Okay, so this is the introduction thing, isn't it? Well this is Mrs. Diaz speaking. My dear son and Star are sleeping in his room, and if my mom senses are correct, they're not porking. That makes me sad.
Anyway, I'm supposed to say what happened last chapter, so here I go: that pawn of Janna's called Hope briefly joined forces with Jackie, but then decided to fight her after Star and Marco told he she was a bitch. So they fought, and boy was it an spectacular fight, I wish I had brought a camera to record it! Anyway, Hope eventually lost after Jackie punched her, and then she tried to make a deal with Janna and Brittney, only for the girls to prove themselves smarter and not fall for her shit.
How do I know all this? Good question! I will ignore it and let you read the chapter.
Episode 6: Shadow Sorcery
(Diaz Household, Living Room)
Mr. and Mrs. Diaz sat on the couch, checking the video they made a while ago about Star and Marco's...intimate get together in his pants. They stopped once they heard the duo walk down the stairs. They quickly went to them and gave them big wide smiles.
"Good morning, Team Starco!" Mr. and Mrs. Diaz cheerfully greeted. "How did you sleep?"
"Pretty good, though Star wouldn't stop snoring." Marco answered, giving Star an angry glare before adding, "Anyway, I'm gonna go get breakfast. Today's another day, and I hope our team at least gets a step closer to winning this game."
Marco did as he said and went to the kitchen as his parents smiled and watched him go. Then, when he was out of view, they turned to Star and gave her a serious look. "Are you pregnant with our grandchildren yet?" Mrs. Diaz nonchalantly asked.
"I'm working on it." Star lewdly answered.
The princess exchanged two thumbs up with Marco's parents and then strolled for the kitchen. However, once she sat down close to Marco and got ready to talk, the team felt a chill sent down their spine, and they exchanged worried looks. "Did you feel that?"
"Yeah, but I don't quite get what it was."
(Meanwhile with Janna, Hope and Brittney)
Janna watched the still unconscious Hope with a look of worry while Brittney, with disheveled hair, walked back and forth while biting her fingernails. She then checked the window and looked around before turning to Janna and asking, "Any progress on Hope's condition?"
"She hasn't woken up yet, and she doesn't look like she'll wake up soon." Janna responded with worry. "Do you think she might have brain damage?"
"If it's brain damage that affects her memories then good, because if she remembers the beating she gave to Jackie, she could get out of the team and and become our enemy!" Brittney replied. "We could barely do anything against Jackie! If Hope managed to survive a fight against her, and even rip-off one of her arms, then we're utterly screwed if she finds out she's stronger than us!"
Before Janna could reply, the same chill from before was felt in the cabin by the girls, though while Janna remained calm and looked at Hope, Brittney freaked out. "What was that?!"
"I don't know, but it seems to be doing something." Janna replied as she saw Hope's eyes twitch and then slowly open. "Hope's opening her eyes!"
(Then, at Jackie's Lake)
At the deepest part of the lake, there was a table-shaped rock standing in the middle of an area surrounded by algae and kelp. Jackie then submerged and went to the table-rock, putting some rocks on it and cracking her knuckles before hitting the rocks. Each rock was turned into the shape of one of the players, with the one modeled after Jackie standing in the middle of the table, and Jackie smiled as she grabbed the pieces and started to move them around.
"Okay, time to organize the steps for my next-" Jackie mentally remarked before pausing, feeling the same chill, and frowning as she looked around for the source. "What the hell is giving me this chill?"
Then, without warning, a huge shadowy figure materialized above the woods, and Star and Marco left the house to see it. Once they were out, they gaped upon seeing the shadowy figure, who briefly looked at them before changing his attention and starting.
"Players of the Wand Games! A special event has begun!" the figure started, getting the attention of all the players in the whole world. "Some of your comrades, enemies or such, and fellow players have been murdered! However, they have not been taken out of the game, but instead their souls have remained as shadows, only commanded by the shadownomicon!"
"The book has arrived somewhere in the fields, and you must find it if you wish to harness the power to control your dead comrades!" the figure added. "In addition, all resting places shall be closed off until the shadow sorcerer has been selected!"
Shocked, Star and Marco could only look back before their home was surrounded by spiked walls. Janna managed to grab Hope and escape with Brittney before the cabin was, and Jackie ripped off the rock and took it with her to the surface before the lake itself was surrounded by invisible electrified walls.
Before they could complain, Star and Marco saw the figure had suddenly and silently vanished, with a note slowly flying out and landing on Marco's head. The boy grabbed it and read it out loud.
"The shadows will be active from now on."
Angry at this revelation, Marco crumbled the note and threw it away. "Okay, so not only do we have to find a book to control the dead, we have to fight the dead until we get it!"
"Hey, at least we got magic we can use." Star reassured as she took out her wand. "Come on, let's go look for the shadownomicon."
