Hi everyone, welcome back to another chapter of this prologue arc. As of now, Luz is pretty much integrated into the group with the other girls, having bonding moments with each of them, which were really fun and really nice to write. But now, she's going to start to explore some of the negative aspects of the group dynamic and you can expect things to get complicated going forward.

Oh, and yes, I saw the leaked pilots for both shows. But as for whether or not I incorporate any elements from them into my story, you'll just have to see.

With that being said, let's get this started.

Grievances Arise

"Can you believe it?!" Luz began as she and Marcy were in the school's cafeteria, standing in line to get their lunch for the day. "They cancelled the Cynthia Coven show!"

"Oh, I know!" Marcy was in total agreement. "All because it didn't 'fit into their brand'." She said with air quotes. "At the very least, I'm glad that they're giving the show an actual ending, and not just leaving it unfinished like so many other good shows we've seen."

"Yeah, but only with three one-hour long specials instead of a whole season!" Luz went on. "That's not nearly enough time to explore all the lore and world building that's been set up since the beginning! It leaves so many unanswered questions, not to mention it leaves certain character arcs and interactions and potential relationships all unexplored when there was so much we could have seen!"

"On that, I totally agree!" Marcy nodded as their line moved forward. "And it's not just with this show, it's also with all those Marvelous Comics superhero cartoons we've watched! 'The Spectacular Tarantulad', 'The Vengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes', 'Feral-Man and the Extreme-Men'…"

"That last one though wasn't as good as 'Evolution' or the nineties animated series." Luz briefly interrupted. "It had it's moments, but it focused too much on Feral-Man like he was the only main character. I mean, come on, the other Extreme-Men are important too and they've all got incredible character arcs! And don't even get me started on how they handled Optic's character."

"Absolutely!" Marcy agreed. "And the whole reason those cartoons were even canceled was because Mouse Entertainment couldn't buy all the rights to Marvelous and it ended up getting split in half, which is why we didn't see the Extreme-Men or the Fabulous Four in the Cinematic Universe until they just recently bought the rights. But hey, the nineties Extreme-Men series is getting revived, which means there might be hope for all those shows to come back. They were even supposed to have a shared animated universe. And maybe even that awesome Tarantulad series that also shares the same universe as the Extreme-men. Man I loved that crossover."

"Good to hope, but I wouldn't count on it." Luz said as they were now being served their lunch, today's meal being meatloaf. "Mouse Entertainment fired the writer for the Extreme-men revival after he wrote two seasons. And even if they do bring them all back, who is to say they won't end up like the Galaxy Wars sequel trilogy…"

"Oh, don't even get me started on that!" Marcy went on. "They had different directors for each movie and each one had their own idea of where to take the series! There was so much retconning, when it all could have been avoided if they just sat down and talked it all over from the start! It's like they were just playing the whole thing by ear! At least Georgie Lucas had an idea and knew what to do with the original and prequels."

"Curse you, Mouse Entertainment!" Luz shook her fist in the air as she and Marcy collected their lunches and left the line. "We should write our own fanfic iteration on the sequel trilogy, using elements from the Legends continuity. Maybe even our own Marvelous universe with all the cancelled shows…"

"Maybe, but let's not go overboard about it." Marcy advised. "If we take on too much at once, we'll get burnout. Let's take it step-by-step, with maybe one or two stories at a time."

"That's a fair point. And we need to work out all the details with the writing itself, just in case my style differs from yours…" Luz said.

As the two went on, Anne and Sasha had already sat at their usual table and appeared to watch as they continued to talk and intermingle.

"Ha, look at our little nerds being two peas in a pod." Anne said with a smile. "They're honestly adorable."

'Not quite the word I'd use.' Sasha thought as she saw Luz and Marcy laughing together. Honestly, ever since that one sleepover at Luz's place, Marcy's been chirpier than she's ever been. It was clear to see that she and Luz were getting along great, and it wasn't hard to understand why since they're both shared the same interests. It wasn't that Sasha was upset that Marcy was happy, it was because that she seemed happier around Luz. As much as Sasha liked Luz, things have been different in their dynamic. She suspected that some change would happen with Luz joining their group, but she felt that would be fine so long as she was still in charge.

But with Marcy now spending more time with Luz, this could be a potential sign that they might go off and form their own dynamic and maybe find other people who would also like all that fantasy stuff and leave her and possibly Anne behind. Given that Luz defeated Sasha in the Scare Dare Challenge, forcing her to write her name in the Book of Losers for the first time ever, it was clear to see that Luz was stronger than she had initially led on. Maybe too strong.

Sasha had to figure a way she would get things back under control before it all falls apart and she loses her friends. But how? What could be a way for Sasha to reach to Luz? A way to help her understand that while she is willing to help her, she is the one who is in charge and that she knew what was best for all of them, including her?

"Guys! Guys!" Marcy came to the table with Luz right behind her as the latter carried a flyer with her lunch tray. "Guess what?! Come on, guess!"

"Okay, what?" Anne laughed slightly at the optimism her friends were showing.

"The school is hosting a writing competition, and Luz and I are gonna enter!" Marcy exclaimed as Luz showed off the flyer to Anne and Sasha, the latter taking it to get a closer look.

