HatTale

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       “Now this here’s a puzzle, they’re something of a tradition for Monsters, somewhere between a good challenge and a way to protect important stuff. There’s many throughout the Ruins and the Underground as a whole.”

       The girl examined the six huge staggered buttons in the floor (gosh, they were as big as she was!). It was  really   kinda anticlimactic that the giant, grand, sweeping entranceway just led to this dinky little room.

 Mask chuckled at her obvious disappointment and Cookie’s obvious ignorance of it. “Don’t worry, the Ruins get better.”

     They better, she thought as she rolled her eyes.

 Cookie whistled to get their attention, then walked over to the shut door and pushed. The door didn’t budge.

 “See,” she turned back to look at the girl, “the door won’t open ‘til you solve the puzzle. For practice, why don'tcha solve this one? The hint is here-” she gestured at a metal plate on the wall next to the door, “Here’s the lever ta pull once you complete it, also has the nice perk of resetting the puzzle if you don’t get it right,” She tapped the yellow lever as it was closer than the plate, “I’ll be here for help if you need it.”

 And with that, she was on her own.

 Internally, the girl groaned so hard she wouldn’t have been surprised if it became externally. Then she smiled and nodded.

 Alright! Puzzles! It wasn’t like those were the work of hell trying to disguise math and other dumb boring  hard   school stuff as “fun”. She could do this!

 Step one, gather clues! She walked over to the metal plate and scrutinized the writing… she scrutinized it real hard …

 She could feel Mask’s and Cookie’s concerned stares at her back. Whatever! It would make sense soon!

 …

 … No it didn’t.

 Hey, it wasn’t her fault! No one told her that the gosh dang instructions were going to be a puzzle too! Now peck, was that a “d” or a “b”...?

 She shivered at the sensation of Mask touching her shoulder, “ ...do you want some help? ”                The girl’s first instinct was to bristle and deny that statement, but then she sighed and mumbled, “...yeah.”

 She braced herself for the usual wow, you need help with that? But it’s so easy! You’re so stupid…    

 To her surprise though, he just leaned over his shoulder and started reading, “‘Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both not walk the middle road.’”

 ...oh. She ran back over to the buttons. Now she noticed that a little bit of the path extended under the middle two. It made way more sense now!

 So, “both bravery and foolishness make someone fearless…”

 “M-hm”

 “And they’re the only ones who get to continue on…”

 “You’re getting close, Kitten!”

 “And they don’t walk ‘the middle road’!” The girl cheered as she stepped on the outer four buttons and then pulled on the yellow switch.

 The door opened with a clang!  

 The girl did a little happy dance while Mask and Cookie clapped for her.

 “Good job, Kitten! I knew you could do it!” Cookie praised. She stepped towards the door and gestured for the girl to follow, “Now come on, we still have a long way to go,”

   —-

   The next room was somewhat more impressive than the last. More brick walls and ivy, but now there were also some small streams with bridges linking the paths on opposite sides and spikes blocking the doorway at the end. Oh, and it was also about twice the size. Less claustrophobic that way. Wait were those what she thought they were-  

 “So here’s the next one, Kitten. It’s pretty simple, all you have to do is-“

     Click, click-  

     Clunk  

 Mask and Cookie both stared at the girl, who was standing next to the newly-solved-in-record-time puzzle’s second lever.

 “...what? The path-“ she pointed down at the path under her feet, the path under the first lever, and the very conspicuous absence of a path under the third, “-made it really easy.”

  Cookie chuckled a little, “I guess so,” then she turned and walked through the now much safer doorway.

 Mask floated after her, “the next puzzles will be far more interesting, trust me…” then stopped, as he realized that the girl hadn’t followed. She was looking at a wooden sign next to the path with a confused stare.

 “I… I can’t be reading this right…” she mumbled as he joined her.

 She glanced up at him, he was shaking his head, “that’s what I thought too,”

 “Okay, but,” she huffed and crossed her arms, “what does ‘press Z to read signs’ even mean?”

 He shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine…”

 Both considered the odd sign for a moment more, then moved onto the next room.

   —-

   The next room was small, cylindrical, and contained only a single dummy.

 “ ... well that’s new.”

