Grape stopped in the doorway. Dimentio was sitting in a hammock-like seat that hung from the ceiling. He strummed a lute, tuning it occasionally, trying to hit a preferred pitch. He stopped, looked to Grape, and smiled.

"Create-O-Guy made me this little room. Nice, no? It is almost as if he knew exactly what I wanted!"

"I never expected you to play an instrument."

"The lute? It is nothing fancy, but I have grown to love it. It sounds pleasing to me." He crossed one leg over the other, strumming a few notes. "Do you want me to play you something?"

Grape shook her head. "I'm alright. I actually wanted to try something. I can increase the power and skill of my Sour Bunch, and I thought that you might find it useful."

"Oh?" He stopped, peering over the edge a bit more, so she could see his mouth from her current position. "I do find it useful!"

"Would you mind coming down here a moment?"

Dimentio rested the lute in the hammock and teleported down to her. She tapped a hand to his head, pushing a bit of her Darkle into him. She pulled her hand away, looking at it.

"That was odd. It was almost as if your magic reacted positively to mine..."

Dimentio formed a small, purple fire in his hand. "Hm! And you did so much with so little! I thank you, Grape. Seems like I owe you a favor now~!" He tapped a finger to his cheek. "But, why so nice? You have the chance to use me, right? So why do me a favor instead? What do you believe you will get from this?"

"Perhaps untold riches?" She replied, being partly sarcastic with her answer. "But...to be frank, something about you strikes me as interesting. It's almost as if my power is stronger around you. This phenomena is strange to me. And your arms..."

Dimentio tugged at his sleeve. "This? Yes, I am aware I lack any sort of arm, or legs, or neck. But that is how I was born and I cannot change it. Trust me, I have...tried."

"That would explain Shi's limbs. Their robotic parts match your lack of body." She chuckled. "I've never met someone like you before. You remind me much of myself when I was younger."

"AHA! I should be telling that to you! So young, so naive...You still have a small glimmer of hope that you can find your...what was it? Sour Bunch? But in this world, it is kill or be killed. If they cannot survive without you, then they are already lost."

"That's not true. My Sour Bunch are the best of the best. I know they are fine without me. I...just have yet to find them yet."

"So...you are unreliable without them...? I see...If you rely to heavily on them, you will lack the skill you need to survive this Underwhere on Earth. And based off the fact you seem to be a witch...I am surprised you work with others at all."

"We're family, we have to look our for each other."

"What was your name again?"

"Grape. My name is Grape Lyre."

"Well, a pleasure to meet you, certainly; but I suggest we get back to our separate ways."

"Yes. I will see you another time, then?"

"...Sure."

Izuku nudged Bakugo. "I hear talking."

"Yeah. That girl's voice must be the Grape people keep talking about."

Grape left a room up ahead and looked directly at the two.

"D_n, she saw us!" Bakugo snapped.

Grape went to them and stopped right in front of them. "Be warned. Dimentio won't stop until he can mount your head on the wall, Midoriya." She floated right past them.

"She didn't want to fight? What a coward."

Izuku watched her leave. "Or she's playing both sides. We should keep an eye on her. For now, we should keep moving."

Izuku and Bakugo continued down the hall, stopping when they heard music. Izuku poked his head into a room, looking up to see Dimentio strumming away on a lute. He started humming to himself. He went back into the hall.

"He's by himself. He's not our target, and if he's not attacking us then I think we should leave him alone."

"Didn't you hear her? She said he won't rest until he kills you. I think we should just deal with him now while we still have the chance. Plus," he cracked his knuckles, "if we don't stop him now, he's going to help Create-O-Guy when we fight him. Do we want to deal with him, Grape, a bunch of Guys, and Create-O-Guy at the same time?"

Izuku looked back to the room. "I want to talk to him, but he doesn't want to."

"Two against one, Deku. We can deal with him, no sweat."

Izuku walked into the room as silently as he could.

Bakugo smirked and was about to follow, before two hands grabbed his arms by the wrists. He was pulled into a different room, and tossed onto the floor. It was pitch black, besides a blue glow coming from someone standing right over him.

"Hello again, Bakugo."

Bakugo scoffed. "You again? Didn't you run away when I landed one hit on you?"

Shi clicked their tongue, sadly shaking their head. "Oh, Bakugo! You think you're sooo stwrong!"

"Don't patronize me!"

"But it's all an act. It always was an act. You knew you were always second-best, so you became an egocentric spotlight hog who was nothing but a jerk to the people who actually cared for him! But I know different. I think I need to teach you a lesson on kindness. That is, if you're willing to listen."

"Listen? To you? You must be joking!" He tried to attack them with an explosion, but his Quirk did nothing but emit a small puff of smoke.

"Joking? Of course I am! I'm a clown! The only thing I do is joke! That's all I ever was! I was a mistake to Create-O-Guy! But I'm going to prove myself! I'm going to show him that I'm not just some glitch. I am Shi, the greatest performer on all of Earth! Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and those of both or neither! Enjoy the performance of a lifetime as I show Bakugo here what happens when he's mean to nice people!"

