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thdorkmagnet · 4 years

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Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 34: Return to Hydra’s Point

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: The gang’s first peaceful mission is thrown in jeopardy when they reach Hydra’s Point and found some of the Monsters have gone missing looking for a creature that stalks the abandoned mines outside of town, including the mayor himself.

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Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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“There you go little one,” Marco said softly as he offered the small Monster child the apple outstretched in his hand, giving her a warm and inviting smile. The lizard Monster gave him a curious, cautious look for a second before grabbing the food and running back to her mom's side, hiding in the folds of her dress as best she could. But the hooded teen didn't mind, his heart was filled close to bursting as he looked around at his fellow commission members, all of them talking and communicating with the Monsters they had come there to help.

It was the MMPC's first diplomatic mission, Lily suggesting they start with something small and as an act of good faith on their first outing, go to some small rural villages and help provide the Monster there with the basic necessities they had been denied almost all their lives by the Mewmans. They had already done this with at least three other villages and the sense of pride and accomplishment Marco was feeling could not be topped, mostly because it was due to his previous research on the area that had allowed them to better understand the Monsters' needs. And after reaching the first village and seeing the hopeful, relieved faces that greeted him, he realized just how bad off so many must have had it over the years.

Having lived in the care of the leader of the Monsters he had been well taken care of, he had always been well fed, had a bed to sleep in, a roof over his head, the works. It wasn't exactly the lap of luxury but it was better than most seemed to have it, if the poor, starving Monsters before him were any indication. He couldn't believe he hadn't know just how badly so many had it, how much they had to endure while Toffee hid away in his palace. It felt wrong and he almost felt guilty for all the food and warmth he had received over the years when so many didn't have the same. But he quickly shook these thoughts aside, today wasn't a day for guilt, today was a day for celebration.

No more dwelling on the past, he reminded himself. It's time to look to the future. And right now the future was looking much brighter for so many on that day. He couldn't help but gaze with gratitude and respect at each and every member doing their part and helping change the world to a better place. It was a really uplifting sight to see, so many different kingdoms coming together to help the less fortunate race that had been abused for so many years.

Star was using her magic to restore some of the broken down buildings that the poor Monsters had lived in almost all their lives, but the blond continually sent small smiles and waves Marco's way which he returned with his typical affectionate energy. Tom, with the help of Jags and Janna (who had volunteered for the charity work the moment Marco had mentioned the demon boy by name) were stacking piles of something called phoenix embers in a warm and dry space. According to Tom, they came from the hottest depths of the Underworld and not only had a brighter flame than typical coal or wood, but they could stay hot three times longer than any other material on the rest of Mewni or Earth.

Larry, Rich Pigeon and Jackie were handing out blankets and other small supplies to any Monster who stepped forward to receive it. Rock was with them but hung back a bit, since Johansans still weren't well-received by Monster kind, though he did a good enough job in Marco's eyes just passing objects from the large carts and wagons the materials were hauled in to his three companions. Pony was busy bragging and showing off to any Monster nearby, but still lended some help as she opened the small cans of food the hungry Monsters were eating out of as she talked.

Ferguson and Alfonso, along with a large group of pixies were helping set up mirrors to every home in the area, free of charge, personally paid for by Rich Pigeon who had been more than honored to do so when asked. There was also an added feature in the mirror that allowed for any of them to call for help in an emergency by either a group of highly trained knights that had volunteered for the job or by Buff Frog's team of elite Monsters, since Lily, Star, and Marco had insisted on giving them the choice in case any of them were too anxious to ask a Mewman for assistance. It also sent a text alert to Marco since he was the Monster representative, though Star had been a bit anxious about this fact, worried Marco might rush head first into danger the moment he got one but Marco had assured her (after several comforting kisses) that he wouldn't unless someone went with him.

Which left Marco, Lily, and Penelope to help hand out food to any Monster who approached them. The only member not present that day was Glossaryk, who had stated cryptically that he had other business to attend to, which angered Star quite a bit. His girlfriend hadn't seemed happy with the weak excuse and had muttered under her breath the moment he had left, “Yeah, right, he's probably just off eating pudding or something.” But he was retired and was only really there as a show of power from the MHC, so Marco didn't mind his absence. He had even reminded Star how chaotic and unpredictable things were when Glossaryk was around and she had quickly come to the conclusion that his absence was a blessing not a curse. They needed things to stay as peaceful as possible in order for this to be a success.

Still, seeing all the hard work his fellow members were putting in left Marco with a bright, infectious grin permanently engraved on his face. He felt so uplifted by their good deeds, his heart was swelling with pride and he felt energized and motivated to the point he felt like he could take on all of Mewni! He didn't even bother to take his eyes off the wondrous sight as his hand reached behind him into the cart, as he went to grab a corn cob but found his hand only grasping air instead. He turned to see a completely empty wagon. Wow, that one went even faster than the last one. He quickly cupped his hands over his mouth as he shouted to whoever would listen, “Hey, we're all out over here!”

“Um, that's okay,” Penelope spoke up softly and Marco turned to her with a quizzical gaze. The self-conscious girl handed over a loaf of bread to a very satisfied Monster, before explaining, “That was the last one.”

Marco became suddenly aware of the empty space that was once a crowded line of hungry Monsters. “Oh yeah, guess it is,” he responded.

The others seemed to be finishing up with their work as well, Star done with the last of her houses, while she spoke with the very grateful mayor of the town about setting up a steady trading industry with the other kingdoms so that they wouldn't have to worry about going hungry or running out of supplies in the future. Marco couldn't help but hold his gaze on her for a second, looking so beautiful and dignified as she spoke proudly and regally to the Monster village's leader. But once he finally tore his gaze off of Star (with a great deal of force) he noticed that it seemed like they were about ready to move on to the next town. The boy took a moment to just admire their work, helping yet another struggling village rise from poverty. “My, you look happy,” Lily said, coming up beside him while giving him one of her kind smiles.

“Well yeah, this is a historic day, I mean Mewmans coming together to help the Monsters!” Marco exclaimed with giddy joy.

“Indeed, most never even thought something like this was possible,” Lily breathed wistfully, her eyes twinkling with an emotion Marco didn't recognize. “After all those years of war, all the death and senseless violence, in the end all that was accomplished was helping one greedy Monster gain power.” Marco swallowed hard, feeling the familiar tingling in his neck, but luckily there was no memory flash this time. “But look what only a few months of peace has managed to accomplish,” Lily continued, and the two paused to admire the sight of the cheerful Monster faces before them. Finally the peach-haired royal let out a deep sigh before adding with a small chuckle, “It almost seems silly, doesn't it?”

Marco nodded. “Yeah,” he gasped out, his voice chocked up with emotion. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to the see Lily giving him a rewarding smile.

“You should be proud of yourself, Marco. You've accomplished more than any Mewman before you ever could,” she said, her tone so light and affectionate that it made his throat even tighter. He wondered if that was what moms said to their kids when they did good. He figured it was and due to the warm, fuzzy feeling growing in his chest he wouldn't mind more praise from the woman in the future. His thoughts drifted to his parents and he felt a new pride stirring in his chest. This was a double victory for him, he was not only achieving his own goals but he was also one step closer to fulfilling his parent's dream, too. The boy felt himself stand just a little bit taller than before.

“So where's your father?” Lily's inquisitive voice cut through Marco's inner thoughts and brought him startlingly back into the moment. He blinked once at the woman, not quite grasping her question, his head cocking to the side as he tended to do. “I figured Buff Frog would want to be here on such a big day for both his people and his son,” Lily elaborated helpfully, seeing the lost look on the teen's face.

“Oh yeah,” Marco blurted, her question finally clicking in his brain. “Umm, well he wanted to be here, but he said he had important matters today,” the hooded boy explained, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice though he wasn't quite able to mask the frown. He knew his dad was busy and everything but the last couple of days he hadn't seen his dad at all, only speaking to him very briefly on the phone. Marco tried not to let it get to him, since he knew how swamped his dad's work could be but he still missed him. Not to mention that Marco had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't quite adding up. He just couldn't figure out why his dad was so busy right now, if anything he should have less work, not more, since the MMPC should be helping lighten the load some from Buff Frog's shoulders.

Lily gave him a sympathetic look, before saying in a sugary sweet tone, “Well I'm sure wherever your dad is, he is immensely proud of you.”

Marco gave her a small smile, his eyes shimmering some in gratitude. But before Marco could respond, the moment was rudely interrupted by Pony as she suddenly appeared between the two Mewmans, her head nearly resting on Marco's shoulder as she hovered next to him. “Hey turd, did you see me out there doing all that charity wok and everything?”

Marco nodded. “Uh yeah, Pony you were really... great,” the hooded teen responded politely, despite the fact that she had done probably the least amount of work overall.

“Duh, of course I was great,” the horse said in her typical braggy way. “I guess I'm just too nice for my own good.” Suddenly her sweet voice turned into an angry yell as she shouted at the top of her lungs, causing Marco to stumble away. “Sea horse, get a good angle of me! That one doesn't accent my figure!”

Marco watched with a great deal of confusion as Pony struck a pose, while rubbing his sore ear to try and soothe the annoying ringing. There was a flash behind him and he turned with surprise to see a purple seahorse wearing a yellow sweater vest and a pair of glasses. His face was twisted into a far-too-wide to be real smile and his eyes just seemed to stare blankly ahead into nothing, which was a little unnerving to Marco. He had a mini seeing-eye camera, held up to his eye which he was using to snap photos of Pony with. “Um, who is that?” Marco asked, pointing a finger at the strange creature, who snapped another photo leaving the boy blind for a second.

“Huh, oh that's just my boyfriend, Seahorse,” Pony said with disinterest.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Seahorse responded in a monotone voice.

“He's just taking some photos of me doing all this charity stuff for my blog,” the unicorn head explained to her clueless friend.

“Wait, you have a boyfriend?” Marco asked in total shock, ignoring the other burning question he now had, which was: What's a blog?

Pony shot him a glare before saying through gritted teeth, “Uh, and why is that so surprising?!”

“Well you've never mentioned him,” Marco explained innocently and the horses anger vanished in an instant.

“Oh that's because we were broken up until just yesterday,” Pony said as if that were the most normal occurrence in the world.

“Broken... up,” Marco repeated slowly, his eyes squinting. He looked the horse and seahorse up and down for a moment, looking for any cracks on them to indicate what Pony was saying was true. “You seemed fine before, Pony,” the hooded teen observed. “At least, I never noticed you being broken.” Pony raised a critical eyebrow at the boy but Lily cut in before the horse could correct the naïve teen.

“And with that, we should probably make our leave!” Lily quickly exclaimed, grasping the boy by the shoulders and pushing him out in front of her, trying to get him as far away from Pony and her odd boyfriend as she could. “We must go and find Star to see which village we are headed toward next,” Lily explained vibrantly and Marco didn't argue as he allowed himself to be led, his eyes now twinkling at the idea of seeing Star.

Phew, that was a close one, Lily thought to herself. Her niece's boyfriend was still very naïve to the world, especially when it came to relationships, and she didn't think now would be a good time for him to learn that there was a chance he could ever break up with Star. She figured it would throw him into turmoil at the very idea that he and Star could ever end the great thing they clearly had going. She could tell that her niece had become Marco's whole world and he would be crushed if that were to ever end. Not that it would, Lily had been around enough to know true love when she saw it.

The moment the two reached the others, who had all gathered around Star and Jackie as they looked over the map they were using to travel around the Monsters' territory, Marco called out, “Star!”

The blond turned to him with a smile, not surprised as he threw his arms around her in a hug. “Hey Marco, did you finish up?” she greeted him cheerfully, giving his frame a small squeeze.

“Yep, just got done,” Marco replied, pulling away and giving her a cute little thumbs up.

��Great!” Star exclaimed, her cheek marks lighting up some in her excitement. “Then that means we're down to our last village for the day.”

“Wow, really,” Marco said in surprise. It didn't seem like they had been doing this for very long at all, time must have really flown by, he couldn't believe they were close to done already.

“Yep, this went way smoother than we thought it would,” Star said, looking relieved. She had really needed things to go smoothly today, it was too important, any mess ups could spell disaster for the world. “All the Monsters are being cooperative, there's no signs of any magic things going wrong, I think we can call today a success.”

“Well let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Jackie pointed out, looking up from the map. “We do still have one town to go.”

“Yep, which means plenty of time for things to go wrong,” Tom negatively added.

“But it won't,” Star stated with a firmness in her eyes that only a practiced ruler could pull off. It faltered some though as she added, “It can't.” Marco put a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and she gave him a grateful grin.

“So then, what's our last town?” Lily asked and all eyes fell on the skater.

“Looks like last up is... Hydra's Point,” Jackie said, squinting as she examined the map closely.

Marco's eyes lit up at that and he and Janna shared a look from across the clearing. “That's perfect, me and Jan have been there before,” Marco said, his grin incapable of growing any wider.

“Oh wonderful, does that mean we have a welcoming committee to look forward too?” Rich Pideon asked, excitedly.

“Well after what we did, I bet the whole town will be there to greet us and thank us for our help,” Janna replied with her one of her typical smirks.

…

The group of young royals stood on the outskirts of town,the invisible goats lugging in the remaining wagons of supplies through the still opened portals, as they all just stared in shock at the completely empty area. “Or maybe not?” Janna said skeptically.

“Uh, okay, I did not come all the way here just to be stood up,” Pony shouted angrily.

Marco and Star shared a look of concern. “You did let them know we were coming, right?” Marco asked and Star nodded.

“Of course I had the delivery elf give letters to every single village,” Star explained to her boyfriend, before the two went back to staring ahead with worried expressions.

“Maybe they just forgot,” Alfonso suggested and Rock scoffed.

“Don't be ridiculous, they probably just decided they didn't want our help after all,” the young Johannsen barbarian said, his face twisted into a frown as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I knew this was a waste of time.”

“Wait, no way, Mayor Butch helped me and Janna the last time we were here,” Marco argued, trying to sound as confident as he could. “There's no way he would cancel without saying something.”

“Marco Diaz!” a voice suddenly called from the distance and the others all looked over to see a Monster running over, a green slime looking thing wearing nothing except a purple hat, blue jeans, and brown boots, a strand of slime which acted as hair of sorts also covered his left eye.

The moment he reached them, he bent over panting, trying to regain enough breath to speak. “M-M-Mayor Butch sent me to inform you th-that he deeply regrets not being here but...” the slime creature gasped out before taking another moment to get oxygen back into his lungs or whatever this slime had for lungs. Finally, he was able to continue without struggling for air on every word and he raised his dripping arm in a salute, “...But there is an urgent matter that just came up that he was sadly needed to fix... so uh, he sent me.”

“And you are?” Star asked politely.

“Oh, um, S-Slime, Your Majesty,” he nervously replied, his cheeks turning a darker shade of green to signify he was blushing. “I'm his... well, errand boy, actually,” he said hesitantly. But he seemed to fear they would be upset by this as he quickly added, “Oh but, uh, he still sends his apologies for not being here himself-”

“That's okay, Slime,” Star reassured him, giving him a bright grin that froze the Monster on the spot.

“So does this mean he's canceling?” Jackie asked.

“N-No, he just sent me to bring you back, since he didn't really have anyone else to spare,” Slime informed them, still looking anxious and hesitant.

“Well that's good to hear,” Star said, keeping the same level of cheer in her voice to try and help the Monster relax. She figured this must be pretty intimidating facing a large gathering of future royals and leaders all by himself.

“We're really sorry to make you come all this way,” Marco added, giving him a sheepish grin.

“Oh no, it's no trouble at all,” Slime quickly stated, doing another salute. “I'm really glad to meet all of you, I've heard great things about almost all of you.”

“Well duh, there ain't nobody in this world who hasn't heard of Princess Pony Head,” Pony vainly said, flipping her mane as Seahorse snapped another picture of her.

“Um, sorry, I don't think I've heard of you before,” Slime nervously mumbled.

“What?!” Pony screeched in anger, while below her Ferguson, Alfonso, Rock, and Tom were all snicking. She gave them each a death glare, snapping out, “And what is so funny? I'm sure he hasn't heard of any of you rejects either!”

