Okay, sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. We've had a lot of work going on with our lives which results in not getting some work done. This chapter was finished and was under the editing process, which took a lot longer to do because of our busy schedule. So now here it is, a chapter of Hellluva Dad.

All characters from Disney, Vivziepop and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy the fic.


Chapter 12: The Spectral Menace

It was morning in Wrath, the sun rising over a farm field… full of rocks.

Inside the farmhouse, one of the bedrooms had pink walls that were covered with stickers, confetti, posters, and party decorations. A lava-lamp was up in display next to an Apple-like computer on a beige desk. And on the room's bed was the sleeping Kajedo, who opened her eyes as rays of sunshine hit her face, making her smile.

"Good morning!" she declared as she sat up in bed, only to look around and remember where she was. Still in Wrath. "Oh wait, bad morning…" she groaned, laying back down in her bed and using a pillow to bury her face. However, before she could go back to sleep, the door to her bedroom flew open.

"Hey, sis!" shouted a bluish gray furred Hellhound girl with white side-cut hair that covered her left eye and red sclera eyes with olive irises. She wore a grayish yellow strapless shirt with a black belt with white spikes, black bracelets and choker, a ripped jean skirt, and black heeled sandals. "Get up! Remember, as long as you're staying here, you have to work! And if you want to eat before we go to work, do it now!" she shouted before leaving her bedroom.

Kajedo groaned, but took the pillow off of her head and sat up again. She started to get out of bed, but then heard her phone buzz and she decided to check her notifications, her heart skipping a beat when she saw that she got a text from Tex.

Tex: Morning, Kaj. How are you doing?

Kajedo smiled and quickly texted him back.

Kaj: SUPER DUPER SPLENDID 3 XD

Tex: Glad to hear that. See you at the Harvest Festival. Have a good day.

Kaj: YOU TOO, TEXY-BEAR! 3 3 3

While sending more emojis, Kajedo heard her sister shouting. "KAJEDO!"

"Coming, Rocksie!" Kajedo shouted back. She looked at the text from Tex one last time, hugged her phone to her chest, and then continued getting out of bed.


After getting dressed up, Kajedo went downstairs to eat breakfast with her family, which consisted of her parents and her three sisters.

"Good morning, fam! How are you all doing? Got any plans for after work?" Kajedo asked.

"Kajedo, it's a bit too early for this," spoke her father, a moderate amber furred Hellhound with gray sideburns, a black hat, and a black suit and tie. "I haven't had my coffee yet. Marilyn, would you, dear?"

"Here you go, Elmo, dear," spoke Marilyn, a bluish-gray Hellhound with opal hair tied into a bun, glasses, and a blue dress with a white apron.

Kajedo sat in between two of her sisters, Rocksie and a turquoise gray furred Hellhound girl with dark cyanish gray-spring-greenish gray straight hair that dropped down to her back and covered the side of her right eye. Her eyes were red sclera with grayish violet iris. She wore an overly long-sleeve gray-green turtleneck with black leggings that only her toes poked out of. "Good morning Rockies, good morning Petra! And morning to you too, Opal!"

"Morning, Kajedo," said the monotone-sounding Opal, a Persian-bluish gray Hellhound with light turquoise eyes and grayish blue violet bobcut hair. She wore a simple blue frock dress with a black waist belt. She was seen reading a book about rocks while at the dinner table

"So what's on today's agenda?" Kajedo asked while eating her breakfast. "Anything interesting?"

"The only thing I'm interested in is getting the quarry done," Rocksie states while eating her breakfast. "So we gotta eat fast so we can get the morning shift done! Right Petra?"

"Mm-hmm," Petra said while eating quietly.

"Ugh, the quarry…" Kajedo groaned, causing her father to give her a look.

"You came back," Elmo pointed out in a stern tone. "You know that if you want to stay with us, you have to pull your weight at the quarry like everyone else. Now eat up so we can get to work."

"But it shouldn't take too long, right? And then I can go out with my friends?" Kajedo asked with a hopeful smile.

"As you wish," Elmo said in a deadpan tone. "And Opal, set your books down and eat."

"Yes, father," Opal said while setting her book down.

Kajedo focused on eating her breakfast, not liking the quiet that settled over the table. However, she tried not to dwell on that, thinking instead about what she was going to do once she was done helping her family.


In the quarry, the family got to work using their pickaxes. Rocksie slammed her pick-axe on one rock while Petra worked on another. Kajedo was with her sister Opal, helping her to pick out some rocks from the wall of the quarry.

"Kajedo, look at this rock," Opal said as she pointed at a rock while Kajedo turned to look at it with a completely disinterested expression.

"Yes, it is a rock," Kajedo said in an uncharacteristically deadpan tone as Opal used the pick-axe to crack open the rock.

"It's a geode," Opal revealed.

"Oh," Kajedo said, her face lighting up again. "Wow! That's great, Opal! That's the eleventh one you found this week!" Kajedo cheered.

"Thirteenth, actually," Opal said, her tone still monotone.

"Alright, get back to work!" Rocksie told them all. "Opal, check that boulder over there, will ya?"

Opal nodded and walked away from Kajedo, leaving her alone. The joy quickly left Kajedo's face and she resumed working with her pickaxe, all the while wishing that she was anywhere else than here…


Later, Kajedo was working with a jackhammer, using it on a large boulder.

"Come on, break…" Kajedo said while wearing a hard helmet and goggles as she tried to break down the boulder larger than her. Instead, she just ended up getting frustrated. "How do I break this thing?!"

Petra, who was nearby, was about to suggest something. But then Kajedo spoke up.

"Find a weak spot, of course!" Kajedo shouted. "Thank you, Petra."

Petra gave her a nod and walked away, leaving Kajedo alone. As Kajedo worked and sweated, there was one thought that was keeping her going. 'After the work is done here, I'm going to be hanging out with my gal pals!'

And right now, she needed that more than ever.


Meanwhile, at Striker's farmhouse, Moxxie and Wesley came downstairs to see that breakfast was ready and set up for them.

"Mornin', you two," Striker greeted them as she sat at the table with his son Douglas. "Glad you could join us. Hope you like flapjacks."

"Thanks, Striker," Moxxie replied as they sat down and started having breakfast together.

"Morning, Douglas, how did you rest up?" Wesley asked.

"Great," Douglas replied, now without his hood up. His white, short hair resembled a truffle of feathers with gray tips.

"Alright, we got orange juice, some grits and sausages also to go along with your flapjacks," Striker told them as he served some plates to Moxxie and Wesley.

"Thank you, Striker. You really didn't have to do this," Moxxie said as he took some bites of the food, causing his eyes to widen. "Mmm, this is good!"

"I know, right? You're a real good cook, Mr. Striker, sir!" Wesley shouted.

"Aw, thank you, I just want to be a good host to my guests," Striker said while sitting down, helping himself with breakfast.

As they ate, Moxxie decided it was time to bring something up. "So, Striker, have you thought about our conversation from last night?"

"Yes, I needed the night to think it over," Striker responded before turning to Wesley. "So how much would the pay be to defend your little town?"

"Oh, well…" Wesley said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, we don't have much. We can offer you a little, but nothing ludicrous. Business hasn't been swell, especially with our crops…"

"And did you find anyone else coming to help you guys?" Striker asked.

"I did contact my boss, Blitz, about the situation at Angerton, but he isn't coming," Moxxie answered. "But he might know someone who can come help."

Striker sighed at this. "So not only is the pay low, but so are the numbers? That is rather unfortunate, especially since I don't want to leave my son all alone or bring him along. What you guys are asking… I might have to decline."

"But it does sound pretty serious, daddy," Douglas pointed out.

"I know, but the odds aren't good and your daddy's not sure if the reward is worth the risk," Striker responded.

Moxxie looked disappointed by this, but then he remembered something. Something that Striker himself told him. "Striker, when we first met… you told me that you could not stand the wealthy elite of Hell. You told me you had bad experiences with royals and that you hated they exploited guys like you and men. Well, the same thing is happening to Wesley's village with those Demon Apes," he pointed out as he got Striker to look at him and listen. "Yeah, I wouldn't consider those apes the wealthy elite, but they do exploit those weaker than them. And just like the wealthy elite, they intend to crush anyone who steps out of line. I'm willing to help despite the low reward because I can't just turn a blind eye to this, especially since I saw what those apes will do if they aren't stopped… and I doubt you're also willing turn a blind eye over more powerful demons exploiting the little guy, whether be the royalty, or those devil apes. It isn't about the reward, Striker. It's about the principles. Because at least with these apes, we have a chance to do something about it."

Striker fell silent as he thought about this. Moxxie's words had struck something inside him, especially since the Demon Apes were really no different than the Goetians or any other upper class society in Hell.

"You've really twisted my arm on this one, Mox," Striker said with a sigh. "Alright, I'm in."

Moxxie and Wesley smiled when they heard they could count on him. "Thank you Striker," Moxxie said. He then had another idea. "And I don't think you actually have to worry about Douglas, we just have to place him somewhere safe where he can stay until this is all over. And I know a guy…"


In another part of Wrath, Blitz entered the Snakeskin Saloon. With him were Loona and Amaroq, both in disguise.

"Alright, he should still be here," Blitz said while sporting a large mustache and cowboy hat with his horns sticking out.

"Who are we meeting?" Loona asked while wearing a blonde wig and jean overalls with a black shirt underneath.

"Well, remember that big Hellhound we saw in here on our first full day?" Blitz asked, causing Loona to pale.

"Him?!" Loona asked.

"Yep," Blitz confirmed before he spotted something coming downstairs. "And there he is now."

Loona and Amaroq, the latter wearing a large afro and being dressed like a mini-nun, spotted Chase. With him was Penzi. "Oh my Satan…"

"Chase! Glad to see you and Penzi are still here," Blitz said before noticing something about Penzi ."And Penzi… I don't remember you wearing stockings."

"Oh these to… hide the marks," Penzi admitted before brushing her hair and turning to Loona and Amaroq. "Ah, these must be your daughters."

"Oh, um, well, Amaroq's a little, um, complicated," Blitz admitted. "Girls, this is Penzi, my co-worker who works with Khan. Penzi, this is Loona, my daughter, and the little one is Amaroq. We are watching over her."

"Nice to meet you," Loona replied while shaking Penzi's hand. "I remember seeing you at the resort during the stud auction. I work there."

"Nice to meet you, Loona," Penzi replied.

"Wow, are you a basketball player?" Amaroq asked her while looking up at Penzi in awe.

Penzi formed a smile. "I used to play back in high school. I still do on occasion, like during company picnics."

"So these are your kids, eh?" Chase asked while looking over Loona and Amaroq. He narrowed his eyes on the former. "Last I checked, you weren't a blonde."

"Um… it's a long story…" Loona admitted, looking down awkwardly. "Though, I wish dad picked better disguises…"

"Yeah, it's not like we asked to wear wigs," Amaroq complained while wiping off some sweat. "This afro is making me sweat outside my fur."

"Yes, I'm not good at picking out disguises, but after that Death Race stunt you were involved in, I can't risk having you recognized and I certainly could not leave you two alone at home. Not even with Carrie, even if she confessed the whole thing to me."

"Do the disguises really have to be the ones that make us hot in this heat?" Amaroq asked.

"I know they're not favorable, but I don't want anyone to recognize you girls from the Death Race," Blitz pointed out. "Last thing we need is more unwanted attention, especially with social media now-a-days."

"Yes, dad/okay Mr. Blitz…" Loona and Amaroq said.

"Um, what is this about?" Penzi asked.

"Nothing that you or Shere Khan have to worry about," Blitz reassured her. "I'm not here for you, anyway. I'm here for the big guy." He turned to Chase. "I'm gonna need to ask you a favor."

"Another one? Shoot," Chase said as he walked up to the bar to order a drink, Blitz following him.

"Okay, so before you go up to Pride to talk to Mr. Khan, I want to ask you to help out a friend of mine," Blitz said while pulling out a picture of Moxxie he took while he was sleeping. "His name is Moxxie and he needs some strong guys to help defend this village from Demon Apes."

"Demon Apes? I have heard rumors that they've been uppity on this side of Wrath lately…" Chase admitted.

"Yeah, and I would help Mox, but I really need to keep an eye on these two," Blitz said, gesturing to Loona and Amaroq. "And I don't want to risk them getting caught in the crossfire either. Mox is pretty adamant about seeing this through, so do you think you can help him?"

"A chance to fight Demon Apes?" Chase grinned. "Of course!" He turned to Penzi. "Penzi, you can tell Shere Khan I still have some business here, but I do promise after that, we'll talk."

"I'll be sure to let him know," Penzi said, giving him a nod.

"Great! I can take you to meet Mox!" Blitz declared, looking relieved to hear that Chase was on board.

Amaroq turned to Loona and whispered to her. "Is nobody going to ask why he has a picture of Mr. Moxxie while he's sleeping?"

"Best not to ask why…" Loona whispered back.


Later, at Carrie's farm, she heard knocking on the door. She went to open the door and saw Moxxie, Striker, Wesley, and Douglas standing outside.

"Moxxie, hey, we were expecting y'all," Carrie told them as she let them in.

"Thank you for inviting us in, miss," Striker said in a polite tone, nodding to Carrie.

"Oh, uh, you're welcome," Carrie said before noticing Douglas. "And this is your son?"

"Yes, this is Douglas," Striker said as he patted his son's head. "Douglas, this is where you'll be staying over while your old man settles some business."

"Okay, dad," Douglas replied while having his hood up.

They went to the living room, where they saw Blitz with Loona, Amaroq, and Chase. Blitz lit up when he saw Moxxie. "Mox! Long time, no see. I hope it went alright with the family. This is Chase. Chase, this is Moxxie, my employee."

"Oh, um…" Moxxie said as he looked up at Chase. He was surprised by just how big the Hellhound was, he was practically as big as Shere Khan. "Nice to meet you, Chase," he said, extending his hand.

"Sure do, little guy," Chase responded while shaking his hand, causing Moxxie to flinch. "I've heard you can shoot good."

"I can when my hand isn't being crushed," Moxxie winced as Chase let go of his hand and turned to Striker.

"And who are you?" Chase asked.

"Striker's my name," the hybrid greeted while shaking Chase's hand. "I've heard about you, Mr. Chase."

"Yeah, I imagine you have," Chase responded with a grin.

"Whoa, you're the Chase?" Wesley asked in surprise and excitement. "Oh man, he'd be perfect!"

While Wesley was gushing over Chase, Loona walked over to Moxxie "Hey, so how did things with your family go?" she asked him.

"Well, it went better than I expected," Moxxie replied. "It was great to spend time with them, even if it was just for a few days. How have you and Amaroq been doing?"

"Well, we're sort of grounded…" Loona admitted before seeing Douglas. "Hey, is that…?"

Douglas noticed Loona looking over at him and when he got a good look at her, he recognized her and came over. "Loona?" Douglas asked. "I didn't know you were here at Wrath."

"Hi, Douglas," Loona said, smiling at him. "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too," Douglas nodded.

"Hey, who's he, Loona?" Amaroq asked as she butted into the conversation.

"Oh, this is Douglas, he and his dad were guests at the resort I work at," Loona replied.

"Ah, well it's nice to meet you, Douglas, I'm Amaroq," Amaroq said before she noticed some of his hair sticking out of his hoodie. "Woah, I've never met someone with hair like yours…"

"Oh, um…" Douglas said as he quickly hid his hair under his hoodie. "It's um, just hair. Nothing big about it. Nothing at all."

"Oh, okay…" Amaroq said, a bit confused by this reaction. This reaction was also noticed by Striker, who quickly came over.

"Don't mind my son, he's a bit… self-conscious about his hair," Striker told them while patting his son's head.

"Well, your son will be in good hands while you, Moxxie, and Chase take care of those apes," Blitz said as he walked up to Striker and held his hand up. "Name's Blitzø, the 'o' is silent."

"Nice to meet you, Blitz. Moxxie has told me all about you," Striker replied while shaking Blitz's hand. "He mentioned that you're good with kids…"

"Well, I do have experience from raising Loona and watching over Amaroq," Blitz said proudly. "So I can assure you, your son's in safe hands."

