Aha! Finally, finished this chapter. :)

I'm on a roll, so expect another chapter sometime soon.

Guest: Hmm, that's a very interesting idea. I'm still holding out if canon actually gives an explanation, but I can see myself using that idea, mostly because like I've shown, Quartz doesn't have a high opinion of Glossaryck, which is actually the subject of my next chapter.

JudgeDreddSA: Yes, there was love, but no where near the levels of Pearl. Rose was a huge comfort for Moon when she first became Queen, so it's more on the lines of 'oldest family friend' then what you're thinking.

King of Fans: The CGs are still on earth, unaware of Steven's dimensional crossing. Greg is stressed, yes, though he has an, outlet, for that in this au. Just got to wait and see what that is.

Please review. :) This is the 2nd chapter that adapts and episode, and I want to know what you guys think of it.

Another peaceful day had come over eco creek, nothing eventful ever happening, nothing ever changing, and certainly, nothing ever being done to disrupt the peace.

Dozens of monsters were formed in the yard of the Diaz residence very early in the morning, shouts of anger, ferocity, but mostly pain, were heard all around as they got blasted, bombarded, kicked, and punched by pretty much every form of physical assault as they continuously attempted to steal something from a 14-year old girl.

Yep, nothing new today.

Monsters left and right were tossed and thrown in every direction as they failed to do their only job. Despite all the muscle and numbers that they had for them, they were no match for the skill and magic of the duo currently kicking their butts. Bruises were forming, teeth were cracking, and blood was spilt for something that they weren't even going to have themselves. It was a truly pathetic sight to witness.

That at least was the thought process of the midget sized bird creature leader Ludo, who with every passing second continued to regret his life choices that lead him into hiring a bunch of bubbling dolts that practically tripped over their own feet. With every groan, moan, and cry of pain he heard, the frustration was really beginning to reach it's boiling point.

Not that he had a say in it, as he floated safely on his own bat monster, ordering around his monsters and constantly complaining like a 3 year old being denied candy.

With each blast of magic and painful kicks to the neck, beating up monsters was practically becoming a habit by now. Both Star and Marco stood for a moment in rest to appreciate their latest piece of madness they've stumbled into. Unfortunately, the pride they felt was short lived once Marco realized that a pair of monsters became competent enough, or were at least able to work through the various bruises, to sneak up on the blonde princess unsuspectingly. Marco couldn't even issue out a warning as he was suddenly pile-drived into submission, likewise, Star was swooped into the air with a might tug from a blue skinned antler monster, retraining her arms, and thus her use of the wand. She screamed and struggled as much as she could against her captor, only to find it inescapable.

"Finally!" Ludo shouted with joy. His tired, yellow eyes lit with anticipation for this moment. It finally looked like today was the day he's been waiting for. "Don't just stand there, grab it from her!" He makes a quick head turn for the closet monster. "Lobster Claws, you!"

The large sea crustacean, who was partially oblivious to what was around, immediately snapped into submission as he prepared to finally steal the wand. "Yes, my whole life been prepping up for this day! Go red boy, go red boy!" He chanted to himself to get pumped up, stretching out his arms and claws like he was about to lift a dumbell as he took a step closer.

"Stop flexing your thorax and grab it!" The frustrated bird man demanded with his usual stern and impatient tone.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Still getting in the mood, he made sure, or at least acted like, every movement would solidify his name in monster history. "Get ready princess, this is happening nooooooowww!" With a mighty slow scuttle, and a dramatic reach of his right arm, he dove his hand right into Star's direction while closing his eyes, clamping hard onto the first thing he came into contact with, ripping it out with barely any difficulty as he held it high in the sky mightily. "I got it, I got it!" He cheered and danced happily, finally happy about succeeding in something in his rather useless life.

"What the.." The other monsters were not so impressed, especially Ludo who could only stare at the red shelled monster with complete dumbfoundment. Emphasis on the dumb. "Open your eyes, you moron!"

"You got clawed!" Not even acknowledging his master's insult, he giddily pulled down his arm to finally get a close look at the mystical item that's nearly cost him his life to get. Instead of the colorfully decorated wand that he had been reaching for, his smile quickly melted away as he realized that in his claw wasn't said magical item, but instead in it's place was a broken piece of an antler. "Oops."

The monster holding Star, upon realizing his head peace was half missing, began to whine and cry in agony, releasing Star, allowing her to launch herself in the air, for one final attack.

"Magic Crystal Cupcake Blast!" She shouted with a surprising amount of seriousness in her tone. As such, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, hard cupcakes with crystalized tops rained down upon the legion of horribles, pelting them in the hard sugary goodness, adding to the thousands of injuries that they still hadn't healed from past attacks. Ludo himself was knocked to the ground on his face, his skull hat pinning him down with the teeth that stuck out.

"Well Ludo, that was fun as always, but we need to get to school." She said with he usually happy and excited tone as she talked down to Ludo like they were friends. "Plus my brother's coming later, and I don't want him to think we were having too much fun without him, so, shoo." Ludo, with reluctance, shoved himself from the grass and back on his feet. "Ah, you're still on my backpack." Ludo hands her the blue and spikey bag without turning back to her. "Thanks." Both her and Marco ran off with huge smiles on their faces, both feeling fulfilled, leaving the monsters to be miserable and in great pain.

