A/N:
Why I don't update more often.
Alright, so I received yet another PM asking me why I update only twice, maybe 3 times a month. I've explained this a few times but mostly through replies to reviews asking the same thing, so here is the official answer for those of you who still don't know.
Presently, I am writing a Fantasy/Romance/Adventure novel and have been devoting most of my quote-on-quote 'free' time to it. I aim to have it done by the end of 2017 and even plan on doing a little 'test run' before I have it professionally proofread and edited. I'll likely create a separate blog on Tumblr or some other site (Wattpad?) where I'll post the first few chapters and answer any potential questions. This isn't final but I want at least some feedback before I release it to the public (not that it's done yet; I just love planning stuff like this in advance).
That being said, Fanfiction has become -more or less- that place I go to to have some fun and write without having to hard-focus on anything or put too much effort into structure and coherence, although I do have my standards. It's WAAAAAY easier to work with a Universe and Characters that are already developed than having to create your own world and Characters, although the latter is much more fun. I'm currently, hmm, around 200 pages into it? The estimated number will be around 300-350 (maybe 400) since it's ill-advised for new authors to release manuscripts much thicker than that, so I have a lot of work ahead of myself!
Replies to the latest reviews:
RedHood001: Thanks! Like I said, I still have a few arcs to complete before shit hits the fan, so the next few chapters will be filled with lighthearted humour. And Shining may be a wimp, but he's not dumb!
RobLebron: Um, I'm gonna tell you something so you won't sound like an idiot if this subject ever comes up. You're confusing Europe (the continent) with the EU (The European Union; A political and economic union among certain European countries). England (Great Britain) IS part of both Europe and the European Union (Although the Brexit referendum for leaving the EU was a success and I'm not entirely sure where negotiations have been going, but I think they'll leave) they've just always used their own currency, the Pound, instead of the Euro. Regardless, there are still many countries within the European continent that are not part of the EU, but that doesn't mean they aren't European. And Great Britain being an island is irrelevant; It's still on the Eurasian tectonic plate and a part of the European continent.
Rock Raider: Huh, I never have that problem. I just keep my back straight when writing and sitting and have never experienced any back-pain. Then again, I am only 20... Anyway, how and why Brittney may fall for him was hinted in one of the previous Chapters ;). Thx, already corrected them. And sorry about that; As mentioned above, I half-try when writing fanfiction.
amythestblade: Meh, probably. However, the spell was fueled by dark magic, so it shouldn't have had any connection to the good magic disappearing.
Guest Sorta: Hehe, that part had me grinning. But still, the MVP was River :P.
Disclaimer: All characters from Star vs. The Forces of Evil belong to the creators of the show. The plot of this story and any original characters that may appear in it, however, do belong to me and I would kindly ask you to inform me should you want to use anything from this story in your own fanfic.
Beta read by ElleFreak.
Story cover by Luzz015. Be sure to check her out on DeviantArt!
Star vs. The Forces of Evil: Staring it up!
Chapter 7
The Royal Wimps
Part 3A
We're getting closer to the source of the dark magical anomaly, master.
"And you're sure it's him?"
I'm not omniscient, master. I can merely detect and pinpoint sources of strange and unstable magical energy. It could be anything.
"Right, right. Sorry. I'm just..."
Nervous?
Comet nodded. In her situation, anyone would be. After all, she could be mere moments away from confronting the man who'd murdered her mother. The place she and Cosmos were at was certainly fitting for an assassin; A ruined temple on some dwarf-planet on the edge of the Milky Way, as people on Earth called the Galaxy. The planet was just on the edge of the nearest star's orbit and received little to no light or warmth, yet this didn't hinder strange plants from growing on its surface. Nobody in their right mind would want to live here.
In short, a nearly perfect hideout for any criminal.
"I'm just not sure what to expect, you know?" she told her familiar while walking onward through the narrow corridors of the temple. Whatever civilisation had thrived on this desolate planet aeons ago must have been very persistent and intelligent to have constructed something so masterfully. This temple wasn't the only structure they'd seen. Comet and Cosmos had come across several stone houses, a few pyramids, and even chiselled statues of humanoids with four arms, all overgrown with purple vines and fungi.
The orb of light that was floating in front of them and helped them to see their surroundings revealed scribings on the walls of this ancient temple, symbols that even Comet's magic could not decrypt.
"I wonder what these symbols mean," she wondered aloud, hoping for Cosmos to have an answer. The small wolf could only shrug. He was just as clueless as her. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, huh?"
Indeed. What matters is that we find the source of this unstable magic and put a halt to it.
