Comet vs The Forces of Evil

by RJWritingInk

Born and raised as the heir to the Kingdom of Mewni, Comet Dragonfly acted like anything but a Prince. So when he finally gets his hands on his family's magic wand, they send him to live and train in another dimension called Earth. With his new best friend, Marcia, by his side, Comet fights the forces of evil and goes on amazing adventures (A Star vs. Genderbent Fanfic)

54. Chapter 50-Mewnipendence Day, Pt 4

Hey, guys! RJ "Jay" Writing Ink here with what has to be my longest chapter for this story thus far, and what a chapter it is! Since I had built all of this up as some grand, fake battle, I went all out with everything. Hope you enjoy. And for the love of all that is holy, when it tells you to play the music, PLAY IT!

Nobody actually heard Comet sound the start of the battle. They couldn't, not when they were too focused on what was about to happen. Even though everyone knew that this wasn't a real fight and just a re-enactment, for some reason, everyone was taking this as seriously as possible. Though, given the fact that one side was a bunch of unarmed people dressed up like Monsters pitting themselves against people in suits of armor that reached the height of the bleachers, you couldn't blame everyone for trying to stay in the zone.

The bottom line was that when they saw the flare go off overhead, no one needed to be told what to do. Both sides merely rushed towards one another. And the fight was on.

Being the oldest and the strongest amongst the Monsters, Ms. Skullnick led the front of the pack, clad in the troll armor that she took from the Dimension of Wonders and Amazement. Between the armor and the intimidating look on her face, she made for quite the fearsome sight to both friend and foe. Still, the Mewman Knights pressed on, determined not to disappoint Comet!

"All right, you big, overgrown mooks! Let's see what you can really do!" Ms. Skullnick shouted as she charged ahead of the others. One of the knights tried to respond to this by meeting her head-on, thinking that their sheer size would be enough to overpower the Troll teacher. As the poor soul proceeded to throw a punch at her on the ground, though, they soon found out just how mistaken they were. Instead of trying to dodge it outright, Ms. Skullnick moved to sidestep the attack. Then, before anyone had any time to react, she grabbed onto the knight's wrist and held it in a vicious bearhug.

"What the?" the student piloting the armor shouted in abject confusion as he tried to pry himself free, to no avail. "How the heck is she this strong?!"

"That's because I pull freight cars at the trainyard and bench press mini-vans on the weekend!" Ms. Skullnick proclaimed before proceeded to use her freakish strength to make the suit's wrist crumple like a tin can, much to everyone's surprise.

"Holy shit! She wrecked my arm, brah!" the student yelled in shock. "She could've crushed my arm if that had been in there!"

Due to their massive size, controlling the suits of armor had proved to be very problematic for everyone. That's why, when Comet had re-sized them, he enchanted them so that they were powered by magic connected to the wearer. They just had to move like they normally would, and the suit would follow. In hindsight, this would more than likely keep people from getting hurt in the fight.

"Hey!" Ms. Skullnick said as she wasn't finished yet. "When I say this, I don't just mean you should be doing it while in class, but in life: pay attention to what's around you!" Before the unfortunate knight had a chance to even respond, Ms. Skullnick had torn off the crushed wrist and proceeded to toss it at their torso. As a result of the sudden impact, the knight was sent tumbling to the ground with a very loud thud!

"Aw yeah! Consider yourself schooled!" Ms. Skullnick boasted as she looked at her handiwork on the ground. "Who's next?"

"Awesome Opossums, bull formation!"

As if to answer her question, another group of knights, who the teacher quickly realized were part of the school's football team, came charging headlong towards her.

"Ah, crapbaskets," Ms. Skullnick cursed her bad luck. Knowing that she couldn't handle all of them at once, the teacher had no choice but to make a hasty retreat in the opposite direction while everyone on Team Mewman began to cheer. Justin, though, went to check on their fallen teammate.

"Hey, are you okay, dude?"

"Yeah," the knight on the ground said as they tried to get up. "I'm good," they added as they tried to reattach their broken wrist. "Dang it, I think this is out of order."

"Ah, who cares? We're going to win anyway, so we shouldn't let this get to us."

"Good point. Let's get back to the fighting!"

And thus, the first skirmish in the Mewnipendence Day re-enactment came to an end with a stalemate.

---

"Oh, man. Oh, man!" Ferguson said as he hid behind a rock from the approaching knights. "Why on Earth did I think that this was such a good idea?! I'm going to get killed out there!"

Ferguson had done his best to sound brave and confident when going into this fight, but in truth, it was taking everything he had to keep himself from passing out from fright.

"Maybe I should've just sat this one out," Ferguson whimpered as he hid from the carnage all around him, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Unfortunately, his playing possum proved futile, as the rock providing him cover was unceremoniously shoved aside by one of the knights. Whereas most of the knights wore towering suits of armor though, this one was comparatively smaller; though, to be fair, that didn't help much.

This knight in question was still massive. His armor was far cruder in appearance like someone had shoved a bunch of pieces of metal together and added on some extra accessories to make it look more intimidating. It also seemed vaguely familiar to the pop-culture aficionado, like something he'd seen in a movie once.

Wait...isn't that the Iron Monger suit from Iron Man? Once upon a time, liking superhero films was considered a niche subject, but ever since the success of the MCU, it became more widespread for people to be fans of that stuff. Yet, despite their widespread popularity, it felt like only a smaller handful of hardcore fans knew the lore and stories of the comics that inspired the Marvel movies, such as Alfonso and Ferguson. In this case, Ferguson's knowledge helped him realize that the knight he was facing did, in fact, look like the villain Iron Monger. As bad as that was, though, it was only made worse when he realized who was wearing the suit.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Diaz's dorky little friend," a familiar voice said, making Ferguson gulp.

"L-Lars?" he nervously asked, wanting it to be anyone but the school's resident bully. Unfortunately, the lifting of the visor to reveal Vanderdud's face killed any hopes of that. "H-hey man. What's uh, what's going on? You having a g-good time?"

"Oh, I'm about to have a great time, considering what I've got planned for you, fatso." Lars sadistically said as he pounded his fist into the palm of his hand.

Ferguson slowly began to crawl away from the bully. "Well, I mean, that's what you're supposed to be doing, Lars, but come on. Aren't there, like, plenty of fish in the sea?"

"Maybe, but you know what? I haven't forgotten what you've done to me."

"Um, could you be a little more specific? Because I don't follow." Ferguson fearfully asked.

"I know that you and that four-eyed twerp have been the ones who keep hitting me with paintballs!" Lars angrily said to Ferguson, who now wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die. Especially since Lars wasn't exactly wrong.

Ever since Alfonso and Ferguson got their slingshots from Quest Buy, they felt the need to hone their marksmanship skills. At first, they kept it to simply practice dummies that they set up in their backyards. However, when they saw Lars bullying various students outside of the teacher's line of sight, they got an idea. So, whenever they caught Lars picking on someone for the past few weeks, they would grab their slingshots and use him as target practice. It was the perfect plan! They would humiliate the jerk, protect their fellow geeks, and get some training in all in one fell swoop.

Except it seemed that the lumbering Neanderthal managed to figure it out. That was not good.

"Come on, Lars, don't be like that! I mean, you have to admit that you were asking for it all of those times-" Ferguson tried to argue, only to get a sadistic glare from the meathead.

"Save it, little man!" Lars growled. "I may not be able to touch four-eyes, but since you made the mistake of joining the losing team, nothing to stop me from fucking you up." Lars then raised a gigantic fist and prepared to launch it towards Ferguson's vulnerable mid-section.

"AHH! Somebody help me!" Ferguson shouted as he braced for the painful blow...

*KAPOW*

...only for it to never actually come. When Ferguson opened his shut eyes to see why he couldn't believe what happened. A little pink cloud of smoke had partially obscured the bully's face as he seemed to struggle to keep his eyes open. It was almost impossible for him to stand on his feet!

"What...the...fu-ddgeee?" The bully said before promptly falling flat on his back, out like a light. Then Ferguson saw just who had saved him.

Standing right behind the now-prone form of Lars was a lanky-looking figure. Unlike many of the other knights on the Mewman team, this person was wearing armor actually normal-sized. What set them even further apart from the others was how their armor wasn't Medieval. Instead, it looked like a weird fusion between what Iron Man wore and the classic Gundam. Ferguson knew right away who it was.

"Al!"

"Hey, Ferguson," Alfonso waved from underneath his suit as he walked towards him. "I thought that you could use some help right about now," he said as he helped his buddy get to his feet.

"But what about the plan?'

---

"You can show yourself now, brah," Jonah told the mysterious figure.

When this mystery defector stepped forward into the light of the lamposts, more than a few people present were surprised by who it was. Standing there, wearing the old cloak that he'd made when cosplaying for Lord of the Rings, was Alfonso Dolittle, his slingshot hanging from his belt.

"You've got to be kidding me," Brittney deadpanned. "Our help is coming from dweebus number two?"

"Yeah, what gives, Alfonso?" Ferguson couldn't help but ask. "I thought you were psyched to wear that knight armor?"

"I was," Alfonso noted. "But after what Marcia told Comet earlier today, and how he decided to do the opposite of what she clearly wanted, I realized that...this whole event sucks."

"So, instead of sticking by your buddy in the hopes of getting him to see the error of his ways, you'd rather turn traitor?" Brittney tactlessly summed up what the bespectacled boy was thinking.

"Hey," Ms Skullnick snapped at Brittney. "Mr. Dolittle is just trying to do what he thinks is right. We cannot fault him for that."

"No, no, she's right," Alfonso admitted. "I'm basically stabbing Comet in the back over this. But I'm only doing this because I know what it's like being bullied by people who are bigger than you, and I don't want to turn into what I hate."

"Wow," Sabrina said. "That's actually very mature of you, Alfonso," Sabrina complimented him, causing him to blush.

"Oh, it's not that mature," Alfonso sheepishly said while laughing in embarrassment. "Besides, I only found out about this because I overheard what you guys were talking about."

"Give yourself a little more credit than that, Al," Jonah said with his arms folded. "I think it was impressive that you followed me back without me noticing." If Jonah was complimenting someone on their stealth, then he meant it. "Plus, you've got something that we will need on our side if we want to pull this off."

"Oh, is he going to upgrade our costumes to give us all claws like Wolverine?" Karla asked, thinking that that sounded so metal.

"Can't. Not enough time," Alfonso stated, not saying anything about how he lacked the resources to do that in the first place.

"No, what Alfonso can bring to our side...is the perfect strategy," Jonah stated, much to the other's confusion.

"I don't follow," Brittney said.

"Yeah, me neither," Sabrina admitted.

