Last night was something…not only did I finally reunited with my best friend and we are officially dating now, still shocked by this, but I spoke proudly for my monster allies in front of the king and queen. I felt important and brave, something I normally don't feel on Earth. Being with Star…going on my adventures, helped me grow. Even breaking things off with Jackie and facing my friends again wasn't so bad…though I swear Jackie wants to rip Star's head off. If anything, glad Star has a lot of self-control…she can be terrifying when mad. The entire night I felt warm though…even after falling asleep. Dreams were really odd…remembered rough memories from before coming to Mewni, but it wasn't that bad.
Opening my eyes, I see the figure of a blond girl. Her eye lids were closed and mouth was drooling all over my chest. That is odd, I slept on the floor last night unless… Oh no! I look at my cloths and spot myself fully dressed. Don't think those dark thoughts Diaz, focus. Mmm…looking around the room, the door is closed. Good, don't want her parents storming in.
"Star! Tom sent me to…" I hear the voice of Jackie, opening the door. Great…just lovely. She spots my wide awake eyes and groans. "Huh…seems like you was busy. Sorry, will leave you…"
"Wait!" I silently shout. Don't say "This isn't what it looks like!" Marco; that is stupid and she won't buy it. "I think Star dragged me into her bed using her magic. I was sleeping on the floor originally." I point to the floor with my one free hand. "So…sorry." I'm a horrible liar…not sorry about this at all.
"That's fine. At least you didn't use the generic line every man uses when they are with a girl in bed." Jackie folds her arms and sighs. "I will be quiet about this. Tom, Janna and your monster allies are downstairs waiting for you two love birds." She leaves, giving me a wink before closing the door.
Star slowly opens her eyes and chaps her lips. Her vision becomes clear and she notices her arms around my chest. "Hello Marco…seems like my spell worked."
"Really now?" I grin widely. "Have no idea what you're talking about." Clever princess…using her magic.
"So…had a good sleep?" She asks sheepishly.
"Of course I did. Felt nice and warm under the covers with you." I say honestly; this was the best sleep I"ve gotten in months despite the harsh dreams.
"So you don"t need that shooting star pillow now?" Star smirks and chuckles lightly.
"Nope." I feel bold and kiss Star on her cheek. "I can squeeze you, can't I?" Star blushes and pushes me off the bed. "Ow…what was that for?"
"You really got to work on your pick up lines Diaz…" Star giggles and jumps out of bed. "Anyway, get your things and give me space. Have to get ready."
"Okay." I stretch and gather my things. "Oh, Star?" She turns around, stopping combing her long blond hair. "Please don't use magic on me when I'm half-asleep." I make a devilish grin and walk out of her room, likely leaving a flustered Star alone. I just laugh and go into the nearby bathroom. Throwing on my red hoodie, leather jacket, black pants and gloves…I feel ready. "Got my trusty dagger-sword by my side and my dimensional scissors in my pocket." I take them out and spin them in the air. "Shame these are somewhat useless…poor Heckapoo. Hope she is resting." I put them away and walk toward the war room. It looks…more pleasant this time out, with far less people and each seat being paired with full plates.
"Morning man." Tom asks, slugging down his water. "Heard you got a great sleep." He makes a sly grin. I turn to Jackie, sitting next to him…giving me dirty eyes.
"Yep. I had a great sleep. Had a really soft pillow to sleep on." I dig into my eggs, leaving a baffled Jackie twitching her eyes. I spot Janna at the edge of the table relaxing, as if she was watching a show or something.
"Sorry for being late." I hear Steven from across the hall, stretching his arms. "Seems like the cooks here made eggs for us!" He looks at an annoyed Jackie, an amused Janna and a laughing Tom. "Who are those guys?"
"These are my friends from Earth. The annoyed girl is Jackie, the one in the beanie hat is Janna and the hot head over there is Prince Tom from the Underworld." Steven gives my friends a warm smile.
"Sup." Janna states bluntly.
"Hello. Thought Marco's allies were all monsters?" Tom asks.
"Steven is actually being raised by a former monster Star and I used to fight." Janna and Jackie look shocked when I said this but I just smiled. "Andy is a good person."
"Nice to meet you Steven." Jackie says warmly, shaking Steven"s hand as he sits next to her. "Marco might be an annoying dork but he is a kind one."
"You never called me a dork before…" I mumbled, biting my eggs harshly.
