*In Jay's Workspace, we see RJ "Jay" Writing Ink going over the PNG's he had made of himself for his YouTube channel, along with a massive amount of notes and a bunch of other stuff that he had related to that. Behind him, we see DAU Kermit, TFS Nappa, Omnitraxus, Janna, Rex, and a bunch of others looking at them.*
Jay: So, be honest, what do you guys think? Can I pull this off?
Janna: I'm more surprised you're going through this. I don't understand the appeal.
Jay: Vtubers are growing in popularity, and since the model's haven't gotten to the point where we can make them expressive enough, I'm going with the PNG route. Now, all I need to do is set everything up and make my big debut stream. Plus, this also means that I don't have to worry about anyone walking into the frame behind me while I'm streaming or reacting.
Kermit: Or, you know, wear clothes.
Nappa: You don't wear clothes to begin with, Kermit! Now, what I wanna know is...are we gonna go see Creed III or what. Because we've been putting it off for weeks.
Jay: Well, I'm sorry, but I've been busy. I had to write this giant, expository chapter in a few days. I really need to start writing ahead of time again.
Rex: REX WANTS CANDY ALREADY!
Jay: Fine, let's go see the movie now. But when we get back, we got something else to prepare for. Actually, two things. CUE THE STORY!
"Okay, Comet. Let's recap what's happened so far: your Wand started acting up, Glossaryck told you that something was contaminating it from the inside. We went inside the Wand, got lost, fought a bunch of Monsters and bad guys, saw some memories from your past. Saw the memories of several of your ancestor's pasts, including what looked like King Solarius executing prisoners of war, not to mention that festival being thrown by King Festivius, which I am convinced was an orgy! We found my Dad's Pig-goat that's supposed to be dead-"
"Ba-a-a-a-a," Lil' Chauncey bleated as it watched Comet pace back and forth around the Principal's office.
"-who then proceeded to steal your boot and lead you on a wild goose chase across the school. And just when you finally get it back, you lose Glossaryck. You do the one thing that you weren't supposed to do! Did you miss anything?" Comet asked himself as he looked at his reflection in the window. "No, Comet, you did not. But it's alright. This isn't your first time traveling into a surreal, reality-warping dimension. You got this," he said, attempting to reassure himself. That was when Chauncey tried to nibble on the sleeves of his hoodie.
"Oh, who are you kidding, Comet? You're in over your head!" Comet whimpered as he felt himself on the verge of tears. "I'm gonna be stuck in here forever and never see Marcia, Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, or any of my friends again!" Comet then followed this up by slapping himself in the face. "Get a grip, Comet! You've been in way worse situations than this and got out of them just fine."
Comet then turned to face the doorway. "Yeah, but how are we supposed to get out of this?" Comet then turned to face the wall behind him; clearly, he conversed with himself like Gollum did in Lord of the Rings.
"The same way you always get out of these messes. Determination, ingenuity, and never giving up. I mean, come on, man. You've walked a tightrope over a pack of stampeding Warnicorns! You can handle whatever this kooky place has in store for you!"
"Yeah, I'm right! I got this!" Comet said to himself. "Besides, didn't Glossaryck say that we should meet at the Castle if we get separated? All we gotta do is get out of here and make our way to the football field. From there, it's a straight shot to Castle Dragonfly!"
"Right as ever, Comet! Now get out there and do what you do best: fuck. Shit. Up!"
"Hell yeah! I'm Comet Dragonfly! No dimension can hold me!" Comet said as he talked himself into finishing what he had started. "Also, I should stop talking to myself like this, and I could go crazy."
Having talked himself into continuing his quest (and out of his short-lived "Gollum" phase), Comet hopped onto the Principal's desk and tried to think of how he would go about his plans. He needed to get out of Echo Creek Academy the fastest way possible. The longer he stayed in the World Within the Wand, the harder things would get for him; he had already been there for what felt like hours!
"Alright, Comet. When stranded in unknown territory, the best thing to do is use the resources available to your advantage." Comet then looked around the office at the stuff available to him. There was his mom's rocking chair, his staff, the hamburger he had brought from the cafeteria, what was left of the leash, and Lil' Chauncey the Pig-goat. For some reason, Principal Skeeves had a staple gun on his desk.
"Hmm..." the gears in Comet's brain began to turn as some ideas formed.
Spongebob Narrator: A few minutes later...
"Whooo-hooo! Now, this is what I call riding in style! Yah, Chauncey!"
Comet Dragonfly barrelled down the halls of the phantom Echo Creek Academy on his makeshift chariot/sled thing. Using some of what was left of the leash, he tied the hamburger to his staff for bait. Then he just had to grab Lil' Chauncey's reins, and boom! He had a homemade chariot powered by one hungry Pig-goat. Now all he had to do was steer themselves toward the football field, and then they would have a clear path to Castle Dragonfly.
Even with this new mode of transportation, though, that task proved to be easier said than done. Echo Creek Academy was a big school, and Comet had a little trouble finding his way around it. In hindsight, it would've helped if he'd paid attention to Marcia when she'd shown him around the first few days. Still, nothing would stop Comet now that he was in the zone like this. Not even the bloody version of him standing in the hallway he just passed by!
*Record Scratch*
Wait...a bloody version of me? Comet's mind did some mental backtracking as he thought over that last part...along with some actual turnaround as he and Chauncey doubled back to see whatever prompted that thought. Much to his surprise, he hadn't imagined things. There was, in fact, another version of himself, now covered in blood and various other fluids, standing in front of him. The same also went for the Lil' Chauncey sitting right next to him.
"Okay...what? I'm sorry, but what is this?"
"Oh hey, Comet!" the other Comet said to Comet.
"Umm...hey," Comet said to his bloody counterpart as he awkwardly waved to himself. "Is this some kind of weird trick?"
"Nope! It's me, Comet Dragonfly!" the bloody Comet proudly proclaimed. "Let me guess: you're gonna say, "but you can't be Comet! I'm Comet Dragonfly!"
"But you can't be Comet! I'm Comet Dragonfly," Comet said at that exact moment, prompting him to gasp. "Did I just..."
"Pull a Joseph Joestar on yourself? Yes, yes, you did," the bloody Comet laughed. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist making a JoJo reference. But, seriously, I'm also Comet. Or rather, I'm you about..." bloody Comet ran down the numbers in his head before answering, "five minutes from now."
"...How?" Comet asked in utter confusion.
"Didn't Glossaryck tell you? If you're inside the Wand for too long, all your new memories become your old memories until they're overwritten and replaced by future versions of yourself."
"...I don't get it, dude, and I doubt you do, too," Comet snarked at himself.
"Yeah, I don't. I'm just parroting what the other Comet said to us five minutes ago. From my perspective, at least. If we stay here any longer, then more versions of us will start popping up and trying to get to Castle Dragonfly. It's like the Wand's remembering us' when we came inside the World Within the Wand. And too many could end up breaking the whole thing...or something."
"But how did we end up like this? What could've done this to us?" Comet asked as he looked his future self over. What in the Seven Hells could happen to him in the next five minutes that would leave him looking like this?
"Oh, that's because of the Deathclaw that we're about to fight. Don't ask me where it came from because I don't know. I'm here to warn you so you can hold it off and give us a chance to bolt for the Castle."
