A/N: Sorry, this took a bit longer to get out than I planned, even though it's a shorter chapter. A Warning. This chapter has a bit more "adult" language than the previous ones. Hopefully I don't have to bump the rating...yet.
Edit: I've made a whole bunch of changes to this chapter to make it a lot better that what I originally wrote.
"Hey Janna?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, Tom?"
"Is there a better way of contacting my parents than what we used last night?" The Demon Prince inquired to his companion.
They had been driving in silence towards the restaurant where-at Janna's insistence-they were having Filipino Breakfast and not going on a "date." Even though he was genuinely curious, in reality, Tom wasn't enjoying the lack of conversation and was looking for a starter topic.
"The Ouija Board was a little too low tech for you?" Janna smirked.
"It felt like I was using an old flip phone, like the one my dad used to have." he admitted.
Janna snorted. "Ouch! I'm sorry you find our Earth technology so pathetic…"
"No...I mean...it's not that I'm not grateful for you trying to help me!" Tom quickly backtracked.
"Relax...Lucitor." Janna eyed him sideways. "I'm just messing with you. I'll see if I can dig up an old projection spell from one of my books when we get back to my place. You could try that to contact your parents. It'll be like you're appearing before them."
"Thanks, Janna. It's more for my mom. She worries about me all the time. I am her only baby…"
"Aww...Mama's boy! So cute!"
"Yeah…" Tom shook his head at Janna's antics. At least they were having a conversation now. Janna was making fun of him too, which meant things were pretty normal. But he still needed to ask her a question that had been on his mind since early this morning.
"So...Janna? Please don't take this the wrong way, but I have to tell you that I personally know devils that aren't as good at lying than you are."
Janna cocked her head towards Tom. "Take it the wrong way? Thomas Lucitor...you sound like you're flirting with me."
Tom facepalmed. "I'm not trying to flirt with you. Well...I am glad that you think I'm trying to flirt with you. Also, you sound like my dad when I'm in serious trouble..."
Janna had to burst out laughing at that last assertion. But at the same time, she wanted to know why he thought she was lying.
"Ok, Tom." Janna suddenly got serious. "What's wrong? Why do you think I'm lying?
"Well…" Tom began. "Back at Marco's you were pretty insistent that we weren't going on a date, even when everyone was pressing you."
"How is that lying, Tom?" She asked pointedly. "I don't consider this a date. Do you?"
"I'm not really sure what this is at this point." he replied. "But I do know that you lied twice back at Marco's."
"Why all the accusations, Lucitor?" Janna sounded indignant.
"Well...you also said that I slept on the floor. Which is true. I started the night on the floor, but when I woke up this morning I was in your bed."
"Well...yeah." Janna responded. "You were floating around in your sleep last night. I pulled you down and you ended up landing on my bed."
"You had your arms around me when I woke up this morning"
"I didn't want you to float away again and get stuck on the ceiling!"
"I wouldn't have gotten stuck on the ceiling!" Tom insisted. "My sleep floating is completely harmless."
"How was I supposed to know that?" Janna shrugged her shoulders. "I was just trying to be helpful."
"The Janna that I've gotten to know over the past while would have taken a picture of me floating around in my sleep and sent it to all our friends so we could all laugh at it. You didn't do that last night."
Janna couldn't find a comeback for that statement.
"It's ok, Janna." Tom sighed. "We hung out together on your roof last night. You also let me sleep over to keep me from getting lost. We're going out for breakfast-and for some reason-you've decided to dress nicer than usual."
"Ok...now you're insulting my fashion choices..."
"Let me finish..." Tom calmly assured her. "Let's ignore me waking up next to you, and you having your arms around me. Janna...I know when someone likes me. Star made it super obvious because that's her personality. She wants everyone around her to know that she's in love with whoever she's with, whether it was me or Marco. You're not anything like Star...but I think when you do like someone-and while you don't want to announce it to the whole world-you do want the other person to know without any doubt on their part. Is that how you feel?"
