Animated Cinematic Universe (ACU)

by secretagentman1

A group of heroes from different walks of life comes together to defend a world that was never meant to exist. Facing foes that could easily destroy their way of life, and having to get along with each other. They may not be perfect, but someone has to do the job. MCU-esque set up. Super long chapters. Phase-like structure

1. Chapter 1

The ACU (Animated "Cinematic" Universe)

AN: Well, I know I said that I wouldn't make any new stories until I completed the ones I'd already made, but this had been a plot bunny in my head since Pibbinator's "Marvel's Maelstrom" was published, but unfortunately the story has been "finished" as Pibbinator has decided to work on becoming an original writer.

So, with that bittersweet news, it's kind of kicked my ass into gear to start writing this story. And just to give an idea of how long this is taking to write, today is May 5th, 2020.

BTW read the Author's note at the end (if you make it to the end…please make it to the end) for fun facts and insight…and a "post-credit" scene for those that don't care about the AN.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All properties used in the following story are owned by their respective companies/creators.

Phase one: It all starts with a seed

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

"And that's another boring ass *belch* patrol done."

"C'mon it isn't all bad. Better than porting around and getting wrapped up in all that *belch* b-bullshit, right?"

Two very similar looking people dressed up in classy black suits with matching black shades talked to one another as their car leisurely rolled down the street. The passenger side window was down allowing the rider to see the outside world. The streets were busy and still in the middle of being expanded for the influx of new people in town.

"At least all the sheeple are fitting in nicely with each other," the passenger looked to the driver who had taken a swig from a flask he took from his jacket pocket.

"Why'd I have to get one of the *belch* optimistic ones?" the diver lamented to himself, rolling his eye and pocketing his drink. He looked back at his passenger and pointed to the glovebox, "Just get the checklist out so we c-can finish up and return to base. Shouldn't keep the *belch* big man waiting, am I right?"

The passenger reached into the glovebox, ignored all the empty beer cans that came spilling out (knowing his car had the same problem), and grabbed a clipboard and pen.

"Ok, we stopped by Shitty-Autumn-Park?" the passenger asked his cohort.

"Yep."

"That's a check in the bank! How about Stupid-Future-Looking-Try-Hard-ton?"

"Affir-*belch*-mative."

"And finally, Dumbass-Boring-Rural-Wood?" the passenger finished and looked to his partner.

"Hell yeah, dawg! We're all finished up for today's patrol and no trouble to be seen!" the driver shouted in joy while letting out a series of burps and high-fiving his passenger.

"Ah man, I can't wait to get back to base and get a drink, ugh," the passenger leaned back in his seat, loosened his tie, and stuck his shades into his collar.

"Yeah, you did good, rookie. Hope you look forward to the hazing the guys are gonna put you through," the driver laughed to himself and nudged his passenger in the shoulder.

"Just gotta try your best ya *belch* know? It's a big deal that we're all here, so I have to make it worthwhile."

"We all think that during, like, the first week. I think? You'll learn to unwind soon enough," the driver assured his partner.

"But the way the boss talks about what he's been through, it doesn't make you want to be *belch* as vigilant as he is?"

"Like I said, first week. He's just paranoid," the driver pointed out of his partner's window and gestured to the people walking, "See? Two years of being here and nothing outside of petty crimes have happened and the police have handled that themselves. We're just like the MIB, we show up to see if we're needed, and when we aren't, we disappear. These guys don't know we exist and it's better if it stays that way."

"I guess you're right. He can't complain if everyone is happy and it is nice to have a roof with only a small amount of assholes to deal with," the passenger smirked at his joke at the end.

"Hahahaha, you son of a bitch you got me! *belch* Come on let's get back to base so we can haze the shit of you newbies!" the driver yelled to the sky, already in the process of making an illegal U-turn.

*BOOM*

"Holy Shit! Are you firing the weapons off again!?" the passenger yelled in shock.

From the window the two riders could see that the once tranquil streets were suddenly raucous with the stampeding feet of the civilians, running from the epicenter of what appeared to be a large pink explosion. The two of them looked each other in the eyes, pure resolve showing, and quickly had the car turn back around.

"What the hell was that?!" the passenger questioned, pulling his shades back on and tightening his tie.

"I don't know! We've been doing this shit for two years, man, and nothing like this has happened!" the driver dodged the fleeing cars with ease and keeping his eye on the mushroom cloud that could still be seen.

"Gotta follow protocol and call this in!" the passenger reached for his radio but was stopped by his partner.

"For a pink explosion? This is probably just some stupid-ass prank by some idiot kid."

The passenger's retort was caught in his throat when the car approached a large crater that was in the middle of the road. The blast had dug far enough into the ground that a person would have to slide into it to reach the bottom. It was also quite huge, to the point that the oddly colored smoke obscured the view of the other side of the road.

"A bunch of kids, huh?" the passenger jabbed, getting out with his partner and walking with him to the trunk.

"Fine, no kids. *belch* Okay, we should survey the crater and make sure no idiot thrill-seekers got caught up in it, and look any for clues of any chemicals or casing to figure out what the hell went off," the driver took point as he grabbed a chrome rifle and turned it on, giving it a blue glow.

"Gotcha, and gotta say I'm glad to see we're using knockoffs instead of actual sci-fi weapons," the rookie quipped pulling out a small, seemingly innocuous and toy-like gun with a needle-like muzzle.

"You want original weapons or effective weapons? And why are you complaining anyway? You got the Noisy Cricket!"

"Got to have the fast *belch* hands!"

The two quietly and carefully slid into the crater before standing back to back to cover each other's blind spots. Looking around with a type of sensor device in hand, the driver watched the screen and listened to the steady beeping of the device. The driver covered his partner as he broke off from formation to crouch down onto the ground to exam the debris.

The passenger rubbed some of the dirt between his fingers, "Glitter? What the hell kind of explosion leaves glitter and a huge crater like this?" he asked himself.

A sudden noise made the duo point their weapons in that direction and approach to catch a glimpse of what could have made the noise. The passenger wiped his hand on his pants to get rid of the glitter and followed his partner to investigate. The driver stepped carefully through the smoke, darting his eyes around for any hint of movement but still managed to step on something. Crouching down, he checked what he had stepped on and rose an eyebrow upon seeing what it was.

"Whatcha got?" the rookie asked.

"It's a tiny narwhal," he answered in confusion, holding a small narwhal in his hand that was flopping around. Most likely due to the lack of water.

"A what?"

"Just what I said," he dropped the tiny animal back onto the ground and then noticed that there were more of them, "Hey, look at this."

"They're all in a straight line. Why?" the rookie asked.

A scurrying sound was heard next to them, and they readied their weapons in case the being was hostile. Looking to each other, and nodding, the two walked in the direction and made to communicate.

"Calm down. I know we don't look it but we're the good guys here. We're just trying to figure out what happened," the driver called to the vague shape that he saw through the clearing smoke. "Do you need help?" he asked seeing that the shape was crouched down.

"Think we should call this in now?" the rookie whispered, knowing that his 'superior' had made him leave the radio in the car.

Before he could answer, the shape stood up and walked toward the two. That walk slowly turned into a sprint and then a run. An odd pink glow was coming from the figure's hand, revealing an object in said hand as it burst through the smoke.

"What the hell?!" they screamed.

The hand was holding what looked like a baby's rattle, it had a large light purple sphere on its end for a bell and a blue circle with hearts that surrounded a golden star crystal and had a small crown on its tip. The grip is also light purple with white wings that attach to the bell, a blue butterfly at the top of the grip before it reaches the bell, and a yellow rim with a blue heart at the bottom. All in all, it seemed as far from threatening as a thing could it get…that is before the figure shouted something that made the glow intensify.

"Rainbow Fist Punch!" the voice called in a distinctly female tone as the rattle shot a rainbow shaped like a fist out of the crystal, aiming for the two suits.

"Holy shit! Evasive maneuvers, back to the car! Gotta call for backup!" the driver yelled, diving out of the way with his partner.

The two quickly dashed back the way they came with the driver laying down covering fire to force the unknown enemy to avoid his shots. She was surprisingly agile, though, as she avoided every shot with such ease that she was able to do flips to dodge the projectiles. Upon landing, she did a quick twirl and called out another odd-sounding attack.

"Narwhal Blast!"

"Fuck!" the driver hit the deck, watching as a stream of miniature narwhals were fired at him from the rattle, confirming that this girl was most likely the culprit of the blast.

Picking himself up, the driver charged up the crater, went back to the car, and opened the door to provide himself some cover. His partner had done the same as he had gotten ahold of the radio to call in reinforcements. Unfortunately, before he could get the word out the door was bombarded by shots from the girl.

"Dammit! Did you clock what she's packing?!" the passenger asked, leaning against the door and yelling over the impacts.

"Doesn't look like any tech that we've got on record and not anything we could have thought up!" the driver yelled back, a grim expression on his face, "I think we're dealing with some bullshit mystic artifact WMD! And that is definitely worth calling into the boss!"

"Go for it! I'm gonna fire this thing, hope I hit her!" the passenger slid the radio over to the driver, and started to fire with the Noisy Cricket, managing to nick her a few times but never getting a clean hit.

"Hey, this is Rick 3467 and 7693 and we're under attack! Respond!" the now-named Rick 3467 shouted and while awaiting his response he started to fire with his partner.

The radio crackled to life as another Rick answered the call, "Shouldn't you a-holes be back here by now? The hazing is tonight."

"Fuck you! Didn't you hear me? Under attack! Patrol's gone sideways!" he called back dodging a shot that was of crystal daggers in the shape of hearts that shredded through the car door's upper half. "Didn't you hear about the explosion today?! That's where we are, and we're dealing with some psycho bitch with a mystic WMD!"

"What!? An actual threat!? No cops?!" the Rick on the other end did a spit take in surprise.

"Cops wish they'd be able to take on this shit!" the passenger Rick called out firing another shot.

"This is for sure a Code Red level threat. Get the big man in on this shit!" Rick 3467 shouted back.

Before he could get his reply, the duo heard a loud thud on the roof of the car and upon looking up, they finally got a clear view of their assailant. The girl was young, at least 17 or 18 years old with long blond hair that reached to the back of her knees and was also dirty from all the dust that had been kicked up. Her bangs slightly covered her large blue eyes which also emphasize her round face that oddly had pink hearts on each cheek. Her clothing consisted of a tattered royal blue dress, one of the puffy sleeves having been torn and was now hanging from her elbow, and the dress being torn up the leg. The most important accessory was on her head, a gold tiara that had amazingly stayed in one piece.

"*huff-huff* Ok, I'm only gonna ask you guys this once. Where am I, and what dimension is this?" the girl raised her rattle and pointed it at them both, making the men drop their weapons and pray that their backup was on their way. "Well!?"

"That's gonna be complicated."

(Play the Star vs. the Forces of Evil Theme)

(A few hours earlier, in another dimension)

Welcome to the dimension of Mewni, a medieval-styled dimension reigned by different monarchies depending on the region that one finds themselves in. By far, the most powerful of these kingdoms is the one ruled by the matrilineal Butterfly family which is currently helmed by Queen Moon Butterfly.

Butterfly castle easily dwarfed every building around it, denoting the class difference between the royal family and the peasant folk that surrounded it. Despite this divide, all was peaceful in the kingdom as the peasants were protected by their beautiful and powerful queen, so they could live comfortably in their squalor. They had no reason to want for anything since the queen would do all the thinking for them, tell them right from wrong, when to sleep or eat, and keep the evil monsters from stealing their corn. The only real caveat for them is their rambunctious princess who had just recently come of age a few days ago.

Princess Star was well known in practically every corner of Mewni, even outside of her specific kingdom, as an immature thrill seeker that has on more than one occasion skirted her royal duties to get herself into different kinds of trouble. From fighting the monsters that are just beyond the kingdom's border, to riding a stampede of Warnicorns through the square she was always up to something. And now, at age 17, she had received the royal magic wand from her mother, a powerful relic passed down from queen to daughter for generations. To say the townsfolk were nervous about the princess's gaining of the powerful object would be an understatement, especially because of her wild streak…and the worry was not unfounded. Star had caused countless problems with her new wand since she received it and disregarded any lessons that were to be given to understand the responsibility that came with the artifact along with the acknowledgment of her age, meaning that her time as queen would be fast approaching. And it was plain to see…that she wasn't ready.

Evidence of this is the most recent bit of commotion that was currently happening in the town's cornfield. Turns out, a few monsters had somehow found a way through the magical barrier that protects the field and made to steal a few ears, but unluckily for them, Star had found them and took it upon herself to stop them from stealing it.

"If you guys wanted food, all you had to do was ask!" Star smiled and jumped into the air, pointing her wand down at a frog monster. "Cupcake Blast!" she shouted and fired a concentrated blast of cupcakes at the monster with concussive force.

The frog had no chance of dodging the (admittedly) delicious attack and was, therefore, pummeled into the ground by it. Upon landing, Star ran toward a red-skinned two-headed monster and jump-kicked him in his stomach to knock over a row of monsters.

Star was then grabbed from behind by an anthropomorphic giraffe monster, allowing the mob to gang up on her in a dogpile. And while this was occurring a small bird-looking monster that was wearing a skull on his head and a green cloak had been sneaking by the fight, edging closer to the cornfield. Unfortunately for him, the monsters were blasted away from the young princess and were all strewn around the battlefield battered and bruised, barely able to pick themselves up after the magical beating.

"Come on! You call yourselves monsters?!" the bird shouted in anger, seeing his army groan pathetically.

Star landed between the bird and the cornfield, pointed the wand at the bird's face, and smile triumphantly against her foe before addressing him. "Ludo! How many times do you and your monster pals have to fail before you realize…ya not gettin' my corn," she finished cheekily while waving her wand lackadaisically with a hand on her cheek, displaying the blatant disregard she had for the threat the bird represented.

"But you Mewmans hoard it all! We wouldn't have to steal it if you shared!" Ludo angrily replied.

"Look, Ludo we give you monsters enough to survive out there. So, there should be no reason for you to come take ours," Star rolled her eyes at the pleading monster.

"Barely enough to get by, and you all have sun and magic at your disposal! Where's the fairness!" Ludo wailed, but gulped seeing the princess tower over him and fire a beam at him and his group.

"All you monsters are the same. Boo-hoo, I hate living in the swamp. Boo-hoo, I want to live with the Mewmans. Boo-hoo, I want more than corn scraps," Star harshly mocked the monsters and tossed them out through the hole in the force field protecting the corn.

The monsters landed pathetically in the mud, forced to watch as the princess sealed the tear in the barrier and pressed her face against it to mock them some more. Unable to get back inside, the monsters retreated into the dark forest in shame as the princess and some Mewmans jeered at them from the safety of their town.

"Stay out ya filthy creatures!"

"Corn is for Mewmans! Why don't you go eat some bugs? Must be a delicacy for the likes of you!"

"Come back anytime, boys! I'll be sure to try out some more spells I've been thinking of!" Star finished.

Unbeknownst to the two groups, a pair of yellow eyes were watching the events transpire before retreating into the forest. This creature was on a mission, and it knew that it would accomplish it no matter the cost, but first, it had to get allies. What this creature had in store for the Mewmans, nay, the whole of the dimension of Mewni would be a great undertaking that demanded more hands to be on deck.

Back in the kingdom, Star was clapping her hands of imaginary dust after a job well done and was about to go explore Mewni further for more action, that is, until a troop of soldiers blocked her path. The soldiers parted to form a walkway as their queen, Moon Butterfly, approached her daughter, a stern look on her face.

The princess had the decency to look a tad guilty upon looking at her mother's strict face, making her displeasure seem even more palpable to the young girl. Star offered a small wave to her mother when she stopped directly in front of her.

"Hi, mom."

"Hello, Star. You won't believe this, but I stopped by your room to make sure you were practicing your spells with Glossaryck and imagine my surprise when I see him eating pudding and your window wide open…" the queen left her sentence hanging at the end and watched her daughter do everything in her power to avoid eye contact with her.

"Well, see here's the thing, mom, I was in my room with Glossaryck and everything but then I saw these monsters sneaking into the cornfield and there was no way I could let them get away with that so I…" Star fired off an excuse as quickly as she could but clammed up when her mother raised a hand to silence her, putting the wand in her mouth and slightly chewing it.

"That's what the guards are for, Star," Moon sighed to herself and pinched her brows together in exasperation. "Your job is to learn all you can so you can become the next queen of Mewni. The wand is only for protection as a last resort and status, not for you to go through this little thrill-seeking nonsense."

Moon turned away from her daughter, expecting her to follow her back to the palace which she did with her head down. The soldiers went after the members of the royal family more for appearance than needing to protect them, knowing that the mother and daughter could take care of themselves.

Upon entering the palace, the entourage had dispersed, leaving the queen and princess by themselves. The knights knew that the queen was most likely about to give her daughter another lecture about the incoming responsibility she had and the weight of the legacy she would soon have on her shoulders. This was practically a ritual for the two at this point and all the knights in the castle were sure that they had heard some rendition of the speech at least once. And at this point, the knights were wondering why the queen even bothered trying to steer Star in the right direction, she clearly had no interest in becoming queen of Mewni and liked to move in her own little world at her own pace. It was questionable at best that she'd be queen and at worst…she could be one of the worst queens that the kingdom has ever seen, but it wasn't their place to say.

"Star, as you know, or rather as you should, you are from a long line of queens. Each of them vastly different from the last, but they knew that they had a responsibility to the kingdom and its people. Some did better than others of course, and of those others, none was worse than Eclipsa," Moon explained to her daughter as she pointed to large tapestries of the past queens of Mewni.

"But we still have her tapestry in the Grandma Room," Star whispered under her breath.

"Yes, we do. As a reminder of what the worst can do. To remind us that, as queens, we need to be better and do better for ourselves and our people."

"But you won't tell me what she did to be considered the worst queen?" Star questioned with an eye-roll.

"Perhaps I will, when I believe you're ready," Moon told her, turning to regard her daughter.

"I'm ready for the wand. I fight monsters all the time. Glossaryck is teaching me…for the most part," Star listed on her fingers, attempting to prove herself to her mother.

"And yet you don't know the first thing about being responsible or running the kingdom. Two of the most important things that a queen has to do."

Moon bluntly told her daughter, no room for being soft on the girl or she wouldn't learn her lesson, even if she had to give this lecture a thousand more times. Star couldn't just goof off like this all the time. She needed to be ready to be queen as soon as possible.

"Well, maybe I shouldn't be queen then, mom!" Star exclaimed suddenly, "Sitting in a chair all day, telling people what to do, and making laws isn't something I want."

"Being queen is more than all those things, Star. And if you keep slacking you won't be able to see what that 'more' is," Moon pleaded and put her hand onto her daughter's shoulder with a soft smile. "You have the potential to be the best queen Mewni has ever seen. I believe you can do it."

Star looked her mother in the eye, removed her hand from her shoulder, and said "What does that matter, anyway? I won't be queen anytime soon and that suits me just fine," Star ran to the door with her bangs covering her eyes and tears beginning to well up in them. "I'm gonna go to bed, I have some monster patrolling to do tomorrow."

She then left her mother in the room to be with her thoughts. Moon decided not to give chase as she believed her daughter was still coming to terms with the influx of responsibility that was suddenly thrust onto her shoulders. The queen then walked to a specific tapestry in the room, which came before the portrait of Eclipsa Butterfly and stared intently at it before she left the room.

Once Star made it back to her room she jumped into her bed and buried her face into her pillow, letting out a frustrated groan while she was at it. In the corner of her room, a large weathered book leaned against the wall before opening by itself to let out a little blue man. He was bald yet had a full beard and was wearing a yellow robe. His oddest features were his blue skin, pink gem embedded in his forehead, six-fingered hands, diamond-shaped irises, and his long nose. Currently, the little blue man was busy wiping chocolate pudding out of his beard, appearing to not notice the young girl's presence.

"You know, you'd think you'd be tired of hearing these lectures, Star," the man said, floating over to the girl's side with his hands in his sleeves. "Moon just wants you to be the best queen you can be. Frankly, I don't see it but who am I to judge."

"That's because you live in a book and have no responsibilities, Glossaryck," Star rolled her eyes at the now named Glossaryck. "And thanks for keeping me out of trouble," she sarcastically said.

"I said I wouldn't tell them where you went…and I didn't. I simply ate my bribe pudding and they saw me enjoying it therefore they figured out that you ditched class," Glossaryck twisted his words to find a loophole with a smile on his face, staring at the unamused girl.

"You could have hidden."

"Yeah, I could have, but you didn't tell me to do that or give me enough bribes to warrant it. Soooo…it all comes full circle."

"Ugh, Mom just doesn't get this, Glossaryck. I didn't get a say in being a princess and now it feels like my life is in hyperdrive and the last stop is that stupid chair," the princess vented to the little man.

"She just wants you to be the best queen you can be, and her way of seeing to that is getting you ready as quickly as possible."

"But why now? She didn't talk about it nearly as much before I got the wand," Star stood up and began to pace around her room. "Before she'd mention it every once in a while, get upset when I fought monsters and got hurt, at least. Now I can't take a single step outside the castle without an alarm going off."

"She is a little overprotective, but for good reason. For her, being queen came at a…difficult time," Glossaryck tried to find the right way to describe the situation.

"What does that mean?!" Star stomped on the floor at the vague answer, "If I'm old enough to be knee-deep in all this princess stuff and get the wand shouldn't I know more?!"

