Family and Neopia is always a tricky business. Most kids are lucky, and
never have trouble with their siblings. But what happens when a feud goes overboard?
The potential to wreck havoc on a sibling's innocent pets is a horrible threat.
The red Kyrii loved his family. It was crazy, just the
way he liked it. His owner, a eleven year old boy was quite rambunctious, and
his pets, all four of them guys, matched his personality. Sure, they're names
weren't the best, the Kyrii was Cool_dude11 after all. But still, it was a great
family. They'd get up whenever they wanted, have whatever they wanted to eat,
usually something sweet, and spend all day playing. They weren't rich, Punk_11,
their owner, only bothered to earn enough money to kept them fed and supplied
with toys. But Cool_dude11 didn't mind. It was a carefree life, of nothing but
games and no responsibilities.
Cool_dude11 vaguely knew his owner had a brother.
He'd heard references to him before, just vague comments, but other then that,
the Kyrii could care less. A brother wasn't important.
One day, however, Punk_11 seemed rather upset
one morning, eating his breakfast in stony silence.
"What's wrong?" Wild_1_11, a red Kau, asked
cheerfully.
"Nothing," their owner grumped in reply.
"Ah, something's wrong," the Kau persisted.
"Yeah, c'mon Punk, it's okay, you can tell us,"
Cool_dude11 butted in.
"It's not important."
"If it's making you upset, it's important!"
Igloo11, a blue Quiggle chimed in, just coming downstairs.
"Fine, fine," Punk_11 reluctantly conceded.
"My brother is being such a pain. He's younger than me by two years, but he
thinks he's so great or something. It's cause he's a better soccer player than
me. As if I care. Like I even like playing soccer," he finished in disgust,
standing and storming out the front door, slamming it behind him.
The NeoPets stared at their owner in shock, not
moving, just staring at the door with wide eyes. Finally, Tough_Guy11, the red
Grarrl, ventured to speak.
"But I thought he loved soccer," he whispered.
"Me too," Igloo11 added softly.
The next couple days got even worse. Punk_11
hardly played with them anymore, instead spending all his time trying to earn
Neopoints and training Tough_Guy11 at the Academy on Krawk Island.
"I don't know what's going on," the Grarrl confessed
to his brothers one night. "It seems all I do is train and train. Sure, I don't
mind having good statistics, but Punks never bothered to really battle with
us before. And now he's spending all this money of fancy equipment. I don't
know why."
"I guess it's cause of his brother," the red
Kyrii muttered.
"I don't like his brother now…." Igloo11 said
softly.
It was indeed because of Punk_11's brother that
things had changed. Their owner was determined to be better than his younger
sibling, and he was letting that drive get in the way of everything. Punk's
brother, in turn, was just as bad. He too worked non-stop at having a stronger
pet, more Neopoints, a bigger house, and gloated at every opportunity when he
was ahead. It was sibling rivalry to the worst degree.
The brothers should never of dragged their pets
into the conflict. But they did. The family was outside one day, Punk_11 sitting
on the steps and pondering over ways to make more money to buy more training
and more Battledome equipment and therefore be better than his brother. The
NeoPets were playing their own version of Gormball in the front yard in which
the winner was determined by whoever stayed on their feet longest. It was a
very rough game, as the only way to win was to throw the ball as hard as possible
to the other pet. Cool_dude11 had just heaved the ball at Igloo11, who caught
it and staggered, but didn't fall, when they heard a bit of shouting behind
them. They stopped the game and turned to observe Punk_11 and a younger kid
that looked like him shouting at each other angrily. A blue Lupe, a green Buzz,
and a red Gelert stood nearby, growling at Punk_11.
"I think that's his brother," "Igloo11 observed
grimly.
"Let's go say hi…." Tough_Guy11 muttered under
his breath.
The four pets walked closer to the fight.
"I hate you!" Punk_11 was screaming. "Why don't
you go somewhere else with your stupid pets!"
"My pets aren't stupid!" the brother screamed
back in return. "They're better than your gang of losers!"
"We aren't losers!" Cool_dude11 snapped, clenching
his paws into fists.
