Chapter 1

A/N: Hello! This is my first fanfiction ever! I am currently working all day and hardly get free time but I need to creatively express myself and this was the easiest way I could. This chapter is somewhat sloppy and not very descriptive because I wrote it in one day just so I could finish it. Please ignore my grammar mistakes and such as I am not the best writer. Please enjoy!

Rumble, Rumble

The train gently shook its' passengers as it made its way through a dark tunnel. A white and orange cat sat reading a novel to pass the time away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a blue form move towards her. The young cat's heartbeat sped up and she slowly slid her hand into her purse. Her padded fingers sought for a round cylinder and found it. She gripped onto the can of mace prepared to spray the form if they should attack. She looked up from her book to see who it was. The blue form was actually a blue cat with pointy ears and a white mouth.

"Oh! Excuse me! I have a quick question for you" the blue cat said standing near the white one.

"Yes?"

"It's now 2:00 p.m. on October 14th, 2013, right?"

The white cat pulled out her smartphone from her pocket and lit the screen with a simple push of a button. "Uh, yeah it is!"

"I was right! Oh good! This watch of mine, it gets thrown off easily sometimes!" The white cat looked at the other cats wrist's and saw that he wasn't wearing a watch. Weird…

I'm just going to plop down in the seat across from you. If you don't mind, of course!"

"Sure, go ahead." The white cat let go of the cylinder and pulled her hand out of her purse as the other cat sat down across from her. "By the way, you… Hold it! Can I ask your name?"

"Oh my name is Willa!"

"Oh, Willa…? Well, that's a fantastically great name! I'm Rover! So, Willa… Tell me, where are you headed today?"

What's it to you? "Dahlia."

"Hmmmm…Dahlia, yeah, OK… Don't think I've heard of it. I wonder where it is… Oh, right! Map, map, map." Rover pulled out a map from thing air causing Willa to gasp. "Let's take a look along this train line… Ah, maybe this is it right here." Rover turned the crinkled paper around to show Willa its contents.

"No that isn't it. Here…" Willa's fingers zipped over her phones screen and quickly pulled up a map of Dahlia. "This is it."

"I see! That's where Dahlia is. So do you go to Dahlia very often?"

"No I have never been there before. I've only seen it on the internet."

"Oh, today is your first time? That sounds like tons of fun! Can I ask why're you headed there?"

Can I ask why you are being so nosey? "I'm moving there." Willa replied.

"Oh, wow, is that right? That sounds pretty good to me! But you said this is your first time there, right? Does that mean you haven't even seen your house yet?"

"No. I'm going to find something when I get there."

"I see, so you're going house hunting once you get there. Heh, I guess it'll be a lot more fun that way! I hope you find an awesome little house and have tons of fun in your happy, new town."

"Uh, thanks."

A chime sounded over the intercom followed by a voice. "Now arriving in Dahlia. Dahlia station!"

"Oh, hey! Looks like we're about to arrive in Dahlia. Thanks for chatting with me! It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a train ride this much! Come to think of it, I've been riding an awful lot again lately. Haven't done this much traveling by train since 2002 or so… Man, that's weird. OK, good luck, Willa! Bye-bye!"

The train slowly came to a stop. "Uh bye…" Willa grabbed her suitcase from the overhead shelf and got off the train as quickly as she could. Once off the train, a monkey called out "This stop is Dahlia! Everyone for Dahlia, exit here! Eek, Eek!" But Willa looked and she seemed to be the only one getting off. Willa drug along her pink suitcase behind her.

Man I hope the rest of the town isn't like that.

The young cat made her way out of the tiny train station. Willa stopped in her tracks upon the sight of a yellow dog. Her small heart started pounding faster. She gripped at her racing heart frozen in fear. Willa could feel her tail expand in size because of her fur standing on end and her claws shift out of her fingers.

Oh no! This is the end of me! I hope the nine lives thing is true!

The yellow dog spotted Willa and walked over to her. Why can't I move?! It feels like my paws are stuck in cement!

"Hello there! My name is Isabelle! I'm Mayor Zo's assistant. You must be the new resident!"

Come on Willa, get yourself together! She seems nice enough. Her claws retracted and her paw slowly uncurled to shake Isabelle's outstretched paw. "H-hi. I'm Willa. How did you know I was moving here?"

"Oh, well, you see, I was informed by the higher ups." Isabelle grinned as if that explained everything.

"Ok then…Are there any vacant houses around here?"

Isabelle's grin flipped upside down into a frown. "Oh gosh! I'm afraid there isn't any… But you can always build one! If you see Mr. Nook on Main Street he will help you out!"

