Prince Marco Vs The Forces of Darkness
Disclaimer: I do not own Star vs the forces of evil.
Chapter 06: FlagStruck
Marco was actually happy that he was making some friends on Earth. When he found out that his mom was going to let him invite some friends to the castle for a ceremony, he was quick to invite them.
Marco's parents sent a carriage to pick them up, quickly arriving at his family's castle. It was bigger than any of them could have expected, it literally reached the clouds. Marco lead them to a sitting room while he got changed into his royal attire.
One of the servants, Manfred, brought them some tea and snacks.
Star made sure she had on one of her nice dresses. The way Marco made it out the entire ceremony wasn't a formal event requiring to get all dressed up, but Star made sure her blue dress looked nice. Sabrina wore a nice simple green dress. Janna didn't change her normal outfit, though Star did note that it looked a lot cleaner and her beanie seemed almost brand new. It smelled like there was the faint smells of that fabric softener that smelled like lemons and flowers.
Brittney went all out with a very fancy purple dress. Honestly, Star couldn't help but think Brittney did look a bit like a princess.
Star still wondered if they should have gotten more dressed up like Brittney, all fancy and everything since they were gonna meet royalty. The only royal they had meet was Marco and he was pretty laid back compared to what everyone thought of royalty.
She was a little nervous, unsure how Marco's parents would react to meeting them.
Soon enough the room doors opened up. They expected Marco but instead they found a woman with a crown wearing an elegant orange dress.
She gave them a warm smile, "You must be Marco's Earth friends, right? I'm so glad to meet you."
The four girls quickly got up trying to show the proper respect for a queen. Before they could react they found themselves all pulled into a big hug by the queen, "Thank you for being friends with him."
They gasped for breath not having expected the queen to be so strong, Star gasped, "Right, his family is really affectionate."
The queen let them go before turning to Star, "You must be Star Butterfly. Your family was so gracious in taking in my son while he's on Earth. He talks about you a lot. Thanks for being so nice to him and how you've been looking after him." Marco's mother looked at her with gratitude.
"Aw," Star couldn't help but blush a little. "Well, Marco has been making it super easy, sometimes it seems like he's taking care me."
Sabrina, still a little winded from the hug, fell to the floor.
The queen quickly gave her a hand and helped her up, "You must be Sabrina."
"Oh," Sabrina quickly fidgeted under the attention of the queen, "Thank you, your majesty."
"You can all just call me Angie. You're not citizens of Mewni, you're our guests! There is no need for you to be so formal, especially since you're my son's friends."
Sabrina blushed a little, "Oh, I see where your son got his sweetness from."
"Oh, thank you!" Angie beamed at the compliment.
Brittney cleared her throat getting her attention, "Greetings, I am Brittney Wong. It's a pleasure to meet you." Brittney bowed, remembering her internet research told her she should bow to a queen. She wanted to make a good first impression.
"Don't you just look lovely?" Angie clapped at the sight of Brittney's mannerisms, who looked slightly flustered in return.
"Uh, thank you."
"You look lovely enough to be a princess, you know?"
"Huh!" Brittney blushed, her mind racing. 'Is she hinting that I should ask her son out? Is she giving me her blessing? To marry him and give her three beautiful grandchildren, Serene,Melissa, and Albie. To rule this kingdom as fair and just rulers until one of our kids takes over?! Living the rest of golden years together in luxury watching our children flourish and prosper with their kingdom?!'
"Is she okay?" Angie asked Janna, who looked at Brittney who was blushing madly as she mumbled to herself something Janna couldn't make out.
"I'm sure she's fine." She shrugged, later offering her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Janna."
"It's a pleasure." Angie gladly shook her hand.
"Yeah. So, you can do magic too?" Janna quickly asked.
"Yes," Angie gave her a quick nod. "It's a family skill," Angie chuckled to herself, sparks of magic flickering off her fingers. The sparks quickly turned into flower petals and danced through the air around the girls. They flew around the room before landing on Angie's free hand, forming a blooming flower. Then the flower dissolved as if it was never there.
The girls were at awe at the small display, Janna was the first one to speak up, "How did you do that?! Don't you need a wand to use magic?"
Angie shrugged, "Having a wand does make using magic a lot easier, but we only have one and Marco needs it to learn to control his spells. In time Marco will learn to use magic without assistance like I did."
The door opened again and Marco walked in now fully dressed in his prince clothes. "I found dad, he's finishing up with the sculpture but My mom-" Marco stopped to a halt after seeing his mother.
"Marco!" Angie exclaimed, rushing towards her only child.
"Mom!"
Mother and son quickly embraced, though they talked at least once a week through the mirror but this was first time in a while they're were there in person.
"Marco!" Angie cuddled her son. "I was just introducing myself to your 're all very lovely."
"Thanks, I guess..." Marco replied somewhat flustered.
Angie gave the girls another glance before turning to Marco. "Marco," She approached the young prince and spoke in a more reserved tone. "Is there anything you want to tell me, son?" Angie raised an eyebrow and glanced at the girls again, "Anything you need to ask me?"
"Uh… I don't think so?" Marco replied, confused by her oddly specific question.
Angie's smile shrunk a little, but shook it off her head. "Okay, then" Angie shrugged, "Did you see your father?"
"Yes, he'll be here in a minute. He's just putting the finishing touches on the statue."
Sabrina glancing at Marco approached him as she noticed something, "You have something on your cheeks."
The girls took notice of the Diazes birthmarks, Marco's rubies and Angie's suns.
