An old yellow Gelert sits in his rocking chair. His grandpups
look at him, ready for a story.
"I'm going to tell you pups a story. About someone who lived
a long time ago. When your own Grandpa was young. It's about a very special
Gelert. A Gelert named Pak."
A pair of wild Gelerts strolled through the woods with a young pup. The pup's
name was Pak, and he was NOT like any other Gelert. First of all, he was fire
coloured. It is very, very, very, very, very rare for one of those to be born
and hardly any are owned. Second, he had a male voice and he was male except
for the fact that he was registered as female. Therefore, he would not be able
find a mate when he grew up. Everyone said that Pak didn't have a gender. He
was simply an "it". But he liked to be called "he", even though he was truly
a female in most other ways.
"Mommy, can we go into the town? I wanna see the town," Pak said.
"No! That is the ONE city where pets aren't treated like pets at all. Nothing
is like anything in Neopia, when you go there," His mother said. But she only
confused him. And as they headed into the woods again, Pak snuck off into the
city, leaving his world behind.
When Pak got into the town, he realised that he was in a different world. A
different world that was isolated from the rest of Neopia. NeoPets were treated
kind of the same, but they were on collars and weren't treated as well. Pak
stopped and asked a Kacheek what this place was.
"This is The Town. No NeoPet knows it's real name, but we have no rights. And
nothing is what it seems."
"Oooooooo-kkkkkk..." Pak said slowly. "I think I'll leave now," but at that
moment, he was seized by the scruff of the neck and hauled away.
Pak was taken into a large shop. The floor felt cold against his paws, and
a rubbery smell was in the air. A gruff man sat at the register and looked proud.
"Nice colour. You'll draw some customers." The man then fell asleep.
Pak whimpered and let his long ears droop. Then he saw someone. A pretty female
Gelert pup trotted out to meet him. Like him, she was also different. Her fur
was coloured the shade of the evening skies.
"Hi! I was caught too. You look special so you should get along good here.
Maybe we can find a way to escape sometime. My name's Syla, what's yours?" She
said this all very fast.
"Um, I'm Pak. I'm technically female. But I'm male too. I don't really have
a gender."
Syla didn't laugh at this, all she did was nod. Then, changing the subject,
she said, "You should be OK here. Let's go read the cards that are for sale."
The two Gelerts read and laughed for an hour, at least. The Syla seemed to
be hit with an idea.
"Pak! You know what? I think we might be able to give you a gender. We may
have a Strange Potion up for sale. Should we go see?"
"Sure!"
The two pups looked, but couldn't find one. Syla also said that they were allowed
to have store things IF they paid for them. And they couldn't leave the store
alone, so they didn't have much money. Sadly, the two gave up and went to read
the ingredients on mouthwash.
*2 years later*
A strong, fire coloured Gelert paced the store. Pak was restless now. His store
life had been easy for the past two years. But he was an adult now, and he wanted
nothing more than to get out of his prison and find his own gender. He was sick
of hiding when he destroyed things. Sick of the owner loathing the time he had
rode the new small car that was for sale and banged it up. He wanted to be free.
"Still thinking of an escape plan? It's tempting, I know." Syla had come to
where Pak was pacing.
"Yeah. I hate it here," Pak growled.
Syla sighed. "You know, escaping is easy. The consequences of getting caught
aren't."
"Don't care," was the only thing Pak said.
One night, Pak noticed that the doors were automatic. But they didn't open
for Gelerts. So after hours of begging Syla to come, they knew what they were
going to do. Pak rolled a bottle towards the door and the two raced out. They
were outside, for the first time in years.
"What should we do? Run into the woods?" Syla asked.
"I'm not leaving this stupid town without my Strange Potion. Then we'll leave
and head to Neopia Central. Everything should be normal, and we'll have rights,"
Pak replied.
He carefully slid into a store. The fiery Gelert walked through the dark isles,
his nails clicking as he walked. And in isle five, he found it. A blue potion.
Pak beamed as he went over and picked it up in his mouth. But no sooner had
he began to walk outside again, then he heard it the sirens blaring from the
alarm system. Syla stood behind him, her mouth wide open and a group of guards
holding her back.
