#atechalk

The TL;DR as to how we got here is in our first thread! It takes place before the events of Chapter 1, and Pump just pulls an SMT III Nocturne and becomes Susie's* friend... WITHOUT her input. This after trying to blow himself and her to bits with a firecracker, but it was justified because she had picked on Skid first. Pump becomes a bit of a shadow in Susie's life to the point that he ends up growing on her soon enough but, in-line with her character at the time, she REFUSES to admit it because she has a reputation to keep intact and the twerp could ruin it.

*It is worth noting The Two Susies Issue as early as I can. Not only because I will never let the jokes down, but because Pump has two ✌️ TWO Susies in his life: his big sister and his new monster friend. So, because calling them Human Susie and Monster Susie respectively would be a mouthful, the nickname "Big Susie" for the latter emerged. No, she does not mind it. It makes her sound EVEN SCARIER than she already is. I do not need to use the nickname here but I wanted to mention it regardless.

After Chapter 1, and having met Lancer, Susie has picked on all the similarities the Darkner and Pump have, but cannot do anything other than lament having to keep the Dark Worlds a secret alongside Kris and all of that stuff. That is, of course, until she finds out about the Dark World inside Pump's toybox* straight from the horse's mouth. And she does not get the opportunity to get Kris to come because she is practically dragged to the kid's house to "come see it" upon trying to verify if it was ACTUALLY a Dark World or some make-believe game.

Surprise, surprise, the Toybox Dark World is very real, and these two kids have somehow managed to keep it sealed shut in Pump's room without causing much of a fuss. And so, off these two go!

*For all intents and purposes, this event takes place in-between Chapters 1 and 2. Cannot do much about Chapters 2 and 3 being connected and all.

From a first glance, this Dark World resembles a cross between a pumpkin patch and a playground, where everything borders on being scary, on a first impression, only to have a childish twist behind it. For example, one of the first things these two come across is a tree with two nooses hanging from its branches, turning out to be a swing set. And whether they have a cute swing set moment or not will be left to the reader's imagination. Things in this world simply look spookier than they should be.

This comes most to play upon encountering a Darkner and battling it. It takes place in a very dark place, and its silhouette makes it look like a very freaky gigantic centipede. Of course, after sparing it, it is revealed that it was nothing more than a harmless sock puppet creature. In this Dark World, everything is a children's toy! And no wonder, because children are very good at turning their toys into different things.

Only other thing worth highlighting from this brief adventure, because she has to go get Kris if they do not want doomsday to happen, is that Susie decides to teach Pump how to battle HER OWN WAY. Because, well, that first battle might as well have been a 1v1. This kid carries a hammer with him yet knows NOTHING about battling. Cue Susie's version of a tutorial battle where, in her own words, "if Pump REALLY wants to be her friend, then he has to impress her by getting a hit on her". They are friends already, she just wants to tease the little tyke lol. It is pretty similar to Ralsei's tutorial battle with Kris, except that Susie ACTUALLY likes to spar and drop all the cool villain lines just to be encouraging.

This tutorial sends the point across EXCEPT on the whole "get a hit on Susie" bit. She just does not make it easy through normal means, you know! So what does Pump do when things seem to get difficult? He ACTs and does a little MAGICTRICK on Susie... with a twist: instead of pulling a coin from behind her ear, he just playfully bonks her in the head for a single point of damage.

And that is how this little prologue ends. Sure, they might not have made it far into this world, and leaving the Dark Fountain unaddressed might cause the end of the world, but Pump technically got a hit on Susie, and so TECHNICALLY became even more friends! Yay!!