Kumo, Utsu, and pepper looked at the purple portal, it was very different from the portal they went through, and this time the ground wasn't tampered with. The portal pulsed a certain rage that can only be called hatred, it felt sad and lonely but very angry.
"You two stay back, whatever comes out of that portal, I won't let it hurt either of you." pepper said, not taking his eyes off the portal.
The portal started to move, it looked as if it was wobbling, and suddenly someone appeared through the void of the mysterious portal. The person had short black hair, their left eye was red and their right eye was covered by an eyepatch, though the eye didn't seem to be scarred or damaged at all. Their shirt was red and sweater-like, it hung off their shoulders, they also wore dark short shorts, they give off a very feminine appearance so it's safe to assume it's a she. The most notable part about her was her skin color, it wasn't black, white, or anythinh in-between, it was gray, pepper had never seen a person with this skin color and it confused him a bit, but he kept on his guard.
"Who the hell are you?" pepper asked, trying to think if he knows her.
"Just, like, shut up." The unknown girl replied.
The girl reached her arm out and from thin air, a wooden rod appeared in her hand.
"What's that? Is that your power?" pepper asked, as his spider legs got ready.
"My power? It's called Bag Magic, just a basic spell that, like, even a loser like you could learn." The girl said, with little interest, growing closer.
The girl finally looked up at pepper, as their eyes locked pepper felt a strong connection, he finally realized why he felt so on edge and confused about the girl but it still brought more questions.
"You... You're a pepper... aren't you?" pepper said, showing a face of worry because he doesn't want to fight to her.
The portal closed behind the girl. "Maybe... It isn't like it really freakin' matters though. I'm still here to kill you, and then I'll move on to the next and the next and so on." The girl said, hiding small tears.
"Next? You mean a different male pepper, like myself? Why do you want to kill them? ...Actually nevermind it makes sense... But what'd we do to you? Can I make it up for them?" pepper asked trying to come to a sort of compromise.
"Make it... up?" The girl chuckled. "You think you can just... make it up?" The girl looked at pepper.
"Well... I could try." pepper said, not exactly sure what to say.
"Try?! You, like, really think you could make up what HE did?!" The girl shouted.
"Tell me what happened to you, and I'll see what I can do." pepper said, reaching his hand out to the girl.
The girl looked at pepper with hatred and anger, she jumped at him causing pepper to lauch back.
"Wait, we don't have to fight! Please, stop!" pepper begged, but she just ran toward him and tried to jab her wooden rod into his body, lucky pepper dodged it due to his senses.
"You aren't very well trained, are you? Give up now and-" pepper said, getting cut off.
"Ugh! Just! Shut! Up!" The girl said, repeatedly jabbing the rod at pepper.
tears formed in her eyes as she jabbed, she wiped them away but they came back as quick as they left.
"UUGGHH!!!" The girl screamed, in frustration.
The girl stood still, and then she fell to her knees and started sobbing, she gripped the grass and dirt and ripped it out, flinging it everywhere. "I can't do it..." The girl said, quietly, sitting on her knees and laying her head on her arms.
"You never had to do it. Please, let me help you." pepper said walking closer to her.
"I don't want your help! ...I'll just be hurt worse in the end." The girl said, not moving.
"Okay... At least tell me what's wrong." pepper said, basically begging the girl.
"No... I'm not weak... I can do it, and I don't have to listen to you. Now die!" The girl said, jumping at pepper once again. pepper easily dodged it and pinned her down.
"Let go of me!" The girl cried out.
"No, I'm sorry, you seem very unstable and I'm not gonna let you hurt me or yourself. I don't like it either but at least I don't have to hurt you." pepper said, holding back tears.
"Why don't you hit me? The others did! Why are you different?" The girl questioned.
"Because, unlike them, I genuinely care for your safety, I would never purposefully harm you." pepper said, his face had so much emotion that she knew he spoke the truth.
"Fine... You, like, really wanna know what happened in my past?" The girl asked.
"Yes, I very much do." pepper said, letting her up.
