The group tried to follow Dimentio to the center, but was trapped in a cage instead. Bakugou let Izuku go and grabbed the bars.
"You're going to die, Dimentio!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take for a friend." He continued following after Em.
"That dirty double-crosser!" Bakugou kicked the bars. He angrily sat down next to Izuku, crossing his arms. "What are you looking at?!" He snapped at Olly.
"I was going to see if you were alright, but looks like you're doing just fine." He faced away from Bakugou and crossed his arms.
Bakugou was struck with an idea. A terrible, awful idea that might just get them out.
"Welcome everyone!" Em waved to the crowd. "We finally have a new challenger today! Give a hand for my dear old friend, Didinolock." He brushed Dimentio's face from the chin to his forehead, then walked away.
Dimentio's eyes changed to slits. He tried to fight it off, but with no luck. He tore off half of the top part of his jumpsuit, panting and growling.
"What's wrong with him?" Ochaco asked. "He seems so angry."
"Hm..." Olly tapped his cheek. "Em removed his anger earlier, right? Maybe he increased it this time. That would make sense."
Dimentio roared, fire shooting into the air from his mouth.
"Now I know how much you love to fight, Didi, so I'll cut to the chase and let you battle our champion right away. Isn't that fun? That's why I gave your suppressed anger a small boost. You'll need it to survive."
"Survive?" Dimentio muttered.
A giant pale blue beast stomped out of an entrance on the other side. It was covered in dark blue spikes. The air chilled significantly when it entered.
"Meet Frostbite, an Ice Oni. He's our reigning champion here. If you beat him, this antidote is yours."
"Ice?!" Dimentio flinched away. "He's like a thousand times bigger than me!"
"And you are part Beastial Oni, so this should be easy for you."
Todoroki walked to the front of the cage. "Of course they're making us watch." He touched the bars. "Let's see how they handle a little ice."
The bars absorbed the ice, fire, and Bakugou's explosion he did out of pure spite.
"Argh! Why isn't nothing working?! This is your fault!" Bakugou pointed an accusing finger at the Origami King.
"What? My fault? How?!"
"If you hadn't befriended that creep, we wouldn't be in here! Why'd you have to do that for?!"
"I was just trying to be nice! I had learned my lesson and hoped that he would too! Why are you blaming me for this? It's Dimentio's fault we're in here!"
Bakugou smirked.
"Kachaan? What are you-"
He slapped his hand over Izuku's mouth. "Well, he clearly didn't! If he had, he would be helping us right now!"
"What do you think he's doing?! He's fighting for the antidote to whatever the Underwhere he did to Izuku!"
Dimentio slammed against the cage. He growled and charged Frostbite again.
Bakugou angrily pointed his hands at Dimentio, glaring at the Origami King. "He had the chance! He's only helping us to get on our good side so we'd get off his back! Olive knows how he is! He'll just stab us in the back! All thanks to your trusting him!"
Olly grabbed both sides of his head, messing up his hair and crown, and shook his head. "N-no! I know he's a good person! He's just not himself right now! If he was so awful, why is Shi so nice?!"
"Olive, duh! Dimentio's just playing you!"
"Kachaan? You should probably-"
He shushed Izuku again. "And knowing he's half of Shi, they're probably playing you too! Like the cheap kazoo you are!"
Tears streamed down his face from his rage-filled eyes. "Take that back."
"You can't take back the truth, Little Prince."
"You're lying! I know he's changed! Take those filthy lies back!"
"Olly?" Olivia went to comfort her brother, before being stopped by Izuku.
"Wait, I know what he's doing. Stay back."
"You're too easily trusting! That's how he'd get to you! He manipulates people, Little Prince! You think somebody like that can redeem theirself so quickly?!"
"Shut it, shut it! You don't know him!"
"Well apparently, I know him better than you!"
"Stop it!"
"Stop being so dumb then!"
He pulled some strands of hair out, his eyes glowing. "I don't appreciate your rude attitude, Bakugou! Stop saying such awful things about one of your friends!"
