Chapter 3: Famine
(Insert "Desolation / Nothing But Beans" from Fun & Fancy Free)
No longer was the valley happy. For without the magic of the harp or the golden eggs of the Swanna, all was misery, misery, misery. Soon, ruin and desolation spread over the land. Everything was drying up. The trees, flowers, grass and other plants died. The fields of golden corn turned to dust. The laughing brook flowed no more. A crack formed on the ground and the last of the water drained away. Would you believe, to think that this dismal desert was once called Happy Valley? Now it was Gruesome Gulch. Days passed, weeks passed. The birds stopped singing. The Miltank stopped giving milk. And all the people of Happy Valley grew sad and hungry.
Ash and his Pokémon were among the people affected by the famine. Their busy, noisy farmyard was silent. And Bossy the Miltank was dried up too. And inside this dilapidated house, the poor, unfortunate souls were gripped by the pangs of starvation. They were still breathing, still conscious, still alive, but not much. They were reduced to eating little amounts of what food they had left. "Wonder what we'll have for dinner today?" asked Incineroar.
"I don't know! It's been tough since Bossy quit giving milk," said Greninja.
"She's now an udder failure," said Oshawatt. Everybody glared at Oshawatt. For none of them found his joke funny. Ash cut their bread so thin you could see through it. Ash took out the jar of beans. There was one bean left. Ash had to cut it thin too. So thin that one could see it through the slices of bread. There would be no second helpings tonight. Pikachu was very sad cause he may never hear the Primarina Harp's singing again. He was still thinking about the kiss. Did the harp really like him or did she kiss him cause she could? And now, he may never know.
"Come on, Pikachu. You haven't touched your food. You need to eat," said Ash.
"Okay," said Pikachu, taking his bean sandwich.
"We must do something," said Lucario.
"We'll starve if we don't," said Incineroar.
"I'm a big Pokémon. I need a bigger amount of food than this!" grumbled Charizard.
(End Music)
Just then, Ash heard a knock on the door. Ash answered the door and saw it was Brock and Serena. "Brock, Serena. What can I do for you?" asked Ash.
"How are you doing during this famine?" asked Serena.
"Not too good. My Pokémon can't take eating little food. Pikachu seems to the most sad cause he loved hearing the Primarina Harp sing," said Ash.
"Poor thing," said Serena.
"We came by cause I came to warn you about something," said Brock.
"What's that?" asked Ash.
"One of the Pokémon has been really driven insane by hunger. So insane, he's resorting to stealing other people's food and butchering their Miltank and Tauros for beef," said Brock.
"That's terrible," said Ash.
"I suggest you move your Miltank indoors," said Brock. "Okay," said Ash.
(Insert "Donald, No!" from Fun & Fancy Free)
Ash went outside and walked up to his Miltank, Bossy. "Come on, Bossy. We need to get you inside. It's dangerous to be out here," said Ash. Ash and Bossy started to walk toward the house. Suddenly, somebody sprang from behind a rock. It was a Kleavor. It looked thin and scrawny. And he had a crazy and hungry look on his face. Bossy mooed in alarm and dodged its axe like hands. "Is that it?! That Kleavor?!" asked Ash.
"I'm afraid so!" said Brock.
"Come back, you fugitive from a hamburger!" said the Kleavor. Bossy jumped onto a large fence post and mooed in panic. Before Kleavor could hack the Miltank, Greninja threw a heavy amount of frubbles, covered its axe like hands, making them useless. But that didn't stop the crazed Pokémon. Kleavor began biting Bossy's tail. Ash and Brock pulled at the Kleavor to try to pry him off of Bossy. "Give it here! Let me . . . ," shouted Kleavor. Pikachu and the other Pokémon jumped at the group and began to attack the crazed Kleavor. A dust cloud was created as the struggle happened. When the dust settled, Greninja used even more frubbles to glue Kleavor to the ground. "I just gotta eat. I'm so . . . hungry," babbled Kleavor.
(End Music)
When word got out about Kleavor being taken down, Princess Xerneas sent some guards to it to the castle dungeon. Ash and Brock were doing their best to soothe Bossy. "It's okay. It's okay, Bossy. The bad Pokémon is gone," said Ash.
"What's to prevent any more craved Pokémon, or even farmers from getting to her?" asked Brock. Ash thought for a moment.
"Guys, I'm going to be making a tough decision," said Ash.
"Pika?" asked Pikachu.
"I'm gonna have to leave Bossy under the care of Princess Xerneas for a while," said Ash. Everybody gasped when they heard this.
Well, Happy Valley has now been reduced to a wasteland. As you read, I loosely adapted the scene where Donald, driven insane by hunger tries to butcher the cow. But in my version, it's a wild Kleavor. After what happened, Ash has decided to leave Bossy in the care of the princess. Some of the dialogue from the Pokémon are taken from an old comic adaptation as well as a storybook version. Next chapter, you probably guess what Ash and Pikachu are going to get in exchange . . .