Mario couldn't believe his eyes at all. Walking between Rabbid Peach and Kai was a familiar skeleton who was thought to have disappeared in Snowdin. It was Papyrus; much to Mario's relief, he was alive and unharmed.
"It's been a while!" Papyrus said, waving at the short man.
"You're okay!" Mario exclaimed, smiling at the skeleton. "Frisk was worried when you disappeared!"
"I apologize for the distress I caused you all back in my world. I suppose I owe you all an explanation." Papyrus scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Well, you can ramble about it later. The Glitch King is about to wake up," Kai said, pointing his finger at the end of the hallway.
Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Papyrus turned to where the red ninja was pointing. Kai was correct, for the Glitch King was groaning as he was lifting himself back to his feet. At the sight of it, the four started running down the hallway. Once the Glitch King was back on his feet, he spotted them taking a sharp left. With a growl, he picked his large sword off and began to chase them.
As the four ran, Mario turned his head around to find the armored king pursuing them with his sword in hand. With a gasp, he pressed his finger into his earpiece in hopes he could reach at least one of his cohorts.
"This is Mario! Please come in!" he shouted.
"Hello? Mario, is that you?" Jesse's voice replied, and Mario let out a sigh of relief.
"Jesse! Thank goodness you're okay!"
"Same to you! Now, what's going on on your side?" Jesse asked.
"Kai, Rabbid Peach, and I found Papyrus and now we're being chased by the Glitch King!" Kai, having heard the conversation through his own earpiece, answered.
"What?! Papyrus is with you guys?! How did you guys find him?"
"We'll explain later! Right now, we have to get the Glitch King off our tails!"
"Wah bah bah beh bwah bah bah bweh!" Rabbid Peach replied. (Translation: I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon!)
The four took another sharp left before they were running down a flight of stairs. As they ran, Rabbid Peach would have fallen and dropped her phone if it weren't for Kai preventing that by grabbing her by the waist and putting her on his shoulders. Behind them, the Glitch King stopped at the stairs, his toes barely reaching the steps. Once Mario, Kai, Rabbid Peach, and Papyrus arrived at the bottom floor, they all turned around to find him standing at the top. The Glitch King's eyes were now looking down at the stairs before turning back to the group of four that stand below him.
"What? You're not gonna keep pursuing us?" Kai called, and his sentence infuriated the Glitch King.
But before the armored man could do anything, a blue portal suddenly appeared beside him, causing the Glitch King to stop. When he turned to his left, a foot popped out of the portal and kicked him in the face, sending him falling down the stairs until he landed face first in front of the four. Two figures ran out of the portal. One of them was a slim young woman with wavy pigtails dressed in a red catsuit and a cat-like mask of the same color. The other was a short figure donning armor that looked exactly like Keith's but the accents were green.
With a grunt, the Glitch King got on his knees and looked up at Kai, Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Papyrus. His hand reached for them, but the young woman pulled out a red whip and swung it at the armored king's hand. The whip wrapped around his wrist and pulled the Glitch King back to the stairs.
"Go! We'll hold him off!" The short person in armor shouted at the four.
Mario, Kai, Rabbid Peach, and Papyrus continued running, each of them thinking one thing: Where did those two come from?
~~~~~
Jesse was already getting sick of running away from the Tri-Plant. The run was so long that he wasn't sure if he was going in the right direction anymore. So, he skidded his feet to a stop and turned himself around to face the three-headed plant monster. As he watched it get closer, he brought up his right hand and yelled, "Okay, stop!"
In response, the Tri-Plant's three faces softened as the monster slowed down before the carnation head's nose can touch the brunette's hand.
"Just to be sure," Jesse began. "Are you fully aware of the fact that Mixus is using you three as her puppets?"
All three heads of the Tri-Plant glimpsed at each other. When they looked back at Jesse, they all nodded as their shared body shrugged.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," he sighed, rubbing his temples. Then, he continued, "Look, you guys don't have to work for that..." Jesse paused as he searched for the right words until he found them. "...that combination-loving witch anymore. From the looks of it, you guys seem aware of the situation you're in. But I have to admit, you three work well as a team, especially in this weird form you guys never asked for in the first place."
The buttercup head raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
Jesse, pursing his lips at the face the buttercup was making, sighed and asked, "Okay, how about we make a deal?"
As a response, the Tri-Plant's three heads perked up to listen.
"If you three act as my bodyguard and help me get to the Dimension Machine safely, I'll help separate you from each other. But if I want to do that, I need to know where your weak spot is. You have three heads, so finding one on you is going to be hard since the monsters Mixus creates always has one on the backs of their necks." The hallways became silent for a moment before the brunette asked, "Just to make sure, can you turn around?"
The Tri-Plant obliged and turned around. When it did, Jesse's green eyes went wide when he saw a large red dot on their nape. The Tri-Plant turned itself around again to face him once more, finding the wide eyes on his face.
"Okay, I know where your weak spot is now," Jesse said with a nod before looking up. "So, do we have a deal or..."
The three heads looked at each other one last time for a final thought. Afterward, they looked back at the brunette and grinned at him before giving him a final nod.
"Perfect! Now, let's get going before-" Jesse stopped when all three heads of the Tri-Plant were growling as they looked over his shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"
He flinched when he heard the sound of metal scraping against the wall behind him. Slowly, Jesse turned himself around and found himself staring at yet again another stranger. Their outfit was completely black and they were dragging a curved sword on a wall that left a gray line. They were slowly approaching him and the Tri-Plant, looking down at the floor as they did. Once their feet stopped moving, they pulled their sword away from the wall.
The Tri-Plant's growls went louder as it glowered at the stranger. Meanwhile, Jesse cautiously pulled his sword out of his inventory out of caution.
"I don't know who you are," he said. "But if the Galaxy Stone is what you want, I'm not giving it to you!"
Suddenly, the figure disappeared in a flash, causing Jesse to yelp and look around for them. When he turned to his left, a foot kicked him in the face and sent him stumbling backward until his back hit a closed window. He looked up and saw the figure about to slash him with their sword. Yet, Jesse was swift enough to block their blade with his own. But unbeknownst to him, his opponent had other tricks up his sleeve. Before he could do anything else, the person dressed in black flipped onto their hands and kicked his face again, causing him to break through the window and fall.
Jesse screamed as his eyes were looking up at the person who was near the window he broke through. When he watched them walk away, he saw the Tri-Plant approach the window and lift up one of its vines. Then, it tossed it through the broken window and the vine wrapped itself around Jesse's right ankle. When that happened, he felt his body swing until he bumped into one of the palace's outer walls. Now breathing from his mouth out of shock, looked up to find all three heads of the Tri-Plant looking down at him from the now-broken window.
"Thanks, pal!" Jesse called, and the three heads nodded at him.
Before Jesse can pull himself back into the palace, he heard beating wings approaching him. Turning his gaze, he saw a familiar blue pegasus flying up to him with a big smile.
"Hey, Rainbow! How's it going?" Jesse said, relieved that one of his friends was okay.
"The others and I have been busy," Rainbow replied. "Speaking of, you've been busy yourself, huh?"
"Sorry I didn't tell you guys about my plan. But just so you know, it went smoothly."
"That's good to hear." The mare nodded.
"Anyway, what have you been up to?" Jesse asked.
With her hoof gesturing at something from below, Rainbow said, "See for yourself."
When he looked down, his eyes grew wide with surprise.