Florence, now out of costume, played his recorder on the steps of Echo Creek High. "You really suck at that you know," Isaac said. "What sucks is getting practically kicked off of Mewni for nothing." "Wait, why didn't we just finish up that home we found on Mewni?" Marco asked. "Sure I'm down, but," Florence spoke, in an exaggerated tone, imitating Marco, "there could be danger, oh spooky." They sat looking out towards the street, Isaac said, "If that's the case I gonna get some clues cus I, for one, am not going bored." Marco nodded and asked, "But how, how are we supposed to know where he's going to be?" "Um… I got nothing," Isaac responded. From there, they brainstormed, and Marco finally got an idea, "Wanna do some karate?" "Karate? You know what, why not. Will you be taking off your mask?" Florence asked Marco. "No, you're not getting it that easily." "If I may, what's karate?" Isaac asked. Marco smiled and walked off. Isaac rolled his eyes and started towards him.
They stood outside of the dojo, it was in a small plaza and yet Marco would notice the sign anywhere, heck, supposedly he tripped out and saw it in Heckapoo's dimension. Oh sorry, this is a story about the past, not the present (honestly though, don't get too surprised if one day in the present Marco gets addicted to some opioid). Anyway, Florence ran inside ahead of both Marco and Isaac when he saw that they had gis. "So why aren't gonna take off that costume?" Isaac asked. "I'm pretty sure that if I showed my real face that I'd have a lot more Florence to deal with," Marco said as he thought back to when Florence tried to map out the whole castle to see were Star's room was. "Once that guy gets bored, and he knows who you are, you'll never get to be yourself," Marco continued. "Wait he doesn't do that to me." "Yeah, because I think it would be pretty awkward with just the two of you. I mean, you both know basically nothing about each other." Isaac shrugged and walked into the dojo. Marco looked out the window and thought to himself, "Sorry Sensei." The second Isaac walked in, he thought, "Is this a fight club?" He looked over at two students sparring, almost instantly, his mind went tangent, "There training young warriors. But for what?" The Sensei walked over to him, he had a face that was 1: offley similar to Marco's, and 2: It had the strangest mustache-beard combo Isaac had ever seen. It was a complete circle around his head, ending in a sort of goatee. He had a red bandana on his head and was wearing a strange get-up with a ripped sleeveless dragon shirt. "Are you the one teaching these people. I must say, for a place without too many problems, Earth is pretty well prepared for a war." "Uhhhh, what are you talking about?" the Sensei asked, and then he put a hand on his head and said to Isaac, "This is karate, it's uhhhhhh sport and you... fight in it. You know what I'm talking about right?" "Nope, so how do I get one of those gis? I'm still impressed with the interest in fighting here." "Oh, well you see you have to be accepted into the dojo first. Now there are two ways," the man pulled out a board, "to start fighting." Isaac looked at the board, there was a picture of a dollar bill, and a picture of a man in a getup similar to the sensei's but it was all black, while still retaining the red bands, and it covered most of his face. "You can pay and I'll teach you everything I know. Or you can prove yourself, and get accepted, either way, you'll be calling me," the sensei put a fist on his chest and looked to the sky, "Sensei Brantley! So how are you wanting to do things, I have some students that you can spar with. If only Marco was here, he's the best for making sure students DON'T prove themselves. It really helps out you know." "Sure I'll spare with them," said Isaac. In the corner of his eye, he saw Florence putting on a gi, "Wait how come he gets one?" Isaac questioned. "Oh him, he paid for a little boost," the sensei said. Isaac thought to himself, "Nevermind, there is absolutely no interest in fighting here."
