So, during one of the many reviews I've had for Chains of Reality: Divinity Reborn, from a guest known as Observant Guest, they once brought up the point that Stella and Ronnie Anne don't meet often in fanfiction.
This story is here to remedy that.
Everything belongs to their respective owners, thanks to Observant Guest for giving me the idea, and now, let's get it on!
At Gus' Games and Grub, Stella, the new girl in town, walked towards the counter, ready to try out the food that was served in the establishment.
Now, word of mouth, no pun intended, about the food was all over the place: Some said it was good, some said it was bad, some said it was mediocre, and some said she'd be better off buying one of their smoothies and pay no attention to that boring stuff.
And when she tried it, Stella realized she should stay as far away from Flip as possible.
Regardless, that was back then, this is right now, and she needed to take an order.
"What would you like?" the girl at the counter, Lori, asked.
Stella raised her arm and answered:
"Some fries will be fine for now."
Just as another voice said that too, no less.
"Alright then, two orders of fries coming up," Lori said with a nod.
With that said, the Loud young woman left the counter to tell the order as the girl turned to her right to see who had made the same order as her.
She saw a Hispanic tomboy wearing a yellow jacket with a peculiar symbol on the chest, navy blue shorts, dark purple stockings, and black shoes.
She had slightly tanned skin with freckles, and black hair with purple highlights, tied in a ponytail.
She also had a bucktooth, or what looked like one, which reminded the girl of Lincoln a bit.
"Oh hey, uh, sorry, I didn't notice you were there," Stella remarked, scratching the back of her head with a nervous smile. "I'm new to the city, so I guess I was too immersed in the new location to notice you, hehe."
"It's okay, it happens sometimes," the tomboy answered with a shrug. "Are you enjoying Royal Woods so far?"
"Well, yeah, it's a nice place, with nice people," Stella looked elsewhere. "Not all of my experiences have been nice, but hey, that's something everybody goes through, right?"
The tomboy chuckled. "You can say that again. Hey, how about we talk some more while we eat our food?"
Stella nodded, and a couple seconds later, Lori returned with the girls' order of fries, and they went to a table and sat down.
"My name is Ronnie Anne," the tomboy answered as she grabbed a fry. "Are you Stella, the new girl in town that Lame-O told me about?"
"Lame-O?" Stella repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Sorry, force of habit," the tomboy said with a chuckle. "I'm talking about Lincoln Loud."
"Oh, well, yes, I'm Stella," the girl answered with a little smile, before she took a bite out of her food. "And going by your name, you're the girl that used to date him, right?"
Ronnie Anne scratched the back of her head. "I like to think our relationship was a bit more complicated than that, but sure, let's act like it was that simple."
"I see, okay then," Stella grabbed another fry and ate it. "So, what happened between you and Lincoln? He told me that you had to move away, but he didn't elaborate."
"Well, to make a long story short, Mom was very concerned about how my brother and I were doing in Royal Woods," Ronnie Anne answered with a sigh. "So, without telling us beforehand, she made an agreement with our cousins, the Casagrandes, so we could go live with them on their apartment in Great Lakes City."
"Great Lakes City?" Stella looked at the ceiling as she thought about the name. "Isn't that the city that's three hours away from Royal Woods?"
"Yeah, but it takes three hours to go from that place to here and back, so, basically six hours," Ronnie Anne answered, rolling her eyes. "That's more or less a third of the day gone by just by traveling to one place to the other, a fourth if we start counting at midnight."
"I see..." Stella scratched her chin. "But knowing that, you wouldn't just come back here for nothing, would you?"
"You got sharp eyes: I like that," Ronnie Anne smiled. "My brother and Lame-O's sister Lori want to try and catch up on their relationship, and just see how the other has been doing since we moved."
Then, she smirked. "And that gave me an idea."
Stella raised an eyebrow. "Does it have something to do with Lincoln?"
"Mhm: I would like to catch up on what he's been up to since I moved to Great Lakes City," Ronnie Anne rested her chin on her palm. "And I thought that, since you seem like a good replacement for me, that he would've taken you to his misadventures more often."
"I'd just like to point out that I really don't like to be called a replacement for anybody," Stella sternly stated, only to return to a cheerful tone as she added, "But no, the best that we got was him and his friends fighting for my affection."
Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. "Whoa, boys actually fought for your love?"
"It was due to a misunderstanding!" Stella hastily clarified. "I just wanted to be friends, they thought I meant as in I wanted to be the girlfriend to one of them, and things spiraled out of control from there!"
"Still, that's something even I haven't been able to do!" Ronnie Anne replied, sounding rather proud at what the girl supposedly did. "You have to give me the full details now!"
"Well, since I brought it up, I guess there's no choice, huh?" Stella sighed. "So, it all started back when I said Lincoln was funny..."
A Long Explanation Later...
Ronnie Anne and Stella walked back home together, the former with her hands saved on her pockets, chuckling:
"Wow, so that happened, hehe."
"Yeah, and I'd rather not remember it," Stella answered, folding her arms. "It was rather awkward for everyone involved, and I want to act like we didn't go through all that before we became friends."