"The wand is for tradition more than anything. You don't even need it…is what I would say if you paid attention to my lessons," Glossaryck lightly ribbed, but upon seeing that the girl was not amused he went silent. "*sigh* Star, I'll tell you what I think," Glossaryck sat down on the bed and patted the area next to him, watching as the girl sat next to him. "Your mom is pushing you too hard."

"See! Maybe we can-"

"Let me finish. She's pushing you too hard because she's scared for you and herself. I'm not allowed to go into detail…Mewni law and whatnot, but her reasons aren't completely unfounded. You definitely have a lot of growing to do…" Glossaryck left his sentence hang, "…but she should let you do it at your own pace. You're still young so you still want your freedom and to be kept in the loop more, and I'm sure your mom has plans to tell you soon. But for now, you're just raw untapped potential that needs to be honed, and this is the best route for you at the moment."

"Is it?" Star asked.

"Yes, you can trust me, after all, I know everything, remember," Glossaryck floated with an all-knowing smirk on his face and made his way back to the Book of Spells. "That's enough serious talk for one night, you should get some sleep. We've got a full day of studying for you to ignore, and this time…" he stopped at the book and held its front cover, "you should bring more pudding," he said before closing it.

Star smiled, as odd as the little blue man could be, he also was the only person that could talk to her on the same level even if he is supposedly the smartest being in the multiverse as he liked to tout. Her dad came close, but he normally had her forget her woes more than placate them and that worked only so much. The girl resolved that she should put her all into being a better princess, starting tomorrow.

Unknown to her and all the residents of Mewni, their lives were about to change drastically from what they would've been.

Far from the kingdom, in a swamp, the monsters that had infiltrated the cornfield had made their way home, unhappy that they had failed in their mission. Looking around the small community, one could see small mud huts on the edges of the swamp that contained monster citizens. This is where the creatures were forced to live due to Mewman rule, living out their lives as the dregs of their dimension, barely scraping by with the small amount of food their 'benevolent' benefactors deigned to give them.

The incursion that had occurred today was a desperate effort by the monsters to procure more food for their small community, knowing that most of the scraps would go to those with families to feed and if not them there was a cycle that was adhered to, to make sure everyone would be able to eat. Unfortunately, with the failure of the heist, the cycle would be forced to continue.

The group of bruised monsters headed to the oddest feature in the swamp, a castle that was in disrepair that let Ludo command his group of monsters. The small kappa had anointed himself in charge of the monsters that inhabited the swamp, seeing as he was one of the most outspoken when it came to opposing Mewman rule and was for the most part unopposed. He did take care of all the citizens of the village and it was rumored that his small stature came from his malnutrition, something that he liked to deflect as he did not like being reminded of his size. While a tad megalomaniacal and rude, Ludo fought for his people quite hard and wanted the best for them.

"Curse that princess. No corn, again!" Ludo stomped in anger at the failure that his group was given.

"It was good shot, Master, but we must face facts. Mewmans make rules, has always been like this," the frog monster comforted his leader but was unable to stifle his grumbling stomach.

"Don't lie to me Buff Frog! The town needs that corn, now more than ever!" Ludo swatted the hand off his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, Ludo calmed himself before continuing, "Haven't you noticed that those ingrates are giving us less each month? I've tried to negotiate with them, but it's always the same thing," Ludo walked to his throne and awkwardly climbed it and slumped as he sat.

"You monsters should be happy with what you get."

"Maybe we should think of moving on?" a monster with three-eyes spoke up from the background.

"IF WE DO THAT THEY WIN!" Ludo shouted, calming himself again when seeing the flinch the monster gave. "If we leave, they win, and then all monsterkind will suffer. They'd force all monster settlements further out, to the point we won't have anything to call our own," Ludo groaned to himself and looked out the window to the night sky, "At the very least, I can't leave. This is my family's castle and it's all I have left."

"Ludo, there is nothing for us here. I know you are trying to uphold some sense of normalcy for us here, but it is not working. Mewmans will always be in power and nothing can change that," Buff Frog kneeled next to the throne. "There is nothing we can do. I have tadpoles to feed and I can't do that here. Family is more important than pride."

"Wise words, but…what if I told you that there is something you can do," a new voice was heard in the room, opening the door easily and shocking the monsters present that knew how heavy they were.

"Hey, food gets passed out tomorrow morning, pal. Check the list to make sure it's your turn," Ludo hopped down from his throne to address the newcomer.

The monster that had entered was a Septarian, a humanoid lizard. He stood tall with his hands clasped behind his back and his yellow eyes half-lidded, wearing a black suit, white undershirt, a red tie, and dress shoes. He strode into the throne room without a hint of worry for the monsters that were at the ready in case he was shown to be hostile.

"I apologize for the intrusion. I must say, the last time I was in these parts monsters were much closer to the capital. Sad to see that the status quo hasn't changed," the lizard stopped at the foot of the stairs that led to the throne, "But what should I expect."

"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you?" Ludo questioned the mysterious monster and was offered the lizard's right hand, noticing that he was missing his middle finger.

'I thought Septarians were supposed to regenerate.'

"Toffee," was the simple reply to the kappa's question, shaking the small hand firmly before continuing. "You never answered my question. What would you do if I told you that there is something that we can do to help monsterkind?"

"And how would you go about to doing that, Toffee?" Ludo asked skeptically but was stopped from further questioning when Buff Frog gasped next to him.

"I remember you now," the frog monster gulped audibly in shock with sweat forming on his forehead, "Master, this is famous monster general from the war! He led rebel faction of monsters that opposed Monster/Mewman treaty."

The entire throne room went silent when this information was uttered, knowing that this man was a legend for monsters as he was the final bastion that went against Mewman rule.

"He is?! I thought that you were killed by 'Moon the Undaunted'," Ludo squawked in surprise. "It was the talk of the kingdom when I was young, and they made a big deal out of her tapestry. It showed her blasting your finger off."

"My death was…exaggerated," Toffee affirmed the speculation and began to walk around the room, seemingly observing the derelict castle.

"Wh-where have you been all this time?" the giraffe monster asked, scrunching his neck backward when the Septarian's yellow eyes bore into him.

"I was on a mission of great importance, and during it, I had an epiphany," Toffee turned to address the room, "What do the Mewmans have that we don't?"

The assembled monsters were puzzled by the former general's question. To be apparent, the Mewmans had everything that they didn't, homes, food, security. The divide between the species became more obvious to all each day.

"They have magic. The one weapon that we could never hope to match even with our natural advantages," the Septarian answered his own question and was met with the widening eyes of the crowd.

"You're right. But what can we do about it?" Buff Frog asked back, "Butterfly girl has magic wand now and they still have Queen Moon as well."

"That's just it. We can't do anything about it," Toffee placed a hand on the frog's shoulder and continued, "Once I lost my finger, I couldn't regenerate it because of Moon's magic. Their magic is what made them think they could take our land. My epiphany was just that, without magic, the Mewmans would have no way to keep their claim."

"Aha! So, we just steal the wand for ourselves and see how the Mewmans like us in charge!' Ludo chimed in with glee at the thought of revenge, a thought that was echoed by most of the assembled monsters except Buff Frog.

"Wrong," Toffee bluntly stated.

"Wr-wrong?"

"Think about it. If we take what they've always had, they will simply take it back…by force. Leading to more casualties of our kind," Toffee pointed out and deflated the monster joy, "On my excursion, I concocted a plan that would ensure an eventuality like that would not happen."

"Do you plan on killing Mewmans?" Buff Frog asked with a frown. He wanted monsters to be treated better but would never resort to killing for it. That would set a bad example for his tadpoles.

"No," Toffee answered simple and upon being met with shock he elaborated, "Let me explain. I will admit that after losing my finger I wanted revenge quite strongly and as soon as possible, but I then thought 'what would stop the same outcome from occurring again?'" Toffee began.

"So, I traveled far from Mewni and even found myself in different corners of the universe looking for the answer that would counter that outcome. I saw many things that made my problems seem trivial, and even monsters that were worse off than here. It was quite horrible. I grew on that walk and realized that a change was needed and the change that I attempted with my rebellion was wrong," Toffee smiled before continuing, "And I got my answer, I found something that led me to the object that gave me the answer."

The room was silent, listening intently to the lizard as they were wondering where he was going with this.

"Equality. That is what I seek with my plan. Killing with no cause but anger leaves a bad taste in my mouth now. I'm not foolish enough to believe that it is unavoidable, but I'd rather do it only if it is absolutely necessary."

"How, though? You said it yourself, they have the magic. What can we do?" Ludo asked.

"That is the crux of the plan. If I succeed…" Toffee closed his eye before opening them fully for the first time since arriving, lending an ominous air to his next words.

"I will have destroyed all magic."

The monsters were utterly stunned at Toffee's declaration, finding it to be something impossible. The lizard was deadly serious in his expression and knew that what he said might be considered crazy, but firmly believed in the mission.

"What, what, what?!" Ludo fell out of his throne he was so shocked, "Destroy all magic?! That can't be possible!"

"It is, I made sure of it. If I destroy all magic, no one will have more than the other. We will all be on equal ground from that point onward, and at the very least civility can be reached but I'd prefer an actual peace."

"Peace? You are former monster general…and you want peace?" Buff Frog asked confused at Toffee's motivations.

"I know it is hard to believe, but it is as I said. I grew during my absence and came to realize that I committed many atrocities that caused more harm than good. I'm certain that wherever I go when I end will have a good number of punishments waiting for me, but this will be an act of good before then," Toffee looked to the monsters, "And I can't do it alone. That is why I'm here, I need help with this scheme to pull it off."

"Our help?" a red-skinned two-headed monster spoke up.

"I won't force you into this and I won't lie to you either. If you come with me, you are forfeiting any sense of normalcy you might have here, you might be harmed so you'll have to do some harming of your own, you might have to defend yourselves from deadly force and deal it back in kind, and perhaps even losing your ability to come home," Toffee laid his intentions bare to his, hopefully, future allies.

"This plan must be dangerous. I have tadpoles waiting for me at home, I cannot take such risk." Buff Frog reluctantly answered.

Toffee looked to the frog and spoke, "This is bigger than us, friend. This mission is to make a better Mewni for those tadpoles. Sacrifice is needed to make it happen," he looked into Buff Frog's eyes and asked, "Would you prefer they live in these dark swamps underfoot, or on dry land with the safety to see the sun?"

"How are you so sure that this plan will work?" Ludo asked for his trusted right-hand.

Toffee unflinchingly answered, "I can guarantee with 100% certainty that at the end of this plan monsters and Mewmans will make great strides toward equality. It will be a long path forward even after this, but it will happen."

The group all looked at each other, probing to see if anyone would leave the throne room rather than join this crazy plan. No one dared to leave, the weight of this decision rooting them in place as they were chomping at the bit to become part of what could become history.

"What do we have to do?" Ludo asked, resolute like the rest of the monsters in their choice.

"Good. Now, in order for me to pull off the plan, I'll need two things," Toffee held up two fingers, "First, I need the Book of Spells."

"There's a book?! That's where all those crazy spells the princess uses come from?!" Ludo asked surprised.

"Yes, I need it, or more specifically I need a page from it that has a particular spell. You'll come across a rather vexing being on the inside, but he won't harm you. If anything, he'll be very cryptic and elusive but ultimately will answer your question and turn to the page for you. I cannot stress enough that the book should be aimed for but if you are unable to get the book itself, I need that page." Toffee explained.

"And the second thing?"

"The Royal Magic Wand."

"How can we get that?! Star has kicked our collective butts more times than I can count!" Ludo objected.

"She's just a child. And you won't have to worry because I'll be dealing with her and her mother. I need all of you to preoccupy the guards and split off to retrieve the book," Toffee elaborated.

"Butterfly girl and Queen Moon, that is scary. Are you sure about this plan? What if something goes wrong?" Buff Frog asked in worry.

"Follow the plan and everything will work out. No plan is without hitches, but I can work around them," Toffee walked to the window of the castle and looked out of it, "Go say your goodbyes to your friends and family and get prepared. The plan will have to commence tonight, within the next two hours."

The monsters all hustled out of the throne room already trying to come up with the words to say to their loved ones to comfort them. Toffee had essentially issued what could be considered a suicide mission and was transparent enough with those he just met to warn that sacrifices had to be made. While afraid, they couldn't deny the cold calculating nature the Septarian had and the certainty he spoke with, making their reservations minuscule when compared to their resolve.

When left alone, staring out the window, Toffee looked down to his right hand and ignored his missing finger as he opened it to show his palm. In it was a distinct burn mark that showed something had burned itself into his hand a long time ago and had healed over, leaving a scar to remind him of it.

'Nothing can stop this, when I know every possible outcome. Magic has to be destroyed.' Toffee thought to himself, steeling his nerves for the operation to come.

(Back at Butterfly Castle)

All was peaceful inside the royal family's home as they all slept soundly in their beds. The only ones that were still awake in the castle were the knights tasked to defend them from any incoming threats that could jeopardize the royals' lives. Though the chances of anyone having the audacity to attack the queen, one of the most powerful magic users to date along with her rambunctious daughter, they would have quite the pair on them. Knowing this the knights weren't doing their jobs as well as they should have.

"Popcorn or Creamed Corn?" a knight asked her patrolling partner, standing guard at the large doors.

"Creamed, don't like how slick my fingers get from popcorn," he answered.

"Creamed Corn or Corn on the Cob?"

"Can't go wrong with the classics, Cob."

"Corn on the Cob or Cornmea-," she stopped when she noticed some odd lights coming toward the castle, "You see that?"

"Yeah. What's going on…are those monsters?" the other knight asked in shock, readying his spear along with his partner.

"Ok, monsters, back to the swamp! We aren't going to deal with you as second time today!" the female knight shouted at the group.

"I am only going to ask this once," Toffee walked to the head of the pack, arms behind his back as he spoke to the two knights, "Step aside and no harm will come to you. No need to cause unnecessary pain."

"There's no way we'd do that!"

"Besides you're just monsters. What can you do?"

Toffee sighed in exasperation, "I tried to be civil."

The Septarian simply took a step back, allowing the mob of monsters to overwhelm the two guards before bursting through the doors of the castle, no doubt alerting the other guards inside and meaning that an alarm would soon be raised.

Toffee turned to address his hoard, "It begins. Only incapacitate them, it shouldn't be too hard since the queen has taken care of most problems on her own. Her army is woefully unprepared for serious battle. And when you have a good amount of their attention, some of you must make your way to the book. It should be in the princess's room," when the group looked worried, he reminded them, "Don't forget. The moment she finds out about the commotion she'll come running to her mother's aid, and that's when I'll procure the wand."

The lizard gave them a nod of his head and a simple 'good luck', trusting them to carry out the plan while he went toward the tapestry room, knowing that it is considered a safe room since it had no value to the outside observer.

"We're under attack, Moon Pie!" King River Butterfly shouted, leaping out of bed upon hearing the alarm. He quickly got dressed in armor to assist the knights in protecting the castle. "Hurry to the tapestry room, dear! You know that Star will get into trouble if you aren't there first to makes sure she even arrives! Tally-Ho!"

Moon reached out to try and stop her husband but ultimately agreed with his assessment. If she wasn't in the tapestry room first, then Star would take her absence as an excuse to let loose on the intruders. The queen only had this thought for about a second before she too got out of bed and dressed into her own set of armor complete with a plated skirt hemmed with diamonds, wing-like shoulder pads, and gauntlets that reached her elbows. Finishing her preparations, Moon headed to the tapestry room…

And froze.

Standing directly in front of her own tapestry was a monster she had hoped to never see again after her first and only face-to-face with him. The sharply dressed Septarian turned slowly when he heard the door to the room open, offering a small smirk at the queen's shocked expression.

"Hello, Moon." Toffee gave a condescending bow to the woman without taking his yellow eyes off her own.

"Toffee, what are you doing back?!" the queen asked in barely restrained anger.

"You didn't think that I'd simply disappear, did you? Especially after you went to such lengths to not kill me. Even after all this time, I still haven't figured that one out," Toffee made small talk with the queen as if he were an old friend.

"So, you've come back for revenge then?" Moon started to conjure a ball of magical energy to blast him the moment he made a move to attack her.

"Revenge? Ha, maybe at one point, Moon, but no. I have been around for a long while and been through things that I won't bore you with, but I would like to thank you," Toffee strode to the middle of the room, putting the woman on edge, "You defeating me all that time ago opened my eyes to my transgressions. I was wrong to do what I did to you and all those Mewmans," he looked to his missing finger with remorse and instantly ducked when the queen released her blast at him.

"You can't expect me to believe you of all people!" she growled already conjuring anther orb of energy.

"You've no reason to believe me and it doesn't matter if you do. Believe it or not, I'm fighting for the right cause this time," Toffee, now on edge, began to circle along with the queen to keep each other in their sights.

"What? Trying to subjugate Mewmans this time rather than just end us?"

"No. I am trying to level our two sides. I arrived here and saw your daughter forcing my kind out simply because they starve out in the swamps, living off the scraps you deign to give them…it's appalling," Toffee sneered at the woman.

"I could never let monsters live in the kingdom after all that happened. The people would be in fear and the monsters would be discriminated against for the war. This was the safest course," Moon reasoned.

"Hm, or maybe it was just to get them out of your sight, Moon," Toffee accused the queen who was unable to formulate a rebuttal, "Seems I'm not the only one that's changed over the years."

"Enough! What have you come here for? Why risk invading my kingdom?" Moon and Toffee had, at this point, completed a full revolution and ended in opposite positions from where they had begun. "Perhaps you wanted to kill me. Is that how you 'level' both sides?"

"I've no want to battle with you, Moon. I've actually come for your daughter," Toffee smiled, showing his teeth in a sinister grin.

Moon's pupils shrank in shock as her magic dissipated between her hands due to her loss of focus, "What?! You stay away from her! Haven't you taken enough?!" Moon screamed as her magic came back in full force, ready to annihilate the monster in front of her.

"Perhaps I should rephrase. I need the wand, meaning that I most likely will have to go through her."

"I won't let you! I-I-I'll kill you," the queen tried to threaten him but couldn't summon the vitriol she wished for, for some odd reason.

"Hm, seems like you're trying to convince yourself you'd do that," Toffee raised his eyebrow at the queen's hesitation and dismissed it lest he becomes distracted from his mission. "If she hands it over, no harm will come to her. There's nothing I'd like more than to simply take the wand and lea-!"

Toffee was interrupted when the door behind him was kicked open suddenly and a blast of magic tore into his shoulder, easily dismembering him as his right arm was seen flying from his body. The Septarian fell to the floor seemingly defeated, laying on the carpeted floor unmoving. The origin of the blast was none other than Star Butterfly still garbed in her dress, having fallen asleep in it, and short of breath from hurrying to the tapestry room (and knocking out a few of the monsters that she happened to run into).

"Mom!" Star ran to her mother in earnest, "What's going on? The monsters are attacking the castle. And who's this guy?" Star hyperactively spoke, ending with her pointing her wand at the downed monster.

"Star, we don't have time for this! You have to go now!" Moon gripped her daughter's shoulder and shook her in a panic, urging her to leave.

"Calm down, mom. I've handled monsters before. Remember?" Star smiled haughtily.

"None like Toffee," Moon whispered.

"Huh, Toffee? You know this guy?"

"I'm hurt, Moon. You haven't told your daughter about me?" Toffee stood back up, unfazed by his lack of an arm seeing as it grew back in seconds.

"Whoa," Star couldn't find any other words to describe her shock.

"Haven't fought many Septarians have you, princess?" Toffee asked while testing his freshly grown arm. "Oh, excuse my rudeness. Hello, princess," he then bowed to the young girl showing his nonchalance to the royal family's status.

Star meanwhile had noticed that his regenerated arm was still missing his middle finger, making her eyes dilate in realization. To confirm her suspicions, she turned her head to her mother's tapestry and saw the same monster standing before her on it, losing his finger as he fell from a cliff.

"You!" Star pointed at the tapestry and back at Toffee multiple times in disbelief, "But you aren't dead."

"It doesn't show me dying, does it? Simple exaggeration to make the peasants feel at ease," Toffee scoffed, but smiled as he took a few steps forward. "I'm glad that you're here now princess. All I need is the wand and I shall happily take my leave," he stuck his right hand out, waiting for her to comply.

"Psht, why would I do that. I'll just beat all of you guys back to the swamp you came from!" Star smirked.

"Not very pragmatic, princess. Right now, your castle is overrun, and your knights are barely holding their own. It would be much simpler if you give me what I want."

Star took that as a challenge, but just as she was about to charge the confident monster her mother grabbed her.

"Star you can't. It's too big a risk to fight Toffee. He is more powerful than you think, a cut above other monsters," Moon pleaded with her daughter, knowing that she was about to make a foolhardy decision. Even in her youth Moon had to ask for outside help to put a scratch on Toffee.

"Just sit back, mom. I'll show you I can handle myself. Bunny Rabbit Blast!" Star went on the attack, using her wand to cast a stream of rabbits to boost her speed as she rushed to confront the Septarian and leaving her mother buried underneath the multitude of rodents.

Toffee was not impressed as he ducked beneath the girl's charge and turned around to lazily raise a hand to block a punch to his face, showing little emotion as if the fight was not worth his time. He then proceeded to waste no movements as he weaved through the girl's rapid punches and kicks, watching her grow more and more frustrated at her inability to land a hit on him.

Grumbling to herself, Star flipped backward and took aim at the lizard to fire her trademark spell, "Narwhal Blast!"

Toffee jumped to the side, avoiding the beam of sea mammals and kicked off the ground to meet the princess as she landed. Using his superior strength, he pushed her into a wall hard enough to knock the wind out of her and not break any of her bones.

