Chapter 8: Population Much!

-x-

"Braden! I have come to take your powers from you!" The Witch Princess proclaimed, slamming open the door to the farmer's house, to find herself pause at the sight. She found the red, blue, purple, and light orange harvest sprites sitting around a plate of sweets on the table. The Harvest Goddess sat across Chelsea. The witch's expression, upon seeing all of them, questioned the rancher.

Chelsea looked up from her food on the table, startled by the sudden burst. "Oh, Witch Princess. Came to join us?" A feeble smile came across her face as she thought, 'They each came here on their own. Might as well invite everyone now.'

Bark Bark!

"…Say, Chelsea, have you named your dog yet?"

-x-

Chelsea's POV

Today was absolutely a good day. I felt so proud of what I had accomplished. I am soooo good. I beamed as I looked at all the red ripe tomatoes that sat in boxes, all grown by me. They were in such good condition, though it wasn't the best. Next will be my corn!

Taro backed away from the boxes, nodding his head with satisfaction. "Very good, Very good, Braden. Today you have shipped 81 tomatoes today. It's quite an accomplishment."

"Yes, it surely is. I am so delighted!" Felicia smiled gleefully. "These crops look delicious too!"

"Why, thank you!" I smiled, seeing that Elliot nearby needed help with the boxes. I bent down and picked up one of the boxes. "I'll help bring this to the beach."

As I followed behind both Taro and Felicia, I walked side by side with Elliot who seemed quite silent. It was troubling walking in the sand as our feet kept sinking in. I believed the sand was purposely trying to make us trip, but it's a good thing we didn't. After traveling back and forth from my ranch to the beach, Elliot and I finally got our rest and sat in the sand.

"Thanks for helping with that… If it was all by myself, the job would have been much slower." Elliot muttered.

"No prob." I looked around and asked, "Where is your sister?"

"Natalie?" He thought for a moment and chuckled. "Was forced to a sleepover with Lanna and Julia." I laughed as well.

"But I didn't think she would go, seeing how much she acts like a boy and all. Sometimes I wish she could act like any other girl than trying to prove herself to Gramps no matter what." He sighed. "Well, I better go finish the job. Thanks again." He nodded to me and stood up, brushing away sand. He then walked off, leaving me alone.

Natalie and Elliot seem to have so many problems, or at least from Natalie's point of view. Elliot still seems to care for her though just as a brother should. I don't know what to do with their complicated relationship though…

"Braden?"

I looked up to find Denny standing behind me and his face looking down at me. "Yo."

"Whatcha doin' just sitting there?" He sat next to me, shuffling sand under his boots.

"I was helping Elliot with the shipments today." I grinned. "I shipped a lot today. Be proud of my presence."

He grinned as well. "Let's celebrate then. My treat for the hard work!" He suddenly shot to his feet and pulled at my arm, beginning to drag me away from the beach.

As we walked, my eyes fell down on Denny's back. This guy surely was something. He treated me nice, like an older brother. He was an awesome friend, along with Kuu who has been much nicer to me recently.

I quickly realized that he was heading toward the diner. He opened the doors rather quickly and proclaimed, "Luke, cook us a great meal today!" I was startled by his sudden outburst, and Denny forced me down on a seat and sat next to me.

Luke nodded and swiftly went to work. "And what would you like today?"

Denny looked at me. "What do you want? I'll pay so buy whatever you like." He placed a menu in front of me.

I placed a finger on my chin, scanning over the list. I stared at the prices in disbelief. They were all so expensive! I can't let Denny buy such expensive things no matter how tasty and delicious they may be. That would be rude…

"Braden?" He nudged his elbow at me.

"Bread." I plainly said, looking at him with the most serious face I could give.

"Yeeeaaah, right." He raised a brow and sighed, looking at the cook now. "I want to buy the super deluxe meal for Braden here. I'll have the same as well."

I looked at the list to find what he had just ordered and gaped at the price. "GAH! Denny! That cost too much!"

He gawked. "What? 900g each? That's not expensive."

I shuffled my feet, not knowing what to do, but I felt I soft hand pat my head. Looking at the guy beside me, I found him to be smiling softly.

