Tiger Lover 16: Hello again, dear readers... though there don't seem to be that many of you. I've got only twenty six hits for this story so far, and only five of them were for the previous chapter. Plus, only one review. I REALLY want to know what people think of this story, so please someone else review. Anyway, now that that pointless rant's out of the way, welcome to chapter 3 (Or 2, counting the first as a prologue). Now, I originally intended this to be a lot longer. However, the opening scene went on for WAY longer than I'd initially expected, and since I want each chapter to have one main point, and I didn't want these opening chapters to be too long, I decided to save several other scenes, including an important scene with Joe and Thibault that sets them up as key villains, for the next chapter Now the opening arc should be two more chapters after this one, with an epic battle in the second of those chapters. Now, for this chapter. This chapter focuses a lot more on Charlie Brown's friends and their opinion on him. It's meant to be dramatic, but I admit it's not fabulous. I know I could and probably should do better, but I want to get this opening arc written soon so I can get to the big crossover events. Chapter 6 (Or 5) Shall feature the first trip to the Mushroom Kingdom, and from then on we'll have a lot of great adventures in different worlds. And then the real juicy stuff begins... I won't spoil anything now, just enjoy this chapter. These chapters and everything in them are all important to the plot, remember, so don't skip a thing. But the most important thing is to enjoy, and I hope you can. As a P.S, I should say that people who aren't all that familiar with Peanuts and all the characters will probably not understand a lot of it. Do some research however and you'll be fine. You can probably enjoy it without doing so, but it helps to know things about the series stories are based on, that's all I'm saying.
Chapter 2, True Friends?
While Charlie Brown had wandered off to the park to mope over the disastrous baseball game, his disgruntled team had gathered at the wall to sulk over their most recent failure.
"Man, what a mess that game turned out to be" Schroeder groaned, the rest of the gang nodded and/or groaned in agreement.
"The opposing team made zero faults, to our four hundred and fifty two. They scored ninety nine runs, we scored none. They made seventy seven hits, we didn't get one" Linus recited the disastrous outcome. The kids, now teens with the exception of Linus, took a deep breath and sighed in unison.
"We've lost a lot of baseball games before, but this is just sad" Pigpen said with a frown, as an overly emotional Snoopy burst out in tears and cried on his shoulder. He pulled away when he remembered how filthy the boy was, and began desparately trying to rub the dust out of his fur.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I just can't go on like this" Piped up Shermy, one of the oldest, but least notable members of the Peanuts gang "Sure, losing all the time is fine for some people, but I'm the type that just has to win every now and again. I can't stand all this failure, it's both depressing and humiliating"
"I hear you, I don't even know why I still bother with this stupid team" Piped up Violet Gray, another longtime member of the gang, though apart from ball games she hardly associated with any of her old friends besides Patty and Shermy anymore, having become one of the most popular girls in the school. And also a total snob.
"I think I might just quit" Patty grumbled "I don't fancy risking my social status much longer playing for such a sorry excuse for a team"
"I guess we are pretty lousy, huh?" Freida sighed, leaning her head against the wall and patting her naturally curly hair in an attempt to comfort herself.
"There there Freida" Of all people, Lucy Van Pelt spoke up to comfort her "It's not your fault, Charlie Brown's stupid pitching is why we lost. Why, that blockhead practically let the other team score those home runs!"
"Yeah, that dumb Charlie Brown" Violet piped up. She was normally the first to critisice Charlie Brown for every little thing, and the few times she wasn't she was still the first to join in on the hate fest "Why'd we even elect him manager in the first place, he can't lead his own dog on a leash, let alone lead us to victory!"
"He's hopeless, completely hopeless" Patty nodded in agreement. The other members of the gang just nodded and grumbled at these critisisms, normally everyone besides the three girls was more forgiving of Charlie Brown and didn't approve when people spoke cruelly about him... the exception here being that they all hated to lose at baseball, and it made them all really grouchy.
While the gang continued to mope, being spurned on by Lucy, Violet and Patty's critisisms of their sad sack manager, Peppermint Patty (No relation to the first Patty), the manager of the opposing team and a friend of the group, arrived at the wall with her teammates Marcie and Franklin, both members of the Peanuts as well.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" Peppermint Patty asked, greeting her friends with an air of warmth. They responded by giving her the cold shoulder "Ah, still sore about losing, aren't you"
"No, of course not, we're depressed about something else entirely" Schroeder said sarcastically.
"Really?" Peppermint Patty asked, clearly not catching the sarcasm.
"Of course we're sore about losing!" Lucy exploded, making Franklin and Marcie jump back a bit, though Peppermint Patty was unflinching.
"I see. Well don't feel too bad, you were up against the national champions after all" Peppermint Patty said in an unintentional but painfully gloating manner. The Peanuts all groaned, her team was so good that they not only played in a real league, but actually won the championship match last year, a fact Patty hadn't shut up about since.
Marcie, sensing her friends' frustration, and noticing that Lucy was sending Peppermint Patty a death glare, tried to say something comforting "Well, you all didn't do too badly"
"Yes we did. We all stunk like Snoopy's collection of fermented cheese" Linus said half-heartedly.
"I'll have you know my stinky cheese won me five blue ribbons at the county fair" The beagle thought indignantly towards Linus.
