Disowned

      My name is adajyjfv, and I am a Red Pteri.

     ***

      My original owner was a nice girl, and I had three siblings, dtrmdlh, the Yellow Ixi, ghytredhy, the Blue Kiko, and Altabris, the Green Uni. Before Altabris, dtrmdlh, ghytredhy, and I were treated equally. We each got about, roughly, 300 NP per month. If my siblings pooled our money, then we would have 900 NP. When Altabris came, she got 600 NP, which is twice my monthly allowance, and my other siblings and I only got 150 NP. She got it weekly; we got it EVERY TWO MONTHS. It became apparent that dtrmdlh, ghytredhy, and I would be disowned. Days, weeks, months, and even years passed. My siblings and I starved and were sick. My owner was spoiling Altabris. Eventually, we had enough NP (100,000 to be exact) to heal and feed us all. We went through shops trying to find the cheapest healers, while we munched on some Plain Omelettes that were given to us generously by Sabre-X.

      "Ada, look. A Blurry Vision cure is on sale for only 10000 NP," ghytredhy said. Ada is what my brothers call me. It doesn't surprise me that ghytredhy knows that what he saw will heal me. He's Doctor Gelert's assistant.

      "That's only a tenth of our NP!" Dmitri exclaimed. (Dmitri's what ghytredhy and I call dtrmdlh.) Well, at least he's a math genius. And fast.

      "Let's keep looking. First, let's browse that shop. Maybe we'll find a Watery Eyes cure for you, Dmitri, and a cure for your Neomonia, Tred." Tred is what Dmitri and I call ghytredhy. We looked around inside the shop, and we were awestruck. Cures of all kind, lined up neatly on pure bamboo shelves. Everything was lowly priced, and we were stunned not only at the cures, but at the beautiful interior of the shop.

      "Hello, may I help you?" The silky, friendly voice belonged to an eleven year old girl behind them. A pretty Faerie Hissi stood beside her.

      "No, thank you, but we're just browsing."

      "Ada," Dmitri hissed in my ear. "Ask her to hold the cures while we get the NP."

      "Um, miss?" Tred politely asked the girl. Darn. He beat me to asking if the cures could be held on to.

      "You can call me Rocky. What's up?"

      "Would you please hold these cures while my siblings and I go and get our neopoints?" Tred always sounds so polite.

      "Sure. What cures?" Tred listed the cures that we need, namely Medicinal Soap for him, Minor Healing Ointment for me, and Onion Balm for Dmitri. "Okay. Medicinal Soap, Minor Healing Ointment, and Onion Balm."

      "Ada, fly home as fast as you can and get the NP from under my dresser," Tred instructed. I ran out of the shop clumsily (Pteris just aren't meant to run). I spread my wings, and pushed off into the air. After a few minutes of flying, I dipped down, and landed gracefully on my front lawn. I opened up my front door, and walked into Tred's room. I got on the ground near Tred's dresser, and I gasped.

      "ALTABRIS." I ran out of the room as neatly as I could. I sped out the door, not caring which of Altabris' trophies I crashed into. I jumped off the patio. Two minutes of flight was all it took to reach the store. Breathlessly, I panted, "Tred, Dmitri, our money is gone!"

      "You're kidding." Tred gasped. Dmitri stumbled back in shock. We took off in the direction of our house. We stumbled through our unlocked house door.

      "ALTABRIS!" We spat in perfect unison. Altabris looked... different.

      "Can you believe the luck? Alta found one hundred thousand neopoints walking along the road."

      "LUCK? ALTABRIS STOLE THOSE FROM US!!" Dmitri, when he gets mad, rages.

      "How dare you? Alta found those neopoints ON HER OWN. I have gotten sick of your attitudes lately. I'm pounding all three of you." Altabris smirked prissily in her new Royalgirl clothes. "Alta, stay here and polish your trophies." We were pushed out the door, through Neopia Central, and at the door of the Pound.

