pt-disconnected - Tumblr blog

[pt-disconnected]

Is it "do you agree to abandon humanity time and accept immortality"? Because after putting a website through over half an hour of brute force decryption this is the first one that seemed coherent.

Indeed it is. Now what could that mean? Maybe there's another thing that can help you understand. Also you really didn't have to bruteforce. Though I will say you were quite BOLD for doing so. I always have the key to the cipher somewhere! This time it was fallintoplace- I tried to have it stick out by being bold but clearly the bold formatting failed. It looks too dang similar to normal text!

Note to self. Next time? ITALICS.

Also I would normally answer these questions in private messages but this time I'll make an exception. In the future, when it comes to ciphers, ask me up front in DMs- anon asks don't work too well because they have to be public .w.;

Also... there's another secret in that post. It's the same stuff as what you cracked but it's elsewhere. I'm sure you'll find it quite fast.

[pt-disconnected]

oh yeah btw

go check out the chara timeline

it's another fancomic where the player has immense presence in the story

but they do it different

it's a lot to explain just go check it out

it's cool

so yeah go give them support while i write stuff

ok see ya soon

nope no ciphers or secrets here for once

just go check out the dang webcomic okay?

and yes i'm currently refusing to use capital letters because i just want to say this real quick

okay go check out the comic bye

also lilybug (creator of chara timeline) if you see this then heck yea

keep it up. you have something awesome and unique

much better than me, i'm practically mooching off lynx with this not gonna lie...

[pt-disconnected]

HERE WE GO.

So I've been out for a while trying to think. And to put it simply... I think I've gotten an idea. One that I will quite enjoy making use of. You could say that I feel like Gaster the moment he realized how to use the Dark World to his benefit. Like all of a sudden, things are about to fall into place. Thankfully, my idea is far less sinister. It's hard continuing a story when you don't know where to go next. But now I have a plan. You'll see soon enough. Don't worry.

Io jzc nzftp tq egayowa Aiblnkxd, Ttxm ngr pncgty Ixxwemoatta? > Yes No

[pt-disconnected]

I hope things are going well for you mun

Thank you, I've been working on a number of writing projects I'd neglected before. I plan to get to this one again next. It's tough trying to keep things going, not gonna lie- I'm not sure where to go with the story sometimes. But I'll do my best to return to this...

[pt-disconnected]

So how’s life going for you

Well school is done for me and I actually have decided not to go back because of how stressful it was. Am going to get myself a job at a local coffee shop and write a book I’ve been wanting to make for a while- which is huge for me- but won’t forget about Disconnected, trust me! I’ll get the next part out upon getting to winter break at my family’s home, gotta clean up a bit before that.

Don’t worry- I do my best to write when I can. I’m really sorry for how little I’ve been here… I’m refusing to forget though.

[pt-disconnected]

Minor Announcement + Micro Anon Asks

Okay, so let's start things off with an announcement of mine. No, Disconnected isn't going away, don't worry. I'm not doing that- this is honestly amazing to write and I'm stunned at how many people enjoy it. So this isn't going anywhere for a while.

However, with how Chapter 21 went, I've realized that my method of writing isn't gonna work anymore. I can't just write as I go.

So I've done some thinking and I have a few plot points to work with. Asks will certainly retain the potential to influence the story, but there's going to be certain things I'm working towards- not just writing as I go.

This doesn't mean that I'll get to where I have everything planned out to a T, like how Lynx did at the end of Paper Trail. There's gonna be plans, but ideas may have me shift a bit depending on what I think of it.

I don't want to back myself into a corner again, and I want to retain the quality of the first dozen or so chapters. If I want to do that, I need to make sure I have a path to go down.

So, I've begun to jot down notes in a Google Doc that I'm going to keep private (as it contains IMMENSE spoilers). I may or may not have some method to access it, or bits and pieces of it, down the road. But for now, it's not going to be shared and will be used purely so I can look at it and know what I want to focus on next.

(It also includes all the stuff on the Evil Overlord List that the Knight/Gaster has 100% failed or would fail. Go check that out- it shows you just how dumb lots of antagonists are, and what they have in common. Plus it helps with figuring out how to make a threatening antagonist, with the note of figuring out which things they would fail at to have them be actually possible to defeat. There's multiple iterations of this list, not just the one linked. So definitely take a look at those as well, and tell me what you think Gaster has botched up or would botch up.)

Hopefully, this notes doc will help me get more ideas in the future and make future chapters easier to write.

On that note, the post that was the potential chapter 21 has been adjusted and is now officially Chapter 21 in the story, as I feel I know a way to continue from that point in terms of:

Gaster's plan involving the Over World

The time travel situation

Trying to repair the Light and Dark Worlds

...something else that remains to be seen

which means that, after a few modifications to make it feel a little more fitting, I felt good enough to allow it to be what it was intended to be.

There's also another cipher there as well, for those who enjoy that. I may not do ciphers on all my chapters, but they will certainly be used every now and then. The keys won't be hidden in the same place or the same way for the most part- so keep your eyes peeled. (I do mention in the post-chapter text that the keys will not be in the chapter itself unless I mention otherwise. So don't worry about hunting through the chapter to try and find them.

Lastly, I want to try and figure out a better schedule for writing chapters of Disconnected. Clearly twice a month is not quite working out... by a long shot. However I do want to say that I am not going to forget about this story. Even if I end up vanishing for a while, I'm not going to forget, short of an untimely end on my part. So unless some freak accident happens, things will go on. And hopefully, said freak accident won't actually happen. (And if it does, I'll try and have something set up to let you all know about it.)

