#and my biggest memories of this show is that 1. the monster had slightly broken english and 2. a sister/mom who was a giant evil dragon

[artificial-ascension]

Children's anime had two genres between 2005 and 2015 it was either Big Robot or Creature or a mix of both but it had to be one of those.

[twinvictim]

your opinions on each of the post team silent games and a rating out of 10. hand 'em over

YEAHHHHHH FINALLY CATERING TO ME!!!

Uh really long post oops. for reference, my rating for the first 4 sh's are as follows

Sh1: 9/10 Sh2: 7/10 Sh3: 9/10 Sh4: 9.5/10

Silent Hill 0/Origins

overall score: 7/10

Alot of the games issues can of course be attributed to it being a psp game, and while i won't excuse everything bc of that, j have to be honest and say I think it had so much potential as a (very) late ps2 game. Not to mention, the game ON THE PSP functions as it should. (The ps2 port does fucking not tho..oops) ans you'll see that this is...a rarity post team silent.

The story has alot of potential, Travis as a character is interesting and sympathetic and j think his dynamic with alessa js super fascinating to dig into, both of them being abused children and there was alot of intrigue regarding his powers, the game feels like a smaller more watered down she, and for that I can't fault it too much. The weapons system isn't my favorite but the combat itself is reminiscent of 1 and 2 and I really like a good chunk of the monster design, there was clearly thought and care put into it, nurses and strughtjackets/lying figures be dammed. The unlockables are pretty cool though and alot of the environments look pretty cool for a psp game, hell i LOVE the theater level its super unique, I would love to see it in (actually functional) better graphics. I also think the puzzles are pretty solid, not hair pulling like sh1 even if they're not quite as clever as say sh3.

My biggest criticisms come from the reuse of sh1 characters (just alessa and Travis would've been fine, maybe dahlia and some more org characters would've been better) the bad ending being straight up bad writing. Not to mention they did the sh3 thing of "kill too many monsters and get the bad ending" which is...stupid. The foreshadowing of the butcher being? He's just kinda there, I like the lead up but it would be more interesting if the butcher represented something from those years between Travis' father dying and him being an adult. And while there's more replayability imo than sh2, it doesn't have difficulty sliders and that makes it kinda hard to come back to quite as often. Not to mention unlike sh1, 3or sh4 there's not as much horror focus and random events.

Overall, solid game its fun to play, very silent Hill and if you're willing to look past a few continuity errors and accept its a little different and slightly derrivitive at the same time, I like to say I had alot of fun with it and still do. (Maybe I just like Travis alot...idk)

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Overall score: 6/10

Once again most of the issues here are gonna be corporate fuck ups, but I'm also not gonna beat around the bush, this game isn't like...good. its bad actually. "But you gave it a 6/10?" Yeah bc its not NEARLY as bad as some other games I've.. experienced.

The negatives here are, many and vast, so let's run them down. Firstly the games performance is janky on console (ps3 at least) and abysmal/unplayable on PC, what with framerate issues that are detrimental to game play on pc and make the third boss impossible. That said on console it is completable and not even too terrible...usually. Scarletts boss fight however is terribly unbalanced and broken on all skews so :/. The combat is...functional but not anyone's favorite, it's difficult to use any actually strong weapon and you can pretty much strong arm ur ways through shit with just the knife (except scarletts first form..don't try it, it won't work) for some people this will be borening (not my opinion but w/e). Most of The puzzles...leave alot to be desired. I hate sliding block puzzles. Also no run button? At all?? No easy mode? Ok... also what is this.. wheel design for the inventory...im accidentally using my serum..what is serum also? And why is the item pickup noise like...bass boosted.

The character models look awful most of the time, and comically unfinished other times, some human models are just grotesque, (judge halloway, Adam shepherd, mayor Bartlett. .you get it) and yes...there are sexy nurses. Bc of course there are. (Whole ass out???) They did straight up have some terrible endings for this game (ph ending for one, the way you get the ufo? Hell the ufo ending is kinda boring. I like the in water ending here too but. Yeah.) the story has some, problems. To say the least.

However, while the performance is bad its not the worst I've played (on the ps3 once again..unplayable on pc) and I hardly noticed the framerate when I was just running around, I personally found the combat kinda fun, between trying to dodge accurately and still attack and not use all my health items (bc those and ammo are actually rare! Unlike some games...) it is kind of a challenge and reminds me of a much worse sh4. And hey, the health items both heal an understandable amount of health that i can easily read with a bar (unlike 1-3) and they're not a complete joke (unlike sh4...) i find the exploration really fun and sure the characters look shit but the environments are Fucking great. The church is one of my fav sections, short as jt might be and yes it stole the confessional scene but its pretty well written and acted I think. The monster design is pretty fucking rad too honestly, I like the schism, siam, I like the DESIGN of the needlers even if they make me so mad to fight, and hey the nurses and ph don't show up that much to be too aggregious. The boss monsters are also fantastic design wise, very unsettling and the boss rooms are interesting as well.

The story has problems but it also has alot of potential, the concept of people sacrificing ther children for silent Hill and being overcome by their own pain and guilt is pretty fucking cool, and alex is a good character they did a good job of giving him personality, ppl bitch about him being a soldier but a) he's not and b) soldiers are people too, and a sh game that could tackle toxic masculinity, be critical of the military, and also tackle abusive religeious parents is pretty intriguing, not to mentions themes of brotherly love that's complicated bc of how they clearly favored Josh . Sure, it misses the mark, but I like taking the potential and thinking about it bc its compelling to me. And like I said, i like alex alot.

Overall, bad game yes, but not the worst as it has enough good for me to honestly really enjoy it, besides it is pretty funny when it is bad. Don't play the pc port tho

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Overall Score: 8/10

Unpopular opinion im sure but honestly? I find this game ALMOST on par with the team silent games. Its really that good, yes its a wii game, so this is my score taking into account the motion controls BTW.

For the good, man where do i start. Its BEAUTIFUL for a wii game and esp for a post team silent game, the graphics are nice and Constsitent, the environments are pretty and it has a pretty nice cold color pallet to contrast the warmer tones the series tends to skew towards. The acting and intrgrige are all on point and the WRITING is fantastic, its one of those games you play the first time not knowing the twist and play the second time picking up more and more clues and things that strengthen that twist so much more. Like sh2 its a simple story told in such a clever and interesting way that you'll probably be too invested to put it down, I beat it in one sitting in 6 hours bc i was so engrossed in the narrative. And the Puzzles man! The puzzles are phenomenal and fun to accomplish and there's even a little bit of variety in a few places on repeat playthroughs. The level of detail in this game is insane really, the things that change with the different psychology answers are pretty cool too and tho it all plays out relatively the same its still fun to see the different things you can get to happen. The gimmicks like the phone as an object, taking pictures, sneaking and zooming in, they're not too intrusive as to take away from the exploration or other game play but not completely useless and have some pretty fun Easter eggs too. The game plays sort of like a worse outlast with good puzzles and for that I do have to commend it. Oh and the fucking MUSIC is INCREDIBLE idk something ab this soundtrack has alot of heart put into it clearly.

Now, it's not perfect. The thing is, it is a WORSE outlast type game, in the running and hiding sense but well, the hiding is completely useless, its a run away game, which is ok, but I understand that people aren't gonna be a big fan of that when silent Hill has always balanced combat ad puzzles and exploration. The running segments are..aggravating, mostly bc its hard to figure out where to go, not to mention using motion controls that don't like to work half the time to fight the monsters off of you. Also, the monsters are not scarey in the slightest and the raw shock scream is actually enragaging if you've died one to many times, there's also...not really any penalty for dying. And once you're out for these running segments,there's no danger, no monsters, nothing to hide from despite having a hiding mechanic. Its not really a horror game more of a psycological thriller and I understand that the fact that its not horror can be disappointing. The psychology things might be a bit overhyped And yeah fine, the wii foreplay scene...well yeah its weird but it IS also funny as fuck.

That said, there's still alot thats good and alot thas unfair criticism lobbed at this game. Harry didn't have much of a personality in sh1 bc he's a ps1 character and sm really fleshed him out well, not to mention giving cybil some nice characterization, and they did some interesting things with dahlia and kaufmann. And Lisa.. well I'm gonna be honest I never found Lisa all that interesting in sh1..so it doesn't bother me that she's the way she is in this game. I know people hate the "horny" aspect of it but to be completely fair, YOU choose to make the game that way, don't answer in a sexual manner or look at boobs or anything else and you won't have an overly sexual game, its...literally that easy. Its given as an option for the play id they want to go for what is arguably another joke ending. (You cannot tell me sleeze and sirens is meant to be a real serious ending to the game. Cmon) and you can complain about the innacuuracies if you want but its a spin off, a retelling of the original game. Its not canon, and it didn't change the original game. It just took the ideas presented there and made them more human and lest fantastical, there's some supernatural elements but it takes a backseat to the human moments. And its honestly really cool.

Overall, great game, i reccomend it if you don't mind some slight jank with the motion controls and honestly? Look up directions on where to go for the running segments and you'll have a pretty good time overall.

Silent Hill Downpour

Overall score (so far): 7.5/10 *to be noted i haven't finished actually playing it yet but I know the basic plot and some of the details so I doubt it'll change

And so for the final silent Hill Game, I have to say, i don't think it deserves NEARLY the hatred it gets, there's alot about it that i find really cool and even fun and I think its a solid entry, a little better than origins in some parts and its downsides are both unfortunate and once again, mostly Konami's fault . That said, I'm also not gonna kid and say its a good game, just that I like it alot and we should be nicer to the last silent Hill game were probably ever gonna get.

Downpour has a pretty good, original story overall, there's alot to it, alot of intricacies and intrigue to it that honestly make it a pretty sold silent Hill game. Its different enough from the others to stand out but not super far removed from its themes and messages. I like that it doesn't try and lean into the cult aspect and tries to do something else with it, it doesn't try to explain silent Hill, but just use it to torment the characters, as it should be. There's tragedy ad human feelings here and some of them aren't the most...sensitive but they are pretty reasonable reactions id say. Playing as someone who's odds are stacked against him from the beginning as he's a prisoner is a cool way to open the game, someone convicted and you must discover if he is a good person or not. Themes of revenge explored more than in sh3 which is pretty cool. The environments look pretty nice, and i like the look of the otherworld, once again being unique with its cooler color pallet, but without the ice so it really feels like its own thing. The EXPLORATION is awesome with an actual open world which I think works well, there's alot to do in town (unlike sh1 and 0 on limiting hardware and 2 which just pretends you can explore to town but you cant) there's alot for cool little stories and sidequests to do, my favorite so far being the cinema (which has a section of ACTUAL fixed cameras like old Resident evils which is smth SH has never done and its super fucking cool!) And all the sidequess help strengthen murphy as a cheacter and argue for his innocence or complexites. The weapons system is pretty cool, picking up items and attacking with whatever you might find, finding cool Easter eggs with exploration and having fun noticing things. And it does honestly have the strongest side characters outside of SM. The puzzles are pretty solid and fun to figure out with some cool mechanics and the seperate difficulties is a great thing to bring back (actually done well like sh3) I also kind of like the method of triggering the night world/rain/monsters, and silent Hill really feels likes its constantly punishing Murphy, as it should. The music might not be Akira but its still pretty damn good, and fuck yall I like the Korn song, and you CAN press start and skip it yknow. (Thx tomm hewlit)

The negtitives tho, well they are there. For one it has the worst performance of any sh game outside of pc homecoming and like...the hd collection, the framerate like to shit itself alot lmao, its not usually detrimental bc I've played re2r with similar framerates but, yeah its not great. Not to mention while the models look better than hc they don't animate well or often at all, and the game has trouble loading in the models as fast as they should. The sound mixing could use...some work too, poor murph sounds like he's eating the mic. While I find the games exploration really fun, murphy also has the issue of not running very fast so it can be a little annoying to get back to a place you want to be when you can't run that fast, not to mention the loading times. The monster design is def the worst in the series, maybe on par w SM. Which is disappointing bc there's some pretty good moments here and there, but not nearly enough to make it scary and there's so much you can do with monsters with this premise. Also, the running sections in the otherworld are better than SM ad even more engaging than the brief ones in 2 and 3, but still, I'd prefer to do puzzles or fight a boss or smth. I will also say, the endings are, iffy while the main 2 endings are really good and Anne's bad ending as well as the joke ending are great, murphys bad endings are weird and ooc for the muphy you come to know in the game (even more so than Origins) plus, idk that the writers knew all that much about prison andbprison culture, nobody in a real prison would be mad ab Murphy killing a pedo (there's some racist implications here and there too which is. Unfortunate and disappointing. I like Howard and Robbie but they are a bit tropey, esp Howard) that said Anne is a compelling albeit unlikable character and thas pretty cool to see pulled off.

Overall, while it has downsides, I don't think Downpour is worthy of all the scorn it gets, this can have problems and you can point them out without disregarding the good parts and while it is unfortunate it doesn't run better and have some extras and didn't handle some things great, I still think its worth a playthrough, esp if you go out of your way to do the sidequests.

Bonus round

Book of memories is not a game I intend to play bc I don't wanna get a vita and can't imagine I'm missing much. It doesn't look bad pwr say but I'm not interested tbh

Fuck PT. :)

[thdorkmagnet]

Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 35: Believe in Babs Part 1

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: Who is Babs? And what is she planning? That is just what Buff Frog and the others seek to find out. 

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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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Buff Frog was getting close. He could feel it in his bones. It was only a matter of time before the liar played her true hand and then he would have them right where he wanted them. Pretty soon Rasticore would be in no position at all to harm his child, in fact, he would be behind bars (or frozen in crystal or whatever punishment he and the Mewmans agreed on) and whoever his boss was would follow suit. Marco and Star would be safe and the world would be down and out another vile villain. He just had to be patient, any day now and he would have what he needed.

After the incident with the Assassin's Guild, Buff Frog had regrouped his efforts, this time focusing on learning as much as he could about the girl in the picture he found. It was their only lead and he wasn't going to squander it. Thankfully, it hadn't been too hard to track her down, the rats actually recognizing this one (in fact many of them seemed quite hostile toward her image when he showed them it) and they had guided him right to her doorstep. Which, much to his horror, turned out to be right in the middle of Butterfly Village.

Buff Frog was absolutely panic-stricken at this new knowledge, that a possible spy of Rasticore's was living right under Star and Marco's noses and they didn't even know it. But as terrifying a thought it was, it did make sense. How else could the assassin get so close to the kids without someone on the inside? Even with his specialty-made chainsaw that managed to bypass the anti-portal generators, Rasticore had still had enough knowledge of the area to move around without getting caught, not once, but twice. And that seemed almost impossible unless he was getting help from someone who knew the area better than he did.

This conclusion had only increased Buff Frog's desperation and so for the past few weeks, he had fully dedicated himself to finding out as much information on the young-looking Mewman as he could. He had even enlisted several of the Monsters to help him, all of them just as eager as him to expose the possible traitor and protect Marco from further harm as he was. Buff Frog had put the spying skills he had learned from his time working under Toffee to good use as he and his fellow Monsters followed her around everywhere she went, absorbing as much about her life as they could.

Now several weeks later Buff Frog had learned just about everything he could ever want to know about his target as her identity began to come to light. Her name was Babs (her last name somehow still a mystery to him) she had lived in Butterfly Village for almost ten years now, staying in a modest home in a cozy and quaint neighborhood. She kept pretty much to herself, speaking to only a few people who seemed more acquaintances than friends and with no real family to speak of. She mostly stayed at home with her startlingly large number of cats, which explained the rats' negative reaction at least. Apparently, her home was a deathtrap that had claimed one too many rat lives.

Despite her appearance, she was much older than she looked, probably in her late thirties at the most. And she also seemed quite prone to illness, not a single day had passed so far without her suffering from some sort of ailment, from a simple runny nose to pink eye to even things as serious as the Mewni-flu. Buff Frog had honestly never seen anything like it, he didn't think it was possible for someone to be as regularly sick as Babs was. He would almost feel bad for her if he didn't suspect she was partially responsible for his baby boy's life being in danger.

And that was the biggest thing, Buff Frog knew there was more to her than she was letting on. Though she kept herself guarded, he could tell there were secrets just waiting to be exposed behind her closed doors. He had picked up on her sneaky behavior, though at first, it was very subtle, a quick glance over the shoulder there, a short text message when she thought no one was looking here, but it was there, Buff Frog saw it. He was not just being paranoid and he knew it, he had spent 14 years around the emotionless Toffee, he had learned to pick up subtle clues like this. Yes, this Mewman was hiding something... something big and Buff Frog wouldn't stop until he found out exactly what it was and what connection it had to their missing assassin.