"The Big Apple magazine is setting the whole thing up!" Now it was Luz's turn to speak. "They're looking for creative short stories that they can publish on their website! Maybe potential interns who can write short stories for them during the summer!"

"You wanna work during the summer?" Anne questioned. "Isn't it supposed to be 'no more pencils, no more books…'?"

"Well, I'd actually wouldn't mind it." Luz said. "Honestly… I really want to be a writer someday, maybe even publish my own novel. And if I get paid for it, then that's a bonus. I even have this 'about the author' picture since I was seven years old."

She pulled out a photograph of herself of when she was seven, wearing a purple sweater with pink dolphins and stars in its eyes. She had her arm against a windowsill, trying to maintain a professional posture, but the expression on her face was like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Awe." Anne gushed as she looked at the picture. "You look so cute."

"But we're not really looking to win it, or get hired, or anything." Marcy said. "Just something fun that we can do together."

"I mean, we know you guys might not be into it, so Marcy and I…" Luz began.

"We're in." Sasha said immediately, much to their surprise.

"Uh… we are?" Anne asked.

"Yeah… you are…?" Luz also asked, sounding rather confused. She knew that Sasha wasn't exactly into this sort of thing, so why would she want to join? Not that she didn't mind it.

"You kidding? The Big Apple's pretty much the biggest magazine in the States, maybe even the whole world." Sasha replied. "If we actually win it, our work could be seen worldwide, or at least countrywide. I'd say that's worth the effort. So, you can count us in."

"Really?! Oh, that would be awesome, Sasha!" Marcy was already excited. "What about you, Anne?"

"Sure, why not?" Anne shrugged. "Even if we don't win, we're not failing any grades or anything."

"Okay… alright, yeah." Though still surprised, Luz quickly got excited again. Working on a group story with all three of her friends together? That honestly sounded like a dream come true. It felt like that maybe Sasha was at least trying to reach out and try something that Luz liked. That's never happened before, and it mad her happy. "Let's do it!"

"Well, we're gonna need a place where we can brainstorm." Marcy said. "Maybe the library…"

"Let's do it at my dad's place this weekend." Sasha interrupted. "We won't have Stacy or Molly Jo to bug us, so it'll just be us four."

"Works for me." Anne said.

"Great! Can't wait to get started!" Luz beamed.

While Sasha did smile with her friends, there was a smirk behind that. This seemed like the best way for her to get to Luz through one of her hobbies and remind her who was in charge. She and Marcy can bond and geek out about fantasy and all that stuff all they want, that's there thing. But she'll keep them together and in the group. By the time this group-project was done, not only would they be in first place in this little competition, but everything will be under her control again.

The Following Weekend

The house that was owned by Mr. Waybright was a rather large house to be honest. It was two stories tall with so many rooms on the inside, including a large spatious family room with a flat screen television built into the wall, connecting to a large kitchen with a dining room right across from that. There was a furnished basement in the bottom, with a backyard that made up a whole acre and a swimming pool that made up half of the area. There were three bedrooms upstairs, each with its own bathroom; one being the guest room, the largest was of course the master bedroom that Mr. Waybright shared with his wife, and Sasha's own personal room.

"Okay, I'm about to head out." Mr. Waybright said to Sasha and all her friends as they were all currently gathered in the blonde's room. Sasha's father was a tall man with short and partially waving light brown hair and stubbles on his chin with blue eyes. He wore a gray sweatshirt with blue jeans. "Is there anything you and your friends need, Sasha?"

"For the millionth time Dad, we're fine!" Sasha said with a groan. "You and Grace go off and enjoy whatever date you got planned or something. Hell, take the whole weekend while you're at it."

Mr. Waybright winced slightly with a laugh. "Sasha, it's not like were going on another honeymoon or anything. You know you can just call…"

"I don't need a babysitter. I can handle myself. So, you gonna go or do you want to supervise us or something?" Sasha questioned.

"Okay, okay, I'll go." He was about to close the door, but stuck his head back in. "But you do have your phone on you, right…?"

"Go!" Sasha slammed her door shut. She then went to her window on the other side of the room and saw her father stepping out into the driveway. He then turned to wave in her direction before getting into his car and driving off.

"Uh Sasha…?" Luz wasn't quite sure how to react to that. Her dad seemed nice enough, there didn't seem to be a reason for her to be rude at all.

"My dad is just crazy paranoid." Sasha began to rant as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, ever since he re-married, he and Grace are all 'oh, do you need any extra napkins?', 'we can give you a ride to school.', 'don't forget to have your phone on you and call us if you need something.', my god! He thinks I can't handle myself?! I've been handling myself since I was five!" After taking a huge deep breath, she seemed to calm herself down. "Okay, okay, I'm cool. I'm cool. Sorry to rant…"

"Don't worry, it's fine Sasha." Anne assured.

"Yeah, parents and all that." Marcy understood.

Luz still felt somewhat unsure about all this. She knew Sasha's parents were divorced, but it wasn't quite the same as when her father passed away, so she wasn't sure if she should talk or say anything. Probably best not to since it wasn't her business, and she didn't want to make Sasha mad or anything. So, she decided to change the subject a bit.

"Well… you got a real nice house here." Luz said.

"It's actually Grace's." Sasha explained. "Dad moved us in when they married."

