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Yorua was born in a small pet store on Earth as part of an average litter of six rats. They weren't really bred to be pets, though sometimes people took them home--mostly the little rodents were used as feeder rats and not given much consideration. As such, they were handled only in a limited fashion. Their first really social involvement with humans came when they were old enough to be set out on display. Customers often picked up the baby rats to look at them or play with them, but Yorua took a dislike to being held and bit when they reached their hands out for her--she had a brother who also bit, but not as badly. One day, a bunch of kids came in and began trying to play with the rats--Yorua, as per her wont, bit the boy who grabbed her and startled him so badly he dropped her. Rather than falling back in the enclosure, though, she hit the rim and fell all the way to the floor, where she quickly scooted under a display rack where she hid, stunned but alert. The kids were afraid of getting in trouble, but got the courage to tell a worker; unfortunately, the store was busy and she was quickly forgotten. She spent the rest of the day sniffing around the dark underside of her hiding place and that night, after closing, she crept out and explored. There was all kinds of food on the floor--spilled crumbs of dogfood, fallen seeds, bits of dogbiscuit--and she spent a long time eating her fill of it. She couldn't reach the rest of the rats, but that was all right--she could easily see the rest of the animals, and they her. She spent the rest of the night checking out the store and its occupants, playing with dust balls, and--at the first jingle of keys in the morning--retreating back to the underside of the display case to sleep for the rest of the day. She spent several days living like this, and eventually managed to communicate with some of the others. The dogs, longer-lived and in some cases, more experienced, spoke to her, as did some of the birds. The fish, naturally, were useless. None of them had much to say to a mere rat, but she quickly gathered the intended purpose of her existence. She was not, needless to say, very happy about it.

Yorua probably would have been discovered and returned to the sale tank if it weren't for sheer luck. One day soon after her escape, a customer propped the door open. He must have had a large order of dogfood, or maybe he'd bought a big fishtank--who knows. Yorua seized her chance and fled to the outside, leaving the pet store and its trapped inhabitants behind.

Outside was, obviously, a lot bigger and a lot more dangerous than the pet store. She crossed the parking lot in one mad dash, oblivious to cars (it's a miracle she wasn't run over then and there, thus ending this story) and made it to the curb were she continued through the grass all the way to the decorative bushes, where she stopped for breath. The run across the hot asphalt had been difficult, moreso because of the stones and particles which cut into her sensitive feet and hands. As soon as she had her breath, though, she set about figuring things out.

Yorua was a very clever rat--moreso even than most, and quickly got a handle on survival. She didn't hang around the petstore--she was on the move, though she had no obvious goal yet. The pet store, it seemed, was in a semi-rural suburb (not that she knew what that meant), and as she moved she grew closer and closer to 'civilisation.' If she'd simply turned and gone the other way this story might not be happening. Go figure. The closer she got to the city, the more she met squirrels--normally the two species of rodent had nothing to do with each other, but in urban environments the squirrels WERE the rats. They told her horror stories of huge buildings where they kept squirrels in huge tanks and did terrifying and mysterious things to them--for example, they shaved all the fur off their tails and deliberately made them sick! Perversely fascinated, Yorua decided she'd find one of these places for herself. Eventually, she did.

The place, such as it was, was a medical research laboratory, and getting there was no easy task. You could only wait so long for someone to prop open a door. There were vents and nooks to hide in, though, and ducts to travel though, but it took her well over a week of her relatively short lifespan to get anywhere that mattered. Where she wound up, though, would change her life quite a bit. It took a bit of luck and a lot of persistence to find what she wanted, but Yorua eventually found herself in a room filled with rats. The entire place REEKED of them--rats and disinfectant and chemicals and one other thing--the sick, cloying smell of disease. It was nearly strong enough to knock her out. Climbing one of the huge tables, she went to meet the residents.

The "residents" here were specimens for a cancer study, kept in groups in large tanks. Some were young, lively, and curious--they had no idea what was going on, they still felt fine. Others, however, were tumour-ridden shells, miserable or drugged creatures with horror stories of humans with needles and pills and metal tables where their littermates went when they died--after you died, they said, you were opened up and the humans took you apart on those tables. And sometimes they did it BEFORE you died. They saw it all--apparently, it happened right over THERE, or sometimes right by the cage itself. Sometimes, for what seemed to be no reason at all, the humans would take a rat out and kill it before it was killed by the cancer--sometimes they stuck a long needle into it and the rat would just sort of die, other times they'd just bend over and break the poor animal's neck against the table--right in front of its cagemates. It didn't occur to Yorua to doubt any of this. The first evidence was right in front of her--a tray of sharp tools, cages of sick and dying rats--look, that one by the wall was already dead. She watched it happen, too, over the course of the next few days, while she hid--much more carefully than she ever did at the pet store. She left soon after, going out into the city, where she would spread the knowledge of what she'd seen.

