Different Fortunes: Season 1, Episode 2, Team Tall.
A room lit by oil lamps, glowing in an aethereal haze, a voice rings out across its dim expanse, coy, invocative.
"Fate is a fickle thing…"
The lamp lights dance upon statues of heroic figures, frozen in their struggles.
"…It is often the difference between glory and oblivion rests within the choices of a single moment. Our destinies forever gambling their way through the great game of life."
A bust appears, a contemporary figure sculpted in Greek marble, the unmistaken grin of Conner O'Glesson
"…You've come the know the choices made in one such game. Come to know their consequences as inevitable."
The bust cracks, splinters. Pieces soaring outward, breaking into fractal patterns.
"…Yet, upon the path walked in life, there is the shadow of a thousand choices not taken, and in the infinite abyss of all creation, even the most unlikely fates are made reality."
Perched on her dais, surrounded by cornucopias overflowing with gold, A goddess appears from the haze, white robes over Mediterranean skin, bronze curls spilling from a golden crown, her eyes masked by a cloth blindfold.
"To the Greeks, I was Tyche, Goddess of Fortune, to you I am your hostess. You are in my domain now
You think you know fate?"
The goddess's lips curl into a smile as she holds aloof a golden coin, she flicks it in the air.
"…Let's see how different it could have been?"
…
(Spoilers for Total Drama Endless)
….
Ramona Flowers drops her bag on a freshly made bed and surveys the barracks she and the rest of Team Two have just been given. Around her, the others are getting settled in. The blonde teen, Wendy or whatever her name is (She'll learn it later) gapes at her.
"All you brought is that tiny bag?"
"It's bigger on the inside," Ramona tells her.
"Real Doctor Who shit!" Chimes in the one person in the room who Ramona's already unfortunately familiar with, Julie Powers.
"How do you know each other again?" Asks the fox in the room. Talking animals asking her questions is apparently just something she'll have to get used to in this game. Ramona smiles wryly.
"My boyfriend Scott, I think she dated one his old bandmates, before she got so horrible she turned him gay. For whatever reason we keep going to her parties and tolerating her extremely bitchy presence."
"Wow, real heartwarming Ramona. Thanks for that." Julie snarks. "I feel like I'm back in Toronto."
"That's why I'm here," Ramona says pulling some toiletries from her bag. "Let's continue this another time. I'm going to test the bath."
…
"Fifty years before the time of Endless, its earliest ancestor featured a fowl-minded mistress and a flock of female followers.
In the world you know there was little similar to this ancient alliance in Endless, and yet if the fates had gone in another direction. There could have been."
…
There's a hard knock at the bathroom door, Ramona puts her hair up in a towel and opens it.
Julie blows into the room without being invited and leans on the counter. Behind her round-rimmed glasses, her eyes are ripe with conspiracy.
"So pretty crazy contestants huh? We're going have to be pretty smart to get through it."
Ramona ignores her and starts brushing her teeth.
"What do you want Julie?"
Julie smirked.
"I respect that about you Ramona, you get straight to the point."
She shifts her position and folds her arms.
"I've been talking to the blonde chick, between the two of us, her, and that sad-looking Japanese girl we could have a pretty decent voting block here."
"What's in it for me?"
Julie laughs.
"Ramona honey, we're friends, right? There's no one I'd rather take to the finals than you."
"You're not friends with anyone unless there's something in it for you. Did you see the Mario Princess and Indiana Jones on the other teams and realize you're not getting far in this thing on your own?"
"You're a real smart cookie Flowers. So what do you say?"
Ramona pulls off a sheet of toilet paper and writes something on it.
"How about ten percent if you win, and I want that in writing."
Julie groans.
"You drive a hard bargain, but fine."
She signs the impromptu note. Then cocks her eyebrow.
"So we have an alliance?"
Ramona smiles to herself resignedly.
"Guess so…"
…
"Julie Powers, a native of the Province of Ontario and the 2000s decade, the same time and place of the first contest, and of a similar disposition to its contestant Heather. In your story little came of this, Powers, morally disgusted at Endless and the fact she had signed up with someone she knew made little attempt to be proactive or do much besides complain, leading to her second day elimination.
Yet in another world, Powers surrendered to pragmatism and founded an alliance, setting in motion a domino chain that would change everything about her team…"
…
"I still say we were too rough on that fox guy…" Yao muses.
"That's what he gets for making us lose again," Julie informs him, swatting at a stray Paleozoic insect. It's day three and freshly christened team Short N Spunky is wadding through the swamps of the Carboniferous, fresh off losing their second member, Tails the Fox.
"Now if one of you losers could have us out of here as fast as possible, I'd appreciate it."
"If we had the fox he could have flown straight to the statues," Yao complains.
"Dude, it's cool, you got another teammate that can fly," Amethyst informs him, transforming into a giant dragonfly. Julie surveys it unimpressed.
"Great can you carry all of us?"
Amethyst laughs. "Oh no way, probably just the smallest dudes. Yao! Bentley! Get on suckahs. Shorty Squad 'bout to win this for the team!"
"Oh no, you're not leaving us behind!" Julie snaps.
"But-"
"But nothing ****** take us all or don't bother with your alien powers."
Amethyst transforms back into herself, looking sore.
"Alright already! We're walking it then! But if this costs us the challenge you're going home."
Julie chuckles confidently.
"We'll see about that."
…
Some unknown amount of time later Tomoko Kuroki has found herself back in her bedroom, engrossed in a dating program on her computer. For whatever reason she wears heavy makeup and some overly elaborate lingerie Someone knocks on the door. Tomoko squeaks.
"DON'T COME TOMOKI."
She changes her tone.
"Unless you want to catch your older sister doing something lewd…"
Ramona Flowers pokes through the door. "Maybe I shouldn't be here then."
Tomoko shrieks and falls out of her bed.
"Ramona Senpai! What are you doing here!"
Ramona shrugs. "I can't sleep and I got curious. Turns out there's a good-sized subspace shortcut running through your head."
"Wait? I'm dreaming?" Tomoko's eyes widen. "AND YOU'RE IN MY HEAD?!"
"Yeah, sorry. It's something I can do." Ramona admits. "We're still back on the ship. I just can't pass out tonight so I figured I'd tired myself visiting my alliance mates' dreams if that makes sense." She thinks for a moment. "That doesn't make sense."
She shrugged again.
"I can go if I'm not welcome."
"Of course you're welcome Ramona Senpai!" Tomoko laughs with some awkwardness. "You let me into your alliance!"
"It's more Julie's thing that I joined despite my better judgment." Ramona gives her a curious look. "You've been pretty quiet out there. What do make of this group of ours?"
