Author's Note

By the time I write this chapter, I'm actually in the middle of my Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil rewatch and it certainly has been pretty fun. Funny how instantly different the first and second half of season 1 already felt, and then there's season 2 being more...spread out in it's humor, which, I wouldn't be surprised if some got annoyed from it, but everyone's mileage may vary from it, this fic might also not be agreed with everyone, and I do get nervous every once in a while in writing it, but now that I finished Cyberpunk Prolegomenon, I'm gonna be fully dedicated to this fun little fanfic. New opening, new ending, on top of that.

Hekapoo walks into the living room with a whiteboard and clears her throat. Star, Marco, Kelly, Tom, Janna, Jackie, Eclipsa and K.O. sit, fully focused, waiting for her to start.

"Alright, crew, you might be starting to get used to it, but I called you all here because it looks like something from my past is haunting me: some dragon-cyclers called… the Xanthous Xerics." Hekapoo flips the board over to show the name of the group.

"A-are those even actual words?" Tom questions.

"Sounds like the name of a Z-movie to riff on for 90 minutes." Janna adds.

Eclipsa searches through her smartphone. "Surprisingly, they're actual words. I don't think we can even make fun of their literacy." She pauses and tilts her head. "Wait, no, aren't these both adjectives?"

"I remember facing a surf group called the Zizzling Waterz. They claimed they changed the surfing game so much, they needed to replace the letter "S" with "Z" to emphasize their mastery. It didn't trend. It's was pretty dang stupid, or "ztupid", in this case." Jackie joked with a cheeky grin, making the others chuckle.

"Okay, good one, JL. But seriously, me and Marco actually kinda have a bit of history with these guys. Had a bit of an… encounter during our Dimension X-103 adventures." Hekapoo continued, a bit sheepishly.

"Ooh, and how'd it go?" Star asks Marco, who tries to sink to the couch as the memories come back.

"Ugh, it was awkward." Marco admits.

Flashback to Hekapoo and Marco at the Dragon Spit Tavern, giggling while in sort of a daze.

"It was during one of our ceasefires. We went to a bar and ordered one of their crazy new drinks to celebrate his birthday. And it got us feeling very reckless and stupid."

The flashback stops as Kelly raises the "scene" as if it's a curtain. "Ohh, so like eating Goblin Dogs, but in root beer-ish form?"

Hekapoo appears next to her, also raising the scene. "Sorta, you could say that."

And then K.O. appears in the middle. "Oh, that reminds to one of my birthdays where me, Enid and Rad got paranoid being alone and we saw some really trippy stuff, like how Rad was a hot dog and–"

"Ahem, let me continue." Hekapoo interrupts, as then they all pull the flashback back down to resume.

Hekapoo and Marco are giggling like loons as some shadowy figures appear behind them.

"We saw some dudes who thought they couldtake advantage of our wacked-out state. They challenged us to a race, and according to them, we only barely lost.But we could barely remember it."Marco continued the story.

Said figures on dragon-cycles cross a makeshift finish line first, just before Hekapoo and Marco.

"Naturally, our dumb slurring butts challenged them to a rematch in the future. Wesaid we wanted the runback to be 'as big as possible', and they agreed to our terms. And it seems like they're ready to make this happen." Hekapoo finishes as the flashback ends.

"Now when you say 'as big as possible', you mean…" Eclipsa prompts.

"Well, a race that crosses 'both there and here'. My slurred words, not hers." Marco clarifies as Hekapoo nodded.

"It's been a while since I said this, but you really Starred that up!" Star chuckles.

"Boy, that takes me back..." Marco laughs along, the two continuing for a bit before sighing peacefully as everyone else except for Janna glances at each other and shrugs.

"Don't worry about it. It's a deep cut." Janna vaguely explains. "Anyway, so you and Marco have to race some dudes you challenged while having an artificial high? Why is this a town hall meeting?"

"Because I promised that I'd have a crew with me for the rematch." Hekapoo replies. "Soooo, who's willing to dragon-cycle with me? And if not, I perfectly understand–" Hekapoo cuts herself off when everyone rapidly raises their hands. "Whoa, really?"

"Because this could work as a cool team exercise, H-Poo! Some fun, low stakes bonding where the only risk is some road rash!" Star exclaims proudly.

"Not to mention this means the revival of the Kill Devil Pass Riders! Plus, I'm not the newest person on the team anymore. I'm, like, a senior member now." Tom brags.

"Don't think that's how it works, dude." Jackie smirks.

"Let me have this." Tom responds rapidly.

"I said it before, and I'll keep sayin' it: I've always got your back hair… and your back." Kelly says, getting up to hi-five Hekapoo.

"I once fought a dragon, but now I get to ride one?! I wasn't even sure if that was possible!" K.O. happily says.

Eclipsa chuckles. "And as for me, it's about time I get back on the saddle, or at least a new one."

Janna shrugs. "Phbt, like I'd miss out on this. I'm totally gonna keep the dragon by the way. My place doesn't take pets, but I can… convince the landlord."

"Yeah, I'm not sure why you thought we'd say no to riding dragons that are also motorcycles." Star chimes back in, while everyone mutters in agreement.

"Jeez, I'll just assume you're all down for crazy shit next time, then." Hekapoo rolls her eyes with a smile. "Alright team, let's get motorin'!" Hekapoo cheers, raising her first, as everyone else does the same and cheers, too.

"Wait, hold on, Janna, didn't you own a big eye, too?", Star then questioned.

"I had to let her go. Last I saw, she might be floating around God knows where. I think ", Janna replied.

Smash cut to her big eye watching what looks to be a Formula 1 race. The fans look rather...unnerved by it, with one saying "Wow, their new camera drones are insane!"

Cut back to Janna, putting her beanie in her chest, "Corneanna, you shall never be forgotten..."

A brief pause follow before she puts her fist up, "Okay, now let's cheer again!", and while the others shrug, they raise their fists and cheer again.

[OP2: "New Wave" by Against Me]

We can control the medium

We can control the context of presentation

Is there anybody on the receiving end?

Reaching out for some kind of connection

Come on and wash these shores away

Come on and wash these shores away

I am looking for the crest

Looking for the crest of a new wave

[Guitar solo]

I am looking for the crest

Looking for the crest of a new wave

Chapter 8: "Badmotorfinger"

[BGM: instrumental version of "Up All Night" by EL-P]

The main crew start gearing up in a cool, awesomely edited montage, wearing cool vests, jeans, shirts, some biker boots.. Some of them are also seen putting on a bit of cologne… which they pour on themselves from an oil can for extra biker scent points. The whole group (except K.O., who's not there yet) then makes a pretty cool pose at the end and the song ends.

