Chapter One
Life was great in Barry's world. Verwood had everything you would need. There were orchards of every fruit imaginable, flower gardens everywhere, an upscale Nookingtons and very happy animal residents, to the credit of the two human residents, Barry and his brother, Ross. Life was great, in fact more that great, it was perfect.
Barry and Ross's mansion was the envy of all of the animal residents, including a swimming pool, dining room and huge bedroom. The Fishing Tourney was coming up, and Barry and Ross packed up their fishing rods in preparation for the contest. They collected their bait and headed out of their mansion, towards the post office, where Tortimer would be waiting to judge the contest.
It was sometimes hard to navigate around Verwood. The huge orchards of peaches, oranges, pears and apples would make it hard to find your way around the weed less fields. On their way to the post office, they had to occasionally check for pitfalls and bees that would be hiding. Ross checked his watch. 3:58, which meant they had one minute to get to the Post Office. Sprinting as fast as their stubby legs could carry them.
Eventually, they arrived, to see every single resident had arrived to take part. On a small podium was Tortimer, making a speech. He was already half way through, and the crowd were looking extremely bored.
"…and our ancestors have been competing against each other to catch the biggest fish for centuries. This is Verwood's 82nd annual Fishing Tourney, and as usual, the prize is the betrothed golden fishing rod!" Tortimer explained, as Pelly held up the sparkling fishing rod in her wings, "And now, as the mayor of Verwood, I now declare this Fishing Tourney, open!"
There were a few cheers from the crowd, and the residents, with there readily prepared fishing rods, headed towards the nearest streams and seas. Roscoe, the black and white horse, nudged Barry with his hoof.
"I am going to be winning this Fishing Tourney, and don't you forget it!" Roscoe implied, trotting off towards the sea."
"He doesn't scare me!" Barry told Ross. Barry and Roscoe had been enemies ever since Roscoe had moved to Verwood. "And he's never going to beat me!"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Ross said, matter-of-factly, "Roscoe has won every Fishing Tourney since he moved here, last year you got creamed! He caught a huge sea bass!"
"Don't worry, I'm well prepared." Barry said smugly.
"How will you expect to do that?" Ross asked, curiously.
"You'll see." Barry explained. Ross gave him a perculiar look as Barry jogged off to the east of the island. Ross shrugged, and went to check the west.
But Barry wasn't heading for the sea, nor the stream. He was heading towards his and Ross's mansion. He checked that nobody was looking, and slowly entered their house. He headed up the stairs, towards the bedroom.
Barry approached the regal wardrobe, which was next to Barry and Ross's individual regal beds, and pulled out the bottom drawer. Inside was a tank, containing a huge hammerhead shark! Barry had bought it from a fishmonger many months before. It was only 15.000 bells, a real bargain. Although considering he was a multi "bell"ionaire, something for 100.000 bells was a bargain.
Barry again checked that no-one had noticed, and headed out of the mansion, waiting for it to be time for judging. He waited several hours before everyone had caught a fish. Now it was time for judging.
"Gwen has caught a sea butterfly! 2cm long! Well done!" Tortimer said, sarcastically. Fishing wasn't really Gwen's cup of tea, she was only a contest in Flower Contests. Tortimer gave her a Wobbelina for her efforts.
"Aurora has caught a horse mackerel! 13cm long! Good effort!" Tortimer exclaimed, handing Aurora a cream sofa. Proudly, Aurora trotted off, as fast as her flippers could carry her, and stood with Gwen, to hear the rest of the results.
"Ross. My, oh, my! A lovely sea bass! 78cm long! Bravo!" Tortimer said, proudly, presenting proud Ross with a regal lamp. "Congratulations!" Tortimer called, as Ross joined Aurora and Gwen.
"Oh wow." Tortimer stuttered, "A very rare tuna fish! This is a whopping 140cm long! It's splendid! It's amazing! It's wonderful, so congrats Roscoe, congrats!" Roscoe shared competitive looks with Barry, who just sighed competitively. His hammerhead shark was miles bigger! As Roscoe was given a moon, Barry approached Tortimer, confidently. From under his arm, he pulled out his hammerhead shark. Roscoe's jaw dropped as Tortimer had to get a second tape measure and a helping hand to measure it.
"1200cm long!" Tortimer shouted, "In all my years of judging, I have never witnessed a shark to be caught! I think we have a winner! Well done, Barry!" Tortimer presented Barry with his well earned golden fishing rod. Barry raised it in the air, triumphantly, as everyone felt a mixture of disappointment, and happiness.
Roscoe wasn't cheering. He trotted off to his house, utterly defeated.
"Well done to everyone who took part, and we hope to see you again next year!" Tortimer said, closing the event for the year. Everyone headed toward their houses. Ross had many questions to ask Barry.
"So, where did you catch the fish?" Ross asked, curiously, "Did it take you a while to find it?"
"Erm… Not really. I just saw it swimming around, so I caught it." Barry falsely explained, "And in answer to your first question, it was in the east sea."
"Oh wow, I need to check it out some time!" Ross told Barry.
"Erm… You go do that." Barry stuttered.