Chapter 30 – Terrifying Truth

Needless to say, the atmosphere at the Bodega Bay Inn wasn't a pleasant one. After the power went out and everyone heard the sound of slamming doors, the first instinct everyone had was to check them.

"Chef, what's happening?" Adagio demanded as she walked into the lobby.

"All the dang doors are locked!" Chef barked in response, finally giving up on trying to kick the front door in for the thirteenth time.

"So are the windows!" Goggles added, his efforts to break through the shutters ending in vain.

It was then that Laura and Sonata walked in from down the hall.

"It's the same with all the doors and windows at the back," Laura pointed out, having heard what Chef just declared.

"So we're all trapped in here!?" Sonata squealed, clinging onto Laura in terror.

At those words, Lug couldn't help but growl with frustration.

"Just what the heaven's name is going on here!?" he yelled frantically.

Suddenly, as though acting upon his very words, Ruby then came rushing down the stairs, though this of course changed into her FALLING down the stairs after tripping on the first step down due to the dark and the speed she was going, luckily Franky was there to catch her before she hurt herself too badly.

"Ruby!?" he exclaimed, concerned as to why the girl with breathing so hysterically.

"I'm sorry guys," Ruby whimpered, covering her teary eyes in shame. "This is all my fault, he…"

However before she could finish her sentence, Slappy's horrifying laughter once again echoed through the hotel, only this time it was so loud that everyone heard it as clear as crystal. Upon hearing this Adagio suddenly obtained a suspicious expression upon her face, whatever reason it was that made Ruby crashing down the stairs, the Dazzling knew that she had to know something.

"Ruby tell us what's going on, right now!" she demanded, causing everyone else to look at her with their own expressions of concern.

Of course Ruby was more than willing to let everyone know what was happening at this point, after all that was the whole reason she ran from the attic in fear, however once again she found herself being cut off before she got the chance to speak, only this time by the sound of metal scraping against one of the radiators. Upon hearing this particular notice, everyone couldn't help but cringe, in Laura's case it was certainly painful due to her sensitive canine ears, however none were more nervous than Franky, Ruby or Uncle. With each unbearable screech their teeth rattled in terror for they knew that there was only one thing in this entire hotel that could create a noise that that, and much to their dismay, their fears came into fruition in the form of the sound of small heavy breathing as something else came walking towards everyone in the lobby. At this point in time the room became so silent that the only sound was that very same breathing that put everyone in such a state, before long the one who was breathing came into view… though it wasn't exactly something everyone would have expected.

"What the…?" Chef exclaimed, having no other words being able to escape his mouth.

As it turned out, the creature that had appeared around the corner of the stairs, standing no more than a single foot tall, was a puppet. However this was like no puppet anyone else had ever seen, it had a white sculpted face, with white hair, black sockets for eyes, and wore a black trench coat and hat, but the most distinguished feature of this but was the fact that it had a sharp hook for its left hand and a knife for the right. What's more, this puppet seemed to be slowly walking towards the group all by itself, add that to the sound of it breathing and one could believe that it was in fact very much alive, the puppet's name: Blade.

"What the hell is that!?" Goggles exclaimed, jumping into Laura's arms, his blue fur standing on end with fear.

However before that question could be answered, Sonata gasped in horror as her gaze suddenly peeked upward.

"Look up there!" she screamed, pointing towards the hanging chandelier.

