Prince Marco Vs The Forces of Darkness
Disclaimer: I do not own Star vs the forces of evil.
Chapter 04: Brittney's Party
Marco walked down the halls warily. He found it difficult to get used to the changes that happened. Since Tom arrived and his secret was revealed (and subsequently told to everyone else in the entire school), he noticed there was a lot more attention on him.
It's not like he hated it, everyone was being friendly to him. Still, he just didn't know how to answer all the questions thrown at him about his kingdom and magic. If he slowed down or even stopped he'd get flooded with more questions than he could answer. Trying to avoid that, he started to rush to the next class, sitting down as soon as possible and start reading something until the teacher got in or start a conversation with Star or Janna. If he was talking or reading people didn't seem to try to interrupt as much.
That didn't work very well, he wasn't paying attention and he bumped into someone who hit the floor hard with the impact.
"Ow!" The cheerleader on the floor let out.
"Sorry!" Marco quickly took her hand to help her on her feet. "Ah, Sabrina, right? Are you ok?"
Sabrina blinked and blushed before she pulled her hand away, "Ah, yes, Prince Marco, I'm fine."
"Uh, just 'Marco', please." Marco had actually enjoyed people not calling him prince. He understood the importance of the title when it came to ruling people but it made it harder to connect. The only real friends he had either had the similar titles or just didn't care about those titles. Now it seemed to add an extra layer of distance between him and the others.
Marco paused for a moment when he realized Sabrina was paying attention to something else: a line before her.
Walking down the line was a girl wearing a purple skirt and matching sweater vest. Marco had done his best to try and remember everyone's names when he arrived at the school and was introduced, but it was difficult to remember so many names at once.
She was holding a stack of envelops and delivering seemingly randomly while saying "No, No, yes, no, yes,"
Marco raised an eye brow unsure of what was happening.
The girl paused and sighed, "Yes." She apathetically gave one of the envelopes to Sabrina.
Sabrina quickly squealed in delight before collapsing to the floor.
"Are you okay?" Marco questioned the girl.
"I hurt my back a little…" Sabrina moaned "I'll be okay."
"Ah, Prince Marco!" The girl smiled spotting Marco.
"You can just call me 'Marco'."
She leaned in, "We'll if you insist… Marco." Her tone flirtatious when pronouncing his name unattached to the title. "I was just thinking the other day about what a shame that you missed my birthday party. You transferred right after it. It was really fun, so I thought why not have another party and make sure you were invited." She pulled out a golden envelope, with beautiful calligraphy with Marco's name on it. As Marco took it he couldn't help but noticed the wonderful smelling perfume on it.
"Oh, well, thank you for inviting me." Marco wasn't much for parties, he was already thinking of a polite way to turn it down.
"Just make sure to RSVP, we are sending car to pick everyone and bring them to a yacht. I wanted a party jet but my father said no. You must be used to having a sort of luxuries being a prince and all."
Marco shrugged not realizing how close Brittney had gotten to him.
Brittney chuckled, "Don't be so modest." Her finger started to play with the zipper on his hoodie.
"Yeah, thank you for inviting me but-"
"No need for thanks." She pulled away playfully tapping her chin, "I suppose if you wanted to thank me you could get me a belated birthday present."
"Birthday present?"
"You're getting me a birthday present? Aren't you sweet." Brittney's eyes sparkled, "I'm sure it's going to be amazing."
Walking up to them Star and Janna came by, with Star excitedly asking: "Hey Brittney you're having another party so soon?"
Marco made a note of the name, it would have been super awkward to have to ask her name after all this.
Brittney struggled to keep her friendly smile on while Marco was there, "Hello Star Butt-erfly. Why yes, I am throwing another party."
"Cool!" Star said delighted, "I wanted to make sure because I didn't get an invitation for your birthday party."
"Yeah, neither did I." Janna scoffed, she knew why they hadn't gotten it.
Star was too naive sometimes. She didn't even realize Brittney didn't like them.
"Oh, well, I just got mine." Marco showed his invitation. "I'm sure you two will get yours soon. We should go together." Marco offered, honestly at this point it felt he couldn't back out and having his friends there would make things easier.
