Chapter 38 – An Unexpected Friend

To say that returning to G's dimension after her failure in Middle-Earth wasn't the happiest moment for Scanty would definitely be an understatement, in fact the second she got back she took out her frustration by shooting up one of the walls with her revolvers. Not only that but the dimension itself has now taken a drastic change in appearance, of course room where the pillar of light was kept still remained, but outside it the entirety of the area was expanded, so much so that one could build an entire army within it, and in a sense that's exactly what happened. Not only did Scanty and her hunting party return to the realm, but the army of orcs that pledged her allegiance to her decided to join them… along with a couple of other individuals.

"Ah tell you, this is harassment!" Ranamon screamed from her cage. "Y'all can't treat me like this!"

As it turned out, both Ranamon and Ezekiel weren't welcomed to G's home realm with open arms, in fact because Scanty thought she was more of a flight-risk than anyone, she call Kneesocks ahead of time, who in turn ensnared both Ranamon and Ezekiel upon arrival and locked them both in giant birdcages that hovered several feet above the ground, orbiting the pillar of light like a moon to a planet. Needless to say, while Ezekiel never stopped trying to chew the bars of his cage, Ranamon never stopped whining ever since arrival.

"Oh shut up in there already!" Kneesocks screamed from below, throwing her glass of wine at the cage, temper starting to boil over due to putting up with Ranamon's complains ever since she arrived. "Honestly I don't know why you even brought her here sister."

Scanty couldn't help but sigh at that.

"Believe me Kneesocks, I'm having trouble contemplating that myself," she said, taking a sip of wine from her own glass. "But as I've explained before, the orcs continued to follow me even after my hunting party made it back to Weathertop, I figured they would make a decent army given the proper disciple and rules applied to their military might, but unfortunately thanks to our little encounter with that mismatched vermin and his friends, the watery bimbo and her pet insisted in coming along with us."

"All because she's a girl with a crush," Kneesocks concluded, rubbing her temples with irritation.

Granted Scanty and Kneesocks aren't usually ones to damper on the feelings of the heart, however Ranamon's case was simply too much for them to bear, especially since she never seemed to shut up about G throughout her constant whining.

"And yet she also wants to kill him for carrying that perverted picture of you my dear," Scanty commented, almost cringing upon remembering the photo that was found in G's pocket. "A prime example of love-based insanity if I do say so myself."

Kneesocks couldn't help but nod at that, her face suddenly obtaining a small smirk as she pulled said photo out of her pocket. Obviously Scanty was going to keep it to preserve her sister's dignity… or so she claims.

"Though I must admit, it IS a flattering picture," Kneesocks admitted, looking at herself in a bikini with a deep blush upon her face. "Be honest, I do look good."

Now it was Scanty's turn to blush, all the while obtaining a seductive smirk of her own.

"Indeed, you do my dear," she said, leaning over Kneesocks shoulder in a caring manner to take another look at the photo.

However as it could be expected over the past few days, the moment was quickly ruined by the inane cackle from someone in the third cage above them, causing both sister to grit their teeth in anger.

"And then there's our OTHER guests," Kneesocks commented, looking up at the third cage and putting the photo back in her pocket.

Needless to say Slappy was being just as big, if not more of an annoyance as Ranamon was, ever since Rahzar brought him and his puppets back from Bodega Bay, he has done nothing but cackle to himself and refuse to speak even when under torture. Eventually the villains simply gave up on trying to get information out of him and decided to let Slappy hang in his cage, the lifeless bodies of his puppets surrounding him like a baby's mobile, the only sound he ever made being the inane cackles he would let out every now and then. It was at that moment that Bebop and Rocksteady walked by the two sisters, both of them carrying numerous weapons to provide the orcs in their new training room/forge.

"Da, ever since the Rahzar bring back Dummy, little freak has been nothing but trouble," Rocksteady commented with an agitated huff.

"That's putting it mildly yo!" bebop added. "I lean in close to get a good look at him, and he near bites my piggy-hand off!"

