Like Father, Like Daughter
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Star vs. the Forces of Evil
Chapter 37: Mewni...
The Pine walked the Diaz family through the sites around town, making sure to stay away from anything too horrifying. Such as the island in the middle of the lake that was a giant monster. They did show off the robot Gobblewonker that was now on display at the bait shop, though. Dipper still found it odd some people claimed to see one in the lake when they had proof that McGucket made it.
The museum had a few new odd relics they had collected.
Dipper had taken them to the arcade hoping to release Rumble McSkirmish, but they didn't. He and GIFfany had started dating and were out of reach.
Sev'ral Timez had been given the collective job of theater teacher for the high school and did a pretty good job. They had hoped to get them to perform, but apparently, they were helping with the retirement home's West Side Story production.
"What happened to all the supernatural stuff?" Dipper complained to his friends.
The group had settled near the entrance to a walking path through the forest. There were a few tables and benches to rest at before they headed on.
Candy just shrugged, "I don't know. We never really noticed them before you came."
"And it's not like we had a reason to look for them," Grenda added, "Sure, we see a gnome or something from time to time, but they don't cause trouble, so it doesn't change anything."
Dipper scratched his head, "But- there is actual proof of the supernatural all around the woods. How can-"
"Chill out, bro-bro." Mabel encouraged her brother.
After sorting everything out, Dipper had hoped to find some definitive proof to take back home and even expected to interview Star and Seraph.
He was still baffled over how people could be so blase about the supernatural. He understood how most people didn't believe him, but now after everything, everyone and Gravity Falls just moved on as nothing ground shaking happened.
"Food!" Seraph finally cheered out.
They had been waiting for Pacifica, and she was carrying large carry-out bags.
"Yeah. I got it. I have to remind you that I don't normally do deliveries."
Seraph smiled, "I ordered us a bunch of food before we left the diner. I asked Pacifica to bring it with her."
"That's very thoughtful," Rafael smiled at his granddaughter, patting her on the head.
Besides needing lunch, Mabel and Seraph planned this, and they thought having her bring them all treats would make things easier with her and Dipper.
Yeah, it didn't go so well. Dipper was focusing on the wrong blonde. He was asking Star a lot of questions about anything he could figure to ask. Dipper was a little intimidated talking to Hekapoo, considering what she might do, and figured it was better to let Mabel focus on Seraph.
Star went on about the multiverse and whatever she could remember as Dipper wrote notes in his journal.
Seeing that, Pacifica was getting annoyed.
"Uh," Mabel began, "Dip, why don't you put that away? I mean, don't you have enough weird stuff?" Mabel grabbed the book flipping through the pages.
"Look, Girl with A Magic Scarf, Magic Knight of London, Demon of Connecticut, Endless Train, and look, the Long Horse," Mabel motioned to a drawing of his of a skeletal horse that seemed to be entirely a long neck.
Dipper huffed as he yanked back his journal, "Come on, Star, what else can you tell me?"
"Hm, I don't know," Star tapped on her chin. Star wanted to tell him something she knew well. She was thinking of telling him one of her bedtime stories, but she wasn't sure. After all, Erebus turned out to be a bedtime story that was real.
"Maybe, I heard this story about a dragon that used to travel the multiverse," Star stretched out her hands, "He was huge and ugly and very greedy. I mean, many dragons like to hoard stuff, but he took it away too far. He would steal the greatest treasure from worlds and dimensions and take it back home. He was super dangerous, and if anyone got angry, he would come down to their world, the sky would open and just be filled with music. The dragon would tear through whole armies, and if they made him angry, he'd destroy their whole world. His home was a whole planet he had stolen and made his, and it was hidden somewhere in the multiverse in the dark. And anyone who found it would meet with the dragon. He was big as a world and mighty, always with two spirits, one of fire and one of darkness. Few people ever saw them and lived, but it's said that if anyone finds his world, they will die, but if they can prove they are worthy, the dragon will give them something amazing!"
"Really?" Dipper's eyes glimmered at the thought that somewhere there were hundreds of treasures waiting.
"Nah, it's a bedtime story-"
"Yeah," Hekapoo said between bites of her chicken, "Never met him myself, Omni seems to know something about him, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it. I know a couple of Queens met him. Solaria fought him, and I didn't see the fight. I was on a mission as an envoy. All I know is that it seemed to last a while, and they nearly killed each other. They ended up cracking the moon with their fighting. Solaria was always steamed about that fight, refused to give any details on the fight. She considered it a loss because she didn't kill him. Crescenta met him once, and he freaked her out. I never knew what she did, but she did something that made him very angry. Whatever it was kept him away. Still, she left an order to take him out if anyone ever saw him."
The kids looked at her with a sense of fear, the idea that a giant dragon who could destroy worlds just out there somewhere. Star doubly so, since she knew he didn't always look like a dragon.
