"MAROON AND THE EARTH-NI PROTECTORS"

BOOK ONE: TURF WARS

CHAPTER SEVEN: BESIEGED


Late into the night, Manfred and a small crew of Mewmans were holding down the fort at the Neo-Solarian encampment, which was situated along a depository of corrupted magic. The bigoted former servant of the Butterflies just sat there watching the campfire, bored out of his mind. However, the peace and quiet didn't last, as Mina Loveberry suddenly scampered into the campsite on all fours, her elitist followers trailing close behind.

"Ah, Mina! You've returned! Did you find the whereabouts of those nasty beasts?" Manfred queried.

"No, but I found something even worse! I fought that no-good bleeding heart Star Butterfly, and she has a new wand!" Mina exclaimed, causing Manfred and the other warriors to gasp in shock.

"Inconceivable!" Manfred exclaimed.

"Wait, so magic is back?" One of the Neo-Solarian grunts asked.

"Well, according to Little Miss Butterfly, it's some stupid Earth nonsense called "science." Mina explained in a mocking tone. "To truly win against the monsters, we need to bring justice to Mewni: The Butterfly queens are traitors, conspirators and monster-smoochers. Even Queen Solaria...has lost her way." Mina sighed. During the Cleave, Solaria's ghost refused to help Mina when she was attacked by millhorses; This event shattered the warrior's perception of her long-time hero.

"It's time to wipe out the traitorous Butterflies for good, and start a brand-new kingdom; One without monsters mucking it up!" Mina snarled, as her devout followers cheered. Now, both the Neo-Solarians and the Dreaded Beasts were gunning for the heads of the royal family...


The next morning, Austin Capers was peacefully sleeping in his bed. After staying up for nearly two days training the heroes and perfecting Star's mechanical wand and wings, he deserved every second of his slumber.

"Austin, wake up!" A voice called out from outside his bedroom. It was his maternal aunt, the fabulous fashionista Rita Jean-Marcelin.

"Five more minutes?" Austin moaned in a tired tone.

"Ozzy, you've been asleep for sixteen hours." Rita deadpanned, causing her nephew to suddenly jolt up in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes, now get ready. Your friends are waiting downstairs." Rita spoke, as she walked downstairs. Austin let out a yawn, and prepared to get ready for the day...


After getting all cleaned up and changed, Austin headed downstairs to the kitchen, where he saw Star, Marco, Janna and Tom sitting together at the table eating lunch. Today's special was homemade Haitian griot with red beans and rice. This delicious meal was courtesy of Uncle Desmond, who happened to be quite the cook.

"Man, this stuff is amazing, Mister..." Tom complimented, when he suddenly forgot the man's surname.

"Jean-Marcelin. But you can call me Dez." Desmond replied.

"Morning, everyone!" Austin called out as he entered the kitchen, catching everyone's attention.

"Austin!" Star cheerfully exclaimed.

"Someone looks happy today." Uncle Dez remarked, as Austin helped himself to a plate of griot.

"Yeah, it's amazing what a good night's sleep can do for you." Austin replied, as he sat down at the table with his friends. "So, how did last night's patrol go?"

Everyone at the table froze up when they heard Austin's question. Although the heroes thwarted a mugging and rescued a bus full of innocents, they were unable to stop the Dreaded Beasts or Neo-Solarians. Even worse, how were they going to tell Austin that Mina, who he caught a few days prior, was loose again?

"Terribly." Tom retorted, breaking the silence.

"What happened?" Janna wondered.

"Marco and I stopped a bus from falling off the bridge, and what did I get in return? A cranky old geezer calling me a dirty demon." Tom spoke, with a hint of pain in his voice.

"That's horrible!" Star exclaimed.

"After that, we got ambushed by the Dreaded Beasts." Marco added.

"That must've been a tough fight." Austin exclaimed.

"Yeah, but they ran off, all because of Tom!" Marco retorted, as he discreetly nudged the demon closer to Janna. Since Tom told him of his crush on Janna, he agreed to play the role of wingman for his demon friend.

"So, they're still out there, huh? Guess we'll get them next time." Austin sighed. "How did your night go, girls?" The teen engineer queried, as Star and Janna awkwardly exchanged looks.

"So, are you gonna tell him, or am I?" Janna remarked, as Star let out a deep groan.

"Austin, I really hate to tell you this, but...Mina broke out of jail." Star admitted, as Austin let out a loud, angry groan.

"Oh, come ON!" Austin yelled, when he looked to see an expression of saddened guilt on Star's face. "I'm not mad at you girls. I just really hate that racist creep." He clarified.

"You don't know the half of it." Marco retorted.

"First, Seth's alive; Now Mina's back on the streets. Things are getting worse every day." Star droned in a melancholy voice, as she looked down at the table. Marco noticed his girlfriend was getting gloomy, so he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Star. We'll clear this mess up, and we'll do it together." Marco declared, making Star look up at her boyfriend and smile. Suddenly, the hoodie-wearing Latino received a text on his cell phone, and took out his device to read the message.

"Huh, it's from Mom." Marco said.

"What does it say?" Star queried.

"Looks like our family's invited to dinner tonight...at the Monster Temple." Marco read aloud, surprising Star.

