A Place To Belong

by leslie_83

My name is Heather_50423, but my owner and siblings call me Heather. I was created by a user with an inappropriate name which I will not repeat here. My owner played Kacheek Seek with me until I was bored, and I now realize that I was created mostly to make money.

I was then dragged off to the Wheel of Excitement, but when we spun it the Wheel landed on the Skull. I started to feel feverish, especially bad for a Peophin. My owner made me come to the hospital, but halfway there I started to shake.

"You have the Shaky Flakys," my owner snapped. "I'm not spending all the money I just earned on Shaky Flaky Cream!" And off he went, leaving me behind.

It started to rain. The rain should have been refreshing, but each drop felt like a shard of ice. I managed to get to the Neolodge, which I knew had a fountain out front. The fountain was cold, but at least it was wet. I spent the night there.

The next morning I was shaken awake by an angry Kiko. "What do you think you're doing?" it growled. "You're infecting the fountain and filling it with flaking skin! Get out this instant!"

"Oh, ewww," moaned a group of Usuls who had come out. "How did that get there?"

"Stop it!" shouted a voice. I raised my head to see a girl with dark green hair and a red Cybunny running up to us. "Quit hounding the poor Peophin. Can't you see she's sick?" The Kiko looked like he was about to shout at her, but she strode forward and pushed him aside. "What's your name?"

"H-Heather," I stammered through shaking teeth.

The girl turned to the Cybunny. "Easter, go get some Shaky Flaky Cream," she ordered, handing the Cybunny a fistful of Neopoints.

Easter bounded over to the Pharmacy and returned with the cream and a slice of Neopox Pizza. "I just managed to grab one before they sold out," she said, handing the girl the pizza and change. "How are you going to put the cream on? Peophins don't have feet."

"Oh dear, you're right," said the girl. "Okay Heather, try to hold still. I'm going to put this cream on your tail and hooves, behind your ears, and under your chin, which is almost what the directions say." She did, and the cream was so cool and wonderful that I felt calmer. I'd stopped shaking.

"Who are you? And are you going to adopt me?" I asked.

"My name is Leslie_83. I'm so sorry, Heather, but I already have four pets," she said sadly.

I got up and looked in disgust at the fountain. It was full of the skin that had flaked off when I was sick. "I'm sorry," I said to the Kiko. "I didn't mean to."

"Let's take you home," said Leslie. "Maybe my other pets will have an idea. I certainly can't just abandon you." She picked me up (I'm not very big) and carried me out of the marketplace to a small but nice NeoHome in Neopian Central.

"FirePrinse! StarBreeze! Unirus!" Leslie called as we walked in. Three pets came running into the living room: a red Lupe, a blue Zafara, and a pink Uni. "Unirus, run this to my shop, will you?" asked Leslie, handing the Uni the pizza. "Price it at 2,499 NP." The Uni ran off, and Leslie set me down on the rather nice couch. "FirePrinse, StarBreeze, this is Heather. Her last owner abandoned her because she was sick. What should we do?" she asked.

FirePrinse and StarBreeze walked up to me and looked me over. "She's healthy enough now," said FirePrinse at last.

"Why can't we adopt her?" asked StarBreeze hopefully.

"Because I already have four pets, and that's the limit," Leslie reminded them.

"Oh yeah." StarBreeze fell silent.

"What am I going to do?" I asked them. "I don't have an owner."

"What about Diamoon?" asked FirePrinse.

"Who's that?" I wondered out loud.

"Diamoon-empressdiamoon-is a friend of mine. She only has one pet now, Chloe. She'd love to have you."

Within an hour I was at the Pound, waiting for Diamoon to show up. Leslie had called her and told her to pick me up, then shuttled me off to the Pound. Since I hadn't been hers she didn't have to pay the 80 NP abandoning fee. A few people walked past my cage, but none stopped to look at me. Then in came a girl with long silver hair and a blue Shoyru.

"Heather_50423 is level 2, has a strength of..." the pink Uni who ran adoption began telling the girl.

"Oh, are you Heather?" asked the girl, interrupting the Uni. When I nodded, she said, "I'll take her!" My cage was unlocked and I was instantly smothered in a hug by none other than Diamoon. "Come on! There's so much I need to tell you!" she bubbled, and I was carried off to my new home.

The End