The Dating Sim: Remastered

"Buttons I am freaking out here bro I need someone here don't you need to examine her or something first at least?"

"Kiran.  Breathe.  I know you need me there for moral support, but I really don't have time to babysit you right now.  I need to worry about Somnis."

"But..."

"I already know what's wrong.  I need to look up counter-curses, check details, compare a few different sources.  It's going to take time we don't have.  Time I would waste coming to the mall."

"OK, well...  Can't you... like... send me Natsumi or something...?"

"Natsumi's going to come help me.  Kiran.  You need to stay calm and be there for Somnis right now."  Buttons is annoyingly calm.


(A) I DON'T CARE. GET ME NATSUMI NOW.  I really need a smile-pat-pat...
(B) I DON'T CARE. LET NATTY DO RESEARCH AND YOU COME EXAMINE HER.  I really need a hug...
(C) ...Fine.  But I'm getting Dogachu and coming back!
(D) ...OK.  I'll find somewhere to hide.
(E) Get your research crap and read at the mall, dipstick!
(F) Ugh...  I'll call you back, Buttons, I've got something annoying to deal with.


Some other kid has hiked over and is staring at the statues now.

"HOLY CRAP! THESE STATUES REPRESENT THEIR STATUS IN REAL LIFE, AND THEY'RE IN TROUBLE! THEY'RE DYING!"  An annoying-looking kid yells in Kiran's ear.  The guy shoves an entire pop-tart down his throat.  "We need to find out where these guys are! And save them! HAS ANYONE SEEN KATIE, FOX, OR THIS OTHER GIRL ANYTIME RECENTLY?"

The guy at the statue stops and turns.  "I think these statues ARE them. I can see some skin, but it's quickly turning to stone."  He looks right at Kiran.  "You there. Is there anything you know about this?"

"The statues are them...?  WHAT IN THE NAME OF POP-TARTS IS THIS!?!?" the moron asks.

(1) Would you three idiots stop yelling that crap to the whole crowd!?
(2) I don't know anything about it, but I'm damn well going to find out.
(3) Yeah, don't worry about it.  My buddy's all over it.
(4) In my professional opinion, we need to PANIC.

"...Hide?" Poptarts asks.

Kiran turns to him. "What? No, you're not- yes. Yes, go hide. Go hide somewhere far away. That will help. So much."

"Really? I better do that! To help!"  Poptarts disappears.  Thank God...

"So neither of you have any clue as to what the hell's going on? How the fuck do we, well, fix them?" some emo-looking kid sighs.

"If I knew how don't you think I would have said something? If we're going to figure out how to save them first we need to figure out how this happened to them in the first place."  Nerd-dude goes to examine the statues more closely.  Then he starts looking around the surrounding area like he's looking for something.

Kiran joins him in examining the other statues.  Actually kind of a smart idea...  There's some kind of smashed drone against one of the statues.  It's pretty nice, too.

The emo guy goes to work examining the statues.  You don't like the way he's frisking Somnis...  At all.  "Hey!  Watch where you're putting those hands," Kiran tells him.

Kiran's phone starts ringing and he quickly picks it up.  It's Buttons!  "Tell me you've got some good news..."

"Yes and no.  Good news, I think I've got a cure.  Bad news, it's kind of... specific.  Natty and I are gonna have to track down a bunch of stuff and honestly?  I don't know where I'm going to find some of it.  And the ritual needs to be performed at a specific time.  Right at midnight.  So...  Stick to the plan.

"That's... better news than I was hoping for..." Kiran admits.  "Alright, sounds like you've got the hard part.  I'll take care of things here."

"Tell Kiran I said everything's going to be fine!" Natsumi calls in the background.

"Natsumi says-"

"I heard her," Kiran says.

He snaps his phone shut and pats Somnis' statue on the shoulder.  "You heard them too, right?  You're gonna be just fine, Somnis..."

(A) Alright, time to go hide somewhere.
(B) These guys seem to be pretty concerned about these other two kids.  Maybe I could recruit them as backup door-openers, just in case I get caught?
(C) Just gonna run and grab Dogachu real quick.
(D) I should call Somnis' mom...

Hmm. We can tell nerd boy. He seems competent enough. But emo is a creepy Somnis toucher and poptarts is just gonna get in the way.

"Hey, uh... Nerdy kid. And Elmo," Kiran says. "Oh, right. I'm Kiran. Anyway, c'mere. I think we can help each other out." He glares at Emo in particular. "So long as you stop feeling up my friend, anyway."

The group moves further from the crowd. "Alright, so... I got some friends who say they know a thing about magic. They said they managed to find some counter-curse to fix this... Probably. I mean, I trust them. So... Basically, they're getting some ingredients. They need us to hide in the mall and let them in once it's closed. Think you two can help? Just in case security busts me or something. You just need to open the eastern entrance door at midnight," Kiran explains.

