Gamer To Farmer

Chapter 9: Tomatoes, Truth and Dare

A/N: I am sorry that I did not update this Monday. Monday was the day that Mage was scheduled for release after her surgery. I had visited her Saturday and learned that the operation went without a hitch. Then on Monday I found out that they had missed something. She is scheduled for another surgery Wednesday. The scary part is that she is in the best hospital in the province and they missed something.

I noticed that there was some trouble with the last update. Before I add a new chapter to one of my fics, I will update the tally in the summary. Immediately afterwards, I will update the new chapter. If it is not selectable from the scroll down bar, simply go to the last chapter I have. There should be a button that lets you go to the next chapter. Apparently it takes some time to get the links correct. Better luck next time and thanks for letting me know of the problem.

I must warn people of the content of this chapter. There will be drinking in this chapter and that may lead to some things that may offend some people. Hopefully, what I write doesn't bother anyone too much, because I don't intend on going R in this fic. That might happen in the next HM fic I do after finishing this one. But that won't be for quite some time.

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The last couple of weeks have been very trying on the town of Mineral Town, especially on myself, Elli, and Stu. It was just barely over two weeks since that horrible night. The date today was the twelfth of Summer, the Tomato Festival.

I found out that Elli had no idea that her Grandmother had died that night. She found out early the next morning when Stu stopped by. He said that he couldn't find her anywhere in the Clinic. Elli called in Doctor Evan, who broke the news to her. She waited until the doctor left before bursting into tears.

At that point, Elli decided that she didn't want to be a doctor ever again. She handed the job off to Evan who was going move his family to Mineral Town. His family consisted of his wife Joanna and fifteen year old daughter Jessica. Both of them were going to help Evan around the Clinic. Elli and Stu ended up moving back to their old home.

I had asked Elli what she was going to do for a job to provide for herself and Stu. A day later, she managed to find a job helping Pastor Carter around the church. She claimed that she was happy with her new job, but I could tell that deep down she missed being a nurse.

The first of Summer had come and gone. Opening Day ended up being a big success. My shoulder had healed the day before and I was eager to test it. The race between Kai and me ended up being so close that a rematch was declared. The second race ended quite differently, with Kai easily defeating me by nearly two full seconds.

The Harvest Sprites were all too glad to find out that my shoulder had healed. They thanked me for the coffee maker that I had given them and headed home for a big tea party. I found their house empty the next day. They had left a note behind, explaining that they had sailed to North America. They planned on going to every Starbucks and Tim Horton's that existed. I didn't expect them to be coming back any time within the next three years.

As for the three year limit, I found myself doing extremely well. I might have gone a little overboard with planting twenty plots of pineapples. I couldn't help myself, I am greedy deep down. The profits were going to leave me drooling. Also, my chicken army had increased its number to seven. My tools were all at silver level and I had purchased a cow named Blimp.

I have yet to mention Elli's bullet wound. She was very lucky, Evan explained to me. When I had tackled Tim, I had caused his arm to bend at a strange angle. The bullet had entered Elli's body and exited just as quickly. I was told that a quarter of an inch in any direction and the bullet would have hit a vital organ, probably killing her. As it was, she only needed to spend a few days in the hospital for recovery.

The relationships of the young folk of Mineral Town were progressing at an amazing pace. According to elders, all relationships were at green while a couple had made it to yellow status. I had absolutely no idea what any of this meant. I had even heard a rumor flying around that their might be a proposal by mid Fall. That might explain why there was a Blue Feather on sale at the Supermarket.

Today was the Tomato Festival. It would provide the entire village a great opportunity to relax and return to their regular activities. I woke up early that day to finish all of my chores early. I was the first one at the square, giving me time to relax.

The previous day, I had agreed to join a team with Elli and Stu. Stu was probably too short to be seen over the barrels that were set up. That would provide us with a clear advantage over the other teams.

Other people were beginning to show up. I watched as they began to separate into their separate teams. Popuri, Kai, and Rick formed one team. Doug had gotten Ann and Cliff on his side. The fourth and final team consisted of the new family in town.

Elli and Stu ended up being a little late. You could hear Stu tearing through town with Elli chasing after him. Stu made his grand entrance shortly before getting caught by Elli. Poor Stu, he had painted a big target on his bare chest, while covering his face in war paint. Someone probably should have told him that Elli's makeup didn't make good camouflage.

