I cautiously made my way out of town, Vivian behind me the whole way. I didn't want to run into my fake again, Vivian might recognize me and I couldn't risk that right now. Although he was second on my mind given I couldn't find Ms. Mowz anywhere after getting separated from her.
"Found ya slick!" Oh no. From the top of the shack, my double landed in front of us with his cocky smile and swagger.
"So this is the guy who stole your name and body?" Vivian asked. She squinted, making me worry slightly, "He seems…familiar…" Suddenly, a cloud of smoke burst between us, filling my field of vision. Suddenly, I felt a hand grip at my shirt and pull me forward, prompting me to rush to follow.
"Running again? You can't run forever!" My double taunted as we got farther away from him. When we stopped, I was glad to see that Vivian had kept up with me, and Ms. Mowz had been the one to give us cover.
"Miss me cutie?"
"Glad to see you're okay Mowz." I replied making her giggle.
"Who's this?" Vivian asked with a hint of worry.
"She's a friend who's also trying to help."
"Glad to see you sweetie. I'm the elusive badge thief Ms. Mowz!" She struck her signature pose and Vivian just gave her a confused look before turning to me.
"Don't worry. She's good."
"…Okay."
"So what's the plan?" Mowz asked.
"His name has to be in the chapel. You've been in there top to bottom. Maybe the secret is behind one of those secret areas you couldn't get into."
"Think little miss shadow will be able to help out?"
"O-Oh um…m-maybe." Vivian replied sheepishly. Man, she had the same problem Lily did, "I have fire magic…oh, and I can seep into the shadows to hide."
"When you say seep…" She took a deep breath and her body sunk into the ground, completely disappearing and only leaving a shadowy circle. After a few seconds she rose back up making Mowz and I jump. She giggled in response, "That's awesome!" Her cheeks turned slightly pink at my praise, "Can you move while hiding? Do you actually fall into the ground or are you still physically there? Can you pull other people in?"
"Calm down darling." Mowz said tapping my arm to make me stop.
"W-Well…yes I can move. No, I actually fall into my own shadow. Yes, I can pull others in, but I can't move around if another person is with me…at least I don't think I can do that…my sister always did but she never let me…"
"Hmm…that gives me an idea." Ms. Mowz mused with a conniving smile on her face. "Alright, let's make our way back! As thanks for the help, I'll let you two in on some of my badge hunting secrets." Cool, I've always wanted to know how thieves managed to jimmy a lock.
As we approached Creepy Steeple, I gave out a disappointed sigh. All I had managed to learn from Ms. Mowz was proper thieves attire coordination, and which perfumes were alluring without being a giveaway to your position.
"You couldn't just tell me how to climb or something."
"Those secrets cost extra." She teased, running her tail under my chin.
"This place is spooky." Vivian commented.
"It's also haunted." I added. "Although that might partly be my fault."
"Not like we need to get inside anyway." Ms. Mowz waved off as she strut ahead of us. She moved past the main gate and towards the empty well. She pulled a rope from behind her back and attached it to the line the bucket would usually hang from.
"Or that. I still have no idea where you pull your tools from." She didn't have a bag or belt but she seemed to have more tools than she should have been able to hold on that skin…fur(?) tight suit. She gave me a playful wink as she wrapped the other end of the rope around her waist and leaned back until she disappeared down the well. Looking down, all I could see was a pitch-black darkness until a small light suddenly flickered at the bottom, revealing Ms. Mowz holding a flashlight. "Can you slide down a rope?" I asked Vivian.
"I don't think I need to." She said eyeing the bottom of the well before slinking into the ground, this time her shadow disappearing. Looking back down the well, I saw she was now standing next to Ms. Mowz and waving up at me, "…That feels like cheating."
The bottom of the well was dingy; the walls were covered in moss while the floors had puddles of water made from drips on the ceiling above us. Ms. Mowz led us to the very back where a wall of stone stood. She reached out and pushed at a section of the wall, making it push in. She kept pushing it and it receded back further and further. Eventually it came to a stop, leaving us in a strange hallway to nowhere.
"…Is this it?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, this is as far as I got." Ms. Mowz admitted. "But there's something beyond here. The wall is only a few inches thick. I just need a way past it." The thing was still made of stone so busting it down was not an option, "That's when I realized the shadow beauty could be of assistance here." We turned to Vivian who looked slightly flustered.
