The Wocky Made of Stone

by iabella (and Zavial)

Hello! My name is Zavial and I am a Stone Wocky. I would like very much to tell you my story, as it is very interesting. You see, at the moment I am owned by 715 people. Interested yet? Read on then!

When I was a baby Wocky I was brought, with all the other baby Wockys, to Neopia Central where there were human owners waiting to pick out a new NeoPet and take it home with them. I watched as my friends were all carefully inspected and chosen by these human owners. Even though they looked happy as they were being carried away, and even though most of the owners looked very nice, the idea of actually being owned frightened me. For all of my short life I had been told that I was extremely sly and cunning, even as Wockys go (who are all extremely sly and cunning compared to other NeoPets, by the way!) and so I used that cunning to sneak out of the line of waiting baby NeoPets, and to run away.

I had been running for what seemed like ages, sometimes finding myself at a place I had already been because I did not know my way around Neopia Central, when finally I found myself in the market district. All around me tall buildings loomed, and in between these skyscrapers were small friendly looking buildings that housed small friendly looking shops owned by the human NeoPets users. I should say here that at first I never would have thought of stealing from any of these cozy little shops, but after a few homeless weeks amid the rubbage and trash of back alleys, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. I had never stolen before, but I figured that if the shopkeepers back was turned it wouldn't be that hard. So I found a fairly large shop and walked in, trying to look as inconspicuous as I could. I watched the shopkeeper, a short dark-haired girl with a name-tag that simply read "Bella", very closely. When she turned her back to take something from a shelf beside her I took a few golden and silver rings from a small jewelry tray, and stuffed them in my pockets. I watched her carefully to make sure she hadn't seen me, and then I turned to leave.

As soon as I reached the door a hand took me by the scruff of neck and picked me up. "I think you forgot to pay for those rings!" Bella said, as she took the stolen jewelry from my pocket.

"But...how did you know? Your back was turned!" It was then that I looked behind the counter and saw the large mirror. She had been watching all along!

Bella took me to a small room and told her Kougra Madanya to watch the store for a while as she "dealt with me." In the room she sat me down, but instead of lecturing me as I had expected, she simply asked my why I had stolen from her. At the unexpected concern in her voice I lost control, and between sobs I managed to tell her my story: the trip to Neopia Central, the fear of being owned, the life in the streets, all of it! After I finished my story, and drank the tea Bella had made for me, I looked at her and asked what she was going to do.

"You're not going to call the police are you?"

"No.." She said, and she sounded as if she were pondering something. "Zavial, I have an offer for you. I own a guild. It's fairly small right now, but it's growing quickly, and we need a pet. I know you're afraid of being owned by one person, and I can understand that. Some of us human owners are not so nice to our NeoPets But what if you were owned by a whole guild? Would you feel safer then?"

I thought about the proposal, and I decided that it would feel good to belong somewhere, and being owned and cared for by lots of people didn't frighten me at all! So I accepted her offer! The next day she told her fellow guild members about me, and that was that.

Today I'm very happy being the guild pet of the Neopia Shadow Thieves Elite Guild (named after the way I was found, of course) and the guild is doing very well! I've found out a few things about myself too. Namely, that not only am I sly and cunning, but I also have a pretty good head for business. All my ideas for the guild have been approved amazingly. Now, because of my suggestions, we offer daily item giveaways, NP tips, game help, a chat room, at least three contests all the time, and lots of other great membership benefits! We're ranked #2 in the Scary Cave, and I have well over 700 owners now! All in all, I would say I've come a long way from that frightened little green Wocky, who had to steal to stay alive.

The End