#he hits the wall and slides down like its a glass window with cartoony sliding noises

[homeofjonicles]

The Jonicles - Entry 23 (image above lovingly drawn by yours truly)

It is currently the 18th of August, 2022 at 8:29 am and it's a nice Thursday. It is also officially day #91 of my Jon Arbuckle hyperfixation, waaaay more than I thought this would ever last Three whole months, jeez... I don't really have any overly analytical character analysis for today, but instead, I have this story that I'm surprised I haven't told yet until now...

Today's entry regards an experience I had while playing the shitty 3DS version of Garfield Kart that I non-chalantly, ahem, ""legally aqquired"" through conviniently untold means. This version of the original Garfield Kart is probably one of my favourites, as even though the PC version looks absolutely stunning compared to this version, the 3DS version is clunky and unpolished, allowing me to clip through many areas and completely skip some. I have quite a lot of fun doing this in "Play Misty For Me", as with a couple of springs, I can easily skip over corners and most of the entire first turn of the map. It's fun seeing everyone else struggle whilst Jon happily makes leaps and flies through the air, wind blowing through his lovely curly locks.

But I'm not here to talk about glitches and tricks you can pull in one of the funniest racing games I've ever played. No, I'm here to discuss mortal enemies.

Everyone has an enemy in a racing game. In Mario Kart 8, my mortal enemies are Roy and King Boo. In Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, it was most likely Billy. And in Garfield Kart, my mortal enemy is Squeak the mouse, one of Garfield's friends.

Now, if you're familiar with Garfield Kart's playerbase or have played it yourself, you may be wondering, "Jeremy, why is your mortal enemy Squeak? Nermal's way worse", and I would say that you're right, if Squeak weren't astronomically worse than Nermal, that is.

Squeak is an asshole when it comes to Garfield Karting. I don't know how, but this stupid tiny rodent can somehow reach the gas pedal with his weird little mouse feet and push on it hard enough in order to always have the winning spot in first place all to himself. He's always there, and poor Jon (my main) can never seem to catch up to him. He taunts Jon, bullies him, always laughs at him whenever he drives past. The little rat always has win and never lets anyone fly ahead... at least, on the PC version, that is. Jon always has to suffer the burden of being in last place when Squeak is around in the PC version, but in the 3DS version, that's a much different story. Due to the AI in the 3DS version being literally the dumbest thing I have ever seen (seriously, they crash into the map like moths fly into lamps), Squeak is no different, allowing Jon to take advantage of his new power and send that frustrating rodent in 8th place and below, right where he belongs.

However, this all changed one fateful day as I was just sitting there on my bed, happily racing around the twists and turns of Pastacosi Factory on my second lap, having a baller of a time. And so was Jon, as he was zooming around in first place, exactly where he should be, being the good boy he is. You know how in some racing games where you can become so first place that you end up looping around to the person in 6th place? That's what was happening here as I was driving towards the finish line and I could see a little kart driving around in front of me, and it looked like they weren't having the best time. Not thinking much of it, I drove closer towards them, ready to prove my might as a Jon main and speed right through the upcoming finish line. However, I spotted the very small frame of the head of the driver in the kart in front of me, and I realised that it was Squeak, my mortal enemy! I would have thrown a pie at him to prove my dominance, but considering I didn't have any items on me, I simply drove past, mocking him for being in last place and giving him a firm bump with my kart. After so many lost races because of this little rodent, I felt alive, having put Squeak in his place once and for all and proving that Jon is superior among the crowd of the other Garfield Karters...

... That was, until I heard a very familiar sound from behind me. It sounded like a sort of woosh, and I thought that maybe Squeak had just thrown a pie at me, and I was about to retort with another shove, but I realised that Squeak was... im front of me? But I had already driven past him, how could he suddenly just be in front of me now? Confused and slightly disoriented, my eyes darted up to the place indicator thingy, and it displayed the number 6 instead of 1...

I then realised that the woosh sound I had heard was not a pie, but instead, it was the woosh sound the magic wand item makes when you hit someone with a spark of magic, and it all suddenly clicked. Squeak, in an act of apparent revenge, had hit me with a magic spark and swapped places with me, putting him in first place and leaving me deserted in 6th place once again, and it all happened within the matter of 3 seconds. I was dumbstruck, stupified, bamboozled. My jaw dropped I watched the little pixels belonging to Squeak speed away on the little screen. That little rodent, that little bitch, after so long of having to go through endless races full of pain, loss and homicidal urges, had just duped me and stolen my spot completely out of nowhere. Needless to say, I was offended. Incredibly offended. I was doing so well, I hit all the shots, I was king, and then this tiny little rat boy came and swiped that all away.