She brushed herself off. "My name is Niku, I am of the Demon race, but, like, I'm also a female pepper. I used to live on Planet Xilianix but... after what happened I, like, left." Niku said, as she walked to the bench and Kumo and Utsu came out if hiding.
"Well, Niku, I'm pepper, this is Kumo and Utsu, I protect them. I'm... I guess Human, and so is Kumo. Utsu is a Living Doll, I'm not entirely sure how it works though." pepper said, introducing everyone.
"So, like, basically, the one I belonged to, his name was-" Niku said, getting cut off by a loud rumble.
"What the hell? Stay together and get back, you three." pepper jumped up and got on his guard again, expecting another portal of some sort. The wind roared and the ground shook, and just like he expected, another portal appeared. This portal was red and green, it looked like the two colors were mixing and unmixing at the same time, it was very strange but oddly pretty.
A male pepper appeared from the portal, his skin was gray, not like reppep's but much closer, or exactly like Niku's. reppep's skin was much darker gray than this. His hair was blue and both eyes were blue too, though his hair curled a lot at the bottom, he wore a blue suit and a red bow with yellow polka-dots.
Niku's eyes went wide and her mouth opened slightly. A gasp of air left her slightly opened mouth, as did a single word. "Shu...Shu...?" Niku said. The word meant nothing to pepper but he was too focused on the possible threat to worry about the meaning.
"Niku... my angel, it was true, you were here. God, I'm so glad I've found you!" The man said, with a smile if lies, pepper saw right throigh him, pepper could sense his hostility.
"Niku... I don't know your history with this man, but whatever it is, don't listen to him, he wants to hurt you." pepper said, warning Niku, who's eyes were lit up at the sight of this man.
"I'll do what I want, geez. But I'll, like, tell you my past like I said I would." Niku said, pausing for a second. "I don't really remember how long ago it was, I lost track after, like, fourteen years, but a long time ago, the man from that portal, his name is Shushu, him and I, like, lived together, I was his. Until, one day, the other male peppers decided that only one could have the females and they'll, like, be king. Obviously a lot of us didn't like that, including Shushu and I, so we just hid and avoided the chaotic battles, but soon we we were, like, very low on food, so Shushu left to get more. A few days had past and I hadn't heard from Shushu, I was also, like, completely out of food now, so I decided to go outside to see what I could find until Shushu came back." Niku looked at Shushu, then turned back to pepper. "The first thing I saw was Shushu, I was so happy to see him, but he was fighting another male pepper, I'd never seen this man before. It was, like, dangerous so I didn't spend a long time searching, but I found a few cans of, like, fruits and vegetables so I took that and went back into hiding. I was able to make the food last a few weeks, but I still hasn't heard from Shushu, and he wasn't fighting outside anymore. Actually, no one was fighting, like, around where I was anymore, so I looked for Shushu's body... but peppers tend to look so alike that I couldn't really tell the difference when their face was, like, bloody and destroyed... so I kinda assumed he was dead. I didn't take it well at all, I blamed the male peppers for taking away my happiness, so I wanted, like, revenge on them all. I dyed my blue hair black and cut it to be short, I got an eyepatch to cover my right eye which is blue, and I showed my right eye. I didn't, like, want to be a pepper anymore, I wanted to kill the ones that took away the one I loved, so I used my ability which I call Chase. Chase is an eyeball in my left hand, it will, like, point to anyone I want to find, so I looked for wanted posters and bounty hunters to find leads on any peppers, eventually I found a man that talked about a pepper with, like, two female peppers, which is basically unheard of because female peppers tend to get jealous. So, I took the bounty and here I am. Whatever happened to Shushu is, like, completely unknown to me, would you mind explaining?" Niku said, twirling her finger in her short hair.
"Wow, I'm a target for bounty hunters now? That's neat." pepper said, shrugging it off.
"That's neat?! Ugh, men are too calm sometimes. Shouldn't you be worried about your girls?" Niku said, with her hands on her hips.
"Well, I just gotta not let anyone hurt them. No reason to flip my flop about it." pepper said, smiling at Kumo and Utsu, Kumo made a big smile back.