"And she bought this by herself? It's practically a mansion!" Luz stated. "It's twice as big as my house!"

"She's a real estate agent, they make a lot of money." Sasha quickly said. "So, you wanna stop talking about my personal life now?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Luz quickly apologized. "You're right. It's time to get our story going!"

Marcy had brought along a bulletin board for them to use, along with several pieces of paper and pencils. "Okay, Luz and I already came up with the basic idea for the story. It features a quartet of adventurers in a magical world coming together to save their home from a force of overwhelming evil."

"Sounds like something you two would come up with." Anne commented as she and Sasha sat on the bed and listened.

"One of our main characters is the witch girl, Luzura!" Luz announced as she pinned a picture of a girl resembling herself in a wizard's hat with sparkles around her to the board.

"Well isn't that original?" Sasha joked with a half-grin, causing Luz to smile embarrassingly.

"I know it seems a little cliché, but what's wrong with cliché?" She replied.

"Up next is the Elf princess, Marcenia." Marcy had put up a picture of an elf version of herself with a bow and arrow. "She hails from the predominant Elf kingdom of Thalia, the most powerful kingdom in that world. And despite being a princess, she wants to be an adventurer and see the world!"

"And then, we have the Viking queen, Sasholf!" Luz put up a picture of someone resembling Sasha, dressed like a warrior woman with a sword in hand.

"Viking queen, huh?" Sasha figured out right away that this character was based off her and seemed intrigued by the idea that they had come up with.

"But here's the thing, you weren't originally part of the Viking tribe. As in, you weren't born into the tribe like everyone else." Marcy began with Luz speaking up next.

"Yep Sasha, you actually start off as an orphan and a runaway, who stumbles into the tribe by accident." The Latina girl said. "But then you proved your strength and took over as the new leader! Changing their ways from that of barbarians to protectors!"

"You even have a pet dire wolf!" Marcy added as she put a drawing of a wolf right below her. "One so big that you ride on it like a horse as you both work together to cut down your enemies!"

"So… I'm an orphan who took over a Viking tribe and I ride around on a giant wolf?" Sasha summed up before an impressed smile formed on her face. "Hmm, Mama likey."

"Okay, going out on a limb here, the main characters in this story are all based on us, right?" Anne assumed.

"Wow, how'd you guess?" Marcy asked with a smile.

"Eh, it just clicked." Anne said. "So, who's my character? Am I a ninja-girl? A dwarf soldier? I wouldn't mind being a dwarf, those guys are badass. Just as long as I'm not a pixie or a fairy or anything too cutesy like that."

"You, my dear Anne, are…" Luz began dramatically with Anne listening intently. "Annediah, from the local village of Brimwood!" She put up a picture of Anne dressed like someone from the countryside. "Your family owns the local farm there and they make a living selling all the produce."

Anne's look of excitement faded as her eyes comically lowered with a sulk. "I'm a farm girl."

"Yep." Luz confirmed.

"Why?" Anne questioned bluntly. "Luz is a witch, Marcy's an elf, Sasha's a flipping viking, but I'm a farm girl?"

"Well… you just seem like the type who comes from a humble background." Luz winced.

"But don't worry, that's what makes your character is very important to the story!" Marcy said. "While the rest of us are all legendary and come from high and mighty backgrounds, not to mention our differentiating backgrounds are going to cause some culture clashes, it's ultimatley your down-to-earth attitude that keeps us all grounded and teaches us how important the average person is. You're the one who brings us all together."

"The one who keeps the group together…" Anne thought for a moment. "I guess I can work with that." She said with a small shrug.

"So, who's the bad guy?" Sasha asked. "Come on, you gotta have a bad guy for something like this, right?"

"Glad you asked, Sash!" Marcy pointed to her as Luz brought out a fifth picture. "Our story's antagonist is… the Dark Lord Beldrich!" The picture that was put up was that of a dark armored figure that had multiple eyes drawn all over its form.

"His goal is the complete destruction of all life in the magical world!" Luz introduced. "He is cunning, ruthless, and the most powerful being in the world! It'll take no less than our whole cast to defeat him!"

"Sounds pretty hard core." Sasha commented.

"What's with all the eyes?" Anne asked.

"It's a metaphor." Marcy answered. "It means he has eyes everywhere! He sees all! So, he thinks he knows all! But it's that very hubris that will lead to his defeat!"

"So, what do you guys think?" Luz asked regarding the cast.

"I like it." Anne said. "You guys got a real good thing going on. Can't wait to see the finished thing."

"But let's see the whole thing first before we make a decision on that." Sasha put in.

"Right. We got our concept done…" Marcy began.

"Now for the fun part." Luz finished.

From that point, the writing process for their story began in full swing. Though Luz and Marcy pretty much handled the bulk of the work, Anne had a few questions to ask, but she pretty much let the two handle most of it. Sasha didn't seem to contribute much to the whole story though, other than a few ideas regarding the clothing and attire some of the characters wore, but just like with Anne, she let Luz and Marcy handle most of it.

At one point, Sasha's pet German Sheppard, Ares, entered the room and hopped onto the bed, prompting the girls to take a break as they all petted the dog before resuming their writing.