Isaac was wearing a blue shirt and black sweatpants that were, once again, plain sportswear. He had picked it up on the way to the dojo since there was a full mall between the two. The dojo was a pretty open space, with different sections for different routines. Isaac walked over to the students, there were plenty of ages, but only a few that was Isaac's. He noticed their hands and looked down at his, then over at the sensei, he nodded nervously. Isaac was still armed and had no idea where he was going to put his stuff, "Failsafe, he can hold em." Isaac looked around, Failsafe had been talking to Florence about how he put the gi on backward. "Hey!" Isaac exclaimed from across the room. Failsafe walked over, "What is it?" "I need you to hold this." "Wow, so you've decided that it's pretty interesting then?" Marco asked. "Not quite." "Well, alright then," Marco said as he took the items. The sensei walked over to the students and said to them, "Who wants to do an initiation?" "Initiation?" Isaac thought. Most of the students' hands went up, sensei picked a composed cockasian boy who was about Isaac's age and height. He looked at Isaac and walked over to the mat, Isaac walked over as well. Sensei Bradley looked at the both of them and said, "Get in your stances." "Wh-?" Isaac was about to ask. "Begin!" "Wow, he doesn't want newcomers to have any chance," Isaac said to himself. The kid ran over and jumped, Isaac put his palms up where the kid's legs could go. He kicked with both and leaped off of the palms. Isaac's composure went tangent, he ran over to the kid and while closing in the kid tried to do a leg sweep, but Isaac stepped on it and slammed the kid to the ground by the neck. Then he threw him up and kicked when the kid landed, Isaac tossed him up to his feet and hit him in the nose with his palm. After Isaac hit him in the stomach, across the right side of his jaw, and then grabbed his arm. He put it behind the kid's back and leaped over, he then turned and kicked out his legs. Isaac put an arm up on his fall turned towards the top of the kid and elbowed his stomach. He put an arm around his neck and one around his arm, he connected the pair and the kid started tapping. Oblivious to this Isaac continued. "Stop the match!" Sensei Bradley said. Isaac let up and stood, looking around he said, "Do I get a gi now?" The sensei was dumbfounded, he thought that he could get this new kid to start paying him. But now that Isaac won, Sensei Bradley had his options open again, he could finally get another student than Marco and the kid Isaac fought to enter a tournament. "You're in!" Sensei Bradley said, heading towards his office to get a gi. Florence started walking over, "Aww, you got to join for free." "Well maybe you could've if you weren't so quick to spend money," Isaac said. Florence sighed, "I think he's gonna try and get you to enter the tournament." "What tournament?" "The karate tournament, what do you think." "What is it though?" "Wait, you don't have these things on Mewni? Well, it's basically just like this, but against more people," Florence said. Sensei Bradley came over to the pair, an outfit in hand. He bowed and presented it to Isaac, Isaac took the outfit and started walking towards the bathroom. Florence thought to himself, "I wonder if he'll join."
Isaac, now in a white gi, started training. The level and pacing was a step down from what he knew though, and if this was the norm, he was going to get bored fast. Karate went to 5:30, so from when Isaac came, he had been there 2 and a half hours. "There was barely any fighting," Isaac thought as he was leaving. "There was barely any fighting!" Florence expressed behind Isaac. "It'll get better, promise," Marco said. "Welp I'm heading home," Florence said. As he walked off Marco made a portal to Isaiah's house, "Can't wait to get that base of ours up and running," he said. "Yeah," Isaac said as he walked through the portal. Marco was about to walk off, but before it closed he put his head in to ask Isaac whether or not he would be in the tournament. Marco fell short, Isaac was looking towards a cloud of smoke coming from a market down the road. It was maybe a half-mile away and it seemed to be surrounded by police. "What's happening?" Marco said stepping through the portal, and since it was just the two of them, he used his normal voice. "I'm not sure," Isaac said as he started to head off. "Hey wait up!" Marco said following after him. They ran down the road until they could see the colorful and differentiated shops. There was police tape lining the street entrance, Marco and Isaac couldn't enter normally. They looked through, there was a food truck that had been ransacked and had a big dent in the top of it. They looked towards the group, there was a body, its spine seeming nonexistent. "Oh my God," Marco said. "Who would do that? And why here?" Isaac wondered. The police caught note of the pair, "Hey!" They looked up towards the police officer, he was walking towards the tape. They ran, trying to use this opportunity to get inside, the officer starting towards them as they did. The pair went around the back and went over a section of the police tape. They were on the forest side of the scene and had been crouched behind another stand. Most of the time, this market consisted of 10 food trucks and a shopping pharmacy in a circle. The stand that Isaac and Marco were behind was one for Jamaican foods and hold the complexion of yellow and green. There were plenty of pictures of foods lining its exterior. "There's some kids on the scene! The brats are trying to get some peeks in," said the officer. Marco and Isaac looked around the corner, there were guards milling about, searching for them. "I got an idea, use that little dagger trick to get their attention," whispered Isaac. "Wait, it's not like that was a normal thing. I've only done that once," Marco whispered back. "Wow, that's cliche. Just try it out," sarcastically, "or do you think it better to just go for it," Isaac said. Marco sighed and brought the dagger out of the sheath on his arm. He looked over his shoulder, there were three police officers shining lights over the area. Marco tried to remember the feel of the duplication, using his own energy and making it dense so that the force would be channeled to a point and take form according to the energy that is in motion. He visualized it and try to do it once again. He closed his eyes and put his hand out in front of the dagger. Isaac looked, and after about half a minute he said, "Nothing's happening." Marco looked at his hand to find nothing, "Wha-," he stopped when he saw traces of purple light. He did it once again, this time trying harder until he heard Isaac. "Nice, you did it. Honestly, I thought we were gonna have to start chucking rocks at em." Looking down he saw the hollow, purple blade laced with a current of flowing energy. He looked over his shoulder, the guards now closer than before, and he turned and threw the dagger overhead. It ended up hitting one of the guards, making them looked around for the attacker. Marco and Isaac made a sprint for the truck nearby the officer's police cars. It was one designated towards Chinese food and had a very similar design to the other truck, only this time Chinese food.
