SORANNE THEFT AUTO
The gang were riding on a snail named Bessie back into town after a nice drive around.
"Ah, a leisurely outing with Bessie. Why, we could really go anywhere, do anything." Hop Pop said.
"Ooh, ooh! Can we get swamp slushies? They have new flavors." Sprig asked.
"Heh, heh, nope." Hop Pop said.
"Can we go off road, do some crazy stunts?" Polly asked.
"Double no!" Hop Pop said.
"Ooh! Can me and Sora drive?" Anne asked.
"Sure." Hop Pop said.
"Oh come on Hop Po-wait really?" Sora said.
"Absolutely. I've been trying to teach this guy for years." Hop Pop said while gesturing to Sprig.
"It's true." he said.
"All right then, give us the reins. We're ready to drive." Sora said.
Later
Hop Pop laid a large book on a stump called Bessie's history.
"Not before reading this y'all aren't." Hop Pop said.
Sora/Anne: "What?"
"This is Bessie's history. Before touching a snail's reins, you gotta know them. Feel their heartbeat next to yours and become one." Hop Pop explained.
"That kinda sounds like soul bonding." Sora said.
"Hop Pop, it's just a vehicle. We had family cars back home, no biggie." Anne said before Hop Pop gave them the book.
"Don't care. You can't drive Bessie unless you read this cover to cover. And that's final." Hop Pop said.
"Are there at least pictures?" Sora asked.
"There are diagrams!" Hop Pop said.
Sora/Anne: "NOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Dramatic much? Now if you'll excuse me, Polly's due for a wash." Hop Pop said as he picked up Polly who was rolling in mud while laughing.
"No, no. wait. No! I'll just get dirty again! You can't stop me! I learned this from watching you guys!" Polly said before Hop Pop closed the door to the house.
"*groan* we'll be old before we finish reading this thing." Anne said.
"Yeah, page five is as far as I got. Too much description, not enough plot." Sprig said.
"Well we're gonna have to slog through it if we wanna ride Bessie." Sora said.
"That's ridiculous. We don't need history. We need experience." Anne said.
"Hey…" Anne started.
"Anne whatever you're thinking-"
"What do you say we take a harmless test-drive? Prove to Hop Pop we're all fast learners." Anne said while holding out her hand.
Sora was reluctant but Sprig was about to grab it until he didn't.
"Hmm. do you get the feeling this is one of those decisions we'll look back on and say, "ooh-boy, we probably shouldn't have done that"?" Sprig said.
"We'll get swamp slushies while we're out." Anne said.
"No regrets!" Sprig said as he hopped on.
"Come on dude let's go." Anne said to Sora.
"Anne, are you really sure about this? I know you're impatient but this is not the same thing as driving a car. Besides, like Sprig said, this might be one of those times where we look back on something and say, "we probably shouldn't have done that"." Sora said.
"It'll be fine, we're just going on one little expation. We'll be back before Hop Pop even notices." Anne said.
Sora looked at Bessie then at Sprig and Anne then reluctantly sighed.
"Fine, you win. We'll go on one expation." Sora said.
Anne/Sprig: "yes!"
Sora then got on and sat on the seat.
"By the way you just made up that word." he said.
"Yes I did. Hyah!" Anne said before cracking the reins.
The three then cheered as they headed off.
On the road, Mrs Croaker was riding on her ladybug when she heard rumbling behind her.
"Huh? What in tarnation?" she said while checking her mirror and saw a dust cloud.
The three passed by her in a flash causing her to spin out of control until she corrected herself.
"Outta the way slowpoke!" Sprig said while smacking his behind tauntingly.
"Hooligans! Ruffians! Swamp suckers!" she shouted at them.
"Dude, what was that?" Sora asked.
"I've always wanted to try road rage." Sprig said.
"And the verdict?" Anne asked.
"Exhilarating." he said.
"Pssh, that's nothing. you should see my mom when she's driving sometimes." Sora said.
"Live your truth!" Anne shouted
"Live your truth! Yeah!" Sora shouted
The three laughed as they continued onward. They eventually arrived at the swamp slushy shop and got three. Sprig slurped his as a bug crawled on his face which he ate.
"Man you were right. We didn't need some silly book. You guys drive just fine." Sprig said.
"Just fine? Pshh. Boy we're naturals." Anne said.
"I do admit, this does seem kind of easy." Sora said.
"Ooh! Wanna take this baby off-road?" Anne asked.
"Yup." Sprig said.
"Uh guys…" Sora was about to say.
Anne then drove Bessie off road and into the forest. They drove at a fast speed through the forest with Sprig and Anne cheering while Sora screamed before flying off a cliff sending them deeper in before landing in some random area after falling off a log.
"*sigh* so, off-roading. Fun." Anne said.
"Y-y-yeah, f-fun, but how about we go back to on-roading from now on?" Sora shakingly said.
