Chapter 1: Pen Pals
"This is going to be great Sakura! I'm so excited that I'm finally able to meet my pen pal!" said a 20-year old Madison Taylor, hopping up and down with excitement.
"Could you stop jumping around please?" said a less than enthusiastic Sakura Avalon. Her face was devoid of colour and the expression on her face screamed that she would like nothing better than to curl up into a ball and sleep until the ferry she and Madison were aboard came ashore.
"You never struck me as someone who gets seasick Sakura." said Madison chuckling, "I thought that since you such a great swimmer the waves wouldn't really affect you like they are now." Sakura could not hear her however, as she once again for the third time that trip, leaned her head over the side of the boat and released the contents of her stomach into the swirling ocean.
"I don't understand why we couldn't just fly straight there instead of flying to the port and then taking a ride on this floating deathtrap," said Sakura sourly.
"Sorry," said Madison smiling, "But Mineral Town is not a big town so they don't have an airport. Boat is the only way to get there. And look at it this way. At least your stomach is empty now, so you'll be able to have a nice lunch when we get there. I heard Mary's mother is an excellent cook."
"Ooh what a bright side that is," said Sakura sarcastically. "I'd still rather not be blowing chunks."
"Well how's this for a bright side for you?" asked Madison cheerfully, "I can see land." Sure enough, growing in the distance was a small speck which eventually became a blot on the horizon. As the small ferry grew closer to said blot, the two girls could make out more details of the oncoming land mass. They could see a small wooden dock, protruding from a short beach which eventually disappeared into a cliffside. On the beach there stood two small houses, one brown and one pure white. The ferry sailed smoothly into an area next to the dock allowed the girls to exit. Sakura ran excitedly down to the beach, dropped to her knees, and grabbed two handfuls of sand. She brought the sand near her face and breathed in deeply.
"Aah," she sighed, "Sweet, beautiful land."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said an unknown male voice from over Sakura's head, "People bring their dogs here and don't exactly clean up well after them."