Summary: Ah, islands, you've gotta love them.
"Alright." Pearl spoke up, as they stood in the temple. "I know your powers have been … 'buggy' lately."
"Yes, very." Sapphire spoke, staring at Pearl. "With a particularly strange color of bubble, wouldn't you say?"
The gem coughed, continuing her lecture and hoping the suspicion would die out. "So in case you're ever sent somewhere away from Lion, us, or Star with her scissors, I figure it would be best if you learn how to use the Warp Pad."
"Really? Are you sure?" The voice of uncertainty was understandable given what happened of late, and that only convinced Pearl he needed to do this even more.
"Don't worry, it's not one of Rose's special abilities or something, it should be something simple and easy." Amethyst spoke. "Just stand on the pad, imagine a place in your mind that also has a pad, and bam, you're there."
"Besides, we have backups." Ruby pointed to Star with a pair of scissors and the sleeping Lion.
"I recommend Mask island as a start." Sapphire spoke up calmly. "I've searched several paths into the future, and that location should be the safest as it has no gem activity." The gem displayed an image for the boy to memorize and use.
"Oh, looks lovely." Quartz got a top the pad
"Hold up bro, wait for me!" Star hopped about. "If you're about to become the warp master, I want to see it happen in person." If the girl was good for anything, it was keeping the kid's self esteem high.
"Alright, first warp here we go." He closed his eyes. "Focus on the image, the place, I want to be there." With a flash of light, the two of them vanished from the cave.
"So, while we wait for them to come back and or call to pick them up.." Marco asked, being the human source of rationality in Quartz's group. "Were the warp pads always here or did you guys make them?"
"We built them, but that was about …" Pearl raised a hand to her chin. "I think you were discovering copper around that time?"
"Originally, homeworld placed a bunch of them on the planet for easy access across the globe. During the war, we broke most of them and used the little resources we had left to establish the central one in the temple." Sapphire continued.
"There's also the Galaxy Warp Pad, which can let you go to other planets." Ruby added in. "But given that Homeworld is an enemy … we made sure to break it to bits."
"Such a shame, busting heads floating in Zero G sounds awesome." Kelly laughed. Pearl questioned if it was right to leave Rose's sword with this brute, or how she acquired it to begin with.
A second later, with a flash of light, they came back, Star taking deep breaths. "Why didn't you … say anything … about the infinite void … in the tube!"
"I didn't think you were stupid enough to stick your head out of it!" Pearl reprimanded. "This is why we invested in a leash!"
"Aside from almost falling into the ever expanding cold vacuum of space, I totally did it!" Quartz shouted out loud. "I'm the warp master!"
"Celebration donuts all around!" Star picked up the excited boy.
"And with Tad and me broken up, I can actually eat one without him bragging about having no vegan options!"
"I thought it was rare to get him out of your hair." Marco deadpanned.
"It is, so I opened up my hair and stayed underwater until I flushed him out." Why the girl chose to cling to the parasite at all was a mystery Pearl wasn't able, or cared, to solve.
"Ah, if that's the case, I'd like to eat something thrown into the dumpster this time, thank you very much." Amethyst shrugged.
"Wait, donuts?" Marco asked. "Why not pizza … or fries?"
"Haven't had breakfast yet." Star shrugged.
"I know, I'm just saying we have options." The boy looked away. "We don't need to head over to the Big Donut."
"Didn't you get over the weird whatever thing with the donut guy during the moss thing?" Star asked.
"No, they just learned to hate each other in silence." Quartz shrugged. "Like girls do."
"I….huh, that is true." Kelly shrugged.
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"So." Sadie said as she walked up to the group at the table. "Your triple chocolate cream delight." She handed one to Quartz.
"Thank you, mlady." The kid bowed. When he wasn't a transformed pink dinosaur looking to web them up or eating everything in its path, he was a really nice guy.
"One triple fruit combo special." She handed the strawberry blueberry abomination to Star.
"If only you could be as perfect as cupcakes." She told the donut, before biting into it.
