Po and the Petpet Mill by polayo |  |
Tika fluttered in my face as I yawned and batted her
away, rolling over and pulling the blankets closer around my shoulders, I groaned.
She wouldn't stop pestering me.
"Fine!" I exclaimed, throwing the blankets off
me and hopping off my bed groggily. After thumping down stairs with Tika jumping
about by my paws, I poured her Petpet food into her bowl, and poured myself
a bowl of cereal.
I pulled the newspaper closer to me, startled
as I read the headlines.
ILLEGAL PETPET MILL
NEOPIA CENTRAL - Somewhere in Neopia central, an illegal Petpet mill is
being run. Hundreds of Petpets show up, unscheduled, at the Petpet shop, battered,
beaten, and starved. These Petpets are ill and mistreated. So far, investigators
have not been able to find the Petpet mill. However, even if it is found, officials
say that they might not be able to do anything about it. Many pets and owners
say 'they're only Petpets' and will hear nothing more of it. Some of the most
important people in Neopia, sadly, think that too. Join in the search for the
Petpet mill: and if all goes well, they'll thank you for their lives.
I gasped, glanced toward Tika, as if the make
sure my baby was OK.
The horrors of it! What about the poor Petpets
at the Petpet mill? What will happen to them? Visions flashed into my mind OK
Tika being dragged away, beaten, abused, and then dropped at the Neopian Petpet
Shop...
"NO!" I cried, and lunged off the chair, grabbing
Tika and embracing her, hugging her tight, as if what I had envisioned was really
happening.
I made up my mind, then and there, to find the
Petpet mill and someway-someway! -Shut it down. The thought of little Babaas,
Doglefoxes, Kadoaties, and other Petpets being abused numbed my brain-how could
anyone say Petpets are just...Petpets?
***
For safety, I made Tika stay behind-if we found the mill and she got lost,
who knows if I would get her back? -And I walked out into the buzzing, Saturday
afternoon in Neopia. How could anywhere in such a peaceful place be the home
to such monsters that would abuse the lovely creatures we can call our own?
My feet crunched on the gravel road as I stumbled
along; down on all fours like I usually am, tail wagging behind me. My ears
fluttered in the in the breeze, my new dangling star earring making a soft clinking
sound with the ringed earrings that adorned my ears.
I stopped. "Wait a second," I said quietly to
myself, as the clinking continued, a steady, sometimes stalled beat of clanking
metal. And then it was joined with a whining, pain-filled and nervous groan.
I dashed in the direction of where it was coming, through the woods, branches
slapping me in the face and twigs scraping at my paws. When I broke through,
into the clearing, I knew I was there.
There was a huge wooden fence surrounding the
area, and my eye quickly caught what the clanking was. A Doglefox was chained
to the fence, and he was tugging, the chain links clanked as he twisted his
neck away and whined. Other Petpets wandered free towards the trough of water
on one side.
I gasped. This was the Petpet mill. The Petpets
looked as if they were in agony, wincing with each step, scars showing through
their fur: they looked as if they were simply a bag of bones. With barely any
food to sustain them, I could see why.
No one seemed to be around, so I stepped out
of the brush and closer toward the fence. The Doglefox that was chained to the
fence whined as I approached, and I fiddled with his chain. I managed to loosen
it a bit so he was able to reach the water and food, but he was still secured
to the fence. His eyes looked mournfully up at me, but knowing I could do no
more, he scampered off.
I stood again and looked around. There was near
a hundred Petpets here, all eating the same food, drinking the same water, sleeping
on the same blankets. If they even had blankets.
I rattled the entrance to the fence, the clanking
noise ringing out into the otherwise silence. Suddenly, I stopped. There had
been some sort of rustling, and I'd heard it-was it just a Petpet? Or was I
in trouble?
I heard it again, but this time it was followed
by a fat, mangy Usul stepping out of the small hut that bordered the fence.
"Hey!" It shouted gruffly.
