The Search for a Home and a Friend: Part One

     "Welcome to Neopia! A wonderful place for neopets all over! Now, if you could please move. You are holding up the line," the yellow Kacheek said.

     Spike turned around to see a couple hundred other neopets like him standing in line. Spike ran off without knowing what to do. He didn't seem hungry so he decided not to buy food. He looked around a noticed two patterns: almost everyone had a cool color on them and they all had little pets following them around.

     Spike pulled a royal Shoyru over and asked, "What's that little thing following you?"

     The royal Shoyru said, "It's a petpet. They're for you when you get bored. I'm Jason. You must be new."

     Jason extended his arm and Spike shook it. "I'm Spike. I just came here and all they gave me was a map, a bag of things, and 2,500 neopoints."

     Jason laughed and said, "Well, have fun with all that."

     Before Jason could walk away, Spike said, "Do you think you could help me?"

     "With what?" he asked.

     Spike responded, "I need a home and a friend. I want you to be my friend as well, but if you leave, I'll be lonely. Do you think you could help me?"

     Jason grinned ear to ear and said, "Sure. My owner doesn't come back for another three weeks. This could be an adventure for us, Spike!"

     Spike was excited that his new friend and he would already be on an adventure to help him.

     ***

     Spike and Jason walked around Neopia, looking for a petpet and a home. It was starting to rain when Jason said, "You can take my coat. I have an umbrella."

     Jason handed over his royal coat to Spike and pulled out a huge umbrella. They walked all over until the spotted a couple of open houses. Spike was wondering how the rest of the Neopets world looked like. He thought it would be boring because Neopia Central wasn't the most fun place.

      "See any you like?" Jason asked.

     "Not really. They look boring. Does the rest of the world look this boring?" Spike asked.

     Jason shook his head and said, "Not really. Some places are really fun while others are really scary or dangerous."

     Once it started to downpour and get to 49 degrees Fahrenheit, the boys ran into the Food Shop. They weren't hungry but they were soaked.

     "Can I do anything for you boys?" asked the yellow Chia in the "I ♥ Food" apron.

     "No thanks, we're good. Can you point us in the direction of the petpet store?" Jason asked.

     The Chia started giving directions to Jason while Spike stared out the window, watching little neopets of all shapes, colors, and sizes, run with their owners out of the cold rain.

     Jason tapped Spike and said, "Let's go. We need to fly to get out of the rain."

     Jason and Spike took a running start out of the food store and into the petpet store. They crashed into some supplies but noticed there were no petpets.

     Spike got up from the clutter and asked, "Where are all the petpets?"

     The yellow Usul pointed out, "We're not going to restock for another hour. I think you should wait it out in here. "

     Spike sighed but Jason got up and said, "We can just go to the marketplace, right?"

     They both liked the sound of that. They flew out of the store and landed near the yellow JubJub known as the Shop Wizard. It was still pouring but not as much as it was before. Spike couldn't believe his eyes. There were thousands upon thousands of little houses. Spike assumed they were shops. Then he looked up and saw a towering building that looked like a wizard's hat. He assumed that was the shopping wizard's house.

     Spike ran into the closest shop with Jason and saw that the little shops are bigger than they seem. They were greeted by a shadow Jetsam and decided to look around. The store had everything from orange juice to mint ice cream, a bar of soap to Uni shampoo. But that wasn't what they were looking for. They were looking for a petpet for Spike and a home. They saw a Peo, a Mallard, a Tenna, and a ton of other weird petpets.

     Unfortunately, none were to Spike's liking, or price range, for that matter. Spike and Jason left the shop and went out into the brutal cold rain. Spike and Jason booked it over the clouds and stopped to look around. "It looks nice. It also looks like it's sunset. Jason, what kind of petpet do you have?"

     "I have a royal Angelpuss. She's sleeping right now, but I'll show her to you when she's awake," said Jason.

     Jason and Spike flew down to their next destination: Roo Island.

     Once they arrived at Roo Island, they found out the weather there wasn't any different. They ran inside a souvenir shop and waited a little 'til the rain got lighter.

     "Can I do anything for you boys?" the blue Blumaroo asked.

     Spike turned around and said, "Have any petpets?"

     The Blumaroo sighed and said, "Sorry, we don't have petpets on Roo Island. We have great houses with some friendly Blumaroos."

     Spike whispered to Jason, "I don't want a house here."

     Jason asked, "Why?"

     "I noticed there were so many Blumaroos here and barely anything else. There is also a large coffin outside," said Spike, pointing outside to the Deadly Dice coffin.

     Jason sighed and said, "Okay, next stop, Kiko Lake."

     ***

     Kiko Lake was found to be very hot with degrees soaring to 109. Jason took off all his extra accessories and put them in his bag. Spike and Jason were sweating out every little water droplet they had. They roamed around for a while and noticed that even the lake was getting warm. They both took a glass bottom boat tour and saw the Kikos were coming up to the top of the lake and sweating.

     "Want a house here?" Jason asked.

     "Too many Kikos. Besides, if I did get a house here, it would be a tiny lake house and I don't want that," said Spike.

     Once the tour ended, they flew to Brightvale, hoping they could find Spike a home and a petpet.

     Brightvale was very nice that day. It was warm but had a cool breeze. Spike enjoyed it but he wasn't there for enjoying the weather. He was there for a house. Jason led Spike to a couple of houses and for a couple minutes, he seemed interested. Then he heard a couple of horns coming from the castle. "Man your battle stations!" one guard said.

     A couple hundred people came out of shacks, houses, and the castle, all ready for battle. Before Spike could move, a low rumbling came in. He turned around to see warriors in blue and red outfits, running towards them. Spike and Jason immediately flew upwards and flew as fast as they could away from Brightvale.

     They landed in Meridell and Jason said, "Well, Meridell and Brightvale are out for buying houses."

     "Why?" asked Spike.

      "Well, they fight a lot and you need good house protection and you have to be a great warrior. Are you?"

     Spike shook his head. They walked all around Meridell until they reached a petpet store. They walked in to see a blue Ixi. She was sitting behind a counter, looking very bored.

     "Sorry boys, sold out. Just sold my last one," she said.

     The boys took off, flying towards Darigan Citadel. Jason warned Spike, "Be careful. This is one of the dangerous places in Neopia where you don't mess with anyone or do anything that might be a scam."

     Spike looked around. He only saw a few houses. No more than half a dozen.

     "Where are all the houses?" Spike asked.

     "Not that many people live here because this place is also enemies with Meridell. Would you want to live here?" Jason asked.

     Spike shook his head. They flew off to Terror Mountain, where it was almost night. It was very cold and very snowy in Terror Mountain.

     "I think we should find a place to stay tonight. I have a couple of winter jackets to wear. Maybe a faerie will let us stay somewhere," said Jason.

     Jason and Spike tried flying but their wings were frozen shut! Jason struggled to fly but couldn't move his wings.

     "Let's go through the Ice Caves. We have to be careful, though," said Jason.

     Jason and Spike set off to the Ice Caves, where they were careful where they stepped. They tried not to slip and slide around, but Spike couldn't help it. Spike started sliding until he stopped at the Snowager. Signs around it said, "Beware! Do not awaken! Turn back now!"

To be continued...