A Poogle's Tale

     But what good is the past? For as long as I can remember, I've lived with the same owner. He, (I assume it's a male, since he never talks), created two of my brothers and I on the same, sunny, spring day. Shortly after, we were made Darigan Poogles. A month later my youngest brother was added to the family and made Darigan.

     From that point on, I never saw my owner much, nor did my brothers and I visit the outside world much. On the few rare occasions that I did see the world, I heard whispers from other owners talking about my owner.

     "It's them. I didn't know they had a pet. I've never seen a Poogle like that before..." Phrases like that were repeated everywhere, followed by astonished expressions. There was always silence that followed. No one ever asked me how I was, or what I liked to do. No, I was always just referred to as 'their Poogle'.

     At around 2,000 days old, I found myself quite sad. My owner never played with me, and seldom took me to visit the outside world anymore. My brothers and I would play together, but we'd long since run out of games and ideas. Nothing was fun anymore. Gradually, my brilliant purple and black fur turned blue, until I looked like nothing more than a regular Blue Poogle.

     After that, my brothers started to ignore me; I didn't fit in with them anymore. I pleaded my owner to turn me Darigan again, but he never paid any attention to me. He was always too busy with 'official business' and filling out forms. At least, that's what it looked like to me, judging by the titles on the papers he had. This lack of attention turned me bitter. Why couldn't I have a loving owner like the other pets I saw around Neopia?

     Years passed. Before I knew it, I'd reached the age of 4,600 days old, but it meant nothing to me anymore. My brothers had long since stopped talking to me, and I'd abandoned all hope of being Darigan again. Our home was still as bare as ever, with papers and forms littering the tables, chairs, floors and any other available space. My life had been the same for 4,600 days, why should anything change now?

     But, of course, it did. My owner took me out to Neopia Central one day, though I suspected nothing. No longer joyful, I kept my eyes to the ground the entire time, pretending I was looking for neopoints or other treasures. In truth, I just didn't want people to see me. My brothers, after all, were the pretty ones, not me. No, Tacka was just the ugly brother. I felt like the whole world was judging me.

     When we stopped at the Neopian Pound doors, my angst turned to anxiety; why were we here? I'd heard rumours that owners could only keep four pets at once, so if my owner was looking to adopt another pet... that meant he'd have to get rid of one. As we entered the quaint brown building, fear overtook all of my other emotions.

     "What are we doing?" I asked, no longer sullen but afraid. My owner, as always, didn't answer. He signed some papers robotically, just like how he'd fill out forms back home. It didn't take him long, and before I could once again question what was going on, he turned around and walked towards the door. Frightened, I made to follow him, but a pair of yellow hands grabbed me.

     "You belong here now, little Poogle. The Pound is your new home," a yellow Techo crowed, lifting me up and bringing me to a cage.

     ***

     "A Poogle? That would make a nice lab pet. Maybe it'll change colour to MSP," a voice woke me from my cold slumber. An eager young man with short, spiky brown hair peered through the bars of my cage intently. He glanced again at the nameplate above the cage, trying for what looked like the twentieth time to read my name properly. "Too bad it isn't better-named, though..." he added, his smile turning into a puzzled frown.

     That's how it was now. I was no longer 'their Poogle', I was now just a badly-named Poogle. My colour was basic, undesirable, and even the prospect of me turning into a nice colour through zapping or painting wasn't desirable. No, with a name like ckatackatackata, I was the lowly dirt of Neopia.

     Nonetheless, the spiky-haired man adopted me. He completed some forms, (slower than my old owner, I'd like to add), and brought me to his house: a little shack on the outskirts of Neopia Central. Like my previous home, it was bare, though no papers were lying haphazardly around. A small, fenced yard stuck out the back, where two other basic-coloured pets were sitting. They didn't look very happy. None of them approached me, and I made no move to get to know them better either.

     ***

     A few weeks into the lab zapping, I already grew discouraged. In my mind, I had visions of turning Darigan right away, but the only colour change I'd had was to cloud. My stats had changed ever so slightly, and even my gender a few times, but at the end of the day, I was still just an undesirable Poogle.

     I hated it. I dreaded waking up every morning to visit the abysmal laboratory. I glared at the crazy Scorchio, refused to look at my owner, and started picking on my siblings. They never bothered me back, which also started to grate on my nerves. If things hadn't changed around day 60, I just might have gone insane.

     If I thought being a blue or cloud Poogle was bad, I definitely wasn't ready to turn into a yellow Jetsam. But the moment I did, my veins turned to ice. The trip to the Pound was imminent; my owner couldn't afford to morph me back into a Poogle, and I looked disgusting. It also didn't matter that I had been his lab pet, since he could just search the Pound and find a different pet to start zapping. Probably a pet with a better name too. That night at the Pound, amidst the noisy darkness of shuffling and coughs, I sobbed silently to myself. Life couldn't get much worse.

