"MAROON AND THE EARTH-NI PROTECTORS!"
BOOK ONE: TURF WARS
CHAPTER TWO: RISING TENSIONS
It was an eventful night in the swampland home of Yvgeny Bulgolyubov, better known by his nickname, "Buff Frog." Mere minutes ago, his home and precious children were under attack from the psychotic Mina Loveberry, the former leader of the monster-hating Solarian Warriors. However, she was easily defeated when the heroic vigilante Maroon arrived just in time!
Now, Maroon was preparing to leave the swamp, having completed the mission Star and Marco assigned him. But before he could leave, the amphibian monster had some parting words for his family's savior.
"Thank you, helmet boy. Am now in your debt." Buff Frog spoke in his Russian-sounding accent, as Maroon looked down at the unconscious body of Mina Loveberry.
"No problem. As long as I'm on patrol, you have no need to fear racists like her." The helmeted warrior assured. Soon, the cops would be coming to take Mina away to jail, where she belonged. As Maroon took off and flew out of the swamp with his high-tech rocket boots, the family of frog monsters waved goodbye to their mysterious masked savior...
Once Austin reached his old home, he flew up to the second floor, where the window was open for him to climb through. Once he was back in his room, he removed his helmet, and dropped it on the carpeted floor. The teenage superhero then dove right into his bed to get some well-deserved shuteye after a long night, without even changing out of his super-suit!
The next day, Austin's slumber was interrupted at nine in the morning, when he heard the sound of his doorbell ring. Of course, he was tired after last night's mission, so he simply elected to ignore it and continue sleeping. But when the doorbell rang three more times in rapid succession, the boy knew his time to rest was over.
"Austin, wake up! Someone's here to see you!" Aunt Rita called out from downstairs. Austin rose up from his bed, yawned, and begrudgingly trudged down the stairs to the foyer. He groggily opened the door, to see who but Star and Marco on the other side!
"Oh!" Austin exclaimed, a little surprised to see the couple standing in his doorway at such an early time of day.
"Wow, you look..." Star commented in concern, when Austin finished her sentence mid-way.
"Tired? Yeah, tracking an insane warrior through a muddy swamp for hours does that to you. So, what brings you two to mi casa?"
"Well, we were thinking of taking you on a tour of Echo Creek." The blonde-haired mewman responded.
"But if you don't want to go, that's okay by us." Marco added. Austin sure was tired, but turning down the very people who influenced him to be Maroon? Never, not in a million years!
"Hey, I'm down for it! Just let me get ready." Austin replied, then trotted upstairs to prepare for his day on the town. As he left the couple to themselves in the foyer, Rita entered the room to see the two teens in her home.
"So, you two must be Star and Marco! Austin's told me so much about you!"
Austin showered, brushed his teeth, and put on his wardrobe for the day; A purple T-shirt, black knee-high shorts and white sneakers, plus a gray backpack with something special inside. Once he was ready, the teen re-entered the foyer, and saw his friends casually conversing with Aunt Rita.
"I'm ready, guys!" Austin called out.
"Oh, yay! By the way, your aunt is SUPER nice!" Star cheerfully complimented, making Rita smile.
"Let's get going. There's a lot of cool stuff we want to show you!" Marco added.
"Then let's get to it!" Austin cheered, as he headed for the door with the two other teens in tow. "Bye, Aunt Rita!"
"You kids have fun now!" Rita responded, as the trio headed out into the streets of the cleaved city...
The three teens had just left Austin's neighborhood, when they already came across a familiar face, who was posting fliers on telephone poles as she gracefully rode on her skateboard. This girl was Jackie Lynn-Thomas, a good friend of Star's, and Marco's amicable ex-girlfriend.
Austin wasn't as familiar with Jackie as he was with Star, Marco or Janna; He had only really talked to her once before he moved out; Other than that, he saw her around school every now and then, and Marco talked about her all the time when he and Austin hung out.
"Hey, Jackie!" Star cheerfully called. The teen skater cocked her head, and a smile came on her face when she saw Star and Marco together.
"Hey, guys." Jackie responded in a cool and calm manner. "Who's your friend?" She asked, unaware that she had met Austin before.
"Jackie, this is Austin. You remember Austin, right?" Marco introduced her to the boy, who smiled and awkwardly chuckled.
"We met once, before I moved out. It was at that mountain on Mewni, remember?" Austin explained.
"You mean that one?" Jackie replied, as she pointed to the very same mountain, which was visible from afar. The three looked to where she pointed, and became surprised that they never noticed it before. In the new and changing world of Earth-Ni, new discoveries were made every day!
"Yep...that's the one. We gotta go back there sometime..." Austin remarked.