"Aw yeah, we look rockin'!" Jackie says, admiring herself..

"This vest still smells like how I last left it years ago." Tom comments, giving it a deep, calming sniff. "Smokier than a charcoal grill."

"Star, you probably could have just used your magic to dress us up." Marco remarks, giving his hair one last comb over.

"Eh, not as cool as actually wearing them in a manual way. Especially if you have a cool song playing in the background." Star responds.

Janna holds up her smartphone, revealing that she was the one who played the song. "When you're heading out to crush some idiots, psych-up music is a must. And I figured some hip-hop beats would be appreciated." She winks at Kelly.

"Ah, I like your taste, Janna!" Kelly winks back.

"Hm, isn't there someone missing?" Eclipsa says.

"Oh yeah, the brushhead. Guess he's late." Hekapoo added.

"I'm walkin' to ya, guys!"

The group turns to see K.O., who is walking towards them in slow-mo, showing quite the look on him with daisy dukes that really show his thighs and butt well, as the crew looks on shocked.

"Oh good, looks like me and Marco are going with the jean short shorts approach. Glad I'm not alone on that!"

"And I thought I was thick..." Marco jokes back.

"You sure picked up quite a jackpot, huh, Hekapoo?" Star says.

Hekapoo is so focused on K.O.'s hips that she barely registers the comment. "Yuuuuuup." She shakes her head to focus herself a bit. "Okay, okay, enough looking at his sweet cinnamon buns."

Hekapoo turns from a blushing K.O. to swing her around her Dimension Scissors and open up a portal, the demeast taking a deep breath while bathed in its familiar orange glow.

"Okay, only me, Marco, Kelly, Tom and Star have Dimension X-103 experience, so don't be afraid to ask questions… even if this is the first time I've been there in years. Maybe I should have prepared…" Hekapoo trails off, looking uncertain before Star grabs her hand.

"Don't worry about it. Jumping into the unknown? That just screams adventure. Let's do this! Team bondiiiiiing!" She cheers. "Come on, everyone! Bond-ing! Bond-ing! Bond-ing!" Hekapoo smiles back and leads everyone into the portal as they excitedly chant.

They arrive at Dimension X-103, exiting the portal one-by-one. The place, surprisingly, looks pretty much the same as when it was last seen.

"Looks...kinda dead. Is it always like this?" Jackie admits, looking around.

"Well, I wouldn't call it dead, more like deserted… mysterious… I'll admit that I haven't explored the whole place beyond the Neverzone." Hekapoo clarified.

K.O. takes out his smartphone. "Well, I'm still gonna take some pics! Maybe a selfie or two..." he chuckles as he walks around, snapping a few photos.

"I'm not sure if a wasteland has much sight-seeing to offer." Marco thinks aloud as K.O. keeps taking pictures all over the place.

"Eh, let him enjoy the dreary, saturated atmosphere." Kelly retorts, giving Marco a playful punch in the arm.

Eclipsa looks around for anything of note in the landscape when she's hit with a vision of someone familiar. She gasps, catching Star's notice.

"What's up, 'Clipsa?"

"O-oh, no issue here, Star. Thought I saw a lightning bolt strike in the distance."

"Alright, time to call 'em out!" Tom yells out, primed and ready.

"Yeah, enough staring at rocks. So, how are we doing this? Do we need a dragon whistle or…", Star pondered.

"Nah, dragon whistles are overpriced. I've got this. I'm a bit out of practice, but, ahem..." Hekapoo clears her throat before giving a shrieking yell, screaming out 9 times to call out the exact number of dragon-cycles.

"Aaaaaand I'm half-deaf now." Janna deadpans.

"So what exactly are dragon-cycles? Anyone wanna do the exposition before they arrive?" K.O. questions.

"Well, their origins are a bit murky. No one really knows if they originated from Mewni or from this Dimension." Eclipsa begins.

"There's even different subspecies. Like, there's even ones that share the hair of Wooletts." Kelly adds on.

"I'm surprised no one on Earth-ni flies these guys, but then again, it's kinda tricky to find and tame if they're so high up." Star muses.

"I think some people do. I know Hekapoo and I found one by pure luck a year or so ago. Drove them around for old times' sake, but… everyone around us wasn't liking it." Kelly continued.

"Oh, right." Hekapoo says, remembering. "We were going to a Canucks game."

Flashback, Hekapoo and Kelly look on, annoyed as a cop is writing a speeding ticket on them while on a dragon-cycle.

"Vancouver police. Stern...stern but fair." Hekapoo says.

"Hey, wait...doesn't this fly?" Kelly realizes.She and Hekapoo share a dumbfounded look at the belated realization.

Smash cut to them, flying above the city, cheering and wooping it up while police sirens are faintly heard from below.

The flashback ends as Hekapoo continues. "I think the cop was only against us because we were Golden Knights fans."

"Well, safe to say we SLAYED him and the team that "knight"!" Kelly finishes, pumping her fist and dragging Hekapoo into a side hug.

"Yeah, you showed 'em!" K.O. nods excitedly, before pausing. "By the way, what's a Golden Knight?" Hekapoo and Kelly roll their eyes.

Cue the dragon-cycles arriving in quite the cool fashion as Marco and Tom squee in happiness.

"Nachos!" Marco happily kneels down to cuddle with his dragon-cycle, who starts slobbering on him. "Long time no see, girl!"

"Hampton!" Tom starts to run over his dragon, only to duck before an overzealous Hampton runs him over. He gets up and dusts himself off in time for Hampton to glomp him from behind, the red dragon-cycle lying on top of him. Tom wheezes slightly from the weight on his back. "I can't believe I was almost roadkill… eh, still cool to see ya. Guess leaving for the herd really made ya be in tip-top shape."

Kelly pets her dragon-cycle, which looks more goat-like and is more fluffy than the others. "Aw, you're still doing good, aren't cha, William?" She says as the cycle growls back in happiness.

"Yo, Bam, how's it been?", Hekapoo hugs her dragon-cycle as he murmurs something to her ear. She gives a confused blink and looks him over. "Whoa, talk about freaky good metabolism, you glutton. Oh well, you are a good boy! Yes, you are!" She hugs and caresses it.

As for the others that never had dragon-cycles, they approach them with steady care (Eclipsa, K.O., Jackie) or with pure hype (Janna, Star).

Star's dragon-cycle is roughly the same size as Marco's, but colored yellow and the horns are longer. "Yes! I got my own! Vroom, vroom, suckas! And you look so cute! I'll name ya Nova, cause I gotta keep the space theme goin'!" She hugs its face and the dragon happily growls back.

