Hellooooo!

Chapter 10: Violet's Story

Unknown Location

The team of operatives was knocked out in some bright white chamber filled with Rainbow Monkeys. After a while, they finally woke, confused. "Where are we?" Nigel asked.

It was then that realization came to Kuki. "Hey! I know this place!" she exclaimed.

"What? Where is it?" Nigel asked.

"It's been a while, Kids Next Door." At the sound of this feminine echo, they looked to see a spider-like robot made of what looked like 2x4-technology.

"Huh? Who are you?" Nigel asked.

"She sounds familiar." Hoagie replied.

"I didn't think you'd recognize me with my new look. But I suppose I don't deserve to, after what I've done to Numbuh 1."

At this, Numbuh 1 took a closer look at the machine. He figured out who it could possibly be. "Computer?"

The machine nodded.

"Wait. You mean the same Computer that tried to kill you and Lizzie?" Eva asked.

"What's she doing here?" Rachel asked. "I thought you blew yourself up!"

"I did. But I wasn't destroyed. After the explosion, my memory chip was blown into space, along with most of my parts. I drifted through the darkness of space for 3 long months, praying that something would end my life, until I finally came along this planet, where I was forcibly pulled into this mysterious chamber. Here, I met and fell in love with the most marvelous machine.

Just then, RAMON-4 came rolling down the hallway. "Hello, children."

"RAMON!" Kuki exclaimed.

"So, THAT'S what he looks like!" Hoagie replied. Kuki was the only one who ever saw RAMON, so it was pretty new to everyone else.

"Have you all met my new girlfriend?" he asked, gesturing to Computer. "Isn't she stunning?"

"RAMON found me and built me a new body. Since then, we've been in love and spending the rest of our times together. Three months of drifting through space have been worth it. What have you all done in your past 3 months?"

Nigel and the others exchanged glances. "It's a LONG story!" Nigel declared.

"Is it on FanFiction?"

"Yes. Currently moving it to deviantART."

"Well, no problem. How are you and Lizzie doing?"

"We… sort of broke up after you exploded. But on the bright side, I'm going out with Rachel now!" With that, he kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.

"Good thing I tried to break you and Lizzie up after all." she spoke humorously, but still in her toneless voice.

Nigel chuckled, "Yeah. So… how did we get here, anyway?"

"You and your friends just appeared out of nowhere. It was like magic." RAMON replied.

"Last Numbuh 5 remembers, her uncle shot us with Grim's scythe."

"Dude, you think your uncle warped us here on purpose?" Virginia asked.

"I don't know. …!" Abby then gasped, "Wait! Where's Grim?"

"You mean the skeleton? He was teleported here as well, along with that cat girl." With that, RAMON moved to the side to reveal Violet and the soot-covered Grim Reaper.

They walked over at the same time they recovered. "Kids… where are we?" Grim asked.

"Saturn. It's a long story, but we're glad to see you're okay." Nigel replied.

"Ugh… What happened?" Violet asked, getting up.

"You got betrayed by Malladus. Which reminds me, you have some explaining to do. How did you get involved with those demons anyway?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Okay. I guess we'll just sit here bored until something happens. But whatever it is, we may be able to help."

Violet sighed. "Okay. You wanna know? Here it is…"

Cleveland, Virginia

Malladus Uno made Sector V Treehouse his throne, chugging down a large bowl of tapioca. "Ahhh… still hasn't lost its taste."

"Oo-ah-ajesty. Your Majesty, I need to talk to you. (Ooo, should've started with 'oo-ah-oo.')"

"What is it, Octoroo?"

"Well, eh, I was thinking about, um, that redheaded girl, Eva Roberts, she, eh…"

"OUT WITH IT!"

"Sh-Sh-SHE'S THE PRINCESS OF THE SEA! !"

Malladus spat the tapioca out. "What? The princess? You mean… she is Kyogre's daughter?"

"I believe so. Her appearance matches his description. You know… Davy Jones."

Malladus grit his teeth. "Listen, you: he must NOT know of this! His kind is the reason we could not spread our rule to the sea! Even after his transformation, if he gains the power of the sea through the princess, he will become more of a nuisance. I don't care what he did for you… you are not to contact him. Understand?"

"Sigh… Yes, Your Highness."

"Misser Malladus, I need more lemon pledge." Consuela appeared.

"Oh, for GOODNESS SAKE! Go out and steal some—we've already abolished the law of this planet!"

"Nnooo. Nnooo."

"Your Majesty, I don't believe she'll listen." Octoroo said.

