Yugi-oh - Here's your request, kinda. My brain's processing unit has been overheating for the past couple of days and I couldn't come up with an actual adventure.
Whoops
A pink cloud dissipated away, revealing Marco's transformed body. Star had been working on a new transformation spell and had wanted to try it out, which Marco reluctantly agreed to. It was a simple spell, or at least Star had said it was. The spell would transform Marco into a werewolf. There was no other reason for creating such a spell other than the princess thinking it would be "cool."
Marco examined his new body. However, it was not what he had expected. Instead of arms covered with hair, his arms had absolutely no hair on them, not even the small ones. In addition, the arms were a bluish-gray color. For his fingers, they weren't claws. Well, they were claws, but they seemed a lot more… reptilian? They weren't the claws of any mammal, that's for sure. Speaking of reptilian, Marco noticed an extension on his face. When he touched it with his right hand, he confirmed it was a part of him. He opened his mouth and the snout moved.
He panicked and shouted, "Star?!" He extended the lone vowel in her name. The Mewnian princess was grimacing as she looked at her best friend. It was bad enough she botched up the spell. Now, she had turned him into a monster. And not just any monster! She had turned him into an exact replica of Toffee!
"Uh, hold on!" Star grabbed a notebook from an adjacent table and hurriedly flipped through the pages. Some time ago, Marco advised Star to write any new spells she made up to remember the words that needed to be said. This would ensure she remembered the spell's words for further usage or refining and could add the spell to the big book word for word without mistakes. Star flipped through all the pages and was now looking at the back cover of the notebook.
"Well?" Marco asked in anticipation.
Star tilted her head up to look directly at him and answered, "I didn't write it down."
Her words drifting into Marco's ear and his mind began to process them. He knew that it wasn't such a big problem as Star always found a way to solve any problems within a few days, at max. However, that did mean he would have to go to school in this form. He started to imagine the reactions at school. Janna, of course, would be cool with it and continue to bug him. But what about Jackie? What if he scared her away forever, ruining all chances of him being with her? And the police - what were they going to do? Sirens blared inside his head as he envisioned SWAT units kicking down the door and dragging him into a secret facility where they would conduct experiments on him: injecting unknown fluids into him, cutting open his body-
"But it's okay, we can just ask Glossaryck!" Star's words snapped Marco out of his imagined nightmare scenario. He mentally berated himself for forgetting about the little blue man in the book.
He sighed, "I'll go get the pudding." When it came to helping Star with her magic, Glossaryck was reliable and helpful. The two had found out that he became even more helpful when pudding was involved, especially chocolate pudding. Marco walked towards the stairs.
"You do that," Star commented. She entered her room and approached the enormous bed inside the gigantic room. Kneeling on the ground, she reached under the bed. Moments later, she found what she was looking for. With each hand gripping a side of the book, she pulled it out. Opening the book, she flipped to the page where Glossaryck usually hung out at, 667. At the page, Glossaryck floated above the book.
"What can I do for you, princess?" he asked, bowing.
Marco went down into the kitchen area as fast as he could while remaining silent. As he was sneaking, he hoped that nobody opened the front door. It was times like this when Marco was glad his parents weren't home as much. He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a cup of chocolate pudding, and hurried back upstairs. Each cup of pudding had a plastic spoon on top of it, something Marco did when he was bored. He stopped at the entrance of Star's room and looked at the scene with Glossaryck bowing. Star grabbed Marco by the shoulders and pushed him closer to the floating blue man.
"How do I turn him back?" Star asked.
Glossaryck squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin. "I would love to answer that," he said. "But, unfortunately, I am quite famished at the moment. If only there was some sort of cuisine that would alleviate my hunger."
Marco and Star shared a look. The teenage boy opened the lid and scooped some of the pudding with a spoon.
"Ah," Glossaryck opened his mouth wide open like a fish. Marco fed him the pudding.
"Well?" Star questioned.
The blue man gulped down the pudding and asked, "What spell did you use?"
