Wholesome Greens
Chapter 1 Conflict Resolution
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but in this case, it's served cold, wet and tomato flavored.
Feud/Food Fight
Cricket Tilly Green/Other Big City Farmers v.s. Chip Whistler/Wholesome Foods
It was all out tomato-based warfare, and the entire Big City Farmers Market was in on it. With Cricket and Chip playing the role of generals and commanding the vendors now turned soldiers to show no mercy, neither side was giving an inch. No one was backing down.
Cricket Green stood atop a mountain of now squashed tomatoes, his face painted with the savory juices of said fruit, which now represented a metaphorical war paint. "I am the tomato-nator. The red destroyer. And I WILL NOT STOP!" Before the hyperactive ten year old had a chance to fling the two fruits he was holding, Cricket was suddenly halted by his sister.
"Cricket stop! You've been caught up in a petty cycle of revenge and one upsmanship
"You're right. And I need to break out of it by defeating Chip!" Cricket agreed up until that second sentence. He raised the tomatos once more only to once again be stopped by his sibling.
"No! That's not it! You can only break the cycle by deciding enough is enough! We deserve to move on from this because this pointless fighting isn'tsaving the market it's destroying it. You better call it quits brother."
Tilly then switched into her Saxon's voice, "Tilly's right Cricket. If you stop this petty rivalry and bury the hatchet with Chip, then we can all move on."
"But Tilly, Saxon, if we don't defeat Chip and his goons, he'll just keep on trying to put our family out of business." Cricket defended. He would do whatever it took to always have an upper hand on his rival but as he gazed around the market, which was literally a battlefield now, Cricket noticed the chaos and destruction. His eyes widened in shock at the ruined state of their family's vegetable stand. Soon, he saw his handmade wooden sign topple over and as soon as he turned back around and looked upon his sisters pleading, puppy dog eyes, the farm boy knew he couldn't ignore the inevitable.
He hadn't meant to sink to Chip's level, that wasn't who he was. Cricket Green was an honest, forgiving kid, raised with love and support by his family. Tilly and Saxon were right; This feud fight had to end, someone had to make the first move and Cricket knew Chip wouldn't. Instead it was up to him. "You're right Tilly, I've gone too far." Cricket slid down the tomato mountain and began walking to the other side of the market.
"Where are you goin'?" Tilly wondered, her curiosity peaked at it's highest. She could only hope her little talk got through to him.
Slowly, Cricket turned his head around to look at her, "I'm going to make things right." With a heavy sigh, Cricket headed over to the Wholesome Foods booth, while Tilly smiled, knowing that her speech didn't go to waste. It was time to bury the hatchet.
On the way back to the families booth, Alice couldn't stop smiling about her big score from the pepper district. With her son and Gloria following behind in close pursuit.
"These peppers are just what my ten alarm chili is missing, can't wait to get home so I can get started on it." The unmistakable excitement in her voice made Bill start to internally panic. He still had a clear mental picture of that salesman, wondering if it was even legal to sell something that spicy. Soon the internal panic made its way outside.
"Ma, are you sure about this, I mean that guy was right, my eyes were watering from those peppers just by looking at them." He reminded. Right as Bill said that, he pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped his tear filled eyes. "In fact, they're still watering. So I think I gonna skip your chili tonight. Alright?" His stomach hurt just picturing his ma slurping down that first bowl of literal fire.
Gloria's face twisted in horror just imaging the heat level. She was positive she could feel the heat radiating from the bag that contained the peppers. "I'm gonna agree with Bill also. I'll just eat something that's less intense." Gloria informed. "Maybe some of the families vegetables from the rooftop café garden would suffice, I could make a nice salad." She clasped her hands together happily.
Alice simply shrugged, she couldn't blame them for not wanting to live on the edge, "Your loss, Billy boy. You too Gloria. Just means more for me and the grandkids then." She licked her lips. "And if those two don't want any then I'll eat it all myself. You are all weak when it comes to heat."
'I gotta give Alice props, she sure is a risk taker.' Gloria thought. She had to admit, Alice Green did have tenacity. Gloria only wished she had more of that.
"I hope Cricket and Tilly took care of the booth like I asked them to." Bill could only imagine what kind of chaos had unfolded in their short absence. Being mischievous was kind of Cricket's thing.
