The citizens of Townsville were used to having peaceful days interrupted. Between the crime, giant monsters, and natural disasters that seemed to focus on their city, they were hardly surprised when a sudden commotion popped up out of nowhere. So when the large truck came swerving around the corner, pretty much everyone instinctively moved out of the way, either out of pure habit or reflex.

The tires screeched against the ground, and for a moment it looked as if it would tip over, but it managed to steady itself as it kept speeding down the street. "Shit, hurry it up already! They're gaining on us! We need to shake them!" one of the masked men inside shouted.

One of the others, the one behind the wheel, scowled. "Would you shut up! I need to concentrate!" he snapped. How did they expect him to be able to pull this off with them yapping in his ear the whole time?

"We shouldn't have done this!" another shouted. "I knew this was a bad idea! This whole city is crawling with heroes now! We should have known better! We're gonna go to jail!"

"Stop whining and start focusing on how we're gonna get out of this you moron!" It was too late for them to go back now. It was all or nothing. And he didn't plan on spending the next five to ten in a prison cell. The driver slammed his foot on the pedal, pushing the engine as much as he could.

It didn't seem to help however, since no matter how fast he went the figure chasing them was still closing the distance.

"I got eyes on them guys!" Nia said, smirking as she kept after the truck.

Her earpiece buzzed to life. "Good work. I'm closing in too. I should be able to cut them off in a bit. Try and lead them toward me..." a familiar voice said.

The blonde nodded. "Got it! We'll be coming up soon!" She kept after the truck. Once she got beside it she tapped on the window. The driver did a double take when he noticed the girl flying beside them. "Hey guys! You should probably pull over before this gets messy! I mean you wouldn't want-"

The truck suddenly swerved, trying to crash into her. She easily moved out of the way, but as it whipped around to make a turn, the cargo began to tip over. "Oh man!" Nia zipped around and then reached out to stop it.

She could hear a few people underneath her screaming as the cargo pushed her downwards towards the sidewalk. Her eyes glowed brightly, and she grunted as she managed to push it back upright, but the driver floored it and shot down the street. Nia looked back at the citizens behind her. "Are you okay?" she asked towards the mother and her sons.

"Yes, thank you so much," she said gratefully.

"No problem," Nia said nodding. "Stay safe! And have a good day!" She shot off after the truck again, this time looking a little more annoyed. She really didn't like when people were put in danger. But it wasn't like they'd be able to keep it up for much longer.

The passenger looked down the street confused. "Hey! There's someone up ahead in the street!" he said pointing towards the lone figure.

"So?! I'm not stopping!" the driver said angrily. If the idiot was too dumb not to get out of the way, then it was his own fault. He pressed down on the gas even harder.

Astro stood with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed as he raised his foot. "You're making a mess…" he muttered as he stomped his foot down. A wave of ice suddenly shot out towards the truck, and the driver and passengers yelled as a ramp might of ice appeared before them.

They couldn't stop in time, flying up the ramp and soaring into the air. All three of them screamed as Astro casually pulled out his sword. He swung upwards, and then suddenly the driver's section of the truck was severed from the cargo. He sheathed his sword again as both sections fell towards the ground, but before they crashed two whirlwinds kicked up, slowly and gently lowering them down to the ground.

Astro turned around as Nia floated down to his side, snapped her fingers and dispersed the whirlwinds as they approached the drivers. "You were totally showing off with that midair slashing move," Nia said, smirking up at him. "How would you have caught them if I wasn't there?"

The prince chuckled. "Oh, I knew you would be. And I'd say you were showing off a bit more than me with those whirlwinds," he said before he reached over and ripped the door over the driver's side open. He glared at the three, who looked absolutely panicked after having been thrown and almost crashing into the ground.

Nia leaned over his shoulder. "Hey guys. You're under arrest," she said waving. "If you could come quietly that would be nice… or you know, we could throw you in the air a few more times if that's what you want."

"No!"

"We surrender!"

Astro narrowed his eyes, looking over the three. "Where's the other one?" he asked, confused. "The report said there were four of them that… wait," he turned towards the cargo second of the truck. They were supposed to have stolen some kind of prototype weapon. "Nia, keep an eye on them. I think the other one is-"

The doors suddenly came flying off of the cargo section of the truck, and a large robotic figure stepped out. The fourth criminal laughed as he flexed the arms of the battle suit. "Man, that was awesome! I didn't feel a thing!" he said before turning towards them. "Oh look, some wannabe heroes to test out our new shit on. How convenient."

