Well, here we are. The final chapter of Turf Wars, the first of MatEP's three books. This arc has been a blast to write, and it's great to finally wrap things up. So, without further ado, let's get into the last chapter that shall decide the fate of Echo Creek...
"MAROON AND THE EARTH-NI PROTECTORS!"
BOOK ONE: TURF WARS
CHAPTER NINE: THE EARTH-NI PROTECTORS
In the dark, decrepit and deadly depths of Seth's subterranean abode, the sinister Septarian sat on his stone slab, preparing for his team's assault on the Echo-Palooza festival. His loyal monster disciples were restlessly pacing around the temple, eagerly awaiting their chance to slaughter mewmans, humans, and even fellow monsters that they deemed "traitors."
"My disciples, the hour of reckoning is finally upon us." Seth spoke, catching the undivided attention of his followers four. "When I was in my prime, the Monster Army was a truly mighty force, and the Dreaded Beasts were the strongest of them all."
As Seth delivered his doctrine, he gestured to the stone-carved murals engraved in the temple; They depicted three crucial scenes in the organization's history: The first mural was of Seth and his five Septarian underlings, the original Dreaded Beasts, razing the Spiderbite kingdom as Globgor devoured King Shastacan.
The second carving depicted a different incarnation of the Dreaded Beasts, one that operated during Queen Comet's reign. The team was now open to all monster species, not just Septarians and size-shifters. Depicted in the mural was an older Seth, a hulking ogre wielding a club, a bipedal falcon woman, a monster with two heads, a three-eyed warthog monster holding an axe, and a young Septarian with long, flowing hair. These monsters were all doing the same thing; Slaughtering royal knights in droves.
The final carving rendered an event that happened mere hours ago; The massacre of Mina's warriors. This mural showed the bat monster Manavi swooping towards his victims with his fangs bared; Panthara and Lucanus were dispatching Neo-Solarians with their claws and jaws. In a truly grisly scene, the slime monstress Viscosa was depicted thrusting her viscous fist down Manfred's windpipe. The centerpiece of the engraving was Seth throwing Mina into the burning pool of liquid magic, killing her just as he did to Solaria centuries ago...
"But most of today's monsters are weak, spineless cowards. Every fool attending that abominable festival has no right to call themself a monster. But with our dauntless strength and unshakeable willpower, we shall usher in a new era; An era where we reign supreme, and all who oppose us are crushed to dust beneath our feet!"
Seth's underlings cheered and rooted in response to his rousing rhetoric. "Now go! It's time to bring the new world to its knees!" Seth roared, as the Dreaded Beasts began heading out of the cave to wreak havoc on the coming festival...
Meanwhile in the smoldering depths of the Underworld, the Butterfly family (sans Star) was staying in the safety of the Lucitor Palace, far from any danger or harm. While Moon and River were chatting with King Dave and Queen Wrathmelior, Eclipsa and Globgor were sitting together, comforting baby Meteora.
As Eclipsa cradled her tired daughter in her arms, she noticed that her husband was feeling quite down.
"Is something wrong, sweetie?" The former queen queried.
"I feel like a coward." Globgor sighed. "Star and her friends are out there facing that psychopath Seth and his minions. They shouldn't have to fight him."
"I know, but Star told us innocent people will die if they don't."
"But this is my fault! I tried to stop Seth before, and failed. The kids shouldn't pay for my mistake. I started the fight, now I need to end it." The size-shifter solemnly spoke.
"Does...does this mean you're leaving?" Eclipsa asked in a worried tone.
"I'm sorry boo, but I need to help Star and the others stop the Dreaded Beasts. All of Earth-Ni is counting on them."
"I guess you're right, dear." Eclipsa sighed, as Globgor got up from his seat.
"I promise I'll stop him, darling. When he's gone...there'll be a better future for everyone." The former monster king spoke. Globgor and Eclipsa shared a heartfelt kiss, and once it ended, he held Meteora and kissed her forehead.
"Don't you worry, Meteora. I'll be back soon." Globgor assured, as he shrunk to a tiny size and started sneaking out of the palace.
"Ba-ba..." The hybrid baby whimpered. Eclipsa held Meteora close to her, and sat back down with a sigh. Although she was proud of her husband for doing the right thing, she couldn't help but worry for his safety...
As night fell upon Echo Creek, the town came alive at the fairgrounds of Echo-Palooza! In a fortunate turn of events, the party had a great turnout, with human, mewman and monster visitors of all ages attending the festivities! The celebration was chock full of fun things, like carnival games, food stands, market stalls, a skate park and even some small rides, including a ferris wheel and a tilt-a-whirl.
At the fair, there were loads of familiar faces; Most of Marco's classmates were there, including Jackie & Chloe, his old friends Alfonso and Ferguson, his former sensei Brantley, Jeremy Birnbaum and his doctor mother, Starfan13, most of the academy's cheerleading squad, and Oskar Greason, who teamed up with Ruberiot, Foolduke and the Royal Mime to provide the night's entertainment.
