Author's Note: Because of reasons that will later be revealed to you, the reader, I am going to give you chapter two, The Pound and the Pets, from Spade's point of view. It'll give you some insight as to what kind of pet he is, and hopefully get you riled up for the next bit of plot. Trust me, this is really a lot more interesting than it sounds, so don't disregard it. Please.

.:. Disclaimer: Okay, I know you really don't think this is all that necessary, but just humor me, okay? I don't own Neopets. I don't own Neopia. I don't own any species names. All I own are my characters, which are one hundred percent original, and the plotline, which the previous also applies to. That being said, let's move on with the story, okay? .:.

The Pound and the Pets: Spade's Share

Spade's POV

"Mruuunh," I grunted as I was awoken by the clanging of wood against metal. I looked up to see Dr. Death jingling a long walking stick against the bars of my cage. "Cut it out, will 'ya? I'm awake dammit."

"You had better be. It's already five in the morning, you lazy little nothing. Owners may be coming, so you had better be awake. Otherwise, you're not getting any food for the rest of the day."

"You call the slop you shovel at us food?" I muttered.

"If you don't like it, you can always do without." The once-Techo grinned a nasty sort of grin before moving on to growl at the Skeith in the next cage over, named sonnyfatboy134, who was snoring peacefully. Well, he wasn't for long, anyway. When he deemed his job of riling the red beast up satisfactory, he continued on, snapping at the next blissfully resting pet.

"So, think you're gonna get out t'day?" Sonny asked me, a lopsided grin on his face.

"God help me if I do," I snapped back.

"Oh, C'mon! Do you have to be so pessimistic all o' the time?" Sonny whined, focusing him deep black eyes intently on my own cobalt ones. Our eyes remained locked for an indefinite period of time, before Sonny finally blinked a few times and looked down at the cold, dusty concrete floor.

"Don't bother me," I replied shortly.

"Answer me!" the Skeith pressed, his eyes on me again. I felt suppressed anger rising up at his provocations.

"What part of 'no' is it that you don't understand, Sonny? I want to be left alone, and I don't want to have to deal with this same crap from you every day. I know it must be hard for you, but I'm going to ask you a civilly as I possible can, given the circumstances, and I want you to give me the right answer, or I swear I'll squeeze through these bars and strangle you. For once in your life, will you just shut up?!?!" I glowered darkly as Sonny, taken aback, inched away from the bars separating our cages. "Good," I muttered, shooting an evil glare at anyone who had been watching the little scene. Every one of them quickly snapped his or her head back, pretending that they hadn't noticed a thing. "Finally, a little peace in this place," I mumbled, slinking into the shadows so I wouldn't be bothered.

Unfortunately, this oh so newly gained peace didn't last long. "I wanna get ridda this guy!" a highly nasal male voice carried through the door of the pound offices, which hung forever slightly ajar. It had been kicked off it's hinges by a psychotic pet that didn't want to be disowned a year ago, and no one had bothered to set it right since. I glanced over in the direction of the offices, catching a glimpse of a squirming blue figure.

"Don't leave me!" echoed out a shriek immediately in reply. There was a scuffling commotion, and a moment later, Dr. Death skidded in, a struggling blue Kacheek in tow. "I don't wanna die!" the wretched creature wailed, using every ounce of strength it it's frail body to fight the growling doctor. However, the struggle was to no avail, as the crying Neopet was roughly tossed into a cage at the other end of the same stretching aisle that housed myself.

"Shut yer yap," Dr. Death yelled at the sobbing beast, then walked away, his dirty lab coat swishing sharply around his knobby yellow knees. I shook my head, thoroughly disgusted by the whole ordeal.

So the rest of the morning went on, with moronic jerks tossing their now-unwanted pets into the pound. So few hopeful adopters came into the pound, I was beginning to think Neopia had been completely taken over by the idiots abandoning their pets so fecklessly. And then, she walked in.

From the moment I first saw her, I was wary. She was nervous, she was bright-eyed, she was wondrous. She pushed a lock of silky black hair back as she strode shakily through the doorway. Immediately, the all-so-familiar ruckus began, all the pets in the building wildly begging her to take them home. Disgusted, I shook my head and receded into my all-so-inviting shadows, darkly glaring at the girl. "Help meeee!" a skin-and-bones Grarrl shrieked at her, reaching out at her clothes. "I've been in here for a yeeear! Take me home, and let me be freeee!" Frightened, the girl moved back, then shakily continued along the aisle, staring at the pets.

"Shut up, you're a lot of damn fools if you honestly think she'll take any of you home," I murmured, watching the girl glance around to find the speaker. She attempted to look into my cage, but her feeble eyes were unable to penetrate the dark shadows. Smirking at the confused human, I continued, "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." She flinched slightly, but continued to stare steadily into my cage.

"Who are you?" she asked, peering into my cage even more than before. Finally, I decided to step forward, into the light. She let out the tiniest gasp upon seeing me. Seein that I'm just a measly little Korbat, I thought grimly, glowering deeply at her.

"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." I spat out the sentence like hot lead, daring her to speak. Most likely, she'd shamefully admit I was right, become terrified, and never return. Worse yet, she would come back in a week, ignore me completely, and home in on a sobbing baby of an Acara, or some pathetic little Uni. To my surprise however, she kept her eyes locked onto mine, and spoke determinedly, in a voice barely above a whisper. Had I been human, I would have been straining to hear.