I paused the game, took a deep breath and uttered the words "man fuck you squeak" and started a new race, because I knew. What did I know? I knew that I had, absolutely HAD to deal with this in the most efficient way possible. I had to exterminate this foul animal, this foul beast, and I was going to do it right there, right that moment. The moment that solidified my hatred for Squeak.

So now, every time I see this little rat boy, I sneer at him, throw insults and generally taunt him at every opportunity. When I was reading one of the KaBOOM! Garfield comics, I made the horrifying discovery that Squeak was the lead narrator for the comic, so every time the annoying little rat reared his ugly head, I insultes his narration skills and made threats of homicide and general violence towards the little mouse. Every time I see him onscreen in The Garfield Show, a cartoon that he's apparently a pretty big character in, I heckle him and call him disgusting. I especially dislike his stupid little voice, every time he speaks, I clench my fists and go "shut up, Squeak, no one asked". I found this really nice wallpaper of all the main Garf characters smiling and I was about to set it as my phone background when suddenly, I noticed Squeak's stupid dumb little smile right on the corner and I immediately regretted my descisions, pissed that he had once again wormed his way into my life. He is the bane of my very existence, and needless to say, whenever Jon asks Garfield to catch the mice running rampant in his house, whenever he sets traps to finally catch the stupid little assholes, I empathise with him, and I wish him well in the hopes that maybe one day, Jon will finally catch Squeak and, I dunno, feed him to a beranda snake or something. Just get rid of him already, I'm sick of seeing him, let alone thinking about him!

So, with that said, I don't really have any deep insights to give, apart from the fact that I hate Squeak and he fucked my wife. Thank you for once again reading my insane ramblings about Garfield characters and I hope all of you stay safe from this tiny little tyrant, he needs to be stopped. Take care guys :)

Last edited at 4:06 pm. i ated a pop tarts and now my body feels funny

Day #91! Hoooly bejeebus! As the top of this entry says, I never thought I'd actually get this far... Anyway, please enjoy my very tired retelling of this short story. Maybe I should make a parody blog dedicated to hating Squeak, like the Jon hate blog...

Cheers,

Your Local Jonnoisseur

Posted on the 18th of August, 2022 at 4:43 pm.

[dreaming-of-brawlstars]

Finally finished Princess Shelly’s Grand Escape. I’m actually thinking of continuing this?

Desc: Once Upon A Brawl, a Princess wakes up in a tower. She’s not happy about it, not knowing how she got there, but despite the fact that she was kidnapped in the first place, she can handle this on her own.

Shelly woke up in… a bed. A bed she didn’t recognize. It was too soft, too warm, and everything seemed a little fuzzy. She rose a hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes, yawning, and felt something off. When she paused to see if something was on her hands, she notices that she was wearing gloves.

“What the…?” She blinked, clearing her vision to examine it closer. A white glove with makeup and glitter smudged onto it from her wiping her face. “Huh?”

She didn’t wear makeup. Or gloves. Part of her brain tried to tell that this was normal, to go back to sleep, but she shoved it aside. She looked down at herself, noticing that she was wearing a frilly blue dress. It felt more like a costume than clothing.

“I am definitely not dreaming anymore.” She mumbled as she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to stand up. She heard clinking as her feet hit the ground. “Okay what is this-“

She pulled the shirt of her dress up to look at her feet, seeing that she was wearing glass slippers. Her mind raced, trying to figure out how in the world she ended up in this unfamiliar bedroom in a frilly blue dress.

“This is getting ridiculous-“ She attempted to stand up, only to wobble a bit. She took a breath and steadied herself before standing up straight in the heels. “How can anyone stand these?”

She attempted to walk across the room, cursing whenever she stumbled in the slippers. Finally she gave up, pulling them off and storming to the window to see where she was. The sky above her was dark, the sun long gone, and there were stars scattered throughout it.

“Wherever I am I clearly am going crazy.” She shook her head. “No, no. Not crazy, this is crazy but I’m not. Where’s my-“

She looked around, noticing a strange looking green object on the floor by her bed. She picked it up by the handle, trying to make out any details. It was designed to look like a frog. By why a-

The ‘frog’ started snapping at her, and on reflex she punched it, still holding onto the handle. She hollered out curses as she held it away from her face, not interested in getting bitten, and warily watched it snap at her again.

