The Snowager

by drium

Kuriyu went along through the ice caves, hanging over his owner's chest as usual. His owner smiled down at him. "Could you please loosen your tail some? You're strangling me."

"Okay!" and he did.

Then he saw some other Shoyrus running around having a snowball fight. "Oo! Oo! Can I go play too?" he asked.

"Okay, but be back in half an hour, and meet me by the ice shop!" replied his owner.

"Okay! I will!" and he ran off to play.

When he came up and asked if he could play the other Shoyrus just laughed at him.

"What's so funny?" he asked, not realising that it was him they were laughing at.

"You!" said one of them.

"You can't play with us unless you're brave enough! And you're just a little baby!"

"Am not! I'm strong!" he yelled back, angry that he'd been insulted.

"If you're so strong, then...." the Shoyrus whispered among each other, then laughed and giggled and the one who had talked before looked back at Kuriyu "Then go steal something from the Snowager! Alone!" "Fine! Then I will!" Kuriyu yelled back, so angry that he wasn't even thinking, and, fuming, he stormed off.

The Next Day

Drium, Kuriyu's owner, had decided to make another trip to the ice caves, and-as always-brought his faithful pet along with him. "I have to do some shopping, you wait here, okay?"

"Okay!" said Kuriyu, having his own plans for that time. As soon as his owner was out of sight Kuriyu stopped pretending to make a snowman, and ran towards the Snowager's cave, which wasn't actually very far away, although he did almost slip a few times on the ice. He stood out there, looking at the huge cave mouth, ominous, seeming to beckon for him to enter, he backed up a few steps, then decided that he was going to do it. He was going to prove that he wasn't afraid, besides, it must be asleep, so it would be harmless...right?

Slowly he walked into the large cavern, he walked down a tunnel for a while, then finally, he came to the main room. He just managed to stifle a scream when he saw it, it was tremendous, it must have been over a hundred feet long! Then he saw what it was sleeping on, this time he had to stifle a yell of astonishment, there must have been BILLIONS of Neopoints worth of items there, he was shivering, not from cold-his owner had gotten him a jacket-but from fear and awe, the Snowager's snores echoed throughout the whole cavern. Slowly he edged forward, pressing his back against the wall.

Wait a minute. If it was a sleep, then why should he be hiding? He walked straight towards the pile, careful not to make a sound, afraid that even the slight flap of wings if he tried to fly might wake it up. He reached the pile and wondered in awe what to take. Caution and common sense told him to take something small and within easy reach, while his ambition told him to take something rare and valuable. Unable to decide, he just reached out and grabbed a Rainbow Negg, he liked neggs, so why not?

Then he thought of something. If the Snowager was asleep, then it wouldn't notice him, so why not take some more? He did exactly that, snatching a few more items at random, then with a heaping ton of items he decided to leave, mostly because he couldn't carry any more. Now, he really should have known better than to do this, he probably did, in fact, but greed quite often gets the better of people, and this was one of those times. Things went all right, until at the entrance to the tunnel out, he dropped a key chain.

That was bad, with a tremendous roar the Snowager reared up, awakened by the small sound, but enraged that somebody had stolen from it. Kuriyu dropped everything and flew for it. Fast. There is no way anybody could have ever flown that fast, but adrenaline does some amazing things. The Snowager bellowed and flung itself down the tunnel after him, in a fleeting instant he wondered how it moved so fast, then his thoughts were back to getting out.

The Snowager was smashing in the tunnel with its writhing and roaring, causing all kinds of tremendously loud noise, none of which outmatched its bellowing roar. Then Kuriyu saw light up ahead, just what he was hoping for. But it seemed too late, he could quite literally feel the Snowager's icy cold breath on his back, then in a panic he spun around and spit a fireball at it, mentally thanking his owner for buying him so many faeries, then he flew again, and amazingly he made it out in time. Like a bullet he found his owner, and just as fast he was under his owner's shirt, shivering with terror.

"What's wrong with you?" asked drium.

Kuriyu proceeded to tell the entire story. "That was a stupid thing for you to do. You'll have to stay inside for a whole week. You shouldn't do things like that, I care about you a lot and I don't what I'd do if something bad happened to you."

Although Kuriyu never did lose his ambition, this incident had certainly blunted its edge quite a bit, and he never tried another stunt like that, he also keeps a healthy distance from the Snowager's cave at all times.

The End