Both Scanty and Kneesocks simply rolled their eyes at that, even Rocksteady couldn't help but face-palm upon hearing his comrade's complaint, after all it was the pig's own fault for lowering the cage and poking his fingers through the bars, all because he was an immature idiot. Seeing the two mutants in her presence, Scanty couldn't help but ask a certain question.

"Has Rahzar still not left the dojo?" she asked, earning a shake of the head from Rocksteady.

"Niet," he said, continuing on towards the training room with Bebop. "Has been training non-stop ever since he come back, said he needed to up game."

And with that the two mutants left, leaving the two sisters alone with their thoughts.

"Can't say I blame him," Kneesocks admitted. "After all he did fail miserably while perusing G through the portal, not to mention the state he was in when he used the Wanted Poster to alert us to his location."

"Indeed," Scanty said, nodding in agreement and taking another sip of wine. "The stench he brought back alone was enough to make me want to retch."

Bad comments aside, Rahzar WAS in a terrible state once he finally returned to G's home realm with Slappy in tow, with dried blood matting his fur, on top of several bruises and the stink of wet dog after dragging Slappy's trunk out of the ocean, one would think that he was mugged and dumped into a harbour. After adding unable to get Slappy to talk when he got back to his list of failures, he soon cleaned himself up and began fighting in the newly created dojo, believing that it was his lack of proper training in recent days that made him look so much like a fool whilst in the last realm. If they had to be honest, both Scanty and Kneesocks couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for mutant, after all they both knew their own forms of humiliation, mostly due to the faults of a certain pair of angel they knew. Suddenly their train of thought was interrupted by another fit of laughter, only to them this one was far more annoying.

"Fehfefefefefefefefefefe!" Foxy laughed as he casually walked over to the two sisters, Porche and Hamburg following close behind. "So the wolf is still in a stroppy mood is he? Is that what we're talking about now?"

Upon seeing their least favourite member of the group, both the Demon Sisters couldn't help but sigh, just knowing that he was now free to roam the realm as he pleases simply made them sick to their stomachs.

"That is none of your concern, Pirate," Scanty snapped in response, only to have Kneesocks place a hand on her shoulder.

"Now sister, be nice," she said, even though she wished it were otherwise. "After all it was Foxy's idea for wanted posters that helped us track down Rahzar."

Of course Foxy was going to milk the fact that he aided in the search for G with all he's got, after all if there was anything Foxy was good at it was to worm his way to the top by any means necessary, so it was only natural that he nagged Kneesocks into giving him more leeway after he gave his advice on the Wanted Posters. If Kneesocks had it any other way then Foxy would have been stuffed into a fourth cage along with his two friends.

"Darn right it was MY idea!" he said smugly, once again annoying the sisters with his ego. "Now perhaps it would be best if we could let bygones be bygones, yes?"

As soon as Foxy said those words, on cue Porche and Hamburg once again did their little praising/insulting routine.

"That's our boss for you," Porche said with a small wink. "Always the one to be the bigger man."

"Or just a short guy with a big ego," Hamburg muttered with a laugh. "Pupupupupupupupu."

Porche simply growled at that remark.

"That's enough Hamburg!" she snapped angrily.

But despite Foxy's sly way of speaking, neither Scanty nor Kneesocks were so easily fooled by anyone's egotistic charm. Of course neither of them would ever allow Foxy to actually realise it.

"Well… seeing as how you did at least attempt to become useful to our little group, perhaps allowing you some benefit of the doubt would be in our best interests," Scanty said reluctantly, practically tasting the bile in her mouth upon saying that. "After all we ARE going to need all the help we can get if we are going to find G and make him tell us all the secrets to his realm. After which, we'll be glad to snuff him out."

Upon hearing those words, Foxy's grin widened, in his mind believing that it was now only a matter of time before he was running the entire realm, first he gets in good favour with the other villains, then he recruits close allies, soon enough HE'LL be on top of the food chain, NOT the Demon Sisters.

"Glad we have finally come to an understanding," He finally said. "Now perhaps we can… what the hell!?"

