To the raising champ, the best boxer of all times...
George Foreman, you will be missed.
Chapter 19: The Most Painful Game
A long time ago… in one of Hell's prisons.
One of the worst places in Hell you could wind up is one of its prisons. Not a prison like the prison that Blitz and Moxxie had been in. One of the real prisons of Hell. The ones that you sent the demons you really wanted to have locked away. These prisons were bad. Worse than Tartarus, worse than Guantanamo Bay…
In Hell's prisons, the death toll was high. It was so high that it could rival Wrath Ring's own death toll. Nobody ever got out on good behavior. Every sentence was a life sentence. Or more accurately, a death sentence. In most cases, the only way you left one of these prisons was in a body bag.
These prisons were reserved for the worst of the worst. Those guilty of treason, for example. Or… just those that crossed the wrong demon. If you ever wanted to make sure that one of your enemies was never heard from again, to make it seem like they had disappeared from the face of Hell, you would send them to one of these prisons.
There were several reasons why the death tolls of these prisons were so bad. One of them were the prisoners themselves, since they killed each other at an alarming rate. Others were the guards. Corrupt, abusive, cruel… these were guards that enjoyed every moment of abusing the authority and the power they had been given over these inmates. These guards knew that they could do whatever they wanted to these prisoners and nobody would care.
After all, if somebody cared, why would they be here to begin with?
If there was one certain thing about these prisons… it was that this was no place for a child…
And yet, in one of these prisons, there was a child inmate.
That child… was named Tilphousia.
It was lunch hour and the prisoners had been allowed out of their cells to eat in the mess hall. The food was crap, of course. But most of the prisoners had learned to stop caring about the quality of the slop they had been given, instead just accepting it for what it was, just like they accepted the rest of their situation.
Amongst the prisoners was a young Tilphousia, who looked like she was still in her pre-teens. At the oldest, she might have been in her early teens. She was incredibly short and even though she was wearing the same orange prison jumpsuit everyone else was, she looked very out of place in the prison full of adults.
Yet despite this, most of the prisoners seemed to be staying clear of her. Tilphousia had her own table to herself, with nobody trying to talk to her or even glance at her, instead letting her eat in peace. Of course, there was always the newer prisoners…
"Hey, kid."
Slapping his hands on the table was a large Demon Ape that now stood in front of her. Of course, Tilphousia just ignored the imp and his prison bitch, continuing to eat instead.
"Hey, I'm talking to you here! You gave my boy a black eye this morning!"
"Yeah, it really hurts!" whined an imp with a black eye.
But Tilphousia just continued to ignore them as she ate her food… which only further angered the the Demon Ape.
"I said I was talking to you, ya brat!" he shouted as he grabbed her tray of food, ripping it away from her, and throwing it onto the floor.
This got the attention of the other prisoners, who silently gasped and looked worried as they turned to Tilphousia. Of course, they were not worried about her… they were more worried about the inmates that decided to bully her, while a few of the prisoners just looked thrilled that they were about to get a show…
Tilphousia slowly looked up at the Demon Ape, who flashed her a smile.
"Now that's what I want. Show some respect for your elder-"
He was cut off when she suddenly got up and lunged toward the imp with a feral-sounding cry…
Throughout the prison, an alarm had gone off. Several guards flooded into the cafeteria to check what was wrong. When they got there, they saw the prisoners cheering for Tliphousia, who was beating the shit out of the two demons who had tried to bully her. She had managed to snap off the horn of the imp with the black eye and was now using it to stab the Demon Ape. Eventually, she seemed tired of that and threw the horn away, screaming and hollering as she used her own claws to scratch at the Demon Ape, who screamed in pain as he tried unsuccessfully to get the child off of him. The imp tried to help, but only succeeded in getting Tilphousia to redirect her fury toward him, slamming his face against the table and leaving a bloody mess.
"Calm down! Everyone, back down!" one of the guards shouted. Murder amongst prisoners was one thing, but a potential riot was another and Tilphousia was working the prisoners into a frenzy. He turned to Tilphousia. "Someone take her away!"
The other guards went to grab Tilphousia, pulling her away from the two beaten prisoners as she hissed and clawed at the air, trying to break free. A couple of guards who were on standby watched as she was getting pulled away.
"It's always the newer ones," one guard said with a sigh.
"Do you ever think putting the violent ones in the same place seems counter-productive?" asked the other guard.
"They don't pay us to think, Bill," the guard responded as they watch Tilphousia being pulled away.
"Shyaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Tilphousia screamed.
Angerton, Present Day.
Cain and Tilphousia both fell into the streets, Cain having brought the fight out of Maz's home. They both crashed into the middle of the festival, much to the shock of everyone attending it.
Cain attempted to pin Tilphousia to the ground, to prevent her from using her wings. He was on her back, pushing down on her, but Tilphousia managed to stand up and back into a food stand, hitting Cain against it and making him let go. Cain grunted and looked around, seeing a bunch of Angerton denizens staring at them.
"Run!" he screamed and immediately the imps and other demons began to listen, fleeing from the festival and heading indoors. Cain then turned his attention back to Tilphousia, who turned around and attempted to slash at him with his claws. Cain ducked underneath her claws and then grabbed the side of the food stand, flipping himself behind it. Looking for the nearest weapon, he found a steel barbecue skewer and picked it up just as Tilphousia climbed over the stand, slashing at him with her claws. Cain attempted to block her attacks with the barbecue skewer, but she quickly knocked it out of his hands and Cain was forced to run while looking for another weapon, dashing toward a game stand with some water pistols.
"Shit!" he cried out as Tilphousia marched after him.
"No use in trying to hide you-" Tilphousia was interrupted when she got squirted by water from one of the water pistols, much to her confused annoyance. "What the-?! Do you really think that would stop me?!" she demanded to know.
"Anything goes," Cain said with a shrug before she lunged at him, causing him to dive out of the way as she crashed into the stand. Cain kept moving, all the while glancing around him to make sure that people were getting off the streets. Right now, he was just trying to buy time.
Cain grabbed a nearby barrel, checked to make sure nobody was hiding it in, and then threw it at her, but Tilphousia easily hit it away. She then lunged at him while Cain pulled off the top of another barrel while kicking the rest of the barrel toward her. Tilphousia leapt over the barrel and slashed at Cain, but he blocked her claws using the barrel top as a shield. She sank her claws into the barrel top, but then Cain lifted the barrel top over his head, surprising Tilphousia as she was lifted with the barrel top and sent crashing into another stand.
Cain took a moment to catch his breath as he saw Tilphousia rising up from the remains of the stand. "You're pretty tough, for… whatever you are," he said.
"And you're pretty tough as well," Tilphousia admitted as she stalked toward Cain. "No demon has ever lasted this long against me… well, no normal demon," she said as she looked at Cain… and frowned. "A Goetian…"
Cain saw the look on her face and he backed away slightly. "Um… if I was a Goetia demon… what would be your feelings towards that…?"
Her tone immediately darkened. "Pissed."
In a flash, she was suddenly in front of Cain, moving faster than Cain could react as she used her knee to kick him in the stomach with enough force to send Cain flying, causing him to hit the target never to the dunk tank, dunking the mayor into the water.
"Cain! Are you alright, my boy?!" Dirk asked Cain as he climbed out of the water tank. "What is going on?"
Cain groaned as he got up, rubbing his head as he saw Tilphousia stalking toward him. He turned to the mayor. "Get everyone inside, I'll try to get her out of town!"
He saw Tilphousia coming at him and Cain charged back at her. As she used her wings to lunge at him , Cain actually dove beneath her, sliding across the ground and grabbing her by the ankle, Tilphousia gasping in surprise as Cain threw her through several tents that had been up for the festival, bringing each tent down.
Mayor Dirk turned to Momo, who ran up to him. "Are you alright, Dirk?" she asked while wielding a rifle.
"I'm fine, but we need to get everyone inside!" Dirk declared.
"Do you know what is going on?" Momo asked.
"No…" Dirk admitted. "But for now, we should let Cain take care of it."
As Dirk and Momo went to sound the alarm, the festival had already mostly been evacuated, which meant that the streets were empty except for Cain and Tilphousia. The latter heard a whimper and she turned to spot some of the townsfolk peeking through the windows, scared of her. While she was looking at them, Cain took advantage of her distraction and punched her across the face, knocking her back. Angrily, Tilphousia lashed back with her claws, Cain taking some slashes and hits. However, Cain remained standing despite this.
"You really are a Goetia," Tilphousia growled.
"Look, why don't we take the fight away from the town?" Cain asked her. "This fight is between you and me, not them! These people are innocent!"
"Nobody in this pit is innocent!" Tilphousia screamed as she charged at him again, their fight taking them across the festival, destroying many stands and tents in the process…
Cain tried his best to dodge her claws while they crashed through a food stand. As he struggled against her, he noticed a nearby pot of boiling water and he grabbed it, flinging the boiling water in her face.
"YAAAAH!" Tilphousia shouted in pain as he let go of Cain, who then swung the now empty pot at her, hitting her several times. However, not even throwing boiling water seemed to slow her down for long, since she recovered quickly and knocked the pot out of his hands while hissing angrily and kicking her away from him. Cain grabbed some nearby food and threw it her, but obviously pelting her with food was less effective than throwing boiling water at her so Tilphousia just grabbed him, sinking her claws into him and making him cry out in pain as she used her wings to lift them up before slamming him down into a picnic table, destroying it in the process. While Cain was groaning in pain, Tilphousia still held onto him as she picked him up and slammed him head-first into a stand for a carnival game.
"Really wish I was wearing my helmet about now," Cain groaned as he eyes fell upon one of the stuffed animals being used for prizes. Before he could wonder if that would make a good gift for Alice or not, Tilphousia slammed him into the stand again, this time bringing the entire thing down on him, burying him in the rubble.
While she waited to see if Cain would climb out or not, she looked around, noticing a few stragglers still in the streets. She then noticed one of the stuffed animals at her feet. She bent down and picked it up, staring at it for a moment with a face that was difficult to read… before growling and tearing it in half, getting its stuffing everywhere.
"Hey!" Cain shouted as he pulled himself out of the wreckage of the stand. "That is no way to treat a stuffed toy!"
And so their fight resumed, Cain trying to lead Tilphousia away from anyone still in the streets as he tried to make sure that no one was hurt during their fight. At one point, Tilphousia lifted up an entire table that was used to show off some local art and threw it at her, prompting him to dodge it as it instead crashed near a tent where someone was still hiding, prompting that demon to shout and run off.
"You can't dodge me forever, Goetia!" Tilphousia shouted before she managed to tackle Cain, sending them both crashing through a window and into a store.
"Damn," Cain grunted as he managed to kick Tilphousia off him and knock her back. "And we had already replaced that window once."
He paused to catch his breath, looking around to make sure that the store was empty as he saw Tilphousia getting up. For a moment, the two just glared at each other.
"Okay," he said as he took some breaths while trying to get a good look at her. "What even are you? Are you some type of succubus?" he asked before dodging a basket of fruit thrown at him. "A cambion?" he asked before Tilphousia threw a grocery cart at him, forcing him to duck down. "You're definitely not an Infestor…"
Suddenly his eyes widened in realization as he figured out not only what Tilphousia was… but who she was and he stared at her in disbelief.
"Wait… Tilly?" he asked her, causing Tilphousa's eyes to widen.
It had been years since she had last heard anyone call her that… and hearing that nickname coming out of his mouth didn't just make her angry. It made her furious.
"How do you know that name?!" Tilly demanded to know as she charged towards him.
She pounced at him, knocking them both out of the store and causing them both to fall back into the streets. Cain quickly got up and saw her charging at him again. She brought her claws down on her and Cain attempted to dodge them, only for her to slash at his back. Cain winced in pain, but used the momentum of his body to throw a punch at her, knocking her back.
Cain tried to reason with her. "Tilly, you don't have to-"
"Stop saying that name!" Tilly screamed at him. "Who told you that name?!"
"If you calm down, we can talk about-"
Unfortunately, Tilly was obviously in no condition to calm down. She grabbed a discarded pole that had been used to support one of the stands and she threw it at Cain, who stepped to the side and caught the pole mid-air. He then held up the pole as she leapt up in the air to kick him, Cain blocking her kick with the pole. Tilly launched herself off the pole and landed back on the ground, but Cain then thrusted the pole at her like a lance, hitting her in the chest and stomach. Tilly gasped before grabbing the pole and ripping it away from Cain. She lunged at him and managed to sink her claws into his shoulder, but Cain twisted his body away from her before punching her hard enough to get her to let go.
Cain was breathing hard as he noticed that his shoulder was bleeding. But despite his injury, he brought his fists together and hit her in the chin, knocking her further back. "You really need to stay down," he said, hoping she would listen.
Tilly, however, only seemed to be more angry than ever, glaring at him with a mix of anger and hatred. She got ready to charge at him again… only to get tackled from the side by Jawline.
"Hut, hut!" Jawline shouted as he knocked Tilly in the side, causing her to crash into a melon cart. He turned to his boss. "Cain! You alright?"
"This is nothing," he said while showing that he wasn't bleeding out. "But what the hell took you so long? I've been fighting her for several minutes!"
"Sorry, I… was finishing up a drink," Jawline admitted before looking at Tilly. "But what the hell are we dealing with?"
"Tilphousia," Cain explained as they both saw her getting back up. "She's… a Fury."
"Fury?!" Jawline exclaimed in shock. "But… I thought they were all dead!"
Hearing this, Tilly growled. "Well lucky for you, I'm the last one…" She then pointed at Cain accusingly. "Because of demons like him!"
"That true?" Jawline asked while glancing at Cain.
"Yeah… pretty much," Cain admitted as Tilly screamed and launched herself at the two Knights.
Cain and Jawline teamed up to face off against the last Fury, who swiped her claws at Jawline, who held up his weapon to try to block her attack. Surprising him, Tilly slashed her claws through his weapon, breaking it apart before kicking him to the curb. Cain, however, managed to grab her from behind and give her a German Suplex, slamming her head against the ground. But Tilly was not down and out, since she wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped him over. Seeing Jawline getting back up and charging at her, the Fury quickly let go of Cain and jumped up, spreading her wings as she flew up into the air.
Jawline and Cain looked up to see that Tilly had landed on a rooftop. She began to walk on the rooftop, pacing back and forth while looking down at them.
"You're… not what I expected," she admitted while eyeing Cain.
"What were you expecting?" Cain asked.
"Some Hellborn demon who thinks he can play with the big boys," Tilly admitted. "Not… a Goetia demon." She tilted her head, looking genuinely curious. "Just what are you doing down here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Cain pointed out. "Why don't you come down and we can exchange backstories?"
Tilly just smirked before she leapt off the roof and landed on the ground hard with enough force to create a cloud of dust. She had landed in-between Cain and Jawline and she leapt up, kicking at both of them and forcing them back. She then began swiping at both Knights, switching between attacking Cain and attacking Jawline, forcing them both to keep their guard up and preventing them from properly coordinating. She eventually used her tail to swipe at Cain's feet, surprising him and knocking him off-balance, which allowed her to kick him so hard that it sent him crashing into a cart.
"Alright, that's enough out of you!" Jawline shouted as he snapped at Tilphousia, who managed to dodge his jaws. "I'll rip you to two if I had to!"
Tilly smirked and jumped towards him, slashing him across his eyes, and making them bleed.
"AAAAH! My eyes!" Jawline cried out before Tilly slashed at him several more times, forcing him to his knees. He then felt her claws digging through his snout. "Fuck!"
"Got your nose," Tilly said as she brought up her claws…
SLASH!
Cain had gotten up from the cart and his eyes widened when he saw what had just happened. "JAWLINE!"
Jawline's body fell to the ground. But his body was lacking something. It was lacking something that Tilly was now holding up in her hand. She turned to Cain, giving him a smirk before holding up a head…
"Heads up," she said mockingly before throwing Jawline's head to the ground. It rolled towards a horrified Cain, who stared down in horror at the head of his dead friend…
"Jaw…" Cain gasped, covering his mouth as he realized that one of the last Knights of Hell… one of the first Knights of Hell under his command… was dead… and as he proceeded this Tilly spoke up.
"I wonder what it was like to have a life like his, a life that was… so meaningless," Tilly scoffed as she looked at Cain.
"You killed him…" Cain muttered.
"Of course I did!" Tilly shouted while rolling her eyes. "Please, it wasn't like he was someone innocent. I know your rep. What you 'Knights of Hell' do. He had it coming…"
This riled up Cain, who shut his eyes as he tightened his fists. He then opened his eyes again, his expression twisting into anger…
"Oh, now that's what I have been looking for!" Tilly smirked as she got into a fighting stance. "I'm going to enjoy-"
Before she could finish, Cain suddenly charged at her, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye as his blue eyes seemingly glowed.
PUNCH!
Tilly was punched so hard that it sent her flying down the street. She crashed into the ground and tried to get up… only to cover her mouth before vomiting out blood. She had not been expecting him to hit her that hard. She looked back up at Cain, only to see him charging at her again.
"YAAAAH!" he shouted, his eyes still glowing as he managed to land several punches across Tilly's face. Tilly still tried to fight back, bringing out her claws, but he grabbed both of her wrists before she could touch him. Tilly gasped as she stared at a pissed off Cain, who pulled his head back before bringing it back to headbutt her in the face, smashing her nose.
"Fuck!" Tilly shouted before Cain used his hold on her wrists to throw her in the air before slamming her back on the ground. He then let go of her and went to grab her leg. He then began to swing her own body around like a ragdoll, much like she had done with Moxxie. When he was done tossing her around, he roared and threw Tilly down before pouncing on her, using his own claws to swipe at her as he pummeled her to the ground.
Tilly attempted to fight back, but Cain was done with her shit and had officially lost his as he grabbed her horns and used that grip to bash her head repeatedly against the ground. He then let go of her horns and began to punch her over and over again, wanting to make her hurt for killing his friend…
Cain's anger continued to grow, his eyes still glowing blue as he unleashed his wrath on Tilly. After thoroughly pounding her to a pulp, he looked around and noticed a discarded, broken pole on the ground. Probably one that had been used to hold up the now destroyed tents. Panting heavily, he got up and walked over to the broken pole, picking it up and walking back over to the now unconscious Tilly, who he glared down at as his grip on the pole tightened.
"It would be so easy to just… end you here and now!" he roared as he thrusted the broken jagged end of the pole towards Tilly's face. "YAAAH!"
Only… the pole didn't hit Tilly's face.
Instead, Cain had just stabbed the pole through the ground next to the head of the unconscious Tilly. The pole had missed her face… but it had been no accident.
Instead, Cain let go of the pole and fell to his knees next to Tilly, the glow in his eyes dying down as he managed to calm down. Breathing hard, he looked over at the dead body of Jawline, then back at the unconscious body of Tilly. He then looked down at himself and noticed that his fur was stained with blood… both his and hers.
"F-fuck!" Cain gasped.
Meanwhile, back in Ragetown, the Pain Games had officially begun.