"Ah, yes," Marco scratched the back of his head, mildly embarrassed. "I wear makeup on Earth to keep them hidden so I don't stand out."
"Yeah, I knew about that." Star told the others apologetic, "Sorry… I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Don't worry," Sabrina shrugged off his concern, "I- I- I think they look cute." A small blush forming on her cheeks as she spoke.
"And what's with the get up?" Janna motioned to his outfit.
"Oh, this is my royal outfit, this is a special occasion so I had to dress up." He motioned to his attire. "What do you think?"
Janna smiled, "Well, you certainly look like royalty now."
Brittney blushed brightly, "Yeah, you do, you look really c-"
"Awesome!" Star interrupted, giving a thumbs up.
Marco smiled, happy to get his friend's approval.
The door opened, revealing the King dusting off his hands, "I'm finished, just in time too." He looked at the girls gathered, "You must be Mijo's new friends, I'm so glad to meet you."
Janna looked at the broad shoulder king and then at the somewhat scrawny prince, smirking at him. "Your future looks good."
Marco quirked an eyebrow, unsure what she meant.
After introductions the group headed out of the courtyard and outside the Castle where several nobles and peasants had gathered.
The royal family, their guest and a few guards climbed onto the stage next to a large statue covered with a huge tarp.
Janna had been asking Marco all sort of things, curious of his unusual background. "So, your dad doesn't have those cheek symbols. What's the deal with that?"
"It's a family trait that runs in my mom's side of the family. It's a sign that we have royal blood and the magical prowess to protect the kingdom."
Star, albeit slightly oblivious to her surroundings, heard murmurs from the crowd nearby.
"…Is she the new princess?"
"Are they finally getting a proper princess?"
"Which one? The one with the hat or the blonde or the one in green?"
"I think it's the one in purple."
"I don't know, I heard they're from Earth. I don't know what royalty there looks like."
"About time. They're finally replacing that good-for-nothing prince."
Star was about to say something when Brittney interrupted her train of thought. "What's this ceremony about anyway?" Brittney asked.
Marco mulled over the question for a while before replying. "Years ago, back when my grandmother was queen and my mother was around my age, the kingdom was at war with monsters. The war was ended when my grandmother signed the peace accords, although there were monsters that didn't agree." Marco slightly winced at this point. "After the accords were signed, a giant monster with strange powers attacked the castle. My grandmother was recovering from an attack that happened a few days before, so she couldn't fight that monster."
Marco took a short pause, his friends waiting expectantly for the continuation of the events, Janna particularly more attuned than the others. "My mother was my age… she barely started learning how to use the wand and had no idea how to use it for battle. If she went out to fight it… I wouldn't be here." He shuddered at the thought. His voice lit up shortly after, "Then, a hero stood up and single handedly fought off the monster that our whole army was having trouble holding back. She gave her life stopping it, but doing so the other monsters retreated and the kingdom was allowed to live in peace. This ceremony is to remember her bravery and sacrifice." He finished up.
"Today we come to remember Mewni's champion." Angie started out her speech.
She spoke mostly the same story that Marco told them, although adding some details about watching the fight, how every blow traded was epic and the castle shook from the battle. How every step the giant monster took twisted and warped the ground, at time seemingly vanishing to reappear closer. How the monster and warrior both vanished in a flash of light. In the end they vanished without leaving so much as a body to bury.
Rafael removed the tarp showing a large statue of the warrior.
"My husband has crafted this marvelous statue for this ceremony."
They all clapped at the reveal, admiring the craftsmanship. "Let's have a moment of silence." Angie spoke, the noise dying down.
The girls looked on at the warrior with long twin pigtail done with buns, with a sword in her hand. The girls were a little surprised at the statue. She looked barely older than them, maybe 17 years old at the most.
A few moments have passed before the queen raised her voice once more. "This should be enough." Angie spoke, "Mina Loveberry lived in the moment, she loved life and she sacrificed so much so we could enjoy it. She wouldn't want us to focus too much the past. Today we shall indulge in Mina's favorite game! Everyone please pick up your flags and head over to the hill."
The crowd cheered and began to move out, Marco jumped from his seat and cheered too.
Angie's hand held him in the spot. "Marco, no. You are still too young to play flags."
"What?" Marco turned at her surprised. "Mom, I have the wand now. I'm old enough to wield the most powerful magical artifact in the universe but not to play a game?"
"Yes, that's how it is. Until I say you're old enough, you're not allowed to play it."
Marco didn't even have time to sulk over it as both magic users suddenly tensed up.
"Is something wrong?" Rafael noted their reaction.
"Everyone, stand behind me!" Angie growled, Her expression turned harsh as she moved before her family.
As Marco took out his wand Rafael motioned the girls to go behind him.
Magic began to flicker at Angie's hands, "Guards! Remove everyone from here immediately!"
The guards quickly cleared everyone out. Angie kept her eyes at the sky right above them her, husband leading the group away as she kept her guard up, sensing that weird disturbance and making sure the group was protected.
"What's going on?" Star questioned Marco.
"Something is coming." Marco tensed up, "Something HUGE is-"
The sky ripped apart and a ball of fire landed nearby.
Marco grabbed his wand ready to summon up another shield, but his mother held out her hands weaving a spell. As the fireball hit the ground, a bubble formed around it sealing up the impact. A few moments later she let the bubble pop and as the flames died down it revealed the body of a dead monster.
Angie's eyes went wide, "I know that monster… That's the one I saw … right here in this field when…"
A sword tore through the monster's body, shocking everyone. From the inside, a purple haired warrior tore her way out. "Ha! Take that, you big oaf!" She yelled at the giant corpse she was standing on.
