Baby Lupe, Red Gelert, Red Gelert, Baby Lupe: Part Two

     "I never said that, Xero," the human said. "I said that at the time, we didn't know. We found you, all scruffy and with Ugga-Ugga, at the pound, and nobody there had any idea either. It was Toggerneo that found out what had happened."

     "Really? I thought he didn't like me when I first arrived."

     "He didn't. He hated the fact that you got more attention than him, and REALLY hated having to look after you. Let me carry on my story…"

     "LATER ON: WHEN DR SLOTH TRIES TO ATTACK (BUT IN THE END DECIDES A HOLIDAY WOULD BE FAR NICER!) RIGHT NOW THOUGH, WE HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE TURMACULUS… WHILE HE'S ASLEEP!"

     The Gelert yawned and glanced down at the Lupe by his feet. It hadn't stopped watching Toggerneo since they had gotten home.

     "That's starting to get creepy."

     Sighing, the red Pet nudged the Lupe with his paw, making him wobble onto his back. Breathing a sigh of relief as the stares vanished, he turned back to the radio.

     "SO, TURMUCULAS, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY? ……… (I TOLD YOU THIS WAS BAD RADIO)"

     The red Neopet laughed and glanced back down.

     Xero was missing.

     "… That's not good."

     "HISSSSSSSS…"

     Toggerneo's ears pricked up and he whipped his head around to the door, which was wide open.

     "HISSSSSS…"

     "HISSY!" He leapt to his feet and shot into the hallway, shooting past the kitchen and into his bedroom, a bright-red room with walls coated in Fungus Balls posters. In the middle of the room, on the dark carpet, was Pucca_Xero, the long Cobrall in his tiny paws hissing furiously. Toggerneo snatched his Petpet away, startling the Lupe, and put it on the dresser, where it curled up and, with a quick final hiss, went to sleep.

     "What were you doing?" yelled Toggerneo. The Lupe just coughed and watched with one eyebrow raised. "Well?"

     Another cough.

     "You aren't making this easy!"

     "I'm home!" came a call from the hallway, and Toggerneo scooped the Lupe up in one paw. When Neonick walked in he was greeted with an angry glare.

     "This little thing just attacked Hissy!"

     Neonick glanced at the sleeping Cobrall and smiled.

     "He was probably just playing. Hissy doesn't look too upset. Anyway, I've given up on finding a pen for him. You'd be surprised how popular those things are."

     Toggerneo frowned. He'd seen play pens all over the place, for around one-thousand Neopoints.

     "I thought we'd make it instead!" Neonick exclaimed, bringing a large pile of wood and tools out from behind his back.

     "Anything to save some Neopoints, right?" Toggerneo asked sourly, considering the work that would have to be put in.

     "I thought you WANTED a shadow paint brush."

     The Gelert nodded furiously, shocking the baby Lupe in his paw.

     "Well then, you can help out."

     It was getting dark when the pen started to actually look like it could be slept in. Toggerneo's paws were sore, and his arms ached, but the fact that he had actually built something himself, with just his strength and his wits (and many tools and a guide book) gave him a great feeling.

     "Right," Neonick continued, "I'm going to go and get some carpeting for it, and a couple of cushions. You paint it a nice red colour, like your bedroom." He gestured quickly at the scarlet paint cans on the shelves nearby, and then turned to the door and walked out. Toggerneo watched him leave and then turned to the shelving.

     Cough.

     Toggerneo glanced down at the Lupe. He was sat on a large cushion they'd brought in from the sofa, staring at the Gelert that he seemed to idolise.

     "Can't get rid of that cough?" Toggerneo asked with little real interest. "I had hiccups like that a few weeks ago. Got me thrown out of the Auction House; they thought I was bidding, but I didn't have the hundreds of thousands of Neopoints to buy whatever it was they were selling." His right ear lifted up and curled around the handle of the paint cans, lifting it gently onto the desk before slamming down on the lid to knock it off. The Gelert grabbed a brush with his other ear and started painting as he talked. "I've not been that embarrassed since Neonick managed to turn me into a mutant Lenny with the lab ray."

     The Lupe listened with wide eyes, almost as if he understood it.