As for the schedule, it's definitely gonna be tough to figure it out. But three months is far too long. If that were the case for every chapter so far we'd have been through five years already. So I'm going to see if I can handle at least one chapter a month with this new Google Doc of notes I have. (If inspiration strikes, it may be more. But we'll see.)

That just about concludes everything I'm needing to say in terms of announcements. I did get a small amount of asks that I'm gonna go ahead and reply to while I'm at it.

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"Lol angry rouxls noises"

"Honestly I think everyone could use a rouxls kaard translator"

Yup. A bit too much of that old English accent there... I think that's what it's called.

In fact, it was actually hard for me to write Rouxls. I half considered scrapping that scene entirely and avoiding using Rouxls because I felt I'd either use too much of that accent or not enough for his character. So I went for a sort of medium- instead of adding "-eth" or "-st" to a bunch of words, I used words that would fit the situation best (such as "thou", "mine", "thee", etc.) and had a small selection of words with the "-eth" added in, where I thought it fit best. And even then I think I might have overdone it a bit.

In short? Rouxls is a weird character to write.

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"Gasp Dess is here too!?"

Indeed she is! She was there in the last chapter as well, at the end- but now we're getting more about her, and I hope I can figure out a good, fitting personality for her since we actually don't see much of her in Paper Trail- and nothing in Deltarune itself. So it'll be TOUGH. But I think I might have an idea...

As for what that idea is?

That question gets the GIF. I know people would ask about it after all. Plus it's been ages since I used it. So yeah.

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"Welcome back man!"

Thank you, again I really feel bad for the extended delays. Hopefully this new method of writing will change that.

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And that's all the asks I have for the moment. Hopefully I can get the next part out for you all because DANG I think I left off on a cliffhanger. And I know how much those can be annoying when left untouched for extended periods of time.

For now though, that's all I have to say. So, take care, and I'll see you again soon.

...Hopefully. I don't want to leave you all hanging again. Especially with this last chapter.

(Also I just realized this is my 100th post on here... jeez, it's been a while. I really should work on this more.)

[pt-disconnected]

It took a bit to explain how the Player had arrived to Asgore and Dess. Asgore was completely unsure of the story, and wasn't sure how such a story could be true. It only took a single look from Toriel, and a gesture towards the town- which looked like an amalgamated mess of the town and the surreal landscape of the Dark World at the moment- to make it clear that at this point, the lines between what should be true and what was able to be true were very much faded away. It was safe to say that Asgore was pretty embarrassed about the statement in the situation... but, thankfully, he agreed to believe it.

Dess, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed by the story for some reason. Nobody was sure why, but she just seemed indifferent about it all. She explained her reasoning about what was going on, and it was a good reason. But Noelle, being the one who knew Dess the best, could see her sister shifting as she said this. There was more to it, but what it was... well, there wasn't any way to tell. And Noelle figured it was better off left unsaid for now.

Whatever the case, it made the team even more strengthened- though, against the chaos that was occurring, it seemed no amount of strength would succeed. But... they'd do their best.

It was all they could do.

---------------------------------

As the town was rampaged by the chaos, monsters who lived there gathered at the Dreemur house, seeing as it had become a sort of safe haven. Most Darkners weren't able to make sense of the situation, but there was a familiar face that did manage to assist... or, attempt to do so, anyways.

"Thy defenses could useth a few more puzzles, I believeth."

Of course, it had to be Rouxls.

Everyone had tried to convince him to just take some time, but he wasn't just going to "sit back and doeth nothing", as he said. And yet, the moment he started to work on the defenses, his focus was on puzzles. Though, there was someone who actually saw something of use in the simple puzzles. As Rouxls set up his usual block-pushing puzzle... again... the Player had an idea.

"Hey, uh... mister Rouxls?" they called out. Rouxls immediately noticed, as this was not the term he was used to. "...'Mister'? What kindeth of Darkner do thy taketh me for?! Just 'Mister'?!" he exclaimed, before thinking for a moment and adding "...I supposeth I've heard worseth. What doth thy wanteth?"

The Player picked up the block (which was quickly noticed by Susie as evidenced by a shout of "HELL YEAH!" and the sound of running), and gestured to the walls. "I know that these are meant for your puzzles, but I think they'd make good barricades too. And while your puzzles are certainly... a thing to behold... I would say that a wall would be far more effective than a puzzle at stopping someone trying to get in. Mostly because in the end, puzzles can be solved, or skipped. And I doubt you'd want someone to simply skip your puzzles, right?"

Rouxls' eyes widened as this was said. "...How dare thee! To imply my puzzles could be SKIPPETH'D! Yet, thou makeths a point. A wall maketh a better repellant than mine puzzles, it seemeth. And these blockeths are abundant... Very well. For the saketh of thy fort, I will... TEMPORARILY!.. put asideth my puzzles."

During this speech from the Duke, Susie had already started carrying around the blocks (much to Rouxls' dismay), and just looked to the Player. "You get any of that?" The Player simply shrugged. "...I think he's good with it. For now at least." Susie chuckled. "Wow, and here I thought the dude was speaking gibberish up till now. Gonna need you to translate for me."

This caused Rouxls to get somewhat upset. "I AM RIGHT HERETH, THOU KNOWST!!!" he shouts, only for Susie to look to the Player. "...so, uh, what did he say?" she asks, and the Player looks to the annoyed Duke and shrugs. "...Pretty sure that was just angry Rouxls noises." This resulted in Rouxls being even more annoyed, and in Susie laughing at how aggravated the Duke was at the joke.

---------------------------------

The group now had successfully fortified the house with the puzzle blocks, making it rather sturdy. But everyone knew that they couldn't just stay there. The Dark World and Light World were going to keep merging if they didn't do anything.

