Chapter 3: Suspicions
In an unknown location…
It had been 2 years since Des had last seen the boy. Every since the last incident that had happened since he had gotten away, he had been searching everywhere for even a sign of him but his parents taught him well. He was concerned that the boy would be getting stronger by the minute and would be nearing the point in which he wouldn't be strong enough to defeat him anymore but the time might have passed. That didn't matter though, he was going to find the kind and put an end to this.
Des was leaning on his chair, feet up on his desk. Today was a lot more uneventful than usual. He knew that searching for the boy non stop was a very bad living style not to consider that he had to pay his goons so he was a general villain that did the ordinary robberies and the occasional village raids. On his desk laid plenty of pieces of paper that showed the occasional spotting of the red hooded man which he believed to be the boy but no one knew who he was since he always got away before anyone could find out. There have been the occasional people who have tried to take off his hoodie but never did it successfully.
He was brought out of thought when the door slammed open with a monster running through. Des, being surprised by the sudden appearance, fell from his chair onto the ground. "A little warning would have been nice," he groaned as he got back up, wiping all of the dust off him. "I just thought of the best plan boss! We should attack a base and then the boy will come and try to save the village and then we'll ambush him!" He shouted, hoping to be appraised by the boss. The monster had small eyes and a big head, covered in a lot of hair and had fairly sharp claws but nothing compared to the claws of Des. "That would be a good idea but we have no idea if that evan is the boy. First we need to find out who he is and then if it truly is him, we can then do that plan. For the meantime, our spies are doing a horrible job, you included, at finding out who he is." Des glared at the monster which made beads of sweat drip down his face. "I think it's time that I get myself a better spy. For the meantime, you can excuse yourself. You have 3 days to prove yourself before I hire a fellow friend of mine." he continued, keeping a neutral face.
The monster saluted and dashed out of the room, desperate to at least find any clue so he could keep his job. Des sighed as he sat back and shuffled through his papers to find the paper he was looking for. He had a list of all his contacts on a piece of paper and made his way down the list until he came across the name he was looking for. "Let's see if you can do a better job than these buffoons," he thought aloud to himself as he grabbed out his contact mirror to make a call.
Butterfly castle, 6 A.M…
It was early in the morning, just hours before the sun would rise when a certain boy had woken up. Marco had always woken up early in the morning since he was used to having little sleep. He slowly opened his eyes to see his room pitch black. He got out of bed and stumbled to look for the curtains so he could open up his window to get some fresh air and turned on the lights for his room. He looked up at the clock in his room to see that the time was 6:12 A.M. He was pretty sure that no one would be awake at this time so he decided to explore some of the castle areas.
He got dressed into his typical white shirt and grey jeans. He still was yet to make a new signature red hoodie but that didn't bother him too much. He exited the room to see that some of the lights had already been turned on and that he would occasionally see some of the castle staff walking around the building, preparing for the day. He had no idea what he would be looking for but he decided that maybe there would be a library in the castle so he went to search for it. While he went on his way, he was greeted by some of the staff but thought nothing of it while also checking out what all the other rooms were for. He went past many of the staff's offices for different purposes and noticed how specific some of them would get. There was an office for the chocolate exporter, the dog food taster, the royal crazy man and many other weird ones. He came across many dead ends but after a little more walking, he finally had made it to the library.
He opened the door for it to reveal a huge room that was filled with thousands of different books with a librarian sitting in a corner at a desk reading a fantasy novel. He made his way inside and wasn't exactly sure what he was going to be reading but thought that he could improve on his magical skills so looked for any books to do with magic. He walked through the isles until he found a book called 'magic for dummies'. He noticed that the book next to it was 'magic for the incompetant' and 'magic for decent spell casters' but ended up picking the book called 'advanced magical spells and theory'. He would say that he was an expert at magic but still had a lot to learn to get to the level that gregory was at. He grabbed the book out off the shelf only to realise that the book was incredibly heavy. He eventually managed to drag the book to a table and place it on top, panting heavily.
He finally opened the book to be scared by a blue man that rose out of the book. He had a long head with a white beard that split into two and a yellow robe. He also noticed that he had a pink gem lodged into the top of his head and that he had six fingers. "Greetings magical your highn- wait, who are you?" The mysterious man questioned as he stared at Marco with an intense glare. This made Marco uncomfortable. "Um, my name is Marco. Who are you?"