"That sounds like a plan." Star turned to Brittney, "Do you have them now?"
Brittney flinched. "Yes, of course. Any friend of Marco is a friend of mine."
Brittney didn't bother putting any names on any of the invites except for Marco's, so she handed the girls some.
Brittney had planned this whole thing to get Marco on her yacht and flirt with him, maybe even getting a present from him. She figured dating a prince would be amazing, getting loads of amazing gifts, traveling to different places, going to his kingdom where she'd be served hand and foot. Maybe somewhere down the road maybe she'd end Queen. Running her own country did sound pretty good. If they failed to hit it off then maybe getting close would be enough, she could still get a few rather lavish presents from him.
She couldn't ignore those two girls as they were his friends, not that she could understand why a prince would bother with them, so she had to invite them not to upset him.
"So, it's this Saturday so be ready."
With that she left as quickly as she could, not wanting to say anything she'd regret in front of the magical prince. She planned to pull Marco away for some alone time at the party. It was bound to be nothing less than perfect.
"I guess I should find her a present." Marco said looking at the invitation and how fancy it was.
"Jewels?" Star suggested, "Gold? You got plenty of those. Money never fails."
"But that seems so impersonal, especially when someone is going out of their way to be so friendly. What does Brittney like?"
"The color purple." Star offered up. "She is always wearing purple."
Janna growled. "She likes being bossy."
"She likes cheerleading." Sabrina offered down on the floor. "Her dad made sure she became our captain."
"Oh!" Star jumped back, "Sorry I stepped on your hair. Didn't see you there."
"It's okay."
"Do you need help getting to nurse's office?" Marco asked her.
"Ah, well, you don't need to worry, I'm fine." She replied, still static on the floor.
Marco looked at her empathetically.
"It's not problem. I'll take you there" Marco said, his usual worried tone in full effect.
"Well, if you don't min- EEP!" Before she even finished her sentence, Marco bent down and picked her up in her arms.
"Let's go." Marco took her in his arms and walked towards the nurse's office. "Maybe you can help me too."
Sabrina blushed, she was being princess carried by an actual prince. "Ask me for anything."
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Marco asked some questions to Sabrina about Brittney and with that in mind he started to plan what to get her. A few days later they went to the mall.
Star dragged a sulking Janna. "We will get some dresses, you find your gift." Janna frowned as Star tugged her along.
Marco went on trying to figure out what to get her. From his chat with Sabrina she found out some things about Brittney. Brittney was a leader (of sorts), so they had something in common. Brittney always had make up making sure it was perfect, someone who cares about presentation and how they seemed to others was something he knew well with his make up issues. Marco thought about getting make up but was afraid that it would seem like he thought she needed it. Overall it seemed like Brittney kept to herself, never talking much about her own interests to anyone. Sabrina did tell him how she would always rent a karaoke machine for her parties. So, Marco decided to try that, maybe get her one those things.
Marco got some of the money he kept in his rooms for larger expenses and looked around for a store. After asking around he found a music shop.
"Yeah, sorry." The man behind the counter told him. "Karaoke machines aren't exactly something we sell often so we don't keep many in stock. We have a couple to rent but if you want to buy we won't be getting any more for sale in a month. I could try and order one for you and have it sent, but it won't arrive for a while."
"Maybe… I need it for a present for Saturday. I would rather have it here in time for that. I'm going to look around some more."
Marco took the invitation out of his pocket and looked at the picture of Brittney on it. Brittney made sure people knew her parties were about her.
"Hey! It's that girl!"
"You know her?"
"Not 'know' her, more like 'see her often'." The man pointed to a store across the hall away. "She comes around here pretty often. She's usually wearing a hoodie or a coat and some shades, but that's definitely her."
"Thank you."
Marco walked over to the other store, at first thinking it was a toy store. When he asked, they told him it was a comic book store. It was a shop for those whose hobby was stories about heroes and the alike pop culture.
He showed them her picture and they did say she came in often.