Quickly taking a glance upward themselves, everyone them gasped as they saw what made the youngest Dazzling scream. There, hanging from the chandelier were two more puppets, though these puppets looked a little more normal than Blade did, though only slightly. Both of them looked like tiny wooden humans, however one of them had a tiny head and massive, almost-human sized hands, and the other was dressed up in a harlequin's outfit, with two horizontal slits going across his head. This was Pinhead and Jester respectfully. As Jester waved his tiny hands towards the group with a small chuckle escaping from his wooden mouth, everyone soon began to hear more sounds from all around them, quickly shifting their heads in all directions, they saw even more puppets beginning to surround them. Two appeared on the Manager's desk, one was what looked like a tiny soldier with a large drill protruding out of his head, his name: Tunneler. Next to him was what looked like a tiny cowboy red a red bandana over the lower half of his face and six arms, each with a single pistol in its hands, this was the Puppet known as Six Shooter. And finally there were the two puppets that stood at the entrance to the dining room, first there was Torch, a robotic looking puppet with glowing red eyes, bullet-like teeth and a black tube where his right hand should be. Finally there was Frostbite, a puppet donning a blue, fur-lined coat, a skull-like face, and a syringe for his left hand and white steam emanating from his right, in a nutshell he looked like a tiny Captain Cold from the Marvel Universe. Seeing that they were surrounded by a bunch of weird, supposedly living puppets, everyone couldn't help but gulp with tension, fearful as to what the next move was. However it was Ruby that was the most terrified at this point.

"Oh no," she whimpered. "They're awake, already!?"

"What the heck are these things?" Laura thought aloud.

"They look like… toys," Goggles replied, though not entirely sure of his own answer.

"So… what do we do now?" Adagio asked.

That indeed a good question, for at this very moment the puppets seemed to be doing nothing but stare at the group, had they not been moving their limbs ever so slightly everyone would have probably figured that they had become no more than lifeless dolls. All of a sudden that was no longer the case, after a few seconds of tension-filled silence, Blade put his knife-hand to his neck and made a slicing motion, giving his command to the other puppets. Quickly noticing the motion, Ruby's eyes widened with shock for she knew what was coming next.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed intensely before diving towards the floor.

Had anyone been a second too late upon reacting to Ruby's command, then at least one member of the group would have received a bullet to the body or head, for as soon as his leader gave his command, Six Shooter gladly aimed all six of his guns and proceeded to shoot. The bullets may have been small but they certainly did a fair bit of damage to the walls and any mirrors that hung upon them as they shattered upon impact. What made things worse was when Torch decided to follow Six Shooter's lead and lit up his right arm with a small flame, which soon revealed to be the simple igniter for a massive blowtorch. Laughing manically as he did so, Torch aimed his flamethrower directly at Chef as he was beginning to stand up.

"DAHHHH!" Chef screamed as his apron caught on fire. "STOP DROP AND ROLL!"

Thankfully, being somewhat experienced with heavy flames, Chef was quickly able to drop back to the floor and douse the flames by rolling across it before there was too much damage. Unfortunately the assault only from the puppets only continued from there, while Six Shooter continued to fire his guns, thought thankfully missing every shot as the group began to scatter.

"Aiiee-yaaaahh!" Uncle screamed as he narrowly dodged the bullet that was fired at his feet.

At this point in time, Jester and Pinhead found the need to jump off the chandelier, both of which landed on Franky's face, as he desperately tried to pull them off the cyborg found himself being constantly punched in the face by Pinhead's giant hands, granted it didn't hurt but the fact that he couldn't pry them off due to their strong grip only added to Franky's annoyance. Then there was Tunneler, who at this point had jumped off the Manager's desk and joined Blade in a double assault against Lug, Mossy and Spud, thankfully the three managed to use their instruments to swat the two away before they could do any real damage with either of their weapons. Of course Laura wasn't so lucky since she didn't have such protection, with Frostbite's glowing blue eyes looking directly at her, all the poor Keidran could do was crawl away in terror as she tried desperately to avoid Six Shooter's bullets on top of the add assault of the other puppets. Thankfully a certain Gizmonk was once again at her side providing protection.

"Back away, you Snow Queen Reject!" he snapped brandishing his Bo Staff.

