Small Differences - Chapter 7 (OLD)

	"OH! Kris, before I forget..." Ralsei pulls out a cake-frosting-stained makeshift book held together via magical dark tape and staples. "If you ever need a refresher...I made a manual for you to look over in case you forget anything!"
	"...Thanks." Kris puts the manual into his inventory and signals Ralsei to start walking with him. Surrounded by dark purple trees with blocky, red leaves, Kris places his boot upon what seems to be purple grass. Upon further inspection, it appears to be made out of a carpet-like material. It smells as if a scented allergen reducer was recently applied to it. To the heroic duo's left, there is a  hastily made sign planted into the ground. It simply reads:

	'Enemies ahead! You're gonna die!
	-SIGNED, LANCER.'

	The sign didn't lie in regards to enemies being ahead as a green colored, alert, diamond shaped creature holding a diamond shaped knife spots Kris and Ralsei. It creature charges at the heroes, stopping just in front of them to get into what can be assumed as a fighting stance. Kris gets into a defensive stance, sword drawn, while Ralsei faces his enemy in a disarmingly calm manner.

	"*Listen up, Kris. These guys are called Rudiins. They don't get payed enough to care much about their duties, and they don't exactly have what you would call 'loyalty'. Just tell him to stand down and this'll be over in about 10 seconds."

	Kris does as the soul tells him and points at the living diamond. "Stand down and surrender." The Rudiin can't help but smile, its eyes beginning to flash and glow in a rhythmic manner. Before it has a chance to say "Okay!", Kris orders Ralsei to spare it. The Rudiin quickly leaves the area, leaving thirty dark dollars for Kris to take into his possession.

	"Wow, that was pretty fast, huh Kris?"
	"Yeah, actually. That was what, 14 seconds? I don't think Lancer payed it very much."

	"*...Eh, close enough."

	As the heroes continue onward, another haphazardly slapped together sign lies ahead of them.

	'If you're reading this, I guess you're dead.
	SINGED, LANCER'

	The duo take a small path leading south leading to a fork in the road. Just ahead, Lancer himself stands next to another one of his amateur signs.

	'Hey! Don't read this sign. It's a work in progress!
	SIGNED, LANCER'

	Kris' eyes shift from the sign to the rotund, self-proclaimed 'bad guy' sporting a goofy grin and what appears to be a rugburn on his left cheek. Before Kris has a chance to question Lancer about several things regarding Susie's whereabouts, why he has a small scrape on his face, what he's doing, and so on, Lancer opens his circular jaw to greet the two heroes.

	"Ho ho ho...if it isn't my two favorite people...Psyche! You guys aren't even in my top five!!" Lancer shouts, hands on his hips.
	"Lancer! Where's Susie?" Ralsei inquires in a stern parental tone.
	"You mean the purple girl?-"
	"Yeah, she's kind of hard to miss." Kris informs.
	"Well...you're too late to stop me...!"
	"Did she give you that scrape right there?"
	"......Maybe..."
	"That's a bit anticlimactic..."
	"..."

	"*Kris, shouldn't you be asking where Susie is?"

	"...Hey, Lancer, do you know where Susie is?"
	"No clue!"
	"...Great."

	Before heading onward, Kris notices the southernmost path and decides to explore a bit. Susie can wait for just a bit longer. The path leads to a dead end containing a tree bearing two giant, black, star-shaped...fruit? There's yet ANOTHER sign made by lancer next to it.

	'These types of trees DON'T contain an item that can heal you. Whatever you do, DON'T eat them if you get hurt! They do NOT have magical healing properties whatsoever! You got it!?
	SIGNED, LANCER'

	"...Hey, Ralsei, do you know anything about this...fruit?"
	"Oh, it's just regular old dark candy, Kris. I use it in a lot of my cake recipes! They're actually very tasty." Ralsei chirps.
	"...What do they taste like?"
	"They taste very sweet. They're very soft and practically melt in your mouth!"

	"*...Heh...that sounds kinda gross..."

	Kris proceeds to take both pieces of dark candy that somehow manage to fit into Kris' inventory. Before putting the last one in, Kris gives it a quick sniff. It smells like marshmallows. Kris walks the way that he came from and sees Lancer with a disappointed look on his face. It seems like he knows that Kris ignored the sign and took the candy. The ironclad human, and small, fluffy prince are passing by the little spade before he stops them.

	"Hey, if you head that way, my troops with thrash you."
	"Is that a threat?" Ralsei retorts.
	"I prefer to think of it as an invitation."
	"If they're anything like your other guy, I don't think they'll be much of an issue."

