The Clan of Ligmoore: Part One by amerock201 |  |
Return to Neopia
The shiny glass door of Pet Central beckoned as I ran
up the steps to them, a sticker of a smiling red Chia saying "Push" was stuck
on the doors. I burst through them and skidded to a halt. Pet Central was quiet;
there were only about three Neopets in the large room that made up the reception.
I looked left and right hectically searching for my own Neopet, Zutore. A proud
fire Eyrie. He would usually meet me in Pet Central, but that day he wasn't
there.
It had been the first time I had been back to
Pet Central after my account was frozen. Everything looked the same, but at
the same time it all looked completely different. It was about a month before
that a hacker had stolen all my money and left my three pets: Kathlon, ThereAndBackAgain
and Zutore, starving.
I ran to the front desk where I came face to
face with a little brown Wocky that was sitting in front of a computer typing
happily. As I lent over the desk the Wocky looked up and smiled.
"Hello, welcome to Pet Central, amerock201.
How can I help?" She asked in a little voice.
"Zutore," I said frantically, "Is Zutore here?"
"Hmm, Zutore…" she pondered typing his name
into the computer, her eyes scanned the screen as the data popped up. "No…he's
already out. Is there a problem?"
But by the time she had finished talking I was
already running to the doors that lead out into Neopia. I hated to be rude so
I called: "Thank you!!" over my shoulder.
It was a bright, sunny day in Neopia that day,
as I ran down the road I saw a small group of Pteri's laughing in the trees
and to my left I saw a herd of Kau's grazing in a field. Everyone seemed very
happy, but I could see no sign of my pets. I was making my way to the only place
I thought they might be, my rather small, but comfortable NeoHome.
After a while of running I came to the front
door. It was large and green and a comfort to walk through. I had lots of fond
memories of this little place, but as I looked around I saw nothing, no furniture,
the hacker had taken it all, and no sign of life. No doubt all my hard earned
Neopoints had been taken too. As I stepped slowly into the middle of the room,
a great sadness came over me, the room was dark and cold, and didn't seem like
home at all. I stopped and looked around, standing just for a moment and I longed
for my three pets by my side. I had been living in Neopia a little over 10 months
and I had had Kathlon, my blue Scorchio, from the beginning. Then about a week
later Kathlon had said he wanted a brother, so we went and got my second pet,
Zutore. We had lived together, just the two of us, for about 8 months, went
I decided that a Shoyru would be a great addition to the family. And so, ThereAndBackAgain,
the green Shoyru, was born.
I sighed; the house was so lifeless, my eyes
stung with tears as I looked through the doors to my pet's bedrooms. I shook
my head and pulled myself together, moping around in my NeoHome wasn't going
to get my pets back. I walked into the bedroom and gazed around it. I called
out their names but there was no answer. My heart drooped. I sank slowly to
the floor where Kathlon's small bed would have been. I must have sat there for
a long while thinking about all the other places they could be.
I decided, after about an hour of worrying to
search the whole of Neopia until I found them all. With renewed strength I stood
and started for Zutore's weapons cupboard, his two Grand Lightning Beams were
going to come in helpful. Luckily the weapons cupboard had not been taken because
it was fixed to the wall, I flung back the doors, only to find the cupboard
empty. I slammed the doors angrily. It had taken me months to save up for all
of Zutore's weapons, and now they were all gone. Although Zutore's strength
itself could never be taken away, the many codestones and dubloons that I was
saving for his training were gone. It was a comfort to know that Zutore could
look after himself, but Kathlon and ThereAndBackAgain, who we all called Taba,
had hardly any training. If they were separated, Zutore would be OK but the
other two were helpless, they had always been looked after by their brother.
As my urge to find them grew greater than ever
before, I flew out the front door and headed as fast as I could for the boat
to Mystery Island.
