Disclaimer: it's in the bottom this time.
Chapter 16
The Devil's Fruit
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Marco sat on a drifting asteroid, his eyes downcast on the Pendragon Sword.
The urge to throw it into the void was so powerful; knowing he could call it back made him feel no better.
"…"
He mentally berated himself for even entertaining the thought, leaning back and looking at the black canvas speckled with stars, this sword
Marco yelped as the sword zapped him, he shook his head in disbelief: it was as if it could hear his thoughts. He poked it experimentally before he put it back in it's sheathe, feeling better there was a layer separating them.
He felt like a failure.
At the same time, if the plan was to make him follow his own path why bother sending him to the knights in the first place? Something didn't add up…
Marco sighed and laid on the rock, he watched the stars in the vast space canvas as he drifted along, trying to chart a new path for himself…but he was at a loss. What could he do? What could he learn that would match the education of the Knightly Order? There had to be some society or—or academy where he could supplement his fragile human body with magical arsenal or enhancement.
Marco exhaled loudly and just thought what led up to this moment…
His heart painfully throbbed at the thought of being ousted by Mewni then hiding behind his Ward.
It…wasn't right.
Was he wrong? Were they right? No right answers. No guiding teachers to scold him for his actions.
He was lost in his thoughts…unsure how long he stayed there, gazing longingly at the stars…
…
I can't stay on this rock forever…for now I better find myself a decent teacher to learn from…maybe a sword master or gunslinger, someone whose seen plenty of battle so I can learn to use the weapons they use. Come to think of it…I better learn from a lot of teachers, yeah, and not just for fighting, even monks and scholars would do.
Marco sat up ready to leave when the asteroid bumped into something causing him to jolt along with it. He looked around and saw nothing but the blackness of the vast space.
He blinked seeing a void, no stars lingered there.
"What the—?"
Marco tentatively reached out and touched the void, he retracted his hand feeling something hard and…alive.
Mighty brave of you to caress me…
Marco looked around alarmed as the void spoke and began to unwind itself, he pulled the sword free and aimed it at the massive star-blotting void, feeling it suffocate everything around him.
"What? What is this!? Who are you?!"
Marco lit the sword aflame and held it high to see just pitch-black, he looked around seeing more and more of the stars being engulfed by the void. He readied to slash open a portal and flee but the void spoke again, talking to him with familiarity,
Is that you, boy? You've grown.
"…?"
No…you're not him.
Marco gulped as the tone turned frigid.
WHO ARE YOU.
"…I am…Marco Diaz."
The void didn't respond, Marco looked around him before 6 massive green eyes snapped open and peered down on him.
Marco…Diaz…ah, another boy has stumble upon me. Curious.
"What…who are you?"
The void moved again, as if unwinding before the stars shone again over head, Marco blinked as his eyes adjusted and stared at the massive sight before him: a near pitch-black dragon, wings stretching for miles, scales sizes of football fields and the glowing green eyes as bright as the sun.
I AM THE FELL DRAGON.
HOW DID YOU HAPPEN UPON MY DOMAIN?
Marco felt compelled to answer the dragon, he resisted for a moment before he realized something: the dragon not once opened its maw.
"Are you…speaking directly into my head…?"
YES. UNLESS YOU SPEAK DRACONIC THEN WE'LL BE IN AN IMPASSE. NOW: SPEAK.
Again Marco felt the massive urge, the command broke down any notion of resistance, despite Buttercup's and Oblivion's teachings on mental defense, it felt as if the dragon moved it aside. His sword was sheathed.
And so Marco spoke, answering any question the dragon asked:
his home, his lineage, his occupation, the who, what, why, when and how of every event Marco could consciously answer.
He spoke until his voice grew hoarse.
And still he told the dragon what it wanted.
The dragon's interest was quite piqued by Marco's recent exploits: his teachers, this 'Mewni' dimension, his battles, his dilemma and his search for the Knightly Order and the end result.
The dragon laughed making his blood boil.
Peace Marco…I know you better than you know yourself…at least for now.
Tell me: do you know why they refuse to teach you?
"I…didn't…" Marco croaked the dragon apologized before somehow making him a pitcher, Marco sealed his mouth shut. The dragon raised a talon and the water seeped into Marco's throat via his nostrils, filling his mouth with watery booger juice before it seeped into his belly.
Sorry. But I am…extremely curious now.
Marco nearly hurled out his stomach as he coughed, the dragon was positively frightening, it had overpowered him so easily, mentally taking hold of him and making materials out of thin air. Whatever was this dragon…he'd better flee the moment he could.
Not like that would make a difference boy. I know where you live and who you know.
Marco flinched.
Peace, Marco. I have no intention of interrupting your life, I am more than content to just have you here for a moment. You think me malicious, well yes, I am a malicious dragon however…I've grown quite bored with the universe as of late, nothing much left to do with it, I could sweep my wing and watch the stars flicker out of existence: dimensions, galaxies and other universes just vanishing. But what would be the point.
Ah, but back to my earlier question.