"For everyone just tuning into the Harvest Moon Festival now, welcome to the Pain Games!" a voice announced. "And here's one of your commentators for this year's Pain Games, the second place runner-up of the Death Race: Twitch!"
At the commentator stand, Twitch was wearing a yellow jacket. He smiled at the camera, cleared his throat… and spoke for the first time.
"Greetings and salutations, everyone," the Hellhound said in a very dignified manner. "I am Twitch and I was given the honors of being one of your commentators for this year's Pain Games because of me coming in second place during the Death Race. And I was happy to do so, if only as an excuse to stretch my throat muscles. Ever since the demise of my employer, Scary Mary, I've been going through therapy sessions to help recover my ability to speak again and as you can tell, they were quite successful," he declared. "But I won't be alone today, since I'll be hosting along with my co-commentator." He pointed to his co-host, who turned out to be Marlon wearing the same yellow jacket as him, much to the confusion of Twitch. "Wait, who are you?" he asked in surprise.
"The name's Marlon," the hellcat introduced himself. "I'll be yer co-host this here's Pain Games. Nice to meet'cha."
"How peculiar," Twitch commented. "What happened to the original co-host?"
"Oh, he had to call in sick so I had to step in to fill in for him," Marlon explained. "Probably had the runs…"
Meanwhile, the original co-commentator was tied up and gagged while inside of an outhouse.
'Get me out of here!' he muffled through his gag.
Twitch looked at Marlon, who was just smiling, before shaking his head and holding up his mic. "Alright, well, it looks like me and Marlon will be hosting these Pain Games together then. Why don't we meet and greet the contestants?"
"Oh, I look forward to that!" Marlon declared as he held up his mic. "Let's go meet our Pain Game competitors!"
"Our first contestant to meet is this young demon," Twitch said as he and Marlon walked down the line-up of contestants. They stopped in front of Hurston. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
"Yo, the name's Hurston!" the imp teenager introduced himself. "I'm here to show off my awesome skill set during the Pain Games!"
"Wow! You must be brave to participate in a deadly event like this!" Marlon told Hurston. "Or stupid, or potentially psychotic."
"You know those options aren't mutually exclusive, right?" Twitch pointed out.
"Wow, so he really did it," Ember commented while with her friends in the crowd. "I honestly thought he was just full of hot air, but he actually signed up for the Pain Games." She paused for a brief moment. "You think he'll survive?"
"Probably not…" Zumi admitted while looking worried for him.
"Woo-hoo! Go Hurston!" Chat and Shawn cheered.
"So that's Hurston?" Amaroq asked Loona.
"Yeah, that's Petey's nephew," Loona replied before noticing Petey away from the rest of the crowd. "And it looks like his uncle has already prepared a coffin for him…"
Petey was laying out several coffins for the various competitors, labeling Hurston's name on one of them. "You never know," he said with a wheezing snicker.
Jack looked over at the coffin and at Petey. He gulped slightly. "That guy gives me the creeps..."
"Alright, our next contestant is a local who is well known around here as-"
"Gimme dat mic!" a tall, sangria-colored imp-succubus hybrid woman with a thick southern drawl shouted as she grabbed the mic away from Twitch. She had dark pupils over her yellow sclera eyes and thin white striped black horns that curled around and stuck out from her black unkempt hair. She was covered in white marks from her hands to around her arms, her bare, narrow stomach, muscular-toned legs, and bare feet along with her black wings and her heart-shaped tail, which had a piece missing. She wore a green crop top and blue tattered short-shorts that complimented her hourglass figure. "Da name's Peach Cream, and yes, mah ass is that peachy!"
"My, what a forward contestant you are," Marlon commented. "Can you tell us about yourself, Ms. Cream?"
"And can I get my mic back…?" Twitch asked.
"Why cert'nly, sugah," Peach Cream said while placing her hands on her hips, answering Marlon but ignoring Twitch. "Ah'm as tough 'round here in deese parts of Wrath. I run a livestock farm where I keep da company of mah hellpigs around. Yes, d'ey hold better conversations dan a cactus in a barbershop! I even brought along my prize-winning hog here to watch me wipe out dese folks here!" She waved to the hellhog among the crowd. "Soowee! Peggy! Ovah here!"
Among the crowd was a hellpig who, for some reason, wore an eye patch and a peg leg.
"So have you competed in the Pain Games before, Ms. Cream?" Twitch asked her as he finally got his mic back.
"As many times dis ol' gal can count!" Peach replied. "But I survived t'rough deese games 'cause I'm as stubborn as a goat drinkin' at a bar!"
Carrie just rolled her eyes at Peach Cream. "Great… her of all folks."
"You know her, Care?" Loona asked her.
"Unfortunately," Carrie responded with a groan. "Peach Cream is a neighbor of mine, but she likes to get rough and bully anyone she can to prove she's the toughest in town."
"It's true," Shawn voiced. "She wouldn't stop giving me noogies and yanking my wool around,"
"Not to mention all the throw downs and wrestling she puts on us," Ember said with a sigh. "Poor Hurston, he'll have to deal with her…"
"Alright, our next contestants are a trio of trouble-makers," Twitch said as he moved over to Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas, who received some boos from those in the crowd that recognized them. "From what I understand, although the Pain Games are usually every demon for themselves, teams and alliances are not unheard of and it seems like these imps have entered the Games together."
"Got some names to share with the crowd?" Marlon asked them.
"The name's Scorch," Scorch introduced himself. "And the rest of my gang are Gnat and Brutas."
"We're the roughest, toughest, and most cutthroat gang in this here's part of Wrath!" Gnat declared with a wild holler.
"Yeah, we're here to pound the competition! Right, Scorch?" Brutas said.
"That's a way to put it," Scorch said with a smirk as he looked over at Millie, who glared back at him. "We're going to show these yellow-bellies just what true imps are…"
"Oh shit, it's those three," Ember said, recognizing them and shooting them a glare.
"You know those three?" Loona asked.
"They used to come in and out at the Snakeskin from time to time to cause trouble." Ember said with a groan. "That Scorch guy always tried to stab our patrons whenever he thought they were cheating at cards… or just when he was losing. That old Gnat used to shoot up holes at our ceilings and Brutas kept breaking tables. Eventually Granny got tired of their crap, kicking them out and banning them from the Saloon…"
"Yeah, they've been hanging around the town lately and have been nothing but trouble," Carrie added. "But I doubt they'll win the Pain Games. Don't buy their talk. They're not nearly as good as they would like to think they are…"
"Our next team is a duo of competitors I've been dying to, uh, meet!" Marlon declared as he jumped up to Patricia and Park. "And what do you two call yourselves?"
"Well introductions are in order," Patricia declares as she strikes a pose "Trouble is in our name…"
"And we're here to play the games," Park states while crouching down with his arms raised up.
"Uh, what's happening…?" Twitch asked, weirded out by Pat and Park's introduction.
"To rob away the smiles from the children of Hell!" Patricia declared
"We'll jump from train to train to steal all that is well," Park added.
"Call me… Patricia!" Patricia shouted, crossing her hands in a wing position while introducing herself.
"And I'm Park!" Park shouted, introducing himself as well.
"And we're the Rocking Robbers!" Patricia added. "And we'll rob the Pain Games out from right below your feet!"
"Give up now, cause we're here to cheat!" Park shouted before correcting himself. "I mean, to beat!"
The audience were left with confused looks on their faces, not sure what to make of this. Even the other contestants were left confused while Blitz just gave them a deadpan look.
"Well, ain't that right?" Marlon commented while giving a wink at the two. "I think I found my favorite contestants!"
"What… did I just watch?" Zumi asked in confusion.
"A couple of theater school dropouts, I assume," Ember commented.
"Aren't those the train robbers that robbed us back when we were riding with Kajey?" Amaroq asked Loona.
"Wait, y'all know those two?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah, along with Marlon," Loona admitted. "Dad apparently used to be part of their gang…"
"I ain't surprised by that, honestly," Carrie confessed.
"Yeah," Douglas agreed.
"Well, moving on is someone who you might be familiar with from the Death Race, a fellow racer of mine," Twitch said as he moved up to Mustang, who received a lot of booing from the audience. "Good old Prick Mustang, how have you been since the race?"
"Doing good, my old racing colleague," Prick declared while ignoring all of the booing he was receiving. "I happened to still be in the Wrath Ring when I heard about these Pain Games and I couldn't resist another competition! Wherever there's a competition to be won, I will be there to do whatever it takes to win! Already I've cooked up some deviant plans for these games…"
This earned even more boos from the crowd, causing Prick Mustang to smile and wave at his 'adoring' audience.
"My, it looks like our audience already have very strong feelings toward Mr. Mustang, don't they?" Marlon asked Twitch.
"Hmm, indeed," Twitch replied.
"Oh, not to worry, I am here to play the games fair and square," Mustang claimed while having his fingers crossed behind his back.
"By the way, where is your partner, Guttley?" Twitch asked.
"Oh, I wanted him to join me, but he was barred from entering," Mustang explained. "Apparently Hellhounds aren't allowed to participate in the Pain Games."
"Or hellcats," Marlon muttered under his breath.
"So it's just going to be me," Prick continued. "Which is probably for the best, since he doesn't like to be the center of attention all that much."
"He's so going to cheat, isn't he?" Ember asked.
"I'd only be surprised if he doesn't," Carrie said with a nod.
"Yeah," Loona nodded in agreement. "Although I do have noticed something about a lot of the contestants. Peach Cream, Scorch, Brutas, Gnat, Patricia, Park, Prick Mustang… what a really rotten bunch…"
Meanwhile, in a different part of town, Tex and Kajedo were both walking around the Harvest Moon Festival together, taking the time to catch up with each other.
"I did tell Andy and the others about the Death Race," Tex mentioned. "I still can't believe Loona did that."
"Yeah, me neither," Kajedo admitted. "It was so crazy and that wasn't the only crazy thing that happened while I was down here with Loona."
"Really?" Tex asked, curious. "What else have you been up to?"
"Well, the day after the Death Race, I invited Loona to hang out with me, Carrie, Max, and the rest of our friends here. I thought I would show her what Wrath teens do for fun! And we ended up going into Menace Manor!"
"The Menace Manor?" Tex asked her with his eyebrow raised. "That sounds like a place no one should be at…"
"Okay, yeah," Kajedo admitted. "In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea. Especially since Shawn ended up being possessed by this Menacing Menace ghost."
"Ghost?" Tex asked, intrigued. "How does a ghost in Hell work?"
"No idea," Kajedo said with a shrug. "Cult shit, I guess. He did try to kill us while in Shawn's body, but we managed to escape the house, dance with a bunch of zombies, and drive Menace out of Shawn once and for all."
"Really? Sounds like you guys had quite the adventure," Tex admitted. "Although how is Shawn doing after all of that?"
"Oh, he's still kinda shaken up, but he's doing better at least," Kajedo answered. "Though I think Pax may be the most traumatized from all of that. He didn't show up at the Festival at all, which is a bit odd."
"Huh, that does sound weird, I hope Pax is doing okay," Tex said. "What about Max? Is she still in Wrath?"
"No," Kajedo admitted, a hint of sadness in her tone. "I at least got to introduce her to Loona, but she's back in Lust right now."
"How about your family?" Tex asked. "Are they doing okay?"
"Oh yeah, they're doing alright!" Kajedo declared, perking up at the mention of her family. "They're still working at the quarry, of course! And my ma, pa, and sisters are still the same, but I wouldn't want to change anything about them… even if Opal is still with Sticks, unfortunately," she said, her tone briefly annoyed. "But at least I know that she's with a boyfriend who makes her as happy as you make me!" She reached over to take Tex's paw in her own, squeezing it lovingly. "As for my other sisters, Rocksie is still the same old workaholic who is super serious all the time and Petra's still her shy and silent little self, although she did actually talk when I brought Loona and her family over to meet my family. That was fun, although I was really disappointed when I learned that I had missed out on a trip to the circus with Loona! Turns out that she, her dad, and Amaroq had gone to the circus the other day and I missed it! That would have been so much fun, especially since I can't remember the last time that I went to the circus. I don't think I ever went with my family, but I do think that I've gone on my own at least a few times by myself. Oh, maybe we could go together after the Festival. I would love to see the clowns, the acrobats, the animal tamers, the knife throwers… ooh, and the snacks! Like popcorn and cotton candy and-"
"Uh, Kajey," Tex said, getting Kajedo to turn to him.
"Yes, Texy?" Kajedo asked.
"You're, uh, straying away from the conversation again," Tex said to her gently, trying to get her back on track.
"Oh, sorry," Kajedo realized while rubbing the back of her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I guess I just got a bit too overly excited and when I get overly excited I just keep talking and talking and-" She stopped herself and rested on his arm. "I missed you, Texy," she admitted.
Tex smiled and wrapped his arm around Kajedo. "I've missed you too, Kajey."
Kajedo smiled, grateful to have him with her. Grateful that he was able to follow her rambling and keep her on track. Grateful that he never found her annoying or grating. "I guess what I was trying to say," she said. "Is that my family is honestly doing good. Oh, and they have a new house guest right now who is helping out around the quarry."
"Really? Who?" Tex asked in surprise.
"His name's Bob. He's a Hellhound but he's not part of Barkersfield," she explained. "He's a drifter. He didn't have a place to stay and I invited him to our home when I saw that he was hungry, and my parents allowed him to stay with them as long as he helped out around the quarry. So my parents get some extra help and Bob gets a place to stay and food to eat."
"That was very kind of you and your folks to help him out," Tex commented.
"Aw, it was nothing," Kajedo said with a dismissive wave. "I just… did what I always do. But enough about me, tell me about how you've been? Like how are things back up at Pride, how has working with Verosika been, and most importantly of all… how's your family doing?" she asked. "I want to know everything you've been up to."
"Well, things up in Pride are just a bit of the same, especially in the Dog Park," Tex admitted. "Miss Pepsy and her pups are doing well as usual. Andy and her sis, Polly, are doing well. They said hey, by the way."
"Ooh, how nice of them!" Kajedo replied, giving him a nudge and wink. "Has Andy kept you company while I was away?"
"You know it," Tex replied with a chuckle. "She also scored big from betting on Jessie Baskerville in the Death Race. We even threw a party to celebrate."
"Ooh, now that I wish I was there to see that!" Kajedo shouted, her tail wagging. "And congrats to Andy! Hopefully she can start her own shop soon!"
"Yeah, she deserves that much, at least," Tex replied. "As for my time working with Verosika, it's been great. I have mostly just been tagging along with Verosika while she attends public events. You know, stuff like fan signings. I have been helping her to keep the creeps at bay."
"That sounds like the perfect job for you," Kajedo told him. "But what is Verosika really like? Behind closed doors, I mean."
"Well, she cares a lot about her image," Tex admitted. "But… she is also kinda chill when she's not in public, although I still take things seriously when I am on-the-clock. I have also been spending a lot of time with her posse and they are good demons as well. All of them, including Verosika, were all very welcoming when I was starting out. One of the members of her posse even has a kid, Ryan. I help watch over him for his dad whenever Verosika and her posse are busy at the recording studio. But he is a cool little dude, so I don't mind spending time with him."
"Wow, you are gonna have to go into the specifics later, Tex," Kajedo told him. "But for now I'm super proud of my big man for doing a good job in protecting our favorite pop star!"
"Yeah, and Verosika's actually a really decent boss," Tex admitted. "As for my family, they're doing pretty good and when I told them about my new job with Verosika, they were all shocked at me for working under Verosika and proud of me for getting a steady job. But you should have seen the look on Cy's face when I told them."
"Like this?" Kajedo asked as she made a 'shocked' face.
"Ye-heah, that's the look," Tex said with a chuckle as Kajedo chuckled as well. "All in all, the fam's are doing fine."
"Well, I'm glad they're doing well and that you're doing well!" Kajedo shouted, jumping for joy.
"Yeah, and I'm glad to hear that you're doing well too," he mentioned. "I like to hear that you've been having a good time with Loona down here."
"Yeah…" Kajedo replied before her expression changed. A small frown appeared on her face and her gaze became more… serious. "Well, to be honest, it hasn't been all good during my time in Wrath," she said while hugging herself.
Tex looked over at her in surprise as though he couldn't believe the words he was hearing leaving her mouth. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, sure I love visiting here with my family, seeing my friends again, and spending more time with Loona… but…" She looked down. "I don't really care for the Wrath Ring itself. I… will admit that I'm looking forward to finally leaving here."
Tex was still surprised to hear this coming from Kajedo of all demons. "Really? Is… this how you feel about here?"
Kajedo looked up to him and gave a sigh. "Tex, I… I hate it here. Wrath may be my home, but… I'm not terribly fond of this place at all. I'll admit, I should've told you that a long time ago..."
"What prompted you to tell me now?" Tex asked her in concern, knowing that he should be taking this absolutely seriously.
"Remember when I mentioned that Petra talked while I had Loona and her family over?" Kajedo recalled and Tex nodded. "Well… it was during family dinner and Petra revealed to everyone that the reason I moved to Pride… is because I hated it here. I got upset, but… she was right. And I told Loona this when she went to check up on me. I told her that while I love my family, while I love Carrie, I hated growing up here. The prejudice, the death, the warlords, the weather, the freaky weather…" She sighed. "I've never told you this before, but I never felt like I belonged down here. I needed to leave. I couldn't bear spending the rest of my life here."
Tex nodded in concern, listening to Kajedo as she poured out her heart to him. "You seemed really excited when you decided to visit Wrath to help out Loona," he pointed out.
"I know," Kajedo admitted. "And I lied. I've been lying for years about how I really feel. And I continued to lie while I was down here with Loona since I wanted to make her time in Wrath better, to paint the Ring in the best light possible. Because I didn't want her to be miserable like I was, since I knew better than anybody else how much the Wrath Ring… how much it sucks, especially when you're a Hellhound."
"It is that bad, huh?" Tex asked.
Kajedo nodded weakly. "I usually pretend like it doesn't get to me… but it does," she revealed. "One example is something that happened earlier during the Festival, before I ran into you. I was with Loona and Carrie and this adorable imp girl came up and started hugging Loona's tail. She was so cute, but then her mother came up to get her… and she was afraid of me and Loona. Afraid of having her daughter near us just because we're Hellhounds."
"I… I know what that is like," Tex admitted, thinking of the recent example of Sheer, Verosika's agent, being scared of him.
"Of course you do," Kajedo said with a sigh. Then she paused, looking thoughtful. She looked up at Tex. "I didn't want to, at first, show this kind of side of myself. To you, to Loona, to anyone. Because I didn't think that this is what demons wanted to see. They want the carefree party hound that never lets anything bother her. Not a sad, lonely farm girl who is terrified of losing her friends if they saw the real her… who is terrified of losing you." She gave a small smile. "Tex… I'm the happiest when I'm with you."
Tex gave a small smile in return. "Kajedo, I-"
"Wait, let me finish," Kajedo said as she took a deep breath. "Loona… Loona told me that I don't have to hide this side of myself… and she was right." She smiled softly, thinking back to her talk with Loona. "And I want to take the right lesson away from that. From now on, I want to be… I want to be more real with you, not just a party hound that plays off all of her problems. I… hope that's okay with you…"
Tex's answer was immediate.