"One Dog-nut, why did they start selling these?" She handed one to the girl with puffy green hair.
"It's not a goblin dog, but it'll do." The girl SOMEHOW bit into the hybrid horror without gagging instantly.
"And one plain bagel." She handed the latest one to a rare customer, Marco.
"You need a bigger palette." Star said, pulling out a red vial. "Want some fire spice?"
"The thing you used to torture your ex boyfriend? No thank you." Marco bit into his plain pastry.
"I only did it because I knew he had a weak stomach. It's not that bad, watch." Star poured some on her tongue, and actual smoke formed when she swallowed. "See, totally fine." She said in a raspy voice.
"You'd think living in the underworld would have fixed that." Kelly deadpanned. "Demons are a bunch of wusses."
"Sounds like you guys are having a full morning." Sadie said with a bemused sigh, before taking a glance at Lars, who was sleeping on the job, again, for the fourth time today. "He's so lucky this job isn't picky about who they hire."
"Any place that allows Lars to work anywhere clearly has no standards…no offense Sadie, you're totally fine." Marco grumbled.
"None taken." She needed to get them some way to connect … "What's going on with you?"
"Finally got warping down." Quartz shrugged. "But so far all I've got are dangerous locations, a strawberry field, and an island."
Star raised her head with a confused look. "How come we've never been to the beach before? We've been on an island but we've never gone swimming there."
"Yeah, the only place you guys went swimming in Beech Creek is … the moss." Marco shivered.
"The temple is way at the end of the beach, and there's always some kind of gem thing going on, so we've never really had the chance to enjoy it." The bushy haired girl said out loud.
"Yeah, that's a shame…and we ought to fix that!" Star shouted, pounding her fist on the counter. "Let's have a fun beach day! We can play in the water, build sand castles … oh, and Sadie, you can bring a bathing suit!" She wasn't sure if Star knew that would instantly wake Lars up or not, the girl was a lot more clever than most gave her credit for.
"What-what's going on here?" Her friend/co-worker stumbled, half aware and slightly blushing.
"Nothing important Lars, just friends talking. You can go back to your beauty rest." Marco deadpanned.
"We're planning a tropical island getaway to actually enjoy ourselves for once without any magical baggage getting in the way." Quartz said with lit stars gleaming from his pupils.
"Pass." The boy grumbled. "I know for a fact wherever you walk, crazy sh-" He was shut up with a glare, just grumbling as he stood up. "I'll go take out the trash."
"Man, he sure is moody." Star analyses. "Yep, that's the face of someone that needs to get away from it all."
"Star, on the off chance that you'll actually listen to me on this, can we not invite the jerk along.."
"Nope, like I said, this is about getting away from it all, and that includes leaving behind all grudges and grievances too."
He groaned, biting into his bagel. "Whatever, it's not like he'll say yes to hanging out with us."
Sadie smirked, pulling up the blackmail folder on her phone. "Crumpet time or mother son bonding in sailor outfits?"
"No way, you actually have that?" Marco's eyes actually lit up with excitement since the first time he entered the store. "Go with the Crumpets, baking in general makes him squirm." If it got the two to be around each other for more than five minutes, Lar's dignity was a small price to pay for it.
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"And we're here!" Quartz shouted, as the blinding light finally faded. "Welcome to the abandoned tropical island!" It was nice when he could have a day to just wear no shirt, it always made him feel great to have his skin exposed to the sun … or according to Sapphire it was just his gem being in the sun that felt good.
"It's just like the beach,aka where we live." Lars said, being a bit downward.
"Not at all, there's a bunch of trees and shiny rocks here, which means we're free to hunt whatever's living here!" Star shouted, already making a wooden stake.
"Why would we hunt!?" Marco shouted. "I brought us a cooler full of food that will last us till the end of the day, where we head back home."
"First rule of leaving civilization, always prepare to hunt local game. That's what dad, uh, the king one, taught us." Quartz needed to figure out a non confusing way to refer to both of his dads.