"We're going to need a police report if we're going to find out what happened," said Marco, eyeing the cruiser in front of him. "By the way, I don't know the laws here in Wisconsin, so try not to get us arrested," said Isaac. Marco rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder, there were two officers in their vicinity, but they were searching to the opposite side of the cruiser. Marco crouched and scampered towards the door. Looking inside, there wasn't much, the back seat had been completely reserved for criminals, and the front had basic police equipment. But Marco knew that all he needed was on the laptop between the two seats. The car was locked, and Marco asked Isaac, "Hey, could you lend me your knife for a sec?" "Don't you have one?" "I don't know whether or not it'll work, and I don't want to mess up." "Kay," said Isaac, handing over his dagger. Marco wanted to see how much noise the cut would make, so he put the point on the window and he cut a horizontal line. Starting off, it made a scratching noise, that could be heard by the guards, Marco started to go softer, it wasn't the cleanest cut, but at least it worked out. He tapped the glass and a square-ish piece fell onto the seat. Marco reached his hand inside and unlocked the door. He grabbed the glass and gave Isaac both it and his dagger. Once inside, Marco got on the laptop and looked at what they had. There was a lot of information in the report though, but thankfully, the officer used a flash drive so that they could take the files on the go. All Marco had to do was copy and paste the report on the flash drive and then take it with him. "We got it, let's head back," said Marco. "Did you hear something?" asked one of the guards, now closer than before. The pair ran, hoped the police tap, and started towards Isaiah's house.
Marco and Isaac found themselves at the door of the house. It was 6:30 Isaiah opened the door to greet both of them. Marco and Isaac rushed in, Marco looking for a computer. "Still can't believe we won, I mean I thought they would've tried to kill you," said Isaiah. "They almost did," said Isaac, following Marco. There was one in the living room, along with two side-by-side sofas and a TV. Maroc put in the flash drive and booted up the computer. Upon opening the files, Marco saw that apparently, a man was asking the shopkeeper about "Project Turnover" and when he didn't get an answer he slammed the guy into his shop repeatedly, and threw him into the roof hard enough for it to started carving in. His back and spine were completely shattered and the shards had entered the nerves. But they also entered his liver, and at this point, he was rendered paralyzed. Once the paramedics came, it was already too late. Even if they fix his liver, the bleeding and blood pressure would have raised, making both internal bleeding and blood clots. No matter what he would've died, but what interested Marco was the line, "Project Turnover". In the file, it later said that "the attacker was obsessed with the events of 2002's early incident." "...Hey Isaac, when were you born?" Marco asked. "2002, why?"(as a reminder the year is 2018, at least at this point in the story *wink* *wink*) "Look," Isaac read the line and said, "You think it's connected?" "Maybe, but it ends that's it," said Marco. "It could be connected to Mewni, and if it is we'll need more to go on. I mean, it would be just like that one time, just less fireworks," said Isaac. "Breaking into a police station! How are we even going to go about doing that?" Marco responded. "Can't be much harder than breaking into a castle." "That was different, Mewni isn't as serious about stuff like that." "Well, how else are we going to get this guy?" Isaac asked. Marco sighed, "I guess we don't have a choice." "Now we're talking, let's do it tonight since most officers are off duty at night," Isaac said. "Kay, I'll get Florence," Marco said, standing up. He took out his dimensional scissors, opened a portal, and went through.
