AISHA ALONE- A tale of a Pound Pet

Hiya all, I'm OreoBlue. I know how it feels to be a pound pet..... I was one.... I would like to share my story with you, if you wish to listen…….

The first thing I remember was waking up in a small cage.....I was a Blue Aisha at the time (hence my name) I was so scared and alone.... I looked around, unsure what to do, what to think. There were cages, so many cages.... and everyone had a Neopet in them. I didn't remember anything before then. I looked around, and saw a pet next to me, a Kyrii. I tried to speak, but no words would come. It looked at me with pity in its eyes. "You poor little Aisha...." he said softly. "Why on Neopia would someone want to abandon a youngster like you?"
I looked at him. I did not understand.
“Abandon? What’s that?” I squeaked. He looked at me with a sudden shock, then an immense sadness.
“Abandon is when an owner gets rid of you.” He said. I still did not understand.
“Owner? What is an owner?” I squeaked again. His face seemed to drop more.
“You do not know? Child, do you remember anything? Do you know anything?” he asked. I remained lying on the cold cement floor and I looked at him, then I tried to think. Nothing came to my mind. Nothing… just a large blank. I shook my head and looked at him again. He hung his head.
“You poor creature…… dumped in here with no memory or knowledge…” he shook his head. “What cruel master you must have had…” I looked at him, studied his face. What was a master? Where did I belong? Was this not my home??? He looked at me again, and then began telling me things that almost destroyed what little sense of hope I may have had. He explained to me that I was in what was called “The pound” or for some Neopets, “The Hole”. He explained how many cruel and heartless owners took pets and left them here. Some did it because they had no choice, and wanted to give their pets a better chance at life. Others, they did it because they truly were cruel and hated their pets. He told me how his owner abused him, left him to starve, and forced him to battle against his will; and when he lost, he would get beaten. Finally one day, his owner found a lost Jetsam and took it in. He told me how the Jetsam was so powerful and sleek. The owner ignored him even more until the day came. The owner took the small Kyrii and dragged it to the pound, and hurled it into a cage, where he remained ever since. He spoke with such malice, such hatred. He told me how everyday; his rage builds for his old owner. I listened to his words, and I began to fear these ‘masters’. But then he told me about adoption, when a new owner would come and take you away, to their home; and how these owners were kind, caring, loving. It was a shred of hope I began to cling onto. I sat in my cage, everyday, wishing and dreaming of a loving owner, but everyday, that shred of hope would get smaller and smaller, as I would see other pets being taken, and me being passed over. I would hear their unkind words…… “HMPH! Is that the best you have for Aisha? That puny runt?” “Like ew! It’s like blue and that is like so totally disgusting! I want a PINK pet!” “Stupid four eared freak!” Their words stung and hurt me so much... I would cry myself to sleep every night. One morning, I awoke to talk to the Kyrii, but he was not there!
“Where is the Kyrii?!” I screamed. An Acara in the cage four cages down called back to me,
“He was adopted early this morning! Didn’t you know?” “Adopted?! No he didn’t tell me!” I screamed back.
“He said he thought it would be better. He knew his new owner couldn’t take you too, so he said it was better if he just left.” The Acara said. I looked around frantically. “Why did he leave me? Why?!” I sunk to the back of my cage. The Acara only laughed at me.
“Silly Aisha! He went someplace better, why would he say goodbye to a trash like you?” she laughed as I wailed. “Oh look! Another owner!” she blurted. I sat up, teary eyed. The owner walked down the never ending row of cages, and stopped at the Acara’s cage. He bent low, then opened it and pulled the Acara out. She squealed in joy as she was picked up. I sat there, wide eyed. The boy hugged the Acara, and then carried her off. As he did the Acara looked at me and stuck out her tongue and mouthed “See ya trash!”. I just sat and stared. Why not me? Why must I be passed over time and again? No one will ever love me…… I slumped to the cement floor, and curled into a tight ball. I remained that way for many days. I refused to eat the little bits I was given. If an owner would come, I would remain curled and unmoving. Some owners said they thought I was dead, but I didn’t care. I wish I was! I stayed curled in my ball, only my long ears stuck out. I had given up hope of ever finding an owner. I wished that the world would forget about me forever and leave me alone….
I’m…. I’m sorry; it is hard to continue… at this point... My brother BlazingHell will take over for me now……

