Star and Marco vs Evil Book 2 Chapter 13: XIII, a star vs. the forces of evil fanfic

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This is a work of fiction portraying alternate universes; all similarities to beings living, dead, or undead are entirely convergent.

XIII

On a lazy Wednesday, Star and Marco were lounging on the sofa in Star's room watching season two of Young Justice, finally getting around to watching the series after so many gushing recommendations by StarcoFan1. Marco had a smile of easy contentment on his face, while Star's had a frown and was streaked with tears, the pair having finished watching the season two finale.

"That's so sad," Star said, sniffling.

"It is," Marco responded. "Ya know, we're basically Kid Flash and Artemis. I think that makes them my favorite cartoon ship, ever."

Star rolled her eyes as she wiped away her tears. "You know I think shipping ruins cartoons."

"And you know I think you're an idiot for thinking that ... but a cute one."

Down the hall, Janna and Tom were lounging on the sofa in Janna's room watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Janna had a smile of easy contentment on her face, while Tom's had an annoyed grimace.

"I really wish you'd keep your hands off that," Tom growled.

"Why?" Janna asked. "It's both soft and firm, and oh so long. I love playing with it!" Janna almost purred as she continued her stroking.

"You may love it, but what you're doing actually hurts."

"Awwwww, poor baby."

"I don't know where you got the idea that demons like their tails played with, but we don't."

Janna, who had no intention of stopping, was about to make another quip when Tom suddenly arched his back, a soft glow of blue fire surrounding him, then floated into the air. His eyes were white and pupilless, and his skin was patterned with blue veins. It looked to Janna exactly the way Star had described Tom's demoncism.

Tom groaned softly, then in a hellish voice, said, "A curse. A curse of pain and fire. You must stop your spying ways; remove all your cameras, your listening devices, and your magical spells of espying, lest the Butterflys shall curse the demon for all time!"

"Tom!" Janna cried. "Tom, can you hear me? TOM!"

In his regular voice, Tom said, "Star ... Star and Marco ... must have cursed me ... to make you stop ... spying on them. I can feel it ... the curse can't be broken ... unless you do what they say!" Tom screamed, then cried, "Please, help me! I can't stay like this forever!"

"Hang in there, boo, Janna's on it!"

Janna ran down the hall to Star's room, kicking the door open. The room was in shambles, pieces of destroyed furniture and small fires scattered about the room. Star was on one side of the room while Marco was on the other, their eyes and Magic-pips aglow. Magic swirled around their fists like hellfire. This was not the first time Janna had seen Star and Marco in such a state, so she knew immediately what they were fighting about; it served to add fuel to her rage.

"You two!" Janna yelled. "You cursed him, and now you're fighting about shipping in cartoons, again? How dare you! Remove the curse, NOW!"

Star and Marco powered down, staring at Janna. "Curse? What curse? Who's cursed?" Star asked, as she doused all the fires.

"You know damn well who you cursed, and why."

Star and Marco continued to give Janna blank stares.

"Fine! I'll remove all my spying stuff. But just so you know, I think it sucks that you're doing this to Tom. I did it, you should take it out on me!"

"Tom? What's wrong with Tom?" Marco asked, worry evident in his voice.

"So, you're going to play it that way. Okay, I'll play your game. Tom is cursed, and he says it can't be lifted until my devices, and spells, to spy on people are gone." A scream echoed down the hall. "But you have to help me, or it could take me days. Open a portal to the north-west corner of my bedroom."

Star pulled Marco's dimensional scissors from under the debris that used to be her desk, then said, "Uh, I get turned around indoors, which one is the north-west corner?"

"The corner next to the shrunken heads and shrunken bodies display!"

Star cut open the portal. Janna concentrated, then almost a dozen spots in Star's room began to glow. "I'll lift the spells," Janna said, "while you two pull the tech and throw it into the portal."

Janna walked over to a glowing spot, closing her eyes and concentrating, holding her hands toward the glow.

Star and Marco each took other spots, climbing over, under, and on, remnants of furniture to remove tiny cameras, microphones, and motion detectors. After she had removed two spells, Janna concentrated, to no apparent effect. "Marco, in the bathroom with me, Star, your secrets closet."

After five minutes and over two dozen devices, Janna declared the room clean.

"Marco, your room next."

