Loose Threads Chapter 3- New Strings

NIKO
“H-Hello? Is anybody here?” The young boy’s voice echoes off the walls. The only light, it seems, is the giant lightbulb in his hands. “Can I have some help? This hurts!” He tries again to tug his leg out from under the concrete, only to feel something cut him. He whimpers. “Don’t cry, Niko, you can’t cry! You’re tough! Izzy’s counting on you!” Niko blinks back tears. Then he remembers.
“Izzy? Are you there? Please! How do I get out of this?!”
For once, the player is silent to Niko’s pleas.
Niko’s eyes widen. “Izzy! IZZY!”
A drop of rain hits his nose. It starts pouring down on him, soaking his robe. He clutches the new Sun closer. He lets a fang show.
He snaps.
“FINE! ABANDON ME AT A TIME LIKE THIS! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!” He chokes. He can’t take it. He curls up and cries like the child he is, hugging the New Sun like a teddy. “…why would you leave me in the dark?”

VEE
Vee wails as the gold plummets down the waterfall. “Voi-oi! EEEEE! (Help! Weird Inkay girl! Sinistea with a body! Whatever you two are!)”
She splashes into the lake below, gasping for air at the top. “Voi… (Thank Arceus I learned how to swim…)”
Right after her, that weird-looking Sinistea splashes into the water, yelling “CANNONBALL!” His body follows and reattaches his head. “Whoo! What a ride!”
A flying yellow Inkay-thing smashes onto the beach. It melts into yellow ink which forms into that girl, who sighs, “Ow…” with her head buried in the sand.
Vee steps onto the beach and starts to shake herself off. “WAIT WAIT WAIT!” Vee turns in time to see the Inkay girl hide behind a pool table. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Are you afraid of water or something?” The Sinistea asks as Vee shakes herself dry. The Inkay shakes her head. “No. Well, yes, but for a good reason. Water can kill me!”
“Geez Louise! What’d you do when it rains?”
“I live in the desert! Please don’t tell me it rains a lot here!”
“I dunno, I don’t live here,” the Sinistea shrugs.
“You knew that big hairy thing,” the Inkay retorts. “I thought you might know!”
“Why would you assu-” he stops. “No, actually, that’s a really good guess it’s just totally wrong. I do know that guy, though! He’s the Devil!”
“Like, the literal Devil?”
“I dunno. He rules over a place with ‘hell’ in the name, he collects souls, he tricks people into doing his bidding…” the Sinistea shrugs. “They’re similar, at least!” He starts pulling stuff out of the heap- from golden coins to Oran Berries to a microphone. Vee starts looking for her partner’s bandana. She just needs his bandana, then she’ll leave these two behind to go find him. She can’t remember the last time she’s been away from Pikan for this long. It’s been almost a week now. She finally digs up the cloth and sighs in relief. She picks it up in her mouth and walks back out.
The Sinistea, holding some kind of red device now, asks, “Hey, so, what’s so special about that thing, anyway?”