"Goddess, you worry too much. It's not like I'm poor you know. Just be happy and eat." He assured me.

"But why buy me so much?" I complained quietly.

He quickly answered in a hushed tone. "I heard that you don't get much to eat."

I blinked at his answer, wondering how he found out.

"Ever since I found out, I've been worried if you have been eating to your fill. It's not good if you do that, Bray." He stood up and walked off to the stand where you can get your forks and spoons and eating necessities.

I blinked as Luke came up to me, setting our orders on the table. He then said, "The guy has been saving up money for this. He's really worried about you." Luke chuckled as he walked away, back to the counter to soon be mobbed by questions from Lance.

Denny sat back down next to me and handed me a fork and a spoon. He quietly thanked for the food and picked up his spoon and fork, beginning to eat.

It was quiet between us at the moment and I didn't like it…

(Denny's POV)

The silence between us at the moment was bothersome. He just stared at his food with disbelief. I saved up money just to buy this much, lying that it didn't cost so much when it did.

I stabbed a piece of fried fish from my dish… How am I supposed to eat like this? I was worried since I learned that he didn't eat much, an now he's just going to sit here staring at the food without even touchi-

I paused when I felt arms wrap around me and close tightly. Peering down, I found Braden… I suddenly felt my cheeks flare up and stuttered, "Br-Braden! What are y-you doing?"

He answered quickly still holding on to me, "I felt bad and in reaction glomped on to you…"

I wanted to push him away, but then again… I didn't want to either. I set down my fork and spoon and let him just sit there for a while, hugging me… I wouldn't say it felt right, but it wasn't bad either. I suddenly felt a smile tug at my lips and did my best to resist it, but when he let go, it was sorta disappointing… what am I saying? …

"Thank you for worrying about me." He said, picking up his fork and spoon, saying his thanks and beginning to actually eat the food.

I watched him with amusement. I didn't think he would actually touch the food. It suddenly made me happy inside. I quickly hugged him as well saying, "Ah, Braden I hate you so much!" While I was hugging him, I noticed that he was also really small compared to me. Weird.

He stuffed the rice in his mouth and looked at me face to face. He said something, but before we could comprehend what he said, the rice in his mouth flew all over my face. I sat there for a moment, knowing that the food on his mouth was on my face. I did find this disturbing.

"Oh, crap! I'm sorry, Denny!" He apologized, wiping away the food.

I laughed. "Wow, Braden. It's not nice sharing like that."

"Shut up and just eat your food." Braden took another big bite of the main course. It was entertaining watching him eat, since I never knew he had such a big appetite, possibly bigger than mine.

-x-

No POV

Chelsea and Denny thanked Luke for the meal and exited out the diner doors.

"So, Bray, where ya off to now? Going home?" Denny asked yawning. "I think I'm gonna head home now."

Chelsea nodded, patting her belly. "I would, but there's something I wanna check out. I'll see ya tomorrow then." She waved good bye and left Denny in front of the doors, going behind the diner.

She wanted to check out the Inn that was newly remodeled, told by Gannon. She hadn't been able to check it out yet and wanted to see how well the job was done, but of course it had to look good since Gannon upgraded it after all. Passing by some decorative bushes, she found the building to have grown wider, and she felt excited to see what the inside looked like.

Entering in, her eyes fell upon the fountain that sat in the center. The counter was off to the right where it originally was and more rooms and halls were added. It looked slightly like a hotel excpet for the fact that it had no levels. The floor was all carpet, the same color as before, but it surely accented the place well.

"Oh, welcome, Braden!" Vanessa, the owner of the Inn along with her husband, greeted the rancher, walking up to the rancher. "So what do you think? The place looks nice doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. Gannon did a wonderful job." She nodded.

"Well, after all, it's thanks to you that he actually did it. Thank you!" She smiled, patting Chelsea's shoulders. "I hope more customers will come now that we've upgraded. Well, thank you for coming and please make yourself feel at home while you're here."

Chelsea nodded again and looked around. Out of a nearby window, she saw fireflies flying outside. It was getting late, and thus she decided to leave.

