Chapter One: Arrival

A short introduction

I wrote the beginning of this story a while ago and posted it, but I never got past the fifth chapter and…let's face it….it sucked. So I got back into harvest moon not that long ago, and I'm back in the Five Times a Charm business. I decided to start over completely and not even work off the old one, though, because it sucked so bad. Maybe in a year I'll think this one sucks too. But in the meantime, it's quite fun. :P I hope you enjoy it!

Also note that I do not own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. I am just a devoted fan!

Jack let out a sigh when he sat his suitcase down on the grass. Before him lay a stretch of field, the most unruly looking field he had come across in his life. Weeds and stones and stumps had taken over, and dead branches were strewn sporadically throughout the landscape. What the property needs is a hardworking man, Jack thought to himself. And what a coincidence, because a hardworking man happens to be—

"--Dead!"

Jack spun around to see a short round man with a funny hat addressing him in an angered tone. The man was dressed entirely in red, and to top it off, his fuming expression matched perfectly.

"What?" Jack asked, eyebrows raised.

"The owner of this farm is dead! You have no right to trespass! I, as the mayor of this town, demand that you leave at once!"

"Oh," Jack sighed. "Yeah, I know he's dead. He left the farm to me. I'm Jack."

"No excuses! I said—wait, you're Jack? Oh…" The pinkness in the mayor's cheeks began to fade. "That's right. You're in the will. 'Leave everything to Jack'. It was quite a surprise to us, seeing as how no one named Jack lived here."

"Yep." Jack turned away from the mayor and surveyed the field again. "So what's the size of this town? Population two?"

"Oh, don't be silly. The population is approximately twenty-eight. Well, twenty-eight in the summer. And that doesn't include the sprites. If you include the sprites, it's about thirty-six." The mayor began to count on his fingers. "But, if you include the sprites I suppose you ought to include Kappa and…ah…nevermind. Too many to count, you know?"

"Sure," Jack muttered, trying to convince himself that the population-twenty-eight thing was a joke. In the last place he had lived, the population was that to the fifth power and more.

"Well I'll give you a rundown of Mineral Town, hm? The town itself is just north of here. A little east and you have the other two farms from which you can purchase poultry and livestock, plus a blacksmith who will upgrade tools for you. Further north you have the winery and an inn. The inn has the only telephone in the entire town. We also have a church, in the north-east town corner, and a library, in the north-west. If you have any questions, I suggest you go there. Got all that?"

"Mmm-hmm," Jack hummed.

"Good. If I were you, I'd go make myself known around town. No one likes a stranger! I'll go let the villagers know you've arrived. Everyone will be so excited. Mineral Town: Population Twenty-Nine!" the mayor shuffled off of the farm happily. Jack watched him bounce away, then closed his eyes and put his hand to his forehead.

"Oh boy," he said to himself.

He went into a temporary brain lapse and was woken only seconds later by a small creature growling at his shoe. Startled, Jack jumped back, only to realize the fur ball was a puppy.

"Hey, sucker, you got a home?" The dog responded with a happy bark and began to trounce around Jack's feet. "Yeah, that's cute. Okay, really, where do you belong?" Jack scooped the puppy up and looked around its neck for a dog tag and collar. Surprisingly, it had neither. After muttering some disheartening words about small towns not bothering with dog identification, Jack took Nameless the Puppy and began heading north into town.

The grass turned into brick and the pathway had an option of going straight or to the right. Thinking the other farms was probably a good guess, Jack headed right. The first building happened to be the blacksmith.

He stepped into the walkway and tapped on the door. No one answered. He pushed it a little. It opened. This time, Jack kept his disheartening comments about small towns and household security to himself.

"Hello?" he said when he peeked his head in.

"Hello," came a gruff reply. "You going to come in or just keep scratching at the door like a lost puppy?"

Jack went in.

"Well, speaking of lost puppies--"

"Who are you?" the gruff voice was coming from an old man with a crazy haircut. He sat behind a desk and was surrounded my metal shop equipment. The room looked exactly how a blacksmith's should.

"Jack, I'm--"

"The new kid on the farm. Right. The mayor told me so."

"Yeah, he's quite the--"

"Gossip? Yeah, but wait'll you see the women in this town. Heh heh."

