Touching Lives
A Darigan Zafara leaned against a brick and glass store front casually, his arms crossed over his chest. Massive dragon-like wings lay at rest on his back and long spikes ran down his spine.
Other Neopets crossed to the other side of the road to avoid passing too close to him; not that his blatant sneer made anyone comfortable anyway. Those who stared or whispered and pointed got icy stares until they moved on.
His name was Magmafyre, or Magma for short. Despite his name, Magma wasn't really hot tempered; sarcastic and a little cynical maybe, but not hot tempered.
"Gaaah?"
Magma glanced down to see a Baby Shoyru at his feet, peering up at him with innocent green eyes.
"Heya kid," Magma grunted, letting his sneer melt away at the friendly innocence of the youngster, "Where's yo' mamma?"
"Bop," the Shoyru replied firmly, and held up a lollypop that was sticky with baby drool.
"Yep," Magma nodded in equally firm agreement, "That's your lollypop. No thanks though, kid. I dun take candy away from kiddies, even when it's offered."
"Aury! How in the name of Fyora did you get over here? And just who are you?" A snooty Purple Shoyru spoke the last question in a sneering voice.
"Nobody you know," Magma said flatly, crossing his arms again and shifting his weight in a gesture of casual dismissal.
"I see," the Shoyru continued, her eyes coldly eyeing Magma's sinister paint job, "And you just happened to be looming over my innocent little sister like Sloth on a bad day? Or am I to accept that you're as harmless as a baby Babaa?"
Magma snorted loudly in disgust and refused to answer her, his sneer rising to the surface once again as the Shoyru led her little sister away.
The bell to the store jangled merrily as a slightly awkward looking Tyrannian Krawk came out, holding two freshly blended smoothies in her clawed paws. Warm liquid amber eyes smiled at Magma as she joined him against the storefront.
Magma's perpetual sneer faded as he took an offered Coco Whip Slushie from her, "Sup Mai?"
"Nothing," the Krawk's voice was warm and friendly, despite her primitive appearance.
Magma sipped the slushie and a grin spread across his face, changing it just a little into something softer than usual, "Ahh chocolate. Mum's own cure."
Mairose, which was the Krawk's name, twitched ever so slightly as her brother unconsciously repeated the shopkeeper's kind words on the night of her little run-in with a Buzz bully. She worked her jaws and took a long pull on her Thistleberry Slushie.
"Hey sis, what'sa matter? You're not still hung up over that nasty, little, no good, slimy, stinking-"
"Magma," Mai said wearily as her brother began his long list of names for the buzz bully who had stressed her to the point of tears.
"-moron of a Buzz are you?" Magma finished as though she hadn't even spoken, "Because he really ain't worth you wasting your time over him."
Mai sighed, "I can't help it."
"Feh."
"I know," Mai patted her brother's cheek as he drained half of his slushy in one irritated gulp, "But I am clumsy, and I did do some damage while he was around. This body is still so unstable to me."
"You were cleared of any wrongdoing, and BOTH shopkeepers told you it warn't your fault," Magma growled, "Even if you DID cause damage without his help, it was an ACCIDENT." Magma shook one of his sharp black claws firmly in front of Mai's nose as she pretended to wipe condensation from her cup.
Mai sighed faintly.
"Lookit it this way sis, if he hadn't pushed you the way he did, he woulda pushed around some other Krawk. He's got a record; you know that. And if it warn't some Krawk, it woulda been some poor shopkeeper like you saw. If he hadn't pushed you so far as to make you ticked like a Grundo Bomb, he woulda jus' kept on chewing on that shopkeeper friend of yours." Magma jerked a thumb claw back at the shop behind them, "an' if you hadn't gone ka-boom on his lousy stinkin' behind, your friend woulda been investigated. An' you know what happens when there's even a teensy bit of a doubt that somebody's dishonest."
"He would have lost his customers and eventually his business…" Mai agreed softly.
"Zactly. Lookit sis, you dun hafta feel GOOD about scaring the wings off his back, but I'll be darned if I let you get off feeling BAD about stoppin' his bullyin'."
Mai finished off her slushie and nodded slowly. As terrible as his grammar was, her brother did have an excellent point.
"C'mon girlie, let's go walkin," Magma tossed his empty slushie cup in a garbage can and started off down a lane that led to the Neopian Battle Dome.
