Chapter 9: Attack of the Monster Arm
It was another average Sunday morning at the Diaz residence. Marco was practicing his karate in his room while I watched.
Marco positioned a small plank of wood on two cinder blocks, took a deep breath, and positioned his hand over it. Star walked by, singing to herself, before noticing Marco, and walked in.
"Hii-yaah!" Marco yelled as he chopped the plank.
"Whoa, you hate wood, too? Yeah, crush that wood! Wood's the worst!" Star said.
"Marco's just practicing for his upcoming Tang So Do tournament," I explained.
"Yeah, Star. Martial arts is all about honor and discipline, which is why… I'm gonna kick Jeremy Birnbaum's butt!" Marco added.
"Jeremy Birnbaum? Isn't that the talking bear that used to rummage through our parents' garbage?" Star asked.
"He's just this creep in my dojo who's only any good because his rich parents buy him fancy equipment and private lessons," Marco explained. He then stacked three boards onto the cinder blocks. "But Saturday, he's gonna get a taste of this! Hiiiii-"
He swung his arm to chop the boards, but accidently hit the cinder block instead.
"YEAAOOWWW!"
Some time later, Marco was resting in Star's bed with a broken arm. Me and Star were playing with our wands; Star was trying out different hairstyles while I used Freezing Ice Beam on the ground, then levitated the ice and rotated it randomly.
"Ugh, this is a nightmare! If I can't fight Jeremy, he'll say I wussed out, and he'll never let me live it down!" Marco groaned.
"Pigtails? Ponytail? Pigtails? Ponytail? Pigtails?" Star said, turning her hair into the respective style.
"It's like a lava lamp with ice, pretty cool, if I do say so myself," I chuckled, adding a second chunk of ice to my impromptu display.
"Wait a minute. You two have wands! You could just fix my hand!" Marco said.
"You know... That sort of spell is not really in my comfort zone," Star said.
"Me neither, to be honest," I added.
"Oh, but if you like, I can give you a pretty wicked set of pigtails!" Star said, giving her own hair pigtails with her wand.
"Why would Marco need pigtails?" I said, slightly annoyed.
"Well, I could look up a bone-healing spell in the magic instruction book that came with the wand!" Star said, pulling out said book from under her bed and searching through it.
"What, this whole time you had a magic instruction book?" Marco asked.
"Yeah, the queens of Mewni have been using this book for centuries. When they mastered a spell, they wrote it down in here," I explained.
"It's a complete disorganized mess, though. It's gonna take me for-eeee-ver to find-" Star said, before noticing a spell on the page currently opened. "Oh, here it is!"
"Really?" Marco perked up.
"Hm, it's in an ancient language."
Star raised her wand. "Releasio Demonius Infestica!"
The spell curled around Marco's cast.
"Ah! Ah! I can feel it working! My fingers are tingling!" Marco said.
The cast gave way to a large blueish teal tentacle type thing replacing his arm, to which Marco screamed in shock and fear. I released my levitation spell, also in shock, causing the ice to drop and shatter.
"Star… what did you do?" I said.
"Ohh, don't worry, Marco! There must be a spell in here that can change it back," Star said, frantically searching the spell book.
"We'll fix it, Marco!" I said, joining Star.
Suddenly, Marco's monster arm knocked the spell book out the window, and Marco whimpered in fear.
The next morning, me and Star were eating breakfast, clearly tired, when Marco walked in.
Star yawned, "Morning, Marco, morning, monster arm. Me and Luma were up all night, but we haven't found a way to reverse the spell."
I nodded in agreement.
Marco's monster arm then grabbed Star's orange juice and poured it on Marco.
Later that same day…
"Hey, kid. I got a joke for you!"
A guy named Lars was confronting a smaller kid named Francis.
"What's the most important meal of the day?"
Lars slapped Francis's lunch tray out of his hand.
"It's breakfast!"
Francis chuckled nervously. "That's a good one, Lars."
