1-Up Girl Chapter 5, a star vs. the forces of evil fanfic

Finally, we get into some action. Star vs the Forces of Evil is owned by Disney and Stands are the creation of the brilliant and talented Hirohiko Araki. With that said, Enjoy.

1-Up Girl: Chapter 5.

(Picking up right where we left off)

BAAAAATOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The relative calm of Ringo's Pocket Universe was suddenly shattered by a blast of emerald colored smoke.

Annie wasn't sure if she'd imagined it or not, but she could've sworn she saw the word BATOOM whoosh right past the side of her head.

When the smoke finally cleared, there was an enormous, colorful, slightly cartoonish looking slot machine like device hovering just above the tower's dead center.

The young otaku couldn't help but stop and marvel at this strange magical mechanical wonder.

It truly was a sight to behold.

But alas, before she could allow herself to get too comfortable, her captor quickly cut in.

"Fort those of you who weren't paying attention before, please allow me to elucidate the situation." The younger Ringo said in a flamboyant yet menacing manner. "The world you see around you was spawned from the 1987 classic arcade game The Prince of Araby; a highly ambitious game for its time and supposedly the precursor of all the party style video games we play today. The story goes that long ago in the magical land of Araby, the brave and handsome Prince Abu Bubu, that's you, was traveling across the great desert with his five wives, that's them. One day, they stumble upon an oasis and decide to make camp for the night. But what they don't know is that the oasis is owned by the evil genie Le Jinn, that's me, who loves games and hates all humans. And as punishment for trespassing, the Prince is forced to go through a series of trials. With me so far?"

"Uh… yes." Annie answered, half lying.

"Good, now as I was saying, the rules of this game are fairly simple. There are eight stages in total; seven minigames and one boss battle. The minigames are chosen at random by this machine right here." The emerald jinn explained, as he gestured towards the massive floating slot machine. "This first slot represents the category of the minigame, the second one represents the specific game from that category, and the last one represents the level of difficulty. The minigames are divided into seven categories: Fighting, Shooting, Racing, Sports, Puzzle, Platform, and Other. There are ten games for each category and each game can be set to a difficulty level from one to ten; ten being the hardest. For a grand total of seven hundred possible combinations. For each game you win, one of your brides will be set free. Win four games and you move on to the final boss battle to save the fifth bride. Lose four games or the boss battle and it's Game Over. At which point, you and your brides will be thrown into a vat of boiling lava. And since this is the arcade version and there's no way to save your progress, you'll only get one shot. You get all that, sweet cakes?"

"Uh… yes." The young otaku answered, her head feeling like it was about to burst.

"Good, now let's get this show on the…"

"Wait just a second!" Ferguson called out suddenly. "I've got like five or six questions I'd like to ask first."

"Oh, really?" replied Ringo, somehow sounding both dubious and annoyed. "Then by all means, ask away."

"Okay, first of all, I'd just like to point out that the set up for this game is completely half assed, even for the time it was made. I mean, what kind of prince travels across the desert with just his harem? Wouldn't it make more sense to have him travel with a caravan, or at the very least give him a camel? Second, I-YEEE-AAAAAH-AAAAAAH-AAAAAH-AAAAAAAAH!"

So fixated on his own blather, the tubby ginger failed to notice that his captor had teleported himself right next to his cage; or at least that was the case until he grabbed hold of said cage and started shaking it like a soda can. The emerald jinn kept this up for about a minute or so, clearly taking great joy in watching Ferguson slam his face against the iron bars again and again, before finally ceasing and allowing him to flop down on the floor in a battered heap.

"Anymore questions?" Ringo asked threateningly.

"No…Ugh… I'm good." Ferguson replied, trying to sound tuff in spite of the fact that his nose was broken.

"Good. Now, if there are no further delays… ON WITH THE GAME!"

With another puff of green smoke, the evil jinn vanished and then reappeared next to the giant slot machine.

"Okay! Now, everybody say the magic words! HAIL 2 U!"

And with that, the cartoonish device suddenly sprang to life and its three massive slots started spinning like crazy.