"...What do we even do at this point? It's too late to stop it... but we can't just let this keep happening..." Ralsei said. The whole of the group was gathered, trying to talk strategy but mostly ending up with awkward silence. Nobody knew how to handle the situation.

The Player sighed. "If I were back home I might have been able to use that whole SAVE thing to get myself back in time in some way, like I had done the first time. But that'd risk botching up the present and future even more, and I don't want to deal with that mess... And that's if it even works at this point..."

Berdly immediately gawked. "Wait, what?! You're telling me you were able to do TIME TRAVEL?! That shouldn't even be physically feasible, regardless of this whole Dark World thing! What are you gonna tell me next, you can just generate objects from thin air?!"

But, before the Player had the chance to respond, they heard someone outside the house-fort.

"I see you all blocked yourself up to try and save yourselves from this... It amuses me. You all were so confident, thinking you had won. And now look at you. Huddled in a boarded-up house, trying to figure out what to do next. How pitiful."

The Player immediately got up, and left, despite everyone telling them not to. They were, once again, face to face with the Knight.

"...So there's at least one of you who's willing to take a stand, even if you've already lost. How... curious. You always manage to exceed my expectations... with your methods of battle, your knowledge of SOULs even... then again, I know little about your world."

The Player scowled. "I plan to keep it that way. You've ruined enough. You got what you wanted, and you finished your plan. Now get lost."

But, of course, the Knight merely grinned. "...That would have been what I did, if I didn't think there might be some way to get to see your world myself. But with you here... it seems that my plan isn't quite finished. Knowing you're trapped in what someone sees as nothing but a simulation... it makes me feel even more trapped than I did in that bunker..."

The Player is now glaring, their fists clenched. "You wouldn't dare."

But the Knight is now laughing. "Oh, you have no idea. This was originally the end of my plans. But with your interference opening up so many new paths, new options... it's now barely even the beginning."

After looking over the past few parts of the story and this one, a couple minor edits made me feel at least good enough to qualify this as Chapter 21. And I may even start jotting down ideas for the next chapter while the recent events are fresh in my memory from the reviewing. We'll see if it goes anywhere- you'll find out soon enough. * Lqgokxkfx lohsm uej llsk Boal ufehm gema zldr alz'm hoklkfx qf. Rjl wldl ka vl zldl alz ufehm srpkz? * ...Gdgro vl'p rz doak rez kq asf wz ejl hejb kn fqy pp zkmjno kk qyz. (Enjoy a new cipher by the way! The key isn't hidden quite the same- you'll find it if you look! I'll never hide it in the story mind you- and if I do I will specifically mention it. But, if I don't mention it, then it's not. And I will link to the proper decoding website via the cipher itself, but if you want to solve it on your own then go ahead!) Also Knight (aka Gaster) is once again being the annoying scientist guy who looks too far and finds things that someone like him should not know about, much less have access to. Anyways, I'll leave it here for now. You have everything you need for the cipher here, so if you want to figure that out then feel free to do so. This one is quite out of the ordinary, honestly. (For a few reasons...) And I'll be working on ideas for the story as well. Hopefully I can figure out where I'm going with this and how to get things moving again. Previous Part | First Part | Next Part LynxGriffin's Paper Trail Comic (Even though we've gone beyond the boundaries of the comic, I don't want to forget what started it all. Go check it out! And if you haven't read it yet, then WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? GO READ IT!)

[pt-disconnected]

Is life still deciding to be a Gaster and screw up your plans?

Indeed. I’m working on getting SOMETHING out, but I’ll need to make sure I’m caught up on schoolwork first. Once that’s done and I don’t have to worry as much I will get cracking down on writing.

I promise that Disconnected will not just end randomly. Even if this is a delay it isn’t an end.

[pt-disconnected]

Mun how are you doing?

Honestly not the best. Sleep schedule is screwed up majorly, massive sunburns, and writing motivation has been about as abundant as unicorns. To put it simply, I’ve been struggling. I haven’t forgotten about this place- trust me, I want to continue. But life has been throwing curveballs nonstop. I’ll try and get more out soon, but it may be a bit… sorry, everyone.

[pt-disconnected]

Anonymous Ask Responses #21

Well, college is done, and I am trying to get adjusted to summer break. Thankfully I passed all my classes so that stress has been removed. Now, I gotta look through my story and figure out where to go from here... but having received a small batch of questions, I'm gonna go for these replies in a short Anon Asks and then to the story itself. So here's a few replies! Welp. Gotta love when I go and forget a few asks. Here's the UPDATED Anon Asks #21.

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@prhthezanko:

"I am glad you enjoyed my asks, and I'm so happy you enjoyed my little fun with writing. Fixed points in time, eh? Moments in time that should never be messed with. Interesting. Or should I say "Very, very interesting"? Let us see how you play it out, Player, and let us see if this Gaster has it all in control like he believes." "Also, the word you were looking for was Blurb. I don't know why but my brain made me want to tell you that."

Yeah, thank you so much for that. It's helping me flesh out important aspects of the story that I wouldn't have thought about right away- or bringing up ideas I wouldn't have thought of. As for the fixed points in time, it's not so much that they shouldn't be messed with as much as that they can't be messed with, and attempting to do so will yield no results (plus some errors in the 'gateway'). So in the end it's not a good thing. Though a desperate Gaster may not care. And thanks for mentioning the term for that. It's actually quite helpful to know. ———————— Also @prhthezanko "The connection between the Light and the Overworld? The game itself. Gaster formed the game to use the players to help him. He and the player opened the rift, so thus, it's similar to the fountain." Remember, it's not actually a game. If it was, there would have been files on the Player's computer. But there was very little there. But you are definitely on the dot in the description- that is the connection. Though it was supposed to be a window, and Gaster didn't intend for anyone to go digging in the files. Gotta love when you send the one program your whole plan relies on to someone who goes digging in the files and find yourself suddenly trying to deal with an additional annoyance alongside everything instead of them working with the plan.