And now Buff Frog was closer than ever. Sure there had been a few setbacks along the way: like him having to, unfortunately, draw some of his time and attention away to focus on his tasks as leader, like helping out the mayor of Hydra's Point when he informed him about Ludo's search party, or Lobster Claws getting mauled by one of Babs' cats (a particularly vicious thing with a scar over its left eye) which had nearly gotten them exposed right then and there. But these hadn't deterred him, he had managed to stay strong through all of them...

And then there was Marco.

He hadn't seen the boy in a couple of weeks now and that seemed to be really affecting the boy. Not that he could blame him, his son was a pretty affectionate child and the lack of attention would naturally upset him and make him crave it all the more. Buff Frog felt terrible for this, but it couldn't be helped. He was doing this for Marco and his girlfriend, after all. To keep them safe. There was no need to get them involved in what could prove a dangerous situation. Not when he had it handled on his own. As much as he hated having to avoid his son, he knew he would understand once all was said and done... at least, Buff Frog hoped he would. If Marco ever blamed him for something like that... well, Buff Frog would rather not think about that. The bad part about it, though, was Marco already seemed to be growing suspicious, the last time they had talked on the phone the other night, his son had been extra questioning, asking him what exactly he had been up to and why he was so busy working, even asking if there was something he could do to help (which had just broken the frog father's heart). Buff Frog had done his best to deflect, but it hadn't been easy, lying to Marco made his stomach turn and brought up uncomfortable memories to a time he would rather forget.

Just a few more days, he kept reminding himself. And then it will all be over.

The frog's thoughts were interrupted as a childish whine came from next to him, Lobster Claws asking for probably the sixth time today alone, "Are we done yet?" The frog had to fight to restrain the annoyed sigh he felt creeping its way up his throat, reminding himself that his friend was just as stressed and worried about Marco as he was.

"No, not yet," the Monster leader said (again), doing his best to keep his calm, but the grumble that followed was beginning to make his nerves wear thin. His Monsters were far less patient regarding the whole affair than he was, that much was clear. While the amphibian understood that these kinds of things took time, the others didn't seem to quite grasp this, all of them wanting to forgo the slow-and-steady approach and just run over there and slap a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.

"But why do we have to wait? Why can't we just expose her for the spy she is?" the crustacean pressed, leaning back against the poll he was hiding behind.

"Because, I don't want expose her, I want her lead us to Rasticore," Buff Frog explained from his position kneeling behind an empty cart, fighting to keep his voice calm, his eyes never leaving their target as she got her usual order of catnip from one of the cart sellers in town. It was her errand day, where she would venture outside the safe confines of her house to purchase the necessities she needed to get by. It also happened to be the best time to observe her, since her subtle gestures became more obvious when she was intentionally trying to hide things from people.

There was an unintelligible grunt from next to him, Buff Frog recognizing it as coming from Potato Baby and the amphibian patiently waited for the translation, keeping his gaze focused on Babs. "Potato Baby wants to know how much longer we're gonna have to wait," Lobster Claws explained for his friend.

"As long as it takes," Buff Frog said simply, his eyes narrowing with determination.

"Uh okay, that's fine and all, but can we at least break off to go get something to eat? Cause I've got like... three stomachs to feed and all of them are growling right now," Spike Balls asked, his voice slightly muffled by the trash can he had placed over his head as a 'disguise'. It was clear that it was doing nothing to hide him at all but it was better than nothing. Even with Star's new law allowing Monsters to come and go much more freely, Spike Balls still stood out like a sore thumb.

In hindsight, Buff Frog knew bringing the biggest and most distracting Monster on his team with him to help spy probably wasn't the best idea but, as Spike Balls himself had argued, it wasn't fair that some Monsters got to go on more missions than him just because of his size. So Buff Frog had decided to let him come on the condition that he really try and keep himself hidden, a decision the Monster leader was fast regretting as it clearly wasn't Spike Balls' strong suit.

The Monster leader let out a long breath, thinking over the request for a moment. He admitted it was tempting, he was beyond hungry at this point, but he couldn't allow himself to get distracted. Someone had to be there to watch Babs, after all. Then again, Buff Frog's stomach reasoned with his mind. Maybe he could send the others to go get some food while he kept watch, that could work. Just as the amphibian opened his mouth to agree, the four froze hearing a very familiar sound, one that the Monsters would know anywhere.

A laugh. And not just any laugh. A laugh that could only belong to one person, too light and bouncy to be anyone else, too full of joy and infectious energy to be mistaken for a stranger. A sound that, under normal circumstances, would fill them with intense joy but at the moment only left them all in a panicked frenzy to not be seen. And as Buff Frog broke off his stare from Babs to look in the direction of the sound, his heart somehow both dropped and lifted at the sight of his adopted hoodie-wearing son Marco. He, Star, Jackie, and a red-haired girl Buff Frog didn't recognize were walking their way, talking amongst each other with bright smiles on their faces. His son's hand was intertwined with Star's, while his other was holding a big thing of yellow cotton candy almost the size of his head. The girls all had the same treat, though with various sizes depending on how many bites were missing from it, and all of them seemed to be quite enjoying themselves.

"Oh no, it's Marco, what do we do?" Lobster Claws hissed in fear.

"Do not panic, my friends, we still hidden, if stay quiet Marco and friends might pass by and not notice us," Buff Frog said, keeping his voice at a hushed and subdued tone. The Monsters watched silently as the four teens approached, all of them holding their breath as they came to within earshot and listening in to their conversation.

"Come on Higgs, it isn't that bad," Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, a playful smile on her lips as she turned to the red-haired girl.

"It's terrible," Higgs stated in a hard tone. "I mean corn-flavored cotton candy, who even thinks up this kind of stuff?!"

"Yeah it's definitely not for everyone," Star agreed.

"Well, I love it!" Marco exclaimed, before taking a giant bite out of his tasty treat. Once he swallowed, he quickly added, "It's like eating a cloud... made of sugar!" The boy's already wide eyes, somehow grew larger with the next bite, as his cheek marks turned into spinning circles that seemed incapable of stopping as he exclaimed in sugar-filled ecstasy, "It's literally the best thing ever!"

Despite the situation the Monster all couldn't help but smile from their hiding place, finding the boy's childlike innocence as endearing as ever.

But it seemed Higgs wasn't as amused as she just sighed in over-exaggerated annoyance, asking herself, "Why did I even let you guys talk me into this?"

"Because you love us?" Marco suggested, his eyes full of hope as he smiled at his friend.

"Please, if anything I tolerate you," the redhead scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"Then because you had nothing better to do," Jackie said and Higgs shot her a glare.

"I'm a very important and prestigious knight," Higgs said proudly, puffing her chest out some as she spoke, something the Monsters got the feeling she did a lot. "If I wanted to I could be off right now stopping a war or slaying a dragon or something way more interesting than eating snacks and wandering around town."

"Well if you aren't having fun, you can always go back, you know," Star pointed out and Higgs predictably shouted, "No!" She cleared her throat the blush obvious on her face as she said in a composed manner, "No, that's okay, Your Highness. I'm... having fun."

The three teens all gave her knowing looks and smiles, which the redhead pretended to not notice, focusing her attention on the cotton candy as she took a large bite out of it, before nearly gagging at the horrible flavor. "Ugh, gross. Seriously this stuff should be illegal," she groaned in disgust, her entire face cringing as she fought the urge to spit the terrible tasting stuff out of her mouth.

This caused the others to laugh at the ridiculous face she was making, much to Higgs' annoyance, the girl growling under her breath and turning her face away to hide her blush once more. At this point, the group of teens were now directly next to where the Monsters all hid, Buff Frog and the others holding their breath as they waited for them to pass.

"Ah man, too bad Janna didn't want to come," Marco voiced once the laughter ceased, a sad expression crossing his face. "She's missing all the fun."

"Yeah, what a shame," Higgs sarcastically commented under her breath, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She still had her suspicions about the creepy teen and the less time she spent around her the better.

"It was pretty weird of her to say no," Star admitted, her stomach twisting slightly with uncertainty toward her friend. "Usually she's always up for stuff like this."

"She's has been acting pretty strange lately," Jackie agreed, her normally cool, radiant eyes flashing with worry for a second. "Ever since we got back from that peace mission, she hasn't really seemed much like herself."

"Do you think we should talk to her about it?" Marco asked, his own eyes filling with concern.

"I don't know," Star thoughtfully replied, biting her lip. "You know how much she hates being asked personal questions."

"Good point," the skater muttered. "That might just make things worse."

"So what do we do?" the hooded teen questioned, looking between his two friends for an answer.

Suddenly, Higgs let out a loud huff coming to an abrupt halt, drawing the others' attention onto her. "Who cares?" the young knight argued, her face full of unbridled frustration. "That girl is the very definition of strange. If she is acting weird, it's probably so she can hide her latest evil scheme or something." Then, without warning, the girl just chucked her half-eaten cotton candy at the nearest trashcan, not even bothering to turn in its direction, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

What the girl had failed to notice was the fact that this particular 'trashcan' happened to be the very one Spike Balls was hiding inside and rather than landing inside it, it simply bounced off the Monster's large form before falling at his feet. Spike Balls, without thinking, reached down and let the sticky substance attach itself to his oversized hand before extending it over to the still scowling Higgs.

"Here, you dropped this," he said politely, while the other Monsters just face-palmed at their friend's stupidity.

But Higgs didn't seem to notice, her focus and attention still on her friends and she simply snatched it back without a second thought. "Thanks," she said quickly, before raising her voice as she prepared to go into another rant. "And if you ask me-"

Suddenly, realization struck, as the girl froze on the spot, her gaze slowly turning to the large 'hidden' form next to her, her eyes narrowing in a threatening way. Star, Jackie, and Marco just looked on with expressions ranging from fear to confusion, staring wide-eyed at the large, unknown figure next to them. "Uh, who are you?" Higgs asked in a deadly serious tone, a fist slowly raising as she readied herself for a possible attack.

Spike Balls seemed to have realized his mistake as he nervously muttered, "Um, no one. Just... an ordinary trashcan, nothing to see here. Just go on about your business."

Marco's face lit up with recognition as he gasped out, "Spike Balls?!"

The Monster, knowing he was caught, slowly lifted the trashcan off his head, shooting the boy a sheepish grin as he greeted hesitantly, "Hey Marco."

"What are you doing here?" the hooded boy asked, his brain spinning as he tried to make sense of this strange new development.

"And why do you have a trashcan over your face?" Star added, her voice full of skepticism.

Higgs, upon realizing her friends knew this Monster and he posed no immediate threat, allowed her body to relax some, her tight muscles untensing as she lowered her fist back down, but she continued to keep a wary, vigilant eye on him just in case.

"Uhhh, well you see," Spike Balls stuttered out, clearly unsure how to answer them, his eyes darting around, looking for an escape. "I'm... not allowed to tell you."

"What? Why not?" Star asked, an eyebrow slowly raising and the Monster gulped at the accusing looks he was receiving, sweat beginning to drip down his face.

"Because I told him not to," a voice said behind them and they all turned to see Buff Frog come into view, along with Lobster Claws and Potato Baby. Spike Balls sighed in relief, glad he didn't have to keep up the charade any longer and could let his boss handle things from there.

"Dad!" Marco exclaimed in joy, racing over to hug his dad. Despite the confusing situation, he was still as happy as ever to see his father, feeling beyond starved for his attention. Buff Frog couldn't help but smile down at his child, as he gave him a gentle squeeze back.

Star, meanwhile, was still trying to make sense of it all, putting her hands on her hips as she asked in slight exasperation, "Okay, can someone please explain to us what's going on? Why were you guys hiding from us like a bunch of creeps?"

"It is... a bit complicated," Buff Frog admitted, shooting the blond royal a sheepish smile.

Marco gasped as an idea came into his head and he pulled away from his dad, looking up at him with shimmering eyes as he asked, "Was this a surprise? Are you here to surprise me with a visit?"

Buff Frog felt his heart clench and for a moment, but knew he couldn't hide the truth from him any longer and so replied honestly, "No. Sorry, my son. We weren't here to surprise you."

"Oh," the boy said, slight disappointment on his face. But it quickly disappeared as he cocked his head to the side and (as Buff Frog predicted he would) curiously asking, "Then what are you doing here?"

"We here on business," the Monster leader replied, purposely dodging the question as he still hoped from getting the kids involved unless he absolutely had to.

"Business that requires you to sneak around and hide from us," Higgs skeptically pointed out, shooting the amphibian a look that clearly said she wasn't buying a word of his story.

"What's going on, Buff Frog?" Star questioned, her tone serious and demanding and the frog faltered some under her intense gaze.

"Is nothing to concern yourselves with," the amphibian tried, still grasping onto the futile hope of keeping them out of this. "Everything fine."

"Really cause it sure looks like you're up to something," Jackie pitched in, shooting him her own doubting stare.

Now it was Lobster Claws who spoke up, chuckling awkwardly as he said, "What? No way! Whatever gave you guys that idea?"

Suddenly Boo Fly appeared, flying in out of nowhere, calling pleasantly out to his leader, "Hey Buff Frog, I tried to zzneak into the targetzz houzze like you azzked but I couldn't get inzzide." Suddenly he took notice of the others, his many eyes darting between them all before turning to the amphibian once again, a sheepish expression now on his face. "Izz thizz a bad time?"

The four teens all turned to Buff Frog with accusing looks, except Marco who just gave his dad a worried expression, softly asking, "Dad? What's going on?"

Buff Frog let out a sigh, knowing it was time to come clean. There was no point in denying it now. Although he knew the kids would want to help if they learned the truth, he also knew they wouldn't stop until they got an answer from him. So he gave them each a long look, taking in there confused but determined faces, his gaze freezing on his son as he told them all straight out, "Very well, I tell you everything." His eyes darted around cautiously for a second before he added in an even softer tone, "But first, we need go somewhere private to talk."

…

The group of Mewmans and humans all followed silently behind Buff Frog as he led them to his temporary base in Butterfly Village, the teens all beyond curious at this point as they were led along, but decided it was best to just wait for the amphibian to explain the situation in his own time. The rest of the Monsters had stayed behind, only Buff Frog breaking away from whatever he was busy doing to talk to them, informing his team to keep him posted if there were any 'new surprises' while he was gone, whatever that meant. Finally, they seemed to reach their destination as the frog came to a sudden halt, holding up a hand to signal the others to stop. "We're here," he said softly.

Higgs didn't look convinced though, as she stared at the broken-down shack before them, looking like it might topple over at any second, and said crossly, "You can't be serious."

"Am very serious. No one think to look for us here," Buff Frog replied, no hesitation in his tone.

"Yeah because no sane person would go in a rundown place like this," the knight commented under her breath.

Buff Frog just ignored this though, as he slowly lifted up the thin, torn sheet that acted as the entrance inside and turned to them, saying, "Now quickly, young ones, inside."

Star, Marco, and Jackie didn't hesitate as they all piled into the small hut, all too desperate for answers to argue. Higgs, however, didn't seem to feel the same. "There's no way I am going into that deathtrap," the girl argued, standing firm and unmoving from her spot.

"Please," the Monster leader pleaded, his eyes full of urgency. "Must hurry, before someone sees us."

"Why? Because then everyone will know you're sneaking around the village," Higgs snapped.

"Come on, Higgs," Marco insisted, giving his friend a begging look. "He's my dad, we can trust him."

"Fine," the girl grumbled under her breath, as she finally walked into the small space with a cocky, overly-confident stride. She did pause to shoot the Monster a dirty look as she passed him by, adding sharply, "But I do have half a mind to report you to General Skullnick, you know."

Buff Frog gave her a shocked look and the girl smirked proudly to herself, only to freeze seeing the inside did look a bit nicer than the outside, at the very least it looked less like it might fall apart if you breathed wrong. It was clear that the Monsters had taken some time to fix it up a bit, giving it a lived but welcoming (almost cozy) feel. "Huh, this isn't actually so bad," she muttered without realizing it.

"Da, almost as if you shouldn't judge places based on appearances," Buff Frog commented as he passed her by, giving the redhead a knowing look which caused her to frown.

"Touche," she whispered under her breath, low enough she was fairly sure he hadn't heard her.

