*In the aftermath of his great Halloween party, RJ "Jay" Writing Ink is sitting in his Workspace alone, looking over the reviews for his Halloween special one-shot. And he is scowling as he does so.*
Jay: Really? Not one of you guys tried to name any of the references in that story? What the heck is wrong with you guys?
*Jay shakes his head in disappointment.*
Jay: You know what, I'll deal with this later. Right now, I've got to go meet the gang at the movies to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I was a huge fan of the original film, and I want to see the sequel soar in honor of the late Chadwick Boseman. Also, fuck you, cancer. How dare you take such a talented actor from us in his prime! For now, though, enjoy this chapter, even if it is a bit shorter than normal.
In the Badlands of Mewni, there was little life found. It was a cold, dry, desolate place. Few things could grow there due to the Jaggy Mountains in the north sucking up any rain that came through, while the massive Forest of Certain Death in the south proved a hindrance for traders that couldn't risk dealing with any of the vicious predators. And despite the Kingdoms dubbing it as Monster territory, the truth was most Monsters lived in small settlements in the Forest of Certain Death or enclaves in the Jaggy Mountains. They'd rather deal with the elements and wildlife than the empty Badlands, and both were preferable to dealing with the Mewmans.
The Monsters weren't the only beings that called the Forest of Certain Death home, though. In the deepest regions of the Forest lay another race. A race that almost everyone else tended to overlook, which suited them just fine. For they were the Rats, and they were everywhere.
Despite looking no different from a rat found on Earth, the Rats of Mewni had some fairly big differences. Firstly, there was the fact that they were completely sentient. They could think, speak, feel complex emotions, and build their own societies and cultures. Earth rats couldn't do those things unless they were like a rodent from a certain Pixar film or escaped from some Government laboratory running experiments.
Secondly, Mewnian Rats were way bigger than the ones on Earth. With the right diet and nutrition, a Mewman Rat could reach the size of a small dog when fully grown. Since they could walk on their back legs when they wanted to, they could look even bigger, which was useful for scaring off predators.
Another thing to note is the fact that despite that they were native to Mewni, they were not considered Monsters by the ruling Mewmans. They were their own species, not that anyone cared least of all the Rats themselves. This suited the Rats just fine. After all, they were scavengers by nature, preferring to take the unwanted items of other people for themselves and reuse them for themselves. Others might call it stealing, but was it if they threw it out.
It was deep in the Forest of Certain Death that one such colony of rats existed, all of them situated around a bar constructed out of scavenged materials and earthworks. It wasn't much, but it was sturdy enough to stay upright. Plus, it was big enough to accommodate most beings, which meant more space for the Rats.
In this bar, the Rats were busy chatting amongst themselves in their own familiar language, which to outsiders sounded like squeaking. Some of them were talking about the usual stuff: family life, work, who found the coolest stuff while out. However, one topic seemed to take up most of the focus: current events. And lately, things in Mewni had gotten pretty interesting.
"*So, did you guys hear the news about what's happening in the Kingdom? They're saying something weird's going on with that Prince,*" one of the Rats said to some of his drinking buddies.
"*Which one?*" One of the others asked.
"*You know which one. The one who's always going around causing trouble for everyone, Comet Dragonfly.*"
"*Oh, him. What's so important about him, anyway? Last I heard, his folks finally had enough and shipped him off to that prissy school those Mewman bigshots send their boys to,*" another rat piped up.
"*Yeah, but I heard that he and this other Prince he met there couldn't take it anymore, so they led all the students in a revolt and drove the staff out. Now they're saying that the princes run the whole thing."
"*That's not what I heard,*" a Rat at a nearby table told them. "*I heard that he almost got hitched to that weird Pixie Empress chick, but then he stood her up at the wedding, stole all her treasure, and left with a band of brigands.*"
"*Brigands? What kind of cheese have you been eating lately?*" a Rat sitting near the bar said. "*From what I hear, his folks couldn't put with him anymore, so after he got that fancy-ass Wand his family lords over, he ran off to some other dimension. Now he's been spotted all over the dang Universe!*."