"Oh, that is good to hear, Mr. Blitz. Cause if something happened to my boy," Striker said with a subtly threatening tone and a cold look in his eyes. "I expect you to be held accountable…"

"Um… don't worry, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to him," Blitz reassured Striker with some nervousness in his tone.

"I believe you," Striker said, his tone becoming friendly again as he turned to the girls and nodded politely to them. "Nice to meet you girls."

"You too, sir," Loona replied. "And don't worry, we'll help watch over your son."

Soon everyone was listening to Blitz and Moxxie go over the plan.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, we can go over the plan, just to make sure everyone is on the same page about what is going down," Blitz said.

"Me, Striker, and Chase are probably going to be gone for a few days to help Wesley's village out against these Demon Apes," Moxxie revealed, much to the shock of Carrie.

"Wait, Demon Apes?!" Carrie exclaimed, confusing Amaroq. "You didn't tell me Demon Apes were involved!"

"Um… explain?" Amaroq asked.

"They are a species of Hellborn notorious in Wrath," Douglas explained. "Not all of them are violent, but those of them that are aren't just violent, they're nasty. They don't usually come to this part of Wrath…"

"But lately a gang of them led by an ape named Murdock has been making moves," Wesley explained. "Although gang is an understatement. It's more like an army. With those numbers, he has been extorting villages like mine, sometimes slaughtering everyone in them. And now my village is going to be the target of retribution."

"That's right," Moxxie said. "So me along with Wesley, Striker, and Chase are going back to help prepare for the fight. And Striker's son will be staying here for the time being."

"Who I promise to watch over," Blitz declared while nervously looking over at Striker, who gave him a look.

"And I promise to watch over him too," Carrie added. "This is my place, after all."

"Thank you, miss," Striker said, nodding politely to Carrie.

"Alright, so we're all on the same page." Moxxie said before turning to Blitz. "Sorry that I can't be of any help around here, sir."

"Hey, don't apologize, Mox," Blitz reassured him. "I understand your reasons, cause this is something you can't ignore. Honestly, I think a lot of people down here would choose not to get involved. But you're better than most people, Mox."

Moxxie smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, sir."

And so, with everyone on the same page, Moxxie, Wesley, Striker, and Chase started to get ready to leave. Striker knelt down to hug his son.

"Be good while I'm gone, Douglas," Striker told him. "Listen to the adults."

"Got it, daddy," Douglas replied as the two hugged.

"Be careful out there," Carrie told them.

"Yeah, good luck out there, Mox," Loona told him.

"Thank you, Loona," Moxxie replied as the two fist bumped.

"Oh, me too!" Amaroq shouted as she raised her fist up as well, the imp smiling as he gave her a fist bump as well.

"I promise to see you guys when this is all over," Moxxie said before he left the house.

The four walked over to Moxxie's rental car, where Chase got up on the roof.

"You're not getting in?" Striker asked him.

"I prefer having the wind in my face. Don't worry, I'll hang on," Chase replied as they got in the car and Moxxie started the engine, the others watching as Moxxie drove off.

"You think they'll be alright?" Carrie asked them.

"I hope so," Blitz said, his tone uncertain.


Sometime after Moxxie and his team left…

"Is this really necessary?" Carrie asked while watching Blitz have the whole house barricaded and boarded up.

"Very necessary, Care-Bear," Blitz told her while hammering a wooden plank over a window. The other windows were already boarded up, while the entrances to the house were all barricaded. "I can't take any chances in case our enemies track us down. We need to be ready."

"Isn't this a little much?" Douglas asked.

"He took my cell phone charger so that nobody could use it to track us," Loona said with a sigh, unfortunately all too familiar with her dad's paranoia.

"Not to mention take out the cords of my landline phones," Carrie grumbled. "You know this is still my house, right?"

"Hey, I'm doing this to protect you too," Blitz replied. "Because someone might have seen your faces at the race, we're going full lockdown until Stolas gets here. Nobody's coming in."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of wood loudly breaking, which caused the ears of Loona and Amaroq to fly up in alarm.

"Um… what was that?" Amaroq asked nervously.

"I think… someone broke in," Loona said, causing everyone to look at each other in silent panic.

"Shh, everyone be quiet," Blitz told them while pulling up his gun. He turned to Loona. "Protect the kids," he told her while turning to Carrie, who held up her own guns.

Loona brought Amaroq and Douglas close to her while Blitz and Carrie went to look around the house, investigating the noise. They walked slowly and carefully, searching the hallway for the source of the noise. Sure enough, they found several broken boards on the ground in front of one of the windows. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Blitz noticed a shadow upstairs. The shadow quickly moved away and Blitz silently got Carrie's attention before pointing upstairs. She nodded and the two started to go up.

Loona poked her head into the hallway while holding the kids. Blitz saw them and waved them away, gesturing for them to hide as he and Carrie continued to go upstairs. Once they were on the second floor, they saw that all the doors were closed. The two began to carefully check each door, Carrie checking her room and the bathroom while Blitz checked the guest rooms. So far, they hadn't found their house invader, but there was one more door left…

Blitz and Carrie carefully approached the door. The two looked at each other and shared a nod before Carrie slowly reached out to the door. She grabbed the knob, slowly turned it, and opened it up for the two to see… nothing but a closet.

"Huh, guess nobody is up here," Carrie whispered.

"Could be one of those Hell Sprites again…" Blitz mumbled.

"HI, CARRIE!" someone shouted behind them.

"WAAAH!" Blitz and Carrie cried out as they spun around and aimed their guns at… Kajedo.

"What the fuck?!" Blitz swore.

"Kajedo?!" Carrie shouted. "You scared the dickens out of us!"

"Hehe, dickens," Kajedo giggled.

"Wait, Kajedo?" Loona spoke up from downstairs. She quickly came up and saw the cotton candy Hellhound. "What are you doing here?! Did you break in?!"

"Oh, I wanted to come over and see how you and Carrie were doing, but then I noticed that Carrie's door was locked and barricaded for some reason. I tried to call but your phone lines were down, so I just let myself in."

Carrie sighed. "Kajedo, we've talked about this. That's called breaking and entering."

"Oh yeah…" Kajedo said before she saw Amaroq and Douglas come upstairs as well. She waved at them. "Hi, Amaroq!"

"Uh, hi, Kajedo," Amaroq said, waving back.

Blitz, however, was still shaken up. "Christ on a stick, kid, I could've shot you dead for just startling me!" Blitz scolded.

"Heh, yeah, that would've been a way to go," Kajedo said before she paused. "Huh… that would have been my end…" she said in realization before she just shrugged it off. "Anyway, I just came in to see if you two are up for a hang out!" she shouted while pointing to Loona and Carrie.

"Hang out?" Loona asked her.

"Yeah! I'm thinking if we could hang out with some of the other teens of Wrath," Kajedo mentioned. "You know, as a way to make up for not really getting to hang out with us yesterday, Loony!"

"When you say other teens, who are you referring to?" Carrie asked.

"Oh, you know, Ember and the other local teens she hangs out with," Kajedo explained. "And Max will also be there." She started to bounce excitedly. "So are you in."

Loona started to answer. "Well, I-"

"Hold up, hold up," Blitz quickly interrupted as he walked up to Kajedo. "Don't even think about leaving here with my Loona. I am not letting her out of my sight."

"Aw, why?" Kajedo asked him.

"Because of that stunt at the Death Race she and Amaroq were involved in," Blitz explained. "And by extension, you and Carrie. Now her and Amaroq's faces are potentially all over social media while we're trying to keep a low profile."

"Oh come on, dad, don't blame them for what happened," Loona told him.

"Yeah, and this won't be anything like the Death Race!" Kajedo promised. "She wouldn't be going to a public event. She's not even going to a party." She did look slightly disappointed by the latter. "Just some local Wrath teens hanging out."

Loona did look intrigued. "That doesn't sound too bad, does it, dad?" Loona asked her father. "And besides, maybe I can still be in my disguise while hanging out with them."

Blitz shook her head. "No, Loona, you can't," he told her firmly.

Loona sighed. "Dad, please. Look, I didn't want to go to the Death Race in the first place. I was only involved because Amaroq begged me to take her and she was the one who got in trouble in the first place, forcing me to save her" she said as she pointed to the Hellpup.

"Wait, what?!" Amaroq complained. "Are you throwing me under the bus?!"

"To be honest, kid, we wouldn't be grounded if we just stayed home and watched the race," Loona told her, causing the Hellpup to pout. She turned back to her dad. "As long as I'm with Kajey and Carrie while Amaroq stays here, I'll be safe and Amaroq won't be getting into any more trouble."

"...Wow, throwing Amaroq under the bus like that, now that is cold, Loona," Blitz pointed out before smiling. "I'm so proud of you." He then considered what she was saying. He looked conflicted, but it was difficult for him to say no to his daughter. "And… I guess I could trust you to go out with Carrie and Kajedo, as long as you stay away from public events and large crowds." He turned to Amaroq. "And Amaroq, you're staying here."

"Aw man, that's not fair!" Amaroq complained again, crossing her arms.

Soon, the trio of Loona, Carrie and Kajedo were leaving the house while Blitz, Amaroq, and Douglas saw them off.

"See ya later, Loony, you and the girls be careful and make sure to not draw attention to yourselves!" Blitz told them.

"We'll be careful!" Loona replied back.

"Just watch the house fer us!" Carrie told him while the girls set off.

After they left, Blitz turned to the kids. "Alright, guess it's just us now," he told them. "So… who's up for board games?"


Back in the village of Angerton, Moxxie and Wesley had returned, bringing Striker and Chase with them. Many of the townsfolk came out to meet Moxxie and Wesley and they were shocked to see the large Hellhound, especially those who recognized him.

"Hey guys, guess who we brought!" Wesley declared excitedly while pointing to Chase.

"Moxxie, Wesley, welcome back," Mayor Dirk said as he came over. He nodded to Striker. "And who might you gentleman be?"

"My name is Striker, sir," Striker greeted him.

"And I'm Chase," Chase introduced himself.

"Yeah, most of the town is aware of your reputation," Momo said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. She turned to Moxxie. "I'm surprised you were able to get him."

"My boss was already in touch with him," Moxxie explained. "As for Striker, I had already met him previously while he was up in Pride doing another job between taking bounties."

"So he's a bounty hunter then?" Momo asked.

"A bounty hunter? Oh dear," Dirk said with a concerned look as he gazed up at Striker. "You're probably interested in the payment then…"

"Oh, that won't be necessary, sir," Striker told him. "The only reason I'm here is because Moxxie appealed to my principles. So consider this my act of charity."

"Really?" Dirk asked in surprise and relief. "Well, thank goodness." He turned to look up at Chase, becoming briefly flustered. "And, um, why are you here?"

"For the fight," Chase said with a grin. "I heard about the reputation of the Demon Apes and I'd like to tussle with these apes. Not just for my own benefit, but to do Hell a favor as well."

"So you were only able to bring back two others?" Momo asked with a frown.

"I didn't want to stay out too long, since I wanted to be back in time to help defend the village," Moxxie pointed out. "But this was the best that I could do in short notice."

"Will they be enough?" Momo asked.

Moxxie sighed. "I hope so," he said. "So how have the townsfolk been doing with preparations?"

"Well, so far we've been deciding on who's going to fight and we've been gathering weapons," Momo explained. "We have to make do with what we have, but our barber, Fred, and his brother, Jed, have been showing us how we can improvise."

"With this shaver, you can cut the throats of those apes clean and easily," Fred the imp barber told a group of townspeople while holding the shaver blade.

"Yeah, and saws and sickles are for more than just building and farming," Jed the imp doctor said while showing off various sharp objects.

"Besides that, we've been figuring out escape routes, fallback locations, and places where we can set traps. We also set up some temporary training grounds where we can practice defending ourselves against the Demon Apes. Even if, like I said, we have to be creative," Momo said.

"All that's great… but I am concerned about the lack of weaponry," Moxxie said. "Do you guys really not have any guns?"

"The apes took them in previous raids, unfortunately," Momo said with a sigh. "They said they needed the guns to help their efforts of 'protecting' us from other gangs, but then they started cracking down on anyone they found with 'illegal' firearms. We have a few old guns, but not enough for everyone."

"So we'll have to make due with that," Wesley replied.

"Crumbs," Moxxie said while rustling his hair. "We still need better artillery to go against those apes. What we have now isn't enough."

"We could buy them?" Wesley suggested.

"Yeah, but I don't know if we have the funds to buy all the guns we need," Moxxie pointed out. "And we still need to figure out where we get them…"


In another part of Wrath, an imp walked into a bar. That imp was the short imp biker that rode with the Knights of Hell. A few of the bar patrons recognized who she rode with and immediately cleared out of her way, not wanting to risk her wrath.

The short imp biker, still wearing her face-obscuring helmet, went up to the bar to order a drink, but she stopped when she saw three Demon Apes currently taking up the bar.

"Boy, that village is gonna pay for what they did!" shouted one ape.

"Yeah, thinking they can just take out some of our boys? That town, Angerton's, gonna pay dearly for trying to stand up to us!" another replied while gulping down his drink.

"Yeah! Murdock wasn't too pleased when he heard about it!" another replied as he giggled. "I can't wait to raze that town to the ground…"

"Excuse me, boys," said the imp biker, causing the Demon Apes to turn to her. "Can y'all move over so I can get to the bar?"

The Demon Apes looked at her and then looked at each other… before they broke into laughter.

"BAHAHAHAHA! Look at this shortie trying to order us around!" one ape mocked.

"Yeah! She's trying to look all tough, but she's as short as a widdle baby!" one of the other apes responded.

"Beat it, shortie! This bar ain't for kids!" the third ape mocked which the imp biker just sighed.

"You three really shouldn't have done that," she told them.

"Oh yeah? And what are you-"

The ape didn't finish as the imp biker jumped onto him, grabbed his glass, smashed it against the bar, and then slashed him across the chest with the broken glass, making him spill out black blood all over the floor.

"Holy shit!" one of the two apes shouted as they saw their friend go down, dropping dead to the floor. This also got the attention of the other apes that were in the bar. The imp biker glanced at the bloody glass in her hands, then looked up at all the apes now staring at her.

"Bring it," she said.

The Demon Apes stared at her in shocked silence… before they all roared in anger and charged at her, the other patrons ducking for cover as an all-out brawl broke out.

The sounds of crashing and clashing filled the saloon, the bartender peeking out from above his bar as he saw the biker imp fighting off the apes. They tried to grab her, but she was too small and too quick. She used the broken glass to slash at anyone close to her, resulting in a lot of injuries and a lot of black blood on the floor. One short ape managed to grab onto her helmet, but the imp biker hit him with the back of her helmet, then smashed a chair against him before picking up the broken chair leg and shoving it down his throat so it came out the back, causing the ape to choke on his own blood.

The imp biker noticed two gorillas coming toward her and she jumped onto the bar, grabbing two bottles of whiskey and throwing it at them, hitting them in the face. That wasn't enough to take the apes down, but when one lunged at her, he jumped over his head and onto his back, pulling out a knife from her leg and using it to stab the gorilla ape and hold herself in place. The gorilla screeched while the other tried to grab her, but the imp biker jumped over and stabbed that gorilla in the scalp before taking the pieces of broken glass that were on his face and pushing them into his eyes. The gorilla roared in pain and the imp biker shoved some of the broken glass down his throat before punching him in the throat, slicing the inside of the throat and making the gorilla collapse while holding his bleeding throat. The gorilla demon she had stabbed in the back tried to grab her, but a few stabs from her knife quickly changed his mind… and his living status.

Another Demon Ape roared as he tried to get to the biker imp, who climbed on a table to avoid him. When the Demon Ape hit the end of the table, it shot the other end of the table up in the air and it sent the biker imp flying toward the ceiling, where she managed to grab onto one of the rafters. The demon ape tried to follow her, but she jumped onto him, stabbing him in the gut and then the crotch, making him scream.

"RAAAH!" the ape cried in pain as he fell back toward the ground, the imp using his body to cushion the fall as she kept stabbing him in the face over and over. One ape tried to grab her from behind, making her drop the knife, but her tail caught it and she used it to slash at the ape's hands, making him let her go. Her tail then tossed the knife in the air and she neatly caught it with her hands before throwing it at the ape, getting him between the eyes. When she saw two more apes coming at her, rather than retrieve the knife she smashed two bottles and then jumped over to slash at both of the apes with them.