"So, whatcha up to, anyways?" Star curiously asked.
"Just posting up these flyers for Echo-Palooza." Jackie answered.
"What's Echo-Palooza?" Austin wondered, feeling a bit out-of-the loop; Star wasn't sure what she was talking about, either.
"Oh, it's this big fun-festival that happens every year in the middle of town. Chloe and I are volunteering there this year!" Jackie responded.
"Wait, it's still happening after...you know?" Marco commented, as he gestured to the hybrid landscape of the cleaved city.
"Totally! In fact, everyone's welcome, human or otherwise. They're hoping it'll bring everyone closer together."
"That sounds AMAZING!" Star cheered, happy there was an opportunity to familiarize the people of Earth and Mewni with each other.
"Well, here's hoping everything goes well." Marco added.
"Thanks, it was nice talking to you guys!" Jackie replied, and rode off on her skateboard to post more flyers for the big shindig. The trio of teens said their goodbyes, as their down-to-earth skater friend gracefully went on her way. After the girl was gone, Star turned to Austin with a huge smile on her face.
"Get ready, 'cause next we're going to one of my favorite places in the whole world!"
"Your favorite place...is Marco's house?"
Currently, Austin and Star were sitting on the couch while Marco was in the kitchen, making some of his "Super Awesome Nachos."
"Of course it is! This place used to be my home away from home..." Star gleefully reminisced.
"I can't believe it. Marco and I were best friends...and not once did I ever come to his house..." Austin sighed remorsefully.
"Hey, you boys were just busy with all that Maroon stuff. I'm sure you'll be hanging out here lots of times, now!" Star responded, when she heard some high-pitched babbling noises coming from nearby. Star looked to her right to see that Mariposa, Marco's baby sister, was adorably crawling up to her.
"Awww!" Star cooed as she picked the little baby up and sat her down on her lap. "This cute widdle girl is Mariposa!" Star playfully introduced as she ruffled the infant's hair, making her squeal joyfully.
"Aww! So, is she-" Austin asked, when Marco returned to the living room with a tray of piping-hot nachos in his hands.
"She's my baby sister." Marco begrudgingly answered, assuming Austin thought she was the daughter of him and Star, as several people had before.
"That's...what I thought. What did you think I was gonna say?" Star and Marco then looked at each other awkwardly, and both turned a bit red in the face. "Oh..."
Marco sat down on the couch between Star and Austin, with his tray of delectable snacks. "Kiss the chef!" Star piped as she kissed Marco's cheek repeatedly, making her boyfriend giggle.
"So, can we eat now?" Austin deadpanned, making Star cease her outrageous flirting.
"Dig in, guys!" Marco retorted, as the three teens started gorging themselves on the tasty nachos. Mariposa even tried to get some, but was unable to reach them, making her whimper. Star noticed the hungry baby's plea, and broke off a little clump of cheese for her to snack on.
Angie and Rafael Diaz, the parents of Marco, then entered the living room to see the kids hanging out on the couch. "Hi, Mr and Mrs. Diaz!" Star greeted.
"Hello, Star! Hey, who's your friend?" Angie asked.
"Hi, my name's Austin! I just moved back here from Parkersburg." Austin introduced himself.
"Oh, yeah! Marco told us all about you."
"Didn't you and Star kiss before you left?" Rafael obliviously queried, shocking everyone save Mariposa, who had no idea what was going on. Both Star and Austin still remembered the kiss they shared before Austin's departure, but it was a sore subject that neither of them wanted to bring up. Between the two teens, the awkwardly silent tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
"Well, we should probably get going now..." Marco commented. The three teens said their goodbyes to the Diazes, and left the house to head towards their next destination. Once they were gone, Angie glared at her confused husband.
"Was I a bit too much?"
Later, the teens had reached the local park, which now boasted a selection of flora from both Earth and Mewni. As they walked through the scenic grounds, they could see humans, mewmans and monsters all enjoying themselves in peace and serenity. Not too far away, Star could even see the former princess Penelope Spiderbite taking a lovely walk with her monster boyfriend Slime.
Star was about to go say hi to Penelope, when Austin suddenly became very tense. 'Look out!" He exclaimed, as he got into a combat stance.
"What is it?" Marco clamored, whilst looking all around him to spot the danger.
"Trouble up ahead; It's that demon guy, from the Blood Moon Ball!" The young engineer barked, as Star and Marco's tensions were relieved. The "dangerous demon" Austin was getting so worked up about was merely Tom Lucitor, Star's ex-boyfriend and one of Marco's best friends.
"Hey, guys!" Tom greeted the couple as he walked down the dirt path of the park.