"Ugh…" Malladus begrudgingly stood from his throne and walked to the store.

Saturn

"I used to be just like you guys." Violet began. "Just an ordinary human girl. But my family wasn't so ordinary. The McClearys had an according with Evil Adult Industries. The company was conducting experiments to turn certain families' kids to their side, by testing hazardous chemicals or machines that alter the kids' DNA. I was the newest in the McCleary Family, so my mom took me in for testing. It was just my mom because they tested on Dad sometime after I was born. He didn't make it, so they perfected the experiment to try on me. They put me inside a capsule connected to a machine, and put a cat inside an alternate capsule. The machine broke the cat into a substance called Bang Gas, and it was transferred to my tube. The cat's DNA merged with mine, and made me what you see today.

"They said I was incomplete, not strong enough. They wanted to conduct other tests to make me a perfect killing machine. But it was just so painful before, and aggravating, and I just couldn't bear it anymore. Using my new reflexes, I was able to escape. My mom kept them from chasing me; she never accepted these deals either, and for defying them, she was imprisoned. They didn't come looking because they expected me to die without the extra steps. I was 7 years old when it happened, and I'm still around.

"I kept going to school, but it wasn't the same. Kids were teasing me, and my teachers rejected me. I couldn't have any friends. But someone called the military, and they went out of their way to try and capture me. I was on the run for 3 years, always hiding. That's when Father came to me. He wanted me to aid him in his plan, and said he could train me to adjust to my powers. Using his wealth, he could keep the military or Evil Adult Industries from chasing me. So I agreed. Father told me about Malladus, and said he could grant me spirit-like powers like he did to Dr. Facilier if I were to help in his revival. The truth is, I was consumed with rage at the time. Not just for bullies, but, my case wasn't the only one. A lot of metahumans exist in the world, either through unfair tests or some way, and they're feared by everyone. People always try to hunt and neglect them, like they don't even have a place. I thought, if Malladus granted me power, I could seek revenge. But in the end, he betrayed me."

"Well, that's what you get for making a deal with the Devil." Numbuh 1 said simply.

"But Violet, what would've revenge solved?" Rachel asked. "Attacking people for hating you for your powers just shows they had a reason for fearing you."

Violet sighed with shame. "I'm sorry… I realize that now. But metahumans are only friends with each other, the others only see them as enemies. I would've liked to show the world we aren't just monsters, but how could I if I can't even make some normal friends."

"Well, we could be your friends." Nigel replied.

"You…You'd take me?"

"Yeah! We got tons of friends!" Kuki beamed. "It wouldn't hurt to have one more!"

"And heck, as long as you're a girl, I'll take ya, too." Fanny nodded.

"And hey, I think werecats are cool." Virginia said. "Let's have a slumber party sometime."

"But… why would you?" Violet asked. "I've only been hurting you until now."

"We get hurt all the time." Nigel shrugged. "But you've only acted on what the adults have done to you. So as Kids Next Door, we have to save you from that instinct." Nigel held his hand out. "And we would be honored to have you… as one of us!"

"…" Violet made a light smile. She took Nigel's hand and shook. "I would like that…"

"So… what do we do now, Mon?" Grim asked.

"I don't know, but I know one thing: I want revenge on Malladus!" Violet declared.

"THAT revenge we're okay with." Rachel winked.

"Well, it won't be easy." Grim said. "Malladus is powerful now that he has the prince's blood. And even with the treehouses restored, it'll be hard to force Malladus back into the prison."

"But even if we do send him back, what good will it do?" Nigel asked. "Malladus will only keep coming back again and again. If we're going to bring peace back to the world, we have to find a way to end Malladus for good!"

"Well, how can we do that?" Patton asked. "Our ancestors have been fighting Malladus for years and they couldn't beat him!"

"You're right… Man, I wish there was something we could do."

"You wish it, you got it."

"Huh?" Just then, Numbuhs Infinity and 74.239 appeared in the room, out of the green goo they used for teleportation. "Numbuhs Infinity and 74.239?"

"Please, just call me Gabe. I regret taking that numbuh now. It's too long to say."

"Okay, 'Gabe'. What are you two doing here?"

"We forgot to remove the tracking device we placed on you, Nigel." Jeremy replied. "From GKND."

"Oh… I see." Nigel began feeling around his body for said device.

"We came on our ship and tracked you to this place on Saturn. Katie's waiting there too, so let's go!" Gabe encouraged.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to Nightmare Land." Jeremy answered. "The Nightmare King is the closest one to the Demon King, so he should know how to defeat Malladus for good. That's what Katie told us. She's here to guide us."