"You kidding? Of course I won't mind, Kaje," Tex assured her as he reached out to hold her while the two looked at each other. "Kajedo, I am on board with you no matter what. And I actually love that you trust me enough to show this side of you to me."
"You're… not mad at all?" Kajedo asked. "That I've been hiding this from you all this time?"
Tex shook his head. "Never," he told her. "And I'm fine that you want to be more real with me. Whenever you want to talk about something like this… I'm here. Because I love you."
Kajedo gave a heartfelt smile, her tail wagging as she heard those words. "Oh, thanks Texy!" she shouted as she leapt into him and gave him a tight hug, Tex hugging her back. "I love you too…"
"It really does sound like you and Loona have been through a lot," Tex said after they had let go of the hug. "Anything else that you want me to know about?"
Kajedo thought about it before remembering something else. "Well… there is one thing," she admitted. "Loona helped me realize something else…" She looked down, her face getting flustered. "I think… I like Loona."
This didn't surprise Tex. He knew that his girlfriend 'liked' a lot of other demons. But he also knew that there were different levels of 'like'. "Like? As in…?" he asked.
"Well, it's not just in a 'you're really hot' kind of way," Kajedo admitted. "Not just an attraction. But… I think I have a real crush on her."
Once again, Tex didn't look surprised by this, nor did he look upset. Instead, he gave her a supportive smile. "I kinda had the feeling," he admitted. "That if you didn't already have a crush on her, that you would develop one at some point. How about you tell me about it?" he offered. "Like, how did it start?"
Kajedo smiled and began. "Well…"
"And what can you tell us about yourself, Mr…" Twitch said as he looked at Blitz in confusion before reading the name on the card he had been given. "Blitzkrieg Ballroom?"
"Yup! Blitzkrieg Ballroom's the name," Blitz replied with his fake name. As if his disguise wasn't already obvious, his name was also obviously fake. "I came from out of town and was visiting with my kids! Yup, I come from the Ballroom family, who, uh, host a lot of ballrooms back down in, uh, Sloth!"
"So, uh, what'chu aiming to achieve with these games, Mr. Ballroom?" Marlon asked, playing along with Blitz's cover up.
"Well, I am not just here to impress everyone with my skills or anything, mainly I'm here for those War Ponies!" Blitz declared before quickly correcting himself. "To give to my kids, of course!"
Loona groaned at her dad's introduction. He really couldn't be more obvious with his obsession for horses and ponies.
"Wow, is he really that into those ponies?" Zumi asked.
"Yeah, it's kind of his thing," Amaroq responded to the teen.
"Just kill me now…" Loona muttered, her face in her hands.
Meanwhile, back in Angerton, Cain was sitting down while being treated for his wounds by some of the townsfolk.
"Wow, she sure banged you up a lot," the townsie said while treating Cain's wounds on his back
"I heal quickly," Cain responded as he sat down, allowing them to treat his wounds. He looked around at the wrecked Harvest Moon Festival and sighed. "I apologize for ruining the festival. I tried to get the fight out of the town…"
"Honestly, we're kinda used to it at this point," Gigi said as she flew over. "Although I am surprised that all of this was done by one stranger…"
Cain looked over at Tilly, who was still unconscious, and saw her in her current state. She had been tied up real good with chains. Nobody had dared to bother her since she was tied up.
"Yeah, never seen someone like her before," Wesley commented while walking up.
Cain sighed and looked down. "I hope that Maz and Mim are okay…"
"Don't worry, we're safe."
Cain looked up to see Mazzie, who was carrying Mim while they walked towards him with Holly.
"Cainy! You're alive!" Mim cheered.
"You two… thank Lucifer, you're safe," Cain said with a sigh of relief.
"I told them that you won the fight," Holly said while patting Mim's head. "Good thing that scary gal didn't harm a hair on ya, huh?"
"It's all thanks to Cainy!" Mim declared. "He defeated the bad guys once again!"
"I'm glad that you're okay, Cain," Maz said with a relieved smile.
"It was nothing that I couldn't handle," Cain said, returning the smile while hiding how much pain he was actually in.
"But man, just what kind of demon is she?" Wesley asked while pointing to Tilly. "I've never seen any demon like her before. Just look at what she did to Jawline…"
"Yeah… poor Jawline." Holly replied sadly as they looked over at Jawline's body, which was covered in a tarp.
Maz covered her daughter's eyes while Cain looked over at Jawline's covered body, staring at it for a few moments before he looked back at Tilly and sighed.
"You want to know what kind of demon she is?" Cain asked as he looked around at the crowd. He paused for a moment before he continued. "She's a Fury."
Everyone turned to him, left confused by this statement. The townsfolk were honestly dumbfounded by his claim.
"A… Fury?" Gigi asked, tilting her head.
"Furry?" Mim mispronounced the name.
"I'm not sure if I'm familiar…" Wesley admitted.
"Sounds like you know a lot more about her than we do," Maz said.
Cain didn't look surprised that none of them knew what a Fury was. "I never met one," he admitted. "Not before now, at least." He looked over at Tilly. "They're from a different time in Hell," he admitted. "A much older version of Hell…"
Everyone fell silent as they stared at Cain, waiting for him to continue.
"What do you know about these… Furies?" Holly asked.
Cain looked thoughtful for a moment, as though recalling something. He then sighed and began to explain. "The Furies were a remnant of a bygone era of Hell. They were born during the more… chaotic times of Lucifer's Reign, after the war with the Old Satan," he began, telling them the tale that he had once learned. "They were created by the Morningstars and the new Lord Satan to ensure order was kept in the realm and that the more destructive beings of this cursed pit didn't step out of line… of course, their use eventually faded away, relegating them to become prison keepers and torturers, but that would change…"
Mazzie, Mim, Wesley, Gigi, and Holly were all invested in the story. Cain looked over at them and the other townsfolk, checking to see if he had their attention, before he continued.
"When the Annual Exterminations began, there were riots across the Pride Ring, demanding for Lucifer to step down as Emperor of Hell for allowing such travesty to go on. But Satan and Paimon had a different suggestion, one approved by Lucifer. The Furies were given the task to quell the unruly gathering of Sinners back into line by any means necessary. Which included giving them access to Holy Arms to kill any who refused to surrender quietly…"
"Oh my… I didn't know about any of this," Mazzie confessed.
"I don't think they taught us about this in school," Wesley admitted.
"Of course they didn't," Cain said with a small snort. "Why would they? Lucifer, the Sins, the Goetia… they control the schools, they dictate what information is taught to the masses. And they would never want the Hellborn to learn about this." He shook his head. "I think only the oldest Sinners may still remember them, may still remember that day they came down on the Sinners of Pride without mercy." He paused before he continued his tale. "It was successful, to say the least. Perhaps… too successful."
"What happened to the Furies?" Mim asked and when Cain looked at her, he was briefly reminded of his sister eagerly waiting to hear the next part of her bedtime story. Only this wasn't the type of story he would ever tell Alice.
"Their leader, Tisphone… she decided Hell was not worth saving," Cain explained, shaking his head. "She saw the full depravity and selfishness of the Sinners, the overindulgence of the Ars Goetia and the apathy of some of the Sins. It caused her to view the entire realm as deserving of total annihilation." He glanced at the crowd to gauge some of their reactions before he continued. "So she, along with her sisters Megara and Alecto, led their fellow Furies in purging the realm of all those she and her sisters deemed too sinful, which extended to some of Hell's royals eventually…"
"Even the Goetia weren't safe…?" Gigi asked in shock.
"Yes," he confirmed, shutting his eyes while rubbing his temple. "Do you see why Lucifer didn't want this story in the history books?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Precautionary heirs were wiped out. Most notably, President Glasidos-Labolas was killed," Cain recalled as he looked over at the tied up Tilly. "Eventually, Hell's strongest warriors were tasked with killing the Furies and though they were all killed… it was learned in the aftermath that Tisphone had sired an heir. That being her, Tilphousia." He pointed to the Fury while giving a sad look. "She was then sent to prison for the crime… of being born. A child who was only guilty of being the daughter of one of Hell's enemies."
After he finished his story, everyone exchanged looks of shock.
"Wait… how do you know all this?" Wesley asked Cain.
"Knight of Hell, I serve Lord Satan," Cain quickly lied, not wanting to reveal that he was a Goetia demon. "That makes me privy to all kinds of secrets about Hell…"
He looked over at Mazzie and saw her staring at Tilly. He could see that despite what Tilly did, and what she tried to do, Mazzie still looked… sympathetic to the Fury after hearing that she had been sent to prison as a child for something that she couldn't help, something that she couldn't be blamed for. It made her hold her own daughter tightly.
"Mom?" Mim asked while looking up at her mother in confusion.
"But… what is she doing here?" Maz asked while looking at Tilly.
Cain looked over at the Fury and sighed. "That's a very good question…"
Back in Ragetown, the Pain Games were finally about to begin proper.
"Alright, first round is the obstacle course," Twitch commented as he pointed to the contestants lined up at the starting line. "Only those who make it to the end will be able to proceed to the next round. Anyone who chickens out or fails to complete the course will be automatically disqualified from competing in the rest of the Pain Games. But completing this obstacle course is easier said than done. They will have to crawl under barbed wire, scale a climbing wall, cross a moat filled with sharks…"
"And don't forget about the bear traps!" Marlon pointed out. "Along with some other surprises that we don't want to give away!"
Blitz crouched down next to Granny Magma. "Hope you don't break a hip climbing up that wall," he told her.
"Heh, I was gonna tell you the same thing," Granny Magma commented. "Try not to lose your horn like the big fella over there."
Brutas, hearing this, growled and sent a glare at Granny Magma.
Millie, meanwhile, was glaring at the trio of Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas, silently threatening them by crossing her hand across her neck. Scorch and Gnat glared at her.
"Seems like the competition is getting heated up, Pat," Park commented.
"Indeed, Park," Patricia agreed. "Tension sure is thick…"
"Prepare to die under my rug, ya little fried shrimps under the galos!" Peach Cream shouted as Hurston prepared for the race, gulping nervously as he realized he was racing against Peach Cream of all demons.
"May the best demon win," Prick Mustang declared with a grin.
"Now then, I say, I say, on your marks!" Wally Wackford shouted as he held up his gun.
From the judges' booth, Stolas was watching with a pair of binoculars, anxiously keeping his eyes on Blitz. He silently hoped that Blitz knew what he was doing. In the crowd, Loona was hoping the same thing.
"Get set… GO!" Wally declared while pulling the trigger.
The contestants raced off, launching themselves from the starting line and running into the obstacle course. Their first challenge was to go through a field of barbed wire, which they had to crawl underneath. Peach Cream easily crawled underneath the barbed wire while Hurston tried to match her pace… only for his hoodie to get caught in the barbed wire.
"Uh… a little help here?" he asked while Blitz crawled past him.
"Better luck next time, sonny!" Blitz shouted.
"Hmm, looks like some of the contestants are having trouble getting through the barbed wire," Twitch commented, noticing some of the imps getting their clothes, horns, or hair caught in the barbed wire. Many of them struggled, which often only made it worse. "But others have managed to crawl underneath with ease, such as local favorite Miss Magma."
Granny Magma managed to crawl to the end of the barbed wire field, standing up before running to the next part of the course. Blitz saw her ahead of him, which motivated him to crawl faster.
Meanwhile, among those who got trapped in the barbed wire was Gnat, who had managed to get his mustache stuck. "Oh for fucking sake! Scorch, Brutas, I got caught!" he shouted while tugging on his mustache.
"Oh for cow-licking sake, Gnat, I knew we should've gotten ya shaved!" Scorch scolded him. "Brutas, rip his mustache off of him!"
"Wait, what?!" Gnat exclaimed.
"Um, I think that's going to be a problem," Brutas said, unable to move. His remaining horn was caught in the barbed wire above him and the rest of him was also caught due to his much larger body. "I got stuck too…"
Scorch looked displeased by this. "I can't believe you two! If we don't hurry up, we'll lose the lead to-!"
"Hiya, boys!" Millie shouted up ahead, drawing their attention as they saw her crawling ahead of them. "Ah see that ya got stuck playin' Barbies. See ya when yer done! Haha!" she mocked as she continued to crawl forward.
Scorch glared at Millie in anger after she mocked them. "That little $&%!"
Meanwhile, Patricia and Park were crawling underneath the barbed wire when Park noticed something. "Say Patricia, where is that Mr. Mustard guy?" he asked.
"Probably behind us," Patricia replied as they continued to crawl until her hair got stuck. "Oh Park, my hair's stuck!"
"Hang on! I got you, Patricia!" Park declared as he went to help Patricia out.
As for Mr. Mustang… his head popped up out of the ground at the other end of the barbed wire course.
'Hehehe, thanks to Guttley digging a tunnel for me to use, I've avoided having to go through the barbed wire,' he thought as he pulled himself out of the hole. Of course, he still had to make it look like he went through the course, so he had ripped some tears into his coat and hat during his time at the tunnel. "And now to climb up the wall-"
"Outta mah way!" Peach Cream shouted as she knocked Mustang to the ground. She was followed by Blitz and Granny Magma racing each other to the wall, also knocking Prick down in the process. Prick was about to get back up, but then Millie knocked him back down as she hopped off of him and ran for the wall.
"Aw drat…" Prick groaned as he got up and shook the dirt off of himself.
"Look at 'em go!" Marlon announced, seeing the various competitors climbing up the walls with the ropes. "Peach Cream is taking the lead, followed by Mr. Ballroom climbing up dat rope, followed by Granny Magma, and dat farm goil, Millie!"
Millie climbed up as she tried to catch up to Blitz and Magma, who were climbing side-by-side, trying to outdo the other.
"You think you can climb better than me, boy?" Magma asked with a grin.
"Please, I was mentored by the Suction Cup Imp himself!" Blitz declared. "Look at me go!"
"And it looks like Prick Mustang has also started climbing the wall, the rest of the competition behind him," Twitch said while noticing the other imps that had made it out of the barbed wire. "Hmm, I see that Scorch managed to get his team out of the barbed wire, followed by Patricia and Park, and… it looks like young Hurston got out of there as well!"
"Alright! Time to win this!" Hurston shouted as he ran over to the climbing wall and saw all the competition in front of him. "I so got this!"
While climbing, Peach Cream saw several imps trying to catch up to her. "Oh no, yer ain't takin' mah vict'ry you little twerps!" she shouted while kicking one imp down, followed by another.
Patricia dodged the falling imp and shouted up at Peach Cream. "Hey! Watch where you're kicking off, you dirty dunce!"
"Uh, Patricia, I don't think we should make any of them mad…" Park said while climbing up, only to bump his horn into Brutas's rear.
"RAAH!" Brutas shouted as he looked down with a glare, making Park nervously look up to the larger imp.
"Oh, um… sorry, big guy…?" Park said before he was suddenly hit by Brutas's fist, knocking him off the wall.
"Parks!" Patricia shouted, seeing her partner fall.
"Go on without meeeeee!" Park cried out as he fell.
"Don't worry, Park, I'll win these games for you," Patricia said as she continued to climb, only to start to feel herself falling downward. "What the-?" she shouted before she saw that the rope she had been holding was cut clean, "Oh… YAAAAAAH!" she cried out as she fell down.
Park was about to get up, only for Patricia to land on top of him.
"Jeepers, creepers! Now that's a great fall!" Marlon exclaimed, worried about his partners. "What are the odds that the rope would just break like that?!"
While climbing up the wall, Prick had been secretly cutting some of the other ropes with a hidden knife, meaning they would snap much more easily. One of these ropes he had cut was the one Brutas had been using and when it snapped, Brutas gasped as he fell, hitting several other imps and knocking them off the wall as well, Brutas crushing several of them when he landed. This included Hurston, who groaned in pain as he found himself at the bottom of the imp pile.
"This should slow them down!" Mustang said before continuing to climb.
Among those who had already managed to make it to the top of the wall were Blitz, Magma, Millie, and Peach Cream, with Peach Cream taking the lead. Peach Cream was already climbing down from the wall while Millie jumped down and Blitz and Magma both decided to slide down on the ropes.
"Gonna hit the ground before you, city boy!" Magma declared.
"Please, you gotta set your goals higher than that, grandma!" Blitz retorted.
Once they both climbed down, they went over to the next part of the obstacle course, which consisted of a single wooden board that stretched across a pool of water. Other imps who had managed to climb down the wall were looking at the pool of water strangely.
"A moat? Is that what we had to go over next?" Blitz asked.
"Ah don't see anythin' wrong here," Peach Cream said while looking closely at the moat, dipping her toe in. "Why, I bet you can just swim in it-"
Suddenly, a shark burst from the water, prompting Peach Cream to back away.
"Holy mother's flamin' hot cooter!" she shouted as she saw several sharks burst out of the moat, trying to take a bite out of the imps who were either already trying to cross the moat or were just too close to the edge. While most were able to dodge the sharks coming out of the moat, one imp was unlucky enough to get his leg bitten and he was quickly dragged down by the shark.
"Noooo!" the imp cried out as he got dragged into the water. He quickly vanished beneath the surface, replaced by a pool of blood moments later.
"And with that we have the first casualty of the Pain Games, folks," Twitch declared. "Yes, the Pain Games have a reputation for having at least a few casualties every year and it looks like that tradition is continuing this year as well."
"But will the rest of our competitors be able to cross the moat without sharing his fate?" Marlon asked.
Back to the competitors, they were walking across the wooden board, some of them running, others taking it more slow. All of them had to avoid the sharks.
"Outta mah way, you dead meat!" Peach Cream shouted as she punched a shark in the nose when it lunged out of the water at her. When another tried taking a bite out of her, she just kicked it away and kept going.
Granny Magma was next, running across the board while Blitz followed behind. Blitz saw a shark jumping out of the water to try to bite her. "Hey granny, look-"
However, Blitz was left stunned when Granny Magma just punched the shark away from her, knocking the shark out of the water and sending it flying like it was nothing.
"Holy…" Blitz said, left in shock at what Magma had done.
"Not bad for an elder, huh?" Granny Magma asked with a smirk as she ran forward.
Blitz just smirked as well as he ran forward to catch up. "Wait up, granny!"
"Whoa…" Loona said in shock.
"Granny Magma sure is a tough lady," Amaroq noted.
"That's granny for ya," Ember said with a smile while leaning back. "Now you know why everyone at the Snakeskin fears getting on her bad side…"
Back at the moat, Millie had managed to walk across it while avoiding the sharks. Prick Mustang was up next… and surprisingly the sharks didn't go after him. Instead, they swim away…
"Well, look at that, looks like I'm not shark food today," Prick said while casually and calmly walking across the plank to safety on the other side.
Nearby, unknown to anyone, was a camouflaged Guttley, who was hiding in the dirt while dumping a bucket of fish meat into the moat the sharks to feast on, distracting them from the imps crossing over the moat, at least for a moment.
"Whehehehehehe," Guttley snickered.
Eventually, Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas had made it to the moat along with Paticia, Patrick, and some other imps. They saw no sharks in sight.
