Chapter 9: To Newtopia
The group decided to rest for the night, before heading towards Newtopia the next day.
Anne, unable to sleep, was sitting on the roof, looking at the stars.
"Room for one more?"
Looking over, she saw Sasha standing there.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Anne asked.
"Yeah." Sasha said as she sat down. "Too much on my mind."
"Me too…" Anne said.
Sasha just sighed.
"Listen… I'm sorry."
"For what?" Anne asked.
"Everything, really." Sasha said. "I was such a jerk to you and Marcy… and it only got worse when we came here."
"Sasha…"
"I guess… when I thought Marcy was dead… it just gave me a reality check." Sasha said. "I'm going to make it up to you two from this point on. I promise."
"… Thanks Sasha." Anne said. "Can we start over? For real this time?"
"… Yeah… I'd really like that." Sasha said.
The two of them just hugged it out.
"So… how are things back home?" Sasha asked. "I imagine our parents were worried."
"Oh yeah, my parents were SUPER worried about me. For a whole day they didn't even let me leave the house!" Anne said with a laugh. "Though, it might of also had to do with not wanting the Plantars to be discovered."
"Pfft, yeah, your parents were always super protective and caring when it came to you." Sasha said with a laugh. "… What about mine?"
"Really worried… they wanted to help so much, but there really wasn't anything they could do…" Anne explained.
"Oh… okay…" Sasha said. "And Marcy's?"
Anne stayed silent.
"Anne?"
"They left, Sasha…" Anne said. "They moved away without her."
"Wh-what?"
"I don't know why they decided to leave without her… but I hate it." Anne explained. "They didn't even try to figure out what happened to their only daughter…"
"Those jerks!" Sasha nearly shouted.
"Shh, the others are trying to sleep!" Anne scolded.
"Sorry sorry… but you know I'm right." Sasha said.
"Never said you weren't." Anne said. "Marcy… she's already going through so much right now… and when this all ends she has to deal with that."
"We'll be there for her, and help her through it." Sasha said. "Like always."
"Pfft, last I checked, I was the one who always kept Marcy safe." Anne said.
"From getting herself hurt, I protected her from the bullies." Sasha corrected.
"Oh, right." Anne said.
The two of them then started laughing.
"So… we never really got a chance to talk… about what Marcy did." Anne pointed out. "I've already forgiven her but… what about you?"
"Yeah… it was a jerk move, but not one that I can blame her for." Sasha said. "Her home life wasn't the best. I think we were the only thing keeping her together that whole time."
"Her parents didn't abuse her, did they?" Anne asked.
Truth was, she was never really sure about that. She knew that they didn't give her as much attention as most parents would, but that was a topic they really didn't like bringing up.
"I don't think so… Neglected her, probably. Abused though? Probably not." Sasha said. "Whatever it is, we'll help her through it."
Anne smiled. "Yeah… we will."
"And when we find her, you BETTER give her a kiss on the lips!" Sasha demanded.
"Wh-WHAT?!" Anne shouted as she almost fell off the roof.
"Listen Anne, I can already tell that you want to stay together with her, but she doesn't know that. She's probably blaming herself for this whole mess, and thinks that you hate her. You need to show her that you still care about her, and what better way to show her, than to give her a big kiss as soon as we find her?" Sasha asked.
"I… but… uh… but…"
"I'll let you think about that… goodnight Anne." Sasha said as she got up to leave
"Uh… are you alright?" Luz asked a very tired and frazzled looking Anne.
"Oh yeah! Just… a lot on my mind…" Anne said.
"O…kay?"
"Anyways, we should hurry, the more time we waste, the more time he has to prepare for us." Sasha said as she began leading the group.
Before long, they were greeted by…
"Joe Sparrow?" Anne asked, beholding the massive bird before them.
"Oh my gosh he looks so fluffy!" Luz gushed.
"When we escaped the castle, Joe here caught us and brought us to safety." Sasha explained. "He's been helping us out ever since."
Anne then walked over to him and put a hand to his chest.
"You really care about Marcy, don't you?" Anne asked.
Joe simply nodded.
"We'll get her back, I promise."
Then, they heard something purring behind them.
Turning around, they saw…
"Bessie!" Anne shouted as she ran over and gave the snail a hug.
Bessie, along with Microangelo, who was resting on top of the larger snail's shell, greeted Anne, the larger of the two wrapping their neck around her.