Her body was covered in monster guts, she wiped away from her eyes, and placed her hands on her hips, full of pride. "The castle is still standing. Good."
"Mina!" Angie let out.
"That's my name." Mina smiled before slipping down the dead monster.
0000
Minutes later Mina was done cleaning up and now wearing a bathrobe, standing in the sitting room with the others.
Angie was talking to a crystal ball with a strange looking skull projected in it.
"Omni. What's this all about?" Angie spoke mildly irritated. "Our greatest warrior disappears through space and time and you never told us anything? We thought she was dead!"
"Queen Angie, the multiverse is too large to keep track of every minute detail. If I had to notify every single time-space anomaly to every single version of you, I wouldn't have time to do my job."
"Well, we are part of the Magic High Commission, a head's up on these things would be nice" She replied.
"Look, I'm sorry, but my duty as a member of the Commission is to watch over the multiverse, prevent it from shattering with anomalies and help the Mewmans understand how it works when needed. If you want, we can go over this."
Angie looked over at Marco's friends and Mina on the other room, before letting out a deep sigh.
"We will talk about this later, Omni."
"As you say, Queen Diaz."
Angie approached Mina, who slurped her tea and analysed her. "So you really are little Angie all grown up." The warrior walked around Angie studying her further.
"Yup, it's been a few years."
Mina turned to the crystal ball, "Any chance at getting me back?"
Omni sighed, "Sorry, but no. You never came back and we can't change that fact. Changing established events could cause unpredictable changes, specially with a time warping monster on the equation. The timeline could even collapse upon itself."
"Yeah, that sounds bad." Mina took another slurp of her drink. She stared at her empty teacup.
"Here, let me get you a refill!" Marco practically tripped over himself refilling her cup.
"Thanks!" She looked Marco over and then glanced at Angie, "The cheek marks?"
"That's my son, Marco."
"Son?" Mina looked confused for a second.
"Yes," Marco blushed, "I'm Prince Marco Ubaldo Diaz and it's a pleasure to meet you. My mom has told me so much about you." Marco gushed over the warrior.
"Is Marco acting strangely?" Sabrina noted.
Star just smiled, " He's got a crush."
"What?!" The other girls almost shouted, but luckily no one seemed to notice.
"Yeah, Marco's friend Tom told me he had a celebrity crush of sorts on a Mina Loveberry. I didn't think much of it at the time, specially after hearing today that she was thought to be dead, but now Marco actually got to meet her!" Star's voice grew excited.
The other three girls were less excited.
Angie hummed to herself, thinking about their predicament. "What are you gonna do now?"
Mina thought for a moment before giving a flat shrug. "I dunno. It looks like a lot of things have changed since I've been gone. I could still be your personal warrior if you'd still have me."
Angie smiled, and snapped her fingers in realization. "I think I have something that might be perfect for you. Your skills in combat have always unmatched, specially with the sword. Since the magic wand turned into a sword since my son got it, we've discussed the possibility of finding him someone to train him with."
"Sword training?" Mina quickly connected the dots.
"YES!" Marco let out louder than he intended, "Uh, I mean... Yes." he held out his wand, "Since the wand took the shape of a sword we've thought it might be a sign that I should take up the sword. I mean, I already know how to fight since Rhombulus has been teaching me, but he's not great with weapons."
"It would be fairly easy, give you chance to acclimate to this time. You'd just have to go to Earth." Angie complemented.
"Earth?" Mina seemed more confused by the second.
"Yes, Marco is practicing his magic on Earth. It's fairly safer there and there is no magic, so it should help him get used to the mundane and a safe place to practice. You could go there to teach him and keep an eye on him from time to time. My little boy is very safety conscious so you don't have to worry much about him. Just some safety measures so he's ready if anyone tries to attack him." She held him closely in a tight hug.
"Mom!" Marco bemoaned, embarrassed from the public affection of display in front of his idol.
"Sure, sounds fun." Mina readily agreed. Finishing her drink, she quickly got up. "When do I go?"
"First, let's go over some details." Angie replied, motioning her to discuss Marco's training routine.
0000
A few days later, River was eating a sandwich and watching some TV. He got out of work a bit early and he seemed to have the house to himself. He was ready to relax before the kids got out of school. They would arrive soon so he'd make the most of his time before they went hyper all over the house.
He grabbed his sandwich ready to take a big bite into it, relishing the quietude of the moment and the many layers of yumminess of his treat to come.
"Ah!" The door burst open and Marco ran into the house and went straight upstairs.
Star walked through the door sweating and gasping for breath.
"Star, did something happen?"
Star caught her breath, "Marco... Ran all the way home…. He wanted to... be here before…" River handed her his drink which she gladly took. "Thanks, Marco rushed out of class as soon as he could." She took another sip from the beverage. Now feeling much better, she got all giddy. "Today is his first of sword fighting lessons with his crush~"
River chuckled, "Ah, I see, that Mina girl you told us about. Makes sense. There are few things that will get a young man moving as fast as a chance to see a girl they like."
"Speaking from experience, pops?"
River chuckled with a mildly awkward expression. "I might have been a bit over eager when trying to impress your mother."
Marco rushed down stairs now in some workout clothes, mostly sweats and a gray shirt.
"Is she here yet?" he asked excitedly.
"Marco, we ran all the way here, we got here plenty of time before she arri-"
"Hello!" Star turned around to find the purple haired warrior standing in the doorway.