"Oh, it's so cool!" Tomoko gushes, then catches herself and attempts to recompose herself.
"I mean I knew right away people would be lining up to ally with me." She says flipping her long dark hair airily. Her composer slips again, and she looks at Ramona bright-eyed.
"But still I even I didn't expect to be this popular right away, and be part of this big group and make all these friends! You're not friends with them yet, these cold-hearted bitches could betray you! Wait! No! I said that out loud! I mean thought it out loud! I mean…"
She gripes the sides of her head, breathing hard. Ramona gently takes her hands and nudges them back down.
"Easy kiddo, you're alright."
"I'm sorry…" Whimpers Tomoko. "I'm not always good at talking to people."
Ramona smiles. "That makes two of us."
Tomoko's awestruck. "But you're so cool!"
"Tomoko, look," Ramona says. "This game's going to be unavoidably weird. We've already booted a mermaid, a fox and a turtle from the team, but if you me and Winry look out for each other, then we'll get through this."
"Wow…" Tomoko says faintly. She blinks. "What about Julie?"
"Julie's only looking out for herself but she founded the alliance so we're stuck with her."
"Oh…"
…
"YOU CAN'T VOTE ME OUT NOW!"
Amethyst is furious and, on her feet, she glares around the campfire Conner's set up for them on this cool, NickEarth night. Their host having just tossed a final marshmallow to Julie.
"Julie screws up back in the bug forest, then Bentley goes home, she messed up again today by not trusting Timmy, but now I'm getting kicked off! How is any of that fair!?"
"It's not," Julie admits causally. "But seems like I have an alliance and you don't."
Amethyst and Yao gasp.
"Sorry guys, nothing personal." Winry insists.
Amethyst groans.
"Ugh! I knew I should have made my own squad, you got to be kidding meeeeeeeeee-"
Conner launched Amethyst off into the distance.
Conner nods approvingly "Nice work on the hydraulics Jeremy."
Jeremy can be heard gurgling from the ship.
"Now back to the elimination. Oh my god guys. That was barbaric."
"You heard her! She would have done the same to us if she had a chance," Julie tells him.
Conner throws up his hands.
"I-I mean granted that's a potential. But I mean look at you! You're supposed to be Short N Spunky and you've only got one short person left! What happened?"
Julie folds her arms. "They got caught in a coup mother f**ker! All bow down before Team Tall!"
"Team Tall?" Winry asks.
"Beats calling ourselves Spunk Squad," Ramona says.
"Team Tall it is then bitches." Julie proclaims. She side eyes Yao nastily. "May our enemies beware!"
Winry frowns. "Julie, should we be so obvious about how Yao's the next one going? It's not really nice for one."
Julie chuckles. "What's he gonna do about it?"
….
"YAO GET OUT OF THAT HOUSE ALREADY!"
The next day. Julie's standing in Rodney's Foyer, shouting into his intercom system furiously. On a screen before them, someone deep in the house perched on a Chinese throne, Yao shuts his eyes and folds his arms.
"NO!"
"YAO!"
"That's Yao, King of the House to you! I'm staying in here! There's nothing you girls can do about it!"
Julie rounds on Rodney, furious.
"Make him come out here so I can eliminate him properly Squirrel Boy."
"I'm afraid there are complications involved in the matter," Rodney says sheepishly. He turns to Conner. "I have no qualms with a long term housemate, perhaps the wisest thing for everyone would be to let the young fellow stay a while and count him informally as no longer part of your game?"
…
Julie's mood hasn't improved much the next day.
"Can't believe that little Chinese boy!"
"At least he's still gone like you wanted," Winry says. "Now we're down to our alliance." She pauses. "What's the plan if we go to elimination again? Will one of our own go?"
"We're not going back to elimination." Julie insists firmly. "Now that the shackles of the so called Shorty Squad are loose us four tall bitches are going to run this game. We've got Ramona's American Ninja skills, Winry's inventor brain that's better than any BS the fox and the turtle could ever come up with."
"Those two were talking about flying machines and time travel," Winry says uncertainly. "I can do a lot with a wrench but not that."
"Don't interrupt me when I'm hyping us up!" Julie snaps. "…. Finally, theirs me. The genius leader who's going to hold all of us together."
"What about Tomoko?" Ramona asks.
"I can help too!" Tomoko says enthusiastically. "What do I do for us?"
"You fetch us snacks, do odd jobs we don't want to…" Julie leans over to Winry and Ramona. "…And she acts as canon fodder if we have to vote another person off before the merge."
Tomoko looks starstruck. "Wow… my niche in the popular cliché!"
"So, genius leader? What's our plan to win this round?" Ramona asks.
The four of them are crowded behind a hill overlooking Doctor Eggman's sprawling base.
"We could try and find Tails and see if he'd help us?" Winry suggests. Julie wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"I'm not going back to beg that fox kid for help. We're going to sit here and wait for the other teams to bust in for us."
Winry frowns "You mean like the Fact Hunters are doing?"
They look and see the majority of the Fact Hunters, hiding behind an adjacent hill. Julie glares.
"Hey! What do you people think you're doing?"
"Waiting for the Flower Girls to do the hard work!" Indy replies. They hear a loud crash and the outer wall of the compound comes crashing down. "Sounds like that's our cue. Nice talking to you ladies."
"Get back here mother f**kers!"
"I'll cut them off!" Tomoko cries.
"Tomoko wait!" Winry calls after her.
"I'll do for Team Tall!" Tomoko declares happily, already down the hill.
"I should stop her," Romana says.
"Let her go, that girl could use some toughening up," Julie says unconcerned. The other two look at her in disbelief.
"She's charging head-on into a war zone!" Winry says.
"The Flower Girls seem to be handling themselves," Julie comments.
"The Flower Girls have a war goddess on their side, Julie!" Ramona says.
They hear a squeak of panic. One of Eggman's Badniks has appeared before Tomoko, laser primed.
"TOMOKO!" Ramona shouts.
Fast as the rollerblades on her feet can move, Ramona careens towards her teammates. The laser fires, just as she tackles the other girl to the ground.
"Tomoko look where you're going! You're going to get yourself killed!"
A shock of pain flashes through her nervous system. She groans.
"Dammit, You made me hurt my arm!"
Tomoko's whimpering in horror. Ramona's eyes light up in alarm.
"What's wrong? Something wrong with my arm?"
Tomoko points, Ramona looks and spots her right arm lying several metres away.
"Okay, thank god, it's fine." She says relieved.
Then she does a double take.
