Family
Chapter 423 Separated
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
In the Underground, Finn and the rest of his party were having a little freak out in the Crystal Cave, due to Spirit using her portal powers to teleport fourteen members of their group to unknown locations. Finn had tried to use his phone to contact Gata and BMO, but there was no response from either of them. The remaining wizards among the group tried to use their phones and magic communication crystals to contact Rock Wizard, Huntress Wizard, and Heckapoo, but they weren't having much luck either and they began to fear the worst. Brain theorized that the missing party members could either be in another universe or Spirit's magic was somehow interfering with all their communication devices and tools. The rest of the party hoped that the communication problem was due to Spirit's magic and not their friends being stuck in another universe.
Now Finn and the others needed a plan of action. They decided to believe that their friends were still in the Underground, they just didn't know where. The group could chase after Spirit and force her to use her powers to bring the others back, but that was easier said then done. Spirit could be anywhere and there was no way to track her. Finn wanted to go look for Gata and her group first, but remembered she was fully aware of looking after herself and she had BMO and Heckapoo to help her out and watch her and Soos's back. It was the same case with Rock Wizard and his group. What Finn and the others needed to focus on was finding Dipper's group. Of the three missing groups Dipper's was the weakest, so Finn and the others should probably go and try and find them first. They just needed to figure out where Dipper's group was. It was then that Sans voiced his thoughts on the matter.
"I think I might know where Spirit sent the kids." Said Sans."
"Where?" Asked Stan.
"Spirit said she sent them to the worst part of Snowdin and unfortunately I can think of only one place that fits that description." Said Sans.
"And that would be?" Asked Ford.
"Subcon Forest." Said Sans.
"The place you warned us not to go?" Asked Ford.
"Yep." Said Sans.
"Then we better head that way quick." Said Huntress Wizard.
"I'll lead you there." Said Sans.
They all exited the Crystal Cave and headed in the direction of the Subcon Forest. Mr. White tailed the group from the shadows cursing silently. Gata's teleportation really put a wrench in his assignation plans. Mr. White simply had no choice but to wait, until Gata was found.
Miles away in Subcon Forest, Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica, Rain, and Wendy were looking around at their new surroundings in confusion. They still appeared to be in the forest of Snowdin, yet this part of the woods seemed to be darker and colder for some reason.
"Where are we?" Asked Pacifica.
"I'm not really sure. I think we're still in Snowdin, but I don't think we've been to this part yet." Said Dipper.
"Wonder where the others are." Said Rain.
"I'm sure they're around here somewhere in Snowdin. Will just walk around and maybe will bump into them." Said Wendy.
Seeing as they didn't have any other options the group set off into the forest with their weapons and their magic at the ready to defend themselves. As they went deeper and deeper into the woods the group couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. Every now and then they would spot some shadowy figures peaking out from behind trees and looking at them before vanishing again. This made Dipper and the others feel uneasy and they felt like they were going to get attacked at any moment. They continued on the road, until a tarp trap sprang up beneath on some rope and ensnared them all lifting them into the air.
"What's happening?!" Cried Mabel.
"Some kind of trap. Hold on I think I can cut us out with my axe." Said Wendy as she started to cut at the tarp.
About a minute later Wendy tore through the tarp and everyone fell a few feet and hit the ground below. They all groaned as they stood up and looked around expecting to see some enemies rushing at them, but there were none to be seen. It seemed like everything was going to be ok, but then the ground turned black and purple and the forest scenery vanished to be replaced by dark purple thundering clouds. Dipper and his friends watched in stunned horror as something began to rise out of the ground in front of them. It was a dark shadow and ghost-like phantasm with glowing yellow eyes, trickster smile, fur-like extensions on his neck, it had a tall body with a hunched back, and a pointed tail tapering at the end.
"AHHHAHAHAAAHAAAHAHAH!" Laughed the creature.
"What is happening?!" Yelled Rain.
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLS!" Said the creature.
"Oh this not going to end well!" Cried Wendy.
"You blew it! You've totally screwed yourselves! Nobody enters my home and leaves in one piece!" Said the creature.
"Who are you?!" Cried Mabel.
It was Dipper who answered that question. Dipper had used the info Sans had given along with info the creature had just given.
