~Chapter 2: Wrecked~

"Hi, everyone." Chelsea said, looking at the three other girls standing before her. "I'm Chelsea."
She could tell by the chat in the next room over that there were more people her age aboard the ship.
"Hey, Chelsea. My name's Natalie. Why don't we all get to know each other? Pull up a chair." The pink-haired girl said. They all sat in a circle in their chairs.
"Well, as I said before, I'm Natalie, and I boarded this ship with my mom, Felicia, my fun-to-annoy brother Elliot, and my hilarious-to-prank Grandpa Taro. We came here to start fresh, a better life in Mineral Town." The shy girl in purple began to speak.
"Um... Hi. I'm Sabrina, and my father Regis owns a big mining company, so we're traveling around until we find good business... My wealthy cousin Will has come with us because my Aunt and Uncle said he needs to see the world and get more life experience." And finally, the cowgirl-looking one in a ponytail introduced herself.
"I'm Julia. My mother Mirabelle is a ranch and farm supplier, so we're moving to where somebody would need a shop."
"Well... You see, me and my friend Mark came here because..." Chelsea wondered if her potential friends would laugh if she told the truth, but decided if they were good enough friends they'd believe her. "Because a genie-like girl with green eyes and hair appeared to us in a dream and suggested it to us. So we came just for the adventure." She said.
"Oh, my... The Harvest Goddess appeared to you?" Julia asked in awe. Chelsea nodded.
"Wow..." Sabrina said.
"Maybe everything happens for a reason. Like, maybe we were all supposed to climb aboard this ship. Maybe we were supposed to become friends with each other by meeting here today." Natalie said, not even believing herself, but wanting to.
"Yeah."
"I'd say that's definitely a possibility."
"Yep..."

Meanwhile in the Mark's cabin, he had thrown his rucksack onto the empty lower bunk bed.
"Hi. I'm Mark." He said to whoever the three boys not talking to each other were.
The three boys glanced at him, then one sat on the floor next to Mark and motioned for him to sit down. The other two sat around them.
"I'm Denny. Nice to meet ya, Mark. I came on this boat to try to find some good fishing spots."
"SQUAWK! I'M DENNY! FISHING, FISHING, FISHING SPOTS!" The bird on Denny's shoulder mocked. He sighed.
"That's just Popper. He always does that."
"SQUAWK! POPPER! POPPER ALWAYS DOES THAT!" The little black bird flapped his wings in delight. Denny laughed.
"Hello. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is:" The blonde boy took a breath and continued. "William Terry Louis Andrew Carrick Jonathan Dredge Hams Reading Roger Southwark Alwick Plymouth Junior Regison III." Mark, Denny, and the pink-haired boy in glasses stared at him, jaws dropped. "Quite a mouthful, isn't it? Don't worry. I just go by Will. Anyways, I come here with my wealthy uncle, Regis, who owns a huge mining company, and my cousin Sabrina, because my parents say I need to see more of the world." The blonde smiled.
"Wow. My story's nothing compared to that. I'm Elliot, and my mother, Felicia, younger sister Natalie, and Grandpa Taro and I came on this boat to start a better life in Mineral Town."
"I'm sure we'll all be great pals! What about you, Mark? What are you aboard the ship for?" Denny asked.
"Well, my best friend Chelsea and me were visited by the Harvest Goddess in a dream, and she told us to come here." He realized how stupid it must have sounded as soon as he said it. He waited for them to laugh at him.
"Th-The... Harvest Goddess? Wow..." Elliot said.
"Cool."
"How interesting..."
The old man came back, angry this time.
"IT'S TIME FOR LUNCH! HURRY UP! ELLIOT, NO DILLY-DALLYING AROUND! LET'S GO!" He shouted, banging the door shut behind him with his walking stick.
"That would be Grandpa..." Elliot said.
The girls had just had the same done to them. Everyone ran down to the dining hall. Chelsea looked around the room. She saw her friends from the cabin, Mark, his cabinmates, a girl in a kimono-style dress, Lily; Julia's mother; Natalie's mom; her angry grandfather, Taro; the shop owner Chen and his son Charlie; a big, muscular, angry looking man named Gannon and his daughter Eliza; the pop star Lanna; Sabrina's dad; a cowboy, Vaughn; a top hat-wearing chef, Pierre; a priest and his assistant, Nathan and Alisa; a young inn-owner, Carol; and two restaurant owners, Nick and Haila.
They ate some soup and chatted, then went back to their cabins for a while.

