Cleaved: AFTERMATH

by The Cowardly Christian

chapter 4

Cleaved: AFTERMATH 4

I OWN AND REGRET NOTHING!

...III...

"So...the theory of Lekmet creating SCP-2000 won the gold?" Asked a Foundation standing watch over the still quarantined Echo Creek.

"Yes it did." Said his partner as he counted his winnings from the betting pool.

"So...on top of everything else, we don't have our safety net anymore?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that! All the various incarnations of the Foundation have continually added to the 2000 over the centuries, including US. It's more SCP-tech then Lekmet made at this point...that being said...he and it were still intertwined. That apparatus he built to take his place kept things running after his death, but after it was destroyed...well, the eggheads explained it better. But although it didn't destroy, damage it or anything like that. But apparently it DID cause it to RESET.

"Reset?" That elected a groan from the agent. The last time 2000 was reset was when they tried to see if they could use it to bring back Mable Pines to speed up the return of the Shooting-star sigil of the Wheel. Not only did it NOT bring her back, but it almost brought Bill Cipher back to life and only a hard reset that left 2000 off-line for a couple weeks stopped him from returning...needless to say; all copies of Mable's genetic template were permanently deleted and all possible further attempts to resurrect her was BANNED by the 0-5 Council.

His partner nodded grimly. "Yeah, it was a bad one I hear. It'll take a year or two to get it back to 100%, they tell me...Worse, from the looks like that the trauma of losing the apparatus gave it a deep glitch with no currently known way to fix it."

"Oh, no."

"No, no. Don't worry. It's nothing TOO terrible. Once it's back to 100% it'll be business as usual...except that anyone that died during the 'cleaving', a couple hours before the 'cleaving' and during the entire time it's 'rebooting FROM the trauma of the 'cleaving'...we won't be able to bring back. The templates are too corrupted to salvage and 2000 refuses to store anymore new templates until it's back to 100%."

The agent just shakes his head in annoyance, "If it's not one thing it's another. You should hear what's happening in Russia. Why I heard-

Suddenly his phone rang, he looked at the text annoyed. "Crap...I'm being summoned to testify in the 'Legal Lee' class action lawsuit...forget Pattern Screamers, that man should be considered a 'XK-Class End-of-the-World Scenario' all on his own..." He grumbles as he takes a swig of whisky.

...

But let's leave these men and the larger world for a moment...

How are the citizens of Echo-Creek dealing with the recent revelations?

...

Star Butterfly looks at the newspaper stunned...she just sits there in silence for an hour or so...then she folds it up...and leaves...

...

Meanwhile, after a lengthy decontamination, sterilization and testing process to make sure they weren't a hazard to humans, their environment or their reality...the people of Echocreek were finally going to be interviewed and had the situation explained to them...

Britney Wong had had a rough week; aside from that brief amusing incident of 'safety boy' flashing his needle-dick it had been confusing, disorienting and aggravating...plus the joke just got old REALLY fast...

She'd been having her afternoon beauty nap when that earthquake had hit! And then her house got eaten by some strange spider creature! She was then rescued by a bunch of 'government' men...only to be then roughly grabbed with every other EchoCreek citizen and thrown into a van. To be stripped, sterilized, poked, prodded, injected. Her skin had been rubbed so raw she had blisters! She could connect the dots with all the blood sample and vaccine shot scars!

FINALLY, she was being taken to a room where it was promised everything would be explained...

"NO! NO! NO! YOU LIE!"

"WHAT IS REALITY?!"

"WHO AM I!?"

"IT STINKS! IT STINKS! IT STINKS!" "Yes Mr. Sherman, EVERYTHING stinks..."

Britney would never admit it...but she grew more and more scared as she saw Echo Creek residents being dragged away screaming by men in white coats and being fitted for straitjackets...

"What...what is going on?"

"Relax, all will be revealed shortly." For once, Britney didn't throw a tantrum to get her demands...she was too scared to think straight...

Finally, she regained enough of her composure just in time to be sat down in front of the interviewer. A tape recorder was present and now turned on.

"Okay, enough of this! Who are you, and why are you going 'Guantanamo on me?!' You won't even let me go home! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"Your Britney Wong; Heiress of the Wong corporation and head cheerleader at Echo Creek high." Said the interviewer in a neutral tone as he viewed a dossier.

The flat out admitting that, plus the calm, collected tone threw off Brittney for a moment in surprise before pressing on. "Oh...well, you know what'll happen to you if don't do what I want!" She snaps.

"Maybe...why don't you remind me just in case...?" Said the interviewer in a patient yet rather monotone tone.

Again, that calm, analytical term threw Brittney off for a moment...but she rallied her wits again and pressed on. "Uh...well, if you don;t let me leave right now my parents will make you sorry!"

"How?"

Brittney's eye's blinked, "What?" She asked confused.

"How will your parents make me sorry?"

Brittney just looked at him baffled, "Wha- isn't it obvious?" She asked confused.

"Humor me, pretend I'm a moron."

Again, this completely threw Britney...but she tried to roll with it...

"Well...they're rich! They have money! They'll use money to make you pay!"

"How?"

Again Brittney's eye's blinked confused. "What?" She asked again confused.

"How will they use money to make me pay?" He asked again patiently.

Britney rolled her eyes and began to respond...but to her surprise...she found herself drawing a blank...how did it happen? Usually...when she threatened someone, they immediately gave into her demands...her parents never actually had to do anything...but...shirly they WOULD have done something, right? If she'd needed it? Why else would everyone be afraid of them...right?

The interviewer said nothing and just sat patiently...

"I...my parents are rich...they can buy and sell you!" Shouts Britney suddenly...they were rich...her daddy Bribed Skeeves to give her the head cheerleader position...that made sense...didn't it?

"Perhaps, but HOW are they rich? How do they make their money? What dose the Wong Corporation actually DO?"

Brittney just looked at him both confused and annoyed, "What do you mean what do they do? Their the richest people in town! Everyone knows them!"

"But as you can see; I'm from OUT of town. So would you do me the honor of explaining your family's company to me?"

Brittney's eye's rolled, but she haughtily began to open her mouth...but no words would come out...for her mind was yet again drawing a blank...

...She had no clue on what her parents actually did for a living...

How...did she not know this...she...briefly remember seeing a factory...it had her family's logo on it...but she never actually saw what it MADE...come to think of it...no one ever talked about what they did for a living either! Servants, schoolmates, her clique, teachers, her PARENTS...what was this? How could she not know what her family did?!

"Are you okay?" Asked the interviewer sincerely.

"I...I don't know...how can I not know...?" Said Brittney, suddenly.

"Tell you what...why don't we call your parents and you can ask THEM?" Offered the interviewer, again in a seemingly scripted way.

"Uh...yeah! Yes, that sounds good!" Said Brittney with a sincere smile, her parents would clear this up no problem!

The man brings up his phone. "If you could just tell me their number?"

Brittney snorts, "No one remembers numbers anymore, it's all automatic through our phones." She said, her snarky attitude briefly returning.

"Right, how silly of me. In that case if you could just tell me their names, I should be able to quickly look their number up in the database."

Again Brittney rolled her eyes. "Mr. and Mrs. Wong." She said flatly.

"Their FULL names please?" Asked the interviewer.

Again Britney opened her mouth...and again...nothing came out.

Brittney...Brittney was starting to feel a bit anxious...her not knowing about their jobs was weird but MAYBE understandable. They had money to get her what she wanted, who really cared where it came form? And it was all boring adult stuff anyway...but how the frack did she not know her parents NAMES!? Okay, if she was honest enough with her self; she was every bit as self-centered as her critics claimed, but shirly she wasn't THAT shallow!...wasn't she?

The interviewer waits for a bit as Brittney's continued thinking and rationalizations for her lack of personal self-knowledge caused her more and more confusion and dread...

"If there's a problem, we could try another means of contacting them...or perhaps someone else? A friend of yours perhaps? Or even a parent of your friend?" He asked with scripted helpfulness.

And so this went on...and Britney grew more and more panicked. How did she NOT know anything about her own life!? Her clique? She knew nothing, not even their names! Her Cheerleading squad, aside from Sabrina she knew nothing of anyone! And even with Sabrina she didn't know anything about her save her name and that she always got injured somehow! Her friends...oh, who was she kidding? She had CRONIES, not friends! Though that didn't matter as she couldn't remember anything about them either!

The interviewer eventually suggested some 'memory exercises' to help her focus and recall things. Ordinarily, Brittney wouldn't go for that kind of crap...but she was getting more and more frantic and desperate, at this point she'd do ANYTHING to get things 'normal' again.

He asks her to describe things from a bout a year before Star showed up...they start with her birthday party BEFORE the one Star crashed: Where did it take place? What presents did she get? What was the theme? Who did she invite?

Again...Brittney found herself coming up blank...she REMEMBERED the party...but the more she thought of it...it was more like remembering a movie or a dream...you got the highlights...but anything more detailed just wasn't important enough to be remembered, or indeed even put in the movie/dream in the first place...

And that went for anything going on the rest of that year too! And then when they got to two years ago...

Nothing...just nothing...just before one year of Star showing up...she could remember nothing at all about her life...

Brittney was starting to sob...

The interviewer actually looked sympathetic. "Sorry I put you through this, but trial and error has shown that it's easier for people in your situation to accept the truth if they reach the conclusion themselves..." He says while giving her a Kleenex.

Brittney uses the kleenex to blow her nose. "What conclusion? What are you talking about?"

"That your life makes no sense at ALL." He says flatly.

Brittney just looks at him baffled...then she just slumps down exhausted and weary... "Look...can you just get my parents to come pick me up? There important people, it shouldn't be hard to find them! I...I just want to go home!"

The interviewer sighed, "I'm sorry Miss Wong...but I'm afraid that won't be possible..."

...

Buff Frog sat patiently in line as the monsters, Mewmans and Echo Creek citizens waited to discuss their futures with SCP Foundation guidance counselors.

The other kingdoms of their old world- although having difficulty adjusting to life in a new world with no magic -at least weren't suffering from the disadvantage of recently having their entire kingdom smashed to bits by a madwoman. In any case, with no real infrastructure and their queen no longer having the magic to repair it they were being forced to look elsewhere for a steady income...

Thus, Buff Frog began to notice an amusing discrepancy. First of all: there seemed to be no room in this modern world for 'medieval' job titles such as Gong farmer, town crier, Galley Rower, or Cup bearer- alchemists in contrast had an odd amount of job security weirdly enough -which was itself bad as that was the majority of job-type the Mewmans did. Worse, the Mewmans didn't have much in the way of practical skills.

Weirdly enough, despite living in the 'dung ages' of progress...Mewmans tended to have a better standard of living then all the other kingdoms back in the old world...

But this hadn't been because of anything the PEOPLE did...no, it was all because of their QUEENS. Need food? With a zap of their wand; the crops immediately grew from seedling to stalk, all the food they could eat. They just needed to harvest it. Need money? The queen just wills enough exotic goods, gives them to the merchants and suddenly Mewni is the biggest economic hub on the planet! Need your house fixed after a natural disaster? Wave of the wand, it's fixed! Injured? Same thing!

The only thing she couldn't reliably give is protection, sure a lot of the time they could easily defeat invaders or the like...but war was complicated, unpredictable, bloody affair and the Queen was just one person. So in this at least, the Mewmans had to help their Queen out...

Still...generations of this had led to a society of a rather violent people that were completely dependent on their royal family for most of their needs.

Worse, it was a society that actively FOUGHT against any changes. They knew they had it better then that other kingdoms and they didn't want ANYTHING to disrupt that!

Sadly, this was a large reason for the quick ends of the reigns of Jushtin, Dirhhennia , and to a lesser extent Eclipsa...

They wanted to just let people solve their own issues- well, in Eclipsa's case she ran away from her responsibilities to be with her monster lover...but it had the same affect -and the people didn't want that. So they had to GO.

'Well, I suppose it doesn't matter what they want anymore.' Notes Buff Frog with a smirk. Now he knew that it was wrong to take pleasure in the failure of others...but there was just something so CATHARTIC in seeing all the Mewmans who for generations had treated his people like crap...get turned away time and time again due to their lack of useful skill-sets. While his fellow monsters- who for generations had been forced to become self-reliant and acquire numerous skills sets lest they starve/be killed -found themselves more likely to walk out with a job.

Of course, it wasn't always so easy. Better skills or no, they was still the technical issues of adjusting to a modern setting and a new world. Thankfully, The SCP Foundation were offering free schooling to help people/monsters transition easier to their new settings.

However, this offer was mostly rejected by the Mewmans. Like most of their thinking, the concept of 'education' was mostly stuck in a- 'What us is writing when a man can only write their name in pigshit? What use is wisdom to a pheasant who shall never allowed to rise higher then their station?' -feudal era form.

The monsters however, were more then happy to take up this offer. They weren't picky, they knew they were in a rough spot and needed every advantage they could get. The harsh swamp life had made it a necessity to adapt and change when needed, and they would gladly continue doing so in this new world...

Yes, it might take a generation or two...but the seeds of the reversal of fortunes of the two people's were already showing...

'What is a 'D-class personal'? And why dose it require signing so many waivers to become one?' Thinks Buff Frog as the vast majority of Mewmans who were rejected from all other jobs were sent away by the SCP to D-class orientation...

"Yvgeny Bulgolyubov?"

Buff Frog came out of his thoughts as he saw a Foundation operative had walked up to him in his place in line and had addressed him.

"Uh...yes?" He asked cautiously.

The man nods, "The site-director wishes to speak with you." He gestures to allow him to cut the line.

There was grumblings and even some yelling about the line cutting, but a curious Buff Frog ignore them and follows him...

The 'Site Director' was really just the guy who'd been in charge of the outpost set to observe and monitor Echo Creek. But recent events forced the Foundation to quickly upgrade the outpost to an actual site. And thus the outpost leader was temporarily promoted to site director until they could find someone more qualified to take his place...in the meantime he had a job to do...

"Mr. Buff Frog I'm going to be blunt: you have a wide variety of skills, your seen as a unofficial civic leader among your fellow monsters...although we would have a wide variety of jobs for you on just that note. But me and my superiors would like to float something else by you..." He slides a mayoral registration/citizen naturalization sheet over to him.

Buff Frog looks at it stunned, "You want me to become the mayor of Echo-Creek?"

"Well, many of you monsters have no homes after Mina's rampage and Echo-creek has PLENTY of empty homes. So were planning to start moving you there. Having a monster mayor there would go a long way to helping the transition go smoothly."

"Wait, what about the current mayor? Actually, strike that. Why are there so many empty houses in the first place?"

The site director blanched, "Uhhhhh..."

...earlier...

"MY FACE IS A NIGHTMARE! SOMEONE STOP THIS!" Screams a certain Taxi driver with a 'I'm going to murder you horribly' face that had been stuck that way since he kicked out Star and Marco out of his taxi on their 'Beach Day'...

A bunch of equally crazed Echo-Creek denizens were obliging by punching his face until it hopefully stopped being so freaky...

The Foundation agents sighed as they shot them with tranq darts...this was the fifteenth group of echo creek citizens today who'd freaked out over the revelations of their existence...and it showed no signs of dying down...

...

"They had more trouble adjusting to the current situation then most." Said the director delicately.

Thankfully- or not so thankfully as he'll soon realize -Buff Frog was too busy having another revelation to really think about his last question.

"Wait a minute, is this all just one big 'diversity hire political snafu' to make you look better to the world and maybe lighten your legal woes?"

The director mentally groaned, when was a REAL Site-director going to be assigned to take this sector over? The whole reason he got into espionage was to get AWAY from talking to people! He was no good at it!

"Uh...correction! It's a 'diversity hire political snafu' that will give you a luxury mayor mansion and top dollar pension for you and your children to enjoy!" He says quickly as he slaps down a picture of said mansion and the large estimate of his paycheck figures...

Buff Frog looked at this thoughtfully, "To be clear that's a BIG number on earth." He says pointing at the check. "Uh, yes. Absolutely."