"I must say, princess, I'm a little underwhelmed. You have one of the most powerful artifacts in your hands and yet you use it for petty tricks. Don't you train? Practice with your mother?" Toffee stood over the heaving girl, standing directly in front of her face.

"*gasp* What d-do you know?"

"Quite a bit more than you, actually. This will be put to better use in my hands," when he reached for the wand Toffee halted himself as tone resonated from his suit pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a handheld mirror that revealed a giddy Ludo taking up the entire reflective surface.

"I've got it, Toffee! The Book of Spells, I got it!" Ludo cried in glee, huffing as he ran through the castle to meet back up with the other monsters.

"*Ptoof* The Book of Spells?! Star, you left the book behind!?" Moon had finally clawed her way out of the pile of bunnies to hear the bad news and see her daughter laying on the ground.

"I heard the alarm and came running. I didn't think monsters would want the book!"

"Good. I'll be with you shortly," Toffee answered Ludo and continued to reach for the wand despite the princess's futile attempts to keep it away from him.

Moon, knowing that a monster like Toffee couldn't get his hands on either of the most coveted magical items of Mewni, made a quick and rash decision. Summoning all her magical power Moon Butterfly transformed into an actual butterfly, gaining periwinkle skin, four extra arms, diamond-tipped antennae, and large blue wings. The shine from her transformation forced Toffee to focus on her in case she attacked him and made her daughter stare in awe.

"Mom's using magic without the wand?" Star wondered now having this information, never knowing that this level was possible.

"Toffee! I won't allow you to get what you want! No matter what!" Moon clapped all of her hands together and spread them open, forcing a portal to be made behind Star that was slowly sucking her in. For the first time, Toffee became shocked as his eyelids raised in befuddlement.

"Moon, stop this!" Toffee shouted at the woman, quickly turning to the princess as she was lifted from the ground due to the portal's suction. He made to grab the wand from the girl's hand, but she was nimble enough to kick it away from her.

"Mom! What are you doing?! We can take this guy!" Star tried to swim her way back into the room, hanging onto the doorframe for support and tears streaming down her face only to have them be sucked into the portal.

"Star, the most important thing is to protect the kingdom! I'll come for you as soon as I can!" Moon called back to her, watching as her daughter was finally pulled into the portal calling her name one final time before it closed.

Toffee stared at the space the portal had occupied, mouth slightly agape and eyes darting minutely. This shock didn't last long as the Septarian recomposed himself, raking his hands through his hair as a final show of his frustration.

"You shouldn't have done that, Moon," Toffee gave the queen a glance over his shoulder, frowning at her triumphant smirk that became a grin when she heard Toffee's mirror alert him to a call.

"Toffee! I have no idea what just happened, but this portal just appeared, and it pulled the book from my hands! We lost it!" Ludo panicked through the mirror.

Moon expected the lizard to get angry or upset about his plan's failure, but he was surprisingly calm. The only showing that he was frustrated was his brows furrowing the slightest bit.

"Calm down, Ludo. Gather the others and make yourselves scarce in the swamp. I'll be with you shortly," Toffee pocketed his mirror, walked to the doorway of the tapestry room, and kneeled to the floor as he glided his hand through the carpeted floor.

Moon frowned at her enemy's nonplussed reaction to his plan being destroyed before his very eyes and made her anger known, "You don't seriously think that we'd let you and yours get away after this stunt do you Toffee? You've lost, again, and this time you won't have any hope of payback."

"Yes, I suppose it would look like that to you, but I was prepared for this scenario," Toffee raised his hand to his face to reveal a strand of Star's hair in between his fingers. "I just thought the probability of this particular one was low," Toffee spoke cryptically as he turned back to the queen, "You've just made my task slightly more tedious."

It was at this time that four individuals made their way into the room from a large orange portal. First was a green-skinned humanoid with snake-hands, a large crystal for a head with two small crystals for nipples, and his only clothing being a purple cape and purple briefs. The second being was a floating skull with swords coming out in the shape of horns and some cosmic energy floating around it to keep it aloft. The third was the only female of the group who had white skin, red hair that almost reached the ground and covered her right eye, her lone eye being orange, yellow-orange horns sticking out of her head, and wearing a yellow-orange ballgown with her most distinctive feature being a flame burning over her head. The final being was a goat-man with diamond pupiled yellow eyes, four horns (two pointing straight up and two being curled), a gray beard, bat wings, and a gray cloak.

These individuals along with Moon made up the main body of the Magic High Commission, overseers of all magic in the universe. And some of the most powerful beings that the universe had ever seen.

"Right on time." Toffee spoke in an even tone, not worried in the slightest that he was surrounded by the powerful magic users.

"You won't be leaving here, Toffee. I made sure of that," Hekapoo, the orange-eyed girl, pointed half a pair of scissors at the former monster general.

"I'm sure you did," Toffee looked to her, knowing what was about to happen and what he had to do. "I'd like to say that I have no particular want to harm any of you, but I will be incapacitating you all and be taking, excuse me, borrowing your power. Specifically, yours, Hekapoo, since I have need of dimensional travel," Toffee took his suit's coat off in preparation for a fight.

"You're gonna be crystallized by the end of tonight, Toffee." Rhombulus, the crystal-headed humanoid, prepared himself by coating his snake-hands in crystal for the fight.

"No. I don't think I will be," Toffee smirked before leaping into action against the Magic High Commission.

(Meanwhile outside the castle)

The hoard of monsters was scattering to the wind to await further instruction as the mastermind of the plan stayed behind to salvage it. Ludo was riding on Buff Frog's shoulder, holding a page from the Book of Spells.

"So, Toffee have plan in case Queen Moon pulled stunt?" Buff Frog asked, impressed at the Septarian's foresight.

"Yes, he wasn't kidding about thinking through every single step of his plan. As soon as the queen heard that I had the book of course she would do anything in her power to stop us. So, Toffee told me to get the page and act as if the second target was the book all along," Ludo explained.

"But why have you contact him in first place? Why not take book and leave?" Buff Frog asked in confusion. It didn't make any tactical sense for Toffee to allow the queen the chance to take the book from them when they could have easily snuck away.

"He said it was to 'see what she would do' that way he could take the appropriate course," Ludo answered but sounded just as confused as his right-hand, scratching his head.

"Whatever plan is…" Buff Frog took a glance back at the palace, noticing different lasers and explosions coming from it and shuddered, "I hope he knows what he is doing."

(Back in the present)

These events led to Star's current predicament as she was sent hurtling through an interdimensional portal to who-knows-where. With no way to stop mid-travel, the princess was forced to go along for the ride and come up with a plan once she had landed. Too bad that her landing was anything but graceful, causing a crater to be formed as she landed which, of course, caused a panic that forced what she assumed was the local authorities to try and apprehend her. Defending herself from the two (twins?) was simple, but once she had gotten her bearings back Star realized that she wasn't in any dimension she recognized so she decided to hunker down until she had some form of contact with Mewni. This back and forth with the similar-looking men had also gotten more intense since they had gotten reinforcements of what she was beginning to suspect were clones since they all looked like each other but made no moves to engage unless she tried to leave the crater.

After about an hour of the stalemate, a lone car drove up from behind the small army of Ricks. The driver side door opened to reveal the only person that wasn't a Rick in the organization. He wore a black suit like the rest but wore an orange button-up shirt beneath it with a blue tie that had a red swirl on it. His sun-yellow hair was spiked in different directions and black sunglasses covered his eyes.

The mysterious newcomer stepped his way to the edge of the crater, his mouth in a thin line when he approached the wall of Ricks that had their various weapons trained on the girl in case she made any hasty movement. The blond stopped next to the two Ricks that had called in the situation in the first place and turned his head to address them.

"So, this is the girl you guys were talking about…and?" the newcomer asked while rolling his hand in the air to have them continue.

"She has access to some *belch* we-weird magic artifact or tech or something," the rookie Rick explained, "She was shooting, like, miniature narwhals and crystal hearts at us from that rattle."

"Hm, I thought that Rick said no one but us had any advanced tech," the newcomer watched as the girl fired a blast at one of the assembled cars that barricaded the crater, pushing it out of line and into a building with the blast leaving sparkles and flowers in its wake.

"I think it'd be safe to say that this weapon might just be…off-world."

When hearing this bit of information, the blond furrowed his brows which were the only way to tell that he took such an idea fairly seriously and made his way to the crater. None of the Ricks made to stop him, knowing that he'd be able to take care of himself and they should back him up when needed. The blond slid down into the crater and stopped a yard away from the girl, taking off his glasses to show his blue eyes while raising his hands slightly when she aimed her wand at him. Placing his glasses in his collar the man gave the princess and easygoing smile.

"Hey there. Can I ask you to put down the rattle, please?" doing his best to defuse the situation, he motioned the Ricks to lower their weapons as well.

"It's a wand," the girl was not amused by the blond misinterpreting her weapon and didn't drop her guard. "I just wanted to know where I am, and then these guys came down here and tried to blast me."

The blond put his arms to his sides and spoke back, "Well, they were just doing their jobs. Anything strange comes up, it's their job to investigate and neutralize if need be…and from what they told me, a large explosion causing a panic and a girl at its epicenter holding a weapon no one understands, I'd say that is a threat that should be neutralized."

The girl had the decency to blush as she seemed to finally take stock of her surroundings, realizing her landing caused a good deal of damage and just to add insult to injury some rubble from one of the surrounding buildings had landed onto a car, slowly silencing its alarm.

"Ok, I kinda get that but I didn't wanna come here," the girl defended herself and pointed at the sky, "See, I was in my home dimension before my mom ripped open a portal to save me…from…this…" her eyes slowly widened in horrific realization, heedless of the odd stares she was receiving from her rambling.

"I have to get back! Who knows what that lizard guy is doing!" the girl slapped her hands to her cheeks in worry.

"Well, don't worry I have no problem helping a little girl out with getting home. The sooner the better as a matter of fact, but before we can work on that I need you to hand over the 'wand'," the blond ended his sentence with his hand outstretched to take the wand.

Star looked down to the family heirloom and raised it in defense, eyes narrowed as she ground out, "I'm not taking my hands off this thing. It belongs to me!" she started to gather energy in it for a spell.

"You have to understand that I can't just blindly trust that you aren't going to go on some rampage through this city to figure out a way home. These people have been through enough and they don't need any trouble that an extra-dimensional girl can bring. So, I ask again," the blond frowned and stuck his hand out more forcefully this time, "Could you please hand over the wand? Otherwise…I'll have to get rough with you."

"I've fought monsters, pal. I think I can handle one guy," Star smirked while shaking her head at the thought that this guy could beat her, still ready to release her spell.

"I warned you."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Star unleashed her spell in the form of a concussive rainbow at the blond. Surprisingly, the blond ducked out of the way, and before Star could register the fact that he avoided her spell the mysterious youth was already in front of her with an open palm thrust directed at her midsection. The princess just barely managed to raise her arms in defense but was still pushed back a great deal which surprised her as it showed his great deal of physical strength.

"I don't like fighting girls, so I'm gonna try and end this quickly and painlessly," the blond cracked his knuckles, getting ready to continue the skirmish with the girl.

"Alright then, Rainbow Fist Punch!" Star called as she took the blond more seriously.

The blond boy jumped over the rainbow punch and ran on top of its trail, jumping toward the girl with his fist aimed at her. Star acted quickly and jumped to the side, launching a yellow laser with daisies coming off it only for the blond to twist his body around the blast to keep the pressure on. Star went to prepare another spell, but her wand was knocked out of her hands by the blond.

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly as, rather than attempting to retrieve the wand, she started to engage in hand-to-hand with the man and managed to match him well enough.

The blond went to sweep kick the girl and was met with her feet in his face as she flipped over his leg. Using her kick, the girl rode the momentum to reach her wand and raise it toward the blond once more. Her eyes narrowed when a cloud of smoke obscured her vision, but she paid it little thought when she saw the man rush from the smoke to flank her. She immediately turned to follow him, tracking him with an eye closed to help her aim.

"Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!" a large wave of syrup was shot out of the wand and spread across the whole crater, its stickiness halting the blond's movements so the girl could stroll up to him as the syrup hardened around his body. "See?" Star taunted slightly and was about to knock the boy out but was confused when he smirked. Before she could question him, she was chopped in the back of her neck, making her lose consciousness.

"Yeah, I do. Pretty impressive," the blond said as she fell into his arms, dropping the wand as her arms went slack.

Once the 'threat' was neutralized, the surrounding Ricks moved into the crater to start on cleanup with one of the Ricks coming up to him.

"Here, take her. She'll definitely be in a mood when she wakes up and I'd prefer she was at headquarters so we can be a little more civil the next time we talk," the blond told the Rick who chucked the girl over his shoulder and made his way to one of the cars to place her in.

The blond then bent down to pick up the wand and as soon as he gripped it, he felt a surge of energy course through him, watching as the wand changed shape. For him, the wand took the form of a familiar weapon, a kunai, with a crystal for its blade. He quickly dropped the wand when he heard a voice speak in his head, knowing that any artifact that tried to encroach on the user's mind was bad news. This left the blond wondering if the girl had that problem or if she could control it since she's the owner.

"Careful with that. Wrap it up before you grab it," the blond warned the Ricks as they confiscated the item. "How bad is the damage?"

"Nothing too serious. We should be able to have a new road and replicas of everything lost in the damage. You won't even be able to tell *belch* th-that a big stupid, pointless fight happened here," a Rick assured.

"Well, that's good. Don't forget any camera footage either," the blond spoke as he made his way out of the crater and ignoring the 'pain in my ass' comment by the Rick. Approaching his car, the blond looked out at the crater to watch as the group began to clean up the destruction with tech that was gathering the rubble and reforming it on the buildings along with filling the crater so a new road could be made. Shaking his head, the blond opened his door and said, "What a mess," before driving off to headquarters.

(Back on Mewni)

The Magic High Commission were all laying on the floor of the tapestry room in the palace, defeated. Their eyes completely hollow and their bodies motionless due to having their magic taken from them by Toffee, who stood tall among their defeated bodies. The only one still awake to see this was the queen herself, a pile of ashes next to her that had once been Lekmet, the Commission's High Chancellor, but was now a painful reminder of his sacrifice as he used his powers to restore Moon and the others if they fell to the Septarian. The price for this power was his life-force which he used the last of to restore the queen.

Moon looked to the calm lizard as he blew out Hekapoo's flame with a small puff before turning to the exhausted monarch. With tears in her eyes, the queen rose in a vain attempt at retaliation for her fallen comrades, thrusting her hands forward she recited an incantation for a spell that both parties knew all too well.

"I call the darkness unto me from deepest depths of Earth and sea. From ancient evils unawoken, break the one that can't be broken. To blackest night, I pledge my soul and crush my heart to burning coal. To summon forth a deathly power, to see my hated foe devoured!" she screamed in righteous anger, only serving to destroy her damaged gauntlets and showing black veins that reached her elbows."

"Come now, Moon. You've no magic left to use, you know that," Toffee took her arms and put them at her sides before continuing, "Perhaps if you had used that spell to finish me in the beginning we wouldn't be here."

"Is this what you wanted!? Is this what you're willing to do for your 'equality'?!" Moon dropped to her knees and cried.

"No, I didn't. I would have liked it to have gone a different way, one where I could destroy the magic without casualty," Toffee looked to his side wistfully, "But I am a realist, I knew that possibility would be the least likely outcome and I had a second opinion to corroborate that hypothesis," Toffee glanced to his right hand when he said that.

"Just go! You have the High Commission's magic, my magic! What more do you need?!" Moon raged at the monster general as he looked down at her with his eyes half-lidded.

"I've already told you I don't plan on giving this magic to the monsters. I plan to destroy it," the Septarian told the queen absolutely, "And now the only way for me to do that is to find your daughter and that book."

"You can't. I don't even know where I sent them, I made sure of that."

"Yes, you certainly made a mess of things but as I said before you made the task more tedious rather than completely halt it," Toffee made his way to the doors of the tapestry room, stepping over the fallen Commission members.

"Even if you succeed, you'll still be a monster. No one will thank you," Moon spoke vindictively to the lizard and was shocked at his answer.

"Yes, you're right. I will most likely be viewed as nothing more than a monster for what I've done today and what I plan on doing…but ultimately it is the right course of action," Toffee spoke resolutely as he exited the room, leaving the defeated queen to herself and ignorant to her thoughts.

'No, you're wrong, Toffee. I know what the right path is now…thanks to you.' Moon glared hatefully at the Septarian's back unable to stop him and hoping that her daughter could somehow find a way back to Mewni so she could protect her.

Not too long after, Toffee made his way back to the swamps and was met with the worried looks of the monsters that had assisted him in the castle raid. It wasn't soon after that he was bombarded with questions since it seemed that the plan had been a failure.

"Calm yourselves," Toffee raised his hand with his left rubbing his temple so he could calm himself.

"How can we!? You said everything would go smoothly, but now look where we are! No book, no wand! What good is this page without the wand to cast the spell?!" Ludo questioned the mastermind in more panic then rage. He feared the eventual Mewman retaliation.

"Remember, I told you to retrieve the page. I needed to see the answer that Moon would respond with and take the appropriate path," Toffee calmed the kappa with his composed voice, "You've done all I asked, and I thank you for that. Your part of the plan went the way it should, mine is the part that had the most chances for deviation and now we are going to take the proper actions to get back on track."

Before any of the monsters could ask the Septarian what they could do to track the princess through dimensions, Toffee provided the answer by revealing he had a strand of the princess' hair in his fingers.

"What are we going to do with that?" Buff Frog asked.

"I will be using this to follow our dear Princess Butterfly to the dimension her mother has spirited her away to, of course. With the High Commission currently…occupied, opening portals is still accessible for us, therefore all we must do is step through," Toffee explained and looked to the assembled monsters. The Septarian spoke again with determination, "I have to once again ask for your cooperation, fellows. We have come this far, and victory is within our grasps, but I must be fully transparent when I say that there is no coming back from this."

Everyone present widened their eyes at this information, it was one thing to risk themselves in their home dimension where they knew the terrain backward and forwards, but now they were being asked to traipse in an unknown dimension and no apparent way back.

"You mean…" Buff Frog trailed off, too scared to voice the room's fear.

"Yes, destroying the magic means that Dimensional Scissors will become inert and pathways between dimensions will be lost. This will be the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, and wherever this takes us we will be subject to that world's law and rules. We will most likely pay for the deeds we've done here and will do there, but it still will have the same goal. I'm positing this to you again, so everything is understood, about what has to be done for the good of all Mewni."

Again, the monsters were met with a choice that would damn them in the present but would make a large difference in the long run. Something that would estrange them from their friends and family while making things better for them in a small capacity. Out of all of them, Buff Frog had the most to lose, seeing as he had his adopted tadpoles to care for and needed to raise but having to constantly steal food for them and hide them when particularly aggressive Mewmans came knocking wasn't a great environment but he would be there for them at least. If he leaves, then they'll be losing their father but gain a future with persecution being a topic talked about in the past tense.

The monsters were all past the point of no return, after all, they did raid Butterfly Castle with the intention of stealing artifacts of great importance to the royal family. They could either leave for this unknown dimension, be trapped there if successful, and become unsung heroes most likely forgotten or wait for the eventual mob that would come after them for stepping out of the monster's proverbial box in an attempt to become more than they were allowed. The choice while hard was a simple one, it would be better to go down doing all they could for the fight toward equality rather than wait for their imprisonment.

"This is a lot bigger than us, right?" Ludo stood up thinking of what he had lost while he looked at his castle. "It would be selfish if I just gave up because it got harder," Ludo resolved himself to finish the mission all the way through, trusting Toffee's plan to succeed.

"If it is for tadpoles, then I will fight. I will miss them, but at least they will have better future," Buff Frog joined as well with the rest of the monsters coming around when the two most prominent members swallowed their fear to press forward.

Toffee smiled, "Excellent, you won't regret this choice gentlemen. Now let us go capture a princess," Toffee infused Star's hair with his stolen magic before using his dimensional scissors to cut through it, making the energized hair track the girl through dimensions to lock onto her signature.

The eerie glow of a portal met them, a portal that had a green glow which was unusual for the portals made by dimensional scissors. The monsters collectively gulped as they gazed at the portal to the unknown, Toffee, on the other hand, was calm as ever as he spoke chillingly.

"Once more into the breach."

(In the mysterious organization's HQ)

"Mm, Mom is it Stump Day yet?" Star woozily asked as she woke up to fluorescent lights shining in her face. She went to rub her eyes only to hear jingling, making her take notice of shackles on her wrists chained to a table in the middle of the room. Slowly, realization hit her as she began to recall the circumstances that had happened to land her there, widening her eyes at the memory.

Just as the trapped princess was beginning to struggle, even contemplating chewing through the chains, the door to the room opened to reveal the blond that beat her. He strode into the room calmly, ignoring the princess's glare, and took a seat across from her.

"Good to see that you're as spirited as ever," the blond said simply as the girl pointed dramatically at him.

"You cheated! I don't know how you did it, but I know you did! There were two of you!" Star complained.

"In a fight, the important thing is winning rather than fairness and I did give you fair warning," the man smirked when she puffed her cheeks up in indignation, knowing that she couldn't dispute that as she plopped into her chair with her arms crossed and refusing to make eye contact. "Why don't we start new, huh? I'm Uzumaki- I mean I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

The girl opened an eye to see his outstretched hand waiting to give her a handshake, but she didn't take it, "Star Butterfly. Now can you please tell me where I am," the girl got right to business, trying to stay serious as the now named Naruto retracted his hand to rub the back of his hand.