"Anyway, Marco." Steven turns to me. "Andy and the other Monsters want to train today. Not sure when we are going to head out fighting but now that we"re in the castle, we might not have a lot of time."
I nod, being in full agreement with Steven. We have no idea when Toffee could strike. I put down my fork and look toward the doorway. Star comes down the stairs, donning a modified version of her princess outfit. The bottom is shorter and her hair is hanging down, mirroring how she styles it on Earth. Of course, she has her horned headband, creating the image of the "real" Star.
"Hello everyone!" Star shouts joyful before leaping into the chair next to me. "So, what"s for breakfast?"
"Eggs and Water milady." I respond sarcastically. She punches my arm lightly before digging in. "So, what is everyone"s plan for today?"
"Well I"m going to be training with Star later to learn some magic." Janna responds, growing a wide grin. "Oh boy, we are going to have fun."
"You know it!" Star says, but her voice is muffled by the eggs.
"I"m going to help train the stronger monsters with Hephaestus." Tom responds. "Seems he can use fire magic like I can, so the two of us helping the monsters should be good."
"Thanks Tom." I turn to Jackie. "I'm going to train with the younger monsters on melee combat, so you and Steven can join me if you want. You could get a few cheap shots in for payback if you want Jackie." She grows a devilish grin and cracks her knuckles.
"This is going to be fun…" she says darkly. Steven begins shaking a bit, afraid of the girl sitting next to him. I give my friend a knowing look, which he responds to by sighing and continuing eating his food.
As the minutes went on, more people joined the table. Monster allies I came across, Mewni solders and even Star's parents. By the time I finished eating, Star dragged Janna into the castle courtyard while Tom was with Hephaestus gathering the older monsters for advanced training.
Jackie and Steven stuck with me as we made our way to a training room, with younger monsters using the equipment for exercising.
"To think…this castle has state of the art training rooms!" Steven rubs his hands in glee. He is buff for a kid my age, so I guess he worked out before joining me on my adventure.
"I would be surprised if this place didn't have a training room to honestly…" Jackie says bluntly, rubbing her neck. "So…how are we going about this "Hero"? You going to do sword fighting first or melee combat?"
I rub my chin, thinking about what we should focus on first. Melee combat is important but stamina is key to maintain battle strength. I remember mastering that when doing the trails…if my stamina was weak, I wouldn't have survived that sixteen year adventure. "EVERYONE! COME FRONT AND CENTER!"
The entire room freezes, as if the Father Time stopped running on his wheel for whatever reason. They came into the center of the room and watched me closely. Many of them were a mixture of younger Mewni solders and teenage Monsters. Standing tall, I make a loud cough "Hello team. Today, we will be training our stamina through cardio-focused exercise." I spot two of the Mewni solders grinning, but I know exactly what they are thinking. "This does not include chasing the monsters in this room with swords and weapons. If I dare hear anything groaning or comment about being annoyed with this….get out of this room now." I spot Steven giving me a proud face while Jackie looks shocked. The room is silent…good; I"m surrounded by good people.
"Sir." A fly monster, likely one of Andy"s kids, comes up. "I remember my dad talk about how I don"t need to run, considering I can fly. Is there a way I can train my wings?" That statement makes me feel stupid and insensitive; some monsters focus on flying to get around.
"I have a great idea. Everyone, I want you to make laps around this room…but if you have a unique ability, use that instead of running. Flying, Leaping and Rolling counts as cardio." I get in front of the room and get into running position, cracking my knuckles. Steven comes up on my left while Jackie is on my right. "Ready everyone? GO!"
The room goes into a sprint, with me leading the pack and dashing ahead. Behind me was Jackie catching up, Steven running a steady jog, John panting but keeping pace and one of Andy's fly sons flying quiet fast. I spot other monsters keeping pace through different means; a cat-like monster was running on all fours while another frog-esc monster was jumping in-between runs. What surprised me the most was the Mewni solders; they jogged at a great pace and didn"t even bat an eye-lid to the monsters using other means to run. Whenever this is them focused on the training or rather them trying to prove that they are better than the monsters, it didn"t matter; they were working alongside the monsters. I felt happy about this honestly. About a good 20 or so minutes passed and we stopped running.
"I…feel…tired…" A bear monster shouts.
"Me to man….me to." Mewni solder comments, holding on to a cat monsters arm.
"My wings hurt…" A fly monster mumbles.
