What's up people! Happy 2024! And to start off the new year I'm going to be updating some stories that I haven't touched in a long time, Tales of Blades and Magic being the first one. Now from the last chapter Marco and his cousins were introduced Star's friends Pony Head, Kiana, Mei, and Bronya; a girl that Mei's family has given shelter to. After a bit of dancing, trying strange drinks and photo booth nonsense, the group enter an orange/red portal to their next destination.
Where will it be? Well-read and find out!
Chapter 4: Party Pony and Guests Pt.2
(Location: Dimension X-103)
Nestled in the middle of these barren and arid lands; home to only decaying vegetation, large crags and volcanoes, sat a large hollowed-out tree that had been cut down long, long ago and now served as the home for the only being to live in such a place. Currently, said person was in the middle of crafting what looked to be a pair of scissors using her forge to do so.
She had pale white skin, spiked arms, long red hair that was tied back in a black spiky hair tie with bangs that cover her right eye which like her left one was orange, fangs, pointed ears, and jagged yellow-orange horns. She wore a yellow-orange ballgown, brown high-heeled boots, and a black tiara. Floating in-between her horns was an ever-burning flame.
This was Hekapoo, the Enforcer/Forger of all dimensional scissors and member of the Magical High Commission.
"Okay, just this last bit here and these should be finished." Hekapoo said as she was finishing her latest pair of dimensional scissors for a client.
"I'm surprised you aren't board with how long this takes every time someone asks you for a pair of these things." A voice from behind said.
Without turning her head, Hekapoo addressed the guest who was lounging on her half-circular couch.
"One: it's my job. And two: no one asked you to stick around while I do this."
"Yeah, well that's… true." The person said as she hopped off the couch and walked over to the Enforcer as she worked.
"Then why did you bother to stick around here?" Hekapoo asked as glanced to her right where her guest was standing next to her while she continued her work.
The person was a young woman who looked to be around the age of 21 or 20 at best. She had long, red hair that went passed her back, eyes of the same color that were bright and told of her good nature and cheer. Her outfit was primarily white with red seen in certain parts. She wore black pants and long, white heeled boots with metal toecaps that stopped at her upper thigh. She also wore black gloves with one that had a red, armored arm guard that stopped at the bend of her arm, while the other cover her entire arm up passed sleeve of her outfit.
Finally, her cheek marks were a six – pointed snowflake identifying her as a member of the Kisaragi family.
"Well, my gut feeling has been telling me something again, you know?" she said.
"You mean that feeling that tells you something interesting is about to happen, right?" Hekapoo said. "Yeah, still don't believe that."
"Oh, ye of little faith." The girl quoted. "It's hasn't failed me at all."
"Correction Elesis," Hekapoo said calling the girl by name. "It hasn't failed you yet. Anyway, what's your gut feeling telling today?"
"We'll be having some guests stopping by today and that they'll be leading us to a lot of fun… after you've finished with what you're working on." Elesis explained.
"Oh really? And when are these said guests supposed to arrive?" Hekapoo asked in sarcastic enthusiasm.
Before Elesis could say anything more, a portal opened up in front of them. Soon several individuals come through as it closes behind.
"And we're here." Kiana says as she looks around with everyone else before they all spot the two other occupants. "And right in front of who I was hoping to find."
"Well, hey there Kiana!" Elesis says as she puts Kiana in a playful headlock and tousle her hair. "I knew my gut feeling was right on the money." She then noticed some familiar and not so familiar faces. "And you also brought some company with you too."
"Yeah, I did. You remember Mei, Bronya, and Princess 'Pain in the Butt' Pony Head?"
Mei and Bronya waved in greeting, while Pony Head was trying (and failing) to give Kiana the stink eye.
"Oh, hey you two! Pony Head, still a bad girl I hope?" Elesis said.
"Hello Lady Elesis." Mei said politely.
"Greeting." Bronya responded.
"The best bad girl you will ever know." Pony Head said with sass.
"Ha, good to know." Elesis says as she eyes the other four that were here. "Wait, isn't that Princess Butterfly I see there?"
"WHAT!?" Hekapoo shouted getting everyone's attention. Especially Star, who began to panic as she knew that if any member of MHC saw that she was not on earth, they would tell her mom.
"What the heck are you doing here Princess!?"
"Oh well you see Hekapoo I – "Star started to say before Marco cut in.
"Star does have permission to leave earth, so long as she's with me or my cousins here." Marco said as Hekapoo gave him a sharp look.
"Oh really? First off. Whose permission? And second, who are you anyway?"
"Okay to answer those questions I'm going in reverse order, okay?" Marco said not caring for the annoyed glare Hekapoo was shooting him. "First, my name is Marco Diaz son to Angelica Minazuki who gave Star permission to leave earth so long as she's with either me or my two cousins here." He said pointing to both Hibiki and Rita.