"Fair enough, but I'd like you to answer my questions in turn, then, Star. If that's okay with you?" the blond asked the princess.

"Alright, but I asked you first! What dimension is this? I've been to quite a few and I don't know any like this. It'll make it harder for my mom to find me," the girl rattled off in worry, watching the man rub the back of his head again.

"Well…when it comes to the dimension, it doesn't technically have a name since…it shouldn't exist," Naruto explained cryptically.

"If it shouldn't exist. How are we here?" the girl asked, clearly confused.

"The dimension we're currently in is in actuality an amalgam of different dimensions that have been…stitched together for lack of a better term. We call it Nexus," he then halted the girl from asking another question, "Hang on, it's my turn now. Just who are you and what dimension did you come from?"

"I'm a magical princess from another dimension," Star said but got irritated at the deadpan look she was getting from the blond, "It's true! You saw my wand with your own eyes!"

"Frankly, we couldn't understand what we were dealing with, so we locked it up," Naruto didn't flinch as the princess got into his face.

"You what!? That's my family heirloom you know!" Star wanted to shake him, but the chains stopped just short of his collar.

"If you cooperated before, I wouldn't have had to confiscate it. Now, tell me about your dimension. What happened there that forced your mom to send you here rather than with her?"

The Butterfly shot up again, once more remembering the threat that Mewni was left with because of her impromptu exit, "That's right! There was this lizard guy that broke into my castle with a bunch of other monsters! He…he beat my mom and me he wasn't like any monster I've fought before," Star slumped into her chair and looked down in sadness. "You've gotta help me get back. Who knows what that guy is doing," Star practically begged with her big blue eyes somehow becoming even larger.

"Calm down the waterworks, princess. That was always the plan," Naruto got up an uncuffed her.

"Um…what?" the princess asked, confused while rubbing her chafed wrists.

"I'm gonna send you back to your dimension so you can deal with your monster problem far away from here. Besides, I'd feel bad if I left a princess to fend for herself in an unknown place."

"Star, just call me Star. I don't really like being called 'princess'," Star followed after the blond man with a narrowed gaze as if contemplating something.

"Then you can just call me Naruto, then. I never really cared for titles either," Naruto smirked as they walked through the hallways. Passing multiple different Ricks along the way.

"Ok then, 'Naruto'," the princess put air quotes around his name as she picked her pace up, "I still want an answer about this Nexus place. From what I remember of dimensions, there are supposed to be barriers that separate them that can be bypassed but aren't supposed to meet in a physical space…at least not without a crazy amount of magical energy."

"That's exactly what happened."

"Seriously! But wouldn't that have a serious ripple across the multiverse or something?"

"Well, according to my big brain that I have on hand it was…centralized to the dimensions that were closest."

Star looked to him even more intensely, "And why do you care? I'm pretty sure that one guy and a bunch of twins didn't just decide to one day look into some crazy universe business completely on their own," Star asked suspiciously only to be slightly taken aback at the haunted look in the blond man's eyes.

"Let's just say that I owe it to these people to keep them safe from threats that lie outside of their realms," Naruto looked to the girl and continued, "When Nexus was first formed, it was chaos. All stability was lost in the panic as different forms of law and order tried to establish themselves and supersede the others. It took two long years for this place to reach where it's at, so I think you can see why I don't want some monster lizard to show up and disrupt the peace that has been established," Naruto explained to the displaced princess who slowly nodded.

"I guess you're right. So, how are you gonna get me back to Mewni anyway?"

"I've got a guy on it. Smartest guy I know," Naruto smirked as the duo opened another door that had a giant screen that was cycling through images that were familiar to the princess.

"Oh, that's Mewni!" Star ran into the screen face first, believing the screen to be a portal, and fell back after the impact. While she was on her back, she took notice of the chair that she had run past along with the man in it.

In the chair was another Rick but unlike the ones that were encountered before this one was dressed differently. This Rick is garbed in a plain light blue shirt, brown pants held up by a black belt, and black shoes with his look topped off with a white lab coat.

"'Sup, Rick? How's the dimension search going?" Naruto asked the scientist

"Great, I just love using the vast amount of technology at our disposal as a step up from a taxi service," Rick rolled his eyes as he sarcastically answered the blond.

"You have another one of those twin guys looking for Mewni? How is he gonna pull that off?" Star asked skeptically, dusting her tattered dress off as she stood up.

"First of all, Rapunzel, a twin is only possible in a pair so there are way too many mes running around to be twins, and second I am the Rick in this outfit, not just a number," the blue-haired man corrected the girl bluntly and concisely, ignoring the look she was giving him.

"What he means is that these guys aren't twins. They're actually different versions of Rick from across the multiverse," the blond cleared up for the princess.

"Whoa, how's that possible?"

"I'm the smartest man on this hunk of stitched together dimensions. All I had to do was set up an algorithm that searches through the infinite dimensions *belch* wi-with the criteria of finding versions of me that are either abnormally altruistic…or bored enough that they'd help out," Rick rattled off an explanation so fast that the girl had trouble keeping it straight. "And guess which type of Rick is the most common," Rick said as a green light beeped on a console, "Oh shit, another new recruit wonder why he chose to come," Rick pushed a button as he feigned ignorance, activating a swirling green portal that brought a Rick dressed similarly to the one in the chair.

"Wha?" Star stared in surprise at the identical men.

"Welcome to Nexus. *belch* What's your reason for joining up? For survey purposes." Rick asked the new Rick.

"Eh, just bored. Saw the application and decided it was *belch* better than hanging around the house,"

"Yeah, we get that a lot. So, here's a pamphlet, got orientation tomorrow, and you'll be inducted into the RIB," Rick had a mechanical arm give the new recruit a pamphlet before shoving him out the door.

"Seriously? I thought that there would be a warmer welcome than this! And where's the booze!"

"You know how many Ricks I have to deal with on a daily basis? I can't roll out the red carpet for all of them, fuck me, pal!" Rick yelled.

"No, fuck me!"

"Always good to increase numbers, Rick, but we have more pressing matters with the princess here. We need her to get back to Mewni as soon as possible, she's being chased by some kind of lizard monster," Naruto interjected to get the alcoholic scientist back on track.

"How would you be able to find Mewni for me anyway?" Star rubbed her sore head, looking to the screen as she realized that it was a lot like the mirrors in her world.

"We took a DNA sample while you were *belch* knocked out," Rick answered bluntly and Naruto sweatdropped at the quick answer, knowing that the girl would find that as an invasion.

"You what? What kind?" Star asked, deciding to be angry depending on the DNA.

Rick looked over to her, noticed the look on her face, and scrunched his face in disgust, "Ugh, no! Who do you think I am? I took a hair! Jesus, get your head out of the gutter!" Rick frowned as he turned a dial, switching the screen to a different castle that seemed similar at the same time.

"Hey, you passed Mewni!"

"No, I didn't. That was an alternate version of Mewni with its own version of you since you share DNA. I have to cycle through dozens of universes to find the one that you're from since, you know, there are infinite universes with near-infinite versions of you with some not technically being you since they have different parents," Rick explained as he tuned into another dimension where they saw Star being taken through a portal to Earth.

"That one looks just like me."

"Yeah, this is a universe where you just got your 'wand' at 14 and burned your little kingdom so your mom sent you to live on Earth with some Hispanic kid," Rick turned to another universe "And this is a universe where you're a cat, it has no bearing on anything other than showing the infinite possibilities that are out there for your peabrain," Rick chided the girl's lack of knowledge on the subject.

This insult went over her head though as she focused on the screen, gushing, "Aw, look at little cat me."

"Ugh, real great catch we got here, alright Elsa back up. I think I just found your dump," Rick turned onto a new dimension with a castle that was smoking, "Holy shit," Rick said quietly as not to interrupt the girl who seemed upset.

"What happened?! Where's my mom?!" Star looked to the scientist for an explanation.

"Couldn't tell you, what you see is what you get. I'd have to send a drone to get details outside of the portal's view. Looks like that lizard did a real number on you 1%-ers," Rick callously said without concern for anyone wounded.

"Rick!" Naruto nudged the scientist in the shoulder for his insensitivity.

"Come on, she has a castle in the clouds with a castle in higher clouds! That's three-levels, she's rich and every home surrounding the castle is *belch* li-like a mud hut," Rick pointed to the screen showing the three-leveled castle while drinking from a flask.

"Class disparity aside, we have to send her back. If these guys did all this to a castle, the city won't hold up as well," Naruto grimly stated.

"Yeah, yeah," Rick muttered, pulling a lever and activating a coil that sent electricity through a vial that contained a kind of green liquid in a sphere. Soon the electricity worked in tandem with the green sphere to make a portal to Mewni, "There ya go, one portal back to your magic-based reality."

"What about my wand?" she asked looking to the blond in charge.

"We'll send that through after you. Just to make sure there're no tricks hidden up those puffy sleeves of yours, Star. Don't worry the wand is fine and I never lie," Naruto calmed the outburst that the girl would no doubt have with a small smile.

"Well, thanks for dropping by and causing a bunch of trouble for us, Cinderella. Now get out of here," Rick paid no attention to the girl as she approached the green portal only to halt suddenly, forcing Rick to notice.

"I forgot! The Book of Spells should be here too, my mom made a portal to stop the monsters from taking it!" Star realized and got raised eyebrows from the room's occupants.

"A book of spells?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I don't really care about the book itself but my magic teacher, Glossaryck, lives in it. I have to get him back before I go," Star explained to the two, rushing to the door but was stopped by Naruto.

"We'll find the book and send it through with the wand. I already told you that I need you gone before your problems become ours. Besides, we can find it faster than you can," Naruto looked to Rick as he turned the princess back around.

"Yep, similar signature that was detected around the same time, didn't pick it up because…oh hell, it landed in a place we don't need to be going right now," Rick frowned with a smaller screen showing him the coordinates of the signature.

"Where is…" before the blond could ask an alarm went off, and the power shut down.

"Whoa, what's going on?!" Star wondered aloud.

Naruto's face hardened and made his way to the door, upon opening it he heard fighting going on and caught a large spiked ball that was aimed at him. The ball was the hand of a monster that had blue skin and wore a black mask over his head. The blond didn't think twice before he slammed the monster into the ground, rendering him unconscious.

"Damn, we ran out of time…they're here."

"The back-up power will kick on, but that won't be enough energy for a portal," Rick shouted to the blond as he walked out into the hallway to counterattack the monster with Star following.

"Hey, wait up! You have to give me my wand back, I can help," the princess fell in step with the blond.

"They aren't after you, are they? They want that wand, so it would be stupid to take it out of the vault so they have a chance to get it," Naruto shot down the girl, "You should head back and wait for Rick to fix the portal so you can get home."

Star stood directly in front of the blond, "This is my fault, I have to help, and I can do that if I have my wand. There's no way I'm not helping after you tried to help me," the girl glared at the blond, determined to help. "Plus, I know more about these guys then you do soooo…I'm an asset," Star pointed to the boy.

Naruto pinched his eyebrows in exasperation but couldn't help but smile at the girl's resolve. He decided to concede and allow the princess to retrieve her wand, might as well have the girl help clean the mess she unintentionally brought to their doorstep.

"Down the hall and to the right, you wanna go down the elevator to the basement and open vault 3. Don't make me regret this, princess. If you had left a little sooner this problem wouldn't be happening."

"And maybe if you hadn't knocked me out, our talk could have happened sooner, blondie," Star shot back over her shoulder, already in a sprint down the hallway.

When the blond made to retort the two were silenced when neon green energy had blasted through the wall in front of them, revealing Toffee. Star froze with widened eyes, knowing that the Septarian's presence here meant that her mom, Moon the Undaunted, had lost against Toffee and for all Star knew could be dead. Naruto took in the lizard's appearance for the first time and could tell he was strong.

"Hello again, princess," Toffee greeted smoothly, hands behind his back and subtly bringing his eyes to her hands. "Hm, it seems you don't have the wand. Never hurts to be sure, but we are already working on retrieving it."

"Hey, scales! This ain't your dimension, so I'm gonna ask you nicely one time to leave before I get upset," Naruto stood his ground.

Toffee regarded the blond with a lazy glance before his eyes widened slightly for an instant. Taking in the blond's appearance, Toffee recomposed himself and settled his features to a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Well, well, the path becomes clearer and clearer. I never imagined that you'd be here," the lizard's words confused the blond, knowing that he'd never met the Septarian before.

"And how did you know I'd be here exactly?" Naruto asked, fishing for answers.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Toffee teased. He then looked back at the princess as he went back to his all-business mode, reaching to grab her, "Come now, princess. At this point, I'm the only hope you'll have to return to Mewni, and I'd be happy to take you back if you relinquish the wand."

Naruto launched right at the Septarian, not giving Toffee a chance to crouch and grab the girl's arm as he slammed the back of his fist into the side of the lizard's head. The blow sent Toffee flying through the wall of the hallway, shocking the girl when she felt the blond pick her up by the arm.

"Don't just stand there! I'll handle lizard-face, you need to get your wand before those monsters break into the vault!" he shouted to restart the girl.

"Can you seriously handle this guy?" Star asked though she had a feeling he could handle himself.

"Heh," he thumbed his nose, "I've dealt with worse-" he was cut off when another laser hit him in the stomach, knocking him onto his back. "Umph, that one had some kick," he groaned, noticing that the beam had burned a hole through his jacket along with his skin, though it sealed shut slowly.

"What are you still doing here?"

When asked the girl didn't think twice, she bolted down the hallway, rushing to the elevator. Toffee followed her, breaking through the walls of the rooms that ran parallel to the hallway to do this and burst through the one just before the elevator to surprise the girl only to be stopped again. Naruto caught the hand before it could reach her with a feral smirk on his face and swiftly caught the second hand as it went for a punch. The two men struggled against the other's strength, showing how close they were in physicality. Star made her way into the elevator, pushed the button, and gave a slightly concerned look to the confident blond as the door closed.

"*Sigh* These roadblocks become taxing when it happens enough," Toffee sighed to himself, locked with the blond.

"Aw, guess that means I'm doing the job right, then," Naruto snarked to the unamused reptile.

"Your wit and altruism seem to have been understated," the dry reply of Toffee.

"Well, a guy can't just sit and watch a monster attack an innocent girl, can he?" Naruto shot back, keeping the lizard's enigmatic words in the back of his head. He became confused by the look of amusement that crossed over Toffee's face.

"She is far from innocent, a better word would be…ignorant I believe," Toffee smiled toothily at the jab that clearly rubbed the man the wrong way. "Don't take that as an insult to the girl, she wasn't raised to know better."

Toffee then opened his right hand causing the green beam of magical energy to hit Naruto in the face, allowing Toffee to throw the stunned blond against the wall and gut-check him as a lead up to another blast through multiple walls.

Down on the basement level, Star arrived to a mess of Ricks diving and weaving as they defended the building from the horde of monsters. The mob was defending themselves from a distance well enough but once the beasts got in too close the blue-haired foot soldiers were tossed around easily. In fact, Star's greeting to this level was a Rick flying into the wall adjacent to her.

"Quick! Which way is vault 3?! I have to get my wand!" Star shook the groggy Rick to semi-coherency.

"Ugh, s-some turtle-bird thing with a frog ran to it. They were holding a mirror…tracking the rattle's signature…" he groaned out, fading into unconsciousness and pointing in the direction of the vault.

Star turned down the hallway, and within her sight were the monster faction beginning to overrun the Ricks and behind all of them were Buff Frog and Ludo, trying their best to get inside of a vault. When she saw her two biggest adversaries (before just a few hours ago) Star used her agility and acrobatic skill to pounce on monsters in her path, punching, kicking, dodging, sliding, and jumping either to avoid the many claws or take out a monster that got too close. Approaching her targets, Star noticed that Buff Frog was holding a Rick to a scanner that despite scanning the face of the Rick it denied access with Ludo perched on Buff Frog's shoulder shouting to try again.

"But this is fifth time. Maybe we have wrong face for mirror?" Buff Frog offered as a solution, tossing Rick into the wall.

"Ugh, you idiots! I told you already that you can't get in the vault!" the hostage Rick growled on the ground. "We aren't a bunch of hacks! The vaults don't take passcodes or eye scan bullshit," he explained to the monsters.

"Darn, how do we get in then?" Ludo asked rhetorically but received an answer anyway.

"It scans intent, you walking piece of fungi. It makes sure that not just anyone can get in only the right people can get in based on what they want the item inside for. That way no one can impersonate us, steal our eyeballs, knock us out, and…" the Rick left his sentence hanging, listening with the duo as they heard the vault open.

Behind the two monsters was Star Butterfly, holding her wand above her head triumphantly and a mean grin on her face.

"…it makes sure that the right people get what they need."

When the Rick finished his sentence the two monsters dodged to the side and beat a hasty retreat, Buff Frog leaping from wall to wall, outmaneuvering the magical blasts of energy.

"You two aren't getting away this time! Summoning Cloudy Charm!" Star summoned a pink cloud with eyes and a mouth to give her a lift as she chased the monsters down.

"Buff Frog, we have to get out of here! Toffee told us if we couldn't get the wand to retreat and look for the book!" Ludo commanded his 'steed', gripping the frog's tunic as Buff Frog powerfully jumped through the building's hallways.

"I don't think Butterfly girl will let us, Master," Buff Frog looked back to see the girl hot on their heels, wand raised to fire more magic.

Buff Frog decided to leap at the ceiling, kicking through it and reaching the ground level. Soon after, Star followed them out and fired.

"Glowworm Blast!"

The wand released a myriad of small blue glowworms that scattered around the room, increasing the chances that the jumping monster would land on one of them. And not too long after, Buff Frog landed dangerously close to one, causing it to glow intermittently and leading to a chain explosion. The two monsters fell hard to the ground, Buff Frog shielding Ludo from the worst of it, and both gulped when the princess aimed at them again.

"Where's my mom?!" Star asked seriously to the cowering monsters.

"We don't know! Toffee came from the castle and had us come here, we never saw her!" the small kappa spoke up, closing his eyes and raising his hands in surrender when Star held the wand to his face threateningly.

"How did Toffee get magic, then?!"

"He came out of castle with it! Even High Commission got beaten!" Buff Frog defended Ludo by placing himself in front of the bird.

Star's pupils shrank at that bit of information, shaking her head in denial. Her wand slowly gaining a green tint around it rather than the vibrant pink.

"No way! You're just trying to psyche me out!" she then got a focused look on her face as her wand's light turned completely green, "This…this is all your fault." The ominous glowing made the young girl seem slightly unhinged especially with her tiny pupils. "Because you couldn't be happy with what you had! You-"

The princess's rant was cut off when Buff Frog got into her face with newfound courage, grabbing the hand holding the wand and aiming it away from himself. Buff Frog was livid, and Ludo hadn't seen him like this before despite the hardships that they had faced in Mewni.

"What we have?! We have nothing!" the frog yelled in the girl's face, "Corn scraps are all we get, and even then, not many! I feed my buff-babies more than I feed myself!" Buff Frog hit his stomach in pride. "Have you ever had to go hungry, Butterfly Girl? Ever go to swamps and see how we live?"

Star was stunned into silence, more from being in a monster's grasp and not being dead, but also from the words. Star, of course, had no want that was never fulfilled or needs that she couldn't get in much the same way. As a princess she was sheltered from the outside and therefore had no practical knowledge of the difficulty of living for the Mewman peasants or the ostracized monsters, she'd always been told by her mother that things were better the way they were and never questioned it. But now, she was hearing that the monsters were barely living off the scraps, scraps that she had defended as generosity. Her mom couldn't be wrong…could she?

"It is normal for us. That is why we steal food from crops. There is no other way," Buff Frog looked sorry for his actions, but resolved to complete the task.

"That can't be true. My mom told me…"

"Queen Moon may have allowed us the food, but that does not mean the other Mewmans adhere to it. The amount is always fluctuating depending on their mood," at this point, Buff Frog released Star's hand.

Star grit her teeth and raised her wand back up, "But you still attacked us! For food! And now, I don't even know how to get back home or if my mom is okay!" Star pointed out, seeming like she was trying to reconvince herself that these monsters were the enemy.

"We don't want the food!" Ludo climbed up to Buff Frog's shoulder, the group ignoring the Ricks that were surrounding them with weapons raised. "Toffee wants us to be equal. He wants everyone to get along or at the very least reach an understanding!" the kappa pleaded.

"If he wanted that, then why attack my home? Why come back for revenge against my mother? There's no reason to get everyone involved in something that has nothing to do with them!"

"Toffee said that he wouldn't hurt anyone unless it was necessary."

That set Star off, blasting the duo through a wall that led out into the street and interrupting the people below. Buff Frog used his leg strength to break the fall, saw the slack-jawed people on the street, and looked up to see the princess trailing them with anger shining in her eyes. The frog monster then hopped down the street at a breakneck pace, narrowly avoiding another large blast of green energy that left a crater. Neither of the two parties had paid any mind to the strange way that Star's magic was being cast due to the adrenaline or the panicking people.

"Dammit, boss! We, uh, we have a little problem," one of the Ricks raised his glasses as he looked out of the hole to see the destruction befalling the city, a hand to his ear, contacting Naruto.

Elsewhere the blond was still locked in combat with Toffee, yet they didn't have a scratch on them, the only signs of their fight were the debris and dust covering their bodies.

Naruto jumped into the air, leg raised for an ax kick, that is, until a blob of water formed around it. He brought it down, causing a tendril to extend from his appendage with such speed that it carved the ceiling as he brought the sharp blade of water to bear on Toffee.

