The Story of Baby Angel

      I was still fairly young, with my owner just barely coming out of newbiehood, and I was her only pet. To this day, I still can’t figure out why she chose me, a Techo, of all things, to be her first. Her priority pet was a Poogle at the time, as she loves things that would be considered “cutesy” by most people. Whatever her reasons, though, she still loves me as much as any of her pets. Her “cute” fascination, however, is what started this whole mess in the first place.

      As I said, she was by no means the richest owner, but she desperately wanted to give her only pet (me) a petpet of my own. She searched through all of the possible candidates, finally settling on one within her price range and that satisfied her “cute” conditions. Her selection was definitely an eyebrow raiser for me. An Angelpuss with a Techo? An adorable cat with an, if I may say so, exceedingly cool reptile? Unfortunately, once my owner sets her mind on something, there isn’t much that can sway it. So, holding back my sigh, I accompanied her to the cheapest shop she could find to purchase my new petpet.

      The shop was nice enough, a little plain, but nothing out of the ordinary. My feelings of unease came when my new petpet was brought out from the back room. It was as cute as any Angelpuss, although I couldn’t help but notice that it looked to be on the thin side. Underfed maybe? As my owner started to coo over it, it glanced over in my direction, as though to appraise me. A chill ran down my spine as its eyes seemed to almost x-ray me and an evil glint came into its yellow eyes, as though it was pleased with what it had found. I looked over to my owner, about to ask her if we could find a different pet, when I noticed that she was in the middle of a transaction, a big smile on her face as she handed over the neopoints. It was too late. She looked so happy; I couldn’t tell her that there might be something wrong with the petpet she was fawning over. I would just have to deal with it...

     Wow, was I optimistic.

      Everything was working out fine: as we were leaving the shop my owner babbled about how much fun my new petpet would be and how much I would learn, to which said petpet blinked its angelic eyes up at her. My owner became absolutely starry-eyed and declared that my petpet was such a Baby Angel. I decided to humor her and told her that’s what I would name it, Baby Angel.

      Apparently I have a dormant sense of irony.

      As soon as my owner dropped us off at home and left to go earn more neopoints, my pet’s eyes went from angelic to devilish in three seconds flat. It just stared at me, its yellow eyes aglow with washes of malice. I blinked, trying to clear my head of those absurd notions. I must be imagining things. This little petpet couldn’t possibly be that bad. In a gesture of truce, I reached out my hand to pet it on the head, hopefully the start of a beautiful companionship.

      Not the start of learning how to use medical supplies.

      Baby Angel bit me! Rows of tiny little teeth were embedded in my webbed hand. My eyes teared up in pain as I hurriedly shook it loose. It really clamped down on it too. As I rushed to procure some bandages for my poor hand, I left my petpet all alone with access to the entire house.

      Not exactly my finest moment, but come on, I was in pain and couldn’t think straight. Unfortunately, this little mistake cost me my favorite toy.

      Baby Angel was smarter than the average petpet, much to my dismay. Instead of doing the obvious, ransacking the entire home and causing general mayhem, it targeted the heart of the matter. Namely, it went for my precious green Techo plushie, the one I’ve had nearly my whole existence, sitting in its place of honor on the pillow of my bed. By the time I found it, the only thing left of it was a mangled and wet-looking piece of the stomach. The rest, I assume, the Angelpuss must have eaten. I scolded it soundly, but the only reaction I got was a satisfied smirk.

      Over the course of the week, Baby Angel became the bane of my existence. It got into everything I held dear; my candy stash, my collectible cards, heck, it even ate the rest of my poor plushie (I didn’t have the heart to throw it away). I was tempted to just tell my owner to get rid of it, but every time she saw us together, she’d get this misty look in her eyes, like she was proud of me for some reason. I also knew we really didn’t have that many neopoints, so there was no way I’d get a different petpet, and I knew my owner wanted me to have one. So I sucked it up and watched as my petpet smiled its evil smile. In my head, I renamed it Lil’ Devil.

      Then one day, I awoke to a horrible screeching sound. I looked out my window and saw Baby Angel fleeing in terror from the neighbor’s Puppyblew. The chase went all over the yard until finally my petpet decided to escape up our tree. Luckily, the Puppyblew didn’t know how to climb trees, so after about an hour of barking, it gave up and went home. Figuring that was the end of it, I went back to my daily routine.

      As evening approached, I noticed I hadn’t seen Baby Angel all day, so I went out to look for it. As I passed the tree I heard pitiful chirping coming from above and as I looked up, sure enough, my petpet was in the same place I saw it run to this morning. It seemed that once it got up there, it became too scared to climb back down. Heaving a sigh, I scaled the tree easily, being a Techo, and reached out for my wayward petpet. It looked at me with its big yellow eyes, but instead of looking creepy, all I saw was a lost and alone petpet. When I realized it wasn’t moving, I tried to encourage it, “Come on, I know you’re scared, but I’ll help you get down. Really. You can trust me.”

      Amazingly enough, Baby Angel came forward on shaky paws into my grasp, without biting me! All the way down, it just kept staring at me with big eyes full of awe, like it couldn’t believe that I’d actually save it. Silly thought, of course I’d save it, even if it did eat my favorite plushie.

      Ever since that incidence, things quieted down. Every time I came into a room and my petpet was in it, it would look at me with those big trusting eyes again. It was a little unnerving, as I used to think of those eyes as pure evil, but I was thankful the destruction had stopped.

      I didn’t fully realize the impact of my actions until the day I met a red Jetsam. My owner insisted I take my petpet with me to go get food so it could get some fresh air and I had no choice but to comply. Besides, it wasn’t as if I minded, seeing as how Baby Angel seemed oddly docile lately. Unfortunately, with my attention directed at my petpet, I failed to notice the incoming neopet until it was too late.

      Okay, I admit it; I tend to be clumsy when I’m not paying attention.

      Anyway, my fumble proved to be a big mistake. The red Jetsam was apparently already in a bad mood and I became the perfect target to vent its frustrations on, no matter how much I apologized. Just as he was about to strike, a white blur shot between us, stunning the Jetsam and causing him to fall back. In too much of a panic to question the circumstances, I took off at a run, the little white blur at my heels. Luckily, the Jetsam wasn’t a great runner, so I easily lost him, but my surprise came when I looked to my savior and lo and behold, my petpet’s yellow eyes were blinking up at me.

      I can’t exactly say what passed between us in that moment; it was too strange for words. But somehow, we came to an understanding. A grin spread across my face as I reached down to pet it, and it purred as it nuzzled into my hand.

      Maybe it really is a Baby Angel after all.

The End