| The boy, whose name was xx_Zzap_xx took me to his NeoHome.
It wasn't a mansion, but it wasn't a shack either. He had one other pet, a robot
jetsam named RobofisH44. As soon as I got there, he didn't pay a bit of attention
to me.
"What's with the Grarrl, Zap?" asked RobofisH.
"Just a weakling I picked up from the pound.
A friend wants it to seem like his pet's had a lot of victories, so the Grarrl
is sort of like a punching bag. Get it in a fight with the friend's pet, it'll
lose, heal it one hp, and keep doing that until my friend decides its enough.
Then we take it back to the pound."
"Oh," said the jetsam disinterestedly. I was
shocked! I wasn't just a punching bag so some pet can be popular! I was a living
thing! Well, I thought, I guess I can't expect much from a human. But the other
pet! I would think it would have some compassion for its fellow neopet!
"But, isn't that cheating? It won't be fair
victories, so how so would it give him a good name?" I timidly asked.
"Other people won't know the victories were
unfair," said Zzap. I was silent. I knew nothing I said would get any pity out
of him, or his jetsam.
I spent the night curled up on the living room floor. (Zzap wouldn't let me
on the couch.) They next day, at about noon, Zzap dragged me off to the Battledome.
He entered me in a fight, and waited for his friend to arrive. Soon he came,
he looked to be a few years older then Zzap, with a skunk Kyrii trailing behind.
His long blond hair was held off his face with a red band.
"Hey Zap!"
"Hi Ultimate!" said Zzap, addressing the boy
whose official Neopian name was Ultimate_Thunder.
"That the pet?" asked Ultimate, looking at me.
"Yeah. I just took the first one I saw. How's
Kyron?"
"Ready to fight! Lets get started!" I was lead
into a locker room sort of place, and left there alone to fight with my fear.
I had no weapons, no idea how to fight, and no idea how I could possibly get
myself out of this mess. Then I heard an announcement over the speaker.
"Will IMCOOL345829 please enter the stadium!"
I didn't know what to do. There was a door at the far end of the room that led
out into the stadium, but how could I go out there, to certain defeat? Then
Zzap came into the room.
"Get out there, go on!" he yelled. Having no
other choice, I entered the stadium. I was in a circular rink, the skunk Kyrii
at the other end. The stands were empty, except for Ultimate, Zzap, and RobofisH.
"Prepare to meet your doom little Grarrl!" challenged
the Kyrii I was scared. More scared than I had ever been in my life. I couldn't
move. I just stood there, staring at my opponent. Then suddenly, he lunged!
Two snowballs and a noxious nectar later, it was over. I blacked out. Knew no
more.
I woke up to Zzap forcing a strange tan liquid
down my throat. Out of instinct, I swallowed. A few of my bruises healed, but
I was still in pretty bad shape. I sat up and looked around. I was in the Battledome.
locker room.
"Get back out there, now," commanded Zzap.
"But I'm still hurt!" I protested.
"Does it look like I care? Get out there!" Knowing
there was no way to get out of the situation, I slipped off the bench and trudged
towards the entrance to the Battledome. This time it only took a single peach
snowball to knock me out. This went on for a good part of the day. I went out,
got beat up, healed a little bit, then forced to fight again. By the end of
the day, I felt awful. I was bruised all over, blood trickled down my lip from
a bloody nose, and I could barely stand. "Alright, I think that's enough,' said
Ultimate finally.
"You sure? I think he could go another round
or two," said Zzap wickedly.
"Nah, twenty battles is enough." Twenty? It
seemed like a hundred!
"Okay, I guess I'll take him back to the pound
now." The pound! That was the best thing I could have heard then. The pound
was where my friends were. I realized how much I missed them. I missed Blue
and her nightmares. I missed Spaceman and his antics. I missed Z and her quietness.
I missed Neo and her strange philosophic sentences that none of us understood.
I even missed Rip's sarcastic remarks. Zzap dragged me back to the pound, not
even bothering to heal me. Blue and the others looked up as the door opened.
