Chapter Text
Dock is panting, trying to catch their breath as they lean against the door. The pounding from the other side hasn’t stopped. You turn around, and finally have a look at your surroundings. There are trees everywhere. You currently stand in a clearing, with grass covering the ground. In the distance, you can faintly see a large castle. And is that… a dragon?
“This is pretty boring compared to the funhouse.” Dock says, finally having caught their breath. You remember that Dock does actually like weird things, when they’re not being chased down by evil teddy bears.
You take a good look at them, Their appearance has changed again. Their dress is now a royal blue, and the heart is replaced by a yellow sun. Their scarf is now a deep red cape, not quite reaching the ground. They have a knight visor on their head.
“Hey, ghost.” They say. You don’t know why they don’t just call you by your name. “I got a question, and you better answer.” They give you a glare.
“Yes?”
“What’s with you? No one has talked to you or even looked at you this whole time! Am I fucking hallucinating or something?” Oh, that. You guess that you’ll have to answer it eventually.
“I’m literally a ghost. The only reason you can see me is because I possessed you.” You answer. It doesn’t explain how that big ass cat saw you, but you don’t know how either.
“That’s stupid. I wish I was lucky enough not to see you.” They laugh, and push themself off the door. Damn, that one stings a bit.
“Okay, let’s go.” They suddenly say, not lingering on what they just said. “You lead the way.”
You sigh, but comply. You use the save point that resides on a sign on the edge of the clearing. The second rectangle changes to a deep red as you do. Dock makes a comment about it being weird.
“Why would we need a save point? Are we gonna die or something?” They ask, an annoyed scowl on their face.
“Depends how bad at fencing you are.” You respond, the screen returning back to normal.
“What the fuck dude.” They reply, their tone slightly angry.
The two of you continue through the clearing, battling baby dragons and other classic fairy tale creatures along the way. You really hope you don’t have to fight the giant dragon that you see flying near the castle.
You make your way to a river. The water is a clear and pretty blue, moving rapidly and splashing against rocks. You look up and down the river, and find a stone bridge. You begin to go across it, but when Dock takes their first step on the bridge, a goblin shoots out from under the bridge and on to the walls of it. Dock stops in their tracks.
“Halt! If thy wish to cross mine bridge, thoust must solve my riddles three!” It speaks, it’s voice sounding slightly british. It’s skin is a slightly greenish grey, and wild eyes, as if it hasn’t slept for weeks. It wears surprisingly formal clothing, and stands at half of Dock’s height.
“Thine first riddle! If thou-” It begins, sticking it’s finger in the air.
“No.” Dock says, hitting it over the head with their sabre. The goblin stops moving, and falls off the bridge and into the river like a plank of wood. You watch as it gets carried away by the rushing water.
“That’s one way to get passes, I guess.” You say, as you float across the rest of the bridge with Dock following close behind.
“You’re lucky you’re a ghost, or I’d push you off this bridge too.” They say.
The two of you continue to bicker as you make your way through the forest. You find a horse, but as soon as Dock tries to get on, it runs off into the trees. Their feet are starting to hurt.
“Hey! Psst! Over here!” You hear a sweet sounding voice calling out, and look around. Near the edge of the clearing, a knight with the head of a bird stands behind a stand for a shop. You can’t tell what they’re selling. You and Dock walk over, a little weary of the knight.
“Uh, hi?” Dock says.
“Hello! I’m Vriar! I sell armor! Would you like some?” The bird says happily, showing off a helmet.
“Oh, I don’t have any money.” Dock says. You doubt that they would be able to pay even if they did. This place probably has a different currency than dollars.
“Money? Don’t be silly! You pay through trade!” It chirps. “Now, what kind of armor do you need?”
“Oh, do you have any boots?” Dock asks. It’s a bit surprising. How is it that they are so aggressive to you, but awkward with everyone else? Maybe it’s just easier for them to be confident with people they don’t like.
“I sure do!” Vriar brings out a pair of armored boots from underneath the stand. It makes a loud thunk sound when it hits the table. The boots look good quality, they’re probably pretty expensive.
You search through your inventory. Earlier, in the fun house, you and Dock realised that neither of you have pockets to put the stuff you find in. Somehow, you discovered that you have an inventory that can hold ten things at a time. It’s come in handy in battles when Dock needs to heal. All you have are a few healing potions that they got from defeating dragons, and those are valuable in combat.