-x-

The Next Day… (Chelsea's POV)

It's been a long time since I was filled up like that. I have to thank Denny again. But now that I ponder over the facts and details, he surely does worry over me a lot. It's not bad and I like the fact that he's worried (but then again don't since I feel like a burden), but I can't help the feeling of being at least a little bit suspicious over it. But never mind that for now. I have my crops to attend to anyway..

I suddenly heard barking ring through my ears and jumped, dropping my watering can. I saw my dog step away from my watering can as it crashed against the ground, water flowing out of it. Both of us just stared at it for a while until I snapped out of it and bent down to pick up my watering can.

The dog looked up at me, sitting down and wagging his tail, tongue sticking out. He looked so innocent just sitting there. I looked at my arm to see where I was bitten. The bites were still there, but it was fading now. It wasn't so bad, but it did look bad when it flowed with blood. I still couldn't believe that a cute little pup like this would be chased after.

I looked at the puppy again and asked it, "What should I call you?"

The little guy just titled his head and let his tongue out, panting. Flare's hoof suddenly appeared beside him and the dog stood on all fours, beginning to weave in and out of Flare's legs, probably to the horse's annoyance. But they would have to get along since they live in the same place, the stable.

"Braden!" I heard someone scream and turned to look at Denny, running toward me. His face looked frantic, as if some huge disaster happened. I didn't think I'd see him this early though.

But that's when I noticed he was running towards me, probably not caring whether or not he would trample over my beloved crops! I yelled, "DENNY! DON'T YOU DARE TAKE A STEP ON MY CROPS!"

He suddenly paused, losing his balance and about to fall over them, but he was able to stop himself and quickly tip-toe gently around my plants, making sure he wasn't even close to thinking he was going to touch a single leaf. Once he stood in front of me, he sighed with deep relief.

"So, what brings you here, suddenly screaming with a frantic face on and about to carelessly hurt all my hard work on my crops?" I was hinting the sarcasm in my voice.

He bluntly said, "I have stalkers…"

I raised a brow, repeating, "Stalkers…. I'm not surprised." I chuckled.

"Braden, seriously, it's not funny. I woke up this morning just to find them standing outside my house!" He pleaded, using his hands for emphasis.

"Who's "them"?" I quickly came to regret asking that as the ground trembled under our feet. Denny's eyes grew wide and he quickly scooted behind me.

Out of the horizon of how far my eyes could see, a huge group of people, mostly men, came barging in to my property. The first thing I noticed is that all of them had some sort of fishing pole in their hands. They wore boots and fishing attire, something that I'd imagine my dad in whenever he went fishing, and most had glasses. Heh.. Nerds.

I quickly came to notice that they didn't even notice my barrier of crops and I freaked out as one of them suddenly popped out of the group with amazing speed. I screamed and quickly maneuvered, weaving throughout my rows of crops. I saw that the single one that had the incredible speed was about to step on one of my hopeless little growing corn that was desperately calling out to me yelling, "Help me!" (Notice that she has a VERY wide imagination.)

My kickboxing skills flashed on again and I quickly appeared in front of the guy. After that was a blur and the feeling of weight upon my leg disappearing after it raised something in the air. I blinked and saw that the group had their eyes to the sky. I looked up as well to find the same man who was dashing toward me flying in the sky, then falling upon some men in the back of the crowd. Looking at the group, I saw that each of them took a step away from me, which made me chuckle sheepishly.

I felt a large warm and clammy hand on my shoulder. I found that it led to Denny, who had a shocked and sweating expression on his face.

"I have awe for your amazing skills." He quietly mumbled.

"Heh.. Thanks?" I replied, then looked at the group of what I guessed were all fishermen. "Who are these guys? …Wait, are they your stalkers?"

Denny nodded to this question, then asked them, "Why are you following me?"

One of them stood up from the crowd. "I am sorry for us to intrude. Please allow us to introduce ourselves." He looked at both of us and Denny nodded slowly to show to continue on. "My name is Kaleb, the leader of this group."

"Group?" Both Denny and I repeated.

"Yes, we are the -"

"FISHERMAN CLUB!" The others behind him screeched loudly.

"Pbbfftt," Came out of my mouth, which I quickly covered to hide my stifled giggling about how horrible a name could get. And I thought I was bad at naming things.