————————

"Yay Kris is free!" "I’m glad that kris is free"

Yep, they're free. I would say "for now" but I'm not dealing with all that insanity. Not for a good while anyways.

————————

"Kris is gonna have a heck of a time explaining all this to Asriel"

That's most certainly the case. But at least they'll be able to explain it themselves without the stress of the SOUL changing their responses. So there is that. ———————— "So lancer’s nickname for the player is lemon-lime?" Yup, based on the shirt they wear. But there is something I need to say here. It seems to be grey and white in the editor now that I look back on it, but honestly the odds of it staying that way if it were to be used in the game are low if not zero. However, that being said, the Player themselves have no choice regarding the color regardless of chance. Thus I think it may be fitting- especially since all of the shirt/torso options use a striped pattern. And seeing as the body was formed in the Dark World (taking the comic into account), odds are that said body was the way the avatar would appear in the Dark World (with the Light World likely having the same result.) So with all that being said- the coloration, the lack of choice, and the aspects taken into account- I would say that yellow and green would make sense. However. There is a chance for a different coloration. I won't say it here, but you should know exactly what that coloration is. ———————— "Wait in part 8 how did lancer know about lairse/lemon-lime when they haven’t met him yet" As I mentioned above, the nickname given to the Player by Lancer is 'lemon-lime' based on the shirt they wear, much like the nicknames for the goat crew. 'Lemon' was the term given for Lairse, yes, but I tried to keep them separate with 'lemon-lime' since that is a known combination of flavors and refers to both yellow and green, while also having some separation from Lairse and his nickname. It is kinda tricky to think of these sorts of things while still keeping it easy to tell between the two... but I'm doing what I can. ————————

"I wonder what will happen now"

"*Seeing where this story will go from here fills me with determination"

Glad to hear you're still enjoying the story, hopefully things get picking up now that my college year is done. (Sadly that was only my first year though...)

But trust me, I haven't forgotten and I don't want to forget. This has been an amazing thing for me and I can't express just how surreal it is, seeing how much you all enjoy the story. This was supposed to be just a little thing I did of my own accord, and something that'd be off to the side. And yet now I've got all your support. I can't express in words how much it means to me... thank you.

Hopefully I can get another part out... mmm, probably today. Gonna review what happened in the last part to refresh myself and see if I can get ideas out.

Take care, everyone!

[pt-disconnected]

So how is everything going?

Well, to put it in five words:

I hate Statistics chapter 11.

To expand on that, I had a mental breakdown over that chapter and got to a point where something weird happened in my brain. I’m not gonna discuss that mess too much though- I’m doing better now thankfully, but it was not a fun day. I will try and get a brainstorm for the next part soon if I can get time for it.

Thanks for checking in, and I hope that your day (and the day of anyone else reading this) goes well!

[pt-disconnected]

Wait, so does PT:DC!Kris use he/him or they/them pronouns now?

Shoot, did I mess up again?! I always end up forgetting an instance of that, if you could point out where I pecked up I'd appreciate it a lot...

[pt-disconnected]

Well, it is time. Let us plunge this world into the chaos that forms new opportunities.

Time is new, and let us see what breaks we can cause. Two save files, one for Kris and one for Player. The question is, what do the save files do~? If the Dark and Light worlds can merge, who's to say the overworld and light cannot merge?

Let us see which prevails over the other; the carefully laid plans or the overwhelming chaos of an unknown variable.

I find it very, very INTERESTING.

One simple mistake. It was just one simple mistake. Leaving the bait unattended, out where one could find it. Gaster groaned to himself from within the lab room. He should have been aware of something like this. It had been so long since he had been on the surface that he had forgotten the concept of guilt. And now that memory was the one thing that had sent his whole experiment off course. Not only was he trying to handle the appearance of a piece that was acting erratic, unpredictable... but time itself was shifting. Normally he could have streamlined it back into the main timeline- but this? This was a problem. The timeline was branching out further and further, and keeping track on the one that was his own grew increasingly tougher. He looked at the shattered helmet- a testament to not only the erratic behavior of this... Player... but also to the fact that this timeline was not what he had planned out. And even when he thought he had this new piece figured out, they changed their tactics suddenly and drastically. One couldn't prepare for a bishop that could suddenly turn into a rook at any point, slipping through the cracks in a defense before going full offense without warning. Did this "Player" even have a plan? Surely, they must have had some way to plan it out. There might have been chaos in their moves, but it seemed logical when Gaster looked back on it. But whenever Gaster had prepared for the next move from them, it was always something else. Had he really become... predictable?

He sighed. As a scientist, he would always take patterns and use them to his advantage. But he had never faced a challenge that pitted him against someone who would see those exact same patterns, and use them against him. In finding patterns in others, he made one in himself. Surely, he could find some way to change that. But... it'd take time. He needed to know what this 'Player' could and couldn't see- what might benefit them and what might hinder them. But that would require calling in another from that layer above- and clearly, that could result in disaster for his plan. Perhaps he could find some other method to get that sort of information... after all, if one could travel great distances via the Dark Worlds... ...things could get very, very interesting from there. But if he wanted to not make these foolish mistakes again, perhaps he would have to go back, and study his humanity- beyond being locked within the bunker. And memories were dangerous things. They can make one stronger, or change them entirely. Either way, he had two new goals. And soon enough, he'd have the opportunity to enact both.

