Oh yeah real quick, there is anothe oneshot posted up. thank you Ameth18 for the idea.
"…HHHHHHHHH" A boy bounced away on one foot holding his other foot in pain with Sensei speaking.
"Giving up after just one step is NOT the path to success, how many times do I have to say that? Who is next?" He looked around at the few remaining students standing with Marco stepping forward. "Your second bout Marco?" Marco nodded bowing to Sensei before speaking.
"I am not leaving until I overcome this." Sensei nodded approvingly thinking to himself 'Even if he doesn't succeed he's getting that red belt.' He then bowed to Marco and replied.
"Very well then, do as you will." The remaining students let out sighs of relief until Sensei uncovered another fire pit. "We will use this one as I anticipated someone taking a while." Everyone groaned and went over as Marco stood in front of the fire pit readying himself.
He breathed in and out deeply trying to enter his meditative state to focus himself. He let everything wash over and around him; his thoughts, the noises, what he felt around him, and any worry he might have of stepping on the coals. He lifted his foot up ready to test his determination and put it onto the coals eliciting a sound like a hamburger grilling.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Marco screamed and danced back holding his foot in agony with a snickering coming from the side. Marco shook his head and got back to the fire walk as Jeremy began to monologue over Marco's actions like a narrator.
"Poor Marco, the years have not been kind to him. Fourteen years old and at the bottom of the totem pole in school still, he is a dweeb to beat all dweebs." Marco brushed off Jeremy's words as he made ready again with his meditative breaths only to be interrupted in more ways than one.
"AHHHHHHHH!" A female student was bouncing around due to the pain on her foot and slammed into Marco making him fall onto the coals before he could catch himself.
"AHHHHHHH!" Marco got up screaming and rolled on the floor to put out any flames that might have caught to his uniform with Jeremy laughing.
"Be aware of your surroundings both of you." Sensei yelled over to Marco and the girl as he moved onto the next student with Jeremy snidely commenting on Marco.
"A scared dweeb who only goes all in by accident and always fails when he does. Few real friends to speak of, no surprise there, and all of them are dweebs just like he is." Marco cast a side glance at Jeremy to see he was actually recording this with his phone.
Sighing in annoyance Marco got up and went back to the coal walk breathing in and out slowly to steady himself. He did everything to calm himself down but Jeremy snickering in the background did nothing to help him and the pain in his body was difficult to just incorporate into his being. As he was beginning to get close another scream from a student put him back at step one frustrating him to no end. At this Jeremy laughed making things worse for Marco as he tried in vain to compose himself. He would turn to Sensei to stop Jeremy from doing this but Sensei would simply say that this was part of his challenge and he should keep on going. Marco groaned at the fact that he was in this tough situation and just bared it as best he could rubbing his temples in annoyance as Jeremy commented again.
"Poor Marco, only got a girlfriend by tricking her into thinking he is better then he actually is. Wonder what will happen when she gets bored of him?" Marco shrugged it off though that insult stung a bit.
After a minute of alternating annoyance with failed meditation Marco tried stepping on the coals out of sheer frustration burning his feet again. This time he kept himself from screaming with a tear coming to his eye. People were now watching Marco in earnestness as everyone else had tried with no one getting across the bed of coals. Except for Jeremy, but Jeremy didn't try as he didn't need to do anything to advance in this class in particular; he was just there to show off. As the crowd watched Marco tried channeling his frustration into overcoming the heat of the coals but kept on suspecting that it wouldn't work. As he reached a certain point he tested it out and put his foot on the coals eliciting a bout of pain that flared up his leg. He tried ignoring it and put his other foot out but when it touched down both pains became too much to bear.
"AHHHHHH!" Marco leapt off with actually tears of frustration running down his face. Everyone murmured in admiration at Marco with Sensei out right smiling in a proud manner. Jeremy on the other hand,
"A little heat and he's already crying, shame as he is at least decent in the kitchen. But what does this humble narrator know about him; his best friend is a lzard freak after all." At that Marco went ridged and his vision went red.
Everyone noticed the change in Marco's demeanor and immediately shuffled away from him with Jeremy realizing he went too far given how Marco was acting. Marco turned to Sensei twitching slightly with a question that didn't need to be said in his eyes with Sensei nodding, giving him approval. Turning in rage Marco leapt at Jeremy who dropped his phone getting into a fighting stance himself. Marco leapt at Jeremy in a fashion meant to aim up high but actually feinted Jeremy out and struck low, kicking his legs out from under him. Jeremy ducked and rolled trying to set himself up again; but Marco was giving Jeremy no reprieve whatsoever. Leaping at him Marco went for a flurry of openhanded blows that he knew could take out a fully grown man, especially since he had used them to take out fully grown men. Jeremy blocked and dodged as best he could but every blow he dodged put him off balance and ever blow he blocked felt like a battering ram had hit him.