Star, Marco, and Jackie's attention, however, was less on the actual building and more on what looked like hundreds of pictures and pieces of paper that had been plastered to the wall in an almost haphazard manner. Thin pieces of string were everywhere on the wall, forming a massive array of scattered lines, loosely and confusedly connecting the many, many bits of information together. The three teens all shared confused looks, unable to make any sense of the odd display, before turning to the Monster leader for help. "Okay, Buff Frog time to start explaining," Star said, doing her best not to sound outright demanding to him, keeping her tone as light as she could despite her frustration.

"Yeah, what's going on, dad?" Marco asked, his brown orbs filled with worry. "Why are you sneaking around and hiding from us?"

Buff Frog took in a deep breath, massaging his forehead with his fingertips for a second before admitting, "Sorry to keep all of you in dark, but didn't want get you involved unless I had to. Is very dangerous mission and want to keep you kids from getting hurt."

"Does this have something to do with Rasticore?" the hooded teen guessed. Judging by his dad's grave tone of voice and his secretive behavior lately that was really the only thing that made sense. What else would make him feel the need to not only not tell them, but keep them as far from the truth as possible? Which was why Marco wasn't surprised when the amphibian nodded in reply, though he did feel his heartbeat speed up a bit.

"Da," Buff Frog said and the girls all let out collective gasps, Marco feeling Star's grip tighten on his hand protectively. "Me and Monsters been trying to track him down for weeks now."

"And is he here in town?" Jackie asked, her voice remaining steady but her normally radiant eyes were full of fear. "Is that why you're having to sneak around?"

Buff Frog shook his head. "Not exactly," the frog said vaguely while reaching over to the picture-coated wall and pulling off a slip of paper. It was small, looking like it had been ripped in half, Marco noticed, as his dad walked over to them and held the picture up for their view. "This all we manage to find on assassin."

The teens all stared intensely at the photo, each with questioning, inquisitive frowns on their faces as they observed every inch of the seemingly unknown stranger. That was until Star's eyes lit up with recognition and she exclaimed, "Wait, I know her!"

"You do?" Buff Frog asked in surprise.

"Um, well kinda," Star corrected herself, still giving the image a thoughtful expression. "She was one of the people me and Jackie interviewed. Or at least we tried to." A sour look crossed over Star's face as she remembered how harshly she had been rejected the moment she had mentioned her commission.

"Oh yeah, the one with all those cats," Jackie pitched in, remembering the young-looking Mewman now. The skater turned to the blond, their eyes locking as she added, "No wonder she didn't want to answer any of our questions."

"So is she a spy or something?" Higgs asked, scanning her target with a grim frown, taking in every detail she could as she attempted to memorize the image. Her previous cocky nature had vanished in an instant replaced only with cold, unrelenting determination as her trained instincts began to kick in. The only thing she focused on now was the mission, all she saw was her target, her mind consumed entirely by it as she pushed out any other thoughts or emotions, just like she had been taught to do.

"We don't know," Buff Frog admitted, giving them all sheepish looks. "All we had to go on was photo." His voice hardened some as he added bitterly, "But have my suspicions."

"So what's the plan, then?" Star asked and the frog instantly recognized that tone, it was the kind of tone Star only took when she was dead set on getting involved, doing everything in her power to resolve the situation herself, and from the look his son was giving him, Buff Frog had a feeling Marco felt the same.

"No, I don't want you kids involved," the frog father said firmly, giving them each a hard stare that only a master parent could perfect, hoping to dissuade any further arguments.

Marco recognized this look and knew what it meant, but he still couldn't stop himself, he didn't want this to all fall to his dad. He wanted to help. "But Buff Frog-"

"No, my son," Buff Frog said firmly but gently, his eyes trying to convey the love and concern he was feeling to his child. "Rasticore almost hurt you twice. I know you can take care of selves, but I don't want put you at any risk."

"But isn't having a possible spy living in our village putting us at risk, already?" Star pointed out. Buff Frog said nothing to this.

"Yeah come on, Buff Frog, let us help you out," Jackie pushed, a confident smile on her face. "There's no sense in letting you do this alone."

Buff Frog seemed to be contemplating this, whispering under his breath, "Welllll..."

"Besides, we'll all be safer if we're working together," Star reasoned, hoping to convince him to change his mind with some sound logic, while Marco went a different approach, hoping to appeal to his heartstrings instead.

"Please let us help you, dad," the hooded teen begged, putting on the widest and saddest puppy-dog pout he had in his arsenal, making his eyes shimmer and his lip quiver in the cutest way he could.

Their words seemed to be breaking through to Buff Frog, his expressions showcasing his weakening resolve as his face flooded with uncertainty, finding himself torn between his parental instincts or his job as leader. There was no doubt capturing Rasticore would be much easier with help from Star and her friends but at the same time, he couldn't help but worry of what dangers he could be willingly exposing them to if he said yes.

The Mewmans could tell the Monster needed a little extra incentive if they were going to get him to agree, which was why Higgs figured now was a good time to try her approach: blackmail.

"Plus, if you don't let us help you I'm telling General Skullnick and you know how she can be," she said, betraying no emotion with her voice.

This seemed to do the trick as the Monster leader looked between each of the pleading, persuasive faces before him, his gaze softening as he seemed to have reached a decision. He finally let out a deep sigh as the last of his resistance died out, pinching the bridge of his nose as he said in a regretful tone, "Fine. You may help."

"Yes!" the group cheered, taking a moment to share high-fives, momentarily celebrating their victory. Finally, Marco turned to his dad, reassuring him, "Don't worry, dad. We won't let you down."

Buff Frog gave him a tight smile, still unsure he had made the right choice or not but ultimately decided his son deserved the benefit of the doubt and so told him in the most enthusiastic voice he could muster, "I'm sure you won't."

The four all shared joyful smiles before they seemed to get serious once again, Star clearing her throat, before asking the frog in her 'princess' voice, "Okay so what's our plan of action?"

"Well at moment, we simply been following her around, waiting for her to get in contact with Rasticore," Buff Frog explained.

"Didn't Boo Fly say something about trying to sneak into her house, though?" Jackie pointed out and Buff Frog gave her a surprised look, impressed that she had been perceptive enough to remember that.

"Da, I hoping to find more evidence inside but, unfortunately, we unable to figure out way in."

"Well that should be no problem," Star spoke up. "We do have a master lock pick on our side, after all."

"Oh yeah, we can totally ask Janna to help. That's a great idea Star," Marco complimented her, shooting her one of his signature smiles, which caused the blond to blush slightly.

"Thanks," she said, giving his hand a small squeeze while staring deep into his chocolate brown orbs.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Higgs commented and the others turned to her with questioning looks.

"Why not?" Marco asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"If this is because you still don't want to trust her, then-" Jackie started to argue feeling a need to stick up for her friend, only to be interrupted by the redhead.

"No, it's not," she stated firmly. "Well okay I don't," she added honestly, before quickly explaining, "But you guys said yourselves she's been acting weird lately, right? Are you even sure she's gonna say yes, after all, she made it pretty clear she wanted to be alone today."

Star, Marco, and Jackie all shared looks of concern at this. They hadn't considered that. Janna clearly was working through some things at the moment and needed the time alone. Could they really ask her to ditch everything just to come and help them?

"Yeah, you're right, Higgs," Star agreed sadly. "I'm not sure involving Janna is a good idea right now."

"So, how are we gonna get inside than without Janna?" Marco asked, his voice shaking some out of both concern for his friend and the hopelessness that was beginning to fill up his chest.

"Well y'know, I could give it a shot," Jackie offered and the others went slack-jawed, staring at her with looks of pure shock.

Star was unable to keep herself from muttering in astonishment, "You, Jacks?"

The skater shrugged, giving them a calm smile, "Yeah, why not? I mean, I've seen Janna pick thousands of locks before, so I got a basic idea of what to do. And the rest shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

Higgs raised a skeptical eyebrow, while Marco flashed her a trusting grin. Star and Buff Frog's faces flashed with doubt for a second, before they buried it, the blond hesitantly saying, "Wellll, if you're sure..."

"I'm sure," Jackie said, her radiant eyes filled with unwavering confidence as she pointed to herself. "I can get us inside that house, no problem."

"Very well then I leave job in your hands, but take a few Monsters with you for protection," Buff Frog suggested keeping his voice light but serious.

"I'll come with, feel like it's gonna be less boring than just sitting around and waiting for something to happen," Higgs volunteered and Jackie gave her a playful smirk.

"You know that sounds like something Janna would say," the skater teased and the young knight shot her a death glare.

"Don't compare me to her. Ever," the girl growled in a warning tone.

Jackie just shrugged and let the subject drop there, but the knowing smile never once left her lips, much to Higgs's annoyance, who began to huffily ignore her existence.

With that out of the way, Buff Frog turned to Star and Marco, telling the young couple, "I guess that means you two will be with me."

The two nodded, Star doing a salute as she said confidently, "Yep, Star and Marco at your service!"

The boy quickly reciprocated his girlfriend's actions, his whole body beginning to shake with excitement as his eyes twinkled with possibilities. "Oh man this is so exciting!" he exclaimed. "We're gonna be real spies, Star! Just like in that Mackie Hand movie, 'The Spy Who Punched Me', remember?"

Star held back a giggle as she told the boy sweetly, "Yes Marco, I remember."

"This is gonna be so awesome!" the boy cheered, pumping his fists into the air, forgetting one of them was still intertwined with Star's so that hers was forcefully thrown up, as well.

Buff Frog gave the blond royal a questioning look, asking "What is this... Mackie Hand?"

"He's this old action movie actor Marco really likes. We watched a bunch of his movies during our last date night."

"Hey Star, remember the one where he kicks that bad guy so hard they exploded!" the hooded teen suddenly shouted.

Star and Buff Frog locked eyes for a moment, the Monster with a fearful look, clearly concerned about what it was his son was being shown, and Star just shrugged sheepishly. "Um, it wasn't as violent as it sounds."

"And then remember when he ripped out that one guy's spine!" Marco continued and Star quickly slapped a hand over the boy's mouth to keep him from saying anything further.

"Shhh, Marco," she whispered to him, before chuckling nervously over to the concerned father, who's eyes were wide with terror. "They're actually way better movies than you might think."

…

It wasn't too hard to find the Monsters once again, the group camped outside a pet store (where Babs presumably was inside) keeping themselves at a safe enough distance away they didn't have to worry about being considered conspicuous. They sat on (or around in Spike Balls' case) a bench at a relativity quiet corner of Butterfly Village, only getting the occasional odd look from Mewmans passing by that had just become accustomed to any Monster within the kingdom's boundaries. When the Monsters spotted Buff Frog and the teens approaching, Lobster Claws waved over to them with a goofy grin but kept silent so he didn't attract unwanted attention. The moment they were close enough, Lobster Claws asked, "Hey guys, did you bring us anything to eat?"

The frog responded by pulling out a bag of food he had picked up on the way back and the Monsters quickly snatched it up and went to work gulping its contents down their starving throats, the group of teens just watching with a mixture of disgust and intrigue. "Anything happen while gone?" the frog asked, wanting to get the important business out of the way as quickly as he could.

The others just shook their heads, Spike Balls saying with a mouth full of food, "Nope, she's been in there pretty much since you left, boss. Lobster Claws peeked in there earlier and saw her arguing with the owner about something."

"That good to hear," the frog Monster said with relief.

"So what about you guys?" Lobster Claws asked, unable to contain his curiosity anymore as he turned his attention to his boss. "Did you tell them everything?"

Buff Frog nodded, informing them all, "Da, and we have come up with new plan to put stop to Babs and whatever she and ally are planning."

The Monsters shared confused looks at this. "But I thought we didn't want them involved," Spike Balls pointed out and the frog leader let out a deep sigh.

"That is correct. But they made good points, so I agreed to let them help us," he said simply, but not without shooting the kids a scolding glare as he did and all of them gave him sheepish looks except Higgs, who was unaffected by the attempt.

"Yeah and it's a good thing too," she commented smugly. "It's pretty obvious you needed the help since Buff Frog told us you can't even do something as simple as break into a house."

"Hey, give uzz a break, it'zz pretty heavily guarded," Boo Fly whined, crossing his arms huffily in front of his chest.

"By cats," the girl added with a scoff.

"Really vicious cats!" Lobster Claws defended.

"Didn't you use to kill people?" she asked, slowly raising a critical eyebrow.

The Monsters had no reply to this, simply avoiding her eye as they all went completely silent.

"Listen, my friends," Buff Frog spoke up, gaining control back on the situation. "Boo Fly will stay with me, while rest of you go with Jackie and redheaded girl so they be safe getting into Babs's home."

"Wait, you want us to go back there?!" Lobster Claws exclaimed in fear.

"Why afraid you might get scratched by a kitty cat," Higgs taunted.

"Well, yeah," the crustacean quickly said. "I mean have you seen that one with the scar, it's evil!"

"But, Lobster Claws, you have a shell," Jackie pointed out.

"Well yeah but it's not the pain that's the problem, it's the surprise!" the lobster Monster argued, his voice a hurt whine, as he seemed to be fighting back tears now, Potato Baby patting him gently on the back to calm him.

"Oh brother," Higgs muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry Lobster Claws," Marco spoke up, shooting the crustacean a reassuring smile. "Higgs is a knight and a really good one too, I'm sure she'll be able to protect you. Won't you Higgs?" The boy gave her an expectant smile and she felt pride surge up through her at the level of trust her friend clearly had toward her.

"Sure, I'll make sure nobody gets emotionally scarred by a bunch of house cats," she said, trying to sound sarcastic but it came out halfhearted.

"See you guys are in good hands," Star added, her voice full of admiration that only increased the feeling the redhead had. "Higgs was almost Marco's bodyguard, after all. She can handle a few stray cats."

Lobster Claws sniffed, wiping his nose with his oversized claw, his eyes now full of hope. "In that case, I'd be honored to help!" He quickly stood and saluted, Potato Baby letting out an agreeing grunt as he did the same.

"Me three," Spike Balls said, standing up far too quickly and almost knocking over a hanging lantern in the process, his circular hands fumbling to grab it to keep it from falling.

"Okay then, let's get going," Jackie said, pointing over her shoulder off in the direction to Babs' house.

The Monsters nodded in agreement and began following the girls, Jackie leading the way since she had been there once before. Star and the others watched them go until they were out of sight before the hooded teen turned to Buff Frog and asked, "Alright dad, what do we do first? Fight some ninjas, defuse a bomb, oh how about we break into a secret underground lair!"

Star and Buff Frog just smiled at the boy's precious naivety, the frog father trying to hold back his laughter as he told his son, "No Marco, don't think we need do any of that. Probably only going to follow Babs around for while and try not to be seen."

"Oh... that's fine too," the boy said in slight disappointment. Star, seeing his disheartened face, couldn't quite hold back the giggle as she put an arm around her boyfriend's waist bringing him closer to her so she could cuddle him. "Aw, Marco you're adorable!" she sighed lovingly, rubbing her cheek up against his, instantly cheering him up as he blushed and grinned ear to ear. "Sorry we can't do any of that stuff."

"Nah, it's okay," the hooded teen replied cheerfully, his upbeat attitude returning full force. "It may not be as cool as something Mackie Hand would do but it's probably for the best, I'm not sure I was all that comfortable with punching a ninja."

Boo Fly just looked between them with confusion, unable to understand a word for the last minute now, until he finally turned to his boss, hoping he would help make sense of it all. "Uhh, Buff Frog, what izz he talking about?"

…

Jackie, Higgs and the Monsters arrived at Babs' home, the young knight on high alert as she surveyed the exterior. It was a pretty nice place, she observed, modestly sized and still in good condition despite the occasional claw mark or scratch in the wooden frame. The house was only one story and by the looks of it was one bedroom. Higgs counted a total of five exits out of the house, three windows and a front and back door (because there was always a back door) and the knight was confident they could get in and out without trouble. The yard was also fairly big and clearly well taken care of, the grass cut to perfection with a white fence built all around it, most likely to keep her cats from running away. That or to discourage people from coming around, Higgs thought. She quickly scanned the neighboring homes around them and was relieved to see that the streets were currently empty and devoid of life. Perfect. Now they could go about their mission without having to worry about attracting unwanted attention, after all, it wouldn't be fun explaining to General Skullnick why she was reported breaking into an innocent Mewman's home with a bunch of Monsters.

