It was a good thing that Grian remembered that they had gone to Tumble Town for lunch before everyone went to the Evermoore. Because that was a long truck drive away, and no one liked to travel on an empty stomach. So Timmy took them all to his saloon to eat. After a while of waiting, the tiny sheriff came back with a bowl of steaming soup. "Yucca," Jimena explained when the hermit asked what was in it.
"How did you even cook this as a tiny toy?" Grian asked. Timmy immediately flared up and started shrieking about how he wasn't a toy. "The sheriff is not a toy," Jimena said evenly. "Don't dehumanize him," False added with a firm voice. Grian nodded and backed off. Even if this world's version of False was extremely paranoid, he knew how good of a pvper she was and he didn't want to take any chances.
"Just drink the soup," Jimena said, passing a steaming bowl over to the hermit. He took a spoonful, sipped, and was shocked at how good it tasted. "Wow," He said. "Wow." That was all he said. Timmy smirked. "Enjoy my soup?" "Yes," Grian admitted. He was soon drinking up all the soup and not even caring that he burned his tongue. "Can I bribe you with this soup to stop calling me a toy?" Tiny Tim asked hopefully. "Nope," Grian said at once. "Seeing you make such a big fuss is too much fun to give up."
"Will you stop bothering the sheriff?!" Jimena snapped. Her hand shot to a knife on her belt, but at the last second she twitched it away. "It's bad enough that almost all the emperors and hermits tease him about his appearance; do his so-called 'friends' have to bully him too?!" "Friends are supposed to bully each other, Jimena," Grian laughed. "I mean, you don't really have friends, so you can't know that." "I'm her friend," False interjected. "Both of you have amnesia, it's weird," Grian said. "Weird?" Both girls said at the same time, sounding irked.
"Why are you two so similar? Both of you are girls who woke up in this world with amnesia." The hermit continued. False and Jimena looked at each other. "Well..." They said, not really knowing what to say. Grian was right. It was a very strange coincidence. "This should not be happening," Timmy said. "Nope," Grian agreed. Jimena nodded as well, and Timmy shot her a strange look.
"Hey, False, Jimena, could you go get us some drinks over there?" Tim waved in a general direction and the girls nodded. As they left, Tim looked straight at Grian in the eye and said, "Grian, what's going on?" "What do you mean?" Grian replied, nonplussed. "What happened between you and Jimena? You're not... mean to her anymore." Grian blinked and realized that Tim was right. How did that even happen? "I don't know..." Grian tried to shrug it off. "Grian," Timmy pressed.
"Okay, she might've saved my life, can you quit it?" Grian said in a rush. Timmy blinked at him. "Er, what? Could you repeat that?" "Jimena saved my life. Now that's it, stop talking about her." Tim opened his mouth as if to say something, contrary to what Grian had just asked him to do, when False and Jimena came back with a tray of ice cold lemonade. "We will either discuss this later or never talk about it again," The hermit told the sheriff sternly.
"False said this is called 'lemonade'," Jimena said, putting the tray down and referring to the yellow juice. "It's made from lemons," Grian told her. "Oh, okay," Jimena said. "Wait, then why is it called 'orange juice' and not 'orangeade'?" "Actually, orangeade is a thing," Timmy said. "Since when?" False and Grian asked at the same time. "Uh, I don't know, ask Sausage or something," Tim said clumsily. "Yeah, Sausage would probably know," Jimena said. "More like definitely," False corrected.
Grian felt slightly weird about just eating lunch and joking around with probably some of the weirdest tablemates in this world. Timmy, a toy sheriff, False, a strange amnesiac version of a good friend of his, and Jimena. Where could he even start with about Jimena? He shook off the weird thoughts he was having. Maybe she's actually different now. If she was anything like the way she was before... she wouldn't have saved me. Would she? No, of course she wouldn't have.
"Grian, help us clear the table," Timmy's irritated voice broke the hermit's thoughts. He looked to see Jimena clearing away all the empty bowls and stained placemats to bring to the sink. "Fine," Grian groaned. Soon he was helping Jimena wash all the dishes. It took him several minutes to realize that. Wait, I'm actually helping her now? What happened to me? How did one little storm make me nicer to her? Grian shook his head. He was beyond confused now.
"Grian," Jimena asked him, shaking his shoulder. "Wha- ᓭℸ ̣𝙹!¡ ℸ ̣⍑ᔑℸ ̣!> Grian snapped at the girl, as she shook some soap suds into his face. She gasped slightly and blinked. "What did you say?" "I have no idea," Grian confessed. "I am making no sense." "That makes sense," Jimena said. For some reason, everyone started to laugh, except for Jimena, who had no idea what was going on. "Why is everyone laughing?" She asked blankly. "I have no idea," Timmy squeaked, making everyone laugh harder.
Jimena looked troubled and took a step back. "Uh, what did you say?" She repeated to Grian. What did I say? He wondered, and then he realized. He'd just spoken Galactic. The shock of Jimena splashing him with soap suds had caused him to revert to Galactic. Why did I even say that accursed language?! It must've been because she was there; mental triggers and whatnot. Grian grinned at the girl and tried to shrug it off. "Nothing," He said casually. Jimena narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing.
"Come on, we've got to get the sheriff back to normal," False urged, so the four of them crammed into False's truck and drove to the haunted mangrove swamp of the Evermoore. Once in, it didn't take them long to get a little bit lost and absolutely drenched in the ghostly white fog that seemed to perpetually surround the swamp.
