Niko: Previously onNiko and the Sword of Light...
Girl Narrating: Every third moon's darkening, a champion is created
to defeat the evil sorceror Nar Est.
Every time, they have failed.
Woman: The Chrysalis has been shattered.
- The champion has awoken. - This is too soon!
Keep him hidden, keep him safe.
- Niko: Are you a ghost? - I'm Princes Lyra. I'm your guide.
That stubborn girl has returned with another discovery.
Let her try.
I am Niko! And this is my Sword of Light!
I am here to free my people
and defeat the darkness forever!
♪♪
[grunting]
Target! Your mocking distance is nothing
to Niko the Champion!
Now push me back!
- Back! Push! - [grunting]
Go get 'em, kid!
- Lyra: Back! - [shouting]
Back! Is that the best you can do?
[shouts]
[both gasp]
[groaning]
You got me.
Princess Lyra?
Bravo.
Keep it up, and someday you'll be the greatest Champion we've seen.
[moans] Someday?
Someday, I promise.
Let's push on to somewhere safer,
where you can train without having to worry
about actual attacks.
- [purring] - [chittering]
[gulps]
Are you sure we can't eat him?
I told you. We want to catch him.
Right. Catch him theneat him.
No you sack of drool.
I'm pretty sure he's one of those hoo-mans
Nar Est is always looking for.
If we catch it, he might reward us.
- By letting us eat him? - [groans]
Hmm. Now which way should we go?
Hear this, safer place of hiding out!
Soon we will find you
and know your protected, tranquil secrets!
And it will not be boring! It only sounds boring!
Princess? You seem orientation-ably conflicted.
There used to be a trail around here.
See? Here's a marker.
Jungle of Joy. That way.
Mm-mmm.That way lies the Tangle of Terror.
Hmm. What about back there, the Hills of Hope?
[screeching in distance]
Nar Est's creatures laid waste
to the Hills of Hope.
Now they're the Depressions of Depression.
Really gone downhill.
[sighs]
Normally, in the company of the Champion,
I head for the cursed volcano right away.
Finding safe harbor is new to me.
I've traded my way up and down these lands, Your Spirit-ness.
Some places might be safer, but nowhere's strictly safe.
We'll find a spot. I am sworn to protect
this Champion at all costs.
[gasps] Where'd he go?
Woo-hoo! Yeah!
[chittering]
You see, friend Flicker?
You and Lyra are not the only ones who can fly!
[grunts, groans]
- [chitters] - [moaning]
We need to stick to the trail, Niko.
And you may want to climb down carefully.
I don't mean to alarm you, but you're right over
a treacherous, danger-fraught, bone-busting drop.
[water rushing]
A water slide!
Niko, don't you dare.
But it's so temptingly tempting.
- Just a toe. - No! No toe!
[wood cracking]
[screaming]
Oh, havoc.
[shouting]
Woo-hoo!
Yeah!
Woo-hoo! Yeah!
[both laughing]
They're getting away, Doris!
I know that, Dingle, you lump!
- I'm Lump! - Quiet!
- [whimpering] - [laughing]
No way we're losing this prize, boys.
- Now hold my nose - But I can't swim!
[laughing, shouting]
- Are you all right? - [sputtering]
[coughing] Excellent.
On the bright side, now I know where we are.
The Stratolynth.
[sputtering]
What is a Stratolynth?
Just a huge floating maze.
That traps people for eternity,
and has a river of acid beneath.
Can we turn around now?
[cries out]
I've led a dozen Champions through the maze.
Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
Just follow me, and you'll be fine.
Hmph. Says the floaty girl who doesn't bruise.
[sighs] Oh! Okay.
Of course we'll have to be careful
not to wake the Arachtaur.
The-- The Arach--
- The Arachtaur? - [chitters]
Doris: Shh!
Shudder: Are we going into that? It doesn't look very safe.
They did, so we do, too.
That hoo-man could be our ticket
to the big time, get it?
We give it to Nar Est,
and he might even make us a minion.
[laughter]
Now let's go! And watch your step.
Princess Lyra: Handstand! Flip!
Slide!
Left! Slide under that.
Right! Right! Hop up that!
Back double cross!
Roll! Now go, fast!
- Now left! - [grunts]
Your other left.
[moans]
[evil laughter]
[heavy stomping]
Huh?
Some death trap.
[sniffing] That way.
- Back up! - Why?
That's why.
"You'll be fine," she says.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," she says.
This whole time, I'm in mortal danger.
[screeching]
Hmm. Longer ears, I think.
No! Antlers!
Good one, Lord.
[screeching]
My new theme.
Antlers!
Forget multiple eyes
and extra heads.
This makes a statement.
Like an organic comment on organicism?
Yes? Did you pick up on that?
Looks pretty creepy.
[snarling]
Return this instant!
[groans]
What good are dark creatures that run away?
I never ran away.
No, Rasper. You're the very best I can do...
under the circumstances.
Every time I destroy a Champion,
that slippery Princess grabs
her little chunk of crystal and scoots back into there!
Yes, her mystic prison.
It isn't a prison
if she keeps getting out, is it?
Until I get my hands on that shard,
Carondolet is her safe haven.
I'm gonna bust it wide open!
[cawing]
You haven't put a mark on that thing
in eight centuries of trying.
Whatever you're planning in there,
time is on my side.
Eventually, the girl will fail.
The Champion will fall.
I'll find a way to get that shard of hers,
and my dark jewel will be whole again.
And when that happens, oh--
[laughing]
Watch out!
Lyra, all of you insignificant wisps,
will be gone for good.
[exhales]
I'll have my body back and all the power I need.
You may have delayed my ascension,
but you won't stop it!
Booyah!
[groans]
[loud snoring]
What is that odd sound?
