I basically took June off, but I'm posting just in time for July.
Mr. Haziq: Yes, she is. There is technically a reason why she's like that in this story. It's not something major to the plot of this story, but it's something I had fun thinking up.
Marco fought to the door.
On the way from his room to the stairways, his opponent tried to block his path. They overestimated how big they were and the teen was able to slip past them easily. They reached for him, but when their arm got to where he had been, Diaz was already halfway down the steps.
He thought he made it when he hit the base floor of his house.
He thought.
The enemy made the same journey downwards, but all but leaped when they were nearly half way down, both grabbing him and using him as much needed support as they landed on their feet.
His only hope was Star.
Too bad she seemed to be in utter bliss just standing there by the front door.
"Aw." The princess purred.
Marco rolled his eyes. He thought she would have a bit more sympathy for him, but he was obviously wrong.
His mother didn't let go of his shoulder. She stepped forward into the half hug, half chokehold. She whined into his ear, "You know you don't have to go to school today."
The boy couldn't move straight or to the side to escape the grapple. Had to go under, ducking to slip through his mom's arms. He popped back up when he was within a safe distance of Star and coincidentally the door. All this because he made a passing comment that some of his classmates were clearly gossiping about him. Marco briefly wondered if this was where he inherited his Marco-ness from. Who knew how annoying attentive parents were.
"Mom." Marco tried to calm her down as best he could while keeping a death grip on the doorknob. He hoped that she didn't hear his only escape click. She was too busy mustering up the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes she could manage. "Ya, people were just talking. I knew that would happen. People talk. No one was mean about it."
He paused.
"Except for Brittany Wong and she was really bad at it." Honestly Sabrina had done a much better job at traumatizing him.
Marco slipped his foot back through the slowly opening door, grabbing the straggling Star was an afterthought. "Anyway, I have a group project coming up so I can miss school today."
The tips of Star hit narrowing escape the closing gate.
Either teen saw what caused it but there was a loud thud coming from the other side of the door.
Out came a weak muffled voice. "Don't go.
It was a quick walk to school. Probably because the boy's pace was barely a walk. It edged into a jog. Marco must've been afraid that if he stopped only for a second his suddenly overprotective mother would find out and incidentally find him.
At least Star was happy with how their morning went. During the way to school she kept dropping comments like "Your mom is adorable" or "She loves you, Marco." Hearts were basically boiling off of Star the entire time.
Marco knew that his mom had his best interest at heart. He just wasn't used to her smothering about it. He thought that Star could understand that.
It didn't matter all Marco wanted to do was get through class and the week with as little mayhem as possible. When he thought about it his mom keeping hold of his dimensional scissors would probably give him some peace. Something he admittedly haven't had since as far as he could remember.
When did Star transfer in again?
Either way he was excited to just have a normal week of school.
So, because he apparently was an awful person in a past life, he was immediately yoinked by the principal the second he got into school.
Once second he was walking side by side with Star, the next an arm pulled him right into the principal's office. He didn't even have a chance to catch his bearings when the man roared "There you are, Mr Diaz. I've been waiting all day."
Marco rested his back on the door. "Class hasn't even started yet."
The principal waved off his complaint "Don't you usually come in early to wait for Miss Thomas in front of your locker? I guess that might no longer be the case."
"How do you know about that?" Marco's mouth gapped.
"I'm a school official. You kids' gossip is the only entertainment I have." The man explained. He wandered over to his chair. It was turned away from the door. "Now let's get to business."
"Is this about-" Marco whined, "Is this because I have a kid?"
The principal paused. "Huh? Oh right, that. Honestly you're so far on the straight and narrow that if you had a baby, then having a baby might be a good investment at this time."
"Wait am I still the safe kid?"
"This isn't about you Mr Diaz." The man grabbed both sides of his chair and twisted it around. "This is about him."
"Sup."
Marco blinked, "Oskar?"
"Mango." The other teen looked up from his keyboard.
"No thanks?" Marco just had breakfast.
"Mr Greason, opposite to you, has an underwhelming record."
"How bad is it?" Marco wondered.
"He doesn't have one." The principal stated flatly. "I don't think he's been to class once this year."
"Ya, I know. Awesome right?" Oskar sat back in the chair. "I totally missed everything last year too."