"Now where could Florence be?" Marco said, taking out his phone. He sent him a text, but after a while, he didn't think he had time to wait for a reply. "Where does Florence live?" Marco asked himself. Marco was at the gas station, and since it was nearby Florence's house, there had to be someone nearby that knew him. Maybe went to his school, or saw him perform, or even just lived near him. He looked around, "The high school I go to is too far away, so I can't get the list of performers. But if I want his last name, I could try going to his school. No, I'm better off just waiting for a text, and besides, I'm only guessing that it's the closest one. Hmm… he does archery right?" Marco thought, he got out his phone and searched for the nearest archery range, but it was 30 minutes away. "Guess I have to go to the school then," Marco said quietly. He looked at the school closest to the area, then the one closest to the archery center. There were two results, but one of them was Echo Creek High, and the other one was Hakerly High. It was 15 minutes away, meaning the time that they would get back at Isaiah's would turn to 7:00. Marco thought, "Might as well." He took off his costume and started towards the school when Florence responded. "Are you at the gas station?" "Yeah." "Kay," said Florence. "Guess we'll be on time then," thought Marco.
Once back at the house, Isaac told Florence about their plan, even though it wasn't quite finished. "Break into a police station why again?" Florence asked. "The guy who did that crime over there," Isaac pointed towards the door, "could have something to do with Mewni." "We'll need a plan first though," Marco said. Isaac and Florence eyed him and said, "Let's do that when we get there." "Wha-?" Marco began to ask, but the pair was already heading for the door. Marco sighed and started after them. The police station was about a half hour away by foot, but with the power of Google, anything is possible. The actual building wasn't nearby the street, but the concrete that they put around the area was. There were lined police's cars ready for application. The building was white and was the size of two three-story houses put together horizontally. Only the left house was two stories in height, leaving the other with a space that could be almost considered as a window, and one with blue tinted glass facing the front, back, and right side. At the bottom, on the bigger house side, there was a garage. "That could be a way in," Marco said, pointing. "I think we should just go for the window," said Isaac. "If we do that there's no way we could get out." "We could get into a car chase," said Florence. "Yea-," Isaac began. "No, let's just go in through the garage and work our way up. Most of the police will be doing paperwork anyway," said Marco. There were two guards watching the street entrance, Florence, in the lead, head up his hands. "What are you doing, they're just talking to each other. Let's go while we still can," said Isaac heading to the lead. Florence scratched his head and went on. The main problem was how large the lot was, but with the many cars, the trio went to the far side of the parking lot and was about to sneak past. They crouched outside the garage door. "Hold up, we'll wait for someone else to open it," Marco said. It took a while, 15 minutes to be exact, for a police officer to return home. When the group hearing the metal door open, they went towards its the pillar closest to it. The car came out slowly as if it knew they were there. The driver looked out of his window and yelled to the other cop, "I don't see anybody here. I think you're just paranoid about what happened over at that gas station." "Maybe," the other officer yelled back. He pressed the button to close the garage door and Marco peaked around the corner to see if he was watching. He did a slight scan of the area and then walked off. At this point, the door was a fourth of the way to go, Marco, Isaac, and Florence ran and slid underneath.
The inside was all gray and had to ramps on both sides to get up. "Now to find a staircase and work our way up," Marco thought. He looked about, there was an elevator to his right, but it lead to the left side of the structure and it went through an office area. Yet on his left, there were the personal lockers for the officers. "Let's take the elevator, it's probably our best bet," he said. "Can't argue on that one," said Florence. The office area had three columns where the officers could work in were about three officers working in the space: one on the right-side corner of the staircase, the other two were closer together in the middle, one seat apart on the left side. Luckily the on next by the stairs was looking at the wall, so all the trio needed to do was crouch across the right side. Once at the stairs, Isaac took a pen from and desk and threw to the right of the officer, once he looked he sprinted up the stairs. They went up like this to the second level, not caring about the exes noise they made. The room was for first responders, and it was packed with people waiting for someone to call 911. "Shi-," Isaac started, but Florence but in with, "I expect a few quarters for that." Isaac sighed and looked for a way through. Everyone was in cubicles, each one had a computer, a phone, and a notepad. There were two row, one facing the left wall and the other the right. "There's no way through and the people below probably heard us go up the stairs," Marco thought. Florence whispered behind them, "Hey, pssst, I found a vent that might lead to that other building." Marco looked, it was a house vent (btw that's the one with that circular foil; they don't have that around anymore, nowadays they use temperature regulators and what I like to call future filters) and it was just big enough to crawl through. "Just in case it doesn't and there's a drop, you're going first. Besides, it's hot in there." Isaac said. Florence climbed in with no objection, then Marco and finally, yet reluctantly, Isaac went in.