A few more apes tried killing her, but the short imp biker was too much for even them to handle. She stabbed one with a broken pool stick, used one's intestines to strangle two other apes, and pinned a few to the floor by stabbing them through the faces.

Once she finished them up, she turned to the bartender, who had a look of pure horror as he saw all of the Demon Apes now decorating the bar. He then turned to look at the imp biker, who casually walked up to the bar while completely covered in the blood of her enemies.

"Sorry for the mess," she said as she slapped some souls onto the bar. "I need a drink." The bartender quickly complied. "Thank you, sug," she said as she started to take off her helmet…


A few minutes later, the imp biker walked out of the bar and saw another biker waiting for her with their bikes. It was the shark biker.

"Hey, heard the fight going on in there," the shark said. "Had any fun?"

"Best stress relief I've ever had in a while," she replied. "You could've joined me, you know."

"A bar fight with you? That's like signing a waiver. I ain't getting involved in that," he told her as he saw her getting on her bike.

"We should head back to Cain," she told him while starting up her bike. "Cause I just learned something I think he might want to hear…"


Meanwhile, in another part of Wrath, Kajedo had brought Loona and Carrie into a town that looked completely different from anything that Loona had seen previously. The buildings were run down and in various states of disrepair, the windows either broken or covered in so much dust that they were impossible to see through. Most of the signs were impossible to read because of how faded the paint was. This place had clearly been abandoned for some time.

"What is this place?" Loona asked while looking around. "It doesn't look like anyone would live here… or has lived here for some time."

"First time in a ghost town?" Carrie asked.

"Ghost town?" Loona asked, looking both confused and intrigued.

"Oh yeah, the Wrath Ring is full of places like this," Carrie explained. "Abandoned farms, abandoned mines, abandoned towns, abandoned everything. Most of them aren't actually haunted, but each one tells a story of failure. This place used to be a thriving mining town, but then the town died when the mining operation did and now nobody lives here."

"Which makes it the perfect hangout location for Wrath teens!" Kajedo declared as she led them over to some teens who were parked outside of a decaying general store. "Hey Max! Guess who's here!"

"Hey, guys," Max waved as she walked up to them. "Loona, glad to see you joining us. How's the Roq-Star doing?"

"Oh she's doing fine, of course my dad won't allow her out of his sight now," Loona replied.

"Ooh, because of the race?" she asked her. "How bad?"

"He wasn't happy about it," Loona said. "I had to convince him to let me hang out with Carrie and Kajedo."

"Just as long as we don't get into any trouble or anything," Carrie added.

"Hey, Kajedo! Max! Carrie!" someone shouted that Loona was surprised to recognize from her first full day in Wrath.

"Hey, Ember! How is your Granny Magma?" Kajedo waved to the imp singer as she came over them.

"You know her, Kajey," Ember replied before fist-bumping her. "She's getting ready for the Harvest Moon Festival. She's going to be putting a lot of imps in the hospital this year. Glad to see you girls here, though who's your cute new friend?"

"Oh, um… I've seen you before…" Loona admitted, blushing a little at the comment. "Name's Loona, I saw you singing at the Snakeskin Saloon."

"Oh, then I hoped you liked what you saw, Loona," Ember replied, smiling.

"Uh, yeah, you have a great voice," Loona commented.

"I wasn't just referring to my voice," Ember teased, making Loona blush a bit more.

"Uh… who else is here?" Loona asked awkwardly.

"Sure, let me introduce you to the guys," Ember said as she started walking toward the other teens. "We're just killing time here waiting for you." As she led them over to her friends, she called out to them. "Yo, guys! Guess who made it?"

"Alright!/Kajedo's here!/The fun's just begun!" Ember's friends shouted.

"Hi, guys!" Kajedo waved to them. "I know I haven't hung out with you guys for a while, but I hope to make up for lost time and I'd like for you all to meet my new friend, Loona!" she exclaimed as she pulled Loona close to her while Loona just waved.

"Sup…" Loona nervously waved to them. She couldn't help but feel like they were already judging her…

"This is Hurston," Ember said as she pointed to a tall imp boy with black hair combed down over his right eye, with white dots around his red skin, and his horns pointed up. He wore a dark-purple hoodie with a white skull with horns, black jeans, and his hooves out. His tail was shaped like a hook.

"Sup." Hurston simply said.

"The one with the cellphone is Zumi," Ember said as she pointed to a rouge pink-skinned succubus with purple short hair, amber pupils over her yellow sclera eyes, a purple jacket under her pink top with black hearts, a green skirt, and fishnet leggings with black boots. Her horns are pointed up.

"Hi or whatever," Zumi said in a disinterested tone, not even looking up from her phone.

"The two besties over there are Chat and Pax."

"The best besties in all of Wrath!" shouted an orange furred Hellcat wearing a black tank top, baggy gray pants, and a trucker hat.

"The best!" cheered a yellow and brown furred beagle Hellhound in a yellow crop top and jean shorts.

"And our designated driver is Shawn."

"Um, how's it going?" asked the white-furred Baphemot known as Shawn, who wore a pop-collar orange shirt and black pants. On his head was a yellow candle with a yellow-light flame.

"Uh, doing good, thank you," Loona responded.

"So like, where are you from? We have never seen you around here before," Hurston pointed out. "Which backwater town did Kajedo pull you out of?"

"Oh, well… I'm actually from up… in Pride," Loona admitted honestly, surprising the other teens. Though their surprise didn't last long.

"Pride? Oh, so you're one of those city folks," Hurston said with a hint of disdain in his voice.

"Well, that figures," Zumi said, rolling her eyes while still looking at her phone. "Of course Kajedo would bring another city girl."

"Oh come on, I'm not that much of a city girl," Loona said.

"Really? So you don't have some kind of fancy job or something?" Hurston asked her.

"Uh…" Loona hesitated, not sure if she should tell them that she worked at the Triton Resort or not. However, her silence was all the answer Hurston and Zumi needed.

"Of course she does," Zumi said with a shrug while Hurston smirked.

"Ooh, have you seen any Exorcists in action?" Pax asked.

"Yeah! And have you seen or met any famous people up there?" Chat asked.

"She knows the famous Jesse Baskerville," Max mentioned.

"And Verosika Mayday!" Kajedo added, surprising everyone.

"Wait, seriously?" Hurston asked in shock, that revelation wiping his smirk right off his face. Even Zumi looked up from her phone in response to this.

"You know Verosika? I'm like her biggest fan!" Shawn declared.

Loona felt a bit uncomfortable being put on the spot like that. "Uh…well…"

"She is the one that recommended Tex to her!" Kajedo told them. "He works for her as a bodyguard now thanks to Loona!"

"No way, that's sweet," Ember replied. "Isn't that right, guys?"

"Yeah/Sure/What do you know about Verosika?" they all replied.

"So you do know some people," Hurston said, his smug attitude quickly returning. "But what brings a city girl down here? Don't you know it's dangerous? I imagine you wouldn't last long out in the wastelands."

This irked Loona, but she decided to get over it and ignore what Hurston said. "So… what do you Wrath kids do for fun around here?"

"You mean when we're not working?" Ember asked. "Drinking and partying."

"Playing music and spray-painting stuff," Hurston listed off.

"Taking selfies in the most dangerous areas and trying not to get yourself killed in the process," Zumi mentioned.

"I prefer not getting into trouble," Shawn said with a nervous look.

"Ooh, and we sometimes sneak into abandoned places," Pax said.

"Yeah! The perfect place to party or just hang out!" Chat added.

"So you come to this place often?" Loona asked them.

"Well, places like this, yeah," Carrie replied. "These ghost towns are the perfect spots to avoid the adults and the authorities."

"But… what do we do here, exactly?" Loona asked.

Max came over to Loona, pushing Carrie out of the way. "Whatever we want," she said with a smile. "Whatever we want…"


Back at Carrie's home, Blitz and kids spent their time playing a board game while watching a musical movie.

"So… what is this movie again?" Douglas asked, only half-watching the movie while they played their board game.

"Bugsy Malone, it's something an old friend gave me when they put together some movies for me and Loona," Blitz said. "At first, I thought it was just some gangster movie, which it is. Didn't realize it'd star kids throwing pies at each other while being sung over by grown ups… which is pretty jarring for a kid's film from the seventies."

"Ha! I take two hundred souls from you from your loan," Amaroq said after holding up the card.

"What?! How did you do that?!" Blitz asked while Amaroq took his fake souls. "I thought for sure you didn't have enough spaces for that?!"

"Well, blame the dice," Amaroq told him with a sneaky smirk, making his eyes narrow.

"Oh really? Well, let me have a turn," Blitz replied as he rolled the dice and moved his figure to the spot. He picked up a card and read it. "Ooh, looks like I take four hundred souls from you, Amaroq, since you missed your mortgage."

"What? But I have enough!" Amaroq protested as Blitz took her fake souls.

"Well, that's what dealing with landlords is like," Blitz replied with his own sneaky smirk. "They aren't that far off from loan sharks."

Amaroq narrowed her eyes at Blitz, who narrowed his eyes right back at her, both of them suspecting the other of trying to fudge the rules to their own benefit… mainly because that was totally what they would do in their position. Douglas, meanwhile, just tried to play the game as it was meant to be played, rolling the dice and picking up his card.

"Huh, says here I earned a two thousand souls loan for my car payment," Douglas said.

After the board game, they moved onto card games. They held up their cards while Blitz and Amaroq glared at each other, which was completely unnoticed by the oblivious Douglas, who was paying attention to his own deck before he picked out a card.

"So um… anyone got any threes?" Douglas asked.

"Goldfish," Amaroq and Blitz declared, still glaring at each other as they thought of ways they could screw over or cheat out their opponent…


Meanwhile, the imp and shark bikers revved over to the old hang out… of the Knights of Hell.

The rest of the Knights of Hell were currently crashing in a large cave that had once been a mineshaft, one of many now abandoned mine crafts that could be found all over Wrath. While many of these shafts saw use by cults and squatters, this one was now in use by the Knights of Hell, who had even set up lights. Once the imp and shark biker parked their bikes with the rest, they entered inside the cave.

There, they saw the other members of the Knights of Hell laughing and drinking as they enjoyed themselves. Many of them were cheering and hollering at the dancing girl who was in the center of the room. It was a familiar dancing girl…

"You boys like what y'all see?" Carla Camero nervously asked. She was wearing a chainmail bikini top and loincloth which showed off her hourglass figure, bare legs, and golden rings around her wrists and ankles. Poor Carla had gotten herself caught by the Knights of Hell during the Death Race after they took her car apart. She was lucky one of them had managed to snatch her out of her car before she crashed… or perhaps she wasn't so lucky.

"Shake those hips, Carly!" they hollered as Carla did just that, nervously sweating while she shook and swayed her hips like a dancing cobra, causing them to howl in amusement.

"Yeah! You shake that ass!" Cain hollered along with the rest before he heard someone clear her throat.

"Ahem," said the imp biker, who Cain turned to notice.

"Oh, hey! What's up?" Cain asked. "Looks like you had fun."

"Yeah, got into a bar fight," the short imp biker told him. "But besides that, I learned something that I think you'll want to hear…"

"Go on," Cain said, sounding interested.

The imp biker leaned closer so he could whisper to him. One of the other bikers tried to listen in on the conversation, but the imp kicked him away from her so she could continue her conversation with Cain, who listened to her closely.

"I see… did you happen to hear the name of the town that has Murdock and his apes worked up so much?" he asked her as the imp girl grinned behind her biker helmet.


Meanwhile, in Angerton, Chase has finished placing one of the heads of the apes Moxxie killed onto a pike, which did not go unnoticed by Moxxie.

"What the fuck, Chase?!" Moxxie exclaimed as he came over. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh, do you like it?" Chase asked with a proud grin. "Though I could do some redecorating around here."

"Why would you put those up there?!" Moxxie exclaimed in shock.

"Well, how else are we supposed to strike fear in our enemies?" Chase asked him. "Like think about it, when Murdock and his goons show up, they're going to see the heads of his apes on these pikes we set up and he goes all 'Oh no! They… they mean business! Oh Derek, why?! He was my cousin, who I may not get along with due to him being responsible for our uncle's overdose, but he was still family!' All that despair would make Murdock and his marauders easier to take down."

"Wait… why Derek?" Moxxie asked him.

"It's always a Derek," Chase responded with a shrug.

Moxxie just sighed. "Look, just take them down cause this is a pretty morbid image that I don't think the villagers need to see," Moxxie told him. "Like, even by Wrath's standards, this is a bit crazy, and what's with the weird complicated backstory you gave Derek and Murdock (Satan, now you got me to call him Derek…)?"

"It's just me second-hand guessing what they're like," Chase replied.

Moxxie just shook his head. "Just take these down, I'm going to check around and see how everyone else is doing," he said as he left Chase and started to walk through the town. He saw some of the townsfolk laying out traps. "How are the traps going, Mardy?"

"Doing great, Mox!" shouted a civilian imp who was digging some pits. "We'll install the spikes later!"

Moxxie gave him a nod and continued his walk, noticing Wesley having set up some rotating targets on a small spinning wheel. The young imp was practicing his shooting using an old gun, but he kept missing those targets.

"Dang it," Wesley said while looking at his pistol.

"Are you having trouble shooting?" Moxxie asked him while walking over to him.

"I just want to make sure that my aim is sharp when we take on those apes," Wesley said. "But I guess I need more practice…"

"Here, let me help you," Moxxie replied as Wesley handed him his gun and Moxxie aimed for the targets. "See, you have to keep your hand steady. When you're aiming, you're moving your arm all over the place and that throws off your aim. And you're focusing on where your targets were rather than where they will be- "

"Hey," Striker commented as he walked up. "I see that you're teaching the boy how to shoot."

"I know how to shoot," Wesley pouted.

"I'm just trying to help him with his aim," Moxxie responded. "I was about to give him a demonstration about how to shoot a moving target."

"Hmm, mind if I try?" Striker asked while pulling out his own two guns.

"Oh, sure. Go for it," Moxxie replied.

Striker looked at the rotating targets, eyeing them. After a moment, he lifted his guns up and fired several rapid shots, managing to hit all of the targets. He even pulled off some trick shots without even trying, getting bullseyes every time.

Moxxie's eyes widened at Striker's good aim, while Wesley looked impressed ."Holy Mammon, sir! That's some good aim you got there!" Wesley shouted while staring at Striker in awe.

"How's that for a demonstration, kiddo?" Striker asked.

"Terrific! You have to show me more of your tricks!" Wesley shouted in a giddy tone.

"Well if you insist, I can show you some of my moves, partner," Striker said with a smile while unknowingly leaving Moxxie with a confused feeling as he watched Wesley gravitate towards Striker. Really, he wasn't sure how to feel…


Meanwhile, in the ghost town, Loona was currently with the Wrath teens inside a neglected saloon.

"Yep, this place has certainly seen better days," Ember said while looking around. A few tables and chairs were broken, the rest were empty. Everything was covered in fine layers of dust and cobwebs, even the glasses. She tried to sit at the bar, but the stool broke underneath her, causing her to jump up in shock.

"I'm pretty sure the only drinks they have now is dirt and dust," Loona said while going behind the bar and taking down one of the bottles. She shook it and looked shocked when tiny bones came out of there.

"Hey Zumi, get a pic of this," Hurston said as he stood back to back with a standee of a saloon girl, which she snapped pictures of. "Man, this girl must be super old by now, right?"

"If she isn't dead," Zumi pointed out.

Max and Carrie sat at a table.

"I think you know what time it is," Max said with a smirk.

"You really want to do this again?" Carrie asked, though she was smirking as well.

"Oh yeah," Max said. "Bring. It. On!"

The two began to arm wrestle while Pax and Chat cheered from the sidelines.

"Wait, who are we cheering for, bro?" Pax asked.

"Who cares?" Chat asked as they watched the two girls trying to beat one another.

"Not giving up on this one, Maxine," Carrie told her.

"Bring it, Care-Bear," Max responded with a grimace.