Emo sighs. "So we just need to hide here until after closing. Easy enough."

"Got it," Dewey says. Dewey! That's right, that's his name! Kiran remembers he hung out with him... kinda... once... A little bit.

Kiran hides in an unused trash can in the lame corner of the mall with the boring stores no one visits. He's lucky enough that no one dumps anything on him. After the mall closes and the security guards finish their rounds, Kiran meets the others back at the fountain. "Alright, this way..." Kiran says. He pauses to pat Somnis a few times, then heads towards the eastern entrance to let Buttons and Natsumi in.

With Emo and Dewey in tow, he pushes open the door, and... is met by a glowing, bright-blue wall.

...Huh?

This feels... familiar, somehow. Warm. Inviting. Kiran really wants to be inside.

He reaches out, and his hand disappears. "What. The. ****," he asks.

(A) ...?
(B) (Stick head in)
(C) (Jump in)
(D) (Throw one of the others in) (Choose Emo or Dewey)

D.) Elmo

Well, they didn't start screaming in pain or anything.  So it's probably fine.  Kiran can't resist the allure of the gentle blue blow and steps inside...

...He's back inside the mall?  Except facing the other way.  He turns around.  The portal's still there.  How did he get turned around like this...?  Oh, Dewey and Tai are here.  Neat.

Kiran starts to look around a bit more thoroughly.  The stores seem to stretch on... and on and on a really long way.  Most of them are locked... which makes sense, considering what time it is.  He looks up.

...There's no ceiling.  It just kind of... fades into darkness with more and more stores stacked on top of each other.

Huh.  There's a letter on the floor.  Addressed to... Kiran.

Kiran blinks.  Why is this here?  He opens if up.  There are two glowing white keys inside, and a letter.  It looks like Somnis' handwriting.

"Hey, Kiran!  I figured you might follow me. if something happened.  On purpose or accident.  Remember that key you had the other day?  It was a soul key!  I don't think you know what it was.  If you grab one and channel your SOUL into it, it'll become the KEY to your survival!  Get it?  I added two extras since you probably dragged those two into this, too...

PS: If this is some random person who got really unlucky and fell in here somehow, you should probably try it, too."

Somnis... knew something might happen to her?  And that you might follow her?  And that you might need this?  ...Where did she even get these!?  She knew what that key you had was?  Does...  Ugh!  Dammit, it's too much to think about.  Now he needs to find Somnis both to rescue her AND to ask what the butt is going on!

Kiran can feel his key resonating in his pocket...

(A) Kiran tries grabbing his key first
(B) Kiran passes out the keys Somnis left him first
(C) Back through the portal!
(D) Say nothing, pocket the stuff, keep going forward

"So... we must be in some sort of alternate dimension or world, parallel to ours," Emo says. He turns to stare Kiran down. "Oh, and don't push me, ever again. Please." He huffs. "It's fine. Whatever. We should figure out what to do now."

"Oh, OK. Here. Have an apology." Kiran forces a key into Emo's hand. "Somnis said to squeeze it and focus really hard on it or... something..."

Kiran holds up his key, and Dewey holds up his. A pair of bright flashes of light surround them.

Kiran finds himself back in that same outfit from his dream. He feels fantastic. No, fantastic. Fantastically fantastic. Even more fantastic than last time!

Dewey's dressed in a blue, robe-like cloak down to his groin, with trailing fabric like miniature capes hanging from his hips over top of navy blue pants. There's a a scholar's cap on his head, and thick reading glasses on his face. Looking into them from the other side, they're like mirrors. It makes it hard to see what he looks like. There's a thick tome in his hand with a lock on the cover.

Emo stares at them both and huffs again. "If I look like either of you after this I'm gonna kill myself." Emo groans as he squeezes his key.
There's so many bubbles and sparkles and cutesy ribbons as he transforms...

He comes out wearing a black-and-white shirt and blue jeans. He's got a black leather jacket, black gloves, and black cowboy boots. And a tail. A thin, whippy one. A pair of steel pistols are holstered at his hip, pulsing with red lines. He's got a small pair of horns poking out of his head, and a black bandana around his neck that covers his mouth. Fake fangs are drawn on it.

"...Cute..." Kiran mutters.

(A) ...Somnis clearly came this way. Maybe she left a trail? Let's move forward!
(B) SCREAM! ...But, like, calling out to see if anyone can hear you.
(C) Let's wait here for a bit.
(D) Bored now. Going home. Nap.
(E) What if we tried climbing up one of the walls...?
(F) Let's spar!
(G) Could we break into one of these stores? Let's check them more closely.

A