From the Mewni side of the cleaved city, many people Star had met attended as well. Pony Head was recording herself for her web series, Penelope and Slime were enjoying themselves on a date, Buff Frog had brought his kids there for a night of fun, and even Ludo had come with his brother Dennis, and his old acquaintance Lobster Claws, a former (albeit unknowing) Dreaded Beast. Overall, the festival was going quite swimmingly, with all three races enjoying themselves. After all, the people who disliked the integrated party just stayed home.
However, there were some no-shows. Warned by their worried children, the Diaz, Ordonia and Jean-Marcelin families all stayed home to avoid the wrath of the Dreaded Beasts. Contrarily, convincing everyone else in town to abstain from the festivities was much more difficult.
Austin, Star, Marco, Janna and Tom had all gathered on a building's roof, which overlooked the whole festival. Seeing all the different people of Earth-Ni having a grand time together warmed Star's heart; This was everything she wanted to see in society.
"Wow, everyone's having so much fun!" Star cooed.
"Too bad it won't last..." Austin morosely sighed.
"Hey, I tried asking the mayor to call this thing off." Janna commented.
"And?" Tom queried.
"He hung up. I kinda pranked him into thinking there was a zombie apocalypse a couple years back, and now he doesn't trust me."
"That was YOU?" Marco exclaimed. No one could forget the great Echo Creek Zombie Panic, but that's a story for another time...
"Alright, team. Let's split up to get a better scope of the land. Star and Marco, you head to the building east of us. Janna and Tom, go to the bell tower on the west." When the Dreaded Beasts come, we'll be ready." Austin commanded.
"Got it!" Marco noted.
"Good luck, guys!" Star cheered, as she activated her mechanical wings, picked up Marco and headed out.
"You too!" Tom added, as he picked Janna up and flew off as well, leaving Austin alone in the center. The masked vigilante sighed, and took a knee to rest. While he was happy his superhero team was finally working together, he had a lurking worry regarding the inevitable battle...
Atop the bell tower, Tom was pacing back and forth, while Janna was looking down at the fairgrounds below. Down on the ground, many people were enjoying themselves. Jackie and Chloe were teaching mewman and monster children how to skateboard, including some of Buff Frog's kids. Speaking of which, the jovial frog monster was nearby, treating himself to some fried flies on a stick. Ludo was playing with a laser pointer he won from a carnival game, and Slime and Penelope were kissing on the ferris wheel.
Janna kept aimlessly looking around the fair, when Tom sat down next to her, and sighed.
"Something wrong?" Janna queried.
"No! No, I...well, kinda, yeah." Tom stumbled. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you."
"Then tell me." Janna coyly retorted.
"Well, this is probably a bad time, but I'm worried something could happen to us during the fight." Tom nervously explained, mincing around the point he was supposed to get across.
"Just spit it out, man." The raven-haired girl impatiently groaned. Knowing there was no avoiding his confession, Tom took a deep breath, and went all in.
"I love you, Janna." The demon prince admitted. Janna's eyes went wide open, and she let out a faint gasp. "I think I broke her." Tom thought to himself. There were a few seconds of awkward silence, until it was broken once more.
"R-really?" She meekly piped out, with a tone that sounded surprised...in a good way.
"Of course! I've had feelings for you for a while, and I wanted to tell you last night, but that attack on the temple ruined the moment."
Now, there was yet another silence between the two teens. They both were staring deeply into the other's eyes, until Janna started to crack a small smile. The girl closed her eyes, leaned in and gave Tom a peck on the lips, causing the half-demon to blush profusely. When she pulled away, both of them felt a rush of good feelings.
"Love you too, Lucitor. Let's kick some butt out there." Janna remarked. Tom smiled, and put his arm around her as they looked out on the fair below them...
On a building across from them, Marco was surveying the area to watch for the Dreaded Beasts. When those murderous monsters struck, Martial Boy would be ready to take them on. Suddenly, the karate expert was startled when he heard Star scream "OH MY GOSH!" He quickly whipped out the sword and looked around for the danger, but didn't see anything alarming.
"What is it?" Marco worriedly exclaimed.
"Janna and Tom just KISSED!" Star giddily squealed; She could hardly contain the joy she was feeling.
"Oh! He really did it? Well done, Tom!" Marco replied with a tone of approval.
"I'm so happy for them! Once we beat these Dreaded Jerks, we should totally go on a double date!"
"Yeah. I'm glad to see you so happy, Star." Marco mused.
"I mean, I am pretty nervous, though. Facing Seth without my spells feels like the hardest thing I've had to do." Star sighed.