The teens ran to Marco's room, removing Janna's spying paraphernalia as quickly as they could.

They then jogged down the hallway, removing stuff as they moved. They then cleared the other hallways in the castle.

The process repeated in the public and royal libraries, public and royal dining rooms, the royal recovery room, Moon's office, various other rooms, offices, and cubby-holes, and pretty much anywhere a person could go, except, thankfully, the royal bed chamber.

Forty minutes later, a winded Star asked, "Is that it?"

"No," Janna answered, "now we go outside."

The process was repeated in the tilting yards, training grounds, knight and squire quarters, the royal Rose Garden, and Eclipsa's tower.

Breathing hard, Marco asked, "Now that's everything, right?"

"No; on to the Groundlands."

Two hours later, all three teens collapsed in the Castle Village town square. "Now we're done, right?" Star asked.

"No ... now ... we go ... to ... Earth."

The quiet and darkness of Jackie's bedroom gave way to the sound and light of an opening dimensional portal. Jackie and Chloe quickly covered themselves with a blanket as Star, Marco, and Janna exited the portal.

"What the hell ..." Jackie began.

"No time for explanations!" yelled Janna. She closed her eyes and concentrated, multiple spots in the room beginning to glow. "I've marked all the devices in the house, go, GO!"

The three teens portaled into various other homes around the city, pulling out the cameras and other devices, and ending the spells.

The three teens ran down the halls and through the rooms of Echo Creek Academy, removing all the spying paraphernalia.

The three teens ran down the streets of Echo Creek, removing Janna's devices and spells.

The three teens ran through the various parks, removing all the spying material Janna had placed there.

The three teens ran into business after business, grabbing Janna's stuff that spies.

Three hours later, the three teens portaled into Janna's room. A full third of the room was taken up by electronic devices, from floor to ceiling. Janna ran over to Tom, who was still floating above the floor, glowing and moaning.

Janna rounded on Star. "That's everything! Lift the curse!"

"But I didn't curse him!" Star yelled, worry on her face.

"Fine!" Janna screeched. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Marco suddenly gagged, a camera and microphone leaping from his nose.

Janna then turned to Star. There was a loud buzzing sound, then twin sparks and whisps of smoke erupted from the horns on Star's hairband.

"That's everything!" Janna cried. "I promise!"

Tom slowly drifted toward the floor, the glow fading from around him and his eyes returning to normal. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

Janna ran to embrace Tom. She looked up at Star and Marco, saying, "How could you two do that to him? I thought he was your friend!" Janna suddenly erupted into sobs and tears. "I hate it when things are out of my control!" She then ran out of the room, ashamed of being so emotional.

Star and Marco stared after Janna, Star saying, "But we didn't ..."

The teens turned back to Tom. He stood, brushed off the front of his shirt with both hands, then walked to the pile of devices. He began chanting, opening a fire column portal to the Underworld, underneath the paraphernalia. Once everything was gone and the portal closed, he winked at his friends, then clicked his tongue as he made a firing-gun gesture with his fingers. He finished by saying, "You're welcome."

Shocked, Star and Marco simply watched, silently, as Tom walked out of the room, whistling. Several seconds later they heard Tom call, "Boo? I have something to tell you."

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"Sir Yvgeny ..." Moon began.

"Please, your highness, call me Buff Frog. We are in private conference."

"Good point. Please, call me Moon."

"Spasiba."

"Do you really think it's a good idea to give the Septarians a new homeland? Keeping them scattered, without country or leadership, is a big part of why we've had relative peace with you Monsters for so long."

"Da, is so. But New Septarsis not my creation, nor King Brudo's. Mystery benefactor set up city-state. King Brudo only give them semi-autonomy in exchange for backing his rule."

"Who is this benefactor?"

Without more information, Buff Frog decided not to speak of the mystery being in black. While he had very good reasons to believe she was the benefactor, he had yet to find proof. He trusted Moon, but, as a master spy and general, knew too many swimmers roiled the pond; telling Star, who would relay the information to Marco, was probably telling two beings too many. If word accidently got out it might cause the being to go underground, making Buff Frog's attempts to identify the being, and uncover all her machinations, tougher, if not impossible.

"Do not know," Buff Frog answered. "But do know a benefactor work with Septarians to name me as Regent; it could be same being."