"Oh? We're not friends."
Olly's eye twitched. "I promised...I said I wouldn't get mad...But Bakugou, you're really pushing it. Do you really want to be flattened?"
Olivia cowered behind Todoroki when Olly started speaking more calmly, who also stood in front of Ochaco and Tsu.
"Why promise something you know you can't keep? Seems like you're just as bad as Dimentio."
"Katsuki!" He tried to attack Bakugou with the thousand-fold arms, who dodged.
Olly tore off the door of the cage and threw it at Bakugou. He exploded it away and dragged Izuku out of the cage.
"Good job getting us out."
"Huh? You mean that was all a ruse?!"
"Yep. Now go up to Em and grab that potion."
Olly's arms folded back. "You...you're so clever. I never would have thought of that. And I didn't see through it either! I'm impressed!"
"Don't flatter me," he said, straight-faced.
Dimentio landed on the ground near them. His head was bleeding, and frost covered his left leg.
"Yes, yes! Tear him apart!" Somebody cheered from the crowd.
"Em..." He coughed up black blood with a bit of green.
"Dimentio!" Olivia flew over to him. "You can't keep this up! Please stop! You'll die in vain!"
"Sh-shut up...I c-can do th-this...Olivia..."
"Dimentio's back. He's no longer unstable. That's why he can't beat Frostbite."
He shoved Olivia aside and rushed back towards Frostbite on all fours.
"Give it up, Didi! You and your stupid puppet will die!"
"That's my friend! More of a friend than you'll ever be!"
"Little Prince, " Bakugou acknowledged the King, "fold small and sneak the potion from Em. Once we heal Deku, he can help the Jester."
"Orders, orders!" He stretched his arms above his head. A small pop sounded from his back. "But fine! I'll do it for Izuku." He folded into a little lizard and quickly crawled away to Em's tower.
Frostbite almost crushed Dimentio, who managed to dodge despite his injuries. Izuku noticed he was starting to slow down, while Frostbite was just as feisty and fearsome as before. Olly watched from near the head of the tower, worried.
"Come on, Olly," he told himself, "you need to save Izuku." He looked back to Dimentio, who was being backed into a corner. "But..." He sighed. "Dimentio needs my help. I'm sorry, Izuku. Hang on for just a few more minutes."
He leaped from the tower, refolding into himself and drawing his sword. Dimentio braced for being crushed, closing his eyes and covering his head.
"Leave him alone!"
Dimentio uncovered his eyes to see Olly bury his sword in Frostbite's right eye. The beast flailed his head around in an attempt to get Olly off.
"Hello Dimentio! You looked like you needed help, so I am here!" He grinned.
"Were you teaching him about All Might," Bakugou asked Izuku.
"Maybe?" He coughed up a bit of green, which was extremely painful. "Ow..."
"Little Prince! You had one job!"
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't let Dimentio die!" He screamed as Frostbite grabbed him and tossed him into the wall near the group.
Olly hit the wall so hard, he created a large dent in it. He hit it with his back, a crack sounding. He fell from the wall, rolling a bit away from it, blood dripping from both of his arms from the thousand-fold arms.
"Olly!" Olivia screamed. "Brother! No!"
"Oh. Too bad for him. He died a hero, I suppose," Em mocked.
Dimentio's pupils turned back to slits. "He was only a child! You are a dirty, tricky, b%^&$!"
He jumped on Frostbite and started clawing out his left eye. Izuku winched as he dug his fangs into Frostbite's cornea. Ochaco covered her eyes, and Olivia's. Todoroki protected Tsu. Dimentio tore Frostbite's eye out, blood spewing from the wound and dripping from his fangs.
"Wow. Didi got violent. That's exactly what we need in this battle. Maybe he might dethrone the champion."
Frostbite slapped him off. Izuku felt a few ruffles in his hair, then a small blue cube popped out and landed on the ground.
"Huh?"