Now not covered in monster gut, Mina looked like a fancy royal guard. She had on a military cyan jacket and skirt. The jacket even had some fancy shoulder tassels and a cute purple bow with a heart on it. She also had a brand new helmet with space for her hair buns to poke out and she had two cute bunny shaped earrings. After Star motioned her to come in, she waltzed inside carrying a pair of wooden swords.
"Mina!" Marco squealed.
"My prince!" Mina saluted him.
"You don't have to do that, just call me Marco." He readily dismissed the formal treatment, unsure if his flustering was caused by the undesired formality or by receiving special treatment from his idol.
Mina on the other hand just shrugged it off. "Sure, Marco. Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
0000
River and Star settled on the lawn furniture to watch his training unfold. River shared his sandwich with Star as Marco and Mina prepared themselves.
Mina removed her jacket and tossed it onto a lawn chair. Marco gulped, staggered by his mentor. Mina, now wearing a simple white shirt, was only a bit older than him and his acquaintances, but she definitely more…mature, as he noticed.
He looked away trying not to stare at her figure. Being raised to be a proper prince, he tried to treat her with all the respect she was due and more due to his admiration towards her, though his teenaged hormones were not helping.
"Okay, Prince-y!" Mina let out, taking Marco out of his thoughts. "Let's start your training! Since the wand took the shape of a sword, maybe you got a heart a warrior waiting to bust out. We'll put this theory up to the test!" She said, picking up a wooden longsword and handing him a much smaller shortsword.
He picked up and tried getting into a stance while Mina examined him.
"Okay, what are we gonna do?" Marco readied himself. "Show me the proper form to hold a sword?"
"Nope! There are two ways to teach someone how to use the sword. One, is practicing movements over and over until they become second nature over years, which is slow and boring." She said with a visible irk in her voice.
"The other is just fighting as much as you can until you pick it up. The second one we are gonna go with, which is much faster and will help you with things regular training wouldn't do, such as improvisation, combat flow and more importantly: How to handle things outside your comfort zone." She held out the sword, "So if you don't want to get hurt, get ready to defend yourself! GUARD!" Mina shouted, quickly swinging her sword towards him, nearly knocking him over the fence.
The fight was easily one sided, Mina had years of practice and Marco had about five minutes or so. Both River and Star were wincing at what was basically Marco getting smacked with a wooden sword.
River felt some pity for Marco. Seeing him try his best made him think back of his time trying to impress Moon and that obvious boy's pride at stake. He knew from first hand experience that guys did some really stupid and painful things to look good in front of girls they liked. It still didn't make it any easier seeing his daughter's friend being beaten up by his crush.
"That definitely gotta hurt..." Star murmured to herself before raising her voice. "Is this really necessary?" She asked, slightly concerned.
"Definitely!" Mina said with conviction. "I go to the school of Hard Knocks, there is no better teacher than experience. No better teacher than actually fighting. Practicing only makes good presentations. Actual combat experience makes a warrior."
"Maybe you should hold back a little."
"I am," Mina chuckled at the comment, "if I wasn't, he'd be a pile of goo. I can't really hold back any further than this. If he's gonna make any progress he's got to learn to fight back and fast, he'll be king sooner than later after all. He can't afford to slack off, specially when no one knows when he might get attacked. He needs to be ready."
"But-"
"It's okay, Star." Marco interrupted her, steadying the sword. "She's right, let's keep going."
"You have guts. I like that." Mina pointed out, causing Marco to briefly blush. "Now, show me what you got. The best part of combat training is using your own natural skill to fight."
Mina struck first, hitting him once at his left shoulder and then again at his right. She went to strike him on his head but something happened, Marco raised sword and blocked it for the first time since their training began.
Mina smirked before pushing forwards and striking again, Marco rolled to the side to dodge the attack. He jolted up and charged at Mina who was ready to meet sword with sword. Marco forced her sword away and made an opening rushing forwards. His heart pumping and adrenaline rushing he pushed her down and pinned her.
Marco gulped realizing their position, but Mina smiled satisfied, "Well done, Marco!"
"Really?"
"Yup! For a first battle, those fighting moves you showed just now were pretty good. You got potential, especially given how well your instincts went when you've got so little training. You also have shown signs of proficient hand-to-hand fighting! That's good! Now we just have to get you to used to holding that sword. When you improve your skills, brandishing a sword will become second nature!"
Marco smiled at that, it felt so good to have someone he idolized give him words of praise.
"Now, do you mind getting off me?" Mina deadpanned.
"Oh, sorry!"
Marco quickly got off her and soon after that they stopped training for the day. Mina brought over a magical balm to heal his bruises afterward. Marco couldn't help but blush wildly as she rubbed it on his skin.
0000
While fun at first, Star was getting annoyed over the following days. She at first thought it was cool that Marco was taking up the sword, but it quickly got boring every day right after school rushing home so he could practice swordsmanship. Ever since she got the scissors, she'd ask Marco to take her to other dimensions to explore, going to all sort of places, from fantastic bazaars or wild landscapes to several other dimensions pony head told her about.
Now she spent most of her afternoons watching Mina and Marco spar. It was novelty at first but that got over real quick.
It really unnerved her to watch Marco get smacked around and ask for more. Although it eased up a bit after a week, when Marco finally started to show some more progress. Getting hit by wooden sword was a great motivator to learn how to dodge. His reflexes were getting faster and he moved more naturally with the sword.
Marco was learning how to block attacks and dodge them more effectively. He even managed to parry some attacks every now and then, getting closer each time to land a hit but Mina was just too experienced and always countered effortlessly.
Star did hope Marco would hit her just once so they could hang out.