     ***

     "Are you the ckatackatackata?" an astonished voice woke me up from my reveries. This time, a late teenage girl with long dirty-blonde hair peered into my cage, her green eyes wide open and her mouth hanging slightly agape. She almost looked like a Petpet, the way she stared so dumbly at me.

     "Do you know any other pets with a name so poor?" I grumbled, my spirits still heavier than lead. She didn't appear to hear me though, and flicked her gaze back up to my nameplate, mouthing the name over and over to herself.

     "I thought you belonged to them." Her voice reached a whisper, confusion contorting her face. She bit her lip thoughtfully, straightening up. "It's probably because of the new pet they got..." she mused, tapping her lip. If I'd had any ears still, they would have perked up.

     "You know why I was abandoned?" This time, my voice came out as a whisper. She looked me in the eye for a few long seconds, and then quickly glanced up and down at my bright yellow fish-like body.

     "It would only be speculation." She frowned. "But they did get a new pet." So my prediction was true. I, the basic blue Poogle of the house, was dumped off to make way for a new, shinier pet. My spirits, if it were possible, plummeted even further. I rested my head against my fins, turning my gaze away from the girl.

     She gave me a thoughtful look. "You want to be a Poogle again, don't you?" she stated simply, biting her lip for the second time. I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded. Her face brightened. "And would you like to be painted Darigan again?" At this, I froze.

     "You... you'd do that for me?" I asked uncertainly, expecting her to just use me as a lab pet or leave me to rot indefinitely. But... painting me Darigan... that meant she was planning on keeping me around, right? Either that or keep me as a status symbol, but this girl seemed genuinely kind.

     "Of course I would!" She beamed, a smile lighting up her face and eyes. "I haven't really had much to save up for lately. I mean, I've been working on buying items for my Gallery, but other than that..." she trailed off. "Nothing! Of course I could save up to paint you Darigan. Well, after you've been morphed into a Poogle again," she added, nodding excitedly. I figured I didn't really have a choice whether or not she'd adopt me, but I said to her.

     "That would be great." She bounced off to get Rose, the adoption Uni, and complete the paperwork. I just hoped that this time, things might be different.

     ***

     Luckily, things were different. As soon as she brought me home – to her massive three-story house in Neopia Central, (to encompass all her pets, she confided to me), – I was introduced to a few of the family members. The first one was clearly her pride and joy: a desert-clothed faerie Pteri. He smiled and said hello, before disappearing into the kitchen where he resumed cutting vegetables.

     Next, a faerie Hissi and a Darigan Shoyru wandered out, the Hissi introducing them both. The Shoyru seemed more like me – gruff, quiet, and preferring to be alone – but the two of them seemed easy enough to live with.

     A few more were brought in to me, but I soon grew bored of meeting people. That, and the fact that I was still feeling uncomfortable as a yellow Jetsam. My new owner, whom had introduced herself as Shade, caught my look of discomfort.

     "Wait right here," she said, holding up her index finger as she exited the room. I did as I was told, and a few minutes later, she reappeared holding a red bottle with... Poogle ears on it? She shook it back and forth, a grin plastered on her face. "A Poogle morphing potion!" she exclaimed triumphantly, uncorking the bottle.

     As soon as I drank the liquid, I felt my body begin to change. I shrunk, my fins turned to legs, my yellow scales turned to red fur, and a stubby tail grew out. I chuckled happily, swiveling my head around to check out my new body. It felt so good to be a Poogle again!

     Shade kept smiling, then patted me on the head and walked away with the empty bottle. When she came back, she said to me "now would you like to see your room?" I nodded, and then followed her to a staircase leading down into a basement. As I did, I couldn't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, this could be my forever home.

     ***

     Since that day, things have been going well. As promised, Shade saved up to buy a Darigan paint brush, and ended up painting me the colour of my youth. She brought some of my new siblings with us to the Rainbow Pool, and as I emerged with my new colour, I couldn't help but grin back at their friendly smiles and awed expressions.

     I've also since taken up the hobby of chemistry, though I can't particularly say why. Something about the science just draws me in. I have my own little laboratory set up in the basement, and as long as I don't experiment on any of my siblings, (Shade's really strict about this), I'm allowed to do as I please. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be the next greatest scientist of Neopia?

     But for now, I'm just content to spend my days pouring and mixing colourful solutions into clear tubes, vials and jars. What the future holds, that's anybody's guess. All I want right now is just to appreciate the moment.

     I'm no longer ckatackatackata the badly-named blue Poogle. I am now ckatackatackata, the beloved brother of a mixed-personality family.

     And I love it.

The End