"Cool!" shouted Spaceman. A smile spread across
Blue's face. I was put in the same cage as before.
"You look great," said Rip sarcastically. "Been
working out?"
"You don't look so good Cool," said Spaceman,
ignoring Rip's comment. "What happened?" I told them about Zzap and his cruelty.
I told them about Ultimate and his cheating. I told them about RobofisH and
how he didn't even care. And I told them about the battles.
"That's just disgusting!" exclaimed Spaceman.
"I mean, who would do that?"
"A human," said Blue venomously.
I was then bombarded with questions about my
experience. "Look guys, I'm really tired, and sore all over, I'm gonna go to
sleep."
"You're right, you need rest. Just go to sleep,"
said Neo. I took her advice, and curled up in my cage. But before I went to
sleep I whispered to myself.
"It was never really there."
I was back at the pound. Back with my friends.
Back, where I belonged. The old schedule started again. Wake up, eat disgusting
mush, sit through the morning rush, scare off any interested people, talk a
little, afternoon rush, scare off any interested people, talk some more, evening
rush, scare off any interested people, a few more hours of sitting in my cage
and talking, lights-out time, go to sleep, wake up in the middle of the night
to Blue's screaming, go back to sleep, wake up and start it all over again.
Not the best life, but at least I had my friends. I was happy. For a while at
least...
***
I was having a hard time. I was still hurt from that day fighting with the
Kyrii, and though they gave us food, it was hardly enough. And it got worse.
The day started normally. But around noon a little girl walked into the pound.
I took no notice, I just turned to face the back of my cage. A few minutes later
I found myself being pulled out. The girl looked angry. She stormed out of the
pound, dragging me behind her. When we stopped, we were in a clearing somewhere
in the forest. The girl didn't have a NeoHome. In the clearing there were three
other pets, a red Usul, a blue Jubjub, and a red Kacheek.
"Who's dat Mom?" inquired the Jubjub
"Why'd ya get a Grarrl? They're ugly!"
said the Usul
"Mom, you said you were going out to get us
a sister. He is a boy!" exclaimed the Kacheek., as if it were a crime
to be male.
"I know, I messed up. I meant to get
the sweet little Aisha a few cages down, but I accidently got him. Don't
worry, he's going back tomorrow." Great, I thought. She meant to get the cute
little Aisha The girl acts like all pets that aren't cute little fluffballs
are horrible. Oh well, I thought, I don't want to stay with her anyway. That
day was pretty miserable. I just sat there in the corner, overlooked by everyone.
Occasionally one of the pets would give me a dirty glance, like it was my fault
the girl was stupid enough to get the wrong pet. After a while, I plucked up
my courage and spoke.
"Excuse me?" the girl looked over.
"What is it?" she snapped
"Could I please have something to eat? And maybe
could you get me a healing potion? I'm in really bad shape." She just looked
at me with a look that screamed "as if" and went back to playing peek-a-boo
with her Jubjub I sighed. She could at least be kind enough to give me some
food, or heal me before taking me back to the pound. Well, at least I would
be going back to the pound. I spent a miserable night on the ground. I didn't
get a bit of sleep. Right after breakfast, the girl dragged me to the pound.
I was put back in my old cage again.
"It was never really there," I muttered to myself.
"Cool, back again? We just can't get
rid of you!" joked Spaceman.
"Looks like we're in for yet another tragic
story," sighed Rip. "Mind if I strangle myself?"
"Go right ahead," said Blue to Rip. "Go on Cool,
what happened this time?"
"Not much. It turned out the girl hated any
pet that wasn't a fluffball, and had something against boys too. She had meant
to get the Aisha over there," I said, pointing to the Aisha
"Oh, her," said Spaceman. "Bubblykittykat. Her
name fits her." I sighed, and thought to myself, it was never really there.
The day passed uneventfully. That night I was
woken up to another one of Blue's nightmares. But this time it was different.
There was more.
To be continued...
| 
