✧ Chapter 37 ✧

Scuffling through the barren fields as daylight was approaching, Chelbie had been traveling by herself for five hours now. At that time, there was a certain feeling that she got by being alone. One half loved the thrill of the adventures she was having. New sights like large möbius band-shaped rocks gave her a good view whenever she climbed a few. Currently, she had walked thousands of miles from where the STS-0 had been.

As energetic and hyperactive as she was, nothing could sway her mind on the beauty of seeing a place that was filled with open opportunities. It made her desperate for real adventures, promising more than just an average day in the humdrum of an auto shop with only seven to ten customers per week. Granted, she did get paid well since the automobiles she sold were quite expensive and top of the line. It only made sense that it could thrive that way. Business left her with a lot of free space to aid her own hobbies, decorating it on the walls like it was a public bedroom display. Except… Without a bed…

While laying down in a soft mushy meadow where a circle of wisteria trees were blooming from above, she relapsed into the memories of what her life was like. Her interests all stemmed from a single gift.

A passion for crafting.

Living with her rich parents often left her in the shadows of their expectations. They had a certain level of pedigree and prestige to their lifestyles and she was to maintain that so she could take on the responsibilities of this new role. Becoming an entrepreneur in the transportation industry.

The school she also went to was a private institution where students barely interacted with teachers or their peers. Instead, they were met with extreme critiques and lectures whenever one of them failed to do anything right at all. However, that began to change when she met a girl. A girl who she never got the name of played piano at the school she went to. This mystery person intrigued her when she was more formal back then. This was because her tastes in the classical genre were heavily influenced by her parents during her early childhood. Such music represented the ideals of elegance to them.

Everything changed for Chelbie when she sat besides the girl on that red stool in an empty music room after school. There was something about it all that made her step outside of that comfort zone. The one playing it seemed to be smiling the entire way. Filled with… Joy… She had not felt something like this for almost most of her entire life.

“So you love piano music. Do you do live performances?” asked a much younger Chelbie.

The girl looked at her with happiness and glowed like a ray of sunshine.

“Nah, but one day I will. It’s my dream to push for that kind of success.”

“Dream?”

“Yep! When I was little, I would stare from the window on a rainy day for hours in my bed. The drops pattering on my house’s rooftop would sound like fingers falling onto piano keys to create a tune. I could just imagine it. Ever since that day, I practiced to match the songs I kept hearing in my room. Sometimes I wondered though… what it would be like to play with a dancer on stage.”

“A dancer? Why?”

“Well… When I looked outside, the swirling cherry blossom petals made listening to it so much more beautiful. They would flutter around like tiny ballerinas. At least, that’s how I saw it.”

“It sounds like you are happy with your life even though you haven’t achieved your dreams yet.”

“Of course. The best part about achieving something for me is experiencing the journey, not the end.”

“Fascinating.”

“Speaking of which, what are your dreams?”

Chelbie stopped as she woke up from her past while staring at the dangling bright blue flowers that lit the ground like fancy chandeliers. She began to talk to herself, questioning the choice between staying together with her newfound family or being left alone back in StarSpace.

“I wish this could never end. Just seeing new stuff would be a change of pace for once. I’ve never really got to decide what I wanted to do. Especially not after that happened.”

Sitting straight up, she glanced at her spiked boots which were just below the knee cap. Gently stroking her fingers on top of it, a subtle touch made her cry a bit. She knew that nothing here was going to last forever.

As she laid right back down in exhaustion, she started to talk to herself again.

“I should probably head back. I think I’ve collected enough souvenirs from this place for today. Maybe I can ask that weird glow stick thingy about it.”

A sudden figure slid above into her view as Styra was looking down and smiling at Chelbie.

“Oh, there you are.”

Chelbie smiled back as she quickly went in for a hug. Styra was slightly stunned by this moment because no one had ever really given her one like this before. She felt better, especially after what recently occurred with Sapphirion and Diamondion around.

Eternika, who was following behind Styra, was a little less than pleasant to see that Chelbie had both walked off carelessly without telling anyone and misidentified it once again.

“For the last time Chelbie, I am not a glow stick thingy. You have much explaining to do. You do realize you can easily get lost in a world like this. Are you even listening?”

Styra patted her on the shoulder to direct Chelbie’s attention towards Eternika. However, it did not appear to have much of an effect on how she reacted.

“Wait so you’re not a glow stick thingy? Are you sure about that?”

The weapon began to get enraged. It could tell she was trying to piss it off.

“No. Chelbie. I am not whatever, that is. In case you forgot, my name is Eternika. Maybe take this more seriously so all of us can discuss other important matters.”

“E… T… How do you even spell that?”

“E-T-E-R-N-I-K-A.”

“Oh. Okay…”

“Alright good, you understand. Now let’s go.”

“Hold on, so let me get this down packed. Your name is… Enchilada Teriyaki Egg Rice Noodle Ikada Kookin’ Ass.”

Eternika stuck one of its blades pointing towards her head as it was conflicted on whether to accept being insulted or to give her an extreme warning. The latter seemed more likely without a doubt.

“Woah, woah! Eternika what’s gotten into you?” yelled Styra as she tried to separate the two from each other.