"But you literally merged our worlds together. Fighting a big, racist lizard and his goons is just like old times. Plus, you won't be doing it alone." Marco consoled, making his girlfriend smile. The two shared a heartfelt hug and awaited the battle that was sure to come...
Meanwhile, Maroon was perched atop the same building he was on before, looking out for the Dreaded Beasts. The helmeted warrior noticed Janna and Tom having a romantic moment together, and saw Star and Marco do the same. This made Austin let out a sigh; Despite leading a team of fledgeling heroes, he still couldn't help but feel alone...
However, whatever brooding thoughts Maroon had were interrupted when he heard a sudden scream. The caped hero jumped up with a jolt and quickly looked to see what was the matter; Several humans, mewmans and a hairy monster were fleeing from an indigo-colored slime creature rising from a storm drain; It was Viscosa!
Mere moments later, Star and Marco saw more people running in fear, as they were chased by the vicious feline Panthara! In the parking lot, Tom and Janna spotted Lucanus throwing cars in the air with his gruesome pincers and herculean strength.
"They're here! Everyone, attack!" Austin exclaimed. The other heroes, who could hear him over a microphone chat system he set up earlier, all sprung into action to stop the marauding monsters.
Austin was about to jump down to the ground and fight alongside his team, when he had an abrupt realization. "Wait...where's the bat?" All of a sudden, Manavi swooped in from behind and tackled Maroon off the building; Then, he started lifting the masked vigilante higher in the air.
"Have a nice fall!" Manavi taunted, as he released Maroon from his talons and dropped him towards the ground. However, the caped warrior quickly activated his rocket boots to catch himself, and started to ascend through the air, shocking the bat monster.
"I can fly too, you know!" Maroon quipped, as he activated his wrist-blasters and began snapping his fingers to fire energy blasts at his flying foe. However, Manavi easily dodged his shots with quick and unpredictable aerial maneuvers. The vicious fiend then divebombed into Maroon, knocking him into a cotton candy stand.
Manavi landed on the ground as well, and his beady eyes were caught by some potential prey; The cheerleaders of Echo Creek Academy. The megabat bared his fangs with a chilling screech, and started running towards the teens on all fours.
The cheerleaders all began to flee their monster pursuer, but the clumsy and injury-prone Sabrina tripped on the ground. Seeing an easy target, Manavi hungrily licked his lips and pounced towards the defenseless girl. In the nick of time, Maroon got up, snapped his fingers, and a metal-fiber cord launched from his wrist bracelet and wrapped itself around Manavi's chest. He then yanked the monster backwards, knocking him into a garbage can.
"Is this guy bothering you?" Austin retorted, as he extended his hand to help Sabrina up. "You okay?" He asked, as he helped her back to her feet.
"Y-yeah." Sabrina nervously stammered, when she saw Manavi break free from his restraints. "Look out!" She screamed, but it was too late; Manavi pounced on Austin, bringing him down to the ground.
Manavi lunged towards Maroon's neck to bite him, but the vigilante punched him in the face. The bat monster let out a shrill screech that stunned the masked hero, and he pinned his arms so he couldn't attack. Manavi was about to deliver the killing bite, when he was struck in the back by a long, sticky tongue. The bat was abruptly pulled ten feet back, where he was struck by a hard punch to the face from none other than Buff Frog!
Now that Manavi was knocked unconscious, Maroon tied him up in another whip-cord, and looked towards the monster who saved him.
"Thanks for the save, good sir."
"Now we are even." Buff Frog responded, as he saluted the vigilante.
Rewind to the beginning of Maroon's aerial fight with Manavi. As the two enemies battled in the skies, Star and Marco were on the ground, helping ease the panicked partygoers. However, the couple saw Panthara and Lucanus rampaging on opposite sides of the park.
"I'll take the beetle, you take the panther!" Marco exclaimed, as he whipped out his sword and ran towards the raging Shomuto, who was terrorizing a family of mewmans.
"HEY! Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?" Martial Boy shouted, catching the beetle monster's attention.
"You again? I'll make mincemeat out of you!" Lucanus scoffed, as he started charging towards Marco. The red-belt quickly rolled out of the way, and delivered a swift kick to the Shomuto's back leg, causing him to groan in rage.
With Lucanus staggered, Marco repeatedly slashed him with his sword. Unfortunately, his strikes couldn't even pierce his foe's tough, chitinous body armor. He tried to strike once more, but Lucanus grabbed his sword and threw it on the ground. The Shomuto then threw a heavy punch at Marco, which he luckily dodged. However, Lucanus then bent down, grabbed hold of the masked hero with the pincers on his head, and lifted him up.
