CHAPTER TWO
Smiling Wide
"Burned bodies in a ditch," Oculass muttered. "Sounds like the work of Mr. Bear. A figure who pretends to be a child-friendly character."
This was a huge problem, unlike Momo, they had all come to face an actual murderer, who had targeted children above all else. They weren't kids at the very least, but it was still not a good position to be in. "Leg it!" Michael shouted, starting to run from the psycho inside of the costume. Since Oculass was blind, Natalie had no choice but to pull her along, which was a slight problem given that she was a little hefty to tug.
Mr. Bear did not chase, instead, he just watched as the adults ran from him. He held no interest in them. No, they weren't worth the trouble, not when they looked rather strong, capable of outnumbering him. Children were at least vulnerable and weak, same with teenagers mostly. They were too wary anyway. He would let them off the hook, for he knew that the rest would be more likely to get them.
They kept running, and running, until Caela found herself tripping on a mound of dirt. Her eyes widened at what looked like an unearthed skull, golden hair on its head, smiling wide at her. Crying out in terror she got back up to her feet and kept running. Everyone just had to keep going, and never stop, until they found themselves somewhere new.
—
No response from Momo, since Polybius sent her that last message. Was she getting caught up with them? What exactly had happened in those woods? Mr. Bear was still lurking around, surely he would have scared those human intruders, or captured them.
Oh yes, that's right, he forgot. Mr. Bear prefers prey that are children, and Momo was not a harmful yokai. Polybius gritted his teeth, loud enough to sound like an arcade buzzing. Even if they were to combine efforts, it wasn't likely. Momo absolutely hated Mr. Bear for targeting children, being that she was a mother. They were oil and water, like a lot of the creatures that lurked here. Many could not agree with each other.
Slender Man and Hasshaku-sama were the few exceptions. The two picked on each other like the cousins they were, usually in a mature, sarcastic manner, but they usually never fought. Ben and Sen were in a similar boat. Ben at first did not like Sen, but the latter's power of corruption and looking up to Ben like an older brother made him a bit more tolerant.
Polybius himself, well, he got on quite well with any fellow monster connected to video games. None of them were isolated into a pocket of hell like he was, which often garnered sympathy from the others. A bit strange, given that they were all heartless creatures, at least so it seemed.
Glancing at his mobile device, Polybius pondered what he should do next. Should he call Momo? Texting probably wouldn't get further responses.
Whatever Momo was doing, it had better have been good. He pressed the button to dial her, waiting a moment, before a voice had picked up on the other end, but it was not one that he recognized at all.
"Who is this?" Said a girl on the other end. Immediately, Polybius put on facetime, just to get a good look at whoever this was.
—
Natalie gasped at the sight of the hooded figure, Polybius facing her on the phone screen. "You're," she started, "Polybius?"
"That I am, human. You have taken this phone from Momo, haven't you?"
"Where's Nick!?" Natalie demanded to know.
"In good company. We plan to use the power that he holds, and we shall do the same with the rest of you—"
"That's Polybius? Why isn't he a giant, living arcade cabinet?" Michael asked, interrupting the call. "I didn't expect him to have, you know, a personified entity."
Irritated, Polybius hissed quietly before answering. "When you have my lifespan and intelligence, you can take whatever form you wish. I will warn you right now though, humans, unless you wish to be subjected to horror and insanity in its most unfiltered form, I would recommend lying down on your back, and wait for someone to collect you." He chuckled, in a rather distorted way.
Stepping forward to the rest of them, Oculass blinked her cloudy eyes. "What if you were to take me, and free Nick? How does that sound?" Natalie and the others were shocked by this selfless suggestion, surprised to hear Oculass would willingly give herself up.
Polybius though, just narrowed his eyes, finding something more off about this woman than the others. "You're a Gamindustri resident, aren't you? As much as something could be worked out, I am mostly certain that the powerful relic known as the New Game Plus is not a part of you like it is for these mortals. I am to take over the world which sealed me, not cooperate with someone from there!" His voice became a bit more booming, but Oculass remained in her position, having a sad look on her face.
"Polybius," Natalie spoke, "we're on our way to get you! Us gamers will defeat you!"
Not believing a word of Natalie's bravery, Polybius shook his head. "You won't make it. I'm going to ask the best internet horrors to obstruct your path. They will bring you all back to me, and you will share the same fate as your dear friend." He began chuckling again, leaning on his throne. "It is I who is in charge of this realm, and everyone is under my fingers. You would be a fool to go against me."
"We've gone against worse." Natalie retorted, making Polybius clench his fists. "No matter how hard you push us, we'll fight back!" After that, she hung up, not willing to listen any longer, at the risk of Polybius playing mind games.
