The Forgotten

      We manage your shops. We run your banks. We watch over the economy of Neopia. We fight your wars. We run your countries.

      Who are we?

      We are the forgotten.

      The pink Uni shivered on the sidewalk. Her coat, which used to be so beautiful and glossy, was rumpled, stained, and drenched like her mane and tail with the rain even now falling from the sky. Her hooves were caked with mud. Her wings were also soaked and feathers falling out and her horn’s gloss had faded, leaving it as dull as an ordinary pebble. Like so many others, she had been left on the streets to fend for herself. If only we had a place to go, she thought sadly. When a neopet is abandoned, no one feeds it or cares for it. It is left on the streets, like me, until someone wants it. Aaron told me about pounds once. We should have one. She sighed wistfully and gently picked up the blue Ixi plushie Aaron had allowed her to take and placed it between her wings. Then she picked up a drawstring bag containing five thousand neopoints and placed it next to the plushie. Satisfied all was in place, the mare continued on the sidewalk. She put her head down and concentrated on the beat her hooves were making on the pavement.

      “Hello,” a voice said nearby. She looked up to see a yellow Techo. “Who are you?”

      “Oh, I’m Kamryn, but my owner calls me Snoogs a lot,” she said happily, then became solemn as she remembered. “I mean, he did.”

      “I’m Camden,” said the Techo. “Are you a runaway?”

      “Oh, no! Why would I ever run away from Aaron? He was so nice, at least until yesterday...” Kamryn hung her head.

      The Techo nodded. “I was abandoned myself. Not very long ago, but I quickly got over it. I didn’t have time to get attached; Adler was hardly ever on, and he soon abandoned me anyway.

      “Oh, do you have any Neopoints?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

      Kamryn nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got 5k. You?”

      “About 15k- I spent five already. So that makes about twenty thousand neopoints, if we total it.”

      The mare blinked, startled. “What? We barely know each other! Do you expect me to hand over all of my Neopoints to you?”

      “No,” Camden said carelessly. “I was just saying. Why don’t we keep our neopoints and just travel together, you know, team up?”

      The Uni considered the offer. Camden obviously had enough neopoints to support them both, and she had no doubt that he was street smart. But for all she knew, the yellow Techo could be plotting to steal her neopoints. Finally, she arrived at a decision. “Okay, Camden,” she said, “but just for a little while.”

      Camden beamed. “Alright, then. To the Money Tree!” He began to march off. Kamryn followed uncertainly. Shortly they arrived at the Money Tree. Camden darted out, filling his arms with bags of neopoints and jellies and bitten apples and half-eaten berries and parts of omelettes. When the stack in his arms grew too big, he ran over to the tree where Kamryn was standing and set it down. Kamryn would then sort the bags, separating the food and the neopoints for Cam (as he had told Kamryn to call him) to tally later.

      After repeating this several times, Cam returned to the Uni’s side and began to total the neopoints he had collected. He would round the number of neopoints and then mentally add them before dumping the neopoints with Kamryn’s in the drawstring bag. Finally, he said, “Snoogs, we now have about twenty-five thousand. Time to eat.” The Techo grabbed a glowing jelly and began to tear at it ravenously as Kamryn delicately began to nibble on a bitten green apple.

      When about three items of food were gone, Cam went into the fray and came out with an air faerie backpack, which he laid out next to his meowclops one. He then opened both the backpacks and the drawstring bag and began to empty all the neopoints into the air faerie backpack. This done, he stuffed the food into his pack and shouldered it, then helped Kamryn do the same. “All set, Snoogs!” he called. “Where are we going?”

      “Well, I’ve just gotten an idea.” She bit her lip uncertainly.

      “Yes, and?” the Techo encouraged.

      “I’ve been thinking, here we are with 25k and plenty of food. Why not make a pound?”

      “A what?” cried Cam, incredulous.

      “A home for abandoned neopets, where people can come and adopt them or they can go and make a shop or something. It’ll run on the Money Tree or people that pay to adopt. I think it would be great!”

      Camden remained skeptical. “I don’t know, Snoogs. Why should we waste our neopoints just to make a business that is doomed to fail?”

      The Uni stamped her hoof angrily. “Everyone deserves a second chance, Cam. Everyone. Are you with me or not?”

      Cam sighed; the Uni had something of a point. “Okay, I’m in.”

      Kamryn, pleased, nuzzled the Techo and lifted him onto her back by his backpack. “Let’s go!” and together they raced off.

      One year later, Cam and Snoogs headed a thriving business. They now faced the pets that had been in the pound for over three months. Softly, Kamryn spoke.

      “You are the fourth group of the forgotten. You now have a choice. You may pick from these jobs, or you may go on your own to start a new business. Those going on their own receive five thousand neopoints, and those who stick with the jobs receive two thousand, five hundred. Whatever you choose, Dr. Camden and I wish you well.”

      Together, a Scorchio and a Wocky approached as the rest began to sign up. “We’d like to start an auction house, sir,” said the Scorchio.

      Camden smiled at them and handed them two bags heavy with neopoints. “Good luck, Matthew and Gene. You will certainly do well.”

      Timidly the pets walked out the door, officially joining the ranks of the forgotten.

      For many years, the pound increased in size, and always there were the forgotten. They starred in games, ran shops, and modeled for the artists on The Neopets Team. Slowly but surely, Neopets expanded until the forgotten could only find work in existing jobs. Many of their shops were closed.

      And then the plots came.

      Brucey B. was always a bit off, and big on gambling. But when The Neopets Team asks, you don’t question. Kamryn and Camden would have preferred other pets were picked, but they had to say Brucey B. was a big hit.

      After that, the pound’s Bruces disappeared, and another species was high in demand after each plot. The pair couldn’t say this wasn’t an improvement.

      Of course, that didn’t mean there were no more forgotten. But soon enough, their numbers began to shrink. Cam and Snoogs were pleased, not only because of that, but also because of the new developments they made because of funding. The pound extended to accommodate over one million pets and gained a pool and playground equipment for the younger pets. There was also a room where owners could interview new pets and talk to their old ones.

      So it was, and so it will be. The forgotten remain to this day, and with each new one more are released into the streets. I wish them luck.

The End

If you are reading this, I made the NT! Yay! *dances*