Chapter Text
"...tain…"
"...Captain…"
"Captain Donnegan!!"
Fritzi jolted awake. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around at her surroundings. She looked up at her crewmate, who had his arms crossed.
"...Huh…?"
She sat up straight, hands on her knees, giving him an innocent smile, as if she hadn't just been sleeping to avoid her duties.
Her crewmate sighed.
"Did you fall asleep at the helm again?"
"Nooooo…" She lied. Her crewmate's sighs got more exasperated.
"I came to get you. We've arrived at the Imperial Sludge's home planet."
Fritzi made a face of disgust.
"I don't wanna go. It's probably all… sticky or whatever."
Her crewmate pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Saying things like that will not help us in the meeting, Fritzi!"
She groaned.
"Oh, right. We have to do stuff."
Fritzi blew raspberries.
"Laaaaame."
Her crewmate groaned, head in his hands.
"Just- Please be ready. Soon. The Imperial Sludge will not be happy if we are late."
He left the cockpit of the Spaceship. Fritzi watched him walk away, and as soon as he was gone, she relaxed back into her seat.
Sure, missing the meeting would be bad for them, but another short nap, just another five or maybe fifty minutes, wouldn't hurt.
"You're late, Fritzi!" Pietro shouted.
"Yeah, yeah, I know! Whatever!"
Fritzi ran out of the spaceship, joining the rest of her crew. She shivered and rubbed her arms as she felt the cool air.
"It's cold!"
"You wanna go get your coat?" Violet asked her. "Or I can just give you mine-" she said, starting to take her coat off, before one of her other crewmates interrupted her.
"No, she should have thought about that before getting off the ship! Don't coddle her!"
He crossed his arms.
"Captain Donnegan, You have a responsibility as captain of the ship to-!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" She interrupted his scolding, rolling her eyes. "Hey, let's just skip this meeting and have some fun instead!"
"Captain, this is important! You can't just 'skip' a meeting with the Imperial Sludge!"
Fritzi pouted and squeezed Violet from behind.
"Violet, my lovely flower!" She said cheerfully. "Tell him to let me do what I want." She whispered.
"I heard that!" He shouted.
Fritzi gasped dramatically.
"Oh my god! Look at that over there!" She pointed into the distance, and he whipped his head around, only to see nothing there. He turned back around, and saw that she was long gone.
Fritzi knew that running away wouldn't do anything. No matter what, she was still stuck on this sticky, slimy planet. She wasn't going to just take the ship and fly away, leaving her crew behind,and she knew that she was going to have to do her job eventually.
But nothing was going to stop her from trying to escape her responsibilities.
She was walking through what she thought was a forest, filled with tall, dead trees, and a muddy brown ground covered with lots of large pools of purple liquid.
She looked up at the light purple sky, entranced by this new location.
And then she tripped over a log.
Fritzi ended up falling face first into one of the pools. She freaked out, spitting out the liquids that got in her mouth.
"Eek! Bleh! Ew, ew, ew!"
She tried crawling out of the pool, but when she tried pulling her left foot out, it wouldn't budge. She pulled on her leg, and still, nothing.
"Okay… C'mon!"
She squeezed her eyes shut, and tugged on her leg harder.
And then she felt something slimy wrap around her waist, hand, and leg.
She yelped as she felt her body shoot, landing into the mud. She got up, and felt her sock getting soaked by it, looking at the pond and seeing one of her space boots stuck in it.
"Aw… my boot… I liked my boot…"
"Um… sorry about your shoe…"
Fritzi turned around to see where the voice was coming from. She looked around to see a dark purple being, looking at her nervously. She didn't know how her race aged, but she could tell that the girl couldn't have been any older than thirteen- no, twelve. The girl saw the way Fritzi was looking at her, and immediately blushed.
"I-I'm sorry!"
She ran off and hid behind one of thin trees, which didn't provide much coverage in the first place. She peaked her head out from behind it.
"Y-you're a human right? Please be more careful. You could've got stuck forever if a sludgion like me wasn't there to save you." The girl lightly scolded her, nervousness still lacing her voice.