Speaking of the Monsters, they all seemed jittery and nervous as they cast fearful eyes around the yard, clearly unnerved to see many of the 'dreaded cats' sprawled out on the grass napping in the warm sunlight and Higgs had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the ridiculous sight. Come on, how lame could they get? They were Toffee's old right-claw Monsters after all, who knew what horrors they had seen and carried out in the last decade and yet a couple of cats had them almost petrified with fear. It was honestly just pathetic to watch.

Jackie took the initiative as she stepped up to the gate and moved to undo the latch, but stopped upon hearing the audible gasp behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see the Monsters giving her panicked expressions, and she asked in a whisper, "What, what's wrong?"

Lobster Claws just pointed with his namesake over to the snoozing felines, his eyes somehow widening even more as he let out a nervous whine. Jackie looked over in the indicated direction before shooting them a confident smile, her radiant eyes helping sooth their nerves some, as she told them all gently, "Don't worry. I promise I'll be quiet."

The Monsters seemed to relax some, allowing her to lift the latch and push the gate open without any objection. The skater made sure to keep her movements slow and careful, not wanting to disturb or wake any of the cats, but this seemed to be wearing on the young knight's patience as Higgs let out an obnoxious, exaggerated sigh. Clearly, she found the Monsters' apprehension annoying and pointless, but Jackie knew better. Buff Frog's group was definitely odd, there was no denying that, but they weren't cowards. If they were afraid of these cats than they had good reason. Or at the very least there was some merit behind it and the skater would rather not find out what it was if she could help it.

Once the gate was wide-open, the girl began tip-toeing toward the front door, careful to avoid any tails or fluffy bodies on her way, until she finally reached the entrance. She, just to be sure, tried the knob but found it locked tight. No surprise there, but it had at least been worth a try.

She turned back over her shoulder and waved the others over, the Monster moving at the same cautious pace Jackie had, all except Spike Balls, who waited outside the fenced area, acting as their lookout since his large form wouldn't be able to fit inside the small home anyways. Higgs, on the other hand, didn't even bother trying to avoid any of the felines, just striding cockily and carelessly across the yard in a few short steps and the Monsters looked like they all might have a heart attack due to the girl's far-too-fast pace.

In a manner of seconds, she was at Jackie's side, plastering on a mock shocked expression as she said sarcastically to both the skater and the Monsters, "Well look at that, I walked to the door and nothing went wrong. How shocking."

Jackie just ignored her, pulling out the small hairpin she kept on her in case of emergencies, a habit she had picked up from Janna. She silently thanked Janna for this, even though honestly she wasn't sure how she should feel knowing Janna of all people was starting to rub off on her."You should be more careful, Higgs," she scolded, while her fingers fiddled with the hairpin, feeling around inside the intricate locking mechanism of the doorknob. "We're still trying to avoid danger, remember?"

"Yeah, and these cats are way more vicious than they look, y'know," Lobster Claws added via nervous whisper.

Higgs scoffed, leaning back against the wall, before saying, "Oh whatever, I already said I was going to protect you, remember? So, therefore, you've got nothing to worry about. Besides, the only danger we're in right now is getting caught breaking into someone's house." She then turned to Jackie with a knowing look, asking impatiently, "Speaking of which, think you could speed this up a little bit before we end up getting busted."

The skater kept her focus on the task at hand, her fingers struggling to get the lock open, finding no angle or movement was quite doing the trick. "Just hang on a minute, okay. I've never done this before." She stuck her tongue out in concentration, still trying to get a feel on what exactly she was needing to do to get the stupid door open. "I think I owe Janna an apology, this is way harder than she makes it look," Jackie commented staring at the doorknob with disbelief. After several more minutes of trial and error, the skater felt something give and heard a noticeable click inside the mechanism. She pulled the hairpin out, her face lit up with pride as she said, "Got it!"

"Great, can we get inside now?" Lobster Claws asked eagerly, he and Potato Baby casting nervous glances over their shoulders, fearful the cats would wake up at any moment.

"Wait," Higgs said, taking control of the situation again as she moved protectively in front of Jackie, the serious frown returning to her face. "Gotta make sure it's safe first," the young knight continued, her tone emotionless and robotic and her movements the same as she pressed her ear up against the door frame, listening for a few seconds for any sounds of breathing. Once she was confident there was no ambush waiting for them on the other side, she pulled away and began to slowly turn the knob, her body tensed and ready in case there were any booby traps. The young knight pushed the door open and took a cautious step inside, surveying the home for any form of danger but it seemed to just be a normal house, save for the cat hair and claw marks that covered every inch of the place. The furniture was torn to shreds, it's remains lying scattered all over the floor and small cat houses and seemingly unused scratching posts were all over the living room area.

Higgs turned back to the others telling them, "Okay, guys, everything seems fine so you should be good to-"

The knight didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence as Lobster Claws and Potato Baby rushed inside the empty house, pushing Jackie in with them, before hurriedly closing the front door and letting out relieved sighs. "Oh thank goodness, I thought those cats were gonna get us for sure," Lobster Claws said, wiping his forehead with the back of his pincers looking relaxed for the first time since they got to the house.

Potato Baby mumbled something to his friend, the incoherent grunt sounding to Jackie's trained ear like an agreement.

Higgs just rolled her eyes, snapping at them, "Hey, stay focused. We're here for a reason, remember? This is no time for goofing off." She didn't give them a second to respond as she turned to Jackie and said, "Jackie you and me are gonna search the bedroom. If she is keeping secrets that'd be the most likely place she'd hide them." Her gaze snapped back to the two Monsters, who flinched at the sudden action. "You two are gonna check the other rooms in the house. If you see anything suspicious let us know."

The two saluted waiting until the redhead had turned her back to them, her and Jackie already heading off in the direction of the bedroom, before they shared a knowing look, her bossy, aggressive nature reminiscent of someone else they knew. Potato Baby mumbled something again and Lobster Claws nodded, holding back his laughter as he agreed, "Yeah, she does act pretty similar to him." The similarities were scary similar, in fact, all the girl needed was a beard and some antlers and they would be impossible to be told apart.

But the two pushed these thoughts aside, getting back down to business as they surveyed the destroyed living room, Lobster Claws asking his friend, "So where should we start looking for clues?"

The potato-like Monster pointed over to the shredded couch and the crustacean smiled at the suggestion, putting a claw on his companion's shoulder. "Good idea. People are always losing stuff in there."

Meanwhile, Jackie waited until they were out of earshot to tell the young knight in a reprimanding tone, "You know, you could try and be a little nicer to them."

Higgs just scoffed, before jabbing a finger behind her. "Why? Did you see the way they were acting back there? Oh wait, I know you did because you kept encouraging them the whole time. Honestly, Jackie, I expected more from you, but you're just as bad as they are."

Jackie gave Higgs a firm look, calmly telling her, "Look, Higgs, I know you think they're just being paranoid and weird but you haven't known them as long as I have, they aren't ones to just freak out over nothing. If they are really sure something is that dangerous than I trust them and so should you."

"I never said I didn't believe them. I'm just making sure they get over it and stop acting so afraid. It's called tough love, Jackie."

"Did Dex teach you that?" the skater asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, my mom did," Higgs replied, with her typical sharp tongue. But her voice grew soft and almost hesitant as she added, "She taught me a lot of things, actually."

Jackie looked over at the knight sadly, telling her, "Yeah, mine too."

The two were silent for a moment as walked side by side down the hallway, avoiding each other's eye as they stared down at their feet. They entered into what they presumed to be Babs' bedroom and it was just as creepily cat-themed as the rest of the house. Her bedspread was in the shape of a giant purple cat head, small figurines of cats cluttered her desk, and her wall was coated with probably unhealthy amounts of pictures of her prized pets. The two girls looked around stunned, before Higgs slyly commented, "This lady realllly needs to get out more."

Jackie nodded in agreement, her green gaze searching for any clues toward her possibly traitorous nature. "We should start looking for clues."

"On it," Higgs said, her cocky nature vanishing in an instant as she switched over to her duty-bound side, and it was still as startling to Jackie as all the other times. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned her into a different person. What did the knights brainwash her as part of their training?

The skater watched for a few seconds as the redhead rifled through the dresser drawers before Jackie went to work too. She began a pretty thorough search of the room, looking underneath desks and in small spaces where it would be the easiest to hide something, she checking behind curtains and inside the tiny closet, even taking a moment to look under the bed though she figured that would be a lost cause, Babs was just too smart to hide incriminating evidence there. She let out a long sigh, before standing back up, putting her hands to her hips as she looked around the room, wondering where she hadn't thought to search yet. That's when it caught her eye: a small plush cat. It was sitting in the corner of her room, a few odd pieces of clothing and junk laying on top of it, clearly trying not to attract any attention and go unnoticed by any prying eyes, but ironically that was exactly what set off all kinds of alarms to the skater. This woman almost worshiped cats, why would she leave it forgotten in the corner instead of on full display like everything else remotely feline was in her room?

Jackie approached the toy, nothing escaping her keen eye as she studied every detail of its worn fur and glass eyes. She leaned down, brushing the loose cloth aside before lifting it up off the floor, the skater taking note that it was much heavier than it should be, considering it was presumably filled with plush and not bricks. She flipped it over and found her suspicions were correct as low and behold, there was a zipper on its belly. Jackie smiled, turning to the redhead and calling to her, "Hey, I think I found something."

Higgs dropped what she was doing and quickly rushed to the light-haired girl's side, a skeptical eyebrow slowly raising as she spotted the plush in her hands. "A stuffed cat?"

"Yeah, I think this is where Babs is keeping her secrets," the skater explained, showing her the zipper on the plushie's stomach.

"Well considering who we're dealing with I wouldn't put it past her," Higgs said in disgust, looking around at the feline shrine that was Babs' room.

Jackie didn't waste any more time as she slowly zipped the toy open, revealing the hidden stash within. It was everything they were hoping for and more, a series of paper slips which had been folded up and stuffed inside (which when inspected closer were from old missions she had been assigned), a large wad of cash which was no doubt her many payments over the years of being a world-class assassin, a small knife with what else but a cat head on the handle, a vial of what looked to be some sort of poisonous mixture, and the most incriminating of them all was the finished photo of what appeared to be a group of assassins.

And standing next to the small cat lady was the tall, menacing form of none other than Rasticore Chaos Disastervane.

Jackie frowned, reaching down and picking up the picture, studying it closely as she muttered, "This is the same picture Buff Frog showed us from before."

"Guess that proves it, then," Higgs said with a victorious smirk on her face. "Our traitor is exactly who we thought she was. Nice work, Jacks." The redhead gave the skater a hard pat on the back while shooting her an approving and impressed grin. "Now all we gotta do is show this evidence to the general and have this traitor thrown in... 'the Tower'." Higgs's voice grew intense as she mentioned Mewni's highest security fortress and prison in the entire dimension. It was well known for having the most evil of evil criminals Mewni had to offer (save for those who committed magic offenses since those fell under the MHC's jurisdiction).

As the young knight went to take the plush from Jackie's hands, the skater swiftly moving it out of reach from her swiping hand and holding a hand out to prevent any further attempts. "Wait," Jackie told the confused and slightly annoyed Higgs. "That's not the plan, remember? We're trying to catch Rasticore not expose Babs." Higgs still looked skeptical about this so Jackie quickly added, "Besides, don't you think Skullnick is gonna be way more impressed if you bring in Rasticore and Babs?"

This seemed to peak Higgs's interest, as her eyes lit up with possibilities, already imagining the status she could get if that were to happen. But she quickly buried her joy, hiding it behind her typical layer of disdain, "Ugh, fine," Higgs agreed.

Suddenly there was a loud, panicked shout from the other room and the two shared a quick look before taking off running to go check on the Monsters, the skater making sure to zip the plush back up as she did. "Guys, what's wrong?!" Jackie called to them, as she and Higgs ran the short stretch of hallway, before entering into the living room area where the girls came to a sudden stop, looking around with disbelief. The living room was somehow an even worse disaster area than it was when they left, furniture upturned and cushions were thrown about all over the place as the Monsters had clearly been busy searching in and underneath them.

But this was quickly forgotten as the two turned their attention to the Monsters who were shivering in fear, clinging to each other as they stared ahead with terrified expressions. "Lobster Claws, Potato, what's the matter? What's going on?" Jackie questioned and both Monsters just raised shaking claws up as they pointed to the door leading into Higgs' small kitchen. The skater and knight followed their intended direction, only to gasp in shock. Their eyes widened immensely upon spotting the large white cat standing menacingly in the doorway, poised and ready to attack, casting a ferocious look at them with its cheshire-like eyes. There was a scar over its left eye and part of its tail was stripped of any fur and one look at its sharp nails was enough to know that this cat was not to be messed with. Jackie felt a spark of recognition as she remembered Babs warning not to pet the cat, Warrior because he was 'a biter'. But it seemed to Jackie that there was a bit more to him than that, as a low yowl seemed to be building at the back of Warrior's throat, which only added to its sinister and unnerving appearance.

Higgs, meanwhile, was left speechless as she stared deep into the feline's yellow eyes. She could feel her heart beginning to pound away in her chest, which a part of her didn't understand. After all, she was a knight. She had been trained to face threats far worse than the one standing before her, heck she had been prepared to take down Toffee for pete's sake. But even with all those lessons, even after years of grueling training meant to rid her of any form of fear or weakness, even after all that, as she looked into the dark, sinister eyes of the house cat before her there was no denying that she... was afraid.

...

Half an hour later, time had begun to drag for Buff Frog and the others, as they all just sat on a bench, staring at the barren walls of the pet store with growing boredom. Nothing had happened at all since they split off from the others, there had been no sign of Babs yet, leaving things agonizingly slow and quiet as they just waited for the small Mewman to emerge from the store. She had been in there for a total of an hour and a half, but to Star and Marco, it felt like a year had passed, as they just sat with their heads propped up on their elbows, their eyes slowly glazing over as they fought the urge to fall asleep. Star's frustration finally grew too large for her handle as she roughly rubbed at her tired eyes, growling in anger, "Ugh, what is taking her so long?! She's been in there forever! What does she live there now?" Star quickly sat back on the bench, crossing her arms huffily in front of her chest.

Marco let out a deep sigh, before adding, "Yeah, I kinda thought spying would be more fun. The movies made it look way more action-packed than this." The boy turned to his frog father, before asking, "What do you think she's doing in there, dad?"

The amphibian's eyes narrowed as he continued to watch the store vigilantly, his eyes darting between the two windows on the building's front, hoping to spot any sign of the tiny redhead. That had just been what he had been wondering. It was unnerving not being able to see what the possible traitor was up to and the frog had begun shifting uncomfortably in his seat, growing more and more agitated by the second. Who knew what she could be doing while out of their line of vision and with every second that passed Buff Frog's questions only grew more frequent and panicked. Had she figured out they were watching her? Had she snuck out the back so she wouldn't be seen? If that was the case, she could be long gone by now and have already met up with Rasticore, free to discuss their plans to be rid of Star and his son.

The frog shuddered and told Marco in a tight voice, "Don't know. But need to find out."

He turned to his bug companion that was currently resting on his shoulder and said, "Boo Fly, please check and see what target up to."

"Again?" the fly whined, this was the fifth time in the last half hour his boss had asked him. "But I juzzt checked like a minute ago."

"Yes, but need to make sure nothing changed," the frog said sheepishly. He knew he was being ridiculous but not being able to see Babs himself was driving him nuts.

Before Boo Fly could move though, Marco jolted upright with a start, a bright smile on his face as he informed them all, "Wait a minute guys, I think I see her coming out."

Star, Buff Frog, and Boo Fly all followed the hooded boy's gaze in eager anticipation and sure enough, a small form was exiting the pet store, a sour look on her face and her empty arms crossed tightly in front of her chest.

"Bout time," Star mumbled under her breath.

The small Mewman began walking speedily down the sidewalk, purpose in her steps as she headed off to her new destination at a far faster pace than was expected for someone her size. Buff Frog jumped up from the bench, saying in a panic, "Quickly, must not let her get away."