"Really? Sounds fun!" Star cheerfully replied, excited to have a nice dinner between her family and Marco's.

"Wait, so you'll be busy tonight? 'Cause I was hoping you could do some hero work. Mina and Seth are still out there..." Austin suggested.

"Sorry, Austin, but I'm pretty sure if we don't go, my mom will kill me." Star replied, disappointing her friend. "But if you see the bad guys, just give us a call and we'll take care of 'em."

"Thanks, guys. I could just ask Tom and Janna instead." Austin remarked, when he looked to see that Janna was missing. "Where'd she go?"

Tom cocked his head to Marco, who gave him a knowing nod. "I've gotta go." The half-demon said, as he left the room to look for his crush...


Where did Janna go, anyways? A monster truck graveyard? A demonic temple? A secret bunker deep beneath the surface? No, the raven-haired teen prankster was merely sitting down on Austin's front porch to get some fresh air. However, the peace and quiet was abruptly ended, when she was approached by Tom.

"Hey, Janna..."

"Sup."

"I was wondering, are you doing anything today?"

"I sure hope not." Unfortunately, Janna's witty response went right over Tom's head, making him feel somewhat embarrassed.

"I was wondering if you...wanted to hang out?"

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do. So, what are we doing tonight? Looking for spiders? Going to a morgue? Exploring the Underworld?"

"Actually, I was thinking we could go to the arcade downtown, I've never been to one on Earth." Tom replied. Internally, he started kicking himself; Would Janna really want to do something as lame as that?

"I'm game." Janna quickly retorted, unintentionally making a pun.

"Oh, good! Does 7:00 sound good?"

"Sounds like a plan, Lucitor."

"Mission accomplished." Tom thought to himself. Unfortunately, that wasn't the most challenging part of the date. No, the hardest part would be actually telling Janna how he really felt about her...


"So, you two are busy too?"

Austin had just been informed by Tom and Janna that they, too, were unable to fight crime tonight.

"Mm-hm." Tom grunted.

"Super busy." Janna retorted, making Austin sigh in despair.

"Great. I just wish I was healthy again, so I could take the bad guys on myself." Austin quavered, giving Star a brilliant idea.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Star hollered, startling everyone in the room. "What if I use my wand to heal you?"

Star had done this exact thing once before, back during Maroon's first mission. When his own father stabbed him in the abdomen during their fateful duel, Star used her old wand to treat his wound with a healing spell she learned days prior. However, would she be able to do the same task now that her wand was weaker?

"Really? Are you sure it'll work?" Austin asked with hope in his voice.

"It's worth a shot." Star replied, as she pulled out her wand, and held it close to Austin's body. She closed her eyes, and dipped down as hard as she could to try and do the healing spell. Her mechanical wand glowed faintly, and made a quiet, low-pitched humming sound. After thirty tense and suspenseful seconds, Star had finished her attempt at healing him.

"Alright, now move your arm." Star commanded. Now, for the moment of truth.

Austin lifted his arm halfway past his body, when his body surged with pain. He cried out in agony, startling everyone around him.

"Austin! Are you okay?" Marco asked.

"Looks like it didn't work..." Austin solemnly sighed.

"I'm so sorry..." Star meekly apologized, feeling awful that her worthy attempt at healing him had failed.

"It's okay, you did your best. Good luck at your dinner..." Austin sincerely spoke.

"Thanks. Get well soon, buddy." Marco replied, as he and his girlfriend left the Capers household.

"Bye, dude." Janna added, as she and Tom headed out as well, leaving Austin alone in the living room. The boy sighed, and sat on the couch, feeling down. Looks like leading a team of teen superheroes wasn't all it was cracked up to be...


After leaving Austin's home, Star & Marco productively used their downtime before the dinner party to go around town, asking various humans, Mewmans and monsters for information regarding their enemies. Although they spoke with many sources, they still had no solid leads on the whereabouts of Mina or Seth. At the current time, which was about 6:30 in the evening, the power couple was on their way to the Monster Temple for the Butterfly-Diaz dinner party.

"I gotta say, I'm kinda nervous about this whole "family dinner" thing." Star admitted.

"Really? How come?" Marco queried.

"Let's just say...things between Mom and I have been rough, lately." The former princess sighed. There was still evident unease between Star and Moon during the Cleave, especially since Star had those dreadful nightmares.

"Yeah, I can see why. But it won't just be her there. Obviously, your dad's gonna be there, and you still love him, right?"

"Of course!" Star exclaimed. Obviously, River hadn't done anything to wrong Star during the Solarian Crisis. In fact, he was a big help in protecting Globgor from Mina's forces.

"And you know who else is gonna be there?"

"Your adorable baby sister!" Star joyously cooed, excited to see Mariposa again. "I guess Mom invited your family to get on my good side."

"So, are you going to show them...you know?" Marco inquired, as he gestured to Star's makeshift wand poking out of her bag. Upon pointing it out, Star quickly nudged it deeper into the bag to hide it.

"No, not yet at least."

"You can't hide it from them forever."

"Yeah, I know. I just don't know how they'd feel about me having the last of the universe's magic. Heck, do I even deserve it?"

"Of course you do, Star! That wand's in the best hands it could possibly be in." Marco spoke, as he held Star's hand, making her smile. Flattered, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks, Marco. You're the best boyfriend ever."

