"I'm hungry," I told my mom, Flamehead2k214.
"Then let's go to Hubert's Hot Dogs. Which one
do you want?" she asked with a smile. "A chili dog!" I said excitedly.
Oh yeah. I haven't introduced myself. I am Gohan_super2001,
a blue Shoyru. I am 15 years old and I live in Neopia Central. I am the only
Neopet living with my mom.
My mom ordered a chilidog from Hubert as I looked
around curiously. I saw a small red ball roll down the street and got excited!
I ran after the ball. I chased it and chased it and didn't even notice I was
getting farther and farther away from my mommy! The ball fell into a small Cybunny
hole. I bent down to peek inside the hole. It sure was dark. Suddenly, I felt
a net fall over my body and I twisted to turn around. I got myself even more
tangled in the net that way.
A strange looking blue Eyrie and a yellow Grarrl
looked down at me. The Eyrie had a peg leg on his right hind leg and a captain's
hat with scars all over his body and a fire sword. The Grarrl had a patch over
his left eye and a scar around it. The Grarrl had a Sword of Domar and a Red
Bandanna on his head.
"What's yer name, shoy?" the fierce Grarrl commanded.
"G-Gohan," I managed to say.
"Gohan, eh," the Eyrie taunted. "Well, yer name
is now Ice ball."
The Grarrl dragged the bag on the floor (since
I am a little heavy, heh) from Neopia central to a cave near the coast. The
cave was fairly large and dark so there were torches hanging off racks on the
walls and a fire lit in the centre. I saw many Neopets sitting against the wall(s)
of the cave and they were linked together by a long rope, binding each of their
wrists.
A few Neopets were dressed like pirates and,
of course, they were standing over the ones in ropes. I overheard the Eyrie
and the Grarrl and found out that the Eyrie's name was Captain Hawk-man. Hawk
for short. The Grarrl's name was First Mate Fangs- war. (Obviously Fangs for
short). Fangs called a Skeith over to tie my hands with part of the long rope
to a Kyrii that now sits next to me. As soon as they went back to their posts,
the Kyrii spoke to me.
"My name is Mekka-man. What's yours?
"Ice ball," I responded. "No no no. Not the name
the Captain Hawk-man gave you. Your real name." "Gohan_super2001. Why are we
here?"
"Those pirates Neo-napped us all to build them
a boat," Mekka-man said. "Why don't they just build it themselves?"
"Probably because they'd rather have galley slaves
do it for them. Oh yeah, and they're lazy." We sat in silence for the rest of
the day. All of the galley slaves slept where they were.
The next day...
"Wake up! Wake up you filthy Neopets!!" screamed
the Skeith.
"Huh? What time is it?" I asked as I rubbed my
eyes sleepily. "The crack of dawn. 0500 hours, maybe, NST." Mekka-man answered,
more alert.
"Time for ye lazy critters to finally begin yer
werk. Standsup and line up." The cave full of Neopets scrambled to stand up,
afraid of the fire whip at the Skeith's waist. One by one, the Skeith, First
Mate Fangs, and a jetsam untied the slaves and placed a damper collar on each
slave's neck. A damper collar stops Neopets from using their attacks and (for
flying types) wings. Gohan felt his wings fold and crumple on his back because
of the collar.
"Now, here are yer orders. All tall and strong
Neos are to collect wood. Everyone else, build a sturdy boat with these blueprints.
Refer to the blueprints if ye don't know what to do next. At midday, ye will
be gettin' yer lunch and a five-minute break to eat. Then you will resume yer
werk. Now GIT!" The Neopets quickly marched out. Mekka-man and Gohan ran to
look at the blueprints and began their grueling labour, building a pirate ship.
During the day, Neopets built carts and loaded
them with wood from the forest and unloaded it at the dock. Gohan and Mekka-man
tried to keep up with all the Neopets Those who tried to take a few seconds
to rest were burnt on the back by the intensity of the fire whip.
This went on for two weeks and for lunch, they
always got 1/3 piece of a stolen omelette. The ship was finally finished at
the end of two weeks. On the back, the name was written. It was called, The
Gladiators. I wonder why they called it that, Gohan thought. Then came a yelling
from a distance, "Move! Move, girl!" Everyone whipped their heads around to
see what was going on.
There was a red Shoyru being dragged towards
the other galley slaves in a net. She was putting up quite a fight, but getting
even more tangled into the net.
"Move it," First Mate Fangs yelled, and he sent
the fire whip flying across her back three times. She fell to the floor and
was dragged the rest of the way through the dirt. Captain Hawk-man approved
of her and they attached a damper collar around her neck and kicked her in the
direction of Gohan and Mekka-man. Gohan and Mekka-man ran quickly to pick her
up.
"Are you okay," Gohan asked. For the first time
he looked into her penetrating black eyes. Whoa... he thought. "My name
is Mekka-man."