"Well, not a lot of people know this, but Alfonso's actually a pretty decent strategist," Jonah began to explain. "See, a lot of the video games that he likes to play are RTS or turn-based RPG's. The kind of games where you have to lead armies into battle and win. And Alfonso happens to be one of the best at them."

"He's not exaggerating, guys," Ferguson added on. "I've seen him play the Fire Emblem games on his old 3DS in classic mode on Lunatic difficulty. That's the hardest mode you can play on since anyone you lose in battle is gone for good. And he never lost anyone. Ever."

"To be fair, I did have help from the strategy guides and online walkthroughs, at first," Alfonso admitted.

"Yeah, but after those first few levels, you just plowed straight through everything! You were unstoppable, dude!" Ferguson proclaimed.

"Exactly. And with that kind of brainpower, you can help us come up with a winning strategy tomorrow," Jonah told him.

"Probably," Alfonso said. "But we're going to need to keep the fact that I'm helping you guys a secret as long as possible. Once I get caught, they won't hesitate to come after me."

"Don't worry, Alfonso," Jonah reassured him. "By the time they figure it out, it will already be too late."

---

"So much for keeping your defection a secret," Ferguson said as he finished thinking back the night before.

"Hey, it's no problem, buddy," Alfonso said as he patted his friend on the shoulder. "We planned on showing where my loyalties lay sooner or later. Guess it just ended up being sooner."

"Well, it's good to have you fighting on our side, man. Now come on. let's get out of here before Lars wakes up!"

As if to prove the redhead's point, Lars began to groan and stir as the effects of the sleep pellets began to wear off.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Alfonso said as the two made themselves scarce. Once they did so, hiding behind a nearby tree, Alfonso decided to ask the question on his mind.

"So, I know that this is happening earlier than expected, but what's the situation on our part?"

"So far, so good," Ferguson told his compatriot. "I wasn't able to catch much from my hiding spot, but I did see that Ms. Skullnick ripped off one of the football member's gloves and threw it at them."

"Oh, yeah! I saw that! It looked brutal!"

"I know, right? Honestly, if this were a real battle, she could've straight up killed that poor guy!" Ferguson excitedly pointed out. "But yeah, so far, we've been sticking to the plan we came up with. Hit-and-run tactics, only fighting them when they're isolated, keeping them from getting close enough to Jonah to figure out what he's got planned."

"Good," Alfonso nodded. "No matter what, we have to make sure that Comet and Marcia don't suspect anything until it's too late. Like Sun Tzu said, 'Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.'"

"I don't get it."

"Basically, don't fight unless you've already set yourself up for the best chance of winning," Alfonso clarified.

"That makes sense," Ferguson said as he peeked out from behind the tree, noticing another knight all by their lonesome and no one else in sight.

"Looks like we got a single enemy nearby. Think we can take them?" Ferguson asked as he pulled out his slingshot.

"Ah, what the heck?" Alfonso smiled. "Just be ready to run."

"Got it."

---

"Well, now what are we supposed to do?" a cheerleader by the name of Barbara complained as they found themselves hiding from a pair of marauding knights.

"I-I don't know," Sabrina responded from her hiding spot among the trees.

Per Jonah's marching orders, everyone on the Monster Team had split up into smaller groups of several members. Their purpose was to begin testing the Mewman Team's defenses and see just how tough Comet had made the suits of armor. If possible, they could try and bring a few down, but Jonah and Alfonso made it explicitly clear: don't openly engage the enemy unless they had the advantage.

That proved to be easier said than done. Even when outnumbered, Comet's magically charged suits proved far too durable for them to make any progress. A few of the Team Monster members got lucky, but that was about it. Now, Brittney, Sabrina, and the cheerleaders were hiding from the knights, trying their best not to get hurt. But they all knew that it was only a matter of time before they got caught. Worse, Brittney looked at Sabrina and began to see the telltale signs of stress starting to get to her.

Having had Sabrina follow her everywhere for years, Brittney could tell when she was starting to freak out. Her breathing would become ragged, her eyes began to dart all over the place, and the strands of her started sticking out. Needless to say, after seeing how much confident Sabrina had become since taking her place as head cheerleader, watching her backslide made Brittney upset. More so because it was a reminder of how bad she treated the girl over the years.

Brittney knew for a long time how nervous and stressed out Sabrina could get. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything. However, instead of trying to help her, she ignored the other girl's problems. As long as she did what she was told, Brittney didn't care. And for the umpteenth time since the birthday party, Brittney hated how much of a bitch she was.

All right, Wong. What can you do to help Sabrina? Brittney thought as she tried to figure a way out of this mess. Then, it hit her.

"Psst. Sabrina!" Brittney whispered to the other girl, getting her attention. "Do you remember Operation: Live Bait?"

Sabrina's eyes widened a little as she remembered what Brittney was talking about, and she gulped a little. "You want us to do that? But I don't think that I can..."

"It's alright. That's why I'm going to do it."

"Brittney, no!" Sabrina desperately said. "There's no way to know if that will even work here!"

"Which is why I'll be the one to do it," Brittney told her. "Just make sure that when I say 'now,' get ready to attack."

"Brittney-"

"Please, just trust me on this," Brittney said, pleading with Sabrina to put her faith in her.

Sabrina opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else but then decided against it. Taking that as all she needed to hear (or rather, not hear), Brittney then darted from her hiding spot and began to make her way to the approaching enemy.

"Uhh, can someone fill me in on what just happened?" A cheerleader named Stacy asked. The sight of their former leader doing...whatever it was she was doing had, understandably, left more than a few of the girls in disbelief.

"No time to explain, really," was all Sabrina could say. "We just got to trust her."

"We're doomed," a girl named Ellie said.

---

"Any sign of them, Dex?" a knight in maroon-colored armor named Rick asked.

"Nope. They must be hiding somewhere," Dexter, a knight in orange armor, replied. "Damn it, this sucks!"

"Tell me about it. I only signed up for this thing so I could wear this kickass armor. If I knew that it was going to be this hard, I would've just sat in the bleachers and chilled."

"Oh, come on, Dex. That's your answer for everything."

"And it always works. I stay away from trouble; trouble stays away from me."

"Whatever," Rick said. "Just wish one of them would show up so we can, you know, actually fight like we're supposed to."

The conversation between the two boys was then interrupted by the sound of a very feminine whistle piercing the air.

"Yoo-hoo, boys?" a voice called out to them, prompting the two guys to scan the area for whoever called out to them. When they found out who it was, though, they were glad that they were wearing helmets, so they could hide how red their faces got.

Below them on the ground was none other than Brittney Wong herself. She was lying on her side on the ground, her legs fully outstretched to reveal themselves in all the glory. She was using an arm to keep herself upright while the other one was holding on to the back of her head, keeping it raised up so that she could look at them. But it wasn't just the way she was posing that was making the boys blush. It was the seductive, winking smile that she gave them and how her snake-girl suit, which, while loose enough to accommodate for sports underwear, was tight enough to leave little to the imagination.

"Dude, is that Brittney Wong?" Rick asked.

Gotcha, Brittney thought as she allowed herself the tiniest of smirks.

Growing up, Brittney had been told many times by people of how pretty she was, with her parent's associates joking that she would become a supermodel before puberty was done with her. Thanks to those compliments, Brittney had understood how important looks could be and how easily they could influence others. This was why, whenever she wanted someone from a guy, she would use her beauty and charm to win them over.

Unfortunately, she eventually grew tired of doing this herself, so after Sabrina started serving her, one of Brittney's favorite tactics was to use the poor girl as a decoy while she enacted whatever she had. Some guys found Sabrina's meekness to be just as attractive, even though Sabrina hated it.

Now, as part of her attempts to make amends with Sabrina, Brittney would do this herself and show not just Sabrina, but the entire Cheer Team, that she was trying to change.

"Oh, boys? I don't suppose you two big, strong knights would be willing to let me go on my way?" Brittney said in the sweetest tone possible. "I mean, could you really try and hurt this?" Brittney said as she pointed to her body.

"I-uh, uh..." Both boys were clearly losing words, making Brittney feel even more confident that this would work.

At one point, Brittney Wong was considered one of the most beautiful girls at Echo Creek Academy. In fact, it was her looks that were part of the reason why people put up with her shit for so long. Boys fawned over her while girls were envious of her, regardless of the shortcomings of her personality. After her meltdown at her birthday and getting torn to shreds, though, any adoration she had dried up.

Then came the field trip. As words of her role in saving her classmates spread around, people slowly began to respect her again. And more than a few of the more hopeful boys thought that the once-unobtainable girl was in their league now.

She wasn't, but that wasn't going to stop Brittney from using her rebuilt rep to help Sabrina, then so be it.

"Um, o-of course, Brittney!" Rick hastily said, "You can-"

"Rick! Can't you see that she's just trying to trick us?" Dex said, scolding his partner. "We should just take her out now while we still have a chance."

"Wait, what? Dex, where is this coming from? Whatever happened to avoiding trouble or that stuff, you were just spouting?"

"Yeah, well, sometimes the 'Bro Code' trumps this shit, Rick. Especially when your best friend/gaming partner is being played by a girl. Now, let's just take her down and then go wait this fight out."

Rick looked at his partner through his suit, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Good point. Sorry, Miss Wong. But we have to bring you in."

"Oh, rats," Brittney pouted. "I guess I have no choice but to surr-NOW!"

As soon as Brittney shouted, a host of girls dressed like snake people came out of the trees and zerg-rushed the two unsuspecting knights. Then, before the two boys could even put up a fight, the girls proceeded to use their combined speed and strength to strike at their legs. While this shouldn't have done anything to them, the girls hit the knights so hard and fast that they managed to cause them to give way, making both unfortunate boys fall to the ground.

"Oh, SHIIITTTTTTTTTT!" Dex said as he and his partner fell to the ground with a thud. "Damn it, I knew I should've just sat in the bleachers!" Dex whined.

"Don't be like that, Dexter," Rick said as he tried to get back up. "At least we're re-enacting an important part of-"

"Rick Simmons, please don't finish that sentence."

"He's right, you know," Brittney said as she and the other girls proceeded to clamber on top of the armor. "Your stupid chatter is making me lose brain cells."

"Ouch. That seems kind of harsh, Brittney," Chantel noted.

"Hey, I'm still learning," Brittney admitted. "So, Sabrina, you got any ideas on what we should do with them?"

Sabrina looked at the two suits of armor and then at Brittney. And then, she got an idea.

---

"Well, this isn't good," Marcia said as she observed the battle through a pair of binoculars that she had on hand.

"What? What's not good?" Comet asked, wondering what was wrong.

