Hit the 50 review mark. W00T. I have also finally remembered that there was such a thing as a ruler (see below).

"Well, well, well..." smirked Ann. "What do we have here?" She put down the wineglass she was polishing and scrutinised the boy which was pushed in front of her. He whimpered.

"A sinner?" squeaked Cliff, staring at his shoes.

"Thanks, Erica, I'll take it from here," Ann gave an evil laugh. Erica nodded and ran out the room. Nothing could stop Ann when in that dangerous mood of hers.

"Don't be too harsh on him, Ann!" whispered Erica as she creaked the door shut.

"Oh, I won't, I won't," She cracked her knuckles as Cliff made a noise which sounded like a cluck.

Carrying the bushels of fodder on her shoulder, Erica headed for the farm. There, she met a raving, mad Matt.

"Arrgh! You stupid chicken! That's the tenth time you pecked me today! And at my ankles, too! You don't even have ankles!"

Erica gave him a sharp poke in the back.

"Uh-uh-uh, Matt! No animal abuse!" she wagged a finger at him and tossed the bushels of fodder into his outstretched arms. "Bring that to the coop,"

"Uh... where do I put it? On the floor?"

"IDIOT!" Erica smacked him with the huge fan she had used in previous chapters. "You put it in the fodder storage bin! THAT'S WHY ITS CALLED A FODDER STORAGE BIN!"

"Alright, I get it! Sheesh!" Matt stomped away, grumbling.

"What. An. Idiot," Erica shook her head. "Okay, now back to work! Time to gather beach grasses!"

She cheerily made her way out of the farm, Grow trying to follow her but with no results, due to the fact that there was a large invisible wall which telepathically transmitted the words, 'Chickens aren't allowed out of the farm!' into the poor hen's small brain.

"Stupid, stupid, idiotic Matt! I can't spend a day NOT THINKING about what he's done wrong!" muttered Erica, grabbing some Yellow Grass and stuffing it into her rucksack. "And how can some worthless, yellow-tinted leaves actually be sold?"

Erica grabbed the last of the grass and sat down at the edge of the dock, her boots lightly skimming the water. She stared out into the open sea.

"Some seagulls, a cloud that's shaped like a chicken, sharp, deadly rocks, a cloud that's shaped like Thomas's nose... oh. There's a boat... and it's heading right towards those sharp,deadly rocks. Ah, well," Erica sighed. "There's nothing else to do - wait. A boat?"

Erica stood up and indeed, on the horizon, was a small boat. Small, but nevertheless, a boat. And it was sailing right towards the sharp rocks that decorated Mineral Town's beach.

"What the - we've - I've - oh, God..." Erica jumped up and down, hoping to attract the boat's attention. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey you! Rocks! Helloooooooo! ROCKS! At the beach, you nincompoops! The BEACH YOU'RE HEADING TOWARDS!"

The late afternoon was quite hazy, and it was nearly sunset, making it almost impossible to see, but Erica could make out the silhouette of the small boat quite clearly.

She turned and pounded on Zack's door.

"HEYYYY! ZACK! BOAT! ROOOOCKS!"

The door was pulled open and Erica tumbled in.

"Whassamatter? People are tryin' to count turnips here!" Zack growled, obviously annoyed at Erica's sudden entrance.

"Well, there's this boat... and the rocks..." whimpered Erica.

"Boat? Where?" Zack grabbed Erica and they both dashed out.

"THERE!" Erica poked her finger at the approaching boat.

"Oh... heh heh heh... hwahwahwahwa!" Zack roared, slapping Erica on the back.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Oh, you'll see... heheheheheheheheh!" Zack replied, trying to stifle his laughter.

The boat expertly weaved itself through the rocks. In a few minutes it had reached the dock.

"Erica, hehehe... I would like ya to meet Kai," Zack said as a young man stepped out of the boat.

"Yo,"

Kai came to Mineral Town about five days early. Ummm... yeah, this is the 'theory' - in Kai's country, it's winter when it's summer in Mineral Town. So I guess his winter came early. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE.