The Baby Crusaders: The Foundation

      Alpinarose awoke to the morning sun rising up as the light stretched over her body. The baby Acara had to blink a few times for her eyes to get used to the light and when they did she let out a yawn and stretched for a minute. Seeing as she had nothing better to do, she cried to be let out. And this wasn’t because she couldn’t get out on her own, oh-no, but she wasn’t about to let Kate, her owner, know that. Kate staggered in yawning and waving a hand sleepily over her mouth as she let Alpinarose out of her crib. Alpinarose dashed out to the stairs and waited expectantly for her owner to carry her down the stairs. And this wasn’t because she couldn’t get down the stairs either; it was the same reason she cried to be let out of her crib, she wasn’t about to let Kate know that she could. Kate sighed and picked up Alpinarose and carried her down the stairs, but she couldn’t help but smile when Alpinarose closed her eyes and snuggled up against Kate’s chest.

      When they got to the bottom Alpinarose jumped out of Kate’s arms and dashed to where the mail was and searched through it to see if any was for her and when there was none she sighed and tossed it over her shoulder causing Kate to giggle. Kate picked up the now scattered mail and followed Alpinarose into the kitchen and put Alpinarose into the high-chair and put the mail down in front of Alpinarose to sort it out while she made breakfast. Alpinarose stopped, she could only read a few things, mainly names, and so she knew that if she couldn’t read something it was probably junk mail or bills. To Alpinarose, this one seemed different because she could read that it was from the local orphanage, and because she grew so curious she asked Kate, who had just finished preparing some omelettes, to read it to her. Kate took the letter, opened it and read it out loud,

      Dear Kate,

      We are over-flowing with baby Neopets and no one seems to want to adopt them anymore!

      We were hoping you could take a few off our hands, if you did it would mean so much to us!

      Please think it over and if you do decide that you wouldn’t mind taking a few off our hands

      Please meet us at the orphanage tomorrow at 11:00 am NST.

      Sincerely,

      The Local Neopian Orphanage.

      Kate paused for a moment before she spoke next, “Well what do you think? I think it’s a great idea!”

      Alpinarose’ mouth had dropped about half-way through the letter and she knew that there was no way she could argue with Kate about a thing like this so instead she said, “Alright…” Kate grinned and gave Alpinarose a bowl of oatmeal.

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      The next day at 11:00 am NST Kate and Alpinarose were at door of the orphanage, Alpinarose with her backpack that she insisted were filled “With gifts for the new brother/sister!” (They were really stuffed with insurance papers for any pets that might be unfortunate enough to get on her bad side), Kate looked at Alpinarose, who was looking up at her, before knocking on the door. There was no answer for a few minutes and Alpinarose hoped that no one would be home and they could go back to their home. But all those dreams were crushed as the door was opened by a blue Wocky.

      “Hello, I’m here to adopt a new brother or sister for my daughter, Alpinarose.” Kate said. The Wocky looked at them up and down before nodding and motioning for them to come in. Alpinarose and Kate looked at each other before following the Wocky in the door and to a desk on one side of the room.

      A green Tuskaninny sat behind the desk and when she saw them her face lit up, “Oh, you must be Kate! And this is your daughter Alpinarose correct? Welcome, come on in! You don’t know how much this means to me! Oh thank goodness! The babies are right this way!” She said very excitedly, motioning them through a small door behind the desk.

      Inside Alpinarose thought they must have thousands of each type of Neopet, the floor practically had a carpet of baby Neopets so they had to be careful where they stepped. As Alpinarose was looking around, and Kate was cooing over all the baby Neopets, she saw that a baby Lupe had just finished building a castle of blocks and was just about to lunge at it when a baby Kacheek pulled his tail to keep him from knocking down the blocks.

      “Careful, you almost knocked them over!” The baby Kacheek said as she pulled the baby Lupe back on to his feet.

      “Ya, that’s what I was trying to do!” the baby Lupe growled back.

      “How could you!” the baby Kacheek gasped running and hugging the blocks which caused a fight to ensue. Alpinarose looked over the baby Lupe curiously as she watched the green Tuskaninny break up the fight and ban the baby Kacheek from blocks because she was something called “Obsessed”.

      Alpinarose walked over to the baby Lupe who had just finished putting his castle back together, it had been destroyed in the fight, and said, “Hi! My name is Alpinarose. Ya seem to have a lot of spunk, how would you like to be my brother?”

      The Lupe jumped, “Hi! Would I? Yes, please!” He grinned a toothy grin. Alpinarose smiled and walked over to Kate motioning him to follow her, she found Kate cooing over a baby Xweetok, Alpinarose tugged on her shirt.

      “Oh, hi Alpinarose! What do you think of this baby Xweetok? Isn’t she the cutest thing ever!?” Kate cooed.

      “Yeah, sure, real cute. Hey I picked a new brother that I would like to have!” Alpinarose said.

      “Oh sure honey. I think I’d like this one!” Kate replied.

      “Um, let’s see.” Alpinarose said as she walked off motioning for the baby Lupe, who was backing away from a fierce looking baby skieth, to follow her.

      As they were walking around looking at all the different babies Alpinarose suddenly said, “I just realized something. Did I get your name?”