Both of them start screaming.
….
"Lucky for us, new arms are something I'm really good at making," Winry says later that night.
They're back in their barracks after the challenge. Ramona sat on her bed, holding herself awkwardly as Winry works crafting a new prosthetic to the cauterized stump that for the first 25 years of Romana's life had been a working limb.
"Lucky for you I kept a cool enough head to grab us the silver statue," Julie says.
"Why do I feel like me and Tomoko could have been killed for all you care, so long as you and Winry got the statue?" Romana comments dryly.
Julie looks scandalized. "Of course, I'd care if you two got killed. That'd be half my alliance down the drain. Been a real f**ked up thing for you two to do to me."
Ramona sighs, her eyes drift over to their host standing by the door. Conner attempting to look innocent.
"There's no way dismemberment isn't a suable offence."
Conner beams at her. "Clearly someone didn't read their contract,"
"You're joking!"
"Hey, look at it this way, it's still a fairer contract than Chris McLean would have had you sign!" He laughs heartily then sputters out as he gets an eyeful of the expression on Ramona's face. Then clears his throat awkwardly.
"Glad you're on the mends Ramona. We're lucky Winry was here."
He takes his leave.
"Speaking of, your new automail should be ready to try," Winry says, pulling away from her work. Romana inspects her new limb, it looks somewhere between the arm of a robot and medieval armour. She flexes it, then spreads her fingers apart. The movement comes naturally.
"That's… almost as good as new. This is incredible Winry, I don't know how to thank you."
"Just don't scratch it." Winry laughs. "It was an easy built. Not the worst I've worked with. You should have seen Ed and Al after their accident."
"Those are those two Eldric brothers you mention a lot right?" Ramona asks. "The one that got lost…"
"…In another dimension yeah…" Winry frowns for a moment before perking back up.
"You'd have liked them, Ramona. They were geniuses."
"I dated genius brothers once, The Katayanagi's," Ramona says.
"Really?"
"You sound surprised."
"You never talk about home Ramona!" Winry exclaims.
"That's because back in Toronto she lives off being seen as this secretive mysterious American ninja girl." Julie taunts. "Reality though she's got a lot of baggage."
"You can stop talking now Julie," Ramona says.
"Kyle and Ken Katayanagi are the tip of the iceberg," Julie continues indulgently. "She has seven evil exes, and they're not regular nobodies either, she dated Gideon Graves the billionaire…"
"Julie shut up!"
She takes a pillow in her new mechanical hand and begins hitting her teammate with it. Julie continues on gleefully.
"…Luca Lee, the famous movie star, they were a thing in high school…"
"For two weeks!"
"…Todd Ingram, of Clash at Demonhead fame? You better believe they dated! Then there's two more than were important as well, but I haven't heard what they're up to."
"Roxie's doing her ninja thing and Mattew, I don't know I think he's a physic pirate these days."
"…and get this," Julie says dramatically. "After all these famous men she settles with Scott Pilgrim of all people! Can you imagine!?"
"Dude, Scott's the best person I've ever dated!"
"That's actually sad." Smirks Julie.
"It's not. We're really happy together!"
"Still sad."
"Yeah… well, that's just like your opinion."
She grabs all four pillows from her bed with both arms and hurls them at Julie, knocking her to the floor.
Ramona gets up. At the same time Tomoko, who's been silent as a mouse since the challenge finally gets the courage to speak.
"Ramona… I'm sorry."
"Good for you," Ramona says coolly, the causal humour from her voice gone, and something odd's happened. Her head seems to be going faintly. Tomoko seems stricken.
"I'll make it up to you…"
"Oh, will you? There's a piece of metal where part of my body used to be, how do you plan on fixing that?"
"I…"
"Tomoko, I don't know what the hell's wrong with your mind if you seriously think it's worth risking your life to impress Julie of all people."
"I'm sorry! "
"Sorry's not good enough," Ramona snaps. "Be better next time."
She retreats into the washroom. Tomoko deflates miserably.
"She hates me now…"
Winry pats her back.
"Sometimes when people are scared, they show it by getting mad."
…
Ramona spends the next hour in the bathroom. When she leaves her blue shoulder-length hair has been cut down to chin length and dyed orange with red highlights.
"You changed your hair!" Winry says a gasp.
"Figured with the arm, I'd change things up a bit," Ramona explains.
"Don't read into it, she does it all the time. It's part of her manic pixie dream girl look!" Julie says.
Ramona sighs.
"I don't know why I thought keeping you around was a good idea."
"Can't get rid of me now bitch." Julie laughs. "I owe this f**king team! I'm not going anywhere!"
…
"Wednesday, Athena and Julie!" The Joker cries. "Congratulations! In honour of being my favourite contestants today. You've just won a one-way trip OUT OF THIS GAME!"
"WHAT!?"
"SAYONARA!" The Joker cries, lunging back into the control panel on the wall. All three contestants are sucked down out of sight while the room around them erupts in outrage.
"And with that teams are OVER!" Conner cries over the din, dropping his sandwich and tearing off his superhero costume.
"CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE YOU MADE IT TO THE MERGE! HIT IT CHEWIE!"
…
The teams disappear and a few days later so does their staff, taking off and leaving them stranded with their only hint home being to 'Follow the Story'.
It's a few weeks later after most of the outrage of that day has died down.
At her seat with Ravenclaw House in the Great Hall, Ramona leans back and gives the magical ceiling a contemplative look.
"You know what my least favourite part about Hogwarts is Tari?"
"What?" Tari asks.
Ramona fumbles through her bag and pulls out an MP3 player.
"The whole anti-technology field. I know these people are luddites but magic and technology being at odds with one another is seriously overplayed. Let me listen to some music while I do my homework spells."
Tari laughs. The two of them had first met during a misshape some weeks ago involving a dimension hopping arthropleura. Ever since the Infinite 2 cast had shown up at the castle for a challenge of their own, she and Ramona had been fast bonding.
"No kidding. A week without gaming's going to be rough. I'm just hoping it doesn't affect my processors." Tari says examining a metal arm of her own. Ramona gives her own automail a look.
"Guess sometimes it pays to be low-tech. Winry really did a good job."
"I'll say, and she's doing an even better job with Ed."
Two figures have just walked into the room for breakfast, Winry standing side by side with Tari's boyfriend Edward, one of Winry's long lost Eldric brothers. They both looked just as overjoyed to be together again as they had the day Winry had discovered him alive and well amongst the Infinite cast.
"I was worried about Ed this season," Tari admits. "Wasn't himself, acting secretive and nervous, flipping through that book. I'm glad he found his old friend. Having her around really helped him open on. Now, he knows whatever this Gjira business is about, me, him and the rest of our friends are going to face it together!"
