Arrival in the Neopian World

by muas

I shivered and stepped off the boat onto the warm, spongy ground of Neopia Central.

It was a cold day, at least to me, but nobody else except the other Meercas seemed much bothered by the stinging wind and frozen drops of rain. My eyes widened, thinking of what they must think of cold - below zero freezing temperatures with snow covering every road? Eek!

Only after a few moments did I turn my attention from the weather to the crowd of people located just below the stage-like structure I'd stepped out on.

And then I, Reizend, the first Meerca to enter Neopia, brother of the Meerca who discovered the humans looking around on our land, fainted.

I woke up on the same stage, but with my other friends from my homeland and some humans fanning my chubby face. Once I realized what had happened, I started to blush fiercely, an annoying habit of mine. My purplish red face turned scarlet.

Luckily, nobody was laughing. They were all huddled over me, the Meercas bouncing nervously on their tails and the humans on the soles of their feet, asking over and over, "Rei? You okay?"

Finally I found the strength to nod. All of them sighed with relief and a few helped me up; by that time, I remembered everything, and was worrying about the speech I was supposed to make. When I asked them about it, a human piped up, "Oh, you were only out a coupla minutes, Rei. You can still make the speech."

I nodded, gulped, and moved towards the front of the platform. Once there, I nearly fainted again - there was a huge crowd full of humans of all shapes and sizes, and animals I'd never seen before. I never expected that the simple addition of a new pet would draw such a crowd.

I gulped and propped myself up on my tail so I could reach the microphone. For some reason, this prompted a lot of "oohs" and "ahs", as well as a lot of clapping. Things certainly were different in this world.

After the clapping died down, I cleared my throat and chuckled, prompting a wave of belly laughs. When that was finished, I said, "Sorry, got a little overwhelmed back there. Umm, I'm Reizend, but you can call me Rei. I am a Meerca from a faraway island called Glidobin, where all Meercas live. My brother actually discovered you humans - or discovered you looking to discover us - but he opted not to become a pet, so he's back in Glidobin. He wants me to tell you all that he hopes his species will be loved for a long time to come."

More enthusiastic clapping and a lot of hoots and hollers pervaded the area. I was getting a little fed up with these Neopians; in Glidobin, we waited until the speaker was finished before making any response.

"Now onto more 'technical' manners. Meercas will be available for adoption later today at the same place all pets are, the Adoption Center. You'll be able to choose from red - which actually looks more purple - yellow, blue and green as always, and the Team says a Fire Meerca will be available later. Any questions?"

Hands popped up all over the auditorium. I answered questions about Meerca personalities ("We're all different," I explained, "no matter how much we look alike"); what we ate ("Just about anything"); our IQ ("above average generally, but always read to all your pets") and our speed ("From what I've seen, we're the fastest NeoPet around.")

Finally the questions subsided and other people - a staff member for the NeoPets web site, a Chia, and some others - took over for me.

Sighing, I moved back to the edge of the ship that had transported me from beautiful Glidobin to stuffy, noisy Neopia. Why did I ever decide to come here?

Albern, my sister, joined me. "What's wrong, Rei? The crowd loved you!"

"I don't love them," I replied stiffly.

She looked shocked; this was really a departure from my fun-loving self. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to go back to Glidobin, Al! This place is not right for me at all!"

"Come on, you just gotta get used to it. Hey, I wanted to ask you - are you planning on being adopted?"

"Umm, yeah, I guess. I hope somebody nice picks me." She smiled proudly. "I already was adopted!"

"Huh?! By who?!"

"Nett, a really nice girl. She has only one pet otherwise, this yellow dragonlike thing...a Shoru? Shoyru, that's it."

"Lucky," I said. "I've heard of people who have four pets and only a few NP."

"NP? Whazzat?"

"Neopoints...money."

"Oh, I've heard they have money here...trading items for coins? Little pieces of metal? How illogical...but at any rate, she does have a lot of Pointneos...I mean, Neopoints. 10,000."

"Hmm." I nodded. "Where will you live?"

She suddenly looked sad. "Very far away. Nett traveled for two days to see this; it's on the outer edges of Neopia! I don't know how we'll ever see each other again."

It hit me right then, the cold fact I'd been trying so hard to avoid and not think of: my brothers and sisters, my closely-knit family of seven, would be dispersed throughout Neopia, miles and miles away from each other with no practical way of seeing each other often. How could I have let this happen? Why hadn't I taken my brother's advice and stayed home?

"Albern!" cried a soft lilting voice from below. "Come on. If we want to get there in time, we'll have to leave now!"

