Here is the first part of a three chapter story arc! Fair warning it'll probably be a month before the next part since it will most likely be the longest chapter I've written.
A new page of sketches will be uploaded later tonight featuring the designs for Soluna and friends, the following page with future Starco and Jantom will follow in a few weeks between chapters.
To Sugar: That actually was one of the implications I was going for! In fact it's the reason I wrote her to be a natural brunette instead of being born with pink hair!
BEEP BEEP…BEEP BEEP…
The loud beeping of an alarm clock blared through the room; normally there would be someone asleep in the bed it sat beside. Instead the sole inhabitant of the room sat at her desk, fast asleep and face down in whatever book she had been reading late into the night. With a tired groan the pink haired teen slowly woke up and blinked her eyes open.
"…why does the alarm have to be so loud?...THE ALARM!?" Grabbing her clock, the princess looked at the time and frantically ran to her bathroom "I'm late!"
The fourteen year old princess of Earthni looked herself over in the mirror, her hair was a little messy but nothing a brush couldn't fix. With a flick of her wrist her hairbrush floated over to her and began brushing her hair on its own "I knew I should have gone to bed after the first book! Oh why did 'Irregular Cosmic Events' have to be so intriguing?!" Soluna hurriedly swapped her pajamas for her regular outfit, a white sailor style shirt with a purple collar and red tie, a matching purple skirt and white and red sneakers with knee length white socks.
The brush finished its job and floated back beside the sink as Soluna rapidly brushed her teeth, her long pink hair resembled her mother's in the back, but her bangs were a dead ringer for her dad's except for missing the tuffs in front of his ears. Her hands reached for the last piece of her outfit, a red-horned headband passed down from her mother. Placing the headband in her hair, Soluna stared at her reflection in the mirror, she smiled and yet her face didn't look totally content with the outcome.
Glancing at the clock, Soluna's eyes widened and she scurried over to her backpack, shoving everything that was on her desk inside of it before slinging it over her shoulders "I am so late! This is the worst!" she shoved the doors open and ran down the castle hallways. Her breathing was deep as she printed towards a large set of doors at the end of the hall "I'm late-I'm late-I'm late-I'm-"
The heavy doors swung open, Soluna stood in the center breathing deeply as she stared out over the view of Earthni, the sun having just risen "…late." Soluna sunk to her knees, wallowing in her sorrow.
"Soluna?" she heard her father call her name, but she refused to lift her head "You alright sweetie?" Marco knelt down beside his little girl, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder "I overslept dad. I missed the sunrise."
"Up all night reading again?"
"Uh-huh."
"I think you needed that extra sleep anyway, you're the only high schooler I've ever known that willingly wakes up at five in the morning every day just to watch the sunrise."
OXOXOXOX
Two hours later and everyone in the castle was up and awake, Soluna put a spoonful of sugar seeds in her mouth as her mother did the same "These aren't the usual flavor? What is this?" Soluna eyed the next spoonful.
"Yet another bag from that 'exotic flavor package', this one's avocado and guava." Star looked over the cereal box, she had been excited when Marco had bought a limited edition set of rare flavors for their anniversary, that excitement died when they saw the list of flavors "Still beats pineapple and lobster." The queen shuddered.
The king finally made his way into the dining room, his phone to his ear as he intently listened to what the person on the other end was saying "-Ok-got it-We'll check it out this afternoon…bye." Marco hung up as he took a seat beside his wife "You've been talking for a while, everything ok?" Star tilted her head.
"I don't know-"Marco sighed honestly "There's been a lot of reports of a strange creature lurking around the factory district. While there aren't any photo's there are plenty of eye witnesses, each describing something bizarre that doesn't sound like anything I've heard of. It's been a few months since we've had a good adventure; I figured you'd want to investigate this personally."
The prospect of going out and potentially fighting whatever the thing was brought a bright grin to the queen's face "Yes! Yes, I'm in!" it was a win-win for Star, she would get to stop a possible bad guy and not have to spend her day filling out paperwork and listening to boring meetings "Soluna do you wanna ditch school and come with us?!" Star jumped out of her seat and leaned towards her daughter, Soluna recoiled uncomfortably "Mom…"
Star slumped over as both her child and husband rolled their eyes at her, she could never understand why anyone would want to go to school of their own free will "Alright, have a good day at school then." Star said, resigned with a sigh. Soluna hugged her mom on the way out and went on her way, the blonde moaned and eyed a smug Marco to her left "You infected her with a love of the educational system, I blame you for her lack of rebellion."