The cashier, "Yeah, she comes in like clock work. Usually on the less crowded hours like 45 minutes after we open or 30 minutes before we close when the store is pretty empty and get out five minutes before we lock up. She always pays in cash. She doesn't talk much except ask if we have something she wants."
"That's odd," Marco hummed, "Have you ever seen her eyeing over something? Maybe something she looks at a lot but never gets."
"Hm.. There might be something. She never goes over a certain amount, and this thing would wipe her out, like a couple of times over." The cashier led Marco over to the back of the store and pointed to an item behind a glass case.
"She always pauses and looks at this."
"It costs 650 dollars?" Marco asked.
"Yup, limited edition pack, super ultra rare collectable and high quality items bundle."
"I'll take it."
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"Marco! The limo is here! She sent a limo!" Star called Marco down as she and Janna waited for him.
"Coming!" Marco rushed down the stairs. "I had to finish wrapping the present."
He carried a paper bag and a colorfully wrapped large box sticking out.
At the bottom of the steps Marco paused to see his friends. "You both look amazing."
Star was wearing a pink and red dress while Janna was wearing a dark green dress with a skirt with a black spider-web pattern.
"Thanks," Janna said, "What about you?"
Marco looked at his jeans and hoodie. "Is something wrong?"
Janna glared in response "You're so lucky you're a guy."
"… Some would argue that point..." Marco mumbled under his breath as he walked outside.
They walked into the limo and it soon drove off, failing to realize that a frog monster was snacking on chips from a tree branch, observing them.
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After a half an hour ride, they finally reached the pier. Marco spent most of the time trying to keep Star from sticking her head out of the window or moon roof. Marco was feeling a bit weird as he stepped out of the limo. He could already see several people from school boarding the large ship.
"Everyone who is coming on board! You have five minutes before we pull away." A sailor shouted from the ship.
"I'm just saying if I had to get dress up, you should too." Janna crossed her arms.
"Fine, I suppose it'd be proper thing to do to dress up nicely." Marco pulled out his wand and pointed it at himself. "Radiant Shadow Transformation!"
In a flash of dazzling light, Marco's clothes changed. Instead of his casual outfit he was wearing a freshly pressed tuxedo suit with a black bow tie and a red dress shirt. Also, he had on a white domino mask.
"Ah, you look great." Star asked, "What's with the mask?"
Marco pulled it off and put it in his pocket, "Not sure, it just came out that way when I thought about it." He replied with a shrug.
They got onto the yacht before it got going.
Marco found himself being the center of attention. While Janna and Star's outfits fit right in with everyone's party clothes Marco looked a tad over dressed.
Brittney greeted them, well, mostly Marco. She didn't even seem to notice the two girls.
"Okay." Janna started. "Let's get some food." Star followed Janna to the snack table.
"You wore a suit?" Brittney asked, quickly scanning the flustered mewman.
"Ah, yes sorry if it's not right outfit-"
"No, no, you look really good. Its better to overdress than underdress." Brittney tugged her hair behind her ear, she had to admit to herself that Marco really did look good in the suit, "What do you think of my dress?"
"It's very lovely."
Brittney was wearing a purple dress with a crystal tiara, trying to connect the whole princess thing with the prince.
"Oh, here's your present." Marco quickly handed her the gift bag.
"Thank yo- AKC!" Brittney nearly fell over due to its weight.
"Oops!" Marco quickly took it back. "It's heavier than it looks, must be the packaging."
Brittney stared at him for a moment, she wasn't exactly weak, but at first glance Marco didn't exactly look beefy. Yet he didn't seem to be struggling at all.
She poked his muscles in curiosity. "Stop that, it tickles." Marco stifled a giggle.
"Oh, sorry you're just a lot stronger than you look." Brittney blushed a bit but paused when she noticed his sickly semblance. "Are you okay? You look a bit green."
"I think the ride was a little rough." Marco admitted. "I'm going to find a place to put down your gift and try to settle my stomach."
"Well, I'm going to start the karaoke machine, maybe come by later and maybe we make out." Brittney halted, Marco only vaguely looking at her for a second. "A duet! I meant 'make a duet'!" Brittney quickly continued, before walking away with a blush.