Jackie's dragon-cycle is dark blue and is having fun copying its new rider. As she leans, the dragon leans; she turns around, it turns around; she does a backflip, it does a backflip. "Oh yeah, we're already in sync! I'll call ya Elissa, after one of the greatest skaters ever! You don't mind that name, right? Hard to tell if you're a guy or girl, but hey, either way, it's cool, right?" Elissa replies with an approving grunt. "Hells yeah." Jackie nods with a wink.

Eclipsa's dragon is colored purple. As she pets it, she notices that it has a scar under both eyes. "You've been through a lot, huh? Kinda like me… but hey, I think we're gonna have lots of fun today. And trust me, sometimes, you have to let yourself loose!" The dragon nods and licks her face. "Aw, that's such a cutie! I'll name you… Steve."

The dragon raises an eyebrow as Eclipsa clarifies, "It's short for 'Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement."

The dragon blinks.

"It's like an aurora, dear. Purple ribbons of light in the night sky. The color matches your scales."

The dragon processes this and gives a confident nod of approval. Eclipsa sighs in relief. "But it is a pretty funny acronym."

K.O.'s dragon is colored gray, and he does some punches and kicks to try to impress it. "What do you think of my style, hm?" The dragon-cycle nods in approval, as it stands up doing some sort of wheelie, trying to show its moves, too. "A self-wheelie? Niiiice!" He starts to record it on his smartphone. "Oh yeah, work it!". The dragon starts twirling around. "I shall call you Steppy!" The dragon roars in excitement.

Janna's dragon is dark green and looks rather tense as she thoroughly inspects it, both its eyes looking super focused, smoke billowing through its nose holes as it tries to keep its cool. Janna takes a sniff of the fumes. "Ooh, nice stank. Smells like… hang on." She puts her ear close to its chest and hears a rather odd sound. Almost like… "No way, is that an artificial heart powered by gasoline?! Badass! I'm gonna call ya… Chev Chelios!" The dragon relaxes and gives an approving huff.

"All right, looks like you new bloods are getting cozy with your new buddies." Hekapoo starts, addressing everyone. "Unfortunately, we don't have too much time to make you experts, but I can at least give you some quick tips so you don't beef it like Tom did on his first go. First–"

"Oh, no worries, I got this!" Star interrupts, raising her wand. "Dragon-Cycle Speedrun Tutorial!" The spell swirls around and launches itself at Star, Eclipsa, K.O., Jackie, and Janna. The five zone out for a few seconds, eyes glazed over, before coming to. "Boom, just like that, we know what to do!"

"Whooooa, it's like my brain got slapped with a manual!" Jackie says, rubbing her eyes as she tries to bring them into focus.

"Piledrive my gray matter, too, why don't ya?!" Janna hisses as she clutches her head.

"Gah… Star, it may have been a while, but I didn't need… all of that. Even getting frozen by Rhombulus didn't feel as inscrutable as this..." Eclipsa admits.

"Sorry guys, but I didn't think we'd have time for Hekapoo's tips, because…" she points at the horizon, where some fellow dragon-cyclers are swiftly approaching from.

"The Xanthous Xerics are here..." Hekapoo says dramatically.

"Hold on, what do these guys even look like, anyways?" Tom questioned.

"We're about to find out..." Star replies.

As they get closer, they're revealed to be a couple of anthropomorphic hogs. The good guys look on either surprised or underwhelmed or both.

"Huh… that's not what I expected at all. I thought they'd be robots." Kelly said.

"Or science ninjas." Eclipsa added.

"Or, uh...science ninja robots." K.O. said.

The hogs arrive as the leader of them laughs, getting off her dragon-cycle, "Ha, well, it's been a bit of a long time, hasn't it, Hekapoo?"

"Yep, it sure has, um… uh…"

"My name is…"

"Nope, I got it!"

"You were pretty sloshed that night, it's cool. The name is–"

"Brigitta! …Right?" Hekapoo gives a bit of an awkward grin. Brigitta snorts.

"Funny woman. I like that. So this is your motley crew, huh? Mewmans, humans and even a demon… wait, where's that Marco guy? We agreed to rematch both of you." Brigitta replies, looking around.

"Ahem. Hi." Marco raises his hand.

"Wait, ya a girl now or somethin'?"

"A proud femboy who can still kick some ass!"

"And he ain't afraid of showin' it, too!" Star added, giving his butt a slap.

Brigitta blinks. "Huh, I owe Preston some cash now. Anyway, I'm surprised you actually managed to find a crew. You know, considering how everything went down back on Mewni. What with the conspiracy, being one of Glossaryck's asshole kids on the council, being a complete monster hater, which you, has got to count as– WHOA!" She narrowly dodges a flaming punch from a snarling Hekapoo.

"I'M GONNA TURN YA INTO BACON STRIPS!" Hekapoo, breathing heavily and ready to throw another punch, is held back and dragged away by Star and Kelly, while Brigitta relaxes and gives a chuckle.

"Hecky, calm down, breathe!" Kelly exclaims.

"She's just psyching you out, girl! It's intimidation 101!" Star adds.

"Also, not exactly a good look if you threaten to eat 'em.", K.O. added.

"I...ugh...I know. But getting reminded of it just… continues to bother me, ya know?" Hekapoo explains as she takes calming breaths.

"You feeling cool now?" Star asks softly.

"Yeeeaaah, totally, totally, totally." Hekapoo says rapidly.

"I know you're better than this. Sure, sometimes there's things you can't fully get over and turns your brain into, like, a mess of tangled yarn or headphone cords for a bit. But you don't just have me anymore to help untangle that stuff. You've got a whole group of people now, and we'll keep on getting stronger and tighter together." Kelly confidently states.

"Yeah, but… now that we're here and doing this, I can't really see myself leading you guys. I still feel… new." Hekapoo admits.

"Phbt? Come on, Hekapoo. As a former leader, I say you've got this right in the bag." Star adds. "But if it helps, we gotta be co-captains… I think. Do motorcycle gangs have captains…" She shakes her head a bit, to prevent herself from continuing that tangent. "Whatever. Point is, co-leadership. I'll make sure to assist ya. How about you give a big speech to our troops!?" Star finishes confidently.

"Speech, huh? Hm...yeah, let's psyche our team up and psyche them out!" Hekapoo nods back as Brigitta and her crew watches all this play out.

"A big speech? Another sign of a hero in the works! Go for it!" K.O. says.

"Yeah, go on, dudette!" Jackie cheers. "Can't be worse than the team competition speeches I've given…" She mutters to herself, only for Janna to overhear.