One of the men in the truck smiled and was about to call out to him, but Astro slammed the door back onto the side, and then froze it over so they couldn't escape from either side. "Do you want to rip him out of that thing, or should I?" Nia asked.

The man held both arms out, and suddenly a number of slots opened up on the battle suit. Dozens of rockets came shooting out of it, going in all different directions. Nia and Astro both moved quickly. "I'll take him down, you do damage control!" Astro yelled, pulling his sword out once more.

"Got it!"

Nia moved her arms again, and currents of air began to form, pulling the rockets away from all the people and building nearby. She raised them upwards, making sure they weren't going to go off anywhere they could do serious damage. Astro meanwhile dodged the string of energy beams sent his way from the battle suit.

"Ha! That's right, keep on dancing monster boy! Nobody can stop me while I have this thing! I feel freaking invincible!" the man yelled. Astro just kept making his way towards him, and when he got in range he brought his sword back and got ready to swing. For just a moment though.

He didn't know how strong that suit was, but he was pretty sure if he swung at full strength it would have taken this guy's arm off. He dialed his strength back, but in that moment of hesitation, the man managed to dodge the swing. "Too slow loser!" The man brought his arm back and swung at Astro, how ducked and scowled as he swung again.

Before his blade could make contact, another slot on the suit opened, and a puff of smoke shot out. Astro grunted as he was blinded from the cloud of smoke, and then suddenly felt a blow strike him in the chest and send him tumbling back, losing his grip on Ocean's Kiss as he did. He quickly rolled back up to his feet, only to see the man aiming both hands at him.

"So long hero!"

He fired two more energy beams from his hands, both looking a fair bit more powerful than the one from earlier. Astro prepared to move, but then realized he was in front of a shop. A shop that had still had people inside of it. "Damn it…" He raised both his arms and braced himself, and the beams struck him dead on.

The man laughed as he kept firing, and Astro grit his teeth as he held his ground. The man began making his way forward, increasing the intensity of the beams even further. "I thought this whole thing was going to be a bust, but getting away with this thing is gonna be totally worth it! Hell, I was gonna sell it, but maybe I should just keep it for myself!"

Eventually he was right in front of Astro, and after a few more seconds, he fell down to one knee. The man stopped, then reached down and grabbed him by his face. He lifted him up into the air. "Well, you're still in one piece huh? I'll admit, you're one tough little bastard. But you shouldn't have sent that other one off. Now you're done for!" He brought his fist back and then punched at Astro.

But the prince lifted his hand and caught it. The man went wide eyed as Astro tightened his grip. "You piece of shit…" Astro raised his other hand, grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand off of his face. The man felt a chill up his spine as looked into his eyes. They had changed, and so had his teeth. He looked like…

"You're a fucking monster…"

"Obviously…"

Astro raised his foot and kicked him back, sending him flying. He bounced down the street, skidding across the asphalt beside slamming into a truck. The man let out a groan, but then opened his eyes to see Astro rushing at him. He raised his hand and blasted at him, but it didn't even slow him down this time. "What the-?!"

The prince leapt up and swung at him again, but the man rolled out of the way. Astro smashed the truck into a pancake, and then quickly turned towards him again. He raised his arm to try and blast Astro again, but the prince grabbed his hand and then pulled. The sleeve of the battle suit was torn right off, and Astro tossed it aside as he stomped towards him.

The man desperating swung at him with his other hand, but Astro caught it and tore that one off as well. He then grabbed him by the collar, grabbing the chestpiece of the suit and ripped it right off. He knew that whatever company this thing had been stolen from would be disappointed to see it destroyed, but… he didn't care.

"Oh shit…"

The man paled as Astro grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up into the air. "You shot me…" he said dangerously, his tail moving back and forth slowly.

"I'm sorry!"

"You shot at those people."

"I'm sorry man! Seriously! It was fucked up! I-I was drunk on power or whatever!"