"Yeaaah. Sorry."
Fritzi got up, brushed the mud off her knees, and rubbed the back of her head while sticking her tongue out a little.
"Sooo… what's your name?" She asked her with a smile.
"My name?!" The girl sounded shocked by such a simple question. "Well, everyone… everyone just calls me Slime Girl."
"That's cute! I'm Fritzi."
Fritzi held out her hand to her, and after a few long seconds, Slime Girl shyly came out from behind the tree, and shook it.
"So, Violet. We found her on this planet with a lot of flowers and greenery. She's our medic, and also, I love her. And then there's Pietro. He's from this ice planet. He's really good at like, cooking and stuff. And um… well, we have a third, but I can't remember his name right now. He's kinda stuffy. I don't know what he actually does. But we're friends! I think..."
The two had managed to slip into comfortable conversation easily. They were now sitting on a log, swapping their stories, Fritzi going first.
"Why would you choose to come here?" Slime Girl asked her, head tilted to the side. "I-I mean, If you have a spaceship, and can go wherever you want in the universe, why bother visiting a boring planet like mine?"
Fritzi groaned.
"Ah, right. I've got this meeting with the Imperial Sludge. Crap, I think I'm already late for it… damn! That guy's gonna scold me again…."
"W-wait, WHAT?!"
Slime Girl shot up from her seat as she shouted.
"I'm supposed to be there too! I completely forgot about the time! Ahhhh, Mom and Dad are gonna be so mad! Come on, let's go, let's go!"
Slime Girl grabbed Fritzi's arm, and despite the other's protests, she started running towards the city.
"I'm done with you, Fritzi! I'm out!"
"Okay, Jeez! Dude, I'm sorry, okay?!"
Fritzi, as usual, was receiving another scolding.
She had missed the entirety of the meeting, and her crewmate was utterly furious, not even letting her explain herself.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it! This was important to you! I won't do it again, okay?!"
"What do you mean 'important to me?!' I was doing this for you Fritzi, all for you! The situation has nothing to do with me! The Imperial Sludge is staging a war with Fritz Donnegan's home planet! Your home planet!"
Fritzi's eyes widened.
"...H-huh…?"
"I was trying to help you! I was trying to protect you! But no, you had to go running off like a child, just like you always do! When are you ever going to grow up?!"
"That's enough!" Violet shouted at him. "You're saying all this, but didn't you ever think to let us in on the situation?! You're blowing up at Fritzi, but you didn't even tell her about how important this was! You know her at this point! Yeah, she's a flaker! Why would you expect anything else?!"
Fritzi tried not to show it, but hearing her say that hurt, even if it was just a little.
The crewmate sighed, shook his head, and simply walked off.
"Asshole…" Violet muttered. "I don't know why we even had him on the crew in the first place."
"Because he fixed our ship for free?" Pietro butted in.
"Oh, yeah. That's why." Violet sighed. "We're gonna have to find a new mechanic soon…"
"What are we supposed to do…" Fritzi whispered. "They're gonna attack all those people! We've got to do something to stop them!"
"I admire your attitude but… how?!" Pietro interjected. "Me and Violet are terrible at fighting! And there's no way you'll be able to take an entire planet's army all on your own!"
"I can help."
The group turned around to see the person approaching them.
"Slime Girl?" Fritzi questioned.
"I can help!" Slime Girl repeated, determination in her voice.
"I don't mean to be rude, but what can you do?" Pietro asked. "You're just a kid. I think you have different things to worry about. Let the adults deal with the intergalactic war, okay?"
Slime Girl pouted.
"...I know what the Imperial Sludge is going to do to your planet, Fritzi! I know everything! All about the military, their plans, I know who's going to be attacking your planet, and I know exactly when they're going to strike."
"WHAT?!" All of them shouted in unison.
"How would you even get that information?! I thought you were just a middle schooler!" Fritzi asked her in shock.
Slime Girl took a deep breath.
"Because the Imperial Sludge is my dad!"