The Arachtaur!
Once we're past him, the rest is a piece of cake.
I love cake!
I shall collect my piece when we are through.
[chirps, giggles]
[evil chuckling]
Princess Lyra: All right, he's asleep.
Now's our chance.
[snoring continues]
Shh...
[cries out]
Whoa!
[snoring continues]
[shouts, whimpers]
[snoring continues]
- [sighs] - Now it gets easier.
Tuck and roll.
You call this easier?
- [chirping] - [giggling]
[chittering]
[snarling]
Hey, it's that Buttermunk!
He'll give us away! Swat him!
[jaws snapping]
[chirping]
[snoring]
[roaring]
You call that an evil creature?
I don't know. He looks pretty evil.
Pretty evil ain't the same as evil.
[roaring]
[snorts]
[loud thump]
Yeah. Evil.
[chirping]
[sniffing]
Where is Flicker?
Isn't he behind us?
[loud thumping]
It's awake! Run!
[panting]
[roars]
That's right! Here I am again!
Catch me if you can!
You see that? She's distracting
the monster so we can get away.
Get away? I live to battle such monsters.
And I live to live!
[screeches]
Niko, go!
Foul brute!
[chuffing]
There will be no champion on the menu today, drooling beast!
Fireflash!
My old mark! This way!
[cries out, grunts]
- [straining] - [chomps]
Niko! Let's go!
You can't cure it!
I must free this beast as I did Flicker!
It's not cursed like he was. It's just a plain old monster.
You have to run!
Niko!
Thank you for yanking me to safety.
How could I do that?
Meercoon Leader: Not Princess, no.
Meercoons, yes!
I sense we are not alone.
[Meercoons giggling]
[gasps] Adorable creatures!
I didn't realize anything else lived here.
What do you think the Arachtaur eats?
Arachtaur eat Meercoons, yes?
Eat Meercoons' Bronzewood leaves, yes.
Eat everything, yes? Meercoons starve, no?
Yes.
Starve? I must help these good people.
We're the ones that need help, Niko.
Which makes us allies.
Mm-hmm.
Princess come this way 17 times, yes?
Meercoons watch, yes?
Speak, no. Yes?
Keep chronicle, yes.
Nine times, champion falls, yes?
Er, yes...
Nine out of seventeen? Those are terrible odds!
The past four times, it's been easy.
I mean, one Champion fell into the acid.
Stratolynth never "easy," no.
Princess magic, yes.
Not real girl for long time, no.
No.
[loud thump]
Run, yes?
[thump]
- [shouts] - [straining]
This way!
- Left! - Other left!
Ancient menace!
Prepare to feel the burn of a billion million suns!
[laughing]
Very well! You have been warned!
Solar Flare!
Hmm?
[all shouting]
Solar Flare!
Niko!
- Niko! - [Niko shouting]
No!
Lyra, I am slipping!
[snarling]
Oh, havoc! I can't help!
- Niko: Lyra! - Elders, look.
Sargous: The Champion's about to fall!
Belatha: Retrieve his weapon and return at once!
It's the source of our magic!
That won't work anymore!
He's the last one, remember!
You have to sever the link!
Bring you fully into the world?
You'd have no way to contact us,
no way to return.
I know it's risky.
Risky! It's madness!
Our hero is literally hanging by a thread.
And I can't even touch him!
If we sever the link, Carondolet
would be cut off from our source of magic.
Would you let humanity fade to nothing?
Enough, Belatha.
She's right.
If we lose this Champion,
we will lose everything. Hurry.
Be well, child.
[screams]
[straining]
You are much less floaty than usual.
You noticed.
[chirping]
I will not yield. Ha!
[straining]
No!
Never again!
Thanks, loyal sidekicks.
Not a sidekick!
Niko: Fireflash!
[sighs]
Bronzewood packs quite a wallop.
Lyra, you are real?
That would be my face.
Just checking.
I'm real.
It's out of our hands now.
She's gone, and so is the shard.
I truly wish I had your faith in her, Sargous.
We'll know when they've succeeded.
For now, we wait.
Meercoons free, yes?
- Stratolynth safe now, Yes? - Yes.
And now we must be on our way. To victory!
Meercoons give gift, yes?
A reward? Now we're talking!
Bronzewood seeds? We almost get dissolved,
and that buys us seeds?
A most excellent reward. Thank you!
- [chittering] - Not now, Flicker.
The Swamp of Serenity. We'll take refuge here
with the Terrapinians-- Long time allies of our people.
Lyra, are you all right?
Tremendously super, I just haven't walked anywhere
in seven hundred years.
- I'll get the hang of it. - [chirping]
What is it, Flicker? Something's been bothering him.
Have we ever fed the thing? Maybe it's hungry.
- We know the feeling. - [cries out]
You put us through a lot, you little skunk-monkey.
- You again? - I'll handle this.
Be gone or face the torment of the eternal void! Flash!
Huh?
Oh, right.
Her shiny magic is gone. Looks like she's a real girl.
Well then. The little hoo-man we grab.
This Hoo-man we eat.
Lyra! Back away! I shall defeat them!
One problem with that, Niko. I'm stuck.
[snarls]
[slurping]
- [straining] - [laughing]
You get that, boys?
That hoo-man is stuck.
Dibs on the first bite.
[straining]
Ha-ha! Looks like the three-headed monster
is stuck in a three-headed mess.
Spoke too soon!
[roaring]
Come and get us, wild beast!
What do you think we're trying to do?
Oh, this hoo-man, he is not so bright.
Niko! Anything with three heads is probably Nar Est's doing.
Your sword can defeat it!
The Sword of Light speaks, wretched creature!
Yah!
Whoa! Whoa!
- Niko! - Today if possible?
[snarling]
♪♪
Chirp.