I wrote this story to teach people about the true horrors that the lab
ray can do to an innocent pet. None of the characters in this story were meant
to be real, but if they are real in the search box, it was not meant to be that
Neopet or owner unless otherwise posted.
I'm Kinlick. I'm a glowing Pteri... or, was it a starry Lupe... no, I'm sure
it was a speckled Lenny... well, to tell you the truth, I didn't really know
what I was before I got my current home. Now I'm a glowing Eyrie. But, I will
tell you the story of my horrible life as a lab pet...
I was created by a user named Nico (this is what I referred to him as since
he was so rude not to tell me his real name) at the Create-a-Pet centre. I think
he just wanted to use me as a lab rat because the first thing I remember after
being created was dashing off to the ray. Now, we stopped at Nico's NeoHome
before we ran off the ray. We stopped to pick up his other three pets; a faerie
Lupe (Fankidor), a desert Poogle (Saharake), and a Fire Shoyru (Flair_Wing).
We had gotten to the ray in a matter of minutes. Back then, I'm pretty sure
I was a faerie Krawk (yes, Nico was that rich). I rubbed my tail as we approached
a very scary looking Scorchio. I also saw a huge gun on the other side of the
room. There was a target under it. I started to wonder what it did.
I got my chance. An owner had just put a Meerca onto the big target and left
it. The Meerca was squealing in distress. I watched in interest (and in sadness
for the Meerca) as a large blue-green light erupted from the large gun. It shot
the Meerca and I had to cover my eyes to block out the blinding light that came
from the blast. When I looked up, I saw what I never thought I would see a huge
pair of Tonu eyes stared up at Fankidor, Saharake, Flair_Wing, Nico, and me.
I was horrified. I suddenly didn't want to be in that big lab. I tugged on
Flair_Wing's tail and squealed.
"Be quiet, Krawk!" he shouted at me.
That was the first time I had ever said any thing to ANYBODY and he shouted
at me. I cowered down and snuck over to Saharake.
"RAARR!" I said a scared growl.
She had the same response. So did Fankidor when I asked him.
I was hurt and scared. Hopefully that wouldn't happen to me. I was sure it
wouldn't... BOY, was I wrong.
***
Nico picked me up and walked over to the target. I was squealing like a pig
that had just been slashed. Nico just slapped me across the arm, which hurt
a lot. I was put on the target and left alone. I saw the "used to be" Meerca
being carried away by its owner and dashed as fast as my small webbed feet would
carry me to Flair_Wing. He kicked me back over to the target and said to the
crazy looking Scorchio, "We need the arm straps."
The Scorchio came over to me and bound me around the arms with heavy metal
straps so that I couldn't move an inch. I sweat as he touched my scales. Then,
he too left. I was alone, I couldn't see (he had bound a bandana around my head).
I was heard the crying of other Neopets.
Then, I felt the most horrible jolt of my life. It felt like the rage of a
Tonu, the lash of a Zafara's tail, the peck of a Pteri's beak, and the crunching
of a Kougra's teeth all crammed into one. I was in a series of pain, but little
did I know that I was changing by the second.
My scales were morphing into fur and I sprouted ears. My tail became all fuzzy
and soft in an uneven shape. All of my teeth shrunk so that they couldn't be
visible from the out side. My nose softened and my nostrils became one big nose.
My claws also disappeared and they turned into paws and padded feet. My eyes
ever so slightly shrunk and my ears became pointed and floppy. I noticed that
my wings were no more, I had just a long white stripe along my back. I was a
skunk coloured Neopet. Can you guess which one I was?
I was a skunk Kyrii. As soon as I recovered from the blast of my life, I slid
through the bars that held me and dashed over to Saharake and leaned against
her and hugged her. She was disgusted, she hated Kyriis.
I felt my face wet with tears as Nico picked me up and started to carry me
away. Saharake, Flair_Wing, and Fankidor followed. "So, eh, d'ya like having
a skunk Kyrii, Nico?" said Fankidor in an expressionless voice. "Well, nah...
but we're goin' back tomorrow, anyway…"
At the sound of this, I felt another tear go down my cheek as I was dropped
on the beanbag of the NeoHome
"DINNER TIME! Get down here, you pets!" I heard Nico call as he flipped a
whole dinner plate of gourmet foods for each of us on the furnished wooden table.
I slumped onto my chair and sniffled. Then, Nico said a sharp word and I jumped
onto the chair and looked at my food. I had tons of stuff! My servings included
two apple lanterns, a burning hot dog, three chocolate coated cheese strings,
four and a half Zonutuk fruits, and last of all, a honey dog.
"Woah…" I said to myself, "That is a lot of food." Then, I looked over to
Fankidor, Flair_Wing, and Saharake. They did look a bit on the chubby side... their
plates were also a lot larger and had more food on them then mine did. "Geez…!"