Hekapoo just motioned to Marco, "Pass some of that bread," she sighed, "I guess a nice calm little walk after eating will be good for us."
Stan looked at Dipper. They both knew they weren't wowing Hekapoo. This town had been filled with magic and the weird, so not finding anything now felt off. The town felt off, strange, almost like something in the fundamental part of the town was shaken. It was almost like all the weirdness in town was gone. It just vanished.
"Hey Kid."
"Hey Norm,"
Dipper blinked as he realized the norm, and several of his gnomes were walking past them.
Hekapoo just glanced over, unimpressed.
Dipper couldn't blame her. None of them thought the gnomes were all that impressive. They got used to them over the summer or at least while they were stuck together in the shack.
The elder Diazes were taking a few pictures of them.
"Hey," Stan greeted them, "Make you guys can help us out."
"With what, Chief?" Norm was on friendly terms with Stan after he stayed in his shack.
"We got some friends from out of town, and we wanted to show them something special. Something they can't see elsewhere. You mind pointing us in the right direction."
Norm shook his head, "Can't tell ya,"
Norm motioned to Shmebulock, who was lifting a bag over his back.
"We are clearing out. Everything in the forest and everything around is staying clear and hidden."
That wasn't the answer Stan or Dipper wanted to hear.
"You gotta be kidding me,"
"Some creep is doing something that freaking everything up. The magic folks haven't been doing great lately, but something in it is making it worse. The fairies who've been here for years are doing everything to head back home. If you've ever met a fairy, you'd know they're not easily spooked. So we're all staying clear of that little frog bird guy."
"Frog bird guy?" Dipper perked at that.
"I'm not an expert, and it's one of those guys who shows up on the other side of the planet. In those Annie-mays."
"Kappa," Mabel was the first to speak up.
"Yeah," The gnome confirmed.
Dipper looked at his sister, "What, I bought this cute little plush one back home."
Norm nodded, "Yeah, that Kappa was doing some creepy magic stuff with a wand and talking to a little blue guy."
Before they could react, Hekapoo rushed over, grabbed the gnome, "Blue guy?" She took out her mirror and pulled up the image of a wanted poster. "Is this the guy? The kappa with the blue guy?"
Norm simply nodded, too scared to speak.
"Ludo is here," Hekapoo dropped him.
"Mom?" Seraph squeaked out.
"Marco, go back to the Shack. Everyone, get back to the Shack now."
"Hekapoo?" Marco asked her.
"I'm calling the High Commission. We are going to get that book back."
0000
It didn't take long. Moon had tried to dismiss the call, but she decided to tell Hekapoo to enjoy her vacation. Then she heard the word that Hekapoo found Ludo.
Moon had looked through the Monster Temple and found nothing. They couldn't fail this time. Half of Mewni was questioning the family, and the other half was too scared from the attack by Erebus to risk the chance that Ludo might be the next threat.
The creatures of this land had told Hekapoo where they had spotted Ludo. Moon arrived in her full armor, and the Commission were all ready to fight.
The Commission didn't exactly like Glossaryck, but he was their creator. He was the closest thing they had to a parent. And well, they weren't on the best terms with Moon either, considering she hid the fact that he was missing. And they could use him, not only for Erebus but the Fritz as well. Hekapoo wanted to avoid talking to him about it. They might need to speak to him about Seraph, what Hekapoo was, and how her condition changed.
They slowly approached the cave, careful not to be spotted. A fire had died out near the entrance, and a small figure was face down beside it.
"Ludo!" Moon called out.
Rhombulus quick crystalized his feet.
"Got him!"
"Huh? What's going on?"
The spider and the eagle jumped out of nowhere and charged at them. Hekapoo opened up a portal and let them tumble through.
"I got them," Hekapoo smirked at the crystal-headed man.
Ludo looked confused, "Ugh… who are you…? Please don't take my organs… Queen Moon? What are you doing here?"
"Give me that!" Moon said, taking Ludo's wand.
"Hey!" Ludo protested, but there wasn't much that he could do in his current state.
"Where's Glossaryck?" Moon demanded to know
"Glossaryck? Um, he's gone."
"What do you mean he's gone? What did you do to him?"
"I didn't do anything. Glossaryck showed me something in the spellbook, and the next thing I know, I wake up, and they're gone."
"Oh, come on. You stole the book."
"Whoa-who-whoa-whoa. How's that stealing? Glossaryck said the book was mine now. And I think we can all agree Glossaryck comes and goes as he pleases."
"That's true," Rhombulus had to admit.
"Yeah," Hekapoo added.
"What about your wand?" Moon asked, "You have half my family's crystal embedded in it."
"It doesn't even work anymore," Ludo told her, "If it's yours, you can have it. Face it. You've got nothing on me."
"All right, all right, this is getting us nowhere." Rhombulus spoke, preparing his power, "Time for Plan B."