"Oh, speaking of boyfriends! Tom told me he's going on a date tonight...with Janna!" Marco exclaimed, causing Star to gasp and light up.

"Really? Oh my gosh, that's AMAZING! They'll make a great couple." Star gleefully remarked.

"Yeah. I wonder how their date is going?


Janna was standing outside the local GameZone arcade, leaning on the front window. As of right now, she was waiting for Tom to arrive. Although she was excited to hang out with him again, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious; Since they started working together on Austin's team, she had been having strange feelings for him...feelings she wasn't sure she should admit.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and a column of fire erupted from a hole that burst out of the hole. Shrouded in flames, Tom dramatically rose up from the Earth. The fire-and-brimstone spectacular then abruptly ceased, and he nonchalantly asked "So, are you ready to have some fun?"

"Mh-hm." Janna responded, as Tom opened the door and held it for her.

"After you." The half-demon offered.

"What, you're holding the door for me because you think I can't get it? You think I'm weak just 'cause I'm a girl?" Janna accused, making Tom feel extremely awkward.

"No! I-I just-"

"Just messing with you." Janna clarified, as she walked through the door into the arcade. "Such a gentleman."

Tom took a deep breath, and wiped his brow in relief, as he went in after her.


Once the two teens were inside the arcade, they looked around to see all sorts of games. However, Tom's three eyes were caught by a prize counter near the entrance. He started walking towards the counter, with Janna following close behind.

"So, what is all this stuff?" Tom asked the man working at the counter.

"This is the prize counter. You can buy the stuff we have with the tickets you win by playing games." The vendor spoke in a bored tone, clearly unfazed that there was a literal demon in the room.

Tom and Janna perused the items for sale at the counter; Cheap plastic toys, dime-a-dozen knick-knacks, and those sticky-hand-rope thingies that always end up stuck to your ceiling. On the higher-up shelves were stuffed animals, inflatable toys and a miniature gumball machine.

"They've got fake vampire fangs." Tom suggested, as he gestured to a whole drawer full of cheap plastic fangs.

"I've got real ones at home, though. There's nothing here worth buying." Janna mused, when she suddenly gasped in shock. Tom looked to see what made her so surprised, and looked upon the prize at the top of the shelf; A huge book about black magic, with a built-in ouija board inside.

"It's beautiful..." Janna droned in awe.

"That creepy old thing? Five thousand tickets." The clerk instructed, as Janna and Tom turned to look at each other.

"Now what?" Tom wondered.

"Well, Tommy Boy, looks like we'll have to earn it by GAMING ALL NIGHT!"

For the next forty-five minutes, the two teens got right down to business, and played a wide variety of games to earn the tickets they needed. Such games included ski-ball, air hockey, pinball, whack-a-mole, a violent game where players kill zombies with chainsaws (which Janna schooled Tom at) and a peppy dancing game (which Tom schooled Janna at.) By the end of their session, they had four thousand tickets.

"Well, we still have a thousand tickets to go." Tom commented.

"And one token left." Janna deadpanned, as she held up their last arcade token. "Luckily, there's a game that might just give us the tickets we need to get that book."

"Deal or No Deal?" Tom queried, as he looked upon the arcade console in front of him. This game, based on a popular Earth game show of the same name, was quite unfamiliar to him. "You sure about this?"

"Hey, if anyone can win this game, it's you." Janna replied.

"Alright, if you say so. Time to make a deal with the devil.."

Now, the objective of this game went as follows; There were twenty-six briefcases on screen, each having a certain number of tickets in them. The player, in this case Tom, would eliminate a certain amount of briefcases each round, until only one remained. The last one's ticket amount would be how many tickets he would win.

In the last round, Tom was down to two briefcases; One had the thousand tickets he needed to win the black magic book, while the other had a measly one ticket. The question was...which case was which?

"Five, or eighteen? Five...or eighteen?" Tom wavered, unsure of which briefcase held the grand prize.

"Just make a choice, dude." Janna goaded. Tom sighed deeply, closed his eyes, and thrust his finger to the "18" button. The case opened up, and revealed the prize he had earned.

"Congratulations! You win one ticket!"

"ONE TICKET?" Tom shouted, as his eyes started to glow blood-red. Red-hot flames began forming in his palms; If nothing was done, the whole arcade would feel his fiery wrath.

Seeing as her friend was about to make a scene, Janna thought fast and made an attempt to temper his fury. The teenage delinquent stepped up to the stool Tom was sitting on, and hopped on his lap.

With Janna on his lap, Tom abruptly went from boiling with rage, to hot and bothered.

"Dude, keep your shirt on." She humorously teased. Now, Tom was flustered even further, as her choice of words reminded him of what he saw during yesterday's training session.

"We don't need these tickets, anyways. I've got a better idea..."


Meanwhile, Star and Marco had just arrived outside the Monster Temple, where their respective families awaited.

"You ready for this?" Marco queried.

"Of course. What could possibly go wrong?" Star replied. The two teens entered the temple, and saw that everyone was already waiting for them in the lobby. Moon, River, Eclipsa and Globgor were chatting with Angie and Rafael, whilst Mariposa and Meteora were on the ground, playing with their toys.

"Hey everyone!" Marco greeted, as Star waved to everyone.

