SVTFOE first draft

8/14/15

Star groaned as she tried to readjust herself in her bed. She knew that she had to get up soon, but she had never been a morning girl. She rolled over on to her stomach, and her face rested upon a hard, grainy surface. It was just as uncomfortable as the other position had been. She sighed, and a bit of sand got in her gaping mouth.

She opened her eyes in surprise, and saw nothing but sand. She quickly got up on her knees and spit the disgusting sand out of her mouth. It tasted so dry she had to cough afterwards. And as she looked around, her heart started to pace. She wasn't in her bedroom, sleeping in her soft covers. She was in a desert, with sand going as far as her eyes could see.

She started to look around, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. The sky was pitch black, yet Star could see perfectly. Bright, white sand slightly shaded yellow went on for miles in slow, curving hills. A slight breeze cut through the air, causing some of the sand to mix around.

And a few feet to her right lay a young Hispanic teenager in a red hoodie and blue skinny jeans.

"Marco!" Star yelled, as she ran over to his side and began shaking him back and forth. "Get up!"

Marco grunted in displeasure and confusion. "Not now, Star," he mumbled, trying to get out of her grasp. "It's the weekend, just give me five more minutes."

She shook him even harder. "You need to get up now!" The fear from their situation was starting to seep into her voice.

He grunted again and squinted at her. The dark sky and Star's troubled face immediately told Marco that something was wrong. He rose, and as he took in the world around him, he started to panic. "Star," he asked quietly. "Where the heck are we?"

"I don't know," she responded, her voice slightly trembling. "I've been to so many dimensions, and been lectured on hundreds more. But I've never heard of any place with an enormous desert and no sky. And I don't remember how we got here."

Marco almost asked how she couldn't remember, until he started to try himself. The last thing he remembered was walking home with Star from school, talking about the school project they had to complete. Everything after that was oddly blurry.

His breathing started to increase in speed, until he gasped in remembrance. "Star!" he exhaled, a short laugh of relief leaving him as he spoke. "We've got nothing to worry about. Just use your dimensional scissors to get us out of here."

Star's face beamed with hope. "Of course! How had I forgotten about them?" After a short search of her pockets, the scissors were retrieved. Yet when she attempted to use them, the scissors didn't work. They stayed stuck together, no matter how hard she tried to open them. She looked down at them in frustration and more confusion.

"What the heck!?" She nearly shouted in frustration. "They've never stayed shut like this before. At St. Olga's, they simply didn't make a gateway." She looked to Marco for answers, but he had none. His face was starting to whiten, and his features were similar to those who had just witnessed their pet suddenly die.

"It's O.K., Star," he stuttered, more to himself than the girl beside him. "We'll find another way out. Does your wand still work?"

Star quickly reached for her wand and got it out. She pressed down on the button hard, screaming, "Narwhal Blast!" and pointed her wand into the sky. Nothing happened. "Jellybean Hallucination!" Nothing happened. Star's face became almost as horrified as Marco's was at the moment. "Dragon Escalation!" she said significantly softer than the first outburst. Again, the area was still but for the gentle breeze through the air. Star looked down at her wand in shock. "Why isn't it working?" she exclaimed.

"That's because," an unfamiliar voice behind them stated clearly, "you are in the Infinite Desert."

The two teenagers turned around to see a young man sitting on a rock, strumming an acoustic guitar. He had tannish skin, dandelion-yellow hair, and was built like a surfer. He also happened to dress like a surfer: Khaki shorts, a tight t-shirt showing modest abs and pecks, and a pair of simple leather flip-flops. He wore a nice pair of sunglasses and had an incredibly freckled face. He was also surrounded by a small oasis. A pool of crystal clear water the size of a public swimming pool was behind the man, as well as several date trees and other desert plants. After a moment of silence from the two friends, the man's mouth slightly frowned.

"Well?" he asked politely. His voice was relaxed and smooth, as though he were a retired college professor pondering philosophy with an old student. "Aren't you going to introduce yourselves?"

"Umm," Star stuttered, her mind still trying to catch up with the scene.

"Oh, my bad," the man said, frowning at himself. "How rude of me. My name is Dr. Benadard Gunsery, the keeper of the oasis. How may I be of assistance?"

Star's curiosity snapped her out of her brain fart. "Dr. Benadard Gunsery?" she asked, greatly exaggerating the doctor in his name. "Doctor of what?"

He sighed and replied, "Does it matter? Besides, I've told you my name. It's customary for you to tell me yours."

Marco, who had also been stunned by the sudden presence of the odd man, blinked his eyes a bit. "Marco Diaz," he said a moment afterwards. "And my friend is Star Butterfly." He looked around uncertainly at the scene. "Uhh," he started, getting his thoughts together. "Where did you… come from?"

The man chuckled to himself and smirked at the two kids in front of him. "I've been here the whole time, children. The better question is, where did you two come from?"

Star started to speak, but then she stopped. Her face became furrowed in concentration. Why couldn't she remember where they had been? Was it some sort of amnesia spell?

Marco ended up answering for both of them. "We can't remember," he explained, concern on his face. "We just woke up here in this wasteland with no idea of where we are or how long we've been here."

Dr. Gunsery's eyebrows rose a little, and he looked at the pair with more interest. "Really?" he inquired. "You can't simply get to where you are by coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Marco inquired back, his eyebrows narrowing in confusion.

"This is no ordinary desert," the man said, changing the key of whatever song he was playing. "This is the Infinite Desert, the Never ending Wastelands, the Sands of No End." The man looked hard at the two of them as he spoke. "It is a realm that few know about, and even fewer escape should they be sent to it. Time does not exist here, and no magical items work here either." He looked directly at Star. "That is why your wand and scissors are useless here."

Star looked up at the man. She had been chewing on her wand and staring at the ground, trying her hardest to remember what had gotten them there. "Heh?" She said, mouth still on the priceless family heirloom.

"As I just said," Dr. Gunsery continued, giving Star a disapproving look. "This realm cancels out magic and magical artifacts. There is no way into this dimension, save for an incredibly powerful potion that takes 3 months to prepare. The potion requires exotic ingredients and a mastery of potion-making. Whomever sent you here must have wanted you gone with ever bone in their body."

Star thought about what the so-called doctor had said. They obviously hadn't accidentally gone to the place, that was seemingly impossible. That meant that one of their sworn enemies had attacked them. She thought about the possible options. Tom had the resources, but he probably would have only tried to send Marco. There was no way he might have used it in a scenario that might accidentally get rid of his crush. Miss Heinous of St. Olgas Reform School for Wayward Princesses hadn't sent much more than a few guards after them. Ludo didn't have half the brains necessary to carry out such a plan.

'Who could have done it, then?' she thought to herself furiously. There weren't any other major villains she could think of that could pull off such a nefarious action.

Marco, who had apparently had been using the same train of thought, suddenly gasped. "Star," he exclaimed. "Ludo hired a new henchman, remember? He's been bragging about him for the last three months."

Star thought about what Marco said, and tried thinking of any new henchmen that had been attacking them lately. There was spike ball, man arm, the lizard guy…

And that's when she remembered the stranger in the shadows. He had the face of an alligator and the body of a human. His immaculate suit made him seem more like a rich business owner than a henchmen for a filthy little bird such as Ludo. And when his eyes had met Star's, they were filled with more hatred than she had ever known was possible to have.

It was then, when she was remembering the face of Toffee, that the most recent battle Star and Marco had been in came rushing back to her.