Star vs The Forces of Evil

Earthni Sweet Symphony

Disclaimer: Star vs The Forces of Evil was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of Star vs.

Episode 12: Woolandia Forever

Episode Summary: An innocent treasure hunting excursion with Kelly brings the kids a little more than they bargained for.

Original Release Date: November 5, 2022

Feeling burn out setting in from the intensified political happenings on Earthni, Star & Marco decided to take a day out in the multiverse to spend time with Kelly, their Woolandian friend. In the spirit of childish fun, Star made the decision to invite not only the family babies - Miles, Meteora, and Mariposa - along, but also the children from her orphanage. All in the name of letting loose and having as much fun as they could. Prior to this engagement, Kelly had not yet been acclimated to the happenings of Star with her job. This day would serve as her introduction to the children that she fell in love with, the children that helped bring her out of an extremely dark place, one of them even becoming her own brother.

The kids found themselves feverishly playing with Kelly's long, aquamarine hair, which was covering her entire body at the moment. She was essentially a mountain for them to climb on or hide in. Not that she had objections. She was happy to have a new set of potential playmate; equally happy were Star & Marco that their bunch of toddler pals were acclimating themselves so nicely to their Woolandian friend. "Play nice, kids!" Star reminded the babies. "Don't tug at the hair. Fluff it, don't tug it."

Of the children, Miles was naturally the most playful with Kelly. Once he was told that Kelly was a friend of Star's, she instantly became his friend; no discussion. "He's tickling me!" Kelly shouted in between heaving laughs, noting Miles's penchant for physical affection not unlike his sister. Star could only laugh as she picked the boy up & brought him to eye level.

"Miles, you silly." She said as she planted a kiss on his forehead & elicited ear-splitting laughs. "Do you like Kelly?"

"Yes!" He responded, eliciting loud laughter from the other children who had gathered themselves around Kelly & Star.

"Do you like Kelly because she's my friend?"

"Yes!"

Star could only laugh. "Why do you like her because she's my friend?"

"Because you're my sister!" Every answer always looped back to Star.

"You know, if you guys hadn't said anything, I would've had no problem thinking this little tyke was your kid." Kelly had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to tease her longtime friend & ex-boyfriend about their budding relationship.

"Nah, we're not ready for that just yet. Not like you'd ever know based on our nights..."

"STAR!" Marco playfully elbowed his girlfriend, both of them showing their cherry red faces. "Can we change the subject, please?"

Kelly couldn't help herself. She had to join in Star's laughter. "Well if you need help getting her off your mind, do I have the perfect thing for you!" Kelly reached into her back pocket and pulled out what appeared to be an old, slightly crumbled & ripped up piece of paper that was folded over multiple times. "Ta-da!" The irony of the paper remaining folded and them having no idea what it was about wasn't lost on either Star or Marco. It took Kelly a moment to come around, but as soon as she did, the paper was thusly unfolded, unveiling itself. Even in its clearly incomplete state, the intentions were clear. "Ta-da!"

"...Is that a treasure map? A real one?" Marco asked, seemingly taken in by the appeal.

"As a matter of fact, it is." Kelly responded...with a delayed wink that Star caught onto but chose not to point out. "Well...it's one piece of a treasure map. I've been sitting on this for a while. I found it in one of my garden holes all crumpled. Looks like somebody was trying to ditch this thing."

"But it's not even the whole thing."

"Which probably means the rest of the pieces are hidden somewhere on the land."

"Sounds almost like they want somebody to find it." Star said in a tone that made it obvious to Kelly that she knew something was up. They also took note of how entranced the children were as they were discussing the map. "Did you hear that, kids?" Star said to them. "We've got a treasure map! What do you say? Would you like to help us find the treasure?" She was initially left disappointed when the children didn't react with the excitement & joy she was accustomed to from them. But it was not rejection their facial expressions & soft moaning they were emitting; it was confusion. It hadn't occurred to the girl that none of them knew what a treasure hunt was. "Oh no! Don't tell me none of you know what a treasure hunt is."

"See, this..." Marco showed them the paper he had in his hand. "This is a piece of a treasure map. A treasure map is supposed to show up the location of buried treasure. When we have the whole paper, there's gonna be this big, red X marking the spot where the treasure is buried!"