"It was supposed to turn him into a werewolf," the princess answered.
"You already know what how to reverse transformation spells," Glossaryck said. "Just find the inverse spell using the formula I gave you."
"I forgot the words!" Star exclaimed. "And I forgot to write them down! Isn't there another way?"
The genie-like creature sighed, "There are two ways to reverse a transformation spell. The first and simplest way is to create an inverse spell. The second way is to find the Tuft Fruit in the Forest of Certain Death."
"Tuft Fruit?" Marco asked. Glossaryck opened his mouth. Marco groaned and fed the magic master some more pudding.
"The Tuft Fruit is a legendary fruit that can cure any magical ailment in the world," Glossaryck explained. "It looks like a blue tulip. To reverse the spell, you must consume it. It's quite disgusting, so I'd rather wait for the princess to remember the words."
"Where in the forest is it?" Star asked.
"Nobody knows for sure," the blue magic man answered. "Ever since I've been alive, there have only been two sightings of it. The first one was in the far east of the forest and the second one was in the far west."
"All right, got it."
Before Star could close the book, Glossaryck held up his hand and said, "Hold on, I do believe there is still pudding inside the cup that needs to go into my stomach." The two teenagers grimaced and Marco continued to feed Glossaryck pudding until there was no more in the cup.
At night, Star decided to call her mother via the mirror.
An image of Queen Butterfly appeared on the screen. "Yes, Star?" Moon asked.
"Hi, mom," the princess greeted with a fake large smile. "Sorry to be calling you so late but I was wondering if you knew anything about the Tuft Fruit."
"The Tuft Fruit? Hmm, I suppose I do know a bit about it. May I ask why you're interested in it?"
"Well, I was practicing some transformation spells and Glossaryck happened to mention it," Star explained. "He didn't say much about it and I wanted to know more."
Moon seemed to purse her lips before saying, "All right, what do you want to know?"
"Glossaryck said that the fruit has only been found twice, is that true?"
"No, the fruit is quite common in the Forest of Certain Death. The real trouble is trying to get through the tufts that guard it. That's also how the fruit got its name. They're small enough to hide in the grass undetected until you get too close to the fruit. Many adventurers were chased away. But nobody wanted to tell anyone they were defeated by something so small and so they said that they couldn't find it instead."
"Ah." Star nodded.
"Is there anything else you wanted to know?"
"Can the fruit really reverse a transformation?"
"Yes, by consuming it," Moon confirmed. "It can also remedy just about any other magical inflictions as well."
"Is it as bad tasting as Glossaryck said it was?"
"It… is quite bitter. There's a reason it's listed as the last way to get rid of any magical ailment, barring curses and death magic, of course."
"Okay, I think that's enough," Star said. "Goodnight, mom." She was about to close the mirror when her mother said something.
"Oh, Star, before I forget, I'm coming for a visit tomorrow to see how much you've improved on your magic."
"What?" the princess exclaimed. "But, but, I haven't improved a whole lot yet!"
"Even so, there is still some improvement. I want to see how proficient you are in each field so I can determine what your next steps should be."
"Aren't you busy with other stuff?"
"That's true," Moon nodded. "That's why I'll be coming over during the night, about seven. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Star." The mirror turned off and Star grabbed her hairs in panic. What would her mother think about her misusing a spell and turning her friend into a monster? A grim thought entered her head. What if her mother or her mother's guards thought Marco was a real monster and killed him before she could explain? There was no time to wait for her to remember the words. The Tuft Fruit was the only solution to this problem and it had to be obtained by sundown tomorrow. She opened a portal to the Mewnian library and looked for books about the fruit.
….
She went back to her room at one o'clock. Setting an alarm for seven, she flopped onto the bed and fell fast asleep.
The next day, Marco was awakened by Star, who had a large backpack with her. She was wearing some strange outfit that had various shades of green with leaves attached to it. In addition, she was some paint on her face with the same colors as the outfit. It was never a good sign when Star wasn't wearing any of her casual outfits. The teenage boy yawned and looked at his friend in confusion. He turned his head towards the digital clock on the nightstand to his right and saw that it was eight o' clock.