"Alright morons, walk of shame, you know the drill." Ludo said with a huge wave of disappointment flowing through his body right now. This was starting to become too standard if he actually anticipated their defeat strategy. Echoes of the monster's cries began to encase the tear in reality. "Oh shut it, you big babies, just rub some dirt on it or something." The little green man was just about to enter the portal himself when he noticed the dark red failure himself trying to enter, so he immediately stops him in his tracks before he could. "Whoa, whoa, hold it! Where do you think your going!?"

Chuckling a little nervously, the lobster man was a bit hesitant to respond, even if he was use to angry outbursts by now. "Ah ha, just going back home to celebrate how close we came with my bros, like usual."

"Close, CLOSE?!" Ludo waved his arms with flaming fury as he literally becoming hopping mad. "We had that the most powerful thing in the universe within our fingertips, and you, YOU SIR, are the only reason why we lost!" Jumping on the frighten sea creature, Ludo pronounced his superiority over the red failure. "You are a heaping pile of Monster garbage, and YOU. ARE. FIRED!" He leapt off Lobster claws and climbed into the portal.

Not sure what to make of this particular outburst, Lobster Claws held the portal together, preventing it from closing. "Ha, nice one boss, you really don't hold back on the jokes, right guys?" He smiles hopefully at them, thinking at any moment they would spring out some sort of surprise.

"Seriously?! You even terrible at being fired!" The short green man shouted one last time as he left for his home dimension. Similarly, the rest of his monster squad left, baring angry and pissed off faces and let out the occasional mad rant. The antler monster did stay back, only for the sake of getting his broken half back, which the red creature had barely noticed was still in his hand.

The portal closed immediately before the red guy's eyes, still pondering what had just happened. He was no stranger to yelling, being demeaned, reprimanded, insulted, told by everyone he'll never amount to anything, that was just standard living when it came to being a monster. But this, this wasn't just the usual madness or disappointment, this was abandonment. Monsters had to always stick together, they were the only ones they could depend on for any form of kindness or sincerity.

Everyone he knew, the only friends he's ever had, left him alone, on earth, with no one else with him. A terrible sinking feeling began to set as the tears began to form. This wasn't going to be the part where his monster buddies came up to him with a handful of mud and possibly something warm to drink. This is the part where he realizes how alone he really is.

And with a heavy heart, and some weird, ominous, and coinvent sad music, he hung his face down, and began to cry.

Quartz enjoyed strolling threw the kingdom of Mewni, especially during the moments before he left for Earth. This was his time to truly soak in what each of the two worlds had to offer. He got to really appreciate what a beautiful experience just living in such a magical dimension really was. So many possibilities that could occur, so many faces to encounter.

Speaking of which, he was finally able to make his way out of the kingdom and into the dark, creepy, and very life threatening woods/jungle( he was always confused on what to classify it as). Sure it was dangerous, and something that his mother has stated on multiple occasions to stay away from, but blame the little bits of him that he liked to call his 'inner Star'.

Besides, unlike his sister, he was not there to try to fight something, it was actually quite the opposite. Ever since fighting one particular monster in a cave on Star's wand say, he's was trying something a little more, unusual than most Mewman's reaction to monsters. He was trying to help one.

Shocking some might say. Implausible, impossible, and so stupid to even consider, he knew what others would say, so that's why he always did it in secret. He figured that if this plan actually worked, than he'd surprise everyone.

Not to say he was overly confident, Mewmans and Monsters have years and years of bad blood between them, but the monster he was trying to help was actually very cooperative, if a bit a pushover, which honestly made things a whole lot easier on his end.

"I just hoped he remembers what we've talked about." He said to himself as he approached his target. Right in the not too far distance was Ludo's group of monsters, still moaning and groaning for what was probably about 5 to 6 hours. Dirt was practically clothed onto their skin as it covered everything, even their ,what was now probably infected, cuts. He walked little closer with little worry. He knew they were still probably recovering from their latest attack on Star, so they wouldn't even try fighting him today. That didn't stop the many glared the monsters gave him as he approached the horned bear monster, still rubbing his concussion away.

The little prince tried his best to ignore the many looks of hate that were thrown his way. "So, Bear horn, did we learn anything from last week?" Quartz asked in all seriousness as the bear continued to moan.

"Look Quartz Butterfly, I appreciate all the help you've given me for the past month, but, uuh.." The monster uncomfortably spoke, sending a feeling of disappointment to the royal. "It's not like you're advice isn't helpful, it's just that my job is to steal from your sister, and, and that kinda hinders everything that this friendship is based on."

Before he could retort, the tiny leader of the band of monsters came up from behind the hairy beast and pointed accursedly at the kid. "You heard the loser! Get out of here!" Ludo shouted so much that he misplaces his footing, making him trip into the dirt. "I've already been humiliated by one Butterfly today, and I don't need the help of another to feel worse. I have these idiots for that, thank you very much!"