"Time to chop this weakling in half." Lucanus mused. Before he could cleave poor Marco in two, his ears were caught by the sound of a rolling skateboard. To the surprise of both of them, Jackie of all people launched herself off the half-pipe with her skateboard, and drop-kicked Lucanus, disorienting the monster. Mere moments later, her French girlfriend Chloe parkoured in to strike the Shomuto's eye, causing him to involuntarily drop Marco. Once he was free, Marco acted fast and kicked the monster with both feet, causing him to stumble back into a carnival stall.
"Thanks, ladies." Marco groaned, still reeling from being dropped on the ground.
"No problem, Marco." Jackie replied, shocking him. How did she guess his secret identity so easily?
"H-how did you know it was me?" Marco stammered.
"It's ze voice." Chloe retorted.
"And the little mole." Jackie added.
"And that adorable tush." Both girls added at the same time, giggling all the while.
"Of course." Marco deadpanned. All of a sudden, the three teens heard an enraged growl; Lucanus had gotten back up! "Get out of here! I'll take the big bug!" Marco exclaimed.
"Good luck, dude!" Jackie replied, as the two girls skateboarded away from the fight. Marco got into a fighting stance, and prepared for another round of fisticuffs with the Goliath-sized beetle...
Meanwhile on the other side of the fairgrounds, Star was locked in combat with the ferocious feline Panthara. Lady Butterfly was hovering in the air with her mechanical wings, and fired blasts of magic energy at her adversary.
However, the agile wildcat woman avoided her shots, and started swiping towards Star with her claws. However, Star was able to dodge the strikes with quick evasive maneuvers she pulled with her wings.
"You won't last much longer, princess." Panthara snarled. The agile predator climbed atop a carnival stall, and pounced on Star from above, knocking the heroine down. She bared her ferocious fangs and lunged to bite Star, but the ex-princess extended her wand into a long staff, and used it to knock the wildcat off her.
The mewman and monstress continued to battle it out; Star used her wand to make an energy shield that blocked Panthara's vicious claw swipes. However, the shield started to crack the more the monstress attacked, and it eventually gave way and burst into pieces, disorienting poor Star. Panthara roared ferociously, and pounced at Star to deliver the killing bite; But all of a sudden, she was knocked into a nearby dunk tank by who but Lobster Claws, the former Dreaded Beast!
"Hey, Star!" Lobster Claws called out.
"Lobster Claws! I knew there was good in you!" Star cheered. Suddenly, Panthara let out a shrill, angry hiss, and stared down Star and Lobster Claws.
"TRAITOR!" Panthara roared. She was about to attack, when she saw an alluring sight; A red dot moving on the ground. Her feline instincts kicked in, and she impulsively pounced on the dot, which kept moving around. Star and LC both looked at each other in confusion, and saw the dot's source; It was Ludo, who was using the laser pointer he won earlier.
"Look, look! She's trying to catch the dot!" Ludo laughed, having the time of his life as he sat on his younger brother's shoulder.
"Ludo! Throw me that laser pointer!" Star exclaimed.
"But I'm having so much fun!" The kappa complained, when Dennis snatched it from his hands.
"Here you go." Dennis spoke, as he tossed the pointer to Star. The heroine activated the laser, and pointed it right at Lucanus, who was still fighting with Marco. Panthara's vertical pupils narrowed, and she instinctively sprinted towards the Shomuto on all fours.
"Panthara? What are you doing?" Lucanus exclaimed, but it was too late; Panthara pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. Star turned off the laser pointer, charged up her wand, and hit the two monsters with a huge blast of magic, incapacitating them.
With the two Beasts out of commission, Marco turned to Star with a smile, happy that she saved him. "Great job, Star!" He called out. Star smiled warmly and blew him a kiss, making Ludo retch in disgust.
While the other heroes were fighting their respective enemies, Janna and Tom were fighting together against Viscosa, the sinister slime monster. Tom threw a flurry of fireballs at his foe, but she easily ducked, dipped and dodged to avoid his attacks. The slime woman spun around, and struck Tom repeatedly in a whirlwind fashion, knocking him away.
"Janna, a little help!" Tom exclaimed.
"I'm trying, it's kinda hard to hurt someone made of slime!" Janna retorted.
"Stop right there!" A random security guard yelled, as he ran towards Viscosa. The villain scowled, grabbed the guard by the collar with her gooey arm, raised him up and slammed him to the ground. Then, she abruptly turned towards Janna with a killer grin on her face. The slime monstress violently lunged towards Janna, who quickly threw down some smoke bombs. As Viscosa coughed in the mass of smoke, Janna made a beeline for the downed security guard, and snatched the taser off his belt.
When the smoke cleared, Viscosa looked behind her to see Janna holding the "borrowed" taser. "Say cheese!" The heroine taunted, as she activated the taser, electrifying the gelatinous monster's body. After a few seconds, she melted to the ground in a purplish-blue puddle.
"Nice job, babe." Tom retorted, as he flew in next to his mutual crush, making her blush a little. However, their awkward little romance was cut short when Viscosa rose from the ground with a furious look on her face.
