Kris is standing in the kitchen, mixing up a glass of chocolate milk, when there's a knock on the door. They turn, and see that Toriel is already walking up to it.
She looks out the window, then turns and smiles. "Your brother's home from college early!"
Kris gasps, abandoning the chocolate milk on the counter. They rush up to the door as Toriel opens it, but when she does...
"Howdy, Kris! I'm back! ... what's with that look? Do you not like my new petals?"
Kris jolts awake, heart pounding. They lay there for a bit, trying to get their breathing under control and get that image out of their head. Only once they have, do they register that they can't seem to see the ceiling.
Kris sits up, looking around. They are in a depression in some soft, fabric-like terrain. The sky is pitch black, and the only thing they can see nearby is a glowing SAVE point. They rise to their feet, only to pause as they find themselves in their Dark World form.
Then they recall the events of last night.
"Well, this had better be worth it..." They mutter to themselves as they SAVE.
"Susie...? Susie!"
Susie wakes up, rubbing her head with her palm. "Ugh, my head. Kris, what... huh?!"
She stops when she realizes she is no longer in Toriel's living room. Instead, she is in a dark void, atop a lump in some lumpy, fabric-like material. Toriel is standing in front of her. She is wearing a purple robe with several darker patches, a small train in the shape of a heart, a dark purple sash with a golden buckle emblazoned with the Delta Rune, and her heart-shaped pendant around her neck.
"Susie, thank goodness you're awake!" Toriel exclaims. "Everything was normal when I went to sleep last night, but now, I don't know where we are! I can't even find Kris!"
"What?!" Susie stands up quickly. She scans the surrounding area, but finds nothing helpful. She looks down at herself, seeing that she's in her own Dark World outfit. "Oh shit..."
"What is it?" Toriel recognizes that tone. "Do you know what happened?"
Susie flinches. "Well, I have an idea..."
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
Susie and Toriel quickly turn in the direction of the voice, which is coming from past a rise in the ground. The two clamber over the rise, and find Ralsei looking around.
"Ralsei!" Susie exclaims.
Ralsei turns at Susie's voice. "Susie, thank goodness you're —"
Toriel and Ralsei make eye contact, and both of them pause. Ralsei is simply confused and surprised at the newcomer, while Toriel...
"Susie?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Would you care to explain?"
Noelle closes the gate to her house, a confident smile on her face. She may not know what caused the dream she'd had in the librarby yesterday, but it's made her rather nostalgic for the time she used to spend with Kris. So today, she's decided that she wants to try hanging out with Kris again.
She turns to head down the street, but pauses when she sees Kris's house. The police have set up a barricade around the building, and several citizens are watching Deputy Napstablook investigate.
Noelle approaches. "Uh, what's going on? Why's Kris's house taped off?"
Napstablook turns at Noelle's question. "we got a call from the residents last night. apparently, somebody was lurking around outside, and slashed their van's tires."
"W-what?!" Noelle is stupefied. Kris may not have been the most liked kid, but they certainly weren't hated by anyone to that extent. And even then, everybody adored Toriel, so who would've done something like this?
"when we got here," Napstablook continues, "the door was open, but it was really dark inside." They turn and gestures with their head towards the open door, which just seems to radiate darkness. "chief undyne went in half an hour ago, but she hasn't come back out, and i can't radio her..."
But Noelle isn't paying any attention anymore; she's too focused on the pulsating darkness coming from the door. "That... That's not possible... That feels just like my dream yesterday, but..."
Deputy Napstablook looks into her distant eyes. "i said too much, didn't i... i'm sorry, i'm just not as confident without undyne..."
Noelle keeps staring, first at the door, then at the house itself. "Kris must still be in there... I..."
She hesitates for a moment, recalling her conversation yesterday about doing crazy things.
Then, mustering up all of her courage, she ducks under the police tape and starts booking it for the door, making every bystander gasp. Napstablook is too unsure of themself to catch Noelle before she makes it into the door, leaping into the darkness.
A whirlwind passes Noelle as she falls into the unknown, changing her into her Dark World form on the way down. She lands, not on her feet, but on her side as she hits the wall of a valley in the ground, tumbling the rest of the way down.
Once she stops tumbling, Noelle takes a moment to reorient herself, before looking at her familiar garb. 'Holy holiday lights, it was real? This is all real? I'm not sure if I should be scared, or happy, or...'
Then a thought crosses her mind. 'Wait a second, if that dream yesterday actually happened, then...'
She blushes. 'Susie, she... She actually... She has a tail!'
"Could you get off, please?
Noelle jumps, suddenly aware that she'd landed on Kris. "K-Kris!" She quickly gets up, and helps them up to their feet. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?
Kris nods their head.
"Oh, thank goodness! I came by to check on you, but there was this weird darkness in your doorway, and... Where are we, Kris?"
"My house," Kris jabs.
"Har har. Very funny, Kris." Despite herself, she can't help but find it a little reassuring that Kris is calm enough to make jokes like old times. "Seriously, though, what is this place?"
