Three months ago...
Marco and Janna stood in the middle of their personal training room. It was equipped with exercise equipment, mats, and training weapons, to practice armed and hand-to-hand-to-hand combat. The room was also hardened to withstand the practice of combat magic. This day, Marco was teaching Janna the most powerful magic he knew.
"You're certain this is safe?" Janna asked.
"I never said that," Marco replied.
Janna eyed Marco suspiciously, but she knew that Marco would never deliberately harm her. Finally, her curiosity and desire to try something new pushed her over the edge.
"Okay, what do I do?"
"First, I need to make up a spell."
"I've been meaning to ask for some time now ... why? Spells are needed for demon magic, and used in Earth stories, because the magic is essentially performed by spirits, gods, the universe, whatever; the spell tells them what to do. Mewmin magic appears to be energy manipulation."
"You're right, Mewmin magic can be thought of as a type of energy. The energy is controlled by willpower and imagination, sorta like the energy from a Green Lantern ring, except magical constructs can be made sapient; the MHC, for example. A spell helps you focus on what it is you want; it's similar to a Kiai. Eventually, you won't always need one; in fact, if you're going to use magic in a close fight, you have to do it without a spell or you'll be too slow."
Nodding, Janna said, "Let me make it up."
Marco laughed out loud. "You have got to be kidding."
"A bet, then. If I do it on the first try, I get to make up the spell."
"And what do I get when you fail?"
"I won't 'borrow' anything from you for a month."
"I'll take that bet, and you're going to regret it."
"Nope, because I'm the best there's ever been."
Marco rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Just remember, this will probably hurt; it hurts me. We don't have the Butterflys' centuries of exposure to magic and radiation from the wond, mutating their bodies to withstand and enhance the transformation."
"Got it. Pain is pleasure, and all that junk."
Marco sighed, then turned his thoughts inward. He had only recently begun to successfully dip down, so it still took concentration and a lot of will. Anticipating the pain didn't help. The worst was forming the wings, as the magic had to create them, rather than just enhance what was already there.
Marco calmed and readied himself, then handed the wond to Janna. It transformed into its Janna-Cast.
Janna's wond was surprising to anyone who didn't intimately know her. The bell was in the shape of a heart, bright pink, with a bright pink, heart shaped, gem in the middle. Its four wings were crystalline with black veins and cell walls, like a dragonfly's wings, and they cast little rainbows when the light hit them just right. There were two, small, black, horns on top of each lobe of the bell, while a pink bow was tied around the grip where it met the bell. The grip was striped with two shades of pink, and the charger was a white skull with black highlights, the teeth transitioning into the plug.
Tom laughed like a lunatic the first time he saw it. That was also the last time he laughed at the wond; it took him two weeks to find his way back to Butterfly Castle while under Janna's confusion spell.
Marco concentrated, dipped down, then, with Magic-Pips glowing and a slight groan of pain, transformed into his Butterfly Monster form.
As a Butterfly Monster, Marco wore a deep red dobok with a black belt, and his hair was long, tied back in a ponytail with a purple band. On his feet were pink ballet slippers with hard soles, to protect the magic of toesies. Marco's fore wings were saw-toothed with three teeth each, and the hind wings with two teeth each. The wings had a wide, black, outer band, and a second, thin, inner band of deep red on the inside of the wings, adjacent to the black band. The interiors of the wings were solid, dull, light-yellow, similar to cornsilk. He had no antennae.
Marco turned toward Janna, his wings quivering slightly. "Since you haven't been able to dip down, concentrate on drawing magic from the wond. Since the amount from the wond is limited, I'll channel magic through me, to you. We have to be physically connected to start the process."
"Sounds like fun," Janna said, waggling her eyebrows.
"Not that way!" an exasperated Marco yelled. "Ready? Concentrate on what it is you want the magic to do. Don't forget, this will hurt, so be ready for it, and it probably won't work the first time."
"Got it. Don't you forget our bet..."
Marco held out his fist. Janna tentatively fist bumped it.
There was a pink explosion of light. Janna screamed, screamed again, rose into the air, and screamed a third time. With a blast of air, sound, and light, Janna successfully transformed into her Butterfly Monster form on the first try.
Janna's Butterfly Monster form was something that those who saw it would never forget. Janna, alighting on the floor, winded, looked at Marco and saw a look of horror on his face. "What?" she asked, turning toward a full-length mirror.