A spotlight shone directly onto Bakugo, blinding him for a moment.

Shi grabbed a ribbon above them and pulled themself onto a pole overhead. "What's wrong, Bakugo? BLINDED by your actions? Haha!"

"What did you do to my Quirk?"

"Ooh, what's wrong? Little explosion boy can't use his nasty little powers? You've become so reliant on them that, to make things even with me, I had Create-O-Guy put an enchantment on this whole room! So, since I have no magic anymore since Grape helped me, we both need to rely on good ol' physical strength alone! If you think you're sooo strong, you'll be able to beat me to a pulp in seconds! I mean, come ON, Bakugo! Look at me, I'm a twig! Come and snap my bones, if you dare!"

Bakugo stared at them with a disturbed look.

"...Don't actually snap my bones, okay? I hardly have any and I want to keep what I got."

"What the he_ is wrong with you?"

"Actually, now that I think about it, I don't really want to fight. Can we discuss this over a computer screen? Words? Yes. Fists? Eh...not so much. I'm not even really that strong. The only reason why I wanted to 'fight' you was because I wanted to get you back for blowing up my face earlier..."

"Just fight me already!" Bakugo grabbed the ribbon and shook it, shaking Shi around haphazardly.

"Waaah! I don't want to fight! Leave me alone! I don't want to die! I'm going to fall!"

"You are completely pathetic!" He released the ribbon since Shi didn't fall.

Shi gripped the pole tightly, crying. "I know...I just wanted to show everybody I can take care of myself. Thunder Guy said I was nothing without Olive and Dimentio. Whether he meant literally or figuratively, I couldn't tell...But it still hurt! So I wanted to prove I was strong. So I chose to fight you. Nobody in this place can fight you, so I thought that putting up a good fight against you might make people believe I was worth something..." They rested their face on the pole, their cheek squishing against it.

"What are you made of, rubber? And get down! You want to fight, so we're going to fight!"

"But I can't take you..."

Bakugo sighed. "Just pretend for a second, huh? Stupid clown."

Shi sat up a bit. "I know how to pretend. I pretend I'm good at stuff."

"You come down here first, so I can stop yelling at you."

Shi lowered themself down to the ground, tucking their hands to their body. "Okie doke. What were you saying?"

Bakugo punched them in the face, sending them straight into the ground.

Shi sat up, wiping blood from their face. "What's wrong with you?! You're insane! I just said I didn't-didn't want to fight you!" Shi held back tears. "D-do you wan me to apologise, becaue I can apologise! I'm sorry!"

"You're working for the villain, so of course I'm going to fight you!"

Shi started crying, making Bakugo stop in his tracks. "Waaah! I'm sorry for lyin! I jus wanned to look an soun tough but I can't! I'm jus a weak...nothin! I mean nothin and I am nothin!" They wiped the blood from their face again. Bakugo assumed it was a bloody nose, despite the fact they lacked one.

"You remind me of Deku before he got his Quirk...He'd cry his eyes out, and he'd say he was nothing. Get up." Bakugo grabbed their wrist and forced them to their feet. "You can't do anything if you sit on your a_ crying your eyes out!"

"Don't swear at me, it's mean."

"I don't f_ing care."

"Then I'm not listening to you!" They crossed their arms and looked away from him, sniffling.

Bakugo sighed. "If you keep thinking you're nothing, then you'll stay that way. So if you want to prove you're strong, you need to ignore those people who called you weak and do something! If they say you're scared to do something, do it! Prove them wrong! Face your fears, gosh d_n it! But you can't let every little thing people say about you hold you back! If everybody did that, there would be no heroes. So if you want to prove yourself to Create-O-Guy or whatever his name was, then do something good for once and stop him!"

Shi wiped tears from their face. "Why are you helping me? I lied to you, I'm even helping Create-O-Guy stop you..."

"Because you remind me of a more pathetic version of Deku. And you're lucky I didn't decide to punch you again." He went to the door. "And if you keep crying over every little thing, people are going to say you're weak, just so you know."

"Wait."

Bakugo stopped, the door cracked open. "What?"

Shi rubbed their arm. "I think I might have needed that. You're right. But...I don't know how to do that."

"Ignoring people is pretty easy, you're just not trying hard enough."

"...I'm so mean to myself in my head. If I can't do something, my mind tells me I'll never be strong enough to. I meant that. How do I fix that?"

"That sounds like a personal problem, and how am I supposed to know?"

"I see. Sorry for bothering you, and lying to you, and annoying you..."

"For the record, you aren't annoying. Don't push it, though."

"Dimentio told me to drag you away from Deku. Do you think he's planning something?"

"He did? D_n it, he's going to fight Dimentio alone! Come on, we've got a hero to help! This is your chance to prove yourself, so don't blow it!"

Shi forced a smile. "That's...very reassuring, Bakugo."