[Author's note: Okay, okay. So I'm updating one of newest stories, even though I have several that are long overdue for updates. So sue me. I can't help it. And anyway, they're my stories, so I can update when I want to, right? Uh guys? Why are you holding those pitchforks? That gleam in your eyes, it's not... menacing, is it? Why are you coming closer? Guys? Hey guys, this isn't fun—HELP!!]
.:. Disclaimer: yeah, yeah. You've heard it already. What's your point? I feel like keeping my hide un-sued, so here you go. I don't friggin own Neopets! Honestly, why would anyone think I did? I own nothing except this fanfic and my characters. So quit buggin' me, okay? .:.
"Hmm, this is nice," I muttered, scanning the room. It had little furniture, just a lumpy bed, a nightstand, and a table. The furniture, while in usable condition was none too new, and not the slightest bit fancy. It was a decent-sized room, more than large enough for one person. Of course, I'll be sharing it with a pet soon, I thought with a smile. I glanced back at the nightstand, seeing a miniature magazine. On it the words "Newbie's Guide" were printed. "I'll take a look at that later," I said to myself, and flopped onto the old bed to review the pet brochure I had been given.
Let's see here... We've got Acaras, but they aren't that attractive. Supposed to be easy to manage, but can get very stubborn, and also have a tendency to become egotistical. Not for me." I flipped to the next page. "Aishas. Cute, but... too feminine. I can't go with a pet too girly." I briefly glanced at the next couple of Neopets, before quickly dispelling the idea of getting any of them. A photograph of a grinning blue Draik, winking at the camera suddenly caught my eye. "Very playful, and incredibly loyal. Mischievous and well balanced in the Battledome. Usually amiable, few exceptions. Oh, what an ideal pet." I sighed, trying not to think too much about how much I wanted one. There was no point in hoping against hopes to get one when they were so supposedly difficult to obtain.
I rolled onto my back, my thoughts drifting about wildly. Then I remembered the little pound speech I had been given earlier that day. Why could she possibly hate the pound so much? Surely it wasn't all as bad as she had made it out to be. Only one way to find out, I thought, jolting up. I snatched up the Newbie's Guide, flipping through until I came upon a map of Neopia. Luckily for me, the distance between my Neohome and the pound wasn't more than the equivalent of a few blocks. I ran all the way there, and was shocked to see people milling in and out in huge numbers. I dashed over to the entrance, and made my way through the crowd, squeezing and pushing until I was inside.
When I entered, I found my self in a small, crowded room. There was a small desk shared by two Neopets, a pink Uni wish a weary smile, and an old, wizened Techo who growled at everyone who approached him. I tentatively stepped up to the Techo. "Are you here to abandon?" He snapped at me, glaring.
"N-no," I stammered. "I'm here to look for a pet to adopt."
"Then you're at the wrong desk." He shot me a death look as he gestured to two signs above his and the Uni's heads. Over the Techo's head, it read "Abandon", and over the Uni, the sign read "Adopt".
What I saw when I went in made my heart just about stop. The place was huge, like a warehouse. Aisles upon aisles were lined with differently sized cages, full of screeching and wailing Neopets. I regained my composure and stepped up to the first aisle to examine the pets inside.
"Help meeee!" squealed a battered, bone-skinny reptillian, which I recognized from the brochure as a Grarrl. "I've been in here for a yeeear! Take me home, and let me be freeee!" He reached a bony claw through the bars of his cage and clutched at my shirt, trying to prevent my escape. Frightened, I pulled away from his grasp and looked on to the other pets. They all moaned and reached out at me, insisting that they had been there the longest.
"Shut up, you're a lot of damn fools if you honestly think she'll take any of you home," A voice said from a shadowy cage. I struggled to discern the type of pet within, but he remained carefully concealed by the darkness. "She came here, looking for some sad little baby that she could cuddle and take home to be a spoiled little princess. You're what humans like to call 'lost souls'. Not a chance any of you'll go home today, not with this little innocent."