They parted ways with Marco mentally shrugging the event. He placed the gift bag on an empty chair and went to get some punch hoping to please his unsettled stomach.
"Marco, are you all right?" Star asked him. "You don't look so hot."
"Are you sea sick or something?" Janna asked scarfing down some shrimp.
"No, I felt a bit weird in the limo too."
"Maybe you got motion sickness." Star wagered. "Take some deep breaths and look at the horizon."
Marco tried to relax a bit, Brittney started to sing, most of the party cringing as Brittney's screeching voice reached their ears.
Marco didn't notice the music as he leaned over the rail and tried to keep the contents of his stomach inside.
"Here."
Marco turned around to find a blond girl with a blue streak in her hair. "Jackie Lynn Thomas!"
She mildly tilted her head. "You know who I am?"
"Ah," Marco stuttered. "Yeah, we have math together. I'm actually surprised you know me."
"Are you kidding? Everyone knows about our school's very own magical prince."
Marco shrunk back slightly but winced as his stomach grumbled.
Jackie handed him the drink she brought over, "Here, I brought you some seltzer water. It's supposed to be good for stomach."
"Thanks." Marco started to sip the drink.
"Yeah, it looks like you might be sea sick. Just relax and try to get used to it." Jackie gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm going to dance floor, you should come if you're feeling up for it."
Marco meekly stared as she waved at him and left.
"Marco!" Star startled the prince. "Do you like Jackie?"
Marco turned around blushing, "What? No! What are you talking about?" He replied, staggering in confusion. "Maybe YOU have a crush on her. You're just trying to throw me off."
"You like her." Star grinned impishly.
"No, I just think she's cool, cute, and super nice." He said, briefly crossing his arms and turning away from Star to hide his blush.
"You have a crush!" Star said excited, she was happy to hear he had a crush especially after everything Tom had told her.
"I'm gonna go talk you up."
"No!" Marco quickly grabbed her arm.
"Hey Marco!" Janna came over with a football player. "Settle a bet for us."
Justin, as Marco recalled his name, held out a plate of oysters, "Do these smell like they gone bad?"
Marco's stomach was turning.
Justin sucked up one of the oysters, "Yeah, they taste like they've gone bad."
Marco held his lips tight as he tried not to puke. He silently wished for something to take his mind off all this. Brittney was bellowing out a number as everyone in ear shot cringed.
"Don't start Un-Believing! Never don't not feel your feelings!~!"
She was cut off as a dark green portal formed in the middle of the dance floor forcing everyone to clear the area.
Monsters flooded out and Ludo finally strode out. "Hello Prince Marco! I'm sorry to interrupt your little party."
"Thank Axoltl!" Marco sighed in relief, he knew how to deal with attacking monsters. "I mean, what's your game, Ludo?"
Some of the monsters rushed deeper into the ship.
Ludo walked over to the snack table and grabbed a soda can and popped it open with his beak. "Oh, bubbles! Ah, well, were ship-napping you. Stealing this whole ship."
"Yacht!" Brittney interrupted, stomping at Ludo. "It's a yacht, you're yacht-napping. And you are not!"
"Who are you?" Ludo asked struggling beneath the rich girl's high heels.
"Brittney, sorry about this." Marco apologized before turning to Brittney. "This is Prince Ludo Avarius. He's…, sort of the guy who tries to steal my magic wand every now and then." Marco held out his sword like wand.
"He's a prince too?" Brittney looked at the small creature confused, lifting her foot to take a better look at the intruder.
"Yeah, and he's one of my enemies who wants to steal my wand." Marco shrugged. "It happens, a lot of my predecessors had this come up too."
Brittney raised an eye brow at how calm Marco seemed to be when dealing with something so dangerous sounding. One would not talk this casually about an enemy prince trying to steal a magical artifact. Marco knew that over the generations many foes had faced against his family solely to get the wand. He and his parents hoped that his generation would get skipped but they planned for it regardless. He already knew how to defend himself and was improving with his magic. He even had Glossaryck show him some basic combat spells. Ludo hadn't been much of a threat, so it was almost overkill how well-prepared Marco was to his schemes.