"Guys I think we ended up in the Subcon Forest and that's the Snatcher!" Exclaimed Dipper.
The others went pale and the creature's smile grew wider confirming it's identity. Dipper gulped nervously as he wondering what the Snatcher was planning to do with them.
"Tell you what though! Hang on a minute! You get to live! That's right! Aren't you lucky?!" Said Snatcher.
The group calmed down a little though they were still weary of the Snatcher. If he didn't want to kill them then he had something else unpleasant planned for them.
"Normally I'd just eat your souls and toss your bodies, but you're in luck! You lot won the lottery, because I just happen to be missing a few braindead servants!" Said Snatcher.
"What happened to the old servants?" Asked Pacifica.
"The old ones got themselves killed, their heads popped off, and now I need a few new staffers!" Said Snatcher.
"So how does this work, we just do a few odd jobs for you and you let us go?" Asked Dipper.
"Correct! But first I need one of you to sign a contract! I have one right with! Don't worry about the details! Just sign your name right at the bottom!" Said Snatcher as a floating piece of paper appeared in front of Dipper alongside a pen.
Dipper scanned the contract which seemed to be a short list o jobs. At the bottom there was a bit about Snatcher keeping the signer's soul as a hostage and a place for a signature. Dipper felt himself go pale at this bit. He couldn't have any of his friends sign the contract and give up their souls. Dipper grabbed the pen and signed the contract. A stamper suddenly appeared and stamped the contract.
"Aaahahahaha! That seals the deal! We're in business! Let just grab this real quick..." Said Snatcher.
Several bolts of purple lightning struck Dipper, but he felt no pain as his friends stared at him in horror. A light-purple shadowy version of Dipper flew out of Dipper's body and flew up into the air and vanished. It was Dipper's soul! Dipper blinked his eyes a few times as he felt empty inside.
"Whoops! Guess that belongs to me now! Don't you worry though! If you finish your chores quickly, you'll have your friend's soul back real soon!" Said Snatcher before he sunk back into the ground and vanished and the scenery returned to normal.
"Dipper what did you do?!" Cried Mabel, Wendy, and Pacifica at the same time.
"It was the only play we had. I wasn't going to let any of you give up your souls." Said Dipper.
"We could have at least talked about it man." Said Wendy.
"I know and I'm sorry about it, but hey all we have to do is complete a few little jobs and I get my soul back." Said Dipper.
"Alright then let's do it!" Said Mabel.
"So how exactly do you feel without a soul in your body?" Asked Rain.
"Well...I feel kind of empty. I still have my emotions and stuff, but they just feel like faint echoes now." Said Dipper.
"Yeah we need to get these jobs done and get your soul back quick." Said Wendy taking the contract and examined the lists of jobs.
There seemed to be four jobs listed on the contract. Clean Out the Subcon Well, Toilet of Doom, Mail Delivery Service, and Get Me Something From the Manor. The group decided to do a tiny bit of exploring before they decided to do a job. They saw what appeared to be a village up ahead and went to go investigate it to see if they could get a good grasp of what they would be dealing with, when they did the jobs.
At the edge of the Subcon Forest, Mr. Dark and Dark Corvo were entering the area to pay the locals a visit and try to recruit them into Spirit's army.
In another part of Snowdin the fighting between the X-Nauts and the Legion of Light was coming to a close. Both sides had suffered losses and the X-Nauts decided it was time to retreat. Fawful threw some bombs that unleashed some blinding light that disoriented the enemy and allowed the X-Nauts to retreat. Crump was furious to learn that the Crystal Star had been stolen by a gang of bandits during all the fighting and confusion. Fawful vowed he would repair his tracker and hunt the thieves down. Sammy made a call to her older sister Cinder, who was in the area and working on a little plan of her own. Cinder was filled in on what happened and she told Sammy she would burn the entire Snowdin village down searching for the Crystal Star. This cheered Sammy up, who looked forward to her sister's big plan.
Miles away in another part of the Underground, Gata, Soos, Heckapoo, and BMO were taking in some new wet surroundings. They were on the shore by what appeared to be a river and in the distance they could see some large rock walls with vast waterfalls. Gata used her detective skills and observations and concluded they were in the place known as Waterfall. She then tried to use her phone and the communicator in BMO to try and call Finn and Jake, but neither device seemed to be working. Heckapoo decided to try using her scissors to try and get them back to the others. She opened up a portal and everyone jumped through it expecting to be taken back to the Crystal Cave, but instead they just ended up a few hundred yards away from their previous location. Gata tried to us her own portal powers to help the group travel, but they ended up getting the same results.