While all the adults greeted the young couple in return, Star looked down to see Mariposa and Meteora happily crawling towards her.

"Cuddle bugs!" Star squealed, as she bent over, scooped the babies up off the ground, and held them in her arms. "You two are so cute!" She appraised, as the little tykes giggled and cooed.

"But don't let me hog you babes up. Here you go, Marco!" Star piped, as she handed Mariposa to her older brother.

"I'm so glad you all could make it here tonight." Moon spoke. "It means so much to me that-"

"Enough chatter, let's FEAST!" River shouted with glorious gusto, as he made a beeline for the dinner table. Moon let out a deep sigh, and headed off to find her husband.


The two families headed off to the dining room, and took their seats. Star & Marco sat together at the south end of the table, while Moon and River were directly across from them at the north end. On the left side sat the Diazes, while on the right sat Eclipsa, Globgor and Meteora.

The temple's dinner table was brimming with food, including Moon's home-made pies, some vegetarian dishes courtesy of Globgor, huge hunks of strange meat from River's latest hunt, baby food for the little ones, and various dishes from Echo Creek, including pizza, tacos, hamburgers and pork lo mein.

"What's with all the Earth food?" Marco asked, noticing not a single ear of corn was to be found on the table.

"Well, since the monarchy dissolved, all our servants left. That included our royal cooks." Moon answered, as Star fell silent and averted her eyes. The end of the monarchy was a bit of a touchy subject between the two. To break the ice, River asked the two teens a harmless icebreaker.

"So, what have you kids been doing lately?

Now, Star didn't want to talk about her wand, nor did she want to bring up Mina's resurgence, or even dare mention the return of Seth of Septarsis. So, she decided not to lie, but to just...withhold the truth.

"Oh, not much. Marco and I have just been hanging out with our friends. You know Janna, Tom, Austin..."

"Who's Austin? I don't recall you telling us about him." Moon queried.

"He's our friend we used to go to school with. He moved back to Echo Creek just a few days ago." Marco explained.

"You and Dad met him once, remember?" Star added.

"I don't recall..." Moon replied.

"I do! He's my new boss's nephew." Globgor informed.

"Still not ringing any bells." said River. Star let out a deep sigh, and decided to say something that would surely jog their memories.

"He's Commander Cobalt's son." Star painfully admitted, finally making her parents realize who Austin was. They had met him after the Dauntless attack on Mewni, but they forgot all about him with the turbulent events that followed, like Toffee's return, Meteora's rampage, and the Solarian Crisis.

"Oh..." Moon quietly responded, caught off guard.

"Ah yes, Austin! He was a mighty fine lad indeed." River remarked.

"Hold on, who's Commander Cobalt?" Eclipsa queried.

"He was a man from Earth, named Oberon Capers. He led an terrorist group called Cobalt Watch, and stole my scissors so he could wage war on Mewni with a giant flying warship." Star explained.

"But Star, Austin and I snuck on his ship, stopped him and saved both our homes from a war between worlds." Marco added.

"Marco, how come you never told us about this?" Rafael wondered.

"You never asked."

"Cobalt Watch treated me and other mewmans like freaks because we were different. It was awful, but it opened my eyes, and made me realize we were doing the same thing to monsters."

"Now because of you, there's hope that we can live together in peace." Globgor complimented.

Ironically, just as the size-shifter said this, a loud thud was heard outside the temple.

"What was that?" Angie cried out, as Star and Marco exchanged some shocked looks. Star nodded to Marco, and the two got up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Moon asked.

"To see what that was!" Star quickly responded, as the two ran down the hall towards a window to see what was going on. To their horror, Mina and Manfred were commanding their loyal troops, who were trying to break down the door with a fallen tree.

"Come on out, traitors! I know you're in there!" Mina taunted to no one in particular.

"MINA!" Star screamed, catching the attention of the Solarian and her servant.

"Well, if it isn't my former mud sister and her boy toy!" Mina jeered, as she pointed up at the couple.

"Hey, I am NOT just a boy toy!" Marco snapped.

"Just give it up, Mina! You're never going to win!" Star exclaimed.

"I swore an oath to Queen-" Mina rebuked, when Star shouted over her.

"Shut up about Solaria, SHUT UP ABOUT SOLARIA! She doesn't care about you anymore! NOBODY DOES!" Star yelled. All the Neo-Solarians fell silent and still; Mina even started to tear up a little. Star went for the jugular on that one, and it clearly got through the warrior's thick skull.

"K-k-KILL THEM!" Mina screamed in a blind rage.

"Open fire!" Manfred commanded, as some of the warriors grabbed their bows, and shot a flurry of arrows towards Star and Marco. Star tackled her boyfriend to the ground to evade their fire, and the two fled down the hall to warn their endangered families...


The Neo-Solarians kept trying to break into the temple, unaware that they were being watched by an eye in the skies. The bat-like Manavi was circling through the air, as recon for his team. The monster swooped down into a forest nearby to tell the other Beasts what he saw.

"Manavi! What did you see?" Panthara queried.

"Were there any guards?" Viscosa added.

"No, but there's something worse. Mina Loveberry beat us here, and she has an army!"

"Loveberry? That crazy freak is still alive?" Lucanus wondered.

