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Pricsesa was speechless. Just when she thought she figured
Trella out, her owner surprised her.
"So, do you mind?"
"Of course not!" Pricsesa exclaimed. She started
fiddling with the controls, trying to work out all of the cool features.
"Good, but there is a catch. I want you to contact
me on these things every half hour. My Walkie-talkie is defective to where I
can hear you, but I can't talk to you. And if I don't here from you I'll call
Retta's house to check on you. I just figured this would be much, much cooler,"
Trella said as she picked up her own Walkie-talkie.
Pricsesa could only smile and nod. She couldn't
believe her luck! Never in her life had something so great just happened. Of
course, there would be a minor problem of when she got home and was a different
color and possibly a different species, but she'd deal with that later. At least
she was going to the Lab Ray.
The Uni raced out of the room and back to her
bedroom.
"So, is she going to let you go?" Lassalu cried
anxiously as soon as Pricsesa entered the room.
"Yes! She even gave me this!" Pricsesa said
once she had closed the door. Then she took out the Usuki Walkie-talkie.
Lassalu gasped. "WHOA! Those aren't even available
to the public yet! And when they are released they will probably be really,
really expensive! I would like, totally die for one!"
"I know! I am so totally lucky today! I just
have to contact Trella every hour! This is sooo perfect!" Pricsesa cried as
she did a little dance.
"I know! I know, but you better hurry up and
get dressed! Retta wants to leave real soon! Besides, if you keep talking we
won't be able to get into the Lab Ray," the Usul reminded.
"Good point! Okay, tell Retta to wait on the
corner of the street and I will join you in ten minutes."
Lassalu nodded, then ran off, leaving Pricsesa.
Pricsesa looked in her closet for something
appropriate for the Lab Ray. She needed something that would go with all colors,
just in case her color got changed. She also wanted her outfit to look a little
futuristic to go with the Lab Ray's setting. She dug through the closet and
finally found what she was looking for. It was a black skirt with a silver trim
that she had gotten a long time ago but never wore. She also pulled out a matching
silver necklace, a metallicy silver cape, and a black beret. Pricsesa pulled
it on and looked at herself in the mirror. She then tucked the Walkie-talkie
neatly under the beret since the skirt had no pockets. She thought she looked
perfect as she walked out of the room.
"Mom, I'm going!" Pricsesa called as she raced
through the hall and out of the door. This was it, she thought. I'm
finally going to the Lab Ray!
Pricsesa trotted down the street until she got
to the corner where a very tall girl with dark skin was leaning against the
street sign. Her hair was made into many small braids, and she was holding a
rainbow Usul with a pink jumper on.
Lassalu jumped out of her owner's arms and ran
towards her friend.
"She fell for it?" Lassalu gasped.
"Shhh! Retta!" Pricsesa cried as she pointed
to the tall girl. "And yeah, she did."
"Great! Oh, awesome outfit. It totally fits
the occasion! You have such great fashion sense!" the Usul said approvingly.
She then walked over to her owner, closely followed by Pricsesa.
"Pricsesa," Retta said with a smile. "It's so
nice you could join us. I doubted you would be going because of that no Lab
Ray thing your owner has. That sure was nice of her to let you go this once."
"Yeah, nice..." Pricsesa mumbled as she put
on a fake grin and shot a nervous look back at her Neohome. "Uh, can we go now?"
"Yeah, sure. You two have to help me with this
map though," the girl said as she brushed some braids out of her eyes.
"There's a map?" Pricsesa asked curiously.
"Yeah, on the back of the coupon," Retta said
as she lowered it to the Uni's eye level and showed it to her.
Pricsesa looked at it and saw a map of Neopia.
It had little green dots leading to a small space in the middle of no where.
The owner and the two pets started walking,
following the map's instructions. They had been going for about an hour until
they found themselves standing at the side of a mountain. A lot of other owners
and pets were already there.
"What's going on?" Retta asked as she tried
to squeeze her way through the crowds. "Why hasn't anyone gone inside?"
"Sloth hasn't let us in yet. A guard's watching
the entrance. He's only letting the pets that already have bought the map inside.
He's probably doing them now," a Skeith politely informed Retta.
Retta stood up on her tippy-toes and sure enough
there was a large Mutant Grundo standing at the entrance. No one was ever going
to get pass that.