	Kris quickly passes Lancer with Ralsei tailing behind him only to find TWO Rudiins this time. What a shocker. The battle is almost the exact same as the other one, but it lasts a bit longer due to the fact that the heroes have to fight two Rudiins instead of one. They attempt to launch small black diamonds at the heroes, but every single one of them is dodged and side-stepped. 60 dark dollars looted later, there appears to be a yellow man dressed in chef's attire with a forlorn expression on his upside-down-triangle face. His mustache is quivering. Next to him lies a smoldering, half-eaten cake lying on top of a small table.

	"...You okay?" Kris asks.
	"Mama miba! I am NOT okay! My latest cake worked me to exhaustion! So, I took a little nap...But, Mama miba! A scary noise woke me up! A beast was hunched on the table, eating the cake like an animal!" the yellow chef cried, occasionally dramatically spinning. "I spritzed it with water, and it hissed and ran off! But, my wonderful cake is...-"
	"Aww, Kris! That sounds like Susie! We must be going the right way! Let's try to keep her out of any more trouble."

	Before the duo leaves the chef to wallow in his cake-related misery, Kris looks at him one last time. "Hey, sorry about the cake. I'll try to keep her from doing something like that again." The chef can only stare at the ground in sadness.

	"*Hey, take a piece of that cake. It might be broken and smoldering now, but I know of a guy that might be able to fix it."

	Kris would question how in the hell the soul knows anything about this place and its inhabitants, but the soul can't exactly read his mind, and he doesn't want to look like he's going crazy by talking into the air as if someone was there. The soul has proven itself to be useful and trustworthy enough, so Kris scoops out a small piece of the broken cake and places it into its own little corner in his inventory as not to get any frosting on anything. With one foot in front of the other, Kris moves forward, licking the small bits of cake off of his gray gauntlets. To Kris' surprise, there's yet another Rudiin waiting for him, but it's joined by a green, heart-shaped creature wielding a staff. The knightly hero approaches them and enters a third battle. The Rudiin is easy enough to bypass by being told to stop fighting, but the heart shaped soldier is a mystery to Kris. Before he has an opportunity to try anything, a heart-shaped ring forms around him and his fluffy friend. It spins around them, stops and sharply moves towards where the pointed part of the heart is facing. The sharp, curved part of the heart stabs into Kris' back with a clang. The armor stops most of the attack, but it's enough to cause Kris to yelp and grunt in pain as blood begins to ooze out of his wound.

	"Kris! Are you oka-"
	"YEP! I-I'm fine! Just fine...!"

	"*Kris, I know this will sound really weird, but listen to me. I need you to flirt with this thing. Don't worry, they're VERY easy to flirt with."

	Gritting his teeth, Kris tries to come up with anything smooth to say. However, it's hard to think straight with a searing pain in your back. Kris gets an idea, but he doesn't expect it to work.

	"Hrnh....I uh...Y-your tentacles are pretty cool."

	Strangely, it seems to have worked. The heart blushes, holding a tentacle up to cover its bashful, embarrassed face. As Ralsei spares it, it leaves behind 60 dark dollars. Kris carefully squats down to take the money as not to accidentally further rip his punctured skin, and motions for Ralsei to follow him. The fluffy prince looks at a damp red spot on the ground along with the deep, wet cut in the slightly limping human' armor with a worried expression. As another candy-bearing tree comes into view, the injured human decides it would be a good idea to try eating one of the dark candies in an attempt to alleviate the pain. With a satisfied gulp, Kris feels the cut in his flesh closing as his nerves are soothed by the candy. The eaten piece of candy is replaced by two others as Kris picks them from the tree. After pocketing the candies, Kris stumbles upon what looks like a puzzle. There is a gray clock, three black squares on the floor, three rows of spikes blocking the way forward, and a sign.

	'Check the clock. In order to solve this puzzle, you'll have to hurry.' the sign reads.

	Kris pushes a small button located in the center of the clock, causing the clock to turn blue and begin counting down. One of the black squares to begins glowing and pops up out of the ground. Kris steps on it only to realize that the two other squares have done the same. Without a word, Ralsei knows to step on one as Kris steps on the other. With each set of glowing squares stepped on, a row of spikes lowers. With the final set of spikes out of the way, the clock resets. Kris spots another light just ahead.

	Kris reaches out into the light, and....

[File saved.]

	Kris' armor is repaired.

Previous chapter: https://pastebin.com/xUCFhK63
Next chapter: https://pastebin.com/YfEjDxks