Kumquat and Marco dashed towards each other and exchanged punches at an equal rate, though Marco soon realized the fusion was far stronger than himself when, one clash later, he felt his arm go limb. He grabbed his arm and dodged an incoming attack.
The fusion snarled at the guy as he continued to dodge her attacks, at least until he tripped and allowed Kumquat to kick him in the gut. The kick ended up being so powerful, it sent him straight to the river. Not long after he landed there, however, Marco jumped out of it and splashed
"Argh, my eyes!" the fusion screamed, rubbing her eyes.
This allowed Marco to dive kick the fusion a couple feet, though it didn't send her too far away. Marco stood his ground as Kumquat's eyes turned back to normal and she ran to him, shrieking before punching him once again in the gut, sending him flying into the other side of the river, crashing into some trees in the process.
The fusion leaped straight to the other side and nearly crushed Marco when she landed, but the boy rolled away, got up and kicked the fusion when the window of opportunity was open. However, when he tried to do it again, Kumquat simply grabbed his leg and swung him around like a ragdoll before throwing him up in the air, leaping up to him and then headbutting him back down, with the ensuing crash creating a crater.
With the boy unable to move at the moment, the fusion slowly descended and landed in front of him. As the guy tried to get enough strength to stand up, he saw Kumquat-whose face briefly morphed into a smug Mina and then a crying Star before morphing back to her own-with a smug look.
"You've impressed me, mud sister's caretaker." Mina said through the fusion. "You've lasted longer than I thought you would. Then again, we didn't fight that much. But hey, it's for better, because it at least lets me end this faster!"
Kumquat, dipped down, causing her eyes to glow a zigzagging green-purple color, and got ready to kill Marco with a single strike...
And then, Kumquat repeatedly punched herself, cancelling the dip down.
"What is the meaning of-" Kumquat said, right before her face started to split apart.
"You can hurt me all you want, but I won't let you hurt Marco!" Star proclaimed through Kumquat, who grabbed part of her face and pulled.
However, through Mina's will, the fusion never pulled enough to shatter the fusion. "Stop being so stubborn, mud sister!" Mina yelled, slapping herself.
As the fusion's components continued to quarrel, Marco clutched his stomach and caught his breath as he thought, "How am I supposed to undo a fusion?!"
Upon seeing Kumquat was moving all over the place with a split face"Wait, I got an idea!"
The martial artist ran towards Kumquat, whose internal battle distracted her long enough to allow Marco to grab part of her split face. He pulled it, and the more he did, the more Star begun coming out of the fusion until she exploded, sending Marco and Star flying to a tree. Once the duo recovered, they got up and dusted each other as the smoke started to dissipate.
"Are you okay?" Marco asked, grabbing Star's shoulders. "Did I went too rough on you?"
"Oh don't worry, Marco." Star proudly responded. "As a mewman warrior, I've been trained since I was a little baby to take even the most abominable pain completely in stride-"
And then, without warning, Marco pinched Star's cheeks. No matter how hard the girl waved her arms, the boy continued to pinch them. "Ouch! Stop it! That hurts!" she shrieked.
And then Marco released the princess and laughed as she blushed and looked away.
"I was just testing you!" Star vehemently stated. "Anyway, did the fusion go too rough on you?"
"Hey, when somebody lives with someone like you for long enough, it doesn't take long for them to shrug off even the roughest of beatings." Marco answered with a shrug.
"Were you insulting me, or complimenting me?" Star asked with a sly smile.
Marco just returned the smile before laughing out loud with Star, though the laughter stopped once the duo noticed Mina was looking at them with a furious glare. Just as they got ready to fight back, Mina narrowed her eyes and jumped away.
"Mina, wait!" Star called, extending her hand before Marco stopped her.
"Let her go, Star." the safe kid stated. "She's not worth it."
"I know, but she was about to tell me why she forced me to fuse when you arrived." Star explained, giving the fleeting Mina a disappointed look. "And now, I might never know why she wanted to conquer the earth in the first place."
Marco, not knowing what to say, just grabbed the princess's shoulder and walked with her back to earth.
Meanwhile, with Mina, she sat on the ground and watched the sunset as her cheeks slowly morphed, forming the left halves of a pair of spades.
"Soon...we'll truly be sisters." Mina peacefully stated.
