The Ugly Ducklings - Enchantingcats

**Chapter 1: Meeting Box**

“Another boring day,” a voice whispered, breaking the silence of the den. A small lizard stood in the middle of the walkway, staring at the spot where his owner would sometimes appear at.

This lizard’s name is Box. His colors clash completely, with a neon green color on his head and a shade of magenta for his belly. His orange eyes, which are in the shape of x’s, don’t exactly fit the look. Box always had a hard time getting accepted by an owner who wouldn’t immediately trade him because he was “ugly.” Once he finally found an owner, he felt… alone. She was always out trading items and rarely had time for him.

Box did, however, have a sister named Serenity. She was much different than him. She had two different shades of blue, which matched each other perfectly, and bright golden eyes. Their owner, Enchantingcats, brought Serenity everywhere with her. Even when they were back at the den, Serenity didn’t seem to care enough about Box to even look at him, unless it were to brag to him about her good looks.

There were also two sugar gliders at the den, their names Caramel and Pengo. They were in a closed-off portion of the den, though, so Box never had the chance to interact with them. He would often sit and watch them play together while he waited for Enchantingcats to return, since he didn’t have any toys of his own to play with.

Box let out a sigh and slowly walked towards the porch swing. He wasn’t tired, but there was nothing else to do but to take a nap. He’d already explored every room in the den four times, and he had begun to feel extremely bored.

As he was about to jump onto the swing, Box saw a glow from the corner of his eye. He swung his head around, excited to see that his owner had returned!

“I’m back!~” sung Enchantingcats as she set Serenity on the ground. “And look what I got today!” She pulled out a pair of wings, which had a design of stars on a translucent blend of purple and blue. “Galaxy wings! They were basically free, I only traded a few RIMs for it.”

Box wasn’t listening, though. All he could focus on was Serenity. She was staring at him, smirking. She was curled up on the ground, angled perfectly to show off her new outfit. She wore a gray shark fin on her back and an indigo acorn hat atop her head, both of which matched her colors perfectly. Enchantingcats always bought new outfits for Serenity, but never for Box. And she always looked so… perfect. “I’m so sick of her,” thought Box. But all he could do was sit there and bear it. If he started a fight, his owner would probably trade him away again.

Box was so caught up in his thoughts that he’d only just realized his owner was about to leave again. She had already harvested her paintseeds and organized her trade list, and she started to pull out her map to teleport to a trading location. Box was *furious.* Serenity had completely wasted his time that he could have spent with Enchantingcats, and now she was going to leave again! Without thinking, he leapt at Serenity. Her smug look quickly became fearful as she braced herself from Box’s attack.

Right before Box landed on her, she disappeared along with Enchantingcats. Box landed flat on the hard ground, finally realizing what he was just about to do. He glanced up at the blank space where she just was, and he at first felt glad at how things had just turned out. He’d just barely avoided a big disaster. Yet, he still wasn’t satisfied. In fact, he sort of hoped that his attack would have been successful.

“She deserved it,” he thought, “but of course she’s soooo lucky. Nothing bad ever happens to her.” He sighed. “I just wish that she could feel how I do… Unwanted and alone.”

Box stood up and waited for his vision to clear from his impact with the ground. He dragged himself over to the porch swing, ready to finally get some sleep. He just wanted the day to end. He sunk into the plush pillow on the swing and slowly closed his eyes. Maybe he’d have better luck tomorrow.

**Chapter 2: Meeting C U B E**

 Box winced when he opened his eyes. It was already morning, and the bright sun shone right down onto the porch swing. The sugar gliders were already awake, as they always were. It seemed like they rarely slept, and they always seemed happy playing with each other throughout the entire day.

“I wish I had a friend like that.” Box sighed, sliding off the porch swing and landing on the warm, fluffy grass. He’d always been annoyed by the fact that the sugar gliders had toys while he didn’t, and plus, they had each other to play with. Even with all the vibrant rooms in the den, Box was still always bored.