"Good old reliable on-roading. Yes, please." Sprig said with leaves in his mouth and hat before shaking them out.
"Alright Bessie, let's move." Anne said as she whipped the reins.
However, the large snail refused to move.
"One more time let's move." she said while doing it again.
Yet again, nothing happened.
"uh...Bessie?" Sora said.
The three looked down and saw that Bessie was hiding in her shell with only her eyes peeking out to look around and sputtered in response.
"You alright girl?" Sprig asked while touching her shell.
"Hey what's wrong here? Do you need fuel in the tank or something? Is the oil low?" Anne questioned.
"Come get the tasty fuel bessie." she said while waving a dirty leaf in front of her.
"Ew Anne. These leaves are tastier." Sprig said while holding a three-leaf clover in front of her.
"Here Bessie. I got dem good leaves girl." Sprig said.
Bessie just crawled further into her shell while Sora looked in worry.
"I think she's scared," he said.
"Then maybe we could push her. Give her a jump start, I'm sure that's a thing." Anne said.
The three then started pushing to get her to move, but to no avail.
"Too heavy...to push. Also we're crazy outta shape." Sora said.
"What are we gonna do? We're stuck!" Sprig said.
"We have no choice. Me and Sora will stay here with Bessie while you hitch a ride back to the farm, and….*groan* go get Hop Pop." Anne said.
"Now we're starting to think rationally. This is the right thing to do even if we get an earful." Sora said.
"You're right about that Sora." Sprig said.
"Back in a flash." he then said.
He then used his tongue to pull himself up and hopped across the trees out of the forest leaving the two alone.
Sora and Anne then waited (with the former sitting on the ground cross legged and playing on his phone). Soon enough though, the boredom was too much for Anne to bear.
"Ahh! This is so boring!" she shouted while sitting down.
"Well get used to it. We're stuck out here until Sprig comes back with help." Sora said while putting his phone away.
"Wish I had something to read." Anne said.
Sora then eyed the pouch on Bessie's saddle for a split second causing her to look as well.
"Fine. but just to pass the time." she said.
Anne put the book on the ground as Sora came over and sat down next to her. They opened it to chapter 1 causing dust to fly up at them.
"Okay, let's see here." Sora said.
"It was an especially cold morning the day Bessie was brought into this world."
"The leaves had just changed color, and now I shall describe those leaves to you in great detail-"
Anne/Sora: "NOPE!"
Within ten seconds, they closed the book.
"nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." Anne said.
"Yep, not doing it." Sora said.
They then looked at the book again hesitantly.
Sora held his eyes shut tightly before saying, "screw it."
Later
Sora and Anne continued reading the book while eating grass.
"And it was at that moment I realized Bessie was no ordinary snail, but a kind, clear soul who would help others at the drop of a hat. I raised my bid to 400 copper pieces, winning the auction and in the process, saving Bessie from the nefarious Jim Snapes."
"Yes! In your face Snapes. *grunt*" Anne said.
"I can't believe how good this is." Sora said while shoving leaves in his mouth.
"And we need to stop eating leaves." Anne said with her mouth full.
After
Sora and Anne were laying on the ground while reading the book.
"The snow swirled around us and I knew we were doomed. I could feel the strength leaving my body bit by bit. The sweet embrace of eternity crept closer and closer until suddenly I heard a sound pulling me back. Bessie...Bessie was singing!"
The two kids were now ugly sobbing their eyes out upon reading this part.
"You go girl!" Anne said.
"Such a sweet majestic beast! *sniff*" Sora said.
The two then hugged Bessie.
"You noble, noble creature." Anne said.
"When we get out of here, we'll treat you with all the love and respect you deserve." Sora said.
"Man, this story is messing us up." he continued.
"Alright, where were we?" Anne said as she picked up the book.
As they were reading, they came upon a passage which made them concerned.
"The reason Bessie had hidden in her shell was now very clear to me. A predator was close." Anne read.
"And not just any predator. A natural enemy of snails." Sora then read.
They then heard rustling making them look up to see where it came from.
"Uh...Hello?" Anne said nervously.
"Sprig...is that you?" Sora asked.
"Uh, anything in here about this predator?" Anne questioned while flipping pages.
She eventually stopped on a page where the predator was labeled, "Figure A" and held the book up.
"Oh here we go. Aw, it's actually pretty cute." she said.
"Kinda looks like a hedgehog." Sora said.
However, once putting the book down, the predator revealed itself scaring the two and it appeared to be not that cute. It had a yellow glowing eye with a dark large one, it's fur had a greenish dirty hue with a spiked back, and it's mouth had sharp, jagged teeth.
They then looked around and saw that there were multiple hedgehogs, and they were surrounding them.
Sora summoned his key just as he and Anne climbed on top of Bessie as the beasts attacked.
As one of them jumped up, Sora hit it away while Anne looked through the book.