Marco collapsed onto the ground, his body covered with sweat and bruises as he tried to catch his breath.
Mina leaned on her sword and wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead. "You've gotten better, you might be able to land a blow on someone, not me, but someone." She jokingly stated, offering a hand.
Marco chuckled a bit, taking her hand and getting up, Mina noticing his subtle wince as she grabbed his hand. After taking a quick look at his bruised figure, she thought for a bit.
"You're doing well so far, but in the end, my training regime may still be a bit too much for you."
"Huh?" Marco looked at her slightly confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, just look at yourself, Marco. We have been going at this for weeks, yet you're still getting several bruises after every training section. I guess even holding back, I may be a bit too much for you." She said, Marco looking slightly disappointed by her statement. "Oh, don't worry, Marco. You've made amazing progress these weeks! It's only that you're simply too inexperienced. You've got a good grip on the basics now, but your body is not used to this level of punishment. If you keep this rhythm every day you'll may even get a serious injury."
"Wait, that means training is over? But we barely started!"
"What? Pffft…" Mina scoffed at the thought. "No, training is not over, Marco. You just need a lighter training for now. Perhaps instead of daily, we can make it weekly, so you can better recover from our training sections while your body toughens up from it's squishy state." Mina poked Marco's flimsy arm, causing him to feel even more self conscious than usual. "You should get some rest, plus you probably have other things to do." She said, picking up the training gear to go back to Mewni as usual.
Marco slightly panicked, it meant he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with her.
"Mina!" He blurted out on impulse.
She immediately turned her head around in reflex. "Yes?" She promptly replied, looking at the now unnerved mewman prince.
"Uh..., ah, do you want to do something tomorrow? You know, together?"
"What?"
"I mean, you've been so great being my teacher and since we're not going to train tomorrow, I thought I could thank you properly." He scratched the back of his head, swallowing hard. "How about I take you to get something to eat and maybe we could do something fun together? I could show Earth to you and where all the good things are around here."
Mina studied the prince for a while, before giving an enthusiastic smile. "I suppose that would be fine if you don't mind showing me around."
Marco smiled broadly, "Yes! It won't be any trouble."
Fetching her dimensional scissors, she picked up her training supplies and opened a portal. "I'll be looking forward to it!" She said excitedly, before hopping into the swirling vortex. Marco took a deep breath, leaning on the house wall, and smiled a dopey grin.
"Did you just ask your crush on a date?!" Star jumped from nearby.
"What?! No! It's definitely not a date! I'm just showing her around Earth! As a favor!" Marco blushed brightly.
"Uh-hum…" Star smirked, "Riiiight... not a date."
Star remembered what Tom had told her, that if Marco wanted to date someone he'd have to get his mom's permission. Star didn't think it would be hard for them to get permissions since Mina was the Hero of Mewni.
"Besides, why would the greatest warrior of Mewni want to go on a date with me?" Marco asked, insecurities apparent in his tone.
"Well, Duh! I don't know... prince of Mewni? Even so, you're a great guy, Marco. You're kind, sweet, caring, brave and a cute guy who happens to have awesome magic and now is learning how to swordfight. Mina or any girl would be lucky to go on a date with you."
Marco blushed a little, not expecting the praise. "Thanks Star." he smiled at her.
Star smiled back, when a plan struck her she would make sure that their "not date" went off smoothly. "So what are you hoping for this 'not date'?" Star asked, drawing quotation marks with her fingers.
"I don't know, I would just love getting to know her better, you know."
0000
The following day, Star nibbled on her donut, Brittney, Sabrina and Janna gathered around her at the donut shop.
"Okay, Star what's the big deal?" Janna asked, leaning on the table and picking a few donuts.
"How do you even have my number?" Brittney pointed out.
Sabrina tried not to get Brittney's attention.
"The big deal is that Marco is going on a date with Mina!" Star shouted excitedly.
"Date?" The three looked at a Star with conflicting emotions, each face adorned with a more troubled expression.
"Yeah! Well, it's not an official date, Marco is just showing her around but it's totally a date. Can you believe it? He's got a crush on his idol and he gets to go on a date with her!"
Brittney's eyes twitched as she glared at Star, who obliviously went through with her train of thought.
"The plan goes like this: we'll follow them around and make sure it goes right. I helped him come up with some places to visit so I know where he's going. It's all pretty simple so nothing should go wrong but just in case he needs help we can be there to sort things out."
Star looked back at the group, unsure what to make of their expressions. Sabrina looked conflicted, Janna had her arms crossed with a hard expression on her face, and Brittney looked like she was bottling in her frustrations.
"And is not just an excuse to spy on him?" Janna questioned Star.
"I get it, it seems like we're being invasive or whatever." Star told them, "But Marco's had a crush on her for a long time and even idolized he's got a chance to get to know her and to show her who he is. Imagine how that would be, liking someone and finally getting a chance to know them." Star concluded, noticing the girls giving her some odd looks.
"Well, it would be really good for him, you know?" Star said, trying to shrug off the girl's response.
Star glanced outside, finding Marco and Mina walking along. "There they are!" Star pointed out. Mina still wore her helmet, but wasn't wearing her military uniform. Instead, a blue dress with a bunny on it with a purple sash around her waist and long white gloves gave her a more relaxed vibe.
"They're coming!" Star said all giddy, "I told them to start their day with donuts. Now are you all in on helping me?" She asked.
A short silence ensued, no one pretty sure what to say.
"...If it will make Marco happy." Sabrina finally said softly.