"Whoa! Stu, what happened?" I asked trying not to laugh at the sight.

Stu immediately tried to put on a tough look, which looked more like he had ran face first into a wall. I broke into a fit of laughter at the sight. "Don't laugh! I look dangerous." Stu exclaimed.

"You look like you just blew up a cosmetic store." Elli commented.

Stu quickly looked over at her and produced a grin from ear to ear. Elli quickly pulled out a stick of lipstick and smeared it across the boy's face. "Yucky! Why'd you do that for?" He demanded.

"You deserved it." Elli stated as she sat down beside me. I let out a small chuckle as I placed my arm around Elli. In reply, Elli rested her head against my shoulder. Stu was rampaging around the square, trying to remove the makeup. All he succeeded in doing was smearing it into a bigger mess. Stu was attracting quite a few stares. Nearly everyone took one look at him, before glancing over at myself and Elli.

"What?" We both replied as innocently as we could.

Stu had made his way over to Mayor Thomas. The Mayor was standing next to a big bucket of water for people to wash with after. Thomas looked over at us and winked. He picked up the bucket and dumped it over Stu's head. That left the child completely drenched, but without the makeup.

Mayor Thomas cleared his throat as he prepared to address the rest of us, who were all laughing. "Let's get this Festival underway. We already have the four teams. We have randomly chosen which teams will compete first. Those two teams are Doug's team and Evan's team. Please take your positions."

During this speech, Stu had grabbed the bucket and wandered off. I looked around the square for the child but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where'd Stu go?" I whispered to Elli.

Elli pointed over to the far corner of the square, where Stu was returning with a much heavier bucket then before. The boy struggled as he dragged the container across the square towards where Thomas stood. The first match had already started and tomatoes were flying everywhere. Everyone's eyes were on the match except ours.

"What is he going to do?" Elli whispered back as Stu dragged a stool over to the Mayor.

"I think he's going to get revenge." I stated as Stu climbed up the stool. He was completely unnoticed by the Mayor. I got up and began to approach Thomas. I noticed the Kai was doing the same. He made a motion for me to keep Thomas distracted as he lifted the bucket up to Stu.

"Excuse me, Mayor Thomas. I was just wondering what the next festival after this is?" I inquired as Stu held the bucket over the man's head.

The match was over and everyone was watching in anticipation. The Mayor didn't seem to notice the sudden silence. "The next festival is the Cow Festival." He replied, completely oblivious to the ambush.

The next thing Thomas knew, a wave of water came pouring down on him. He looked around in surprise and caught Stu, who was beaming with happiness. The Mayor looked like he was ready to strangle Stu, but quickly burst into a fit of laughter, along with everyone else in the Square.

The laughter lasted for a few minutes before dying down. "Ok, back to the festival. Tint, your team is going up against Kai's team."

I gave Kai a grin as I took hold of a tomato. I pointed to him and motioned that he was first. Kai chuckled. "Not if I get you first."

"Teams ready. Begin!" Thomas announced from the sidelines.

I launched my tomato at Kai, who ducked just in time. He popped up a few seconds later, ready to attack back. He was instead greeted by a tomato through by Stu. Kai grumbled as he sat down and held out his white flag.

Stu began celebrating his kill when he got nailed by a toss from Rick. Instantly, I got him with a tomato to the chest. Less than a second later, a tomato smacked against my head. That left only Elli and Popuri to duke it out.

Elli ducked down behind her barrel. A steady stream of tomatoes went flying overhead. Suddenly the bombardment stopped. "I'm out!" Popuri cried out desperately.

Elli bolted to her feet and unloaded a fastball. Popuri didn't stand a chance. She was too busy looking around for more tomatoes. The tomato hit the pink haired girl, sending her falling on her behind.

A cheer erupted from the onlookers as we celebrated on our victory. We had only a few minutes to wash up before we were back at the barrels. Each one was restocked with tomatoes, providing us with a full stock of ammunition to toss at our opponents. We looked across the square at Evan and his family, ready to do battle.

"Hey Tint! Did you know that I was a pitcher for my high school baseball team?" Evan called out form his position.