"Uh, Bill? This is Cricket you're talking about, remember?" Gloria reminded."The same person who brought animals into the cafe over a bunch of pointless critterballs months ago." The barista couldn't stress that last one enough. She still remembered the property damage which lead to Cricket working at Big Coffee in order to pay off a debt but overtime, Gloria had come to accept Cricket and his lunatic family. Part of that also being that Gloria was a Green now.
All three of them knew they would find out the state of the booth very soon, just by knowing that the Greens did tend to leave carnage and a massive trail of destruction wherever they went. They mentally prepared themselves for they thought they would find.
Chip was so focused on restocking his produce ammunition to overthrow Cricket, he was oblivious to his rival approaching him from behind. "Get me more tomatoes!" He demanded, shouting the command to his workers, via his earpiece.
"Chip Whistler!" The harsh tone lacing Cricket's voice made the blonde quickly turn around in concern. An angry glare was resting upon his face as he turned around to face the country bumpkin. "Chip I don't like you and you don't like me but this fighting can't go on." Cricket sat the tomatoes down, signifying his surrender. The crowds of spectators who had either witnessed the feud fight or who had been a part of the madness gasped before looking at Chip and then back to Cricket. "We need to set aside our pride before both our businesses are destroyed. Will you join me?" The young boy reached an open hand out to his rival.
The Wholesome Foods manager raised an eyebrow. Some small part of him suspected a trick but he wasn't about to succumb to it. Not wanting to take any chances after his first encounter with the Greens, Chip kept his guard up. He was on high alert now, ready to defend if necessary. "Really? No tricks? No tomatoes behind your back?" He was trying to toy with Cricket as he waltzed up to him, while sneakily grabbing a handful of tomatoes from his stores booth along the way just to be safe. To which the ten year old didn't take any notice of.
"No sir, only my honest hand." Cricket promised. "My sister's right, if this cycle keeps going, there won't be anything left for either one of us. So what do you say?" Chip began to extend his free hand but he stopped suddenly and thumbed his chin. Sarcasm is what practically left his mouth.
"Hm...I don't know kid, I offered to talk this through with you earlier but you didn't seem like you wanted to. All you wanted to do was drive me and my crew away from here. And why would I want to do business with you or your crazy family after what your awful food did to my teeth?" That grim day that destroyed a small part of Chip's pride was still residing in his mind while he ran his tongue over the composite resin replacement.
Cricket couldn't believe what he was hearing; it wasn't their fault Chip's teeth broke. It was his own self ignorance that blinded him from the harsh reality. Chip definitely lacked the ability to forgive. Guess it was true what they said about how 'money corrupts'. "What? All this started because you didn't heed my warning, that produce wasn't real."
"Exactly". Tilly, (who had been listening in on the whole conversation) soon appeared behind her brother, ready to back him up. "The truth of the matter is Chip that, when we first met, we only had enough produce to fill half your order. In return, we made fake food out of inedible objects: newspapers as lettuce, chair legs as carrots and various types of sports balls and other inanimate objects for apples and peaches. What you tried to "taste" was actually a painted billard ball made to look like an apple." The girl explained.
"I was just trying to put Green Family Farms on the map but I staked my family's reputation all for the money." Cricket sighed in disappointment, wiping the smeared tomatoes from his face. All while guilt washed itself all over the Green siblings.
Chip on the other hand didn't know how to respond or even what to think. "I'm not sure I believe you."
"But it was true, you did bite into a billard ball that was made to look like an apple. Think about it, is fruit supposed to be so hard that you can't bite off a piece?"
"No, it isn't. My tooth broke cause I couldn't even bite into it." Reality quickly smacked the blonde square in the face. "It really was fake?" The Green siblings sadly nodded in agreement.
"Hey, I've got the solution."
"What's that Saxon?" Tilly asked, holding her handmade sack companion up to her ear. What she imagined him saying or rather, suggesting, caused her to eyes to widened but it seemed so crazy that it could possibly work in everyone's favor. Hopefully.
"I have a crazy idea Tilly. What if we teamed up and merged the two businesses? That way everyone benefits and this fighting stops for good."
Tilly almost dropped Saxon out of shock but at the same time, she was instantly on board with the idea. "You really think that would benefit both parties?" She shook Saxon's head yes. 'Well alright, if you say so. I'll tell him." Tilly then squealed excitedly and shook her brothers shoulder while jumping up and down. "Cricket! Cricket!" The young farmer turned to look at her. "Me and Saxon just came up with a solution to benefit both of our businesses and to put an end to this pointless fighting. What if we joined together..." Tilly was then cut off mid sentence.
