Mickey and Laden: Part Two

     "I never blamed you stole him!" exclaimed Laden. "I know that you didn't; I saw him go down that current! I'm just saying that he's mine."

     "WELL HE ISN'T! AND IF YOU SAY HE IS ONCE MORE, I'M NEVER TALKING TO YOU AGAIN!"

     And with that, Raymond stormed off, mumbling some things (most likely about Laden) under his breath. Laden gazed off into the distance, the image of Raymond and Imkey fading away. "Don't worry Mickey, I'll come get you soon," he sighed.

**************

     Laden sat down on his bed, anxiety taking over his emotions. In one of his paws was a notebook that had a piece of paper displayed in front of him, and in the other was a pencil. The island Wocky had tried to write down some theories on how Raymond could have accidentally taken his Meepit, but he couldn't think of anything. He was just too worried about getting Mickey back. His mind was slowly wandering off. Thinking of other things than Mickey was a difficult thing to manage. In his mind, Laden knew that Raymond had most likely found Imkey standing on the deserted roads of Meridell, but in his heart, he knew that Imkey was his.

     But how was he going to be able to convince Raymond that it really was Mickey? An answer for a question like that was quite difficult to think of. After having given up on his 'theories plan', and without having even a single idea planned out, Laden decided to go over to Raymond's house and talk to him about Imkey.

     As Laden exited his home, he noticed a young blue Usul walking up his driveway, one of his Missing Mickey posters clutched in her paw. She seemed to be happy about something.

     "Hello!" the Usul exclaimed, once seeing Laden. She held out her paw, and said, "My name's Chrissy and I think I may have some information about your Meepit."

     Laden smiled, and shook paws with her. "Y-you saw him?" he asked, hoping that she would say yes.

     "Yep, I'm pretty sure of it. It was about three days ago, and my owner and I were headed towards Illusen's Glade. While walking there, I suddenly saw this Meepit sitting at the edge of the forest. He had cuts and bruises all over him, and he looked pretty hungry. But my owner was yelling at me to come over, so I couldn't really do anything about it," explained Chrissy.

     Laden gasped. "So that means he's alive!"

     "Hopefully. Petpets mean a lot to me, and finding out that one was injured or killed is awful to me."

     Laden smiled at the kind Usul that he had just met, and walked back inside his house. He quickly snatched two-thousand Neopoints from the entrance tabletop, and dropped them in Chrissy's paw.

     "Here," he said. "Thank you so much for telling me about this!"

     Chrissy grinned, and exclaimed, "Oh, it was no problem! I'll come back to you if I notice anything else!"

     After the conversation ended, Chrissy skipped away, waving at Laden. Laden's cheeks grew into a light shade of red. He waved back, whispering, "Thank you, thank you."

     After a quick pause, Laden ran off to Raymond's house, seemingly growing more suspicious by the second.

     **************

     Knock, knock

     Laden stood at the front steps of Raymond's home, which was located just four houses away from his own. He inhaled quick and nervous breaths, hoping that Raymond wouldn't just slam the door in front of him. The door suddenly swung open.

     Upon seeing Laden standing on his front steps, Raymond glowered. "What do you want?" he mumbled, attempting to avoid eyesight.

     "Um, can I talk to you for a minute?"

     Raymond looked down at the ground. "I guess so."

     "Look, I'm sorry about what happened," Laden calmly said. "I know I shouldn't done what I did."

     "I-it's all right," stammered Raymond. Laden found it bizarre that Raymond kept looking down at the ground, but he didn't say anything.

     "But, can I just ask, where did you find Imkey?"

     "Oh, uh, I found him lying nearby the Cheese Roller hill, which is where I was at today. He seemed to not have an owner, so I asked the Techo there if it was his. He said no, so I went over to the Meepit and asked him the same question. He shook his head, so I decided to take him home."

     Raymond finally looked up at Laden. "Now do you believe me?"

     "Yeah," replied Laden, lying. "Sorry for bothering you, Raymond."

     "It's all right."

     After that, Raymond shut his door. Laden walked away, and said to himself, That Grarrl is one heck of a liar. I'm sure of it! But let's see if I'm right.

     Laden then started racing down the block, quickly turned right, continued to run through the grassy paths of Meridell, and then finally caught view of the Cheese Roller hill. He swiftly made his way towards it, and then saw the Techo who managed the game.

     "Um, excuse me sir," Laden said politely, "may I talk to you for a moment?"

     The blue Techo turned to him and smiled. "Sure! What is it I can help you with?"

     "Just by any chance, did you happen to see an electric Grarrl and a Meepit around here today?"

     The Techo pondered for a moment, and then said, "Nope, not that I remember of. And trust me, I would have remembered. I don't get many electric Grarrls and Meepits around here."

     Laden grinned. "Thank you sir!" he exclaimed, as he ran off back to Raymond's home.