"So, Ms. Skullnick managed to waste one of our knights with her brute strength-"

"Well, I was kind of expecting that," Comet admitted.

"Brittney, Sabrina, and the other cheerleaders just overpowered another two knights-"

"Wow. I didn't expect those two to pull that off-" Comet said, surprised but otherwise unphased.

"Annnndd, I think Alfonso just turned on us and sided with the Monster team," Marcia said, finishing off her battlefield report.

This was enough to get Comet's attention. "Say wha-let me see!"

As Comet asked, Marcia handed him the binoculars and pointed him in the right direction. It was just like she had said: Alfonso had decided to save Ferguson (who Comet recognized from his possum suit) from what appeared to be Lars.

"Huh. So, that's a thing, I guess," Comet muttered to himself. "Honestly, I don't even know why we let Lars take part in this at all."

"Yeah, that wasn't your smartest move, dude," Marcia told him.

"You're right, Marcia," Comet said, admitting his mistake. "So, I'll allow what Alfonso did to continue," he simply said as he watched the battle progress. "In the meantime, tell Justin to reinforce the front and have Jackson take to the skies on his board. We'll need him for later."

"Um, okay," was all Marcia could say as she looked at her friend. She had expected him to put up more of a fight or complain about how "they were ruining the re-enactment." She didn't expect him to handle things like this, though.

Shaking off whatever concerns she had at the moment, Marcia went to tap on the earpiece that Comet gave to everyone participating, allowing them to communicate with each other. As she gave out the new marching orders, she didn't notice the look on Comet's face as he continued to watch the re-enactment with Coryn perched on his shoulder.

It was a look of guilt.

---

"Sweet corn, this place is a warzone!" Bearicorn shouted as he and Spikeballs tried to push one of the giant knights away from his group's position.

"I don't think I've ever been in a fight like this before!" Spikeballs admitted as he swung at some student riding on horseback, sending the equestrian to the ground and the student running for the hills. "I just hope that was the last of them for a while. My spikes are killing me."

"Oh, shut it, Spikeballs!" came the shrill voice of Ludo as he ran up to them. "We've been running around this Gods-forsaken battlefield for the last twenty or so minutes trying to stay out of everyone's way, so we're all exhausted," Ludo complained as he tried to catch his breath.

Ludo wasn't joking, either. As part of their plan to best Comet and seize the Wand, Ludo ordered the Monsters to stick to the fringes of the battlefield. They would avoid as many of the participants as possible and take out any that got too close. They couldn't afford to alert Comet of their presence! Unfortunately, no one, not even Toffee, had expected Comet to make the battlefield so big. Thanks to that, the Monsters had had to waste time darting amongst the trees and rocks as the battle unfolded around them.

"I still can't believe that the Devil Child's plan is working, sir," Lobster Claws said as he walked up to Ludo.

"Yes. Even I'm a little impressed that that human child's plan to sabotage this re-enactment is working so well," Ludo admitted. "If he hadn't already made himself an enemy, I might have considered hiring him to join our cause," the Avian nonchalantly admitted.

"Really, boss?" Beard Deer asked.

"Maybe," Ludo shrugged. "But I'd probably kill him as soon as he was no longer any use to us."

"Bawk. Ba-gawk ga-gawk," Big Chicken clucked, a phrase which here means "Wow. That's pretty messed up, sir."

"Don't care. No one's going to stop my rise to power!" Ludo yelled. That's when he happened to look up in the sky and saw, much to his irritation, the skater human (he couldn't remember all the names of Comet's stupid friends) on his hoverboard, flying overhead.

"Pegasus feathers! Hide!"

And just like that, Ludo's Monster continued their game of cat and mouse.

"Grrr, when in the seven Hells is that brat going to make his move."

---

"Hey, Jonah. How much longer are you going to make everyone wait?" Karla couldn't help but ask as she finished adjusting her harpy costume so that she could play her guitar with it on. "If we wait too long, then Comet's going to wear us down too much for us to fight back."

"Karla, you need to trust in the strategy that Alfonso and I came up with last night," Jonah said as he continued to work with various materials, using his alchemy to mold them into weapons for the others to use. Once he was satisfied with his handiwork, he put them to the side and began working on another set of materials scavenged by a few Meseeks.

At first glance, one would be curious why Jonah didn't use his alchemy to create weapons for his side before the battle even started. The thought had crossed the young trickster's mind, to be honest. However, he knew that Comet might get rid of them if they showed up to the fight with weapons in hand. And if he started passing out weapons to his team in the middle of the battle, then Comet or Marcia would immediately know something was up and put a stop to everything. No, Alfonso and Jonah had both agreed. The only way they were going to pull this off was by keeping Comet in the dark until it was too late.

"Look, at least let me and Kevin head up already," Karla tried to argue. "We can buy you guys some more time until you give the signal."

"Not necessary, Karla," Jonah said as he continued working with making weapons out of wooden branches. "We're actually almost ready to get underway. I just need another five minutes, and then we'll launch our counterattack," Jonah confidently said. "Send word out to everyone that the next phase of the plan is to commence."

"You mean the part where we all pretend to run away and hide?" Karla clarified.

"Yeah, that."

"All right, Jonah-"

"Ah ah ah," Jonah said. "You know what to call me."

"Oh yeah," Karla reminded herself. "All right, High Monster Lord Ordonia," she said in response before heading off to do as she was told.

"Oh, yeah. This is going to be epic."

---

"Hey Marcia, it's Jackson," Jackson said as he radioed in on his earpiece. "Everything looks to be on schedule."

Riding on his U-Board, Jackson Lee Thomas had an unobstructed view of the ongoing re-enactment, and so far, everything was progressing as it was meant to.

"So nothing out of the ordinary, aside from those isolated incidents?" Marcia's voice called in on the other side.

"Nope, General," Jackson teased. "A few on our side got banged up, but aside from everything you mentioned, it looks like nothing's out of the ordinary."

"Really? Nothing? No Karla and Kevin riding in to divebomb us? No underhanded tactics by Jonah? Not even a little?"

"Oh, come on, Marcia," Jackson replied. "Don't you think that you're worrying a little too much?"

---

"No, I am not worrying too much, Jackson," Marcia said from her spot on the fake castle. "I'm just realistic. It's not like Jonah to go this long without causing any trouble."

"Marcia, do you really think that Jonah's going to find a way to screw with this?" Jackson asked. "BTW, that wasn't a joke. I was genuinely asking for your opinion."

Marcia pinched the brow of her nose and groaned. "Honestly, I don't know. I wouldn't put it past him to try and mess with this somehow," she reluctantly admitted. "Hey, Comet?" She asked, turning to her friend. "Do you think that Jonah's going to try and pull something soon?"

When she didn't get an answer, Marcia tried asking again. Still nothing. "Comet?" Marcia asked, more than a little worried when he saw that he was just standing on the balcony, quietly watching the battle progress without any of his usual enthusiasm.

Comet couldn't really hear Marcia at that moment, though. He was too busy being lost in his own thoughts...

---

Comet must have tossed and turned in his bed for the last twenty minutes, to no avail. Try as he might, he couldn't get himself to fall asleep. Had he been in a better mood, then he would've chalked this up to eating Sugar Seeds so late at night. But that wasn't it. He was thinking about his argument with Marcia and what her parents had told him.

Comet didn't understand it. His brain was still trying to process what they had told him, and it was failing to do so. Comet had thought that many of the traditions and rules he was expected to follow were dumb, but this? Hating someone over something that they couldn't decide for themselves? This was on a whole other level of stupidity.

Comet was no stranger to hating people, but he always had a reason he felt a certain way towards them. He hated his Uncle Eternia for always putting him down and having a perpetual stick up his ass. He hated Tywin Doflamingo for mocking him and for his sleazy attempts to hit on Marcia. And he had a lot of reasons to hate Ludo! Yet, he could not think of any reason why people would hate Mr. Diaz or Marcia. They were some of the nicest people he had ever met, and the fact that some people bullied them because of how they looked made no sense to him.

Looking up at the canopy to his bed, Comet sighed, for he knew that he wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon. That's when he noticed his compact mirror phone sitting on his dresser.

"I might as well," Comet said defeatedly as he reached for his mirror and flipped it open. After waiting for his home screen to appear, Comet then went to the app that allowed him to connect to Earth's Internet and began to type in some words: people bullied because of their skin color. After a few seconds, the search engine turned up some results that Comet started to look at. Specifically, the ones about things such as "racism" and "discrimination."

Comet read through the various articles and definitions that he could find, and what he found was not pleasant to look at. He read it all: about how Humans would look down on other groups of Humans and see themselves as superior for the most arbitrary of reasons. Reasons that Comet just couldn't understand but wanted so badly to.

Comet found himself falling down a rabbit hole that he had no idea how he would get out of from this point on. He read up everything he could find. Examples of people being discriminated against. Racist policies were enacted by governments that were supposed to be protecting them. Acts of violence were enacted against people who didn't even have the luxury of fighting back. And then, he found it. The big one: genocide.

Comet saw old black and white photographs of events long before Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were even born. Of people in uniforms marching like mindless robots to the orders of an angry, hate-filled man. How that man and his followers, even as they waged war on the entire world, fought against the people living on their own land. He saw it all: the burned homes and shops, the racist imagery, the lies being told. And worst of all, he saw the camps and what they did to the poor people who wound up in them.

When Comet had seen more than he could stomach, he practically threw his mirror to the far side of the bed and began to scoot as far back against the board as possible. His face was overcome by the horror at what he had witnessed.

"My Gods," was all that Comet could say. He had seen some messed up things in his life, but what he just read about, what he just saw, was viler than anything that he ever experienced. It made Sgt. Oleg's look like a daycare. Hell, it made the Dimension of Cats with Human Faces look like a paradise!

After seeing all of that, Comet did his best to try and fall asleep. But there was no way that he could hope to rest after what he had just learned.

"I'm sorry, Marcia," Comet kept saying to himself. "I didn't know..."

---

"I didn't know," Comet absent-mindedly mumbled to himself in the present, not really paying attention to the ongoing battle.

Comet had indeed found it impossible to rest after learning everything that he did. He just sat in his bed all night, his mind trying to keep itself together as it processed all the information. Before Comet even knew it, it was already sunrise. He managed to use that spell that gave him eight hours of sleep in a few minutes on himself, but no amount of magic could erase the horror he felt.

When the time came for the re-enactment to begin, Comet did his absolute best to keep up his cheerful facade, but in truth, he wasn't really in the mood for it. Thus, he just stood on that balcony, watching as the fighting dragged on for close to half an hour.

"...met? Comet? Hey, Comet!"

