Author's Note: So here we are at the penultimate chapter of the season 1 events. Just next week, we will wrap up this season of America and Star vs the Forces of Evil.
Along with the chapter, I will also be working on a dream cast list for the Marvel characters here. If anyone has any suggestions of who can voice any of the Marvel characters (including America, Patsy Walker, Impossible Man, Xemnu, anyone in the Teen Brigade, or basically everyone else), please leave your suggestion in the comments section. My only rules are they have to be alive and they have to still be acting this very day. No dead or retired actors.
Now that all that's settled, let's get to the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
America opened her locker to get the books she needed for her first class. She stopped for a moment to look at a photo of herself having a fun day at a carnival with Marco and his parents. She stared at it with a frown before she heard a yell that caught her by surprise.
"AMERICA!"
America yelled out in shock as she turned around. She began to throw a punch, but stopped when she realized it was Star standing there. She lowered her fist and lowered her heavy breathing.
"Star, don't do that!" America groaned. "I could've punched you all the way to the End of the Multiverse."
"America, we've got a problem!" Star yelled in panic. "It's Marco!"
"Marco?" America asked with a rising worry tone. "What happened? Is he hurt?"
"Worse!" Star yelled out. "I don't know how, but Marco lost all his memories of you!"
America blinked twice. "Wait, what…"
"Marco. His mind." Star added in a raspberry sound. "When I spoke to him, he told me he barely even knows you."
America began to look nervous. She turned around to hide it from Star. "Uh, what do you mean? Why would that mean he lost his memories?"
Star took a breath. "Okay. I've been holding this in for a while because I wanted you to tell me yourself, but… I know Marco's your brother."
America stiffened her whole body. "Come again?"
"I know the Diaz family took you in when you came to Earth, and Marco's your brother because of that. That's why you went to his karate thing and why you tried to set him up with Jackie." Star said.
America finally turned back to Star. "How do you know all this?"
"It doesn't matter." Star said. "Look, now that I know how much Marco means to you, then I have to tell you this so we can work on getting his memories back together. With my magic, it'll be a snap to regrow his lost memories and…"
"Star, stop!" America interrupted. "You don't have to do that for Marco. There's nothing wrong with him."
"Nothing wrong with him?" Star asked. "America, Marco's your brother, and he doesn't even remember you. We've got to fix this and…"
"There's nothing to fix!" America interrupted again. "And even if there was, I can't exactly rely on your magic. Half of the time, your spells don't exactly work out the way you want them to. There's no way I'm letting that anywhere near Marco."
"But…"
"Star, please, drop it." America pleaded before lowering her head down to the ground. "It's for his own good." She turned and walked away.
Star watched America leave before looking down at her wand. She changed her confused face to determined.
The next day, Marco Diaz got dressed and went into his restroom to finish getting ready. He leaned into his mirror to get a closer look at the lower half of his face.
"Mmm. Still just a little fuzzy." he said to himself. "It's no fair. Jackie liked Blake's beard, and he's able to grow his overnight. What do I gotta do to have a beard that'll get her attention?"
Marco then stopped when heard a tapping noise. He looked backwards once heard the sound again. He looked over at his bathroom window and saw a pebble hit his glass. He walked over and opened it and noticed the princess of Mewni standing just outside his house.
"Star?"
"Hey, Marco."
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you. It's important." Star said. "Can you throw me a bedsheet so I can climb on up."
Marco stared at the princess. "Or you could just ask to use the front door."
"Yeah, but that's not much fun." Star replied. "Ooh. Got a better idea." She pulled out her wand. "Rainbow Rocket Lift!"
Star pointed her wand to the ground and launched herself off with a rainbow blast. She arched over and flew right into the open window. Marco managed to dodge out of the way allowing Star to crash right into the bathroom.
"What's going on here?" Marco asked.
"Marco, you don't know what you should know!" Star declared as she jumped up on her feet. "I know it! America knows it! But apparently, you do know it! And I know a way for you to know what it is that you should know! You know?"
"…No." Marco replied.
Star groaned. "Just stand still while I do this." She aimed her wand at him.
"Uh, hold on." Marco said hesitantly. "This isn't gonna hurt, is it?"
