*The Location: Jay's Workspace. The Time: Unknown.*
*We open on a flat, sandy plain that has been hastily converted into an improvised training field and obstacle course. All around the area, various practice dummies stand, all of which are made to resemble the Cogs from the now-defunct online game Toontown Online. Then, a lone, armored figure approaches the start of the course: RJ "Jay" Writing Ink. Only instead of his previous Mandalorian armor, now he's wearing a fusion of it and the armor of the Clone Commandos of the Bad Batch. In addition, he's also got a jetpack, he's sporting a DC-17 Blaster Rifle, and he's got a lightsaber-blaster hybrid attached to a clip next to his belt. All told, he looks like a total badass as he turns to look at the readers.*
Jay: So, you're probably wondering why I'm wearing this fusion of various characters from Star Wars. Well, there are two reasons. First, this week had Star Wars Day and the premiere of the new show Star Wars: The Bad Batch, so I've got Star Wars on the brain.
*Jay then cocks his rifle*
Jay: The second reason is that I'm pissed at Disney to delay the Amphibia season finale at the last minute and then let it go up on iTunes. Not cool, Disney! Not. Cool. So, I decided the healthiest way to deal with this UNYIELDING RAGEwas to take it out on some training dummies. It looks like Kermit's already going to town on the thing.
*Off in the distance, blaster fire and various explosions can be heard going off as various body parts from the training dummies fly through the sky and land at Jay's feet*
Kermit: DON'T WORRY, HOP POP, I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU! DIE, YOU SONS OF BITCHES! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT RESPECTING MY FELLOW FROG'S GANGSTA! AHHHHHH!
Jay: Yeah, he was really, really pissed at Disney. Better go help him. In the meantime, I hope that you guys enjoy my version of "Freeze Day." It will mean Za Warudo to me. NOT SORRY.
*Jay then takes out his lightsaber and proceeds to dual-wield it with his blaster rifle as he charges onto the course*
Jay: HEY KERMIT, SAVE SOME FOR ME!
In the Diaz family's bathroom, Comet was putting the finishing touches on himself before getting ready to head to school for the day. Carefully, he ran a comb through his hair to straighten it out enough for it to give the appearance of neatness. Given how he typically wore a hat, most people would think he didn't care about his hair's appearance, but that wasn't true. He did care, just not enough to spend hours doting on it as some would. Once he felt satisfied, he put the comb down and put on one of the many horned hats he had in his wardrobe. However, as he looked at himself in the mirror, something didn't feel quite right.
"Hmm...not sure why, but I don't feel like it's a horn day," Comet remarked as he looked at himself in the mirror. Picking up his Wand from where he left it on the sink, Comet used it to tap his head and started cycling through different headwear, feeling that a change of pace was in order today.
One of the perks about Earth was that it never lacked when it came to fashion. Factor in the power of Comet's Wand, and the boy found he could feasibly adopt any article of clothing he saw on TV, in video games, or elsewhere. So, Comet began to concentrate on any cool headwear he'd seen in pop culture. His first choice was a pink baseball cap from a cartoon in the 2000s.
"Nah," he said as he shook his head.
After that, he tried a trucker hat with a red ribbon on the front with two Rs on either side.
"Nope."
The third time was a baseball hat with a blue pine tree on the front.
"It's close, but not quite."
He tried the original hat worn by Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon anime for fun. It still wasn't doing it, though he did decide to keep if he ever wanted to cosplay.
After going through several more choices that included a soda-drinking hat labeled "#1", a shinobi headband, a 1940's Feodora, and various helmets from Star Wars, Comet finally settled on one he liked: a simple, golden yellow straw hat with a red brim and a string attached that felt just right.
"Perfect! Just like that one anime I love!" Comet said to his reflection with a smile as he felt ready to take on the day. At that moment, though, Marcia burst into the bathroom in a panic. Her skirt, shorts, and shoes were already on, but she was struggling to pull one of her long-sleeved red shirts over her head, leaving her slim top-half exposed, save for the pink bra she was wearing. Fortunately for Comet, she was too freaked out to realize Comet might see something and would get a pummelling for it. Fortunately for Marcia, Comet was too distracted by the laser puppies and Coryn, who yapped and hooted at her feet the entire time.
"Out of the way, you guys! I'm already running late, and I don't need any more distractions!" Marcia shouted at the animals and Pokémon as she ran for the sink and proceeded to use her hairbrush and toothbrush in the wrong locations. When she finally realized what she was doing, Marcia froze up before swapping them out as she talked a mile a minute.
"Okay, Marcia, calm down. No need to panic because you overslept again. Ooh, where's my headband?!" As she continued brushing her teeth and hair, she tried tearing through the stuff in the bathroom in search of her trademark headband, even as the puppies started firing lasers everywhere.
"Um, Marcia, I don't know why you're freaking out so badly. We got plenty of time to make it to school." Comet said as he watched the chaos unfold, silently noting how weird it was to be the one looking from the inside for once instead of being the cause. At this, Marcia stood up, shook off some things she got in her hair, and looked at Comet.
"This isn't about education, Comet! It's about love!" She said before getting a dreamy smile on her face. "Every day at 8:59 AM, I make it to school and head for my locker to wait for Jackson. At 9:00 AM, he comes by my locker riding on his skateboard, showing off his sweet moves the entire time. We say 'hi' to each other and give each other a high-five before he stops to come over and talk to me before class starts." Marcia sighed in happiness as she remembered all the times they'd done this before getting serious again.
"It's our little tradition that we've done for years, Comet," she explained. "It's all a part of my big plan to show him that I'll always be there to support him and his dreams, and thus that I'm the perfect girl for him!"
Comet couldn't help but let his eyes go wide with puppy love at this. "Aww, that's so sweet, Marcia," he told her as he admired her dedication. "But wait, I don't get it. If you like him so much, why don't you just ask him out already? I'm sure he'd say yes, Marcy."
"But that's the thing, Comet. We've been friends for years, and I've had a crush on him for even longer. It took me years alone to work up the nerve to talk to him!" The panicked look began to return to Marcia's face as she remembered all the times she tried and failed to speak to Jackson before she finally succeeded. "I need to be absolutely, unequivocally sure that he likes me back before I even think of asking him out. Otherwise, it could compromise our entire friendship! Then the next thing you know, he'll want to stop hanging out with me, he'll move on with his life, and I'll be ALL ALONE FOREVER!" Marcia was practically inches away from Comet's face as she said this last part, making Comet look away awkwardly.
"Look, all I'm saying is that this is a little bit overkill," Comet told his best friend. "And before you say 'Comet, you're doing the same thing with Karla,' I'm well aware of the hypocrisy. But to be fair, I'm waiting for the right moment to tell her."
Marcia narrowed her eyes at this. "Also, I need to get to my locker early and guard it so that Jonah can't break in and mess with my stuff."
"Okay, that part I do understand," Comet said when he heard that, aware of how much of a kick Jonah got out of messing with Marcia. "Well, how much time do we have? Worst case scenario, we can use the scissors to head there."
Marcia pulled her phone out of her shorts pocket and looked at the clock, with her eyes growing as wide as dinner plates. "Oh, crapbaskets! It's 8:58! We'll never make it in time!" Marcia started to moan in despair, but only for a brief second as she suddenly got a crazy idea.
"Wait a minute...Comet! You can use your Wand to freeze time so we can get there on time!" She told her best friend, who blinked before laughing at the suggestion.