“But I have heard of you, Marco Diaz,” Slime said, stepping forward and eagerly shaking the hooded boy's hand, while Marco just stared at him completely dumbfounded. “Imagine, the son of two of the greatest Mewmans who ever lived and the one who helped put an end to Toffee, now here to help us all with his kindness and bravery. It's an honor to meet you. I was there the day you made that speech to Mayor Butch! It was so inspiring and incredible!”

“Oh wow, um, thank you,” Marco muttered shyly, his humble side showing through as he fought to hold Slime's sparkling gaze. “I just did my best, I'm not sure how incredible it was.”

“Nonsense, Marco,” Lily suddenly spoke up. “Don't be so modest. We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you.”

The others all gave their quick agreements and Marco smiled brightly at the praise.

“Aww thanks you guys,” Marco said, one of his cute signature looks appearing on his face. But suddenly he looked back over to Slime who was still had a hold of his hand. “Um, would you mind... giving me my hand back now?”

“Oh sorry,” Slime sheepishly responded, immediately releasing his grip, leaving Marco with green goo dripping off of his hand. The boy tried to indiscreetly shake his hand free of the slime, but the teen Monster noticed, blushing profusely. He chuckled awkwardly, poking what seemed to be fingers together as he explained, “Oh yeah, my hands are extra slimy when I'm nervous.”

Marco gasped. “Mine too!”

“Ewwww, too much info!” Pony complained in disgust, her eyes rolling to show just how annoyed all of this was to her. “Can we please just get to town already?”

“Oh right, my bad,” Slime immediately exclaimed, before bowing low. He extended a gooey arm out in the direction of town as he said formally, “This way, Your Highnesses.”

“Thank you, Slime,” Star said formally, taking her boyfriend's hand once he had wiped it clean on his pant leg.

The whole group began walking toward town, Slime keeping his head bowed until the last of them had passed and followed along behind them at a respectful distance. He noticed one of the royals standing alone from the group, her stance guarded and insecure and the Monster found himself unable to take his eyes off of her. Even though he couldn't get a good look at her from behind, she was kinda cute too, even the massive bump on the side of her face ,which she was sure to turn away from everyone, didn't take away from her looks at all. Plus, he found her shy nature enduring. He didn't even know a princess could act like that, he figured they were all strong and confident leaders and he found a bizarre connection and relatablity to her position, as he was in the exact same boat most of the time.

He wasn't necessarily shy per say, but he was easily intimidated, which was a big problem since he worked for Mayor Butch, who had a very strong personality. Slime knew the only reason he had even gotten this job at all was because his mother and father were good friends with the mayor. In fact, he hadn't even wanted the job at all but his parents had pushed their recommendation to the mayor until he was accepted into his team. He knew his parents had high hopes that he would be the new leader of Hydra's Point someday so he buried his true feelings and did his best to please his mom and dad.

Slime was pulled from his own inner thoughts as he saw the princess trip over a root she hadn't seen and began to fall. The Monster rushed over to her as fast as his goop for legs would carry him. He grabbed the girls arm, just before she hit the ground and immediately pulled her back upright. She somehow didn't slip through his fingers like most things tended to do and instead collided with his chest, her pretty green leafy dress quickly coated with a layer of slime. She looked up at him with a stunned expression, her eyes the prettiest shade of green Slime thought he had ever seen, he even thought he could see speckles of hazel in her eyes, and her cheek marks, which were black spider webs, began to glow pink. Slime's eyes widened, as did hers, while his own cheeks heated up with a blush.

The two just stood like that for a moment, lost in one another's eyes before the princess seemed to come to her senses, pulling away from him at once and trying to shyly hide her face (or more importantly her spider bite) from his view. She began trying to futility wipe off as much goop from her dress as possible, still not daring to meet his eye. “Oh I'm so sorry!” the Monster exclaimed rushing over to help her, before remembering that he would only make it worse and he instead just froze up and didn't dare to take another step.

“N-No, no it's fine,” the girl stammered, her voice barely above a whisper. Before Slime could say anything more, the girl walked away, keeping her head down and her movements now klunky, showing clearly just how awkward she clearly felt. Slime watched her go for a moment before face-palming, groaning in frustration and regret. What was he thinking? Why did he do that? He had just humiliated himself in front of the princess. Scratch that, he had just humiliated the princess! Luckily no one else was around to see. Maybe he could just play this whole thing off and no one would have to know. He would just have to be sure to keep his distance from the princess from now on.

With a new plan formed, he began following after the royals, trying to keep his roaming eyes off of the pretty princess who had unknowingly captured his attention and interest.

…

The group made it into town a few minutes later, Marco and Star in the lead, their hands still intertwined. The hooded boy, since he had been there once before, began explaining to his girlfriend and the others some of the highlights he had seen in the town on his last visit as well as waving to every Monster he came across even calling them by name if he remembered it. Almost every Monster smiled at the boy in greeting, most of them returning the enthusiastic wave with one of their own. Star took note of this, saying to her boyfriend, “Wow, Marco you sure seem popular here.”

“Well like I said, me and Jan helped out with a little something the last time we were here,” Marco explained with an embarrassed blush on his cheeks, rubbing tenderly at the back of his neck.

But Janna was quick to not let his humbleness keep him from getting the recognition it deserved as she added, “Yeah these Monsters probably think we're some kind of heroes. Especially you Marco, I mean didn't the mayor personally think you for your help.”

Marco nodded, his cheeks flushed some but his smile showing just how happy he was about receiving the praise. “Yes, he even helped with the questionnaire afterwords. He seemed really nice.”

“Mayor Butch is typically a pretty guarded and serious leader. I mean don't get me wrong he's a good one but he's hard to crack. But you really managed to impressed him, Marco Diaz,” Slime spoke up, from the rear of the party. “You gained his respect and trust me that is no small feat.”

“Well I-” Marco began shyly, before a sudden thought occurred to him and he gasped. He looked over his shoulder at the teenage Monster, asking in concern, “Oh wait, I never asked, did you guys ever fix the Hydra's Tooth?”

“See for yourself,” Slime said, before gesturing in front of the group, Marco followed Slime's directions and gasped in joy as he saw the tooth now standing solidly and proud at the center of town, completely paint free.

“Oh wow, it looks amazing you guys did a great job fixing it!” Marco exclaimed.

“Well it wasn't an easy process but we were happy with how it turned out,” Slime said, sounding confident for the first time as he puffed out his chest proudly.

“Why was it such a difficult process?” Janna asked in a deadpan. “All you had to do was wash the paint off before it dried.”

“Oh well, um, we might have waited a bit too long for that so they had to uh, scrub it off by claw,” Slime explained, his nervousness returning some.

Meanwhile, while the three were busy talking, the others all shared confused looks with one another, seemingly trying to see if anyone had any clue what they were talking about, but it seemed whatever had happened was only known by Marco, Janna, and Slime and none of them were clearing anything up, just creating more questions for the befuddled royals. “Any idea what they're talking about?” Tom asked Jackie, who shook her head.

“No clue.”

Finally, the questions grew too much for Star as she asked, “Ok, I'm not following, what happened?” Though her question was directed to all three of them she looked directly at her boyfriend for an explanation.

“Oh sorry, guess we didn't really say, huh,” Marco replied with a sheepish grin. “Well basically Ludo and some Monsters threw paint on the tooth and tried to blame it on the Mewmans.”

“Wait, Ludo was here!” Star exclaimed, her eyes widening.

“Yeah but he kinda got away,” Marco answered, his eyes lowering some and losing a bit of their gleam, clearly disappointed that he hadn't been able to catch the small Monster at the time.

Star let out a deep breath to calm her nerves before saying reassuringly, “Well so long as nobody got hurt by him, that's all that matters.”

“Who's Ludo?” Rich Pigeon asked Ferguson via whisper.

“No idea,” the chubby king replied, looking just as lost as the intelligent bird prince.

“Um, hey guys, hate to interrupt,” Jackie spoke up. “But we should probably get to work.”

“Yes, indeed,” Lily agreed, a positive smile lighting up her face and cheek marks. “And since Marco seems so fond of this town, we should all work even harder to help these poor souls get back on their feet!”

The others all let out cheers of agreement, before they all split off to begin with their tasks. Star about to leave for her own when she noticed Marco looking around with a frown on his face. “Marco, is something wrong?” Star asked her boyfriend in concern, putting a hand to his cheek.

“Nothing, it's just, I was hoping to talk to Mayor Butch and thank him for his help, but he's not here,” Marco said sadly.

Slime overheard the couple's conversation and without thinking about the consequences said, “Oh that's because he's busy fighting off the giant spider in the mines.” His eyes widened a second later, and slapped a dripping hand over his mouth, unable to believe he had just diverged top secret information to the two out of nowhere. He was so fired.

“Giant spider!” Marco exclaimed, his panicked voice drawing lots of wandering eyes onto the group.

Fearful of the other Monsters questioning and learning the truth, Slime quickly shushed the hooded teen, saying in a whisper, “It's not that bad. Mayor Butch thinks it just wandered in there from the Forest of Unlikely Spiderbites. He and our strongest Monsters are dealing with it as we speak.”

“When do you think they'll be back?” Star asked and Slime got noticeably uncomfortable, shifting awkwardly on his feet and rubbing a gooey hand up and down his arm.

“Um, I'm not entirely sure,” the Monster, his voice shaking some.

“Well, when were they supposed to be back?” Star tried instead.

The answer was not what either was expecting as Slime gulped and whispered, “This morning.” Star and Marco shared a look, clearly picking up on the worried edge to the Monster's tone now.

Marco, beginning to suspect the worst, asked, “Slime, how long ago did they leave?”

Slime hesitated to answer, his eyes wide and his form shaking a bit more with anxiety, which set off all kinds of red flags for the two teens. “About three days ago,” he finally said and the two immediately gasped.

“Wait, seriously! How has it been that long?!” Star exclaimed in disbelief.

“Did you send any search parties out or anything?” Marco asked at the same time.

“Ummm,” Slime nervously muttered, unsure who to answer first.

Star sucked in a deep breath, regaining her composure before she said, “Okay, don't worry, I'll take of it.”

“Yeah, we'll bring them back safe Slime,” Marco reassured the Monster and Star turned to him with a concerned look, biting her lip.

Marco noticed it and asked, “Star, what's wrong?”

Star opened her mouth to say something than seemed to think better of it, shaking her head before telling her boyfriend, “Nothing. Come on, let's gather up the royals, they'll need to hear about this.”

Marco said nothing as Star began dragging him around as she rounded up all the young monarchs, but he smiled ear to ear as he realized that Star had been about to tell him to stay behind, only to decide to keep him by her side, which made Marco's heart leap for joy knowing she trusted him to come with.

Once all their friends and allies where together in one place again, Star pulling them off to the side so that the residents in the town wouldn't overhear and freak out, and told them all, “Okay everyone, slight change of plans. Mayor Butch and some of the Monsters have gone missing tracking down a giant spider in the mines just outside of town.”

Penelope's face seemed to pale at the mention of the spiders that terrorized her home. Her and her family had done everything in their power to exterminate them but just about nothing seemed to work. She had been hoping to get a break from the creatures outside her kingdom but it was just her luck they would show up here, too. She had tried warning Star in their first meeting that the spiders were extra aggressive and since some did have a tendency to wander, this whole situation had seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

“Oh my, I hope they're alright,” Lily said worriedly, putting a hand over her mouth.

“They probably just got lost,” Slime hesitantly spoke up from the corner. “Those tunnels are like mazes.”

“Well regardless we've gotta do something,” Star determinedly declared, slamming a fist into her palm.

“Perhaps we can lure the spider out of hiding,” Rich Pigeon suggested.

“Uh, with what exactly?” Tom asked skeptically.

“I don't know. What do spiders like to eat?” the talking bird asked. He took a couple seconds to think this problem over, before saying, “Oh I know we can use Pony Head as bait, I'll bet it'll mistake her for a giant fly or something.”

“Say what?!” Pony shouted in outrage. “I am no fly, flies are ugly and gross and I am beautiful!” She looked over to the hooded teen before adding, “No offense Marco.”

Marco shrugged, letting the comment slide, knowing she was just upset and didn't mean to insult one of his family members, still he was glad Boo Fly wasn't there to hear the insult.

“And also we aren't using anyone as bait,” Star scolded firmly.

“Huh, oh yeah that too,” Pony emotionlessly replied and Star face-palmed. It seemed her friend's priorities were still as backwards as ever.

“How do you typically deal with giant spiders, Penelope?” Marco asked and the shy princess blushed as all attention fell on her, her cheek marks turning pink as well.

“Oh, um, well, usually we just run and hide when they're lurking about and steer clear of their webs,” she softly answered the curious teen.

“So you just... avoid them,” Janna commented and Penelope nodded, lacking the courage to speak.

Star sighed. “Well that's not an option here, we gotta help these Monsters out,” the blond told everyone.

“So just send out a search party, problem solved,” Tom quickly suggested, looking bored with the conversation.

Marco gasped. “Tom, that's genius!” the boy praised, his eyes shining with admiration toward his friend.

“Well of course it is,” Tom smugly replied, shoving his hands into his pockets with an arrogent smirk.

“Okay then, I think it would be best if we split in half, some of us staying behind to help hand out food and supplies to the Monsters and the other half coming with me and Marco to search for the missing Monsters,” Star delegated.

Tom's eyes widened as he quickly shouted, “Wait, we're going to look for them!”

“Yeeeaaahhh,” Star said, raising an eyebrow at the boy. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, no I just thought that we'd send someone else to-”

“What's the matter Tom, afraid of a little danger?” Janna asked in her typical teasing tone and the boy's flames instantly ignited into infernos at the challenge.

“You know what, count me in Star,” the boy said confidently, trying to sound as smooth as he could, despite the small growl at the back of his throat.

“Me too,” Janna spoke up and the demon boy's cheeks instantly flushed as he realized his mistake too late. He had just fallen right into her trap and he mentally berated himself for losing his cool and blinding himself to her obvious plan.

Star nodded, “Okay, anyone else.”

“W-Well,” Slime spoke up, his cheeks flushing as he gained the attention of the royals. “I think it would only be right if I came too. After all, those tunnels are hard to navigate so you might need someone who knows their way around.”

“And I'll come too!” Ferguson suddenly declared, dramatically stepping forward. Star raised an eyebrow at the chubby boy, who now had a large bandage now over his head from the mild concussion he had received during the ping pong game. “After all, some spider will be no match for the great Fergore!”

“Ferguson, what are you doing?” Alfonso asked, skeptically.

“Shut it, Al, Your ruining my dramtic speech!” Ferguson hissed at his adviser.

“Rigghhhtt,” Star said, rolling her eyes at the boy. “So if that's everyone-”

“Actually Star,” Larry suddenly spoke up. “I think you should take Princess Spiderbite as well.”

“What?” Penelope squeaked in shock, looking around at the others nervously as they all nodded their agreement. “Why me?”

“Well you do know more about the spiders than any of the rest of us,” Lily calmly pointed out.

“Yeah, come on, Penelope it'll be fine,” Marco encouraged her. “You've dealt with spiders before right?”

“I-I don't know,” the girl hesitantly said, trying to think of some way to get out of it, rubbing a hand up and down her arm.

“Don't worry about it, P, our girl B-fly will have your back,” Pony exclaimed. “You literally couldn't be safer.”

Star felt her cheeks flush slightly at the compliment, which only grew worse as Marco added, “Yeah, if there is any trouble, we'll there to protect you. Right, Star?” The hooded teen turned to his girlfriend, waiting for her to agree and she just nodded, her blue orbs dancing as they met the lovely deep brown of her boyfriend's eyes.

“Right,” she said softly and Marco felt a shiver go up his spine at her flirty tone.

“Okay, I guess,” Penelope hesitantly agreed, only to squeak in surprise as Janna threw an arm around her shoulder. “That's the spirit, now come on, let's go get possibly eaten by spiders!” the beanie-wearing girl excitedly shouted. “Lead the way, Slime!” she directed the Monster.

“Right this way,” Slime said, walking off in the direction of the mines, while Janna followed, pushing the shy teen along with her while she made small squeaks of protest. Tom was behind them, trying to keep a confident smile on his face just in case his crush looked his way.