"Come on, come on. Yes!" She said.
"Did you find something?" Sora asked.
"Yep. when Bessie senses danger you gotta sit on her shell and yell at the top of your lungs, Bessie, things are getting messy!"
Upon saying this, Bessie appeared from her shell and sped away from the predators.
"Yes!" Anne shouted.
"Not outta the woods yet." Sora said.
As Bessie was speeding away, the hedgehogs were still in hot pursuit.
"Eat our dust hedgehogs!" Anne shouted before ducking down when spikes came at her.
As they launched more, Sora deflected them then cast a thunder spell which knocked them down.
"Yes!" he shouted in triumph.
However, more were still following, even after they jumped off a log.
"Man these guys just won't quit!" Sora said as Anne flipped through the book again.
"If you still haven't escaped, give Bessie some berries from the secret compartment in the front of her shell." she read.
"Secret compartment?" Sora questioned.
Anne then knocked on the front of the shell opening it up, revealing her internal parts.
"EWW!" Sora exclaimed in disgust.
"Okay, this is gross." Anne said while grabbing a small bag from within.
After taking out the berries and went to Bessie.
"Let's do this thing Bessie! Anne said.
Bessie squawked and opened her mouth letting Anne throw the berries in. Upon eating them, she secreted a pink goo making her go faster and causing the hedgehogs to slip.
The three eventually skidded back onto the road with the hedgehogs slipping and ramming into a tree.
"Way to go Bessie!" Sora said.
Sora and Anne then hugged her.
"You are the queen of the road." Anne said.
Bessie squawked happily in response.
"Alright, let's go home." Anne said.
"Yeah, I think I'm done with driving for today." Sora said.
The three then drove off back home.
Meanwhile
After Sprig went to get help, he ran into Mrs. Croaker who was more than happy to help despite what he had done earlier. However, the ride was slow as heck and Sprig had endure a torture beyond human comprehension...listening to driving songs.
This nearly drove him insane, but luckily it seemed like she was done.
"*sigh* glad that's finally over." Sprig said.
"One more time!" Croaker said.
Sprig then screamed into her pet spider Archie.
"Hey kid! Need a lift?" Sora said.
Bessie then appeared alongside Mrs. Croaker and Sprig with Anne driving.
"Anne! Sora! Thank goodness." Sprig said as he latched onto Sora's back.
"Okay, bye Mrs. Croaker. Thank you." Sprig said.
"Bye darlin'. Next time, try to keep that road rage in check." she said.
She then whipped the reins on her ladybug and started cackling as the bug ran fast away, surprising the three.
"Pretty sure I just got played." Sprig said.
"That's why you don't do road rage." Sora said.
"That woman is everything I want to be." Anne said.
Later again
It was nighttime when the 4 had got back to the plantar house and they were extremely exhausted which was evidenced by the fact that Sprig fell off Bessie and Anne fell in the chair and Sora fell forward.
"We made it!" Sprig said as he looked through the window.
"And it looks like Hop Pop is still washing Polly," he continued.
Inside, there was a lot of commotion.
"You'll never take me alive!" Polly said while hopping away.
"Dang it Polly. You're getting filth everywhere." Hop Pop said as he chased after her.
Sprig went to the door but noticed the other two weren't coming in.
"Hey. you guys coming?" he asked.
"Actually, we're gonna spend a little more time with old Bessie here." Sora said.
"Suit yourselves." Sprig said before turning in.
Sora removed the book from the satchel and sat it between himself and Anne as they leaned against Bessie.
"Now where were we?" Anne said as they started reading.
The next morning
Hop Pop was sleeping in bed until the book fell on top of him, waking him up.
"What the heck?!" he exclaimed.
He then looked up and saw Sora and Anne in front of him with EXTREMELY red and tired eyes.
Anne/Sora: "Good morning Hopediah."
"Anne? Sora?" he questioned.
"We did it." Anne said.
"We read the whole thing. In one night." Sora said.
"Impressive! Kinda scary, but impressive!" Hop Pop said.
Anne then fell into a chair while Sora fell to the ground.
"We were wrong about Bessie. She's not just a vehicle, she's a noble, beautiful creature." Anne said.
"A creature that needs the utmost care, attention and respect." Sora said.
"And now that y'all read this, all you need is experience." Hop Pop said.
This caused the two to widen their eyes. They then started laughing into a fit of giggles before it turned evil as they both got up and walked to the door bumping into each other by mistake before opening it and walking out leaving Hop Pop alone.
"I don't feel safe." he said.
Next Chapter: Dating Season/Sora and Anne vs Wild
An: Not much to say here honestly. I know there wasn't much action but that was kinda the point. Since season 3 is about to go on hiatus after Saturday, I might try and get these chapters out faster so I can catch up.
The story has already formulated in my mind more due to the breaks and I think you'll like the results when we get to that point.
See you guys!