"Dead or alive, it doesn't matter."

This sentence was spoken by the Dreaded Beasts' legendary leader, Seth of Septarsis. For the first time in centuries, he had come with his disciples on a mission in the flesh. "The more of those ignorant mewmans we kill, the more liberated our people become..."


Back at the arcade, the clerk at the prize counter was still with boredom, and he was halfway towards falling asleep. Suddenly, Janna approached him with her pocket watch, and began to hypnotize the poor sap.

"You will take that book off the shelf, and give it to us for free." Janna commanded, as she swayed the watch from side to side. The clerk fell into a trance, plucked the mysterious tome off its display place, and handed it to Janna.

"Thank you very much." Janna retorted, as the two teens walked out of the building with their prize in hand.

"How come you didn't do that before?" Tom wondered.

"If I did it right away, we wouldn't have had so much fun."

"Good point."

The two teens then sat down together on a bench outside the arcade. As Janna popped open her newly-earned book, Tom decided to apologize for making a scene earlier.

"Hey, I'm sorry I got so mad at the arcade, I shouldn't have done that. It's just...I've been having some tough times lately."

"This is about that man on the bus, isn't it? The one that freaked out over you being a demon?"

"Mh-hm. I gotta admit, I feel alone as the only monster on the team." Tom glumly sighed.

"Hey, that geezer was just a stupid jerk! I mean, what's not to like about you? You've got three eyes, a pair of horns, fire powers, a tail, and you're the coolest dude I know."

"Thanks, Janna. Wait, how do you know about the tail?"

"Star told me about it."

"Of course."

"Hey, you're not the only one on the team who feels like an outcast." Janna painfully admitted. "I've always been seen as Janna the troublemaker, Janna the thief, Janna the stalker. I actually want to help people, but I don't feel like I can."

Janna tilted her head down and looked at the ground, feeling a wave of despondence coming on. However, her sadness quickly turned into surprise, when she felt something creeping behind her. Tom pulled Janna closer to him with his pointy red tail, making her eyes light up, and her cheeks flush bright red.

"I've been there before." Tom said. "You feel like you're stuck with your inner demons, like you can never get rid of them. But trust me, anyone can improve themselves, especially you."

Tom placed a hand on Janna's shoulder, and she let out a faint gasp, as her face turned even redder. The beanie-wearing girl stared at the half-demon, gazing directly into his soul. Now, Tom knew it was time to tell Janna how he felt, and make her his girl. But before he could confess his true feelings for her, both of their phones rang at the same time, startling them.

Janna checked her phone, and was shocked by the message she received. "It's Star and Marco! Mina's attacking the Monster Temple, and their families are inside!"

"Then we gotta help them!" Tom exclaimed. The demon prince picked Janna up, and he took off into the air to answer the distress call...


In the living room of the Jean-Marcelin household, Austin was glumly sitting on the couch, watching his favorite comfort show, "Duck-Tective." Aunt Rita was walking by, when she noticed her nephew feeling down. So, she took a seat next to him, and asked him what's wrong.

"Something wrong, Austin?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I know that look, Ozzy. If something's bothering you, you're welcome to tell me."

"It's just...none of my friends could be on patrol tonight, they had prior commitments." Austin admitted.

"People have other plans all the time, it's a part of life." Rita replied, as she placed a comforting hand on her nephew's shoulder.

"I know, I know. It's just, right now there are threats to the city, maybe even the world!"

"Austin, your friends are good people. Trust me, I know. You may not be able to count on them all the time, but I'm sure they'll help you when you need them the most." Rita explained.

"You're right. Thanks, Aunt Rita!" Austin responded. Forgetting about the boy's injuries, Rita impulsively hugged him, but quickly jerked away when she remembered.

"Oh dear! I'm terribly sorry, did I hurt you?"

"It's fine, you didn't hurt anything." Austin replied. Suddenly, his face lit up in surprise when he realized what he had just said. "WAIT A MINUTE! You didn't hurt ANYTHING!"

Austin raised his formerly sprained arm up, and was relieved to feel no pain whatsoever. He struck his seemingly broken ribs, only to find out they had reformed. "I'm healed! I'm healed!"

"I don't understand, how can this be?" Rita wondered.

"Star's spell! Earlier today, she tried to heal me with her wand, but it didn't work; Or so she thought. It must be much slower-acting now." Ozzy explained, when his phone suddenly buzzed. When the teen engineer saw the text he received, he gasped in shock.

"What is it?" Rita asked.

"It's Star and Marco! They're in trouble!"

"Good thing you've finally healed." Rita remarked, as Austin realized what he had to do.

"Aunt Rita, get me my suit. It's time for Maroon to make a return..."


Back where we left off at the Monster Temple, Star and Marco rushed into the dining room to warn their families about the siege on the temple.

"Finally, you've returned!" River cheerfully exclaimed.

"Did you find out what's going on back there?" Eclipsa queried.

"It's Mina! She's attacking the temple!" Marco exclaimed, causing everyone to gasp in shock.

"Everyone, get somewhere safe!" Star commanded, as everyone got up from their seats.

"I'll call the police!" Angie responded, as she pulled out her phone.

"What about you?" Moon asked the couple.

"We'll hold them off." The ex-princess replied, as she and her boyfriend quickly headed to the castle gate.