"Oh, I'm not here to fight you guys, I've just been trying to help.."

"Help?! Help?! No Mewman, especially someone like you, has the right to meddle with my monster's lives!" A small groan of agreement waved over. "See? They're failures already, so no need to help them fail at something that'll never work." With another grunt, Ludo signaled his entourage to leave. They slowly rose up from the ground, leaving the young boy by himself, the bear creature mouthing the word 'sorry' as the faded from view.

"Don't take it too personally, bubble prince." A deep voice with a thick accent came from behind him. The source was the frog creature that always seemed to be by Ludo's side constantly. He held no smile, but his tone seemed sincere enough for a scowling frog man. "You're sentiment is good, but idea is very dumb. Mewmans and monsters are just too different. You can't change the nature of life." He leaves without saying another word, finally making the little boy alone.

He could only frown upon what just happened. He just extended his hand, and it got slapped down, hard. "I need to think of something else before I get depressed." With a simple whistle, his trusty pet Lion rushed up to him withoust hesitation. Quartz could only lean against his pink pet for support. "You don't think this is a helpless problem, right? I can help people and monsters get along?" Lion gave his usual stoic stare. "Yeah you're right. Maybe seeing Star will get my mind back on track."

It didn't take long for the loyal beast to comply, and within a blink of an eye, they were both back on earth, landing in the still destroyed lawn of the Diaz's. While the destruction wasn't something Quartz focused on too much, what really grabbed his attention was the giant red lobster man, still bawling his eyes out from today's earlier events. Curious as to why one of Ludo's monsters was seemingly left behind, he walked up to it. "Are you okay?"

"Wow, Earth history is soo cool." Star announced after she and her friend had gotten back from school. "Ben Franklin blowing up that kite monster with his lightning powers, like whoa." She explained back to her best friend in intrigue and excitement as the laser puppies began to surround Marco and shoot him, the teen having developed some sort of tolerance to the tiny burns.

"Hah, that's not what happened at all." He chuckled. One the upsides of your best friend being from another world altogether was that he got a good laugh at all of Star's misunderstandings, at least the ones that didn't leave to a maiming.

Star probably would've explained her expert reasonings as to why she was right, until her attention was caught off by the sight of her brother in the yard. Normally, that would be cause enough for her to run out and tackle him with a hug, but right in front of her younger sibling was one the monsters from before, seemingly gazing down at the kid with no clear intent with what he was about to do.

Still, that didn't stop the Princess and Marco from charging outside immediately, screaming as she launched herself at the creature. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She shouted in the air, despite whatever her brother was trying to say. The creature rolled onto his stomach, completely content with whatever was going to happen next. "You want seconds on those cupcakes!?"

"Wait, wait.." Quartz tried to explained as he hopped on top of the monster, trying to get his sister to point the wand away. "There's no reason to fight!"

Of course, too steamed with anger to hear anything he said, Star stayed perfectly still. "Stand back, Quartz, I know these monster's style by now, and this is the part where they attack!" Both teens prepared for some sort of response, but the large crustacean refused to move even an inch. "He attacks, and then I blast him!"

"Go ahead, blast away, blast me!" Turning his head, the monster through as many eye daggers as he could at the two, making all three of the kids back away. Marco and Star were especially shocked by the monster's weird request. "There's no point in fighting you anyway."

"What, what's going, are you okay?" Marco asked, somehow missing the signals from Quartz not to ask. Despite this, the Monster slowly got up from the ground, with his eyes becoming big and watery.

"'Well, the truth is, is.." The water works burst out before he could complete his sentence. "..Master Ludo fired me!" He covers himself the best he could as he shamefully tries to turn away. "I can never show my face on Mewni again!"

"Wow." Marco responded to the tears almost on instinct. It wasn't uncommon to she any of the monsters cry, they did that plenty of times whenever Star unleased a swarm of bees on them, but for once, he saw them as something they always tell you a monster can never be: an actual person. "He's, taking this really hard."

"He's been like this ever since I got here." Quartz furthered explained. "He was just starting to open up to me, until he got pummeled in the face, that is." Quartz gazed an eyeful look at Star, who still seemed very unconvinced about the situation.

"What? You, you're really falling for this, bro?" Star inquired, only getting more stares in return. "Is this another one of your 'monster-friend' ideas?" Quartz tried not to look at Star directly after that line. "Seriously Quartz, I thought you were joking about that."

"There's nothing funny about trying to help someone that needs it, Star." Quartz snapped back, making the princess back away little. He was going into full serious mode. "And no, this isn't just another 'idea' I had. I was merely trying to get him to calm down a little."

"Quartz, if you were really talking to one of Ludo's minions, then how do you know that this isn't a set up! You've gotten comfortable around them!" She points at the monster again, who was struggling to capture a flurry of squirrels like a brainless dog. "For all intents and purposes, this could all just be a slightly more elaborate plan Ludo came up with."