“Oh yeah, time for King Fergore to show his skills!” Ferguson shouted about to run after them.

“Ferguson, please don't do anything stupid,” Alfonso begged, looking beyond exasperated with his friend. “You're only gonna end up getting yourself killed!”

“Or die trying!” Ferguson dramatically proclaimed, before chasing after the others.

“What does that even mean?!” Alfonso shrieked.

“Don't worry, Al, I'll keep an eye on him,” Marco reassured his friend and the boy sighed.

“Thank you, Marco,” the young adviser said gratefully.

“And I will make sure everything runs smoothly while you're gone,” Lily reassured her niece.

“Thanks, Aunt Lily,” Star said sweetly.

Her aunt smiled before turning to the other royals and declaring, “Now come along, everyone, we're gonna have to work twice as hard if we're gonna finish up within a relative time frame.”

Everyone instantly shouted back their agreements, before heading off to do their jobs with new vigor.

After a moment, Star turned to her boyfriend and asked, “So you ready for this, Marco?”

The boy nodded in determination. “Yep, we got this!” he confidently replied, pumping a fist into the air. “So long as we stick together, everything will turn out fine!”

Star smiled at her boyfriend, before leaning over and giving him a quick little peck on the cheek. “You got that right,” she proudly said and the two blushed as they just stared at each other for a moment too long, remembering their conversation from the other night.

“Would you two lovebirds stop flirting and hurry up already?!” Janna's voice called from the outskirts of town and the two were quickly snapped back to reality as they both shouted at the same time, “Oh right, sorry!” Before hurrying after their companions, who already had a pretty big head start on them.

Lily watched them go, smiling at her niece's adorable little romance. They were quite cute together, she just hoped nothing would ever cause the two to break up, they looked much too happy together. And her keen eye had also been quick to spot the blossoming romance between Tom and Janna, as well as the puppy dog eyes that the young slime Monster had been giving Princess Penelope. Yes, it seemed love was definitely in the air that day.

“Uhh, hey, this is too much work for us for us to do on our own,” Pony's sharp voice cut through Lily's thoughts, making her sigh.

The peach-haired monarch turned to face the floating horse. “If you are complaining than you are welcome to go home,” she said in a scolding tone.

Pony rolled her eyes, letting out a long dramatic breath. “First off, I'm not complaining! I'm trying to be a better person and all that so I can't complain. Secondly, what I was trying to say was that we need to call in some extra assistance so we can have this done by the time B-Fly and Turd get back!”

Lily was surprised by this, but kept up her calm mask as she said, “I see. And who exactly do you suggest we call?”

“Ooohhh, I've got connections,” Pony declared, before turning to Seahorse who was still taking pictures of his girlfriend the whole time. “Seahorse. You know what to do.”

“Of course,” the monotone fish replied. “I'll take care of it right away my love.”

Pony directed her attention back on Lily as she said, “And that's why I'm dating him again.”

“Hmm,” Lily hummed thoughtfully. “I don't know, dating someone for their efficiency is a little petty don't you think?”

“Uh, no, it's because he's the glue that holds me together and sticks with me despite my selfish actions,” Pony defensively argued. “Besides, don't you flirt with every guy you see?”

“I don't know what your talking about,” Lily coyly said, turning her head away to hide her smirk from view. As she did though she spotted three Monsters staring at her and she winked at them making all of them blush vibrantly. “Yep, no clue,” she added with a knowing grin.

…

“The entrance should be right though... here,” Slime said over his shoulder as he stepped out of the lush woods and into a large clearing, a large cave-like structure towering over the area, while the others stumbled in behind him. The Monster and Penelope just looked at the dark tunnel that lay before them with a mixture of intrigue, curiosity and fear, while Tom, Janna, and Ferguson all just raised skeptical eyebrows at the dirty, worn-down, and seemingly abandoned underground world. “This the place?” Tom asked, sounding unimpressed.

“Yep, we're here,” Slime confirmed, with a slight nod.

“Then it appears my moment has come,” Ferguson dramatically stated.

“Oh no, here he goes again,” Janna said with a roll of her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Slime asked, looking over to the beanie-wearing girl with confusion.

Ferguson stabbed a finger in the direction of the cave, a hand on his hip as he loudly declared, “And so it is time for King Fergore to take on his greatest challenge yet! For within these catacombs lurks a dangerous beast just waiting to tear him and his companions apart! What will he face within the depths of the cave? Danger? Death? Or perhaps a fate worse than death itself?!”

Penelope whimpered and Slime immediately tried to reassure her, telling her in the most soothing voice he could, “N-n-no, it's fine! He's just exaggerating. I'm sure it's not all that bad.” The Monster teen found himself rambling as he lost his nerve the longer the girl's gaze lingered on him and his mouth began speaking on its own, while his brain turned to mush. “There might not even be a spider, the others maybe just got lost. And even if there is a spider, I mean, what's the worst it could do, am I right?” He chuckled awkwardly, not knowing what else to do to diffuse the uncomfortable tension he was feeling form between them.

The girl's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, her hand immediately raised up to the bump on her head and she turned away from him, clearly trying to hide her face from his view. Slime realizing his mistake, quickly tried to correct himself saying, “Oh no, I didn't mean-”

But the girl wrapped her arms defensively around herself and said sharply, “It's fine.”

Slime not knowing what else to say, just turned his attention back on the old mine, coughing awkwardly into his gooey hand. That was when he noticed the three teens were all staring at him and he found himself wishing the ground would just open up and swallow him whole. At least that would get him out of this embarrassing situation. It was bad enough he was humiliating himself in front of the girl he felt an odd and growing interest in, but he was also doing so in front of an audience, all of whom seemed to be judging him harshly if their burning stares were any indication. They were trying to hide it and only cast an occasional glance his way out of the corner of their eyes, but each one was enough to make Slime fear his liquified form would start boiling soon. He wished they could just get going already, every second he stood there awkwardly next to the shy royal feeling like agony.

But before Slime could be scarred anymore for life, Star and Marco emerged from the foliage behind them, the former sighing with relief as she said, “Oh there you guys are.”

“We thought we lost you for a minute there,” Marco added with a bright smile.

“What took you so long?” Tom asked with slight annoyance.

The two teens instantly blushed, Star saying quickly, “We got... distracted.” But noticing the unsteady looks her friends were giving her and each other, she hesitantly asked, “Uhh, is everything okay? You guys look freaked out.”

“Did something happen?” Marco asked worriedly.

“No,” Slime squeaked out far too quickly, avoiding any sort of eye contact with Penelope. “We were just waiting for you two.”

“Oh, okay then,” Star said, deciding it best to drop the subject. “Then I guess we're all ready to go in?” She looked between each of them for conformation.

Penelope and Slime nodded, still not making eye contact, while Janna was rubbing her hands together in excitement. “Yep, can't wait to see a giant spider up close,” she said eagerly.

“Uh, Janna, isn't that what we're hoping to avoid?” Tom pointed out.

Janna shrugged, stating simply, “A girl can dream, can't she.”

“What about you Ferg?” Marco asked and the boy smiled boastfully.

“Oh Marco, I was born ready,” Ferguson stated proudly, while Tom and Janna just rolled their eyes.

“Give me a break,” Tom muttered under his breath.

“Why are you acting all weird?” Marco asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Let's just say after my near-death experience, it really helped put my life into perspective,” Ferguson explained. “I now see that my true purpose in life is to live on the edge, to experience all the dangers the dimensions have to offer.”

“Oh my gosh, you were in some kind of accident!” Slime exclaimed, looking at the chubby king with sympathy and remorse. “Is that why you have the bandage on your head?!”

“Oh so you noticed,” Ferguson said smugly. “Yep this wound is a seeping reminder of just how short life can be and how I need to live life to its fullest if I ever truly want to live.”

“Oh please,” Tom scoffed in annoyance. “You got hit in the head with a ping-pong ball!”

“It still changed my life okay!” Ferguson shouted at the hot-headed teen, who's features twisted into a frown, his cheek flames starting to burn a bit more intensely, showing his clear aggravation at the raised tone.

“Guys,” Star called, gaining everyone's attention onto her. “Can we please focus on the mission?”

“Right, sorry Starship,” Tom apologized, snapping out of his almost temper-tantrum at the girl's light scolding and giving her a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, my bad, guess I got too lost in my own greatness,” Ferguson attempted to apologize, instead only making it worse as Janna finally smacked him in the back of the head.

“Ow! What was that for?” Ferguson whined, rubbing at the spot tenderly.

“Just seeing if that big head of yours is able to block out pain any easier,” Janna said. But she turned to Star and Marco, pretending not to notice the chubby boy's pouting look, as she said, “We're ready whenever you are, Star.”

Star nodded before starting for the cave, the others following close behind as they all entered the mine together. Star held up her wand, making it glow a pale pink so they could see in the darkness of the mine. The blond royal took quick note of her surrounds particularly the tunnel that seemed to stretch on for infinity before them, with no end in sight no matter how much light she cast in that direction. Her eyes darted around for a minute, looking for any clues or signs of the Monsters (or to a lesser extent: the deadly creature) they were looking for but for the most part the place just looked abandoned and unused. Dirt and cobwebs covering the rock walls and the wooden beams that acted as supports to keep the tunnels from collapsing on their heads, looked worn from the effects of time, some even bent downwards, making Star unsure just how safe they were.

And it seemed Marco felt the same way as the blond royal suddenly felt his presence move closer to her (more so than he already was) until he was practically attached to her hip, while his grip on her hand tightened some as he looked around at the dark tunnel with uncertainty. She couldn't help but inwardly gush over how adorable and sweet it was that he would cling to her in his moment of fear, as if he felt safer the closer he was to her. “You sure this is safe?” Marco asked the Monster, looking unsteady and ready to bolt from the cave if Slime's answer wasn't to his liking.

“Yes, don't worry, its perfectly safe,” Slime reassured the boy, who sighed with relief.

But at the exact same time, Ferguson ran a finger down the wood, before examining the level of dust that had settled on his fingertips. “Hmmmm,” he hummed, looking thoughtfully at the wood, before it made a loud crack and he screamed and stumbled back away from it. The loud noise echoed around the tunnel, setting Marco's already tense body over the edge as he found himself leaping into Star's arms for safety. The blond just looked down in shock to see herself holding her shaking boyfriend tightly in her arms.

Both Star and Marco, as well as the others, all turned to the slime Monster at the exact same time, making him blush beet red (or in his case lime green) at the skeptical looks he was receiving, except from Marco, who's skin had turned pale and eyes had widened to an unbelievable and unhealthy looking level. Slime just chuckled awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck as he said hesitantly, “Uhhh, I mean, it's pretty safe.”

“Welp, looks like we might die here. Neat,” Tom sarcastically replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Yep it is pretty cool,” Janna agreed, making Tom turn to her with a raised eyebrow.

“That was sarcasm,” he told her simply.

“Oh I know,” she replied with a smug look on her face and Tom just sighed, knowing there was no winning with her.

“Okay guys, we should probably get moving,” Star said, trying to keep everyone focused on the task at hand, as she helped set Marco back onto his feet.

“Y-Yeah, let's hurry, the sooner we find the mayor and the others, the sooner we can leave,” Marco added, his voice quivering some now.

The group started on their journey down the tunnel, Star and Marco taking the lead, with Tom and Janna following along behind them, Janna trying to comfort her hooded friend by saying, “Aw, it's fine Marco, it's held up this long, I'm sure it can hold up a few hours more.” This actually did seem to sooth Marco some until she added, “Besides if it doesn't than we all get to be buried together, so win-win.”

“How is that a win-win?” Star asked in annoyance, shooting Janna a glare for freaking Marco out more, the boy's face so pale at this point the blond royal kept a steady hand on his back just in case he passed out on her.

“Yeah, Janna that's messed up,” Tom added, looking equally as unhappy with the creepy girl as Star, for the same reason as she was, too. Poor Marco was starting to hyperventilate now.

“What are you saying you don't want to be buried with me?” Janna asked, giving him a hurt look that instantly frazzled Tom's brain.

“No, I-I didn't say that,” Tom instinctively said trying to keep from upsetting the girl. But as a smirk quickly grew on Janna's face, he finally realized what he had just said and coughed in his hand to cover his blush from her view. “What I meant was,” he continued, trying to put on the most cool, calm and collected face imaginable. “I don't think it's right for you to upset Marco like that.”

“It's fine guys,” Marco called over his shoulder, giving them a tight smile. “I just... need a minute to relax is all.”

As soon as he was facing forward once more, Marco's smile dropped and a look of fear and anxiety filled his eyes. Star knew the instant she saw that look that this was about a lot more than being afraid of a cave in. Of course none of the others knew this, but this was sadly not the first time Star had seen her boyfriend like this. Still she didn't feel anything coming from the boy due to their bond, so to be sure, she leaned over and whispered softly into his ear, “Hey, are you having... flashbacks?”

Marco nodded slightly, swallowing hard before saying in a fairly strong tone, “Yeah, but it's really more like... just an uncomfortable feeling, like I can't breath. But I'll be fine. I've gotta face this fear sometime and well, now is as good a time as ever.”

Star smiled at him, placing a hand on his cheek, making his suns spin, as she said softly, “I'm so proud of you, Marco. You're being so brave.”

“Well I've got you here, so of course I'm feeling brave. All I gotta do is look at you and I know I'm safe, right?” he said with one of those bright grins that made Star's heart do all kinds of crazy things in her chest, especially as he realized he was calling back her words from the Blood Moon Ball and that, coupled with the love and affection she could see shining in his eyes, made Star swoon.

“Aw, Marco, you are just the sweetest.” she said, giving him a tiny peck on his cheek, that sent their heart beats pounding in rhythm once more. Even Star's wand glowed a little bit brighter than before as they all just continued down the path.

While that was all going on, Slime just hung back from the group, casting a longing look back at Penelope every so often, who made up the rear of their little party, walking at a slow and cautious pace. He wanted to try and say something to her, especially now that the others seemed distracted with their own thing to focus on him, but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound either stupid or possibly insulting. He groaned softly under his breath as he finally gave up on the idea, keeping his gaze straight ahead, watching the two couples talking with each other and getting along and he felt a small bubble of envy form at the sight, frowning to himself.

But suddenly he felt like he was being watched and turned his attention beside him, only to reel back at the sight of Ferguson watching him with a creepy looking grin on his face that instantly made Slime twice as uncomfortable as he had just been. “Wh-What is it, Your Majesty?” he greeted as politely as he could despite being startled by the chubby king.

“You like her, don't you?” Ferguson asked inclining his head slightly behind him, making Slime stumble, taken aback by the direct and out of nowhere question, while his cheeks blushed vibrantly.

“I-I, uhhh,” he stuttered, his brain incapable of forming a coherent thought for the moment. Finally he managed to get his wits about him enough to say, “I-I'm not sure, what you're talking about.”

“Come on, man,” the grinning Mewman said, giving him a knowing smile. “I can see it in your eyes how you feel about her. I mean you can't take your eyes off her, can you?”

Slime opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it and instead hung his head in defeat, honestly replying, “Yes. I really want to get to know her, but I keep saying and doing everything wrong when I'm around her.”

“Well don't worry, just leave everything to me and you'll have her by the end of the day,” Ferguson told him, with another one of his boastful smiles and Slime only gave him a tiny grin in reply.

“Um no, that's okay.”

“Nonsense, I got your back, man,” Ferguson insisted, patting the Monster on the shoulder, ignoring the slime that covered his hand every time he did so.

“Well thanks but I think I'd rather ask Marco or Star.”

“Alright, well you could. I mean yeah Star and Marco are like the cutest couple of all time, but are they married yet?” Ferguson argued and Slime raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ummm-”

“No they aren't,” the chubby king answered for him. “But I am. And I'm gonna work my magic on you and help you get yourself a date.”

Slime just sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue, Ferguson was clearly stubborn and he was going to do what he wanted to do no matter what Slime said. He had no idea how this was going to work out, but he doubted it was gonna end well for him. But I do need help, he remind himself. And he is married...

“Okay fine, what do I say to her?” Slime asked.

Ferguson laughed hard at that, much to Slime's and the others confusion as they all looked over to the two to see what was up, all to the Monster's horror. Finally, the boy's laughter died down as he said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Oh you have so much to learn. You don't just go up and talk to her.”