Buff Frog thinks on this. "Hmmm...I don't know...on the one claw this would give me and my children a place to live, food on the table, and power to actually make things better for my fellow monsters...but on the other claw...is this REALLY the right way to go about this? Setting a precedent for giving a person a job based on their species rather then merits? I mean, wasn't one of the many problems that caused the whole Mewni/Monster conflict because many people favored the Mewmans over the monsters? And while I love Eclipsa for what she TRIED to do, it was pretty obvious that favoring monsters over Mewmans wasn't doing great either...so is this REALLY the right way to set the tone for this new age-

"We'll throw in a free health and dental plan for you and your children!" Shouts the site Director desperately.

"Deal." Said Buff Frog with a smile as he shook his hand and took the paperwork to begin his registration.

As he walked away, the Director sighed in relief. "NEXT!" He shouts as a purple Seahorse-like creature wearing a old, tattered Reflectacorp(1) uniform enters the room...

...

Brittney looked pained... She just watched a video of her parents being led into separate rooms and being given similar interviews as hers...

Except, unlike her being able to 'mostly' keep it together as the interviewer pointed out the inconsistencies in her life...they just fell to pieces half-way through...

It...was horrifying...her parents just looked lost...like actors that forgot their lines...then like puppets who'd had their strings cut before being tossed aside...they left the rooms sobbing, wailing, broken wrecks...or at least her father did...

Something much worse happened to her mother...at the height of the interview...she just ceased to exist...just faded from existence...

"What...what...WHAT!?" Said a now VERY lost Brittney.

"Yes, we didn't realize that could be an issue until AFTER 1/3rd of Echo Creek had already 'faded', we tried to delay until we could figure things out...but in all the chaos of the aftermath some idiot spilled what happened and many more citizens 'faded' from the revelations. We apologize for this. In our defense; although similar situations like this have popped up before, it was never anything on this SCALE. Nothing even close to a town of this size and scope. Seeing how it was only a matter of time before what happened was revealed to the rest of the citizens. We decided to just continue, and help them through the revelations. Minimize the impact. But although we've stopped several from fading...many more just couldn't cope with the 'truth' and simply ceased to be-

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Screamed Brittney.

"Right, sorry. My apologize. I'm getting ahead of myself."

He shows her another video, it showed an empty stretch of land Brittney frowned...it looked familiar...but...

To her surprise a small blue guy...wasn't that the freaky thing that hung around Star? Anyway, he popped out of nowhere, waved at the camera and snapped his fingers...and the town of Echo Creek just popped into existence. The man winked and disappeared as quickly as he came.

Brittney just blinked...not fully understanding what she saw...

"What you see is about a couple weeks before Star showed up...and that's when Echo Creek came into existence...before that...it never existed...and neither did you or anyone else in Echo Creek...I'm sorry Mrs. Wong..."

He then activates the forcefield mere seconds before Wong attacks him screaming denials...

'Huh, she managed to stay clam five minutes longer then the last one before getting to the rabid denial stage...well, that's progress at least...'

...

Queen Wrathmelior Lucitor looked around at all the gathered royals; Her husband King Dave Lucitor, King Johansen and Queen Johansen of the Johansen Kingdom, King Jaggy and Queen Jaggy of the Jaggy Mountain Kingdom, King Pony Head of the Cloud Kingdom of the Pony Heads, King Spiderbite and Queen Spiderbite of the Spiderbite Kingdom, Prince Rich Pigeon of Pigeon Kingdom, King and Queen Kelpbottom of the Waterfolk Kingdom, and Pie king of the Pie Folk...

They'd all been gathered here to have a conference with various U.N., American, SCP Foundation, GOC and UIU representatives about the future of their kingdoms on this new world...

The only one's who weren't here was of course was Eclipsa and her family, who were too busy tending to their ruined kingdom to come...

Well...that was the OFFICIAL reason anyway...

Oh, there Kingdom WAS a mess and the people- both Mewman and Monster -needed homes and to be tended to. So no doubt that actually was true as well...

But everyone here knew the REAL reason...

To put it bluntly...the Butterfly Monarchy was FINISHED.

The magic and riches that made them one of the most prosperous kingdoms on the old world was GONE. A large reason many had put up with their family's crazy shenanigans- Skywynne blowing up a dimension, Solaria's genocidal crusades, Festivia's drunken orgies, Crescenta forcibly pushing her policies on everyone 'for their own good', Rhina casting a curse on MHC member Reynaldo the Bald Pate on a whim, the weird double-standerd hypocritical racism -was not just because of the MHC's approval and protection...but also because they're magic made them the most powerful people in the universe! It was amazing how quickly a persons viewpoint would quickly match that of the person who had the BIGGER gunboat...

As for their riches? No magic meant the Butterflies couldn't just make more. Eclipsa hadn't really bothered to replenish it after her daughters rampage. She'd been too busy focusing on rebuilding her family and raising the living standards of monsters. So what little was left was now being used to help their now homeless and destitute people.

Now that both were gone, they no longer had to put up with their crap...

That and Eclipsa was just not interested in ruling anymore. She was going to stay in charge long enough to make sure her people(mostly the monsters) were being seen to...but after that she was retiring to to be with her family.

...So really...who was left? Even if Moon was still alive, no one would follow her after helping Mina get the power and army she needed to massacre the kingdom...

King River could technically do it after his seemingly endless mourning for his wife but it was obvious he was no ruler and he knew it...In any case; the rest of the Johansen family were already discretely cutting off all ties from the Mewni kingdom and giving it up as a lost cause. So it was moot point anyway...

The rest of the Butterfly family? The likes of Felicity or Heartrude? The whole family was laying low after the non-stop scandals brought about by Eclipsa, Moon and Star...for all their faults they were smart enough to see the monarchy as a dead man walking...so no help there...

As for Star? Well, the monsters and Mewmans were grateful to her for stopping Mina's rampage...but want her as a leader?...no, just no...

No, the Kingdom of Mewni was finished...and while Wrathmelior did feel a bit bad of it's passing since the Lucitor's and Butterflies had had a VERY lucrative partnership since the time of Rhina Butterfly...but...if she was being honest...

And she knew her fellow Royals agree- sure, their had been plenty of good times with the Butterflies in charge as well, a good deal of their children did like Star and they would naturally deny any enjoyment of their downfall in PUBLIC out of common courtesy and respect of old ties... but the fact was that they were all looking forward to a post Butterfly-dominated world.

And that was what it had been...for better or for worse the Butterfly kingdom had dwarfed all the other kingdoms in all matters of importance.

Who got the reality breaking magic? The Butterflies.

Who got a seat on the the Magical High Commission? The Butterflies.

Who got a say in the distribution of magic and the inner-workings of the universe? The Butterflies.

All the other kingdoms? They might as well not even exist...

Plus it was hard to be sympathetic when an arsonist finally got burned. No matter how you looked at it; all the drama that had played out the last couple years or so had in one way or another had been the result of Mewnian policy in regards to 'monsters' or decisions of their rulers past or present: Toffee, Meteora, Eclipsa, Mina, the DESTRUCTION of magic and the merging of the two worlds! One way or another it all went back to the Butterflies in one shape or form!

Oh, they'd give aide where they could, grieve as protocol dictated, Still let their children be friends with Star...but it was a new age upon them and if they didn't want to be left behind they needed to step forward...regardless of who they left behind...

"Mom! You've avoided me long enough!" Speaking of those left behind...

".emit eht ton si won ,noS"(2) Spoke Wrathmelior with a groan. She'd been avoiding her son for weeks now for just this sort of thing... ".noos gnitrats eb lliw ecnerfnoc ehT" She gestures to all the royals waiting around. The SCP Foundation was still waiting for the other delegates to show up in addition to setting up the conference room. In the meantime they were all getting to know the neutral judge who the Foundation had called to preside over the conference affairs.

He was Judge Mental, a matryoshka doll-like being from a dimension adjacent to earth. Although more difficult to travel to other dimensions without Hekapoo around to keep things orderly and stable...the SCP had always strived to not be too dependent on non-terrestrial entities like the MHC. So they'd long mastered many non-Hekapoo reliant ways to get about the universe...among other things...

In any case the Foundation apparently use him as a neutral arbiter and were nice enough to allow them to get to know him. Even offered to cancel his services if the majority didn't like him.

Well, no fear of that in any case. The man was tough, refused to tolerate any nonsense, irritable, temperamental...but VERY fair. He'd also read up on all the kingdoms culture, economics, history and political structure. He'd allowed them to quiz him on said subjects to their hearts content and he'd passed with flying colors. More importantly he saw through all of Pie King's tricks and nonsense and wasn't fooled by his crap for even one second! Honestly, why the Foundation allowed him to come she'd never understand...

She was forced from her thoughts when her son physically blocked her.

"No, I'm done with you avoiding me! Now explain to me why you didn't come and help Mewni during Mina's rampage! And don't think I don't know you helped Hekapoo stop me from using my powers to teleport back to Mewni!" Demanded Tom.

Seeing she wasn't going to get out of explaining this, she mentally prepared herself and quickly made sure no one could overhear them.

-eW :raelc eb em teL .em ot netsiL ,nos yM"

"We? Who's we?" Asked Tom confused.

Wrathmelior was a bit put off from the interruption, but tried to be patient and explain for her sons sake.

".derucco ocsaif elohw siht erofeb did I sa nooM dna CHM eht morf tisiv EMAS eht deviecer slayor eht lla niatrec ylriaf m'I tub- meht ot ti timda reven lliw I sa -ti timda reven ll'yehT .EW ,seY"

Tom looked confused... "Star's mom...and the HMC meet you? Why?"

".ot deerga lla ew ,shtrof-dna-kcab dna snoissecnoc lactilop lausu eht retfa hcihw...aspilcE morf enorht eht kooter ehs sa refretni ton ot su fo lla rof tnemeerga na DNA enorht eht demialcer ehs retfa nooM troppus ot su ecnivnoc oT" Admitted Wrathmelior without hesitation, as she braced herself for her sons explosion.

...she wasn't disappointed...

"AGREED?! You all agreed to this travesty!? Mom what is wrong with you!? People DIED! Magic was destroyed! I swear if this is because of Star so help me-

"...!pu-kaerb dias fo RUOH erem a nihtiw ratS etad ot noissimrep ocraM gnivig nosrep reggib eht ffo emac neve uoy ,yaw elbacima YREV a na ti ot deganam yllautca uoy secnatsmucric eht etipsed woh ,emit siht ffo sgniht kaerb ot eno eht erew UOY woh denialpxe ydaerla uoY !siht htiw od ot gnihton dah ratS"

She shouted angrily before trailing off as she was overcome by parental pride and wiped away a tear.

"!uoy fo duorp os m'I ,pu-nworg dna erutam os emoceb evah uoy tuB .won thgir em htiw yrgna era uoy wonk I .nos ym ,hO" She exclaimed happily.

Tom was briefly thrown by this showing of love and affection, but he quickly brushed it off. "Don't change the subject! If you didn't do it because of Star-

"!modgnik ruo fo doog eht rof saw siht ,yob raed ym dnatsrednu ot yrT !taht sa yttep os nosaer a rof siht od REVEN dluow I ,ratS htiw seussi ym etipseD" She implored.

Tom blinked at her confused. "For our Kingdom? What dose our Kingdom have to do with this? and why would you want to get ride of Eclipsa? She was a great leader! She was helping the Monsters to FINALLY be treated like equals!"

His mother sighed, ".sretsnom eht YLNO dna SRETSNOM eht ot redael doog a saw ehS :melborp eht deil niereht tub...eiteews wonk I"

Tom looked at her baffled, "Say what now?"

Wrathmelior pinched her nose in frustrated anguish...she'd been hoping to spare her son the harsh realities of the throne for a couple more years...but she supposed she didn't have that luxury anymore...especially in these chaotic times...yes...perhaps it was for the best...

"?detcepser dna devol os erew sroticuL ew tey...snamweM eht yb deliver os erew sretsnom yhw derednow reven uoy evah ,noS"

Tom, confused by this sudden question...nevertheless goes into Deep thought over it. "Well...we briefly touched on it...but that kinda got overshadowed with actually helping out the monsters...I think Star's mom implied that it was because we were rich and powerful and they...WEREN'T. But that can't be right..."

".nosaer eht yllaitnesse si taht ,SEY yllautca tub...noitacifilpmisrevo na fo tib a s'ti yllacinhcet ,lleW"

Tom gaped at her horrified, "What, but...that's just so...SHALLOW. What, the rich and more powerful are treated with open arms, but if your poor your treated like crap?"

".seY" Stated his mother flatly, his son looked at her in horror. She sighed, ".remrof eht rof retal eht pu evig ot redael a rof tnemeriuqer a hguone netfo erom si ti tub...nosrep doog a dna relur doog a HTOB ot elbissopmi ton si ti ,nos yM"

Tom looked up at her baffled, "I...I don't understand..."

Her mother just looked down on him with sad eyes... ".ouq sutats eht niatniam ot aspilcE ot did yeht tahw reh ot od tsuj dluow CHM eht rO .fo tuo worg dluow ehs esahp suoilleber a saw siht rehtie taht derugif tsuj yltsenoh eW .erehwyna og ot ti detcepxe yllautca reven ew tub ,inweM fo neeuQ erutuf eht htiw rovaf laitnetop niag ot saw tnemeerga s'ratS dengis ew nosaer ylno ehT .thgilp sretsnom eht ot yaw rehto eht dekool ew ,suorepsorp dna yppah elpoep ruo gnipeek fo eman eht ni oS .rewop ngierof a fo ytironim roop-trid a tsuj erew sretsnom eht dna dnal eht ni modgnik lufrewop dna hcir tsom eht erew snamweM eht ,yad eht fo dne eht ta tuB .snamweM eht yb nevig erew sretsnom eht tnemtaert eht dekil REVEN srelur rehto eht dna ew ,yob yM"

She reaches over to give him a comforting stroke, but he slaps it away. "That's terrible!" He exclaims in a hurt way.

".scitilop s'tahT" Stated Wrathmelior with a shrug.

But what dose that have to do with Eclipsa? I mean, you all accepted her as the new ruler of Mewni..."

".ESROW sgniht ekam tsuj dluow hcihw ,relur on htiw trapa llaf modgnik inweM eht tel ot eb dluow noitpo rehto ylno pets t'ndluoc yeht os- She pauses to shudder in revulsion at even thinking of such a possibility -stnadnecsed ELPOEP EIP dna enorht eht ot sdratsab etamitigelli gnieb yllaer fo snoitalever eht retfa soahc ni saw ylimaf ylfrettuB eht fo tser ehT .tsniaga ylmrif erew smodgnik rehto eht hcihw ,rovaf rieht ni hcum oot rewop fo ecnalab eht deppit evah dluow smodgnik OWT fo lortnoc gniniag ylimaf nesnahoJ ehT .elbirret...saw reviR .dnuof eb ot erehwon saw nooM .enorht eht yawa evag ratS .snoitpo rehto on saw ereht esuaceb reh tpecca ot DAH ew ,oN"

Tom again, just looked confused, "Whay are you all against Eclipsa? She was a great ruler!"

Her mother quirked an eyebrow skeptically, "?YLLAER ehs saW ?nos ehs saW"

Tom looked at her confused, "What do you mean? Of course she was! She finally gave monsters equal rights!" He pointed out.

"?redael a sa emit reh gnirud dehsilpmocca ehs taht staef rehto yna fo kniht uoy naC ?neeuQ sa od ehs did ESLE tahw tub ,hA" Asked her mother flatly.

Tom opend his mouth to retort...but found himself coming up blank! "Well...Star was really the one more involved with her day-to-day affairs..." He rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "Plus the whole Mewman/Monster thing was kinda a big hot-topic for both of them..." He shakes his head and quickly recomposes himself. "But what dose that matter? That was REALLY important!"

"?noitargimmi lagelli yrtidnab ot gnitroser morf stcejbus reh gnippots dna ,taolfa ymonoce labolg eht gnipeek ,smodgnik rehto eht htiw spihsnoitaler doog gniniatniam neht tnatropmi eroM" Points out Wrathmelior scathingly.

Tom blanched.. "Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

Wrathmelior groans, "!?modgnik EMOH ruoy ni tsael ta ro ,inweM edistuo smodgnik rehto eht ni os ro raey tsal eht pu gnippop neeb evah taht smelborp eht deciton ton ylsuoires uoy evah tub...erongi ot dnet uoy sgniht hcus dna neet a ruoy wonk I ,eiteewS" She asks incredulously.