     "The lab ray isn't a nice thing, you know. He spent loads of Neopoints getting it, selling all our possessions and sending me off to work… we slept on the street for a week, seeing as he sold the beds…"

     There was a knock on the door, and the Gelert frowned. It took a moment for him to think of who could be at the door, but when he did he gasped in horror.

     "I forgot! Oh no…"

     He glanced at the garage door and then back at the Lupe. In one quick movement he grabbed a rag from the corner and flung it over the Lupe.

     "Go to sleep. DO NOT MOVE."

     The pet coughed.

     "Good." He hurried through the lounge to the front door and brushed his ears back quickly. "Hey," the Gelert sighed as he opened the door. Two Myncis and a Skeith stood on the doormat, the Skeith with a huge burger in his grasp and an eager expression on his face.

     "Hi!" he almost screamed with excitement, bounding in quickly. "So, how are ya? Ready for the Judge Hog comic marathon?" With a grin he pulled a huge box of comics out from behind his back, and Toggerneo smiled.

     "Perfect," the Gelert said happily. "Go on in. You brought the Neocola as well?"

     "Here it is," the second Mynci said quickly, producing a bunch of bottles from behind his back.

     "Perfect." With one last glance at the opposite end of the lounge, where the door to the garage lay slightly ajar, he grinned and lay down on the floor, the first Judge Hog comic beneath his nose.

     The Lupe whimpered. There were lots of strange noises coming from the lounge; loud laughs and amazed gasps. He crawled out from under the rug and glanced into the room. Toggerneo was lying on the floor, reading something, and the Lupe knew it was safe.

     His attention turned to the desk nearby, where the dark-red pen sat, next to a can of paint.

     After he'd stared for a few moments, the baby pet took a couple of wobbly steps forwards.

     "TAKE THAT, EVIL MACHINE OF DOOM NUMBER 17!"

     "ARRRGHhhh…"

     Toggerneo burst out laughing, as did his friends, as the two Myncis acted out their comic. It was dark out, grey clouds blocking out any sun that had been around and spitting rain onto the windows, and that just added to the atmosphere.

     There was a crashing noise, and then the lights went out. The laughs and acting vanished… everyone was still for a moment.

     "… What was that?" asked the Skeith, looking nervously around the dim room.

     "I don't know." Toggerneo's thoughts had immediately leapt to Xero, hoping that he wasn't scared enough to start crying.

     "It sounded like it came from the garage," said the taller of the two Myncis, Patter. The other Mynci nodded.

     "Xero," Toggerneo whispered to himself, suddenly worried, before getting to his feet. "I'll check it out, don't worry." The Skeith started to say something but the Red pet shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll just be a sec."

     He slid the door open and flicked on a light, gasping as everything was illuminated. The can of red paint was laying upside-down on the stone floor, and Toggerneo jumped as it moved slightly. With a swift kick the can went flying, revealing the whining baby Lupe, covered in red paint.

     "What's that?" asked a voice from behind, and Toggerneo froze. "What's a Lupe doing here?"

     "Uhh… I don't know! He must have broken in! Call the authorities! He's a thief!" The Gelert knew it was a ridiculous idea the moment it left his lips. The baby Pet couldn't say its own name; there was no way it had broken into a his Neohome.

     "Toggerneo?" another voice asked. All three pets had come in, and he sighed.

     "Ah, well, see… we adopted him from the pound."

     The trio stared at Toggerneo, and he felt himself blush.

     "It was against my express wishes!"

     "I thought you were never, EVER going to be replaced?" the Skeith said. "That's what you told us, Toggerneo."

     "I know, I know, but these humans, once they get a funny idea into their head…"

     "Ahh, look at him!" exclaimed the shortest Mynci with glee. The Lupe was tugging at his right ear with his paw, like he was scratching an itch. "I think he wants ears like yours, Tog!"

     "Well, he's a Lupe. He won't ever be a Gelert."

     At that the baby Pet looked up with a strangely sad expression on his face, as if he'd understood. He whimpered slightly and then coughed.

     "Not only is he trying to imitate me," Toggerneo continued, oblivious to the Lupe's look, "he also has Ugga-Ugga! What if I catch it as well!"