"Come on Marco! We don't have all day!" Star threw the blanket off Marco. She then grabbed his left arm and pulled him into a sitting position.
"Wha?" Marco asked as he was pulled upwards. "Star, what are you doing?"
"We need to go into the Forest of Certain Death to get the Tuft Fruit," Star said. "And we need to do it before it gets dark because that's when the nasty monsters come out." She pulled out a map and shoved it into Marco's face. "The two sightings of the fruit are here and here." She pointed at the far east and west spots of the forest on the map. "And that's a really long way from the entrance so we need to hurry!"
Marco yawned and stretched. "We can't we just use the dimensional scissors to go into where the Tuft Fruit is?"
Star blinked. "What?"
"Dimensional scissors can be used to go anywhere, right? So why can't we used them to teleport into the forest and save time?"
"Because there are monsters that wait near interdimensional portals to swallow them up," the princess answered. "Don't you think I would've already considered that?" In truth, she didn't even consider it, but was glad that she remembered that little piece of information.
Many travelers and princesses and queens once used the scissors to get into the forest quicker in search of the Tuft Fruit. Eventually, the monsters of the forest got smarter and started to set traps at common portal spots. They devoured anyone who was unfortunate enough to be trapped. Scissors were never used to go into the forest ever again. Nobody knows for sure if those traps were still there and nobody was willing to take the risk.
Marco sighed, "Can I at least eat breakfast first?" Star pushed him off the bed.
"You could've already eaten if you didn't talk so much," she said. "Now go!"
Right after Marco walked out of the bathroom, Star shoved two pieces of French toast into his mouth.
"No time!" she exclaimed. She cut open a portal, grabbed Marco, and the two went in. They arrived at the entrance of the forest. Marco began to chew on the toast, holding the remainder of what he couldn't fit into his mouth. He stared at the forest. The brightness at the entrance completely disappeared where the trees began. It was still bright enough inside that you could see everything, but it was dark enough that anything could sneak up on you if it tried. Star. being in a hurry that he'd never seen before, interrupted his thoughts.
"Marco, eat faster!" she looked at him with exasperation. He stuffed down the remaining toast and the two went into the forest.
….
It was now late in the afternoon, four o'clock to be exact. The two teenagers' feet were in pain from all the walking. Marco felt like giving up. Star, on the other hand, kept on going, saying that the day would've been a waste if they didn't get the fruit. The journey felt boring and tedious. Not to say that it was uneventful - there were a few encounters with the creatures of the forest. Unlike Ludo's minions, these monsters were a lot more resilient and took a longer time to fight. Those monsters were the main reason Marco and Star were so exhausted. Some of the creatures looked like they were straight out of mythology. There was a lion with a scorpion tail, a small dragon-like creature that spit out acid instead of fire, and there was even a hydra the size of a pig. Marco and Star didn't fight it, but there was a big octopus that resided inside a lake. Its tentacles grabbed anything that was unfortunate enough to get close to it. For some strange reason, it reminded him of the anime Ferguson showed him two days ago.
Speaking of fighting, Marco was getting used to his new body. In fact, he felt faster and stronger in the monster form. He refrained himself from being too attached to it, with Monster Arm being a grim reminder of what could happen.
As Marco followed Star, she held out her right arm in front of him and both stopped in their tracks. She turned her right hand so the palm faced the ground and lowered the hand. Marco, seeing her slowly descending to the ground, followed her actions.
She pointed at a place in front. "Do you see it?" she whispered. He looked at the general vicinity and squinted his eyes. He looked a bit to the left and saw it. There it was, the Tuft Fruit, the thing they walked in the forest for hours on end to get. It was exactly as Glossaryck had described it, a blue tulip.
"Then let's get it!" Marco whispered enthusiastically.
"Not yet," Star said. "There are tufts lying around."
"Tufts?"