Caela meanwhile, was trying to calm down after having to witness the skull of that girl. Pale Luna, a story she actually had read, and got chills from. She had a fondness for text games like those, which made the story hit her a little bit, especially when there was an actual, real game known as "The Child Murderer". The idea of a work of fiction being someone's twisted tale of a crime they had actually committed was just…
"Caela, you alright?" Michael asked. "You don't look too good."
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" She reassured him. "So, Polybius is the ruler of this world of internet-created monsters and horror tales? I guess that makes sense, he was an urban legend starting from early 2000, right?" Come to think of it, the tale originated on the internet too, which would make Polybius the earliest being of "creepypasta" in existence.
"Kehehe,"
Everyone turned their attention to a small, Furby-like creature, having a wide smile, stretching even further than Momo's did. He was covered in fur and had long ears, as well. It was odd, but not entirely scary, besides his rather wide grin.
"You aren't going to meet with Polybius any time soon. You all stand no chance!" The little creature laughed. "At least, not unless you take a shortcut."
"A shortcut?" Natalie asked.
"What kind of shortcut? And why do you think we're going to trust you?" Michael shot back at the monster.
"Aw, c'mon, you think all horror tales are full of monsters that wanna hurt people? Come just want to make friends, you know." The little creature explained, walking towards the ledge of a mountain in the distance. Considering how Momo was described as harmless, Natalie figured that the best opinion here would come from Oculass, who followed the little furry creature.
"What's your name?" Oculass asked him, trying to find where he was with the white cane. The little gremlin avoided it and became defensive, almost seeing it as an attack.
"That's not important right now, come on! Follow me!" The creature started to run away further, and Oculass stopped at the ledge, since her cane wasn't making contact with any ground. The other three rushed over, and to their horror, there was a giant drop down below. "Down there is the shortcut! You humans got some weirdo powers, right? I heard about it!" He giggled mischievously, slapping Oculass on her back.
Gasping, she dropped her white cane, which fell down into the campgrounds below the mountain. "Go on, give it a try! You can summon a big trampoline, or something to bounce off of, right? You'll find your friend in no time if you just— oops!"
Pushing her a little harder than anticipated— or so it looked— the little monster shoved Oculass off the cliff, while her cane had not hit the ground yet. The other three shouted and glared at the little monster. "Just an accident, she'll be fine. Unless you want to try to save her." Natalie knew that going after her would be far too risky, but something in the back of her palms made her feel that she should try to save Oculass.
It was like a surge…
She jumped for it.
"Natalie!" Caela and Michael both shouted. It appeared that Natalie, for whatever reason, was trying to make herself fall down faster. As she came closer to Oculass, she did something unexpected, which was materialize a bounce pad from the earth. Oculass and Natalie bounced off of it with no harm done, and landed on the ground safely.
Upon seeing that they were alright, Caela and Michael glared at the little monster. "But, how? I mean," he then began smiling again, "look! I was right, see? A shortcut that you can all make with your powers!" Michael then picked him up by his neck, making the creature snarl in fury.
"Oh yeah? Let's see if you can do the same thing!"
"Michael, you think this is a little too far?"
"He's a murderous, manipulative freak, this is the best he could ask for!"
"Good point."
Michael then dropped him off the cliff, making the monster scream like the little beast he actually was. Just before he could go splat though, Oculass caught him with her own arms. "There you are," she sighed, feeling the monster. "That wasn't a very nice prank, Mr. Widemouth." He winced over the fact that this woman knew his name, and immediately bit onto her fingers, forcing Oculass to release him.
"Owch!" Oculass cried out.
"Curses, damn it, damn it all!" Mr. Widemouth snarled, making his escape. "Rake's area allows access to their powers? What nonsense is that!?" As he kept ranting, he vanished, which was followed by Caela and Michael making their landings next.
"Rake's area?" Caela's eyes lit up, summoning a gun. "Is that what he said? Alright then! I've played that one on my PC!" Oculass meanwhile, held her hand in pain, which led to Michael changing his own abilities to heal the bite wounds.
"Oculass, why did you catch the little freak instead of letting him go splat?" Natalie asked.
"Um, well," Oculass laughed nervously, searching the ground for her white cane before Caela handed it to her. "One of the reasons I'm rather knowledgeable on what some of these horrors are, and don't instinctively attack is because… I kinda like monsters, I don't know if it was obvious or not."
"You aren't afraid of them?" Michael questioned.
"Oh, I am. I get terrified, especially when I don't know what it looks like, or what it could do. But I mean, I like the feeling of being scared of something that I don't know. It's really fun, it gives you such a rush, a thrill!" Natalie had no clue what this girl was on about, but Michael, being someone that played the Fatal Frame games, could understand what she was getting at. "That's why so many of the VR games under my belt often involve horror! I just love it!"