Star and Marco were up in a second as they followed after the muscular Monster, making sure to stay close behind Buff Frog as he kept them at a safe distance while they tailed the Mewman, close enough they could still follow her movements but far enough away they didn't look too suspicious while doing so. For the next several minutes they watched as Babs went from cart seller to cart seller, staring at their trades for a few seconds before moving on without a word but with a clear, disappointed look. And as the minutes began to drag while this continued, it became apparent to Star that the cat-lover was looking for something in particular. And as luck would have it, she finally seemed to have found the item of her dreams. She was lazily scanning over the cart she was at with dull, uninterested eyes when something captured her attention, her pupils widening and her cheek marks glowing a bit brighter than before. Star watched as Babs leaned closer to the object, but from her position hiding around the corner of a nearby alley, the blond couldn't see exactly what it was the Mewman was looking at. But whatever it was, it seemed to make Babs very happy as a smile lit up her face and her eyes shimmered with intrigue and joy, a look Star didn't think she had ever seen on the small Mewman before and it genuinely caught her off-guard to see.

Babs looked up at the cart owner, who was reading a newspaper and not meeting her eye and she quickly cleared her throat to gain his attention, the man looking down at her with slight annoyance. "How much for the collar?" the cat lady asked and the man just rolled his eyes and said, "I'm sure it's much too expensive for your allowance, little girl. Now, why don't you run along to your parents and quit wasting my time."

Babs grit her teeth at the man, her eyes flashing with a dangerous look as she snapped, "I'm not a kid!"

The man looked back down at her with a judging, raised brow, as he rudely commented, "Well, there's no need to raise you're voice at me, young lady. Just because you're upset you aren't a grown-up yet is no reason to take it out on complete strangers."

This only seemed to infuriate Babs further, as her eye twitched with barely suppressed rage as she let out a groan of frustration. "For the last time, I'm not a little kid. I'm a grown adult and I don't appreciate being talked down to by a pompous, mediocre salesman," she growled at him, trying to keep her shaking fists at her side.

"Mediocre!" the cart seller shouted, attracting a few weary glances from people nearby, wondering what the fuss was about.

"Yeah, you heard me!" the small Mewman continued, unheeded by the now watchful eyes around her. "Half this merchandise is just useless junk anyway and the one and the only thing that is even remotely worth my time doesn't seem worth it after the way 'your snootiness' is treating me!" The girl did a mock impression of the man as she called him the insult and this only seemed to make the man even more agitated with her as his voice raised some in pitch.

"Well, I never!" he shouted, in such a loud, squeaky tone that it caused Star and the others to cringe. The princess didn't even know someone could make their voice go that high. "Perhaps, if you weren't such a rude individual I might consider selling to you, but since you insist on being a nuisance, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kindly ask you to leave!"

Babs let out a loud huff, turning her back on the seller. "Fine! I was just going anyway!" The small Mewman began stomping away, loudly complaining as she went, her entire face filled with rage. "Geez, this is exactly why I don't like coming here! Everybody's just a bunch of stuck-up, judgemental jerks who don't know when to leave well enough alone! Well if they don't want my business then that's fine with me! I should never have come out here in the first place!"

Star, Marco, Buff Frog, and Boo Fly all shared looks of concern, the hooded teen saying nervously, "Uh, guys I think she's going back home." Star had noticed this too, but hearing it out loud made her heart leap into her throat.

"But the otherzz are zztill in there," Boo Fly pointed out unnecessarily.

"Must do something. Now!" Buff Frog exclaimed, looking beyond panicked. The whole mission was in jeopardy. If they didn't stop Babs from leaving it was all over and Star knew she couldn't let that happen. Buff Frog was right, she had to find a way to stall her until the others finished their search.

"Like what? What do we do?" Marco asked, pulling at brown locks of hair as he desperately tried to think of an idea on how to keep the small Mewman away from her home. His breaths were coming in short and sharp as he began the earlier stages of hyperventilating, while next to him, an idea finally came to Star.

It wasn't a great idea, she knew that the second she thought it up, but it was all she had to go on and she didn't have any time to think it over. And so she just wordlessly grabbed Marco's wrist and began running over to Babs, dragging the hooded teen behind her. She ignored the almost muted gasp from Buff Frog and Boo Fly who no doubt thought that she had lost her mind, keeping her focus on the Mewman in front of her. That was until Marco spoke up. "Star, what are we doing?" her boyfriend asked in surprise and confusion and the blond merely turned over her shoulder for a second, whispering honestly to him, "I'm not really sure yet. Just follow my lead, okay?"

The boy nodded, putting his trust in Star as he picked up his pace to match hers and the blond royal couldn't help but smile at her Marco, his loyalty really did know no bounds. But fueled by the knowledge that her boyfriend was backing her up, Star turned her attention back on Babs. She sucked in a deep breath, letting her face completely drain of all emotion before she plastered on a smile and yelled in the most friendly tone she could manage, "Oh hey, Babs!"

The cat lady came to an instant stop, her body tense as she slowly turned to face the two, her face the picture of perplexed as she gasped out in confusion, "Princess?"

Star now caught up with her, waving enthusiastically, keeping the bright (and hopefully not forced) smile on her lips as she said, "Oh wow, it's so good to see you here. It's been forever!" She quickly gestured over to Marco, saying, "Oh and since you've never met before, Babs this is my boyfriend, Marco."

"Hi," the boy said shyly, giving her the tiniest of waves and the most uncomfortable of smiles.

This only seemed to baffle Babs even more, the friendliness in the girl's tone throwing her for a loop as an eyebrow slowly raised, her eyes darting between the two as she tried to make sense of it all. "Okay, what gives, princess? Why're you being so nice to me?" Suddenly, her eyes narrowed in anger as she asked accusingly, "Is this some kind of trick to get me to answer your little questionnaire?"

"No, not at all," Star said smoothly. "Actually, I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about that." The royal felt her hopes rise as Babs' cold features softened slightly. "Look I know we got off on the wrong foot..."

"Yeah, you were pretty pushy," Babs rudely commented and it took every ounce of willpower Star had to keep her temper under control. She felt her hand clench slightly around Marco's, who gave her a small squeeze back to let her know it was okay, and one of her eyes twitched against her will, but other than that, she was able to completely suppress her frustration as she kept up her friendly demeanor.

"Which was why I was hoping maybe we could start over," Star said, her voice betraying her as there was just a hint of frustration in her tone. But she tried to quickly cover it up as she added extra cheerfully, "I'm sorry I made you feel I was forcing you into something. Let me make it up to you. Please?" She then gave the woman a begging smile, Marco quickly doing the same, copying his girlfriend's expression exactly. But Babs seemed unaffected by the two's attempt to persuade her, merely rolling her eyes and telling Star, "Look, princess, I ain't interested in becoming friends with you. I'm just fine on my own, got it?"

The Mewman, once again, turned to leave and Marco gave Star a lost look, clearly having no clue what to do while silently hoping his girlfriend had one more trick up her sleeve. Luckily, Star did. In fact, Star was quite certain that her secret weapon was guaranteed to work. So, without wasting another second, the blond royal calmly called out to Babs, "What if I told you I could get you that collar you were wanting?"

Babs came to an instant stop, slowly turning back toward the two, her face blank but her eyes full of mischievousness and the promise of revenge. An eyebrow slowly raised as she said, "I'm listening."

Star grinned victoriously, knowing she had the small Mewman right where she wanted her now. She had this hook, line, and sinker. "Well I couldn't help but overhear your argument back there and I wanted to help out. After all, I'm pretty sure he isn't going to refuse to sell to the princess of Mewni."

Babs gave her a suspicious glare, asking, "What's the catch?"

"There is no catch," Marco blurted out, following his girlfriend's lead. "Like Star said, she just wants to make it up to you. You are going to let her do that, right?" He gave her a cute, inquisitive look and Star silently commended the boy for his skills. Who knew Marco was such a master at manipulation?

This seemed to finally break through the last of Babs' barriers as she shrugged nonchalantly, clearly still trying to sell the whole cold and unfeeling act but the excitement in her eyes betrayed her again, as she said in barely suppressed joy, "Sure, why not? Not like you can make it any worse?"

"Great, then let's go!" Star said, pointing behind her, before the three slowly started back toward the vender, the grown Mewman following along after the eager teens. The blond royal did a quick check over her shoulder, making sure Babs was out of earshot, before turning to Marco and asking, "Wow, Marco, I'm impressed. Since when did you get so good at lying?"

The boy smiled proudly, puffing his chest out some. "Oh, that was easy. I just did what Mackie Hand did in 'Hand to Hand to Hand', y'know when he was trying to break into that underwater compound and he tricked the guards into..." Star joined in with him as they said at the same time, "Giving away their secret codes before knocking them out with his signature Tiger Kick!" The two shared a giggle, as they remembered one of their favorite parts of the movie, happy they had one more thing in common to share.

Buff Frog and Boo Fly, who had watched the whole scene from a nearby bush, shared a surprised look. At first, the two Monsters had been paralyzed with fear as they watched their youngest getting willingly dragged over to the possibly dangerous criminal and it took all of Buff Frog's willpower to keep from chasing after them. But he finally was able to smother his parental instincts and allowed the two teens to handle the situation, though every muscle in his body stayed tensed in wait the entire time, ready to jump to their rescue if need be. But it never came to that as Star and Marco (with some effort) managed to coax the girl into staying, making up some kind of lie about wanting to get to know her or something like that. The Monster leader had been sure Babs wouldn't agree to anything they said, but to both his and his fly subordinate's shock, they stared open-mouthed as the small traitor actually followed the two back over to the cart from before. "Well, would you look at that," Boo Fly commented in amazement. "They actually pulled it off."

"Yes, they did," Buff Frog agreed softly, his mind torn between feelings of both pride and fear for his son and he wasn't sure which was stronger at the moment. He just hoped that the kids knew what they were doing. "But is not over yet," he added grimly.

When Star and Marco reached the seller, they weren't too surprised to see the man's face buried back in his newspaper, seemingly unaware of their presence. Star cleared her throat to gain his attention and his eye lazily moved over to the two before darting open with recognition. He gasped, quickly tossing his forgotten paper away as he formally shouted, "Princess Star! It is an honor! What can I, as one of your humble citizens, do for you today?" He tried to bow, despite sitting in a chair, only resulting in him awkwardly tilting his head slightly downward.

Star put on the most regal voice she could as she said, "Well actually, I'm here cause a friend of mine wanted to-"

"Ah yes!" the man interrupted, his eyes landing now on Marco, who flinched at the sudden attention as the seller continued to drone on in an overly-cheery tone, "This must be the great Marco that everyone has been talking about! My, my such a handsome young man, no wonder you chose him, Princess Star. He must make you very happy!" He winked over at the now blushing teen, his cheek marks glowing a deep red to match his face.

Marco tried his best to reply to the man but he felt the words catch in his throat as his shy side resurfaced and he looked over to Star for assistance. The blond caught his begging gaze and quickly said, "Yes he does, but that's not why I'm here." Now the cart seller gave her a quizzical gaze, but Star ignored it and continued. "See another one of my friends was interested in buying one of your items earlier but there was an... issue."

Now Babs came into view with a knowing and triumphant smirk on her face, as she stood purposely next to the blond royal, clearly showing off her status to the flabbergasted Mewman. "Th-This is your friend," the man squeaked against his will, his eyes incapable of growing any wider.

"Uhh, yeah, she's totally a friend of mine," Star said with just a tiny bit of force.

"Yep, you could even say that me and the princess are best friends," Babs added with a smug look. Marco's eyes filled with hurt for a second and Star put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head to tell him that wasn't true and he quickly calmed down, the smile returning to his face.

The cart seller was now beginning to sweat as he stuttered nervously, "Oh my, well I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I-I-I had no idea I was speaking to a friend of the princess."

"Yeah, you should be sorry," the small Mewman began, but Star quickly interrupted her, moving so she now stood between her and the seller, leaning against the side of the cart with a bright smile.

"That's okay." the princess said, hoping to get through this conversation with as little difficulty as possible. "No hard feelings. Now if you wouldn't mind allowing me to pay for my friend's collar then we'll be on our way." She looking down at the cart only to realize there was a pretty wide selection of collars being sold and, it suddenly occurred to Star, she didn't know what the one Babs was wanting even looked like. She swallowed, trying to look relaxed and play it cool while silently hoping she wasn't asked any questions she knew she couldn't answer.

Luckily, she didn't have to as the man simply told her, "Of course, Your Majesty," with another awkward bow. The blond nearly sighed in relief as the man reached down and picked up one of the collars, Star taking a moment to study it closely. It was bright red, with a shimmering layer of gold crystals all around it, which seemed to gleam with magical energy, an indented lightning bolt hanging from the front. Star tilted her head at the object, not understanding what the small assassin wanted with it so badly and she couldn't help but wonder if there was some ulterior motive for it she just couldn't see. Still, despite her worries, she didn't hesitate to hand over the payment to the man, still wanting to stay on Babs' good side and hopefully even gain her trust. The cart seller gave her a wide smile as he gave the blond royal her purchase, saying chipperly, "Thank you for your business, Your Highness. I hope to see you again sometime."

"Um, yeah, maybe," Star replied politely, before turning to leave, Babs and Marco following her lead, the small Mewman shooting one last superior grin to the cart owner who scowled back angrily now that the princess's back was turned.

Once they were far enough away, Star stopped quickly handing the collar over to the small Mewman, who eyed it giddily. "Here you go, as promised!" the blond said with a wide grin she hoped would win over the cold cat-lover.

Babs's gaze slowly shifted away from the collar and on to the smiling teen, then back to the collar, her face for once devoid of any animosity or harshness which both Star and Marco took as a good sign. But the Mewman seemed to get ahold of herself, hardening her features as she loudly cleared her throat and said in a formal, businesslike tone, "Well, I suppose that was quite impressive what you did back there for me. So for that, you have my thanks."

"Sure, no problem," the blond royal said, trying to keep up the smooth, lighthearted tone despite Babs' attempt against it.

"What's it for, anyway?" Marco asked curiously, his eyes shining with intrigue as he stared at the collar in the girl's hands.

"Oh just a little something to tame one of my cats, Warrior," Babs explained. "He is a feisty thing and lately I've been having trouble keeping him under control. Hopefully, this collar will help calm him down some. See," the woman help up the collar for them to examine, pointing at one of the golden crystals. "These magic crystals are said to be able to soothe a pet's mind, but man are they rare and hard to find."

"Neat," Star said brightly, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, glad me and Marco were able to help you out."

Babs said nothing at that, silently tucking the collar into her pocket, though she seemed deep in thought about something. "Well I better get going..." she muttered softly, turning to leave but was stopped by Star's sudden shout of, "Wait!"

The blond royal wanted to slap herself for the screw up as the small Mewman turned to her with a suspicious and questioning gaze, knowing she had just thrown their whole plan in jeopardy due to her outburst. Beside her, Marco could only gap at his girlfriend wide-eyed, the panic in his eyes the same as the ones Star was currently suffering from as she tried to think of a way out of this mess, but her brain had turned into a puddle of mush. "Why?" Babs asked in a questioning tone, her searching eyes burning into Star's skin.

"Um, wellll, because..." the girl began, but found herself unable to think of anything else to add, turning to her boyfriend for help.

Marco, catching the desperate, pleading look she was sending his way, quickly swallowed, before saying the first thing that came to mind, "Because we want to take you out to lunch!"

"What?" Babs and Star said at the same time before the blond caught herself and quickly added, "-a great idea, Marco!"

She put an arm around the boy and pulled him close to her so his head was now resting on her shoulder. "I was wanting to ask you myself, of course, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up. But good ol' Marco here, always speaking his mind." She chuckled awkwardly for a second, while the boy gave a very thin smile.

Babs, once again, seemed to be having an intense inner debate, the two teens almost able to see the gears turning in her head as she weighted out her options. Until finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she shrugged and said, "Ah, why not? I'm certainly not going to say no to free food." She turned on her heels and began walking off in the opposite direction, causing both teens to let out a silent sigh. "And in that case, we can go to my favorite place in town. Come on."

The two watched her walk away for a moment, before sharing victorious smiles and a quick high-five, Star whispering excitedly, "Nice work, Marco. Our trap is set."

"Yeah, just like in 'The Spy Who Fought Me' where Mackie Hand lures the enemy spy-" Marco began and Star quickly joined in, the two exclaiming as one, "-into that one sushi restaurant with the ninja chefs!" The young couple just shared little gleeful squeals as they reminisced about one of the coolest parts in the movie.

"Are you two coming or not?" came Babs' irritated yell up ahead and the two immediately shouted back with blushes on their cheeks, "Coming!"