Comet got pulled out of his head by the sound of someone calling him, making him look around in confusion. It wasn't until he realized that Marcia was still with him that he figured out that she had something to tell him.

"Huh? Oh, what's up, Marcia?" He said, trying to sound like he was paying attention. Too bad Marcia didn't fall for it.

"Hey, your Royal Highness. Didn't you hear a word of what I had been saying just now?" she said with a very irritated look on her face. "And if you say you were, then I'll know that you were lying because you had that look on your face where you were daydreaming about shit."

Do I have a look on my face when I zone out? Comet pondered but chose to ignore it for the time being. "All right, General Diaz, what do you have to report?"

Marcia just groaned as she tried to alleviate the oncoming headache. "Alright, fine," she said, not even bothering to hide the disappointment in her voice. First, the guy was so excited about this event, and now he wasn't even paying attention to it. He should make up his mind already!

"Look, the re-enactment's been progressing as it should be. However, it just came to the attention of Jackson and me that we have yet to see the eye or hair of Jonah, Karla, or Kevin. So, we have no idea where they might be, and that's a big problem."

Comet let out a sigh as he turned to face Marcia. "Look, Marcia, don't you think that you're overreacting?"

"No," Marcia bluntly said.

"Look, I'm betting Karla and Kevin are just waiting to make some big, dramatic entrance at the climax of the fight," Comet suggested. "And I'm sure Jonah's fighting somewhere on the battlefield right now where Jackson can't see him."

"And you're sure that's what they're doing?" Marcia asked, clearly unconvinced by Comet's theory.

"Pretty sure. Unless it's possible for Jonah to mess with the re-enactment," Comet said, shrugging his shoulders.

...

"Oh-"

"Crud," Comet and Marcia both said as the realization dawned on them.

Marcia immediately sprang into action, tapping on her earpiece. "Justin, this is General Diaz. Have everyone drop whatever it is they are doing and locate Jonah. Now!" She barked over the line. Not wasting a second to hear his answer, the Diaz girl then switched over to Jackson. "Jackson, I need you to double down on your search. We need a fix on the locations of Karla, Kevin, and Jonah, and we need them yesterday!"

"So, you really think that Jonah's going to mess with this whole thing, then?"

"Yes, I do," Marcia admitted. After she was finished issuing orders on the radio, she whistled for Coryn, with the little Hoot-Hoot happily hopping over to the girl.

"Okay, Coryn," Marcia said like she was talking to any other family pet (which Coryn technically was). "I need you to take to the sky and help Jackson located Karla, Kevin, and Jonah. If you see any of them, don't hesitate to attack. Can you do that for me?"

"Hoo hoo!" The little Pokémon dutifully hooted in response before spreading his wings as he proceeded to fly into the air.

"Marcia, why did you send Coryn out there?" Comet said, disapproving of this decision. "If he and Kevin end up having to fight each other, then that Gryphon will make mince-meat out of the little guy!" The thought of his own Pokémon being ironically eaten by another creation of his was almost as disturbing as everything he'd seen the night before.

"Don't worry, Comet. I think Coryn will be fine," Marcia told him. "Remember, he's not a normal Owl. He's a Pokémon, with all the powers that go with it."

"Oh. Duh," Comet realized. How could he forget that important fact? "Yeah, I'm not worried. Plus, he's smaller and faster, so he's got that going for him."

"Exactly. Now all that's left to do is hope that I'm just overthinking things."

Marcia was really hoping that she was. She just wanted this dumb re-enactment and the argument it caused between her and her best friend to be over and done with. And if Jonah tried anything, she would throttle him for it!

---

"Um, Jonah? I think that Comet might be onto us." Karla said as she watched events on the battlefield unfold from the Monster Horde's secret staging area, deep in the pockets of trees that Comet had magically created.

"That so?" Jonah called out as he finished with the latest batch of weapons.

"Yeah," Karla told him. "He's got Jackson and that little owl thing that Comet has patrolling the skies like crazy," she said as she looked to the skies above. "Plus, it looks like the rest of the knights are closing ranks and trying to drive our people into a corner."

"Hmm. I was hoping that having everyone run around and be as distracting as possible would keep those two from noticing our absence," Jonah admitted. "Guess I was asking for too much."

"So, what do we do?" Karla said as she approached him. "If they get any closer, they'll figure out what's going on, and then it's game over," she pointed out.

Jonah got up from where he'd been kneeling on the ground and brushed off the dirt and wood from his costume. "Well, guess it can't be helped. Get on the wire and let everyone know that the counterattack starts in two minutes. After that, get ready to fly."

"All right," Karla said as she strummed her guitar. "But what was the signal supposed to be again?"

"Trust me," Jonah smirked. "They'll know it when they hear it. That, and all our extra troops will be rushing out of the trees."

Karla honestly had no idea what Jonah had planned, as he insisted that this part of the plan be a surprise for everyone. Still, she knew better than to doubt him. Nodding her head, Karla went to carry out her orders and get Kevin ready to fly.

Satisfied, Jonah then picked up the last makeshift weapons and walked to the edge of the battlefield and his trump card: an army of Meseeks, numbering in the scores and all holding bo staves and wooden toy swords. And at the head of the group was none other than Jonah's new Demonic ally, Black Frost.

"Boys...IT'S PLAYTIME!"

"Really? YEE-HO!" Black Frost shouted before jumping up and down cheerfully.

I freaking love that snowman, Jonah thought as he watched this before turning to address the Meseeks. "All right, my Meseeks minions," Jonah began. "I know that you've all been waiting patiently for the last half hour for me to give you orders. Well, wait no more because we're ready to get started!"

"Oh, boy!" "Yes, siree!" "I'm Mr. Meseeks!"

"All right. Your orders are simple: When the Gryphon charges into the air, you are to head out onto the battlefield, subdue all of the people in the giant suits of armor, and clear a path for us to get to the castle on the other side. Black Frost here will be in charge, so follow any other orders he may give."

"CAAAANNN DOO!" the Meseeks shouted in unison.

"You got it, Boss!" Black Frost said.

"Good to hear, big guy," Jonah said. "Oh, and a few more things: remember not to attack Alfonso, the guy who was with us last night-"

"Got it!"

"-and not to actually hurt anyone...too badly. They're still our friends after this, and if they get hurt, no sundae for you."

"Understood."

"Oh, and if you find two girls on our side who commandeered suits of armor, don't hurt them. They're on our side."

"Got it! Don't hurt the geek; spare the girls in the armor, and not freeze anyone to death!" Black Frost re-iterated.

"All right, that about covers it," Jonah said as he went over his mental checklist one last time. "ALL MINIONS, MOVE OUT!"

And the Meseeks army began to get into position. Happy with his work, Jonah then went to get the Meseeks Box to make one last Meseeks. This one would have a...special role.

---

"Um, so I don't know what we're supposed to do now. Do any of you guys?" Justin asked his teammates.

"I don't know," one of the other knights admitted. "I thought this whole thing was supposed to last longer!"

"Same here," another knight said. "Maybe Comet decided to just call it a day and let us enjoy the food."

"Works for me," Justin said as he and the rest of the knights surrounded the majority of the Monsters Team.

After getting their new orders from Marcia, the knights quickly got their act together and descended upon the Monsters Team. Several of their members had put up more of a fight than they were supposed to, but in the end, the Mewman Team's size carried the day for them. Now, except for a few members (whose costumes looked oddly familiar), the Monsters were cornered.

"So, I know that this sounds totally awkward and stuff," Justin said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "but do you guys wanna surrender so we can go party?"

"I'm tempted to call it, you guys," Ferguson said, stepping forward to speak on everyone's behalf. "But I refuse! We have not yet begun to fight!"

"Um, I'm pretty sure that you did," Justin responded, the dual JoJo/historical references going clear over his head. "And as soon as we find your leader, we'll just make him surrender."

As soon as she heard Justin say that they would get Jonah to surrender, Ms. Skullnick burst out in a fit of laughter, much to everyone's confusion.

"Ms. Skullnick? Are you alright?" Alfonso hesitantly asked.

"Yes, Mr. Dolittle," Ms. Skullnick said amidst the laughing. "I couldn't help myself. Do they really think Jonah would give up so easily? Ha! If I've learned anything in all my time teaching that hooligan..."

Out of nowhere, the ground began to rumble.

"...it's that he'll only appear when he wants to be seen."

*Start Playing "Party Party Party x Ready to Die HUA Mashup"*- watch?v=xj5P2WdkT74

The next thing anyone knew, the rumbling of the ground began to intensify. Then, in the trees just behind the re-enactors, a giant column of ice shot up out of the Earth.

"What..."

---

"The..." Comet and Marcia said,

---

"FUCK?!" Ludo said as he and the others watched from his hiding place.

---

As everyone on the battlefield and in the bleachers watched, the ice column rose into the air, creating a giant ice sculpture in the likeness of Jonah and the other key members of the Monster Team striking badass poses. And on the base of that sculpture, there were Jonah and Karla, riding atop Kevin the Gryphon, standing next to a giant, mutant snowman. And behind them was an army of Meseeks, all armed with crude weapons.

As everyone stared at what was happening in utter disbelief, Jonah gave one of his infamous smirks and simply said, "Shall we?"

And then, all Hell broke loose.

With a screech from Kevin, the army slid down the ice slide with the snowman leading the charge while Kevin took flight into the sky. The newly revealed army began to swarm on the Mewman knights, attacking them with weapons and ice within seconds.

"Guys, was this supposed to happen?!" One knight said before letting out his best Wilhelm Scream as he fell to the ground while the Meseeks tore his armor off.

The other knights began to panic, swinging their swords at the new enemies, only to find their weapons frozen by the giant snowman.

The rest of the Monster team (and Ludo's people) joined in the fray, rushing at their unprepared enemy. Al and Ferguson used their slingshots to blind the knights and glue their armor into place. Ms. Skullnick tore another knight's arm off and whacked the poor guy with it. Brittney and Sabrina (who'd been hiding in amongst the Mewman team the whole time) showed their true colors and proceeded to use their stolen suits to pound the Mewmans into the ground.

"Retreat! Retreat! There's too many of them!" a voice called out from the knights. That one call was enough to make all the pretend Mewmans run back to the castle in the hopes of mounting some kind of defense in the process. Which was just what Jonah and the others had wanted them to do.

"All right, everyone," Ms. Skullnick shouted to the rest of the Monster Horde, "let's finish this!" the assembled army roared in solidarity, with one group yelling louder than everyone else.

THIS WILL FINALLY BE MY MOMENT, Ludo thought as he, and the rest of his undercover Monsters, joined the wave of Monsters as they charged towards the castle.

*End Music*

---

From their vantage point atop the castle, Comet and Marcia just stood there, watching everything that was happening.