"Hahahahaha! So your whole plan is basically 'Za Warudo'? I know I'm good, Marcia, but I don't think I'm that good," he lightly teased her. She was not amused.
"Comet! I've seen your magic do things that shouldn't scientifically be possible!" Marcia pointed out. "Stopping time would be like child's play for you at this point!"
Comet scoffed at this. "Marcia, if I knew how to stop time, I would've done it a long time ago, no pun intended," he said as he held up his Wand. "I mean, what? You expect me just to wave my Wand and say something like 'easy peasy time freezy'?" No sooner had he said those words did his Wand glow a bright pink light as a magic, ticking clock effect appeared over the two teens while the sound effect for "Za Warudo" played in the background. In an instant, the barking puppies and Pokémon began to slow down before, finally, freezing in midair. The two teens looked around in confusion as their brains began to process what just happened. The two looked at each other and then at the puppies, who remained frozen stiff. Even the lasers one of the puppies shot out were frozen like a statue.
Against her better judgment, Marcia stepped forward and touched one of the lasers the puppies fired. She immediately regretted it, as her finger burned from the white heat of the laser. Instinctively, she recoiled her finger before putting it in her mouth to cool it off.
"Um, what just happened?" Marcia asked.
"I think...I think I froze time," Comet said. Even he was a little surprised that that happened. The two teens then tentatively stepped out of the bathroom and began to look around the house. Downstairs, Mrs. Diaz had been busy making pancakes when she froze in the middle of flipping one in the air. In the parent's bathroom, Mr. Diaz was in the middle of singing opera to a rubber ducky while wearing a Viking helmet. Both of them were stiff as a board.
"Whoa," Marcia said as she looked around in awe. In all the time she'd come to know Comet and seen him do things that defied the laws of physics and reality, this had to rank among the craziest things. "You did it. You, you crazy son of a bitch. You actually did it," Marcia muttered to herself. "You actually froze time!" she said to Comet excitedly.
"So it would seem," Comet said as the shock wore off. Comet gasped. "Marcia, do you know what this means?!"
"That I can get to school on time, say hi to Jackson, and stop Jonah from messing with me?" Marcia guessed.
"Forget school!" Comet shouted while waving his hands around. "It's a ~freeze daayy!~," the boy said in a sing-songy tone. "Come on, best friend! Let's go do all the things that we could never get away with before!" Comet ran out of the door, whooping and hollering like a kid in a candy store.
"But, Comet! What about scho-oh wait. We don't have to go to school since we got all the time in the world!" Marcia let a huge grin split her face as she ran out to join her best friend in some fun.
After running out of the house, the first thing the two did was take notice of the mailman, who was nervously approaching their home covered in makeshift armor made out of junk labeled "Anti-Laser Puppy Armor." Seeing how scared the poor guy was at the approaching puppies, the two took pity on him and decided to move him away from the mailbox. But not before they took the mail he meant to give them.
Next, the two went to the local park where Comet insisted on using magic to paint mustaches on everyone. Some of them turned about better than others, though, as magic wasn't the easiest medium to use to draw stuff. Once they finished with that, the two took everyone in the park and stacked them together to create everything from a pyramid to a swing set made out of interconnected people and played on them.
Once they finished at the park, the two moved on to the Echo Creek mall and proceeded to help themselves to everything. Marcia learned that Comet could eat far more than the average person from that experience. Once the boy stuffed himself to the point where he looked like a balloon with arms and legs, Marcia dragged him to all the clothing stores she could find and forced him to judge as she tried out new clothes. He wasn't into it at first due to his stomachache, but once he used his Wand to speed up his metabolism and burn through all the calories, he enjoyed it.
After that, the town continued running around town and enjoying themselves. They stopped by the Dojo, where they found Jeremy mid-leap into the air. Marcia hung him by his underwear from the nearest coat-hanger before Comet wrote the words "I'm a loser" on his face. At the school, they found Lars in the middle of giving a poor kid a wedgie, so they freed his victim and returned the favor to the big, hulking brute. Once they got hungry again, they proceeded to have a picnic on some of the cars on the freeway.
Once more time passed (from their perspective, at least), the two swung back home and slept for as long as they wanted before continuing their antics. That is after Marcia insisted on using it to finish all her homework for the rest of the year up in advance, to Comet's irritation. This was quickly forgotten, though, when they looked in the backyard and saw Ludo coming out of a portal. The two took turns posing with the skull hat he wore before drawing a mustache on him and giving him the mother of all wedgies.
Spongebob Narrator: A Few Days Later...
"Oh, man. That has to be the funnest two weeks of my entire life!" Marcia said as the two entered the school, having done as much as they could do around Echo Creek with time frozen.
"I know, right! I'm pretty sure half the stuff we did would end with us getting arrested!" Comet said as he remembered some of the fun and potentially illegal antics they indulged in. "We should do this again sometime and invite the whole gang," he suggested.
"Speaking of which, look!" Marcia pointed ahead to see Jackson on his U-Board, making his way to Marcia's locker. "There he is, right on time, like always!" After looking ahead even further, he then spotted the familiar sight of Jonah, also headed in the same direction. "Pfft, it figures that he's trying to get there and mess with my stuff."
"Oh, come on, Marcia. I know that he likes to get on your nerves, but I don't think he'd resort to breaking into your locker," Comet said, trying to vouch for their mutual friend.
"Comet, he regularly steals my house keys. I've had to resort to carrying around decoys to throw him off my trail," Marcia countered before getting a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh ho ho, I'm going to teach that boy a listen he won't forget!" Before Comet could even ask what she was going to do, Marcia had already run off. As the boy watched in confusion, Marcia then proceeded to grab Jonah and throw him in the nearest trash can before leaving him a note of some kind before returning to Comet with a smile on her face.
"Okay, I'll bite: what was that about, Marcia?" Comet asked in confusion.
"Oh, just a little warning to Jonah about what will happen to him if I ever catch him breaking into my locker again," Marcia said with a wicked grin on her face.
"And you threw him in the trash can to psych him out and give off the illusion that you can get at him when he least expects it, huh?" Comet asked, to which Marcia nodded in affirmation. "That's ice-cold, girl. I'm impressed! High five!" The two gave each other a high five before finally making it to Marcia's locker. Comet watched as his friend took a minute or two to get into what she called "the proper high five pose," much to his amusement.
"You done yet, Marcia?" Comet asked when it looked like she settled on something.
"Yep," Marcia nodded. "Okay, Comet: feel free to start time whenever you want."
"Copy, Red Leader," Comet said as he held up his Wand. "Easy Peasy Time Unfreezy!" He shouted! But nothing happened. The two amigos looked around and saw that everything remained frozen in place.
Comet tried again. "I said, Easy Peasy Time Unfreezy!" Still, nothing happened. Comet began to look around at everything nervously. "Uh oh."
"Comet, why isn't anything moving?" Marcia nervously asked her best friend.
"Um, Marcia, how mad would you be if I told you that I don't know?" Comet reluctantly questioned her.
"Oh no...please tell you didn't break time, Comet!" Marcia groaned.
"Now, hold on, Marcia. I think I remember reading something about this exact scenario in my spellbook," Comet desperately told his friend to stave off her potential wrath. "If we head back to my room, we should find something that could fix all this."