"What gives?" Asked Gata.
"It must be Spirit's doing. That magic portal she sent us through must have screwed and interfered with our powers limiting our range of travel." Said Heckapoo.
"Is it permanent?" Asked Gata.
"Probably just temporary. The affects will last for a couple of hours." Said Heckapoo.
"So what do we do now?" Asked Soos.
"Well we could try and walk back to Snowdin to get back with the others, or we can explore and wait around here, until the others arrive." Said Heckapoo.
"I vote for the second option. We can use this opportunity to search the area for information about the enemy and the location of Horror's Hand." Said Gata.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Said BMO.
"And I think I see a cool place to look for information." Said Soos pointing ahead.
The others looked to see what appeared to be a small fishing village up ahead with a large tavern.
"A village!" Said BMO.
"Cool!" Said Soos as he began to head towards the village, but Gata stopped him.
"Hold on there. We can't let any of the locals see you. Remember what Sans said about the locals killing humans for their souls to break the barrier and they only need one more soul to do it. They'll kill you on sight." Said Gata.
"You're totally right! So how am I going to get around?" Said Soos.
"I got an idea." Said Gata as she rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a yellow raincoat, a paper plate, some string, and a marker.
A few minutes later Soos was wearing the raincoat and a monster mask made from the paper plate which had a few eye holes punched into it. Feeling satisfied the group headed into the village and towards the tavern.
The tavern was a fairly large place with round tables and barrels for seats. Scattered around the tavern were several TVs, which the locals seemed to be watching with interest and excitement. Gata and her friends looked at one of the TVs and saw Mettaton on it standing in the stands of what appeared to be a colosseum.
"Hello folks I'm at the Colosseum of Fools, where the Grand Free-For-All is in full swing! Let's see what's going on now as the tournament is nearing it's end!" Said Mettaton.
The camera then showed the fighting going on down in the arena grounds. Two dozen warriors were going at it hitting each other with their fists and weapons. One particular fighter stood out from the rest of the crowd. The fighter appeared to be a large human man who had black eyes with orange irises and dark yellow hair. The lower part of the man's face was covered by a black and white mask that resembles a mouth. His body was covered in black armor with yellowish orange highlights. The arms in particular had rather heavy looking armor, with orange spikes protruding from them.
The armored man delivered a few powerful punches to some warriors that tried to attack him and then he clenched his right fist and it began to glow with energy. Random bits and junk scattered around the arena were pulled toward the fist, connecting, and forming a even bigger fist. The man punched forward at a group of warriors fighting and the junk fist shot forward like a rocket and took out the fighters knocking them all to the ground unconscious. The fighter did the same move a few more times and took down all the remaining fighters, until he was the only one left standing. The crowd went wild and cheered for armored man.
"We have a winner!" Cheered Mettaton as he headed down to the arena.
Some monsters brought down a treasure chest full of gold and a golden trophy topped with a golden crystal star. Mettaton reached the armored man and held up a microphone to him.
"So winner what's your name?" Asked Mettaton.
"I am Carrera."
"Carrera huh? So Carrera how does it feel to be the big winner of the Grand Free-For-All?" Said Mettaton.
"A bit disappointing." Said Carrera.
"How so?" Asked Mettaton.
"I entered this tournament hoping to find a worthy opponent, but everyone I faced was just weak. I desire a real fight." Said Carrera.
"How do you intend to get that?" Asked Mettaton.
"Simple. To the people of the Underground if you desire the prize money and the trophy then all you have to do is come and challenge me. I well accept all challengers." Said Carrera looking into the camera.
"There you have it folks! A challenge has been stated. The Grand Free-For-All is over. The Sibling Showdown will happen in a few days. Tune in next time for some more combat action." Said Mettaton before he faded out.
"Whoa! That was cool fight." Said Soos.
"Yeah it was and I think I just located another one of the Crystal Stars." Said Gata.
"Where?" Asked BMO.