"Still doesn't explain why you caught him."
"My soft spot has gotten so bad that I don't like having scary monsters be hurt. Back at home, I've come to love them all, I'm used to them not attacking me." As she kept laughing, a look of guilt was on her face. "I'm going to be honest Natty, besides wanting to help your friend, that was part of the reason I wanted to tag along. I wanted to give you information on stories I've listened to late at night, and meet them for myself."
Natty? Do the nicknames ever end?
"It's fine, Oculass. Just next time, don't be too trusting perhaps, we're surrounded by monsters that could kill us at any given second, and unlike the ones in Gamindustri, they don't know you."
"Ah, I wouldn't have been trusting if he revealed his name sooner," Oculass admitted. "Mr. Widemouth, he manipulates kids into doing something that could kill them! If I felt him a bit more, then identifying him would be much easier." She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "From now on, um, if I can't feel something, could you describe a monster to me, physically?"
"No problem!" Caela exclaimed. "But I don't think I'll have any trouble with the Rake, I'm already familiar with him!"
"There's some stories about Nintendo creepypasta I'm familiar with, but that's it mostly." Michael added. "What about you, Natalie?"
"I… only know about those Tails Doll horror stories, which aren't really a part of the character at all except in the Archie Comics." As Caela and Michael stared at her, Natalie averted her gaze. "I said I read them, I didn't say they were good or anything. Making a creepy doll badnik into a demon is just plain stupid."
Of course, but when Michael asked Nick about it, he told him that Natalie actually did get scared by one story, a long time ago. "Let's keep going! If we see that Rake, we'll blow a new hole in him! I've had enough practice on his game." Caela proudly declared. Natalie checked the navigation, and in spite of the fact Mr. Widemouth was tricking them, he technically did push them in the right direction, even if on accident.
He wasn't technically lying, he was telling the truth, even with the intent of murder.
—
As the four rescuers continued their trek through the woods, they reached a clearing, which gave them a chance to look around. Tilting her head up, Caela was able to see something poking over the trees. "Hey, does that look like a fortress?" Turning their gaze to meet hers, Natalie and Michael agreed. "That could be where they're keeping Nick. What do you think, Ocu - ?" Natalie became confused at Oculass, whose head was pointed down to the ground. "Are you ok?"
"I'm not sure." Oculass knelt down and put her hand on the ground. "Does anyone else feel a slight rumbling?" Natalie was confused at first, but remembered that people who have lost senses have their other ones a little enhanced. Michael, however, was listening to what they were saying, as a look of horror appeared on his face. "Everyone! Move! Now!" Michael headed for the trees, confusing everybody. But they decided not to question him when they all started to feel the rumbling, and it was getting quite strong.
Natalie and Caela guided Oculass to a nearby tree, where Michael was already to pull her up. After Oculass was safe, Calea and Natalie followed suit, Natalie clearing the ground as soon as a hand emerged from it, missing her foot by inches. Natalie turned and screamed to see a corpse rising from the ground, cursing her with its eyes before retreating underground. "What….what was….?"
"Buryman." They turned to Michael. "An undead corpse who haunts the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. He challenges trainers to matches they can't win, and drags them underground when they lose."
"Then how do we beat him?" Michael started to survey the ground. "I have an idea. Let me know when you see him." Caela and Natalie kept their eyes peeled, looking for any disturbance. "There!" Caela pointed at a slight protrusion of the ground. "Take this!" Michael jumped, summoning King Dedede's hammer to hit the ground with all his might, but before he made impact…..
A sudden movement appeared on Michael's side, and with a sudden flash, the hammer just disappeared, leaving Michael without a weapon. "What happened?"
"I don't know, I saw someone come close, then your hammer just glitched or something! He went that way!" Michael looked at where Caela was pointing, only able to make out a purple hat. "Oh no, it's Se - !" Before he could finish, Buryman's arm appeared and grabbed Michael's leg. "Michael, no!"
"Don't worry about me, you gotta watch out for - !" Michael was unable to finish as he was dragged under. Caela nearly dove in after him when Natalie stopped her. "We can't help if we're captured too! We need to figure out who else is here. He makes glitches, Michael recognized him, his name started with Se, what else?"
"H-he was wearing a purple hat."
"Sounds like Sen."
The two jumped for sec, reminded of Oculass's presence. "Sen is like a nega-Link, causing glitches in every game he touches. All code becomes scrambled, and games unplayable. And apparently he makes your powers go kaput as well."
"Then how are we supposed to - Oculass, I need to borrow this."
"Wait, but I - "
"Natalie, lure him out."
"Wow, you get mean when you're desperate."
"Just get out there!"