"Well, it's not over yet." Janna deadpanned. Tom ignited his fist with flames and threw a punch at the Dreaded Beast, but she bent over backwards, and swept his legs with a swift kick, tripping him to the ground. Once the demon was down, she grabbed Janna in her slimy clutches, and raised her up.
"Take a deep breath." Viscosa morbidly retorted as she raised her other arm, preparing to thrust it into the girl's nose and mouth to suffocate her; The same way she killed Manfred. Janna knew she had to act fast, so she did what she was good at; Fighting dirty.
Snatcher thrust her fingers into the slime's eyes, causing her to yell in pain and drop the masked vigilante. "YOU'LL DIE FOR THAT!" Viscosa screamed.
"Behind you." Janna remarked in a smug tone. From behind, Tom stuck his fists into Viscosa's slimy body and ignited them with white-hot flames, flash-boiling her. The monster warrior screamed in agony, until Tom pulled his hands out. When he was finished, most of Viscosa's slime evaporated away, causing her to become a tenth of her actual size.
"Heh, she's kinda cute when she's tiny." Tom teased.
"You'll regret this, Lucitor! I'll kill you, your freak girlfriend and everyone else you love! You'll never take me alive!" Viscosa yelled in a comically high-pitched voice, as she started running towards a drain pipe. However, she was suddenly trapped in a glass jar by Penelope Spiderbite, who was accompanied by Slime.
"LET ME OUT!" Viscosa screamed, as she banged on the jar.
"Not a chance. You give slimes a bad name." Penelope retorted, as she tightened the jar...
Let's recap: At about the same time, Maroon triumphed over Manavi, Lady Butterfly beat Panthara, Martial Boy claimed victory over Lucanus, and Snatcher & Violet Devil vanquished Viscosa. Now that the four Dreaded Beasts were incapacitated, the five teen superheroes regrouped in the middle of the fairgrounds.
"I stopped the bat, what about you guys?" Austin asked.
"Star and I stopped the beetle and panther." Marco claimed.
"And Tom and I took out the slime monster." Janna added.
"Hold on...what about Seth?" Star suddenly realized. Unease and dread began to fill the heroes; How had the leader of the Dreaded Beasts not shown up by now? Suddenly, their anxiety turned to terror when they heard a ferocious roar.
On the top of a building stood the towering Septarian, who leapt down to the middle of the fairgrounds, shaking the earth beneath him. His sudden appearance filled the heroes, as well as all the fairgoers, with dread and fright.
"People of Earth-Ni!" Seth shouted. "I am Seth of Septarsis! The murderer of Mina Loveberry, the slayer of Queen Solaria, and the bane of all mewmanity!" Seth's terrifying voice and hateful rhetoric horrified the mewmans and monsters who thought he had died, and even frightened the humans who didn't know a thing about him.
"My monster brethren! Rise up, and slay these inferior races!" The Septarian warrior commanded. Fortunately, none of the monsters heeded his call; The crowd was still and silent, with the only exchanges between them being awkward glances, and a solitary cough.
"Of course this is happening. The monsters of today have been weakened by the illusion of peace."
"Stop right there, Seth!" Star exclaimed, as she pointed her wand towards her Septarian foe. She was accompanied by the other heroes, who were all in a fighting stance.
"We stopped all your Dreaded Beasts. Surrender, or we'll stop you too." Maroon added.
"Star Butterfly. A purposeless princess in a world without magic." Seth spoke, angering Star. "For ages, monster-kind has been oppressed by the magic of the queens. You even used it to kill my greatest disciple."
Star and Marco gasped and glanced toward each other, as they put two and two together. The former princess then blankly uttered a name that brought back terrible memories;
"Toffee..."
"Toffee served me well as a Dreaded Beast; He was forever loyal to our cause. I see you ended up agreeing with him in the end. Now, your pitiful bloodline has no magic to hide behind."
"I've got all the magic I need right here." Star refuted, as she raised her wand to fight. Her fellow heroes all got in fighting stances as well.
"I'll destroy that wand once I take it off your bloodied corpse!"
"You'll have to get through us, first!" Tom exclaimed.
"Very well." Seth replied, as he turned to the crowd. "Look upon your petulant heroes. When they inevitably fail you, the age of monster supremacy shall finally arise!"
Now, the final battle had begun. Seth viciously leapt towards the heroes to attack, but they all dodged out of the way, dispersing in different directions. Austin, Star and Tom hit Seth from three different sides with their ranged attacks, but he slammed his fists into the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked the three heroes over.
Marco jumped in from behind and slashed Seth's back with his sword, causing some damage. Unfortunately, the Septarian's wounds regenerated as fast as the boy could slice. Seth snarled and quickly turned around to crush Marco with his arms; However, the martial artist dodged his attack, and kicked him in the face. Then he tried to punch a hole through Seth's stomach just as he did to Toffee, but all it did was hurt the poor boy's hand.