Vee turns to him. “It belongs to my best friend.”
“Okay, cool.” His eyes suddenly bulge. “Wait, you just talked!”
“Of course I did, you just can’t understa-” Vee cuts off. “Oh, my Arceus. I’m speaking Trainer-language!”
“I bet it’s this doodad. I tapped a buncha buttons and it said ‘Pikachu emotion reader’ or something.” The Sinistea shakes it, then puts it in his back pocket despite not having a back pocket. “Well, now that we can communicate, name’s Cuphead!”
“I’m Braid,” the Inkay girl says.
“I’m Vee.” Vee squints at them. “So, what are you two, anyway? You look like some kind of… yellow Inkay-Trainer hybrid-” “Um, what?” “-and you look like a weird Sinistea on a cartoon body.” “I’m a cup!”
“I’m an Inkling,” Braid explains. “We’re, um, squids. We adapted to live on land after all of your kind went extinct.”
“EXTINCT?!” Vee panics. “We can’t be extinct! I live in a village full of Pokémon! I was just there, hanging with my Pikan, before I ended up… wherever this is.”
“…” Braid tries to find the right words. “I was talking about… mammals. Not… pokey-mons.”
“What’s a mammal?”
“Aren’t you a fox?”
“I’m an Eevee. I mean, Eevee are sort of uncommon, but I would think you’d know what one looks like. And what’s a Fox? What type is it?”
“Type? Eevee? …what?”
“AAAnd I’m gonna stop this right here, this is going nowhere and it’s getting dumb!” Cuphead interrupts, stepping between them. “I’ve never heard’a Inklings, or Inkays, or Sinisteas, or Pokey-mons, or mammals, or Eevees, or…” He scratches his ceramic chin. “Actually, wait, I have heard of foxes. Point is, I don’t have a CLUE what you two are on about, and if I say I’m a cup with finger guns with a mug brother, you’ll just get even more confused, so let’s just stop trying to explain.”
“…you’re a what?” Braid and Vee ask in unison. Cuphead facepalms. “Dagnabbit. Let’s get to the more important stuff. What were you two doing in the Devil’s casino?”
“I just woke up there,” Braid explains. “Then Vee turned on all the machines, and that… ugly, hairy, THING showed up.” She shudders. “Hair is so gross.”
“What about you? The Devil seemed to really want his hands on you,” Cuphead questions, once again squinting and rubbing his chin.
Vee curls up. “I don’t know. I said I wanted to find Pikan, and he somehow understood me and said he could help. He said to dip my paw in ink, put it on the paper, and he’d tell me where he was. I did what he asked, and he said he was in Mystic Jungle. I asked where it was, he pointed the way… then he locked me in a cell and started laughing about my soul. Then he got distracted, I broke out with Last Resort, but while I was trying to get out the window I accidentally switched on all the machines and… well, you guys saw the rest.”
Cuphead’s face has totally shifted. He looks up at the sky and sees the setting sun. Then he sticks out a hand. “Look, me and my brother are dead at midnight tonight unless you give me that paper.”
“What? Why?”
“I hafta give it to the Devil.”