As Marco's flurry calmed down for a second Jeremy went for a knuckle punch at Marco's solar plexus hitting hard enough to make Marco gasp for air. Not wasting time to gloat, Jeremy used his legs to grab onto Marco's left leg trying to trip him to the ground. On any other student that would have worked but Marco had been in actual fights and had to get out of these scrapes with moves that Sensei had not taught him. Going with the roll Marco curled up into a ball and locked his legs with Jeremy's using his greater central mass to spin Jeremy like a barrel. Jeremy broke free of the lock after a few rolls but was disoriented and shaky on his feet as Marco stood up having recovered from Jeremy's punch. Wasting no time Marco went for another flurry of blows that Jeremy just ducked under and went for a knee to the groin; the ultimate dirty move in the dojo. Everyone gasped however as Marco had anticipated this and caught Jeremy's knee with his thigh and deflected it smiling at Jeremy's shock. Jeremy then ducked and rolled trying to get away from Marco but was too slow as Marco caught up to him almost effortlessly and held him up by his uniform staring at Jeremy eyes brimming with hate.
"You can insult me and my abilities all you like." Marco spoke with a calm voice with an edge like ice. "You can insult the position I have in life and my insecurities." He then pulled Jeremy in close so their faces were touching eye to eye. "But you never go for Star, got it?" Jeremy whimpered and nodded with Marco dropping him eliciting a scream of pain from Jeremy as a sizzling sound happened. Marco blinked in shock at this coming to his senses and looked down to see he was standing on the coals… and felt no pain at all.
"What the…" Everyone around him began cheering with Sensei stepping up and speaking.
"This people, is what it means to overcome the breath of fire. Marco, I was going to wait till after class, but I believe you have earned this." Sensei handed Marco a red belt with Marco taking it almost reverently. He immediately took off his green belt and put the red one on while standing in the coals and smiled with everyone applauding. As he finished however he began to smell something like steak grilling and realized what that was just as the pain finally hit again.
"AHHHHHHHHHH…"
"…HHHHHHH!" Star slammed through the door to the grocery store swirling around in circles for a few seconds until stopping by slamming into a display of chocolate marshmallows. Star got out shaking herself off and carrying the baby free from the wreckage holding it up to the first person who crossed her path. "Please take care of this; the mother will be by shortly." The person took the baby out of reflex and Star stumbled off down the aisles with the person looking on in confusion before speaking.
"I don't even know who the mother is, how will I give it back?"
Star stumbled down the aisle blinking in confusion as she shook off the last of the crash while looking for Sugar Seeds. She couldn't see any, instead seeing only rows of canned stuff with tomato soup being the main canned good around her. Star moved along quickly hoping to find the cereal before the pirates and dogs found her or even, hopefully, got to the store. Of course as Star turned down another aisle she realized how much like a maze this place was even if all the rows were straight lines in one direction. Star began looking around for a map of sorts and set off down an isle full of bottles of some sort bearing names like Yingling. She got some stares from people as she turned into a different isle and began shivering as the area here was pretty cold for some reason. Shaking it off as best she could Star pushed forward through a section that appeared to have frozen goods all over it. As her shivering got more violent and her pace slowed someone called out to Star from right next to her.
"Do you need help finding something, or help finding some warmer clothes." Star looked up to see a random old woman looking at her in concern with Star speaking though the shivers.
"I'm looking f-for Sugar Seeds as I a-accidentally ate the l-last of my friend's." As Star let a large shiver run through her body the woman smiled and took Star's hand speaking softly.
"Come with me, it looks like you haven't done something like this before haven't you?" Star shook her head no as the woman led her out of the frozen section much to Star's relief. "They are right under the section with the sign "cereal" above it. The signs do take people off guard since they are not presented in a way that is immediately noticeable." Star looked up to where the woman was pointing and saw there were in fact signs over the aisles. "Once you have found the Sugar Seeds go down to the end of the aisle and take a right, the registers will be obvious. Do you need anything else?" Star spoke softly slightly embarrassed.
"Which way is left and right?" The woman giggled a little and quickly showed Star the difference between left and right.
"Don't worry a lot of people get mixed up too often. If you are confused, hold up your hands and extend your finger and thumb out to make and L shape. The one that is in the correct direction is the left hand." Star nodded and thanked the old woman profusely moving quickly with the woman waving after her.
Going down the aisle Star found what appeared to be boxes with various cereals within them all over the shelves. Picking through them she saw Jack Apples, Toasted Cinnamon Crunchies, Cheery Nuts of Honey, Trix charms, Flakes of Frost, and…
"Sugar Seeds!" Star grabbed a box off the shelves hearing a crashing sound coming from the entrance to the store.