"Good for you," Ramona says, thinking to herself. "Actually while we're on the topic my gang could use some friends if we're going to stand a chance at this merge,"
Winry and Ed sit down next to them. Ed planting a kiss on Tari's cheek.
"Ed, you're on your second run of this game for some god-forsaken reason. Do you think merge alliances are worthwhile?"
"You'll need one alright," Ed says at once. "Having a big group helped us bring down DIO last season. Besides…" He looked at Tari and grinned. "It's always better to get things done with your friends by your side."
"I'm not much of a friends person but I'll take your word for it. I remember Julie used to gossip about the other teams while she was here but I'd gotten so good at tuning her out most of it went other on heads. Winry you were always better at listening to her. What's our best bet, Flower Girls or Fact Hunters?"
"Flower Girls!"
Ramona smirks. "That was quick."
Winry shrugs and grabs a piece of toast. "It's not much of a competition, I really like the Flower Girls…"
She turns her head to the Hufflepuff table where the other team has gathered, Gryffindor Tigress and Slytherin Janna with her trusty Arthropleura Lupe-Lupe by her side. Both engaged with their Hufflepuff teammates, Fluttershy and Peach.
"…The girls all took losing Athena much harder than we did Julie, but they're all really friendly and supportive of one another," Winry explains, she looks around at the rest of the room, where the Fact Hunters are much more scattered.
"The Fact Hunters though? They apparently had a huge fight right before the merge…"
"It's your Rick's fault," Tari says. "…Used his portal gun to eliminate some girl he was feuding with named Beatrice behind his team's back. This kid named Dipper, he and Rick were mates, but once he and the rest of the team found out about Beatrice that was over quick. Rest of the team seems to be in a similar state."
Ramona cocks an eyebrow. "You know that how exactly?"
"Because Miu and our Rick won't stop teasing him about it."
The four of them look further down Ravenclaw's table, Where Rick Sanchez sits miserably surrounded by a blond girl with goggles and a doppelganger of himself. Both seem deliciously smug.
"I'll never forgive you people for bringing a second Rick Sanchez into my life," Ramona says dryly. "But you've convinced me. We'll befriend the Flower Girls, take the Hunters down a few pegs and see where the game takes us."
"Maybe then we'll manage to be friends again on our team," Winry says with a little sigh. Ramona looks at her suspiciously
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing," Winry says.
Away from them, Tomoko sits at the Slytherin table. Quiet and by herself.
…
"An Alliance?"
Janna's eyebrows shift mischievously. It's later in the day, Ramona and Winry have tracked her and her team down in the library.
"It is true we share a common enemy," Says Tigress stoically.
"Is it really fair to the Fact Hunters though?" Fluttershy asks. "They've worked as hard as we have to be here."
"Rick hasn't," Janna smirks.
"This isn't us doing any kind of evil scheming." Ramona clarifies.
"We're just trying to keep our group together as long as we can," Adds Winry.
"Like you guys."
"Friendship is important." Says Fluttershy with a smile.
"And we can make this an all-girl merge," Winry says.
Janna looks off, seated on a reading desk in a blatant disregard of library rules, she comes across as aloof, uncommitted.
"It's tempting…" She admits. "But there's this problem… We have one more girl than you do."
"So?" Winry asks.
"So you get more out of this team up than we do," Janna says. "You're short changing me ladies. Got anything that'll sweeten the deal?"
Ramona racks her brain, her eyes land on Peach.
"Princess, that clown girl gave you a hammer back in Gotham, right?"
Peach nods surprised.
"That's right yes."
"What about it?" Janna asks.
Ramona reaches into her bag and pulls out a large sledgehammer of her own.
"How'd you like someone to teach you how to use it?"
…
Their alliance is formalized that same day, and in the next months, both all-girl teams see great success.
Rick burns in the Room of Requirement.
Doctor Jones, useful as he is, they still leave in Narnia.
Doctor Doofenshmirtz finds his calling with Willy Wonka.
It's only Atlantis they take their first loss. Janna after much deliberation elects to remain underground in the ancient city rather than return to her own doomed reality. Her team sheds many tears that day, but ultimately the game goes on.
Janna had spent the game earning the trust of her teammates. By the end, it was clear she was their leader more than even Tigress, with her gone the remaining Flower Girls drew much closer to Team Tall.
Ramona appreciated them. To her surprise,
It was nice to have friends.
…
"You're almost there."
It's early evening in Springfield USA, a place from Ramona's childhood TV set she'd never have dreamed of visiting in real life.
In the playground behind Springfield Elementary, She and Princess Peach are sparing, Ramona's sledgehammer clashing with the oversized mallet Harley Quinn had gifted Peach. Ramona had to admit she wasn't sure how good of a teacher she was but Peach did seem to be improving in her fighting stance. Having a Kung-Fu master like Tigress on hand did help. She and Fluttershy were with them now, observing.
"Square your shoulders…" Tigress says, nudging Peach into the proper posture. "When you're defending you want to know where your centre of mass is. Must stand rigid."
"But Tigress, you said I must flow like the river yesterday?"
"Yes, during your offence."
"Oh my…" Peach says sounding slightly overwhelmed. "There's so much to learn."
"You're doing wonderful Princess," Fluttershy says gently.
"You kicked ass back in Atlantis," Ramona says. "You probably could have figured this out without us if you needed?"
"You think so?" Peach asks.
"Let's try this again," Ramona says.
They ready, a moment later both hammers soar through the air. Ramona spots Peach's mallet coming towards her a second too late. The next thing she knows she's lying on the grass, a pain in her chest.
Peach squeal.
"Oh my stars! Ramona! I didn't mean-"
Ramona laughs.
"Not bad Your Majesty…"
A moment's tension breaks, Peach and Fluttershy begin to laugh as well. Even Tigress cracks a slight smile.
A light flicks on in a tiny shack in the field and out hobbles a scraggly looking Scotsman with rust coloured hair, evidently the school groundskeeper.
"OY! What are you lassies doing mucking up my field!? It's LATE! WILLIE'S TRYING TO SLEEP!"
"We're sorry!" Fluttershy calls.
"I think that's our cue to leave," Ramona says. "Come on Peach, I'll take you guys to the Kwik-E-Mart."
"Oh yes please!" Peach gasps.
"We should go back to the house first, and see if Winry and Tomoko would like to join us?" Fluttershy offers.
Ramona makes a non-committal noise. Fluttershy frowns.