"No, Marcie's right, we didn't do anything wrong. It was all Charlie Brown's fault!" Violet replied to Linus's comment, causing her friends to mutter in grumpy agreement. Marcie sighed and smacked herself, feeling guilty that she had just bought Charles a guaranteed chew out by some of his less pleasant friends. Peppermint Patty glared at Violet in disbelief and growled slightly. And Franklin, standing a bit further back from his two teammates and the rest of the group, raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's right! That blockhead's supposed to be leading us, it's his job to make sure we all do our jobs right. His stupid game plan made us all blow it" Lucy supplied mercilessly.
"It does seem like most of our failures are the direct result of Charlie Brown. And not just at baseball, huh" Shermy added thoughtlessly.
"Now hold on!" Peppermint Patty spoke up, not at all likeing where this conversation was going "How is it only Chuck's fault you lost. Last time I checked, you all did just as terrible, and you were CLEARLY doing all that without following any sort of game plan"
"It is TOO Charlie Brown's fault" The other Patty protested, she had always disliked Peppermint Patty for having the same name as her, which often caused confusion among people as to who was who.
"He's always screwing everything else up, so naturally it's his fault that we lost the game" Violet summarised, prompting the ire of Peppermint, and a slight frown from Franklin way in the back.
"Oh come on. I mean, sure, Chuck's a screw up, he's meek, he's wishy washy, he has no confidence, he says stupid things, he can't pitch to save his life, I can strike him out in three straight innings, he... what was I talking about again?" Peppermint Patty trailed off for a moment, making everyone roll their eyes "OH YEAH! He may be a sorry manager, but you're all as lousy players as he is!"
"Oh don't go critisicing us, miss man" Violet snidely retorted, steam began issuing out of Peppermint Patty's ears "Last I checked, outside of sports, you're not so good at anything either"
"Oh don't give me that crap you stuck up snob!" Peppermint Patty yelled, raising a fist threateningly at Violet "Now stop taking the mickey out of Chuck, he does his best, and you should all show him a little respect as-"
"HA" Lucy interrupted with a humourless laugh "It's hard to respect someone who spends eighty percent of his time whining about how nobody likes him"
"He does too deserve respect. He's done a lot of good things for you guys, right Pigpen?" Peppermint Patty said. Pigpen, caught off guard, looked to Lucy, Violet and Patty glaring at him, and Peppermint Patty staring expectantly. Pigpen hid his face by looking at the ground, trying to think of a good answer.
"Well... actually, I can't really remember the last time he did anything for me" Pigpen replied awkwardly. Peppermint Patty gaped at him in disbelief, but before she could do anything else Lucy spoke up.
"That blockhead never does anything for anyone, he makes us all look bad and causes us nothing but trouble!"
"I must admit, I don't really enjoy hanging around with him much anymore. It's always so depressing talking to someone who's so mopey" Schroeder sadly admitted.
"He does seem to get in the way more than anything" Freida confessed, merely because she hated to be left completely out of any conversation.
Peppermint Patty gaped in disbelief at her friends, she was sure one of them would have something nice to say, but no, they all just went along with the critisisms. Expectantly she turned to Linus, who was twirling his old security blanket. He noticed the look Peppermint Patty was giving him and turned away. Normally Linus would join her in sticking up for Charlie Brown, they were best friends after all, and Linus was full of wisdom. But it just so happens that he'd been having a pretty bad day too before the ball game, and any friendly wisdom inside him failed to surface. After a long silence, which he chose to break only because the entire group was waiting for him to voice his opinion, Linus finally spoke up.
"Sadly, I can't deny" Linus began mornfully "Of all the Charlie Brown's in this world, he's the Charlie Browniest"
Peppermint Patty glared at Linus, who hid under his security blanket, feeling guilty.
"You see what we're talking about Patty. Even Charlie Brown's closest friends can't show him any respect, because he's done nothing to earn it. I mean, let's face it, if you looked up wishy washy in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of him crashing a kite into a tree. He's a complete blockhead" Lucy said in a mock pleasant tone.
"That still doesn't give you the right to critisise him so badly!" Peppermint Patty spat back.
"Ah, just 'cause you're in love with him!" Violed snidely retorted. What followed was a long and spiteful argument between Peppermint Patty, Violet, Lucy and the other Patty, with the latter three occasionally forcing the other kids into siding with them. And they all just went along with the critisism of their round headed friend, because as I explained before they were still a bit mad about the flopped baseball game.
Marcie sighed as she watched her friends argue, but couldn't work up the nerve to join PP in yelling the other kids out, so instead settled for patting Snoopy for comfort. Franklin also continued to watch the argument, still at a slight distance from the gang. He'd seen this happen many times before, Charlie Brown's team would moap over losing a game, they would all blame him for all their problems and take their frustrations out by critising his faults, Peppermint Patty would try to chastisise them while they yelled back at her, Peppermint Patty would eventually throw a huge fit and storm off, Marcie and himself would follow her back to the other side of town, neither of them having said a word. And then later, everyone would just go back to being Charlie Brown's friends, he would of course appologise a hundred times for failing them, but they would shrug it off and have everything go back to normal. Then after their next failed game, they would repeat this process all over again.
But as he continued to watch the magority of his friends scream about how Charlie Brown was a terrible manager and what a failure face he was, refusing to let Peppermint Patty bring their own faults into the argument, something inside Franklin snapped. He'd never approved of the way people treated Charlie Brown, but he'd just never bothered to say anything about it because he didn't like confrontations. But he decided that the gangs rather cruel treatment of the boy had gone on long enough, and figured now was as good a time as any to start voicing his opinions.
