"...so that's why, okay?"
Noelle sits down on the ground, trying to process everything Kris has just told her. "Gosh, that's, um, a lot to take in... So, Susie doesn't want people knowing because they'd panic?"
"That, and this is special to her. 'It's our thing', as she'd say."
Noelle holds up a hand. "I get it — believe me, I do." Then her expression turns wistful. "It's like when Dess and I would watch horror movies together, right?"
Kris hesitates, a small frown momentarily tugging at their lips at the mention of Dess. "...yeah, something like that."
"And you said that the guy who looks like Azzy is actually a Prince from a Dark World in the school closet?"
"Yup."
Noelle thinks for a moment. "Actually, yeah, I believe it. Asriel wouldn't get as serious as he was when Berdley almost..."
Noelle stands up suddenly. "Oh peppermint sticks, Berdley nearly actually doomed the world, didn't he?"
"Yup."
Noelle holds her forehead. "Yikes..."
Kris puts a hand on her shoulder. "Don't think about it too hard; I—"
Suddenly, they stop. Noelle notices and raises an eyebrow. "Kris—?"
They place a gloved finger over her mouth in a shushing manner. "Hear that?" they whisper.
Both of them listen really closely for a moment.
"...he was toast!"
This is followed by the most vociferous laughter either Kris or Noelle have ever heard. "Toriel, you must be the funniest person I've ever met!"
"Dude," a gruff but still feminine voice points out, "you haven't met that many people."
"Well, still!"
"Guys!" Kris calls out. The voices fall silent, before the heads of Susie, Ralsei, and Toriel peer over the edge of the chasm they're in.
"Kris!" Ralsei exclaims.
"Noelle?!" Susie yelps at the same time.
"H-hi..." Noelle waves shyly.
"Oh, Noelle!" Toriel smiles. "I haven't seen you since the Crafts Fair; how have you been?"
"I've been doing fine, Ms. Toriel." Noelle dismisses.
Kris then interrupts: "Could you maybe help us out of here before we get to talking?"
Toriel blinks. "Right, sorry."
Ralsei unties his scarf and lowers it down into the crevasse. With Toriel and Susie both helping, they're able to pull Kris and Noelle out of the ravine.
Susie chuckles. "Didn't I say you can always find good stuff wedged into the couch?"
Noelle blinks. "This is a couch?"
«It's about time you two started questioning your surroundings!»
Everyone pauses, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. They eventually spot Mike standing on the other side of the valley, adjusting his bowtie nonchalantly.
"Mike!" Susie growls.
Kris gasps. "Wait, that's Mike?"
Susie and Ralsei blink, looking at them. "You've heard of him?" Ralsei asks.
"Spamton mentioned him," they explain.
«Oh, you know ol' Spammy?» Mike looks genuinely surprised. «How's he doing, anyhow?»
Kris pulls out the Dealmaker.
Mike frowns. «Oh dear. Flew too high, did he?» Kris nods. «That's a shame; he was always giving it his all...
«Anyway, enough of that!» Mike suddenly shifts his mood, straightening up again. «You're going to try and seal the Dark Fountain, right?»
Susie nods resolutely. "That's right!"
Mike puts his hand on his chin. «Well, that should be simple enough; the Fountain's just a three hour hike from here...»
Toriel raises an eyebrow. "What's the catch?"
Mike smirks. «A police officer.»
Most of the group is confused, except for Noelle, who gasps. "That's right! Deputy Napstablook said that Chief Undyne came in here and never came back out!"
Mike is now grinning. «Yup. And I've just received word that she's all the way in the Tap Falls, fighting my cronies as we speak!»
To prove his point, his screen face is interrupted by static for a brief moment, before showing a live video feed. Chief Undyne, garbed in a Dark World outfit that seems like a cross between medieval armor and a cop uniform, is fighting off a bunch of shadowed enemies in a wet-looking environment.
The screen changes back to Mike's face, which is now smugly smiling. «Looks like you're going to have to go all the way out there to get her, and that'll make it a five-hour round trip.»
Ralsei counters: "Why would we do that? When we seal the fountain, she'll just return to the Light World as well."
Mike's grin turns sadistic. «Because if you don't, I will personally see to it that she gets hurt, and you're too nice to let that happen, aren'tcha?»
Ralsei freezes for a moment, before slumping over in defeat. "Shoot, he's right."
Kris puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, then turns toward Mike. "We'll still beat you, regardless of how long it takes!"
Mike raises an eyebrow. «My, oh my! Cocky, aren't we? Well, no matter; I still won't make this easy for you. You'll have to contend to my cronies as well!»