"Yeah, you can't do worse than Jackie! Last time she had to psyche someone up for an event, she made Chantal stress puke and leave town! Seriously, when do you get so bad at motivational speeches?"

"It's… complicated. And in my defense, I only caused the stress puke. Chantal leaving town was because she needed to 'train her booty to defeat Marco.'"

"I don't know who the hell Chantal is, but I do know this!" Hekapoo faces the group with a wild grin. "I can count! Can you count, suckers?! Because I say, the future is ours… if you can count!", she says, already impressing the team.

"Go on, man!" Star says with an affirming smile.

"We're with ya, Hekapoo!" Kelly cheers.

"Here among us, I count legends in the making! Look around! We got Star Butterfly, the Underestimated! A former Queen of Mewni and the most powerful magical user ever!"

Star smugly twirls her wand in her fingers, then replying "Well, acting Queen for a day or two, but it kinda counts."

"Kelly Collymore! An awesome Woolett warrior who spits in the face of romance and the best friend anyone could have!"

Kelly thumps her chest with a fist and gives a peace sign.

"Marco Diaz! A fellow Dimension X-103 regular, and brave twink boy who chased me around for years and did! Not! Give! Up!"

Marco puffs up his chest in pride.

"Tom Lucitor! A demon prince who worked his butt off to join the club back in the day, and now he's a senior member with a whole lotta souls!"

Tom nudges Jackie with a grin, mouthing "Seniority." while Jackie rolls her eyes and smiles.

"Eclipsa Butterfly! The OG rebel princess! Even when the MHC tried to take you and your monster man down, you came back swinging and showed us why you don't mess with the Queen of Darkness! I'm… glad we're good now."

Eclipsa smiles and nods, "Same!"

"Jackie-Lynn Thomas! You may be new to the squad, but I have a feeling there's lots of potential in ya. Skating and surfing ain't cycling, but seem like the kinda gal who can do anything! You're gonna be our wild card! So go wild!"

Jackie holds the seashell on her necklace and gives it a little good luck kiss before, before letting it fall back against her chest, and looking up at Hekapoo with an eager grin.

"Janna Ortega! You may be the silly gal in our group, but from what I heard, you were with Star the whole way. I know I just said Jackie is the wild card, but let's see some Jannanigans out there. Give the enemy mental scars for once."

Janna cracks her knuckles and gives a thumbs up.

"K.O. Kincaid! You just dropped in from a dimension I've never heard of, but your fighting prowess is no joke and your enthusiasm and attitude keeps us positive, in, well, more ways the one! Keep that joy flowing!", she winks back to him.

K.O. bounces in place, more than ready to jump on his dragon-cycle and start racing, "Heck yeah, sir ma'am!"

"Phew… this sure is getting sappy… sometimes the truth is sappy! So, I ask you, the eight fellow coolest people in the universe… I, Hekapoo Theta Serpentis, ask you: Can. You. Dig it?"

They all respond with a simple "Yeah."

"Can you dig it?" Hekapoo mimes holding out a microphone.

"Yeah!" They all respond a bit louder.

"Caaaaaan youuuu dig iiiiit?!" Hekapoo blares, spreading her arms to the sky.

"YEAH!" they respond at the top of their lungs and start cheering. Even the dragons start getting into it, adding positive-sounding roars into the cacophony. Brigitta, standing back near her crew, rolls her eyes as Hekapoo approaches her. "Now how about you nut up and shut up so we can get racin', hm?"

Brigitta spits on the ground. "Alright...well, this is how the race will go." Everyone from both crews start gathering around to hear the details. "First, we'll race through the wastelands. Simple, but do watch out for cracks and other obstacles. Then we'll head to the Neverzone, where you'll brave the cold and slippery ice. And then, we climb up and jump over Mt. Anima. After that, the last leg of the race will start… you'll take us to where you came from for that part."

"Hold on, we're finishing this race on Earthni?" Hekapoo questioned.

"Heh, you really forgot all those years ago, didn't ya?" Brigitta takes out and unfolds a map. "Marco even made a map for the second leg. Start in his hometown of Echo Creek, then end inside something called the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum." Brigitta tosses it at Marco. "You can have it back. My crew's got it memorized."

Hekapoo and Marco stare at the map, dumbfounded.

"Remind me to visit the Dragon Spit someday to have that drink banned." Marco groans.

"Yep." Hekapoo replies flatly.

"Also, one more thing; we're not gonna use these dragon-cycles to fly, or even use their fire breath. Do all the hopping and wheelies you want though. Oh, and, no magic. Not all of us can use it, so gotta level the playing field. This is nothing but pure rider skill… and physical combat! Your fists and feet are all the weapons you need! Oh, and whatever weapon you'll find on the way, I guess." Brigitta concludes.

"Heeeey, that reminds me of a video game..." Jackie muses.

"Old school and barbaric. Sounds fine with me." Hekapoo shrugs.

"Let's go racin' then!" K.O. gleefully shouts.

Everyone gets ready to ride on their dragon-cycles, revving up the motors at a makeshift starting line, sternly glowering at each other. Brigitta also had eight members in her crew, making this an even race of eighteen drivers, nine each to a team..

"On my mark...5...4..3...2...1...go!" Brigitta gives the signal and everyone starts rolling off.

[BGM:"Vanilla Radio" by The Wildhearts]

The race starts off, and Hekappo and crew quickly take the lead while Brigitta's team seems to stall out. Everyone looks back smugly.

"Damn, I guess we only lost to them back then because we were out of it! These guys suck!" Hekapoo yells in delight.

"Maybe they were the ones who needed the tutorial spell, eh, guys?" Star adds on.

"More time to bond with our rides, then." Jackie remarks before looking down at her dragon-cycle. "So, Elissa, what emotion does the name 'Eric Sparrow' invoke?" Elissa's face distorts in disgust. "Oh, you are a very good dragon."

"I dunno, everyone. This feels a bit–GAH!" Marco winces as a pebble hits his shoulder. He turns around to see where it came from and… "What the!?"

Brigitta's whole crew is packing weapons, from nunchucks and baseball bats, to chains and slingshots.

"Seriously?!" Tom, at the back of the pack, tries to avoid some oncoming brass-knuckled punches by tilting Hampton away from one of the riders, but another hog monster approaches him from the other side, carrying some chains. "How are they armed?! The race just started!"

"Oh, yeah, one more thing, we got our weapons early and buried them just under the startling line in preparation, and technically that's not cheating!" Brigitta smirks.

"Bloody hell, they loophole'd on us!" Eclipsa shouts.

"No worries! We can't use our wands for magic, but we can still use 'em to whack 'em!" Star shouts back.