The group had been working for at least five hours and it seemed like they had the entire story all planned out. The bulletin board they had brought in was now filled with lots of papers and notes that showed various points in the plot, with string and yarn connecting to all the tacks to connect to each plot point and get their story structure down.

The even had the title for the story written down on a large piece of paper that was tapped to the top of the board. It read "The Four Adventurers".

"…And while Luzura, Marcenia, and Sasholf are fighting Beldrich on the top of the dark tower, Annediah comes in with the Sword of Whiteskull to destroy Beldrich's black-heart gemstone, the source of his life and power!" Marcy said as she put up the picture of three of the main characters fighting the antagonist of their story, while Anne's character uses a sword to smash a crystal to pieces.

"With the crystal destroyed, Beldrich can no longer sustain himself!" Luz continued. "His form falls apart, and his power dissipates! The battle is over, and victory goes to the Sisterhood!" Luz showed the final picture that showed all four characters hugging each other in victory. "The end."

"Alright, whatchyall think?" Marcy asked.

"It's pretty cool." Anne admitted. "Awesome final battle. But why is my character the one who gets the killing blow? Shouldn't it be one of you guys?"

"That's the point." Luz said. "Beldrich underestimates Annediah because she isn't anything special, or at least she doesn't look special. Beldrich thinks only those with power are those who have any consequence."

"And that makes it fitting that someone he looked down on, someone he didn't even consider a threat to him, is the one to beat him." Marcy added. "It's not about physical strength, but inner strength. The whole reason Annediah is the one who keeps everyone together."

"Marcelina's the brains, Sasolf is the muscle, even Luzura is a bit of both herself, but Annediah's the heart of the group." Luz said as well. "And even then, it's a group effort. Because none of them could do it alone. They're strongest together."

Anne thought for a moment and soon smiled. It was almost like they were referring to her as the heart of their own group. Even if she didn't feel she was really that important herself to their dynamic, it was still nice to hear that her friends think so highly of her. Plus, the idea of a jerk like Beldrich losing to someone he looked down on was a satisfying one.

"Yeah... I like it." Anne said. "Nice story you guys."

"Awe, thanks Anna-Banana." Marcy smiled.

"What about you, Sash? What do you think?" Luz asked.

"It's good." The blonde replied. "I just have a few tiny notes that I think could make it better."

"Oh… okay, then." Luz was already listening. She didn't see anything wrong with what she and Marcy had done before, but this was a group collaboration so she should listen to what Sasha had to say to.

"Great. Okay, first… the plot is all over the place. It needs a serious overhaul." Sasha began as she went up to the board and began to rearrange the notes in a completely different manner. "Second, where are the other witches? I mean, we got the elf army from Marcy's elf kingdom, my Viking tribe, heck even Anne's village all join together in that final battle. But what about your home, Luz? Are you the only witch in the story?"

"I… uh…" Luz thought for a moment.

"It's okay, we can fix that." Sasha didn't even give her a chance to finish. "What if Luzura is the last witch? As in, there were maybe thousands of witches in the past, but Beldrich killed them all because he thought they were a threat to his rule, and Luzura's mom maybe helped her baby escape before getting killed herself. It also shows how bad the bad guy is."

"I guess…" That did make sense to Luz a bit, though it was a bit darker than her original concept.

"Third, we need some drama." Sasha continued. "Like maybe Marcy's dad didn't want her to be an adventure and just a fancy princess. So, we have a falling out between the two." She was already writing her own notes and putting them on the bulletin board. "And let's give Anne some motivation to, like maybe Beldrich's army came to her village and burnt it to the ground, but she was saved by me and my Viking army."

"I mean… trying to save her whole world is motivating enough…" Luz muttered, but Sasha didn't seem to be listening.

"And lastly, the battle itself." The blonde went on. "They're going up against an army of monsters, so we gotta have some big casualties. It's war, after all. You're gonna get blood and death in war."

"I don't…" Luz wasn't even being acknowledged at this point.

"Now the fight against Beldrich… we still gotta show how bad and powerful he is." Sasha went on. "You said how he thinks Anne is just an insect, right? So, maybe he breaks her leg just to show how cruel he is."

"Ouch." Anne winced, feeling her own leg for a minute.

"That makes everyone angry enough to fight him." Sasha still continued. "And yeah, they get plenty of good hits in, but he's still the big bad and he's not going down without a fight. So, maybe Marcy gets one of her eyes cut out…" Marcy covered her own eye at that. "I lose an arm, but maybe get a magic metal arm in the aftermath… and Luz gets stabbed."

"My character dies?!" Luz all but exclaimed.

"Calm down, you're not dead-dead." Sasha waved off. "But pretty close. It gets to the point where Beldrich is about to win, but that's when Anne smashes his crystal thing and saves the day. The bad guy dies, his army falls apart, and we're all bloody, but we win." She clapped her hands together to show she was all finished. "Boom! Fixed it!"

"It… does kinda feel a bit more realistic." Marcy admitted. "I mean, if you're in a fight, someone's gonna get hurt."

"I guess… but…" Luz didn't quite know how to feel about this.

"See? Toldya we could come up with a good story." Sasha pulled Luz in. "So, what's next?"

"Well, all we gotta do now is type it up and then submit it." Marcy answered. "It's due by next Sunday."

"Huh, so we're finishing ahead of schedule? That's a new one for me." Anne said.

