Every Stamp Tells a Story by pikatribble |  |
This week: Orange Skeith Stamp
NEOPIAN POST OFFICE KIOSK - Greetings again, all philatelists of Neopia. Yes,
it's that time again...time for another edition of "Every Stamp Tells a Story".
This week, we will be looking at another of those stamps that, like the Mystery
Island Kougra Stamp discussed in the first edition of this series, is deceptively
simple, but is truly complex - The Orange Skeith Stamp:
This stamp features one of Neopia's superhero crime fighters in his prime - Captain
Indomitable. Captain Indomitable has been retired for several years now, superseded
by the younger generation of heroes such as Judge
Hog, who in fact apprenticed under Captain Indomitable as Cadet Hog prior
to becoming a full-fledged superhero. But in his time, Captain Indomitable was
an inspiration to many...defender to the wronged and protector of the innocent.
Of course, like most superheroes, he did not simply decide overnight to become
a crime fighter...indeed, Captain Indomitable's beginnings were far darker, and
for a long time he struggled to keep his origins hidden. However, as often happens
to celebrities, the media Gelerts would not cease their hounding, and eventually
the famous Skeith's beginnings were discovered. The story broke shortly before
his retirement (and many claim that this sudden media exposure regarding his unfavourable
past was what actually encouraged Captain Indomitable to retire, though even prior
to this his crime-fighting had become lax as he was content to rest on his reputation).
Captain Indomitable began life as a green Skeith. His name was Thuggo,
and he was...well, to put it mildly, not a pleasant creature to know. In short,
he was a horrible bully, mean and heartless. He derived the most pleasure in
life from pushing around other pets and beating them up for their lunch Neopoints.
He would challenge other pets that he considered weak in the Battledome, and
those who were foolish enough to accept were thoroughly thrashed. Standing over
his fallen opponents, he would laugh cruelly, looking down upon them with a
superior smirk, and remind them of how low and weak they were compared to him.
His owner only aided him in this bullying, buying his Skeith superior weapons
to supplement the pet's already impressive physical power.
Thuggo ruled his neighbourhood with fear and intimidation. Only a privileged
few were granted the 'blessing' of being considered his 'friends', and those
that attained this precarious position were as willing to inflict pain upon
others as the Skeith was himself. They respected Thuggo out of fear, and if
they crossed him...well, they would pay dearly for insubordination. This was
the way things were expected to be...until the day Asphodelia moved into the
neighbourhood.
Asphodelia was a red Korbat. Good-natured and cheerful, she quickly became
a target for Thuggo's wrath. On several occasions, she was forced to scurry
away from Battledome matches or even encounters on the street with Thuggo or
one of his friends. In an attempt to improve her battling skills, she bought
herself an archery set and practised with it everyday, improving her aim and
the precision of her attacks. Thuggo caught her practising with the 'toy' on
more than one occasion, and teased and tormented her relentlessly. Finally,
the day came were Asphodelia felt confident enough to challenge Thuggo in the
Battledome. Thuggo accepted her challenge gleefully, certain that this would
be another occasion to demonstrate his strength and power.
He could not have been more wrong. Asphodelia's training had paid off. Every
one of the shots from her trusty Sparkshooter hit its mark, while she kept far
enough away to dodge all of Thuggo's frost cannon shots. As Thuggo's strength
and hit points faded, he realised defeat was inevitable. He withdrew from the
battle like a coward, and ran off to the store. He figured if Asphodelia had
gotten so quick and accurate with an archery set, than all he needed to do was
buy one and practice with it to improve his own aim.
However, the damage to Thuggo's reputation was already done. No longer did
the others fear him the way they once did. Those who once claimed to be his
friend now turned the other way when he approached, not wanting to be seen with
'a loser'. Still, Thuggo was convinced that all it would take was a bit of practice
with the archery set and a few acts of intimidation toward some of the weaker
pets to re-establish his position of power.
One day while Thuggo was in his back yard practising with the bow and arrow,
the sun overhead was momentarily blotted up. Looking up, Thuggo watched as a
fire Scorchio descended from the clouds, carrying a strange bottle. The bottle
was made of smoked glass, making it difficult to see the contents within, though
from the sound of sloshing that could be faintly heard, it was obviously a liquid
of some sort. The Scorchio grinned, and claimed that she remembered Thuggo at
the peak of his power, and wished to help restore him to his elevated status.
She claimed that Thuggo only need drink the potion in the bottle, and he would
be more powerful than any of the pets that he knew.
Thuggo was suspicious, but his desire to once again have the respect born of
fear that he had possessed in the past outweighed his mistrust. He grabbed the
bottle, popped the cork, and swallowed the contents.