"WH-WHAT?!" All of them shouted in unison, even louder than the first time. Slime Girl ignored their questioning.
"Fritzi! I've heard the stories! About how Fritz Donnegan defeated my dad in a battle a long time ago! If he was able to do it once, then I'm sure you can do it too!"
"Just because the legendary Fritz Donnegan could do it, doesn't mean that-" Pietro started, before Fritzi interrupted him.
"Dad never defeated him." She said bitterly. "He just ran away, like a coward."
"Oh… really…?" Slime Girl said with disappointment, before getting her determined expression back.
"But that doesn't mean we can't try!"
"I'm sorry, 'we'?" Pietro questioned.
"I'm coming with!" Slime Girl said, as-a-matter-of-factly.
Violet smiled at her with worry.
"I know that you really want to help, Slime Girl, was it? But this is all too much for someone like you to bear."
"And the Imperial Sludge is gonna freak out if he finds out we took his Daughter!" Pietro shouted.
"I don't want to be stuck here while there's a war going on! At the very least, I want to be fighting for the right side!" Slime Girl protested.
She looked at Fritzi, giving her puppy dog eyes.
"Fritzi… please…? Let me come with you! Let me join your crew!"
"You're our captain. It's your decision." Violet told her. Fritzi nodded.
"Well then. Welcome aboard, Slime Girl."
Slime Girl had said that the first thing they needed to do was gain reinforcements.
Since it was most likely to be the easiest to get on board, they went to Pietro's home planet first.
"Absolutely, under no circumstances, will we ever support the people of that criminal's planet!" The ice planet's Elder bellowed, voice filled with anger.
Welp. Looks like it wasn't going to be easy at all.
"Please! We're begging you! Lend us your aid!" Pietro pleaded with him, getting down on his knees. The girls followed suit.
"You have to understand, Pietro." The Elder's wife said, softer than her husband but still stern. "Fritz Donnegan took something very precious from us."
"L-like what?" Slime Girl asked nervously.
"He took our daughter from us!" The Elder shouted.
Everyone's eyes went wide.
"And YOU!"
Fritzi flinched and fell back when the Elder pointed at her.
"Leave this place at once! I will not accept anyone from Fritz Donnegan's kind! Especially not his kin!"
"Well, that went great."
Fritzi kicked at a small mound of snow, frustrated.
"Guess kidnapping people's daughter's is something the Donnegan's have in common- ACK!" Pietro started, before Violet violently jabbed his arm with her elbow to get him to shut up.
"Don't listen to him, Fritzi. It was probably a 'forbidden love' type of deal." Violet said.
Fritzi nodded.
"I know. Well, I know that... my mom wasn't from the same planet my dad was from. Dad was considered a criminal when he first left his home planet. I've never been there."
She looked up thoughtfully.
"... Mom died when I was born…" she mumbled.
"So what you're implying is, your mother was a snowling?!" Pietro said with shock.
"Ah, that must be why you hate the cold so much!" Slime Girl said.
"No, it should be the opposite." Pietro retorted. "But I'm guessing that's because she's mixed. Snowlings don't mix well with other species, so that's probably why your mom… I'm sorry."
Fritzi shook her head.
"Don't apologize for that. It has nothing to do with you, it's not your fault. What you should be apologizing for is not being able to convince the Elder to help us!"
Pietro winced.
"Yeah, sorry about that!" He rubbed the back of his head.
And then he got an idea.
"Hey!! Elder!!!"
The Elder left his cabin after hearing the call. He was flabbergasted, seeing that the crew was still there.
"Didn't I tell you to-!"
"We know, we know!" Pietro said, trying to reason with him before he got too angry. "But Zoey has something very important to say to you!"
The Elder then noticed Fritzi, who was standing there wearing ice skates.
"We challenge you to a Snowskating battle!" She said with determination. "And if we win, you'll have to promise to lend us your support!"
Snowskating consisted of combining two things.
Ice skating, and snowball fights.