“But then how do I get to know her if I don't talk to her?”

“You don't,” Ferguson replied. “You gotta play it aloof.”

“Aloof?” Slime repeated in confusion.

“Yeah, act like you don't care what she thinks. Like it doesn't matter if she notices you or not.”

“But won't that drive her away?”

“No, it'll make her jealous that your attention isn't on her. Before you know it, she'll come to you and ask you why you're snubbing her and then you go into phase 2.”

“Phase 2?” Slime asked, looking more and more skeptical with every word. And though he dreaded to ask he added, “What's phase 2?”

“You tell her you can't live without her and ask her to marry you,” Ferguson explained proudly.

“What?!” Slime exclaimed, unable to believe what a huge leap in logic the Mewman had taken in his planning. How could he possible expect things to go from ignoring Penelope's existence to marrying her just like that. “I can't do that, I just met her!” the Monster explained with exasperation.

“Oh right, well then ask her out, instead,” Ferguson corrected himself, still missing on the true meaning of Slime's argument. Did he not realize that this plan would never work in any capacity?

“No offense, King Ferguson-” Slime started, only to be interrupted.

“Fergore,” the boy clarified and it took every ounce of will-power to keep Slime from sighing.

“-Fergore, but I don't really think that plan will work,” he said, cringing as he feared upsetting the powerful monarch.

“What, sure it will,” Ferguson argued the smile never leaving his face. “It worked for me.”

“Really?” Slime asked, trying his best to hide his shock.

“Yep, I used that on the Pixie Empress and now we're happily married.” The boy sighed dreamily as he thought of his wife.

“Wow, you two must be really in love,” the Monster observed honestly. Although he still didn't quite understand how this half-baked technique had worked, he did think it was sweet that they had fallen for each other, no matter how weird the circumstances.

“Oh yeah, she was totally into me,” Ferguson said, looking overjoyed as he spoke about his one true love and Slime smiled. “After she stopped trying to eat me of course,” the chubby king added and Slime's goofy grin vanished in a flash.

“I'm sorry, what?” Slime asked, not quite sure if he had heard the boy right. “Did- Did you just say she tried to eat you?!”

Ferguson just laughed. “Yeah, it was adorable,” the boy chuckled, his eyes shimmering as he seemed to be remembering that exact moment. Slime was just left disturbed by this news and quickly realized trusting this boy with love was a huge mistake.

“Ummm, I... gotta go... talk to Star and Marco,” Slime hesitantly said, trying to think of some kind of excuse to get out of this, before quickening his pace and trying to put as much distance between him and the crazy king he left behind, who called after him, “Okay, but just remember what I told you! It works every time.”

Slime sighed as he finally freed himself from the uncomfortable conversation, now thinking over his remaining options. He was now sure that the advice he was just given would almost never work in any scenario, especially with the very shy and reserved Mewmans princess he was falling for. But he did still need some help asking her out. Luckily, I still have some options left, he thought as his gaze slowly caught on the princess and her beloved boyfriend, their hands intertwined as they smiled and talked easily with each other like it was nothing. Slime grinned, hoping that that could be him someday.

He began jogging forward, his gaze and focus on the young couple, but he was stopped as a voice suddenly asked, “Hey Slime, how long has it been since these tunnels were used?”

“Huh?” the Monster said, looking around for a bit in confusion, before his gaze finally landed on Tom and Janna, the latter the one who asked him the question. “Umm, I don't really know,” he said, not quite hiding his impatience as he kept looking longingly over at Star and Marco. “Probably a few years maybe.”

“So then what were the Monsters doing in the mines in the first place?” Janna asked skeptically, an eyebrow slowly raising.

Slime froze, his mind turning to goo, to match the rest of him. The question had come out of nowhere and caught him completely off guard and with his mind already distracted on other things, he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to say. He swallowed hard, trying to remember what Mayor Butch had told him to say if anyone asked, but he was so nervous and flustered he could not recall what it was. But he knew he had to say something, the longer he paused the more suspicious he seemed. Finally, the mayors word's returned to his frazzled mind and he quickly cleared his throat and said in the most authoritative voice he had at the moment, “Umm, well, Mayor Butch was going to try and reopen the mines so that we had something to trade with the Mewmans, but then this whole spider thing came up.”

Janna scoffed, saying, “Well then why didn't they just hire an exterminator or something, instead of blinding charging in after it?”

“Kind of like what we're doing,” Tom pointed out, his voice soft and a little unstable as if trying to hold some sort of emotion back.

“Yeah, exactly. Only we actually know what we're doing,” Janna argued. “Star's probably gonna just magic it away before anything bad can even happen.” She turned to the flaming teen with what seemed to be a genuine smile as she told him, “And if needed, I know you'll have no problem blasting that thing out of existence.”

“Uh, right,” Tom said, halfheartedly, his cheek flames flickering slightly at the look he was receiving from his crush. But he quickly cleared his throat and said in a proud and sure tone, “No problem, Janna. If the spider does show up, I'll take care of it.” He jabbed a finger toward himself, flashing the most confident smile he had at his arsenal, hoping to impress the girl of his dreams.

“Great, knew I could count on you,” she said simply, even giving him a quick, flirty wink and Tom felt like he might melt or die right there from joy. He wanted to scream in excitement to the whole world and pat himself on the back at his accomplishment, but since he couldn't do either of those things without humiliating himself in front of Janna or causing a cave in that killed them all, he simply settled for saying, “Yeah, cool.” So far, so good. Aside from his voice cracking just now, everything was going surprisingly smoothly for once. This might have even been the best conversation he had with Janna so far. If he kept this up, he would impress her for sure.

Slime just watched the two's conversation closely, paying close attention to their every movement and words, hoping to learn something for himself. Finally, he decided to try and gain some wisdom from them as he asked, “So how long have you two been dating?”

Tom's three eyes instantly widened to the size of saucers, looking like they might pop out of his head if he wasn't careful and his cheeks flickered out of existence for a moment, a warm, vibrant blush quickly replacing them, spreading across not only his cheeks but his entire face. “No, no, no” he exclaimed without thinking, his brain instantly focusing on just trying to save face, rather than whatever words were tumbling out of his mouth. “You got us all wrong! We aren't a couple, we-we're just friends!”

Janna (whose cheeks had turned the slightest tinge of pink but nothing more) just smirked at the Monster and said, “Yeah, what he said. He isn't ready... yet.”

“Yeah exactly!” Tom exclaimed, before her words actually hit him and he blushed even more. “Wait what?!”

“Nothing Tom,” Janna said cryptically, clearly enjoying herself. “Don't worry about it.”

“No, I definitely heard you say something!”

“You must be hearing things.”

“Noooo, your just trying to get under my skin, aren't you?”

“Maybe.”

Tom growled in frustration, steam beginning to rise off his body as he struggled to keep his temper in check. Well so much for that plan.

Slime just watched this whole exchange with discomfort, rubbing a hand up and down his arm as he struggled to understand where he had gone wrong. Clearly he had messed up again, only this time he had upset one of the royals. “Um, sorry, my bad,” he tried to apologize but Tom was too busy fuming over what Janna had said to listen and Slime instead decided it best to back out of the conversation while he could.

This isn't working, he thought, his head hanging low as he walked. Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead. He turned to go back the way he had come, figuring it best to hang out at the back of the group to avoid anymore confrontation but then his gaze landed on Princess Spiderbite and he lost all train of thought once more. She happened to be looking up the moment he turned and so for a brief instant their eyes met and again it was like magic. Slime could see so much hidden emotion buried in those stunning pupils. Beneath the shade of green he could see so much, they were so vast and Slime found himself incapable of looking away. But it seemed Penelope didn't feel the same as she quickly turned her head to the side, trying to hide her eyes and gaze from his view.

But those few seconds were enough to change his mind about backing out and leaving her be. He had seen something shining in those green orbs, something she tried to hide and block off from everyone else. She wanted to be noticed, she craved some kind of attention, he could see it, but she was too afraid to open up to him, to anyone. She had forced herself to be alone. And he couldn't stand it.

He wanted to help her and he wanted to know more about her. He would know more about her, he concluded. He had to see what further mysteries were hidden behind those eyes.

And so instead of giving up, he turned back around and marched over to Star and Marco, hoping they would have some answers for what he should do. As soon as he reached them he blurted out, “Um, Your Majesty, would it be alright if I asked you two a question?”

Star and Marco turned to him with bright smiles, though Slime noticed the hooded boy's seemed a little more forced than before and his body seemed more tensed than normal, as if was on edge about something. Slime felt a moment of hesitation, wondering if he had just intruded on something important. But the princess was quick to dissolve these worries as she said in a joyful and lighthearted voice, “Sure thing, Slime, what's up?”

The Monster teen felt himself relaxing at the welcoming and calm nature the two seemed to have about them, making him feel at ease and accepted. Which was how he was able to suck in a breath and tell them, “Well, see, there's this girl I like and I want to ask her out but I'm not really sure how. Every time I try and talk to her I just keep messing up and making everything all awkward and weird.”

“Aww, that's too bad,” Marco said, his eyes full of sympathy for the Monster. He knew all too well how difficult it could be talking to people, it had gotten (some) easier now, but back when he had first been around people, every interaction had ended pretty badly for him. He had even humiliated himself in front of Star when they first met, though he didn't really consider that too bad since now he looked back on that memory fondly. “Sorry to hear that.”

“So how can we help?” Star asked in confusion, not losing her sincerity but looking unsure what he needed from them.

“Well I was wondering, since you seem so perfect for each other,” Slime explained, now tapping his slimy hands together sheepishly. “How did you two get together in the first place?”

“Well I fell out of a tree-” Marco started but Star quickly stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Um, Marco, I think he means how did we start dating,” Star clarified with a little giggle at the boy's naivety.”

“Ohhhhh,” Marco said nodding in understanding, before taking on a thoughtful expression. “Well I think it was sometime between me kissing you and you rescuing me from Toffee, wasn't it? Hmm, or maybe it was after I gave myself up to save you. Or wait, were we dating the whole time and I just never knew it!” The boy's eyes widened as he looked over at Star for clarification, the girl unable to hold back her laughter at her Marco's cuteness.

“No Marco we weren't dating the whole time,” she told him and he sighed in relief, putting a hand to his heart, as his world made sense again.

“Oh good, I was afraid I was being a terrible boyfriend this whole time,” Marco admitted and Star gave him an affectionate look in return, one that made Marco's heart hammer and the warm emotion that came from being near Star strengthen to a wonderful degree.

“Aww, you could never be a bad boyfriend in my eyes, Marco,” Star said, painting both of their cheeks pink and making both of them grin goofily at each other. But the two broke off their gaze (far quicker than they wanted to) as they looked back over at Slime, Star saying with the same upbeat tone from before, “So I'm not really sure the exact moment me and Marco got together, to be honest. It just sorta happened.” Slime's face seemed to fall a little until the blond royal added, “But I guess that's because we were already so close, dating just felt natural.”

“Yeah, I mean I didn't get it at first but it felt right to be with you,” Marco pitched in.

“Exactly,” Star exclaimed, him taking the words right out of her mouth, and the boy practically shined at the praise. To Slime she said, “Look if you really want my opinion, I think you should start by getting to know her first.”

“Yeah, be her friend,” Marco pitched in helpfully.

“Be her friend?” Slime repeated, his voice hopeful but determined. “You really think that would work?”

Star and Marco shrugged. “Worked for us.”

“It's at least worth a try, right?” Marco added.

Slime thought it over before nodding, saying confidently, “Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go over there and- and- um, wait, what do I say to her when I get over there?”

“Just say whatever come natural to you,” Star encouraged.

Slime wanted to ask more but before he could they head a shout from Ferguson behind them, “Guys what's that up ahead?!”

Star, Marco, and Slime all looked in the direction the chubby king was warning them about as they noticed the tunnel ended ahead, widening into a totally different part of the mine. This particular area seemed to be some sort of central hub for the rest of the mine. Rusted pick-axes, and other tools lay strewn about, decaying and discolored from age. Star also took quick note of the many dark, unused tunnels that seemed to stretch on for infinity before them, a series of paths seeming to branch out in a million different directions. Star finally understood what Slime had meant earlier about this place being a maze.

“Ummm, so which way do we go?” Janna asked, looking at each of the tunnels skeptically, Tom looking more and more uncomfortable next to her. “Do we just pick a random direction oorrr...”

Star turned to their Monster companion, asking, “Slime, any idea which way we should go?”

“Oh right yes,” Slime said as with as much confidence as he could mutter, looking at each and every tunnel, trying to remember the right way to go. After a moment he pointed to one of the tunnels on their right and said, “This way, Mayor Butch said the spider was last spotted in the northern catacombs.” The Monster paused though, his sure smile vanishing in an instant as he suddenly second guessed himself. “Or did he say it came from the north catacomb but went down the northeast tunnel?” His hand slowly maneuvered to a new tunnel, until he rethought this decision too, saying, “Then again, the northwest passage was rumored to have vampire gnats in it, so maybe the spider went down there.” His hand now hovered in the direction of a new tunnel, before he began moving back and forth between the three, no longer sure which way was best.

“Let me guess, you don't actually know,” Tom mumbled in annoyance.

Slime blushed before saying sheepishly, “Well can you blame me, they all look the same.”

“And the names are all really similar, too,” Marco added. “You should probably change them.”

“Yeah, like call this one 'Death Tunnel, and this one 'Blood cave'. Oh and this one, 'The Passage of No Return'.” Janna suggested, pointing at each tunnel as she spoke.

“Why are all the names scary, Janna?” Star asked with a deadpanned look.

“Cause it's easier to remember them that way,” Janna said matter-of-factly.

“How?” Tom doubtfully questioned.

“Well would you ever forget a name like 'Blood Cave' or 'Death Tunnel'?”

Tom opened his mouth to argue, until he paused, saying in shock, “No, I guess I wouldn't.”

“See, case and point,” Janna said proudly.

“Okay well, it looks like out best option right now is splitting up,” Star said thoughtfully.

“What?!” Penelope shrieked in fear, the webs on her cheeks turning a dark purple color, as she looked around at the tunnels nervously. “We can't do that! The only reason I agreed to come out here was because you said you would protect us! How can you protect us if you aren't there?!”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down,” Marco quickly said, stepping over to the girl's side, putting a steadying hand on her shoulder as she continued to panic, breathing heavily and looking on the verge of passing out. “I'm sure Star has a plan that's gonna keep all of us safe.” He looked over to his girlfriend with an encouraging smile. “Right Star?”

The blond rubbed a finger against her chin, trying to do just that. After a couple seconds of thinking though, an idea seemed to come to her as her cheek marks turned into blinking light bulbs and a bright smile widened on her face. “I think I got just the thing!” she said, snapping her fingers, before reaching into her small purse and pulling out the wand. A small burst of magic later and suddenly Tom, Slime, and Star were all holding glowing purple devices with a crystal shaped button on the side of it and a yellow Star design on the front. “Tada!” Star exclaimed, holding up the device proudly. “What do you think?”

“Wow, what are they?!” Marco asked, stepping over to Slime to examine the device closely, while the Monster was just trying not to damage it with his goo.

“They're walkie-talkies,” Star explained, the confident grin on her face never leaving. “With these babies we'll still be able to talk to each other even while we're apart. See, all you have to do is hit this button...” Star pressed the diamond shaped button down, before holding it up to her mouth and saying, “...And I can hear you from anywhere.” Her voice came out of each of the devices as she spoke and Marco gasped, his eyes incapable of growing any wider as they shined with wonder and intrigue.

“That's so amazing!” Marco squealed with delight.

“Big deal, our phones do the exact same thing,” Tom pointed out but Star just wagged a finger in the air.

“But do our phones come with a tracking device that lets me know where you all are at all times, so if you do spot the spider I can come right to your rescue?” she asked them all with a knowing smirk.

“I don't know, probably,” Janna said simply and Star frowned.

“Well this is easier and I already made them so we're using them, okay,” the girl quickly snapped out, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Fine with me,” Ferguson said with a shrug, before turning in the direction of the nearest tunnel and loudly proclaiming, “And now my time has come to face the dark depths and secrets of this cave... alone!”