"OW!" Marco cried out in pain, as he clutched his hand. "That should've worked!"
Seth grabbed Martial Boy by the shoulders, and opened his jaws to deliver a killing bite. But before he could do it, Janna threw some smoke bombs in his mouth, which exploded and filled his throat with billowy smoke. As the Septarian coughed and hacked, Janna led Marco to safety by the hand.
"Thanks, Janna!" Marco piped.
"You owe me one, Diaz." Janna coyly retorted.
While Seth was still coughing, Maroon jumped up with his jets, and lunged to attack the monster with his wrist-mounted energy blades. Before he could land a hit, Seth dodged his attack and smacked him with his powerful tail, knocking the vigilante away.
Tom and Star hovered through the air, hitting Seth with blasts of fire and magic energy from above. "Let's cook this lizard!" Tom exclaimed, as he and Star kept pressing on with their attacks. Seth growled in rage, leapt up towards Tom, and slammed him with his fists, knocking him to the ground in a hard collision.
"TOM!" Star cried out in shock. As Seth landed on the ground, Star swooped at him and fired an explosive pulse of magic energy at the monster, roughing him up. The mewman and monster duked it out, with Star rapid-firing magic blasts at her foe. However, Seth landed a hard hit on her, turned her around, and ripped off her mechanical butterfly wings, causing her to stumble on the ground.
Enraged that Seth destroyed her wings, Star let out a yell and fired the most intense magic beam she could, causing her heart-shaped cheek marks to reappear and glow white-hot. Seth crossed his arms together to tank the beam, but its intensity burned his reptilian skin, making him snarl in pain. Star's inferior, Earth-made wand began to overheat, until it got so hot that Star involuntarily dropped it to the ground.
When it was all over, Star stumbled and fell over, exhausted from such a draining attack. She looked up at Seth, who was clearly reeling. What's more, the skin was burned off his arms to the point where she could see the muscle and bone beneath. But to her horror, the imposing Septarian bean to slowly lurch towards her, while his arms began to regenerate.
"You've fought well, princess." Seth complimented. "But I murdered the Monster Carver. Killing a weakling like you is far too easy." The monster raised his claws to slay the former princess of Mewni, but Janna suddenly rushed in with her pocket-watch out.
"SLEEP!" Janna yelled, as she tried to hypnotize the villainous beast. Seth didn't fall for the Snatcher's tricks, and picked her up like a rag doll.
"Never tasted human before. You'll be delicious." Seth hissed, as he prepared to devour the terrified girl. As Tom re-entered the fray of the battle, still reeling from his previous injuries, he saw Seth about to kill his beloved, and flew into a rage.
Tom's eyes turned blood-red, and his normally-hidden tail suddenly emerged. The demon prince began to levitate in the air, as he became surrounded by rotating rings of fire. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" He roared in a discordant, demonic-sounding voice. Flames burst from his feet as he launched himself at Seth, and collided into him with a fiery punch, causing the monster to let go of Janna.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Tom shouted. Realizing she was out of her league in the fight, Janna started running off as the enraged demon duked it out with the oldest Septarian...
As Janna fled the battle, she started to feel bad; All she had were hypnotism skills and average karate knowledge; How could she possibly fight the most feared monster in Mewni?
"I am really out of my league here." Janna admitted to herself, when she heard some rustling nearby. The raven-haired heroine looked to the source of the noise, and saw the bat monster Manavi trying to break free of his restraints.
"Come on, stupid wire! Break!" Manavi complained, as he gnawed at the cord he was tied up in.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" Janna remarked, as she slyly approached Manavi with her trusty pocket watch in hand...
Back in the heat of the battle, Tom was viciously wailing on Seth with his fiery fists of pain. The rage the half-demon felt made him much stronger, to the point where Seth could hardly fight back. Tom slammed Seth into the ferris wheel, and prepared to scorch the Septarian to death with a fiery plume like no other.
"I surrender!" Seth cried out.
"You don't deserve to live." Tom snarled.
"Please, have mercy, your Highness! I beg you!"
Seeing the terrified reptile beg for his life clearly unnerved Tom. This was the legendary bane of Mewmans; Seeing him plead for his life just didn't match up with the stories he was told as a boy. However, the inner conscience in Tom felt like he had to spare his foe, to prove to the world he wasn't a ruthless monster. The Violet Devil took a deep breath, and reverted to his normal state.
"I won't kill you, Seth...because I'm not like you..." Tom spoke.
"Thank you, your Benevolence. You're too kind." Seth sardonically remarked, as he rose up and threw a punch right at Tom's face with brutal force, knocking him unconscious.