"That…was fun." Steven shouts, holding up his hand…before collapsing on the ground.
"I really need to train you guys on stamina…" I rub my neck, with many of the solders and monsters being tired. To my surprise, Jackie is still running. "Um…we stopped running Jackie."
"Nah. I want to keep up the pace. Are you tired too hero?" She teases. Oh...I can prove her wrong. I get into running position and begin running like a cheetah. My legs felt warm, as if they were going on fire. The more I ran, the faster I went. That is well, expected when running. But I never ran this fast before. Catching up with Jackie, I tap her shoulder. "Wow…you have a lot of energy Diaz."
"Surprised by this too…" I rub my chin as I keep up the run. "Okay, time for me to…" I collide face-first into a wall, with everyone watching me fall to the floor like one of those road runner cartoons. "…stop." My face hurts but I hear Jackie laughing up a storm and Steven making small chuckles. John and the other Monsters just snicker while the Mewni solders just fold their arms with a wide grin on their faces. Getting off the ground and rubbing my painful head, I give the group an annoyed glare. "Okay guys…shows over! We got more training to do!"
I walk around the room and spot people doing different things. Jackie is punching a boxing bag…likely imagining Star"s face on it. I say that due to how hard she is hitting the thing. Looking to the corner of the room, I spot Steven having a mock battle with John using swords. They are really into the fight; impressed with John, as he is making really good swipes with good posture.
Sitting down near a bench, a fly monster comes up and sits next to me. He is joined by a young knight. "That was fun. Never did this kind of exercise before." The fly monsters spoke.
"Really? You don"t have equipment at your home sir…" The knight asks.
"Joe. Your name?"
"Sir Thomas the Third. Um…I'm sorry if I was mean to you before." My eyebrow goes up but I remain silent. "I always thought monsters were evil…but I was wrong." He lightly punches Joe's arm. "You are a cool guy."
"Thanks Thomas. You seem nice too." Joe turns to me. "Glad your positive message about us monsters is being spread around."
"I'm glad about that too." I give the two a warm smile. "You guys did great today. Keep up the great work training. Need any help with anything?"
"We are fine Sir Marco." Thomas answers, lightly tapping his armored chest. The young man seems a bit older than me honestly but his face looks young. Likely a knight-in-training, but he seems so confident. "Going to help Sir Joe here master his form with the sword."
"I can use a sword though…" Joe mumbles under mild buzzing. "But okay." The two get up and head toward a part of the training room. That was a great sight; a monster and Mewni solder becoming friends. It feels really nice honestly.
A few hours pass and training is finished. I help a few solders and monsters with one-on-one sparing matches, helping them with their form. As I begin packing up my gear, I spot Jackie giving me a toothy grin. "So…you want that sparing match Jackie?"
"Stop with the flattery. Want to knock that cute little mole clean off your face." Jackie snickers. I crack my knuckles and grab a two nearby staffs from the weapons rack on my right. It has many tools like swords, maces and axes.
"Here you go." I toss one of the staffs toward Jackie, who catches it with easy. Twilling the stick around, she makes a battle pose that would make Macky Hand proud. "Uh…"
"See something you like?" She teases.
"Um…how about we get to the fight." I get into battle position, brushing off whatever blush I formed on my cheek. Jackie gets ready, having a determined look in her eyes.
"Bring it Diaz!" She lungs at me with a frontal stab but I leap back. Spinning the staff, I block a few swings and swing my staff hard. It strikes Jackie's staff and we both feel the tension; the sticks are on the verge of snapping. We back off and continue the fight. Every swing from Jackie felt like her bitter emotions being unleashed, with every strike getting progressively faster and stronger. I…really hurt her. Should do a good thing. As we continue fighting I "accidently" loosen the grip on my staff. I feel a sharp pain hit my face, sending me right on the floor.
"Ow…did my mole come off Jackie?" I ask in a teasing voice. She just looks at me in shame, as if I did something wrong.
"Why did you let me hit you? I know you could have blocked that hit." She leans on her staff and has an annoyed expression in her eyes. Slowly getting up, I rub my cheek.
"I let you hit me to get payback. I deserve a lot worse honestly." I give a serious glare toward her face. "You put up with me talking about Star for the past few months during dates and me running after her, even after the whole memory wipe thing, wasn't cool of me."
"Dude." She puts her hand on my shoulder. "I remember you wrapping your head around her confused emotions. You…you were just trying to be a good friend. Though…" She grows a grin on her face. "…I always knew you liked her."