"Looks like it's our lucky day, fellers," Gnat said.
"So it's safe to cross the moat," Park pointed out.
"Outta my way, I'm gonna cross over and-YAAAAH!" Hurston screamed while trying to cross the moat as a shark burst out of the water next to him. The shark lunged at Hurston and barely missed him, instead biting a chunk of the wooden board.
"Fuck!" Hurston shouted as he backed away, Park and Patricia managing to catch him. Guttley may have just fed them, but now the fish meat was gone and they were craving for more. However, the imps still made the journey across the moat, Brutas punching and knocking sharks away so that Scorch and Gnat would be able to safely cross behind him.
"And now our contestants have arrived at the final part of the obstacle course," Twitch declared. "They will have to completely cross that field in order to cross the finish line."
"Sounds simple enough," Marlon said with a nod. "Almost like it's a walk in the park…"
Blitz and some of the other contestants, however, had stopped at the edge of the field. His gaze narrowed as he studied the sandy field. "I don't trust this at all," he said. "What's the catch?"
"Ha! See you losers later!" one imp shouted as he ran into the field… only to get blown up by a sudden explosion.
"Of fucking course…" Blitz said as it rained the guts and limbs of the dead imp. "A minefield."
Seeing this, Mustang was scratching the side of his chin while also hiding a comlink in his collar. "Guttley, do you know where the mines are?"
"Yeah, yeah," Guttley responded while hiding in a barrel, "Three steps forward, five steps left…"
Mustang nodded and began to walk across the minefield, following Guttley's instructions to avoid stepping on any mines. While he did this, the rest of the imps also tried to make their way across the field, most of them taking it slow or trying to follow someone else. However, some of them were still unlucky. And those who didn't step on the mines… would sometimes step on the bear traps.
"AAH! My leg!" an imp shouted after having stepped on a hidden beartrap. He fell back… and landed on a mine, which exploded and killed him.
"A minefield and bear traps?!" Blitz exclaimed.
"Hehe, now this is interestin'," Granny Magma chuckled.
"Woo-hoo! Gonna race to the finish line!" Millie declared as she suddenly jumped on the back of the head of another imp. She then used that larger imp to launch herself through the air, landing on another imp. Millie had figured out how to think outside of the box; why risk touching the ground and blowing herself up when she could just jump from one body to another?
"Outta mah way!" shouted Peach Cream as she marched forward. She pushed aside the imps in front of her, causing some of them to fall into bear traps and mines. She was doing well… until a bear trap snagged her tail "Yeowch!" she shouted, tripping into a group of imps and knocking them onto a mine, causing them all to fly away in an explosion. "AAAAIIIEEE!"
Blitz was in the middle of the minefield when he suddenly stopped and hesitated. He remained frozen there, beginning to have second thoughts about whether he could even survive this or not… whether he should push through or let himself get disqualified now.
But before he could make up his mind, he felt someone picking him up. "Huh?" he asked in confusion before being swung on the shoulder of Granny Magma, surprising him. "Granny…?"
"Now hold on tight, now," Magma declared as she began to run across the field while carrying Blitz over her shoulder.
"W-wait!" Blitz shouted even though it was too late. "Wait!"
As he cried out, explosions went off around Magma and Blitz, the former ignoring the explosions as she charged on, avoiding several bear traps in the process.
Meanwhile, Millie had continued to hop from one imp to another. When one of the imps triggered a mine and set off an explosion, Millie actually rode on the head of the dead imp through the air, bringing her closer to the finish line, where Mustang Prick had narrowly avoided all of the mines and bear traps.
"Alright, I think I'm almost through, Guttley," Prick said before he felt Millie hop on top of his head and jumped off. "Gyah!" he cried out as Millie made the final leap across the finish line, while Prick ended up tripping and falling… luckily, it wasn't a mine that he had fallen on…
It was a bear trap.
"YEOWCH!" Prick cried out while Granny Magma ran past him with Blitz. Prick spun around as several of the other surviving imps managed to get past him, including a recovered Peach Cream.
"Whoa… whoa!" he shouted before he managed to stop spinning just as he saw Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas finish crossing the field.
"We made it! We finally made it!" Brutas shouted in relief while his arms were covered in bear traps for some reason. "Did we win, guys?"
"Not quite…" Scorch said as he pointed to Millie, who drank a bottle of water across the finish line before turning to the trio, giving them a mocking wave and mockingly laughing at them.
"Hope y'all like the taste of my dust!" Millie shouted while sticking her tongue out, angering the trio of dastardly imps.
While this was going on, Patricia and Park had also managed to make it out of the minefield.
"See, Patricia, I knew that we'd survive," Park declared.
"Work smarter, not harder, as they say," Patricia replied before they heard a groan and looked down. "Oh, it's that kid."
"Looks like you made it just in time," Park said to the bear-trap-covered Hurston.
"Oh yeah… I finally made it…" Hurston said with a groan as he crawled toward the finish line.
"Tough luck for you, kid…" Prick said as he and Patricia helped to drag him across the finish line as well.
"And that ends the first round!" Twitch declared with a smile. "It looks like most of our competitors have made it to the second round of the Pain Games!"
"Yup! Especially some favorites, like Patricia and Park!" Marlon declared with a smile of relief. "Man, almost thought that they wouldn't make it."
Now that they were past the finish line, Granny Magma placed Blitz down and the two took a moment to rest and recover, drinking bottles of water they received from a cooler.
"Wow, that was… not what I was expecting," Blitz admitted as he drank his water before turning to Magma. "Say, um, thanks for carrying me for that last stretch, Granny. Although, I, uh, didn't need your help. I could've managed to make it to the finish line without you."
"Well, I don't doubt that, even if you are a city slicker," Granny Magma said after she got her drink. "But I didn't want to risk you getting blown up too early."
"Why? It would be too bittersweet a victory without a rival?" Blitz asked with a smile.
"That's one of the reasons, since you offered good competition out there and you make things more interesting for me," Magma commented while looking down at her bottle of water with a heartfelt smile. "And also… because of your daughter, who saved my granddaughter."
Blitz's eyes widened in surprise while Granny continued. "Ember told me about their little… adventure in Menace Manor. She might have not made it out of there if it wasn't for your kid, so I felt like I owed you one for that."
Blitz looked over at the elder imp and formed a smile. "I guess now I owe you one as well."
Magma just shook her head. "Nah, we're even," Magma declared. "Just give me a good Pain Games out there, alright? I don't want it to be too easy."
Blitz chuckled. "You got it, granny."
After the first round had finished, Ember sighed in relief when she saw that Hurston had at least made it out of the first round alive. She looked towards her friends, who all looked relieved. But then she noticed Loona… and how anxious and tense she looked.
"Loona," Ember spoke up, drawing her attention. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah, just… a little anxious," Loona admitted before she sighed. "Or at least… worried about my dad in these games," she said while looking down. "I knew these games were deadly, but… geez, that was kinda cutting it close."
"Hey, it's alright, Loona," Ember said while reaching over to pat Loona's hand, making the Hellhound look up to her. "If it is any consolation, the worst is already over."
"Really?" Loona asked.
"Yeah," Ember said while patting Loona's arm. "The rest of the Pain Games aren't nearly as dangerous as the obstacle course…"
Back in Angerton, Tilly started to wake up. She groaned, her face still hurting as her eyes slowly opened. She looked down to see that she was chained up, but what really surprised her was the fact that she was still alive.
"What… where-?!" Tilly asked as she looked around until she spotted Cain, sitting near her while covered in bandages. "You!" she snarled in anger.
"Hey, glad you're awake," Cain said in a casual tone.
"Don't give me your fake formalities, you piece of spoiled meat!" Tilly hissed at him with a glare. "You should've killed me when you had the chance!"
"Maybe," Cain said with a shrug as he stood up and walked over to her. "And to tell you the truth, I very nearly did after you killed one of my Knights," he said while looking down at her. "But you know why I didn't? If I had killed you, I would have no idea who had sent you here and why," he said as he knelt down. "I needed answers… but that wasn't the only reason I spared you. I spared you… because of a friend."
"You mean the friend I decapitated?" Tilly asked.
"No, not that friend," Cain said, shaking his head. "This friend was the one who told me about you… Tilly."
Tilly growled when she heard him call her that. After all, the only other demons who had called her that was her mom, her aunts… and one other.
"I did this as a favor to her," Cain explained. "Because I know how much she… regrets the way that things went," he said with a hint of sympathy in his tone.
Realizing who he was talking about, Tilly began to squirm in anger. "Insolence…. I do not want your nor her sympathy!" she growled.
"That's fine by me," he told her. "But you still owe your life to her, whether you like it or not. She was the only reason why you weren't executed on the spot when you were found, the only reason your life was spared when the Goetia were demanding your death, and the only reason I didn't kill you for murdering Jawline." He gave her a stern look. "I don't expect you to be grateful, but those are the facts." He sighed. "Of course, I do wonder what she would think of you if she could see you now…"
Tilly was angered by this, she does not want to hear anything relating to that demon. She didn't care what that bitch thought of her. But after a few moments of growling and glaring… she suddenly calmed down.
"Fine," Tilly said. "I'll tell you who sent me here…"
"Now that's more like-"
"But only because I know that you and everyone in this town are royally fucked either way," Tilly added with a grin.
Cain frowned at this. "Okay, you definitely have some explaining to do," he told her.
Back at the Pain Games, the contestants had moved onto the next round
"And now we are ready to move onto round two of the Pain Games!" Twitch announced. "The Hog-Tying Contest!"
"Get ready for some good ol' fashion hog-tyin'!" Marlon declared.
The hog-tying competition was really more of an animal-wrangling competition, since it wasn't exclusive to hogs… or even animals. Each contestant had to find a way to restrain an animal or another contestant. In the case of Peach Cream, she was chasing a hellhog around the pen. "Come back here, ya lil' piles of bacon!" she declared as she swung the rope around the hog, before tying it up. "Boy, t'is sure does br'ng me back at my pig farm…"
"Yeah, I know that feelin'," Millie replied with a smirk, having caught Gnat and tied him up.
"Why I'm not a hog, you little cretin!" Gnat shouted at her.
"Really? Because you sure sound like one," Millie said with a grin, pissing Gnat off.
Hurston was holding some rope, expecting to grab a hog, only to be confronted by a bigger imp, who tightened his rope.
"Uh… not a hog?" Hurston said before the bigger imp went to tie him up. "AAIIIEE!"
Meanwhile, Prick Mustang had been paired off with a bull… whose hooves he was already tying up. The bull looked to be in a daze and a spectating Marlon looked impressed.
"Wow, you sure took that bull real easy, Mr. Mustard," Marlon said.
"Mustang, and yes, I definitely managed to capture this bull without problem," Prick declared.
Outside of the fenced area, Guttley hid a bottle of sleeping drugs in his coat while giving his snicker. "Wheheheheheh…"
"Now let's see what our other contestants are doing," Marlon said as he turned to Patricia and Park, only to see them having their own problems with their animal. "What the-?!"
"Run away!" Patricia and Park shouted as they ran away from a large pink and black demon bear who was charging at them. They ran past some of the other contestants, causing them to get in the way of the demon bear, resulting in them getting knocked over or tossed aside.
Prick noticed Patricia and Park running past him, then he turned to the bear. His eyes widened in a panic. "Wait, wait!" Prick shouted before he was knocked away by the demon bear, sending him flipping up into the sky. "YAAAAH!"
Blitz looked around the pen until he stopped at an animal that piqued his interest. It was a demon horse and Blitz found himself staring at it in awe. The horse stared back at him, as if the two were sharing a moment together, despite the demon horse having a skull with no eyes and its head being aflame. Then the moment abruptly ended when the horse started to charge at him, disrupting Blitz's googly eyed fantasy as he dodged the hooves.
"Oh shit!" Blitz shouted as he moved out of the way of the horse and managed to grab onto it. As the horse ran around, Blitz climbed up onto the horse's back while bringing out the rope. "Alright, time for you to calm down," he said while wrapping the rope around its neck. The horse rose up as Blitz hung onto it, but he eventually managed to hang the rope over a wooden post.
The horse neighed for a while until it started to calm down, Blitz gently petting its head and shushing the horse. "Good girl. Good girl…"
"Gotta say," Granny Magma said after she managed to tie up a demon bovine. "You sure know how to handle that stallion."
"Well, what can I say?" Blitz asked while petting his horse. "I just love horses…" He laughed. "And Verosika thought those riding lessons I used her credit card on were a waste of money!"
Seeing the other competitors having gotten their catch, Scorch scowled bitterly. "Brutas! Did you get us an animal yet?!" he demanded.
"Don't worry, I got one!" Brutas shouted as he held up a tied up hellpig.
"Excellent work, that'll show Millie," Scorch said before he noticed something about this pig. "What kind of pig wears an eyepatch and… a peg leg?"
"HEY!" shouted Peach Cream, who stomped towards them while her eyes were blazing, earning the two's attention. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO SACKS OF SPOILED ROTT'N POTATERS DOING TO MY PEGGY?!"
Before Scorch and Brutas could respond, they were grabbed by Peach Cream and the two quickly ended up getting hogtied by the tall, angry farm girl.
The next round was at a shooting range, where the competitors had a set limit of time to shoot at the wooden targets that were swaying side from side.
"Looks like our competitors are showing how good they are with their guns," Twitch announced. "Although some are struggling more than others…"
Millie was in her booth shooting at the targets, but she had missed some of her shots. Granted, she knew that she had never been that good with guns, especially long-range weapons. She was more of a hand-to-hand or melee weapon combat kind of girl. Her family were strong believers that while guns got the job done, you shouldn't rely exclusively on them and you were nothing if you were unable to tear off the head of a hellish beast with your bare hands. So when it came to firearms… she fell a bit short.
"Well, well, looks like I have the upper hand in this game!" Gnat taunted her with a chuckle as he shot at his targets at a fast pace. "You can't compete with this pistol, little farm girl!"
Millie gave a frustrated snarl, annoyed by Gnat's advantage.
"Gnat is currently in the lead," Twitch commented. "Mr. Mustang also appears to be doing well… though his targets seem a lot slower than usual."
Mustang shot at his targets with great accuracy thanks to the targets slowing down enough for him to shoot them. He turned to Guttley and winked at him, the two cheaters smirking at each other while knowing full well that Guttley had rigged the shooting range before the round.
"And as for Mr. Ballroom…" Twitch said as they went over to Blitz's booth on the target range.
"YEAAAH!" Blitz shouted as he held his guns to shoot at the targets, even doing some trick shots to really show off.
"He's sure having a blast!" Marlon declared.
Blitz laughed maniacally while shooting at the targets. "Now this is right up my alley!" he declared. "Moxxie would love this kind of thing… I wonder how he's doing?" he asked himself while thinking out loud.
Blitz thought about it for only a moment, then he gave a shrug. "Eh, I'm sure he's fine," he said as he kept shooting at his targets.
The next round was the Tug-O-War, where the competitors were put in different teams as they tried to pull the other teams into the mud.
"The good old Tug-O-War is a simple test of one's strength over the other," Twitch announced. "While some of our groups have to rely on teamwork, in the case of Brutas and his team, they can be carried hard by Brutas, whose strength is being used to wipe out his opponents."
Brutas was indeed dominating this game, Scorch and Gnat behind him as they pulled on their rope. Brutas did most of the work for his teammates, quickly pulling the other team off-balance and causing them to fall into the mud.
"Ha! Way to go, Brutas!" Scorch declared with a smile.
"We're going to win this for sure," Gnat added, noting how they had been definitely doing better in the last two rounds compared to the first two.
Meanwhile, Mustang, along with Park and Patricia, were pulling on their rope. The opposing team managed to hold the line until some of them were suddenly blinded by some light, distracting them long enough to fall into the mud, giving Mustang, Park and Patricia a win.
"Wow, looks like we're a lot tougher than we realized," Park commented.
"Guess we make a pretty good team, huh, Mustang?" Patricia asked.
"Sure, good team," Mustang said while smiling at Guttley, spotting the Hellhound hiding with a piece of shiny glass that he was using to blind their opponent.
Blitz and Magma ended up on the same team with Millie, the three of them pulling on their rope against the opposing team.
"You got this, granny?" Blitz asked her as they pulled.
"You kiddin'? I've done this a lot many times!" Magma shouted as she helped pull.
"Stop chattin' and pull!" Millie shouted as they pulled together on the rope. On the other side, the opposing team, which included Hurston, was struggling.
"Come on…" Hurston said as he pulled until eventually he and his team all fell into the mud thanks to Blitz, Magma, and Millie. Once he was in the mud, Hurston tried to pick himself up only to feel something grab him. "What the hell?!" he asked as the shark from earlier picked him up and started attacking him. "YAAAH!"
"Where did that shark come from…?" Millie asked, looking just as confused as Blitz and Magma.
"Alright, folks! I say, I say, we let the competitors take a small break!" Wally announced with his microphone. "So all you prepare yer'selves for the final game!"
"Man, it's really surprising that Hurston managed to survive all of that," Loona admitted. "I mean, his actual performance isn't all that impressive, but the fact that he managed to survive all of that is."
"I know," Ember admitted, showing that she was also impressed with Hurston's… tolerance for pain. "Though, what was the deal with that shark?"
"That shark must've really had it out against him or somethin'," Carrie mentioned with a shrug.
"What do you kids think of the Pain Games so far?" Loona asked the kids.
"I think they're pretty awesome!" Damian exclaimed. "I can't believe what I have been missing out on all this time!"
"Yeah!" Amaroq agreed in excitement. "And I really hope that Mr. Blitz wins!"
"Yeah, me too," Loona admitted. She couldn't deny that while she was still worried about her dad, it was at least fun to cheer for him. "He actually does seem to be doing really well. Your grandma too, Ember."
"That's no surprise," Ember said. "She always does really well in the Pain Games. She's a local favorite."
Amaroq turned to Douglas. "Is this what the Pain Games are always like, Douglas?"
"Yeah," Douglas confirmed nonchalantly. "Me and my dad usually try to catch them, since they're a thrill to watch."
"Do you know where your dad is?" Loona asked, having noticed Striker's continued absence.
Douglas just shrugged.
"I'll admit, this has been pretty entertaining," Styx said, adding his own thoughts to the conversation. "Despite the deaths in the first round…"
It was then that Loona noticed someone in the group was missing, alarming her. Amaroq and Damian were thankfully accounted for… but one jackal was missing.
"Wait… where's Jack?" Loona asked, looking around for Jack. She looked down at the two kids. "Do you two know where Jack went?"
"I don't know," Amaroq replied as she looked around. "I was so engulfed by the games, I didn't even notice he was gone."
"Oh, I saw him sneaking off earlier," Damian casually admitted.
"What?!" Loona exclaimed in shock. "Why didn't you say anything? Or at least, try to stop Jack from sneaking off?!"
"Because that's what he does anytime he visits," Damian replied simply, acting as though it wasn't a big deal. "Whenever he and his mom come over to visit us, he always ends up sneaking out of the palace."
"This is a regular thing that he does?" Loona asked, still worried.