Little mini-story for you, a bit of the 'backside' of everything. There's more to the stories than one would think- always two sides to a coin, after all. Who knows what this second side holds... Regardless, this is just a little bonus. I might toss it into a separate post later, but it just popped into my head and I wanted to share it. So... here it is. As for the two questions beyond the whole 'plans versus chaos' idea, here's a bit of answers. The two SAVE files are quite interesting aspects- so keep in mind how those work, and how they've been used so far, and you might understand more of what may be to come. And the connections between the Over World and Light World are the same way. But the trick is, with the fountains, it had to be a mix of Lightner and Darkner opening the two. How would Gaster get someone or something with a bit of both Over World aspects and Light World aspects..? That is a question for another time- as right now I myself have no answer to it. It'd be interesting to see the two merge somehow. But right now, there's not much to say aside from that, with the right circumstances, it could be possible. Just not with what is available currently. The links between each layer are pretty similar, after all. The trick is getting them to function as a path rather than just a connector. Hope you enjoyed the little bit of story from the other side of the scenario!

[pt-disconnected]

With the Dark World seeming to crumble around them, the Player was honestly terrified- as were their allies. Everything seemed out of place- the Card Castle was falling apart as parts of it were replaced with rooms that were from the school, collapsing in on itself. And the Knight was there, laughing. "You fools... so focused on a pawn that you forgot to block the checkmate! And now the game is over!" he said, grinning madly.

The Player looked around, trying to find something- anything- that would get them somewhere. And as they saw a path into the Light World, they grabbed hold of one of the Ralsei variants. "Hold on, guys!" they said, triggering a split-second reaction for the six to grab each other, and Lancer of course. Lancer, trailing at the end, also gave a warning. "G- guys?! That guy is chasing us! What'd you do to make him this mad..?! What's happening to the castle?!" the prince said, confused. But the Player didn't look back. "No time! We'll try and explain soon!" they said, before pulling the six out of the Dark World and into the Light World- without them turning into their respective objects.

This terrified the Ralsei group. Lairse, for one, was enraged. "This... this isn't supposed to be possible! The darkness is merged with the light- no fountain, light or dark, should be able to do that!" he shouted, albeit still in the line led by the Player.

The Player, however, had a focus on their goal. "We need to find Kris. Odds are, they might be able to put a few pieces together. And with what we learned from that guy- I'm not even gonna bother with his name- we might have a shot at figuring out what we need to do."

The group nodded, including Lancer- though he was a bit exhausted. "H- hey, lemon-lime..? C- could I just tag along in your pocket..? I'm not really... the running type..." he said, panting some. The Player sighed. "Yeah, that's fine. I can't be losing you in this mess- Susie would kill me." they say, to which Lancer ran over (conveniently regaining enough energy to do so) and hopped in. Seems the inventory logic of the Dark World had blended through as well.

With Lancer tucked away, safe in the Player's pockets, the group of seven made their way to Kris' house via the Player's lead. Around them, monsters and Darkners of all kinds were panicking, with humans emerging from the rifts connecting the Dark World to the Light World. But these seven were focused on the task at hand.

As they approached the house in question, three figures emerged. Kris, Toriel, and then one more who looked surprisingly like the Ralseis- to his complete confusion. Kris and Toriel were also a bit shocked- especially Kris, as Ralsei was currently in the Light World, something that shouldn't have been possible.

The first one to speak was Kris. "P- Player, what are you doing here?! And what's with Ralsei and the others?! You all should still be in the Dark World- especially them!" they said, referring to the Ralsei group at the end. But the Player shook their head. "This is a massive emergency situation, Kris. Things have gone haywire on both ends. We need to get Susie and Noelle... and probably Berdly as well. I'm not sure what's going on myself, but this is a very bad situation, and that's best case. Worst case... this could be the end of your worlds. And, possibly mine if things go really south."

Asriel spoke up. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but who are you..? And why are there... uh, six more of me?!" he said, completely baffled. Toriel sighed. "Azzy, there's a lot to explain. I'm lucky to have been filled in on the situation myself, especially when things weren't so sudden. We should find Susie, Noelle, and Berdly first, then we can try and sort things out..."

Ralsei nodded, as did the rest of the Asriels- including, well, Asriel himself. Asriel, for one, was surprised at the synchronicity he had with them, but shrugged it off. "Okay. We'll need to split up to find them- but I think we can handle this." he said. "But we also need to ensure everyone's safety."

Kris looked to their adopted mother. "Mom, you know Mayor Holliday, and she trusts you. You'd be best to get Noelle." The Player, in turn, looked to Kris. "Okay, Kris, you might be able to get Susie. I don't know for sure how well it'd go- but you should be able to find her best. Here- take Lancer. That should be enough to prove the intensity of the situation." they say, pulling Lancer out of their pocket (to the shock of both Toriel and Asriel). Lancer just looked around a bit, and chuckled. "Wow, nice castle you got, Kris! Maybe someday I can see what kinds of holes it's got!" he said, before Kris just smiled a little, putting Lancer right into their own pocket.

Looking to Asriel, along with his six other selves, Player sighed. "Asriel, we'll need you to ensure this place is safe. These six should be able to help with that- just make sure this place is safe for when we get back." they say, to which Asriel just looks toward them. "...How do I know I can trust you, though..?" Both Kris and Toriel, however, nodded some, with Toriel speaking. "You can trust them, Azzy. It might be crazy- but there's something different about them. And they've proved themselves. So just work with them."