"Star, wait!" The former queen exclaimed, but her daughter just kept running towards the oncoming battle...


Star and Marco ran to the lobby of the castle, where the gate was still being banged on by the Neo-Solarians' makeshift battering ram. The door was starting to crack and crumble; It wouldn't hold forever. Star held out her wand, and Marco got into a fighting stance, as they prepared for a battle against the forces of evil.

The door finally shattered, and the Neo-Solarians started flooding into the temple with their weapons raised. However, Star anticipated this, and fired an explosive pulse of magic at them, knocking the angry mob away. The only baddie to avoid the attack was Mina, who started charging towards Star while screaming maniacally.

Star fired another energy blast at her former idol, but the sinister Solarian evaded her spell. Mina lunged at Star with her bladed arm attachment, but the former royal extended her wand into its staff formation, and blocked the strike. The two women dueled with their respective weapons; Since Mina had none of the magic she relied on, and was wielding an unorthodox weapon with a broken hand, Star was clearly getting the upper hand in the fight.

"Wow, Mina. You've gotten predictable."

"Predictable? The only thing that's predictable is us wiping out all those grody monsters!"

"I knew you'd say that." Star nonchalantly remarked, as she smacked Mina square in the head with her wand, causing the warrior to recoil in pain.

"OW! You little brat, I'll-MONSTER!" Mina suddenly screamed. Star looked to where her foe's eyes were, and saw Manavi swooping in to attack! The bloodthirsty bat let out a deafening screech, that caused everyone in the room to cover their ears in pain. While they were down, Manavi picked Mina up with his talons, and threw her to the ground.

As the monster and mewman fought, Star saw her beloved Marco in a scrap with several Neo-Solarian warriors. He downed three of them with a spinning kick, disarmed another of her sword, and used the stolen weapon to best two more.

"Yeah! Great job, sweetie!" Star cheered, making her hoodie-clad boyfriend blush. However, Marco's prideful expression turned into pure terror when he saw a malevolent enemy appear behind Star.

"STAR, BEHIND YOU!"

The blonde-haired rebel quickly spun around to see the slime monster Viscosa menacingly standing behind her. Star quickly aimed her wand at her foe, but Viscosa quickly disarmed her, and threw the wand to the ground.

"Star, I'm coming!" Marco exclaimed, as he launched himself up by jumping off Manfred's head. He then punched straight through Viscosa's chest; However, since she was made of a gelatinous material, his move hardly affected her.

"You again?" Viscosa snarled, as she grabbed the two teens and pinned them up against a wall with her slimy arms. "I'm gonna enjoy killing you."

Suddenly, the slime monstress was hit in the back by a fireball that made her scream in pain and melt to the floor. The now-freed couple looked to the broken temple door, and saw their saviors standing together.

"Tom! Janna!" Star exclaimed in joyous relief.

"You saved us!" Marco added.

"So, how was dinner?" Janna coyly remarked.


While Star & Marco were fighting the good fight, the Butterflies and Diazes were holed up in the bedroom belonging to Moon and River. The door was barricaded so that no hostiles could break in. However, Rafael and Angie were quite worried about their son's safety, considering what he and Star were up against.

"I'm worried about the kids." Angie admitted.

"Don't be! Marco's dealt with FAR worse, trust me!" River retorted. However, his remark didn't really calm the Diazes down; It only caused some eyebrows to raise.

All of a sudden, two malevolent figures crashed through the castle wall, causing everyone to scream out in fright. These intruders were none other than Lucanus and Panthara of the Dreaded Beasts!

"The Butterfly Queens. I've waited a long time for this." Panthara snarled, as she contracted her dagger-sharp claws.

"Ill take the Dark Queen, you take the traitor." Lucanus retorted, as he and his cohort charged towards the queens.

"Get away from my wife, you fiends!" River shouted, as he grabbed a huge sword off the wall, and swung it at the monsters. The beasts quickly dodged out of the way, and the former king charged out of the room to fight the assailants. Panthara pounced on River and tackled him down the stairs, leaving the others alone with Lucanus.

"Looks like I get to kill you both. It's my lucky-" Lucanus threatened, when Globgor threw a punch at the Shomuto's face, staggering him.

"Get out of here!" Globgor exclaimed. On that cue, Moon, Eclipsa and the Diazes all fled to another room of the temple.

"Globgor, Prince of Darkness. Crusher of Skulls and Plucker of Limbs." Lucanus spoke.

"Those days are over. I don't hurt mewmans anymore!"

"It's a shame you fell for that wretched queen!" The stag beetle monster yelled, as he rammed into Globgor, knocking both monsters out of the temple to the hard ground below. Down on the ground, the Shomuto and the size-shifter continued to battle it out...


The next room the innocents were hiding in was one of the most unlikely places; Meteora's nursery. Mariposa and Meteora were both in the latter's crib, hugging each other to stay calm during the frightening attack on the temple.

"We should be safe here." Eclipsa said, when a powerful fist punched the stone door, leaving a dented imprint in it.

"Are you sure about that?" Moon retorted. The mystery assailant kept punching the door, which was losing more and more integrity with each strike. One powerful final blow accompanied with a frightening roar shattered the nursery door, causing a cloud of dust to appear. Everyone coughed and sputtered, and once the dust cleared, both queens' faces went agape with shock and horror when they saw the intruder.

