Kahli stared down at her big left foot, seeing before her two greyed out timelines and one timeline still there, one glowing an inviting light that assured her - it was her last option. After all, the first two timelines she'd seen involved her dying at the end of them. So, she was quite eager to see what her final choice might be. Kahli had no idea what she'd do if she died in this timeline, too. She'd probably have to just pick the timeline that looked like it had the best odds of her surviving and try to use her knowledge of all three timelines to try to twist it into a fourth timeline... It had almost worked before...
Of course, there was yet another option Kahli was considering. She was wondering whether she could, if this timeline was also a failure of death and despair, try to force another [checkpoint] in time to appear and make even more timeline choices. There had to be a way to do that, right? After all, if [checkpoints] did indeed appear when Kahli's life depended on an important decision, then there had to be a way to trigger another moment of decisiveness... Though that would be a last ditch effort. Kahli could already imagine triggering another [checkpoint] and immediately getting three timelines wherein she died the second her system loaded up the scenario. What was worse was, every time she died in a scenario, she of course had to experience dying. And getting her head exploded by Princess was not exactly a forgiving experience...
But Kahli was getting ahead of herself. She needed to see the third timeline, to see if spinning the wheels in her mind this way was even necessary, or if there was a better way forward.
Kahli, you're getting ahead of yourself - which is of course ironic for me to thought-say to you, being a big jellyfish in this timeless void where time truly does not exist at all. But, regardless of my timelessness, and regardless of the fact that time is irrelevant and useless in all actuality, as a being experiencing time you can't allow your mind to be so blinded by the future. After all, Kahli, what is the future other than the convergence of an infinite amount of different points getting all jumbled up in all the points in existence in the present, some of them manifesting, others not?
Kahli was a little annoyed by the jellyfish. The jellyfish that was finally okay referring to themselves as a jellyfish, she noted. Well, mister jellyfish, I do think that at this point the future is painfully relevant. Not only literally, because I get to experience dying in a wretched way yet again if I don't survive this next scenario, but figuratively, because timelines are what are presently determining if I go on living or not. And I'm not sure how you feel about living, mister jellyfish, or if you're even alive at all, but I quite like being alive, and I don't want to stop living any time soon. I'm a young tauman with her whole life in front of her. I don't want to get annihilated by an evil fony.
The jellyfish considered this. That is fair, Kahli - though of course, you do need to understand that in many ways if we disregard time, you are always alive and you are always dead. Plus, there are other possibilities. As you know well, the realms of the living and dead have been experiencing a bit of a convergence recently, as you know and have seen yourself in the form of the perforations appearing throughout Nomachiato. And, with that, you need to realize that death is not really the end - it is just the crossing of points, the conversion of one state of being to another, and the beginning of a new journey. Plus, once again, even dead you may be able to inhabit your same world thanks to the aforementioned perforations.
Kahli would've balked and frowned if she hadn't been frozen static except for her glowing eyes. Jellyfish, if I came back to Nomachiato through a perforation, I'd probably be an undead skeleton, or like a blue skeleton or something. My dad is a blue skeleton now, for example, ever since he died. And mister jellyfish, I love my dad, but I don't want to be a blue skeleton. I want to stay alive, I quite like my living tauman body. I haven't even gotten a bunch of living wood all over my face yet! That's no way to die.
There's a good chance you might just survive this, Kahli. I'm just here in the void doing what I do - advocating for your to embrace all perspectives.
Kahli thought to herself that really what the jellyfish was doing was being obnoxious. Then, she remembered that the jellyfish seemed to be eternally telepathic, and doubtlessly had heard her.
Stolen story; please report.
I know you didn't mean it, Kahli, but ouch.
Kahli sighed internally and looked down at the timeline. It was time to dive in.
[Scenario three]
Immediately Kahli was encumbered with the pain and pressure in her head. This [skill] of Princess' was truly terrible. She didn't know what to do. So, she started to scream.