“That's the wrong tunnel,” Slime pointed out and Ferguson awkwardly turned on his heels now facing the correct passage this time. “Okay, then this one instead.”

“Um, Ferg maybe, it would be best if you didn't go in there by yourself,” Marco suggested, trying to keep his promise to Alfonso and the chubby king nodded.

“Good idea, Marco, we should split into equal groups,” the boy agreed, much to the others surprise, before he lunged over to Slime, who jumped back startled. “I'm with Slime!” The boy shot the very confused Monster a wink before saying, “And we all know Star and Marco are gonna go together.” The two teens blushed at the implication but neither denied it. “And Tom, you can be with Janna since no one else is gonna want either of you in their group.”

“What, that's not fair,” Tom growled, his eyes beginning to glow red, until Janna, out of nowhere, grabbed a hold of his arm, making his whole body freeze up. Her arms wrapped around his own tightly, in an almost affectionate grip as she said, “Aw, relax Tom. You did promise to blast any spiders that come near me, remember?”

Tom just rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, trying to keep his cool while also completely ignoring the appendage that was currently being held captive by the creepy girl's surprisingly gentle grip. “Yeah I guess,” he said as smoothly as he could, making Janna grin in victory.

“Guess that just leaves you, Penelope,” Star pointed out nicely, the shy princess not daring to look in anyone's directions. She simply nodded and Marco quickly offered, “Well your welcome to come with us. You'll be extra safe-”

“Actually, I was thinking Penelope should be in our group,” Ferguson interrupted and Star and Marco gave him doubting looks.

“Why?” Star asked, not understanding the royal's logic at all.

“Because, we might need her to identify the creature,” Ferguson explained.

But the blond wasn't sold on this, as she deadpanned, “It's a huge spider. I think you can manage.”

“Okay but think about it, you have your wand, Tom has his fire, and Janna has... her thing,” Ferguson argued. “We need something that's gonna give us an edge over this spider if we do run into it and someone who's dealt with them before is our best bet.”

“I don't know,” Star said, still not convinced, before turning to the princess in question. “Are you okay going with them, Penelope?”

“If you need us, we'll just be one quick scissor snip away,” Marco reassured her.

The girl shrugged and said, “It's fine I guess.”

“See, told you,” Ferguson annoyingly said to Star, causing her to frown. But the Mewman ignored this quickly grabbing Slime by the shoulder and then Penelope, drawing them in close to him while proclaiming, “Now come on, we got some Monsters to save!”

Both Monster and Mewman protests fell on deaf ears, as the eager teen began dragging them away, much to the others surprise and disbelief. “What was that about?” Star asked, putting her hand to her hips.

“My guess, he noticed Slime's crush on Penelope and just tried to play matchmaker,” Tom said simply.

“Wait, Penelope is his crush?!” Marco exclaimed, while Star's mouth just dropped open.

“Well yeah it was super obvious,” Tom replied, his eyes darting back and forth between his friend's flabbergasted faces. “You two really didn't notice?”

Both of them shook their heads slowly and Janna just scoffed. “Makes sense. You two never could tell when someone had a crush, even if they were right in front of you.”

Star and Marco shared a look, their faces simultaneously turning beet red, while Tom and Janna just gave them both knowing smiles.

…

The tunnel was dark and silent as the three made their way down it, Slime and Penelope keeping at an intentional distance apart, casting nervous looks at each other every so often, while Ferguson stood between the two, holding up a flaming torch as he whistled a merry tune, creating lyrics in his head about his own heroic exploits as he did. His own eyes jumped between the two for a moment, smiling to himself as he prepared to set his plan into motion. Things had gone excellently at this point, the two were now separated from the others, alone with just him, now all he had to do was spring the rest of his trap and the two would be dating in no time flat. Huh, that rhymed, he should put that in his song somewhere. Okay focus, Ferguson, he reminded himself, before looking over at the Monster with a mischievous grin.

Slime finally met his eye, giving him a startled look at the smile he saw, before the chubby king leaned over and whispered in the lowest voice he could, “Okay, just follow my lead.” Before the Monster could ask what he meant by that Ferguson was now speaking in a loud, obnoxious tone, “Oh wow, Slime. Isn't it so cool to be just us bros out here, doing our thing?!” The boy made sure to keep his attention off of the princess who was giving him a bizarre look, which was reflected on Slime's own gooey face. “Yep, it is so nice, being just us guys out here, on this super important mission.”

“Um, excuse me,” Penelope softly interrupted and Ferguson turned to her with a gasp.

“Oh my gosh, Penelope I totally forgot you were there,” he said with mock surprise.

“But you were the one who insisted I come,” she pointed out, her webs turning slightly red as her eyes sparked with anger.

“Oh yeah that's right,” Ferguson said, smacking his forehead lightly with the palm of his hand, while the princess crossed her arms huffily in front of her chest.

Slime just sighed, able to see where the boy was going with this. The young king was trying to get him to follow along with the plan he had mentioned before, ignoring Penelope before confessing his love out of nowhere and as much as Slime appreciated the help he had a new better plan that he wanted to try out. But first he needed Ferguson to leave them alone so he wouldn't be too nervous to talk to Penelope. So all he said was, “Um, hey King Fergore could you maybe give us a minute?”

The boy stared at him in shock for a moment before grinning ear to ear, thinking the Monster was about to move on to phase 2. “Sure thing, buddy,” he said cheerfully, while out of sight of Penelope, he winked and mouthed out to the Monster, 'Good luck'. Then he quickened his pace, leaving the two relatively alone.

Slime looked over at Penelope once Ferguson was gone, his thoughts on what Star and Marco had told him and decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Even though he had no idea what he was going to say, he didn't want to put it off any longer, before he lost his nerve and gave up. He was motivated and she was right there next to him, all he had to do was take the step. So he sucked in a breath, before blurting out, “Hey uh...” His voice cracked and he paused to clear his tight throat, before continuing, refusing to give up just yet. “...Um, I just wanted to say that it's really nice to finally meet you, Princess Spiderbite.” His cheeks flushed as she looked over his way in surprise. “Well I'm glad to meet all of you actually,” he admitted. “The Monsters have been hearing a lot about Princess Star's commission, my family especially hasn't stopped talking about it. You are all so incredible and brave, standing up for us Monsters like that. Everyone thinks that you royals are real heroes for what your doing.”

“Oh no I'm not a hero,” Penelope quickly argued, giving a sad look at the ground. “I've never done anything extraordinary or brave. I'm just... pretty average.”

Slime paused taking in her depressed features as she just continued staring self-consciously at the ground. “Yeah me too,” he admitted and the princess finally locked eyes with him, her eyes shining with intrigue. “My family wants me to do great things but I'm not really sure if I'm up for the task. They think I'm gonna be something great someday but all I can think is how I'm gonna end up letting them down. I feel like all I do is mess up.”

Penelope was silent for a moment, just staring at him for a moment before saying, “Well then, I guess someone finally understands how I feel.” There was another short pause before she asked hesitantly, “Is it weird that... I'm kinda glad?”

Slime gave her a warm smile as he said, “Not at all. I'm glad too.”

The girl finally returned his grin with one of her own and Slime felt his heart pounding away in his chest. But it dropped as she suddenly asked, “Sooo does this mean your okay with being around me?”

“Huh?” Slime asked, not quite sure what she meant.

“Even though I look like this...” she pointed to the giant bite on the side of her head, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment as she looked away from him.

“Of course, I think you look beautiful,” Slime said shooting her an encouraging grin.

Penelope gave him a hopeful look, her eyes shining with joy as she gasped out, “Y-You really think so?”

“Well yeah, how could anyone not,” he said, his confidence returning full force as he complimented the blushing girl.

“Nobodies ever called me that before,” the girl admitted shyly.

“Well then I guess I'm the first,” Slime said, shooting her the nicest grin he could.

She smiled back, before saying, “Y'know Slime, I really like talking to you.”

“Me too,” he said, before adding, “But I guess that's what friends are for, right?”

Penelope's face grew slightly teary eyed as she sniffed and looked away from him. Finally she just muttered in a strained tone, “Yeah, friends.”

But before the two could enjoy the moment any longer, Ferguson suddenly appeared between them, saying in a overly chipper voice, “Soooo, Slime do you maybe have something to say to Penelope?”

The Monster just blushed a dark green at the question, shooting Ferguson a pleading look not to do this to him but from the bright, encouraging grin the young royal was giving him he didn't seem to notice. Meanwhile, Penelope was giving him a confused look and Slime felt his nerve leave him all at once, now lacking the brain capacity to form a single word as her pretty eyes fried every braincell he had at once, leaving him dumb and awkward.

“Um, well, I-I-I-” he stuttered, trying to get the words out of his suddenly dry mouth (something he hadn't thought was even possible for him to have before now) with no success.

But before he could finish stumbling out any sort of confession, they heard a low growl up ahead, sounding dark and sinister. The three slowly turned to face forward at the exact same time, their eyes wide and their breathing nonexistent as they all feared the worst. But they could see nothing lurking in the darkness ahead and so allowed themselves to breath once again. “Wh-What was that?” Penelope asked her voice a quiver, moving till she was hiding slightly behind Slime.

“Must be the spider,” Ferguson observed in the most confident voice he could, despite the intense fear he felt coursing through his body, his legs shaking as they begged him to turn around and run away. He gasped as he saw at least a dozen pairs of red eyes appear farther down the tunnel, staring at them with a sinister glow.

Penelope took another step back, shaking her head rapidly before saying softly, “That's not a spider. At least not one I've ever seen.”

“Seriously?” Slime said in disbelief, but was unable to take his eyes off the thing, whatever it was, as a long spindly leg came into the torchlight and stepped forward closer to the three. He was finally able to peel his gaze away as he looked instead to Ferguson saying, “King Fergore, what should we do?”

“Heck if I know!” the boy replied, his voice a tight squeak.

“But I thought you said you lived for danger!” Slime shouted.

Ferguson shrugged, saying sheepishly, “Eh, I change my mind.”

“What?!”

“Quick Slime, call Star!” Penelope shouted at him.

“R-Right,” Slime said, reaching into his pocket and producing the walkie-talkie. But his movements were too quick and his nervousness made his hands extra slick, so all he ended up doing was dropping it onto the ground and fumbling to pick it up. Luckily it didn't break but his gooey hands for whatever reason could not lift it and he groaned in frustration. “Come on hands! Now is not the time!”

Penelope rushed over to help him but as soon as she dropped down to her knees, they heard a whirring sound from up ahead and both looked up just in time to see a giant web hurling toward them. The two only had time to scream and cling to each other in fear as the sticky web fell over their bodies, trapping them within.

…

Tom was taking deep calm breaths as he and Janna walked deeper and deeper into the creepy tunnel, Janna holding the torch the boy had lit for her as she marched ahead with no fear. She was smiling ear to ear, her eyes shining with intrigue and though Tom was extremely nervous and this was definitely not the look he had in mind while in this place, he couldn't help but admire the break from her normally cryptic and guarded face, usually the most he ever got from her was a smirk but this was a full on smile. Which didn't help with his general unease but it certainly made it at lot easier for him to keep walking.

He continued to take his calming breaths the way his anger management coach Brian had told him, keeping it at a steady rhythm with his footfalls. He would take a step and take a breath in and then step again and let the breath out. Step, breath in. Step, breath out. In and out. In and out. Over and over and over again.

“Tom,” Janna suddenly spoke up and he nearly jumped and twisted his ankle as he was mid-step when the mental solitude of his mind was invaded by her mischievous voice. He looked up at her, trying to hide his look of shock, as she just raised an eyebrow at him, a slight bit of concern hidden behind her eyes. “You okay?”

“Me,” he scoffed with a slight chuckle, putting on a relaxed persona. “What no, I'm fine. Better than fine really.”

Janna didn't seem convinced as she asked, “You sure your not freaked out over anything?”

“Nope,” Tom said with a shake of his head, plastering on the most calm and collected smile he could in the hopes of impressing her with his bravery. “The only thing I'm hoping for is that we get to face that spider so I can show him my moves.”

“Which is?” Janna asked, the smirk returning on her face and Tom felt a shudder run up his spine. Ugh, he really needed to stop doing that around her.

“You know, blasting it with fire...” he said as if he were about to start listing off all his special abilities, before realizing he had nothing more to add, leaving him to awkwardly trail off, “... and that's about it I guess.”

“Ahh that's all you really need,” Janna said. “Besides seeing you set things on fire is really cool.”

Tom smiled softly at her, his cheeks turning the slightest color pink and his cheek flames flickering. “Thanks, your pretty cool too,” he said, not sure what else to say to the compliment, he still got so few. But he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, trying to work up the nerve to tell her what had been on his mind since the Blood Moon Ball, and he knew he would have to do it blind, because the second he would see her smirking face he would immediately lose his train of thought. Now all that was needed was finding the right way to bring it up and ask. “So, um, hey, about what you said before to that Slime guy... I-I've been meaning to ask you-”

Janna looked back over her shoulder as the boy spoke, seeing his eyes were closed and allowed her barriers to drop for a moment, revealing a blushing face and a warm, affectionate smile. Was he really gonna do it? She had been waiting for him to ask her, she wanted it to be him who took that step (plus she had been having a blast just flirting with him and part of her didn't want it to end too soon), and now that time may have finally come. She quickly turned back to staring ahead, not wanting him to accidentally seeing her blushing, but as she did she spotted something on the wall beside her and her eyes widened with recognition.

All other thoughts exited her mind as she just gaped open-mouthed at the sight, stepping quickly over and placing a hand on the intricate design carved tirelessly into the cave wall. It was like looking at the past, like a memory she had long forgotten, familiar and yet distant, just far enough away she couldn't quite recall the when and how. But at the same time, it was there in front of her, old and faded but still real and she traced her hand along the pattern just to be sure she wasn't imagining it. She had no idea how many years ago it had been since she had seen this, but it must have been tugging at the back of her mind for who knows how long, always trying to be remembered but never quite able to escape the fog. And now here it was, so seemingly insignificant and misleading that she had almost missed altogether.

Tom, meanwhile, was still trying to spit the words out of his mouth, keeping his eyes pressed closed as he spoke. “What I wanted to say to you was-” He swallowed hard, before trying a different approach. “Do you remember what happened at the Blood Moon Ball?” He groaned, face-palming himself while he openly berated himself. “Ugh, stupid. Of course you remember, you were there.” He cleared his throat before trying again. “What I'm trying to say is, Janna you are a one of a kind girl and you are also one of my only friends, so I guess what I'm trying to ask you, what I wanted to ask you was... d-do you like me as maybe more than a friend?” He paused waiting for her answer but was shocked and surprised when he received none. “Janna, do you know what I'm trying to say?” he asked, his brain spinning as he tried to make sense of the girls' quiet behavior. Maybe he had shocked her into silence? No, no, that couldn't be it. Nothing could do that to Janna, especially something he said. “Janna?” he asked again, but when he received no answer again, he finally decided to try peeking open his eyes.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw, freezing on the spot as he saw Janna staring at the wall with a weird look on her face and... wait, were those tears in her eyes? Was Janna crying? No she couldn't be, Tom's eyes had to playing tricks on him. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to see if that would help, but when he looked again, he was greeted by the exact same sight, Janna staring at the wall with a distant and indescribable look on her face, while her eyes glazed over with unshed tears. “Uh, Jan, you okay?” he asked stepping closer to her, hesitantly reaching out a hand to put on her shoulder. The only answer he received though was a small sniff.

As he drew nearer though, he could see what it was she was looking at. It was some weird symbol he had never seen before, looking like it had been scratched into the wall by claws and yet the pattern was surprisingly intricate. It was a picture of a snake eating its own tail and to say Tom was shocked to see this was an understatement. At first glance, he thought Janna had made this herself but the longer he looked at it the more he realized it was too old, looking as if the marking had been on the cave wall for who knows how long. “What is that?” he asked, raising a confused eyebrow at it and at last Janna seemed to notice his presence once more as she turned to him.

“We have to go,” she said, sounding surprisingly axious as she quickly grabbed his arm and began dragging him away from the symbol and back the way they had come, not once looking back.

