Star dropping down on her with the Thermonuclear Butterfly Blast was the last thing Jara saw, before the flash of light and overwhelming force flung her into darkness. Inside of the instantaneous oblivion, Jara was a weightless entity in the void, adrift in her own jumbled memories, leaving her body to crawl back towards awakening.

“That girl…” She was taken off-guard by the dream-like echo of her voice. “That girl with the cheek marks… that magic…”

“A Butterfly!”

She ground her teeth. “What is a Butterfly?”

“A potent magic user, one that may be very useful to us.”

“A potent magical user? Like you are describing a mild annoyance!” Her voice’s edge sharpened. “That spell, that overwhelming power… that was no small thing! It was like…!”

Her body was without warning hammered by winds that swirled from every direction, ranging from bone-chilling cold to skin-boiling hot. Jara was on her feet and alert, but with one look around, she saw she was no longer in the Hillhurst vineyard. “No… oh no.”

She recognized this place, the edge of a sheer cliff. The sky was black, illuminated by lightning that was frozen across the sky rather than flashing, and fire burned to the horizon in every direction.

Long, stretched out shadows streaked the illuminated ground, burned into it by the light, the shadows were cast by scorched statues–some humanoid, some monstrous, all frozen in action poses. The ones closest to the cliff were running towards it, hands raised as if wielding weapons, while others further back were either raising their limbs to guard or turning to flee.

“No… no… no…!” Jara repeated, looking further up the cliff.

On its very edge, a final figure stood with an upraised hand. From its back, six golden streaks of light spread across the sky. Jara stared at its face, seeing four points of light–its eyes, and its cheeks–illuminating a cherubic smile before there was nothing but a golden light brighter than a hundred suns.

Jara snapped awake, feeling like a thunderclap had gone off in her head. She let out a half-growl, half-scream and surged onto her feet. She was still alive, scorched, but intact.

The thunderclap wasn’t in her head. Slooked for the source of the racket–a hilltop just blew up… and Typhus was lying in the center of its crater. “What?”

She looked over for Noxic and found him lying on the ground, a hole blown through his chest. “… How?”

She looked dead ahead and saw the Beetleborgs together with that annoying martial arts boy and… her.

The Butterfly. Blonde haired. Blue eyed. Cherub-faced.

Just. Like. Her. Nightmare.

Jara began walking towards the house. “I am done.”

Marco got ready. “Okay, she’s coming. What’s the plan?”

“Swarm her,” Drew looked at Roland and Jo. “We hit her like we did last time.”

Still walking towards them, Jara grabbed the pauldrons that held her cape up and unfastened them. The armor slipped off her shoulders, she grabbed them and whipped them into the air behind her revealing the bare-shouldered halter-topped armored leotard she wore underneath.

Hunterborg suddenly had a very bad feeling. “Yo, guys?”

The pauldrons, her cape fluttering behind them, plummeted to the ground behind her. Their weight created an explosion of dirt and gravel that reached higher than Hillhurst.

Star, Marco, The Beetleborgs, and everyone watching in the house froze where they stood.

Roland swallowed. “Nah, I’ve seen enough Dragon Ball to know what’s about to go down.”

So did Drew–he lunged forward, leaping in front of Star. The second he moved Jara appeared, her jitte/whip handle driven into his stomach. “Urgh!”

It didn’t punch through his armor, but didn’t need to.

Jara didn’t give anyone the luxury to react, using her whole body to swing in a sharp circle, throwing everyone within reach of her through the air. Hunterborg bounced off the corner of Hillhurst, Marco and Star went crashing back into the vineyard, Strikerborg hurtled in the direction Typhus went, while Stingerborg went straight towards the front windows of the house.

“Get down!” Dipper yelled, dragging Janna down as Mabel pulled Misao away–leaving Flabber to be flattened by Drew crashing through the windows. Both went into the wall just below the stairs in a shower of shattered wood and glass.

With the hangtime of her flight, Strikerborg recovered and twisted her body to land on her feet with a heavy crash. “You… bitch!”

She whipped the Input Magnum out and opened fire, the beams streaking past Jara.

Facing Strikerborg, Jara effortlessly slapped away several more beams with the front and back of her hand, before her body flickered and disappeared. Her faint afterimages appeared in a zigzagged pattern, then faded entirely.

Two red lights slashed across Strikerborg’s chest, but the red Beetleborg didn’t fall–she planted her feet and turned around to point the Input Magnum in the dead center of Jara’s mask. Jara’s own weapon stopped, leveled right between the eyes of Jo’s helmet.