"What treasure?" Miles curiously asked, prompting the other children to repeat that question at infinitum to Marco.

"It could be anything! It could be gold coins, jewelry, diamonds..." As Marco listed off some of the more "expensive" things one could typically expect to find in a treasure chest, he took note of the kids growing increasingly confused & bored. "Or toys! Maybe we'll find a nice bunch of new toys for you." And that did the trick, eliciting cheers and laughter from the children. "So, you wanna help us find the treasure?"

"Will there be treasure for you? And Star?" Miles pointed out Marco, Kelly, and specifically Star. He wouldn't want his favorite person to be left out of the fun.

"I'm sure there will be plenty left for the rest of us."

"Avast, yee maties!" Kelly roared. "Onward to our glorious victories!" And that elicited by far the loudest cheers from the children, whom all eagerly began running around in random directions, driven only by their bottomless excitement for fun. The teens had to quickly round them all up and keep them together to avoid losing any strays.

And so the "treasure hunt" began. Kelly, for her part, dawned a traditional pirate hat and toy parrot on her shoulder, while Star dawned an eyepatch over one of her eyes & Marco dawned a pretend hook on his right hand. "I feel so piratey." Star gleamed, noting how the children were all happily following along, albeit in a slightly disorganized conglomerate. "Soooooo where are we going first, captain?" Star asked Kelly, playfully elbowing her arm. Along with the singular piece of treasure map came a conveniently scripted list of locations to look for the other pieces of the map.

"Looks like our first stop is..." Kelly's eyes alternated between the booklet and the building they were standing right in front of. "The Woolandian Library."

"Ohhhh I remember this place." Marco commented, recalling the last time he and Kelly were at the library. "Good times. Gooood times..."

"I wouldn't call having to fight off a hairy librarian in the need of me not having to cut off my hair as penalty a "good time," but you do you." Kelly snarked at her ex.

"Your people still do that?" Star had to question. "How hard is it to just use paper money or something other than hair?"

"Don't question how we do things. Just roll with it."

"Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'm not going in there." Marco firmly stated. "I do not want to deal with their nonsense again."

"Treasure!" Miles politely yelled, reminding Marco of their objective. "WE gotta find the treasure, Mako!"

"Yeah, Mako, don't you want to find all the riches?" Star teased. "Just think about what awaits us."

"Y-Yeah, but how do we even know if this will lead to anything? What if the map is wrong? What then?" His question, while valid, found itself interrupted by the adorable nature that was Miles charging head first into the library, grabbing the map along the way & laughing his cute little face off, pitter-pattering the ground with his stubby feet. "Miles, no!" The others felt compelled to go in after him. Being the adorable tyke he was, he knew that he was going into a library - and on Earth, libraries required quiet - and dared not to speak until he had processed what was around him. A scattered group of Woolandians reading books and whispering to each other greeted him. A few moments passed, with all of them seemingly oblivious to his presence. But as the excitement of treasure hunting gradually overtook Miles's tiny little mind, his quiet disposition gradually gave way to laughter that he struggled to control, finally garnering the attention of some Woolandians.

"Hi!" He quietly yelled in a hushed tone. "Wanna find the treasure?"

Some of them exchanged looks with each other before taking note of the group entering the library in search of the boy. "Treasure?" One of them finally decided to entertain him.

"Yeah! This paper says there's treasure." He held up the map in his hands, now slightly wrinkled due to his tight clench. "And me and my sister and her friends are looking for it. Wanna help?"

Star, ever so careful, tip-toed towards her brother and scooped him up off the ground, leading the boy to let out a laugh. "Miles, you're not bothering these nice people, are you?"

"But the treasure!"

"Uh, honey, maybe we should leave these people alone." Kelly barged into the conversation, appearing flustered. "I'm sure they have more important things to do."

"You kidding? You think we'd pass up a treasure hunt?" One of them argued back, making Kelly just a bit more nervous.

"Yeah! It's fun!" Miles delightedly said. "The paper...it says there's a clue." Out of the corner of her eye, Star took a gander at Kelly racing over to another corner of the library. It appeared that she was rummaging around, turning over loose books in an effort to appear as though she was searching for the next clue. Eventually she pulled up a crumpled piece of paper - another part of the map - and pretended to return in a triumphant manner.