Kaleb sighed, rubbing his temples. "We couldn't think of a better name."

"Group?" Denny cried incredulously. "You mean stalkers… All of you just gathered outside my house this morning, ready to knock down my door and take me hostage…" (Notice that he has an over-imaginative mind as well.)

"We are not stalkers, no siree we aren't. We just wanted to thank you for the fish you had caught." Kaleb nodded and the rest of them seemed to agree. "In the city, your variety of fish up in the markets were amazing. It's the main reason why we came."

"Huh?" Denny's expression was full of confusion. "Weird. I never sent fish to the city." He then flashed his brown eyes on me and swung his tan arm around my shoulders. "It was all Braden here that caught all the fish your talking about."

I blinked as he grinned. Looking toward the group in front of us, their faces thought otherwise, most of them reflecting, 'A puny guy like that? No way could he have caught all those fish." I shivered as I found their eyes all cast toward me with great disbelief.

One of them started. "But this is a rancher. And there's no way -"

"BAH! Pish-posh. It doesn't matter if he's a rancher, an astronaut, or even a runaway supermodel. Anyone could fish and not be blamed for it!" Denny boldly said to them waving a hand as if he could care less.

I smiled thinking, 'Boy, would Lanna love to hear that."

"He could even be a hobo on the street for all I care!" Denny yelled, raising his hands for emphasis.

"Oh, thanks, Denny. I feel so loved being called a hobo." I remarked. He quickly turned around making excuses.

"There's no way a kid like that could catch some good fish."

"No, we still can't believe that."

"It was all Denny who shipped those fish."

Kaleb shushed the group with their comments and turned to look at us again. "I am sorry, but it seems were mistaken."

I looked at Denny who seemed to look quite irritated. He raised his hand and veered away from them, briskly hissing. "Leave." I was surprised by this gesture. Well, I'd never expect Denny to do so anyway. He didn't look like the type to suddenly get all harsh since at first glance he looks like an easy going fellow.

The simple and cutting request came across to the group and they slowly left one by one. As they left, I heard a few of them mutter some things, shifting glances toward me. I couldn't help but think that most were also glaring at me.

Once they had left, I was alone in my field with Denny, who stood somewhere in a distance behind me. Turning around, I found him examining my plants quietly, not daring to raise a hand and touch with his finger after my several threatens to him. He looked up and locked eyes with me for a moment, until he scratched the back of his neck and chuckled. "Sorry about that."

I shook my head. "I would probably feel the same way." He sighed at my comment.

He smiled. "Nah, I can't think of a time where you would suddenly lose grip of your nerves."

…Okay, I completely disagree with that statement. I flip out basically EVERY day and scream… at times. Oh, Denny, if only you knew…

"But I really hate it." He said quietly, walking over and sitting on the green grass next to the field. He suddenly frowned and his eyes grew wide. "Oh, that's so wrong…"

"What?" I asked walking over to him.

"Where's that dog?" He asked quickly, jerking his head around

"Um.. " My eyes grew wide with realization and I recoiled. "Ooh, that's gross…Want a change of pants?"

"Yeah, that would be cool." He stood up, and glowered at my dog who passed by us, happily enjoying its oblivious freedom. "Have you named the pooch yet?"

"No.. not yet." I answered, still wondering what to name the pup as Denny followed me into my home.

Now it's not everyday where I would invite a boy to my house. If I were to invite a boy to my house in the city… well, most of the people in my house would first interrogate the boy, then secretly stalk us throughout the house, and before I knew it, the dude would be gone before we had a chance to do anything that the whole family was thinking. But then again, I would never really know how that felt since I've never invited a boy to my house… that is until today. But there's nothing to worry about. After all, Denny has been coming by like every other day or so and he's not the type of guy that would suddenly jump on people and… yeah.

I opened the door to my house and the thought quickly backfired. Dude was the place a mess… and there were things… personal things laying where they shouldn't be.

"Is something wrong, Bray? You suddenly stopped…" I turned my head toward him slowly, knowing that right now there was a huge frown on my face, and it wasn't the prettiest face around either.

