When Shirra awoke, she found herself in a strange white room. All around her were baby Neopets of all species in high-walled cages like the one she was in, and she looked around in wonder. The only ones she knew were Aishas and Gelerts, but her parents had told her stories of the dragon-like, fire-breathing creatures called Scorchios, the horse-like creatures with feathered wings and horns on their foreheads called Unis, the sleek-furred creatures with long tufts of hair on their heads called Kyrii and many more. She noticed that all of the others were no more than newborn babies, while she herself was about three months old. They were all sleeping, as babies like to do. Shirra noted that the occupants of her roomy cage were all Gelerts, including her siblings, who were all sleeping soundly. Where was she, exactly? Where were her parents, and Tara, and Uncle Hyper? Then she remembered. The picture came back to her, being dragged from her mother's paws along with her sister and brothers, her mother crying, her father and Uncle Hyper snarling and trying to attack, her owner standing there, helpless. She remembered being driven miles by a van, crying all the way until she was so tired and drained that she fell asleep.

So that was it. They had taken her away from all the love and warmth she had known in Neopia and placed her in this cold white prison. Only one thing materialized in Shirra's mind: she had to go back. She had to find her family again.

Beside her, she felt Mint stir and heard Asco and Frolic's groans as they woke.

"Where are we?" asked Frolic groggily.

Asco rubbed a paw across his face.

"I think we're at the..the place the man mentioned, the Create a Pet Center or whatever. You know, when he took us away from home." His voice shook on the word 'home'.

"I wanna go home," whispered Mint sadly, pressing close to her sister. "I want Mama."

Shirra wrapped her paw around her sister's shoulders. "What'll we do, Asco?"

"We escape," said Asco, determinedly. "We escape and go home to Mama and Daddy and Tara and Uncle Hyper."

"How?" asked Frolic, his interest roused.

Asco thought for a bit, then snapped (or tried) his claws. "Remember when Mama told us that story of how she escaped from the Pound?" The others nodded.

"Well, we'll do it just like that. They have to come in to give a Gelert pup to someone, so when they do, we'll just dash out and escape!"

Frolic danced around, eager to get started, and Mint cheered up immediately. As the eldest pup, Asco was always counted on to know best, and they trusted him.

"Are you sure this will work, Asco?" It was Shirra.

Asco nodded. "Pretty much."

Shirra smiled, though she was still slightly doubtful. She was more careful than Asco and took care to think things through. But her main concern was that her two younger siblings had been given a gleaming hope, and she was not about to kill it by voicing her fears.

Asco's plan was better laid than even he had thought. As the oldest pups, they would be first to be picked, and moreover, they were of all four colours, giving prospective owners a selection.

Very soon, a lady came into the room and took out a Peophin foal. The second time it was two Wocky kittens, the third a tiny ball of fuzz that just fitted in the palm of her hand-a baby JubJub. Minutes ticked by, and more baby pets were taken out, but the Gelerts' cage was always passed by. Very soon, the four pups fell asleep...

Asco was jerked rudely awake by a pair of hands. He turned and found himself looking into the face of the lady, who was firmly grasping him around the middle.

"Come now, little one, there's a loving home waiting for you!"

"Frol!" barked Asco sharply. "Shirra! Mint!"

His siblings snapped awake immediately. Immediately they saw what was happening and acted on instinct. Frolic and Shirra launched themselves at the lady's face without hurting her, but giving her such a shock that she slackened her hold on Asco, who wriggled free of her grip. Mint ran past and pushed the cage door wide open. The pups ran out, four abreast. The noise they made roused the Gelert pups in the cage and, as all babies do when rudely awakened, they began to start crying. Their cries woke the other babies, who set up their own cries. The last the four pups saw of the Create-A Pet-Center's white nursery as they dashed out the main door was of the babies in all the cages bawling their lungs out while the lady rushed back and forth between cages, trying to calm them down.

They hurtled on, through the corridors, not really knowing where they were going but running anyway. Therefore, it was by sheer luck that they managed to reach the main door, which, fortunately, was automatic, and streaked through and out into the noonday sunlight. They kept running, though, until they had left the Center far behind them. Only then did they stop to rest and take in their surroundings.

They were in a patch of grass, right beside a sandy road. A few sparse trees grew here and there, and the pups wearily dragged themselves into the shade of one. Frolic scratched one of his long, ribbon-like ears with a hind foot.

"Now what?"

"I don't know," Asco admitted, hesitantly. "I really didn't think about what would happen to us after we escaped-I just thought about escaping." He hung his head. "I'm sorry, guys. I've let you all down." Shirra shook her head. "No, Asco, we're gonna be able to go home now. What would've happened to us if we'd stayed there anyway? We'dve been all taken away by different owners, and never see each other or Mama or Daddy again."

"Yeah, Asco," chimed in Frolic, "you got us out of that dumb place." Mint pressed close to her oldest brother. "Asco will find us a way home," she pronounced, confidently.

Asco smiled, happily, at his siblings. There were no better ones in Neopia. They trusted him to find a way out of everything. He couldn't, and wouldn't, let them down. For their sake, if not for his own, he would get them home.

"Yeah, I'll find a way. Somehow. I can't promise we'll get home, but we'll sure try!"

Shirra, Mint and Frolic grinned at their brother, leader and friend. He would get them home. They were sure of it.

To be continued...