Mike raises his left hand, which becomes a microphone. «Oh, boys!»
After a moment, three dark shapes burst from under the soft ground. As they approach, the group sees that they're actually large ants that stand on two or their six legs, using the rest as arms. They're also wearing tee-shirts and slacks, which are modified to accommodate for their extra limbs.
Toriel, for one, is shocked. "There are ants in my house?!"
"Yeah, what of it!?" One of them replies, catching Toriel off guard ('They can talk?').
"It's a great source of food!" the second one declares.
"Your pie's really good, by the way," the last one states.
Toriel is confused on how to react to this. "Um, thanks?"
Mike does an overexaggerated bow. «Let the battle commence!» he states, before leaping out of sight off the edge of the couch plateau.
Kris points, and their SOUL appears in front of them, before all five of them get into battle stances.
Kris begins the battle by CHECKing the enemies, telling the others to try ACTing on their own - except for Susie, who DEFENDs. Ralsei offers to help them on their next job, Noelle stays away from their wires, and Toriel asks to see how their equipment works. None of these actions make the enemies fully SPARE-able, but they work decently towards it.
[* Stage-Ant. Atk. 8, Def. 10. This worker just wants the show to go off without a hitch.]
"Get a grip!" One of them says as it brings out its weapon, a stage light.
Toriel and Ralsei can't help but chuckle at the pun; Susie rolls her eyes.
The second and third enemies begin to send smaller ant-shaped bullets toward Kris, while the first shoots out beams of light intermittently. Kris begins to dodge the ants, but the sheer amount of them, combined with the light beams keeping Kris from getting out, causes them to get hit by a few. Kris, Ralsei, and Noelle each lose 14, 21, and 17 HP respectively, protected somewhat by their armors. But they also gain some TP from grazing, bringing their total to 28%.
Once it's their turn, Kris gets Ralsei and Susie to perform 'X-Adjust', while Noelle and Toriel DEFEND to gather some extra TP.
Three lighting apparatuses begin to swing wildly in front of them, waiting for the three to stop them. They time it so that the lights each stop when they're perfectly angled, casting the enemies in a good light.
"Thank goodness!" the enemies cheer, before they take their turn. Stage-Ant #1 hangs from a light fixture above the battlefield, directing the other two where to attack with their antennae. Kris watches the first enemy closely in order to predict the others' attacks, dodging at the right times and avoiding getting hit. As soon as the attacks are over, Kris, Noelle, and Toriel SPARE, while Ralsei and Susie DEFEND.
[* You won! Got 0 EXP and 217 D$. (Recruited 3 out of 9 Stage-Ants.)]
The Stage-Ants scurry off, and the party puts away their weapons.
"That was some fine ACTing!" Ralsei compliments Noelle.
She smiles. "Th-thanks..."
He extends out a hand. "I don't think we got to properly introduce ourselves last time. My name's Ralsei Redeemur."
"I'm Noelle Holiday," she returns the handshake.
But before they can say anything else, the ground starts to shake.
Susie groans, "What is it NOW?"
Suddenly, the lights come on. The entire group blinks their eyes to adjust, then are floored by what they can now see.
They land they are on overlooks a large, pale purple valley. The land is dotted with reddish-brown medieval-style houses, but a large TV studio sits on the horizon, the Fountain spewing out from inside it. Far off to the west, the purple fields give way to vibrant blue-and-purple cliffs, several waterfalls cascading down them.
The group spends a moment taking it all in. "Even I have to admit, that's beautiful...," Susie awes.
"This is nothing like the Cyber World...," Noelle remarks, catching Toriel's attention.
"Oh right, Susie mentioned you were with her, Kris, and Ralsei yesterday."
Noelle blushes at the thought of Susie talking about her. "Y-yeah? What else did she say?"
Toriel clearly notices Noelle's demeanor, but doesn't comment. "She said you were kidnapped by a Queen, and she had to rescue you."
Noelle chuckles. "Oh yeah, that. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, Queen was actually kinda nice... y'know, for a kidnapper who wanted to inadvertently cause the end of the world."
Toriel raises an eyebrow in concern. "I, uh, don't quite know how to respond to that."
Ralsei approaches. "Actually, she's been rather well-behaved since she came to Castle Town — considering, you know, everything she's done."
"That's... good?" Toriel hesitantly smiles.
Susie clears her throat. "Hey, shouldn't we be getting a move on?"
"Right!" Ralsei exclaims. "The sooner we set off, the sooner we can reach Undyne."
"Yeah, we should probably get going…" Noelle agrees.
Everyone gets into line behind Kris, and they all set off on a new adventure.