"I got it!" Kelly announced, revealing the next part of their incomplete map. After putting it together with the piece they already had, they discovered that their next clue would take them to another far-away part of Woolandia.

"Whoa, looks like you guys are going on a trip." One of the onlooking Woolandians pointed out. "You're going to Lake Wooly Wooly."

"...Really? That's the name? How am I supposed to take a name like that seriously?" Marco complained.

"But Mako!" Miles innocently yelped. "You can go swimming!" The little tyke's favorite hobby was swimming.

"Hey, guess what? So can the rest of us! How's about it? Wanna help us find the next clue in the water?" Instantaneously he was met with cheering & laughter from the other children.

The group, along with now some stragglers from the library, journeyed to the wonder that was Lake Wooly Wooly. They had deduced that the next piece of their incomplete map was located somewhere at the bottom of the lake. The lake itself wasn't particularly deep - only about 10 feet deep - and there didn't appear to be anything but coral & plants scattered across the bottom, so it was assumed retrieving the piece of map would be easy. It was decided that Marco would be the one to dive in and retrieve the map piece. Given his extensive training in Hekapoo's Dimension, he had the best chance of traversing underwater and retrieving the piece without drowning. The kids, meanwhile, would take their lumps simply by swimming around on the surface. Yes, somehow Star thought to bring all of their swimming trunks with them and beach towels for such an occurrence.

Marco took his dive into the water and began swimming like his life depended on it. Down in the trenches there lay two coral plants close to each other and conveniently holding in place a small piece of paper. This was the paper that they were looking for. Marco understandably assumed that it would be a piece of cake. Nothing to it but to do it. But oh how wrong he was going to be. As he reached for the piece of paper, his eyes darted to a direction adjacent to his own. In the distance, he saw what appeared to be the silhouette of a shark, teeth and all. In an instant, the fiery sensation of fear filled Marco's stomach & pushed for his lungs. Fight or flight was taking over. He lunged at the paper and then turned around as quickly as he physically could, swimming for the surface with the paper tightly clutched in his fist.

He splashed up onto the surface at breakneck pace. "Shark!" He bellowed, kicking his legs ferociously and pushing his body towards the land. Everyone immediately got the message that something was wrong. Before anyone could even attempt a quip, the kids were scurried back to the surface, which not long after began splashing with water as the shark made its way up and attempted to flap closer towards the group. Of course, those darned physics got in the way and the shark found it near impossible to swim efficiently against the surface. Amidst the group screaming in a panic, everyone packed their things and bailed like lightning, not willing to take a single chance.

Once everyone deemed themselves far enough away that danger was no longer a concern, nerves cooled and everyone collected themselves. "You good there, buddy?" Kelly asked a panicked Marco.

"Oh yeah, totally, it's totally normal to be nearly eaten by a shark."

"It's actually not." Star intervened, drying him off with a towel. "I looked it up one time, turns out it's more common to die getting crushed by a vending machine than a shark attack."

"...Star, I was being facetious."

"What's a vending machine?" Kelly couldn't help but ask.

"Mako!" And in came adorable Miles to lighten the mood. "We went swimming!" He then proceeded to repeat this statement to Marco's sister & Meteora. "We went swimming!"

"Yes we did, sweetheart. But did you see that scary shark back there?" Star had to educate her dear brother. "It was gonna hurt Marco. That wouldn't have been good, would it?"

"Uh-uh!" He pitter pattered over to his future brother-in-law. "Mako! Are you okay?" He reached his tiny arms out and put them around Marco's arm.

"Yeah, I'm all good. And better yet," He held up the crumbled piece of paper in his hand. "I got it!"

"Yay treasure!"

"Alright, put it with the others & let's see where we're going next!" Star announced as Kelly proceeded to do so.