Butterfly Monster Janna wore a pink ruffled skirt, ending just above her knees, and a short-sleeved pink blouse with gathers in the front. The hem of the skirt and ends of the sleeves were adorned with a strip of white lace, as were the edges of the low v-neck. Her wings were shaped like Marco's, except the saw teeth were more rounded than pointed, the outer band was dark pink, the inner band was red like Marco's, and the interior was a solid light-pink, a shade lighter than the pink of the dress.
Any appearance of "normalcy" ended there, thanks to Janna's use of demon magic. She wore flat-heeled, knee-length, shiny, black leather boots. Her skin was light-purple, and her hair, with no beanie covering it, was short, spiked, and dark pink. She had two brown, pointed, horns on each side of her head instead of antennae, three eyes, which glowed white with no pupils, and a long, red, prehensile, sagittate tail. Her nails were claw-like and black, and three-inch, curved and serrated, canine teeth, like those of a saber-toothed cat, hung out of both sides of her mouth.
In her Butterfly Monster form, Janna finally expressed Magic-Pips. The Magic-Pip on her right cheek was a black disk surrounding a red, five-pointed, star. The Magic-Pip on her left cheek was a light-red crescent moon wrapping a pink heart.
Janna turned back to Marco, glowing eyes wide. Trying to lighten the mood, Marco chuckled, saying, "You look like a pink nightmare."
Janna furrowed her brows and squinted her eyes, then began walking rapidly toward Marco.
Thinking he had crossed a line, Marco tried to backtrack, saying, "Okay, maybe it's not that bad, I'm sor..."
Janna reached Marco, throwing all six arms around him and embracing him in a powerful bear hug. She pulled back slightly, then gave him a hard, lingering, kiss on the lips, taking care to not injure him with her new fangs. Ending the kiss, Janna screamed, "Thank you! I love that name! I love the way I look! I love everything about this! IloveitIloveitIloveitIloveitIloveitIloveit ... I LOVE IT!!!"
Janna released Marco then walked back to the mirror. Marco chuckled; he had a slight blush, but there had been no passion in the kiss. It was just Janna giving him a deeply personal thank-you in the heat of the moment. He doubted she was even aware she'd done it.
Janna admired herself in the mirror for a few minutes, then Marco, seeing Janna was becoming fatigued, dropped out of his Butterfly Monster form. The loss of the magic flowing to Janna from Marco caused her to drop out of her form as well. Turning to Marco, with a sly grin on her face, Janna said, "Here's the incantation ..."
— Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO —
Now...
Marco and Janna, now in their Butterfly Monster and Pink Nightmare forms, respectively, hovered out of reach of the armored Mewmonsters. The pair deflected the spears and other projectiles thrown at them, but there were too many and they knew one or more would eventually find their marks.
"We need to disarm them," Marco called to Janna, "all at once if we can. Tandem Nightshade Disarm, I think. I'll cover you as you cast."
Marco was capable of performing the spell on his own, but the spell was designed to disarm only twelve adversaries at a time. He figured in his Butterfly Monster form he could double that, but it still would not be enough to remove the threat. Combining his magic with Janna's in her Pink Nightmare form would disarm them all at once ... or so he hoped.
"Ready?" Marco called.
Janna didn't respond, concentrating on the spell. Yelling "Nightshade!" she pointed the wond directly at the ground, then raised it, keeping her arm straight, rapidly twirling the wond as she did so, as if she was whisking some batter. When her arm was at shoulder height, she yelled, "Disarm!" as Marco simultaneously grabbed her free hand.
A blast of magic flowed from the wond and Marco's free hand. Flamelike, it rapidly engulfed all the Mewmonsters, causing them to fall to the ground.
As the Mewmonsters fell, Janna said, "yoink," and pulled the wond back toward her. Seeing this out of the corner of an eye, Marco felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach as he thought to himself, Oh no, what will that do?
All the weapons carried by the Mewmonsters, or laying on the ground, suddenly levitated, as all the armor simultaneously detached from their Mewmonsters. Marco dropped Janna's hand to reduce the amount magic she was wielding, but it was too late. With a sound like a sonic boom, everything flew at the hovering pair.
Janna saw disaster coming their way and briefly froze, managing only an "eep."