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Star answered before clearing her throat. "Sparkle, sparkle, heart attack! Get what you grow back!" She fired her beam which hit Marco right in the face. "So? Did it work? Do you remember America now?"
Marco recovered from the magic blast and stared at Star. "Uh… No? What about America?"
"Huh?" Star asked before looking at her wand. "That's weird. I thought for sure that I got the spell right. Wait…" She turned to Marco. "Did I say 'get what you know back' or 'get what you grow back'?"
Before Marco could answer, a purple sparkle escaped from his peach fuzz of a beard along with a couple of small, unknown creatures. His beard then began to grow at an alarming rate. And then…
BOOM!
Star was completely caught by surprise when an unbelievable amount of hair burst from Marco's face and sent her flying out of the house. When she recovered, she found herself at the front yard and the entire house was filled with hair that stretched out of the windows and covered the place.
"Wow. That is a LOT of hair." Star said. "It's nothing to worry about though. It's nothing a little magic can't fix. Sparkle Razor Shave!" She pulled out what she thought was her wand, but it was really a taquito. She ate it before looking around, even in the bushes of beard hair.
"Where's my wand? It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Star said before gasping in realization. "Oh, I must have dropped it in the bathroom when Marco's face exploded! I gotta get America and…" She stopped and displayed a frightened expression. "Whoa. I can't do that. If America finds out I went behind her back and gave her brother a cursed beard, she's gonna kill me. I gotta do this by myself. But how? What would a normal person without a wand do?"
Star started to imagine a dolphin man sitting in a business chair. He kept saying "Work, work, work, work, work…"
"AHH! That's no help." Star said dismissing her imagination. "Wait! I got an idea!"
Star headed into a nearby shed and came back out with a pair of hedge clippers in her hands.
"Normal person."
As Star opened the door and began cutting her way into the house, she was beginning to have a certain group of followers on her tail. Ludo and his gang of monsters found their way to the Diaz house. Ludo saw the house and instantly felt disgusted by the sight of all the hair. Toffee, who stood at the front of the gang, held up a handheld device with a radar screen on it. It showed an image of Star's wand on it.
"I have location on the wand." Toffee said. "It's not in the Chavez apartment, but it's in this house. And it's ours for the taking."
"That's a house?" Ludo asked creeped out. "It's covered in hair. Maybe we should come back another time."
"Of course." Toffee said. "It's just… The wand's never been unattended before."
Realizing that fact, the other monsters were interested. Ludo couldn't find a good reason to argue, so he climbed up the chicken monster.
"Fine. But you idiots are going to carry me. I don't want a SINGLE hair touching me." Ludo began beating on the monster he rode while forcing his monsters to push their way past the hair to follow Star.
America finished her morning workout and headed to her apartment's living room. She expected to find Star there, but the princess wasn't anywhere to be found.
"Star! Star, you here?" America cried out. There was no answer. "That's weird. By now, she's got a new cloudy friend she wants to surf the air on. Oh, well."
America headed to the kitchen to whip up a meal, but stopped in front of her window. She looked out to see something big and brown in the distance. It was feint, but noticeable. She then pulled out a pair of binoculars to get a better look.
America gasped when she saw Marco's house full of hair. She took a moment to infer what was going on, and once she did, she looked upset.
"I'm gonna kill her." America then turned to one of Star's laser-eye puppies snuggling up to her leg. "Hola, perrito. How would you like to go out?"
Inside the house, Star traveled on what felt like an adventure swinging on hair, sliding down hair, and swimming on hair.
"Man. Having a wand isn't so bad." Star said. "I bet I'm all the way to…" She fell out of the bush of hair and dropped on a sofa. She then looked around in worry noticing the things around her. "Wait… A couch? A big rug? A TV? Is this the living room?"
As she groaned in annoyance, a vine of hair crept its way to the hedge clippers that Star dropped and pulled it away.
"Mr. Hedge Clippers!"
"AVENGE MEEEEEEE!" Star cried out speaking for the tool she lost.
Star groaned before collapsing on the couch. "I really made a mess, didn't I? I just wanted to help. Now, what do I do?"
Star almost started to give up when something perked her up. She raised her head and realized that she was hearing the feint sound of puppy barks.