"The Elder is really skilled at this." Pietro explained. "That's the only reason it's four on one. We wouldn't stand a chance if Fritzi did it alone."
"A-are we gonna be okay…?" Slime Girl asked, fear in her voice.
Pietro shrugged.
"Probably not!"
The Elder wasted no time to let the crew talk out a strategy or get situated. He skated towards them, throwing snowballs.
"Watch out!"
Violet pushed Slime Girl out of the way. Slime Girl slipped and fell on her bottom. She screamed as she started sliding across the ice due to the slimy consistency of her body.
"Slime Girl!" Violet and Pietro shouted in unison, skating over to help her, but also tripping and sliding onto the slime left on the ice from Slime Girl's accident.
They also screamed.
The three ended up knocking into each other and falling on top of each other into a pile.
The idiots.
Fritzi focused her attention on trying to throw snowballs at the Elder. Just one hit, that was his condition. All she needed was just one hit.
She kept skating and throwing snowballs, missing each time, though she seemed to be pushing the Elder back. That gave her an idea.
She continued doing what she was doing, pushing the Elder back until he slipped on the slime as well. Then, she finally managed to land a snowball directly on his stomach.
The Elder looked at her and her triumphant face, eyes wide and in shock.
And then the Elder started… laughing.
Fritzi did the same, nervously wondering if he was about to snap at any moment. The other three unentangled themselves from each other and rejoined her.
The Elder got up from the ice and brushed off his clothes, still laughing heartily.
"Very well then. You have bested me. I agree to support you in your battle against the Imperial Sludge."
The group cheered and celebrated briefly, before putting themselves together, getting in a line, and doing a quick bow.
"Thank you so much!!"
The people of Violet's planet were much quicker to take to the idea of fighting in the war, despite being such a peaceful race.
"Of course we'll help." The Elder of the flower planet said with a smile on her lips, her voice soft and inviting, much different from the Elder of the ice planet. "You've done so much for our people, Fritzi. We would be delighted too."
"Thank you so much!" The crew all said in unison.
"Although… I would like to add a condition for our aid." The Elder's wife said.
Fritzi nodded frantically.
"I'll do anything! Anything at all!"
"Well, as I'm sure you know… our people's resources and population has been decreasing as of late. So, I would like you too-"
"Got it!" Fritzi interrupted her, thinking that she already knew what she was going to ask of her. "I'll make sure I take very, very good care of Violet! It's a promise!"
"Oh?" She laughed. "I was just going to ask that our and your people could form some kind of agreement. Perhaps found a neighborhood on your planet for our people to live in? But that works too, I suppose."
Violet turned red.
"O-okay, well, we should be on our way! Lot's of training and preparations to do! You know how it is!"
Violet then proceeded to drag Fritzi out of the Elder's hut by the ear as the other two followed.
"Fritzi! We're almost there!"
Fritzi came to the front of the spaceship after hearing Slime Girl's call. She looked around at the planet, her home planet. She saw tall city structures, places that looked like they housed samurai, and a sky colored with streaks of orange and pink, with tiny black stars and a black sun visible.
"You ready?" Pietro asked her.
Fritzi laughed nervously.
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess!"
"This situation is…" The Elder sighed. "...Unfortunate."
The crew had just finished telling the planet's Elder the news. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We will need to start with the preparations immediately."
Fritzi and the others nodded. The Elder continued.
"I'd like to ask that Violet and Pietro head to our care facilities. Please support our medics and cooks in taking care of those who are wounded, as well as making sure any civilians are secure. As for Fritzi and… er…"
He coughed into his hand, awkwardly. They all understood why. She was a member of the very species that was going to attack them, after all.
"…Slime Girl, I'd like you to go to the samurai training school. There, you will learn how to fight like a true member of this planet."
"Right away!!" They all shouted in unison, bowing to him.
Fritzi let out a breath.
"Ooookay, I have absolutely no idea how to use a sword."
Fritzi held the katana awkwardly and upside down. She tried swinging it towards the dummy, only to trip over her own feel as she spun, falling to the floor and dropping the blade. The sound of steel hitting the ground resonated throughout the room.