"Fire shield! FIRE SHIELD!" screamed Marco.
Shaken out of her trance by Marco's girly scream, Janna raised a powerful shield of demon-fire. Janna had moved up and away from Marco, so he could no longer reach her hand. He grabbed the only thing he could reach, her tail, then channeled as much magic as he could into Janna to increase the power of the shield she was conjuring. With nine feet to spare, all the weapons and armor were incinerated.
The spell was supposed to put adversaries to sleep, but Janna's mistake combined with the numbers involved resulted in only briefly stunning the Mewmonsters. After the flame shield dissipated, Marco could see them already stirring.
Marco dropped Janna's tail. "Herd them toward Hekapoo," he yelled to her.
Rather than a quippy retort, a shaken Janna replied simply, voice straining, "Will do."
Janna created an explosion of fire underneath a group of nine rising Mewmonsters, flinging them high into the air. When they landed, they lay unmoving, smoking.
"I said 'herd them,' not 'hurt them!'" Marco yelled.
"So not on purpose!"
Marco flew higher, conjured a giant hand, scooped up the injured Mewmonsters, created a second hand to hold them like a child holding a bug, then sent them off toward Hekapoo. From his new vantage point above the fray, Marco could see the rest of the Mewmonsters attacking his two corps. There were beings down on both sides; even with their mutual reluctance to injure each other, casualties still occurred from accidents or desperation. With the Mewmonsters below him fully recovered, he quickly decided on a different tactic.
"Janna, new plan," Marco called. "Follow my lead."
Marco threw six Pill Bug Grenades, one from each hand, at Meteora then swooped down almost to ground level behind the Mewmonsters, tossing a Kitten Bomb to make sure he had their attention. He then flew toward the army battle line, slow enough to encourage the Mewmonsters to chase him. Janna followed suit, pulling up behind him and to his left after throwing six Brimstone Smoke Bombs to provide cover from Meteora.
When they were within ninety yards of the battle, Marco yelled, "Pull up here, then create a flame wall that reaches all the way to Hekapoo." Hekapoo could be seen next to Buff Frog at the end of the Monster corps' battle line, throwing Mewmonsters into dimensional portals in ones and twos.
Janna made a hard ninety degree turn straight up, twisting in the air to face the pursuing Mewmonsters. Brandishing the wond to increase her power, she created a demon-fire wall behind them, then, turning in Hekapoo's direction, extended it down the entire length of the battle line. The heat was so intense the soldiers could feel it almost a football field away.
Marco flew up over the far end of the line. As carefully as he could, he created tendrils that snaked in between each Mewmonster and soldier, bodily flinging the Mewmonsters toward the flame wall. As he moved down the line, Marco also created a wall of flaming magic, sandwiching the Mewmonsters in-between the two walls. He then closed the end of the flame tunnel, moving the cap down the line as he moved, in order to herd the Mewmonsters contained within toward Hekapoo.
After about a third of the way down the line, the rest of the Mewmonsters began to notice what was happening. Their tactical instincts told them that retreat was the best option, and began to flee, most joining the Mewmonsters in the tunnel while others pushed through the battle lines into the army's rear. With a flip of three hands, Marco extended his wall to Hekapoo, who had opened a portal at the end. He flew to Hekapoo.
"Hekapoo, can you take control of the flame tunnel?"
"I think so!" Hekapoo yelled back. Baring her fangs in a grimace, the flame above her tiara bursting into an inferno, she took control of all the flames. Kelly and Jorby, with Nachos following, took up positions to cover Hekapoo while she was too occupied to protect herself. Even though she was a magical being, she still had her limits; she was visibly shaking from the strain of controlling all the demon-fire, magical flames, and dimensional portal.
"Hekapoo?" Marco yelled, concerned.
"I got this! Go!"
"Colonel Kelly, Sire Jorby, stay with Lady Hekapoo!"
Kelly saluted.
Marco flipped over and made a beeline for Meteora, Janna following. Meteora had wisely not followed them when they left to help their compatriots, walking no farther than a few yards back into the clearing, knowing they would come back for her. Meteora's hubris had caused her to not anticipate Marco's and Janna's abilities to transform. She believed that she had seen all they had to give, and she rationalized that because she, herself, could not transform despite being half Mewmin, then these two humans could not either. Even though she had thought wrong about that, she nonetheless thought she could still salvage the trap. She grew back to her twenty-foot size to face the attack.