"So you trust them?"

"Nyet; just because Septarians responsible for attaining my office does not mean I trust them."

"Do they know of your distrust of Septarians?"

"Da. My aiding Butterflys against Toffee is well known, as is speaking against New Septarsis. They do not trust me any more than I trust them."

"Then why the corn did they want you to be Regent?"

"Do not know why; is mystery. Septarians do not like Mewmins, nor are they fond of other Monsters. Suspect they are playing long game, intent to make troubles. I must be necessary for plan, somehow."

Moon sighed, then rose from her chair in the sitting area of her office, where she was meeting with Buff Frog. She walked to the window.

"Septarians and 'troubles.' Like we need more of that. I had hoped the defeats of Toffee were enough, but clearly I was wrong."

"Moon, Star Butterfly used to think all Monsters bad, but me and Karate-boy show her better way. I used to hate Mewmins, but Star Butterfly show me better way. Me, Star Butterfly, and Karate-boy show Moon better way. Septarians, though ... they live too long, actually living through the wars and the hate, for centuries. I wish to give them benefit of doubt, but not good idea to trust them too much. Not for Butterflys, not for Mewni, not even for Monsters."

Moon nodded, then turned and returned to her chair. Leaning forward, Moon projected an image of New Septarsis in front of them.

"New Septarsis looks like a city built specifically with a war in mind. It's built in a deep bowl surrounded by mountains. The walls of the city are set at the feet of the mountains. There's no way for armies to approach the city except by scaling those mountains, and the terrain and forests make that almost certain to fail."

Buff Frog studied the image intently.

"The only vulnerability I can see is to siege. It has no water supply, its water piped in via aqueducts that could easily be blocked. There's no farmable land within the city walls, and limited room for storage and food animals. Unfortunately, the mountains make it impossible to employ siege engines like catapults and trebuchets, so it'd be a long siege."

"Da," Buff Frog responded, rubbing his chin. "But, these are Septarians. Lack of food and water does harm them, but very, very, slowly. A siege could take decades."

"True, but at least they would be bottled up for a time. A siege lasting decades, though ... I wouldn't bet a single ear of corn that, with so much time, they wouldn't find a way through the siege and escape."

"What about magic?"

"We have a record number of magic users, perhaps the most powerful ones in Mewni's history. But we're not invulnerable, and just one Septarian would be dangerous even to a magic user, let alone a thousand."

Buff Frog shook his head. He could find no fault with Moon's analysis.

"Building it in the southeastern Jaggy Mountains certainly influenced the Jaggy Kingdom's vote," Moon continued. "I know the Monster Kingdom disputes the Jaggy Kingdom's claim to that area, but moving in and occupying it, rather than using diplomacy, doesn't help any kingdom trust King Brudo. That they're Septarians makes it all the worse. If this were any other time, it likely would have already sparked a war."

Buff Frog did not answer, continuing to scrutinize the city and its surrounding mountains.

"With the new Monster Kingdom being an allied rather than independent kingdom, I think it's appropriate for us to keep each other apprised of anything we learn about what the Septarians might be planning. Agreed?"

"Da, agreed."

Moon dissipated the image. "Good. Let us turn our attention to other matters. We still need to nail down food and materials exchange between our two Kingdoms, which will require us to settle travel between and through the kingdoms that did not vote for full Monster citizenship within their borders. First, though, we must set a date to meet with King Dave and his ministers to discuss their decision on Monster citizenship."

"Da, just so."

Moon opened her calendar. "So, the earliest we can meet..."

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Star and Marco sat on Star's sofa, watching a movie on Friendship Thursday. It was a classic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which somehow neither of them had ever seen. Sitting in between them was a very attentive Buff Frog.

Buff Frog had arrived at the castle early in the day for his meeting with Queen Moon about matters of state. Toward the end of the afternoon, Katrina and her new beau arrived to check in before leaving on a date.

Katrina's boyfriend was a few inches taller than Katrina, an inch or so shorter than Buff Frog. He was a frog Monster, but unlike Buff Frog, his muscles were not hidden below a layer of bulk; he was a champion fighter in the hand-to-hand-to-hand martial art favored in the dimension where he met Katrina, during her Cornball season. His dark green skin blended in somewhat with his dark-green pants, light-green tee-shirt, and dark-maroon hoodie. His hair was medium length and black, parted on the side and combed over. He had an infectious smile, dreamy brown eyes, and a cute little black birthmark, like a mole, on his right cheek.