"Is that… No, it couldn't be." She turned over to the direction the barking was coming from and saw a pair of lasers cut through the hair. Star's eyes lit up when she saw the puppy's cute face. "Laser puppy! Oh, you're so cute! How did you…" Her smile dropped when America stepped out holding the puppy in her hands. "Oh."
America stared at Star coldly. "Hey, Star. Fancy running into you here. The home of the one person I told you to leave alone."
"Well, technically, you just told me to drop it," Star said nervously, "But I guess I didn't do that either, huh?"
America muttered quiet curses in Spanish to herself. "Star, what happened?"
"Well, I thought I could magic up a spell to restore Marco's memories of you, but I guess I goofed, and instead, I made his beard grow."
"Of course, you did." America sighed. "Where's your wand now?"
"In the bathroom where Marco is trapped."
"All right. Then let's go, and quickly." America said. She held up her puppy and began to laser cut a path for them to follow. "We've got to find the wand and fix this mess."
"And then, after that, we can get Marco's memories back." Star declared.
"No!" America shouted. "We get rid of the beard, apologize to Marco for the inconvenience, and then, we leave and forget this whole thing ever happened!"
"Marco's forgotten enough, remember?" Star asked. "What's going on, America? Why don't you want to help him?"
"It's complicated. I'll tell you later."
"You always say that! And you never do!"
"Star…"
"America, you've been a very supportive friend to me despite how hard I made it!" Star argued still following America. "You gave me a place to stay! You fought monsters with me! You helped me learn a lot of life lessons! That's why I was patient about you and Marco, but after knowing about his memory loss, I can't hold it in any longer! He's your family, America! He's your brother! So why don't you of all people want to help him get his memories back?!"
"BECAUSE I ASKED FOR THEM TO BE GONE!" America admitted turning around to face Star. She realized what she said while also noticing the surprised expression on her friend's face.
"What?"
"I… I was the one who asked for Marco to forget about me." America confessed sadly. "I didn't want to, but I didn't see any other option." She dropped into a sitting position and buried her face in her hands while her laser puppy sat on her lap.
Star stared at America noticing how sad she was. She then sat right next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Tell me everything."
America let out a breath before beginning her story. "As you know, my moms gave their laves to save my home dimension, Utopia Parallel. Inspired by their heroism, I left home to be a hero too. But I didn't become a hero right away. When I opened my first portal to Earth… Well, let's just say calling it a bumpy rise is an understatement. I lost my own memory for a couple of months. Thankfully, the Diaz family found me on that beach and helped me recover. They then became my second family.
"At first, they didn't exactly believe I was a magical superhuman from another dimension. But their minds quickly changed when I showed them my powers. Really blew a hole in their wall. Angie and Rafael were overly welcoming, but Marco kinda needed some time to process it. Thankfully, by the end of the week, we were thick as thieves. So when the opportunity came and I decided to be an interdimensional hero, they gave me their fullest support. I started traveling, joined the Teen Brigade, and we've been facing off against villains and protecting the innocent since. Of course, I did visit my foster family regularly to check up on them."
"So what happened?" Star asked.
America frowned again. "The Teen Brigade and I have been fighting the forces of evil for a long time, but it was only a matter of time before we found a villain who pushed us over the edge, and we did. He called himself the Scarlet Centurion. No one knows who he was or where he came from. All we know is that he was the most powerful villain the Teen Brigade ever faced. Even the In-Betweener had a hard time against him."
"What did he want?" Star asked.
"Me." America answered. "He wanted my powers. He wanted me to take him somewhere. I just didn't know where exactly. I was too busy refusing him. Still, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He still wanted me, and he figured out the best way to get to me. He followed me home and held the Diaz family hostage by the edge of his energy halberd. He told me that if I didn't cooperate, then he would take their lives right then and there.
"Then, I lost control of my powers. I was so angry and scared at what the Scarlet Centurion was doing, I wasn't thinking clearly. So I flew over to him quick as a flash and threw a punch right at him. When I did so, however, I opened up a star portal behind him taking him to a place in the Multiverse. I didn't know where I sent him. All I know is that I never saw him again.
"Then… That's good, right?" Star asked. "You saved the family."
America shook her head. "When I turned back to Marco, I saw that he was scarred by the Centurion's weapon and got hurt. I stood frozen with fear and guilt over it. My mind was flooded with negative thoughts. The only reason the Centurion was after them was to get to me. Marco got hurt because I couldn't control myself. I couldn't face them after that. So while Angie and Rafael called for an ambulance, I opened a star portal and fled.
