Important note.

There maybe not be an update next month or the month after that for not only this story but my other stories because I've got stuff to do (mostly playing video games and work stuff) and I don't know when it'll be done. Life, what can I say. But I'll be back for a charismas special, I hope.

Ch 6 Firefight of Will

After some time of riding Marco's dragon-cycle Nachos for what seemed to go on for forty-five minutes, Marco was starting to wonder how much longer they'd have to ride and decided to speak up.

"So, H-poo how much further to where we need to go?" Marco asked Hekapoo to only be answered with a hard slap in the back of the head.

"It's Hekapoo," She corrected. "Stop here, we'll have to walk the rest of the way there if we want to get the jump on him."

"Sounds like a plan," Marco agreed as he now looked for a place to pull over. "Pullover here, girl."

Doing as she was ordered, Nachos pulled over at a fallen tree stump and then powered down her engines as Marco and Hekapoo got off. With her riders now off of her, she felt her master Marco rub under her chin like he always did after a long ride. As Marco was rubbing her chin, he managed to find her sweet spot as she started to give out a deep, low-pitch purr.

"Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? Yes you are, yes you are."

As Hekapoo looked over to Marco acting like a total goofball speaking in a funny voice as he was petting Nachos like a child, she couldn't help but look at this with a warm smile as she herself felt a warmth in her heart.

"How come you never treat me that nicely, Marco?" Hekapoo teased.

Marco just looked at her and gave her a funny look and then looked back to Nachos who just tilted her head in confusion. Not really knowing what to say, he just did what he was asked and started to rub her under her cheek and chin. While rubbing her cheek and he couldn't help but notice how soft and smooth she was.

Hekapoo, on the other hand, didn't actually think Marco would rub her cheek and chin like he did with Nachos as it was just a light joke and they were on an important mission after all. The worst part of this was she was genuinely like it immensely. So much so she was practically lost in bliss. Lost in the feeling of paradise she was in, she failed to notice she was purring as well. Just a little, but that didn't go unnoticed by Marco.

She just couldn't believe that Marco's large and rough hands could be so gentle and caring in such a pleasurable way.

'How can this feel so good? Is it because he doesn't have claws like me,' she thought to herself trying to figure out Marco's secret.

"Uh, shouldn't we be beating up a warlord or something?"

"Ah, yes!" Hekapoo answered as she swatted his hand away. "Let's get moving."

"Yes ma'am."

"Also, just so you know I didn't really mean for you to rub my chin. What I said before was supposed to be a joke."

"Didn't stop you from enjoying it though," Marco teased.

If looks could kill Hekapoo would have had ended him right on the spot with the one-eyed death glare she was giving him.

"You know I'll get you back for that, right?"

"What, you going to scratch my chin?"

"You know what, why not?" Hekapoo agreed as she flashed Marco her razor-sharp claws at him. "Still want me to scratch your chin?"

"No thanks, ma'am."

"Good, now get moving meat bag. We need to stop that warlord from becoming some sort of self-proclaim god creator or something like that."

"Okay," Marco agreed as he followed just behind Hekapoo through the dying forest. "So is there anything I should know about this warlord before we start fighting him?"

"Yeah, his name is Kai and is a recently disgraced former knight of the Shade Lizards from the lizard dimension."

"Wait, didn't you say you needed help stopping a warlord, not a 'recently' disgraced former knight?"

"Marco, most warlords are all mostly disgraced former knights and it's pretty much a cliche right now, like nine out of ten times. And with the way he's going, he's just two or three burnt down villages and a recruitment drive from being a full-blown warlord."

"Okay then, anything else you can tell me?"

"Well, he kind of looks like Toffee but unlike him, he doesn't look a lawyer. He wears heavily plated armor, but don't think that would even slow him down in the slightest. I've already made that mistake once."

"You've already fought him?"