"Guys, check this out!" Kajedo shouted while pulling off a tarp, causing those near her to cough from the dust. "It's one of those old-timey pianos they used to have!"

"I think they still have those in some saloons," Ember commented as they looked at the piano.

Loona checked the date that was carved onto the side. "This thing's over two hundred years old."

"Does it even work?" Carrie asked as she and Max walked over, both of them rubbing their arms.

"Yeah, play a little song," Max suggested.

Kajedo nodded and took a seat. She tapped on one of the keys, which made a sound. She smiled and started tapping on more keys. She then started to play a little music. "It does work!"

As Kajedo continued playing the piano, she started to sing. "Oh, we could have been anything that you wanted to be… and it's not too late to change," she sang while everyone watched. "I'd be delighted to give it some thought… maybe you'll agree we really ought… 2-3-4…!"

Soon the teens started to cause trouble in the saloon, picking up empty bottles and throwing them at the wall, causing them to explode into a million pieces while Kajedo kept playing the piano. Ember started to sing along.

"We could have been anything that we wanted to be!" Ember sang.

"Yes, that decision is ours!" Loona sang along as well.

"It's been decided, we're weaker divided!" Loona, Ember, and Kajedo sang while the teens were having fun.

"Let friendship double up our powers!" Carrie and Max sang along with Pax and Chat as they jumped onto the tables and started to dance on them.

"We could have been anything that we wanted to be! Ya-hahaha! And we're not saying we should!" Kajedo sang as Hurston sprayed graffiti on the walls, tagging them while Shawn set up some glass for Loona to smash with a bat while Zumi took pictures.

"But if we try it, we'd learn to abide by it!" Hurston, Zumi and Shawn sang.

"We could have been the best at being good guys!" Loona sang, trying to keep her wig on while Zumi took the pics.

"Flowers on the earth, who could even guess how much a real friend is worth?" Carrie sang while they moved to another building to wreck, this time an old barbershop.

"Good guys… shake an open hand, maybe we'll be trusting if we try to understand," Max sang while covering Shawn's face with shaving cream while Zumi did his curls.

"Maybe we'll be trusting, if we try to understand!" Ember sang while wrapping her arms around Carrie and Max as they sang. "No doubt about it, it must be worthwhile!"

"Good friends tend to make you smile!" Pax and Chat sang while dressed as barbershop singers.

"We could have been anything that we wanted to be! Yes, that decision is ours!"

They hit the next building, this one a bank, and they spray painted the inside the bank vault. Hurston made a simple skull while Loona spray painted a moon with a wolf silhouette, making him feel a little jealous. Then Kajedo got the two to look at her work and their jaws dropped when they saw she had spray painted herself… spray painting herself… spray painting herself… and so on.

"It's been decided, we're weaker divided! Let friendship double up our powers!"

Inside an abandoned grocery store, the teens were having an expired food fight with one another.

"You give a little love and it all comes back to you," Ember sang.

"La la la la la la la!" all sang together as they continued throwing food to one another.

"You know you're gonna be remembered for the things that you say and do," Kajedo sang to Loona while having food on her face.

"La la la la la la la!"

Loona smiled while throwing some food at the boys, all of them having a good time as they messed around in the old market.

"You give a little love and it all comes back to you…"

After that, the gang of Wrath teens sat outside, laughing while wiping themselves off from the mess.

"Oh man, I'm gonna be sticky from the food," Chat said.

"Yeah, we'll just stick together like this!" Pax replied while stuck to Chat by their furs.

"Don't worry, there's some towels in the back of my mom's car," Shawn said while pointing to his SUV. "I came prepared."

"So what did you think of that, Loony?" Kajedo asked while everyone cleaned themselves off with towels.

"Honestly… that was great," Loona replied with a smile before she noticed something. In the distance… she saw a house. A house that was on top of a hill, looking over the entire town. "Say, whose house is that?"

"Oh, that? That's the Menace Mansion," Zumi answered.

"Menace Mansion?" Loona asked.

"That house used to belong to the old business tycoon imp who built this entire town, Fredrick K. Menace," Ember said as she began to explain. "You may not have heard of him, but F.K. Menace was a real tycoon in the mining business back in the day with his Menace's Mining Company, which he founded after he discovered a vein of… honestly, I don't know what it was. But it was definitely valuable and he struck it rich."

"That old business magnate exploited his findings and turned it into a whole mining operation," Carrie also explained. "Resulting in this town being built as a place where miners could relax, sleep, and spend money. Good ol' Menacetown." She pointed up the broken sign.

"Huh, how did I miss that?" Loona asked. "So what eventually happened here?"

"Well, for a while, things was going well. Old Menace made himself a fortune and built himself an elaborate mansion up on that hill," Max explained. "But his money came at a cost…"

"His mining operation became infamous for its many accidents!" Kajedo chimed in as she popped up between Max and Loona, "At first, there was just an accident or two, but more and more accidents happened as the mines became more and more dangerous!"

"But Menace didn't care about the safety of the miners, which isn't surprising to say for a Wrathian capitalist," Ember mentioned. "But it proved to be his downfall when the vein dried up, resulting in the town beginning to dry up as well. Mr. Menace became desperate to save his mining company, so he went to turn to… alternative means…"

"Rumor has it that he turned to the occult," Hurston added. "Whatever he did, he did hold a lot of strange meetings in his house. But then, one day, he suddenly vanished from public view, eventually resulting in a search party looking for old Menace and checking his house…"

"And it was in his house that they found him… having already hung himself," Ember finished as they all turned to look at the house, the sound of thunder being heard in the background.

"That house has been abandoned ever since, but some say that it's haunted!" Kajedo declared while Loona looked confused.

"Seriously? Wait, how would ghosts even work around here?" Loona asked. "I mean, sure we have Possessors and the Sinners can freely roam the Earth on certain holiday occasions like Halloween, but how could a ghost of a money bag imp be possible?"

"Eh, haunted or not, nobody ever goes up to that house anyway," Carrie pointed out. "Not even the looters go up there."

"But what if we did?" someone asked.

Everyone turned to Ember, who gave a smirk. "I mean, it could be fun. We could be the first ones to confirm that it isn't haunted."

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" Loona asked.

"I'm in!" Kajedo immediately volunteered, raising her hand up.

"Yeah, why don't we go in and check the place out?" Max said with a smile. "Cause it sounds fun!"

"Totally, though I bet a city slicker like you wouldn't go into a place like this," Hurston teased Loona, only to earn a smack on the arm from Ember. "Ow! Ember?"

"Hey, lay off her, okay?" Ember asked before turning to Loona. "Look, I know I suggested it, but you don't have to go up there if you don't want to."

Loona looked at the Wrath teens, then up at the old mansion. After giving in some thought, she turned to them. "Well… a little look wouldn't hurt."

"Super! Loona is in!" Kajedo declared.

"Yeah!" Pax and Chat cheered.

"What about the rest of you?" Ember asked her friends. She narrowed her eyes at Hurston. "You're not scared, right?"

Hurston scoffed. "Of course not," he said.

Ember looked over at Zumi, who briefly glanced away from her phone to look at Ember. She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Um…" Shawn said, looking nervous and unsure. Ultimately, he went along with what everyone else was saying. "Yeah, let's do this!"

Ember turned to Carrie last. While Carrie did look reluctant, she eventually made her decision. "Someone has gotta keep you out of trouble," she said.

And so the Wrath teens all piled into the SUV and began to drive up to the old Menace Mansion in order to check out the accursed place…


Back at Carrie's house, Blitz and Amaroq were having a heated argument over the latest board game.

"I know that you cheated, little missy!" Blitz accused. "I should have more chips than you have!"

"I have enough chips to win this game according to these cards!" Amaroq shouted as she held them up. "I take ten chips from you, so give it here, old man."

"Oh you think you're a clever girl, are ya?!" Blitz shouted while pointing at her before Amaroq grabbed his sleeve and pulled out some cards.

"A-ha! I knew you were also cheating!" Amaroq pointed to him. "Cheating two kids during a a board game? For shame…"

"But… but that's because you were cheating first!" Blitz shot back.

"Oh, blaming it on a kid? For shame!" Amaroq countered. "How do we know you're not cheating first?!"

"Don't change the subject on me, young lady!" Blitz shouted. "You cheater, cheater, lumpkin peeler!"

"Don't you mean, 'pumpkin eater?'" Amaroq questioned as the two continued to have their argument over the game, which Douglas was unfortunately a witness to.

Douglas, who is stuck in the middle of the fight, looked completely deadpan and could only endure this for so long. Every game they played resulted in the two arguing and he had reached his breaking point. He smacked the table. "QUIET!"

The two stopped arguing and turned to see Douglas picking up the board game, walking away, and throwing it in the trash can, much to their shock. Douglas turned to them. "Now, maybe we should do something else besides playing board games… or anything too competitive. Cause Satan knows what would happen if we end up playing Uno."

Amaroq and Blitz looked at each other, realizing that things were in fact getting heated up. They turned back to Douglas. "So what do you propose, kid?" Blitz asked.

"Well… my dad would sometimes let me use a BB gun to shoot cans," Douglas brought up.

"Ooh, I like that idea!" Amaroq said with excitement according to her tail wagging.

"Oh hell no, I am not teaching you kids how to shoot!" Blitz immediately shut it down.

"Aw, come on, what's the harm?" Amaroq asked him, trying to give him the cute, puppy dog eyes that not even Lona could resist.

"Nice try, kid, but I'm not falling for that again," Blitz declared. "Loona did the same to me when she was your age, but I've grown wiser now. Consider me immune to your childish charms."

"Hmm," Amaroq pouted.

"Well, if you want an alternative, my dad and I also had another game we used to play together," Douglas suggested. "A game called… Alamo."

This grabbed Blitz and Amaroq's interest and curiosity, but it was Amaroq who spoke. "How do you play it?"


Back in Angerton, everyone was in the town hall discussing fortifications and battle positions. Suddenly, an old miner came bursting through the doors.

"We gots us a situation!" the miner declared with a frightened tone.

"Don't tell me it's the apes?!" Moxxie exclaimed.

"Tell me it is the apes!" Chase demanded in excitement.

"No apes, but the Knights of Hell are a-coming!" the miner declared, shocking everyone. The town hall became filled with excited and worried chatter.

"The Knights of Hell?! Those ravagers?!"

"What could they want from us?!"

Striker turned to Moxxie. "Looks like this town attracts all sorts of attention," he said.

"What… what are they here for?" a nervous Wesley asked while Moxxie looked concerned.

"I don't know, but I better take care of this," he said while bringing out his rifle. "Everyone, stay in here while we check this out."

"Be careful, Moxxie," Momo told him as she walked over and patted his shoulder. "The Knights of Hell, they're not much better than the Demon Apes."

Moxxie gave a nod and he walked out to see the Knights. Striker and Chase followed suit and they headed to the outskirts of town. In the distance, they could see a cloud of dust being raised by an approaching group of motorcycles. Anyone else that was outside quickly changed that, rushing into the nearest buildings and shutting the doors.

"What's the plan?" Striker asked as he, Moxxie, and Chase stood together.

"Easy, we rip them to shreds," Chase said with a grin.

"No," Moxxie said, shocking and disappointing Chase. "Let's see what they want first. If we have to fight, we'll fight. But they might not be here for that."

Striker gave Moxxie a look. "You don't know the Knights of Hell, do you?" he asked.

"I… will admit I am a bit out of the loop when it comes to what goes on in Wrath," Moxxie admitted. "But talking to them has to be worth a shot."

As the cloud of dust got closer, the three men were able to make out Knights of Hell on their bikes, approaching the town. Cain was up front and he spotted Moxxie with Chase and Striker behind him. He smiled underneath his helmet and signaled for his crew to slow down until they stopped moving in front of Moxxie and the other two.

"Is that them?" Moxxie asked.

"Yeah, that's them, alright," Chase confirmed as he crossed his arms while Striker prepared to pull his own guns as the two groups stared each other down.

The Knights were about to bring their weapons up, but Cain raised his hand and halted them. Both sides were in a stand-off as Moxxie and Cain looked at each other. A tense silence hung over them, a silence that was broken by a single…

"Hi," Cain said casually as he walked toward Moxxie and the others. "My name is Cain and these are my Knights of Hell." The helmeted biker gestured to his gang. "You've probably heard of us. We're legendary."

"We know who you are," Moxxie said. "What business do you have here?"

Cain chuckled. "Believe it or not, we ain't here to start trouble like we usually would."

"Then why are you here?" Moxxie asked, his tone stern.

"Ooh, all serious," Cain said. "I like you, shortie. But don't get your underwear in a twist. We're here… to help."

The three looked at Cain in confusion, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn't, Striker spoke up. "Why would a gang of looters and thugs want to help out?"

"I know, it seems unbelievable, but hear us out," Cain said as he started to explain. "You see, we've heard about the whole Demon Apes thing and how you folks painted a big target on your back. We knew that the apes were heading this way and we decided to offer you services in helping to fight them. Why? Because it amused me and because I've been wanting to deal with that Demon Apes leader Murdock who has been making moves lately."

The three looked surprised by this, since the Knights of Hell were not known for their acts of charity, even if it were for their own reasons. "If you want to help, you're not going to get anything in return? This town doesn't have much."

"Yeah, I figured," Cain said while noticing all the boarded up buildings. "This place already reeks of death. The apes destroying this place would be a mercy killing. Oh, we'll still help out, of course. But you don't have to pay us anything in return except for a share of the spoils."

"Spoils?" Moxxie asked.

"Come on, have you really not thought about all the good shit those apes must be carrying?" Cain asked Moxxie. "Not to mention, all the good shit that will be left back at their base for us to collect? Actually, don't think about that. I already call dibs. But besides that, plus some room and refreshment for the night, we'll do this out of the goodness of our hearts… and a chance to win a tussle with those apes. So what do you say?"

Moxxie was silent, not answering right away.

"I'm not so sure about them, Mox," Striker told Moxxie, looking wary.

"Meh, I say we let them in," Chase suggested. "I mean, I can take these apes down myself but the more the merrier. Even if they're no better than the Demon Apes."

"Hey! We take offense at that!" the short imp biker shouted while the rest of the gang shouted in agreement.

"Hey now," Cain said, turning to his gang. "Let's not have any of that." He then turned to Moxxie and the others. "I understand why you might think we aren't any better, but that's a common misconception. Seriously, that Murdock guy is absolutely messed up." He chuckled. "When he gets here, he isn't just going to kill you. Honestly, I don't know what he'll do to you. Probably some kind of torture. He loves torture. And maiming. Dude has a thing for maiming. I've seen his handiwork and let me tell you about this one poor sap whose dick was-"

"Do you have a point?" Moxxie asked.

"Ah, right," Cain said. "My point is, you should consider yourselves lucky that I'm offering y'all my help. I mean, is it really just the three of you against a whole army?" He shook his head. "From the looks of it, you need help. And you know what they say, beggars can't be choosers."

Moxxie gave it some thought. While there was strength in numbers, he knew that the Knights of Hell were probably not that trustworthy. But then again…

"If we refuse, the alternative would just be bloodshed, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"We're going to be here when Murdock shows up," Cain told Moxxie. "Offering our help to you is just a formality. But believe me, you're gonna want us here."

Moxxie looked at Cain and the Knights of Hell before sighing. "Alright, I agree that we would make an alliance with you guys. But I want to make this clear with you all," he told them while giving stern looks "If any of you abuse your power on the townsfolk or act no different than the raiders we're protecting this town from, then the deal is off."

"Hey, I am a demon of my word," Cain told him. "Besides, believe it or not, we do take our job as the protectors of Wrath seriously."

"Wait, that's what you think of yourselves as?" Moxxie asked. "The protectors of Wrath."

"Well… something along those lines, at least," Cain admitted. "Sure, we occasionally start a fire, but we don't burn an entire town to the ground. Or, well, usually we don't. We are committed to protecting this ring from its threats, including threats that you don't even know exist." This caused Moxxie to arch an eyebrow at that, wondering what he meant. "You actually sleep better at night because of us. Compared to those Demon Apes, we're actually the good guys here."

"Yeah, I don't believe that," Moxxie told Cain straight-up. "Cause saying stuff like that is just justification for you and your bikers to do whatever you want."