"…no, I don't know why I was refused. Their requirements seemed so—"
It's the sword, Marco. They recognize it, they know who your teacher is, they know what will become of you.
"And what is that? What will I become?"
A King. Ah, before you refuse and say it's not possible, I didn't say what kind of 'King'. If you think marrying your darling Star Butterfly will make you a King, yes, I suppose it would but they see you as a King of something else.
And they are afraid what you could become with that much power. Turning you away was also a mercy AND a learning experience, they want you to be strong in your belief, just and independent; they can't afford to have you be in one single Knightly Order seat, you would imbalance it.
"…"
Chin up, boy, it's not the end of the world if you do not have a Knight as your teacher. Find another worthy one, however…might I suggest a…sinister one?
Marco looked at the dragon apprehensively.
Not me. I'm too old to rough house with an infant. No, I mean find a teacher who…isn't afraid to 'bend' the notion of rules. You are born with a good heart, that will always shine through, just like your determination so I can rightly predict no matter how much blood you spill…being knee deep in bodies…you won't ever stay 'evil' for very long.
"I can't do that!"
Why? You're a Dark Knight. In Mewman context you did the grisly work in the battlefield while the other knights [Paladins] only stepped in when necessary. When wet work is demanded; you answer the call because sometimes there is 'no just cause'…you need to understand that.
You're a sheet over a masterpiece with little dabs of colors…a few poked holes…it's not pretty but once you tear that off…you will know who you are.
And this, well, it will just help you along the way.
Marco stared as a simple green apple fell to his feet, he tentatively picked it up and looked at it, the dragon blinked slowly.
Take a bite of that fruit…and I'll imbue you with some of my ancient powers, you've already seen how powerful it is…as a gift, for entertaining me for a moment.
"…just like that?" Marco questioned, it nodded, "…you're a Fell Dragon…does that mean I'll be a Dragon Knight?"
The term you're looking for is Fell Knight, Dragon Knight is just silly. Hmmm, now that I think about it; there hasn't been a Fell Knight since the Eon Wars.
Marco looked at the fruit for a moment, "What powers would I have?"
My brand of Fell works in conjunction with the Knight, meaning the more dire situation you are in the manifestations of my Fell will work to overcome it. Expect it to flare up if you're in a particularly foul mood, your brown eyes will be replaced with my burning green, the white of your eyes will be pitch black to match my strong hide, in short you'll be a fearsome in appearance as well as power.
The powers would be ambiguous at best then…
Marco, I don't normally stop you from doing something stupid but: DO NOT EAT THAT FRUIT.
Why?
I may be a malicious leeching parasite disease of a spell…but even I know a bad deal when I see one. Eat that and there will be no turning back.
Ah, so the worm finally speaks. Afraid my powers would just kill you outright when it manifests? It doesn't like roommates.
Monster Arm fell silent.
Marco thought over the words of Monster Arm.
"Everything has a price…what's the price of using your powers?"
Simple: you use it once; you use it again. And again. And again. Until, well, you can't stop using it, completely and utterly reliant on it, the idea of using another power would be…abhorrent to you.
"That terrible…what happens if I don't use it? Never use it?"
Hmmm, you know what temptation is right? The same with the powers of the Blight, Blood and Death Knight, you will master every aspect and facet of it…but you will never touch anything else, master no new powers or seek it out. You will be completely owned by the power.
If you don't use it…well it will linger, leave it out to dry for too long and the Fell will reject your pleas to use it, so having it is no more dangerous than not having it. Oh, and it won't pass on to your children, this pact would be between us, you have my word.
A talon made a mark on it's scale. It glowed vile green.
"…"
Marco took a bite of it before dropping the apple, turning into ash.
He spat out the piece and spit the residue and glared at the dragon, it chuckled.
Take care not to use my Fell recklessly; and consider my advice…
The dragon flapped its massive wings and Marco was knocked off his feet. He was sent flying through the void, he yelled as flew through empty space the dragon roared and felt something opened behind him.
He grunted when he bounced on Kelly's bed and flopping on the floor.
"Whose there!?"
Kelly came into view with a massive claymore. She frowned seeing Marco weakly wave to her, a bath towel wrapped around her, a towel wrapped around her hair as well.
"Dude, seriously?"
"Sorry…"
Kelly ruefully shook her head and walked to the bathroom, "What kind of trouble did you get yourself in now?" she called out.
Marco thought over what the dragon had said.
"You know anything about Fell Knights?"
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So I'm messing with the Chapter formula a bit:
Current Events [Jackie + Janna] + Flashback/Development Arc [some action] + PLOT BOMB = Avid Readers not happy?
I'm going to perfect this formula to really bring out the best of this chapters, so for this chapter I only put the middle part and see what the results are. I'm going to guess: something bad.
These updates are coming fast now, since I'm cranking them out under 5K but just getting these tidbits into the lore will make for an easier Mewni Civil War, wont it?
tu ne me reconnaiss pas?
I AM NRG
END OF TRANSMISSION