Timmy got out of the car to get his bearings, but False stopped him. "Not a good idea," She warned. "With fog this thick you'll easily get lost." "We're already lost," Grian pointed out. "Then all of us has to stay put," False said doggedly. "We'll just stay inside the safe vehicle and not wamder around, okay?" Jimena was the first one to respond, and she was the only one to do it positively.
False tried to drive as slowly as possible to avoid bumping into things while she looked around for Shelby's empire. But it was like the whole swamp was playing tricks on them. The truck kept on getting stuck in ruts full of thick, gooey mud, and crashing into trees that just popped out of the fog. Every once in a while, the passengers had to get out and get the truck back on course, wherever that was.
"At least there aren't any mobs," Grian panted, as he helped lift the rear end of the truck out of a pond. "It makes me more worried, honestly," False said. "Why? There aren't any around!" Tim said. "We're in a thick, shady forest in the middle of the day and there aren't any mobs here hiding from the sun? I just want to know where they are and whether they're creepily not here or if they are here and are sneaking up on us as I speak." False said.
Grian shook his head. How paranoid can you be? You are really different from my False. "Just relax, there's nothing here," He said calmly. "There should be," False said I'm a troubled voice. "The Evermoore scares away a lot of creatures," Said a sudden voice behind them, making everyone jump. False drew her sword and stabbed it in the direction of the voice, which was obscured in the fog. Grian was shocked at how quick she moved. Okay, you're not that different from my False.
The owner of the voice yelped and stumbled out of the fog, revealing herself to just be the Great Witch Shelby. "Calm down!" She yelped. "It's just me!" After a few tense moments, False sheathed her sword again, something odd flickering in her eyes. "Shelby!" Timmy said in relief. "We've been looking all over for you!" "Oh, really?!" Shelby asked, panicking. "Keep back! I don't need the law around here!"
Gee, everyone's paranoid, Grian thought. "The sheriff's just here to be back to normal," Jimena said, and Shelby looked around in confusion. "Where is the sheriff, anyway?" "Down here," Tiny Tim sighed, and Shelby looked down to see the toy sheriff at her feet. "Jimmy?! Is that you?!" Shelby exclaimed. "Yes," Timmy groaned. "I need you to fix me!" "Uh, okay!" Shelby said hurriedly. "Come on, follow me!"
Shelby helped guide the truck to her clearing where it was easier to drive and where the fog wasn't as thick. Then she lead the four of them to her potion shop. It was a building shaped like a giant purple mushroom and it honestly looked really cute. The interior was bright and cozy, with a lingering scent of brewed potions still hanging around the air and giving off a pleasant ambience.
The walls were lined with shelves and cabinets full of potion ingredients, and the great witch started to pull out several different things out to start brewing. "So, you want to be normal size and a human again?" She asked the sheriff. "Yes!" Tim said eagerly. "Do you have to turn back yet?" Grian sighed. "You're adorable as a toy!" "You get turned into a toy and see how you like it," Jimena suddenly said, sounding stern.
Shelby poured water in the brewing stand and started to boil it. Then she tossed some nether wart in and scrambled to look for other ingredients. "Must be upstairs," She muttered. The witch climbed a ladder that apparently lead to higher floors and more potion ingredients. "Don't touch anything!" Shelby warned as she disappeared from view. That was Grian's cue to start touching things that he definitely shouldn't be touching.
"Grian, don't touch that!" False cried out, as Grian opened a few cabinets and found some already brewed potions inside. He pulled one out. "I wonder what this does," He said. Jimena came forward and tried to wrest it out of his grip. "The witch said to not touch," She said. "You're touching it," Grian said, pulling the vial back. Jimena pulled harder and suddenly the cork came off the vial and the potion spilled out onto the girl.
She glared at Grian. "Now look what you did, you @#)+&$ piece of @$-#_#!" False and Timmy blanched at her language. Apparently she'd never sworn before. "It's not my fault-" Grian started, but Jimena punched him in the face and he staggered back. "It is too, you $_#)+! I hate you and everything you do and why are you so mean to me!" Jimena shrieked. "Jimena, calm down," False said gently, but the girl didn't hear.
Grian got back up and punched her back. "What do you mean, I'm mean?!" He said angrily. "If you haven't noticed, I was trying to be nice!" "I don't call you nice!" The next thing Grian knew, Jimena had picked up another option and threw it at him. Her aim was sure, and soon enough Grian was also screaming at her and fighting her too. Tim and False tried to separate the two but they weren't listening.
Just then, Shelby came back down. "What in the world..." She started whem she saw the scene. "I just left three minutes ago! Oh no, you used the grudge potion, didn't you?" "The what?" Timmy asked, but Shelby was busy getting another option to splash on both Jimena and Grian. Soon enough, the two of them were back to normal; looking at each other strangely and breathing heavily.
"Grudge potion?" False asked, while she was checking to see if Jimena was okay. "It makes the user extra angry and start fighting people they have a grudge with," Shelby explained. She frowned. "Also, did I hear curse words...?" "I'm sorry, Grian," Jimena mumbled. "No, I'm sorry," Grian told her. "I shouldn't have been mean to you in the first place." "Wait, you're actually apologizing to her?" Tim asked in confusion, glancing at them. "What happened between the two of you?"
Grian sighed. "Just never mind," He said. The hermit reached out a hand to Jimena, who looked at it like it was a poisonous snake. "Truce?" Grian asked, trying to make his voice sound gentle. Jimena took it. "Truce," She smiled.