“The heck are you!?” She had half a mind to throw the thing, but something in its mouth caught her eye. Squinting, she could see the gleam of a shotgun barrel in its jaws. “…huh.”

‘There it is.’ She thought, and as she aimed the gun’s barrel - and face - away from her, holding it at the same level as her chest. ‘That’s my gun.’

This felt way, way too weird to be real. She didn’t need to be a doctor to know she couldn’t possibly be asleep and in some kind of strange dream, and the fact that she was holding a gun that was apparently a frog made everything feel even weirder.

“Whoa, okay, firstly. Don’t shoot me. Okay? Second: What the heck? Who the heck are you? And why do you have my gun - why are you my gun? Third: If you want to bite, do so now because I really don’t want to hurt you or anything. Like ever again. Just-“ The frog-gun-thing bit her arm. “OW!! What was that for!?”

It hissed, and she rolled her eyes.

“Ay, ay, ay! Are you done? Stop biting me!” The frog let out another hiss, and she swore it laughed at her. She groaned in annoyance. “If you behave, I won’t throw you out the window. Deal?” The frog clicked, letting out an affirmative noise, which Shelly assumed meant yes, so she sighed and relaxed for a moment.

“This is insane. My frog is a gun, I’m in some weird tower, and-“ She started pacing, waving her hands around as she noticed a lock of her hair fall her face. “And my hair is pink!?” She stopped, staring at the lock before throwing the pink hair off her face. “This has got to be a trick! This isn’t real!”

She kept screaming and ranting about how much she was hallucinating while she stared at herself. At last she stopped and slumped against the wall, her breathing heavy. She was still panicking and she didn't seem capable of calming down. She glanced over at the door, and she couldn’t if it was even locked. With a deep sigh she walked over to it, slowly sliding her hand over the doorknob, and attempted to yank it open.

Nothing. Locked. She cursed to herself.

Sighing once more Shelly slid back to the wall and sank into it, leaning forward so that her forehead rested on the cool surface. She closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths.

"Calm down." She told herself. "You're fine. There's no reason to freak out right now, okay?"

She looked at the frog-gun she held, trying to smile at it reassuringly. Then an idea dawned upon her, and her smile widened. She stood up, holding the frog-gun ready as she faced the door, aiming it.

"One shot..." She muttered. "One shot..."

She heard something ont the other side, and she froze. She saw light from something very bright, and she squinted, shielding her eyes.

She had no idea if this guy was a friend or foe, but for her own sake, she was going to guess the latter. But she was also eager to get out. So maybe… Okay, she wasn’t going to kill the guy, but she would have the frog ready.

She looked around the room for anything else. She noticed the slippers, and as much as she didn’t want to wear them, the felt important. She she grabbed them, deciding to carry them instead. She held the frog-gun at her side and turned to the door again, ready to knock it down.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself, and kicked the door down with surprisingly no effort. As soon as she did, she raised her gun quickly, pointing it at whoever was behind the door.

She must’ve knocked him down when she knocked down the door. He was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head as a mask covered his face. A cutout mask with a cartoony face she vaguely recognized, but she didn’t care. She aimed the frog at him, just in time for him to move the mask to stare down the barrel as it opened its jaws

He didn’t try to make any sudden movements, but he was clearly nervous.

“What?” She asked. “Not gonna make a move? Too scared?”

She waited, expecting him to say something, to attack. To fight or run. Anything. But he stayed quiet. She took a step towards him, raising the gun as she walked closer.

“Are you my rescuer?” She asked, her voice lowering. “Or are you my kidnapper?” She stopped near him, watching closely as he looked at her, fear and confusion apparent on his face. It made sense; they never met before, of course he wouldn’t know her and she didn’t recognize him.

But he did.

“Sh-Shelly, it’s me, Colt?” He spoke up, reaching his hand out toward her. “Please put the gun down, please-.”

She paused in disbelief, staring wide eyed at him, and lowering the gun slowly in response. She blinked a few times but refused to lower the weapon, instead holding it tighter.

“The wizard sent me - Byron - it’s a long story…” Colt tried to explain, still looking at the shotgun in his face. “Please lower the frog…”

“The Wizard sent you? Why the hell are you here and what do you mean, long story?” She snapped. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because it’s the truth.” Colt replied, “And I’ll explain everything, we just need to-“

“Kiss me.” Her voice went low, almost threatening.