Tom blushed awkwardly, "Well...I've been busy!...with Star." He mumbles that last bit...

Wrathmelior pinched the bridge of her nose, well at least she now knew for sure that explaining such harsh realities to her son so soon was the right choice...a kingdoms heir who was oblivious to his countries issues was a recepie for disaster!

"!sisirc noitargimmi no-lluf a ot noitidda nI !noissecer labolg a fo elddim eht ni erew ew 'gnivaelC' eht erofeb taht dezilaer evah d'uoY .noitnetta gniyap neeb dah uoy fi ,lleW"

Tom gaped, "What!? How!?" He exclaimed.

Wrathmelior rolled her eyes at her son's oblviousness, "?taht ot secneuqesnoc on eb dluow rieht kniht yllaer uoy did...degavar dna dedavni yldetaeper neeb raey tsap eht ni sah dlrow dlo eht ni noitan tseihtlaew tsom ,lufrewop tsom eht ,nos yM" She asked irritably.

Tom frowned, "Wait, are you talking about Toffee and Metora's invasion? I...I mean that was bad, obviously but...I...I guess I didn't think of that?" He admited embaressed.

Silently vowing to fire her sons clearly incompetent tutors...out of a cannon if possible...she continued.

"!flesreh fo loof a ekam dna esivorpmi ot decrof saw ratS elihw setibredipS eht no 'dekalf' ssel ro erom ehs ,duol tuo gniyrc roF !taht enod evah neve t'ndluow ehs ,smodgnik rehto eht htiw spihsnoitaler doog niatniam ot yrt ot reh dehsup t'ndah ratS fi ,kceH .derehtob eb t'ndluoc ehs epacse rogbolG gnipleh ro ,rethguad reh htiw emit gnidneps ,ytilauqe niag sretsnom gnipleh htiw od ot evah t'ndid ti fI !melborp eht fo toor eht s'taht ,niaga tuB .meht ot degnoleb tahw kcab sretsnom eht gnivig tsuj saw ehs wonk I ,seY .gnihtyna yas uoy erofeB -semoh rieht fo tuo snamweM gnikcik yb ESROW ti edam ehs gnihtyna fI !kcab evom ot snamweM fo aropsaid eht ecnivnoc ot GNIHTYNA od t'ndid ehs ,kcart no kcab ymonoce eht gnitteg no krow t'ndid ehs ,egamad eht xif t'ndid ehS .seow smodgnik eht fo yna xif ot GNIHTYNA od t'ndid ehs ,edisa noitatuper reH !aspilcE ot enorht eht ot pu evag ratS...NIAGA...deyortsed saw inweM fo modgnik eht retfA .derrucco retsasid aroeteM elohw eht neht tub...dexif eb dluoc sgniht tnedifnoc erew ew esac eht no nooM htiw tub dab llits erew sgniht ,sgniht gnidliuber trats ot elba yllufknaht saw nooM ,taefed s'effoT retfA .raef ni eelf snezitic ynam gnikam dna gnihtyreve gninettalf esrow sgniht edam ylno tseuqnoc s'eb-ot-desuoppus-saw-eh-lleh-eht-revetahw/s'effoT/s'oduL ,yrehcuabed fo ngier olos suortsasid dna feirb sreviR gniK gnirud tsrif nageb pmuls cimonoce ehT"

Tom was stunned by the rant as she took a breath, "!rekaerb-laed a neeb ev'dluow gnihtyna neht erom TAHT...dnim reh edarged dna tsiwt ot detrats lautir tnemrewopme nairaloS eht EROFEB hctib enasni na saw namow tahT !ti htiw gnola og t'ndluow ew eetnaraug I ,dah ew fi dnA !siht htiw od ot GNIHTYNA dah ANIM aedi on dah ew ;raelc YREV eb em tel tuB .esnes nommoc tsuj saw nooM rof worhtrevo reh gnitroppuS !ti saw tahT .denosirpmi rogbolG peek ot esimorp eht dna yhcrana rehtruf esuac dna yletelpmoc trapa llaf ot modgnik eht tnaw t'ndid ,dnaw eht yb paz teg ot tnaw t'ndid ew esuaceb aspilcE detarelot ylerab eW !'egalliv' reh ot snamweM decalpsid fo ytirojam eht gnitcartta yb sisirc noitargimmi namweM eht deziminim ylgnittiwnu ehS !su gnipleh yllanoitnetninu llits saw ehs denorhted neve kceH .egrahc ni nooM htiw ega nedlog a dah smodgnik eht llA .enorht eht kcab koot ehs troppus CHM htiw sa yaw rehto eht dekool dna nooM htiw dedis ew yhw si yob ym TAHT dnA !seirtnuoc ruo dedoolf ohw stnargimmi namweM tnetepmocni fo egrus eht dna pmuls cimonoce eht hguorht htoB !ti htiw deggard erew ew dna trapa llef modgnik eht fo tser eht elihw ytironim degelivirprednu a dna ylimaf reh no noitnetta reh lla dehsival ehS .elpmis dna nialP .redael rapbus saw ehs...roirraw a neve dna rehtom a sa reh tcepser nac I elihw tub...ssenippah dnif ylimaf reh dna ehs epoh yleniuneg I rehtona ot rehtom eno morf dna hguorht tup saw ylimaf reh dna aspilcE lleh eht wonk I ,kooL" She says that last bit with an indignant huff. For the life of her she couldn't figure out what possesed Moon to do such a convuluted plan! At WORST they'd expected a minor coup...but not this!

Tom just couldn't believe what he was hearing! "But mom...Eclipsa's a nice person! And she was trying to do right by the monsters...and for you to just ignore their plight..." He trails off.

Her mother sighed. "...taht nrael tsum uoy ,gnik eb ot tnaw reve uoy fi...modgniK dna elpoep ruoy rof thgir si tahw rof thgir si kniht UOY tahw edisa tup tsum uoy ton neht netfo erom...gnik sa dna...tluciffid si ti tub...redael doog a DNA nosrep doog a eb ot elbissopmi ton s'tI .nos ym ,hO" She says giving him a loving hug...

Tom just stood there...looking very lost...before his mother could comfort him further...

"Attention, I thank you for your pateince. But if your all fine with our selected arbiter; Judge mental. Tehn we are ready to begin!" Says a Foundation agent that had just enterd the room.

The Lucitor Queen sighs wearily but gives her son a kiss and leaves a now VERY thoughtful and conflicted Tom as she follows the other Royals into the next room...they were in for a LONG day...

...many hours later...

The Pie King sat in the confrence hotels sauna grumbling. Today had been one disaster after another! No one had been more suprised then him that he'd been summoned to this confrence! He'd been overjoyed at first, not only was his nation FINALLY recognized as a legitimate country- so many wonderful scaming opportunities that opend initself! -but the Pie Folk would have a chance in twisting this new world order to THEIR benefit!

He and his fellow pie folk were just as surprised as everyone else when magic was seemingly destroyed and they were sent to another world. Unlike the other kingdoms though, they were quicker to adapt. It was an unspoken rule that Criminals had to adapt faster to unfortunate setbacks more so then anyone else; there's was a dangerous profession that went against the grain of society after all. Those who don't adapt ended up either bankrupt, arrested, dead or WORSE.

And after so many genearations of the worst of the worst gathering, sceheming, killing and ravishing on pie island, natural selection had made sure that they as a people were Nothing if not adaptable...among other things...

Had it been annoying that many of their magic-related scams suddenly fizzled out? Yes. But very few of them had magic anyway- the MHC had periodically seen to that -plus when you lived in a world filled with magical beings that were pissed at you, it was practically essential to master many ways of subverting or doing without maigc to avoid detection...

So sure, many Pie Folk shops were forcibly closed the day the magic died, but within the same day those same shops were quickly re-opend as 'magical substitute' pharmacy's, 'Treasure maps leading to new magic' stores, 'magic restoring elixer' apothecary's, 'magic fitness instructor' gyms, etc...

In other words they were doing fine...and they would do even finer now they were legit nation attending a grand summit to decide the future of amany...for any good con artist knows that times of crisis and chaos were the best times to aplly their craft. It was amazing the things you could trick frightend and terrfied people into doing for you...

At least...that had been the HOPE...

The Pie King cursed, that Judge Mental was no dummy! He saw past all his flatery and tricks! Worse, he refused to be bribed!(An unbribable official? Now he'd seen everything!)

If anything, all his schems and attempted bribery acomplished nothing but making him even more furious at him and his people!

When the confrence began, the Judge had already lablded him and his people as 'troublemakers' and used every legal opportunity he could to bang his gavel to silence and punish him! He smashed through FIFTY podiums in the first hour alone!

The Pie King tried every burecratic lie and procedural trick he knew to turn things around, but the Judge was no fool! After that blasted Baron snookered him and nearly bambozled his international summit from under his nose to keep those poor children enslaved, he'd vowed to learn the ways of the scoundrel to never again be 'taken for a ride' again!...and it showed!

Not only did all of the Pie kings schemes fall flat before they could get off the ground, but the Judge actually managed to twist them around to backfire on him!

Didn't take long for the rest of the Kingdoms to gang up on him to not only settle old greviances but also to win favor with the Judge...

And thus at the end of his first day here: The Pie king found himself having not onlfy failed miserably to fill his pockets or advance his nations positition but now he found numerous sanctions thrown at him from all sides and now deep in debt!

Ordinarily he'd just ignore the debt or hide his money...but apparently those guest sighn-in books doubled as mystically binding contracts...he'd been horrfied to see both his personal wealth and that of his countires magically appear in thin air and be given to all the 'wronged' parties...

The Pie King groaned, the steam doing nothing to relax him! After all this he'd be lucky to keep his LIFE, let alone his TITLE! He wouldn't be surprised to find an angry mob waiting for him back home. Unless he found some gold to wave under their noses, he was a dead man walking!

Their was a loud clunk, as a large treasure chest overflowing with gold and jewels was dropped in front of him.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head, he looked over to see a masked man dressed in a trenchcoat, seemingly oblivious to the humidity around him.

"What's this?" Asked the Pie King gesturing to the chest, he was no fool. Tempted as he was, he knew better then to trust seemingly 'free' gold.

"A gift in good faith, all I ask in return is a quick chat."

The Pie King looked at him warily, but nodded. At this point, what did he have to lose?

The man smirked, it was almost too easy.

Judge Mental was as profesional, impartial and uncorruptible as they came...but he had one VERY big weakness...his TEMPER...and two things more then anything else set him off...criminal activity going unpunished...and nonsensical shenanigans...two things the Pie Folk EXCELLED at.

The Foundation suggesting that the royals meet and quiz Judge Mental wasn't ONLY to reassure them of the Judge's capabilities and profeshinalism...but so that the Pie King would predictably try to 'work his magic' on him, thus even more predictably accomplish nothing but enraging him.

Making sure to begin the confrence while the Judge was in peak anger. Thus guaranteing the Judge- while still keeping himself profeshinal and the proceddings legal amazingly enough -would gain a bit of a tunnel vision in regards to putting the Pie folk in their place.

The Foundation set this up for three reasons:

1. Taking advantage of the animosty and disdain for the Pie Folk to further reassure the other kingdoms that the proceedings were in good hands and that the Judge and Foundation knew what they were doing.

2. To weaken a potential thorn in everyone's side in a completely public, legal and P.R. Friendly manner that actually made them look good to the world.

3. Finally, To make the Pie Folk desperate enough so they would be more willing to agrre to his employeers wishes...

That last reason being more 'off-the-books', of course. The Foundation didn't like it, but their resources were currently stretched too thin to police some new rougr nation of theives and swindlers...

Which left them few other options...

The Foundation or another Earth government flat out taking it over or wiping them out would only make them look bad to the world and increase their legal woes...not to mention make the other kingdoms nervous and wary of being next; which they did NOT need right now with tensions so high everywhere else...plus the fact that no matter how much the other kingdoms denied it...there was evidence implicating that many of them had a similar 'understanding' with the Pie Folk that his Employeer had with the Foundation...and thus wouldn't enjoy some outsider messing with said 'arangement'...

Trying to ally with them to minimize the trouble they could cause would be a PR Nightmare they just didn't need right now with Legal Lee on the prowl...

So...with all other options exhausted...they came to yet another 'understanding' with his employeer in the usual backroom setting...

Basically; they could do with the Pie folk and their country whatever they wished and they'd look the other way...but on the condition they kept them out of trouble- on Earth - and out of their hair.

And thus the secret wheels and deals of the world that kept the earth going round continued to function even after a calamity like the Cleaving...

His employeer was rather happy with the deal, they would soon be gearing up for some rapid, agreesive expansion and some newblood to fill their ranks wouldn't go amiss. True, these Pie Folk were an odd people...rough around the edges, for sure...but there WAS potential...provided they had the 'right' guidance to show them the way...

But if nothing else; their lands would do well as yet another safe haven for them to lay their heads, make their deals and spread their influence without interferance...

"My employeer would like to disccus with you a potential alliance." Said the man as he handed the Pie King a bussiness card marked 'MC&D LTD'...

...

Britta's Tacos had seen better days. It had been blown clean off it's foundations while SCP, GOC, UIU, and UN teams were all colaberating to excavate the caves beneath the crater. Catalouge first 'Mewman' artifacts and sucking up all the remaining black, corrupted magic goo out of the fromer magic sanctuary.

"Fascinating, it seems that the 'Bonner party' was indeed the first Mewmans! It would also seem that contrary to what Echo Creek has recorded, the Bonner party did NOT win the war against Otis's possum horde. But rather they were defeated and the renmants were forced to flee to the Realm of Magi and then Mewni. It should also be noted that also contrary to that, this did NOT happen in 1846 but rather the 1600's..."

"The possums overran the humans? How in the- Wait...if that's true; what happend to them? Shouldn't they still be around if they won?"

"I don't rightly know, local records from other towns show that all attempts to make a town here have been thwarted at every turn by the possums. Then of course Glossaryck created the town, putting it right here and creating a memetic sheild that made everyone in the surrounding area ignore the place...so...who knows what happend to the possums? Maybe glossaryck did something right for once and killed them all." Said the proffessor as he busily used his pickaxe to break through another clump of dirt...

CRACK!

Entering into another cavern FILLED with magic-induced hibernating possums, all of which had been slowly waking as the maigc had been fading away...but now were all immedaitely awakend...and SNARLING!

The professor gulped as the army of possums glared- Turns out the statue of Otis was LIFE-sized, who knew? -at him and foamed seeped from their mouths in rage...

"Found them." He said with a gulp as they all descended on him...

...A couple minutes earlier outside the excavation site...

A GOC grunt moved much of the corrupted magic gunk into an armored truck. "Explain to me again why were delivering this crap to those Flame Keeper's Circle Nutjobs?" He asked annoyed.

His partner grunted as he moved another box into the truck. "It's part of the pleabargin the GOC negotiated with them. In adition to a large cash settlement, we share our research in regards to potnatially beneficial abnormalities...in exchange they don't join the legal Lee lawsuit and drop the charges in regards to us murdering their 'God' Dagon." He says the God part with with sketpical derision. "Not that it'll do us much good...fracking Legal Lee...give me frogs! Locust! Daleport! Anything but that asshole of a lawyer!" He shouts frustrated

The grunt winced, the SCP were currently wheathering the Lawsuite...well...not in a 'great' way. But they were getting through it a hell of a lot better the the GOC was! For all the SCP's faults they mostly stuck to the 'only kill as a last resort' policly...the GOC had no such defense. Accusations fo war crimes were pilling up...one thing was for certain...if by some Miracle the GOC survived after having it's carcass picked clean...it would be completely diffrent beast...

'Come to think of it, the only one coming out of this smelling like roses is Senior Director Charles Goodwin and his faction...maybe I should try to get protection from them? I still got those compromising pictures of Senator Roark...maybe I can use it as a barganing chip?'

His thoughts were interupted by screams of pain and teror from the excavation site.

"Shit! Get this out of here! We need to see what's happening!" Shouts his partner as he bangs the truck to signal that it needs to leave fast. All the guards rush in to the hole as the truck zooms away...

...

Alfonzo walked into the room to see Ferguson lay on the couch eating corn chips while watching TV.