The imp biker was about to retort, but Cain surprised her and Moxxie by laughing. "I'll admit… that might be true," he said. "I might be talking shit to make myself and my gang feel more special than what we really are, making us feel like we have some greater purpose. But… at the end of the day, we all live in the same Hell, and we can all agree that Hell will be better off without Murdock's apes."

Moxxie was silent for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that's something we can both agree on."


Meanwhile, Loona and the other teens stood in front of the Menace Mansion. The mansion looked old and decrepit, the paint faded and the windows cracked. It really did look like nobody had been in there for years.

"Well, we're here," Huston said while looking up at the ominous building.

"The Menacing Mansion," Kajedo said with a nod. "Kinda rolls the tongue."

Ember walked up to the front porch and checked the door, seeing that it wasn't even closed all the way. She pushed it and it swung open. "Door's opened."

"I'm surprised they didn't completely block off the place if it's supposed to be haunted," Loona said as they all entered inside.

"I guess those chains on the gates were supposed to keep us out," Max pointed out as they all entered inside the building.

They looked around the main hall. Half of the furniture was covered in old tarps, while the other half was covered in dust. Most of the paintings on the walls were covered in so much dust that it was impossible to make out what they were supposed to be of. As Carrie looked around, she stepped on a newspaper. She picked it and blew the dust off.

'WRATH TIMES, 19th Century'

HEADLINE: MINING TOWN ECONOMY COLLAPSE!

Carrie was about to read the rest, but then the newspaper completely fell apart, turning into dust in her hands.

Zumi had turned on her phone light to have a look around while Loona did the same with her phone. Unfortunately, the lights revealed nothing but cobwebs and small animal bones.

"Ew, nothing but spider webs and dead rodents around here," Zumi commented.

"Yeah," Loona agreed before flashing her light on a portrait, one surprisingly not covered in any dust unlike the other paintings. "Huh, is that him?" she asked as she pointed up at the portrait and everyone else looked up to see it.

"Yup, the old Menace himself," Kajedo said as they looked up at the portrait of a red imp with white comb and curled hair, twirling mustache, a black top hat and overcoat, and a cane with the handle looking like a goat's head.

"He sure did have the look," Loona commented as everyone continued to walk around the house, splitting into smaller groups to check out some of the individual rooms on the ground floor, though most of the rooms were just more of the same.

Ember decided to walk with Loona. "So, you having fun?" she asked.

"Honestly, yeah," Loona admitted. "This place is kinda creepy, but still pretty cool. I mean, we have abandoned buildings in Pride, but they're usually full of squatters and addicts." She turned to Ember. "Uh, I hope you don't mind hanging out with a city-slicker like me?"

"Nah, I think you're alright," Ember admitted with a smile. "Don't let what the others think of you get you down. Just let them get used to you. Just like how they got used to Max. Just don't take anything they say too personally."

"Do they have a problem with Pride?" Loona asked.

"Oh, definitely," Ember said. "It's a lifestyle thing. But me, I'm actually curious about what life up in Pride is like."

"Well, if I could best describe Pride to ya, the whole thing is a bustling city," Loona said. "You've probably heard about the Sinners, including the Overlords. My dad works for one of them, a Sinner named Shere Khan, but there's also the Vees, the Carmines, and… Alastor." She shivered at the mere mention of his name, remembering the time she met him. "A lot of rich assholes live up there, though me and my dad aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination. Although… yeah, I do work at a fancy place, the Triton Resort."

"Whoa, really? I heard that place is one of the fanciest resorts in Hell. That it is located near the River Styx and is run by Prince Gaap himself," Ember said.

"Yeah, that's him," Loona confirmed with a sigh.

"What's he like? And what is your job like?" Ember asked her.

"Well, Gaap is… I don't see him around much, mostly I interact with the resort's manager, a hardass named Margaret," Loona explained. "But from what I've seen, Gaap is… eccentric. As for my job, my duties change a lot depending on what the day is. The job is hard, but I have managed to make some friends, like Bella and Clara." She paused. "I haven't seen them in a while. I hope they're doing alright, though." She then remembered something else. "Me and my dad didn't always live in Pride though. Before then, we used to live down in Greed."

"What's Greed like down there?" Ember asked, ever curious.

"Let's just say that I don't mind visiting for the tourist attractions, but it isn't a great place to live in," Loona admitted. "Sure, Pride has the problem of Sinners, Overlords, and Exorcists, but somehow the crime in Greed is worse than the crime in Pride. That's a big reason why me and my dad ended up moving. Poverty is also worse in Greed, so not a ring I would recommend."

"Have you been to any of the other Rings, Loona?" Ember asked.

"I've… been to Lust and Sloth a few times," Loona explained. "And this isn't my first time in Wrath. I've never been to Gluttony or Envy though. What about you?"

"I've never been to any of the other Rings," Ember admitted. "But I think I would like to someday."

"Really?" Loona asked her as Ember nodded.

"You see, Loona, it's my dream to make a name for myself in Pride," Ember explained. "You hear me sing, right?"

"Yeah, you're pretty good," Loona confirmed.

"Well, I want to use my talents to get my name out there," Ember explained. "Sing for the big leagues like Verosika and Crymini, show those rich snobs that even an imp can make it big."

"Because fuck those guys, right?" Loona asked and both girls laughed at that. "But seriously Ember, go for it."

"Oh, believe me, I would love nothing else… but I doubt that it's gonna happen," Ember said while looking down. "Especially since I can't bring myself to leave Granny Magma alone. I mean, she is a tough old bat, but I'm kinda all she's got right now."

"Oh…" Loona said in concern. "So… your family's…?"

"Gone," Ember said with a sigh. "Wrath is dangerous livin', Loona. Almost all of us have lost someone."

This surprised Loona, whose eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Take Hurston, for example," Ember said as she pointed to Hurston, who was spray-painting a wall. "He lost his folks in a knife storm, just around freaky Wrath weather occurrence, and since then he's been living with his uncle Petey the undertaker, probably going to follow him in the family business too."

"Zumi over there, she's living with her aunt after losing her folks in a break in," Ember said as she pointed to Zumi, who sat down to text. She then pointed to Shawn, who was looking around nervously. "Shawn's family was from Sloth, but he lost his siblings and father in a fire, so it's just him and his mom. Pax and Chat? Those two have been inseparable ever since they lost their folks to the supremacists."

"I… I had no idea," Loona said as she watched Pax and Chat, who were looking at some paintings.

"You didn't know," Ember said with a shrug. "But the others do, which is why they may give you a hard time for being from Pride, but they will never give you a hard time for being a hellhound."

While Pax and Chat were looking at the different paintings, Max suddenly popped up between them while wearing a hockey mask. "Boo!"

"Yah!" Pax screamed as he jumped into Chat's arms after getting spooked by Max, who removed her mask and snickered.

Note to self: be careful letting Max hang out with Amaroq, Loona noted to herself.

"Max, quit fooling around," Carrie told her while rolling her eyes at the succubus's antics.

"But Carrie over there, besides Pax and Chat, she was probably hit the hardest out of all of us," Ember said, her tone sad. "She… lost her family during a terrible storm. Her parents, her siblings… gone. There was no one left but her to take care of the farm. Hell, I know that she has always wanted to leave Wrath, but now she stays here to take care of her family's farm, since she's the only one that can."

"Damn…" Loona muttered, now feeling bad for Carrie. Before this she had never thought about why Carrie was the only one living at her farm, but now it made too much sense and she wondered just how much Carrie was really suffering. "And what about Max and Kajedo?" she asked Ember. "What are their stories?"

"Well, I know very little about Max's home life since, well, she's from Lust," Ember said. "Although, I have heard that she lost her sister."

"Oh… oh shit, Max…" Loona said, her tone sympathetic. "When did it…?"

"I heard her sister died recently, not too long ago. Apparently it happened outside of Hell," Ember said. "Max and her family set up missing posters all over Lust before they learned the news. She's still dealing with her grief in her own way. She does drop by Wrath whenever she can, since she likes our traditions and our culture. She and Carrie have a bit of a rivalry, of course. They challenge themselves to any game or sport they could think of."

"And Kajedo… well, she still has her family. I think right now she is staying with them at their rock farm and quarry. Kajedo's the only one of us who left Wrath." She gave a sigh. "I'll admit, sometimes we do give her a hard time for leaving here, even if some of us do envy her for it. But who could hate Kajey? Though, while she has visited a few times since leaving, she never stays long." She then paused. "In fact… this is her longest she has stayed in Wrath after moving to Pride, which is kinda odd."

Loona looked confused by this and she was about to ask what she meant by it, but then Pax and Chat's tomfoolery got them to hit something.

"Whoa!" Pax shouted as he bumped into the wall, causing him to grab onto the handle of a lamp. However, doing that caused the wall next to it to open, which drew the attention of the teens. "Whoa, dudes, check this out!"

"A secret door?" Loona questioned as they walked over and peered down into the darkness. They couldn't see the bottom of the tunnel, but they could tell that it led underneath the house.

"Why don't we go in and check it out?" Zumi suggested.

"I second that!" Kajedo declared. "Who knows what exciting secrets are down there."

"Perhaps we might see a body down there," Hurston suggested.

"Um, what if it isn't safe?" Shawn asked, his voice nervous.

"Aw, come on, Shawn!" Max said. "We came this far, haven't we? Where is your spirit of adventure?"

"Adventure!" both Pax and Chat shouted.

"Plus, it's probably just a wine cellar," Ember said, trying to reassure Shawn.

Carrie just shrugged. "It is better that we stick together," she pointed out. "So if some of us go down, all of us should go down."

"Are you coming with us, Loona?" Kajedo asked.

"Hmm…" Loona considered as she stared down the dark tunnel. "I think Carrie is right. We should stick together. Plus, it could be cool."

"Great," Hurtston said as he was the first one into the secret passage. "Shawn, you can stay here if you want. All alone…"

"Um, I'm definitely coming!" Shawn shouted as he followed Hurston, the rest also following as they began to go down the secret passage.

After a few minutes, they reached the bottom of the passage and began to look around, using the lights on their phones to see their surroundings. They were in a wide open space… filled with bones. Not small bones, like the rodent bones upstairs.

These were big bones and the skeletons made it very clear what they belonged to…

This spooked Hurston, who looked uneasy as they examined the skeletons. This did not go unnoticed by Loona.

"Afraid of a few bones?" Loona asked him with a smirk.

"N-No! I mean, my uncle's an undertaker. This is nothing," Hurtson replied nervously.

"Um, what are these skeletons doing here?" Shawn asked. When he saw a skull that looked like it was from a baphomet, he gulped.

"Oh shit," Zumi said. "Menace must have killed people down here."

"Cool…" Pax and Chat said.

"Or they killed themselves," Max pointed out. "Ritualistic suicide. Menace hung himself, right? Maybe he wasn't the only one, but they never found the other bodies…"

"You seem a bit too excited by that possibility," Carrie told Max, who just shrugged.

"But it is pretty spooky," Ember admitted. "I guess I was wrong about this just being a wine cellar…"

"Come on, let's see what else is down here," Kajedo told them as she led them further into the basement.

"Hey guys, look," Zumi said as she flashed her light ahead, revealing a large table with a lot of seats placed around here.

"Looks like this is where Menace held his meetings," Max said. "And I don't think it was the business kind of meetings."

"I wonder if this means the stories about him are true," Ember said.

"Um, what exactly were those stories again?" Loona asked as she walked over to the table and noticed the strange markings on it.

"That in his desperation, Menace turned to the occult," Carrie said before she spotted something and paused. "Um, guys, take a look at this…"

Everyone turned to the wall and looked up to see a portrait.

A portrait… of a large shadowy demon man with large wings, glowing yellow eyes, and a muscular body. He appeared to be rising from the mountain while raising his arms up as spirits flew around him and demons that bowed beneath him.

"Who… who is that?" Loona asked, not recognizing this figure.

"Crap," Hurston said, looking a little freaked out. "I know that is. I've seen his picture once. That's… Satan."

"Um, he doesn't look like Satan, Hurston," Ember pointed out.

Hurston shook his head. "Not the current Satan," he clarified. "I'm talking about the original Satan."

Everyone fell silent and they looked up at the portrait in awe.

Kajedo spoke up. "Wait… so that does mean this Menace guy was a-"

"Original Satan worshiper?" Carrie finished. "Looks like it."

"That's… the first Satan." Loona recognizes as they all look in awe.

"So this meeting area… was for his Satan cult?" Ember asked as she looked at the portrait and the table before she spotted some scrolls and books lying around. Books about the first Satan. Of course, some pages were torn.

"These books look pretty old," Pax pointed out.

"Yeah, and moldy," Chat added while holding up a moldy book.

"I've heard that there were cults dedicated to the first Satan back in the day," Ember commented while flipping through some of these books. She frowned, unable to read them. "But Granny said that most of those cults were wiped out by the new Satan. Worshiping the original Satan is a pretty serious crime in Wrath."

"What were they even trying to do?" Shawn asked.

"From what Uncle Petey told me, these cults were trying to establish contact with the old Satan, believing that he could be brought back to Hell," Hurston explained.

"Really?" Loona asked. "Didn't the guy try to overthrow Lucifer? Why in the Seven Rings would they want to bring him back?"

"Well, some folks don't like the current management of Hell," Carrie pointed out as they continued to look around.

"Ooh, this is so spooky," Kajedo said as she turned to Loona with a huge smile. "And super cool, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Loona said, though something about the room's atmosphere made her feel… uncomfortable. She kept glancing at the portrait, feeling like it was somehow watching her.

"Whoa, check this out," Zumi said as she pointed at an altar, an old black cloaked table with broken candles.

"Sick altar," Ember said as everyone nodded in agreement. "This must be where Menace made offerings to the old Satan." She paused. "So… who's gonna lay on it?"

"Hands up that you're not it!" Kajedo shouted as she raised her hand up quickly.

"Not it!" Loona, Max, Ember, and Carrie shouted as they raised their hands up.

"Not it!" Zumi, Hurston, Chat, and Pax raised their hands up immediately as well.

"Not it- aw, man," Shawn said as he snapped his fingers. "I was too late…"

"Come on, Shawn, lay on the altar!" Hurston cheered. "Shawn, Shawn, Shawn…"

"Shawn! Shawn! Shawn!" they all cheered as Shawn stepped up to the altar.

"Alright, alright, for you guys," Shawn said before he crawled up to the altar. He sat down, took a deep breath, and slowly laid onto the table while his friends cheered for him. He shut his eyes as his head rested on the altar. Reopening his eyes a moment later, he felt… not so different.

"How does it feel, Shawn?" Hurston asked.

"Huh, honestly it doesn't seem baaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHH!"

Shawn suddenly screamed as his body began to twitch violently. This startled the teens as they saw the Baphomet's eyes roll back…

"YAHAHAHAHA! Finally! A vessel!" Shawn suddenly spoke with a new voice, his yellow lighted candle head changing to black flames. Everyone was shocked as they watched Shawn stand up… and float into the air.

"S-Shawn?!" Pax and Chat exclaimed.

"No, not Shawn… it is I, F.K. Menace!" Shawn declared while flying around the teens. "And I must thank you youngsters for handing me a vessel. A Baphomet demon, they have such soft wool…"

"Hey, lay your hands off of Shawn's body!" Max shouted at him.

"You better stop possessin' our friend, or else yer gonna get it, you menacing phantom!" Carrie declared while Loona's hands glowed with magic.

"Oh? You want to challenge me?" Menace declared while using the possessed Shawn's body to telekinetically lift objects off the ground. "A phantom like me against you, well, mortal demons?!"

"Guys, we need to get out of here!" Hurston shouted

"But what about Shawn?" Ember asked.

"We'll figure something out, but right now we need to leave before things get crazy," Hurston said before Menace telekinetically lifted her up in the air. "Gah!"

"Hurston!" they cried out, seeing Hurston being lifted in the air.

"None of you will escape!" Menace told them as he telekinetically shut the doors of the basement. "I have waited far too long for this! When I was alive, I tried to save my town and business! Lucifer and Satan failed me, so I was forced to turn to the older Satan in the hopes of saving my livelihood! When that failed as well, I fell into despair and took my own life! But as I died, He reached out to me and He has given me a second chance…" His eyes glowed as the rest of the teens were also lifted up in the air.