      “Um, I don’t exactly have one…” he lowered his head letting his ears drop.

      Alpinarose shook her head, dumbfounded, “Well we can’t have that. How about Hunter?”

      “Ok!” Hunter said clearly happy to have a name, Alpinarose smiled and hugged her new brother who hugged her in return. As they continued looking for siblings Hunter spotted a baby kougra counting to ten before saying.

      “Ready or not here I come!” Hunter nudged Alpinarose and they both watched as it took the baby kougra a whooping 3 seconds to find a baby lutari who looked thoroughly disappointed that it took the kougra only around a minute to find him.

      “Hey you were really good! I haven’t taken that long for months!” He said encouragingly. Alpinarose looked quite shocked but walked over to the baby kougra with Hunter at her heels.

      “Hi! How long do you usually take to find someone when you play hide-and-seek?” Alpinarose asked the baby kougra.

      “Oh, a few seconds give or take.” The baby kougra answered. Alpinarose’s jaw dropped so Hunter took over.

      “How would you like to be our brother?” Hunter asked.

      “Is that even a question? Of course I would!” The baby kougra replied jumping up and down.

      “Well then you’re going to need a name. Just guessing that ya don’t have a name like Hunter, here. How’s Jaguar?” Alpinarose said finally being able to close her mouth.

      Jaguar nodded, happy with his newfound name. The trio looked around to see who the last member of the family would be. Suddenly Hunter yelped.

      “What is it Hunter?” Alpinarose asked him.

      “It’s almost lunchtime! I recognize the clock! It’s almost lunchtime!” Hunter answered looking very nervous. Jaguar yelped.

      “What’s wrong with that?” Alpinarose asked, confused.

      “We’re in for a lunchtime stampede!” Hunter screamed running to the door pulling his two siblings behind him but he was too late. *Ding-Dong* Rang the lunch bell and Alpinarose, Hunter and Jaguar were close to trampled, although they weren’t completely crushed because Hunter was pretty good at shoving the other babies away.

      “Wow, you were really strong!” said Alpinarose gasping for breath, the entire room was barren but she didn’t see Kate anywhere, “Umm, do either of you know where Kate is?” she asked, she wondered if she had run off with the other baby Neopets to lunch but finally concluded that not even Kate would do something like that.

      Jaguar stuck his nose in the air and sniffed for a second with his ears in the air before dashing off to a bunch of big blocks, bigger than themselves, and found Kate and the green Tuskaninny hiding behind them with big frightened eyes.

      “Oh Alpinarose thank goodness you’re alright! I take it you found another brother?” Kate said, “Oh yeah. That’s Jaguar, and we decided that this guy will be called Hunter.” Alpinarose answered.

      “I’m glad to hear that you’re getting along well! Now, would you boys like some lunch?” The green Tuskaninny asked.

      “Yes please!” Jaguar and Hunter said at the same time and they both dashed off to the dining room.

      “I packed you some lunch too Alpinarose!” Kate said handing a lunch box to Alpinarose who hugged her as thanks and dashed off to join her new brothers. Alpinarose and her brothers were chatting at the lunch table and enjoying their lunches, a 2/3 Sausage and Pepperoni Omelette for Hunter and Jaguar and a Cheesy Caper Surprise Pizza for Alpinarose, which she shared with them.

      As they were talking Alpinarose noticed that Jaguar wasn’t listening anymore so she followed his gaze and saw a baby Zafara “Pickpocket” a few gummies from a baby grarrl’s plate, “Don’t worry, that grarrl’s Sam. He’s the bully round here.” Jaguar whispered, startling Alpinarose. She figured that it was better him than some other Neopet.

      Alpinarose got up and by now Hunter and Jaguar knew they should probably follow her, “Hi. You’re quite sneaky being able to ‘pickpocket’ Sam’s gummies like you did.” Hunter said as the baby Zafara walked into him.

      “Oh, uh, yeah. I guess so.” She stuttered. She glanced around and whispered to them, “Here, I’ll give you half if you don’t tell.” and held out a few. Jaguar nodded vigorously and gobbled up his share as Alpinarose and Hunter smiled, sharing a knowing glance.

      “Sure, and here’s an offer for you.” Alpinarose motioned for the Zafara to come closer. She did, of course, listening intently, “Wanna be our sister?”

      The Zafara’s eyes lit up as though it were the Day of Giving, but she quickly hid it and pretended to ponder it, “I dunno, what do I get?”

      Alpinarose smiled, “Let’s see, a bed, food, chocolate cookies.” The baby Zafara looked up for a moment and put her paw to her chin as though she were thinking about it before smiling and nodding her head vigorously.

      “Great! Now of course you need a name, how bout Slysha?” Alpinarose asked the baby Zafara.

      “Sure, I’d love that!” Slysha said smiling as she came to join them at their table where they laughed and talked and shared gummies until Kate said it was time to go home.

      Late that night, Alpinarose excitedly discussed about an idea she had for a club that she wanted to call “The Baby Crusaders” and the others all thought it was a wonderful idea and they all went to bed that night dreaming of all the fun adventures they would have together.

      And that was the beginning of The Baby Crusaders.

The End.