While Peppermint Patty and Violet were childishly exchanging "Nyah"'s, Franklin walked a bit closer to the group, coming in line with Marcie, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled VERY loudly. After making sure he had everyones complete attention, Franklin cleared his throat and said "There are a few things I would like to say to you all, and I kindly ask that you let me express my thoughts without interruption"
The kids, a bit taken aback about how Franklin had actually stepped forward to join in the unsavory discussion, exchange looks and nodded for Franklin to continue.
"Well, now, while I don't mean to be rude, I just wanted to say you're all a bunch of jerks for the way you treat Charlie Brown" Franklin said plainly. The magority of the gang gasped and bellowed in shock and indignant fury, while Peppermint Patty grinned and raised a fist into the air that someone was agreeing with her.
"What do you mean WE'RE jerks?!" Lucy bellowed.
"Please, don't interrupt" Franklin said, raising a hand and gesturing Lucy stay silent. The fussbudget had a few choice words for the dark skinned boy, but the aura of authority he exhibited kept her silent.
"I mean you should all be ashamed of yourselves for the way you speak of and treat Charlie Brown" Franklin answered, glancing at the smug looking Peppermint Patty "ALL of you"
Peppermint Patty looked at Franklin with utmost confusion, but he ignored this and continued his pre-prepared speech.
"You should all sit down and listen to yourselves once in the while, 'cause a lot of horrible things come out of your mouths about Charlie Brown. That kid has been a loyal friend to each of you for years, he's been there at your birthday partys, he's helped you with your problems, lent you his favourite toys and never complained when you didn't return them, and a whole lot of things that you guys take for granted. It seems like every second one of you is making an undue critisism of Charlie Brown" Franklin said, turning to Violet.
"You Violet, you treat Charlie Brown like he's a lower species of life form to you. You make fun of his appearance, you degrade him in public, you emphasise every mistake, even the insignifigent ones he makes right to his face, you trip him in the halls, you constantly gloat about parties you refuse to invite him to, and you yell spiteful and cruel things at him every five minutes, just to make yourself seem like a better person by comparison. Take that all into perspective, and ignore your jaded perseption that Charlie Brown deserves to be mistreated because he's a loser, and how do you think you sound?" Franklin said sternly. Violet, at first glaring at him as though she wanted to punch him out, softened her expression. Several times she tried to speak up, only to stop herself each time. Eventually she just looked away from Franklin, raising her nose snobbishly and trying hard to ignore his statement. Undoubted, Franklin turned next to Patty and Shermy.
"Charlie Brown's been your friend longer than anybody else, yet you two are hardly bothered to associate with him outside of baseball games. Shermy, granted you never usually say much about him, but we've all heard you talking about how you supposedly hate him in the halls at school. And you Patty, you're almost as bad as Violet for putting down Charlie Brown to his face. It feels like never a day goes by where you aren't joining Violet in chastisising Charlie Brown over his every fault, blowing his slightest failures out of proportion to make him look like and feel like a complete outcast and a reject. Well Patty, while you and Shermy are making out behind the lockers after class, you should both think about how it was Charlie Brown who introduced you to each other. So without him, you wouldn't have met, wouldn't have become a couple, and might not have even met Violet either. Still think he's not worth your time?" Franklin asked coldly. Patty, more reasonable and gentler than Violet, sat down on the wall and stared down at her lap in shame while Shermy patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, himself looking guilty and remorseful.
"Schroeder, Pigpen, I hardly see you two associate with Charlie Brown anymore, moreso you Pigpen. And while I can't say half as much for either of you as everyone else here, you guys still never stick up for Charlie Brown when people are putting him down. Well, you did that one valentines day Schroeder, but you guys are still never there for him when he needs you. Pigpen, you say he's never done anything for you, but Charlie Brown's actually the only person who's complimented your filth. Remember when he said you could be covered in soil trodded on by Solomon, or Ghengis Khan? How many other friends do you have who've ever stood up for you and your dirt? And Schroeder, Charlie Brown's the one who introduced you to the piano and in effect, Beethoven, your idol and role model. And you repay him by rarely doing anything for him, or standing up for him? If you don't want to hang out with him because he's depressed, maybe you should try saying something to make him feel good about himself for a change. Tell him you do appreciate his friendship, I'm sure that's all he really wants to hear from anyone" Franklin explained. Schroeder and Pigpen shifted their feet awkwardly as Franklin turned to Freida next.
"While I must admit you treat him nicer than a lot of people Freida, you still throw fits about him supposedly being an unfit pet owner. You're always complaining to him about how he should be training Snoopy to be a hunting dog, and yelling at him when Snoopy won't go along with your attempts to make him do just that. Well just look at the dog, no one can train a dog with that kind of unrivaled imagination. Snoopy doesn't want to hunt rabbits, but that's no reason to complain to Charlie Brown about it. I mean, it makes no sense to yell at him for Snoopy's laziness when you think about it, does it?" Franklin asked. Freida stroked her hair, glanced at Snoopy and sighed in agreement.
"Linus, Charlie Brown is your best friend. He's always been there for you, he listens to what you have to say, he tries his best to stand up for you when people complain about your security blanket and he tries to help you with your problems. Even if he's usually no real help at all, his heart's in the right place. Normally you're very good to him, and I always expect you to be the first to jump to his defence. But in times like this, when you can't even be bothered to think of one nice thing to say about him in his defence, it just really doesn't show a good example of friendship" Franklin said, shaking his head. Linus peeked out from under his blanket, looked down remorsefully and began sucking his thumb.
