In a slump the three lay in a clearing, not saying anything as they glanced
around looking very bored. Suddenly in the distance they heard a strange roar.
All looked up and glanced west, deeper into the forest.
"The mero..." Drake said quietly, not wanting to attract the creature.
The mero was their name for the huge bull like creature that was the most
feared thing about the woods that they lived in, just west of Neopian central,
its common name being the Monocerous.
"...I bet it's going to go bluff about junk again..." Draco murmured, laying
his head across his claws in boredom.
"Yeah..." replied Sunray, glancing in the direction of the sound. Again the
odd roar sounded, and Drake murmured, "Can't we be miserable in peace?"
Sunray sighed. "It's that fool's fault we got caught up in this mess in the
first place I suppose..."
Draco grinned and sat up. "Wait a minute, guys... if the mero is always scaring
people away, and they'd drop stuff right? And the mero is likely to still have
it all right?"
Drake stood up as well. "You're right! It makes perfect sense!"
Sunray looked at him questioningly. "Your point?"
Draco laughed. "Let's raid 'em! There will be tons of neat stuff!"
The others agreed, and soon they were headed further west.
After about an hour of searching, they came across what they were looking for,
a cave with a trampled entrance... this was clearly it. Draco was the first
to go ahead in. What little light was there was enough for them to see in. Drake
tripped over something hard. Looking back at it he saw a large sack of NP, at
least 17,000.
"Hey! Look at this!" he said, as the other two rushed over to see.
"Draco was right!" Sunray said, looking at it.
Draco stared at the shinning coins. "Let's see what other thins we can find!"
Soon they were finding highly valuable things in the back of the cave. NP,
rare battle items, paintbrushes, all sorts of costly items. Sunray paused, hearing
the roar in the distance again. He set down the rare faerie amulet he was holding
and looked at his two brothers.
"Let's go before it comes back."
They also set down what they were looking at, and walked out of the cave, talking
in low voices about the strange things they saw.
"I found these colours on a stick!" Drake commented, looking at the other two.
Sunray smiled. "So did I, I wonder what its supposed to do?"
Draco was also curious of this, but also of many other things. "What about
the bags with shiny stone looking things inside?"
"I bet it's some kind of thing they use to trade stuff, I saw it happen in
town when I went that one time..." Sunray said with a sigh.
"I wonder why they need all this stuff anyway?" Drake questioned, looking at
them.
"I dunno, that's-" Before Draco could finish; a huge form erupted from the
foliage in front of them, roaring hideously. It was the Monocerous. Before they
could do a thing, it swung its huge head, slamming them all across the ground.
The wind rose to a gale as Drake was attacked, and the huge beast reared up,
confused by this. In landing its huge forelegs back onto the ground, it nearly
hit Draco. Yelling, he did the best he could, digging his claws into its leg,
the beast growling as it easily threw him off, into a tree.
Sunray yelled, "RUN!" as the tree scampered off quickly but weakly. The huge
beast creature attempted to follow, however was caught on the restraining vines
of a tree, like some sort of a net, it thrashed about, and within that time
they had run off.
Panting, they reached the lake in the midst of the forest, exhausted and injured;
they found a place under an overhang of vines. They got a drink before resting.
"Well, we're alive," SunRay said, laying on his back.
"You sure?" Drake asked.
Draco sighed, looking at the darkening sky. "Let's go and find somewhere to
sleep..."
SunRay yawned and rolled onto his side. "I'm fine here. You guys go if
you want." Drake and Draco both headed in towards the other side of the lake,
in the open.
That night, strangers were in the forest. All sound asleep in exhaustion from
the fight, they didn't awake. Two people walked through the forest, one carrying
a net, the other a bag. They spoke in hushed voices.
"The guy distinctively said they had no owner, clearly! He saw them at the
edge of town, so that means they're in this forest."
"Even if you're right, what chance is there that-" signaling the other to be
quiet, he pointed to the edge of the lake where the two lay, about a yard from
one another.
Quietly creeping up upon them, the two men care fully picked them up, placing
them in the sacks without waking them from the deep sleep. They headed back
towards the edge of the forest, where a truck was waiting, a cranky Techo at
the wheel.
"Hurry it up you two, I don't have time for this, I have things to attend to!"
"We have them, be quiet!" one of them snapped back, both jumping into the
truck. The truck turned and drove off, heading toward town.
The Techo walked up to behind the counter after they arrived at the pound,
muttering about the middle of the night. One of the men opened the sack, dropping
the two into a cage before quickly closing it. They walked out of the pound,
talking. Startled and by this, they both awoke, gazing around. Fear struck them
like lightning. Wherever they were, it was horrible. Locked here in this cage,
away from their home. Both cowered in the corner, wings trembling.
A huge wind rose inside the pound, and papers from the front desk flew about
the entire place, the Techo, Dr_Death, began yelling, "What's going on? Who's
doing that? QUIT IT!"
The wind continued to blow hard, startling everyone, all the pets in the other
cages. Dr_Death angrily shouted, seeing who it was, he took a stick and went
over to the cage, rattling the bars loudly, and Drake stopped, understanding
what it meant. If he didn't stop the guy would hurt him. He murmured something
and walked back to the desk. The door opened and a man came in with a fire Lupe,
who smirked and began prowling down the row of cages. Still frightened out of
their wits, they did all they could; they waited. The Lupe grinned, stopping
in front of their cage.
"Well, what do we have here?" he asked, looking at Drake.
The owner walked up to the cage beside the Lupe. "You think this one looks
strong, Anthony?" he asked, looking at the strange Shoyru.
"Yeah, let's get this one!" the Lupe said with a smile, looking up at his owner.
But it wasn't a friendly smile.
After five minutes of forms, the man took Drake outside and began walking down
the street. The first thing he tried was to bolt. But the Lupe leaped ahead
of him, blocking his path. However he tried to move, it blocked him. When he
tried to fly, it leaped up and grabbed his leg in its jaws, pulling him down.
He couldn't get away.
Meanwhile, inside the pound, another person was walking down the line of cages,
looking in each and everyone. Stopping to look at the cage on the ground where
Draco lay, trembling, he paused and stared for a moment. "I've never seen a
starred Scorchio before..." And took Draco. He also attempted to bolt, however
the young boy quickly picked him up, stopping him. "Where do you think you're
going? Come on!" Draco struggled against him, trying to get away, but he couldn't.
He stared in the distance of the starry night, hoping that somehow Drake had
escaped...
Huddled in a corner of a large room, Drake looked at the residents of this
house. The guy sat at the couch, sorting out money, as if he planned to buy
something. The fire Lupe, anothony226, known as Anthony, walked up the stairs.
A red Lupe named rob337 (rob) and a yellow one named Danro lay half asleep in
chairs. Drake leaped up onto the high windowsill, looking out over the huge
city, at the stared dark sky. Wherever his real home was, out there, he wished
nothing more than to be there.
Below a couch, Draco hid from the overly caring owner, which held him in this
house. At a table in the dining room the boy, a green Aisha, a yellow Kacheek
and a blue Eyrie, all sitting and eating dinner. The boy looked over at the
couch in which Draco hid under and sighed.
"Don't you want to come and have dinner, YoungDraco?" he remained hidden beneath
the couch, muttering a quiet "no..." the boy sighed. "We'll have to give him
time." Draco's stare was content on the Eyrie. He looked at the carpeted ground
and sighed. He wondered what Sunray would think.
To be continued... | 