"Um, do you think you could wait a moment?" I asked, stealthily slipping to the inner side of my door, making sure it wasn't opened too wide for him to see.

"Uhh.. Sure?" He didn't seem too sure of his answer.

I smiled and gently closed the door. My back slammed against it as I stared at the messed up room, looking like it had been hit by three tornados with my special belongings laying where they shouldn't have been laying. Underwear, everywhere. Panties and Bras and Girl Stuff galore. It was weird… I was pretty sure this morning that I left my house this morning knowing that this place did not look like this. And to completely forget I'm on my period right now wasn't the greatest thing of all time. Of course… it just had to happen today.

"Why is all of this scattered all over my floor?" I mumbled, picking up unused sanitary napkins and placing them inside an open cabinet where they were supposed to be.

"Braden? What's taking so long?" I heard Denny holler through my door.

"Uhh… just wait one moment!" I yelled back. I had no time to organize my belongings. I shut the cabinet and began picking up some of my clothes that were totally not for a young man. It's not normal to see the "best looking guy in the neighborhood" walking around with red mini shorts and a tank-top with hearts on it, right?

I picked up all the clothes and threw them at the bottom corner of my miraculously, still untouched closet which hasn't been hit by the terrible tornado. As I made sure the clothes couldn't be seen, I heard some shuffling coming from my drawer…. That's where my underwear was…

Out of no where, one of my bras flew toward my face and some of my folded panties rolled toward me. I quickly gather them and cautiously walked toward my drawer to find that one of the drawers were open, the one filled with my bras. I extended my hand and searched until I found the little pervert and yanked him out.

"Noe?" I gawked at the little red Harvest Sprite. "What in the world are you doing in my underwear?"

"Braden! I'm coming in!" Denny called out and I stared at the door knob as it turned.

Oh my goodness gracious. It was probably one of the most dramatic moments of my life so far. Like those moments in movies… where everything is in slow motion. It is not funny at all.

I stuffed Noe along with all my underwear and quickly pushed in the drawer. I was going to get my answers from that harvest sprite later.

Denny stepped in and looked around. "Dude, the place is clean." He closed the door behind him and continued looking around.

"Looking for something?"

He paused and looked at me, as if he didn't know what to say. "…Braden, was there a girl in here screaming just now?"

I nearly fell back. "Err.. No. Why?"

He placed his hands on his hips and sighed, "Phew. I thought I was hearing things."

I laughed along sheepishly, grimacing as I turned away to get his pants. I creaked open my closet and searched around for some huge pants that could possibly fit on Denny. I'm happy that I also did a little shopping while we were at the city, though I had to be very discreet.

I quickly stiffened as I heard the sound of slipping pants. Oh, how awkward this was… I dared not to even look at him and just threw the pants his way, briefly saying, "Here. Hopefully this would fit on you."

He caught the pants, and I heard the sound of slipping again and zipping. "Thanks!" He examined the big black spot on his pants and grimaced, folding it up.

Turning around, I found the pants to be slightly tight around him and apologized, "Sorry. I'm pretty small when it comes to size."

"Yeah, I noticed." He said. "But it doesn't feel as tight as it looks."

I smiled, wondering what we were to do now. Looking at him, I found his face to be quite dim, as if he were thinking very deeply than usual. Actually now that I think about it, he seemed to act quite differently with all his sudden mood changes.

I then heard him mumble something I couldn't understand.

I blinked. "Huh?"

He blinked also and shook his head. Slowly, he began walking toward me. Once he towered over me, he slammed both of his hands on my shoulders and looked straight at me in the eye. "Braden."

I looked at him still wondering what was going on.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then said, well actually more like yelled as if he was forcing it out, "Let's be brothers."

Brothers? Wow, I totally wasn't expecting that. I smiled as I realized that I did think of Denny that way and answered, "Sure! That would be great!"

He quickly retracted away from me and pulled off his purple bandana, ruffling his brown curling locks. His face seemed really frustrated still and rather.. Disappointed.

That's when I wanted to ask him. "Denny? What do you hate so much?"

This time, he stiffened and his expression seemed to be quite surprised. His eyes lifted to look at me, but then he looked away again to another place of my house.