Asriel sighed, and nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best." Though, Kris spoke next. "Wait, what about Berdly? Who'll find him?" they asked. The Player sighed. "I'm gonna have to try and find them. I'm not sure, but they might be in the library- I just hope that they're all safe. But we need to move, and we'll need to move fast. There's no telling what might happen."

The group all nodded, and began working on their respective tasks. Kris began making their way towards the general apartment complex in the town- and odds were, Susie would be out and about with the chaos going on. Toriel made her way towards the Holliday residence. The seven Asriel variants began work on a sort of base, trying to make the Dreemurr house into a decent place for them to keep themselves safe. And, the Player was making their way towards the library of the town- where Berdly would hopefully be.

But on the way, they wound up plowing face-first into a large, admittedly fluffy monster. They fell backwards, and upon looking up, found themselves staring straight at a startled, albeit armed, Asgore. They immediately put their arms up. "Wait! I don't mean any harm!" they said, knowing how the Light World residents saw the humans. Asgore, however, was just confused. "Wait, what..? Human, what's going on? Tell me now!" he said, starting out confused but quickly getting his weapon, a gardening rake, readied. The Player nodded some. "Okay, I can try to tell you... it's gonna be a bit unbelievable but I think with what's going on you might be willing to believe it... heck if you want I can get you to a safe place, but I need to get to someone- it's a long story, but please, PLEASE believe me. I'm not trying to hurt anyone..."

Asgore glared into eyes of the Player for a few moments, before sighing and allowing them up. "Okay. I believe you. Tell me where to go, and I will meet you there..." he said. The Player got up, slower than they would have normally. "Go back to Kris' place... they should be able to explain when they get back. It'll be a crazy story but this is already crazy as it is. I'll be back soon..." they said, and Asgore's only reply was a nod, before he started to run towards the house. Out of the corner of their eye, the Player also noticed Kris with Susie, as well as Lancer piggybacking on Susie's shoulders. That was good timing.

So they continued on their way to the library- but what they saw honestly terrified them. It wasn't entirely a library anymore- a tree that looked straight out of a pop-up book had grown through the roof, with Berdly on one of the branches. Upon seeing the Player, he called down to them. "Player! Help! I'm not used to this! I don't want to be a normal bird right now!" he said, admittedly getting a small chuckle out of the Player, before they refocused on the situation.

They quickly tried to find something that would break the fall- before noticing a nearby Darkner that was conveniently just an oversized pillow. As such, they quickly approached. "Hey, I need your help really quick. I know it's strange, but you need to break my friend's fall- are you able to do that safely?" they asked. Shockingly, they nodded- turns out they had been doing that for other Darkners too. As such, they went over to the spot where Berdly would probably land.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just that easy. Berdly was still clinging to the branch, not wanting to let go. "I can't fall that far down! I'd PERISH! This isn't the Dark World, where a single pillow would nullify all the fall damage!" he said, clearly afraid of heights. The Player just sighed. "Berdly, there's no distinction between the two right now! Whatever it is that's going on has messed up the rules of reality! Think of it as a glitch- fall damage isn't working right because of it!" they said. So Berdly gulped, closed his eyes, and dropped right onto the pillow-Darkner. Getting up, he looked at himself, and let out a sigh of relief and did a fist pump- before the Darkner asked for him to get off of them, which he did.

With Berdly back in the group, the Player now chose to make their way back to the Dreemurr house- Berdly not far behind. As they approached, the two could see Asgore and Toriel, actually talking. It was strange, but it seemed that the dire circumstances were allowing them to interact... somewhat normally. And with Toriel back, that meant Noelle had arrived as well. But to the Player's surprise, there was a second one there with her- another reindeer monster who seemed to be just a bit older than Noelle, and dressed in an outfit much like that of Noelle's Dark World outfit, except it was a light blue instead of white. She seemed to be talking with Noelle, as well as Susie and Kris, and when Susie saw the Player approaching, she pointed them out. Kris quickly went over, with Noelle and the other reindeer monster staying back for the time being.

Kris looked to Berdly. "Berdly, you got any idea what's going on?" The bluebird shook his head. "Not in the slightest, aside from the obvious. Why? You don't know either?" Kris shook their head. "Just checking to see if we needed to explain. Regardless, now that everyone's together, we need to get a sort of plan. Dad was worried for Mom, and Dess wound up finding out about things because her outfit changed, so they're getting an explanation of things from before."

The Player sighed. "Okay, once those explanations are done, I think me, Ralsei, and the rest of Asriel's alternate selves have some stuff to explain too. Turns out that the Knight had us all fooled. I don't know how we could have stopped him in the first place anymore."

Kris groaned, concerned but clearly not wanting to think on it too much. "Okay. Tell us later. Right now, we've got a lot to work on. At least we have another two in our team for now. I don't know where we'll go from here, but... I think once Azzy and the Ralseis finish getting the house fortified more, we can get things hashed out more calmly. For now, we should just get you introduced to Dad and Dess. That way, they don't mistake you for one of the other humans who seem to be... not as happy about what's going on."

The Player simply nodded. "Got it. Let's get that done."