At that moment, the rumbling that Comet had heard periodically throughout the school began to grow ever louder, followed by a distant roar down the hallway.
"Yep," the bloody Comet said as he heard what was happening. "That's the Deathclaw. Good luck, me! We're both counting on you!" the bloody Comet said as he led Chauncey down the hallway toward the football field.
"Wait, what was that about a Deathclaw?" Comet tried to ask his future self, but it was too late, and he was already gone. His attention was soon drawn back to the sound of whatever made that massive rumbling. Hesitantly, Comet exited the rocking chair and took a few steps down the darkened hallway. When did the lights on the ceiling start to flicker and go out? Comet wondered. He doubted that he would get any answers, though, as he continued to make his way into the darkened hallway, with Chauncey following close behind him, still pulling the chair.
The rumbling and roaring noises that he had heard earlier began to grow louder the further he traveled down the hallway, but Comet had no idea what could be causing it. He did know: his future self told him it was a Deathclaw. Comet knew he had heard that name before but couldn't remember where. Was it from a book, a TV show, or a video game?
Wait, video game... the thought of a video game turned the gears in Comet's head. He remembered Alfonso showing him this last-gen open-world survival game into which he'd put at least a hundred hours of playtime. He didn't fully understand the premise, but he knew it had to do with surviving in a future version of Earth after Humans had blown it all up in some dumb war and fighting zombies, giant monsters, bandits, robots, and each other. And one of those creatures you got to combat was something that looked like a cross between a goat or ram, a crocodile, and a velociraptor.
"Wait...Deathclaw?" It was at this point that Comet finally remembered what a Deathclaw was. When Comet started playing the game and fought his first one, Alfonso told him it was this science experiment gone wrong that escaped captivity and spread out across the ruined Earth, becoming some of the most feared predators. And as the roaring intensified and some strange, four-legged monstrosity came barreling down the far end of the hallway, Comet remembered why it was considered scary.
"RAAAARRRWWW!"
"Oh, crapbaskets," Comet said as he mentally cursed his bad luck. Standing at the end of the hallway, reclining on its back legs as it brought itself to its full height, was a Deathclaw. Its massive, four-fingered front limbs were lined with razor-sharp claws the size of Comet's hand, with three more digits lining its back legs. Like that of a crocodile, a powerful tale protruded from its back, ready to be used as a living club against those that crossed it. At the top of its powerful and muscular body, its back lined with spikes was its sizable head, complete with horns, reptilian eyes, and razor-sharp teeth. All told it looked like something straight out of a nightmare. And for whatever reason, it had found itself inside the World of the Wand.
And it looked hungry. Comet couldn't tell at first, but when he saw it look in their direction and Lil' Chauncey fearfully bleated before hiding behind him, he could guess its intentions.
"Oh, hells no. I ain't letting you turn my Dad's pet Pig-goat into your next meal!" Comet shouted in defiance before reaching for his staff and carefully untying the burger. "You want him, you gotta get through me!"
As Comet stared down the fictional predator, the Deathclaw leaned its body forward and let out another guttural growl, clearly meant as intimidation. However, years of training with the Kingsguard and his mom and fighting various Monsters had taught Comet never to show weakness to an opponent, regardless of their size. Roaring back in defiance, Comet banged his staff on the ground as he stepped forward, challenging the Deathclaw to come at him. The creature gladly obliged this request, getting down on all fours before charging straight at the Prince of Mewni.
Comet held his ground, not making a move. He had to time this right if he wanted to pull this off. Once it got about halfway across the hallway, though, the boy made his move. Reaching for his harness for one of the remaining Molotov Cocktails, Comet used his lighters to ignite the cloth jutting out of the bottle. Once sufficiently alight, he leaned back into a baseball pitcher's pose before throwing the projectile at the creature, hitting it dead in the face. Shards of broken glass scattered around it as it shattered against its tough skin, narrowly missing its eyes as its alcoholic contents caught fire. In a single moment, the Deathclaw's face ignited into flames. It wasn't enough to put the creature down, but because he targeted it right as it opened its mouth to roar again, some of the flames managed to make it inside, burning its mouth and the edge of its throat and causing it immense pain.
Staggering as it tried to get its bearings, the Deathclaw frantically put out the flames before they could rob it of its vision or sense of smell. However, Comet wasn't going to let up. Charging forward, Comet reached behind him before pulling out the staple gun he'd found on Principal Skeeves' desk. He didn't know what made him take it; he thought it looked cool. Now, he saw that was the right choice.
Aiming the already loaded staple gun, Comet began to fire off round after round of staples into the Deathclaw's vulnerable mouth, eyes, and nose. Most of them missed, hitting the creature's tough hide before falling harmlessly to the floor. The ones that did hit drew blood and distracted it even further. As a result, this gave Comet the opening he needed. Jumping atop one of the nearby rows of lockers to give him some space, Comet charged forward before leaping down onto the Deathclaw's back and hitting it with his staff while the reptile tried its best to shake him off.
Eventually, the animal recovered enough to properly deal with the child attempting to kill it from its back. Using its long claws, it reached behind itself and attempted to pull Comet off, whatever the cost. Anticipating this, Comet deftly leaped off his opponent's back before landing behind it. As he prepared to fire at the reptile again, though, Comet felt the wind get knocked out of his chest as the Deathclaw's massive tail hit him like a freight train, sending him surging back until some broke his momentum of the lockers. So hard did Comet hit the lockers that he left a noticeable dent in them, causing them to open and spill their contents onto the floor below.
While it could've gone after the now vulnerable Chauncey, the Deathclaw recognized Comet as the more immediate threat and, thus, singled it out for elimination. Roaring before sprinting on all fours, the beast came hurtling towards Comet, who could only throw another cocktail in its direction. This time, though, the Deathclaw knew better than to take the hit, as it dodged out of the way before continuing towards Comet. However, Comet's intentions weren't to use the cocktail to hurt it. That was to buy him a few seconds as he pried himself free from the lockers and whipped out his mini-flamethrowers. Using several of them at full power, Comet unleashed a belt of flame so intense that the Deathclaw instinctively recoiled in response. Now distracted, Comet took the opportunity to pull out his staple gun. Now at point-blank range, Comet had no problem hitting his target in its left eye, blinding it and causing it to spurt blood on the ground and onto Comet's jacket.
As the Deathclaw roared in pain, Comet felt himself begin to feel dizzy as he coughed up blood, a result of getting tail-whipped and slammed into the hard metal of the lockers. However, something about it told him that his injuries weren't fatal or even serious, prompting him to fight through the pain as he lunged forward. Ducking underneath the creature's clawed hands, Comet swung his staff at its mouth, gambling that he could do the most damage there. His gamble paid off as the force of his strike knocked several of the Deathclaw's teeth out, sending them falling to the cold ground in a clatter, one of them into Comet's hand.
Now thoroughly enraged at its intended victim, the Deathclaw began to slash around wildly with its claws in a blind fury. It had no plan; it simply wanted to hurt Comet. Luckily, most of the attacks missed the smaller and more agile boy, with only one of them inflicting a shallow flesh wound on his chest.