“What why?” Tom asked in surprise. “I thought we were supposed to finish searching the tunnel.”

“Trust me the spider is not down that way,” she said, with her typical crypticness, but now her voice seemed off, lacking that regular Janna nature that Tom had grown to know and... enjoy. Great now he was blushing again, just perfect. “In fact, I think I know what's really going on.”

“Wait you do?” Tom said, though he didn't know why he was shocked. This was all classic Janna protocol. The only thing off about any of this was her weird reaction to the snake carving and he was sure even that probably had some weird explanation behind it.

“Yep and now we need to warn Star,” Janna said calmly.

“About what? You maybe want to fill me in on what's going on?” Tom asked, his impatience and curiosity getting the better of him.

“Not really,” the creepy teen said, her typical teasing, cryptic behavior returning full force and Tom just smiled at her. Now that was his Janna. He didn't even care that she had just refused to answer his question or that he had failed to successfully ask her out. He was just enjoying being with her and at the moment that was all the really mattered to him.

…

Star and Marco cast weary glances around as they made their way down the newly named “Tunnel of No Return”, their hands incapable to squeezing any tighter as they sought comfort from their chosen companion. The only sound for a moment was from their heavy footfalls which only seemed to build on the eery effect the two were starting to feel and the low glow from Star's wand wasn't helping either as it simply refused to shine any brighter right now, making it very difficult for them to see anything in front of their faces. Which was why Marco was squinting down at the walkie-talkie, the back opened up to reveal a radar of sorts, but he was having trouble telling what he was even looking at at the moment. His eyes were beginning to hurt as he intensely watched the three pairs of dots on the screen for any movement, which Star had explained represented their companions' groups and them. “So see anything unusual?” Star asked her boyfriend, needing a break from the deafening silence.

“Not really,” Marco replied, not even looking up from the screen, too busy focusing on the tiny dots.

“Okay, that's good,” Star said, focusing her attention to the darkness ahead. But it never lasted long, since the fear of being eaten alive by a spider at any moment was not the main thing that was weighing heavily on Star's mind at the moment. She kept casting worried glances over at Marco, until finally she decided to ask, “Are you doing okay?”

Marco nodded, finally pulling his gaze away from the screen to give her a comforting smile as he replied, “I'm fine.”

“Cause y'know if you need to take a break-”

“No, I'm really good, no bad memories, I promise.”

Star nodded, looking relieved to hear that, but she quickly added, “Well if anything does surface, just let me know, okay?”

“Got it,” Marco agreed, giving her a thumbs up and a cute little smile.

The blond grinned over at her boyfriend, not missing the opportunity to gush over her boyfriend as she complimented him, “You're doing an amazing job, Marco. How are you holding up so well?”

“I think having a job to do is helping distract me from everything else,” Marco said thoughtfully, clearly trying to understand it himself. “I have something to focus on so I'm not just standing here remembering all the bad stuff, y'know.”

Star nodded. “Makes sense.” She giggled before adding, “It's still incredible though, seeing you face these fears. A few weeks ago you would have been a shivering mess if I had dragged you in here. You've come a long way, Marco.”

“Yeah I guess I have,” Marco agreed, looking proud and sure for a moment. But his gaze quickly jumped back to Star as he added, “And so have you. Your just as brave as I am, maybe even more.”

Star's cheeks flushed, her twin hearts beating in time to her own heartbeat, as she smiled shyly and began gently rubbing circles into the hand intertwined with hers, as she replied, “Well I don't know about that, but I guess we've both been doing a lot of growing up lately.”

The two locked eyes for a second, brown and blue shining with love and appreciation that was until they heard a heavy rumbling sound up ahead. Star and Marco both broke their gaze to stare at the tunnel, going on the defensive as Star held her wand out in case whatever was approaching was hostile. For a few tense seconds, they just listened with frazzled nerves as the sound grew more and more intense until it sounded like thundering footsteps, which only served to freak the two out all the more, as they clung tightly to each other. Both teens sucked in a breath as they waited for whatever dangerous foe was coming to emerge from the shadows. Until finally a tall and sturdy figure emerged from the dark, charging right at them.

Star and Marco screamed, the blond letting lose a spell to stop him in his tracks, “Honey Halting Explosion!” A burst of pink light later and the entire tunnel before them was now coated in sticky syrup, including a very perplexed looking rhino Monster, who was trapped in the substance from his shoulders down to his toes, only his face free and sticky-less. Marco gasped recognizing the Monster instantly as he shouted in relief, “Triceros!”

“Marco?” the Monster said in surprise.

The hooded teen, without thinking, threw his arms around the Monster in a hug, saying, “I didn't know you were part of the search party too? Oh man I'm so glad you're safe!”

“Marco you know this guy?” Star asked, stepping closer and lowering her wand some now that she knew it was safe.

The boy, still hugging his friend, nodded and replied, “Yeah, we met during my last visit.”

“Sure did and it's great to see ya again,” Triceros said cheerfully. He looked over at the blond and added, “And may I venture a guess and say that this pretty young thing is your girl.” Star flushed slightly at that.

“Oh yeah, Triceros this is-” Marco started his introductions but as he tried to pull away he found he was now stuck, his limbs glued to the Monster due to the sticky syrup. “Um, Star a little help?” he begged helplessly.

“Oh yes, if it isn't too much trouble, might I pester you to please remove all this sticky stuff off me,” Triceros added politely.

“Oh right, sorry,” Star quickly said, raising her wand and zapping away the honey holding Mewman and Monster together, allowing Marco to pull away and Triceros to stretch his limbs.

“Thank ya kindly, little miss,” the rhino said gratefully, leaning back until his back made a loud cracking sound, which caused the two teens to cringe. “Now then where were we?”

“Triceros this is my bestie and girlfriend, Princess Star Butterfly,” Marco said, gesturing over to Star, who did a cute little curtsey. “And Star this is Triceros.” Marco now swept an arm in the direction of the Monster who stood their stunned and open-mouthed.

“Well as I live and breath, the Princess of Mewni, didn't ever think I'd be meeting royalty in my lifetime,” the rhino Monster muttered, mostly to himself. But he raised his voice some as he spoke to the blond royal, “So, what brings you to a rundown place like this, Your Majesty.”

“Just Star is fine,” Star told him. “And at the moment we were looking for you and the other Monsters. Any idea where they are?”

“Nope, got separated from them after that beast attacked,” Triceros explained with a shake of his head. “Been wandering these tunnels lost ever since.” He gave them a suspicious look before adding, “But I'm surprised the mayor sent you kids in here instead of dealing with it himself.” There was a hint of anger in his voice at his leader's poor decision to risk the lives of mere children.

“Um, he did, acutally,” Marco hesitantly pointed out, Star next to him raising a suspicious eyebrow. “That's why we're here, he and the other guards went missing three days ago searching the mines.”

“The mayor is in here too!” Triceros shouted in surprise.

Star and Marco shared a look, before the blond asked, “You weren't with the mayor?”

“No sirree,” the rhino replied with a shake of his head. “Lost track of time so I don't know how long I've been in here but I can say I was with the original search party that was huntin' down Ludo.”

“Ludo?!” Star and Marco gasped at the same time, their jaws almost hitting the floor.

“Yeah, you didn't know that?” Triceros asked, looking between the two in astonishment.

“No, we just thought that you guys were in here because of the spider,” Marco squeaked out.

The rhino Monster shook his head, informing them, “These tunnels been abandoned for years, a spider inhabiting them don't make no difference to anyone. But the mayor had reason to believe this was where the little guy went to hide after his escape, so he asked for some volunteers to hunt him down. Naturally I agreed.”

“So this whole thing was really about Ludo?!” Marco asked, putting a hand to his aching head, trying to make sense of it all.

“Would seem that way,” Triceros agreed. Seeing the stunned expressions on the teen's faces, quickly added, “But if it makes you feel any better, the boys and I were about to give up on Ludo before that spider showed. Tracking him down was pretty much impossible.”

“Okkkaayyy, so what's the plan now?” Star asked thoughtfully, tapping a finger to her chin. Marco opened his mouth to reply until he heard a tiny beeping coming from inside his pocket and quickly whipped out the walkie-talkie, trying to see what was up. He felt his stomach twist with guilt for getting distracted from his task and allowing his friends to go unchecked as he now saw one of the dots moving back they way it had come, luckily the other was still in the same place he had left it, so he didn't have to worry about them, but his mind was having trouble remembering which dot was which. “Uh oh,” Marco muttered under his breath and he felt Star and Triceros move closer so the two could stare at the screen.

“What's this thing?” Triceros asked, looking down at the odd device with puzzlement.

“It's a device we made to help us keep track of our friends,” Marco explained, the look of worry never leaving his face.

“And why exactly is it beepin' like that?” Triceros questioned, unable to tell what any of it meant.

“Because one of them just completely changed course,” Star said all seriousness which alerted Triceros of just how important this situation was and decided to keep quiet and let the more experienced teens handle it. Star quickly turned to Marco and asked, “Which one is that?”

“I don't remember,” Marco replied, giving her a fearful and guilty look.

“Well we better go check on them,” Star said, pulling out her scissors, preparing to open up a portal, until Marco suddenly shouted, “Wait Star! They just vanished!”

“Wait what?!” Star screamed, grabbing the device out of his hands, before seeing with shock that there were indeed now only two dots on the screen. “No, no, no, no, where are they?!” Star screeched in worry. She pressed the button on the side and said loudly into it, “Hey, guys can you hear us? It's Star, is everything okay?”

Marco raised an eyebrow as he heard a distinct echo coming from his girlfriend's voice as she began to desperately beg for an answer. But his shock multiplied as he saw the dot resurface, right behind them and he blinked not sure if he was seeing correctly. And did he smell... smoke?

“Tom? Janna? Penelope? ANYBODY?!”

“We're right here Star, no need to yell,” a familiar voice called behind them, making Star and Triceros scream, while Marco just swerved around wide-eyed and smiling as he saw Tom and Janna standing there, a pillar of smoke rising up behind them, indicating how the two had gotten there so fast. “Tom? Janna? You're okay!” Marco shouted in joy, rushing over to hug his two friends, while Star and Triceros were just breathing heavily trying to recover from their shock. The blond especially was shooting her two friends death glares, even as they hugged her eager boyfriend back, Tom giving her a sheepish expression.

“What the heck guys, are you trying to scare me half to death!” she demanded, her hands on her hips.

“Are these some of your friends?” Triceros asked but his question fell on deaf ears.

“No, we were just in a hurry to get to you is all,” Janna replied with a small shrug.

“Then why didn't you answer me?” Star asked in disbelief and annoyance.

“Uh, we did just a couple seconds ago,” the creepy teen reminded her as Marco finally pulled out of the hug.

“Yeah, sorry, Star,” Tom apologized for the both of them. “Janna insisted we use my flame portal to get to you and they have really bad reception.”

“Okay but forget all that,” Janna said, urgently changing the subject. “We gotta go get Ferguson and the others, there is more going on here than we thought.”

“Ferguson?” Triceros muttered to himself, having no idea what was going on.

“Yeah, we know, Triceros just told us,” Marco spoke up helpfully, pointing behind him to the Monster, who was just staring between the Mewmans with a lost look. “But I really don't think Ludo would hurt the others.”

“Wait, Ludo's here?” Janna interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay seriously who is Ludo?” Tom asked in slight annoyance, but the others were ignoring him, too caught up in their conversation.

“You didn't know that?” Star questioned.

“Not until just now,” Janna admitted with a shrug.

“But wait, then if this isn't about Ludo than what are you talking about?” Marco asked, giving her a puzzled expression.

Janna sighed and said in exasperation, “Well if you two would just let me finish instead of interrupting me every two seconds I could tell you.” She took in a quick breath before saying dramatically, “I don't think there is a spider. I think something else is behind all this.”

“Who?” the other teens asked at the same time.

…

Slime groaned, slowly peeking open his eyes, ignoring the pounding in his head or the heavy weight he felt on his chest, just trying his best to recall what exactly had happened to him. It was all drawing a blank at the moment, the last thing he could remember was a pair of bright green eyes staring at him and his racing heart as a result of the sight. But as the Monster slowly became aware of his surroundings once again, he noticed he was still encased in a net and the memories came flooding back to him. His heart stopped as he feared for the safety of not him, but of the princess he had been with before he was knocked out. “Penelope?” he groggily called, trying to sit up and look around but his head swam at the action. Still he managed to prop himself up on his drippy elbows and his eyes widened even more as he realized that the girl was currently still trapped in the net with him, laying unconscious against his chest and the Monster boy felt his cheeks heat up and his skin tingle at the touch.

“Welcome back, sleepyhead,” a voice called and Slime turned to see Ferguson laying upside down in his own net next to theirs.

“King Ferguson, wh-where are we?” the Monster asked, looking around him fearfully, they seemed to have been casually thrown into a corner, thankfully not suspended in the air in some web waiting to be drained of their blood, but still they were trapped and that alone was concerning.

“Don't know,” Ferguson replied with a shrug. “You should probably ask them.”

Slime raised an eyebrow at the cryptic answer, asking with slight exasperation, “Who?”

Suddenly a shadow fell over to the two as Ferguson gestured with his eyes up at their captures, saying simply, “Them.”

Slime followed the look only for his mouth to drop open at sight before him. A large metal spider stood before them, its mechanical head lowered at an awkward angle and Slime could see the red light bulbs that he had mistaken for eyes earlier. There was some kind of crystal thing in the center of its chest which seemed to be powering the machine. It was also old and worn, covered in rust and looking as if it had seen very little action over the many years. But that wasn't the craziest thing Slime was witnessing right now, that honor fell to the machines operators, a group of at least thirty rats. Some stood around the spider-mech or hung from it, squeaking to one another, while others sat in the control hatch that had opened up on its head, and still others were watching their prisoners wearily, keeping a sharp gaze on them with their beady little eyes.

“Rats,” Slime managed to spit out, everything about this situation throwing him into complete disarray. How was this happening? Why had a bunch of rats captured them? And most importantly, what the heck was going on?!

“Yeah, I know that's what I said,” Ferguson agreed.

“King Ferguson, what is going on?” Slime asked in shock.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” the chubby teen replied. “As far as I can tell, these guys are the source of all our troubles and now they're probably taking us back to eat us or something.”

“Then we need to warn Star, where's the walkie-talkie?” Slime asked looking around for the device.

“Oh yeah you guys dropped that after we got caught, its way back there,” Ferguson explained.

“What?!”

Slime's outburst seemed to have finally awakened the sleeping princess as the sound of Penelope's moans brought the two's attention onto her. She slowly peeked open her eyes, blinking a few times in confusion as she seemed to be struggling to remember what had happened to her. Finally she raised her head off of Slime's chest, her entire face now smeared with slime (not the side with the spider bite sadly), as she looked around numbly. She took everything in slowly, her still groggy mind struggling to process everything, first Slime and then Ferguson trapped in the net, then the giant spider and then the dozens of rats looming around them. Her eyes widened as she looked to Slime for some sort of explanation, one he had no way to provide. “Slime, what's going on?”

“We were actually just discussing that Penelope,” Ferguson helpfully supplied. “And I was just explaining to Slime that-”

There was a noisy squeaking next to them, drawing their attention onto the rat hovering over them, holding a toothpick as a weapon and waving it at them menacingly. At least it would be menacing if he wasn't adorable, Penelope and Slime both having to hold in the urge to coo at the cute creature as he continued what appeared to be a dramatic speech toward them. “What's he saying?” the girl asked her new friend.

“Don't know,” Slime responded and the rat just glared at them, realizing its message had gone unheard. It turned back to the others and squeaked something, before a whirring sound began coming from the spider-mech. “Oh no that can't be good,” the Monster commented worriedly.

The metal monstrosity sat up straight before stepping awkwardly over to them, the whole thing looking like it was close to malfunctioning. It leaned down in front of them, before going still once more. Before the teens could question the meaning behind this, suddenly they were swarmed by the rats all of them gathering underneath Penelope and Slime as they lifted them up and quickly hauled them over onto their machine. “Wait no, no don't!” Slime screamed, panic setting in as he realized that they were being kidnapped by a bunch of rats.