"Seth of Septarsis?" Eclipsa queried in a clearly surprised tone.

"He's ALIVE?" Moon added.

"Foolish Butterflies. As long as hatred for your vile race spews in the hearts of monsters, I shall never die." Seth snarled, as he raised his powerful arms to strike down the queens. Suddenly, Meteora let out a vicious growl and pounced at the Septarian.

"Meteora, NO!" Eclipsa cried. Seth grabbed the halfling baby mid-pounce, and held her up to his reptilian visage.

"Meteora Butterfly. The hybrid monster from St. Olga's, who brought the entire Butterfly Kingdom to its knees. She will make an excellent disciple."

Eclipsa tried to go after Seth, but he knocked over a blue, flaming torch with his tail, and it fell to the carpet, starting a fire in the nursery. With the queens and Diazes trapped by the cobalt flames, the sinister Septarian left, with a writhing, struggling Meteora in his arms...


To alert any allies to her state of peril, Meteora cried out in distress, warning our heroes that Seth was attempting to kidnap her.

"Meteora!" Star exclaimed. She aimed her wand at Seth to shoot him down, but Manavi swooped down and let out a screech that stunned her. Marco bravely made a beeline for Seth, but Viscosa grabbed him by the leg and held him upside down.

"Let that baby go, you barbaric beast!" River shouted, as he leapt at Seth with his sword raised high in the air. However, Panthara pounced on the Johansen mid-fall, thwarting his attempt to save Meteora.

Tom and Janna tried to reach the kidnapped child, but were blocked off by Mina and her goons; The very fiends who ruined their date.

"Where do you think you're going, kiddies!" Mina jeered. The Neo-Solarians lunged to attack the two teens, who started fighting them together. However, with everyone occupied by other enemies, it seemed like Seth was home free to make off with Meteora.

Fortunately, Seth was stopped in his tracks, when he was hit in the face with a blast of red energy. A mysterious caped figure landed on the ground, and stared the Septarian down. Maroon had arrived in the nick of time!

"You again..." Seth hissed.

"Stealing babies? That's a new low." The masked vigilante quipped.

"I thought I killed you, boy. I'm going to enjoy doing it again!" Seth roared, as the human and Septarian began their rematch.


Back in the burning nursery, the flames were getting stronger, and engulfed half the room in blue fire. As Moon and Eclipsa tried to combat the blaze, Angie and Rafael were comforting a crying Mariposa, who was terrified by the flames, and devastated that her best friend had been baby-napped. There were no emergency exits or windows in the room for the endangered innocents to escape from; Things were becoming bleak.

While the nursery burned, Globgor was outside the temple, battling it out with Lucanus.

"I've never fought a size-shifter before. This ought to be fun." Lucanus snidely remarked.

"You're in way over your head." Globgor retorted, as he grew to the size of the temple. The massive monster raised his foot to stomp the Shomuto flat, but he easily caught the size-shifter's foot in his pincers.

"OW! How are you doing that?"

"That's what's great about us Shomutoes. We can lift a hundred times our weight." Lucanus roared, as he lifted Globgor up and threw him in the air. The former monster king then fell to the ground with an earth-shattering thud. "THAT was the legendary Prince of Darkness?" What a joke!" The insect monster jeered.

However, Globgor perked up when he heard a terrifying sound come from the nursery; Frightened cries for help, including those of his beloved wife Eclipsa! Globgor suddenly shrank down, and scuttled up behind Lucanus. By the time the Shomuto realized his foe was up to something, it was too late; Globgor quickly grew his arm to a massive size, and punched Lucanus so hard that it sent him flying!

Now that the overgrown beetle was dealt with, Globgor grew the rest of his body to the same size as his arm, and stomped towards the temple's nursery. He reached his hands around the roof, and tore it off. Then, he blew on the flames to put them out. Once the queens and Diazes were safe and sound, he shrank to his normal size and jumped into the nursery.

Moon and the Diazes humbly thanked Globgor for his heroism, but a teary-eyed Eclipsa quickly ran to him in a huff.

"Are you okay, my love?" Globgor asked, when he suddenly realized who was missing from the group; His beloved daughter.

"Where's Meteora?"


In the meantime, Maroon was duking it out with Seth for the second time. The masked warrior dodged the Septarian's strikes and tail swipes, and shot at him a couple times with his wrist-blasters. Despite the fact that he was holding a ferociously wriggling Meteora, Seth was still a formidable opponent. To make things worse, Austin's allies were all fighting their respective foes; He was in this alone.

Maroon kept dodging and blasting; If he got hit, it could be game over. Additionally, he avoided using his wrist-blades; If he did, he could make a mistake and hurt Meteora.

"You've improved, boy. You fear my power, as all lower beings should."

"Shut your mouth, lizard-lips."

Seth let out a guttural growl, and smacked Maroon with his mighty arm, knocking him down. "No escape this time, Earth scum..." Seth hissed, as he lurched over Maroon to deliver the killing blow.

All of a sudden, the entire area was shaken by a deep, ferocious, ear-splitting roar that caused everyone to freeze in pure, primal fear. Even the seemingly unflinching Seth's eyes went wide when he heard the familiar roar of a former foe. Everyone in the area, evil or benign, was completely silent, except for Meteora, who cheerfully squealed out "Ba-ba!"