"You've never used one before?" Slime Girl asked as she extended her hand to Fritzi and she took it, helping her up from the ground. Fritzi laughed nervously and rubbed the back off her head, sticking her tongue out.
"Nope. What can I say? I like to stick to ray guns."
They heard the doors slide open.
"Is that so? If that's the case, I'll teach you."
A woman in a white and blue kimono approached them, her hands folded in front of her. She gave them both a short bow, which they both returned.
"My name is Kotone. I'll be your instructor today. It's a pleasure to meet you, Slime Girl. And of course… you too, Fritz Donnegan."
She said Slime Girl's name sweetly, and Fritzi's a bit more curt.
Fritzi groaned and put her head in her hands.
"I'm sorry. What did my dad do to you? Please don't take it out on me. I'd like it if one person with a vendetta against him doesn't take it out on me."
Kotone sighed.
"Me and Fritz were… acquainted during our school days. And because of him, no one has enrolled in my school in a very, very long time. Now raise your head."
Fritzi did as she was told. She looked up and her eyes widened as she saw the katana in Kotone's hands, pointing at her face.
"Now then, aren't you here to learn to fight?"
"Y-yes ma'am!"
They spent a few hours training. Slime Girl had taken to using a katana rather quickly, while Fritzi had been struggling the whole time.
Kotone sighed.
"Honestly… at this point… why do you continue trying, Fritzi Donnegan? The attack could start at any moment now. If you can't do it, it's best for you to just give up and start your preparations instead.
Fritzi gripped the hilt of her katana harder.
"Never! Because I know…"
She ran up to the dummy and managed to slash its head clean off.
"Now is not the time for me to get lazy!"
Kotone clapped slowly, a small smile forming on her face for the first time since they got there.
"Good luck, Fritzi Donnegan. You're going to need it."
It felt like Slime Girl's yells could be heard throughout the entire planet.
"They're here! Fritzi! Elder! They're here!!"
Violet and Pietro rushed to their places. Violet and the rest of the caretakers had already moved as many civilians as they could into the care facility's bunker, and started setting up beds and medical supplies. They knew for a fact that they were going to need them soon.
The samurai warriors got to their positions, Fritzi, Slime Girl, and The Elder and Kotone in the front. As two of the planet's best fighters, it was essential that they be there.
Kotone looked up to the sky.
"Is that them?"
Slime Girl looked up as well, and her eyes lit up.
"No, it's our support!"
White spaceships from the left and light green spaceships from the right came into the atmosphere. Spaceships landed, an icy air leaving the white ships when they opened, and a flowery aroma wafting out of the green ones. The Elder's from each planet joined the Elder of Fritzi's planet.
And then other ships started flying in.
The dark purple spaceships came into the atmosphere, large groups of soldiers spilling out of them after they landed. Fritzi even noticed that her old crewmate was one of them. "Traitor!" She thought. "So he was working for them the whole time?!"
In the largest ship, was the Imperial Sludge and his wife themselves. Slime Girl hid behind Fritzi when she saw them, but her mother was quick to notice.
"There you are!" Her mother said, in a voice of both worry and relief. Fritzi could tell she was forcing it. "Slime Girl, come here. Don't worry, mommy will save you from these bad, bad people. Com'ere."
Slime Girl stayed behind Fritzi, her eyes squeezed shut and her hand gripping her's for dear life. The Imperial Sludge didn't say anything, but his eyes narrowed. His wife, however, gasped in horror.
"Let our daughter go!"
The Imperial Sludge placed his hand on the hilt of his Illuma sword, and the The Elders moved their stance to fighting positions to defend themselves from any attack.
"NO!!!"
Slime Girl screamed louder than she had ever screamed before. She had run to the center of the battlefield, now in-between both groups.
All eyes were on her now.
"I don't want anyone to fight, I don't want anyone to hurt each other, and I don't want to go back to my home planet, so stop! Stop it all right now!"