"Why I am glossaryck… of terms. I don't know how you got a hold of this book but you have 3 seconds to explain or I'll turn you into a bowl of pudding," he stated. "Woah woah. I-i found this book in the l-library and was going to practice on some m-magic." He stuttered, hoping not to get blasted by him. He started stroking his beard, thinking if he should let a kid in the book. This wasn't the royal book of magic but it was another book that he would be often borrowed by some of the royals. "Fine, I will let you read this book IF! You get my pudding," he replied. "Pudding?" Marco thought aloud. "Yes pudding. I'll be waiting," he responded, slamming the book closed. Marco already knew that this person would be a pain to deal with but he decided that it would be something for him to do in the meantime so he started walking to the royal kitchen to see if there would be any pudding that he could give.
He finally made it to the kitchen to see that there were a couple chefs cooking in the kitchen and stopped to look at who was at the door. "Oh, you must be the guy who made those leftover triangle food in the morning." One of the chefs began. Marco had made two bowls of nachos yesterday for the chefs so they could add them to the list of foods that they would serve for the royal family. "Oh yea, I'm guessing that you enjoyed them. Anyways do you by any chance have some pudding I could have?" Marco responded and got a raised eyebrow from the chef. This made him feel very awkward. "I'll check..." the second chef replied as they went into the back which left him and the other chef and Marco waiting in silence until the chef decided to break the silence. "So… what exactly were those triangles that you made yesterday?"
"Those were something that my parents used to make. They're called nachos and are just corn chips with cheese on top but you can also add a lot more to them." Marco mentioned as the chef wrote that down. There was another silence until the second chef made it back in with a small bowl of pudding. "I could find this bowl of pudding if that's what you need." He stated as he handed the bowl to Marco. "Yes that'll do. Thank you," he commented as he made his way out of the kitchen. That had to be one of the most awkward things that he had ever done but decided to shrug it off.
He finally made it back to the library to see that the book was still in the same space. He finally made it back to the book and decided to knock on the top of the book, since the man technically lived in the book. "Ouch! No need to hit me, you could have just said something," the man barked as he got out of the book. "Sorry about that," Marco sheepishly responded. He held out the pudding in front of him. "I got you the pudding that you wanted," he continued and Glossaryck's eyes turned into small pudding symbols. "PERFECT!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the pudding and stuffed it down his throat. He let out a small burp before continuing. "Alright so where's your wand?" he asked as he rubbed his stomach. "Err. I don't have one," he stated which got an annoyed look from Glossaryck. "Well then you've got the wrong book. Let me get you something more your level," he casually replied as a book flew into his right arm. The book was labeled 'magic for the mentally diabled' with a picture of a baby on it. They made Marco even more annoyed. "Whatever," he muttered as he took the book and began to read it. The book was very boring since he knew pretty much everything that was in the book but decided to continue reading it. There were some basic spells that he had never learnt in the book which he thought would be a little useful but nothing of much importance. Glossaryck had left ages ago along with the book that was back on the shelf. After he had finished reading the book. He decided to put it back and read a story to pass more of the time.
As he looked through some of the stories, his eyes locked onto one book in specific. He walked up to the red book and read the name of the book. 'The red hooded man' was all it said on the front of it which surprised him. This book must be about me, he thought to himself as he picked up the book to see an image taken of him leaving a village. This got him very interested and decided that he wanted to see what people had thought about him. It was nice to know that they didn't have any images of his identity or anything which made him relieved. He started to read the book which mostly consisted of some of the encounters of him, some rumours and also some other stories of his heroic activities that he had done.
Star's room, 8:00 A.M…
Star was still in bed as the sun rose up through her window, painfully blaring into her eyes. She groaned as she rolled to her side, falling off the bed. "Ouch!" she mumbled as she opened her eyes to see that she was lying on the ground. It took her awhile to wake up but as she did she noticed that there was a little blue man sitting on a book on her desk. "Good morning Star. It's time to practice some magic," he said, clasping his hands together. "We've got a big day ahead of us. There's a lot of lecturing to be had."
Star really wasn't in the mood to be practicing magic today, especially when he promised Marco to have fun today. "Not today, I promised Marco I would have fun with him today," she blurted as she got up from the ground. "Marco? He'll be fine. I saw him in the library today." He observed as he got closer to her. "Besides, it's been a while since you've practiced magic," Glossaryck continued. "Alright i've got an offer. I'll practice magic after I go on an adventure with Marco and I'll add two bowls of pudding in," Star bargained as Glossaryck considered it. "It's an enticing offer… make it three bowls and we'll have a deal," he countered, holding his hand out for Star to shake it. "Fine," she agreed as they shook hands. "Alright but don't take all day. You have to be back after dinner or else it's a double study lesson." he added. Glossaryck then left the room for Star to get changed. She put on her casual clothes since she didn't have anything else on that day and went to the library since that's where Glossaryck said that he was before.