Whoa, what's this? Part 20?! And I hadn't even done a Anon Asks yet!! Seems that things really have gone into chaos. And this is a nice, larger part too. I personally am unsure of the quality of it but if you guys all enjoy it then that's what matters to me. I certainly want to aim for quality as well in the end. So now we've had two parts in the span of one week (not in terms of a calendar, I mean two parts in seven days), and honestly I'm happy about that. I have a few ideas for where to go from here, and those vary wildly in all honesty. Depending on how I can work with Azzy being part of the story, as well as the new additions (hehe!) we might be seeing a variety of things. Could be new stuff, could be rewritten old stuff, could be stuff happening in the background of old stuff. There's even another option that you might be able to figure out if you hunt it down. Pgp lkwbak isow mqgba abj wep, xxnr zme isrbpn waabec penrxnm ezp isr zga. Qkz bbnpaan lka nzptpe fg lka dtqu uip rexmo abj bouznn royew nu mp. Md do ritnazzm vwzm pgc yafigapne pso htwe, tobp pso lmeeyo abj opzcg mqbpnjp. Hopefully you all enjoy this additional part of the story, and whatever else is soon to be! I'll see you all in whatever comes next, be it the next Anon Asks, or another part should I manage to pull more motivation out of thin air! Previous Part | First Part | Next Part LynxGriffin's Paper Trail Comic (Whoa, a completely original segment! Shocking! Check out the comic anyways though, you might find something that might be intriguing- there's all sorts of stuff in there that inspires these story segments!)

[pt-disconnected]

Well, don't worry, I'm sure we will both prevent it from dying, with my stupid ideas and questions and your DETERMINATION. Heh, comedy.

Shockingly, this most recent part had more to do with DETERMINATION than I expected. So it's a bit fitting.

[pt-disconnected]

The Player glared at the Knight- after all, he was right. They had come back to see things through, to watch the conclusion. And they had no argument for that. And knowing that the Player had no argument made the Knight grin. "Now, the reason you'd come back to this extent... baffles me. Why not just go back to how you were? Why take the effort to disassociate yourself from the puppet you used?" This got an angry reaction from not just the Player, but the team of Ralseis as well. "Their name is KRIS!" they shouted, almost simultaneously. But the Lightner just chuckled. "It doesn't matter what it was. It was a puppet at the time. It couldn't make decisions on it's own." they said... only for the Player to interrupt.

"And how did you know that from where you were that whole time? You couldn't follow Kris into the Light World. You couldn't follow them into the deepest depths of the castle, where Jevil was. And those were where they showed just how much of a life they had, even when the link first formed. They weren't a puppet. They may have been a vessel of sorts, like my body is." "But they were not a puppet. Things can live without a SOUL, after all... Kris was alive the whole time. But without a SOUL, they were a blank slate, which you saw as not being alive. And while the SOUL was left without any method of normal control, that was what allowed them to live- to gain experience from their surroundings, much like what one would do in the early days of their life. Their SOUL was what allowed that to start- but, I'd say by now..." "They don't even need me anymore." The Knight looked confused, maybe even startled by the sudden show of confidence. "Wh... what in the Angel's name are you talking about?! You know nothing about SOULs! You can't possibly know anything about them!"

The Player chuckled mildly. "Sadly for you, this experiment of yours came after something else- something that bears a lot more resemblance to this world than you think. And seeing those resemblances let me piece some things together- things that work the same way here as they did in that other 'existence'. I'm uncertain whether that one was real and separate, like this one- but I know enough to see the connections."

"At this point... I don't think that the SOUL in Kris, is actually my own SOUL. It's theirs. I'm just... cutting the strings. After all, if a puppet can dance without directions from the one holding strings, then it would be able to dance just as well if there were no strings at all. But the SOUL... wasn't the strings. It was what allowed the strings to connect. But, I'm starting to see that when I cut those strings, the SOUL wasn't removed at all. If that had happened, they'd just... fade. Back into the empty shell." "But they aren't empty, they're still moving. They're still LIVING." the Player said, to confused reactions from the group. "But... how do you know that? Kris still has the SOUL, and you said it'd unlink sometime soon... you're saying it like you already unlinked!" The Knight scoffed at this. "You'll see soon enough, in the end. They're a puppet, a vessel. No more. You took their SOUL from them, and with it, their life."

"You killed Kris."

And yet, the Player just chuckled, staring down the Knight- making even the Knight uneasy.

"You know the interesting thing about messing with time..? It can change when certain events happen. And, well, my memories feel a bit changed... you reminded me to think about that not long ago, didn't you?"

The Knight went visibly pale- which, in the Dark World, spoke volumes. "...you... you..."

The Player nodded. "I already unlinked. Turns out, my past self saw everything going on, and seeing Kris like this... well, they felt guilty. They disconnected sooner than I had before this. The timeline shifted- and I'm still here. Because I felt like I could do more than just that. I wanted to see things through, like you said."

"But I already disconnected. I did it a good amount earlier than I had thought... hah, gotta love those kinds of time travel shenanigans, huh?" they said, laughing. But the Knight wasn't smiling. In fact they looked visibly angry. "Y- you..! You GAVE your SOUL to them?! Then how do YOU still have a SOUL?! It should have been either them or you!! ...What did you do?! What rule did you change when you were... out there?!" he spat, angry as a raging bull.

But the Player laughed more. "I didn't change anything, Knight. This SOUL? It's mine. Always has been. I didn't quite realize it- but turns out that even people in my world have SOULs. They just never... show up. There's no reason for them to. So when I came in here, I took my SOUL with me. And that SOUL is using strings to control this vessel whenever I'm out there."

"The SOUL in Kris is all theirs."

---------------------------------

Kris was sitting on the bed in their house, waiting eagerly for the Player's SOUL to unlink, for that piece of them to be gone for good.

Nothing. Had they lied after all? But... there was no way. They were acting so genuine...

Still, something felt different. The SOUL... felt different.

Kris tried to stand up... they did.

They tried to walk to the birdcage. They did.

Open it up... done.

No resistance.

They reached out, preparing to pull out their SOUL again- bracing for the pain. But instead, it emerged as though a battle began, without the box that contained it. That was... new.

So they put it in the cage and closed it. Now they could see what was going on.