It was hard to navigate, especially with the absence of light. Though through taking only rights the entire time, the group finally came across another vent, upon another staircase. Florence looked at the scene before him, the black painted stairs lead upwards towards the main office. He looked back and pondered, "Wait this entire time we've been thinking that no-one was gonna be up there, but what do we do if there is?" Marco looked at Isaac, "Just shoot him." Isaac nodded and the group started on opening the vent when they heard an officer's voice from below, they waited for it to fade and proceeded cautiously. The way up was the hardest, not knowing where to find this person was a problem. An even bigger problem was that the door was closed. "We'll bust in and fire," said Marco, "3,2,1!" The group ramed the door and looked around, the chief was at his desk, laying over, passed out. "Did he get drunk?" Florence asked. Marco rolled his eyes, "I always knew the police spent their time doing something while they waited for a call. But I never thought it would be this." The officer jerked wide awake and looked around. He saw the trio and instantly started dialing a number on his phone. "Too late," Isaac said, shooting him. "Ohhh he gonna tell that one in the morning," said Florence as him and Marco cringed. They heard a lieutenant coming up the staircase and hid behind the two sides of the doorway, Isaac to the left and the others to the right. "Hey I got that blanket you asked for I don't really get wh-. Boss?" The lieutenant questioned. "Hy Ya!" Florence exclaimed coming from the side, taking the blanket, wrapping it around his head and pulling down to flip him on his back. "Got any duct tape?" Florence asked. Marco sighed, "I have a feeling that I've done this before."
The lieutenant found himself strapped to a chair (Yes using LOTS of duct tape) and observing the scene around him. Isaac was going through a filing cabinet, "Project Turnup?" The lieutenant starting struggling to get out of there, but the 50 wraps of duct tape were too strong. The group looked over at him and Marco asked, "Hey what do you know about Project Turnu-, I mean Turnover?" Although the lieutenant had some of his own questions to ask, "Who are you, where is the chief, get me out of here this instant or you'll all be arrested!" "Wow thanks for reminding me that I'm technically a criminal now," Florence said, "seriously though answer us." The lieutenant looked around and then sighed, "Project Turnover is mostly a conspiracy nowadays, no one really knows what happened. There used to be a file that said, 'the people of Mewni have invaded', but the rest was classified. Wait a minute, are you guys like junior men in black, CIA type people searching around for aliens! And if so please don't wipe my brain!" "Shhhhhh!," Isaac whispered loudly, "no we're just trying to find out who this guy is and what exactly he's planning to do." The lieutenant pondered this, and said, "Ok, the guy wasn't exactly a human, more like a mix. A mix of like part machine and part man, but the machine was all inside his body. He was sturdy, he stood up a full 7 feet and was pretty strong. But to be honest, this is all part of something that a witness said when we interviewed them." "The mall," Marco mumbled. Florence heard this and asked, "Do you think that ringmaster guy is involved?" Marco looked at him and nodded. "Ringmaster? I was talking to Mr. Waters the other day, he was pretty depressed now that I think about it, but I think the exact line of what he said was, 'a ringmaster has come into my life'. It was completely out of the blue," the lieutenant said. Marco looked at him, "Where is Mr. Waters now?"
"I home to my lovely apartment and my lovely guest who I hope wasn't causing a ruckus," the Ringmaster said to Ms. Waters. "First of all, the floor has been soundproofed and second, your strapped to a chair, like what are you going to do? Anyway," He started putting up a map on the wall behind Ms. Waters, "we're going to go on a little field trip you and me. It'll be just like the high school days, I mean we're going to a nuclear power plant in order to," He put his fingers up in air quotes, "learn." He walked in front of Ms. Waters, "If it makes you feel better this all happened because Mr. Simen switch the both of you two's blood while you were asleep. Does that alone keep you up at night? The fact that your own ex-husband would switch your DNA with his all so Mewni wouldn't have that wonderful magic. Although there would be a lot more if you two didn't already have a daughter back in 02. For my goal, I'll need all of your family's magic so it's a shame that I'll have to leave this place. But who knows, I hear Mewni wonderful around this time of year." And with this, the Ringmaster walked off smiling.
Ok, so I think I finally found out how to do Author's note on here. Speaking of finallies, I finally get to put out a chapter for this story. But I think it worked out good since I feel like I work best when I'm going to school. So chapter 10 will probably be this week and I'm pretty excited for it since I think that it's kind of a turning point in the story. But that's all you'll get out of me, until then. And I probably add an arc to chapter 1 so it stops bothering me.