He then tried to pick his tray back up, but Lars shoved his face in it. Marco's monster arm then punched Lars.
"Hey, who did that?" Lars asked.
Marco pointed to his monster arm. "Uhhh…"
"Nobody hits Lars-"
The monster arm hit Lars several more times, before he ran away crying. The monster arm picked up Francis and cleaned him off.
"I, sir, am in your debt," Francis said.
Several students then crowded the monster arm.
"You're a hero!" Ferguson said.
"Can I check out that arm?" Jackie said.
"I want it to be my boyfriend!" Janna said.
"Me too!" someone else said.
Marco grinned at all the attention his monster arm was giving him.
Back at home, me and Star were still looking through the spell book when...
"Ah-ha! We found it!" I yelled.
"A reverse tentacle spell… I think," Star said.
"Maybe try it on something first, Star," I said
"Way ahead of you," Star said pulling out a potted plant.
"Returnio Armius Normalritecus!"
Star's spell made the plant catch fire.
"Here, let me try," I said, pulling out another potted plant.
"Returnius Armius Normalrinny!"
My attempt only succeeded in making the plant explode. Both me and Star groaned.
Both me and Star had tried all night to get the spell just right, making it two straight nights spent trying to fix Marco's monster arm, and both me and Star were struggling to not fall asleep.
"Returnio… Armius… Normalrino…" Star said, very tiredly.
Star's spell actually worked that time, turning the plant into a normal-looking human hand.
"Star… you did it!" I said. The hand plant gave a thumbs up in response.
"Marco!" Star yelled, leaving, and I followed close behind with the pot in tow.
In Marco's room, he was doing one-handed push ups with his monster arm. "673... 674... 675…"
"We did it, we did it, we did it, we did it, we did it, WE DID IT!" Star and I yelled excitedly.
"Hey, I think this monster arm might actually help me take out Jeremy!" Marco said. "Hiiii-YAH!" he smashed through 9 or 10 wood planks with ease.
"Wait, you're gonna fight with that?" Star asked.
"Yeah, that seems a bit unfair," I added.
"Ohhhh, funny how you two never have a problem using your magic when it benefits you, but as soon as it gives me an advantage, you want to take it away!" Marco said, a bit angry and jealous.
"Marco, that arm's a bad influence, I think," I said, and Star nodded in agreement.
"And I think, you should go," Marco said, pushing us out.
"What? Fine! But I don't-" Star tried to say, but Marco slammed the door shut.
"What do we do now, bro?"
"I don't know, Star. Maybe we can go find Ludo or something. Destress a little with our own little fight, Butterfly style!"
"Hmmm, that does sound like a good idea, but I'm too worried about Marco."
"I know, me too."
"Let's just go to the dojo. Maybe we can fix his arm there."
"Okay, sis."
At the dojo, me and Star were making our way through the crowd, eventually sitting next to Ferguson and Alfonzo.
"Are you okay, Star and Luma?" Alfonzo asked.
"You two look terrible. And I have very low standards," Ferguson added.
Me and Star yawned at the same time.
"We've been up for two nights trying to fix his monster arm, then he gets mad." Star explained.
"Now we've got to come here and watch him karate, you know?" I added.
The sensei appeared and said, "Allow me to introduce our first competitor, Jeremy Birnbaum!"
Jeremy was seen at one end of the dojo, flanked by two butlers. He pushed them out of the way, then took off his cape, revealing that he had been standing on a footstool.
"That's Jeremy?" Star said, surprised.
"That kid can't be any more than eight years old!" Ferguson added.
"We love you, son!" Jeremy's mom yelled from the crowd.
"Shut it, Mom!" he yelled back.
"And his opponent, Marco Diaz," the sensei announced.
Marco appeared in the other end of the dojo.
"Hey, wait! He's got a monster arm! That's not fair!" Jeremy complained.
"Yeah, pretty cool, right?" the sensei replied.