"How are you doing girl?! Oh my gosh you must be so worried!" Anne said.
Bessie just purred, as if to confirm that.
"Don't worry, Hop Pop and the others are safe. We'll be back with them soon enough." Anne said to reassure the family snail.
Bessie just nodded.
"That… is a BIG SNAIL!" Luz said excitingly, her eyes wide, and her mouth in a grin. "AND THE SMALL ONE IS SO CUTE!"
"Oh yeah! You really haven't seen much of this world have you?" Anne asked.
"Nope! And I am SOOOOO EXCITED to learn more about it!" Luz said, her hands shaking in anticipation.
"Huh… you seem a lot more excited now than back on Earth…" Anne pointed out.
"Oh yeah, I love the supernatural! Not much of that on Earth." Luz explained. "Plus, we kinda had to focus on finding a way back here and helping you so…"
"… You put aside your excitement to help me…" Anne said.
"Yeah… don't worry though, once this is over, I am gonna have SO much fun here!" Luz said excitingly.
"Well then, let's go and get this done!" Anne said before turning back to Bessie. "We're going to go save Marcy and stop the king now… we'll be back, I promise."
But when she turned to walk away, Bessie nudged her back, causing her to turn around and see a determined look on Bessie's face.
"Bessie?"
"I think she wants to come Anne." Sasha pointed out.
Bessie just nodded to confirm this.
"Ok, but how? I mean, no offense Bessie, I love you girl, but we don't have much time, and Joe would get us there a lot faster!" Anne tried to reason.
Bessie responded by speeding into her stable before coming out with a new harness.
"Uh…"
"We had Loggle make that for her." Sasha explained. "This lets Joe carry her wherever we need her."
"Oh nice!" Anne said. "Ok Bessie! Let's go!"
Everyone, aside from Luz, who was riding Bluebert, got aboard Joe Sparrow, before he took off, Bessie in tow.
Meanwhile, Microangelo stayed on the ground, and moved his eye back and forth, like he was waving goodbye.
As the group began to approach Newtopia, they began their descent to land.
"Wait, why are we landing so far away?" Anne asked.
"If we approached from the air, they would see us coming from a mile away." Grime explained. "We'll land farther away, and ride Bessie to the castle. That should be safer."
"Good plan." Luz said.
Before long, they were on the ground.
"Before we go in there…" Sasha said before holding out her blue sword. "Here Anne."
"Huh? But…"
"I may like dual wielding, but I am fine with one sword." Sasha explained. "I would rather you had a way to defend yourself."
Anne smiled at this as she took the sword. "Thanks Sasha."
"Now, let's go save Marcy!" Sasha declared.
"Yeah!"
Upon climbing upon Bessie, Anne took the reigns.
"You ready girl?" Anne asked.
Bessie nodded.
"Ok… Bessie! Things are getting messy!"
And just like that, Bessie was charging towards Newtopia at full speed.
Thanks to the fact that the front gates to Newtopia were destroyed, a detail that they would worry about later, they were able to reach the castle entrance relatively easily.
After they got off Bessie, Anne turned to her.
"Ok Bessie… thanks a lot, but we'll take it from here. Go back to Joe, and stay safe."
Bessie nodded, before speeding away.
"Never thought I would see a snail go that fast." Luz pointed out.
"You'd be surprised by a lot of things here." Anne said. "We'll talk about that later though…"
The group then turned towards the castle.
"So… what's the plan? I am guessing we go to basement and rescue Marcy?" Luz asked.
"I think we shou-" Sasha started, but as she turned to Luz, she stopped.
Cause she was suddenly terrified.
"Sasha? What's u-" Anne started, before looking towards Luz.
"Uh… what's up?"
The two just stared at her… or rather, what was behind her.
End of Chapter 9
This is a casual warning to you all: Brace yourselves. Next chapter is LONG and EMOTIONAL! YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!
Now, you might be thinking: "Hey, he's updating on a Thursday/Friday (depending on your time zone)! Did something crazy happen to warrant this?"
Well, Dana Terrace and Matt Braly just confirmed on twitter that BOTH SHOWS are back next month, on March 19th!
As such, I figured it would be fitting to post this rather short chapter to celebrate…
Also, considering what's obviously happening in the next chapter, I figured that posting that next Monday would be a nice fun opportunity!
Not much left to say, but I'll tell you all the title of the next chapter just in case you haven't figured out what's next already.
See you all next time for Chapter 10: Marcy.