Jara hesitated. “What?!”

“Yeah, you’re not doing that crap again!” Strikerborg snarled.

Both fired their weapons, the blasts sent them stumbling from each other. Recovering first, Jara ignited her beam whip like a blade sliced through the smoke, cutting across Strikerborg’s side and arm.

Sparks showering from her armor, the Beetleborg performed a devastating uppercut with the Striker Plasmar, missing so narrowly that the arcs of plasma off the spinning weapon burnt lines into Jara’s mask.

Grabbing her arm, Jara threw Strikerborg to the ground on her back. She dragged her in a circle around her, lifted her up, and threw her up the path. “Do not get in my way!”

Jara swung her weapon, the beam blade extending into a whip and slashing through the ground to hit Strikerborg. The first pass launched her off the ground and onto her feet, and the second threw her onto her back.

“Stay there, play dead, actually die! I do not care!” Jara demanded. “I will be back for your worthless head later!”

Marco slowly got up, groaning. He looked down at himself, and was happy to see he wasn’t dismembered or disemboweled. “Ugh, okay. This has gotten bad.”

He looked over at Star. “Hey, Star? You got something for this?”

“Sure… just lemme… ugh… wow, there’s two of you…” Star tried to get up, and fell over against Marco. “Two Marcos to help me… fight… uhh… my head hurts…”

“Oh no.” Bad was now worse. He looked up and saw Jara storming towards them, just as Roland lunged at her side. Without looking, she struck him twice with the weapon before catching it between his helmet’s horns and swinging him down to her feet with a metallic crunch.

“Leave that Butterfly, so I can rip off her wings in peace,” Jara commanded as she stepped over Roland.

Marco set Star down as she groaned in a half-hearted attempt to regain her bearings. She looked up at him, as he faced Jara with a stillness that made the air feel heavy.

“You touch her.” His voice was calm as the mirror smooth sea. “And I will rip your arm off and beat you to death with it.”

Star gasped, her heart skipping a beat from the weight of Marco’s presence.

Jara felt it too, it actually gave her pause for a moment, before she raised her weapon. “I will be on my guard, then.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A beam cut across the front of her mask, and Jara jumped back. She looked up at Strikerborg sprinting towards her. “We are not finished!”

She had all day now, so why not? She nodded to Marco. “Please take this time to say your goodbyes. I will not be long.”

Her body flickering again, Jara disappeared and there was an explosion as her blade crashed against Strikerborg’s blocking arm.

Jo bodily shrugged her off and swung a kick at her, but Jara disappeared again, reappearing to attack Strikerborg from her side. Her younger opponent was fast enough to use her arm to catch and block her thrust.

This joke of a girl is different! Jara broke away to avoid another kick to her stomach.

Strikerborg pursued her without hesitation, her steps causing the ground to fracture beneath her feet. She may be better than me, but if I leverage my strength I can hold her off!

The Striker Plasmar spun, and Jo used her strength to jump high above Jara. As gravity took hold, she aimed the weapon down at her and fired. “Let’s freaking go!”

Holding her wand, Marco walked Star into the house. Mabel rushed to them, fretting for the injured Princess. “Is Star okay? Is she bleeding anywhere?”

Marco looked from her to Star. “No blood, but I think she’s got a concussion, so she’s out for the fight.”

“I don’t have a concuss…” Star’s head drooped down as her words slurred. “… shun… I’m fine…”

Mabel took Star’s head in both hands. “Look right in my eyes, Star.” Star did as told, allowing Mabel to examine her pupils. “Okay, pupils are still the same size. She’s got a nasty bump on her head.”

She leaned from side to side, looking into Star’s ears, then up her nose. Using her thumbs to open her mouth, she peered inside. “

No sign of bleeding.” She looked over at Misao, who was helping Dipper and Janna pull Drew off Flabber. “I need some ice, or frozen peas! Something cold!”

“Jawohl! Soon as we get Drew and Flabber free!” Misao called back.

Dipper had one foot on the wall, as he tugged on Drew’s arms with Jana to dislodge him from it. “You are stuck in there!”

“That’s what he said,” Janna joked.

“Can you not?!” Dipper and Drew shouted together.

Mabel looked back at Marco. “We gotta get her lying down.”

Marco agreed and headed for the couch, occupied by the Hillhurst Hollywood Horror show, and got up. “Hey! Clear off the couch before I do the Monster Mash.”