"I can't believe it," Marcia groaned. "Three whole days of planning, rehearsal, and hard work, only to have Jonah render it pointless in less than three minutes. It's simultaneously impressive and incredibly frustrating," the girl begrudgingly admitted. What she didn't want to admit was why she felt this way.

Marcia hadn't forgotten the argument she had with Comet the night before. How could she? It kept her awake for a good part of the night, thinking about how frustrated she was with him and his refusal to understand why she wasn't comfortable with this event. Eventually, though, the anger gave way to guilt. As much as she wanted Comet to understand, he grew up in a very different world than the one she knew. This was all that he had known, and it was only natural that he would defend it when she verbally tore it to shreds. By the next morning, Marcia had come to a quiet acceptance about Mewnipendence Day. She may not agree with it, but she knew that Comet's actions weren't out of genuine malice; he just wanted to share his culture with his friends.

Which was why what she saw when she looked back at Comet managed to confuse her even more. Rather than seeing him look upset at Jonah having derailed the entire re-enactment, he looked...happy. He had this grin on his face, and his eyes were bright and full of the usual energy that, for whatever reason, they'd lacked today.

"This is SO COOL!" Comet said, his face getting all giddy with excitement.

"You're...you're not mad?" Marcia asked in confusion.

"Why would I be, Marcia? Look around you," he gestured towards the spectators in the bleachers, who were now cheering and hollering like they were watching a sports game. "Everyone's having fun now. Even the people taking part in the re-enactment seem to be enjoying themselves more." True to Comet's word, even though they were now on the losing side of the fight, most of the Mewman volunteers seemed to be getting more into the event than they'd been before. "Marcia, I wanted to do this not just because I wanted to honor this holiday, but I wanted to thank the school for taking me in. I'm fine with this."

"Really?" Marcia raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yeah. Besides, someone smart told me that this whole holiday was full of it," Comet cheekily said, catching Marcia by surprise. This was a complete 180 from how he'd been acting last night!

For a moment, Marcia considered asking Comet just what brought about this change of mind, but when she saw how much he was enjoying himself, she chose not to. Instead, she decided to enjoy herself alongside everyone else. And as she scanned the sky and saw a familiar figure flying towards their position, she knew just how to do so.

"So, Comet, I take it that despite this entire thing going off-the-rails, you still want our side to win, right?" she asked.

"You better believe it, Mar-Mar," Comet told her.

"Yeah, I think I prefer Marcy better," Marcia said, not liking that nickname. "So how about you give me a lift so I can go stop the rabble-rouser from rubbing his victory in our faces?"

Comet then noticed how Kevin was approaching the castle and knew what Marcia wanted him to do right away. Twirling around his Wand-Staff way more than necessary, Comet proceeded to summon his faithful and fluffy cloud companion, Cloudy. The pink cloud-creature happily greeted the two before letting Marcia step on him, before moving to take her into the air and into the battle, leaving Comet all by himself. As he looked out onto the field and saw the mock battle progressing, he thought to himself, I can't be the only one not taking part in this!

"All right, then," Comet said as he eyed his Wand. "Time to test out some new spells that I've been working on."

---

The next few minutes at Echo Creek Academy could only be summed up with one word: chaos.

Thanks to Jonah's little stunt, the Monsters Team had managed to completely turn the tide against their faux-Mewman adversaries, sending them running back to the castle with the army of Meseeks, Monsters, and Ice Demon in hot pursuit. Just when it looked like everything was going to end in a victory for the Monster Team (and Ludo), Marcia came riding in on Cloudy and got her side's act together.

While she never got into strategy games as much as Alfonso had, Marcia's leadership skills and ability to work in a crisis proved to be enough to get the knights to reform themselves and mount a defense. Despite being outnumbered, she got the knights to use their oversized suits and teamwork to their advantage, allowing them to momentarily halt the opposing side's advance.

At least, until Brittney and Sabrina came barreling in on their commandeered suits, breaking up Team Mewman's lines and forcing them to fall back once more while Alfonso and Ferguson started blasting them with their slingshots. Unfortunately for Jonah's team, this was the moment when Comet decided to begin actively using his magic.

"Mirror force!"

Just as Brittney was about to pound a football player's chest in, a magical barrier went up that didn't just block her attack; it made the damage bounce right back onto her, shattering her suit's right arm, much to her surprise.

"Airstrike shield!"

This unexpected attack was followed by a green shield appearing out of thin air and launching itself at high speeds towards Brittney. It didn't do much damage, but the force of the impact was enough to knock her flat on her back. And due to the sheer weight of her suit, one arm wasn't enough to get her back up, forcing Brittney to abandon the armor entirely.

CometFan13, meanwhile, was fighting like an absolute beast, mowing down Meseeks left and right. Being Meseeks, though, they couldn't actually die, so they just kept charging, along with Ms. Skullnick. While the teacher's superhuman strength should've made her the clear winner, CometFan13 had an even greater power: the power of fandom. Fueled by his sheer fanboy-ness regarding Comet, the Prince's self-proclaimed number one fan managed to push Ms. Skullnick back. And into a crater.

"Why couldn't the students be this passionate about their homework?" Ms. Skullnick complained as she tried to get her bearings inside the newfound crater.

Comet, meanwhile, decided to call in some more allies of his own. Using his Wand, he then summoned a host of both familiar and unfamiliar spells. There were one-eyed teddy bears armed with marshmallow guns that fired exploding marshmallows. Those flying monkeys with banana boomerangs and the addition of peanut guns. The Piranha Plants (which kept saying "Yeah, boy!"). There was even a giant floating baby head, which confused the heck out of everyone.

As for Black Frost? The mutant Ice Demon was having the time of his life! Even though his boss had told him that he couldn't kill anyone, that was fine by him. It had been too long since he'd experienced the heady thrill of armed combat! He was using his ice magic to alter the battlefield as he saw fit, freezing the enemies in place or outright trapping Comet's spells inside of blocks of ice.

The battlefield was now in complete and utter chaos, and in the midst of it all, Ludo and his boys were busy making a beeline for the castle, where Comet now lay defenseless. Unknown to them, another figure was also in the process of doing the exact same thing, albeit in the opposite direction.

Not even the skies above the field were safe from the fighting, as for the past several minutes, Karla, Jonah, and Kevin were in the middle of a dogfight against Jackson, Marcia, and Coryn. Being a large, powerful Gryphon, Kevin was able to outclass his opponents. He could flap his wings fast enough to create powerful gusts of wind that came dangerously close to knocking Marcia off of Cloudy. It was only thanks to Jackson diving in with his fake sword that got him to stop, only to have it break in a clash with Kevin's claws. Thankfully, the skater and his allies were too small and too fast for Kevin to actually hit, so they dodged all of his attacks.

Still, the fight was pretty much a stalemate on all fronts by this point, and Marcia was beginning to grow impatient. She figured that the only way to win was to get to Jonah, which proved impossible with Karla commanding her faithful flying companion.

All right, how do I distract Kevin long enough for me to get to Jonah? Marcia pondered as she weighed her options. She could double-team him with Jackson and hope for the best, but that could one of them fall off their modes of transportation by accident. And Coryn, while able to match Kevin with his own attacks, couldn't do that much damage.

Wait...yeah, yeah! That could work! Marcia got an idea. Whistling to Coryn, she called the Hoot-Hoot over and began to explain her plan to him. Once she made sure that the Pokémon understood what to do, she pressed the earpiece she used to communicate with the others and told Jackson her plan.

"Sounds like the best chance we've got. I'll take the right; you take the left."

"Got it." And then the two carried out their coordinated attack.

Acting in sync with each other, Jackson and Marcia flew high above Kevin, making sure the Sun was to their backs, before diving below and headed straight for the giant Gryphon. Having dove directly with the Sun behind them, the pair managed to get in close enough to the great beast to make it seem like they were about to attack. Caught off-guard, Kevin began to panic, unsure which target he should focus on, much to Karla's concern.

"Easy there, big guy," Karla said as she tried her best to soothe her friend. "They're just trying to psych you out. Don't let them get to you."

"Coryn, use Confusion!"

"Wait, wha?"

Before Karla or Kevin had time to recover, Coryn had swooped in and proceeded to land on the mythical creature's beak. Then, his eyes began to glow an eerie red, something that Karla was all too familiar with.

"Uh oh."

In the blink of an eye, Coryn had successfully managed to use Confusion on his much larger adversary, and it was very effective. Disoriented by the hypnotic attack and what Marcia and Jackson had done earlier, Kevin became docile and unaware of his surroundings, making it easy for Marcia to do what she to do.

"I've got you, you jerk!"

"Wait, huh?"

Before Karla had even realized what had happened, Marcia had managed to land on Kevin's back and proceeded to make a dash towards Jonah, now defenseless.

"Oh, you have no idea how much this means to me, Jonah!" Marcia said as she lifted her frenemy up by the scruff of his costume. "I can finally pay you back for all those times that you-wait a minute."

Unfortunately for Marcia, the one that she was currently holding wasn't Jonah. Instead, it was a lanky, smiling, blue creature.

"I'm Mr. Meseeks! Look at me!"

"A Meseeks?! Are you kidding me?!" Marcia shouted in disappointment. "I spent the last fifteen minutes trying to capture Jonah, only to find out that it's a decoy?!" The frustration in the Diaz girl's voice was almost palpable.

"Well, duh, Marcia," Karla said as she turned around to face him. "This was all part of Jonah's plan. We distract you guys with all this, leaving him free to win this battle for us," the fanged-girl said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh no..." Marcia began to put the pieces together inside her head at once, and it wasn't long before she had finished the entire puzzle. "No, no, no..."

"Oh, yes," Karla said as she strummed funeral music on her guitar.

"Why meeeee?" Marcia thought as the painful realization that Jonah had played her once again hit her like someone backing a car into the living room.

"Well, my job is done!" the Meseeks said as it happily welcomed the sweet embrace of non-existence and disappeared in a puff of blue dust, not caring about the unfolding drama.

---

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight, I probably should've seen all this coming from a mile away," Comet said aloud, not even turning to look at the figure that had just managed to climb their way up to the balcony of the fake castle. "I mean, I chose you to be the leader of the Monster Horde because you were the most devious and cunning person at Echo Creek Academy, but this? I did not see any of this coming."

At last, Comet turned to look at the newcomer. "You really outdid yourself here, Jonah," he said to his friend.

"Well, when you're going up against the guy who can use magic to do anything he wants, the only real option is to go big or go home," Jonah said as he faced down the leader of the Mewman Armies.

"You know we don't have to do this, Jonah," Comet said, trying to talk him out of what was going to happen next.

