It was a day like any other day. Thieves were thieving, muggers were mugging,
and kids were being forced to take accordion lessons by their parents. The city
was my playground. I’m Dimension. I’m a Shadowed Shoyru. And I’m a Private I.
I’m the kind of pet who has to plan every move to keep from getting caught.
I’m the kind of pet who takes every risk to solve a case. I’m the kind of pet
who really has to get around to fixing that chair...*crash*...and that needs
insurance...oww.
It was another hot summer day, spent listening to pets and owners begging
me to take their case. Or so I thought. The usuals were here today: Marianne
the Meerca with her “missing” sister, Bob the Bruce with his mysterious “phantom
channel changer,” Karl the Kougra with his “haunted” house, and Lily the Lenny
with her “disappearing” Neopoints.
I had solved all of these cases before, but they kept coming back. Marianne’s
sister was turned Invisible, courtesy of the Lab Ray; Bob spilled Neocola on
his remote, causing the buttons to stick; Karl’s house creaks eerily because
it’s over 50 years old; and Lily can’t seem to grasp the concept of “when you
spend NP, you lose NP.”
***
After all of the nutheads went home, a shady character came into my office.
It was getting late, and I already spend too much on equipment and such to afford
good lighting. He had a low, raspy voice, and he referred to himself as Rocko.
When he stood in front of the fading light, I saw a silhouetted image of an
old Eyrie. He said that he would give me anything I wanted, if I helped him.
“Think of it, Dimension! It’d be a luxury! I can give you that luxury... for
a price.”
I didn’t acknowledge the fact that he knew my name, though it was kind of
creepy. “Name your price.”
“My youngest grandson is very, very sick. We have done all that is in our
power to try and cure him, but nothing works. We don’t even know what he’s got,
let alone a cure. He seems to be on the brink. Sad, isn’t it?”
“Get to the point.”
“Very well then, what I want you to do is, first, find out what the boy’s
got, and second, find a cure. Can you do that?”
After a few moments hesitation, I said the words that would change my life
forever: "I accept."
“Good. Here is the address, good evening madam.”
I politely waved goodbye.
After he left, I wrote the address down in my casebook, which was actually
a laptop that folded to the size of a credit card. This was the address:
5432123 Market Street
Neopia Central
43656
The next day...
“Hmm... Market Street... Market Street... AHA! Now, 5432120... 5432121...
5432122... 5432123! This is the place!”
***
As I climbed the seemingly endless staircase leading up to the house, I made
a mental chart of diseases and their cures. I also noted that there were no
other pets roaming around here, and that I had heard, or at least thought I
heard, “There goes a brave Shoyru... or else a very, very foolish one.” while
I was walking through the populated area of town. I stopped and had a juicy
melon every once in a while to quench my thirst and rest my aching limbs.
Many, many juicy melons later...
“I finally...*pant*...*wheeze*...*gasp*...made it...”
When I looked down, I realized that flying up here would have been much easier.
Duh! I was a Shoyru! I decided I’d fly down.
I pressed the doorbell, and the tone that resulted made me feel a little better.
It was the Mexican Hat Dance. That was funny. But I was shocked and horrified
by who answered the door.
No, it wasn’t some mad scientist. It was a Shoyru. A Mutant Shoyru. Not just
any Mutant Shoyru. My adopted brother, Trinkol. He was a green Cybunny at first,
but then he drank a Mutant Shoyru Morphing Potion, via a cup of juice. I never
saw him again, but now here he was, and here I was. It was a long 5.3 seconds
before the initial shock passed.
“T-Trink? I-is that... you?”
“W-who are you? Only my sister, Dimension calls me Trink...”
“Trinkol Dynasty Shoyru.”
“Oh, Dimmy! It is you! But, why are you here? And when did you get painted?”
“I’ll explain everything once you let me inside,” I said, reminding him where
we were.
“Oh, right...”
After he led me inside, I explained everything. Then I said, “Before I go
and see the poor thing, I need a few questions answered.”
“Such as...?”
“How old is he?”
“3 years.”
“Can he speak Neopian?”
“Yes. Fluently.”
“What’s his name?”
“DarkFireLord.”
“OK, thanks. Now, take me to him.”
Trink led me into a small room, dimly lit, curtains drawn. There was a small
bed in one corner, and a small, dark figure lay in it, sleeping, occasionally
making a high-pitched squealing noise. When the sheets were removed, I saw that
it was a Fire Korbat, and a sickly, young, and weak one at that. I noted that
its left wing and right foot were both in casts, and that the injured wing no
longer had flames. “Poor thing...” I said quietly. “What happened to him?” I
asked Trink.