"Stay back!" Austin snapped, when Star and Marco grabbed ahold of him.
"Austin, calm down, Tom's cool!" Star pleaded.
"But he tried to kill you at the ball!" Austin told Marco, as the demon and karate expert exchanged awkward looks at each other. Marco had told Austin about Tom before; Unfortunately, this was before the three-eyed prince learned to control his anger.
"Tom, this is Austin. He's new in town." Marco deadpanned, as Tom shrugged. Marco then turned to Austin, to catch him up to speed.
"Dude, that was like, a year ago. Tom used to be a jerk, but now he's really nice. He's actually one of my best friends!" Marco explained, as Austin realized the error of his ways, and turned red with embarrassment.
"Oh...sorry, dude." He meekly apologized.
"It's fine." Tom responded. For a first impression on one of Star and Marco's closest buddies, Austin's attempt was a surefire F. However, the awkward tensions were mitigated when Star spotted another one of her best friends headed towards the group; The mischievous teenage delinquent, Janna Ordonia!
"Janna-Banana!" Star squealed in delight as the raven-haired girl approached the other teens.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
"We're just showing this dork around town. A lot's changed since he left." Star mused, as Janna realized who the stranger with the other familiar faces was.
"Wait, is that Austin?" Janna queried. "How's it going, dude?"
"It's good to see you too, Janna. How's everything been?" Austin inquired.
"Pretty good. Came here to hang with my demon buddy." Janna slyly retorted as she nudged Tom with her elbow; Due to their mutual camaraderie with Star and Marco, the two teens had become close friends.
"Well, we better get going. Janna and I are gonna check out the Forest of Certain Death." Tom bragged.
"Cool! Have fun, you two!" Star exclaimed, as Janna and Tom headed out to get into some Jannanigans...
Not long after their encounter with Janna and Tom, the kids came across a peaceful-looking pond, where three more familiar faces were sitting together on a bench; The former queen Eclipsa Butterfly, her size-shifting monster husband Globgor, and their hybrid baby, Meteora. The tailed tyke was gleefully watching as two black-and-white koi fish swam around, seemingly circling each other as if they were in some sort of dance...
"Hi, everyone!" Star greeted her adopted relatives with a gleeful smile.
"It's good to see you, Star." Eclipsa replied.
"What brings you kids to the park?" Globgor asked.
"We're showing our friend Austin around. Austin, this is former queen Eclipsa, her husband Globgor, and their baby Meteora." Marco introduced. Austin took a look at Meteora, and was quite surprised to see she had a tail.
"That baby has a tail!" Austin exclaimed. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." He bashfully added.
"Yes, we're not exactly what you'd call a normal family." Eclipsa spoke.
"Guess we have something in common." Austin jokingly retorted.
Eclipsa and Globgor began talking with Star and Marco about things Austin didn't understand, due to a lack of context; So, he began to zone out. While he looked around the park, he noticed Buff Frog and his kids were also present on a walk. Katrina, one of Buff Frog's daughters, immediately recognized Austin, and pointed him out to her family.
Austin smiled, made a "Shh..." gesture by putting his finger to his lip, and winked at the Bulgolyubov family. Buff Frog saluted the boy, still feeling grateful for last night's rescue, and the frog monsters then kept walking through the park.
A few minutes had passed, and Star & Marco were still chatting with Eclipsa & Globgor.
"This place is so peaceful. Humans, monsters and mewmans all living life together..." Star happily commented. Once the initial chaos of the Cleaving wore off, things calmed down a bit; Thanks to Star's crazy adventures in Echo Creek, its residents were used to the weird and wild life.
"This is the future we've dreamed of for so long..." Globgor added, making his wife and daughter smile. With how things were going today, nothing could ruin the serenity of their wonderful day...until they showed up.
The peace and quiet of the park was suddenly shattered by an angry mob of protesting Mewmans, disgusted by the idea of living alongside monsters, and to a lesser extent, humans. This gaudy gathering was led by Mina's stuffy, pompous former right-hand man, Manfred.
"Monsters are menaces! My fellow mewmans, we must rally to ban all monsters from this city, and exile them to the wilds where those savage beasts belong!" Manfred jeered with vitriol.
Star, Marco, and the other Butterflies were immediately disgusted by Manfred's excuse for a protest, as well as Penelope, Slime, Buff Frog and the other monsters who were visiting the park. Not wanting to deal with any racist's crap, Star stood up to deal with Manfred and his cronies.
"Go jump in a lake, you stuffy old fart!" Star snapped at Manfred.
