There it stood, a mechanism so sinister, so cold hearted that it would target the innocent and then crush their dreams forever. Those desperate enough try their luck with this evil in hopes of obtaining treasure as well as personal satisfaction. Every once in a while, a person, thinking they have nothing to lose, will walk in to confront it and find that they had a lot more to lose than they thought. Is the treasure and personal satisfaction worth it? It is much more likely that a person will lose their earnings, which they have worked so very hard for, than to come out victorious. It does not regret its offenses because feelings are so "alien" to it. That's right, I'm talking about that thing we have all been tempted into trying only to regret later…the UFO Catcher. This is a story of how two lives were changed forever by their encounter with this evil.
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"There you are!", cried Miku. "You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago. You know not to keep someone as lovely as I waiting around for you. There will be punishment!"
"Calm down Miku", said Kaito. "You just called me out of the blue and told me to meet you in Akihabara. Did you want to see me that badly?"
Miku began to blush.
"Stupid Kaito! I just found this game I wanted to show you. Follow me."
Miku and Kaito arrived at an arcade filled with games such as DDR.
"Here it is", said Miku. "This game is called a UFO Catcher. If you are able to grab a stuff animal with the mechanical arm, you win that prize. It's popular with kids and old men with nothing better to do than to play this game for hours. The reason YOU are here is to win me that stuffed polar bear right there."
She pointed to a bear hidden under other stuffed animals. Kaito could tell it would be hard to win.
"Miku, think about where it's positioned. It won't be easy to grab."
"But I know you can win it for me. I don't think this is a selfish request. Give it your best and win it for me!"
Kaito knew that when she got energetic like this, there was no denying her what she wanted. He put the money into the machine and the first game started. Kaito maneuvered the arm over to the spot where the bear was buried. He planned to move the stuffed animals on top of the bear out of the way first. The arm went down and closed without grabbing onto anything.
"Almost Kaito, keep it up!"
Actually, it was no where close to moving anything. Kaito put more money in and tried again. Still nothing. Another attempt led to the same result.
"This is going to take a while", said Kaito.
Several hours and a lot of Yen later…
"Almost there, Kaito! The bear is has been pulled to the top and just one more try will bring it home!"
Kaito wanted to shot as loud as he could, cursing the machine, but something inside of him didn't want to disappoint Miku. He had to win.
"Alright, this is the last of my money. It's now or never!"
Kaito was now really into the game. The game started and the mechanical arm was quickly moved over to the spot of the bear. Kaito's plan was to grab the bear by the plastic loop sticking out of its ear which was used to keep the price tag connected to the stuffed animal. He had seen it done before by a professional on a TV show once. All he had to do was line it up right. There it was, the perfect position. Kaito let the arm drop and it successfully hooked onto the loop. The arm came up, still holding the bear.
"Yes, Yes! Good job Kaito", cried Miku.
Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. The arm was bringing the bear over to the drop point. It was just about there when, all of a sudden, SNAP! The plastic loop broke and the bear fell just before the drop point. Kaito and Miku just looked at each other.
"Curse You UFO Catcher!", they cried.
Just as Kaito was about to punch the machine he heard a voice behind him say,
"Excuse me sir, can I play?"
It was a little boy with his mother.
"Sure kid, but don't expect to win. It's an evil machine."
The kid put in his money, moved the arm over the polar bear, and pulled it up. It fell in the deposit slot.
"Look mom! I won on my first try!", cried the little boy.
Kaito and Miku could not believe their eyes.
"M..m..my bear…", said Miku. Miku fell into her state of depression.
"Come on Miku, I'll buy you some ice cream", said Kaito.
Miku was instantly healed by these words.
"I want Strawberry!"
Miku and Kaito were on their way to the ice cream shop even though Kaito forgot he had no money to buy ice cream with. They would be okay in the end but they would never forget the evil of the UFO Catcher. Beware the UFO Catcher.