The lizard was undeterred, simply raising his hand in a block, feeling the blade dig into his wrists slightly while being pushed back. The tendril evaporated once the attack was finished, showing destruction in the form of a jagged line that denoted the path it had taken to hit its target.

"I'm busy right now!" Naruto shouted over the communicator, slamming his hands into the floor and having the rubble travel up his arms to form gauntlets. "What's the problem?!"

"That princess just blasted her way out of the building! We have multiple contacts on the *belch* ground floor. If she keeps going, we won't be much of a secret anymore!"

"What!?" Naruto asked in shock, looking out of a window to see the green energy lighting up the city. "What the hell is she doing?"

"Quite destructive isn't it?" Toffee asked, massaging his healed wrists of the phantom pains.

"What?" Naruto went into a defensive stance when the lizard joined him at the window, the wistful look in his eyes returning, almost as if this was a familiar sight.

"The magic, I mean. It is quite destructive," Toffee looked in the Uzumaki's eyes, "That is all it can be used for. No matter what the intentions start as magic will always become a force of destruction."

Naruto would have countered, but he knew all too well what power could do to a person…but he also didn't think the girl to be capable of destroying anything either.

"It depends on the one that uses it. Any weapon can become something to protect regardless of the original purpose," Naruto defended the girl.

Toffee chuckled to himself, "You say that, but all I see out there is proof of my point. That optimism of yours will be detrimental one day…people can disappoint you."

"I won't let them. I'll just have to be there to keep them walking the right way."

"Since you know all too well of the consequences if you fail? Or because you acknowledge that without that constant wall to prop them up…they'll just fall?" Toffee asked knowingly.

Naruto didn't hesitate in that instant to punch Toffee in his face and through another wall. Upon moving the rubble out of the way to retrieve the downed monster the blond was met with a portal, hearing the taunting voice of Toffee.

"Why not go see how 'innocent' the princess is." The soft chuckle faded as the portal closed.

Naruto frowned even as he received news of the monsters escaping through similar portals across HQ. Instead, he made his way out of the window and used his speed to evade the eyewitnesses' vision, making his way to the angered princess. The path was littered with trenches carved in the streets, walls blasted apart, and sections of buildings being sheared off.

Star, once again riding Cloudy, chased the two monsters like a predator chasing prey and without care for the property damage she caused. Green beams of magic were thrown around in attempts to outright hit, and most likely eradicate, the monsters or to clip them so she could more easily catch them.

"Rainbow Avalanche!" she called, and more green energy poured out of the wand. Normally, Star would wonder why her wand was acting strangely but she was blinded by rage. Luckily for her, this beam managed to hit Buff Frog, spiraling him into the street.

The frog only had enough time to get up before he found the princess's foot in his face, causing Ludo to be flung off his shoulder. The kappa made to help his right-hand but was stopped by Toffee who had come to retrieve him. With a solemn shake of his head, the two took their leave.

Buff Frog was buried under some rubble inside a building unable to move as the wrathful princess stalked up to him. He gulped, ready to accept the fate that he had known would be a possibility.

"You want to talk about being equal, but you don't have a problem tearing people down to do it. You attacked my home, you took me from my mom, and you think that we'd want to come to peace with you!" Star charged her wand, placed both hands onto the handle, and with deadly seriousness she said, "You all are just monsters in the end. You talk like you have a peaceful goal, but you only care about what you get out of it…and when I get back to Mewni I won't let something like this have a chance of happening again!" the princess braced herself for the spell.

Buff Frog would have been fine to end there but noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone hadn't managed to escape the building before they had crashed in. Moving with the last of his strength, Buff Frog kicked the rubble off his legs, aimed the wand at the roof which made it misfire, and took the princess onto his shoulder along with the bystander as the ceiling collapsed from the blast.

Once outside the frog rolled off the two to get a breath and even then, the princess didn't stop. Star pinned him down with a foot and without preamble made to blast him point-blank.

"Stop!" Naruto tackled the girl to the ground and made her drop the wand. "We aren't executioners! We beat him, he can't do anything else and right now he is the only lead that we have for Toffee's plans!" he reprimanded the girl, a mask and hat covering his face.

"But he…wait what? What was I doing?" Star shook her head and took notice of all the people watching her and the damage she caused. "I did this? No, none of my spells are capable of doing this," Star was devastated at everything she did and didn't seem to notice when her fellow blond picked her and Buff Frog up to escape the incoming authorities.

'Damn, so much for keeping this out of the public eye,' Naruto looked to the injured and demoralized people. Just when things were looking up, it seems like things will regress to fear of the unknown factors coming from the different universes.

It wasn't long before the trio made it back to the Headquarters which was already coming along nicely what with all the different time-saving sci-fi contraptions that Rick had created over the years. The most notable of which was the blue humanoids that were handling the indoor cleaning of the dust and debris with happy smiles on their faces, waving to Naruto as he passed.

As soon as Star and Buff Frog were looked over the monster was placed into an interrogation room with the princess and ninja watching him through the one-way mirror. The frog, despite being capture by enemies, seemed calm and waited for whatever was planned to happen to him a resolute look on his face.

"So, what was that back there?" Naruto asked with a side-glance to the princess.

"I don't know. My magic has never been like that before…all I remember is being angrier than I thought I could be," Star looked to the floor, she had watched the footage that the Ricks had managed to rip from cameras across the city and was disappointed in herself.

"Hm, maybe it's because you were angry that that happened. Abilities are normally fueled by emotion and anger is a potent one."

Star looked to the blond, making to ask how he figured that but didn't get the chance to since he had gone into the room to talk with the frog.

"*sigh* You guys sure did cause a lot of trouble, ya know," Naruto dropped into his chair and stared back at the slightly bigger monster. "You've really shaken the place up, things won't be going back to normal anytime soon," Naruto said hoping to get some kind reaction and raised a brow when he did.

"I did not want that. Butterfly Girl did most damage," Buff Frog looked to the mirror practically able to feel the girl's remorse.

"She did, but from your instigation," Naruto again saw the frog frown and look unsure and capitalized on that, "You seem like a decent…frog. So why not help us out? You don't want to have innocents hurt, do you?"

Ignoring the blond's joke, Buff Frog steeled himself, "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want Mewni to be better for everyone…but Toffee, he said if we do this thing…then we'd all be equal and reach understanding."

Naruto furrowed his brows at that, "And harming people that have nothing to do with that?"

"He…he said be prepared for opposition and that others could be harmed along with us," Buff Frog begrudgingly admitted.

Surprisingly, the blond shot up and grabbed the monster by his collar with his blue eyes going slit. His gaze bore into the now terrified monster with an anger that seemed to make the room unbearably hot.

"Anyone that says they fight for something as lofty as peace or equality but has no problem mowing down people in the way be they ally or enemy isn't someone that can bring that dream about. Slinking around in the dark deciding what is best for everyone is cowardly and an admission of his guilt!" Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself and let go of Buff Frog, wiping the wrinkles from his collar.

Naruto sat back into his chair and rubbed his forehead, "Sorry," he muttered, calming himself further. "Why does he want the wand so badly? He has magic so why would he want or need the wand?"

Buff Frog stayed silent.

"Why does he need the Book of Spells?"

Again, he was met with silence.

"Fine, just know that you'll be held accountable for anything he does by omission of information. I won't be able to let you go after this is all over without some kind of punishment."

Naruto left the room and received a muttered reply from the monster.

"I don't think I have problem with that. Perhaps…fight for equality is pointless."

"Well, Toffee certainly covered his bases. These guys are loyal to whatever plan he's got cooking up and he has their respect. Guy's got charisma if nothing else," Naruto groaned in frustration.

"Do we wait for him to come back?" Star asked.

"No, if he tried twice already and knows that we've got our bases covered here…he'd probably make a move on the book. Meaning that he has an edge, after all, we don't know the location yet. He has done this before, it was a smart move taking out our power," Naruto admitted.

"He was a war general before all this happened. My mom shot off his finger," Star smiled remembering her mom.

"I'm sure she isn't dead. A way to make sure she sees the 'changes' he'd make in Mewni," he said to cheer the girl up with a smile on his face.

It didn't reach her eyes, but the girl did smile at the attempt he made and shoved his shoulder, "That doesn't really make me feel much better, I'd rather find Toffee and make him pay."

The duo walked into the portal room to see Rick with goggles on his face while he worked on the circuits in the room.

"That's the plan. How long do we have, Rick?" Naruto asked the scientist.

"Got about an hour of fixing this shit before we can get the location of the book," Rick shouted over the noise and barely looking back so he could focus.

"An hour of free time, huh." Naruto wondered to himself then glanced at the princess and took notice of the girl's state of dress, as if just realizing that she'd been wearing the same tattered dress the entire time. "I think I know a good way to pass the time."

After a quick makeover, the two were out on the streets once again, though Star wasn't happy with the clothes she had to wear to hide her identity from the populace. Rick had simply shrunk down a lab coat for her and Naruto gave her simple a black shirt with a red swirl on it along with a hat that ballooned up from her having to shove all her hair into it.

"This is terrible. Don't you have anything better to wear?" she recoiled when she caught a whiff of the coat. Shrinking it didn't stop it from stinking like the previous owner.

"Sorry, Rick and I aren't ones for style, so we wear just about anything," Naruto smiled at the upset princess who pouted at the sheepish blond.

Star focused on the blond's back lest she notices the still rebuilding citizens picking themselves up from her rampage. Before she could wallow in her self-pity the blond in front of her had stopped in front of the store they'd be heading for.

"Pick whatever you want, I've got the money for it. And try to keep your face under wraps don't want to cause a panic," Naruto opened the door for the girl and found a bench to sit on while she browsed.

"No matter how the times change it seems couples are always at odds when it comes to shopping," an older gentleman chuckled to himself, seeing the blond fighting to keep himself awake in the store.

"Who're you, old-timer?" Naruto asked rudely to the man who gave a good-natured laugh.

"That's another thing that doesn't seem to change. Brats still like to disrespect elders, especially ones that are here to give advice," he chuckled.

"Oh, her? We're just friends, not a couple," Naruto waved his hands in front of himself.

"And denial isn't a very good trait young man. The saying 'opposites attract' exist for a reason, you know," he looked to the blond who raised his eyebrow and continued, "She seems a sweet girl…you, on the other hand, seem a tad brash, brutish, and…empty-headed to put it politely," the old man listed.

"I'd hate to see what rude is!" Naruto grumbled when the old man interrupted him.

"That's normal for couples though. I was quite the delinquent back in my day, but the day I met my wife…I changed. She didn't care for the fights I got into, and I wanted to impress her so bad that I stopped for a while to focus on school,"

"This story have a point? I've got stuff to do later-Agh, you hit hard ol' man!"

"Disrespectful! Stories have a build before the point! Like I said, I started taking school a lot more seriously, but my past had caught up with me. One day, my wife's car was vandalized and that was the beginning. I let them get away with a lot for her sake until they outright harassed her in front of me and that was the last straw. I beat 'em up in front of everyone."

"And she loved you anyway, right?"

"Yes…but not right away. She realized that fighting wasn't something I simply did for fun…it was for protection. We reached an understanding, I'd hit the books and she'd learn from me…though it was more like she had an excuse to whale on me," the old man smiled fondly at the memory.

Naruto had his elbow on his knee, propping his head up with his fist on his cheek and looking bored, "And the point of the story is?" he asked flatly.

After smacking the blond again, the old man looked to see that Star was walking out of the dressing room, "The point is that we bettered each other. That's why I was able to become a doctor to save lives without knocking teeth out and she became a teacher known for fighting off assailants and handing them to the police," he turned the blond to Star and noticed how Naruto's breath hitched.

The princess had shed her makeshift disguise in favor of a green dress with mint coloring on its collar, cuffs of her puffy sleeves, and on the trim. She had pink and purple striped leggings leading into her new white boots which had a star on each heel, magenta soles, and pink on the toe's tips. As accessories, she wore a magenta headband with devil horns and a necklace with a black spider on it.

"A very cute girl for a brat like you. Better be careful you don't lose her, you're lucky," the old man whispered and turned to walk away to give them space.

"Who was that guy?" Star asked.

"Ah, a senile old man that just wanted to talk to someone. More importantly, should you be letting your hair back out?" Naruto questioned with shifty eyes. The reason why his breath got caught in his throat was that he feared the old man would recognize Star…for the most part anyway.

"Well, they haven't recognized you," she offered simply.

"They don't know what Rick or I look like," Naruto answered her just as simply.

"Huh?" was her smart reply.

"Remember, this place is just now bringing itself together after being forced into this situation. Knowing that a scientist with the secret of interdimensional travel along with an army of himself led by a ninja with elemental powers was here right under their noses would cause a panic. It's better if we protect them secretly," Naruto explained.

After his explanation, the blond was forcibly turned around by the girl as she bore into his soul with a glare. He didn't know why, but an angry girl with her sights set on him, despite all the dangers he'd faced, still terrified his core.

"What's the matter?"

"Seriously?! You do all this stuff for all these people and you just hide it?" Star knocked him on the head with her knuckles, "Do you even realize who you're acting like by doing that? What did you just tell Buff Frog about Toffee?"

"Hm, that's different. He's forcing his change on people, I'm leaving them to their own devices and stepping in when necessary," Naruto defended.

"On a surface level, but you're still doing stuff in the shadows…What do you have to hide from these people?"

Naruto froze up at the question, a haunted look passing his gaze before he reigned it in so the princess wouldn't catch it. He opened his mouth to answer…or lie would be more accurate. Luckily for him, Rick contacted him at that moment and said that the power was back up and could get the Book of Spells' location.

"Rick just told me that we can head back now," Naruto sighed in his head at the scientist's unintended rescue.

"Really? Aw, I wanted to look around a little more," Star came off her grilling to sigh in sadness.

"If you can shorten your dress-up time, I don't see why we can't stay for a while longer," Naruto offered the cheering girl, watching as she excitedly ran about with a guilty smile. 'It's the least I can do since I can't tell you the truth.'

The blond duo left the store with a certain toad wallet being significantly lighter. Naruto believed that he finally understood what Iruka went through whenever he paid for the extreme amount of ramen the former genin ate on their outings. Though, like Iruka, it was worth it to see the smile on the girl's face, and given the circumstances, she needed some cheering up.

"Hm," Naruto chuckled to himself in lieu of his pack mule status, gaining the attention of the skipping princess.

"What's so funny over here? You seemed pretty upset when I told you to carry my stuff," the girl slowed down to his pace.

"I still am…it's just, you aren't like a lot of princesses I've met," Naruto saw her shocked look, "Thought you were my first? Nah, I've helped a fair share of royalty and each one of them was pretty rude when they started out and I didn't much like them either. Too stuck-up or acting like they were above just about anything that was going on and even that the world was unfair to them. Not you, though," Naruto looked to the girl, "You seem liked you'd rather roll around in the mud and get dirty than sit down and act all proper."

"I've done that. I normally sneak out to go on an adventure with my friends or get away from my mom," Star rubbed her shoulder in embarrassment.

"Ha, reminds me of me. I wasn't a school kind of guy either, but as soon as I could get outside, I'd be the first one to shoot off by himself," Naruto smirked.

"Wish I could do that. I'm lucky to get an hour to myself before the knights are forced to get me…or my mom personally," she shuddered at the many times her mom's cold stare greeted her upon returning home or tracking her down and making her come home.

"Hey, I told you that she's fine. All you have to worry about is that book and then you can get home. And when you do, you can tell her how much she means to you and how sorry you are for causing trouble. Maybe even compensate the city for all the damage," Naruto joked.

"These places take treasure, right?" Star asked innocently, flooring the blond.

"Uh, yeah that'd cover it," he smiled awkwardly.

With their small talk ended the two walked in comfortable silence and approached the HQ which was thankfully rebuilt completely. The interior was spotless with the last blue humanoid taking out a final trashbag before poofing out of existence to the astonishment of the foreign princess. Again, they found themselves in the portal room with Rick ready and waiting.

"Jesus, took you long enough and now I find out it was because you were shopping! Ugh, bad enough I have to deal with magic *belch* now I have teenage problems."

"I wanted some comfortable clothes," Star shrugged.

"And you bought the whole store. I want my lab coat back by the way," Rick rolled his eyes and activated the screen.

"About that…I kinda accidentally shot a laser at your clothes…because they were gross," the princess smiled in a sorry-not-sorry kind of way.

"Fuck, fine just forget it. Back to th-*belch*-e task at hand," Rick pulled up the map of Nexus and a green reticle appeared, hovering over an area near a beach. "Here is where that second signature originated."

"Hm, and that problem you were bringing up before?" Naruto asked, recollecting the scientist's words before the attack.

"It's landed on a mountain where some, well, people of interest live," Rick zoomed the screen in as the image cleared.

The screen showed a mountain that faced the beach and the interesting thing was the large multi-armed statue that was carved into the mountain. It appeared aged due to four of the eight arms being missing with three of the remaining hands cradling a beach house and the last having the palm raised, as if in meditation, toward the sky. On top of the mountain was a lighthouse and in front of it was the Book of Spells lying in a small crater.

"There it is! We have to go get it," Star hopped excitedly, not sensing the tense atmosphere.

"Damn, how are we gonna retrieve it from there of all places?" Naruto pondered.

"Well, today's our lucky day. They haven't been outside all day, so they must not be home, or else the book would have been moved. Problem is we don't know where or when they'll come back not to mention we're racing against other guys here," Rick chugged from his flask.

"Um, who are we talking about?" Star asked perplexed.

"You aren't the only person that we've been forced to keep tabs on, Star. Four of 'em live right there," Naruto pointed at the beach house, "Odd things have happened there before, but whenever we arrive on the scene it's mainly for cleanup. A few others here and there, but none like the four here. We think they might be from off-world too, but more in the literal vein than you," he elaborated.

"And that means?"

"It me-*belch*-ans that instead of coming from another-another dimension that isn't part of Nexus, like you, they come from one of the ones that's a part of Nexus but specifically from space," Rick dumbed it down for the princess.

"Space? Like aliens?" Star said, enthused at the idea, "They could help us!"

"Nope, too risky. No idea what they're like and added personalities clog up a well-oiled machine," Rick shot that idea down in typical insensitive fashion.

"There's nothing wrong with asking for help."

"Rick's right, Star. Just because they take care of anomalies doesn't mean they do it for the right reasons. We haven't made any hostile moves on them because they keep to themselves for the most part and only one of them leaves the house for food," Naruto agreed with the scientist.

"Best thing to do is head over there before they get back, and get the stupid magic book," Rick clacked coordinates into a console and opened a portal. "Fastest way to get there and better than taking a car. You'll be on the mountain, simple snatch and grab…but things rarely go that well," Rick whispered to himself as the duo approached the portal.

Naruto and Star stopped in front of the portal and as the princess made to take the first step the ninja put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her with a foot in the portal. He looked to her seriously, a glance to the wand in her hand the only sign of his concern.

"I just want to know before we go through…will you be able to keep yourself in check? Beach city is much smaller, and the people are made up of more rural people with mom-and-pop shops. They can't be dealing with extreme amounts of damage, normally the damage is concentrated on the beach, but you have to be prepared," Naruto told the girl.

"I'll be fine. I just want to get Glossaryck, grab the book so I can get back home and out of your hair. Right?" Star smiled.

"Yeah, ok. Let's go," Naruto acquiesced and decided to be attentive, stepping through in tandem with Star.

The two came out of the portal and were met with the lighthouse blocking their vision. The princess didn't have a chance to take in her surroundings as she rounded the lighthouse, stopping with her mouth agape. The blond ninja leisurely walked to her side and saw what had taken her breath away.

A golden sunset was in front of them, shining over the horizon and painting the sky with a pink hue. Calming waves were the only sounds heard, and the ebb and flow of the waves helped add to the beauty and tranquility of the scene.

"Amazing," Star whispered to herself.

"I know, can't get a view like this back on Mewni," a familiar little blue man spoke up next to them.

"Seriously!?" Naruto was shocked that the girl actually had a teacher that lived in a book, an ironic thought knowing his strange pedigree for teachers.

"Glossaryck!" Star grasped the small man in both hands and squeezed, eliciting an odd squeaking sound along with his eyes popping out.

"Magic is officially too weird," Naruto sweatdropped at the strange scene. Then the…gnome?...got into his face and seemed to be examining him.

"I thought you'd be taller. Oh well, can't control everything I suppose." Glossaryck shrugged his shoulders.

"You know me, too?" Naruto asked wondering how two people from a different dimension, outside of the ones forcibly brought together, knew him.

"Dear boy, I know everything and that isn't an exaggeration." Glossaryck bragged slightly.

"I know another guy that says he knows everything," Naruto told him, not impressed.

"Oh yes, I know. He comes close, but he has too many personal issues that he needs to get past. Though brilliant nonetheless." Glossaryck smiled knowingly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "So, you knew about Toffee, then?" he accused.

"Whoa, whoa, if Glossaryck knew he'd-"

"I did," Glossaryck answered, smile still in place.

Star looked betrayed when she heard this, "You knew? You knew, and you didn't warn us about this?!" Star had tears brimming under her eyes.

"I know what will happen, but that doesn't mean I can do anything about it, Star."

"Yes, it does! I could have been ready for Toffee! I could have warned mom!" Star cried in anger.

"Stopping Toffee wouldn't have stopped anything, Star. I can't be involved with every little thing simply because it's a perceived wrong," Glossaryck remained calm as he defended himself.

"We…we wouldn't even be here right now if you stopped, Toffee!"