Turn the radio down

Turn the radio down, down

Vanilla radio whoa-oh

The combat starts as Brigitta's grunts weave in and merge with the group, mercilessly trying to beat on everyone, with some of the good guys getting punched in the shoulder or on their sides, forcing them to lose speed as a precaution.

Kelly gets hit by nunchucks from one of the grunts and she has no choice but to summon her sword, swinging it around with one hand to try to get him away. "Back! Back, I say!"

Star uses her wand to try to swing around and her weapon collides with a grunt's bat, making clacking noises from each contact. "Hah..gah!" She growls as they duel.

Meanwhile, Eclipsa does the same, but the grunt she's fighting decides to toss in some smack talk. "Brigitta's been trainin' us for months! You've got no chance!"

"Well, that doesn't matter, we'll beat you blokes by any means—wait, is that pepper spray?!" The grunt sprays it into her eyes and speeds off while Eclipsa yelps, slowing down so she can rub her eyes.

Tom continues to deal with getting hit by chains, but as he shields his face, realizes that the guy isn't holding on to his dragon-cycle's horns. Tom gives a swift kick and the guy flies off the dragon, rolling onto the ground until he comes to a stop, moaning in pain. As the grunt is left in the distance, his dragon-cycle heading back to check up on them, Tom cheers loudly. "Got one, whoo!" He gets punched in the shoulder. "Oh, right. There were two of you on–"

Hampton, emboldened by his rider's moves, gives a roar and headbutts the other dragon-cycle, taking the second guy and his ride to wipe out.

"...I love you, Hampton."

"Hills incoming!" Hekapoo shouts.

Where's my Elvis?

Where's my Elvis?

Where's my Elvis?

Where's my Elvis?

They approach a couple of hills that are steep enough to act like ramps, giving them a bit of airtime if they go fast enough. Brigitta managed to get into the front while the others were dealing with her mooks, but Hekapoo and Jackie were close behind.

Meanwhile, K.O. has drifted to the back of the pack, dealing with another grunt who was pelting him with rocks from a slingshot. "Don't think I can use my Power Fist...wait, I got it!". He pulls out his smartphone and pretends to start recording. "Excuse me, but I dare ya to stand up on the cycle to go viral!"

The grunt gasps. "Ooh, hope the biker mistress watches it after we're done with you! Here goes!" He stands up on the dragon-cycle spreading his arms. "It's almost like I'm flying—MMPH!" He's knocked off his bike by the only dead tree in miles, tumbling down the hill with shrill screams. It takes his cycle a few seconds to register that his rider is gone… at which point the dragon smacks into the only twenty foot boulder in miles and knocks itself unconscious.

K.O. and his cycle blink in unison. "Maybe I should have recorded that, huh, Steppy?" Steppy growls in agreement, before speeding up to catch up to Janna.

"Hey, nice job, girly boy! You do that all the time?" Janna asks.

"You'll be surprised how much meme culture can take over back at my home!" K.O. replies.

"Sounds insane. I love it!" Janna jokes back.

Back at the front, Jackie gets a bit closer to Brigitta, but one of her underlings comes out of nowhere, brandishing a souped-up cattle prod.

"How about a little shock therapy?! The grunt says with a wide grin on her face.

"That's messed up, you know?!" Jackie and Elissa try to dodge and weave as the hog-monster tries to shock her, everyone exiting the hills and returning to plain land. As they approach a sharp left turn, Jackie has to choose between getting shocked and bailing. And given the choice between some road rash and possible electrocution by an anthropomorphic swine...

"Jackie!" Hekapoo cries out, growling. She's about to slow down before Jackie, getting to her feet after falling, waves her off. Hekapoo gives a stern nod and continues on to catch Brigitta and the cattle prod girl. Jackie does the same as her other friends come up on the turn, urging them to continue while she makes sure Elissa is okay. Watching Janna and K.O. ride off, she turns to her companion.

"Okay, Elissa." She fingers the seashell on her necklace as she addresses the dragon, uncertain. "We haven't known each other long. Or at all. Frankly, you have no reason to trust me. But that's okay, because I trust you and–" Elissa silences her with their tail, giving a raised brow. Jackie pushes the tail away, takes a breath to relax, and gives an easygoing smile. "Fine, starting over. I have a plan for us to win this thing. You with me?" Elissa coos and nuzzles Jackie. Jackie rubs the dragon's head fondly before hopping on. "Best dragon. Now let's be wild cards!" The duo get back on the track.

Vanilla radio, whoa-oh

Vanilla radio, whoa-oh

Vanilla radio

You're lost in the audio

I want my radio

Back near the front, Hekapoo now has to deal with the woman with the cattle prod, ready to avenge Jackie. She tries to use prod on her, but she overextends, allowing Hekapoo to chop at her wrist and force it to drop it into Hekapoo's other hand. Between the pain of her wrist and trying to regain her balance, the grunt has no time to react to Hekapoo spinning the cattle prod around and shocking her.

"Bye bye!" Hekapoo gives a coy wave to the twitching body that falls to the ground and is left in the dust. She thinks about keeping the cattle prod, but decides against it, tossing it in behind her and revving up to catch Brigitta.

Several yards behind, Star, Marco, and three grunts narrowly avoid running over the twitching and prone body of the hog monster before resuming their fight. One grunt that was about to get a good hit on Marco from behind is suddenly shocked unconscious by the cattle prod that Hekapoo tossed and unceremoniously slides off his ride, making the match two-on-two, with the rival bikers between Star and Marco. A twinkle enters Star's eye when she realizes this.

"Marco, time to initiate Cool Couple Move #57!" Star orders.

Marco gasps. "I've been wanting to do that move for so long!"

"On 3!". Star starts it off.

One of the biker's rolls her eyes. "You know doing a countdown just gives us time to–"

"3!" they say together, as they leap into the air, knocking the heads of the hog riders together to daze them, and doing crazy back kicks that knock them out of the running, before landing each other's dragons.

We faintly hear one of the bikers as the couple leaves them behind. "My friend retracts her previous statement…"

"Holy crap, it worked!" Star laughs as they drive closer together, safely jumping back onto their respective dragon-cycles and giving each other a high-five.

"And who taught you that?" Marco smirks.

"You diiiiid!" Star cutely replies back with a goofy face as the song ends.

Hekapoo, Kelly, Star and Marco are all now behind Brigitta, catching up to her a bit more; Tom, Janna, Eclipsa and K.O. are bringing up the rear, with Jackie still catching up.

"We took down all of your grunts, Brigitta! There's–" Hekapoo starts, but getting interrupted by cackling.

"You forgot about meeee! Mwahehehehehehe!" One last grunt tries to pull up from behind Kelly, wielding a steel pipe, laughing maniacally. Kelly just knocks him down with her sword without looking.

