Alone

     "Ah, I feel like a prince," said Coco, a blue Kadoatie. He was smiling while lying on his back in his cage.

     Piddles, a pink Kadoatie, nodded and giggled. "I feel like Princess Fernypoo, except I'm much, much prettier!"

     All of the Kadoaties roared in laughter. Piddles always thought of herself as someone with great power, when in reality, she was just a very simple Kadoatie.

     Leanardo heaved a sigh, and rubbed his head against his soft yellow skin. The poor Kadoatie's stomach rumbled loudly for some good food. "Ooooh, I'm so hungry," he moaned. "That Lettuce barely did anything for my stomach."

     Everyone stared at him sympathetically. Leanardo was an incredibly unlucky Kadoatie. His owner had already left him at the Kadoatery for two weeks (which was an abnormally long time for a Kadoatie to stay there), and he was always the one who had to be fed the sickening and tiny foods.

     "Don't worry Leanardo!" Coco exclaimed. "I'm sure you'll get something great the next restock!"

     All of a sudden, the caretaker stepped out of his office, holding about a dozen worn-out signs. He started to tape them against the cages of all the Kadoaties who had been fed in the prior restock.

     Please let me get something good, please let me get something good, Leanardo desperately pleaded to himself.

     The caretaker placed a sign against Leanardo's cage. The yellow Kadoatie immediately tilted his head to try and see what he would be fed.

     "Is it something good?" he yelled at the other Kadoaties.

     None of them replied, and looked down at the ground, too nervous to tell him the bad news. Leanardo groaned, and lay himself down once more on the ground. The caretaker promptly opened up the entrance of the Kadoatery, and immediately frenzied feeders began streaming in to feed a Kadoatie. Some already had the items with them out of pure luck, and threw them at the Kadoatie who wanted it. Others ran back out to the Shop Wizard to try and purchase it rapidly.

     A young girl who looked quite young stepped up to Leanardo's cage, and bent down with an Apple in her hand. "Here you go, little buddy," she whispered, beaming.

     She let the apple drop into the Kadoatie's cage. Leanardo had no clue what the girl had just told him, since it sounded like total gibberish, but he immediately gulped down the Apple anyway. His stomach continued to rumble after that. The girl unfortunately didn't notice, and ran away, yelling to her friend that she had just fed her first Kadoatie.

     "Oh, when is Kaja going to come back to get me?" Leanardo whispered, sniffing. "He said he'd only be gone for a short amount of time. Two weeks isn't a short amount of time."

     Kaja was Leanardo's loving and kind owner, who was an orange Yurble. He had planned to stay at his relatives in Meridell for a week and a half.

     A rainbow Acara suddenly swung the glass door open, and stepped into the Kadoatery. Piddles squealed in delight, and hopped around her cage. "Yay, Cassie here's! She's here!"

     The whole Kadoatery burst into a wave of cheers as Cassie took out her petpet from the cage with the key she had received when she first put Piddles there. "Hey Piddles!" she exclaimed. "Glad to see you!"

     Piddles hugged her owner, and grinned. She had no clue what her owner had just told her, but she still felt like asking, "How was your vacation?"

     Casse petted her little Piddles. What the Kadoatie had said to her sounded like a whole bunch of squeaks and murmurs to her. But still, she felt like saying, "My vacation was great! I have lots of pictures to show you when we get back home!"

     The whole time Leanardo was watching this, he felt an awful feeling of pain and sadness churn slowly in his stomach. He wanted to be Piddles so badly at that moment. He wanted to be hugged, to be greeted, to go back home. But he couldn't. Kaja hadn't come to him yet…

     "Bye guys, I'll miss you all!" exclaimed Piddles, waving goodbye to all of her friends.

     "Bye Piddles!"

     "We'll miss you too!"

     "I'll Neomail you when I get back home!"

     Piddles and Cassie walked out of the Kadoatery, leaving the door to slowly close shut.

     "I'll Neomail you…Neomail…" slowly muttered Leanardo. A thought suddenly popped in his mind. "Hey, maybe I can Neomail Kaja! THAT'S IT! I CAN DO THAT!"

     "What'd you say, Leanardo?" Mr. Snugglekins suddenly inquired, breaking through the Kadoatie's chain of thoughts.

     "Are we allowed to send Neomails to our owners while we're here?" swiftly asked Leanardo, ignoring his friend's prior question.

     "Um," began Mr. Snugglekins, scratching his head thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure we can. But I think we can only do it once."

     Leanardo's face broke into a wide smile. "YAY! Thanks Mr. Snugglekins!"

     The Kadoatie suddenly squeezed his head out of the cage's bars. "Caretaker, caretaker!" he shouted.

     As always, all that the caretaker could perceive were a bundle of squeaks and murmurs. He poked his head out of his office.

     "Oh great, what does this Kadoatie want now?" he grunted, standing up from his swiveling chair.

     The ugly old man walked up to Leanardo, who was staring up at him with adorable eyes. "What is it?!" he exclaimed.

     Leanardo started scribbling on the ground with his paw, motioning that he wanted to write something. The caretaker immediately knew what he meant. "Fine, fine, I'll go get a piece of paper."