However Frostbite was unphased by Goggles' threat, in fact just to show how unintimidated he was he brandished his right hand towards the Gizmonk's staff and a stream of white mist shot out of each of his fingers, encasing the item into a solid block of ice, lucky Goggles had the foresight to let go of it before his front paws were trapped inside along with it. After losing his main tool of defence, all Goggles could do now grab a wrench from his vest and hope that Frostbite didn't freeze that too… unfortunately he did, costing Goggles another tool and making him wish that he carried a welding torch with him, which ironically enough was something he found too dangerous to carry on his person. At this point, Goggles could only back away from the puppet, who was now pointing his syringe filled with what Goggles could only assume was a lethal poison, directly towards him. However much like how he came to Laura's rescue, this time it was Goggles turn to be saved, before Frostbite even got close enough to him, the puppet received a powerful kick to his side, courtesy of Ruby. At this point the puppet was then flung towards Six Shooter, crashing into him as they both flew off the Manager's desk, with the opportunity opened, Ruby knew exactly what to say next.

"Get back to the ballroom now!" she screamed.

Not even remotely needed to be told twice, everyone did what they can to seize the opportunity Ruby gave them and followed her lead, either kicking some of the puppets away from them or throwing them into each other as they ran out of the lobby and back towards the corridor leading towards the ballroom, however this meant that they would have to cut through the lounge and it was more than likely that the puppets would follow them after getting back to their feet. Thankfully there was a pair of double doors that separated the lounge from the lobby and as deadly as these puppets were, it was highly unlikely that they could break through a door with a handle they couldn't even reach, however neither Ruby, Franky nor Uncle were convinced with that fact so it was only natural that they were scrambling to find the deadbolts.

"What the hell are those things!?" Adagio yelled, her heart bounding like crazy as she was still reeling from almost getting shot by a 13 Inch puppet.

"Something you DON'T want to be on the receiving end of," Ruby replied, almost completely out of breath.

It was then that Chef's furious glare came into full fruition and he grabbed Uncle by the scruff of his shirt and slammed him against the nearest wall.

"Alright you sorry sack of old maggots!" He snarled furiously. "I wanna know why I was almost chargrilled by a dang toy! So either you start talking or I'm just gonna see how brittle your old bones really are!"

Needless to say everyone was scared even more at this sudden display of aggression on Chef's part, especially after he had clearly received a few First-Degree burns on his chest, but none were more so scare than Adagio and Sonata were, after all they had already began to become familiar with Chef's temper back in Middle-Earth, but obviously this was Chef at his worst. Suddenly before anything else could be said, Laura suddenly broke the silence first.

"Hey do you guys hear… an engine?" she asked, not even sure if she even had the description right.

But despite having stronger ears than the others did, soon enough the whole group heard it, sure enough it did sound like an engine, granted she hadn't known much about such a device much she was certainly on the money when she heard it. Soon that sound was accompanied by a pair of bright lights shining from the large patio windows towards the front of the lounge, before anyone had a chance to blink a large vehicle suddenly smashed through the glass and drove directly into the lounge, smashing through many piece of furniture before finally coming to a stop mere inches away from Mossy's nose, as luck would have it, once again nobody was hurt, which was a good thing after everything else. Needless to say their first reaction was pure shock, so much so that many members of the group were once again clutching their chests, fearing that they might get a heart attack at any moment. Suddenly the sunroof of the limo opened up, at first the group feared that it would be more enemies, however much to their thankful relief they were dead wrong.

"Someone call for a limo?" G chuckled as he popped his head out of the sunroof.

"Hi!" Nyx added, giving a small wave as she sat on his shoulder.

"G! Nyx!" Goggles exclaimed, happily jumping onto the hood of the limo and climbing up to the roof to tackle Nyx into a hug.

Needless to say, G's reappearance brought a great deal of joy to everyone, especially since he had brought a number of their friends with him, even Aria suddenly found herself being pulled into a tight embrace by Sonata, this being one of the few rare moments in their life where she was happy to see her sister again. However there was one individual in particular that caught Ruby's attention, one that she had thought last as she hadn't seen her in quite some time, in fact the moment she saw her, Ruby's eyes began to water.

"Jenny?" she exclaimed, fearing that her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Hearing her name, the robot quickly turned her head towards the red-hooded girl and gave her a welcoming smile.

"Hey Ruby," she said casually. "Long time no see."

At this point nobody could believe how fast Ruby had ran towards the new arrival, had she had the strength, then she probably would have crushed Jenny's metal shell with how tight she was squeezing her.