Excuse me! Pardon me! I've bought the map so
let me get by!" cried a White Lupe with astonishingly blue eyes. He was shoving
people left and right. "C'mon, get out of my way!"
He then came upon Pricsesa and tried to shove
her to the side. He couldn't. She was far to strong.
"Excuse me, but pets who have already been to
the Lab Ray need to go inside. Besides, I need to get through!" the Lupe snapped
impatiently.
Pricsesa gave him a dirty look. "I've never
gone to the Lab Ray. My owner wouldn't let me," the Uni puffed. She held her
nose high in the air to make the Lupe feel as though she was a superior pet.
"T-then how'd you get so strong? The Training
School?" the Lupe chortled. This was a very common joke around 'Rayers' as most
Lab Ray Pets call themselves.
"Yes, in fact, I did. If you have a problem
with pets who use the Training School then I suggest you challenge me to a battle
sometime so you can get a real idea of what it can do to a pet!" Pricsesa snapped.
Honestly, she thought. The nerve of some pets.
"Uh, no. No problems with Training School pets.
I will take that challenge though," the Lupe said with a wink as he leaped over
the Uni and waltzed pass the guard who seemed to know him well.
"Jerk," Lassalu muttered as she watched him
go.
"For sure," Pricsesa agreed, though she had
to admit he had been very handsome.
They stood there for another 15 minutes until
another Grundo came up to the entrance. This one was red, but looked just as
muscular and dumb. He whispered something in the other's ear, and then he walked
away.
The original guard then turned to face the crowd
of pets (there must have been at least 10,000 there) and signaled for them all
to come in. Everyone started rushing forward, but suddenly the Grundo stood
in front of the door again as soon as the first pet and owner were walking in.
"No owners allowed," it said slowly, as if each
word was very hard to say.
"Why?" asked a brown-haired boy at the front.
He was clutching a rather impatient looking Wocky.
"S'what boss said to do. He wouldn't let any
Lab Ray pets bring their owners either," the Grundo replied. He seemed to have
rehearsed this speech.
Some owners seemed very dispirited, and some
tried to take their pets back home.
"I don't like the looks of this Michigul," said
a blond haired girl next to Pricsesa. "It's kind of suspicious..."
"BUT I WANNA GOOOO!" the Kacheek whined. He
was painted stripe and by the look of all of the toys his owner was carrying
in a bag he seemed very spoiled. "YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING! YOU WANT TO
ABANDON ME AND MAKE ME MISERABLE!!!"
"No, no! Michigul, I would never do that! You
can go," the owner resigned. She still seemed very worried.
The Kacheek smiled with pride and then ran up
to the front while the owner started walking back home with a frown on her face.
"What a brat," Pricsesa thought to herself.
"That owner is so mean."
"Okay gals," Retta said as she kneeled down
to their level. "I'm going to let you go in by yourself. I'll wait out here
for you. Is that okay?"
Both Neopets nodded.
"Good, see you later!" Retta called as she watched
them go in. The Grundo eyed the two suspiciously as they walked through the
entrance way as if they had their owners hidden somewhere. The walls were a
cold gray steel and the light was dim. They would normally be scared out of
their minds by the appearance of this place, but visions of great abilities
and pretty colors clogged their heads.
This was it though Pricsesa. My chance
at the Lab Ray .
***********
Back at home, Trella was lying on her fluffy, purple bed and staring at the
violet Usuki Walkie- Talkie. It had been over an hour and Pricsesa still hadn't
contacted her. This made the girl very nervous, so nervous that she could no
longer concentrate on her book, which lay unnoticed on the stone floor.
"What's going on? I was sure she would have
used that Walkie-talkie by now! She seemed so anxious to! Are the Walkie-talkies
not working right? Maybe I should call Retta's house..." Trella muttered to
herself as she placed her fingers on the phone. She wouldn't use the Walkie-talkie
because it was a demo and hers didn't work right.
She picked the phone up and started dialing
Retta's number, but then she stopped. Pricsesa would be really angry if Trella
did that because it would look like she didn't believe in her.
"No," Trella said while shaking her head and
putting down the phone. "I'll wait, I know she'll call soon. She's bound to!"
To be continued...
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