Back with Marco…
Marco had been reading the book for an hour. He found it really interesting what people thought about him since lot's of people have been skeptical about him. He also learnt about the rumours on how there were some monsters who have been trying to hunt him down and that immediately brought back the memories of Des. He had been really scared back then and now that he thought about it, he had disobeyed what his caretakers had told him to do. He was meant to stay low and how he was friends with the princess of Mewni. It's weird how the world works.
"What ya reading there," Star said which surprised Marco, making him drop his book. "Ooh the red hooded man," she continued as she picked up the book. "Yeah. It's quite interesting," Marco replied, trying to not act suspicious. "I remember my parents telling me this story about him and how he saved countless kingdoms from being destroyed. Nobody knows who he is though which is a bummer because I would wanna see him kick butt," Star commented, doing some kicks and chops to the air. Well your looking at him Marco really wanted to say but he knew that he couldn't since it would put her at risk. "Anyways, what brings you to the library?" Marco asked. "I could say the same thing to you," Star countered. "Anyways, I just came here to get you so we can go dimension hopping! It's going to be so fun!" Star exclaimed getting a smile from Marco. She's really energetic today he thought as he was dragged out of the library by Star. He honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to go out adventuring right now but he did want to get to know Star better. "Calm down. We should probably eat breakfast first," Marco suggested as Star started slowing down. "Don't worry! We can eat somewhere else. I know a lot of good dimensions with such good food." She replied and continued to go fast again.
It took Marco a while to notice but they were going to Star's room. They had finally arrived at her room and then she ran up to the wall mirror. "Call Pony Head," Star stated, with the text on the mirror saying 'calling Pony Head' Pony Head? Don't tell me she's literally a pony head. His thoughts had been answered as he looked at the mirror to see a literal flying Pony Head. You've got to be kidding me he thought to himself.
"Heeey B-Fly… It's like 7:30 right now..." Pony Head groggily started. Her face looked like an absolute mess. Marco could tell that she added at least a tonne of makeup every day and her hair was all over her face. She spat some of the hair that got stuck in her mouth. "Sorry for waking you up so early," Star cringed as she saw the state of Pony Head. "I was just wondering if I could borrow your scissors today. I'm going on an adventure with Marco," she continued, pointing to Marco who gave a small wave. "Boy? Oh B-Fly you are making moves out here! You gotta take him out for dinner!" She replied while Star's face turned as red as a tomato. "Anyways I can't gurl. My daddy took them from me so I don't run away," she wailed. "Oh man not again! Okay, looks like I'm going to have to find someone that has scissors." Star groaned. Marco searched inside of his bed to get something and finally found it, revealing his personal dimensional scissors. "Uh, Star," Marco said but didn't get Star's attention. "Maybe I could get Manfred's scissors… Na he probably would tell mom."
"Star..."
"Not now Marco. Tom is definitely not an option. Oh! Maybe Kelly co-"
"STAR!" Marco shouted which finally got her attention. She turned around to see that Marco was holding a pair of purple dimensional scissors. "WHAT! Where did you get those!" Star exclaimed which got a smug smile. "Oh, I earned these from Hekapoo," He boasted, getting a surprised stare from Star and Pony Head. "Oh snap! I just found mine at a party and may or may have not stolen them hehe," Pony Head intervened getting a death stare from Star. "Perfect! That saves a lot of trouble. Anyways see ya later Pony Head!"
"Wait what about m-" Pony Head shouted but got cut off when Star had ended the call. Note to self. Ask Hekapoo how Marco got those scissors she thought as she snatched them out of Marco's hands. "Alright let's dip!" She exclaimed as she opened a portal and ran through it, dragging Marco behind him.
Once Marco had been pulled through, he looked around to see his surroundings in awe. All around him there were thousands of people enjoying themselves while looking at all of the rides and attractions. He had never seen anything like this but he was intrigued to learn more of the place. "Woah. What is this place?" Marco wondered. Star looked to her side to see that Marco's eyes were wide open, looking all around the place. "This, Marco, is an amusement park," Star replied as she continued to pull Marco. "You're going to love this place. It had so many fun things to do! I know what we should do first!" Star beamed as they arrived at a bunch of stalls full of games. The one that they had gone to was one called corn toss. "Alright, this ones a classic. All you have to do is throw the corn at the pins and knock them all down but I'm pretty sure it's rigged," Star started as she tossed a couple coins at the merchant who gave them 3 corn each.
