A/N: I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm deciding to start posting this as my first-ever full fanfiction.
Help.
In the past when I've written multi-chapter fanfictions, they've never gotten far before I gave up and moved on to the next. That's why I only have one-shots and drabbles written here...xD But anyways, I guess there's no turning back now. For the sake of anyone who actually might read this, I guess I'd better finish this one.
So. The fanfiction. I know the summary probably seems a bit cryptic, but honestly it's just the best I can come up with so far. All I can say is that this is an Animal Crossing: Wild World fanfiction that I've written to be a tad more realistic. Hopefully it'll be easy enough to follow...
Oh, wait—one more thing: Yes, the character 'Jack' is based off of Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians. That would be because much of this fanfic is based off of my own Animal Crossing game, and I happen to have a character named Jack with white hair and blue eyes who wears a blue, frosty hoodie.
AAANYWAY, enough of my talking. Hope you like~! :D
Disclaimer: Animal Crossing (c) Nintendo
Jack Frost (c) Dreamworks
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Chapter One
Pitfall
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The cringe-worthy raucous of a series of crashes reverberated through the house, followed by a conclusive thud. In the solitary upstairs bedroom, Meggy groaned and rolled onto her back. As she came to her senses she sat up in bed, blinking inquisitively at her bedside alarm clock. "2:37 in the morning?!" she muttered aloud, shoving her hands into her tangled brown hair in frustration. "What on Earth could he be doing past two in the morning?!"
Grumbling, she hauled herself out of bed, wincing as her bare feet met the cold tile floor of her bedroom. I really need to install a carpet up here, she thought irritably to herself. Without bothering to turn on a light, she stumbled down the stairs to find the cause of the commotion.
The living room was dark, even with the harsh light pouring from the half-closed bedroom doorway on the left. Meggy skirted a couch and almost tripped over a houseplant before reaching the room; not bothering to knock, she pushed the door open and stared.
"Jack!" The boy on the floor started at the sound of Meggy's shocked voice, scrambling to his feet as she took in the sight of his room. "What is this mess? And do you not realize what time it is?!"
Jack sheepishly followed her gaze to the pile of overturned furniture around him. Meggy crossed her arms, her stance stubborn, demanding an answer. Seeing this, Jack hastily dug through the mess until he managed to pull out a cardboard-and-plastic basketball hoop and backboard.
"You see, I was trying to install this on the wall over the dresser, and...I kind of fell," he nervously explained, a little frightened of Meggy in her current cranky state.
Meggy didn't reply for a while, instead taking notice of what she hadn't before: other than the deal with the overturned furniture, the TV was on, a bowl of chips sat on the bed, and the old-fashioned stereo in the corner was blaring some sort of odd rock music. Meggy's cold brown eyes once again swiveled over to Jack.
"What. Were. You. Doing. Up. In the first place?!" she hissed through clenched teeth.
Jack shrugged, pretending to be unconcerned. "Chilling?"
Meggy walked over to the stereo and TV, turning both off. "Well, clean up this mess and go to bed," she told Jack as she picked up the bowl of chips and headed back to the door with it. "You don't need to be keeping my sister up all night with your chilling." With that, she left the room, leaving Jack to reluctantly start putting the furniture back where it belonged.
Little did Meggy know that she needn't have worried about the noise keeping her younger sister awake. In fact, Summer was not even in the house. The nine-year-old girl was out on a mission, determined not to fail and not to be caught. For this to be possible, she was dressed all in black, including even a ninja mask she had previously bought from the Able Sisters. Her shoulder-length blonde hair, pulled up in a bouncy pony-tail, flowed out the back of her mask. She supposed that, between the visible ponytail and her startling blue eyes, she would be recognizable if caught, which made it crucial not to be.
The small town of the unlikely name Texas was beautiful and serene at night, particularly on a night like this with no clouds to block the moonlight that shimmered on the surface of the slow-moving river. Summer paused on the north bank, allowing her senses a moment to soak in the scene before she was once again flitting through the trees, searching for the way across.