Everyone expected Franklin to begin berating Lucy next, but surprisingly he first turned to Snoopy.
"I know you can't talk, but I do know you can understand everything we say Snoopy. And I say you're a very inconsiderate pet. Charlie Brown does everything for you, he feeds you, he gives you shelter, he excersises you, he bought you everything you own, even that old Van Goph painting, he looks after you when you hurt yourself, and all sorts of other things, any you rarely show any appreciation. I don't even think you know his name, even as I'm telling you this you're probably still thinking of him as "The Round Headed Kid". You honestly seem to care more about yourself and your little adventures than you do about Charlie Brown. Seriously, what kind of a loyal canine are you?" Franklin asked. Snoopy sunk back behind the teens, a saddened expression on his face.
"And then we have you Lucy" Franklin began, and everyone turned expectantly to the black-haired fussbudget "At the risk of being slugged, I must tell you that you are the WORST friend Charlie Brown has. I can hardly see how you classify yourself as his friend, in fact. You hit him, hurl ten insults an hour at him, you scam him out of his allowance with your stupid psychiatry, which you know just makes him feel worse so he'll keep coming back so you can scam him again, you degrade him in public, you hoodwink him into doing things for you, you accuse him of messing up when it's obviously you who is at fault, you point out and degrade every single small fault he has, and you run the risk of breaking his back, or even his neck every year with your stupid football trick, just so you can get a laugh. You're supposed to be his friend, he does whatever you ask him to do and he's always there to help you with your problems, but you rarely, if ever show him any kindness. You're sad Lucy, you're just sad"
The rest of the gang had been backing away slowly, prepared to duck for cover when Lucy finally lost it and pounced on Franklin and beat him to a pulp. But to all of their surprises, they found that Lucy was shocked speechless by what she had been told, and a few tears were actually forming in her eyes. Peppermint Patty seemed the only one in that group who was pleased with how things were progressing.
"Bet you all wish you were a bit nicer to Chuck now, don't you" Peppermint Patty said smugly. But Franklin wasn't finished.
"I feel obliged to point out, that while I salute your attempts to stand up for Charlie Brown, and all the times you've tried to stand up for him and improve him as a person, that you yourself are far from guiltless Patty" Franklin said sternly. Peppermint Patty turned around and gaped at him.
"Since when did I ever..." But Peppermint Patty stopped, wondering... she had intended to ask when she had ever abused Chuck, but then thought back a little more clearly.
"In case you need help jogging your memory, I should tell you that there have been many times where you have been very unfair to Charlie Brown aswell" Franklin continued "You yell at him as much as anyone else here, for all sorts of stupid reasons. We're all aware of your infatuation with him-and please don't deny it-but he's obviously not. You play lovers games with Charlie Brown all the time, but whenever he fails to say what you want to hear you explode on him and say quite a lot of nasty things. It's not unfair of me to say he's completely hopeless when it comes to romance, he's not going to catch on unless you tell him, and you should know that. And you've chewed him out over much more trivial matters than that, I still remember that football game when we were eight. You critisised him and insulted him worse than anyone, even Violet, for missing those footballs and losing the game. But in case you're completely blind, you should have known that it wasn't even his fault! Lucy was the one that kept pulling the footballs away before he could kick them, if she hadn't done that he might have scored us a few points, enough to win the game, and yet you blamed our loss entirely on him! You all did! Seriously, SERIOUSLY, am I the only one who ever noticed that?!"
Franklin allowed a few short moments for this to sink into the girl. And within a few seconds Peppermint Patty was shocked, embarassed, speechless and miserable with herself, the complete opposite of her normal persona. Franklin nodded truthfully at her, then turned his head to the side to face Marcie.
"You I have very little to complain about Marcie, you and usually Linus are the only people who treat Charlie Brown like an equal, and don't seem to actually make an effort to put him down. But you're guilty of losing your temper with him in the same way as Peppermint Patty when he doesn't respond to your feelings, you actually go the extra mile and kick or punch him half the time. Is there really any need for that?" Franklin asked, Marcie looked down at her feet.
Franklin stood where the entire gang could see him clearly. They all shared a similar look of shame and guilt, even Violet had forsaken her snobbish, uncaring act to look ashamed over her mistreatment of her one-time friend. Franklin gave them all a stern look, and wanting to make sure they got the message, he continued to berate them.
"Charlie Brown may be a bit of a loser, he does a lot of things wrong and goofs up the simplest tasks. There have been a few times when he's done things that might seem a little inconsiderate, though he never intended it as such. He may have a thousand faults, but so do the rest of us. We human beings are all naturally flawed. But in spite of his faults being more obvious than some other people's, he's a decent and kindhearted person. In spite of how you all treat him he still considers each and every one of you his closest friends. He'd do anything for you guys, he's always there when you need him, even if he can't do much to help. He never asks for anything in return when he helps you, and he doesn't bemoan you completely whenever you make mistakes. Charlie Brown just may be the shining example of a true and loyal friend... and yet none of you are willing to show him that level of kindness" Franklin said harshly.