Kris weighs the pros and cons. On one hand, if they tell Noelle about Dark Worlds, then they could have more adventures, and she'd get more time to be with Susie. But on the other hand, Dark Worlds were still dangerous, and Susie clearly didn't want Noelle to know about them so she wouldn't freak out.
Finally, they sigh. "Alright, I'll tell you."
"So, let me get this straight..." Toriel begins after a long explanation from Susie and Ralsei. "There are these things called 'Dark Worlds' that are formed when 'Dark Fountains' are created..."
"Yup," Susie comments.
"This 'Prince Ralsei' here comes from a Dark World in the school closet..."
"Yes, Ma'am," Ralsei nods respectfully. Toriel is rather intimidating when she's in serious mode, after all.
"And NOBODY thought to tell an adult?" Toriel finishes accusingly.
"Hey, it's not like you would've believed us!" Susie counters.
Toriel pauses for a moment. "...okay, fair enough."
"Besides," Susie continues quietly, as if she doesn't particularly want to say this, "I didn't want the one thing Kris and I bonded over to be taken from us."
Ralsei blinks. "Susie...?"
But Susie isn't done yet. If she's going to say this, she's going to say it all. "Other than Lancer, Kris was my first real friend. They protected me from the Spade King, and saw the potential I had in myself to be good, even when I didn't. And Ralsei here, even though he's a nerd... he's a pretty cool one, all things considered. If anybody else found out about it, I wouldn't be able to go on adventures with them anymore."
Ralsei smiles ruddily. "Susie, that's gotta be the nicest thing you've ever said!"
Susie rolls her eyes. "Yeah yeah, don't get used to it, Peachboy."
Toriel takes a moment to soak this all in, eyes closed in thought.
Finally, she turns to Susie. "Alright. I'm not happy that you both hid this, but if you say your Fountain isn't a threat, then I'll let you continue to hang out together."
Susie looks up at her, then off at some random point in space. "...thank you, Toriel."
Toriel nods, then turns to Ralsei. "Now, as for you..."
Ralsei blinks, sweating a little at her motherly eye.
Then her gaze softens a little. "You said your name is Ralsei, right?"
"Y-yeah?"
She smiles. "It's nice to meet a friend of Kris's. I'm Toriel Dreemurr."
Ralsei relaxes a little. "It's nice to meet you, too."
"I apologize if I act a bit off around you; it's just been a while since I've seen another goat monster other than my family. In fact, you remind me of my oldest son, Asriel."
Ralsei looks at himself. "I do?"
Toriel nods. "In fact, if it weren't for the pink horns and eyes, I might think you were him in makeup and a scarf."
Ralsei thinks about that for a moment. "Wait a moment, I read about something like this — something about the memories attached to the objects we're formed from."
"You did?" Susie asks. "Since when?"
"I got curious when I saw that Queen and the Spade King seemed to know each other. I don't remember what I was formed from, but I believe that, whatever it was, it has significant ties to Asriel or your family."
Toriel looks over Ralsei for a moment, stopping on his horns. "Call me crazy, but your horns remind me of the plastic horns Kris used to have when they were younger."
Susie chokes back a laugh. "Wait, what?"
Toriel giggles a little. "They kept saying they couldn't wait for their horns to grow in, so we bought them some fake ones so they wouldn't feel left out."
Susie is now on the brink of bursting out laughing, while Ralsei is pondering. "That makes sense... If I'm formed from what Kris used in order to feel like they fit into the family, then I could be a manifestation of their idea of what they wanted to be... That'll be our working theory for now, unless it can be disproven."
Toriel nods, then pauses, something registering in her brain. "Wait a second... You said that Dark Worlds are ordinary places that are overtaken by darkness, right?"
"That's correct, ma'am," Ralsei nods.
"And we're in a Dark World right now..."
"Uh, yeah?" Susie replies, unsure of where this is going.
"So does that mean... This place... IS ACTUALLY MY HOUSE!?"
«RIGHT YOU ARE!»
Everyone pauses. They turn to find a strange man with a television for a head standing just behind them. It is unclear how long he has been standing there, but he's only now chosen to speak up. He is wearing a flannel coat that looks like static, a blue polka dot bowtie, red plaid paints, and his left hand is currently a microphone. His eyes care continually cycling between red, green, and blue.
"Woah!" Susie brandishes her axe, to the surprise of Toriel. "Stay back!"
The newcomer only smiles. «Well, aren't you quick to the point? Well, then, allow me to introduce myself. I will be your host for tonight...»
The TV strikes a pose. «The One...»
Another pose. «The Only—»
Suddenly, the TV starts glitching out. «Only— Only— Only— Only—»
Susie and Ralsei look at each other momentarily. "Uh..." the former mutters, "this guy alright?"
Before Ralsei can respond, the TV man kicks himself in the rear, fixing himself. «MIKE VISION!»
Canned applause plays from Mike's screen. Susie steps forward. "Alright, listen up! You're not the first evil tyrant we've faced, so whatever plan you've got cooked up, don't even bother, because we're going to stop it!"