“Wha-, uh,” he stuttered, paling as he swallowed a lump in his throat. She narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Since I’m stuck in some fantasy freakshow, I’m assuming you’re probably my ‘prince charming’ and our ‘true love’s kiss’ is probably going to break wherever curse I’m under, and I have every reason to believe I’m cursed!” With her waking up in a weird room, seeing a gun as a frog, and her magically being a Princess, she was getting somewhat desperate. “So, kiss me already, you dolt!”

“Haha,” he choked out, still pale. “N… not funny, Shelly. Look. It’s not funny, alright?!” She glared at him, raising the gun.

“I’m serious! Break this stupid curse or so help me-“

“Okay!” He threw his arms up, and he seemed to have enough courage then to yell in exasperation, as if he was just as stressed. “I got your message! I didn’t expect you to remember me, I didn’t expect you to even recognize me! But if you do remember, if you actually remember that we were friends, well, you should probably listen to whatever I have to say. You might want to take your finger off the trigger, too…” She hesitated, her grip on her gun loosening a little. “That’s the thing, Shelly. We’re friends? Yes. Sure, we were good friends, once,” he said softly, “You probably don’t remember that…”

She frowned. “You’d be correct.” He nodded, his brows furrowed together as he sighed.

“Okay, yeah, maybe not. Not exactly, anyways. But… I am here to rescue you from wherever it is you are. So…” Colt glanced at the door and the remains of it on the ground. “You - you probably have that handled. Right?” She scoffed.

“Of course I can handle myself. I’m a princess.” She reminded him, raising her eyebrows sarcastically. “Now, why don’t you tell me why this is happening?” She demanded.

“Oh, right, sorry. Yeah, uh, Byron - who’s a wizard now - sent me to save you.”

Something clicked, and Shelly turned to the frog in her hands. Things seemed to shift into place.

“Oh, he’s the one that gave me you.” She pat it’s head, a little roughly. But it seemed to like that. “I remember you~!” She continued, a bit quieter than before. “So… he must’ve been worried about you. And he sent you, but then he decided not to come himself. He’s really irresponsible.”

“Uh… Yeah, kinda. Listen…” Colt scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “He is sending help, but we need to get out of here first. They should be coming soon.”

“Well let’s go!” Shelly grabbed Colt’s wrist and started running, dragging him along. “So, who are they?”

“There’s Barley, he’s a unicorn knight now. Then Prince Emerald Sprout.” Shelly looked back incredulously, “You’ll recognize them when you see them. They live up to their descriptions.”

“What the heck are you?” Shelly questioned, raising the gun up once against a door. She noticed Colt rummaging through his bag, pulling out two golden pistols.

“I’m - uh - not quite sure. I think I’m just an ordinary man - er, hero – trying to find you. Get you out,” he answered sheepishly.

She scoffed. She knew it was bullshit.

“No. There’s more to it than that. I’m not an idiot, Colt, if that is your real name.” She rolled her eyes, shooting down the door and barreling through to the outside.

“Y’know, usually you’re not the one asking what’s going on.” Colt responded, firing at a small figure approaching them. He seemed to know how to use guns. Good for him.

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to be saving me, obviously.” She shot back, running and looking back briefly to make sure he was following. She slowed down slightly, hearing sirens and looking around.

Those sounded out of place, but she wasn’t sure. Her attention was snapped back to seeing robots around, one raising a gun. She stepped back slightly, backing into Colt.

“What’s going on here?” When she asked that, Shelly swore she heard him snort. “I’m being serious!”

“No time to explain!” Colt seemed to be holding back a laugh. That sounded like a punchline, like it was ironic. “If you stop to explain, you’re a goner! I’ve seen proof!” Colt insisted, aiming his gun at one of the robots while continuing to walk beside her.

“Proof of what?” She yelled back, shooting down another robot that tried to shoot him.

“Poco! Wherever he is, anyway…” Colt spoke quickly, picking off a sniper robot that was aiming for Shelly, then perking up at the sound of shattering glass. “There’s Barley!”

Shelly turned, then looked up to see a knight - a robot - clad in bright colors and sparkles leaping down to help. She closed her eyes as something it threw hit the robot in front of her, shattering and exploding into dust and rainbows. As she squinted open her eyes, she noticed an opening.

She lowered her head and charged through, holding her gun close. As soon as she was out of the dust, she scanned the area, seeing that a fire had started in the village she was in. She didn’t focus on that for long, seeing robots ahead. She leaped, aiming to land on it, and crushed it’s head with her foot before jumping off it’s inverted head to escape the group.

