The Hunt for a Golden Shell!

     “Great idea Jaackie! Let’s get an inventory on which ones we need and which we do not.” Jaackie took it upon himself to figure out which they needed and saw that they needed pretty much all the stamps. Jaackie decided they should hit the shops and get the stamps they needed to complete this album. Unbeknownst to Jaackie and Kimberly was the prices of a few stamps. They first decided to visit the Neopian Post Office and inquire about some of the stamps needed. At first, they could not find any of the stamps they needed, so they asked the shopkeeper of the stamps for that album ever appeared. “You would need to check back later, if I don’t have them now, I probably will have some when I get another shipment in.” Jaackie and Kimberly took this as positive news, so they decided to check back later and went shopping through different users’ shops. They were on a roll! Suddenly Jaackie and Kimberly had collected 23 of the 25 avatars needed for the album, and subsequently the avatar! “We are so close Jaackie!” Kimberly told Jaackie as she hugged him and gave him his favorite treat, a slice of Neopets 7th birthday cake. “Where can we find the last three that we need?” asked Jaackie. Kimberly decided they should head back to the Neopian Post Office to ask that question. Jaackie and Kimberly got ready to make their journey back to the post office to ask about the last three stamps they needed for this goal. When they entered the shop, there was a line to talk to the shopkeeper, so they waited their turn in line. “Wow, so many people have the same idea to collect stamps,” Jaackie said to Kimberly and she chuckled. Now they were next in line to ask the shop keeper their question, and they could barely hide their excitement about how close they were. “Do you have these three stamps in stock, or are you about to get them in?” Kimberly asked as she pointed to the ones they were needing. The shop keeper shot them a confused look, “These stamps are so rare that I hardly see them come through here. And when they do, they are gone almost immediately. Try the Trading Post or Auction House. Next!”

     This was not what Kimberly and Jaackie wanted or needed to hear, and suddenly they felt dejected. “Well, let’s go try the Trading Post! Surely we can find them.” Kimberly said to Jaackie, so they stopped for lunch at their NeoHome and began their walk to the Trading Post. Jaackie and Kimberly got to the Trading Post and searched for the stamps they needed. Viola! They saw only a few trades of the stamps they needed, and immediately they were flooded with excitement, they were close to their goal. What came next was crushing to both of them, as the owners of these stamps were asking for millions of neopoints, something that Jaackie and Kimberly did not have. When they realized they would never be able to get the neopoints for those stamps, they decided it would not be a bad idea to check out the other albums. Maybe, just maybe, they would be way cheaper than the Battledome album. Unfortunately, again, they had no such luck. “All of these stamps cost so much! How come?” Jaackie asked Kimberly with tears in his eyes. “I don’t know Jaackie, I don’t know.” Kimberly said as she petted Jaackie and the two drifted off to sleep. Jaackie and Kimberly worked to get the big-ticket avatar item lends that they needed, and they were successful. A few weeks later, Jaackie decided it was time to move forward from their stamp debacle.

     One gloomy and rainy day in 2014, Jaackie told his owner, Kimberly, he wanted to complete one of the stamp pages to have a complete albums since the others seemed almost impossible. “Why don’t we try to complete a page with no avatar? Maybe one day it will have one,” Jaackie said to Kimberly. “What a great idea, Jaackie!” said Kimberly and so they began their journey to complete the Shells stamp page. Unbeknownst to Jaackie and Kimberly that one day this stamp album would have its very own, shiny collectable avatar. The two began their journey after decided to complete the Shells stamp page, because who doesn’t like seashells? The pair visited the Collectable Sea Shells shop and got a majority of what they needed for the album. When they realized they got all the shells they would get from the shop, they ventured to the Trading Post to begin searching for the Golden Shell they needed. The golden shell was still priced high, but not completely out of their reach. “I don’t want to give up on this,” Jaackie said to Kimberly, “so let’s figure out a way to earn the neopoints we need to purchase this shell.” Jaackie and Kimberly worked toward this goal, and then decided to take a break. When they start back on their journey in 2021, the Shells stamp album had an avatar! “We only need one more shell for this!” Jaackie told Kimberly. They price checked the shell, and realized they were only 15 million away from the shell. “We can do this,” Kimberly said to Jaackie so they began their new journey making neopoints to get this shell. Their routine consisted of selling expensive items they had in their safety deposit box they had from the bank, earning neopoints from playing games, and Food Club. Finally, Jaackie and Kimberly were within reach of the Golden Shell! Jaackie and Kimberly worked to earn the last little bit they needed and came across a seller of the Golden Shell and they made a deal! “All of our hard work has paid off!!” Jaackie told Kimberly. Kimberly handed Jaackie a slice of the Neopets 7th birthday cake and they enjoyed it together, celebrating their goal. When the trade was complete for the Golden Shell, Jaackie and Kimberly shed a tear as they albumed their Golden Shell. “Something Has Happened!” Jaackie and Kimberly got their new stamp avatar and completed their new goal of being a stamp collector. Unfortunately for Kimberly, this made Jaackie’s desire for getting more stamp avatars unavoidable, Jaackie wants to collect them all!

     The End.