Sharky's Story by dragonshark173 |  |
Who am I, and why should you care? I am Sharky; a writer, artist, and adventurer.
I am a tall, strong girl with a longing for adventure, the will of a dragon
and a heart of a lion. At least that's what I hear. I didn't have many friends
then. I have many now. Then I was in deep poverty, living in a small apartment
with low pay and a high crime rate. I didn't know if I would wake up one morning
and all my few possessions would be gone, or I would have graffiti covering
everything.
When I came into Neopia, I had no money, none at all. Not a scrap of a nickel
or a shred of a dime. Once you enter Neopia, you are supposed to be given 500
NP--but that didn't work for me. I had no choice to enter Neopia or not. There
was that flash of light on an ordinary day in the park--and suddenly I'm in
the middle of a Neopian street, dazed and confused. It was extremely misfortunate
that I just so happened to have wandered into a high-crime zone of Neopia Central.
I was lost then, wandering around the shops and learning all I could about this
new place. Suddenly it got dark, and I became cold, hungry and tired. I have
never been on my own like this. I thought I was lucky to have a pocketful of
human-money on me ($100 from baby-sitting three kids that day--that entire day).
It would be enough to stay a night at a decent hotel while I thought things
over--but I was wrong. When I entered The Grand Neopian, the creature behind
the counter (A Skeith, I didn't know what they where then) took the money, looked
at it, and shooed me out telling me to never come back again. I didn't know
what was wrong with my money. I didn't know then. I took my hat off, formed
to look like an old favourite movie star's hat, and sighed, sitting on the curb.
An adult Krawk jogged briskly by and flipped five Neopoints into my hat. I looked
into it, and then found out. This was their currency. This was what they wanted.
Unfortunately, five Neopoints wasn't enough to stay the night at The Grand Neopian.
The Skeith kicked me out and snarled that he wanted a thousand--something that
at the time I thought was a rich man's deal. I wandered around for hours searching
for a place, but in the end the lowest price was ten Neopoints to get into a
broken-down shack-like Bed and Breakfast place. In the end, when the sun began
poking towards the city, I was in downtown Neopia. Bars were on nearly every
window and door, rusted fences claimed small plots of land with rickety housing.
Stray Aishas fought and nipped and hissed at each other angrily. One Aisha caught
my eye. She was a lovely shadowed colour, and looked very pleasant and nice,
almost as if it did have an owner. I reached out to pet her, and she bit my
hand rather fiercely. While rubbing my hand, the Aisha pounced onto me and stole
the Neopoints I had out of my pocket, snickered, and bolted off. This was when
I came to the conclusion to not have a NeoPet.
By daybreak, I had finally discovered an apartment that would let me pay later
on. The landlord was overweight and looked slightly off, as were the other inhabitants
of the apartment building. I had resorted to not socialise much with them. My
room was small and had one large barred window that gave me a lovely view of
the litter-encased streets and common fist fights from angered pets, itching
to get in the Battledome. There was a stained, used mattress in a corner of
the area and a stained rug as well.
I learned that I must take a job if I was going to get anywhere. I hoped that
Neopia was a lot like my former home, America; full of opportunities and second
chances. I never knew how easy job-hunting was. From television and advertising,
it seemed quite impossible. But Neopia was full of young people. Kids ages eight
on up were given equal rights, as I had soon learned.
Another thing, however, was that I hadn't gone to college. It was abnormal
on Earth for one at age 11 to go. Of course, I was eleven when I had entered
Neopia, eight days from my birthday. I was a lucky one. Neopian schooling only
required you to stay until you have finished the fifth grade, as I later on
learned. I was in sixth when I entered. There truly weren't any classes that
I enjoyed that year except art class, as in science, we were studying cells
and all the microscopic genes and DNA and whatnot. I guessed that with that
I could take on a job at a school or some sort of cloning laboratory. I was
wrong. For the cloning thing--there were none known in Neopia, except for way
up at the space station where the evil Dr. Sloth cloned his armies. I stuck
with the teaching idea.