"Flip your...? Whatever, you make no sense. Anyway, Shushu... Where the hell have you been?!" Niku said, with a very confused and concerned voice.
"Well, as you said, I was fighting a pepper, but our fight was so intense that we kept moving, we moved so far away that I ended up lost after the fight finished, which it lasted a few months... it was very hard to eat... But I got lost and decided to just go one way because I don't know the compass, obviously I chose the wrong way. But I've thought about seeing you again everyday, Niku, I've looked for you for so long, you're so different now." Shushu said, walking up and hugging Niku. pepper felt his hairs spike as Shushu walked past, he felt evil course through the air, and his skin crawled as pepper watched Shushu walk.
"Niku!" pepper shouted, as he jumped towards Niku and Shushu.
"Ah!" Niku grunted, as she hit the ground. "What the hell, pepper?!" She yelled. Niku saw a knife in Shushu's hand, pepper gripped Shushu's wrist and made a threatening face at Shushu.
"No... Y-You... weren't gonna... stab me, were you? ...Shushu?" Niku said, as she sat on the ground, with a pale face.
"Of course he was, I can feel the evil-" pepper said, getting cut off by Niku.
"Shut up! I asked Shushu, not you, so just, like, shut it!" Niku yelled, catching pepper by surprise, but pepper didn't let Shushu realize this and quickly gained his focus again. "Were you going to use... the knife to stab me... Shushu?" Niku said, looking into Shushu's eyes, she looked with betrayal and disbelief.
"Haha... Hahahaaa... HAAAHAHA!!! You caught me, I was going to kill you, my sweet Niku. But Mr. pepper, here had to ruin my plans." Shushu said, with the smile of a lunatic.
'What caused them to be evil? It makes no sense.' pepper thought, trying to make any sense of this phenomenon.
Shushu got his wrist away from pepper's grasp. "You never let me finish... During my journey to find you... I had some random enlightenment and... perhaps I changed a little bit" Shushu said, with ugly chuckles. "But I met a man... he gave me a gift and told me about you, pepper, so I waited until Niku made it to you so I could kill two birds with one stone, ending my disgusting past, and getting payed to kill you. I've been keeping tabs on you, Niku, ever since my enlightenment all those years ago, I couldn't let my darling angel be unchecked, now could I? Oh, and the man... his name is Zeus, he doesn't seem to like you very much, pepper." Shushu said, talking about stuff that pepper doesn't quite understand.
"Zeus? You mean the Greek God?" Kumo said, joining the conversation.
"Oh, you must be pepper's dear, sweet, little Kumo, I've heard much about you. And that must be Utsu, from Halloween, I believe, yes?" Shushu said, showing his knowledge on the three.
"How do you know so much? I've only been with Daddy for four days, and Utsu's been with him for three." Kumo questioned.
"Well, I haven't had the information on you for very long, only about a day, I was lucky that Niku found you so soon. But to answer your previous question... yes, the Greek God." Shushu said, before he started to visibly think.
"Niku... I'm sorry but, Shushu isn't someone you should stay with, he clearly wants to hurt you." pepper said, walking closer to Niku.
"Now, hold on, pepper." Shushu said, stopping pepper from walking closer to Niku. "I think I've changed my mind. Niku, why don't you join me, then I can have two female peppers and no one could stop me! I'd be invincible!" Shushu said, looking a bit crazy.
"What do you mean 'invincible'? I have two, I'm not invincible." pepper said, pointing at Kumo and Utsu.
"Well, when you gain another female pepper, your power increases a bit everytime. But just two won't do, once I get two I could get three, then four, and so on!" Shushu said, raising his arms in the air and closing his eyes. "So, what do ya say, Niku? Join me?" Shushu said, reaching his arm out for her to grab.
"...No, Niku, join me. Shushu obviously tried to hurt you, who knows what he's thinking, I will protect you with my life, he'd easily abandon you again, don't fall for it!" pepper exclaimed, trying to persuade Niku to a better path.
"I... I don't know..." Niku said, looking at Shushu and pepper, back and forth. "I guess... I'll go with you." Niku said as she grabbed a hand.