Wincing from the sudden pain as he felt the topmost layers of skin give way, Comet gritted his teeth and refused to give in. He had felt far worse pain in the past, which wouldn't stop him. Continuing to dodge, Comet slowly chipped away at the Deathclaw's body, delivering blows meant to fracture bones and dislocate limbs on various parts of its body. Finally, when it got to the point where its health had suffered enough, Comet enacted his coup de grace.
Comet lunged forward, taking the last of his Molotov Cocktails and igniting it with his remaining flamethrowers before stuffing it inside the creature's mouth. Landing on its back before it could even react, Comet then used his staff to forcibly jam the creature's mouth shut, ensuring it couldn't avoid the inevitable explosion of fire and alcohol that roasted its mouth and charred its throat. As the Deathclaw roared in pain, Comet took the tooth he'd taken in his hands before jamming it into its sole remaining eye. Blood spurted all over Comet as he pushed the tooth further until it pierced its brain. Attempting to overpower the Prince of Mewni one last time, the Deathclaw let out one last roar as it attempted to grab the boy with its claws...only to freeze mid-motion before falling silent. It remained upright for a moment more as the spark of life in the phantom flickered out before, finally, it fell over, dead.
After pulling himself off the back of the Deathclaw's carcass, Comet took a moment to rest on the ground, exhausted from the fight he had just endured. It had been tough there for a minute or two, but Comet ultimately pulled through. Of course, he now found himself covered in blood, thus fulfilling the time-loop that his future self-no, himself, had told...himself.
"Oh, who cares. I'm just glad that's over!" Comet said as he picked himself up and made his way over to Lil' Chauncey, who happily bleated as he saw the boy had survived.
"Yes, I'm happy to see you too, Chauncey. Now, come on. Let's go make sure we deal with our past selves before we make our way to the football field."
After that slight detour, Comet and Lil' Chauncey were soon back on track for the football field and Castle Dragonfly. He noted that when he got home, he would probably need to wash his clothes. A lot. Marcia wasn't going to be happy about this.
Besides this unexpected, real-life "big-lipped alligator moment"-
*A BIG-LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT!*
-and that random soundbite, Comet and Chauncey didn't run into any more problems when finding their way out of the school. If you don't count running into more and more versions of himself as time passed. That gave Comet a new sense of urgency as he drove Chauncey onto the football field and made a beeline for Castle Dragonfly. It should've been an easy thing.
It wasn't, though. As if it was trolling him even more than it already did, the World Within the Wand brought up the memories of two very chaotic moments that took place on the football field of Echo Creek Academy: the Football incident and the Mewnipendence Day re-enactment at the same time.
Alas, no sooner had Comet Dragonfly and the ever-faithful Lil' Chauncey set foot on the field than they found themselves amidst a complete anarchy scene. Phantom memories of Echo Creek students dressed as either Monster or riding inside the medieval mecha's meant to resemble the magically powered armor of the Solarian Warriors yelled at screamed at each other and clashed with foam weapons, Meseeks were dogpiling onto knights. A few unfortunate souls triggered some of the booby traps he'd made on the night of the football game. At one point, Comet was sure he even saw a group of two hundred short, grey-skinned people in costumes show up and start fighting everyone while this giant, fire-breathing fish flew overhead.
As Comet frantically looked behind him while avoiding attacks, he saw several other versions of himself in hot pursuit, all trying to make it to the Castle at the far end of the field. Not wanting to know what would happen if more than one of them made it inside, Comet urged Chauncey onward, with the Pig-goat running at a pace that did not seem fitting for a creature of his size. After what felt like an eternity of fighting their way through a warzone, though, Comet and Lil' Chauncey managed to make it to Castle Dragonfly. At least, it looked like Castle Dragonfly.
The first thing Comet realized as he got closer to the Castle was that it wasn't as big as it appeared. Or, maybe it was just as big as it appeared but shrunk itself down to fit onto the field. In hindsight, Comet should've realized something was up. Castle Dragonfly was far more massive than Echo Creek Academy, big enough to fit the school and half of Echo Creek inside of it. In contrast, the memory of Castle Dragonfly was far smaller, the size of a medium-scale apartment building. As Marcia would probably call it, it was an optical illusion, right up to the point where Comet made it through the front door, only for it to promptly close behind him.
"Okay...that might be one of the weirdest things ever happening to me. Top ten, at the least," Comet said, breathing a sigh of relief as he got off the rocking chair and tried to get his bearings. On the other hand, Chauncey just wanted the burger Comet had been dangling in front of him for some time now. "Give me a moment, Chauncey. Also, you could've gotten the burger while I was fighting that Deathclaw. You got no one to blame but yourself for this."
"Baaa-aaa-ah," Chauncey bleated in protest, to no avail. Comet continued to look around the room as he held his staff over his shoulders. "Where are we, anyway? This isn't the entrance to Castle Dragonfly." Comet then shouted out as loud as he could, "Glossaryck? You there, my man? I made it here like you said I should!"
There was no response. Comet tried calling again. "Glossaryck, I did what you asked, and the least you can do is answer me!" Still, no response," Glossaryck, come out now, or I will find your pudding supply and give it all to charity!" Not even that got anything.
"Huh. He didn't even come running for that. This is serious, Chauncey," Comet said as he tried to figure out where they were. Chauncey kept trying to get the hamburger, much to Comet's irritation.
"Chauncey, no! I will feed you as soon as we find Glossaryck, alright?" Comet reprimanded the Pig-goat, who, by now, had already gotten the burger for himself, much to Comet's dismay. "Whatever. Just don't get crumbs on the floor. But still...where the heck are we anyway?!"
As if to answer that question, some kind of star-shaped panel in the ceiling opened up, allowing light to flow down into the room.
Play Star vs. The Forces Of Evil Season 2 OST - The Grandma Room- /r0-VmZQP1qA
From above, Comet could see various symbols carved into the stone ceiling: an hourglass, a lightning bolt, a clover, a spade, a four-pointed star, an 8-ball, a bunny head, the symbol of infinity, a flower, a dragonfly, and finally, a diamond. Comet's eyes widened before they rapidly began to look around the room, which he now saw to be decorated by a tapestry in various tapestries.
"Whoa...this is the Grandpa Room," Comet whispered in silent awe. This room in Castle Dragonfly was dedicated as a shrine to the Kings of Mewni's past. "I've been in here once before. My Dad brought me here when I was little and said this was our family." He vaguely recalled his Dad saying this room's actual name, but it sounded prissy and confusing to him, so he just stuck to calling it the Grandma Room.
"Okay, this has got to be the place where we'll find the thing that doesn't belong, Chauncey!" Comet excitedly proclaimed...only to realize that Chauncey was still munching on the hamburger he had taken. "Chauncey, no! We do not eat food inside the Grandpa Room!" Comet chastised the Pig-goat while trying to keep him from running around the room and getting crumbs and juice everywhere. As he did this, Comet almost missed what happened next. Out of the ground in front of the various tapestries, pedestals arose, each in the shape of a King's Cheek Mark. When Comet saw this, he stopped paying attention to Lil' Chauncey. He didn't know why, but something in him told him that he needed to look at each of the pedestals, and they would be the key to telling him what was wrong with his Wand.