"Big deal! I played in a professional dodgeball league back home." I was lying. Professional dodgeball, now that would be sweet.

"Quiet down. Teams ready. Begin!" Thomas announced.

Evan must not have been lying. Before I knew it, a tomato struck me. A second later Elli was down. That left Stu alone while they had their entire team. Evan stood, ready to fire at Stu as soon as he popped out of his hiding place. Little did he know that Stu had snuck away.

Suddenly, both Jessica and Joanna cried out in surprise. Evan turned around to see both of them victims of a sneak attack. Evan carefully moved away from his barrel to look for Stu. While he was gone, Stu bolted up to Evan barrel and dove inside. Luckily nobody else saw him.

"Where did he go?" Evan demanded as he headed back to his barrel. "They forfeit because Stu left the square."

Stu popped out of his hiding place and bombarded the helpless Evan with tomatoes. "The winning team of this year's Tomato Festival is the team of Stu, Elli, and Tint!"

"That was fun! Well, I should get back to work." I announced. It was nearly an hour after the festival had ended. Nearly everyone had gone home, except for the younger people.

"Come on, Tint! We were all going down to my shop for a little get together." Kai said as he held onto Popuri.

"It won't be the same without you." Karen commented from Rick's side.

I looked around at the others. Mary and Gray looked a little unsure about it, while Cliff and Ann were waiting on my decision. Elli sat by my side. "We'll go." Elli answered for me.

Ann and Cliff quickly agreed to go, while it took a little persuasion to convince Mary and Gray. The lot of us set off down the staircase to the beach and over to Kai's shop.

Once we got to the store, Kai headed over to the fridge. "Tint, take a guess what I got in here." Kai asked as he dug through the cooler.

"I don't know. Beer, I guess." I said with a shrug. A few of the people laughed.

"Right you are! And this is no ordinary beer! This stuff is Canadian!" Kai announced as he pulled out a few bottles. Both I and Karen looked up immediately.

Kai passed around a beer to everyone. "You don't have to drink it if you don't want to." He said when he noticed the disgusted look on Mary's face. He then proceeded over to the door and turned the lock. "Just in case anyone gets really hammered." He explained, clearly meaning Karen and me.

"Let's make a pact right now, before anyone takes a drink. Whatever happens here tonight will not leave this room. We will never mention it again." Popuri announced from her seat.

"Deal." We all agreed. I could tell that some of the people were becoming a little nervous. They were probably confused as to what was going to happen. I knew I was somewhat worried as to what Kai and Popuri had planned.

Popuri finally revealed the secret. "The game is truth and dare. First, we need to set some ground rules. The most important rule is all people involved have to agree to the dare. Secondly, everyone must try not to do anything that will ruin anyone's relationships. That means that you can't kiss someone else's boyfriend or girlfriend. Everyone understand?" A series of nods answer Popuri.

Sunlight glared in my face as my eyes flickered open. "I must have fallen asleep." I thought to myself as I lay in the bed. I could feel a hand resting against my chest. I let my eyes clear for a few seconds before looking over to see who I was.

I was relieved to see that it was Elli. She looked so peaceful, lying there with her head rested against my chest. I planted a kiss on her forehead. "Good morning." I whispered to her as her eyes slowly began to open up.

"Morning." She whispered back with a smile as she looked up into my eyes, her face beaming with a beautiful smile. Then the smile began to disappear. "Something feels wrong." She said as she lifted the covers.

Elli let out a surprised gasp as she looked down. I couldn't see what she was looking at, but I could feel that something was amiss. "What is it?" I asked but shortly figured it out after asking. I only now had realized that we were both completely naked.

Elli looked at me with a scared look on her face. "I think we did it." She whispered to me.

"What's with all this noise?" Popuri complained as she suddenly sat up on the other side of teh bed. She too was naked. She took one look at herself, Elli, and me. "This can't be good." She whispered.

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A/N: Oh boy, this could prove to be some trouble. In their drunken stupor, Tint ended up sleeping with both Elli and Popuri. What will Kai say? What effect will this have on Tint's relationship with Elli? Find out next time.

I am sorry for skipping over the game. I figured that this way would prove to be more dramatic and also would help me dodge anything stupid that I might have wrote. Thanks for your support and please review.