"I can't believe it," she cried. "You're alive!"

It may have been somewhat of an awkward moment, but regardless Jenny gladly returned Ruby's hug. For those who hadn't met Jenny before this moment, it was clearly a cause for confusion and suspicion, however given the circumstances, they all thought it best to save introductions for now and allow themselves to catch their breath after everything that's happened.

"You couldn't have chosen a more subtle way to get in?" Adagio joked, seeing the damage the group had caused with their little stunt with the limo.

"Maybe, but then it wouldn't have looked nearly as cool," G retorted with his own chuckled before lowering his voice into a whisper. "Seriously readers, if you seriously like this story then show your support of drawing that scene. That would be SO badass."

Um… okay that bit of fourth-wall breaking aside, G's attention soon returned to the task at hand, he knew what he came here to do and by all Creation he was determined to do it. At that moment Spud walked up to him with a frantic look upon his wrinkled face.

"G, we've got to get out of here now!" he exclaimed.

However that idea was soon thrown out the window in an instant.

"Uh… that's easier said than done, mate." G pointed out, pointing towards the hole that he and the others made whilst smashing their way inside the hotel.

Turning their heads towards the same direction, everyone gasped in horror as they saw just exactly what G meant by his last statement. Almost as quickly as it was broken, every shard of glass along with every fragment of rubble began to put themselves back together, with each and every crack disappearing as though it were never there, before anyone knew it, the entire wall had repaired itself down to the smallest crack in the patio door's glass, leaving everyone's jaw hanging toward the floor.

"D… Did that really just happen?" Laura muttered, completely astounded at what she had just witnessed

Even G was surprised by this new turn of events, from what he knew about Slappy the dummy was certainly no sorcerer, which meant only one thing… he wasn't alone in his actions. However even with that haunting fact in mind, that still didn't make G forget about yet another small hitch in the escape plan.

"Yeah and it kinda gets worse," he replied awkwardly, pointing towards the patio window.

At first nobody had the slightest clue as to what G meant by that, however when Goggles felt the need to take a few steps towards the patio doors he soon got the fright of his life when a certain skeletal wolf began pounding his fists against the glass.

"You little coward!" Rahzar screamed as he continued his assault. "Get out here and fight like a man!"

If things hadn't been bad before then they certainly were now, the only plus-side to the situation now would had to have been the supposed magic that had repaired the hole G and the others created, for every time Rahzar smashed the glass with his fists, it repaired itself within a matter of seconds making sure nothing went in or out.

"Oh great!" Adagio snapped sarcastically. "First we can't get through the front door, and now we have a wolf waiting for us outside THIS one!"

Of course Adagio's anger was equally shared amongst everyone else, not that they really blamed G for it this time, no, their frustrations were currently marked on someone else.

"Any more bad news we should know about, RUBY!?" Lug growled, giving the red-hooded girl a fierce glare.

"Lug, now is not the time!" Mossy snapped, pulling his friend back, being one of the few who had managed to keep their heads together in everything that has happened so far.

However that sense of clarity was soon thrown out the window at the sound of a loud clanging coming from one of the nearby walls. Turning their heads towards the source of the noise, the group looked in horror as a small knife poked its way out of the grate of one of the lower air-vents, which was quickly followed by a set of large fingers that eventually ripped the grate out of its frame with a single push. At that moment, the group watched in horror as the puppets from the lobby began swarming into the lounge, they may have been small but they certainly were crafty if they were able to figure out how to use the vents the get around the building. However while those who have already seen the puppets were terrified out of their wits, those you haven't only looked at them with confusion.

"Are those… puppets?" Jenny asked, earning a terrified nod from Ruby.

Aria couldn't help but smirk at that, especially since many of the puppets looked pretty badass in her opinion.

"Aw… how cute," she commented.

