The Aisha Twins: Part One

      Those who have been exploring Neopia for many years have had their fair share of incidents with the Secret Laboratory Ray, and as much as they try to warn others of the dangers of this giant laser beam, curiosity gets the best of most people. The most recent disaster to strike? Milly and Lilly.

    Milly and Lilly are two Aisha twin sisters, and they are pretty much like any twins. They get along splendidly, but they also fight like no one’s business. At the end of the day though, they are sisters through thick and thin and do just about everything together. Until one large mistake tested their patience and their relationship...And it put everything that they have worked for at stake.

    Will the sisters be able to surmount these obstacles in order to accomplish something they have been chasing for years? Or will the walls come up and block them, stopping them short of glory and happiness? There is only one way to find out, so let’s take a peek in at their story.

    ...

    “We only have one more piece to go,” Lilly turned to Milly excitedly. “The map to the secret laboratory is almost complete, and then we can finally change ourselves away from these boring and basic colours!!”

    Lilly and Milly were born as twins, though not identical. Their physical appearance is almost identical, but they were born different colours. Lilly is a Green Aisha, and Milly is a Red Aisha. Forever they have both been dreaming of being painted as Woodland Aishas, where they could display their love of nature while also finally being as identical as they have always dreamed. The two of them share everything, from clothing to homework, and they really wanted to share their appearance as well. Their different colours were the only things standing in their way.

    The two sisters are known for their ingenuity and ability to get things done despite all odds. They are both super hardworking, excel in school, and have a pretty extensive social circle. They overcome adversity at any turn, and are not afraid to confront problems head on. Because of these traits, they figured it would be pretty straight forward to go forth and achieve their dream of becoming Woodland. They have already done so many amazing things in their lives, Lilly is a Neopian Debate Champion and Milly has won multiple awards for her amazing piano playing abilities. What is one more test of their wit?

    “I’ve heard from Joey at school that his brother zapped himself into a Candy Elephante last week!” Milly was just as excited as Lilly about having their map complete and being able to access the Secret Laboratory. “We just have to find this last piece. Let’s check the auction house.”

    The two of them wandered down through Neopia Central, walking the dirt path with lush green grass on either side, taking their time to window shop as they went. They stopped into a few stores, checking out all the different books at the book shop and seeing if they could spot any rare stamps at the post office.

    “If we found a good deal on a stamp maybe we could trade it to someone for the last piece of our lab map,” Lilly said with a twinkle in her eye as she scanned through the glass display case. “But I don’t think any of these are that valuable.”

    Upon hearing this, the postal worker looked up with a frown. “I’ll have you know that ALL of our stamps are valuable to collectors,” he said, and then muttered something under his breath about “ungrateful children”.

    Milly and Lilly giggled to themselves at the old Chia’s remark and the wandered out of the store and back to the road. They had a spring in their step and were hopeful that all of their saving will have paid off when they purchase the final piece of their map. But as they made their way to the Auction Genie, they were hit with a major surprise...

    “We’d like one Secret Laboratory Map Piece please, the ninth piece specifically,” Milly said astutely. She was the more confident sister, and a bit more matter-of-fact and stubborn that the more timid Lilly. Though both could be seen as arrogant.

    “Let me check something here...” the Auction Genie began sorting through his files to see if he could find anything in there. “Oh, there is only one listing at the moment! At the moment it has no bidders and is going for 25,000 NP. Would you like to place a bid? There is only one hour remaining until the auction is complete.”

    “YES!” The two sisters shouted at the same time, excited that it was such a good deal. Usually this piece goes for much, much more than that. They just had to sit and wait for the hour to be up, hoping no one else would show up to bid. Even so, they surely would get a fair deal on it and had been saving for a while, so they weren’t too concerned.

    It was incredibly exciting to Milly and Lilly that they had found such a good deal, one that no one had seemed to notice yet. They were dreaming about completing this map as they waited for the auction to end. Nothing was going to stand in their way of accomplishing their task and finishing off the map. The only thing between them and the completion of the map was the ticking of the clock now...

    Time seemed to crawl along, the two played a few rounds of their favorite game, chinese checkers, as they waited. With five minutes to go though, their hearts began to sink as they saw an Island Lutari start to approach.

    “Surely he can’t be after the lab map, he is already such a fantastic colour...”

    “Oh Lilly, I’m scared he is coming for it!!”

    “Hello,” they overheard the Lutari say to the Auction Genie. “I’d like to place a bid on a Secret Laboratory Map Piece, the one in the ninth position. Oh, it is such a low price...well, let me ensure that I get it. I’ll bid 100,000 Neopoints on it!”

    “WHAT!!!” Milly and Lilly sprung to action and ran over to the genie. “We’ll bid 110,000 NP!!”

    “Oh my, I’ll have to raise my bid to 150,000 Neopoints then. Sorry girls, I really need this piece to complete my map,” the Lutari was apologetic but firm in his decision to outbid.

    “But you already have an amazing colour,” Milly spoke with anger in her voice.

    “It’s a gift for my niece, she is training for the battledome and this thing can raise your stats much faster than that old Techo at the academy.”

    And the bidding match ensued...

    “175,000!”

    “222,500!”

    You could feel the tensions rising between the two parties as they battled through the bids. Each shouting numbers higher and higher than the last, driving the price up quickly.

    “300,000!!!!!”

    “500,000!!!!!!!”

    Half a million Neopoints, and the sisters are getting desperate. They knew they had to bid every last Neopoint they had in order to try to win this. The only hope that they had was that it was more than the Lutari could muster up.

    “723,211!!!!!!!”

    Milly and Lilly looked over at the Lutari with a look of nervousness and pleading, hoping that their offer could seal the deal in their favor and get them the map piece they have been so desperately searching after and saving for.

    “723,212,” the Lutari said firmly. Knowing that it was one Neopoint above how much the girls could offer.

    “Going, going, GONE!! Sold to the gentleman with the grass skirt,” the Auction Genie said as he handed over a rolled piece of parchment tied with twine.

    “Sorry girls,” said the Lutari, showing little remorse. It was clear he wanted this piece as bad as the twins did and he was willing to do anything to get it. “It is a gift and I have been saving just as hard as you have. Better luck next time, maybe go try the stock market to help you get there.”

    “Nooooooo!!!” The girls cried with frustration. “We were so close...so close...”

    “Back to the drawing board, I guess,” muttered Milly. “There has to be something. Something that we can do.”

    “Maybe we’ll get lucky and another piece will go up for a good price,” responded Lilly, though it was hard to hide the lack of confidence in that statement. “Crazier things have happened, right?”

    “I don’t know, Lilly, I don’t know,” Milly began to ponder all the possibilities as to what they could do next.

    Next Week on The Aisha Twins:

    We just watched Milly and Lilly fumble and lose their lead in an auction for the Secret Laboratory Map. Will they take the Lutari’s advice and go to the Stock Market, or will they head to play some games? Or will they take a gamble and risk losing it all for a shot at making their dream come true? Stay tuned, right here in the Neopian Times, to see what fate has up her sleeve for the two Aisha twins!

To be continued…