*End Music*
Taking a deep breath, Comet readied himself. He didn't know what would happen, but he knew it was important to do this. "Please, please tell me what's wrong with my Wand, you guys," Comet said, hoping that his ancestors would provide him with the answers he sought before making his way to the first pedestal. It was of a young man with short and curly orange hair, blue eyes, and a cape and dress suit of varying shades of gold, and his right Cheek had an hourglass-shaped Cheek Mark on it. He held a staff with a bell shaped like a winged clock in his hands at the top point as he stood in the middle of an open field.
Comet read what was on the pedestal aloud:
"Ticktock, the clock calls, but secrets are its powers. The only one to break the spell is Skye, the King of Hours."
This was Skye Dragonfly, the 27th King of Mewni, known to history as the King of Hours.
Comet knew of King Skye's history well, as he was one of the past users whose entries he had read several times. Born to Lyre Dragonfly around 400 years ago, Skye inherited the Wand when he was 14, just as Comet did. Three years later, Lyre decided to abdicate the throne and let his son take charge at seventeen. Lyre was recorded as saying that he did this because he felt he had nothing left to teach the son of ruling and was ready to step up as King.
According to his spell book entries, though, Skye said it was because his Dad was a lazy good-for-nothing who wanted to spend the rest of his life relaxing at his volcano resort home. Given how said father proceeded to burn down the original Castle Dragonfly and failed to save the Book of spells, Comet felt inclined to agree. Yeah, he had set things on fire before, but he wasn't dumb enough to do that.
At first, nothing in Skye's reign seemed right for him. There was the incident with knocking Father Time off his wheel, accidentally sending a dozen or so Mewmans into space, with them vowing for their descendants to return and seek revenge. And, of course, the time he accidentally destroyed an entire dimension that was home to glowing worms and moss. In his defense, he did find a new home for the worms and moss.
His personal life didn't go so hot, either. His longtime crush, Lady Robin Gemfellow, wound up marrying some other Lord; he had to spend his time protecting the kingdoms of Mewni from Monsters. And to top it all off, his Dad kept pestering him to get married already. In fact, it was during one of these unwelcome visits that Skye created the time loop that helped him build the new Castle Dragonfly in what felt like a day. In truth, though, it had taken five years (Skye also noted how happy he was to have not aged during that time.)
Eventually, the constant pressure of being King and making food fall from the sky to feed his subjects finally became too much for poor Skye. Thankfully, his Dad had the sense to give him some helpful advice and to "do what's best for Skye." So, he told his subjects that he wouldn't make their food. Instead, he had them clear out the land they won to grow crops (mostly corn) and to found a royal academy for the future lords of Mewni to study in: Skye's School for Gifted Folks. After that was done, he found out that Robin had recently divorced after discovering her husband was cheating on her, so he did what anyone would: ran straight to her house and made out with her. After that, they eloped to the dimension where he'd relocated the glowworms and moss.
In essence, Skye was probably the ancestor that he admired the most. He was a guy who knew what he wanted in life and wasn't afraid to stand up for his own needs to do so. He sometimes wished that he could pull the same grand, romantic gesture with his one true love someday...but things didn't work out with Tammy, and Karla was into girls, so that wasn't likely to happen.
"I hope to be as badass as you one day, King Skye. Rock on, dude," Comet said, in respect to his ancestor. "Now, if I remember correctly after Skye came...Julia!"
Comet ran to the next pedestal, shaped like a four-leaf clover and sitting beneath a tapestry of a young woman. She had her father's cream-colored skin and curly hair, albeit hers was purple, with green eyes and a matching, purple-gray four-leafed clover for a Cheek Mark. In her tapestry, she wore a red-suited waistcoat, tie, and matching knee-high boots, with a red fedora to complete the ensemble as she posed against the edge of a forest. In her right hand, she held a red-and-white striped cane with wings on the bell and a unicorn head for the top.
"She was just a girl, but she could dream. So goes the sad tale of Julia the un-queen."
This was Julia Dragonfly, known to history as Julia the Uncalculated. But to most Mewmans, she was known as Julia the Un-Queen.
From what Comet remembered, Julia Dragonfly was the first-born child of King Skye and Queen Robin. Her birth was a historic moment for House Dragonfly. Until then, the Kings of Mewni had only ever had sons; having a daughter was believed by some Mewmans to be a bad omen. Skye didn't care, though. Over the protests of his extended family, the Lords, and other monarchs, Skye insisted on naming her as his heir, an unprecedented decision in Mewman history.
From what Comet heard, Skye's faith in Julia proved to be well-founded. She was charismatic, outgoing, and, above all, intelligent. She was said to be unparalleled in the Universe regarding math. So when she came of age, Skye didn't hesitate to give her the Wand, saying she would be the first High Queen of Mewni. Julia, for her part, embraced her role as Crown Princess, going out on the town and living the celebrity lifestyle with a posse of princesses.
Sadly, Mewni was too backward thinking to realize a good thing when it was right in front of it, and the Lords and Kings protested her being Skye's heir. Ultimately, Skye and Robin gave into peer pressure and had another child, passing Julia over for the Wand and the throne.
Looking back on it now, Comet couldn't help but wonder what Mewni might be like had Skye not let Julia take the throne like she was meant to. Mewni may be a different place. Regardless, Comet had always felt that this wasn't fair for Julia, and he never understood the need to treat people differently based on gender.
Speaking of which...Comet moved onto the next pedestal and tapestry. Unlike the largely peaceful other entries, this one was of a man in the absolute heat of battle against giant Monsters. He was tall, exceedingly muscular, and clad in iron-gray battle armor modeled in the shape of hearts, breastplate with multiple red cords, iron gray boots with knee pads, gray armbands decorated with red hearts, and black wristbands. He had fearsome-looking turquoise eyes, a brass-tinted, lightning-shaped Cheek Mark, and his head was shaved, save for a strip that ran past his back into a ponytail. The most distinctive feature of all was the glowing sword in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Comet read the inscription on the lightning-shaped pedestal:
"A castle stormed is a hero born with might as strong as steel. Kneels the void before him and the crushing force he wields."
This was Solarius Dragonfly, the 28th King of Mewni, and renowned and feared as Solarius the Monster-Carver.
"So this is Solarius, huh? The Bane of Monsters everywhere..." Comet looked up at the image of his ancestor as a mix of emotions flowed through him.
Solarius proved to be everything that his older sister Julia was not. Whereas Julia was a diplomat and affable person, Solarius was, for lack of a better comparison, like Kratos from the God of War franchise. The Greek saga version of Kratos, with everything that went with it. He was utterly ruthless in battle, using his magic to crush all who stood against him. He was considered to be one of the greatest warriors in Mewman history, and it wasn't hard to see why. Even now, centuries after his death, people still tell stories about how great he was.
In his time, Mewman-Monster tensions were at an all-time high. And after he got the Wand and became the heir to the throne, the first thing he did was want to deal with the Monsters. At first, he had tried to do so peacefully, but all his attempts were rebuffed. So he chose a more violent path. By the time he became King, Solarius had led the Kingdoms of Mewni into an all-out war on Monster-kind. That led to the creation of the Solarian Warriors, like Wilhelm, and a war that lasted for years. Under his rule, the remaining Monster Kingdoms that had stubbornly held out against Mewman expansion eventually crumbled, with their remnants scattering to the winds or into the Forest of Certain Death. In the end, King Solarius died as he lived, fighting off a group of Monsters in a night-time ambush, but he left a massive legacy behind. Besides fighting the Monsters, he also formed alliances with the Demons of the Underworld and the Coltheads of the Cloud Kingdom, not to mention House Spiderbite, which ruled over the Forest of Likely Spiderbites.
