A New Journey - Ash Ketchum {2}

Chapter 13 - Snack Attack

While searching for another Island with a Gym for Ash to battle at, Togepi and the Pikachu spotted a few Islands in the distant and called out for the trainers' attentions. The kids followed their gazes to the Islands.

"Hey, look!" Ash said. Tracey smiled, "Oh yeah! We coming up to what they call the Seven Grapefruit Islands," he said. "Grapefruit Islands?" Misty repeated. Tracey nodded, "Yeah. All the Islands are supposed to be covered with grapefruit grows. Come to think of it, the grapefruits should be getting right, right about now."

"Really?" Emma asked and he nodded. Ash tilted his head, "Ah. Why don't we stop and check 'em out?" he asked. "Yeah, let's go," Emma agreed. "Lapras, full speed ahead to the Grapefruit Islands," Ash said and Lapras called out happily before swimming toward them.

...................

The kids reached to one of the Islands and looked around the large and bountiful grapefruits harvest. "Wow!" Emma said as they all smiled. "Just look at the size of them!" Ash said and picked off one.

"They look delicious," Misty said. "And this one look like it's already ready," Ash said. "Let's eat one," Emma said. Togepi waved its hands around, "Togy, Togy."

"Stop!" The kids looked to the side in confusion and saw a young woman running up with an angry look, holding a stick. "Stop, thieves!"

The kids looked startled by it. "Uh, did she say thieves?" Misty asked. "Is she talking about... us?" Emma asked. "No way, we just took one..." Ash trailed off, looking down at the grapefruit in his hands nervously.

The woman seemed to be talking to them, "I've caught you red-handed!" She reached to them and tried to hit the kids with the stick, but then Lapras used Water Gun on her to protect her trainer and friends, which made her hit the ground.

The kids looked surprised and rushed to check up on the woman. "Are you okay?" Ash asked. The woman looked at them in anger and stood up, "You thought you could just sneak in here and steal all our grapefruit? After we worked so hard to grow it!"

"We didn't come here to steal anything," Misty said. "We not grapefruit thieves, honest," Tracey said. "Really. We just got here, ma'am," Emma said. "Yeah, you can take the grapefruit," Ash said and held out the one he was holding.

The woman's angry look disappeared to confusion, and she slowly took the grapefruit from Ash. "You... not trying to take the grapefruits from us?" she asked in surprise. The kids and the Pikachu shook their heads. "No ma'am," Ash said, "We just heard about this place, and we wanted to check it out."

The woman looked embarrassed, "Oh. I'm very sorry, but lately someone's been coming into our groves and stealing our grapefruits," she explained. "I thought they grow by themselves," Ash said with a small smile.

"Yeah, we didn't know these grapefruits belong to someone, we should have asked first before we picked any," Emma said, "We sorry if we caused any trouble." Ash returned Lapras to its Poké ball, "Return, Lapras."

The woman gave a small smile and shook her head, "Oh no, it's alright." She looked at the grapefruit in her hands, "We work so hard to grow those grapefruit, I can't stand the thought of losing a single one to thieves."

"I've never seen one that big before. How do you get them to grow like that?" Misty asked. "It takes a lot of work, and more of a little bit of love," the woman said, "Every winter, we wrap the grapefruit trees with straw to protect them from the cold. We spray them with Insect repellent, and weed them. But all that hard work pays off when the weather warms up, and the trees are covered with beautiful white grapefruit blossoms. That's when we gather Butterfree from neighboring Islands to pollinate the trees of all the Seven Grapefruit Islands so they can produce fruit. And after watering and caring for every single tree, slowly but surely, they start to bear fruit. They almost like my children, so I care about all of them."