Apprentice Needed for Petpet Lovers

We all have dreams. The younger citizens dream of saving Neopia, becoming well-known and honoured and respected, while older citizens dream of relaxation. However, to those who dream of the first, who says saving Neopia is rewarding? Not everyone is noticed. Petpet lover, Samuel speaks out on his thoughts of his voluntary job. Unlike other heroes such as Hannah and Jeran, Samuel does his job voluntarily and without any rewards, though his risks of death are just as dangerous as Hannah's and Jeran's.

"I love petpets!!" says the current petpet rescuer for Neopia. "I don't know why Gargrall would do such a thing to them."

Samuel began trying to rescue petpets ever since Gargrall stole his petpet Molly.

"One day, Molly went missing," says the puppyblew owner. "I was very upset, she was the first petpet I ever had, and the smartest puppyblew too."

"At first, I thought it was the Pant Devil, but however, later on, I heard other Neopians living nearby also had their petpets stolen. I wanted to know who did all of those nasty things, and why they did it, so I set off on an adventure to look for them."

"It was only chance and luck that I found the petpets," he continues, "I got lost in Tyrannia, and then I decided to camp in a nearby cave for shelter. I walked into the cave and saw a Buzzer sitting shivering. I thought it was a bit odd that a buzzer was here in Tyrannia, but I fed it and made sure it was okay. All of a sudden, my instinct had a feeling that a lot more petpets were in there, and that Molly would be in there too!"

"So I quickly ran there and found a huge underground Ruby mine, with some petpets stuck on mining carts, screaming for help!! I was heartbroken and immediately, went to try rescuing them!!" laughs Samuel.

From tumbling rocks, falling stalactites, to riding on mining carts through lava, he's done it all. Every day, he faces chances of death, by dodging the rocks and stalactites, and trying to hitch rides on the ever-so-fast mining carts.

"Trying to avoid to stalactites is one of the hardest things," smiles Samuel, "but I still manage to avoid them."

This adventurous job of his has caused him to suffer physically. He has experienced injuries such as severe burnings on his wings, concussions after being hit by a boulder or falling stalactite, long scars from being cut, broken ribs, bones, ankles and so on. In addition, he receives small cuts from his beloved petpets of which are trying to cling on for their dear lives as Samuel whooshes past on the fast mining carts. When asked why he bothers, his only reply was, "I love petpets." Another side of his heroism appears to be persistence, loyalty to his job, and persevering despite his dangerous, risky job.

In addition to that, Samuel must keep track of time so that he can get back home before the sun sets.

"I always only give myself little time, otherwise I won't be able to get back home safely with those little critters. It's dangerous to travel home in Tyrannia after dark, and there's always the Cave Chia...

"It gets harder to rescue them as you go further into the cave as the petpet critters are more spread out, and quite stubbornly are less likely to walk up to me. I always have to go up to them and hug them before they'll listen to me. You can't really blame them, I mean; they've suffered enough in that cave."

Every day, Samuel rescues around 15 petpets, 20 if he gets lucky, and he has been able to return some of his neighbour's petpets to them.

"The look in their thankful eyes, it's amazing!" However, sadly for Samuel, he himself has not found his beloved Puppyblew, Molly.

"My main goal is to rescue Molly out of the mine alive," says Samuel. "I hope I'm not too late yet."

However, despite being "unacknowledged", his job still contains some rewards. During his rescues, he picks up mysterious gems which have fallen off and are lying on the floor. These he keeps them in separate bottles as his collection. Currently, he has purple, green, blue, and red, but he hopes to find more.

"I don't really know how much they're worth," replies the gem collector when asked if he was going to sell them, "but maybe someone could help me price them.

"However, I find saving the petpets most rewarding. I hope I can make a petpet adoption centre soon. I just hope that the petpets get into safe hands, not evil ones like Gargrall."

Samuel currently hosts more than 1000 petpets in his farm. However, food shortages and lack of attention to the petpets is becoming a problem. He is currently trying to find someone to help him settle his petpets, feed them and play with them.

"I hope I can find a good apprentice soon, so he can take over my carrier as the 'Petpet Rescuer'," chuckles Samuel.

"I'd also like to thank my family doctor, one of the Gelerts working at the pharmacy, who really has helped me a lot, encouraged me, and help me recover quickly. I don't know what would've happened if he hadn't been helping me so much."

However, in spite of Samuel's busy rescuing lifestyle, his main interests are gardening, growing vegetables and playing with his petpets, which he soon hopes will happen. But, although he misses his former lifestyle, he says he is currently very happy with his lifestyle at the moment, and hopes it will get even better in the future.

"I want all the petpets to be happy; that's all." Samuel laughs as he cuddles his angelpuss which hugs him back dearly. Like in the fairy tales, heroes always have happy endings.

Such heroes should appear more these days.