Don't Fake It by ticketytock2kay |  |
Somewhere in the deepest, darkest parts of Neopia, a NeoPet Scientist was working
in his laboratory. He was a green Moehog, and why a Moehog, you ask? He had
been created for the sole purpose to be experimented on when he was little -
and his "owner" had randomly chosen his species. Plus, he didn't have a name.
He had a number. His number was H8L90.
H8L90 had run away from his dreadful owner. No matter how hard he tried, he
couldn't remember his owner ever telling him who he was. So he always called
him "owner". Right after he was born, he had been taken secretly and discreetly
to his owner's laboratory, where he was continuously monitored. His health had
continuous lapses - one day he woke up with Bloaty Belly, and the next day he
was completely healed. He grew constantly stronger, gained more abilities and
knowledge each day.
Anyway, back to the present. Now H8L90 was a grown Moehog, and had his own
laboratory. No words can explain how proud he was of it - he had built it all
by himself. For a few months he helped Kauvara in her magic shop, to earn enough
Neopoints to start building it. Kauvara had also graciously taught him how to
mix several types of potions, and how to capture a Tornado
in a Bottle. If it had not been for her, he might not have gotten enough
funds to build his lab.
ONE MILLION NEOPOINTS, read the headline on that week's Neopian Times. Sipping
his coffee, H8L90 read the column underneath it, slowly. "Lafindthia, a gold
Meerca, recently won the Neopian Lottery.
She used to run a size 5 shop, and now she runs a size 50 shop. Her NeoHome
was once made out of cardboard, now, it is made out of pure gold, and it has
air-conditioning. If you want her success, why not join the Neopian Lottery
today? A ticket costs 100 Neopoints... and that hundred may make you up to A
HUNDRED THOUSAND times more in Neopoints."
Suddenly, H8L90 sat up very straight in his chair. "The jackpot depends on
how many tickets they sell... so they'll need to sell many tickets to be able
to get a jackpot worth that much…"
A plan began to form in this Moehog's mind. It was a perfect plan. Nothing
could possibly go wrong. H8L90 decided not to dilly-dally, he had to start IMMEDIATELY.
Within a few seconds, H8L90 had gotten dressed, put on his hat, and went off.
He stopped at the nearest newspaper stand. "I'd like to purchase a lottery ticket,
please," he said politely to the Acara that was running the booth.
"Certainly, sir. Would you like to choose your own numbers, or just have any
old ticket? We do printing here, as well." The Acara leaned out of the booth,
and pointed to the sign. It read "NEWSPAPERS - MAGAZINES - LOTTERY TICKETS -
PRINTING".
"Actually, any numbers are fine. Please hurry... I'm almost late for an appointment."
H8L90 pretended to shift anxiously from one paw to another, and glancing at
his watch every other second. "Here you go, sir," the Acara gave him his ticket.
"Thank you very much," H8L90 took his ticket, paid a hundred Neopoints, and
hurried back off to his lab.
Back at the lab, H8L90 walked briskly over to his "Duplicator" machine. He
inserted the lottery ticket into the box, and pressed "DUPLICATE" then he punched
"1000 copies" into the machine. Then, he keyed in his password and once more
hit the button marked "DUPLICATE". The machine whirred and buzzed, cranked and
hissed, and out came 1000 identical lottery tickets. "Perfect..." H8L90 said,
examining the one on top.
"It's better not to waste any time," he decided. Taking the stack of fake
lottery tickets, he went outside and began to sell them. "LOTTERY TICKETS! ONLY
80 Neopoints!" he called. "BUT ONE PER CUSTOMER ONLY!"
A short line began to build up outside his lab. Money began to roll in like
mad. "Thank you, here's your ticket, good luck," he called, "Thank you, here's
your ticket, good luck..." In almost no time at all, he had sold around 100
tickets and had 8000 Neopoints.
"If I can sell a thousand tickets in one day, I can make approximately eighty
thousand Neopoints!" H8L90 said slowly to himself. "I'll need to lower the price,
too, so more people will buy them."
In a week, H8L90 had made a million Neopoints. He kept very careful to make
sure the tickets he chose would not be able to win the lottery - or else he
would be exposed. It would be terrible to have over 1000 Neopians with the same
ticket winning the lottery, wouldn't it?
The End |