Mums, Frankie, and Fangula got one look at Marco… and thought better of protesting against the guy who punched a robot and didn’t flinch. The three got up and headed out, with Mums calling back. “You’d better record that on the DVR! I want to see how it ends!”

“Spoiler warning–you’re going to be disappointed.” Marco called after them with a scowl, and helped Mabel pick up Star and bring her to the couch.

Star let out a weak laugh. “Wow, Marco… that was so cool…”

With great care, he picked her up and laid her down. “Just take it easy.”

“Get pillows under her head and shoulders, and keep them elevated,” Mabel warned, “And don’t let her fall asleep.”

“I know, I take first-aid every year to keep up to date,” Marco reassured her.

Mabel brightened. “You too? Dipper and I nearly got killed so many times that I learned field medicine just in case. You should see my stitching, and I’m even qualified for emergency amputations!”

Marco stared at Mabel, let that silence stretch for just an instant, and nodded. “Yep, you can’t be too prepared.”

He slipped a large throw pillow under Star’s neck and shoulders, and she let out a sigh of relief. He looked at the TV and watched Jara’s skill square up against Strikerborg’s raw strength. “Jo seems to be doing fine.”

A badly overextended punch from Strikerborg was brutally punished with a severe lashing from Jara, that sent her flying end over end.

Mabel winced. “Mostly.”

Luckily, before Jara could rush at the house and butcher the lot of them, Hunterborg came charging back in, Input Magnum blazing.

“Roland’s back up too!” Mabel cheered.

Jara, not having any of his meddling, wrapped him up in a ribbon of energy, and swung him around.

Marco looked back. “No, this isn’t working.”

Right at that moment, the snapping of boards heralded Dipper, Janna, and Misao pulling Stingerborg free. Dipper helped him onto his feet. “Drew, you all right?”

“Yeah… maybe…? No…” Drew sighed. “… I’ll let you know when this is over…”

Dipper patted him on the shoulder. “You did your best, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s hard not to, we’re getting creamed,” Drew grumbled back. “Plus, I almost screwed up again. I came here to try to find a way to go back and stop myself from making the wish.”

Dipper shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

Stingerborg looked at Dipper, wary of his reassurance. “Really?”

“If you hadn’t been here, there’s no telling what they would’ve done,” Dipper reassured him. “So don’t worry about anything that didn’t even happen to begin with.”

“Huh, I expected you to tear me a new one.”

“I think you’ve had enough of that.” Dipper looked over at Flabber. “Hey, Flabber? We need to do something about these guys. Can you erect a forcefield? Summon zombies? Play the organ so loud that it drives them insane?”

Flabber, who was flat against the wall like he’d been painted onto it by the impact, raised a finger. “I could use some organs right now. Mine seem to be pulverized.”

He popped off the wall, good as new. “Ah, that’s better! Yeah, I can do all sorts of things, but Jara looks like she’s way too tough for anything I could stop her with.”

Drew watched Jo baseball slide under her friend-turned-projectile and fired the Striker Plasmar at Jara, actually managing to hit her. The attack only made Jara angrier, and she blasted Jo back in turn.

We can’t beat her like this, only slow her down… we need more firepower than what we have. He turned around to face Dipper, Flabber, Misao, and Janna.

“Flabber, you couldn’t summon anything from the movies, but you can summon from the comics, right?”

Dipper looked at Drew. “What are you thinking?”

“The Beetle Battle Base. It has more than enough firepower we need to drive them off, and it’ll keep the Magnavores from coming here again.” Drew looked back at Flabber, hoping against hope. “Please tell me you can do that?”

Dipper answered for him. “He should be able to.”

Flabber looked from Drew to Dipper. “I should?”

“I have a theory: as long as it comes from a Beetleborgs comic, you should be able to summon it just fine.”

Janna held one aloft. “Lucky for us, I happen to have one right here.”

“All right, not not…” Drew stopped when he saw the comic in question. “Whoa, that’s super rate, where’d you get that?”

“I have my ways,” Janna assured him.

With a nod, Drew turned to the phasm. “Flabber! We need the Beetle Battle Base!”

Lighting up with excitement, and the opportunity to help, Flabber spun around and struck a pose. “You got it, kiddo!”

Magic began to swirl around him, and everyone quickly stepped back.

“Flib!” An organ note played.

“Flab!” Another joined in harmony.

