From Cave to NeoHome

by umbreon_of_the_moon

"RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" roars a Grarrlosaurus. We all panic and run back to our cave where we all live. The Grarrlosaurus gives chase but we make it back in time. ShyAshes hands me a branch of berries, which he managed to take out of the Grarrlosaurus's food store. We all start to eat them.

I look around at us all.

ShyAshes is a Shadowed Shoyru and he is the smartest of us all. His IQ is very high. ShyAshes nearly always comes up with plans on how to steal food from the Grarrlosaurus. He is a good fighter also.

Umbreon_of_the_Moon is a Fire Wocky. He is a keen battler, like ShyAshes. Umbreon_of_the_Moon, or Umbreon for short, likes playing games and reading books. He has a limp as he recently broke his back left leg. I sorted it out for him and he is recovering nicely.

Espeon_of_the_Sun, or Espeon for short, is a Pink Poogle. He is the youngest and gets scared easily. Umbreon and ShyAshes like teasing him, but Espeon knows that they are only joking. Espeon likes to paint pictures on the cave wall. When he is painting, he doesn't like being disturbed. Espeon wants to be a Faerie Poogle more than anything so that he can fly like ShyAshes.

"Midnight?" ShyAshes says to me.

"Yes, ShyAshes?" I answer.

"These berries are great! Those Grarrlosauruses may stink, but they have great taste of food!" laughs ShyAshes.

"Will you all quiet down? I'm trying to paint here!" yells Espeon, as he paints a picture of himself with wings, as a Faerie Poogle.

"Still wishing, huh?" Umbreon asks Espeon as he walks over.

"Yeah..." sighs Espeon.

"Don't worry. One day you'll find a Faerie Paint Brush to paint yourself with. I promise." Says Umbreon, trying to comfort Espeon.

"I hope so..." Espeon says quietly.

I look down at my hands, trying to think what to do.

"We need a new place to live. We have lived here all of our lives. We almost got caught by that Grarrlosaurus..." I say to my NeoPets quietly.

"What about those other humans? They came from a place through that big crack in the sky. They bought all those shiny things...I think they call them machines. Maybe we could go up through that big crack with them and go into wherever they came from?" says ShyAshes to me.

"ShyAshes, that's stupid! How are we supposed to go up without those humans seeing us?" yells Espeon at ShyAshes. ShyAshes looks shocked at Espeon shouting at him.

"Easy. We hide in those crates they take up through the crack in the sky!" ShyAshes replies.

"It could work..." I say as they all look at me. "I guess we could try it." I continue.

"Then it's settled! Get your stuff ready! We're moving home!" ShyAshes says excited.

***

"Ready, ShyAshes? Ready, Umbreon? Ready, Espeon?" I ask my NeoPets

"Ready!" they say.

We had gathered up all of our belongings and we had got ready to get into a crate ready to go to what ShyAshes was calling, "The New Land". We run across the Tyrannian Plains and around a sleeping Grarrlosaurus.

"There it is!" yells ShyAshes, as he points to a machine that goes up through the crack in the sky.

We run to it and we see an open crate. We hide behind the crate and then get in when we think no-one is watching. But someone was watching...

The crate with us all in it is loaded onto the machine that goes up through the crack in the sky and then the crate is cracked open. We are pulled out by some humans and we are thrown into a steel cage. The door to the cage is locked and I look around scared. I see a lot of people around. Espeon is very scared. He is holding his only belonging, his cave-painting set.

I hold my pets, protecting them from the humans and other NeoPets that are around the cage, staring at us.

A person in white clothes looks at us. I growl at him. He backs off nervously. ShyAshes growls loudly and barks at him and the others. They load the cage with us in onto a blue machine with four circular things at the bottom. The machine with the cage with us in it starts to move away fast.

"What's happening, Midnight?" ShyAshes and Umbreon ask me.

"I don't know..." I tell them.

"I'm scared..." whimpers Espeon.

"We'll be OK. I promise." I say. They cuddle up close to me and we all hug together until the machine that is moving stops.

We are outside a big white building. The people who got inside the machine that was moving says something about "Parking the van."

I look out of the cage with my NeoPets Loads more humans have appeared. They pick up the cage with us in it and they take us into the building. Umbreon starts to bark, because he is getting scared.

"Out of the cage now!" yells a human in a black coat. We refuse.

"No!" I yell. The humans around us gasp and take a step back.

"What...did you say to me?" asks the person in the black coat. "If I say 'get out', you get out, got it?" the person yells. I growl to myself and then I swear at the person, as I hug my pets.

"Shoot them!" yells the person. People rush around the cage, push these circular tubes into the cage and then there are a lot of bangs and me and my pets see coloured darts pierce into our skin. We get sleepy and then, fall forward, asleep...

***

As I come back into consciousness, I look down at my NeoPets They are still sleeping. I see what hit us. There were darts that made us fall asleep. Later on I hear that they are called Tranquiliser Darts. I look at my hands and my feet, they are chained up.

"Ahhh...so you're awake..." says a female voice. I look for the female voice. I see a girl about 15 years old. She has long straight blonde hair down to her butt and she wears glasses. She has bright blue eyes behind her glasses and she has a glowing smile. She walks over to the cage.

"Why am I chained up?" I ask, scared.

