Tom McCarthy, a brunette-haired thirteen-year-old boy clad in a red checked shirt over a white T-shirt, black jeans and shoes, sat in his dim bedroom cluttered with videogame CDs, clothes and consoles. Before him stood a blank TV screen which he stared at for nearly half an hour. He sank into his arms and bent his knees, his mind submerging into the dark recesses of his mind. He felt a presence and sighed as Mary Morrison, a white-haired twelve-year-old girl who wore a pink hoody with a Fairy Tail logo over black jeans and white sneakers, came and sat down behind him.

"Hey." Tom said melancholically.

"Hey." Mary said in a chipper tone as she looked around and tapped her lap. "This room's pretty depressing." She rocked back and forth. "You wanna go outside?"

"No."

"Great." She grabbed his arm and ran out of the room.

TOM TRUDGED down the sidewalk as he followed Mary through a neighbourhood in the suburbs of San Fransokyo. He put on his headphones and reached for the 'play' button when she began to speak:

"Ah, nature's so beautiful, so therapeutic. Don't you love the outdoors?" Mary asked.

"Life is meaningless." Tom said gloomily.

"Come on, it's fun." She giggled then smirked. "By the way, don't go emo; it's not a good look."

"Where are we going anyway?" He asked.

"Oh, it's a surprise." She grinned.

"This can only get worse." He groaned.

"No, it won't. Come on." She laughed.

Mary grabbed Tom's arm and walked on faster. The two made a right turn down the street and moved up to a white house with an orange roof and cacti on the front lawn. Mary rang the doorbell and smiled as she awaited an answer. Tom groaned and began to leave when the door opened.

"Good morning!" Star twirled into the doorway. "Are you ready for Disaster Con?"

"Ugh, Mary, why did you drag me here? I told you I didn't wanna come!" Tom said.

"Come on, it will be amazing! Movies, games, cotton candy –," Star said happily.

"This will be a disaster." Tom said bluntly.

"I know, right?" Star beamed, eliciting a groan from Tom.

"Star, Star! Stop! You're going to ..." Marco ran into the doorway then looked around and calmed down. "Oh, you didn't wreck anything - that's good."

"Hey, Marco, what's up?" Tom said

"Tom, how're you doing?" Marco and Tom fist bumped.

"Well, just getting my day ruined by Mary." Tom shrugged. "What about you?"

"Getting my day ruined by Star." Marco groaned.

"Hey, I'm not gonna ruin anything." Star pouted.

She crossed her arms and accidentally waved her wand, summoning a large four-eyed potato monster with three chickens for arms and an ice cream cone for a mouth that rampaged and jumped into the next yard. The others looked at Star with disapproval as screams came from the neighbour's house.

"See? Disaster." Tom said.

Star laughed nervously. "Ooh … and we're off to the convention!"

STAR, MARCO, Tom and Mary walked down a hall filled with people at stands, costumed fans and cluttered by posters, screens and several gadgets. Star looked around in awe, waving her wand dangerously at passers-by. Marco held her hands back and she scowled.

"The announcements were awesome! I can't wait for the 2017 movie releases." Mary said.

"Yeah, I really loved the Kong Skull Island trailer. It was A-Mazing!" Star said.

"Yes, if you call corporate schemes to rehash overused and boring ideas just to make money off an unsuspecting audience 'A-Mazing'." Tom scoffed.

"Come on, the movies were still cool." Marco turned to him.

"I concur, Sir Marco." Star said in a British accent and put on a cotton candy crown. "Now off to Middle Earth! Queen Butterfly commands you ..." She bit a piece of the crown.

"Woo – I'm outta here." Tom said sarcastically and began to leave.

"Tom, the convention isn't over." Mary called to him.

"Oh, the convention started? I guess I didn't notice because of how lame it was."

"Tom!"

"Just shut up." Tom groaned.

"Ugh, I can't take it anymore!" Mary walked into Tom's way. "I buy your tickets, dig you out of your disgusting mess of a room, buy all your snacks and you can't even thank me?"

"And did I ask for any of that?" Tom pocketed his hands.

"Why are you such a jerk!?" Mary yelled.

"Come on guys, let's not fight" Marco pleaded.

"Yeah, we should be having fun! Look at my yoyo!" Star lifted up the glittery toy. "It's so …" She started drooling. "Shiny."

"Stop, Star, just stop." Marco took the yo-yo from Star who kept staring at it.

"Tom, what is the matter with you?" Mary asked.

"Just leave me alone." Tom walked away, getting a growl from Mary who stormed off.