"Slime Girl-" Fritzi and Empress Sludge both started in unison, Fritzi's voice much softer than the others. She stopped talking to let the parent speak.
"Slime Girl, you must understand. No one chooses to fight-"
"You did!! You and Dad did, Mom!! You wanted to attack the samurai people without warning, and for what?! Because Fritz Donnegan didn't want to be trapped on our planet by you, Dad?!"
Empress Sludge shut her mouth at that. Slime Girl turned back to Fritzi.
"So, let's all just be friends!"
Fritzi nodded with a smile, ran up to Slime Girl and took her hands. Slime Girl looked back at her parents.
"I… I don't want to be the ruler of our planet. I want to travel space and do some real good for the people of the whole universe, not just the sludgions! The humans, the snowlings, the flower folk, all of them!"
The Imperial Sludge stood there thinking, staring at his daughter. Empress Sludge looked at her husband, ready to follow along with whatever he said.
And he didn't say anything.
He waved at his soldiers, and they started packing themselves back into their spaceships, while Empress Sludge looked around in confusion.
"W-wait, honey?! What are you doing?"
The Imperial Sludge ignored his wife, taking her by the hand and leading her back into their ship. Before entering it himself, he gave one last wave goodbye to Slime Girl, who returned it graciously.
And then the spaceships took off, flying back to their home planet.
Slime Girl cheered with joy and hugged Fritzi. The Elders and Kotone came over with smiles on their faces as the two started celebrating.
And then the credits sequence played, with shots of everyone living happily ever after.
The group clapped and cheered as the film ended, all of them seated in the couches in front of the tv in what was now Zoey Gordon's estate.
Zoey had been gifted a pre-release version of the movie on a blu-ray after the filming. So, she invited Arianna and her brother over to watch it early, who invited his family at her request.
"I still don't understand these movies, but I like how they became friends in the end!" Estrella said, a cheerful smile on the child's face.
"Haven't I told you about how they went already?" Lloyd asked.
"And we watched them together on movie night!" Jay added.
Estrella thought for a moment, finger on her chin, and then put her fist on her head, winking with her tongue stuck out.
"I fell asleep every time!"
Jay paused, and then ruffled her hair. She yelped and laughed.
"Oh, check it out!" Arianna said, pointing at a name on the screen, as the section of the credits listing the cast appeared.
Fritzi Donnegan - Zoey Gordon
Everyone clapped and cheered again, Jay being the loudest.
"We can't forget about this part." Zoey said, gesturing to what had now popped up on the screen.
Wardrobe Supervisor - Arianna McCord
Everyone clapped once more, and Arianna flipped her short hair. Zoey gave a small laugh and got up from the couch.
"I'm gonna go get drinks!"
"Oh, let me help." Nya said, getting up as well.
Zoey nodded. The two walked off to the kitchen, and everyone else continued talking. From behind them, large words appeared on the screen for the last time.
In memory of Cliff Gordon
Nya laughed.
"Look at him."
From the kitchen, Zoey looked into the living room, where he was excitedly and animatedly explaining the entirety of Starfarer lore to Estrella, Zane, Cole and Kai, and getting annoyed whenever one of them asked a ridiculous question. This time, he threw himself back into the floor after hearing one that set him off, everyone laughing in response.
"I'm glad he's smiling again." Nya started. "After all that happened with…"
Nya glanced away from her for a moment. Perhaps she probably shouldn't tell her about the whole sky pirates and her getting kidnapped and almost dying in Jay's arms part. If she needed to know about that, he would tell her himself.
She coughed into her arm.
"...Y'know… everything."
Zoey nodded and looked back at Jay, who was still playing around and goofing off with his siblings.
"Yeah."
She smiled.
"I'm glad too."
"Hey."
Zoey looked behind herself at Jay and smiled.
"Hey."
She had gone out for some fresh air after a little while, the amount of people trying to talk to her had overwhelmed her. He sat down next to her, just like how they did at the wrap party not long to ago.
"You feel better now?" He asked.
She stretched with a content smile and sigh.
"Yeah. I think…"
She let out another content sigh, laid down on the pavement and closed her eyes.