---BLAZINGHELL---
Hello everyone. This is the part where we enter the picture, but first, a little back track.
It was a normal day in Neopia. Pretty sunny and all, a just nice day for a Christmas Lupe like me. I wandered the house for awhile, when my owner Tilas walked up to me. “BlazingHell, get ready for a walk, we’re going somewhere.” She told me.
“Where?” I asked. Spacemania the yellow Kougra walked up behind her.
“I’m ready Tilas. Where we going?” he asked. Tilas looked at us both.
“Somewhere important, just follow me.” She walked out the front door. Space and I looked at each other, and then followed. Tilas stayed silent the entire walk.
“What’s going on?” Spacemania asked. I shrugged my shoulders as I walked.
“Dunno…” I replied. “But isn’t this the way….to….” I looked ahead of me. What I saw made my heart skip a beat. Spacemania obviously saw it to, as he gasped. We looked at each other again.
“The pound?!” he whispered, his eyes darting to the pound and back at me. “Why are we here?!?” “I don’t know I don’t know!” I whispered back. “She can’t be thinking of-” my sentence was cut short as she entered the main door of the pound. Like good little pets, we followed a few steps back, but terror was in our hearts and minds. Spacemania then said the words I dreaded to hear.
“SHE’S GONNA GET RID OF US!!!!!!!!” he whispered loudly. I looked at him wide eyed.
“No! She can’t! She won’t! She loves us!” I stammered in a whisper so she wouldn’t hear.
“It’s your fault! If you didn’t eat her favorite plushie…!” Spacemania stammered in terror.
“Me?! You’re the one who clawed up her chair!” I shot back. We were both in a state of total panic. We both knew that those were very dumb reasons for abandoning a pet, but we were too scared to care. Suddenly Tilas turned around to face us. We both screamed, then each grabbed onto one of her legs.
“PLEASE DON’T GET RID OF US! WE’RE SO SORRY FOR WHATEVER WE DID! WE WON’T DO IT AGAIN! EVER! PLEASE DON’T ABONDON US!!!!!!!!!” we both wailed. Tilas looked at both of us, and then started to giggle.
“You two are so crazy! Stop that right now!” she laughed. We immediately jumped back and sat side by side, looking at her and shaking, not wanting to move, speak or even BREATHE in case we invoked her wrath. Tilas smiled, and then kneeled down to get eye to eye at us.
“Do you really think we came here so I could get rid of you two?” she asked calmly. Neither of us spoke. She hugged us both tightly, then let go and looked at us. “I love you two much, I would never EVER get rid of you two!” she said with a smile on her face. Spacemania and I let out a huge sigh of relief, and then looked at each other, just SLIGHTLY embarrassed.
“Then…..why?” I asked.
“Well, as you know we’re a lot more financially stable now, and I thought that it would be nice to have another critter running around the house.” She answered.
“You mean we’re gonna adopt another Neopet?” Space said quickly.
“Only if you guys want to, that’s why I brought you two here. For us all to choose together.” Space looked at me, I looked at him, and then we both yelled “WE’RE GONNA GET A NEW BROTHER! WE’RE GONNA GET A NEW BROTHER!” Tilas laughed. “Or SISTER.” She piped in. Space and I started grinning.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” we said. Tilas nodded, then stood up and walked down the hallway. We followed at her heels. After talking with the very nice Uni at the front desk, we entered the main area of the pound. Space and I looked around. It was so depressing….. Suddenly we weren’t so happy anymore… “Look at them all…” Space whispered.
“They all look so sad…” I replied.
“I know… this is what happens when owners abandon their pets…” Tilas said quietly. “Let’s look for a pet we might be able to give a home.” As we walked down the aisles we saw many different pets of all different species and colors. I felt a pain shoot through my heart when I saw fellow Lupes, looking so sad in their cages. I saw that Spacemania felt the same every time he passed a Kougra in a cage. We looked at Tilas, who showed sadness for all the pets she passed. We walked down the aisles for a long time, looking at all the pets, their names, and their stats. Some seemed like they would make nice brothers or sisters, others… well they weren’t so nice. Eventually we reached the far end of the cages, were there were less and less pets. Tilas stopped and turned to us.
“I think that’s about all of them… did you meet or see any pets that would make a nice addition to our home?” she asked. We all thought about if for a moment. We began talking about a Kougra or Lupe we saw, or a Meerca or Chomby we met, but we couldn’t decide. Suddenly Tilas heard something and her ears perked up. She turned around, walked to the very last row of cages and kneeled down. She waved for us to come look, so we walked over. We saw a small, very dirty, and very malnourished creature curled into a ball in the cage.
“What is it?” I asked. Tilas shrugged.
“….hello?” she slowly asked. The ball didn’t move. We watched it for a moment. “Hello? Little one? Are you okay?” We continued to watch. It shivered a few times, but refused to acknowledge us. I reached my paw gently inside the cage and touched it. A large shudder ran through its little body. I put my paw gently on its back and petted it a few times. It cringed, and curled tighter into a ball. We heard a barely audible “leave me be……” I pulled my paw away.
“Hello? We don’t want to harm you; we just want to know what you are.” Spacemania said in a quiet voice. The ball shivered again.
“Leave me be….”the ball moved slightly, and a long ear poked out. It was a little Aisha. Its voice was so tiny... it was scratchy, and filled with a deep sadness that made our hearts hurt. We all looked at this poor creature in the cage. Tilas looked at us, and wavered for us to back away for a moment and form a little huddle. We all looked at each other. We all knew what the other thought and was going to say, so no words were exchanged. Tilas only motioned with her head, and Spacemania took off like a shot for the main entrance where the Uni was. A few minutes later he returned, carrying an old silver key. Tilas took it from his mouth, and went to the cage. She slowly unlocked it, and gently pulled open the door. The little Aisha did not move within, it remained curled in a ball. Tilas ever so gently reached into the cage, and picked the Aisha up, like a mother picking up a newborn baby. The Aisha froze solid. Tilas kneeled on the floor so we could see, and held the Aisha close to her. It slowly moved its head upwards towards us. We could see that its cheeks were filthy and tear stained.
“W…what… do you want…with me?” It whispered hoarsely. Fear was in its voice, but also confusion.
“We want to take you home….” Tilas said gently. It looked at her and blinked slowly.
“Home…?” it asked. I bent my neck closer and used my nose to nuzzle it gently.
“Yea, our home. YOU’RE home…” I said. It tilted its head to me.
“…..Why me?” it asked.
“Because we think you would be the perfect brother.” Spacemania said and smiled. It looked around at all three of us, and it began to cry.
“But…. No one…..wants me…” it sobbed.
“We do.” Tilas, Space and I said in unison. Tilas slowly stood up cradling the little Aisha in her arms.
“C’mon, we’re taking you to our, you’re home now.” She said. Spacemania and I began to jump around Tilas excitedly. The Aisha looked at us puzzled, and then it smiled.
“Thank you…..” is said quietly.