"I headed to the Magical High Commission and told them what happened. Thankfully, they were sympathetic to my plight, especially Heckapoo. So they promised to keep an eye out in case the Centurion ever showed his face again. And as for the Diaz', well… I had the In-Betweener alter their memories."
"Why?" Star asked.
"I told you. I couldn't face them." America answered. "I thought they'd still be mad at me or blame me for what happened to Marco. Unable to deal with it, I asked the In-Betweener to make him and his family forget me after healing him. Now, to the Diaz family, they barely know me. And to Marco, I was just another student at Echo Creek High. Still, I couldn't just leave them. What if the Scarlet Centurion came back? In order to keep my distance while still keeping an eye on them, I had to leave the Teen Brigade and ask for a home from Stan, who was already a friend of the Diaz family. Through him, I'm also able to learn more about what's currently going on with them, including Marco's karate competitions."
"So you can't go near them, but you can't stay away either." Star said. "That must be hard."
"You have no idea." America said. "A part of me just wants to walk up to them, tell them who I really was, and be welcomed back to their home. But still, I was afraid of what might happen if I do. So for now, I can watch them and be proud from a distance. The last thing I want is to hurt them."
Star didn't know what to say. Instead, she pulled America in and embraced her in a hug. America caught her breath as she hugged right back trying to hold back her tears. They stayed in the hug for a minute before breaking it.
"I'm sorry for trying to fix this situation when you didn't want me to." Star said. "If keeping this secret really means that much to you, then I'll keep it with you."
America sniffed. "Thanks, Star." She stood back up holding her laser puppy. "All right. Enough about the past. Let's save Marco."
"Yeah! Get us to that wand, girl!" Star cried out.
America proceeded to laser cut a path ahead. However, right at that moment, a dropped wall of hair revealed Ludo and his monster gang on the other side.
"Ludo! What are you doing here?" Star asked aggressively.
"It's the girls! Get them!" Ludo ordered.
Most of the monster gang leaped toward the girls while Toffee kept his distance and hid himself. The monster with the three eyes dropped on America, but she used her superstrength to pick him back up and toss him aside. Meanwhile, Star fought the rest of the monsters with her own hands and feet.
"Ludo, the wand it that way." Toffee said pointing up a hair-covered flight of stairs.
"Don't let them get the wand!" Ludo ordered.
His order turned out to be in vain as America and Star slipped past the monsters and made it to the stairs first. The monsters quickly caught up and wrestled with them on their way up. The horned bear monster made it to the bathroom door first, but when he saw the hair-covered Marco in there, he closed it.
"Uh, yeah, the bathroom is occupied."
That didn't stop America from sending a hard punch to the bear monster and breaking the door down. Star joined her, but the two girls were jumped on by most of the monster gang. While they were pinned down, Ludo was the only one who was still standing, even though he was petrified by all the hair around him.
"Master, the wand is yours!" the buff deer monster shouted.
Ludo looked ahead of the bathroom and saw the wand, which was held up and nearly covered by hair. The sight of him brought the sweating bird monster back to his childhood, where for his birthday, his parents hired a big monster covered completely with hair to appear and tickle him. The endless tickling and laughing left a traumatic mark on the monster leader, which is why he was afraid of all the hair.
Despite his fear, Ludo slowly and carefully walked over the hair getting closer to the wand. He was doing his best not to get touched by a single hair, but he soon realized he had to once he reached the wand. He held his hand out to touch it, and when he set his finger softly on the hair, he broke out into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHA, IT TICKLES! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"
The monsters groaned before realizing that Star and America were gone. They emerged from the hair that was holding Star's wand, which ended up right back into the princesses' hands. They stared at them scared of what was about to happen next while Toffee slipped away from the battle.
"What do you think, Ames?" Star asked. "Narwhal blast?"
"No." America replied cracking her knuckles. "These guys had the nerve to attack this house of all houses. I'll handle them personally."
America flew over and laid the beatdown on all the monsters. She hit them with a variety of different attacks and wrestling moves that they thought only appeared on television. It was enough for them to retreat and run out of the house.