"How can you be watching TV? Don't you know what's happening all around us? The truth of our existence? The chaos reigning in the world? The universe?" Asked Alfonzo confused.

Ferguson looked up at his friend, "Yeah, you know I thought a bit about it...but then I realized...'Meh' -he emphasizes with a shrug -So now I'm just watching TV while munching corn chips..."

"Oh." Said Alfonzo flatly...he says nothing for a few minutes... "Can I join?"

Ferguson scouches over to give him room and a spare bag of Cornchips...and they just spend the rest of the day like this...

The more things change...the more things stay the same...and that includes teenage boys aparently...but then not everything has to be dramatic and angsty I suppouse...

...

Brittney wanderd the Halls almost in a trance...

Her whole life's purpose...the whole point of her existence...had been to be a minor antagonist in Star Butterfly's life...actually, she hadn't even beeen an antagonist...she'd been barely a bad guy...just an occasional speedbump...annoying for an instant...yet forgotten about just as quickly...

She'd angrily denied it, railled against the SCP agent's forcefiled until her hands bleed...

But she couldn't deny the evidnece...how little her life made sense...how the town never made sense...

'My dear...think about it...a MAGICAL Princess from another dimension pops down in the middle of your town and your lives...and no one freaks out about it? Magic was proven REAL, life on another world was proven REAL...and yet...no reaction? No panic? No media circus? No visit from the president or other world leaders to instigate a 'first contact' scenario? Just a shrug and a 'meh' and everyone goes back to their lives as if nothing was abnormal?' The Interviewer had pointed out.

'And consider this as well...how many times did Star destroy, burn and maim...yet where was the police? You were there during that fiasco of a football match... Why did Star never get expelled? Why did Star never get aressted? Never get sued? Never get punished?'

'Well...I think...wasn't there that one time where Star got community service for...crushing a police car?' Britney had pointed out hesitantly...she'd been grasping at straws and they BOTH knew it.

Finally Britney angrily blamed Star for all this...And the Interviewer had somewhat agreed...

'Well, your half right... to be honest, WE also blame Glossaryck for setting all this up in the first place...course, on the other hand...if he hadn't done what he did...you wouldn't exist...whether you want to be greatful for that, or curse him to your dying days is completly your choice and were not allowed to judge you one way or the other about that...'

He then explained about the situation with Star, Mina's ramapge, Moon's betrayl, the destruction of magic...

He also explained how while the citizens had intitially evolved from magical constructs to flesh and blood beings...the memetic spells Glossaryck had cast to make them view stars existence as 'nothing out of the ordinary', ignore her MANY arrestable offenses, and overall ignore the incostinces of their brief existence or even question their existence were PURE magic and thus were quick to fade away.

There were currently three catagories of Echocreek citizens:

The main 'characters': these had been the people who spent the most time with Star and therefore were given the most 'personality', compotence and capability then anyone else in town. Both so Star wouldn't get suspicious but also so that they could help Star on her 'journey'. These people were the least affected by the revelations, as they were the most 'real' and thus the most invested in their current lives. These people consisted of : Marco, Marco's parents, Janna, Jackie, etc...

Then there were the secondary 'characters': people who hd some role in Stars development, but mostly served as support or plot devices for the main charceters or Star. Thus, although still real then most. They weren't required to be as 'real'. So while not handling these revelations as well as the main charcters. They could still mostly handle it, but this varied and some therapy and counseling would still be advised. This bunch included : Alfonzo, Ferguson, Starfan13, Brittney, Mrs. Skullnick, Jeremy, Oscar, Sensei Brantley, etc.

Finally there was 'everyone else', AKA the 'background characters': These were the majority of people in Echo Creek and their only purpose was to serve as 'set dressing', or to make the town look real and lived-in These were the people who had the hardest time to cope with 'not being real', as their wasn't much 'real' in them to begin with. These were the people most likely to go insane or regrees to magical construct and cease to esxist. Thus, they were the one's who needed the most help and monitering. This included: the mayor, unamed parents of secondary charcters(I.e. Brittneys parents), police, sanitation works, bussines owners, burecrats, etc. Basically all the people needed to technically keep a town functioning but had no other purpose in the grander scheme of things...

Among other things Brittney was told now basically an orphan; her mother had faded and her dad had gone nuts...the 'factory' that Brittney family had made their fortune on was just machines that were just a bunch of bells and whistles making empty boxes that didn't actually go anywhere. But aparently still paying the oblivious workers for thier 'jobs' anyway.

Evidently, her family had been created with a large wad of cash already in the bank...and they'd basically been burning through it ever since without actually adding to it. Currently she had over a 100,000$ left. The SCP interviewer offerd to give her triple that if she sold her opulant mansion and everything in it to them.

More in a daze then anything...Brittney had agreed. She was told that she'd go to further counsuling, schooling to help her adjust to the 'real' world. But eventually she'd be sent to an orphnage untilt hey could figure out what to do with her...

The session over...Britney left...and was now just wandering the halls..not really going anywhere...just more walking for the sake of wandering...

It's then she sees the slumped, depressed figure of...

Brittney needs a moment to remember...'Oh, right! That's that Jeremy Birnbaum kid! His parents are rich for...something...but he's given me some good laughs! All those times he picked on the safe kid...wait a minute..."

She let's out a long sad sigh, "Let me guess...parents faded or insane, your life was a lie, and it turns out the whole point of your existence was to be a jerk to Safety Kid..."

Jeremy's eyes widen... "How did you know?"

Brittney sighed as she sat down beside him, "Because I'm literally in the smae boat..."

And so they talked through the night...now neither felt better afterwards...they still weren't 'okay', they weren't magically fine with the truth of their existence and they still had the specter of an uncertain future in a a strange new world bearing down on him...but...they now both had a sympathetic ear of someone who could give them a hug...and you know what? Sometimes, that's still better then nothing...

...

"You tricked the Foundation to BRIBE you back into existence?" Asked Skullnick in disbelief as Principal Skeeves counted his money.

"Yeah, I really outdid myself! Made a bundle too, woo! Between this and all the money I've made from the Wong's and Butteflies non-stop bribes the past year I'm probably the richest man in town! I don't even care that bribes are no longer allowed from this day forward...I'm on top of the world baby!" He exclaims as he throws a wad of cash in the air.

After calming down, he turns to Skullnick. "By the way, I gotta ask...why are you still a troll? I'm no expert...but wasn't that a magical change? So shouldn't you be back to normal when there's...y'know...NO magic?" Asked Skeeves confused.

A still VERY troll-like Skullnick shrugs. "I asked the SCP people the same thing. And they said if I'd been just a regular flesh-and-blood human, then yes. The transformation would've reversed. But apparently, my becoming a troll marked my 'promotion' from background character to Secondary character. Which I guess meant that was when I evolved from tulpa construct to a REAL person. So this- she slaps her gem-studed belly for emphasize -became less 'magical transfomration' and more physical change...apparently it's similar to the reason why the Ponyheads can still fly without magic or something like that..." She shrugs, "Whatever, I like this and I ain't complaining."

Principal Skeeves nods, "Well, in any case a large portion of our sutdents either faded, went mad, or plans on moving away...but were going to get a bunch of Monster kids to replace them. So this actually works out well for us! Also, the royals of other kingdoms expressed intrest in the whole concept of a 'school' and wonderd if we could bring their children here..."

...

Sensei Brantley sighs as he locks up the Tang Soo Do Dojo for the final time...

The Hill-Trank Plaza was basically a ghost strip-mall at this point. Nobody but him, the tumbleweeds and the various government agents fixing up the now empty stores so they can accomodate their future monster owners.

Starbucks was now Hydrabucks('For every one coffe you drink, two more will be ready for you'.), Barnes and Noble was now Scrolls and Rongorongos, J.C. Penny was now J.C. POLYXO, KFC was now KFS(Kentucky Fried Slugs; It's claw licking good!)

He looks behind him to see his 'Tang Soo Do Dojo' sighn taken down and replaced by a 'Spindly Tam Kanushu's Majikkujutsu academy' sighn. He just shakes his head and continues walking.

As he leaves the mall...

"Sensei!" He looks over and smiles as he sees his favorite Student/friend Marco. "Hey Marco, what can I do for you?"

"Listen have you seen Star? I haven't seen her since the announcement about her mom and I'm woried..." He trails off when he sees all the things that his Sensei was carrying.

"Hey, what's happening?"

Brantley sighed, "I'm moving on with my life Marco." "Huh?" Asked Marco.

Brantley just continues talking; "You really inspired me, y'know Marco? That whole 'red belt video' incident was just the kick in the pants I needed to really take stock of my life...but even then I couldn't really bring myself to take that last big STEP, y'know?"

Marco opened his mouth to get a word in edgewise-

"But everything that's happend recently: The merging of our worlds, the revelations of our existence, the destruction of my other job at Britta's Tacos, the loss of a large portion of my sudents, the grandmaster and then my Dojo-

"WHAT!?" Exclaimed Marco in horror.

Brantley sighed, "Yeah, all my other students have either fadded, gone mad, or are picking up the shatterd pieces of their lives...which as it turns out translates into no one paying for lessons anymore. Also the Grandmaster was one of the first to fade away and his certificate is aparently not worth the paper it was printed on." He takes a deep breath, then looks chipper again. "But the SCP people were nice enough to offer delaying my lease payment for at least a year or so given the circumstances...but then they also offerd the option for them to pay me like...ten times what the place was actually worth if I transfered ownership to a future monster resident of the town...don't worry your last check might have went to him, but I've been assured he'll give it back to you if you don't want to continue with him. But I recommend you give him a try, I saw a tape of him in action. Dude's a BEAST and I'm not ashamed to say it...he's WAY better then me!" He admited sincerly.

Marco kept the scathing remark of, 'that's not saying much' firmly locked inside his head...

"Anyway, where was I? Right, so after all the things that's happend recently...it all just feels like an end of an era...the begining of something NEW...for all of us. So between that, the money I got for my Dojo, the VERY generous severance check I got after my job at Britta's tacos got totaled...I've packed up Marco. Me and my Mom are going to have one last fun weekend together...then I'm moving out of my Mom's house, taking the first bus out of Echo Creek...then I'm going where ever the road takes me...

Marco was stunned, "Wow! Really? Huh...good for you sensei." Said Marco sincerely.

Brantley gave a small sad smile, "I'm not your sensei anymore Marco...just call me Brantley..."

Marco nods, then thinks of something. "Uh, hey Sen- I mean Brantley...I never got a chance to talk to you. But how is the whole...you know-

"Revelation that the whole point of my existence revolved around helping you get ready to help Star fight her battles?" Asked Brantley flatly.

"Uh..."

Brantley chuckles, "Marco, relax! Okay, yeah. I was a bit bummed at that at first...I mean, who wouldn't be?...but then I thought: 'Is it really that bad?' I mean, if you think about it: I was the sensei of the HERO. In otherwords: I was the Mr. Miyagi to your Daniel LaRusso! If that ain't a great a destiney, I don't know what is!" He gives a hearty laugh.

There were many ways that Marco could've refuted that...but in the end he held his tounge...Why not? The man was happy, why take that away?

"Well, it was nice talking to you Marco...but destiney awaits me...also Mom's homemade cookies..." He rubs his belly in anticipation.

After one last respectful bow to each other...the two part ways...

...

Starfan13...no...just Amanda Jacobs now...how long has it been since she used her birth name?

She looked at the garbage can where she'd just thrown all her Star memorabilia and keepsakes...

She sighs, "You really want to know what I think of how your grand 'finale' played out?" She asked without turning around.

Star sighed, "Yes, next to Marco no one has kept track of my adventures more then you...and there's no way Marco will be willing to say anything negative to me right now...I need HONEST feedback..."

Amanda just stares blankly into the night for a moment...before taking another deep breath and noding to herself. "Okay..." She turns around.

"I'm upset with you Star, I mean destroying magic? What the heck! Yes, get the whole thing with the solarians and the Corrupting of the magical realm...but you could've found another way! What about using that demonic severing stone to chop off their magic? Or have Heekapoo use her portals to teleport them to an uninhabited realm where you could ACTUALLY use the 'Total Annihilation Spell' without fear of collaterol damage! Or maybe just use the portals to dump them into the Sun or the vacume of space!"

"And just becuase your family had problems with it didn't make it bad! It was ana amzing, beautiful force and you took it way from everyone! Now we can't travel to other dimensions or see our other frinds like Kelly anymore!"

And what kinda message is that anyway? What's the moral of this story? 'If a super cool thing that helps people is abused by some people we need to destroy it?"

And wht the heck was with you agreeing with TOFFEE of all people?! That jerk murderd your grandma! Seriously, what was the point of saving Mewni, restoring magic and the MCH if you just render the whole thing meaningless later by destoring it all nayway?! All that sacrifice, hard work, fighting, and death for nothing!

Seriously Star I thought your whole deal was 'deciding your own destiney'...but then some tapestry affirmed your plan, you jsut went with it? Seriously, what the heck?!"

She take another deep breath, "And letting Mina go?! The woman nearly commited genocide and was completely unrepentant! If you don't want to kill her, then at least areest her! For crying out loud, your mom didn't kill Toffee all those years ago and it came back to bite EVERYONE! And you went and made the smae mistake! I'm sorry Star,you had a good run. But your ended it poorly..."

Star just stands there silently... "Thank you Amanda...I NEEDED to hear that..." Without another word, she turns away and walks off...

"Star! What will you do now!?" Shouts Amanda after her concerned.

Star sighs, "Well, that's the million gold coin question...isn't it?" She admits outloud and then keeps walking without stop...

...

"Moon Buttefly, have you anything to say in your defense?" Asked the Perdition Committee.

A shackeld and still naked Moon just sighed, "No..." She admited in defeat. She knew she had only herself to blame for this...if not for her 'plan' Star never would've been forced to do what she did...

She also knew that it was the Foundation that killed her and even now was using her as a 'scapgoat' to push all the blame of the 'cleaving' on...she'd be annoyed by that except they seemed to be pushing the blame away from Star for whatever reason...so oddly enough she found herself okay with it...all that matterd was that Star was safe...

"I plead guilty for everything...it's no less then I deserve." Admits Moon. "Whatever punishment you infilct upon me...hopefully it'll be enough to make amends for all the harm I caused to everyon...and Star..."

"Well, I don't know about that...eepecially since Star will soon be joining you here..."

"What!?" Exclaimed Moon in horrified disbelief.

The head of the Perdition Committee nodded, "Yes, usually were content to simply wait until a person dies before passing judgement on them...but as your daughter has destroyed a fundimental force of the univers, commited universe-sized GENOCIDE and that's not even including the chaos the aftermath has brought...Were preapared to make a VERY huge exception in her case. Next time we get in contact with Earth were going to negotiate with the SCP Foundation to have her turned over to us!"

"No please! It was my idiotic scheme that forced Star to do what she did!"

"That may very well be, but it was still HER decision. HER plan. No one forced her to do it, quite the opposite really..."

Moon was REALLY starting to panic! She couldn't let her daughter be punished for the mistakes SHE had made! "Wait, hold on! She was exhausted, terrifified, deeply betrayed by her own mother! It was a miracle she was able to handle thigns to theat point, half as well as she did! She wasn't in the best mindset when thinking up this plan! It was bound to be irrational and poorly thought out! And it was all my doing!"

The head of the Commitee thought about this a moment... "Bit of a stretch...but I suppouse that is a possibility." He looks at Moon. "My dear...you clearly love your daughter. So I will make you a deal: If you are willing and give this committe permissin of your own freewill...we can put the majority of your daughters burden on YOUR back instead..."

Moon looked at him thoughtful, "You mean...take Star's punishment in her place?"

"Well, take the MAJORITY of it." He gaves her a stern look. "Your daughter was the main, direct factor in the destruction of a fundemantal force of existence my dear...one cannot do that without incuring a 'debt' if you will...and it MUST be paid...PERSONALLY. It's the natural order; one cannont mess with it and not in turn be messed with themselves. This is something that not even President Girard Sebastien Niang or JALAKÅRA can override. The best we can do is lower her punishment to a minimal. But let me warn you. Your personal punishment is already fairly step...and Star's...the monument of her sins will extend across the cosmo and echo throughout the ages...so let me ask you...can you truly put yourself through that?"