"Whoops, sorry, I hear an evil laugh and I just instantly swing it.", Kelly admitted.

"Thanks, Kells! Like, I was saying, we took down all your grunts, Brigitta! They ain't catching up! There's no way you can handle eight of us on your ass!" Hekapoo resumes, but Brigitta just snorts and laughs.

"Oh, really? Take another look behind ya, chumps!"

"Like, I'd fall for–"

"Hekapoo, dear, I believe we have a situation!" shouts Eclipsa. Everyone looks behind them to see that everyone they'd taken out, even the dude Kelly just backsworded, are catching up to them. Fast. They're all in a straight row across the length of the road, which disappears as everyone starts leaving it to cross a large, frozen lake.

"How is that even possible!?" Janna questions.

"Don't you know new blood? There's a rubberbanding effect! My dudes can catch back up after a bit with unreal speed and traction! Your dragons have got that too!" Brigitta explains.

"It's videos game logic!", K.O. shouted.

"Doesn't matter. At this rate, we'll pass ya! " Star shouts.

"Catch."

"Huh, what?" Star fumbles a small object that Brigitta threw in her face. She holds it up so the other three nearby can get a good look at the–

"GRENADE!" Kelly yells as everyone's eyes widen. Star tries to launch it back at Brigitta, hitting it with her wand like it was a baseball. It misses, falling onto the ice and detonating behind her. The quartet try to skid to a stop, but are still caught in the explosion, wiping out simultaneously and landing hard on the ice. Even worse, the ice slowly starts cracking out from where the bomb landed.

"D-damn...! Anyone okay?!" Star yells.

"Yeah...!" Kelly yells out.

"I'm alright...!" Hekapoo called out.

"I'm fine, but I'm also PO'd!" Marco angrily replies, Nachos growling in agreement.

Tom, Janna, Eclipsa and K.O. stop their dragon-cycles to try to help up their allies, although this lets Brigitta and her entire crew get past them.

"Ugh, I can't believe it! She really had friggin' explosives with her?!" Marco continues, frustrated.

"We saw it! We gotta keep moving, though!" Tom exclaimed.

"There's a rubberbanding effect, so we can catch up, but... damn, who knows how many explosives she has. The rest of the route could be littered with mines for all we know!" Hekapoo argues.

"So we're just giving up? That doesn't sound right." Eclispa asks.

"No, no, but we've got to play it safe and–" Hekapoo begins to explain.

"Use the rubberbanding!" Janna shouts, everyone looking at her confused. "That's how we're winning this. Call me crazy – which I am –but I think we gotta treat this like a stock car super-speedway race! We gotta hang back, and when the right opportunity strikes, we slingshot past 'em! We'll be going so fast, any traps will be too slow to phase us."

"Sounds, well, crazy enough to work!" Star replies.

"I like taking risks, but even for me, this is nuts!" K.O. retorted.

"It's not a risk if you know it's gonna work!" The others turn towards a rapidly approaching Jackie, her dragon sliding to a stop. "There's no way I'm letting my first real adventure with you guys end in a loss."

"Jackie, it's fine. I don't even remember what the losers have to do, but it can't be that bad. It's just a bike race." Marco says, having calmed down a bit.

"No, we're better than any stupid tricks they have. And I know Janna. If she thinks her plan is going to work, it is going to work." Jackie pauses to gather her thoughts, fiddling with her necklace. "Hekapoo, I know you feel you've got something to prove here. You've got a lot of regrets, right? I get that. Not a lot of stuff phases me, but there are a lot of things I wish I did better too. Even if it isn't on the same scale as you. But–"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but the ice...is gonna break!" Kelly screams, getting onto her dragon.

"Aw, I wanted to say that!" Janna complains.

"NOT THE TIME!", Kelly retorts.

"Huh, the ice isn't– I mean, right! Um, cliff notes version. Today has been thrilling. Let's keep it going. Play aggressive in Echo Creek because that's home field advantage." Jackie fumbles through the rest of her speech.

Hekapoo gives Jackie a searching look before letting out a wholehearted laugh. "I wasn't gonna say no to Janna's plan, but if you're so gung-ho, then I definitely have no choice. You heard her, guys, let's get rollin'!" They all mount their dragon-cycles and resume racing onwards as the ice starts cracking and spreading even faster, their wheels bumping over the emerging gaps.

"C'mon, Nachos, c'mon, I believe in ya...!" Marco anxiously cheers for his cycle.

"Nova, I'm countin' on ya!" Star cheers to her cycle.

"Carry on wayward, William!" Kelly lauds to hers.

"Let's Judo Madonna on all those fools, Elissa!" Jackie rooted her cycle on.

"We're gonna make it Steppy, never give up, trust your instincts!" K.O. cheers on loudly to his cycle.

"Hampton, keep on keepin' on!" Tom commands his cycle.

"Your name may be ordinary Steve, but I know you can be extraordinary!" Eclipsa wonderfully acknowledges her cycle.

"Go, Chev, go go! You're the greatest, baby!" Janna encourages her cycle.

"Bam, let's shake things up a bit!" Hekapoo supportively says cycle.

The lake fully breaks as they all yell "JUMP!", hopping pretty high up in the air to avoid the super freezing waters, barely making it back on the road as they cheer out loudly.

"Phew, we made it… but I still don't see 'em! Where's the rubberbanding?" Tom commented.

"Just wait a bit..." Hekapoo reassures him, and then… it kicks in. The dragons speed down the road, leaving trails in their wake, the landscape blurring around them and everyone screaming out in shock from the speed, making their faces slightly disfigured from it all.

Meanwhile, Brigitta is seen laughing as she and her crew are riding up on the volcano, Mt. Anima.

"Heh, I guess they're really giving it up, huh? Even with the rubberbanding! Doesn't hurt to be a little–"

"Ma'am, wait! They're back!", one of the grunts yells.

The good guys approach them with caution, roughly being seconds behind on them to stay with their strategy.

"We still have a nice little lead on 'em! Keep it up!" Brigitta orders, as they continue to travel the bumpy and rocky terrain upwards.

One of the other goons speaks up. "But Mistress! They look too confident! They could be planning something!"

"Heh, or maybe they're fixin' it for us! They knew they ain't gonna win, so they're not gonna try! Don't worry about it!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Her bike troops all reply back.

"Oh, ho ho...looks like they're takin' our bait!" Star says excitedly.

"Well, more like our non-bait, if anything." Kelly corrects with a chuckle.

"I know we're taking it slow, but we gotta make sure to not half-ass this jump, guys!" Hekapoo reminds the crew.