"Hey… Star… the fight… is gonna… start…" I said, but heard snoring, before I ended up falling asleep myself…
The fight began, and Marco's monster arm coiled around Jeremy's neck and tossed him across the dojo into a trophy shelf, which collapsed and fell with Jeremy on it.
"Point, Diaz," the sensei announced nonchalantly.
"Where are your private lessons now, Jeremy? Huh?" Marco taunted.
Marco's monster arm picked up Jeremy, and started talking, "He's beaten. Now finish him!"
Marco just stood there confused.
"This is what you've always wanted. Destroy him! Eat his bowels!"
"Not my bowels! I love my bowels!" Jeremy said, afraid of what the monster arm would do.
"Listen, I just wanted to win the tournament so he wouldn't make fun of me!" Marco told the monster arm.
"If you're too weak to finish him, I'll do it myself!" the monster arm said, then tore off Jeremy's shirt.
"Luma was right about you! You are a bad influence!" Marco said.
"And you are pathetic," the monster arm stated, then threw Jeremy across the dojo again, this time into a punching bag, which swung back into Jeremy's face.
"Point, Diaz," the sensei announced again.
The monster arm then attacked Marco.
"Star? Luma? You can change it back now!" Marco called out.
"Star! Luma!" Ferguson and Alfonzo yelled.
"You gotta wake up!" Alfonzo yelled.
Marco's monster arm kept hitting Marco against the ceiling, then slapped Marco with his other arm.
"Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."
"Hey! Wake up!" Ferguson yelled.
"Here try this!" Alfonzo said, handling Ferguson a soda.
"Oh, thank you so much," Ferguson said, sipping the soda.
"No! On them!"
"Oh."
I was awoken by someone splashing a drink on my face, and what sounded like Alfonzo yelling at me.
"Star! Luma!" Marco yelled.
"Right!" I said, readying my wand. Star did the same.
"Returnio Armius Normalrino!"
The monster arm dodged Star's spell, and it hit a punching bag.
"Returnio Armius Normalrino!"
My attempt ended up hitting a dumbbell.
Both me and Star kept firing the spell repeatedely, but the monster arm kept dodging the blasts.
"Ugh! He's too wiggly!" Star complained.
Marco pointed out all the objects on the floor that were now hands. They wrapped around the monster arm, trapping it.
"Now!" Marco called out.
"Returnio Armius Normalrino!"
Both me and Star actually hit the monster arm that time, which began shrinking.
"You'll never get rid of me! I'm part of you now! You can treat the symptoms, but you'll never cure the virus!" the monster arm yelled, before disappearing and returning to Marco's normal arm.
"Marco, are you okay?" Star asked.
"Ugh… Hey, my arm! My beautiful arm! It's back to normal!" he replied.
Just then a snapping sound was heard.
"...And totally broken."
All I could say was, "Wow."
"Broken arm? Hah! Well, it looks like I win!" Jeremy said.
However, brass knuckles fell out of his sleeves, and one of the arms held it up to the sensei.
"Brass knuckles? Seriously?"
"Brass? Pfft, they're gold."
"You boys have brought shame and dishonor to this great and noble sport. 'Tis a sad day for strip mall dojos everywhere," the sensei said, disappointed.
At that, Jeremy and his parents walked out.
"Star, Luma, I'm sorry. I should've listened to you," Marco said.
"I know," Star said.
"I forgive you," I added.
"Hey, uh, when the monster arm said he'd be back, that's nothing to worry about, right?" Marco asked.
"Uh, probably not?" Star said, still a bit nervous.
Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it," I added.
We then started to walk home, leaving behind yet another magical misadventure.
Today was actually pretty fun, I thought. Just me and my friends, having a great time.
Star was switching hairstyles with her wand again, and Marco and I laughed when her hair caught on fire. I used Freezing Ice Beam to put the fires out, then froze my own hair to match. Marco laughed harder at that.
This may be an alternate Stony Creek, but somehow it's worlds better than my own reality…
Star seemed to read my thoughts, and smiled at me and pulled me and Marco into a hug.
Yup, I'm really thinking I can call this place home…