Marco gave Star an unsure look, earning a warm smile in response, and he smiled and nodded before following the girl to the woods. As they left, one of the mentioned shadows watched from behind a bush, and it smiled before slowly sliding towards them, keeping itself in hiding as it did.
(Meanwhile, with Janna, Brittney and Hope)
Brittney placed some logs at a random spot and used two of them to, somehow, set them on fire. Then, as she whistled to Janna and Hope to come to her, a note fell and almost landed on the fire before Brittney caught it.
"Protect your ally, she may be useful." Brittney read out loud. "It's talking about Hope, alright. Speaking of which, I should check out how she's doing."
Brittney crumbled the note and put it on her pocket before going to check on the girl, and just as she left, a shadow came out of the bushes and followed the girl, silently laughing like a monkey.
(With Jackie)
As the girl tried to think of what to do next, a note fell and hit Jackie's face. She took it with her hand and read it out loud as well. "You forgot your chess pieces!?"
Worried that the note might be true, Jackie looked at the table-rock, which was empty, and then searched for a while before realizing that she did forget the chess pieces. "PLUTOCURSE IT!" Jackie shouted before throwing the note and the rock away. "Well, I guess I'll have to go "grounded" on this one."
Jackie then flew to the shore and, once she hit the ground, she sighed before going into the woods. As she did, she scratched her chin and thought, "Should I search for the shadownomicon or wait until someone picks it up and then hunt him or he down?"
"Jackie!"
Surprised by her name being called, Jackie looked around and soon after spotted Star and Marco running towards her. Once they arrived, the duo exchanged looks with Jackie before frowning. "Marco and Star." Jackie uttered with a surprised tone. "It's a pleasure to see you again."
The instant Jackie moved, Marco took a karate stance and Star pointed her wand at the girl, charging it with energy and getting ready to shoot as Jackie flinched and took a step back. "Are you friend or foe, Jackie?" Star questioned.
"Yes...to the former." Jackie replied. "After all, everything I do is for the greater good. Your greater good."
"And how do we know we can trust you?" Marco asked.
"How do you know you can't?"
Star and Marco remained in their stances for a moment to think of what Jackie said, then backed away and sighed as Star shot the energy blast somewhere else and Marco returned to his normal stance. "Okay, so, why are you
"Believe it or not, the figure from before shielded the ocean with an invisible, electric wall, so I'm essentially "grounded" until the shield is removed." "So anyway, how are you doing?"
"Outside of feeling like we're being followed by someone, we haven't really done much progress." Marco answered. "How have you been doing? Have you decided yet if you want to show yourself as a friend or a foe?"
"I literally just told you that I'm your friend! And you have no reason to believe you can't trust me!" Jackie complained.
"But we don't know if we can trust your word either." Star replied. "Look, Jackie, you're somewhere in the middle for us two, or you do something that puts our trust in you in "trust" or "don't trust", or we continue to consider you a frenemy."
Star and Marco crossed their arms as Jackie turned around and thought about it. "Okay, so while Janna and Brittney know that I'm not trustworthy, and I need to watch out for Hope, Star and Marco are in the middle and I'm sure nor Alfonzo nor Sabrina know about my plans." Jackie thought, smiling deviously as she reached a conclusion. "I just need to fool them into thinking that I'm trustworthy and then they'll become another pair of pawns!"
As Jackie decided what to do, Star and Marco tilted their heads to the left as they waited for her. "So why is she taking so long thinking this out?" Star asked.
"If you don't know the answer, then I don't know it either." Marco replied.
And then, once she returned to reality, Jackie smiled with an evil glare before changing to a happier face to keep up her facade. "Okay then!" Jackie exclaimed as she turned around to face the duo. "I'll join you in your quest to get the shadownomicon."
"Actually, we want to find whoever finds the book first." Marco hastily corrected. "Controlling the dead doesn't seem like our thing."
"Even better!" Jackie remarked as she went to the boy and girl team. "So, where do we go first?"
"Hmm... good question." Star said before turning to the forest. "Let's see if we find anybody, shadow or not, in the forest."
"Well, we can't go back home, so I guess we'll have to do what Star says." Marco uttered, flinching a little once he thought about it.
Jackie nodded in agreement and followed Star deep into the forest, briefly flashing a malicious smile before turning back to normal. Upon seeing this, the shadow from before smiled and decided to look for another team to attack.
(With Brittney, Janna and Hope)
Brittney walked to Janna and Hope, the former scratching the head of the latter before noticing the cheerleader. "How is Hope doing?" Brittney asked.
"She's doing fine, she's recovering from the hit quite quickly, right Hope?" Janna answered.
Hope didn't answer, which worried Brittney and Janna, though the latter was more visibly worried. "H-Hope, could you answer, please?"