Most of the remainder of the day played out in a similar manner. The group traversed practically most of Woolandia, collecting randomly scattered pieces to the treasure map and encountering all sorts of fun adventures in the quest for treasure. And by fun adventures I mean boring crap such as having to dig a hole in the middle of an abandoned forest just deep enough to find the scattered paper but not so deep that it hits a water pipe. Hooray for advanced calculus. Another event called for some of them to work together to traverse up an extraordinarily tall building to retrieve a piece that was wedged in a window that appeared to be ironed shut. Using the power of friendship and brute force, they were able to pry the window open and retrieve the piece. Unfortunately, this ended up creating another problem. The strength of the window's removal was so fierce it ended up being thrown over the edge of the building, resulting in Kelly, Jorby, and Marco having to use every ounce of their skill and strength to retrieve it and stop it from hitting the ground lest they allow Mother Woolandia to be salted with glass pieces.

Well, it wasn't an epic afternoon of monster hunting or trying to end racism, but it was still shaping up to be a day nobody would forget.

While Miles was busy playing with the other children - as well as the folks from the library that had for some reason continued to stick around - Kelly, Marco, and Star were reviewing the parts of the map they had already acquired, hoping to ascertain the location of the treasure.

"You sure this is where we're supposed to go?" Marco asked Kelly once they had ascertained the location of the treasure. It had been an open secret that Marco & Star had caught on to: this "treasure hunt" was devised by Kelly herself as a treat for everyone. It was turning out to be an exciting, memorable day for all...just not for the reason she had originally hoped. The supposed location of the treasure was a nearby place in Woolandia known as "Cubbard's Corner," a supposedly abandoned cave that housed Woolandia's most isolated resident. It was believed to be a larger-than-life Woolandia monster creature named Cubbard.

"Uhh..." The prevailing question thus became "Why would Kelly plant the treasure they were supposed to find in an area home to an isolated Woolandian monster creature.

"You didn't think this all the way through, did you?"

"Gonna be honest, I didn't even think we'd get this far at all."

"Dumb question, but what even is that supposed treasure we're looking for?" Star asked. If she was going to proceed any further, she was going to be in the know. "Is it even worth going any further? Are we sure we can guarantee nobody's going to get hurt here?"

"What? Wait a minute, no, you've got the wrong idea. Cubbard is totally harmless! They've never hurt a Woolandian as long as I've been around!"

"So why are you shivering in your shoes right about now? You look like you've seen a kaiju." Marco accurately pointed out Kelly's lingering concerns.

"I said they were harmless, Marco. I didn't say they weren't intimidating. Have you ever seen a kaiju?"

"That depends. Are Woolandian kaijus the same as Earth kaijus?"

In an attempt to upend the conversation before it became painfully boring, Miles, alongside the rest of the children, stepped into the circle of conversation and playfully demanded their attention. The teens, smitten by the cuteness, were all too happy to acquiesce. "Aren't you all so adorable? Miles, are you having fun today?"

"Yes I am!" He squealed to her. "We're meeting friends, and having fun, and we went swimming!"

"Yes, you did! You're such a cute little swimmer." She tickled under his chin & eliciting an ear-splitting laugh. This only served to garner laughs from the other kids. "I'm sorry we haven't found the treasure yet. I'm sure we're really close though!"

"Yes! Can our friend help us find it?"

"Of course all your friends can help! That's why we brought them!"

"Do you want to meet them?"

Miles's questions only served to further confuse the teens. "Um...s-sure?" Curious but prepared to entertain the adorable tyke, they followed an excited Miles & all of his friends outside, where they quickly discovered the "friend" that Miles was referring to.

Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos, Miles had managed to run into the fabled "Cubbard," a giant, furry wildebeest-like creature that was five stories tall, had red eyes, sharp claws, tiny, pathetic legs, and a curvy, almost limp tail. The textbook definition of "looks can be deceiving," because the second the children returned outside, they greeted him like he was an old friend and began climbing all over their body like they were a statue you play on. Neither the children nor Cubbard found themselves in any sort of distress; the same could not be said for the teens, who spent their time looking on in sheer befuddlement.

"Is...Is that him?" Star asked Kelly in quite the worried tone.

"Yes, Star, that's them."

What became apparent rather quickly to them was just how shy & introverted this magnificent beast truly was. They were hesitant to engage with the teens, folks who they had never seen in person before this day. But when it came to the young kids who embraced them so thoroughly so quickly, there was almost zero issue. What it was about Miles and his friends and their ability to charm their way into anyone's heart remained a mystery. "Um...greetings, young Woolandian folk." The beast bellowed from their gut.