More shattering glass - that sounded like bottles. Looking back, she noticed to vaguely familiar silhouettes dashing through the dust, chasing her. Her eyes widened as two dragons emerged - one pink, one green - recognizing them. Shelly readied her shotgun, shooting at them to knock them back before running.

She dodged robots attempting to grab her, but her focus was on avoiding the dragons. Fortunately, someone had her back. She saw as a sword was flung into the chest of one robot, and then another thrown and slicing into the back of another. Glancing at the direction the swords came from, she noticed a little robot dressed in green wearing a cape with a sword sticking through it’s head.

“Thanks!” She hollered briefly before dodging a punch from one of the dragons, and it gave her small nod before reaching for the sword in it’s head to fling at another robot in her way.

Shelly took one final scan of the situation, thinking quickly. Since everyone else seemed to be focused on the robots, that seemed to leave just her with the dragons that were insistent on chasing her. It was a good thing the robots seemed to be focused on her allies instead of her as well, leaving her with just the dragons.

Either way, she was going to have to deal with them alone. But that wasn’t a bad thing, not at all. As she wove around robots being shredded into shrapnel by bullets, being cut in half by thrown swords, and disappearing into dust and glitter, she turned around with her gun aimed to her pursuers.

They were right in her face, she didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, feeling the force before hearing the gun going off in her hands.

“BANG!” She shouted, hearing the blast echoing throughout the entire battlefield. She pulled the trigger again, hearing it’s shots ring in her ears. “Bang, bang, bang!!” She yelled, watching the bullets flying everywhere.

The shells hit their targets; each one hitting the same one in turn. Each time, she felt a sting of satisfaction as the shells went through a target and the force knocking them backward and away. Thrown back, they flew for a few feet before hitting the ground, hard.

She watched as the two dragons turned to smoke and disappeared. With the last one gone, the robots turned to nothing, turning to dust and scrap.

Finally, she stopped firing for a moment, watching the area. She could hear people talking somewhere nearby. She sighed.

“Great job, Shelly…” She muttered quietly under her breath.

“Hey, hey, are you alright?!” Colt called from behind her. She frowned, glancing around.

“Yeah, did you see what I just did?” She pointed to where the two dragons were with her gun, then gestured over to the robots she destroyed. “That was so awesome!” She cheered, throwing her arms in the air victoriously.

She heard slow clapping, and blinked, noticing it was from behind her. She noticed Colt nervously wave at someone she didn’t see, she couldn’t see clearly, because of the dust. She rubbed her eyes before turning around to face them.

As she turned to look, a tall figure appeared.

“Wow. That was amazing. You did incredible.” The figure said as they walked closer to her. “But I think that’s enough excitement for today, don’t you?” They continued, still smiling.

“Who… Are you? What are you?” Shelly narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “And why did you say those things? Are you making fun of me?”

“No, no! Not at all!” The person laughed as he reached her. “Why would I ever do such thing?” He held out his hand towards her. “I mean… I knew you were capable of destruction and handling yourself, even if you did get caught-“

“I broke out on my own.” Shelly retorted, crossing her arms. “I kicked down the door, nearly shot the guy that was sent to save me.” She threw a thumb back at Colt. “I got rid of most of those. I didn’t need rescuing, I was doing fine on my own.” She explained, glaring at him.

He chuckled, shaking his head. “How many of the robots did you destroy?” Shelly opened her mouth, but he rose his hand. “Aht, look around first.”

Shelly raised a brow before doing so, noticing that while several of the robots had clear indications of being destroyed by a shotgun like hers, several also were melted, had been stabbed or sliced by swords, or had holes through their chest from more precise bullets.

“While handling the dragons on your own was very impressive and no small feat,” He started, first looking at Shelly, “I’m sure not having robots distract you helped a lot. After all, it’s dangerous to go alone-“

“Well I wouldn’t have been alone, I have this thing.” She held up her shotgun, which snapped at the stranger. “It’s a weapon,” She shrugged.

“Yes, I figured.” He nodded, putting up his hands in defence when she swung it towards him. “Okay, okay… You don’t seem to need it now. Lower the frog, please.” When she hesitated, he sighed, lowering his hands. “Lower the frog, please. Or do you want me to take it back?”

“Um…” She stared at the thing. “What’s this about the frog? Do you know how I got it?” She asked cautiously.

“Well of course! I gave it to you! And I am quite sure I would remember giving it to you.” He smiled.

“You… You gave me the… Frog?” She repeated, her voice sounding almost confused, even to her. She looked at it, lowering it, then it dawned on her. “OH. You’re the wizard!”