«Evil Tyrant? Wow, kid, you're quick to judge...» Mike puts his normal hand to his chest in a mock-hurt gesture. «All that I'm after is a little entertainment. And that all starts...»
Suddenly, Mike's hand changes into a lance that looks like a TV antenna.
«...with a TUTORIAL!»
Susie gasps. "You monster! It's barely tolerable, even when Ralsei does it!"
Ralsei blinks. "You think my tutorials are tolerable?!"
"That's not the point! Shut up, and get ready to—"
Everyone pauses when Toriel walks between the two of them, marching straight up to Mike. "Mike, was it?"
«Uh, yeah?»
"Don't you know better than to pick on children..."
Toriel instinctively pulls out her Dark World weapon, an acoustic guitar with the Delta Rune on it.
"...when there's a mother around?"
The three's hearts light up, and the they're thrust into a battle.
Mike's attacks start off simple enough, with a few quick slashes of his lance here and a couple signal beams there, all while explaining the basics of a battle to Toriel. But soon enough, he begins to mix up the attacks in creatives ways. His lance turns into a dial, rotating as if to tune into a specific radio station; his signals bounce off strategically placed satellites, making their trajectory harder to predict; and at one point, he even fills the board with vision-obscuring static.
Despite the odds, however, the heroes slowly overtake Mike by doing entertaining things, only needing to heal Toriel once with a Dark Candy. Toriel juggles, Susie plays air guitar on her axe, and Ralsei used his scarf as a makeshift jump-rope, and each action satisfies his need for entertainment more and more.
But just as they're about to finish him off, Mike stops. «Wait, time out for a second.»
Everyone pauses, confused.
«It's time for a word from our Sponsor!»
Toriel narrows her eyes. "Don't you dare."
But it's too late; the screen transitions to the set of an infomercial, where Mike (in a wig) is the spokesperson.
«Hey, Mike here. Is your plug chaffing whenever you connect to an outlet? Try M.V. NO-CHAFE FORMULA! With just a quick spray, our fast acting formula will soothe any* discomfort your pins may be having. M.V. NO-CHAFE FORMULA: enjoy plugging again! (Warning! May cause severe chemical burns in organic beings. Side effects may include nausea, irritation, warping of the pins, dizziness, insomnia, trouble charging, burning sensations, short-circuiting, and even black-out. Do not use if pregnant, operating heavy machinery, or are heavy machinery. Ask your doctor is No-Chafe is right for you.) * = M.V. Incorporated (Ltd.) makes no guarantee that all pain will be soothed. Take no more than twice a day, or else.»
The commercial ends, and the screen transitions back to the battle, but Mike is nowhere to be seen.
"Wait, what?" Susie exclaims. "Where'd he go?!"
"He must have gotten away while the commercial was playing!" Ralsei deduces.
Susie drops to her knees. "Damnit!" She punches the ground, which gives slightly.
"Well, that was... interesting..." Toriel is unsure of what to say. "Are you alright, Susie?"
Susie takes a deep breath to calm herself. "Yeah, I'm good."
"Have you really done this kind of thing before?"
"Eh, only twice," Susie shrugs, grinning.
Toriel puts her hand to her chin in thought. "So, how exactly are we going to do this?"
"All we have to do is find Kris, and they'll be able to seal the Fountain once we reach it."
"Hold on. Why Kris specifically?"
Ralsei explains, "Though any Lightner can create a fountain with enough will power, the average Lightner can only seal ones they themselves created. Kris, with their powerful Human SOUL, can bypass that rule and seal any Fountain they wish."
Toriel nods. "Alright, let's go."
Ralsei then gets in line behind Susie, and looks expectantly at Toriel. "Well? What're you waiting for, Miss?"
"Heh... Just 'Toriel' is fine, Ralsei."
Toriel gets in the back of the line, to the surprise of Susie. "Huh? You're not even gonna try to lead?
"Well, you two seem to know what you're doing," Toriel explains. "Why, did you WANT me to lead?"
"N-no!" Susie quickly corrects. "I just... I'm not used to adults trusting me like that, y'know?"
Toriel blinks, then gives a patient smile, letting that implication soak in.
[* TORIEL joined the party!]
Susie, Ralsei, and Toriel begin to look around. As they walk, Toriel strikes up a conversation with Ralsei. "So, tell me about yourself, Ralsei."
"Well, there's not really much to say. I'm the Prince of Darkness, whose purpose it is to assist the Lightners in their quest; I taught myself almost everything with my vast library... Oh, and I love to bake!" He adds, smiling excitedly.
"Me too!" Toriel exclaims. "What's your favorite thing to bake?"
"Cakes, but I'm also partial to pie. I even tried to make my own meringue once, but ended up getting my fur stuck in the mixer."
"Wow," Toriel grins, "I guess you could say you're a real... Whisk-Taker!"
Ralsei laughs the hardest that Susie has ever seen him laugh. "That's a good one, Toriel!"
'Oh great, there's two of them now,' Susie thinks, rolling her eyes.
Then she shrugs. 'Whatever; at least I can probably get free sweets from both of them...'