Star immediately liked Markku, while Marco immediately hated him.

"Not good enough for her," Marco explained. "Just look at him; he has 'degenerate' written all over him. If my daughter ever brings home a boy like that, I'll disown her."

Star didn't bother to respond, rolling her eyes. Yeesh, and they call me oblivious, she thought.

Star and a sullen Marco showed the two around the castle, ending in the Rose Garden, where they chatted amicably until Buff Frog's meeting with Moon was completed. After a quick reunion, Buff Frog, with a stern, fatherly, look on his face, reluctantly said goodbye as the couple left on their date.

Once their portal had closed, Buff Frog's expression softened. "They grow up so quickly," he said, wistfully. "Well, must return to empty house."

Her heartstrings thus tugged, Star invited Buff Frog to join her and Marco for their Friendship Thursday movie.

"You don't mind, do you?" Star asked in a whisper, after the teens excused themselves to gather some snacks.

"Not at all, I like Buff Frog. I mean, it has to turn out better than when we had Poneeeee..." Marco clamped his mouth shut, not finishing his thought.

"It's okay, Marco, we can't dance around the subject forever."

"Just the same, I'm sorry." Marco gave Star a quick kiss on the cheek.

Buff Frog was enjoying himself, treating the story like a secret for a master spy to prise into the open. He asked many intelligent questions, quickly catching on. When the film reached the apocalyptic dream sequence, where Sarah Connor dreamed of the nuclear strike on Los Angeles, Buff Frog became intensely focused.

"This is result of powerful weapon, da?"

"Da," Marco responded. "I mean, yes."

"And this is what it does, wreck city and slowly burn beings?"

"Yes and no. It's a dream sequence, where Sarah is torturing herself with fear, so they slowed it down for dramatic effect. In real life, it would be nearly instantaneous, like in the shots leading up to her burning."

"Ah. And this weapon is not magic?"

"No," Star answered, "it's technology. Earth is ahead of Mewni when it comes to weapons tech."

"This weapon is used only for big cities?"

"The one shown in the movie is," Marco responded. "There are different types and sizes, from the big strategic weapons like in the movie, to small tactical nukes for use on the battlefield."

"Tactical ... nooks?"

"Short for 'tactical nuclear weapon.'"

"Ah, spasiba."

Buff Frog watched the rest of the movie and seemed to enjoy it, but also seemed distracted. When the movie was over, they talked about the story for a bit, Buff Frog showing a remarkable grasp of the drama and its real-world applications and implications.

Finally, Buff Frog thanked the teens profusely, then took his leave.

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Several days later, Buff Frog was wading through the west Mewnian swamps, alone. He had chosen a route through the deepest, most dangerous, of the swamps, heavily forested by the carnivorous Bleeding Cypress, a very close cousin of the Bleeding Willow. He judged by the screams that he had temporarily shaken off the beings who were following him.

Buff Frog paused by a tree filled with skeletons in its branches, examining a knothole just below head height. He felt around inside the knot as if he was curious about its shape, surreptitiously dropping in a small note.

"I'm here," whispered a being in a gray cloak, posing as one of the tree's victims.

"Have important mission for you," Buff Frog whispered back. "Biggest mission in history of Mewni, I think."

The being responded, "I won't let you down."

"You will be having to go to Earth Dimension for mission. Do not forget Earth does not have Monsters, so must hide true look. First, must find what humans call geologist, one who knows mountains. Make any offer you must to hire for Buff Frog, not Monster Kingdom."

Buff Frog paused, allowing the orders to be memorized. He continued, "Second, must find information about device. You will spy on military, so must be very careful. Must find all information, including how to make, how to use, what it does, and if can buy or steal. Name on note in knot. Good luck."

Dennis Avarius did not move for twenty minutes after Buff Frog left, watching the swamp to make sure there were no stragglers among Buff Frog's watchers. Carefully climbing from the tree, he retrieved the paper, read it, then dropped it into the swamp. As the acidic water slowly burned the paper to ash, the words upon it could be read for a few moments:

"Tactical nuclear weapon."

As always, stay amazing!