Marcia sighed. She couldn't get mad at Comet for this. She was the one who suggested it in the first place, so she was just as guilty. "All right, then. Let's try and fix time before we die of old age or something dumb."
"TO THE SPELL BOOK!"
Spongebob Narrator: One Batman Transition Later
Back at the house, Comet and Marcia sat down in Comet's room and grabbed hold of the spellbook. Grunting as he opened it up, Comet then began to turn the pages in search of his magical teacher.
"Alright, Glossaryck. I know that we're not scheduled to do magic lessons today, but we've got a situation, so I don't want to hear any...shit." Comet opened a page of the book to find Glossaryck fast asleep, hugging onto a giant stuffed teddy bear, frozen in place just like everyone else.
"Great," Comet complained. "The one time I need Glossaryck, and he's frozen like everyone else!"
"To be fair, I don't really like the little guy in the first place," Marcia as she narrowed her eyes at the blue man. "Stupid pudding hog."
Comet closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn't rely on Glossaryck's help, or, Mewni forbid, the aid of his Dad. He was on his own. Wait a minute. I think I remember reading something about this before. Thinking fast, Comet began to turn the pages of the book, frantically trying to find what he hoped would be a solution.
"Uh, Comet? Care to fill me in about your plan is?" Marcia asked from over his shoulder, perplexed by her friend's behavior.
"Hopefully, a way out of this mess. I remembered reading something like this in King Skye's chapter before," Comet carefully explained.
"The King of Hours? The guy who built your family's castle in that Groundhog Day time loop?"
"That's the one. If I'm right, then King Skye should have written about something like this happening to him," Comet said as he came upon his ancestor's entries. "Let's see here...what to do if you blow up a dimension...deleting gravity...how to travel through time...what to do if you face a bunch of angry beings in mobile trash cans...keeping the world eating serpent Jormungandr at bay."
"Wow. And here I thought you were the craziest person in your family, Comet." Even under their circumstances, Marcia couldn't resist playfully ribbing at her friend.
"I've always looked up to King Skye for his many misadventures," Comet told her. "Speaking of which, I was right about him. One time he accidentally froze time, just like I wound up doing." Comet put the book down and showed his friend his ancestor's entry about his own "freeze day" experience.
"Did he leave any advice on how to fix this?"
"Yep. It says here that to get time moving again, we need to head to the Plains of Time and restart the Wheel of Progress," Comet pointed to an illustration that showed off a giant hamster wheel.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!"
As the two stepped through the portal, they found a breathtaking, if not weird, sight awaiting them. Standing before them was a vast desert, punctuated by a sparse few rocks, trees, and rivers. Above them, the sky was purplish with strange, spiraling patterns, blanketing the land in perpetual twilight. The strangest thing, though, was that the entire landscape contained countless melted clocks, resting on the sands, the rocks, and even in the branches.
"Wow. It's like stepping right into Salvador Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory,'" Marcia said as she looked around in awe.
"I have no idea who that is or what you're even talking about, Marcia." Comet bluntly told her.
"Salvador Dali? The artist? We learned about him in art class, remember?" When Marcia saw that Comet was drawing a blank, she realized he never paid attention. "You were looking up manga on your compact in class again, weren't you?"
"Hey! I'll have you know that manga is an art form too, you know!" Comet said, defending his tastes and decisions to ignore the teacher.
"Whatever, I still think this is one of the weirder places we've ended up."
"Oh, I don't know about that, Marcy. Remember the dimension of c..." Marcia put a finger up to Comet's mouth, silencing him.
"No, no! We both agreed to never talk about that place again! It gave me nightmares for days!" Just thinking about that accursed dimension was enough to make Marcia shudder.
"Hey, look! I think that's the Wheel over there!" Comet pointed off in the distance. Sure enough, a giant wheel was standing in the middle of the desert, connected to a massive, ancient-looking gear.
"Oh yeah, this is the Wheel of Progress," Marcia thought aloud.
"So, any ideas on how to start it up?" Comet asked her.
"Don't worry, Comet," Marcia told her as she began to stretch. "I've got this. I didn't do all those leg exercises for nothing, you know!"
"I thought you did them so you stayed in shape and would look great in a swimsuit," Comet snarked.
"Well, that too!" Marcia admitted as she confidently stepped onto the Wheel. Putting one foot forward, Marcia tried to get the giant Wheel started...only for nothing to happen. She tried once more, putting a little more effort into it. Again nothing happened.
"Come on, you stupid Wheel! Work with me!" Marcia grunted in frustration. The only reward for her efforts was her slipping on the unmoving spokes and then landing upside down, with her head caught between two of the spokes. Unfortunately for her, the forces of gravity made her skirt fall upside down, revealing everything underneath. Once again, Marcia was grateful that she had the sense to wear shorts underneath her skirt.
"Um, a little help?" Marcia said in embarrassment.
"Okay," Comet said before pointing his Wand at the Wheel, which made Marcia's eyes grow wide in shock.
"No, wait, bad Comet! That's not what I meant!" Marcia shouted before shutting her eyes, bracing herself for whatever Comet was about to do.
"Supersonic Hedgehog Rotation!" A blue stream of magical light shot out of the Wand, bouncing around the Wheel for a few seconds, narrowly avoiding hitting Marcia before it came to a rest next to Comet, revealing an off-color version of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Marcia blinked as Comet and the hedgehog looked at the Wheel, with the latter mimicking Comet as he scratched his head in confusion over the problem they were facing.
"Hmm. Really wish that Skye had been more specific about how he fixed this."
"Skye? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time," a new voice said. "By the way, magic won't work on that. You've gotta use the magic of toesies!" The duo turned around to see a giant, blue-skinned man sitting on the ground. With his white robes, clock hanging on a chain like a medal, and the beard that went down to his waist, he looked like either a wise old sage or some kind of hipster.
"Who are you?" Marcia asked as Comet finally pulled her out of the Wheel.
"Me? Oh, I'm Father Time," the big man said as he introduced himself. "Oh, and this is Rocksworth." Father Time held up a rock with a smiley face drawn on it. "He's a rock. Just don't bring that up. He's very sensitive about it." Father Time giggled and made some motorboat noises as he continued to play on the ground while the two teens looked at each other in concern.
"So, I'm gonna out on a limb here and guess that you're the one that pushes this thing?" Marcia guessed.
"Yep. Been on that thing for...well, forever. Until I got blasted one day about three hundred years ago, then this guy that looked a little like you showed up and made me get back on. And then someone else used a freeze spell that knocked me off about two weeks ago. Oh, what's that?" Father Time then enthusiastically ran over to a random puddle.
"Um, that's mud."
"Ohhh, mud! Glorious!" Before either teen could react, the entity fell face-first into the mud puddle and proceeded to roll around in it like a little kid. Much to their disgust, he then put a handful of the stuff on his tongue before spitting it out in revulsion. Marcia was lucky enough to dodge it before it hit her in the face.
Trying to reason with the old man, Marcia stepped forward and tried to speak to her. "Okay, look, Father Time. I know that you're having fun right now, but it would mean a lot to us if you get back on the Wheel and start running some more. It's kind of important for the Universe that you do so," she explained. Much to her dismay, Father Time didn't seem to hear her. He just kept running around and pointing at random things.
"Oh, look, a bush! And that must be a twig! And that must be..." Father time pointed at what looked like a giant goose with a clock on a chain honking it around the Plains. "Okay, I don't know what that thing is, but I love the way it waddles!"