"Ramona, why is it you don't seem to like Tomoko?"
"I like her!" Ramona says defensively. "She's a teammate, and she's a good kid,"
"But you never seem to be around her, and she seems afraid of you."
"Tomoko's afraid of everything, but she means well. It's just complicated with me and her. We didn't start that way, but then Mobius happened…"
"…and she cost you an arm," Tigress says.
Ramona flexes the joints of her prosthetic. Her head glowing.
"She could have gotten me killed." She says quietly. "Especially not that we know Conner would apparently just let it happen."
She shrugs.
"I mean assuming Rick did die. Peach, you never mentioned if he dropped any coins."
"You're not supposed to lose coins when you lose a life," Peach says, an odd twinge in her voice. "They're supposed to give you an extra life, because you're supposed to have more than one, and you don't lose pieces of yourself when you take damage!"
"Trust me no one would be happier than me if that was true than me."
"But it is true!" Peach insists. "It's what's supposed to be true! I can't understand how you could bear to live in a world so unfair."
Fluttershy nuzzles Peach gently.
"Poor Peach is still dealing with what happened to Rick," Fluttershy informs Ramona. She raises an eyebrow.
"…But you're not?"
"Oh no, not in the way Peach is. I'm already familiar with sad topics like death. My friend Twilight even had to kill King Sombra to free the Crystal Empire. He came back, but we killed him again."
"Okay…" Ramona says slowly.
Fluttershy gives her a friendly smile.
"However as barres of the Elements of Harmony and Equestrian Friendship Ambassadors me and my friends have managed to solve most of our problems with friendship and most of the friendship problems we come across. I know you and Tomoko's friendship problem will get solved in the end too."
"If you say so," Ramona says eyeing the horse without much faith.
…
Springfield had been proven to be Winry's favour location yet, the feeling of a small town brought her back to her home village of Resembool, and the technological marvels these people used so causally made her heart soar.
She was asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor of Lisa Simpson's bedroom, a book about robotics still open spine up on her chest when noise from downstairs stirs her from slumber. Ramona and the Flower Girls returning from a night on the town by the sound of it.
"Winry…" Comes the little voice somewhere above her.
"What is it?" She mummers.
She opens her eyes. In the darkness, she could just barely make out Tomoko's dark baleful eyes gazing down at her imploringly.
Winry sighs good naturedly. She'd been in the game long enough to know what that meant.
A few minutes later the two of them sit in their pyjamas, perched atop the shingled room of the Simpson's homestead for privacy, with no company but the inky veil of night above them.
"…Tomoko I'm sure the girls would invite you out more if you just ask. Mrs. Simpson won't always be around to remind them."
Tomoko moans in discomfort. "They're hard to talk to. Not everyone's friendly like you."
"Who? The Flower Girls? Tomoko, they're really friendly, even Tigress."
"Yeah… But it's hard to talk to them when… she's there."
Winry groans. "If you and Ramona are ever going to make amends you can't be so afraid of her. Didn't I tell you she's not mad?"
"I cut off her arm!" Tomoko yelps.
Winry shushes her.
"I cut off her arm." Repeats Tomoko much more quietly.
"Mobius was months ago," Winry says gently. "Ramona's changed. We've all changed. You've changed too."
She smiles at her teammate.
"Do you think the Tomoko from the start of the game could have managed aboard the Dawn Treader? Or fought in the Battle of Atlantis?"
"That was luck."
"No one's made it this far out of luck," Winry says bracingly
"But I am lucky," Tomoko says. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."
Winry smiles and puts her arm around the girl.
Beneath them in the room, Ramona listens to their conversation as it filtered down through an open window.
…
"PEACH!"
Fluttershy's emerged from the ruins of the Springfield Monorail shrieking with distraught. Besides the ruined rail cars no other reminders of Springfield can be found in the vast expanse of sand dunes they've suddenly been transported to.
"What happened!?" Dipper Pines asks running up to the spot where Tigress is working to calm the frantic pony.
"That Bob character put up too much of a fight," Tigress says in a measured tone. "At the last moment, Peach made a very selfless choice, and made sure both of them wouldn't go further."
They all silently stare at the space where the last car would have been. Evidently left behind in Springfield with both its occupants.
"Oh Princess!" Wails Fluttershy. "We abandoned her with a monster!"
"She'll be fine." Tigress insists.
"Are you sure?" Ramona asks.
"I have faith in her judgement," Tigress says. "She'll find her own path." Tigress cracks a faint smile. "With those hammer tricks you taught her I'm confident she'll hold her own." Just as quickly as it's appeared her smile fades and she's serious again.
"It's us we need to worry about now."
"Tigress is right, The Princess would want us to keep going," Winry says optimistically.
"Uh guys?" Dipper says. "Anyone know a place that has two suns?"
The others glance skyward at the binary sunrise above them.
"Not unless where on Luke Skywalker's planet, whatever it's called?" Ramona says she gives Lenny a look. He had earned his way into being one of the two remaining Fact Hunters still in the game with her priceless trove of pop-culture knowledge.
"You might be onto something Flowers." He says beaming at her. "Of course considering there's nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye can see it might be a while before we're properly sure."
"What is your call, Ramona?" Tigress asks. Ramona screws up her expression.
"Why's my opinion matter?"
"You and Tigress are the closest we have to leaders now," Fluttershy says.
"For all of us really," Dipper admits.
Ramona exhales.
"Alright, I'll warn you though I'm not great under pressure."
She squints at the sunlit landscape for a minute or so then points.
"This is a total shot in the dark but maybe we should head in the same direction the train came out of the portal? That could be some sort of Connerism telling us where to go?"
…
To her disbelief, she's right on both accounts. A day's walk leads them sure enough to Star Wars town or Mos Eisley as Lenny calls it. Even though it's Cantina's a rough spot, its refreshments are sorely appreciated after a day's march through the heat.
"This game…" Ramona says with a shake of her head. "You think you're a loner your whole life then the next you know a whole bunch of strangers are counting on you to take them through the multiverse. What's it going to do to me next?"
"Don't take this leader thing too seriously." Winry urges. "We're all in this together." She nudges her playfully. "You're just at the centre of the biggest alliance left in the game."
"Huh, guess so," Ramona says. She hadn't much any thought into it but Winry had a point. Now that Peach was gone both the Flower Girls and the Fact Hunters were down to two people each. All four of them were huddled in a booth. She, Winry and Tomoko had their own seats. From an outsider's perspective, she supposed they were starting to look intimidating. When they'd visited the Shrinks household Mrs Shrinks had been kind enough to make all of them custom leather jackets. She wore hers with a dark pair of jeans and Tomoko and Winry were pairing them with the skirts and stockings that had originally been part of their Hogwarts uniforms. Three figures adorned in black, it made them stand out against the others.