0000
The girls went to the far end of the shop, eavesdropping on them as soon as they arrived. Marco got them a dozen donuts to share and they had breakfast together.
Mina adored the sweet pastries and quickly gobbled them down with near reckless abandon.
Star had always had a sweet tooth but had noticed that Mewmen adored sweets. Her mom suggested that it might have something to do with corn syrup.
Marco cleared his throat as he thought of something simple to talk about. Star told him to keep things light and just try to get to know each other.
"So, what do you think about Earth so far?" Marco asked her as he picked out another donut.
"Hm?" Mina swallowed the donut, "Well, it's pretty different from Mewni. No manticores or platypus bears to fight, people look at you weird if you start an argument with a dog and everything seems so boring sometimes… but I guess it's peaceful." She commented, picking up another donut and looking at it briefly before gulping it down. "There are also a lot of tasty food. Oh! And indoor plumbing! Have you seen that?!"
"Yes! The toilet it's amazing!"
Star facepalmed still not understanding why he found the toilet so interesting.
0000
Mina and Marco walked around the city, Marco showing her everything that he knew about. They had stopped by the local mall with Marco insisting on getting her a few things as thanks for the lessons. Mina herself got a new pair of boots and a few new dresses. Marco picked up some more hoodies.
Eventually they found themselves walking in the park sitting in the swing seats, Mina swung herself around a few times before getting dizzy and falling into a mud pit. Marco led her to the bench to rest and clean herself up.
After resting for a bit they looked at the horizon and the hill a short distance away. They had talked about all sorts of things, their date going rather smoothly to his satisfaction.
As she finished cleaning another mud smudge from her face, Marco asked her. "Is there anything you'd like to do?"
"Hm?" Mina looked on, thinking for a split-second. "I would like to play a game of Flags."
"Flags?"
"Yes, I haven't gotten to play for so long. Even before I got hurled into the future-present...? Tenses are weird." She finished her sentence with a shrug, trying not to think of the time gap much further, which a slightly confused Marco could agree on the sentiment.
He looked around before pointing at a nearby hill. "I could make us some flags and we could play over there."
Mina frowned for a second and crossed her arms. "But Flags is so dull with just two people, we need more players."
"I'll call Star, she knows lots of people, so I'm sure she can get some more players." Marco took out the cell phone and quickly called her number.
The familiar melody of "Space Unicorn quickly sprung from nearby, causing Marco to look around for the source.
Suddenly Star sprung from a nearby bush. "Oh, Hey Marco! Fancy to see you here!"
Marco was slightly surprised and somewhat weirded out by her sudden appearance, but paid no further attention to it. Instead, he asked her to call everyone she could and invite them to the mewman game. Marco was surprised at how fast Janna, Brittney and Sabrina arrived. Marco couldn't help but be touched how fast his friends arrived for him.
0000
In less than a half hour Star had managed to get several dozen people to show up. As they all got ready at the bottom of the hill, Marco created several flags with his wand for everyone. His own red flag had his family's crest, while Mina's had the mark of the knights of Mewni. Star's pink flag had a butterfly with a star and a heart on each side. Janna was pretty happy with her customized flag with a skull.
Honestly, people did like the touch of getting their own flags that was personalized for them.
Justin looked at Marco and asked, "Okay, so how do we play this game?"
Marco cleared his throat looking over at Mina who was bouncing on her heels ready to start, "The game is pretty simple, everyone races up towards the hill. The first person to reach the top and plant their flag wins."
"Simple enough" Janna interjected, positioning herself for a sprint.
Sabrina raised her hand. "Are there any other rules?"
"No, that pretty much it. Everything is allowed, the contestants are pretty much encouraged to slow down their opponents by any mean necessary so keep on your toes."
Marco positioned and took his wand in his hands. "Super Shadow Ninja-Nacho devastation!"
The little nacho ninja popped up, "Hey Will. Stay here and hand out some cookies for the drop-outs." Marco ordered, causing the chip to bow to his summoner and position himself near the starting line.
"Maybe we should have a prize." Mina spoke up.
"A prize?" Marco mused out loud, "What do you have in mind?"
"At the Academy we'd wager favors, the winner gets to request something from one of the losers. One request they have to fulfill."
"Okay, that sounds good. Anyone against it?"
The crowd gathered had no qualms about it and some were even excited. It seemed fun regardless of reward, but a magical prince obeying one of their whims was an opportunity too good to pass it up.
Everyone quickly got in position, eager to play the game and looking forward to seizing the opportunity of a random whim from their fellow rivals and the magical prince.
"Ready? 3, 2, 1, Go!" Marco called out and soon the group raced uphill.
Three seconds in and Sabrina tripped over her own feet. As she laid on the ground she found the nacho chip gently patting her head and offering her a cookie.
"Thank you."
Everyone else continued on, the most athletic taking a quick lead and the less physically gifted pushing each other trying to slow their opponents down.
Star didn't really want anything so she stayed behind Marco hoping to give him a chance to win. She figured Marco would try to use this as a chance to impress Mina and asked her for a real date.
At that moment she spotted Janna and Brittney shoving each other as they ran up.
"I'm getting that request from Marco!" Brittney yelled trying to shove Janna away.
"Over my undead body!" Janna pushed her back.
"Hm?" Star mused to herself, "I wonder what they want so badly."
As Star mused she heard Marco call out, "Levitato!"
She looked to see Marco ahead of everyone except Justin who was now captured in a green beam of energy from Marco's wand.
Marco huffed as he flung Justin back down the hill.
"You used magic against him!" Star exclaimed, startled as she watched Justin flying down the hill.