KRIS
Kris slowly gets up and takes in the world around her. It looks dark, just like a Dark World. But it’s like a city. Not the card-like world Ralsei and Lancer are from. To top off the evidence, she’s in her knight’s gear. She doesn’t remember entering a Dark World, but perhaps one found her in her sleep. She gets up and walks through the streets.
Of.
Her.
Own.
Will.
The SOUL.
It’s gone.
Kris pats their chest. There’s something of a mark there, like it was removed, but she’s not growing ill.
So this is what having a free body is like.
It feels… incredible. A sort of freedom that surely everyone else takes for granted. For the first time, she feels a particular emotion. Its subtle, and it doesn’t show, but…
That must be joy. The joy of freedom- she’s never felt it. She’s without orders. Her body is hers. She is not a vessel.
She walks, feeling the freedom of a body that works to her own will.
Then she smashes through a window.

THE KNIGHT
Clutching the Crystal Heart, the Knight bursts forward, bursting from flower stem to stem. The infected are right behind him. He’d fight, but his soul was so little upon arriving on this world, he only had his nail for combat. He considers what to do and decides there isn’t much point in running if these flying infected are so fast- he’ll just tire himself. 
He turns to stop on a branch, bringing himself to a halt, and turns to face his enemies. They fly in swiftly, but with little regards for covering their weak points and preserving their bodies. He readies himself for the perfect moment for using a cyclone slash to cut through each one, then five rapid nail strikes slay each mindless husk. They all fall, and the Knight cleans his weapon, hoping not to deal with more opponents.
He has a bit of guilt for doing this to them, but they are already husks. There is no real cure. So, the feeling passes quickly.
He takes in his surroundings. It looks like Hallownest, as it was when he left it, but also vastly different. The air to everything is different. The imprints of fallen no longer feel as vivid. And also, it is much more full of gray flowers. He leaps down and trudges through the dirt. He can hear something. For a moment, he cannot make out whether it is someone or only sounds of wind.
Then he hears someone cry out. It doesn’t take long. He springs up a flower and rockets off it in the direction the voice came from.
His nail clears a whole crew of infected just flying in. It stabs through every shell and orange bubble. Any of it that lands on him he quickly flicks off.
His strategy is simple. He intends to strike the first bunch down, then, with the soul he’s been gathering, finish the rest off.
And everything goes perfectly to plan. The first bunch of husks fall to a rapid firing of nail strikes, then the rest foolishly try to get over him to the one he is trying to protect.
The upcoming SHRIEK of soul and shadow destroy them before they make it. The only one that just makes it over, the Knight strikes before it makes it any closer.
The Knight turns to see who it is he has helped. She is very odd looking. Her body isn’t like what bugs are made of, but rather like plant life- and not the gray, gloomy plant life in this area, but green and healthy, and on the sides of her head are two roses. Her dress is a cloak of plants. And her eyes… they are not blank, like the bugs he’s met before. They glitter and shimmer, like light reflecting on water. It feels odd to stare into her glittering, beautiful eyes with his blank, hollow ones. He bows in greeting.
She responds, “Um, hello.” She stands up and awkwardly bows back to him. “Is this how you greet people?” The Knight nods.
She asks, “Do you talk?”
The Knight shakes his head.
She is silent for a moment and avoids looking him in the eye. The Knight is somewhat disappointed by this. He then wonders if she needs assistance. He cocks his head. She finally continues, “If you don’t mind, I’m looking for food. Do you know where I could find any?”
The Knight considers. He looks up at the flowers above. It is likely they have something edible in them, based on how they seem. He climbs up some rocks, rockets himself toward another flower and uses the bend to fling himself up toward the one he is aiming for. He performs a quick flap in the air with the Monarch Wings, and lands safely. He searches through the flower and does not find anything edible before coming across a pie in the middle of the flower.
He chooses not to question this strange occurrence and brings the pie down to the girl. He hands it to her and bows again. She stares at it. “How did you… find a butterscotch pie in a flower?”
The Knight makes no response, for he has no good answer.