"People might start seeing us as a threat." She says contemplatively. "Then again there's only seven of us left."
She turned to the other two.
"We really could pull this off huh? Go all the way to the end?"
"With you as our leader…" Tomoko added quietly. Ramona surveyed her.
"Still don't say I'm cut out."
"You're one of the best fighters here though." Says the girl. "You beat that bug lady back in Hallownest."
"I had Lenny and Athena's help with Hornet," Ramona says dismissively.
"What about Atlantis? You defeated that digger guy."
"What you mean Mole? I don't know if that's worth bragging about. He seemed sort of reluctant to go against us. I probably should have considered that before I threw him into the lava moat."
"Oh…" Tomoko says smally.
There's a brief, yet awkward silence. Winry coughs.
"What about you?" Ramona says to Tomoko. "You did pretty well for yourself during that battle? I think I remember you letting out some war cry from your fish mount."
Tomoko turns beat red.
"That… uh. That was nothing! I shouldn't have been there to begin with. Baka! Stupid Tomoko! It won't happen again-"
"I thought you were pretty badass," Ramona admits.
Tomoko's mystified.
"I was?"
"You've come a long way kid," Ramona admits. "I'm glad you've made it this far."
Tomoko seems to begin whimpering, then takes a deep breath, and nods very, very gratuitously.
"You too, Ramona Sama."
Ramona smiles. Rusty knowledge about Japanese honorifics comes back to her from her time with the Katayanagi's.
"Tomoko remind me, are you old enough to drink yet?"
"Not in Japan."
"Well, good thing we're not in Tokyo."
She ordered them all some fancy space liquor.
"To Team Tall." She declared.
"To us!" Said Winry.
"To Victory!" Said Tomoko.
…
The three of them eventually include the others in their celebration. For the next couple of hours, the mood is jovial.
A few hours after that, things begin to die down.
Several more hours after that, boredom and uncertainty set in.
"Bossman says you if people aren't buying anymore then you clear out of here." Says the barman, shuffling over to their tables with his Wookie master.
"Could you give us five more minutes?" Lenny asks, "We're sort of waiting for someone."
"You can wait for them outside." Grunts the local. "This ain't no hotel, hit the road."
Very reluctantly they take their leave finding themselves on the mean and dusty streets of Mos Eisley without a plan. The twin suns low to the horizon.
"Lenny, what gives? I thought you said the guys we were supposed to run into would meet us there?" Dipper asks.
"I thought they would," Lenny says scratching his head. "Bugger me, that's the second place in a row Conner's got me stumped on what to do."
"Should we just go to Luke's farm?" Ramona asks.
"I suppose," Lenny says almost defeatedly. "Might not be the best idea to travel at night so close to the city. Mos Eisley isn't famed for it's a safe and secure neighbourhoods at the best of times."
Winry shutters. "No kidding, this place reminds me of the stories I used to hear about Ishbal. Hopefully, there's somewhere we can spend the night. Maybe I'll go see if I can find anything."
"I'll come with you." Fluttershy volunteers.
They set off into the city's sandy alleys, now turning from tan to a deep blue in the dying twilight. Day merchants and bazaars around them are packing up their wares to retire for the night.
"Did you see how much Ramona and Tomoko were talking back there?" Winry asks.
"Oh I did!" Chirps the Pegasus, "I'm so glad they've managed to be friends again!" She looks around. "This game began so scarily at times, but being lucky enough to make it this far, I'm very, very glad we're all getting through it okay."
"Don't jinx us," Winry says playfully. "We still need to get out of this city in one piece."
A group of a half dozen short, semi-humanoid creatures with wiry brown fur and grey hairless faces bustle past the two, hissing sinisterly.
Winry shutters again.
"At least the technology is incredible."
A whirling droid brushes against her, frayed wires within it sparking.
"Hi, little guy something wrong?" Winry asks.
The droid trills softly and makes to wheel away. She stops it.
"Here, let me help."
She opens a panel, and putting some of the new electrician knowledge she'd be researching in Springfield to good use fixes the frayed wire.
The machine chirps happily. Winry gives a little laugh.
"You're welcome!"
"HEY!"
A dust-coated human merchant comes barreling from out of one of the alleys and shoves her away from the droid. Fluttershy squeaks and hides behind a wall.
"What do you think you're doing messing with my property!?" Cried the merchant.
"I just thought he looked like he needed a little help!"
"He doesn't need your help!"
"I'm sorry! I-"
Winry takes a step back and bumps into something else. She turns to find herself staring up at a soldier clad in white armour. Half a dozen compatriots by his sides.
"What's all this?" He asks.
"She's trying to steal my equipment!" The merchant says.
"I did not!" Yelps Winry. "Hey!"
One of the soldiers has grabbed her.
"Let me go!"
"Stop that squirming. You're already in enough trouble." One of the soldiers says, his voice muffled slightly by their heavy masks.
"I didn't do anything wrong though!"
"Wait a minute she's one of them!"
A small crowd of late evening towns folk have stopped to take in the scene. From the group a man with a wide misshapen nose.
"They've been talking about them in the Catania." He says nasally. "Whole bunch of weirdos. They crashed their ship in the Dune Seas the same time this hyperspace anomaly that's been stopping trade showed up. People say it's not a consequence."
"Alright, we're taking you in for questioning." One of the soldiers tells Winry. "Commander Haraka will want to hear about this."
"There's another one behind the corner!" The Merchant shouts.
Fluttershy squeaks in fright and takes off.
"Stop her!" Cries the soldiers. Their blasters fill the dark sky with orange bolts of light. Fluttershy swerves through them, terrified.
…
The others are still waiting for them to return when Fluttershy all but crashes into them. Little pastel body quaking terribly with panic.
"They took her! They took Winry!"
"What?" Dipper cries.
"Who did?" Ramona asks.
"A bunch of men in white armour."
Ramona glares at looks down. "Stormtroopers. Shit…"
Her head begins glowing faintly.
"What do we do?" Tomoko asks. "Where did they take her?"
"Back to their base for questioning!" Squeaks Fluttershy. "Oh it's terrible."
"I'll say. Our first real kidnapping of the game." Lenny says. "…And right after we lose Princess Peach. Alanis Morissette would have a field day with this."
"We don't need any colourful commentary, Lenny," Ramona says. "We need a plan to get my teammate back from the Space nerd fascists."
Tomoko looks from Ramona, then off to the night.
