Interdimensional Academy

New Arrivals at the Castle

Later that day, at the castle of the star spirits, Noelle was helping Tohru, Lucoa, Susie (who had been assigned to chore duty as punishment for nearly chopping Piko in half during training), and Omori (who had willingly come along) with the chores when she heard a loud crashing noise from outside.

Could it be Mayu and the rest again? Or Len coming back to attack us? she wondered nervously. She went outside to check, with Susie following behind her to keep her safe, but instead of seeing a group of villains, she instead saw three figures, two of them familiar to her: a tall monster woman and a short, chubby monster boy, alongside another boy, this one human, who she did not recognize. They were all disheveled and sitting in the middle of a large crater in the flower beds, surrounded by the wreckage of what seemed to have been a robotic blue armchair.

"Queen?" she exclaimed.

"Noelle Sweetie Darling!" the woman exclaimed. "It's So Nice To See You Again!"

"Susie!" the monster boy exclaimed. "Yay!"

"Lancer!" Susie smiled. "How ya been, little guy?"

"It's been weird," he said. "This guy showed up all of a sudden and Girl-dad decided to bring him here because she thought he was related to Kris." He pointed to the human boy, who looked incredibly confused and a little frightened by Susie and Noelle, but seemed to recognize Lucoa and Tohru.

"Shouta!" Lucoa squealed, scooping the human boy up off his feet and hugging him tightly to her chest.

"Lucoa! I can't breathe if you're doing that..." he squeaked, his face as red as a tomato.

"Sorry, honey!" Lucoa exclaimed, putting him down on the ground.

"Anyways, why did your mom think Shouta had anything to do with Kris?" said Susie. "They don't have anything in common. It's weird."

"To be honest, I'm more weirded out by that kid calling his mom Girl-dad," said Tohru. "Monsters are weird."

"Dragons are weird too," Susie countered.

"Fair enough," Tohru agreed.

"Well, she's not really used to humans, and Shouta has the same haircut as Kris," reasoned Noelle. "That might be why."

Tohru blinked a few times. "Oh-kay."

"Noelle Is Right," said Queen. "Where Is Kris, Anyways? Are They Getting Enough Potassium In Their Diet?"

"I'll go get them," said Susie, ignoring the potassium comment. She walked back into the castle and returned a few minutes later with a very confused Kris by her side.

"How did you guys get here?" they asked.

"We Had A Bit Of A Crash Landing," explained Queen.

"I can see that," Kris said. "But why are you here, anyways? Did something happen?"

"This weird guy showed up outside our door and Girl-dad wanted to bring him here cuz she thought you might know him," Lancer summarized, pointing to Shouta, who still looked utterly bewildered by the situation currently unfolding.

"How did he get there?" asked Kris. "As far as I know, his and the dragons' world isn't connected to the Dark World, right?"

"Right," Tohru agreed.

"I was working on a spell and this red light came out of nowhere and I passed out and when I woke up I was outside this weird castle place and everything was so dark!" Shouta exclaimed. "It was scary!"

"We saw a red light too," said Lancer. "It's how we got here. Girl-dad saw it and said it might be able to take us to Kris. And it did!"

"Red light...that's probably because of the amulet...but why did he show up so late?" mused Kris.

"I'm not sure," Lucoa admitted. "This might take further research." She turned to Queen, Lancer, and Shouta. "In the meantime, you can stay here if you wish. We will try and find a way to return you to your dimensions as soon as possible, but it seems like you guys are stranded here for the time being. Let's come inside so you can meet the others, okay?"

The group had barely gotten inside when a loud knock came ringing throughout the castle, startling everyone.

"Who is it this time?" Kris sighed as they walked to the door.

"WHY, IT'S YOUR OLD FRIEND, SPAMTON G. SPAMTON!" the voice came.

"Oh, god..." they muttered to themselves. They opened the door and there stood a very short monster who almost resembled a puppet. He had black hair and wore large circular glasses, one lens yellow and the other pink, and a black suit jacket and white pants.

"Who's that?" Ralsei said as he came to see what was going on.

"I met him in the Dark World," Kris explained. "It's a really long story..."

"I don't trust him," Susie remarked as she also joined them. "He looks shady as hell."

"WELL, THAT'S NOT A VERY NICE THING TO SAY!" the man responded. "I'm a very trustworthy fellow, I'll have you know!"

"What do you want?" Kris asked.

"I HAVE A [[Deal]] FOR ALL OF YOU!" he replied.

Kris frowned. As they knew from when he had tried to take their soul, these "deals" could go horribly wrong. This entire situation was suspect, but the evil forces that had brought them and their friends to this castle were still at play. Maybe he was running from those very same forces...

"Kris, let's just get Piko and kick this guy out," Susie interjected. "He might be working with the enemy."

"But we don't know yet!" Ralsei argued. "Let's at least hear him out. We can still get Piko to come help if you want, but we need to be fair. If we let Queen and Lancer and Shouta stay here, why don't we give this guy a chance too?"

"I agree with Ralsei," Kris said.

"Fine," Susie said. She left the room and returned shortly with Piko following behind her.

"So, what exactly is this 'deal' you speak of?" Piko questioned.

"I will deliver [[Supplies]] to both you and those pony princesses over at that school," Spamton said. "In [[Exchange]]...I get to stay in this castle."

"That's it?" said Ralsei. "Seriously? That's not too much. We can do that, can't we?"

"He could be lying," Susie pointed out. "I still don't trust this guy. He's probably got some other motive that he's hiding from us."

"He was living in a trash can up until now," Kris replied. "It makes sense that he would want a nice place to stay. And nobody deserves to just be thrown away like that."

"You're being way too nice to him," Susie said angrily. "Going against your friend's advice for the sake of some random creep?! What the hell, Kris?!"

"Susie, calm down. Kris has a point," Ralsei spoke, raising his hand to silence her. "Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness. It doesn't seem like he wants to hurt us. He just wants to be safe, just like we do."

"If you say so..." Susie muttered. She turned to Spamton and pulled out her axe. "If you even think about hurting any of my friends, I will not hesitate to use this on you. Understand?"

"U-Understood!" Spamton answered nervously.

"So, where the hell is he even supposed to stay?" Susie said to Piko as if nothing had happened, crossing her arms.

"He can stay with me in my room," Kris volunteered. "I'm the one who decided he should stay here, so it's only fair."

Ilulu, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation for quite a while, began to snicker, revealing her position behind a chair.

"Ilulu!" Piko scolded. "Eavesdropping is very rude! If you do that again, you're on cleaning duty for a week!"

Ilulu ignored his reprimanding and continued to laugh.

"I don't get it," piped up Ralsei. "What's so funny?"

This merely made Ilulu laugh even more, and Kris just sighed and left the room, Spamton trailing behind them like a lost puppy.