"He did say anything goooooes!"Justin echoed out as he fell down.
Will duplicated himself into hundreds, the tiny crowd catching the football player and handing him a cookie. "Cool! I got a cookie!"
Star was about to call Marco out on doing something so unfair when she spotted Mina rip a huge rock from the ground and hurl it at the people right behind her. A pair of boys, one with red hair and one with glasses, Star couldn't recall their names or even talking to them, run down the hill as a boulder rolled behind them.
"That's a bit-!" Star didn't even finish her sentence as more people started to catch up to Marco.
"Seedling Traps!" Marco waved his wand, magic sprinkling on the ground.
"Oh no!"Star panicked, recalling Marco practicing this spell before.
The seeds dug themselves into the ground and Star and some racers rushed passed them. Others were not so lucky as the seeds sprouted and huge vines shot out of the ground capturing anyone close to them and hurling them down the hill.
Will and his clones quickly caught those before hitting the ground.
Marco slowed down to fire spells as those who got close. Several people got caught and tossed down.
"For America!" A man dress like a cowboy waving an American flag raced up hill.
"Crystilization!"
He was quickly captured in crystal and a bald eagle decided to perch on him.
Janna and Brittney both stopped as they bumped into someone without realizing it, they found themselves in front of Mina. "Sorry about this but I gotta weed out the competition. I'll go easy on you." She cracked her knuckles, intimidating the human duo.
Effortlessly the warrior picked up both girls and hurled them down straight at the bottom of the hill.
"Aaaaah!" Both girls crashed into Will and his net made of clones. Both shuddered holding onto each other for comfort. As soon as they opened her eyes, they saw Will handing them their cookies.
"Lupin Storm!" Marco yelled out.
Taiga materialized as turned into thunder and rushed into the sky, with a massive roar he fell back down arc around the hill like it was fence.
"Lava Tremor!" Behind him the ground ruptured revealing a chasm of lava.
Star looked around shocked at what she was seeing, Mina wasn't even trying to run she was just grabbing people and hurling them down. She found Marco blasting spells that either froze people or out right tossed the people down.
Never in a million years she would have thought the safety prince would do something like this, sure Marco planned for his spell to catch anyone he tossed down but he was hurling people and trapping them in crystal.
Far ahead, Mina and Marco faced each other. "Looks like its down to us." Mina smiled, "How about we go all out? No holding back and may the best person win."
"Sounds good." His wand glowed, he didn't care about the request, only interested in showing Mina that he could stand on her level and was worth to spend time with.
A golden glow surrounded Mina and suddenly all her muscles expanded, becoming incredibly burly and hovering.
"Wow..." Marco's eyes glimmered, "You're REALLY buff!"
Using the distraction Mina slammed him with her flag hurling him back. Marco tried to stop his fall by stabbing his flag into the ground. Marco took off his hoodie and wrapped it around the pole ready to charge again. He hurled himself at Mina delivering a spin kick to her side.
"Marco! What the-" Star was at a loss for words, they were really going at it. It looked like they were really trying to hurt each other.
Star had to do something, seeing the thunder arc again she hurled her metal flag at it. "Taiga catch!"
The metal struck the electric burst and suddenly the wolf grabbed the pole and brought it back to Star.
"Good boy, now, fetch!" Star hurled it down the hill and the wolf followed.
Star rushed along finding a path in the lava made of a few stones to cross to the other side.
0000
"I repeat magic is real." A police officer on a scooter reported on his walkie.
A lady with her baby asked him, "Shouldn't you stop them?"
"Ah, well, there are now laws against magic, so it's out of my jurisdiction." The officer scooted away shortly after shrugging off the conflict nearby.
The losers of this contest looked up to the battle was taking place.
"Doesn't this seem off?" Sabrina pointed out.
"Yeah, this doesn't look like something my Marco would do." Brittney pointed out.
"Yeah," Janna agreed, "this is too hardcore for-wait, YOUR Marco?"
A huge explosion broke the air, Marco had just blown up a part of the hill loose and using a tornado spell to hurl it at the warrior.
Those below could only watch in shock as Marco grew relentless in his duel with Mina.
Mina somehow grabbed the tornado and tossed it to the side. The crowd grew desperate as they found themselves in the receiving end of the avalanche. As the rocks fell a roar broke out and thunder shot out smashing the bolder and dozen of clones cut the remaining rocks into dust, narrowly saving the eliminated competitors.
"Yeah, that does seem a bit much." Will muttered putting away his sword.
"Especially for him," Taiga agreed chewing on the flag.
"Wait, you can talk?!" Janna was shocked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we?" Will shrugged, taking his small sword in hands and looking at the duel unfolding above them uphill.
None of the girls really knew how to answer that, Janna each time growing increasingly interested on those spells.
0000
Star barely dodged the rocks and she clung to the ground and was relieved to see the spells had prevented anyone from getting hurt.
She had to stop Marco before he did something he'd regret and someone got hurt.
Mina pulled out her sword and swung it at Marco who barely dodged it. Marco tossed his flag to the side. "Bring it on!"
They were so close to the end they couldn't stop now. Marco summoned his crystal shield and struggled to hold it up. Three hits from the sword his shield fell apart.
"You can do better than that!" Mina's voice rang out as she swung her sword at him. Marco held out his wand trying to come up with the right spell, then something inside of him clicked. His eyes flashed and a spell came to mind, "Solaris Sword!"
The wand flipped in his hand and transformed, the sword grip grew and the scabbard was engulfed in a reddish energy that looked like a blade forged from a solar flare. With a thunderous clash sword meet sword.