Al's eyes misted over as she looked from the girl and Shoyru below to me right next to her. But I knew nobody would adopt two pets at once and our chances were better separated. "Go on, Al," I said softly.

We hugged, and after a few moments Al raced to her owner's side, walking away with no look back.

I decided it was time for me to go and get myself adopted; the crowd was dispersing and people were heading for the pound.

Excitedly, I ran through the crowd, trying to see over their heads but not bump into anybody. It wasn't an easy task.

Finally, in the distance, I saw a building with a huge sign that said Adoption Center. Next to it was a building called Create a Pet; all currently alive Meercas were to be adopted and more would be created.

I meandered in, watching the humans as they clamored to the new Meerca section of the center. None of them looked like owners I'd want - some had too many pets and others looked too new in the Neopian world. I would have liked an owner with at least a little experience, since I was new myself.

After a few minutes of seeing everyone I didn't want to adopt me and no one who looked just perfect for me, I got discouraged. I walked up to the desk, depressed, and told the creature there, "I am a Meerca and I wish to be adopted."

It hummed for a minute and asked me my name, my color (why couldn't it just look at me?), my age, my stats, and all that other info. Finally, it called over a white-jacketed Shoyru, who led me down the long halls to the Meerca section.

I was surprised - from what I'd heard, the Adoption Centers were terrible, but this one wasn't all that bad. The younger Meercas were playing on the floor, some kind of odd game with a white ball filled with a liquid, while the older ones sat around and talked. It had a very nice, comfortable atmosphere that I immediately liked.

The Shoyru pointed to a large cage in the corner, bathed in light, that was to be mine. I nodded and walked over to inspect it.

It was wide and tall enough to fit all of me, even my tail, comfortably; I could eat outside with everyone else. A few toys might fit in there or some other items.

I sat on top of it and talked with the others, watching the people come in and out. Some walked away with a beaming Meerca; others, upon closer inspection of us, decided we were too hyper, too small or too "weird" to adopt and left.

I watched every single person who came in, but everybody seemed, well, off. Not crazy, but not right for me either. I thought I was being too picky, but another Meerca said I was doing a good job and making sure I'd like the person I was stuck with.

By the end of the day not one person I liked had come in. Four fifths of the Meercas were gone; only ten of us were left. I began to get desperate, and decided I'd try to be adopted by the very first person who came in that morning.

I woke up early, before the sun had come up, and sat in my usual spot on top of the cage waiting...just waiting...

"Come on, please let me in, please??" I heard. It was a girl's voice, teenager; she sounded very frustrated and urgent.

"I can't let ya in. It's two hours till we're supposed to open," said a Skeith, the one who guarded the door.

"But I've traveled all night and they say only ten Meercas are left. Oh, I so want one!"

After several more minutes of this, the Skeith finally let her in. I heard her sneakers hitting the cold floor as she ran down the hall to our section. There was also another sound, of paws padding on the floor. Did she have another pet? And then she arrived in the room. She was very tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, and a lopsided smile. A white Kougra stood next to her, surveying the room with an air of disdain.

I liked her immediately. She seemed to be the person I'd been looking for.

I saw her checking out each Meerca, but moving on until she finally saw me. "Hi," she said, a little uncertainly, moving forward to greet me.

I jumped off the cage and yipped, "Hi, how ya doin'? I'm Reizend!"

"Hey, you're the guy who's the brother of the one guy who met the humans," said the Kougra, his eyes lighting up with recognition.

"Yeah, I am," I said modestly. "Did you catch my speech?"

"No, but we heard about it," said the girl.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm muas," she said, "and this is my pet, Klaue."

"Do you like Meercas?"

"Definitely. I've been looking for another pet and a Meerca seems just right."

"Well then, come on!" I said, marching right past her to the door.

She let out a quick giggle and said, "But I don't know you."

I pointed at Klaue. "Did you know him when you got 'im?"

"No."

"And is he a good pet?"

"The greatest." I shrugged.

"What difference is there, then? C'mon!"

We ran out of the room, with Klaue joining me a few feet ahead of muas. He grinned and said, "My friends' siblings are obnoxious, but you don't seem that way."

"Neither do you."

Grinning, we ran out into the sunshine while muas completed the legalities of adopting me. A few moments later I had a new owner, muas, and a new brother!

Well, ever since then, I've been real busy. I wrote an article about Meercas (see Issue #44), became CO-mascot of muas's guild (the official mascot is Seibwen but I help out a lot), and have been having many adventures. I hope to tell you about them in stories to come.