My body locks up hearing this. "What…what?" Jackie is just laughing at me at this point…I'm going to lose my mind one of these days.
"Just relax man. Come on, let's do some more sparing matches. Want to use that battle axe." She grows a dark grin…this is going to be a long training session. As we continue fighting using various weapons, I recall our very first date together after the big dance.
"Jackie! Where are we going?"
"To the local skate park! Going to show my boyfriend some sick tricks." I couldn't help but grin madly hearing those words. "Boyfriend"
"Seems you like the title already…" Jackie teases. I just smile back, joining her at the park. It was packed with skaters of all shapes and sizes. The tricks being pulled off reminded me of my favorite video game…ah, the combos I could pull off in that. Maybe it will help me now! Marco Diaz: Pro-Skater.
"So…why is my board pink?" I ask earnestly. "I don't mind honestly. But just wondering."
"Figured it suited you. Maybe "Princess Marco" wants a different one." Jackie spots my shocked face and just laughs. "Star told me about your trip to that reform school. I want to see you in a dress at some point…"
"NOT GOING TO DO THAT!" I bite back. "Can…can we just start skating please?"
"Sure thing Diaz. You just have to keep balance on the board. It's all about coordination. Think of it like…you sliding on a monsters back after punching it hard." That is a good way to look at this… I get on my pink board and kick my feet on the ground. Closing my eyes, ponder my first wipe out…but to my surprise, I'm balanced. Thinking to Jackie's comment, I think of the board as a monster I'm fighting. Soon, I'm making kick-flips, grinding on rails and even making spins after jumping off ramps. Jackie folds her arms and looks impressed.
"Good job Diaz! Keep it up!" I'm smiling and having fun! Yes! Nothing will go wrong...why did I just say that? Before long, I feel something hit my face and I fall flat on my back. The pink board crashes into the ground, breaking into two pieces. Poetic; a pink heart breaks while I'm crashing into the cold earth.
"Ugh...Jackie?" I look up in my half-dazed state, spotting a worried Jackie. "Got a tip for you." She leans closer to my mouth. "Never say "Nothing will go wrong". I pass out and she just giggles. I feel her helping me up to a nearby bench and patting my back.
"Marco? Are you feeling better?" My eyes slowly open up, spotting a clear water bottle in her hands. I take it and slug it down.
"Thank you for that." I sigh, rubbing my neck in frustration. "Sorry for embarrassing you like that…"
"You kidding me? My skater friends loved the tricks you pulled off and were impressed with your wipe-out." She holds up her phone, showing me a heavily edited version of the crash. "Janna even sent me a video she posted about it. Think it looks sick."
"Very funny…" I grumble. "But glad we are having a nice time." I feel bold, holding her hand. "Thank you for putting up with me."
"Sure thing Marco." She kisses my cheek lightly and we watch the other skaters enjoying the warm day.
"Come on Jackie. You swing that mace like a girl!" I leap back, avoiding the hard crash the mighty weapon brings.
"Oh…you did not just say that Diaz." She throws the weapon at me, making me flinch. Sliding under the weapon, I spot it make a loud crash into a wall…right next to Star and Janna.
"Crap." Jackie mutters under her breath. "Um…sorry about that guys."
Star's eyes are twitching and her wand is glowing green. "Are you okay?" I run up to her and Janna. "We were just training and…I guess we got carried away."
"Odd wording you used their Diaz." Star smirked. Oh boy, going get a mouthful about this later tonight… "But it's all good. Nothing can stop the rebel princess! Want to get wild Jackie?" Star tosses the wand into the air and the entire room turns pink. Soon after, Star is in her battle armor from when she was nuts and thought the school football team was really going to be destroyed. Man…she looks awesome in that armor. Her matching wand-mace makes her look dangerously attractive.
"Stop drooling over your girlfriend Marco." Janna comments, causing me to snap out of my trance.
"…Sorry." I look toward Jackie, starting to sweat a bit. Star had the look of a blood-lust, giving me chills down my spine. "You going to be okay?"
"Star and I need to talk anyway." Jackie cracks her knuckles and readies her mace. "Let's rumble princess!" The two girls begin their battle…which I don't want to be in the middle of. Janna notices my panicked face and just laughs to herself.
"Marco…you are lucky to have two ladies fighting over you." Janna playfully comments. I give her a glare and just rub my forehead.