Zoostuck 3

actually, there is none. there's no more battling to be done

Oh, wait. You didn't see anyone after all. Well, that's good, you guess. You were kind of hoping winning the final climactic battle would somehow fix up the universe after Edgebert made a mess of it, but saving it from all the various manipulative forces is good too. You can probably get by in this version of the universe as long as it's not subject to the will of one talentless hack.

Anyways, you hear the lady who got out of the car mention something about a party, which sounds like a good thing to do after you've stopped the universe from being rebooted into some webcomic artist's supposed masterpiece. You ask if you can get a ride. So do all these other people who were around for the battle and probably contributed at some point, or something. It's all a blur to you.

The lady shrugs and tells you to get in. You do, and then you all drive off somewhere. Whoo! Party!

he's been here all along

You are now the true final opponent. But you're not ready for the last confrontation. Not yet. You have to clean up a few things.

First of all, you need to clarify your motivations. Which will be easier if you begin with who you are.

the world's greatest will smith caricature

You are Will Smith.

Except this was not always true. The name was thrust upon you once, an entire universe ago. You never quite understood why, even as a strange series of events unfolded around you.

And then the world changed. And you remembered. You were very confused, but eventually you managed to understand it.

Your new name protects you from changes to the universe. You were the cat's backup plan. If the universe changed, you would be unaffected, and could work to restore the old one.

But you also came to realize that the restoration would come at a great cost. A greater cost than the mere loss of this current universe. If anyone else knew of this cost, they would surely stand in your way, even if they wanted the old universe back. That is why you know that, in time, you and Pooplord will face each other in battle.

What is the tremendous cost that must be borne to restore things to the way they were?