"Why won't he listen to me?" Marcia growled, frustrated at her inability to reason with the guy.
"Well, duh. This is the first time that he's seen any of this stuff before. He's not going to listen to people when there are so many new and exciting things to be seen!" Comet told her, which didn't exactly help the situation.
"Well, I don't see you coming up with any good ideas, wise-guy." Marcia shot back at him.
"Oh, Marcia," Comet said, shaking his head in sympathy. "You can't tell someone like Father Time what to do. You gotta make him want to do it himself," Comet knowingly told her before scooping up a bucket of mud and some rocks. "Now sit back and watch the master at work," he said as he walked over to the big blue man.
"~Oh, Father Time!~ If you get back on the Wheel, then I'll let you have this bucket full of mud and rocks to play with while you run. Huh? Huh?" Like a promise, Comet held out the bucket. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"Hmm...a tempting offer, but nah," Father Time said before running off in a random direction, much to Comet's shock.
"Wow, Comet. You sure showed me how it's done. I'm sorry that I ever doubted you," Marcia smugly said as she walked over to speak to him.
"To be fair, I wouldn't have fallen for that, either," Comet said as he shrugged his failure off. "Now, come on! We're doing this the hard way now!" Comet didn't wait for Marcia to answer before bolting off in the direction of Father Time.
"Dude, you gotta get back on that Wheel. Without you, rainbow's can't shimmer across the sky!" Comet called out to Father Time as they tried to keep with him.
"We'll never know how our shows end!" Marcia pleaded. "And none of our friends will be able to move again!" It was no use, though. The giant, bearded entity was jumping all over the place, and the two teens could barely keep up with him, let alone make him listen.
When Father Time finally came to a stop in front of this hourglass with a pair of doors, they felt relieved (but they didn't say it aloud because they didn't want the other to know that they were freaking out, for some reason.) But then the door opened, and Father Time did this weird dance as he went inside, with the two arriving just as it closed. As Comet tried to pry the door open with his bare hands, they heard a shout in the distance that caught their attention. Looking around, they saw Father Time riding across the Plains of Time on a very, very fast tortoise.
"YOLO! Anything is possible!" He shouted in glee as the two teens looked in confusion.
"I got nothing to explain this," Comet said before spotting something. "Hey, look!" he said to Marcia before pointing to a giant hare that looked ready to ride. Right before Comet could hop on, though, Marcia put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head no.
"If this place works like I think it does, then that thing's going to be super slow like an actual tortoise," Marcia pointed out.
"But it's so fluffy!" Comet said, clearly wanting to get on the rabbit.
"Comet," Marcia said to let him know this wasn't up for debate.
"Ugh, fine!" Comet conceded before pulling out his Wand, extending it into staff form, and then tapping the ground. "Summoning Cloudy Charm!" With a blast of glitter and a birdlike crow, Comet's faithful spell Cloudy appeared.
"Hey, Comet! Hey, Marcia!" the cloud spell said happily. "Hop on!"
The two teens were happy to hitch a ride, with Marcia holding onto Comet to keep her balance. "Alright, Cloudy! Follow that giant blue guy on the tortoise!" And with that, Cloudy took off
As the two sped across the Plains in pursuit of Father Time, Marcia looked at their situation: she was flying on a magic cloud with a boy wielding a magic staff. Why is this giving me Dragon Ball, Journey to the West vibes right now? Marcia thought in confusion before spotting their quarry on the ground below.
"There he is, Comet!" Marcia cried out, pointing out the big man on the ground. Unfortunately, this distracted Comet and Cloudy from paying attention to their surroundings. Thus, none of them noticed the giant, floating clock they were about to hit until it was too late. With a loud *SLAM*, Comet and Marcia were unceremoniously forced off of Cloudy and fell to the ground below.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Marcia screamed as she felt her body instinctively brace for the impact. Comet, though, was too fixated on Father Time to hear her scream. Watching as the entity leaped across a river filled with clocks before continuing to run again, Comet became more determined than ever to catch the guy.
"COMET! DO SOMETHING!" Marcia yelled at him, finally making him realize that they were still falling from several dozen feet in the air. Thinking fast, Comet aimed his Wand-Staff at the approaching ground and willed a giant trampoline into existence. Grabbing hold of Marcia before she could object, Comet dived straight for the trampoline before bouncing off and soaring back up into the air, heading straight for the river.
"COMET, HOW IS THIS ANY BETTER FOR US!?" Marcia asked, questioning her friend's judgment. Then, Comet began to swing her around at high speeds without warning before letting go, sending her careening over the river clear to the other side. Allowing her years of training to guide her body, Marcia leaned into a roll as she hit the ground, letting her shoulder carry the momentum into the ground as she landed. Briefly looking over herself for any injuries, Marcia turned around to look at the river in time to see Comet hit the banks with a loud splash.
"Oh my God, Comet! Are you okay?" Marcia cried out in concern as she ran to the edge of the river to help her best friend.
"Yeah, I'm okay, Marcy. In hindsight, that wasn't one of my better plans," he said as he got to his feet, only to see Marcia's face turn a deep crimson hue as she looked at him. "Marcia, what's wrong?"
"Um, uh, uh, look, river, in," Marcia numbly said. Shrugging his shoulders, Comet did as she said and then did a double-take as he saw he aged into his mid-20's.
"Holy shit," Comet muttered to himself as he saw his adult form. He was now at least a foot and a half taller, and his body, already muscular for his age, was now even more buff with almost no body fat to speak of. And his blonde hair directly flowed down to his neck while a thin goatee was forming on his chin. The bottom line was, he looked amazing.
"I look like a younger, hotter version of Chris Hemsworth right now!" Comet said as he basked in his hotness while Marcia looked at him in awe. "Marcy, quick! Take a photo of me before this ends up wearing off!" Comet began to strike some poses while Marcia mumbled to herself as she did as he asked. Unfortunately for Comet, the effects of the water wore off in seconds, returning him to his natural, teenaged body.
"Aw, man! But I was so hot!" Comet complained as he lamented returning to his natural age before quickly getting over it. "Well, at least I know I'm going to be more of a hunk than I already am." Marcia couldn't help but giggle at her friend's hedonistic admiration of himself.
"Easy, Thor. It's better that you grow into those gains," Marcia joked. "Now come on, let's get a move on!" Marcia said as she motioned to her friend to continue the chase.
Thankfully, Father Time had not gone far, as they were soon able to catch sight of him again. The chase continued for some time before, at last, the two came across this giant, palace-like structure standing on a hill in the middle of the Plains of Time.
"I think he went in there! Come on!" Comet said as he rushed into the building with Marcia not far behind. As they got inside the structure, the two stopped in the center before looking at their surroundings. Every wall of the palace/temple was lined with dozens of TVs with countless images flickering on them with each passing second.
"Whoa. What is this place?" Comet asked aloud as he stared at the various images before them.
Marcia stared intently at the screens, trying to discern their purpose. As she did so, she saw images that looked very...familiar to her. A grainy image of a man in a bulky suit stepping off a ladder. Someone dancing and singing inside a massive stadium. An old man was happily addressing a crowd while saying, "Excelsior!" At last, Marcia figured it out.
"Comet. I think this is the history of the Universe we're seeing," she told him.
"No cap?"
