----------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:

I do not own Harvest Moon and/or it's characters, Natsume does.

----------------------------------------------

Rating: PG-13

----------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:

This is based on Harvest Moon : Back to Nature (BTN)

----------------------------------------------



[ Harvest Moon : The Other Farm ]


CHAPTER 1, SPRING : THE TWO FARMS


Years ago, Mineral Town was the center of produce in the region. That was because there were 2 farms working hand-in-hand to produce all sorts of raw goods, and the town prospered. Then tension and rivalry grew between the two farms. Then a rumor began about one of the farms and soon, it closed, thus ending the rivalry.


Now, the previous owner of the one remaining farm died and now his grandson, Jack, is inheriting the farm.


------5:00 PM, SPRING 1st, YEAR 1------


A young man approaches the farm; he's dressed in blue overalls and a white shirt with a blue cap on backwards. Then a small man greets him, introduces himself then brings him to a neglected farm.


MAYOR THOMAS : Jack, this is your grandfather's farm. Do you remember it? It's been neglected for quite some time, but we hope that you'll be able to restore it to it's former prestige.


JACK : *nods*


MAYOR : We're not testing you or anything, but you have 3 years. If you can't restore the farm, or if you can't get along with the villagers, you'll have to leave. This is our decision as a village.


JACK : I understand.


MAYOR : Well, I'll see you tomorrow.


JACK : See you...


The mayor departs and Jack goes into the house bringing 'Winter', his grandfather's dog, with him. He looks around the old house, and looks inside the dusty chest.


JACK : Hey, Grandpa's tools...


He picks up the tools and places them back in. He looks around and spots an even older TV, he wipes the dust and turns it on.


TV : *static* Press UP for 'Weather Report', LEFT for [New Year's Special], RIGHT for 'News', DOWN for 'Life on the Farm'


JACK : ... Four Channels?! *sigh then presses UP*


TV : Tomorrow, expect a bright sunny day!


JACK : Well, at least it's a good forecast...


Jack walks to the bed and just lays himself on the bed and drifts into unconsciousness.


------6:00 AM, SPRING 2nd, YEAR 1------


As the day begins, Jack finds himself awake in front of the table eating food that mysteriously appeared in front of him. Even stranger, he swallows it whole.


JACK : Whoa, that was weird.


Jack walks outside to find the mayor at his door.


MAYOR : Good Morning Jack, Would you like me give you a tour of the town?


JACK : *nods*


MAYOR : Well, let's go!


The mayor takes Jack to the blacksmith.


MAYOR : This is Saibara's place, the blacksmith. He'll make all sorts of things here.


*Orchard*


MAYOR : This is the Orchard, they're short of staff during harvest, help if you can.


*Library*


MAYOR : This is where you can read some books, it may be useful to you.


As they tour the rest of the town, they come across an old barren gate behind the Harvest Sprites shack.


JACK : Mayor...


MAYOR : Yes Jack?


JACK : What's in there?


MAYOR : Err... Let's go Jack, that's not somewhere you'd want to go...


JACK : Why?


MAYOR : I'll explain when we get back, It's not something we can talk about in public.


They finish the tour and the go back to the farm. They go inside and Jack serves drinks to the mayor as the begin their conversation.


JACK : Tell me Mayor, what was that place?


MAYOR : Well, let me tell you a story, told to me by my father, the previous mayor...


MAYOR : Many years ago, your grandfather owned this farm, and another man owned that other farm you saw...


JACK : That place was a farm?


MAYOR : Yes, it was...


JACK : What happened to it?


MAYOR : Well, it closed.


JACK : How? Why?


MAYOR : I'm not so sure myself, it's something too horrible. You should just forget that you ever saw the place.


JACK : Is it that bad?


MAYOR : I'll be going now...


JACK : Oh, okay. Goodbye mayor...


MAYOR : Yes, see you Jack.


The Mayor left the house and Jack continued on with his chores. But the memory of the abandoned farm has been burned into his memory, he just can't seem feel at ease. There is something about that place that just seems to bother Jack.


