Putting Away the Past

by Aerisiya, mistress_angie's silver Shoyru

Hello! I am Aerisiya. Mistress_Angie’s silver Shoyru. You may remember me from “Castle of the Northwind”. I am here to tell the story of how I came to live with my wonderful owner. Well, here goes....

It all started with Jamagie, my first owner. When she first created me I was a simple yellow Shoyru, happy with the simple little friendship that Jemagie and I had. As I got older that friendship grew.

Jemagie bought me all sorts of wonderful things. The best food, toys, anything I wanted she would buy. She even bought me codestones and Faeries! One day Jemagie gave me the most wonderful thing: a silver paintbrush! I was so happy! We shared everything. All of our secrets, fears, worries and joys. I loved her and would have done anything for her. I wanted to be with her forever. I never knew how short forever could be.

The end of my life with Jemagie started when she began to lose her money on the stock market. I wasn’t too worried at first; we had a lot of Neopoints then. But when she started selling the items she had got for me I started to get scared. Jemagie went to The Wheel of Excitement whenever she could. It didn’t help any though. One fatal day, Jemagie spun the wheel and it landed on the skull. A burst of some odd substance spouted from the wheel and fell on me. I began to feel sick right away, that’s when I realised I had Neopox.

The next day Jemagie went on the Shop Wizard to see the prices for Neopox Pizza. They were over 2,000 NP! I knew Jemagie didn’t have that kind of money. Defeated we left. Later that day Jemagie bought me all sorts of food and had me eat till I was bloated. I knew all the food had cost a lot and was wondering what was going on when Jemagie picked me up and headed for Neopian Central.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Jemagie stared straight ahead and didn’t answer. I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. As we neared the pound I realised what was going on. Finally Jemagie looked down at me.

“I’m sorry," she whispered. “I can’t take care of you anymore and I’m going to leave NeoPets. Someone else will find you here and take good care of you.”

“No! Please don’t!” I wailed as Jemagie pushed through the doors of that hideous place. The Techo at the desk looked up.

“Adopting or ditching?” he asked. His evil scowl sent shivers down my back.

“I would like to leave this one here," Jemagie said, handing me to the old slimy Techo.

“That’ll be 98 Neopoints,” he said. Jemangie dug into her pocket and pulled out the last of our Neopoints, handing them to the Techo as if it were nothing.

“No! Don’t leave me here!” I cried, tears streaming down my face as I kicked and struggled to get away from the Techo. He stopped in front of a cage and shoved me in. Jemagie stared at me for a minute then turned to go.

“I love you, you know that?” I asked, tears continued to stream down my face as I clutched at the bars of the cage. Jemagie turned back toward me. A single crystalline tear fell from the corner of her eye.

“I know. And I love you too.”

With that she turned and ran from the pound, sobbing. At that point my already breaking heart shattered into a million pieces. I collapsed to the bottom of the cage. I couldn’t take it. I stated sobbing hysterically. I felt a paw wrap around me and a soft voice whisper in my ear.

“Go ahead. Cry. It’ll make you feel better.” I could sense the tears in the other’s voice. I looked up. An old red Kacheek sat next to me, a paw on my back. His eyes glistened with tears.

“Why are you crying?” I asked. He wiped his eyes before answering.

“Never before have I seen both the owner and pet’s heart break. Most of the time the pet is unwanted or disowned to make room for another. She truly loved you, didn’t she?” He wiped his eyes again. More tears had sprung to them.

“Yes," I sniffled. I had truly loved her too, and now I was here. Alone. I remember crying myself to sleep as the old red Kacheek rocked me back and forth.

The next day I awoke to the most awful smelling stuff I had ever seen.

“What is that?” I asked the Kacheek. He took a big bite of his disgusting food, swallowed, and then made a face.

“It’s your breakfast. You better eat it. I did and it was the worst tasting stuff I had ever eaten. Day after day we were served this. The fact I had Neopox didn’t help any. Most of the time I was too sick to eat. I remember the Kacheek being adopted by a nice looking boy. Many others came to stay in the cage with me and were adopted too. But the Kacheek was the one I remember most clearly. I waited, every day, for someone to come for me. Like Jemagie said they would. Day after day no one even bothered to look at me. Then Mistress_Angie came.

I was starving and too weak to sit up when the door opened and a girl walked in. She went to the desk and talked to the Uni who was there. She then came down the isles of cages, looking at each one. When she came to mine she stopped. Without even looking at my stats or checking what disease I had she picked up my cage and brought it to the Uni. The Uni looked at me and smiled.

“A fine choice. It will cost you though. This one’s painted.” Mistress_Angie pulled a handful of points from her pocket and handed them to the Uni. The Uni pulled a key from a drawer on the desk and opened my cage. Mistress_Angie picked me up and ran all the way to her home.

When she got there she introduced me to her blue Shoyru _StarJumper_ (you might remember her from “Castle of the Northwind” too) and fed me. The food was much better than the pound’s and I felt like I could have eaten out all the stores on the Shop Wizard. Mistress_Angie bought me all kinds of toys and even went to the pharmacy to look for Neopox Pizza. I couldn’t help but feel she was trying to make me forget my old owner.

“It’ll take more than tape to fix my heart," I said one day after she had just bought me a new toy. She looked surprised for a moment then a look of understanding cam across her face. She knelt down and gave me a big hug.

“I may be trying to fix your heat, but I’m not using tape," She told me. Suddenly I understood. She really, truly loved me. Just like Jemagie had. I smiled and tears sprung to my eyes. I hugged her back.

We eventually found pizza at an O.K. price. _StarJumper_ and I became great friends and I got to watch as Mistress_Angie adopted Roami_, a blue Kougra, and as she created Hiiro_Yui_01, a yellow Gelert. I got to celebrate with them when Roami_ was painted with a Faerie paintbrush, when _StarJumper_ was painted stars and Hiiro was painted shadow. (Hiiro and _StarJumper_ were painted after our journey to the castle.) We went to training school together, had adventures together, we shared everything, just like Jemagie and I used too. I sometimes cry at night when I remember her. But now I know that one of my new wonderful family members will be there for me.

I love my family very much and hope nothing will ever come between us. This is my story and I hope you enjoyed it. And remember! Don’t be cold-hearted and disown your NeoPets. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, we love you too.

The End