"AAAAAAGH!" Kahli cried, dropping her handbag that contained Froufrou. And then, her squelchy, tentacle-clad companion leapt up from the safety of her nest and latched onto Kahli's head. It felt dreadful, almost like a large, rubber bag had wrapped itself around her and squeezed her a little too tight in all the wrong places.
But, then, Kahli noticed something - she seemed to no longer be taking damage! The glows of red in her view, the system notifications, the horrible pressure - they were all fading!
"Froufrou! Froufrou, you're protecting me! I don't know how you're doing it, but you're protecting me from that evil, awful fony!" said Kahli. The only problem was, this had also distracted her from hitting Taubitha, who soon woke up from the stunned state she'd been locked in thanks to Kahli's combative [skill].
"Evil? Awful? How dare you say that about Princess, you fucking skank!" spat Taubitha. She growled as she continued to activate her [Beast Form] and raised a talon, prepared to smack Kahli across the face. However, as soon as she tried to, Froufrou reached out a tentacle and parried away her attack effortlessly. "What the fuck? What is this cretin doing, Kahli?" She tried again and again to swing and land an attack on Kahli, but every single time, Froufrou parried away her hack or slash with expert efficienfcy, neutralizing every single blow without, apparently, even taking a point of damage to her own [HP].
Kahli didn't even know what to say. She'd never seen Froufrou do anything in combat, much less act in such excellent defensiveness for her. She was shocked, and impressed. "Froufrou, you magnificent, squelching legend! You're a hero of a Harbinger of Doom!"
Suddenly, Taubitha stopped fuming and stopped trying to attack Kahli. And then, she started laughing. First, it was a faint laugh, then it was louder, and deeper, a full belly cackled. And she started to hunch over, and laughed harder, and started losing her balance. And then Princess, that dreadful not-so-little-anymore steed started to snort and laugh in her own horsey manner. And the laughter got louder and louder and louder.
"What's so funny?!" said Kahli incredulously.
Taubitha just kept laughing.
Kahli looked at Sahdi, who'd taken this time in combat to sit down and start filing down her pointy nails a bit. "Sahdi! Stop wasting time and answer something for me, if you're going to be too busy to be of any use in this fight, as normal."
Sahdi looked up with disinterest. "What?"
"Why are Taubitha and her stupid pet laughing at me?"
"Maybe because you have that weird tentacle thing on your face?" asked Sahdi.
"No, no, it's not that."
"Huh. When did she start laughing at you?"
"After I said that Froufrou was a hero of a Harbinger of Doom."
Taubitha and Princess started laughing even louder. It was really ridiculous at this point.
"Stop laughing at me!!" said Kahli, stoping her big left foot. This, of course, only made them laugh even more.
[End scenario]
Kahli was back in the void. She was thrilled that there was a timeline where she survived, and she was doubly thrilled that Froufrou - out of all her companions - took some initiative at that time and leapt forth to protect her for once. However, she was also quite confused. What, exactly, had Taubitha found so funny about the situation?
At first, Taubitha had been absolutely seething with rage to discover that Kahli was able to fight back against Princess' attack, and that was an awesome feeling. Plus, the fact that Froufrou was able to somehow parry away all of those attacks from Taubitha in her [Beast Form] was beyond impressive. However, despite all that, Kahli couldn't help but feel like she'd been missing some key information when she started to get laughed at during the fight. It didn't make sense - what was there to laugh at? If Princess couldn't explode her head, and Taubitha couldn't land a hit, then there was a good chance that Kahli would win the fight! She was a pretty impressive fighter, she thought, for someone who'd only recently gotten a system. And, along with that, she'd beaten Taubitha and Princess before. So, what did those two fools have to laugh at? If anything, it should've been Kahli laughing at them, she figured.
Kahli, I'm not sure what to say, thought-spoke the jellyfish. But, I think at this point, the only way forward, and the only wayt for you to find the answers to your questions, is to hop on into that timeline and find out what it has in store for you.
The jellyfish was, as Kahli thought begrudgingly, correct - there was no use of her dragging her big left foot about this. It was time for Kahli to choose the scenario, and to find out what exactly was going on with this fight.