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"Good Battle Lae," I grinned as we walked out of the Battledome.
Lae, my Orange Aisha, grinned widely and fingered the small medallion hanging
from her neck. It was a small golden medallion with a picture of a pet attacking.
It hung from a velvet rope, the colour a deep blue.
"Thanks," Lae replied, still hyped from her
fight. If Lae ever fought in the Battledome, she was always hyper afterwards;
the adrenaline rush from the fighter followed by the thrill of winning (of course,
if she lost, she wouldn't have enough hit points to fight.)
"So, seeing how Lae won, she gets to pick where
we eat for lunch." I grinned, digging my hands into my pockets. Coming up with
a few loose coins and a 10,000 NP note, I added, "Not the golden dubloon."
"Aw," Lae whined. "The desserts are delicious,"
she smirked, copying my British accent. (Lae talked with the typical Neopian
accent, whilst I still adopt a British hint.) I glared at her for a second,
before pushing open the large double doors and walking outside.
There were two things that hit me immediately
as I walked outside, the blazing sun burning my pale skin and a pleasantly sung
tune. The noise was coming from a Faerie Zafara, perched on the side of a wall,
a guitar on one knee. It was strumming chords on the guitar in time to its words,
and upon it's head was a large floppy hat.
"Weirdo," Lae commented, staring at the Zafara
with dislike.
"Lae," I glared, though I could see her point.
It wasn't the way the Zafara was dressed that made her take an instant dislike,
it was what it was singing about. Around it were several tatty signs stating,
'DeSTROy THe bATtLeDOMe' and 'GIVE PEACE A CHANCE' whilst the Zafara sung softly,
"Give peace a chance, love your neighbour, don't
fight."
"What an idiot," Lae sighed walking off. Jero
followed her without a second look at the Zafara, but Drushii and I stopped.
There was something about the Zafara that made me wait a second and ponder;
perhaps it was his utmost conviction to his passion, or that he hadn't given
up, despite the dirty looks and muttered comments that passed his way. Or maybe
it was his feisty nature -- he was currently singing slightly louder to drown
out an angry looking boy.
Against my better judgement, I walked over to
the Zafara, Drushii following me.
"Hi," I grinned, sitting down next to the Zafara.
The Zafara smiled and stopped singing.
"Hi," the Zafara replied. "Are you against the
battledome?"
"I am," Drushii said suddenly, surprising me.
I blinked and looked at Drushii, who merely stared at me, her purple eyes shining.
"You are?" I asked.
"I haven't fought in the dome, have I?" Drushii
asked with a small grin. "I go in there, but I don't like fighting; it's not
just a game--"
"Who are you?" the Zafara asked suddenly, cutting
into the impending heated discussion.
"Drushii," Drushii smiled, extending a paw.
The Zafara gave a wide grin and shook her paw animatedly. "And you?"
"Zayei," he grinned. "Who's the human?" he added.
"Sari," I glared. "And your human is?" I added,
suddenly understanding why Lae took a dislike. I could feel my fingers start
to burn and I took a deep breath to calm myself.
"I have none," Zayei replied with a faint grin.
"I did, but she left, so I don't anymore. I guess I should have one; I keep
having to run from a big black van named 'the pound catcher,' -- I don't think
it's very good."
"You could live with us," Drushii said suddenly.
She looked at me, an excitement I'd never seen before in her eyes. "Right Sari?"
"No," Lae said suddenly. Her and Jero had appeared
beside me, Lae glaring at the feisty Zafara and Jero with mild interest. "No
way is that hippie thing living with us!"
"Watch your step," Zayei said mildly, and swung
his guitar at Lae. Lae jumped and at the same time, Zayei stuck out his paw,
causing Lae to trip mid air and land heavily on her butt. I sniggered whilst
Jero and Drushii openly laughed at her. Drushii and Zayei struck up a conversation,
Jero adding helpful points here and there whilst Lae brushed herself down and
glared.
I thought long and hard; would Zayei want to
stay with us, could I afford to look after 4 pets and did I want a fourth pet?
The three I had were a handful already. Plus, Zayei and Lae obviously didn't
like each other -- it wouldn't be fair on Lae to invite Zayei to stay with us,
would it?
Eventually, against my better judgement, I pulled
Drushii to one side.