Full of terror, I turned and ran as fast as I
could away from there. I swallowed my fear and dashed back into the main streets
of Neopia, breathing heavily. I began to walk, as if to regain my composure,
slowly. Pets who had seen me emerge from the forest looked at me oddly, but
I simply smiled their way. I didn't care what they thought of me. But I definitely
cared about those Petpets...
I arrived at my house, and Tika began chirping
excitedly as I neared. I smiled at her, and she pawed the screen door. I finally
opened it and swept her into my arms, making my way toward the kitchen table
where I'd left the newspaper from the morning. At the bottom there was a number
to call NIA-Neopian Investigations Agency, and the NPD, Neopian Police Department.
I randomly chose the NPD and picked up my phone,
dialing fervently. When it stopped ringing, the voice that came through from
the other line was even and trim. I began talking breathlessly, explaining why
I needed to talk to the Chief-of-police immediately.
Reluctantly, she agreed, and told me to be at
the main building by 10:30. Glancing at the clock, it bleeped as it turned 10:00
sharp. "All right, I'll be there," I said, and put down the phone.
"You stay here, Tika," I set her down and patted
her one her head as I stepped out the door the second time that morning. "I'll
be back soon, don't worry." At the offices, I sat in a cold, uncomfortable waiting
room, when finally my name was called. I made my way to the room, and stood
in front of the green Lupe, the chief of police. He nodded at me as I sat down
timidly.
"So, Polayo, you seem to have some information
on the Petpet mill. What can you tell us?"
"Well, after reading the article this morning,
I went to look for it and, miracle of miracles"--I tried to have a good attitude
about it all, being semi-cheerful--"I came across it thanks to a clinking of
metal, which was a chain holding a Doglefox to a fence. So I burst through the
forest and found it-there are around hundred Petpets around there, all starved
and bags of bones. I ran away when someone-an Usul-stepped out of the hut near
the fence. I could take you there again, if you need to see it."
He was silent for a moment, deciding. Finally,
he pressed a button on his speakerphone. "Get my squad ready," he muttered roughly
into it.
I smiled. I was doing something right for once.
Only minutes later, we were out once again on
the streets, with me in front of these grown, trained pets. I laughed to myself-what
a sight we must have been! We moved slowly, gaining speed as we went on, until
we came to the space in the undergrowth and edge of the forest-now trampled,
seeing as I had run over it twice. Without a word I pushed away the branches
until I again emerged from the trees into the clearing. As it was last time,
it seemed as if no one was around-but I wasn't to be fooled.
"See?" I whispered to the officers stepping one
by one from the covering of trees, "See how bad they're being treated? You've
gotta stop this, please!"
They all walked slowly around, as quietly as
they could. A lot of them were making little 'tsk-tsk' noises, and shaking their
heads regretfully.
But then I heard it again. The rustle. Not knowing
what to say, I simply stopped short. Before the Chief could ask me what was
wrong, the Usul stepped out of the house again. He was furious, his face contorted
in anger.
"Get out!" He howled, coming down from his porch.
"Get out!"
"Sorry, sir," said the Chief, handcuffing the
Usul while a look of shock took place of the fury, "you're under arrest. We'll
be taking you back to the headquarters."
I smiled, and tapped the Chief on the shoulder.
"I'll stay here," I said, "with the Petpets, comfort them and such. Then maybe
you can send someone over here later to deal with them?"
"Sure," he said, distracted, and I jumped over
the fence into the clearing. The Petpets rushed toward me, smelling Tika's scent
on my paws, and I hugged them each, patting them and comforting them. This was
my environment, with the Petpets.
The Petpets weren't ready to be sold or kept
as pets, and they were meant to be kept in the back of the Petpet shop for about
a year-I know, a long time, isn't it? But I suggested that they be given to
different Neopian families, and we'd be glad to take care of the Babaas. When
I brought home a box of 7 tiny baby Babaas, Tika was overjoyed-she now struts
around with the little ones following her, pestering her, and depending on her.
She pretends she hates it, but I can tell that secretly she loves it.
The mill was shut down, thankfully. The land
has been sold and whoever bought it planted the trees again, so soon there will
be no more sign of it. However, that doesn't mean all memory of it is gone...
The End |
