knew what was to come we would have taken it much more seriously.

Over the next couple of days I learned to speak. Satoshi taught me that I was a species of Neopet called a Gelert and that she was a human and my owner. She taught me the names of everything in the Apartment where we lived (Satoshi hadn't built a Neohome yet) and eventually she took me to all the worlds in Neopia and taught me all about them. And it wasn't long before I figured out my place in the family. Satoshi herself was undisputidly in charge; she had a terrible temper and not even Yakkul dared disobey her. Yakkul was the highers ranking pet so to speak, he had a bad temper like Satoshi and was used to getting his way. Taraku tended to keep to himself most of the time and he spent most of his time with Michidzure, his pet Snowbunny. Vegiito was the youngest next to me and more then a bit immature. His favorite hobby was watching cartoons on T.V. and his room was full of plushies and other toys. As for me, I was the last in line. I was just a little Gelert pup and Satoshi made it crystal clear that my brothers came first. It wasn't that she didn't love my brothers more then she loved me, it's just that I was the youngest of the family and Satoshi believed that I should defer to my brothers, which I did. Well, I should say that the three of us deferred to Yakkul. We watched the T.V. shows Yakkui wanted to watch, played the games Yakkul wanted to play, went where Yakkul wanted to go and...well you get the idea. Taraku and Vegiito didn't seem to have a problem with this but I hated it. So I ended up spending most of my time anone in my room. Satoshi would still ask me do do things woth the family at first but since I almost always refused she eventually gave up. I loved Satoshi and my brothers but I was sick of being last all the time. I was sick of being "that pup". I was sick of always having to do what everyone else wanted and never getting to excercise my own will. So most of the time I just stayed in my room alone most of the time.

One evening I was sitting in my room as usual staring out my window at the stars. Thats what I did most nights, stare up at the stars. They looked so small and yet Satoshi had told me that they were actually huge balls of gas burning billions of miles away. I was contemplating this when I heard Satoshi calling from the kitchen. "Jirokichi, get in here! We need to talk!" "Comming!" I went to the kitchen where Satoshi was waiting for me along with my three brothers. "Yakkul has a Battledome fight in an hour." she said simply. "Your'e brothers are comming along to watch and cheer him on. You stay here untill we get back. No matter what, don't leave the apartment, understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Good. Lets go, guys." satoshi and my brothers left the apartment, locking the door behind them. I cheacked the clock, 7:23 p.m. They wouldn't ba back for a while yet. After Yakkul's battledome fight they would either go out to eat to celebrate his victory or go buy him some battledome equipment to help him win if he lost. But the latter rarely happenes. Satoshi was careful to match Yakkul with opponents slightly weaker then himself, which meant that he rerely lost a fight. So after Yakkul won they would all go out to celebrate and I would be alone here.

I went back to my room to continue star-gazeing but by this time the sky had almost completly clouded over. I sighed, turned out my bedroom light and crawled into bed. I know it was early but I went to bed early every night. My favorite time of the day was the time I was asleep beacuse I could forget everything. I could enter my own world where my life was my own and I didn't have to be second to anyone. Not Satoshi, not Yakkul, noone. But this night I couldn't sleep. I lay there in the dark for what seemed like hours, but when I cheaked the clock it was only nine. I looked out the window. It had started snowing, and a light coating ow white now coverd everything outside. It was then I noticed a small ploom of smoke on the horizon. It was barely noticible, but it was there. The apartment building in which my family lived was right in the middle of Neopia Central's residential district, and the only explination for the smoke I could think of was that someone's Neohome was on fire. My curiosity was peaked and I decided to go have a look. I knew that Satoshi had instructed me not to leave the apartment but if I could get back before she did she would never know. If I had known what was about to happen I would have never left the apartment that night but of course I didn't know, and the events of that night are seered into my memory forever.

I left the apartment building and began running twards the smoke on the horizon, which was growing bigger as I ran. I knew the fire was probably growing and I shouldn't go anywhere near it but I was still young and young pups rarely think rationally in these situations. So I continued twards the fire untill I saw the burning Neohome. Fire turcks surrounded it and Lupe firefighters were working despratly to put the flames out. They didn't notice me at first beacuse they were totally preoccupied with the task at hand, but eventually one of the firefighters saw me sitting by the baracade watching. One of them ordered me to leave. It was nearly eleven thirty by that time and I was scared that Satoshi and my brothers had already arrived home. But as I was leaving I saw a young boy and his Wocky sitting on the curb of the street crying. When I asked what was wrong the Wocky informed me that it was his owner's Neohome that was burning and that his sister, a young Kacheek, was still trapped inside the burning Neohome.