Franklin began to walk between the Peanuts, their ashamed looks growing increasingly more so as he furthered his speech "What that guy puts up with is incredible. Charlie Brown honestly deserves a lot more than he gets, the least he deserves is friends who appreciate him as much as he appreciates them. You guys never take into consideration his feelings. What do you think it's like, living every moment of your life under the impression that everybody hates you, and that the people who dare call themselves your friends only bother to associate with you out of pity? It's not good for him, you know. And mark my words, if this keeps up then one of these days that kid's gonna sink so far into his pit of depression that he's gonna end up killing himself. And I mean that completely, it's just the sort of thing a person in his position would do, I'm astounded he hasn't tried it before. Will you all be happy when he does that, will you all finally be satisfied when Charlie Brown is dead and buried?"
The whole gang were taken aback by that last venomous implication. Desparetely they all shook their heads, trying to deny such a terrifying possibility. But now that Franklin had said it, they all realised... it could be true. Charlie Brown could end up commiting suicide. But none of them could ever even dream of thinking they'd be satisfied with that. How could anyone be happy over such a horrible thing?
Franklin took a few steps away from the group, preparing to leave them to their own devices. But before he left, he had but one thing left to say "If you guys have any respect for Charlie Brown as a friend, you'll think about what I've said. I'm not asking you to beg for his forgiveness, I'm not asking that you should treat him like royalty or anything. All I ask, is that you guys consider everything Charlie Brown has ever done for you, and how you in return have treated him, and ask yourself... just how much is his friendship worth to you? Do you really care about him? Because if not, then you really don't deserve to be his friends"
And having said everything that was on his mind, Franklin departed from the wall, leaving the rest of the Peanuts gang to mope. Only now it wasn't because they had lost a ball game. Now they were completely and utterly ashamed of themselves, and how they had acted to their round-headed friend.
"Wow... just... wow" Schroeder said, slumping miserably.
"You know, I never really took into perspective just how much abuse Charie Brown takes from us. And now that I do think about it... it's appalling" Pigpen commented, several of his friends nodded in agreement.
"He really has done a lot for us you know" Linus commented, addressing the whole group "For all his faults, he's the glue that's kept us together all these years. He's a true and loyal friend"
"So then why is it we all treat him like dirt?" Patty asked. The kids exchanged looks, after a few seconds of blank staring it became clear none of them knew quite how to answer that question.
"I must admit, maybe I have been treating him a little rough too" Peppermint Patty sadly sighed "I don't mean it, I really care about Chuck and want to see him make an effort to improve himself. I don't mean to yell at him or abuse him or anything, good grief, no. I just don't have a lot of patience, that's all... but that's no excuse, is it?"
"I never really thought of myself as being unkind to Charlie Brown" Freida piped up "But, now that I think about it, there have been plenty of times where I've lost my patience with him over trivial matters. I remember one time I spent a whole half hour berating him over his refusal to let me take Snoopy rabbit hunting. But is that really being mean?"
"Hey, you hardly have anything to complain about. Not compated to me at least" Lucy replied, everyone was taken aback by how the headstrong and unapologetic Lucy was actually putting herself down "Franklin's got a lot of good points, I do treat Charlie Brown like trash. Of course I care about him, he's been my friend since I was practically in diapers. I don't know why I treat him so badly in return... I guess I just use Charlie Brown as a punching bag for all my pent up aggression... wow, maybe that's not the best way to phrase it. But it is true actually. I never thought about it much until now, but I really do treat Charlie Brown too harshly. I admit I should be nicer to Charlie Brown, I just wish I knew how to control myself..."
There was a moment of silence after that, where everyone waited for someone else to speak up, express their own viewpoints on this situation. Eventually Shermy decided to speak his part next.
"I agree that he's done a lot for me, and all of us. I really do owe him a lot, Charlie Brown was the first friend I ever had. Before I met him I was lonely and afraid myself. But he ended all that, he showed me true friendship and brought to me the woman I love beyond all else" Shermy gripped Patty's hand lightly as he said this. The blond girl smiled appreciatively at this, but he turned away, there being something else he wanted to clear up "I never meant it when I said I hated him. That started out as just a stupid joke when I was four. I can't truly hate the guy, Charlie Brown's so friendly and pitiable that it's nearly impossible to really hate him, and I'm sorry I ever gave anyone the impression that I did"
"We all say stupid things about people we care about, I'm sure he doesn't think you mean it" Linus said comfortingly.
"Does he...?" Shermy asked "You know he takes things literally" Linus nodded in sad aggreement.
"I admit, even I feel sorry for the way I've treated Charlie Brown" Violet suddenly confessed. The other kids stared at her in speechless shock. Lucy was one thing, but no one had ever expected Violet, miss popular, the queen of snobs, and the person who had spent half her life critisicing and mocking Charlie Brown to express remorse "I remember the days when we were four or five, we were so close back then... Charlie Brown and I did everything together, I really was fond of him. I don't really know what happened, but as we got older I started to take a likeing to bemoaning him, then all these other friends started coming into the picture and we started spending less and less time together, and then over time our friendship just seemed to dejenerate to the point I only hung out with him so I could put him down for his failures..."
Violet trailed off for a moment, placing her head in her arms and looking quite like Charlie Brown in his depressed state "I guess maybe it's because I was jealous. I didn't like that he was spending less time with me, so I took my anger out in the form of insults directed at him. And then when I became popular I just started doing it to make myself look better, and then I actually started to do it for fun... it's sick of me, really. Charlie Brown really is a nice guy, and even with all I put him through he's still nice to me, and never complains no matter how harshly I treat him... I only wish I'd stopped to think about this sooner, because you know... for all the thrills of being popular, despite all the people who love and respect me... I miss being close to Charlie Brown. I miss the days when we could just hang out and have fun, being real friends. It's completely my fault why we haven't been truly friends in years"
Violet's head slipped from her hands and her face fell to the brick wall, but she didn't seem to notice nor care, more concerned with her inner misery.
