It was thankfully a little while longer before he reached the girls again. He had eaten one of his items along the way, as it looked like there would not be another of those orbs for a while yet. The next puzzle he had found the girls at had some sort of greyscale checkerboard attached to it. Tiny and Dixie were conversing as usual, when Tiny noticed him.

The instructions for this one seemed simple enough: the machine standing next to Tiny would randomly generate a color-tile puzzle that had never been seen before, with each color coordinating a certain aspect. Some made sense, some didn't, but regardless, the puzzle that appeared when Tiny flipped the switch was hilarious.

It was literally one he could walk right through without consequence.

The hilarity of this seemed lost on Tiny, as she ran off cackling evily as the puzzle spawned. Diddy barely made it across, he was laughing so hard, and Dixie had to save the poor boy from choking on his own spit.

Some more puzzles hindered his way, one of which Tiny immediately called off, her reasoning being that this task, which included spikes, flames, and even a small tailless fox hanging by its waist, was possibly too easy for him. So after walking what felt to be several more hours, he finally happened across another of the orbs. Quickly, he touched it, feeling more revitalized.

He took in his surroundings, finding poffs of snow on the ground, one of which oddly held some money. He shoved the coins into his pocket and checked the last one. A head popped out of it, and seemed to sniff at him. Diddy smiled at them until they stood, revealing a FUCKING HUGE polar bear towering over him. The heart emerged once more, and Diddy groaned.

The polar bear smiled at him, and Diddy decided to check his stats as well.

BASH

ATK 7 DEF 8

THINKS FIGHTING IS PLAYING

Fighting is play? What?! The polar bear swung a giant wooden hammer at him, which he barely dodged. Diddy bounded back and jumped up towards Bash's neck, clinging to them. Bash realized then that the Tail meant no harm, and allowed him to stay. Diddy carefully began rubbing his hands in the polar bear's fur gently, then began scratching behind their ears with his fingers. Bash seemed to enjoy it. Eventually, the heart returned to Diddy, and Bash led him forward.

Diddy stopped when he noticed the sign at the edge of a village. 'Welcome to Snowdin Town', it read. He made sure his tail was still tucked in before making his way through the people standing around until he found another orb.

He looked around a bit, eventually finding a building with two doors, one with an 'SHOP' sign above it while the other had an 'INN' sign. He decided to head into the shop first, where he was greated by a monkey. They wore a purple shirt and headband, and had short dark hair and a kind smile.

"Hello!" they said. "Welcome to my shop! How can I assist you?"

Diddy looked at the items behind the clerk carefully. "May I ask what kind of fruit is in the fruit buns?"

"It's a tropical medley! A recipe of my own creation, in fact." The clerk took the pan down from the shelf. "How many can I get for you?

"Four please!" The clerk picked four off and wrapped them up for him, exchanging them for the money he handed her.

"Could I get you anything else?"

"No thank you. But, um..." Diddy hesitated. "You know of the two sisters that look like me, right?"

"Dixie and Tiny? Of course."

"Do you... know anything about them?"

The store clerk scrunched their face up. "Not much. They keep to themselves usually. Sometimes they get into it in the middle of town, and some people egg them on. Sometimes it's funny, and sometimes it's sad. It's odd. One day, they just showed up and asserted themselves into the town's daily life."

Diddy thanked the clerk and left. Silently, he headed next door to the inn, and approached the white cat with dark hair and glasses standing behind the desk. A pale blue kitten with pale pink hair stood next to them, peering out from where they could.

"Hello!" the older cat greeted. "Welcome to the Snowd Inn! How may I assist you today?"

"How much would it be for a room?" Diddy asked cautiously.

"Normally, it'd be about seventy-five coins, but we're running a special right now, so it's only fifty. Would you like a room?"

"Yes please." Diddy laid the coins on the counter and the clerk handed him a key.

"Have sleep well!"

And he did. He hadn't realized just how tired he had gotten. He'd been out before he knew it, and it seemed like only moments later, he was waking up. He laid in the bed for a bit, thinking back to the events of the last several however-long-he'd-been-there. He wondered briefly if anyone had noticed he was missing, but then again, did he really have anyone to even miss him to begin with?

Striking the thought from his mind, he gathered his things and exited the room. He handed the check-in clerk his key back, and they handed him some of his money back.

"You were not up there for very long. A few hours at most, one at best. It doesn't seem right to keep it all."

Diddy thanked the inn clerk and left, feeling rejuvenated after his nap.