"Janna, Brittney, am I useless?" Hope replied.
Brittney and Janna, surprised by the question, flinched and exchanged worried looks before answering. "N-No! Of course not! You have an important role in the team!"
"You think so?"
"Y-Yeah, we just need to find out what that role is." Janna reassured. "And while we do that, why don't you stay out of harm's way?"
"Why? Did something happen to me that makes you worried?" Hope inquired as she tilted her head to her left.
"Well, Jackie-" Janna answered, before changing subjects upon being hit by Brittney. "I mean, you got hit by a tree branch."
"That must've been quite the tree branch."
"Yeah, definitely, so why don't you stay here with Janna while I go look for the shadownomicon?" Brittney hastily suggested.
"Shadow-what?"
"Long story."
With Hope nodding in agreement, Brittney smiled and gave her a thumbs up before leaving, and Janna gently scratched Hope's head as she looked away to smile deviously. As the wolf girl looked around for the book, the shadow from before found her and smiled as she slowly got closer. However, just as it jumped to kill the girl, Brittney reacted and blocked the shadow's attack with her leg, kicking it away shortly afterwards.
With that done, Brittney noticed that the shadow was actually Chantelle, only with primal-looking orange eyes and a black aura surrounding her. The girl tried to attack again, but Brittney quickly counterattacked before punching her to a tree, catching her breath as Chantelle hit the trunk, then the ground before getting up like it had never happened.
"Chantelle, you're alive? Didn't I murder you?" Brittney questioned, right before realizing what this meant as Chantelle smiled even wider. "Oh shit, you're alive because I murdered you!"
And just as soon as she stated her conclusion, Chantelle leapt to Brittney, grabbed her leg and threw her away, sending her flying past various trees and the fireplace where Janna and Hope were at. This caught Hope's attention, who looked with worry at Brittney before spotting Chantelle swinging in the vines. Hope then frowned, got up and ran after the shadow, with Janna chasing her as she ran.
(Back with Jackie, Star and Marco)
Star impatiently looked around everywhere for a sign of another hostile nearby, shadow or player, while Marco and Jackie followed with frustrated looks on their faces. And then, once Star moved one of the bushes, she quickly put it back on and pulled Marco and Jackie down to her shortly afterwards.
The trio peeked from the bush and saw a dark-skinned girl with metallic rings in her knees, elbows, neck and waist chatting with someone in the screen, which was handled by some sort of machine. She also had a small, detachable gadget in her right eye, which she took out to clean before putting it back on. "Isn't that one of the cheerleaders that worked under Brittney?" Star asked.
"The cheerleaders don't work for Brittney." Marco corrected. "That being said, what is Andrea doing here?"
"And more importantly, who is she contacting with that communication-machine-thing?" Jackie added.
"I presume your search for the shadownomicon has been unsuccessful so far?" Andrea asked to the figure in the screen.
"No, I think I know where it is, but I need a shadow to use it on when I do find it." the figure replied with a childish voice before pointing the girl. "That will be your job."
Shocked by the reveal, Star gasped and she quickly covered her mouth, upon which Jackie and Marco covered it as well and went back to the bush. Luckily, Andrea didn't seem to notice them. "And where am I supposed to find one of the shadows at this hour?" Andrea asked, right before feeling something and glancing at the bush the trio were hiding in. "Call you later, I got a couple of jerks to take care of."
Andrea turned off the screen and charged an energy ball in her hand, which she threw at the bush. Jackie, Marco and Star jumped out of the way and dodged it just in time before the bush was completely annihilated.
"I had the feeling I would be meeting you sooner or later, though I was hoping it would be later." Andrea remarked in exasperation.
"What are you doing here, Andrea?" Marco questioned.
"How do you know my name, Safe Kid?"
"That doesn't matter." Marco hastily replied. "What are you doing here, and with who were you talking just a moment ago?"
"You honestly think I'm just going to tell you that stuff?" Andrea dryly asked with her arms crossed.
"I hate to admit it, but she's got a point there." Jackie
"Look, Andrea, we're not your enemies, we're trying to find the shadownomicon as much as you do, and we want to win this game as much as you probably do." Star explained as she walked to the cheerleader, putting her hand in her shoulder before adding, "If we work together-"
However, before she could finish, Andrea charged her arms with electricity and used them to shock Star, who screamed in pain as Marco and Jackie frowned and went to help her.
"Work together with you? Yeah, right, as if I was that gullible." Andrea sarcastically remarked before throwing Star at the running duo, sending them back to the remains of the bush before adding. "If you want to get any information out of me, you're gonna have to beat me up to get it!"
"That can be arranged!" Marco stated as he and the rest got up.
(Meanwhile, far away from the current battle)
Brittney landed on a solid metallic platform surrounded by weird pad-like objects. As she got up and grabbed he head, Chantelle arrived and got ready to attack again as Hope and Janna arrived soon afterwards. "Where are we?" Janna asked.