"Probably not. But you wanted to make this fight the medieval equivalent of a no-hitter baseball game, and that just wasn't something that I wanted to deal with," Jonah countered.

*Play Hellsing Ultimate Die Fledermaus- /NlKxO0iwI_8*

"You know, it's funny," Comet sighed. "Last night, Marcia gave me grief over the exact same thing, say this whole re-enactment was full of shit. She was right in the end."

"Yeah. As much as I hate to admit it, that girl usually knows what she's talking about," Jonah agreed. "But this epiphany of yours isn't going to keep me from beating you and winning this battle."

"Jonah, you know you can't actually beat me, right?"

"Oh, Comet, you should know," Jonah said as he walked closer to the Prince before reaching inside of a pocket of his costume. "I never let anyone tell me what I can and can't do!"

Before Comet could react, Jonah had thrown down a smoke bomb, covering the balcony in a veil of haze that caught the Prince off-guard. While Comet tried his best to keep the smoke from entering his lungs, Jonah took advantage of the distraction and rushed forward, taser in hand, ready to hit the Prince with a good dose of electricity. It was only thanks to Comet's years of training that he could react fast enough to dodge the oncoming attack.

Jumping high into the air above, Comet pulled out his Wand and pointed it at the smoke cloud below. "Wind tunnel!" At his command, the bell of his Wand opened up to reveal a mini-black hole that proceeded to suck up all the smoke, much to Jonah's irritation. Or so it seemed.

While Comet was busy trying to get rid of the smoke so he could fight, Jonah had been active with his newest tool. A few days ago, he went online and proceeded to order a custom-made, self-inking stamp made to resemble a transmutation circle. Having gotten a grasp of how hard performing alchemy could be, Jonah found a workaround. With the stamp, all he had to do was stamp something, tap it, and boom! Instant alchemy. He could even connect them to make alchemical chains, much like he did in the fight in the warehouse.

"Let's see how you handle against this," Jonah said with a grin as he tapped a pair of circles, transforming part of the balcony into pillars that went flying up towards Comet, ready to hit him full force.

"Oh, dang!"

"Let's see you try and get out of this one, Comet!"

After he got over his initial shock, though, Comet didn't hesitate to defend himself. "Transparent Talon Tentacles!" Out of the bell of his Wand, a series of long, pale tentacles, much like the one's used by Dr. Ock in Spider-Man 2, appeared. Like snakes, they swerved their way through the air towards the oncoming pillars. Right before the two could collide, the talons on them spread open and proceeded to hold the pillars in their magical grasp. As both boys watched, the tentacles proceeded to crush the offending objects like they were made of glass.

Comet wasn't done yet, though. Mentally ordering the tentacles to obey his commands, he then grasped the broken debris and launched straight at where Jonah was standing. Some onlookers would consider this to be far too excessive, but Comet knew better. Jonah was far from an ordinary human boy; he would find a way out of this. If not, then Comet would save his sorry ass.

As it turns out, Comet was right. While the Prince had been too busy defending himself, Jonah placed more transmutation stamps on the fake castle, which he activated simultaneously, create a series of mini-artillery pieces. Using the surrounding elements as ammo, the guns targeted the falling chunks of debris and vaporized them into a fine powder.

Jonah, though, knew that he was in trouble. If he wanted to win at this, he would have to get Comet away from his Wand long enough to pin him. Yet Comet seemed to have figured out this strategy, as he was doing his best to keep his distance from his friend. Jonah had to find a way to close the space, and he had to do it before Comet brought out the big guns. The question was, how was he going to do it?

"Airstrike shield!"

"Oh, boy," Jonah said as he saw a giant, translucent green shield barreling right towards him. Thinking fast, Jonah used a spare transmutation circle to erect a barrier. Despite the newfound protection, though, Jonah made the decision to back away from the site. This turned out to be a smart decision, as the shield proved to be stronger than the barrier, breaking it into shards of rock and plaster wood as it continued to fly towards where Jonah had just been standing.

"You ready to give up yet, Jonah? You know you can't beat me!" Comet called out to his opponent as he finally touched the ground. "Marcia and Jackson will be here any minute, and I doubt that she's going to go easy on you after what you've done today."

As much as Jonah hated to admit, he did not want to fight both Comet and Marcia at the same time. They would pulverize him and then throw him off the balcony.

Wait a minute...I think I got an idea.

"I'm not giving up until I win, Comet!" Jonah shouted as he ran forward, looking like he was about to rush the Prince.

"Narwhal Blast!" To meet him, Comet fired off a slew of narwhals, each ready to plow right through. At the last second, though, Jonah slid underneath the narwhals until he was clear, then continued to run towards him. Whipping out his taser with his other hand before deftly swapping the two items, Jonah managed to get within arm's length of Comet, his taser hand outstretched and ready to his pal with a dose of electricity.

Unfortunately, Comet blocked it with his Wand and swatted it out of his hand, along with the stamp, leaving him defenseless.

End Music

"Too slow, Jonah," Comet said as he held Jonah at Wand-point. "Now, do you give up, or what?"

"Hmmm, Nah. I'd rather do this!" Jonah said as he quickly reached out his hands and tapped on the wall to the fake castle. Out of the corner of Comet's eye, he saw a familiar glowing, prompting him to turn his head. Much to his surprise, he then saw a transmutation circle where there hadn't been one just a few seconds before.

"Oh-"

"Gotcha now!" Jonah said as he lunged forward just as the circle activated, creating a pillar of plaster that hit Comet with such force that he not only dropped the Wand but was sent flying right into the railing of what was left of the balcony. He didn't just stop there, though, as the fence was so damaged that it broke upon impact, making the boy nearly careen off the edge below.

"Oh snap. Comet!" Forgetting about the fighting and the Wand, Jonah dove after Comet, managing to grab his hand right before he fell over the side. Unfortunately, that left the Wand completely unattended...and vulnerable to a certain figure who began to approach.

"Jonah, just drop me. I don't think that you can lift me up!" Comet said.

"Dude, I'm not dropping you and letting you die. Nobody's that heartless," Jonah said as he tried to lift his friend up.

"No, seriously. The drop's only about ten, fifteen feet tops. I've fallen from way greater heights and been fine," Comet explained. "You, on the other hand, may end up breaking something."

"Look, Comet, I'm not going to let you fall. No one will forgive me if I do. Just let me get your Wand, and I can use it to pull you up." Jonah then began to scan the balcony for the Wand but saw no sign of it. All there was to be found were many narwhals, broken wood and pillars, and some kid cosplaying as Ludo, even including a replica of what form the Wand took when Ludo grabbed it at Quest Buy.

Wait a minute...the only ones who would know about that would be the people who were at Quest Buy... Jonah quickly connected the dots in his head as the "kid" began to approach the two with a murderous look in his eyes.

"Oh, fuck." Jonah cursed under his breath.

"What? What's wrong, Jonah?"

"So, funny story, Comet," Jonah said. "It looks like I wasn't the only one who had the idea of messing with today's events."

"I don't get it," was all Comet could say.

"Oh, for crying out...Ludo. Ludo's here!" Jonah shouted at his friend, at which point the "kid" began to cackle like a crazed bird.

"Bravo, kid. Bravo! Yes, it is I, Ludo, the future King of the Monsters and the new master of the Dragonfly Family Wand!"

---

Not far from the castle, the other Monsters watched the events playing out on the balcony with concern.

"I don't get it," Bear Deer said. "The boss got the Wand. So what the heck is he doing?"

"It lookz like he'zzz gloating to the two kidzzzz," Boo Fly said as he watched the whole thing transpire.

"Um, I know that he wants to rub it in to the Prince, but this doesn't seem like a good idea," Lobster Claws said. "And that's coming from me."

The fact that Lobster Claws, who was known for not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, was making sense only served to exacerbate the Monster's fears.

"Come on, boss. Just forget the two and get out of there," Bearicorn said.

---

"You know, kid, it's funny," Ludo smirked. "If it hadn't been for you trying to sabotage this accursed re-enactment, then I may have never been able to pull this off. I mean, can you imagine how hard it would be for my boys and me to fight our way through all those wannabe knights without attracting attention? Way too much trouble. So rather than do that, I decided to just let both your teams tear at each other's throats like animals while I swooped in to reap the benefits!"

At this point, Jonah and Comet both looked guilty, as they knew that Ludo wasn't wrong. The two had gotten so caught up in the re-enactment and wanting to win it that they failed to realize that their mutual enemy had taken advantage of the chaos. And now, they were completely powerless to stop him.

Or were they? Jonah suddenly got a crazy idea, something that Comet was quick to pick up on.

"Hey Comet, do you trust me?"

Without a second of hesitation, Comet nodded his head.

"When I say now, get ready to drop and get clear of the castle," was all Jonah could say.

"What are you two talking about? Oh well, it doesn't really matter since you're about to die." Ludo then got this crazed look as he raised the Wand at Jonah. "Any last words before I send you two into oblivion?"

"Just three: HEY, BLACK FROST!"

Like a loyal dog, Black Frost immediately stopped fighting his opponents and ran towards the castle.

"You called, boss?"

"Black Frost, destroy this castle!" Jonah commanded.

"Really? Yay-ho! I can finally let loose!" Black Frost said, jumping up and down like a little kid.

"Wait, what did he just say?!" Ludo began to ask in a panicked voice.

"All right! Here goes-ho!" Ice Frost shouted as he wound up his ice-covered fist.

"NOW!" Jonah shouted. Doing as Jonah told him, Comet proceeded to let go of Ordonia's hands and plummeted towards the ground. But like he had told the beanie-wearing teen, he landed perfectly fine. After all, he regularly jumped and climbed around castles back on Mewni. Fifteen feet was nothing for him.

Jonah also managed to jump clear of the castle right as Black Frost hit with an ice-powered punch that proceeded to turn the entire structure into ice. Not covered the castle in ice; it converted everything in the castle into ice.

"WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING!?" Ludo shouted as he continued to freak out. Black Frost, on the other hand, didn't let up. Striking it for a second time, Black Frost managed to create massive, visible cracks in the structure. As everyone in the bleachers and on the field watched, the castle proceeded to collapse in on itself in a flurry of ice and snow. Ludo was unlucky enough to get knocked on the head by a big chunk of ice, causing him to drop the Wand and send it flying to the ground below and right into the hands of the waiting Comet.

As for Jonah, he made it down safely as well. When he saw his boss was in trouble, Black Frost made an ice slide that caught him and carried him safely to the ground.

"Welcome back, old buddy!" Comet said as he affectionately looked at his Wand before turning to look at Jonah. "And thanks for the save, Ordonia."