"Guys, come back." Marco tried to follow them when a loud crash interrupted him. A deathly silence filled the hall and a roar echoed nearby. "Star!"

"Uh, why do you keep thinking I did something?" Star said sassily and ate some candy.

Chaos erupted as people ran about from stands that began to fly about. "What's going on?" Marco backed up.

A table fell before the four and three black beasts jumped out before them, each encircling their prey. The creatures walked on four legs, having large lower jaws with massive sharp fangs, red eyes, and tattoos of an eagle/snake hybrid on their backs.

"Ludo!" Star said angrily.

"Wait, Ludo? I thought you banished him?" Mary turned to her.

"Guess I'll have to banish him again!" She raised her wand. "Twinkle Fairy Tsunami Bombshell!"

Star fired a ray of twinkling sprites tossing tiny grenades at a beast, but the blast simply bounced off onto people instead who were knocked back by the blast.

"Star, you're hurting people!" Marco said.

"Relax, I've got this." Star leered. "Pink Poodle Puppy Bunny Land Mine!"

She summoned three pink land mines with bunny and puppy ears underneath the beasts that exploded and sent them flying back. Tom looked around and grabbed Mary's hand, trying to run off with her.

"Come on, Mary, let's go." Tom said.

"I thought you wanted to be alone." Mary pulled her hand away.

"Mary, we don't have time for this; we're in danger!"

"Whatever." Mary scoffed and walked away.

Tom gritted his teeth and began to leave when he heard her scream. He turned and saw a monster lunging at her. "Mary!" He reached out for her.

A surge of dark energy shot out of his hand and smashed into a beast, sending it flying. Gripped with surprise, Mary backed up slowly and turned to Tom, her eyes wide as her mind looked for words. Tom looked at his arm in shock as a black aura exuded slowly from it.

Marco ran up to a beast and threw a karate chop on it. He jumped back and gritted his teeth in pain as his hand throbbed. "What the hell?"

Star looked around in a panic. "Why aren't my spells working?"

A beast smacked Star and sent her crashing into a stand. She struggled to her feet and held her stomach in pain. She winced and felt blood drip from her lip. Worry enveloped her as she looked at the carnage in the auditorium as the beasts converged on Marco, Tom and Mary. Steeling herself, she stepped forward and stood before the beasts.

"Phoenix Pixie Nightmare!" She yelled.

Star raised her wand, charging a blinding light that spread out and illuminated the hall. The energy erupted in a wave that knocked everyone off their feet and broke the floor apart. Marco pushed himself up and took in the carnage. He looked to his right and saw a black portal that began to fizz. The portal twisted suddenly and a vacuum pull started to suck everything in.

"This is bad." Marco said.

"Wait, wait, I can fix this." Star stood up.

The force sucked the wand and Star tried to hold onto it, but she got caught in the pull. Star flew past Tom, Marco and Mary who tried to hold onto pillars and they got sucked in as well. The beasts and the five were flung into the portal and it closed.

A MASSIVE black space ship flew steadily through deep space. Its body glinted in the light of the billions of stars in the distance and shadow of two black holes beginning to form. Inside the ship's hall, the portal opened and spat Marco, Tom, Star and Mary out. Tom got to his feet and rubbed his head.

"Whoa, where are we?"

"What is this?" Marco looked around.

"Man, Ludo's gotten a lot more aggressive." Star wiped the blood from her lip.

"Yeah, I don't think Ludo captured us." Marco said.

Marco pointed forward and Star turned, reacting in shock with the others as four wizards in dark robes stood around them. The wizards had greyish skin and were garbed in robes with symbols on the back similar to the four beasts.

"I blame Mary." Tom said grumpily.

"Marble Rainbow –," Star tried to say a spell when a beast leaped from the portal and pinned her down.

Star's wand slipped out of her hand and ended up at the feet of a wizard. The wizard waved his hand and the wand disappeared.

"Give that back!" Star said and her scissors flew out of her pocket. "Hey!"

A wizard raised his arm and, summoning a magic circle beneath the four that began to shrink, effectively binding them in an invisible barrier.

"We're doomed!" Mary yelled.

"You think?" Tom asked.

STAR, MARCO, Tom and Mary sat on the floor of a dirty dark cell below a dim window. On either side were four metal beds without mattresses and a dirty sink with a leaking tap. Star moaned and slumped onto the wall, joining Tom who seethed. Marco stood and paced around the room, trying to think of a plan. Star whined even louder and Tom got infuriated.

"Star, stop!" Tom yelled.

"Oh, you were right, life is a meaningless pit of despair ..." Star slid down to her back, moaning again. "Also, I'm too depressed to listen to you, so there's that too." She moaned once more and Tom yelled in aggravation.