Marcia giggled. "No cap. Look," she said, pointing at one of the screens. "Look, the Live Aid Concert, 1985! Nailed it!" Marcia pumped her fist in victory. "Karla would be proud of me." At that moment, the ceiling opened up, and out came a long tube that extended down to their level before producing a giant, pink and red mechanical eye. The eye stared at Comet with an unnatural level of focus, like it wanted to discern everything there was to know about him. For his part, the boy was unsure as to what he should do.
"Okay, I have no objections to being on camera since I'm so awesome, but this is a little creepy," Comet thought out loud as the eye continued to stare at him.
"Hey, Comet. Look!" Marcia said as she pointed at the screens. As the eye continued to stare at Comet, the images on screens suddenly changed to show an infant Comet.
"Holy shit, it's my life!" Comet grinned as he figured out what was going on. "All right, magic eye thing, let's take a little trip down memory lane!" And with that, the two teens began to watch the screens.
In the hospital ward of Castle Dragonfly, a newborn Comet Dragonfly is seen crying and wailing as a Doctor swaddles him into a small, blue blanket while gently rocking him back and forth until he calms down. When he's not crying as much, the Doctor hands him to an exhausted but overjoyed Lake Dragonfly, with Mune standing by her side watching over them. As Lake rocks Comet in her arms, he opens his eyes, looks up at his parents, and begins to smile and laugh. The sight is enough to make Lake cry in joy. Even Mune gets misty-eyed as he looks at his new son while Glossaryck looks on from a distance as he snacks on pudding.
Sometime later, Mune and Lake present Comet to both sides of his family. With Eternia at the front, the House Dragonfly members approach the infant and respectfully bow to him, but otherwise remain stoic as ever, confusing the baby. In contrast, the Johansen's immediately run right up to Comet and begin to give him a hearty greeting, yelling and laughing and being as warm as possible, which makes Comet burst out laughing. Mune rolls his eyes at this while his wife enjoys showing off her son to her family, but the other Dragonflies look on with disdain.
Comet, now age 1, is playing with a bunch of toys in his room and having fun while his Mom and Dad watch over him. However, Mune soon gets up out of his chair, kisses his wife on the cheek, and then waves goodbye to Comet before leaving for a meeting. Comet watches his Dad go in confusion, his one arm reaching out, trying to grab him so he won't leave. Lake then goes to her son's side and starts playing with him so he won't get lonely.
Comet is dressed in a royal suit with a little crown as his parents introduce him to an Infant MC. Thinking that he's some kind of strange toy, Comet grabs onto MC's horn, making him panic and try to fly away. Comet keeps his grip on the whole time and won't stop laughing, but when he sees how upset MC is, he lets go and offers him one of his toys. MC looks at it for a moment and then warms up to Comet, with the two soon hugging at their newfound friendship.
Comet and MC, now 3, are seen whizzing through Castle Dragonfly's halls on a little wagon, dodging past servants and furniture. All the while, the guards are trying to catch them before they hurt themselves or someone else. Eventually, the two whizz past Eternia Dragonfly and a five-year-old boy with neat, silver hair and an 8-pointed white star on his cheek. The boy looks back at the two with interest, but Eternia just scoffs at them and makes the child move in the opposite direction.
Comet is seen barreling through the countryside while driving the royal carriage, laughing as his Mom tries to catch up with him. Eventually, the carriage is seen in a ditch, missing a door and wheel, and Comet's being angrily scolded by his Dad.
Comet and MC run from a group of Monsters while carrying a chest full of treasure that they stole, both boys looking very pleased with themselves while a younger Ludo shouts and rants at them.
A 7-year-old Comet is practicing his sword training under the supervision of the Royal Guard. He decapitates three training dummies at once, making the Guards, Lake, and several others look on in pride with one swift motion. As Comet looks around, though, he sees his Dad isn't there, and the smile on his face falls a little.
Comet, age 8, is seen in Dragontown when he comes across the Tipsy Warnicorn. He confidently strolls in and announces his presence, only for a younger Jake and the other barflies to laugh him off and tell him to scram. Throughout several visits, Comet begins to win them over with his dancing, feats of strength, and ability to eat and drink the best of them under the table. Eventually, the barflies adore Comet and happily cheer him when he comes around.
Comet's seen exploring the Forest of Certain Death with the Royal Guard members, who teach him survival techniques and how to fight.
Now 9, Comet is seen teaching himself parkour and free-running so he can go wherever he wants. After a few false starts, he eventually gets the hang of it and can soon make his way around rooftops and buildings like a pro.
Comet's seen walking on the beach in the All Blue on the day when he first met Aqua. After he saves her, the two begin to bond, and the next time he returns, she's waiting for him. Soon, Aqua's spending time playing with Comet, Tammy, and MC on the beaches and in the water. They then come across the abandoned and rotting hulk of the Shooting Star, and with Rayleigh's help, they make it as good as new. The next time they come back, Rayleigh teaches them all how to sail, much to Comet's absolute joy.
Comet's seen at various points in his life trying to get his Dad's attention, only to get repeatedly brushed off and left moping and upset. All of this leads to Comet arguing with his Dad in his office about their relationship before he storms out in anger while Lake listens in. Next time we see him, Comet's beating the snot out of a group of Monsters, some of which include Ludo's minions, while Comet tries not to look upset.
A group of Noble Children and Royals are gossiping amongst themselves, talking about Comet Dragonfly and his wild and rowdy ways, with a younger Tywin Doflamingo openly mocking him while the others call him a pathetic excuse for a Prince. Unknown to them, Comet's standing behind the corner and listening to everything they're saying. He doesn't say anything and just walks in the opposite direction. Later, they all cordially greet Comet at a social event, only for Comet to refuse to even speak to them, much to all the adult's shock.
Comet's seen being lectured by Eternia about something that he couldn't care less about, and when he gets tired of it, Comet decides to just walk away, infuriating his Great-Uncle.
Comet, now age 12, is seen running away from a herd of Warnicorns as Tammy and MC follow him.
Comet and Tammy are seen getting into an argument of some kind, with Comet finally walking away in frustration, leaving Tammy to explode with anger by herself.
Comet's seen fighting more Monsters and exploring the Mewnian wilderness as he nears his present age.
As the screens continued to catch up to the present day, Comet looked at all the memories and began to smile to himself.
"Good times." He said, content with everything. While some of the memories he saw were less than pleasant, Comet didn't mind. As far as he was concerned, as long as the number of good memories he had outweighed the bad, then he was living a good life.
Marcia smiled, happy to see that, even though his relationship with a part of his family was less than ideal, Comet was still trying to live his best life. Her musings were soon interrupted, though, as the eye began to focus on her. Before she could even say anything, the screens switched to depicting Marcia's life.
A newborn Marcia is brought home from the hospital by her parents and gets a warm greeting from her extended family, who each take turns holding her and trying to make her laugh.
A 1-year-old Marcia is seen with her Mom as she walks to Brittney Wong's Mansion's front door and is ushered inside by one of the servants. The two are then escorted to Brittney's bedroom, where Marcia first meets an infant Brittney Wong. While Marcia looks at the other baby nervously, Brittney doesn't hesitate to crawl over to Marcia and say hi. Marcia soon gets over her worries, and the two happily begin to play together as Angie looks on in joy.