That legacy, though, was one that Comet had seriously begun to question as of late.
As a child, Comet idolized King Solarius and wanted to be just like him. Most Mewman boys saw him as their hero. And on the surface, he did do some good things by forming alliances with the Coltheads and the Demons. Before then, they were considered Monsters like the others, so if that hadn't happened, Comet never would've met MC or Tammy! However, once he started reading the Spell Book, Comet learned a few things that made him question whether Solarius deserved all his praise.
First, there was the fact that it wasn't Solarius that forged those vital alliances, and it had been Julia and another of his advisors, a woman named Alexandra, that did that on his behalf. Then there was getting to see firsthand just how...battle-oriented Solarius was. His chapter of the Book of Spells focused almost entirely on the wars with the Monsters. He would write in spells dedicated to fighting and killing his enemies if he wasn't doing that.
It only got more disturbing from there, though. In his chapter, Comet discovered that Solarius wrote a list of the best ways to kill certain types of Monsters. Each method was gruesome, ending with the same phrase: "they are much happier this way." Most damning of all, though, was that as he reached the end of the Monster-Carver's chapter, Comet discovered the King had been secretly working behind his allies' backs on a spell meant to wipe out all Monsters. Given how Monsters still existed on Mewni, it was clear that Solarius didn't succeed.
When he considered seeing firsthand via Wilhelm Loveberry how unstable the Solarian Warriors could be, along with the revelations in the wake of Mewnipendence Day, Comet found his adulation for Solarius severely shaken. Comet didn't have anything against fighting; he liked the rush he got from pitting himself against powerful opponents. If anyone hurt his friends, he would beat them to a pulp if he needed to! But Solarius? He didn't know when to stop fighting, even when it would benefit him. He was like Kratos if Kratos never went through character development.
At this point, Comet began to remember the memories he had witnessed earlier with Glossaryck of the ruined battlefield...and he felt very uneasy looking at Solarius' tapestry. He hastily turned his head away in search of whoever was next after Solarius. There was a problem, though: he needed to remember.
Who was Solarius' kid again? I don't think I read about him in the Book. Indeed, Comet had not read about Solarius' child in the Book of Spells, and he only vaguely remembered him being mentioned by his Dad or his tutors. It wasn't just because of a lack of focus, either; his tutors would get all nervous when they had to talk about him like they didn't want to bring him up.
"Now let's see," Comet mumbled as he anxiously tapped his feet. "I remember that Solarius' son was borne out of wedlock because he never married. He and Alexandra took an extended trip on the ocean, he knocked her up, and they came back with a kid. And Alexandra was...?" As Comet tried to remember something about Alexandra the Worthy (Solarius gave her that epithet), he spied Lil' Chauncey chewing on one of the tapestries.
"Chauncey! No!" Comet said as he rushed towards the tapestry and the spade-shaped pedestal to pull the Pig-goat away. "You don't eat these tapestries! They're sacred to our family!"
"Baaahhh!" Chauncey bleated in protest as Comet set him down. That was when he saw the tapestry that the animal had been chewing on. It was dark and gothic in appearance, and it predominantly featured, for some reason, a tall, red-skinned, four-eyed Monster in a torn, black formal dress. That wasn't what drew Comet's attention, though. Rather, his focus was on the Mewman riding atop her shoulders.
The man in question looked to be around his father's age, maybe a few years younger. He was elegantly dressed, wearing a dark-violet, 19th-century-esque dress shirt, pants, black boots, and a large, feather-decorated hat. His purplish-gray hair was carefully pulled back into a ponytail that hung behind his shoulders while a thin beard patch covered the center of his chin. Most surprising, though, was the glowing, black cane in his hand and the raspberry-red Cheek Mark on him.
Comet stood there, perplexed for a moment. He didn't recall seeing anyone like this before. Curious, he stepped forward to read the inscription on the pedestal.
"Eclipson, King of Mewni, to a Mewman Queen was wed, but took a Monster for his love, and away from Mewni fled."
This was Eclipson Dragonfly, the 29th King of Mewni, known infamously as the King of Darkness.
Comet knew very little regarding the history of King Eclipson. Everything he read seemed to gloss over him, and no one seemed to like talking about him. At least now he understood why. Mewni saw him as a traitor, and his family saw him as a disgrace.
"I know that feeling," Comet said aloud. Having to deal with the scorn of many of his relatives for years, he knew how hard it was to deal with that unwarranted criticism. "I can't blame him for deciding to bail on being King, though. I would do the same if he had it even worse than I did. I Gotta say, though, I don't exactly approve of his tastes in women," he said as he looked at the tapestry again. "Then again, I've seen people have a thing for Monster girls in anime, so who am I to judge?"
Comet could not find any sign of Glossaryck or whatever he was looking for to his dismay. As he did another scan of the room, though, he saw something he did recognize: the tapestry of one of his personal heroes.
"No. Way." Comet rushed towards the next pedestal and tapestry and began to bounce up and down in excitement. Hanging from the wall was a tapestry of a tall, muscular, bearded young man in a cyan-blue toga. His short, curly bluish-purple hair ran down his neck, his beard flowed almost to his waist, his face lit up by hearty laughter. He could make out a partially obscured grape-colored, four-pointed star on his Cheek, while in his hands, he held a magnificent gold, gem-encrusted goblet.
"When the threat of Monsters at the gate has darkened out the sun, let the kingdom find peace and joy in Festivius the Fun!"
This was Festivius Dragonfly, the 30th King of Mewni, known to history as Festivius the Fun, and #PartyGodFestivius and #FestiPartyGod
Out of all of his predecessors, Comet felt he had the most in common with King Festivius, though the King had an even rougher start to his life than Comet ever did. He was only a baby when his father ran away, leaving him to inherit the throne and the Wand at a younger age than any King in Mewman history. To make matters worse, the Monsters renewed the wars with the Mewmans, forcing countless people to seek shelter behind the high walls of their Kings and Lords. For years, the Mewmans were miserable while the Solarian Warriors struggled to get things under control.
Then, Festivius became old enough to formally use the Wand and was fed up with how miserable everyone was. So he did something about it. What he did would cement him in history as the fabled "God of Parties."
Festivius valued fun and joy above all things in life, and he dedicated his reign to making sure everyone around him was as happy as he was. For the first time in living memory, he would open Castle Dragonfly to the people, and together, they would throw the biggest parties Mewni had ever seen. For years, Castle Dragonfly was home to every kind of party; Festivius even invented new kinds of parties just so that his people could keep celebrating. And with the Wand, he was able to handle everything, keeping everything clean and sanitized, making sure the food and drink never ran out. He even made extra rooms filled with beds if anyone needed to rest. His parties were so great that people flocked from other dimensions to party with him and the other Mewmans.