"Awesome! Mar-mar, you're the computer-geek, we'll let you handle that." Sasha instructed. "Once you're all done, send it to Luz and she can submit it."

"O-okay…" Luz wasn't feeling all that great about everything. Sasha pretty much took over the whole story, even after she and Marcy had planned everything. Granted, she had some good ideas, but this didn't feel quite like how she felt this whole thing would go, both the story, and the project in general. She didn't know why, but a bad feeling was forming in the pit of her stomach.

A Few Days Later

The girls had met up in the hallway as Marcy was on her phone. "Alright, I sent the email to each of you containing a link of the whole story. It's been fully edited, so any and all grammatical errors have been fixed."

Each of them saw the links to the stories in their respective emails and clicked it to get the story downloaded, the title of said story was "The War of the Four".

'You even changed the title…' Luz thought in disappointment.

"Alright, and four days before the deadline." Sasha said approvingly. "Now all Luz has gotta do is submit it on the site, and we should be golden."

"Pretty awesome, right Luz?" Anne asked, but she saw how Luz wasn't even paying attention. She seemed to be reading more of the completed story on her phone and seeing all the changes that Sasha had made. "Uh… Luz, you there?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm here…" She replied.

"What's up?" Anne asked with concern.

"It's just… this doesn't feel right." Luz said, drawing Marcy and Sasha's attention as well.

"Oh, did I miss something? I triple checked it and…" The smartest girl in the group replied.

"No, it's edited fine. The story's good. A lot of the ideas that Sasha came up with are really solid." Luz began.

"I know, right." The blonde said smugly.

"But it… doesn't feel like the same story." Luz confessed.

"Excuse me?" Sasha questioned.

"The plot is different… the theme is different… it's all… different. It doesn't feel like our story anymore. If anything, it feels like your story Sasha." Luz said.

"What are you talking about? We all pitched in." The girl responded. "That's the point of a collaboration."

"But it's not a collaboration." Luz replied, causing Sasha's smile to fade. "You just took it over. If it were a collaboration, you would have shared your ideas with us during the concept phase, not after it. Marcy and I did pretty much all the work, and it feels like you're getting all the credit."

Sasha was getting somewhat irritated but made sure to speak in a professional manner, as professional as she could get anyway. "You two were on a roll, I didn't want to interrupt that. Besides, you should know by now that it's almost impossible to get Marcy out of the zone when she's in it, Luz."

"Okay, fair point. But…" She was however, quickly interrupted.

"And besides, I'm not getting all the credit. Look." Sasha showed her the title page of the story on her phone. "See? 'By Sasha Waybright, Anne Boonchuy, Marcy Wu, and Luz Noceda.'" She read the by-line aloud. "All our names are on that, so you're still getting the same amount of credit that we are. Come on Luz, don't you wanna win this thing?"

"I… uh…" Luz didn't quite answer right away.

"Ah, so you don't want to win." Sasha said, not even giving her time to finish.

"Hold on, I didn't say that." Luz argued.

"So do you want to win or not?" Sasha questioned.

"I mean, it would be great if we did. But I just…"

"See? That's loser talk, right there." Sasha interrupted once again as she pointed to Luz. "No offense Luz, but you don't got that ambition. And that's totally fine if you don't, I got enough ambition for all of us." She gestured to the whole group as she put on a smile again. "So come on, let's not make a mountain of a molehill. And the whole thing was your idea anyway, so you should have the honor of submitting it."

"If this… is really the story you want to use… then maybe you should submit it on your own." Luz told her, looking away with just the tiniest hint of resentment in her voice.

Immediately, Sasha's eyelids lowered as she looked more annoyed than anything else. "Oh, I see. Underneath all those cute little quirks; you're pretty spoiled, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Luz questioned.

"Something doesn't go your way and you decide you wanna bail?" Sasha continued. "Can't handle when things get a little rough? Are you spoiled or just too soft?"

"Whoa, Sasha… I don't think…" Anne looked ready to step in, only for Sasha to hold up her hand to stop her and give her a look that quietly said 'stay out of this', prompting Anne to back away with a shameful expression.

"Luz, I admit that I was going a bit easy on you before because you're new…" Sasha began.

"Easy on me…?" Luz questioned once again but was interrupted yet again.

"But that ends now. I like how cute you can be, and I want the best for you. But the only way you're gonna get to that point, is if you follow my lead. This is the story we're using, and you are going to submit it right now." Sasha gave Luz a dark look as her eyes narrowed. "End. Of. Discussion."

Luz's eyes became wide with her mouth hanging open as she honestly felt afraid of Sasha in that one moment. Luz was not blind to how aggressive or ambitious Sasha could be, but this was something new. She had felt like she was put in a box and Sasha was not giving her a way out. She had never seen this side of her before, and she wasn't sure if she liked it.

"Um… technically, none of us can submit the story right now." Marcy cautiously stepped in-between the two while Anne just backed away slightly. "The website will only let us do it on an actual computer, not a smartphone. Data storage capacity and all that."

"Oh." Sasha blinked in a brief surprise before getting serious again and returned her gaze towards Luz. "Then do it tonight when you get home. Got it?"

"I…" Luz didn't know what to say, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

"Got it?" Sasha repeated more aggressively, stepping close to Luz.