Marco pulled up at a safe distance from Meteora, facing her, then began flinging Stinging Rose Caterpillar Torpedoes at her. Janna, who had taken up a flanking position to Meteora's left, similarly began tossing Scorpion Charges at her.
Meteora lacked the thick hide of the Mewmonsters, wore no armor due to her size-shifting, and her fur was short, so the stinging caterpillars and scorpions hurt. Gritting her teeth, she kept from giving her attackers the satisfaction of hearing her cry out.
"Meteora," Marco called, "we don't want to hurt you."
Meteora hissed, responding, "That's too bad, because that's all I want to do to you." She turned toward Janna, thrusting out her right arm, its hand crackling with magic.
Marco immediately swooped toward Meteora to stop her, but Meteora's move was a feint, and Marco had bitten on it. His momentum, coupled with Meteora's unexpected movement, brought him within arms' length of Meteora. She spun, landing a hard punch with her magic-charged left fist.
Marco was thrown back thirty yards, dropping to the ground, knocked out of his Butterfly Monster form. With the loss of Marco's magic, Janna's Pink Nightmare form simultaneously disappeared. Too surprised to quickly cast a spell, she impacted the ground hard after falling from twenty-three feet in the air. She laid where she fell, unmoving.
Marco's entire body felt like it was on pins-and-needles. He could not bear to move, so resigned himself to his fate. Through his pain, he realized he was still conscious and was still on the ground where he landed, not floating away. He saw Meteora standing pat, watching him.
As she watched Marco intently, trying to figure out why he was not drained of his life-force, Meteora was staggered by a raw blast of magic from the trees behind her. Marco was still lying on the ground, occasionally twitching, in front of her, and Janna was still not moving, confusing Meteora as to the possible source. She whirled, but there was nothing there. She was staggered by another blast from behind.
Whirling back, Meteora came face-to-face with MewmonStar, hovering between her and Marco.
Meteora grinned. "An animal protecting its mate, eh?"
With a powerful stroke of her wings, Star flew to her right, drawing Meteora away from Marco. Meteora fired her magic at Star as she followed, but Star avoided or deflected the blasts.
After Meteora had moved sufficiently away from Marco, Star turned and attacked. She fired a blast of pure magical force like a battering ram, staggering Meteora. She fired again, and again, and again. Meteora had stumbled, knocked off balance, when a blast of magic hit her hard in the face.
Concussed, ears ringing, and her vision spotty, Meteora failed to notice the clawed feet before they raked across her face, just missing her eyes. Her hands went reflexively to her face as she shrieked foully, in great pain.
Pulling a hand away, Meteora looked at it, seeing it was dripping with blood. She knew it was time to retreat, to fight another day. She dipped down, opening a dimensional portal, a trick she had learned from Bob in the months after the ambush. She quickly stepped through, closing it behind her.
Star turned in the air then flew back to Marco, who was beginning to recover. She landed close by, sniffing the air.
Although Marco's heart was beating fast and hard, it was not out of fear; hope filled him, as Star had never been this close to him since the day she was turned.
"Star!" Marco called, holding out his hand. Star walked up and took it, intertwining her fingers with his. In a loving tone, he said, "Oh Star, you're still in there."
Marco heard a groan. Looking for the source, he saw Janna shakily stand. The effect on MewmonStar was immediate and severe.
Dropping Marco's hand, Star shrieked, placed one foot on Marco's chest, and spread her wings as wide as they would go. She shrieked again, then took her foot off Marco, taking slow, deliberate, steps toward Janna. She growled and grumbled as she stalked toward Janna, occasionally pawing the ground like a bull.
As Janna's head began to clear, she finally registered the danger she was in. Still too befuddled to act, she simply asked, "Star?"
Pink magic began to crackle around Star's hands as she shrieked at Janna again. "Star! No!" Marco yelled, grabbing Star's tail. She turned toward him. "That's Janna! Remember Janna? She's not a rival! We're just friends. You remember, friend?"
Star turned back toward Janna, sniffing the air. She dropped her threat displays, and Marco let go of her tail.
A platoon of Monster Warnicorn Dragoons, led by Buff Frog, rode up, stopping a respectful distance away. Buff Frog dismounted.
"Star!" he called. "Dorogaya devochka!"