Eternika placed its blade back into position, but could see Chelbie grinning mischievously from behind Styra.

“Styra, I do not trust this supposed friend of yours. She is up to no good. Do you even understand what she just said?”

“I mean… I don’t necessarily recognize most of it since I wasn’t born in StarSpace, but I can use The Eternal Light Of Time to see what she’s saying.”

After Styra checked out the meaning behind said words within a flash, she grasped heavily onto the gravity of their situation with a certain level of disappointment.

“Chelbie, why would you talk about Eternika like that?” asked Styra.

Chelbie stood firm as she crossed her arms with dissatisfaction.

“You should be asking why that thing is such a stuck up piece of shit,” she replied.

The weapon began to feel threatened, almost as if it was being taunted with.

“I am not stuck up. It is you who is stuck up,” said Eternika.

Styra didn’t like seeing either of them being at odds with one another. She wasn’t ready to give up on them like this.

“C’mon, you both know we have bigger things to handle than this. Can’t you guys apologize to each other at least? Think about it. Do you really want to be enemies at a time like this when something else is trying to threaten all of us?”

Eternika knew she was right. The Omniverse was nearing disaster and there was no way it wanted that to happen. Perhaps it was going to have to come to terms with what it said to Chelbie before when they were stargazing. Pausing for a while, it finally opened up to her after realizing how arrogantly it acted.

“I think I see now why you are upset. I had blocked your agreement to stick together as I was only hoping to fulfill what Styra asked. I will admit, splitting ways was her choice. Although, I am curious to know… Why are you not interested in that idea? You would be able to discover who you are, wouldn’t you?”

Tears began to run down Chelbie’s eyes as she shook her head.

“I don’t get to choose. Hisa wouldn’t really let me after I already snuck onboard the ship. I only did it because I wanted to meet someone who could maybe take me away from all that stuff I used to be that I didn’t like. I like vehicles. I like going places. I like riding at full force and never looking back. I don’t like being in the backseat waiting for an opportunity that I’ll miss if I don’t take that shot. My life is full of closed doors already. I want to live the best life I will never regret. Otherwise… Well… I’ll forget what that’s like. And… I don’t want to forget.”

Styra and Eternika stared in awe as they came over to comfort her.

“Chelbie, after seeing you like this, I owe you an apology myself. I know that feeling. I was stranded in an apocalyptic world for too long. I blamed myself for everything. That’s not to say I haven’t had my fair share of wrongdoings, but I want to change that. If you want Chelbie, you can come with us.”

Wiping away her tears from her face, Chelbie sat down next to a wisteria tree and decided to share her secret story with the both of them on one condition.

“Remember how I talked about my other name, Styra?”

“Mhm?”

“Yeah. That name is my real one. Chelbie is just a nickname I used to hide my identity.”

“Why?”

Chelbie began to roll up her stretchable jeans above the knees which revealed prosthetic legs being attached to each of her stitched up thighs.

“When I was in 4th grade, someone told me that they would become a piano player when they grew up. I never got their name but they did ask me what I wanted to be. I didn’t know at the time so I started delving into small school clubs that I heard could inspire creativity. I decided that day to join an extracurricular activity program for robotics cause my parents owned transportation businesses. I started creating plenty of small automobiles like the one I showed you.”

“Oh, right. The Blazetrekker.”

“Now, I’ll just say it as it was okay. I lived in a wealthy family and I may have been quite overweight as my family members didn’t really raise me to be an active girl. Everything was mostly handed to me. I used to sit and eat a lot so my appetite was also pretty heavy. The moment I started building machines that I felt could change everything, I realized something was missing. I started setting goals to improve my mental state as it was hard to think sometimes without food being on my mind. Just for me it felt like a negative against what I wanted to do.”

“So that’s why you challenged me to a spicy food contest…”

“Eh, I mean we will get to that. I basically started participating in sports activities. Most specifically ones with wheels. I started learning how to ride bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and roller skates. I was obsessed with them before getting really good at balancing. A few years later, I became a pro at fitness when I started to explore volleyball and tennis. Let me tell ya, by that time I had won seven different games. It was a difficult time as well since there were a ton of opponents that could match or beat my techniques.”

“Woah…”

“Then the best thing ever happened when I won my biggest achievement yet in a worldwide roller derby competition. I played with professional student athletes from every corner of StarSpace. I got lots of praise for winning. My metabolism was on fire and I could eat big spicy meals without worrying about my health. Everything was good until… It happened.”

Touching her leg again, Chelbie kept recollecting how the incident occurred. She began to doubt telling this side of her life as it started to traumatize her.

“What happened Chelbie?” asked Styra.

The hesitation was beginning to get stronger as Chelbie began to question if Styra was making the right choice by having Flight and Hisa split up from them too. With that bothering her, she prompted her regrets of treating the weapon too harshly.

“We’ll talk about it later I guess. After all, enough about me. Eternika… I was stupid to hold you up like that, so I don’t know where you’ll find it to forgive me. I get hot headed sometimes.”

“Fair enough. I hope this brings us on equal footing. Let’s make up for all of this now by attending to what Creperus wants us to do. I assume it will be more significant than when Strage went rogue.”

Once Styra had teleported them all back to where everyone else was waiting, she began to ponder what exactly the anomaly was.