"Wait, Angelica? As in Queen Moon's former retainer? You're her kid?" Hekapoo asked awestruck.
"Holy Corn! Angie actually settled down and got married!" Elesis shouted in surprise. "No wonder I was getting a familiar feeling from this kid." She said as she walked over to get a better look at Marco. "Ha, change the hair color to auburn, brown eyes to green and I'd say you're the spitting image of Angie."
"Yeah, you're not the last person to say that miss?"
"Oh right, names Elesis Kisaragi."
"Kisaragi?" Hibiki asked. "Isn't that family known for gathering kids from around the multi-verse and molding them into elite knights or guards for other royals and nobles?"
"That's right. Actually, I'm one of those kids." Elesis said. "Came from a little village in a small dimension. Didn't have much of a life until someone from the Kisaragi family stopped by and took notice of me. After that, my life has been pretty kind to me."
"Hmm… I suppose hearing it from the horse's mouth is better than hearing it from rumors." Rita said.
Hekapoo just sighed before looking at Star again.
"Alright. If Angie gave Star permission to leave as long as her kid is with her, then I got nothing to say on the matter." She spoke. "Actually, this could be a good thing really."
"A good thing you say Miss Hekapoo?" Mei asked, wondering what the scissor enforcer meant.
"Yeah, you see there's been a little incident involving a couple idiots who've gone portal crazy with their dimensional scissors." Hekapoo explained. "I've sent out some clones to close the portals, but they keep getting jumped by whatever comes out of portals their closing."
"I've been helping H-poo out as much as I can." Elesis said. "We've managed to close a majority of the portals, but the remaining ones have some very strong creatures emerging from them."
"Couldn't Hekapoo just have here copies push them back into the portal then close it?" Star asked.
"I'm going to assume Star that they've already tried that, correct?" Rita asked the pair."
"We wouldn't be here asking you guys for help if it did work now, would we?" Hekapoo said.
"So, what do you guys think?" Elesis asked. "And if you all do a great job in helping us out, we'll owe you all a huge favor?"
"Where the heck is this "we" stuff coming from?" Hekapoo asked.
"Well technically you made the scissors that caused the rifts H-poo. So, while not directly involved, this is kind of your fault too." Elesis explained.
"That is pure warnicorn crap and you know it! You think I could have known those idiots would cause this crap with the rifts before I gave them their scissors!?" Hekapoo argued back.
"Alright, alright! Let's all calm down please." Mei said quickly getting in between the two.
"Yeah, if you two are going to start fighting at least give us some time to sell tickets first." Kiana said jokingly."
"Girl I would have started live streaming to half of mewni if these two started to brawl." Pony Head added.
"You two aren't helping." Marco said shaking his head in annoyance as he made his way over to Hekapoo and Elesis. "Okay first off, let's say these rifts remained open. What's the likely hood of some of these creatures appearing on earth?"
The two thought about for a moment before Hekapoo responded.
"I'd say the chances range from moderate to very high." She spoke.
Marco sighed before his cheek marks lite up and Crescent Moon Scar appeared in his hand. He then impaled the sword into the ground before regarding the two ladies in front of him again.
"How many are still open? And where's the first one you're sending us to?" he asked them.
"Huh?" Hekapoo asked as if she didn't hear what Marco just said. While Elesis on the other hand could only grin at the young man.
"I believe our cousin Marco asked how many of these rifts are open and to which one we are being dispatched to?" Rita said.
Hibiki then summoned his case and pulled both blades from it to examine them.
"Hmm, I'm wondering if I may need to improve the sharpness and durability of my blades." He said aloud.
"Well, when was the last time you did that Hibiki?" Star asked. "Warrior's only as good as his/her weapon. So have to make sure their always well maintained and ready for anything that comes at you."
"Hold up!" Hekapoo said getting everyone's attention. "Your all seriously going to do this? Just like that?"
"Umm, yes?" Marco answered with Star, Hibiki, and Rita nodding their heads in agreement.
She sighed before then turning to Kiana, Mei, and Bronya.
"And? What about you three?"
"If there's a chance for me to show-off my skills then you should already know that I'm going to be there!" Kiana said excitedly.
"Given Marco's earlier statement, if this matter is left un-attended to it could speared and cause more unrest." Mei said. "So of course, I will help where I can."
"If Mei wishes to help, then The Bronya will assist as well." Bronya said. "The Bronya also wants to make sure that subject Kiana doesn't do anything foolish that will hinder Mei and the other's efforts."
"THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN YOU BRAT!?" Kiana yelled as Elesis laughed.