"Hey, don't mention it. That's what friends are for," Jonah said, smiling. "So, are we going to keep fighting or..."

Comet shook his head. "Nah. I think I'm over all this," he said as he gestured to the field.

"Comet!"

The two boys then turned around to see Marcia jumping off of Cloudy before running over to them. For a moment, Comet thought that she was going to hug him out of relief...but instead, she whacked him on the head.

"HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS, YOU JERK! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU?!'

Jonah couldn't help but laugh at Comet getting scolded by his best friend. However, he wasn't laughing once Marcia proceeded to hit him twice as hard.

"AND AS FOR YOU, ORDONIA, YOU'RE JUST AS MUCH TO BLAME FOR THIS MESS! I WAS FINE WITH YOU RIGGING THE RE-ENACTMENT WITH THAT LITTLE STUNT YOU PULLED, BUT I SAW HOW YOU ALMOST MADE COMET GO OVER THAT RAILING! HE COULD'VE GOTTEN SERIOUSLY HURT, AND THAT WOULD BE GAME OVER FOR ME!"

"Um, Marcia?"

"WHATTT?" the girl yelled, only to feel embarrassed when she saw that she was talking to Jackson and several members from both teams who had started to approach where they were standing.

"Um, we were just wondering if we're still fighting," Ferguson said, asking the question that was on everyone's mind.

Comet shook his head in response. "No, we're done," Comet said before turning his Wand into a megaphone. "YOU HEAR THAT, EVERYONE? WE'RE DONE FIGHTING! THIS IS STUPID! THIS WHOLE THING IS STUPID!"

After hearing this, everyone on the field breathed a sigh of relief. They were way too exhausted by this point to continue. The Meseeks were especially happy, as this meant that they could stop existing.

Comet then turned to look at the remains of the castle. There he saw Ludo had already come to. Now the little birdman was starting to crawl his way towards the Prince while the other Monsters, who had gathered around him, tried to stop him. Frowning, Comet proceeded to roll up the tattered sleeves to his suit and marched right towards his enemy.

"The Wand...I must...get...THE WAND!" Ludo said in a manic state, much to his minion's concern.

"Ludo."

Ludo then looked up to see Comet Dragonfly towering over him, glaring at him all the while.

"Here's what's going to happen. You and anyone else you happened to bring along with you will pick your sorry butts off the ground. Then, you will open up a portal and leave. Understood?" The Prince coldly explained to the assembled Monsters.

"You're not going to kill us?" Lobster Claws fearfully asked, making Comet's face soften.

"No. There's been enough fighting for one day," he told them before letting his face harden once more. "Now piss off and leave us alone before I change my mind."

The Monsters didn't have to be told twice. Without a second's hesitation, they proceeded to open up a portal to their home and hightailed it through, with Ludo being carried on Potato Baby's shoulder, screaming all the while.

"NOOOO! I NEED MY PRECIOUS! PRECIOUS!" He shouted before he entered the portal.

"Wow. That guy's got issues," Brittney noted, to which everyone agreed.

"So, what now?" Alfonso asked, unsure what to do next.

Comet just turned to look at his friends and classmates, all of whom were now utterly spent after the last hour of fighting. "Now, we fix this mess, and then go eat."

"ALL RIGHT! FOOD!" Ferguson shouted in excitement.

---

After restoring the football field to its normal size, Comet officially declared the re-enactment to be over and invited everyone present to head to the cafeteria to begin the Mewnipendence Day feast. The people in the bleachers and the vast majority of the participants readily took him up on his offer and went inside to join the others. Comet, however, stayed behind. He wanted to eliminate any debris and fix any damage that the fighting had done to the field. While those who knew him best offered to help with the clean-up, Comet insisted that they should go inside and enjoy themselves and that he would join them soon enough. Reluctantly, they all agreed, leaving Comet by himself, just like he wanted. He needed the time to reflect on everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.

About half an hour later, Comet finally joined the rest of the school inside the cafeteria, where the feast was already in full swing. True to Comet's word, he hadn't just included food from his native Mewni, but the best dishes from the most popular restaurants and fast-food joints in Echo Creek. Everyone was busy enjoying themselves, eating, drinking, and talking about the re-enactment. Even Black Frost had decided to stay and help himself to the food, though he mostly just ate a tub of ice cream.

As Comet stared at the scene before him, he didn't even notice that Marcia had walked over to him until she called out his name.

"Oh. Hey, Marcia," Comet simply said, not sure if he should smile at her or keep his distance. He didn't know if she was still mad at him for their argument last night.

Thankfully, Marcia ended up deciding things for him. "Listen, Comet. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for lashing out at you last night," she said, much to his confusion. "You were just trying to do something nice for the rest of us, and I unfairly-"

"It wasn't unfairly, Marcia," Comet abruptly said, silencing his friend. Now it was her turn to look at him in confusion. "Everything that you said to me last night hit the nail on the head. You were right about Mewnipendence Day: this holiday's full of it. My people came in and took the Monsters' land, and when they called us out on it, we just lashed out at them and made them into our enemies. Us being bullies that don't deserve to be praised in the slightest."

Marcia just stood there. So she didn't just imagine things earlier; Comet really had changed his entire view on this holiday!

"Comet?"

"Yeah?"

"What could've happened last night that could make you have this sudden change of mind?"

"I had my eyes opened," Comet simply said. Then, he proceeded to explain what had happened to him. How her parents had told him about what she and her Dad had to go through. That this sort of treatment wasn't unheard of, and that different people got treated like that for millennia. But most of all, he told her how he read up on all the hateful and evil deeds humanity had committed during its existence.

Marcia couldn't help but look at Comet with a mixture of sadness and guilt. "Oh, Comet...I'm sorry."

"Why are you still apologizing, Marcy?" Comet asked.

"For not telling you about this stuff sooner," Marcia said as she rubbed her arm. "I should've told you about all of that the day we first met. We, humans, have done a lot of awful things to ourselves, and after seeing how awestruck you were at our world, I...just couldn't bear to tell you." She wasn't lying. Seeing Comet react to even the most mundane things on Earth with such wonder made Marcia want to hide him from the darker nature of the world. She didn't want him to think less of them for it.

"Marcia, if you think that learning about this has jaded my opinion on Earth at all, then you're dead wrong," Comet said, his voice filled with resolve. "And I'm going to prove it to you."

"Wait, what are you?" Before Marcia could react, Comet had already walked away from her and towards the nearest table. As his best friend watched, the boy proceeded to climb onto the table before magically converting his Wand into a microphone.

"Attention, everybody? Can I have everyone's attention?" Within a few moments, everyone quieted down enough for Comet's voice to be heard throughout the entire cafeteria.

"Thank you. First off," Comet began, "I would like to thank everyone who came out here today to celebrate Mewnipendence Day with me. And I would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who participated in today's re-enactment...whether they were supposed to or not." This got more than a few laughs from the crowd, especially Black Frost, as he knew the kid was talking about him.

"When I first went to my parents and asked for permission to put on this massive event, I did so with the best of intentions. I wanted to repay everyone at this school. For taking me in, encouraging me with my magic, and for treating me like one of you. No royal title to divide me from the rest of you, and by doing so, you managed to show one simple, basic truth: that Earth kicks ass, and that whoever says otherwise has either never been here or is plain wrong."

"This event was meant to repay all of you for the kindness that you have shown me. At least, that was my intention. However, it didn't take long before people began to come forward with their concerns. They said that what I was trying to put on wasn't the good and noble story that I made it out to be, but a far darker story. And I was too full of myself to acknowledge this. Seven Hells, I even made things worse with those giant suits of armor. If I had had my way, then today's events wouldn't have been a re-enactment of a battle, but just a one-sided slaughter."

Comet then turned to look at Marcia and smiled. "But then, someone very smart managed to call me out on what I was doing. They, and their family, got me to take a good, long look at my people's history. And, for the first time in my life, it felt like I saw the truth. Mewnipendence Day isn't some holiday of a group of heroic knights triumphing against overwhelming odds. Instead, it's glorifying my people being nothing but a bunch of jerks, treating those that they saw as beneath them as no more than trash."

"And this is not a problem that's found solely on Mewni," Comet continued. "After I had my little revelation, I went online and wound up finding almost every horrible atrocity that people have done for the most pointless reasons like one person follows a different way of life from the other. Someone has a different skin color from everyone else. Or people that say they like boys instead of girls or girls instead of boys. The point is that there were a lot of horrible things that I read about. The kind that makes Ludo look like a saint in comparison." This got more than a few laughs from everyone.

"But what surprised me the most is that I learned of the one thing that separates the people of Earth from my own. Unlike my people, humanity has been willing to acknowledge all of the mistakes that it has made and that you guys aren't just trying to own up to it, but actively trying to keep it from happening again."

"I don't know what it's liked to be treated like garbage because of how I look or what I believe in," Comet admitted. "What I do know, though, is what it's like to be looked down on for being different." Comet's hands began to shake, but he took a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. "Growing up, I acted like the furthest thing from royalty. I hated learning about how to have proper posture, or how to master courtly etiquette, or how to have people kiss up to me. I hated all of that and went out of my way to keep from becoming that. As a result, nobles, royalty, even members of my own family would look down on me as a failure. But you know what? I did my absolute best not to let it get to me. I was going to live my life how I saw fit, and anyone who had a problem with that could stick it where the Sun doesn't shine." Once again, people laughed with Comet.

"Look, the point to this whole improvised speech is that I'm sorry for being a jerk and that I should've listened to you guys sooner. I did this to teach you guys a little bit about Mewni, but you guys ended up teaching me something. And yes, I know that sounds super cheesy. Don't care." More laughter.

"Bottom line, if I can somehow convince my folks, and you guys aren't sick of it by then, then next year's re-enactment will be different. Instead of the one-sided battle we were supposed to get, we'll make it, so that's like one big sporting event like today, with both sides able to win and have fun. As friends. Thank you, and now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go stuff my face full of corn because I haven't eaten anything all day, and I'm starving."

As Comet stepped down from the table, everyone in Echo Creek Academy gave him a standing ovation, clapping and cheering his name, making the boy grin like crazy.

From that moment on until it was time to head home, the entire school enjoyed themselves. The cafeteria was alive with the sound of laughter and singing as students and teachers proceeded to party the day away. As for Comet, he was just happy to enjoy himself alongside his friends.

---

Spongebob Narrator: Meanwhile, in Castle Avarius...

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ludo was not in a good mood. In fact, this was probably the angriest the Monsters had ever seen him get.