It was then that Foxy suddenly felt something solid wrap around his throat, an item that was so heavy and thick that it was a wonder how it was able to cling onto him so quickly, at that moment the pirate's ears rang with the sound of childish laughter as another pair of individuals emerged from the other side of the pillar of light, a pair that made bot Scanty and Kneesocks smirk upon seeing their faces.

"I may be only 11, but you have to admit that was a good shot," Chi smugly said, brandishing the crossbow-like weapon. "Especially considering the size of that pencil neck of yours, Foxy."

Upon seeing Chi and Mimi walk with a smug grin plastered upon their faces, Foxy couldn't help but growl furiously.

"Well done Chi," Kneesocks said gratefully, graciously accepting the spare glass of wine Mimi gave her. "Oh and thank you Mimi"

"WHAT IS THIS!?" Foxy demanded, desperately wanting to know why he was being subjugated to wearing a collar like an animal.

Both Scanty and Kneesocks grinned at that.

"Just because we're giving you a little leeway doesn't mean we fully trust you," Kneesocks explained.

"Therefore we require certain safeguards," Scanty added.

"Since this realm is completely packed with everything we would need, we figured that a bit of information wouldn't be too difficult to acquire," Chi added, causing Foxy's jaw to drop. "All we had to do was enter your name in Kneesocks' computer and then poof."

To emphasis the point, Kneesocks then clicked her fingers and a hologram of a certain Wanted Poster flashed in front of Foxy, Porche and Hamburg, FOXY'S Wanted Poster.

"Silver Fox Foxy: Bounty of 24,000,000 Beli for Piracy," Scanty said, listing off the basics of what the four demons knew. "Gains the power of Slow-Slow because he ate a Devil Fruit and as such is prone to all the weaknesses of any Devil Fruit user… such as a Sea-Prism Stone collar."

All three of the Foxy Pirates couldn't help but gasp at that, SEA-PRISM STONE!? No, that couldn't be possible, right? But unfortunately once Foxy tried activating his powers and found that he was unable to even produce a flicker of light, he soon realised that the demoness was telling the truth. But if this collar was made of Sea-Prism Stone, then when why wasn't he collapsing to the floor out of pure exhaustion? Luckily Kneesocks was there to explain that particular answer.

"Oh don't worry, it won't make you physically weaker," she said, sipping her wine with satisfaction. "After all, it's something of my own design."

"It will however stop you from using those powers of yours until WE require them," Scanty added, causing Foxy to growl even more ferociously. "After we believe you and your two friends have become more trust worthy, only then will you be released from it."

Needless to say, Foxy was furious at this new development, so much so that he wanted to strangle Scanty with his bare hands. However Foxy was nothing if not crafty, even if his ego was bigger than his own body he knew when it was time to be patient, and all this little setback meant that all he needed to do was just bide a little more time than he first thought.

"You can't just…" Porche tried to say in Foxy's defence, only for the said captain to raise his hand and silence her."

"I understand," Foxy muttered reluctantly, much to all four demons' satisfaction. "Thank you for being so understanding."

And with that Foxy and his two cronies turned and left, his pride seriously damaged after being forced to wear such a colour, as soon as they were gone, Scanty, Kneesocks and Chi couldn't help but have a good laugh, even Mimi allowed herself to smile a little, but aside from that she remained just as stoic as ever.

"Well done on coming up with the idea for a collar, Chi," Kneesocks said, giving the Princess of Aku a well-deserved pat on the back. "I have to say seeing him get all frustrated like that certainly was amusing."

Chi's smile widened at that.

"What can I say? I live for the simple things," she said darkly, before turning to leave, Mimi quickly following.

As soon as they were gone, Scanty couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as both she and Kneesocks turned back towards the Pillar of light.

"I didn't realise you two were so friendly," she commented, trying not to look covetous as she once again sipped her wine.

"We did a little bonding while you were in Middle-Earth," Kneesocks explained, keeping her expression as stoic as possible. "I have to say the child is certainly the little spitfire, perhaps she can even become one of our fiercest allies."

Though she would never openly admit it, Scanty couldn't help but feel a little… envious? Was that the right word? No, of course not! After all why on earth would she be jealous of a mere child? Still the fact that her dear sister was now somewhat close to someone other than her was a little disheartening for the upper-class demoness.