"Got it!" She quickly exclaimed, if only to try and get Sasha to back away. "I'll… I'll do it tonight."

"Good girl." Sasha smiled as she patted Luz on the head. "Now enough of the gloomy stuff, let's get to class before our teachers have aneurisms for being five minutes late." She said before walking away.

Anne was about to join her but turned back to notice the uncomfortable look still on Luz's face. "Uh…" She would have reached out to try and help her, only for Sasha to call her.

"Anne! You got cinderblocks in your shoes or something?!"

"Coming!" She turned around to join her friend. 'Sorry, Luz. Hopefully Marcy can talk to you.' She thought as she saw Marcy helping Luz stand up straight.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I… I never saw Sasha like that before." Luz confessed. "Is she always like this?"

"Eh, sometimes." Marcy admitted. "But don't worry. She might be a little aggressive, and even tad bit arrogant, but she means well."

"So… you're not at all upset that she just took over our whole story?" Luz asked in surprise. "Like I said, a lot of her ideas were great. But she could have shared them with us in when we were planning everything and not wait till we do all the work, and she just writes over it."

"That's just how she is." Marcy answered. "I've gotten used to it enough that we got our thing going on. Sasha comes up with the plans, I got the brains to work out all the details and make it happen."

'That sounds like the opposite of what just happened.' Luz thought before speaking. "What about Anne? What does she do in your little… thing?"

"Anne's a bit more of a follower." Marcy confessed. "She has a few ideas, but Sasha usually takes the lead. Just don't tell her I said that." She noticed how upset Luz still looked. "Hey Luz, Sasha loves us, in her own unique way, and she loves you too. So you don't need to be all that scared, I promise she doesn't bite. Okay, Luzura?"

Hearing Marcy call her by that nickname again did cheer Luz up a bit to where she smiled slightly. "Yeah… okay."

"And hey, if we do win this thing, we could internship for the magazine! And then we'd get paid to do what we love. That puts us over most adults who work in this country." Marcy said, causing Luz to laugh slightly. "See, there's the smile. No frowns are happening on my watch."

Luz sighed with a smile. "Thanks, Marcy."

"Anytime. Now let's get to class before the teachers yell at us." She led her friend down the hallway, but as she did, she failed to notice Luz's smile leaving as fast as it came, contemplating what had just happened.

Later That Evening

After having dinner, Luz retreated to her room and logged onto the contest's website. The document that contained the story had been uploaded, and now all that remained were two options that were on the screen. A green button that read 'submit' and a red one that read 'cancel'. Luz moved the cursor over towards the green button, but she couldn't find it within herself to press it.

This wasn't what she had in mind when she and Marcy came to Anne and Sasha about this project. If they won the competition, then great. But if not, then they at least had fun doing it. That's why she wanted to do it. She wanted to do something fun with all her friends together, winning the thing didn't matter.

Luz then pulled up the document for the story again and gave it a brief re-read. A lot of the ideas that Sasha came up with were good, but everything about it just screamed Sasha. Even if all their names were on the by-line, this was all just about Sasha. It wasn't about all of them. Just her.

No. Luz wasn't going to do this. As much as she liked her friends, she wasn't about to let all of their hard work be overtaken by one of them. That's not who she was.

With a serious look on she face, she hit the 'cancel' button on the contest's website and began to make some edits on the story document.

Two Weeks Later

A bulletin board had been put up in the school's hallway, with several flyers and papers pinned to it, which included the results of the Big Apple's writing competition, and Marcy was the only one at the board for the moment, until Sasha came up.

"Oh hey, the results are up." The blonde said causally. "So, how'd we do?"

"It looks like we came in first place…" Marcy observed, but the tone of her voice didn't sound all that excited.

"Alright! First place, baby! Woo!" Sasha cheered. "See? I'd knew we'd pull it off. And Luz was worried."

"Yeah... but..." Marcy winced, catching Sasha's attention.

"But what?"

"Look at the title." Marcy pointed to the results of the writing competition and in first place was the story tilted "The Four Adventurers" with the by-line reading 'By Luz Noceda, Marcy Wu, Sasha Waybright, and Anne Boonchuy.'

"What…?!" Sasha questioned in surprise before an angry expression formed on her face. "Pull it up."

Marcy had already pulled out her phone and logged onto the website to download the winning story, right before Sasha snatched the phone and read through it. And the more she did, the angrier she got. This was the same kind of story that Luz and Marcy had written before she stepped in! She spotted some of her own ideas that were still in it, but overall, it wasn't the story she had come up with. But how? Luz was supposed to submit…

Wait a minute…

Her eyes narrowed as it all dawned on her.

"Where's Luz?"

"Uh… should be by her locker…" Marcy answered with a wince, right before Sasha forcefully handed the phone back and made her way toward that location with Marcy following right behind her out of concern.

Luz was at her own locker with Anne as they got their supplies….

"Noceda!"

Both girls looked down the hall to see Sasha marching towards them. Though Anne was surprised to see her friend in such a bad mood, Luz wasn't. Guess this was to be expected.

"Whoa, Sasha. What's going on?" Anne asked as the blonde was already on them with Marcy right behind her.

"What's going on, is that she disobeyed an order!" Sasha pointed towards Luz.