"AND DON'T COME BACK!" America warned sticking her head out of the bathroom window. Once the monsters were out of sight, she turned back to Star. "Okay, Star. Set him free."
Star nodded and held out his wand. "Sparkle Razor Shave!"
A magical blast was shot out of Star's wand that affected every strand of hair that came from Marco's face. The beam quickly covered the whole beard, and once it was covered, it glowed brightly. When the light dimmed, the beard disappeared and Marco fell face-first on the floor.
"Is he okay?" Star asked.
America knelt down to look over him. "Yeah. He's fine. Just a little unconscious, that's all. If we carry him back to his bedroom, he'll wake up and think it was all a bad dream."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Star said. She grabbed Marco by his legs while America carried him by his shoulders. Together, they carried Marco to his room and laid him on his bed.
"Aww. He's so cute when he's sleeping." Star admired.
America chuckled. "Yeah. Kinda like a sleeping meerkat." She turned to her friend. "Listen, Star, I just want to apologize. I guess I should have told you about my history with the Diaz family before."
"No, Ames. I should have listened to you and not get involved in this memory loss thing." Star said. "Speaking of which, do you think you can ever ask for this to be lifted? I mean, do you think you can go back to them?"
America looked down at Marco with a hopeful expression. "Maybe. But not today. For now, let's just go home."
"All right." Star said as she left the room with her friend. Marco would soon wake up afterwards unaware of what happened.
Over at his castle, Ludo paced around angrily reprimanding his gang. "What a pathetic display back there! You guys make me sick! No more milkshake privileges for you! I want you to use that time to think about what you've done!"
The monsters all hung their heads in shame. For a while, they believed their master was right. And then, Toffee spoke up.
"Perhaps they should use that time to think about that YOU'VE done."
"Exactly!" Ludo agreed before realizing what Toffee said. "Wait, what?"
Toffee stepped in front of Ludo and faced the other monsters. "Let me ask you a question. What kind of leader throws you into a pit of hair, makes you do all the work, and shows you no appreciation for your sacrifices?"
"Are you talking about me?" Ludo asked.
Toffee turned back to Ludo. "What kind of leader has all the power in the universe at his fingertips, and gets tickled right out of it?"
"Toffee, what are you doing?" Ludo asked.
"Your soldiers deserve better."
Ludo was speechless for a moment. He couldn't believe that the monster he trusted the most would try to instigate something. "You are fired!"
"Let's put it to your soldiers." Toffee said before turning to the monsters. "Who's the better leader? Ludo… or me?"
Once Ludo noticed his gang was getting warmed up to the idea of Toffee as their new leader, he spoke up in his defense. "You guys belong to me! Three-eyed potato baby, I am like a father to you! Beard deer, I took you in from the streets! Are you STUPID IMBECILES really going to listen to him?"
They were.
Ludo was quickly thrown out of his castle and left in his yard. He turned back to his monsters with Toffee standing at the center of them.
"You can't do this!" Ludo pleaded desperately. "This is my castle! Those are my monsters!"
"Not anymore." Toffee stated. He then looked ahead and smiled. "Ah. And here comes our reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?" Ludo asked turning around.
From the distance, a fleet of black trucks drove up and stopped in front of the castle. Many heavily-armed soldiers in high-tech armor marched out and headed to the front door. The monsters attempted to close it, but Toffee stopped them.
"No, no. They're with me."
Ludo looked around and saw that all the trucks had the same M symbol as Toffee did on his business card the day he arrived. He then saw the center-most truck open up its door, and a woman walked out. She had on a black uniform that matched her mask, boots, and jacket that she wore. She also had long, red hair sticking out the back of her head.
"Please!" Ludo pleaded as he jumped at her feet. "You gotta let me back in! Help me back in!"
The black-masked woman looked down on Ludo and sneered. "Get away from me, pest!"
She delivered a harsh kick to him knocking him straight into a mud puddle. She then walked over to the castle and entered the castle where Toffee welcomed her with a handshake.
"Glad you could make it." Toffee said before turning to the monsters. "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you my sponsors, the Midas Foundation. And here is the CEO and the woman who made all of this possible, Oubliette Midas."
"Charmed." Oubliette said before flashing an eager smile. "Now, let's talk about getting that wand."