Moon didn't need to think it further; although sad she couldn't stop Star being punished completely...she'd still do whatever it took to help her. This was HER mess and she'd be dammed if Star paid for it!

"I willingly agree to this." Declared Moon simply.

The Head of the Committee just nods. "So be it." He bangs his gavel. "We sentence you to the maximum punishment of your sins and the maximum amount of Star Butterflies punishment that is allowed to be allocated to YOU. May JALAKÅRA have mercy on your soul." He bangs his gavel.

Before Moon can even blink, a giant prmate hand grabs her from above and lifts her away...

"So, sir...are we still going to contact the Foundation in regards to Star Butterfly?" Asked an attendant as the screaming Moon found herself devoured by a fairly toxic and deformed Strider.

The Head of the Committee debated this internally for a minute...before shaking his head. "No, out of respect of a mothers sacrifice we'll let things be for now." He brings up a hologram of Star. "But mark my words Star Butterfly. Be it through death or misfortune...you will eventually find yourself here...and the moment you step one foot on our fair Corbenic's soil...be ye dead or alive...you have a debt to repay to the natural order...and it ALWAYS collects..."

...

"I must say, your handling this better then most of the other residents of Echo Creek." Said an SCP agent as Angie gave him another cup of Coffee while he sat on their couch.

Rafael Diaz smiled on his chair, "Well, at first I was shocked by all these revelations...but then the more I thought about it...the more I thought to myself 'dose this really change my day to day life?' I mean, maybe I was a 'tulpa' at first...but like you said I've evolved. So now I'm REAL, right?"

"Well...for all intents and purposes." Said the agent diplomatically.

Angie shrugs as she puts down a tray of cookie. "Good enough for me." She then hugs her husband, "And really the whole, 'the whole point of our existence was to prepare Marco and Star for their adventures'...Well, that's pretty much the whole point of a parents life; isn't it? Helping them be prepared for the future?"

The agent frowns, "Well, I guess...techincally? But-

"And as for Star...she's been the highlight of our lives! The fact she's been the LITERAL highlight of our lives, hardly makes a difference!" Points out Rafeal happily.

"Well, okay, you get that you probably won't be as sucessful with your job as a painter- points to Rafeal -and you won't be able to make as much money on winning your Monster Trader games- points to Angie -that's been explained to you, right?" Reached the agent, as if desperate to find some chink in the armor of happiness this couple had

"Because my sucess was mostly due to Glossaryck's magic makeing sure Marco and Star had a roof over their haed during their adventures? Yes, I got that. Sad but true." Conceded Rafeal with a sad nod.

"And it's been explained to me is there no more money for those competitions anymore, but 'Monster Trader dosen't even exist outside this town...It's a shame, I just collected all 237. Including the Red mirror dragon." She says that pulling out her cards to look at them sadly.

"But we won't let that get us down! We still have each other, your agency has agreed to let us keep using the utilites for free until were back on our feet! And even help us get jobs an educated on all things in the real world! So I'm sure it'll all work out!" Says Rafeal happily as his wife agrees.

The agent frowned, "Okay, well how do you feel toward Star in regards to waht has happend-

"Hold it right there Gringo! I know alot of bad things have been said about Star and her mother recently, but we refuse to pass judgement until we hear their side fo the story!" Said Angie firmly

the agent sighed, "Well, that's fair I suppouse." He then thinks of another thing. "Well, did you get the medical report of your son that we sent you?"

This finally seemed to make them look a bit unnerved. "Oh, right..." Said Rafeal as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well...as a fellow male, I of course feel bad for my sons...'predicament'." Admited Rafeal, but then he looks resolute. "but such matters of the heart are for him to decide! If he wants advice, I'll give it. But until then, I will stay out of such a private matter!"

"Actually, while were on the subject. We've heard how you report that the males of this town are basically eunuch's but My husband and my son-

"Thos two are the only exceptions, as they were the one's whho would spend the most time with Star. It was important that both be as 'REAL' as possible top both seel the decption and properly aide Star...also we have a suspicion that Glossaryck wanted to arrange Mariposa's birth so she could be to Meteora what your son was SUPPOUSED to be to Star." Explained the agent

The two parents look over to the playpen where their daughter happily palyed with her friend Meteora. Who had been left here by Meteora and Globgor as they spent the day disscusing politcal matters with the Foundation and others.

The two shrugged, "Eh, I can live with that." "I can think of worse reasons."

The agent just shook his head, but wrote down that they seemed psychological stable but would keep observing just in case.

"In any case were rquired by law to tell you that your eligible to be elected to office in the upcoming mayorial election if you wish." He hands over some pamphlets.

Rafeal shakes his head, "no thank you, we have our hands full with everything else."

The agent nods and leaves the suprisingly happy family to wait for two certain teens to return and tell them about their day...

They were in for a LONG wait...

...

Cole MacGrath once again cursed his decision to be a pizza guy instead of a delivery boy. Delivery boy had better benefits but Pizza guy had better pay...

Okay, maybe he dleiverd his pizza to the wrong adress ONCE, but to have a guy with snakes for hands seal him in Crystal over it? Who dose that?

The guy calling himself 'Rhombulus' apparently took him to same strange dimension filled with similary crystalized people...or at least that was what Cole was assuming after seeing where he was after awakening...

Sadly, it seems not everyone here had been hapless innocents...

Even without Rhombulous alive, the Crystals seemed to be capable of holding together. But his death DID weaken them enough to allow the more dangerous criminals to free themselves...

During the brief scuffle and aftermath that followed, Cole was able to overhear some information regarding these malcontents and murders...

Mesogog; the primordial dinosaur overlord.

Emperor Gruumm; Tyranical, galactic ruler of a vast army of criminals and malcontents

Broodwing; His second in command and the universes most notorius blackmarket arms dealer.

lord of the frost Flurious

His rival/brother Moltor, lord of flame.

Kamdor; Ninja criminal and builder of armies.

The three Rinshi beast Overlords:

Carnisoar; the Sky Overlord and bearer of the Animal Spirit of the Hawk.

Jellica; the Sea Overlord who controls the Jelly Fish Animal Spirit.

Grizzaka; the Land Overlord, the most senior and controls the Grizzly Bear Animal Spirit.

The Phantom beasts:

Scorch; leader of the Phantom Beasts and possessed the Avalon Dragon Animal Spirit.

Snapper; his Phantom Beast General/second-in-command that had the Snapping Turtle animal spirit.

Their phantom Beast minions consisted of: Sonimax the Catoblepass, Dynamir the Minotaur, Unidoom the Unicorn, Rammer the Capricorn, Badrat the Addanc, Grinder the Hanuman, Osiris the Cerberus, Lepus the Pixie.

The Five Fingers of Posion: The elite Rinshi guard; Rantipede, Gakko, Stingerella, Toady, Naja.

Captain Buggy the Clown and the Star Clown Pirates.

Captain Kuro of a Thousand Plans and the Black Cat pirates.

Admiral 'Foul-Play' Don Krieg and the Kreig pirates.

Arlong the Saw and his fishmen crew. Also Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX and their respective crews; who immediately swear alliegance to thier idol Arlong.

Sir Crocodile and his Baroque Work army.

"Tin-Plate" Wapol; former glutinous tyrant of Drum Kingdom and leader of the Bliking Pirates with his top enforcers Chess and Kuromarimo.

Enel; the former 'would-be-God' of Skypedia and his army of 'divine' soldiers. Lead by his high priests:Ohm, Satori, Shura and Gedatsu.

CP9; A gang of formerly government-sacntioned, raised from birth, assassins.

Gekko Moriah; The necromantic warlord and his Gecko Pirates.

Donquixote Doflamingo; former crime king of Dressrosa, infuential underworld broker and his Donquixote Pirates.

Kaido; one of the great seemingly immortal criminal emperors and captain of the Beast Pirates.

Charlotte Linlin (AKA Big Mom); evil matriarch crime Empress and leader of the Big Mom Pirates and former queen of Totto Land

Gild Tesoro; the Casino King.

Douglass Bulett; the Demon heir

Shiki The Golden Lion and his partners Dr. Indigo and Scarlet

Baron Omatsuri and his teisted parasite 'Lily Carnation'.

Marshall D. Teach (AKA Blackbeard); a newcomer who has already murderd his former captain Whitebeard to gain his power in adition to his own.(3)

Shendu: The Demon Sorcerer of Fire.

Po Kong: The Demon Sorceress of Mountain.

Xiao Fung: The Demon Sorcerer of Wind.

Tchang Zu: The Demon Sorcerer of Thunder.

Tso Lan: The Demon Sorcerer of Moon.

Dai Gui: The Demon Sorcerer of Earth.

Hsi Wu: The Demon Sorcerer of Sky.

Bai Tza: The Demon Sorcereress of Water(4).

Tarakudo; Lord of all Oni(as well as a bunch of masks who were apparently his generals before a trap laid by MHC turned them that way before he got crystalized with them. Much to his annoyance, the failsafe that causes them to be free if ever all nine masks are brought back together seems to have been renderd inert by all those years trapped in the mystic crystal)(5)

General Grevious: Ruthless cyborg warlord/enforcer of the former Sith Empire.

DR. Facilier; The shadow man(6).

Thrax; The walking plauge.

The G-Man; ?,?,?,

This last one Cole didn't know much about...one moment all the Big bads were about to duke it out with each other...then one of the bigger and clearly most 'high-security' crystals shatterd...revealing an errily ordinary bussinesman...

Yet...Cole couldn't shake a feeling of dread just being in the same ROOM with this guy...and clearly everyone felt likewise. All talk of fighting vanished...they all look TERRIFIED of him.

Ethan overheard a nearby pirate muttering 'The G-Man'...but other then that, he got no other information...

In any case, this G-Man briefly opened a tear in space...he comments how the MHC are clearly faded and so was the realm of magic...and then it tells them that it might be beneficial for them to put aside their diffrences just until they escaped this place...before leaving without another word...

Evidently, even when gone they all still feared him because they went with his plan...

But it wasn't all bad news; for some of the criminals DIED the moment they were broken free of the perservative properties of the Crystals.

Omni The Magnificence, Dai-Shi(7), Octomus the Master, his army of Morlocks, Imperious,
also Sculpin, Magma, Oculous, Megahorn, Hekatoid, Serpentina, Gekkor, and Black Lance of the Ten Terrors. All found themselves dying without Romantisicist magic to sustain them.

There was also Whiger; a chimeric Phantom Beast General that possessed the spirit of the White Tiger, Dai-shi's former second in command Camille of the Chameleon spirit and the two remaining Terrors- Itassis and Matoombo -still trapped in Crystals.

They were going to at least let Whiger and Camille out until Dr. Facilier sensed/proved that they both may have been on the verge of turning agaisnt the others. So they just left them there...

Sadly, it seemed all the other ordianry humans like Cole weren't going to be as lucky. After some brief arguing, yelling and one or two heads cracked in...they eventually dvided up all the normies and other people who Rhombulus had imprisoned just because his 'gut told him they'd been bad'. Depending on who they given to; they were either conscripted, enslaved, possessed or eaten.

"But this is all a horible misunderstanding!" Pleaded a Britsh man named Wallace as he was forcibly shoved with several others toward Grevious. "I shouldn't be here! I mean, alright. It wasn't cricket of me to break wind in that cramped elevator shack with that Crystal fellow. But isn't me getting a life sentence a bit extreme? I'm a respectable citizen! An innocent bystander! I have a dog at home that needs feeding!"

"SHUT UP!" Snaped Grevious viciously as he decked him, costing the poor man several teeth and a broken nose.

After that they plunderd and pillaged anything in that dimension that wasn't nailed down. They then focused on getting out of there. Broodwing, Dr. Facilier, Dr. Indigo and Tarakudo collaberated to create a portal.

Cole somehow managed to remain detected under a pile of crystal shards. He could only assume that the lot of them were too busy watching each other for treachery and focusing on escape to really pay attention to anything else...

After they'd all gone their seperate ways and left...only after staying perfectly still for two or so...he finally gets the courage to get up...

ZAP!

Emperor Belos steps through the portal he's made. He's breifly disapointed that once again he hadn't found earth, but is intrigued to see it is the doman of one of the MHC members...perhapse this wasn't a total loss-

And then he saw the human; half-way about to stand up and frozen in fear. But that wasn't all Belos saw...there was something DIFFRENT about this human...something that SANG to the blessed titan magic within him...

Belos, his mind ever calculating came to quick decision.

"My good man...are you allright? If you don't mind me saying, you look likr you've been through hell. Here, have a bite to eat. You must be famished." He makes some fine wine and turkish delights appear in thin-air. Then make them fly toward Cole

Cole look at this suspicious, but his hunger eventually triumpths over his caution and he eagrly partakes.

Belos quickly motions for his soldiers to come in and start to search the place for any cluse on what had happend recently to the universe. He had sensed the destruction of the realm of magic and once more thanked the Titan for his blessing keeping him and his island strong and alive.

In any case he'd heard that the Owl Lady's door to the human realm was on the fritz ever since then. Curious he'd checked the boundaries between worlds and leanred that without Hekapoo and Omnitarxus Prime the planes between realms were more unstable. Although this meant that he no longer needed to waste his time going after Edd and could make his own portals...it also made it harder for him to make portals that could reliably go where he actually wanted them to.

Soon he'd realize that the criminals had already picked the palce clean...except for the dead corpses of fromer criminals like Imperious.

Such corpses could be quite valualbe in the right hands so he orderd his men to take them back to his castle for study. They also took the four remianing imprisoned criminals. Belos sensed that the two remiang terrors would die once taken fromt he Crystal...but he was confident that he could enfuse them witht he amgic of the Titan to sustain them...in exchange for their services of course.

He also found the corpse of Imperious clutchign an artifact that surprisingly enough contained the Barbarain Beasts: Warmax, Shrieker, 50 Below and Fightoe.

Quite the beneficial detour all and all...

He looks toward Cole who reluctantly lets himself be guided tot he portal. The information he'd later get regarding what criminals were now free would be valuable initself...but he sensed great potential fromt this one.

And Edda's apprentice had already proven what a NORMAL human is capaable of...what might an EXTRAORDINARY human acomplish?

Yes, quite the beneficial detour indeed...

...

-And then we'll hit those monster smoocher drom behind like this; BWOOM! And then they'll all be 'Oh, no! An I'm like 'Take that!'" Exclaims Mina Loveberry as she acts out her 'plan' through twigs and rocks...

Manfred just sits on the Stump in the clearing...regretting all of his descisions... They had no food, he slept on rocks...and it was blatently obvious that his 'master' was not in her right mind...nor was she in good health...

"And then I'm like Bam! Wham!" Shouts Mina...oblivious to her wrinkles...and her hair going White...

Turns out it was only Solaria's magic that kept her alive so long...and now with it gone...she was quite litterally on her last leg...

"Huh, what was that?" Mina walks over to some bushes and pushes them aside. Down below they see just outside the forest they're in a childrens Cornball game in progress...with children both Mewman, Monster and Human playing together happily!

...It turned Mina's insides with rage! "Hey you dumb kids! Stop that!" She shouts as she tries to run down the hill toward them...it was harder now for some reason...

Manfred reluctantly followed...

Mina's started to pant...her body felt weaker...exerting herself seemed to only make her more ane more tired...

"Dang kids...you...you can't have fun with monsters...that's...that's not the way things are suppoused to be...

She's so tired...she starts to go on her hands and knees...her white her very long now...

"That...that's the way...the way things have always been...if it's not borke...why fix...it...?"

She's dergging herslef now, her body having more wrinkles then leather now...and twice the liverspots...

"Why...why you gotta change everything?...things were fine as they were...why...why...do I feel so alone...on my own world?" She says as she reaches out desperate...

And with those final words...Mina Loveberry...last of the Solarian warriors...gave her last breath and died...

Manfred just watched as Mina rapidly decomposed...even her clothes jsut seemd to rot away...her bones were all that was left...hand outreached toward the oblivious happy children as they continued to play. Clearly not knowing what just happend...