It unfolded to reveal it was Olive, rage in his usually gentle eyes. He stormed to Frostbite and Dimentio and stood in front of the Jester, arms spread wide.
"Why?! He did nothing!"
"Olive?!" He wiped the blood from his mouth. "How did you get here?! You're going to f^&%ing die!"
His eyes lit up blue. "I won't let you hurt him like this." Blue traveled up his right arm, following a jagged pattern that was always there but served no purpose.
Until now.
His arm separated at the lights and reformed into a sort of weapon. Blue lined the inside of it, gathering into a bright, glowing ball in the center.
"You! Demon! Face me and fight like a monster really does!"
Frostbite growled, turned to face Olive, and charged. Olive stayed calm and focused, something Izuku had never seen him do before. A quick, thin, dark blue beam shot at Frostbite's head, Olive falling back a bit as a giant light blue beam, following the thin one, completely obliterated the demon's head and shoulders. Olive fell onto his back as the beam vanished and his arm returned to normal. Frostbite fell to the ground, dead. The light in Olive's eyes faded. He scrambled away from the fallen beast, horrified.
Em poked his head up through the giant hole in his tower. "So, you want to play this way, huh? Fine. Let's play a game..."
He jumped from the tower, grabbing Olly's sword-as it had stuck to the tower from the blast-and charged Dimentio with it. He braced for impact and only opened his eyes when he heard a loud sound to metal slicing through metal.
Em had stabbed Olive straight through the chest, as he had protected Dimentio again.
He looked over his shoulder to the Jester and smiled. "I-I told you I w-was loyal...Dimentio..." Blood streamed from his mouth and the hole in his chest. "Thank you for letting me be created...and have a life...and be able to see and feel...Even if I am you...I still love you...You were so nice to me after I left you...After you changed...You fixed yourself, just as Tape fixed Shi...See you in the Overthere, buddy..."
Em whipped the sword off to the side, Olive's body falling off and rolling to a stop near Izuku. "I can't believe you got yourself some new puppets to play with. Piper would be so proud." He readied to slice off Dimentio's head. "Any last words for our audience?"
Dimentio stared at the ground, defeated.
"No? Oh well." He sliced at his neck, aimed to kill.
"I'm sorry."
The sword stopped, a small cut in his neck causing a gentle flow of blood to stream out.
"What did you say?"
"I said I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you."
"Hurt me? Hurt me?! You broke me! You turned me into this! This-this...monster!" He went to use his power on himself again, but Dimentio gently pushed his hand down.
"Don't, please. Don't. It hurts to see how much you've used it on yourself and your subjects. Please, I want to see the old Em again. I want to see the crybaby kid I used to know."
"I wasn't a crybaby!" He tore his hand from Dimentio.
"You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. You were always the one who tried to talk me out of Peppi's bad ideas. But I didn't listen and now look at me. I'm a mess." He fell to his knees. "I tried to kill people, Em. I lost my mind. I-I used people. Manipulated them. And I didn't help Piper from the Chaos Heart. I left you behind. I let you deal with rebuilding this world, all by yourself. You're not the monster, I am. I'm literally a demon and didn't even know it because I kept chopping off my tail because Piper said it was creepy!" He slammed his fists into the sand. "I changed myself for her. I forced you to change too. I remember that day of my birthday. My tenth birthday...I forced you to be a jester with us, and you hate clowns and jesters!" He punched the ground a few more times. "I let you do this to yourself! I let me do this to myself! All because Piper put on a nice 'mask' and I fell for it! Merde...Now I'm crying..."
Em tightened his grip on the blade. "Y-you really mean that? You didn't leave me behind on purpose?"
"Of course I didn't! Toi idiot! I left this world because I was scared! Piper gaslighted me so much, I believed the fire was my fault! If I hadn't set fire to those strings...Maybe things would have been different. I should have just become her puppet. I already was, anyways."