A long, awkward pause passed between them. Tom started to feel nervous the longer the silence lasted. Did he go to far? Had he completely misread the situation? Janna just kept her eyes in front of her as she drove the car down the road. If there was any internal turmoil in her mind, she wasn't showing it.
"Tom? Can I tell you a story?" she finally spoke. Her tone wasn't one of being angry or upset with him. But it didn't give anything away as to how she was feeling either.
"Um...ok? Tom nodded hesitantly.
"When I was in the first year of high school, there was this guy in the same grade as me and Marco and Jackie. He was a pretty normal guy, into sports and hanging with his friends, definitely not weird stuff like me. I thought he was pretty hot, and I actually had a secret crush on him. But I didn't even know if he knew that I existed. Anyway, he was throwing a birthday party, and he invited a whole bunch of people from our grade including me and Jackie. I wasn't surprised at all that he invited Jackie...Marco wasn't the only guy at Echo Creek Academy who thought she was really hot."
Janna smirked at the thought of how Marco used to fawn all over Jackie. She had no idea how the hell Star managed to encourage him to even talk to her, let alone aske her out on a date.
"I thought that he was inviting me to just be polite. Still...it was a big deal for me to be invited to this guy's party. My mom even bought me a new pink dress for the occasion. So, I arrived at his party, and I'm standing in his living room talking to Jackie, when my crush comes up to us. Again...I'm with Jackie, so I figure he's there to talk to her. Except, he ends up talking to me more than her. I guess Jackie got the hint, and she bailed and me and him ended up talking for a while. Then he disappeared for a bit to talk to his other friends, and I figured that was it. But then later on, he approached me and wanted me to come with him up to his room because he wanted to show me something."
"Ok." Tom was following along intently. "That sounds pretty good. What did he show you?"
"He wanted to show me his pet spider. Which, of course, I thought was super cool and totally surprised me. Then, he surprised me even more by having me sit down on his bed. We started talking a bit more...and next thing I know he leans in and kisses me! Then all of a sudden, we're making out on his bed! I was more in shock in that moment than when I found out that Marco and Jackie were dating! We did that for a while, and then some of his friends started banging on his bedroom door. He didn't want to embarrass me, so he left first and then after I composed myself, I came back to the party as well. We hung out some more that evening, and when it was time for me to leave he told me he would talk to me on Monday at school. Of course, Jackie wanted to know what had happened on our way home. She told me she'd never seen me this happy in my life up until after the party. I was practically floating on air the whole way home, and I was gushing to her about what had just happened. Everything at that point felt perfect...until I got to school on Monday morning..."
"So...what happened at school?" Tom asked in a concerned tone.
"I saw him at school between classes in the hallway...and of course I went over to him to talk to him. But...he blew me off. It felt a bit strange, but I figured he didn't want to be late for class or something. Anyway, I didn't see him for the rest of the day, but the next day I saw him again in the hallway...and he blew me off again!"
Janna started getting visibly upset at recounting the story.
"Sounds like he was kind of a douche." Tom said quietly.
"The day after that, I saw him walking towards me between classes...and he didn't even look at me! I didn't know what the hell was going on at this point! So finally on Thursday, I was able to corner him at lunch...and by this time I was pissed. I demanded answers from him. You know what he told me? His asshole friends put him up to hooking up with me at his party! He told me that it was just a one-time thing and he wasn't really interested in going out with me! I don't even think he wanted to be seen at school with me!"
"Damn!" Tom shook his head. "That is a total douchebag move. What did you say to him after that?"
"I punched him in the face." Janna said with little emotion. "I got suspended for a few days because of it, but it was completely worth it. Marco and Jackie totally supported what I did as well."
The car pulled up at a red light. Janna used this opportunity to put the car in park, and then turned her head to face Tom.