There were 3 different sets of pins in front and the objective was to knock all 3 down to win one of the giant stuffed toys. Star was going to go first and she prepared to chuck the corn as hard as she could. She breathed in an out and finally threw the corn which knocked the pins down. She pumped her fists in the air. "Yes! Two to go." This time she was over confident and decided to throw it straight away and absolutely failed the throw, hitting the merchant in the face. "Oops hehe," she said sheepishly while rubbing the back of her neck. Marco was holding back his laughter behind her. "You saw nothing," she joked which made him burst. Star joining along. She had her final corn to throw and decided to focus again. She did some practice throws and on the final one, she threw it very fast on a direct collision cause with the pins. It looked like it was going to be a guaranteed knock but the pins didn't move at all. "SEE! I knew this game was rigged!" Star complained. "Don't worry. I've got this," Marco said confidently. The man set up the pins again and Marco prepared to throw them. He breathed in and out and threw the corn effortlessly at the pins, making them go flying everywhere. "Pft. Lucky hit," Star mumbled loud enough for Marco to hear. He let out a slight chuckle as he prepared for the second one. "Watch this," he said as he turned around and was facing backwards from the pins. He put the corn in front of him and yanked his hand backwards into the pins which directly hit the pins, making them fall off again, put not as hard as the last one. "Still lucky?" Marco bragged as he prepared for the last one. He knew that the game was probably rigged so he had to throw it hard enough to break the pins. "Yeah good luck beating the rigged one," Star confidently said. Marco took a deep breath in and out and prepared his muscles. After a few seconds of silence, Marco did a spin to build momentum and threw the corn with all of his force and it flew at astonishing speeds at the pin. The corn hit the pins and there was an audible cracking sound as the pins fell down. On the bottom of the pins there could be seen nails that held down the pins to confirm that it was rigged. Star's jaw dropped at seeing the accuracy and speed of the throw with the merchant sweating profusely. "Marco… That. Was. AMAZING!" Star screamed while shaking Marco. The merchant sweeped the pins to the side but not before Star got a look at them. "I knew it! There were nails on the bottom of those pins!" Star exclaimed as she ran to the back of the stand to inspect the pins. As she turned to confront the merchant, he was long gone so Star decided to take advantage and take 3 giant teddy bears from the back. "I think we deserved these," Star giggled with a toothy smile with Marco reciprocating the smile.
They had then gone on some of the thrill rides at the theme park including some of the incredibly unsafe roller coasters which Star enjoyed with her hands in the air while Marco was incredibly stiff, holding onto the bars of the rides. They had gotten off the ride and saw the photo which Star laughed at and bought to make fun of him, which made him feel embarrassed. After going on a couple more rides and Marco beginning to enjoy the rides more, they decided to take a brunch break and went to the area with all of the food trucks. There was a wide variety of foods from goblin dogs to quesadillas and some weirder ones like troll toes. The thought of eating those made Marco shiver. Star had ended up getting some cotton candy and some popcorn that was doused in sugar while Marco had decided to eat a burrito and a salad. "Eww, salady, really? Going to a carnivale is the best excuse to eat junk food! Well, besides the family gathering, there's only ever corn there," Star mentioned. "I didn't know it was a criminal offense to eat healthy," Marco retorted with Star pouting. "Your no fun!" Star joked as she stuffed down some cotton candy.