Mai smiled slightly and followed him, observing everything with keen interest as usual.
Cheers, shouts and roars encouraged a battle between a Lupe and an Aisha. Blades clanged against one another in a complicated dance of move and counter strike. The two appeared to be equally matched and Mai watched the two sparring with one another worriedly. The battle dome wasn't Mai's favorite place, she decided. She worried too much about the battlers getting hurt to enjoy the fight very much.
The Lupe threw a Grundo bomb in the Aisha's direction and the Aisha threw up a Large Metal Shield to block it. The Grundo bomb hit the shield and bounced off without detonating.
Cheers turned into cries of terror as the bomb arced through the air and landed amidst a crowd of onlookers. Neopets and Owners alike scattered in terror while the battlers froze in alarm.
KABOOOM!
The bomb went off, sending a fireball and a concussion wave toward the ceiling. Magma uttered a pirate phrase as the ceiling of the dome spider webbed with cracks. Bits of plaster and pieces of the building rained down briefly before a massive chunk of ceiling broke away and plummeted into the stands.
Pandemonium broke out as Neopians fled for the doorway, lest more of the building collapse.
"Mai, c'mon let's GO!" Magma was tugging on Mai's tail frantically.
"Magma, Magma no! Somebody's down there!" Mai tugged her tail free of her brother's grip and began fighting her way toward the cloud of pulverized plaster.
"Fyora, I hope she's wrong…" Magma said, shaken, before bounding after the frantic Krawk, "Girly, it'll take yous forever to get there thisaway…" Then he took a huge breath and roared, "MOVE IT Y'ALL!"
Neopians immediately cleared a path for the scrambling pair before rushing for the exits again.
Dust still sifted down through the hole and Mai hissed as she came to the place where the ceiling had fallen. Where had she seen that Elephante… Oh! There!
Mai lunged forward and seized the edge of the plaster sheet, grunting as she fought to lift it off of the furry trunk that stuck out from beneath it.
Magma was cursing fluently in Pirate now; stringing phrases about bilge rats and deck swabs and even a mutter or two about land lubbers as he joined Mai in the attempt to lift the heavy object off of its victim. They didn't know how long they had been struggling to lift it when…
"Oh shove off you weaklings!" a voice snarled in their ears, and suddenly a Yellow Grarrl was there beside them, seizing the edge in his massive jaws.
The Grarrl shouldered the two smaller pets aside like Teasquitos and threw the plaster sheet aside like a Frisbee. It landed with a heavy bang on the now emptied stands, revealing an unconscious Tyrannian Elephante.
"Where does a full grown Grarrl go?" Magma commented mildly.
"Anywhere he wants to," the Grarrl returned, making an about-face in displaying his strength. Very gently, he checked the unconscious Elephante over before lifting her up and carefully arranging her onto his back.
"Banged head, concussion prolly. Bumps, scratches and maybe a broken lag and a sprained trunk. If you two shorties can keep her balanced, I can carry her all the way to the Neopian Hospital."
"Deal," Mai agreed immediately, taking up a position on one side of the large Neopet.
"Gotcha," Magma moved to the other side.
It took them a long time to take the trek to the Neohospital. Passerby stopped what they were doing and stared at them, but not a single one actually offered to help. Mai could only keep checking on the Elephante's breathing and worry about making it to help. Magma was growling again, this time stating some rather brutal but true statements about the uselessness of the rest of the population. The Grarrl himself just seemed to be concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and keeping slow enough for the shorter pets to keep up.
Suddenly several extra paws joined Mai's and Magma's.
"Here guys, we've got her."
Mai looked up in surprise to see that they had made it. Two Skeiths were hoisting their charge off the Grarrl's back.
The Grarrl himself straightened with a series of spine cracks and a heavy moan before letting himself drop flat onto the floor in relief. A Lupe doctor padded after the Elephante while a Gelert Doctor trotted over with a heat pack for the Grarrl's aching back.
"You guys did a lot of good today. I'm sure her owner will want to thank you."
"I didn't do anything for anybody," the Grarrl growled gruffly, "I was showing off. What other Grarrl can boast about carrying an Elephante all that way?"
The doctor smiled slightly, apparently familiar with Grarrl Pride and the reputation they were so determined to uphold.
Mai grinned and huggled the Grarrl about the neck, "No one else can. You're the toughest, strongest Grarrl I know." And she kissed his cheek.