"Ever since that day, I've put walls up around me when it comes to other people...especially guys. I don't want to get hurt or humiliated like that ever again. It's why I dress the same way all the time. It's why I decided to dedicate my life to being weird and creepy. I figured if I wasn't attractive to this guy, I didn't want to be attractive to any guy."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Janna…" Tom began. Janna angrily held up her index finger to silence him.
"Easy for you to say, Tom!" she snapped. "You don't have a problem being attractive to the opposite sex! You managed to hook up twice with a pretty princess who's also one of my best friends!"
"Yeah, and we broke up...twice!"
"Exactly!" Janna said pointedly. "How do I know that you're just doing and saying this to get back at Star? How do I know that you don't still have a thing for her? How do I know I'm not going to be some rebound girl?"
Janna looked right at Tom...and he could swear he saw some tears forming around the corners of her eyes.
"How do I know you're not going to be another fucking douchebag?" she asked him in a quiet voice, the pain evident on her face. Tom could feel his heart breaking for her. He had to let her know how he felt about her. About how he wasn't anything like the guy she just described.
"Janna?" he began softly. "Thank you for sharing that with me. I'm so sorry you had to relive that memory. Um...can I tell you a story now?
Janna nodded silently. Tom blew out a calming breath before beginning.
"Me and Star were supposed to go away for a trip after Eclipsa's coronation...just the two of us. But she decided to bail out at the last minute. I was so frustrated that I had put so much work into this trip, and all for Star, that I got upset and decided to go away by myself. While I was away, I spent a lot of time by myself just thinking. It was obvious that me and Star were done as a couple. What I didn't know right away is that Star went right to Earth afterwards to be with Marco. It took so much control on my part not to fly into a rage when I found out. But...I also knew when I had lost. Marco has become a close friend, and even though I was in denial about it for a long time, I knew that he was-not only the perfect friend-but also the perfect boyfriend for Star."
Tom sighed. "Thinking about those two and their relationship made me think long and hard about what I wanted in a relationship. I want someone who I can feel completely right with. I want someone to compliment me. Someone I can have lots of fun with. I felt that feeling when I was with you during that day we spent together on Mewni. It made me realize that I could have fun with someone other than Star."
"But I don't know if I'm that person...Tom." Janna said dejectedly. "I don't know if I ever could be the person you're looking for..."
"I think you're really pretty Janna..."
Janna's eyes went wide with shock at his words.
"You know what Janna," Tom continued. "Fuck that other guy. He was a total douchebag and you deserve way better than that."
Janna couldn't believe what she was hearing from Tom. Was he really saying how he felt about her?
"I really mean it...I think you're really pretty." Tom told her with a sincere smile. "I'm sorry if I made it sound like you don't dress very well earlier, but I really think you look great today. But, even when you aren't trying to look pretty, I think you're still cute. You're also a lot of fun to be around and you need to give yourself credit for the kind of person you are."
"What kind of person do you think I am, Tom?" she asked hopefully.
"An awesome person," he replied. "You know what else? You actually remind me of this girl who's a famous singer on Earth. She sings this one song about...Havana...or something. Actually...I have no idea what the name of the song is...but whenever I see her singing on TV..."
Janna cut Tom off by grabbing him behind his head with both hands and pulling him down towards him. She kissed him as hard as she possibly could...and as hard as she'd ever kissed anyone before. At first, Tom was flailing his arms around in confusion. But then, he regained his composure and managed to put his arms around her waist. They stayed in an embrace for what felt like forever. Finally, Janna broke the kiss and stared at him with the sincerest look that she'd ever given anyone. Meanwhile, Tom looked like he had fallen into a trance. Unfortunately, the moment between them was shattered by a car horn blasting behind them. The traffic light in front of them had turned green a while ago, and they were blocking the cars behind them. In fact, there was a growing lineup of cars behind her that were honking their horns in an effort to get her to move out of the intersection. Calmly, Janna turned her gaze away from Tom and out her back window.
"FUCK OFF!" she screamed at the cars behind them. In one motion, she put the car in drive, slammed her foot on the accelerator, and gunned the car through the intersection.