“Shit…” They mumble, realising they don’t have anything to trade.
“Wait! You still have that can of soda! Y’know, the one you got from a fridge monster in the funhouse!” You say. You had both forgotten about it until now. Dock hates soda with a passion, and wanted to get rid of it the second they got it. But you convinced them to keep it, since it might come in handy later. Looks like you were right.
“Oh yeah, that.” They say with disgust. You pull out the can, the bright red hurting your eyes. It has pictures of fruit all over it, but no brand. It just says ‘Soda’ and nothing else. You assume it’s just some made up fruity soda. You hand it to Dock under the table, hoping Vriar doesn’t notice the ‘floating’ can.
Attempting to hide their disgust, Dock slides the can onto the table with a smile. “Is this enough?”
“What is this?” It picks up the can, inspecting it. “Soda?”
“It’s a drink. I can open it for you if you’d like.” They offer. The only experience they have with opening cans is the occasional beer can. They prefer wine. The bird knight hands the drink back to Dock, and they pull the tab up with a pop and a hiss. They hand it back.
The bird looks at the can for a second, and pulls out a bowl from who knows where. It pours the drink into the bowl, and Dock waits awkwardly while they wait. Once full, the bird dips its beak into the bowl of soda, and lifts their head up to swallow. It’s eyes widen.
“Holy crap!” Vriar shouts. “This is the best thing I’ve ever had!”
Dock feels like the bird is exaggerating.
“This is definitely worth these boots! Normally, I’d scam people of all their things, but you deserve these after giving me this!” It tweets happily, shoving the boots at Dock. “Where did you get this?”
Dock stays silent for a few seconds, taken aback by its blunt statement. They grab the boots, and hold them against their chest. You wave your hand in front of their face, and they snap out of their silence.
“Oh, uh, I got it in the funhouse.” They sputter out, not fully paying attention. The boots are heavy.
“The funhouse? Oh wow! You definitely deserve these boots if you managed to get through there!” After saying that, Vriar ducks down behind the stand and doesn’t come back up. You look on the other side of the stand, and see it running away into the forest, holding the bowl of soda like a lifeline.
With that weird encounter over, Dock sits down on the grass and puts the boots on over their socks. You begin to look around in the shop stand, seeing if there’s anything you can take.
“Hey, what are you doing?” You hear Dock ask. You look over and see them looking at you, almost done getting their boots on.
“I’m seeing if there’s anything we can take.” You answer.
“What the hell? No fucking way! Stealing is wrong, dude.” They say, angrily. Right, sometimes you forget that Dock doesn’t have the moral compass of a video game character.
You sigh, and float back over to Dock, who finally got their boots on. They gesture for you to start walking.
After a bit more walking and fighting, you see a lone door at one end of the clearing. There’s the exit. You take a step towards the door, but stop when you hear the sound of hooves clopping towards you.
You and Dock look to the right, as you see someone on a horse racing forward from the other side of the clearing. The horse stops in its tracks in front of you, and you can see a demon clutching it tightly, like he was afraid to fall off.
“Wait! Stay there!” The demon says in a childish voice. You watch as he tries to get off his horse. He fails, and falls off.
The demon is short, but taller than the last one. His skin is grey, with a few black lines going across his face. He has a crown made out of his own horns, each connected by a golden chain. A red cape hangs behind his body, coming out of a large collar of white fur. You aren't sure if the fur is part of the cape or the demon. He has the legs of a goat, and a tail with a sharp blade on the end.
Despite how cool he looks, he seems a bit wimpy.
The demon springs up, and points his tail sword at Dock. “Halt, fiend! I, the Great King Magnus, will stop you!” He shouts, his voice gaining an air of confidence. If you take away the demonic features, this really is just a snotty kid with an overactive imagination.
“Huh? What?” Dock blurts out. They look around. “Are you talking to me?”
“Of course I am, stupid!” The kid shouts, before freezing. “Don’t tell my mom I said that.”
“I’m not gonna, kid. Can I go now?” Dock asks, their tone bored. The demon is a bit annoying.
“Nuh-uh! Mom told me not to let you leave! And I’m the king so you have to listen to me!” Magnus says, smirking.