"*Or maybe he decided to hide out with that Demon Princess. A friend of mine in the Underworld heard from a friend of his that said they saw him with the Demon Princess at the Blood Moon Ball. And that he left after she caught him dancing with some other girl whose face was painted like a skeleton.*"
"*No way is that true.*"
"*You know what I hear, boys?*" the bartender Rat said as he finished washing his mugs. "*I heard that he had something to do with what happened to Castle Avarius.*"
"*I believe that even less, Randolph,*" another Rat told everyone.
"*I'm being serious, boys. We all know that something happened that destroyed Castle Avarius, right?*" The other Rats nodded in affirmation. By now, word got around that Castle Avarius had been leveled in a single night. The fact that there was no official word as to what caused its destruction only made the rumor mill work overtime. "*Here's what I heard: that that runt, Ludo, got overthrown by some new guy. Some Septarian, if you can believe it.*"
"*Warnicorn Shit.*"
"*No, I'm being serious. And that Ludo somehow talked the Prince into helping him retake the Castle, but then it got destroyed in the process.*"
"*Hey man, you expect us to believe that stupid shit?* You got any proof?*"
"*Nope,*" Randolph shook his head. "*All I know is that since that day, no one's seen any sign of the Septarian or Ludo*."
"*Aw, who cares, man? House Avarius hasn't been important in a long time, and everyone knows it. If that little bird brain even survived, it wouldn't matter. He's no threat to anyone.*"
*Swing*
At that exact moment, all chatter in the bar ceased as the front door swung open with a loud swing of its creaky hinges. Standing at the entrance was the strangest of things: a massive spider and a giant eagle riding atop its back. Both of them looked larger than any of the Rats, and neither seemed too friendly either. The Rats eyed their weapons carefully. None of them were strangers to fighting off larger opponents, so they had to be ready at a moment's notice.
Neither the spider nor the eagle said a thing. They just walked into the bar and made their way to the counter. It wasn't them that everyone was focused on anymore, though. It was who was riding on top of them.
"*Hey is that..?*"
"*Nah, it couldn't be. No way he could still be alive.*"
"*Why's the guy wearing a bag of chips?*" one of the Rats questioned.
Amidst these hushed whispers, the spider and eagle reached the counter before setting a lone figure onto one of the stools. Sitting there, clad in nothing but a bag of corn chips and a long, matted beard, was Ludo Avarius.
"I'm glad that you're open, good sir," Ludo finally said as everyone seemed to look at him. "I'd like a bowl of your finest porridge, please."
Randolph didn't say anything. He just eyed Ludo up and down, trying to decide whether or not he should take him seriously. Without a word, he snapped his fingers, prompting a bowl of some sort of slop to come sliding down the counter toward Ludo. Ludo deftly caught it with a single, clawed hand before looking down at the bowl.
Suddenly, the spider shrieked as it lunged towards the bowl, causing great alarm amongst the bar patrons. Before it could do so, though, Ludo held up his free claw and cried out, "NO! This is my food, Rachnera," Ludo said before beginning to slurp down the contents of the bowl. After a moment, though, he began to spit them out, disgusted by what he just ate.
"This isn't porridge! This is mud!" Ludo yelled at the bartender in anger. At this, all of the Rats in the bar began to laugh hysterically!
"*Hey, yo, can you believe that little bird bought that shit?*"
"*I can't believe he just ate mud! He must feel so stupid!*"
"*Hey, guys, check this out!*" One of the Rats then began to imitate Ludo's mannerisms, right down to his tantrum the moment before. "*This isn't porridge! This is mud! What a dumbass!*"
As Ludo sat there, listening to the rats mock him, he felt the same anger and humiliation he had to endure for years begin to boil up.
"That's not funny."
The Rats just kept laughing, though.
"I said, THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Ludo then reached into his bag and pulled out his new weapon: a stone clutched by the hand of a three-fingered skeleton. And embedded into the stone was half of a broken, sickly green star.
"*Oh shit, he's packing heat!*," and the Rats began to duck for cover.
"You messed with the wrong bird, rat!" Ludo proclaimed before pointing his Wand at the bartender. "FACE-MELTING DEATH RAY!" Randolph closed his eyes, ready for the end...
...but it never came. Nothing happened. At all.
Spongebob Narrator: Two seconds later...
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ludo screamed as he found himself thrown out of the bar, with Rachnera and Aquila following suit. The good news was that they didn't land on top of him.