"Stupid assholes!" Janna was upset that her moment with Tom had been cut short. She was also upset because Tom was a damn good kisser. After a while, her anger subsided and she turned her attention to the half-demon next to her.
"So...you think I look like Camilla Cabello?" Janna finally asked coyly.
"Huwaaaa?" came the reply next to her. Tom was still in a trance.
"Did I just break you?" she inquired mischievously. "I've always wanted to do that to a guy."
"Yeah…" Tom replied dreamily. Janna snapped her fingers in front of his face a couple of times. That action seemed to bring him back to reality.
"Sorry!" he exclaimed. "I kinda zonked out for a moment. That was...amazing! I don't think Star ever kissed me like that."
"Obviously." Janna rolled her eyes.
"So...anyway...Tom…" she asked with a sultry hint to her voice. "Before I caused your little meltdown, you were saying that I looked like Camila Cabello."
"Is that her name? The girl who sings that song?" Tom inquired.
"Yep. She's pretty famous, too." Janna grinned at him. "You really think that I look like her?
"Her hair is a bit longer than yours," Tom thought for a moment. "But yes, I really think you look like her."
"You know she's Cuban, right?" Janna smirked back at him. "I still appreciate the compliment, though."
"Is that close to the Philippines?" he asked.
Janna laughed. "When we get to the restaurant, you're getting a geography lesson. Speaking of which…"
Janna pulled the car into a parking spot on the street. "We're here. Ready to get your taste buds assaulted?"
"Uh..." Tom was dumbfounded.
"Relax, Tom," she giggled. "What I mean is you'll love the food here."
"Do they have hot sauce?' he inquired.
"You bet." Janna held up three fingers. "They have three different types here."
"Well...as Prince of the Underworld, I am an expert on things that are hot."
To Tom's surprise, Janna started laughing. "Oh man! You're an even bigger dork sometimes than Marco!"
"Hey!" he replied indignantly. Janna just laughed even harder.
"You're also super easy to tease," she grinned after finally regaining her composure. "It's ok, Tom. I find it super adorable."
Tom smiled. "Thanks, Janna."
Janna got serious for a moment. "Ok...look, Tom. I'm sorry I sort of lied to everyone back at Marco's. You were right...I do like you. But...I still kinda have a reputation to uphold."
"It's ok," he assured her. "I sort of understand...but at the same time, you don't have to hide your feelings anymore. You can be the real Janna around me."
Janna beamed at her demon companion. "Ready to go, Prince Hottie?"
"Lead the way, pretty girl."
It had been nearly a week since the Cleaving. Life in Echo Creek was beginning to get back to normal. Most residents were getting on with their daily lives, and for the most part were beginning to accept the changes to their world. The humans-for the most part-were surprisingly accepting of what had happened and were trying to welcome everyone as best they could. The Mewmans-after getting over the initial shock of being transported to another dimension-were also starting to adjust to life on Earth. The Monsters were still a bit apprehensive, as they weren't sure how they would be received in the new world. The old wounds of persecution were still fresh for many of them. Eclipsa and Globgor were working tirelessly to assuage any fears their former subjects had, and to make sure any concerns were dealt with. They, along with Moon and River, had been meeting all week with local and state officials to carve out a plan that would govern the city of Echo Creek and the three distinct groups that now called it home.
For now, the main concerns of the residents of the city was to seek shelter from the sweltering heat. Summer was in full effect in California-or Mewni depending how you looked at it- and the temperature was becoming unbearably hot. The heat, however, didn't seem to be affecting the lone rider that pulled their Warnicorn into a dusty parking lot on the outskirts of the city. They had been tracking their quarry for some time, and now they had finally located them. The building in front of the rider was what the locals referred to as a "dive bar." This particular establishment was popular with Truckers and people who lived in the nearby trailer park. Dismounting their steed, the rider made their way to the entrance of the drinking establishment. They waited in front of the door, but did not enter. If who they were looking for was inside, they wanted to make an entrance.