"O-Oh. You mean me. Sorry…Beldam said it was a stupid thing to call myself." From the few times I've seen her face up close, I'm not sure she should be throwing stones about beauty around.
"Don't give her too much thought. It's a good nickname." Her face became even redder before she took a deep breath and grabbed both Ms. Mowz and me, sinking into the floor we stood on. Where she had dragged us was complete darkness. Nothing around us at all…and yet the space was so cramped I was pushed up against Ms. Mowz and Vivian.
"S-Sorry…my personal bubble isn't meant to hold two or even three people." She said wiggling slightly. Above us, I could hear the wall we had pushed scrape against something before growing quieter and quieter…was it going back to its initial spot?
"Alright, I think it's safe to go back up." I choked out. We were almost forcefully thrust out, causing Ms. Mowz and I to fall forward as we all left Vivian's shadow pocket.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry sweetie." Ms. Mowz replied dusting herself off as I did the same for myself. "You got us past that secret entrance and I am very appreciative of that." I saw a small yet eager smile go over Vivian's face at her praise. That was too precious.
On the other side was a set of hallways that turned various directions. Ms. Mowz led all the way, apparently using some sort of innate treasure tracker to lead her until we came to a worn door with a padlock on it. Busting out a small set of lockpicking tools, Ms. Mowz made quick work of it and swung the door open to reveal…a small box and a parrot on a perch.
"Huh…" I was expecting something not as weird.
"*Squark* Pretty bird, pretty bird!" Ms. Mowz ignored the bird and skipped over to the small box. Opening it up she gasped.
"How rude!" I walked up behind Ms. Mowz and peered into the box. The only thing inside was a piece of paper with a boo scribbled on it, sticking its tongue out at us. Before any of us could react though, an actual boo erupted from the box making everyone scream, even the parrot.
"Hahahahahahaha! That's what you get for expecting treasure in a haunted steeple! Suckers!" He flew off, disappearing through one of the walls. I turned back to Ms. Mowz who just stared at the empty box…I'm scared to approach her.
"…I guess I'll just have to wring some badges out of that fakers' pockets then." The playful cadence of her earlier tone was gone, replaced with a cold-blooded intention.
"…Let's find his name then." I cautiously said, putting my hand on her shoulder. She gave out a small huff before turning to the parrot.
"So why is this thing here?"
"Maybe it knows his name. Parrots have incredible mimicking abilities."
"You think he'll just say it if we're here though?" Vivian asked. "Birds hide a lot of secrets from people."
"…Then let's go somewhere else." I turned to Vivian who looked back at me confused before what I meant hit her. She grabbed both of us and squeezed us back into her shadow pocket. But even from under here I could hear the bird.
"…Where'd they go? I was kind of hoping they'd stay longer. No matter how important it is for me to stay locked up, I still appreciate some company. Locking me up just because I know his name, that's no way to treat a parrot! …I'm hungry…when are you coming back Doopliss?" Bingo. Vivian immediately brought us back up, and I watched the parrots' eyes go wide in shock, "Uh…Pretty bird! Pretty bird!"
"You are a VERY pretty bird indeed." Ms. Mowz teased scratching the bird's head. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a small tin of crackers from our food supplies and held it out to the poor parrot who quickly gobbled it up. Even if he didn't mean to spill the beans, I still felt in the mood to reward the little guy; I was one step closer to getting my body back!
"Yes! Now we can shove it in that fakers face!" Vivian cheered. This presented a problem though…I REALLY didn't want to have to fight Vivian after all the help she had given us…I needed to play this smart.
"Now now little shadow." Ms. Mowz said. "We can't go attacking him in the middle of town…even then he's likely to use our dear body snatched friend friends against us." She was right on that mark. I didn't want to have to fight them either…why is this day filled with so many enemies I DON'T want to fight at all?
"What if we separate them?" Vivian offered.
"Not a bad idea. But how would we do that."
"…Loose them in the forest." I said making Vivian give me a confused look as Ms. Mowz gave a cunning smirk.
I was back at the entrance of town, this time alone. I stepped up to the threshold and heard the snickering of my doppelganger.
"Hey there slick! Welcome back!" He landed directly in front of me with that cocky grin. "All alone this time? Good. Because you're not getting past me this time!" I stared him down as he drew MY wooden sword and pointed it at me, "Got nothing to say slick? You sure you don't have any last words before I erase you?" I smiled.