"Sort of. I just sent a bunch of my clones, like ten of them to deal with him. I heard through the grapevine that Kai was kicked out of the Shade Lizards for un-knightly behavior from taking bribes to doing various kinds of drugs. So as you could guess he took this as a grave insult. I also heard from his former brothers and sisters in arms say that Kai was a pretty bog-standard warrior of his kind if a little bit weaker than average. So nothing very special at all so I thought sending a few clones to deal with him while I do other more important things would solve the problem."

"Let me guess. The clones you sent were all defeated the moment they engaged him in battle and lost easily to him. So whatever he is doing here is making him stronger as the forest dies?"

"Pretty much. You see in the center of this forest there is a rock fountain that's steeped in magic that gave life to the very first trees here. He must have found a way to harness the power of the fountain to imbue him with its power. I'd take him on by myself, but with all the magical power he's absorbing I don't really know how powerful he has become, that and he can use magic now."

"What kind of magic are we talking about here?"

"Just the basic stuffy really since he has no formal training. He can do spells like fireball which doesn't have any effect on me, Levitato and a few others, but don't be fooled just because he can only do basic spells. Those spells are supercharged from the magic of the rock fountain so lookout," Hekapoo warned Marco as he nodded.

"Any weaknesses you know of or anything more I should know about in order to fight him?"

"His species does have a regeneration factor, but nothing like Toffee's. Don't expect him to be re-growing an arm or a tail. Don't get me wrong he can, but that takes time. He does have a weakness to fire as it stops him from healing himself mid-battle, hence the fire knife I gave you."

"Thanks by the way."

"No worries. Also, as I said before he's stronger and faster than he was before but his movements are very basic and predictable if you know what you're doing."

"So too much power, not enough control."

"Yep, but that's beside the point. You see the fountain is in the middle of a small lake and his species of lizards are just as at home in the water as they are on land, but don't worry about that. Because of all that heavy armor, he wears he can't swim in the water as he would just sink to the bottom."

"So what's the plan of attack here?"

"Well with me and you we could take him on head-on barring from the fact he hasn't gotten stronger since my clones faced him. We should be able to take him on just fine if we work together on it."

"And if he's gotten stronger, what then?"

"If that's the case, you and I along with some of my clones will distract him as one of my clones sneaks around him to the other side of the fountain. There should be a talisman or some magical do-da that siphoning the power in the fountain and either remove or destroy it. And with that, he will revert back to his normal power level and then we kick him while he's down, simple."

"Sounds good to me."

"Really? You don't look so sure to me."

"Oh, what? It's nothing really it's just I've got this feeling something's watching us."

"Well now that you say it, I can feel it too."

…

Back in the Butterfly castle where the ball now changed into a movie theater. With the help of magic, Star was able to increase the size of the eye as well as summon seats for every guest that wanted to watch Marco and Hekapoo's adventure, which everyone there was more than eager to do.

With everything set up, the ballroom looked more like a cinema than anything else with how things looked. The only thing out of place was that everyone that was here was overly dressed for the occasion with the now seated guest messily stuffing their faces with popcorn as they slurped down their drinks.

So far everyone was under the agreement that watching an older Marco flexing his muscles as he and Hekapoo stopped some bad guy from doing some evil shenanigans was more fun than dancing. Everything was going just fine as everyone was all enjoying the live-action thriller that had some nice witty banter here and there so far but there was this feeling Star was having that she couldn't quit pin point.

"Sounds good to me."

"Really? You don't look so sure to me."

"Oh, what? It's nothing really it's just I've got this feeling something's watching us."

"Well now that you say it. I can feel it too."

Was it the fact she was spying on her friend? No, this is just her making sure her best friend was alright and if he needed her help she could just borrow her mom's scissors, jump right in and lend a helping hand to Marco and Hekapoo if they needed it. Was it the fact that Marco went on an adventure without her? No, that wasn't it either. Marco was entitled to his own adventures when he wants them, he deserves them. But it did hurt a little bit but not that much. The way was she having this feeling knew that something was off.