"Yeah, but relax, he always comes out and he turns out fine in the end… more or less," Damian told her, still not seemingly grasping the severity of the situation.
This did little to ease Loona. Though she had only just met Jack, she was still incredibly worried for his safety since he was just a young kid. She didn't want to take any chances for him to either end up hurt, kidnapped… or worse.
"Okay, look, I'm going to go look around and find Jack," Loona told them. "Carrie, Styx, think you can watch Amaroq for me?"
"Don't worry, she ain't gonna leave my sight," Carrie said.
"We'll make sure she and Damian don't get into some trouble when you look for young Jackson," Styx added.
Loona gave them a nod. "Thanks," she said as she rushed off to look for Jackson, hoping that he was okay…
Fortunately, Jackson was okay… for the moment, at least. He was walking around the Harvest Moon Festival, all by himself, looking around at all the different booths and stands that had been set up. He was actually impressed, having never seen anything like this during his previous family visits to Hell.
"This festival sure is lively, especially for a place called the Wrath Ring," Jack said to himself while looking around, noticing all of the demons. While most of these demons just ignored Jack, one of them bumped into Jack, sending him to the ground.
"Watch where you're going, mutt," the larger imp growled.
"S-sorry," Jack muttered before he barely avoided getting walked on. Realizing that he was in danger of being trampled over, he quickly started crawling out of everyone's way, only standing up once he was out of the main path.
"All things considered, that could have gone a lot worse," Jack said, choosing to look at the positives… as he turned and saw Zuzo practicing some knife tricks to a few festival goers nearby, Jack's face paling when he saw the sharp knives.
"Alright, do I have any volunteers to help me with my next trick?" he asked before turning to Jack. "How about you, kid? Wanna try your luck with my knives?"
Jack nervously sweat dropped as he turned around. "Nope!" he shouted as he walked away, deciding to stay clear of Zuzo and not be near any sharp objects. He ended up passing by Petey's stand and he froze when he saw the child-sized coffins.
"That's too bad," Petey said with a smile while conversing with Dr. Mantis. "Cause my coffins could use a body."
"Coffins? When I need to get rid of a body, I just use a good ol' trash bag," Dr. Mantis said.
Jack wisely decided to steer clear from those stands, instead heading for the outskirts of the Festival, where there were less demons. Now that it was less crowded, he began to look around for something… or someone.
'Where is she? I know that she's gotta be around here somewhere…' he thought to himself as he kept looking around. Unknown to him, behind Jack a pair of overly long arms began to creep out of the shadows, reaching for him. As Jack continued looking around, he didn't notice the arms until it was too late and they had grabbed him.
"YAAAH!"
Loona, who was nearby, picked up Jack's scream.
"Jack?!" Loona exclaimed as she immediately started to fear the worse. She rushed in the direction of the scream. "Jack?! You there?!" she shouted as she looked around for him while hearing his shouts.
"No, stop!"
Following the shouts, Loona rushed into an alleyway where Jack had been pulled into. Her hands began to glow with magic as she prepared to fight, only to come to a halt when she saw what had happened to Jack…
"Jill! You're squeezing me!" Jack exclaimed as he was being hugged by a purple-furred hellcat with corn blue eyes and magenta pupils. She had darker stripes on her arms and her legs and was wearing a red shirt and black shorts.
Loona sighed in relief when she saw that Jack was just being hugged, visibly relaxing. But when she took a closer look, she very quickly noticed that this hellcat… wasn't a normal hellcat. Her tail was… strangely smoke-like and her arms resembled tentacles at first before they changed back to normal arms.
"Oh come on, Jack, I thought you missed me," Jill told the jackal boy while hugging him. "But I'll lighten up my hug."
As Jill let him go, Jack was given a breather and turned to the hellcat. "You do give the tightest hugs, you know that?"
Jill was about to answer, but then her ears twitched and she noticed Loona. Immediately, she got on the defensive. "Jack, we got company…"
"Don't worry, I know her actually," Jackson reassured her. "Well, more specifically, I just met her, but I still know her…"
"Jack, are you… alright?" Loona asked him as she walked towards them. "I, uh, didn't know you have a friend here."
"Yeah, surprising, ain't it?" Jackson asked with a chuckle. "Loona, this is Jillian. Jill, meet Loona, she's um… kinda like watching over me and my cousin."
"Oh, so like, you're his babysitter or something?" Jill asked the Hellhound.
"I think calling Styx the babysitter would be more accurate, though I don't think he would like that," Loona pointed out. "But it is nice to meet you, Jill."
Jill still looked suspicious toward Loona for another moment before she smirked. "Likewise," she said while holding up her hand, stretching it towards Loona.
"How did you do that?" Loona asked in surprise.
"Oh, my shape-shifting?" Jillian asked with a smirk. "It is just something I can do with my arms. Check this out."
Jillian demonstrated her shape-shifting, turning her hands into lobster claws then knives and then back to normal hands.
"Huh," Loona said, having never seen anything like this before. "Do you know why you are able to do this?"
"Honestly?" Jill asked with a shrug. "No clue. It's just… something I've always been able to do. Although I have heard of other demons in Wrath with similar powers, like a Demon Ape who could move her hair like tendrils. No idea how she got those powers either. Sometimes demons just… get powers in Wrath. I may not know where they come from, but they sure do come in handy when you are trying to survive in the Wrath Ring, which…" She turned to Jackson with a smile. "…is how I met Jack."
"Really?" Loona asked, now curious. "How did you meet her, Jack?"
"Well, funny story," Jack said, scratching his chin while looking up as he began to explain. "It was during one of my previous visits here. While my mom was busy with her sister, I decided to sneak out of the palace just to clear my head. Of course, I know how stupid and careless of me it was to do that in hindsight, but I just had to get out of the palace cause, well… it can be a bit much in there," he said while looking down. "And I wasn't really that worried about my own safety. My carelessness did eventually catch up to me when I was attacked by a monster. It was… pretty freaky. But then Jill showed up. She saved me and we started spending time with each other after that. I sneak out to hang out with her every time I visit Hell."
After listening to all of this, Loona let out a small sigh. "Well, at least I can see where Damian got some of his carelessness from," she mentioned.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Jack asked her in confusion.
"You wanna know how me and Amaroq first met your cousin?" Loona asked him. "We met him here, in this town. It turns out that he snuck out of the palace, which is also how we met Styx and Tentradora, when they came looking for him."
"I did make Damian keep quiet about my habit of sneaking out…" Jack said as he realized something. "Oh… oh man, has Damian been emulating my behavior?!" he asked in concern. "Oh man… I can afford to be careless, but Damian…?"
"You can discuss it with him when we get back," Loona suggested before she looked over at Jill. "And what about your family?"
Jill just gave Loona a look while crossing her arms. "What do you think?"
Loona quickly realized what she meant. "Oh," she said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm sorry…"
"Yeah, Jill is a stray demon," Jack explained. "She… spends a lot of her time fending for herself. I'm sorry that I didn't mention that sooner…"
"It's fine," Loona said while looking at Jill, who was staring at the ground. "I do have to take Jack back, but… would you like to come with us, Jill?"
Jill looked up. "Really?" she asked in surprise.
Loona offered her a smile. "Yeah," she said. "You could watch the rest of the Pain Games with us and you could even meet Jack's cousin."
Jill thought about it before looking back at Loona. "Okay, I'm coming with you," she decided. "Mainly, I want to make sure Jack doesn't hurt himself while he's here."
"Oh, thanks Jill," Jack replied, glad to have his protector with him.
A few minutes later, Loona returned to the rest of the group with Jack and Jill in tow, Amaroq and Damian turning to see them.
"There you are, Jack," Damian said before he noticed Jill. "And who's the new kid?"
"She's a friend of mine," Jack said as he cleared his throat. "Damian, this is Jill. Jill, meet Damian, my cousin."
"Wait, you're Jack's cousin?" Jillian asked while tilting her head. "Wow, you're a lot redder than I imagined."
"Jill… wait, is she the reason that you've been sneaking off all this time?" Damian asked with a smirk. "Oh, that explains it, you've been seeing your girlfriend…"
"Damian…" Jack said, blushing in embarrassment while Jill only looked amused.
"Ooh…" Amaroq said, snickering at Jack's embarrassment. "Jack has a girlfriend…"
"Is that true, Jack?" Jill asked with a mischievous smile. "Am I your girlfriend?"
Jack, still blushing, looked between Jill, Damian, and Amaroq. "You're all terrible…"
Back in Angerton, Cain was setting up his bike and getting ready to leave, the chained up Tilly now on the back of his bike. A crowd of townsfolk was there to see him off. Amongst them were Dirk, Momo, Wesley, Gigi, Holly, Mazzie, and Mim. They are all confused about Cain's sudden leave… and some of them were worried.
"Cain, this is so sudden," Dirk said as he watched Cain tie up some supplies to his bike. "We thought you would at least stay here at least a little longer."
"Yeah, what did that Fury tell you?" Holly asked in concern.
"You are better off not knowing," Cain told her.
"I thought you were going to stay…" Mim said sadly.
Cain paused when he heard her voice. He slowly turned to see her and when he saw her sad expression, he felt his heart ache. He hated to see her like that, just like how he hated leaving Angerton. But he had no choice.
"I… I don't wish to leave this town, but right now we're under heat again," he explained. "I gotta take care of this now or else she is not going to be the only one they send here." He pointed to Tilly. "Not only is Angerton in danger, but they already have Moxxie."
"What?!" Momo cried out in concern. "Moxxie? Then… then let me join you."
"Yeah, we have to help Moxxie!" Wesley shouted, just as worried. A few of the other townsfolk also chipped in, wanting to come along.
"No, I can't ask any of you to come," Cain told them. "This is something that I have to deal with… and it's something that only I can deal with. If any of you came… you would just get in the way."
The townsfolk shared looks of concern over this. After surviving the Demon Apes, they thought they were out of trouble. But now they had been attacked out of nowhere by Tilly and from it sounded they might be something worse than Murdock and Tilly that Cain needed to deal with…
"What can we do?" Dirk asked.
"Stay on guard," Cain told Dirk. "I should be coming back, but just in case…"
"Alex," Mazzie spoke up, getting Cain to turn to her and Mim. "I… be careful out there," she said to him, her own fear and concern for him showing.
"Yeah," Mim cheered. "Give them the works!"
Cain smiled and he walked over to hug both Mazzie and Mim. "I will," he told them as Mazzie gave him a kiss on the cheek, which surprised a silently observing Tilly.
Cain then walked over to his bike and picked up his helmet, staring down at it. He then looked back at the townsfolk, gave them a wink, and put the helmet on, his face vanishing behind the mask. It was time for him to truly become Cain again.
As Cain rode out of the town on his bike, Tilly looked back, watching the town of Angerton growing smaller and smaller. "You know, I'm surprised."
"Yeah?" Cain asked her.
"A Goetia like you, not only showing up in this backwater Ring, but caring about these imps," Tilly admitted. "That's not something you usually see…"
"Yeah, well, I'm not like most Goetia," Cain said as he continued to ride.
Back at the Harvest Moon Festival, the break was still in progress. Millie was taking advantage of the time in-between rounds to do her stretches when she heard her mom calling out to her.
"Millie, sug," Lin said as she and the family walked over to meet up with Millie.
"Hey, ma," Millie greeted. "How are you enjoying the Pain Games so far?"
"You've been doin' real good out there," Lin told her daughter.
"Yeah, you've definitely picked up a few skills while you were out riding in Wrath," Joe commented while holding Joe Jr. "It has been a real blast to watch."
"Aw, thanks," Millie replied with a smile, appreciating the complement from her parents. "Although I am just doin' what you've always taught me to do."
"And we're glad you are," Lin added, making Millie beam even more.
"You're doing so good out there, Millie, that you're a popular choice to win right now," Sallie May said with a grin, thinking of all the souls she was gonna make in the betting pool.
"Do you regret not joining the Games with me?" Millie asked.
"Nah, this is your year," Sallie May said. "I'm having enough fun rootin' for you and I'm making more souls that way too."
"We're all rootin' for you!" Fisk declared.
"Yeah, and we're especially rootin' for you to take out those three dicks you're competin' against," Strom added, causing Millie to turn to him.
"Wait, you mean Scorch, Gnat and Brutas?" she asked. "You know about them?"
"Yeah, I told them all about those assholes," Sallie May admitted. "Especially about them being the same Knights of Hell that came to our ranch years ago…"
"Although I had already recognized them," Joe said, his arms crossed. It was hard for him to forget those three… especially since one of them had shot him.
"Oh…" Millie said as she looked around at her family, seeing their expressions. "L-Look, I'm not friends with those guys, they're not even part of the Knights anymore-"
"We know, Millie," Lin reassured her daughter as she patted a hand on her shoulder. "Which is why I just want to tell you this…" She leaned in and gave her daughter a serious look. "Make sure you break them. Make them regret ever coming to our ranch."
Hearing the dark tone in her voice, Millie just gave a smile and nodded. "I will, mama. For the family."
"Alright, it's time for the final round of the Pain Games!" Twitch declared as he and Marlon both sat in the commentator booth. "All contestants who are still alive have reported back to face each other in… the Mud Brawl!"
"The goal here is quite simple, really," Marlon explained. "The winner of the Mud Brawl is whoever is the last man or woman standing. No weapons, no ropes, no guns, and no knives. We're all throwing hands and knuckle sandwiches here!"
"You lose when you either get knocked out and can't continue or when you simply get knocked out of the ring," Twitch added. "Now while this part of the games historically doesn't usually end with deaths, they always involve some bones being broken at the very least!"
As the Mud Brawl was about to begin, Blitz, Magma, Hurston, Millie, Peach Cream, Prick Mustang, Scorch, Gnat, Brutas, Patricia, Park, and everyone else left had gathered in a muddy field surrounded by a white ring.
"May the best demon win, granny," Blitz wished.
"Hehe, you're gonna need some luck," Magma replied with a grin.
Millie looked over at Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas. She shot the trio a glare and they glared at her back. Both her and the trio of imps looked ready to kick each other to the curb.
"Prepare to be hog chow, fellers," Peach Cream declared while cracking her knuckles, making Hurston and Park gulp when they saw her determined look.
"Ready? Get set…" Wally said as he held up his pistol and pulled the trigger. "GO!"
Immediately after this, the competitors all clashed against one another, grabbing one another and trying to throw each other out of the ring… or just pummeling each other into the mud. Of course, there were still those trying to avoid confrontation…
Prick Mustang managed to slip away from the others as he saw one opponent being thrown out of the ring. When he saw another imp running up to him, he just casually moved aside and stuck his leg out, tripping his opponent and causing him to fall out of the ring.
Peach Cream, meanwhile, was decidedly less… subtle than Mustang, grabbing some of her opponents and throwing them out of the ring. "YEEHAW! Come down an' face me, ya yeller' bellin' cowards!" she shouted while looking for more opponents to fight.
Hurston, meanwhile, didn't even get a chance to fight as he was almost immediately dog-piled by a bunch of imps of all shapes and sizes. He was shoved down into the mud and when the imps got off of him, deciding that he wasn't even worth fighting. Hurston took this as the chance to pick himself off the ground, coughing out a bit of mud while rubbing his head. But then he saw a shadow looming over him, making him look up, his eyes widening in horror…
…as the same shark from before climbed up on the fence and jumped off of it, preparing to body slam onto him.
Hurston began to scream. "Motherfu-!"
The Wrath teens winced when they saw Hurston getting body slammed by the shark.
"It is not Hurston's day, is it?" Loona asked.
"Nope," Ember replied. "I'm just surprised that he managed to survive this far."
"And I thought I was unlucky…" Jack said after seeing what happened to Hurston.
Blitz and Magma were wrestling and fighting against no-name imps left and right. Blitz was not as strong as some of the other imps, so he had to be much quicker on his feet, dodging one bigger imp who was trying to get the jump on him. Meanwhile, Magma was a lot more direct, punching and kicking any imp that got in her path, lifting one imp up and throwing them out of the ring.
"Now this is a good old fashioned throw down, huh, granny?" Blitz asked after punching one guy out. He saw another imp trying to grab him, but Blitz deliberately fell back, avoiding the hands of the imp while bringing up his foot to kick the imp in the face. As he got back up, one imp tried to get him from behind, but Blitz threw a punch behind him, knocking the imp out.
"Heh, this is my favorite part of the entire competition!" Granny Magma declared while kicking an opponent clean out of the ring.
"Damn," Blitz said as he saw the imp go flying. "Say, I have been meaning to ask you, what do you Wrathians eat to make you so fucking strong?"
Granny Magma smirked at him. "I can give you a few dietary tips after the Games if you want," she told him while casually avoiding a big imp coming after her, using her tail to wrap around his leg to make him trip and fall on top of some other imps fighting each other.
"Uh, yeah, I think I would like that," Blitz said as he was tackled by one imp, who he wrestled with before he managed to kick the imp off of him. "But before that, aren't we going to have to fight each other?"
"How about we agree to stay out of each other's way before it is only the two of us left?" Granny Magma asked.
"Deal!" Blitz agreed as he knocked out another opponent with a punch, He looked around for his next opponent, only to see two imps jump in front of him. "Oh, you two wish to tussle?"
"Well, it wouldn't be a brawl without a little take down," Patricia declared while striking a pose.
"No hard feelings, though," Park said as he posed as well. "But we're here to win!"
"…I forgot how much ham you guys can be," Blitz said as he prepared to fight them.
Magma had just taken down another opponent when she noticed a shadow looming over her. She turned around and narrowly dodged two fists being swung at her and she stepped back to get a good look at her opponents. "Huh, two against one, huh?" she commented with a smirk.
"Prepare ta get creamed!" Peach Cream declared as she cracked her knuckles. Next to her was Prick Mustang.
"Me and Ms. Cream have agreed to an alliance," Prick said while twirling his mustache. "I will admit, it does put you at a disadvantage… but that is just how I like it. Prepare to lose the likes of us, Ms. Magma!"
Magma cracked her own knuckles. "Bring it on…"
Meanwhile, most of the competition had already been taken out, leaving only a few imps left still standing. One of those imps was Millie, who had made quick work of anyone unlucky enough to end up in her path. But she was still holding back, if only a little, because she knew she had to save herself… for them.
"I knew that it would come to this, with us facing you."
After Millie had taken down her latest opponent, she turned around to see the trio of imps that she hated the most: Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas.
"Thanks for dealin' with most of dem imps for us, Millie," Scorch declared with a grin. "We'd figured you'd be helpful in taking out of the rest of the competition for us. The rest should be pretty easy."
"Especially since by now you'd be worn out from all that fightin'," Gnat declared.
"Which also gives us an opportune'in to beat ya," Brutas grinned as he cracked his knuckles.
For a moment, Millie didn't say a word. She just looked at them… and then she smiled. An unsettling smile.
"It's cute that you think I'd be worn out," Millie said as she stepped towards the three while snickering a little. "Because I was just holdin' back all this time. Cause now I am facing you three… I'm ready to release mah primal side…"
A dark aura burst around Millie. The trio of imps felt the change in aura almost immediately, especially when they got a look at Millie's bloodthirsty eyes. They didn't look like the eyes of any imp they had ever seen before. There was something else in them, something… primal.
