My Owner's Hoard

      Yes, me, the little yellow Xweetok with dragonfly wings, has gotten myself locked in my owner's safety deposit box.

      I'm not going to go into specifics about how I got trapped in here. Long story short, I saw something interesting and went to try and see what it was, and when I turned around, the door was closed.

      "Is Katie really so absent-minded that she would forget her own pet?" I continue to rant to no one. "I mean, I've been riding around on her shoulder for days. You would think she'd take a second to make sure I was there." I sigh. "Well, nothing to do but wait I guess. Maybe I'll take a look around, find a toy or something. It's like a a maze in here though..."

      I look around and noticed a series of signs above me. "This place is categorized? Let's see.. food, jelly, battledome, magic items, school... wow is this place huge." I decide to go down the neohome row. "Sand sculptures? They're glittery..." There are a row of bottles of sand in various shapes and patterns, mostly red and blue in color. One has rows of different colored sand suspended in it. Past those are several windows with various patterns on them. "Is this one a jelly? Come on... Huh?" I see something move behind a window, but when I go to it, there is nothing there. "Weird..."

      I find a row marked neggs and go down that one next. First thing I see is a disorganized pile of plastic neggs. I dig through it, pulling the ones that split in half to release a glob of goo to one side. Past them are several real neggs, the two easter neggs separated out. One that looks like it has a miniature snowager curled around it is on a pillow on top of a box. "I guess she likes this one. Eh, whatever."

      Next, I go to a row marked special. "Looks more like random stuff than special to me. Or maybe plot prizes." I added, noticing a cup with a yooyu mark, a packet of vines, and a set of dice marked with symbols. Then I see a glass tank containing glowing worms. "Oh hello! What are you guys?" There are ten of them, in every color of the rainbow. One of them is rainbow. They started squirming a bit when I spoke to them. I decide not to mess with a living creature, but toss them some blocks out of a can labeled worm food before moving on.

      I see something glowing and headed down another row. What I find is a case of motes, next to a case of novas. "Wow, she never said she had these! Friendly little, uh, whatever they are." They had started to fly around, as if asking me to open the case. I let them out and play with them for a little while. When I see something dart around a corner, I put them back in their case and leave, but let one that resembles a gold ball follow me.

      Following whatever it was that had moved, I come to the plushie room. "Whoa! This room is huge! And not sorted at all." I completely forget about chasing down the creature and start looking through the piles, sorting them into species and colors. Yeah yeah, I have a problem with untidiness, and that is all this place is. The petpets go in a pile, the Lupes, including Balthazar, glare at the Chias they can now never reach, and the faerie pets, mostly Boris and Cybunnies, form a huddle. I find five petpetpets to go together. Eventually, I remember what I had been doing, and take off, leaving the plushies in their new groups.

      That is what brings me to the gardening/kelp aisle. I say kelp aisle because that's the first thing I see, rows of kelp and sea ferns. "She kept these? Wow. I don't think I've ever seen some of these. Is this one starry?" Most of them are red and green, but a few are marked with stars, and a couple are purple. Once I finally get past the seaweed, I find two orb plants. "Ooh, I've heard of these. Too bad there's no sunlight." My gold mote flies around, then around another corner. "Where are you going?" I follow it and find, strangely enough, a small fire. "Okay, someone please tell me why there is a lit fire just sitting here." The mote starts flying around it, reflecting the light. "That's it! Uh, can I move this?" Eventually, I give up on moving the bonfire and instead bring the orb plants to it. The light passes through them, shooting off rays. Along with the mote still flying around, it is very impressive. I wish I could describe it. I sit there for a long time, watching, and might have stayed longer if I did not hear something squeak. When I look, all I see is a shadow running off. "Come on, mote. Back to the mission."

      "Hold up!" Not that I'm expecting it to stop and wait for me. In fact, it speeds up. I lose it in the apple room. "Ugh. This is getting tiring. I think I'll stop for an apple. Maybe not these ones." The first ones I see must be from the Haunted Woods. One is covered in green slime, another has an actual mouth, and a third looks like a ghost and is floating. Several of the others are dirty and beat-up looking. After searching a bit, I find one covered in chocolate and settle on that. "These are some strange fruits. I think those two are made of metal." I talk to my mote, pointing to two apples colored silver and gold. "And that one has a wig!" One actually does have a wig, along with disco markings.

      A bit later, I continue my wandering, heading to the battledome section. "I don't fight, but some of these things do look pretty interesting." I pass a pile of snowballs, and I'm pretty sure one of them has a remote control. Next to them is a stack of battlecards. "You can fight with cards?" I shake my head and move on. "Again with the random fire!" There is a dagger of some kind with a blade made of fire just sitting on a shelf. A battleduck appears to be glaring at it, like it wants it to go away. I laugh at the thought, take pity on the duck, and move it to a different shelf. "Somehow it seems even sillier to fight with muffins than with cards." There is a box of, yes, muffins. "Of course, this one is made of stone. Be like chucking a big rock at someone. Oh, and yet another thing on fire! We're going to have to round up all these fire items later, seems dangerous to leave them here." My mote bobs in agreement. "Come on, next row."

      At least, that was my plan. Then I hear something squeak from behind a frost cannon. I push the cannon aside and find a tunnel. So I head down it. "Oh my gosh! Why are you all in a safety deposit box?" This room is filled with petpets just wandering around. A Carmariller stares at me, then squeaks again. An Alkenore, a starry Kepru, and a Babaa with a hair bow wander up to sniff me. "You poor guys. Do you even have food? Wait, yes do you. Those omelettes that keep disappearing. Does Katie even know that you're in here?" The Carmariller squeaks again. The other petpets have wandered off by now, but this one does not seem to want to leave. "Aww, do you like me?" It squeaks yet again and tugs at my ear. "You all live in here..." A Nupie, a Belonthiss, and a Maraquan Grackle Bug swim in a tank, a fire Werhond barks at a snow Puppyblew, and a Plumpy hisses at an Angelpuss. "You know what? I'm going to do something about this."

      Sometime later, the safety deposit box door finally opens. "Ywr! I finally found you! I was so worried." Ah, yes, the clueless owner finally shows up. Katie picks me up, then finally notices the petpet army behind me. "What is all this?"

      "They've been living in the safety deposit box. They shouldn't be here!"

      "All of these? Really?" Katie is obviously shocked by the crowd. Exactly what I was going for when I gathered them up here.

      "So you really didn't know. We're going to do something, right?"

      "Of course, they can't live in there. I'll figure out something, okay? Maybe they can live in the yard."

      So that's what we wound up doing. Katie put a shed and a pool in the yard for the petpets to live in. I kept the Carmariller, and the gold mote, and we sold a few petpets that didn't like the yard to new owners. Just goes to show, you never know what you will find in your safety deposit box. So clean them out, Neopia!

The End