…

"It could just be nothing. One tends to start feeling like your being watched in a creepy forest like this sometimes."

"I guess your right about that," Marco somewhat agreed with her explanation.

"Of course I am Marco. I'm never wrong," Hekapoo boasted.

Marco just painfully rolled his eyes at her because he knew her better than that. But didn't say anything, as he wanted to stay on her good side as the back of his head, couldn't take another slap.

As they were making their way through the thick dried foliage on their way to the fountain, but it didn't take long for Hekapoo to stop in her tracks and turning around to face Marco with a serious look on her face. This look on her face told Marco that right now it was about to get real.

"All right Marco listen up. The fountain it right over those trees," Hekapoo pointed behind her towards the trees as she made a single clone that immediately ran straight away to the side. "Like we discussed before we distract the guy while my clone sneaks in behind. We'll wait here for a few minutes for my clone to get into position then we move in."

"Alright, so what should we do in the meantime?"

"I don't know," Hekapoo shrugged at Marco's question. "What are you doing after this?"

"What?"

"I said, what are you going to do after we beat up this overgrown lizard?"

"I don't know, go back to the party and hope there's something to eat then maybe go to sleep. That is if Star hasn't gotten into some trouble that I need to help her with or something along those lines like I always do nowadays."

…

"Phhfft whaaaat, that is not true. What is he on about, am I right?" Star nudged Pony Head hopping to get the answer she wanted to hear from her.

"Girl, I love you, I really do. So because I love you so much I'm going to lay it on you straight and just say it as it is. What Marco just said is like seventy-five percent of his job Star, ten percent is stuff I need help with and the remaining fifteen percent is other."

"Other? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't know, girl. I don't keep track of him twenty-four seven because that's way too much work for me to do and I'm not a creepy stalker that keeps tabs on him."

"Yeah, that makes sense. But seriously Pony Head seventy-five?!"

"Ah… Star, who do you think put the most effort into getting this ball now turned cinema thingy going?"

Thinking back Marco did seemingly do more than anyone that helped her with this. "Marco." Star hesitated at first in saying it but found no way to work around it.

"That's right girl, that's right. Now shush I want to see what happens next. "

Not wanting to make eye contact with the eye and see what Marco was doing, Star looked around the room to see how everyone was doing with the change of scenery. Looking around she saw everyone was all engrossed into the eyes of Marco and his abs.

There was Higgs, who for some reason or another was looking away from the eye with one of her hands shielding her view of the eye and from what she could make out was her muting something to herself.

"All right Higgs, you can do this," Higgs whispered to herself in order to get herself hyped up. "He's just the same nerd that you've always seen. Sure, he's gotten big and strong as well as. No, stop that Higgs! Marco is just the same wannabe knight, he has always been and that will never change! No matter what!"

With Higgs righteous declaration she removed her hand away from her face. Looked deep within the eye only to be met with the sight of Marco as the wind was blowing through his hair as he had a sexy look of smoldering intensity on his face for the upcoming battle.

"Goddammit," Higgs cursed as she then looked away and covered face again.

"Are you alright Higgs?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Sir Stabby. I just don't want to see the nerd get disemboweled or something," Higgs lied to the knight.

Looking away from whatever Higgs was going through, Star began looking around again hoping to find something that will take her mind off Marco. It didn't take long for Star to find Kelly and Jorby taking to each other. What was most interesting about this was that Kelly had a worried and distraught look on her face.

"What did she mean by that, what are you going to do after? She can't mean, she wouldn't, could she…? Jorby, what do you think she meant by that?"

"Oh yeah, she is definitely making a move on Marco. I mean come on, she took him away from this stuffy ball on to an epic quest to slay the corrupted knight from killing off a magical forest in some distant dimension. And you just know that she is just going to be making her move after the fighting is done, because if that was me I would've already proposed my unyielding and undying love for her."

"Is it too late for me?"