"You've got that right. This place is starting to creep me out. How much farther is it?"
A hundred feet or so. The disturbance is very faint, but you should sense it, soon.
The magical Wolf's statement proved to be true. After taking only a few steps, Comet's heart-shaped wand began glowing and she could sense something ominous was afoot. While she didn't have the same senses as Cosmos, she, along with all other magic users, had the ability to sense dark and light magic when it was close enough.
"I can feel it, too. We must be very close."
They stopped in front of a solid stone door engraved with the same symbols that were on the walls of the temple. Upon touching it, Comet could feel a strong resistance. She fired a bolt of lightning at it with her wand. It rebounded and whipped past her, just as expected. She frowned.
"It's sealed with a magical barrier. Think you can break it?" she asked Cosmos. The small wolf was like a magical sponge; He could absorb a large quantity of magical energy, convert it, and release it in a less-dangerous form if need be, all while not sustaining any long-lasting damage.
Hmm... The spell feels strong. I can definitely break the barrier, but it'll take awhile.
"Well, it's not like we're in a hurry." Comet sat down and pulled out a book from her pocket. "You see to getting that door open, while I look for a spell that may be powerful enough to break it instantly."
Cosmos did not protest to his master's orders and walked closer to the door. He closed his eyes. The mark on his forehead radiated with blue magical energy as he formed a link between himself and the door before him, focusing on breaking the seal. Comet opened the tome and began reading it, hoping to find an incantation that would save them some time.
Earth
"And... done!" Star clapped her hands in excitement after putting a football helmet onto Shining's head, thereby completing his outfit.
"I must say, this is truly a fine work of craftsmanship," Shining commented, taking a good look at himself as best as he could through the football helmet's front opening that was protected by a face shield. "The helmet feels oddly soft from the inside."
"Protective foam," explained Star. "Anyway," the princess spoke as she examined him proudly. "I gotta say, it looks good on you! Does it feel tight anywhere?"
"Thank you for the compliment, and no, it fits like a glove." Shining formed a fist with his right hand tapped the top of his helmet with it. "And I must say, this helmet is of the finest craft, as well!"
"You guys finished yet?" they heard someone yell from across the field. It was Justin. Star shot him a thumbs up and the boy returned his attention to the football practice at hand.
Star turned to Shining, and said, "Ok. You're all set, so you can just go ahead and join the rest of the football team!"
"What'll you be doing in the meantime? You won't just leave me here, right?"
"Haha, no. I'll go over to Brittney and the rest of the cheerleaders and make sure your future gal notices you." She was referring to Brittney.
"And what can I do to help?" Zora asked, having been left out of the conversation and Star's plan. The princess smiled apologetically at her.
"Um, Zora, this is something you can't really help out with."
"Oh..." the small girl murmured dejectedly and looked at the ground. Star's heart ached at the sight, so the princess swiftly added, "But you can come with me and talk to the girls! I'm sure they'd love to meet you!"
Zora's frowned turned upside down (A/N: Sorry for the cheesy wording, I couldn't resist :P) and she nodded excitedly. She'd thought that Star was just going to tell her to sit down and stay out of the way while she and the strange prince carried forth with the plot, so hearing this brightened her mood.
Star dismissed Shining and the Prince made his way over to the football team, where he was greeted by Justin, who paused the training to give him a proper introduction.
"Guys, meet our newest member whose name is probably as stupid as those Twilight movies, Prince Shining!"
"And before anyone asks, NO, my parents did NOT hate me," the prince cut in. Two football players lowered their hands, probably having had the intention to ask that exact question. "A pleasure to meet you, brave warriors, and thank you for granting me a set of your armour."
"Yo, Justin, dude, where'd you find this guy? At a Renaissance fair?" A brown haired boy, slightly taller than Justin and a bit leaner, asked. His tone was one of general curiosity, not mockery.
"Nah, he's one of Star's pals. Ya know, 'from another dimension' kinda thing. A Prince, no less!" explained Justin and wrapped an arm around the prince. "So check this out, dudes! This poor sucker over here has the hots for one of our school's cheerleaders and needs our help to get things started with her. If you know what I mean." Justin finished his sentence with a cheeky wink at Shining.
"Alright. Sounds cool," Another one of the players commented. "But which one of the girls is he interested in, cause I've already called dibs on Sabrina." The rest of the football players eyed the boy inquiringly. "What? I like the shy and quiet types!"
"No worries, man," said Justin calmly. "Believe it or not, this dude over here wants none other than the Captain herself!" Justin pointed at one of the girls. The players followed where Justin indicated, only to meet the most unlikely of targets at the end. Brittney Wong.