Natalie climbed out to a branch that was a little more exposed. Concentrating, she worked on summoning a power ring. And, as expected, Sen jumped out to disrupt it, leaving him wide open to get hit on the head by Oculass's cane, wielded by Caela. It was a surprising OHKO, as Sen fell to the ground unconscious. "It isn't broken, is it?"
"Nope, now how do we save - ?" Caela's question was answered by a sudden geyser erupting from the ground, launching Buryman into the air and landing in a slump. Michael climbed out a little wet, but ok. "It appears that the closer we are to Creepypastas that are related to our consoles, the stronger our powers get. Being near him gave me enough of a charge to unleash a Hydro Cannon to his face." Smiling, the four of them headed towards the fortress, spirits renewed for what lies ahead.
Polybius punched the wall, leaving a sizable hole in it. "While it is good that we are gaining knowledge, it will be of no help if we do not have anyone to defeat them!" The room became filled with Nick's laughter. "Looks like things aren't quite going to plan, are they? And all this use of the New Game Plus is sure to attract the attention of the Gamindustri CPUs, so maybe you should count your losses and let me go, huh?" Polybius turned in silence, before pointing. "Slender, grab him." Slender Man snagged Nick's limbs with his tendrils, holding them taunt. "Skin Taker, hold his eyes open!" The maniacal skeleton grabbed Nick's face with glee, happy to feel new skin under his touch. "Wha-what's going on?!"
"While it is true that your friends can defeat my subjects, will they have the same luck facing you?" Polybius pulled back his hood, revealing a simple head with sunglasses. He then lifted his sunglasses, revealing a sight that made Nick scream.
Getting knocked out by a cane of all things, it was humiliating. He didn't want to be beaten around like he was some kid! He was Sen, and sure, maybe he wasn't as mature as everyone else, but he wasn't going to take that defeat and lie on the ground like the Buryman would. Though to be completely fair, Buryman had a Hydro Cannon blasted at him, rather than just a blunt hit that was hard enough.
His eyes flickered open, almost like a glitching graphic. Sen examined his surroundings and saw that the group of four had left him on the ground, no doubt having already started tailing for where Polybius and Sen's big brother figure were hiding.
Sen knew that Slender Man and the Skin Taker were probably still with Polybius at this moment, but Ben Drowned and the rest…
No time to sit around and think about it! A bit of wrong-warping would bring Sen to where he exactly wanted to be. His body flicked on and off, like it was having trouble existing when Sen moved to certain places. Depending on where Sen wandered off, he would either stray further from where he wanted to be, or right exactly where he was needed.
A passage through the dense woods, and Sen so suddenly found himself materialized inside of the fortress, dropping down to surprise the statue of Link. Perfect, the strange connections made by his steps almost never failed him!
"You trying to warp around by passing through time and space again, Sen?" A gentle hiss escaped the statue's mouth, sounding almost silent.
"They're on their way! I tried to stop them, but I got hit on the head pretty hA→rd!" Sen complained. "They figured out that I could disrupt powers, so they tried to use something I couldn't corrupt so easily!" Ben's usual, smiling face didn't change when he heard this, almost as if his expression was just plastered there. "Buryman thought thA→t taking awA→y the Nintendo fA→n would help us out, but I think the one woman called me out!"
Ben didn't seem interested, trying to tune out the chirping until that last part. Someone actually knew about Sen and his tricks? How could that be possible? Sen wasn't exactly so well-known. He just ended up stumbling into this realm through his usual traversing, and decided he didn't want to leave because the other creepypasta monsters were so much like him.
It was odd and unheard of at the time, but perhaps Sen just wanted a space where he would fit in, Polybius allowed it since the child was useful. Certainly more useful than the pitiful rejects that edgy teenagers made, Polybius usually purged them on sight, comparing them to weak humans.
"Ben? You okA→y? I know you're normally quiet in order to be scary, but now isn't the time for it. I really need help!" Sen called out to him, hesitant to touch Ben given the consequences of his own abilities. "We can't have those super-powered normals come A→ny closer!"
"Sorry, I was just pondering." Ben replied. "It sounds like we would have to separate all of them, so they're in unfamiliar waters, thus cannot be informed. Nothing a few invisible barriers couldn't fix, make them feel trapped in a world that seems open, but really isn't. The both of us could work together on that."
"A→h," Sen chirped and lowered his gaze, thinking it over. He had the mind of a child, more-so than everyone else, which meant he wasn't always up to speed like the rest. "So there's four of them, that means there will need to be four of us, right?"
No response.
"Uh, right? Right Ben?"
Silence.
"Ben!"
When Sen looked back, he saw that the statue had vanished out of his line of vision. He had disappeared completely, no doubt to try and sneak up on someone else. "A→w man, I hate when he does that and leaves me behind!" Sen complained, preparing to look for the Rake.