I found a job as an art teacher at a middle school, where I had to put up
with some rather... insane kids. Most had little or no art talent, and surely
weren't trying their best. Art class was a gossip hour for many. I ended in
sending many of them down to the office, but they clearly didn't care.
The money I earned was little, but I got by. Within a few days, I moved out
of the old apartment and got into a new one. It was better than the old one,
at least, but still crummy and in downtown Neopia. The rooms were full up with
the same strange Neopians... except these ones had jobs at fast food restaurants.
I remained worried.
The day of my birthday had come. I had never been so sad on a birthday. School
was out for winter vacation at that school, so I had a break for once. I went
to an Neopian restaurant, an old, cheap one, but it was the best food I had
since I arrived in Neopia. This world had become my enemy. I wished to be home.
I didn't want to work or live in an old apartment building that smelled of rancid
Kau Kau Farms Milk.
On my way home, I decided that the night was young. I had stayed in the slums
of Neopia Central for so long, I thought it would be a nice idea to discover
the rest of the area. It didn't seem like too bad of an idea. So I stepped forth,
and made my way to the heart of the city.
There was one thing that I noticed completely different, however. Many of
the people that walked by were walking with pets of all different sizes and
shapes. Dragon-type creatures, dog-types, cats, tigers, griffins, squirrels,
and unnameable cute things that walked by with glee. Many pets walked by without
an owner, and some were walking with their own pets. Pets for pets? This was
an interesting concept! I continued on, my head a bit higher, looking at the
blazing lights and sounds of the city. In a sense, it warmed me. I had rarely
been into a city before, back on earth. I spent a week in one of the biggest
cities, and enjoyed myself greatly. Then again, I never entered the bad parts
of the area back on Earth. I stayed in the large, happier spots.
I spotted an enormous building. I looked up, and it seemed to stretch on forever.
It had to be one-third of a mile high. I thought a minute. This was a landmark.
Landmarks were, for the most part, free. I decided, why not spoil myself? I
walked into the building, hoping not to be disappointed. I took the elevator
to the very top, the roof, and looked around. For a minute I had thought I had
gone to the wrong floor, as most of the creatures up top were Korbats and Shoyrus
and Pteris taking off to fly above the city. I shrugged and walked towards the
edge. The city was huge. I looked on the horizon, and it seemed to go on forever.
No ocean, no land, just city. It looked as if the entire world was a city.
A dragon-type creature appeared next to me. I hadn't noticed him before, and
he was looking right at me. "Sharky," he said with a gently concerned look.
I looked up, my brows knotting, not knowing how he knew my nickname. "Sharky,
you have to stop this. Get out there and see the world. You're not meant to
stay in a small apartment building with a crummy job that you dislike. Get a
NeoPet. They'll uplift your life. You shouldn't have to live in the slums. You
should be free, Sharky. That's what you deserve."
I looked down and thought a minute. I looked back up to ask how he knew me
so well, but only saw the dragon-thing take off, his wings flapping easily.
"Wait!" I called out, but there was no reply. The dragon hadn't heard me. He
was on his way, in the direction of... Mystery Island.
"He's right," I mumbled under my breath. "I need to see the world. All my
life I have been wanting to discover something, and live life as an adventure.
I can do it. The heck with money."
That very night I went to the Create-A-Pet centre. I didn't know about the
pound then. The blue Shoyru at the counter looked up at me nonchalantly. "May
I help you, ma'am?"
"Yes, sir, you can. I need a companionable NeoPet with a good attitude." I
said. I didn't know any of the NeoPets' names or characteristics.
"May I suggest a Wocky? They are brave, smart, and adventurous. But I warn
you, they are independent and like to be the leader," The Shoyru replied.
"Eh... scratch that. Any others?" I asked.
"Shoyrus may be a good choice," he said, smiling. "We're smart, brave, companionable,
kind... but we need a rich owner. Us Shoyrus like our fortune."
"Dang," I murmured. "What else do you got?"