"Zayei can live with us, if he wants to. You
can ask him, but if there's any trouble, I'll seriously have to reconsider this
living arrangement," I said seriously.
"I understand," Drushii replied and broke out
into a large grin. She hugged me and rushed off to tell Zayei. After a few minutes,
all four pets walked over to me, Zayei's guitar hanging off his small frame.
"I would be delighted to live with you, Sari,"
Zayei said with a small smile. I grinned.
"Welcome to the family Zayei," I replied.
***
Zayei soon settled in; Lae and he still quarrelled like Lupes and Chias, but
they reached a truce of such. Drushii and Zayei were best of friends -- it was
hard to separate the two for any length of time.
However, the crunch for me came about 2 weeks
after Zayei joined our household. Lae, Jero and I were in the lounge, watching
Neo-T.V -- a new programme which showed the news plus sport and programmes.
A knock at the door pulled me out of my half-dozing stupor and I walked to the
door.
"I'm sorry to bother you at this time," a Chia
Police officer said as I opened the door. It was dressed in the regular blue
uniform, a whistle round its neck. "But I believe these are yours."
The Chia pushed forward Drushii and Zayei with
a small cough. Both looked at me meekly -- Drushii was sporting a black eye
and Zayei's guitar was broken in half, hanging limply round his neck. I blinked.
"What did they do officer?" I asked, dreading
the answer.
"These two were found fighting a Lupe and an
Aisha outside the battledome. Apparently, these two retaliated when the Lupe
broke your Zafara's guitar," the Chia frowned. "We took all four down to the
station to calm down a bit and get the story. I've let them off with a warning,
but I will take action if I see these two again," the Chia frowned at the two.
"Let that be a lesson to you two," it said and nodded at me.
"Thanks officer," I replied and pulled my two
pets inside. As the door slammed shut, I almost exploded.
"YOU WERE ARRESTED?" I yelled.
"It was an accident," Drushii replied meekly.
"It was the Lupe…"
"YOU WERE ARRESTED!" I yelled, my mind stuck
on one sentence.
"Sari, if I may butt in." Zayei said quickly.
"Drushii merely sprung to my defence when the Lupe broke my guitar and started
ripping up the banners we'd created."
"You always told us to stand up for ourselves,"
Drushii added. "I just didn't know the Lupe would hit back," she winced.
I could almost see what had happened. Drushii
and Zayei had been protested outside the battledome again, when two pets had
started harassing them. When they ignored it, the two pets had become violent
and had started attacking them. Drushii would have immediately hit one of them,
and then a scuffle broke out. Someone would've phoned the police, and they would
have been arrested.
"I understand what you mean," I said calmly.
"But I cannot… will not let you two be brought home by the Chia Police, no matter
what the circumstances. If you want to protest, fine, but don't you dare get
brought home by the Chia Police. Ever. You're both grounded for a month, try
and get out of it and it'll be doubled." I added as Zayei looked at the window.
"I'll get your guitar fixed Zayei, but you'll have to pay half the fee." Zayei
looked slightly less depressed at it. "Now, both of you go to your rooms for
tonight."
They started walking up the stairs when Lae
stopped them.
"Hey, Zayei?" she called. Zayei turned round
with a glare.
"I do believe you're going to float," he replied.
"Nope," Lae said looking impressed. "Being brought
home by the Chia Police -- wicked!" she grinned. "You're pretty cool afterall."
Zayei grinned at her and continued to walk up
to his room with Drushii.
"We have a criminal in the family," Lae grinned.
"We are criminals," I sighed rubbing my temples.
"We were thieves, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Lae replied. "It's still cool though."
I sighed again. So now I was facing an uphill
battle with Drushii and Zayei, I'd had the police knocking the door and I was
pretty sure it wouldn't be the last time. I guess the only good point out of
it was the Lae had taken a liking to Zayei at last.
'If anyone ever said my family was normal, I'd
remind them of this night,' I swore to myself. "I'm going to bed," I said outloud.
"If the police knock, tell them we're out." I added with a small smile. As I
walked up the stairs, I heard Lae say to Jero.
"How can we get brought home by the Chia Police
too?"
The End
As always, Neomails with be worshipped on a pedestal by Chia gods. Feel
free to send me constructive criticism (You can flame me, but I'll only laugh
^^) Thanks for reading this.
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