Perspective: Part One

      "Yes, Nick!" Nick glared at her, "-sir!" Sarah added quickly, fearing a slash from Nick's claws. "It's in your bag."

      "Good," Nick snarled at the white Ixi anyway. Then he turned to a blue Kougra. "Rose! Did you organize my Battledome trophies? Because if you didn't…" Nick's voice trailed off warningly.

      "Yes, sir!" she replied, watching his Darigan purple paw tap the floor impatiently.

      "Good." He gave her one last glance before yelling "TESS!" at the top of his voice. A blonde teenage girl came in a minute later. "Yes?" she said, sounding more than a little irritated.

      "It's time to go to the Battledome," he replied coolly.

      She sighed, "All right, but don't attack someone just because they claim that they're better than you, like you did yesterday. The Chia Police nearly locked you up in jail!"

      "Yeah, they tried to, but they were terrified of me, weren't they?" he answered with a smirk.

      Tess just sighed again, "Got all your gear?" Nick nodded, with an exasperated look at the clock. "Okay, then, we can go!" Tess said somewhat cheerfully.

      Nick grabbed a large bag, slung it over his shoulder, and stomped out the door, but Tess hung back.

      "Take care while we're gone, okay?" she said to her daughters.

      "Of course! Don't we always?" Sarah replied, with what looked like a forced smile.

      Tess smiled back, "Good!" She ran out the door, just missing Rose's words- "I hate Nick."

     ~~~~~

      Tess ran into the Battledome, panting. She saw Nick standing by a notice board, glaring at her. Tess sighed and walked up to him.

      "What took you so long?" he demanded, as she opened her mouth to apologize.

      "I stayed at home for 5 seconds to have a word with your sisters," she snapped.

      "Don't ever do it again!" Nick roared. Neopets around them stared.

      "Okay…" Tess snapped into her usual cheerful self. "Whom are you going to battle first?"

      "I'll battle the Mootix Warrior for practice and then fight that new guy that everyone's talking about."

      "New guy?" Tess said blankly. Nick rolled his eyes, "He's the pet of that insane inventor. He's a red Shoyru." Nick sounded disgusted by the fact that the Shoyru wasn't painted.

      "Well, I need to run to the Bakery to order a cake for Rose's birthday party. Fight the Mootix guy while I'm gone and I'll be back in time to watch you battle that red Shoyru. I'll buy a healing potion on my way back, just in case," she added, seeing the look on Nick's face.

      Nick snorted and walked away, which Tess took to be a "Yeah, sure, whatever." She sighed yet again and walked out the door.

     ~~~~~

      "Why does Mom keep Nick, anyway?" Sarah asked her sister.

      "King me," Rose said, as she placed her game piece on the row farthest from her.

      "I mean, it's not like he earns neopoints or anything!" Sarah continued, placing another game piece on top of Rose's.

      "It's a pretty day, want to go biking??" Rose asked, oblivious to the fact that Sarah was trying to hold a conversation.

      "He would be better off in the pound than here, wasting Mom's hard-earned neopoints on weapons!" Sarah burst out angrily, unaware that her sister wasn't listening.

      "I want some ice cream, can we go down to the ice cream stand?" Rose asked, with a glance at the front door.

      "We should get rid of him! Mom would thank us afterward!" Sarah nearly yelled.

      "Daisy is filthy!" Rose looked at the pink puppyblew. "We should wash her."

      "I think I have a-" Sarah stared at Rose, who was picking up her puppyblew gingerly. "Are you listening to me at all?"

      "Huh?" Rose looked up.

      "Honestly, younger sisters…" Sarah repeated what she had said and they came up with a plan.

     ~~~~~

      Nick walked out of Battle Room 73 with a triumphant smile on his face. He had only lost 10 out of his 219 healthpoints.

      He looked up at the battle schedule. His fight with Fire2197neo314pet68 wasn't until 7:45 NST and it was only 7:30. His stomach rumbled - apparently 3 neggs wasn't enough breakfast. He glanced around for a cookie or something (in the paws of a weak, defenseless neopet, of course) that he could eat.

      Seeing nothing, he looked around for a potential victim. His gaze fell on two green blumaroo girls. Scaring them should be fun. Without thinking to look around for the Chia police (who were always patrolling the corridors in case of a fight), he took to the air and swooped down on them, roaring viciously. They both let out high-pitched screams and fled from the Battledome. Nick chuckled.

