[This book will be told in 3rd Person POV]

Time waves to Sabre as he once again starts walking off into the woods, just behind the house.

"I'll be back soon!" Sabre calls out.

"Okay, see you later!" Time replies, smiling.

Time then turns back to what he was doing, planting some flowers in the back garden, while Green Steve leans against the house wall beside him. They spend a few minutes in silence, as Time focuses on planting and Green keeps staring out into the forest.

"Hey, do you know where Sabre's been going?" Green asks. "I must not have noticed it before, but he goes out into those woods every day. It's a little... weird."

"Well, maybe it is a bit strange, but this is Sabre we're talking about. He's done weirder." Time says, packing soil around a newly planted pink tulip.

"Okay, you got a point, but every day?" Green says.

"Oh come on, he probably hasn't gone out there every single day. Sabre probably just likes taking walks or something." Time says as he takes the last tulip that needs to be planted, a white one.

"Oh yeah? Name one day you didn't see him go into the woods."

Time is about to answer, but stops. He thinks for a little bit, remembering all of the past days they've spent in the village (he is Time Steve after all, makes sense he would have a good memory).

"...Huh." Time says, packing the fresh soil around the flower and wiping the dirt off his hands. "I... guess you're right. Now that I think about it, it is a bit worrying."

"See, told you." Green says. "Something's going on with him, and I want to know what it is."

Time stands up, and faces Green.

"Maybe we shouldn't be so pushy about it, Sabre likely has his reasons for doing what he does." Time says.

"But we don't know those reasons, and he's quite the wild card." Green replies. "Remember the last time he was hiding things?"

Memories of times before the reset surfaced, and Time realized that Green might be right.

"Okay, you win, but what are we supposed to do about it?" Time says. "What, do you want to follow him or something?"

"That'd work." Green says.

"What are you guys doing?"

Time and Green turn around to see a familiar face; Light Steve himself. He has the same blank expression he always does.

"Oh hey Light, what's up?" Time asks.

"Why were you two talking about following Sabre into the woods? Pretty sure he's not doing anything suspicious." Light says.

"Well, it's a little weird that he's been going there every day." Green answers.

"There's no way he's been going into the woods every single day, Green." Lights says.

"Name one day you didn't see him go there." Time says.

Light goes to speak, but just like Time, stops. He also tries to think of a day where he hadn't seen Sabre wander into the woodlands, but doesn't come up with anything.

"Hm... Actually, you're right." Light says. "In fact, now that I think about it, I believe I've seen Sabre go into some type of forest since I've met him, specifically the ones at both Rainbow Hubs."

"See? I'm not crazy." Green says.

"What do we do then?" Time asks. "The only thing we can think of is following Sabre in."

"Well, if that's our only option, I guess we're taking it." Light says. "Not like I have anything else to do, it's been extremely peaceful since the battle against the Curse."

"Well..." Green says, turning towards the mass of trees behind the group. "Into the woods we go, then."

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The three have been carefully walking through the woods for a while, keeping an eye out for Sabre.

"You think we're close yet?" Green whispers.

"Shh, we might be, but I don't know for sure." Light whispers back.

Time suddenly stops and points to the group's right.

"Look, over there!" He says quietly. "There's Sabre!"

The other two look where Time is pointing, and sure enough, they see Sabre casually walking a little ways in front of them. Carefully, they speed up a little so they don't lose him.

They follow for a while, not making any noise. Sabre is none the wiser, and keeps taking the path he's been going on since he first went into these woods. Sabre then makes a right turn, towards a large cliffside.

"What's he doing?" Green wonders aloud, albeit quietly.

The three Steves follow their strange friend to the cliffside, and get there just in time to see Sabre walking over to a group of vines on the rocks. To their surprise, Sabre grabs a few of the vines and lifts them up, revealing the rocky walls of a cave. Light, Time, and Green Steve watch as Sabre goes through the vines, the plants swinging behind him as he lets go. Soon enough, after he's walked through, it looks as if it's just a rocky, vine-covered cliffside again.

"A secret passage...?" Light says, both curious and confused.

"What the heck would Sabre need a secret passage for?" Time adds.

"That's what I was thinking." Green says. He then walks towards the cliffside. "Come on, let's check it out."

Time follows after Green, and reluctantly, so does Light. They walk over to the growth of vines and push past them, going into the mysterious cavern behind them.

As they walk through the rocky passage, they begin to hear a wide array of squeaking noises, all high-pitched but still individually different.

"What on earth is all that?" Light says, the squeaking sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls of the cave.