"I have a plan." She says quietly.
"We need a plan," Tigress says.
"I have a plan!" Tomoko says, much more confidently.
Ramona shushes her.
"Let us figure this out."
"But this could work!" Tomoko says. "If I let myself get captured too."
"WHAT?" Ramona shouts, Her head flares with light. Tomoko recoils.
"Tomoko are you kidding me!? You want to throw yourself into danger again!?"
"No! You don't understand!" Tomoko says urgently. "You need to work with me-"
"Tomoko we're not doing this again!" Ramona says, aglow. "I thought you were past this."
Tomoko blushes with embarrassment.
"I am…" She says.
"Tomoko listen to me-"
"NO! You listen to me, Ramona!" Tomoko's suddenly shouting. "I'm not the stupid little schoolgirl you knew at the start of this game. I've changed! If you ever paid attention to me you'd know that!"
"You're the one that hasn't been talking to me!"
"You're scary! Always so Tsundere!"
"You mutilated me!"
"I will never stop being sorry!" Tomoko pleads. "It's okay if you never forgive me, I don't care! I don't care about any of the silly things like popularity or Otome games anymore. My loyalty is to this game! To Winry, our friend! And you Ramona! Kono-baka! Stop being such an idiot and help me save her!"
"I'm not the one with problems here Tomoko!"
"Ramona what's happening to your head?!" Buts in Tigress abruptly.
"Wait, you see that too?" Tomoko asks amazed.
"What's wrong with my head?" Ramona asks frightened.
"It's glowing!" Dipper insists.
"Shut up, it's not!"
"Are you hiding something?" Tomoko demands.
Ramona glares down at her. Tomoko matches the expression without flinching.
It's Ramona who blinks first, pulling away from Tomoko and walking over to a wall. She inhales, then exhales very deeply. The glow fades.
"My last Ex, Gideon Graves…" She says, turning back around. "The one I dated before Scott Pilgrim. He was, I was…"
She pauses, looks at them all, then looks at her.
"I'm not always great at talking to people." She admits. "Can you guys give me and Tomoko some space?"
Tigress nods and escorts Dipper, Fluttershy and Lenny away.
Ramona exhales again.
"I wasn't like you in grade school. I didn't chase boys. They chased me. But I was awkward like you are, or were I guess."
"Are." Admits Tomoko.
"You remind me of me, Tomoko," Ramona admits. "Something I expect you're going to keep doing things that did, keep hurting people like you did to me. Because that's what I've done to a lot of people."
"But so much cooler than me," Tomoko says. She pauses. "When you're not being stupid."
"I guess we've both made mistakes," Ramona says.
Tomoko nods, then gives Ramona a very sincere look.
"We need to look out for one another. Just like Winry does for both of us. We owe it to her to work together to rescue her."
"Yeah but don't always make the best plans."
"Then help me make a better one, but listen to what I thought up before you say no."
Ramona's silent for a few moments.
Then with her automail arm, she wordlessly gives a thumbs up.
Tomoko beams.
…
Ran Haraka squints in the dim light of the integration room of the Imperial Garrison.
"You want us to really believe you're from another universe girl?"
"That's right I got big friends back home!" Winry says struggling against her restraints. "All the most dangerous State alchemists in Amestris, and that's not even counting Al and Ed, who's probably on his way to defeat Gjira as we speak!"
"Enough of these crazy ramblings!" Haraka says messaging his temples. "I order you to tell us where your little friends came from and how you managed to make a fluctuation in hyperspace so dangerous it's shut down all traffic on and off all of Tatooine!"
"I already told you the truth!" Winry insists. "We're on an interdimensional game show and that "anomaly" or whatever you're calling it is probably our ticket out of here."
Haraka grumbles to himself.
"Commander." One of his troops says in a low tone. "We've intercepted the Jawa's that found their vehicle in the Dune Sea."
"Good for you, what about it?"
"It's not a spaceship. It looks more like a train, and it appeared out of thin air."
He shows the commander a holograph as evidence. Haraka takes it in then gives Winry a very hard look.
"Let's say you were telling the truth…." He says carefully. "Then that anomaly is a portal to another universe?"
Winry's anger boils over like a tea kettle.
"I've been trying to tell you that for hours!"
Haraka ignores her and leans back in his chair.
"People tell stories of strange things out in the Unknown Sector, every now and then you hear fairy tales about gateways to other dimensions but no solid proof." He grins to himself. "That might be something the Emperor himself would be very interested to know about. He might even be quite generous to the troops that would discover something like that."
"Generous enough to forgive them for letting the Death Star plans slip through their watch?" One of his stormtroopers asks.
Haraka chuckles then locks eyes with Winry.
"I've made up my mind. Let's go see this little portal together shall we?"
Winry's startled.
"What!? You can't do that!"
"Oh, I have every right to do that," Haraka says smoothly. "Besides… if you are really a traveller from another universe then who we be if didn't give you an Imperial escort home?"
"I'm not going with a jerk like you! I'm supposed to go with my friends!"
"Commander!"
Two more Stormtroopers file in the room, holding Tomoko by both arms.
"We caught this one trying to rescue the girl."
"Tomoko!" Winry cries. Haraka plucks her chin.
"Ah, looks like you're in luck. One of your friends will be joining us after all."
…
A shuttle is commandeered from Haraka's senior officers, all having retired for the evening. The girls find themselves tied up and set with the cargo.
"Tomoko, what were you thinking?" Winry moans.
"Winry it's okay," Tomoko whispers. "I'm here to rescue you."
"But you got captured."
"It's okay it's part of me and Ramona's plan."
Winry seems very surprised.
"You and Ramona."
Tomoko nods emphatically. Winry smiles.
"You must have thought of something good."
Tomoko chuckles.
The craft takes off, its windowless hold dense with Stormtroopers.
"That's it there!" Haraka shouts after they reach low orbit. A shimmering field of distorted space above them.
"Sir? What if this is a one-way ticket?" One of the troopers asks nervously. Haraka gives his man a cocky grin.
"You've heard the little stories our friend told. There are feudal kingdoms and candy factories waiting out there. Easy conquests."
"We're all going to be kings over there." One of his men says happily.
Haraka laughs and looks over his shoulder at Winry and Tomoko.
"I hope no one's expecting you girls. If they are they're going to get more than they bargained for."
Winry groans.
"Tomoko when exactly does this plan of yours pay off?"
She gets no response.
"Tomoko?"
A loud snore from her right alerts her to Tomoko, head slumped over.
"Tomoko! You're asleep!?"
Some of the nearby Stormtroopers laugh.