Some months later, Brittney's already walking, but Marcia remains unable to do so. She tries to walk on her own, but she keeps stumbling and falling to the ground, making her cry. Then Brittney comes over to her and offers her a hand to help. With Brittney's support, Marcia manages to get up, and despite stumbling a little more, she soon manages to walk all by herself. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz can't help but look on with pride at this, while Brittney feels proud of herself and her friend.
A now preschool-age Marcia is seen in a sandbox at the park, crying as she watches a bunch of older boys wreck her sandcastle while glaring at her. Before Mrs. Diaz can come over and stop them, Brittney shows up and warns the boys that if they don't leave her friend alone, she'll make sure her Dad will hear of this and make their lives a nightmare. The boys all apologize and go, and soon, Brittney is helping Marcia build a new sandcastle, with Angie taking a photo of the moment.
Marcia is sitting in front of the TV and watching action cartoons that involve a lot of fighting and heroes kicking butt, enthralled by how awesome they look and trying to imitate their movements while her parents watch.
A now 5-year-old Marcia is seen with Brittney on her first day of Kindergarten, but she's hiding behind her Mom's leg, afraid of all the new people. Then she sees a young Jackson casually walking by, and Marcia's eyes sparkle as she thinks he looks so cool while Brittney tries to get her to talk to him.
Marcia's seen running away from Jonah, who's trying to put a spider in her hair, with everyone else laughing while Brittney puts her head on her desk in embarrassment.
Sometime in second grade, Marcia tries to confess to Jackson, but when she walks up to tell him how she feels, she gets so nervous that she throws up right into his lap. This makes all the kids laugh at her, clearly embarrassing her. But the hardest hit comes when it's shown that Brittney's one of the people laughing. Humiliated, Marcia runs off in near-tears while Jackson looks on in shock.
Now in the third grade, Marcia and Brittney get into a huge argument that ends with Brittney cutting off all ties with Marcia, making the girl tear up before running home as Brittney coldly refuses to even look in her direction. The next time they see each other, Brittney doesn't bother trying to hide her disdain for her former friend.
Marcia, now age 8 or so, has now moved on to watching anime and cartoons like Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Avatar: The Last Airbender, enamored by how strong the heroes are and wanting to be like them. Inspired by this, Marcia's parents take her to Brantley's Dojo and sign her up for Karate lessons, much to her joy.
Marcia is shown to be dancing ballet in class, with everyone admiring how graceful she is.
Marcia is shown to be trying to beat up a bunch of bullies who stole her ballet slippers without much success until an adult notices. The bullies all run away while Marcia stands there, sniffling in frustration at getting picked on.
Marcia is shown leaving her ballet class for good as she wants to focus full-time on martial arts. But she's given a fond farewell by her instructor and classmates, with everyone hugging her in joy.
Now, in Middle School, Marcia tries to ask Jackson out once again, but before she can even talk to him, she gets nervous once again and runs away, much to Jonah's amusement.
Marcia is shown angrily chasing after Jonah for trying to "borrow" her math homework, while Jonah's laughing the entire time.
Marcia, now 11, introduces herself to Alfonso and Ferguson, having just beaten up a group of older kids who were bullying them.
Marcia, Jackson, Alfonso, Ferguson, and Jonah are shown at Marcia's house, playing video games and having fun together, with Marcia blushing as she sits near Jackson. When Jonah tries to tease her about it, she gives him a massive death glare, making him shut up. (Though that's what he wanted).
Marcia is called into the Principal's Office, where she first meets Karla and is told she's being put in charge of her, much to her exasperation.
Marcia and Karla are later shown to be bonding with each other over a shared love of music. Before long, Karla's a member of Marcia's circle of friends, while Brittney scoffs at all of them from afar.
Now in 8th Grade, Marcia nervously tries once more to confess to Jackson, but when she sees him, she begins to panic before running away again, much to his confusion, while Brittney laughs at her from afar.
Marcia is shown trying out for the cheerleading team by performing a series of acrobatics that wows the coach and most of the other members. However, Brittney remains the only one unimpressed with the Diaz girl's abilities and tells everyone that she refuses to have her on the team. Everyone outvotes her, though, and welcomes Marcia with open arms, leaving Brittney fuming by herself before getting a wicked grin on her face.
Marcia is shown slumped against her locker, having found it vandalized with the words "loser" and "nobody" painted on it, trying (and failing) to hold back her tears. When Jackson walks by and sees what happened, he doesn't hesitate to comfort her, making her blush. The two are later seen cleaning off her locker together, with Marcia's face practically glowing with joy.
As Marcia watched her life literally flash before her eyes, she stood there in silence and took everything in while Comet looked on. So many memories came flooding back through the girl's head: many of them good, others bad, and a few made bittersweet by the passage of time. The ones that she couldn't stop thinking about, though, were the ones involving Jackson.
"Wow. I've been crushing on Jackson for a long time now, huh?" Marcia asked Comet.
"Yep. You've got it bad for him, girl," Comet told her before adding, "But for all your talk about how much you like him, you sure suck at acting on your feelings." Comet half-expected Marcia to punch him in the shoulder for teasing her like that. To his surprise, she merely nodded her head instead.
"You're right," Marcia agreed. "All these years I've known Jackson, I've been too scared to take the next step. He's been a great friend to me, but unless I want to change that, I need to take the next step," Marcia said, less to Comet and more to herself to light a fire in her. She was going to change things with Jackson, one way or another!
"That's the spirit, Marcy!" Comet said, placing a reassuring on her shoulder before nodding his head in approval. "Now, come on. Let's find Father Time and get things moving again."
"Hey, guys!"
The two teens wheeled around to look in the direction of the entrance. Standing there, to their surprise, was Father Time, messing with a spring door stopper like it was the coolest thing ever.
"It's like we're living in the future!" he said absentmindedly. Comet didn't hesitate to take advantage of his being distracted, though, and quickly aimed his Wand at the entity.
"Laffy Taffy Entanglement!" In an instant, Father Time was forced onto the floor, hogtied by a rope made out of stretchy taffy, trapping him at last.
"Was the taffy really necessary, Comet?" Marcia questioned in a deadpan manner as she looked at the whole thing, to which Comet merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Not really, but it was the first thing that came to mind," the boy said before using his Wand to re-summon Cloudy, but with him now three times his normal size to accommodate Father Time. "Now, come on and help me get this guy on Cloudy so we can get him back to the Wheel and get things moving again," Comet quickly send as he bent down and tried to lift the big, blue giant onto the magical cloud. Much to everyone's surprise, he managed to make some headway, raising the giant up more than a few inches.
"Oh, wow, kid. You're really strong. Do you work out a lot?" Father Time asked in amazement. Before Marcia could come over to help (or Comet could answer that question), the giant eye turned to look at Father Time and began to play.
Father Time can be seen first getting on the Wheel of Progress and beginning to run on it with a smile on his face at the dawn of time. And then he keeps running...and running...and running...and running some more...and running...and running...every minute of every day for all of time. And as the Universe continues to grow and progress, Father Time can only wistfully watch as everything's going on around him while he can't join in on the fun.
Then one day, Father Time's suddenly thrown off the Wheel of Progress without any warning. At first, he looks around, confused as to what happened. But when he sees that he's off the Wheel, he immediately begins to celebrate and try to explore his surroundings. Before he can get far, though, a young man with short, curly orange hair, an hourglass on his cheek, and carrying a staff with a clock affixed to the end appears and orders him to get back on the Wheel. Reluctantly, Father Time has no choice but to agree, and he resumes his running...and running...and running...