Brigitta and her biker cronies all are able to jump the volcano rather casually, not much in terms of flashiness.

"Bruh, they call themselves bikers, but they don't do cool tricks?" Janna complains.

"Ooh, ooh, let's make up for it with tons of pizazz!" K.O. excitedly replies with a grin.

"I'm likin' what you're saying! Get your phones out, guys! We are about to get showboaty!" Marco says.

Cue screenshots of the whole crew doing cool tricks above the volcano, such as a backflip being done by Hekapoo, a frontflip by Star, Marco doing a one-hand superman, Jackie and Kelly doing rotating 360's, Tom and Janna having their backs on each other while standing up, Eclipsa standing on her dragon-cycle with her umbrella on her hands and K.O. is hand standing on his cycle.

"Whoo! That was delightful! But let's never do it again, I think my heart skipped for a second." Eclipsa admits.

"I respect your opinion wholeheartedly!" Hekapoo amusingly replies back as Eclipsa chuckles.

All the riders ride down the other side of the volcano as they notice a portal that will take Brigitta's team and Hekapoo's team back to Echo Creek.

"Here we come!" Brigitta says as her crew rides through the portal, with Hekapoo and her team following.

And just like that, they're all in Echo Creek in front of Britta's Tacos, and they merge with the moderate traffic on the road. We look back at the portal, where a pedestrian dressed in makeshift armor from a nearby dumpster was watching it for hours. He flinches as it closes and gives a relieved breath.

"Oh phew, I thought Cthulu was gonna pop out of there."

[BGM: "Count Five Or Six" by Cornelius]

"Now, guys, go, go, go! Keep them busy until we hit the waterfront! Wild card's got a plan!" Jackie orders out and their all-out attack starts.

Hekapoo and Kelly are the first two to approach the grunts. "Let's show 'em no mercy, girl-bro!", the demeast said with a smirk.

"Do it to it!" Kelly remarks back.

"Boss, boss, they're on our tail now!" One of the grunts says back to Brigitta.

"Ah, I get it now! Though they could save their strength for a home turf brawl. Well, that'll just make our win even sweeter!" Brigitta throws a grenade once more, but this time, the crew is ready.

"Oh, no ya don't!" Kelly uses her sword as if it's a baseball bat, carefully analyzing the oncoming grenade for a bit before taking a swing with a loud "HYAAAAH!" The grenade lands in a dumpster and it explodes there. "Score one for the Kelmeister!"

"Ooh, that's a new nickname!" Hekapoo replies, before turning her attention to one of the grunts, taking out her scissors and splitting them to use like blades. "I'm warnin' ya, one touch of these and that cut's gonna last forever!" She fixes her with a feral grin, her sharp teeth being proudly displayed, startling the grunt and making her lose her balance.

"Yellow teeth?! I'm scared of that color!" They wipe out into a nearby mailbox, and lay prone and unconscious in the pile of mail. Hekapoo looks offended.

"Hey, I brush my teeth everyday… I think!"

Meanwhile, Eclipsa is fencing with another hog grunt using her parasol as they both stand atop their dragon-cycles, exchanging blows.

"You call yourself the Queen of Darkness! Foolish woman, it is I who is one with the darkness! I was raised by the shade!"

"Ah, I'm sorry you have such a terrible parent."

"Huh?"

"Because the shade won't protect you!" Eclipsa opens her parasol as the duo ride under an overpass, and we hear a sharp scream that immediately goes silent. Eclipsa is the only one that rides out, back to sitting on her cycle.

Elsewhere on the course, Marco does a roundhouse kick to knock one out and have him fall off their dragon-cycle, while Star does an axe handle in one's head to have him fall off. K.O. does a pretty snazzy headscissors to take one down, throwing the hog and their dragon into an empty parking space.

"Oof, that was as painful as doing parallel parking!", K.O. joked.

"That's a thing in your world, too?", Star replied.

"Yep! It usually leads to some crazy battles, too!"

"Ooh, ya gotta show 'em to me!"

"Ya bet!"

Janna is also one-on-one with a grunt, doing her best to dodge their attacks. "Of course, this is the one time I forget my dryer nun-chucks...! Wait...Chev, can you..." She whispers into his ear and he nods slowly. Her dragon-cycle proceeds to hop up and do a 360, using the back of his wheels to smack the grunt's face into the pavement, then lands right back on track without a problem.

"Yes!" Janna says with a fist pump. "Alright, that settles it. You're definitely my new roomie."

Tom continues dodging some of the grunts' weapons further up in the pack, fully focused to make sure Jackie gets an easy passage as she tries to get closer to Brigitta, trying her best to try to pass her, but it seems like she just can't get by her.

"I should be faster than you, c'mon!" Jackie yells, frustrated.

"You'll never pass me!" Brigitta smirks, taking out another grenade.

Jackie's eyes widen before looking over and seeing they're now by the water. "You sure about that?"

"What? Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't say that if I wasn't. Are you dumb or something?" Brigitta says a bit confused, lowering the grenade. Jackie points to her side. Brigitta's eyes follow. "WHAT THE F–?!"

A gigantic, but oddly thin, tidal wave smashes into Brigitta, slamming her and her cycle into a parked car, which itself gets lodged into a nearby store.

"Uhhh…" Tom begins to speak.

"Don't worry, that should be the last one for the day, now come on!" Jackie interrupts.

The rest of crew follow Hekapoo and crew as the grunts stop and waste no time checking in on their leader.

"Boss! Mistress!" They call, among other highly names given for her, as they dig through the rubble.

"G-grr..YOU DUMBASSES, YOU'RE LETTING THEM GET AWAY!" Brigitta shouts out at the top of her lungs, as she's being pulled out.

"Ohhhhh..." The grunts realize on that and quickly run back to their dragon-cycles, but keep on tripping by themselves as their leader cringes watching them fumble.

Meanwhile with the good guys, they're approaching the Memorial Coliseum, still going at a pretty decent throttle. Some of them begin to cheer loudly, although some of them also seem a bit confused.

"W-we did it...! We beat them!" Jackie says with nervous chuckles in-between, before putting both her hands up in the air. "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH! Even in dragon-cycles, we–"

"Whoa, hold on there, Jackie, don't say that until we're inside, it's bad luck." Star interrupts her.

"It feels like we've been cutting each other off a lot today." Tom muses.

"Cutting like...scissors?", Hekapoo grinned in a cheesy way after saying that pun as a pause follows, with K.O. being the only one chuckling. "Eh, I tried.", she shrugged.

They take the tunnel entrance and ride through the inside of the stadium.

"Okay, now you can cheer." Hekapoo says, amused.