     "It would give your mouth a break," said the taller Mynci, with a grin. Toggerneo ignored him, and looked at the floor where the Lupe sat. A power cable was lying there.

     "Great. He managed to severe the power when he pulled that can down. I'll bet that was imitating me with that as well, he was watching me as I was painting his pen. Lupes are idiots. I mean, if Neonick had chosen a Gelert, it might have been OK."

     The Lupe whimpered again, and then slinked out the door, dripping paint as it went. The Skeith frowned.

     "That wasn't too nice."

     "He's a baby. I doubt he understands a word I said. Anyway, he won't be here for long."

     "How'd you figure that?" asked the smaller Mynci, Elele.

     "I'm going to find his parents. They can take him back."

      "What are you doing here?" Neonick asked the trio of pets as he walked in the door, a rolled-up carpet under his arm. "Where's Toggerneo?"

     "He asked us to look after the new addition to the family," the Skeith, Jamson, said quickly. "He had to go out and, uhh, buy some more paint."

     "Really?" Neonick asked. "I thought I had enough… ah well. You may as well go on home, I'm here now…"

     The baby Lupe crawled out from the lounge quickly, looking all around him.

     "Has he had a bath?" the human asked, frowning. "He looks very… sparkly."

     "Well, we thought little Zero might like to be a bit neater."

     "Zero?" Neonick asked as they walked out the door. "Toggerneo comes up with the strangest nicknames."

     "Hi."

     The small Techo just stared at him.

     "Are you Dr_Death's niece?"

     "Uncle Snooty sent you?"

     "Snooty? Yeah, he did. I was wondering where you found the Lupe."

     "Luper?" Suddenly the girl smiled, and stepped out onto the porch. "I found him in the park, over there, but he was coming from the fields." She pointed to a large grassy area, with a few Kaus grazing slowly in it, and grinned.

     "Thanks." With a smile, the Gelert turned to leave.

     "Why did you want to know, Mister?"

     "I'm looking for his parents."

     "Oh." A sad look seemed to fill eyes as she shut the door, and Toggerneo frowned. After a few seconds he shrugged and walked across to the large wooden gate that led onto the field. He slid it open with a creak, and the nearest Kau looked up.

     "Hello!"

     "Can I help you?" she asked, still chewing a wad of grass.

     "Uh, yeah. It's about a baby Lupe-"

     "You found him?" exclaimed a second Kau, who had clearly been eavesdropping. "Oh, we've been so worried! His parents asked us to look after him, but he just wandered off the second night we had him! Is he OK?"

     "He's OK. You knew his parents?" He tried to be as polite as possible. "I was hoping to find them. So they can take him back."

     There was a nervous silence for a moment, and then the first Kau spoke up.

     "I'm afraid that will be impossible."

     It was late when Toggerneo came through the door. His owner got to his feet, waking Pucca_Xero who had dozed of next to him.

     "Where've you been? Where's the paint? What took so long?"

     Toggerneo sighed, and then pulled the human out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

     "Is that where they said I'd gone? I didn't. I went to where Xero was found. I was looking for his parents."

     Neonick shook his head briefly, but then nodded.

     "Did you find them?"

     "No, but I found out what happened to them. They gave Pucca to some Kaus to look after, and then went to Meridell, in search of Pucca's brother. I don't know what happened; I think he got lost, but the Lupe Pack was too big for them to notice until it was too late. Pucca's parents were frantic, and went straight back towards where the Pack had last been, but gave Pucca to some friendly Kaus to keep him... keep him safe. They never reached Meridell. The Kaus aren't sure what happened; they just seemed to vanish. No-one could reach them when the Kaus tried to send them a message, when Pucca wandered off."

     Neonick sighed, and then rubbed his eyes.

     "That's… awful."

     "I know."

     There was a scratching from behind Toggerneo, and he turned to the door. With a sigh, he slid the door open and watched as the baby Lupe crawled up, looking up at the pair with a puzzled expression.

     "I guess he's staying with us," Toggerneo said. The human nodded.

     The Lupe coughed, and then padded over to his Gelert idol, who scooped him up and patted him on the head. No matter what Toggerneo said, no matter how much he disliked the idea… Pucca_Xero was here to stay.

To be continued...