As a side note, his chapter in the Book of Spells contained a section that was magically restricted to anyone under 16, the Mewman age of majority. When Comet managed to break the restrictions and peek inside that forbidden section, Festivius dedicated as much time to bedroom parties as everything else. Comet didn't even know he could do it like that.
The bottom line is Festivius was probably one of Comet's biggest heroes, and he thought he got his high energy and love of having fun from him. In fact, one of his goals in life was to throw the biggest party Mewni had ever seen, a party that would surpass anything Festivius threw!
"Festivius, I swear in your name to do you proud and make everyone I know as happy as you did!" Comet solemnly promised his ancestor as he saluted the tapestry. Marcia would probably lecture him about his hero worship if she were here right now. That, and she would say his party animal lifestyle was a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that he grew up not knowing his parents.
Now thoroughly excited, Comet began to eagerly look around the Grandpa Room, trying to remember the next wielder of the Wand that he would have to find. However, the next tapestry he looked at wasn't inspiring.
Hanging in front of a simple, ball-shaped pedestal lay a tapestry of what had to be the most unimpressive person Comet had ever seen in his entire life, the complete opposite of all the past Wand wielders. He was short and pudgy, dressed in unkempt purple clothes and wearing a cloak that looked too big for his size. His face and hair were no better, with the latter looking more like a messy, black bush than actual hair as it covered up one of the man's eyes. Between that and the five-o-clock shadow, it was almost impossible to see the purple, ball-shaped Cheek Mark on the man's face. Were it not for the Cheek Mark and the Wand-Staff with the magic 8 ball on it, Comet might have never realized he was a Dragonfly.
Comet read the inscription anyway, though.
"For some, the troubles come in doubles, in sadness greatly steeped.
And drawing balls upon the walls is Dirhhon the Heaped."
This was Dirrhon Dragonfly, known to history as Dirrhon the Heaped.
There wasn't much to say about Dirrhon Dragonfly in the history books; he was weird. And not weird like Comet Dragonfly, but weird as there was something off about him. Despite being Festivius' first-born son, he acted nothing like his father. He was constantly gloomy and depressed, never paid attention to his hygiene, and had this obsession with writing sad poetry and balls. In the end, Festivius ended up having to pass him over as his heir in favor of his younger brother, not that Dirrhon cared. He ran off with some girl named Carol into the Forest of Certain Death, only to show up years later, living out the rest of his days as a squatter in the gardens of Castle Dragonfly.
"Boring!" Comet sadly noted. "It's like looking at a bad future version of one of my friends, like Alfonso. Or Ferguson." Comet made a mental note to ensure neither ended up like Dirrhon before moving on.
If Dirrhon was the opposite of his Dad, then the tapestry of his brother was like comparing night to day. This was ironic because the tapestry depicted events at night in the middle of a forest. Standing before a small creek in a clearing was a dashing young man who looked to be the spitting image of Comet. In fact, the only difference between the man and the Prince was that the former had a darker shade of blonde hair and wore a puffy, royal-purple shirt akin to the one from Marcia's Sgt. Oleg's disguise. That and his Cheek Mark looked like a bunny, and his Wand resembled a heart-shaped version of the one used by that one magical girl from Sailor Moon.
"When the one before her proved unfit, Gibbous the Eager took the role,
and along with her gal pal, Emily, kept the monsters under Mewman control."
This was Gibbous Dragonfly, the 31st King of Mewni and known to history as Gibbous the Eager.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my esteemed ancestor and the man that I must surpass," Comet said as he looked at the image of his ancestor. Next to Festivius, Gibbous was the King he felt he had the most in common with...to an extent.
Like Festivius, Gibbous was a charismatic and exuberant ball of energy. Unlike Dirrhon, he was also a hard worker who put everything he had into whatever he wanted to do. He started creating his own spells at 12, two years before he was even old enough to wield the Wand. With so much magical talent, he was the best choice to become the next King. So, at the urging of the Lords and Kings, Festivius declared Gibbous to be his successor. Eight years later, he was crowned King.
Gibbous spent the rest of his life doing incredible things. He did constant charity work for the smallfolk of Mewni and founded the "Future Rulers of Mewni," a social club for the heirs to the Kingdoms and Great Houses of Mewni to meet and talk shop. He hung out with his best friend and/or secret lover, Prince Eric Kelpbottom of the Waterfolk Kingdom (AKA the merfolk that stayed behind in Mewni while Aqua's people moved on to the All Blue.) But above all, he created over five thousand spells in his lifetime. The stories say that he ran out of room in the Book of Spells and had to make extra spell books, though they all seemed to have vanished.
On the surface, Gibbous seemed to be everything Comet would've wanted to be when he grew up. However, experience had started to teach him that maybe he was overhyped a little too much. Firstly, there was the fact that many spells were either counter-productive or outright dangerous; the Monster Arm was one such example. Furthermore, despite being the one who tried to unify the Monsters into a single kingdom under the Avarius Family, he seemed to do so less out of altruism and more to keep them under his family's thumb for good. Both of these things made Comet reassess his opinion of Gibbous from being an idol to a somewhat manipulative overachiever.
"I'm going to be better than you, Gibby. Just you wait," Comet smirked at his ancestor. "Now, the next person should be-oh noo..."
The next tapestry and pedestal were of a young, scholarly-looking man with glasses the short, curly orange hair that reached down to his neck. He wore a green dress shirt and pants that reminded him of Aladdin's outfit in the Disney film and had a dark taupe-colored infinity symbol for a Cheek Mark. As for his Wand, it looked like Rubik's Cube floating above some kind of horn-thing.
"Seven came before Rhonan (if you subtract the girl).
Add four more reigns to his domain, and what gets destroyed?"
This was Rhonan Dragonfly, the 32nd King of Mewni and known to history as Rhonan the Riddled.
"No, not him!" Comet groaned as he looked at his third great-grandpa. Of all the past Kings of Mewni, Rhonan was the one he disliked the most. The only son of Gibbous the Eager, Rhonan proved to be as brilliant as his father was. Comet's problem was that Rhonan didn't devote any of his talents to doing cool stuff or making Mewni cooler. Instead, he focused almost all of his time on riddle-making. He even made a "National Riddle Day." Comet wasn't good at riddles, so he always dreaded that holiday.
There was another reason he wasn't really fond of Rhonan, too. He wed Johanna Roachley, a member of a lesser branch of House Lucitor, to strengthen ties between their family's Kingdoms. However, Johanna proved to be such a bitch that Rhonan had to cast a spell on himself to make him fall in love with her. It worked; they stayed married long enough to have their own kid.
After that, though, things kept getting worse. Johanna's bitchiness got to the point where not even the love spell was enough to keep Rhonan loyal to her. In desperation, he tried casting a spell meant to break Johanna's heart so they could get a divorce. It worked too well: Johanna died of a heart attack. The incident almost drove the Dragonflies and Lucitors to war, casting a shadow on his relationship with Tammy.
"Thanks a lot, Rhonan," Comet sarcastically said as he moved on to the next tapestry.
This next tapestry depicted a young man hiding in his bedroom as a massive line of people of all shapes and sizes (even Monsters) lined up to speak to him. The man had pink hair tied into a ponytail that partially obscured his face but let enough of his purple eyes peek through, and those eyes matched perfectly with the crescent moon Cheek Mark. The man also wore this ethereally pink coat and tri-corn hat and held an opera mask in one hand.