They looked over their shoulder only once, spotting Buff Frog and Boo Fly watching them from inside a bush, the look of worry on the frog father's face unmistakable. The teens shot him a wink and a thumbs up to let him know they had it under control before running off after Babs. Buff Frog had to clench his claw into a tight fist to keep from reaching out to them and pulling them back to safety. But he couldn't now, not without jeopardizing all their hard work. As the Monster leader, he had no choice but to just wait and see how things played out. Still, he didn't like this, not one bit. It was one thing to try and converse and act friendly toward Babs, it was another to willingly follow said assassin to some undisclosed location that had shockwaves of panic coursing through Buff Frog's bloodstream.

"Zzooo, what do we do now, Buff Frog?" Boo Fly asked his leader, all hundreds of the small bug's eyes staring at him questioningly.

"What else?" Buff Frog muttered softly, his eyes never leaving his son's retreating form, his muscular chest clenching as his urge to protect his child and his duties as leader clashed violently within himself. "We follow and be ready to fight."

…

Jackie stood as still as a statue watching the ferocious cats every movement, as it continued to growl under its breath, its piercing eyes flicking between each of the intruders in its home. Its long, sharp claws were drawn and ready, digging into the soft carpet, ready to start tearing into the group at any second, none of whom seemed to be holding up very well as they waited for the inevitable attack. Lobster Claws and Potato Baby were almost paralyzed in fear, just continuing to cling to each other while shivering uncontrollably, letting out small moans of worry every few seconds. Higgs didn't seem to be faring much better (though she doing her best to hide this fact) the redhead's eyes wide and staring forward unblinkingly, while her body had tensed up to the point it looked painful as she tried to fight to keep her own shivers under control, but most troubling of all was the sweat slowly dripping down her face as her breathing became heavy and labored, sounding like she was on the verge of passing out.

Jackie realized that her friends would be of no help at the moment and so decided to take control of the situation herself, sucking in a breath to calm her nerves before saying in the softest, most non-threatening tone she could, "Nice kitty, good kitty. We aren't here to hurt you." She spoke slowly and calmly, hoping to convince the cat that they weren't a real threat to it or its territory. She grabbed ahold of Higgs' arm and began moving them over toward the front door, keeping her movements to a minimum so as to not startle the feline. "We're just going to go and leave you alone, okay?"

Warrior didn't respond, merely flicking his tail and lowered himself even more toward the ground, his hind legs now completely tucked up underneath him as he just continued to eye them curiously.

"Okay everyone stay calm," she told her friends in the same reserved voice, still trying to shuffle herself and Higgs over to the exit. "Let's all just move very slowly over to the door and-"

"What? I'm not running away!" Higgs suddenly exclaimed, apparently recovering from her shock all at once as she ripped her arm away from the skater. "I'm a knight and we don't back down from anything!" the girl growled, jabbing a finger over at herself, before turning to aim it over at Warrior. "Least of all some mangy feline!"

"Higgs wait, stop," Jackie tried, reaching out to grab her but the redhead was already on the move, storming over to the two Monsters as she now positioned herself between them and the dangerous cat. The light-haired girl could only face-palm and hope the young knight's ego didn't end up ruining their mission.

"We can take this stupid cat, guys! Let's show it who's boss and that we aren't gonna let it terrify us anymore? Who's with me?!" she asked turning to the two Monsters for an answer. But both of them just shared nervous looks, Lobster Claws shakily replying, "Um, yeah actually me and Potato are just gonna hang back a bit."

Higgs just groaned in annoyance as she buried her head into her hands, running them slowly down her face. "Oh come on guys, it's just a dumb cat! How bad could it really be?" Her voice cut off as Warrior suddenly struck, leaping off the ground and latching onto her arm sinking its sharp claws into her skin. It yowled and hissed at her, holding on for dear life, as the young knight screamed in terror and pain, all her training forgotten in a heartbeat as she just shook her arm around wildly as she tried desperately to dislodge this ferocious feline from her arm. "Ah, get it off! Get it off!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, while the two Monsters hovered around her with worried expressions but never got too close, out of fear of receiving Warrior's wrath themselves.

But they weren't spared this as the cat, with all the grace of a trained predator, leaped onto the girl's shoulder before launched himself toward his next target, which happened to be Lobster Claw's face. The crustacean Monster let out a high-pitched scream that put all of Marco's to shame as he began running around the room in a blind panic, knocking everything in his path over in the process. Potato Baby, desperate to help out his best friend, waited until the right moment when Lobster Claws was close enough for him to throw a punch toward the cat, hoping to knock it off the crustacean. Unfortunately, Warrior released his grip at the last second and fell to the floor, landing easily on his feet, causing the potato Monster to accidentally hit his friend hard in the face, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Potato Baby let out a small garbled apology before he too was attacked by Warrior, who began clawing at his face, while he let out unintelligent yelps of pain.

Jackie could only watch in stunned silence, as one by one her friends were taken out by the crafty and unrelenting cat, before rushing over to help them, dropping the stuffed cat on the floor before running over to try and pull the vicious feline off of Potato Baby. "No, no, bad kitty!" she scolded as she struggled to get ahold of the hissing cat, finally managing to get Warrior to release the Monster before dropping him to the floor to check on her friend. "Potato! Are you okay?!" she asked in worry.

The Monster slowly raised its head, garbling something tiredly to her, giving her a thumbs-up, before falling limply to the floor, barely avoiding crashing into the skater. "Hey, give that back!" came a sudden shout from next to her and she turned to see Higgs running straight toward Warrior, who had the stuffed cat in its mouth, shooting them a malicious glare all the while. Jackie regretfully left the two Monsters to give chase to the feline, both girls struggling to keep up with his sporadic and smooth movements, trying to outmaneuver and corner him. But Warrior was one step ahead of them, leaping up on bookshelves and off of every piece of furniture in the room as he easily avoided capture. Finally, after Higgs tried dive-bombing the cat and ended up crash-landing into one of the home's many scratching posts after Warrior scampered out of the way at the last second, the young knight slammed a fist into the ground, angrily proclaiming, "Ugh, this isn't working?!"

"Then we need a new strategy," Jackie stated while helping her friend to her feet, searching around the room for an idea, her eyes lighting up a second later as she let out a small gasp. "And I think I've got it," the skater said confidently, a radiant grin brightening on her face. "Keep him busy!" she shouted, before rushing off to set her plan in motion, leaving Higgs alone to deal with the vile cat.

The redhead, knowing now was not the time for questions, turned back to her opponent only to freeze up as she saw Warrior now perched on the open window to the living room, staring at her with the same superior, unnerving eyes from before. "Don't you dare," Higgs growled under her breath in warning, readying herself to rush over and grab the cat before it could escape.

Warrior only let out a low yowl, before spitting the toy out on the windowsill next to him, much to Higgs surprise and slight elation. But this was short-lived as the cat suddenly let out a loud meow and an army of cats it seemed leaped through the window and into the living room, now surrounding the young knight and the unconscious Monsters. Higgs took a hesitant step back as hundreds of pairs of cheshire eyes trained in on her, getting a sudden flash to the image of a large, similar-looking eyeball that seemed to be consuming the darkest corners of her mind, whispering back her own failures, regrets, and fears and allowing them to echo and fester in her head. The girl choked on a gasp, stumbling backward as she struggled to regain control of her thoughts, clutching her head tightly and gritting her teeth in an effort to push out the dark memory.

Meanwhile, the group of cats began to craftily lower down on their hind legs, ready to pounce on the girl and exact their revenge for ever disturbing their home and messing with their stuff. That was until a voice called from the doorway to the bedroom, "Oh kitties!" Every last cat's head swerved over, only to greedily eye the small mouse toy hanging loosely from Jackie's outstretched hand. "Do you want the toy?" she asked simply, smiling as every last cat seemed to be taking the bait, moving away from Higgs and over toward her. "Then go get it!" she shouted, throwing it into the next room, an outcry of meows and hisses followed as the group of cats chased after it, rushing into the next room, Jackie moving out of the way to let them pass. The moment they were all inside, the skater slammed the door shut, trapping the felines within. She let out a sigh of relief, before looking over to check on the others, Lobster Claws and Potato Baby slowly coming to and Higgs angrily swiping an arm across her face.

"Everyone okay?" she asked, panting a bit after the intense encounter. The two Monsters nodded, though the scratches all over their body said otherwise, Lobster Claws simply stating, "I think I'm a dog person now."

"Yeah, me too," Jackie agreed, shooting him a smile before focusing her attention on Higgs, who had grown unnervingly silent.

"Are you alright, Higgs?" the skater questioned, expecting the young knight to grow defensive and cockily proclaim that of course she was okay. But instead, the girl almost acted like she hadn't even heard her, only slightly shrugging her shoulders in response while crossing her arms in front of her chest in a move that somehow seemed to make her grow suddenly smaller. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said bitterly, but lacking even a trace of emotion.

"Really, cause you don't look okay?" Lobster Claws pointed out.

This seemed to bring a fire back to the redhead as she snapped, "I said I was fine, can we just drop it already?"

Jackie noticed the girl wasn't meeting her eye and could tell something was bothering her but not wanting to push her any more than she was comfortable, simply told her, "Alright, Higgs, whatever you say."

She turned over to the two Monsters, telling them both, "Now c'mon, guys, let's get out of here."

"But what about our evidence?" Lobster Claws asked and Potato Baby nodded.

"Oh actually me and Higgs found all the evidence we'll ever need," the skater explained brightly to the two. "Right over-"

The girl's voice cut off as she saw the Warrior still standing in the windowsill, the toy cat in it's grinning fangs. "What, no way?!" Jackie exclaimed in disbelief. How was this same cat still here? How had her plan not worked? The cat made a move to leap out the window and Jackie ran forward, hoping to snatch the stuffed animal back in time, but found it was already too late, Warrior's body already halfway out the window before a single foot was off the ground.

Jackie felt the disappointment and hopelessness grow as time seemed to slow, watching their only chance at catching Rasticore escaping. Until, a sudden pair of spiked, circular hands snatched the cat out of mid-air, before lifting him out of Jackie's sight.

The skater came to an abrupt stop, her and the others standing there completely dumbfounded for a second, before they all raced to the doorway, Jackie throwing it open without hesitation. The four could only watch in stunned silence as Spike Balls held the hissing and thrashing Warrior suspended above the ground, keeping the fussy cat out at arm's length to avoid getting scratched, his eyes clenched shut as he cringed at every annoyed and irritated meow that came from the feline, the stuffed cat laying forgotten at his feet. "Spike Balls, you did it!" Jackie exclaimed, running over to snatch up the toy before anything else could happen to it.

"Did what?" the large Monster asked in confusion, his focus entirely on the increasingly agitated Warrior who was still squirming in his grip, digging its nail into his impenetrable hands.

"You helped us get back our evidence," Higgs explained, her tone still strained and off. Jackie held up the stuffed cat for them all to see.

"Oh really," Spike Balls gasped, eying the toy in disbelief. "I didn't even realize the cat had that. I just saw it about to escape and grabbed it up without thinking."

"Well it's a good thing you did," Jackie said brightly, quickly unzipping it to make sure everything was inside. "Cause without this, all of this work would have been for nothing."

Spike Balls beamed proudly at that, before jumping at receiving another loud hiss from Warrior. "Um, what do I do with this little guy?"

The others all shared a look and then a shrug, Jackie saying, "Just put him back in the house, I guess."

After the cat had been properly sealed inside (the doors and windows now closed and locked) the group could only listen in shocked silence as they heard violent scratching from the other side of the door, Warrior trying to fiercely claw his way through to reach the group and exact his revenge. All five shuddered at the strange, but traumatizing experience, Jackie wiping the sweat off her brow and Lobster Claws even letting out a relieved sigh, even Higgs looking genuinely agitated by what had happened, her eyes full of intense emotions and her hand twitching at her side.

"Well glad that's over with," Lobster Claws commented and the others nodded in agreement.

"Okay, now come on, guys," Jackie said, taking control of the situation as she gave them all a serious look as she held out the stuffed cat once more. "Let's get this back to Star and the others."

"Right," the Monsters said as one, even Potato Baby saying the phrase in his garbled language, all three doing a quick salute to the skater. Jackie's eye met Higgs but she froze as she saw the girl now looked like a ghost of her former self and Jackie couldn't help but feel her insides squeeze at the redheads instant compliance. What was going on with her?

"Alright then, let's... get going," Jackie said awkwardly, before the group left the empty lawn and started back toward the way they had come, never once looking back at the cat-infested home they were leaving behind. None of them able to completely relax until the loud hissing of the most ferocious cat any of them had ever met, finally faded into the background.

[lexinthelibraryofdreams]

A Second Chance

So, this is part 2 of “A Final Goodbye”. 

Considering the second Thor movie (aka part 1) was from 2013 and the third from 2017, I used that time as reference. Also, the last parts are set after Ragnarok, before Infinity War. This is probably the furthest away from what will actually happen in the movie but just roll with me for the sake of the story, alright?

Also, thanks to @eleventhdoctorsangel for giving me the idea with Doctor Strange. Hope this is similar to what you imagined. In general, I hope this does the first part some kind of justice and I hope you enjoy. (Plus I’m using the whole magic thing kind of loosely, forgive me for that)

Words: 3170

The Sorcerer watched the two Asgardians step through the portal and closed it behind them with a sigh. He was glad they would be gone soon. Still, he was worried. Not about Earth, this time, but about you. 

---

You woke up from your dream in cold sweat, your hands grabbed your bedsheets tightly. The feeling of dread still sat in your mind, a strange cold crept up your spine and you shuddered.  The combination of your magic abilities and your heritage had always made you pretty sensitive for magic traces. Once you knew one well enough, you would recognize it everywhere. The ice cold feeling in your bones and the nausea you experienced were without doubt caused by someone powerful.

Quietly, you sat up and looked around your room. In a smaller bed on the other side of the small room, your daughter was fast asleep. A smile appeared on your lips as you stood up and looked at her. Careful not to wake her up, you pressed a kiss on her forehead before turning towards the window.  From your room, you could easily overview the most of Kamar-Taj. At the moment, most of the space below was dark and quiet, only some corners were illuminated. Few white snowflakes trailed down to the ground like feathers and it reminded you of your home. Your eyes were drawn to a movement and you smiled as you saw Wong exiting the library. That meant, you hadn't been asleep for long since he never went to bed after midnight. To calm yourself down, you decided to meditate and quickly took place next to the window, where you started to relax.

 ---

 The next day, you walked over to the portals after finding someone to look after your daughter. You opened the door leading to the New York temple and stepped through, looking around. The air seemed to vibrate slightly and you immediately recognized that feeling. "Thor? What was he doing here?" you mumbled for yourself.  "He was searching for his father." The voice cutting through the silence made you flinch and you turned around, eyeing Strange and crossing your arms. "And why would he do that here on Midgard?" you asked sceptically. "Because that is where he spent his last years" the Sorcerer answered. You furrowed your brow. "He is king of Asgard, why would he-" you paused and shook your head. No, that wasn't possible. As you looked at Strange, you saw in his eyes that it indeed was possible. "No... Why would he do that?" 

"Well, I don't know the entire story, just that he was dropped off here on Earth by his second son." You dug your nails into your arms. They probably would leave marks on your skin but you didn't loosen your grip. Loki was free. Your heart fluttered slightly but then a knot formed in your stomach as you realized something. "When was that?" You asked, voice strained. "When did he arrive on Midgard?" Strange looked at you for a while. "About three years ago, if I'm right." You bit your lip. "If- if he has been out for so long, then why didn't he search for me?" You knew that Strange knew you weren't talking about Odin anymore. He folded his hands in front of him and sighed. "He did." You stared at him for a moment, actually dumbfounded. "Pardon me?" He eyed you sympathetically. "He did search for you. For quite some time, actually. That's how I found you and why I brought you to Kamar-Taj. I didn't want him to sniff around on Earth since he has posed as a danger until now." 

You felt anger bubbling inside you and clenched you fists. "You deliberately kept me away from my husband? How dare you? You had no right to do that!" you yelled at him. Despite your outrage, he stayed calm. "I had. It is my duty to protect Earth from magical threats under which he definitely falls. Also, I have to protect the people in Kamar-Taj and the temples. Including you and your daughter. I know that you still love him and that you always will, no matter what he does. I respect that even though I don't understand it but that doesn't mean he has free passages around Earth."  You glared at him but he didn't seem bothered by it. "One day, you'll understand why I did what I did. I just want to know something. Why do you still love him?" You looked at the sorcerer for a long time in disbelief but he seemed genuinely curious. 