Why I did what I did I can not tell you but I fellt that I had to rescue the trapped Kacheek. Mabye I thought if I did I would be hailed as a hero and I would be the top Neopet in the family, above even Yakkul. And besides, what good Neopian wouldn't want to help? So I ran back to the Neohome, jumped the Lupe Firefighter's baracades and made it into the burning structure before the firefighters could stop me. It was pich black inside and the smoke was so thick I could barely breathe. I felt my way to the starecase, then I heard shouts of "We've got the Kacheek out! She's safe! Now we have to get in there and get that damn fool Gelert out of there!" It was then that I came to my senses and realized that I had made a mistake. I began making my way back to the door through the smoke. As I walked I could just barely see the outline of three Lupe firefighters comming twards me. By this time my lungs were filled with smoke and I could barely breathe. I watched the firefightes comming twards me as I sunk to the ground and passed out.

When I awoke I was lying on the sidewalk with an oxygyn mask over my muzzle. A group of Lupe firefighters were standing over me. I tried to sit up but they forced me back down.

You need rest and air. Don't try to move just yet. Now thwn, what is your'e name and what in the name of the Faerie Queen posessed you to run into a burning Neohome?

I coughed as I answered. My name is Jirokichi and I wanted to be..." I coughed again and took another big breath of oxygyn. "To be a hero so my owner would love me as much as she loves my brothers."

The head firefighter frowned. "Well, that was a damn stupid thing you just did. Don't you realize you could have been killed?"

Yes, Sir. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Well see to it that you think clearly from now on. Now, how are you feeling. Do you need to go to the hospital, or are you feeling well enough to get home on your'e own?"

I took the oxygyn mask off my face and sat up. "I'll be fine, sir. Hey, do you know what time it is?"

"It's two thirty in the morning. I'll bat your'e owner is worried sick about you...

I sprang up onto my four feet. "SATOSHI IS GOING TO KILL ME! Sir, thank you for everything and I'll never do anything this stupid again! Now I've got to get home before my owner gets rteally mad! Thank you again and good by!"

Without so much as another word to the firefighters to whom I now owed my life I began running home as fast as I could. My lungs hadn't fully recovered yet so I got tired quickly but I couldn't waste time catching my breath. Satoshi was going to be absolutly livid and I hated to think about what was going to happen to me when I got home.

I arrived at the apartment building and ran up to the third floor, the floor that our apartment was on. I rwached home, apartment 312, and stopped outside the door to finally catch my breath and think of a way to explain what had happenes to Satoshi. After five minutes or so I finally opened the door. Satoshi was standing there waiting. Sha had heard me on the other side of the door and was ready when I entered the apartment.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Satoshi was yelling at the top of her voice. "YOUR'E BROTHERS AND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU! YAKKUL IS OUT SEARCHING RIGHT NOW! EXPLAIN YOURESELF!"

For a minute I just sat there without saying a word. I was tired, out of breath, covered in ash and soot, I amelled like smoke, and I knew that there was no way I could possibly explain this away to Satoshi. Finally I just said, "I did something really stupid and I'm sorry. I'l tell you all about it in the morning but noe can I please just get some sleep?

The look on Satoshi's face softened somewhat and she nodded. "Sure. You look like you've been through enough for one night. But don't think you arn't going to be punnished. You deliberatly disobeyed me. You understand?" Now, clean youreself up and get to bed. I'm going to find Yakkul and tell him youre safe. And you had better be here when I get back."

Yes, Ma'am." Satoshi left to find Yakkul and I took a bath to wash the ash off my body and after I had dried off I climbed into bed. I had gotten off easy that night but I knew that tomorrow all hell was going to break loose. Satoshi obviously was not happy to say the least, and when Satoshi lost her temper...well...it was beat not to think about it. I pulled the covers over my head and eventually fell asleep, dreading the comming day.

TOO BE CONTINUED...