FLOREPA WAS TOO hurt and angry to care that these pets looked stronger and
most definitely older than him to be polite.
"I nearly got left in a place by my owner,
okay? The Pound or something it was called. She was going to go off and leave
me there. I escaped before they could dump me and I came here. That good enough
for you?" The Zafara made a noise in his throat that was a mixture of amusement
and admiration. "Your owner was gonna 'bandon ya, huh?"
"Right, that was the word. Abandon. What's
it to you?"
"As a matter of fact, our owners did tha'
same." Florepa looked at him. "All of you? Owners do that? I couldn't imagine-"
"Yup, well, they do." The Zafara, obviously
the gang leader, motioned for the rest to come join him. They numbered about
ten or eleven, and were mostly different species and colours. He pointed at
two scrawny Gelerts, one yellow male, and the other a red female.
"Zac and Dice here, their owner didn't
even take 'em to tha' Pound, just left 'em on tha' side of tha' road, all alone.
Jaq," indicating a green Kiko, "was put in tha' Pound but managed to escape.
And Skip," he gestured to a dirt-coated blue Kacheek, "was taken on a walk one
day. His owner took him to a park he had never been ta before. He threw his
Frisbee and Skip went ta get it. When he came back, his owner was long gone.
And all tha rest here, they suffer from similar fates. Owners either dumped
'em at tha Pound or left 'em ta fend for 'emselves."
"I didn't know humans could be so horrible."
"Well they are," said the green Zafara
bitterly. "As for me, I wound up quite like you. They were gonna dump me but
I managed ta get out in time. We formed our own little band that lives on tha'
streets of Neopia Central, wild. By tha way, tha name's Loper." He grinned at
Florepa. "I like ya spunk, kid. What's ya name?"
"Florepa."
Several of the gang members sniggered at
that, including the yellow Gelert called Zac. Florepa glared at them fiercely.
"So what?"
Loper waved for silence.
"Yeah, nothing wrong with that. Wasn't
his fault he was named that. We'll call ya Flo, kid. How's that sound?"
"Sounds fine to me."
"Good. Well, we'd best be finding you
a place to sleep."
Jaq the Kiko, Skip the Kacheek and Dice
the red Gelert trotted happily over.
"We'll find him somewhere, Lope. C'mon
then, Flo." Dice raised her head to call her brother over. "Hey,
Zac, c'mon and help us."
But the yellow Gelert simply gave a sniff
and stalked off, tail high.
Florepa frowned. "What's eating him?" Dice
shrugged. "Oh, he's always like that with new arrivals, but I think it's 'cuz
Loper took such an immediate shine to ya. Ol' Lope's normally tough on newcomers,
'specially kids like you. But don't worry, Zac'll come round."
Looking at the retreating back of the yellow
Gelert, Florepa didn't feel so sure.
In several weeks Florepa became the youngest
accepted member of the gang. He learnt quickly how to steal food from human
shops, managing to carry off several Almost Gummy Rats of assorted flavours
by their tails on his first attempt without getting caught, which garnered the
respect and admiration of the rest of homeless pets. The Rats were eagerly shared
among all, but Florepa noticed that Zac kept giving him distinctly hostile glances
and that he never touched his Rat. Dice had to finish it for him.
He soon became firm friends with Skip,
Dice and Jaq, who had helped him find a bed in a still-firm cardboard box tucked
behind some garbage cans, and then to drag some tattered rags out of the cans
themselves to make it more comfortable. Admittedly it wasn't much, but compared
to the sleeping quarters of many of the gang members it was a veritable mansion,
and Florepa was deeply grateful.
Loper seemed to have taken it upon himself
to show Florepa around Neopia Central. Every day the two Zafaras would roam
the streets, Loper teaching Florepa how to stay in the shadows out of sight
so as not to be seen by humans, move quickly and quietly to avoid detection,
and of course he pointed out the different landmarks along the way, so Florepa
would know his way around. And as the teacher was precise and clear and the
student intelligent, it was only a matter of days before Florepa knew his way
around Neopia Central like the back of his paw.
At night, he and the rest of the gang would
gallop happily through the network of alleys and back streets, knowing their
way around perfectly, in moonlight or in darkness and feeling superior to human-owned
pets because of that knowledge. Occasionally, they would meet up with another
street Neopet gang and have a friendly fight, with nobody seriously getting
hurt. At other times, they would sit in a circle and talk about their past lives
and previous owners.
"My owner abandoned me because she couldn't
afford to take care of me, and she didn't want to lose face by being seen at
the Soup Kitchen."
"Oh yeah? Lucky you. My owner abandoned
me because he wanted me to be free, free as a Beekadoodle in the sky, and to
return to my wild roots. As if I had any after being brought up by him!"
"My owner abandoned me 'cuz she got another,
adorable little pet, a Peophoal, and she didn't want un-cute old me anymore."
"Really, Flo? Mine too! A cute li'l Poogley."
"Hey!"
"Sorry there, Speedy, forgot you were
a Poogle, too."
"Ya'd better not forget it again, smart-tail!
They threw me off the racetrack 'cuz I wasn't fast enough."
"Through all those clouds to down here?"
"At any rate, the one thing we all 'gree
on is humans are dung, right?"
"Yeah! Who needs owners?!"
"We can survive by ourselves!"
And a great roar of agreement would go
up as all the pets started to tell each other exactly what they would do with
their old humans if they had them there, each torture worse than the next, and
Florepa would chuckle to himself. For the first time since the girl had stopped
loving and caring for him, he felt like he belonged.
To be continued... | 