I said.
After I ate about half of my plate I was stuffed. I said quietly to Nico, "I'm
full."
"OH WELL!" he responded, "We still have desert!" Then he grabbed me and stuffed
the remains of the meal down my throat. Then I was really stuffed.
Nico served desert and I wondered how much the other three pets could eat before
they were full. They even said that they were still hungry after desert and
asked for more. My stomach was swollen to two times its normal size.
"BED TIME!" hollered Flair_Wing. I just dragged myself along until I reached
the stairs and attempted to somehow climb up. I had to share a room with Flair_Wing,
Fankidor, and Saharake and when I stole a glance into their room I was amazed.
Each of them had their own bed and their own collection of items. In one corner,
I saw a WHOLE collection of paint brushes sitting neatly in their cases, in
another, a whole collection of Chia pops and transmogrification potions, and
in the third, a finished and complete collection of hidden tower items.
"Urgg…" I grumbled as I gazed at the collections while standing in the doorway.
"Move it, Kinlick! And, while yer up, fetch me a bottle of dandelion and burdock
drink, would yeh?" said all three of the spoiled pets almost at the same time.
I refused and jumped into my bed. Then, all three threatened me with some of
their collections (Saharake threatened me with a transmogrification potion,
Flair_Wing threatened me with a Tyrannian paintbrush, which I hated, and Fankidor
threatened me with a strawberry Chia pop, I didn't even know that they only
worked on Chias).
I dashed out of the room and (wondering how in the world they could still be
hungry) got them each a bottle of the nasty stuff. When I got back up to the
room, they put the bottles on their bed stands and yelled at me for not getting
them each two bottles until I crawled into my furnished wooden bed.
***
The next day, I woke up and sleepily dragged my black and white body out of
the bed. I looked around and saw that my three companions were sleeping
like Harrises. I scampered out of the room and almost ran into Nico on my way
down the stairway.
"What're you doin' here?" said Nico. "Getting ready for breakfast!" I happily
replied.
"We don't have any breakfast in dis NeoHome!" Nico sneered, "No snacks neither."
I was astounded! No breakfast!? No mid afternoon snacks?!
"Dat's why yer supposed to eat so much at dinner…" He sneered. I sighed and
plopped down on a chair.
I sat at the table reading a very expensive book that Nico had tossed in the
trash can. It was very interesting. I think he must have woken Saharake, Fankador,
and Flair_Wing up because I heard some loud grunts coming from the bedroom.
Nico sat up and put us in the car and we drove off to the (little did I know)
lab. I sat bolt upright when I saw the Scorchio again and made all of the others
jump about 2 inches from their original places. "Don't DO that, Kinlick!" shouted
Flair_Wing.
I whimpered as Nico took me down to the ray again and put down the metal straps,
binding me down. My eyes were wide in terror. I knew that my time as a skunk
Kyrii were over.
The gun blasted and I transfigured again. My ears became sturdier in a triangular,
cone like shape, my padded paws became hard and I dropped onto all fours. Then,
I let out a yelp as my nostrils separated and my nose elongated and the fur
along my back shrink and turn into a long mane. My tail lengthened and turned
white. A large bump sprouted from my forehead and transfigured into a cone.
My eyes turned dark blue and I suddenly realised that I had sprouted magenta
coloured wings.
I was a faerie Uni. I gasped and ran away, either to die or find another owner.
I ran all out fast and used my sense of hearing to swivel my ears around to
listen for Nico and the others. I ran until I got to the crowded streets of
Neopia central. I knocked many people over as I dashed down to the haunted forest
and hid beneath a dead tree trunk.
I began to cry as I saw the sun set over the horizon. I looked about and saw
a blue Uni happily trotting with its owner. How I wished I could be in that
Uni's shoes... even though it was only my second day with him, Nico was the
worst person in the world in my point of view.
Then, I felt angry breath on my shoulder! Nico had found me!!! I jumped but
found Saharake, Fankador, and Flair_Wing surrounded me. I squealed as they scooped
me up and headed off towards the NeoHome
***
A blue light erupted from nowhere as I was struck headlong across a court.
I bounced around like a miniature punch bag bob. I was fighting in the battle
dome. I was equipped with hidden tower items and quickly pursued the Neopet
that had fired blue frost at me. I hit him with my portable kiln and he flew
just as I had done. He was knocked out.
I did not like what I had done. I ran over to the Neopet (which was an electric
Gelert) and propped him up by the wall (Oops! I forgot, I had been changed to
a brown Grarrl). He stared at me at first with glassy eyes, which quickly transformed
into terror stricken ones. I spoke to him with kind words and pulled out a healing
potion XIII and gave it to him.
He drank it and looked much better. He stared up at me and smiled. Noticed
that one of his eyes was lighter blue than the other. Then he put on a quizzical
look. "Why did you do that?" he asked in a shyer than I expected voice, "I never
met some one so nice as to heal their opponents!"