Inside, a man was sitting with a couple of humans, regaling them with unflattering stories of his former employers.
"The King was such an uncouth imbecile at times. I remember the occasion where he showed up to court dressed only in a loincloth! His excuse was that he had just returned from a hunting trip with his family! The Queen was none too impressed. She demanded that he change into his formal clothes at once, but he refused saying that he wanted to liven up the boring and stuffy procedures! Well...you should have seen the look on the Queen's face!"
Manfred chuckled as he took a swig from his beer glass. "I have no idea how she put up with him for all those years! It's really quite sad if you think about it. She had the opportunity to marry a proper member of the nobility, but instead she chose a barbarian with a family that was even more embarrassing than he was!"
"Damn, Manny!" a short heavyset man sitting at the table next to Manfred exclaimed. "That's why I'm glad that we kicked out our king over two hundred years ago! You leave them royals in charge, and they screw everything up!"
"Speaking of screwing things up," Manfred continued. "Their spoiled brat daughter was the worst of the lot. She was completely unqualified to be the Queen. Yet she ended up being Queen for two days, and it led to the destruction of the kingdom...not to mention she then gave up the throne to a convicted criminal!"
"Holy shit!" a thinner man wearing a trucker style ball cap sitting on the other side of Manfred exclaimed. "It sounds like you had worse leadership than in this country! At least until a couple of years ago when we finally got a real leader elected…"
"Well, let me tell you gents..." Manfred gave a wry smile. "Myself and a group of patriots attempted to stop all the madness and nonsense, and restore the kingdom to past glories. But we were thwarted at the last second by the princess and her fool of a boyfriend-who is actually from here I might add-and now we're here in your world and it's an even bigger disaster than it was before!"
"You need to get your people together and do something about this, Manny!" the shorter man encouraged him.
"Yeah!" his thinner friend agreed. "In America we don't sit idly by. We take action when our country needs to be put back to the way it was!
"Believe me, we tried." Manfred admitted. "Even now there's a group of us up in the woods trying to recruit people to join our cause. The ones that were left from our great Solarian Army. But I'll admit that our group seems to be more of a rag-tag operation than an army that can take back our kingdom…"
BANG!
The door to the bar was kicked open and in strode a thin woman who looked like she'd been sleeping in a dumpster for the past three days. Her teal dress was tattered and torn and covered with mud. Her hair-done up in two comical looking buns-was absolutely filthy and a complete mess. She looked like she'd been in a non-stop fight for the past few days. Letting her eyes adjust to the dim light in the bar, she scanned the room. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted Manfred and his friends in the corner of the room.
"I've been searching for you for almost three fucking days, Manny!" she screamed as she strode over. "You had one job! To get supplies for our camp! Instead you fucking disappear on me!"
Manfred looked on, first in shock, then in horror as he realized that his leader was standing in front of him. She had obviously been searching for him for quite some time, and had been through corn knows what in her quest to locate him. It was true that he had disappeared from their wooded encampment on the side of a mountain just outside of Echo Creek. Truthfully, his reasons for going missing, was that he was tired of living in the squalor of the camp. There was no running water, food was scarce, and the people were becoming increasingly filthy and unhygienic.
"Mina...dear...I can explain fully where I've been these past few days…" Manfred began to apologize.
"I only found you because I sent Sebastian out to track you down!" Mina continued her rant. "I've been searching for two whole days myself! You have no idea all the things I had to do when I was out there looking for you! Then…when I do find you...you're in this shithole surrounded by a bunch of local inbred hicks!"
"What did you call us?!" the thin man stood up to confront Mina.
"Sit down...human…" Mina turned and glared at the man. "Or I'll shove my sword so far up your ass, you'll be tasting metal when you try to drink that watery piss that passes for alcohol in this world."
Mina touched her sword on her hip for emphasis. To prove her point even further, she grabbed the man's beer bottle and smashed it against a nearby wall.
"Mina! Calm down! I can explain everything!" Manfred pleaded.