Pak didn't think. He bolted out the door, never daring to look back. He ducked
behind a car and tried to catch his breath. He didn't even see the NeoPet Control
Officers behind him. And he didn't know they were there until Syla howled a
warning.
Pew! That was the noise Pak heard the instant before he felt a sharp
pain in his rump. He didn't yelp, all he did was try to run. He didn't get far
before he felt woozy. He was a little further away when he felt so groggy that
he didn't even care about the chase. He turned around, staggered a little closer
to the door where Syla was being held, and said in a thick voice, "Sorry." Then
Pak sank into heavy sleep.
"Buy Dr. Backwash! Refresh your thirst...twice!"
These words drilled into Pak's aching mind. He felt warm, yet so weak. He didn't
move. A nearby whimper caused him to finally force his eyes open. Then he tried
to get up. He fell once and tried again. This time he did it. And Syla was beside
him. Her eyes were red and she sighed with relief when she saw that Pak was
awake. Pak looked around and noticed that he was in a different store. Other
Gelerts were there, most of them normal coloured. And a overhead TV played a
Dr. Backwash commercial.
"Pak, I hate to say this. We're in an even worse place than we left. If we
are bad, we are put in a room and not fed for a day."
"Oh no...Syla, how long have I been unconscious?"
"Well, they gave you a pretty big dose of tranquilizer in that dart, so you've
been out for...two days," Syla answered. She looked terrible. "I've been worried."
Pak guiltily looked at her. This had been his fault. He sighed, lay down, and
went back to sleep.
It turned out that this place was worse than Syla said. The Gelerts were beaten
and treated so badly that Pak's desperate freedom lust came back. After a month,
he was plotting again. With no windows and no automatic doors, he was at a loss.
But he was a determined Gelert.
One day, the owner brought in a new rainbow gun that he was going to sell.
After warning the Gelerts about touching it, he left. He didn't notice that
Pak was gawking at it hungrily. And that night, he called a meeting of the Gelerts.
They were going to get out, once and for all.
Pak Makes a Plan
"DOG 8! BRING MY GLOVES! I HAVE TO TOUCH A DIRTY GELERT IN THE NEXT STORE!!!"
Chase, a rainbow coloured Gelert, was often the fetching one. He casually grabbed
a pair of gloves that were covered with Gelert hair and gave them to the man.
The man didn't notice the hair, so Chase gave the signal to Ina, a shadowed
Gelert. She howled.
"Master, master, Rick is *GULP* !!! In that box!"
The man rushed to throw out the box, muttering that the Gelerts were in trouble
for stashing Rick in a clean shop box. It was too bad that the Gelert hair on
his gloves set off the Gelert-Stopping machines. A dart hit the man, who slumped
over. Rick the yellow Gelert laughed from his hiding place.
"Yeah, I'm dead! Dead serious about escaping!"
The Gelerts ripped off the man's gloves, stuffed him in the punishing room,
and covered themselves with towels as a disguise. A wild pack ripped out into
the streets. They howled with joy, free at last.
It didn't take long to reach Neopia Central. There, everyone wanted a Gelert
and not one even went to the pound! As for Pak and Syla, they left for the woods.
There, Pak sighed and looked at Syla.
"Syla, I wish I could ask to be your mate. But I can't. I lost the potion when
they caught me. I wanted to say good-bye." Syla looked heartbroken, then gave
Pak a present, saying it was a good-bye. Pak opened up the present, unwrapped
a bottle, and cried with happiness. Syla looked at him and nodded. Pak corked
the bottle of blue liquid and gulped it down. It was sweet, and he felt a tingling
in his stomach. He felt...different. Taking a deep breath, Pak looked himself
over. Then he looked at Syla. The two embraced each other in a hug. They were
free, and they were now mates.
Pak and Syla lived together in the wild. They never went back to The Town.
But they had some nice pups, and now Gelerts tell the story of Pak the fire
Gelert. They tell it to keep young NeoPets away from The Town, to teach about
courage and creativity, and most of all to keep Pak's story alive.
"So, that's the story. Now, will you tell your pups about the story?" the old
Gelert says.
"We will, Gwandpa Wick," the little pups reply. And they scurried away. Meanwhile,
the old yellow Gelert remembers his youth and chuckles.
"Yes. Yes siree. I was dead serious about being free. And I still am," he says
to himself.
The End | 