It was already almost noon, and the paintseeds had regrown on their trees overnight. “Enchantingcats should be back by now,” Box thought. “What’s she doing that’s so important right now? Buying Serenity a new outfit?” He grumbled at the thought of seeing his sister again. Surely she would flaunt her new outfit if they returned.

Finally the familiar glow of teleportation arrived, but Box wasn’t as excited to see his owner this time. Serenity would just ruin things again.

But Box didn’t see a beautiful blue lizard jump down from Enchantingcat’s saddle. Instead, he was greeted with a small yellow and brown lizard, one with conflicting reddish-orange x-eyes. He was very jumpy, as if he were excited for something, though he couldn’t seem to focus his attention on any one thing in the den.

Box was confused by this newcomer, but he was more than happy to see that Serenity wasn’t there! Enchantingcats must have traded her for… this new lizard. He didn’t exactly seem very bright; once he’d finally focused on one thing, the faidherbia trees, he kept crashing into them over and over again.

“C U B E, what are you doing?” Enchantingcats laughed. She picked the lizard, whose name was apparently… C U B E, and set him down next to Box. “I thought you might want a new friend, so I got one you might get along with! See, he has x-eyes just like you!”

Box gazed at C U B E for a few seconds, questioning in his head why he seemed so confused. C U B E took a couple moments to finally focus his eyes on Box. Once he finally seemed to realize that another lizard was there, C U B E’s eyes lit up, and he pounced on top of Box.

“This may not be an improvement after all,” thought Box as he threw C U B E off of him. Although Serenity was stuck-up and annoying, this new lizard was overly playful and not very smart overall. He was like an energetic puppy, one that jumps on their owner every time they walk through the door. Box hoped things wouldn’t stay like this forever. Maybe C U B E was more tame than he looked?

It didn’t seem like that could be possible at that moment, though. C U B E kept jumping onto Box every time he pushed him off, and it started to get increasingly annoying. Before long, Enchantingcats left again, leaving the two lizards alone in the den. Box was getting tired of “playing” with C U B E, so he shoved C U B E off his back and growled at him. This seemed to scare C U B E, and he abruptly stopped jumping on Box, instead sitting down tilting his head to stare at him.

“What’s your problem?” grunted Box as he stood up, shaking the dirt off of his scales. “That hurt, y’know!”

“Sorry,” C U B E mumbled back. He turned away from Box and gazed out at the open den. It was difficult to tell if he was sad, though, since he still couldn’t focus his eyes on anything in particular. Box still felt bad, though. C U B E’s colors weren’t exactly appealing, so maybe he had trouble finding an owner, too.

“Why don’t I show you around?” insisted Box. “It’s not like there’s anything else to do around here…”

C U B E’s eyes lit up again, as if nothing bad had happened before that. “Yeah! Let’s go!” He ran ahead of Box and straight into the mansion, though he ran into the walls a few times before he finally found the doorway. Box couldn’t help but smile at how excited his new brother seemed, and he followed him inside.

Box went through every single room, and C U B E was as curious as a cat. He thoroughly explored every crack and crevice of every new room they entered, though he wasn’t very graceful. He’d jump on top of every object, often knocking things over like tables and decorations. It’s a miracle that nothing broke when they were finished. Box grew to like C U B E more and more. Even though he was very easily excitable, he seemed harmless and overall pretty happy to have a new home.

It was already dark when the lizards went back outside, and Box felt pretty worn out. He beckoned C U B E over to the porch swing, where they both curled up on the fluffy cushions. It was pretty easy to get C U B E to settle down, probably because he was running around all day. It surprised Box to see that he fell asleep almost instantly. He looked so sweet and peaceful; Box couldn’t hold back his smile. Soon enough, he adjusted himself on the swing and closed his eyes, finally pleased with how his day went. Box didn’t have any trouble falling asleep, and everything was calm in the den that night.