"It's never too late Kelly. You just need to woman up and take what you want!... By force! If you know what I mean," Jorby then gave Kelly a dirty looking wink.

"No Jorby, I'm not going to do that, "she retorted." 'Or am I,' she thought quietly in the back of her subconscious.

As Star was looking on she started to get bored as she was unable to hear what Kelly and Jorby were saying to each other. But from there facial expressions she could tell it was important or something. Again she looked around the room to find something interesting and as she did her eyes fell on Tom.

Tom saw that she was looking at him and hoped that she had forgiven him about the whole not telling her he noticed Marco wasn't here and chose not to say anything. He then smiled and waved at Star only to receive a frown and a shake of the head telling him she still hadn't forgiven him yet.

Looking away Star couldn't find anything of interest. Everyone from the Monsters and Mewmens were still and their eyes glued to the eye. The only thing that could have been considered remotely interesting was when she noticed the Ram Princess was starting to wake up.

"ZZZZZZZzzzzzz wh-what, where am I," she asked as she let out a yawn.

"Hey there sleepy head, had a nice dream?"

"Oh yes, it was the best sleep I've ever had," Ram princess answered as she looked around her surrounding area to see that she was still in the ballroom, but it was radically different than before. "So~ what did I miss?"

"Nothing much, all though things are starting to get interesting as Marco and Hekapoo are about to fight lizard from another dimension," Arm Princess said pointing at the eye that was showing said Marco and Hekapoo.

Ram Princess looked over at the eye and solely focused on Marco and then her mind started to go back to the dirty dream she was just having before she woke up and started to hyperventilate again.

"Wow calm down, girl. You don't want a repeat of last time and miss out on the hot action, do you?"

"Don't worry… I… can handle this… just fine… BAAAA," Ram princess struggled to hold on, but in the end it was futile as she passed out again in her seat.

"Guess you couldn't hold out again."

"Haaa~ nope," Ram princess shoot up awake surprising Arm Princess and the other princesses that were close by and even Star who saw the whole thing. "I'm still here, I just blacked out for a second."

With her momentary shock of surprise now faded, Arm princess saw that Ram Princess had a bloody nose and pulled out her handkerchief and handed it to her friend.

"You're bleeding again, here take this."

"Oh, thank you."

"Don't mention it, but just keep your fantasies on the G to PC side for now. Don't want you to miss out on the action."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"Girl~ I know you! Remember when we went to see the Princess Turdina movie? You fainted like five times and I was stuck helping you stay awake."

"It was only three times and you know that! Also, what did you expect? There was Turdina's swimsuit which looked so sexy on him, there was that dress he wore when he needed to infiltrate the evil king's lair, and the last one where he made-out the prince of the snow elves which I will remind you I wasn't alone in fainting on that one."

"Okay, I will admit that part of the movie was so yaoi that I got a bloody nose from seeing that. Along with getting a lady boner as well," Arm Princess admitted to her friend.

"Don't be embarrassed about that Patty, you weren't the only one that got aroused by that kissing scene. I did and every other princess in the cinema that came with us were going through the same thing as you were."

"Ram, honey, I wasn't embarrassed I was reminiscing about it."

"Oh!~"

"Hey, here's a thought. After this do you want to go and re-watch Princess Turdina movie?"

"That sounds like a good plan to me."

Star smiled a little seeing two friends smiling at each other. Even if she couldn't really hear all that they were saying. She kind of felt left out for some strange reason?

'Is this what I've been feeling?' Star questioned to herself and thought about it for a bit. 'I guess I feel a bit left out. I mean Marco could have told me about this and I would have helped him and Hekapoo with this easily. Or is this the reason Marco didn't tell me?' thinking about this she came to a logical conclusion.

'He knew I would have come with him and Hekapoo on this quest no matter the circumstances, but he knew that I needed to be here and keep order over the party. Oh, Marco, he's always thinking three steps ahead of me like always.'

"Hey yo! Star, something is happening."