However that statement was something she soon would come to regret saying, for no more than a second later one of Six Shooter's bullets narrowly missed her head and embedded itself in the wall behind her. After recovering from the initial shock, Aria then looked back at Six Shooter, who had lowered his bandanna to reveal his carved, toothy smile as he chuckled and spun all six of his pistols in his hands like the badass cowboy he was, if there was one thing for sure about this particular puppet, he certainly liked to gloat.

"NOT cute!" Aria squealed, suddenly breaking into a run. "DEFINITELY NOT CUTE!"

"Run for it!" G added, picking Nyx up as he too began to run.

Within a matter of seconds, the assault of the puppets started all over again, only this time G's group was now along for the ride.

#

After the group had finally managed to shake off the puppets and make it back to the ballroom it was only then that everyone had a true chance to catch their breath, however this time they were making sure they took precations.

"Make sure all those vents are sealed lads," Lug instructed as he and the others blocked up every opening they could find, there was no way any of those puppets were going to break into their sanctuary again.

Once all the doors were locked and all the vents were closed up, the group finally managed to collapse and tend to whatever injuries they had.

"How are we all doing?" G asked openly, concerned as to how bad the situation was.

"A little shaken up, but I think we'll be fine," Aria replied. "Chef suffered a few burns but I don't think it's serious, but I can't really tell for sure, I'm not exactly a doctor."

Hearing this from his seat in the corner, the Reality Show cook couldn't help but chuckle.

"Bah, I'll be fine," he said confidently. "Just get me some antiseptic cream with some Aloe Vera and that'll do the trick."

But obviously Chef's injury wasn't the only one, though it certainly was the worst, during all the chaos no one could have been able to tell at first, but now that everyone was able to catch their breath G looked over what has been done to his friends. With Jenny, she suffered a few burns compliments of torch, though thanks to being made of metal she had no major issue with any part of her blackened shell. Franky was unlucky enough to get shot by Six Shooter, though thankfully it was only on the front part of his cyborg body, thus leaving no major damage, even Blade managed to get a few scratches in on everyone, though thankfully not being able to cut through anything major. Nyx of course remained at G's side so luckily she wasn't hurt at all, G wouldn't allow anything like that to happen. However physical injuries aside, the mental state of everyone was different matter, like some of the tougher members of the group like Chef and Aria seemed unphased by what had just occurred, members like Sonata and Laura were crying their eyes out with terror, even Nyx felt the need to cry after trying her hardest to be brave in the situation. But in all honesty, the fear everyone was feeling at that moment was nothing compared to Goggles' guilt.

"I'm so sorry G," he begged, sitting on one of the tables with a miserable look upon his face. "You were right about all of this."

Of course G was able to quickly forgive Goggles for their little spat, however before he even had the chance to say so, Adagio felt the need to add her own statement to the conversation.

"Yeah, we should have left when we had the chance," she said, much to the Living Genre's surprise. "Now we're trapped here."

It may have been out of character for the leader of the Dazzlings but regardless, judging from the terrified expression she had upon her face G could tell that she was being sincere about what she was saying. Given the circumstances, G felt it was pointless to hold a grudge now, even after what she said to him earlier, sometimes it does take a life-or-death situation for someone to learn the error of their ways.

"Everyone makes mistakes Dagi, so don't sweat it," G finally replied with a heavy side, causing Adagio to smile before he suddenly walked over to her until he was close enough to poke his beak up to her nose. "But speak to me like that again and I won't just leave you without your voice, I'll shave your head too! Okay, Pumpkin?"

Obviously G wasn't going to just let things slide just like that, sure he was forgiving but he still had to make a point. Earning a nervous nod from the Dazzling in response, G then looked towards Goggles with a light smile and gave him a wink, it wasn't a vocal response but regardless Goggles accepted that display as a sign of G's forgiveness, allowing him to sigh with relief. However forgiveness asifde, there was till the matter of three certain individuals that were still reviewing angry glares from everyone else.

"So what do we do with THEM?" Chef asked, tilting his heads towards Franky, Ruby and Uncle.

That was indeed yet another good question, as far as everyone else was concerned these three were nothing but liars and traitors to the group since it was clear that they knew about the puppets before they even arrived. At first it seemed like at least two members of the group wanted to beat the living daylights out of them, however Jenny had enough foresight to step in between the group and her three friends before anything was done.