"TOM!" Star, Marco and Austin screamed in unison. Star pointed her wand at the deceitful villain and pressed the button to fire, but the wand's head just sparked; Unfortunately, overheating it had disabled its energy blasts. Seth grabbed a hunk of debris and hurled it at the other three heroes, making them disperse.
"Time to end this filthy halfling's life." Seth growled. Before he could slay Tom for good, he was stunned by a shrill screech. Without warning, Manavi of all people swooped down and scratched the Septarian's shoulder with his claws.
"Manavi! What is the meaning of this?" Seth roared at the bat.
"He's mine now, scaly! All hail Snatcher, queen of hypnotism!" Janna taunted, as she re-entered the battle.
"Way to go, Janna!" Star cheered.
While Manavi strafed around Seth, the other three heroes ran in to rush their powerful enemy. Star extended her wand into its staff position to strike him, as Marco attacked with his sword. Maroon kept a slight distance, hovering around the monster with his rocket boots as he fired energy blasts from his wrist-blasters.
Manavi swooped down again to attack Seth with his fangs, but his master grabbed him by his long, pointed tail, hit Marco with him, and threw the hypnotized bat at Janna, knocking her down. Star leapt at him with her wand-staff raised, but he back-handed her away, sending her tumbling down. Maroon attempted to cut Seth's arm off with his energy blades, but the reptilian choke-slammed the helmeted warrior into the ground.
Now, it was the darkest hour. All five of Earth-Ni's new superheroes were down, and Seth of Septarsis was hardly even scathed. The near-immortal monster turned to the mortified crowd before him, with a murderous glare on his reptilian face.
"These are your heroes. Weak, insolent children willing to die for something as foolish as equality." Seth snarled, as he stared down the terrified people and bared his teeth.
"Your heroes have fallen! The revolution has begun! My monster brethren, take up arms and DESTROY YOUR OPPRESSORS!"
To Seth's chagrin, none of the monsters attacked the mewmans or humans surrounding them. There was just dead silence, as some of the mewmans and humans nervously backed away from the monsters. The silent stillness was shattered, when someone slung a shake at the sinister Septarian's snout.
"WHO DID THAT?" Seth angrily snapped. He turned towards the direction the thrown drink came from, to see who hurled it at him; Lobster Claws, the weak link of the Dreaded Beasts.
"You traitorous moron! You're not a real monster!" Seth growled.
"No, YOU'RE not a real monster!" Lobster Claws refuted, as he, Buff Frog, Dennis, Ludo, and the rest of their monster support group started throwing whatever they could find at the Septarian. Many mewmans and humans, including the friends and allies of Star and Marco, joined in and flung rocks and garbage at Seth, insulting and enraging the Dreaded Beast.
As the crowd booed and jeered at Seth, Maroon slowly got up to his feet.
"You can preach your hatred as much as you want, Seth. As long as there are good people in this world, you will never win." Austin spoke.
"Then I'll kill you all! None of you inferior weaklings can hope to stop me!" Seth shouted, when the earth suddenly began to shake. People started to gasp as an enormous monster stomped towards the fairgrounds, blocking out the moonlight with his sheer size.
"Globgor!" Marco exclaimed.
"Well, the Prince of Darkness has returned to slay me again. Because that worked so well the last time." Seth snarled, as he looked up towards his titanic foe. Globgor looked down to see not just Seth, but something that horrified him; All the other heroes were injured from his brutal attacks, including his surrogate granddaughter, who groaned out in pain.
Seeing Star and the others injured at Seth's hands infuriated Globgor. "How DARE you!" The former monster king roared in rage.
Seth sprinted towards the size-shifter to attack him, but he was effortlessly struck down by one of Globgor's huge, powerful arms. Globgor kept thrusting his fists into his foe, fueled by rage; This was the monster whose lies caused him to go against his promise to his wife, and murder innocent villagers (and Shastacan) for the sake of revenge.
After the brutal beatdown, Globgor shrunk down to his regular size, and approached his injured enemy. Surprisingly, Seth was still alive; Killing a Septarian is no easy feat.
"You can't kill me, size-shifter; You already tried." Seth growled, angering the former Prince of Darkness. "Even if you did, it wouldn't matter. As long as hatred writhes in the hearts of monsters, I will never die!"
Seth's baneful boast was cut short, when Maroon cut through his neck with his wrist-blade, slicing his head clean off. The Septarian's lifeless body then went limp; The battle was finally over.
"You talk too much." Maroon remarked, as the crowd began to cheer at the Dreaded Beast's vanquishment.
Meanwhile, Janna hurriedly rushed towards Tom's unconscious body, worried that he was killed. Star and Marco quickly accompanied her to help their injured friend.
"Tom!" Janna exclaimed, as she knelt down towards the dazed demon. He was bruised pretty bad; Not a good sign. "Wake up, dude!" She pleaded, as she lightly slapped his face. No response. "Wake up!"
