Countess Tippi paced back and forth in the large inner sanctum of her palace. The walls, which were once all black, had been painted white, as did the floors and ceilings. With all the space, it was hard not to feel small. She didn't mind, though. Sometimes, it was nice to feel small. It kept her grounded and reminded her of what she was. Human.

The room was filled with elevated chairs, all situated in a circle with her's being the tallest. The countess waved her hands and allowed herself to be transported to the top. Sometimes it still felt strange, using magic. When she was born, she didn't have powers like she did now, but devoting her life to the prophecies of the Light Prognosticus had changed her, made her stronger.

Soon after, Nastasia, one of her loyal followers and closest friends, showed up, taking her place on Countess Tippi's left side. There were assigned seats for each of her four most loyal followers. Nastasia sat on her left, Mimi sat next to Nastasia, O'Chunks sat next to Mimi, and Dimentio–Countess Tippi's personal assistant–sat on the countess's right. There was always one empty chair, situated directly across from the countess. She always claimed that it was left open to represent the people who they've yet to influence.

Nastasia had been a few minutes early, as always. She was always the most punctual out of all Countess Tippi's loyal followers. The countess wasn't complaining, though. It was nice that at least one of her followers paid attention to schedules.

O'Chunks arrived soon after and took his place. Mimi followed behind him. Since practically everyone was there, Countess Tippi decided to start the meeting early. It wasn't unusual for Dimentio to be a little late, as he was always extra busy compared to the other minions.

"As you all know, the void has been created," Countess Tippi explained, clearing her throat to silence the side chatter that had started between O'Chunks and Mimi. "We're on schedule to have this whole ordeal done and over within just a few days' time."

"Yeah, status report, by the way," Nastasia muttered. Her hands were folded in her lap and her gaze was on the floor. "Um... Dimentio's running late, but he told me to give you some updates. From the way it looks, Pierre is sending Peach out to collect the fractured remains of the Chaos Heart."

Countess Tippi furrowed her brows slightly, then let out a slightly annoyed breath.

"Of course, he got his greedy little hands on her," the countess hissed. "I should have brought her here. That's my mistake—"

"No, don't worry, countess!" Mimi interrupted. "We'll get this taken care of! Easy peasy!"

"Ye, lass," O'Chunks added. "She's just a girl."

"So am I," the countess breathed. "Don't you dare discredit or underestimate her. With him whispering in her ear, she's bound to cause issues."

"Maybe we should, you know..." Mimi trailed off, grinning and drawing a finger across her neck. "Take the cloaked idiot out before he keeps being a problem."

"And start a war with Flopside? No, thank you," Nastasia hissed. "That would cause more problems than we could handle. Besides, as much as we hate to admit it, all those people love and rely on him. They need an ancient to look up to, their entire world views would crumble otherwise. And it would look bad on our part to just kill him now."

"Worse than threatening him with a void of light?" Mimi argued.

"We're threatening him, yes, but still giving him the option to do the right thing," Countess Tippi stated calmly. "I gave him a choice. I asked him to hand it over, he said no. Whatever happens is on him. Now, can we move the conversation back to Peach?"

"Yes, let's talk about Peach," Dimentio said, suddenly appearing in his seat, bearing the same smile he always wore. "She's out to get the first Chaos Heart fragment. I think we should send someone. Just to... test her strength. See how much of a threat she really is."

No one jumped or pointed out Dimentio's late arrival, as this was quite routine for him. If anything, they'd be surprised if he didn't show up mid-conversation.

"DIBS!" Mimi chimed, raising her hand excitedly. "I've been waiting to have some fun! Is she pretty?! I bet she's pretty!"

Countess Tippi rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter," she breathed. "Be sure not to push her too far, Mimi. Just... put on a show and find out what she thinks she's doing."

Mimi giggled, then gave a mock salute before hopping off her seat and running off.

Nastasia stilled for a moment, then cleared her throat and hopped off her seat as well. She quickly turned to the countess and bowed her head.

"I think I'll go too," she breathed. "To watch. Just in case this heroine is more dangerous than we're anticipating."

. . .

"Do you have everything you need?" Pierre asked, standing in front of the first dimensional door on top of Flopside Tower.

Peach was now equipped with a large backpack. Pierre and Bleck went shopping with her, making sure to buy her anything she could possibly need on this adventure she was about to set foot on. Her backpack was stuffed with snacks, a jacket, spare shoes, a water filter, a return pipe that would bring her back to Flopside in case things were to go south, a walkie-talkie so she could communicate to Pierre if she needed anything, and much more. "Just the essentials," according to Pierre.

"I think if you gave me anything else, the backpack would explode," Peach chuckled, adjusting the straps slightly. She wasn't used to being so prepared. Usually, all she took on her adventures was her cap.

"Okay, okay, you're right," Pierre breathed. "I just don't want to send you out there until you're sure to be okay. I don't like sending lambs to the slaughter. Um, you can use that walkie-talkie to reach me if things go wrong and you're not in a place where you can use the return pipe. If things get really bad, I'll get there as fast as I can. But, I just have to warn you that I'm not good at teleporting through dimensions anymore. It's an age thing, heh."

"Right," Peach said, though she couldn't really understand why it would be an age thing. He looked younger than her. 

"Alright, thank you, sir," she smiled.

"Oh no, please don't call me sir," he chuckled. "Just Pierre, please. Sir sounds too formal. And don't thank me. I'm not the one going on an adventure to save all worlds."

Peach shrugged. That was fair enough.

"And you," Pierre said, turning his gaze to Bleck.