"Star, nothing I could have done would stop Toffee. He is on a mission."

"I know that. He wants to take all the magic for himself and have the monsters be 'equal' with Mewmans," Star grew tired of the reasoning behind the attack that upended her life.

"No, Star. It's much more than that…" Glossaryck looked away at the girl's frustrated sigh.

"Then what is it? Why does Toffee care so much about this? My mom didn't kill him when she could have in the war, he could have just disappeared! And…and he talked to mom more than just a general to enemy royalty. What's the deal?!"

"It's because Toffee killed your grandmother," the blue man revealed, to the shock of those present.

Naruto remained silent, knowing that this conversation wasn't his place. He glanced at the princess, allowing her to take in the information.

"Is that what you couldn't tell me? Why mom is so overprotective?"

"Yes…and seeing as we aren't on Mewni. I am not bound by Mewman law…so ask me anything, I'm an open book." Glossaryck smiled.

"So…Toffee killed grandma. But mom didn't do the same thing?"

"Not that she didn't want to…that's actually something I still can't reveal."

"It was a war, though. It's par for the course to kill each other in those circumstances," Naruto chimed in.

"Of course, can't deny that. Though the war was over by the time both events took place," Glossaryck explained. "After warring for years on end peace talks were being made with the monster side wanting to mainly because of the number of lives lost on their side far outweighing Mewman casualties."

"And that should have been the end of it right?" Star asked.

"Yes, unfortunately, Toffee wouldn't accept that…so he went rogue and killed Queen Comet Butterfly, extending the war further and forcing Mewni to have its youngest queen to date," Glossaryck ended the tale.

"We didn't start that war! Why did my grandma have to die for that? The monsters started it by trying to take Mewman land!" Star, angered at this info, couldn't accept that the Septarian would vindictively murder her family for a war.

Glossaryck made to interrupt the girl but was beaten to the punch by the silent blond.

"A war is fought by two sides and it's rarely ever unfounded for the instigating force to have no reason for attacking, Star. It doesn't make them right either," the blond spoke from experience.

"He's right, Star," Glossaryck interrupted the girl as she made to talk back to the ninja.

"W-what?"

"The war was to take land from the Mewmans, that is true, but the land originally belonged to the monsters. The first Mewmans took it from them," Glossaryck revealed. "The first Mewman settlers were met with the harsh wilds inhabited by monsters the only thing they had was the gift of magic, which I gave them," Glossaryck explained the circumstances. "Even with this they weren't prepared for the environment and the monsters took it upon themselves to help their new neighbors."

"Monsters and Mewmans…worked together?" Star gasped.

"Yes, something that future queens would wipe from the history books. They wouldn't want it known that our people relied on those they found inferior and undeserving," Glossaryck closed his eyes at the end of his tale.

Star had backed into the lighthouse, needing to be propped up before her legs gave out from under her. Slowly lowering herself to the ground and cradling her head in her hands, Star tried to come to terms with the revelation that had just been given to her. The princess couldn't stop the tears pouring from her eyes, her entire perception of monsters had been shifted with this information. How could her mother keep this from her? Mewmans were the real monsters and they just swept it under the rug, and she ate it up. Star upheld the lie that had been fed to everyone for centuries without a second thought.

Naruto stood with his hair covering his eyes, unable to comfort the girl in her distress. He knew what she was going through, a shock to the system that changed the way she perceived everything she's known.

"Even with that, for a soldier to go rogue during a war. There has to be a good reason that Toffee would go through all that trouble of abandoning any hope of returning to a normal life with his kind. Did he want the war to continue that badly?" Naruto wondered, and a chill went down his spine when a smooth voice cut in.

"No…well, not completely," Toffee shocked the emotionally compromised princess and ninja.

"Toffee," Glossaryck greeted neutrally.

"Glossaryck, I see you've been…busy," Toffee gazed at the red-eyed girl, watching as she brought herself up but didn't seem to have the strength.

"Then what was it?" Naruto wanted answers.

Sighing to himself, Toffee answered, "Because it was Mewmans that eliminated my species. I'm the last of my kind now."

This floored the blond, knowing the kind of person he's been dealing with now. The blind determination that someone that's lost everything has is close to insurmountable. The only way this lizard could be stopped would be completely crushing him and locking him away…or death.

"Don't worry, I'm not like your old friend. I've grown out of my need for senseless revenge. You most likely believe that I've lied to my allies to gain their trust," Toffee smirked. "I truly am working for the betterment of Mewni," Toffee pulled the page out of his pocket and it flew back into the book, revealing how the Septarian had found the location.

Star with tear streaks on her face finally stood and aimed the wand at Toffee, "I-I don't care! You still did terrible things to Mewmans that had nothing to do with the war!"

"Yes, I did. And I am truly remorseful for the actions I took in the past. They were similar to a child throwing a tantrum, as a gross simplification. I see now that all I'd accomplished back then was strain the rift that already existed between Mewmans and monsters," Toffee walked forward calmly. "I only kept the cycle going, now I'm here to end it…and I need these items to do it," Toffee stretched his hand out to Star his hand open to receive the wand. "Surely, knowing the truth, you'd like this cycle to end as well, princess."

Star was struggling with herself, knowing that Toffee was right, but still couldn't bring herself to hand over the wand or the book.

"I-I…"

"You wouldn't want for the injustices to continue, would you? Magic is the great power that forces this rift, a destructive force that no one should have."

"No one but you, right?!" Naruto grabbed the lizard by his collar, remembering Sasuke and how he viewed the world when he had lost everything, "Since you know everything only you can have the power!"

"I told you, I'm not like that friend of yours. With the best intentions power will inevitably be used as a weapon, especially when personal emotions are involved," Toffee moved to take the hand off him, but the two opposing men stopped when a green glow shone from the wand. "You see? Perhaps the truth was too much for her all at once."

Star had her hands to her head, clutching it and seemingly ignoring the dangerous glow of the wand. Naruto on the other hand didn't hesitate to reach out for her in a vain attempt to calm her down.

"Star! You told me you could keep it together!" the blond shouted, and the wand erupted with a brilliant laser that tore clean through the lighthouse, managing to hit Toffee and singe Naruto.

Unable to hold it anymore, the girl dropped it allowing the vibrating artifact to roll about and cause more destruction to the mountain and beach. Toffee rose behind the remains of the lighthouse and dusted himself off, watching the uncontrollable power cause more destruction a numb look on his face.

"Star, you have to grab the wand!" Naruto screamed over the screeching of the wand.

"I can't. I'm sorry, I-I can't do this anymore!" Star cried, unable to get close and losing confidence in her abilities from the Septarian's words and her crisis of faith.

With Glossaryck, even with the turmoil going on in front of him, he remained calm. Anytime one of the destructive magic blasts came close to him he would redirect it into the ocean. The blue mentor looked to his protégé, broken and crying but knew the truth was better given now than later…after all, he knew where this was going.

Glossaryck stopped hovering above the open book and made his way to the wand, hands outstretched to deflect any stray beams that came at him. Because of his approach, there was no protection for the Book of Spells and unfortunately, a beam had grazed the tome, igniting the book into green flames. Rather than worry, the blue magic teacher kept his focus on quelling the raging wand by simply placing his hand on it and sending his magic into it. Sighing, Glossaryck smiled somberly while watching his home burn with a small flame igniting on his robes as well.

"Glossaryck?" Star asked, seeing her mentor begin to burn.

"I know, but well, it was gonna happen so I couldn't help it," he seemed unperturbed by the fact that he was going to die as his student tried to put the flames out with her hands.

"Nonononono! Glossaryck, I need you! I don't know what to do anymore!" Star's high emotion made her numb to the burns on her hands, trying her hardest to save Glossaryck.

"No, you don't," Glossaryck smiled and floated in front of her face, "I may be cryptic and silly, Star but I take my job seriously. I'd never just allow you to shirk lessons if I thought you needed them. The truth is that you're one of the most adept magic users I know, and I know a lot of people," Glossaryck spoke softly, the flames reaching his chest.

"But mom thought-"

"She wanted you taught like her, but you can only be you. I'm just a crutch for you at this stage. The job of the teacher is to make their student independent…It's all up to you kids now. I wasn't able to see what happens after this…so I'm actually a little scared but excited," Glossaryck was almost completely gone at this point and he offered a few final words. "Oh, and Star don't let that boy go now. He's a keeper," Glossaryck vanished completely at that point, the destruction of the powerful man and the Book of Spells caused a wisp of purple to shoot into the sky signifying its end and leaving the trio alone on the mountain with night having fallen.

"Star?" Naruto wanted to get close to her, but her blank stare toward the ocean showed that she shouldn't be bothered.

She looked out into the horizon, wide-eyed and gasping for air in complete disbelief. Her mentor, someone that had believed in her and trusted that she'd become a good queen in a sea of people that had their doubts…was gone. Gone all because of a monster, a monster that had ruined her life more times in one day than any other…because of her people and their oppression. She didn't know what to think.

"Leave."

"I didn't want it to end this way, princess. I'd have preferred…"

"LEAVE NOW!" Star's anger made her cheek marks and eyes glow pink and made her hair rise. Her rage barely contained, and her energy was permeating the air to such a degree that the wand was beginning to reactivate.

Toffee, knowing that the peaceful route was most likely lost to him resigned and took his leave with some parting words, "You should have time to mourn. The next time we see each other will be the end of this…you've tipped my hand," Toffee glanced over his shoulder as he said this, continuing on his way to the bottom of the mountain. Once out of earshot the Septarian took his mirror out of his suit pocket, contacting Ludo.

"Toffee? Did you get the book, the wand?" Ludo asked.

"No. The book is gone, and the wand will soon follow," Toffee didn't once look down to see Ludo in the mirror, a serious look on his face, knowing what he was about to do. "Tell the others…to get hostages."

"Hostages? I thought we weren't going to harm anyone here…they don't have anything to do with Mewni," Ludo was trepidatious. He was all for sticking it to Mewman but harming random people with no knowledge of their plight made them the monsters that they were believed to be.

"If they comply, then no harm will befall them. I have no intention of doing so and simply want them as insurance against stunts. Only grab a few, and make sure we are seen by authorities so we can be found," Toffee got a reluctant affirmation from the kappa.

'The final stages are coming. Soon, everything will be as it should occur,' Toffee thought to himself and stared at the palm of his right hand again to stare at his scar.

Back with the two heroes, the silence was still going on. The princess sat cross-legged in front of a makeshift grave for Glossaryck, going so far as to get any and all ashes she could find to put into the grave. After that task she sat that staring out at the ocean, tears still streaming but she had long stopped sobbing. Her partner had stood silent during all this, wanting her to take her time in thinking about everything before he had to inevitably get her to move. Naruto walked next to her and dropped into a sitting position next to her, one leg stretched out with the other brought to his chest and an arm on top of his knee.

"So…" Naruto started slowly and carefully, scratching his cheek, "What are you gonna do now?" he mentally sighed at the question. 'I haven't done this in so long.'

Star blinked to herself, registering that the blond boy had taken a position next to her and brought her knees to herself to rest her head on top of them, never once making eye contact.

"I don't know," Star rubbed her eyes before continuing, "W-what am I supposed to do?" Star asked. "I can't just beat Toffee, my mom couldn't even do that, and even if I did that would just make some other monster come for revenge or finish what he started," at this point the princess grew frustrated, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "And why shouldn't they?! Mewmans have made their lives miserable, I made their lives miserable and then lied about it to everyone!" Star shot up, livid as she continued, "How many people even know the truth about this!" Star fell back onto the grass when she was finished ranting, "I should just let Toffee get what he wants if he's so confident that this'll lead to Mewman/monster peace."

"Ok," Naruto leaned next to her and closed his eyes.

The princess shot up at his simple answer in shock and looked to him with furrowed brows. "Um, aren't you supposed to try and cheer me up?" Star looked to the blond who only opened one eye to look at the girl.

"You seem pretty sure that you want to give up, so I don't see why I should stop you. Just find Toffee and give him the wand so he can leave, and everything can be equal in Mewni…not because of learning from mistakes but because someone made a unilateral decision," Naruto sat up and looked Star in the eyes, "Is that what you want? Toffee to be right? Have him make the decision and force people to talk? The cycle that you just learned about will continue. Mewmans will be angry about a monster changing the way they live, leading to another war!" Naruto got into the girl's face at the end.

Star backed up and shook her head, "No, that won't happen. Mewmans, even our knights, we don't fight my mom takes care of everything."

"Get anyone angry enough, they'll fight. And history repeats itself."

"No! I wouldn't let that happen again!" Star got into his face to the point they were butting heads.

"Sounds to me like you would. You're sitting here giving up! The Star I know is so bull-headed she'd forget all about this war stuff and take Toffee down just to show him how wrong he is! That you're gonna be the first queen to change your kingdom and get both sides to see eye to eye!" Naruto yelled back.

"Darn right I am!" Star grabbed her wand with renewed vigor and gasped when she realized what just happened between her and Naruto.

"Nice to see you woke up, princess," Naruto smiled at her bewildered expression. "I guess you aren't too different from the princesses I've helped before, you all like to get in your own heads," Naruto dusted off his pants and stiffened when he was wrapped in a hug.

"Thanks, I-I really needed that," she smiled with some happy tears in her eyes.

"Anything for a friend…and sorry about hitting you where it hurts. It's normal for me to make friends after either yelling at them or fighting them…sometimes both at once," Naruto sighed at those memories.

"Well, it works. So, when are we going after Toffee?! I want this over with!" Star said with confidence and a punch to the hand.

"I don't think we need to go after him. He said so himself that the next time will be the end, so he'll probably want control of the battlefield this time. He'll find a way to make us come to him instead of the other way around," Naruto rubbed his chin while explaining, "The only thing to do is wait for him to make his move first. Meaning that we get a chance to rest, everyone's gotta sleep," Naruto reasoned and they both made their way off the mountain so he could contact Rick but suddenly stopped with a snap of his fingers. "I have to do something before we go," Naruto walked back up the mountain with a spray can in hand.

A few hours after the two had left a blue beam had come from the sky, ending inside of the beach house. Once the beam disappeared, a young boy in a pink shirt with a yellow star ran outside and took in a large breath.

"Nothing like coming home after a long-WAH!" the boy screamed when he saw the state that the beach was in, large trenches running across the beach and…was that the lighthouse?

"Steven! What's the matter?!" a pale woman with a pearl embedded in her forehead ran out and screamed in surprise with him. "What I can't…wait…Amethyst!" she screamed into the house.

Shortly after a small female with lilac skin, plump lips, and wearing a mauve tank top that hung off her shoulder showing off an amethyst gemstone in her chest. her arms behind her head, she walked out to greet the two with a lazy wave and half-lidded eyes.

"Yo, what up P? We just got back," she looked to the taller woman who simply pointed to the destroyed beach and more specifically at a crude portrait of Amethyst on the broken upper half of the lighthouse in spray paint.

"Would you like to explain yourself?" the pale woman asked in a scolding-mother tone.

"Yeah…" the lilac gem observed the mess with her mouth slightly agape, "I don't even remember doing this. Heh, must've been some of my best work," she laughed to herself.

"Yes, well you'll be cleaning your work up. Don't you know that humans rely on this for guidance?"

"Ugh," the purple girl groaned, walking reluctantly down the steps to clean and to get away from the lecture.

The perfect crime and the perfect scapegoat for a free rubble cleaning from the two blond heroes' escapades.

(The next day-in the morning)

Toffee and his monsters were standing in the middle of the road unabashed at the civilians that saw them and began to panic knowing of the destruction that had happened the day prior from the news. It wasn't long before the monsters were left alone in the street, their only company being the helicopters overhead. Using magic, Toffee made his announcement.

"Princess, I know you can hear me. Your friends are most likely watching this broadcast now," he snapped his fingers and had eight people were brought out into the street. "If you don't bring me the wand, princess, then these people will die," the Septarian offered his ultimatum, a deadpan look on his face as if the threat wasn't a big deal. "We've stayed here for too long, princess. Don't you think it's time to give yourself up and save these poor people from our fight? It has nothing to do with them," Toffee held up one finger. "You have an hour to give me what I want before these unfortunate people pay for your tardiness."

That message was what the duo woke up to with Rick calling them in to see it.

"Damn, I knew he was just talking pretty this whole time. In the end, he's still willing to step over anyone's body just to get what he wants," Naruto scowled.

"What are we waiting for? We have to get down there!" Star quickly ran out of the room, flinging the long nightgown she had on off as she rushed to her temporary room to grab her stuff.

The blond was right along with her…after a short wait to make sure that her door was closed so he wouldn't get an eyeful, though he was stopped by Rick's hand on his shoulder.

"You sure about this? We go down there now and we can kiss our freedom goodbye," Rick pointed out the helicopter. "And in only a few days, everyone is going to be looking for us then it'll be only a few small steps towards trying to control you and me," Rick took a swig from his flask. "And I think we both know we won't be going down without a fight, or at least I won't."

"There wouldn't be a point to all the secrecy if we failed to protect the citizens, right?" Naruto rhetorically asked. "You helped me out when you didn't have to all this time, Rick, so I won't blame you for bailing out if things go south but I can't leave those people," Naruto gave a confident smirk to the interdimensional scientist.

"That mushy bullshit really makes me sick to my stomach…but we all know you couldn't have gotten anywhere without me, myself, and I. So, I'll stick around at least until you get yourself caught or give up…I'm gonna need some serious drugs and booze to numb this hero feeling in the pit of my gut or that could be another kidney failure," Rick smirked back at the laughing blond.

"Sure thing, just make sure you don't kill yourself old man," Naruto shot back as he left to suit up.

Shortly the heroes met up, Star in her clothing from yesterday and Naruto in an orange jacket with black shoulders that led into a stripe going down the middle and orange pants.

"Whoa, that's bright. What's with the change?" Star asked with a hand in front of her eyes to shield her from her friend's outfit.

"Yeah, I haven't worn it in a while, but I thought it was appropriate for this. Heroes are supposed to be bright and colorful for people that way they know everything'll be alright. But I probably should update it, huh?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"I like it, but tone down the orange," Star teased with a faint blush at the shocked look he gave her.

"You like it?" Naruto smiled harder at the compliment, confusing the girl since she had no idea how much that meant to him. "Alright, now I'm pumped up! Let's go skin this lizard!" Naruto shot a fist into the air, psyching himself and his partner up for a rescue.

With a few minutes to spare the duo were in front of the monsters, facing Toffee in the middle of the street. Toffee, when seeing them, pocketed the watch he had been using to time them.

"Cutting it close, aren't you? I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to go through the ugly business," Toffee stared at them and watched as they seemed to get ready for a fight. "I'm afraid we've had enough of that. A scuffle wouldn't be safe for these poor citizens, would it?"

"Ok, fine. You want the wand? Take it, it's yours just let them go," Star went to hand over the artifact but was stopped by the Septarian holding his hand out.

"As much as I would love it to be that easy, princess, I'm afraid I'll need to take certain precautions so no, shall we say, funny business is attempted," the former war general snapped his fingers and had one of the hostages, a young woman with orange hair wearing a blue jumpsuit, brought next to him and held her by the back of the neck.

"You filthy-" Naruto made to step forward, but the princess stopped him with a hand out.

"Leave her out of this, Toffee!"

"No need to worry, like I said, she's insurance. Now, princess, I'd like you to give your wand to your friend here. He doesn't know how to use it, so my safety is guaranteed. And before that, I'd like him to tie his hands together," Toffee covered all his bases, severely limiting the ways that the two could turn the tide in their favor and tightened his grip on the woman's neck for slight discomfort to emphasize they should make haste.

With a rope provided by the Septarian, the blond ninja was tied up by the princess and given the wand. He then was to slowly approach the lizard and hand the wand over, and this plan seemed to go smoothly until Toffee noticed something.

The wand had remained in the form it had when Star wielded it, something that shouldn't be possible as the object would change to reflect the wielder.

"Wait-" Toffee held a hand up and was blasted away from the hostage.

"Tricks are never as good when the audience figures it out," Naruto smiled before going up in smoke to reveal that she was disguised as the blond ninja, who had taken advantage of the focus lain on his imposter to sneakily free the other hostages from the monsters.

"Alright everybody, get a move on! This is about to be a warzone and we can't be worrying about you," a clone of Naruto shouted as the other copies made quick work of the monsters and had them pinned in seconds as gently as possible while the original ushered the people away from the danger, accepting thanks thrown his way for good measure.

"I can't go yet, my mom's down there," the last hostage resisted leaving and tried to push his way through the clones stopping him. The kid looked to be about high school age and wore a nondescript white shirt with a red oval on it with baggy jeans.

Naruto looked to see that Star was helping up the woman and keeping her eyes on Toffee in case he tried anything. "Don't worry, kid. I got her for you," Naruto had his clones keep watch over their temporary spectator, making his way down to the princess to retrieve the woman.

"I do grow tired of this," Toffee said completely unfazed by the magical blast, "It was to my understanding that we reached a point where you'd realized that fighting doesn't matter. At the end of all this is you, a Mewman, killing me, a monster. An endless cycle that our histories are wrought with, and yet we still stand here about to make the same mistakes," Toffee sighed in frustration.

"I almost did. But then I realized that just letting you get what you want isn't going to solve Mewni's problems it'll just make more. So, I'm gonna stop you and make Mewni better the right way when I get home," Star didn't waver, getting ready to fight the monster.