"Just one…Doopliss." The smile disappeared. His eyes went wide in shock. He slowly backed away as though I had pointed a gun at him.
"H-H-H-How…W-W-W-Why…W-W-W-Who…" He stuttered incoherently as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea that I had discovered his name. Now his magic was useless…and once I creamed him for the second time, he would be out of my body. The sudden sound of multiple people running towards us brought the smile back to his face and made me take a step back in worry. From the entrance came Eggi, Flurrie, Koops, Goombella, and…Peach…all looking at me like I was an enemy…, "Guess this troublesome double wanted seconds on our butt kicking. Put on your fighting gloves kids!"
"Sure thing Soren!" Goombella replied. "We're right here with you."
"Let's show this creep what we've got!" Koops added.
"Well, I certainly won't let him do anything to our little Soren!" Flurrie announced.
"You're gonna taste the pain, Black Brusier style, shadow creep!" Eggi threatened.
"You must be the reason Soren's acting so weird today." Peach said leveling he parasol and pointing it at me. "I'll just have to fix that then!" …All right…let's go!
Meanwhile
Vivian stood back at the entrance to Creepy Steeple, feeling a bit worried about her new friends and their plan. They had told her to wait back here while the two of them separated the group but she couldn't help but worry.
"…M-Maybe I can just check in on them really quick…j-just to be safe." Slinking into the shadows, she darted through the woods and to the entrance of town where her new shadowy friend was staring down his double who seemed overly panicked. She silently cheered, knowing her friend must have rattled the creep. But the sudden vibration of feet had her worry return as, she could only assume, his group of friends rushed to the doubles aid…and they all looked familiar as well.
"Put on your fighting gloves kids!"
"Sure thing Soren!" Vivian fell silent.
"I certainly won't let him do anything to our Soren." She shifted back slightly.
"You must be the reason Soren's acting so weird today." Without another moment of thought, Vivian raced back to the steeple, her mind in complete confusion and her eyes on the verge of tears.
Soren
I took off as fast as I could, using my built-up momentum in my left boot to blast far ahead of them and out of range of Koops' shell attack. Even then I could feel Flurrie's gust trying to push me back towards them and tucked into a roll to let the fierce winds roll off me for a moment, before using my right boots momentum to blast past it and into the nearby woods. I dashed through and ducked behind a tree to catch my breath. It didn't last long though as I could hear footsteps approach me before the tree I was hiding behind was wrapped in a tongue and slammed down on my spot. I quickly rolled out of the way before being pushed back into it by Goombella who had used her hard hat like a weapon to bash me and send me reeling. I quickly recovered but was surrounded by everyone as I rushed towards the steeple. I had to duck quickly as a blast of concentrated air whizzed past me. To my side I could see Peach had launched it from her air cannon parasol, Doopliss grinning at me next to her. When I finally broke through the forest and rushed towards the entrance, everyone was hot on my tail, Koops ready to launch himself at me with Eggi ready to grab me with his tongue in case he missed. I slammed through the door, alerting all of the boos who roamed the main hall and making them turn to the entrance, I rushed for the nearby line of rope that Ms. Mowz had left me to climb up to the doorway to the bell tower and climbed it. Everyone else rushed in and came to a stop as the boos began to surround them, Koops quick to look scared and the rest looking worried at the sudden increase of odds against them. Dooplis was quick to break off from the group, using the rope to climb up to me with Peach close behind him. Perfect. I quickly went through the nearby door to the bell tower steps, where Ms. Mowz was waiting on the steps for me.
"Seems your plan is going smoothly darling." She said with her usual flirtatious smile.
"I've got Doopliss and Peach on my tail. Vivian and I can handle him, but I need you to make sure the others aren't overwhelmed by the boos."
"Will do sweetie. Good luck!" Ms. Mowz slid under the stairs to hide herself as I heard the door behind me get thrown open, Dooplis and Peach stepping through. I rushed up the stairs two at a time as they followed behind, eventually coming to the top, slamming the door behind me and locking it. That should buy us some prep time.
I turned around to see Vivian sitting on the rocking chair…but her eyes hadn't turned to me…her gaze was glued to the ground, her face obscured by her pink hair and witch's hat.
"Vivian…"
"…You're Soren…aren't you?" The tension from the oncoming fight was immediately overtaken by her words. She had found out?
"…Yeah…I am." I admitted.
"All this time…I was helping the one person I was supposed to stop…Beldam is going to yell and punish me forever when she finds out."