I reached the port sooner than I expected. There
were several Neopians going to Mystery Island that day and the port was pretty
full. Luckily, the boat journey was free, so I walked onto the large white boat
and sat outside with my feet dangling over the side. Within a few minuets the
boat left the port and I was on my way. The water rushed past, saw that three
little Gelerts were next to me, jumping up at their owner. I sat and watched
as the Gelerts yapped and barked as the sea went past. Their owner smiled at
me and looked at my side for my pets, then, seeing none, her smile faded.
"Don't you have any pets?" she asked. My eyes
dropped to the floor.
"They're gone," I replied.
"Gone?" She asked.
"I can't find them…" I said quietly.
"Oh…" she replied she did look rather sad. "I'm
sorry…I don't know what I'd do if I lost one of my babies let alone all of them."
We talked for a while about various goings on
in Neopia, but all the while my mind was on other things.
After what seemed like an age, maybe the journey
doesn't seem so long with pets, I arrived at the port of Mystery Island, I was
helped ashore by one of the natives as always happens, and headed for the Tombola,
I wanted to check all the usual places that we would go in Neopia, but as I
reached the Tombola, there was no sign of any of them.
I sighed and asked the Tombola Man if he had
seen any of my pets, I described them as best I could but he hadn't seen them.
There was a distant sound of drumming and horns that always played in the background;
the natives that made the music were quite a successful attraction on Mystery
Island. I walked the length of the island calling out my pet's names and then,
having decided that they weren't here; I sat down outside the Mystery Island
Training School. I watched as many owners and pets filed through the wide doors,
some just finishing their lessons and other signing up for them, Zutore and
I only ever used the Training School here, I smiled briefly at the thought of
Zutore saying that the one legged Eyrie who ran the Swashbuckling Academy crept
him out. I sighed again and put my head in my hands. Would I ever find my beloved
pets again? The question swam round in my head like a thousand Koi.
Just then I felt a friendly tap on my shoulder
followed by a familiar voice, "I thought it was you Amerock! Though I didn't
recognise you looking so glum, and where's that Zutore?" My heart leaped and
I spun around to face a very much-appreciated friend, Brain_stew_22, though
everyone just called him Brain_stew, possibly one of my best friends in all
of Neopia. I flung my arms around him and smiled ear to ear for the first time
that day.
"Oh Brain_stew am I glad to see you!" I exclaimed
hugging him again, by his side was his pet, a boisterous red Kougra called ReelBigKougraFish.
"It's nice to see you back! When I got the Neomail
telling me what happened I couldn't believe it!" he said, then he paused and
looked by my side, "Just one thing though…where are your pets?" I sighed and
sat back down again.
"That's the thing, I can't find them," I said
and he sat down next to me.
"What, did they all go off on one of Taba's
amazing adventures again?" he asked casually.
"I don't know where they are, I checked at the
house, everything was gone and they hadn't left me a note to tell me where they
were," I explained "When I went into Pet Central this morning, I asked where
Zutore was, he usually waits for me there, and they said he was already out.
I don't like to think anything's wrong, but I'm afraid this time I have no choice."
Brain_stew smiled a supportive smile and put his arm round my shoulder.
"Come on I'm sure that nothing has happened
to them," he said reassuringly. I tried to smile but I was hard, every
warning in my brain was telling me that I had to do something to help my pets,
but I could do nothing to stop what was happening.
My eyes stung with tears but I held them back
long enough for me to reassure myself, Brain_stew was right, everything would
be OK. I would find my pets and everything would go back to normal just like
it was before, when I was a newbie, struggling to make my first Neopoints. I
took a deep breath and sighed, I turned to face him.
"I'm going to find them," I said determinedly,
"and I'm going to need all the help I can get…"
"Say no more!" he said rising "The legendary
Brain_stew and ReelBigKougraFish are at your service." He did a little bow,
as did ReelBigKougraFish, I laughed, he and ReelBigKougraFish were perfect for
each other, both of them as strong willed and joyful as the other. The day seemed
to be smiling on me after all, I now had a little more hope, things could never
go wrong with those two by my side…
To be continued... |