"Heh, 'when' you go home, princess. None of us will be returning…" suddenly Toffee was beside Star and grabbed the hostage, raising her off the ground in his powerful grip, "That isn't what has been decided. Now, I ask again, with full intention of bodily harm, if I even think for a single second that you or your companion tries to attack me," to emphasize this the Septarian squeezed until his talons were just a breath away from slicing into the woman's neck. "Relinquish the wand willingly,"

With the woman's life on the line, neither of the heroes wanted to take the chance out in the open like this, so the Mewman princess, after all the fighting that had taken place, the sacrifices, revelations, and losses. Dropped the wand to the ground.

"Fine, take it. Take all the magic you want, but you still don't win at the end of this," Star glared at the dead stare of the monster.

The Septarian dropped the woman onto the ground, looking the girl in the eyes, "I believe I do, princess. It occurs to me that we've gone through this little game this entire time and yet you seem to be under the impression that I'm going to hoard the magic myself and restrict its use," the monster chuckled. "That's far too short-sighted, princess. Hardly a permanent solution, someone could just siphon it, find a different way of channeling it, perhaps even kill me to get it back."

Toffee picked up the wand, brought it to his lips, and whispered into its gemstone. Despite their proximity, no one could hear what the lizard had said, but once he was finished the color had drained from the gem and the wings had fizzled away. The final nail in the coffin was the wand opening, releasing the ghost of a small unicorn. The specter sporadically floated around the assembled people, the woman looking intently at the ghost before it floated next to Star and whispered into her ear.

"I was never your wand. It's not over yet, run!" the ghost then let out a neigh and disappeared into the sky.

Then the lifeless husk of the wand began to fire a beam of energy into the sky, shaking as it seemed unable to contain the tremendous power that was coming out of it, the gemstone cracking under the pressure.

"The Whispering Spell? What did you do?!" Star covered her eyes as the dirt was kicked up by the whirlwind being created.

"I'm destroying the magic, princess. That's been my plan," Toffee smiled, watching the wand shake more and more violently.

"What!?"

Toffee gave a maniacal grin to the princess and with a sadistic smile said, "SURPRISE!"

Naruto, easily guessing what was to come, ran through the dust cloud and grabbed the two women for their escape. It seemed like there was no stopping Toffee now, he had gotten exactly what he wanted, and the blond had no clue where to go from there.

"He isn't running," Star stared intently at the Septarian as he stood there uncaring of the impending explosion.

"With the way he acts I wouldn't put it past him to be willing to die," Naruto took a glance at the lizard and shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is getting out of here before that thing goes off!"

"No, he wanted this to happen. The Millhorse said that it wasn't over," Star wrested herself from Naruto's grip and ran back to the former monster general. "I can't let him get what he wants, no matter what! Focus on getting everyone out of here!"

"Dammit, Star! Wait a second," Naruto, against his better judgment, left the woman with the clones watching her son to go after Star. 'I'm not letting this happen again!'

"You really should escape, princess. The wand won't be lasting much longer," Toffee looked at the girl as she struggled her way to the eye of the storm and picked up the wand to aim it at Toffee, managing to catch the Septarian off guard.

"I don't know why you want this to blow up in your face, but I know that if you want it, I shouldn't let it happen!" the girl struggled to keep her arm steady as the artifact continued to shake more violently with each passing second.

The princess then decided to dash away from the lizard to keep the detonation away from him, only to be tripped up by his tail and have the wand fall out of her hand.

"You won't be ruining this, princess," Toffee sneered and batted the surprise attack from Naruto away, losing an arm from the odd ball of energy in the blond boy's hand that was easily replaced. "Shouldn't you be worried about your citizens? They'll be obliterated if they don't have a connection to magic," Toffee taunted.

"Stopping you means I'll have the time to worry about the blast, Toffee!"

"I don't know what's going on here, but I know you messed with the wrong place, lizard-breath," Oddly enough the woman had gotten close enough to toss the wand to Star just as the wand entered its final phases of existence.

Time seemed to slow down, Star while still pinned by Toffee aimed the wand at him, ready for whatever would come of the explosion. Toffee was livid as was clear on his face but could do nothing at this stage but watch as the pink light of the explosion slowly engulfed him and the Butterfly princess. Naruto jumped to try to at least push the woman out of the way of the powerful energy but was veered off course by the shockwave and sent through a building. And the woman…

She looked to her son it what would be her final moments and gave a smile to him with her eye closed, disappearing in the bright light as he screamed for her. The last thing she did before leaping into action to aid the heroes was kissing her son and give him final words.

"Mom, you can't seriously be thinking about going back there!?"

"I have to, that lizards got them both pinned. They can't do it alone. All I have to do is get the rattle to that girl that should be enough!"

"Ma'am you can't do that! Let one of us go!" a clone pleaded and froze at her response.

"Don't be silly, young man…if you went and did that, who'd protect my son?" she asked before running into the battlefield.

A brave woman to the bitter end…

*BOOM*

(?)

"Blugh, ugh, what where am I?"

Star woke up submerged in a pool of black sludge, small flecks of gold being visible in it…and nothing else as far as the eye could see. The sky was no different just darkness, completely devoid of light…and life.

"Na-Naruto! Where is he?!" Star searched for any evidence of her friend but was silenced when she saw the goop shift around her.

The sludge rose in front of her to reveal a reptilian eye, followed by two hands and she instantly recognized who this was from the right claw…it was missing its middle finger. Slowly, the goop rose above the princess, taking the form of Toffee's smiling face.

"Hello, princess."

"Toffee! No way, how did you get like this…oh *ulp* I just had you in my mouth," Star turned green, watching the monster swim around her.

"Oh, princess. I warned you that you couldn't ruin my plans no matter what you did. And now look at you," Toffee playfully roiled the waves around the princess just to watch her struggle for balance. "That tenacity of yours caused that poor woman to die…and your little friend *tsk tsk* he'll blame himself for losing you. I wouldn't be surprised if he doubled down on his lone wolf act just to keep this from repeating itself again," Toffee chuckled.

"Where are we?" Star stayed focused rather rise at the taunting.

"Oh, would you like to hazard a guess?" Toffee asked but acquiesced when seeing her look. "This just so happens to be the Realm of Magic, or I should say, what's left of it," the reptilian sludge scooped up some of the liquid to show that the golden flecks in the stew were losing their coloring before matching the rest of the slime.

"This…this is what you wanted? You gave up your body and all those other guys' freedom just so you could destroy the magic?" Star was incredulous, the lengths that Toffee would go to still baffled her.

"I told them that sacrifices would be made and that coming here would be a one-way trip, princess," at her questioning stare he elaborated, "No, magic means no portals back to Mewni and even if that drunkard scientist became motivated enough to make one, I doubt your blond companion would be so lenient after the damage we've caused both accidental and purposeful."

"Are you the reason that my wand was on the fritz?" Star remembered her slight rampage and the fact she almost did the unspeakable to Buff Frog.

"A side-effect I'm afraid, emotions do tend to be amplified with magic, and with mine added into the mix, it's no wonder you lost a handle on your temper. But it wasn't all me, it had to start from somewhere, princess," Toffee invaded her personal space at the end of his sentence. "That prejudice that you and all Mewmans were raised on, it infects all generations even when they don't realize…but now that everything is back to zero concessions can be made and at the very least civility."

"No, you're wrong! Mewmans will just blame monsters and it will get even worse…a second war could happen!" Star pleaded to the monster, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Perhaps, but I know how it will end. Peace will be reached due to an even playing field and the loss of life will give rise to fairer treatment of my kind," Toffee stood firm only to falter at the girl's next question.

"Did you tell them that?" Star glared. "Did you tell Ludo and Buff Frog, all those monsters out there that a war was going to happen first before the peace?"

"Still thinking so small, princess. The result is all that matters when you know that it will occur. I thought it better to tell them where our actions will end rather than bog them down with the details," Toffee defended himself.

"That's still lying…like Mewmans did to make themselves look better," Star countered, managing to shut the Septarian up.

"I believe I've entertained you enough today, princess," waving a hand, Toffee erected a screen that showed the aftermath of the explosion. Naruto pushing rubble off himself, falling to his knees and looking at the surrounding area before calling out for Star when he saw she wasn't there. Not only that, but the woman that had tossed the wand to her was still on the ground…lifeless.

"Hey, I'm in here, Naruto!" she called out futilely to her friend.

"They can't hear us," Toffee said off-handedly as he focused his gaze on the broken gemstone of the wand, a finger laying in the middle of the shattered pieces. "Ah, there it is. Sorry to say, but I'll be taking my leave of you now, princess," Toffee's fluid form rose into the sky as he appeared to be flowing into the screen.

"What?! No, you don't have a body, how can you?" Star struggled to keep herself afloat in the shifting muck.

"As long as a piece remains, I can use. Thank your mother for severing my finger ages ago," Toffee made the liquid flow in such a way that he was face-to-face with Star one final time and simply said, "Goodbye," before flowing out of the Realm of Magic and stranding the princess there with no hope of escape.

(Nexus City)

"Star!" Naruto called, covering the deceased woman with his jacket to be respectful and leaving him in a mesh undershirt and a green gemstone necklace. The blond looked down, despondent as it seemed that the girl was truly gone from this world.

Suddenly, Toffee's finger rose from the ground as it slowly and grotesquely regenerated the lizard's body from the brink of death. Even Toffee, once he was fully formed, seemed in shock that he was back shown as he looked his body over along with his reattached finger. And it was soon after his evaluation that Toffee found himself decked in the face by the blond ninja, righteous anger present on his face with tears that he resisted.

"Where is she, Toffee?! What did you do with her!" Naruto grabbed the lizard by his collar and pulled him into his face.

"She's gone."

"Don't you give me that bullshit! You came back, so can she!" Naruto brought his fist back, the calm look of the monster fueling his rage. "Tell me now, or I swear you won't ever get a chance at seeing the sun again!"

"There's nothing I can do. She made her bed by attempting to stop something that had no chance of being stopped, and she's paid the price for it," Toffee was let go by the blond by the end of this, dusting his suit off and glanced to the monsters still being held by the clones. "It's all over now, gentlemen. The magic is destroyed and now is the time to surrender," Toffee addressed them, kneeling with his hands behind his head followed by the other monsters.

"I should be glad about this," Naruto shook with barely contained rage, looking at the broken gemstone and the woman he failed to save because of his selfishness, "But I feel like the biggest failure."

"Fighting for life isn't foolish but fighting for life and believing that you can save each and every one is," Toffee offered the unsolicited advice to the blond who simply lacked the strength to summon any vitriol.

It was over.

Star was gone and an innocent woman lost her life.

And at the end of it all, Toffee won.

(Realm of Magic)

All of this was happening without the princess's knowledge as she swam through the turbulent sludge in a vain attempt to find a way out.

"Come on, there's gotta be a way out," Star cried constantly disoriented by the waves and unable to tell if she ever moved from her previous position. She resurfaced and gasped for air, the muck clinging to her to drag her down, sapping her strength only for her to be reinvigorated when her cheek marks lit up.

A lone speck of magic shone in the sea of black, drawing her attention.

The princess swam with all her might to reach the speck as it flittered on and off, hoping that it would stay on long enough for her to attempt to use it. When the Butterfly girl made it to the speck, she steeled herself and took the plunge into the disgusting liquid after a deep breath. Swimming as fast as she could, just as the magic was within reach, it went out and in her shock, a gasp used up her air making Star pass out.

"Star, yoo-hoo, Star!"

"Mmm-muh?" the princess woke up on a cold floor in a void to hear the familiar voice of someone she thought dead…with a pot of stew next to him?

"I need your opinion. You think this needs more salt?" Glossaryck took a wooden spoon poked the girl in the cheek repeatedly until the girl shot up.

"Ah, Glossaryck! What you aren't…but if you're here then am I?" Star's mind was going a mile a minute but stopped when the blue man put the stew in her mouth, and she spit it out a second later.

"Hm, I'm guessing more. Oh, and we aren't dead, we just are," Glossaryck explained passively and used his tears to season the stew.

"If we aren't dead, then why are we here? Is this still the Realm of Magic?"

"Is that where we are?" Glossaryck seemed surprised and had to reiterate for the princess, "Remember I couldn't see past burning up? It's probably because this place exists outside of the known multiverse. Yeah, sections like this slip through the cracks occasionally," Glossaryck stirred his stew. "So, how did everything go outside?" he asked with a smile.

"Are you kidding me? I'm here! I'm stuck here, and Toffee got out because of his finger and now there's no more magic! And Naruto's going to blame himself for this if I don't find a way back!"

"Wow, I missed a lot," Glossaryck whistled.

"You've been here for a like a day, Glossaryck,"

"Star, we're outside of the known universe. The concept of time is irrelevant here so it's completely malleable. It's felt like I've been here for only a few minutes..." he paused to taste the stew, "Oh, and I still haven't been able to make this stew right," he was interrupted when the princess grabbed him by the shoulders.

"A whole day went by and it felt like minutes to you?!" Star began to hyperventilate, "How long has it been for everyone?"

"The only way to know is if you get out…or someone comes in to let you know, but it could be a while…you know depending, irrelevant concepts and whatnot,"

"Glossaryck, focus! I need a way out, you have to know something," Star was desperate and needed answers from her mentor.

"Oh, I do. You just aren't ready," Glossaryck went back to the stew only to be brought back into the girl's face.

"What is it Glossaryck? How do I do it?" Star's eyes were bulging at the cryptic man.

"Well, firstly we'd need magic which you've already stated is gone so I didn't think there was a point explaining. With a magic conduit, you could theoretically make a link to the wand to get out, though," Glossaryck smiled at the thinking girl.

"Ok, so we just need some magic. I followed the last of it here…," Star didn't see the glow of magic and started to grasp at straws for an explanation, which just so happened to be…"The stew! Glossaryck, this is magic stew,"

"No, no it's not," Glossaryck deadpanned seeing the girl become desperate for answers.

"Ok, Glossaryck keep being evasive, I'll figure it out," Star smiled, placing her hands at the rim of the cauldron. "Now what's the next step?"

The blue man rolled his eyes at her mania, but humored her, "Well, you'd have to, uh, dip down," Glossaryck stirred the stew.

"In the stew?" Star asked, skeptical now as she stared into the stew.

"*sigh* Ok…Star dipping down is an advanced magical technique. It's how you can be like your mom and cast wandless magic," Glossaryck said slowly to make sure she understood that he wasn't literal. She may be a prodigy, but indirect teaching went over her head.

"Yeah, mom did that to fight, Toffee, and she turned into a butterfly."

"That's different but dipping down will lead to it."

"Yeah, yeah, ok. Here I go," Star thrust her hands into the cauldron, but retracted them immediately when her fingers broke the surface, "Ah, hot!"

"It's stew, Star, boiling stew," he dragged his hand down his face and groaned before continuing, "The problem is, other than the obvious, you're not dipping down. You're skimming the surface as you do with your wand, it's easy and doesn't require thinking, but to dip down it takes more than that, that way we can get to the chunks. Understand?" Glossaryck asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh-huh, I've gotta take the heat and dip down for the chunks!" Star took a readying breath and dipped her hands into the stew again, ignoring the pain to the best of her ability. "Nothing's happening," she strained out to the man.

"Oh, boy. Just try thinking about why you're trying to get and what you're trying to do. I'm sure you'll get it," Glossaryck stared at the girl as she began to concentrate.

"Ok, I want to get out of here so I can stop Toffee and get home, I want Naruto to know I'm ok, and…I want to restore the magic," she opened an eye to see she's still stuck in the void and looked to Glossaryck.

"That's a good start, but those are wants not needs. You have to peel back the superficial and reach the core of yourself," Glossaryck watched intently as she took a deep breath and tried again.

'Ok, ok, not wants, needs!...How were those things before not needs?' she mentally sighed as she continued to search herself. 'Well, I need to get back so I can fix all the trouble that Mewmans have caused over the years, I need to prove Toffee is wrong about magic and that it can be used responsibly by Mewmans to bridge the gaps we've made…I…I need to become a better princess,' Star's cheeks started to glow gold as she thought of these things, resonating with the cauldron as magic started to be born within it.

"Well, I'll be," Glossaryck whispered, continuing to watch his pupil.

'I've been irresponsible for so long, I didn't listen or care about what was going on in the kingdom and it came to a head because of me…Toffee got Ludo and the rest to help him because I drove them off that day…and I have to set it right,' the glowing grew more and more powerful with each thought but wasn't quite there.

"You've almost got it, Star. Just one more push," Glossaryck encouraged her.

'And…I'm sure this isn't just a want…' the girl blushed to herself as an image came to her head, 'I need to see him again.'

Star felt something brush against her hands and she grabbed it, opening her eyes to show that they were glowing gold now as she brought her hands out of the stew. Within the Butterfly's hands was an orb containing a new Millhorse with a white coat, a purple mane and tail, and a golden horn along with a golden tattoo of a butterfly on her flank.

"Star, you did it! I'm so proud…and shocked. I didn't think that stew metaphor would work," Glossaryck cheered as the two were engulfed in a golden light that spread to the Realm of Magic and reached back to Mewni, reviving the Magic High Commission, and more importantly…

Bringing Star back to Nexus!

(Nexus City)

The tired and distraught ninja had all the monsters restrained and was about to make his way out of the crater that the explosion made. Previously, he had lifted the deceased woman out of the dirt and given her body to her grieving son. The boy was in disbelief and the blond felt like he couldn't simply give any words to the teen that could lift his spirits, so he simply placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and gave a heartfelt apology before he had a clone escort him home and assist in giving the devastating news to the rest of the family. She shouldn't have died on his watch, none of what had transpired should have happened on his watch, and after this debacle, he'd make sure that it never would again.

First, he had to imprison Toffee and the other monsters with Buff Frog at HQ. The group seemed dejected despite their win which at least showed that they cared for the life that had been lost. He wasn't sure about Toffee, though since the Septarian had been straight-faced the entire time after his win. And second, the ninja had to have a talk with Rick about…

The air tingled with energy, and a low rumbling was felt by the remaining people in the crater. The ninja was on guard, in case this was another portion of Toffee's scheme but when he looked to the monster he seemed just as surprised as the blond. The rumbling halted as the remains of the wand floated into the air, the gemstone breaking apart before reforming to create a new gemstone star with a smaller star in the middle and an upgraded wand reforming with it.

The wand's bell now had devil horns resembling Star's headband and white wings more akin to butterfly wings with Persian blue heart shapes on them. Surrounding the gem on the bell's faceplate was a pentagonal pattern with 5 pink hearts in the crevices of the star gemstone's points. The grip now had diagonal purple and dark purple stripes, a pink crystal at the base, and a red heart at the top between the grip and bell.

Once the powerful item had reformed a hand materialized behind it, bringing with it, the body of Star Butterfly to the shock of the assembled spectators. The princess had her eyes closed as her headband's horns grew longer, she spread her now six-arms out and brought them to her chest, materializing a yellow heart with ribbons that flowed around all her arms. She opened her eyes to show yellow four-pointed stars within them and gave a final twirl, raising the new wand above her head and ending her transformation by growing wings and changing her dress to one that was light orange with yellow trim, red heart buttons with a matching red belt, white boots with wings, and her hair tying itself into two big pigtails.

Everyone was in awe of the transformed princess who seemed to disregard the looks as she had a demure smile on her face, staring ahead blankly. When she finally did move it was to regard her friend in a powerful voice…and words only she could say given the situation.

"Hi, Naruto!" her voiced boomed.

He couldn't speak, his mouth dry from hanging open at the surprise resurrection of his friend and could only offer a small wave to her though his wide eyes remained as he gave it.

Content with the simple gesture, Star turned to look at the one that had technically been the catalyst to this break, Toffee. The monster was rooted in place, staring at the princess that he had left to rot in a dimension that was, for all intents and purposes, dead, yet here she was before him…and at this point, he knew what would come next.

Star raised her new wand and unleashed a concentrated beam of magic that engulfed Toffee entirely. She wasn't sure what it was, but a voice in the back of her mind told her to do this, unknowingly cleansing the magic from Toffee's body and burning his dark presence from the Realm of Magic. And when she was done, the Septarian was a gooey mass of melted flesh with bones his bones showing through any openings.

The act seemed to take a lot out of the princess since her glow faded and she slowly descended to the ground with intermittent flaps of her wings. Naruto ran up and caught her before she could land in the dirt in a princess carry.

"You know we really have to stop meeting like this, princess, or else I'll start getting the wrong impression," Naruto joked to the exhausted girl.

Star let out a deep gasp, not hearing the quip the blond made and seemed to wake up as she realized her position and climbed out of his arms quickly. Looking around in disbelief, the princess's eyes darted around, and she even pinched herself for good measure before she looked to her now two hands.

"I did it, I'm back!" Star smiled widely and hugged the confused blond boy.

"Of course, you're back. You don't remember what you just did?" Naruto pointed to the new blast zone she made, with frightened monsters and Toffee's body.

"I-I think I do. It's almost like it wasn't completely me back there. I have pictures…and there was a voice that told me to do that to stop Toffee," Star put a finger to her head as she tried to recall exactly what happened after she 'dipped down.'

"That was something else. How did you come back?" he asked in concern.

"Glossaryck was there…he gave me a lesson. I dipped down!" she excitedly bounced.

"He was?" he followed the girl's bouncing with a raised eyebrow, "What did he say?"

"I can do magic without a wand now…I think?" she attempted to but couldn't make anything come out of her hand like her mom had. "Whaaaat? Aw," she pouted.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little at the girl's want for instant results, "I think you'll have to keep training before you can do that," he saw her groan. "If it was easy, then I don't think you would've needed Glossaryck to help you, y'know, since you ditched lessons so often…probably could've done this dipping down thing sooner," he teased the girl and just as she made to bite back, the ribbing was halted when a wet splat was heard next to them.