Honestly, he didn't have much reason to worry. Ludo was small and not skilled or smart. All his monsters were brutes, poorly trained in fighting if anything and their awful teamwork only made it worse. If Marco keep his guard up he should be fine, especially having Star watching his back.
But as Ludo grabbed some oysters off the table Marco realized they weren't alone, there were bystanders: all of the party guests. Someone could easily get caught in the crossfire or be taken hostage by one of the monsters. Marco scolded himself mentally after realizing it, he under estimated how devious Ludo could be.
Ludo continued to munch on his snacks, "So, you'll love this plan." Ludo gushed, "So we will 'yacht-nap' you" he glanced over at Brittney. "Just steal the whole thing."
The whole yacht started to rock back and forth, Marco bent over as he struggled not to fall over.
Everyone struggled to ready themselves as the ship move wildly.
"Ludo, what did you do?" Marco turned to the bird monster.
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Lobster Claws and a crocodile monster had swam down into the water before the ship and plunged a pair of scissors into it. The water glowed slightly as they yanked the dimensional scissors forming a large tear, water began flood into the vortex creating a swirling whirlpool.
"Yeah!" Lobster claw cheered.
They stopped when both monsters were sucked into the whirlpool.
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Buff Frog came back in to the room, "The crew has been knocked out and Three-Eyed Potato Baby is steering us right into the whirlpool."
"You see?" Ludo smirked, "We'll just take this whole yacht and deal with you at my castle. You won't be able to escape or anything."
"That's a particularly stupid plan, Ludo." Star stared at the monster.
"It's a great plan! Shut up! Just get them!"
The monsters rushed them, Star jumped into the fight kicking another monster in the face.
Marco took a step to try and help but the boat rocking wasn't helping his stomach. He held out his wand and after a small burp he yelled out. "Super Shadow Ninja Nacho Cheese Devastation!"
In a cheese blast, a small ninja chip showed up brandishing his sword.
"What is that?" Ludo pointed at the small triangle. "You expect to beat me with a chip?" Ludo mocked the spell.
Before another word could be said, Will the Ninja Chip jumped and drop-kicked Ludo across the room, burying him in the steel wall.
"Will, protect all the party guests." Marco ordered the chip who nodded.
Buff Frog peeled Ludo off the wall, Ludo coughed and stood up, still dazed from the impact. "Okay, maybe he's tougher than he looks, but that tiny thing cannot beat all my monsters."
"'Tiny'… like you're one to talk." Janna chuckled in the distance.
Will cracked his tiny knuckles, and then began making elaborate hand motions. With several puffs of smoke thousands of identical chips covered the floor ready to face off against the monsters. The army of ninja chips began to fight the monsters on board. Soon the monster found themselves covered by dozens of chips beating them down.
"Did that chip just use the shadow clone technique?" Brittney stared dumbfounded.
"I have no idea what that is." Marco confirmed. "It's based on a technique ninjas used, 'Bunshin no jutsu', I think it was called."
Star lead the assault on the monster leading the tiny little ninja warrior army. Marco would normally be there with her but he was finding it hard to move. The crowd of students cheered Star and clones on as they fought the monsters.
Ludo ran around in circles trying to avoid the ninjas that followed him.
Buff Frog grabbed one of the tables and threw it at the chip army, the ninja warriors jumping of the way but they neglected to stop the table that was on dead course to hit Brittney. Marco shoved Brittney out of the way, getting struck by the table. The impact threw Marco over the ship's rails and down to the water below.
The Ninja Chips all blinked in horror having failed to protect Marco, poofing in tiny smoke clouds.
"Marco!" Star yelled out.
"Marco…" Brittney stared with worry taking in what just happened.
Many of the guests and monster turned over noticing what had happened.
"Buff Frog!" Ludo scolded the large monster. "What are you doing?!"
"It was not my intent to hurt the prince."
"I don't care about that, you idiot! You tossed him off the ship! He had the wand! Go in after him!"
A flash of red light shone from the water below and something shot out.
Marco clung to what look like horsed mixed with a sea lion. One of its fins patted Marco on the back, it had a mane of flowing sea weed, its long fish like tail swaying.