---OREOBLUE---
Thank you BlazingHell, I can take over from here.
I looked up at these strange people. One, a Kougra, the other a Lupe, and the owner, was a furry creature herself. I almost thought she was another Neopet at first. I learned later she was a creature called a Anthromorphic Furry Fox, and that like Neopets, owners come in many shapes, sizes and species as well. She carried me from the cage, down the long hall. I was very weak, so looking around was very hard. Finally, we came to the end of the hallway, in into a large room. It was very bright, and I had to squint. She exchanged words with the Uni at the counter, and then carried me out. We walked out the large metal door, and suddenly I gasped.
“What’s wrong?” she asked me. I struggled to sit up, to get a better view of where I was. She gently turned me so I could see.
“Where are we?” I asked. I blinked, trying to get used to the light. It was so big! I could see so far, so many things I did not know of.
“We’re heading home.” The Lupe said. He turned his head up to me. “So, what’s your name?” “My…name?” I had to think about it for awhile. “They called me… OreoBlue.” “Cool. My name’s BlazingHell.” The Lupe grinned. “The Kougra over there is Spacemania, and the one holding you is Tilas.” I looked at the fox.
“Tilas? You are owner?” I asked unsure. She simply smiled.
“Eh, nah, I’m just a friend and caretaker of these two lunatics.” That got a loud “HEY!” from both Spacemania and BlazingHell. Tilas chuckled. We continued to talk as they walked to their home. When we approached a small house, I looked at it puzzled.
“Is this home?” I squeaked. They all nodded, and walked up the front lawn to the door.
Home….. I thought. I have a home….. At last. It’s been quite a long time since I have been adopted, and everyday I remember the pound. I am glad I was adopted. I have now become a Robotic Aisha, a dream of mine since I first saw a picture of them. BlazingHell has become a strong Fire Lupe, and Spacemania a Halloween Kougra. While Tilas, Spacemania, and BlazingHell are a little on the insane side at days, they are very nice creatures. They have taught me everything I know about the outside world, and I know now the truth about the pound. Knowing this, we made the decision to create Pets for the Pound, to try to give hope to pound pets. It’s a slow process, but we are making progress, and we will continue to help pets as long as we can.
Now that you have heard my story, I hope you will think twice about abandonment, and give adoption a chance. Pets deserve to have a good owner just as much as an owner deserves a good pet. Well, that’s all for now, see ya!

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Author's Note:

This fic was done a very long time ago, but I decided to add it to for the hell of it. Sadly, I don't have either BlazingHell or OreoBlue anymore, but both of them have found very nice homes. My Neo user is TilasFox if you wanna send me a Neomail!