And then the bones themselves rapidly crumbled...until the only evidence Mina had ever been there was her skull...

crack

Which was immediately crushed to dust by an equally oblivious merchant. "I thought I saw someone here! What'cha doing in the woods you nut? Your missing a great game!" Exclaims the merchant happily, he then pulls out a hot dog "Want a monster dog? Buy now and you get this free hat!" He pulls a 'I heart monsters' hat...

Manfred briefly looks at the hat in disgust...and then his stomache growls...

'Oh, to hell with it...the whole worlds gone to shit, What dose anythign matter anymore? Not like anyone cares anyway... I might as well be fed if nothing else...' And thus Manfred takes the hot dog and wears the hat...and joins the crowd to watch the game...because...why not?

He'd never tell a soul what happend to Mina. No one rememberd he'd gone with Mina...in fact no one had even noticed he'd left...

Mina would continue to be urban legend...a skip rope rhyme teenage girls used to scare each other at sleepovers...a cautionary tale about bigotry parents told their children...but nothing else would come of it...

And so...the last bits of Mina would just rot away to nothing...unloved...unmourned and unoticed...and the world...the world would move on without missing a beat...

...

Rasticoar watched as the truck delivering the corupted magic goo from Brittas taco's made it's way to the back of the Flame Keepers Circle's HQ. He then gets the message that it's time to make his appearance at the press confrence.

He passes through the medical pavilion where many of his fellow Septarsis where donating blood, flesh, marrow, limbs and orifices. Apparently the humans belived that studying their regenerative powers- among other things - would advance their medical science across the board...

Rasticoar wasn't necesecarily sure he understood that, but it paid pretty good and helped with his peoples other goals...so why not?

Rasticoar couldn't remember the last time he saw so many Septarsis in one place. It was a great source of pride among his people that while the other monster tribes fell before the Solarian warriros...they alone held them back and caused casulaties among their ranks...

Of course, the downside to that was Queen Solaria had to personally come and use her magic to banish/scatter the majority of his people to the four conrers of the universe.

The few Septarsis that remained were mostly his tribe- the green Septarsis tribe -they were the weakest of the tribes, they had the standard great regenerative skills that all Septarsis possesed...but that was about it. Seth had tried to rally them and amke do. But int he confusion Solaria managed to strike him down with a prototype of what would one day be Eclipsa's anhiliation spell.

It didn't kill him, but his fighting days were over...he slowly rotted away until he died during Queen Moon's reign...

The Septarsis never truly recoverd after that- well, minus the brief period when Toffe took command of course...but in any case that was all about to change...

With the Cleaving 'sending everyone back where they belonged'; this also apparantly included undoing Solaria's spell and reuninting all the Septarsis tribes back together...

Blue Septarsis: They had the power to hypnotize people. They primarily worked in interogation.

Red Septarsis: They had the power to convert people into hybride slaves or even give inanimate objects life. They mainly worked as mechanics and weapon makers as a result.

Malachite Septarsis: They can vomit their venom many yards and cause insanity-inducing hallucinations. They acted as snipers.

Black Septarsis: They could burrow and travle to ridiculous speeds underground, they were also the strongest and could crush steel and shatter diamonds with their bare claws...they were also the dumbest.

Purple Septarsis: They could turn invisisible and could unhinge their jaws to devour opponents many times their size. They often employed themselves as spies or assassins.

Vermilion Septarsis: the very first tribe. All are extinct save for Seth- that old timey picture REALLY didn't do him justice -they apparently had the power to spawn other races from themselves. Thus, Seth was the progenitor of all current Septarsis. Their are no records of life life before the rule of Seth nor what happend to the other Vermillion; and Seth promised death to any who tried to learn

Grey Septarsis: The rarest of the lot; you were lucky to get ONE a generation. They were resistant to almost all magic. Their regenerative powers were so great that as long as a single drop of their blood remained they'd regenerate almost immediately. They were immortal save for death in battle and all have been without a doubt as intelligent as they'd been sociopathic.(the last known example was of course Toffee)

He spares some last minute goodbyes to his kith and kin before heading to the press confrence.

Here his current 'sponsor' was rilling up the crowd.

"Now I know many of you are skeptical of Dagon's clami of 'Godhood'...and that's fine. This is a free country and your all entitled to your beliefs and personal thoughts. But what cannot be denied was that he was a benevolant being who simply wished to share his gifts with humanity! Valuable Technology and magics that would've cured the sick, feed the poor and ended wars!"

Shouted The head of the Flame Keepers circle; Conduit Edwards to the gatherd press who lapped it up eagerly.

"But not only was this generosity rebuked, it lead to his murder by GOC hands! And when when his human allies- our flame Keeper forefather predocessors -tried to protect him or at least carry on his great work to uplift humanity...we found ourselves murderd! Blacklisted! Ostracized! Our memories wiped! Our techings censorerd! Our technology and magic confiscated and locked away! Our legacy smeared and tanrished as fringe crackpots! The few remnants of my brothers and sisters once great society were forced to go into hidding."

"The likes of the GOC and Foundation...they had so much potential, sit on so much technology, magics and other wonders that could've uplifted humanity to a new golden age...yet what did they do with it? Hoard it, sit on it and NEVER let it see the light of day...all to protect their precious 'normality'...their 'status quo'..."

He shakes his head in saddnes...

"Ladies and gentelmen; let us take a lesson from our monster friends- He gestures to Rasticoar and several other Septarsis sitting pateintly at the side fo the stage -their were many oportunites for many people to stand and declare their treatment was wrong back on their old world...but no one did. Why? Because they had too much invested in maintaing the 'status Quo'!...in fact; they profited from it! Just like our politicans do! They ask us to obey the laws, pay our taxes and contribute to society...but how can we do so when they refuse to obey the laws they agreed to be placed on THEM whent they came to office? When they refuse to pay to help their nations? Their people? When they refuse to benfit society by allowing acess to such wonders to YOU- the people!?"

He waited for the crowd to stop applauding and loudly agreeing.

"To this day they still continue to supress such beneficial and life-changing technologies! Like the good people at Andersons Robotics!"

He holds up a newspaper shwoing a boy with an abnormally large head angrily yelling at a shame-faced and handcuffed Foundation agent...while two others behind him beat up a green, screaming alien...while a girl with purple hair was being forcibly put into a straightjacket and dog muzzle in the background...

"They thought they could fool us with trying to hide their failures through hiding Andersons under the Cybus Brand. Thankfully a young rising-star in the parawatch comunity saw through their lies and blew the whislte on them. But he didn't stop there, oh no! When the SCP sent their thugs to silence him he turned the whole thing around and not only made them look like fools but also exposed their corruption further! For years this poor boy has been trying to warn the world about a hostile alien menace that threatend the world! For years he tried to squeal on Dr. Membraine's negligance poisoning the water supply and reducing the populace to simpering morons! And years they've been supressing the truth for no doubt their own greed and malfeasance! I tell you where dose the travestys and abuse of power ends!?" He shouts dramatically to more angry agreement and thunderus applause.(8)

"But those days are behind us! We are in a new age! The 'powers that be' are no more! No longer will such beneficial technologies and magics be hoarded by the privliged few, but spread out to YOU the people!"

He waits for the applause to die down once more before speaking again. "Ensuring this will be the whole point behind the Esoterica coalition. In addition to the Flame Keeper's circle and our friends the Septarsis; this coalition will also consist of the good people at the Mana Charitable Foundation! Yet another group of well meaning individulas that have been downtrodden and censored by the likes of the Foundation! Also, we hav various entrepeneurs who have also joined forces with us!"

Everyone applauds as four very well known celebrities/tycoons/philantropists come on to the stage.

Henri Crosteau: CEO of Frankodyne Industries, award winning scientist, and
Oceanographer famed for his Environmentalist crusades.

Colonel Kluckin: Who didn't know the cournel? His image was synonymus with Good chicken! They were lip-smacking good, he did declare! He'd made quite a nmae for himself giving free chicken to refugees and the homeless(all tax-deductible charity work of course and Good PR to boot!)

Dušan Nemec: The Cheif Technology Officer(CTO)/tech guru of Blume: A Rising Tele-comunication giant who were on the verge of automating entire cities!

Nigel Cass: The charismatic CEO and Commander in cheif of the paramilitary Corporation Albion. They were popular for all their humanitarian work as well as their systematic takedown of numerous high-profile terrorist groups and crime Syndicates.

"They among many others have joined the Esoterica and together we will overcome all adversity and propel Humanity to a new golden age!" Exclaimed Edwards as he took in more thunderous applause as he wrapped up the confrence.

The Cournel spoke up, "Before yah'll leave. There's a -I say- there's a present under yah'll chairs. One last cheer went up as everyone found buckets of chicken beneath their chairs!

Rasticoar ate his bucket as well...he had the give the Southern gentleman credit...slugs tasted like crap compared to this!

...

Eclipsa was in the middle of sighning some paperwork. Essentially what she was agreeing to was that after the transitional period to make sure all her citizens were taken care of...she'd abdicate and sell her claim to the throne and her kingdoms land for a VERY generous price...which she was fine with. She was DONE with all the drama and pagentry..she just wanted focus on what REALLY matterd; her family.

Plus...if she was honest here...the throne of Mewni was kinda worthless now after everything that happend...so she was actually quite puizzled why she was getting such a substantial payment for it.

Her husband guessed that with all the P.R. and legal fires on them right now; they couldn't afford to 'not dot every I and cross every T' nor could they afford to look like they in any way tried to cheat someone as high-profile and popular- her popularity soared with humans when the details of her tragic backstory) got out -as Eclipsa.

She also heard that the rest of the Butterfly family had sold their rights to the throne as well...after stealing everything that wasn't nailed down...it was very likely they'd be changing their names and idenities as well...

Plus, she'd heard that the Johansen family had given the government the go-ahead to buldoze over what little remained of Butterfly castle and any other Buttefly historic sites...it was fairly obvious that both familes just wanted this whole thing to go away...between this and almost all the Mewmans being recuited as 'D-class personal'...it truly did seem to be the end of the Butterfly dynasty..

Eclipsa knew she should be more sad...but really, it wasn't like she had much happy memories of those places...besides, it had become more and more obvious to her ever since she was freed that all she really wanted was to be with her family...so really, she was fine with this...

"By the way, have you found the Royal crown of the Butterfly family yet?" Asked Eclipsa.

Outside the meeting, several other meetings were taking place...

The Ponyheads were arguing with the pilot union on how their home was blocking air traffic...

Ludo was berating Denise for sighning him up for the Mayoral election without even consulting him first...

Charlie Booth, AKA Gustav, AKA François, AKA Pablo, AKA Feechi, AKA BOYZZZB4. Was being intorgated for his repeated identity fraud...

And two Johansens were discussing politics. "I don't feel comfortable about all this." Said Lump Johansen as he trotted along with his cousin Grunt. "I mean, Star only really did what she did because of Moon...and now Moon's dead...can't we just leave it at that?"

Grunt sighed, "We've been over this...being in any way associtaed with the family that brought about the desturction of magic AND threw the cosmos into chaos is both an embaressment and political death sentence of the highest order. Were gonna have a hard enough time adjusting our kingdom to this new world as is! We don't need that kind of baggage! Need I remind you that a large portion of the family and nobles just wanted to kick those two out of the family altogether!? This was a compromise! Besides, this isn't really that bad. We Annul River's marriage to Moon- King Johansen made sure to keep River's 'power of attorney' after he shin-kicked ther carnival cruise director during his fifth honeymoon -and we have River and Star live a luxurious life in our family'summer home indefinetly! It's win-win all around!" He leaves out how the Summer home was essentially the place they put poltical prisoners, embaressments to the family and anyone else they wanted to keep out of sight...

"Well...okay...but do we have to spring it on him now? Can't we let him mourn for his wife in peace?"

While they continued to talk...neither noticed their Grand niece Star Butterfly listening in...looking hurt...then resolved as she walked away again...

...

Conduit Edwards continues to smile and wave happily as the last of the press and audience leaves while he walks into the private elevator with Rasticoar...the moment the door closed...his smile turned to a sneer.

"Bunch of mindless sheep...the lot of them!" He says irritably. Rasticoar stays quiet, he personally felt that was a good thing as it helped their plan along...but although these former 'Neo-Sarkics' were happy to exploit it they still seemed pissed at it for some reason?...in any case, Rasticoar felt it best to just keep quite and roll with it.

As the elevator reached the secret inner-sanctum, Edward took out a priestly robe from an inner compartment. He then came to a room filled with Former Sarkics, former Singers, former Fiftists, the few REAL Flame Keepers(9)as well as many of Raticoars fellow Septarsis.

Rasticoar waited patiently as Edwards ranted through yet another sermon. He again recaped how he and his faction were excommunicated and cast out from even their fellow Neo-Sarkics simply becuase they dabbled in enlightened magic. He ranted on how the deaths of all other Sarkics vindiacted them and proved how the rest were 'evolutinary dead-ends'. How evolution should be dictated by SURVIVAL, not religous doctrine- the irony/hypocricy of him saying that during a SERMON, clearly lost on him. He goes on to indicate how all their gods were now either dead or useless. How in this new age they need no longer rely on gods...but rather strive to become Gods themselves.

Rasticoar was a bit concerned how many of his people seem to be drinking this in...but he suppoused it didn't matter. Edward had the resources and connections to bring his people back to greatness. That was all that matterd to him.

After the Sermon had cocluded, Edward was approached by Genron CEO; Franklin D. Mann. "Hey, did you know that The heart of a shrimp is located in its head? Also, how come I wasn't invited to your swanky press confrence? Also where's MY chicken?!"

Conduit Edaward sighed, "Well among other reasons, you 'firing' the press would've been bad PR." He states faltly.

"Uh, yeah. right... Also your fired." "I don't work for you, you can't fire me." Reminded Edward pateintly for the Fiftith time today.

"Oh, right." Said D. Mann looking lost for a second... Then an intern came by to give him a latte. "Ah, neat. right on time." Takes a drink. "And you got it just the way I liked it too! What's your name?" "Hank Perkins" Said the intern proudly. "Oh, well. Perkins your fired." "Again, dosen't work for you. Can't fire him." Said Edward flatly as he walked away from the confused intern and the dumbfounded D. Mann.

While wondering if having Genron's resources, skilled staff and seemingly limitless supply of 'technically' legal animal test subjects was worth having to deal with that lunatic...

As he and Rasticoar walked through the various secret labs and occult R&D shrines, they were on their way to the 'heart' of the operation when they were breifly diverted by the arrival of another associate.

The alien bounty hunter Cad Bane(10) gave them a weird watch...still attached to a childs severed hand.

"One authenticated Omnitrix! As promised!" Says Cad proudly. This mission hadn't been easier. The watch had been in the posession of some brat, one sniper round to the head and he was dead(11). The family was taken out just as quickly. Cad preferd to avoid collateral damage he wasn't paid for, but he'd learned from hard expereince that surviving family tend to come after you in 'revenge' and that was just annoying...

Edward nods, "Your services are as always appreciated...but what of the Calamity Box?"

Cad Bane snarled, "That agent you placed into that antique store was a moron! A snot-nosed brat stole it before I could get there to pick it up!"

"What?! Where is it now?!" Demanded Edwards. Before the Cleaving, Edward had little resources to fall back on. He was so desperate he resorted to planting his few meager agents into antique stores on the off-chance SOMEONE brought in ANY kind of anomoly for him to exploit. One day he got an alert about an agent gaining the long lost 'calamity Box'...Unfortunately the Foundation happend to be running an unrealted investiagtion near that area, so Edward was forced to order the agent to 'go quiet' until the heat died down.

Shortly after that, the Cleaving happend and Edward got so wrapped up plundering many now abanadoned Sarkic strongholds for assets, buliding alliances, using the Flame Keeper circle 'sob story' to build up his reputation and tear down his rivals...He'd completely forgotten about it...and even if he hadn't he probably would've just assumed that it's magic winked out when the realm of magic bit it and gave it no more thought...

And then to his surprise, his agent got antsy enough to break radio silence to ask for orders...Edward was stunned to hear the box was still working properly!

Learning Cad Bane was on his way back to Esotrica HQ and would be passing the area, he'd promised the bounty Hunter a little extra if he discretely brought the box as well...