 "My people believe, that everybody has a soulmate" you answered, the anger slowly dying down. "Whatever matters here in Midgard when marrying someone, doesn't matter where I come from. Social status, gender, and religion, whatever might differ between the people - we don't care. Because we believe that love is one of the greatest powers in the universe and would never stand in its way over these things. And once you find your soulmate, you will never be able to love someone else. There will always be this unspeakable connection between you, a feeling you have with nobody else. That is why I love him. That and because I believe that under the facade of the monster that he shows everyone, that there is a kind and caring man. That the man I love still exists. People never look deeper than the surface. They see the hatred in him but not how broken he is under that layer. How hurt he is. I don't know what caused him to break like this and I regret that I wasn't there for him, that I couldn't support him. I only know that Odin caused the first cracks to appear and that other, more powerful and evil people used these cracks to break him open and tear apart what was on the inside." 

 The doctor looked at you, an unreadable expression on his face. “I didn’t know that. Still, I’m only trying to protect you. Especially now.” You furrowed your brow. “What exactly do you mean?” you asked warily. He sighed and turned towards the window. “My magical senses are by far duller than yours but even I have felt someone with immense powers emerge her on Earth. So I’m sure you felt it as well. Whoever they were, they’re gone now but I can’t risk you running around, trying to get back to Asgard or doing anything similarly stupid.” You fumbled with the hem of your sleeve. Of course you had felt it. The memory of the feeling of dread was almost as terrible as the feeling itself. “If he comes to Earth once more, I don’t want you to step in between us. I understand and acknowledge that you do what you think is right but the only person to decide what’s right for me, is me. I hope you can respect that.” He turned around to look at you and nodded after a moment. “Of course.”

As you turned to leave, he asked “What are you going to do now?” You sighed and shrugged slightly. “I’m going to be a mother to my daughter. As much as I wish I could storm off and find him, I know that she needs me the most right now. Also, I believe that we will see each other again once the time is right.” Then you left, crossing the portal and continuing your life in Kamar-Taj. Few things had changed. The biggest difference to before was that you finally had hope again.

---

Since that day, almost a year had passed. By now, the sorcerer had established contact with the Avengers – or what was left of them. Everyone in Kamar-Taj and the other temples agreed with him – something was coming and they needed every fighter they could get. You seemed to have forgiven him for still separating you and your husband and had not only mastered your own kind of magic but the one he was taught. They were two different types, his coming from and outside source he had learned to utilize, yours coming from a core within your soul that was expressed as an almost physical power. He had seen you fight, using powerful blows, solid barriers and force fields that could crush your enemies. Despite the aggressive nature of your magic, you were a gentle and caring person, always helping more unexperienced students and doing your best to be a good mother. Since your conversation, he had also come to understand more about your people and culture. You were part of the royal family of your people, married into Asgard as an addition to the peace treaty your father had signed off with Asgard. It had surprised him that your people had been part of a centuries long war with a neighbouring kingdom, considering your nature and the part of your culture he had seen by now. The treaty with Asgard had been the reason for the end of this war; you had offered to add the marriage despite your beliefs. By now, he had not only gotten to respect you but started to understand why you did things your own way. He offered you more freedoms than most others to allow you to live the way you were taught was right and you had thanked him for it. As an exchange, you spend many hours with Strange and Wong in the library, helping them to understand not only the magic of your people but also all the other kinds you had encountered so far. You had also helped him to refine his grasp for otherworldly magic in case he would someday encounter someone with yet unknown abilities.

Now, he was currently in the Avengers’ headquarters, listening to Tony Stark rambling about something as he felt a surge of energy. He looked up and rose from his seat as he watched some kind of jet approaching the building. “Is there a problem, Doctor?” Stark asked and he gestured towards the object in the sky. “Unless you’re awaiting guests from outer space, there isn’t” he replied and watched as it got closer to the ground. The air seemed to vibrate and he knew that feeling yet somehow it was completely foreign. They left the building, all of them cautious of what might happen and watched the jet set onto the grass. A hatch opened. As the first one left, it took all of them a while to recognize him. Gone was the long blonde hair, a golden eyepatch had appeared instead, also there was no hammer in sight. He was followed by a woman in white and golden armour who wore white markings on her face, a creature seemingly made out of stone that carried some kind out huge insect and a very familiar green figure.

The stunned silence was broken by Stark who stepped forward. “Thor! Never thought we’d see you again. What happened to you? And where did you find the Hulk, we’ve been searching for him for a long time. Also, who are the others?” As the Asgardian started to explain, Strange noticed another figure, standing in the opening of the ship. He was dressed differently from their last encounter but due to the locket you always wore, he was all too familiar with the magic trace surrounding him. “I see you brought your brother again” he stated and the others’ gazes turned towards the ship, a tensed silence following. Loki hesitated, then stepped forward. “I’m not here to harm anyone. I normally wouldn’t have come here again no matter what my brother said but-“ he interrupted himself, eying the others carefully. “You’re searching for someone”, the sorcerer added and the fallen prince looked at him with surprise. “How do you know that?” Stark asked, equally taken aback. Strange only looked at Loki who seemed suspicious. “I do have to say, she is a remarkable woman. I have learned a lot about her in the past few years. At first I thought, that she was blinded by love but now I know better than that. When I let you fall during our last encounter, I did so to protect her as I didn’t trust you. Since she was frequenting my temple quite often, I had to distract you, otherwise you would have picked up on that.”

“She’s here? On Midgard? Then why did I never find her?” the Asgardian asked, ignoring the hostile postures of the others and stepping forward. “I shielded her from you as I thought that was the right thing. She made it very clear that she didn’t believe that.” Now, Stark stepped forward and drawing their attention. “Wait, who are we even talking about? Who is that ominous woman you protected?” There was a moment of silence, then Loki straightened and looked at the billionaire. “My wife. She was banished from Asgard by Odin for breaking his rules.” He turned back towards the sorcerer. “Where is she?”

Strange looked at him for a moment, then replied “If you’re willing to wait for a little while more, I can bring her here. I still intend to keep you away from the people I’m trying to keep safe, so that is the only thing I can offer you.” He seemed to think about it, then nodded. “Then I will wait.”

---

You sat in the library, reading about Kamar-Taj’s history, as Strange entered the room. “Can I help you?” you asked, not looking up from the pages. “I want to show you something. You should pack your things and get your daughter.” Now you looked up, brow furrowed. “Did something happen?” you asked concerned. “You could say that. I’m still not sure if it is good or bad but I promised you something and I intend to keep that promise.” You quickly put the book back, your mind racing to find an explanation for what was happening but nothing you thought about was possible in even the slightest way. After you had packed the few things you had and had picked up your daughter from where she had played, you met Strange on the main square. “Where are we going?” you asked, your heart rate speeding up with nervousness and anticipation. He opened a portal and you eyed the imagery behind it. Instead of answering, he motioned you to follow him and stepped through, so you took a deep breath and followed. You looked around the room you were in. A woman with red-ish blonde hair was waiting for you and gave you a polite smile. “I’m Pepper Potts. I will take care of your daughter while you take care of that matter, if that is alright for you” You eyed her carefully before introducing yourself. “I’m Y/N. Why can’t anybody tell me what is going on here?” Strange gave you a small smile. “It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if we did” he said before approaching the door. Your curiosity won over, so you pressed a kiss on top of your daughter’s head, before promising her to be back soon. Pepper seemed kind and Strange trusted her, so you did as well. You straightened and followed the sorcerer down the hall that lead up to a conference room. As you came closer, the locket acted up. You looked down and stopped dead in your tracks as you felt it. The magic was surrounding you, drawn to the small locket that rested on your chest. What shocked you the most wasn’t the fact that you finally felt that kind of magic again but the fact that it was alive and present, not only fading traces. With wide eyes you watched as Strange opened the door only few meters in front of you.

He stepped aside to allow you a look inside and your eyes stared burning as tears welled up in them. Loki turned around as the door opened and your eyes met instantly. You could see everything in them, every emotion and every thought, then you started moving and so did he. You met halfway, taking in each other’s presence, your finger interlacing with his. During your time on Midgard you had seen enough movies where two people reunited with a passionate kiss but this was entirely different. There was so much that had to be said, so many stories to tell and feelings to express yet there were not enough words for it. Not that you needed them. Everything was told in the moment your eyes met. The pain and desperation your separation had brought, the fragile hope for a second chance, the loss of the same and everything else you had felt when you saw each other again. You put your hand against his chest and he pulled you close, resting his forehead against yours. Both of you closed your eyes, revelling in the moment. Whatever the others might think or do didn’t matter, nothing else did. There was just the two of you, trying to understand that this wasn’t a dream but real, that it was true.

You had spent years imagining how a reunion would feel but nothing you had imagined came close to the truth. The aching void your time on Midgard had brought just vanished with the first touch. His free hand came up to cup your cheek, his thumb gently stroking your skin and you smiled softly. Then, he leaned forward, brushing his lips against yours and the first tears started to run down your cheeks. He swiped them away and you opened your eyes to see him looking at you. Just like when you said goodbye, there were no words needed. You didn’t have to memorize everything because you knew that now you could feel it again. From now on, you could make new memories every day.

Silently, you sent a thank you to whoever made this possible, to whoever gave you that second chance. The moment reminded you of your last time together yet it was so entirely different. The unspoken words weren’t desperate but hopeful. Your kiss wasn’t passionate and to make memories but soft and the beginning of a new chapter. And you knew that no one could ever tear the both of you apart again, no matter what might happen. You knew you had a difficult future before you but the thought of having Loki by your side made it bearable.

It took a while for you to speak. You looked at him and saw the man you fell in love with, mixed with whatever was done to him. Determination filled you. You would do everything to get this man back, to show not only Midgard but everyone in the Nine Worlds that he wasn’t a monster but a man. You gently stroked his cheek and smiled softly, before quietly saying “Our daughter is waiting. I believe you two should finally meet.” His eyes lightened up a little and he smiled himself. “I’d love to.”

[againagainagai]

Halloweenie asks 1-50 OwO

When you die, what do you want to happen to your remains?

I want to be buried in a forest and below a sapling so when the tree is growing then it can get the nutrients from my dead body

What is the weirdest thing you own?

The weirdest thing i own would probably be a soap bar because i’m boring and i just wanted a freaking bar of soap

Have you ever played with a Ouija Board?

Yes i have! Nothing happened though soo

Do you believe in ghosts?

Yeah, I do! I think they are really cool

Have you ever had an encounter with things that “go bump in the night?”

No, i haven’t unfortunately, although i think i would be too scared to enjoy it

Do you have a Deja Vu story?

Once i was at school and we were having a intruder alert thing and it felt like i had done that exact thing before so i guess i died or something the first time i tried it. I really like the idea of Deja Vu, it’s really cool and it happens to me a lot and i have a lot of those experiences

Do you still trick or treat?

Yeah!! Of course i do!! I’m only 14 anyways so i kind of want to and I’m in that time where my friends don’t want to go trick or treating but i do… it sucks ass

Have you ever had a black cat cross you and have a streak of bad luck?

I have two black cats that have no patience so they do it all the time so i guess my entire life that i can remember has been a streak of bad luck with a couple of good days

Least favorite thing about halloween?

Probably making my costume,, i don’t want to make it,, i want it to become and then i can wear it

Favorite serial killer?

I don’t have any but if you as my friend @stobitcooper then he’ll tell you all about his faves and his fave school shootings too

Favorite thing to do in a graveyard?

Probably cry?? I’ve never been to a graveyard so i have no idea

Favorite halloween movie?

Definitely Coraline,, It’s so amazing and i would die for her

Favorite ghost story?

I don’t like ghost stories because - like i said - I’m boring

Ever contacted a loved one from beyond the grave?

Sorry to disappoint, I’ve only called my family members on my phone

Your biggest fear?

Probably people not listening to me? I have no idea why i just hate it and it makes me sad and i don’t like being sad

Favorite pumpkin flavored food

My fave pumpkin flavored food is probably pumpkin pie how my mom makes it. It’s really good even though i haven’t been able to have it in a long while

Candy corn or popcorn balls?

POPCORN! IS NOT! SUPPOSED! TO BE! SWEET! (so candy corn)

trick , or treat?

Treat bitch,, what kind of idiot do you think i am?

Best halloween you ever had

Prolly 2016 halloween bc all of my friend raided all the people houses we didn’t like… I had a blast

Do you go to corn mazes?

I love them!! They are so fun and love doing them with my fam because they all have amazing senses of direction so i just follow them around

Haunted houses?

I want to go to one but i’m not sure if my family wants to or not,, i love them regardless

Do you own any human remains that aren’t your own?

Nope, and proud of it!

Have you ever smashed a pumpkin?

Umm,, no? That’s disrespectful to the pumpkin and it’s murder

Do you like apple cider?

Yes!!! It’s amazing especially when it’s warm and your lips are chapped and you’re sitting on your back porch and your cat is rubbing against you and your eyes are watering because you have a head cold and you cough so hard that the cider spills all over you ruining your favorite shirt! Those are my favorite days

Do you live near any ‘spooky places’?

I live kinda near an abandoned house but it’s really moldy and disgusting so i don’t go there

Do you ever get goosebumps?

Yes in fact, i do! They are so weird i hate when i do but they look so cool

Have you ever seen a dead body apart from a funeral?

Uuh,, no i don’t know anyone else who has either sooo

Have you ever broken into an abandoned house or building?

Unfortunately, me and my friends are law abiding citizens

Do you believe in vampires?

Kind of? They are cool and i like them but i’m not sure if i think they exist/ if they do,, that’s totally awesome! If they don’t then i am slightly disappointed

Your scariest memory?

My scariest memory would probably be when my dad had road rage and he was tailgating this guy so the guy in front of us braked all of a sudden and my dad had to swerve out of the road so then he wouldn’t hit the guy. That’s really lame but that was the most scared i’ve ever been in my entire life.

Ever hear white noise from a turned off TV or radio?

My hearing is too messed up for that. I can’t hear anything because of the constant ringing in my ears

Weirdest coincidence?

The fact that me and my friends all wore our marching band show shirts from last year on the same day,, it was great and i cried

Have you ever bobbed for apples?

No, i haven’t, is it fun?

Ever had your fortune told?

Not but i want to be told my future

Favorite skin disease?

I don’t have one?? I haven’t heard of most of the skin diseases anyway

Do you see figures in your prefferal vision?

Sometimes but it’s very rare

Have yo ever seen someone die?

No and i hope to never

Ever caught something large on fire?

Besides a tree branch no

Favorite fictional bad guy or monster you wish to be real

MOTHMAN, MY ANSWER IS MOTHMAN AND WILL ALWAYS BE MOTHMAN

Do you believe in multiple dimensions or worlds?

Yes! I believe in another dimension i would be typing no!

Ever held a seance?

Who do you think i am? A witch?? I want to be in one though, even though i afaird of spirits

Ever made a potion of any kind?

Okay, so when i was little me and my friends would make these “potions” and we would hand them out at recess and it was a love potion. You rubbed it in between your hands and then whomever you touch next will be your soulmate. And of course my lesbian ass touched my best friend at the time and said that she was amazing and all the gay shit but how you made it was you take a twig and you stick it in the sap of a tree and then you put sand on the wet part and then you rub it between your hands for ten 2nd grader seconds and then yo go touch someone and you’ll fall in love with them.

Ever worn funeral attire not at a funeral?

No? Not really…

Have you ever made a blood pact?

I’ve made a spit pact before but that was in 2nd grade

Have you ever worked a spell?

No, i want to try to though

Do you believe in curses?

Yeah, i think i do. They are a pretty big deal in my city but it’s not that apparent

Ever had an animal or pet see something you can’t?

Nope,, sorry to disappoint

Have you ever gotten lost in the woods at night?

No,, that’s another thing that i’m afraid of

Have you ever caught a photo of a ghost?

No,, i want to though. I’ll probably run but you know how it is

Have you ever played Bloody Mary?

No because i’m too chicken

[suplosers]

That big ol’ questionnaire that’s going around…

I got tagged by @shutyourmoustache, whose blog you should DEFINITELY check out, because she is an amazing cinnamon roll 

rules: answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people.