…

"So what I'm hearing is that you're free after this, correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. You see I have this reservation at a restaurant for two, but the friend I was going with canceled on me and I don't think I can re-schedule it. That restaurant has a long waiting list, even for someone like me."

Marco thought about it as he rubbed his chin. "Sure, why not," He answered with a smile.

Hekapoo smiled gleefully at Marco's answer almost as if she had already predicted this outcome. Marco, on the other hand, did notice her gleeful smile, but thought nothing of it as it was a pretty common sight for him after all the years he's known her.

After waiting for a few more minutes waiting in hiding Hekapoo nudged Marco in the side to get his attention.

"My clone is in position and is waiting for us to make our move, let's get going."

"Right behind you."

When they both came out of hiding Hekapoo took out her scissor daggers and created a few clones for back up while Marco pulled out his dagger staying behind Hekapoo's clones to watch the rear in case something came behind them. They continued towards the lake unimpeded until they reached the waterside of the lake. Marco looked over Hekapoo and her clones and saw a small island in the middle of the lake that was glowing in sickly, green energy as well as giving of a strange sense of foreboding danger.

"So~ I'm assuming that the guy we came for is hiding in the water of the lake and is waiting for us to enter it so he can ambush us?"

"Yep."

"Any ideas on how to avoid that from happening to us?"

"Yep," Hekapoo repeated again but this time she and her clones raised their hands into the air as fireballs manifested in them and all of them repeatedly throw their giant balls of fire into the lake causing it to boil and bubble as the temperature in the lake started to get hotter and hotter with each fireball that went into it.

"Hot plan."

"That was a lame pun Marco." Hekapoo said but Marco could see she was holding back a smile when he said it.

It didn't take long before the entirety of the lake was passed beyond the boiling point as huge columns of steam and smoke rocketed into the air. The lake water itself wasn't fairing any better than one would hope with the water all boiling with bubbles and steam evaporating a good layer of the lake away. Marco was beginning to think that Hekapoo didn't need him at all, because if the guy they came to fight was in the lake he was as good as dead right now, like a lobster in boiling water.

In total, Hekapoo and her clones pelted the lake with fireballs for a solid one and a half minutes until they stopped to catch their breath and check their handy work in full view.

"Do you think you got him with that?"

"It's never that easy, trust me on this."

And then as if on cue, the boiling lake that was once boiling over stopped. The bubbles and steam that had once covered the lake were now gone and in its place a sheet of cold ice replaced it. A few seconds later, both Marco and Hekapoo could both hear and see the sound of the ice that was right in front of them start to crack under some sort of pressure that they could not see. Not taking any chances they both along with the clones got into their battle stance ready for a fight.

With a loud crack and boom, the ice that covered the nearest section of ice they were near shattered into shards and chunks of ice. As water gushed out from underneath, something very large torpedoed out of the water and ascended high into the air. Marco caught a quick glimpse of what it was that shoot up into the sky. It was brown and had yellow streak lines running down its body, very large in size.

With a loud thud, the lizard man landed right in front of them with the earth cracking beneath his clawed feet. Being so close now, Marco could notice more details on Kai. He was roughly eight and a half feet tall, full of muscle, wore no armor like Hekapoo said he would. After all, who needs armor if your pecks alone could shred steel plated armor. The only article of clothing on him was a pair of waterproof pants that looked to be a few sizes too large if you could believe he could find pants his size. So he must be factoring in size growth with all the magic power he has been absorbing, smart guy.

There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air with neither side doing anything to invoke the fight first. That was the case until the giant lizard Kai decided to speak up and say something.

"Look, I know that I'm cold-blooded and all but what you did there," He pointed out at Hekapoo and her clones, "Was way too hot, even for me hehe. I mean if I didn't use my new found magical powers I'd be totally steamed in there." Again laughing at his own joke.

"Oh great!" Hekapoo groaned out in a mixture of frustration. "He's one of those guys!"