"Don't say that. She tricked me too." He stabbed the sword into the ground. "I was friends with her longer. I should have seen what she was doing when she started doing it to you." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I was so blind. I let her use me for five years before we even met you! I knew she was a demon, I saw her chop off her tail once! Yet I still believed her lies. She told me she was a Power Sprite like us, and yet I knew about the tail." He rubbed his wrist. "How did...how did she die?"
"A dark power called the Chaos Heart. She was turned into a half-puppet by my mistake. She had used the Chaos Heart before then and-ah, you know how dark magic is."
"It killed her from the inside."
"She bled like, everywhere. And then her skeleton turned to ash. I really wish I could forget, but I feel like that's impossible."
"Ew! No blood! Blood is so gross!" Em stuck his tongue out.
"Yeah."
"Boo!" The same man in the crowd from before disagreed. "Fight already!" Everybody in the seats closest to him piled onto him. Izuku winched.
Dimentio stood. "But Em, you had no reason to do this to yourself. And you could have told me about Piper, I would have trusted you."
"I-I didn't because she told me to be suspicious of you. She told me that Oni were a bad thing. That was before the tail. She didn't know I saw that."
Dimentio smiled, gently, which surprised Izuku. "Emerald...We're still friends, right?"
"O-of course! I'm surprised you actually made new friends. And I was a bit jealous because I worried you replaced me..."
"I would never! Just because I'm redeeming myself, doesn't mean I forgot about you! I wanted to come back but was scared about what could happen if anybody recognised me."
Em sniffled, lip quivering.
"Em? What's wrong?"
"I'm so happy I got to see the Didi I knew again."
"Em..." Black tears streamed down his face. "It's okay to cry. You of all people should know that."
Em started crying and tore down his hair. He tossed himself into Dimentio's open arms and hugged his friend.
Dimentio's pupils turned to slits again, but he didn't attack. "Em...Please get off. Please."
Em wiped his eyes and got off of Dimentio. "S-sorry."
Dimentio playfully slugged Em on the arm. "Welcome back, Emmie."
"Please don't call me that."
"Then don't call me Didi. My name's Dimentio now." He examined Em's clothes. "What are you wearing? This isn't you at all!"
"Heh...Royal gear, you know how it is."
Olivia gasped after he finished that sentence. "Olly!" She rushed to her brother. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Olly? Olly?!" She dropped him, staring at the blood on her hands. "O-Olly...?" Tears filled her eyes. "Brother! How could I let this happen? I promised the Origami Craftsman I would protect you..." She rested her face in her hands, sobbing.
"You promised him that?" Ochaco asked. "That's so sweet."
"He told me he promised he would protect you," Izuku said, ending with a coughing fit. He fell out of Bakugou's grasp.
"You know I hate it when you cry..."
"What?!" She flinched away from Olly as he stood back up. "B-but you...!"
He looked at the wall, then the blood stains on his left arm. "Heh...I'm fine, Livi. It'll take more than that to kill me."
"We all thought you were dead! You idiot!" She hugged him.
He screamed, and she backed off. "Olivia...Watch my arm..."
Olivia looked at his left arm, which he had been gently holding since he stood back up. "Your arm...? But y-you should have broken your back!"
He blinked at her, then laughed. "Olivia, I wasn't going to let you live with that Toad all by yourself! I blocked my fall with my arm! Too bad it was my dominant arm...I guess it's good that I can use both."
"Olly! You scared me!"
"I'm sorry. The collision knocked me out." He bowed. "I'll be more cautious from now on. Okay? Will that make it up to you, dear sister?"
"Maybe, if you actually keep your word!"
"Well, I can't promise anything! I seem very prone to danger!"
"At least try?"
"I'll try."
"I love how cute this is," Izuku said on the ground, "but I literally can't move."
"Aah!" Dimentio gasped. "I forgot about you! I forgot why I was doing this in the first place! Aah!" He ruffled his hair and paced around in a panic.
"Didi, I-Dimentio, I mean. I have it. I have the antidote."
"Oh? Then why don't you do something already?!" He stomped his foot.
Em took out the vial and held it out to Izuku. "Ohh, right. You can't move..." He removed the cork, almost dropping the vial. "It's okay!"