"Now that's more like it!" Mina's voice boomed, echoing with intensity as she stared at Marco, a smirk forming on her face.
No words were said, only blades clashed, each blow met and countered.
"Let's see if you can actually land a blow." Mina taunted Marco.
The sword seemed to grow brighter as Marco channeled more magic into it. He gave his all and swung the sword again, but this time it sliced through Mina's sword. Mina discarded the broken weapon just as Marco swung his blade down at her, Mina in a last ditch effort caught the blade between her hands. She was forced back onto the ground just barely holding the magical blade back.
"Marco! Stop!" Star's voice rang out.
Star huffed as she finally reached them, "Stop! Whew... That was a tough climb…"
"Star?" Marco blinked, losing focus of the spell and now looking at his fatigued friend.
"Marco, look around! Look at what you have done! This isn't you."
Marco paused as he looked around, there was now a river of lava, a ring of scorched ground, wild vines slapping anything that close growing out of the ground, several people trapped in crystal peppered the hill, and his friends and classmates at the bottom of the hill having been tossed down there.
His wand completely returned to normal as he examined the damage.
"Yeah, I guess we did get carried away." Mina reverted to her normal form, "Plus you already won."
"What?" Marco replied, confused by her statement. He looked at the top of the hill where an astonishingly beautiful business man pointed to where Marco's discarded hoodie flag had pierced the top.
"It doesn't feel like a victory though." Marco admitted scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah, humans are pretty weak." Mina added. "Not a real challenge."
"Hey!" Star shouted, still catching her breath.
Marco continued, "Yeah, It's not exactly fair to battle against people who cannot fight back like we do. Even if wars and fights aren't exactly fair, battles shouldn't be this one sided. If anything, everyone should be having fun together." Marco said, a honest smile forming in his face and Star's as well, happy to see him going back to his more caring attitude.
Mina chuckled, "That's a very nice thought. Either way i'm proud of you."
"Proud?"
"Yeah, no one has put me in a corner like that before. Sure I wasn't going all out but you did get me right after just learning to use a sword, that's no small feat." She commended his skills, before clapping her hands "Now about this request-"
"I don't have a request. I just wanted to show you a good time, to be honest." Marco said rubbing the back of his neck once more, which caused Mina to smile.
"That you did. I had fun like I didn't have in quite some time. Thank you, Marco. Today was amazing."
Marco blushed, the make up burning off revealing his ruby marks.
"Hey Marco." Star coughed, "I think we need you to fix everything. Mina you should-" Star paused looking around, "Hey where did she go?" Mina was nowhere to be seen. "Marco? Did-"
Marco was dreamily looking at Mina's sprinting figure waving goodbye in the distance, the infatuated prince unfocused and giggling.
Star smiled, "You had fun on your 'not date', even if she was a little nuts."
Marco chuckled, "It was fun. Things got out of hand but it was nice spending time with her."
"That's nice, but we really should try and fix this hill, I think the lava is starting a fire."
0000
Mina walked into her apartment. Marco's parents had arranged for her to get a place in Echo Creek so that she could be near Marco in case he needs help. She didn't mind it, Earth had its good points. She put down the bags of things she got in the mall and held the hoodie flags she grabbed. She looked out at the window at the setting sun, "Despite everything they say, the prince is quite impressive. I'm looking forward to see your potential… Marco." She said with a well knowing smirk, filled with excitement.
0000
Later as the night came to an end, Marco opened the spellbook to talk to Glossaryck.
The little blue magic man floated out of the book, back turned toward the prince "Oh, so now you come crawling back. You spend a few weeks with a new teacher and neglect me just because she's a dame with some nice gams. When she leaves you just expect me to take you back like nothing."
Marco looked guilty. "Glossaryck, I never meant to hurt your feelings… I'm sorry."
Glossaryck turned around with his usual laidback expression. "Well, don't be. For starters, you can't hurt what I don't have. Besides, I've been snacking with River this last week. It was nice having some time off and I do admire your guts: trying to woe one of Mewni's most impressive warriors. Really aiming out of your league, I gotta respect that."
"Glossaryck! It's not like that."
"Yeah, right, like I haven't caught you mumbling her name into your pillow when you sleep."
"Gah-!" Marco blushed
Glossaryck patted his shoulder, "Oh, don't be a shamed, men have done a lot of embarrassing things when girls have been involved."
"Yeah, things did get out of control at the end."
"Don't overthink it, it's just a part of growing up. Besides, you were surprisingly responsible for a game of flags. It could have gone a lot worse. Let's just get a snack and practice some spells to make up for the time lost."
"Sounds good,"
They left the room, Marco scratching the back of his neck not realizing a blue diamond flacking off from the skin on the back of his neck.
Beta notes: And here it is. Sorry for the delay. I take 100% responsibility for it. College, other projects and personal problems are starting to take increasingly more time, which slows down the editing/reviewing process to a crawl. I'm quitting proofreading ADdude's stories since I'm not going to be able to reliably work on them due to all those issues. Thank your for your patronage and I'm glad to be able to have been part of this project. It was a great experience to me and I hope to have made these stories as good as I could help them be. This was V0ID115 and thanks for everything.
Author's Note: Yes, it's sad to see V0id go but I want to say I'm very grateful for all their help and wish them the best. If anyone is interested in taking up the mantle of beta for this story please fell free to contact me. In the meanwhile, everyone else please leave a review telling me what you guys thought about this chapter. I changed a lot of stuff for this one basically mixing two episodes here. Leave a review.