"Thank you, Ariel."
"Is that a Kelpie?" Buff Frog took a step back, sweating cold upon sighting the beast.
Many of the aquatic monsters also stepped back. Kelpie were to those monsters what bears were to woodsmen, things you just rather avoid.
Ariel growled and charged at Buff Frog after identifying his master's attacker.
Janna Ran to Marco's side. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Marco coughed spitting out some water, "before I hit the water I managed to summon my Kelpie."
Janna chuckled "You really do like those summoning spells. I guess it's lucky."
Marco got on his feet, still feeling unwell but he couldn't afford to slack off after what happened. He got lucky he had a spell ready, but the others wouldn't be so lucky. Ariel was drawing monster's focus with Star's help but that wouldn't last. Star rode the Kelpie smacking the monsters in sight.
That actually didn't turn out to be an issue at all, soon the yacht started to tilt to one side.
Marco slid to the side and looked over the rail. "Oh no…"
The guests and monster started to slide as the boat started tilting. They were quickly approaching the whirlpool.
"We're gonna get pulled in!" Star shouted.
Everyone started to panic as the ship began to spin as it got closer to the rift in the center.
"You see? It's a great plan!" Ludo held up his head. "Nothing you can do will stop this ship from getting sucked in."
Star punched another monster and looked at the overconfident Ludo. "Exactly where does this portal open up to?"
"Oh, I told my monsters to have it open up by my castle."
"But won't you get dragged in too?" Star pointed out.
"Ah…"
Buff Frog added, "And won't everyone get pulled under the water? I will be fine, but how about you and everyone else?"
"Ah…" Ludo stared blankly for a second, realizing his shortcomings. "Retreat!" He searched his pockets. "Where are my scissors?"
"You gave them to lobster claws." Buff Frog told him.
The peaceful yacht ride under the stars had suddenly become a rollercoaster ride.
"We can fix this." Ludo told them. "Grab the wand and we can use it to save ourselves!"
"Over my dead-" Marco paused as he had to keep himself from throwing up.
Buff Frog used the opportunity to jump him. Marco tried to fight him off but both of them being spun made it hard to keep their balance and the wand got knock out of Marco's hands.
"Grab the wand!" Ludo yelled out.
The two-head monster reached for it but Star slid in slamming into the monster faces keeping him away from it.
The bear monster reached for the wand but the moment their fingers reached it Ariel bit them. With a yelp the monster let the wand go, flinging it in the air again.
As the room spun, many tried to reach for it, but no one grabbed it, the magical artifact bouncing around everyone's fingertips.
Marco jumped for it only to have Buff Frog stop him.
The wand fell next to a plate of empty oysters. "Ugh, I don't think those are sitting well." Ludo moaned in nausea, not realizing the wand.
"Master Ludo! The wand!" Buff Frog yelled out trying to keep Marco from running towards it.
Ludo barely noticed the wand as it started to slide towards a panicking Brittney.
"Give me the wand!" Ludo demanded.
Startled, Brittney turned towards the small monster and looked at the object near her feet. "This?" Brittney grabbed it carelessly in the confusion.
A bright light engulfed the sword shaped artifact and it turned into a wand with a purple handle and a gold crescent moon shaped top, with a large diamond sitting where the moon met the handle.
"Huh?" Janna noted, "Isn't that from Sailor Mo-"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Brittney yelled out.
"Just take the wand from the girl!" Ludo ordered his monsters.
Marco wanted to get up and run towards Brittney, but she was too far. Even if he was feeling well he knew he'd never reach her in time.
Unsure what to do Brittney held onto the wand. Everything may be a chaotic mess, but she knew for sure that whatever significance the wand may had, it surely wouldn't be a good idea to hand it to the monsters that crashed her party. She still stepped back, given she was unable to fight them off.
"Use the wand!" Marco yelled out. "Say the first thing that comes to your mind! Let the spell come straight from your heart!"
As the monsters rushed at her to take the wand, she held out the wand and chanted the first words that came to her. "Moon Spiral heart attack!"
A sparkling pink heart energy beam rushed out of the wand striking at all the monsters knocking them backwards.