Cad bane then explained how he'd tried to trakc the girls. He had his techno-service droid hack security camera's around the city...and an ATM caught the three girls opening the box..and being zapped away in an explosion...along with the box...

Edward pinched his nose annoyed...but decided it wasn't too big of an issue. Although having the calmaity box would've helped his cause greaty, it wasn't essential. No, this was but one minor hiccup in a string victories he'd been having non-stop lately.

He thanks Cad Bane for his service and pays the agreed upon amount. He puts assigns some agents to analyze the affected area and keep watch in the unlikely event they came back somehow...

But with that taken care of he had bigger fish to fry...

They enterd the 'heart' of their operations. Rasticoar kneeled in respect to the operating table that was currently reviving his people's progenitor, their most repected leader and hero...Seth.

Finding his corpse had been hard enough. But resurecting him had strained even the Esoterica's now vast assets.

Rasticoar was no fool. He knew he was only able to get him to agree to this undertaking because resurecting Seth would buy him the graditude and loyalty of the Septarsis people! Additonally, Seth's influence and leadership acted as a great unifying force to help the various Septarsis tribes work together...

But although ressurected, it would be awhile before he was 100%. As it was, he only had one useable limb...which he was using to read a newspaper.

Rasticoar couldn't help but watch baffled as the two greeted each other like old friends...it was hard NOT to after witnessing their first meeting after Seth had been revived...

...a week or so ago...

Conduit Edward eagerly approached the newly resurected Vermillion Septarsis. "Hello Mr. Seth, I-

GACK!

Suddenly he found his throat grabbed by Seths one good arm and forcibly lifting him up.

Seth gives him a puzzled sniff. "Is he some new form of Mewman? Or at the very least a sepcise that has a similar form and smell?"

Rasticoar was torn between awe of seeing his peoples great hero in action and discomfort at seeing his ally being manhandled.

"Well...he's a human...but their have been some recent evidence showing the possibility of them bein distant ancesotrs of Mewmans-

CRACK!

"Yet another specise for me to raing my fury upon." Said Seth as he snaped Edwards neck with a simple flex of his finger.

"Well, we have something in common then."

Both Septarsis gape in disbeleif as Edward continues to speak despite his neck clearly being broken and left to dangle!

Seth quickly drops the 'corpse' as it effortlessly snaps it neck back into black while it's body begins to morph into many bloody tendrils and ligaments...the scent of 'human' now shown to be srtifical and fals...

"What are you?" Asked Seth baffled.

"A man who share your disdain for humans. More importantly a man who shares your disdain AND can do bussines with you to do something about it..."

...

Rasticoar had known there'd been something 'off' about Edward...but he'd never have guessed this! It was hard to wrap his mind around it...but apparently he and his sub-sect of Neo-Sarkics were humans that...hated humans?...and themeslves?...sorta?...(12)

Well, whatever it was all about; Seth seemed amused by the concept of a 'self-hating human' enough to not try to kill him anymore and continue their alliance...for the moment at least...

"-In any case the new shipment of corrupted magic came out...you think you'll FINALLY tell me why you insisted we ask for that- Don't get me wrong; we've gatherd some valuable data and materials after we process it through the Centrifugation...But I feel like there's more to it then that..." Finished Edward.

Seth breifly toys with telling him or not...but then shrugs to himself as he decides 'in for a slug in for slurple-pounder'...

"As you know...I can only make one Grey at a time-

"I've been meaning to ask about that...who did you eat to make the tribes?" He asked inquisitively.

Seth blanched, "How the devil..."

"My good man, CANNIBALISM is a large aspect of my former religion...we even ate GODS sometimes...Needless to say...I can recognize the afteraffects of it well-enough...have it down to a science really..."

Rasticoar know right then and there that he probably shouldn't have heard that...but he was now too nervous to leave, lest they notice him...

Fortunately, Seth was busy looking...disturbingly intrigued?

"Hmmm...I'll have to talk with you more on that 'science' later...but nevermind. The point I was trying to make is that due to some...'complications' during the Grey's inception...I was forever stuck to only ever make one living Grey at a time...Never being able to make another until the last one made DIED..."

Rasticoar didn't get it...

But Edward did...

"You haven't made a new Grey yet..." A hint of a anticipatory smirk begins to crese his mouth...

"I don't have the strength to do anything like that yet...but it dosen't matter, I can feel that even if I did...I COULDN'T, because-

"-Your successor LIVES." Finished Edward with laugh.

"HIM!?" Exclaims Rasticoar. His amazed disbelief winning out over his caution.

Seth just smirks, "Yes...which...if you think about it...puts many of the events of the last year in a rather diffrent light..."

Before he could elaborate; an alarm begisn to blaze in the Centrifugation room...they had found...SOMETHING...

Deep in the ooze of the corrupted magic...something was being lifted out by a crane...

And while that happend...that thing began to reform...and REMEMBER...

...(?)(?)(?)...

"You dang monster, got out of my house!" Screamed Mina deep within the monster temple...

ZAP!

...(?)(?)(?)...

He snapped off his finger and dropped it in the ooze while the girl was too busy drowning to notice...

'Too busy looking at the right hand to notice the left...'

...(?)(?)(?)...

"I'm so excited this party will be just what everyone needs!" Shouts Star as she finishes setting things up inside the Monster Temple for her big 'Monster Bash'...

She never notices the pair of yellow reptilian eyes watching her from the shadows...

...(?)(?)(?)...

Moon panics, her Mewberty form had been corrupted by Eclipsa's interference! She needed to flee until her power stablized enough! Not caring where, she opens a random portal and runs through...

She never notices the portal being forcibly shifted from it's current destination...to the Realm of magic...

...(?)(?)(?)...

As Moon lost more and more of her mind...so too did she wash away the corruptive taint of the dark spell from her body...

The dark taint corrupted the pure golden magic of the realm...

And in that corruption...something stirred...and grew STRONG...

...(?)(?)(?)...

Firstborn grunted as she pulled the car filled with her mother and her friends across the Realm of magic...

She never noticed the dark corruption following her until it was too late...

...(?)(?)(?)...

Marco fought off the corupted millhorses while Star and the others continued the whispering spell to desatroy the realm of magic...

Her never noticed that they weren't giving it their all to stop them...nor that they only got serious when Mina showed up and focused on attacking her...

...(?)(?)(?)...

He knew he shouldn't...

It was needlessly risky...would gain him nothing...and it was a bit childish...

But his greatest enemy...planning to continue his work? Admiting HE was right? In front of the paininting chornicling her mothers greatest sucess and his greatest shame...

Really, how could he resist?

Using the conection the wand had witht he realm of magic to tweak things ever so slightly...

SURPRISE!

Shouts the painting of Toffee suddenly, frightening Star...

...Now...

The half-formed figure of the most infamous Grey septarsis that ever walked Mewni was now slumped on the floor...barely conscious...but still very much ALIVE...

Edward smirks as he orders for him to be taken to medical...and his tailor to size him up for a new suite, "Now things get interesting..."

...

Star Butterfly sat sadly on the top of a spire that used to be her home...she looked down as numerous pieces of equipment prepared to buldoze the entirity of the old ruins of Butterfly castle...

Evidently the only reason nobody else was here was due to a...'possum attack'? Star frowns at the alert on the earth phone she'd gotten recently... 'well that can't be right'. She closes the phone and focuses once again on the soon to be demolished symbol of her family's power and authority...

Her family's legacy...undone and paved over...forgotten and unloved by all...

"Star!"

Star sighed, she'd been delaying this for as long as possible...but she suppoused there was no helping it anymore...

She turns to see Marco climb up the spire to her, "Star! I've been looking for you all day! Are you okay?!" Panted Marco as he climbed toward his best friend.

Star sighed, "Not really Marco..." She admited flatly.

Marco sighed, "Yeah, I heard about your Mom. I'm so sorry Star, I-

"I'm not sad about that...I mean...I know I SHOULD be but..." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know...after everything that's happend recently...all of it pilling on nonstop...I think I'm just more NUMB to it all then anything...y'know what I mean?"

"Uh..." Marco Murmured unsure.

Star groans, "Nevermind...Marco...you and I need to talk..." She said in a serious tone.

Marco is nervous...but he sits down beside her.

"Marco...be honest with me...do you like me for me...or because I'm the only thing your sure is 'real' and want to hold on to me to assure yourself that YOUR real?"

Marco gasped, "Star, how can you say that!? I mean, I know things are messed up...but I don't care about any of that! What I feel for you is real! I don't care about any of that other stuff!"

"Not even about how your junk keeps shrinking the longer your in a relationship with me?" Asked Star flatly.

Marco went very red, "What the? How did you- He shakes his head. "Nevermind, that dosen't matter and nieth dose that. Look I don't care what those SCP jerks say...or whay Glosaryck 'planned'...I love you! And if the universe dosen't like it...then frak the universe!" He declared boldly.

Star chuckled... "That's sweet Marco...but all joking aside of your 'condition'...that's a pretty serious health concern...I don't like the idea of me cuasing you to be unwell."

"What?! Star, listen. Don't worry about that! Look, I know things have been crazy lately...but we'll get through it! We always do!" Said Marco firmly as he takes her hands into his.

Star smiles touched...but then gets sad again as she pulls away. "I'm sorry Marco...but I think this time is diffrent...I REALLY screwed up this time..." She says as she looks over the horizon sorrowfully.

"What? No, look. Star I know that everyone-

"Marco, I threw the ENTIRE universe into chaos! The lives of everyone in BOTH worlds, all powerful secret agencies, beings of great power, occult groups, and a millions of other universes have been completely turned upside down because of me! The MHC, my spells, my DAUGHTER, the laser puppies! ALL DEAD! I'm like that giant, purple, Whatshisface, guy who was obsessed with collecting Gems! "

"Uh...actually the puppies are still alive...they just don't have lasers?" Offered Marco as he desperately grasped at straws...

Star sighed, "Well...that makes me feel alittle better...but that sitll dosen't change things-

"Star, come on! What choice did you have-

"I could've just used the anihilation spell-

"That would've destroyed all of Mewni!"

"And that would've been worse then destroying everywhere else?!"

"Well...you at least saved Mewni..."

"Did I Marco? Did I really save Mewni? Magic was the backbone of our society Marco! My people were hopeless without my family leading them! Now I've basically exiled them to an unknown world with no safety net and no way to keep them safe! Shouldn't I have thought things better then my so called 'plan'?"

"NO! YOU COULDN'T! YOUR A FREAKING 14 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO WAS THROWN IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING GENOCIDAL WAR! THE FACT YOU HANDLED IT HALF AS WELL AS YOU DID WAS FRANKLY A MIRACLE!"

Marco panted as Star looked at her boyfriend stuned at his outburst.

Marco takes a moment to compose himself. "Look Star...Maybe I'm not the best person to be talking to you about this. Maybe I AM biased. Maybe being your best friend, your boyfriend, possibly seeing you as my anchor to what is real or just being angry and eager to spite those SCP Foundation jerks who apparently have nothing better to do then make fun of my genitals is making me shortsighted and clouding my view of some serious flaws of yours. These are all possibilities that I can't pretend MIGHT be an issue here. I freely admit to that- He takes a deep breath. -That being said...here's what I think."

He pulls out his phone and begins to show her pictures of the various adults in her life.

"If the MHC was less racist; Eclipsa would never have been imprionsed, nor would Globgor, Metora never would've become Miss Heinous, and there'd be less problems with the monsters."

"If Solaria had never gone on her insane genocidal crusade against monsters or at least NOT created that stupid spell to create Solarian warriors...again, things would be better with the monsters but more importantly there'd be no Mina!

"Mina...do I really need to elaborate how many of our problems would've NOT happend if she'd just STOPPED being a crazy, racist, genocidal bitch... for FIVE seconds!?"

"The Mewman people in general? If they'd just got over themselves, grew up, and stopped getting angry everytime someone tried to change things or told them something they didn't want to hear...AGAIN, so much problems averted!

"Eclipsa...look, I like Eclipsa, I REALLY do. But let's be honest; without your help she wouldn't have felt motivated to do anything beyound help the monsters or free Globgor while she was in charge! I'm no politician, but the fact she needed to rely on a teenager to help her run the kingdom in any way dose NOT speak well of her capabilities as a ruler!"

"All the other royals...they looked the other way from how poorly Mewni was treating monsters for centuries! For crying out loud, half of them qualify as monsters themselves!...but did they ever point that out? NO! It didn't affect them, they were given privliges because of their wealth...and apparently that was good enough for them!"

"Your mom- Sees the hurt look in Stars eyes and softens a bit -I'm sorry Star...I know you don't want to hear this...but a large portion of the problems we had was becaue of her! Without her Mina would've just remained a crazy nut ploting vengeance; but she gave her the manpower, the magic and the political clout to get things done! You never would've had to destroy magic if not for her interferance! And Let's not forget Toffe! She could've killed him then and there when he first showed up, but she let the monster who murderd her mother LIVE just so Eclipsa would stay locked up!"

Marco takes another deep breath; "Star...your an amazing, extraordinary, wonderful girl...who took on so much crap on her shouldiers the past year or so...and was able to push far beyound what was expected of her...time and time again people underestimated you and time and time again you proved them wrong...but the fact is...you never should've had to deal with this crap at all! Your people acted like spoiled children, generations of politicains and most of your ancestors either couldn't be botherd to deal with the Mewni/monster situatuion or just made it WORSE. you were dealing with an avanalce of racism, xenophobia, negligance and the repeated failures of the ADULTS around you who should have known better! Star your a TEEN that was forced to fight a WAR that frankly should've been dealt with by ADULTS, years before you were born!"

Star just looks at him thoughtfully for a moment...then smiles... "Thanks Marco...that's nice of you to say...you always did know what to say to cheer me up...but the more I've thought of it...while you did make some good points...I still need to take some personal responsibility for this..."

She looks over the horizon once more...

"I've taken a long hard look at my actions the past year...and they weren't great..."

She ticks off the threats she'd dealt with. "Ludo...Toffee...Ludoffee...Meteora...Mina...all those foes. I only ever took them serious AFTER they struck. I always REACTED, but never took any real initiative to fight them BEFORE they become a problem. And while I had my moments, I clearly have no idea how to be a ruler...that 'feild trip' demonstrated that if nothing else..."

Marco shudders at the memory of the yarn monster...

"And then there was my so called 'plans' to help Monsters and Mewmans...'have a party and make monsters and mewmans go together on the cornball team and just assume everything would work out okay?'" She says that last bit annoyed and grunts to herself. "Oh, what was I thinking?!"

"Hey come on! All your efforts paid off eventually! Monsters and Mewmans now...tolerate each other. That's a HUGE step up from how things were before!" Rebuked Marco.

Star nods, "Okay fine, but the fact is...now that I'm not a princess...or even magic...I don't know what to with myself...heck, looking back I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my RELATIONSHIPS! I seemed to just flip-flop. I mean one day I'm obsessively sniffing your hoodie-

"Say what?!"

-the next day I'm going from club snubbing TOM to getting back together in the duration of ONE dance?! What kind of girlfriend is that!?"

"Hey, come on Star! None of know what to do when it comes to relationships! I did nothing but 'nod' to the girl I liked for YEARS! Not to mention I basically abandoned Jackie to go chase Hekapoo for what I thought would be even MORE years!"

Star nods, "Okay, maybe...but still...between that...all the other junk I got going on...I just don't think I can give 100% to ANY relationship right now..."

Marco looked at her stunned, "What...what are you saying Star?"

Star tried very hard to keep from crying, "I...I need time to rethink what I'm going to do with my life...WHO Iam...and just what I can do to maybe fix some of the damage I caused...I'm sorry Marco, but I just...I need time to myself..."

She begins to walk off...

"Wait, Star! What are you sayingh? Are we...over?" Asked Marco...his heart feels like it's shattering.

Star stops and thinks for a moment... "No...but I do think that we both need a break...from EVERYTHING...I need to handle my own 'issues', and you...well...you said it yourself that you can't deny the possibility that your loving me for the wrong reasons...so...I don't know...date some other girls...grow as a person...learn WHO you are without me...find a way to make even BETTER nachos if possible...if I come back and you STILL want to be with me...well...we'll see..."

Star jumps off the spire and gets away before Marco can stop her...

With nothing else to do...Marco just sits on the spire... just huddles down..and cries...

