Also by stoneman3x
Owner opened the door. He carelessly tossed his jacket on
a stone chair, not even seeing his Neopets and Aurora. He entered the kitchen
wordlessly.
“It’s always like that, every time. He comes,
ignores us, and leaves. The only time he talks to us, it’s to insult us,” Meranlia
explained to Aurora.
“You’re trained now, Meran! Go tell Owner. When
he sees how strong you are, he'll care for us,” said Squisito, looking in her
mirror.
“Fine, I'll do it. I'll-- ” She didn't have
time to finish her sentence when she heard her owner shouting.
“What are those?!” their owner screamed from
Meranlia’s room.
Every pet ran (or flew, in Aurora’s case) to
him. Owner was looking at all the weapons: Sword of the Air Faerie, Dark Battle
Duck, Hand Painted Scarab....
“How?” he asked, dumbfounded.
Meranlia, Squisito and Dumas_Dirt looked at
him hopefully. Owner noticed them and pointed at Aurora. “Who's she?”
“1_0wnz_j00_4_3v3r!” said Dumas_Dirt happily.
“The Battledomer?” He half-asked, half-stated.
Suddenly he grabbed the Kiko. “All of you! OUT OF HERE NOW!”
The three other pets quickly fled outside, terrified.
They went into their back yard and sat in the garden.
“He loves us!” said Dumas with mystifying joy.
“You idiot, he hates us!” said Meranlia. “What were we doing... thinking he
could ever like us...” she sighed sadly.
“At least I have my beauty to comfort me!” Squisito
looked in her mirror but almost immediately put it down. “But even that's not
enough.”
“What do you think he's going to do with us?”
queried Meranlia. For once she did not have the answer to a question.
“We can only hope it won’t be too bad...”
All of the pets hugged each other.
***
Owner held Aurora high in the air.
“You are my pet now! Mine! I will win every
battle with you! I will be a Battledome champion! Everyone will envy me! Ha
ha ha!” he cackled with glee.
Aurora struggled, but Owner was holding her
very tightly.
“Jerk! There's no way I'm going back! I don’t
want to fight anymore! Leave me alone!”
“Want it or not, you will do it! I'm your owner
now. You have to obey to me!”
Aurora struggled even more, but a thought hit
her.
“What are you going to do with Meran, Squizzy
and Dumas?”
“Them? They're going to the Pound!” he sneered.
Aurora gasped. "No--"
“I'll drop them off now,” he said, his jaw set
in determination.
Owner took Aurora and locked her in Meran's
room. Thinking better of it because she could easily blast her way out with
any weapon of her choice, he locked her in Dumas' room instead.
Then he walked out into the backyard and called,
"Hey!"
***
Aurora couldn't unlock Dumas' door.
“There has to be a way to open it!” she muttered
to herself. She stopped to think, and she remembered something.
A long time ago, when she was with her first
owner and had a petpet, her owner had locked it in the safety deposit box as
a punishment for breaking her Fuzzle. But the petpet had surprisingly found
a way to unlock it and go outside.
If only I could remember how... she searched
in her mind.
“OF COURSE!” she said aloud triumphantly.
She begun to search in the junk of Dumas' room
until she found what she was searching for: barbed wire. She eyed the keyhole
and begun playing in it with the wire....
***
“Hey,” the owner said, “I’m sorry I yelled. I was just so surprised that I
had a famous Battledome pet now. I apologize."
“Really?” Squisito asked gleefully.
“Yeah," Owner replied, with a voice that was
almost too pleasant. "Say, wanna come for a walk?”
They stood up obediently, but Aurora swiftly
flew out of the house screeching, “DON’T! HE'LL DISOWN YOU!”
“You!” Owner growled as he lunged forward and
grabbed the Striped Kiko. He saw his pets running across the yard and yelled
after them, “Come back here!” But they kept on running, running for their lives.
***
“Aurora has Owner just for her, she must be happy!” said Dumas joyfully.
Meranlia just shook her head until she noticed
Squisito, who seemed shocked.
“What's wrong?”
Squisito sobbed. “I... I forgot my mirror! I
can’t live without it!”
“Oh grow up, Squizzy! Beauty isn’t everything
in life!"
Squisito nodded tearfully. “Well... you're right.
At least we aren’t with Owner anymore, so we won’t be disowned!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you,” warned
Meranlia. “We may be away from him, but technically we're still his pets. He'll
do anything to find us again. Besides, we have to help Aurora.”
“What can we do?”
“We'll go back home," said Meranlia. "Then we'll
make a deal with Owner.”
They had a doubtful look in their eyes but they
trusted Meran. So they nodded in agreement.
"Here's what I had in mind...." the Wocky began.
***
Aurora gazed wistfully out the window. She hoped her new siblings were all
right, but it would do no good to run away and find out. Her owner was watching
her.
“Owner!” came a sudden yell. It was Meranlia’s
voice.
Owner looked at Meranlia, Squisito and Dumas_Dirt
as they entered the living room.
"'Bout time, you're going to the Pound where
you belong," he growled.
“Wait.” Meranlia raised her paw. “Let’s make
a deal!"
“Explain,” Owner said, his eyes narrowing on
her.
“Here's how it goes. I'll fight in the Battledome.
If I lose, you can keep Aurora and we'll go to the Pound, but if we win, you
have to keep us and free Aurora!”
Owner's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was
obvious that he thought it was a fool's bargain that he could not lose. He smiled
smugly and nodded.
“Very well then, but I choose the challenger!”
he replied with a gloating look.
“Deal!" answered Meranlia sternly.
“I choose..." Owner paced around, then grinned
broadly. "The Snowager!"
To be continued....
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