"I don't think he's faking this." Fortunately for the prince, Marco seemed to agree with him, or at the very least, was reluctant to outright attack the lobster. "It kind of was our fault that he lost his job, so maybe we should do something?"

"Like what? He was the one who almost got my wand" Star pressed back at him. "And why do you care?" She turns back to her brother. "As a matter of fact, why do you care, Quartz? You live in Mewni, you know how this always turns out when Mewmans and Monsters mix it up." She presses her fore head against his as she picks him up. "You know that monster's are the bad guys." She spells out, only for the prince to eye roll.

"Well, I don't actually have to be bad." Lobster Claws admitted as he held a squirrel in his claw. "The truth is, I've always secretly wanted to be good. I know for a fact that bear horn was considering it."

"Really? Than, maybe we can help you with that." Marco offered, lighting up stars in Quartz's eyes. Finally, he's found somebody that didn't automatically punch a monster when one entered the area. Maybe it was an earth thing, but he was tremendously gratefully that he was Star's friend.

Star, on the other hand, was less than grateful at the proposition. "Have you guys not been listening to me?! Monster's are eeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiilllllll." She laments. "There's no changing it. It's just their nature."

Star didn't know it, but hearing those words again felt like being hit with a brick, then being hit with another brick just so you can know that it was a brick that gave you that gigantic, rectangular bruise that formed on your head. He couldn't let this happen again. "No, it doesn't have to be like that!" He argued back, making the glares Star was making all the more sharper. "Nobody is just born naturally bad!" Lobster Claws did his best to prove the kid's point by letting go of the squirrel in his arms, still keeping his eyes glued to the rodent. "See, freaks of nature are still apart of nature, no offense."

"Well?" Marco tried to point out, though the case wasn't made any stronger as a brown, bushy tail was slurped down the monster's throat.

"Star, I know you have no reason to trust this guy, and that he's always tried to steal from you in the past, but please, trust me on this." Quartz dropped his serious glare and begged. His bulging, beady eyes got so big that Star wondered how they didn't fall out of his head. "If we can make him a better person, than we can make them all better people, which means a better Mewni, and that'll lead to an even better kingdom under your rule."

"Oh Quartz." Star relented as she finally pointed her wand down. "I'm still 50% sure that this'll lead into disaster.." A small frown of doubt grew on Quartz's face. "..but who doesn't have bad ideas every once in a while. Okay, I'll help you guys." Quartz responded with an immediate group hug, forcing Marco between the two. "But as soon as this monster tries to hurt you, I get to rainbow blast him off, got it?"

"Eh, seems fair. Now, how about I join in?" Lobster claws agreed as he squeezed all three of the kids as hard as he could. The trio could hardly say otherwise, mostly because their faces were too blue to say another word.

No couldn't say he wasn't eager.

The duo of Marco and Quartz decided that the best way to teach their new friend efficiently was to put him through some real life experience. Walking around town, seeking out opportunities to better one's soul. Star, of course, remained skeptical of the whole thing, watching them from behind, ready to attack when the moment came. "Okay Lobster Claws, the key to being good is to do unto others that they would do unto you." Marco explained as simply as he could.

The monster needed not further instruction as his moment of opportunity presented himself. Riding by on a bicycle passing them, a large dark skinned man with a huge, almost frightening, smile on his face, found himself flying in the air when the red one stuck his arm out and flung him off his back. "Like that?"

Quartz chuckled nervously, knowing that Star was already prepping her 'I told you so' look. "Heh, glad your ready to apply yourself, but that's actually 100% wrong." Marco immediately replied. "Your going to have to apologize for that."

"Nah, it's okay everyone." The man remained as creepily happy as he could be. "I landed on a sprinkler. It's liked what I learned in my days as a comedian: any hardship you encounter is best left ignored." He gets up on his bike and rides off like nothing happens. "No matter how much the impact hurts."

"Ughhh, this is too hard!" Lobster Claws complained. "I'm never going to get this right."

"Exactly." Star rose from behind, pounding the wand on her hand like a baseball bat. "You should just give up." She encouraged with great eagerness, still being ignorant of her brother's disappointment.

"Just ignore her, Lobster Claws, she doesn't know who you really are." Quartz padded his back. "I know we don't really know who you are, but that's because we're all still learning, and I believe you can learn this, if you just consider how others feel." The monster tilted his head like a dog to his owner. "What I mean is, the next you feel like knocking somebody out, see how it feels when it happens to you, and do the exact opposite."

"Hmm. I have the urge!" The monster pondered angrily, waving his closed claw in the air. But with a deep breathe, his eyes widen in realization. "Wow, that would've totally hurt. It's like using anger and aggression my entire life has lead to me relying on so many unhealthy and self destructive outlets." The monster returns the pat. "Thanks buddy."

A pouty expression grew on Star's face as Quartz returned it with only a smile. This, whatever this was, couldn't last long. Whatever was happening, it was going to go badly, and it was going to hurt her brother one way or another. She just needed a way to protect him from the blow when the time came.