"Good grief, what have I become?"
"What have WE become" Patty interjected "I'm the same as you Violet, I mock and discourage Charlie Brown for the fun of it as well. And I feel TERRIBLE for having done that. Charlie Brown used to be my closest friend, he was like the annoying little brother I wish I could have had... and then for no good reason that all changed, and we started working together to make him feel like an outsider. We're both in the wrong here"
"We're ALL in the wrong here" Shermy supplied "Some more than others I admit, but we're all guilty of being cruel to Charlie Brown at times, even if we don't always mean it"
"That is true" Marcie sighed, straightening her glasses "I really respect and care for Charles, I think he's a swell guy and I always try to be nice to him. But Franklin's right, I do lose my patience with him a lot. It's no wonder he doesn't return my feelings when I hit him every time I get annoyed"
"Heck, even I've been a jerk at times" Linus sadly confessed, gripping him security blanket tightly "I remember the time the Little Red Haired Girl moved away for a while, I tried to get Charlie Brown to talk to her before she left in the moving van but he just stood there, too afraid and nervous to do anything. Then when the truck left I threw a fit, I yelled at him and didn't talk to him properly for days afterwards, except to call him a blockhead one time when he tried to talk to me. In retrospect, it's a pretty stupid thing to get mad about, isn't it"
"And let's not forget that time with that Mary-Jo girl" Lucy supplemented.
"Yeah, you two traveled halfway around the country to find her because Charlie Brown was attracted to her, then when you did find her, you swept her off her feet with your love of blankets and left Charlie Brown alone and dejected while you got lucky" Freida continued. Linus blushed slightly and twirled his blanket around nervously.
"I couldn't help it, she was so cute" Linus said innocently. Then a few seconds later his face slumped into a disappointed frown "I guess it was a little inconsiderate though in the wider picture, after all the effort we went through to find her for him. And I'm sure there's a lot of other things I've done wrong. But hey, I can't complain too much, at least I always try to be a good friend, and of course I care about him... maybe I could have appologised for all those incidents though"
There was more silence, as the Peanuts gang thought over their friendship with Charlie Brown and all the times he had been there for them, and all the times they'd been mean to him. Snoopy, unable to communicate with humans, was left to express his faults solely to himself.
"I'm not a bad pet, surely I'm not. I'm the most loyal dog anybody could want, I'm a great pet for the Round Headed Kid" Snoopy thought proudly. But then his eyes popped open and he slapped himself "But the kid's right, I STILL don't remember his name. And why don't I? Really, why can't I remember his name? But is that really something I should feel ashamed about?"
Snoopy hesitated for a while, before a new thought came to his head "Maybe not so much, but actually, I am a little ungrateful... the kid brings me my supper every night without question, and when's the last time I even said thank you? I know I'm a dog, but I should still find some way to express my thanks. And I guess maybe I am a bit ignorant of him, a lot of the times I hang around him is just because I want him for something. And I've actually left him a lot of times to find a home somewhere else. That's hardly loyalty, is it?"
Snoopy stopped, having been pacing around while he was thinking. His doggy face fell as he thought "I'M THE WORST PET IN THE WORLD"
While Snoopy was crying out on the floor, earning him a comforting hug from Marcie, Shermy came up with perhaps the grimmest suggestion yet.
"I just had an awful thought" Shermy said, all eyes turned on him "Some of you might not believe this, but when Charlie Brown was four years old, at around the time it was just him, me, Patty, Snoopy and Violet, he used to be a real cheerful and eccentric child, even a bit of a jokester. He got upset a few times, but he was a lot of fun to be around in those days. But thinking about all that we've just said, and looking back on our history with him, I notice there seems to be a pattern with his declining confidence and rising misery, and our mistreatment of him. So you know what that means? It could have been US and our mistreatment that turned him from Dennis the Mennace into the sad sack he is today!"
Everyones eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, it was shocking to think just how much sense that actually made.
"Good grief, we're evil!" Freida exclaimed, hiding her face in her hands.
The friends continued to mope over these sentiments for quite some time, all hopelessly trying to find reasons to ammend for their wrongs or at least justify themselves. After a while Peppermint Patty, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet and thoughtful, frowned slightly and jumped off the wall and onto her feet, addressing the entire gang as she spoke.
"Alright people, we all feel really really bad for how we've treated Chuck, but there's no point sitting here moping about it. That doesn't help him with his problems, and it's not gonna help us solve ours. I say we should all go find Chuck and try to make it up to him for all the times we've treated him badly" Peppermint Patty said with a note of fiery determination. Her friends nodded and voiced their agreement.
"I'd say the first thing we should do is that everyone on our team should appologise for yelling at Charlie Brown for that disastrous ball game, which I think we can now agree is as much our faults for losing as it is his" Linus began, earning nods of approval from the other Peanuts "Then once we've done that, we can all apologise for the all the other times we've abused our friendship with him, tell him we do care, and make an effort from now on to treat him better. You never know, it might improve his confidence and make him a whole different person"
"Sounds like a plan to me" Lucy nodded, and the rest of the gang cheered their agreement. Except for Violet, who seemed slightly more adamant.