"Wait!" she said defensively. "Before we do anything rash, perhaps we should let them explain what's going on."

"After all that's just happened!?" Adagio retorted. "How do we know they won't just blurt out some excuse to save their own hides!?"

"The lass does have a point," Spud added.

However fortunately enough, G seemed to be on Jenny's side in this conversation.

"Given the circumstances I'm willing to hear them out," he said much to everyone's surprise, "But this time I want the truth!"

That last part he spoke with pure aggression towards the three, obviously he was furious that his friends were put in danger and he had every right to be, if had to be honest with himself even he had to admit that he felt the three needed to be blamed for at least a fraction as to what was happening. At first the three were completely hesitant to say anything given the glares they were all receiving, however this quickly changed due to the kind, pleading words a certain teenage robot uttered.

"Ruby," Jenny said, giving the red-hooded girl a pleading stare. "Please?"

It was then that Ruby sighed in defeat and collapsed into a nearby chair, placing her head in her hands in a miserable manner.

"Alright, I guess that's fair," she finally said. "We weren't given jobs here, we're TRAPPED here."

It wasn't much but it was a start, and at least enough to peak a few interests.

"Go on," G said, ushering the three to continue.

"You see, about two weeks ago we all came through the same bunch of cracks," Ruby explained. "At first we thought we were gonna fall to our deaths since they opened up high in the sky, but then Jenny here saved us. After that we told each other of our origins and she brought us here to this hotel."

Now that particular tale, G had no trouble believing for at least that one tied up with what Jenny said earlier.

"We were shaken up after the whole ordeal so we thought we'd rest here for a while," Franky added. "But that turned out to be a mistake."

"The first night here, we got a little curious," Ruby continued. "Started looking over the whole building for anything interesting."

"I do have an eye for antiques," Uncle chirped in, although no one really cared for it.

"Anyway, when we reached the attic we found two trunks, one that was filled with those puppets who saw out there, and the other…"

"…Contained Slappy," G concluded, finishing Ruby's sentence and confirming his own suspicions.

However that statement wasn't exactly what the three had expected to hear.

"You know the evil dummy!?" Uncle gasped.

G nodded at that.

"I know his work very well," he answered solemnly. "And I also know HOW he does it. So which one of you read THIS?"

At those words, G then reached into his hat and pulled out the card he and the others found in the trunk along with Jenny, placing it on the table for all three of them to see. Upon seeing that wretched card again, Ruby once again sulked.

"I did," she admitted sadly. "When I found it in the dummy's pocket I was curious as to what it meant, I mean at first it did nothing… but then it didn't."

"About an hour after we left the attic we noticed a few things going wrong with the hotel," Franky explained. "Like messages smeared on the walls in grease, hearing creepy laughter whenever you turn every other corner. Before long we noticed Jenny had disappeared along with some of our belongings, at first we thought she took them and ran but then…"

"…That's when the evil dummy made himself known." Uncle said, finishing Franky's sentence.

Hearing this G soon began piecing everything in his head, whatever story these three were telling there were no holes in it this time, it was clear that they were telling the truth.

"He told us that we were now his slaves and if we didn't want to end up like Jenny we would serve him without question," Ruby sobbed, looking towards Jenny with a heart-breaking stare. "We thought he killed her and made her disappear."

It was then that some of the group members began to feel sorry for Ruby, Franky and Uncle, granted it didn't excuse their actions but regardless they were beginning to understand why they didn't say anything, Goggles especially since he knew what fear can do to someone. It was then that Laura felt enough courage to add her own question.

"SO were you all hiding upstairs when we arrived?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ruby replied. "The upper floors are all badly damaged, all we figured you guys were just a bunch of kids who came here on a dare or something."

"But then we found you sleeping here the next morning, we weren't planning to make ourselves known," Franky added. "But then the little one noticed me and woke all of you up before I could retreat back upstairs."