"WE WERE SO CLOSE! ALL I NEEDED WAS ONE MORE SECOND, AND THAT DEMON BOY AND COMET WOULD BE DEAD, AND I'D BE THE UNDISPUTED MASTER OF THE WAND!" Ludo roared in anger as he proceeded to break everything that was within range of his body.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULTS!" Ludo shouted at the Monsters, much their confusion.

"Uzzz? What did we do?" Boo Fly dared to ask.

"Oh, what did you do? Nothing, that's what! You did NOTHING WHILE THAT FAKE CASTLE CRUMBLED AROUND ME! IF ONE OF YOU HAD STEPPED UP AND TAKEN THE INITIATIVE, THEN WE WOULD'VE WON!"

While most of the Monsters let Ludo continue to berate them, one of them wasn't having any of it.

"Hey!" Beard Deer spoke up. "Don't go blaming us for this. It was your fault that we lost today!"

The other Monsters gasped as Ludo looked at his subordinate with a death glare. "What did you just say?" He asked as if daring Beard Deer to say it again.

"You heard me, boss. It was your fault that we lost today," Beard Deer said, not backing down. "We all saw him, right? He had the Wand in his hand. All he had to do was hightail back to us, and we could get out of there. But instead, he wasted time gloating at those two kids."

"Yeah. Yeah!" Bearicorn agreed. Once those two had spoken out, there was no stopping what was to come.

"Yeah, he'z right!" Boo Fly buzzed in anger.

"Bawk Bawk ba-guck!" Big Chicken loudly clucked, a phrase which here means "I almost got my tail feathers torn off by some kid! My precious tail feathers!"

"We came close to being stepped on!" Dave and Ping Pong shouted in unison!

"My poor shell almost got hit by some ice thanks to that crazy Demon!" Lobster Claws complained.

Tyler, the Turtle Goat, began to bray about how his shell came close to being broken by a knight's boot.

Pretty soon, everyone was complaining to Ludo about his screw-up, much to their leader's indignity.

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" He finally managed to say in an attempt to save face, "Not gloat at them? I think getting my enemy's most prized possession warrants rubbing in their faces," Ludo argued.

"No, it doesn't."

This time, someone else said it: Toffee.

"Toffee?" Ludo asked, confused as to what was going on.

"Beard Deer is right," Toffee simply said before turning to address the other Monsters. "Let me ask you a question. What kind of a leader throws his followers into the midst of a full-scale war, makes you do all the hard work, and then shows no appreciation for your sacrifices?"

Murmurs began to go up amongst the Monsters, as Toffee did have a point.

"Toffee, what are you doing?" Ludo nervously said.

"What kind of a leader has all the power in the Universe in the palm of his hand, then wastes his one chance to escape with it to gloat to an already defeated enemy?"

"A stupid one?" Lobster Claws suggested, with several of his comrades agreeing.

"Toffee!" Ludo hissed. "I demand that you stop this at once!"

"No," Toffee simply said. "Your soldiers deserve better than this. They deserve better than you."

Ludo was now struggling to form words. Right before his eyes, Toffee, his most trusted lieutenant, was undermining his authority!

"You...you are fired, Toffee!" Ludo yelled. But no one took him seriously.

"Hey, you know what? I say that we let Toffee lead us from now on!" Spikeballs suggested. "Who's with me?"

"Yeah!" Giraffe Man shouted. "I bet Toffee could be a way better leader than Ludo could!" And just like that, the dam completely broke. Ludo was facing a full-on mutiny, and he couldn't do anything to stop it!

"Cease this at once! I am in charge here! Me!" Ludo tried to say.

"Hmm. It would seem that everyone else would say otherwise," Toffee told the little birdman, allowing the venom to drip into his voice.

"Silence, you insolent fools! I am your master! I took you all in off the streets! Put a roof over your heads! I gave you all the chance at a better life! YOU WILL DO AS I COMMAND!" Ludo roared, his fury now reaching a fever pitch.

In response to this outburst, Beard Deer and Potato Baby roughly seized Ludo and began to drag him towards the castle gates while everyone else watched. With an unceremonious shove, the pair tossed their former leader out of the gates into the cold mud outside the castle. As the tiny Avarian struggled to get back up, his face covered in mud and dirt, he turned around to see the other Monsters walking back inside, leaving only Toffee to watch him.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! THIS IS MY CASTLE! THESE ARE MY MINIONS! YOU WILL OBEY ME!"

Toffee looked down at the former leader of the Monsters with nothing but contempt in his eyes. "Not anymore," he said as he began to shut the castle gates behind him.

"TOFFEE!" Ludo could be heard yelling from outside the gates, screaming and banging on the door as he tried to get back in. But no one inside paid him any mind. This was no longer Ludo's Castle.

Inside the throne room, all of the Monsters had gathered as one, chanting "TOFFEE! TOFFEE! TOFFEE!" as the new leader entered the room. The chanting only grew louder as Toffee slowly approached the steps that led up to the throne of House Avarius. It was relatively simple for one belonging to former royalty, carefully carved out of ironwood found in the Forest of Certain Death. Allowing himself the smallest smile, Toffee stepped forward and took his place in his former "master's" seat.

As he looked down upon the assembled Monsters, Toffee raised a hand, beckoning everyone to be silent.

"Gentlemen," he began in a cold, monotone voice. "I am humbled that you have chosen to entrust me with the mantle of leadership, and more importantly, our future. We are the future of our kind, of all Monsters. We may come from different people and backgrounds, but we are united by our shared desire to create a better tomorrow for us and those like us. A tomorrow where we need not fear the boots of the invaders as they march into our villages, ravage our lands, and burn all that we have known until they are but piles of ash. Most importantly, we are united by how we feel about the ones responsible for our plight: the Dragonfly Family."

Toffee then paused to allow the Monsters to vent their anger at their hated enemy before continuing once more.

Play Naruto Shippuden - Girei (Pain's Theme Song)- /PCfiqY05BpA

"A thousand years ago, the Dragonflies and the rest of the loathsome Mewmans came to our lands. The First King discovered magic and learned how to wield its power. But rather than use it for the benefit of all, he chose to use it solely for his people's own gain, driving us from our homes, claiming it for themselves, and leaving us to live in near-squalor. Then, to twist the knife further, they brought the Demons and the Coltheads, some of the few with the power to stop them, onto their side, abandoning the rest of us in our hour of need. The Dragonflies are the root of all our problems."

"YEAH!" The Monsters yelled in unison.

"That is why, as my first act as your new leader, I will do what Ludo failed to accomplish. I will take the Wand from the arrogant Dragonfly Prince. We will make him feel the humiliation we have felt for generations as he watches everything he cares about crumbles around him. And when the Wand is in our hands, and the Dragonfly Prince lies broken at our feet, the Universe will know that this is the dawn of a new age. An age where the Monsters return to their rightful place as the rightful rulers of Mewni once more."

"But, boss?" Lobster Claws spoke up. "How are we going to do that? We've tried taking the Wand from him, and we've failed every time."

"Correct," Toffee agreed. "That is because Ludo made the mistake of trying to fight the Prince in his territory. A territory where he has been able to gain formidable skill and many powerful allies. I, however, will not make that same mistake. Now, we will make Prince Dragonfly come to us, fight on our land and terms. So long as we do that, we cannot lose."

"But how will we get the kid to come to uz?"

Toffee smiled. "Everyone has their weaknesses, Boo Fly. And the Prince couldn't have made his more obvious if he tried: his compassion for the ones he loves."

Toffee then pulled out a tiny device and began to play it, revealing images of Comet with the various friends he had made while on Earth. In particular, it focused on one person: Marcia Diaz.

"We will attack the boy where it will hurt the most, and he will have no choice but to come to us. After all, what kind of a leader would abandon their loyal followers?"

And Toffee began to smile as the device rested on the image of Marcia Diaz.

End Music.

*In Jay's Workspace, we see Jay leaning back in a reclining chair with a satisified look on his face (as shown by the thug life sunglasses he's since added to his apparel) as Kermit, Omni, Janna, and Spongebob Narrator look on at the story.*

Jay: Well, guys? Don't leave me in the dark on this. I want to know how I did living up to the hype.

*Janna then turns to look at Jay, and she's also wearing thug life glasses*

Janna: Jay, dude, I think that you handled things pretty god-damn well.

Jay: You're just saying that because your counterpart got the epic entrance and that fight with Comet.

Omni: I have to admit, I was not expecting that to happen, much less for Jonah to handle himself so well.

Jay: I planned on those two fighting from the start of this arc. With Jonah going down the path of the alchemist, he and Comet were eventually going to want to see who was better. Though, if the fight had dragged on, Jonah would've eventually lost, even with all the preparations he put in place.

Kermit: Ah, shit. Still, it would've been cool to see them go all out.

Jay: You might. In the far future, I hope to have those two have a rematch for shits and giggles. But they'll be way stronger by then!

*Kermit's mind is blown*

Spongebob Narrator: and all the stuff that Comet went through-

Jay: Was the final piece to the metaphorical puzzle for him. Learning all of that is going to send him down the same path that Star would follow. Here's hoping he does better than she did.

Janna: Well, I know one thing: you managed to cover all the bases. Even gave the supporting cast time to shine. But for real, I think that the Monster mutiny thing was way more high-stakes than it was on the show.

Jay: It's supposed to be. I'm not pulling any punches for the Mouse. But enough from you guys. *Jay then turns to the readers* I want to know what you guys though about this chapter. Give me your honest opinion. I'm talking Gordon Ramsey levels of honesty. I want the feedback! And feel free to comment on any references that you spotted in this chapter, because there were a lot of pop culture references.

For now, though, it's time for

READER'S REVIEWS

NightAroma-While I could've gone for the standard route and had Comet learn about everything online, that felt too impersonal. I knew that by hearing about the Diaz family's own experiences with discrimination, it would really hammer home just how wrong it was. Why would anyone hate Marcia and her Dad for something they can't help; it wouldn't make sense, which is the point. Also, all of that stuff about Jonah sabotaging the re-enactment was fortitous timing. Toffee had nothing to do with it.

LockAndKey989-If there was any resentment towards Comet for how things turned out, it died thanks to his sincere, heartfelt speech.

TheWanderingHippie-It's not that Comet's revelation was subdued. It's just that I was saving the big stuff for one of the flashbacks in this chapter. And what he saw genuinely terrified him. And yes, Al was the defector. I wouldn't call him a traitor, though. I mean, the Founding Fathers of the United States were traitors. If they had lost, they'd have died.

You know what to do: fave and follow this story, and follow me on Twitter (JZ-Gaming), Insta (RJ Writing Ink), and YouTube (Jungoguy)

Next week guys, we are in the endgame for the first part of this story. Get ready for emotions to run high the stakes even higher as Comet prepares to "Storm the Castle."