Coraline groaned as she got her upper body up. She rubbed her head with one hand, feeling sunlight hit her face. Why she didn't even break a single bone?

As soon as she looked around, she realized that she was sitting on a bed of flowers. And they were some of the strangest flowers ever. They were roses of colors she never saw in a rose before, reddish-orange and intense magenta, spread in an erratic pattern.

"Great." She sarcastically commented. "How I'm even gonna get out?"

She lifted herself with her arms and legs, grabbing the stick before taking a better look at the room she was stuck in. Besides the grass, the strange roses, and the sunlight bathing it all, there was nothing in this room. The only way out was a long corridor. She looked hesitant for a few seconds, before deciding, "Come on, I'm better than this! There's got to be some help there..."

The tall, 12-years old blue-haired girl marched forward through the corridor. The end led to a gateway with a strange symbol she never saw before. It was a ring, but with dove-like wings on each of its tips. She tried for a little while to decipher it, but there was no reference to it anywhere as far as she knew. She just shrugged it off with a frustrated groan before going up ahead. But it was the least of the weird things she'd see. The next attraction of weirdness even made her mutter a single word. "...What?"

It looked like a plushie with a cotton-stuffing aspect. It was a yellow triangle with a single, half-cartoonish, and half-realistic eye. Its limbs were black and small, and it wore a black bowtie and tophat. Attached to the latter was one of the weird roses; this one, however, was partially magenta and partially orange. Coraline used her hand to rub her eyes to see if her fantasies were drilling her vision. If someone abandoned that pretty creepy doll there, she just had that person's previous tastes to blame.

But, it was just a doll, right? Perhaps she could just keep walking and casually pass by it-

Except that suddenly, it sprang up and made her scream. And then, the unexpected happened. It talked. "WHAT'S WITH THE FACE, BLUEY?" The voice was masculine but very shrill and high-pitched. Plus, it had a little echo.

"You can talk?!" Coraline said, a mix of shock and anger for being suddenly startled. "Who the heck are you, even?!"

"OH, WANNA KNOW MY NAME? WELL THEN!" The cyclops triangle doll said, right before lifting "himself" off the ground and floating in circles around the girl. "Y'ELLO! NAME'S BILL CIPHER! AND I TAKE THAT YOU'RE SOME KIND OF VENTRILOQUIST DUMMY? HAHA, JUST KIDDING! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE A HUMAN."

"So... The tales were real..." Coraline said with some amazement and a sense of wonder... Right after briefly checking to see if her ears were still functioning.

"NO WORRIES, PAL! I'LL JUST GUIDE YA AROUND TO THE BASICS!" Bill Cipher promised and did a finger snap.

Out of Coraline's chest, much to her surprise, something appeared. It was like a cartoon heart, with a magenta half and an orange half, except that it glowed with a strange feeling, and the girl felt bound to it.

"Y'SEE THAT? WE CALL THAT A SOUL!" Bill Cipher began his guidance tour while shrugging off the strange feeling of familiarity he had upon seeing the SOUL. "THAT'S BASICALLY THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE ALIVE!"

The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes with a visible lack of amusement.

"IT STARTS OFF WEAK, BUT YA CAN MAKE IT STRONGER! WITH WHAT? LOVE, OF COURSE! AND I GOT APLENTY TO SHARE!" Bill Cipher continued, before throwing a bunch of things in the air. Little flames of blue color, floating on top of him in a rainbow arc shape. "DOWN HERE, WE SHARE THAT WITH SOME BLUE FLAMES OF FRIENDSHIP! C'MON, YA CAN TOUCH AS MUCH AS YA WANT! NO STRINGS ATTACHED!"

Flames? Coraline squinted at the possibility of flames not only making one stronger but giving them love as well. Plus, the choice of words was a bit too suspicious. "No, thanks." She somewhat rudely refused the offer, stepping backward. Her SOUL followed her seamlessly, avoiding the flames as well.

Now, it was Bill's turn to gain a somewhat unamused look on his single eye as he spoke, "UHHHH, HEY PAL? YA MISSED THE FLAMES. TRY AGAIN!"

Another set of blue flames was summoned, but Coraline once again stepped out of the way. Now, Bill Cipher's temper got tickled real heavily, as he threw his arms down. "ARE YOU BRAINDEAD OR SOMETHING?! GET, THE, FLAMES!... OF FRIENDSHIP!"

After dodging the last arc of blue flames, Coraline smirked sassily while saying, "I've got better things to do over falling for your scams."

...What she didn't account for, however, was one neatly planted flame being struck right on her nose as she planned to leave. And Bill's maddened crackle of triumph.

"HAHAHAHA! IT'S SO FUNNY HOW DUMB YOU ARE." Bill Cipher mocked. "THE ACTUAL MAIN RULE HERE IS, YOU EITHER KILL OR ARE KILLED! WHY I'D LET SLIP OFF THE CHANCE FOR A AWESOME PARTY?"

More and more blue flames circled around Coraline and her SOUL, as Bill spoke three chilling words.

"LIGHTS OFF, BRAT."

Coraline tried to find a way around, but the circle of flames kept getting higher and tighter. She also had to endure Bill's victorious, maddeningly mocking laugh, which made it difficult for her brain to focus on an escape plan. She crouched down with her stick pointed upwards, in hopes that at least only her hair would be scorched. ...But nothing happened. In fact, Coraline felt a soothing feeling take over her SOUL.

She and Bill looked around in confusion and bafflement. The yellow plushie was particularly disappointed that things didn't go at all his way. Then, another voice, mildly shrill, feminine, and young-sounding, came in with a yell.

Before he could do anything about it, Bill Cipher was smashed away with a hammer, not unlike one of an amusement park ride. He was out of sight in a fraction of a second.

Coraline took a good glance at her unexpected savior. She was a humanoid hedgehog with pink fur, rose-peach skin, and mesmerizing green eyes that furrowed in rage against the mad living plushie. She had a short red dress, with the same symbol of the gateway on her chest, and no sleeves. She had scarlet shorts beneath the dress, and red-and-white, thick boots.

The hedgehog lady put her toy-looking hammer on a belt. "What a mean demon! Just pickin' on someone too good for him!"

"Yeah... That's one way to put it." Coraline said with a somewhat dry streak as she got up and dusted herself.

The pink, female hedgehog turned to properly face the young human girl. "But have no fear! AMY ROSE, the Hidden Palace's caretaker, is here! I usually come here very often, but it's not that often I see a new kid that fell down here! No worries, I'll guide you here in these ruins! Follow my lead!"

As Amy Rose left forward to, wherever the Hidden Palaces were, Coraline wondered if she should truly follow her. She just met a murderous doll, and while she was saved from it, she wondered for a second if it was for true, altruistic reasons. But it wasn't like she had another way of at least finding a path back home.

With a reluctance sigh, she signed herself to follow the caretaker of the Hidden Palace.