While I was wondering, he paused for a moment, looked at me, then began walking toward my cabinets. His back was facing me so I couldn't see what he was up to, but then he turned around again to be holding something that made my heart skip a beat and almost have a heart attack.

"Braden… why do you have this?" This fisherman asked me skeptically, examining the unused, wrapped up tampon in his hands. "Don't tell me…" He raised a brow toward me.

"NO! No.. Tch. Nooo way.." I stepped toward him, snatching away the little necessity. I couldn't think of any good excuse until a certain movie popped into my head with the same situation.

"Nosebleeds." I quickly answered.

"Nosebleeds?"

"Yes, Nosebleeds. Get them all the time. These are really handy." I said, waving around the tampon in the air. Goddess, I would be the happiest person alive if he were to at least be dense at this moment and not understand that I was lying my face off now.

He took back the tampon, unwrapped it and stuck it in his nose. "Heh. Your right. Why didn't I ever think of this?" He seemed to be quite amused by this. And that was pretty awkward itself. I sighed and snatched away the feminine necessity within his nose. "Dude, don't waste them!" Really, I'm running out and it's flowing season for me. Like, Denny would need this anyway.

"Haha. Yeah." He still seemed discontented and he walked over to pick up his pants. "Well, I better skedaddle. Don't wanna bother you anymore than I already have."

Bothersome? "You're not bothering me at all."

He had a small smile come across his face and he ruffled my hair. "Yeah. See ya little bro." He then quickly left out the door, leaving me to wonder in my house.

What in the world was wrong with that guy?

-x-

The next day I found Lanna in Chen's shop, buying tons of things of course. I decided to help her out and walk her home, but it wasn't as peaceful as we expected. We were chased after tons of reporters and another large group, who forced both or us to sprint all the way to her house.

Once we were inside, Lanna complained, "Oh, those guys have been following me everywhere! How annoying." She stomped toward her room as I followed her with the groceries.

"Um, where do you want me to put this?" I asked, carrying the bags full of the things she had bought.

"Over there is fine." She answered, flailing her hand to wherever that was.

I placed the bags wherever and sat down on a nearby chair. "So you know those people?"

"NO… absolutely not. But some of them are reporters, trying to get some of their stupid questions answered which I refuse to answer. And then there's these people… group to be exact, called the Lanna's Official Fan Club."

I blinked, seeing that the Fisherman's Club wasn't the only club in town.

"There all so annoying." She pouted, laying her head down on the table.

"It's probably one of the reasons you left the city and popstar life right?" I guessed and she nodded. "I probably wouldn't have let that get to me…" I noticed she didn't seem happy with that answer.

"What? Don't you know how much pressure that it is? And them following you everywhere like obsessed maniacs is creepy!" She shivered.

"Yeah, but that also means that they like you right?" She seemed to pause at this and I continued. "If there still obsessed over you even after you decided to take a break, they surely must have been truly dedicated to you. And aren't fans the main reason why a singer continues to do what she does best?"

She sighed. "I don't like you at all Braden. You're too good at understanding the situation… like a girl would."

I chuckled. "I'm capable."

Once I left her house, I was instantly mobbed by those people who were chasing us earlier. They started accusing, threatening, questioning, and all sorts of other things… also along with the news that I was so called "Lanna's boyfriend", which I really wasn't, but they didn't allow me to plead my case.

-x-

A Few Days Later… (No POV)

"Lanna, Denny, you could at least do something to those two groups. They've been bothering Braden nonstop for days!" Natalie scolded.

"I refuse to meet with those hooligans." Lanna said, turning away.

"Don't feel like it." Denny curtly said.

Natalie stared at the two. "Oh, so that's you best excuse?"

"Yes." Both the fisherman and popstar answered immediately.

Natalie turned around to look at both Julia and Elliot. "Yeah, they are not comprehending my language of knocking some sense into them stupid pea brains of theirs."

Julia frowned. "But Braden is having so much trouble right now. And he barely ever comes to the shop now."

Elliot nodded. "He hasn't stopped by to ask for Grandpa Taro to predict the weather. Those groups just keep coming non-stop."