They quickly stop when Tomoko's head begins to glow.
"Hey. Hey! What's wrong with her!"
"Make her stop!"
One gets out of their seat and begins shaking Tomoko.
"Stop that!"
Tomoko wakes with a gasp. A bolt of lightning surges from her head, knocking the Stormtrooper back.
Several people cry out in alarm. Another trooper gets to his feet, sidearm drawn.
There's a burst of light and something comes flying forward.
When it dissipates Ramona's standing before them.
"Hey guys!"
"Ramona!?"
Her teammate unbinds her from her restraints, Winry still gaping at her.
"How?"
"The whole head glow thing, it's a 'gift' Gideon," Ramona explains. "I think It was supposed to be a way to manipulate me, but using it combined with the subspace portal in Tomoko's head made some pretty convenient instant travel."
"That's incredible!"
Ramona smiles.
"Thank Tomoko, she came up with it."
Tomoko blushes modestly. "Anything for my friends."
"Freeze!"
Several stormtroopers raise their guns at the three.
Winry gulps.
"I really appreciate you guys coming to save me, but maybe you should have brought the others."
Ramona laughs.
"Ye of little faith…"
She unzips her bag, the next moment Tigress, Fluttershy and Lenny fly out. Dipper soars out of Lenny's gem and lands on Stormtrooper's face.
"AGH!"
"Hey Tomoko!"
Ramona grabs her sledgehammer and tosses it to Tomoko.
"Go do something reckless."
Tomoko grins and salutes and charges the soldiers, Ramona grabs a baseball bat and charges after her.
It's pandemonium. The troopers, unable to use their blaster in the cramped space of the hold find themselves at the mercy of the Endless crew. In the cockpit, Haraka swivels around, enraged.
"What in the hell is going on back there!?"
The door opens, Lenny stands in the doorframe.
"Hello, you!"
"The Hell are you supposed to be."
Lenny beams.
"Your worst nightmare."
He punts Haraka and his co-pilots out of the cockpit. The Commander staggers to his feet, snarling with rage at the state of his men.
"What are you all doing!? Stop then! You're trained in close combat!"
He dodges the limp body of one of his own men, hurled at him by Tigress.
"I have to do everything myself…" He grumbles.
Ramona swings her hammer at him. He grabs it, yanks it from her arms and smashes Tomoko against the wall. The girl goes limp.
"TOMOKO!" Winry and Ramona cry.
Haraka laughs, victoriously.
"It takes more than little girls to beat this Comman-"
Fluttershy, bucks him with her hindlegs, sending him flying. He lands on the entry ramp, with enough force to open it, seeing Ran Haraka out of the shuttle. They hear him screaming as he plummets to his death.
All fighting stops as everyone turns to stare at the little pony.
"Um… Oops."
She grins innocently.
…
With their leader dead, any remaining morale amongst the Stormtroopers breaks quickly and they're quickly incapacitated. Lenny manages to get the shuttle through the portal without incident, making a rough landing in a snowy river valley.
As soon as they've landed Ramona and Winry hurry Tomoko out into the snow and rest her against a tree.
"Tomoko, please be okay?" Ramona says urgently.
The Japanese girl coughs and sputters.
"Did we win?" She croaks.
"We beat them. You're plan worked." Winry says, eyes swimming. Tomoko groans.
"That's… good."
She smiles weakly.
"I'm so glad… everything… worked out… in the end…"
She closes her eyes, her head drops. Her tongue sticks out. Winry bursts into tears.
"Oh Tomoko."
The others look distraught.
Ramona sighs.
"I'm sorry Tomoko. I should have been…" She pauses. "Are… Are you laughing?""
"Shush. Keep going, this is really dramatic." Tomoko whispers trying not to smile.
Relief breaks through the contestant. Winry gives a little cry then hugs Tomoko. Both of them giggling now. Ramona smiles and shakes her head.
"Dammit don't scare us like that!"
"Nice to know you guys care about me." Tomoko smiles.
…
Several weeks later the three of them are reunited with Julie and the Shorties, standing amongst a crowd of people in front of Chris McLean's mansion.
Fluttershy stands on the balcony overlooking them victoriously, being hugged by her friends. Dipper and his family stand by, humble in his placement as runner-up.
"I supposed you were expecting Team Tall to win in the end?" Tyche asks. "True in some universes they do, but that wasn't the purpose of this story, and after all in the story you know the Shorty Squad didn't win the money either."
"I still say you guys should have double-crossed Julie and put me in charge of your team." Amethyst insists.
Julie glares.
"You wish f**ker!"
"We did okay on our own," Ramona says.
Winry grins and puts her arms around Ramona and Tomoko. Ramona reaches over and ropes in Julie, who begrudgingly goes along with it.
…
The scene fades before Tyche.
"There are more important things that can be won than mere material wealth. Perhaps in a world different from yours, a band of loners could discover that. Alone they fell, but together they could have thrived, at the cost of their smaller teammates Team Tall stood strong and braved the multiverse.
In your story Ramona may have been a brief note in Tomoko's story, herself a minor character amongst the Shorties. But in another life, they're relationship knew lows and heights it never encountered in ours. By the end, even if Team Tall began in a similar state to Heather's alliance, the girls Julie recruited left much wealthier, not with money mind you but with shared a bond that was priceless.
Friendships allowed to blossom…
…By a set of Different Fortunes."
Author's note.
While I'd been toying with the idea of elseworlds for a while if there were two series that got this project off the ground, It'd be the second season of Marvel's What If? and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Scott Pilgrim is a franchise that's left an impact on me since my preteen years, and unlike other series I enjoyed at the time, not only has it held up but it's the rare series where every different adaptation holds up as well. I was very excited to see essentially everyone from the franchise come back for the animated series, and while it wasn't the definitive adaptation of the books I expected I've come to admire the strange alternative universe Takes Off created as it really gives some lesser seen characters their day in the sun. It stands out as a fresh, creative take on the source material in a current media environment where most adaptations are anything but inventive.
It was only natural that I had to write a Ramona centered episode this season, if anyone got the most screwed over by the original run of Endless it was her. She, Tomoko, Winry and Julie are all characters I really like and it was nice to write them more extensively. Of course while part of me wishes they'd made it further in the base game if that had happened I probably be sitting here now bemoaning the fact I threw away Amethyst, Yao and Bentley before they had the chance to shine. Ultimately that's Total Drama. Not everyone has room for a full arc, hence the compromise of this spin-off.
Next time on Different Fortunes we explore a world where all of Endless came to a screeching halt halfway through, and it's up to both the cast and crew to bear the consequences.