"It was that decoration on top of the trophy." Said Gata.
"So we just have to go to Hotland and challenge this Carrera guy and beat him." Said Heckapoo.
"Well les reunite with the others and then will challenge him." Said Gata.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Said Soos.
"Let's collect some information about Waterfall before we head out to look for them." Said Gata.
The others nodded and were about to go around asking the locals some questions, when Gata saw Jordan and Blockner's group hanging outside the tavern talking to a few locals. Gata quickly looked away to avoid being seen as she reached into a bag and pulled out a long distance listening device she had built and plugged it into BMO to listen in on the enemy's conversation.
"So the Grand Free-For-All is over." Said Blockner.
"Yep it is. Guy who won it just stated a challenge to the entire Underground. Whoever can beat him will win the prize money and trophy." Said a waiter.
"Darn." Grumbled Treasure Knight.
"Anyhow we're here to collect some supplies before we go to Hotland." Said Blockner.
"Looking for magical objects and other treasures in Hotland eh? You should try looking for the Vault of Valefar." Said the waiter.
"What's that?" Asked General Pig.
"It's the vault of a powerful demon who has collected vast amounts of treasure and magical objects over the years said to be located somewhere within Waterfall. There's even said to be a magical map that can lead you to any treasure you seek." Said the waiter.
"Sounds like my kind of treasure." Said General Goat.
"It would be a great hassle to look for it since no one knows it's exact location and the area people say it might be is controlled by a crazy scientist named Dr. Cranken and his assistants the Slime Girls. Not to mention you have to be on the lookout for Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard, who enforces law and order. And then you have to worry about Lady Depression watching you and planning misfortune for you." Said Blockner.
"Whose Lady Depression?" Asked Treasure Knight.
"A demon who causes sadness and depression. She enjoys making people cry so she can bathe in their tears. No one knows where she came from or what her goals are. All anyone knows is that she's bad news." Said Blockner.
"Sounds like Waterfall is more dangerous then we thought." Said Jordan.
"Well if it's ok with you. I'd like to search for the vault." Said Treasure Knight.
"And we would like to accompany him." Said General Goat as General Pig nodded his head.
"Fine I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have you investigate the vault. If this magic map exists then it can be a great help to us. Also there's a chance Horror's Hand as well as other magical items of power can be in the vault as well." Said Jordan.
"Thank you sir. We won't let you down." Said Treasure Knight.
"I'll provide you with a map of Waterfall and I'll leave a couple of my troops here in this village to wait for you and to lead you to us incase you fail and want to catch up with the rest of us." Said Blockner as he handed General Goat a map.
Another waiter came and gave the villains some supplies. The villains then split up and went their separate ways. The main group headed off to Hotland, Treasure Knight, General Pig, and General Goat went to explore Waterfall, and Pedro and Lil' Hunter went to a inn to rest.
Gata and her friends decided to follow Treasure Knight, General Pig, and General Goat to see where they would lead them. They thought about following Jordan and the main group, but thought it would be to dangerous. Unbeknownst to any of them, Green Knight had spotted them at the tavern and recognized them. Green Knight was currently watching Gata and her friends from the top of a building and was already making plans to introduce himself to Gata and infiltrate the heroes.
Miles away in Hotland, Gideon, Ser Manuel, Hunter Wizard, Rock Wizard, and the Eliminators were looking around their surroundings in confusion. Hunter Wizard and Rocky Wizard tried to contact their allies with some communication crystals, but they didn't seem to be working.
"Where are we?" Asked Gideon wiping some sweet from his brow.
"We are in Hotland, which is still a part of the Underground." Said Ser Manuel.
"So what's the plan?" Asked Hunter Wizard.
"Well if you're looking for magical items, then Hotland would be a good place to search, though I have no idea where to begin." Said Ser Manuel.
"I don't like us being separated from the others. We should try to regroup with them." Said Rock Wizard.
"I can lead us back to Snowdin, who knows maybe will find some kind of clue about Horror's Hand location on the way there." Said Ser Manuel.
The little group set out for Snowdin.
To be continued.
Glossary
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Carrera
Bloodstained Ritual of the Moon: Valefar
Viewtiful Joe: Dr. Cranken
Omori: Slime Girls
Fearmonium: Lady Depression