OXOXOXOX
Walking into Echo Creek High School, it felt just like every other day. Marching band practiced on the field, the football team and cornball team jogged parallel to each other as they circled the parking lot, and the secret sock puppet cult held a secret meeting behind the dumpster unaware that everyone else knew their so-called 'secret'. Like any other typical day, Soluna could hear the whispers as she strolled down the hall to her locker.
'Look, it's the princess!'
'Did you know she was born able to use magic?! She didn't have to earn it like Gerold in fifth period!'
'It's only natural, haven't you heard all the awesome stuff her parents did with magic! They stopped wars, destroyed great evils, they fused two dimensions!'
'Dang with her genes, the princess's magic must be twice as strong! I bet she could stop two armies by herself!'
'She's gotta end up doing something even more legendary than her parents did!'
She'd heard all the chatter before; Soluna paid them no attention while swapping out the books in her locker with the ones she had brought from reached to gently close her locker, but someone else slammed it shut and nearly smashed her hand with it "Soluna! I got something super incredible to tell you!" "Good morning Mandy, it's nice to see you too…" the pink haired one deadpanned.
Her best friend Mandy Lucitor hovered a few inches off of the ground with the flames under her boots lightly scorching the floor underneath her. Her blue hair was uneven on both sides, her bangs included, with the hair brushed over towards the left side and ended at the middle of her neck. A black leather jacket framed her red dress that had been torn at the bottom for jagged ends, a skull choker and knee length leather boots finished the ensemble.
"Guess what?! Me and my band got a gig at the Crash Pad!" the demon girl performed a single flip in the air and landed beside her friend "You finally got in?! That amazing!" Soluna joined in on Mandy's excitement, the princess of the underworld had been trying to book a gig at the most popular rock club in town for months (except for September when their bassist was stuck in the hospital for a kidney transplant.)
"I know! It's at the end of the month, be there or be square!" Mandy poked the pink-nette in the shoulder playfully "But enough about me, did you finish that new book last night?"
Soluna hung her head shamefully "Yes, at the cost of messing up my morning routine today. I woke up at 5:49 can you believe it?!" "No, because I wake up at eight like a normal high schooler." Mandy shoved her hands in her pocket while the two walked to homeroom. School actually started at 8:45 but Mandy always had a way of making it just before the bell rang, although the school ended up roping off a parking space for her fire portals in an attempt to minimize the damage.
The girls took their seats; Soluna sat up in the front row while Mandy sat back in the back, kicking her feet up onto the desk. The rest of the students filled in one after another, as always Gina Pony Head was last into the room, chatting on the phone loudly until everyone shushed the floating purple equestrian.
Now that everyone was seated, their teacher, Bulgolyubov stood in front of the chalk board and addressed his students "Students, before we begin I have an important announcement to make!" the frog monster lacked his father's accent when he spoke, along his possessing a slimmer physique.
"It's free tater tot day in the cafeteria?!" An elk-like monster guessed.
"Principal Skullnick went bald?!" A blonde muscular kid guessed.
"School is cancelled forever?!" Mandy guessed.
"No, none of those." Mr. Bulgolyubov shot down the previous guesses "We have a new student that just transferred in today!" the frog teacher walked over to the classroom door and let in the new kid, A human boy with messy blonde hair, mostly black clothing except for a dark purple shirt and a charcoal colored lock hanging from his neck, purple eyes and a noticeable scar across the right one. The boy walked up to the front of the classroom, seemingly uninterested in the class "Student's let me introduce you to Devon-""Dev." The new kid interrupted "I go by Dev."
Before Mr. Bulgolyubov could continue the introduction, Dev walked over to the only desk available and took a seat, not even bothering to look at his classmates "Um…alright then, let's get on with our first lesson today." Mr. Bulgolyubov moved past the brief intro and went straight into the lesson.
By the time class was dismissed, all of the students were eager to rush off and eat their lunches "Now before you leave can one of you please volunteer to show Dev around the school?" the amphibian teacher had his back turned while he spoke, not noticing that there was only one student left in the room, seeing her present he assumed she had stayed back on purpose "Oh, Ms. Butterfly, thanks for volunteering."
Soluna had been stuffing her books inside of her backpack and hadn't noticed everyone else was gone, her head shot up in a panic when she realized what had happened "Wait-no I didn't-" her words fell on deaf ears (do frogs have ears?) as her teacher left to eat his own lunch and left her alone with the new boy.
The two looked at each other, awkward silence ensuing for several seconds…
"So I guess I'm showing you around."
