Hello, I'm Rolly. I'm a mutant Gelert and I've been through a lot. I'm a bit dark but my new family is helping me get through it and see the bright side of life. Vitani is my best friend and my petpet. I can easily ask her to attack and she will do it because I'm the only one she trusts. Anyway, this is my story: I started off life as quite the opposite of what I am now. Soon after I was born as a yellow Gelert I was painted royal. My owner said the paint brush was a gift from a friend. After being painted, my owner played with me, read to me and pampered me with treats. I was so vain back then and would never have given a badly named basic pet more than a glance. Then my owner gave me a petpet, a Mibble called Frank. I did nothing with him; he just sat at home and growled at me once in a while. My life was pretty good. Then it all changed... The door bell rang and my owner rushed to the door. When she opened the door, a scrawny, dirty red Kyrii holding an old potato sack awaited. "Excuse me miss, but could you spare a few neopoints for a family in need?" the little Kyrii asked. I was watching the conversation from the doorway and almost couldn't suppress the laughter in me. This little, basic pet was asking US for money? "Ugh! Get away from our house you runt! Shoo!" my owner hissed. The little pet frowned and glanced at me before glaring at my owner. "You've made your choice." She said. She left the sack in front of our door and ran away. "Humph! And don't come back!" my owner yelled. She picked up the sack and closed the front door before meeting me in the living room. "What's in here?" she mumbled as she took something out of the sack. It was a strange bottle with weird tentacles and spikes on it. It had a strange brown liquid in it that bubbled dangerously. My heart pounded as I started at the bottle. "What... is it?" I asked nervously. "Hmm... I don't know... let's see what its description says..." She said as she picked up a tag attached to the bottle. "Gelert Transmogrification Potion. Yuck, not only a foul smelling potion, but a disgusting bottle. I really, really would not give this to your pet, it could do something nasty!" she read. "Ha! They must just say that because it does something really good and don't want us to know! I bet it's some super power thing especially for Gelerts." She said, staring at the potion. "Here, you should drink it. I bet it'll do something really good to you. Rolly!" she said excitedly. I had never disobeyed my owner before so I took the bottle. My brain said no but shut my eyes and I drank it anyway. The lumpy liquid burned as it slid down my throat. After finishing the bottle I coughed and sputtered. Then I felt so strange. I felt heavier, my teeth grew into fangs and spikes grew out of my back, shoulders, tail, snout and head. Long, sharp claws grew out of my fingers and toes. I opened my eyes and saw that my formerly royal green fur was now a dull brown. What happened to me? "Ahh!!! What happened!!!" my owner screamed. Quickly, she dragged me to the neoboards and asked what happened to me. My owner asked a lady with a desert Scorchio what happened. "Oh, by any chance did you give him an item called a 'Gelert Transmogrification Potion'?" she asked. My owner nodded. "Ah, well those turn your pet into a mutant. In your case, a Gelert Transmogrification Potion turns a pet into a mutant Gelert." She explained. "Is... there any way to reverse it?" my owner asked. The lady shook her head. "You can repaint him but you can't just reverse its effects." The lady explained. With that, my owner dragged me home again. She paced around my room as I sat on my bed, looking into a mirror. I looked so different. My owner glared at me. She put a collar around my neck and took me outside. It was dark and the moon was out. "What's wrong?" I asked. "What's wrong?! You're a monster! And there's no way to reverse it..." she dragged me over to a nearby park. "I'm going to have to get rid of you." She took the collar off of me and started to walk away. I began to follow her but she shooed me away. Then I realised, that she only liked me because I was royal and now that I'm not, I was useless to her. I wandered the streets for a while, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. "She'll come back for me, right?" I muttered to myself. Eventually I grew tired and slept on a bench in the