"W-W-We ain't afraid of ya! Right, boys?" Scorch asked, but Brutas and Gnat looked too frightened to nod.
It was at that moment that Millie unleashed an animalistic cry, baring her fangs while her eyes turned blank. It was as if she was possessed and it was at that moment the trio realized that she wasn't trapped with them… they were trapped with a feral animal.
Millie lunged at them like the Tasmanian Devil, moving like a blur as she climbed on the three. They tried to grab her, but she was too fast. She bit, clawed, and hissed, tearing at their clothes and their hair. She even tore off part of Gnat's mustache, making him cry out in pain. They had been expecting to fight an imp, they had not been expecting to fight a vicious feral animal.
And the crowd? The crowd honestly loved it, especially Millie's family, who were smiling and cheering for her.
After all, it wasn't the Pain Games if somebody didn't break by the end.
Scorch screamed as Millie crawled under his shirt and bit her way out like she was a chest-burster. He grabbed her and tried to pull her off of him, but she started clawing at his face like a stray cat that really didn't like being picked up.
"Take her!" Scorch screamed. "Take her!"
Millie saw Brutas coming over to grab her, so she kicked Scorch in the face, causing him to let go of her as she lunged at Brutas, grabbing his arm and biting into it. He screamed as she kept biting, blood dripping from his arm as he tried to shake her off. He then tried to pull her off with his other arm, but Millie just stopped biting and spit his own blood back in his face, blinding him. Millie then jumped at his face, bringing him down to the ground where she grabbed one of his arms and started to bend it…
SNAP!
"AAAAAOOOHHH!" Brutas cried in pain before he saw part of his bone sticking out from his elbow. "FUCK!" he cried before Millie climbed up him and raised her hands in a knife fold, karate chopping him in the neck before grabbing his shoulders and head butting him in the face, hard. Brutas fell back down in the mud as she turned to see Gnat, who started to back away.
"S-S-Stand back, ya hear!?" Gnat told her. He knew that wasn't much of a fighter when it came to his fists, his strengths were in his shooting. But he didn't have any gun in his hand right now. There was nothing between him and Millie and they both knew it. He screamed as Millie lunged at him, but before Millie could reach her prey, she felt her tail being grabbed and she stopped mid-air, falling back down in the mud. Her tail had been grabbed by Scorch, who had recovered in time to save Gnat.
"I got her! I got her!" Scorch shouted before he saw Millie twisting her head to look at him. An unnatural twist that caused him to almost shit himself. "OH FUCK-"
Millie launched herself towards Scorch, grabbing him by the collar. Scorch tried to squirm his way out of her grip, but instead she brought him down on Brutas's knee, the impact knocking some of his teeth out of his mouth. "Gyaaaaaahhh!" he cried out, spitting out blood along with some of his teeth before Millie stomped on his back, putting him down.
Gnat, seeing Scorch and Brutas down, decided to just forfeit. "Fuck this!" he shouted as he attempted to make a run for it, deciding that this wasn't worth it if it meant getting beaten, or potentially killed, by that feral farm girl…
…only for him to be snatched back by Millie's tail. He landed in the mud and looked up only for Millie's elbow to meet his face as she body slammed him into the ground.
"Do you remember when you shot my pa?" Millie whispered in his ear.
"P-Please, Millie," Gnat begged as he coughed up blood. "I-I'm sorry. Have mercy…"
"Mercy? Nah," Millie said as she grabbed his leg and lifted it up. "You don't deserve mercy…"
CRACK!
"OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" Gnat screamed, a scream that sent shivers down the spines of even the most blood-thirsty of the audience.
Gnat quickly passed out from the pain and Millie looked almost… disappointed. But fortunately for her, she turned around and noticed Brutas and Scorch getting back up despite having their arm and teeth broken.
"You two are still up? Good," Millie said as she bared her fangs. "The old man was too easy…"
Meanwhile, with the other fights, Blitz was still fighting against Patricia and Park. Though, unlike Millie's fight, this one appeared to be more… friendly.
"So you're doing well up in Pride?" Park asked before delivering a ballerina-like kick towards Blitz, who dodged it.
"Yeah, I have been doing some jobs up there," Blitz admitted while blocking Patricia's punches. "My daughter's even got an honest job at a hotel."
"Really? That's great!" Patricia replied.
"How about you guys? How's the whole robbing train thing going on these days?" Blitz asked them while keeping up the defense.
"Oh, you know, we've been hopping from one train robbery to another," Park mentioned as he and Patricia continued their attacks. "But it's not just trains we rob now, but also some banks and the occasional store robbery. You know, to keep things from getting dull."
"Heh, sounds like what I used to do back in Envy," Blitz replied before kicking the two away from him. "Hope this isn't rough for you guys."
"Not at all!" Patricia and Park said in unison before attacking Blitz again.
Meanwhile, Magma had to fend for herself against both Mustang and Peach Cream. Of course, Peach Cream was doing most of the fighting against the elder imp while Mustang hung in the back. Peach Cream managed to land several punches on Magma, hitting her face and stomach. Magma retaliated by punching her back across the face, but Peach just grinned as blood dripped down her face. It was obvious that she wasn't going to go down easily.
"Yer mighty tough for an old swamp frog!" Peach Cream declared.
"Why thank you," Magma grinned before lunging at her. Peach Cream managed to get out of her way and Mustang ended up being hit by Magma, knocking him back.
"Ah drat, I should be more careful-OOF!" Mustang shouted as he was bumped to the side by Peach Cream, making him fall down into the mud. "Watch where you're going!"
"My bad," Peach Cream said as she launched herself at Magma, managing to grab her and pin her to the ground. She tried to hold Magma down while punching her in the side, only for Magma to bite her in the arm. Peach Cream yelled and pulled away, allowing Magma to use her tail to grab Peach Cream's ankle and trip her into the mud. "Ow! Why you…!"
"Ain't no way some youngin' like you is going to get the upper hand over me!" Magma declared as she prepared to pounce on Peach Cream… only for a ball of mud to splatter on her face, covering her eyes "What the-?! Bleh!" she spit out. "Who the fuck threw that?!"
Mustang, who was the one who threw the mud, remained silent as Peach Cream took the opportunity to tackle Magma while she was blinded and distracted.
"Got'cha!" Peach Cream declared as she punched Magma across the face, then knee-kicked her in the stomach. While Magma was winded, Peach Cream picked her up, spun her around up above her head, then threw her down in the mud.
Magma groaned as she picked herself and wiped the mud out of her eyes. When she was finally able to see again, the first thing she saw was Peach Cream's foot coming at her face…
Back to Blitz, he ended up getting kicked and punched a few times by Patricia and Park, making him back away closer to the edge of the ring. He wiped his lip, feeling some blood, and gave them a grin.
"You two sure know how to bring it," Blitz complimented.
"Why thank you, we've been practicing our fighting skills over the years since our time together," Patricia declared.
"In order to survive in a Ring like this, you have to be prepared to adapt," Park said as the two held their arms together. "So prepare…"
"For our double-trouble kicks!" Patricia shouted as she and Park were about to unleash their final attack towards Blitz…
CRASH!
"YAAAAAH!" Patricia and Park screamed as they were hit by Magma's rolling body, knocking them all out of the ring. Magma stopped when she hit a wooden post, but Patricia and Park kept flying until they hit a certain crate…
Which exploded, launching the bandit duo out of the festival and into the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke.
"It's a miracle that we're alive!" Patricia declared while in the air with Park.
"Yeah, but for how long until we land?" Park asked as he looked down.
"Marlon! Remember us…!" the two cried out as they flew into the sky until they could no longer be seen, leaving behind a bright twink.
"Oh dear, looks like Magma is out, and Patricia and Park were not just out, but have blasted off after hitting a fireworks crate that was going to be used later tonight," Twitch said with a worried look. "I do hope that they're okay…"
"Eh, don't worry, they've survived much worse," Marlon assures him. "You'd be surprised by everything they've survived in this ring."
"And how would you know that?" Twitch asked him in confusion.
Marlon had almost given himself away, but he quickly saved himself. "I mean, that's just from what I've heard! Yup! I heard that those two can survive anything!"
Twitch just gave Marlon a look before he returned to commenting about the Mud Brawl. "Well, with those three out, it looks like we are down to Mr. Ballroom facing off against Prick Mustang and Peach Cream while Millie is left with Scorch and Brutas…"
Scorch crouched down after being kicked in the stomach by Millie. Both him and Brutas looked like they had been put through the wringer, since their clothes were nearly torn to shreds and their bodies were covered in scratch and bite marks. Millie could have easily taken them out a while ago, but it was obvious that after she had quickly taken out Gnat she didn't want this to end before she was done with them. She wanted to… take her time.
Millie looked over at Brutas, who was still tendering his broken arm as he looked at her in a panic. Brutas never thought that Millie would have been able to take them all like this. After all, hadn't she been at his mercy only a few years ago? He would have killed her then if it hadn't been for Cain… so why was he scared of her now?
"I-I ain't afraid of you!" Brutas called out while he sweated nervously.
"Yer voice says otherwise…" Millie said creepily while pouncing at him like a cat.
Brutas used his remaining good arm to swing a punch at her, only for her to land on his fist before jumping at his face. She scratched it up, causing him to cry out in pain as she managed to cut his lip and across his eyes with her clawed fingers and toes. She then bit down on his head, drawing blood as Brutas started bleeding from his forehead.
"YAAAH!" he cried as Millie wrapped her tail around his neck and began to squeeze. Brutas was now choking, the blood coming from his head now getting in his eyes, blinding him. He tries to get Millie to let go of him, swinging his fist at her. But she dodged his punch by jumping over to his other shoulder, holding onto him as he tried to shake her off while she dug her nails into his face, making him cry out even more.
"Get off of me!" he shouted, still struggling to breathe or to see thanks to the tail around his neck and the blood in his eyes.
Millie kept herself on Brutas's head as he swung his arm around, trying to hit her. He was so focused on hitting her that he didn't realize Millie was actually trying to steer him, since as he kept swinging and struggling, he was getting closer to the edge of the ring. And that was exactly what Millie was aiming for. Once they were close enough, Millie jumped off the top of his head before she used her tail to swing from his neck and kick him to the chest, causing him to fall out of the Ring.
"Astonishing, folks!" Twitch announced. "Millie has kicked Brutas off of the ring!"
"Now that's what I call a brutal victory!" Marlon replied with a pun.
Brutas heard this and he wiped his eyes, realizing that he was now out of the ring… while Millie was still there. "Aw… dang it!"
Millie then turned to Scorch, whose swollen eye went wide in realization. With Brutas out and Gnat knocked out, it was just her and him now…
"Oh shit…" Scorch said before Millie launched herself towards him with a battle shriek.
Back to Blitz, he was going up against Mustang and Peach Cream. "Looks like you two are next," he commented while looking between them.
"Time to smash you like a hill of ants, ya little city boy!" Peach Cream declared as she raised her fists and threw them at Blitz, who moved away from the punch only to be met by a swinging kick to his stomach, sending him back closer to the edge of the ring.
"Alright, gotta steer clear from her," Blitz said as he decided to go for Prick instead, seeing him as the easier target. He dashed towards him, Peach Cream trying to block him, but Blitz slid between her legs before lunging at Mustang.
"Uh, Peach?!" Mustang cried out as Blitz jumped towards him… only to get yanked by the tail.
"Yowch!" Blitz shouted as he was pulled up and hung upside down by Peach Cream.
"I got you now, you blood-stained possum!" she declared with a grin as she formed her fist. "Now prepare to receive a good poundin'!"
"Yeah, I'm not planning to lose to you, wild child!" Blitz declared before he used his tail to swing himself around her thrown fist before he hit the hand holding his tail, causing her to let him go.
"Yeowch! The fuck?!" she shouted as she felt Blitz crawl from her arm to her back before he started to pull her bushy hair up. "Ow! Ow, get off of me, ya varmint!"
"Dance for me!" Blitz shouted as he kept pulling her hair around, making her move around from side to side. It was as if he was controlling her legs through her hair, using his grip on her hair to pilot her around, much to the shock of Mustang, who did not know what to make of this.
"Stop! Ow! Quit it!" she shouted while moving around. She waved her arms to try to grab Blitz, who eventually jumped off of her while pushing her over so she would trip. "Whoa!"
She ended up falling out of the ring and landing in a barrel while Blitz landed back in the mud.
"And Peach Cream is out of the ring!" Twitch announced.
"Aw dammit." Peach Cream grumbled while coming out of the barrel. She noticed her pig, Peggy, coming over to tend to her wounds. "Next year, I'll win fer sure!"
Blitz then turned around and found himself face to face against Mustang. "Looks like it's just you and me, bud," Blitz said as he struck a fighting pose. "Nobody else to fight for you."
"Indeed," Mustang replied while getting into a fighting position as well. "Unluckily for you… I like getting my hands dirty."
Back to Millie, she was still messing with Scorch, basically playing with her prey at this point. The taller imp wasn't fairing well at all and had basically turned into a punching bag for Millie.
"HYAH!" she shouted as she punched him across his cheek, making him stumble around before she kicked him in the knee. He fell down, but Millie didn't wait for him to get up, kicking him in the stomach and making him gasp for air while coughing up some blood and some broken teeth that was still in his mouth.
"Fuck him up, sis!" Sallie May shouted from the crowd.
To say that Scorch was not having a good day would be an understatement. His two men had been taken down for the count, broken or otherwise injured and leaving him to deal with this farm girl alone. Millie was clearly a force to be reckoned with. He had underestimated her and at this point he was just desperate to stay alive…
…which is why he pulled out a knife he had kept hidden.
"Stand back!" he muffled through the remaining teeth he had left. "I… I'm not fucking around with you, Millie!"
"It appears that Scorch has brought out a knife!" Twitch shouted as he got up from his seat in shock. "That should be an automatic disqualification!"
But Millie just smiled. She didn't look intimidated by his knife. She just looked… amused.
"Disqualified or not…" Millie said as she marched towards him. "I'm still gonna break ya…"
Back to Blitz and Mustang, both demons had been throwing fisti-cuffs at each other. Compared to a lot of the earlier wrestling, this was just a good old-fashioned brawl, Blitz throwing his punches while Mustang threw his. The two traded blows, both of them taking hits but both of them remaining standing.
"You're not a bad brawler," Blitz admitted as he swung his fist at Mustang. "But those ponies are mine!"
"Oh I don't doubt it," Mustang said as he dodged a punch, then swiftly moved closer to Blitz "Which is why I'm gonna let you win this," he whispered in his ear.
"Say what now?" Blitz asked before Mustang went behind Blitz, grabbing his arms. Blitz struggled in Mustang's grip, but the reptilian demon continued to whisper in his ear.
"Listen, the truth is I don't really plan on winning the Pain Games," Mustang whispered while Blitz looked back at him in confusion.
"Seriously? What's the catch?" Blitz whispered back.
"No catch, I just need you to help me fulfill my role of being the villain," Mustang said in a surprisingly sincere tone. "The audience needs a villain to root against, a villain they want to see fail, which is why I need to lose. You just gotta make it look convincing,"
Blitz was surprised to hear that this guy wanted to lose, but he smiled. "Well, I'll consider your request, but just to let you know…"
Blitz squirmed his way out of Mustang's grip, grabbing Mustang's sleeves and swinging him around, much to Mustang's surprise.
"I'm not much of a heroic guy," Blitz admitted. "But I am a proud papa!" he declared before letting go of Mustang, causing him to fly out of the ring.
"And Mustang's out!" Marlon declared.
Mustang landed and slid into the dirt, Guttley running up to him. Mustang spit out some dirt while Guttley helped his partner stand back up.
"You alright?" the Hellhound muttered in concern.
"I'm alright, Guttley," Mustang said as he brushed himself off before looking back at Blitz, smiling at him with an acknowledgement of respect. "Let's go find somewhere to watch the rest of the Pain Games."
Back in the ring, Blitz dusted himself off as he looked around. "Alright, who's left?" he asked before turning to look over at Millie's side of the ring… and his eyes widened in shock.
Millie stood over the mangled, cut up, and bloodied body of Scorch. The imp wasn't dead, Blitz could see him breathing, but Scorch was definitely not in good shape, his own knife buried in his shoulder. Hearing his voice, Millie turned around to look at Blitz. She was covered in blood… lots of it and it was not even hers, although there were some cuts on her cheek and arms from Scorch. But that was not what worried Blitz the most.
It was the eyes. There was something… animalistic in them. And Blitz quickly realized that he had made a mistake by making direct eye contact with her.
Loona looked incredibly worried for her dad now that he was facing off against this Millie girl. Sure, he had managed those other chumps with no problem, but this Millie girl… she had seen what she had done to those guys. And now she looked even more feral than ever while covered in the blood of her enemies.
"That girl is insane…" Loona said, actually sounding fearful. She turned to Ember. "I thought this isn't supposed to be as deadly as the first round."
"It shouldn't, but…" Ember admitted, looking worried for Blitz as well. "That girl is unhinged… and I think I know her family."
"What's that?" Loona asked her.
"Her family owns a ranch just outside of town," Ember explained. "She's usually out of town though, but I guess she came back for the Harvest Moon Festival…"
It was just Blitz and Millie now. Blitz looked over at Millie, wondering if she could be reasoned with or not. But when he looked into her eyes… nope, she was gone.
And sure enough, Millie rushed towards Blitz with another yell, swiping her nails at Blitz, who dodged her attack.
"Yargh!" she shouted as she tried to slash at him.
"Fuck! You really are a wild scamp, aren't ya?" Blitz asked as he dodged her attacks. He knew his best strategy was to be constantly moving and to never stay in one place for too long, because standing still while Millie was coming after him would be a death sentence. Eventually, he saw an opening and threw a punch at her, striking Millie in the face. "Ha!"
Millie just… looked at him as blood came from her nose. By the time Blitz realized he had made a mistake, she had already tackled him down into the mud while clawing at him. He pushed her away from him, trying to keep her claws from reaching his face before he managed to kick her off of him. He then flipped over and stood back up, but Millie was already on him again, swiping at Blitz and successfully tearing away a part of his shirt near his abdomen. "Shit!"
Millie snarled at him and jumped up in the air, quickly delivering some kicks at him, forcing him to block her attacks as he started backing away, losing more and more ground to Millie as she pressed her attacks. Realizing that he was going to be backed out of the ring at this point, he stopped being only defensive and he looked for another opening, seeing a weakness in her defenses before kicking her in the side, knocking her away from him and giving him a moment to catch his breath. He saw the primal look in her eyes, indicating that she was still in feral mode.
"Okay, you're a lot tougher… and crazier, than the others," Blitz pointed out before Millie started running at him while on all fours. "YAAH!" he cried out as he ran around the ring while Millie chased after him. He turned around to see Millie right behind him, then jumped up as she lunged at him, allowing Millie to run past underneath him as he ended up behind her. She turned around, but not quickly enough to avoid being kicked away from him. Millie was sent rolling, but she managed to stop herself before she fell out of the ring. She then got up while glaring at Blitz, seeing only red.