As the screens changed to static, Comet and Marcia looked at Father Time in shock. They had heard of people being stuck in mind-numbingly boring jobs before, but what they saw was downright agonizing to look at! The two teens looked at each other, trying to dumbly process what they just saw before Marcia finally broke the silence.
"Jesus Christ, that was terrible," she said.
"I know. I think that just made whatever problems we may have faced look like child's play in comparison," Comet said. And he meant it. While people would go through life with their fair share of ups and downs, Father Time never had one up in the potentially billions of years he existed.
The fact that Father Time, who had just moments ago been so energetic and full of energy, now seemed utterly crestfallen and depressed, only managed to tug at the two's heartstrings even further. They didn't even realize that his magic bindings came undone.
"Well, I might as well go and get back on that Wheel and get things moving again," Father said with a weary sigh. "After all, it's only for the rest of eternity." The poor blue man then began to walk to the exit, his head hung in resignation.
"Yeah, screw that," Comet said out of nowhere, making Father Time stop in his tracks.
"Huh?" Father Time asked.
"Look, I get it, alright. You've got to run on that Wheel to keep the Universe going, but that doesn't mean you should get screwed over like this," Comet told the embodiment of time as he walked up to him. "No one, and I mean no one, should be stuck in a single place their whole lives. You deserve to be free to live your life!"
"Um, Comet? I'm with you on this whole 'breaking the metaphorical wheel of oppression' thing that you've got going on, but how can we help him?" Marcia asked. "Unless he's on that Wheel, the entire Universe will stay frozen."
Comet began to think. Father Time was the only one who could turn the Wheel, but he didn't deserve to be stuck on it forever. There had to be a way for him to do his job and still be free to go wherever he wanted. As Comet pondered the problem that not even his ancestor, renowned for his time-based magic, could solve, he saw Father Time had wandered to the steps at the bottom of the temple, nuzzling his head against a giant baby duck with a clock hanging around its neck.
"Hmmm," Comet said as the gears in his head began to turn as he got an idea.
"Hey, Father Time," Comet cried out. "Does that Wheel need someone running on it to spin?"
Spongebob Narrator: A Few Minutes Later
Having returned to the Wheel of Progress, Comet proceeded to rip it free from the ancient gears it had been affixed to. Then, as the others watched, he used his Wand to turn the Wheel into a magical carriage, complete with a comfy seat on the top with a TV and cupholders attached. Instead of something normal like horses or warnicorns pulling the carriage, though, Comet rounded up a bunch of baby ducks and tied them to the carriage like sled dogs.
"There you go, Father Time!" Comet said as she showed off his creation. "Now you can keep the Wheel running and still travel anywhere you want. And so you won't feel left out, that little TV can show you everything that's going on in the Universe, past or present!"
Father Time was practically jumping up and down with glee at the sight of his new carriage. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me! Thank you, kids, so much!" Before either of them could react, the giant man scooped Comet and Marcia up into a bear hug in a show of gratitude.
"Happy to, uh, help," Marcia grunted as she tried to keep from being crushed.
"It's not a problem, big guy. No one deserves what you went through," Comet added on.
Once Father Time was done hugging his new friends, he jumped atop the seat and waved to the two teens. "Thanks again, you guys. But do me a favor and don't freeze time again. It's fragile and can break easily if it's messed with too much. Oh, and feel free to help yourself to my mud, even the good stuff!" Father Time then gestured out towards various mud puddles that he had stuck signs next to that read things like "Volcanic" and "Seafloor Surprise."
"I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to take a mud bath," Comet yelled up to the bearded giant, smiling all the while.
With his business now done and a smile on his face, Father Time whipped the reins of his carriage. "All right, time ducks, let's go! On Huey, Dewey, Louie. On Webby, on Donald, on Della, on Scrooge!" The baby ducks took off with Father Time laughing all the way as the two teens looked on happily.
"You did a good thing, Comet," Marcia complimented her best friend, who beamed with pride at himself.
"I'm a freaking genius, Marcia. I managed to do something my ancestor couldn't do. YOU HEAR THAT, SKYE?" He cried out to the heavens. "ONLY 14, AND I ALREADY GOT A LEG UP ON YOU!" As Comet kept bragging about how he was going to put this in his Book of Spells to show everyone his awesomeness, a sudden realization dawned on Marcia.
"COMET! THE WHEEL'S MOVING! WE GOTTA GET TO SCHOOL!" Marcia cried out. "I GOTTA MEET UP WITH JACKSON!"
Comet didn't waste any time. Plunging his hand into his pants pocket, he dug out his Dimensional Scissors and quickly opened a portal to Echo Creek Academy. "Comet Express now boarding for a final stop to Echo Creek Academy, Marcia's locker!"
Back on Earth, time began to resume like normal. Mrs. Diaz continued flipping pancakes, the laser puppies went back to yelping and shooting lasers, and Mr. Diaz resumed singing opera in the shower. Oh, and more than a few jerks in Echo Creek found themselves inexplicably dealing with wedgies and stuff drawn on their faces, much to their confusion and frustration.
As the people of Earth continued their mornings, ignorant that time had been frozen, a portal opened up next to Marcia's locker, and out came Comet and Marcia. Acting with haste, Marcia opened her locker and began to look herself over in the mirror, brushing off any dirt from her clothes and trying to make sure her hair was tidy while Comet kept watching for Jackson or Jonah.
"Marcia heads up!" a familiar voice cried out, one that Marcia knew all too well. Looking at her watch and seeing that she was right on time, Marcia confidently got into the optimal high-five position as her crush came barreling down the halls on his U-Board. Marcia took a deep breath, watching and waiting for the moment when Jackson would make his pass. The next moments were a blur to her as she saw Jackson slow down before holding out his hand. Marcia then dived forward in a flash, her hand connecting with his as he passed by before coming to a complete stop a few feet away from her locker.
"And that is another successful play from the dynamic duo of Jackson and Marcia, folks!" Jackson said as he got off his U-Board.
"Heck yeah, it is! One hundred days in a row with zero misses! A new record!" Marcia loudly proclaimed.
"Heck yeah! And I think that was our best high-five yet, Marcia!"
Comet whistled in the background, impressed that his friends were able to pull that off. "Damn, Marcia. No wonder you wanted to get here so badly. That was awesome!"
"Nice to see someone else appreciate our daily ritual of friendship, Comet," Jackson said, thanking the Prince. "Well, I better get to class before the bell rings, so I'll be seeing you guys!" Jackson then turned to leave.
"Wait," Marcia said, making him pause. "There was something I wanted to ask you, Jackson."
"Oh yeah, what's up?" Jackson asked, curious.
"So, Jackson, I was wondering if you'd be willing to hang out sometime, just the two of us. I was thinking of trying my hand at skateboarding, and I can't think of a better teacher."
Jackson looked at her for a moment, pondering the nature of her request. For a second, Marcia was afraid that he saw right through her attempts to get closer to him and would turn her down. Calm down, Marcia. You can handle this. Much to her relief, Jackson flashed her one of his cool, laidback smiles.
"Sure, Marcia. I'd be happy to show you the ropes sometime. Hit me up when you've got some free time," he told her, making the girl inwardly breathe a sigh of relief.
"Awesome! I can't wait to learn how to shred a half-pipe!" Marcia told him, trying her best to keep herself under control.