Astro growled. "You had to know that people could have gotten hurt, or killed, right?" he asked, shaking him. "But you did it anyway. Because you just didn't care. So, explain to me why I or anybody else should give if I threw you across the city?"

"Oh god no! Look, I'm surrendering man! Please!"

"My sister isn't going to catch you this time…"

The man looked like he was on the verge of tears, when suddenly another voice called out. "Looks like I was a little late to the party." Astro turned his head and saw Micah and Persi landing down on the ground. "Sorry for the wait bro. Was doing a bit of damage control on the way here. Looks like you got it handled."

Astro grunted before dropping the man to the ground. Before he could even think about moving away, both his hands and feet were frozen to the ground. "Don't worry. It's more or less wrapped up. Nia should be back in a bit and… well, the battlesuit is unfortunately not going back in one piece," he said, looking over towards the piece he had thrown away earlier.

Persi whistled. "Wow, you really did a number on that thing," she blonde said as she made her way over to collect what was left of it. She was pretty sure the science people would still want what was left of it.

Micah looked back towards Astro, who he noticed was pretty tense. "You went into your monster form. You okay dude?" he asked. He usually only did that when he was desperate or pissed off. The ladder had been happening a lot more often as of late.

"I'm fine," Astro said, letting out a breath. "Just… it's nothing."

Micah clicked his tongue. "Well, as soon as the cops get here we can head back to base. You up for getting you butt kicked in a few rounds of Street Fighter?" he asked.

Astro chuckled. "I'd really like to lie and saw I might win this time, but at this point it's just not in me."

Things had calmed down considerably since the incident on dealing with Oberon and the others. No more deities knocking on their doorstep, no more worries about ancient monsters attacking the school, and no more worrying about Nia turning into a near unstoppable force of nature. All and all, things were rather calm… or as calm as things were for them anyway.

Uran had headed back to mewni along with Star, doing his best to fall into his role as king of mewni. Of course he and Nia would visit one another regularly, spending time together and continuing her training. Alexander had gone back to New York, but told both his younger cousin and the Vanguard that he'd be keeping in contact.

They hadn't heard anything about from Oberon or his family, so they assumed he was keeping his word, which they were thankful for.

There had been some other changes as well though.

"Yo blondie!"

"Hey Nia!"

Astro narrowed his eyes as he watched the two familiar faces head towards them. Nia beamed as she ran forward to meet AJ and Jia halfway. It was bad enough that that AJ kid was always hovering around her, but now he had to worry about Dai Tai's little sister as well. "Hey guys! Did you bring the stuff?!"

Jia nodded. "Sure did. A whole bundle of Tangulu. Sweetest ones I could find," she said as she reached up and scratched Sol under the cheek. They didn't sell the candied fruits in her village, but they did in the next few over. And with a little help from Sol it was pretty much just a hop and skip away.

"I hope you brought enough to share with everyone," Astro said, walking over and putting himself between his younger sister and the other two youngsters.

Jia smirked. "Nope. Just three."

Astro opened his mouth to say something, but Nia slipped past him. "I'll save you one for later Astro. I'll probably be home a little later too! We're going to do a movie night!"

She ran off, AJ and Jia right behind her. The prince looked after her, and Micah walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know, you're not gonna be able to keep tabs on her forever," he said amused. "Eventually you're gonna have to let her leave the nest."

He snorted. "Bullshit I do." He knew Nia was gonna grow up eventually, and she was gonna have to settle down with someone at some point. Didn't mean he had to like it or make it easy for whoever it was.

Micah snickered, and then looked down the hall. "Oh, by the way. I think Amber wanted to talk to you about something. She was looking for you this morning," he explained.

Astro thought for a moment, and then hummed. He had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk about. "Alright then. I better go see what she wants. I'll catch up with you in the rec room later," he said holding his fist up. Micah nodded and gave him a fist bumped before making his way off.

Meanwhile, Amber sat in the green room, fiddling with her hands as she tried to calm her nerves. Today was the day she would be going before the royal court and making a case for her kingdom to be accepted among them. Her mother told her it would probably be the first of many. A kingdom being brought into the court was no small thing. But since this was going to be the first step, she wanted it to go as flawlessly as possible.

She felt something nudge her leg, and then looked down and saw Sear resting his head in her lap. She smiled before patting him on the head. "Well, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be trying to win over Pepper?" she asked amused.