"Heh, yeah. Well, you see, the reason I stopped by was--"

"You need a tool upgraded?"

"No…"

"You need a piece of jewelry for a lovely lady?"

"No, I just--"

"You want a milker?"

"A what? Look, NO! I just need to know if this puppy is yours!"

"Oh." The blacksmith looked a little disappointed. But it was hard to tell, on account of his white facial hair hiding his expression extremely well. "It's not. You might try the inn. They have a puppy. I think. It might be a cat. I don't like dogs myself."

"Alright, cool. In that case, I'll just be--"

"Or the other farms. Maybe Barley got himself a sheep dog."

"Okay--"

"Except he doesn't have sheep. Just cows."

"That's nice, but--"

"My name is Saibara, by the way. If you see my grandson wandering aimlessly about the town tell him to get back here before I shove him in the furnace with the ores. And are you going to leave yet, or just stand there in the door all day?"

"I'm leaving."

"Bye now."

"Yeah…bye."

After the first encounter, Jack was royally tired. He moped across the street with the ever-restless puppy held up in his arms. The next building was the Poultry Farm. Jack didn't make it to the door, however.

"Eeek! My chicken!"

Before Jack could pause to think, a runaway chicken was bolting full-blast toward him. In one swift motion, Jack set Nameless on the pavement and replaced him with the freedom stricken bird. This, however, appeared to be a mistake, as Nameless took off down the street.

"Hey, wait!" Jack called to no avail. Jack tried to set the chicken down, but a rather pink girl had appeared in front of him.

"You saved my chicken! Thank you!" she squealed.

"Oh. Sure. No problem."

"You can stop holding him over your head like that now."

"Right." Jack set the bird down. Having lost the fight, the chicken scurried back into the coop.

"Did you come here to buy a chicken?"

"I, uh, well, no, actually…" Jack looked helplessly in the direction that Nameless had taken off in. "Nevermind," he sighed sadly.

"Oh, well you should buy a chicken. They're awfully cute. I just love chickens. Don't you?"

"Yeah, they're the greatest."

"I'm glad you agree. I think all people who like chickens are good people. Why don't you come inside?"

Jack followed the girl into the farm. It wasn't that she herself was pink, it was just her hair. And her hair was not only pink, but it was fluffy, too. Fluffy pink hair. And Jack thought he had seen everything from growing up in the city.

"Why, hello, there. Popuri, who is your friend?"

As they entered the house, an older version of the girl (with matching hair) greeted them.

"Hi mom!" Popuri chimed. "This is Jack, the new guy on the farm! He wants to buy a chicken."

"I…what?" Jack mumbled miserably. He could not remember introducing himself to her, but he could remember saying he didn't want to buy a chicken.

"Oh, how lovely! Chickens like it when you name them, you know." Lillia smiled.

"Name it something cute!" Popuri beamed at him. Jack looked at her, lost. This town was so confusing. It was like he didn't even have to talk, people just did everything for him. Like he could go through an entire conversation just by nodding or shaking his head. And her hair. It was so pink. And…

"Fluffy…"

"Awwwww," Popuri squealed happily, "That is the best name for a chicken ever! Jack, you deserve a hug!" she threw her arms around him.

"I'll have Rick put Fluffy in your chicken coop for you, Jack." Lillia said as she wrote up the bill. "We'll throw some complimentary chicken feed in there for you, too."

"Speaking of me," said a new voice from the direction of the back of the room, "Do I get an introduction?" Jack turned around to see a man, slightly older than Popuri, he assumed, descending the stairs. He had longish hair and rather nerdy glasses.

"Jack, this is my brother Rick," Popuri explained. "Rick, this is the new guy on the farm. He just bought a chicken!"

"How nice," said Rick, "It's a pleasure to meet you." He and Jack shook hands.

"Hey Jack," said Popuri, "I think it would be good if um, tomorrow, I stopped by to make sure your facility is…chicken–compatible. Like, you know. Safe for the chickens."

"Alright. Cool." Jack nodded.

After some trouble with the bill (the trouble being Jack was not financially capable of purchasing a chicken, so they had to resort to an interval payment plan of 100g an week plus interest) Jack was finally able to leave the Poultry Farm. Rick saw him to the street with Fluffy, Jack's new chicken, in tow.