"You're not serious, right?" The brown haired boy from before asked, this time directing his question at Shining. The prince smiled confidently.
"Why would I not be serious? She's all that my mind's been able to focus on since the day I first laid my eyes upon her breathtaking beauty," Shining proclaimed, staring dreamily at Brittney as she yelled angrily at two of her fellow cheerleaders after they'd messed something up. Or maybe she was just yelling at them for nothing, who knows? Yet, the raven-haired girl's burst of anger sent Shivers down the prince's spine; Oh, how gorgeously vicious she looked! If only his royal painter was here to capture the stunning image for all eternity so that he could look upon it each and every day for the rest of his life!
"Uh, so," the brown haired boy began inquisitively, "Since you're a prince from another dimension, does that mean you want to take her with you once you leave n' stuff?"
"Absolutely! I intend to make her my bride, after all."
"Guys, we gotta help this dude out! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we cannot afford to mess it up!" The boy yelled upon hearing Shining's words. Immediately, and with voices just as loud and determined, all of the boys agreed.
Shining smiled warmly, a tear threatening to fall from his left eye, which he abruptly wiped away. "Oh, you Earthlings are so kind! You must cherish Brittney dearly to wish her such a fine and exotic life!" Shining declared, completely misinterpreting the boys' true goal. They just wanted to be rid of her! Brittney was a looker, but no amount of good looks could make up for her total bitc-... 'high-strung' personality, which the prince adored for some reason.
Speaking of Brittney...
"Alright, girls, it's time to take 5 and drink some water. I don't want anyone of you wussies collapsing because of dehydration. Again!" The cheerleaders broke formation and obeyed Brittney's orders. They sat down on a nearby bench and began chatting with one another, their moods bright. Brittney didn't join them but instead took out a small pocket mirror from her purse and began fixing her hair.
"Look! It's Star Butterfly!" One of the girls said, pointing at the approaching princess. The girls seemed to like her, which was evident as they stood up and walked over to greet her with cheerful smiles. Apart from Brittney, of course. She merely rolled her eyes and continued staring at her own reflection with an indifferent attitude.
"Hi, guys!" Star greeted the group, her face beaming with her trademark smile. She didn't know the girls that well, but friends were friends, and she loved having friends. The more the merrier, as people say!
"Hello." The group eyed the owner of the tiny voice with wide but curious eyes. Zora stood next to Star, holding her hand.
"Are you babysitting someone's kid?"
Zora glared angrily at the girl who'd made the comment. She didn't like being referred to as a little kid. Star had to stop herself from letting out a giggle as she didn't want to further anger the small girl.
"No, no, nothing like that. Her name's Zora and she's staying with me and the Diaz family. Marco and I found her on Mewni and took her in."
Zora nodded somberly, confirming Star's words. "I really like it here. Star is super nice!"
"Aww!" The girls cued in unison upon hearing those words.
"She's so adorable!" Sabrina said, placing both hands on her heart and smiling warmly at the small girl.
"Hmph!" Zora pouted angrily. Again, she didn't appreciate being treated like a baby. Yet her anger did not have the desired effect as the group of girls commented about how cute she looked when she was angry. Even Star couldn't hold back a chuckle.
"She doesn't really like anyone but myself calling her that." It was strange. She hadn't asked Zora why, but the girl only allowed Star to give her such compliments. Even Marco and Angie received a glare whenever the word escaped their mouths. Maybe Zora was particularly fond of her? Then again, Star, too, had become very attached to the girl over the short period of time that two two had spent together.
"That's because I really like it when someone as pretty as you compliments me," Zora said unexpectedly, earning a surprised look from Star. The princess smiled at the girl and thanked her.
"Wow!" One of the girls commented, grinning at the two. "You two are just like..." The girl cut her annotation short and chuckled whilst shaking her head.
"Like what?" Both asked in unison, curious to know what the end of her sentence was.
"Um, never mind. It's nothing important. Just forget I said anything." The cheerleader changed the subject for reasons unknown. "Anyway, where's Marco? It's rare seeing you without him around, what with the whole engagement thing you two have going on."
By now, the entire town knew of Star and Marco's current relationship status. They didn't really bother keeping it a secret, although Marco was flustered whenever Star proudly displayed her not-wedding ring and boasted about having the best dork in the universe as a boyfriend. Marco quickly got used to the constant teasing the two received on a daily basis, which was nothing unexpected, given their young age and the fact that, prior to the engagement, both would constantly deny having any romantic feelings toward the other and claim that they were just best friends, nothing more, nothing less. (Unbeknownst to either of them, most of the townspeople had been involved in a bet whether the two would hook up or not.)
