The Aisha Twins: Part Two

     Full of disappointment after their loss to the Lutari at the auction house, the twins had to figure out their next steps.

      "Okay, let's recap on exactly what happened," said Milly. "That way we know exactly what we have to do next, and maybe figure out a better way to come up with the money, quicker than we have before."

      "We lost," replied Lilly. "What else is there to talk about?"

      "Sure, yes, we lost. But there is more to it. The last piece of the laboratory map usually costs over a million Neopoints, more to the point it costs 1,100,000 NP. We tried to get lucky at the auction house and we came up short," Milly was in full problem solving mode now. "At best, the deal we'd be able to get would probably come to a million Neopoints anyway. We need to save more if we really want to get that piece. Any ideas?"

      "We could try selling all of our possessions," Lilly spouted out, clearly reaching into areas that were unreasonable. This solution clearly was not the right one.

      "Great, and then we have nothing left...why would we do that?" Milly was getting a bit frustrated now. "Then we can live in an empty house without a bed, without furniture, without FOOD!? You are being ridiculous. Straighten up and focus, we have to figure out something."

      The two sisters were fuming and clearly needed a few minutes to calm down. They each went into separate areas of the house to calm down and concentrate. They decided to come back together only once one of them had a very good idea worth sharing. There is nothing worse than two feuding sisters going at each other, they would never come to a proper solution if they were both angry and they knew better than to try.

      After about an hour, Milly and Lilly reunited with some better ideas.

      "We could go to the games center and try our best at the games," Lilly was getting better ideas now. "Divide and conquer. I'll go play the games I'm best at, and you play the ones you are best at. Then we'll combine the money and maybe then we'll have enough. Just remember, no gambling!! We need to make money, not lose it."

      "That sounds like a plan Lilly, good idea. We can head down there and split up," Milly smiled at this idea. It was perfect, and while it might take a bit longer than other things, it was a guaranteed way to make some Neopoints. So the two set off towards the games.

      Once they arrived, they each went separate directions. Lilly headed to play The Return Of The Return of Dr. Sloth while Milly ventured a bit further in to try her hand at classics like Meerca Chase II and Kass Basher.

      The two played furiously, trying to rack up the highest scores possible. Lilly was a master, even earning a couple trophies in Shenkuu Warrior and Turmac Roll! The games were all dinging and spouting out coins, filling her pockets. However, things were not going nearly as well for her sister Milly. Milly struggles a bit with games, she tends to stick to ones like Fashion Fever and Usuki Frenzy, but those games don't give high rewards. So now she was trying to score big, or really anything at all, in Volcano Run and she was failing hardcore.

      "Ugh," Milly let out a grunt of frustration. "I'm so bad at these games, I'll never earn any money...there must be some other way." And at that moment she heard a loud buzzer go off and the sound of Neopoints rushing out of a machine. She looked around to see where the commotion was and saw an Acara jumping up and down celebrating. So she ran over to see what happened.

      "Woah, that is a lot of Neopoints," Milly said to the Acara. "How'd that happen??"

      "I won!! I won!!" The Acara excitedly pointed at a slot machine in front of her. "It's Black Pawkeet Slots! You gamble a tiny bit of your money and if you get lucky, you'll win big. I just won 400,000 NP by bidding just 50 NP!!"

      You could see the gears turning in Milly's head. 400,000 NP...that would put the twins just over the 1,100,000 NP they needed for the map and give them a little more they can spend on ice cream!!! And so she saddled up to one of the slot machines and deposited her 50 NP and pulled the handle...

      "Nothing," Milly sighed. "Nothing."

      "You have to play a lot if you want to win big, no one gets really lucky on their first pull," the Acara said as she patted Milly on the shoulder. "Keep trying, you won't ever win if you don't give it a fair shot. There are lots of prizes to be won! I never thought I'd win much more than 20,000, and here I am!!"

      And that is what Milly did, she kept trying. With the assurance of this Acara she felt invincible, and she knew the universe would be looking out for her and help her win that crazy big jackpot. She even started to feel as though she would win MORE than 400,000 NP, that there was an even more grand prize for her to uncover and surprise Lilly with. This was it, this was the ticket that she needed, and so she kept playing. Neopoint after Neopoint she was depositing into the machine, and occasionally she'd win a bit back. 250 here, 1,000 there, and she would slide it right back into the machine. Each small win increased her hope that the big win was just around the corner, and that if she kept feeding that machine coins then soon it would feed her a massive jackpot win. This was all fine and dandy until...

      "Oh no, I'm out of Neopoints to play with..." Horror washed over Milly. "How..how is that possible??? I came in here with 250,000 NP.......and now..it's...GONE!?!?!"

      The shriek that the now poor Aisha let out could be heard in the farthest reaches of Terror Mountain, rumor has it that it even triggered an avalanche, and another rumor stats that it caused an eruption on Mystery Island. Neither are confirmed, nor are they likely, but that is the glory of folklore, isn't it? Of course, the whole games center heard it as well, it sent a tremor across the game floor and shook many machines. Within seconds, Lilly came sprinting out of nowhere, rushing to her sister's side to make sure all was alright. She arrived, out of breath and frazzled, clearly ripped out of an intense flash game that she herself was playing.

      "What happened!? Are you okay!?" Lilly was frantically checking her sister to make sure she wasn't hurt. "What are you over here screaming about? Wait...why is your wallet out, and why is it empty? MILLY!?"

      Lilly began to take in the scene around her: Milly sitting solemnly in front of a game of chance, clutching a hollow little hand bag that did not even have the slightest jingle of coins in it.

      "I lost it all," Milly said while staring blankly at the slot machine in front of her. "I thought I would win big...but I lost all of my money...."

      "Oh...oh Milly...no," said Lilly. "I have only made 100,000 NP...how much did you lose?? Maybe we broke even."

      "T-two...two hundred.....two hundred fifty thousand.." Milly spoke slowly.

      "MILLY!!!!!!" The anger in Lilly's voice radiated through the area, a group of Chia's passing by ran away in terror. It seemed like Lilly was going to take her sister right down to the Battledome and destroy her with a Super Attack Pea. "I cannot, absolutely, positively, matter of factly, surely, undoubtedly, believe that you would do something SO DUMB and SO IRRESPONSIBLE!!! You just lost A QUARTER OF A MILLION NEOPETS!!!! Do you know how hard I worked just to win 100,000 NP and you were just off dumping Neopoint after Neopoint after Neopoint into a SLOT MACHINE!? Those things are RIGGED for you to lose!! How do you think they make money, magic!?!?!?!?"

      Lilly was practically steaming from anger and Milly was too stunned and disappointed in herself to even attempt to calm her down. Milly knew she made the wrong choice, and she knew that she should not have gambled the money away. It was too late now though, it is not like she could magically make the money come back or go ask the slot machine nicely for a refund. What's done is done, and that money is long gone.

      Next Week on The Aisha Twins:

      A horrible decision to gamble has left Milly with an empty wallet, and her sister Lilly with a very angry attitude. Milly has really dug herself in a whole, and honestly she has dragged her unwilling sister right down with her, forcing them to try to come up with a solution to get them out. Could this be the final straw in their journey to the laboratory map, or will they be able to overcome this obstacle and achieve success?

      To be continued…