"Well whatever the case, we still need to figure out how we're going to get to this new realm," She said, brushing her emotions off and changing the subject. "Every time we attempt to go there something always ends up going wrong, and all because the portal opens up too far below sea-level, even if we could surface, it's too far too swim for sure."

Kneesocks couldn't help but sigh at that as she looked up at the image now displayed upon the light pillar, the image itself being nothing more than a blue landscape with a single red dot flickering in its centre.

"And for some reason we can't use any vehicles since the portal won't allow them through," she pointed out, adjusting her glasses. "Say what you want about him but I can't help but feel envious of that G character right about now, opening up doors as he pleases? It certainly makes you wonder how he does it."

Shanty nodded in agreement upon hearing that statement.

"How indeed?" she asked, finishing her wine and crushing the glass in her hands.

Little did the sisters know, their entire conversation was still being overheard by a certain red-haired Demon Princess, or to be more precise her little Mouse Avatar that she left behind using her powers, unnoticeable to the untrained eye, and thus the perfect spy for Chi herself while she remained in her room. Obviously she had no intention of REALLY being too chummy with the other villains, even if she was THAT horrible she wouldn't even associate with such lowlifes due to her pride, but still she needed info to pass onto G and getting friendly with the demon Sisters seemed to be the best way to do that. Hopefully they won't discover that she too was trying to get on good terms with them, albeit doing a much better job than Foxy since the sisters actually believed her, perhaps it was her natural charm. But bratty ego aside G's concern for G's mission has left her in a tight spot, even if she was able to keep herself out of danger, Chi still had Mimi to take care of, granted the clawed demoness was tough but even she had her limits, and with more and more villains filling up G's home, the danger only grew with each passing day.

#

Meanwhile, back within the safety of G's Vacation Home in Denmark, everyone was within the comforts of a peaceful sleep… well, most of everyone anyway. As for a certain Alicorn Filly, her sleep was once again met with a series of nightmares too horrible to even describe, while she tosses and turned amongst her bedsheets, her forehead began to sweat as flashes of G's monstrous form rushed through her head, changing only when an image of yet another horrible figure she hated appeared now and then, her swirling blue mane darkening the night sky and her black wings surrounded her like a cage. It was only when both evil figures laughed maniacally that Nyx finally screamed herself awake.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" she yelled, once again falling out of her bed.

Once she finally managed to recover from her terrifying awaking and adjust her eyes to the darkness of the room, Nyx couldn't help but sigh, it must have been at least 1 o'clock in the morning and she was once again wide awake thanks to those stupid nightmares. Thankfully she didn't wake anyone up this time, even as big as G's house was nobody really felt comfortable sleeping by themselves for obvious reasons, as such everyone shared bedrooms save for G and Nyx was bunking with Laura. Luckily even with her Keidran hearing, Laura was still fast asleep despite a small stir, which in Nyx's opinion was a good thing, she didn't want to make her lose any more sleep than she already did. It was then that Nyx began yet another one of her late-night rituals. Normally whenever she had a nightmare back home she would snuggle up next to her mom in her room or spend some time with a good book until she fell asleep again, however since neither were an option right now, the filly had no choice but to go with Option 3: go into the kitchen and heat up some milk.

#

"Mmmmugh… Sanji, cook us up some meat," Luffy mumbled in his sleep.

Nyx couldn't help but roll her eyes at this, after a few days of seeing Luffy attempt to sneak food out of the fridge when he thought no one was look, it was only natural for Nyx to expect to see him sleeping on the kitchen floor, clearly he still didn't realise that G put a digital time-lock on the fridge ages ago, hence why he was unable to sneak any late-night snacks. Thankfully Nyx was able to learn the codes for this thanks to Goggles relaying the info to her after G told him, of course G couldn't tell Nyx himself for obvious reasons. After quietly taking out a carton of milk and pouring some into a glass, the next step was to heat it, which was easy enough thanks to Goggles also showing her how to use the Microwave, something which both of them enjoyed since such a device didn't even exist in Equestria. However even as she used her magic to levitate the warm glass to her mouth to take a sip, the terrifying thoughts of G never left her mind, and it was beginning to get on her nerves.