Brittney got on her feet staring at the wand, she felt a strange power in the wand, flowing through it as she spoke the words. She still didn't know what happened but she felt it was something special. She was so focused on the wand she failed to remember that the ship was out of control and she was sliding right through the smashed railing.
Marco rushed after her and as she fell out of the ship the Prince leapt after her. Grabbing her midair, she felt his arms wrap around her.
She heard his voice a lot sterner, yet speaking softly to her. "Hold onto to me."
He took the wand, changing it back into its bladed design. She didn't notice him summoning up his blue cape and materializing around him, slowing them down as they fell.
"Winterstorm Hyperblow!"
A blast from his wand shot out, covering a large area around them.
She did notice Marco's hair fluttering in the wind and snow flakes danced around them and the stars twinkled above them.
Slowly they descended to the icy floor beneath them.
Finding solace on solid ground, Marco let himself smile relishing in the now invigorating sensation of a firm floor. "That's better." He took a deep breath, stomach finally giving him a break from all the nausea. Marco didn't notice Brittney holding him a little closer.
Marco surveyed the area around them, not noticing Brittney pulling the mask from his pocket that nearly falling. For a moment, she held the mask before Marco and she blushed, remembering a childhood crush.
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Star kicked another monster off the yacht, the Kelpie Ariel tossing another one behind it. The bay had been frozen over by Marco, making a swirling slide that lead to the rift. As the monsters hit the ice. they couldn't help but slide down the tunnel.
"Hey Star you missed one!" Janna held out Ludo who looked ready to puke.
Janna without another moment of hesitation hurled the tiny monster out onto the ice.
"Buff Frog, get me some medicine!" Ludo screamed as he slid into the portal.
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Everyone had gotten off from the yacht. Marco was making them all ice skates. It was a pretty rare sight in California for there to be ice and snow. Even later on, it still snowed lightly, keeping everything cool. The guests couldn't help but enjoy the small treat they rarely got to experience, many of them using the chance to skate. It would take hours for the ice to melt so they took advantage of the situation.
A small smile found its way to Marco's lips as he saw Janna and Star skating about. Sabrina accidentally bumped into them, immediately apologizing afterward as crashed down the makeshift ice ring.
"Don't worry." Star told her, approaching Sabrina to help her out.
"At least, you already got ice for your bruise." Janna pointed out.
"Hey." Marco's thoughts where interrupted by a familiar voice nearby. "Thanks for the skates, dude."
Jackie Lynn Thomas skated around him, "You're welcome." He replied flustered.
"That was a wild party. Can't wait to see how your party is going to top this one." She skated off leaving Marco with a bashful smile.
"M-Marco." Marco found Brittney's voice.
"Oh, Brittney," Marco found her behind him, flustered. "I'm sorry, It was all my fault all that happened here today and I'm so sorry I ruined your party." He apologized, feeling bad for the chaotic events that unfolded.
"Don't worry, no, I mean, I guess this sort of family feuds thing is pretty common for royals and stuff." She replied, not looking him straight in the eye.
"Something like that, I'm still sorry."
"No, it's fine. Really. I guess everyone is happy because of you, so we should just count it as a success. Don't worry too much about it." She smiled warmly at him.
Ariel flopped over towards Marco carrying a large bag.
"Oh, right. Your present. Thank you, Ariel." Marco thanked the kelpie as it left, placing the package before her. "I'm glad it wasn't damaged during the fight."
Brittney quickly opened it up seeing what Marco got her. "Is it jewels? Gold? An expensive accessory?" She listed all the possible gifts she could picture a prince giving to someone.
"I hope you like it. I asked around trying to find out what you'd like." Marco explained, "I was at the mall and found a store where you seemed to frequent. One of the clerks said you always looked at this but never got it, so I'm hoping you like it."
Brittney stared at him briefly, unsure what he meant by all that.
She ripped through the wrapping paper and the packaging, eyes going wide with the package. "Ah!"
Inside was the exclusive ultra rare collector's edition pack of Sailor Moon's items replica. It hadn't been heavy because of packaging, but because the items themselves were heavy. They were life sized replicas of some of the most iconic items from the series, such as the heroine's trademark tiara, broch, and moon stick.