But while their captor was distracted by his infernal machine, Jackie took the opportunity to check up on her injured classmate.

"PSSST! Ferguson!" she called, trying her very best not to get the jinn's attention. "Hey, Ferguson! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." The battered teen replied, before pausing briefly to groan and wipe the blood from his nose. "Um… Jackie?"

"Yeah?"

"This is different, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this isn't like an adventure with Star, is it? That guy down there isn't screwing around. He's really gonna kill us if StarFan loses, isn't he?"

"Yeah, probably."
"Oh my god." The ginger pervert said despondently. "I can't believe this is happening. I'm gonna die and I've never even kissed a girl."

"Well, it finally happened." Brittany chimed in unexpectedly. "A setup to an insult so easy even I won't touch it."

Ignoring this, Jackie attempted to ease her fellow captive's worries.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Ferguson." She said in a comforting voice.

"Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure?"

"Because I have faith in my friends. I know Annie will save us. I can feel it in my gut."

"Well… if you say so. But just one question?"

"What?"

"Who the hell is Annie?"

But before the young skateboarder could attempt to answer, their captor suddenly let out a squeal of girlish delight.

"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO~ It's slowing down~ It's slowing down~"

And sure enough, it was.

Slowly but surely, the first slot came to a halt.

"Category: Sports."

Then the second.

"Game: Homerun Havoc."

And then the last.

"Difficulty Level: 5."

The emerald jinn smirked most wickedly.

"Now, everybody say the magic words! HAIL 2 U!"

Another blinding flash of light and the scene changed yet again.

Suddenly, they all found themselves in a massive arena full of cheering fans.

"Whoa…" went Oskar in astonishment. "Is this Fenway?"

At first Jackie didn't know what the heck he was talking about. But then she noticed the baseball diamond bellow.

Homerun Havoc.

Now it all made sense.

"Actually, this arena was modeled after Yokohama Stadium; home field of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars." Ringo said in an amused yet lecturing tone. "Which makes it the ideal setting for our first event: Homerun Havoc! As with most minigames, the rules are simple. Annie will have ninety seconds to score as many homeruns as she can. If she gets three strikes, four balls, five fouls, or less than six homers before time runs out she loses. With me so far, dearie?"

"Um… Yes." Annie replied nervously.

"Good, because you're up to bat."

Then, with a snap of his emerald fingers, an aluminum bat spontaneously materialized in the young otaku's hands.

"Better step up to the plate~"

From her cage high above the stadium, Jackie could see the anxiety in her friend's face.

And judging from the way Ferguson was hyperventilating, he wasn't faring much better.

"Oh God! Oh God! This can't be happening! Why did it have to be a Sports game?"

"Ferguson, please calm down." The young skateboarder spoke up; attempting to be the voice of reason. "I'm sure Annie will do just fine."

"Are you nuts? Just look at her! She's a geek! There's no way…"

"Shut up, Fat Ass." Britney cut in sharply. "Lightfoot's got this."

Naturally, this comment surprised everybody; including Annie herself.

"Wh-What did you just say?" asked Jackie confusedly.

"I said, she's got this." She replied casually, before looking down at the young otaku on home plate. "Hey, Lightfoot!"

"Um… yes?"

"Show this nerd what the Firecracker can do."

In the span of several seconds, Annie's expression went from shock to understanding and finally settled on cold hard determination.

"You got it." She replied confidently before taking a proper batting stance.

Confused, but not deterred, the emerald jinn snapped his fingers yet again, causing a smaller, more baseball themed clone of himself to materialize on the pitcher's mound.

"Okay, kiddies! Enough chit chat! The clock is set! The pitcher is ready~ Let the games begin~"

A split second later, the stadium's scoreboard let out a blaring buzzer noise and a countdown clock appeared.

Ninety seconds and counting.

Wasting no time, the pitcher threw the first ball and…

THWACK!

The ball went flying straight into center field and beyond.

One point on the scoreboard.

Naturally, everyone was surprised; except for Britney, who just smirked in amusement.