"Oh, you read the story, huh?" Luz herself replied, completely unfazed by Sasha's attitude.

"Wait… the story?" Anne asked in confusion.

"Yeah, the results came in. Our story made first place." Marcy revealed.

"Whoa, really?!" Anne looked elated at that. "First place… damn. Way to go, dude." She smiled towards Luz.

"Thanks, Anne." Luz smiled back.

"Don't congratulate her!" Sasha exclaimed, much to Anne's shock "Cause it's not the story she was supposed to submit!"

"What are you talking about?" The Thai girl asked.

"I made some last-minute edits to the story." Luz revealed.

"Huh?" Anne looked in surprise.

"I kinda went back to our original interpretation, the one Marcy and I came up with." Luz explained. "But I kept a lot of the ideas Sasha had: like Marcy's character having a falling out with her father, your character's home being attacked by Beldrich's forces, and the final battle where it gets intense. Now it feels like an actual collaboration and not somebody just painting over someone else's hard work and taking the credit." She said that last part to Sasha specifically who was only glaring harder at her.

Was she actually talking back to her?! Nobody talked back to her like that! And nobody ever disobeyed one of her orders! Even if Luz did keep some of her ideas, the fact she did something so audacious without even asking her about it was still over the line.

"Okay, this is just plain unacceptable!" Sasha declared.

"I don't get why you're so upset!" Luz protested. "We still won, right? That's what you wanted!"

"That's what we wanted!" Sasha argued.

"No Sasha, that's what you wanted." Luz countered, and as the two argued, Anne and Marcy found themselves stepping back from the ensuing confrontation, even sharing concerning eye-glances.

"So, you actually didn't want to win? Even though this whole thing was your idea?" Sasha crossed her arms. "I had no idea you had such low expectations for yourself, Noceda."

"Winning was the point of it!" Luz exclaimed before crossing her arms and looking away. "I'm glad that we won, I really am. But all I wanted was just to write some dumb story with my friends. To do something fun that we could all enjoy. What's so wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that you went off course!" Sasha went up to her and pointed at her chest. "When a captain gives you an order, you do it!"

"And who made you captain?" Luz argued back.

"Okay, okay, I think that's enough." Anne tried to get in-between them.

"Anne, stay out of this." Sasha told her, only for the blonde to be pulled away by Marcy.

"Nope! I think we need to take a second or two to cool off!"

"Hey, Marcy! What are you…!" The blonde protested as Marcy pushed her away, leaving Luz with Anne as the former looked away again.

"You upset too?" She asked.

"I… look, Luz. I admit it, Sasha can be a little… difficult sometimes." Anne began. "But it all comes from a good place. She's always had my back since kindergarten, me and Marcy. I've been following her all this time and she hasn't once let me down."

"I'm not trying to let anyone down." Luz said. "This… it wasn't supposed to be such a huge thing. Like I said, I just wanted to do something fun with my friends, that's all. Even if Sasha wanted all of us to win… I wasn't about to submit… writing is more than just a hobby for me. I love it. I love writing my fantasy stories, I love it when other people read them, even if it's only just a few people… and I'm fine if it gets criticized a little, some constructive criticism can be good for you. I put my heart and soul into all that stuff. It's like… my art. But when someone takes your work, rips it apart and tries to make it into something else… I… I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. It makes me feel like a sellout and… that's not the kind of person I want to be."

Anne made the effort to listen to her friend's grievances and gave her a sincere and empathetic expression. "I think I get it. Maybe Sasha did kinda overstep… but, she does care about us and says she wants what's best. And hey, if you want my opinion, I think you're an awesome writer."

Luz looked towards her with an emotional look on her face. "You… you really mean that?"

"Totally!" Anne smiled. "A lot of the stuff you and Marcy came up with was awesome. And, we still got first place with your stuff thrown in. If that doesn't mean you're a great writer, then I don't know what does."

Luz had to stop herself from getting emotional. To hear one of her friends praise her art, something she puts her heart and soul into, made her incredibly happy. So much so that she hugged Anne, much to the girl's surprise before she smiled just as Luz pulled away.

"Thanks, Anne."

"Anytime." She pointed her finger-gun at her for approval. "So, you wanna talk with Sasha when she cools down?"

Honestly, Luz had to think for a moment. She didn't like what Sasha tried to do. But at the same time, she didn't want their friendship to end just because of an argument. For all of Sasha's flaws, Luz did like her and even admired some of her traits. So, perhaps they can find a way to work things out and not let this get to them. Luz never did like holding a grudge against someone anyway.

"Yeah… sounds good to me."

Meanwhile, Marcy had pulled Sasha around the corner to speak with her separately. "Marcy, let me go!" Sasha pulled herself free and looked at her with a glare. "First Luz goes against orders, now you're turning against me?!"

"Sasha, nobody is turning on you!" Marcy insisted.

"I told Luz to submit the story and she changed it!" Sasha went on. "Maybe I should have been the one to do it if I can't even trust her with that!"

"You're making this more of a big deal than it needs to be." Marcy told her. "Okay, was Luz wrong to do that without saying anything? Maybe. I can see why you would think that. But, it's not like she did something completely different." She pulled out her phone again to look over the story that was submitted. "Many of your ideas are still in there. Yours and hers are almost perfectly balanced." She smiled slightly. "Honestly, I'm impressed she was actually able to do all that so quickly."

