It had been 20 minutes since Grogar had left to concentrate on his work. He couldn't get work done here due to the annoyance of Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. But strangely enough, Ch'rell had been quiet. No one had seen or heard from the Utrom in quite some time.
That's because Ch'rell was thinking. He was planning, plotting. He went through every possible scenario that would result in his victory. But the only feasible option would be to work with these lesser creatures until they were no longer useful, much to the annoyance of Ch'rell.
The Utrom was currently walking through the cavern. He stopped abruptly as he saw a banner with poorly drawn images of him and the other villains. Ch'rell rolled his eyes. These were the notorious villains of Equestria? What a joke!
"Oh, there you are!"
Ch'rell turned around to see Cozy Glow flying towards him. He growled in annoyance, "What do you want, child?"
Cozy stopped and smiled, "Well, since Grogar left me in charge--"
"He did no such thing!"
Cozy rolled her eyes as she continued, "--I thought it would be a great idea for a team meeting! How else are we going to work together?"
By this point, Ch'rell was already walking away, much to the annoyance of Cozy Glow. She flew around and hovered in front of him.
"Sooo? Will you come to the meeting?"
Ch'rell cocked an eyebrow, "In what reality would I EVER have a meeting with you fools?"
Cozy smiled, "Grogar said that we have to work together~"
Ch'rell frowned, "The Shredder doesn't work with anyone! The Shredder commands!"
Cozy went to talk again, but Ch'rell beat her to it.
"Try as you might, child! You are not capable of manipulating me. I don't have time for such nonsense!"
Ch'rell then walked past the filly, who frowned because she didn't get her way. Cozy then went to go get Chrysalis, not giving up on her team meeting.
It's been 20 minutes since Ch'rell encountered Cozy Glow. He was currently walking around the cavern, no that there was anything better to do. As he approached a corner, he heard the sounds of voices. He peaked around the corner and saw the other villains attending this Team Meeting. Curious, Ch'rell observed as the meeting continued.
As the other three villains stopped singing, Ch'rell could only look on in embarrassment and disgust.
"These are the most feared villains in this dimension? They are nothing but a laughing stock!"
As he made his way toward them, he saw Grogar enter the cavern through the corner of his eye. He frowned as he approached Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis, who were currently arguing over what went wrong during their musical number.
"If you fools are done with this WORTHLESS musical number! The Ram has returned."
It was then that Grogar entered the cavern and sighed at the villains, "I had hoped by now you would've resolved your differences, but apparently not."
Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "Perhaps if we knew what the plan was, we would be better able to prepare!"
"Assuming you even have a plan" Tirek added.
"Of course I have a plan! I have located an object of power, and it occurs to me this is the perfect test. The four of you will work together to retrieve it. Against this item, those ponies won't stand a chance." Grogar revealed.
As Ch'rell rolled his eyes, Chrysalis stepped forward, "I have come close to ruling Equestria several times. Perhaps I should be the one to lead us."
It was then that Cozy shoved the Changeling out of the way, "I nearly drained all the magic from Equestria! That was good!"
Cozy was then shoved by Tirek, "I absorbed all the magic of Equestria! I could feel it flowing through my body as I grew!"
Ch'rell barked a laugh at the Centaur, "Your achievements are miniscule!"
As the four villains argued with one another, Grogar growled in anger as he charged a spell and held all four of the villains against the wall with his magic.
"Each of you failed to defeat Twilight Sparkle and her friends! My power is greater than all of yours combined. This is but a fraction of it! Understood?!"
While the other three reluctantly nodded, Ch'rell continued to struggle against his bindings.
Grogar rolled his eyes at the Utrom and continued, "Now you shall retrieve the rest of it. Thousands of moons ago, the self-righteous Gusty the Great, unable to best me face-to-face, stole my Bewitching Bell. A talisman containing much of my own magic. The Bell cannot be destroyed, so Gusty hid it in a place it has taken me millennia to discover – an enchanted cave high atop Mt. Everhoof, protected by magical winds that prevent anypony from reaching its peak. There, the Bell has remained until now. Scale Mt. Everhoof. Bring me back my Bell."
He then dropped the villains and walked away, but not before Ch'rell rushed in front of him, "What is it, Ch'rell?"
The Utrom stepped forward, "You are a fool to think that I would do such a task without my armor! I will only go on this mission if I have my means of securing my victory! And we both know that those three fools won't be able to complete this task without me. THAT is why I am here, is it not?"
The Utrom smirked as Grogar grumbled something under his breath. The Ram sighed, "Fine. You may have your armor. But if I see even the slightest hint of a betrayal, I will return you to your stone prison!"
Grogar then stomped his hoof on the ground, a yellow glow slithered across the ground and made it's way to Ch'rell. The glow then encased the Utrom and lifted him into the air. Suddenly, a gust of magic swirled around him as something began to form. His armor then began to form around him, starting from the feet, then the torso, and finally Ch'rell was encased by his helmet. The glow ceased as The Shredder stood upright and raised his fist into the air.
"At last! The Shredder lives! Like the Phoenix, I have risen from the ashes! And into my fire, my enemies shall fall!"
Grogar rolled his eyes as he turned to the other villains, "Now, retrieve my bell! Do not fail me!"
"The ease of this task is laughable." Chrysalis boasted.
"Well, it sounded easy."
They all observed Mt. Everhoof, which was surrounded by gusts of powerful winds.
"Scale the mountain..." Tirek started.
"...retrieve Grogar's Bell..." Chrysalis added.
"...gain unlimited power..." Shredder continued.
"...together! I drew up a detailed plan with several visual aids to show how we can..." Cozy words fell short as Tirek and Chrysalis walked away, "Ditch each other and do it alone. Maybe when I'm waiting for them at the top, then they'll appreciate me."
As the filly flew away, Shredder scoffed and turned around, heading inside the forest. He knew it wouldn't be possible to scale that mountain alone, it was obvious. Now he just had to wait for those other fools to figure it out.