"What hides behind the golden mask the hand does sweetly hold?
A trove of cosmic secrets that never will be told."
This was Soma Dragonfly, the 33rd King of Mewni, known to history as Soma the Shy."
"Whoaa..." Comet found himself blushing as he looked at the image of Soma. And he wasn't even into guys!
The truth was that this wasn't out of the ordinary for those who looked at Soma. In his lifetime, Soma was renowned for how drop-dead handsome he was. So handsome, in fact, that just looking at him was enough to make people fall in love with him. Men would write him love letters. Women would look at him and think, I love you, Soma. Give me your babies, or name their...adult toys after him. Even Monsters fell for his good looks. So much so that on the rare occasions that he left Castle Dragonfly to tour the kingdom, they would agree to not hurt any Mewmans just so they could see him.
With looks like his, Soma could've had everything in life handed to him. However, the main problem he had was that he was too good-looking. While everyone got too nervous about getting near him, he got even more nervous, thinking something was wrong with him. The end result: he had crippling social anxiety and became very withdrawn and shy. He would keep to himself, writing stories and poetry, making potions, and doing tarot readings for people.
That just made others love him even more, though. The story's moral is that there was such a thing as being so beautiful, it was a curse.
The next King of Mewni that Comet looked at was a green-eyed young man with wavy black, neck-length hair and a chamois yellow-colored five-petaled flower-shaped mark on his Cheek. He wore a classic explorer's outfit, complete with pith helmet, and in his hand was an elegant pen that Comet recognized as the Wand.
"He cannot write, he cannot sing. But he can draw, his only thing.
Sketching late into the night... But will he ever draw it right?"
This was Estrelas Dragonfly, the 34th King of Mewni, known to history as Estrelas the Drafted.
There wasn't really much to say about Comet's great-grandfather. Like his Dad, Soma, Estrelas was very introverted, devoting almost all his time to his interests. Whereas his Dad focused on poetry and stories, he focused on drawings. Glossaryck even mentioned that he had to ghostwrite most of his chapter in the Book of Spells. He was a good artist, though, and if he were alive today, Comet bet that he could make it as an artist. Better yet, he could be the creator of his comic Book, graphic novel, or webcomic.
Now nearing the end of his exploration into his family, the next tapestry almost made his heart melt. It was of a handsome man with a neatly-trimmed beard, purple eyes, and lavender hair tied neatly into a ponytail resting underneath a simple, golden crown, along with a butterfly Cheek Mark. He was clad in the stereotypical attire of a King, complete with the armor and cape, and in his hand was a small, rainbow-colored whisk. What was most amazing was that he was looking at a little baby with a diamond-shaped Cheek Mark with the most loving eyes.
"No magic on Mewni was greater than Corvus and his kitchen creations,
but she was-dangit, part of the inscription's wrecked!"
This was Corvus Dragonfly, the 35th King of Mewni known to history as Corvus the Chef.
Comet had never gotten the chance to meet his grandfather, though that was because he knew that he had died long before he was before.
Despite acting like he believed the story about the "Grandpa Farm," Comet was smart enough to know that that was just something that parents told their kids when they didn't want to tell them someone was dead. Which was a shame since, from what he heard from his Dad, everybody seemed to love Corvus. Even Eternia got a genuine smile whenever he talked about his late older brother, and he never smiled at anything.
Like his father and grandfather, Corvus proved to be artistically talented, though his talents lay in the kitchen rather than drawing or writing. Whenever Glossaryck was in a good mood, he would gush about how they would spend hours upon hours in the kitchen. Corvus would make incredible recipes, Glossarcyk would taste-test them, and they would always be delicious. Then, after Corvus got the Wand, he and Glossaryck packed their bags and ran away from Mewni.
For the next three years, Corvus and Glossaryck traveled the Universe together, working on his magic and learning everything there was to know about cooking. Glossaryck admitted to Comet at one point that he considered it the three best years of his life. Sadly, they eventually ended, and Corvus had to return home to take up his duties as heir to the throne. Only they weren't alone. The day that Corvus made his official return to Mewni, House Dragonfly put on this massive event to celebrate. The festivities were almost cut short when Corvus stepped out of the portal, carrying a baby boy in his arms.
Glossaryck said that he almost laughed himself to death when he saw everyone's reactions when Corvus introduced the baby as his son. He also said Eternia and some more conservative Dragonflies passed out from shock.
As it turned out, while on his travels, Corvus and Glossaryck had come across another traveling chef, a young woman named Lazuli Marmalade. The two quickly fell in love, and following a brief courtship, they were married with Glossaryck as the witness (they bribed him with the cake.) Then, they had Mune. At that point, Corvus wanted to go home with his new wife and child, but Lazuli wanted to continue pursuing her career as a chef. After talking it over briefly, Glossaryck said the pair decided it would be best if they went their separate ways and chose to divorce, though they did so on good terms.
When they learned that Corvus had essentially fathered a bastard child, members of the Dragonfly family were outraged at the apparent scandal. Despite this, and over many relatives' protests, Estrelas decided to take his grandson's birth in stride and agreed to make him Corvus' legal heir. From then on, Corvus and Mune were inseparable until the died Corvus died.
But what did he die from? No one seems to want to tell me. Indeed, when it came to why Grandpa Corvus wasn't with them now, all the adults would get this sad look. Glossaryck would start to cry his eyes out. Whatever happened, Comet had the feeling that it wasn't good.
"And, by process of elimination, that brings us to our next and final contestant," Comet said as he and Lil' Chauncey moved to the next and final tapestry left in the room. However, as soon as he saw it, Comet froze mid-stride.
In the final tapestry, Comet saw a young man who looked to be the spitting image of himself but with pale-blue hair and a diamond Cheek Mark, his own father, Mune Dragonfly, riding atop Lil' Chauncey into battle. However, that wasn't the most surprising aspect of what he saw. That honor would go to the opponent that he was using the Wand to strike down...and it sent shivers up Comet's spine.
"Toffee?" Comet gasped in surprise as he stepped closer to the pedestal and read the inscription. "The immortal Monster will long be haunted
by the darkest spell from Mune the Undaunted. Dad fought Toffee?"
"Baaah," Lil' Chauncey bleated as he saw the image of his master after so long.
"Did you know about this?" Comet asked the Pig-goat, only to get no answer. That's when he noticed that there was still one object left in the Grandpa Room: a spinning wheel. Somehow, without anyone moving it, the wheel was currently spinning thread onto a blank space on the wall, starting with an image of Glossaryck. As if that weren't strange enough, the image of Glossaryck proceeded to grunt and pant as it proceeded to pull itself free from the thread, revealing the actual Glossaryck!
"Glossaryck!" Comet cried out joyfully as he ran over to the little blue man and hugged him. "I finally found you!"
"Uh, no. More like I found you, Comet. " Please let go," Glossaryck shouted as he proceeded to push the boy away.
"Sorry. Moody much?"
"No, no, it's fine. It's just," Glossaryck let out a heavy sigh. "Look, did you find whatever it is we were looking for or not? Please say yes."