"Whoa!" Loona cried out as she was lifted in the air, her wig falling off.

"I… can't fly out of here!" Max cried out.

"Same!" Zumi replied.

"We're trapped!" Chat and Pax cried out as they hugged each other.

"But since you did help bring me back, maybe there could be a role for you to play in my plans," Menace told the teens. "You can either denounce the Deadly Sins and become followers of Chernabog or be his sacrifice… or maybe both."

All the teens looked nervous about this, since Menace wasn't giving them much of a choice. However, Kajedo spoke up.

"Wait! Before we decide, I got some questions, like… who's Chernee-borg?" Kajedo asked him.

"What… it's pronounced 'Chernabog'!" Menace shouted. while levitating close to her. "He is respectfully the first Satan!"

"Really? Cause I always thought the first Satan was a Dan… or a Carl," Kajedo said, which pissed Menace off.

"No! There's no way the first Satan is Carl! What have they been teaching you children?!" Menace demanded to know while, unnoticed by him, a book was levitated behind him.

Kajedo noticed this and realized that it was Loona's doing. She glanced at her for a second before looking back at Shawn and smiling. "Sorry, guess I should… hit the books more."

On cue, Loona used her spell to move the book towards the Menace, hitting him in the back of his head. "GAH!" he shouted, losing his focus and causing him to drop the teens and himself to the floor.

"Grr, you'll pay for this!" Menace declared as he got off the ground, only to be hit by another book thrown at him by Loona's levitation spell.

"Ember, you and the others stand back. I'll handle this guy," Loona said before she was joined by Kajedo, Carrie, and Max.

"Oh, there is no way we are letting you fight this guy alone," Carrie said as she brought out her ropes.

"Yeah, I'm itching for a fight anyway," Max said while cracking her knuckles.

"Let's take this spectral menace!" Kajedo declared.

"Bring it on then, little doggies!" Menace cried out as he caused several objects to float off the ground and twirl around the room.

Menace sent the objects towards them and the girls split off to dodge them. Carrie swung her lasso to grab a levitating object, a book, and swing it back toward Menace. He blasted the book away, but Carrie threw another lasso to grab him by the hoof, trying to pull him down. He attempted to fly up, but Carrie gritted her teeth and kept a tight grip on the road. He decided to take advantage of her staying still by shooting spectral blasts from the palm of his hands at her, but Loona levitated some chairs to block the blasts. However, Menace did manage to blast through the rope around his leg, freeing him.

Max swiftly dodged some of the flying objects, doing some flips before she grabbed a chair and threw it at Menace, who stopped it with his ghost powers. He threw the chair back at her, only for Loona to intercept it with another flying chair, causing the two to smash together.

Kajedo was currently up in the air, hanging onto a levitating chair. She bounced off of it onto another, getting herself closer to Menace as he was occupied with the others. Once she was close enough, she grabbed something from her person… a cannon that was way too big for the pocket she pulled it out of.

"Confetti cannon!" Kajedo shouted as she pulled the trigger, firing a ball of confetti and glitter that hit Menace and exploded in his face, causing him to fall back.

"Gah! What is this stuff?!" Menace demanded to know while wiping off his face, only to see Kajedo throwing bowling pins at him, forcing him to dodge them. "Oof! Gah! Where in Sam Hill did you get all of that stuff-" Suddenly, he got hit by pies, then by fruit. It made his face look like a silly sculpture before he wiped off his face and growled. "I'm sick of this humiliation-"

KICK!

He got kicked up to the chin by Max, who had flown up in his face. Then she delivered a punch to the gut to make him fall back against the wall.

"Seriously, try not to hurt Shawn too bad!" Carrie told Max.

"A little hard when he's possessed by a maniac!" Max shouted while flying around as Carrie threw her lasso at Menace, who dodged it. Menace tried to shoot at them, but Max and Carrie dodged the attacks.

Loona decided to keep her distance, using her spells to redirect objects that were heading toward Kajedo, Max, Carrie, or the other teens, who were currently staying out of the fight. "Kajedo, keep distracting him," she said while deciding to redirect some flying objects directly toward Menace. He could've deflected them if not for Kajedo hopping around, pelting him with gumballs, and throwing glitter balls that exploded around him.

That distraction also gave Carrie the chance to swing her lasso again, managing to tie it around Shawn's hooves. Menace noticed this and he started flying around the room. "Let go of me!" he shouted while Carrie was dragged across the floor.

"Whooooaaah!" Carrie hollered as she kept her grip on the lasso while being dragged around. Menace then blasted the rope, causing it to snap as Carrie was flipped into the air. "Gah!"

"I gotcha!" Max shouted as she flew up and caught Carrie.

"Thanks, Max," Carrie told her as Max flew down with her.

Max then used her wings to fly up toward Menace, who threw objects at her. Max easily dodged them, but she didn't just dodge them. She did circles around the flying objects and Carrie quickly realized what she was doing.

"Hey, stop showing off!" Carrie shouted. "We're fighting for our lives here!"

"Hey, I can't help it if I look so-" Max was cut off by some objects hitting her.

"Hang on!" Loona shouted while trying to cast a spell, only to get tripped over by a chalice, knocking her down. She saw some more objects coming to her and she gave a shout as she rolled away, trying to avoid them.

Menace snickered as Kajedo saw Loona in trouble and tried to distract him more, pulling out some cupcakes from her seemingly bottomless pockets, but he stopped her, managing to levitate Kajedo and pin her to the wall. "No more out of you!"

Meanwhile, Ember and the gang were hiding under the table, watching their four most combatant demons fighting Menace's ghost… and seemingly losing.

"We'll never escape!" Hurston shouted out of panic.

"I can't believe I'm gonna die here!" Zumi cried out.

"Hey, keep it together," Ember told them. There were some books under the table with them and she looked over them, trying to see if they could help. "These books… they're… ancient tomes."

"You mean, like spellbooks or something?" Hurston asked.

"Yeah, if we could recite and cast a spell against Menace, we might be able to help free Shawn and escape," Ember said while flipping through the pages. Unable to read them, she turned to Pax. "Pax, you have magical potential, try reading at least one of these."

"Yeah, Pax's full of magic!" Chat cheered.

"Um, I'll give it a try," Pax replied as he looked at one of the tomes. He opened it, flipped to a random page, and looked at the inscription. "Te voco, daemonem inter aquatilia!"

Suddenly a bright light appeared beneath them. They crawled out of the way and saw that they had opened a portal. A portal that quickly sprouted tentacles…

"Ah, fuck!" Zumi cried out as she tried to run, only to get grabbed by the tentacles, which quickly wrapped around her. "Pax! You summoned some kind of lovecraftian monstrosity!"

"Gah!" Hurston screamed as he was grabbed by the tentacle, which pushed him out from underneath the table and whacked him against it.

"Pax!" Ember cried out while being trapped in a tentacle's grasp and hung upside down.

Loona and the others saw this along with Menace. "What the…?" Loona cried out as the tentacles came for well. "Oh hell no!" she shouted while trying to avoid them.

"Oh crap!" Max shouted while getting captured by a tentacle. More were coming out of the portal, some with eyes on them. They were grabbing everyone, including the possessed Shawn who was grabbed and swatted around.

"Ack! Oooh! EEK! D'oh!" Menace cried out while being swung around like everyone else, who were all screaming and struggling… except for Kajedo, who was actually laughing.

"Whee!" she shouted as the tentacles spun her around.

The tentacles were also spreading around the basement, hitting some of the building's foundations and damaging them.

"This creature is really wrecking up the place!" Chat shouts while hanging upside down.

"It's doing a lot of damage in the basement!" Ember shouted while trying to get the tentacle wrapped around her waist to her leg to let go.

"Ah! Send these things back before it brings the ceiling down on top of us!" Max cried out while kicking a tentacle away from her while trying to get out of her bonds.

"Um, I'm trying to find a reverse spell," Pax said as he flipped through the book while held against the tentacles.

"Hurry!" Loona shouted while biting a tentacle, trying to get it to let go of Carrie.

"Yehehehe, this is fun!" Kajedo laughed, seemingly unaware of what was going on and instead enjoying the tentacles grabbing her.

But the tentacles had to be connected to something and that was something was about to come through the portal…

"Um… oh, how convenient," Pax said as he found a page. "'In case of opening lovecraftian portal, recite this: claudere porta!'"

The portal flashed and the lovecraftian creature started to let go of everyone as it was sucked back into the portal. They all dropped down on the floor, including Shawn, who was left in a daze. Once the tentacles had been sucked back into the portal, the portal flashed a second time and vanished, leaving no evidence that the creature had ever been there.

"Whoo-hoo! Glad that's over!" Kajedo declared.

"What about Shawn?" Zumi asked as all turned to Shawn.

"Ugh…" he groaned while shaking his head. Before he could fully recover, Max hit him in the head with a large book, knocking him out.

"Max!" Carrie shouted.

"What? I'm not taking any chances," Max said defensively.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and now the teens realized that the ceiling was still starting to come down on top of them.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" Loona shouted as she picked up Kajedo and then Ember, much to the delight of the former, running with them out of the basement.

"Come on, Zumi! Fly up!" Max shouted as she grabbed Carrie and the knocked out Shawm while Zumi went to carry Hurston. Pax carried Chat on his back as they rushed up the passage out of the basement.

But when they got out of the basement, they realized that the entire mansion was sinking into the ground. As the mansion crumbled around them, Loona jumped and ducked around, dodging some fallen debris while using her spells to redirect some out of the way, all the while still carrying Kajedo and Ember to safety.

Loona, Kajedo, and Ember managed to make it out of the collapsing mansion, followed by Max and Zumi with their friends and then Pax with Chase. Once everyone was out of there, the Menacing Mansion completely fell apart. Only when they were a safe distance away, in the cemetery next to the house, did they stop to watch the final moments of the house's destruction as it sank into the ground, leaving nothing but dust.

It was now night. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath as relief flooded the group.

"Is everyone alright?" Loona asked while getting Kajedo and Ember back on their feet.

"Yeah, thanks Loona," Ember said, grateful.

"Whoo! That was exciting!" Kajedo declared. "But seriously, thanks Loona. You were awesome back there!"

She went to hug Loona, who gave a surprised blush.

"Uh, thanks," she said before looking at the others. "How's everyone else?"

"Everyone… accounted… for," Zumi said while breathing heavily. She and Max were trying to catch their breaths, their wings tired from flying so hard.

"We're lucky that we made it out of here alive!" Hurston shouted while he, Carrie, Pax, and Chat took a moment to gather themselves.

"I am never reading anything ever again," Pax said.

"Yeah, good call," Chat said, nodding in agreement.

"You do know what I could have saved myself, right?" Carrie pointed out to Max, who just grinned.

"Aw come on, you know that you like it when I carry you," Max teased, making Carrie's face turn red. "Besides, I'm faster."

Hurston looked over at Loona. "Wait… were you wearing a wig?" he realized.

"Um…" Loona said before she looked over at Max and Zumi, suddenly realizing something. "Hey, what?! You two can fly?!"

Max and Zumi looked at Loona strangely. "Uh, yeah," Max said as she pointed to her wings. "What do you think these are for?"

"I-" Loona started to say before she stopped and thought of something. "Huh, I don't think I've actually seen a succubus use their wings before."

"That's because you've been hanging out with Pride and Lust Ring succubi," Zumi pointed out. "Their wings are practically useless. Us Wrath Ring succubi are made of tougher stuff."

"And I think I might be the only Lust Ring succubi that actually uses their wings," Max said while flexing her wings. "Although I don't think me or Zumi will be flying anytime soon after that. Man, my wings are tired." She sighed. "At least I think I can cross fighting a ghost in a haunted mansion off of my bucket list."

"That was on your bucket list?" Carrie asked before noticing that Shawn was lying on the ground nearby. "Say, someone check on Shawn."

"Yo, Shawn, are you alright?" Pax asked as they heard Shawn waking up with a groan.

"Hey, he's waking up!" Chat announced. "And it looks like his candle's nicely black lidded."

"Well that's… wait, black lidded?!" Ember asked in a panic.

"Hehehehehe… YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!" Menace laughed as he revealed that he was still possessing Shawn's body. "My mansion may have fallen, but I still stand!"

The teens backed away, unsure what to do. Before they could come up with a plan, Zumi shrieked. "GAAHH! Something almost grabbed me!" she shouted while looking down, seeing a hand pop out of the ground. A hand made of rotten flesh.

"Fuck!" Loona shouted while backing away as a skeletal hand popped up from another grave.

"Darkness falls across the land, the midnight house is close at hand," Menace recited with a smile as more zombies came out from the graves. "Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize your neighborhood…"

Kajedo hopped up when a zombie burst out of the ground next to her. "Eep!" she shouted as she ended up being held by Loona in a bridal carry. Ember backed away when she saw more zombies crawling out of their graves while Hurston and Zumi stayed close.

"And whoever shall be found, without the soul for getting down. Must stand and face the hounds of hell, and rot inside a corpse's shell!" Menace recited as the zombies obeyed his command and Carrie, Max, Pax, and Chat all backed away from the rising zombies.

"The foulest stench is in the air, the funk of forty thousand years… and grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom…"

The teens then noticed that behind them were more zombies that rose from the ground. They were surrounded…

"And though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver," Menace said with a smirk. "For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller!"

"Those are a lot of zombies…" Carrie spoke up, looking concerned.

"More dead people than I've ever seen," Hurston said nervously.

"What do we do now?" Max asked, turning to Ember.

"I'm… I'm not sure!" Ember gulped, seeing that things were looking dire.

"I know what to do."

Everyone turned to Kajedo, who jumped out of Loona's arm and started to walk toward the zombies with a serious expression.

"Kajedo, what are you doing?" Loona asked. But before she could stop her… Kajedo started to sing.

"It's close to midnight, and something evil's lurking in the dark!" Kajedo sang as she clapped her hands above her head, then shook her shoulders as she took a step. "Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart!"

The others turned to look at each other in confusion, but before they could ask what the heck Kajedo was doing, they saw some of the zombies coming close. Loona knocked one back with her spell while Max grabbed a wooden plank and used it to knock a zombie's head off.

"You try to scream…! But terror takes the sound before you make it!" Kajedo sang while side-stepping around the graves as her friends decided to fight off the zombies. "You start to freeze! As horror looks you right between the eyes… you're paralyzed!"

"Cause this is thriller!"

Loona, Max, Carrie, Ember, Hurston, and Zumi were using their fists, spells, and any objects they could find against the zombies.

"Thriller night!" Kajedo sang out loud while dancing around. "And no one's gonna save you, from the beast about to strike!"

Loona punched a zombie's head, causing it to spin around, and Pax and Chat assisted in knocking the body away.

"You know it's thriller! Thriller night!" Kajedo pointed up while spinning around before she stopped. "You're fighting for your life inside a killer… thriller tonight!"

"Ow!" Kajedo shouted as she raised her arms up and fingers curled, moving up and down on the side. The zombies looked at what she was doing… and a few of them raised their arms up and down, copying her.

"Are they… copying her?" Loona asked in shock, seeing this.

"What are you doing?! Be zombies and go after them!" Menace ordered.

However, the zombies didn't listen, instead they ended up dancing along with Kajedo. "You hear the door slam, and realize there's nowhere left to run! You feel the cold hand, and wonder if you'll ever see the sun~!"

After a clap and a step, the zombies followed her movement. "You close your eyes~ and hope that this is just imagination! But all the while, you hear a creature creepin' up behind! You're out of time!"

The zombies paused as Kajedo did. She slide stepped, clapped her hands up, slide stepped back, shook her shoulders, and clapped again. The zombies followed her movement and more started to join her.

"Cause this is thriller!" Kajedo shouted as she and the zombies danced. "Thriller night! There ain't no second chance, against the thing with forty eyes, girl~! Thriller! Ooh! Thriller night! You're fighting for your life, inside a killer, thriller tonight~!"

Huston spotted Pax and Chat also dancing. "What are you two doing?!"

"We don't know, but we're following her lead!" Chat declared as they danced like Kajedo and zombies were.