Before any of them could congratulate themselves anymore, the quartet heard a young girl cries filling the air. She sobbed as she refused to turn away from the tree right in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"My kitty's stuck in a twee..." She cried out as a fluffy white cat hung on from one of it's branches, barely able to cling to it's bark.

"Lobster Claws, go one, this is your chance." Marco encouraged as the red guy ran backwards up the tree. "And remember, do the opposite." Quartz gave him one nod of assurance as he made his way up. Despite the little girls fear of the monster's gentleness, Lobster Claws was able to secure the feline without a problem.

"See Star, monster's can be helpful." Quartz tried to convince his sister as much as he could. Star, at that moment, was really at a lost here. Quartz always wanted to follow through on whatever he set off to do, something that she still had a hard time doing, and she really wanted to see her brother succeed in something that was clearly making him happy.

On the other hand, it was a freaking monster! A dirty, vicious, monster that parents told their kids about to scare them into behaving. "Quartz, I still don't understand why you're spending all this time and energy on him? On someone we've fought we both know is trouble?"

"Because I don't want anyone to feel bad about themselves, ever. Not even the bad guys." Quartz responded in a strong, confident tone. "You saw how he was earlier, he was completely miserable. If I'm going to be a knight for Mewni, I have to know when to raise me shield, and when to shield someone."

"Besides, he helped the kid out." Marco supported Quartz's were. "You have to admit it Star, he does have a little good in him after alllAHHHHHHHH!" The success of the duo was immediately shot down as the little girl cried in horror. The lobster man upon getting down had taken it upon himself to consume the pet. The poor, defenseless creature had been dumped into the den of the monster's mouth, and would've been swallowed completely hadn't Star and Marco quickly pulled the cat out.

"Hehe, he's new around here." Quartz comforted the girl as much as he could before loudly addressing the red man without opening his mouth. "Lobster Claws, remember what we just talked about?"

"Oh yeah, opposite, got it." He reassured. Quartz turned around to sigh, only to feel his sister's growing disapproval weighing down on him.

"See guys, see? This is the kind of mess we're dealing with." Star demeaned their action. "Monster's don't talk about peace, they don't try to be nice to others. All they do is take what they want and terrorize those around them." She pulls out her dimensional scissors. "Look, we can just throw him somewhere, anywhere, and we can all just forget about it."

"NNOOOO!" Quartz worried outburst once again made the two step back a little. Realizing the over-played drama, he coughed and continued. "This is just a small setback, and I'm not ready to give up hope yet." He stands as triumphantly confident as he turns his back to the two. "Because, you know what they say: where's there's life, there's always hope."

His words would've inspired the two a little more if the monster hadn't moved on from eating the cat to eating the kid. As the boys fought to keep the kid alive, Star could only continued to roll her eyes. "That won't last long if his appetite has anything to say about it."

"Okay, okay, that was my fault. I've shouldn't have assumed you knew this." Marco explained apologetically as the three continued to walk down the road. Quartz stood between the lobster and his sister, knowing she was one step away from making crab meat out of him. "But you can't eat children."

"Really, not even the annoying ones?" Lobster Claws asked with no sarcasm whatsoever, putting an even deeper feeling of regret in Quartz's stomach.

"No, never!"

"Okay, but what if there's nothing around to eat, and they reaaally, like, really deserve it?" The boys shook their heads. "But what if someone abandons a baby that a wolf is about to eat, and nobody would ever know about it?"

"Then you save the baby! Always try to save the baby, no matter what!" The prince's tolerance was clearly on it's last legs. "Look, from now own, let's all just assume anything alive is off the menu." Quartz put out, trying to save himself the headache. Star snorted at the statement. "Really wish I didn't have to specifically point that out."

Before anymore time could pass to make the trio live to regret today's decisions, a bright hot light emitted in front of them. An entire house was encompassed with red flames, with woman running out, barely able to take another breath. "My baby! My baby is still inside!"

"Your baby?!" The three kids shouted in shock, horrified by the idea of something so young in so much danger. For Star, it was too much like what happened during her one day. The fire, the destruction, the growing guilt at the fact that it was entirely her fault. She couldn't move, let alone breathe, at the sight of the flame.

"Star, star, snap out of it!" Quartz shook his sister with as much force as he possibly could. "You need to do something!"

"Don't worry guys, red boy's got this." Lobster Claws, seeing his opportunity, scooted the tree away as he launched himself into the flames. "I can save the baby, and I know now not to eat it!" He smiles as he enters the fiery mass, getting burned and scorched almost instantly.

Now snapped out of her trance, Star wasted no time to get out her wand. "Cotton candy fire extinguish!" Within seconds, the bright pink light surrounded the entire house, covering it in the sticky dessert on both the inside and out.

Taking the chance to save the people inside, Star, Marco, Quartz, and the lady rushed inside, running into the foyer constantly shouted 'My Baby!'...

..only to found out that what she was referring to was the grand piano she had placed there, completely intact and without a single burn. Without even acknowledging who saved her 'baby', the lady who clearly needed to reevaluate her priorities turned it on. "I was wondering where the piano music came from."