They ate their food, talking about each other to get to know each other more. They had decided that it was starting to get a little late since they had been at the carnival for pretty much the entire day and was nearing dinner time. They decided to play one more carnivale game and this one was one of Star's favourites. "This one's called 'the ultra epic strength tester'," Star teased while making jazz hands at the machine. There was a foam hammer and a platform which he knew was what you had to hit the hammer with and then there was a bunch of numbers that went up with different texts to show how strong you are. There was an incredibly buff man who was at the machine with the hammer and slammed it down and got the text 'strong warrior' which was the third highest. It shocked Marco that he couldn't even hit the highest one judging by how bulk he was. Star had gotten to the machine and had handed the merchant a couple of silver coins. She grabbed the hammer and prepared to slam the hammer. Once she had finally prepared and slammed the hammer. A loud 'whack!' sound could be heard as the light got higher until it reached the top saying 'mighty champion!' Star turned around with a smug face as she walked up to a surprised Marco. "Top that," she challenged as Marco made his way to the machine. He had to admit that Star looked much stronger than she seemed but assumed that it was to do with his father as he looked very strong. Once he picked the hammer, he realised how light it was and prepared to slam it down. He made a few practice guide shots and then channeled all of his strength to prepare his shot. He then lifted the hammer above his head and with all his strength slammed the hammer down which was strong enough to break the platform that you needed to hit, smashing it into splinters and the light bursting through the top of the machine. The whole thing collapsed and yet again, Star's jaw dropped to the ground while the man had the same facial expression. Marco dusted his hands and walked up to Star. "I think I won," Marco smugly replied as he walked past Star who after a few seconds followed. "WHAT WAS THAT!" Star squealed which hurt Marco's eardrums. "Nobody has ever managed to break the machine, not even my dad and then you did it with ease!" She continued, somehow managing to get a higher pitch each time. "I guess I have strong hands," Marco reasoned. Star found it suspicious because his dad was the strongest person that she knew. "We gotta talk about this later mister," Star chuckled but Marco could tell that she was still very confused. Maybe next time I should tone it down a little. I might give away my cover, he thought to himself as he reached out for his scissors and cut a portal pack into his room.
"Today has been a really fun Star, thanks." Marco said sincerely which Star flustered. "Oh it was nothing. Anything for my bestie!" She retorted with a smile on her face. "Anyways I'm going to take a shower before dinner so I'll see you there," he mentioned as he started to take his shirt off with Star still in the room. Star was blushing and was the same redness as Marco's hooded as she saw Marco's abs. She quickly made it to the door of his room. "Okillmeetyouatdinnerokbyebye," she blurted out as she dashed out of his room.
Star had started to go back to her room which was a fair distance away when on her way there, she stumbled across Hekapoo who was walking down one of the hauls. She remembered that she was going to ask her about how Marco had gotten those dimensional scissors so she decided to rush up to Hekapoo. After a little jogging since she realised that Hekapoo was an incredibly fast walker. She finally made it to her. "Hey Hekapoo," she panted as Hekapoo turned around to see a tired Star following her. "Hey Star, you look like you could need some coffee," she observed, making a small flame in her hand which revealed a cup of coffee that was boiling hot. "Thanks," she spoke as she sipped on the coffee. "Do you know Marco Diaz?" Star questioned as a grin arose on Hekapoo's face. "Ah, Marco Diaz. Yeah I know him. He is something special," she answered, which confused Star. "What do you mean 'some special'?" Star asked, interested in what she had to say.
"Marco was a kid who did my quest to get dimensional scissors when he was 13 and managed to do it in one of the fastest times. He did it in 6 months!" She beamed. Yet again, Star was left awestruck by Marco's talent. She was starting to think that there was something that Marco wasn't telling him.
"Wait, 6 monthes is one of the shortest? How long does it usually take to get them?" Star inquired. Hekapoo nonchalantly raised her hand. "You know about 10 years."
"10 YEARS!" Star exclaimed which got a smug look from Hekapoo.
"It's not easy to outsmart a demi-god but Marco made it seem easy," she casually replied. "Why do you ask?" She continued. Just as she was about to reply. She could hear some footsteps nearing from behind.
"Hey Hekapoo," Marco greeted which got Hekapoo's attention. She grinned.
"That answers my question. How's it going Marco?" Hekapoo began as Marco finally made it to them.
"I've been good. How are the quests holding up?" Marco responded which got a frown from her.
"It's been boring lately. There've been more cowards than usual. Anyways, I've got business to do so I'll catch you later. Been a while since we've teamed up so don't leave me waiting," She added as she started to walk away.
As she walked away, Star turned to a happy Marco waving goodbye. "Ok. Now we've got more to talk about after dinner." She chimed in as they began to walk to the dining hall. Once they had finally arrived at the dining hall and opened the door, they could see that Moon had an angry look on her face which could pierce through the skull of anyone who was in its path. This made Star gulp as she walked to her seat. There were no sounds except for the two pairs of footsteps that made their way to their chairs. Once they had finally sat down on their chair, Star was sweating nervously as the silence continued until Moon finally spoke up.
"Star, I believe that you have forgotten something very important today," she stated reagaly.
"Umm, if it's the magic training, I promised Glossaryck i'd do it after dinner," she answered but the glare didn't fade.
"Star, first off, you know you shouldn't procrastinate. It's a bad habit for a princess," Moon remarked.
"Mom… I'll learn to stop procrastinating later," she moaned which earned a small laugh from Marco. Moon's glare just became stronger as she shrunk back into her seat.
