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It was a damp night during that breezy October day, where
the only signs of life were the glimmer of a few dim lights shining from the Neopia
Central homes and shops. Far down the street of Soup Alley, Neopia Central, was
an anxious little Christmas Acara named Gemma9543 waiting for what just about
held his future. He sat patiently by the front door of the NeoHome, waiting for
what great thing might come. The door suddenly swished open, and a tired looking
Neopian, greenpickle2, plopped himself on the ground with a small scratchcard
in his hand. The tiny Acara ran over excitedly to greet his owner.
For months, the duo saved up every single
Neopoint they had. Greenpickle2 would get up at the crack of dawn and collect
their bank account interest to add to their savings. They would spend the entire
day playing every possible game he could with Gemma9543. One hundred Neopoints
became one thousand Neopoints. One thousand Neopoints became ten thousand and
ten thousand transformed into one hundred thousand Neopoints -- exactly one
hundred thousand Neopoints. They gathered every last Neopoint they could. When
they worked together, they could accomplish anything.
They watched their investments carefully
and they made sacrifices when it came to anything. The little Acara was only
allowed to keep one of his toys, and the only meals they ate were the free foods
from the Tyrannian Omelette. They never dared buy anything costing over 150
NP, and Gemma9543 was only allowed to keep one Battledome item, for the rest
had to be sold away. They had to sell what they could, and treasure what they
were able to hold.
Nearly three months passed, and they had
exactly 100,000 NP. Greenpickle2 was a gambler and had raised his neopet to
be one. A Neopian that accomplished saving up 100k would want to use the Neopoints
wisely, but the two had planned on making a gamble -- and a big gamble at that.
They made a gamble that could take the life of a Neopian and either enrich it,
or corrupt it. The two did not care, because they felt lucky and when they had
luck, they had a destiny, which became a fortune.
Now it all comes back to that damp October
night, when greenpickle2 came home with their horrible and unthinkable fate.
Gemma9543 grabbed the little scratchcard from greenpickle2's hand and flipped
it over. He stared with a look of awe on his face and joy in his eyes.
Gemma9543 spoke excitedly, "An Icetravaganza!
An Icetravaganza! How did you find one? I can't believe we finally have one!"
Greenpickle2 replied, "They were all selling
at the unbuyable level, but I finally managed to find one selling for 99,999
NP. I took the first one that I saw."
"But that'll only leave us with one tiny
Neopoint…"
"Don't worry, because if we win, that
one tiny Neopoint will just be another tiny fraction of our pile of gold… think
of it… if we win this Jackpot, then we'll have anything we want…"
Gemma9543 gave a look of apprehension.
He fearfully replied, "But what if… But what if we lose…?"
"Don't think like that. It's those that
think of losing that actually end up losing in the mix of it all. If we think
positive about this, then we'll have a positive result."
"Can we please just scratch the card and
get it over with. I want to untie this giant knot in my stomach… please…"
Greenpickle2 smiled at him. "Okay. We'll
have it your way. Would you like to do the first scratch for us?"
"Yes! Yes let me do the scratching! I
want to do the scratching! I'm feeling lucky tonight! Please let me scratch!"
"Alright, alright already. Calm down.
I'll let you scratch. Now you know the rules. We are only allowed to scratch
six of the nine spaces, and we need three Jackpot squares. You can do this,
because all you need to do is take your time and do what you feel is right."
"Okay. This will be easy. These Neopoints
are practically jumping into my pocket. All I need is just three Jackpots…"
Gemma9543 began to scratch the Icetravaganza.
He slowly scratched off the top center space. With a surprised look, he exclaimed
with joy, "A Jackpot space! I have a Jackpot space!"
He then continued on and scratched the
space left of the middle.
"Aw. This one is a blank. I can't believe
it. A blank…"
Greenpickle2 tried to reassure him…
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's only
one blank and we still have four chances left. I'll scratch the next one this
time, okay?"
"…Well… … … Okay! You can do it this time!"
Greenpickle2 then scratched off the bottom
center space. He muttered in a frustrated tone of voice, "Another blank… This
isn't right… How is this possible?"
"Okay this is it! I'm going to get it
this time!"
Greenpickle2 scratched the card's bottom
left space. He saw yet another blank space. Astonished, he moaned, "Why is this
happening? Why? How am I supposed to win with all these blanks? I have to win…
I just have to…"
Gemma9543 took the card away. Comfortingly,
he spoke, "It's really alright. We have two chances left and we need two more
Jackpots. We have been lucky up to this point, so maybe we can get lucky again."
Gemma9543 scratched the top right space
and sighed with relief. "Another Jackpot space! This is great! We only need
one more and then we will be living the good life. Just one more Jackpot!"
Excitedly, he scratched of the center space
of the scratchcard. Ready to burst out with anxiety, his joy came crashing down.
He was dead silent. He just looked at the card and dropped it. It fluttered
down to the floor, showing the front of the card as it dropped. It showed another
blank space. There were two Jackpots and four blanks. They lost it all. They
lost their money, their time, and their spirit. The two just sat on the cold
floor for hours, not speaking at all. They were in shock, and in fear. They
had nothing. They had nothing worth keeping. They had nothing worth selling
away. They had nothing worth living for.