Much to the three teens horror, Tom still wasn't responding. Janna's eyes started to well up with tears; Something Star had never seen her do before. As Janna started to cry softly, Star and Marco put their hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
Suddenly, the three heard a faint grow. Tom's three eyes began to open, as he looked very confused.
"Ugh...where am I?" The demon hero moaned.
"TOM!" The three teens exclaimed, as they suddenly hugged Tom, relieved the boy was still alive.
"You're okay!" Star cooed.
"Y-you scared me! I thought you died!" Janna huffed.
"Wow, you really do care about me." Tom retorted, making his crush gasp a little.
"Oh, come here, you." Janna replied, as she pulled Tom in by the horns to kiss him. The half-demon boy reciprocated by softly placing a hand on her cheek.
"Yay, Jantom!" Star squealed as she giddily waved her hands in the air.
"You did it, dude." Marco complimented, as he high-fived Tom. Once their kiss was over, the newly formed couple hugged, happy that they were both alive and well.
A short bit later, police had arrived to arrest the Dreaded Beasts, who had easily complied thanks to Janna's trusty hypnotism. In the meantime, Globgor was talking to some cops about what to do with Seth's decapitated corpse.
"So, what do we do with the, um...deceased reptile?" A policewoman asked.
"Freeze it, or dissolve it in acid. Either works, just do it quickly as possible. You don't want two of him running around." Globgor warned.
"Will do!" The other policeman responded. As the two cops started hauling Seth's head and body away, the teen heroes approached Globgor.
"Well, we finally beat the Dreaded Beasts." Maroon spoke.
"Finally, the nightmare is over." Marco retorted.
"All thanks to us. And thanks to you too, Globgor." Austin added.
"Hey, I couldn't let you kids face him without me. But for the record, you all did great." The friendly size-shifter encouraged.
"It's amazing how everyone united against Seth. Looks like people are finally getting along." Star joyfully sighed. Peace was finally coming to Echo Creek, now that the extremists, be they mewman or monster, were eliminated.
Out of the blue, something wonderful happened. A large crowd of Echo Creek citizens of all shapes and sizes started gathering around Globgor and the teens, cheering and praising the six heroes who had just saved the day. Star felt overwhelmingly joyful when she saw the cheerful crowd; Now, she finally felt like a true hero.
Also very pleased was Austin; In all his career as a superhero, he had never received this much praise for his good deeds. What's more, he finally had a worthy team to share the glory with.
Suddenly, a news reporter barged through the crowd, accompanied by a cameraman.
"Mysterious superheroes of Echo Creek? You better believe it! These six heroes just saved Echo-Palooza from five vicious monster warriors!" The reporter spoke into the camera. "You in the helmet! Who are you guys?" The reporter asked, as she held a microphone to Maroon.
"Hmm...you wanna take this one, Lady Butterfly?" Austin ask, as Star trotted over to the mic, and took it from the reporter.
"Call us...the Earth-Ni Protectors!"
Well, it's finally finished, and the Turf Wars are over at long last! This story has been immensely enjoyable to write, and it's awesome how you all have been reading it. Now that the story is over and done, it's time for some news to share!
So, at the beginning of the chapter, I talked about the "Earth-Ni Superheroes" artwork that MoringMark made, and how I altered it a bit for story purposes. In the original art, there were two heroes that didn't make the cut; Pony Head and Globgor. I said before that I dislike the former, so I replaced her with Maroon. But why did I cut Globgor from most of the story? To make a long story short, he's OP as hell with his size-shifting, so I decided to just use him sparingly instead of having him be a main part of the team.
Now that Book One is over, it's time for some information regarding Book Two. First off, it won't be coming out right away. Although writing this story is very fun, it takes a lot of time for me to do. I have other projects I'd like to work on, and I think I should rest a while before continuing with Book Two. However, here's some insider info on what the next book of MatEP will look like!
First off, the villains in Book Two are going to be very different from the villains in Turf Wars. Instead of extremist groups like the Neo-Solarians and Dreaded Beasts, the next antagonists will be an array of costumed supervillains, like the ones seen in most superhero stories.
Also, some of the supporting cast who didn't get much to do in Turf Wars will have more focus in Book Two. Some of these minor characters include River, Jackie and Buff Frog. Also, as I said earlier, Austin will be getting a love interest in this next arc. (I promise it isn't Star!)
So next year, be on the lookout for "Book Two: Heroes and Villains" in January 2021! Till then, stay spectacular, true believers!
Special thanks to MoringMark for inspiring me to write this story, and for being an amazing writer and artist! My thanks also go out to Blackspiderman, for giving me the advice and support to go through with releasing this tale...
BONUS: In my bio, there's a poll where you can vote on your favorite episode of Turf Wars, so check it out and show me which chapter you liked the best!