"The others think that you and your NeoPets are dangerous. They are being careful." The girl says.

"Can you let me and my NeoPets free from the chains?" I beg.

The girl then sighs, looks around, and then says, "OK."

She takes a key from a hook on the wall and undoes our chains. My NeoPets wake up and they are very scared. Espeon and Umbreon burst into tears. I go over to them inside the cage and hug them. I point the girl out to them. They all run over to the side of the cage with me and I look out through it.

"I'm Jaqui!" says the girl. "Who are you?" Jaqui asks.

"I'm Midnight Shadows." I say.

"I'm ShyAshes," says ShyAshes.

"I'm Umbreon_of_the_Moon. You can call me Umbreon," says Umbreon.

"I'm Espeon_of_the_Sun. You can call me Espeon," says Espeon.

"GET US OUT OF HERE!" yells Umbreon, scared.

"Shhh!" yells Jaqui as I cover Umbreon's mouth.

He tries to say something but my hand muffles it. Umbreon points to an open door.

"Can we go out there?" I ask.

"No! Of course not! We need to do tests and we need to give you IDs and everything!" says Jaqui.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"We need to find out what blood type you and your pets are. We also need to find out how healthy you are, if you have any diseases which could spread, things like that."

"We just want to live here...where are we anyway?" I ask.

"You are in Neopia Central," replies Jaqui.

"All we want to do is live in Neopia Central," I finish.

"Well...we could get you and your pets a NeoHome..." says Jaqui.

"A NeoHome? What's that?" I ask confused.

"A NeoHome is a place where a NeoPet owner and their pets can live in peace without being disturbed by anybody," says Jaqui.

"Yeah! Let's do that!" says ShyAshes.

ShyAshes then turns to me. "Midnight, if we do this, we can live in Neopia Central for good!"

***

"I can arrange a NeoHome for you and your pets!" says Jaqui.

Jaqui goes over to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room and pulls out a blue bit of paper that has writing on. She writes out our names on it. She hands me and my NeoPets some clothes. We put them on. All of the clothes are black and Jaqui says that they are very stylish. Jaqui then takes a picture of us with an instant camera. She glues the picture onto the bit of paper then she goes over to the telephone. She phones up someone, has a conversation about us, puts the phone down, and then looks at us.

"You can go to your NeoHome now!" says Jaqui. "I'll take you."

"Thanks for all of this," I say to Jaqui.

"No problem!" she says happily.

Jaqui unlocks the cage that we are in and we come out happily. She leads us to her car. It is a big blue car and it looks very expensive. We get inside. ShyAshes sits on my lap while Umbreon and Espeon sit next to me in the back of the car.

We drive for a while and then we stop outside a large house.

"Is this ours?" ShyAshes gasps.

"Yep. All yours!" Jaqui says to ShyAshes.

We get out and look at the big house.

"Some of the rooms are made of brick, some are made of silver, and some are made of stone. The bedrooms are all made of silver. The corridors and some of the other rooms are made of brick. Store cupboards and some other rooms are made of stone. I hope this will suit you well." Jaqui says to me.

Jaqui hands me the keys to the NeoHome. We all run up to the front door of the NeoHome. I take a deep breath and I unlock the front door. The door creaks open and we look inside.

"This NeoHome has Satellite Security, Marble Flooring, Chandelier Lighting, Neo Heating System Central Heating, Royal Wallpaper, and Peophin Platinum Insurance! This is the best Neopoints can buy!" Jaqui shouts to us as she drives off in her car.

My NeoPets run and fly off through the house.

After a few minutes, ShyAshes flies in and looks at me happily.

"Midnight! This is great!" Says ShyAshes. "There are some builders building more rooms, but the whole house should be finished in a month or so!" ShyAshes cheers. "And I have my own bedroom full of Kau Print stuff!"

I hear a scampering of paws and Umbreon slides in, bumps into ShyAshes, and they both fall over in a tangle on the floor. Umbreon looks up embarrassed and says, "I got a bedroom too! It's full of Fungus Print Stuff!"

I hear some yelling. "Hey guys!" I hear faintly. Espeon runs in and looks up at me. "Hey guess what..." Espeon starts, then he sees ShyAshes and Umbreon in a tangle on the floor. "What are you guys doing down there?" Espeon asks, trying to hide his giggles.

I run over to ShyAshes and Umbreon. I untangle them and I pick them both up. They both sit in my arms happily.

"Midnight....it's getting late. Can we all go to bed? I'm tired." Asks ShyAshes, yawning. ShyAshes's yawning starts off Umbreon and Espeon yawning.

"Midnight, my bedroom or your bedroom hasn't been built yet. Can we both sleep on the sofa?" Espeon asks me.

"OK!" I say.

ShyAshes and Umbreon go to their bedrooms, close the doors, and doze off to sleep. I carry Espeon to the sofa. I grab a blanket from the cupboard and I lie under it.

"Goodnight, Espeon. Goodnight, Umbreon, Goodnight ShyAshes." I say

"Goodnight, Midnight!" Espeon says as he lays in my lap. We both curl up and doze off gently to sleep...

The End

Did you like the story? If so, check out my other story, which starts in Neopian Times Issue 44. It is called "Our Tale." If you have any comments about either story, please Neomail me!