"The Tuft Fruit is called that because it's guarded by tufts," Star explained. "The fruit isn't that hard to find. The real challenge is having to get pass the tufts."
Marco looked at the fruit and the surrounding area. "I don't see them."
"They hide in the grass." The grass near the fruit was about one foot tall.
"It they're that small, then why are they a problem?" Marco asked. As if the heavens themselves wanted to show him the answer, an upright lizard moved near the fruit. Out from the grass jump out what Marco assumed to be a tuft. It looked like a small pig with tusks and sharp teeth. The tuft, although smaller than the lizard, jumped up and snarled at the intruder. About five more of the small creatures joined it, surrounding the lizard. Together, they jumped and tried to bit the invader. In just a few seconds, the lizard was scared off.
"That's why," Star commented. After seeing that display of strength, Marco's thoughts began to drift to a nature documentary he had watched. An animal, like the tuft - in size and ferocity - would try to fight anything it saw.
'What was its name?' he asked himself. He internally shook his head. Now was not the time to think about other things. A way to get the Tufts away would be to distract or trap them. He didn't know anything about the animals and assumed Star didn't know that much. After all, she would've already been in action. But the one thing that was common to most animals was that the males fought when a….
"That's it!" Marco snapped his fingers.
"Hmm?"
"Star, can you use a transformation spell to turn something into a female tuft?"
"What?" Star asked.
"Most males fight each other for a female in the animal kingdom. Maybe the tufts do something like that. If they get distracted with fighting each other enough, we can grab the fruit and get out."
The princess nodded. "All right, let's try it." She pointed her wand at an unexpected monster and yelled, "Terrific Tuft Transform!" The monster was transformed into a female tuft. The transformation affected more than the physical body, it replaced the monster's brain with one of a tuft's. Therefore, it instinctively moved towards the fruit. The two waited in anticipation as it went closer. To get a better view, they climbed up on a tree. When the transformed tuft did move close enough to the fruit, one of the tufts that was guarding snarled at it. Their plan came crashing down as the other tufts chased the transformed one away.
"Well, now what?" asked Star.
Marco and Star tried out other plans to get the tufts to move away - various food items, even transforming objects into large monsters. However, the tufts never moved away from the fruit, as if they were determined to stay right near it. Marco had another idea. What if….
"What if you transformed an object into the Tuft Fruit?" he asked.
"Marco, that's not funny," Star said. She looked at him with a look that said 'are you kidding me.' "Even if I did, the magical properties wouldn't be there."
"That's not what I meant. The Tufts might divide to move to the fake Tuft Fruit. If there's enough, we can have only one Tuft at a single fruit. We can then quickly take the real fruit."
"Fantastic Fruit Fantasia!" Star yelled. A blade of grass some feet away from the tufts was transformed into something that looked like the real Tuft Fruit. One of the tufts moved to the fake fruit and sniffed it. Afterwards, it moved back to the real fruit. The two teenagers could only stare as another plan failed.
It was now five o'clock. The teenagers up on the tree were running out of ideas. Star wanted to create a dragon, but Marco said that it might crush the fruit. The princess used the spell, "Maple Syrup Quicksand," but the syrup went around the area where the tufts were. Marco came up with the theory that the Tuft Fruit provided magical protection as well, giving a reason for the Tufts to stay near it and why their fake fruit didn't work. It would have been more fascinating if they weren't running out of time.
It was now six o'clock. The two were spending most of their time thinking about ideas and then throwing them out the window as they were just variations of the failed ones. Slowly, the clock counted down the remaining time. The sun was going to set at six thirty sharp as it did every day on Mewni. Star, as Marco noticed, was getting more jittery as the seconds went by.
"Don't worry so much," he tried to calm her down. "We can always just come back tomorrow. There're no more portal traps so we can use the scissors too." The princess grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"You don't understand!" she yelled. "We need to change you back by seven!"
"Why, is something going to happen to me?"
"I, I don't know. Maybe?" Star chewed on her wand.
"Star?" Marco asked slowly.