Raising his hands, the final note joined in as he shouted. “FLABBER!”

The phasm leveled his hands on the book. “Here we go, one BBB with a real A+ Rating, coming up! PHASM FORCE!”

Outside, Strikerborg got back up on her feet, Hunterborg struggling to join her. Smoke was rising from her damaged armor, but if it was serious, the rumbling chuckle she let out while she rolled her shoulders didn’t give it away.

Jara cracked her beam whip, seething. “I had no more nerves for you to get on a long time ago. Why are you so stubbornly insisting on getting in my way?”

Hunterborg shook his head as he finished getting up. “Just shut up and box.”

Strikerborg laughed louder. “I wanna know why you haven't gotten us out of your way, if it’s so important.”

Jara wanted to know that herself. They keep getting up! That armor of theirs keeps them going, it’s let them outlast Noxic and Typhus, and they keep stonewalling me.

She looked past them at the house. What in Cipher’s name is so powerful that it can grant amateurs this kind of power?

The sky grew dark again, and Jara looked up. “What?”

Like when she, Noxic, and Typhus first arrived the sky lit up–a pillar of light rising from the house and extending into the sky. The last time, it had dimmed then vanished in short order. This time it expanded, spreading from the house and washing over the entire vineyard surrounding the mansion.

Jara screamed from the blinding light and shielded her eyes.

“What’s happening now?!” Jo yelled over the organ bellowing with the light.

The ground shook violently, Hunterborg catching Strikerborg before she could be toppled. “I think Flabber’s doing something…!”

He trailed off as the light faded. Behind his mask his eyes widened, and his mouth followed–curving into an open-mouthed smile.

Jo looked up as well and gasped in joy. “No freaking way!”

Jara lowered her arm from her eyes and saw what had them so hyped up. She recoiled. “WHAT?!”

Towering ten stories higher than Hillhurst was a gleaming metal tower with a dish-shaped roof and complex set of antennas sticking from its front. Emblazoned across the front of the building was the symbol of the Beetleborgs, which flashed a swirling mix of blue, green, and red.

“The Beetle Battle Base!” Jo all but shrieked.

Roland laughed, the tension flowing from his body at the sight of their salvation. “My nigga with the clutch timing!”

Out on the hill, Typhus got up and looked over at the new building. “Where’d that come from?”

Noxic, crawling towards Jara, looked up at the Beetle Battle Base. “Uh. That ain’t good.”

Jara took a few more steps back, her anger completely displaced by confusion. “Where did this come from?!”

“Hey, Jara!” She looked down at the house to see Dipper standing on the porch of the house. He raised his finger and pointed at her. “This is the only warning. Get off our property, get off our planet, and get out of our dimension! Or else you’ll get more of this!”

From behind Hillhurst, and directly in front of the Beetle Battle Base a cloud of dust rose up, before a blue and silver six-wheeled vehicle styled after a Rhinoceros Beetle came tearing around the house and raced straight towards Jara. At the controls, Stingerborg targeted Jara with the beam cannons of the Blue Stinger AV and opened fire.

“OH NOW THAT’S JUST A PILE OF HORSE MANURE-!” The heavy beam bolts crashing into Jara cut her ranting short, and several more tore up the ground around her.

“This is the last time you’re setting foot anywhere near Hillhurst, Jara!” Drew yelled out, directing the AV’s long horn downward. Surging forward, its T-shaped end collided with her stomach.

With a hard yank on the controls, his AV launched Jara high into the sky. End over end she tumbled, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Take your friends, and don’t threaten us again!” He shouted over her enraged shrieking. “Blazing Stinger!”

The raised horn shone brightly and fired a blue energy beam that struck the flailing Jara, setting off a large explosion that cast a cloud of smoke over the house.

Several long seconds followed, before Jara’s scorched black body crashed into the ground near Noxic and Typhus.

Noxic looked back and forth between his friends. “Hey… is… is she dead?”

Typhus stepped over to Jara and nudged her with his foot. “Yo Jara, you all right?”

Jara took a deep, pain-wracked breath. “I want to go home now.”

Typhus looked to Noxic. “Hey, she’ll be all right.”

He looked towards the menacing AV, which was now turning towards them. “We’re outta here, baby!”

As with before, the Magnavore trio morphed into streams of flames, and rapidly escaped the area. The smoke slowly cleared over the vineyard, leaving only the afternoon sun in a cloudless sky to shine down on the victorious Beetleborgs and their allies.