"No that isn't 'awesome'!" The official fired back. He took a deep breath before turning back to Marco. "As you can see he needs a gentle push and seeing how you have had so much success with Miss Butterfly I thought you could help keep Mr Greason afloat. Or at the very least make sure he gets a passing grade on that history project for Mr Candle's class."
"I was actually planning on pairing up with Star for that." Marco shifted before what the man had said dawned on him. "Wait, 's class? What happened to Miss Stone?"
"Who?" The principal raised an eyebrow. Honestly all the teachers other then Skullnick were forgettable and she was only interesting because she was a troll. "Right, Miss Stone had a family emergency in Hawaii and so Mr Candle stepped forward to take over her class for the rest of the year. Now if you could kindly get Mr Greason out of my seat!"
The man kicked them out as quickly as he dragged Marco in. Oskar didn't seem at all bothered by it though if him gently pressing some keys on his instrument was anything to go by.
"Yo, man. I was looking for you." A voice cried from down the hall.
Ferguson was standing there, still a possum. The other change was the addition of another pair of arms and legs, courtesy of Alphonso sitting on his friend's shoulder. This was something the mammal seemed proud of. "See!" Ferguson cheered while pointing at Alphonso. "Look how cool this is. You jealous?"
By the sound of cotton candy being spun and coins jiggling in someone's pocket, Alphonso agreed with the sentiment.
The possum rushed Marco with the might of a freight train. He stopped on a dime before hitting him, but the speed in which he did it brought about a gust of wind. "So I just had the coolest idea last night and we got to do it this week."
"I don't know. We got that big history project starting this week." Marco's eyes started to shift to his pre assigned partner. He wasn't just hoping that Star would be his partner because she was his best friend. Since they lived together it would've saved so much time planning on when to meet up for the project.
Oskar started playing a tune in his keyboard and Marco got the feeling that this partnership would be all the downsides of Star without that one big benefit.
"Come'on bro." Ferg bounced on his heels. It was something he did a lot but with his new body Marco could feel the ground shake slightly. "Like I know you already downloaded the syllabus and got everything planned out.
"That's not true." Marco made up his face like he bit into a lemon. "I was busy with Minnie all weekend and there was this thing with an angel. Nevermind that's not important." He shook his head. "I only have the first few weeks planned out." The kid confessed, "The first few weeks." He repeated in horror.
"Dude dude dude." The possum puffed up his chest. "That's still plenty of time. Think about it. Today's Tuesday. You just check off some boxes after school and we'll be free to hang Thursday night."
Marco looked less then convinced "Well. I mean."
Alphonso chimed in. His tongue rolled out a noise that sounded like a balloon being strangled.
Ferguson agreed with him. "Ya, why don't we all group up. I mean like I know we can't all submit the same topic but why can we make sure we get everything done before the big night."
Marco looked at Oskar, playing a concert for an invisible audience, then he turned to Ferguson who looked ready to jettison himself, Alphonso first, through the ceiling and he did something that surprised himself. He agreed.
"Ya sure." Marco quickly added before the two got too excited. "Just one thing."
The boy turned to his project partner and even through Oskar seemed to be in a world of his own Marco lowered his voice. He beckoned the possum to lean down so the three of them could talk more privately. "Just one thing. Could one of you guys partner with Star." If anything this would give Star a chance to spend a bit of time with her crush. "It would mean a lot."
Despite the whispering someone heard them. It wasn't Oskar.
Eyes peered from the open slits of a locker door.
"The house of learning is a strange challenge for the youth of this realm. While meant for memorization and repetition, it ends up being the domain of hormones and scheming. It is a treacherous path, either by ground or by air."
There was fluttering as the voice stretched their wings as much as it could. As small as they were, the locker was packed tight.
They reached into the pocket and pulled out a compact. It was brought to their ear.
"Hey girlfriend."
Hekapoo raged on the other side of the call. "No. Not girlfriend. Not anything. Lose this number you dumb bar pixie."
The 'dumb bar pixie smiled as if the commissioner was being playful. "I am in pursuit of love. It is a fierce monstrosity with bushy hair and thick." She really drew out the word 'thick', "spectacles. It is truly fearsome. The mere sight of it causes my heart to shift through my entire being. I don't know if I'll survive. I can't decide if I desire too."
"I'm letting you know that just because I listened to you literally drown your sorrows into a glass, doesn't mean we're suddenly friends. I am waiting on other calls."