"Besides, it's the weekend, and I plan on staying here as long as we can." Star shot her magic at the warp pad, and surrounded it in a bubble. "There, it won't go away until Sunday night." So now they were stuck here … that was fun.
"WHAT!?" Lars shouted. "I just agreed to an afternoon, i'm not spending a whole weekend with-Gah!" The boy growled, stomping off.
"Lars, don't be like that!" Sadie called out, but the girl's words fell on deaf ears. "Sorry guys, he just needs time to adjust. He never goes anywhere aside from work and school really."
"Dude needs to relax." Kelly shrugged, wearing a two piece that made the clouds very necessary to look at in Quartz's opinion.
"Trust me, that's never going to happen." Marco muttered.
"Hey, we didn't take the mope train on the way over here, put away that attitude." Star began pushing her roommate forward. "Now we ride the cute space unicorn, all the way to the waves of the ocean!"
"It's ironic!"
"Yeah, ironically cute." Star giggled back.
"…So are those two a thing?" Sadie asked him. "I kind of get that vibe, but I don't know if I'm reading into it."
"They crush on other people, but Star does find him cute." He snorted.
Kelly laughed. "Sucks to be them. Could you imagine having a crush on someone who has a crush on someone else?"
"Yeah, that's crazy." He couldn't like Kelly like that, she was already spoken for, even if she was broken up now, Star and Ponyhead were just being silly. "Now let's forget about all our worries and have an amazing time!" He pulled out his ukulele from his trusted cheeseburger backpack.
"Do you just carry that everywhere?" Kelly asked with a wry smile.
"Don't you keep your sword in your hair?" He retorted.
"Touché." Her laughter was great to hear. Now everything was going to go off great!
"Isn't this such a beautiful night? Whoa…"
The night fell upon them fast, and like Star said, they were free to hunt whatever they wanted, which on the island, mainly referred to the fish. Star, Sadie, and Kelly had some time for bonding, using wooden spears to catch them.
"We're underneath a thousand shining stars.."
Marco and Lars actually came together, cooking the fish over the fireplace, and it actually tasted great, even with the fish's face staring right back at him with every bite.
Isn't it nice to find yourself somewhere different? Whoa
They worked on setting up inside of a cave, with a bonfire as they ate fish and chips, which according to Marco was the first time it was ever done literally.
"Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are?"
To commemorate the first successful night of their trip, Quartz made flower crowns for everyone, except for Kelly, who actually asked him to help braid the flowers to her hair. Years of doing similar stuff with Star made him eager to accept, until the boy literally became stuck in it and he needed to be pulled out in a group effort.
"Look at this place, look at your faces…"
Star spent most of the first morning playing in the sand, where she had Marco join her. The boy rolled his eyes and laughed as it went on, even when she buried him in the sand and placed shells on his chest for a makeshift bra.
"I've never seen you look like this before…"
Lars seemed to loosen up considerably by the afternoon, genuinely smiling as he and Sadie walked down the beach, talking like normal people. It took a lot of restraint for Quartz to not try to squeal at the sight of a genuine blooming relationship, knowing teasing might push them further away.
"Isn't it nice to find yourself somewhere different? Whoa…"
Kelly and Quartz spent a lot of the day being 'jungle people', climbing up trees and just soaking in the sun. At one point, Quartz fell off his tree, making Kelly rush to the ground and catching him by having him land in her hair, once more needing to be pulled out.
"Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are?"
Marco and Kelly looked at the sleeping forms of Star and Quartz cuddling, looking at each other before shrugging and jumping into a cuddle pile themselves. It was incredibly awkward to wake up to.
"Look at this place, look at your faces
They're shining like a thousand shining stars."
Marco and Lars spent a lot of time talking whenever it came to making food, as both of them actually had an interest in cooking, Sadie explaining to him it was something Lars was embarrassed by, mainly of fear of people not liking what he made, which was crazy, because his dad couldn't cook fish this well on his best camping trip.
"Isn't it nice to find yourself somewhere different? Whoa
Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are?"