Sear grunted, and then nuzzled her again. His mate was out with Cayenne again, and he could sense there was something bothering Amber. As the second in command of the tribe, it was his job to lift her spirits. "You doing alright?" Amber looked up again and saw Vera standing nearby.

She offered a small smile towards the demon girl. "Fine I suppose… maybe just a tad bit nervous. I know I've been practicing for this, but it's still a little intimidating."

Vera walked over and took a seat beside her. She had figured that Amber would come to the green room beforehand. A lot of the other members would come here to relax too. The Supernatural Department even did meditation here sometimes. Astro had done a pretty good job with it. It wasn't anything like the garden back in the castle, but it was certainly calming and relaxing.

"Yeah, I guess it is a lot to take in. I really wish I could come along, but mom says heads of the royal and noble houses can go." She'd been helping Amber to prepare for this for some time now, and it sort of sucked that she couldn't be there to help her see it through. But she was confident the girl could handle it. "You got this though. I know you're gonna blow everyone away."

Amber let out a breath. "I'm glad you're so confident about it." A lot of things had been going well for them, but… there had been a few hitches as well.

Vera was about to try and reassure her once more, but then Astro made his way inside. Before the boy could even say anything, Sear shot up and made his way towards hir rider. Astro smirked as he reached down and grabbed his face. "Hey there boy. You were keeping Amber company before her big day?" he asked.

Sear grunted and circled around him a few times as he looked towards Amber and Vera. "Sorry if I kept you waiting. There was a bit of an incident earlier and… you're not going to be late, are you?" he asked. He didn't know what she wanted to talk about, but it was probably important given where she was about to go.

Amber shook her head. "No, don't worry. I've still got plenty of time."

Vera stood up and smiled towards Astro. "I heard about that robbery. Those guys didn't give you too much trouble, did they?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Do you honestly think between both me and Nia we would struggle at all? It was over before it even started," he assured.

"Good to know," Vera said. She wasn't completely convinced however. While they were far from best friends, she knew that something had been up with Astro lately. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was off about him.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Astro asked.

Amber looked hesitant for a moment, and then let out a sigh. "I know this isn't your fault, and it isn't as if you can do anything about this now. But… well, you remember how Bloom and Fum were going to present their case alongside me, right?" she asked.

Astro frowned. Originally it was going to be the three heirs of the three Great Monster tribes, presenting a united front. It made a much stronger case for change with the three of them. But now it was just too. Bloom was still on board for the whole thing, but the decision was no longer in Fum's hands.

His brother Fee was now the acting leader of the tribe, and unfortunately he had no desire to join the royal court. Not while they were still connected to the Magical High Commission anyway. It was hard to blame him, but it did make things a lot more tricky.

"Yes. I'm sorry about that. I really did try and convince him but he just… he's got a lot of bad blood with the Commission." He had been close with Rosetta, and once he found out the truth about her death, he had been more than a little furious. He wasn't one to show his anger very easily, but Astro could feel it radiating off of him whenever he brought it up.

"I know, and I appreciate it. But there's another problem," Amber said before reaching up and handing him an envelope. Both he and Vera looked at it confused. "My father sent letters to the other septarian tribes about what we're doing. He was hoping to convince them to join with us. Make a stronger case. That one is from the Copperhead tribe."

The Copperhead tribe were the second largest group of septarians within mewni. A rather dangerous and weary bunch from what Astro knew. They didn't go actively causing trouble, but… well, they were something to look out for. He opened the letter and looked over it.

"The Septarians follow no ruler but… the king of monsters…"

Vera's eyes widened, and she looked down towards Amber who was frowning. "At least three other tribes sent the same thing. Some of them are willing to take the chance, but a lot of them just aren't willing to accept us bowing to Queen Star. And since they won't declare loyalty to her…"

"They're declaring for my father," Astro finished. He narrowed his eyes. Damn it, this was… complicated. His father welcomed any and all who didn't want to live under the influence of the Commission into his kingdom. And because Star knew he didn't mean any harm she left him be.

But if entire tribes started declaring their loyalty to his father, then it would start making people worried. Particularly the royals and nobles. He knew how things like this could spiral out of hand. And he also knew his father wouldn't stop it. Partly because he wouldn't feel the need to, and partly because he was lazy.