MIDNA
Midna floats after the cat-girl as she carries her new adopted daughter on her shoulders. “So. I’ve been here three days and already I meet a lady from a species that doesn’t exist, and then she adopts a girl who tried to kill her. Yippee.”
“You shut it. Frisk has a good heart. I think,” Nia mutters. “You can’t really tell much with her.” Frisk smacks Nia’s head and points ahead, as if telling her to hurry it up. They walk over to a bridge, and Frisk hops down immediately. She looks around the bridge, then at the bars that barely block the path. She gestures to the trees after pointing at Midna and Nia. Midna guesses she’s telling them to get out of the way. Nia moves into the trees. Midna hmphs and reluctantly follows.
Frisk stands there, at the start of the bridge, for a long three minutes. Occasionally, she turns behind her, as if waiting for someone. Finally, she gives up and keeps walking. Nia says, “Hey, wait for us!”
Midna floats ahead, before a tree Nia pushed trying to get over to Frisk drops snow on her. “GAHH!” She quickly gets it all off her. “Ugh! What was that for?!”
“What, can’t handle a lil’ snow? I hiked through a Titan full of snow up to your knees and never complained!” She pauses. “I guess I was hugging Pyra the whole time, but still. A little snow and you scream?”
“Look, I don’t deal with snow in my world! Last time I was in snow, my boyfriend kept me warm! This time, I don’t have anything!” She shivers. I miss my wolfie.
“Your boyfriend? Seriously? You?” Nia snorts. “How was he supposed to do that?”
“He was a wolf; he had a whole lotta fur.”
“He was a wolf?” Nia busts out laughing. “HA! And I thought MY boyfriend was weird!”
“YOU have a boyfriend?” Midna gasps in mock shock. “Yes, I’m sure your incredible personality made you a winner there.” Her voice is full of sarcasm.
Nia huffs. “Don’t act so surprised! And for your information, my boyfriend is the Driver of an Aegis!”
“The what of a what?”
“The Aegis? Most powerful Blade ever created?”
“That would be the Master Sword.”
“Who the heck named a Blade “Master Sword”? That’s just mean!”
“Mean? You’re talking like the Master Sword is alive!”
“Oh, you’re one of those ‘Blades are just tools’ people, aren’tcha. Yeah, well, you know what I have to say to those people? Fu-”
“Excuse me!”
Midna and Nia both whip around. There’s a short person in a green hat there. Including the hat, he makes it to Nia’s height, but the hat is like a wizard’s, sticking right up. He’s holding up Frisk, who seems asleep. He says, “Is this child one of yours?”
“Technically no, but thanks for grabbing her!” Nia scoops Frisk up and puts her back onto her shoulders. “Who’re you?” Midna can see him more clearly now that the kid isn’t blocking her view. He’s in a green hat and robe, like he thinks he’s some kinda wizard- besides the heart on the robe, which just looks dorky- black sleeves behind his back, and a red scarf. He’s covered in fur. The fur on his legs is white, and his feet look like paws. The hat on his head covers his facial fur in shadow, making it appear black. His voice is high-pitched for a boy. “My name is Ralsei! Nice to meet you! Your child tried to kill me, but I got her to stop fighting!”
Nia says, “So, Ralsei… we’re meeting all sortsa weird people-” ‘like you’ Midna mumbles. “-so… what’re you?”
Ralsei pulls down his hat dramatically. “I’m… a prince of darkness!”
Crickets. Literally, Midna can hear the crickets chirping. Ralsei blushes and pushes his hat back to normal. “Wow, that was dumb… I meant, I’m a prince of a Dark World.”
“Okay. My name’s Nia. I’m a Gormotti.”
“Are you a Lightner?”
“Am I a what?”
“Are you from the Light World?”
“She thinks I am,” Nia responds, jabbing a finger at Midna. Midna crosses her arms. She’s about to introduce herself as the princess of Twilight, but Ralsei speaks first. “You must be another Darkner, then! Are you helping the Lightner out to fulfill your purpose?”
“Um. No. I’m just following the kid, because she seems to know the way out of here. I’m Midna. I’m princess of Twilight.”
“What’s Twilight?”
“The answer I expected,” Midna grumbles.
Ralsei says, “Wait, no, lemme focus on the cooler part. You’re a princess? That’s awesome!!! Do you have a lot of subjects?!”
“No. Like a few months ago my entire world was dying off.”
“Oh. Well, at least you have some! I don’t have any subjects!”
“Then how are you a prince?”
Ralsei stops. “I don’t know, actually. I guess I’m not.” He sighs. Then he perks back up. “Which is why I help Lightners because it lets me have a real purpose!” He smiles brightly. Midna is disturbed. “…wow. Cool. Yeah, what if you help this Light nerd and get us out of here?” Nia says, “I am not a nerd!”
Ralsei says, “Awesome! It’ll be great to work with you three!” He grabs Nia’s hand and rapidly shakes it. “First, lemme show you the basics. Follow me!”

Dr. Eggman’s Log of Excellency, entry 64

I am narrating this as I attempt to shut down my machines. The Chaos Emeralds are going wild. Sonic.exe is INSIDE of one. Inside all seven! Or rather, inside the machine holding them all. At this rate, he will cause Chaos Control to envelop this whole planet! I don’t know what’s caused his sudden jump in power. Was it simply a confidence boost from killing the most powerful digital entity I put in his world…? Was it that child that appeared in the program? What was it?
What have I done…?