“Abandonment. He was abandoned. He was but a baby Korbat, less than 10 minutes
old. Created, painted, and abandoned, just like that. He spent over 2 years
in the pound, and eventually escaped. Unfortunately, he was not lucky. Many
things happened to him, things so bad he can’t stand to repeat them. As you
can see, he’s slowly losing his flames.” Indeed he was. The flames closest to
the wing and foot were very, very dim. “A fire pet’s flames are its health indications.
Once this guy’s flames are gone, he will be, too. We suppose he has something
similar to the deadly 'Neolaria,' except this new desease takes longer than
3 days. We’ve had him here a week now.”
All I could do was nod my head. “I guess I need to go see Dr_Death.”
“Why Dr_Death?”
“He might know who DarkFireLord’s original owner was.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense... bye, sis. Come back someday, I don’t plan
on moving.”
“I will, Trinkol.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
After an excruciatingly long goodbye, I flew down the hill and headed for
the Pound. You’d better have this information, I thought.
***
Once I arrived, I was greeted by a cheerful-looking red Uni who asked,”Adopt
or, uh, ahem, abandon?”
“Neither. I need to speak with Dr_Death.”
“What for? Are you gonna harass me, too?” Dr_Death asked from the desk.
“No. I need some information.”
“OK, come with me,” he said with an annoyed tone in his voice. He led me to
a back office. He sat down, as did I. I asked him, “Do you have any record of
a Korbat who was abandoned 2 years ago?”
“What for?”
“I know where he is, and he’s very, very sick. Only has about 6 days to a
week, 10 days at the most to live if he isn’t cured.”
“Do you know what his name is?”
“DarkFireLord.”
“Colour?”
“Fire.”
“Hmm...”
As the doctor searched, I looked around for something, anything, that would
help me reach what I was looking for.
“This the Korbat yer lookin’ for?” He held up an old piece of paper with a
photo of a fire Korbat with the words:
Name: DarkFireLord
Species: Korbat
Age: 0 hours, ten minutes
Abandoned: 16th of Storing, Y2
Former Owner: croklady
printed under it.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
With this bit of information, I went and looked up croklady. I neomailed her,
and she told me that she created pets, painted them, then abandoned them. I
then went back to the Pound, and told both pets behind the counter what I knew.
“And to think that l didn’t notice...” It was the doctor speaking. “I did
notice that some of the pets cowered whenever we led a human through the kennels...”
Rose remembered.
“May I take a look?”
“Certainly. Right this way, miss, uh...”
“Dimension. Call me Dimmy.”
“OK Dimmy, come on.”
I followed Rose to the kennels. I wrote down the name and species of each
Neopet that seemed to be afraid of me. When I came back out, Dr_Death reported
that he had recieved 4 more adoptees while I was touring the pound. There were
four Pets on leashes behind the desk, all Poogles. One red, two green, and one
blue. “The abandoners’ usernames were Maki_lyan, who abandoned the red one,
nackai, who abandoned one of the green ones, krizky, who abandoned the other
green one, and cokysays, who abandoned the blue one. I have a feeling they’re
connected somehow with this ‘croklady’ that you mentioned. All four of them
did look similar...”
After a review of everything I had gathered so far, I decided that I’d better
go back to my brother. After all, he was pretty smart. Plus, his best bud was
a mutant Kacheek, which I was thankful for, what with the Kacheeks being really
smart and all.
***
I flew up the hill this time, and reached the front door in a fifth of the
time I spent last time. I wanted to knock, but I couldn’t resist the doorbell.
Soon, Trink answered the door, and I asked him if he’d call Tleich (short for
Tleicholandra_100 [pronounced tlyko-londra-one-hundred], a female mutant Kacheek)
to see if she could help us. He did. Once Tleich got there, we went over the
evidence.
I decided to go to croklady’s NeoHome. I did. Croklady was ready to talk,
and she did. I hypnotized her, and she fell asleep. I said, “Whenever you hear
the word “calypso,” you will reveal everything to ME, Dimension Destiny Shoyru!
Now awaken!” I clapped my paws and said “calypso”. She told me her plan, how
she was planning on taking over Neopia one account at a time, and everything
else I wanted to know. Then I hypnotized her again.”When you hear the clap,
you shall return to normal and forget everything that happened in the last 10
minutes!” I clapped again, and then ran for it, should she come after me. I
also managed to find out that all of the pets that were cowering at humans had
been abandoned by croklady, includng the Poogles.
***
I flew to Neopia Central and went to the Neohospital. I asked the Gelert Doctor
to come and look at DarkFireLord and try to diagnose him.
Once we got to Trink’s, Dr. Karmeena said that he had simply drunk a glass
of water, and that he had crashed into something. I went back to my building
in the city, and sure enough, the old Eyrie was there, and he asked me what
his grandson had.
“He crashed into something and drank a glass of water. Nothing that a few
matches couldn’t fix.”
The Eyrie gave me what he’d promised, and in less than a day, my life was
back to normal. | 