Natalie shook her head and looked at the two again. "Aren't you two going to do anything?"

Both didn't answer.

"Aren't you two going to do something for the person who brought you both here in the first place?"

That was truth. Denny came for the fishes that were shipped by Braden. Lanna came because she found this place to be relaxing, so said by her manager who came to check out the place.

Denny looked at Lanna to find that she was also looking at him as well. The other three couldn't help but feel the tension rise and electricity flow in between the two and their death glares.

-x-

That Afternoon… (Chelsea's POV)

It was weird. The atmosphere was still. No loud voices to where you could actually here the swaying of grass. I looked around and found nothing but the ranch as how it usually was. Nobody was around to jump on me with questions or threats.

I would say that I'm glad that it stopped, but it just made things silent now. I guess this could mean I could focus on my animals and plants more -

"BRADEN!" A high pitched and low pitched voice screamed, making me drop my watering can.

I turned and found both Denny and Lanna running down toward me. It wasn't usual to see them running together.

"Hey." I said with a smile on my face.

Once they stood right in front of me, both bowed and immediately said, "I'm sorry!" Both looked at each other and sparks flew in between them… hateful sparks.

I was confused. "Why?"

Lanna started. "All those mean people were bothering you. It was totally unfair and you couldn't continue focusing on your job."

Denny nodded. "Yeah. We decided to put up with those groups and gave them a piece of our own minds. I doubt they'll be bothering you anymore. We made them cry their faces off before they could say a thing."

I chuckled. "Bothering me? … They weren't bothering me."

"What?" They both seemed dumfounded and I decided to explain what really happened.

"They weren't a bother at all. Or at least, at first they were, but towards the end, they weren't. They first accused me and whatnot, and they challenged me to tons of things. The Fisherman's club ended up starting to fish on my farm as they learned some good fish were flowing down here. Then the Lanna's Official Fan Club at first were pestering me with questions, but I had the chance some days ago to finally answer their questions."

Well, I wouldn't say that it went along peacefully like that. Turns out that Kaleb, the leader of the Fisherman's Club, and Logan, the leader of the Lanna's Fan Club, are both brothers with a brutal past. Also me blurting out that both Denny and Lanna didn't get along so well… the two groups are now in a war with each other.

"Both groups have left me alone since then. They stopped pestering me since now they are pestering each other." I looked at both of them and saw that their faces was full of embarrassment.

"Oh, dear. I feel guilty now." Lanna said. "I snapped at them so bad like my manager does when he's about to fire someone. Oh, no…"

Denny sniffled. "Wow. But I think I needed to scold them anyway. It made me feel so much better."

I looked at him again and saw that he was right. Unlike those few days ago, he had no fire like he did, but it seemed to be back again. Then again, I still didn't know what was going on with him since I haven't seen him for quite a while until now.

The two began to bicker and I felt like we were back in our good ol' days again. It brought a nice smile upon my face, but it didn't turn out so well as the sparks turned to flames between the two, almost destroying my ranch, figuratively speaking.

-x-

I sat down on the grass with my puppy on my lap and my horse beside me, ready to watch the sunset.

Light steps crunched against the grass, and I looked down beside me to find Noe, who took a seat next to me.

"Hiya, Noe." I said.

"There's more people on the island. Good job." He said with his witty small voice. "I never thought I'd see so many people come into the farm at a time."

"Haha. Yeah." I suddenly remembered and barked. "Answer me. Why were you in my underwear that day? My house ended up as a mess because of you!"

"I was looking for something." He answered, not even looking at me. "It was the former rancher's. It's yours now."

I suddenly found something shiny fly toward me and I caught it, to find that it was a ring like I've never seen before. It did look weird, but beautiful at the same time. "A ring?"

"Yeah. A goddess ring. Since you have those powers that the Harvest Goddess told you about, you should be able to activate that." The harvest sprite answered. "It should come in handy."

My puppy began barking again and scampered around in front of us, chasing after a firefly that was fluttering about and disappearing.

"So, Chelsea… What's the name of your dog?"

-x-

Heh, I remember I had dreaded Science Fair while writing this chapter. I'm sure I earned a few little laughs in this chapter.

- Do Jo