     'It just never gets old,' he thought appreciatively. He looked down at the bench they were sitting on. One of the sissies had left a purse.

     'Pink! Yuck!' thought Nick. He sliced opened the purse with one razor-sharp claw and saw a few neopoints, some pink lipsticks and an usuki doll. He grabbed the neopoints, threw the lipsticks in the trash, and ripped the doll to shreds. Lastly, he tucked the purse (which no longer even remotely looked like a purse) under the bench for the blumaroo girl to discover later.

     "Nick!" he whirled around to see Tess. "Come get your healing potion, you've lost nearly 20 healthpoints!"

     Nick growled, "Only 10!" but he accepted the potion.

     Tess looked around, "Where is everyone?" The lobby was usually bustling with activity - people discussing battle weapons, neopets practicing battle moves, neopets arguing about strategy…but now the lobby was completely deserted. "Where is everyone?" Tess said again, somewhat expecting a neon sign to pop out of the ground pointing to 'Everyone'.

      Nick snorted and walked toward Battle Arena 31, one of the larger ones. Tess followed, remembering about his fight with the red Shoyru.

     ~~~~~

      "Okay, when they get home, I'll give Nick a couple thousand neopoints to get rid of him for awhile, then we'll talk to Tess and convince her to abandon him." Sarah summed up their plan.

      "And we'll live happily ever after!" Rose chimed in. Sarah rolled her eyes, but she went along with her sister's fantasy.

     ~~~~~

      Nick stepped into Battle Room 31 to loud cheering. He looked around, unimpressed by the thousands of people that had gathered in the stands. Some of his other fights had had bigger crowds. His statistics gleamed on a huge scoreboard over his head.

     "Give me my weapons," he ordered Tess, who was standing next to him, her jaw hanging open. She closed her mouth and struggled to lift a huge bag, weighing over 200 pounds. He snatched it from her with one paw and quickly unloaded all of his shields and weapons and readied himself for the moment when Fire2197neo314pet68 would arrive.

     Minutes passed. Nick felt himself grow bored. The crowd, who had been silently holding their breath, began to chat.

     Then, the Shoyru arrived. He wore wiry spectacles and carried a small green backpack. His statistics appeared on the scoreboard beside Nick's. All of them read: "below average". He was alone. 'His "insane inventor" owner probably has better things to do than to watch him be beaten by me,' Nick thought.

     "The battle will begin in 1 minute!" the announcer, a yellow kacheek wearing a referee uniform, called out to the crowd, who began to count down.

     "10…9…8…7…6…5" they chanted. When they got to 1, the referee blew a whistle, silencing the audience.

     Nick immediately scooped out a pawful of battle dung and threw it at Fire2197neo314pet68. The Shoyru dodged it agilely. Then, he slowly reached into his backpack (he wasn't in any hurry because Nick couldn't attack while it was his turn) and took out a Hubrid's Noxious Blade. Even Nick gasped, that item was specifically designed to defeat Lupes, like himself, in battle!

     The Shoyru began stepping closer and closer to Nick, who stepped further and further away from him. When Nick was up against the wall, he hurled the blade at him, missing him, but going into the wall to the right of him, only a few inches away.

     Nick scooped out another pawful of battle dung and threw it at the Shoyru, being careful not to touch the Hubrid's Noxious Blade. The Shoyru dodged it again.

     Fire2197neo314pet68 repeated his maneuver with another blade, this time throwing it to Nick's left. Nick couldn't move to either side, for fear of touching the poison that covered the sword. The only way he could move was forward, toward the now grinning Shoyru.

     Nick used his turn to do the only thing he could - attack cautiously. Fire2197neo314pet68 just raised an eyebrow, and moved out of the way. Then he forced Nick back into the position on the wall between the two swords by means of another Hubrid's Noxious Blade.

     The Shoyru reached into his pack again, this time bringing out a Slumberberry Potion, which he poured over Nick's head. Nick couldn't claw at him, because if he lifted his leg, he would brush up against the poisonous blade. He was completely trapped.

     Nick kept his mouth tightly shut, because if even one drop of the potion got into his mouth, he would go to sleep. The Shoyru expected this, though. He held a bandana up to Nick's muzzle, blocking out air from his nose.

     Nick was beginning to get dizzy from lack of oxygen. He had to breathe. He opened his mouth for one second to get a breath of air, and the potion dripped into his mouth.

To be continued...