"Second, you had lots of paperwork or paperwork that you have to do, not to mention the meeting we have tomorrow," Moon added.
"Oh come on. It's not like I ever say anything at those meetings. You just make me sit in the corner for an hour," she countered.
"You need to watch these meetings so you can learn about politics and how to handle these situations," her glare had turned into a caring smile. "I know how it feels to take responsibility at a young age but I want you to be prepared for if anything ever happens," Moon confessed. Moon has always shown an authority figure but deep inside, she is still a mother and cares for Star. This made Star calm down.
"Anyways, let's enjoy this dinner but tomorrow your not going on any adventures," she continued, getting a groan from Star. Marco and River had been quiet during the whole ordeal but Marco decided to chime in. "Don't worry Star. I may or may not know a little bit about politics that could help you," Marco whispered to Star which made her smile. "Thanks Marco," she replied with a warm smile which he reciprocated.
Star and Marco had only known each other for 2 days but any other person would think that they had been friends for years. Marco had always been a caring person and was taught from a young age to always care and help others while Star had always been an extrovert and with those characteristics, they had formed a strong friendship with each other like no other, spending almost all their time together in the past 2 days.
The rest of the dinner had been rather peaceful, taking now as if they were a family… and Marco. They told him about some of Star's childhood memories which made her extremely embarrassed and Marco also told them a little about himself. They soon ended up on the topic of what he had done today.
"You should have seen Marco at the carnivale game today. He managed to knock all the pins on corn toss even though it's rigged!" Star exclaimed, getting an impressive look from the River.
"Impressive m'boy. Not even I could knock them all down but You wouldn't be able to beat my score on the power strength game. I left a dent in the machine with a foam hammer!" he chuckled which got a smug look from Star. "Actually, Marco managed to break the entire machine!" She exclaimed, making an explosion sound with the hand motions. This left River surprised.
"Really? That's incredible! And at such a young age, I'm going to have to take you hunting some day." River shouted. Moon was observing the situation. He knew his husband had always been a good sport but he found it hard to believe that the boy would be stronger than him. Sure he had a well toned body but he was still 14 years old. He knew that she would have to talk to him about that eventually but for not let it slide.
They had finally finished eating some time later and they had parted ways. Star and Marco had started to make their way to the kitchen so Marco could make some of his famous nachos but when he had opened the door, he noticed that there was a fresh batch of nachos on the countertop. There was a note on the side that read.
Greetings Marco or possibly Star,
Today the royal chefs had attempted to make your nachos that you have made and made you an extra batch since we knew that you would most likely want some for tonight.
Hopefully you will enjoy the meal but if you are free in the morning, we would appreciate your feedback on our attempt at making your nachos,
King Regards,
The Royal Chefs.
P.S There is this new tv show that's being aired tonight on channel 10 at 9 PM, trust me, you don't want to miss it.
Marco smiled at the letter while Star was jumping up to try and see over Marco's head at the letter.
"What does it say?" Star asked as Marco handed the letter to Star. She slowly read over it until she got to the end.
"We've got to watch that tv show but first we gotta talk about those sweet moves at the carnival that you didn't tell me about," Star said while doing some flexing with her imaginary muscles. Marco would have thought that with her strength, she would have at least some muscle but there was pretty much none.
They made their way to Star's room and once they arrived, Marco sat on her bed while Star sat down on a backwards chair with a fedora on her head, pretending to investigate him. Marco thought that it was very cute.
"Alright Marco, spill the beans. Nobody is just randomly as strong as my dad, especially at 14. What's the deal? Are you secretly an ogre in a disguise? Oh! It's probably that you have a secret monster arm that took over your body but is now gone but is secretly still inside you and is trying to escape so it can your bowels!" Star exclaimed while making chomping sounds.
"Yes Star. I'm obviously a troll," Marco replied sarcastically but Star didn't recognise the tone.
"I knew it!" She shouted, pumper her fists up. "Detective Star for the win!" She continues while dancing.
"Star I was joking," Marco chuckled as Star stopped midway through her victory dance and sat down on the chair.
"I don't really know why I am so strong but I think it's to do with my caretakers who had been very strong individuals." Marco stated which intrigued Star. "And who are your parents?" Star said while leaning forward in her chair. Marco felt uncomfortable not only with how close she was but also about telling people about his parents. "I can't tell you who my parents are but I haven't I haven't seen them in two years," Marco said while looking bummed. "Maybe we could search for them. Surely they miss you right?" Star explained, feeling a little concerned. "I don't think that's going to work, I'd rather not talk about it," Marco replied while looking at the ground. Star knew that there was something wrong about Marco but she really did want to help but also didn't want to make Marco feel uncomfortable. All he knew is that there was a big secret that he was hiding and concluded it at that.