"I think it's helping!" Pax added as the zombies danced along.

"Come on everyone! Let's dance!" Kajedo shouted as she pointed to her other friends while she, Pax, and Chat danced. "Night creatures call, and the dead start to walk in their masquerade~!"

Max, Carrie, and Zumi looked at each other, then shrugged and started to dance along. Loona and Ember saw this and the two looked at each other.

"Should we…?" Loona asked, only to see Ember already dancing along.

"It's do or die at this point," Ember said as she danced along. Loona nodded and started to dance as well.

"There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time," Kajedo sang.

"They're open wide!" the zombies sang while showing their ribs and their rotten flesh.

"This is the end of your life! Ooh!" Kajedo sang while pointing up and side-stepping in her dance.

Hurston just stared at everyone in disbelief. Normally, he wouldn't dance like this. But he noticed his shoulder shaking to the grove of the music that seemed to be coming from nowhere. After a moment of consideration, he decided to join along with his friends to Kajedo's zombie dance.

"I don't understand… what's happening?!" Menace asked with a very confused look.

"They're out to get you!" Kajedo shouted as she pointed to Menace. "There's demons closing in on every side!"

"Ooh!" Loona, Ember, and Max sang while shaking their shoulders.

"They will possess you, unless you change that number on your dial~!" Kajedo sang as she, her friends, and the zombies all danced. "Now is the time! For you and I to cuddle close together, yeah!" She moved over to Loona, swaying her around, which made her blush. "All through the night… I'll save you from the terror on the screen, I'll make you see!~!"

Menace's shoulder started to shake, much to his confusion. "What… what's happening to me?" he asked as he ended up raising his hands up and down side to side, then he clapped over his head and shimmied his shoulders. "Why am I doing this?! I'm… not controlling this body!"

"That this is thriller!" Kajedo and the others sang. "Thriller night! Cause I can thrill you more, than any ghoul would ever dare try~!"

"Thriller! Thriller night!" her friends sang.

"So let us hold you tight, and share a killer, thriller, chiller, thriller, here tonight!" she sang, seeing Shawn's body dancing along with them while Menace had no idea what was going on.

"I command you to stop! I control you!" Menace cried as his glowing eyes flashes. "Wait, I'm not the one dancing… it's-"

"Cause this is thriller!" Shawn sang as he broke out of Menace's control, expelling the ghost out of his body. "Thriller night! Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul would ever dare try~!"

"Thriller! Ooh! Thriller night!" Kajedo sang as her friends, including Shawn, danced along. "So let us hold you tight, and share a killer thriller, OW!"

They all struck a pose as the music ended. The zombies also posed and once the music stopped, the zombies started to collapse, returning to lifeless husks. Seeing this, everyone started to cheer for Kajedo, complimenting her while also checking up on Shawn.

"That was wicked, Kajey!" Max shouted in awe.

"Yeah, now that was the best hoedown I've ever been in," Carrie commented. "But Shawn, are you alright?"

"Yeah, not feeling possessed, man?" Hurston asked Shawn out of concern.

"Well, my candle's all yellow and I think the crick in my neck is gone," Shawn said while rubbing his neck. "But it's thanks to Kajedo's little dance number that I was able to get my Shawn-groove back."

"Yeah… but how did you know that would work, Kajedo?" Loona asked her while staring at Kajedo in amazement.

"Well, I just know how irresistible music can be. Not even zombies are immune to it," Kajedo explained with a giggle. "But even if that didn't work, at least I would be going out doing what I love: having fun with my friends! But since it did work, Shawn's back and Menace is gone."

"Yeah… but as exciting as this was, I think it's best that we get the fuck out of here," Ember suggested while looking around at all the lifeless zombies.

"Yeah, no argument here," Hurston said as everyone quickly voiced their agreement.

"Fuck this place," Loona said before she and the others rushed back to their vehicle.

Once everyone was in, Ember offered to drive for Shawn so he could take it easy. Shawn started to protest… but quickly passed out in the back of the van, his possession having taken a toll on his body. Everybody else was pretty tired as well, most of them checking their phones while Ember drove them away from the ghost town.

Loona was in the other vehicle with Kajedo, Carrie, and Max. Loona let out a loud sigh as the tension left her body. She looked back at the ruins of Menace Mansion and thought about what went down in that basement. While she wanted to forget most of that ever happened, she was still curious about some of the stuff they saw down there. The painting of Chernabog especially was still fresh in her mind…


Back at Angerton, Striker came up to Moxxie, who was surveying a map of the town with Wesley, Momo, Chase, Cain, and the short imp biker.

"Hey Mox, there's someone you should talk to," Striker told him. "Some arm-dealing fellers from Greed who said they were willing to sell their guns to us."

"Greed?" Moxxie asked as he stood up. "Alright, let me negotiate with them. I know how to haggle these guys, being from Greed and all."

"You're from Greed?" Wesley asked in surprise. "But you're so nice…"

"Ugh, of course those mobsters would show up," Chase groaned. "I hate those leeches from Greed." He turned to Moxxie. "No offense."

"None taken," Moxxie said.

"So how about we just kill them and take their weapons?" Chase asked.

"I like that plan, this town's got nothing to pay for the guns with, so let's just get ourselves a discount," Cain added, sounding bloodthirsty right now…

"That's an option if things go south, but it shouldn't be our first call," Moxxie told them before he turned to Striker. "Take me to them."

Striker nodded and he led Moxxie and the others outside, where they found a group of Greed gangsters… ones that Moxxie recognized.

"Alright, we're here and-" Stu said before he and the mafia saw Moxxie. "Moxxie?!"

"Stu?! Titus?! Depressed Boyfriend?!" Moxxie exclaimed, recognizing the members of his father's gang.

"What are you doing here?!" they all shouted in surprise.

"Wait, so they all know each other?" Momo whispered to Chase, who just shrugged.

"Small world," he commented.

"Moxxie, why are you here in Wrath of all Rings?" Stu asked him, still getting over his shock.

"It's a long story, but right now this is part of a job I'm doing," Moxxie explained before he suddenly got suspicious. "Wait, what about you guys? Don't tell me Crimson put you up to this. Are you spying on me?"

'Crimson?' Striker thought to himself.

"Oh no, believe it or not, we honestly had no idea you're here," Stu reassured him. "Me and the crew were here for a different reason."

"We came for a race we entered just yesterday… and then we lost," Butch added.

"Surprisingly, we lived," Depressed Boyfriend said with a sigh. "Spared until our destined fates, it seems…"

"So rather than go back empty handed, we decided to stay in Wrath and sell our weapons here to make up for our losses," Stu said as he snapped his fingers. Cleo, Nickel, and Titus quickly rolled over large crates full of their guns. "Luckily, we heard word of a town that had a fight ahead of them, but was a little low on weaponry. Luckily, we can solve that problem. We got rifles, RK-47s, some military grade shit," he said as they opened the crates, showing the various guns inside.

"Oooh…" they all said while looking at them shining.

"Yup. All for ten thousand souls each," Stu said, much to Moxxie and everyone's shock.

"Ten thousand souls each?!" Moxxie exclaimed. "That's way too much! We don't have that kind of souls!"

"Well, these guns are in high demand right now and, like I said, we can't go back to the boss empty handed," Stu told him before noticing Moxxie's own men looking at them intensively.

"Just say the word, Moxxie," Chase said while baring his teeth, as Cain and his men brought out their own weapons along with Striker who prepared to raise his pistol. Moxxie just raised his hand up to stop them.

Stu's men also prepared to bring out their own weapons, but Stu topped them as well.

The air was filled with tension as each side glared at the other, waiting for someone to fire the first shot. Moxxie and Stu looked at each other, Moxxie glaring at him while Stu's eyes seemed relaxed.

"So what will it be, little Moxxie?" Stu asked him.

Moxxie didn't want to resort to violence. He knew these guys, he knew how to talk to them. He knew how to appeal to them…

"Come on, Stu. I know you, all of you. We have history and what's happening now can't change my past with you guys," Moxxie said, his tone changing to one that sounded more friendly. "Look, how about I just pay for these myself out of my own pocket."

"Really? How?" Stu asked him.

"First, you give me a discount. Then I'll pay it in installments," Moxxie told them. "We need those weapons and… I'm willing to put myself in debt to Crimson if I have to."

"All for this little town?" Stu questioned while Moxxie gave him a nod.

"I'll put my life on the line if I have to," Moxxie declared. "It's on me, and you can tell Crimson that you had to help his son with these weapons."

A tense silence grew as Stu pondered his thoughts. Both sides seemed anxious as they watched him while he debated with himself over whether he should take his offer or not. If things went south, all bets were off.

But then Stu… smiled.

"I must say, Mox, you are a lot more generous than your daddy," Stu said with a chuckle. "But… you're lucky that I like ya so much. Since I wouldn't be doing this for just any old friend." He raised his hand up. "A deal's a deal."

Moxxie gave him a nod while shaking Stu's hand and striking a deal.

"Alright boys, bring them out," Stu ordered as the others brought out the crates full of guns.

"Well, I expected a brawl but… I guess this will do," Chase said while looking over the weapons.

"I'll notify the mayor," Momo said before walking off.

"You sure are one hell of a negotiator, Mox," Striker commented.

"Thanks." Moxxie replied before turning to Stu. "And thank you, Stu for this."

"No problem," Stu told him with a smile.

"You know, maybe you and the guys could join us to fight the Demon Apes and help defend this town," Moxxie suggested.

"Yeah, no. Not our scene," Stu told him with a chuckle. "Look Mox, we love ya, but we're not going to risk our necks for some backwater town. We're not outlaw heroes, we're just plain regular outlaws."

"Oh…" Moxxie said as he looked down in disappointment before feeling a pat on the shoulder from Stu.

"I'll see you around if you survive this, which I bet you will," Stu told him. "And I'll give my regards to Crimson."

Moxxie tensed when he heard that, but he still watched them leave once they finished unloading the crates of weapons.

After the mobsters left, the short imp biker gave a sigh of disappointment, "Fuck, I was hoping there'd be a fight. I bet that I could have slaughtered them all by myself."

"Hmm, I would have loved to have seen that, honestly," Cain admitted, making her blush under her helmet.

Moxxie sighed in relief at how that had ended without anyone resorting to violence. Of course, he now had to worry about how this could haunt him later on.

"One thing to worry about at a time, Mox," he said to himself. "One thing at a time…"


Later, the Wrath teens were parked outside of Carrie's farm. They were all outside of their vehicles, talking amongst themselves about their night.

"Man, that was not how I thought tonight was going to go," Ember commented. "My grandmother is not going to believe me…"

"Yeah, things definitely got out of hand," Carrie said before turning to Loona. "I guess we didn't stay out of trouble, did we?"

Loona sighed. "Yeah," she admitted. "It was a… night." However, she smiled while looking at the teens. "But despite that, it was still nice meeting and hanging out with you guys."

"Same here, Loona," Ember replied with a smile. "Come by the Snakeskin Saloon any time."

"Sure, will you all be at the Harvest Moon Festival?" Loona asked.

"Oh you know it, I'm ripped for the Pain Games," Hurston said while flexing his slim, scrawny muscles.

"Yeah, you're flexing alright," Zumi giggled along with Ember and Kajedo.

"But yeah, we'll see you at the festival, Loona," Kajedo said.

"We're psyched for the festival!" Pax and Chat declared.

"I gotta take a long bath after this…" Shawn mentioned, though nobody heard him.

"I'll have to pass on the festival," Max told them with a sigh. "I would love to be there, but I have to go back to Lust, since I don't want my family to get worried because I was gone for too long."

Loona looked over at Max, remembering what Ember said earlier. "Max, um… I heard about… what happened to your sister…"

"Wait, you did?" Max asked and Loona nodded.

"I just want to say I'm sorry for your loss," Loona told her, only for Max to immediately cut in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who says my sister's dead?" Max questioned. "She's just missing. Like, she disappears a lot since quitting her job and getting into this bad crowd. But she'll turn up eventually, she always does, since she's not dead."

"Oh… oh man, I'm sorry, Max," Loona apologized, wondering if Max was in denial.

"Yeah, yeah, it's alright," Max told her, though Loona noticed a flicker of doubt on her face.

"And, um, I owe you an apology," Hurston said after clearing his throat. "I know that some of us gave you a hard time tonight…"

"For being from Pride," Zumi added. "And we just want to say, we're sorry."

"Yeah, you're pretty alright for a city girl," Hurston said, nodding.

"Oh," Loona said, a bit surprised. "Well, thanks. I guess I'll see you all around, right?"

After they said their goodbyes, the other teens got back in their cars and started to drive off. As they did, Kajedo stuck her head out her window to wave at Loona and Carrie. "Bye!" she shouted at them.

A very tired Loona and Carrie started walking back to the house. Since it was dark out, it was difficult to see. But as they got closer, they could get a better look at the house… and they stopped in their tracks, gaping at the house in shock. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

"What happened to my farmhouse?!" Carrie exclaimed, seeing that her farmhouse had been made into a fortress. The entrances were barricaded, there was a ladder by the window, some sheets over the roof and windows, and in the front yard was a cannon, an upside down wagon, and a rather suspicious-looking large bush.

"I'm afraid of what the answer is," Loona said before getting hit by some sticky darts. "Gah! What the-?!"

"Enemy reinforcements! The Alamo must not fall!" Douglas declared as he, Blitz, and Amaroq popped out from the bush, ambushing Loona and Carrie.

"YAAH!" Blitz and Amaroq screamed as they held up water balloons to throw at the two while Douglas shot them with his dart gun.

"Gah! What the hell?!" Loona shouted while taken by surprise along with Carrie.

"I may go to Hell, but I'm not going alone!" Blitz shouted while shooting his water balloon cannon at Loona and Carrie, making them completely wet.

"Blech, what in tar-nation is going on here?!" Carrie demanded.

"We're playing Alamo, Care-Bear," Blitz casually told her.

"Yeah! Think of this as revenge for selling me out, Loona," Amaroq said as she grinned at the older hellhound girl.

Loona and Carrie looked at each other, both of them now soaking wet. "Leaving Dad and Amaroq alone was a mistake," Loona said in a deadpan tone.

"I agree to that," Carrie replied while looking and sounding just as deadpan.


Back in Angerton, the villagers had retreated to their homes and the inn for the night. Many of them were treating this night like it was their potential last night alive. For some, this meant spending time with their families and their loved ones. But this also meant that plenty of people were getting laid…

In the room of one building where the Knights of Hell were crashing, Cain was laying on a bed with his helmet and boxers on. The short imp biker was just outside the door, sticking out her tail with the burn mark for him to see. Her arms and legs then wrapped around the side of the door frame as she slowly revealed herself, making Cain grin behind his helmet. "Ooh, I love your choice."

"Hehe, thanks," she replied, still wearing the helmet while in her black spiked bikini and thong. "I'd like to try out doing it in my helmet, and I see you're still wearing yours."

Cain smirked underneath his helmet. "Well come on in, then," he told her as the imp biker ran over and jumped up, smacking her hands together and diving towards him like she was going into a pool…


"Oh yes~!" Carla moaned as she laid back on the bed after sex, breathing heavily. She was completely naked while next to her was a naked Chase. "You really are the best…"

"I know, but you're just as good," Chase replied while caressing her hips and her bare butt.

"What about me?" Mayor Dirk asked from behind Chase.

"Keep doing your work, Mr. Mayor," Chase told him as Dirk went back to finish his job for Chase. While doing so, Chase grabbed Carla's ankles and spread her legs apart. "Ready to go again?"

"Oh yes," Carla replied as she got in position…


At an empty bar, Moxxie sat alone with a bottle that he poured into a shot glass. He looked at the drink.

"Got one more, partner?" someone asked.

Moxxie turned to see Striker coming over to sit beside him. He nodded and poured a second shot glass. "Drink up," he said while sliding a shot glass to him, which Striker caught. The two drank at the same time and winced as well.

"Strong stuff," Striker said.

"Yeah, heard that this can make your kidney dance if you drink too much of it," Moxxie replied as he looked down with a sigh, which Striker noticed.

"Thinking about tomorrow?" Striker asked him.