"Don't scare me like that!" Olivia cried.
Em placed it near Izuku's mouth and carefully dumped the contents into his mouth. The glass was cold, and the antidote tasted bitter. Izuku shuddered and stuck his tongue out afterwards.
"Eww! It tastes so gross! I'm sorry for saying that, but it's true!" Bakugou helped him stand, forcefully as he still couldn't feel his legs or arms.
"Great!" Dimentio walked over to him. "You did great, Izuku." He smiled.
"Really? You think so?"
"Yup! That deserves a pat on the back, doesn't it?"
"I-I guess."
Dimentio pat him, as hard as physically possible, on the center of his back. Izuku broke into a coughing fit that only ended when he spat out a bunch of green that slowly burnt its way through the floor.
"Ow...My back, my stomach...What was that green stuff?" He wiped off his mouth. "Oh! I can move my arms again!"
Dimentio laughed, Em shooting him a dirty look. "That was the acidic poison I had infected you with! It came from my fangs. It is what was killing you. Cool, no?"
"No! That almost killed me! And why did you smack me so hard?" He rubbed his back. "That really hurt."
"I had to push you into coughing it out! Even with the antidote, you would have died if you didn't get rid of it! The antidote just makes it so it won't kill you or tear up your esophagus when you coughed it out? Wasn't it painful?"
"Yes! I just coughed up acid!"
Dimentio chuckled. "That's what it feels like to cough out your heart. Remember that next time before p^&*ing me off again, capeesh?"
"A-are you threatening me?"
"Maybe..." He giggled. "Nah, I'm just joshing with you. Why so serious? Lighten up, Zuzu! A jester's duty, after all, is to make people laugh!" He smiled, putting his fingers on the ends of his mouth.
Izuku never wanted to see Dimentio's gums ever again.
"Your smile is kind of creepy," Olivia said, receiving a nod from Izuku.
"Okay, wow. I haven't smiled in a while and you say it's creepy. Hurtful." He tucked his hands into his armpits and huffed. He flicked his tail.
Olivia walked over to Olive and kneeled next to him. "Olive? Are you okay?" She rolled him over so he was facing skyward. She flinched away. "I-is that blood?!" She wiped her hand on the ground. "Olly...!"
He came to her call. "Oh? Is Olive..." He slapped Olive in the face. "Hm...It seems like he's dead."
"Dead?! Are you serious this time?"
He nodded. "The life in his eyes is gone. Whatever he did, it killed him."
"No, that was me," Em said guiltily. "I feel bad. He protected Did-Dimentio twice."
Dimentio came over as well. "Heh...I guess I still have a heart in me somewhere. But he's obviously not dead, since I'm still alive." He scooped Olive into his arms. He opened Olive's control panel. "It looks like his power source is busted up, but I'm sure Tape could get us a new one in no time. Come on, let's go back home."
"But Dimentio, you are home."
"This isn't my home anymore. I got too comfy in the Mushroom Kingdom, I suppose. But this place feels foreign to me now. I knew I never belonged here. If you're willing to let me go, I can help the one who helped me."
Em sighed. "I understand. Just come back to visit sometime, please?"
He flicked Em's nose. "Of course, crybaby." He held out his hand and snapped.
The air distorted for a few seconds but quickly returned to normal. He snapped again and again, with no better luck. The last one didn't even do anything.
"M-my powers...Is this because my Dimensia hasn't been acting up lately? Oh Grambi, oh s^&%...We can't go back if I can't use my powers..." He began breathing heavily. "A-and if Olive dies, I die and then you will never be able to go home and you'll die prematurely because the time is so much faster here and-"
Olly placed a hand on his shoulder and showed him how to calm his breathing.
"H-how are we supposed to go back now, ribbit?" Tsu asked, worried.
"I think I have a way," Em said, "but it'll involve a Power Sprite."
Dimentio looked down at Olive. "Anything for a friend. Let's get you home, buddy."