Freezing up for a minute Star heard the sound of barking sounding a lot louder than the 12 dogs she had been running from a little while back. Running forward she turned right, double checking to make sure she was going the right direction, and rushed forward with sounds of destruction going on throughout the store. She got up to where the registers were only to be stopped by a group of pirates looking out of breath and mad. Star stopped in shock but turned around when she heard sounds of crashing going on behind her to see the dogs coming up the aisles; destroying everything in their path to get at Star. Thinking fast Star pulled her wand out and yelled "Dog collar snapper" shooting out several leashes that latched onto the dogs pinning them to the ground in a whimpering mess. 'Huh, should have thought of that earlier.' Star thought to herself turning around to see the pirates and Grocery Store employees gathering up looking at her accusingly. As the group moved in closer Star tried looking for words until someone familiar stepped between Star and the crowd speaking in a light Chinese accent.
"Stop!" The whole crowd stopped for a second to figure out what had just happened while the girl continued to talk. "Let her explain what has just happened and stop moving in on her like she is a wanted criminal." The group then realized what exactly they were doing and looked ashamed as they stood down allowing Star to find her words.
"Look, I messed up… like I often do unintentionally. I was just trying to get my bestie some Sugar Seeds after I accidentally ate them all." Everyone began nodding in understanding at Star's words as Star continued. "So… how much is it going to cost to repair the damages? Because I don't have a lot of money on me and it's not in your currency, but I will make it up one way or another. Just tell me how to fix all this…" Star gestured to the damaged parts of the Grocery Store. "… and I will!" The group looked at each other for a second until they formed a huddle talking with each other for a second as the girl who stopped them came up to Star.
"Um… I can help you with the money if need be. Take it as apo- thanks for saving me back at the school." Star blinked in shock as she recognized the girl before speaking.
"Chole Park? Nice to meet you again." Star twitched nervously holding out her hand which Chloe took twitching in return. As they did so the crowd turned back to Star with one of them coming forward, a very buxom pirate woman.
"We have something in mind…"
Marco came back home with burnt feet and feeling sore all over but triumphant as he pulled into the garage on his bike. Grunting slightly Marco got off the bike pushing it into its slot near the wall and walked inside. He sighed in a content way as he opened the door smelling food being prepared… some type of an array of seafood. Blinking in confusion Marco walked into the main area of the house to see a group of pirates, store employees, dogs, and a few other people eating a variety of seafood with Sugar Seeds cereal. Blinking in shock Marco looked up towards the kitchen to see Star using magic to clean up after everyone in the kitchen with a relived smile on her face. She looked up at the door being clammed and say Marco coming in getting a proud smile on her face as she came over to him speaking quickly.
"So I see you got your red belt, nice." Star smiled as Marco let himself admire his belt before shaking his head and responding to Star.
"Um, why are there people in my living room?" Star smiled again and led Marco over where she held up a bowl of Sugar Seeds for him speaking in a proud manner.
"I accidentally ate all the cereal so I went out and got some more. I also made friends with these people on my journey after I repaired the *ahem* damages I caused." Everyone chuckled at that but continued eating. "I also did this all on my own so you would still have cereal, sorry about eating it without your permission." Star smiled at him as Marco took the bowl and began laughing confusing everyone before speaking.
"Star, you didn't need to do that for me. It's just cereal after all. In fact I kind of expected you to do that some time like you did with the bbq potato chips; and the dinner rolls; and the chicken nuggets." Everyone laughed at this with Star looking a little bashful at that. "It's nice to see you went all through all of… well what you went through, just for me Star. Thank you." Marco leaned in and hugged Star which Star returned with tears coming to her eyes. 'I helped Marco out, all on my own.' Star thought to herself, more proud then she probably should be as Marco continued. "Besides, I have several boxes in a hidden reserve; so take this as an invitation to eat Sugar Seeds. What some more?" At this Marco felt Star stiffen up with claws digging into his back making him pull back as far as he could. "Um Star.. are you…" When he saw Star's eyes had gone cat-pupil he felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead; which intensified when Star slid her four inch tongue out and bared her sharp teeth staring at him before speaking.
"Nice to know this 'quest' could have been avoided as well as all of the damages if you had just made it clear from the very start. And I would like to eat, but not Sugar Seeds right now." Marco pulled out of her grasp backing away as he spoke in a panicked manner.
"Star, Star… don't look at me that way!" Star got on all fours licking her lips and leapt at Marco who dodged. "HEEEELP!" Marco leapt away from Star as everyone watched laughing at them.
'I'll just scare Marco… a little bit longer.' Star thought to herself as she ran off her stress for the day hunting Marco down.
And don't worry about "Red Belt" I have an idea for that episode, if I ever GET TO IT. Man this story is going to be long.
SN: Don't forget, hinting at the next episode.
Oh right. Well don't 'Freeze' up too much people, you will have plenty of 'time' to enjoy things, as the 'day' can last longer then you might think...
SN: Several bad puns later.
... You don't need to 'Freeze' up your 'day' to enjoy things. heh heh heh. I'll shut up now.