"So, Jack," Rick began as they exited the house, "Good luck with the farm, huh? It's a lot of work."

"Sure is."

"And Jack," Rick added, now in a harsh whisper, "I saw the way you were looking at my sister. And I saw how your eyes lit up when she hugged you. But that's as far as I want to hear about you going with my sister ever. Got it? You stay away from her."

"Uh, Rick, look, I think you've got the wrong idea. I don't--"

"Because you don't want to mess with me. And that's what happens if you mess with my baby sister. You mess with me. Are we clear on that?"

"Rick…"

"Yes or no, man."

"Yeah. Yeah, we're clear."

"Great! See you around, Jack. Bye now."

Rick headed down towards Jack's farm and Jack in the opposite direction, in pursuit of Nameless. By now, he was sure the puppy would be close to impossible to find. But he figured he may as well stop at the Livestock Farm, seeing as how he was so close anyway.

The farm was called Yodel Ranch, and cows meandered lazily in its pasture. Jack let out a sigh of relief at the sight of it, though, because in front of the house were two puppies yapping playfully at eachother. One of which he recognized.

"Why, hello!" an older man greeted Jack upon entering the ranch.

"Hey," said Jack, "Believe it or not, I was just coming by about that dog. I'm glad you've found him!"

"Oh, so he's yours?" the man said. "Wonderful! The poor puppy has been a stray since the Old Man who lived on the farm died. You're Jack, right? We always hoped you'd adopt him.

"Wait…so he isn't yours?" Jack asked.

"No, the other one is, though. But my puppy is a girl. Her name is Hannah. She gets along with your dog, though. What's his name?"

"He's Nameless."

Jack and the old man watched the puppies in silence for a minute. Nameless bit Hannah's ear, and Hannah responded to this by giving him a well deserved paw to the face.

"I'm Barley, by the way. My granddaughter May is over there. See her?" said the man. Jack looked over and saw a little girl with black braids petting one of the cows. Even though she was a good distance away, if you were quiet, you could hear her singing to them, too.

"She's quite a cutie." Jack smiled. He always liked kids.

"Sure is. Just like her mother."

"Well, I'm going to get back to my house now. I'll take little Nameless with me, I guess, if he is mine." Jack said.

"No problem. You know, I've got a colt, if you want. I'm too old to ride horses anymore. He needs a strong young man to raise him. Interested?" Barley asked.

"Alright, that sounds cool," said Jack. He hadn't ridden a horse in years. The thought was intriguing. Maybe small town life wouldn't be so bad after all. "You know," Jack added as he scooped little Nameless up, "You're probably the most normal person I've met since I got here."

Barley chuckled. "Haha, you say that now, but you haven't met any of the girls yet, have you?"

"The girls?"

"Sure. I'd say there are about five young bachelorettes, all within your age range, all single, as far as I know."

"Is one of them Popuri?"

"Why, yes--"

"Then that doesn't sound too promising."

Jack walked slowly back to his house. He couldn't get the idea of the five young girls out of his mind. Sure, Popuri had been a little strange, but maybe there was some nice small town girl he could settle down with. He'd always gone after the wrong ones in the city. Maybe dating wouldn't be so bad…

…Except that he'd left the city particularly for that reason.

"Hey, you must be Jack."

Jack turned around to see a big, burly man coming toward him.

"That's right," he said, not the least bit surprised this time around. "How did you know?" he droned.

"You're the only one with a blue cap. Wait, no, Gray has a blue cap. But you don't look like Gray. Know what I mean?"

"Sure."

"I'm Zack. I do shipments. I was just on the way to your house, actually."

Zack followed Jack back to the house. He then pointed out a wooden box and informed him that it was the shipment box. Anything Jack wanted to sell, all he had to do was put it in that box and he would get paid every day at five.

"And I don't work on holidays." Zack concluded.

"Okay, easy enough." Jack said. He was tired.

"Right. So…Oh! Look! It's five o' clock!" Zack happily grabbed the wooden box lid and yanked it open, bearing a very empty wooden box. "WHAT?" he cried, "You have nothing to ship today? Why don't you keep chickens? If you feed them, every day they'll give you an egg."

"You know, buddy," Jack gave Zack a comforting pat on the back before heading toward the chicken coop, "That just so happens to be a work in progress."