"I'll talk to my father..." The girls both shared a glance. The look on Astro's face told them that he didn't want to talk, so much as he did fight. Lately whenever his father was brought up he seemed to be on edge, and this news probably didn't help. Amber would have honestly held off if she wasn't so desperate. She just didn't know what to do.

"Thank you. If you could just… maybe convince him to say something. Make a statement that would just keep everyone's heads cool until we can get into the court. I can't force the other tribes to follow us, but I want to at least give mine the best shot they can," she said. Everything was riding on this, and she needed it to work.

"I understand. Maybe I can meet with the tribes and… I don't know, convince them to at least give you some sort of endorsement or something." Amber nodded in thanks, and before she or Vera could ask anything else he turned around and began making his way out, a none too pleased look on his face.

To say that the situation with his father and the monster kingdom was complicated would be an understatement. And while he understood just why he wasn't willing to trust the royal court or commission… it was making things complicated. Mewni would end up splitting itself in two at this rate. Something had to be done.

As he left, Amber and Vera both shared a glance. "He seems… angrier than usual lately. That's not just me is it?" Vera asked.

Amber nodded. "You're right. I think it might have something to do with his father." Something had happened a little while ago and he didn't seem to want to talk about him anymore. It's why she had put off asking before. She didn't want them getting into a fight trying to help her.

Vera hummed. Maria had asked her to keep an eye on Astro for her since she'd been busy with events in her own kingdom lately. But she would worry about that later. For now she was going to help Amber with some last minute preparations. "C'mon, do you want to go over your speech one last time?"

"Typhon… sir? Typhon!"

The king of monsters let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked down from his seat and towards Sting, who was standing in front of him with a frown. "Is something wrong?" he asked with a yawn.

She sighed. "Sir, I should be the one asking that. You were… you were letting loose the King's call again," she said crossing her arms. "Nothing too dangerous, but everyone in the tower felt it. And you were muttering to yourself again."

Typhon scowled. "Is that right. Sorry about that. I'll try to keep it under control," he said casually waving it off.

Sting didn't look at all convinced. She frowned as she stepped forward. "Typhon… is this about what happened with Astro? I know he's still mad at you after your last visit to Tartarus. Maybe that's what's been causing this?" she asked.

Typhon blinked, and then let out a laugh. "You think I'm upset about that? It's nothing to be concerned about. No, the boy will cool off eventually." Astro may not have wanted to give in to his instincts, but sooner or later he'd realize it was inevitable. Until then he was free to sulk as he pleased.

"Then what's been bothering you?" Sting asked. "I know you. You never let the King's Call slip away from you like that. Even if it's just in harmless bursts."

Typhon sighed, and then he reached down and patted her on the head. She pouted up at him, and he couldn't help but smirk. In moments like this he still saw her as the tomboyish little runt who wandered into his tower on a whim. "I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about," he said reassuringly.

She shook her head. "If you insist," she said. He could be so stubborn sometimes. "But if it happens again I'll be asking an Earth Nymph to come and check on you. And I won't hear anymore about it."

"Noted."

"I also feel that I should remind you that… well, Rasticore's daughter and the Earth Nymphs are meeting with the royal court today. My sources tell me that nothing is likely to come of it yet, but I just thought you should know."

He waved it off. "I don't really care about that. So long as they don't mess with us and ours, it doesn't really matter what they decide to do."

"Also, we've gotten word that more of the smaller tribes had declared loyalty to us."

Typhon grunted. "I heard about that. There's Septarians among them, yes? Send word back to them. Make our stipulations and stance clear. I won't have them doing anything to jeopardize our neutrality. If they accept, they're welcomed."

Sting nodded, and then began going down some of the less major info she thought needed his attention. Typhon hadn't honestly been listening. His thoughts had been more focused on what he'd been dreaming about before Sting came in.

It had been the same as the last few times he'd nodded off, and he wasn't exactly sure why. He hadn't had such vivid dreams of his brother and the others for centuries…

A/N: The first chapter of the Titanic Ten arc is here! I've really been looking forward to getting this one started, and I hopefully this is going to be the best of story yet! There's going to be a lot of big events, twists, and turns in this arc! So I hope all of you are excited!