Star tried to brighten the mood up. "Oh! We should watch that show that the chef said would be on tonight!" She cheered as she turned on the mirror to channel 10 to see that it had just begun. This made Marco more content as she sat down on the beam bag and placed the nachos in between them. The nachos had been decent but they weren't as good as the ones that Marco had made. He would have to give them some feedback on how to improve their recipe since he only said to add nachos and cheese which was quite plain.
The show had gone on for an hour and wasn't the worst but it was getting late and Star had fallen asleep. Marco had turned off the mirror and decided to yet again place Star back on her bed so he picked her up bridal style and tucked her into bed. "Goodnight Star," Marco whispered as he walked out of the room. Little did he know that Star was awake. She had also been awake the last time. For some reason, she enjoyed being picked up and tucked into bed by Marco. It made her feel warm and safe inside.
Once Marco had made his way back to his room, he knew that today he was going to sneak out of the castle to go on his own little adventure. He had found a spare red hoodie in his backpack since it was like a pocket dimension inside of it stuffed with lots of different items and he placed it on. He opened the window and made his way down the building and hopped over the fence and ran into the distance. Marco was incredibly fast and for some reason always had a gut feeling when a village was under attack. He felt it at the end of the movie so he decided that it was the perfect time. What annoyed him was that during the two days he had the feeling multiple times and did nothing to stop it which made him feel guilty. If only he hadn't been so selfish to spend some time off, he could have saved lives.
He had stopped running when he had finally reached the destination that he was looking for. It was a village that appeared to be under attack by a group of monster savages. He grabbed his trusty daggers out of his bag and drank a small vile which boosted his energy since he was tired after this long day and sprinted into the village. Once he was inside, he saw plenty of fires and monsters looting the buildings while the Mewmans had been all captured and held prisoner in the corner of the village while the scavengers collected everything that they could.
They had plundered the village and had prepared to kill some of the villages until Marco had made his move. He swiftly jumped off a tree that he had been on and landed on top of one of the monsters and kicked his head, making him unconscious. The others took note and surrounded the man but once they saw his hoodie, a couple of them backed away while a loud voice could be heard from behind. "Come on you buffoons, don't back down!" He shouted which made them go forward in fear. The man appeared to be the general and was a giant ogre who stood 9 feet tall. "Well if it isn't the red hood twerp. You think you can just come in pretend to save the day?" He hissed as Marco didn't say a word, but stood still. He held out a large broadsword. "Kill him!" He shouted as the monster started coming from all corners.
Marco sighed as he made the daggers glow which increased his agility and rushed a monster which he dodged his jab with a spear and stabbed him down to escape the ambush. He grabbed another vile out of his bag which looked to be filled with nothing and threw it in the air and made one dagger catch on fire and threw it at the vile, shattering it and causing it to explode. He noticed the dagger hit one of the monsters along with all of the glass shards and ran up to the monster that got hit with the dagger and uppercut it while also grabbing his dagger back. He quickly sidestepped a monster and sweeped his legs to make him fall while quickly jumping back up onto his legs to see an arrow fly at his head. As it did, time seemed to slow down from the adrenaline and he managed to grab it mid flight which startled the monsters. They all stopped, astonished at what had just happened as he inspected the arrows. He then proceeded to throw it with enough force to make it pierce the archer. There were only 3 others excluding the ogre and he ran at one of them so fast that it took him a second to process that he was in front of him as he punched him square in the nose, breaking it. Finally, the other two dropped their weapons and ran away, making Marco smirk. He was caught off guard by the ogre who punched him in the stomach which surprised him as to how such a large creature could be so stealthy. "Not so tough now are you boy," the ogre boasted as he walked up to the collapsed Marco on the floor. As he arrived at the man, he reached out a hand for his hoodie. "Now let's see who you are," he said but just as he was about to touch the fabric, Marco's hand quickly grabbed his wrist and he flipped him over with his shear strength. The ogre hit the ground hard as Marco chuckled, the oldest trick in the book. He liked to occasionally tease his enemies into thinking that they had one when in reality, they had no chance. He finally finished the ogre by snapping his neck and walked away to the hostages.