      "Adopt or Abandon?" the Adoption Uni asked.

      "Abandon," my owner said icily.

      "Dr. Death!" The Adoption Uni sang. "Abandoned Neopets!" The dreaded Techo led me and my brothers into a chilly room.

      "You." Dr. Death pointed to me. "Get in that cage." Tred and Dmitri followed glumly behind the Techo. My head swirled with anger. I was her first pet, helped her all the time, and she just HAD to get Altabris from a friend of hers. I kicked a pebble angrily out of my cage.

      "What happened to you?" someone beside me asked.

      "I was pounded by an 'I-will-have-four-pets-but-I-will-only-care-for-one' owner.

      "I've heard of those owners. My owner just pounded me because I'm blind. I'm Xerid, by the way." His lifeless eyes darted around the room. "Who are you?" Xerid asked.

      "I'm adajyjfv, Ada for short." I looked into his eyes. "You know, even though you're blind, you look like a perfectly normal Blue Acara."

      "Yeah, I was born this way. Every single owner that I had, when they found out I was blind, threw me in here. I've gotten pretty used to it." I felt pretty bad for Xerid. "Nobody gives you second chances anymore." He sighed. Xerid was clearly hurt.

      "I've got it worse than you. I'm a badly named, basic colored Pteri with absolutely horrible stats."

      "You're my only real friend in here, Ada." I could tell that both he and I would be in here for a long time.

      Since Xerid and I met, several owners came in. Rush month, Xerid said. The first owner that looked at me said, "Ugh. Badly named, bad stats, basic color, it's not worth it." The next few owners didn't even look at me and Xerid. The one owner that actually considered taking Xerid figured out he was blind, and left. Before everyone left, one owner took a look at me...

      "Badly named, basic colored, bad stats, but I think I can help you." He took me out of the pound, and told me where we were going to: the Lab Ray.

      We got in line; there were only a few people. "My name is Lucas. This will only take a couple of minutes." People were in and out of the place in a couple of minutes, just like Lucas said. Finally, it was my turn. The Scorchio scientist cackled madly.

      "Your turn, little Pteri. BWA HA HA HA!!" I shuddered. I closed my eyes, and a tingling sensation enveloped me. Great pain followed, and I opened my eyes. I looked down at myself, and I saw not the body of a Red Pteri, but the body of a Speckled Xweetok.

      "AUGGHHHH!!!" Lucas picked me up, and hoisted me out of the lab.

      "Another day, another change," Lucas muttered.

      It was like that for a while. First a Red Pteri, then a Speckled Xweetok, then a Robot Hissi, and finally a Mutant Gelert. That was when Lucas got tired of me. He took me to the Pound, and left me without saying goodbye. I was put right back next to Xerid.

      "Hey, Xerid. Guess who's a Mutant Gelert?"

      "Ada? Hi! You were adopted? I wasn't..." His voice trailed off.

      "Every day that I was with that owner, I was zapped. I was originally a Red Pteri, then a Speckled Xweetok, then a Robot Hissi, and now I'm a Mutant Gelert." An owner walked by.

      "Are you adajyjfv, and Xerid?" The voice sounded familiar.

      "I know you! Remember me? The Red Pteri with the Blue Kiko and the Yellow Ixi?"

      "I think so... either way, I'm adopting you both. This is Zennirah." A Faerie Hissi slithered out from behind her.

      "Goodbye, old dump of a pound." Xerid seemed relieved. Zennirah and I talked about the Pound, how we were both rejects, and Xerid and Rocky talked about a proper blind education for Xerid. Finally, we were at Rocky's house.

      "Ada, I'm a Premium owner, so I adopted two friends that wanted to see you. But first, don't you want to fly again?" She drew a Red Pteri Morphing Potion from her bag. I drank the potion gingerly.

      "Whee!" I was able to fly again! Oh, the joy! Rocky opened the door. I saw two familiar faces.

      "Tred? Dmitri?"

The End