"With the enemy? Did you have a giant bowl of crazy flakes at breakfast?" Cricket remarked, his eyes widening at the mention of the words 'joined' and 'together'. He thought Tilly had wandered off of the deep end for a moment and the blonde standing beside him actually agreed. At least there was one thing that they both agreed on.
Chip and Cricket soon gave the same horrified expression to Tilly and Saxon. Their ears not believing for a second what they had just heard. "I'm with the country kid. No way that would end well. In fact, I hate myself for actually agreeing with him right now." Chip groaned, dropping the tomatoes he was holding that were meant to be launched at Cricket and then took a look around for Greg and Rose. After finally locating them, the manager called them to his side. "Greg, Rose come here." Chip ordered. At Chip's beckoned call, the two Wholesome employees hustled over.
"Yes boss. What is it? Greg wondered, wiping the tomato pieces from his face while Rose did the same. The other workers lied amongst the carnage of wasted food in anguish, some of them didn't even have the energy to move at all. They accepted defeat and flopped face down back into the gooey puddle of fresh tomato juice.
The blonde gestured twords Tilly. "Apparently, she thinks we should team up with the Greens and do business together." All eyes soon wandered to the young country girl.
"Well, allow me to explain. Or rather, let Doctor Tilly explain." Tilly shrugged on a brown suit jacket overtop her dress and donned a pair of glasses before pulling up a vegetable crate and sitting down. "Please sit." She offered while crossing her legs and fishing a notepad and pen from her pocket. The two boys did as they were told, keeping a respectful distance from each other curiosity of two more empty crates. "Alright let's think about this. Cricket, Chip, your petty rivalry has literally decimated the farmers market, you've wasted so much product trying to run each other out of here."
"He started it!" The two foes barked, while pointing an accusing finger in the others direction. Greg made the 'cat fight' motion with one of his hands while Rose silently laughed beside him.
Tilly shook her head as she scribbled things down. Progress was not being made. Soon she decided to phrase the idea differently. "Ok, but look at it this way. Wholesome Foods has multiple locations around here, people tend to spend big money there and Green Family Farms was a trusted name back home." Tilly smiled proudly after stating that last fact. The two people across from her looked at each other and then back to Tilly, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Cricket, Chip, individually our two businesses are good but together we could probably make a great team. This is just like what you wanted the first time we met Chip."
Greg chimed in with his own comment,"Well, they do say 'two heads are better than one'." Rose nodded in agreement beside him."I have to agree boss, we can't let both our businesses get destroyed. Maybe this could..."
"Shut up Greg!" The blonde snapped. He then felt something gnawing at him as he pondered over Greg's suggestion, before he ran a hand down his face in defeat, "Ugh, I hate that you're right." Soon he trained his gaze back to Tilly. "How certain are you that a merger could work?"
"Just think about it Chip, if we merge our businesses and collaborate, I'm sure we could make it together. That way our family will get more exposure and Wholesome Foods will gain more buisness, just like what you wanted when we first met. Like papa told me and Cricket; 'Green Family Farms was a trusted name back home.' So, what do you say?"
Chip and Cricket soon turned and faced each other. Cricket was the first to extend his hand, just like what he tried to do earlier. "This is why Tilly calls herself the feud soother, she does get results. Well, I guess I'm willing to try this out if you are Chip. I do think we could double profit. Can we give this a try and see where it goes?"
Chip, being so skeptical, hesitated for a few seconds but soon complied. After all, he didn't want his reputation and business ruined. "Well, alright kid you both seem confident, let's bury the hatchet and give this another try. Truce?"
"Truce." The two former foes grasped each others hands and gave a firm handshake, letting everyone know it was legit.
Tilly smiled, satisfied with the progress before turning to Greg and Rose who flashed the same expression. Rose even gave a thumbs up. Tilly Green didn't consider herself the "The Feud Soother" for nothing. She then sat back and patiently awaited the rest her family's return. She couldn't wait to deliver the good news.
The only concerning part was how the rest of the Greens would react.
A/N
Welcome to my new main Big City Greens fic. This is the one I've mentioned previously in my last two stories. I've been planning this for a while cause I've been thinking; what would've happened if Chip and the Greens had partnered up? The original plot was going to involve Gwendolyn Zapp and GMO foods like the Frenemy Mine Spongebob Episode. Of course, the more I thought it over, I decided not to mess with it. Maybe a different time. ;) Alright, until next time, keep smiling and stay Wholesome. :)