At one point Star's wand wand wonky again, creating a pool toy that tried to murder them all. Luckily, they all had lots of pointy sticks from their previous hunts. Lars kinda backed away from that one though, even if he smiled when it was over.
"Why don't you let yourself just be somewhere different? Whoa…"
One of the best moments came when it was just all of them stargazing on the soft grassy ground, he and Kelly managing to spot the same shooting star at the same time, and they took a minute trying to give each other the wish, only for Star to take it by shouting she wanted Cookie cats to make a comeback, which was a great wish in all honesty.
Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are?
"Hey, my first musical number." Marco spoke up with a grin. "And it happened during a non-highly emotional and dangerous moment."
"Happy to oblige." He smirked. Nice to know everything could go right for a..
"Raaaaaaaaaaaagh!" [Territory. Invaders. Crush.] Was he not even free to THINK that nothing could go wrong for once!
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"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Marco could hear the asshole scream. "Trouble follows you guys like a magnet!"
"You were far from complaining just two minutes ago, sourpuss!" Kelly yelled at the prick. "You actually looked happy. Guess that was just a facade, like your attempts at being cool."
"Oh screw off!" The boy shouted. "Just undo the lock and let us off this crazy island from …" Lars stopped screaming. "What ARE we running from actually?"
"I have no idea, Sapphire told us that she didn't see any gem activity on the island." Quartz said, looking at the ground. "What could possibly…" Quartz was caught off when he was thrown into a tree suddenly.
"Baaaaaragggh!" A huge roar with no discernable source screamed, before something threw Star off the ground and into some nearby trees.
"That definitely feels like a monster…an invisible monster." Star groaned. "She LITERALLY couldn't see it. Future vision is just SO useful, thanks Sapphire!" Star shouted sarcastically.
"If it's invisible that's easy!" Kelly pulled out her sword. "We just gotta hit everywhere!" She ran forward, swinging it unwieldy before she too was sent flying at Quartz's tree. "Nope … terrible plan."
"Kelly, hold on, let me…" Quartz licked his palm, likely going to try and heal the girl, only for him to get pressed down against the ground. "Guys, I can really use some help now!"
"Hold on, keep it still for a second!" Marco yelled out, grabbing some of the mud off the ground and flinging it in Quartz's general direction. It landed in mid air. "There's a visible spot now, hit it!"
"Rainbow Kitty NIGHTMARE!" Star's wand sparked green, before an abomination of Nyan cat started roaring at the girl. "Darn you fritzy wand!" She shouted, running from the creature.
"This is the craziest thing I've ever done!" Sadie charged at the spot with one of the wooden spears, pressing it harder and harder. "I just wanted some time to relax, to actually spend time with Lars as a friend instead of a coworker! I. DIDN'T. NEED. THIS. FREAKING MONSTER…" The girl twisted the spear and pressed even harder. "GETTING IN MY WAY!!"
"EXACTLY!" Marco shouted, grabbing another spear and driving it in. "Can't you guys, for once, just give us some time off! Why is it always an adventure DAY AFTER DAY!!"
"Why is it hard just to be friends with someone!?" Sadie repeatedly stabbed it over and over.
"Why do I need to be responsible!? People either laugh or ignore me!" He stabbed repeatedly as well, ignoring the slashes being thrown at his chest.
"And I'm never thanked for all the time I have to put up with the BS of some guy that barely knows I exist!"
"You know what, universe!? Screw you!" With a final blow thrown at the same time in the same spot, the invisible gem creature screeched until a sudden poof rang into the air, and a now fairly big gemstone fell to the ground with a thud.
Marco sighed with relief, looking at the others, staring at him and Sadie with somewhat concerned expressions. "Marco, buddy." Star asked, finally getting rid of the kitty. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, just peachy." He groaned, letting out a big breath. "You know what, I'm starting to think you might be right about therapy. That felt better than any couch session could ever be." He glanced at Lars, who just looked awkwardly at the giant gemstone.