OXOXOXOX
In another part of town two adults stepped out of a portal and took in their surroundings "Dent's in the roofs, claw marks on the walls, this place doesn't look much different to me." Star commented, she and Marco were wearing casual clothes instead of their royal attires, Marco still wore a red hoodie but a larger one opened in front and he had rolled the sleeves to his elbows. For Star she kept her signature horn headband and wore a green dress decorated with red squiggly lines and short brown boots.
"The reports said it hasn't been doing anything, just watching…" the king had his eyes glued to his tablet, looking over what little facts they knew for maybe the twelfth time "If we get lucky, it's just a harmless creature that's a little lost."
"Aw…there's never any fun with that." Star muttered under her breath, absentmindedly kicking a metal can as she went forward towards the nearest factory. Looking up at a metal sign, she read that the factory was one that made computer parts. A nearby door opened and a fuzzy monster in a business suit noticed the couple "Your majesties!" she quickly bowed.
"That's not necessary! When we're not wearing the crowns it's just Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly." Star reassured the woman, saying the same thing she did every time people treated them formerly outside of work "Are you the one in charge here?"
"Yes Mrs. Butterfly, I'm the president of cyber-keys." The monster woman gestured to the factory they had been looking at "As you know we are the number one computer store outlet in the country, we take any potential threat very seriously, so a strange thing watching our factory every night for the last week is raising some alarms."
"Can we see the witnesses? I'd like to hear their account of what they saw." Marco put his tablet under his arm and shook the lady's claw "Of course, right this way." The lady sighed with relief.
Star and Marco were shown into an office on the upper level of the factory; inside were several factory workers waiting to tell what they had seen "It had a long snout and its legs looked like an ostriches!" "The thing had ginormous ears! Like if someone stuck elephant ears on a gorilla!" "It was maybe eight feet tall!" "No way-that thing was only five feet!" "I think it had five feet…" "It was furry with long thick fur in front and sharp teeth!" "Are you crazy!? That thing was balder than Larry's head!" "Thanks a lot Kyle…"
None of the testimonies were helping whatsoever, with conflicting accounts Star and Marco couldn't even begin to try identifying such a creature. Star leaned over her husband's shoulder and took a peek at his notes "Yikes." There was hardly a space on the page that hadn't been written on, crossed out or un-crossed out "I'm not sure how, but we know less about this thing than we did when we got here." Marco rubbed his forehead, trying to soothe his headache.
"Well when we can't learn anything from the witnesses, there's only one thing to do!" Star stood up and addressed everyone in the room "Me and Marco will stakeout this place tonight and catch the whatever-it-is ourselves!" the factory workers cheered for their queen, unknowingly increasing the strain of the king's headache. But it was for Star, so he resigned himself to suffer in silence.
One of the various employee's whipped out his phone and typed out a post 'YO the queen and king r gonna catch the mystery beast tonite! Hashtagsupercool hashtagsecretmission hashtagidontthinkimdoinghashtagsright' with the push of a button the post was uploaded to twuuter for all to see.
In some remote location, a smartphone dinged and the post blipped onto the screen. An adult, human man turned at the sound of his phone and stepped away from what he was tinkering with, picking up his phone his eyes widened at the text "Drat! Looks like I'll have to speed things up." He slammed his phone back onto his desk.
The faint glow of the large monitor hovering above his seat illuminated his features, he appeared to be in his late forties, a thin black goatee on his chin and short hair that was in the early stages of turning grey. He wore a lab-coat closed against his body with a shirt and tie underneath, looking like an average scientist. He stepped back to a large tube filled with green liquid and typed a few keys in the control system beside it "You haven't been tested in the field yet, so how about doing a practice run while you pick up some spare parts." The liquid began to drain from the tube and a hatch opened once the tank was clear, an eerie green smoke filled the floor of the lab while the man let out an evil cackle.
The discarded phone flashed once more as another twuut came in, the light revealing a framed diploma beside the monitor with a name written in large black ink 'Dr. Nolan Amalgam'
OXOXOXOX
"Sooo…where would you like me to start on our tour?" Soluna awkwardly asked the anti-social boy beside her. Dev rolled his eyes in disinterest "Look pink, I know the frog said you had to show me around. But it's lunchtime so why don't we just say you gave me a great tour and grab some grub."
"Hang on a minute." Soluna's nervousness melted, she moved in front of Dev and looked him in the eye "First off it's Soluna, not pink." "You sure? Cause you look like a pink to me." The blonde teen smirked. Standing her ground Soluna took a step closer and poked her finger into his chest "Second, just for that disrespect I'm making you take a tour whether you want it or not."
"Why bother? It's the same as any other school, there's a gym, bathrooms, lockers-" Dev accurately pointed to each one as he listed them "The only thing I could learn from a tour is how to die of complete boredom."