"Look! It's Star Butterfly! That pathetic excuse for a princess is the very reason our world has turned into this...ABOMINATION!" Manfred shouted, as he pointed his accusing finger at Star, singling her out. The other protestors began jeering at her, with callous names, rude insults and hideous threats. Star began seething with anger; Her face turned beet-red with frustration, and tears welled up in her eyes. Not wanting to make a scene, she turned to Marco and buried her face in his hoodie for comfort.
"Leave her alone! Star's done more good in the past year than you've done in a lifetime!" Marco yelled, as he continued to comfort his distressed girlfriend.
"Marco Diaz! The lowly squire of a worthless princess. Why, you're nothing but her glorified gigolo." Manfred taunted, angering Marco as well. "Rally to us, and we'll make all monsters pay for their insolence!"
Austin was seething with rage as well. In addition to Manfred being just plain bothersome, the boy had feelings of sympathy for the monsters. All his life, he dealt with people who judged him merely by the color of his skin. Judging someone for being a whole different species? Absolutely disgusting.
"My fellow mewmans! Take up arms, and drive out the monster scum that plagues our society!" Manfred kept spitting corrosive hatred, until Austin stood up and faced down the protestors.
"I got an arm for you right here!" Austin taunted, as he graced the furious protestors with the highest honor he could give such racist jackwagons; The one-finger salute.
"Hey, those are LEWD hand gestures!" Manfred scoffed. The offended protestors then retaliated by picking up rocks, trash, and whatever else they could find, and ended up throwing their things at Austin, Star, Marco, Eclipsa and Globgor. All the while, the mewmans continued to boo and jeer.
"Hey, stop that!" Marco snapped, as he deflected a tin can headed straight for Star's face. Meteora started whimpering, as Globgor shielded her from the junk being hurled.
"Ugh, let's get out of here. These guys are jerks." Marco suggested, when the ranting protest was suddenly cut short. The scathing jeering turned into screams, as an intimidating eight-foot-tall monster resembling a huge orange stag beetle knocked Manfred away, and roared ferociously. This beast, named Lucanus, continued to rampage through the crowd, causing carnage wherever he struck.
Some of the protesters fled into the nearby grove of trees, which proved to be a terrible mistake; Waiting in the branches was Panthara, another hostile monster resembling a bipedal black leopard with piercing yellow eyes. She leapt from the treetops, and suddenly pounced on one of the hapless mewmans.
If mewmans could fly, it would make them no safer. Swooping in from the skies was Manavi, a four-foot-tall monster resembling a giant bat with leathery wings, big ears, and sharp fangs. The protestors covered their ears and whined in agony, as he incapacitated them with a hellish screech.
Lastly, rising from the ground itself was Viscosa; She was a slime monster the same as Penelope's boyfriend, although she was twice his size, and the color of her gooey body was a dark indigo. Viscosa wrathfully swung her viscous fists around, brutally punishing any protestor in her wake.
As the violent monsters rampaged throughout the park, Eclipsa and Globgor quickly fled in order to get their baby to safety. While Star and Marco looked on in abject horror, Austin knew exactly what he had to do. He ran into a nearby bathroom, and opened the backpack he had been lugging around all day. What lay inside was his only hope for stopping those ferocious fiends...
Back outside, the monsters were unceasing in their heinous attack. Lucanus had a terrified, struggling Manfred caught between the massive mandibles atop his head, and intended to shear the former Solarian in half. Before he could do so, Star whipped a rock straight at his eye, causing him to shout out in pain and let go of the mewman, who quickly fled without looking back.
Unfortunately, Lucanus's anger was now directed at Star. "Well, well. A dead Butterfly would certainly please the boss." He snarled, as he began charging towards her. Star then became paralyzed with fear; Without her magic, what could she do to stop that behemoth?
Marco quickly tackled Star out of the baneful beetle beast's path, and he was hit hard with a jet-propelled kick to the head from Maroon! As Lucanus fell to the ground, Maroon spoke his catchphrase;
"The name's Maroon."
Now, all eyes, especially those of the offending monsters, were on him. The bat-like Manavi swooped down to attack Maroon, and screeched right in the vigilante's face. Maroon retaliated by punching Manavi in the face, and then snapped his fingers to shoot the violent creature with a wrist-blast, sending him tumbling to the ground stunned.
While it seemed Maroon had won that skirmish, he wasn't out of the woods yet. Sneaking behind him was the monster specializing in ambush attacks, the predatory Panthara!
Panthara sprinted towards the unaware vigilante on all fours, and leapt to deliver the killing pounce, when Marco hit her with a jump-kick in the nick of time!