"Oh thanks!" Willa whipped out her phone to search for a Mr. Nook on Main Street. She was shocked to see that her phone had no service. Ugh… "Umm Isabelle? Could you tell me which way to go? My phone doesn't seem to have any service."

"I'm afraid to tell you that there is no cell phone service, internet, a cable in Dahlia. We use antennas to watch television and use the postal service to communicate. I can give you a map of the town!" Isabelle pulled out a neatly folded map from her pocket.

A river ran through the bottom left corner of the town with an ocean at the bottom mouth. There were two beaches on the right and the bottom of the map. Next to the train station was some sort of shop and next to a tiny pond. "Here is the town hall where I work." Isabelle pointed to a building in the bottom left corner. "And if you cross these tracks it will take you to Main Street where you can find Mr. Nook's building Nook's Homes."

"Ah thanks again! I guess I should get going!"

"No problem at all! If you need help come see me in the town hall!" Isabelle waved good bye and walked away cheerfully, the bell in her hair leaving a pleasant sound. Willa shivered to shake off her jitters. "I can't believe this is a dead zone. Uhh! Not such a great start, hopefully things will start looking up!"

The white cat made her way across the train tracks and walked up the steps. Looking around she saw what seemed to be a shabby general store, a garden shop, a clothing store, and a vacant building to her right. To her left were the post office, Nook's Homes, another vacant building, and a museum. She walked over to her destination and opened the door sounding the door chime. Right at the door stood a chubby, older, raccoon that was ready to greet her.

"Ah, hello! Welcome! Welcome! You must be the new resident, am I right? Isabelle at the town hall told me to expect you! On behalf of the Dahlia chamber of commerce, I'm pleased to welcome you! I'm Tom Nook."

"Thanks, I'm Willa." How did Isabelle tell him about me so fast?...

"So, Willa… You're here today because you want to build a house, yes? Very good! Very good! I can build one just about anywhere you want, yes I can indeed. So have you decided on where you want to live?"

"Umm…" Willa pulled out her map. She spotted an empty area by the beach. "Yes!"

"Then this won't take long at all! Just take me to where you want to build your new home, Willa!"

The two left the shop together. Willa led Tom Nook through the town. The sun was shining down gently with puffy white clouds floating in the sky to provide shaded spots for those down below. Along the way, Willa spotted a few apple trees. The walk wasn't long. Willa found the open spot along the cliff edge with the beach below. "Here it is!"

"Yes, yes! So you would like to build your house here? Yes, yes. There's plenty of space to build a house here! And there's an ocean nearby. If you like fishing or looking for sea shells, it's the perfect spot! We'll need to move trees, flowers, and any buried items in order to start building. But if you're OK with that, we can start right away!"

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine with that!"

"OK! It's decided then! It will take a bit of time to build your house, so for today let's reserve the space for you…" Tom Nook set up markers in the ground instantly like magic! How in the-

"Ta-da! And with that, this space is officially yours, Willa! Umm, including the cost of the land, materials, building costs, et cetera… Well, the calculation is complicated, so I can't come up with it just now. Anyway, I'm sure you're very busy, since you just moved here… Once you've taken care of other things, stop by my store again to get the bill, hm?"

"Wait! Where am I supposed to stay?! I didn't see a hotel anywhere!"

"Give me just a moment!" Suddenly a tent appeared out of thin air. Willa stepped back in shock. WITCHCRAFT?!

Tom Nook spun around to present the tent. "Ta-ta-ta-DA! I'll let you borrow this tent so you have somewhere to sleep! I've also put up a mailbox, so you can start receiving mail! I bet you rarely see a tent with a mailbox, right? Oh ho ho ho ho!" the raccoon chuckled.

"Well, I must head back to my shop, so here is where our ways part. I'll work out the numbers for the costs, so come by my shop tomorrow or the day after. Thanks for your business! I rather appreciate it! Hm, yes, yes!" the raccoon waddled away.

"Bye,,," Willa said drained of all energy. She was alone at last. The yellow tent before her was very tiny. She flipped up the front flap and pulled her suitcase inside. She was right it was tiny, very tiny. The only thing inside was a lantern with a note taped to it. Willa pulled off the note and examined it.

I found this at the town hall in a closet. I thought it would be a great house warming gif. Hope you like it!

-Isabelle

"What?! How did she get this in here? This town keeps getting weirder and weirder."

Willa set the note down and pulled a fluffy pillow and a blue fuzzy blanket out of her suitcase. "I'm glad I brought these." She spread out her blanket and pillow neatly on the tent floor. Next, she placed her favorite books in a neat pile next to her make-shift bed. Willa stood up and pulled down her shirt to fix it.

"I guess I better go explore." And with that the white cat stepped out of her tent to embrace the town.