I tag: @shutyourmoustache, @princeddiana, @conzdezuri, @spideyxchelle, @lightslde, @romanoger-s, @cassandor, @smellycinnamonthundahfudge, @eclecticklutz, @mjwatson, @spider-boy-parker, @lovelyparker, @undoroos, @spideychelle-romanogers, @spideycentral, @accio-azriel, @nerdlove4thewin, @starkquill, @smartenoughtoshutyouup, @i-let-the-tears-fall

the last

1. drink: water

2. phone call: my best friend

3. text message: my best friend

4. song you listened to: Close-up - Zendaya ft. Timbaland 

5. time you cried: a few days ago, because my cat passed away and I still miss hervery  much 🙈

6. dated someone twice:  I would like to get even 1 date, but there might be a problem there as I have turned the last few guys down 😅

7. kissed someone and regretted it: HA! I never kissed anyone 😌 I dont know whether I should be proud about that, but okay 😂

8. been cheated on: they wouldn’t dare

9. lost someone special: yess definitely, also can I count my cat?

10. been depressed: I had a down period in the second to last year of high school, looking back on it, I might have been depressed then

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: yes so that was two months ago at the end of term party of my university, lets just say I will never touch any alcohol again after that 🙈

3 favourite colours

12. dark red

13. gold

14. light blue

in the last year have you

15. made new friends: yess, I have made many new friends on tumblr and in real life that I am super grateful for! A special few already have a big place in my heart and I am excited to make some more awesome memories with them!

16. fallen out of love: nope

17. laughed until you cried: omg all the fucking time 😂

18. found out someone was talking about you: yes, but everybody knows me quite well at university anyway, so she basically put herself down by trying to put me down. I was also really glad to have some great friends around me to support me 

19. met someone who changed you: Yess my two best friends at uni changed me for the better, as they have taught me how to enjoy studying and at the same time balance a social life!

20. found out who your friends are: I always had a very strong sense of who my real friends are and who would back me up no matter what. I am glad to say this sense has never failed me! 

21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: haven’t kissed anyone ever 😉 again not sure whether I should be proud of this fact 😂

general

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: well I have a shit ton of facebook friends, but I never accept friend requests of people I don’t know or haven’t met in real life, so I guess all of them?

23. do you have any pets: I had a cat called Pumpkin, but she passed away recently and it broke my heart as I loved her to bits 😔

24. do you want to change your name: No!! I absolutely love my name 😱 Maybe my last name, but I am pretty sure that will change if I ever get married 😜

25. what did you do for your last birthday: my sisters planned a flight to London and we went on the Universal Studios Harry Potter tour! Needless to say IT WAS AMAZING

26. what time did you wake up: 10:30 a.m.

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: I was probably reading Spideychelle fanfiction 😂

28. name something you can’t wait for: going on holiday to Italy in 2 days!

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: last week, because my parents went to Italy a week earlier 😊

31. what are you listening to right now: Close-up by Zendaya ft. Timbaland. What can I say, I am absolutely obsessed with this song 😅

32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: uhh, probably, I know a few toms, but I haven’t spoken to any of them recently 

33. something that is getting on your nerves: how to not fuck up the html of my blog, as I have been reconstructing it and I have so many questions on how to change it :’)

34. most visited website: Tumblr, Facebook, AO3 and my university website 

35. hair colour: I guess something like dark golden blonde

36. long or short hair: very long

37. do you have a crush on someone: not irl, but dayum I have the biggest crush on Zendaya 😱 

38. what do you like about yourself: I really like my personality and sense of humour and my butt and my hair 

39. piercings: only my ears! But I wear earrings everyday and I have been thinking about getting another ear piercing higher up, so I can wear the pretty earring cuffs

40. blood type: uhh I have been in hospital so many times, but I always forget to ask this 😂

41. nickname: I have so many! But the ones I get called most often are Rella, Ari and Alien soul (by my mum)

42. relationship status: singleee 🙌🏽

43. zodiac: Aries, but the night sky has changed since the 12 signs were originally discovered, which means there are 13 signs now (seriously look it up, its really interesting 😊) So if we are going by that, I am a Pisces

44. pronouns: she/her

45. favourite tv show: god, so many, but I guess Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Brooklyn Nine Nine, Game of Thrones and The Good Place 

46. tattoos: nope, but I am thinking of getting a small one on my ribs on my left side

47. right or left handed: right 

48. surgery: 2 times! My kneecap on my left knee has dislocated 12 times,  and I am really stubborn, so I refused to go to the doctor (I was dancing at the dance academy at that time and having a surgery meant having to stop). So I finished there and then got my operation at 18 years old, but I had to go back to get the screws out, so that’s 2 operations :)

50. sport: I did ballet dancing, hip-hop, modern dancing and streetdance, now I only do the last three and I go to the gym 2 times a week

51. vacation: Italy in 2 days!

52. pair of trainers: uhh I think I have about 5 of those, but I don’t really do trainers, I am more of a heels kind of girl 

GENERAL

53. eating: I ate a sandwich with avocado and I am making dinner now

54. drinking: Water 

55. I’m about to: make dinner

56. waiting for: my food

57. want: my food

58. get married: I definitely want to get married somewhere in the future, but I am really happy by myself and I want to meet the right person!

59. career: student, so I am working on it 😉

WHICH IS BETTER

60. hugs or kisses: HUGS

61. lips or eyes: eyes are much more expressive!

62. shorter or taller: well I have a thing for tall people, but I love being short 😊

63. older or younger: I’m not sure whether this is about dating, but I am into slightly older guys/girls

64. nice arms or nice stomach: doesnt really matter, I just really need to click with the person 😅

65. hookup or relationship: relationship

66. troublemaker or hesitant: I am both

HAVE YOU EVER:

67. kissed a stranger: nope

68. drank hard liquor: yess, damn, I dont drink wine or beer, so it tends to be the only thing I like, but lets just say I definitely regret that now 😂 

69. lost glasses/contact lenses: yess both, I am very chaotic

70. turned someone down: yess I have the tendency to do that 😅

71. sex on the first date: naahh, I ain’t about that stuff, I think its good to wait a while 😅

73. had your heart broken: nope, never really been in love before 

74. been arrested: no, that would probably be the worst thing that could happen to me 😱

75. cried when someone died: yess of course, I’m not a monster 😱 I definitely need to cry and grieve, especially if they were a big part of my life

76. fallen for a friend: noo, like I said, I don’t really get crushes that easily 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

77. yourself: yess, it keeps me going!

78. miracles: yes

79. love at first sight: maybe, but I haven’t experienced it and I tend to looove slow burns

80. santa claus: no, that got ruined for me at a pretty young age 😂

81. kiss on the first date: sure! I guess that would work, if they are someone you really hit it off with!

82. angels: uhh, I definitely believe that there is something spiritual going on I guess 😅

OTHER:

84. eye colour: like a chocolate light brown

85. favourite movie: SO MANY, Spiderman Homecoming, A Monster Calls, Tangled, Rogue One, Storks, Pride and Prejudice and Cinderella (The one with Whitney Houston and Brandy)

[maniacalmech]

The Uncharted Post

After owning a Playstation 3 and a PS4 for as long as I have, I realized I had never touched any of the Uncharted games. Normally, I wouldn't have cared about missing the odd game series, but I had heard a lot about Uncharted 4 being one of the greatest games ever made, and it looked damn good too. Also I needed another PS4 game to play, so I took it upon myself to play through the entirety of the main Uncharted series. Here's what I think of them. Last quick note, I played on Normal difficulty for all these games. Bit of a spoiler warning if you didn't play those games, however.

-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

So, here's the deal. A lot of games tend to age poorly, or if they don't play well, people put up with them through their own nostalgia. This game, however, has aged very, very poorly. This is very much Naughty Dog's first experiment with the Third-Person Shooter genre, and it shows. Mechanically, it is just a mess. Drake has hardly any health at all, guns feel awful to use, and enemies will almost always immediately duck out of the way every single time you line up headshots on them.

The story is serviceable, but very bare-bones. It is mainly intended to show you what Nathan, Sully, and Elena's characters are like. Strangely, Nathan and Sully tend to shit all over Elena with a “she's just a girl, what does she know” type attitude, which feels a little weird. The ending is good for them though, one of the only slightly satisfying endings for Nathan Drake in the series. The ending, and well, the entire game felt rushed though. This game screams Proof of Concept to me.

-Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Drake's Fortune must have done well for its time, because Naughty Dog felt the need to make a much more ambitious, improved sequel. The changes made to improve upon the first game are pretty huge. Enemy AI is wayyyy less broken, Drake has a bit more health, set-pieces (the developers term for the huge perilous events Drake finds himself in) are way more enormous than a couple collapsing bridges, and the guns are more fun to use as well. There's still a couple gripes about mechanics, though. Some insta-kill hazards are nearly impossible to react to before they kill you on your first try. Also, Naughty Dog's cinematic approach to story-telling and realism in their games makes it difficult to determine where you might need to go next when you're traveling from one point to the next. This didn't happen a whole lot, but I did get stuck wondering just where exactly I'm supposed to go a couple times. However, the game will just straight up tell you “go here, idiot” if you're running around in the same area for long enough. A bit condescending, but ultimately helpful.

The story is much, much more ambitious. With Uncharted's total game length lasting about 6 hours, Uncharted 2 is easily 10 or 11 hours of gameplay. You start seemingly without your first friends from Drake's Fortune, and are given two new cohorts. Also, from what I remember, this was the least time you got to spend with Sully in the series. Which is a damn shame because he's my favorite character in Uncharted. Still a much better game than Drake's Fortune, though. Also Tenzin is my homie.

-Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

This game feels a lot like Among Thieves, but with a couple quality of life improvements. There's a lot less insta-kill moments, guns are improved further and more cool guns are added to make fights interesting, and the story receives a really interesting breath of life as well. Being able to throw enemy grenades back is a pretty sizable, not huge but sizable, change. I appreciate the ability to do something about enemy grenades that you don't see being thrown at you. Before this game, your only option was to be able to see the guy arming the grenade, and shooting them before they actually threw it. Now, you don't have to just run around the battlefields because everyone is throwing grenades at you. For the original Playstation 3 trilogy, this is my favorite game. It is the least frustrating out of all of them. One last nit-pick is that Naughty Dog's idea of “last minute challenge” is to place RPG dudes in hard-to-find balconies, and have them shoot you before you even knew where they were. Obnoxious, but notable.

Continuity and story feels the most significant out of all the PS3 games here. Drake and Sully's past are uncovered a bit more, and Nathan ends up actually getting with Elena for realsies at the end which felt significant. Also, being able to see the function of Drake's ring, and its continuity past 3 is a good touch. I can't help but feel sorry for Nathan Drake at this point though. He really ends up getting majorly stiffed on the treasure side. At least he realizes what he needs to learn about himself to grow as a person. Even if that means mowing down an army's worth of men and flesh to do so.

Lastly, I really liked Cutter, but they never use his character again for the rest of the series. Oh and fuck that cruise-liner section. That was brutal.

-Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

This is my favorite game in the series. It really shows just how far Naughty Dog has come from Uncharted 1. The tech is incredible, the graphics show how Nathan Drake looks like an actual human being instead of some horrific play-dough monster, the stealth mechanics are fantastic, and the shooting is alright too. Plus the story wrapped up in a good-enough way to leave me satisfied.

Uncharted 4 might be my favorite stealth game, and it isn't even a stealth game. The way they those sections are designed feels empowering to the player. If you mess up, the game will let you know immediately and you can switch to a fire-fight on the fly. Or, if you don't want to go off the handle, the game will allow you to load your last checkpoint, right before where you got caught. What makes that mechanic work is that the reload to your last checkpoint is super quick. Being able to take out entire outposts undetected while assassinating the last guy with a silent flying punch to the face is the best feeling in the entire series. There's nothing that even comes close.

Climbing is a chore, it always has been and it always will be. It wouldn't be an issue if Drake wouldn't randomly decide to not grab the right ledges when he needed to. This has been an issue since Uncharted 1, and it is still an issue. Now that I'm over with the games, I'm glad to be done with the climbing segments. I've never felt rewarded or satisfied by beating any of the climbing segments of the game.

Why did we decide to remap the Reload button to Triangle? The Rope needed its own button that badly? Couldn't we have mapped that to Triangle instead? Remapping Reload to Triangle also remaps the Grenade to R1, the original button for reload. So, naturally, I had a few moments in the beginning of Uncharted 4 where I threw a grenade into nothing instead of reloaded. I was able to unlearn three games worth of muscle memory by the middle of 4, but still. Probably my biggest gripe with the game is that.

This is the Uncharted game made after Last of Us, and it really shows. 4 is the closest the series gets to feeling like an actual box-office movie. One minor tickle though, all Nathan wants is to be out, but by the time the game ends, he doesn't anymore? All I want is for Nathan Drake to be happy, but I feel like he should just make some damn money and retire. That doesn't really end up happening in the literal sense, and in my opinion, the whole addiction to adventure thing just seems like an excuse to get him into more games. Even at the very end, he hardly ages at all. Somehow. I do like how they make it up to your observation and perception skills to find out what they named the next Drake. Though, I am a little sad Nathan Drake doesn't end up going back to Nathan Morgan. I guess the brand has to stick somehow.

Sam's character seems a little ret-conned in. Mainly after the events of Uncharted 3, where it establishes Nathan Drake as an initially lone dog then teaming up with Victor Sullivan. That's a really minor story niggle, but I feel like the whole “long-lost brother” excuse doesn't really cut it for me. Also I really don’t give two damns about Nadine, and her accent is all over the place.

This is in my top 5 games though. This is what the series has built up to.

So it's like – 1 is a 4/10, 2 is a 7/10, 3 is a 8/10, and 4 is a 9/10.

Maybe go play Uncharted if you can stomach through the first game.

[shelis-lost-stars]

Lost Stars - Chapter 1

Writing and story by ShuliChan

Story and charater design by DetectiveNeko

 “Too many stars, too many dreams. The reality is that, in front of these things, I’m just a speck of dust” - Rap Monster (Kim Nam Joon).

  Chapter 1

I must never let her get hurt, it is my duty to protect her by any means possible. This unique friendship can never be broken, thought Nenma, lost into a nebula of memories that kept her away from her current reality.

  The wind was blowing strongly that day. The salty and fresh air coming from the sea stroked Nora’s face gently. Suddenly, a gracious figure appears in front of her eyes, while she was walking back home, under such a colorful sunset. Long hair moving along with the wind, followed by a pure white dress. Nothing could catch Nora’s attention more in her life than what she was viewing in that moment. She stopped walking, stunned by what was laying before her eyes. That mysterious girl was contemplating the sea, with her look lost beyond the horizon. Nora took a long breath. She had to get closer to her.

Closer, closer. And there she was, still looking at the sea, with a peaceful expression in her face. Crack. A barely audible but sudden noise came from where Nora was hiding. The girl who seemed so peaceful some moments ago, turned alert and seemed a bit frightened. Nora came out of the bushes where she was hiding, and looked at the girl directly in the eyes.

—H-hey… who are you?—muttered in a very embarrassed tone. The girl kept looking at her, still showing signs of distrust. —I’m Nora, nice to meet you! What’s your name?— said a bit nervous, but with a sincere look in her eyes.

—I’m Nenma…—, the other girl shyly responded, slightly blushing.

—Do you want to be friends then, Nenma?—answered Nora with a very bright smile.

Nenma lowered the invisible walls that she built between them before and gazed at the smiling girl before her. Such a surprising and unexpected behavior. Why would she want to be friends?

—Um, sure…—, she couldn’t still completely trust this girl that showed up before her out of nothing, wanting to be friends.

Nora reacted with the biggest and sweetest smile she had ever seen in her life, which made her think that such a pure and sincere expression couldn’t come from someone who could be suspicious or dangerous. Let’s trust in this person, she doesn’t seem to be able to do any harm…

  There was a light scent of grass and warmness that made Nenma get out of her daydreaming with memories. However, what most surprised her wasn’t that, but the voice of her friend before her.

—Neko! Neko… are you listening to me?—, she moved her arms in front of Nenma’s eyes. She blinked several times, as if that would be of any help to bring her back to reality. Six years had passed since that moment she was remembering some seconds ago. And yet, it felt as real as if it had been just yesterday. I’m so glad I met her. There she still had her, sitting next to each other, both in the middle of the field near their temporary home. It wasn’t the same as their homeland, back on Earth, but it was somehow similar sometimes. As if it was taken out of a dream. Nevertheless, Nenma thought that it couldn’t be compared to that place where they met many years ago.

A fresh breeze blew that day, on the field where they were quietly sitting. Maybe that’s what made Nenma recall their first encounter. The air hitting their faces felt somehow similar, which brought those memories back to her mind.