"Who are you?" I asked the hidden pet, peering at his dim outline. He stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to be a little white bat, with wings the color of blood—he was a Korbat. His eyes were a deep midnight blue, almost black and filled with anger. A spiked collar hung loosely around his neck, as though whoever had put it on him hadn't realized how obviously oversized it was. Hanging out of his mouth, two sharp, slightly yellowed fangs curled over his lip in a slight scowl. Wicked-looking claws tipped his wings and feet, completing the look.
"I'm Spadeblade32, but if you value your life, you'll call me Spade. I have been here longer than any of these fools, and I know you. I know all of you. All the same, you only want those pathetic little wimps, who bawl their eyes out after the first hour. Looking for a pet that's dainty, shy, and cute." He spat the last word out like a horrible taste in his mouth, one that he wanted to get rid of as soon as possible.
"You're wrong," I said quietly. "I'm here to help a truly needy pet. Someone who deserves this less than anyone else." He faltered a moment before returning to his glare. "And I think I've just found him."
"What? Who?" His head whipped around, searching for the pet I was speaking of. I almost laughed.
"It's you," whispered a neighboring Skeith. "You're finally going to get a home." The others murmured amongst themselves. Apparently this was something big.
"What? I'm not going with you! I know all too well what will happen. You'll tire of me and dump me back in here, just like they all have. Maybe you'll even rob me of my form, turning me into whatever is your whim. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened." Spade hissed and flattened himself against the wall.
"Spade, I can see how much you need to get away from here. No amount of protests will get me to change my mind. And for all it's worth, I give my solemn promise not to abandon you, ever." Spade rolled his eyes. "Please? Either way, you're coming, so you can just accept that, or not." I help out my hand to the edge of his cage. For a long moment, he just stared, thinking intently. Finally, shakily, he extended his furry paw.
"Fine," was the single word that he whispered.
After dealing with the hassle of convincing Dr. Death, that ogre of a Techo I had encountered earlier, that yes, I did want Spade, I took Spade home, letting him perch on my shoulder. He remained silent the entire trip until we reached the front door. "Why?" he asked, his strong voice faltering.
"Because I could tell that you needed it. Look what it had done to you! You were worn down to a cynical husk, left with only the tiniest trace of your true self. I couldn't let you be finished. I couldn't let you suffer that."
"You should have. It would have been easier," came the quiet reply. Them without warning, he dropped into my arms, unconscious.
When Spade awoke, the different Korbat, the one with some trace of mental use beyond insults and snapping was gone. Instead, he reverted to his growling, obnoxious, and highly irritating form, with more than a trace of childishness. Having a conversation with him was like speaking with a grumpy, irrational nine-year-old. "I will not eat one of those rancid, disgustingly eggy, smelly little ommelettes!"
"Come on Spade, do you have to be such a baby?"
"I'M NOT A BABY!!" he roared so loudly that the house shook.
"Well, we're going to have to have ommelettes for breakfast until we can afford other food. In case you didn't notice, it's the only free food around here!" I had just about had it with his attitude.
"Not true. There are jellies too."
"Jellies?"
Yeah, in Jelly World. Which, by the way, doesn't exist." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Mind clueing me in on exactly what the heck you're talking about?" I asked, frustrated.
I can take you to Jelly World. It supposedly doesn't exist, but we all know better. There's a giant jelly there that anyone can take a free piece of. And it tastes much better than those rancid egg bits they pass off as ommelettes over in Tyrannia." He hooked his feet around my arm and attempted to pull me out the door. Instead of succumbing, I twirled around and grabbed him in my arms.
"Not the tough guy, huh?"
He glared at me before swatting me with his tail. "If I was still a Draik, I'd have no problem with this."
