Chapter Text
Okay, what the hell.
The SOUL was terrible at fighting, it couldn't dodge for shit. Kris had gotten used to the stings of pain in their chest, not surface wounds but a stab deeper within them. They're just pissed Susie and Ralsei had to see them practically run into the bullets—hopefully it looked harder than it was.
The SOUL was bad, but not this bad.
The day started off weird. They're used to days restarting time and time again—this day less so, for some reason—but this time something was Off. A quick rummage through their pocket confirmed they were tragically itemless, and stuck with a shitty sword and armor, too. They can't puzzle out what that's supposed to mean.
It didn't stop there. As soon as the first board began, they noticed some... inconsistencies.
Notably, the SOUL sucked absolute ass.
It was beyond bad dodging, it looked like it almost intentionally prolonged the fight to take more damage. The acts were performed excessively, the fights ended in Z ranks, the quizzes were downright abysmal (another thing—the thrash machine wasn't a duck. The only question the SOUL got right, besides the pie one they unsubtly answered for it, was that, and it almost felt accidental), and... the cooking minigame...?
Was odd. It nearly confirmed to Kris that the struggle of the SOUL was intentional, because it was doing just fine, though not great, and then it just... gave up. Started running into flames. Until the end, where, nearly having lost, it threw a few eggs and just barely scraped by with zero stars.
It was... bad.
They don't... Why? Did it just want to see if it could?
They got Z rank. Shocker. Susie and Ralsei seemed undeterred.
It played that racing game with Susie. For the first time, it won, though not without running into all the walls. Why now?
It talked with Ramb. Their prize was a grand total of nothing. It then strolled into the rewards room, despite every room being barred due to its incompetence. Or... competence.
Except it approached the Zapper, and a new room opened up, and it walked in without hesitation. It slipped down a manhole, and they ended up somewhere new.
What?
Did it... know about this? Beforehand? It must've; this room is exclusive to Z-ranks.
How?
It can time travel, they know this, they've seen it many, many times. Can it do it without their knowledge?
How did it know?
...
It's a video game. What looks to be a different version of Tenna's desert board. This time, with enemies prowling about, if not attacking.
The SOUL keeps walking to the bottom of the screen and stopping. They doubt it's intentional, but it gives the effect that the player character is... looking at them.
They almost want to reach out and place their hand on the undoubtedly warm screen, but their strings are taut. Their gauntlets are glued to their controller.
Eventually they meander into what should've been Tenna's mailroom, though the SOUL hadn't even bothered looking at it this run around, leading to a disappointed comment from Tenna. Instead of turning, though, this time it goes in.
There is a sword.
Kris feels like they know where this is going.
The SOUL grabs it and it force exits them. There's adventurous music now, reminding them of something. They don't remember what.
There are enemies to be slaughtered. Seems like the only way to progress.
Instead, the SOUL... hesitates.
It faces the enemies (those kinda look like...). It turns to them, and sits itself at the bottom of the screen. It runs in circles. It's... kinda cute to watch it move in such familiar ways, but they don't like thinking about that.
Time passes.
It turns.
It stabs.
They don't get its reluctance. It's a video game, those characters literally aren't there for any reason other than EXP. And still, it pauses before every swing, often costing it significant health.
They really can't figure it out. It's possessing them, forcing their hand, except it's. Kind. It's kind.
Why? Surely it knows this is cruel? It knows they exist? It must've seen them rip it out. Unless it was asleep or something. It... Surely it knows they aren't, just, some vessel, some marionette they can make dance.
If it's so kind, why is it being so cruel?
They tune back in to the sound of that chime. Looks like they're at max level. They missed the part where the color palette changed.
It walks into a room with a bird enemy, flying between trees. It stabs the trees. It stabs the bird. It gets hurt a few times. The bird dies. Nothing even happens. Still, their hands are still, and the player character pauses. Until they aren't, and it doesn't.
The hallway, with the trees. Usually there would be cacti blocking the passage. Maybe it cut them down. Or Tenna's version of the game just added them.
It methodically chops down all the trees in the room for no clear gain. They can't bring themself to feel surprised.
It walks into the next room, full of—three guesses—trees. It chops all of those down, too. Really...
It goes back down. Instead of that hallway-turned-empty-room, it's more trees. They didn't sign up for non-euclidean geometry in their weird ass empty murder game.
It walks between the same two rooms for a bit. And now there is a chest. It clears its path over.
YOU GOT THE ICE KEY.
.....Cool.
A very slow, really rather unnerving chime plays, and the game shuts off. Riveting gameplay, rated recommended on Smoke. Would play again.
They leave. There was no clear reason to do any of this.
They're oh so excited for Board 2.