 Before the girl could ask what he meant, Cookie clapped for their attention.

 “So, er, we monsters don’t have the best history with humans… and well… point is, you’re liable to get attacked-“

 “Been there done that,” the girl chimed in.

 Cookie sighed, “Yeah, that mean little flower, right? Sorry ‘bout him.” she gave the girl a reassuring smile, “as long as you’re with me or one of my friends he shouldn’t be a problem.”

 The girl nodded.

 “ ... that’s not gonna stop him if he’s really determined to get you.” Mask muttered from somewhere over the girl’s shoulder.

 She looked back and glared at him to which he just shrugged with a sheepish smile, “What? It's the truth.”

 “I guess,” the girl rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Cookie.

 "Well!" Said the cat with a smile. "If encountered by a monster, your best bet is to strike up a friendly conversation! Stall for time until I'm able to come for help, and it'll all be okay. Here kitten, you can practice on this dummy!"

 Chat with a dummy? She could do that!

 "Hi Mr. Dummy! How's it going?"

 The dummy, of course, stayed silent, but Cookie was very pleased.

 "Fantastic!"

 The girl hesitated, “... should I keep going?”

 Cookie shook her head, “You can if ya want, or we could keep moving.”

 She thought for a moment, then glanced up to where Mask was hovering above her. He read her questioning expression and shrugged, “It would probably be best if we continued on.”

 She nodded and started walking over to where Cookie was standing in the entrance-way to the next room. Before she got there though, the girl turned and waved to the dummy, “Bye Mr. Dummy! Let’s talk again sometime!”

 The girl followed Cookie’s chuckles and Mask’s snickers into the next room.

   —-

   “This here is the next puzzle,” Cookie announced while the girl examined the room, “Though this room is only part of it, the next is down that hall,” the cat pointed at the hall in question.

 The girl nodded, time to focus then and see if there were any hints in this room.

 The room was a lot like the others, old purple bricks, lots of ivy growing, a path on the ground. Weirdly, the path didn’t lead from the door to the other door like in the other rooms. Rather it started at the left side of the room, meandered to the right side, then abruptly ended. Considering there were no signs to read in the immediate vicinity, she would just have to go with her gut and assume the weird path was a hint.

 “Already trying to figure it out? You haven’t even seen it all yet,” Mask remarked as he followed the girl and Cookie to the hallway.

 She shrugged. A little ways down the hall was a sign- her feeling was right! ...But she was having trouble reading it. Rather quickly, Mask was behind her, ready to help out.

"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint."  

 Now that just made her confused.

 She contemplated the strange message for moment, before a loud cawing sound took her by surprise. Whipping around, the girl saw a small little crow (which, strangely enough, had glowing eyes) bouncing up towards her.

 The bird seemed angry, but it was also… cute!! Just as with Cookie, the girl's guard had dropped.

 Which she instantly regretted as it jumped up and pecked her hand. Hard.

 "Ack-!"

 Rushing over at the sound of the girl's voice, Cookie shooed the bird away.

 "Oh, kitten! Are you alright?!"

 The girl nodded, shaking out the targeted hand. "Yeah, I'll be fine! Been through much worse!" Her slightly nervous grin was met by a worried look from Mask.

 Cookie smiled warmly, and took the girl's non-injured hand. "C'mon, kitten. This puzzle might be a little much, I'll lead you through!"

 The girl was about to protest, but then she saw a room who's floor was almost entirely spikes. Yeah, she was definitely keeping quiet and following the cat.

 Getting close to the sharp bringers of death, certain ones slipped back into the floor upon their approach. Cookie maneuvered them with practiced ease, leading the girl behind her along the path.

 They reached the end and the girl grinned. Spikes weren't that bad, if you had a guide. And she was glad she had a guide, very glad, a guide who wasn't going to leave-

 "I'm sorry to do this, kitten. But you must walk through this hall by yourself."

 And then her guide sped off.

 The girl watched as Cookie sprinted down the rather long hall, then hid behind the singular white pillar near the end.

 She glanced at Mask. "She… she knows I just saw her hide, right?" He shrugged, and the two continued on.

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"sorry for the long wait :/" - Twyst