"Ah, thanks. WHOOO!" Jackie cheers again, as some of the crew exchange high-fives all round and some have a sigh of relief.

"Phew… oh man, that's one sin and mistake removed from us." Marco rests on top of his dragon-cycle.

"This really was a good bonding session, guys! We kicked booty together against those bacon bikers!" K.O. proudly states.

"Still...that wave. You didn't cast any magic, did you, Star?" Eclipsa questioned.

"Nope, swear to God and corn."

"Ooh, you say that in your dimension, too?" K.O. amusingly says.

"Yeah, Mewni had this whole thing with corn before we merged, so it's just fun to say."

"YOU BASTARDS!", a certain hog yelled

"Oh yeah, those guys.", Jackie simply uttered.

Brigitta rides in, screaming at the top of her lungs. "WE AIN'T DONE YET, WE'RE GONNA DO ANOTHER RACE, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOOOOOOOOW!"

"Nah." Hekapoo says, opening a portal. "Leave."

"NO, WE– wait, we can just leave?"

"Yes…"

"But what about the… thing the losers have to do? You and Marco were disturbingly detailed about that." The hog woman shivers in disgust.

Hekapoo and Marco glance at each other, concerned. Marco steps forward.

"What did we say you had to do exactly? We may have forgot?" Marco sheepishly asks.

Brigitta motions for Hekapoo and Marco to come closer, and she whispers into their ears. As she continues, they get more and more pale, before Hekapoo and Marco can't take anymore.

"OH GOD, WE SAID THAT?!", Hekapoo and Marco reacted in shock

"No wonder you guys played dirty. I… I am so sorry." Hekapoo adds, looking mortified.

"Just leave. It's fine.", Marco said.

The hog bikers go through it, muttering their gratitude while weeping happy tears. Hekapoo closes the portal behind them.

"...Do we want to know what the loser had to–" Eclipsa begins.

"NO, we're banning that stupid drink!" Hekapoo and Marco talk over each other.

"...Maybe it's just best if we don't know, for everyone's sake.", Tom said.

"YES!", everyone but Janna agreed.

"Well, gonna have to use my weird, crazy imagination.", Janna muttered.

Hekapoo then clears her throat,"Anyway, what was that weird wave, Jackie?"

"That was my wild card plan."

Star gasps. "Jackie? You can control water?!"

Jackie awkwardly laughs. "Of course not, Star. The coastal waters have been acting weird for the past year or two. Bizarre water spouts and waves. I haven't figured out what causes them yet, but I knew that one would happen today."

"I… think I've heard about that?" Marco says, trying to remember before shrugging.

"Eh, this town was already kinda weird without my magic. Earthni Echo Creek being even more random makes sense." Star says.

"It could be fun to look into that though. Maybe there's a sea monster hunt can be our next adventure!" Hekapoo suggests.

"I knew of the water activity, but I haven't been able to discern a pattern myself. How did you figure it out?" Eclipsa says.

"I just had a good vibes about it. Call it fate or somethin' like that." Jackie replies.

"Guess fate just really likes cool water tricks, "K.O. admitted.

"Almost as if… even the racing Gods themselves wanted Jackie to lead us to victory, so they gave her a vision of how to win." Star happily says, raising Jackie's hand, "She's our oracle MVP for today!"

"Eh heh heh...yeah, let's go with that!" Jackie laughs.

"Three cheers for Jackie-Lynn Thomas!" Kelly loudly cheered.

"Oh, no need, guys! I admit, loud cheers ain't my thing. I prefer to keep it...cool." She snaps both her fingers with a wink.

Most of the crew nods, her chillness distracting them easily, although Hekapoo, Star and Eclipsa all raise an eyebrow on this.

Janna puts her arm around Jackie "Hey, I'll celebrate as loud and proud as I want, but I'm respectin' ya a lot more."

"I thought you wanted to be my rival or something like that."

"Friends, rivals, what's the difference?" Janna shrugs.

"Say, can we keep the dragon-cycles? I'd love to show Steppy here to Lakewood!" K.O. questions.

"Think they might prefer going back to their dimension, I'm afraid." Hekapoo replies.

"Aw, man..."

Hekapoo's pats K.O.'s back and puts her beefy arm around his back as he reacts with a blush, "But no worries, I might have something special for all of ya. It could take time, though. You'll know it when you see it! Uh...you okay?" it turns out she gripped her arm a little too hard and he's on the verge from fainting.

"H-holy C-Cob...you're strong...", K.O. reacted with a squeak as Hekapoo lets go.

"Whoops, sorry dude.", she replied as K.O. catches his breath. Star and Marco notice this and exchange an amusing grin to each other.

Cut to later in the day during the sunset at Butterfly Castle as Hekapoo and Star are up on the roof, with Eclipsa joining in, now back to their regular clothes.

"Okay, so we're all in agreement that Jackie is hiding something, right? That's why we're meeting here, is it not, Star?" Eclipsa said.

"Wait, what? No, I just thought the sunset was super pretty today. Why would Jackie be hiding something?"

"Seeing the hog boss herself get bodied was hilarious, but yeah, I wonder if this even counts as a fair win." ponders Hekapoo.

"...You think Jackie caused the wave? But you agreed with her about the ocean around her being weird." Star questioned.

"I did. And if it was just that, I wouldn't question anything. But there was also the ice lake." Eclipsa responds.

"The ice… oh. The grenade exploded in front of us." Star's eyes widen in realization.

"Exactly. We should have been stranded in the middle of that lake. Or at least be forced to backtrack a bit and take a long detour. Yet there was still a solid enough path to travel across, right in front of us, even as everything around us was breaking." Hekapoo said.

"So Jackie is hiding that she can do magic, then? That would have been nice to know back in high school." Star remarks. "But… it can't just be that. She would tell us if it was just magic."

Hekapoo nods. "Wild card has secrets."

Star furrows her brow. "It's a good secret, though. Right? Jackie is our friend…"

Cut to Jackie, walking down the sidewalk, as Star finishes speaking. "Whatever she's hiding isn't gonna hurt us."

Jackie suddenly sneezes. "Gah, must be the Neverzone cold. Brr..."

[End Of Chapter]

[ED2: "Today Is The Day" by Yo La Tengo]

I followed you, foolishly

You were at a smoky bar, you were out till 3

Sat alone inside my car, it was nearly 4

Couldn't wait for you all night, so I broke the door

I was gonna spend the night, coulda been okay

We were gonna talk all night till I went away

[Guitar solo]

Another day, come and gone

Don't think I wanna sing that song

It's always trouble that makes you strong

Today is the day, today is the day I think of you.