He noticed that the potion that he drank at the star was starting to fade away so he decided to speed it up. He cut one of the villagers ropes so he could free the rest and started running away from the village and jumped over the walls, going back to the castle. He looked around in case anyone was following him but didn't notice anyone. Little did he know that a certain frog had been observing him from the trees with a grin on his face.
Buff frog had witnessed the entire event unfold and gave him credit for beating all the monsters and got a good laugh out of the trick he played on the ogre. As the red hooded man started making his way back to the castle, Buff frog had started jumping from tree to tree, being incredibly quiet due to his years of spying. He had followed the man until he had noticed the Butterfly castle in the distance and as they had arrived at the castle, he saw the man climb up the walls on the side and jump into one of the windows and proceeded to close it while also closing the curtains. He hadn't taken off his hoodie the whole time and couldn't see the face since the hood made his face dark. He had to give him credit for his caution. Buff frog had gotten out a piece of paper and a pen and started to jot down notes to send to Des, although his sloppy handwriting was impossible to read.
To boss,
I have found the location of hoodie man. I followed him to butterfly castle and appears to live in castle. Possible alliance with the Butterfly family which mean he could be danger. Identity unknown but will investigate more,
Buff frog AKA Yvgeny Bogolyubov.
He finished 'writing' and did a small whistle which made a bird appear and he made the bird eat the letter. "Go to monster base bird," Buff Frog said and the bird flew back to the monster base.
Marco had gotten back into his room and was very tired. He took off his red hoodie and placed it back into his bag and proceeded to take a long, relaxing shower. When he got out, he noticed the bruise that he had gotten from the encounter with the ogre and grabbed a small vile out of his bag and poured it over the bruise. It started to sting for a while which irritated him but it eventually had fixed the damage and he put his shirt back on. Note to self. When you have free time, go and find ingredients to make more potions. Marco had been abusing his potions that Joseph had given to him during his training. He had really missed his caretakers but knew that they would want him to stay safe instead of looking for him and knew that Mewni would be a safe place to stay since it was the place where they usually stayed for work. He was exhausted so he fell onto his bed and slowly fell asleep.
In an unknown location…
Des had been tired after staying up a while to see the new show that had been on channel 10. He had loved the first episode and how Jack Garcia had knocked out the FBI agents who found his secret hideout. He loved watching action shows since he always somehow learnt new techniques from them even though they were fake. He was aborted when a bird flew in through one of the windows in his office and landed on his desk. The bird then coughed up what looked like a letter that was all wet from the saliva of the bird. It was really disgusting.
Des had dried of the letter and then opened it to see a whole bunch of scribbles and assumed it was Buff Frog. What he found weird was that although his handwriting was an absolute mess, his name at the bottom would always be the most neat cursive that he had ever seen. He assumed that he had gotten used to writing out his own name so it was muscle memory. Looks like I'm going to have an interesting conversation with him tomorrow he thought as a smile crept up onto his face. Although it was late, all of the monsters that had worked for him lived inside the base so he called up all of the spies that he had hired and waited for all of them to arrive. He was extremely disappointed at his arsonal of spies as they all looked very lazy. He mentally sighed but was also happy that he had a reason to fire these buffoons. "Attention you lazy sloths," he growled but looked to the right side to see that he had literally hired a sloth as one of his spies. "When did I hire you?" He questioned as he took a moment to respond. "Sorry but that's not my department," he lazily responded which angered him to a further extent. "Anyways, to put it short, you're all fired. I want you out of my building right away or I'll tear all of your faces off, understand?" he calmly as the rest of them looked at him wide eyed and hastily made their way to the exit. That saves some of my money. I should really update my army he noted as he sat back down on his chair.
"Why does he have to be such a pain in the arse?" He groaned as he decided that he had done enough for the day. He made his way back into his room and fell asleep on his bed that felt like a pile of rocks.
"I'll get you some day, red hooded man," he promised as he shut his eyes.
That's a wrap to chapter 3! This chapter was around 8.2K words and yet again did it in 2 days with one day off to relax. Since it was the weekend I got more time to work on it.
This story now had 400 views so I wanted to thank everyone for reading the story and hope you enjoyed it.
Guest - "Great chapter love the way you described the scares"
It's great to know that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope that you also enjoyed this one as well. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by how I described the scared but i'm that doesn't matter.
The next chapter is probably going to be a filler to the main story since it won't have as much meaning compared to the other chapters but will still have some advancements in the story. It will mainly be about building the characters' personalities.
Yet again I'm not sure how long I'll take making the next chapter but it shouldn't be too long.
KrispyPretzel