"Yeah?" the Lupe sneered. "Sure look like that to me, Kyrii"
"At least I'm not a slobbering Chia eater like
you," Cool_dude11 retorted.
"Slobbering? Why you…"
And the place erupted. The two gangs of pets
leaped at each other, snarling, biting, and kicking at each other. Punk's little
brother in turn tackled his brother, and the two boys rolled on the ground trying
to pin the other.
"Hey!" someone yelled. "Cut it out! Break it
up!"
And the Kyrii caught a glance of a disco Kacheek
pulling Igloo11 off the Buzz. He was then yanked back by another pet, a Halloween
Kougra. The two pets quickly separated the feuding groups.
Cool_dude11 glanced around, panting and sore
from a couple kicks and bites. An older guy, much taller and stronger than the
brothers was holding them apart by the back of their shirts, while the two glared
at each other with fury in their eyes.
"Now, what's this all about?" the stranger demanded.
"He started it!" Punk's little brother declared.
"I did not! You jumped me!"
"You called my pets stupid!"
"You did too! And you said I'm worthless!"
"And you hid my skateboard!"
"Because you tore all the pages out of my book!"
"ENOUGH!" the stranger shouted.
Silence fell over the two boys.
"This is ridiculous. Brothers shouldn't fight
like this," he said, more softly this time. "Now, think you two can make up
and stop fighting? Look at your pets."
The two brothers glanced guiltily over at their
NeoPets. They just sat there, staring at the their owners, keeping a wary eye
out for the opposing group, with the Kougra and Kacheek standing between them
all.
"You've dragged them into this now. You should
be ashamed of yourselves. Now, apologise."
"I'm sorry," Punk reluctantly muttered.
"Yeah, me too," his younger brother grumbled.
"Good. Now, no more fighting," the guy said,
letting the two brothers go and gesturing to his pets. "C'mon you two."
The Kougra and Kacheek gave the pets one last
stern look, then trotted off after their owner. With one last dirty glance,
Punk's younger brother left too, his three pets trailing after.
A couple days passed without incident. Life returned
to normal, a bit. One day Cool_dude11 was the only one at the house, the others
out shopping. The Kyrii hadn't really felt like coming along, and so stayed
behind at the house. He heard the door open and came running, only to screech
to a halt at the front door, staring at the person in the hallway. It was Punk_11's
little brother.
"What are you doing here?" the Kyrii demanded
suspiciously.
"C'mon," the boy replied, slipping a collar
over the Kyrii's head before he could react.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Cool_dude11 protested,
yanking at the collar.
But the boy was stronger and dragged the Kyrii
out the door on a leash.
"You can't do this!" Cool_dude11 shouted. "It's
illegal!"
"Not today. Punk_11 should be more careful about
what he leaves lying around," the boy said smugly, waving Punk's ownership file
in one hand.
"What are you doing?" the Kyrii demanded, still
struggling to get loose.
The boy didn't reply, only dragged the Kyrii
all the way down to the pound.
"No, wait!" he shrieked as Punk's brother filled
out the abandonment form. "He's not my owner!"
The yellow Techo merely looked up at the Kyrii
and shrugged.
"All the papers are in order."
"But… but…. NO! You can't do this!"
With a wicked grin, Punk's younger brother walked
out the front door of the pound without a backwards glance.
"This is a mistake," Cool_dude11 pleaded. "My
owner loves me, that was his brother, you can't…."
But the Techo merely caught up the leash and
dragged the Kyrii back to the cages.
"Sorry," he muttered, locking the forlorn NeoPet
into the nearest empty one.
"No, wait, don't leave me here!! My owner doesn't
want to abandon me!! That wasn't him!! It was a mistake!" the red Kyrii screamed
at the Techo's departing back.
"Don't leave me here…" he whispered, sinking
down to the bottom of the cage in despair.
All day Cool_dude11 waited patiently for Punk_11
to come find him. And the next. And the day after that. He waited a whole week
for his owner to come find him. And then a month. By then, he'd lost all hope.
Rumours eventually reached him, that Punk_11 had been kicked out of Neopia.
And somehow Cool_dude11 knew that it was all Punk's brother's fault.
The End | 