"Vivian-" The door was blown off its hinges. Dooplis and Peach rushed through, prompting me to turn and draw my weapon, "…I'm sorry…but you deserve to be treated well by people who care about you…and despite the bad blood between us…I know you're a good person…and whatever side you choose…I'll treat you well." Dooplis gave out a boisterous laughter.
"What's wrong, huh? Fight with your girlfriend? Don't expect any sympathy from us ghoulies!" I readied my weapon. I was hoping to have Vivian's help…but I can't force her to help me. If me being Soren means she can't fight with me, then I'll have to do this on my own. Whatever happens next…at least I won't have to fight my friends again.
Doopliss rushed in, swinging at me wildly as I weaved and blocked his strikes. Unfortunately, Peach was at his back, moving to strike at my dodge points and break through my block. Even my counter badge couldn't blast back two attacks in a row. I pulled out my second blade and made a quick slam against the ground, making both of them back up in hesitation before sheathing it. I was outnumbered in the worst way possible, and fighting against someone who knew all my moves meant I couldn't pull any previous skills out without him knowing what I was doing. With Peach as his secondary it made the situation even less favorable. Their focus was on me alone, and there was nothing I could do about it. In my worried state, Peach launched another blast of compressed air, sending me flying back into one of the support pillars before falling to the ground.
"Had enough faker?" How does he have the gall to call ME that? "Why don't you just lie there and make this easier for me."
"Heh…not a chance." I replied, shakily standing back up and letting out a weary breath. Actually…now that I think about it…there is one thing I should have that he doesn't…because it isn't a skill. I shot my hand up to the sky, "Sweet Treat!" A healing energy ran over my body, not enough to fully heal me but just enough to keep me from keeling over from the next attack. Doopliss looked a bit confused at this before becoming angry.
"No fair! Don't go pulling stuff like that out of nowhere!" Peach looked at him in genuine confusion for a moment before returning her hardened gaze at me. If I was going to win this, I needed to fight Doopliss one on one. I rushed at Peach who readied her parasol, opening it up to act as a shield. I rolled around and swung, catching the pole of the parasol and sending it and Peach's arm up, making her stumble slightly. Taking advantage, I moved in and grabbed her with my free arm and readied to swing my wooden sword…but I couldn't. She had no idea she was fighting me…and I know she wouldn't ever actually attack me…, "Too slow slick!" Doopliss rushed in and slammed the full force of his blade against me, sending me soaring…straight off the bell tower and towards the lower roof of the steeple. Damn…guess I couldn't do it myself.
"SOREN!" From my own shadow that projected onto the roof, Vivian popped up and caught me, immediately sucking me into her shadow pocket. I felt my body get rocketed around before I was dumped back onto the bell tower clearing. Next to me, I watched as Vivian wiped her eyes, "I'm…I'm sorry sis…but Soren is one of the few people who's ever have been kind to me…I won't abandon him!" The worried expressions from earlier had disappeared, replaced by determination and conviction, "Soren! I'm fighting by your side from now on! I've…I've made my choice! And I'm not turning back!"
"…Right! Let's do this then!" I got up, feeling my body catch its second wind upon Vivian's declaration and readying my blade. We still needed to separate Peach from Doopliss if we wanted to take him out…, "Hey Vivian, you said you had fire magic?"
"Yeah."
"Think you can have it surround someone without actually targeting them?"
"I-I think I…No. I know I can!" She held her hand out, producing a small wisp of flame before tossing it into the air. Peach and Doopliss watched the flame before Peach caught on it was aimed at her and held her parasol up to block it. Before the flame fell on her though, it fragmented, falling around her instead and creating a cage of flames.
"Ah!" She shrieked in surprise and Doopliss snarled at us.
"You think I can't take you myself? So you got my dame trapped. I think I've gotten the hang enough to handle both of you." Out of nowhere, he materialized a second wooden blade. Guess he didn't realize he could use both blades until I did it. He swung wildly at both of us, keeping us at just enough of a distance and in just enough of a block to avoid taking any serious damage. If we were going to beat him, we needed to take him by surprise. He suddenly turned away from Vivian, focusing his full attention on me and going for a double swing I couldn't counter or dodge in time. Before he connected though, I was suddenly pulled back into the shadows by Vivian, who raced us to a safe distance and popped us back out.
"Stop struggling! As long as I've got you in my sights, you ain't beating me slick!" I turned to Vivian, who gave me an understanding nod.