Silently glaring daggers at the boy, Soluna turned around and worked her magic, creating a large caterpillar-bus creature with hover jets for feet. The new creature let out a sound like an air horn from its mouth, loud enough to make the immediate area shake "Still think it'll be boring?" the princess smugly asked as she turned back around.
No one was there, Dev had already left "Seriously?"
By the time Soluna had walked into the cafeteria, she spotted the new guy in the center of the room with a large group crowding around and asking questions. Dev was uninterested in the attention and silently sipped at a chocolate milk carton.
Soluna huffed and crossed her arms "Fine, be that way. But when you end up in the science wing when you're supposed to be in math don't come crying to me!"
Mandy watched her best friend stomp over to the table, mouth stuffed with french fries as she listened to Soluna grumble as she took a seat "Mhmpph umpth?" "Swallow first." The pink haired one reminded the demon. Mandy slowed chewed the rest of her lunch before repeating herself "What's up?"
By now more of their friends had sat down and looked at the princess "Dev. Mr. Bulgolyubov asked me to show him around and he sasses and ditches me!" Soluna took a sandwich out of her backpack and munched on it. Gina Pony Head gasped "Omg like who even does that?!" "…you did that to me two minutes ago…" her younger brother P.J. Pony Head pointed out.
"Forget that guy, doesn't look like he's interested in anyone here." A short kappa girl gestured back to the crowd around Dev, still asking questions that he continued to ignore.
"Favorite band?" "Any sports?" "How'd you get that scar?" the blonde actually looked up for once "I'll answer that one, I got it when I did something really cool." People were in awe of his vague response, no one the wiser than he had actually gotten the scar from running into a mailbox when he was six.
A strange ringtone that sounded like a horse whinny got the attention of the teens sitting at Soluna's table, Gina grabbed her phone with her little seahorse fins and pulled up twuuter "Yo, Lil B-fly! Your mom and dad are gonna fight some weird thing at a place tonight!" "Good description." Mandy snarked.
"Aw man that sounds so cool! All my parents do is file insurance claims…" The guy next to P.J., A boy with periwinkle hair, spoke up. The human-slime hybrid on his other side looked at Soluna excitedly "Are you going too?"
Soluna let out a quick awkward laugh "Uh not tonight. They can handle anything on their own." Truth be told she was never much of a fighter like them, she could hold her own but it wasn't anything special. Soluna silently prayed that if she chose to be queen one day the people wouldn't expect her to go around punching every evil that threatened Earthni.
Leaning back in his chair with one eye open, Dev quietly listened to the chatter happening at the other table. The teens that had been crowded around him had begun to pull out their phones and talk about the weird creature mentioned in the post. For the first time he actually looked interested in what people were talking about.
OXOXOXOX
Back at the factory district, Star and Marco sat at a table with a large fold out map in front of them, Marco tapped a pencil against the surface as he worked out some sort of strategy "Ok, so the thing was spotted watching this building from a couple of places. The majority of reports say they found it around the southwest side so that might be our safest bet."
Stealing the pencil from her husband, Star pointed to a different spot on the map "But there is a big crack in the ceiling over on the northeast. If it punched it hard enough it could cave in that portion and break in."
Marco raised an eyebrow skeptically "I really doubt this thing would be smart enough to know that."
The royals were startled as a loud crash came from somewhere else in the building, a panicked worker cried out "It's the creature! It broke in through the ceiling in the northeast!" Star smiled smugly at Marco, daring him to admit she was right "Ok maybe it is smart enou-WAIT IT'S HERE!?"
The duo burst through the door as fast as they could and instantly they spotted their mystery beast running amok in the middle of the factory. It really wasn't anything either of them had ever heard of; it was like someone took a bunch of pieces from different animals and sewed them together. It's most noticeable features were five ostrich legs underneath its bald wildcat like body, its long snout looked like an anteater but the top of its head was round and kind of wrinkly like a walrus. With its big wings like a Love Dove spread out to the fullest the thing stood around five feet tall.
"I thought it only came at night? Why is it here now?" Star looked at Marco, just as confused as he was. Another crash reminded them that they couldn't afford to just stand around asking questions, they had to stop that thing and get it contained.
Leaping over the railing, Star and Marco landed in fighting positions a few feet away from the creature. Upon noticing its new opponents, the thing let out an ear-piercing screech "Ow-a little warning next time you're gonna do that!" Marco shouted.