*Bonk*
The bad news was that his Wand hit him squarely on the head, leaving him with a nasty bump and headache.
"*And take your fake Wand with you, you little Kappa!*" one of the Rats shouted at him before slamming the door to the bar shut.
"I'M AN AVIAN, YOU RACIST PIECE OF-!" Ludo shouted as he struggled to get to his feet, seething at both his treatment...and the fact that that Rat used the incorrect designation that the Mewmans had given his kind. The Kappa's were an entirely different species of Monster, and neither of them liked getting lumped in with the other!
"What in the fuck happened in there?!" Ludo angrily growled as he finally got to his feet before looking back down at his Wand, softly humming at his feet as Ludo glared at it.
"Alright, Comet, you got this," Comet told himself as he sat at his desk, looking over the magically enlarged bottle now occupying most of the space. More importantly, he was looking over the old yet sturdy-looking vessel contained within it: his pride and joy, the Shooting Star.
Ever since his fight with Diavolo, Comet realized that it might not be a good idea to keep the Shooting Star docked at the harbor in Libertalia anymore. He couldn't visit the All Blue as much as he had liked since coming to Earth. So, instead, he kept it inside the small, single-masted fishing vessel inside the magical bottle that Diavolo had previously used to contain it so that he could keep it in his room, along with the safe containing the treasure he obtained in that dimension. Most people might have left the Star in its bottle forever, a mere memento of adventures past.
Comet, though, wasn't like most people, and he had plans for the Shooting Star. Plans that he was now starting to see through.
Comet had spent the time since recovering his ship researching ocean-going vessels found on Earth. He wanted to glean any insightful ideas on renovating the little vessel, turning it from a mere fishing boat into a ship worthy of the future King of Mewni. Of course, he eventually got bored with that after a certain point and decided it would be cooler to follow the lines of fiction. Thus, one binge-reading of One Piece later, he decided to follow in the footsteps of "Cyborg" Franky and build his own Thousand Sunny.
Comet looked over the Shooting Star one last time, committing the memory of what it had once looked like before raising his Wand, ready to begin. The parts and other upgrades he wanted were laid on his desk in miniature form (how he came up with the spell for that was a story for another day.) Taking a deep breath, Comet uncorked the bottle containing the Star before using his Wand to manipulate the contents telekinetically. It was like putting a puzzle together but in reverse. He had to carefully take apart the Star without damaging any part of the hull, deck, or single mast. First, he would carefully remove the mast and then take it out of the bottle so it wouldn't get damaged. Slowly, he watched as his pink magic enveloped the mast before carefully, delicately, he began to...
"Comet!"
Comet almost jumped out of his chair, startled by the sudden voice coming from behind him. Unfortunately for him, that was still enough time to break his concentration. Then, with an audible *snap*, Comet watched as the mast of the Shooting Star broke at the base, sending it tumbling down onto the deck of the ship below. The resulting crash was not pretty, smashing through the deck and exposing the hull within. Comet could only look at his beloved boat in muted horror and sadness.
It was only then that Comet realized that Marcia was still standing at the door to his room. Turning around, he asked her, "Did you need something, Mar-Mar?"
"Uh, yeah, it's your turn to take out the garbage," Marcia told him. Comet gave him a look of annoyance.
"Marcia, you almost made me wreck the Shooting Star. What is wrong with you, woman?"
"Hey!" Marcia snapped back. "Don't sass me. We both promised that we would have the house cleaned by the time my parents got back from the store. I've already done half of the chores, so now it's your turn. Also why do you even need to work on that old boat? You're rich enough to buy a new one."
Comet gasped. "Don't you dare say that to the Star, Marcia," Comet said as he began to protectively run his hands across the bottle containing his beloved ship. "The Star may be a second-hand ship, but it's also a beloved companion of mine. I would never abandon a friend of mine!" As if that wasn't weird, Comet then started talking to the Star. "It's okay, Star. You know she didn't mean it, buddy."
"Just take out the trash, Comet," Marcia said as she walked away, shaking her head in disbelief. Comet just sat at his desk with a sour look on his face.
I don't have time for this shit, Comet irritatedly thought to himself. Taking his Wand out, he then lazily waved it around in front of him. "Summoning Cloudy Charm or whatever." Obeying Comet's command, his magic summoned Cloudy. Only he wasn't his usual pinky and fluffy self. He was a sickly, pale green with this weird look on his face.