“Did you just now recognize that I was a wizard?”

“YEAH!” She nodded, laughing a bit. “I mean, I noticed you dressed weird and essentic but I didn’t - it fits you?”

The wizard groaned, his face turning red as he dragged a hand down his face.

“Oh geez, how embarrassing,” He muttered. “Anyway, I should probably start heading towards the town, make sure everything is okay there. So, bye!” He waved his hand, starting to walk away.

Before he got far, Shelly reached out a hand, grabbing his sleeve.

“Wait, I have a feeling you were trying to give me some ‘moral of the story’ or something like that. Y’know, fairytales.” She shrugged, frowning. “And I didn’t get your name. And I want revenge.”

The wizard paused in surprise. “Hmm..” His eyes narrowed slightly, a grin forming on his lips. “Maybe I was…?” He hummed lightly to himself, rubbing his chin. “You know what, I’ll be blunt. I am Byron, the Wizard.” He shrugged. “Moral of the story: I don’t doubt you, nobody should, but it’s dangerous to go alone.”

“But I’m not-“

“Princess, I’m not finished.” He gently cut her off, then called for the attention of the group, gesturing for them to come over. “Everyone, everyone, this story isn’t over just yet. I can show you all the way for your quest.”

“We’ll need higher ground to see our next destination.” Byron rose his staff, pointing at an odd metal frame tower that was bent out of shape by the fight. “Little Prince, come over.”

Shelly watched as the little robot with the sword wheeled over to him, grabbing Byron’s robe. Byron gave Sprout a brief pat on it’s done. With that, Byron slammed his staff on the ground and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shelly blinked away the dust, noticing her footing was different. She looked down, seeing that she was on the bent metal tower, overlooking the town and horizon. She noticed Barley, who stood securely on it, and Colt, who hung onto a stay metal bar for deal life.

“Ahead,” Byron spoke, and when Shelly saw him he was levitating in the air with Sprout hanging from his robe. He pointed to the castle in the distance. “Is the residence of Evil Dragon Queen Pam, she is the one who captured you.”

“LET’S KICK HER-“ Shelly attempted to jump down, only for Byron to put his staff in front of her to prevent her. “What!?”

“It’s dangerous to go alone.” He repeated firmly. She looked down at the ground, scowling. “You may be able to handle Queen Pam by yourself, but will you be able to handle her forces, her armies, and whatever army of robots they could possibly have?” Shelly pursed her lips and sighed.

“Fine.” She huffed.

“Thank you, Princess.” Byron grinned before disappearing into a puff of smoke. Everyone else followed suit, everyone being back on the ground. “You’ll need people, allies, friends… All I ask of you is help us with the mission.” He added.

“Right.” She mumbled, sighing again. “But I get Pam all to myself, got it?”

“I have no doubts.” Byron chuckled, “Barley, do you have the map?”

“Yep! Here it is!” He said cheerfully, holding it up triumphantly.

“Good job, knight.” He said, patting the robot on the shoulder. “With that map, a good sense of direction, and each other, I have no doubts that you all have everything you need for your quest.”

The group began to talk among themselves excitedly, talking about their tasks and the possible future that awaited the group.

Shelly stared at the map for awhile before she shook herself, smiling. Then she noticed Byron walking off, waiting an arm for an owl to land on as he left.

“Hey, Byron!” She yelled out before she followed after him, waving her free hand over her head. “Aren’t you going to be one of us? You seem so insistent on not going alone.”

He turned his head, raising his hand to wave back. “Well, you can consider me a member of your group, that’s for sure. I’ll help any way I can-”

“Are you coming with us?” Shelly interrupted him.

Barley stopped, turning his head. Byron stared at her for a moment before sighing, closing his eyes. “No. I will not be part of this group.”

“Why?”

“Look, princess, I have my own things to tend to.” Byron crossed his arms. “And I have already given you allies, possible friends, with Barley - a wonderful magical knight, Sprout - a blooming prince, and…” Byron raised an eyebrow at Colt, “…a new companion, yes, the new guy. So, my answer is still no.”

She frowned at his words.

“So, we’ve wasted enough time as it is,” Byron walked away.

Shelly watched him go for a few seconds, before looking down at her map. The map showed where the castle of Evil Queen Pam was located in relation to where they were. That meant…

Shelly took a deep breath, shaking her head as she walked over to her group.

“Alright,” She sighed. “Let’s go. We need to get to the castle. It’s not far at all.”