"I could not have gotten this far without your guidance. You came to me like a mystic offering me your words of wisdom."
"I literally told you nothing." Was flared from the other side.
"And with that you said so much." The pixie nodded. "It was divine intervention. In a world of water, you were there like a lady of the lake. I hope now that I can reflect that sermon back to you and you too will find romance."
"I am a single mother." The grinding of teeth could be heard. "I do not have time for this!"
Hekapoo shut her compact with one hand and started to squeeze. There were cracks. Both the fractures that started to show on the compact and the sound made as these fractures formed.
Then when one too many breaks appeared on the communication device she slammed it on the table in front of her.
She had more important things to worry about.
Minerva struggled in her arm. If she had less control of the baby, Hekapoo knew that she would be reaching for the now discarded mirror.
The mother rocked her daughter, distracting her from the non-toy.
There was a cough.
She looked up, across the table where the Magic High Commission held their meetings.
Omnitraxus looked at her from his crystal ball. Considering that Lekmet was busy with other matters and Rhombulus was in no position to ask, considering the lug was reaching his torso over the table to coo at the baby, the master of space time decided to speak up. "Hekapoo. Why do you have your daughter here?"
Rhombulus giggled. "I think the more important question is why doesn't she have her here more."
Hekapoo pushed the compact a bit further away. One sudden lunge and her kid got a bit closer to grabbing the compact than she'd like. "My sitter took the week off and I wasn't exactly expecting this meeting so I let her. Something about finding herself after breaking up with her boyfriend. Y'know kid stuff."
"Uh huh." The skull nodded gently. "And why didn't you just clone yourself?"
"Because-" Rhombulus was now fully on the table. His feet wasn't touching the ground any longer. "She wanted her to see her godfather."
She pointed at the crystal head. "Well look at you. Got it in one." That wasn't the answer the red head was looking for but she'll take it.
There was a buzzing. Looked like the compact wasn't completely broken beyond repair after all.
Hekapoo picked it up.
"Wait. I lost to Rhombulus?" Hekapoo heard Omni mutter before she focused on the incoming call.
Star skipped down the hallway. "Jackie! Janna!"
Jackie brought a finger to her lips.
"Oops." The princess, the mewman princess, meeped.
Jackie didn't want to rain on Star's constant parade, but whatever Janna was talking about on the phone sounded important. Plus it did little to actually affect Star. The perky girl was bobbing back and forward, switching between standing on her toes and heel.
Janna pushed her phone into her pocket. "Hey Star."
"Nothing, really. Just got this thing tomorrow. No big deal." Ordonia leaned back onto her locker. "What's up with you?"
"Well. First I lost Marco, but then it turned out he was talking to the principal and I started looking for him, but he was talking to Ferguson, and I didn't want to join him cause that would be a bit weird." Star took a second to visible cringe, "but than Marco texted me and he said he was going to hang out with Ferguson and Alphonso Thursday night so I thought. Why don't we do the same thing? Girls Night. All night. Thursday night?"
Janna looked at Jackie.
Jackie looked at Janna.
Jackie looked at Star.
"Well, that depends on what thing Star," Jackie started, "I might be probation with my mom, so how comfortable are you with scaling my bedroom window?"
"I can do that." Star smiled.
"Then I'm in."
Hekapoo hung up once more. This time instead of attempting to destroy the device to unsummon it I a spark of flames. She placed Minnie on the table and sat up. "Okay then. Let's get down to business."
She tried to look as professional as possible while also playing with her baby's hands.
Rhombulus might've been distracted but if Hekapoo was okay with continuing the meeting then so was Omnitraxus Prime. "Okay. Before anything I think it's vital that we bring up the recent situation with Typhonus."
"What about him?" Rhombulus laughed. Minnie was distracted as Hekapoo clapped the little one's hands together. Rhombulus was distracted by Minerva being distracted.
Hekapoo readjusted the baby a bit further away from the jailer.
"I mean-" Rhombulus returned to his feet. "Why you let him go like that? He could start wreaking everyone's junk. You should've just let me crystal him."
"Felt like the right move." Hekapoo hummed. Honestly she had thought about it, but she figured that Rhombulus would agree with her conscience. "Besides, would you have actually done it?"
Rhombulus crossed his arms. "I just like being included."