"Wait, where did Lobster Claws go?" Star asked, though it didn't take long for them to find the answer as a giant, monster sized whole in the wall revealed he was outside, stuffing his face with an entire cart's worth of ice cream, while carrying the owner of said cart in his right claw. The disappointment couldn't have been greater for the two boys.

"Well, he's not eating humans at least? That's a step forward." Quartz scanned for a silver lining, only to get a look from his sister. "Yeah, that shouldn't have to be said."

The next attempt to help the red guy out went as well about as you expect, so to reduce the collateral damage, and to avoid police and media, the trio decided it was best if they continued the good guy training at home, not that Star gave them an easy time on everything that went wrong.

"Helping an old lady cross the street! Cross the street! How can you set that much fire everywhere, by crossing the street?! Star berated/demanded out of the monster as they all sat in the Diaz living room, watching the news as the headline 'City in a pinch' was plastered across the screen.

"Tragedy today struck as a rampaging lobster man destroyed four city blocks." The news lady reported. "While no one miraculously was injured, one cyclist morns the loss of his new bike."

"I'm not crying, I'm happy" The same man from earlier announced as he was interviewed, his mouth having an even harder time keeping his smile up. "I was a comedian, so I always know to smile in the face of major pain, no matter how much it hurrr.." He breaks down. "Why did I waste my money on that bike!? I can't afford to spend money with funland constantly breaking down. I have nothing! I'm nothing, I'm.." Marco smartly turns off the TV before Quartz could get any more depressed.

"Haha, you know how the news sensationalizes everything, haha. You can't say anything now without drama stirring up, right guys." His nervous chuckles only serves to defeat his intentions. "Well, we still believe you can be good, right Quartz?" Though his head was down, a small nod, though a hesitant one, surfaced. "But until then, I'm going to find some big rubber bands." He walks upstairs, passing star who was about to open her mouth." Don't say anything." She forces her mouth to close, though the smug look on her face said everything. She gave the same look to her brother, who tried his best to turn away.

"You, you still believe I'm good, right buddy?" Lobster Claws asked with concern. Though he remined a bit neutral on the karate boy, he was certain the Prince was his friend. Well, at least he wanted to be his friend. He knew bear horn would smile a little bit more whenever he talked to the mewman royal, so he really didn't want to mess this up. "Right?"

Quartz couldn't answer right away as he stood silent for a good 30 seconds. "I, I, I need to go help Marco, be right back." He said in a dejected tone, leaving both the monster and the princess a bit unsure on how to feel. Star wanted to be proven right, but she didn't want Quartz to fail either. This was a no win situation for her no matter what.

"He shouldn't have to feel bad about this." Star said out loud unintentionally. "He shouldn't be responsible for your failure, and neither should Marco." She finally stands up and points accursedly at the monster. "They shouldn't have to bare whatever badness you bring."

"I'm not trying to, I'm doing my best to be better but, but.." Lobster Claws throws out his arms and groans in frustration. "You're impossible to deal with, you nag me, you expect me to fail, and that really doesn't help me to all." Star becomes even more offended by that statement. "Why is being good so hard? Why should I help other people, when it only causes me pain?"

Finally, an opportunity to end this once and for all. "That's because Marco and my brother are trying to turn you into something you're not, especially my brother. He always tries to help people, especially those who don't deserve it." Star pauses for an uncomfortable second before continuing. "You're a vile, repulsive monster, so why fight it?" She said all too eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah!" Lobster Claw's eyes widen in realization, agreeing with the teen's logic. "I am repulsive. I have no reason to help humans, I should be hurting them, especially people like you in particular."

"Exactly, and I whish I could go back to smashing your face with my brother." A second passed before she's hit with inspiration. "Maybe there's a way for us to get what we both want."

Back to the attention of Marco, he calmly searched for a way to humanely restrain the lobster man. "Just got to cover all the safety precaution, so that mean's I'll have to child proof him, baby proof, animal proof, Star proof.."

"Star proof?" Quartz from right behind him asked. Unlike his optimistic attitude from before hand, the kid's demeanor had greatly weakened. He's eyes were filled with way more dread then the teen wanted to see on his face.

"Yeah, anything here that can withstand a narwhal blast, or at least some form of stickiness." He mutter. "You always have to be prepared when Star's around."

"Are, is this working at all?" Quartz asked Marco as he tried to shrug off his somber mood. "Is it hopeless to help Lobster Claws?"

"What? Of course not." Marco reassured, putting his arm around Quart's back. "I believe if someone wants to be better, then we owe them the chance to be better. I mean, if I didn't give myself the chance for Star to explain herself on the day we met, we probably wouldn't be friends today." The smile returns to the prince's face slowly. "But what about you? You seem pretty into helping monsters, so why is that? Seems like most Mewmans are a little more trigger happy."

"You don't know the half of it." Quartz chuckled lightheartedly. "I like to learn about Mewni's heroes whenever I have the time, and my absolute favorite is the Rose Guard. She's taken down many of Mewni's threats pretty much since the beginning, and every Queen of Mewni has been taught by her, and now Mom is teaching me what she taught to her."