"So you were playing us the whole time?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was necessary," Uncle replied, though it was clear that he was ashamed to say as such.

"So where does Miss Hazel fit into all of this?" Nyx asked, her own curiosity peaking over whatever fear she had.

At those words, all three of them scowled angrily.

"About a day after the evil dummy woke up, SHE turned up," Uncle replied.

"At first we thought she was just someone looking at the hotel in order to buy it or something," Ruby added. "But it turned out that she was one of Slappy's goons."

Now things were beginning to make sense, at least from G's perspective, of course Slappy would have someone else working with him, after all he couldn't use very powerful magic like that which had repaired the wall earlier, just how many was serving this wacko?

"I take it those puppets are among the same ranks?" G asked curiously.

"Yeah, she and the puppets help Slappy by keeping us in line," Ruby answered, clenching her fists with anger. "Some of them spy on us just to make sure we stay here. All the while Hazel keeps us alive by bringing us food every other day."

Hearing this G scratched his chin with thought, now even more pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit together as the three continued on.

"I take it she figured out the sort of drinks that keep YOU going?" he asked, looking towards Franky.

Knowing exactly what the Living Genre meant by that, Franky nodded.

"She replaced any cola I had with Iced Tea," he explained. "Thought it would make me more compliant, and without Ruby's scythe, or Uncle's magic to boot, we're merely sitting ducks here."

And with that G finally managed to figure out a theory as to exactly why he and the others found Jenny in the scrapyard, from what he could gather Slappy must have had that Frosty Puppet drain Jenny of her battery fluid with that powerful syringe of his when she had her back turned, thus causing her to shut down. After which he had her along with every other item he stole from the others stuffed into his own trunk, after which he must have had Miss Hazel toss it into the scrapyard without anyone noticing, thus robbing the other three of their hope and means of defence all in one fell swoop, thus creating a better start in making all three of them his personal slaves.

"For the past two weeks, Slappy has done nothing but torment us for his own amusement," Ruby continued with discouraged tone. "And now because I refused to share information about you guys, he set those puppets loose. I even tried convincing Hazel not to tell him anything about you, said that you were probably gonna leave once you were rested. But then you all had that argument and you guys split up…"

"Yeah, yeah we get the idea!" Goggles quickly interrupted, having a strong indication to where that particular subject was leading to.

Now everything was beginning to fall into place, there was no lies this time, everything that the three had said was the absolute truth, even Goggles could see that now. However there was still a piece of the puzzle that missing still, and hopefully G will have the answer with one last question.

"There's just one more thing I need to know," he said. "Jenny told us that there were FOUR people who fell through the crack, not three. So tell me, who is it that's Slappy's holding hostage?"

Upon hearing this Uncle, Ruby and Franky couldn't help but feel taken aback, granted they were more than willing to tell the truth but they certainly didn't expect G to know such a thing already. Still the truth had to be said.

"My Captain," Franky sighed, causing G to gasp. "Monkey D. Luffy."

Judging from G's reaction to that answer Nyx, along with everyone else could tell that the name was familiar to him, then again if he already knew who Franky was then it shouldn't have been much of a surprise. However G couldn't believe what he had just heard. LUFFY was the one Slappy was holding hostage!? The guy was one of the most well-known pirates in his own realm, and definitely one of the most powerful characters he has ever known, how could he have been taken hostage so easily?

"We don't know how he did it but while everyone was asleep, Slappy turned him into a dummy," Ruby explained, causing G to drop his jaw. "Wooden skin, painted hair, everything!"

"Well I guess if he could bring puppets to life then the reverse would be possible," Nyx commented quietly.

At this point G couldn't help but smack his forehead, of course Slappy turned him into a dummy, after all that was one of his specialties. He must have waited till the idiot was asleep and then released that demonic breath of his, thus turning Luffy into a dummy without a fight.

"He said that unless we obeyed him then Jenny's disappearance and Luffy's imprisonment would be the least of our worries," Franky clarified, much to his own shame."

