Berdly froze in place, just behind her, with Noelle following suit. He lowered his hands, sending his weapon back into the ether. "Susie... I—"
"Now, dear, there's no need to throw yourself into despair just yet!" A booming voice rang out from above, as a flock of pages descended from the heavens, quicky folding themselves into a familiar, caped form. "I mean, what would be the point of that if you haven't even seen my first act! Haw haw haw!"
Susie's eyes snapped upwards, looking directly at the rustling pages of the darkner's face. She was relieved to see it was alright, if only so she could ask it more questions. "ABAC, you're—"
Before she could finish, it leaned downwards, putting a finger up to her snout. "Ah- ah- ah! No spoilers!" Berdly tried to speak up, but it's other hand quickly shot out to hold his beak shut. "I trust we won't have any more interruptions, will we?" Seeing this, Noelle elected to remain silent, lest her face got closed shut by one of ABAC's legs. Or worse. "Great! Love it! Now, let's get back to the question at hand."
ABAC pulled both his arms back up to his face, detaching his head from its shoulders and putting it in front of itself, idly scrolling through the pages. "I looked far and wide, but— alas— I found no trace of this so-called 'Kris'." Its head flew back into place, twisting around as ABAC clapped its hands together. To their right, a giant blank canvas began unrolling from the side, filling their vision like a giant screen. "All your adventures, all your heroics... and yet—"
Three large seats sprung out from the floor, lifting the three into the air. Noelle and Berdly let out an unceremonious yelp, while Susie managed to hold onto the seat. "Whoah! Dude, you could've warned us before you—"
"And YET," ABAC interrupted, with a voice that sent an uncomfortable ringing through Susie's memories, prompting her to sit down quietly, with her head bent down. She'd have to play along, for now, as would Noelle and Berdly. "Hm. Perhaps we all need a little refresher."
A large floodlight began shining onto the canvas from behind them, illuminating the screen as dozens of markers, pencils and crayons descended from above. ABAC spread its arms to guide the intruments along, its cape fluttering open for a brief moment, exposing that the hole punch in its chest has been moved to a different spot. As if dancers executing a stylish jig, the instruments flew in circles, elaborate lines tracing out the floor of their old classroom, followed by their desks, the blackboard, and a yellow blur just in front of it.
"Oh how I love your characters' backstories, Susie~"
Out of ABAC's face, three pieces of paper flew out and hovered in the middle of the canvas. Several markers flew down and began to color the pages in, while they folded in on themselves, slowly taking the forms of Susie, Noelle and Berdly, as they were back in those days. "The first day! The day when everything changed!" 'Susie' and 'Noelle' stood up from their desks, stepping out of the door and out to the corridor. The canvas behind them scrolled along while they walked to the closet, keeping them in the middle of the frame, pencils and crayons whizzing at the edge of the picture to draw in the background in real time. The puppets jumped into the closet, two sets of paper clothing flying out of ABAC's face, clinging onto the puppets, giving them their Dark World outfits.
Susie sheepishly looked up, her concern growing by the moment. "No, wait, we..."
'Susie' and 'Noelle' landed in the middle of the Scarlet Forest, splattering a Lancer-shaped blur with their feet. They skipped forward, now holding hands, as the background continued to scroll. "Defeating enemies, saving the world, getting stronger!" ABAC snapped its fingers, and the instruments began drawing out Cyber City instead. "And where would our power couple be without their trusty companion! No bike is complete without a third wheel! For stability, of course~" Another page flew out of ABAC's face, resembling Berdly, who skipped along just behind the two other puppets.
