Aoi Hyoudou: You guys have spoken and the next chapter is...Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld! Once this chapter is posted the poll will reopen with new choices for the next chapter. Enjoy this fun chapter.

Main character: Ash Ketchum

Supporting cast: Barbossa and the Rulid Village local tree cutters from Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Chopping Trees

{...}

"Hey, how about you work for me? You know cutting trees for a few months?" a self-centered landowner asked suddenly.

"Um..."

Ash just suddenly appeared in the outskirts of some village called Rulid Village and some shady, fat man approached him and offered a job to cut down tough trees on the nearby area. Seems a bit suspicious to the teen's liking, but the landowner was quite persistent

"I'll pay you handsomely, don't you worry." He rubbed his hands together like a creepy sneeze ball.

"Um..." Ash was still unsure if he should take the offer.

"If you impress me good enough, I'll buy you free meals for the whole week."

Ash's stomach suddenly growled at the offer. 'I am...a little bit hungry. After all, showing up in random places does work up an appetite...' Ash sighed dejectedly, but reluctantly accepted Barbossa's offer.

"You got yourself a deal." He offered a handshake to seal the deal, which the landowner proudly did the same.

"Good, good." He sounded very pleased to fetch himself another sucker to do his dirty work. "Now, come this way. I show you where you will start cutting trees for me." Ash sighed again, but reluctantly agreed.

"Lead the way, mister."

{...}

Barbossa took Ash and a few of the village's tree cutters to the work site. There were lots and lots of tall trees, but one stood out from the rest. An old, humongous maple tree, which was twice as big from any ordinal tree. Ash gawked at the sight of its massive presence.

"Alright, kid. Listen up." The landowner drew the teen's attention away from the tree back to him. "In order to prove your worth, I need you to cut a certain tree."

"Prove my worth?" Ash blinked, but then realized the fat man was trying to pull a fast one on him. Now, he's starting to regret ever accepting the offer. "But I thought we had a deal!"

"Tch. Damn rookies and whining complaints." one of the veteran tree cutters snorted rudely at the teen's expense.

"If the job's too hard for you, why don't you just go home already, little boy." another one mocked.

Ash fixed his gaze and glared at the tree cutters. He can tell these guys were bullies and jerks. Just the other day, they tried to bully a blond girl with an eye patch. If they thought they were going to do the same thing to him, well they have another thing coming.

"Fine, I'll do it!" Ash quickly accepted the challenge after he glanced back at the crooked landowner, which put a smug smirk on the man's face. "Give me an axe!"

"Here!" One of the other smug tree cutters tossed a spare axe, which was dangerous under normal circumstances, but Ash still accepted it nonetheless.

However, something was a little off about the axe when Ash caught it, almost losing his balance. 'It's...heavy.' It was taking all the strength he could muster from dropping it to the ground. He wondered if the jerks had something to do with this. Judging by their cocky expression, it was obvious they were trying to sabotage his test. 'Those jerks!'

Barbossa was already unimpressed with Ash, but decided to give him a chance. "Alright, kid, listen up!" he said firmly, showing his true colors. The teen glanced at the landowner after managing a stable grip on the heavy axe. "See that tree over there!" He pointed at the massive tree, which Ash already knew the man was setting him up to fail from the start. "Cut it down and hurry it up. Time is money!"

"Y-You aren't serious are you?"

"You can always quit." The tree cutters laughed.

"Fine, have it your way!" Ash slowly marched up to the humongous maple and prepared to cut it down. However, he needed to catch his breath first. Carrying the heavy axe all the way to the tall tree was a bit tiring for the young teen. But once he regained enough strength, he heaved the axe over his shoulders and swung downward.

The axe made contact, however, it barely made a dent against the tree's tough bark.

...

...

...

The villagers burst into another laughter at Ash's expense.

"What was that?!"

"My grandma can swing harder than that and she's dead."

"Just go home already, brat!"

Ignoring the constant taunts, Ash took another swing at the tree, which resulted the same outcome, barely a dent. He tried again and again, which only made the laughter even louder. At this point, Barbossa was losing his patience with Ash. "Hurry it up!" he shouted in annoyance. "Or else I find someone who will!"

"Just a second!" the teen yelled back. 'Jeez...just give me a break already.' He lifted up the axe once more and swung at the tree bark, however, this time around he couldn't yank the axe out from the bark. "Huh?" He pulled and pulled on the handle, but the axe wouldn't budge. It was stuck. It was wedged pretty deep within the tree itself. Ash attempted to free it once more by gathering all the strength he had left, but to no avail.

"Okay, that does it!" The fat man had seen enough from Ash for one day. "It was a huge mistake hiring this stupid brat." He marched over in a fit of rage, unaware that danger was coming.

Ash firmly pressed his foot against the tree in hopes to give him some leverage to pull the axe out. Unfortunately, it was a costly strategy as the wooden handle was beginning to break from all the sheer force it was dealing with. Fully unaware that the wooden handle was to snap, Ash gave one final tuck with all his might until it snapped. Ash fell backwards on his back. The broken handle flew backwards and slammed into Barbossa's face with sheer force.

The tree cutters stood in shock.

Barbossa's face had a big red noticeable mark as he fell over and collapsed.

"Mister Barbossa!" The tree cutters immediately rushed over to their boss's side.

Ash slowly stood up after shaking the cobwebs off and noticed the villagers were trying desperately to revive the landowner. Ash blinked momentarily, but then casually shrugged it off. "Well, it's his fault for not ducking."

Barbossa deserved it! That's what he gets for being a crooked jerk towards Alice in the earlier episodes of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld. And before any of you accuse of Ash being bashed in this chapter, go watch the series...that's how Barbossa and his men acts towards anyone who they don't like.