park. When I woke up, it was still night time and I realised, my owner wasn't coming back for me. Then I became bitter towards humans. I roamed Neopia Central and began terrorising the town. I wrecked homes, stole from people and started fights. One day I saw a poster on a tree. WANTED! Name: RolyRolyRolyRoll (Rolly) Spiecies: Gelert, Mutant Gender: Male Height: 44cm EXTREAMLY DANGEROUS! Reward: 100000nps I snorted at the poster and ripped it with a swipe of my claws. The humans deserved it, didn't they? I was walking around when I heard something. "Get out! You monster!" I heard someone yell. I saw a man kicking a mutant Ixi out of a Uni-drawn carriage. I growled, my eyes glowed red as and leapt onto the carriage and ripped an opening in the top. I roared at the person in the carriage and he ran out. The carriage collapsed and the Uni ran wildly, dragging the broken wooden carriage behind him. Sparks flew and the carriage was set on fire. The Uni reared up and tried to break free. I ran up to him and chew off his harness and he ran away. Then I heard a strong voice from above. "Halt evil doer!" the voice came. I looked up; a tall Moehog in some weird suit was standing on top of a nearby building. He jumped down dramatically. I rolled my eyes. Who was this guy? Whoever he was, he irritated me. He blew a whistle and a few other pets in weird suits surrounded me. I growled and looked for a way to escape. One of the pets threw a lasso around my neck. I reared up and yanked the rope as another one lassoed my leg. I fell to the ground and the Moehog came up to me. "Who are you?" I growled. "I'm Judge Hog! Crime-fighter extraordinaire!" he said proudly. I growled at him and someone put a muzzle on my snout. "Take him to the HQ and we'll decide what to do with this sorry character." He ordered the others. They took me to the HQ and put me in a cage. Judge Hog went into another room for a while. I didn't like him or the pets like him. They were always the heroes; the ones swooped in to save the day, the ones who no one could say anything bad about. I say differently, they're no better than anyone else. The cage was small and cramped so I curled up until Judge Hog came out again. The big Moehog came out of the room and went over to me. "Ok, your charges aren't that bad and you don't have an owner so you're going to the pound." He said. A cloth was draped over my cage so I couldn't see where we were going. I decided to go to sleep until we got there. Light flooded into my cage, waking me up. My cage was fitted in between some other cages and my captures left. "Hello." I heard a voice. A pink Uni greeted me. "We're just going to do a quick check up to see if you have any health problems we need to list." She said. I would have said something but I was still muzzled. The Uni opened my cage and took me to an examination room where she did some tests and checked my health. "Ok, a few hit points lost but all together you're in good health." The cheerful Uni said as I was led back into my cage. "Now you just wait here for a new owner to adopt you." She said happily as she left to go to her desk. I sighed and looked around; the front and side walls of my cage were bars but the back was metal with a small bared window near the top and the roof was bars too. I glanced next to me saw the same Uni tied to the carriage sitting in the cage next to me. He was a plain blue Uni. "Hey, I remember you." He said as he saw me. "You saved me from the fire. I'm Ricco... well that's not my full name but it doesn't matter." He said. "Hi... so, what happens here?" I asked. "This is the pound. I was abandoned by my owner after the fire because I ran away. So abandoned pets get left here and other people can come and if they see a pet they like they adopt them." He explained. It sounded innocent enough, right? I spent most of the rest of the day staring out the window in the back of the cage or sleeping. I slept until the next morning and when I woke up, the Ricco was gone. The pink Uni passed my cage. "Hey, what happened to Ricco?" I asked. "Hm? Ricco..." she flipped through a little notebook in her hooves. "Ah, Ricco was adopted last night." She said before walking away. Adopted? A badly named, basic pet was adopted before me? After being abandoned my vanity had been going down steadily but this got rid of it completely. The pound was such a dreary, sad place, as any abandoned pet would tell you. I spent most of the time watching the world go by, pets getting adopted and abandoned. "Hello, I'm Misty and I'm going to adopt you." A cheerful girl said. I didn't think much of it and Misty took me home. She had a small cosy Neohome in Altador. She also had three other pets. They were all pretty nice. That night, Misty set me down in the living room. "Ok, Rolly, I'm going to be honest with you, you're not a permanent pet here." She said. I cocked my head. "Hmm? What's happening?" I asked. I wasn't surprised; I didn't think any human would end up keeping me. "I'm adopting you out. I'm advertising that you're UFA and people will, hopefully, send in applications for you and the person who I think would be the best owner for you will get to keep you." She explained. I shrugged. "Ok." I lay on the couch as Misty's pets examined me. I ignored them and ate the food she had given me. The next morning Misty woke me up early. "Here, drink this, it's a Healing Potion. It'll make you feel better." She said. I drank the potion and my hit points were regained. Misty was a good owner but the fact that I was only temporary was very disheartening. "Breakfast!" she yelled. All the pets came to the kitchen to get their food. I ate up my breakfast quickly before Misty asked one of her pets to get her neomail. They gave her the sack of letters when they returned. "Hmm... ah, Rolly come here." She said. I came over to her and she gave me a letter. On the neomail it said 'App for RolyRolyRolyRoll'. "Someone's sent in an application for you!" she said cheerfully. "You're pretty rare so you'll probably receive a lot more." She explained. "Rare? I thought people didn't like mutants." I said sceptically. "A lot of people don't but some people love them. Some people just like them because they're worth a lot but I hope I don't choose anyone like that." She explained as she opened the neomail. "Ok, I'll be reading the apps for you in here but feel free to explore." She sat down and read the application. I strolled around in the small garden, watching the wild petpets go by. I wondered who I would end up being adopted by. The next few days were pretty boring; it was just Misty reading applications. "Rolly! I've got some good news!" Misty said as she read the last application. "Hmm?" I went over to her. "I've found you the perfect owner!" she handed me a neomail. I read the mail aloud. "Hi! I am Stattl and I wanna adopt Rolly! Mutant Gelerts are my dream pet..." the application went on and on and on another pet's petpage there were some drawings of me. "You'll be going to him today." Misty explained. "Oh boy..." I said sarcastically. Sure enough, Misty took me to the pound but took me to the transfer door. From there I was sent to my new owner. "Hello! You're mine now!" my new owner greeted (if that's the word you use) me as I entered the Neohome. He was very blunt about it. I shrugged and walked over to him. "So why did you apply for me?" I asked. "Other than the fact that mutant Gelerts are rare, I needed a scary looking pet to train." Stattl said. "Train? You mean battledome training?" I asked nervously. I was strong but no higher than level 1 and my stats were average. "Yep, get ready, your first battle is tomorrow!" he said excitedly. I sat on the sofa and tried to think of a way out of BD training. For the rest of the day I tried many excuses but nothing worked. I lay awake in bed that night. I decided to go for a walk in the garden. It was much bigger than Misty's one and was very fancy. I strolled around and looked at the moon in the sky. I sighed, my life had taken so many turns but for some reason this change was scarier than the rest. I went back to my room and slept for only about 4 hours before morning. "Wake up Rolly! It's time for your training!" Stattl's voice rang through the house. "Ugh..." I moaned as I stumbled out of bed. I lazily went to the kitchen and ate breakfast. I was exhausted. "Come on Rolly, we're going to the battledome!" he dragged me out of the house. We got to the battledome and I was pushed into the arena and faced my opponent. For the first time, I was scared of another pet. It was a giant darigan Lenny which made me look like a baby Gelert in comparison. I backed up against the wall before the match started. The Lenny gave me an evil grin before flying over me and jabbed at me with its beak. I rolled out of the way and began running to the other end of the arena. I glanced back at the other end of the field but the Lenny was gone. I skidded to a stop and looked around. Suddenly it reappeared in front of me and roared. The roar was so powerful that it sent me to the back of the arena. I slammed against the wall and the Lenny flew up to me and scratched my snout with it claws, leaving 2 scratches. I covered my head with my paws as the massive Lenny prepared for another attack when a voice rang on the loud speaker. "RolyRolyRolyRoll has won by default." The voice said. "What happened?" I asked. "My owner pities you so she let you off without being defeated." The Lenny said. "Good bye." Then he flew back to his owner. "Rolly! I'm very disappointed in you!" Stattl roared at me when we got home. "I thought you were gonna train me before you put me up against a pro!" I growled as I rubbed my sore snout. "That was supposed to be your training and don't talk back to me! This is my first time training and it's supposed to be a success!" he growled back. His logic made no sense to me. I didn't like this owner. "I don't want to live here anymore! Let me go!" I roared. "FINE! I'M GONNA ABANDON YOU RIGHT NOW!!" he yelled. He dragged me to the pound and abandoned me. I sat in my cage that night, wondering if I did the right thing. The pets in the cages next to and above me were quiet most of the time. Occasionally I would here the crying of a recently abandoned pet or the cheerful squeals of a recently adopted one. "Rolly!" a familiar voice came. It was my first owner. "Why are you here!?" I growled. "Well, I was wrong to abandon you because of how you look." She said. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why are you really here?" I snarled. "Well I recently found out that mutant Gelerts were worth a lot so I would like to adopt you again." She explained. She reached a hand in between the bars of my cage door to pat me. I growled as a warning for her to stay back. As soon as she got close enough I bit her hand. "AHH!!!" she screamed. I snarled at her and the pound staff came to my cage to see what was wrong. Once again, I had a muzzle put on me. "I hope you never get adopted! You'll never find a good owner!" my first owner yelled as she left the pound. I hit my head against the back of my cage later that night. Was my ex-owner right? Every owner I've had, had gotten rid of me. Did this mean I was doomed to never have a good home? My head was starting to hurt from banging it against the wall. The muzzle hurt the scars on my snout which made it even harder to get to sleep but somehow I did. "Why are we looking anyway? He was put in 'happily homed' so he's got an owner!" I heard someone say at the pound's adoption desk. I looked up and saw a red Bori standing with a young girl. "You never know, they might have abandoned him." The girl said. "Excuse me but do you know if a mutant Gelert named RolyRolyRolyRoll has an owner?" she asked. "I'm telling you, he's got one." The Bori said. The pink Uni at the desk flipped through a pet directory before answering. "Actually, he was abandoned yesterday. I'll show you his cage but be careful, he quite aggressive." The Uni said as she led the human and her pet over to my cage. I sat up and examined the 2 new faces. The Bori was wearing a Ghostkerscarf around her neck and she was staring at me. "For the record, Atory, you were wrong." The girl grinned. The Bori (I assumed was Atory) rolled her eyes. "Ok, ok, I admit it." She groaned. "Hello, Rolly. I'm Umbra and this is Atory76." The girl said as she crouched down to me level. I snorted, not being able to talk because of my muzzle. "Be polite, Atory." Umbra nudged the red Bori. "Hi." She said unenthusiastically. "Is there any chance we could take the muzzle off?" Umbra asked. The Uni shook her head. "Not unless you adopt him." She said. "Ok, do you mind if I adopt you?" Umbra asked me. My eyes widened. Did she ask me if I would like to be adopted? I shrugged. I didn't get my hopes up about this human. "Ok, be careful though." The Uni said as she unlocked my cage. I stepped out of the cage, cautiously. "You're not allowed to take the muzzle off until you get to your Neohome. Just come to the desk and we'll get the adoption papers done." The Uni said to Umbra. "Ok, Atory, could