'Okay, maybe if I tire her out, I might make it,' Blitz thought to himself while considering his options. 'Though, do I really need to win this? Are those War Ponies really worth it? Should I just take a dive?' he thought while he walked around the ring. Across from him was Millie, who was crawling around while eyeing him like a tiger looking at its prey. 'I could just forfeit now… no, I don't think I should quit,' he thought as he gave a determined look. 'I think I'll win or lose, fairly. I'm not going to dishonor the games by quitting.'
To note, forfeiting would have been the smartest thing that Blitz could've done. Especially in circumstances like this…
Millie narrowed her eyes at Blitz before she charged towards him once again. Blitz stared Millie down as he thought about how fighting her was like facing a bull. At the last possible moment, he stepped out of her way and swung his fist at her, landing a punch to her face so far that Millie was lifted off the ground. He then hit her again, slamming her down to the ground.
"Oh yeah, not so tough now!" Blitz declared as Millie quickly got back up and swung her fist at him. He dodged while delivering a swinging kick of his knee to her stomach, making her gasp for air. He then elbowed her in the back, bringing her down to the ground once more. Then before she could get back up, he jumped up and body slammed her into the ground, splashing some mud all over them.
Blitz rolled back as he heard her groan. He saw her getting up and Blitz quickly rushed over to deliver a kick. When she looked up at him, she was met with his boot to her face, launching her away from him. Blitz was now getting the upper hand and he was pressing that advantage, rushing towards her.
After landing in the mud, Millie got back up and saw Blitz running at her. Fuming in anger, she charged at him again, but Blitz just smiled as he took his jacket off and threw it in her face, covering it. He held onto his jacket while Millie jumped around like a mad bull, blinded by the jacket.
"Yeah! Just like in the rodeo!" Blitz declared. He held onto his jacket around while Millie jumped up and down on all fours. As held on with one hand, he used his other hand to punch her head and then her sides. He then grabbed her tail and flung her up before swinging her down into the ground. Blitz then did another body slam before she had the chance to get up, this time landing on her head…
"Incredible, everyone!" Twitch shouted from his booth. "Looks like Mr. Ballroom is the last one standing!"
"I am?" Blitz asked in surprise as he looked down at Millie's body. "Holy fuck, I did it!" He sighed in relief before looking back at Millie. "Heh, I have to give you credit, you gave me a run for my money," he told her unmoving body. "Hey, why don't you…?"
He looked down at her and nudged her body. When it didn't respond, he became worried.
"Millie? Hey, are you alright?" Blitz asked in concern, kneeling down to remove his jacket from her face…
Only for him to get jumped.
"AAAAAIIIEEE!" Millie shrieked as she pounced on Blitz, having played dead!
"OH SHI-!" Blitz shouted before he was knocked to the ground, Millie now on top of him. She didn't give him a chance to fight back as she gave a series of rapid and hard punches to his face, drawing blood from his nose and mouth.
"RAAAH!" Millie shouted as she kept punching him down.
"She… she was playing dead!" Twitch exclaimed in shock, sitting back in fear. "That was unexpected…"
Blitz tried to get up, but Millie pushed him back down as she resumed beating the crap out of him. She grabbed him by the head and then slammed his face into the mud, staining it with his blood…
…all the while his daughter watched. Loona expressed shock at what she was seeing with Amaroq, Ember, Carrie, Damian, Jack, Jill, and the rest of the Wrath teens. All of them grew worried for Blitz. All of them feared that Millie wouldn't know when to stop.
"Dad!" Loona cried out in shock.
"Is anyone going to stop this?!" Jack asked with a worried look.
Ember saw Loona's worried expression and she tried to reach out to her, but then, unexpectedly, Loona dashed into the crowd. The Hellhound wasn't just going to stand there watching her dad get beaten to near death. Not when she could do something about it.
"Loona!" Ember cried out, seeing her rush through the crowd, knocking some imps out of the way in the process as she ran for the ring.
"She's headin' straight for him…" Carrie realized. "Loona! Don't! You could get hurt!"
"I need to save my dad!" Loona shouted as she ran through the crowd of imps, who reacted in shock when they saw the Hellhound rushing past them. A few imps tried to stop her, but she just shoved past them as she jumped into the ring, running over to Millie and Blitz.
Millie kept beating Blitz and managed to grab him by the horns. She attempted to snap them off of his head and despite her small size, she might have actually been strong enough to pull that off. However, just before she could snap them off, Loona intervened.
"Get away from him, you bitch!" Loona screamed as she kicked Millie in the face, knocking her away from his dad.
"Oof!" Millie shouted as she landed in the mud. Looking up, the sight of Loona glaring and snarling at her while standing protectively in front of Blitz seemed to finally snap Millie out of her feral state. Her eyes returned to normal as she stared at Loona in surprise and confusion.
"W-what?" she asked, recognizing the Hellhound girl from the Death Race. "What are you doing up here?"
"Now this is a surprising turn of events," Twitch said in awe. "A Hellhound girl has come to protect Mr. Ballroom from Millie!"
The crowd… didn't love this and some of them started to boo.
"Get out of the ring, you dirty mutt!"
"Someone remove the Hellhound!"
"Someone put her in a muzzle!"
Loona, of course, didn't care about what the crowd thought. She only cared about her dad. While Millie was sitting there in shock, Loona gave her more growls before turning to look down at her dad. Loona's expression changed from anger to concern for Blitz as she knelt down to help him back up.
"Dad!" Loona shouted as she held his head up. "Dad, are you alright?"
"L-Loona?" Blitz asked as he opened his eyes. Though they were both slightly swollen, he could still see Loona holding him up. "Oh… what… what are you doing he-ack!" he shouted as he held his head, feeling a concussion.
"Hey, try not to speak," Loona said as she picked his arm up and swung it around her shoulders, helping him up.
"Shit," Millie said as she got up. She looked around the ring, seeing what she had done to Gnat, Brutas, and Scorch… and then what she had done to Blitz.
Seeing Millie up, Loona snarled at her as she supported her dad. The two women just stared at each other for a moment while the crowd became more unhappy, some of them even throwing objects at Loona.
Things might have gotten even worse if Stolas had not intervened. He had been on the edge of his seat throughout the entire fight, debating with himself over whether he should do something or not. Loona had acted before him, but that gave him now the perfect chance to cut in with an announcement.
"Due to some, um, illegal audience intervention, the final round of the Pain Games is over!" Stolas declared through his mic. He did look worried for Blitz after he took that beating, but he knew that he had to be careful with showing his affection toward him, especially when they were in public. He was grateful for Loona's intervention at the very least, especially since he could use that as an excuse to end the Pain Games. "We shall move on to the ending ceremony shortly."
Loona sighed in relief as she helped her dad out of the ring, ignoring the boos and the objects being thrown at them by imps who were unhappy with how the Mud Brawl had ended. The bodies of Gnat, Brutas, and Scorch were also dragged away by some imps, leaving Millie as the only one left standing. She stood there, looking confused for a moment before she started to walk off of the muddy field.
And thus ended the last round of the Pain Games. With Millie as the last one standing.
And after all of that came the closing ceremony. Wally Wackford stood up on stage with all of the contestants that were still able to stand. This included Millie, Blitz, Magma, Peach Cream, Mustang, and, surprisingly, Hurston of all demons.
"You alright there, Blitz?" Magma asked him.
"I'll live," Blitz replied, his face bandaged up. "I should ask you the same thing."
"Eh, I'll live as well," Magma replied with a smile. "Too stubborn to die."
"Alright, I say, and I say you've all given a terrific performance in these Pain Games!" Wally announced. "You've shown off your skills, your strength, your wit, and even a bit of showmanship! The judges have gone over your performance each round and scored them and they have decided that the winner of the Pain Games is… Millie!"
"YEAAH!" Sallie May cheered along with her brothers as the crowd roared in applause. "That's my big sis!"
Loona just leaned back with a huff while crossing her arms, Amaroq doing the same in an attempt to replicate her.
"I don't think I like this Millie all that much," Amaroq grumbled. "Mr. Blitz should've won!"
"Well, at least dad's still living, along with Hurston," Loona said with a sigh. "But yeah, I don't like that Millie girl either..."
"Now step, I say, step up, Ms. Millie!" Wally declared as Millie stepped up. "Now how's you feel about winnin'?"
"Excited!" Millie declared with a grin. "I'd like to thank mah family, who supported me! T'is is the best day of mah life!"
"Well said, and it'll get better when we bring out your prizes!" Wally declared. He paused for a moment. "Um, I said bring out them prizes!"
After an awkward moment, Wally went over to see what the hold-up was… and he gasped, his eyes widening in shock. "Say?! Where are the prizes?!"
"What the fuck?!" Blitz exclaimed as he and everyone else realized that the prizes were gone. "What happened to those ponies?"
"Say, has anyone seen Marlon around?" Twitch asked as he walked up onto stage. "I thought he'd be at the booth, but he's gone."
"Come to think of it, where is that Patricia and Park duo?" Hurston pointed out, noticing their absence from the line-up.
"They flew out of the ring when they… blasted off…" Blitz said as he slowly realized who had stolen the prizes right under their noses. "Oh, those clever bandits…"
The trio of Patricia, Park, and Marlon were currently riding off together on a wagon filled with their stolen prizes. Pulling their wagon was the same demon bear from the second round of the Pain Games.
"Hahaha! Look at me in my new boots!" Patricia declared while showing off the fashionable boots that she now wore on her feet.
"And these Flex Flawless bobble-heads and War Ponies will make quite the fortune on the black market!" Park replied with a smile while holding up some of the bobble-heads and the War Ponies that Blitz had desired so much.
"And these coupons are not too bad either!" Marlon added as they continued to put some distance between them and Ragetown. "I will admit, it was fun playing the role of commentator, but not as fun as suckering those guys!"
"Do you think Blitz is going to be mad at us?" Park asked. "He definitely wanted these ponies…"
"Probably," Patricia said with a shrug. "But I don't feel that bad about it. Do you?"
Park and Marlon both looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"Nah," the bandits said.
The three of them then laughed together as they continued to ride off with their spoils…
Later, after the closing ceremony for the Pain Games had finished, Blitz and Magma walked together to meet up with their kids.
"I must say, Blitz, when I first met you, I thought you'd be all talk," Magma admitted. "But you've earned my respect. If you had won the Pain Games, I would say that it would be a deserved win. After all, not many can outlast me in the Mud Brawl."
"Ah, it was nothing, granny," Blitz replied with a dismissive wave. "Sure, I may not be Wrath, but I'm not just a city-licker either."
"And you sure proved that," she replied with a smile.
"Granny, Blitz, there you are," Ember said as she and Loona came over to check on their respective guardians. "Sorry that you didn't win, granny."
"Ah, it's no big," Magma said, brushing it off. "There's always next year."
"And who knows? I might make a comeback," Blitz suggested before turning to Loona, who just crosses her arms while giving him a disapproving look, making him nervous. "Oh… well, that's a maybe."
"Dad…" Loona said.
Ember, seeing the tension between father and daughter, took the hint and began walking away with her grandmother, leaving the two alone.
Blitz sighed. "Alright, I'll admit though, I am disheartened over the whole not winning thing, but even if I had won the prizes would still have been stolen, meaning it was all for nothing…"
"Dad, do you know how stupid that was for you to not forfeit during the mud brawl when you had the chance?" Loona pointed out, making Blitz wince. "For crying out loud, she could've killed you if I hadn't intervened."
"I know…" Blitz replied, taking in the scolding.
"Hell, it was pretty stupid of you to sign up for the Pain Games in the first place!" Loona chastised him. "Even if the prizes hadn't been stolen!"
"Yeah, I know it wasn't the best decision I've made today…" Blitz admitted, his head low.
"Yeah, it wasn't," Loona replied while glaring at him… before she came down to give him a hug. "Which is why I'm glad you're okay."
Blitz gave a heartfelt look as he felt Loona's hug. He then hugged her back, the two of them having a touching moment…
"Hey, um, Mr. Ballroom guy?"
…a touching moment that was interrupted by Millie, who was standing nearby. Blitz looked surprised to see her while Loona narrowed her gaze at Millie, remaining on guard.
"Hey, um… just wanna say… I'm sorry for beatin' ya like that during the Mud Brawl," Millie apologized while rubbing her arm. "It wasn't anythin' personal, I was just beatin' those three other assholes since, well, I had personal beef with them in the past. I didn't mean to get carried away like that."
"Oh… well, I guess there's no hard feelings," Blitz replied. "I do appreciate you coming up to me about it, at least. And… you probably did deserve to win, since you were definitely a tough fighter back there."
"Thanks, and you weren't too bad yourself," Millie replied while glancing at Loona and noticing how she was glaring at her. She wondered if the Hellhound recognized her or not. "And I guess it was a good thing that you had your pet Hellhound nearby, huh?"
Blitz and Loona both visibly twitched when she called Loona a 'pet.' Blitz immediately looked like he wanted to slap the red off of Millie, while Loona looked even more pissed.
"What did you just call me, bitch?" she barked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that probably wasn't the right term," Millie apologized… to Blitz, not to Loona. "But she is your Hellhound, isn't she?"
"I'm not just his Hellhound," Loona growled.
"Yeah," Blitz said while putting his arm around Loona and pulling her close to him. "She's my daughter."
"Wait, really?" Millie asked, looking surprised, confused, and… even a little embarrassed to have misread their relationship so wrong.
"Yes, and I would prefer that you don't call her a pet in front of me," Blitz told her with a stern glare. "Cause I would've slapped the gap toothed dick lips off of you for that."
Millie was even more taken aback by this, but she decided to not pick a fight with Blitz or Loona. "I'm sorry," she admitted to her mistake. "I shouldn't have assumed." Realizing that she had overstayed her welcome, she started walking away. "Well… it was nice knowin' ya. Enjoy the rest of the Harvest Moon Festival."
As Millie walked away, Loona noticed the white mark on her tail… and realized that there was something strangely familiar about the imp. But before she could fully put it together, she heard her father sigh and she looked down at him. "You alright, dad?" she asked, patting him gently on the shoulder.
Blitz turned to look up at her. "I should be the one asking you that," he said.
"I am, and thanks," Loona told him with a smile.
Blitz, however, didn't smile back. "I'm sorry that you had to… deal with that," he said. "Nobody should ever call you-"
"Hey, just forget about her," Loona told Blitz. "She's just another close-minded bigot in a Ring full of them. I don't care what she thinks and neither should you. After today, we don't have to think about Millie ever again."
"She never even asked your name," Blitz pointed out.
Loona just scoffed. "She doesn't deserve to know my name," she pointed out in return.
"She absolutely doesn't," Blitz said with a small smile. "But you're not just my Hellhound, Loona."
"You don't need to tell me that," Loona reassured him. "I know."
"Hey, Loona, Blitz," said a familiar voice. The father and daughter duo looked up to see Verosika walking over to them. She had changed out of her stage outfit and was now dressed in a white button shirt tied down to show her midriff and blue jeans. She also wore a cowboy hat while her hair was tied into a ponytail and she had some security around her. When she saw Blitz, she actually looked concerned. "Oh man… you look like crap," she said. "Are you okay?"
"Eh, I've suffered worse," Blitz said with a shrug.
"Well… maybe you should get yourself cleaned up," Verosika suggested. "You can use my trailer if you want," she offered
This surprised Blitz, who stared at Verosika before looking around.
"Um, dad, what are you doing?" Loona asked.
"Just making sure that the Wrath Ring hasn't frozen over again," Blitz said before looking back at Verosika. "Are you being serious?"
Verosika sighed. "Look, I just want to be nice. There's some medical supplies and other stuff in there that you can use." She glared at him. "Just don't make me regret it, okay."
"I'll stay with the kids," Loona said while pointing over to Amaroq, Damian, Jack, and Jill, who were mingling with each other while Styx watched over them. "I'll watch Stolas's ceremony with them while you go clean up, dad. Cause yeah… no offense, but you really do look like shit."
"You okay, Hurston?" Ember asked, she and her friends having gathered to check up on Hurston after the Pain Games. Douglas was also there, Carrie having brought him with her.
"I'm… still alive, at least," Hurston said while covered in bandages and a cast. "I can't tell if my uncle is disappointed or not, though it is a waste of a perfectly good coffin…"
"Man, that shark really had it out on you," Douglas commented.
"But you at least have the bragging rights, since none of us could say that we have survived the Pain Games," Shawn added. "Well, except for Carrie."
"Honestly, I think you should be proud," Carrie admitted. "You had the bravery to sign up for the Pain Games and you had the resilience to survive the Pain Games. Sure, you might not have won, but you're in better condition than some of the others who competed with you. You're still in one piece."
Hurston smiled. "Aw, thanks," he said. "And hey, at least I still got my dignity, right?"
"Eh, I wouldn't say that," Zumi said while everyone else shared silent looks of agreement.
It was then that Chat's eyes lit up in excitement. He hollered, getting everyone's attention.
"What is it, Chat?" Carrie asked while seeing Chat excitedly point into the crowd.
"Look!" he shouted. "Guess who decided to show up after all!"
Everyone looked in the direction that Chat was pointing in and amongst the crowd they were able to make out the back of the head of a familiar Hellhound.
"Pax?" Ember asked in surprise.
"Yo, Pax! Over here!" Chat shouted as he waved his arms around to get the Hellhound's attention.
However, Pax didn't look at his friends even though he seemed to have heard them. Instead, he ignored their cries and walked further into the crowd, vanishing from view.
"Hey, why didn't he answer?" Chat asked in confusion. "Didn't he hear us?"
"That's weird…" Ember said, just as confused as her friends.
Meanwhile, Blitz had gone backstage and had found Verosika's trailer, her name being on the door. He stood outside for a moment, looking at the trailer.
"Hmm, I wonder if this is one of those things that is bigger on the inside than the outside," Blitz said as he went to open the trailer door… only to be blasted by enough cool air to make his face briefly turn white from the frost. He reached to feel his face and realized that it was… cold. For the first time since he had arrived in Wrath, Blitz felt cold. And when Blitz stepped inside the trailer, he only continued to be amazed. "Holy fuck…"
The inside of the trailer looked more luxurious than anything Blitz had seen in Wrath. Not only was there air conditioning, someone that Blitz had forgotten even existed, but the floor was actually carpeted in purple, matching the walls. There were pink chairs and black couch cushions, a fridge filled with mineral water and ice tea, a shelf full of fancy shampoos and moisturizers, and a bubble bath that was already prepared. It was incredibly fancy.
And of course, it was also decorated with the face of his ex with plenty of Verosika memorabilia and collectibles. Boxes with Verosika dolls (not the sex kind), posters, clocks, ornaments, album covers, Funko Pops, plate sets, a lunch box, and a whole bunch of other merchandise. It was like a celebration of Verosika Mayday, but Blitz was able to overlook it… mostly.