Kris began to move towards the bed. The SOUL moved in that direction, too.

That was new for sure.

They open the cage and focus some... and they got their SOUL to exit the cage on their own.

They started to move it around, up, down... left, right... and it worked. Not even a moment of hesitation or waiting- nothing inhibiting it.

And they felt free.

---------------------------------

The Knight was frozen. Such an obvious observation- and it had passed right over them. "But... then how did you access the SAVE state of theirs, and cause all this?"

The Player chuckled some. "At that point, it was still Kris' SOUL, if you recall. You hadn't pulled me in, my SOUL wasn't in the equation. When you pulled me in, my SOUL was pulled in with me. And that separated your link- in fact, it weakened my connection as it was. But of course, there was still my past self to deal with. They still had connection, while I didn't."

With every explanation given, the Knight wanted to give a counterargument- but somehow, these outlandish reasons... were valid. "...you... how do you plan all this out? How are you doing all of this?"

The Player laughed. "You know, I could easily just pretend I planned this, and say something on the lines of thinking in four dimensions. But honestly? I'm just rolling with the punches. Memories changed? Cool, time to make use of that. Pulled into this place? All right then, I'll work with that. Sometimes one of the best plans is not to have one. It's impossible to predict a plan that doesn't exist. Patterns are helpful- but they may not work forever."

The Knight growled in anger. "...so all of this... all of these changes, all of this absolute CHAOS you've strewn across my carefully laid plan... all of this has just been you doing... whatever comes to mind at that moment?! All of these things you do to ruin my progress... and you're not even planning them out?"

The Player chuckled a bit. "Not a bit. I'm not willing to try and learn that much about this time travel bullshit, I just want to make use of it to get this done."

With this, the Knight was seething mad. It looked like he was ready to attack, but in his current situation, he was not only outnumbered, but the Player could easily just pull the same stunt. He wasn't prepared to fight.

But as the ground beneath them shook, his face of rage shifted... and he looked quite happy with the quakes.

"...ah, but it seems it was all in vain!" he said, almost cackling.

---------------------------------

Kris was still trying out their newfound freedom- and the SOUL that belonged to them, and ONLY them this time!- when they heard knocking on the door. So they went out to where Toriel was, her already waiting for the arrival, before seeing Kris’ eyes- BROWN eyes... and as the door opened...

"Mom! Kris!"

"I'm home!"

And with that... we will reach beyond the end. The Player and Kris have separate SOULs, Kris is free- AND with a SOUL intact, interestingly enough!- the Knight has gotten his usual plans taken screwball thanks to weird time travel bullshit (love when the past changes), and the world is falling apart. Oh, and Azzy's here now too. Also one of the FEW times I will ever go beyond the Player's scope of vision- as it was something I felt needed shown. This will likely only happen more often if it makes the story a bit better- otherwise, we'll only know what the Player knows. But we'll see. I'm pretty excited to have Kris with their own SOUL, as opposed to split control with the Player. Yes, I was a bit worried about how to explain the time-travel again. But the differentiation between when the Player was in the Over World and when they were in the Light and Dark Worlds was perfect for that, as... well, they had their SOUL in the Over World with them. Why they can't SAVE and LOAD in the Over World? Good question, you get the gif! (You know the one.) I would say more about this but it's a lot to say, and would be difficult without potentially sharing possible story paths. Chaos, chaos. Hehe. It's a lot for this part, and honestly my brain was working overtime to tie it all together the best I could. I'm not even sure if there's any inconsistencies because of how much happened. If you do manage to spot any, then let me know. I'd really appreciate it and it'll help me with future parts as well. I also feel really bad because it's been essentially three months. THREE. WHOLE. MONTHS. College is annoying as all get out, and I wish I could just do this all the time. I enjoy writing, and I wish I could do it more, but with college, I often find myself doing other stuff, seeing this, wanting to do more, and then finding myself doing other stuff again. I highly appreciate the asks people send as reminders, since they show me that yes, people do still care about this. And that's kinda my motivation. Knowing people enjoy this story so much makes me honestly really happy, and makes it easier to work on this knowing that there is purpose to it. With any luck, I can get myself back into writing this more often, and we'll have a score of story parts (one score is equal to 20 for those who need to know) soon enough. If I didn't absolutely butcher this one at least. Previous Part | First Part | Next Part LynxGriffin's Paper Trail Comic (This part was almost exclusively based off of the Finale part of the original Paper Trail comic, with added portions that are unique to the story. I think this will be the last story for at least a good while that will be directly based off the comic itself. There will definitely be elements from past original comic pages used, but there's going to be more original aspects from here out. Hoo boy, I got work to do.)

[pt-disconnected]

Quick update.

So this is just a little teaser for the next chapter, which is in the works as I type. (Although I'm taking a short break from it for this.) I've had asks before about various aspects about the Player. And I try and keep them as a sort of character who could be absolutely anyone. Choices don't matter for them, because in this story, the choices are left unseen. But, there are a few things that can be confirmed since they're static.

That brings me to my next point... We know the Player was playing Deltarune, obviously- otherwise the story would not have happened. Knowing that, we can probably say that they have also played Undertale, as Deltarune mainly appealed to Undertale fans with its first chapter. And if they hadn't played Undertale, they likely watched gameplay of it.

Thus I'm going to give that a connection since, in the end, the odds are high for it to be the case. The Player has, in fact, played Undertale. There are outliers, but it not only is it likely in probability, but it works well for the story. It also explains why they know enough about Deltarune to not only utilize the Vessel but also even adjust the 'world' some when they're using the Vessel from the Over World. You'll see why this is going to be useful to have clarified soon enough. ;)