The Mystery Prize

      I wondered how the peculiar object did this. Was there a petpet inside of the container, or was it magic? I could tell that the Aisha who owned the Cork Gun Gallery wished to know as well, as she didn't know what this object truly was either. This made me even more curious. I longed to know, and to hold that prize in my hand. Constantly I would come and shoot at it, each and every day, and every day when I came back just to check, it would be there, waiting for me to eventually hit it. But finally one day, when I woke up, had my morning breakfast and everything, I headed down there, and stared at the shelves in awe, waiting to see it get up and walk across, but wait! It was missing. Where was it? Why had this happened to me? Had someone won the prize instead of me? I could not hold back my curiosity.

      "Excuse me, Miss, um… where is that silver box at?" I asked her curiously.

      "It just got up and ran off. I didn't bother with it. I'm stacking up with all these other prizes to get rid of, but all's the customers were aiming for was that box! Bah!! Good riddance."

      "Which way did it go?" I said, inquisitively. "I will give you one thousand Neopoints if you tell me and then let me borrow the cork gun to get it. Is that a deal?"

      She reached out her hand. "Deal. I will give you one of the old guns I keep in storage." She walked back behind the counter, and opened a door, and returned with a gun, and I dropped the Neopoints on the counter.

      "It went that way, towards the other end of the Deserted Fairgrounds. I stopped watching when it reached the Test Your Strength Machine. It occurred just before you came." She said, and then snatched the Neopoints greedily, and began to count them.

      "Thank you very much!" I darted off in the direction of the Strength Machine. I just HAD to find it. I spent a fortune on getting it, and I had to get it now. I knew it would be worth it, too. I had a definite feeling.

      Not very long after that, due to my extreme Kacheek speed, I arrived at the Strength Machine. I decided on a plan. I walked over to the Mynci, and got ready to question him about the mysterious box.

      "Hello, are you looking to play a game?" he said, offering me the mallet to play Test Your Strength.

      "No, sorry. I am actually looking for a square silver container. It sometimes even runs. It came from the Cork Gun Gallery."

      "That piece of junk? You want THAT?" he snarled, and acted like he was so much better, trying to convince me to take a whack. "Would you not prefer one of my prizes over that dusty old box of junk?" This implied to me that he was most definitely very self-centered, as I had already implied myself.

      "No," I quickly responded, with a definite tone in my voice as I said the word.

      "Fine," he smiled and his voice gained a tone of malevolence, "I'll tell you what I know, but only if you get me a sandwich."

      "Any kind of sandwich?" I said, thinking about his prizes for the game, and hoping that a Ghostkersandwich would be all right.

      "ANY sandwich," he responded in a simple manner, still maintaining the grin.

      "Here." I shoved one hundred Neopoints into his greedy hands. I grabbed the mallet from him, and made a feeble swing (purposely, of course.), hoping to win what I desired--- a sandwich.

      BING! Hah! Weakling. Prize? Chokato Ghostkersandwich. I handed him the sandwich, and he took a bite, and breadcrumbs trailed where he paced.

      "WELL?" I said, impatiently.

      "I'm thinking… Oh yes! I saw it head towards the Kiosk."

      "Scratch Card Kiosk?" I said, making certain.

      "The only one at the fairgrounds, my boy."

      I quickly ran towards the Kiosk, and was there in a very short amount of time. There stood Sidney, and he smirked as I saw him.

      "Have you seen a box on the move?"

      "Why yesss, but you have to win him, and then sssnatch him yourssself… Here's back there tied up."

      "Grrr…" I growled as I held out the Neopoints.

      Instantly I held a scratch card. I scratched the center first, then the three on the right, and one in the bottom left corner.

      "Oh yes! I win! Three of the same kind! I've won an item! In your face!" I said in the 'Do not mess me with' tone of voice. "Now hand it over Sidney!"

      But he did not give it to me like I had hoped he would do. Instead he walked over to the package and released it. Instantly it began to run away from me, trying to escape from me. But my desire to catch it was too strong. I was not going to let this mysterious box escape this time!

      "Like I told you, my friend… Catch it yoursssself," Sidney responded, laughing at a feeble attempt of a joke.

      I knew instantly what I had to do to insure I achieved my goal. Despite my anger and rage towards Sidney at the moment I pulled out the cork gun, and began to take aim. After I had it lined up I took my first shot at the creature that was on the move.

      "Darn, I missed the shot!" I said, thinking out loud.

      I had missed! I reloaded with some extra corks I received from the Aisha at the Cork Gun Gallery, and fired three more shots. All three hit, and due to my reloading speed they were almost all at the same time.

      "Oh yeah!" I could not contain my joyous emotions as I darted over to the object, believing it all to be a dream for a moment, but I convinced myself that it had to have really happened, when I pinched myself before making it all the way over to the object.

      I could tell it was dizzy, confused, and just plain out of it from the three shots. I could feel the tension, and a tingling feeling came to my fingers as I touched the lid and began to pull it off. I was amazed as I lifted the lid off, throwing it over my shoulder, and onto the ground. Dropping the box I burst into the laughter. I spent all that time on it, and all that was inside the box, was an ordinary, everyday item. That's right, it was just a plain old Walking Book!

  The End