------6:00 AM, SPRING 3rd, YEAR 1------


Again, Jack wakes up with that urge to swallow whole the food that's in front of him. After that, he takes a walk to the Supermarket and along the way, he spots a guy & this girl, talking about going to the forest.


GIRL : Hey, Rick, remember when Pastor Carter first came here?


RICK : Yeah, remember the forest Karen...


KAREN : We used to go exploring there...


RICK : Let's go...


Then they go behind the Chapel and fade from his view.


JACK : I wonder...


Jack tries to follow them but gets lost. He looks around for any clue on his whereabouts, but his lousy sense of direction strays him even farther from freedom. Before he knows it, he wandered into a grassy field.


JACK : At least there aren't anymore trees.


Going through the 3-feet high grass, he slowly begins to realize where he had wandered into. A few minutes later, he sees a house in the field. He enters looking for some information, he finds a chest similar to the one at his grandfather's. But he decides to step outside, then he realizes that he has entered the abandoned farm!

He quickly finds the barren gate and manages to slip out without being noticed. He runs over to the Supermarket and sees a doctor buying something on credit. The doctor walks past you and leaves. Just then, another man walks in and tries to buy on credit as well.


MAN : Hey, I'll take this, put it on my tab!


SHOPKEEPER : Sure, next time.


Jack tries to persuade the man to pay...


MAN : It's alright...


As he tried to walk away, the same girl he saw earlier comes from the room at the back and stops him.


KAREN : Duke! You should pay...


'DUKE' : Alright. You I can't escape...


*Duke pays and goes off*


KAREN : Thanks for trying to get him to pay.


Jack was amazed, he didn't notice that she was quite beautiful. With her brown hair and golden blonde bangs, violet vest and blue denims.


KAREN : Oh yeah, I'm Karen. You must be the new guy taking over the old man's farm... Jack, right?


JACK : *nods*


KAREN : Thanks again... *She goes back into the backroom*


Jack tries to talk to the shopkeeper but he's mumbling about some kind of pain. So Jack picks up some seeds and leaves the money at the counter then leaves. As he walks home, he tries to forget the whole incident. But he just can't seem to keep it out of his mind. But soon enough, Jack goes to sleep after a long day of chores.


------6:00 AM, SPRING 4th, YEAR 1------


Jack begins his day like normal, he's actually gotten used to the daily 'eat your meals whole' thing. Working on the farm seems to be a normal thing now for Jack, he's getting used to it even though it's just been four days. Finishing the chores early, Jack decides to take a walk around town to relax a bit.

As he walks near the town's main road, he notices a truck passing by and drops off a guy. Then the mayor walks up to him and greeted him the same way Jack was greeted. They proceeded over to the gate of the abandoned farm. Jack runs over to the mayor and greets him.


JACK : Mayor, what's up?


MAYOR : Oh! Uh.. Jack, what are you doing here?!


JACK : Uh... Who's he?


GUY : Huh? Me?


JACK : Mayor, what's going on?


MAYOR : Well...


GUY : This was my grandfather's land... It used to be farm, but something went wrong.


JACK : I heard some stuff about it, but I'm not really sure what happened.


GUY : Oh okay. Well, for starters, I'm Nash.


JACK : I'm still kind of confused.


MAYOR : Well, let's go over to the house inside to discuss.


They pass through the gates and cautiously walk to the house. Upon arrival, they open the door and step inside. They clean up slightly and sit on the chairs, as the air around them slowly became heavy they began their solemn conversation.


JACK : So Mayor, how does all of this begin?


MAYOR : Well Jack, years ago, there were 2 farms in this town. One was your grandfather's and the other was Nash's grandfather's, one day, a rumor spread that Nash's grandfather's farm was...


JACK : Was what?


MAYOR : ...


----------------------------------------------


I know I'm not finished with HMV, but I'm just taking a breather for now. So review if you want me to keep writing this one for the meantime...