Star and Marco vs Evil Book 3

XVIII

A week passed, without much movement diplomatically or militarily on the war front. Come Friday night, taking a well-deserved pause, Star, Marco, Janna, Eclipsa, Moon and River, all sat in lounge chairs on one of the castle balconies. They were admiring a spectacular, unexpected, fireworks display firing from within the western Monster Kingdom.

"Any idea what the occasion is?" Moon asked Eclipsa.

"No," Eclipsa answered. "There's no Monster bash or celebration today, and Buff Frog didn't mention anything about this the last time I spoke with him."

The sextet admired the display for a couple minutes in silence, except for the occasional "oooooh" or "ahhhhh." The whole group jumped when Star's, Marco's, and Janna's phones chimed simultaneously with their text-arrival ringtones.

After flipping her compact phone open, Star said, "Hmmmmm. Why is Dennis texting me?"

"He sent one to me, too," Marco remarked.

"And me," Janna added.

As the three read their texts the smiles on their faces turned to frowns, then deep scowls of shock and concern appeared. Wordlessly, they brought their phones together so all three could see every phone; all three texts were the same. Star and Marco looked at each other, saying, in unison, "Oh holy fuck!"

"Kids?" Moon asked, concerned.

Janna handed her phone to Eclipsa, while Star and Marco handed their phones to Moon and River. After several seconds of reading, Eclipsa exclaimed, "'Holy fuck' indeed!"

- OoOoO - 1 - OoOoO -

King Brudo, the Monster Kingdom ministers of State and War, Dennis, Crown Prince Menudo, and Buff Frog, were all stuffed into King Brudo's business office. A bank of magic mirrors connected to remote compact phones were arrayed across the back of the room, with a large window to the left. The gathering sat in chairs facing the mirrors, with a small table holding filled goblets and bottles of West Mewnian Swamp Water.

It was time. The war had begun. Rasticore had gathered all Septarians across the multiverse into their city, where they prepared for the invasions they would lead. The device was in place. The detonator was installed, had passed all diagnostics and tests, and the radio dish to transmit the codes to detonate the device had been raised. Buff Frog stood, walking to the window. A clock chimed the half-hour; it was 23:30, when most beings were abed. For those still up, and out and about, the fireworks were to draw their eyes in the opposite direction of the explosion to reduce the number of blindings. The display reached its zenith.

King Brudo took a goblet from the table and raised it; everyone else, save Buff Frog, did the same. "To Monster-kind ascendant," King Brudo toasted. All but Dennis drained their glasses.

Buff Frog pulled a compact phone from a pocket as he turned from the window. He thought of his children and grandchildren; those that were still on Mewni were safe in the remote Monster town of his birth, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. He thought of his friends Star, Marco and Janna, who would have just received his text that included his apology for what he was about to do to them. After one last thought that he was doing the right thing, he spoke into his phone, saying, "Now, Rasticore."

Within a New Septarsis tower, in a room below the radio dish, Rasticore grinned. His heart soared; the Monsters would take back Mewni, and the Septarians would rule them all. He typed in the detonation code, turned the keys, then pressed the commit button.

The device was activated, and a city, along with an entire species, died.

The extra crates Buff Frog had given Dennis at the meeting in the Musty Mountains contained a catapult, of sorts, that flung the device hundreds of feet into the air before exploding. The shock wave from the airburst reflected from the ground and the surrounding mountains, vastly increasing its destructive power.