It took only a few minutes for the potion to take effect...but it was certainly
not the effect Thuggo had hoped for, as his previously green scales began to
brighten to an unbearable shade of orange. Thuggo gasped in horror, as the Scorchio
laughed. Soft giggles emerged from some large bushes nearby, joining the Scorchio
in her mirth, as several neighbourhood pets left their hiding places. Thuggo
realised too late that he knew the Scorchio's voice - the voice belonged to
Asphodelia. Apparently, her owner had been taking her to the lab ray, and the
dragon-like pet he saw before him now was the result. Asphodelia was pleased,
telling Thuggo that this was his repayment for all the bullying he had done
over the years, and running from their fight before it was finished simply because
he knew he would lose. The other pets began to yell insults and taunts, ranging
from comments on his past behaviour, to claiming that he looked girlish in his
new colour. Outnumbered and outwitted (and orange), Thuggo retreated to his
NeoHome.
Unfortunately, the Skeith found no solace there either. His owner took one
look at his now orange pet and gasped in horror. Having used all their money
to buy weapons, there was nothing left to buy a paintbrush for Thuggo. Thuggo's
owner hated orange. In his opinion, it was not a very macho colour for his previously
strong and feared pet. Though he didn't abandon Thuggo to the pound, one day
shortly after the colour-change, he left the NeoHome and simply didn't return.
Thuggo left the neighbourhood soon after his owner's disappearance, to escape
the snickers and sneers of the other pets that had once been his victims. He
travelled to Mystery Island. Arriving on the island, he found himself a secluded
cave within the jungle and kept mostly to himself, though any who stumbled across
his cave would likely leave with a few bruises. He became somewhat of a legend
among the young local pets, a fierce angry orange Skeith who would attack at
the slightest provocation, but who was seldom seen beyond the jungle during
the day.
At night, Thuggo would escape the confines of the caves for short walks along
the island. It was during one such walk that his life was changed forever.
The night was clear and cool...or at least, cool for a tropical island. Thuggo
was shuffling along an escarpment, when he heard something cry out. He looked
over the edge of the cliff, to see a large red Grarrl using a baby Poogle as
a basketball on the ground below. The Poogle was beaten and bruised, tears streaming
down her face as she endured the snickering Grarrl's torment. Thuggo watched
in mild amusement for a moment or two, when suddenly something flashed out of
the bushes beside the Grarrl and his victim...
It was a speckled Lenny in a purple cape, and it promptly set about attacking
the Grarrl fiercely. To Thuggo, this seemed mildly ridiculous - a scrawny little
bird attacking the massive Grarrl, but the Lenny's quick attacks succeeded in
confusing the Grarrl enough for it to drop the frightened baby Poogle. The Grarrl
roared in fury, turning its attention toward the caped Lenny, while the Poogle
just lay on the ground in shock, too scared to do the smart thing and run. This
became an even greater problem as the Lenny took a couple hits from the Grarrl,
clearly tiring. It seemed the Grarrl would eventually retrieve his victim regardless
of the Lenny's weakening efforts.
It was about at this point that Thuggo decided the fight was boring him. He
turned to leave...when fate intervened. The cliff he was standing on gave way,
sending him and a chunk of rock tumbling down. The rock hit the Grarrl on head,
knocking it out cold, while Thuggo, attempting to control his descent with his
stubby wings, accidentally slammed bodily into the baby Poogle, knocking the
small pet clear of the falling bulk of her attacker.
When the dust settled the speckled Lenny, who had leapt clear of the falling
Grarrl bully, was now standing atop the red lump, striking a heroic pose. The
baby Poogle, meanwhile, had firmly attached herself to Thuggo's neck, thanking
him repeatedly for saving her life, while Thuggo looked around dazed from the
fall. The baby Poogle contained to shower him with praise, hugging him tightly,
and for the first time, Thuggo considered that there might be another way to
get respect and attention. The Lenny, having finished with posing for a non-existent
crew of reporters, made his way over to the Skeith being 'strangled' by the
grateful young Poogle. He introduced himself as the Lovable Lenny, an official
Neopian superhero, and, seeing potential in Thuggo (and not realising that the
orange Skeith's interference had been entirely accidental), offered to take
the Skeith under his wing, training him as an apprentice superhero.
After some consideration, Thuggo decided to accept (after all, he had few other
prospects). His training took a long time, as the Lovable Lenny worked with
him to control his fiery temper and to teach him that a battle could just as
often be won with agility and wit rather than brute strength. Thuggo had to
learn to treat others with respect, to have compassion for the weak, and that
with great power comes great responsibility. The Skeith's adventures during
this time are not well documented (the Lovable Lenny received the Tonu's share
of the publicity) but eventually he graduated from apprenticeship and took on
his own superhero name - Captain Indomitable.
Captain Indomitable had many adventures, eventually taking on apprentices of
his own (including Judge Hog, his last apprentice before his retirement). Many
of Captain Indomitable's adventures are chronicled in the book Legendary
Skeiths, which I encourage you to read for greater insights into the
great deeds this superhero accomplished, despite his rocky beginnings.
Until next time, happy stamp collecting! |