"You're wrong," she murmured softly. "I'm here to help a truly needy pet. Someone who deserves this less than anyone else." I drew back, startled by her response, but quickly assumed my glare again. Then she added, "And I think I've just found him."

"What? Who?" I glanced around, trying to determine which sniveling weasel she had deemed pathetic enough to come home with her. Oddly, an amused gleam seemed to enter her eyes for a brief moment, but I didn't have time to think about it, as the Blue Skeith who was housed beside me whispered in a daze,

"It's you. You're finally going to get a home." This got the others going. A ripple of murmurs and whispers found their way through the warehouse-like room. Don't work yourselves up, I thought privately. I'm not going without a fight.

"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," I hissed at her, backing up against the wall threateningly (or at least as threatening as a Korbat can look).

"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." I rolled my eyes. What good was a human's promise? Hell, what good was anyone's promise? "Please? Either way, you're coming, so you can just accept that, or not." I stood there, silently considering my options. I could deny it, she would continue pleading, and eventually leave. Then, the routine would continue, same as it always had, and always would. Or, I could accept her offer... if nothing else, it would provide some variety. It was obvious she didn't actually intend to keep me for more than a month, but it was at least a month without the nagging growl of Dr. Death in my ears at an ungodly hour of the morning.

"Fine," I whispered, looking away. Silence abounded in the pound.

After that, it was only a matter of this girl convincing Dr. Death that she really did want me to come with her (why did I doubt that?), and then we were on out the door. I stayed silent the entire trip to her house, contemplating the days events, until we reached the front door, and I had finally managed to come up with something to say. "Why?" I asked, all strength leaving my voice.

"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." I suddenly felt very exhausted, and summoned up the last vestiges of my quickly leaving strength to reply.

"You should have. It would have been easier." That said, I dropped off to sleep immediately.

"I will not eat one of those rancid, disgustingly eggy, smelly little ommelettes!" I screeched, backing away from an alarmed Lara.

"Come on Spade, do you have to be such a baby?"

"I'M NOT A BABY!!" I roared, as though mightily insulted. Beneath my feet, I felt the house tremble. At this rate, Id be able to get her to get rid of me within the week. I just had to prove that she wasn't the wholesome "no pound for you!" person she claimed. Lara tapped her foot impatiently.

"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!" She looked a but miffed. I sighed and proceeded to correct her.

"Not true. There are jellies too."

"Jellies?"

Yeah, in Jelly World. Which, by the way, doesn't exist." I grinned oh-so-charmingly up at her, waiting for her to explode. I was almost certain that she would dump me back in the pound before the end of the day, and prove my initial accusations right.

"Mind clueing me in on exactly what the heck you're talking about?" she asked, doing an unfortunately beautiful job of keeping her rage in check. I sighed, realizing that my ploy wouldn't work, at least not today.

"I can take you to Jelly World," I explained. "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." I hooked my feet around her arm and attempted to pull her out the door so we could hurry up and get food. Unfortunately, she took advantage of her size, and with a graceful twirl, she had me gripped tightly in her arms. I looked up at her, annoyed.

"Not the tough guy, huh?" she grinned down at me, trying to annoy me. It worked. I glared at her and swatted at her with my tail.

"If I was still a Draik, I'd have no problem with this," I growled, squirming out of her arms. This seemed to catch her attention.

"So you were a Draik?" she stared vaguely down at me, as if trying to comprehend the fact. I briefly considered making a smart remark, but decided it wasn't necessary.

"Yeah, I was created as a blue one, way back in the day when we were still available for creation." I took a moment to laugh. Oh how long ago that seemed. "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. "I stared remorsefully down at the floor, reflecting bitterly upon my dark past.

"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." I became lost in my story, continuing as though in a trance. I found myself unable to leave out my thoughts sa I continued,

"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." A grim smile came over my face as the 'warm fuzzy' memories came flooding back into my mind.

"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." As I finished my tale, I felt as though a great weight had been lifted off of me. I realized it felt good to let out some of my suppressed feelings and explain my feelings to someone. Glancing up, I realized that tears were leaking from the corners of Lara's eyes.

"I never realized that such a wonderful-seeming place like Neopia could be hiding such... malice," she said quietly, her voice shaky.

"Yeah, well, they do a great job covering up," I replied, rolling my times for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"Spade?"

"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 frowned, taken aback.

"...I—I don't..." I struggled to come up with a reasonable answer, before deciding that I might as well tell her what felt like the truth. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't completely sure myself, but decided to give my best guess.. "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." I turned my 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."

Lara flinched as though I had physically struck her, and I immediately regretted my words. "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." I hung my head as shamefully as I could, trying to look sorrier than I was.

"I—I'm sorry," I whispered. "I just... I'm just used to saying things like that. I didn't mean to... hurt you." I held back a sigh of relief as she nodded, apparently accepting my answer as honest.

"It's okay," she 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." I nodded wordlessly, deciding now was not the best time to show my rebelliousness. "Then we're all okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, looking amiable.

"Then let's go to that Jelly World you mentioned," Lara said, a grin forming on her face. For a brief moment, a thought ran through my head, that had something to do with her looking like a flower, but it was gone too quickly for me to dwell on it. Offering Lara my paw, we left the house together.

Author's Note: Now do you understand a little of Spade's feelings on the subject? Not as easily broken as you thought, is he? Let's just hope he doesn't ruin Lara's hopes, the same way his own were.