"Ok. But if being nice to Charlie Brown has any negative impact on my social status, you guys can count me out" Violet said with an air of her iconic snobbery.
"Well the least you can do is try" Linus replied.
"I will. I promise" Violet said, in a truly sincere voice that proved to the rest of the gang that she hadn't meant her previous comment at all.
"So, first things first. Where would Charlie Brown go if we're at the wall?" Schroeder asked his friends.
"Well, I know Charles spends a lot of time lying under a tree in the park, usually with sir sitting next to him" Marcie said thoughtfully.
"Stop calling me sir!" Peppermint Patty screamed "And that's a great idea, I bet he's right there now sulking"
"He did look like he was heading in the direction of the park when we all stormed off on him, so that's quite likely" Pigpen nodded in agreement. Snoopy hopped up onto the wall and stood tall before the young teens.
"Well then what are we waiting for, let's go!" For once, everyone had an almost exact idea of what Snoopy was thinking.
And so, with their goal set, the gang prepared to leave the wall and head to the park to find their friend. But after just five seconds of walking, Snoopy stopped in his tracks and looked up in wonder at the sky. Freida was the first to notice the beagle was no longer following them, and quickly pointed this out to her friends.
"Hey Snoop, what's up?" Peppermint Patty asked. Snoopy paid her no mind, his eyes were completely fixated on the sight in the sky. One at a time the kids followed his line of vision and looked up to see a shooting star. But this was not like your average shooting star. It was a brilliant golden colour, and seemed to be moving very fast... very, very fast... and with the direction it was going it seemed to be falling... RIGHT DOWN TO EARTH.
The Peanuts watched in confusion and shock as the star plummeted down and crashed with an almighty bang into the direction of...
"The park!" Linus squeeked, just barely grabbing his friends attention "From that angle of tragectory, that falling star must have landed right in the park!"
The kids exchanged looks, wondering. And then it hit them!
"You don't think-" Schroeder gasped.
"You don't think it might have hit Charlie Brown?" Lucy asked. The gang all looked horrified at that possibility.
"No, no it couldn't have" Shermy shook his head, trying hard not to believe that was true "I mean, even if he was in the park, what are the odds it hit him?"
"With his luck... very likely" Patty answered. The gang exchanged one last look of horror and took off in a run towards the park. The kids ran past several of their classmates, accidentally knocking over Crybaby Boobie, who's wining they could hear the rest of the way, and ruining 5 and his sisters' game of jacks. The gang also met Franklin, who was now walking with Linus and Lucy's little brother Rerun.
"Hey, did you guys see-?" Rerun began, but was cut off by Lucy grabbing his arm and dragging him along.
"Yes we saw it, and we gotta hurry!" Lucy said quickly, confusing her dragged along brother. Franklin also began running alongside the group, himself very confused.
"Soooo... what's going on now?" Franklin asked, struggling to keep up with his frantic friends.
"Long story, but Chuck could be in trouble!" Peppermint Patty said without slowing down. Franklin and Rerun were still confused, but continued to follow the group anyway, both looking determinded now. Snoopy also saw his little bird friend Woodstock sleeping in a nest in a tree on the way. He climbed the tree, frantically shook Woodstock awake, grabbed him by his left wing and began carrying him as he rejoined the sprinting Peanuts.
"No time to explain, just trust me on this" Snoopy told the small yellow bird, who merely yawned in response.
The Peanuts gang were halted only once in their rush to get to the park, when local bullies Joe Agate and Thibault, seeing them coming their way in a rush, decided to block their paths, purely out of the desire to annoy them.
"Well, well, well" Joe began calmly "You guys are sure in a hurry. Now why would the entire Peanuts gang, sans the Brown's, be-"
"Just shove off Joe! We're not in the mood for you two blockheads!" Lucy roared. They tried to get past, but were pushed back slightly by the two bullies.
"Hey, we were just asking you a question, and we demand that you answer it! Where are you going at fifty miles per hour!?" Asked the short and unpleasant Thibault. He was promptly slugged in the face by Lucy and knocked over, as the Peanuts gang charged off. Agate stared after them with a raised eyebrow.
"Strange..." Joe summarised. Besides him Thibault painfully got up, furious that he had been hit by (In his words, not mine, don't flame!) a stupid, wimpy girl. Joe glanced at Thibault, not caring the slightest bit for whether he was alright he commanded "Follow them and see what they're doing"
Thibault glared at Joe for a brief moment, but complied with his demands and ran off after the Peanuts gang.
Finally, with no more interuptions (Besides Lucy briefly picking a fight with Molly Volley, but that would take TWO chapters to explain), the gang arrived at the park. After a quick check about however, they started to wonder if the star had crashed here. There was no sign so far of a crater or scattered debris, which would be a clear sign a meteorite had struck. But more important than finding the falling star was the location of Charlie Brown. The gang walked up to where the oak tree was... and gasped!
They found Charlie Brown... and judging by the burn marks on the ground and tree, the crash site as well. But to their surprised Charlie Brown wasn't crushed, or burnt, scarred, fatally wounded or harmed in anyway. But that wasn't even the scary part. The really weird thing was that Charlie Brown was... glowing. His entire body was enshrouded in a glowing aura of light. And then they noticed impossible situation number two... Charlie Brown, seemingly unconscious and lying on the ground, was floating! His limp glowing body was floating a foot off the ground.