"I have no idea, dude." Time replies.

"Whatever it is... it sounds adorable." Green says.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, Green. What if it's something like silverfish?" Time says.

"Silverfish don't sound like that, though." Green answers.

"Guys, shh. Listen." Light suddenly says, quieting the other two.

Time and Green listen as well, and they hear something they didn't expect. Continuing walking, they finally stop behind a very large tree and peek out, confirming what they were hearing.

Sabre is sitting in the middle of a lush, almost paradise-like clearing, absolutely surrounded by these strange little creatures. They all look extremely different from one another, yet they all have the same look; a round, spherical head and a strange blob for a body, no limbs or anything. Some have wings, some resemble animals, some look relatively normal, and some are mixes of everything. These creatures, the group soon learns, are the source of the squeaking noises.

Light, Time, and Green see a few of the creatures sitting on vines hanging from the trees, some resting on the blooms of giant flowers that grow around the clearing, a few are bouncing around on the tops of huge mushrooms that grow alongside the flowers, some are flying about, some are swinging from strings with little crystals on their ends tied to an unseen branch above everything, and some are just standing there squeaking to one another or sitting on the forest floor.

The majority of the creatures happily and excited move and hop around Sabre, some climbing on him, one's even nestled in his hair on top of his head. Sabre laughs a bit as they do, petting some as they come near him and giving them headpats as well, the little creatures squishing their small faces into Sabre's hand as he does. Sometimes, a few larger creatures run up to him, and Sabre happily hugs them as if they were plush toys. He has to set them down after a few seconds so he can turn to the next one.

"What in the name of Origin is going on here...?" Light mumbles, not wanting to be heard.

"I have no idea, but I want to pet all. Of. Them." Green says, quiet yet excited.

"Green, no." Light whispers.

"...I admit, those things are adorable." Time whispers.

"Not you too!" Light says quietly, mentally facepalming.

Their attention is turned back to the scene when Sabre reaches into his bag, and pulls out a bunch of cookies. The creatures around him seem to become even more excited.

"Wh- So, this is where all the cookies were disappearing to?!" Time whispers.

Light quietly shushes Time, not wanting to risk being heard. Time rolls his eyes and looks back to the clearing.

Sabre has broken the cookies into smaller pieces, and has started handing them out to the creatures. There's obviously not enough for all of the small things, but it seems they have some sort of turn system with sharing the food, as some of the creatures pass a cookie piece to a creature around them. The trio watches as the creatures with cookie pieces happily eat them, then it's back to the creatures excitedly jumping and running around Sabre as he plays with and occasionally talks to them.

Light, Time, and Green watch for quite a while. Eventually, Light gets the attention of the other two after watching for so long.

"Okay, we should confront him about this. How in the actual world did he hide something like this for so long?" Light asks.

"Wait, you think this is why Sabre kept going into the woods?" Green says.

"Uh, no offense Green, but no duh." Time says. "This lines up way too well with what's been going on. Besides, whatever these creatures are seem to be really bonded to Sabre, so it seems pretty plausible that he's been visiting them for a while."

"Oh... yeah, that'd make sense." Green says, blushing a little out of embarrassment.

"So, now what? Do we just... walk out from behind the tree?" Time asks Light.

"I guess." Light says, starting to walk towards the clearing. "Follow behind me."

Light, followed by Time and Green, walks out from behind the tree. Somehow, none of the creatures or Sabre notice them, so Light decides to get their attention.

"Sabre?" Light calls out.

In an instant, the clearing turns quiet. Sabre and the creatures slowly turn their heads towards the group, all with expressions of shock. For a few moments, it's as if someone pressed pause on the scene.

" ...I can explain." Sabre says, while slowly and carefully taking the small creature that was nestled in his hair out and setting it on the ground.

Silence.

"...Well, explain then!" Lights says, noticing Green looking at the small creatures around with absolute wonder. "Green, stay focused."

"They're adorable, though!" Green says, motioning to the small creatures. "I mean, look at 'em!"

"They are really cute-" Time starts.

"GUYS." Light says, clearly a little annoyed. He then sighs, and turns back to Sabre. "Sabre, what is all this? How long have you been hiding these... creatures from us?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but I can make it short." Sabre says, carefully getting up.

"We have all day." Light says.

Sabre looks at all of the creatures around him, looking at them fondly.

"These little guys have been with me the entire time I've been in this world." Sabre starts. "I've been visiting them longer than even you've known me. They're from the same world I am, and came with me when I was tricked into going into that tomb all that while ago. I've... been hiding them from everyone ever since."

