Auggaul - Specimen of Science

      Suddenly, Auggaul's instincts screamed at him, Get out of that valley! Auggaul turned around to speed back the way he came, but a net fell over him. He panicked and tried to shred the thick ropes apart with his claws, but it didn't work. In desperation and panic, he tried to gnaw on the ropes in an attempt to free himself. He bit and chomped, but he couldn't get out.

      Soon four Neopets in lab coats stepped out from behind various boulders. All but the smallest wore white lab coats. One was a Blue Kyrii holding the hand of a smaller, young Purple Kyrii, the only one in a safari outfit. Another was a Red Ruki, and the third was a Faerie Chomby.

      "What an interesting specimen!" the Ruki exclaimed. "But simpleminded, unless I am mistaken."

      "A real Tyrannian native!" the Purple Kyrii said, her smile wide and her dark eyes as big as juppies.

      "Yes, Leah," the other Kyrii said. "But don't go near it. It may have diseases you could catch."

      "Even better! We can study those too!" the Chomby said excitedly. "Let us bring it to the lab."

      "What will you do with it when you're done studying?" Leah asked.

      "Leah, I told you already, we are not giving you our old specimens to keep as pets! We send them to the Pound to be adopted by some owner. Besides, it looks angry, and may bite you. Just look at what it's doing to the ropes!" her father answered.

      "It's just trying to get out!" Leah protested. "Besides, I said 'release into the wild'! Don't you ever remember what I say?"

      I'm not an "it"! Auggaul thought. And I carry no infectious diseases! And I certainly am not simpleminded! He let out a slow, low growl to the four.

      But none of them seemed to hear it. The three older Neopets were dragging the net Auggaul was in into a nearby building.

      Inside, Auggaul gasped. Everything was made of metal and looked as though it didn't belong anywhere in or near Tyrannia. The Kougra winced at the sight of the sharp tools that lay on a silver table.

      He soon found himself in a metal cage, in a large room with windows for the scientists to observe him from. The room was empty, except for him. He spotted a blue form, a red form, and a blue, green, light purple and yellow form in one of the windows.

      Auggaul didn't know what to do. If they continued studying him until they got information, he would never get away from them. If he allowed them to study them truthfully, he would be sent to the Pound, which according to bits and pieces of tourists' conversations, no one wanted to go to, and he would never see his family again. He would never be free. From what every young Tyrannian was told, owners had rights over their owned pets, and some were cruel, and they made you eat foods you didn't like and read books, and do chores, and go to school, and run errands when you wanted to play…the list went on, and it didn't need length for this Kougra to know that he DID NOT WANT AN OWNER. Not even if he never saw him. He would never leave Tyrannia, "ug Ggarug ugug Gugjarg", which in English, translates to "the Land of Freedom", as they called it.

      Auggaul remained still, whether out of fear or determination to prevent the scientists from learning, he did not know. But hours passed, he could tell from the skylight above him, and soon all was dark.

      "Hello?" a voice whispered from somewhere in the complete darkness.

      Auggaul's only response was a growl.

      A flashlight was turned on, and Auggaul could just make out the Purple Kyrii's features. "Hello?" she repeated, and then waited for an answer. "Do understand me?"

      Auggaul rarely talked, but he saw little harm in speaking to her. The Tyrannian found the Kyrii much different than the others. "Yes," he replied slowly. "Do you speak Tyrannian?"

      Leah shook her head. "I want to learn, but my parents -and owner-don't want me to," she said. "They think Tyrannians are stupid and don't know that much more than being ferocious. The only reason Dad and I are here is to study the habits of Tyrannian natives. I'd like to live as one, but, you know…" She trailed off. "Can you tell me about yourself?"

      "My name is Auggaul," Auggaul answered. "I'm about fourteen years old. And I'm different from the other villagers, so I'm told. I know English, but they never know what I'm saying when I speak it."

      "I'm Leah. Leah Herdreson," the Kyrii replied.

      The door behind Leah creaked and opened slowly, letting in light. "Leah, I told you that you were not to have contact, conversation, or any interaction with this savage creature! It could teach him, and then we will not have a normal, simpleminded specimen anymore."

      "He's not simpleminded! He understands what we're saying! And he's my age! And he doesn't like this!"