"Guys, quiet down or you'll attract the guards." Marco said in a hushed voice.

"She started it" Tom frowned.

"Well, stop it." Marco turned to him.

Star sighed then grinned. "At least I have my yo-yo!" She started playing with it. "Up and down. Up and down." She giggled. "Up and –," Tom clenched his fist and the yo-yo erupted in a black flame. "Hey!"

"Sorry." Tom said sarcastically.

"No, not that; you did it again, the fire thing!" Star said.

"Oh yeah." Tom looked at his hand.

"How do you do that anyway?" Marco raised his brow.

"Well, there was this time I went to the Dream Realm and – you know what? it's just a long story." Tom shrugged.

"Ooh, you went to the Dream Realm?" Star got in Tom's personal space, grinning with wide awestruck eyes. He pushed her away.

"Well, bust us out of here then." Marco said.

Tom stood up and held his hand up to the bars. He concentrated and slowly clenched his fist. The metal slowly heated and sweated beaded down his brow. Star watched eagerly and squealed when a black fire incinerated the cells.

"Come on." Marco said.

STAR RAN about and Tom, Marco and Mary followed close behind. Marco looked at the walls on either side of the hall and saw several empty cells.

"Wand? Dimensional scissors? Where are you?" Star called. "Whistle like a puppy if you can hear me!"

"Star, keep it down." Marco shushed her. "Besides, dogs can't whistle and the wand and scissors don't talk."

"Wait, why can't they?" Star asked.

"Hey, over here!" A voice called.

The four turned to a cell to their left and saw a muscular, purple-skinned male alien with white hair, pointed ears and a tattooed left arm clad in an unbuttoned, single-sleeved black jacket, jeans, boots and fingerless gloves.

"Hi." Mary waved at him.

"Hey, you!" Star reached through the bars and grabbed the alien by the collar. "Where's my wand?"

"What?" He asked.

"You know what I'm talking about, thief!" Star yelled in a husky voice. "Where are they?"

"Star, let go of him." Marco pulled her back and she started growling.

"Okay." The alien chuckled and adjusted his clothes. "Hey, I'm Zarden. I don't know where your wand is, but I have an idea where it could be."

"Really?" Star hopped and bit her lip.

"Star, I don't think we can trust a random stranger." Marco said.

Tom blasted the cell door.

ZARDEN, MARCO, Tom, Mary and Star snuck around the ship, evading guards until they reached a small room. With Tom's help blasting the door, they made it into a small weapons vault with several shelves containing a wide array of weapons and artefacts. Zarden picked up a laser gun shaped like a short-range riffle with eight barrels, a broad sword and grappler gun from a shelf and holstered them. Star looked around found her wand.

"Ah, reunited again!" She picked it and hugged it.

Zarden turned to Tom, Marco and Mary who simply stood around. "You're not getting anything? It doesn't have to be yours, you know?"

"Yeah, we'd rather not." Marco said uneasily.

"Okay, now for the scissors." Star walked on when a whooshing sound started to build.

"Wait, I know that sound." Zarden listened. "Oh no, we need to move!"

"But, I have to find my scissors first!" Star began to panic.

"You don't understand; if we don't get out now, the ship will enter hyperspace." Zarden said.

"Um, what's 'hyperspace'?" Star asked.

"Look, all you need to know is that we need to leave or we'll be trapped and they'll kill us." Zarden said.

"Oh, dying is bad." Star said then raised her wand. "Narwhal Blast!"

Star fired a narwhal through a nearby wall, exposing them to deep space. The vacuum pull sucked Tom, Star, Marco and Mary toward the hole. Zarden's boots glowed, making him skid only slightly and he grabbed Star who held Marco who clung to Tom grasped Mary's hand in time.

"This sucks, you know that?" Tom deadpanned.

"Boo!" Mary jeered.

"Ugh, suck my shirt." Tom scoffed and she chuckled.

"What were you thinking?" Zarden asked Star in a panic.

"I thought you said we should leave." Star said.

"Yes, but I had a plan!"

"Well, I –," Star began to choke and she Marco, Mary and Tom started to turn blue.

"Hold on!" Zarden said.

Zarden pulled the kids and held them under his arms. Fishing out a gun from his jacket, he blasted the hole, sealing it with an energy wall. He set the kids down and they coughed as they get to their feet. He walked up to the room's exit and saw red lights flashing in the hallway.

"Great, the alarms have been set off." Zarden said.

"Nice work, genius, you got us spotted!" Tom growled at Star.