"I know, I know, I'll protect her," Bleck chimed.

"Well, yes, but protect yourself too," the red-cloaked ancient breathed. He let out a short breath, then looked back at Peach. "He hasn't been out of Flopside much. This is his first adventure, actually. So... take good care of him. Don't lose him, please."

"I'll be fine," Bleck laughed. The pixl then turned to the heroine excitedly. "I've been training for this for as long as I can remember! Come on, Peach! Let's go!"

Pierre nodded, then stepped back, bringing his hands together and nodding.

"You're right... I know you're capable. Both of you. So, best of luck," the ancient smiled.

Peach gave him a determined nod, then adjusted her cap.

Then, together she and Bleck walked through the dimensional door. Their adventure had begun.

As soon as they passed through, Bleck turned around to look back at Flopside. Pierre stood still and softly smiled, waving and watching until the doors fully closed. 

The pixl gave a determined nod, then floated behind Peach. The energy around him seemed bright and vibrant. It was easy to tell that he was excited about this.

"You're cheery," Peach noted as they marched forward through grassy fields and over large hills. The sky was bright and far more colorful than Flopside's, though there was still a bright gash. She wondered if that gash was over the Mushroom Kingdom, too. Or maybe even Sarasaland.

"Well, yeah! It's my first real adventure!" Bleck giggled, circling her excitedly. "Actually, remember when I picked you up from the altar earlier? That was actually one of my first times outside of Flopside! Pierre usually keeps a close eye on me. I don't think I've ever been away from him for so long."

"Sounds like he really cares about you," Peach said.

"Well, yeah. I'm his pixl," Bleck replied. "And he's a naturally caring person. We used to spend weekends volunteering in town. His entire job is basically making sure everyone is safe and happy. He's good at it too! It's fun, being there and helping him out. But... this is also nice. Getting to adventure out and see the world like this, I mean. Especially with someone new! I love meeting new people!"

"Well, so do I," Peach smiled. "I think the two of us will work well together."

Peach found herself really enjoying the start of this hopefully short adventure. This journey seemed like most, in the sense that there were a few small enemies standing in the way, but what made it different was that Bleck was with her instead of Daisy. She missed her friend dearly, but Bleck was helpful in his own ways. He could tell Peach anything she wanted to know using an ability he called a "tattle." He could also reveal things that she hadn't seen the first time around and sense whether or not they were getting closer to the Chaos Heart fragment. To top it all off, he was silly and fun. He marveled at the clouds in the sky and all the flowers he saw. He'd roll around in the grass and start talking to almost every stranger he came across. It was clear he didn't get out much.

All seemed to be going well when there was suddenly a chilling giggle, echoing from behind them both.

Peach stilled as soon as the sound entered her ears, then turned around. There seemed to be a cold gust of wind, not helping with the chills that had run down her spine.

"What was that?" Peach started to ask, when the laughing grew louder.

Suddenly, a girl with lime-green skin and matching green pigtails stepped forward. She looked like she couldn't be much older than sixteen. She had large lashes, lipstick, and a floral dress. It looked like she was dressing to impress someone.

"Golly, you're even prettier than I thought you'd be!" the girl chimed, clapping like a fangirl.

"Oh, I think so too," Peach joked, patting Bleck's tophat. "He's just dashing."

Peach had a habit of making jokes whenever anyone called her pretty or beautiful. She knew that people were just being nice whenever they said things like that, but she was never comfortable taking those compliments. They always somehow felt slightly backhanded. She was more than a pretty face. She knew that, and she wanted the world to know it too.

Bleck seemed to quietly laugh as the green girl's smile faded. She shrugged her shoulders, then brushed her hands off on her dress, smoothing it out in the process.

"Okie dokie, I'm sure you know who I am—"

"Actually, I don't," Peach said.

The girl stilled and her left eye twitched slightly.

"Oh... I would have thought he'd explain us to you," she breathed. "Typical. Well, I'm Mimi. A follower of Countess Tippi, and I'm here to demand that you hand it over."

As soon as the words "Countess Tippi" left Mimi's lips, Peach found herself clenching her fists.

"It?" Peach muttered under her breath.

"The Dark Prognosticus," Bleck quietly answered, keeping his voice low enough for only Peach to hear. "The countess has been after it for years. If she gets her hands on it, she'll have both the Light and Dark Prognosticus, which would be very bad."

Peach nodded in understanding, then turned her gaze back to Mimi and spat. Like she'd be stupid enough to give that up. She didn't even have it.

Mimi seemed to raise her eyebrows. "Wow, how unladylike," she muttered.

"If you don't go, I'll show you how unladylike I can be," Peach stated, her voice steady and strong. She dropped her usually kind and warm tone. That tone wasn't meant for people who worked for the insane woman who kidnapped all her friends.

"Oh, two can play at that game..." Mimi trailed off with a quiet giggle. "But believe me, that's a game you don't want to play."

"I agree. So could you leave us alone? We're a bit busy," Peach stated.

"Busy running errands for the man-child bookworm?" Mimi asked.

"He's not a man-child." Bleck hissed. "Or a bookworm."

"Yeah, riiiight. Where's Merlon again—"

"SHUT UP!!" Bleck cried.

Peach flinched slightly. She had never heard so much emotion from the pixl at once. It was a little unsettling, almost. He was so bright and cheery before. Why did that seem to strike such a nerve in him? Who was Merlon?

Mimi stilled for a second, then cracked at her knuckles, tilting her head slightly.

"Alright, I'll shut up," she smiled. "You want to play that way? Then let's play."