"Looks like some sort of teleportation...location...I think." Hope answered before hearing Brittney's pained screams. "Brittney!"
Brittney blocked some of Chantelle's attacks and used her claws to attack back, only for Chantelle to dodge them with ease as she laughed and taunted Brittney all the way. Then, once Brittney managed to scratch Chantelle's face, the girl's eyes turned red and she screeched and screamed like...well, you get the idea, before she savagely grabbed and used Brittney as a toy, waving her before throwing her to the ground and repeating the process.
When Hope finally intervened, Chantelle tried to hit her using Brittney as a club, but she grabbed the cheerleader, pulled her out of Chantelle's grasp and threw her away. With this done, Chantelle tried to go for Brittney, only for Hope to grab her leg and drag her to the ground, where she got on her hands and threw Hope away before returning to a more comfortable position.
She then ran for Brittney as Janna tried to stop Chantelle, though the monkey gal simply jumped over Janna and leapt for Brittney. After clawing her a few times and checking her body, Chantelle took her wand out of Brittney's body, and she kicked her face before jumping away...and stopping. In the distance, Chantelle felt a mesmerizing presence that made her eyes turn pink and her cheeks to blush before punching an attacking Janna.
Wanting to find out the mesmerizing source of the feeling, Chantelle jumped away, but not before shooting a giant energy ball at the trio, who managed to hold it and throw it away as Chantelle laughed and taunted them as she left. "What the hell was that all about?!" Janna exclaimed.
And then the ball exploded, startling them in the process. "I don't know, but at least we managed to survive." Hope remarked before looking around the field. "Let's see, should we try something out with these pad things?"
Janna hummed as she went to Brittney, who tried to get up only to fall down. "I think we should make sure Brittney stays alive first."
"Okay then."
Janna grabbed Brittney and carried her as she ran away, though Hope remained behind and looked around for a bit longer before she found some spherical things in a box nearby. She grabbed one of them, read a note near it and smiled as she got an idea; she wrote Star and Marco's name in the input screen and then put it on the ground as it started beeping. With that done, Hope left and went to Janna and Brittney.
(Back with Star, Marco, Jackie and Andrea)
Andrea shot some energy balls at the team, who dodged them with ease before throwing some energy balls of their own, which Andrea also dodged by splitting her body parts with the rings she had, putting herself back together when Star stopped and felt something vibrating. "What's wrong, Star?" Marco inquired.
"My wand is vibrating, but I don't know-" Star answered as she took out her wand.
The instant she took it out, the girl screamed as she was dragged by her wand to somewhere else, and Marco desperately grabbed the girl's leg in hopes of getting her to stay, only to be dragged as well. "You go ahead guys! I'll take care of this girl!" Jackie reassured as Star and Marco left. "Alright, Andrea, prepare to have your plans ruined!"
Andrea simply laughed at the statement.
"You honestly think you can fool me, Thomas?" Andrea uttered before charging another blast. "The only people stupid enough to fall for your facade are the mewni princess and safe kid, and unfortunately for you, I'm far smarter than either of them combined!"
Andrea shot the blast and Jackie managed to dodge it, briefly smiling before frowning and holding her head in pain as the explosion from the attack left her temporarily deaf. Once she recovered, she turned to Andrea and smiled before taunting, "So you're just of average intelligence, then?"
The cheerleader bared her teeth and got ready to shoot another energy ball before she heard somebody teleporting. She used her eye-gadget-thing to find out who it was, and it quickly showed her that Star and Marco had used the teleporting gadgets.
"Star and Marco just teleported to the field with the shadownomicon!" Andrea remarked. "You got lucky, Jackie, I have more important matters than kicking your ass!"
Andrea then ran away as Jackie dusted herself, smirked at the fight and then left. "Okay, time to see if I can try another way to organize my plans."
(Meanwhile, with Star and Marco)
A pad-like thing similar to the ones from before activated and Star and Marco arrived from it. "Okay, here we are." Marco said before looking around. "Now where's the shadownomicon?"
"Maybe we can ask that cloaked if his book is the shadownomicon we're looking for!" Star suggested as she pointed to the mentioned figure.
Marco turned and saw the figure, whose identity was hidden with a cloak. On one hand, he had the shadownomicon, which looked like an average, boring black book. Just as Star and Marco got off the pad, Chantelle appeared right by his side, giggling as Star and Marco stopped on their tracks.
After a short snicker, the figure took off his cloak's hood and revealed himself to be Jeremy Birnbaum, much to the duo's shock, but specially Marco. "Jeremy? You're in the games too?"
"That's right, Marco Diaz, and now that I control the shadows, you're as good as dead!" Jeremy arrogantly stated.