"And I lost too many friends already," Ruby added, fresh tear streaming down her face. "I couldn't risk losing any more, especially since it's my fault Slappy's awake in the first place. I… I'm so sorry."

Finally Ruby had lost the ability to speak and proceeded to cry her eyes out, and it was then that G began to fully understand Ruby's predicament, if he remembered right then Ruby would have arrived in this realm at a point in time where she and her friends back home were at their lowest point, mainly due to the fact that two of those friends died while she was unable to do anything about it. At this point everyone's attitude began to change, and though Ruby may not have gotten any sympathy from Adagio, the rest of the group certainly felt differently, in fact Sonata felt so guilty about judging her so quickly that she couldn't help but walk towards the girl and give her a hug. For the next few minutes the room remained silent save for Ruby's crying, not a single member of the group could utter a single word for now they truly began to understand, these three didn't try to get them killed, they were just scared and desperate. Needless to say, G felt the worst out of everyone in the room, had it not been for those cracks then none of this would have happened to Ruby or the others in the first place… and he certainly wasn't just going to stand by and do nothing about it.

"Listen," he said, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I may be just some mismatched lunatic from another realm but even I know the desperation one can go through to make sure someone they cared about stayed safe."

It was then that Ruby stopped crying for a moment and looked up at G, who in turn gave a gentle smile, one that was shared by mostly everyone in the room. However not all shared in their opinion.

"So what?" Adagio snapped. "You're just gonna forgive them just like that!?"

"SHUT UP ADAGIO!" Everyone else shouted, not appreciating her snide comment.

After that little display, G's smile suddenly turned into a look of confidence as he now addressed all three of Slappy's slaves.

"I'll help you find your friend," he declared, both shocking the three along with everyone else. "And then we're leaving this damn dimension, but first..."

At this point G then proceeded to rummage through his vest pockets, placing several items on the table, items that neither, Ruby, Franky, nor Uncle thought they would see again. Those items, in order, were in fact, Ruby's Scythe, Uncle's Blowfish and Lizard, and three bottles of cola.

"You're gonna need these," G continued, ignoring everyone's shocked expressions. "Slappy and his puppets may be small but the little devil is crafty, and I'm sure he has more up his sleeve than we realise. If we're all gonna get out of here then we need to be prepared for anything, and I for one am NOT going to let some termite-bitten dummy stop me from getting you all home!"

Hearing this everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of pride, the way G spoke right now… it was though he was acting like a true leader inspiring his troops, there was just something about his confidence that made everyone want to forget their fears and follow him wherever he went. Even Ruby, Franky and Uncle felt somewhat inspired by G's speech, and the fact that he just gave him their best means of defence only raised their opinions of him. Looking towards Jenny with a confident smile, who in term returned the gesture, Ruby then stood up from her seat and gripped her Scythe tight.

"I knew you would help us," she said, almost bashfully as she wiped away her tears.

At those words G then smirked and looked towards the main entrance to the ballroom.

"Ready yourselves my friends," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I doubt we'll be holding up in here for long."

Hearing this a great number of the group stood next to G with a look of confidence upon their faces, so much so they ignored whatever pain they had and readied themselves for whatever happened next. Even the newcomers felt more alive than they did in weeks, with their new friends, they were sure to win their freedom back. With the momentum coursing through them, Ruby unsheathed her Scythe, causing it to expand into all its gigantic size, Uncle grabbed both his Blowfish and Lizard, causing them both to glow a luminescent Green with Chi Magic, and Franky… all he needed to do was replace the three bottles in his chest.

"Oh yeah," he said, the fizzy cola coursing through him like new lifeblood, causing both his eyes to glow a brilliant red underneath his sunglasses. "SUPER!"

That wonderful, once thought lost catchphrase, ended up being so loud that the entire hotel shook as Franky screamed it. Whatever came next, he was sure to be ready for it.

#

Author's Notes:

The Character Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke / :iconPenstrokepony:

The Character Laura belongs to :icontwokinds:

The Characters Chi and Mimi belong to :iconbleedman:

The Character Ruby Rose belongs to Rooster Teeth