Ludo's monsters were never a real threat, and as time went on, Marco and I continued to get better at dealing with them. Eventually, we even turned it into a game, see who could get the best take down.
During one fight, in which we were decimating them, I hopped up onto one of the cacti in Marco's backyard and called out to him "Off the cactus, over the tree, nothing but neck!" I fired a blast of magic at a nearby cactus, where it bounced off and arced over a tree before hitting the giraffe monster in the neck, exactly as I had predicted.
"Told you I could do it" I said with a grin, holding my hand out to Marco who was watching from the ground beside me. Reaching into his hoodie, Marco pulled out some money and pressed it into my outstretched hand. Before I could grab it though, there was a growl from off to the side.
Marco turned to see a line of monsters heading our way and turned to me as he said "Double or nothing, one kick, seven monsters."
Not actually needing the money, I am a princess after all, and knowing the bet was really just for fun, I saw no reason not to. Gesturing for Marco to proceed, I stayed on top of my cactus to watch. Spinning around, Marco yelled as he kicked the nearest monster. This toppled the monster and set him reeling backwards into the rest of the monsters lined up behind him. One after the other, they careened backwards until the last monster in line fell over and squashed Ludo.
Proudly observing the heap of bodies, Marco turned to me and said "After a victory like this, there's only one thing to do… get Chinese food!"
"Oooh!" I exclaimed as we left the pile of monsters behind, "Chinese food, I have no idea what that is."
When we finally arrived at the restaurant, Marco showed me what this mysterious Chinese food was when we sat down to order. I didn't recognize half the words on the menu and Marco explained each item to me after telling me that China was a separate country, or kingdom. After I picked out my order, we made small talk until it arrived, at which point I devoured it with great gusto.
"Delicious!" I exclaimed, "And it's so fun eating with these tiny wands!" Waving the chopsticks, as I would later learn they were called, around I made little noises, as if I was casting spells with them. As I did, our server came by and laid out a plate of cookies. "Oh man, and there's cookies too!"
Reaching out, I grabbed one and crammed it in my mouth, chewing with gusto. Then I noticed a really weird and unpleasant feeling in my mouth as I ate the cookie. Sticking out my tongue to examine what had become of the cookie, I said to Marco, I don't like the filling."
"These are fortune cookies" said Marco, holding up one of his own. "They can magically predict the future!"
"Really? No way!"
Marco proceeded to snap his cookie in half, removing the paper from inside, before tossing the two halves into his mouth and reading his fortune. "A friend will greet you with a smile."
"Oh, how sweet!"
Gasping, Marco said "See? The cookies know all!"
"No, it can't be!" Grabbing a cookie for myself, I extracted the paper inside and read off "Think positive, and good luck will come your way."
Right then, I saw our server walk by us, carrying a large box of fortune cookies. As she passed us, heading for the trash can, I jumped after her to claim the cookies for my own. "Ohohoh, more cookies!"
"They are stale."
"Gimme!"
"You are weird girl" said the woman, handing me the box and walking back to the kitchen.
"Wow Star" said Marco, having come over to see what I was up to, "good luck did come your way!"
"It did, it did!" I said, holding the cookies up to my face "These are incredible!"
"Star" said Marco in his concerned voice, something I have heard many times, before waving his hand in front of my face. "Star?"
"Come on, let's get these bad boys home!" I told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him out the store. He managed to get me to stop only just long enough to pay our bill. Soon we were back at his place and I sat down at the kitchen table, raising the cookies above my head as I said "Oh wise and powerful cookies, bestow your sugary prophecies upon me."
Suddenly Marco was there next to me as he said "Gotcha Star! Those fortunes aren't magic. They are put there by people in a factory."
"Next you'll tell me that's how they get the snow in snow globes" I said with a chuckle. "It's clearly the work of dark wizards."
"I'm serious, they're not real" said Marco, reaching for one of the cookies. "They're just vague so you can read things into them."
