An Offer is Made

Kumiko groaned as she finally came back to, sitting up as her eyes fluttered open. Looking around, the heroine saw that she was in a dark hall in the dungeon, surrounded by cell doors.

"Ha!" Kumiko chuckled, "She sent me exactly where I wanted to be! Now to just blast through the -"

Kumiko felt her confident smile disappear as she felt around, unable to find her wand. Panicking, the naked heroine squinted her eyes as she tried to locate the wand in question. "Where is it? Where is it?!"

"Looking for this?"

Kumiko gasped and turned around to see Goddess of Shadows standing in front of the heroine, smirking evilly with Kumiko's wand in her hand. With a wave of her other hand, the torches illuminating the dungeon ignited, bathing the chamber in a soft glow.

"Kumiko!" The heroine heard a small voice say, looking up to see Kitty flying towards her in concern. "Kumiko! Are you al-"

The quokka gasped for breath as Kumiko grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the ground. "I may not have my wand right now, but I'm not stupid enough to fall for this trick again!"

"It's not a trick!" Kitty choked, "I know why you'd think that, but I'm the real Kitty! I hate blueberries, I love -"

"Those were the exact things I told the imposter before I was knocked out!" Kumiko spat.

"Kumiko! He's telling the truth!"

Kumiko stopped what she was doing and looked to her left to see her family trapped in a cell, her mother having been the one to call out to her. "Mom! Dad! Kiyoshi!" She called out as she let Kitty go, realizing what she had just done before gently hugging Kitty, "Kitty! I am so sorry about -"

"It's alright, Kumiko." Kitty replied, "Like I said, I understand why you'd think I was an imposter after what that stupid kangaroo did!"

"And what are we, chopped liver?!" A familiar called out, causing Kumiko to look up and see Selkie trapped in another cell, a random naked woman who she assumed was The Guardian Devil inside a salt ring...

And a shirtless and sweaty Kuroki Ken behind a wall of fire. Strangely to Kumiko, that was the area where the familiar voice had come from.

"Ken?!" Kumiko asked, "What are you doing here?! And why did I hear Chimera's voice?!"

"Wow." Chimera's flat voice responded as his head popped off of Ken's wrist, "No wonder you wanted to date her so bad. You both are completely clueless!"

"Chime- Wait! You're Chimera's host?!" Kumiko asked in shock, her cheeks turning pink as she realized something. "That means... The other day! You saw me topless. You saw me in those dorky Hello Kitty panties! W-which weren't mine, by the way! I had to borrow them when I was done fighting..." She trailed off as she just remembered one important detail about her current attire that caused her to blush scarlet, "And now you're seeing me butt ass naked."

"If it's any consolation," Chimera teased with a sly grin, "pretty much all of Ken's blood is rushing towards his -"

"Shut up, Chimera!" Ken hissed, blushing a deep tomato red.

Kumiko chuckled sheepishly at the realization that her crush, allies, and family were seeing her naked before muttering a pathetic, "Oh, I want to die right now..."

"Tempting." Goddess of Shadow said, gaining the attention of the heroine and the other prisoners. "However, as I told that simple prehistoric handbag, I need you alive for what I have in store for you, Kumiko."

"If you lay one hand on my daughter, you bitch, I swear I'll -" Mr. Kishi barked, only to let out a yelp as he dodged a purple lightning bolt shot at him.

"What do you want?" Kumiko snarled, glaring at the shadow woman.

"Simple." Goddess of Shadow replied, "I want your magic power. And you're going to give it to me. Willingly."

"And how do you figure that?" Kumiko spat.

Goddess of Shadow merely smiled wickedly. "Tell me, Kumiko." She began, "Have you thought about life as an only child without a brother constantly teasing you? Has either Mommy or Daddy treated you unfairly at one point in your life? Has that little flying fuzz ball ever made you want to throw him into a wall?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking about which one of your loved ones you'll miss the least once I..." Goddess of Shadow replied, pulling her own staff out and pointing it towards Kumiko's family.

"No! Don't!" Kumiko shouted in horror.