     The yellow Kadoatie hopped around joyfully. Maybe Kaja had forgotten about him because he was having so much in Meridell.

     "I bet he's going to be so mad with himself when he finds out that he forgot me," said Leanardo to himself. "I bet he's going to buy me tons of stuff after this!"

     Leanardo suddenly gasped. "Maybe he'll get me a…Mootix!"

     "Or maybe he's forgotten you forever!" exclaimed Vash, a snooty, island Kadoatie. He was devilishly flashing his teeth at Leanardo.

     Leanardo whimpered, and shouted defensively, "Shut up! It's none of your business!"

     Vash poked out his tongue. "Do you know any other Kadoatie that's been here for two weeks?"

     Leanardo gazed down at the ground. "N-no," he stammered nervously.

     "HAHA, there! Your owner ain't coming back. You're going to be staying here for the rest of your life!"

     "JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTH, VASH!" Leanardo suddenly roared as loud as he could.

     All of the Kadoaties cocked their heads towards him, surprised. All of a sudden, Leanardo felt very weak. He backed up into the shadows of his cave, anxious from all of the Kadoaties, including Vash, who were looking at him with eyes wide as saucers. He promptly dropped to the ground, and bundled himself in a ball. Soon, he started to cry.

     **************

     For the rest of the afternoon and the entire night, Leanardo silently cried. He cried because of what Vash had said. He cried because Piddles had got to leave the Kadoatery so happily. He cried because Kaja still hadn't come for him. Leanardo just wanted to go back to the comfort and warmth of his own home. He was sick of the stinky, old Kadoatery.

     More then thirty different foods had managed to pile up in Leanardo's cage, and the place where he was bundled up in was the only free space he had. All of the Kadoaties (excluding Vash) we're worried about him. Never had they seen Leanardo react in such a furious manner.

     "Poor Leanardo," said Coco. "I'd feel so depressed if I were him."

     Suiko bobbed her head up and down. "I really, really hope his owner comes back soon to get him. I've only been here for three days, and already I feel family sick."

     Leanardo could hear them talking about him. "I don't care about them," he hissed through clenched teeth. "They can talk all they want about me, but I don't care. I'm going to get away from this torture…"

     With a mind of full of rage and determination, the Kadoatie managed to push through all of the heavy food that was in his way. Some of it fell out of his cage, where some greedy Kadoaties tried to seize it with their little paws from their cages alongside of Leanardo's.

     "Hey Leanardo!" exclaimed Coco, the moment he saw the yellow Kadoatie. "Are you all right?"

     However, when he noticed that Leanardo wasn't replying, he felt worried. "L-Leanardo?" he stuttered.

     Leanardo glowered, and suddenly slid out of the bars of the cage. Maybe it was because he was so thin, or maybe it was because he couldn't feel any pain except of what was inside of him at the moment, but either way, he had miraculously gotten out.

     Coco was astonished and scared at what was happening. "Leanardo!" he abruptly screamed, catching of all the other Kadoaties' attention. "What are you doing?!"

     Leanardo could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he sure wasn't going to let the rest of the Kadoaties see them fall. He dashed towards the glass door, pushed it open, and made his way outside into freedom.

     The last words that he heard from the Kadoaties was from Coco.

     Coco had told him in a soft tone, "Leanardo, you're not alone…"

     **************

     Leanardo ran, and ran, and ran down the street of his neighborhood. He could feel the warmness of his house nearby. He could taste the sweetness of it. He could smell its gingerly air.

     Closer, and closer, and closer. The houses that were positioned alongside of his house were now in full and clear view.

     "I'm almost there, I'm almost at home!" Leanardo yelled, his voice full of fear yet joy.

     All of a sudden, the yellow Kadoatie's worst nightmares came to life. The house…it was all…gone.

     Everything was a pile of debris: wood, glass, brick. Ashes were scattered everywhere. The filthy aroma lingered in the air and held a disgusting scent, causing Leanardo to cough stridently.

     "W-what's going on?" he whimpered.

     The yellow Kadoatie suddenly felt something brushing against his left paw. He tilted his head down, and found a pile of letters stacked on one another. Leanardo slowly picked them up, and began reading:

      Kaja,

Where are you? We've been waiting for a day here at Meridell, and you still haven't come. Please come soon. We miss you.

Love,

Tarnila

The second letter was even more painful to read:

      Kaja,

We're growing more and more worried by the second. We're hoping that nothing bad happened to you, and that you're still safe. Please come soon.

Love,

Tarnila

And the third letter felt like a piercing blade to Leonardo:

      Kaja,

We're now all really scared. It's the third day, and you still haven't come! We're going to call the Chia Police is you don't come here by tomorrow.

Love,

Tarnila

     Leanardo stood still in absolute shock. No, this couldn't be. A fire had happened inside his home…had Kaja been trapped inside? No, he couldn't be. He just couldn't.

     Leanardo felt soulless, lifeless. He wanted to disappear from the face of the earth at this exact moment. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to be gone.

     The Kadoatie's little body suddenly dropped on the ashes, and he began to cry, and cry, and cry as hard as he could for his Kaja.

     His Kaja who was gone.

The End

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short story I wrote. As always, comments are much appreciated. Thank you.