The Grarrl's eyes went wide and he blushed so deeply that his yellow skin turned Pink, "Aww shucks. I mean, uh, of- of course I am! And don't you forget it!" And he stormed out of the hospital.
The two pets shared grins before collapsing on the floor, giggling and laughing. After wiping away tears of mirth, the siblings asked the Lupe doctor how the Elephante was doing.
His expression was worried, "She's alive, though battered quite badly, and still out like a light. But she's alive, and she's stable. You guys got her here in good time. Once she wakes up, she should make a full recovery."
Mai fidgeted with her clawed hands, "I-I'm glad we could help. Wish we could do more though…"
Magma squeezed her shoulder and the doctor caught her hands, "You did more than anyone else…"
Abruptly a human boy banged through the door, followed closely by a Blue Zafara, both wearing expressions of fear, "Where's Mir?" the human demanded, "Where's my Elephante?"
Magma and Mai quietly faded back to let the frantic owner see for himself how his Neopet was. When the pair returned, they looked a lot older than when they had gone in. Worry filled their eyes and their shoulders slumped as if they were the ones now carrying the Neopet.
"You're the ones who helped Mir, aren't you?" The Zafara asked suddenly, her eyes resting on the two pets.
Magma nodded, "With a lot of help from a Grarrl yeah."
Magma and Mai were abruptly pulled into tight hugs. Magma looked grumpy at the tight hold until a tear splashed down on one of his long ears.
"Hey watch the waterworks," Magma grunted, but his voice was gentle, "C'mon missy Zafara, quit crying all over me. Darigan don't mix with Depression. She'll be all cool and stuff in a while, you wait and see, huh? Buck up y'all, you'll squeeze all my tears out and then we'll all be sissies."
The Blue Zafara gave a shaky laugh and released Magma even as her owner let Mairose go. Mai smiled and lay her hand on the human's.
"Thank you," the human boy said thickly, not quite crying but somewhere on the borderline, "You don't know how much she means to me."
"Yeah I do," Magma growled, back to his old gruff self, "I'd be beating up everyPunchbag Bob I could find if something happened to one o' my sibbies.
"Go stay with your pet," Mai said, smiling kindly up at the human, "We don't want to take away any more time from your visit."
"Listen, whatever you want in return… whatever it is, I'll get it for you." Mir's owner said, catching Mai's amber eyes with his own.
Mai shook her head firmly, "I- we don't want anything. We did what is right, and that's what matters."
Magma held up a paw to stop the human from protesting, "Nuh-uh. Nothin'. Dun pay it back. Kindness is s'posed to be shared wit other people. Pay it on to somebody else. That's what Neopia needs anyway."
The two Neopets made their way home together as the sun began to set. Magma was unusually quiet, staring off into space with a deeply thoughtful look in his eyes.
"Neopoint for your thoughts," Mai said after a long time of silence.
Magma blinked and glanced over at his sister, his gaze growing even more thoughtful for just a moment before he answered, "Jus' thinkin' 'bout today. How bad things can happen to good peeps. Or good pets."
Mai nodded quietly in agreement, then saw Magma rubbing his chin, "but…?"
"…but… if bad things can happen to good peeps, then its gotta be somebody's job to toss that rope in t'help. It's just that nobody does."
Mai nodded again, "Not always no. That's why I do."
The Darigan Zafara blinked at her.
"That's why I help. It's gotta be somebody's job, but not everybody does. So I try to forge the path. You have to make the trail for people to follow it." Mai turned to gaze to the fiery sunset, watching, as the clouds seem to burn with orange fire as the sun touched the horizon.
"See?" Magma chuckled, hugging his sister briefly, "You've learned something. Yesterday ya helped a shopkeeper, even though it frightened you. And t'day ya helped somebody else and touched some lives. Remember what Mum says about meeting people?"
Mai smiled softly, "She says, 'You affect the lives of everyone you meet. Isn't it a good idea to make sure you affect them in a positive way?' You're right brother. And that's what I'm doing."
"That you are."
The End?
Note: Well I hope y'all liked my story. And hopefully this story touched you guys in a positive way too. ;) As of writing this story, there is no Neopet called Miruggelle. If some reader reads this story and creates an Elephante by that name, all I ask is that you love her as much as this fictional owner does. 3