As if on cue, a ginormous red arm with dark stripes broke through the temple, and grabbed Seth in its crushing grip. The intense pressure caused the Septarian warrior to drop Meteora; Luckily, Maroon acted fast and caught the bushy-tailed baby in his arms.

Now, Seth was in the grip of the feared Prince of Darkness; What's more, he did the ONE thing that sets Globgor off more than anything; Hurt his family.

"How DARE you try to steal my daughter!" Globgor bellowed in pure rage, as he lifted Seth up to eye level. "How are you still alive?"

"I could ask the same of you, traitor." Seth retorted. That response was the wrong choice, as Globgor tightened his grip, making Seth groan in pain. In retaliation, he started clawing and biting at Globgor's hand. The size-shifter let out a yell, winded up his arm, and threw the monster fanatic as far as he could; A loud, discordant crashing noise was heard as soon as he made contact with the ground.

Globgor then glared down at the Dreaded Beasts, with a furious look that just screamed "You're next." Knowing a fight with an enraged size-shifter was one they'd most likely lose, the monster extremists dispersed in all different directions.

Once the Beasts were gone, Globgor shifted back to his normal size, and took a deep breath. However, the fight wasn't over just yet. Upon seeing Moon and Eclipsa, Mina let out a shrill scream, and charged straight for the queens while wildly waving her arm-blade.

"DIE, YOU FILTHY TRAITORS!" Mina yelled.

"NO!" Star exclaimed, as she whipped out her wand and shot Mina with an explosive energy blast that sent her flying through a wall. The intense amount of pseudo-magical energy in the wand had a strange effect on the former princess; It caused her missing cheek marks to glow brightly.

Star turned towards the other Neo-Solarians, and glared at them with scathing vitriol; The Mewman mob quickly grabbed Mina, and retreated to escape the lost battle.

"I'll be back! Just you wait, Butterflies!" Mina strenuously hissed, as her flunkies carried her away from her foes.

Star took some deep breaths, and turned to face her surprised family. Everyone who was unaware of Star's new wand was shocked, Moon most of all.

"H-how is that possible?" was all that Moon could muster. Star looked at her family with a surprised expression, and her cheek marks quickly faded away...


In the aftermath of the siege, Maroon walked up to Eclipsa with Meteora in his arms, and handed the baby back to her mother.

"I believe this is yours." Eclipsa picked up her lost daughter, and hugged her as tight as she could. She already lost Meteora once; Losing her again would be hell for the former queen.

"I missed you so much, darling!" Eclipsa told her child. "Thank you so much for saving my daughter."

"No problem. I'm here to help, after all." Maroon replied, when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Aust- I mean Maroon!" Marco called out, as he, Janna and Tom approached him.

"Hey, everyone. Sorry I was late." Austin replied.

"Thanks for the help." Tom noted.

"I thought you were injured, how'd you heal so fast?" Janna wondered.

"It took me a while, but a little magic fixed me right up." Maroon answered. "Now, I need you guys to fill me in here." The vigilante spoke.

"What just happened?"


Later in the dark forests of Earth-Ni, Lucanus, Panthara and Viscosa were searching the area for their missing leader.

"It's been half an hour, and we haven't found Master Seth." Panthara acknowledged.

"You think Globgor killed him?" Viscosa queried.

"Killed him? The queen made him soft, he hasn't killed anyone since that pompous oaf Shastacan." Lucanus huffed. Without warning, Manavi swooped down into the forest, and perched on a tree branch.

"Where were you?" Panthara asked.

"I found this floating in the wind when I escaped." Manavi explained, as he held up a flyer and started to read it.

"Uh...mmmm...errrr..."

Despite the flyer being printed in English and High Mewnian, Manavi couldn't decipher it because he was illiterate. "I don't know."

"Give me that." Seth spoke, as he grabbed the flyer out of his underling's hand.

"Master!" The other Beasts spoke in unison, as they bowed to their leader.

"Oh, you aren't dead. Good!" Manavi added.

"Of course I am. The Prince of Darkness tried to slay me before, back when he was truly a monster to be feared." Seth retorted. He perused the flyer, which was for the upcoming unity festival, Echo-Palooza. The Septarian extremist became disgusted as he read the flyer's contents; A celebration meant to unite mewmans and monsters? To Seth, this was an abomination.

"Tomorrow night, this city plans to throw a petulant party in a feeble attempt to mix monsters with mewmans."

"Disgusting." Lucanus remarked.

"Disgraceful!" Viscosa added.

"We have our next target, my disciples." Seth spoke. "Today, we lost the battle, but tomorrow, we'll win the war..."


And THAT was the longest chapter of ANY story I've written to date. The last chapter of Book 1 would have been EVEN LONGER, but I recently decided to split it into two smaller ones. Now, the next chapter will mainly focus on answering some lingering questions, and gives backstory on Seth of Septarsis and the history of the Dreaded Beasts. It will also set the stage for the last chapter, where our heroes have their final showdown with their enemies at Echo-Palooza. Anyways, thanks for reading, don't be afraid to send a review, and stay tuned for the next chapter!