Star- ignoring her own tears -make some quick calls to Jackie and Janna...whatever else...she wanted Marco to be happy...

Jackie took the whole revelations rather chill along with her new 'partner' Chloe(13)...they'd been actaully considering experimenting with a threesome, so this worked out well...

Janna was planning on trying something with Tom...but she'd be game to 'play' with Marco every now-and-then...

That taken care of...Star makes sure some notes are sent to her father and other friends...while sneaking past the SCP outpost where several agents were trying to 'learn gator' and convince the guardians to bring the Magic Sanctuary back to the surface...

With all that taken care of...she stood before 'The Forest of Certain Death'. It had been mostly cordoned off, but Star had been here enough times to know a few hidden ways inside...

She pushed aside a boulder to reveal a ancient entrace...with two flaming brazier's on either side.

Star has a look of determination, it was time...to rediscover who she was...

Star sighed as she takes off her 'horns'... "Well, I won't be needing this anymore." She tosses them into the fire.

"Or this- throws phone into fire too -Or this- her wallet -Or this- her compact -Or this- her charger -Or this- make-up kit -Or this- BaccooMax -Or this- Wanyūdōman -Or this- Dactylman -Or this- M-Portal-3 player -Or this- purse -Or this- miniDahu player -Or this- GaasyendiethaBoy -Or this- GaltzagorriakGear -Or this- MUPS Navigation system -Or this- (P-Dijin-A) -Or this- beeper -Or that- booper -Or this- bumper -Or this- sparkler -Or this- flasher -Or this- pinger -Or this- winger -Or this- zinger -Or this- DictaWand -Or this- clothes -Or this- tuba -Or these- playing cards -Or this." Britta's taco's gamematt is the last thing thrown in.

Star nods satisfied...then a cold breeze makes her shiver. "Wait, CRAP! Why did I throw out my clothes!? NO!" She tries to grab for them...but they've alredy been burnt to ash.

Star graons as she uses her hair to cover her now bare form, "Okay...another thing to add to the list...Stop doing weird, random crap without thinking things through..." She says with a shiver.

Nonetheless, with as much dignity as she can muster...she walks with determination into the forest of certain death...none saw her entry...

except...

He was a tall, bald, muscular man with bright cyan skin. His attire consisted of a jet-black suit and red circular sunglasses...

He watched from the shadows as Star Butterfly took her first steps to a new destiny...knowing it would be along time before anyone laid eyes on her again...

The man chuckled, "Go on little caterpillar...go grow out of your cocoon...You ain't the Buterfly queen this kingdom needs- He looks at the Royal crown he'd stolen from Eclipsa's room -Not yet..."

He walks off into the distance...watches Butterfly castle be knocked over and reduced to rubble...all the while whistling... 'She's gonna earn her crown, so hail to the quee-e-e-een!'

...

Well...that was something...

But before we bring this act to a close...

Let's take one last, quick peek into the world at large...

...

'Nothing personal 'shooting star'...but it's either you or humanity...

He brings the knife down toward the girls heart-

BANG!

"Hey! Wake-up! Your up next!" The SCP Agent awoke and saw the balif was here. He nods and is escorted to the courtroom...

The Agent walks down the hall as he watches SCP-2085(AKA the Black Rabbit Company) happilly cheering as they are escorted out of the courtroom...clearly they'd been granted their freedom...well good for them.

He didn't have much time to dwell on that though...he was being escorted into the courtroom and onto the witness stand...

He saw Legal Lee, the bastard was as smug as ever...

He saw the SCP Lawyer Sam, just looked numb...clearly he hadn't been having a good couple of weeks...not hard to see why...

And finally a certain family he'd hoped never to see again...the Pines family...the Pines boy glaring daggers through him...and a purple unicorn?

'Well, nice to know that this job can still surprise me at least.' He thinks to himself as he takes his place on the stand and Legal begins his cross-examination...

"Right, let's just get right to...why excatley did you feel it was needed to murder a little girl?"

The agent internaly sighed, this was going to be a LOOOONG day...

...III...

TO BE CONTINUED?

(1): Reflectacorp; like many pre-Cleaved Galactic mega-corps had their technology running exclusively on Romanticist magic. So when magic left, their entirecorporate empire essentially crumbled into obsolete bankruptcy... But don't worry about Seashorse. His tech skills are so superb he'll be snapped up by Anderson's Robotics for a top-dollar position!...

(2): Roughly translated:

"Son, now is not the time."

"The conference will be starting soon."

"My son, Listen to me. Let me be clear: We-

"Yes, WE. They'll never admit it- as I will never admit it to them -but I'm fairly certain all the royals received the SAME visit from the MHC and Moon as I did before this whole fiasco occurred."

"To convince us to support Moon after she reclaimed the throne AND an agreement for all of us to not interfere as she retook the throne from Eclipsa...which after the usual political concessions and back-and-forths, we all agreed to."

"Star had nothing to do with this! You already explained how YOU were the one to break things off this time, how despite the circumstances you actually managed to it an a VERY amicable way, you even came off the bigger person giving Marco permission to date Star within a mere HOUR of said break-up!..."

"Oh, my son. I know you are angry with me right now. But you have become so mature and grown-up, I'm so proud of you!"

"Despite my issues with Star, I would NEVER do this for a reason so petty as that! Try to understand my dear boy, this was for the good of our kingdom!"

"I know sweetie...but therein lied the problem: She was a good leader to the MONSTERS and ONLY the monsters."

"Son, have you never wondered why monsters were so reviled by the Mewmans...yet we Lucitors were so loved and respected?"

"Well, technically that's a bit of an oversimplification...but actually YES, that is essentially the reason."

"Yes."

"My son, it is not impossible to be BOTH a good ruler and a good person...but it is more often enough a requirement for a leader to give up the later for the former."

"My boy, we and the other rulers NEVER liked the treatment the monsters were given by the Mewmans. But at the end of the day, the Mewmans were the most rich and powerful kingdom in the land and the monsters were just a dirt-poor minority of a foreign power. So in the name of keeping our people happy and prosperous, we looked the other way to the monsters plight. The only reason we signed Star's agreement was to gain potential favor with the future Queen of Mewni, but we never actually expected it to go anywhere. We honestly just figured that either this was a rebellious phase she would grow out of. Or the MHC would eventually just do to her what they did to Eclipsa to maintain the status quo."

"That's politics."

"No, we HAD to accept her because there was no other options. Star gave away the throne. Moon was nowhere to be found. River was...terrible. The Johansen family gaining control of TWO kingdoms would have tipped the balance of power too much in their favor, which the other kingdoms were firmly against. The rest of the Butterfly family was in chaos after the revelations of really being illegitimate bastards to the throne and PIE PEOPLE descendants- She pauses to shudder in revulsion at even thinking of such a possibility -so they couldn't step in. The only other option would be to let the Mewni kingdom fall apart with no ruler, which would just make things WORSE."

"Was she son? Was she REALLY?"

"Ah, but what ELSE did she do as Queen? Can you think of any other feats that she accomplished during her time as a leader?"

"More important then maintaining good relationships with the other kingdoms, keeping the global economy afloat, and stopping her subjects from resorting to banditry and illegal immigration?"

"Sweetie, I know your a teen and such things you tend to ignore...but have you seriously not noticed the problems that have been popping up the last year or so in the other kingdoms outside Mewni, or at the very least in your HOME kingdom?!"

"Well, if you had been paying attention. You'd have realized that before the 'Cleaving' we were in the middle of a global recession! In addition to a full-on immigration crisis!"

"My son, the most powerful, most wealthiest nation in the old world has in the past year been repeatedly invaded and ravaged...did you really think their would be no consequences to that?

"The economic slump began first during King Rivers brief and disastrous solo reign of debauchery, Ludo's/Toffe's/whatever-the-hell-he-was-suppoused-to-be's conquest only made things worse flattening everything and making many citizens flee in fear. After Toffe's defeat, Moon was thankfully able to start rebuilding things, things were still bad but with Moon on the case we were confident things could be fixed...but then the whole Meteora disaster occurred. After the kingdom of Mewni was destroyed...AGAIN...Star gave up to the throne to Eclipsa! Her reputation aside, she didn't do ANYTHING to fix any of the kingdoms woes. She didn't fix the damage, she didn't work on getting the economy back on track, she didn't do ANYTHING to convince the diaspora of Mewmans to move back! If anything she made it WORSE by kicking Mewmans out of their homes- Before you say anything. Yes, I know she was just giving the monsters back what belonged to them. But again, that's the root of the problem! If it didn't have to do with helping monsters gain equality, spending time with her daughter, or helping Globgor escape she couldn't be bothered. Heck, if Star hadn't pushed her to try to maintain good relationships with the other kingdoms, she wouldn't even have done that! For crying out loud, she more or less 'flaked' on the Spiderbites while Star was forced to improvise and make a fool of herself!"

"Look, I know the hell Eclipsa and her family was put through and from one mother to another I genuinely hope she and her family find happiness...but while I can respect her as a mother and even a warrior...she was a subpar leader. Plain and simple. She lavished all her attention on her family and a underprivileged minority while the rest of the kingdom fell apart and the other kingdoms were dragged with it! Both through the economic slump and the surge of incompetent Mewman immigrants who flooded our countries! And THAT my boy is why we sided with Moon and looked the other way as with MHC support she took back the throne. All the kingdoms had a golden age with Moon in charge. Heck even dethroned she was still unintentionally helping us! She unwittingly minimized the Mewman immigration crisis by attracting the majority of displaced Mewmans to her 'village'! We barely tolerated Eclipsa because we didn't want to get zap by the wand, didn't want the kingdom to fall apart completely and cause further anarchy and the promise to keep Globgor imprisoned. That was it! Supporting her overthrow for Moon was just common sense. But let me be VERY clear; we had no idea MINA had ANYTHING to do with this! And if we had, I guarantee we wouldn't have gone along with it! That woman was an insane bitch BEFORE the Solarian empowerment ritual started to twist and degrade her mind...THAT more then anything would've been a deal-breaker!"

"Oh, my son. As I said, It's not impossible to be a good person AND a good leader...but it is difficult...and as king...more often then not you must put aside what YOU think is right for what is right for your people and Kingdom...if you ever want to be king, you must learn that..."

(3): Think of this as an AU; where all these One Piece villians got imprionsed before ever meeting Luffy(whether or not Luffy will exist at all is still up in the air just to be clear). Also Blackbeard just flat out killed Whitebeard and took his powers. And all the guys he recruited on Level 6 will just already be in his crew and imprisoned here with him; so no 'Marineford' or 'Impel Down' arc's...which also means Ace lives!...probably...maybe...we'll see...

(4): Their magic is demon magic, so like Tom their magic still works and they didn't die.

(5): Tarakudo, his Oni and Shadowkhan all gain their magic from the Shdow realm, completly diffrent from the Realm of magic.

(6): Facilier gets his magic from the Loa realm.

(7): Dai-shi would've been fine if he still had a body like his army since they drew their power from wild magic. But stuck in spirit form he had no chance...So the Overlords and Phantom beasts are taking command of the Dai-shi Clan now.

(8): Yeah...so here's what REALLY happend: Yes, Dib exposed the Anderson cover-up(It was much easier now that so-called 'conspiracy theorists' are taken more serious these days...it also dosen't hurt that the people in most countries are on a very 'anti-secret paranromal agency' mood at the moment and thus ready and eager to believe the worst of them at the drop of a hat.). But the SCP agency didn't send goons to silence him- they had enough bad publicty as it is - But they did send some agents to find out how a young boy came across that information and plug the leak if possible...to their horror they quickly learned of Zim and the frankly unnaturally 'too dumb to live' people of the town. Fearing some form of 'stupidity plauge' caused by the alien as a beachhead for an invasion; The 0-5 council angrily demanded an explination from the local site-director. The oversight although egregious was caused by negligance rather then corruption. The director apparently couldn't be botherd to listen to ravings of a 'would-be-hardy boy'(to be clear the agent shown shackled and being berated by Dib is that same director). The director was quickly fired and aressted. The Foundation sent several squads of SCP Mobile Task Forces to secure the Membraine family- the only people seemingly not affected by the 'plauge' - bring them to safety and neutralize Zim before his 'virus' spreads. During the commotion however, the MTFs accidentally break Gaz's game. Enraged, she summoned her murderous robo-doll army and attacked the lot of them. Between this, the failure to exorcise Mrs. Bitters from the Skool and the chaos caused by Zim's 'tactics'(AKA Madness)...half the city was destroyed within an hour...Which of course drew the attention of the media. Dib also had no idea that his fathers experiments were leaking into the water supply and causing the citizens stupidity and erratic behavior...and was horrified to learn of this later as his dad and sister were arrested...so naturally the story above is only half-true, twisted, distorted and sensationalized beyound all recognition...but it's the media, so what else is new?

(9): The original Flame Keepers never truly recoverd from the death of their god by the hands of the GOC and the mind-wipe/destruction/seizure of most of their assets and members by the Foundation. Pre-Cleaved, Modern Keeper 'activity'; mostly consisted of a bunch of old, cantankerous geezers coming together every so often to put on wierd hats and ramble about the 'good old days'. They needed to become relevant again, Edward needed a more sympathetic persona to replace the soon to be very demonitized title of Sarkic...it was a match made in hell.

(10): Just because most of the ways to travel the universe are currently inoperable or on the firtz dosen't mean it's IMPOSSIBLE to get around...only difficult.

(11): Sorry, but Ben and his family forgot to wear their plot armor. Also there's no Plumbers in this, so I had it that max was part of the Serpents Hand instead...mostly because that's the only orginization in the SCP universe that I personally feel like he'd willingly join.

(12): To sumarize; Edwards group considers their humanity as a weakenss. Something that needs to be discarded to truly evolve. They essentially see humanity as an obsolete stage in evolution. They desiere to evolve/ascend to a higher being...and have nothing but disdain and loathing for anyone who'd rather be human and live a mediocre/'normal' life.

(13): Who turns out to actually be a real person from France, the memetic barrier allowed her to come through. She was quite insturmental in keeping Jackie from getting too worked over the 'revelations' of her existence...Star- wanting to be fair - points out the possibility of her being brought in and them toying with notion of a threesome just before the Cleaving as yet another ploy of the 'spell' to keep Marco away from her...but they just shrug it off saying, 'It's a crazy world now Star, so why not get a little crazy ourselves?'

Author's Note:

ANNOUNCEMENT!

I'M GETTING A BOOK PUBLISHED!

SUMMARY:
On the 13th day of the 13th month of the 13th year...magic will return to the world...and the streets will run red with the blood of the (semi)innocent...unless the world is saved by the most unlikely of hero's...baking cupcakes?!

The title is '13/13/13' and it'll be coming to a bookstore or E-Book site near you! Xilbris is the publisher, also available at Amazon, Inkitt and BarnesandNoble.

...

https://www.amazon.fr/13-Dakota-Umlauf/dp/1984511963

Above is a link to amazon for my book

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1128212357?ean=9781984511966

Above is a link to barnesandnoble for my book

https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001178898https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001178898

Above is a link to Xilbris for my book

https://www.inkitt.com/stories/fantasy/217373

Above is a link to Inkitt.com for my book

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dakota-umlauf-487523169/

Above is a link to my Linkedin account

https://thecowardlychristian.tumblr.com/

Above is a link to my Tumblr account

https://www.facebook.com/dakota.umlauf.90

Above is a link to my facebook account

https://www.patreon.com/TheCowardlyChristian?alert=2

Above is a link to my Patreon account

.......

If you want to see more, go to my fanfiction account: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5874134/The-Cowardly-Christian-du911

...

AN: I know it says "in-progress" but really I just don't like boxing myself into a corner. For now this is more of a one-shot that I might continue one day...but probably won't.
But, hey. Feel free to use whatever elements you want from this, if you want! Or maybe give me ideas? Or maybe bribe me on my Patreon account

Love me, flame me, review me

Comments

[The Cowardly Christian]

10664809
What don't you understand?

[General Asriel Dreemurr]

Yo nice story keep up the good work bro

[The Cowardly Christian]

10818949
Your in luck man, someone just paid me to write the next chapter of this story! I'm working on it right now, and I'm (relatively) nearly done!