"Well, we can't spend time blaming each other; we need to find a way out of here." Marco looked around.

"Okay, follow me." Zarden drew out his laser gun.

Zarden kicked the door open and ran into the hallway, closely followed by the four. Manoeuvring through the ship, the five came upon the door of the hangar bay. Zarden walked up to the door and held his hand back, stopping the kids as he moved up to the door.

"Wait for me here, I'll go in and take down the guards." He said. "Now, we –,"

"Narwhal Blast!" Star fired a narwhal through the door.

The kids ran into the hangar bay and Zarden huffed in anger as they ran across the bridge midst several ships that lined the walls on docks. He ran after them and stopped quickly when he saw wizards taking aim on them.

"Look out!" He yelled.

"I got this!" Star leapt up and leapt into the air. "Turbo Nuclear Butterfly Blast!"

A massive rainbow wave of butterflies erupted from Star's wand, destroying most of the hangar in its wake. Zarden shielded his eyes from the blast and looked out nervously as the smoke settled.

"What the hell are you kids?" Zarden backed up.

Star blinked and looked around as she; Marco and Tom were surrounded by a white energy force field that Mary was holding up. Mary opened her eyes slowly and jerked back in surprise, causing the shield to disappear.

"Whoa, what'd I do?" Mary breathed heavily and looked around. She squealed and hopped about. "Am I a magic girl like Sailor Moon?"

"Yay, we're Magic Girl Sisters!" Star hugged Mary and hopped around.

Marco groaned and turned to see Tom slowly walking towards the edge of the bridge, about to kill himself. He grabbed him quickly. "Stay strong, man; stay strong!"

"Guys!" Zarden called. The four turned to him and saw that he was entering a ship nearby. "Come on!"

Following him into the ship, the four quickly strapped themselves in as Zarden activated the vehicle when blasts of dark energy rained upon them. Tom looked outside and saw several wizards ran toward them.

"Buckle up!" Zarden started up the ship.

The ship ignited and burst out of the bay, quickly assaulted by the space station's exterior cannons.

"We're gonna die!" Star screamed.

"Hang on; I'm taking us into hyperspace!" Zarden pushed a lever forward.

"Hyper say what?" Star raised her brow.

She looked around and screamed as their ship shot into a bright light.

ZARDEN WATCHED the immersive sunset sky as stars shone above. A bright flash zipped past him and he looked around at the widely coloured flora that surrounded him. A cough caught his attention and he turned to see Star, Marco, Tom and Mary slowly regain consciousness.

"What happened?" Mary groaned

"The ship crashed and I got you out just in time." Zarden said. "We're going to be on foot for now."

"Well, what do we do now?" Tom asked.

"I'm going get back to that ship. You found your wand, so return to your planet."

"You don't understand. I needed the scissors, without them, we can't get back." Star said.

"What's so important about a pair of scissors?" Zarden asked.

"They can open rifts between dimensions, that's how we travel."

"Or you can say they can cut the fabric of reality, huh?" Marco said whimsically and gestured with his fingers. "Huh?" He looked around as the others deadpanned. "Tough crowd." He shrugged then turned to Zarden. "Wait, why do you want to get back to that ship? I thought you wanted to escape."

"There's something I need." Zarden looked to the sky.

"Well, seems our interests align. If we team up and get back to that ship, we get the scissors back and we can leave." Tom said.

"I can't take bunch of kids with me." Zarden started walking.

"Hey, we're not just kids! If you haven't noticed, I have a wand." Star brandished the wand.

Zarden hesitated then capitulated. "Alright."

"Yay!" Star ran on. "Let's go, Marco!"

Tom watched Marco, Star and Zarden leave. He turned to Mary and saw her still seated on the ground. He looked to the others then walked up to her, taking a seat beside her.

"Mary, I wanted to apologise for earlier; I was being inconsiderate." He said.

"Yeah, me too. I mean, I didn't even bother to ask you before literally barging into your room this morning. You should decide what to do with your time, not me." She said.

"No, you were right; my room was messy and besides, I am having fun now."

"Really?" Mary asked.

"Hey, at least I don't have to go to that boring camp in Gravity Falls." Tom chuckled. "You wanna explore the outer space with me?" He offered his hand. She looked into his eyes and accepted his hand with a smile.

DEEP IN the heart of the space station they'd escaped, an alien stood in the hall, looking out at deep space as the stars illuminated its recesses. Another alien entered and kneeled behind him.

"Tell me what happened." He said.

"Lord Valkur, we had a prison break and we lost five captives. We just got confirmation that one of them had the energy of the Dark One." She said.

"Put out a bounty, we can't let them get away."