The Next Morning
The two walked out of the front door of their NeoHome. Gemma9543 was still
devastated over last night's events, yet he tried to do everything he could
to cheer them both up.
He spoke to Greenpickle2, "Hey, It's not
that bad really. We still have 2/3 of a Pepperoni and Sausage Omelette for a
meal. Plus, I still have the Blue Poogle Toy that you let me keep. That's a
fun toy to play with. Besides, we still have each other… We should not forget
about that."
Greenpickle2 sighed and replied, "Yeah,
sure, the first few days will be alright, but then how will we live afterwards?
What will we eat? What are we going to do to survive? We can't live like this
forever! We have done too much to deserve this… it's all over… we have lost
it all!"
"Please don't be sad greenpickle2. Even
though we are all we have, I still think that's better than any sum of Neopoints
you could offer somebody."
"Don't act like you don't care. We spent
months saving up all of those Neopoints and sacrificing everything, and we blew
it, anyway. We had a good thing going and we gave it all up… we have nothing
worth living for… nothing to look forward to. Nothing… except one tiny Neopoint
that rests at the bottom of my pocket… one little Neopoint out of one hundred
thousand…"
"I do care, but you really ought to stop
depressing yourself like this. It is all over now. We have one Neopoint, and
we have to use that Neopoint to reform ourselves. We can do it again. I have
heard stories about Neopians starting from scratch and they are doing just fine.
You have to pick yourself up. We have to start over…"
"I just don't know. I don't know how we
are expected to live. I don't know what we are expected to do, and it drives
me crazy thinking of what I am supposed to do with this tiny Neopoint in my
pocket! I'm so sorry..."
"Give yourself time greenpickle2… we will
make it. We just need some time…"
The two remained silent for a moment and
then continued on with their walk. Greenpickle2 stared into the distant skies
of Neopia as they went on. Meanwhile, Gemma9543 still continued to try comfort
his sorrow, but nothing could. He had to live with a mistake. He didn't want
to but he knew he had to. He didn't know how to live with the misfortune he
had caused them. In fact, he didn't know how he was going to live at all…
One Week Later
Gemma9543 and greenpickle2 walked everyday down the cold streets of Neopia
Central, hopeless and effortless in recovering their fortune. They walked past
the shops, day after day, cold and hungry, wishing they could go back into time.
They couldn't though, and therefore, they walked their long walks, with that
one Neopoint resting in greenpickle2's pocket.
Several days after their loss, greenpickle2
finally gave it up. He had lost everything, and ruined life itself for him and
his innocent neopet. He brought Gemma9543 with him to the place where his gambling
all began for him -- The Brucey B Slot Machine.
"What are we doing here?" questioned Gemma9543.
"We are finishing off what we have done.
This is where I first started gambling. I have never really taken you here before,
since I stopped coming here a long while ago… at least it seems that way…"
Gemma9543 looked surprised and very confused.
Not knowing what was going on, he asked greenpickl2, "Why are we at the Brucey
B Slot Machine when we don't have any Neopoints to use? All we have is that
one tiny Neopoint you kept."
"That is why we are here. I am getting
rid of this last Neopoint. It gives me too many bad memories. It is the remainder
of our mistake and our downfall. This is the only way we can rid ourselves of
this tragedy…"
At that point, greenpickle2 stared sadly
at the Brucey B Slot Machine. He took the Neopoint at of his pocket, grasping
it tightly, dealing with the pain of letting go. He then set the slot machine
for a 1 NP bet and looked at the Jackpot - 87,567 NP. The Jackpot was slowly
going up past the 90,000 NP mark. Careless, greenpickle2 walked away with Gemma9543
as the reels on the slot machine spun.
Gemma9543 slowly asked greenpickle2, "Aren't
you going to look at the reels?"… … …
"For what? We lost anyway… but if it will
really make you happy…"
Greenpickle2 turned around and his jaw
dropped and he stared in awe. The middle line of the slot machine showed three
Lucky Coin symbols in a row. Slowly, the fourth reel slowed down, revealing
yet another lucky coin. Gemma9543's eyes lit up with joy and amazement as the
fifth and final reel slowed down. The reel showed an approaching lucky coin
symbol, but it went too far and passed the line up by two. Instead, a little
pyramid guy revealing a wild replaced the Lucky Coin symbol. The slot machine
went off and Gemma9543 jumped up and down, happier than ever. He trotted over
to the machine as the Jackpot began shooting out the front. The jackpot currently
being paid out flashed on the front of the machine - 100,000 NP. Greenpickle2
gave a slight smile and paused for a moment as Gemma9543 bugged him to come
over and see the splendor of what had just happened.
Greenpickle2 and Gemma9543 walked home
that day, each carrying a 50,000 NP satchel. They wondered about why they had
gained back what they lost, and if they were really fated to win that Jackpot.
Gemma9543 and greenpickle2 decided to equally split their winnings, and to stop
gambling… for a little while. They both learned though, that even when they
had nothing worth living for, they had each other to live for, and that was
probably the greatest thing to live for yet…
The End
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