"I think crystalizing one commissioner is enough for one millennium, but I'll give you a call next time and you can be the one to suplex one of our siblings."
"That's all I ask."
"As much as I like seeing you two agree on something." Omnitraxus spoke up. "That's not entirely what I had to say on the matter. What I wanted to highlight is that an entity created by Glossaryck, like us, nearly caused untold damage across a dimension. We have a large family, but only the few of us in this room and Lekmet have actually stayed to fulfill our duties."
"Us and Reynaldo." Hekapoo added.
"Well. Ya." Prime acted like he hadn't forgotten about the giraffe. "The point is-"
"Want us to pull rank?" Hekapoo guessed. She picked her daughter who began to kick her feet. "What us to reign in our out of control family?"
"It would be good to check in." Omnitraxus tried.
"And it would be an embarrassment if one us wrecked havoc." Hekapoo guessed at what exactly her brother was trying to avoid saying. "Afraid they'll start looking at us like we're monsters?"
The skull sighed, "You know that's not fair."
"Let's drop it. Everyone who left, left for a reason. We don't force family to do what they don't want to, right?" Hekapoo gave Minnie a tiny squeeze that even the baby didn't notice.
"Besides." The mother added. "What are the chances that another troublemaker in the family shows up?"
Gemini stood with his arm stretched out. It was resting on the hood of Henious's car. He was sworn to do anything for his mistress under penalty of death. Even if it was forced he tried to fulfill his role dutifully, but sometimes even these request were a bit much.
"Madam. I assure you. The canned goods in the trunk are delightful and will provide you with much more nutrients than you would gain through this venture."
"But you know what they say Gemini." Heinous rolled her eyes at the servant clearly working at getting out of his responsibilities. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
She lifted the machete that she had acquired.
There was a howl.
Gemini half expected that it came from him and that his mistress had finished her grim business. This was wrong. She looked too horrified to have merely sliced off one of his limbs.
"Get off." Heinous screeched. She shook her machete arm, trying to lose whatever it was that attached itself to her.
"Hey, how you doing?" Ludo asked in between thrashing. No one knew if he was asking to Gemini or Heinous. He could've been chirping at Rastacore's severed arm for all anyone, including Ludo himself, knew.
Heinous flung him off her. Ludo hit the ground skullcap first, but the kappa fathead roll over onto his beak. He barely reacted to either of the impacts.
He began to scurry around.
"You're in luck, Gemini." Heinous spoke. She held up her machete. "I have a sudden urge for stuffed fowl."
Ludo had already gotten up when Heinous started chase. The first slice dug into the dirt. The monster lord laughed at the attempt.
The kappa was jumping from foot to foot. He lured them over to some trees. He was able to dart through them easily with his small size. Heinous made up for her lack of agility with a machete.
"Haha. You almost got me that time." Ludo laughed before he slid into a bush.
"Enough of this." The woman made a swipe at the entire scrub, strong enough to slice the greenery clean in two.
"Gemini!" She shouted and the butler could feel a familiar flow of energy starting to enter his blood stream.
Before she could deliver the command that would surely lead him to destroy the small green thing, she finally gazed at what was beyond the bush.
It was a carcass. Or several. Just a lot of slabs of meat piled on top of each other which hints of bone poking out all over. What made it worse was that it was all moving. Like piles of insects gathering in a dark room, the flesh vibrated they started to melt together.
Ludo smiled at this monstrosity.
"See you didn't think I'd find anyone." The kappa threw a non-whisper at the meat. "But I did."
The slabs of gore clashed against each other like a tide. As more and more of them combine the resulting structure grew tall. Soon a skull poked out at the time of the flesh tower. From this strings of muscle slithered out from, laying over the bone from one orifice to another opening.
It grew an arm, but no hand, but it still slammed the stub into the ground before it. It assaulted the dirt until it's hand was whole again. Four serpents hissed, forming a hand, three fingers and a thumb.
Another skull formed at it's chest, but it was lagging behind the first face which now had developed skin and then fur, revealing a lion's head.
"Now." The manticore spoke. It sounded only winded. "Are you blokes ready to be my viceroys?"
The next few chapters will be some one off adventures before the next major arc. One with Marco's friends with Oscar, another with Janna and Hekapoo, then whatever Kelly's up to, a chapter for boy's night/girl's night and a surprise chapter. Least that's the plan. My consistency is awful.