"For a ginormous Woolandia beast-thing, he's so well-spoken." Marco remarked.

"They're really nice! And fluffy!" Miles remarked, nuzzling against Cubbard's fur. "And they like treasure!"

The word "treasure" quickly snapped Star, Marco, and Kelly back into reality. "Treasure?"

"Yeah! They found the treasure!" Miles started to gently tug at Cubbard's fur, giggling as loudly as he could. "Tell them! You found the treasure!"

Amidst a series of laughs, Cubbard grabbed a tiny treasure chest with literally their claws out of their fur and placed it on the ground around everyone. "I believe the little tyke is referring to this." The chest itself was about the size of two of Miles, who wasn't a big boy to begin with. It didn't appear to be big enough to contain significant treasures such as gold, diamonds, or even bit coin. (A/N: Funny, the document editor keeps censoring Bit Coin as one word so it totally ruins the joke lol) "Never fear, nothing has been damaged or removed."

"Yeah! He found the treasure! He was sleeping with it! Shhh!" Miles literally couldn't go a single conversation without devolving into innocent laughter.

"And whose idea was this little treasure hunt of yours?"

Kelly nervously raised her hand and stepped forward. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Little Miles gasped & galloped over to Kelly. "You found the treasure!?"

With a little help from the others, Kelly knelled down to Miles's eye level. She ruffled his hair while Star kissed him all over, inciting intense innocent laughing. "No, you silly. This whole treasure hunt thing was my idea."

Still, little Miles remained confused. "Why?"

"Because I wanted us all to have a good time today. It's not every day I get to meet the most precious group of babies in the multiverse."

He alternated his view from Kelly to Star to the treasure. His curiosity was still threatening to overtake him. What was in the chest? He looked back at his sister & stared into her eyes. "Can Star have some treasure too? And Mako?"

Star attempted to diffuse the incoming tension with a giggle. "No, silly, didn't you hear Kelly? The treasure hunt was for you and your friends."

He lowered his head in disappointment. "Aww..." And then returned his attention to Kelly and Cubbard. "I tried to give Star an award for being a good princess. Because I love her. But she didn't like it. I thought it was her birthday..."

"But her birthday isn't until Stump Day."

"You mean Christmas." Marco corrected her. "Stump Day doesn't exist anymore. The Stump died when magic died."

"We spit on Thy Stump." Star added before returning her attention to her brother. "Sweetie, did you have a good time today?"

"Yes I did! I got to play with my friends and we went swimming and we found the treasure! And I made new friends too!" He pitter pattered all over the place and engulfed himself in insatiable applause. "I wanted to find the treasure!"

"And you did!" Kelly added. Miles, without prompting, sped back over to his new furry friend and tried to hug his large arm. "Do you want to know what the treasure is?"

The young boy gasped and turned back to the others, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Yes please I want the treasure!"

"Gather around, everyone! It's time to open up the treasure!" Kelly assembled everyone - Cubbard included - around the chest. It was gold-plated and decorated with glitter & confetti. Kelly proceeded slowly to unlock it and lift it open. The question on everyone's mind was about to be answered. And the answer was...batches of Woolandian wigs. Kelly sprawled them all out of the chest and onto the ground. For a brief moment, confused silence overtook the air. Was this really it? For what amounted to the equivalent of a triathlon of a treasure hunt today, this reward seemed rather underwhelming at first glance.

"...That's it?" One of the new stragglers said out loud; no regard for sensitivity or whatever. "We wasted this whole day for this?"

"Wasted?" But Star was having none of it. "Excuse me, dude, this whole day has been nothing but an insane adventure. We went globetrotting all over Woolandia! My boyfriend nearly got eaten by a shark!"

"And we went swimming!" Miles added, demonstrating that he was wearing his Woolandia hair not as a wig, but as a cape. He wasn't showing any hesitation over the substance, immediately taking to it Star & Marco to show off. "And we found the treasure!"