"Welllll... Lupes are a popular choice nowadays..." he said, looking up at
me. "Loyal, compassionate, and open-minded. Some are adventurous... some are
companionable."
"I'll take a Lupe." I said, smiling. "What do they look like?"
"Like wolves."
"Oh, I'm rather fond of wolves!"
"That's good to hear. I'll see what all I have," the man replied, then disappeared
into the back of the building.
Thirty minutes passed before he appeared again and showed me a small, blue
pup. It was fighting to get out of the Shoyru's arms, and in the end, did, after
it bit him rather fiercely. The little pup skidded over to me, sliding on the
marble floor, his small tail sticking straight out. He looked up at me and smiled,
wagging his tail merrily as he licked my fingers. I chuckled and held him up.
The pup didn't squirm, but instead relaxed and continued wagging its tail, glad
to be with me. I laughed out loud and smiled.
The Shoyru put down some papers in front of me on his counter and looked up.
"What're these for?" I asked, confused.
"You need to confirm that he's yours. It's for legal reasons," he said, then
nodded.
"Well... let's call him... Griffin. I am fond of that name." I said, then
smiled, writing down 'Griffin' in the slot provided.
"That name's already taken, ma'am. Many pets are given numbers at the end
of their names, strictly for legal use. My own name is Butch37800, but I am
still called Butch at home. Many owners do this," the Shoyru said. "May I suggest...
Griffin457, Griffin870, Griffin990, or Griffin337?"
"Griffin337... I like the ring to that one. Only for legal uses, you promise,
right?" I said. The Shoyru nodded. I smiled and hugged my new Lupe pup, then
walked out of the Create-a-Pet centre.
I walked towards the old apartment--this time with my head held high and with
a good reason. The landlord looked up at me. "May I help you?"
"Yeah. Remember that contract I signed that said that I would stay in room
34B and pay the rent of 300 NP a day? I remember somewhere down there that it
said 'satisfaction guaranteed or your money back'". I said, then smirked.
"Well... e... uh... err...." the landlord stammered, looking around, confused.
I nodded.
"That's what I thought. I have a list of reasons, by the way." I smiled and
began to complain. "The rent is too high, I can hear everything outside, the
neighbours scare me, the area smells of rancid milk, I don't like the carpeting,
the walls are covered in graffiti, the windows have bars, the floor has stains--"
"All right, all right! Take yer money. Jus' get outta this apartment! You
heard me, scram!" The landlord hissed. "No pets allowed, anyway..."
I smiled and walked out of the apartment with a handful of a bag of Neopoints
I guessed that there must be 2,000 NP in there. I was happy. It was enough to
get out of the city and into the countryside.
I bought a green bicycle with a basket and put my bag of Neopoints and Griffin
in the basket. I began my cross-country bike ride to get out of the city, hopefully
for good. At least, out of the slums, anyway. I knew I'd come back to visit
the better parts of the city. The words of the dragon rang in my ears, and a
song stayed in my heard, telling me to go on and forget the past. And that was
just what I did.
Epilogue: In the end, I stayed in a desert-like region with many friendly people.
I lived in a small town in the boondocks, and that was just how I liked it. I
had a house of my own, a medium-sized home, where Griffin grew up and I taught
him karate. When he was old enough to fend for himself, I spent several months
in the Neopian Military. I gained enough money to move into my own personal utopia:
A huge estate with fields and forests and ponds and lakes and mountains and caves.
It was in the midst of a large valley. I liked that valley. It was donated by
the Neopian Military, and I spent the money I earned on a large house made of
logs. I organised a team of expert architects and builders, and it turned out
wonderfully.
I created three other pets later on: A jetsam, a Chia, and another Lupe.
I still have all four of my original pets today and relish them very much. I
treat them as if they were my brothers, rather than like pets or children. I
never had any brothers on Earth, and I was glad that I got experience that feeling.
I took on another job: A better job than an art teacher for a downtown-city
school. I was a writer... and an archaeologist.
The End |