Reaching out, I eagerly snatched away the cookie he had grabbed and tore it open with gusto. "An unexpected visitor will soon arrive."
I sat there for a moment with Marco as we waited for the visitor to show up or not so that we could prove each other wrong. After a moment, Marco went to the door and swung it open a few times as he said "See, no-one's here. Now, who wants nachos?"
"Did someone say Nachos?" cried Ferguson, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
Getting up from my seat, I triumphantly walked over to him and said "Why hello my unexpected visitor."
"Ferguson, Star thinks fortune cookies are magical. Will you please tell her they're not?" said Marco, in a final, futile attempt. I knew the truth of the cookies.
"No, whoa man, whoa. Cookies are magical" said Ferguson "Once, I ate one from the floor of a cab and I met my spirit animal that night. It was a wolf."
"Why are you suddenly a nonbeliever?" I asked Marco, pulling another cookie out of my bag and reading out "Reach for the stars and achieve your dream." Pointing my arm in the air, I fired off a blast of magic. With a crash, it blasted through both floors and the ceiling, flying off among the stars. As debris rained down through the hole, Marco yelped and jumped over to where I was, pushing me out from beneath the falling rubble. Walking over to where Marco lay, not having gotten out from beneath it as well, I looked up through the hole I had made and said "Pegasus feathers, I have always dreamed of having a skylight in here! Blindly following these fortune cookies is the best decision I've ever made."
Looking up from where he lay, Marco said with a groan, "Can you give me a hand?"
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a cookie and checked it. When it said it was okay, I reached out to pull Marco up from the floor. Eventually, after Marco got fixed up and we ate his super awesome nachos, Marco and I went for a walk around town. Reaching into my bag, I told Marco, "Aw, last cookie. I can't wait to get more!"
"Star" said Marco, desperation in his voice "I'm telling you, they'll back me up at the restaurant, food can't predict the future!"
"Sure it can" I told him, "On Mewni, there's a place where you can get calzones that'll tell you how you're gonna die!"
Rounding the corner by the Chinese store, we made our way into the alley so we could grab anyone coming out back to throw away fortune cookies. I wanted the cookies while Marco wanted the workers. As we entered the alley however, we saw two people at the far end dancing on a big piece of cardboard. Leaning over to Marco, I asked him "What are they doing?"
"Shhh, I think one of them's about to get served!" said Marco unhelpfully. I was so engrossed with whatever was happening and trying to figure out what it was, that I forgot all about the fortune cookie I was planning to open for a moment. As Marco continued to be unhelpful and didn't say anything, I remembered my final cookie. Pulling it out, hoping for some advice, I cracked it open to see what it said. Before I could read it though, Ludo's monsters leapt down from the roofs surrounding the alley way, blocking us in. As Marco and I hopped back to get some distance so we could fight properly, the two dancers stripped off their clothes to show they were also Ludo's minions. Even the music box rose up to show one of Ludo's minions hiding beneath it.
As Marco started to leap into the fight, I read the fortune cookie I had opened and placed an arm in front of him saying "Hold on, love in always the answer."
"What? Not in this case, fighting is!"
"Sorry Marco, it's not the will of the cookie."
Grabbing the wings of his attacker, Marco held back the chicken monster as he said "Really? Now?"
As Marco ran from the monsters, I slowly backed up, deeper into the alley. As a giant monster with antlers, I think the same one who had had a fling with Mrs. Skullnick, approached I tried to figure out what to do. The cookie had said to use love, but I had no idea. Then it hit me. With a leap forward, I embraced the monster and sang out "Hugs!"
After a brief pause, the monster started to hug me back. As I moved from monster to monster, hugging the fighting spirit out of them, I turned to see Marco struggling in his fight. With a cry, he kicked the chicken monster so hard that with a squawk, it laid an egg which landed in Marco's hands. Turning to the next monster, a giant frog looking monster named Buff Frog, Marco threw the egg into his face and knocked him to the ground.
