Chapter Ten: Hell Breaks Loose When the Scam Artist Comes to Town
Two days later, the group had come across a clearing. In it were a spring, fruit trees, and beautiful flowers. A paradise, if you will. "Whoa..." they all gasped in unison, when all of the sudden, a voice called out.
"Hello, hello!" the voice said as the group noticed. They turned to see the source of the voice; a man with a cart full of wares. Ash immediately glared at the salesman. "Whatever it is you're selling, I ain't buying. So fuck off." he spat venomously, but Cilan, who was riding piggyback on Iris, noticed a bunch of bananas, and immediately started drooling, since he had missed breakfast, and was now regretting it. The merchant noticed and made his move. "Just got 'em fresh from a tree. You want 'em? They're yours! Just as long as you have enough to pay for them." he told the monkey, but Iris noticed that they didn't look very good. "I dunno... they don't look that fresh..." she said aloud, but Cilan persisted, giving her the sad puppy eyes. The wild child sighed and got the bananas for him. "Thank you for your business!" the merchant said as he gave the bananas, took the money, packed up, and left. "Um... the fuck just happened?" Elena pondered, but Ash just shrugged it off. "Meh. Let's just spend some time here." Ash suggested, to which everyone agreed.
Later, after a bit of playing around the paradise, Cilan was feeling a bit under the weather. Iris was worried, and went over to him. "Sarukki? Are you alright?" she asked him, but got no response. The girl then gently shook him, causing his eyes to open slowly. "Are you okay, Sarukki?" she asked again, earning a weak and chatterified "No", which surprised Ash. "He can still talk?! But... he hasn't said anything in the past few days!" Ash exclaimed in shock. Iris ignored that, however, asked the monkey what was wrong, but got no response. Elena then noticed that he was clutching his stomach. "He must have a stomach ache..." she deduced, which earned a sigh from Ash. "Why does he always stuff himself with bananas?" he muttered, but Iris noticed a flaw in Elena's deduction; Cilan wasn't pudgy. "Wait... he isn't pudgy... that couldn't-" she paused as she remembered the merchant and the bananas. "... ARCEUS MOTHER DAMMIT!" she bellowed, startling Ash and Elena. "THAT DAMN MERCHANT WILL PAY!" she growled, causing the two to put two and two together. "We'll take care of him later. Right now, we need to get Cilan better. And fast." Ash told Iris. "Sadly, I don't have any medicine..." she muttered sadly before getting an idea. "Wait. I think I saw a berry on a lone branch, but it's pretty high up. It's said to cure all stomach pains. If you can get it for me, I can cure Cilan." she told them, to which the two agreed and went to search.
After a while of searching, Ash and Elena had found the berry. "There it is! But it's high up... how are we gonna get it?" the white-haired girl asked. Ash pondered this for a second before finding a forked branch. Using his noodle, he used it and a rubber band to create a slingshot. But before he could use it, however, two birds came in and swiped the berry. "HEY, YOU COCK-SUCKING BITCHES! I NEED THAT FOR MY SICK FRIEND!" he bellowed as he used the slingshot to kill the birds and retrieve the berry. After examining the avians, he got a sneaky idea. "Chinese take out?" he asked his girlfriend, to which she nodded.
Meanwhile, Iris had set Cilan on a bed of leaves. She had tried giving him a belly rub to soothe the pain, but the monkey kept pushing her hands off. He was in too much pain for it. The girl then began to stroke his back. "There, there... Ash and Elena'll be back with the berry soon..." she assured, but only got whimpering.
Back with Ash and Elena, the two had found the merchant. "Hello again! Have I got a bargain for you?" the merchant offered, but was grabbed by the throat by Ash. "Listen, you cock-sucking pile of shit! My friend is sick because of your last bargain!" he growled. "Yeah! We demand a refund!" Elena added. "Sorry! All sales are final. No refunds." the scam artist told them, but was met with a brutal beating by the hands of Ash. Soon, the teen got a sneaky idea again. "Babe... would you mind opening wide?" he asked his girlfriend. The white-haired girl opened her mouth wide, knowing what he wanted to do. And so did the merchant. He had seen his share of vorists, and knew what was going on. "Okay! Okay! I'll give you a refund!" he fearfully gave in. "That's not all. You must never sell your wares again!" Ash growled. "Lemme think about it..." the merchant told him, but was threatened by Elena. "Agree, or by the time I'm done with you, you'll be nothing more than a pile of my shit!" she growled. "Okay! I'll stop!" he agreed. Now it was Ash's turn to threaten. And he meant business. "If I ever hear that you've scammed another person, I will find you... and I will kill you..." he growled, causing the merchant to nod, pay them the money, and run away, never to be seen again...
The two soon headed back to Iris and Cilan. "We've got the berry." they chimed. "Good. Now, I'll give it to Sarukki." she said as she took the berry and tried to give it to Cilan... who kept turning his head away. "C'mon, Sarukki... if you don't take this, you'll never get better..." she told him. The monkey frowned a bit, knowing the berry was bitter, but ate it anyway, a disgusted look forming on his face. Iris then lay him down. "Now rest and let the berry do its job..." she told him.
After a while, Ash had turned the birds from before into a Chinese dinner. The delicious aroma awoke Cilan, which the others noticed. "You feeling better?" Iris asked, which earned a smile and a thumbs up from the monkey. "Maybe you're still not feeling good enough to have some of this Chinese food..." Ash smirked, which earned a sneaky look from Cilan, who joined them...