      "He's not smart enough to know what he likes and doesn't like," the Blue Kyrii responded, crossing his arms. "And what would we do? It is a necessity that we observe the ways of these brainless Tyrannians in order to improve their lives!"

      "Well, then, how are you improving their lives by shutting them up in a cage as if they aren't individuals?"

      A shadow in the shape of a Ruki blocked light entering through the still open door. "Herdreson?" The shadow yawned loudly. "What's going on, Harristeneo?"

      Another shadow came into view. "It means, Collinski," said the winged Chomby, "that Herdreson's daughter has been out of bed speaking to this freak we have been examining!"

      "He is NOT a freak!" Leah shouted. "He knows our language, he's just my age, he's-"

      Herdreson covered her mouth. "That's enough, Leah. You can't believe every word of Tyrannian you think you hear. Don't you know Tyrannians have no language or verbal system of communication?"

      Though none of them noticed, Auggaul stared at Herdreson as though he had just sprouted wings and called himself Kauvara.

      "What would make you think that?" Leah asked.

      "We know everything about these creatures," her father explained proudly.

      You know nothing about me, Auggaul thought. He growled at the three older pets.

      He noticed, unlike the three scientists, that Leah was reaching into her shirt pocket. She held something shiny in her fist, and reached out, as if to touch Auggaul, saying, "You know nothing about the Tyrannians! And, contrary to one of your recent statements he won't bite me, see?" She lowered her voice and whispered to Auggaul, "Take it!"

      Auggaul extended a clawed yellow paw, careful to make it look as though he were merely trying to do what she was doing to him.

      But the moment claw and finger came in contact, Herdreson pulled Leah's paw away. "Leah, you shouldn't have done that. You are lucky I saved you in time."

      But it had not been in time, for Auggaul had gotten the object, still hidden in his paw. When the four un-caged pets left, Auggaul looked at what Leah had given him. In his paw lay a small bronze key. Was it to the cage? Auggaul wondered. He inspected the outside of the cage. Sure enough, the small bronze key fit in the keyhole on the cage's side. Auggaul violently pushed the door open, and a blaring alarm went off. The whole room was full of flashing red lights. Auggaul knew this wasn't good, and began running as fast as possible towards the door.

      But Collinski and Harristeneo were waiting for him. "Stop!" the Ruki yelled, extending an arm to indicate for me to halt.

      "Collinski," Harristeneo said, pulling his arm down. "You know it can't understand you."

      "I'm not and 'it'! My name is Auggaul!" Auggaul yelled, not slowing his speed at all. "And I can understand you!"

      "Listen to what exotic grunts and grumbles it's making!" the oblivious Chomby said.

      "He is speaking! I told you s-" Leah finished her sentence, but the muffled words were beyond understanding.

      "Amazing! It has the ability to imitate the sounds others make!" Herdreson said, one paw wrapped around Leah's mouth as he pulled her along with him to his companions.

      "But of course, it has no clue what they mean," Collinski said, looking around for a notebook, clipboard, or something else that he could write down something about what they thought, and had, according to their thoughts, discovered.

      Auggaul looked sorrowfully at Leah, and then an idea entered his mind. Gaining speed, he leaped over the two scientists, still deep in their talk about the useless, but newly discovered "facts" about the scientists, who Auggaul had finally found a word with which to describe. He reached out with one paw and grabbed hold of the Purple Kyrii.

      "You're taking me with you?" Leah asked, her eyes as round as Zurroballs.

      "Yes," Auggaul replied.

      Shouts reached their ears. Leah freed herself from Auggaul's paw and rode him like a Uni, holding his ears for balance. "Go," she whispered.

      Auggaul barely managed to hear her over Harristeneo shouting in horrible, made-up Tyrannian, and Herdreson shouting to Leah for her to "get off the simpleminded, brainless freak, as it might have Vernaxes, Mootixes, diseases, or poisonous substances". But the two young pets ignored the scientists' demands, for the three would never catch them, not with Leah's confidence and Auggaul's knowledge of Tyrannia, they were a great team. And they had both accomplished their dreams: Leah was going to live with the Tyrannians, and Auggaul was free, free forever.

The End