“And pigs can fly.” Dock says, not wanting to deal with the pretend king.
“They can?!” The demon shouts, a look of awe and excitement on his face. Dock doesn’t bother to correct him.
“Hey!” You whisper to Dock. They don’t look at you, but you can tell they’re listening. “This kid seems pretty gullible. Try tricking him into letting us leave.”
Dock nods, a small enough nod that Magnus doesn’t notice it.
“You know, I actually spoke to your mom earlier. She said I could leave.” Dock says, lying through their teeth.
“That won’t work on me! Mom lives in the aquarium! And you can’t get there without getting past me!” He shouts, spotting their lie. It seems that Dock will have to try a different approach.
“Fine, you got me.” They say. “Are we going to fight, then?” They pull out their sabre, and the kid jumps, before concealing it.
“I’ve never seen a sword like that before. No matter! Maybe this will be a fair fight!” The kid says. His tail points its blade at them. You have an idea.
The world goes dark as the second boss fight begins. Dock has the first move.
“What’s the plan?” They ask with a scowl. “God, I hate having to rely on you.”
“I don’t think that kid has ever heard of fencing before. It might work if you convince him that your sabre is an all-powerful sword. Then we can threaten him.” You say.
“I’m not going to threaten a child.”
“Fine. Just intimidate then.”
“Fine.” They say. They turn to Magnus, and start talking to him. “Are you sure you want to fight me? My sword is incredibly powerful.” Magnus drops to 90%.
“Ha! Your sword is no match for me, the Great King Magnus!” He says, swinging his tail at them. Dock manages to block part of the blow, but the demon’s unpredictable swings make it hard to fully stop the damage. Dock drops to 80%.
“Oh, but it is! This is the most powerful sword in all the land!” The demon is at 80%.
“I don’t believe you! There’s no way a human would have a sword like that!” He pouts, slashing at them again. Dock blocks. It’s starting to get a bit easier to predict his movements. 65% health.
“I’m not lying! This sword is filled with super powerful magic!” They say. Magnus is at 70%.
“Show me proof or you’re lying!” He shouts, slashing at them. Dock is at 55%.
“Dock, give me the sabre.” You say.
“What? Why?” They sound like they want to curse at you, but they refrain from doing so.
“Just roll with it.” You reply.
“Here is your proof!” They shout to the demon. They hand you the sabre. You twirl it around Dock, before giving it back. To them, it looked stupid as hell. But for Magnus, all he saw was the sword floating around them. His health drops to 40%.
“Wh-what?! You weren’t lying!” The kid stutters out. He attacks again. Dock’s health drops to 40%.
“How dare you think I lied! Just for that, I’ll slice you in half!” Dock yells. You guess they forgot about their ‘no threatening children’ rule. The kid is at 20%.
“N-no way! You wouldn’t dare! I’m still- I’m still the king!” He says, the nervousness in his voice so obvious that you could see it a mile away. He stabs at Dock. Their health drops to 30%.
Dock smirks, and readies their sabre. You don’t like where this is going. Are they actually going to try to kill him? That would ruin the whole plan.
They raise the sabre above their head and swing. You hold your non-existent breath. The swing reaches the demon, and… it misses. Oh. You look at Dock, and they’re smiling. They intentionally missed, just to scare the kid. And it works. Magnus’ health drops to 0% out of pure fright.
The darkness fades as the fight ends. The two of you stand in front of the demon who’s on the verge of tears.
“I- I’m not scared! That sword is- is weak! Compared to me! The Gre- the Great King Magnus!” His voice is shaky beyond belief. While what he’s saying is technically true, he is just lying to make himself feel better.
“I- I have to go! Go uh… Clean! Clean Sir MurderDeath the Gre- Great and Powerful’s stable!” He spews out as he struggles to get back on the horse who has a ridiculously long name. Dock watches in silence as he fails to get on. He finally manages to pull himself up, and his arms wrap around the horse’s neck. He rides off into the forest.
“Don’t leave! My mom will get mad- get mad at me!” You hear from the distance. You and Dock decide to leave.
The door to the next area is a bit strange. It’s just a door. It isn’t connected to a wall, so you can just walk around it and see more forest. But when Dock opens the door, the forest is gone. The two of you walk through, and the door shuts behind you.