"Oh, Marco's on Mewni doing some thing. Ya know, royal obligatutoational stuff," explained Star, cheering for Marco on the inside.
"Uh, you mean obligational?" Chantal, the girl with shoulder-long brown hair who'd been at Brittney's party a year ago, corrected the Mewman princess.
"That too," Star affirmed, briskly as ever.
"Ok. And what is keeping him busy?"
"Meh, some big fancy 'trial' every future king of Mewni has to take. Hunting giants, jumping headfirst into a Volcano, that kinda stuff," Star explained casually, without a hint of concern evident in her voice.
"Alright, my curiosity has been sated." Chantal followed up with another question. "So, what brings you over? Finally decided to join the squad?"
"Nope. I've already told you a bazillion times! The only uniform I'll ever wear is a combat uniform!" Star declared. With her agility and inhuman strength, she would have made a fine addition to the cheerleading team, even Brittney wouldn't be able to deny that, but the princess simply refused to wear a cheerleader uniform that didn't offer any protection against evil foes. She had her standards, after all.
"That's a shame," replied Chantal. "Then why are you here? I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but there's not a whole lot of stuff to do around here, other than practice."
"Actually, I came here with a very specific reason, one that you guys are gonna help me with!" Replied Star. The girls eyed her curiously, awaiting further explanation, which the princess promptly provided them with. "See that guy over there?"
The girls followed the tip of Star's finger and spotted a rather small football player they hadn't seen before. He was easy to spot as he held a sword with a football impaled on it. Justin was busy explaining something to him, probably that the use of actual weapons was forbidden.
"Wait a minute." Sabrina narrowed her eyes to better focus on the boy and widened them upon recognising his face through the helmet. "Isn't he that prince that wanted to marry you?"
"He is," confirmed Star before raising a questioning eyebrow at Sabrina. "Wait. How did you know that?"
"I saw you two walking down the street with Jackie and Marco awhile ago, so I paid Janna to give me the scoop." Sabrina then added, "By the way, that girl creeps me out. She knows way too much about everything and asked me if I was interested in buying a pair of Marco's boxers..."
"So that's where they disappeared to! I told Marco it wasn't me!" Star made a mental note to talk to Janna about that. "Anyway, he came to Earth today and asked me to help him win Brittney's affection, so I told him that she's into jocks and that he should join the football team."
"A prince is interested in Brittney?" One of the cheerleaders, a short girl with black hair braided into a ponytail and braces asked. Star nodded.
"Yep." A brunette cheerleader confirmed, with a blonde one nodding. "I, Zoey, and Brittney, went shopping the other day and the dude literally jumped out of a portal and asked her to marry him."
"That's so romantic!" Chantal commented.
"Yeah, well, Brittney wouldn't have any of it! She called the cops and filed a restraining order against him!" The brunette finished, then looked at Shining. "I gotta hand it to the dude, he sure is persistent if he's come all the way out here just to get her attention. But I got a feeling that he's not gonna find any success with that..." She said, somewhat admiringly but also aware that his chances to actually gain Brittney's favour didn't really exist or were just barely there.
"Which is why I came with him," said Star. "He doesn't have a lot of time to convince her, so if we're gonna make something happen, it's gotta be soon!" Declared the princess, then looked at the cheerleaders with hopeful eyes. "You girls know Brittney way better than I do. Could you help me out?"
"Hmm..." Zoey rubbed her chin in thought. "We can try, but it's gonna cost you."
"Alright. What do you want in exchange?"
Zoey and the rest of the cheerleaders exchanged knowing looks, then smiled devilishly at Star. "Nothing much. We just want you to drop your silly pride and finally join the cheerleading squad!"
Star frowned. They knew about her policy; The only uniform she was willing to wear was a combat uniform, plus the dances that the girls did weren't even battle dances for crying out loud! But she needed their help is she wanted to succeed in time, she was well aware of that...
But her policy...
But her promise to help Shining...
But wearing that stupid uniform...
But helping out a friend...
"Do we have a deal?" Zoey asked and offered a handshake to Star. The princess sighed defeatedly and squeezed her hand firmly.
"Deal."
End of Part 3A!
Well, hope you liked it. Next week I'll update 'The Tale Ends' and then start working on the next chapter of this story. Feel free to leave a review, and make sure to favourite and follow the story so you don't miss anything!
'Till next time!
Bye!