"Cool. Alright, now I gotta head to class for real, guys. Stay amazing, Diaz!" And with that, the skater jumped back on his U-Board before hovering in the opposite direction while Marcia looked on. Off to the side, Comet bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement as he tried to keep himself from squeeing in joy.
"All right, Comet, you can freak out now," Marcia said, knowing her bestie wanted to flip out in glee.
"OhmygoshMarciaIamsoproudofyouandIcan'tbelievethatyoujustdidthatthatwasamazing!" Comet said all out once as he congratulated his best friend for taking that next step. "You asked Jackson out on a date, Marcia! What brought this on all of a sudden?!"
"I told you, Comet: I wanted to take the next step with Jackson. I can't keep wasting time waiting for something good to happen to me. I need to make it happen for myself." Marcia said all of this with a newfound confidence that made Comet burst with pride. "By the way, this isn't a date. I just want to spend more time with him first. Like what you're doing with Karla," she clarified.
"I'm still proud of you, Marcia!" Comet reiterated.
"Why? Did you finally convince her to ditch class with you?"
Marcia jumped up a little when she heard that all-too-familiar voice come from behind her. Turning around, she found herself face to face with her friend/bane of her existence, Jonah Ordonia. Only this time, she didn't feel afraid of him like she normally would. Of course, the fact that he still had garbage covering him helped in that regard.
"Jonah! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here this morning?" Comet asked, trying to suppress his laughter as he remembered how Marcia dumped him in a trash can.
"Well, I was on my way to Marcia's locker, minding my own business-"
"Bullshit!" Marcia interrupted.
"-I was!" Jonah said defensively. "Anyway, one minute I'm walking through the hallway, then the next thing I know, I'm headfirst inside of a trash can with a note that's warning me not to keep organizing Marcia's locker as I've been so generously doing for some time. And you can guess the rest."
"Well, it sounds to me like some good samaritan wanted to teach you a lesson about not breaking and entering into people's lockers," Marcia smugly told him. "I would probably listen to them if I were you."
"Whatever," Jonah said, rolling his eyes. "I only came here today because I knew this would be where I'd find Comet."
"Me?" Comet asked, pointing to himself in confusion.
"Yeah, you. I need you to do something for me and pass along a message to the little Smurf that lives in your spellbook," Jonah explained.
"You mean Glossaryck?"
"Yep. I need you to tell him that it's time for him to own up to his end of the deal we made during the Mewberty Incident."
"And that deal would be what, exactly?" Comet asked. He remembered that Glossaryck talked to Jonah about something, but he was still dealing with the aftereffects of Mewberty to pay attention.
"That I'm ready to become an alchemist. I'll come over and pick him up later this weekend." Jonah then began to walk ahead of the two teens before stopping once more. "Oh, and Marcia?" he added, catching the girl's attention. "I don't know how you managed to pull one over on me or leave this note, but I will say this: well played," Jonah smirked as the color seemed to drain from Marcia's face before leaving the others behind.
"He's never going to stop messing with me now," Marcia mournfully said as she hung her head in defeat. "And now that's he going to start learning alchemy, who knows what sort of damage he'll cause around school!" Marcia sniffled.
"Oh, cheer up Marcia," Comet told her as he bent down and clasped a hand onto her shoulder. "You never know what the future holds in store, so it may not be so bad. And plus, you still took that next step with Jackson, remember?" Comet said to cheer her up. It appeared to work, as Marcia immediately got over her anxiety.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, Comet! I finally took the next step with Jackson, and there's no way I'm letting Jonah ruin myyyyyyyyy daaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy..."
Time suddenly ground to a halt once more.
On the Plains of Time, Father Time was happily rolling around in the mud with a few of the Baby Time Ducks, laughing and enjoying themselves.
"Nobody said anything about me taking a little break every now and then! Am I right, guys?" The baby ducks all happily quacked in response, making Father Time laugh at his new companions. "You guys really get me. I think that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!"
Eventually, once Father Time and the Time Ducks had their fill of fun, they hopped back on the Wheel and got things moving again. And the best part was the fact that no one in the rest of the Universe would even notice whenever they wanted to take a little vacation.
*Back in Jay's Workspace, Jay and Kermit are now sitting in the middle of a giant crater, surrounded by piles of Cogs, battle droids, and clones of Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones, all horribly mangled and dismembered.*
Jay: I don't know about you, Kermit, but I feel soooo much better after going on that rampage.
Kermit: Ahhh, I love the smell of burning bitches in the morning. There's nothing like it, Jay. Speaking of which, this Sunday's Mother's Day, so this is doubly appropriate.
Jay: Oh, hell yeah! You know, Cersei's at the top of my list of worst mother's in fictional history, so getting to kill a whole army of her in a brutal fashion? So cathartic!
Kermit: That goes double for me. I was able to let out all my anger at Disney for what they did to Amphibia. That'll show them not to mess with the fans.
Jay: So you think they'll air the season finale soon? They owe the show's staff that much.
Kermit: We can only hope, Jay. And if now, we can always annoy them online. But enough about that. We need to talk about this week's chapter—specifically the flashbacks and all the references.
Jay: Oh, yeah, that's right.
*Jay then turns to the readers*
Jay: Okay, guys. First of all, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. This was definitely one of the ones that I had the most fun creating thus far, as I got to go to town multiple times. I just really let my imagination run wild.
Kermit: I lost count of how many pop culture references you made!
Jay: Yeah, I made a lot in this chapter. By the way, I dare you guys to try and name them all in the reviews. It'll be fun. But what I really enjoyed doing was the flashbacks for Comet and Marcia's lives. I wanted to convey how their past experiences have helped define who they are now. Actually, I planned on adding a few more scenes for Comet, but I didn't want to spoil anything I'm going to do in the future.
Also, I hope that you guys were paying attention to the memories, as some of them will end up being far more important down the line.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to the business of
READER'S REVIEWS!
NightAroma-Haha, if you liked that DuckTales reference, then I'm sure you'll love the big one I did here! But honestly, I don't really see how Star isn't as self-confident as Comet is. The difference may be that, due to his life circumstances, Comet learned that when people give you unjustified grief, you hit back. HARD.
LockAndKey989-Actually, many of the Monsters of Mewni learned a long time ago not to mess with House Johannsen. Ergo, they avoid them when possible.
Guest-Try and count the references in this chapter, though.
95-That was actually a complete coincidence.
Lord of the Storm-I think that was among my finest work when it comes to exchanging barbs. And, to reiterate, Aqua is supposed to sound like Starfire from the Teen Titans cartoon. I based Aqua's personality on Starfire's. My headcanon voice for her is Hynden Walch, Starfire's voice actor.
FungusDungus000-I actually used the sound effects for Za Warudo here. Great minds think alike! And The Mitchells vs. the Machines deserves to win an Oscar next year!
The Wandering Hippie-I'm not sorry for comparing Helios to Donald Trump. The opportunity just felt too good to pass up. That said, I hope you liked what I did with the flashbacks here. I put a lot of thought into them, taking a page from your book. That, and the river scene.
You know what to do: fave and follow this story, and follow me on Twitter (JZ-Gaming), Insta (RJ Writing Ink), and YouTube (Jungoguy)
Guess what? Starting next week, we'll be dealing with nothing but original stories for the next few chapters. And to kick things off, we're going to see Jonah finally take his first steps towards becoming an alchemist.