"You- You've somehow been hiding these things from everybody. Everyone you've met." Time asks.

"Yep." Sabre answers, looking a bit nervous.

"...How did you get these things past everybody?" Light asks.

"No offense, but you guys are seriously oblivious sometimes." Sabre says.

"That's... fair." Green says.

"Anyway..." Sabre continues. "I've had to move them around quite a bit, as you probably guessed. I just... I didn't want them being seen."

Two of the creatures hop closer to Sabre, and he picks both of them up. The creatures snuggle into his hands, and Sabre smiles.

"Why did you hide them?" Time asks. "I mean, they obviously don't seem dangerous, so it can't be that. I can understand hiding them when the Darkness was a problem, but why keep hiding them after?"

"Well, I already saw how people reacted to just me." Sabre says. "I... I've been so worried about how people will react to all of them. There's kind of a lot of them... and I noticed that people here don't exactly react well to stuff like this..."

Light, Time, and Green notice how fearful Sabre was, not for the changes this will likely bring, but the safety of the small creatures surrounding him. The creatures aren't just attached to Sabre; Sabre cares for them the same way. Light's demeanor softens when he realizes this.

"Sabre, there's really nothing for you to worry about with... this." Light says, motioning to the creatures around them. "I mean, I get it. You've just been concerned for all of these little creatures and their safety, with everything that has gone on here. But there's really not a reason for you to hide them anymore."

"Yeah, there hasn't been any problems with anything since you guys beat that Curse guy." Green adds. "Pretty sure it's safe for you to let these cute little things out of the woods. Besides, people are gonna love them. I can just tell."

"I dunno, guys..." Sabre says, still seeming a bit unsure.

"Come on, Sabre. Nothing bad's going to happen to them." Time says, giving Sabre a small smile. "I'm sure of it. The last reaction anyone will have to these little guys is a bad one. I mean... look at them, they're adorable."

Sabre thinks for a moment, still having a mental debate while the creatures look up at him for an answer.

"Sabre, if you don't I'm just gonna keep pestering you about it now that I know." Time adds.

That makes Sabre laugh, and the creatures let out soft, small squeaks, similar to laughter. After a minute, Sabre looks up at his friends, a smile upon his face.

"Okay, okay..." Sabre says. "Fine. I'll... I'll show everyone."

His friends smile back, and at the same time all of the tiny creatures start excitedly chittering with one another.

"Soooo..." Green says. "Are they, like- friendly?"

"As long as you're nice to them, they'll warm right up to you." Sabre says.

With that, Green smiles and takes a few steps towards the group of creatures, starting to kneel down to them. As soon as he's close enough to their level, a bunch of the small, squeaking creatures swarm him just as they did Sabre. Green happily starts petting as many as he can.

"Awwww, hi to you too, little buddies!" Green exclaims.

"Oh my goodness." Light says, surprised at how fast the creatures ran up to Green.

"They're a little excited." Sabre chuckles.

"A little?" Light says.

Sabre then sits back down on the ground, and just like before, a bunch of the creatures swarm him excitedly. They're all back to hopping and moving around him, climbing on him, and other things.

Light sighs and shakes his head, knowing his friends' almost childish ways. He's about to talk with Time, but when he turns towards him he sees that Time is already getting closer to a group of the creatures.

"Time, you're supposed to be one of the responsible ones, not you too-" Light starts.

"I do what I want." Time says as he sits down in the grass, the creatures already cheerily rushing up to him.

Light facepalms.

Sabre, Green, and Time spend a while playing with the creatures, Light looking on from beside the giant tree he was hiding behind earlier. After a while, he notices a few of the creatures slowly making their way towards him.

"...Hi there?" Light says, awkwardly giving the small things a little wave, as he didn't know what to do.

The little group of creatures suddenly rush him and cling onto his legs, somehow with their lack of hands. One even drops from above and lands on his shoulder, and nuzzles his face. Not wanting to worry Sabre about it, despite being a little bit weirded out by the creatures' actions, let's it slide and stands there as the creatures clung to him while he watched his friends play with the bigger groups.

...Light would never admit it, but he found all the interactions extremely precious.

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And so, the story begins :3

Now, for next chapters major interaction, and the start of the 'reader-interactive' part:

Sabre is introducing the Sky People to the Leaders while in a meeting. How does your little blob in the story interact with which Leader? (Professor Red will be there too, as he's helping M adjust to the Leader role.) Remember to be nice! We want to make a good first impression, after all.

See you guys next chapter! :D