"No. Wait." Moon stopped him.
"No, we need to find Glossaryck," Hekapoo growled at her.
They moved towards the cave, hoping to find the book.
Moon downcast looked at Ludo, "Oh, I … I saw your family, Ludo."
"My family? Let me tell you about my family."
Ludo spoke at length about his family, and none of it was too pleasant.
"When I was, like, five years old, my big brother Chudo was walking me home from the park, and we stopped at this old, burned-down castle, and he said, 'well, looks like the house burned down. Guess we've got to live outside now'."
"That must have been difficult. But I do know that Dennis misses you. He says hello."
"How is he?"
"He's worried about his big brother. And so am I."
"Worried about me? Don't you get it? I lost my army, my kingdom, my clothes! And look- still standing!"
"Yes, but for how much longer? You don't look well, Ludo. Tell me what's going on, and maybe I can help you."
The Commission looked through the cave and found little to anything. They found a big cave painting of a somewhat familiar figure.
Rhombulus looked confused, "Hey, does this look like that guy? You know, messed with that human, the one with that wig and that liked swinging that ax."
Nearby in a pile of corn, Lekmet sniffed and found the book.
"Baw!"
"You found him!" Hekapoo yelled.
"Glossaryck! Glossaryck! Glossaryck!" Omni phased through the floor.
As the book opened up, Rhombulus noticed something, "It's blank! It's not real!"
They gasped and raced back to Moon. They found Moon on the ground, her eyes black, and Ludo standing over her with his eyes glowing green and holding his wand.
He laughed, his voice different.
Flesh regenerated over the wand and Ludo's right arm, restoring Toffee's arm with the wand's crystal embedded in his palm.
"Ludo?" Hekapoo asked.
"Ludo is not here right now," A strained smile stretched over his face, "But if you'd like, you can leave a message."
Omni phased to the ground, allowing himself to grow. "You did not wanna do that, little man-!"
In a flash of light, and suddenly Omni was reduced to a skull.
The other let out a gasp as Toffee absorbed Omni's power, and he began to rise off the ground.
"That's it!" Rhombulus charged forwards, blasting.
Hekapoo hesitated. She didn't know how her new condition was changing her. The others had wondered if it meant she could be revived. Lekmet wasn't all-powerful, and even if he felt like trying to revive her, there would be complications, and the sanctuary was gone. If he tried, there was a chance the connection to Marco would be gone. Maybe Hekapoo would revive, but she would be a blank slate. If she went down, she might never get up, and perhaps someone else would.
Rhombulus attacked, but Toffee dodged before draining Rhombulus.
Hekapoo screamed, a vision of crack crystal from a future that never was filled her mind. Flames erupted around Hekapoo, and she cloned herself and charged. They all sent flames at Toffee, who was forced to create a shield around himself. It stopped the draining process before it could finish.
Rhombulus collapsed, exhausted.
Lekmet moved over to Moon as golden magic swirled around him, reviving him.
"You can't keep doing that, Chancellor," Rhombulus begged him.
Moon gasped as the world slammed into her.
The cave exploded, and Hekapoo was hurled back as Toffee blew up his shield. Toffee held out his wand absorbing the clones.
Rhombulus took the chance to return the favor and pulled Hekapoo towards the group, sparing her. Moon grabbed the skull in hope for the future.
"Hello Moon, it's been a while," Toffee revealed his severed middle finger.
"Toffee?"
Toffee smiled as he unleashed his dark magic, hitting the entire group at once. They felt it, their magic, their very being draining away from them, and even the act of screaming was stolen from them.
Hekapoo's mind started to go white as pain filled her mind, except for one image of Marco and Seraph and the idea of how desperate she was to return to them.
0000
The group had returned to the Shack as requested. Seraph was pacing, doing a poor job hiding how worried she was worried about her mom. Ford was told about the situation, unsure what to make of it, just agreeing with the statement that if fairies were scared, they should all be. He decided to do some scans to see if he could find anything.
Star did her best to reassure her, "Don't worry, the Commission does this sort of thing all the time. They'll be fine. Come on, Marco, tell her."
"Yeah, your-'" Marco started but didn't finish.
Ford's watch beeped as it detected a massive burst of energy, but he ignored that.
Marco was suddenly gasping, his skin turning pale as he reached for his chest. He trembled, only letting out one single word, "Hekapoo."
0000
Hekapoo glowed, disrupting the draining process. Red energy erupted from her, wrapping up the other, pulling them somewhere.
Toffee smiled and looked at Moon, "Tell Star… I'm coming for my finger."
0000
Marco managed to gasp it out, "Hekapoo. Hekapoo. Hekapoo."
Red energy erupted out of his chest, and the group came out, tumbling to the ground.
"Huh, that's weird," Stan mumbled out.