"What is WRONG with me!?" she finally snapped, finishing her milk and placing the glass on the glass on the worktop. "I know G's supposed to be my friend but… ugh, why did we have to go to that stupid hotel!?"

Suddenly her train of thought was cut off by another sound in the kitchen, one that WASN'T Luffy's snoring.

Scotty doesn't know,

Scotty doesn't know,

Scotty doesn't know-oh,

Don't tell Scotty…

Hovering up so that she was eye-level with the worktop Nyx then saw what was making the noise, thankfully it wasn't so loud as to wake Luffy up, the device in question being something Nyx had seen before when G received a message from his friend on the Villains team back in Middle-Earth. Not really having any other idea as to what to do, Nyx then used her magic to pick the phone up, pressed the green button and put it to her ear.

"Uh… hello?" she said nervously, not really knowing what to expect.

It was then then Chi's voice rang in the young filly's ears in response.

"Hello?" she asked in a shocked tone. "Who the hell is this!? Where's G!?"

Needless to say the young filly was startled, especially since she never used a phone before, however she has seen G use it a couple of times to know that there was no real danger and decided to give an answer to the question she heard from the device.

"H… he's sleeping upstairs!" she said quickly.

At first there was no answer after she said that, but after a brief moment of silence Nyx heard a sigh.

"Oh right, I forgot what time it is," Chi's voice said in a calmer tone. "Then again that lazy bum would probably sleep in like he usually does anyway."

Nyx couldn't help but giggle at that.

"Yeah I guess that sounds about right," she replied, forgetting her fear of the Living Genre, even if it was only for a brief moment.

"Who is this anyway?" Chi's voice asked in response. "I assume you're one of those friends he's traveling with?"

"Y… yeah, my name is Nyx," the Alicorn answered. "You're Chi, right?"

That was when Chi's voice regained its aggressive tone

"That's PRINCESS Chi to you," she snapped. "I don't like being so informal on a first introduction!"

"Sorry!" Nyx squealed in response, after which she took a moment to calm down, after all Chi was supposed to be a friend. "So what did you need to talk to G about?"

At first there was silence again, most likely due to the fact that Chi was taking a moment to think up a good answer for the filly.

"Eh, I'll tell him in the morning, it's not that important anyway," she finally said, much to Nyx's disappointment, she was hoping to get a bit of an update on what's been going on lately. "So… he started driving you crazy yet? Knowing G, he's probably blown something up by now."

However despite Chi attempting to put on a friendly tone in order to change the subject, Nyx's face fell and she dove into silence. How could she possibly answer that when she couldn't even look at She without feeling absolutely terrified? Of course after a long period of silence Chi quickly began to notice that something was wrong.

"Hey," she said. "Are you okay?"

"Oh… yeah!" Nyx replied quickly, suddenly realising how long she has been quiet. "I'm fine!"

But that answer was soon followed by more silence, luckily it didn't take too long for Chi to figure out what was wrong.

"You saw him get angry didn't you?" she asked, instantly causing Nyx's eyes to widen with surprise.

"How did you…?" she tried to ask, only for Chi to cut her off.

"Listen, I'm not gonna beat around the bush about this," she explained. "I've known G for a long time now, so I know one or two things about his temper."

That certainly was a good point, if she was his friend then Chi WOULD know a lot more that Nyx did, and judging from the amount of time it took for her to figure it out then perhaps it was worth looking into.

"What do you mean?" Nyx asked curiously.

"You've probably noticed G's mostly a goofy idiot right?" Chi asked in response, earning herself a small "yes" from the filly. "Well there are times when he gets serious, and that's always when someone he cares about is involved, hurt his friends and he seriously hurts you back, especially once those black flames start engulfing that arm of his."

At those words, the horrible memory of what happened back at Bodega Bay, Slappy kicking her, G losing control and that horrible aura that surrounded him when his skeletal arm went up in black fire.

