Untitled Document
The ship's whistle blew loudly, signaling the passengers
that it had arrived at its destination. Kiirki, Flefah and Iishii all awoke with
a jump, tangling their ear stalks together. "Oh, bugger... I hate it when this
happens!" Kiirki growled, as they hurried to untangle themselves. They put their
cloaks away, the warm sun shining over Mystery Island Harbour comfortingly.
As they walked from the dock to the warm, sandy
shore, they were greeted by Island-painted pets and people wearing Hawaiian
shirts and grass skirts. They draped flowered laias over their heads, offering
them lovely white flowers only islanders obtain.
Iishii, Kiirki, and Flefah were, unfortunately,
also greeted by an old Techo wearing a white coat over his Hawaiian shirt. "Do
you three have owners?" he asked, noticing that just about every other neopet
that walked by was accompanied by a human.
"What do you mean 'owners'?" Kiirki said, in
a puzzling voice.
"Listen," he said frustratingly, "I dunno where
you three are from, but here in the world of Neopia, most Neopets have to be
registered and have owners."
"We're from Jelly World," Flefah said matter-of-factly.
The Techo just stared at her blankly for a moment.
"Would you three mind coming with me?"
Before they knew it, they were standing in front
of a large hut. Above the double-doors was a sign that read, "Neopian Pound".
Underneath it, in smaller print, read "Mystery Island Affiliate".
"Iishii, Kiirki.. this place gives me a bad feeling,"
Flefah said in a whisper.
"Me too," Kiirki said. Iishii was silent. She
was horrified. She had heard of the Pound before, unlike Kiirki and Flefah.
"Right this way," the Techo said, holding the
door open for them. They walked in unwillingly, taking a look around before
the Techo directed them into a door made up of beach grass strung over the door.
He pulled the grassy door aside as they walked into a large hall filled of bamboo
cages. Flefah gulped uneasily.
"Here you are," the Techo said, opening the door
or a larger cage for the three of them.
"This has got to be some kind of mistake, sir!"
Kiirki said, "We don't belong here!"
"If you don't have owners, I'm afraid you do,"
he snorted, giving them a shove inside and closing the cage behind them.
From inside the cage, they looked around at the
other pets in cages. In the cage across from them lay a Skeith and a Shoyru,
laying there like two masses of dung. A tear could be seen to the Shoyru's eye
as he sat there, locked up, unwanted.
"You guys," Flefah said in a hushed voice, "I'm
scared.."
"I know," Iishii said, sighing. "I'm scared,
too."
Not a sound could be heard in the dark halls
of the pound, except for the occasional drip from the leak in the ceiling. Voices
could be heard from behind the door - the door that was their only way out.
Kiirki picked at the food the Techo had given to them. "A starving Spardel wouldn't
eat this stuff!" she said, tossing it at the back wall angrily. Iishii and Flefah
stared at it as it hit the floor.
"I'm sorry," Kiirki said, leaning against the
cage with a deep sigh, "It's just... this is cruel! We came all this way just
to be locked up in a cage?"
"It can't be helped. It's just their way," Iishii
said. "Apparently, 'pets' like us need to be 'owned'."
"I suppose it can't be too bad... being owned,
I mean," Flefah said, her eyes looking glazed by tears in the dim light. "It
must be kinda like having a mama."
Kiirki, Iishii and Flefah all looked out suddenly;
someone was walking through the door. The Shoyru in the cage across from them
had explained it to them before; people come in occasionally and adopt a lucky
pet to have them come live with them.
This time, three human girls walked in behind
an island Uni. The three Aishas looked at each other with wide, eager eyes;
they knew this was their ticket out. Besides, the girls looked nice enough.
They each had brown hair. The tallest one, with brown eyes, wore dark blue shorts
that came a little above her knees in length, and a grey tank top, her hair
pulled up into a ponytail and braided all the way down. The other, with green
eyes, wore the same shorts, only green in color, and a white T-shirt, her hair
down. The third girl wore tan Capri's and a white T-shirt, with a backwards
baseball cap on. The Uni showed them around as they peeked in all the cages.
Kiirki motioned to Iishii and Flefah as she
moved to the front of the cage, flashing the girls their cutest smiles and poses.
Neither of them saw, as the Uni turned to them
at that very moment.
"So, girls," she said, "What kind of pet are
you looking for today?"
The tallest one looked around and shrugged.
"I dunno."
"Yeah," the one wearing the baseball cap said,
"I guess we'll just look around.
The girl with green eyes came towards the cage
containing Kiirki, Iishii, and Flefah. Hope grew vividly in their eyes as she
moved towards them curiously.
"Hey, come look at these Aisha! Aww... cute",
she said, kneeling down in front of Flefah. The other two came over as well.
"Hello there," the tallest girl said to Kiirki.
She looked at her with sad, hopeful eyes, tilting her head slightly. The other
two Aisha followed her movements. Sure, it felt a bit cheesy, but they were
willing to do anything to get out of there.
"Excuse me," the girl with the baseball cap said
to the Uni, "I think I'll take this one here." Iishii paused her posing for
a moment, to comprehend it all. A grin spread across her face as the Uni smiled
and handed the girl a form to fill out.
"Yeah, and I'll take this one!" Tall Girl and
Green-Eye Girl both said at the same time, motioning towards Kiirki and Flefah.
It was like a dream come true as the Uni handed
the three girls quick forms to fill out, taking the three Aishas out of the
miserable little cage. They soon learned the girls' names; the tall girl was
a Tasha. The girl with the green eyes was an Anna, and the girl with the baseball
cap was called a Heather. And although Heather lived up in Faerieland above
Mystery Island, and Tasha and Anna both lived on Mystery Island, the three Aishas
remained friends to the end, as did the three humans.
The End
Author's Note: This story is fictional as far as the histories of Flefah
and Iishii go. I have not created a real history for Kiirki yet (this is pretty
much it), but Flefah and Iishii aren't my pets. They are my pets of two of my
close friends, rainstonez and fr34k3d, and they allowed me to use them in this
story with their permission. I'm not sure about Flefah, but rainstonez has informed
me that Iishii has a long and detailed history of her own. Thank you for reading
my story, and stay tuned till my next entry for The Neopian Times!
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