Later that night everyone except Taro and the captain were sleeping.
"Uh, forgive me sir, but what is that over there?" Taro asked the captain. The captain peered at where Taro pointed.
"Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear! That's a huge rock! I... Uh... Save yourself, man, I'm outta here!" He shouted. He grabbed the only life raft out of it's box, and jumped out the window.
"WAIT! HEY, YOU! COME BACK HERE!" Taro gave up shouting for the captain. He tried to steer, but the wheel was stuck. They still had a way to go before they hit the rock, so he dashed to every cabin, banging on the door, panting and shouting for everybody to pack up their stuff. Suddenly, Gannon bolted out of his cabin, carrying his daughter and large planks of wood. He threw a plank at each person, to float on. Everyone darted out of their cabins, threw the planks into the water, and jumped. They spotted some islands, and got to the one in the center by morning. Some of the stuff they had left behind floated ashore as well.

"Well then. There are some buildings already here, dad. Natalie, Elliot, and I checked inside them, and all around the islands, but there's nobody here. Well, of course we only checked the ones we could get to, only a few had bridges. And, there appeared to be what used to be a ranch or a farm up north." Felicia said. Taro scratched his mustache.
"And the resources?" He inquired.
"THERE'S A MINE AND VOLCANO OVER THERE!" Regis shouted. He loved the idea of more beautiful gems and ores... and money...
"A lot of water." Natalie said.
"Clear water, too! I can see my beautiful reflection!" Eliza said.
"There's fish..." Denny added.
"Got a lot of lumber. Metal too. Brought my tools. Carpenter never leaves home without 'em!" Gannon smiled proudly.
"Mushrooms, berries, and Charlie and I brought some food and seeds. That's a true salesman for you." Chen nodded.
"Haila and I've got food too. We own restaurants, you know." Nick said.
"I am an animal supplier. And Mirabelle stocks what I sell her." Vaughn said.
"I could get a ship to come back here, or maybe Gannon could build one." Will said.
"Then we all live here. Somebody could own that ranch." Taro said.
"I could build stuff. You know, bridges, buildings, signs, boats, furniture, and the like." Gannon suggested.
"I could fish." Denny offered, staring into the water.
"Me too." Lanna seconded that.
"Pierre, Nick, and I could have restaurants." Haila added.
"Dad and I could have our shop!" Charlie laughed.
"Vaughn could get his people to bring animals for us to sell, and whoever owns the ranch could come buy stuff." Julia said.
"I will mine..." Regis laughed at his future money. Lily nodded, showing she would too.
"I can run an inn. In case more people should move here, I mean." Carol suggested.
"And Alisa will run a church with me." Nathan, the priest said.
"But who will run the ranch?" Elliot asked.
Chelsea gulped.
"I will. Mark, too." She said.
"Ah, great. Now everyone, go look around your new houses and shops, and Gannon will begin to take orders for things he needs to build." Taro said.

Chelsea and Mark went north, across the bridge and to their new house. It was rather small. It had 4 windows, a bathroom, a very small kitchen, minus the furnishings, and some electrical plugs.

"Wow. We have to share THIS?" Mark asked out loud.
"Actually, no. Gannon said he will upgrade your house into two so you're not like sardines in a can." Taro said, who, unnoticed, followed them in. Taro offered to show them around the ranch. First, he led them to a building. He said it was a shed. Also, a too beat-up to use greenhouse; three outdated buildings he said Gannon would restore to serve as a stable, a barn, and a chicken coop; a shipping bin; a rice paddy; mushroom planters; and a large field of dirt.
"Here. These are free. From Chen." He handed them four turnip seed packets.
"Oh, and some tools from Mirabelle and Julia to start you off." He led them to their shed, which contained a watering can, a hoe, a sickle, an axe, and a hammer. He motioned for them to follow him again.
He led them down to the shore, which had all the stuff that had floated ashore scattered all over.
"We decided the ranchers have first picks. Go on and take some things you'd like for your house. We figured out a way to get ahold of other people. One of the houses had a very dusty, old phone, and Will called his parents and said he was going to live here with everyone, what had happened, and the like. They will ship things out of here, and anything we want that Gannon can't make, they will bring here. Vaughn also got contact of the animal people, they'll bring the animals for him."
Chelsea chose a bookshelf and some books. Mark didn't really want anything. He picked a trunk though, because it looked cool.

All day, Gannon was busy. He ran around, collecting lumber, sawing wood, melting metal, measuring, and building. By the end of the day, almost everything was done. A ship would be there the next morning, to drop off some animals and supplies. After planting the turnips and tending to them, Mark, Chelsea, and their new friends (everyone their age) sat in Nick's Diner around a few tables.
Suddenly, Natalie spoke up.
"Remember when I said everything happens for a reason? …. I sure hope I was right."