"Hey, we'll just return the favor." Star quipped; charging up the magic in her hands "Gummy Bear Sticky Bombs!" about a dozen colorful gummy bears shot from her magic and bombarded the creature. The cute snacks clung to its skin and beeped rapidly before exploding and coating the thing in a sticky gum material. The thing thrashed around and tried to knock the substance away, crashing into a few pieces of equipment in the process "We can't fight in here, lure it outside!" Marco relayed to Star as he used his magic to conjure a long shining rope "Titanium Tightrope!" the rope lassoed the snout and tugged the creature to the floor.
It managed to kick away some of the gum on its legs and rapidly kicked three of them against the ground, a feral look in its gaze as Marco felt the rope tighten in his grasp. The thing pushed itself forward and rammed straight into the king, plowing both of them into a wall and out of the factory floor.
"Marco!"
Star ran through the gaping hole in the wall and towards Marco and the thing, Marco was pushing it back with large magic fists around his real fists. Pushing it far enough from his body, Marco gave the thing a swift kick in the area he assumed the ribs were located. The creature staggered back and cried in pain, flinging its body upright just in time for Star to send another spell directly at it "Winterstorm Hyper Blow!" a miniature blizzard encased the creature in a thick block of ice, the only thing still able to move were the eyes.
"Well that wasn't too hard." Star wiped her forehead, getting close enough to the thing and taking a good, long look at it "Man, this thing is ugly. That bald skin is not gonna keep that guy warm in here." She gently patted the block of ice.
Joining his wife, Marco circled the frozen beast and scrutinized every detail "It's basically a one man-er...animal zoo. Other than the wings the rest of it is typical earth animals." By now many of the factory workers had gathered outside to get a look at the thing that had been watching them "Well we have absolutely no idea what it is-but it will not be coming around here again." The queen reassured them all.
"That's not the creature."
"I'm sorry what now?" Star looked back at the man that spoke up.
"That's not the same thing that I saw the other night!" the man stated once more, several others murmured and nodded in agreement "Impossible that is without a doubt the guy I saw when I was here!" another lady piped up, with the other half of the employee's agreeing with her.
Just like earlier, everyone was shouting conflicting details about what they had seen. Half matched the creature Star and Marco apprehended and half described something entirely different. The royal couple listened to all of the back and forth when Marco's eyes suddenly widened "Star, What if they're all right!?"
"What do you mean?" Star didn't like where this was going.
"Half of the accounts match this, the other half don't but are consistent with each other. There's not just one weird creature, there's two of them!"
Star gasped, Marco had to be right, it was the only thing that could make sense "But if there's two of them, where's the other one?"
OXOXOXOX
Math was the most boring subject in the world, aside from the pink haired princess up front who dutifully took notes; every other student in the classroom was desperately trying not to fall asleep during the lesson. Mandy's snores coming from the back were the only other sound besides Mr. Bulgolyubov saying the equations out loud as his chalk clinked against the blackboard.
"Now if you solve for C the answer will come out to…" Sergei started to write the answer when a brief rumble made him pause. Looking back the students that were still awake were looking around for the source of the disruption. Another rumble shook the room, this one stronger than the last, waking up the remaining students "24!" Mandy shot upright, blurting the first number she thought of in hopes of answering whatever problem she assumed the teacher asked her.
The ceiling loudly creaked and a huge furry beast fell through the roof and onto a couple of desks, the students scattered to the edges of the room and tried to determine what it was that just interrupted the class. The creature was huge, around eight feet tall, covered head to toe in thick black fur. It had enormous ears like an elephant, a beefy torso and arms resembling a gorilla, clawed feet that could be from a dragon if it wasn't so hairy and a face like a coyote with long fangs from a Mewnian Saber-Bull.
"What the heck is that thing?!" One of the boys screeched.
"I don't know but it's going on my blog." Gina grabbed her smartphone and snapped a photo, the camera flash startled the creature, setting its sight on the teenagers "RRRAAWWOOOOWWWRRR!" a loud roar erupted from its jaws, causing everyone to scream back at it and make a break for the door.
Mr. Bulgolyubov pushed the door open and helped his students escape "One at a time! Stay calm everyone!" only half of the kids made it out before the thing decided to lunge at the kids in the back of the crowd. Thinking quickly, Soluna quickly brought up a force field that knocked the thing back for a moment "GO!" she ushered whoever was left to get away. The creature snarled and shoved past the princess, ramming into the wall and toppling a portion of it over onto the hallway.
A few terrified yelps alerted Soluna that a couple of people were hit by the rubble, she let her shield down for a moment as she went to help but realized her mistake almost a moment too late. The thing saw her lowered defense and made a swipe at her, only missing because a burst of fire grazed its arm "Hey, ugly!" Mandy hovered above the beast "You're about to be…to be…crap, I can't think of a good fire pun!"