Star broke the ice with her laughter, tussling the boy's hair and removing the cape from him. "No, you silly. This isn't a cape. It's a wig." She readjusted the Woolandian hair and put it over him like a signature Woolandian hair piece. Miles now found himself entrenched in the forest that was the Woolandian wig. His little mind soaked in the new atmosphere and contemplated all of the possible ways he could enjoy himself. All of those savory possibilities, and Miles decided on simply sitting in a crouch and giggling hysterically. "Are you hiding?"

"No!" He could not resist the urge to laugh. Soon enough, the rest of the children formed a tight circle around him and also covered themselves in their respective wigs before all of them devolved into silly dancing in their tightly-knit wig circle. None of it made any sense to anyone that wasn't Star or Marco. With the most experience looking after the younglings, the two of them recognized when the kids were off in their own little world. Completely innocent souls where the only goal in their day was to have as much fun and as many smiles as possible. And in its own, ludicrous way, today had a truckload of smiles to be had.

"They're adorable." Cubbard remarked.

"Hold up, timeout!" But while the teens & kids were all in satisfaction with the conclusion of the adventure, the straggler friends they made along the way didn't quite share in that optimism. "We went globetrotting all over Woolandia and faced all of that perilous nonsense...for wigs!?"

"Yeah, what's up with that noise!?" Another one loudly complained, which thus prompted the rest of the group to begin grumbling to themselves. A sudden wave of inadequacy surrounding the air between Kelly and her friends. They weren't prepared for their little adventure to be met with this sort of pushback. Fortunately, they had an unlikely ally step up to their defense. A tiny ally, at that.

"Hold it, y'all!" And out from Kelly's hair sprung both the most unlikely and most likely ally they could have at this moment: Tad. Kelly's ex-boyfriend. The one that wouldn't take no for an answer for the longest time. "Who cares if you didn't come away with diamonds or gold or Ehterium or whatever! It's not about the destination, bro! It's about the journey! Right, Kelly?"

"...Tad? How long have you been up there?"

"Only since this morning."

"Why are you up there? Don't tell me all that self-fulfillment crap you wouldn't shut up about blew up in your face."

"I have short legs, I wasn't gonna follow you everywhere on foot. I'd miss out on all the fun! For crying out loud we got to see Marco nearly get his legs chopped off by a shark!"

"I wouldn't call me nearly dying at the lake as part of the fun..." Marco lamented.

"I agree!" Another bystander complained. "He didn't actually lose his legs." Though he wasn't complaining for the same reason Marco was, and now he had an upset Star to deal with.

"Someone hold me back, otherwise we're going to be cleaning up some blood today." She said subtly & quietly before being restrained by Kelly.

"Forget it, girl. We don't need this. We already got what we need!"

"Look, Star!" Squealed Miles underneath his Woolandian wig. "I got the treasure!"

A loving gaze at her little ball of love, a scan of the other wonderful children playing and laughing til their hearts were full, and a look back at what began at an intimidating unknown in the form of Cubbard, and Star came to the conclusion she had been hoping for the day: it had been an exceptional outing, regardless of what some ungrateful ingrates would claim. "Who's ready to go home?" Star declared, luring the children back into her gravity. As far as they were concerned, the day was over, and it was time to head back home. "Wanna hang with us back on Earthni?" Star asked Kelly.

"Sure, I could go for some parkour."

"I'll make sure to bring bandages!" Marco exclaimed. "And elbow pads."

"Typical safe kid."

"I know. Isn't he the best?" Star swooned before enveloping herself into his arms and being whisked away by him, with Kelly & the children crowding them, happily following them wherever. The rest - Tad included - stayed behind and waved goodbye to them, practically thanking them for the adventurous day despite just moments ago complaining that the end result of the endeavor was lackluster. A curious ending, but an ending nonetheless.

End of Episode 12!

Sooooooo yeah, I just had no ability to put anything halfway decent together to keep this story alive. I was "wrecked" for a long time creatively. Still am, but I'm not giving this up. At the very least, my video portfolio is expanding. I just finished a massive PPG Classic retrospective that's over 5 hours (divided into 3 vids) on my channel. Damn proud of that. But I do wish to continue this story. SO we'll see what happens.

Would appreciate any and all feedback. Y'all are awesome.

Don't forget to please read & reivew!