"Woah! Thanks for the save, Marco!" Maroon noted. Panthara leapt at Maroon a second time, but he blocked the strikes of her razor-sharp claws with his wrist-mounted shields, smacked her upside the head with one of them, and snapped his fingers again, entangling her in a metal-fiber cord that shot out from one of his utility bracelets.
Now, it was Viscosa's turn to take the helmeted warrior on. She lunged at Maroon and knocked him away with her powerful yet semi-solid arms. He quickly got back up, and ran towards her with his wrist-mounted energy blades unsheathed. The vigilante landed multiple swipes, but they seemingly did nothing to her slimy body.
"You think you're so tough?" Viscosa retorted as she slammed her fist into Maroon's head, knocking him to the ground with an agonizing groan. The slime monster lifted her arms up to crush him, but Austin thought fast and fired a smoke bomb from his wrist. The explosive passed into her gelatinous body and burst, filling her body with coalescing smoke.
As Viscosa coughed and hacked, Maroon flew into the air with his rocket boots to escape the gelatinous monster's clutches. Once he landed on the ground, he was greeted by a horrifying sight; The other three monsters had gotten back up, and were ready for round two.
"Kill the human!" Manavi snapped, as he, Panthara and Lucanus started charging towards Maroon. The vigilante took a deep breath, activated his wrist-mounted blade and shield, and prepared to fight against the insurmountable odds, so that his friends and the other innocent bystanders could be safe...
Before either party could land the first blow, an entire blockade of more than a dozen police cars quickly approached the park, and surrounded the perimeter. "EVERYONE FREEZE!" One of the officers shouted through a bullhorn, as the rest of the officers pointed their guns at Maroon and the monsters. Maroon put his hands up; If he kept fighting, the cops couldn't tell if he was friend or foe.
"This isn't worth the fight." Panthara snarled, and threw down some smoke bombs, which exploded into a thick, dark smokescreen that obscured the beasts. When the smog cleared, the monster terrorists were all gone, leaving the park trashed and the visitors shaken...
After Maroon was questioned by the Echo Creek police, he regrouped with Star and Marco to see if they were okay after the attack.
"Aust-I mean, Maroon! Are you alright?" Star asked.
"Yeah, are you?" Maroon retorted. Star and Marco both nodded "yes" in response. "Anyways, who were those monsters that attacked us?"
"That's the thing...I have no idea..." Star answered, still feeling the shock of the sudden attack.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late!" A voice suddenly called out. Star, Marco, Austin and all the cops looked to see the voice's source, who was a familiar sight for the couple. It was Lobster Claws, one of the monsters who used to frequent Ludo's gang. When he got fired by Ludo, Star and Marco helped him adjust to life on Earth. But what was he doing here, after such a dreadful attack?
As soon as he saw all the on-edge cops pointing their pistols at him, Lobster Claws panicked and quickly fled the park.
"We do know him, though." Star remarked.
"His name's Lobster Claws. A year back, Star and I tried helping him be a good guy, but that didn't work out." Marco added.
"Excellent. Give me a lead on him, and I'll be on my way."
"You sure you don't need our help?" Marco suggested. After all, taking on five deadly monsters would be no easy feat.
"Sorry, Marco. I work alone." The helmeted vigilante quickly dismissed.
"That's not what you did when we stopped Cobalt Watch." Star refuted.
"That was when there was magic, the stuff that saved my life. Without it, everything's way more dangerous. I can't let anyone get hurt, especially you." Austin sighed, as Star started to feel sad.
"Don't worry. I'll find those monsters, and bring them to justice." Maroon promised, then rocketed off into the air to pursue his mission. Marco then comforted Star, who wistfully watched her friend fly off to find and face the marauding monsters...
Hours later in a ramshackle, run-down Mewnian barn, Manfred and the other monster-hating Mewmans had regrouped after the grievous attack on the park. Here, they were recovering from the wounds they faced from the monster terrorists.
"Putrid monsters! The monarchy were fools for trusting those bloodthirsty savages." One of the mewmans scoffed.
"Obviously, peaceful protesting is getting us nowhere in ridding them from our society." Manfred admitted, as he picked up a sickle lying atop a crate of corn. "To root out those pests, we must use FORCE!" The former servant snarled, as his cronies murmured in agreement. Now, violent fringe groups of both mewmans and monsters had arisen in the new world of Earth-Ni. One thing was for sure; The tensions were rising...
And...scene! I hope you liked this chapter, and I encourage you to leave a review of what you thought about it. Anyways, after every chapter release, be sure to check out my profile bio; There, you can see a preview of the next chapter to come! I have some great stuff in store for you guys; In fact, Chapter 3 is what I consider the "turning point" to when this fic gets REALLY good. Anyways, have a great rest of your day, and enjoy life!