Toffee had dragged the upper half of his body, leaving the lower half behind, and chuckled as he clawed at the dirt. "lOOK at YOU two, YoU tHInk yOU'Ve WON? HA! yOU don't UNDeRSTand JUSt WHaT YOU'Ve sET IN mOtioN, PRINCESs," Toffee pointed a shaky finger at the girl.

"You don't give up! It's over, you lost," Naruto stood in front of the girl in case the monster tried anything, even if he seemed to be at death's door.

"Is thaT WHAt yoU ThInK?" he laughed, "theRe iS A speCIFIc oRdeR of ThINGs…THIngS That haD TO BE doNe To ensUrE a ceRtAin OUtcOme, BuT yOu, bOth OF yOu, couLdN't LEAvE wELl ENOuGH AlONE so i coUld ReAcH That enD! destrOYING thE mAGic WOULD HavE EnDED tHe coNFLicT iN MEwnI wItH tHE LeasT amount of BlooDsHEd cOmParabLE tO tHE Other pAthS thaT wErE PosSiblE!"

"You're wrong!" Star stood in front of the dying monster, no hate in her eyes, she couldn't bring herself to hate Toffee now. In his own twisted way, he was doing these deplorable things for Mewni, but that didn't mean she couldn't condemn him. "Magic may have been the thing that started all this, but I'm going to use it to end it…and prove you wrong," Star cradled her wand and stomped a foot, wind blowing her hair back as she said, "I'm going to have Mewmans and monster live in peace without sacrificing anyone or anything just to make it easier on either side. I believe I can do it as the next Queen of Mewni…I know I can."

The monsters were shocked at the princess's words. In the past two days, their actions had put the girl through the wringer, physically and emotionally tearing her down. They forced her into being separated from her mom, her home, essentially killed her mentor, and attempted to strand her in another dimension…twice. Yet, she chose to let go of the hatred and mend the rift that Mewmans had created so long ago.

The dying lizard chuckled at the girl's declaration, "I know YOu wilL too, PRiNceSs. i said MY WAy haD tHE leasT blOoDsHeD COMpAReD to THE MULtitude of OtheRs," he let his head fall to the ground, not having the strength to keep it up. "iN THe coMINg YearS, prInCesS, YOU'll wiSh I DEStRoyEd THe magIC. yoU'll fAce HArDshiPS fAR GReAteR THAn I CouLd MUsteR…AnD At tHe ENd of it aLl…I…sTIll…wIn," and with those ominous final words, Toffee of Septarsis died.

The end of the battle had been reached, and the winners were the young princess and her war-hardened friend. The exhausted duo took their leave with the monsters through a portal Rick opened for them soon after when police sirens were heard converging on their location. Hurrying into it, Naruto took one look back and saw a news helicopter that had most likely seen everything that happened. Nexus would be in an uproar.

(A day later)

"All of Nexus City and its border towns are shaken to the core! Only a day later and the effects of the battles that took place are still felt by the citizens," a reporter said on the news broadcasted to all inhabitants of Nexus. "Some call them heroes others call them menaces for the actions taken to save the lives of the hostages taken yesterday afternoon that left considerable damage to our city. When asked for comments they had this to say…"

"They were amazing. That blond guy was getting smacked around by that lizard dude like it was nothing and he never stopped coming back. He's a real tough guy," a brown-haired kid in a white shirt with a black stripe down the middle and baggy cargo pants jumped up and down in excitement, his green eyes sparkling in admiration.

"I had seen the two of them in a clothing store before all this happened. I'd never expect that young lady and meathead to be so extraordinary…What's that? Menaces? Of course not, it takes real grit to put your lives on the line for others in my book and after this display, I'm sure that we can trust our safety to them. Now piss off, I'd like to relax a bit…I may appreciate their work, but I'm too old for all this excitement," the same old-timer Naruto talked to defended him.

"I don't get how any rational person could defend those freaks. Did you see the destruction that girl caused on her own while chasing down those monsters? How am I supposed to feel safe? They should turn themselves in and leave the 'heroics' to the proper authorities." An angry businessman cleaned his store of the rubble left from the wand's explosion.

"My friend's mom was the 'hostage' that died in that explosion and they just walked away from all of that. They should be held responsible for that and all the other problems they caused, instead of being treated as heroes. Where did they even take the ones that kidnapped those people? Shouldn't they be paying for their hand in all this?" a teenage girl with black hair a small ponytail in the back held by a green hair tie dressed in a midriff exposing black tank top with a purple oval in the middle, black skirt with green lines crisscrossing on it, and black combat boots had her violet eyes set in anger. "The least they could do is show themselves and apologize for this, especially for the life they had a hand in being lost,"

"We are working to find the perpetrators with all law enforcement from every corner of Nexus. Vigilantism cannot be condoned and if this scale of destruction is what comes with these people, then they must be detained, monitored, or at the very least brought in to cooperate with the government. We are all in this together, we didn't ask to be collided against other dimensions and brought here but after 2 long years a stable life has been reached…and these two so-called 'heroes' are threatening to disrupt that," a high-ranking officer spoke in front of assembled reporters in a grave voice, "If they're watching this, I hope they do the right thing."

At HQ Rick, Naruto, and Star were standing in the lobby. The two residents of Nexus having just finished watching the news as it reported about them and decided to keep it to themselves since the young princess was leaving with the monsters today.

Naruto was dressed back in a suit only with the coat left open and a scarlet shirt underneath it. Star was dressed in another outfit she had purchased from their day out, a sea-green dress that had a pink octopus on its front with white lace on its sleeves, bottom, and collar along with magenta and orange striped leggings that led into purple boots that resembled rhinos and a small star-shaped purse with a face as an accessory.

"Hard to believe that you've only been here for about two days with all the trouble you caused it felt way longer," Naruto smirked.

"Yeah, but you can' pretend that you didn't like it," she smiled.

"You sure about this? Won't everyone be mad at them?" Naruto turned serious as he had his gaze on the monster behind her.

"I have to make thing better, so what better way then pardoning all these guys," Star smiled softly with a 'ta-da' motion toward the monsters. "Don't worry, I've got a plan to integrate them into Mewman society bit by bit," she raised her hand to her eye and pinched her fingers together ever so slightly.

"You and a plan? *belch* Seems like a match made in hell," Rick chimed in on the moment with his usual bluntness.

"He kinda has a point," Naruto scratched his cheek and yelped when Star yanked on his hair.

"We're a team, and teammates are supposed to defend each other!"

"We were a team first, so technically…" Rick waved his hands as if he were weighing something as he said this.

"I'm sure you'll be happy to prove both of us wrong, Star," the ninja smiled brightly. "You worried about what Toffee said?" he whispered in her ear.

"I don't know what made him so confident, but…I think he just wanted the last laugh. Mewni's gonna be different, I'll make sure of it," the princess the grabbed the dimensional scissors that the monsters had given up and cut a hole to Mewni. "Alright, you guys, in ya go," the monsters filed in one-by-one leaving the three people in the lobby. "Well, guess this is goodbye," Star rubbed her arm.

"Nah, I don't say bye to friends. Long as you don't bring any more trouble to Nexus, you can come visit anytime. Though, with the things you have planned that might be a while," Naruto rebuffed the farewell, lighting the girls face up in a wide smile.

"I guess I'll be seeing you later too, Rick," Star poked the scientist.

"My joy can't be contained. You know what, why don't you stay away for a while and I'll see if I ever care and as soon as I do you can come back, Jasmine," Rick rolled his eyes.

"I'll hold you to that," Star hugged the scientist anyway, ignoring the groan…and stench and made her way to the portal. "Oh wait, almost forgot!" the princess ran back and gave Naruto a smooch on the cheek, shocking the man.

"Thanks…for everything."

"Star we need- oh am I interrupting?" Ludo poked his head back through the portal only to rub his head awkwardly when he saw the girl shove the blond away from her, making him fight to keep his balance as his brain rebooted.

"Ludo! What are you doing?! This is so embarrassing," she held her cheeks, shoving the kappa into the portal and rushing through herself.

"Wow, did that just happen?" Naruto had a stupid grin on his face.

"Yeah, and I'm sure you're absolutely loving it," Rick started to make his way out of the lobby and toward the elevator with Naruto falling into step with him.

"Nah, I've been kissed before as thanks," Naruto smiled.

"Careful with that cluelessness, it'll get you into trouble," Rick drank from his flask before getting serious, "Cat's out of the bag now. You and Princess Aurora have gotten everyone on the lookout for us now. What's the next move?"

"We keep doing what we're doing," he answered as if it was simple.

"We're gonna be watched by everyone when we go out."

"Star was right, we can't be protecting people if we hide. It just gives an excuse to protect ourselves more than the people, and if we're out in the open we can serve as a deterrent," Naruto reasoned.

"Or a challenge, people don't like it when others are better than them. You of all people should know about that," Rick informed the blond who nodded.

"Yeah, but I still think it was a good idea…you said that you found something interesting?" Naruto looked to the scientist.

"That lizard, when he showed up the defense systems detected a foreign energy," he brought up his wrist and pulled up a holographic screen of the scan that showed a wireframe of Toffee with green energy at its center.

"The magic, right?" the ninja reasoned.

"At first but digging deeper there was something weaker that blended in with that shit," zooming in on Toffee's right hand there was a small almost imperceptible glow of a similar green color to the magic.

"What is it?"

"It's got similar energy to that thing we found and locked up…you know the thing we both know about and therefore don't need to give any information to the other for exposition as if someone outside of us is listening which would necessitate said explanation," Rick looked to the audience and stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah…sure. So, if this energy is similar, you think there are more?" Naruto took Rick's quirk in stride.

"Yes, that's it be vague, keep the mystery! And I know there are. Thing is, he didn't have it on him that was just the residual energy left, meaning he interacted with it," letting the weight of the information set in.

"Maybe that's how he knew about things that he had no business knowing…maybe he actually saw all this."

"Or at least variations of it since everything is constantly stemming from every moment we live, creating new timelines and universes through choice. It's why I don't mess with time," Rick enlightened the blond.

"Things like this tend to lead to progressively bigger problems. Life is going to be changing in major ways…and Star coming here got me thinking that even with our numbers advantage, we might still be unprepared or, dare I say, ignorant." Naruto knew that the scientist was most likely putting the pieces together and could tell where the blond was going.

"You serious? Teams lead to problems."

"And a diverse skillset and more hands on deck when crises arise," Naruto brought up good points.

"Do what you want, but I bet that it'll blow up in your face," Rick shrugged and asked an important question, "If you're gonna go through with this, you have a name?"

"My friend back home designated himself as one when his family was killed by his brother. The title led him down a dark path and he did plenty of terrible things…"

"I know. You doing this for dramatic effect?" Rick rolled his eyes when the blond nodded.

"He managed to bring his family justice and changed for the better at the end and hopefully he's still on the straight and narrow," Naruto closed his eyes and looked to the ceiling, "And I think that title will fit the team. We're the ones that are going to protect the people from any threat, domestic, cosmic, or interdimensional and on the off-chance we fail…or lives are lost we'll be there to av-" Naruto was cut off by the Rick who covered his ears.

"Oh god, I'm in a dimension where those comics and movies don't even exist, and you're gonna make this dimension's equivalent!?" Rick grumbled as he hurried into the elevator with a confused blond. "I hope you're happy! I lost a bet with another Rick because you're using that name!"

"What? The Aven-" Rick's angry scream cut off the blond's words as the elevator ascended the building.

(On Mewni-when Star went through the portal)

"You've got to learn about private moments," Star huffed, stepping out of the other side of the dimensional portal with Ludo.

"Well, I wouldn't have come back if it wasn't for this…" Ludo gestured to the front of them to show that the monsters were surrounded by Mewman knights, The Magic High Commission, and the royal family.

"Ooooh," the princess drawled slowly, "Ok, that was a good reason for interrupting," Star raised her wand and used it to levitate the surrounding knights away from the monsters, allowing the Commission and her parents to see that she returned.

"Star!" Queen Moon shouted in surprise to see her daughter return on her own and ran to her with her husband to scoop her up in a hug.

"Ough, hi mom," Star let out a harsh breath from the powerful hug.

"Sweetie, I'm so glad your home, but…uh…how exactly did you get home?" King River Butterfly asked his daughter confused.

"Yeah, Toffee had stolen all the magic and closed off dimensional portals. There's no way you just came back with that maniac around," Hekapoo crossed her arms, wanting answers.

"Toffee won't be coming back. I took care of him," Star rubbed her neck when the jaws of everyone present, sans the monsters, dropped their jaws in disbelief.

"You beat Toffee!? No way, he beat your momma and all of us on his own!" Rhombulus poked the princess in the chest with his snake hand.

"My daughter, the hero. Oh, we must have a feast for all the kingdom! Corn for everyone!" River cheered as he lifted his daughter.

"River, the feast can wait," Moon calmed her husband before he could get too rowdy. "More importantly, Star. How did you manage to defeat Toffee?"

"Well, I had help…from this guy that was in the dimension you sent me to," Star tried to comfort herself by raking her hands through her hair.

"A boy? Hmm, he kept his hands to himself, right?" River narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, he…he helped me a lot," she smiled remembering. "And I sorta lost Glossaryck, too, and the wand at one point," Star started to entangle her fingers in her hair.

"You lost Glossaryck! Princess, he is an important cornerstone for Mewmans and you in your training," Omnitraxus floated into the girl's face.

"I came back, so I thought he'd come back too," Star off-handedly mentioned.

"Came back?" Moon asked.

"Ok, Toffee had absorbed all the magic and tried to strand me in the corrupted magic. Then I met Glossaryck in this weird place that existed but wasn't supposed to exist and he taught me how to dip down…" Star quickly explained while ticking off fingers with every piece of information, not noticing the widened eyes of the magic users. "And when I did it, I came back and blasted Toffee into soup…or maybe more of a blob…and I learned the truth about Mewman history," Star finished seriously.

"Uh, what?" Hekapoo got nervous along with the other Commission members and Moon.

"We've been giving the monsters a raw deal, and we haven't been good neighbor at all," Star stood defensively in front of the group of monsters, "So, I've decided to pardon all these monsters crimes!"

"Star! What do you mean? They took you away from us, they must be punished at the very least," Moon grasped her daughter by the shoulders.

"They've been punished for just being monsters, mom. They can't help it, and we've acted like we're so much better when we started the conflict in the first place…I know that it will be hard, but I want us to be able to live together peacefully and put the past behind us," Star hopped into the hoard of monsters and pulled out a nervous Buff Frog. "And what better way than integration!"

"I-uh, mmm, I am Yvgeny Bulgolyubov," he gave a small wave.

"Well, hello, old bean," River greeted and was treated to a small elbow from his wife.

"Buff Frog can be extra muscle against rats or any other pests that come for the cornfield, and he can earn corn as payment for his hard work!" Star smiled as she continued, "And maybe we could get other monsters to help around the village to get food for their families and themselves! Monsters can work with Mewmans to make both lives better!"

The silence was palpable as all the assembled Mewmans had their jaws open in shock for the indescribable idea the princess had, that is, except one. King River happily clapped and rushed to give his daughter a big hug with a hearty laugh.

"Oh, my little butterfly! You've grown so much…I'm so happy right now!' he then started to cry, his daughter smiling and patting his back. "Men, you heard the princess! Please escort Mr. Bulgolyubov to the cornfield! He must start his job right away!" the king commanded the uneasy knights. "Please tell me. Have you had experience in guard duties, Yvgeny?" River asked Buff Frog.

"No, I was spy mostly, but I can learn…and please King call me Buff Frog," the frog monster looked to Star who gave him a thumbs up and a smile while he walked with the knights.

"Then you can call me River, my new friend!"

"Aw, that's a great start, dad!" Star seemed pleased that her father went whole hog with her new idea. The princess then turned to the remaining monsters, "Alright you guys, you can go home and let everyone know the good news! And don't worry, Princess Star Butterfly will be coming by tomorrow to give the swamp a makeover!" she cheered and shooed the monsters away, leaving Ludo.

"Wow, I thought that you were only saying all that stuff to look good, but I'm glad I was wrong…maybe Toffee's way was wrong the whole time. Thank you, Star Butterfly…and sorry for the trouble we caused," Ludo humbly bowed his head and left.

As soon as the kappa was out of earshot is when the High Commission bombarded the princess.

"Ok, that's a real funny prank, princess, but this is never gonna work," Hekapoo scoffed.

"You can never trust a monster! They're just waiting to take the castle and land from the Mewmans!" Rhombulus joined in.

"Peace can never be reached, not with all the bad blood!" Omnitraxus made three.

"Well, I think it can. If we don't try, then Toffee will be right and there's nothing I'd hate more than admitting that that misguided psycho was right," Star didn't waver as she stepped past the three and stopped with her arms crossed. "And there's one more thing…I want to know the whole history of Mewni. Nothing edited, nothing to make one side look better than the other. I need to know my kingdom if I'm ever going to be queen," Star left no room for argument as she decided to go to her room and deposit her new clothing, before diving into the no doubt vast number of books headed her way.

"Moon, you can't be thinking of humoring this!' Omnitraxus turned to the queen with the others.

"Well, I…River what do you think. You seem on board with this." Moon turned to her husband, an act that shocked the Commission.

"It doesn't matter what I think," he answered simply, watching his daughter stride into the castle. "What matters is that she believes in this, and as her father, I need to give her my full support reservations or no," River looked to his wife, "and you should do the same Moon Pie," the king then left to see how Buff Frog was doing and make sure nothing untoward was being done by the knights.

"I suppose that settles it, then. Star's project will continue, and we'll see how it goes…" the queen frowned though and turned to Rhombulus. "Rhombulus I need you to check on the crystal prisons, immediately."

The gem-headed magical being quickly opened a portal and saw that all the crystals were untouched. Nothing was out of place and all prisoners were accounted for. Rubbing his head in confusion, he contacted the queen through the mirror he had in his dimension.

"Uh, all crystals are accounted for Queen Moon," he clumsily saluted.

"Now, is she…is Eclipsa still encased in crystal?" Moon asked gravely, knowing that the contract she made all those years ago would release 'The Queen of Darkness' upon Toffee's death…hopefully, the contract wouldn't come to pass due to the time or the fact her daughter dealt the final blow…

"Yeah, I see her. Still has that creepy smile on her face and everything…I should put a blanket over her," Rhombulus shivered at the woman's unblinking eyes.

"Thank you, Rhombulus. Toodle-loo," Moon sighed at the good news. Now she could breathe a little easier and focus on the changes in the kingdom.

Back with Rhombulus, the humanoid started to toss his thing around to find a blanket to drape over Eclipsa's crystal prison. Unknown to him, while his back was turned a small crack formed on Eclipsa's prison.

"Ah-ha! Found it!" Rhombulus shouted and tossed the blanket over The Queen of Darkness without looking, missing the important detail.

With Toffee's attack, a wheel had started turning for both Naruto and Star as well as a select few in Nexus that the duo would come to know. A series of catastrophes would be coming their way and they'll need to be prepared for the rising storm that will be kicked up. Hardships that would daunt the average person would be met head-on by the future heroes.

This was only the beginning.

AN: Oh, hi, I didn't see you there. *Looks upward* Quite the magnificent beast, isn't it?

I had this in my head for a long time, like a really long time, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would become this long. I'm very proud of this and I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Now, for some clarification:

Yes, all chapters of this story will most likely be like this since, as I'm sure you've realized, it is modeled after the MCU, meaning that each member of the team will have their own quote-unquote "movie" before the team-up (And for reference I have a wireframe in my head for 2 phases and most likely a 3rd )

I have the members of the team thought out already and I'm sure that you can tell who some might be (as a hint to some places that exist in Nexus, back in the beginning when the Rick's are talking about their patrol, each hyphenated nickname they give's last word is actually part of a cartoon town or city. So, for example, "Stupid-Future-Looking-Try-Hard-ton," the -ton is part of the actual name of the cartoon city. (Hopefully, I didn't make them too easy, I'm really bad at being cryptic )

As a fun fact to let you peek into how simply this idea started, along with "Marvel's Maelstrom" making me want to make an MCU-esque story I had used Disney+ to watch all of "Star vs." and thought to myself when finished, 'Star is a lot like Thor, she's starts as an unworthy stubborn person and evolves throughout the show, and has a mystical artifact that can only be wielded by powerful/worthy beings that she ultimately doesn't need to use her power' and then I just rolled with that idea until I got to this, go figure.

No well-known comic book characters will be in this, hero or villain. Except for one and I won't tell who. Also, no other Naruto characters. Except for one. I feel using them would make it too easy since they're established, but the two exceptions are ones I want to use because of who they are…No telling but you guys can probably guess.

What's to come? Who's gonna show up? How did Toffee know the future? All these questions answered in the coming chapter…by the way the date is June 21, 2020 (Yep)

And what would an MCU-like story be without a "post-credit" scene, eh? So here it is!

A camera starts above Naruto and Rick's headquarters before zooming to ground level. It bobs and weaves through the night-time traffic, dodges through the legs of pedestrians before finding its way into a meadow. Pushing the grass out of its way the camera slows to a stop to reveal a partially open gateway with the open door squeaking in the wind.

The archway read "Amity Park"

Suddenly a large boom was felt and shook the ground, the camera with it, and blew the gate open. Once the shaking stopped the mushroom cloud left from the explosion glowed an ethereal green as ghosts and specters started to run amok in the town with one crashing into the camera, making it go dark.

In the darkness, a whisper could be heard…

He's a Phantom