"Well H-poo, I think that about settles it." Elesis said as Hekapoo sighed.
Later, everyone sat on the couch while Hekapoo and Elesis stood in front of a map.
"Okay so here's what we're dealing with." Hekapoo started. "Elesis and I have managed to close a majority of the portals that the idiots opened willy-nilly. This leaves us with only three still left to close." She explained as she and Elesis stepped away from the map to show where each portal was.
"The first one is located in the Cloud Kingdom of the Pony Heads." Elesis started before being interrupted by Pony Head.
"OH WHAT!? Those boomers opened one of those things at my place!? Oh, if my room gets messed up because of this I'm about mess them up!" she shouted.
"How about worrying more about the rest of your kingdom getting destroyed first, hmm?" Hekapoo pointed out, as Elesis continued with the location of the next portal.
"Okay, moving on. The second portal is located inside of a corn mine." Elesis said as she pointed to said location on the map that was circled.
"Have the workers there already evacuated?" Hibiki asked.
"Thankfully yes. But they've requested we clear out the monsters and close the portal there immediately." Elesis said. "Reason being that this mine is one of the larger ones and is essential for a majority of the villages outside of the kingdoms."
"Got it." Rita said. "So then where is the last one located?"
"The last portal is located right… here." Elesis says as she pointed to a location on the map named the Forest of Certain Death. "To make a long story short, having dimension monsters suddenly appear there is throwing it's whole ecosystem out of whack."
"Okay then." Rita said wondering just how stupid the ones who opened up all these portals were. "So which group will head to which locations?"
"You know I gotta make sure I still have a bedroom back home, so me and B-fly are – "before Pony Head could even finish, Hekapoo cut her off.
"Yeah no. I'm going with both you because neither of you have ever fought monsters of this high caliber before." She spoke which made Pony Head roll her eyes in annoyance.
"So, wait Hekapoo if you're going to be coming with me and Pony to close the portal, how are the others going to- "
Hekapoo answered by snapping her finger summoning several clones of herself.
"Oh right, you can clone yourself." Star said.
"Right. That said, we'll still need one more person." Hekapoo looks to everyone else before making her decision. "Kohaku you're coming with."
"Very well then." Hibiki said.
"Oh, come on, why you asking this fool to come?" Pony Head complained before Star pulled her to the side.
"Pony come on, Hibiki isn't that bad. Plus, I've seen what he does in fights and let's just say… you don't want to be on the other end of his swords." Star said as she directed Pony's gaze to Hibiki's twin blades that were giving off a menacing gleam all of a sudden which had the floating unicorn head begin to take her friend's words to heart.
"Aahh, yeah girl. I think I'll take your word for it." Pony head said. Now a bit more wary of Hibiki.
"Now as for the corn mines, Mei?" Hekapoo says, addressing the black-haired girl. "You'll be taking Bronya and the flower maid to handle it. You're in charge, got it?"
"Yes ma'am." Mei said, readily.
"The Bronya will remove all obstacles to complete this objective." Bronya said.
"And I'll make sure there's not so much as a hair left of those creatures. A miner should only ever have to worry about the dangers of their profession." Rita said as she manifested her scythe into existence.
"Alright, then by default, Marco, Kiana, and I will clear out the Forest of Certain Death." Elesis says as she walks over and throws her arms around the two mentioned. "Now I get to see just how much you've picked up from Angie." She said looking to Marco.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up too high, most of what you'll get to see are my own variations of the techniques my mom taught me." Marco explains.
"That just sounds like more of a reason to see you in action." Elesis said before looking to Kiana. "Plus, it's been a while since I last saw you kicking butt Kiana."
"Yeah, well prepare to have your socks rocked when we get out there." Kiana boasted, before looking to Marco. "Plus, I wanna see just how good you are in an actually fight."
"Star told you about Ludo coming to earth for her wand on her first day, didn't she?" Marco asked.
"Big time. She also said something about you having a second sword too, which I'm hoping I get to see you use." Kiana said knowingly which caused Marco to roll his eyes in mock annoyance as he grinned.
"Alright Meat Bags!" Hekapoo shouts as she quickly opens three portals to the marked places on the map. "You go through the portal, start clearing out the mess of monsters, force them back through the stare portal, and then close it. Got that?"
"Yes Ma'am!" everyone shouted.
"Good! Move out!"
At that signal, each group went through their respective portals to clean up an unexpected mess.
Okay guys, I know I said I'd be doing chapters for stories I haven't touched in a while, but you know how life is and my human attention span to keeping you all entertained. That being said, by the time this chapter goes up Mother's Day would have already come and gone. Regardless, I'm still doing a Mother's Day chapter. It will be short and I'm doing it right after this chapter. Anyway, hope to hear from you all soon. See ya!