The Aisha Twins:Part Three

"So," Lilly began. "What you are telling me is that we are now even further from our goal of becoming Woodland Aishas, further from the Secret Laboratory Map Piece that we needed, all because you gambled away a quarter of a million Neopoints on a stupid slot machine?! What did I tell you when we separated!?"

     Lilly could see her dream slipping away from her. All she wanted was to be a beautiful brown wood color, with elegant bark patterns and a few earthy green leaves plucking out, and for it to be a complete match with her almost identical twin sister. They have both been working their whole lives towards this goal, and now things were starting to disappear down the drain because of Milly's one bad decision.

     "You said not to gamble," Milly replied timidly, feeling a sense of shame and embarrassment to a degree she's never experienced before. "I'm sorry!! I saw this Acara win 400,000 Neopoints and I thought that was a sure fire way for us to quickly get all the money we needed. I lost track of how much I was betting and before you know it, poof, all my money was gone. I'm sorry Lilly, I'm just so terrible at games and knew I wouldn't be able to earn anywhere near as much as you!!"

     Lilly sighed deeply. She loved her sister, and knew she had to forgive her, but she was a bit reluctant. At the end of the day though, at least she only lost a quarter of a million and not the whole 700,000ish NP that they had come in with. Things could always be worse, and Lilly knew that. She also knew that when things were going wrong, it was always better to have her sister by her side, so she began working through how they could bounce back from this and how they could do it together. There is a solution to every problem, she had a plan within minutes.

     "I know you aren't very good at games, and that is why I was playing extra hard. You are good at a lot of other things, I was just hoping that you'd be able to pitch in a little bit of support here and top us off after I won most of it. Instead, well, this is a set back. But we can recover from it. No more gambling though, we have to stick to games where we can only earn money, not lose it."

     Milly nodded in agreement. It is not an ideal situation but it is not the end of the world, the girls knew how to work together and find common ground to achieve a goal. Though games clearly were not Milly's strong point, she knew she had to jump in and try everything she could. She could not have been more thankful for her sister's support, even though she was still feeling quite down on herself.

     "Go play Fashion Fever a bit, and try Splat-A-Sloth, I think you'll be good at that," said Lilly, still angry but trying to comfort her sister so they could focus and get their eyes back on the prize. "Let's go back to our games now."

     And with that the two sisters separated again to play their games of choice, games that they knew they would be good at and knew they were sure to win. Milly saw her wallet filling back up, slowly but at least it was growing this time instead of dwindling. She smacked around a Sloth sock puppet for a while and went and got a few good scores at Hasee Bounce. Meanwhile, Lilly was off racking up more high scores and letting the Neopoints roll in. Even though things were back on track, it was still slow going trying to recover financially and continue past that to their goal.

     "We're almost there...just a little bit longer and we've got this," Lilly said as she crossed paths with Milly on her way to the next game. They paused briefly to compare totals:

     Milly had gotten herself up to 152,200 NP, and Lilly was now carrying 817,800 NP for a grand total of 970,000 NP. They were just one final stretch away from being able to get their Secret Laboratory Map Piece, and they had fully recovered from their previous follies.

     "This might be enough at the auction house if we can get lucky," said Milly hopefully.

     Lilly agreed. "Better safe than sorry though, let's work on this a little longer."

     So the two busted their tails for a few more hours trying to hit their total. When they came back together and did the math, they had earned just a little over 1,100,000 Neopoints!!

     "We did it," the two cheered and hugged.

     "Alright, let's head out and hopefully there is a piece for sale today," said Lilly as she started to walk ahead of Milly. "Come on, keep up!"

     They began the long walk across Neopia Central, off to the auction house they went to see if there were any map pieces for sale.

     "Do you think we have enough to stop and get a doughnut on the way there," inquired Milly. "I'm hungry after all that Sloth splatting!"

     "No, let's go," retorted Lilly, power walking straight into the auction house.

     "Welcome back girls," said the Auction Genie. "Would you like me to search up the same map piece?"

     "Yes, please," Milly replied. "We think we should have enough this time."

     "Alrighty then," said the genie as he went searching through his files and inventory. "Ah, here we go. This piece is a one-bid win, if you can bid 1,200,000 NP then it is all yours!"

     "Oh no, we don't have that much," said Lilly nervously, hoping there would be another piece for sale for just a touch cheaper. "Are there any more for sale?"

     The sisters held their breath, hoping with all their might that there would be something else tucked away somewhere in the auction house. They knew that the chances were small, but they had to have the genie look in every nook and cranny for them. They were a bit scared that the price had inflated a bit and that they would have to go back and churn out some more game wins the following day.

     "Let me see what I've got..." The genie searched for a few minutes more before popping back up. "Yes, this piece is currently auctioning for 1,057,488 Neopoints and has been getting bid on quite frequently. Actually you better hurry, there are only a few minutes left. Should I place your bid?"

     "ONE MILLION, FIFTY SEVEN THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY NINE NEOPOINTS," the two twin Aishas shouted in unison. "DID WE GET IT IN TIME!?"

     "Yes, with less than a second to spare! Congratulations girls, here is your brand new Secret Laboratory Map Piece," the Auction Genie smiled as he handed over the rolled up parchment.

     Milly reached out and snatched it excitedly and eagerly, the twins had anticipated this moment for so long. Lilly was standing by bouncing up and down with nervous energy, ready to see what the parchment held and how this piece would complete the map. Milly almost couldn't contain herself as she pulled the twine to look at their final piece of the puzzle...

     "It's...the wrong piece, we bid on the wrong piece," said Milly.

     Lilly's expression dropped, her face washed over with a sense of horror and she was rendered completely speechless from the shock.

     "Just kidding!!! We did it, we can complete the map now," laughed Milly playfully, enjoying this little prank on her sister.

     Lilly was not impressed by the joke but let out a deep sigh of relief. She was just thankful that it was a joke this time.

     "Do that again and we're taking it to the Battledome," snapped Lilly as she shot a terrifying glare at her sister.

     And with that, the two of them set off back to their house to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle. Once the map was complete, they would be able to set off to the Secret Laboratory and zap themselves into the Woodland Aishas they've always dreamed off themselves as. What they did not realize, however, is that you do not really get to decide what the lab ray does when it zaps you. That their gambling did not end with the Black Pawkeet Slots, and that something even riskier was around the corner waiting for them...

Next Week on The Aisha Twins:

     The two twins, Milly and Lilly, have faced a few difficult obstacles in their journey to change their colours to Woodland, but the fight is not over yet! Now that they have assembled the laboratory map, it should be smooth sailing from here, but all the glitters is not gold. What will fate bestow upon them in the next edition of The Aisha Twins? And will the sisters be able to take it down like they did this last obstacle, or will it get the best of them? Stay tuned to next week's Neopian Times!

     To be continued…