"I think I'm okay. I think I'm gonna be okay."
She opened her eyes, and raised her hand up to the sky, pretending to grab at the sun.
"...You know, when I met you, my world got so much brighter."
She turned to him with a smile, which he returned.
"I love you, Jay. So I wanna say, um… thank you for being my brother. Thank you for… letting me be a part of your family."
She sat back up, and he used the opportunity to hug her.
"I love you too. But!" He said playfully. "You don't have to thank me for anything. You're my family no matter what, no ifs, ands, or buts!"
Her cheeks went red, tears glazing over her eyes, not from sadness, but from happiness.
She had never felt so loved, so cared for before.
And she just couldn't help herself from crying.
Jay gently patted the tears from her eyes with the soft sleeve of his hoodie, the same comforting smile on his lips. It was like he knew exactly how she was feeling.
"It's okay, it's okay…" He soothed. "Make sure you come back over to the junkyard sometime. Mom and dad have been wanting to see you again."
She nodded, whipping the rest of the tears from her eyes. Her voice was still a little shaky as she spoke.
"O-oh… okay… I'll do that."
She took a few moments to completely calm herself down before continuing to speak.
"Hey, um… there's this festival held every autumn in my hometown, you know, Harmony Harbor? There's live music in the park, and lots of games and stalls based around a theme. Last year's was rainbows."
"Oh, that sounds fun!"
"Yeah, it is! It's already passed this year but… W-what I'm trying to say is, you wanna go together next year?"
"Of course!"
"Great!"
Zoey hummed.
"I've been thinking about what I wanna do next… maybe I'll start doing stage plays next. And I think I can sing fairly well, so maybe I'll start doing musicals too!"
She smiled at him again, brighter than ever before.
"I don't want to be anything less than the protagonist! And I don't want to be the best because I have to be anymore…."
She stood up, and did a silly looking pose. Finger gun towards him, her other hand on her hip, one foot popped and her tongue stuck out with a wink.
"I'm the best because I'm me!"
Jay burst into laughter.
"Wha-" he kept laughing. "What's with that pose?!"
Zoey stomped her foot playfully.
"How dare you! That's Lovely Justice's signature heroic move!"
"Lov- Lovely Justice?"
Jay kept laughing as she sat back down.
"Oh, yeah. I started doing this hero show in my hometown every Sunday. It's about the heroine, Lovely Justice, taking down the bad guys with the power of love and friendship. The kids love it. You should come and see me sometime."
"I will! Maybe I'll bring-"
Jay was cut off by the door open behind them. Cole came out from behind it.
"Uh sorry to interrupt, but we're thinking about heading out now."
Both Jay and Zoey nodded.
The group started heading out, giving their goodbyes.
"Bye bye, Miss Zoey!" Estrella said, looking up at her with a big smile and then walking down the stairs with a bouncy in her step.
"Ah! Be careful!" Cole shouted, going after her.
"See ya!" Lloyd said, going down after them.
Zoey then saw a fist in her face. She bumped it with her own after a moment, and Kai grinned.
"Thanks for the good time!"
"I agree. You were a very good hostess." Zane added. They both went down the stairs as well.
"Talk to you later." Nya said, walking out and giving her a small wave. Zoey nodded with a smile.
"I'm gonna go too!"
Arianna gave Zoey a quick hug, leaving the actress blushing, and left down the steps.
"I'll see you later, Zoezoe!" She shouted, waving behind herself. Zoey gave her a small wave in return, her face still visibly flustered, which Jay couldn't help but tease her about a little. She nudged him in the arm and he let out a small laugh.
He then gave her a tight hug, which she returned with just as much force.
"Jay! You coming, buddy?" Cole shouted from the bottom of the steps.
"Coming!" He shouted back, the siblings letting go of eachother.
"I'll see you later!"
"Yeah!"
He rushed down the stairs. At the bottom, he came to a sudden halt. He looked back up at Zoey and smiled, waving goodbye enthusiastically.
She did the same, and waved back.