"Well… that was… lucky." Ringo said in a pitiful attempt to sound in control. "But let's see you do that aga…"

THWACK!

Two points.

THWACK!

Three Points.

THWACK!

Again and again, Annie hit one homerun after another; racking up points like a well oiled machine.

Before long, the clocked reached zero.

The game was over.

And to the understandable astonishment of nearly everyone in attendance, the young otaku had scored twenty homeruns in a row; without making a single mistake.

Even Ringo was speechless; which was nothing short of a miracle.

So, after an unseen announcer declared Annie the winner, the scene spontaneously shifted back to the evil jinn's tower; this time without a bright flash or his signature catchphrase.

Once the shock had finally worn off, the realization that they were now one step closer to freedom sunk in and Jackie and the other captives started to cheer.

"YEAH! Way to go, Annie!"

"Oh my god! That was unbelievable!"

"Whoa… so awesome."

"Um… thanks, guys." Annie replied sheepishly; clearly not used to receiving this much praise.

Moments later, Britney's cage was enveloped by the evil jinn's green smoke, and the queen of mean suddenly appeared on the ground next to Annie.

"Nice work, Firecracker." Britney said to her savior; sounding uncharacteristically sincere.

"Um… thank you, Britney. But… how do you know about my old nickname?"

"Yes, I'm rather curious about that myself." Said Ringo angrily, having finally recovered. "You little bitch. You were smirking all the way through that first game. How the hell did you know she could do that?"

Despite his caustic tone and massive size, Britney was not intimidated by the emerald jinn.

So without even flinching, she just looked straight into his eyes and smirked.

"Well, it's all rather simple really." She said with casual condescension. "I don't like to advertise this around school, but I'm actually a pretty big baseball fan. The San Diego Padres are my favorite. Why, I even have an extensive collection of rookie cards back at my mansion."

"Y-Y-You're a sports fan?" Ringo asked dumbfoundedly. "But you're a cheerleader. A rich, mean girl cheerleader! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, like I said, I don't like to advertise it. But I do love the game. In fact, five years ago, I even had my parents send me to an expensive baseball camp in Oakland for the summer. I was great, naturally, but there was one kid who was even better. A kid who shattered the camp record by hitting thirty-six consecutive homeruns in three games. A kid that everyone called Firecracker because every time she hit the ball it sounded like an explosion. And that kid is standing right here."

Suddenly, Annie let out an audible gasp of realization.

"Wait a minute! You mean you're that Britney?" she asked amazedly, as she gave the cheerleader a quick once over. "Wow… you look a lot different without pigtails."

"So I've been told." Britney replied casually before turning her attention back to Ringo. "Anyway, that's why your stupid plan didn't work."

"P-Plan? What plan? I didn't have any plan." The emerald jinn said nervously.

"Look, I don't really get what all this is about, but I'm guessing that since you created this world that also means you can control it." The young cheerleader reasoned. "That spin wasn't random. I'll bet you deliberately picked a sports game because you took one look at Lightfoot and assumed she'd suck at it. Admit it."

"I… I… SHUT UP! This is my world! I can do whatever I want!"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you don't have any friends, do you." Britney continued, unfazed by his outburst. "I figured as much. What with you being so unpleasant to be around. And since you're not used to being around people that's probably why you suck so hard at profiling."

"My profiling is flawless!"

"Bull! You're so-called profiling is based on superficial stuff we posted on the internet and outdated stereotypes. You're just like those dorks from school. The ones that spend all their time in their moms' basements playing role playing games. Losing themselves in cheap fantasy worlds because they can't do anything in the real one."

"You insolent little…"

"No, I take that back. You're worse. You're so lame you can't win at your own game without cheating."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"You think you're so cool, just because you can win at a stupid video game. Well, let me tell you something. People like me, people like Lightfoot, we win at life. And that's why you're gonna lose."

"ENOUGH!" the emerald jinn roared, causing the entire world to shake. "Next game. NOW!"

End Notes:

Hope you guys liked this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. Anyway, see you in the next one.

Peace.