The beast roared and pursued the demon girl, allowing those still behind to take a moment to breathe and get to safety. Soluna lifted the rubble up with her magic; thankfully no one was hurt too badly "MY PHONE! MY PRECIOUS PHONE!" Gina mourned her cellphone that had been dropped and crushed by the debris, unaware of the people actually in pain glaring at her.
"Is this everyone?" Mr. Bulgolyubov scanned over his students, a squirrel girl raised her hand "No, the first group that got out ran down towards the cafeteria!" the same direction Mandy was leading the creature, Soluna realized. Summoning a creature that resembled the 'Cloudy' her mother created, but with a big number 2 on its side, Soluna jumped on and flew over the school in hopes of beating that creature to the cafeteria.
As she approached, several screams filled the air, all coming from the cafeteria "Hurry!" she pleaded to her summon, his tiny wings flapping rapidly until they reached the destination. Dismounting from Cloudy 2, Soluna found the creature rampaging through the cafeteria, every student hiding under tables and Mandy buzzing around the thing like a demonic fly.
Crouching down next to a few teens under a table, Soluna whispered to them "What are you still doing here!?" "It's blocking the exits!" One of the teens pointed out, sure enough it had caved in one entrance and it was standing directly in front of the other "Seriously!?" Soluna pulled at her hair.
An audible smack could be heard, followed seconds later by a screaming demon girl being thrown through the air and into a wall "I'm okay!"
Without Mandy keeping it distracted, the beast changed its focus towards the people hiding under the tables. It knocked a table to the side with its large hands and made a move to grab at the unlucky bunch that had been hiding there. His grasp was within a hair's reach "Ophiuchus Snake Strike!" a green snake shaped spell ensnared its arm and jerked it away.
"I don't know how long I can hold him, hurry out!" the princess called to whoever was in the cafeteria. The students wasted no time in shuffling out the exit, the snake spell held the beast for a solid minute before it broke apart when the beast pulled its arm backwards and slammed into the doorframe. Soluna stepped back and caught her breath, from the looks of it everyone managed to evacuate "Arrgh!" or perhaps not.
While no one had gotten caught in the collapsing exit, there was still one boy stuck with two tables weighing down his back "Oh you can't be serious…" she recognized the blonde hair on the teen attempting to move the tables with his single free arm. The creature noticed Dev trapped and walked straight towards him.
"Supernova Fireworks!" countless tiny fireballs rained down onto the creature, causing it to howl in pain as the magic singed its dark fur. The moment it turned its back Soluna skid over to Dev and levitated the tables away, yanking him by the sleeve of his jacket she led him behind the lunch counter at the opposite end of the hall.
"That should buy us a little time." The pink-haired girl was out of breath, she could hardly imagine what it felt like for her parents to do stuff like this. Her mind raced a mile a minute, what was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to beat it up, run away and get someone else more experienced, Soluna swallowed the lump of anxiety caught in her throat and prayed the adrenaline would kick back in.
"Why did you do that?"
A quiet voice penetrated her racing thoughts, it came from the boy crouched down to her right, eyeing her in genuine confusion "Huh?" she muttered, waiting for him to clarify "Why would you help me? I have done literally nothing for you."
"I'm not just going to sit by and watch that animal combo platter tear someone limb from limb, even a jerk like you doesn't deserve that." Soluna answered simply.
Dev was dumbfounded, averting his eyes as he let out a soft whisper "…thanks…" his one word bringing a smile to Soluna's face "Yeah I'm here too don't worry about me." A third voice piped up, the two teens noticing Mandy sitting on her knees across from them, rubbing her head in an attempt to soothe the pain she felt "You feeling ok Mandy?" Soluna asked, leaning over and holding her best friend's shoulder "I'm sore, but that thing is gonna be feeling even worse after I'm through with it!"
The demon princess tried to stand up, but Soluna's hand pushed her back down "Hey-""Hold on a minute, if we go out there without a plan it'll kick our butts." The pink haired girl brought up; receiving a scoff from the lone male in return "You really think having a plan will be enough to take that thing down?"
"No, I don't." Soluna answered truthfully "But it's better than trying to fight it with brute strength."
Dev paused "…well if that thing is gonna kill us, let's not make it easy for it." He resigned himself to the probable mauling they would receive "Hold up-"Mandy stopped him "I got demon powers, she's got magic, how do you plan to fight?"
Wordlessly, Dev grabbed a discarded pipe on the ground and spun it around like a baton "I can handle myself pretty well."