Comet, though, wasn't paying attention. "Cloudy, could you do me a solid and take out a gar..."
*Wheeze*
"Um, Cloudy?"
*More wheezing*
"Um, Cloudy? Hello?" Comet rattled around his Wand, wondering what could be the problem with Cloudy.
"Uhhhhh, hello, Comet," Cloudy finally said in a nasally voice. "You said you wanted me to take the trash out?"
"Ummm, yeah," Comet told him, confused.
"Uhh, okay," Cloudy apathetically said. "I guess a prince's hands are too delicate to touch garbage."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing...bunghole," Cloudy said as he grabbed the trash bag Marcia left with his mouth. Right as he was about to fly out the hallway, the talking cloud proceeded to bump into the door. "Oops, pardon me, or whatever. I've got a dirty mouth," Cloudy muttered to himself as he proceeded to fly down the hallway. Comet swore that he almost saw one of his eye's fall off.
"Huh." Comet got up from his desk and looked at his Wand. It looked normal to him, but he could've sworn that something was off about it.
"Should I really be concerned about this, or should I drive and save my precious ship?" Comet asked himself. To him, the answer was a no-brainer. He got back to work, trying to repair the damage to the Shooting Star's mast.
Comet didn't notice it, but his Wand began to glow a faint green.
"I just don't get it, girls," Ludo muttered to himself as he made his way out of the Forest of Certain Death and into the Badlands. He didn't really need to do so; he just wanted some time to think to himself...and wonder why his new Wand wasn't doing what he told it. "I just don't get it."
Ludo eyed the broken crystal embedded in the stone of the Wand. Curiously, he began to poke at it with a clawed finger.
"Maybe this thing really isn't a Wand, after all," Ludo pondered aloud. "I mean, it looks like a Wand. It has the blasted crystal from the royal brat's Wand, for corn's sake!" Ludo still had a hard time believing that any fragment of the Wand of the Dragonfly family survived the explosion that destroyed his ancestral home. Yet here he was, holding proof that said otherwise. So why wouldn't it work?
Then there was the fact its appearance remained the same. A simple stone clutched by a three-fingered skeleton. When he briefly seized control of it in Quest Buy, the Wand had transformed to suit his personality. Yet now, it seemed to stubbornly remain in this strange, rudimentary form.
Ludo tried to wrack his brain in order to figure out what was going on with this thing, but try as he might, he couldn't understand what it was.
Just then, Rachnera leapt forward in an effort to grab the Wand...only for her to be smacked by a backhand from Ludo.
"What did I say? Follow three feet behind me!" Ludo ordered them. Regretfully, Rachnera and Aquila obeyed, much to Ludo's satisfaction. "Anyway, I don't know. Maybe this stupid thing's useless now. Not good for anything except for being a damn baby rattle or paperweight-"
Ludo found his sentence cut off. This time, it was Aquila that was trying to grab his Wand in her beak.
"Aquila, no!" Ludo cried. But the giant eagle continued to try to wrestle the Wand out of Ludo's claws and into her beak.
"Aquila, I said no!" Ludo cried again, but Aquila refused to listen to him. Then Rachnera tried to get in on what it thought was fun.
Ludo, on the other hand, didn't find any of this to be very fun. He held onto the Wand like his life depended on it. Even with the muscle he'd built up during his time in the wild, though, he couldn't match the strength of the two of them at once. Yet Ludo would not let them have his Wand! He had lost everything trying to get his hands on it! His family home, his pride, his followers, all of it destroyed by Toffee and that little brat, Comet Dragonfly!
At that moment, it felt like a switch got flipped inside Ludo's mind, and he was filled with a deep and terrible rage as the Wand began to glow.
"I said...LET GO!"
At that exact moment, Ludo's Wand erupted to life. A blast of raw, magical energy spewed forth from the broken crystal. Unfortunately, the magic managed to blast all three of the group in the face, making them fall on their backs in pain.
Ludo winced in pain before forcing himself to his feet. As his vision began to clear, he looked down at the Wand, now lying on the ground while it's crystal began pulsing an eerie, green color. Then, a realization hit him.
"Girls, do that again!"
As Aquila and Rachnera righted themselves, they looked at Ludo in confusion. Did they hear him right?
