The elusive Draik is one of the most sought after Neopets on the site. While three other draconic pets are offered on the site, the Draik stands out among the rest; the Skeith is a monster type thing that looks like an obese bulldog with dragon features, the Shoyru looks more like a Mew than anything else, and the Scorchio is a pudgy little dragon whose looks were completely destroyed when all the art was updated. The Draik is certainly the most draconic of the three, and arguably the best looking. People, including myself, love dragons-- and that's why the Draik is such a popular Neopet. On top of that, it's incredibly hard to obtain due to the fact that you can't actually create one the way you'd make a normal Neopet. To get yourself a Draik, you'd have to purchase a pricey Draik Egg or Morphing Potion, and their prices extend into the millions. For many, the thought of owning a Draik is a distant fantasy. After the chaos Draik Day 2009 instilled on Neopia, I told myself I'd never get a Draik-- but I was wrong.
After the conclusion of the Krawk Island site event earlier this year, a new daily was opened; the Forgotten Shore. Amazingly, this daily had a chance of giving out Pirate Krawk Morphing Potions and Pirate Draik Eggs. I scored myself a Krawk Morphing Potion a while back, which is how I got Jelso. Krawks are nice and all-- they're supposed to be crocodiles, which are one of my favorite animals. But what I really wanted was a Draik. I never managed to win a Draik Egg from the Shore, but them being handed out there greatly deflated their formerly ridiculous prices. What once sold for around twenty million had been reduced to a more affordable four million; that actually didn't seem too far out of my reach! I began hoarding Neopoints, and eventually got to around three million. I would scan the trades every other day to keep up with the current pricing of Draik Eggs-- I saw some Eggs selling for around 3.7 million. I could easily make that much! Rainy, Ragged, Jo, and my mom even offered to chip in; they helped me get to the amount of Neopoints required for the cheapest Draik Egg. Once I had received my money, I Neomailed the guy who was trading... but he never responded (he still hasn't mailed me back!). Unfortunately, his Egg was the only one going for 3.7 million-- the next cheapest one was 3.9 million. With an additional donation from Rainy, I soon had enough Neopoints to buy it. I Neomailed the next guy, and thankfully he responded quickly; he agreed to my trade and set up a private auction. I bidded 3.9 million Neopoints-- every single Neopoint I owned. I knew it was completely worth it, though. After a brief thirty minute wait, I'd finally be the proud owner of a Draik! In the meantime, I tried to come up with a decent name for my soon-to-be Draik... which was a harder task than I had expected. I didn't come up with a name I liked until after the auction was processed-- Hystes. It apparently means 'were housed' in Sweedish, but I ignored that. I just thought it was a pretty name. I headed over to the Draik Nest, and excitedly hatched my newly gained Pirate Draik Egg. Hystes was born a male, but a visit to the Lab Ray Scientist in the Battledome quickly corrected that. I would love to paint my Draik Water, but unless the price of that Paint Brush dramatically drops or I miraculously get a FFQ, I doubt that's ever going to happen. I'm still working on paying back everyone who helped; now I only need to save up 250k for my mom.



In other news, I've finished the transcript of the first Plasma's Folly! Now I just need to copy down the fifty pages of the sequel, and then PF will be safe with us forever! ... Well, unless Yola shuts down or something.