"Well," I whispered, "I really hate battling. My owner makes me do it."
"Really?!" he gasped.
"Really…" I said. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Kluuno," he replied, "What's yours?"
"Mine's Kinlick, good game!" I happily replied.
"Well, then... Hello, Kinlick," he said.
We both laughed.
"Just one more thing to tell ya…" I said.
"What?" he replied.
"I'm a lab pet. I usually get changed every other day, so you might not recognise
me."
" Oh, that's fine," he said. "I used to be one too. Then, Mayakka adopted
me. She's cool!"
We were interrupted: "C'mon, Kluuno! Time to go!"
That must be her right now! I thought. "Hey, uh... Kluuno, can I meet
this Mayakka person…?" I said.
"Sure!" he happily replied.
We slowly walked to Kluuno's owner. Then I stopped about three feet away and
watched from a distance, a polite thing to do. Kluuno stepped up to the owner.
"Hey, Maya, I want you to meet my new friend, Kinlick!" he said as he pointed
to me. I blushed.
"But, Kluuno! He just made you loose all your HP!" she gasped.
"Yeah, but he healed me, Maya!" he pleaded. "He is a lab pet like I used to
be!"
"Oh, is that so…" Mayakka said as she walked over to me. I felt like the mercury
inside a thermometer that was outside in 800 degrees Celsius. She sat down next
to me and said, "I hear that you have made friends with Kluuno…"
"Yeah…" I said. "You seem like the nice Neopet in your family. Your owner
is so rude…" she said.
I sighed, "I know. Well, nice meeting you, I have to go!"
"We'll Neomail you!" Kluuno called as I ran over to Nico.
After that battle, Nico started to battle me more often, and I had less and
less pride. I also got changed every other day. Now, I was a Tyrannian Kougra.
The battling continued until I was in about twenty battles a day. This was
going to end... I thought as I entered into the next arena.
The rather frightened looking Chia on the other side of the arena shivered
and approached me. I pounced (not hurting him) on him and told him that I wasn't
going to hurt him. I told him that I hated the battle dome and wished that I
could leave. Then I said I would let him beat me, and he would be well known
across the battle dome for defeating me. That did it. He used all his abilities
and items on me and before I knew it, I was down. I felt Nico pick me up and
carry me to the NeoHome Then, I fell asleep.
The next day, Nico took me up to a room that I had never been to before. I
turned around and looked at Fankidor, Flair_Wing, and Saharake. They weren't
nervous. I looked at Nico as he said, "Kinlick, It's time for you to pick a
plushie. Every one of my pets has done it. Saharake took a limited addition
angel Chia plushie, Fankidore took that white Lupe NeoQuest plushie, and Flair_Wing
took a fire Eyrie plushie. Now you get to pick yours."
I looked at the pile of unused toys. There were so many... which to choose...
I saw many rare ones... a starry Techo plushie... too rare... a purple Poogle
plushie, to common... urg...
"Well, I don't see the one I want here…" I said. Can we please go up to the
Gelert plushie making factory?"
"I don't see why not…" Nico replied. Before I knew it, we were off.
At the Gelert plushie-making factory, I saw a Lenny working at the counter.
I went up to her and asked, "Is there any possible way that I could get a plain
white Gelert plushie?"
"Why, Sure!" the Lenny happily replied. "I've got one right here. One of its
eyes is darker than the other though, so you can have it for free!"
I couldn't believe it. I was just hoping to pay for one, but she had given
it to me for free! I gladly took it from her, thanked her and walked back to
the entrance with Nico.
"So, Kinlick, what're you doin' with a white plushie?" Saharake asked.
"You'll just have to wait and see…" I said back.
When we got back to the NeoHome, I rushed up to my room and asked Flair_Wing
if I could use one of his electric paintbrushes. Amazingly he said yes and continued
reading his magazine and chewing gum. I took the paintbrush and my plushie to
the far end of the room and sat down.
I took the paint brush in my hand and wiped it all over my plushie. I did the
head first, then the body and tail. He was finished! It was an electric Gelert
plushie! It was Kluuno! I laughed with joy and ran down the stairs only to find
Nico and everyone else at the door smirking strangely.
"C'mon, Kinlick, time to go!" said Fankidor in a loud toned voice. He grabbed
me and carried me to the car. Nico and the others threw me in as I snarled a
Grarrl's snarl. I clutched onto my plushie with my life. It was a replica of
one of the only two nice things I had ever met!
They drove off to the ray and again showed me the face of the horrible Scorchio
standing by it. I snarled as they again transfigured me.
