|
"The wind howled and the rain beat furiously
upon the leathery wings of a small, young Draik. Scared and lonely he
thought back to the events that had led him to this situation... it had
been just a week ago that he had landed in this wonderful land of Neopia.
The other Draiks were all adopted immediately by loving families; but poor
Dain was left behind. He was a little scrawny for a Draik and no one seemed
to notice him in the busy crowds of Neopia Central. A passing Blumaroo told
him there were many different lands in Neopia where he might find a happy home
and a kind owner. That day Dain flew and flew, searching for the other lands.
Suddenly lightning struck from the dark clouds, interrupting his thoughts.
Another bolt shot out, burning part of his left wing. Out of control, he
plummeted towards the ground and landed with a nasty "THUMP".
After a while, Dain woke up with a very bad headache and a badly burned wing.
He tried to stretch it to see if he could fly, but it was useless.
Realising he was stuck, he began to explore his surroundings. He had never
seen such a strange place! He asked a curious creature passing by if it
knew where he was.
It looked at him strangely and said, "Oh, you're in…"
|
Author: Broken Plastic Sword
Date: 08 July
|
|
"...The Haunted Woods." The stranger then continued on his way, but persisted to stare at Dain, walking
backwards into the darkness.
"Could this be the place where I will find happiness and a loving family?" Dain wondered, looking
around to see only dead trees and a ghostly mist that hung a few inches above the ground.
Dain was unwilling to give up, though. His desperate need for a place to belong, to fit in, to be loved
was much too strong.
His wing still stung him badly, but his headache was beginning to subside quickly. Wherever he would
be going now was something only time would tell.
Dain started by entering the forest. The eerie smell of rotting wood filled Dain's nostrils, but he
ignored it. Suddenly, something cold reached out behind him...
|
Author: lyra142
Date: 08 July
|
|
...and touched Dain's burned wing. He jumped at the clammy feeling and
whirled around. As his eyes took in the ugly, dripping creature standing
before him, he shrieked in fright.
"Please, don't hurt me!" Dain hid behind his wings and began to tremble in
fear.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! I just thought I could help
heal your wing. It looks like you burned it."
Dain peeked at the small animal. "What are you?" It was a pile of dripping,
brown mud, and it smelled horrendous.
"I'm a Sludgy, but you can call me
Brownie."
The young Draik was now unafraid. He was quite curious about this
interesting petpet. "Why are you here in the woods by yourself?" Brownie's
eyes filled with tears. "I was abandoned by my owner. She thought I was
disgusting, so she got rid of me."
Dain knew exactly how the Sludgy felt. "Why don't you come with me? I'm
trying to find an owner. Maybe we'll find someone who will take us both."
Brownie smiled in delight. "I would love to!" Together, the two misfits started their
journey for a loving owner...
|
Author: chinchillalove
Date: 09 July
|
|
...Dain and Brownie continued onward through The Haunted Woods until they
reached a clearing. Heading out, they were immediately startled by all
the Neopets, Petpets, and owners bustling around.
"Where are we?" asked Dain looking to Brownie to see if he knew.
"This is the central area of The Haunted Woods. Full of shops, quests,
a few games, and other mysterious happenings," answered Brownie.
Dain continued looking around seeing some creepy looking owners and some
not so creepy owners. Suddenly he saw her. A lone human standing around
without a Neopet or Petpet around her.
"Do you see what I see? Go talk to her," encouraged Brownie hiding behind
Dain.
Dain nodded, approaching the human. "Excuse me but I was wondering if you
were interested in adopting me as pet? I have my own Petpet. So are you
interested?"
The human looked at Dain and Brownie. As she began to answer Dain...
|
Author: sakurastarwind17
Date: 09 July
|
|
...a wild young boy with fiery eyes pushed her out of the way.
"Ooh ooh these are the pets I want Mom!" the boy yelled excitedly. Before
Dain could say a word, the boy scooped them up and carried them away. Dain
was a bit frightened of the boy, but at least he had an owner now. The boy took Dain
and Brownie to their new home in The Haunted Woods, a dark old house which
looked very uninviting.
"Ok Neopet," said the boy, "listen up! My name is Toby, but you are to call
me Master".
Dain looked at Brownie with pleading eyes. "I don't like this, not one bit."
"I will call you Grease, and your ugly little pet can be Mud."
"But Toby," replied Dain, "I already have a name and it's Dain, and this is
my Petpet..."
"Quiet Grease! I'm your owner now and I say what goes!"
Toby shoved the two pets towards a large wooden door and pushed them inside.
"This is your home now."
Toby shut the door with a loud boom, and footsteps echoed as he walked away.
"Dain, we have to get out of here," whispered Brownie.
"I know," replied Dain, "But how?"...
|
Author: nyprincessmj
Date: 10 July
|
|
...Brownie considered the problem for a few seconds. "That girl, the one who that kid
interrupted. If we can figure our how to get out of here, we can go to her."
"But how do we get out of here?"
Dain and Brownie looked around at the empty, cavernous room. "No windows," Dain said,
stating the obvious.