The Shoyru got up, looked angrily at them and
said, "Syrekia." Then she stormed off. Gohan yelled, "Wait!" and began walking
behind her, but she disappeared into the crowd when-
"Attention all galley slaves! Captain Hawk-man
has something ter say!!" First Mate Fangs yelled. Everybody watched silently,
fearing there might be more work. Then Captain Hawk-man spoke. "All galley slaves
are ter board the ship and go below deck. Do not force us ter move ye down there-"
and the Skeith held a Skeith club in his hands.
"Individual beds have been marked with a pile
of straw on each one. You may take your pick between the top, bottom, or middle
bunk beds. Now go!" All the galley slaves began marching up the gangplank in
single file. Gohan tried to search for Syrekia with his eyes once more, but
it was no use. He and Mekka-man boarded the ship and chose the bottom beds.
They were surprised to find a Neopet lying in the bed next to Gohan's.
The Neopet turned its head to face Gohan...
...and it was Syrekia! "Remember me? I didn't
get to tell you before, but my name is Gohan_super2001." He held out his hand
to shake, but she turned away, disgusted. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to be here and I don't need your
sympathy."
"Well none of the rest of us had a choice in
that mater and I'm not trying to feel sorry for you, I'm just trying to make
friends," Gohan said.
"Whatever," Syrekia replied. "Well in that case
I'll just keep talking. I'm 16 years old; this is my best friend, Mekka-man.
I-"
"All right neocritters!" the Skeith yelled. "First
Mate Fangs is heading to town fer supplies. All of the critters on the bottom
beds, line up single file!" Gohan, Mekka-man and Syrekia lined up with thirteen
other Neopets that chose the bottom bunks. They filed out on deck, back into
the bright sunlight. Gohan could have sworn he heard Syrekia mutter "Thank Neopia
that shut him up." But he hoped she hadn't said that.
First Mate Fangs began giving the instructions.
"We're going into town," he began. A Korbat with a bandana and a striped tank
top attached all of the damper collars together by chains (maybe 6 inches of
chain between each Neopet). "To get some food and weapons. Now, move out!" he
said and marched alongside us.
We walked for miles with the sun climbing higher
in the skies and sweat falling from our faces like water. When we finally got
into the city, we stopped at the Main Food shop, run by a Chia. "Welcome!" he
said, Fangs didn't reply and tossed out bags to the sixteen of us. He then turned
to the Chia and growled, "Fill the bags with everythin' on yer shelves!"
"Show me some NP and I'll be glad to," he returned
with a smile. "We ain't got any and didn't plan to buy anyway."
"Well then, I guess your business is through
here."
Quick as lightning, First Mate Fangs pulled out
a Sword of Domar and stuck the point to the Chia's throat, as if threatening
to puncture it. "I don't think ye heard me. Fill all sixteen of those bags 'til
yer cain't fill 'em up no more."
"Right away sir!" The Chia gulped, sweating.
He threw all of his food and drinks into the bag.
"Move out! Before the Chia police come! Now!!"
"We hefted the bags onto our backs and ran as
quickly as we could. It wasn't easy. They weighed a ton!
They ran and ran for miles until Fangs got tired
and started slowing down. Suddenly, Syrekia had an idea.
"I have to use the bathroom," she said. All the
galley slaves groaned, and First Mate Fangs yelled, "Ye got two seconds." All
the galley slaves followed her through the forest. "What's this really about,
girl?!" a Techo yelled.
"I have an idea. We can be free!"
"Puh-lease. You're new. What would you know about
escape anyway? We've been here long enough to know there is no escape," a Blumaroo
shouted. Then she whispered to Gohan, "Can you still blow ice?"
"No! That's what the collars are for!"
"I bet you can," she said with a glow in her
eyes. It sent a warm tingle down Gohan's spine. "I'll try," he whispered. Then
he tried to build up the energy inside, but he didn't feel a rush. He looked
back at Syrekia as if to tell her he couldn't but she intercepted him with a
Gelert-puppy-dog-eyes look. Then he tried again deep, deep, down inside...
...and broke his collar to shards with the energy
he built up. "Great!" Syrekia exclaimed. "Now freeze all of our damper collars
and chains very carefully and break them with this." She handed him First Mate
Fangs' sword. He didn't even care to realise where she got the sword.
He froze fourteen collars and tapped each one
lightly with the sword. The collars broke like glass and the chains fell to
the floor, unlinked. Syrekia had been in front and Gohan behind her, so she
stood alone with her damper collar on. He froze it and tapped it gently.
"All right!" she said. Instantly, the Neopets
began to regain their strength. Those with wings felt their wings expand and
flex. Syrekia took the sword back, stood on a tree stump and yelled, "Grab your
weapons!"
Some Neopets grabbed the chains from the floor.
Others broke branches off trees to make clubs. "Now it's sixteen of us versus
one Grarrl! Attack!!" Syrekia exclaimed. We rushed back towards First Mate Fangs.
To be continued... | 