"Then you have one hour to decide." Goddess of Shadow said as she turned and walked through the door that led to the castle, "Your magic? Or the lives of those you care about the most?"

With that, the shadow woman slammed the door shut, locking it behind her as she took Kumiko's wand with her. Kumiko fell to her knees, tears running down her face as she began to sob loudly.

"I'm sorry!" She cried out to everyone as Kitty, being the closest one, flew towards her and comforted her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"A toast!" Curb Stomper said as he lifted a glass of wine with Gweneral Gwuck, Moth Queen, Lord of Lobsters, and Mufette. "To our newest ally, Goddess of Shadow! Within twenty-four hours, Calamity City will be all ours! And who knows? Maybe the world will be next!"

"Gwi'll Gwrink Gwo Gwhat!" Gwuck said as he dropped the glass into his mouth and swallowed, the glass and wine slowly disintegrating in his body.

"Ugh!" Moth Queen groaned in disgust, "I work with insects like dung beetles, and that has to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen."

"Gwou're Gwust Gwealous Gwecause Gwumans Gwan't Gwo Gwhat." Gwuck said with a smirk.

"Right..." Curb Stomper said, silently agreeing with Moth Queen as he took a sip of his wine.

Mufette and Ryu clinked their glasses together before taking a sip of their drinks. The Lord of Lobsters had just lowered his glass when he looked over to see his girlfriend staring out the window. The alligator woman had woken up a few minutes ago after Goddess of Shadow brought her and Kumiko back, and the other villains noticed that, with the exception of being overjoyed at seeing Ryu okay, Gator Gal had been acting a little... Off.

"And what do you, no, anyone of you know about your new friend? Can you even trust her?"

Kumiko's words continued to replay themselves in the alligator woman's head. Gator Gal couldn't shake the feeling that maybe she was right.

"Tabitha? Are you alright, mon deir friénd?"

Gator Gal looked over her shoulder to see Mufette and Lord of Lobsters walking up to her. When she woke up, she was surprised to see the two were getting along rather well, almost like friends. A vast contrast to how Annette acted towards Ryu at first.

She may not have been smart, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew that Mufette had a strong dislike towards her boyfriend. But apparently, here they were being friendly with one another on her behalf due to Ryu saving Annette's life; claiming that he would be willing to sacrifice himself if it meant that it would keep the only other thing that made Tabitha happy in one piece. Apparently, Mufette had developed a respect towards him in that regard... Even giving the couple the "Best Friend Blessing".

Kumiko's other words soon made its way into her head. If Annette's judgement about Ryu was wrong...

"What do we know about our new friend?"

"Pardon?" Mufette asked as the other villains looked to the alligator woman in confusion.

"What do we know about da Goddess of Shadow?" Gator Gal repeated, "I mean, any of us?! What do we even know about dat woman?"

"Well, she's a goddess." Moth Queen began, "And... Well, she's an evil shadowy woman. And then there's... Uhh..."

"See?!" Gator Gal exclaimed, "We know nothing about dat woman! We don't know where she came from! We don't know what she's doing here! We don't know why she's suddenly got an interest in Kumiko to da point of breaking all her enemies out und bringing dem into one place! Hell! Does anyone here even know her real name?!"

"Gwhat Gwbout Gwhat Gwangaroo?"

"Besides him!" Gator Gal said. After a few seconds of silence, the alligator woman asked, "How can we even trust somebody dat we know nothing about?!"

"Gator Gal?" Curb Stomper asked, "Are you perhaps suggesting that Goddess of Shadow tends to betray us once she siphons Kumiko's power away?"

Before the alligator woman could even say anything else, a knock came to the door as Stryker stuck his head in. "Just a heads up, but the boss says we have twenty minutes before she teleports the prisoners and Kumiko into the throne room. She wants you all there in ten."

"Hey, Stryker?" Lord of Lobsters asked, "We were wondering, what is Goddess of Shadow's real name?"

"Hell if I know." Stryker nonchalantly dismissed with a shrug, "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell any of you. Just get your carcasses to the throne room."

And with that, the shadow kangaroo left and bounded for the throne room, leaving the villains alone to look at one another before slowly following him.