This caught my attention. He had been a Draik? But when? And why wasn't he anymore? Questions surged through my mind rapidly, so many that I began to get a little dizzy. I focused on calming myself down before asking him anything. "So you were a Draik?" I finally asked. Duh, that's what he just said, the rational part of my mind said. But the rest of my brain was having just a little trouble comprehending this newly revealed fact.
"Yeah, I was created as a blue one, way back in the day when we were still available for creation." He paused to laugh. "That didn't last long though. We were scooped up by everyone who could get a hold of one of us. My first owner, Dan was content with using me for social status. He enjoyed bragging about the fact that he has such a rare pet. Got others pretty peeved though. One day, a particularly jealous 'friend' broke in and stole everything. Finding himself flat out broke and too stupid to earn and neopoints from games, he left me in the pound. "
"After Dan left me, I was quickly snatched up by a pet collector. This guy had other rare pets—a red Cybunny, a purple Kiko and a yellow Jetsam. I was a great addition to his group. Unfortunately, he was also only interested in status. He hoarded his neopoints, and rather than buying any food at all, he forced us to eat ommelettes—every day. That's why I hate 'em so much, you know. Just got sick of the bloody things. Well, one day he found out that someone was going to place a robot Draik in the pound. Of course, being only a basic color, I was once again in that awful prison, left to fend for myself."
"The next few owners I had we complete idiots, and didn't even keep me for more than a few days each. It was a game of musical owners. I was passed around and around so many times that I lost count of how many owners I'd had. Too many, I'll say that."
"Well, after those morons came Charlotte. I'll never forget Charlotte. Biggest idiot I'd ever seen. She thought Draiks were 'too mean-looking', so she got a morphing potion—and turned me into the wreck that you see now. Then she kept me for a while, dressing me up like a flipping doll, until I almost preferred the pound. Well, it turned out not to matter. She got an Acara, and deeming it cuter, sent me off to the pound again. From then on, I had a few brief owners, but they didn't like me, so it was back to the pound, again. Then, I didn't have any owners at all—until you came."
I looked down and realized that tears were seeping out of my eyes. "I never realized that such a wonderful-seeming place like Neopia could be hiding such... malice," I murmured, more to myself than Spade.
"Yeah, well, they do a great job covering up," was his eye-rolling reply.
"Spade?" I asked tentatively.
"What?"
"Why do you act so cynical? Every word that comes out of your mouth is negative. I don't think I've heard you say something nice yet." I braced myself in case he decided to explode, as I suspected he might.
"...I—I don't..." The question seemed to have caught him off guard. He stammered for a moment before confessing his reasons. "I guess... it's because that's what it's done to me. Life, that is. You wouldn't come out of what I've been through without getting a bit callous, I'm sure." He turned his head away and added, "Of course, now you're going to get all high and mighty, telling me that I'm completely wrong. Of course, no matter what you go through, you'll stay perfect."
I recoiled as though I had been struck. "Spade! How could you say that? I know I'd change too if that happened to me—I can't think of a single person who wouldn't! You know, when you say sarcastic remarks like that, it really hurts. I'm just trying to be your friend, help you out, and here you are, repaying me with biting, callous words."
Spade looked taken aback. "I—I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just... I'm just used to saying things like that. I didn't mean to... hurt you."
"It's okay," I replied after taking a deep breath. "But I think I'm going to have to help you learn to control your habits, and start being more civil. If you keep on saying the sort of things that you do, you're eventually going to really wound someone." He silently nodded, accepting my offer. "Then we're all okay?" I asked, hoping to smooth things over. I wanted to avoid hard feelings between us as much as possible.
"Okay," he agreed.
"Then let's go to that Jelly World you mentioned," I urged, a grin spreading over my face. Hand in paw, we walked out the door, a smile on each of our faces.
[Author's Note: So, have you figured out what's going on yet? Yeah, it's definitely weird. Just wait until you see traces of an actual plot develop. That's when it really gets strange. Trust me, it's definitely... original. Though, at this point, I'm not sure if that's good or bad. That'll be up to you to decide, when the situation arises.]