Before he could get ready though, a bear monster with a unicorn horn jumped over and shoved Marco back into the waiting arms of his companions. Grabbing Marco, A large monster with three eyes and the antlered monster each grabbed one of Marco's arms. Wasting no time, Marco stamped on the foot of the three eyed monster and slipped out of his hold, elbowing him in the face as he did. With his hand now free, Marco grabbed the monster with the antlers and with a spin, threw him across the alley as the two headed monster rushed Marco from behind. Marco saw it coming though and jumped backwards, kicking each head as he did.
Landing on the ground, Marco turned to karate chop the giraffe monster in the neck as he cried out "Star! Forget that stupid fortune and help me!" As he did, the three eyed monster and the one with antlers came back and grabbed Marco again.
While he was being grappled, I was busy hugging a red alligator headed monster and told Marco "Marco, don't fight, then they'll stop fighting you." As I said this, the monsters holding Marco carried him over to the nearby dumpster and tossed him in. Buff Frog then came over and slammed the lid shut so the bear monster could use his horn to lock the lid in place.
"Hey! Let me out" I heard Marco cry out from inside as the monsters made their way over to me. As the rest of the monsters converged on me, I opened my arms wide and said "You guys really need some hugs. Love is always the answer."
As I was hugging the two headed monster, I heard a kind of screeching noise coming from where the rest of the monsters waited. Suddenly, the monster pulled out of our hug and I saw him place a hand on Ludo's beak as his right head said "Back off dude, I've been waiting for this since middle school."
Then, with the left head glaring at Ludo, we resumed the hug as Ludo cried out "What? You idiots are screwing up the plan!"
Snapping my eyes open, I looked at them monster I was hugging and said "Plan?"
With a deep breath, the monster pulled himself out of the hug and his right head said "Okay, look Star, this is really hard to say, but if this going to go any further, I want our relationship to have a foundation of honesty."
"Me too" cut in the left head.
"So confused" I said, more to myself than anyone in particular.
Holding up a wad of paper, the right head said "Fortune cookies aren't real. It was all a trap so Ludo could steal your wand."
Ludo just sat there making noises of disbelief as the right head said "Anyway, I hope-"
"We hope" cut in the left head.
"We hope" continued the right head "this isn't a deal breaker."
Without warning, and with perfect timing, the dumpster Marco was in came flying over and slammed into Ludo and the two headed monster. Opening the lid, Marco peered out as he said "You know what this means, don't you Star?"
"Oh yeah" I said, before switching to my serious face "Love is never the answer."
"Aw man, I wanted to say it" said Marco as he sank back down into the safety of the dumpster.
Channeling my magic, a ball of magic formed on the end of my wand as I said "Mega, Mushroom, Destruction, Blast!" Bringing down my wand, I unleashed the magic as it flowed out and swept away all of Ludo's minions, clearing out the alley and then exploding, so all those who remained were taken out.
Walking over to where Marco lay, sprawled out on the ground, I helped him up as he groaned. The dumpster had protected him from the worst of the spell, but ultimately had blasted a huge hole in the front. "Sorry, I should have listened to you. Obviously, you know better than a dessert."
"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have messed with you and said those fortunes were magical in the first place." Said Marco, apologetically.
At that moment, our server from earlier walked out, carrying a box of fortune cookies. "Oh, weird cookie girl! You want some more stale cookies?"
"Who could say no to that?" I said, walking over to take the box from her. Smiling, I held up the box like a prize and showed it to Marco, who just looked at me like I was crazy. "What? They're not real fortunes, but they're still real cookies."
I handed the one I had grabbed to Marco and he handed me the paper as he ate the cookie. Looking at it, I read "A great evil has been unleashed."
Laughing, Marco and I made spooky noises at each other before breaking out in laughter. Tossing the paper into the trash behind me, we made our way out of the alley.
"Wow, that's an ominous fortune" said Ruberiot with a chuckle, "Good thing those aren't real"
"They may not be" said Star "But this one was. If only I had known."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Ruberiot.
"Oh don't worry" said Star with a grim smile, "you'll find out."