"Listen, what's important is that we change you back before the sun goes down. So, stop asking questions and start thinking!" But there were no more ideas that were thought out.
At six thirty, the sun began its descent across the horizon. Finally, Star gave up. She cut a portal straight to the Diaz home and the two went it. As the sun's light died down, ferocious beasts awakened.
The doorbell of the Diaz's home rang.
"Coming!" shouted Rafael Diaz from the kitchen. Making his way to the door, he opened it, revealing Queen Moon Butterfly and King River Butterfly. "Oh, hello! You are Star's parents, yes?"
"Yes," answered River. "We're here to visit her."
"Speaking of which, where is she?" asked Moon.
"Probably out having fun," answered Rafael. "I haven't seen her at all today. But don't worry, she's always back by dinnertime. Please, come in."
The royalty stepped inside the house.
"Are you going to stay for dinner?" inquired Mr. Diaz.
"Well…." Moon began.
"Of course, we will!" River replied with enthusiasm. "It would be rude to refuse a dinner invitation, isn't that right dear?"
"Yes, it is," the queen answered. "I suppose we'll be staying for dinner."
"Great!" said Rafael. "What is your favorite type of food?"
Star and Marco exited the portal at the upper hallway. The princess heard the voice of her mother along with both of Marco's parents. She pulled on her hair in frustration and panic. This was something she had been dreading. Marco would have to go downstairs for dinner and everyone would see the transformation. A single voice made its way to her ears and her mind shut down. It was the voice of her father.
She imagined it now, her best friend dying as River saw him and charged as fast as the short man could charge. Her father probably didn't have weapons with him, but he's hunted monsters with his bare hands before. As soon as he sets his eyes on anything that looks like a monster, he goes into a berserker state. Star would not be able to finish a single sentence -no, she wouldn't even be able to utter a word or a syllable - before her father finished killing Marco.
She continued to pull on her hair and went through the numerous spell phrases in her head.
Downstairs, River asked Rafael a question, "Excuse me, may I use your bathroom?"
"Oh, sure," Mr. Diaz nodded. "It's upstairs, the third door to the right."
Star heard footsteps from the stairs. The shadow cast onto the wall showed that it was her father. Her brain threatened to shut down as River went up, step by step. Marco, on the other hand, was looking at Star with concern. He did not recognize the voices besides those of his parents and so he had no idea why Star was so anxious. After all, she was…. Well, she did panic from time to time but he never saw her react this bad before.
The Butterfly family has a move that can be activated with either high amounts of stress or great control: dipping down. As the amount of stress inside Star reached its peak, she instinctively activated the ability.
"Dip down," she whispered. Her eyes and heart marks began to glow; she floated up in the air as Marco watched.
"Star?" he asked with fear. A burst of purple energy came out of the princess. It washed over Marco, reverting the transformation. The scaly skin, the snout, the claws, everything reverted into its original form. Right as River saw the two teenagers, Star went out of the "dipping down" and landed on the ground.
"Oh, hello Star," the king greeted. "Hello to you too, Marco. Your father said that he didn't see the two of you all day. What were you doing?"
"We were, uh, helping me practice magic in a safer area," Star answered with a smile.
"Sounds fun," River nodded. He groaned as he was quickly reminded of his bladder. "Perhaps you can tell us about it at dinner." The king quickly ran into the bathroom and shut the door.
"Star, why is your dad here?" asked Marco. The princess laughed nervously.
Meaningless Stuff:
The tufts are basically the Honey Badgers of Mewni - fast, ferocious, and small. They deter most people from going close to the Tuft Fruit. Adventurers have said that they couldn't find the fruit rather than telling their defeat at the hands of such a small creature. The Butterfly family records, despite what the adventurers said, tell the full truth.
For some reason, werewolves are not classified as monsters on Mewni and Marco would not be in any danger if he met Star's parents in that form. The worst thing that would happen is Moon being miffed about the improper use of magic.
I don't know if Marco would like to watch nature documentaries but I wrote it in as an excuse.
I always feel like I get lazy at the end of these oneshots.