"You know about that?" Nyx asked reluctantly, not really wanting to relive the memory.

"Saw it first-hand a while back," Chi replied with a heavy sigh. "And frankly I'm still having nightmares about it."

So G managed to scare Chi too? A girl that G basically said was a She-Devil and even she was scared by his rage, and yet…

"But… you're not scared of him?" Nyx asked, voicing out her concern.

It was then that Nyx clearly heard Chi laugh from the phone.

"Of course not," she chuckled. "Because I always remember the type of guy he really is."

Nyx couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.

"An eccentric goofball in a cowboy hat?" she asked, causing Chi to laugh again.

"No," she stated. "A guy who I'd be happy to call my friend."

At those words Nyx let out a small gasp, Chi STILL considered him her friend even after seeing that horrifying display? Wouldn't that be dangerous? After all it's not like Nyx was just judging G by his appearance alone, he also beat Slappy to pulp before he managed to calm down. And yet there was something about what Chi said that made Nyx think, the only reason G got so angry was because SHE was hurt, he really cared about her that much to go crazy like that?

"Listen I gotta go," Chi finally said, snapping Nyx back into reality. "Tell G I said hi, okay?"

After a brief moment of silence Nyx then smiled again.

"Sure, thanks Princess Chi," she said. "Oh, before you go, do you think that we can talk again sometime? I'd like to hear more about you."

It was then that she heard Chi's laughter again.

"Maybe," she chuckled. "I'll see if it's possible."

"Okay, well… Bye then," Nyx finally replied, pressing the red button on the phone.

#

Back in her room in G's dimension, Chi hung up her own cell phone with a small smile upon her face.

"Sweet kid," she commented, only to hear a small crack in response.

Upon turning around she saw Mimi, stepping out of their En Suite bathroom, wearing a bathrobe and holding a coffee mug, which was now crack thanks To the young demon gripping it so hard out of anger.

"Oh don't give me that look Mimi," Chi chuckled, soon pinching Mimi's cheek after she gave her a jealous pout. "You're still my number-one gal."

#

Meanwhile back in Denmark, Nyx decide to take Chi's words into account and decided to do the one thing she was afraid to do for several days… talk to G. If Chi could still consider G a friend even after seeing the horrifying state he was in then there was no reason she couldn't do the same… right? However once Nyx reached the door to G's bedroom, she couldn't bring herself to open it, granted she knew she needed to in order to get some closure but she just felt too scared to do so, was this what her Auntie Fluttershy felt all the time. Suddenly a faint sound from the other side of the door reached Nyx's ears, curious as she was, the filly then turned the doorknob with her magic and peeked inside to see G sprawled out on the floor in a pool of his own drool, surrounded by heaps of junk and snoring like an elephant. At first Nyx expected herself to quickly close the door and run back downstairs in a fit of panic, but she never did, in fact seeing G as he is now, all that she could think about was the times when she had to wake him up after he attempted to sleep in. It was then that Nyx couldn't help but smack herself upside her head, how could she have been so stupid? After all that they've been through, now she's basically shunning him after he saved her life? Granted he may have been scary but that was no reason to keep her distance, besides, wasn't it SHE who said that we needed to stick together? What kind of hypocritical friend was she!? Upon realising this, Nyx knew she had to apologise, and it needed to be a pretty GOOD apology at that, but that'll have to wait until morning, she didn't want to disturb G in whatever dream he was having. Though it certainly had to have been a weird one since G was now kicking his leg like a dog, a display that instantly made Nyx giggle, the first real laugh she had in a good while.

"She was right," she whispered. "You really ARE a goofy idiot."

And with that, Nyx closed the door and walked back to her own room, after all she will have to make sure her apology was well worded before she finally managed to talk to G again.

#

Author's Notes:

The featured Ringtone is inspired by "Scotty Doesn't Know" all credit belongs to the original composer

watch?v=0Vyj1C8ogtE

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

For the Image of G: art/The-Living-Genre-563434744

For the Image of Witch Hazel: art/Character-Reboot-Witch-Hazel-585406440