Chapter One
"Good Morning Echo Creek"
Like every standard morning, it begins with the tell-all obnoxious sound of an alarm clock blaring in your ear as you sleep, rousing you from the wondrous dream world where you are no doubt swimming through a river of thick pudding whilst dressed as the King of Spain. The sound, like a whining siren wailing on and on, never ceasing until the small, easy-to-miss button is somehow hit and NOT the snooze button. However, unlike normal people, this current alarm clock seemed to forget its latest victim had a magic wand that fired sparkly rainbow beams. With the obnoxious alarm clock reduced to nothing more than a smashed scrap heap stuck in a burn-mark, the morning can officially begin. With a tremendous yawn, a young girl awakens from her canopy bed, rubbing the sleep from her sapphire blue eyes before a beaming smile encompasses her face.
"MORNING!" Cheered the newly awakened girl to no one in particular. Hopping out of her bed with vigor and zeal, her long and fluffy blonde hair flapping in the breeze as she slid into her bathroom on her socks like a pair of cotton ice-skates. Brushing her smiling teeth with vim, the girl went through her various morning rituals (the brushing, the cleaning, the bathing, and all that jazz), before sprinting back out and into her walk-in closet. "No, no, no, no, not that…" The girl muttered to herself as she tossed numerous articles of clothing haphazardly about trying to find the perfect outfit to tackle the day. After several minutes of rummaging (and turning her bedroom into a mountain range of clothing), she emerged, still bearing that joyous smile on her face as she did one last run-through in the mirror. Mint dress with lace cuffs and lining? Check. Purple and orange striped leggings snuggly fit in her purple knee-high boots? Check. Devil-horn headband keeping her hair straight? Absolutely check! Smiling cartoon star purse slung over her shoulder? You'd better believe check right there. She was ready. And with the summer sky looking void of clouds and the sun shining brilliantly upon the town, today was looking to be a perfect day.
"Star! Breakfast!" Called a young man's voice from downstairs. Star, our heroine for this tale, smiled once more.
"Coming!" Star loudly replied. She kicked open her door and ran down the hall, ready to start the day with her bestest friend in the world. Rounding corners and giddily running down the hall, she reached the stairway, poking her head out from above, still bearing that smile. "Morning Marco!" Standing at the edge of the stairs, sporting his usual attire of a red hoodie, blue jeans, and a pair of standard black sneakers, was a Hispanic young man with brown hair and a small smirk on his mouth, somewhat mirroring Star's own.
"Wow, someone seems excited today." Marco said, chuckling a bit at Star's incredible enthusiasm. He held two bowls of cereal in each hand, one of which was snatched out of Marco's hands. The thief in question just skipped over to the couch and giggled.
"Of course I'm excited, Marco." Star said, swirling her spoon about in her cereal bowl. "It's the first week of summer! How could I NOT be excited!" She took a loud and noisy slurp from her spoon. "It's the big beginning of three months of fun in the sun! You, me, our friends, just relaxing and not having to worry about ANYTHING!" Marco sat down next to her, her jubilant attitude like an infectious plague as he finds himself smiling, too.
"Yeah, I can't wait too." Marco said, slouching back into the soft cushions with look of bliss on his face. "After this crazy year, we need to relax." He idly picked up the TV Remote and turned on the TV with a push of a button. Unfortunately, the first thing to appear was a boring news report.
"- Recent appearance of this company's movement in Echo Creek has caused a stir amongst smaller corporations, yet is bringing with it an economic boom." The newscaster said, shuffling his papers about in his hands. "For those of you just joining in, the infamous business tycoon and law firm 'Mammoth Corporation' has been purchasing various small business and factories across Echo Creek, along with most other practices across the Southern California area." The aforementioned logo for the odd new company, of a large whale wearing red devil horns, appeared next to the newscaster's head. "When reached for comment, the CEO of Mammoth Corp, who only introduced himself as 'Mr. Monstroso', had this to say." The newscaster cleared his throat as the image was replaced with a photograph of an intimidating and muscular man with dark red hair and a pointed black beard. "'Mammoth Corp. has been expanding from its East Coast Offices to the Pacific as part of a business partnership with the Darklight Information Offices, and seek to bring more of an economic boom for the people of this fair city.'"
Star groaned loudly, throwing her head back over the couch. "Marco, change the channel, this is BORING!" Marco nodded and skipped to the next channel, which happened to be another news report.
"- Another unusual attack today," The new newscaster said. "And in similar pattern to the previous victims, they appear to have been shot in a vital area of the body." The image next to the newscaster displayed several people loading up an injured man into an ambulance. Star and Marco looked a bit queasy at seeing the gaping hole in the victim's neck. "Forensics have yet to determine the actual weapon responsible for these attacks, but common theory is that they have been shot with an arrow of all things. Police are urging that -"
"Next channel!" Star quickly said. Marco happily obliged and switched the channel again… To the history channel, doing an overview on old residences in Great Britain.
"- Burned down in the early 1880s as an attempted case of fratricide." The show host said, walking about the rubble of the old burned building. "When first excavated, it was said to have belonged to the philanthropist noble family known as the Joestar Family. Very little remains of their legacy or even the history the family had prior to their disappearance from the public eye, but rumors persist that the surviving family members have gone into hiding, or have simply vanished. We may never know what transpired here nearly two-hundred years ago, but these ruins may still teach us -" Star quickly finished off her bowl of cereal and hopped off the couch.
"BOOOORING!" Star moaned. "Why is there nothing GOOD on TV today?!" Marco simply shrugged and continued eating his breakfast. "I think I'm gonna go on a walk for a bit, I dunno." While Star checked her purse, Marco gave her a slight look of concern.
"Are you sure you want to go out right now?" Marco asked. "I mean… you saw that report on the news about people getting attacked by some crazy guy with an arrow." Star playfully blew a raspberry and skipped over to the front door.
"Relax Marco, I'll be FIIINE!" Star said, her smile returning once more. "I've fought all kinds of monsters before, some guy with an arrow won't hurt me. Besides," Star reached into her purse and waved her wand about. "I've got my wand to back me up. I'll be back in a bit!" Star gleefully skipped out the door, despite Marco's earlier protests. He eventually gave in and just resumed watching the history show, a bored look encompassing his face as he shoveled another spoonful of milk and cereal into his mouth.
"She'll probably be fine." Marco idly said. "She's Star Butterfly, one of the coolest people I know. She'll totally be fine." While Star wandered off and Marco continued to enjoy his cereal and mind-numbing historical show, the day was shaping out to certainly be a very pleasant and interesting endeavor.
Author's Note: And here we have two of our main protagonists: Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz, from the Disney XD animated series 'Star Vs. The Forces of Evil'. I've found myself really enjoying this semi-lighthearted series, and would gladly give a recommendation. And I'm certain several of you noticed the references scattered about this chapter. Good luck figuring them out and how they all tie in to the story! Once more, I hope you enjoy this read, and take care!
~Mal Masque