"Yes, I know what I said, girls. But listen! I have an idea, and the only way to know if I'm right is you guys get me angry!" Ludo told them. "Now stop being pansies and hit me! Come on, I want you to do it! Hit me, damn it!"
The spider and eagle looked at each, shrugged their shoulders, and then followed their master's commands. They spent the next few moments beating up Ludo, who let it all happen to him as he focused inward on his emotions. He remembered as many things as he could to get him mad. The pain he was experiencing, the humiliation of having his army usurped by Toffee, and all of his defeats at the hands of Comet and his friend.
And Ludo began to get mad. And thus, his Wand responded to him in kind.
Thankfully, Rachnera and Aquila sensed what was about to happen and backed away from Ludo. They did so in the nick of time. Seconds later, Ludo's Wand exploded in a typhoon of green, magical energy. It was like a death ray, cutting its way through rock and earth, melting it into slag, and destroying everything it touched while Ludo clung to it for dear life. It was a scene of utter destruction that engulfed the area.
At last, the Wand's magic subsided, making Ludo fall from ten feet in the air, landing face-first on the ground.
Yet, despite the ordeal, Ludo didn't feel any pain. Rather, it was like he was ignoring the pain, instead focusing on the immense satisfaction he now felt. He figured it out.
"Emotion...that's how I use this thing," Ludo said with a wicked grin. He didn't fully understand it, but he knew on some level that the Wand responded to emotion. The greater the emotion, the stronger the magic would be. In this case, all Ludo had to do was focus on the year's worth of anger he had pent up inside of his tiny body. Channel that anger into the Wand, and turn it into an outlet that he can use to unleash upon all those who wronged him. And Ludo knew just where to start.
"Girls," Ludo said as he shakily rose to his feet. "We're going back to that tavern. It's time to show those lowlifes who they're dealing with..."
Jay: THAT'S RIGHT, BITCHES! LUDO IS BACK, AND BADDER THAN EVER!
Seriously, though, I've been waiting to write this chapter, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Guess that's what happens when I follow the outline I spent months working on. To be fair, though, there wasn't a lot that I wanted to do with this chapter, so I had to add some stuff.
For example, I thought it would be a nice touch to have the Rats gossiping about Comet's exploits. The majority of Mewni doesn't know where he's been all this time, so the rumor mill's been going crazy about him. And it shows. As for the Shooting Star, I didn't forget about it. In fact, I plan on having it play a role in the story down the line, hence why Comet's working on it now. At least, he wants to.
Also, I just wanted to say that I hope you guys liked my Halloween one-shot. But I am also disappointed that none of you guys even tried to name the references. Not even a quick search online, even. And I put a lot of references in there. Child's Play, Nightmare on Elm Street, Candyman, the SCP Foundation. That last one is the kind of stuff that Dipper Pines would drool over!
Well, regardless, I had fun writing it, even if it was a little all over the place. But enough about that. Let's respond to some
READER'S REVIEWS
Halloween One-Shot
Coreytuck3-I wish I was, but even I have my limits, you know.
LockAndKey989-Oh, we all knew that Jason Voorhees would win. The guy's a zombie, for crying out loud.
NightAroma-I should've had you write the lines for the Cryptkeeper.
Julayla-Maybe. But Hungry Larry did freak me out.
Normal Reviews
Pedro Alonso Buby Huayanay Zamudio-Sorry, but Comet doesn't need a partner at this moment, since he's got an army of spells and creatures he can create at will. Also, he can't risk the cartel's tracing him back to Echo Creek.
Julayla-I actually saw Hocus Pocus 2 in October. Pretty funny movie.
95-Too bad nothing happened from your plan, Seth. That would've been sweet.
The Wandering Hippie-I took a page from your book when it came to how gritty the fighting was. I think I did a pretty good job. And yes, drug lords using magic is a scary thought. And I enjoyed Cartoon Network's 30th birthday. Spent the whole day watching them stream their best episodes online.
Coreytuck3-Maybe. But I have to hear the song first.
You know what to do: fave and follow this story, and follow me on Twitter (JZ-Gaming), Insta (RJ Writing Ink), and YouTube (Jungoguy)
See you guys in the next chapter. If we're lucky, it'll be out next Friday!