There it was again. Luz had impressed Marcy. She had shown that she was a lot stronger than she let on. First the Scare Dare, now this? If this kept up, Luz might just replace her as the leader in their group and she could be left behind entirely. She wasn't about to let that happen.

"Luz is part of the group, so she needs to learn her place before it all falls apart." Sasha was about to march her way, only for Marcy to quickly block her path.

"Whoa, hold it there, Sash. Look, I get it. You're upset that Luz changed things without telling anyone, I get that." She began. "But it's not like she took things over or anything. The way I see it, it was all of us working together that we were able to pull off a win. You think punishing Luz for that is really gonna help?"

"Well, no… But…"

"Look, it hasn't even been a whole year yet, so Luz is still new to the group, compared to the rest of us anyway." Marcy continued. "And since she didn't have any other friends before…" She winced at that part in particular before getting back to the topic. "She's probably not used to what we got going. So, let's talk to her instead of yelling. That is a real thing, by the way; where yelling at people doesn't help, but actually makes matters worse, so…" She saw the look on Sasha's face and saw that she was getting through, but there was still some reluctance.

"I don't like it when things change." Sasha grumbled.

"Well, did you think everything would stay exactly the same with Luz hanging around?" Marcy asked.

"Maybe not, but I don't want any big changes." Sasha said.

"It doesn't have to be. So, let's just give Luz more time to acclimate and I'm sure it'll all work out." Marcy insisted.

The blonde gave a reluctant sigh. "Alright, fine. Just as long as this doesn't happen again."

When they went back around the corner, they had met up with Anne and Luz again, and it quickly got awkward between the two girls with a silence descending upon them. But Sasha decided to break the silence first.

"Look Luz, I didn't mean to explode on you. I just don't like it when things don't go according to plan." Sasha said.

"What about how you changed our story the first time around?" Luz asked somewhat skeptically.

The blonde sighed again as she pinched the bridge between her nose. "Listen, I'm fine if you wanna have fun with the stuff you do, but the world is a pretty ruthless place. If you wanna make it far in life, then you gotta be a little ruthless yourself. I admit, you're tougher than when I first thought, but you're not exactly ruthless, no offense."

"None taken, I don't want to be ruthless. But…" Luz tried but Sasha interrupted her.

"And Anne and Marcy here aren't exactly ruthless either." She gestured to their other friends. "So, I gotta take charge. Maybe it seems like I'm taking over, but I'm just trying to help you."

"I… appreciate that." Luz said. "And I know you can be pretty ruthless to, but do you have to be that way with us? Not everything in life has to be a competition."

"Tell that to all the millions of idiots in the world who think that it is." Sasha replied. "So, how about this? You said you wanted to hear my ideas earlier instead of me waiting till the last minute to change everything, right? Well, that's what I'll do. I'll tell you what I want to do sooner, and we can work it in with what you want. See? Everyone wins."

"I guess so…" Luz said, still sounding somewhat unsure. It kinda felt like that Sasha was trying to turn things her way again, but at the very least, she said she was willing to hear what Luz had to say now. And she didn't want to ruin one of her few friendships by creating any further strain than there needed to be. "But I still get a say, right?"

"Of course, I'll hear you out." Sasha waved off. "So, what do you say? We got a deal?" She offered Luz her hand with a smile.

Though somewhat hesitant, Luz accepted the hand with a smile of her own. "Deal."

"There, that's not so hard, is it?" Sasha said. Maybe her plan to work with Luz on the story was a bit too blunt for her, and that's probably why it blew up in her face the way she did. She'll go with Marcy's advice and have to work at a different pace to really acclimate her into the group, but she was certain she could get to her.

No matter what, she always got her way. And she will have her way here too. Nothing would change that.

Done.

And with that, we have our tensions rising between Luz and Sasha.

Despite being something of a people pleaser, Luz is no pushover either. She is willing to stand her ground or even push back if the situation calls for it. Even though she is one of the sweetest people out there, she's also a fighter at her core and that's already clashed against Sasha's desire to be in control of everything. You'll see how this conflict affects both their relationship and development going forward.

A few might be wondering why Sasha seems willing to listen to Marcy. Though we don't see a lot of the relationship they have in the canon show, Matt Braly has said that their dynamic is very understanding and focused, with both knowing each other's strengths. While Anne was the heart of the group and had to be manipulated by Sasha into going along with the group and getting what she wanted, Sasha is pretty open with Marcy about what she wants and Marcy is always following her lead; because of this, Sasha sees Marcy as more of an adult than Anne, despite her clumsiness. Ultimately, the two see each other as equals.

We also got to meet Sasha's dad, who seems to be a decent guy, albeit a tad overprotective of Sasha, at least as far as we've seen. This could contribute to Sasha's controlling attitude as she thinks that her dad believes that she can't handle herself, so she tries to act independently to prove him wrong.

Oh, and she also has a German Shepard named Ares. It's not confirmed if she owns a dog in canon, but she is a dog person, so why not?

This arc is nearing its end as we are about to get into some further drama before finally getting to the point that you all have been waiting for.

Until then though, stay safe and stay healthy out there.