"What? That you're a traitor? I'm going to throw you off the side of a cliff along with all the rest of the monster smoochers!"
Just then the sound of a shotgun being cocked came from behind Mina. It appeared that someone in the bar was deciding to stand up to the angry Solarian Warrior.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Miss." The bartender was pointing a 12-gauge shotgun at Mina. The former Solarian general only smirked. In one motion she wheeled around, drew her sword, and knocked the gun upwards. The bartender inadvertently pulled the trigger at the sudden motion, and the gun went off blowing a hole in the ceiling tile. The debris covered the bartender as he fell backwards, the shotgun falling out of his hands. Other bar patrons began running for the door after the gunshot rang out. They didn't want any part of this confrontation. Mina stepped over to the fallen bartender, kicking the gun away with her foot as she pointed her sword at his neck.
"I should kill you right now for disrespecting a Solarian Warrior like that," she said with a look of pure hatred.
"That won't be necessary…" Manfred interrupted and grabbed Mina's arm. "Mina, you've done enough damage. You need to get out of here...now!"
The bartender used the sudden interruption to crawl away from Mina and back behind the bar to safety.
"Don't touch me Manfred!" Mina jerked her arm away from him. "You don't have any right to talk to me since you abandoned your fellow warriors to hang out in this dump and drink with these pathetic humans! In fact, I've changed my mind. I'm not going to throw you off a cliff! I'm going to let you live, but only because I'm going to make you walk back to camp!"
She turned on her heel and strode out of the bar. "...and it's a long walk…" she added with an evil smile as she disappeared out the entranceway.
Where before he was in shock, now Manfred felt terror creep over him. Mina was right...it was a long way back to their encampment. Turning back to the men he was drinking with a few moments ago, he noticed they both had bemused expressions on their faces.
"Is that one of your friends, Manny?" the shorter man asked with a half grin.
"Yes...she's actually our leader that I've been telling you both about." he admitted.
"That's one crazy bitch you've got there…" the short man chuckled.
"Yeah...good luck dealing with her!" the taller man also laughed nervously.
Manfred looked at the two men. "Dale...Bobby…" he began. "I apologize profusely for what has just happened. I fully appreciate the bond we've shared over the past couple of days, and regardless of what has just occurred, I still would be very grateful for any help that you'd be willing to provide towards our cause."
He went over to the door to head outside. "Please...stay here for a moment while I talk to Mina. I know I can convince her to change her mind and accept your help in our fight."
Manfred disappeared out the front door of the bar, while Dale and Bobby exchanged nervous glances with each other.
"Mina, wait!" Manfred called out to the former Solarian general in the parking lot. Mina had already climbed onto her Warnicorn steed and was preparing to leave.
"Can it, Manfred!" she retorted. "Frankly, I don't give a damn if it takes you three more days to walk back to camp! Maybe that will teach you to follow orders!"
Manfred bowed low. He knew all too well how to kiss up to his superiors when it was required.
"My lady...I apologize profusely for taking my leave of you for such a long time…" he began.
"Shut up, Manny!" Mina yelled at him. "That kind of kowtowing crap might work on the Butterfly family, but it doesn't do shit around me!"
She stopped ranting for a moment. "But, before I make you walk all the way back to our camp...as your leader who is kind and just to her troops, I will at least entertain your excuses. So...make it good!"
Manfred smiled inwardly. She was at least giving him a chance to explain himself. "Well...you see my lady...I've been away for so long because I was forging an alliance with members of the local population who are sympathetic to our cause…"
"An alliance?" Mina inquired. "Sympathetic to our cause? What are you saying, Manfred? Why would the humans be on our side? We're as much intruders in their world as the monsters!"
"Those two gentlemen I was sitting with inside. They don't like the monsters any more than you do. In fact, many of their friends and compatriots in their community are actually quite hostile to the monsters."