Angie, Rafael, and Seraph rushed over to check on Marco and Hekapoo, who were alive but not responsive.
Star wanted to go to him too, but Moon jumped up and stopped her; she grabbed Star, "We have to go," She pulled out her scissors and opened a portal, and pushed her through, closing the portal behind them.
0000
Toffee smiled to himself, taking out Ludo's scissors before slashing at the cave painting, "Gentleman, and lady, things are ready. They went smoother than I expected."
He looked past the portal to see a triangle figure with a single eye.
It was a statue with the phrase written below it, "He was the Worst."
The Henchmaniacs stepped forwards and out of the portal. Bill had used them, they didn't like him, but he promised to free them and have fun. Then they got sucked back into their horrible dimension on the brink of entropic decay, and then a spirit in a kappa made them a new offer. Work for him for a project, and he'd free them into the world. He told them he got a blue man to tell him the history of Gravity Falls and even how to let them get out of it.
They smiled at their new boss, and it looked like it was time for another party.
0000
Janna was returning from walking the dragons and puppies when she spotted a strange swirl of light from Marco's home. As she got closer, she saw Star's room and all her magic stuff vanished from it.
0000
The Commission was barely conscious, but Hekapoo and Marco were still out.
They had to explain everything to Ford since he was the only person that looked like he'd have a single clue to what was happening. Ford, McGucket, Wendy and Soos, were dragging chest and suitcases of stuff towards the couch that Ford had Hekapoo and Marco on. Wendy was having an easier and faster carrying the cases.
Ford had books open as he used some chalk to draw complex magical arrays, two actually, which he started to connect.
"You will have to forgive me. This is a tad slapdash. Hekapoo is a genius loci, and Marco is her location along with the person in control of her- sort of." He sighed, "One of the many problems with that being that a human isn't able to channel enough power to sustain genius loci. With magic being unstable as it is, I imagine the process is less refined. Now, I've heard that the master of a genius loci in its location can summon it to them. I think through their connection means Marco sensed she was in danger and subconsciously summoned her to him. Maybe it's another facet of her power bubbling up or sheer luck, but she managed to pull the other with her. Maybe if it were just her, it wouldn't be so bad, maybe it would. It doesn't matter now. The process drained Marco and left him in a state that can barely sustain himself."
"Ford! The kid looks like he's fading! Skip the lecture."
"The circles will channel energy into them! I had the Shack built on an old web of ley lines, it should help, but I've also collected magical trinkets on our trip and before. We place them in the adjacent circle, and the magic will transfer into them, hopefully restoring them."
"Just say that!" Stan scolded him.
Everyone present there started to grab items and toss them into the circle. The circles began to glow as items filled it.
Seraph grabbed a dream catcher and was about to throw it when Ford stopped her, "Uh, yeah, that's just something I bought off a road stop shop. And you should probably stay back. It's possible that it could drain you, and I have no idea how that could turn out."
Seraph whimpered and stepped back, staying close to her exhausted uncles. Lekmet didn't have it in him to revive Omni, and Rhombulus could barely move. The snake hands flickered their tongue at Seraph, trying to comfort her.
Mabel grabbed her friends and Pacifica with her stash of souvenirs from last summer. The girls came back and hurled the items onto the growing pile.
"Ew!" Pacifica grimaced as she pulled out wet unicorn hair.
"Wow, that blood is still wet." Mabel remarked, "Unicorns are weird."
"I think we need more energy." Mabel ran off before returning with a box. "Spooky talking eyeball!"
Mabel hurled out a crystal ball from the box. As it arrived on the pile, it glowed, a flaming eye forming in it. It screamed as its magic was drained.
Marco and Hekapoo jolted up groggy. Seraph went over to them and hugged them.
"Good job Mabel," Ford patted her shoulder.
Dipper sighed, "So Stan, this is good, right? This has got to get them on our side, right?"
"Kid," Stan grumbled, "Ford is afraid of that Broad and her friends, something just took all of them out, and it's in the forest. None of this is good."
0000
Moon shared one last kiss with River before she stepped into the portal, tears in their eyes.
River forced his sadness down as far as it would go and stepped out into the throne room where the knight waited.
"Prepare! We are expecting powerful forces to invade Mewni! We will be ready to face them!"
No sooner did he see that a lanky green demon with eight balls for eyes, a set of teeth with arms and legs, and a creature before not named rushed into the castle. Down below, their fellows had arrived to wreak havoc on the kingdom.
0000
Everyone in Gravity Falls felt a shiver run down their spines as the sky began to turn red and started to shimmer.
Author's Notes: Okay, so here is the latest chapter. Thanks for my beta for double checking everything. I didn't do much here for October since I am working on my Soul Eater Meisterhood Halloween special. PLUG!
And I just started a new job so there is that too. Som please be patient and yeah. Leave a review and tell me what you guys think.