Moving On-Chapter 29

"Man, talk about a sore loser." Vinnie said.

"Vinnie!" Charley exclaimed. She saw Carbine stiffen up.

"I need to contact Commander Braddock on Mars about something." Carbine said, angrily stomping off.

"Carbine!" Throttle said, hand extended. But the young general was already gone.

Everyone glared at the white mouse.

"Nice going, Vinnie." Charley frowned.

"What? Just telling it like it is." Vinnie replied, hands up as if to say 'what did I do?"

"You didn't have to hurt her feelings to do it." Minerva told him.

'Yeah, Vin. That was totally uncalled for." Throttle said.

"My gray furred mamma always said you should never hurt a lady's feelings." Modo said, "She would have skinned me alive if she saw me do that."

Vinnie wanted to convince everyone how jerky Carbine had been to them. How she deserved what she got. But he didn't. Part of him knew they were right and he was wrong for what he said. But the other part he felt was justified. She was not his favorite person. He still couldn't forget how she tried to throw him, Throttle, and Modo into a pit of spikes the first time they went back to Mars. If Charley hadn't talked the general out of it, they would've been mouse shishkabob. They could've gotten free but their people had Charley as well. They didn't mind risking their own lives. But they could never risk Charley's life. As long as they didn't break free, she was safe. They would die to protect her.

"I'm sorry if my presence is upsetting her. It was never my intention to do so." Cecilla said, looking away.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, hon." Throttle told her.

"Yeah, Carbine's the one with the problem." Vinnie said, then covered his mouth with his hand as Throttle glared at him, "Okay, I'm shutting up now."

"Thank you." Throttle said, sighed.

...

"Hey, you okay? Sorry about Big Mouth. He doesn't think lots of times when he opens his mouth." Charley said, as she ran after Carbine.

" Does he handle things in a stupid way? Yes. But he is right about one thing." Carbine replied, slowly, "I wasn't there for Throttle. I was so focused on our people winning this war against the Fish Faces. It seemed nothing else mattered. But it wasn't that I didn't miss him. I did. That's why I wanted to defeat the Plutarkians and save our world. I thought Throttle would come back to me. He was gone and then I wondered what happened to him. Then finding him on Earth fighting Limburger, I was happy but at the same time sad. It meant we'd still be separated from each other. He promised me he'd come back to Mars. I waited for months. I was so lonely... I cheated on him.."

"Carbine..."Charley stared at the distaught general with pity.

"Why did I make this war more important than what Throttle and I had?" She said, looking down.

"You made a mistake. Plus, you both were miles away from each other. The war made things much worse.

"And look what it cost me. If I had never cheated on him..he wouldn't have met anyone else. Throttle and I could've worked things out if we had been on the same planet."

"Maybe you could have. But it never worked out that way."

Both women looked up to see Cecilla approach them.

"Because you seduced him." Carbine replied, giving a not so friendly look at the woman.

"Call it what you want. Play the part of the scorned ex-girlfriend if you like, but Throttle loves me and I love him." Cecilla told her.

"Do you really think you have what it takes to make him happy?" Carbine asked, "You're a human. A witch. He's a Martian Mouse. It can never work out."

"Hey! Excuse me? I'm a human in a relationship with a Martian Mouse in case you forgot." Charley said.

"Well, you're not a witch. You didn't use magic to seduce your mate." Carbine said.

"The only magic used was regular attraction that happens between two people. Nothing more." Cecilla replied, "Maybe if you hadn't treated Throttle so coldly, you'd still be together.

"You don't know a d- thing about our relationship! So stay out of it."

"You stay out of our relationship. You don't like me? Fine. You don't have to. But he's my man/mouse now. Deal with it. Hmm." Cecilla flicked her hair back and then strutted off to join Throttle.

Carbine watched her walk off in shock.

"Wooo! Did Cecilla just tell off the general?" Vinnie asked.

All three mice and Minerva had seen the women in deep conversation.

"You shouldn't have done that, Cecilla." Throttle said.

"Yes, well, I was tired of her treating me like I'm a homewrecker and a pariah. She needs to take responsibility for her own actions."...

Commander Braddock asked Carbine when she was coming back to Mars. The Freedom Fighters were facing a losing battle as the war between them and the Plutarkians got more stressful. They were running out of food supplies and the Fish Faces wiped out a large amount of the cave mouse population. Thank goodness the Garden of Hope was hidden well from the Fish Faces. The Martian Mice protected and took care of this one piece of Mars that was still green and full of life. It was the only thing the cave mice had left of their former life before the Fish Faces strip mined everything. Carbine worked hard to cultivate the land as well as protect it.

"I am getting ready to head back soon. I should be there in two hours." She asked, in a business like manner, "How much of our k rations do we have left?"

"Not many. Maybe the Biker Mice can help." He replied, "Could you ask them?"

"I don't have Throttle. I have to live with it. The fate of Mars is more important right now." She thought.

"General Carbine? Is everything alright?" He asked.

That brought her out of her thoughts.

"Fine." She said, quickly, "I'll see what I can do."