EPISODE FOUR: ON DEAF EARS

Intro

The homeless dog wandered around the village aimlessly, sniffing high and low in search of meat wherever it could be found. It was at this point in time that the poor little pup had found its way to the residence of Jack the third, just as he was coming out of the farmhouse.

A puppy! Jack III rejoiced in his mind. The dog took one look at him and ran off in a blitz of fury. The damn thing had been frightened! This pissed the farmer off quite a bit, what had he ever done to be treated in such a way? If he was going to demand respect, he was going to have to earn it. Quickly, he ran back inside and fetched 2 small bowls.

In the first bowl, Jack III put some meat inside. The second bowl was filled with water, and then they were both placed at the side of the house. When all was done, Jack III walked back inside the farm and closed the door behind him.

"Aw, he's feeding the puppy!" Nic, Nac and Flak emerged onto the scene. "What a nice guy he is afterall," Nac smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, he's a flippin' saint," Nic frowned.

"What's the matter big brother?" Flak realized Nic was not in good spirits today.

"The Harvest goddess really tore me a new one last night. After that failure we had at the meeting… I don't think she'll ever trust us again."

Nac sulked over this news, "There's nothing else we can do to save the village…"

"That's not completely true," Nic said. "We have to do our best to keep trying, we still have a little under a year to complete our task. It isn't worth giving up on."

"Look at that!" Flak took their attention away from more important matters to point to the puppy who had wonderingly snooped his way back to the little farm. "He came back!"

The puppy did not see the sprites in the distance, for he could only see the glorious food that had been put out for him in a bowl. What a spectacular phenomenon! Slowly, he crept closer and closer to the food laid out before him until at last, he was upon it. Indeed, the food tasted delicious.

Aha! Jack III appeared from the side of the barn holding a large net on a stick. The dog, terrified, turned to see his attacker too late, for the net had been cast around him and he was unable to break through his restraints. You belong to me now! Jack III rejoiced with a large smile worn across his face.

RUFF, ruff, ruff! Ruff, ruff, ruff!

"He just captured the poor thing!" Nic and his brothers were astonished.

"A new friend!" Flak cheered with joy, not understanding the seemingly cruel nature of Jack III's actions.

"Let's name him!" Nac suggested, annoying Nic now.

Ruff, ruff, ruff!

"He barks in triples! Let's call him Triple Ruff!" Flak said stupidly.

"How does Ruff cubed sound?" Nac tried.

"Hmm… what's a better way to say that…?" Flak thought long and hard.

"Ruff 3, you morons!" Nic clonked the two on the head.

"Ouch," Nac rubbed his throbbing head. "Fine, fine. Ruff 3 the first it is," Nic shot him an evil look.

Act 1

"I see you've taken in one of the local strays," Louis mused as he had been passing by Jack III's farm. Jack III was on his knees tending to his gardens, for he figured he would be in town for a long time and it was time that he took precautions and started earning a living for himself. He was just in the middle of planting some seeds when his nosy little neighbor had appeared from nowhere and began talking, although Jack III did not hear him.

Why do I feel like someone is watching me? Jack III cocked an eyebrow and slowly turned to see the weird man with glasses standing behind him, watching his every move.

"I have taken one in myself, she's a real sweetheart… or was. I have a bad tendency to experiment on things, living and non. But no matter. I have a gift for you, it is a special whistle you can use to train your pup into a real prize winning canine!" Louis presented the oversized tool in his hands proudly.

Jack III studied it for a moment, not having any clue what its significance was.

"Let me show you," Louis turned to the pup, who was tied by rope to the side of the farmhouse, biting fiercely at his restraints. Putting the whistle to his lips, he blew very loudly into it, moving his finger along the side of it to play higher and lower notes in a very specific order.

Suddenly, Ruff 3 stopped what he was doing and sat patiently at attention.

"You see? It is really quite simple, just memorize these three easy tunes and your dog will obey your commands to sit, heel, and lie down!" Louis played the other two tunes as Jack III stood amazed at the sight of this strange happening.

I want to play! Jack III held out his hands as Louis gave him the whistle.

"If you forget the tunes, just come visit my shop," Louis smiled.

Jack III blew hard into the whistle, not knowing how to play and never hearing any of the tunes that Louis attempted to teach to him. It sounded quite awful.

"Erm, you work on that. Eventually you'll get better," Louis went on his merry little way as Jack happily blew and blew and blew.

Ruff 3 could take no more, he began barking out loud, attempting to halt his new master from annoying the air further.

I think I got him to bark! Jack III observed the dog's opening and closing of his long snout. Inspecting the instrument further, he realized if he covered the little holes he could play a different sound!

Meanwhile, the sprites went to once again visit the harvest goddess.

"Ergh," she mumbled amongst her company. "What shall I do now?!"

"Her greatness seems troubled…?" Nic said nervously.

"Troubled? Of course I'm troubled! We're in the middle of a war with my sister, the Harvest goddess of Mineral Town, and I can't rely on you three to save a measily village from being demolished!!!"

"Oh, the war, right… How's that going, by the way?" Nic asked cheekily.

"WE'RE GETTING DESTROYED!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I'm… sorry to hear that?" Nic scrunched himself in fear.

"What we need is to cut off her water supply. Then there would be no way for her to return to the land of the living from her vortex. I will present to you three a goddess sponge, and with it you shall go to the Goddess Pond in Mineral Town and drop it in. That will eliminate our threat, and she will no longer be able to rule the lands as she intends to do once she gets rid of me!"

"Uhm, shouldn't we try and save the village fir…"

"SILENCE! I have given your orders. Once she is out of the way, I can further attend to our 'situation'. Now go!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the sprites were off in a hurry.

