III: NeoP0rts, NeoP0rts, Everywhere
"This is... insane." I talked to myself, even though my very own NeoPet was
in my presence. "So, you just found it laying around?"
Orichalkon replied, "Yeah. And the weird thing was, it must've been put there
only a few seconds before I noticed it. I heard it fall on the ground." I couldn't
believe what I was hearing.
"This is weird, even when I am sitting here, talking to a NeoPet." I was trying
to make sense of everything that was happening. Not logical sense, but sense
none the less. "So, Orichalkon, are there more humans here? I mean, in Neopia?"
"I think I've seen a few. Some friendly, some not. I guess they all got here
using NeoP0rts too.," I immediately cut him off.
"That means they must've had discs like the one you found! Maybe if we find
them we can find out more about the red discs..." I was becoming used to Neopia
very quickly, now becoming interested in everything there was to find out, and
not thinking that anything that moved was out to get me. Well, they probably
WERE out to get me... but that's not the point.
"Brad, you're kinda underestimating the difficulty of what you're requesting,
aren't you? Neopia is really big! The others could be anywhere!" Of course,
he was right. Finding the others would be amazingly challenging. I figured I
should go home and think of a plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.
"Well, Orichalkon, I guess I should go home now. I'll be back tomorrow! So,
how do I get out of here?" Orichalkon looked at me depressed. I knew that wasn't
good news. "That's just the thing... once you're here, you can't leave." I was
speechless. Neopia was cool and all, but I couldn't spend the rest of my life
there! I figured I should make the best out of it.
"So, Orichalkon, I wanna see my Neopoints!" Orichalkon nodded, and said, "Come
on, let's go to my house." I was very anxious. As I walked around, it was cool
seeing all the other NeoPets. I had imagined Neopia before, and it was nothing
like this. This one was even cooler. Alas, we arrived at Orichalkon's house,
and he showed me inside.
It was a pretty nice place. Good computer, soft couch and bed, some toys and
other miscellaneous items(and I recognised quite a few of them), and a few other
things, with little or no relevance. "So, Orichalkon, can I see the red disc?"
Orichalkon looked at me. "Didn't I tell you? The red disc vanished after I
sent the item."
"Weird..." I figured I should make myself comfortable, so I collapsed on the
bed. Being transferred across the world takes a lot out of you. I looked at
Orichalkon on the computer. "Just what are you doing?"
He turned around to face me. "Looking for NeoPets that have any humans with
them. So far, no luck." I figured I should let him do his search, so I decided
to screw around with the NeoP0rt for a bit. I found some unlocked things that
were locked before. None of them were very useful. E-mail, NeoPet Lookups, File
Transfer, and other things just about on any computer... that's when I found
NeoP0rt Scanner. It scanned for any nearby NeoP0rts. I figured it was worth
a shot. I tried it, but all that happened was a message pop-up that said, "NeoP0rt
found, too far to scan." That wasn't very helpful, I knew there were others.
So I tried phoning home. Just shows how stupid I am. Probably best it didn't
work... imagine the long distance charges.
"Hey Brad, come take a look at this..." I walked over to the computer. I had
no idea what I was looking for. "Looks like the Emperor of Shadows is coming."
THAT was a term I had never heard used before.
"Just who is the Emperor of Shadows?" I asked, completely confused and uneducated
on the subject.
"He's a human, just like you. But he's evil. He goes from village to village,
slaying NeoPets and stealing their powers to make his NeoPet stronger."
"Just what type of NeoPet does he have?" I figured that if we were gonna be
afraid of something, I might as well now.
"A Darkness Eyrie. His wings are massive, they call him the Gryphon of Evil.
It seems neither of them have a straightforward name." I was starting to get
worried, when all of a sudden my NeoP0rt got a signal. I never exited NeoP0rt
Scanner.
"That's either another human or the Emperor of Shadows. Let's hope it's the
first one." It would turn out to be both. Another signal moving twice as fast
headed towards the first one. Figuring I had nothing to lose(that's how stupid
I was), I ran outside, looking for the humans. Orichalkon followed me. I saw
another kid with his striped Shoyru, and a weird boy dressed in weird clothes.
I took out my NeoP0rt and used the NeoPet Lookup.
"Okay, that Shoyru is... Striped Female Shoyru, Level 5, and Good stats. And
the Eyrie... Darkness Male Eyrie, Level 23, Awesome stats... hey kid, with that
Shoyru, you don't stand a chance!" The boy looked at me evilly, and turned back
to the Emperor. Sent a really cold chill down my spine. The boy then tossed
the Emperor a bag of Neopoints, and the Emperor ran off. "Nice strategy," I
said as I walked up to him. "My name's Brad... this is my Shoyru Orichalkon.
This is my..." The boy cut me off.
"...first day here, right? I figured. I'm Ryo, and this is SnowOhki. The details
and strategies behind me are no concern of yours. In fact, how about our pets
fight?" I was shocked by what the conversation progressed to.
"Come on Brad, lemme fight her!" Orichalkon yelled at him. I had to try and
stop him.
"Orichalkon, no way!" But, my calls were in vain. For SnowOhki and Orichalkon
had already started the duel...
To be continued... | 