"Really? Shouldn't that advice go to Star then?"

Quartz gave the question a moments thought, pausing his movements before shrugging it off. Mom was teaching them both differently, so maybe that's how it had to be. "Anyway, before she disappeared some decades ago, she desperately tried to establish peace between Monsters and Mewmans. She spent nearly centuries trying to get it to pass, but it never came." His voice clearly saddens as he tries to finish. "There's still fighting, fighting that could've stopped years ago, and I want to help stop that. If I'm learning how to be like the Rose Guard, I would like to finish what she started."

"Well, that's, that's something." Marco stated with as much earnestness as he could. Quartz was already planning long term with this idea. "I can't really say much about that, other than that you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself, because I'll help you when you need it." Suddenly remembering why he came upstairs in the first place, he turns around to grab something. "Now, I don't have any rubber bands, so do I just tape a bunch of pillows to his arms, or use teddy bear mittens?"

Truth be told, it still stung that Star didn't fully support what he was doing, but having her friend reassure him was a real comfort. "I say go for the teddy bear mittens."

The comfort was not to last as a loud thump roared from below them. Quickly the duo raced down the stairs to find a monster laying down, beaten and bruised through the door of the house.

Unfortunately, it was not the monster that they expected to see.

The commotion and turmoil continued to play out outside the house, so the duo rushed out, barely being able to avoid the monster's and magic being thrown in the air. Star, standing up on a hammock, immediately show her prowess by blasting all the creature's senseless and flipping into the air, landing right in-between the two as she fired another blast. "They're back?" Marco asked in confusion.

Bringing them to a huddle, Star leaned in with a whisper. "Yeah, I had to lead them here. I'm trying to get Lobster Claws his job back by letting him beat me up. Play along when it happens."

Finally, it was Quartz turn to return the stare that Star had been giving him all day. "Star, that's insane! We were trying to avoid going back to evil, not towards it."

His words had little to no impact on her as she pointed the small, powerful weapon at Ludo's horde of monsters. "That's right, stay back! I have a lot more than cupcakes with me this time!" An awkward pause fills the intensity building up in the air, irritating the princess. "I said that I have more than cupcakes with me this.."

"GO RED BOY!" Lobster Claws changed in over the fence, standing tall and fierce as Star faked stumbled when he stretched out his arm to fake punch her. "Booyahkasha! Don't worry boss, I'll take care of her."

"Boss? Didn't I fire you?" Ludo pointed out, though it didn't matter much as both Star and Lobster Claws became 'enthralled' in their little performance. Whenever she would 'duck', Lobster Claws would 'punch' her in the gut. Whenever he shouted in 'victory', Star would groan in 'pain'. Marco and Quartz didn't know what which was worse, how much they were really trying to sell this act, or how much the monsters were really buying it.

"He has gotten better."

"Very impressed."

"Yes, yes, there's clearly been marked improvement, but I'd really be impressed if you just GRABED THE WAND!" Ludo yelled in his continued frustration, clearly not going to be satisfied with this for much longer.

Taking that into account, and Star being distracted by her own 'acting', Lobster Claws saw his chance as she laid down on her back, waving the wand in the air. "You've defeaeeeted meeeeee…" She had finally let her guard down enough for Lobster Claws to snatch it away without a problem, prompting a loud "Hey!" from Star. Ludo's excited glee was drowned out by the shrieks of panic from the kids. They were in a pickle, and there was no stopping it.

A strange, dark feeling overcame the claw of the holder. "Wait, what's.." He started to question, the wand shaking violently in his grasp. "Happening to.." His voice became darker and more gaspy, the wand in his hand begging to form blood red cracks all around it. "meeeeee.." He droned out, his eyes becoming pitch back as he became one with the dark power of the wand. The cracks finally exploded into shards, revealing a sharp, pointy, darkly colored weapon born from evil. Gravity itself reversed as everything started to fly around him. The entire neighborhood was engulfed with a malicious aura as he embraced it. "Being bad feels so good."

The speechless on the prince's mouth reached legendary levels. Could he blame Star for this? Did he have himself to blame for this? Did he help create this, this atrocity? Or was Lobster Claws always like this? Were monsters just that, monsters with monstrous intentions and monstrous everything he had done today been hopeless? Did, did he fail to help him be better?

"Why are you doing this!" The princess shouted with anger. "We had an agreement! I was actually trying to help you!" In that moment, the monster hesitated the more he focused on the princess. His thoughts became so much more clear as his eyes returned to their normal color, the wand itself shed the dark coloration, now resembling the hard, red shell of the Lobster's body. This caught the princess of by surprise. Was she wrong once more? Did her brother actually have the right idea about these guys? "Whoa."

"Don't listen to her! She's the enemy!" Ludo reminded his former minion, immediately bringing back the darkness inside.

"Lobster Claws, I, I see the good in you! Don't do it!" The lobster man regain control once more.

"Be a monster and give it to me!" The darkness once again overwhelms him.

"Prove me wrong Lobster Claws! Please, don't do it!"