"Fine. Then how about you keep an eye on this!" Vivian grabbed me and pulled me back under. From underground, we zoomed forward, coming just under Doopliss and I readied my blade. Vivian pushed me out of the shadow pocket, sending me rocketing out and making my strike collide with a confused and shocked Doopliss. He went smashing against the ground, his blades flying in opposite directions as he shakily got up.
"Neat trick…but I ain't givin up yet." He shot his hand up, "Sweet Treat!" …A silence fell over as nothing happened, "Wha…wha…why can't I…" I couldn't help but smirk.
"Soren!" I turned around to where Vivian was shouting to see Peach had used her air cannon to blast out of the fire cage by going over it and float down next to Doopliss.
"Nice job sweetcheeks! Now take out that fake!"
"With pleasure." She replied with a sweet smile, before reeling her parasol back like a golf club and smashing it against Doopliss's face…I really hope my face doesn't look like that when I get my body back.
From the stairs, I could hear footsteps approaching and turned to see all my friends had made their way up to our level. They looked on shock and horror at Dooplis, who still looked like me, defeated on the ground.
"No!" They all shouted on shock. Suddenly, a purple cloud exploded off Doopliss and when it cleared his true form was revealed, adding another layer of shock to their faces. The shadowy cover bleeding off my body and into the floor to reveal the real me was just an added level of complete disbelief that was too funny to see on their faces. But overall…I was just glad to be back to myself. I didn't keep it to myself long as Vivian had rushed in to hug me with a big smile on her face.
"We did it!" She yelled in triumph. When she realized how excited she had gotten she quickly let go and scooted back, a scarlet color on her cheeks as she looked at me bashfully.
"I couldn't have done it without you." She nodded. Before I could even take a relieved breath, I was swarmed by my friends.
"Th-That thing was just pretending to be you!?" Koops asked in shock.
"I'm soooooooooo sorry Soren!" Goombella added.
"I believe I also owe you a rather large apology Soren." Flurrie tacked on.
"Man, he had us fooled bad! Sorry Black." Eggi said.
"Don't worry guys. I'm just glad I didn't hurt any of you." I replied. Turning to Peach I saw she was poking at Doopliss with the tip of her parasol.
"What a little creep." She said with a pout, "Making me think he was you. I should have clocked him when he called me Pinky." I definitely wouldn't use that nickname, "Dame and sweetcheeks was where he went too far."
"Agreed." I added. She suddenly pulled me into a hug.
"I'm just glad you're alright. We almost did a number on you."
"Luckily I'm pretty durable…and I had some help." Letting go, I motioned to Vivian.
"You're one of those shadow sirens." Vivian looked away, too scared to look Peach in the eye after everything that happened…but Peach just smiled warmly at her, "Thank you for protecting Soren."
"O-Of course…after all…I care about him…and he cares about me…that's what friends do right?"
"Right." Hearing a low groaning, I looked down to see Doopliss stirring. He quickly stood up and bolted for the exit, a lone crystal star falling out of his sheet and at Vivian's feet. She picked it up and walked up to me, her face getting redder every step.
"Th-This is for you Soren!" Taking the crystal star from her hand, I felt its energy rush over me, filling me with a new power I could only guess at for now. But I had finally gotten the fourth crystal star and was more than halfway towards saving Alice…really glad she didn't have to see what Doopliss made me look like.
"I think you're forgetting something my hunk of mozzarella." We all turned towards the source of the voice to see Ms. Mowz standing at the doorway to the bell tower. In that moment, I felt the killer instinct of the room shoot up about two times as she strode over to me.
"Thanks for helping me out Ms. Mowz. Hopefully I can return the favor the next time we meet." I said and she giggled.
"Oh dear sweet Soren. I'm not going anywhere." Huh? "Do you know what fell off that sheets body as he ran away?" She opened her hands to reveal a small handful of badges I had never seen before. "You are WAY too lucky to just abandon! So, from now on, I'm tagging along to help you out and reap the rewards! And after all the time we spent together today-" She placed her hand on my chest and moved so she was a few centimeters from my face, "-I don't think I want our time to end just yet." She gave me a small peck on the cheeks, causing my face to turn as red as a tomato, Vivian to gasp, Goombella to growl, and Peach to start humming something…something dark. She leaned back quizzically before giving a relieved sigh, "Ah, I missed that face."