     **************

     Five minutes later, Laden was back on the front steps of Raymond's home. He rapidly knocked on the old-fashioned wooden door, tapping his feet impatiently against the pavement. The door opened more slowly then before.

     To Laden's surprise, standing there was Raymond's owner, Brayden. "Hey Laden," Brayden said, smiling. "Have you come to play with Raymond?"

     "Um, yep! Do you know where he is?"

     "Actually, he went of to Neopia Central to get some grooming supplies and toys for his new Meepit. He should be back here soon," explained Brayden.

     Laden's face dropped. "Oh. Um, thanks for the info."

     Darn! Raymond obviously knew that I was going to come back here! Well, he's not going to be able to hide from me!, Laden thought heatedly.

     Running around Meridell seemed to be like a routine for Laden now; he was doing it quite often, like right now. As the island Wocky's paws stamped on the freshly cut grass of Meridell, he continually panted heavily. Beads of sweat trickled down his face, and a look of determination was all that you could see from him. Shortly after, he arrived at King Skarrl's castle, where there was always at least two Eyrie cabs stationed.

     He went up to one of them, and asked the grand looking Eyrie, "Could I please have a ride to Neopia Central?"

     "Sure kid," the Eyrie grunted. "That'll be eight-hundred Neopoints."

     Laden handed the Eyrie eight-hundred Neopoints that he always kept with him, just in case anything happened. He slid into the elegant-looking black carriage, and sighed deeply. He was going to get Mickey back soon, he knew it. Soon, the Eyrie was flapping his wings quicker and quicker, until they were off into the vibrant blue skies of Meridell. Laden gazed down at the sight below me, and grinned. It looked amazing. About ten minutes later, he could start seeing Neopia Central, where owners and pets all around were weaving through the immense crowds.

     The Eyrie eventually landed in front of the grooming parlor, just like Laden had requested. Laden hopped off, thanked the driver and waved goodbye. He quickly dashed in to the store, and just like he had expected, Raymond was nowhere to be seen. But the thing that Laden couldn't figure out was where Raymond really was.

     Running out of the store, Laden frantically looked around the crowds. There was not one single electric Grarrl. He pushed through a rainbow Kyrii and an eleven-year-old girl with glasses, when he suddenly caught view of the Rainbow Pool. And standing there with a pink Meepit in his arms was none other then Raymond.

     "Seems like our little thief has been caught," muttered Laden.

     He raced to the Rainbow Pool, and tapped Raymond's shoulder. Raymond swiveled his body around, and he instantly gasped when he saw Laden.. "L-Laden! W-w-what are y-you doing h-here?!"

     "I think I should be asking you that question!" Laden exclaimed angrily.

     He looked down at the Meepit who was gazing back at him. For some odd reason, about a quarter of its body was blue, and the rest was pink. Laden touched the blue part of the fur. It felt crinkly and hard, like it had been painted with a fake paintbrush.

     Laden turned his head back up to Raymond, who had now tears forming in his eyes. "HOW COULD YOU, RAYMOND?!" roared Laden. He seized Mickey away from the Grarrl's arms. "HOW COULD YOU?!"

     "I'm sorry!" cried Raymond. He began weeping hysterically, tears falling freely down his face.

     Owners, pets, and petpets standing in line were looking to see what the commotion was about.

     "I'm so sorry, Laden! You have no idea how guilty and bad I feel about this! I just wanted a Meepit of my own, and Brayden said that they were too expensive for him to buy me one!"

     "Oh yeah, I'm sure you do feel guilty, right after you were just about to paint Mickey another color so that I couldn't find out it was him!"

     Laden glared at Raymond, and added, "And I'll be sure to tell Brayden and Jay about this. Come on Mickey, let's go back home."

     Mickey nodded, and softly hugged his rightful owner. Laden smiled at Mickey, and he hugged him back. The two were finally together, like family.

     "Don't worry, Mickey," sniffed Laden, wiping the tears that were welling up in his eyes, "they'll be plenty of time to explain to me what happened over a nice, warm cup of Borovan. Sound good?"

     Mickey nodded, and hugged Laden once more. He then hopped onto Laden's back, and the two slowly made their way back home, while Raymond continued to weep like a baby at the Rainbow Pool.

Epilogue

Mickey and Laden went back home, where Jay was thrilled to see that Mickey was back and alive. But, he wasn't so thrilled about Raymond having kidnapped the Meepit for a day. He immediately contacted Brayden, who was furious and immediately punished Raymond for an entire year. Meanwhile, Mickey told Layden, in their secret sign language, that he had managed to hold onto a piece of wood while trapped in the current, and pulled himself out, where Raymond soon found him. Mickey and Layden continue to be the bestest of friends to this day, and everyone knows, including them, that this will stay the same for the rest of their days.

The End

Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading my series, and I really hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is much appreciated! Until next time!