Manfred continued. "I had the good fortune of being privy to a conversation, in something called a Walmart Supercenter, a couple of days ago. While, I was attempting to complete my mission, of course. I overheard the two men, who you just met, loudly conversing about how it was bad enough that there were all these fucking Mexicans in this country, but now they just let a whole bunch of monsters from another dimension run around here as well! Naturally, I managed to strike up a conversation with them where I agreed wholeheartedly with their sentiment. They were skeptical at first, but I was able to win them over. In the end, they ended up taking a liking to me...which is how I ended up here."
"Took a liking to you?" Mina inquired skeptically.
"Yes…" Manfred replied. "They invited me back to where they lived. It's a park of some sort filled with what the humans call Mobile Homes. I've been staying there the past two nights. It's really quite the place. There's even a common area for large groups with all the amenities. Before you made your entrance, I was discussing with Dale and Bobby about perhaps bringing the rest of the Solarian Warriors down from our current camp and into the park to stay for a period of time. It would be far better than our current situation in the woods...I might add…"
Mina took a moment to think things over. She knew the humans better than anyone else amongst the former Solarian Warriors-seeing as she had lived on Earth for a period of time. The humans were weak and pathetic. But they were also just as prejudiced against outsiders and things they didn't understand as the Mewmans. She remembered back to when she tried to convince the princess-who used to idolize her-to enslave the population of Earth. Although she ultimately failed, she remembered that at least half of the people would have accepted her as ruler. Therefore, if she found the right people to lead, it was logical to assume that she could convince a portion of the population to turn on the monsters and drive them out.
"Alright, Manfred. Go back inside and bring your two friends to me." She commanded him.
"As you wish...my lady…" he bowed to her and hurried back inside the bar.
A few moments later, Manfred emerged with Dale and Bobby in tow.
"Which one of you is Dale, and which one of you is Bobby?" Mina ordered.
"My name is Dale," the shorter heavier man responded.
"I'm Bobby…" the thinner man replied. "Pleased to make your acquaintance...ma'am."
Mina just glared at the two of them. "My associate, Manfred, says that you can help us with giving us a place to stay."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Dale said proudly. "You're looking at the assistant manager of the Echo Creek Trailer Park! We've got plenty of space for you and your people to stay along with hot water showers and toilet facilities! Manfred even said to me that he could pay the fee to stay at our establishment."
"How nice of you, Manny…" Mina acknowledged dryly. "I also understand that you people might be willing to help my people out with our little monster problem?"
"You bet!" Bobby chimed in. "Manfred here explained the whole situation to us. These monsters just showed up out of nowhere and now they think they're running the place! I saw on TV the mayor is negotiating with their leader, or whatever. He should be telling them to get the hell back to wherever they came from! We got enough people we don't want living here in this country!"
"In that case, let me apologize for earlier." Mina offered with a wolfish grin. "If I had known that Manfred had met such patriots, I'd have toned down my earlier behavior. I'll tell you what. How about you lead me back to where you live? Just so I can check the place out. If it's as good as you say it is, I'll lead my people down here from out of the woods and we'll stay for a bit."
"That'd be fine by us!" Dale agreed cheerfully. "If ya need more people to help you with getting rid of the monsters, I'm sure that you'll be able to find them at our park. I've been talking with members of our community for the past while, and they ain't happy about this situation either. It's like no one gives a damn about the regular folk...you know what I mean?"
As she listened to him drone on, Mina allowed for a small smile to creep onto her face. These two men were simpletons. But they-and their ilk-could easily be led by someone like Mina Loveberry. By taking advantage of their fears, Mina could easily convince them to take up her fight not just against the monsters, but against those Monster Smoochers like Eclipsa and Globgor. Not only against the former Queen and her husband, but also against that traitor Moon Butterfly! Mina's smile got ever eviler as she realized that perhaps she could even get her revenge against the girl that used to idolize her, and who thwarted her plans to eliminate the monsters once and for all by destroying magic. Star Butterfly!
A/N: Again, thanks for all the support! Read, review, get a response!