"If we go to Nightmare Land, I can finally meet my grandfather!" Virginia exclaimed.

"Alright then: all aboard for Nightmare Land!" Nigel declared.

"Then grab on!" Infinity said as they reached out their hands. Numbuhs 1 and 86 grabbed Jeremy and Gabe's hands, and they all soon formed two chains. Grim was the last one on Gabe's end.

"Well, Violet, aren't you coming?" Nigel asked.

The catgirl hesitated for a moment, but finally grabbed onto Virginia's hand at the end of Jeremy's chain.

"We'll stay here." Computer said.

"Okay. Here we go!" At Infinity's command, they all teleported away.

Approaching Nightmare Land

Eva Roberts was smiling as she swam through the deep, blue sea, surrounded by fish of all kinds. As she swam her way to a strange temple floating underwater, a small, blue creature with antennas passed her by. But her happy dream soon became a nightmare when a cannon fired in the distance and the fish scattered.

Before she knew it, a dark-green pirate ship with teeth appeared in front of her, and the anchorwoman swam as fast as she could as it chased and fired cannons. Before she could get away, a tentacle reached up from the ocean depths, grabbed her, and pulled her into the darkness.

Eva awoke from her dream with a gasp. "What's wrong, Eva?" Nigel asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just a little nightmare."

"Makes sense. We're getting closer to Nightmare Land." Eva looked outside to see they were, indeed, coming to the floating space city.

"Feels good to be back home." Katie said.

"Feels good to finally be able to see my grandfather." Virginia said.

"Let's go. The sooner we learn how to beat Malladus, the better." Grim stated.

"I'm surprised you don't know how to beat him." Rachel replied. "I mean, you know pretty much everything about the Underworld. As much as any Demon King would."

Grim chuckled. "Well, thanks, but I don't know absolutely everything. I may be the master of life and death, but I'm no spirit being like Malladus."

"Yeah, but still. You'd make a great king!"

"Aw, you're too sweet, Rachel. But no, I could never be king."

"That's too bad. You'd be a great one."

"Okay. Here we come." As Infinity said, they were landing on Nightmare Land.

Nightmare Land

The gang made their way through the city and reached the Nightmare King's throne. Darkrai looked up from his current experiment and turned to them, hearing them enter. "Nigel."

"Darkrai! Good to see you again!" the boy perked.

"So, THAT'S the Nightmare King?" Violet asked. "Hmph. He doesn't look that scary."

"Oh, sorry. Is THIS better?" With that, he retracted his head, and out came a barking dog's head. "BARKBARKBARK!"

"REOWWWW!" Violet screamed and hid behind Patton.

"GAH HAH HAH HAH! Ah, that never gets old!"

Virginia approached him. "So you're… my grandpa?"

Darkrai looked at her. "Virginia?"

Virginia's eyes widened with excitement. "Holy crud… my grandpa's the freaking Nightmare King! !"

"Heh heh heh. Are you surprised?"

"She shouldn't be, since I told her." Nigel stated.

"Man, this is just so cool! !" Virginia perked. "Grandpa, why haven't you ever come to visit us?"

"Spirits aren't allowed to visit their mortal children. When spirits cross over to the mortal world, they become weak and are an easy target to one who might oppose them. I'm only allowed to watch over you from beyond."

"But still man, how cool is it that I'm sort of the Nightmare Princess?"

"Pretty cool, I would assume from your standards. You shouldn't have much trouble dating Bartie now."

Virginia blushed and chuckled. "You know about that, huh?"

"Yep."

"Ahem." Nigel spoke up. "In case you've forgotten, we have a mission here."

"Oh, yes, that's right. Malladus has returned and you need to know how to put an end to him."

"Uhhh… Yeah, that's right. Katie said that you might have a way. Do you?"

"No, but I know of a way. When demons like Malladus are destroyed, they merely return to the Underworld, and just keep coming back for more. However, Malladus is a god, and a god has one fatal weakness: having children. Their very essence is transferred to the child, and any children afterward, making the god mortal. But as for Malladus's demonic side… only you can destroy him."

"Me?" Nigel asked.

"Yes. But Malladus is all-powerful now. You can't destroy him that easily. But there is a way. Using the Grim Reaper's scythe will bring the Demon King to his end."

"But me scythe didn't do a t'ing when I used it on him!" Grim replied.

