Karana Belle: I know! I'm bad! I shouldn't be writing ANOTHER story, but I just couldn't help it! So this is going to be with Suikoden 2 and 3 characters, mostly from number 3.

Disclaimer: No I don't own any Suikoden games, none at all. –Cries-

The Great Escapade

Chapter One

The morning showed promise to the man getting ready to tend to his gardens. Taking care of Vegetables was his life! Bartz was a normal man; well at least HE thought so. But you know how that is. He always woke up extra early just because he wanted to be with his 'pretties'. At least that's what he calls his plants, no one else called them that, let alone knew that Bartz called them that! The only person that did was Aila who had had a very frightening experience.

Oh no, Bartz wasn't stupid, he was just a little whacked in the head. Which it wasn't really his fault either, his father had been a farmer, and had taught his son with love, the only problem was his dad was insane. So if want to blame it on someone, blame his dad.

So we got to get up early with Bartz and we get to watch his day. Bartz walked towards his garden, the grass still bending under the weight of all the dew; the sun just barely up over the horizon. He had his shears in hand because he was planning to get rid of all the weeds that loved to pop out of the ground at the most unwanted of times.

Coming to his small but humble garden he drew in a big breath of air, a smile on his face. "Hello, my pretties." He bent down to caress the nearest plant, which happened to be a tomato. "Don't worry I will get rid of the nasty, eating weeds who like to take up your growing space. But first you all need water."

Bartz grabbed for the big bucket that he always used and headed down toward the lake to get if filled. He walked briskly and bent down by the water's edge placing the bucket under the water. He could feel the cold water on his hands and he shuddered. It was always cold in the morning, but he braced it, all for his pretties.

After a minute he pulled the bucket out of the water and made his way back up the slope to his lovely garden with all the beautifully growing plants. He poured the water over some of his plants and went back down for more water.

Bartz made several trips just to water his pretties and by the time he was done the sun was already a half way to its zenith. Coming back up to his pretties, he placed the bucket back where it was and looked up at the blue sky, "You know my pretties, the sun is beautiful, but not as beautiful as you." He smiled again and picked up his shears snapping them and glaring at the weeds.

"Alright you evil weeds, prepare for battle!" and with that he started to cut the weeds apart, then digging for their roots and pulling them out and throwing them over his shoulder, laughing maniacally all the while.

After he was done he got up and turned around, wiping his brow free of sweat, and saw a little boy just standing there, eyes wide. Bartz smiled, "Would you like to see them?" he motioned to his pretties. The little boy's brown eyes got wider and he ran away leaving Bartz confused.

"Don't worry my pretties he didn't leave because he didn't love you, oh no, he just had to do something else." Bartz then shrugged, and was about to turn back to his work when he heard a yell.

"Who goes there?"

"That was Cecile, my pretties, I must go and see who is coming. But I will be back soon!" Bartz then ran off towards the entrance of the castle, scaring even more children, for they had all heard from the little boy how freaky he was.

But he didn't notice and skidded to a stop at the back of the crowd of people that came to see what the commotion was about. And sure enough there was Cecile blushing and mouthing something that was most likely 'sorry'. Because Bartz couldn't hear he pushed through the crowd, the people eagerly getting out of his way, they had heard how freaky he was from Iskay Village.

When Bartz got close enough he saw a middle-aged man at about 50 years of age, the brown hair on the man's head had streaks of gray in it, and he had an old hat on his head. Bartz couldn't see the man's eyes because they were crinkled into a smile.

"He looks like a crazy man to me, I shall have to tell my pretties." Bartz muttered under his breath not noticing the strange glance that the woman standing beside him gave him.

Bartz's attention was then drawn again to the man, Cecile and Thomas, who had just come. "What do you want here?" Thomas got right to the point of why the man was here. "And who are you?"

The man cleared his throat, "Ah, forgive me. My name is Tony, I have come to find a job."

Cecile tilted her head, "What kind of job?" she quickly looked at Thomas, confused. They didn't need anyone else that she could think of.

"A farming job, I wish to grow you some vegetables." Tony smiled.

'A farming job? Hey! That's my job!' Bartz was furious, 'How dare anyone try to take my job! I'll see about this!' So jumping forward he called out, "That's MY job! No one else can have it!"

Everyone turned towards him, and Thomas quirked an eyebrow, looking between the two farmers, wondering which one grew better plants, he looked out at the audience, "Have any of you ever eaten...Tony's vegetables?" No one spoke up, so he thought for a minute, his hand raking through his hair.

Then Cecile jumped up and whispered something in Thomas' ear, and the master nodded. 'What are they whispering about I wonder?' Bartz thought, confused as to why Thomas didn't make this other farmer leave.

Thomas cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention, "I have decided to have a contest between these two farmers. Tony will stay for a time, and have a little land to plant on. After both of the farmer's crop are fully grown we will have judges say whose is better." He then turned to Tony and Bartz, "Sound fair to you?"

Tony nodded his graying head and smiled, while Bartz nodded stiffly, angry, 'I shouldn't worry. I will win, because I have my pretties!' So he left all the town's people and the new farmer and made his way back to his plants, a smirk on his face.

Bartz needed to get to work if he wanted to beat that 'Tony'. But first he would need to tell his pretties about what had happened.

Karana: Okay, I know this wasn't that funny, but it will be in later chapters! I promise, I hope you guys enjoyed this, if you're reading it. REVIEW PLEASE!