you take Rolly home?" she asked the Bori. She nodded. "Come on Rolly." She led me out of the pound. It turned out that Umbra lived on Mystery Island so it took a while to get there. I had never been to Mystery Island before, so I was a bit excited. "Ema, open up!" Atory yelled as she knocked on the door to the Neohome. The door was opened by a green Eyrie. "Oh, who's this?" she asked. "This is Rolly, Umbra adopted him from the pound just now. She still doing the adoption papers." Atory explained. "Ok, welcome Rolly, nice to meet you!" Ema said cheerfully as we walked in. "Zora! Come here, there's someone we want you to meet!" Ema yelled. A ghost Xweetok ran through the back door and into the house. "Hi!" he held out a tiny paw. I shook the silvery paw before he spoke again. "So... who're you?" he asked. "This is Rolly, Umbra adopted him today." Ema explained. "Cool! I'm Z0RUA_ but you can call me Zora!" he chirped. "Why do you have that thing on your snout?" he asked. Atory tore the muzzle with her claws and I felt like I could breathe again. I opened my mouth and yawned. "That's better..." she said. "I'm home!" Umbra cooed as she walked through the door. "I see you've gotten acquainted. Good thing you got that muzzle off, why'd they put it on in the first place." She asked. This was it, as soon as I said that I had bitten my past owner and been arrested by the Defenders it would be back to the pound. "I'm considered dangerous. I bit my first owner yesterday and I was arrested by the Defenders of Neopia." I said. "Wow, what happened?" Zora asked as he sat down as he was listening to a bedtime story. "It's... a long story..." I said as I started towards the door. "Hey, where're you going?" Ema asked. "Aren't you going to abandon me now?" I asked. "WHAT?! Why would I do that?" Umbra asked. She wasn't getting rid of me? Why would she keep me? "Come on, I'll give you a good meal and a wash and I'm sure you'll feel much better." She said. Sure enough, she gave me some food and a wash and treated my wounds. I still had 2 scars on my snout but they didn't hurt. That night I decided to risk it and tell them my story. "Wow, that's amazing!" Ema said after I had finished. "Well, you don't have to worry about being abandoned or traded or adopted out now, you're one of us." Umbra said, patting me on the head. "You should all go to sleep now, it's late." She said. "You can have my bed, Rolly. We're not rich enough to have proper beds so Ema and Umbra sleep in their beds and Zora and I'll sleep on the couch." Atory said. "Thanks..." I said as I walked over to the bed. That night there was a knock on the door. I was still awake and Umbra crept out of bed and tried not to wake anyone. She opened the door and there was a scrawny red Kyrri holding an old potato sack. I gasped; it was the same Kyrri as the one that asked for money from my first owner. "Excuse me miss, could you spare a few neopoints for a family in need?" she asked. She had asked that before, the night of my transformation. "Of course! Here..." Umbra gave her a bag of nps. She smiled. "Thank you!" she said and walked away. Early that next morning I woke up to a bouncing on my bed. "Rolly! Rolly! Wake up!" I opened my eyes to see Zora jumping up and down on my bed. "What?" I mumbled. I noticed the Ema and Umbra weren't here and Atory was getting breakfast. "Quick! Just come outside, you've gotta see this!" Zora squeaked. I stumbled out of bed and followed the excited Xweetok outside. Ema and Umbra were standing outside. A herd of water Uni were stampeding across the ocean. The sun reflected of their liquid fur making mini rainbows. "Now you understand, your transformation was for the better." A voice came from behind me. The same red Kyrri was standing behind me, but she was glowing. "Look, you have a real family now..." I looked to see Zora sitting on Umbra's head and Ema lying down on the sand. "...your life changed for the better..." the Kyrri's voice drifted off. I turned around and she faded away. "Now that's rare sight, those Uni are very rare to see around here!" Atory said as she came out of the house and handed out breakfast. "Did you see that?" I asked. "See what?" she cocked her head. "The Kyrri! She disappeared!" I said. She shook her head. "Nope, sorry." From that day on, I lived with Umbra and the rest of her family. My life had never been better...