Reaching the cobblestone bridge, Summer warily scanned the area, unwilling to risk being spotted. Concluding that no one was around, she dashed across, her little red sneakers pattering loudly despite her efforts to be light-footed.
On the other side was an open grassy area where flowers grew freely in the spring and summer; Summer quickly sprinted across this into the cover of the sparse forest beyond it. Still moving south, she crept through the trees, one sweaty hand gripping the shaft of the shovel she'd stolen from her sister's tool shed. As she moved along, its polished golden spade gleamed in the moonlight.
It didn't take long before the tree line stood behind her and she was pausing to get her bearings. The hard-packed soil beneath her feet had given way to sand, the deciduous and cedar trees had been replaced by scattered palms, and the chirping of insect song was now drowned out by the roar of the ocean.
Summer sighed with pleasure, taking a moment to relish the opportunity to breathe in the salty air. She hadn't come down here in a while, and had somehow forgotten how much she loved this place. She felt truly at home, and not for the first time wished their house was ocean-side.
As her thoughts returned to the task at hand, she shook the daydreams from her head and crept along the edge of the beach to her left. Not much further now; she could see the small beach home clearly, nested snugly between two of Meggy's prized coconut trees.
The resident of this house was Genji, a self-proclaimed "chugging champion," whatever that meant. He could be a bit rough at times, but he usually meant no harm. However, Summer had overheard him talking to Mitzi, Meggy's best friend, and he had been overly harsh to the sensitive cat.
Summer had made the decision that Genji had to go.
As she reached the rabbit's home, she pulled a handful of curious seeds from her pocket. They were white, and each sported a curious blood-red exclamation point. Nobody really knew whether they were just painted on, or if the entire seed was man-made, but that wasn't half as weird as the mystery surrounding the seeds' behavior. Once planted, they created a booby-trap of some kind, triggered when someone stepped on the spot where a seed had been planted. A five-foot deep hole would open up in the ground beneath the victim's feet, and it was often as difficult to get out of as it was startling. For this reason, they were commonly called "pitfall seeds."
Pitfall seeds were annoying at the best of times, but walking out of one's house early in the morning to find that his front lawn was a minefield of the little buggers was not only a sure sign that you had enemies, but also many a time it was enough to make a person move out of town. This was, in fact, Summer's very goal.
Sneaking around to the front of Genji's house, she hefted the golden shovel and began to dig.
Meggy had long been considered the constant variable in the town of Texas—meaning, that while others moved in and away, she held the record for the longest time living there. Not a soul who lived in Texas now had been there on the day three years ago when the pigtailed, 12-year-old girl had moved empty-pocketed to the forested village with a population of thirteen. Now, at the tender age of 15, she was the wealthiest citizen in town, rivaled only by Tom Nook, the lead—and only—retailer. She made few friends, but regardless was looked up to by the other villagers. It had helped when her kid sister Summer had moved in a year and a half previously; Summer was well loved by all despite her slight attitude, and the sight of Meggy out by the river teaching her little sister how to fish made her seem less intimidating by far.
It's no question how Meggy made her fortune. Texas's native fruit is the peach, yet when walking through the town one is bombarded with brilliant greens, reds, oranges, and pinks from dozens of orchards laden with exotic fruit. Tidy groves of orange trees, a few scattered cherries, overwhelming clusters of apples, pears at every turn, and a neat row of coconut trees along the coastline are Texas's pride and joy. And even with all of this, peaches remain to feed a steady export to the nearest town of Redville, from which came all the apples. The close relationship between Redville and Texas is purely because the most powerful people in Redville happen to be Meggy's younger brothers, RJ and Cyrus.
The gossip between both towns declares that even during the Apocalypse when Nookington's goes bankrupt, the museum closes, and the Town Hall is no longer open 24/7, Meggy and her brothers will still be seen outdoors picking fruit twice a week.