Brittney couldn't help but freak out internally so as she looked around her. When she was younger she watched the series and loved it. Soon she had started to get interest in other series but she never told anyone about them, fearful of her guilty pleasure getting her teased and being labeled as a nerd. She always made sure to not indulge herself in public to make sure that her secret would remain so.
So how did Marco find out? What was his plan? Was he trying to make fun of her?
Freaking out over her secret, she turned to yell at him but froze when she met a soft, expectant smile in a slightly worried face. "Was it not to your liking? I worked hard to try and find something you'd enjoy."
She's always wanted that set, but it was too expensive for her cash money and she didn't want that appearing on her father's credit card bill, so she accepted her fate of never obtaining her spoils, merely longing for it day by day on the comic book store until someone took it. Never once did she think it'd be someone buying it for her.
Brittney's heart skipped a beat as she saw him fidgeting. He only wanted to get her something special for her. The transfer student that she never paid much attention until his status leaked went this far to find something she'd enjoy. She hugged the package close to her heart and smiled gratefully.
"I loved it... Thank you, Marco."
Marco let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. Happy belated birthday, Brittney." Marco said, before waving at her and heading towards Star and Janna, picking up pace when he saw they were trying to do a stunt involving an ice ramp and jumping over 5 students.
Her hair fell over her eyes, her face still warm despite the cold wind, snowflakes chilling the air still.
0000
As she got ready for bed, Brittney found herself stopping in front of the mirror, picking up the replica tiara and slipping it onto her head.
She couldn't help but smile, not only because she had gotten something she wanted for a long time, but because she found someone who would do something like this for no other motive than to make her smile.
Her heart beat fast thinking about him.
She had set out to make the prince fall for her but now it looked like she started to fall for the prince.
0000
Marco got ready for bed as he told Glossaryck of the events of the night.
"Hm, interesting. It's good to see you trying to overcome your insecurities and being more social. When you become king, you are going to have to deal with people."
"Yeah, I know." Marco nodded.
"Still, don't make it a habit to let other people get your wand. You may be starting to spread out your friendships, but that doesn't mean everyone is a good suitor to wield the royal magic heirloom."
"Sorry about that..." Marco lowered his head, ashamed of the entire incident. It was a miracle everything turned out find as it did, given how his wand pretty much went all over the place.
"Although, you did the right choice under the circumstances. Just try to not let it happen again. The wand channels a lot of magic, so someone who doesn't have experience with magic can be in quite some danger. The girl could have gotten seriously hurt"
"I understand." Marco answered resolutely.
"And we should start focusing more on battle spells. You hand-to-hand fighting is good, but you lean too much on your summons and creature spells. You do have those spells you've developed from spending time with him, and creating your own spells have worked out well so far, but you should try and get something a bit more stable. If those monsters attack again, you should be ready. We will start tomorrow, for now get some rest."
"Good night, Glossaryck." Marco said, laying down in bed.
"Good night, prince." Glossaryck floated over to the wand and tapped it wondering what it meant that a random girl could create and fire spells so quickly.
This generation seemed to hold many surprises for the tiny little man.
0000
Ludo puked again into the bucket. He looked at the halls of his castle as monsters continued to scope buckets of water out.
It was actually good that the ship didn't get pulled in, otherwise it would have crashed right into the castle. Still, Ludo didn't feel all that lucky.
"Something was wrong with those oysters."
Beta's notes: And here it is! Another chapter for Marco vs his boundless harem the Forces of Darkness. It was fun working on this chapter. This story seems to be going places. So far, this has been an enjoyable ride for me and I hope it has been a good one for you too. I tried going a little bolder with grammar and wording, so I hope characters, dialogue or action sequences don't feel out of place. Me and AdDude are really glad to be working on this. See you guys next chapter. V0ID115, out!
Author's Notes: So that's happened. I don't know what else to add. I hope you like the story so far, leave a review telling me what you think and what you like. I have a feeling it's gonna take me a little longer to get the next chapter but I hope it won't take too long.