“Loretta! There’s something wrong with the blueberries! They’re the reason that the village is so sleepy–” “There’s nothing wrong with the blueberries,” Loretta sighed, turning to look at Courage. “The village is so exhausted because of these fauxberries,” She glanced at the rows of berry plants next to her. “They can interfere with a chicken’s energy levels and cause them to feel tired and unwell.” “But those berries look like blueberries!” Courage squawked. He glanced at the berry plants that Loretta was standing next to and studied them. Suddenly, he noticed that the berries growing on them looked a little larger than blueberries. They also all had a noticeable bright pink tinge to them. “These do look a little different from blueberries,” Courage noticed. “But they still look very similar to them; no wonder so many chickens ate them.” He then continued, “You’re saying that these berries are called fauxberries, and that they’re the reason the village is like this? Who planted them here?” “Yes,” Loretta mumbled. She turned away. “And...and…I planted them in the berry fields.” Courage stared at Loretta in shock for a moment. He then crowed loudly, “Why did you do it, Loretta?” The reddish-brown chicken blinked, staring at the ground. She then ashamedly squawked, “...I wanted to win the upcoming marathon—I thought that if everyone felt less energetic, I’d have a better chance. But after I saw how much the berries have impacted the village, I came here to get rid of them—I didn’t know they would be this harmful. It’s all my fault everyone is so sick.” “..You..you can’t do things like that!” Courage angrily squawked. “It’s wrong! What were you thinking?” “I know.. I’m sorry,” Loretta said quietly. “I just thought that.. I would never be fast enough to win the marathon. We’ve been training for weeks, and I haven’t improved at all. And in all of our races, you always end up winning, and I.. never do. I knew if I couldn’t beat one of the fastest chickens in the village in a race, I didn’t even have the slightest chance of winning the marathon unless I did this. But I know now how wrong it was of me.” Courage stood there for a moment, staring at Loretta in disbelief. He then crowed, “Loretta, you’re an incredible runner! Just because I’ve always won the races we’ve had, doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to beat me in a race one day. I’m only able to run so fast because of months of training.” He continued, “I honestly even think that if you continue to keep training every day, you’ll eventually be able to run faster than me,” “Really?” clucked Loretta, miserably looking up from the ground. “Yes, really,” Courage nodded. “You never had to do all of this to win the marathon. All you needed was to train more,” “I know,” Loretta sighed, hanging her head. “I promise from now on, I’ll dedicate more time and effort into training. I’m really sorry, Courage.” “How can we fix the state the village is in?” Courage asked after a few moments. “We need to immediately get some nectar greens from Ginkgo Forest. Nectar greens are an instant cure to the effects of fauxberries. And we have to remove these berries from the fields and warn everyone not to eat them at once–” Loretta started, jumping into action.
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