Yorua, for her part, became saboteur, terrorist, guerilla army of one. She killed and interfered with human progress whenever, wherever, and however she could. She placed tiny bombs in complex computers, tore wires in volatile machines, fed the strychnine they set for her back to the people themselves. She remained on the move, too, through cities and construction sites and homes and labs. She became infamous among rodents, not so much so among humans, who attributed most of her work to chance or other people. They convicted people for murders a rat committed. She hid with a nest of other rats temporarily, and they gifted her with a piercing in her ear, which she strung a bit of chain through--the fishing weight was a gift of sorts. She would fight anyone and anything in her way--what other rat could fight pigeons and win, making up for size with grit and passion for her cause. Of course, there was no way she could win, but winning wasn't her goal. Her goal was to make a dent, some kind of impact on something in the human rule. September 11, 2001 came and went, and she laughed at the ridiculous insanity of both sides.

And then... Kaiyato came. They made a deal in secret, and he took her to Neopia. No one really knows what her reasons for being there are, but you can be assured it's not a vacation.

Differences

Psst! She's Not Actually A Xweetok!

Yorua is not a true xweetok--she is a rat, and as such she looks like one. This section is a handy guide to anatomical differences! (Yay nerdery.) The first is leg length and shape--rather than having long, catlike legs, Yorua's legs are carried close to the body for fast, efficient movement. The bend can't straighten up so much as the Xweetok's leg can, either--the joint doesn't allow so much movement as that. Her feet are also different from a xweetok's--she does not have furred feline paws with three toes. Instead, her feet are hairless, black, and long-fingered, highly dexterous and five-toed. Her claws are transparent and on the end of each finger, which are distinct digits. She even has a thumb. The hindquarters of a rat are much broader and bulkier than a xweetok's--rats have a heavy haunch which provides good stability and hind leg strength. This means she can no only sit up or "stand" on her back-quarters, but she can make amazing leaps both vertically and horizontally.

Yorua's tail is the stereotypical rat's tail--it's 2/3 of her body lenth, long, scaly, mostly hairless, and black. It's used as a counterbalance and as a vital part of her body temperature regulation. When a rat is on an unstable or moving object, a rat manages to stay balanced by curling its tail under or against the object. This moves the rat's centre of gravity, keeping it balanced. The long tail is also partly responsible for the outstanding ability of rats to climb. When climbing up or down a rope, rats will curl their muscular tail around the rope for extra stability. So while her tail may not be as pretty or expressive as a xweetok's, it's actually much more important.

Her head, of course, is much longer of snout, and her face is sloped and angular rather than rounded and adorable. She has smaller eyes, dark and intelligent. Her ears are thinner and less manoeuvreable, significantly less furry. More interesting are her teeth. Instead of large canines which serve as "fangs," like most xweetoks seem to have... Yorua has the long, yellow incisors that are characteristic of true Earth rodents. Rat incisors are highly specialized for gnawing. They are open-rooted, which means they grow throughout life--she has to gnaw freqently to keep them down. Yorua doesn't gnaw quite as much as most rats, though, since she prefers to keep them a touch longer for fighting and defending herself. Remarkably (for Neopia), she doesn't even HAVE canines. Like all rats, Yorua has neither canines nor premolars, just a long, toothless space between her incisors and sixteen molars (four on each side of each jaw). As a totally random nerd note, the space is technically called a diastema. And that's about it! If you're still confused, I recommend visiting deviantArt and looking up a deviant named Sic-Puppy.

Manifesto

I, Yorua, take this opportunity to declare war on humanity. Given their proven inability to function in a reasonable and non-destructive matter, I have determined they must be REMOVED in order to give true animals and wild places the chance to exist undisturbed. The very precairous and intricate balance that holds the planet of Earth together hads not merely been damaged or broken, it has been torn to mere shreds--a fscimile of life! In many places, there is nothing except concrete jungles and the garbage of human life. The damage humanity has caused is far too extensive for second chances or even hope of reform. In trying to control the rampant population of humans, I am working to restore the planet to its true state. There will be no more waste or ignorance, here or elsewhere. I will allow no obstruction of this goal--all interference will be met with violence.

Enemies and Acquaintances

Opinions by Yorua on Those She Has Met.

Kaiyato: I don't hate him. We have something of an understanding... I think it's better I leave it at that, ye ken?

Aiyanna: Actually don't hate her either--quite a surprise, actually, expected a snotty brat, got an insightful Neopet. For once.

Swerr: %^&*#$@ useless! This ACEREBRAL TWIT knows about humanity! HE KNOWS, AND HE DOES BLOODY NOTHING!? Writes a few godsdamn papers, gets discouraged, moves to a forest?! What the HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! The next time I see you, worm, I'm ripping your godsdamned throat out!

Gilaxy: Sap. Next!

Vivender: Casino carpet. Next!

Alu: Who?

Imagery

Figure It Out, Punk

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Yorua

Rattus norvegicus

The Story