Having one more person on board, Soluna felt a tiny bit less nervous about this. She still felt like she could throw up when everything calmed down though "Hoo…" she silently pressed her hands together, sweat gathering on her forehead "Ok so here's what we do-"
The unknown creature wandered around the abandoned cafeteria, sniffing the air for the faint trace of the scent it sought. A soft rattling drew it's focus and it spread out its large ears, listening for the source of the noise. Creeping slowly it approached one of the toppled tables, the rattling grew louder as it drew closer. Curious, the thing lifted the table out of the way and found a demon girl kneeling on the ground shaking salt and pepper shakers like maracas.
"Bet you're wondering why I'm doing this?" The beast tilted it's head in confusion, it really was wondering why she was doing that "Well I'll tell ya...I'm the distraction!"
The beast felt a heavy metal object collide with its neck, releasing pained noises while it flailed its arms wildly. Dev ducked under an arm and struck again, this time under the armpit. The blow seemed to cause more damage than he anticipated as the affected arm fell to its side limply. The creature bared its teeth at Dev and retaliated with its other arm. He tried to do the same to the right arm, but the thing was on it's guard now and wouldn't let him even get close.
"Hey Pink, you're up!" Dev fended off the beast with his pipe, chipping it's fang as he swiped it in front of him.
"I don't approve of that nickname!" The princess shouted when making her entrance, she climbed onto a counter and jumped onto the back of the creature. The second she made contact she shouted "Gravity Reversal!" she pushed herself away and watched the beast start to float off of the ground. The thing freaked out and thrashed its body all around, pushing itself upside down as it hovered in place "It worked, the spell actually worked!"
"Wait, you've never done this before?" Dev began to question the plan, and the seemingly rational princess "Nope, but I thought if I modified my levitation spell to cause weightlessness and-""Nerd talk later, hit the freak now." The boy stopped her before she could start rambling on the process that went into her spell. Mandy breathed a sigh of relief, all too familiar with her best friend's little quirks.
With the creature suspended in the air, it was powerless to avoid the onslaught that the three teens had in store for it. Dev went first with his pipe, proceeding to smack the creature like a piñata while it made futile attempts to grab the blonde. Mandy followed up next by flying in circles around it, taking hold of its ear and spinning it with her like a tornado.
Letting go, the thing spun a few more times on its own before slowly coming to a dizzying stop. It was Soluna's turn to strike, red magic danced across her hands, leaving a glowing trail as she drew a large circle in the air, finishing it with a dot in the center "Astarte Solar Ray!" the dot in the center expanded to the edges of the circle and released a blinding red and gold beam that enveloped the creature.
The thing hissed as the light covered it, lasting only a few seconds before it fell to the floor with a loud thud, its fur blackened and smoking. Its eye creaked open, the trio of teenagers filling its vision. Soluna began preparing a containment spell, but a strange humming from inside the creature made her stop.
The humming grew louder and louder, Dev grabbed Soluna's wrist and pulled her away from the smoking beast. Mandy surrounded them in a flaming barrier as the humming filled the room; a sickening pop accompanied the sight of the creature exploding violently as it filled the air with smoke.
"It-it blew up…" Soluna watched in shock.
The smoke began to clear and the three noticed chunks of the body around the room, rapidly changing into green goo and melting away into nothing. Mandy released her barrier, all three frozen with their jaws dropped.
"Excuse me for one moment." Soluna spoke oddly calm, moving to the nearest trash can and proceeding to vomit from both what she had just witnessed and the overall stress of the whole ordeal.
OXOXOXOX
The trio hadn't even walked halfway through the empty hallway when a squad of police came marching through past them, a single officer stopped and addressed the princess "Ms. Butterfly we received reports of an unidentified creature in the school! Are you kids unharmed?"
"We're alright." Soluna answered, taking quick looks at the people on her left and right, her demon bestie stepped forward and added "More than that, we beat that whatever it was!" "But then it exploded and there's nothing left." Dev added onto her as well.
The officer's eyebrows shot up "Exploded! Great now there's no evidence of either one of them."
"Wait do you mean-"Soluna tried to ask before the officer received a transmission over his radio, he gave the princess a polite nod and left to inform his team of what he had been told. The three teens shared an uncertain look before attempting to once again leave the school.
"SOLUNA!"
The girls recognized the pair of voices shouting the former's name, faster than she could react Soluna felt two pairs of arms crushing her into a tight hug "Hi mom, hi dad." She choked as she greeted them.