Star regarded Buff Frog and the Dragoons for a few moments. With a short bark, she grabbed Marco with both hands and a foot, then threw him in a high arc toward Buff Frog.
"Star!" Marco yelled. Star's action had been too sudden and unexpected for Marco to react, to use his magic to stop her or to break his fall. Buff Frog caught him, stopping his momentum and gently lowering him to the ground.
"Why did she do that?" Marco asked, a catch in his voice. He turned, to see Star was gone. "Where ..." he began.
"I am sorry, Sir Marco," Buff Frog answered. "As soon as you were in air, she portal away."
"Oh," Marco said. He realized why Star had thrown him at Buff Frog; to prevent him from trying to follow her.
"Lady Hekapoo has sent some Mewmonsters away; she go on dragon to supervise them in new dimension. Others get away. We chase or go home?"
"Home."
Buff Frog saluted, then remounted. The Dragoons turned and rode away.
Janna walked up to Marco, throwing her arm around his shoulders. "Well, you still got that animal magnetism, dude. You've got even the monster chicks in love with you."
Marco took a deep breath, but then let it out. Try as he might, he could not get mad at that remark. However much of Star was still in there, was still in love with him ... and her monster side was too.
"Ya know, if you really wanted a piece of tail, you could have asked me at any time, you didn't have to wait for a battle to grab mine or Star's," Janna said, coyly.
"Shut it," Marco replied, ironically.
"Well ... nice of them to offer us a ride. Guess we're walking." Janna slipped her arm off Marco's shoulders and began walking back toward the tree line, where she could see her Warnicorn.
Marco cracked his sore back. He wondered why nobody asked him about being hit by Meteora's magic. He decided nobody had seen it, probably due to it happening simultaneously with the punch. As he examined his darkened and slightly elongated nails, while running his tongue over longer, sharper, canines, he decided he would keep quiet. He did not want Sir Reggie or Moon doing to him what he had just done to Higgs; forbid him to fight Meteora. He alone would solve the mystery of what did, and did not, happen to him.
Marco ran and caught up with Janna, walking with her to her Warnicorn. They both mounted, then Janna directed the animal toward the LDG, now marching for home.
With Janna controlling the Warnicorn, Marco was free to let his thoughts wander. He thought about Star, and how great it was to have her show she still loved him and was looking out for him. His hand practically tingled at the memory of holding her hand again, even if her monster hand felt strange.
With a start, he realized it was Friendship Thursday.
Thinking of Star reminded him of something else, a duty not yet performed. "Janna," Marco began.
"No need for thanks, just happy to help."
"Give me the wond."
— Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO —
Meteora stepped out of her dimensional portal, into the castle she and Bob had appropriated in the Dimension of Humans with Cat Faces. She immediately shrank and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain, her hands over her bleeding face.
Bob strolled over to Meteora, saying, "Quiet down you big baby, and move your damn hands."
Meteora growled, but did as she was told.
"Cardigan Healing Cocoon." The purple strands wrapped themselves around Meteora's head, leaving openings for her eyes, nose and mouth. "This will quickly heal those tiny little kitten scratches, but you will still have scars. I'm afraid you're even uglier than before."
Meteora chose to not snap at the bait and get another beat down so soon. "Fine. They'll be a reminder to not screw-up like that again."
"And what screw-up was that?"
"The attack failing because I didn't anticipate those wretched humans being able to use Butterfly Monster forms."
"That wasn't the screw-up."
"What?"
"There's a saying in this dimension: 'No plan survives contact with the enemy.' This was your first major battle directly commanding a sizeable army against a sizeable army. They weren't going to just stand there and let you have your way, and you can't always learn beforehand what your foe is capable of."
Meteora grunted in response, relaxing a bit. Although Bob was a decent teacher and mentor, she didn't always have control of her patience or temper. After Bob rescued Meteora from Tom's coffin spell, she physically made it clear that Meteora was not to ignore Bob's warnings again.
"Your screw-up was not retreating sooner. When that Mewmin bitch intervened, you should have immediately retreated. You had no idea what the three of them together were capable of, and you could have been captured or worse, putting an end to all of this. Those scars on your face are the least of what could have happened; Star could have gutted you where you stood."
Meteora contemplated what Bob had said, assimilating the painful lesson. "So," Meteora asked, "what's our next move?"