"Yeah." Moxxie responded while looking at his glass. "I can't help but think how this will go. Will I succeed? Or will I die fighting for this town? In fact, I've been thinking about all the friends I made up in Pride and my family here in Wrath. I wonder if… I die, how will they know what happened to me?"

"I know the feeling, Mox," Striker responded. "I've been thinking a lot about my son, ever since I tagged along with you. I hope he'll be alright with that boss of yours…"

"I can assure you, Striker, that your son is in good hands," Moxxie reassured him.

"I'm still not so sure how to feel about that Blitz…" Striker admitted.

"He's actually pretty good with kids, honestly," Moxxie said, putting in a good word for Blitz. "He's a single father like you. He raised Loona all by himself after adopting her."

"Hmm… what exactly is the story between him and his daughter?" Striker asked him.

"Well… Blitz saved Loona from a horrible home," Moxxie explained. "Loona had been adopted by a Sinner that was going to kill her and he saved her. Afterwards, he ended up adopting her himself to make sure that nobody would try to hurt her again. He was able to do this thanks to some connections he had and since then, it's been just those two."

"Hmm, he must've had some good connections," Striker noted.

"Yeah…" Moxxie said while looking away from Striker, not sure if he should tell Striker about his boss's connections with Stolas or not. "So, um, how about Douglas? Is there a story for him?"

Striker stared at his own drink. He didn't answer right away, his thoughts elsewhere. "Well… I wasn't married when I conceived him and the mother… isn't around anymore."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that," Moxxie responded. "Do you… want to talk about it?"

Striker's mood suddenly changed and for a moment there was a flash of anger in his eyes as he stood up and turned around to leave.

"Striker?" Mox asked, surprised by this outburst.

"I should get me some bed rest," he said as he calmed himself down. He then paused and turned around. "Goodnight, Mox. Let's all hope for tomorrow."

Despite his confusion, Moxxie gave him a nod. "Goodnight, Striker," he told him as he saw him leave, leaving Moxxie once again alone at the bar.

However, he wasn't alone for too long.

"I was hoping I'd find you here," Momo said as she walked over to sit beside Moxxie, joining him.

"Hey Momo, anything you need?" Moxxie asked her.

"No," Momo said. "Just thought I would check up on you."

"Really?" Moxxie asked. "Honestly, I thought you'd be spending the night with someone like Chase."

"Yeah, but he's already got a girl… and the mayor," Momo replied. "And I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for this town… and for me," she said while reaching out and patting his hand. "I'm still grateful from when you saved me from those apes. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't come to my rescue."

"Don't mention it," Moxxie responded. "It was the right thing to do."

"Well, I'm still very grateful that you stepped in," she said while smiling at him, the softness of her smile making Moxxie blush a little. "Do you… have a place to spend the night, Moxxie?"

"Oh um… I don't think so," Moxxie admitted. "Last night I spent the night at Striker's, and since coming here I haven't taken the time to find a place to sleep. Maybe I'll just sleep in the car…"

"Or… you could share a bed with me tonight?" Momo asked him, catching Moxxie by surprise.

"Um, excuse me?" Moxxie asked, blinking a little.

Momo looked down. "I… don't wish to spend the night alone," she admitted before looking over at Moxxie. "And I think I'd feel safer with you, Moxxie."

"Oh um… this is generous…" Moxxie said while seeing Momo brush her hair from her eyes.

"And I figured that it may give us a chance to… get to know each other better," she added in a husky voice. Moxxie saw that she had loosened the button on her shirt, showing her cleavage. She crossed her legs, getting Moxxie to stare at her thighs from her short skirt, which moved up a little, giving a view of a part of her rear.

In addition to making herself look more attractive to him, her tail also flickered, making her appear more majestic. Moxxie thought about sharing a bed with her… and it did not take him long at all to reach a conclusion.

"Oh what the hell not?" Moxxie asked. "This could be our last night alive. So why not make this a good one?"

Momo smiled as she and Moxxie got up. "I'll show you to my room," she said as she held Moxxie's hand and the two walked away together…


Back at the farmhouse, which was back to normal, everyone was sound asleep except for Loona, who stepped out to get some fresh air. However, she saw that the front door was already open and when she came out from the screen door, she saw Carrie sitting outside.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Carrie asked her, seeing Loona.

"Yeah, just needed some fresh night air," Loona replied as she sat beside Carrie at the bench. Both of them looked up at the night sky. "I almost forgot how lovely the nights here can be."

"Yeah, the weather can be pretty unpredictable… disastrous, even," Carrie said, causing Loona to remember something. "But when it's nice… it's really nice."

Loona looked over at Carrie, wondering if she should bring it up or not. After a moment, she made her decision. "Hey, so… I learned a lot about you guys from Ember," Loona said while looking down. "Like, she told me that Max's sister died. But when I brought it up to her, she said she was just missing. Is she-"

"In denial?" Carrie asked with a sigh. "'Fraid so."

"Did you know her?" Loona asked.

"Max's sister? Oh yeah," Carrie confirmed. "She was a real bitch… but I'm still sad she died. If only because of what her family is going through."

The two were silent for a moment, Loona gathering the courage to ask Carrie what she wanted to ask. "Ember mentioned that you… lost your family. Is that… true?"

Carrie just nodded. "Yes."

"Oh… I'm so sorry, Carrie," Loona said, offering her sympathies.

"Thanks, Loona, I appreciate it," Carrie said while looking at her with a smile before looking down sadly. "Honestly, it is… nice to have people in the farmhouse again. I think I was going crazy being by my lonesome."

"Would you like to… talk about them?" Loona asked her.

"Sure," Carrie said as she began to talk about them. "I had the most wonderful parents and the most wonderful grandma. My mama was tough, but kind and sweet. My daddy was hard-working and looked out for the family, while my granny had that chip on her shoulder. She was brass but generous. I did have a big brother named Jaq and a little sister named Gloom, who'd be even younger than Amaroq if she was still around. Now look, living here in Wrath can be rough. You get used to them. But losing them was still the hardest thing I've ever experienced…"

"How… how did it happen?" Loona asked her.

"A freak storm," Carrie mentioned while looking down. "It came out of nowhere and was one of the worst storms that I've ever seen. The weather can change suddenly like that in Wrath and when it does, it can be very dangerous. We were on the road when the storm hit us and we were turned over." She paused, remembering that night. "I… I saw mom and dad helping granny, and my brother was helping protect my sister. I… I tried to help… but then there was lightning and a ball of fire and… I was the only one who survived that night…"

Shocked to hear this, Loona reached over and gently patted Carrie's back. "That must have been terrible," she said.

"It was," Carrie replied, appreciating Loona's sympathies. "After my loss, I felt completely devastated and… alone. But I wasn't. I had Kajedo, her family, and my other friends, who all helped me through my loss. They helped me keep going."

"Kajedo really is a great friend," Loona said and Carrie nodded in agreement. "I heard… you wanted to leave Wrath, but you decided to stay?"

"Yes," Carrie admitted. "I knew that somebody had to stay here to take care of the farm, since if I lose the farm… I would lose my only connection to my family." She looked down with a sigh. "You know, I've always wanted to be a teacher, but I don't think that'll happen anytime soon… or at all."

"Well… maybe you still could be a teacher," Loona pointed out. "You could get someone to watch over the farm for you. You know, like a farm hand. You can chase after your dream and someone else can take care of the farm."

Carrie nodded. "Yeah. In fact, Kajedo's folks have offered to help, and I have considered their offer. Maybe I will leave Wrath… someday. But right now, I think it's still too soon." She turned to Loona. "Sorry for burdening you with all that."

"It's fine," Loona reassured her. "And honestly… I get it. I've lost family too. I lost my mother, who died giving birth to my baby sister." She paused. "My baby sister later… died and then I got separated from my twin brother."

"And what about your dad?" Carrie asked. "Your biological dad, I mean."

Loona tensed up and lowered her head. "He left the family…"

"Oh… I'm so sorry about that, Loona," Carrie said to her.

"Thanks, and well, I don't really have anything to remember my family by, unlike this farm," Loona said. "So I do understand why you would want to hold onto it. Because I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if I could have a way to better remember my mother." She sighed. "But I do know that I'm luckier than most, thanks to Blitz."

"Yeah, and I'm also lucky, despite my loss," Carrie admitted.

Loona nodded. "So you were unable to leave Wrath because your family died, but were you… upset when Kajedo left Wrath?" she asked.

"Well, I wasn't," Carrie admitted. "Because I knew that she needed to leave."

"Oh, why was that?" Loona asked in confusion, remembering what Ember told her about Kajedo's odd behavior.

Carrie hesitated. "Well… yer gonna have to ask Kajedo that yourself," Carrie told her. "Not my place to say."

"Oh, right," Loona replied. She sat outside with Carrie a bit more before she let out a yawn. "Well, I think we should both turn in for the night."

"Yeah," Carrie agreed as they both got up from the bench. "Goodnight, Loona."

"Night, Carrie," Loona replied as the two headed back inside, turning in for the night.

After ghosts and zombies, sleep was definitely welcomed.


Elsewhere in Wrath, underneath a mountain, there was a cavern filled with life… and death. Dead bodies were the decorations. Bones, skin, organs, and pelts of slain demons were up on display. Whether it be imp, hellhound, or succubi, all were victims of the most brutal army in Wrath, for they were… the Demon Apes.

This tribe of apes were having a feast, gorging themselves on beverage and food that they had collected from towns they had destroyed or pillaged. As they ate, they turned their attention to their leader, who was with a row of other demons who were tied up and awaiting their execution.

"You see these prisoners I've gathered?" asked the gray-reddish Demon Ape who had a skeletal-like face with crooked teeth. He had long black horns, a black leather jacket, and blue jeans. He grabbed one imp and raised him up over his head. "Their latest payment fell short and we all know what happens to those who can't pay!"

"No, please! Have mercy!" the imp cried out before he started screaming incoherently in pain as the leader of the Apes pulled him apart, ripping in half off like he was a stuffed toy. The dead imp's organs and blood splattered around him.

"Tomorrow, we will go to Angerton and wipe out the village for daring to defy us!" the ape shouted while grabbing a Hellhound's jaws and pulling them apart with his bare hands. "They will be made into examples of what happens to those who not only defy us, but to kill our fellow apes! Are we going to take that?!" he demanded before beating another imp prisoner, grabbing his horns and ripping them out before stabbing the prisoner to death with his own horns. "This is what we'll do to their children!"

"YAAAAH!" the imp screamed as he was turned into a bloody mess while the murderous apes cheered.

"And this is what we'll do to their women!" he shouted as he marched over to a succubus, who looked terrified as she tried to back away. However, the ape shoved her to the ground and grabbed her wings.

"No, please stop!" she cried out, only for her wings to get pulled off her back. "YAAAAH!" she screamed before the ape grabbed her face, ripped it off, and lifted it up in the air, causing the Demon Apes to cheer even more.

"We must remind them that we are the top of the Ring! We are the true Wrathians of Wrath!"

"Murdock! Murdock! Murdock!" the apes chanted his name.

Murdock, leader of this band of Demon Apes, formed a grin as they chanted his name. All of Wrath would know his name… and Angerton would pay for insulting him.


Meanwhile, in another part of Wrath, we return to the group of Chernabog cultists from a few chapters ago. Currently, they were having a meeting in their underground lair.

"Alright, thank you, Number 38 for bringing up the bat problem," the robed leader said while everyone else nodded. "And a big thank you to 34 for bringing brownies for everyone." The other cultists nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, those were so good," one said.

"I love brownies," said another cultist.

The leader of the cult raised his hand, silencing the other members. "Now… onto business," he said as he pulled the tarp they were gathered around, revealing that underneath it was a scared older-looking imp woman who was tied up and gagged. Tears stained her eyes as she looked up at the cultists and the leader's knife. The leader pulled off her gag.

"P-please…" the woman begged. "I have a family…"

"Yes, I know," the cult leader said as he raised the knife and prepared to bring it down.

"Wait!" someone shouted.

The cultists turned to see that another hooded figure had shown up for the meeting.

"Who dares interrupt?" the leader demanded as the other cultists pulled their guns out of their robes, aiming them at the newcomer.

"Relax, I am not here to cause trouble," said the voice of Menace. "For you see, I am an admirer of your cult, it reminds me of my own. I wish to become a member!"

"Remove your hood," the cult leader ordered. When Menace did, the cult leader reacted in shock… and disgust. "A hellhound?!"

"Oh, I'm just using this body as a vessel," Menace said while in Pax's body. "It isn't ideal, but this Hellhound was able to read the old tomes, so he's useful."

"So… you're a spirit possessing a body?" the cult leader asked.

"Yes, yes, F.K. Menace, at your service," Menace declared, causing the cult members to gasp and whisper amongst themselves. Menace smiled. "Ah, good. My reputation precedes me. And seeing this cult now, I must say… I think you could use a better quality of sacrifices."

"What's wrong with her?" the cult leader asked, pointing to the terrified imp woman.

"Let me guess, innocent blood?" Menace asked with a sigh. When the cultists were silent for a moment, he shook his head. "Lord Chernabog deserves better than simple peasants. You need to step up from your usual sacrifices in order to appease our true Satan and earn His favor…"

"And… you have some ideas?" the cult leader asked.

Menace grinned. "Oh, I do," he said before he started to laugh, his laughter echoing throughout the cave…


Now that was… thrilling

Starting off, we'll point out the music choices for the chapter. Such as "You Give A Little Love" by Paul Williams for the 1976 film Bugsy Malone. Those who hasn't heard of it, it's a weird film that I saw on Pluto TV, and that it's one of those super rare films not released on DVD if you're not from the UK. Starred a young Jodie Foster as one of her early films same year as Taxi Driver and the original Freaky Friday. It's pretty much child actors playing as 1920s mobsters using pie slingshots as guns, and it's made by the same director of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Second song we used is "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. We even threw in the Thriller dance. Both songs are sung by Kajedo.

For characters, since Ember was visually influenced by Wendy, we decided to give her friends who were influenced by the Gravity Falls teens for this storyline. Hurston to Robbie, Zumi to Tambry, Chat and Pax to Lee and Tate, and Shawn to Thompson. In fact, this chapter is heavily influenced by the Gravity Falls episode "The Inconveniencing", which started out as an idea for a chapter about Loona trying to hang out with Wrath teens, but it eventually evolved into this.

The villain of this chapter, F.K. Menace, is heavily influenced by the Phantom from Phantom Manor, a Frontierland version of the Haunted Mansion, and Ivo Shandor from the Ghostbusters franchise. We've also have the Thriller reference to be a nod to how Vincent Price voiced the Phantom and was in the Thriller music video.

Now we didn't initially plan to have Max here, but since she didn't get to do much in the previous chapter, we thought she could get more screentime here. And the same goes for Chase, since originally the previous chapter was the last time he would be seen in this arc, but we felt like we should show off his fighting abilities, so we decided to have him tag along with Moxxie and Striker.

Blitz, Amaroq and Douglas playing the Alamo is a reference to American Dad, when we figured that be the game they'd be playing in the end.

Review section:

Shuffollower: Well, that is a nice theory on Rubella's part. As for Cain, well he's not the actual Cain, as it's just his alias. Plus, wouldn't the actual Cain be in Pride rather than Wrath?

Matteso585: 1) Yup, which begs the question if she's about as a horrible driver as SpongeBob, or Lola Bunny. 2) As well as Chase. 3) Wrath's a big place, so it'll be a while for him to search for Loona…

cooki15xd: Consider this a second act before the main battle.

Crash X Fusion: It's consensual, don't worry. Though Blitz isn't proud of it.

Ultimate-drax: Glad you like how we handle Chase.

Spantidem7: 1) Um… maybe? He's pretty much an action hero trope personified according to drax. 2) I actually like Zubats so no. 3) That's… a good question, though I don't think they're related to Amphibians. Perhaps they're frog-like. 4) Yeah. 5) That would be interesting to think. 6) No. 7) The Deadly Sins are unconnected to Pandora's Box. 8) Not necessarily. 9) No spoilers.

Gl1ck: Lucifer's reasons was revealed before canon, which is close to the original tale as the story is told before, back in Luz Clawthorne's chapter "Friends in Lower Places."