“Someone help!” Penelope cried as well but the rats paid no mind to the two as they were simply dropped onto the metal machine and the vermin tied the loose netting down, before the rats scampered over to Ferguson doing the same thing to him as he shouted out his complaints.

“Hey stop that! If you do this my wife will have all of your heads! She's very overprotective!” he was dropped unceremoniously next to Slime and Penelope who were both struggling to get free of the ropes.

The rats got back into their positions as the spider-mech came to life again and began a steady march down the dark tunnel. “Someone please help us!” Slime screamed, fear overpowering him at this point. He didn't want this to be his end, dying at the hands of some vermin, not after he had just met Penelope.

“Hey, let them go!” came a demanding voice behind them. The spider stopped and turned to look behind it to see Star and the others all glaring over at the machine, all in a battle ready stance.

“Star!” Slime cried in relief.

“We're saved!” Penelope added.

“Wow, Janna you were right, the rats really were behind this,” Marco commented to the beanie-wearing girl and she gave him a smooth smirk.

“Course I was right, I know my stuff,” Janna bragged proudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Next to her though, Tom was stiff as a board, his body shuddering against his will as he stared into the beady red eyes of the fake spider.

The rats broke into a maddened series of squeaks, desperately pulling levers and pushing buttons in their tiny control room, the spider-mech responding to their imputed commands as it began crawling forward down the tunnel at a rapid pace, carrying the three hostages with it.

“Hey wait, come back!” Star shouted, her and Triceros running after the metal monster, the blond shooting spell after spell after it, trying her best to bring it safely to a halt. Marco and Janna started to follow after but came to a stop as they noticed that Tom hadn't moved an inch, his eyes still wide and unblinking.

“Tom, come on, the others need our help,” Marco called, hoping to will his friend into action.

“No, no, I'm good. You guys go on ahead of me, I'll... catch up,” the boy managed out, his voice a nervous whimper which set off all sorts of alarms for Marco. He had never seen his friend so freaked out and panicked before.

“What are you talking about?” Janna asked, giving him a skeptical look. “I thought you said you were gonna blast that thing to bits the moment you saw it.”

“Well, I, uh, don't want to hurt the others,” the boy weakly argued, his darting eyes conveying his dishonesty.

Marco and Janna shared a look, before the hooded teen asked his friend sympathetically, “Tom, are you afraid of spiders?”

Tom's eyes widened for a second, before he quickly scoffed and tried to awkwardly play this off. “What no of course not? I mean I'm from the Underworld nothing should scare me, right? Just because it's huge and creepy and it's eyes look like its trying to devour my soul.” The boy's voice became more and more panicked with every word, as he shuddered violently. Finally, seeing the knowing looks on his friend's faces confessed, “Okay, fine! Yes I'm afraid of spiders!”

“Well then why didn't you say something sooner?” Janna asked him and he gave her a sheepish look.

“Because... I wanted to impress you,” he softly admitted, his voice so low that the two barely heard him.

“Look Tom it's okay that you're afraid,” Marco reassured his friend, giving him a sympathetic smile. “Heck, I've been afraid since we got here. But right now Star needs us and we have to be there for her.” He offered the boy his hand, saying, “So what do you say? Let's face our fears together.”

Tom smiled, reaching out a hand and grabbing Marco's and then Janna's, who had offered her own hand to take. He looked back and forth between the two, gratefully, before his face hardened into a confident grin his cheek marks now burning bonfires. “Okay, then hang on!”

“Hang on to wha-Ahhhhh!” Marco's question turned to a scream as Tom launched himself forward, using the flames under his feet to help him achieve flight, dragging the two teens behind him, his hands still locked with theirs. Marco yelled in pure terror as they zipped recklessly down the tunnel, while Janna was shouting in delight, enjoying every second of the experience. “All right, you go Tom! I know you had it in you!”

Tom was grinning ear to ear at the praise from the beanie-wearing girl, making his resolve all the stronger and his flames burn all the hotter as they gained more speed, as they quickly covered the distance lost between them and the fleeing spider.

Star was groaning in exasperation as she flung spell after spell at the thing, but the rats were quick to counter, the spider maneuvering its way around everything she threw at it, all the while the three teens screamed their heads off as were jerked here and there with every rough turn the robot they were tied down to made. “Dang it!” she screamed in frustration as her narwhal blast missed, crashing into the side of the wall instead of the spider-mech's mechanical limbs.

“If I might make a suggestion, young one?” Triceros spoke up.

“Yes anything!” Star screamed over to him.

“How 'bout you use that spell you did on me earlier?” the Monster proposed and Star's face brightened into a grin.

“Great idea!” she cried, waving her wand around like she had earlier and shouting, “Honey Halting Explosion!” A bright pink gleam from her wand lit up the tunnel for a second before a blast of syrup was flung into the air, heading right for the spider. One of the rats squeaked a warning and a few hasty button presses later, the spider-mech quickly crawled up the side of the wall, the spell splashing harmlessly against the wall. “Oh come on!” Star yelled in frustration.

But suddenly she heard a new high-pitched scream echoing through the tunnels, one she instantly recognized as her boyfriend and her and Triceros turned just in time to see Tom, Marco, and Janna, streak past them with a burst a flame. “Don't worry Star we got this!” Tom confidently shouted down to his friend, who just gaped open-mouthed at them.

“Whaaaa?” Star muttered in response to the strange sight.

“Huh? Well there's somethin' you don't see everyday,” Triceros commented.

“Tom, wait, we're heading right for it!” Marco screamed to his friend in warning.

“That's the plan!” Tom replied, his arrogant air incapable of being shattered. Then to make matters worse he immediately blurted out directions to the two, “Okay I'll stall, you get the others,” before tossing them at the spider, Marco letting out a loud scream before crashing hard on the spider-mech's back, Janna landing smoothly next to him. He let out a pained groan before he felt his body slipping down the side and his fingers scrambled to find a hold on the rusted metal. But his wrists were grabbed by Janna, who pulled him away from the side, so that the boy could at the very least sit without having to fear falling off. The two quickly made their way over to Ferguson, Slime and Penelope who all greeted them with relieved and grateful faces.

While Marco and Janna worked to untie their friends, Tom was flying in front of the spider, yelling threats and insults at it to try and keep the attention on him. “Hey ugly! That's right, you big bucket of bolts, you may be giant and creepy and.. really, really terrifying...” The boy's voice hitched on the last word, but he took in a sharp breath to calm his racing nerves. “...But guess what. None of that matters. Cause I made a promise and I'm gonna keep it.”

Janna looked up from her work for a second, locking eyes with Tom, before his eyes turned red and he gathered up a fireball in his hands, shooting it directly at the spider robot's face and into the control room. The blast hit its target as the control room caught aflame, the rats scrambling to escape, jumping out of the doomed machine and onto the safe ground. But a few of them landed in the outstretched nets Janna and the newly freed Ferguson were holding over the edge of the spider, trapping them inside. “Got ya!” Janna yelled, before sharing a high-five with the chubby king.

Marco had just unraveled the last knot that still held Slime and Penelope trapped when he caught a whiff of smoke and the metal he was sitting on began to heat up. He looked around and noticed that flames were now consuming the entire inside of old machine and he quickly shouted to the others, “Uh guys, I think we need to get off!”

Janna and Ferguson noticed this and did just that, jumping off of the spider without a second thought, tumbling to the ground. Marco helped remove the last of the net from Slime and Penelope before they too dove off the side. The thing continued on for a few more feet before falling over and exploding into a thousand pieces. The group all shielded their eyes from the bright flash, before looking over to see a pile of smoking rubble where the spider-mech once stood.

“Wooo, we did it!” Tom shouted in victory, still suspended in the air as he pumped his arms up and down. “Take that fears! Aw, man that was so exhilarating! I don't even know what I was afraid of, I should just blow up all my problems from now on!”

“That's what I've been telling you,” Janna called to him, as she picked herself back up, wiping the dirt off her clothes.

“Marco, Marco!” came Star's scream from farther down the tunnel as her and Triceros caught up to group. She ran straight into Marco's arms, her momentum nearly making him fall over as she just clung to him tightly. “Oh my gosh, I was so worried!” she admitted, her voice getting chocked up for a second. But as quickly as she had started the hug, she pulled out of it, looking around at the rest of the group as she asked, “Is everyone okay?”

“Uh, we're better than okay, Star,” Ferguson told her confidently.

“I just blew up a robot spider!” Tom exclaimed loudly.

“And we just caught our culprits,” Janna added, as the boy next to her produced the rats wrapped up tightly and unhappily in the net.

“We almost died,” Penelope deadpanned, not looking amused by any of this, Slime looking traumatized beside her.

“Awww, yeah, now your one of us,” Marco said sweetly, giving the shy princess and the startled Monster a quick hug.

“Um, hey guys?” Star said nervously, gaining the group's attention as she pointed back the way they had come. They all looked to see the group of rats glaring daggers at them, several of them with singed fur and soot covered bodies. The look in their beady eyes could kill on contact, as Star hesitantly added, “I think we made them mad.”

Tom scoffed, landing next to the girl. “Big deal, we can take these little guys,” he said confidently, his fists now surrounded in flames.

The group got into a battle stance (all except Slime and Penelope who hung back not wanting to get involved), as they prepared to face off against the vile rodents, who all pulled out their pointy toothpicks, ready for battle. For a few tense seconds, Star's group and the rats just squared off, sending intimidating looks their way as they all got ready for the intense fight that was sure to break out. But just as the rats released a battle cry, beginning their charge and Star and Tom prepared to blast the vermin with magic and fire, an authoritative voice called out, “What is going on here?!”

Both groups froze, simultaneously turning to see Mayor Butch staring at them with a skeptical look, his eyebrow raised to show his dissatisfaction, though to who it was aimed at was anyone's guess. “Mayor Butch!” Slime, Marco, and Triceros all shouted as one. “You're okay?” Slime added.

“Of course I'm okay. Now could any of you please explain to me what you are doing here?” the bulldog pressed.

“We came here looking for you since you never showed up for our arrival,” Star explained, stepping forward.

“Ah yes, was that today?” Butch muttered thoughtfully. “My apologies. It is easy to lose track of time in here. And am I to assume you are Princess Star?”

“That's me,” the girl said brightly.

The Monster mayor bowed, before saying, “A pleasure to meet you at last.” He spotted Triceros and said, “Ah, Triceros they you are, we were worried about you. Glad to see you still alive and kicking.”

“Yes sir, boss, I'm as right as rain,” the rhino Monster said, saluting his boss. “Though a bit confused of what exactly is going on.”

“Well that's understandable,” Butch replied with curt nod, before looking over to the rats, who were giving him looks ranging from sheepish to confused. “Now then, it would seem my new companions have gotten off on the wrong foot with you all.”

“Wait, these rats are working for you?” Star asked in surprise.

“But they tried to kidnap us!” Ferguson exclaimed, holding up the net still containing several of the rats.

“Yes, that was my mistake,” Butch admitted, as the lead rat scampered over to him, climbing onto his shoulder and whispering something into his ear. “I told them to keep everyone away unless they found them to be suspicious, which it would seem they found a few of you to be.” He looked around for a moment, before saying, “Speaking of which, where exactly is the spider-mech?”

Tom blushed as all the rats pointed to the hot-headed teen. “Um, yeah, it kinda... exploded.”

Butch's eyes narrowed as he let out an annoyed hum. “Hmm, well that is unfortunate.” But he quickly shrugged, waving the whole thing off as he said instead, “Oh well no sense dwelling on the past.” He turned on his heels and started down one of the tunnels. “Now all of you please come with me, I'll explain everything back at the base.”

The group all shared a look, asking, “Base?” before shrugging and following along behind him. Ferguson heard a noisy squeaking from the net and looked down to see the rats glaring up at him, getting restless being kept in the tight space. “All right fine, I'll let you go. But you better not pull a stunt like that again,” he said in a warning tone before releasing the rats from the confining space, all of them scampering ahead, one even stopping to stick its tongue out at the Mewman boy, which only made him growl in anger. “Geez ungrateful much,” he muttered harshly under his breath.

…

It turned out the base Butch was talking about was actually the rat's village, where the missing Monsters were already gathered, along with the now friendly vermin. The group was all seated around the tiny houses as thousands of pairs of eyes watched them curiously, the commission members trying not to look too uncomfortable or awkward in this situation. Although they tried to look busy it was obvious where their real focus was and that was just making the whole group feel all the more tense. The rats tried to lighten the mood some by offering them a drink but all of them quickly declined not trusting a drink coming from creatures who seemed to eat garbage. Marco kept noticing a certain rat with an eye patch giving him bizarre looks which was really starting to creep him out, but he did his best to ignore it and focus on Mayor Butch as he explained the situation to them. “So wait the spider was just a diversion?” Star asked incredulously, gaping openly at the Monster's story.

“Yes, we figured it would be the best way to keep prying eyes from discovering our true intentions.

“Which is finding Ludo right?” Marco asked and the mayor turned to him with surprise.

“That's right, though I'm surprised you know about that.” He sent Slime a narrowed glare, who's face paled into a sickly lime green color. “I-It wasn't me I swear!” the Monster teen shouted, waving his arms fearfully in front of himself.

“Actually, I told the younguns sir,” Triceros admitted. “Didn't think it'd hurt them to know.”

Butch sighed, crossing his arms behind his back, before saying, “Yes, I suppose it doesn't. Very well, I'll let it slide this time.”

“Thank goodness,” Slime muttered to himself, his face flooding with relief. For a minute there he thought he was going to be fired.

“So if you don't mind me asking sir, but why include the rats in on this if this mission was so secretive?” Star asked him hesitantly.

“Well, at first it was just gonna be me and my Monsters but these tunnels are so hard to navigate that we realized searching that way was just a waste of time. That's when the rats appeared. At first we got off on the wrong foot and they just scared us off using that spider robot of theirs, though I have no idea how or where they got it from.” He looked over at the rats, who all refused to budge, giving him looks that told him their lips were sealed. “Anyways, when we told Buff Frog what was going on he suggested we use the rats to help us hunt down Ludo.”

“Wait my dad?” Marco gasped in surprise.

“Yep, apparently he and the rats have a mutual agreement and he pulled some strings to get them to help us out on our search.”

“Guess dad is always full of surprises,” Marco muttered to himself.

“And how exactly could they help?” Tom asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Well for starters,” Janna said, elbowing the boy in the arm. “They know these tunnels better than anyone and they are perfect for tracking down anything you want to find on Mewni.”

“Exactly,” Butch agree, giving the girl a complimenting smile.

“So any luck?” Star pressed, trying not to let her eagerness shine through.

Butch regretfully shook his head. “Sadly no. Even the rats couldn't find him. Ludo seems to have just vanished off the face of Mewni.”

Star and Marco shared a worried look, both concerned about Ludo being on the loose. He continued to pop up and cause trouble for them, they needed to catch him before one of schemes ended up damaging their standing with the MHC. “So what now?” Marco asked the Monster mayor.

Butch sighed and crossed his arms, looking like he was dreading the question. “Now, we have no choice but to wait. As much as I hate to admit defeat, Ludo has given us all the slip and we've already wasted enough of our time and resources trying to hunt him down. The only way we'll see that traitor again is if he makes the first move himself.”

“Well then,” Star spoke up, trying to put as much confidence and enthusiasm into her voice as she could. “We'll just have to be ready for when he does.”

“Well spoken, Your Highness,” Butch complimented and the other Monsters nodded in agreement.

“So then, think its time we finally head back to Hydra's Point, I'm sure theirs still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Marco suggested cheerfully, trying not to sound too desperate to leave the dark mines. He had already faced his fears and then some, he figured that was enough bravery for one day. It was time to leave. He nearly sighed in relief as Butch nodded his head, a bright smile on his normally serious face.

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Marco Diaz!” Butch said and the Monsters all cheered in relief, ready to be freed from the dark, confining space as well. The mayor turned to the rats with a serious expression as he commanded, “Please inform us if any of you find any signs of Ludo.”

The rats all nodded and watched as the group headed for the exit, before going back about their work as usual, revealing in the delicious corn meal they had to look forward to as their payment.

…

As the gang finally made it back into town they were greeted by Lily who waved to them as they approached, saying, “Welcome back everyone! I see you found our missing Monsters.” She gave each of the Monsters a bright grin, causing several of them to blush.