Brownie looked resentfully toward the door through which Toby had departed. "Well, we'd
better get out soon. He seems like the sort who'd fight you in the Battledome until you
dropped."
That idea didn't appeal to Dain at all, and he began inspecting the door.
"Can you break it down?"
"I don't know. I don't think I'm strong enough." But Dain took a running leap at the door.
He fell to the floor, stunned, seeing stars in front of his eyes.
"That would be a 'no'," Brownie said. Then he peered closer at the door. "Wait a minute,
Dain-- you DID sort of splinter it a little." He pointed to the door, and the still-dazed
Dain vaugly realized the wood where he had hit was split.
"That's our ticket out!" Brownie said excitedly. "Just keep pounding on the door!"
"What if Toby comes back?"
"Tell him we're hungry and that's why we're pounding on the door. If he notices the splinters,
try to dodge past him."
"That's not really much of a plan," Dain said skeptically.
"Full of holes," Brownie agreed. "But do you really want to stay here?"
Dain sighed. Then he backed up to the other end of the room and launched himself toward the door.
Which opened...
|
Author: emeris
Date: 10 July
|
|
...to a face of unimaginable fury.
Toby had heard the whole scheme, but before Toby could do anything, Dain and Brownie ran to what they
thought was the front door. As Brownie opened the door, Dain turned around and saw Toby with a terror
stricken look. "Don't go in there," he yelled. Dain was trying to analyze the situation. Just as Dain
was about to run away from the door. Brownie pulled him in.
The room was completely dark and cluttered with all sorts of junk. "Come on, you can't listen to Toby.
He called you 'Grease' for crying out loud."
"I know, I know, but the look on his face... it made me want to stay and find another way out," Dain said
pondering the the horrid look on Toby's usually tough face. They stood there for a while in silence.
Dain just couldn't erase the image of Toby's face from his mind. There was something... His thoughts
were disturbed by Brownie's constant movement. "Brownie, what are you doing? You make more noise than
a..."
"Shush, I hear something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
Dain and Brownie started moving all the junk around. After many hours of work they uncovered a small
tunnel. If Dain crouched down far enough he could fit in just right. Looking at Brownie, Dain said,
"Well, shall we?"
"Let's go." As they started down the small tunnel they felt the warmth increase slightly. As they
traveled further the tunnel increased in size and temperature. Finally Dain saw an opening.
Dain and Brownie finally had enough room to stand up. As Dain dusted himself off, he realized they
were in a large cavern.
Then Dain saw the most ...
|
Author: juliet_4
Date: 11 July
|
|
...horrible sight! There were tons of Neopets in the cavern, Toby was keeping an illegal number of pets!
"Oh my gosh..." Brownie said. This is horrible!"
All the pets were tired and starving. A small Bruce, which couldn't have been more than a baby, toddled up
to Dain and pulled weakly at his wing.
"Do... you... have any... food?" It asked.
"No, I'm sorry. We don't. What happened?"
A grizzled old Gelert approached them and stuttered out a reply.
"That horrible boy created us and forgot about us. He always wanted the newest and most exotic pets, but he
didn't want to waste money on abandonment fees so he just kept us here. Did you come to help us?"
Dain shook his head slowly. "No, I'm afraid we didn't come to help you, but I suppose we could." He motioned
to the tunnel entrance. "If we hurry, we can escape."
The pets let out a strangled cheer, and began dashing out of the cavern and into the tunnel. They all broke out
into the kitchen of the room, tired and hungry. As soon as they came out, they saw Toby. The Gelert snarled at
him and so did a bunch of Lupes, Kougras, Wockys and other ferocious Neopets. Toby held up his hands, admitting
defeat. The Gelert barked happily and all of the pets ran gleefully out of the house, and into freedom.
Only, what would they do now?...
|
Author: battlesunn
Date: 11 July
|
|
...Brownie slid up on Dain's head and led the way out of the shadowy wood. All the pets lined up and followed them,
like ducklings following their mother. A sight it must have been to see a parade of starving pets, moving slowly through
the wood. Suddenly, they reached the center of The Haunted Woods. All the owners stared at the pets. Quickly, many rushed
over to help them, and one by one they were taken away to a better life. Dain and Brownie sighed, for they were the only
ones not to get adopted. Suddenly a person appeared behind them...
|
Author: roxycaligirl101
Date: 12 July
|
|
...and Dain felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He looked back to see the same young girl who he and Brownie had seen earlier.
Dain had never been so happy to see anyone in his life.
"Hi" the girl said, "my name is Shiloh."
Brownie moved closer to Shiloh and touched her hand. He was suprised that she didn't pull away, even though he was made of
mud. "Have you come to be our owner?" Brownie asked with kind of a whimpering sound in his voice.
"I would love to be your owner," she said.
Brownie and Dain both gave her a hug, they were both so happy! As Shiloh led them to her home Dain looked at the sky and a
tear fell from his eye.
"I am home at last," he said before he turned and walked into his new home.
The End
|
Author: dutchy2002
Date: 12 July
|