"So … what now?" He asked. "Break the rock, toss it in the ocean, keep it as a trophy"
"No, now I bubble it and leave it to the gems to deal with." Quartz grabbed it, and placed it in a green bubble. "Now let's.." the bubble slipped from his grasp, and was left floating in mid air. He tried to grab it again, only for a green static to shock him. "Or just leave it here and tell them later."
"We have GOT to get these powers fixed!" Star groaned. "It's a real coin toss …"
"Right, coin toss, that's a positive way to put it." Quartz groaned, putting his licked hand onto Kelly. "You better?"
"Yeah, just need a little…huh?" Kelly stared at her hand, still scared and slightly bleeding. "I don't feel it… not like when you fixed my eyes."
"Great … another malfunction." The boy sighed. As he was getting comforted by Star and Kelly, he turned to Sadie.
"Thanks for the save." He told her. "You're pretty good with a weapon."
"Not as good as you, you know how to handle yourself pretty well." She chuckled. "Good with food and fighting. Aren't you impressive?" Marco gave a nervous laugh, turning away with a blush.
"I knew this island was a bad idea." Lars grumbled, and while everyone gave him the 'really' look, everyone wasn't too keen on correcting him either. "Let's just get out of here before any more invisible creeps show up."
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This was life, drinking juice from the trees, eating rich fish, and ruling over the animals of the land. Truly a perfect life one could have to just live. No obsessions, no existentialism, no expectations, just … tranquility.
He didn't need to worry about the elements, his beard had grown long enough to provide most of his warmth throughout the day, and Spider's webs were very comfortable when they were weaved together just right. The only 'problem' he had was the lack of conversation, but that hardly mattered when all his minions made up for it with an undying loyalty.
Besides, he just had to learn bird and spider at some point, eventually. "You're good people." He told them. "It's nice to have company, sharing warmth together against the elements."
"Surprised you never learned that before."
"Well I was preoccupied trying to-" … He turned to Quartz Butterfly. "What the…"
"I mean, pretty much every monster I run into knows how to live in the woods. Then again, you weren't much of a monster when you can barely pick up a stick." That was oddly antagonistic of the kid from what he remembered, but then again it has been months.
Ludo growled, before laying down. "Don't chase it Ludo, don't give into it. The wand is gone, you have a life now, you don't need revenge …"
"Want my wand?" His eyes bulged open as Star Butterfly waved her wand frivolously around. "I mean I might hand it to you out of pity."
"Don't give in, don't chase…" He repeated over and over again.
"Wow, he's even more pathetic than last time." The girl laughed.
"I AM NOT PATHETIC!!" He was not what Toffee said he was, he was not what Buff Frog said he was, he had power, goals, purpose! "GIVE ME THAT WAND!!" And that purpose was to make EVERYONE see just how amazing he was!
"Oh, you want the wand? Then come and take it!" The girl blasted her magic at it, but he avoided it, months of crawling over and under every conceivable obstacle making him more agile.
"What's the point in doing this, little dodo?" Quartz Butterfly threw one of those infernal bubbles that he narrowly managed to dodge. "Keep this up and you'll lose the respect of the one person that can actually stand you, not that you were ever a good brother to begin with…"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" He jumped from a tree straight at Quartz's neck, with the intent to strangle it … only to pass right through him, tumbling down the snowy hill. Great, he was hallucinating and now probably had broken bones. What a day.
"Why…why…why?!" He shouted at the night sky. "I was finally happy for once! Why do you keep reminding me..why…why…why is the ground glowing?" A small bright green glow could be spotted, emanating from underneath it. He dug deeper, desperate to find just about anything at this point, something to cling onto.
A … wand? Half of a green star was embedded into a rock. The rock was grabbed by a skeleton hand, in the shape of a handle. "What … what are you?" He held the object, feeling energy flow through him. Power beyond power, it was amazing, it was incredible, it was … "My own wand." A wand he would use to put Mewni into the palm of his hands.
As soon as he figured out how to make a portal, it wasn't like he was … suddenly … he stared at the castle in the distance. "It was there the whole time?!"