"Of course it would look like this," Blitz said as he looked around. He then smiled. "Well, as long as I'm here, I might as well enjoy myself and take advantage of Verosika's generosity…"
Back at the main Harvest Moon Festival celebration, the final ceremony had begun. Stolas was now present on stage before the audience. With one hand he held up his mic while with the other he levitated his grimoire in front of him..
"My dear commoners of the Ring of Wrath!" Stolas declared as he attempted to ignore the dirty looks that he was getting from the imps in the crowd. He knew that they hated him and he just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, though he didn't want to make that obvious. He used his magic to flip through the pages of the grimoire. "I, Stolas of the Ars Goetia, hereby curse this year's harvest with… the glow of the true harvest moon!"
Using the grimoire, he opened a portal up in the sky above the town for all imps to look up through. Through this portal, they were able to see stars and the red glowing harvest moon, leaving the crowd in awe. For a moment, their dislike of the Goetian prince was forgotten as they stared through the portal, admiring the harvest moon in all its majesty.
Loona's group were amongst those looking up in awe. Amaroq, Damian, Jill, and Jack all stared up with looks of child-like wonder while Loona formed a smile and even Styx looked momentarily impressed.
The Wrath teens stopped their search of Pax when the portal opened up and they paused to look up at the moon in amazement as well.
In different parts of the crowd, the view was admired by Moxxie's family, Millie and her family, and even Abby and her moms.
And in a different part of the Harvest Moon Festival, Tex and Kajedo had their own spot to see the moon, finding the moment kinda… romantic as they held hands.
From his place on the stage, Stolas looked over at the crowd, seeing their reactions. And he couldn't help but smile a little, taking pride in their awe and their wonder…
…but there was one demon who wasn't looking at the harvest moon. Instead, they were looking right at Stolas… through the sights of a gun.
While everyone was too busy admiring the harvest moon, nobody noticed the assassin on a nearby rooftop, aiming a rifle loaded with holy at the head of the Goetia prince.
"Gotcha right here, blue-blood," Striker said with a grin as he lined up his shot.
But before he could pull the trigger… some nearby sirens blared, causing him to pause and look up. All around town, sirens were blaring their warning, causing the crowd below Striker to begin to react and panic to the sound of the sirens.
"Attention, everyone! Take shelter! Get off the streets! There's been a breach!" someone shouted over the loudspeakers, warning the crowd.
"Oh dear," Stolas said as he quickly closed the portal and teleported away from the stage as the early warning system continued to go off.
Seeing him disappear, Striker cursed through his teeth. "Fucking hell!"
He had missed his chance.
With Loona's group, most of them looked confused and worried as they heard the sirens.
"What's happening?" Jack asked.
"I… I don't know," Loona admitted as she looked around at the kids. She then felt someone grab her hand and she looked down to see that it was Amaroq, who looked up at her. Loona noticed that Amaroq looked… scared.
"Loona…" she said.
"Is this a fire drill? A hellquake?" Styx asked while looking around in a panic. "A stampede?!"
"Whatever it is, it wasn't me this time," Damian said defensively. "Like for real, I didn't pull any fire alarms."
But while the rest of them were reacting in fear and confusion… Jill knew what was up. This siren was part of an early warning system in case a monster ever got too close to the town…
"Alright, listen up!" Jill announced, drawing the group's attention. "We can't stay here. What we need to do is find the nearest shelter and wait out the monster attack in it."
"Monster attack?!" Loona exclaimed as she, Styx, and the kids reacted in shock.
Meanwhile, with Ember's group, Granny Magma called out to the teens.
"Come on, Ember! Get yer friends!" Magma shouted to them. "We need to get to shelter!"
"Come on, let's go!" Ember shouted as she and Magma led the teens to safety.
"We're right behind ya, Em!" Carrie shouted as she grabbed Douglas and carried him while the other teens followed, Zumi carrying Hurston as she flew with the group.
"Wait!" Chat shouted near the back of the group. "What about Pax?"
"If he's smart, he'll take shelter as well!" Magma shouted.
"We gotta get out of here, Peggy!" Peach Cream shouted while carrying her pig as she ran past Mustang and Guttley, who came out of an ice cream parlor.
"What's going on here?" Mustang asked as Petey ran up, carrying his coffins.
"Everyone's taking shelter, so you better find somewhere to hide, fellas!" Petey shouted while pointing at Dr. Mantis, who was hiding in one of the coffins.
"If I'm gonna die here, I already want to be in my coffin!" Dr. Mantis shouted. "I'm not even a real doctor! Don't ask me for miracles!"
Millie and her family look around in concern over the sirens.
"What's going on?" Fisk asked.
"Looks like trouble's a-brewin," Lin replied as she and Millie noticed townsfolk scattering in every direction.
"We have to get out of the open," Millie realized.
"Quick everyone, I think there's a shelter over here!" Margentina shouted as she and her family tried to navigate through the crowd.
"Are we under attack?" Jam asked.
"It's the apocalypse! I knew this day would come!" Jive exclaimed.
"It must be some kind of stampede!" Jazz shouted while Moxxie's family continued to look for shelter…
…while with little Abigale and her moms, they were trying to avoid being trampled as they looked for somewhere to go.
"Tazer, what do we do?" Avril asked her wife.
"We stay together," Tazer said while holding her wife's hand as they both held their daughter, who looked scared. The last thing that they wanted was to be separated in this chaos…
"That's the emergency siren," Kajedo realized while with Tex. Her eyes widened. "Crap, it's a monster siren!"
"Monster siren?!" Tex exclaimed, looking worried. "I should go find Verosika, and make sure that she and her crew are okay."
"Right. And while you do that, I'm going to look for my friends," Kajedo said. "They might not know where to go."
Tex didn't even bother arguing with Kajedo or trying to talk her out of looking for her friends instead of focusing on getting herself to safety. "Be careful," was all that he said.
"You too," Kajedo said.
The two nodded in agreement before they split up, running in separate directions as they went looking for those that they needed to protect.
Verosika, Kiki, Ace, and Josh were all backstage talking to each other when they heard the sirens. Milky quickly came out from an outhouse with the girl she was with.
"What's going on?!" Milky asked.
"It's an emergency siren!" Josh shouted in fear. "You don't think it's the Exorcists, do you?"
"Not in this Ring," Kiki said before she spotted Tentradora running past them.
"Damian! He's in trouble!" the robot exclaimed. But she wasn't the only one worried for somebody else.
"Loona…" Verosika whispered.
Meanwhile, in Verorsika's trailer, Blitz had been relaxing in the bubble bath with cucumbers on his eyes while cleaning himself.
"Ah… I wonder if this is what Stolas's baths are like," Blitz wondered out loud with a sigh until he heard the sirens, snapping him out of his fantasy. "The fuck? What's going on out here?" he asked as he quickly got out of the tub, grabbing a pink towel to wrap around his waist. "Wait… sirens like that would only turn on when there's a… emergency!"
Of course, being from Pride he associated the sound with the annual Extermination and the arrival of the Exorcists. He knew that wasn't the case in Wrath, but it was still a sound that filled him with dread.
"Loona! Amaroq!" Blitz cried out, fearing for both of the girls' safety.
He rushed for the door of the trailer, even forgetting to put on his clothes… but then he saw the door open and a large figure take up the doorway.
"Oh… fuck, you're one of Sika's security teams, are ya?" Blitz asked, thinking the large figure was part of the security team. "Listen, I was allowed to use Verosika's trailer. I know her, believe it or not-"
"Oh, I already know about your history with Ms. Mayday," said the Hellhound. "I know a lot about you, Mr. Buckzo."
"Um… what?" Blitz asked.
The Hellhound closed the door to the trailer behind him. "I was watching you earlier," he said. "You must be tired from everything you went through during the Pain Games…"
"Uh… yeah, I am," Blitz said, backing away slightly.
"Which only makes things easier for me," Alexei said with a smile as Blitz began to realize who this guy was…
And he was definitely not part of security.
Back with Loona, she and Styx tried to guide the kids to safety as they navigated their way through the crowd and the chaos.
"There's gotta be a shelter nearby," Loona said, her tone desperate as the sirens continued to hammer her ears. It gave her flashbacks to the Extermination and although she knew the Exorcists were not coming in this case, she still did not want to be caught in the open.
"There should be," Jill replied. "Most towns have reinforced shelters for situations like this."
As they continued their search, Loona felt Amaroq holding onto her tighter and tighter, causing her to look down at the Hellpup. "Are you okay?" she asked Amaroq.
"N-no," Amaroq admitted while looking down. "Those sirens… they sound like the ones that play when the Extermination begins…"
Loona was about to say something to comfort Amaroq, but before she could she felt something grabbing her legs. "What the-?!"
Suddenly Loona tripped and fell on the ground before being dragged away from the group, her arm being ripped away from Amaroq's grip.
"Loona!" Amaroq cried out.
"YAAAH!" Loona shouted as she was hung upside down… and came face-to-face with the one who had grabbed her. Her eyes widened. "No…"
"Loooooonaaaa!" shouted the grinning Robo-Fizz, who slammed Loona to the ground. "We meet again!"
"I thought you were fucking wrecked!?" Loona shouted while picking herself up.
"You can't kill what isn't living, Loona!" Robo-Fizz declared. "And after I saw your performance during the Death Race, I knew I would be able to find you in Wrath!"
"Loona!"
Hearing Amaroq's cries, Loona turned to see the Hellpup, who was being held by Styx. "Loona, are you okay?!"
"Oh, what's this? You have more kids to protect?" Robo-Fizz asked as he held onto Loona's shoulder, only for Loona to punch him away from her. "Gah! Fuck! That hurts, you know?!"
Loona turned to Styx. "Styx, I need you to take the kids to safety!"
"But… but what about you?!" Styx asked her with worry, hesitant to leave her.
"I'll take care of him, just protect Amaroq and the kids!" Loona told him while turning to face Robo-Fizz. "You need to get them to safety!"
Styx looked at Loona with worry, then down at the kids. They all looked anxious and scared, even Jill who looked more uncomfortable the longer they stayed out in the open. Styx knew that he had to protect them. Not just Damian, all of the kids. Their safety had to be a priority.
"A-Alright, Ms. Loona!" Styx told her as he led the kids away. "Follow me, children! We gotta get out of here!"
"But what about Loona?" Amaroq asked him, reluctant to leave Loona behind, especially as the sirens continued to blare. But despite this, Damian dragged her with them, leaving Loona behind with the robot in the process…
As Styx led the children away, Jill spotted the marked entrance of a shelter nearby.
"Over there!" Jill shouted as she pointed to the door, seeing some imps getting in.
"Come on, kids!" Styx shouted as they rushed toward the entrance to the shelter… only for it to close before they could get there. "No!" he shouted as he pulled on the door, trying to open it. But it was locked on the other side. "We have to find another one!" But before they could move on, Styx suddenly noticed something in front of him. It was… snow falling from the sky. "Huh?"
"Is that… snow?" Amaroq asked in confusion, her fear momentarily going away.
"But… it never snows in Wrath!" Damian shouted.
"The air's getting quite chilly suddenly," Jack said as he held his arms, Jill looking suspicious about all of this.
"This isn't right," Jill noted as she looked around.
"RAAAAAWWRRR!"
Hearing the roar, Styx and the kids turned to see that rampaging through the town, wrecking the festival, was the Terafrost, imps and other demons fleeing in its wake.
"A t-t-t-t-" Styx rambled in disbelief.
"A Terafrost?!" Jill exclaimed in shock. "What's a Terafrost doing here?! I thought they were supposed to be extinct!"
"Yeah, definitely not for snow cones," Damian replied.
The Terafrost roared as it shot more ice into the sky, causing it to snow even harder. Already, several imps had been frozen solid, creating a trail of ice statues wherever the monster walked. But the path of the monster seemed to be… intentional. Like it had been drawn by something. As it continued its rampage, it suddenly stopped when it noticed Styx's group. And its eyes immediately landed on a certain member of the group… Jack.
When Jack realized that the monster was staring at him and was likely here just for him, he gave a sigh. "Of course…"
Meanwhile, in another part of Wrath, Cain had driven his bike to the mouth of a very large, ominous cavern. He got off his bike and knelt down, noting the footprints and tire tracks that went in and out of the cave.
"Is this the place?" Cain asked while looking back at Tilly for confirmation.
"Well, it's obviously not the Cave of Wonders," Tilly said while rolling her eyes.
"Is this where your boss is or not?!" Cain demanded while looking back over to her.
Tilly sighed. "It is… but now that I have fulfilled my end of our deal, you may free me so I can take you to him."
"Yeah… about that…"
Before Tilly could say anything else, Cain swung his fist into her face, knocking her out.
"I'm sorry," he told the unconscious Tilly. "But while I don't want to kill you, it doesn't mean that I trust you enough to let you go. I couldn't leave you back in Angerton, but I also don't want to risk having you stab me in the back so you're staying out here."
And with that, Cain left Tilly on his bike as he turned to face the entrance of the cave. He took a moment to collect himself before he stepped inside the dark mouth of the cave.
He had a meeting with her boss to attend.
Inside the cavern itself, screams echoed throughout the tunnels. These screams had gone on for a while… and they belonged to Moxxie.
He screamed as he was tortured for information, the screams seemingly getting even more pain-filled when suddenly-
"AAAHHH! NOO-!"
BANG!
The screams suddenly stopped, silenced by a single gunshot. And then… there was nothing.
After a few moments, a lone figure exited a room in the underground lair, leaving behind a dead body in the room behind him. In the hand of the figure was a single still smoking gun. It was Moxxie, who now looked around at his surroundings, having managed to get the jump on his torturer and free himself.
Sure, Moxie was shown to be bruised, cut up, and battered from the torture he had endured. And yet he stood there, determined, a loaded gun in his hand. He looked down at his gun and nodded.
"Alright," Moxxie spoke, his voice hoarse. "Payback time…"
Author's Notes:
Okay, many have been wondering why post a HD chapter rather than B&B? To put it simply, we've decided to write this instead of B&B because we really wanted to focus on concluding the Wrath Ring arc, which is why we don't have anything planned on April 1st because of this. Finishing the Wrath Ring arc is our priority, not to mention that we did post an additional 'What If' one-shot last year to celebrate the release of Wicked. So this year we consider this a first break from the trend.
With the Pain Games, we've decided to pay homage to the Laff-A-Lympics, just like how we've paid homage to Wacky Races in "Loony Luna: Fury Road". Twitch and Marlon serves as the Mildew Wolf and Snagglepuss stand-ins as commentators, as well as having a bunch of villainous or shady characters filling in the roles for the 'Really Rottens:'
-Peach Cream was created as an expy of Daisy Mayhem.
-Prick Mustang is meant to fill in for the role of the Dread Baron, who is actually an expy of Dick Dastardly created for Laff-A-Lympics.
-Scorch, Brutas and Gnat are stand-ins for the Dalton Brothers.
Patricia and Park don't really have any direct parallels from Laff-A-Lympics, but we still thought that it would be fun to bring them back.
Oh yeah, the pink and black demon bear chasing Patricia and Park is a reference to Bewear, t those who don't know, is a Pokemon from the Alola region in Sun and Moon. A Pokemon you do not want to be caught… Slaking, if ya know what I'm saying.
(Apologize for the Pokemon uncle jokes)
Prick Mustang's characterization is actually based on a fan theory about why Dick Dastardly cheats. The theory that he cheats… is because he's supposed to. All the racers in Wacky Races have their gimmick, and Dick Dastardly's gimmick is that he's the villain who always tries to cheat or sabotage the other racers. This is something that we showed during the Death Race where Prick intentionally sabotaged himself at the end of the race so they would lose. As he told Guttley:
"What? I'm a near-do-well, Guttley, I'm not supposed to win the races. We're the villains, the kind of racers that people love to hate and root against. If we win, that would be off-brand for us, wouldn't it? Don't forget our gimmick."
Prick actually did congratulate Jessie after the race, and in this chapter we wanted to show another example of this when he threw the Mud Brawl. Prick Mustang is basically like a Heel in wrestling. He's someone who plays the role of the villains to give crowds someone they can enjoy rooting against. Like many wrestling heels, he's not actually that bad of a guy outside the competition.
Regarding Millie… yeah, we should probably explain her bigotry. This isn't the first time it came up in Helluva Dad, since during her first appearance in the Death Race(before you guys even knew that was Millie), she used incredibly bigoted language towards Loona and Jessie, calling them mutts or dogs. And this… isn't actually out of character for her, since in the early episodes of Helluva Boss, she avoided calling Loona by her name, instead of only referring to her as 'our only Hellhound' in Murder Family, or 'his Hellhound' in Harvest Moon Festival. It would take until Ghostfuckers for her to actually use Loona's name.
This is something we knew we wanted to address in Helluva Dad. Millie grew up in Wrath and as the Wrath Ring arc has demonstrated, it sucks to be a Hellhound in Wrath. Millie's preudices are just a consequences of her growing up in Wrath… not that it's an excuse either. And while her just calling Loona by her species was something that canon never really focused on, and is now never going to explore since Millie learned to respect Loona and call her by her name… off-screen, it is definitely something that is going to be shown in a prominent light in Helluva Dad. This is always how we planned for Blitz to meet Millie in Helluva Dad, even before we saw how they first met each other in canon. A lot changed while we were writing the Wrath Ring arc, but not this.
As for the part of Millie going feral, that is something that she can do in canon. Examples of that includes her going feral on Striker after she found him hurting Moxxie, and just her reaction to… Chaz in general.
As for Jill, she is also another character from Zoophobia. We actually weren't sure if we were going to include her or not at first, but we decided to include her because of how she actually tied into several other plot points.
And then there's Jawline's death… we've originally going to plan for him to survive the Wrath Ring arc, as he was going to leave Wrath to join up with Crimson's mob in Greed. He could have potentially come back in a later arc when the characters were in Greed. But we knew he would still be in Angerton during Tilly's attack, and we realizeed that he would definitely come to Cain's help… and would likely be killed by Tilly. And this death was meant to make Cain's decision to spare Tilly's life more surprising, since he decided not to kill her despite her killing one of his friends… and it was as a favor to a character that we haven't met yet, developing some intrigue there for stuff that we will explore more later.
Review Section:
Crash X Fusion: While it is Loona's fault about taking them to the Pain Games, Blitz did made the mistake in signing up to the Pain Games after being baited by those War Ponies. Don't worry, we do plan on introducing a Hellborn Five member sometime soon in the story.
Matteso585: 2) That uh, depends. 3) Vox wouldn't be able to watch the Pain Games since, well, the Pain Games are only cable, and considering the kind of guy he is, he doesn't do cable. Just stream shit. 4) Evidently, no. Since in canon, that happened inside a bar. Here, they fought in the Mud Brawl, where it's just throwing hands and mauling… and have Millie give Blitz and Loona a bad taste in their mouths because of her prejudice.
Cooki15xd: Not yet….
EndeavorT: He did.
Shuffollower: Well, Blitz does share some blame as well for entering the Pain Games which would draw Alexei's attention. Patricia, Park and Marlon are the same train robbers from the 'Let's Just have a Nice Dinner" chapter who are Blitz's old train robbing gang. As for Max, she had to leave to not worry her family.