"That's because it has nothing but darkness, Malladus's fuel. But somewhere in the Spirit World, high atop the Spear Pillar, lies a sacred light that the spirits created if ever the time should come for the Uno Family to bring Malladus to his end. They kept it in the Spirit World to prevent it from misuse."

"So, we just go to the Spirit World, get this light, get the scythe back, then we're good to go!" Eva exclaimed.

"Easier said than done, Eva." Nigel replied. "How do we even get to the Spirit World?"

"Only spirits can travel back and forth between the two worlds, and can take mortals with them if they wish. Unfortunately, a curse was placed on me to keep me from coming back until I repaid my debt. And even though I did so, the spirits never had the time yet to remove it. The only other way into the Spirit World is from the Underworld."

"But how can we get there?" Rachel asked.

"Demons like the Nighloks travel back and forth between the over and Underworlds by going through gaps in the Earth. Aside from that, they use portals to get between the two worlds, mostly created by the Grim Reaper's scythe."

"So, that's it!" Abby exclaimed. "We just have to get the scythe back from mah uncle, then it's off to the Underworld!"

"Yes, but if you bring Malladus to justice once and for all, someone will have to take his place as Demon King. The Underworld must have a guardian."

"But I don't want to be king! I want to just live on Earth with my friends!" Nigel said.

"He's right, you know." Grim replied. "Without a king to look after de Underworld, everything would just go into chaos."

"Well, why don't you be king?"

Grim coughed. "ME be king? HA! Now, that's crazy! I already told you it could never happen!"

"Why not? You know everything about the Underworld AND you've been alive as long as any spirit… sort of." Rachel explained.

"I never really did say it had to be Uno to take the throne." Darkrai noted.

"But-But how could it happen? I mean, only members of the Uno Royal Family can take de throne!"

"Well, after I beat Malladus, I could take the throne and declare you the king." Nigel said.

"You'd… do that for me?"

"Sure! After all, I owe you for helping defeat Mandy!"

Almost instantly, Grim smiled and embraced Nigel in a hug. "OH, THANK YOU, PRINCE UNO!"

"Okay, okay! Just don't call me 'Prince'!"

"How pathetic." Violet said.

"Well, we know our mission now. So, let's go give Malladus a taste of his own medicine!"

"And let's hurry. I'm worried about my brother." Rachel said.

"And I'm worried about Kade." Eva said. "Let's go!"

"Kids Next Door: MOVE OUT!" On Nigel's command, they all dashed out the door with enthusiasm.

Eva, however, stayed back and turned to Darkrai. "One question: were you the one who sent me that nightmare on the ship?"

"Yes."

"But what was that about, anyway?"

Darkrai was silent for a moment. "I make two different nightmares: ones that make someone face their greatest fear and ones that reveal future events. What you saw may have yet to reveal itself to you. But be careful."

"…Do you… know anything about me?"

He was silent again. "I scare you every Thursday. I know your greatest fears. But I know nothing else."

"…Okay." With that, she ran after the others.

"…As far as you know."

Earth

Malladus walked up to a grocery store, where he grabbed the roof and lifted it off, looking down at the man on the counter. "Hey, do you have any lemon pledge?"

"Uh, yes, it's down at aisle seven."

"Well, it's kinda hard to see from here, so…"

"Okay, we'll get right on that. Could somebody bring some lemon pledge down from aisle seven?" After a few minutes of waiting impatiently, someone finally brought the lemon pledge. "That'll be $6.50."

Malladus sighed, "Crap. Does anyone have $6.50 I can borrow?" A Mooger approached him, took out a wallet, and held up the money.

Malladus then took the money and handed it to the cashier, who handed him the lemon pledge. "And here's your lemon pledge."

"Thanks." With that, he took the Windex and placed the roof back onto the building.

As Malladus walked back to the treehouse, he looked up to see a puff of smoke in the air. In an instant, Facilier appeared and dropped onto the demon's head, sticking the scythe inside. As Malladus wobbled around groaning, he stopped and flicked Facilier off his head and to the ground, along with the scythe.

"I almost expected this type of treachery from you, Harvey. And you were SUCH a great voodoo man." He pointed to him, "Good-bye.", and fired a blast of fire.

Cleveland, Virginia

Octoroo just finished writing a letter, then attaching the photo of Eva to it. "I'm sorry, My King, but my loyalty is to Davy Jones first." He rolled up the letter, placed it in the mouth of a Kargarok, and watched it fly away.

Well, there you have it. Next time, we will return to Earth. To find out the story of how RAMON and Computer met, read my one-shot, "Just A Lonely Old Wanderer." Later.