It was around an hour away, but the sprites soon made their way to Mineral Town and avoided drawing attention to themselves as they ran quickly for the Goddess Pond.

And just what do you think you're doing!? the Mineral Town harvest goddess appeared from the waters and frowned evilly.

The sprites were very afraid now, but Nic stepped up as a leader should and said, "We have come to destroy your way into the human world!"

Is that so? she smiled. And even when I may be the only one who can save your stupid village?

The sprites stopped immediately.

Hahaha, that is correct. My dear sister is so cute to think she has any chance at cutting me off from this world, but in truth, she wields no real power in this world at all! I can make anything, ANYTHING happen. Except of course that my power is limited to everything outside her measily little forest in 'the village'. It's pathetic, really, how powerless she really is.

"Is that true?" Nac cowered in fright.

Yes, indeed. Why, I could turn you all into stone right now. In fact, she snapped her fingers.

Nic and Nac turned to discover that Flak had indeed been turned to stone right before their eyes.

Now, how about we talk about this? the goddess laughed.

"What do you want?" Nic gave in.

I want you to throw this sponge back in my sister's pond. And I will spare your lives.

Nic thought long and hard about this. The situation was hopeless.

"It seems I have no choice… but to destroy your pond!" he yelled as he tossed the sponge into the pond which immediately took effect and absorbed all the waters.

Noooooo!!!! the goddess was gone.

Act 2

Nic and Nac carried their brother of stone back to their goddess' abode where she would turn him back into a normal harvest sprite once more.

"Hmm," the goddess muffled something. "You were very brave for doing such a thing, had the sponge not worked so quickly you could all have been turned to stone," she restored Flak to normal with a wave of her hand.

"Aw, it was nothing, really," Nic blushed.

"Unfortunately, she has been luckier in her placement."

"Uh, what?"

"I can feel her presence once more. Perhaps the good citizens of Mineral town all worked together to pull the sponge out of the water. Too bad, it seemed like a good plan. Of course the citizens here would never do such a thing for me…"

Nic felt very betrayed by this.

"Wait, I feel something. An emergency in the town! Quick! Go investigate now!"

The sprites reluctantly went on their way to find out what was happening in the village, and in no time they could see what had happened. It seemed that all of the citizens had lost their crops in town, and there was no more food to be harvested.

"The evil harvest goddess must be behind this!" Nic concluded.

"What are we going to do?" Nac panicked.

"These people need our help. We need to find the monster who is behind all this. It's probably a troll of some kind," Nic frowned.

The other two sprites shook with fear.

"Let's follow the trail like only we can!" Nic led them. Harvest sprites were very good at following clues, and eventually they would find the culprit.

Meanwhile, Jack III was just waking from his nap. He had gotten quite frustrated with his whistle, for he could not hear what he was playing and the dog did not seem to be responding as he should have been. With a stretch and a yawn, he headed on outside to see the bright sun to cheer him up a little. Upon opening the door and walking outside, he noticed before him that Ruff 3 was sitting before him, seemingly very happy. The dog had chewed his way through his rope, and there behind him, were a boatload of crops that had been stolen from the neighbors.

Jack III cocked an eyebrow and bent over to look the dog in the face. Good boy! He patted him on the head. Perhaps the dog had watched him plant the crops all day and decided to save him some hastle.

It was then that the harvest sprites once again showed up and instantly realized what had happened.

"Those stupid tunes he's been annoying people with all day made Ruff 3 do all that bad stuff?" Nac was astonished.

"Another one of Louis' experiments, no doubt," Nic concluded. "It seems we've found the monster. Who would have thought a deaf guy with a flute would be so dangerous?"

"So should we help him hide the crops? The other farmers won't forgive him if they find out," Flak cried.

"Yes. I'm sure he's done with the flute now, since he can't even hear it. Hopefully this is the worst of what the dog has done today."

The sprites greeted Jack III and immediately the four of them moved the crops into the vacant barn where no one would look.

The two harvest goddesses would once again be forced to plot against one another, and the sprites still had no idea how they were going to save the homeland. Jack III, however, was going to be very, very rich.

Conclusion

"So did you solve the town's problem?" the goddess inquired.

"Uh…yeah," Nic lied through his teeth.

"Good, I don't need anything else to worry about right now,"

"Mmhmm," Nic agreed. "Anyways, time for us sprites to get some rest so we can think of a plan to save the town tomorrow!"

"Yes, yes, fine. I suppose you've all earned the right to sleep. Goodnight." The sprites went into the forest to their home leaving the goddess to reflect on the day's events.

Just then she heard some ruffling in the grass, and off in the distance she could see something coming slowly towards her.

"A puppy! How adorable!" she smiled. "What have you got in your mouth, there, cutey?"

It was indeed Ruff 3, walking towards her in a trance-like state with something small in his mouth.

"What's the matter, puppy? You seem…Oh, no! Get away!" the goddess realized what it was that Ruff 3 had in his mouth. It was the magic sponge! "Bad dog! BAD DOG! No! Don't you dare…!"

Ploop!

Back on the farm, Jack III stared off into the distance angrily.

Come back, doggy! He repeatedly blew into the whistle.

Spring the 14th

What a day! I had forgotten about the harvest goddess' rivalry with her sister. That older one is mean mean mean! Hopefully she doesn't try to seek vengeance on me personally for trying to destroy her gate into this world…

Anyhoo, time for sleep. Another long day of thinking tomorrow!

Nic

THE END

(So I guess since there have been no reviews for episode 3 yet it means that replacing a chapter on here doesn't alert people of the change, nor does it count as an update on here. Oh well, now you guys have two episodes to read! Until next time!)