Star and Marco loosened their hold on their daughter but remained holding her close "Sweetheart are you ok?!" Marco looked her up and down for any sign of injury, prompting his little girl to roll her eyes "I'm fine, the three of us took care of that thing." The king and queen finally noticed the other two watching the hug from a few feet away "Sup Mr. and Mrs. B?" Mandy waved casually, Dev only smiled nervously.
Star proudly smiled at all of them "That's my girl, kicking butt and saving the day!" she nuzzled the top of her daughters head, knocking her headband out of place and messing up her hair "Mom! Not when my friends are watching…"
"You kids didn't happen to contain it did you?" Marco still bore a serious expression as he looked between the three of them, the teens shook their heads and Dev awkwardly answered, avoiding eye contact as much as he could "Uh hello sir! I'm new here-that thing exploded once we beat it."
The king sighed "Just like the one we caught." Shortly after apprehending the creature at the factory, the creature had exploded into nothing while they stepped off to the side to talk. No DNA, no trace of anything ever existing, and no way to find out where it came from and why it was there.
"Hang on, so that thing was the same as what you guys were after? But why did it come here?" Mandy asked the big question. Star and Marco couldn't give an answer, just a firm nod before addressing the kids again "We're really proud of you three, but we'll handle this sitch from now on." Star looked Soluna in the eye, her daughter all too relieved to agree with her.
Parting ways with her parents, Soluna and her friends finally made it out of the school, a large crowd swarmed them and rapidly asked questions while talking over each other. The pink-haired princess froze up at all the attention; thankfully Mandy pushed her aside and began answering questions for her. Soluna went and stood off to the side, Dev quickly walking up beside her and leaning back against one of the walls.
"Hey Pink?"
"Are you ever going to call me by my actual name?"
"Nope." Dev answered bluntly "Back in front of your parents, did you refer to me as your friend?"
Soluna hadn't even realized when she had said it, it surprised her to think about it and more surprising to know she actually meant it "My parents always told me anyone you can fight alongside with is a friend, so I guess that does make us friends." She figured.
"Yeah well…maybe you're not so boring after all." He begrudgingly admitted "A nerd, yes. Boring, no."
"Well this nerd just saved our lives so you're welcome you obnoxious jerk." Soluna said with a big smile on her face, actually getting an amused smile from the boy "So is the offer for a tour still valid?"
OXOXOXOX
Dr. Amalgam sat at his desk, observing the news broadcast on the large monitor before him. He tented his fingers under his chins while observing the headlines; his chimera had been defeated by the king and queen when it had attacked the factory, however he had sent two chimera and only one was brought up. If they had gone as a pair like intended they might have completed their mission.
His phone rang at his side; he paused the video and answered the phone with annoyance "This better be important."
"Chill dad, it's just me." The scientist demeanor changed instantly when he heard the voice, perking up and responding eagerly "Dev! Oh it's so good to hear from you! How was your first day of school?"
Sitting on a rooftop somewhere in the city, Dev looked out at the view with an annoyed scowl "Oh just the usual, people ask questions, the cafeteria food was bad and Chimera number 42 showed up and wrecked the place."
"…what…" Dev could only imagined the shocked expression on his father's face "Yeah, 42 came crashing into my class and rampaged through the halls." "Son are you hurt?!" Dr. Amalgam worried over the phone, at least now he knew why 42 hadn't been accompanying 43, the bulky chimera had a habit of chasing after Dev at the lab and must have picked up his scent on the way there.
"I'm fine, but I kiiiinda had to beat it up and let it explode." Granted Dev never liked the thing, and the murderous glare it sent him after he hit its weak point probably made the feeling mutual. He had always thought programming a self-destruct into the chimera's DNA had been overkill but now he was thankful for it.
The Doctor let out a sigh of relief "As long as you're safe that's all that matters. I can make as many chimera as I want, but I can't make another you." "Dad, please!" the blonde was thankful there was no one around to hear his dad's sappy displays of affection. Shifting gears, Dev decided to mention the other big point of his day "By the way, when I took out 42 I ended up making a new friend. Princess Soluna Butterfly."
"Dev that is…incredible! You were only supposed to gather Intel and you end up befriending the princess! You always go above and beyond your assignments!" his dad praised him, Dev let out a small smile since he knew his dad couldn't see him. The last time his dad saw him visibly happy he took photographs to commemorate such a rare event "Yeah, my mission will be much easier this way. I'm gonna grab some dinner and then I'll head back."
"Alright son, see you soon I love you!" and then he hung up, for once he didn't pester Dev to say I love you back like he usually did. Pocketing his phone, Dev fiddled with the lock around his neck and peered down at the people below. If everything went according to plan, all of this would change.