“Yep, everyone is safe and accounted for,” Star said.

Lily clapped her hands together once, saying cheerfully, “That's wonderful to hear!”

“And who are you, my dear?” Butch politely questioned.

“Oh where are my manners?” Lily quickly said, curtsying slightly. “I'm Lily Butterfly, Star's aunt and general consultant for the MMPC. A pleasure to meet you Mayor Butch.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Milady,” the bulldog replied with a respectful bow.

“Sorry we took so long,” Star quickly apologized, giving her aunt a sheepish grin. “We ran into a couple of... hiccups.”

“Not to worry, we handled things quite well while you were gone,” Lily reassured her niece.

“How much more work do we have left?” Marco asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.

“Actually we were just finishing up,” Lily said, raising a finger into the air.

Several of the teens gave her disbelieving looks, Star blurting out, “What?”

“How did you get so much work done without us?!” Tom added skeptically.

“Well we had a little extra help,” Lily explained cryptically.

“Who?” Marco asked.

Lily gestured over toward the center of town, saying, “See for yourselves.”

The group of teens took a few steps forward, creeping closer until they had a good look at the town square, all of them gasping in surprise at what they saw. There, in the center of the Monster village stood a large food truck, the words Fang Tangs written on its side. Kelly, Tad still ever on her head, was making dishes of food, which was then being distributed to the Monsters via the commission members and a few of the restaurant’s waitresses. Roy was supervising the whole thing, carrying around the same promotional sign from last time. The little goblin must have noticed them as he waved and called out to them, “Well hey there, Star, Marco, and... others who I don't know.”

“Hey Roy!” Marco shouted cheerfully.

“What's Roy doing here?” Tom asked Lily.

“Well actually you can thank-” the older woman began only to be cut off as Pony flew into view with a cocky grin.

“You can thank me for it, T!” Pony shouted.

“Pony this was your doing?” Star asked in surprise.

“Yep it was all my idea, girlfriend,” Pony bragged.

“That's pretty surprising,” Tom muttered and Penelope, Ferguson and Janna all nodded in agreement.

Pony ignored the comment, instead saying proudly, “I called them in when I realized you all were off goofing around...”

“We weren't goofing around. We were looking for the missing Monsters, remember?” Marco corrected her.

“Yeah I was mostly goofing off,” Janna admitted with a shrug.

“Uh huh, that's what I said,” the unicorn head said with disinterest. “So anyways, after you left I remembered that I still had Roy's number since I'm going to star in his upcoming commercial and he agreed to come and help out. I figured this way he gets to promote his restaurant, since charity work is reaaaallly good for your image, and we get some help to get this food out fast so the Monsters don't have to wait a million years.”

“Wow, Pony, that's actually really mature of you,” Star said, trying and failing to hide her disbelief toward her normally egotistical friend.

“That's what I said,” Lily whispered to her niece, leaning in closer so Pony wouldn't hear.

“Yeah I guess, y'know, I'm just growing up and maturing into a better person and all that junk,” Pony stated, looking bored as she stared off into space. But finally she focused in on her friends again as she asked, “So what happened with you guys?”

“Well we found the Monsters,” Marco said, pointing behind him to where Butch and the others were, all of them going over to try some of Fang Tang's food, except for Slime who stuck close to the group of Mewmans.

“I almost died!” Penelope whispered in fear, her eyes wide and her cheek marks dark purple again with the terror she was still reliving.

“I blew up a spider!” Tom proudly proclaimed.

“Ahhh nice, T!” Pony shouted in appreciation of her friend, bumping his shoulder with her body. “You guys need to tell me everything! So long as it's not boring, leave the boring parts out.”

As the group began explaining to their horse friend what all had happened in the mines (making sure to leave out anything they thought she would deem boring as well as changing a few details to hide the true identity behind the spider) Penelope silently excused herself, going over to sit on a nearby bench to get a breather, needing a break from all the socializing to get a proper hold of her wild and out-of-control thoughts. She wasn't exactly the most social butterfly as it was, and after everything that had went down in the mines she just wanted a few moments of peace alone to let herself process.

Slime noticed her leave out of the corner of his eye and for a moment just watched her as she leaned her head back on the bench looking up at the darkening sky. Her felt something tap his arm and looked over to see Marco was elbowing him, giving him an encouraging grin, “You should go over there and talk to her.”

“I don't know,” Slime said, a blush lighting up his cheeks. “What if she doesn't want to talk right now? Or what if I mess it up again?”

“You'll be fine,” a new voice said from his other side, now noticing it was Star. The group had apparently broke off their conversation when they overheard the two boys. “Just do what comes natural.”

“No, no, what he needs to do is try and act sly, like you don't really care one way or the other,” Ferguson suggested.

“Tell her something about yourself that will impress her, that always works,” Pony advised the Monster boy.

“Just tell her how you feel,” Lily encouraged.

“What you need to do is be cool, don't do or say anything embarrassing,” Tom pitched in.

“Ask her how many spiders she's seen up close,” Janna added.

Tom gave her a skeptical look. “How will that help him ask her out?”

“It won't, I'm just curious,” Janna admitted with a shrug.

Slime meanwhile, was looking more and more lost and nervous with every new suggestion, his eyes wide and his body beginning to tremble as he became overwhelmed on what to say to the girl. His breathing was fast becoming heavy as he tried to keep his racing heart calm but with no success, as his nagging fears got the best of him, making him question his every movement.

“Guys,” Star finally interrupted the others, bringing Slime back to reality and saving him from their mixed up advice. “He doesn't need to do any of that,” she told them, giving them a scolding glare before turning to Slime with a bright grin, taking his gooey hands into her own. “Look you got this. All you have to do is be yourself.”

“Yeah, just be her friend. Let her get to know the real you,” Marco added, with a supportive smile.

“The real me,” Slime repeated softly, an idea springing into his head. He smiled brightly as he said, “I know what I need to do.”

“Then go do it,” Star encouraged, giving him a gentle push in Penelope's direction. Slime swallowed hard as he looked over to the pretty Mewman, but he kept a confident grin on his face as he walked over to her. The moment he reached the bench, the girl not noticing since her eyes were now close, he felt his nerves start to give, as his knees began shaking slightly, but as he looked back he saw the others giving him a thumbs up and he felt his courage return as he turned back to the girl and cleared his throat.

Penelope opened her eyes and looked over at him with a startled look. Slime swallowed hard as her cheeks marks glowed a soft orange. “Um, hey i-is it okay if I sit here?” he asked sheepishly.

He expected her to turn him away and tell him she wanted to be alone so he was caught off guard when she instead responded with a small smile and a quick, “Sure, go ahead.” Slime was grinning ear to ear at the response, waiting for her to scoot over some to make room for him before taking the seat next to the shy princess.

Once he was situated, the Monster teen cleared his tight throat and said, “So uh I was thinking about what you said earlier in the mine, y'know before the whole...” he cut himself off as Penelope cringed and he decided it would be best to just get to the point. He coughed once in his squishy hand to try and hide his nervousness, before saying, “Anyways, I noticed how insecure you seem about that spider bite on your head...” Penelope absentmindedly reached up a hand to cover it, her cheeks flushing pink but didn't say anything. “...and well I think I might be able to help.”

The girl's eyes widened, hope filling them as she leaned forward some rapidly exclaiming, “You can! H-How?!”

“My slime,” the monster explained, holding up a drippy arm. “It kinda works as a healing salve, it can treat some minor stuff like a scratch or a sunburn. I'm not a hundred percent sure it will work, but I figured it was worth a try... if you wanted to that is.”

“Yes, yes, yes, please try it!” Penelope shouted eagerly, grabbing his hands into hers, making the Monster boy's whole body tense.

“Okay then,” Slime said, pulling his arm free, raising a gooey hand up to the girl's spider bite and coating the entire thing in his self-produced slime.

The others who were watching this whole display, gasped in shock at what the Monster was doing, Tom asking in confusion, “What's he doing?”

“Oh no, the boy has completely lost his mind, he's smearing his hand all over her face!” Pony cried panickingly, looking ready to rush over there and stop him from ruining his chances anymore than he already had. “Abort, abort!”

Star and Marco, however, were completely calm as they watched Slime's action, hovering close together as they waited with eager anticipation for how this would all play out. Even though they were fairly sure they already knew. “Guys, he's got this,” Star reminded them, trying to calm her freaked friends out of their frenzy.

“Uh, are you not seeing what we're seeing B-fly?” Pony asked, clearly bewildered by Star's reaction.

Star nodded, saying brightly, “Yes I am, but I think you guys are the ones missing the big picture.”

The others (excluding Lily who had also picked up on what was going on) shared a look, before Ferguson said, “Uhhh, and what exactly is that.”

“Just keep watching and you'll see,” Star replied instantly.

Marco just sighed, his eyes shimmering as he said, “Yeah, otherwise your gonna miss the best part.”

Slime held his breath, staring at the bump as he tried to will it away, praying his slime would be enough to make it go away. And after a few seconds that felt like an eternity, he breathed a sigh of relief as it slowly began shrinking in size. In less than a minute it was completely gone, leaving no trace it had ever been there to begin with. Penelope reached up a hand and gently felt the area where the bite once was and her eyes grew in size. “I-It's gone,” she whispered in disbelief. “It's actually gone!”

“Yeah I guess it worked,” Slime agreed bashfully.

“Oh my gosh, Slime thank you so, so much! I-I don't know what to say!” Penelope cried, her voice chocked up with emotions and her eyes showing the tiniest glimmer of tears. “I can't believe you really did this for me! You have no idea how incredible this was!”

“Well, y'know what are friends for?” the Monster replied, humbly.

Tears actually were falling now as Penelope hugged the boy tightly, bringing him in close to her as she joyfully shouted, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're my hero, Slime!”

The boy blushed vividly at that, his cheeks turning the darkest shade of green possible as he just froze up, not sure what to do. Should he hug her back or stay still, the more he moved the more of his slime she was going to get on her and he already felt bad since she was now covered in it already. “Um, Penelope, your dress,” he tried to remind her against his better judgment since he was absolutely loving the hug, his body flooding with warmth and happiness every second that passed.

“I don't care,” she said, only seeming to hold him tight. “I love your slime! It's like the greatest thing in the world to me right now!”

Slime was caught genuinely off guard by this, the word 'love' sending shock waves to his brain as it turned to mush. A big goofy grin settled on his face as he slowly raised up his arms and hugged her back now losing himself completely to the affectionate act, every second becoming a lasting memory in his brain.

“Awwww!” Star and Marco gushed as they watched the two teens hugging, their bodies now squished together as they held hands, their cheeks touching making their marks light up. “That is so sweet!” Star cooed.

“I'm so proud right now,” Marco chocked out, his eyes beginning to well with tears. “They look so happy together.”

The others were left dumbfounded though, their mouths hanging open in shock as Ferguson sputtered in disbelief, “That actually worked!”

Pony shot the young couple a disbelieving stare, asking, “How the heck did you two know that was going to work?”

“Well I thought it was obvious,” Marco said simply with a small shrug.

“Yeah I mean, he just did what any good friend would do, he made her feel better in his own way,” Star added, amazed that the others hadn't been able to guess that.

“Did you guys really not see that?” the boy asked.

“Oh I did,” Lily spoke up, waving a finger in the air. “But then again I've had more experience at romance than any of you.”

The others all blushed or muttered awkwardly to themselves, coughing into their hands to try and cover up their embarrassment. Star and Marco smiled proudly, before the blond taunted, “Well looks like we aren't the clueless couple after all, cause we just figured it all out before any of you guys.”

Her and Marco shared a high five, the hooded boy shouting, “Yeah! Not hopeless after all!”

“Okay fine, you win this round,” Janna said with a shrug. “But remind me again, how long did it take you two to realize you had feelings for each other?” Star and Marco blushed at this, going silent and looking away, and Janna just crossed her arms with a victorious smile. “Yeah that's what I thought.”

“Well I don't know about you guys but after all that, I think it's time we celebrate!” Pony shouted, her horn sparking as some fireworks went off over her head.

“I suppose a little party is well deserved at this point, you've all earned it after all,” Lily said thoughtfully and Pony's eyes shimmered in gratitude.

“Yeah so long as it isn't anything too intense,” Star agreed.

That was all Pony needed to hear as she shouted over at her boyfriend, “Awww, yeah, hit it Seahorse, its time to kick this party into overdrive!”

“Right away, Pony,” Seahorse said, before hitting a button on his mirror phone and suddenly giant speakers appeared around them, blaring loud techno music and bright beams of colored lights began streaming and flashing around the town, leaving the Monsters baffled to what exactly was going on.

Star just shot Pony a glare, Marco from next to her was covering his ears, as she shouted, “Pony I said nothing too intense!”

“What was that girl, I can't hear you!” Pony yelled back, already dancing to the music.

“How did you even get all this set up?” Star asked in exasperation.

“Oh I had Seahorse working on it while everyone was busy,” the horse head replied innocently.

“How did I not notice that?” Lily whispered to herself.

“Anyways, relax B-Fly you heard your aunt we earned it! So come on, let loose and live a little!” Pony encouraged and Star finally sighed and gave in.

“Fine, but turn the music down some, before you end up busting someone's eardrums!”

“Ohhh thanks girl you won't regret it!” the sarcastic unicorn shouted before flying away to go enjoy the party, encouraging the Monsters and Mewmans to start dancing with her, which after some prodding she got. Ferguson and Lily shrugged before going over to join them, the former immediately busting out an embarrassing move which made Alfonso hide his face and wish to just disappear right there, while the latter started flirting with a very flustered looking Triceros. Slime and Penelope had finally broken off their hug and were talking and laughing from their bench, unaware of the world turning. Star and Marco shared a look, before the boy dropped down into a goofy bow saying, “May I have this dance, M'lady?”

“Why of course you can, kind sir?” Star responded back in a fake British accent, doing an over-the-top cutesy, before the two busted out laughing. But they quickly started dancing for real, gliding smoothly and perfectly in sync with one another.

Which left Tom and Janna alone, the boy sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to figure out what to say. But he decided to just go for it as he cleared his throat and said, “Uh, hey, I just wanted to say that it was really incredible the way you figured out that the rats were the ones behind all that.”

Janna shrugged. “Well it is kinda my job to know all the weirdness that Mewni has to offer.”

“Right, right,” Tom agreed, before asking hesitantly, “But how did you know?”

For a split second he thought he saw Janna's armor crack again, as for just an instance her eyes widened and all the emotion she was keeping bottled up surfaced on her face. But in the blink of an eye it was gone again, replaced instead with the same cocky smile Tom had come to associated with the beanie-wearing girl, though it seemed forced this time. She punched him in the arm, letting out a slight chuckled as she said playfully, “I don't give away my secrets for free y'know.”

Tom decided to play along and said, “Okay fine then, what do you want me to do?”

“Well you can start by getting us something to eat and then maybe we can finish that dance you owe me,” the girl replied with a wink.

The boy blushed but actually kept his calm as he just laughed and said cheerfully, “Okay fine, I guess I can accept those terms. I'll be back.” He started walking over toward the food truck, before Janna quickly called his attention back and he gave her an confused look.

“You were incredible too, by the way. You really are as brave as they come, Tom,” Janna complimented, sounding surprisingly open in that moment, while also giving him an odd, hard to decipher look.

Tom just smiled and said, “You have no idea how great that is to hear coming from you.” And with that the boy left, silently squealing to himself for impressing the girl of his dreams and actually succeeding at a conversation with her for once. Not to mention that they were on a technical date now... okay not officially but he was allowed to dream, alright!

Janna watched him go, before her mask completely fell away, showing all the emotion and insecurity she was trying to hide as she remembered the symbol she had seen back in the mine. It had stuck in her mind, she didn't think it would ever leave now that it was there, leaving her in a tough spot and with a big choice to make.

The young Impure looked around, checking to make sure nobody was looking her way, before gently peeling back her sleeve. And there perfectly engraved on her tanned skin was a tattoo of a snake, its body circled back around to its tail, as if it was trying to ingest itself.

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Light of the Sun and Stars #Starco #Jantom #Spiderslime

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