It was a Tuesday in the midst of September, and a Dark World, which we all know as the Cyber World by now, had apparently been discovered in the 'librarby' in Hometown when Kris and Susie were invited by their classmate, Noelle, to go there to do their newly-assigned group project together after school.

Said Dark World's fountain just got sealed by Kris, and they, along with Susie, Noelle and their other classmate Berdly, found themself in the library's computer lab again.

After Berdly agreed on Noelle inviting Susie and Kris to study as a group of four and then swiftly went off to his voluntary shift in the library with Ms. Boom, Noelle went to see her father, Rudy, in the hospital, and Kris and Susie, armed with the important objects that they found in the computer lab of the 'librarby', went back to their school so that they could access the primary Dark World there.

The magic of the Dark World was able to turn certain objects into living beings, but only Kris, Susie, Ralsei, you (the reader(s)) and I (the writer) are aware of this very secret. Plus, I don't really consider that secret as something too remotely important.

Now, my Castle Town, which was located in the primary Dark World, was inhabited by the Darkners of both the eastern Dark World and those of the Cyber World. With those new inhabitants and recruits, it was a lot livelier now.

Queen, a long-lost "wild Mum", was finally officially reunited with her child, Lancer, and we learned that she loved to tease her ex-husband, King, in both a loving and defying manner.

Swatch, who used to work at the Colour Café, now worked at the town's local café, and shooed the Top Chef away from there since the latter wanted to turn the café into a second bakery.

Tasque Manager was now one of the primary guests at that café, and she wanted to make it an animal café, seeing as she could never be seen without two of her Tasques there.

The Cyber World's rising star music trio, the Sweet Cap'n Cakes, had re-established their sound studio in the east of my Castle Town, and allowed anyone to listen to some familiar tunes there.

A Rudinn had befriended a Virovirokun, and they shared their battling experiences with one another since they both knew Kris and their friends.

Nubert had given his wig to his new friend, the Little Ball, as a sign of pure, unfiltered kindness. No wonder everybody still loves Nubert, our man, so much.

And Ralsei was still a little busy building everyone's new rooms up, whereas Queen thought she just had a good enough new life in the hallway.

Kris and Susie were just about to go home for the evening once they got out of the Dark World on Ralsei's request to come back the next day, when they were suddenly met by Noelle and Berdly in the school's hallway.

"Wait" Berdly said, "there is a world behind those doors?!" He pulled one of his face feathers to check if he was dreaming. "Ouch! No, I'm not imagining things…!"

"Well" Susie said, "you got us. There's indeed a little world behind the doors of the storage closet. But…" She edged eerily close to Berdly in a threatening manner and bared her many sharp teeth. "Do not tell anyone about this! Not your father, not the rest of our classmates - not even Ms. Boom and Ms. Alphys!"

The teenage blue bird backed off and squawked in fear and showed Susie the palms of his hands in surrender.

"N-no… no, S-S-Susan… I w-won't…! Never will…!"

"Same goes for you, Noelle." Susie's facial expression softened for the sake of Noelle's shyness. "Do not tell anyone about what's behind those doors! Not your family, not Ms. Alphys - literally nobody!"

"O-okay, Susie…!" Noelle stammered. "I p-p-promise to k-keep it a s-secret…!"

Kris simply made a gesture of a closing zip in front of their mouth, to emphasise their two classmates to keep their mouths shut about the Dark World in the school.

"You know…" Susie pondered for a bit before suddenly beaming up in excitement, which was a lot unlike her. "Wouldn't it be fun if the four of us would stay the night there? I promise, it'll be a ton of fun!"

"What?!" Kris, Berdly and Noelle exclaimed in disbelief.

"I mean, there's a lot to do there! Noelle and Berdly, you two are going to love that world! Mark my words!"

"I…" Noelle said. "I-I'm not sure if M-Mum would think it's a g-good idea…"

"So what? You could write her a note that you're going to stay the night at Berdly's to study with him."

"O-oh, that's… th-that's actually not a b-bad idea…! Th-thanks for the tip…!"

"In that case" Berdly said, "I'll tell Dad that I'll stay the night at Noelle's instead to study with her."

"Y-yeah…!"

"And Kris" Susie said, "you should tell your mother that you're going to stay the night to study with me! Don't worry about what I'll be telling my parents, by the way. Father's never home and Mother only cares about those lame cigarettes and beer of hers, and I'm good as I currently am, so I'll be awaiting you all behind those doors, alright?"

Kris nodded with a slight smile.

"Good, then you all should get packing if you're still in need of that."

"Good one…!" Noelle said. "See you all soon." And with that, she went off.

Kris and Berdly briefly returned to their respective homes as well to pack their luggage up.

Once the coast was clear, Susie went back to the doors that led to the Dark World, and went there to wait for her friends to arrive there as well in at least 15 or 20 minutes.

"Susie?" Ralsei asked once he saw his tough friend once again. "I thought you were about to go home!"

"I thought the same" the teenage purple crocodile said, "until I suddenly wondered if I could stay the night here with Kris, Berdly and Noelle?"