Then, a question popped in her head. "Say, how did you and Lincoln's friends interact when you first met them?"
"I didn't."
Upon hearing that, both girls stopped right then and there, and Stella turned to look at Ronnie Anne as she lowered her head and explained:
"When I still lived in Royal Woods, I didn't go out much: I had a bad experience at school, and from then, I decided to become the toughest girl in the school, so nobody would bother me..."
Stella frowned. "Did it work?"
"It did..." Ronnie Anne frowned as well and turned to Stella as she finished, "And I came to regret it. Now that I was the toughest girl in school, everybody avoided me, in fear of thinking I would pick a fight with them."
"So, you didn't get any friends?" Stella inquired.
"If by friends, you mean "people I prank once in a while," then I did have a couple of those," the Hispanic tomboy answered, chuckling a little before she sighed, "But if you mean "people who I can hang out with, joke around, or who are willing to spend time with me," then no, I didn't have any of those."
"I see..." Stella then got an idea. "In that case, how about I help you with that "friendless" problem?"
Ronnie Anne smiled. "What do you mean?"
"How about we become friends?" Stella clarified. "Then, I'll become the first friend you've ever had-"
"Yeah, you're kinda late for that," Ronnie Anne scratched the back of her head. "I already made three friends in the city, and I'm going to try to make some more when I come back."
"You didn't let me finish," Stella stated. "I mean, I'll become the first friend you've ever had in Royal Woods."
Ronnie Anne shook her head. "You're late for that too: Lame-O got that role."
"Okay, how about the first just friend you've ever had in Royal Woods?" Stella suggested, sounding visibly exasperated. "Am I late for that too?"
"Hmm... Nope, you're just in time," Ronnie Anne raised an eyebrow. "But how are we supposed to make it official? It's one thing to say it, but with my reputation, nobody's going to buy it unless we have proof."
"Oh right..." Stella scratched her chin. "I kinda forgot about that..."
Stella looked around the vicinity for a moment, trying to think of something that could prove her and Ronnie Anne's friendship, while also looking for a place that sold whatever she could think up.
And eventually, she spotted something, and dragged the tomboy off to it.
It was a gacha machine, with some toys stored inside the balls shown inside the machine's glass container.
"And what's this supposed to be?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"It's a gacha machine!" Stella chirped. "You put some money, push the button or the lever or whatever the machine has, and test your luck to see if you get the prize you want."
Ronnie Anne looked at the toys. "And what if I said I wanted the toy that looks like a miniature Ace Savvy?"
"You'd have to keep putting money and pulling the lever or button or whatever until you either got the toy, or got out of money," Stella answered, putting her hands on her hips. "I got a good deal of money on me, so tell me the toy you want, I'll use my money to try and get it, and that should be a decent proof of our budding friendship!"
Ronnie Anne hummed with a concerned look, which caught Stella's attention. "Is something wrong?"
"I've never tried one of these things before, but I get the feeling I shouldn't trust it," Ronnie Anne remarked. "Are you sure it's worth it to get a prize out of this thing in order to prove our friendship? Especially if we're only using your money?"
Stella shrugged. "Hey, if you have any other ideas on what proof we could get, I'm all ears."
"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, in fact, I've always wanted to try one of these things myself," Ronnie Anne clarified. "I'm just not sure if this is the best way to do this."
Stella took out her wallet, and smiled confidently as she answered:
"Just watch and see."
One Gacha Nightmare Later...
Several of the balls in the Gacha Machine had come out of the device, but only when another ball came out did Stella finally get the Ace Savvy toy. And as the girl grabbed the ball and opened it to check the prize, Ronnie Anne looked at the balls with shock before she turned to Stella and said:
"You really did murder your wallet just for me?"
"Hey, you wanted the toy, and as proof of my being your friend," Stella handed the toy to Ronnie Anne. "I got it for you."
"Uh, yeah, I didn't actually want this," Ronnie Anne confessed with a sheepish look. "I just said I wanted it as an example to see what you mant, hehe."
"And you couldn't tell me that before I killed my wallet?!" Stella growled, rubbing her temples. "But oh well, I guess what's done is done. Enjoy your toy."
"Thanks, I'll make it up to you somehow," the tomboy answered, only to then focus on the remaining toys. "So what are you going to do about them?"
Stella grabbed the toys and saved it somewhere as she said, "I'm going to try find someone willing enough to buy them. Maybe one of Lincoln's friends."
"I see..." Ronnie Anne saved the toy in her pocket. "Well, I gotta get going, Mom's probably wondering where I've been at for past couple of minutes."
Stella nodded, and watched Ronnie Anne walk away with a smile, before she realized something and shouted:
"Just to let you know, if my Mom starts blasting my ears 'cause I came home without my allowance,"
Ronnie Anne stopped, turned to face Stella, and the girl smirked as she finished:
"I'll be sure to tell her you convinced me to do it."
Ronnie Anne returned the smirk.
"Hey, that's what friends are for!"
The girls exchanged a short, lighthearted laugh, then went on their separate ways.