Comet frowned at this. "Sorry, Glossaryck. I managed to find a bunch of things in here, but it looks like they were all supposed to be here-even Lil' Chauncey," he said as he pointed at the Pig-goat, now trying to pull down the tapestry of Mune. "I also fought a mutant lizard and ran through a warzone, but those were also from my memories."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Glossaryck nodded. "Now listen to me, Comet. Did you see yourself while I was gone?"
"Yeah..." Comet admitted, causing Glossaryck's eyes to go wide with fear and alarm.
"Yeah, yeah, no. That's not good. All right, I'm pulling the plug on this," Glossaryck said, his voice now panicking as he pulled on one of his eyelids. "Comet, we are getting out of here right now. Just climb into my eyeball, and we'll get the heck out of here. Yes, I know what I said! Just do it!"
At that moment, though, Lil' Chauncey succeeded in pulling down Mune's tapestry on top of him. What was most surprising though, was what came out of it, and it was a small, severed end of a finger, the same one that Mune was shown chopping off of Toffee in the tapestry.
"Comet, focus! We need to go now!"
"Wait, Glossaryck!" Comet said as he shushed his teacher. "I think that's the thing that doesn't belong," he said as he pointed at the finger.
And then, all chaos broke loose. A dozen or so different versions of Comet appeared out of nowhere and mimicked Comet's actions and repeated, "the thing that doesn't belong!" All of them stood in a circle, looking at the finger. Before anyone else could make a move, Comet dove for the finger, grabbing it, even as the other versions of himself began to follow suit.
"All right, that's it!" In a flash, Glossaryck dove towards Comet, reaching him nanoseconds before the other Comets did the same.
The last thing that Comet remembered was seeing images of Toffee, Eclipson, and the cracked crystal of his Wand before everything went black.
When Comet came to, he was being spat out onto the floor of his bedroom, courtesy of Glossaryck's giant eyeball.
"Ewww...pupil juice! Gross!"
"Hey, you think you had it rough? Try being the one who had to do that. It hurt like crazy," Glossaryck said as the rest of his body materialized while his eye shrunk back to normal size. It did start leaking out of his eye socket, though, much to Comet's dismay.
After taking a few moments to collect themselves, Comet looked at his hands and saw that he still had the finger in their grasp. That, and the red belt, staff, lighters, and whatever else he managed to get inside the Wand.
"Hey, Glossaryck," Comet said, panting from the adrenaline.
"Yeah?"
"I think we did it." Comet held up the severed finger.
"Yeah, I think so, too," Glossaryck admitted. "By the way, that thing's gross, and we better get rid of it."
"Way ahead of you," Comet said as he got up and trudged over to his secrets closet. Getting out a glass jar, he tossed the finger into it before securing the lid with duct tape. He then put the jar inside a briefcase that he padlocked, wrapped several chains around it, and padlocked it once more before putting a label on it that said "Dangerous! Do not open!" After that, he tossed the briefcase aside before shutting the door.
"Well, I don't think that's going anywhere," Glossaryck noted as Comet sat down next to him. Rather, he slumped down next to him. "You alright?"
Comet let out a weary sigh. "Glossaryck, in the last few hours or minutes, I got us lost, fought through Monsters and various works of fiction, and almost got killed at least thrice. Not to mention, I probably ruined the clothes I was wearing. Maybe Dad was right; I wasn't tall enough to go on that ride."
Glossaryck gave his pupil a sympathetic look as he pushed the rest of his eyeball into its socket. "I'm not tall enough to ride on any ride. But I've been on all of them. And something tells me you'll end up doing the same."
"You think so?"
"Yes, I do. And for what it's worth, you handled it far better than I thought you would. You managed to keep us together for the most part, and you found the thing that didn't belong on your own. That's not something your father could've done."
Comet smiled softly, happy to get that kind of reassurance from his teacher.
"So...you gonna test that thing out or...?" Glossaryck asked as he pointed at the Wand.
"I think I'm done with magic for the day. I'm gonna go wash these clothes and relax in the tub."
Before Comet could do anything, Marcia came barging into his bedroom. "Hey, Comet, have you seen my red belt?"
Acting on instinct, Comet pointed his Wand at Marcia and proceeded to narwhal blast her. A nice, healthy narwhal proceeded to send Marcia sprawling onto the floor.
"Ow! Comet, what the hell?!"
"Sorry, Marica! Just a little on edge!" Comet said as he apologized to his roommate before turning to Glossaryck. "I think it works now."
"Cool. I'm returning to my house to use the Diaz family's Disney+ account." And with that, Glossaryck retreated into the spell book, ready to spend the rest of the day relaxing while watching The Mandalorian.
Jay: Phew, that was tough. That might have been one of the toughest chapters I ever had to write. I mean, what was I thinking, deciding to write out what every one of the Wand users looks like? I could've use the notes here to do that! Or just link it to Tassji-S's DeviantArt page, that's what I used for them!
Janna: Don't know, man. Maybe you're some kind of masochist.
Omnitraxus: Or perhaps you simply wished to spare the readers the pain of having to do it themselves?
Rex: Rex wants to fight flaming swordsman!
Jay: No, you don't. Solarius is someone that would probably in prison if he were alive. Or real. He'd destroy you.
Omni: Umm, I would have to agree with Jay. Most of my counterparts throughout the Multiverse worked with some version of Solarius or Solaria, and they were all pretty battle crazy.
TFS Nappa: Oh, boy. Vegeta would've loved them.
Kermit: Hey, guys, I don't mean to interrupt, but we just got a letter. It's from that weird tube-bird that sometimes hangs out with us.
Jay: Hooty? You got a letter from Hooty?
Kermit: Oh yeah, that's his name. Anyway, ahem:
"HOOT HOOT! HEY GUYS, IT'S ME, HOOTY! I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I'M IN THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE AND I'M INVITING ALL OF YOU TO WATCH IT WITH ME. AFTER THAT, WE'RE GOING TO BINGE-WATCH THE OWL HOUSE TO PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING SERIES FINALE ON APRIL 8TH. LOVE, HOOTY!"
Jay: Oh yeah, that's right...The Owl House is ending prematurely thanks to Executive Idiocy. All right, guys. Let's grab our Mario and Owl House Cosplay and move out. We've got a long trek to make to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Janna: Aww, do we have to?
Jay: Yes. But first, it's time for
READERS REVIEWS
LockAndKey989-Hope Eclipson didn't disappoint.
95-LOL, that is funny. But how did you not recognize the Giant Floating Baby Head?
Ted Glass-Let me put it this way about Solarius: I think letting him become King was Skye's biggest mistake.
Julayla-Hope the lore worked. I actually realized that I hadn't read the Book of Spells in a while, so I had to reread it and the show's wiki.
NightAroma-I forget, what was that last part of your review talking about? And...I don't know with Mune, all right!
Pedro Alonso-Not really, I guess.
Coreytuck3-The heck?
You know what to do: fave and follow this story, and follow me on Twitter (JZ-Gaming), Insta (RJ Writing Ink), and YouTube (Jungoguy)
See you in two weeks. I know it's Good Friday, but I'm going to want to share my initial reactions to the Mario Bros Movie. And celebrate The Owl House. Next time, though, we'll see the return of...BUFF FROG!