That seemed to be where the line was drawn. In the midst of the turmoil, Lobster Claws found himself to be in a state of indecision. He contemplated for what felt like hours, trying to grasp what he wanted to do. Get his old life back, but be evil. Be good, but work everyday to fix whatever problems he had. Never before had he faced such a difficult choice.

Everyone else in the yard seemed to keep their distance. Equally unsure of what was going to happen next, the monsters and the kids found themselves at a standstill, too afraid of making the wrong move.

It was in that distracted state that Marco saw his only chance to fix everything. He ran ahead of everyone while they were backing away. The air felt much heavier than usual, making Marco take big and heavy steps with each step forward. One of the monsters noticed and attempted to reach for him, though he didn't get far once Quartz, knowing what had to be done, jumped in and struck him with his shield.

Marco made sure to not waste a second as he jumped into the air, kicking his sorta ally/friend/large man child right in the face, immediately knocking the wand out of his grasp, ending the gloomy presence presiding over them. Star immediately grabs ahold of the wand in the air, proudly waving it as it turned back to it more bright and colorful form. "Oh come on! I always forget about that karate boy." Ludo moaned, knowing full well today was going to end in another defeat.

"Stardust daisy devastation!" She announced with fiery glee, engulfing the horde in the hard, sparkly dust. Despite it seemingly doing less damage than previous attempts, Ludo called a retreat, ordering his monsters to enter the portal back to Mewni. Everyone had no quarrel as the hopped right in, Lobster Claws following suite, before being stopped once again by his former boss.

"You, YOU! You had the wand in the palm of your claw!" He stated with his usual anger, making the lobster man hold his breath. His fears immediately faded once his eyes widen with childlike wonder. "What did it feel like?"

"Kinda tinigled."

"Aha! I knew it! I knew it I knew t and can I touch your claw!?" Ludo asked with an uncanny amount of niceness in his voice. He drooled over the monster's appendage like it was the shiniest diamond in the world. "NIIIIIIIICCCEE." He awed as he parted away to make room for his re-hired minion. "After you."

Marco tried his best to chase after them, while Quartz elected to stay behind him. "Wait, don't do it Lobster Claws! What about wanting to be good?" The teen got his answer in the form of a punch to the face, sending him flying backwards on his back. The portal soon closed after ward, the satisfied cheer of Ludo being the last thing they heard. Star leaned over her beaten friend, pondering curiously at today's events.

"Wow, just, wow. You guys were right." She admitted in shock. "He did have some good in him after all." She searched for her brother to congratulate him, though he was nowhere within her visual range. She thought it, and realize that she really needed to talk to him about it. If she had to repeat today, she probably would've done the same thing, but with a lot less judgement on her part.

It didn't take long for Star to find him. He was in the one place she would usually find him, her room. Specifically, he was on the roof of her room, watching the sunset in hopes to wash away the disappointment. Star couldn't help but sigh. Usually going on the rooftop was a time of joy for the two whenever the two played hid n' seek, whenever the two needed to hide from their parents, to watching the fireworks whenever a big celebration was occurring. "I find it weird how you were able to take your entire room from Mewni and place it right here." Quartz spoke suddenly, catching the sister of guard a little.

"Yeah, just a little peace of home I was able to keep with me." Star answered, sitting down right beside him. "I'd prefer it to be you, but you got mom and whatever deal you made with her before I left." Star glumly looked down. "I never really thanked you for that, did I?"

"You don't have.."

"But I do!" Star shouted a little to loudly. "I put Mewni through the ringer, and you stepped in to stop Mom from sending me to Saint O's. You backed me, and I'm always going to be grateful for that." She rubbed his cheek, especially circling her finger around the stars. "I'm sorry I didn't back you up today when I needed to. I, I just didn't want to see you get hurt by helping somebody who didn't deserve it, again."

"Star.." He calmly takes her hands of his face and holds him in his own. "You're family. I can never give up on that." A smile surfaces on the princess's face, though the frown seems to transfer to Quartz's. "But, are people like that, really that helpless?"

"The truth is, I, I don't know." Star answered honestly. "There was clear bad in him, and he would've given the wand to Ludo if we weren't their to confuse him."

"I guess that's true." He sadly admitted.

"..but he did try to fight it off." Star continued with a more hopeful response. "I was wrong to doubt him.."

"..But I was wrong to put so much trust in him." Quartz admitted. "I guess I was still upset about Bear Horn giving up."

"So maybe we shouldn't give up on helping people at all." Star scooted closer to Quartz. "Maybe.."

"Maybe we need to work to find people we trust.."

"..but also be willing to trust someone when the time comes." Both smiled as they wrapped each other's shoulders in their arms. "Why does the lesson always come so late?" Neither could really answer that as they continued to watch the sun fade away, allowing for the rise of the moon. "So, we stick side to side?"

"Back to back."

"Together forever..."

"That's a fact."

"Trust each other..."

"Everyday."

"Sister and brother.."

"All the way."

None of the two said anything else as they watch the night sky together, the light emitting from both their marks only being beaten by the shimmering stars.

Next time: Family portrait.