They transfigured me almost everyday until I lost track of what I was. Some
days I was a Lupe, others I was a Chia, and still others I was a Kacheek. Then,
one day, (the last day I would ever go) we went to the lab, as usual, they strapped
me down and shot me. I think I was a Bruce then, so my flippers changed into
clawed feet, and I grew a mane of lime green feathers out of that bow tie. My
head was more of a parrot shape and my beak enlarged and sharpened. My stub
of a tail grew out to a fluffy point like a lions, and I felt my wings start
to feather up and grow. Suddenly I realised that I was glowing.
Now, I was a glowing Eyrie The thing I would remain until the end of my days.
Nico hated Eyries. He threatened and despised them. He would even pull their
feathers out if he had the chance.
I held on tight to Plushie Kluuno as I saw rage in Nico's eyes. He furiously
grabbed me and held up a potion and put me into a light sleep...
***
When I woke up, I woke up on a cold damp floor and looked out in to the world
through bars. I gasped and wondered where Nico was even though I hated him more
than a piece of chewing dung. I started crying even though I was more than a
baby. Then, a paw touched my back. I jumped and came back into my senses. Looked
at whose paw was on my back and to my surprise, a four year-old red Kougra was
at my side. And a green Shoyru at the left.
They both looked about as prone to cry as I was.
"Don't cry, darling," the Kougra whispered, "it's not the end and all…"
"W-where am I…" I said.
"You are at the pound," the Shoyru said.
"Yes. The pound. I feel sorry for all of the pets dumped here every day. But
even more sorry for you. You have been dumped here and are but three months
old. I despise every single owner that comes here and dumps one of us here…"
the Kougra interrupted.
"A-are we able to get adopted?" I shuddered through terror.
"Yes, dear... we all end up getting adopted. But painted pets like you, well,
you have a much better chance than older pets like me," she replied.
Just then, a hand reached in. But, this was no ordinary hand. The hand was
yellow and had an white coat on it.
"W-who's that!?" I almost shouted.
"Oh, that 's just Dr_Death. He's the one who feeds all of us. No use being
afraid of him!"
I sighed. Then I saw the Shoyru get taken out of the cage.
"Well, he's gone…" the Kougra said.
"What's your name?" I asked her eagerly.
"Oh, my name's Sianna. And yours?" she said.
"Kinlick," I replied. "How long have you been here?"
"Oh, well, you'd rather not know, but I'll tell you. I've been here for weeks,
wishing for someone to adopt me…" she said sadly. The old Kougra sighed and
began to doze off and sleep.
She was the kind that I was comfortable around. Nice, caring, talkative... I sighed.
I watched many owners go by and look at me, but they moved on. I always talked
with Plushie Kluuno and stared into his face and remembered his dark and light
eyes. I also had Sianna to talk to. She nearly always cheered me up. I came
to recognise her by the large slit missing from her left ear.
One day, while I was asleep and cuddling Plushie Kluuno, I saw a familiar electric
blue Gelert walking on the other side of the isle.
"So, Maya , are we getting me a brother?" it said. It had called its owner
"Maya"! My heart was racing! Could this really be Kluuno? I saw the Gelert's
head turn and look at me. One eye was lighter than the other!
I could hold in my voice no more, "KLUUNO! KLUUNO!!!" I shouted.
Sianna awoke and said, "Clue, Uno? I've never heard of that game!"
"No, Sienna, Kluuno! I know him!" I gasped.
"Of course, he's you plushie," she said. "No! Not Plushie Kluuno! The REAL
Kluuno is standing right across the hall!"
I saw Sienna's eyes widen with surprise. Kluuno must have heard me, because
tugged on Mayakka's shirt and pointed to the name tags above the cage. They
walked over to our cage and looked.
"Kinlick? Is that you?!" Kluuno gasped.
"YES! YES IT IS! Please get me out of here! Please! Please!" I begged.
"Maya! It is that opponent that I met in the battle dome! Can he be my brother?"
he shouted.
I grasped Plushie Kluuno with so much force that I nearly ripped it while I
hoped, prayed that Mayakka would say yes. "Sure!" heard her whisper...
I nearly broke out of the cage in joy. I was going to be with one of my best
friends FOREVER!!! Then, I noticed that Sienna was laying down with drooping
ears. I walked over to her.
"What's wrong, Sienna?" I asked cautiously.
"Well, you were the only friend I ever had besides my older owner, who was
hacked and had to throw me in here. Now... now, I'll be alone…" she sniffed
through a tear and looked up.
We remembered our past weeks together. We looked back on each other as I was
picked up out of the cage and saw one last swish of her chipped ear as I left
the pound...
***
I was adopted successfully by Mayakka and continue to live with Kluuno, Plushie
Kluuno, and her today. One thing's for sure, I was never going to look at that
crazy Scorchio's face again. And if I ever came across Nico or Sienna again,
well, that's another story...
The End
Author's Note: This was the first Neopian Times story I ever wrote. And don't
you worry. There is going to be a "part two" To this story... just you wait... | 