"Oh? Why, of course you lot can stay the night here! I mean, if you want it, you should go for it! Do your parents know of this yet?"

"Mine don't really care about my whereabouts, since Father's never home and Mother only cares about those lame cigarettes and beer anyway. But Kris, Berdly and Noelle are going to convince theirs that they'll be staying the night with one another to study for our group projects!"

"I see. Well, do whatever you please, I guess. Now, would you like to have something to drink? Some hot chocolate with Dark Candy and whipped cream, perhaps? Or coffee?"

"Hot chocolate, and if possible, with a slice of that yummy cake of yours!"

"Cake will be something we'll have for dessert soon, but the hot chocolate's a deal for sure!"

"Neato!"

It was not easy for everyone to pack luggage up for a sudden nightly stay in the primary Dark World. Sure, one would primarily need their toothbrush or some mouthwash, their sleepwear, their pillow… but what about the plushies they slept with, for instance? Wouldn't that be a little too embarrassing? Either way, despite those hardships, the luggage would eventually be packed well enough anyway. Nothing is perfect, right?

Kris merely packed their toothbrush, toothpaste, pillow, sleepshirt, some bath bombs and some clean clothing into their backpack before zipping it up and heading back downstairs. They didn't have to be pleased with that much stuff, or so their mindset convinced them.

"Have a good time studying at Susie's" Toriel said, "and be good, alright?" She hugged Kris and ruffled their shoulder-length dark brown hair. "See you tomorrow, my child."

And with that, the silent teenager went off, closing the front door behind them and going back to their usual school with some pep in their step. They were very excited to stay the night in the Dark World for the first time…!

Berdly, in the meantime, had packed his sleepwear, mouthwash, pillow, spare glasses, some clean clothing, some boring books to fall asleep to, and his newest portable gaming console - the Stiletto Click -, which nicely covered one of his other items that he didn't want anyone to find out about.

He zipped his backpack up and hoisted it over his shoulders, somewhat wrinkling his blouse up in the process.

"Dang" Berdly mumbled to himself, "thing's a little too heavy…" He then closed his bedroom door behind him and calmly made his way downstairs.

"Are you all set, son?" Harvey, Berdly's father, asked as he finished the dishes in the kitchen.

"Yes, Dad."

"And remember, if anything happens, my phone is always on in case you're in need to call me." Harvey hugged his son tightly and affectionately ruffled the feathers on the top of the latter's head a little. "See you tomorrow, my sweet boy."

"See you tomorrow, Dad." Berdly couldn't help but blush a little in embarrassment, feeling a little too old for the nickname 'my sweet boy' by now. But deep down, he knew that his father was only being kind to him.

And with that, the teenage blue bird went off, calmly closing the front door behind him and somewhat skipping his way towards his usual school in excitement, smirking as he did.

As if I'm going to study at Noelle's, he thought to himself, there's something way better that I'll experience soon!

Noelle had packed her favourite nightgown, her pillow, toothbrush, toothpaste, some dental floss (her mother was always very strict about her daughters' dental hygiene), some clean clothing, a thick book, and one of the teddy bears that actually belonged to Dess.

Her backpack took a little longer to zip up since it was a tad on the small side, but eventually, she succeeded.

Before she left, Noelle quickly wrote a little note that she left on the dining table in case her mother, the mayor of Hometown, would return home from the town hall around 7 p.m. and be concerned about Noelle's whereabouts.

Dear Mum,
I'll be staying at Berdly's tonight to study with him, since we've decided to pair up for a group project for school. Hope you have a good evening and night!
Love, Noelle

Afterwards, the young doe closed and locked the door behind her, as well as the large gate many steps later, and then calmly went off towards her usual school, metaphorical butterflies somewhat fluttering in her stomach on her way.

The three classmates happened to arrive at the entrance of the school at the same time, and swiftly went inside, with Kris keeping their eyes peeled to prevent themself and their friends from getting busted.

The only other person present in the hallway was the janitor, who might've been caught up big-time in both their cleaning spree and the music they loudly blasted from their headphones, but was still very wary of their surroundings and could always detect suspicious happenings out of nowhere.

'Alright' Kris then signed after 10 seconds of looking around, 'the coast is clear. Grab my hands and we shall go. The Dark World is a ton of fun, I promise.'

Berdly gave a brief nod as he grabbed Kris's left hand.

"Ooh…!" Noelle quietly brought out as she grabbed her human classmate's right hand.

"Ready…?" Kris whispered.

"R-ready when you are…!"

"What are we waiting for…?!" Berdly whispered impatiently. "Let's go already…!"

Kris silently counted down from three, and with a speedy sprint, they and their two classmates ran towards the doors that led to the Dark World, which seemed to open right in front of the three.

And with that, they made their grand entrance into the primary Dark World.

As for the janitor? They barely even heard or saw anything until the doors to the Dark World were slammed shut at quite the volume that even outsmarted the janitor's loud music, but furthermore simply shrugged and continued what they were doing.