The gang looked between themselves, too shocked to speak. None of them knew quite what to say about this absurdity. For a moment, or perhaps several hours, they simply stood there and watched as Charlie Brown floated in the air, looking quite content with himself. Then finally, in an act that made everyone fall on their posteriors, Charlie Brown slowly hovered back down onto the ground, the light intensified for a moment, then suddenly died down...
Then Charlie Brown began to stir, and he finally stood up, facing the opposite direction to his friends and thinking over the bizarre event that had taken place inside his very head.
The gang just stared at Charlie Brown, still at a loss for words. But Linus managed to overcome his sense of shock for a moment to ask "Charlie Brown?"
Charlie Brown turned around to find every one of his friends staring at him with looks of concern, which changed to relief when they realised he really was alright.
"Are you alright, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked, still not sure what to think of the strange thing he had seen, and worried Charlie Brown might suddenly collapse... or explode... or, something.
"Erm" Charlie Brown mumbled, not quite sure what to tell them. They all watched as he examined his surrounding, seemingly coming to a realisation. Lucy however, was not patient enough to wait for an answer.
"Well, are you alright, or aren't you?" Lucy asked irritably. Charlie Brown hesitated for a moment.
"Well... sort of" He replied. The kids, and dog and bird, stared imploringly at him. But before Charlie Brown could even start on thinking of a follow up, the spirit of Sparky, the former Guardian of Light, rose up out of his body and hovered over the group.
"May I help to explain?" Sparky asked the children. Everyone stared blankly at Sparky for a moment. Then they all screamed and fell on their butts again. Everyone except Rerun, who's eyes widened with amazement.
"Cool!" Rerun said with the excitement of a dozen five year olds on Christmas morning.
After giving the gang another moment to stare at him in shock before standing up, Sparky floated down so that he was directly between Charlie Brown and the others.
"I know what you're thinking, and fear not. Your friend is fine... more than fine, in fact. Rejoice, children of the light, for your good friend Charlie Brown is the new Guardian of Light. It is he who shall rise up and bring an end to the Dark Witch's reign of terror. Rejoice, for your friend Charlie is about to become the greatest hero in this universe" Sparky announced...
...
...
...
"I lost you all after "I know what you're thinking", didn't I?" Sparky asked knowingly. The Peanuts didn't speak. They just continued to stare at him in open mouthed before looking down imploringly at Charlie Brown.
"Is that a talking, floating dog in white robes?" Violet asked, dumbfounded.
"It's a long story" Charlie Brown told them meekly.
"Indeed, a very long story. So to hear it, come with us to Charlie Brown's home, so we can tell Sally as well. Then we shouldn't have to repeat ourselves again" Sparky said wisely. Sparky motioned to Charlie Brown to lead the way home, which he did so quite awkwardly. The friends exchanged a final look of uncertainty before following Charlie Brown out of the park.
Nearby, Thibault had hidden himself within a bush, and had been watching that whole scene unfold. Needless to say his jaw had fallen so far it was set to dislodge from his face.
"I have GOT to tell Joe about this!" Thibault shouted after a long silence. After one last look at the scorched grass Charlie Brown had been hovering over, Thibault ran off as fast as he could to his and Joe Agate's usual hangout.
Tiger Lover 16: And thus, there you have it folks. Now, I know there's probably a million questions floating through your minds, but most of them will be answered next chapter hopefully. I will answer a few though. For those of you wondering why I wrote this, well, I've always felt sorry for Charlie Brown. His whole lovable loser routine made me really appreciate his character, especially after watching the movie "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". And it wasn't long before Charlie Brown became one of, it not my all time favourite fictional character, which also lead to me writing Peanuts fanfictions. Every time I saw Charlie Brown mess up in a special or comic strip, I would feel really bad for him and wish he could succeed. But another thing I notice, his friends are jerks to him. Not all of them, of course, and not all the time, but as I explained above, people do treat him very unfairly very often. It's no wonder he's such a sad sack with the way he's treated, and I wish his friends would realise their faults and treat him better. I think that's what every fan really wants, but a lot of people just aren't motivated to write about it. This is all part of everyones character development, just so you know. I wanted everyone to realise that, while Charlie Brown has a lot of faults, so do they. Our faults are what make us human, and Charlie Brown is a perfect example of that. I wanted to have everyone feel sorry for Charlie Brown, and realise that they treat him a little too harshly, particularly Violet, Lucy and Patty. This'll be a part of how they come to accept him as a great leader among themselves and all the other fictional heroes that will be featured in this story. Most likely they won't completely change their attitudes by next chapter, and Charlie Brown's certainly not changing his attitude for a while... well, not to a great extent, at least. But I wanted to try adding some real solid development to everyones relationships with Charlie Brown, to give them more of a role in the plot of this story. I chose Franklin as the guy that yells the truth in everyones faces because, as far as I can remember he's the only character that has never done Charlie Brown any wrong, and they get along very well. There'll be plenty more developments as the story continues, so stay tuned. And please, PLEASE review. Just one more would be nice. Thank you, have a very good day. And by the way, about my other stories, I don't know when they'll be up... I work on creative spurts, you see, I feel compelled to write for this story at the moment, so I want to write as much as I can while I've still got it in me. Hopefully I'll have one of these moments for Philosopher's Stone and You're Amazing, Charlie Brown pretty soon. Well, that's all for now, goodbye folks, see you later.